khawk20

I'll respect your opinion on the WM III match but let me ask you, don't you think an Andre from 1984 would have been able to give a better match to Hogan than he did in 1987? I think he could have strictly on the idea that 1984 Andre was way more mobile and could do more than 1987 Andre.

Fair point. I guess the better way to say it is that they probably had a better chance at having a good match in 1984 than in 1987.

From a business standpoint I agree, but from the vantage point of actually having their big matchup, it would have been so much better to have that match in 1984 just because Andre was still somewhat mobile in the ring. But they waited, and it was probably the smartest thing that they ever did.

March 1984 Observer Recap, continued WORLD CLASS -JYD in Ft. Worth on 1/30 -Star Wars card at Tarant County Convention Center drew an announced crowd of 15,000. The building holds 12,000 and there was probably an honest 13,000 there. Main event was Adams/Sunshine over Garvin/Precious in the cage, with Adams regaining the American title in that bout. Also Flair went ten minutes with Mike Von Erich with Mike almost having Flair out with the sleeper at the end. From this Flair is to defend against David Von Erich—David gets to pick the ref and any stipulations he chooses to include. This bout is set for April. -As an aside, notes Flair and Harley set for a ten day tour of New Zealand, Malaysia and other areas from 3/19 through 3/28 with title matches every night. Thus the DVE-Flair hype won’t begin until after Flair returns from that tour. -Freebirds vs. Von Erichs was another Main event at Star Wars. Angle was that Kevin got beat up in the dressing room before the bout by the Birds. “Anyway, the 170-pound Superman who was to beat up on the World Champ later that night subbed for his big brother.” The ending was Kevin coming out and going berserk on the Birds, causing the Von Erichs to lose by DQ and thus allowing the Freebirds to legally return to Texas rings. -also on the card, Super Destroyers beat Parsons and Adidas in a clean cut best of three falls bout/ Parsons ended up with Akbar for five minutes after the bout but the effects of a superplex during the previous bout allowed Akbar to have control for 4 minutes and change. The final minute saw Parsons get in a few blows while Akbar ran. JYD downed Kamala when Missing Link interfered for the DQ. JYD moved and Link headbutted Kamala and they started to go at it. -basically the same card sold out the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio the previous night with the one difference being Flair vs. Kevin in the Main event -2/3 in Dallas drew an overflow crowd with Flair pinning Adams, David winning the UN title from Michael Hayes, David beating Gordy by DQ, Mike beating Buddy Roberts, Pero Aguayo beating Fishman and some other prelims. IT was the second largest crowd ever in the Sportatorium -SD 1 won the TV title from Adias on 1/9. Adias didn’t win a single match between Christmas and that title loss and this included a pinfall loss to Ken Mantell. -Rick Rood came in on 1/6 for the sole purpose of studying Jimmy Garvin so he could imitate him in Memphis -Kamala vs. Kerry is about the worst thing going in WCCW right now as Kerry slams him every night and Akbar refuses to pay him the $10,000 -Kamala and Link scored an upset in Dallas on 1/13 over Kevin and Kerry. Kevin and Kerry won a rematch by DQ two weeks later MID SOUTH - Magnum TA and Wrestling II won the tag titles on 12/25 from Reed and Neidhart. Reed and Neidhart split a few days later in a tag match with Neidhart becoming the babyface. -II and TA will feud with Condrey and Eaton and will lose the belts to them. TA and II may also split up. Cornette had his team tar and feather II on a tv taping to get things going -Watts established a connection to Memphis because he was paranoid of a McMahon invasion. Lawler, Terry Taylor, Koko Ware and Carl Fergie had all made appearances. Dundee is booking the circuit but not wrestling on it -1/20 loser leaves town 6-man with Duggan/Santana/JYD vs. Reed/Darsow/Volkoff saw Duggan lose. He is now in Florida -Oklahoma City is the best drawing city on the circuit right now with three straight 5000+ crowds. The headliner was the Garvin-Adams feud on those shows. -Darsow as a Russian sympathizer has come a long way and Dave regrets that he didn’t get better recognition in the previous year’s rookie of the year voting -Watts came out on