DeanColes1987

The 1st drugs bust was when he was with Inoki, he was actually wrestling in Japan 3 days after being detained which is insane. The 2nd and 3rd were the Baba ones "Steve Williams, is the subject of much speculation after missing All Japan's second most important tour of the year, the Champion Carnival tour. It was first announced in Japan that Williams returned home because his son had a medical emergency, but as the week passed on, word got out that Williams was suspended and it was reported in the newspapers as such with reports varying that the suspension would be either six months or one year. Since much of the talk was that Williams would be gone for the tag team tournament in December, that would seem to indicate one year. All that is known of the situation is that Williams arrived on 3/20 at Narita Airport but returned home without leaving the airport." - Apr 10, 95 Observer "Whatever rumors regarding Steve Williams at least at press time are premature, not to say something may not materialize at some point." - Apr 17, 95 Observer "The next tour, which is the Carnival tour, starts on 3/22 and it was officially announced that Steve Williams would be returning as a regular on the tour and be involved in the tournament." - Mar 11, 96 Observer "Williams was caught for at least a third time in his pro wrestling career coming through airports with drugs, in this case inspectors found undeclared pharmaceutical drugs inside luggage belonging to Williams and two traveling companions who are not involved in pro wrestling....Drugs seized included 80 boxes of Neo-Percodan, 17 boxes of Valium, 16 boxes of Halcion, 15 boxes of Tamegesic, 26 boxes of Darvon and eight boxes of Ritrovil....His rise, and for a short while his career, came to a halt after being banned from going to Japan in March of 1995 when he was caught at customs with a small amount of marijuana....The feeling is Baba had to pull major strings and it showed just how powerful Baba really was in getting Williams back in one year, since Paul McCartney for a similar offense wasn't allowed back in Japan for more than a decade." - Mar 24, 97 Observer "The political power of Shohei Baba in Japan was made evident to everyone as he was able to get Steve Williams into Japan for the Champion Carnival tournament that began on 3/22." - Mar 31, 97 Observer "Williams was very lucky on several accounts. The first is that he was allowed to post bond, the second is that with such a large amount of drugs allegedly found on him and the two people he was traveling with that he wasn't charged with intent to distribute and only with illegal possession without a prescription, the third is that the government didn't take his passport away from him and the fourth is the Japan let him back in the country, the latter of which showed Baba's considerable pull. As mentioned last week, Baba's power in Japan was shown by his ability to get Williams back in the country in one year when the biggest rock promoters in the world weren't able to get Paul McCartney back into Japan for decades for a similar offense." - Mar 31, 97 Observer

"Tammy Sytch of 170 Amboy Rd., Matawan, NJ 07747 is looking for any tapes of Chris Candido from IWCCW and FMW and for any American or Japanese magazines covering him." - Apr 20, 92 Observer "In early September at a WCW Saturday Night taping, there was an angle that required Curt Hennig, Vincent, Scott Norton, and Brian Adams to hide under the ring for a couple of hours before doing a run–in. Hennig, known for his ribs, brought a bucket with him to the ring. In the bucket was a dry towel and a wet towel. After they were under the ring for a while, Hennig said he needed to relieve himself. He proceeded to squat over the bucket. Adams, who was in on the prank, shined a flashlight at Hennig at that point and threw a stink bomb onto the ground. Norton looked right at where the light was shining and threw up" - Oct 24, 98 Torch "Murdoch was out fishing all week and told the Crocketts a while back he wasn't going to work this week but they booked him and advertised him in all the towns anyway." - Sept 19, 88 Observer "Undertaker held a 'wrestlers only' meeting last week at the Raw event to address his growing concern that wrestlers have become too flippant or open about their use of drugs. He talked about how bad things were during the drug scandal years in the early ’90s and said some of the wrestlers who weren’t around at that time might not appreciate how such publicity can cripple a company. Apparently wrestlers have been joking around backstage in front of others (building staff, friends and family, reporters, etc.) about steroids, pills, and marijuana." - Oct 24, 98 Torch "Williams was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Detroit on a charge of attempting to export cocaine. He had been detained by U.S. customs agents on Jan. 4 when they discovered various drugs in his clothing and luggage as he attempted to board a flight to Tokyo. What was found were three grams of cocaine, 22 grams of marijuana and two grams of Tsilocybin Mushrooms as we reported last week. Additionally, agents found assorted barbiturates in a black purse and when they checked his luggage, they found additional barbiturates and marijuana along with 241 steroid tablets and 28 milliliters of injectable steroids." - Sept 5, 88 Observer "Before the match, Godfather offered the hos to Val and said 'they will toss your salad, pack your fudge, puff on your fatty and call you daddy.' ” - Nov 13, 99 Torch "Bob Orton was arrested on his flight back from Taiwan to Detroit after allegedly getting drunk and belligerent on the plane. There was a huge story in the Detroit News as Orton was sitting beside a sports reporter who was coming back from the Olympics on the same flight." - Oct 24, 88 Observer "Ventura blew cigar smoke into Vince McMahon’s backstage office at the Chicago Raw last week. McMahon is a big anti–smoking guy, but Ventura may have wanted to rib him with his new level of power now that he is governor." - Aug 21, 99 Torch "McMahon played the typical xenophobic heel role, saying that the U.S. was going to invade and take over Great Britain and appoint a Pakistani to be Prime Minister." - Dec 14, 98 Observer "The main event for the Apr. 13 WCW WorldWide was a match between Ric Flair and Randy Savage taped in Orlando, Fla. in February. At the time Savage was WCW Champion. Savage wore the WCW belt to the ring and held it in the air before the match. To make matters even less consistent with the current-day storylines, Brian Pillman ran in and attacked Savage after the match." - Apr 20, 96 Torch "Nash pinned Wrath in 4:45 with the power bomb. It's absolutely amazing how huge Nash really is. As mentioned often, size in this business is an illusion and Wrath's gimmick as a huge monster was pretty well destroyed because of just how small he looks next to Nash." - Nov 30, 98 Observer "Okerlund interviewed Pillman & Anderson after the match and they referred to the Horsemen several times. Actually, their first attempt at the interview was stopped for some reason. As an excuse to restart the interview, Okerlund scolded Anderson for swearing and restarted the interview. Arn, though, never swore." - Sept. 30, 95 Torch "Wrath's contract expires in January and he's negotiating a new deal. He probably won't be doing the Gladiator movie he was up for because it would require 40 weeks of filming in Morocco" - Nov 30, 98 Observer "Cobra then came out and told the fans to be quiet because he was going to hide under the ring. Immediately many fans yelled, 'He's under the ring!' " - Aug 26, 95 Torch "Another gaffe was when Mike Rotunda killed Rick Steiner's pet fly Spike on the morning show, but Spike was still alive doing stupid animal tricks on the afternoon show (in reality, the afternoon show is taped before the morning show but they air in a different order)" - Nov 14, 88 Observer "Russo recently signed a deal to be part of the creative staff of a future USA Network sitcom based on the behind the scenes world of pro wrestling" - Aug 14, 99 Torch "It was proposed to do an angle where Elizabeth would be linked with Billy Kidman, but she turned it down. It was described as being a Mrs. Robinson angle. Either she didn't want to be the mother of one of his classmates or didn't want to be linked to a cruiserweight in an angle doomed to mid-card oblivion." - Dec 28, 98 Observer

He was a VP in title, consultant, was a member of the many steering and booking committees and was the guy booking arenas for a while. He also supposedly played a big part in getting Rick Rude and Ricky Steamboat to come in toward the end of 1991. On the famous WCW house show in Dallas where the fan tried to shoot Jake Roberts, Bill Watts sent word to the guys that Crockett wasn't to be allowed in the building unless he bought a ticket and banned him from going in the dressing room (even though he was technically still employed by TBS and was receiving a paycheck until his contract expired in November 93)

Flair vs. Rhodes and Crockett "Jim Crockett will be in charge this coming month and attempt to run as cost-efficient a month as possible in an attempt to save his job." - Nov 7, 88 Observer "There were major problems early in the week between Flair, Rhodes and Crockett which caused Flair to no show in one or two cities (this past Monday for sure, and maybe Tuesday, I'm not clear about that)....Flair came as close to quitting as he ever had and basically decided he was tired of the way he was being used as World champion and wanted real finishes and real opponents. When Flair came back, his scheduled main events against Luger in Little Rock, Jackson, MS and Baton Rouge were changed to tag matches (Flair/Perez vs. Luger/Nikita with Perez doing the job) because Flair refused to do the same finish he's been doing with Luger in all the arenas of late." - Nov 7, 88 Observer "Flair also refused to work this month against Bam Bam Bigelow in title matches, so all those bouts scheduled have been changed to tag team matches with Flair/Windham vs. Dusty/Bigelow, which doubly makes Dusty mad because now Dusty doesn't get his singles matches against Windham, either. From all accounts Flair didn't want to 'put over' Bigelow because he didn't think it would be good for himself, the NWA title or the NWA itself for him to put over a guy who worked the middle of the cards and didn't get over in the WWF, plus Bigelow hadn't 'earned' the shot and there was fear Bigelow might leave in the middle of the program after making Flair look bad because of the way the finish would certainly be, nor was Bigelow the slightest bit over to NWA fans" - Nov 7, 88 Observer "The new regime will start in January and the present plan is have Dusty Rhodes as a key part of it, although in theory his power will be reduced come the new year but he'll still be a powerful force and Ric Flair's title reign is in some jeopardy at Starrcade." - Nov 21, 88 Observer "The top of the card which Dusty Rhodes came up with had Ric Flair vs. Rick Steiner for the NWA title on top, Road Warriors vs. Sting & Lex Luger and Barry Windham vs. Dusty for the U.S. title as feature matches. I have to tread carefully on this story, but this past Monday afternoon, Flair had a meeting at TBS and was informed of his match and of the finish. Flair stormed out of the meeting, missed the TBS TV tapings that night, and for a 24-hour period it was touch and go whether he'd finally go to Titan since he's been talking of late about the matches he could have with Randy Savage." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "Jack Petrik of TBS has learned more about the wrestling business over the past seven days than most learn in a year and by Tuesday talked Flair into staying. At that point the main even was Flair vs. Luger with the two matches underneath uncertain, but that was the deal made between Petrik and Flair, with Rhodes not involved in the decision making." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "Rhodes was furious, as you can imagine and he and Jim Crockett tried to explain to Petrik various reasons why the scenario he had would work (I can't go into details because it would give away a possible finish) and tried to talk Petrik back into seeing things his way, and then failing, tried to talk him into switching the main event to Flair vs. ‘that Jap' (Genichiro Tenryu, who Flair himself wanted to wrestle despite the fact it would have no box office office impact because he wanted a great, stiff, realistic match and also wanted to get himself and the NWA title 'over' as the real World title in Japan and wanted to open up Japanese style more to U.S. fans)."- Nov 28, 88 Observer "Later Crockett dispatched Jim Barnett to convince Flair to see things Dusty's way on Thursday, but the last word I have is that it will be Flair vs. Luger on top." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "Dusty Rhodes missed all three major cards this weekend and it isn't clear to anyone as to why, whether the pressure of being accountable and not having 100 percent carte blanche when it comes to booking is taking its toll or whether it’s a protest for being overruled or whether it’s something else." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "Since the wrestlers were ordered to move to Atlanta by 11/1, all air reservations were bought from the Atlanta airport. This meant those who hadn't relocated to Atlanta, like those who stayed in Charlotte (many of them did) would have to drive to Atlanta to catch their plane to wherever (something like a six-hour drive) and drive home from Atlanta. Some did the drive and others paid out of pocket to purchase their own plane tickets out of charlotte.... Some tickets come out of Dallas since many of the wrestlers still live there including Crockett, Dusty and J.J. Dillon, however those on the east coast's tickets are all out of Atlanta." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "There was also a clause in the deal that gave Flair unprecedented power for a world champion and Rhodes and Crockett were upset Flair was given that type of power and Rhodes felt Flair went 'behind his back' in negotiating the contract and getting that certain power. In response Rhodes only booked Flair for five shows the entire month of December and attempted to get the title from him at Starrcade, but it appears the situation backfired on him." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "Rhodes also planned to bring his son Dustin (18 years old) in along with Kendall Windham at the Texas Broncos tag team and give them a decent babyface push, and his timing in doing so couldn't have been worse." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "The NWA wrestlers all received their balloon payment checks from Crockett this week, but only received 40¢ for each dollar owed. Best estimate is that one major NWA star will wind up out around $120,000" - Nov 28, 88 Observer "After missing the entire weekend with what is now known as the 'Dusty flu,' we got the word that the Dream was in hot water. In fact, Jim Crockett was ordered to replace Dusty Rhodes as NWA booker.... You could imagine the shock among the wrestlers Tuesday night when the new booker walked in. Yes, it was the Midnight Rider, in public if you will." - Dec 5, 88 Observer "Unfortunately the Dusty flu is a contagious disease and spread all around the NWA this past week and Battlestar week was marred by several no-shows once again, including wrestlers in key matches most every night." - Dec 5, 88 Observer "They did the True Grit angle with Dusty on Thanksgiving afternoon and it aired on TBS Saturday....The angle was originally planned for the Clash but it was moved up because Dusty has to get himself tied into a major thing as fast as possible for job security reasons." - Dec 5, 88 Observer "One Wednesday morning, Dusty Rhodes officially resigned as booker of the NWA. From all accounts this was a forced resignation ordered by the TBS hierarchy based on several episodes over the past few weeks. On Thursday, Jim Crockett was officially informed that he would no longer be running the day-to-day operations of the company starting January 1st." - Dec 12, 88 Observer "As of press time the new booker in the NWA is Jim Crockett. This is expected to change in January....It looks to me if present plans continue, that the actual key brain and power in the committee will be Ric Flair." - Dec 12, 88 Observer "Ironically, when TBS took over the company, Rhodes was in a stronger position to retain his job than most casual observers would believe. Much of Petrik's knowledge and understanding of the wrestling company was coming directly from Crockett, who of course was very high on Dusty as a booker." - Dec 12, 88 Observer "The straw that broke the camel's back was the angle that aired on 11/26 with the Road Warriors putting a spike into Dusty's eye on TBS with heavy blood and close-ups....Apparently TBS had sent a directive to the NWA because of the blood during the Midnight Express vs. Midnight Express angle a few weeks earlier when Jim Cornette bled heavily after being hit with a telephone regarding blood on TBS and Rhodes blatantly defied the memo and ran his angle anyway." - Dec 12, 88 Observer "Another question has to do with Rhodes' contract, which was so lucrative that it was out of the realm of economic feasibility (with the exception of Hulk