Loss

WWF -- The Royal Rumble: Dave says it wasn't really better or worse than the Bunkhouse Stampede. Dave says the production values for the show were a step down from normal simply because they couldn't post-produce and add in crowd noise and reactions. He says there were too many replays on the show and it looked like it may have dragged a lot for anyone who attended live, although he admits he has yet to speak to anyone who was there live for the Hamilton show. The show happened before a sellout crowd of 18,000. Ricky Steamboat downed Rick Rude via DQ in 17:00: Dave feels this should have been better if the plan was to set up a feud. Rude showed very little. Lack of heat for the first 15:00, considering both guys are headliners. Lots of resting and stalling, although the nearfalls toward the end got good heat. Rude pulled the ref in front of him when Steamboat tried to do the flying bodypress. Rude then put Steamboat in the backbreaker and the ref called for the bell. Rude thought he won, but had been DQ'd. ** The Jumping Bomb Angels captured the WWF women's tag team title from the Glamour Girls winning two of three falls: Judy Martin pinned Itsuki Yamazaki at the first fall in 7:00 with the Devil Masami suplex. Second fall saw Yamazaki pin Martin with a sunset flip in 3:00. Finish saw Noriyo Tateno pin Martin after both girls hit her simultaneously with dropkicks off the top ropes in 5:00. Good match, but not great at all. "Tateno doesn't even look like the same girl who came to the U.S. about 10 weeks ago. Actually both the Japanese girls were missing moves and appeared physically to look out of shape. All the Japanese girls (well, except for Dump Matsumoto of course) are noted for their incredible fitness level, but Tateno looks like she's been training with Buddy Rose as of late." *** The Royal Rumble lasted 33:00 before Jim Duggan ducked a One Man Gang charge and Gang flew over the top leaving Hacksaw as the winner: Much better than anticipated and at least as good as the Bunkhouse Stampede. The camera work was great, and it was fun to watch. Dave says he loves watching guys run to the ring, because you can see who does real training, as opposed to weightlighting and needlepoint, by seeing how they run. He also felt you could tell by the order of entry how the promotion feels about the workrate of everyone involved. Bret Hart and Tito Santana were the best and opened the match, and Jake Roberts, Harley Race and Sam Houston were also in early, with "Anabolic Warrior", "Junkfood Dog", Ron Bass and Hillbilly Jim coming in late. "Gang, who most respect as a good worker for a slob, was in next to last." Junkfood was last, and got thrown out in 90 seconds. Dave wishes the faces and heels would have fought among themselves, but that can be excused for the WWF. "Dusty's thing was supposed to be $500,000 winner-take-all and Dusty and Animal on interviews talked about 'no friends' and the like yet they were constantly helping each other out. I know, who cares." ***1/2 The Islanders downed "the Barbie Dolls" in two straight falls: Both falls went around 7:00. "I actually saw a submission hold that worked on 'pushed' guys in the U.S. when Haku made Roma submit to a half Boston crab. I got so confused I went out for Oriental food afterwards. The Islanders are a good team because they carried this match from start-to-finish and it was basically good action." **1/2 The show also had the Hogan/Andre contract signing, which was well done, and Andre's back is said to be feeling better these days. "Every time I watch Hogan I marvel at the fact that people really eat him up." Dave thinks Vince could get Lee Harvey Oswald over as a babyface, although he couldn't do it for Mr. T or the Honky Tonk Man. He loves the Honky Tonk Man and Peggy Sue. Dino Bravo also attempted to set a world bench press record. The whole idea was that Bravo's bogus 715 pounds is tons more than Crockett's monsters will be doing on 01/30 if they plan on using legit weights, which was the plan at one time. Now, they almost have to gimmick it, because Warlord is the only guy who might have a shot at doing 600 lbs legit. -- According to the newspapers, Wrestlemania IV will be in Atlantic City, NJ, from the 16,000-seat Convention Center. Dave says he was surprised by this because he had heard that Vince was close to finishing a deal for Mania in Las Vegas for either the UNLV gym or Caesar's Palace. The plan is for the show to not be pushed all the heavily as a closed-circuit event, and more as a PPV event, but because so many people still aren't able to get PPV, he thinks the closed-circuit turnout will still be strong. Tickets will go on sale on 01/30. The best 2,000 seats will be freebies given to casino high-rollers. -- The Get Well Matilda write-in is the WWF's way of building up a mailing list for its merchandise catalog -- Dave gives Vince HUGE credit for this: Survivor Series had no chance of selling out, but Vince wanted the PPV audience to see a full house. So he gave thousands of tickets to Kiwanis clubs and Lions clubs to give to kids, and got lots of goodwill in the town fo rthe gesture. -- "Coliseum Video is coming out with a Best of George Steel tape and also WWF's Most Embarrassing Moments. Are you sure that isn't the same tape?" -- Dave says everyone is asking him to predict the finish of Hogan/Andre so here's his guess, because he doesn't know the finish: "DiBiase will interfere and Andre will pin Hogan on 2/5; however, Jack Tunney will prove he can't be bought and hold the title up so Ted doesn't get the title, and order a rematch in a cage at WM4 so Ted can't interfere (and also so Andre can lose without doing a job). Hulk will win on a fluke, and they'll run Hulk vs Andre over the summer in your local cities after the Hulk gets back from playing Hulk Hogan in the movies." -- They are back to trying to run a schedule of C team shows -- 1/17 at the Meadowlands drew 7,500 headlined by Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man; 1/18 in Hartford drew 7,500 headlined by Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man in a cage; 1/23 at the Capital Centre drew 8,000 headlined by a Bunkhouse Stampede won by Don Muraco -- There was this quote about Hogan in Detroit News: "He's nicer than Kirk Gibson, but not by much." Gibson has the rep of being a total asshole dealing with fans, especially kids. -- Billy Jack Haynes has missed several matches due to health problems. He has an irregular heartbeat which is under control with medication, but he hasn't been consistently taking his medication. -- Dave expects a big week of TV with sweeps coming up NWA -- The Bunkhouse Stampede: Dave says the card was about what you would have expected, and he says he's gotten a lot of negative feedback from people who were in attendance. He says as a pay-per-view production it was better than Starrcade, although the opening match was completely inexcusable and they should have explained all the wrestlers not appearing. Dave says they hyped Sting vs Mike Rotunda on TBS up to a half hour before the show started, and then just didn't do the match. Also, the show was advertised to start at 7:00, the tickets stated the show started at 8:00, and the show actually started at 6:35, so if you arrived at 8:00, you missed most of the show, and it was over by 9:00. Fans were chanting "Refund, refund" during the live show, and the crowd booed when Dusty Rhodes won the Bunkhouse Stampede. He still thinks the show could have worked with the right undercard, or at least some other changes to the show. There were also quite a few complaints about the camera work, specifically that they missed too much action. It's estimated that less than 7,000 fans were there. Dark match was Sting & Jimmy Garvin vs The Sheepherders, which was called "decent". Nikita Koloff went to a 20:00 draw with Bobby Eaton to retain the NWA TV title: "To say Nikita did nothing would be giving him more of a compliment than he deserves." Eaton took a few great bumps, but mostly held onto the hammerlock until the last 30 seconds or so when they had a slugfest. Stan Lane showed up after the match and they doubleteamed Nikita for a few seconds. Calls the match a candidate for worst match of the year, at -**. Larry Zbyszko pinned Barry Windham in 19:16 to win the Western States title: The match was built around Zbyszko working on Barry's "injured knee" from the TBS match with Tully Blanchard that aired over the weekend, and the last 10 minutes were excellent. Dave says Windham is fantastic at selling with his glassy-eyed routine. It was a good finish. ***1/2 Road Warrior Hawk beat Ric Flair via DQ in 21:39 with Flair retaining the NWA World title: Hawk did little early since this was going to be the longest singles match of his career. The heat really built when Flair was on the attack and Hawk sold his knee injury very well. Dave says while Flair's routine was predictable in some ways, there were some differences compared to his usual matches against muscle guys. He'd call it an excellent match outside the finish. There was a ref bump and then Flair was posted and juiced, and Hawk gave him a great superplex. The ref was knocked out for nearly 3 minutes and as Hawk had Flair pinned, JJ Dillon hit him with a chair and he didn't sell. Then Flair hit Hawk with the chair and Hawk kicked out before two, which Dave says was a mess up on Hawk's timing. Hawk then no-selled a Flair suplex, and Flair hit Hawk with a chair again, which the ref saw this time. ***3/4, which Dave would have given **** or more without the weak climax. Dusty Rhodes won the Bunkhouse Stampede finals in 26:21: Lots of blood, and it was as good as it could be. Brutal and bloody, and delivered on what was promised. Ivan Koloff was excellent and was the first guy out at 16:42, Animal and Warlord went together at 18:00, Arn/Tully/Luger went at 22:36, which left Dusty with the Barbarian. Dave says he's not a Luger fan, but Luger should have won this, and the fans started losing interest once he was eliminated. *** -- Dave says he's tired of repeating the same points over and over about the NWA's problems, although he admits that to their credit, they are fairly responsive to fans and he expects a major improvement in television in February with sweeps coming up. Dave also thinks the announcing is much better, and that at Starrcade, Jim Ross overstated every match too much, trying to get all of them over as a classic, and he didn't do that so much here. -- The plan is to start showing the finishes of matches the following week if they go off the air before the match ends. -- All the no-shows aren't exclusive to the Bunkhouse Stampede. They had a horrible card in Los Angeles on 01/21 with eight wrestlers not showing up. Most of the no-shows were due to wrestlers being pulled because of the costs of flights. Dave says all the no-shows can't always be blamed on the promotion, but fans do deserve explanation when someone isn't there who is advertised to be there. -- The lack of correlation with start times on shows is also not exclusive to Bunkhouse Stampede. There was a show in St. Louis on 01/17 that started more than an hour late because the wrestlers were late coming from Charleston, WV. -- Dave says it wasn't a good week for them, because they hurt themselves in both New York and Los Angeles. He does think changes are coming, but they may be coming too slowly. -- TV ratings are up and the shows have gotten better. -- A key difference between the NWA and the WWF is that for WWF shows, fans come to see the stars, and for NWA shows, fans come to see the action. Dave says the NWA has great wrestlers, but the schedule is killing them, and doing cross-country double shots on weekends and making for bad cards. He says they need new talent in the worst way. In recent weeks, they lost Terry Taylor simply because they had a vendetta against him for leaving in 1985 and decided to take it out on him now. They lost Bubba Rogers, who had a great gimmick and had become good in the ring. The Rock & Roll Express quit because they were unhappy about their push, although Dave thinks they've been on borrowed time for the last 9 months or so. The odds of Steve Williams returning are "less than 50/50 for reasons that anyone who has followed the plight of the UWF can understand." Sean Royal has also quit, and Chris Champion, Brad Armstrong and Eddie Gilbert have disappeared. There are other wrestlers who also want to get out. -- Dave really thinks Ric Flair should be turned babyface, because he's the top heel and is more popular than anyone in the promotion despite being a great heel. But he says it can't be done right now because of the Luger turn and that they don't have another heel anywhere near capable of carrying the top spot. He also thinks Dusty Rhodes should turn heel and feud with the Road Warriors, but knows that will never happen. The treatment of Flair is an old issue, but he doesn't know when they'll realize the reason they can't draw with Flair as heel champ anymore is because they've killed his credibility. -- Dave says he can't call himself a WWF fan, he does watch their TV show and has worlds of respect for what they've done in improving the business. He thinks they're only going to get better over the next two years, and deserve to be congratulated for being such a success. But he still insists the NWA's problems have nothing to do with the WWF's success, at least for the most part. He says yes, the WWF doesn't help by counterprogramming their PPVs and locking them out of major arenas around the country, and they do put paranoia about losing wrestlers in the NWA, which does lead to Dusty pushing himself more because he knows Vince won't steal him. -- Regarding Dusty, Dave says he knows that it's hard to step down from the spotlight, because Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantel, Muhammad Ali, Johnny Unitas and Antonio Inoki also couldn't do it. Dave says what happened to Larry Holmes on Friday night is an example of something that any sports or pop culture figure has to face at some point. He says because wrestling is a work, Father Time isn't brutal in the same ways, but in some ways it can be even more cruel because fans turnover so much faster than in sports, and "yesterday's legend, especially a regional one --- well, I'm going to stop here because I'm writing once again what I didn't want to get into this week." -- The Crockett Cup will take place in April. The site will be announced in a few weeks. Dave says while it sounds markish to suggest it, Crockett really needs to establish a working relationship with a few other territories for this tournament, because their talent roster is so thin, especially now compared to the same time frame the year before. -- Correction to previous story -- Starrcade did a 3.3 buyrate (20,000 of 600,000 potential homes), not a 6.6 buyrate. It was reported that the Bunkhouse Stampede cleared 6 million shows, but Dave doesn't buy that. He doesn't think the show did anywhere near a 3.0 buyrate, although the last minute hype was pretty good. -- 1/17 in St. Louis drew 5,900 and a $50,000 gate headlined by Ric Flair vs Michael Hayes in a cage match; 1/14 in Norfolk, VA drew 4,000 headlined by Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes in a cage match; 1/20 in Honolulu, HI drew a near sellout 7,200 headlined by Ric Flair vs Nikita Koloff; 1/21 in Los Angeles drew 3,000 headlined by Ric Flair vs Michael Hayes; 1/23 in Cincinnati, OH drew 3,000 headlined by Ric Flair vs Sting -- Michael Hayes has quit and is expected to return to World Class -- "There are personal reasons why Nikita's matches have been so bad as of late as his head isn't into them. He may be taking a sabbatical shortly. Please don't jump to the conclusion this is drug related, in fact it's nothing he has any control over" -- If Steve Williams doesn't return, the UWF title will be forgotten and no unification match will take place -- Dave says he saw the the Windham/Blanchard match mentioned last week and really liked it, but it was obvious based on crowd reaction that fans didn't. He wants to talk more next week about the value of doing 30-minute matches that "tell a story" for today's audience. -- 2/6 in Charlotte headlined by Luger & Windham vs Flair & Arn is being advertised as the first time Flair and Luger have ever opposed each other anyway. Dave says he's not surprised they forgot Luger's Florida days, but just four days earlier, on 2/2 in Miami, they have Flair & Blanchard vs Dusty & Luger as the main event. -- Rick Steiner will be back shortly as part of Kevin Sullivan's Varsity Club -- The NWA will return to Houston in March -- Road Warrior Hawk's interviews have been killer lately. He had a neo-Nazi line in a recent promo, but was just quoting The Breakfast Club. He also had this zinger: "The difference between me and you, Ric Flair, is that if we had a bet for $1,000 and I lost, I wouldn't pay it." MEMPHIS -- To clarify what was reported the week before, The Gilberts coming in are Doug and Tommy, and Eddie is still with JCP. -- The 1/18 Hennig vs Lawler match saw Larry Hennig come to the ring with Curt. Before the match, Curt said that if he beat Lawler (Lawler's $10,000 ring was at stake against the AWA title), he would give his dad the ring as a present. The finish saw Larry give Lawler the axe before Curt pinned him. However, when Larry was given the ring, Lawler stole it back from him. -- 1/27 will have Lawler & Dundee vs The Rockers, who are calling Lawler and Dundee "The Over The Hill Gang" on TV. -- 1/23 in Jonesboro, AR, was said to have a great main event, Lawler vs Terry Taylor at ***1/2 with tons of strong nearfalls. -- Prelim wrestler Jerry Bryant was recently diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease at 37 years old. SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING -- The latest taping on 01/24 drew 630 fans for Bruiser Brody. -- Austin Idol tried to hold them up for more money recently, which is why he's suspended in the storyline. -- The lighting at the first taping was pretty bad, and the sound at the second taping was pretty bad, but Dave is told they've worked these problems out now and fans are really enjoying the shows. -- When Condrey and Rose were AWA tag champs, they were scheduled to do a show, but Condrey didn't appear. Comrade Busich subbed for him, so Paul E. Dangerously grabbed the mic and said "Ladies and Gentelemen, Ravishing Randy and Comrade Busich, the substitute Original Midnight Express." GLOBAL -- This group deserves high marks for taking a terrible live show on 1/22 in Davie, FL, and sweetening it so much with strong post-production that it aired as a polished and flashy TV a few days later. It was a crowd of 550, half of which were kids who were admitted for free, so they drew a $2,000 gate. It started 30 minutes late, there were long delays between matches, and the ring mic didn't work, so the fans didn't know the wrestlers' names. -- Dave says the group doesn't have much talent, but they are great at putting together a TV show, equal to WCCW and superior to the NWA and AWA. CONTINENTAL -- Ranger Ross showed up on 1/11 billed as the Alabama champion. He beat Moondog Spot in a fictitious match. He already appears to be gone, though. -- On TV, they had a bench press contest between Lord Humongous and Doug Furnas. They used gimmicked weights, and Humongous did 645 lbs. Furnas then did the same amount twice before Humongous pushed the bar down on his chest and injured his ribs. Their matches are pathetic. -- 1/18 in Birmingham drew 500. -- They are bringing in a wrestling bear for the 1/25 card, which Dave thinks is desperation. -- Charlie Platt is co-announcing with Gordon Solie, which is an addition for the better -- Dave needs a new tape supplier for Continental AWA -- Paul E. Dangerously may be coming back as the manager of Curt Hennig WCCW -- The Hood is Jeff Gaylord -- The Fantastics vs John Tatum & Jack Victory matches have been really good. Overall, TV has been strong lately, although still not as good as Stampede or the WWF. STAMPEDE -- Shows continue to draw near sellouts. 1/9 in Edmonton drew 1,200 in a 1,300-seat building. Standout matches from the show were a Garfield Portz vs Brian Pillman bloodbath at ***3/4; Chris Benoit vs Great Gama at **** and Jason the Terrible vs Makhan Singh at ***. 1/15 in Calgary drew 1,500. 1/23 in Edmonton drew 1,250. Ratings by Trent Walters. -- Bad News Allen was out of action this week because he was on tour with Antonio Inoki in Italy for some cards run by Dominic Denucci. He's scheduled for WWF TV tapings in the coming week, but is scheduled to be back in Stampede for 1/29 and 1/30 cards. He will continue working weekends until he goes full time with the WWF. -- Dave says "Rip Rogers' queer act has been done too many times in this territory to make it and his work is below par" -- Jason is now an honorary member of Bad Company (Brian Pillman & Bruce Hart), which Dave thinks is hilarious because he's wearing two masks, the white outpatient uniform, a bandana around his head, and a black laeather jacket. -- Bad News and Jason were both fined for brawling outside the ring and injuring fans. -- Leo Burke will be in during early February, and Owen Hart returns in the middle of the month -- Keichi Yamada is scheduled to be back in March or April CENTRAL STATES -- Mike George won the WWA World Title tournament before a crowd of 800 fans in Kansas City on 01/23. The tag titles are still held up. 1/15 in St. Joseph drew 608 fans. PUERTO RICO -- Keiji Muto is headed in. NJPW -- Konga the Barbarian will be on the next tour, which could be weird if Crockett shoots a big angle at the weight lifting challenge on 01/30 and Barbarian has to leave 3 weeks later. -- Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura won the IWGP tag titles from Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kazuo Yamazaki on 01/18 in Tokuyama. Originally, they were going to defend against Choshu & Super Strong Machine, but Choshu injured his knee earlier in the week and had to miss the match. Choshu has really bad luck, because he was probably supposed to win. -- 1/11 TV was headlined by Inoki & Takada vs Williams & Hart, which was excellent. Choshu vs Sawyer was also good, but Choshu seemed uninterested. -- Wrestling has been awesome lately, but crowds have been lower than ever: 2,100 on 1/5, 1,620 on 1/6, 1,430 on 1/7, 1,760 on 1/9, 1,430 on 1/10, which shows how much the 12/27 show killed business. The 12/27 TV show drew a great 11.0 rating, but the following week, they were in the 8.0 range again. -- Dave still can't believe they've phased Choshu down so much. He lost steam from the Maeda incident and the whole 12/27 fiasco, which hurt everyone. -- Vader has been given the biggest TV push of any foreigner in recent memory, including Hansen and Brody, but still gets no heat. -- The Owen Hart/Hiroshi Hase match on 01/04 was ***1/2, but still disappointing. Several of Hase's amateur wrestling friends were there and Owen also has a great amateur background, so they wrestled on the mat freestyle for six or seven minutes. Even though it turned into a good match, and Hase's Northern Lights suplex is the best move in wrestling, Owen showed his lack of experience after not recovering from missed moves. Meltzer predicts Hase will win Best Technical Wrestler next year once more people see him. -- Steve Williams was scheduled to leave on 01/20 so he could work the Bunkhouse Stampede, but he sent word that he wasn't coming back and plans to work exclusively in Japan. He was unhappy about his contract with Crockett, and he realizes he can make a good income only working 16 weeks a year in Japan. Still, it wouldn't surprise anyone to see him go to the WWF, since he's close to Duggan and DiBiase. -- Good news for Inoki. They're moving TV to Fuji TV on Saturday afternoons, which isn't a great timeslot, but is much better than the one they would have had otherwise. -- Rumors abound that Inoki will face Koji Kitao at the Tokyo Dome in a mixed match in April. If it takes place, it would draw a huge crowd. Kitao denies the story, but Dave is told the match would easily draw a $1 million gate if it happened. AJPW -- The next series will be from 02/20 to 03/11 and will include Stan Hansen, Terry Gordy, Joel Deaton, Joe & Dean Malenko and Rocky Iaukea Jr. -- There will be a big "Martial Arts Olympic" show on 4/2 at the Sumo Hall in memory of Ikki Kajiwara, the creator of the Tiger Mask comic strip and cartoon. The show will have wrestling from both AJPW and JWP, boxing and shoot boxing. -- Nippon announced that when baseball season starts, they're moving All Japan TV to 10:30-11:30pm on Sundays. Baba always loses his Saturday night primetime slot when baseball begins, but is usually moved to Saturday afternoons. -- Baba recently turned 50 and stated he has no plans to retire. -- Buddy Landell is looking good on tour, but not getting pushed. He even went to a draw with rookie Akira Taue. Dave is unsure about Taue's future although Baba is high on him. -- Dave finally saw the Hennig/Tiger Mask match. It wasn't horrible, but there was no heat and little action, and the AWA title is pretty much dead as a touring title now. JOSHI -- Yukari Omori's retirement ceremony will happen on 02/15. She had already announced that if she couldn't beat Chigusa Nagayo on 01/15 that she would retire. -- Due to all the retirements, Pairatu Kuma and Drill Driver will be the new masked top heel team, while Bull Nakano will replace Dump Matsumoto as the top heel. Yumiko Hotta and Mitsuko Nishiwaki will be pushed as a new tag team. OTHER -- Thanks to Justice B. Hill of Detroit News for writing nice things about the Observer in the 1/17 issue -- A reader told Dave he was being offensive by using the term "abortion" to describe a bad match. Dave said this is an industry term, but there are other industry terms that are offensive to minorities that he doesn't use, so he'll stop using it going forward.

149. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Gordy (Texas Tornado Match) (1/21/85) This is a match I suspect most other people will have ranked higher than I do, because in many ways, it's a pretty good "sampling" of Mid South -- four of Watts' favorites duking it out in a Texas Tornado match with blood and chaos and excitement. It's definitely not a bad match. But it's not really a good match either. It's just a bunch of brawling that doesn't really flow, or have any type of build to it from an opening to a finish. A bunch of guys kick, punch and clothesline each other for 12 minutes with no shifts in momentum or anything of consequence happening before someone gets randomly pinned. It's why I'm not a huge fan of Texas Tornado matches, especially Texas Tornado matches where the camerawork isn't all that great and seems to miss a lot of stuff. I still feel like this is where it should be. It's better than the #150 match, but rewatching it didn't really have too much effect on my opinion.

150. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) So there was nothing particularly wrong with this match, but at around 6 minutes, it just wasn't going to hang with the bigger matches on this set. I feel confident after rewatching this that it's where it should be in the bottom spot. That's not to criticize it, as I think they made pretty good use of the time they had, but it's not really anything special. There are still a few things worth noting. It's interesting to see how DiBiase works with JYD. It was mentioned recently that years ago on WOL, Ted said that he knew he couldn't have great matches with JYD, so he tried to have great matches around him. And you can see him creating lots of fast movement off of Irish whips and doing lots of brick wall spots off of JYD's punches that worked pretty well. As with most Mid South matches that are No DQ, it typically doesn't mean the match is going to be worked any differently. When Borne was about to jump off the top rope, illegal in Mid South, they still made effort to position the ref where he wouldn't see the spot. When Duggan ran in for the finish and hit Olympia with his helmet, the ref was positioned out of place for that as well. It's also worth noting that if you go just by studio crowd reaction, even heyday Junkyard Dog can't really compare to the Rock & Roll Express as a top babyface act. When watching the earlier matches, I really thought that people were being too hard on the wrestlers for the dead crowds because it wasn't arena wrestling and you can't really hold it to the same standard. You still can't, of course, but when the Rock & Rolls came in a little over a year later, they showed that it's still possible to have a really heated tag match in a really small building. The peak of this feud was the Loser Leaves Town match on 10/27/82 with the gorilla finish, in terms of delivering a strong match, booking a great finish and heating up the studio. This one you can pass and not miss much, unless you're a completist.

I'm not sure how much PPV can accomplish without prime time TV time to promote it. Even then, there are no guarantees.