TV and admitted he was the president of Mid South. Dick The Bruiser and Jerry Jarrett were in as visitors to TV tapings “One last note: Lots of people say bad things about the USFL. I will never do such a thing. The reason is that any organization that keeps Steve Williams out of pro wrestling is fine with me…I wish Dr. Death the best of luck in his tryout with the Denver Gold, or at least enough luck to make the team.” AWA-Harley Race in as a regular managed by Heenan. He would act as Nick’s policeman and eventually turn and feud with him. Notes Race apparently looks good in the AWA but says that considering the rest of the roster that isn’t surprising -Larry Zbyszko and Bruno Sammartino Jr are expected to come in by late march -1/15 in St. Paul was a disaster in some ways according to Dave, who then notes that “disaster” drew 11,000 people. “Considering it was the return of the Crusher, well, they will miss Hulk Hogan.” -recaps Lanza coming down during the Mulligan/Bockwinkel brawl vs. Vachon/Crusher and convincing Mulligan to abandon his partner and reunite the Blackjacks. Crusher hit “a six decade old Bolo” for the win after that. -other bouts saw Lanza beat Heenan in a Bunkhouse match, Saito/Ventura beat Robinson/Rheingans, Brunzell pinned Superstar Graham, and Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe but didn’t get the Jr. Title because he didn’t make weight. -also notes it was supposed to be Greg Gagne vs. Sheik Kaissie but Kaissie came out and claimed a broken leg. Blackwell and Patera attacked Greg and Crusher got run into a ringpost when he tried to make the save, so “daddy Verne” made the save. “The answer to the next question is yes”, says Dave. -notes that Ken Resnick’s ring announcing was met with “We want Mean Gene” chants, and that Gagne and Brunzel were both booed, presumably because of their connection to Verne who of course had just lost Gene and Hulk Hogan. Verne saving the day was not well received and apparently Jesse Ventura got lots of cheers. -notes that 2/26 would have Raschke/Brunzell vs. Saito/Ventura, Regal vs. Zumhofe and Lanza vs. Race. “Should be a thrill a minute”…(my note: Wow, Dave really hated the AWA even though it seems pretty clear by how he writes this that he didn’t see much or any of it regularly. The Blackjack reunion I know was absolutely a killer moment and the fans ate it up. Nothing strange about it, just a very cool angle, especially with the hated Bockwinkel taking a terrible beating after Mulligan left.) -1/3 in San Fran was a complete disaster drawing 1,000 for Bockwinkel-Rheingans and Vachon/Crusher vs. Saito/Ventura where Raschke interfered out of the crowd (my note—Raschke did this around the circuit in disguise and actually got held back by security in Winnipeg when he tried to make the save) -Annual Christmas skit saw Ventura and Saito break boards over Raschke’s head (sending Raschke to Charlotte) and “Greggie” saving the day CENTRAL STATES -Blanchard won Central States title on 1/26 in KC beating Buzz Tyler -the promotions revolving door policy made things messy was Bobby Fulton left with the TV title so Buck Robley booked himself to win the tourney for the title in Des Moines. -1/13 in KC saw Les Thornton regain his Jr. Title beating Ron Ritchie and Bob Brown/Buzz Tyler/King Cobra over Blanchard/Kirby/Luke Graham -1/19 saw Robley/Brody lose to the Grapplers via DQ -1/26 saw Flair in to retain his title over Harley Race in Race’s first rematch since losing the title back to Flair in Greensboro. Also Kamala vs. Brody for the fourth time was a no DQ bout that ended up with Brody, Kamala, Friday, and Robley all brawling back to the dressing room for a No Contest. Dave heard it was very bloody -Youngbloods supposed to be in on 2/2 -“Even stranger is the booking of Tommy Rogers. Now the Rogers Wrestling here is not the third Sawyer brother who wrestles in Georgia. (my note—huh?) Nevertheless TV announcer Rick Stewart bills him from Atlanta and says things like “I can’t believe how much he’s changes since Alabama.” The guy he saw in Alabama is the guy now in Georgia. “He’s bulked up and trimmed down and changed his looks completely”. How can one bulk up and trim down at the same time?” -Dave eliminates Stewart from Announcer of the Year consideration… -thinks that Tiger Mask, aka Ken Wayne, is the best guy on the circuit. *** More area recaps to come including Montreal, Mid Atlantic, Toronto, Southeast, Florida, the Maritimes, and more.