Hogan, I don't believe that any wrestler was legitimately earning more money than Dusty, although Randy Savage and Ric Flair were probably in the same ballpark)" - Dec 12, 88 Observer "Crockett is in the doghouse with some at TBS because his proposed Clash of the Champions line-up for 2/15 (Road Warriors & Tenryu vs. Ron Simmons & JFD & Steven Casey on top; Lane & Eaton vs. Perez & Zybszko, Gilbert vs. Stallion, Texas Broncos vs. Russian Assassins and one more match) was ruled totally unacceptable by TBS." - Dec 26, 88 Observer "TBS is going to re-negotiate Rhodes' contract since he's no longer booker and I suppose his future depends upon how much they cut from his $585,000 annual contract because even if they cut it 20 percent, that's tons more money than he (or almost anyone else) will ever make in this business." - Jan 2, 89 Observer "Latest on Dusty is same as before. His contract expires at the end of the month and it just depends on a lot of things. All sorts of rumor, the main one that he'll head back to Florida and work with Mike Graham, but don't believe anything yet." - Jan 16, 89 Observer "The expected split between Dusty Rhodes and the NWA took place on Tuesday when Rhodes resigned and walked out on his remaining bookings. To the surprise of almost nobody Rhodes resurfaced in Florida and reportedly has bought 60 percent of the nearly-dormant Florida Championship Wrestling promotion.... Rhodes’ return to Florida was hardly a surprise as wrestlers in Florida has been buzzing about it for weeks and the FCW television show had been building up Rhodes' return since the beginning of the year. Ironically, from all accounts, the folks at TBS are disappointed at losing Rhodes." - Jan 23, 89 Observer "Jim Crockett was fired earlier this week from World Championship Wrestling. Because we've been on the road, details of the firing aren't known at press time. Crockett, former owner of Jim Crockett Promotions that sold out to Turner Broadcasting in late 1988 and became WCW, apparently had philosophical differences with booker Dusty Rhodes and was bounced." - Mar 23, 92 Observer "An update on Jim Crockett is that he wasn't technically fired but was simply sent back home to Texas for reputedly being a disruptive influence. I believe that means he's still on payroll but isn't involved in any of the major decision-making processes." - Mar 30, 92 Observer

Frances has a rep of being the brains of the Crockett children, the guy she married, John Ringley, was actually the designated successor to run the company after Jim Sr. died until he was discovered having an affair and Frances divorced him. Edit: Found a photo album where Ringley's name is actually listed before Crockett

JCP Sale part 2 "Several of the wrestlers have had meetings scheduled with Jack Petrick of TBS, who if/when the sale goes through, will oversee the wrestling operations. Both Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes had personal meetings with Ted Turner." - Aug 29, 88 Observer "The Ric Flair-Lex Luger rematches are over in a big way. The cards in Norfolk, Richmond and Philadelphia over the past week were all just about sold out. I think the gimmick that the match in your city is the 'only rematch' between the two is part of the reason this is going over so well. I should also point out something about their ending in Baltimore. Whether I liked the ending or thought the execution of it was good, if the rematches draw, and these rematches are drawing, then it was a successful ending. Case closed on that one." - Aug 29, 88 Observer "The NWA gate in Philadelphia last week was $128,000 for Flair vs. Luger, or more than double what Savage vs. DiBiase drew." - Sept 5, 88 Observer "The TBS is getting frustrated that the deal hasn't been completed, because they want to run their own wrestling company and wanted it taken care of before starting the TNT network, which ultimately, wrestling will become a staple on." - Sept 12, 88 Observer "If they start their own company and Crockett Promotions remains in existence, Crockett Promotions will almost certainly be without its most valuable promotional asset, the TBS time slots." - Sept 12, 88 Observer "The TBS people have been contacted by others floating around the periphery of the business (Global Wrestling, Ole Anderson and probably others I don't know about) to simply start up a new promotion with the idea that all the talent can be had anyway and they don't have to pay the Crockett family millions. Of course, that also means starting a syndication network from scratch and it also means having to build up an audience from scratch, and even though many fans have given up on the NWA (as TV ratings clearly show), they still have a large and loyal audience of core fans. In addition dropping the Crockett program for a new show, unless that have at least half of the 'name' stars would result in a public outcry by the fans, just as the Turner people had to deal with in 84 when McMahon took over TBS in what appeared to fans as a sudden abrupt change (it had actually been brewing for months) " -Sept 12, 88 Observer "Late status of the NWA sale which is right back to square one. TBS has made a deal that Jim Crockett wants to accept, however neither David nor Frances Crockett will accept the deal (because both will be out of the wrestling business should the deal be reached while Jim will be involved with the TBS group)" - Sept 12, 88 Observer "Blanchard and Anderson had threatened to quit the NWA several times of late--at one point they and another wrestler (My Note: Not sure why Dave is so coy here since he outright named Flair in the 8/22 note posted above) gave word they were through unless Dusty Rhodes was replaced, however Crockett failed to replace Rhodes as booker but the wrestlers didn't follow through their threat