So I have finished watching the entire set. Here is how I have everything ranked after a first viewing. Now, I plan on watching everything again from what I have ranked as #150 to #1 and then submitting a final ballot, so these rankings could easily change. As I do that, I want to try to do a full review on each match. But here's where they all are for now: 1. Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair (6/1/85) 2. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) 3. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death (9/15/86) 4. Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor (5/3/87) 5. Buzz Sawyer vs. Dr. Death (1/28/86) 6. Ted DiBiase vs. Terry Taylor (7/3/85) 7. Hacksaw Duggan vs. Buzz Sawyer (11/11/85) 8. Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed (8/10/85) 9. Dirty White Boys vs. Terry Daniels & Bill Dundee (5/11/85) 10. Terry Gordy vs. Hacksaw Duggan (8/3/86) 11. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death (6/22/86) 12. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (5/3/85) 13. Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch (9/22/85) 14. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (6/8/84) 15. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (4/28/85) 16. Ted DiBiase vs. Brad Armstrong (2/10/85) 17. Ted Dibiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage match ) (3/22/85) 18. One Man Gang vs. Big Bubba Rogers (4/19/87) 19. Chris Adams vs. Terry Taylor (4/19/87) 20. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (6/30/85) 21. Ted Dibiase vs. Jim Duggan (No DQ) (3/8/85) 22. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Brickhouse Brown, Bill Dundee & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) (11/16/84) 23. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (5/11/85) 24. Dick Murdoch vs. The Nightmare (7/14/85) 25. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death (9/28/86) 26. Buzz Sawyer vs. Jim Duggan (Dog Collar Match) (12/27/85) 27. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) 28. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) 29. Chavo Guerrero vs. Steve Keirn (no DQ loser is painted yellow match) (1/31/86) 30. Dick Murdoch vs. Barry Windham (7/11/87) 31. Terry Gordy vs. Terry Taylor (6/13/86) 32. Ted Dibiase vs. Jake Roberts (7/22/85) 33. Buzz Sawyer vs. Butch Reed (Dog Collar Match) (12/31/85) 34. Butch Reed vs. Skip Young (9/23/84) 35. Ted Dibiase, Dr. Death & Jim Duggan vs. Masked Superstar, Dick Murdoch & Buzz Sawyer (1/31/86) 36. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death (12/28/86) 37. Eddie Gilbert & Dick Murdoch vs. Lightning Express (7/21/87) 38. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Jake Roberts & The Barbarian (7/14/85) 39. Dick Murdoch vs. Dr. Death (6/13/87) 40. Ted DiBiase vs. Bob Sweetan (Taped Fist) (10/11/85) 41. Terry Gordy vs. Terry Taylor (6/17/86) 42. Chris Adams & Terry Taylor vs. Eddie Gilbert & Iceman Parsons (3/20/87) 43. Rock N Roll Express vs. Jake Roberts & The Barbarian (6/28/85) 44. Butch Reed vs. Dick Murdoch (10/14/85) 45. Terry Taylor vs. Jake Roberts (2/11/86) 46. Terry Gordy vs. Dr. Death (12/26/86) 47. Gustavo Mendoza vs. Brett Wayne Sawyer (5/9/86) 48. Ted Dibiase vs. Ric Flair (11/6/85) 49. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/4/85) 50. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) 51. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (7/2/84) 52. Jake Roberts vs. Lord Humongous (Cage Match) (11/29/85) 53. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar vs. Brett Sawyer & Al Perez (1/19/86) 54. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (5/3/85) 55. Butch Reed vs. Ric Flair (11/8/85) 56. Brad Armstrong vs. Ted DiBiase (1/16/85) 57. Jake Roberts vs. Ric Flair (11/24/85) 58. Ted DiBiase & Terry Taylor vs. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts (Country Whipping Match) (10/12/86) 59. The Fantastics vs. Dr. Death & Jake Roberts (4/14/85) 60. Butch Reed vs. Ric Flair (10/11/85) 61. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84) 62. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) 63. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) 64. Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death vs. Dick Murdoch & Masked Superstar (2/14/86) 65. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (No DQ, Dark Journey In A Cage) (2/28/86) 66. Ted Dibiase vs. Butch Reed (7/25/85) 67. Terry Gordy vs. One Man Gang (9/21/86) 68. Dusty Rhodes & Jim Duggan vs. Butch Reed & Hercules Hernandez (8/19/84) 69. The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (Mexican Death Match) (1/24/86) 70. The Fantastics & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (7/20/84) 71. Magnum TA vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (Tulsa 5/27/84) 72. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (OKC 8/9/84) 73. The Fantastics vs. Sting & Eddie Gilbert (9/7/86) 74. Eddie Gilbert & The Nightmare vs. The Bruise Brothers (12/31/85) 75. The Fantastics & Dr. Death vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (1/18/87) 76. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (Scaffold Match) (12/2/84) 77. Rock N Roll Express vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (2/13/85) 78. The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (12/29/85) 79. Hacksaw Duggan, Terry Taylor & Bill Watts vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (8/17/86) 80. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) 81. The Fantastics & Missing Link vs. Eddie Gilbert, John Tatum & Sting (8/3/86) 82. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) 83. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (4/28/85) 84. Magnum TA v. Ted DiBiase (7/6/84) 85. Ted Dibiase & Dr. Death vs. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts (Lumberjack Match) (8/31/86) 86. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) 87. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) 88. Eddie Gilbert & Dick Murdoch vs. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (6/25/87) 89. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) 90. Terry Taylor vs. John Tatum (8/17/86) 91. Ted Dibiase vs. One Man Gang (No DQ) (2/6/87) 92. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (6/19/85) 93. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) 94. Ted Dibiase vs. One Man Gang (11/18/86) 95. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) 96. Dick Slater vs. Butch Reed (1/1/86) 97. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) 98. Hacksaw Duggan, Terry Taylor & Bill Watts vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (7/20/86) 99. Ric Flair vs. Wahoo McDaniel (7/12/85) 100. Koko B. Ware vs. Eddie Gilbert (2/28/86) 101. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (No DQ) (9/28/84) 102. Magnum TA vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (OKC 5/27/84) 103. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes (Badstreet Match) (1/25/87) 104. The Fantastics vs. Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell (9/22/85) 105. Butch Reed vs. Dick Slater (11/22/85) 106. Michael Hayes & Buddy Roberts vs. Ted Dibiase & Terry Taylor (5/25/86) 107. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (1/21/85) 108. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (1/1/86) 109. The Fantastics vs. John Tatum & Jack Victory (11/4/86) 110. The Fantastics vs. Buzz Sawyer & Dick Slater (10/27/85) 111. Jim Duggan, Dick Murdoch & Bill Watts vs. Kamala, Kareem Muhammad & Skandor Akbar (7/28/85) 112. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Rock N Roll Express & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) (1/18/85) 113. Ernie Ladd & Butch Reed vs. Magnum TA & Master G (Street Fight) (11/4/84) 114. Ted DiBiase vs. Dick Murdoch (No DQ) (12/31/85) 115. Ted Dibiase vs. Dick Murdoch (12/27/85) 116. Ted DiBiase vs. Bob Sweetan (10/13/85) 117. The Fabulous Ones vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (12/27/85) 118. Terry Taylor vs. Buddy Roberts (6/8/86) 119. Brickhouse Brown & Master Gee vs. Butch Reed & Ernie Ladd (10/21/84) 120. Eddie Gilbert vs. Dr. Death (5/17/87) 121. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) 122. Dick Slater vs. Hacksaw Duggan (12/31/85) 123. Chavo Guerrero vs. Buzz Sawyer (6/13/86) 124. Hacksaw Duggan & Dick Murdoch vs. Kamala & Kareem Muhammad (7/14/85) 125. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) 126. Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. The Fabulous Ones (Texas Tornado Cage Match) (2/28/86) 127. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) 128. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (2/14/86) 129. Dick Slater vs. Hacksaw Duggan (4/11/86) 130. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes (Badstreet Match) (1/9/87) 131. Dick Murdoch vs. Dr. Death (9/20/85) 132. Butch Reed v. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) 133. Al Perez & Wendell Cooley vs. Dr. Death & Bob Sweetan (8/30/85) 134. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (4/15/85) 135. Adrian Street vs. Terry Taylor (Loser Leaves Town) (12/7/84) 136. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) 137. Dick Slater vs. Jake Roberts (1/24/86) 138. The Fantastics vs. Dutch Mantell & Bill Dundee (10/4/85) 139. Ted DiBiase, Dr. Death, Terry Taylor & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Dick Murdoch, Buzz Sawyer & The Masked Superstars (2/28/86) 140. Rock N Roll Express & Butch Reed vs. Dr. Death, Kamala & One Man Gang (2/25/85) 141. Dick Slater vs. Butch Reed (No DQ) (12/13/85) 142. The Fantastics & Terry Taylor vs. The Sheepherders & Jack Victory (5/9/86) 143. The Fantastics & Terry Taylor vs. The Sheepherders & Jack Victory (Barbed Wire Cage Match) (5/25/86) 144. Killer Khan v. Chris Adams (9/9/84) 145. Kevin Von Erich vs. Chris Adams (1/18/85) 146. Adrian Street vs. Chris Adams (10/10/84) 147. Dick Slater vs. Dr. Death (12/18/85) 148. Rock N Roll Express vs. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (6/24/85) 149. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Gordy (Texas Tornado Match) (1/21/85) 150. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82)

Seriously, what's the deal with Daniel Puder? The guy took down Kurt Angle in a throwaway Smackdown segment practically everyone except Meltzer has forgotten about.

It's also not really that big of a deal, considering how often Jim Ross screws up names. If it happens frequently, it's more of an issue. I'm not coming down on you specifically, I just think people are making too big a deal of one mistake. But I guess you never really do get a second chance to make a first impression.

I would think they would "work" a breakdown.

Live appearance by Britney Spears only getting a 4.0? No way. Yes, people would absolutely tune into RAW who hate wrestling for the sole purpose of seeing Britney Spears, as long as it was promoted properly. I'm thinking 7.0+, maybe even higher.

Yes, this is hilarious.

I'm not totally convinced that a lot of Britney Spears stuff isn't worked angles to keep her visible in the tabloids. I'm not saying I don't think she has any problems, but I am saying I think some stories are probably exaggerated or embellished for entertainment value. That said, I'm just really curious what type of rating RAW would get for a show built around hyping an appearance on live TV from Britney Spears. That's probably the only thing I could think of that could seriously shatter their own TV ratings records.

Something funny -- they were upset within WWE when she shaved her head, because they thought that would be the natural angle they could do to draw money and attention.

So I doubt there's anything to the rumors, although the WON said that all the Britney talk on TV lately has been planned, and the feeling is that Michael Hayes and Brian Gewirtz know things they're not telling anyone. But between the ridiculous amount of TV ratings it would draw, along with the sure-to-be hilarious stories of her having heat in the WWE locker room for showing up in Shawn's colors or puking on the Undertaker after a drinking binge, I sure hope there's something to it.