Really?

March 1984 Observer Recap, Continued Month-By-Month Best Bouts Dave saw in 1983 Jan 17, Memphis: Jerry Lawler and Koko Ware vs. Wild Sabu and Bobby Eaton -brawl included Lawler slamming Eaton on the press table, Sabu being slammed onto Eaton on that table, the table breaking, and that table being thrown onto Jimmy Hart -Ware hits perfect missile dropkick from the top rope on Sabu and Ware landing standing after a double backdrop to hit a double dropkick on the heels, one leg hitting each of them -Ware and Lawler executing 4 piledrivers on Sabu and Eaton -Lawler catching Hart, choking him and decking referee Jerry Calhoun when he tried to break it up for the DQ Feb 18, Dallas: Freebirds vs. Von Erichs -first 6-man meeting between the two teams, non-title, and it was a lumberjack match although the lumberjacks had little to do as the action stayed mostly in the ring -12 minutes of back and forth brawling, ending with Kevin knocking Gordy back while he tried to piledrive david and David scoring the pin -Dave notes that this was undoubtably the first of many sellouts this feud would garner in Texas rings Mar 4, Tokyo: Khan/Saito/Chosu vs. Kimura/Hamaguchi/Teranishi -ten minute bout with several sensational moves including Teranishi hitting a top rope dropkick and Hamaguchi’s blockbuster suplex -endind was “incredible” as Hamaguchi was trapped in the heels corner and took a suplex from Chosu, a Khan back suplex right on his head, a Saito front suplex, a vertical suplex from Chosu, a Chosu/Saito stuff piledriver, and topped off by a Khan kneedrop off the top rope into a Scorpion leglock by Chosu. Kimura seeing the end near tore the top rope off the turnbuckle and used it to choke Chosu who was on the opposite side of the ring. Kimura team was DQed as a result. April 23, Tokyo: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask -tons of action in the first three minutes and eventually ended in a double countout after a dive saw both men trapped on the other side of the guardrail and unable to get back into the ring. The crowd chanted “encore” so loud that they decided to go at it again. -Dynamite hit “the most sensational diving headbutt I’ve ever seen” -Ende dup being a battle of suplexs and piledrivers until Kid broke a beer bottle on the ringpost and brought it into the ring, where he proceeded to headbutt the referee. The Ref refused to DQ him and they kept battling. Tiger hit s suplex and piledriver on the floor, and somehow Dynamite got up and piledrove Tiger, at which point both men collapsed and were counted out of the ring. May 9, Memphis: Moondogs vs. Stan Land and Jackie Fargo -four minute bout that saw Fargo and lane use everything not nailed down as a weapon and Keirn coming to the ring with a 2 x 4 to brain the Moondogs until the bout was just stopped (I assume a N/C). June 2, Tokyo: Hulk Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki -notes that although there was 20 minutes of solid action, the ending and aftermath were what made the bout memorable. -recaps Hogan no-selling an inziguri but selling a poorly hit dropkick, and then the lariat on the apron to Inoki that ended up KOing him outside the ring. -the bout was ruled a draw by the ref but another referee/official came into the ring and discussed how bad a draw verdict would look. After ten minutes the decision was changed to a win for Hogan and with it the IWGP Championship. It was later revealed that Inoki had a concussion and was subsequently out for several months July 23, Landover: Jimmy Snuka vs. Don Muraco -19,000 fan sell-out with no undercard of note at all -peak of their feud and probably one of their best bouts of all. -Muraco switched a vertical suplex in mid-air to a facebuster -Don bled freely as Snuka pounded on him -ending was Muraco pulling the ref in between him and a Snuka splash attempt and the ref DQing both wrestlers Aug 4, Tokyo: Riki Chosu vs. Tatsumi Fujinami -Fast paces scientific feud spotlighting Fujinami using Chosu’s best holds against him like the Scorpion Deathlock -Fujinami also hit a superplex -Fujinami hie Chosu with a back suplex on the floor and an Enziguri and then jumped back in the ring for a countout win to regain the International Title Sept 5, Fort Worth: Von Erichs vs. Freebirds-typical 6-man between the two (read: highly entertaining) with Hayes getting a pin on Kerry for a shocking victory Oct 17 New York: Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka -notes bout wasn’t the greatest but the tension in the arena and the ending were incredible -noted that the sellout crowd (lists attendance at 26,300—felt forum overrun, I assume?) was shocked by the ending (Muraco getting out after a Snuka headbutt) as they had never seen a heel win a cage match before -dive from Snuka onto Muraco was “incredible” Nov 24, Greensboro: Harley Race vs. Ric Flair -said that the bout could never have lived up to it’s hype but surprisingly, it did (my note: feh.) -ending was messed up because Race never reacted well and Flair’s dive was poorly executed but those were minor blemishes on a classic match. (my note—surprised that no commentary was given on how piss-poor Kiniski’s refereeing was in this bout). Dec 8, Tokyo: Chosu/Yatsu/Hamaguchi vs. Fujinami/Kimura/Maeda-Dave never thought he would see a better match than the march 6-man bout, but he did here -bout was “suplex city” -Fujinami was the best wrestler in the match -ending was a double countout when the teams hit the floor for the third time in the match WRESTLING NOTEBOOK WWF -Hogan’s title win recapped (26,300 attendance noted again..overflow to Felt Forum noted) with the unbelievable heat in such a short bout noted. 