to leave--until now." - Sept 19, 88 Observer "Ironically the jump comes at the same time as the news that the sale of the NWA to Turner Entertainment is just a few steps from completion (I know you've heard that before, but this time....) Jim Crockett has already agreed to a deal, however his co-stockholders in Crockett Promotions, brother David and Sister Frances have not yet agreed to terms. The Turner side also wants the Crocketts to clear their several million dollars worth of outstanding debts before the sale is completed. Turner Entertainment will be purchasing the assets of the company, in particular, the contracts of the wrestlers (which may not be valid since Crockett reniged on the balloon payments) and the TV syndication package along with whatever tangible assets like rings, production equipment and arena contracts. TBS sources indicate the sale is expected to be finalized within two weeks." - Sept 19, 88 Observer "Crockett lost his TV in San Jose (which serves the entire San Francisco/Oakland market) and Pittsburgh after this past weekend. Other syndication deals are in danger of being lost as well because Crockett is trying to settle his debts by paying 40¢ on the dollar, which doesn't bode well with many of his creditors." - Sept 19, 88 Observer "The Flair vs. Luger rematch in Baltimore on 9/3 drew a $125,000 gate." - Sept 19, 88 Observer "This is virtually a done deal, the only hold up from what I've been told is that Jim Crockett has to reach a compromise agreement with Bill Watts for the money still owed in the UWF sale of last April (reportedly in the $3 million range). Reportedly Crockett is tryign to settle his debts at between 40¢ and 60¢ on the dollar, so he'll be attempting to make a settlement in the $1.5 million range." - Sept 26, 88 Observer "Crockett's offer to settle the outstanding debt (rumored to be in the $3 million rane) for less than $1 million didn't go down so well with Watts, who is not only trying to up the price, but also drop the 'no-compete' clause in his sale contract." - Oct 3, 88 Observer "The wrestlers all received documents to sign that would transfer their contract responsibility from the Crocketts to TBS." - Oct 12, 88 Observer "Officially the money will change hands for the purchase on 11/1 and Turner will take over control of the NWA the next day." - Oct 31, 88 Observer "The deal is done. The ink has dried. The biggest soap opera of the year is over. The National Wrestling Alliance is now owned by Ted Turner." - Nov 7, 88 Observer "TBS purchased the NWA in spite of all the outstanding debts. The largest creditor, Bill Watts, from the UWF purchase last April, has not agreed to a settlement, and there are several other large creditors and at least two lawsuits that have been filed of late regarding those debts." - Nov 7, 88 Observer

JCP Sale part 1 "I'd be almost remiss in not commenting on the rumors swirling through the wrestling world that Ted Turner is buying the NWA....If such a deal is completed, Jim Crockett will still run the wrestling operation however the rest of the family wouldn't be involved as it would be their stock that Turner would buy out. There's been a ton of speculation, particularly about Dusty Rhodes, should this happen, but it's all premature." - May 23, 88 Observer "A deal was proposed by the Crockett organization which would sell the majority of the company to Turner Entertainment. The deal is as of this writing before the Acquisitions Committee of the Turner company and the word on whether or not it is approved is expected within a week. The report I've got on the deal is that Turner would be buying out the stock of David, Frances and Jackie Crockett, but not the stock of Jim Crockett." - May 30, 88 Observer "Things simply cannot continue to be run as they have been run for this group to stay solvent. That is no longer speculation. That is fact. Things must change. The other members of the Crockett family trying to sell their stock tells that story. There are wrestlers who are owed large sums of money. The promotion is really at the same crossroads in many cases as the old UWF was just a few months before it was sold to Crockett." - May 30, 88 Observer "The TBS show this past Saturday spent an awful lot of time plugging the Omni show on 5/22, which was strange since usually they don't do such a hard sell for what on the surface appeared to be just another Omni card. For whatever reason, the press boxes, usually empty on wrestling nights, were filled this time. Speculation was that several VIP's were there trying to get a look at what it exactly is that they may be purchasing. The hard sell worked, since 7,300 fans turned out at the Omni, more than triple the crowd from last months card with a lineup that on paper wasn't any more attractive." - May 30, 88 Observer "The wrestlers were due the baloon payments on their contracts on 5/1 and have yet to receive them and there are a lot of disgruntled guys around. Also the payments for the Sunday Main Event show (remember the main eventers were to split $7,500, middle match $2,500, etc.) haven't come in and the guys made their standard money for the show (something like $100)" - May 30, 88 Observer "This story was on the front page of the Charlotte Observer this past Wednesday....My sources indicate it could be July before the deal is completed or dropped....The paper listed a $10 million price for the acquisition, although I've been told that figure is 'way off'....Another correction from last week is that the proposed deal would have Turner buying 100 percent of Crockett Promotions, including Jim Crockett's shares....In the Charlotte newspaper, Frances Crockett was quoted as denying that any negotiations were even taking place." - June 6, 88 Observer "None of the contract balloon payments, due on 5/1, have