WWF -- Opening line in this WON read "February 5, 1988 -- Is it the end of the beginning or is it the beginning of the end? This prime time network stuff is tricky business." Dave said that the suggestion that the show will not be a success is ridiculous. Dave said Titan's syndicated package is in overdrive, and we can expect to see Hogan and Andre all over the talk show circuit over the next few weeks. Dave says Hogan/Andre may end up as the most watched wrestling match in the history of not just the US, but also the world when it's all said and done, and will crack the top 25 in the overall weekly ratings, and maybe even the top 15. But where it's tricky is that if it's a success, it will be done again, and that this likely will not be the last prime time special. The advantage is also that wrestling is cheap programming for the networks. "If it can deliver competitive numbers in prime time for this 'pilot,' which I'm certain it can do, what will come next? A weekly prime time television spot on the network? Don't scoff." Dave says think of how unlikely it was just four years ago at this point that wrestling would ever be on network television at all. Dave said every big thing the WWF has done in the previous year -- TV ratings for Saturday Night's Main Event, Wrestlemania III, Survivor Series, the Slammys -- has been a tremendous success from a business standpoint, and that a track record like that does appeal to networks, and not just NBC. Dave says the chance of a competitor like Crockett getting a similar shot is unlikely, but he suspects if the WWF continues to grow that someone will initiate some talks. "But Crockett's group, at least in its present form, can't get on the air. I don't believe the two sides could ever agree on the format of the show, Crockett ultimately wouldn't agree to give up enough creative control to make it work, and lastly, no network would ever put on a show when the showcased star would be you-know-who. Not on a network, folks." Dave says he could see in fall of 1989, a desperate network offering a weekly prime time series to the WWF. Dave doesn't think the WWF can put on interesting enough shows on a weekly basis and keep strong numbers for the long haul, and questions if Vince will be smart enough to NOT pursue a weekly series if he gets the opportunity. Meltzer says they benefit from only airing once every two months on NBC, and if problems surfaced in terms of falling ratings, wrestling would be dropped pretty quickly. Dave does admit, however, that within just one season, there is potential to make so much money "that would make today's standards look infantile." But he also wonders if Vince could pass that up, or if he even should pass that up. "Why worry about the future anyway, wrestling could collapse with a huge scandal on a moments notice (highly unlikely, but possible at any time)? Just some questions to ponder when you watch the show on 2/5. -- The pressure is on Hogan and Andre. They can't have a good match because of Andre's condition, so they need a good finish. Dave again states Hogan can't win cleanly because it would kill Wrestlemania, and it would take at least another year to build someone up as strong as they've built up Andre. Andre going into WM as champion has been talked about, but concern is there about it hurting Hogan, since the public is fickle, and why take the belt off Hogan at all if the public is into it? -- The Iron Sheik is returning after all. -- It's unknown where Wrestlemania will be, but definitely not at the Superdome, as the arena is already booked for 03/27, as is the Silverdome. Dave is told they will be in a 20,000-seat arena, although the people who know won't tell him where it's going to be. -- Joel Watts quit his job working in TV production for the WWF (My note: WHAT?) and is looking to get out of wrestling -- There is a Saturday Night's Main Event scheduled for early March -- 1/16 in Chicago drew 10,700 headlined by Hogan vs DiBiase; 1/14 in Waterloo, IA drew 2,500 and a $27,000 house headlined by One Man Gang vs Bigelow; 1/16 in Sacramento drew 10,000 headlined by Savage vs Honky Tonk Man; 1/9 in Boston drew 13,903 headlined by Hart Foundation vs Strike Force -- Circulation of WWF Magazine has increased from 135,000 to 213,000 in the past year -- Hercules and the Ultimate Warrior ("Anabolic Warrior") are scheduled to feud. "The could have fun with stipulations here," Dave added. NWA -- Dave pretty simply says that the Bunkhouse Stampede PPV is going to fail. He says doing a strong pay-per-view should have been their first priority, but the hype and the card itself are pretty subpar. Dave says they had to show they could be successful, because it's inevitable that the cable companies will compare them to the WWF. Dave says this failure will make it harder for him to get the Crockett Cup on PPV in April, especially if Vince puts the pressure on and is coming off of a strong Wrestlemania IV. He says the low number of clearances they've made is more of a statement about the marketplace than it is Crockett. "Nobody seems to care about the Stampede, and the hottest match in the promotion right now would be Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger, and that's what you go with on your big PPV show, whatever is the hottest at the time. I know they want to save Flair vs. Luger for later, but the long-run potential of PPV is more than important enough to sacrifice a little in short-run house income." -- Dave is surprised Dick Murdoch is now the highlight of the promotion. Not only did he have a great match with Nikita Koloff (not good or decent, but great), but is doing hilarious interviews. Dave jokes that someone told Murdoch before the match that he was actually wrestling in Tokyo and that Inoki shaved his head, so Murdoch did his usual New Japan carry job and it looked great. Dave says he doesn't expect their barbed wire match on 2/6 in Charlotte to be that good. -- Dusty, JJ Dillon and Crockett are all moving to Dallas, and their wives are houseshopping. -- 1/15 in Richmond drew 6,500 for a TV taping to air on 1/23. Dave was told a really disappointing Windham vs Tully Blanchard maatch was taped, and that fans lost their interest, because it was slow paced and too long at 27 minutes, and Barry spent the whole match selling a leg injury. For the finish, Tommy counted 1-2 and then stopped, before looking at the replay and calling for the match to be restarted. Flair and Arn did a run-in and Luger made the save. They attack Luger 3-on-1 and try to get Windham to help them, and fans are jumping into the ring and trying to attack the Horsemen, but are being dragged out. Luger and Windham shook hands at the end, so Dave says this should end talk of Windham as a Horseman. Dave thinks they are going to use this angle to kill time to figure out who the fourth Horseman should be because they have no candidates. Meltzer thinks it should be Steve Williams, but he's being downplayed, and his next choice would be Ron Garvin. -- Flair and Dusty were in Chicago on 1/12 for the Bulls/Celtics game. Both did halftime interviews on TBS talking about how much they hated each other, but were sitting next to each other in the stands with Jim Crockett. Dave says he admires their efforts to try to get their stars over, but Tuesday night basketball isn't Letterman or the Grammys. He said, still, it was a move in the right direction, but next time, don't sit next to each other. -- 1/16 in Philadelphia drew 7,500. It was a bad show, and Dave thinks all the wrestlers are starting to look run down all the time because of the hard travel schedule. -- Starting this coming weekend, the TBS Saturday morning show is supposed to start airing arena main events -- 1/1 in Columbus, OH drew 2,300 -- Mike Rotunda is now wearing a singlet that says Syracuse on it and playing a geeky and preppy jock, which Dave thinks has been entertaining -- Nassau had 7,000 tickets to the Bunkhouse Stampede sold 10 days before the show - not a sellout, but respectable AWA -- The Midnight Rockers are now the tag champions. The storyline, which they were forced to do after the fact, was that the 12/27 match against Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose ended with a double pin, but when Stanley Blackburn reviewed the tape, he overruled the referee and made the Rockers the champions. The actual story is that the Original Midnight Express have quit the AWA. Announcer Larry Nelson said on TV, "We have heard a rumor they got hurt." Rose wasn't making any money and wanted a guarantee to make it worth his time to commute from Georgia. Condrey had a guarantee, but it was cut by Verne Gagne, so Condrey quit on the spot. There was talk of them coming back and jobbing the belts in the ring, but Verne simply decided he wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Dave says he has heard varying stories on Paul E. Dangerously -- both that he's still with them and that he's not with them -- but that Paul E. was not at the last TV taping. The Rockers are still wrestling instead of Memphis and not in the AWA, but everyone expects that to change soon. -- Tom Zenk is in and will probably get a good push, but Dave worries that Verne will bank on him too much. Zenk coming in is why Verne has been hesitant to really push Nord the Barbarian all that hard, although he's probably the most over wrestler in the Twin Cities at this point, aside from Hogan. They are afraid to push him too much because they don't think he will stick around. WCCW -- The Freebirds (Gordy, Roberts & Parsons) won the 6-man titles from Kevin Von Erich, Steve Simpson and Chris Adams on 1/4 in Fort Worth. Prior to the match, the Birds attacked Kevin his dressing room, so Matt Borne subbed. Kevin did interfered, which caused a DQ, and in WCCW, a title can change hands on a DQ. -- "It was funny on TV during the match where Kevin & Adams & Simpson won the titles on 12/25 when Mark Lowrance said how this match was the final of a tournament that had been taking place all over the country for the past several months. Now I realize that deceit is oftentimes so ingrained into the fabric of wrestling promotions, and certainly moreso this one than most others, but will somebody explain to me what purpose it serves to lie when even the stupidest fans know you are lying? I mean, everyone knew that Simpson had been out of action for months with surgery to repair the torn retina in his eye. It had been mentioned regularly on TV, so how could he have been competing in a tournament? Moreso, Roberts & Iceman were working for Wild West these past months while Gordy had first been in the NWA, then Japan, and none of the three had worked in the same promotion