180 degree turn from the Sheik-Backlund bout the month previous -biggest run on tickets and scalpers had a field day after Backlund was replaced in the title match with Hogan -2/20 card has Hogan-Orndorff on top and Tito vs. Muraco which would either see Tito win the title or end his hopes, and Atlas/Johnson/Puski vs. Slaughter/Chung Lee/Fuji (Dave notes that this would likely see Slaughter get pearl harboured by the heels to set up his face turn) Crowds good in core markets, noting 15,700 for Sheik-Santana title match in Philly on 1/21, 1/28 LA Battleroyal selling out the Olympic at 11,104 -Ohio was not successful so far—Cinci and Dayton only drawing 1000-1500, roughly the same as the competing Ole Anderson promotion -notes disappointment with the Kiel TV show although Adonis and Murdoch are tremendous in their squashes. First Kiel card upcoming on 2/10 -Detroit was drawing 2000-2500. Vince brought in Cannon, Cannon gave up his TV time to him, and “Cannon should really have known better”…lol… -Mangon Managoff (Jerry Graham Jr.) was brought in as the heel manager for the St. Louis tapings but was let go after Piper was signed. -Bob Backlund’s status is a mystery. He was pulled from many major shows due to the shoulder injury but wrestled at several others. Speculates Bob might be gone from the WWF or out of the business completely in the next while and noted that Arnold Skaaland was out of the WWF as part of Vince’s “centralization of power plan”. -WWF surprisingly pulled out of San Fran and San Jose, noted as a surprise because of how bad the AWA was doing. TV would be on in Sacramento in the spring -other expansion plans include Indianapolis very soon and everyone was assuming the AWA was just around the corner at this point -Greg Valentine would be coming in and this was seen as a huge blow to the Carolinas. Brian Blair had debuted in December but hurt his hand and would re-debut shortly once it was healed up -Slaughter vs. Sheik were set to feud. Slaughter already receiving about 75% cheers against his face challengers in the arena and 90% on TV -Piper would have a segment replacing “a vapid Victory Corner” -Hindsight tells Dave that Sheik as interim champ was a tremendous mistake and it should have been Muraco. Sheik-Backlund rematches did not draw well and he asks if this was really the fans being sick of Backlund more than anything else -Dave was disappointed that Hogan got the belt so quickly and notes there were rumours of a Hogan-Andre match at Shea that summer happening, with Andre getting jealous of Hogan as the scenario that would create that match-up (which would “most certainly draw”) ALL-JAPAN -12/12 Tag Tourney finals (Hansen/Brody vs.Tsuruta/Tenryu) best bout he saw in the tourney -Flair vs. Kabuki was good if you consider that Kabuki was in it -Mil Mascaras received poor reports from his tour of Japan and might not be back -Lizmark being brought in as World Middleweight Champion to be their new Mexican superstar -Baba/Dory vs. Tsuruta/Tenryu 45 minute draw on 11/29 in Sapporo was surprisingly good -Terry Funk would likely wrestlea series in 1984 “if he indeed did come out of retirement” -January tour included Steve Olsonowski, Kelly Kiniski, Gypsy Joe, Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, Lizmark, and others. Tour did well but Hayes/Gordy vs. Baba/Tsuruta for the tag titles could not sell out Korakuen Hall (a relatively small venue). Freebirds controlled almost the whole match but a bloody Hayes was counted out at the 17:14 mark -Most reports on the Freebirds quite good in their debut as a team in Japan -Feb-March series had David Von Erich, Brody, Irwins (as Super Destroyers), Smirnoff, Chavo Guerrero, Jerry Morrow, and Koko Ware. Bockwinkel to be in 2/23-2/29. -DVE appearance is to further expose him before his title victory, which Dave hopes doesn’t happen NEW JAPAN -Hishashi Shimna now managing Sayama, notable because it was Shimna’s tyranny that Sayama said caused him to retire. Sayama was the source of all the news stories about New Japan for the past several months (behind the scenes stuff), it was his source of income (getting paid for the stories he leaked out) and his Martial Arts school -notable stories traced to Sayama include Fujinami being named as the primary force in getting Inoki out, then Fujinami betraying Sayama and retaining Inoki’s favor. Almost every wrestler was furious over Sayama being a leak to the press and that was why he couldn’t go back. Inoki and Sakaguchi regaining power left Shimna on the outside and his looking to hook up with Vince McMahon was seen as a revenge type of ploy (as noted earlier that Vince wanted to go to Japan quickly in early 1984) -Dave figures despite having access to guys like Hogan, Andre, Superstar and Adonis, Shimna would need one of the Japanese heavyweight superstars to come over to ultimately be successful. -Baba and Inoki to co-promote card in August. Baba hates Shimna. -Adonis and Murdoch were better than Dave thought they were -Andre was generally poor in his last tour here with the exception of a couple of bouts -other wrestlers in were Dusty Rhodes (Generally disappointing), Abdullah, Bad News Allen. _Inoki vs. Dusty was reported on as “bad matchmaking”. Bad News broke it up before the fans fell asleep -Chosu/Hamaguchi scored their biggest win beating Inoki/Fujinami in under 7 minutes -coming in March were Murdoch, Adonis, Stomper, Grappler, Duncum, Sammy the Samoan and Jim Neidhart. Coming in April would be Masked Superstar, Don Muraco, Elijah Akeem and Kareem Muhammad, Hercules Ayala, Bruce hart, and Mike Sharpe. WEST GERMANY -promoter Nicolai Selenkowitsch ran a 41 day tour from 11/10 to 12/20 that drew nearly 100,000 fans Otto Wanz pinned John Studd on the final night to retain the CWA title in front of 9400. -Klaus Wallas declared the tourney winner SOUTHWEST-a few bright spots including a few dates that Brody came in and drew 3500 in Temple, Texas and 4700 in San Antonio on 1/28. Both were for bouts against Voodoo Malumba (Big Red Reese). The San Antonio crowd was the biggest in 14 months. -other bouts from 1/28 included Dick Murdoch and Manny Fernandez over Sheepherders by countout in a match so bloody that when Butch Miller had to legit go the hospital after the bout they thought he had been in a car wreck upon his arrival there. Embry/Timbs won by DQ over Morton and Gibson, Al Perez over Killer Brooks by DQ and Adrian Street over Scott Casey via DQ -the SA crowd is even more impressive when you consider that WCCW came in the very next night and drew 13,000. -all Sheepherders bouts are absolute gorefests and Manny Fernandez’s bouts are just as bad blood-wise -thinks Southwest group’s wrestlers work harder than WCCW ‘s guys on spot shows. Notes Embry/Timbs vs. Mexican Connection (Replamago Leon and Buddy Moreno) bouts as being really good. -Gino Hernandez fired again for missing several bookings -Southwest sent a four bout tour to the East Coast. They drw 800 in Fall River, Mass, and 200 in Providence. Some WWF promoters screwed by Vince Jr. were part of the venture to bring in the Southwest guys. NEXT TIME: More area recaps