been paid and I'm told there are about 10 wrestlers due sizable amounts of money, at least in the six figures." - June 6, 88 Observer "The two sides are literally millions of dollars apart in the attempted buying and hoped-for-selling price, with the Crocketts wanting an eight figure deal to give up the company and TBS apparently not interested in paying that kind of money for the company." - June 27, 88 Observer "The Turner side came back early this past week with a legitimate offer to the Crockett family to buy the company....Those within the Crockett organization seem to feel the deal should be finalized by the end of July" - July 4, 88 Observer "During this past week there was a hang-up involving David and Frances Crockett, who were having reservations about a sale when it became apparent that Turner's company was interested in a serious offer, but that has been smoothed over and Jim Crockett has received approval from the rest of his family to negotiate the terms of the sale." - July 4, 88 Observer "A lot has changed regarding the possible sale of the NWA to the Turner Broadcasting empire. I really don't want to get into details because I'm not totally clear of all of them, other than the JCP shareholders (basically the Crockett family) are not united in wanting to sell the company right now." - July 11, 88 Observer "I'm not certain of who stands where other than Jim Crockett is behind the sale and David isn't, and Ole Anderson is trying to become a key player in this deal as well and is trying to sway the wrestler sinto breaking away and forming a new company (which could conceivably be headed by David Crockett provided Jim Crockett makes a deal with Turner) or actually maneuvering a deal with Turner himself, which, if Anderson could provide the wrestlers, in theory, then Turner wouldn't have to pay however many millions to the Crocketts to actually buy a company." - July 11, 88 Observer "As far as a possible NWA sale to TBS, there really isn't anything new on that subject other than whatever business disagreements existed between the Crockett family have apparently been smoothed over and that David and Frances Crockett have once again allowed Jim the power to negotiate the deal." - July 25, 88 Observer "One reason I've been hoping for a Turner buyout of the NWA is that he has experienced television pros, as opposed to the group Crockett employs....I'd have liked to have seen what Glenn Diamond of TBS could have done with this show. Or, dare I say, how the show would have been with Eddie Gilbert as producer." - July 25, 88 Observer, reader letter from Steve Beverly "Jack Petrick of TBS was quoted in a Tokyo newspaper called 'Yoshitake' as saying that he will have jurisdiction over the new NWA after the buy out. He said TBS would set policy, he would enforce it, and the wrestling end of the business would be left in control of Jim Crockett and Dusty Rhodes. Petrick said the sale would be finalized within 60 days." - Aug 1, 88 Observer "Things in the National Wrestling Alliance are at their shakiest point ever. The promotion hit a cash flow problem and was forced to take out one, or two, depending upon who you believe, large loans to the tune of a reported $300,000 in order to catch up on some bills, mainly to television stations and to meet payroll obligations. This money isn't being used to pay the balloon payments ont he contracts which were due in May, but have yet to be paid." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "Several reliable reports indicate the money was borrowed from TBS, and was done so mainly to attempt to save the television network, which was about to fall apart due to late bills, and without television, the promotion would fall apart and advertising income would be out the window as well. The money paid will be considered a down payment if/when the actual agreement to sell the company to TBS goes down." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "Supposedly another large loan was taken from a Charlotte bank for a similar amount of money, with a full month's worth of TV advertising revenue going directly to the bank in order to repay the loan." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "All the wrestlers are free agents now, so they can jump to anyone without sitting out, since their contracts were violated by the balloon payments not being met." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "TV ratings have plummeted in the past quarter. The TBS Saturday show, for years one of the top three cable shows on all of cable television, dropped to No. 11 this quarter, and for the first time ever, traield both of Titan's shows ont he USA network. TV viewership dropped 23 percent over the past three months alone, from a 3.5 national rating to a 2.7." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "From all I've heard, the Midnights vs. Tully & Arn seems the hottest of all them even though you would think Flair vs. Luger should be with all the hype they've aimed at it. It seems most fans realize that if Luger is ever going to win the title, it isn't going to be until a major show and it won't happen in these upcoming matches." - Aug 15, 88 Observer "The prospective sale of the NWA to Turner Entertainment is closer than ever. The hold up right now appears to be that Turner's group wants the NWA to clear its outstanding debts before an actual sale takes place." - Aug 22, 88 Observer "There was a lot of worrying during the week about the status of Flair, Blanchard and Anderson since all indicated they were history unless a specific change was made, and Crockett basically called their bluff and as you saw on WTBS this weekend, Flair, Anderson and Blanchard aren't history." - Aug 22, 88 Observer

The Rockers vs. Power and Glory match from that Barcelona show is so much fun.