for five months or so and none had been in World Class until the Mantell takeover." -- They are now plugging Mantell's wrestling school as the World Class Academy of Wrestling. It was formerly called the UWF Training Center. Right now, they are pushing Jason Sterling as a recent grad although he has been wrestling for about a year. -- Dave thinks Eric Embry does one of the best piledrivers in wrestling -- They are phasing out Steve & Shaun Simpson in favor of The Fantastics -- Angel of Death is around on interviews, but not wrestling, still recovering from a knee injury -- Dave says while most of what Ken Mantell is doing is a repeat of 1983-1984 WCCW or 1986-1987 UWF, he did come up with a new good gimmick called Thunderdome, which will happen on 1/22 in Dallas. It's a 10-man tornado match with Kevin Von Erich, Kerry Von Erich, The Fantastics & Chris Adams vs The Freebirds, John Tatum & Jack Victory. There are five handcuffs in each corner. The match is in a cage and is under elimination rules. When a man gets pinned, he gets handcuffed to the ring ropes. When all members of one team are beaten and handcuffed, the other team gets the key to the cuffs and can remove the cuffs on all the members of its team that lost falls earlier. Then the ref leaves the ring and the winners have five minutes with the losers. Dave says it's a great idea that he thinks will draw a sellout. -- Fritz update: he's taken a turn for the better and will start doing interviews on TV over the next week -- Ownership percentages! (My note: Come ON, Dave, stop reporting on this) Mantell owns 30% of the company, but the company has restructured. In the new contract, he is the Managing General Partner which means he calls all the shots. "All I know is Fritz has called at least one shot," Meltzer adds. -- Steve Corey helped WCCW revive spot show business for WCCW. The national touring idea, which Dave says was ridiculous, has been scrapped, but Corey wants to do a show in combination with a Martina Navratilova vs Chris Evert-Lloyd tennis exhibition. "Can you think of a dumber idea than trying to combine a women's tennis exhibition with pro wrestling matches on a single promotion?" The tennis players balked at the idea, and the show, scheduled for 1/9 at the Superdome, was cancelled. MEMPHIS -- Another week and STILL no heel turn by Lawler or Dundee (My note: This is starting to become a running gag.) Their 1/1 match, which drew less than 3,000, ended with a ref bump. Dundee had Lawler pinned after the ref bump for several seconds when a debuting Terry Taylor did a run-in and gave Dundee a DDT. He also started beating up Lawler. When the ref recovered, neither guy could answer the bell so the match was a no contest. -- Gary Young and Rick Nelson are new in the area. Nelson was one of Crockett's TV jobbers until the past week. "The Gilberts" are also being announced as coming in, but Dave doesn't know if that's Doug and Tommy, Doug and Eddie, or Eddie and Tommy, but should know soon. He says it may also be Eddie and Missy Hyatt. -- Dave says Memphis has a ton of talent right now, but the chemistry isn't there -- Hector Guerrero has left -- The Nasty Boys are still working spot shows, but not major cards, and are rumored to be AWA-bound -- Taylor is doing a great job as a heel, which doesn't surprise Dave at all -- "Tijo Khan now has a green tongue like George Steele. Fortunately he doesn't wrestle like Steele." -- Mark Guleen, manager of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, has already been let go, because he was pretty bad. The only manager in the territory is Nate The Rat, who is all comedy and manages jobbers. -- They announced the Rockers as AWA tag champs on TV, so apparently the Southern tag titles will be put up in a tournament shortly -- Rumors are that Lawler is going to win the AWA title from Curt Hennig and drop it back at the AWA TV taping in Vegas in February. Later in the issue, Dave updated this, stating that it just isn't going to happen. STAMPEDE -- The 1/8 card in Calgary drew 1,300, another good crowd for this group -- Because the Olympics are coming to Calgary in February, Stampede will move from the 2000-seat Pavillion. They will run shows on 2/12, 2/19 and 2/26 in a 1000-seat building -- Phil LaFleur has left the territory, with the storyline reason being that Garfield Portz injured him with a piledriver on the arena floor CONTINENTAL -- Moondog Spot returned and won the Alabama title from Tom Pritchard on 1/3 in Montgomery, AL. This was a surprise because the Moondogs were set to start in Oregon this week. OREGON -- The 1/17 show in Renton, WA drew 500 AJPW -- Fabulous Lance no-showed the recent tour. NJPW -- The UWF itself folded and will be closing its office. In December of '85 and '86, Akira Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Osamu Kido negotiated as a group and had their own business office. With Maeda out, they were just absorbed into New Japan. Yamazaki will end up being kept after all, and Maeda may return as well, although Dave has heard varying stories there. The UWF guys are no longer allowed to wrestle a different style or sell their own merchandise at the matches. -- Dave can't believe Takada is going to do a job for LEON WHITE (My note: HA!) -- Dave says it's pretty unsatisfactory for Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami to feud but never meet in a singles match, but reunite without the feud ever getting resolved. He says whatever success NJPW has is not because of its booking, but in spite of it. JOSHI -- AJW is about to face some major challenges, as both Dump Matsumoto and Yukari Omori are set to retire in spring. The rule of thumb is that the Japanese girls have to retire when they reach 26, and Omori just passed the limit. Dump is 27, but had the rule waived because she was such a strong draw and no one was there to take her place as the top heel. They have been working on phasing her out in favor of Bull Nakano and Condor Saito and will phase her out completely within the next two months. Dump wants to continue wrestling and tour North America. Dave says that used correctly, Dump would not only make women's wrestling in the US, but also be one of the five most over personalities in the country, especially if she was let loose and given a huge push. Because of her gimmick, Dave actually thinks her chances of getting over strong in the US are even stronger than they were in Japan, and that among Americans in Japan, Dump seems to be the star that resonates the most. "Literally, she would have the impact of a Road Warrior, or at least a female version." Dave says with the Jumping Bomb Angels being so successful in the WWF, that could open up a spot for her, but it would phase out all the American women except Leilani Kai, because the Japanese women are so much better in the ring. Dave points out that of the 8 top draws in AJW, five (Devil Masami, Omori, Dump and the Jumping Bomb Angels) are no longer working there, and that Chigusa Nagayo can't carry the box office alone, no matter how over she is. Dave says the pressure on Chigusa, Bull Nakano and Lioness Asuka is really strong, and they know they need to create new main eventers. On the 1/15 card in Tokyo, Chigusa defended the WWWA title against Omori. The match went 31 minutes to a double countout, and Omori announced after the match that she would be retiring. Dump's retirement announcement has not been made, but will be in a few weeks. PUERTO RICO -- WWC now has television airing in New York on Ch. 41 out of Paterson, NJ. TNT was the standout star of the show, getting a huge pop and looking great in the ring. Dave says he understands why everyone raves about him, but he's still not totally convinced he's great, although he admits he's the best native wrestler in the territory. They also showed a clip of a Samoan Swat Team vs Invaders match, with Samu looking awesome, which shouldn't surprise anyone RATINGS COMPARISONS -- Some good news is that the NWA's TV ratings slide seems to be over and they are rebounding. For the week of 12/20, The Wrestling Network was in the top 15 of syndicated programming with a 5.6 national rating. The rating peaked at 7.9 only five months prior, but dropped to the low 4's in the build to Starrcade. The All-Star Wrestling Network (AWA, Pro Wrestling This Week, CWA and POWW), has 119 stations compared to The Wrestling Network's 184 stations, but has a 6.3 national rating, which put them at number 12 on the list. Dave says the fact that the ASW network has more viewers with so many fewer stations points out that improvements need to be made to Crockett's syndication, although they appear to be moving in the right direction. The WWF was number 4 on the same list with a 9.9 rating on 222 stations. HOUSEKEEPING -- Dave will be on KCBS radio (740 AM) with Ted Robinson on "Sportsbeat" on Tuesday, February 9. The WON Yearbook is also completed. "Its actual title is 'The Best of the Wrestling Observer, Volume I: 1983-1987', which is kind of a misnomer since the 'best of' pages really only contain material from 1983-85, although there is a long feature on the wrestling scene year-by-year throughout the past five years." (My note: I had no idea this existed.) OTHER -- Jerry Blackwell's Southern Championship Wrestling TV taping on 1/13 drew 400 in Marietta. Dick Slater said on an interview that when he was through in the territory, he would be more hated than Bill Watts. Brody accidentally called heel Grizzly Boone Grizzly Smith in a promo as well. Bill Dromo, the figurehead president, suspended Austin Idol, who actually no-showed, for his attack on Tommy Rich at the previous taping. Bill Mulkey worked the card and got squashed by Nick Busick. Randy Mulkey wasn't there, but the Mulkeys are expected to work full-time here once they're up and running. Randy "Don't Call Me Pee Wee" Anderson is also working here. Dave is told the production values increased greatly since the first taping, and that clips aired on Pro Wrestling This Week. In the Idol/Rich angle, Rich cut an artery in his head and bled all over the ring, to a point where they could barely air it. There is talk of Stan Hansen and Jerry Lawler coming in soon. The next taping is 1/24. They'll have TV in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Tallahassee, Greensboro and parts of Georgia. -- Global now has Gordon Solie doing the TV and is billing itself as Florida's only wrestling promotion. The Malenkos are the best workers, and Solie talks about them as heels and discusses how much fans are booing them, but they're actually getting major cheers and are the most popular stars in the territory. Adrian Street and Cousin Junior are coming in.