March 1984 Observer Recap -On the Cover (yes, there was a cover): An “In Memoriam” picture of David Von Erich. TOP STORY: David’s death recap. This was reported straight up as acute enteritis. The shock of this in both Japan and Texas was reflected on, with Dave noting it was not known how this would affect business in WCCW in the immediate future. Dave also mentions that David was the strongest contender to win the World heavyweight title at that time. There is also a rundown of David’s career highlights and his pro debut is noted as being June 28th, 1977, going to a draw with John Studd. Notable quote: “He (David) had a flu-type condition for six weeks, but in our business if you can walk, you go out there. David was in no condition to wrestle. I feel very guilty about it. I’m very upset about it.”—Fritz Von Erich OTHER LATE NOTES(included here in the front of the newsletter with the DVE news because the David piece was actually added after this issue was put to bed): Tito Santana should be IC Champ by the time this publication gets to it’s readers…Dynamite Kid over The Cobra in the tourney finals of the WWF Jr. heavy tournament in Japan. Davey Boy 3rd, Kuniaki Kobayashi 4th…1st WWF show in St. Louis drew 13,000 at the Kiel and 2500 on closed circuit to see John Studd win a Battleroyal where he eliminated Hogan and Andre together as they were fighting each other in a corner. The card was taped as the WWF wanted to emulate the way WCCW did their TV (big matches, classy production) and so it could air in markets the WWF was breaking into for the first time, like Chicago and Columbus…Bob Geigel ran a show in St. Louis the week before and drew 10,700 (my note--!!!)…..Bruiser and Crusher to team again in Chicago (my note—went to a double DQ vs. Stan Hansen and Nick Bockwinkel on March 4th).. PULLING NO PUNCHES: Dave addresses the biggest, most talked about story in pro wrestling: the change/metamorphosis of Pro Wrestling itself. -notes Vince going head to head with Geigel/Verne/Harley in St. Louis -Vince possibly opening a third promotion in Japan as early as April -Lists many wrestlers rumoured to be leaving their current area and and notes the devastating effect that going to the WWF would have on their home promotion. Wrestlers rumoured included Orton, Valentine, Butch Reed and Brody -notes Sayama was supposed to return to MSG on 3/25 billed as “The Tiger” and how the plan was for him to be the WWF’s top draw overseas -every major promoter except Eddie Graham was forming a NATO-type of alliance with one or more other promoters to help fight off WWF invasion. Even Baba and Inoki were planning a joint card for the middle of the year to counteract any potential McMahon forays into Japan -Dave correctly noted that despite the thunder of the WWF, it remained to be seen if Vince could actually drive any other established promotions into the ground. He does note that the WWF would probably have a good shot at taking down the AWA due to the familiarity of the workers to the area (Schultz, Hogan, Okerlund, etc.), but that WCCW and Memphis would probably not have to worry right away -Dave says he is not against what Vince is doing in principle because it would benefit everyone from the wrestlers to the fans paying to get in. The only ones not benefiting would be the promoters. He is against what McMahon is doing for many other reasons, though: a) Vince isn’t playing a game based on who runs the best shows or has the best talent/booking, he’s banking on “political power plays” to aid his takeover bids. He notes how Eddie Einhorn never got a fair chance to run on the East Coast due to Vince Sr. blocking him out of all the arenas. Same thing happened in 1982 to a lesser extent to Bruno Sammartino’s IWF promotion (my note--??What’s the story on Bruno having a promotion?) Vince was learning as he went with a gaffe in St. Louis when he tried to block out Geigel et al from having a tv outlet—he screwed up but is taking notes… -Ole Anderson is splicing together clips from past shows putting current WWF stars like Iron Sheik, Tito and Piper in a bad light on their TV. Ole even dug up Lawler vs. Hogan footage to show that Hogan wasn’t so great. Ole would be noting at the end of the clips stuff like “well, Pat Rose beat Tito Santana here…” which Dave thinks would actually piss off the fans even more due to their being treated like idiots (i.e., nobody would believe Pat Rose ever beat Tito at any stage of his career) -notes Ole and Verne Gagne set to work together and wishes Verne luck. -Final Notes about McMahon: Working with him is no bargain (see George Cannon, Inoki and Altoona promoter gene Dargen), and Vince was heading for trouble trying to keep a room full of Superstars happy. Hogan’s contract was already apparently being pointed at by others and was becoming a sore spot. Dave said he would use this column every month to track the latest on McMahon’s takeover bids in various areas. DAVE'S PERSONAL WORSTS OF 1983: Worst Wrestler: Ox Baker (honorable mention: the Crusher and Adrian Street (but notes Street is at least entertaining) Worst Babyface: Tommy Rich. Worst Feud: wants to pick Rich and Sawyer but his poll naming it third best feud makes that impossible…doesn’t seem to actually name one. Worst Tag Team: Bob Brown and Buzz Tyler (apologies to The Strongbow Brothers and the Zambuie Express) Worst Finishing Hold: Crusher’s Bolo Punch. Honorable mention: Bob Backlund’s Chicken Wing, despite Dave noting that it was basically a legit hold. Least Agile: Plowboy Frazier Worst Brawler: Jimmy Valiant Weakest Wrestler: Baba and Mike Von Erich Worst on Interviews: too many to pick just one but notes Bellomo, Backlund, Strongbow and Putski among others Worst Circuit: Florida, “not because of the talent or the gimmicks, but how that promotion pretends that there is credibility around their horrible stunts.” Worst Run Circuit: Ole’s Georgia with Southwest not far behind Worst TV Show: Sheiks’ Big Time Wrestling. If only considering “larger’ promotions then Geigel’s Wrestling at the Chase shows wins Worst Match Dave Saw All Year: Angelo Mosca Jr. (in his second week) vs. Ox Baker Worst Announcer: Dave McClane from Bruiser’s Indiana promotion (“not only worse than Solie, but worse than Jeff Walton out of Los Angeles.”) Worst Manager: Don Carson, honorable mention to Skandor Akbar and Paul Ellering Did you know that Dave gave his phone number in this issue in case any of his readers wanted to phone him? He’s also shilling a three tape “Best of 1983” set. Each tape is 4 hours long and has most of the major bouts of the year on them. Next is a reprint of a newspaper article on Lord Athol Layton. The paper it is from is not noted. It’s the actual article added into the newsletter. An Article by Joe Soucheray is next, detailing a Minneapolis group called the USA Professional Wrestling Group that had a card scheduled for Minneapolis which was cancelled due to interference by unnamed parties. It is whispered that it’s Verne and Wally Karbo’s doing, but Karbo is interviewed about it and denies it and the columnist doesn’t believe they would bother given that the talent they were trying too bring in was lightweight (Amazing Zulu, Bruno Sammartino Jr) and the AWA had nothing to fear from such a fledgling group. Next is another Article, this one from John Sherman. It details Hulk Hogan being upset with Verne and Wally for advertising him on the Christmas St. Paul card, knowing full well he had terminated his service to the AWA a full four weeks earlier. Hogan goes on to claim his problems stem from the fact that the powers-that-be screwed him out of the AWA title three separate times...and a whole bunch more kayfabe hyperbole about one champion, unification, and whatnot. The point of this article seems to be that Hogan wanted to come back to the Twin Cities with the WWF belt in tow. The article did a good job of making the AWA look poor and heightening anticipation for Hogan returning to the area as a champion in the future (which finally happened in June of 1984). Both of these articles are noted on the next page as being from Twin Cities papers. LETTERS: Mick Karch has a letter in about a previous Vince McMahon article and AWA implications. Mike Rosen writes a friggin NOVEL about the AWA and the idea of a fight with the WWF in the near future next. (my note—Mike I believe was the original source for the 1983-85 AWA Raw Footage discs (Civic Center bouts) that I introduced a few years back. He apparently has lots more if anyone knows where he might be at…) **** That’s the first 17 pages of this Observer and I’m stopping for now. As I have time I will summarize the next 17 pages in this thread. Next up: Dave details the best matches he saw in each month of 1983.