"Yokozuna was asked to do a run-in in the Hall vs. Nash match in Las Vegas to attack Nash. He was offered $10,000 just for the run-in and turned it down because he said he was too busy. Hall called him up, he's now living in Las Vegas and training at a wrestling school there, and started yelling at him to get his butt down to the building but he didn't come" - Nov 9, 98 Observer "Because of Diesel's huge push (which is on its way to becoming bigger over the next 12 months), he virtually squashed Fatu every night of the European tour. Diesel's character is not supposed to appear vulnerable to any but the top main event wrestlers." - Nov 29, 94 Torch "The only reason Jimmy Valiant stuck around for as long as he did was because he was under contract and was waiting for the balloon payment on his contract and I guess he got tired of waiting." - July 11, 88 Observer "As Blaze was being interviewed, Landel came out and offered him $500 for the SMW Title. He said that would give Blaze some time to to go out looking for the real father of his child." - March 25, 95 Torch "5/29 in Greensboro was the first card there since the Crockett Cup, and before that of course was Clash of the Champions. Remember the Midnight vs. Fantastics finish? Remember the Road Warriors vs. Power of Pain finish in the cup? well, they ran the exact same finish again this month in a six man title match with the Powers of Pain & Uncle Ivan apparently losing, but instead winning via DQ over the Roadies & Sting. Once again, I'm told a lot of the crowd fell for it, but they were down to 4,000 fans this month." - June 6, 88 Observer "Sting signed a new seven figure contract and no longer wants to work on Thursdays." - Sept 7, 98 Observer "The World Wrestling Network pilot television taping scheduled for July 31 in Austin, Tex. at the Austin Auditorium was cancelled Saturday because the Austin Convention Center was booked instead by mistake." - July 12, 93 Torch "What's the best way to build an audience for a new show? How about pre-empting the thing four weeks in a row after its debut? That's the deal with the NWA Main Event which aired on Saturday at 11 a.m. this week (and will for the next few weeks because of Atlanta Braves baseball and other TBS specials) so just about nobody saw it." - Apr 18, 88 Observer "Eric Bischoff is now talking about hiring scriptwriters to help with storyline consistencies on WCW TV programs." - Aug 28, 99 Torch "The gimmick match at Texas Stadium will be billed as something along the lines of 'The Triple Tower of Doom'....Dusty is furious, because apparently this was his idea for his big gimmick for the Bash and fall shows that he was going to unveil at the July PPV event and Michael Hayes has beat him to the punch." - Apr 25, 88 Observer "Taylor, Banks, and Kelly were not happy that their TV scripts were changed considerably by Bruce Prichard before being submitted to Vince McMahon for final approval. They believed Prichard should have consulted them on some of the changes and believe some of the changes were made just for changes’ sake so he appeared to be a valuable part of the process." - Oct 23, 99 Torch "The current plans, subject to change in the next panic attack, are for Goldberg to keep the title for the time being and not to do a quickie back to Hogan because of the feeling that Goldberg could be the man in the business, and to not screw it up as they did Sting (and truthfully, a lot of that problem wasn't just the way the Hogan feud was booked but because Sting himself had no fire in the ring when he returned). Hogan still had no problem doing the job the right way for Goldberg, but in return apparently got the promise of being, when the time is right, the person to end Goldberg's winning streak, although the present plans are for that to be a long time coming." - July 13, 98 Observer "The best thing that can be said about Luger's work on the mic is that he finally stopped talking between the 'L' made by his thumb and forefinger. He has yet to do a single memorable interview - except the time he claimed he received the 'allocades' of the fans - and he must have done hundreds over the years." - July 4, 93 Torch, Bruce Mitchell Column "DX did what was said to have been a hilarious skit where they dressed up as the Nation and made fun of all of them. If you think it was similar to NWO with the Horseman when you see it you're hallucinating because WWF would never copy WCW." - July 6, 98 Observer "WCW didn’t tape enough wrestling footage for the June 17 Thunder so for the TV main event they aired the eight–man match that originally appeared on the June 14 Nitro." - June 26, 99 Torch "For the 7/7 Bash in Raleigh, on the Worldwide show Tony Schiavone is plugging one lineup while on the NWA Pro show, Jim Ross plugs a completely different lineup. This has happened two weeks in a row so fans aren't sure