I will disagree with anyone who says Shelton Benjamin's Mama. I'm unsure why they dropped that, because she was awesome.

WWF -- It's official. The WWF's first primetime special will be on 2/5/1988 from 8pm to 9pm and Dave is told it will be shot live, from the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Top matches announced are Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant, Honky Tonk Man vs Randy Savage, and Hart Foundation vs Strike Force. Dave says it's almost scary what the TV ratings will be, as they've got a main event that will do more to interest the general public than any other potential main event. Dave says without a doubt, this will be the most watched wrestling show in the history of the United States, and he gives the WWF tons of credit for doing a live show with a weak Andre in the ring. Since the show will only be one hour, at this point, those three matches are the only ones schedule to air. The plan is to set up the big angles for Wrestlemania, which means Hogan probably won't pin Andre. But Dave says the challenge is still to do a good and memorable finish, but that also the ending has to be a major fluke, as Hogan matches usually have less interest the second time around. Meltzer says Hogan vs Ted DiBiase at WM is certainly a possibility, but he thinks holding up the title is a stronger possibility, because they have to end the show with Hogan posing, and Hogan can't pose if he loses the belt. Meltzer also says Andre beating Hogan won't mean much, and that regardless of the finish, Andre will look strong, Hogan will find Andre's weakness, and then they'll go right to the finish. This will be the first time Andre has been in the ring since Wrestlemania III for longer than 70 seconds. -- Additional matches announced for the Royal Rumble special on USA are Ricky Steamboat vs Rick Rude, Don Muraco vs Butch Reed and Dino Bravo attempting to bench press 700 pounds ("and I'm next in line for pope," Meltzer jokes.) Meltzer doesn't understand why the WWF is even doing this show, considering that they go out of their way to always say they aren't in competition with any other wrestling promotions, and says the date being the same as their PPV and the bench press attempt from Bravo right before the bench press challenge with the Road Warriors in the NWA isn't just coincidence, and Animal and Hawk can't bench anywhere near 700 lbs. There's also Titan running Bunkhouse Stampedes. -- The WWF has signed Big Bubba Rogers, feeling that Hogan needs fresh challengers. The rumor is that Bubba will not be able to take the name and gimmick with him, but he doesn't believe the NWA ever trademarked it. He is scheduled to start on 1/26 in Hershey, PA, but for legal reasons, it may be pushed back. -- The lawsuit regarding Ricky Steamboat "attacking" a fan during the throat injury angle with Randy Savage has been settled. In legal papers, Patricia Thurston of the Broome Volunteer Emergency Squad stated that she was seriously hurt when Steamboat "violently struck" her. The squad was standing by on authorization from the WWF and was only to be called if someone was seriously hurt. Apparently, David Furgoli, an employee of the WWF, informed the squad that Steamboat was "seriously injured" after they shot the angle and the incident happened when they went to help Steamboat. The lawsuit stated that Steamboat struck her so hard that she had injuries to her chest, ribs, sternum and back. The WWF was also sued because Bruno Sammartino said "Incompetency on the part of those paramedics, there, don't you agree," on commentary during the angle. The squad's position was that the wrestling world was broadcasting to their audience that they were unfit to do their jobs. They also claimed that the WWF violated New York state Civil Rights Law by televising Thurston. They demanded $400,000 in damages, plus $750,000 more in punitive damages. The claim was settled out of court, and neither side will reveal the amount of the settlement. Dave says when he looked back at the tape, he didn't see anything, and was told it was actually Jesse Ventura who made the comment about the paramedics, not Bruno. -- Tom Zenk's legal problems with the WWF were also settled out of court, as the WWF sued Zenk for $70,000 for breach of contract. He'll have to give Titan a percentage of his earnings in 1988, but it will be a much smaller percentage than the WWF originally wanted. The whole deal was that the WWF wanted to make an example out of him. -- The 1/5 TV tapings in Huntsville, AL, drew 8,500 fans, a near sellout. Angles of note were The Islanders and Bobby Heenan coming out with a leash with no dog attached, petting an invisible dog, and Ted DiBiase buying the contract of Andre the Giant from Bobby Heenan. -- Hogan and Savage apparently work far better together than Hogan and Piper did, because Savage and Elizabeth have no problems whatsoever staying in the background and letting Hogan take center stage. Hogan and Piper had a tougher time working together because both wanted to be center of attention. -- Paul Orndorff left and had lots of no-shows, leaving Rick Rude to carry the Ultimate Warrior on a few dozen house shows. -- King Kong Bundy is gone. He's doing PR work for Head Start Computers, and they want him full time for personal appearances. -- The Iron Sheik is apparently telling everyone he's returning to the WWF when he's not. -- 1/9 in Philly drew 10,083 and a $127,620 gate headlined by Savage vs Honky Tonk Man, 12/27 in Toronto drew 17,500 headlined by Hogan & Bigelow vs Bundy & DiBiase; 1/3 in Springfield, MA drew 1,900 headlined by DiBiase vs Bigelow; 12/28 in Richfield, OH drew 8,000 headlined by Hogan & Bigelow vs Andre & Bundy, 12/29 in Hamilton, Ontario drew 18,000 headlined by Hogan vs Butch Reed, 12/27 in London, Ontario drew 5,000 headlined by Duggan vs Harley Race. NWA -- "The line-up for Crockett's Nassau Coliseum card which will be broadcast nationally on pay-per-view head-to-head is one of wrestling's best-kept secrets of the year." In addition to the Bunkhouse final and Flair vs Hawk, they have Windham vs Zbyszko, Rock & Roll Express vs Sheepherders, Jimmy Garvin vs Stan Lane, Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton and Sting vs Mike Rotunda. "Maybe that's why they're trying to keep it a secret," Dave says. "Seriously, putting a half-ass undercard together for the first PPV attempt makes no sense." Meltzer suspects they will have trouble even selling tickets to the live show, and there's still no word on how many potential homes they've cleared. He's heard 6 million, but just based on phone calls from readers, he doesn't think it's anywhere nearly as widely available as Survivor Series was. They've also only reserved 1 hour, 50 minutes of time for the show, and Dave says it's silly that Titan has the better line-up on paper for their card, and it's also free. -- Dave can't believe Crockett and Dusty let Bubba Rogers get away. Bubba was under contract to JCP, but his contract was different in that it didn't guarantee a set salary, and the WWF wasn't afraid to go after him anyway because they would have no problems nullifying it if there was a legal battle. It was apparently just an oversight. Dave says if Bubba's contract would have been just like everyone else's and he was still able to leave, it would have set off a multitude of problems. -- Dusty did a promo on the Saturday TBS show with Bill Apter where he went crazy and started making vague bashes toward the WWF for stealing Bubba and copying the Bunkhouse Stampede. He was said to be very upset. -- They did an angle on TV hinting at Barry Windham being the fourth Horseman. Dave has no idea how that will turn out, although since a Windham vs Steve Williams feud is being teased, and Williams is rumored to be turning heel and joining the Varsity Club, it wouldn't make sense to turn them both. -- Jim Cornette is managing Dick Murdoch. Dave says Murdoch has been great on interviews and squashes. Cornette had an early candidate for line of the year when he told David Crockett he was the reason nepotism should be a capital offense. Dave has decided David Crockett should always be on TBS, because he is the source of so many laughs. He said to just keep him far away from play-by-play, which would cease to be funny in a hurry. -- More to the story about Joel Deaton. After he was given his notice by Crockett on 12/25 in Greenville, while driving home to Charlotte, he ran a red light and hit a card broadside, and the 23-year old woman who was driving the car died. He was arrested on 1/3 and charged with vehicular manslaughter, two counts of passing bad checks and possession of drug paraphenalia. He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. -- Killer Khan is working the NWA card on 1/20 in Honolulu, but Dave is unsure if it's a one-time thing or if he has signed long term. The only hint on TV of someone new coming in has been Eddie Gilbert saying he has a big surprise, which Dave thinks will end up just being Missy Hyatt being his valet again. -- The NWA has a 2/2 show in Miami at the Knight Center, which is the nicest arena in the city. The WWF had an exclusive on the building for years. They're running a full show, which Dave thinks will do really well. The WWF lost their exclusive because they weren't drawing well there anymore. Another newer and larger arena will be opening in Miami soon. -- They are holding a full card on 1/24 in Orlando, which is why so many wrestlers won't be at the PPV -- There are rumors that Mark Starr will be coming in to team with Chris Champion. The two are brothers. Champion still has a job, but is being kept off the cards until they figure out what to do with him since Sean Royal is gone. The New Breed gimmick is history. The plan was originally for them to turn heel and feud with Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner. -- 12/29 in Albuquerque drew 3,984 headlined by Dusty Rhodes vs Dick Murdoch and a Bunkhouse Stampede won by Lex Luger; 12/27 in Norfolk was headlined by Flair vs Hayes. Correction to previous gate report, as the 