In the spirit of what Loss has been doing, I thought I would put one up in the same general time frame as his recaps but a few years earlier. The issue wasn't complete but I tried my best with what was there. I'll try to do more pre-88 ones occasionally if the interest is there and if I can manage the time. Observer Recap—February 24th, 1986 Page 1 Lead Story: The coroner’s report on the death of Gino Hernandez is out, and the verdict is that it was an “Acute cocaine overdose”. Dave discusses the negative impact that it would have on the business if, say, Kerry Von Erich or Hulk Hogan were to end up involved in a drug scandal. He does add to this that the average wrestling fan probably knows that most of their favourites are “high as a kite” while working anyways. The sponsorship, cartoons, and merchandising would all be hit hard and the current “Boom” period would likely end. He notes that Gino’s death got medium-profile news coverage in the Dallas area. --Wrestlemania 2 speculation and notes: Dave points to William Perry being quoted in the Chicago Sun Times as saying he would never appear in any wrestling show. He doesn’t know much about the upcoming event but does review what little he does know, including naming the three locations for the event, the Budny-Hogan LA Main event, the Piper-Mr. T Boxing Main event, and the proposed “$100,000 Open Battleroyal” for wrestlers, athletes, and other celebrities in Chicago. He notes that Lyle Alzado and Mark Gasinteau were to be involved in that one, and Perry was supposed to be in but seems to have backed out unless it was an angle. Other matches he had heard of being signed included Bruno Sammartino vs. Jesse Ventura from the New York location, Savage vs. Santana, and the Bulldogs vs. The Dream Team which would be a title change. He confirmed the card as “definitely happening on 4/7.” --3/1 NBC WWF TV show recap. Other than reviewing the matches and angles done to setup Mania, he includes mention of Mr. T getting fired recently from the A-Team show for being to obnoxious for his fellow actors to handle, and T blowing up badly during round 1 of his boxing match with Orton. He also noted that angles making sense in the WWF these days wasn’t necessary and pointed to Heenan managing Muraco during his Hogan match as evidence of this. He based his expectance of the Bulldogs winning the titles at WM II on the fact that they lost the NBC match with Valentine and Beefcake controversially. HAWAII: Poly Pro drew 1200 in Honolulu, and 189 in Los Angeles. Dave is amazed that their group is trying to run without TV in LA as Crockett and McMahon are there. He notes the airline costs alone from Hawaii to LA for the wrestlers (he quotes $14,000 in airfare for that junket) make shows like that impossible to be profitable on any level. Notes from a coinciding San Jose card itself are weird, as I guess Dave didn’t see most of it, but he did say he would go again if the Japanese (Fujinami/Kimura) and Lawler returned. PowerTeamUSA was mentioned and noted as “ so very green and stiff, it’s unbelievable”. Nobody knew who the babyfaces were so the crowd booed all of them. Snuka was described as typical (2:00 of action, then total slow-down). He said the girls battleroyal was fun. Lawler vs. Lars Anderson was decent because Lawler worked at letting the fans know he was the heel, and had to work hard because Lars couldn’t/can’t do anything in the ring. “Wolfe” (my note--I assume Buddy but I could be wrong, he isn’t named) came out and interfered for Lawler, and Snuka made the save for Lars and they had a good post-match brawl. Dave recaps the Poly bouts from the LA card which are similar. He notes Kimura and Fujinami were wasted against Tim Patterson and Budda Khan (my note—these guys were AWA jobbers on ESPN a lot around this time) and that Lars-Lawler wasn’t nearly as good as the San Jose bout. The girls from San Jose did not work as there was no money to pay them. WWF in Oakland on 2/26 drew 7,700 and Dave says it wasn’t terrible, which I assume is high praise of a WWF product for him. He notes that Rene Goulet did the Flair corner-flip and ran into a punch in his match against Pedro Morales, and Dave didn’t think anyone else in wrestling could do that move. Oh, and Sivi Afi stinks. JAPAN: I’m missing a page here so bear with this…Takada beat Yamada in 12:57 with a German Suplex….Tokyo series finale drew 11,190 (Sell-out) for Inoki beating Fujiwara with a sleeper “to kill a potentially great feud”, Koshinaka upsetting The Cobra for the first IWGP JR title, Kerry beating Fujinami by DQ and Kevin beating Kimura by DQ…He notes dollar devaluation in Japan is likely seeing Baba and Inoki making 25% more profit on their current shows than the shows they ran the previous year….Dave notes that the Japanese girls are still headed into MSG on 3/16/86 (my note—currently this card is on 24/7) but Nagayo would miss it due to a knee injury. CROCKETT: Tijiho Khan debuts and was trained by Eddie Sharkey, described as a “230 pounder with an average steroid body who can’t put together a match”…Crockett was going into St. Louis on 3/2 with all their own people, not using Geigel’s Cetnral States crew on the undercard this time…Talks about the Midnight Rider-Harley Race Loser Leaves Town match that might now be shelved and says it wasn’t going to happen on 3/2 anyway because Harley was in Japan. (my note—I never heard that the Rider thing was tried with Race)..Jim Garvin coming in. MEMPHIS: Drew around 1800 on 2/9 flying in Terry Taylor and Austin Idol for the show. This is a jump in attendance from previous weeks...Randy Culley in as the Assassin…speculated with the low attendance that Lawler’s return would be pushed up from the original 6-month timeline but no idea how they would get around the stips that saw him leave. He backpedaled on a previous claim that Lawler and Jarrett had a falling out of some sort. AWA: 2/9 St. Paul drew 2,784….reviews the 2/21 TV taped in Oshkosh on 1/31 where Brody brawls with Greg Gagne and Blackwell alternately and together in the ring…notes that Brody was given 7 arena dates but only committed to appearing at 1, 4/20 at the Metrodome, “currently scheduled as Blackwell/Gagne vs. Brody/Kaissie in the cage—the AWA wanted a singles match but Brody flatly refused to given them the ending they wanted—a clean pinfall—so they made it a tag instead. I do know that Brody, and probably Blackwell, wanted Verne in the tag match, not Greg, because it would heighten the interest in the match much more…” LETTERS PAGE: Norm Dooley talks about how people seem to have the idea that areas like Memphis and Portland are so much bigger than they actually are, and how Watt’s promotion should be considered fourth in relation to those smaller outfits and “the Big 3” (Gagne, Crockett and McMahon ). He advocates that the smaller groups should just sell out and noted that current stars like Flair and Terry Funk (my note: lol) would be retired in ten years but guys like Tojo Yamamoto and Rufus Jones would still be wrestling. That’s all I have.

I don't think this ever happened. Not sure what they used in between this and Zbyszko's battleroyal win, where they went back to the Civic Center for the taping. Most of the TV is out of Vegas in 1988 so maybe they were just dormant in Minnesota for the year after the Mpls Auditorium closed.

It fascinates me that Vince was so intent on running the AWA completely into the ground in the Twin Cities (and everywhere else, for that matter) even at this point, where the AWA was so far off the map as a major league promotion that they weren't close to being a legitimate competitior for the WWF anymore. Either Vince was paranoid that Verne could bring the AWA back somehow, or he legitimately hated Verne for not accepting his buyout offer in 1983-84 and was just being incredibly vindictive. Probably the latter.

I had a lot of fun reading this when it was posted, and I had already read the book.

No shit, me too. I don't even remember hearing about this. I guess it was a natural progression after the critical success of "the Wrestlerock Rumble".

Someone please tell me that this actually got released.

Good stuff. I know I've seen the bout but can anyone who may have seen it more recently comment on how "bad" Mask vs. Hennig really was? Also I've never seen Kawada or Tenta vs. Hennig out there in video circles. Anyone come across those?

I also have found this to be true. Amongst my friends that used to watch wrestling, this seems to be the common straw that broke their backs in terms of following wrestling.

There is one from the Boston Garden available, which I believe Mulligan does win.

Not a "guru" by any stretch, but I am an AWA guy and from the AWA I would want to include these: -Greg Gagne/Jim Brunzell (Tag Champs) vs. Rick Martel/Tito Santana (July 9/82 and August 29/82, St. Paul): The first one only has the last 8 minutes available out of 28, but it's all action and really fast-paced. Ends in adouble-countout, which sets up the August rematch. Both teams are totally scientific throughout. The August match is available save for the first three or four minutes, and it's more of the same. the ending sees The High Flyers get the win on an absolutely brutal dropkick from Brunzell on Santana. I'd love to ask Tito if he got a concussion from that one some day. Again, a purely scientific matchup that the crowd just eats up. (know what's neat to see? The partners of the guys in trouble reacting hugely to their partner trying to kick out of a pin combo, but not coming in the ring to make the save. Brunzell was particualrly good at this when Greg kicked out at 2 and 3/4). - Rick Martel (AWA Champ) vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (9/29/85, St. Paul). This one went the night after Supr Clash I and is my favourite of all the Martel-Tsuruta bouts that went on in the US and Japan (I think there are four available..two from St. Paul and two from Japan). Only the first minute is edited, but the match is all action. Pity that only about 2,000 people saw this one live. I absolutely would put these three bouts on the list.