12/26 show in Philly actually had a $93,064 house instead of a $75,000 one. -- Sting and Barry Windham are starting to be pushed as a tag team. WCCW -- There is an article about the Von Erichs that will be in an upcoming Penthouse Magazine that Dave thinks will send shockwaves through the wrestling community, and he suspects Fritz will sue, although he doesn't think Fritz has any credibility. -- Marc Lowrance on TV: "Things aren't going well with Fritz and he may have to be readmitted to the hospital. He's not out of the woods yet." Dave says the unwritten moral code in wrestling is that you can't maim, but not kill, and they are trying to move to the right side of the line by telling fans Fritz isn't going to die, while also continually worsening his condition. -- Now Dave is hearing Ken Mantell owns 50% of the company, Kevin owns 25% and Kerry owns 25%. Fritz still has a lot of power also. -- The 1/2 show at the Sportatorium, with all seats $5.00 and beer just 50 cents not only sold out at 4,000, but turned another 1,000 away, which shocked everyone. But on 1/4 in Fort Worth, they were back down to 350 fans. 1/8 in Dallas was supposed to be headlined by Terry Gordy vs Al Perez, but had to be cancelled due to bad weather. MEMPHIS -- For the second week in a row, nobody turned heel in the Lawler/Dundee feud, although Dave thinks Dundee will turn soon. The story will go that regarding their match on 1/4, where Lawler put his ring up against Dundee's $5,000, Lawler would lose and then Dundee would put a stop payment on the check. They would then be rematched again, this time with Dundee putting up the money in cash, and Lawler again putting up the ring. The matches have been total brawls, but neither has turned officially and on TV interviews, both are subtle heels but are both cheered, although Lawler gets cheered more. The 1/4 show drew 3,500 fans. -- The biggest surprise as of late is the announcement on TV of Terry Taylor returning as a heel and feuding with Billy Joe Travis. Meltzer says that was a surprise to him, and would also be to Crockett if it's true, since they just put him over on TV the previous Sunday. Dave says they could do great things with a heel Taylor if it is true. Taylor/Travis is a first-round match in the $250,000, 6-month tournament. Meltzer updated this later in the issue, stating it won't be challenged by Crockett, since it was pretty well-understood Taylor didn't fit into their plans, and "let's just say they probably weren't all that heartbroken he quit before the contract came due". Taylor was also introduced on Memphis TV as the UWF TV Champion. -- Manny Fernandez turned babyface on the 1/9 TV. He did a huge patriotic interview about serving in Vietnam, despite that he would have still been in high school at the time the war ended. -- Shawn Michaels is apparently an awesome heel, but the problem is that it is not an act. -- Several of Dundee's trainees have debuted on TV, the best of which has been Todd Morton, who is even smaller than Dundee and resembles Ricky Morton. Dave says they will be billed as cousins, and they might even be cousins. -- Scott Hall is getting over well. His wrestling has improved, but he's still not really where he should be. The problem is that he's too big to work this territory. STAMPEDE -- They still drew 1,400 on the 1/1 show, even with Owen Hart, Bruce Hart and Brian Pillman all missing the show. -- Bad News Allen is leaving for the WWF, and will work as Bad News Brown. -- Bruce Hart is out of action with a legit broken shoulder, Pillman is on holiday vacation and Owen is in Japan until the second week of February. Instead of doing the typical injury angle with Owen, they are just announcing his tour of Japan and playing it up as a big deal. When Pillman & Bruce Hart return, they will feud with Great Gama & Garfield Portz. -- The WWF returns to Calgary on 1/19 in what should be a great card, headlined by British Bulldogs vs Islanders. -- Kerry Brown no-showed the 1/1 card and is probably done. -- Johnny Smith returned to England for Christmas, but should be back soon. -- 12/26 in Edmonton drew 1,150, 1/2 in Edmonton drew 1,225 in a building that holds 1,300 completely packed CENTRAL STATES -- First round pairings for the WWA World title tournament have been announced. The tournament will be on 1/23 in Kansas City. First round is Mike George vs Sweet Daddy Siki, Tommy Rich vs Masa Chono, Bob Brown vs Dave Peterson, Jerry Blackwell vs Dick Slater, Steve Ray vs David Schultz and Sgt Slaughter vs Cuban Assassin. Talk of all the independents working together for just this tournament ended up being just talk. The entire tournament is mostly made up of local guys, when the original plan was to bring in guys from Europe, Oregon and Continental for the show. -- Crockett cancelled the January show scheduled in Kansas City GLOBAL -- The Global Wrestling Alliance, a group that sold over-the-counter stock, had syndication start over the weekend. The show that aired was taped in Hollywood, FL, more than six months ago. Cyclone Negro, billed as their world champion, is no longer with them, nor is Bugsy McGraw. The best guys on the taping were said to be Joe & Dean Malenko, and Raul Mata. Dave says Mata was a big deal in California about 15 years prior. Dave is told production values are better than any independent in the country, and basically on par with WCCW, but the match quality is pretty bad. Bob Roop is the booker and Dr. Red Roberts is the general manager of the group. The two do Siskel & Ebert-style debates, with Roop acting as the babyface, discussing the storylines on each show. Roop is now over 300 lbs and doesn't wrestle anymore. They have a show scheduled on 1/22 just outside of Ft. Lauderdale with Iron Sheik vs Colonel Kirchner, Ox Baker vs Cousin Junior, Joe & Dean Malenko vs Rusty Brooks & Jumbo Barretta, and Ivan Putski and Adrian Street are scheduled to appear. Soulman Alex G, Bobby Wales & Black Magic are also getting pushes. CONTINENTAL -- The 1/4 Birmingham card drew 750, headlined by Dutch Mantell vs Wendell Cooley, in a match where if Cooley lost, he would have to leave town, and if Mantell lost, Cooley would get his contract back. The storyline was that from a previous match, Mantell won Cooley's contract and all of his wrestling money went to Dutch, so he had no money for Christmas. They did an angle where they showed his daughters on TV with no presents to open, sitting beside an empty Christmas tree. OREGON -- 12/26 Portland show drew a sellout, in excess of 3,000 -- The Moondogs will be in on 1/16 AWA -- Tom Zenk agreed to start working for the AWA. Zenk signed on the advice of Giant Baba, who wants to push him, but feels he has to make a name for himself in the US first. AJPW -- Terry Gordy, Stan Hansen and the Malenkos will headline the next tour in February. -- More talk of Hennig as a disappointment in All Japan. Weekly Pro Wrestling wrote that Hennig's match on 1/2 against Tiger Mask on opening night of the tour was the worst AWA title match ever in Japan. The next night, Hennig had to settle for a double countout with John Tenta, a mid-level guy, and on 1/4, he pinned Toshiaki Kawada. In his debut as champion, Hennig lost to Tiger Mask via countout. Dave is confused by all of this, and doesn't understand why Hennig wasn't pushed since he's the only "world champion" touring Japan at this point. Flair won't be returning because Crockett wants to work with New Japan, and even then, Flair probably won't be wrestling in Japan anymore. Hogan hasn't been to Japan since early '85, and Steve Williams' UWF title isn't recognized when he tours. Dave says he can't comment on the Hennig/TM match because he hasn't seen it, but those comments are pretty strong and will make it hard for Hennig to get over as a star in Japan now. NJPW -- More on the riot: It took an hour for police to stop it, and not only did the tear the building up, but almost sat it on fire. Dave says there was a similar riot when Hogan and Inoki had a fluke ending back in '84 at the old Sumo Hall, and also on March 26, 1987, at Castle Hall in Osaka, when Inoki vs Saito ended with a fluke. -- NJ has set up a "Best of 1988 Junior Heavyweight Tournament". It's round-robin, and the lineup is great with Norio Honaga, Keichi Yamada, Masakatsu Funaki, Tony St. Clair, Nobuhiko Takada, Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kazuo Yamazaki, Hiroshi Hase, Hiro Saito and Owen Hart. -- Steve Williams was planned to arrive on 1/9 and leave on 1/20 so he would be back in the US in time for the Bunkhouse Stampede. JOSHI -- AJW is now the most popular wrestling group in Japan, as the last two shows received 11.3 ratings on Saturday afternoons. All Japan's ratings are usually around the same level on Saturday nights in primetime, but in the afternoons, it's usually only between 6 and 7. New Japan's ratings have been around 8.0 or so. The feeling is that the most recent show probably did even better since it was Devil Masami's retirement show. OTHER -- The grand jury in Tennessee found there wasn't enough evidence for an indictment in the rape accusations against Rocky Johnson. The girl who charged Johnson changed her story multiple times, and the grand jury felt it didn't hold up and cleared him on Monday. -- Correction to previous story: the new head of the Pennsylvania Athletic Commission is Frances Walker, a former deputy of JJ Bins, not James Walker. -- There was a backstage fight on 12/29 in Miami at an independent show, between Blackjack Mulligan and Bob Roop. Mulligan is said to have beaten up Roop so badly that he needed medical help. There were problems dating back to when Roop booked Florida.

I'm about to post the next one.

Benjamin has been part of some fairly good stuff, but the knock on him was always that as a singles guy, he had more bad matches than good, and only really had good singles matches against good wrestlers.

The fact that Shelton Benjamin is still considered underrated shows me that HHH sure did a hell of a job laying out one particular match a few years back. Most of the results are spot-on.