The Rockers ended up winning the AWA tag titles in Vegas on 12/27, two days after the 30-minute match that Meltzer mentions in Minneapolis. The majority of the Rocker's Memphis run is available on tape. Not all of it was heel, though. Signifigant matches available include: Midnight Rockers (AWA Southern Tag Champs) vs. The RPMs (Mid South Coliseum, clips) **Cash vs. Belts match** Rockers/RPMs confrontation: Belts vs. Diamond Ring challenge Rockers (Champs) vs. RPMs (Clips, Mid South Coliseum, belts vs. Ring) Executioners, Blue Knight & Keith Roberson vs. The Midnight Rockers & Badd Company (Diamond/Tanaka) Midnight Rockers vs. Nasty Boys (JIP, Mid South Coliseum) Rockers accept the offer of Mark Gillen to turn heel and join his stable Midnight Rockers w/Gillen vs. John Paul & Billy Travis Midnight Rockers (AWA World Tag Champs) vs. Scott Hall/Ken Wayne (Mid South Coliseum,, JIP) Interview with Rockers re: regaining World Tag title Nelson/Dundee vs. Gary Young/Terry Taylor (Rockers interfere, prompting Jerry Lawler to make the save) Several Lawler/Dundee and Rockers interviews regarding Lawler and Dundee challenging for the AWA World Tag Title on an upcoming card, but no match clips) Midnight Rockers (AWA Tag Champs) vs. The Bruise Brothers Rockers and Rock ‘n’ Roll Express Promos, interviews and videos re: upcoming match at Mid South Coliseum. Midnight Rockers (AWA Tag Champs) vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Clips, Mid South Coliseum, match where a double pin causes the titles to be held up). More Rockers and R ‘n’ R’s interviews Midnight Rockers (AWA Tag Champs) vs. Jeff Jarrett/Billy Travis (JIP, Mid South Coliseum) Also, note that the Gagne-Hennig feud was basically localized to the Minneapolis area and not really happening much if at all in what was left of the AWA circuit at that time. The only match Gagne and Hennig had in Vegas, for example, was when Gagne was TV champ and Hennig had lost the title to Lawler already. The Rockers had 3 months or so as AWA tag champs and defended it as faces in the regular AWA.

Oh yeah. It happened in a ton of towns through the AWA circuit over the course of it's history. It wasn't a big deal before the internet and cable TV. Nobody knew it was happening in other towns besides their own. As a slightly-off-topic FYI, the Greg Gagne-Curt Hennig title match on the Powerful Familes of Wrestling disc is NOT from May 15, 1988, as advertised. That may be the airdate of the match on TV (this is apparently how they have dated the Rose/Somers vs. the Rockers matches on this Michaels volume, too). The Gagne-Hennig match is from the Minneapolis Auditorium on Thanksgiving night 1987 to the best of my knowledge. The Gagne-Hennig feud was more contained to the Minneapolis area cards and not a series widely acknowledged in the AWA. That probably explains why they showed it so much later than it actually happened on the regular AWA TV shows. Sorry for the temporary hijack.

Is this point actually wrong? I guess the better question I mean to ask here is what the percentages are of boxing fans that have gravitated towards MMA as opposed to wrestling fans gravitating to MMA...and the percentage of people that watch MMA without having been into either Boxing or Wrestling previously. I don't know the answer, just that I like all three. Opinions appreciated.

..also I caught the end of that phantom title change between the Rockers and The Hart Foundation that is on this set on youtube yesterday. The ending was very sloppy and I didn't care much for the other bit that I saw (admittedly I need to see the whole thing for better context). IMO it's nice from a "lost footage" perspective but not much more.

To the best of my knowledge, Sarge and the WWF split because of Slauighter making his own deal with the GI Joe people and Vince not getting a taste. Sarge was around for most of the AWA's final days but he was absent for several long stretches. i don't know where he was working, if at all, during those stretches. The first Rocker run was basically just them against Rose and Somers, and they ran that program about a month too long. They got around 4 grand at the Christmas Cage match in St. paul (non-title), and then in their "final title match ever" on January 27th in Bloomington they only drew 950. it was telling that the feud ran so long that either nobody cared that the Rockers were going to win the title, or they didn't believe Verne would give them the belts and they were leaving. Most "win or no more title shots" types of matches draw well because the fans believe that the heroes will prevail. By this point in the AWA, nobody trusted that feeling since Vince was grabbing everyone (plus so many screwy finishes in that feud up until that point had soured the people on the obvious outcome as it ended up playing out.) Their second run as champs had a more varied roster of challengers, but the AWA was almost in a freefall by that point so less people were seeing them. Even if Verne had done everything perfectly with them it probably would have just gotten Vince's attention faster and they would have been gone to the WWF earlier.