if they are getting a War Games or an eight man cage match as the main event. The only match both cards agree on is Doc vs. Rotunda, which isn't exactly a major ticket seller." - July 4, 88 Observer "Besides missing extensive time due to back surgery, Ray Traylor was so disenchanted with WCW that he stopped showing up for work and waited for his termination notice. As soon as he received it, he called the WWF." - Oct 17, 98 Torch "As the 'inside story' goes, which may or may not have a degree of validity, Hogan and Bischoff had a business falling out when Bischoff decided to go with Hogan's enemy, Kevin Nash, as new booker, thus greatly diluting Hogan's political power....The straw that may have broken the camel's back is the current plan for Nash to beat Bill Goldberg for the WCW title at Starrcade, since Hogan agreed to put Goldberg over cleanly the right way for the title on 7/6 at the Georgia Dome as part of a deal where Goldberg's first loss would be to him, most likely at Starrcade....While there were tentative plans on the table for Nash to win the Battle Royal and then the title at Starrcade before any of this happened, there was also serious talk that the end result of this would be for Nash to re-join the black & white at that point and possibly even hand the belt to Hogan, and this was the first time it was made clear that wasn't happening....I've yet to speak to one person in the organization who believes this is anything but an angle, even though the office is trying to convince talent it's a shoot" - Nov 30, 98 Observer

RAW aired on Saturday because of the US Open, Dave lists the top 10 most watched wrestling matches on cable in the issue and it's so awesome 1. Hogan vs. Goldberg, 7/6 2. Lodi/Saturn vs. High Voltage, 8/31 3. Hogan/Savage vs. Sting/Luger, 3/16 4. Konnan vs. Jannetty, 8/31 5. Hogan/Rodman vs. Page/Malone 7/13 6. Hogan vs. Savage, 4/20 7. Guerrera vs. Kourageous, 8/31 8. Hogan/Giant vs. Goldberg/Nash, 8/24 9. Guerrero vs. Adams, 8/31 10. Miller vs. Riggs, 8/31 The 8/31 show also had a quarter (a DDP/Piper interview) that did a 6.83 in 5,082,000 homes which was a record.

"Lodi & Saturn vs. High Voltage became the second most watched pro wrestling match ever on cable in 5,035,000 homes or a 6.77 rating, trailing only the Hogan vs. Bill Goldberg title change on 7/6." - Sept 7, 98 Observer "Part of the reason Yokozuna took time off was to, at the WWF's request, lose weight for his health. Instead he came back 70 pounds heavier." - Apr 8, 95 Torch "After the first match there was an ad on TBS for the WWF 900 number advertising play-by-play for Wrestlemania which was hilarious that Titan could get an ad on during Crockett's opposition special." - Apr 4, 88 Observer "Curt Hennig was scheduled to be at Thunder, but he no–showed, which may be in part because he’s upset being grouped with the NWO B–team. He also missed scheduled house show dates against Benoit over the weekend. He was actually with Rick Steiner and Ray Traylor to attend a deer hunting competition in Birmingham, Ala" - Jan 30, 99 Torch "I'm not a religious person but do respect the views of those who are sincere in their beliefs (although I admit that at about 10:05 p.m. Eastern time on this past Monday night I was praying that USA would never pre-empt Raw again having to sit through the crap WCW was spewing out as a product)." - Sept 7, 98 Observer "During a local promo for an SMW event in Saltville, Va., which is near Rick Morton's house, Tracy Smothers called Morton a 'bleached blond punk' and dared him to show up at the arena." - Sept. 23, 95 Torch "Conquistadors scored their first win ever as a team beating the Killer Zzzs with their own mask switch not seen by heel referee Dave Hebner (Earl Hebner apparently)....It wound up with Hart vs. Savage and Honkytonk and Neidhart interfered but heel ref Earl wouldn't call the DQ and instead counted Savage out of the ring." - Feb 29, 88 Observer "Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, Virgil, Jim Powers, Koko B. Ware, Lanny Poffo, Damien Demento, and Mike Sharpe will work B-shows for the WWF next month." - July 2, 94 Torch "Wolfpac did another useless interview. Nash did his catch phrase. Konnan did his. Luger & Sting beat Sick Boy & Kidman in 29 seconds when Lex racked Sick Boy and Sting death dropped Kidman. And they all went home. It sure is something to see how the guys who are selling 55% of all merchandise have no storyline and get almost no television time." - July 13, 98 Observer "Lawler said, 'Goldust's here, he may be queer, get used to it because he's gonna be your next Intercontinental Champion.' " - Jan 20, 96 Torch "This weeks main is Tully & Arn defending against Ron Garvin & Mighty Wilbur. That'll keep me glued to my TV set on a summer afternoon." - June 6, 88 Observer "Alex Wright's lack of push recently may be because he doesn't hang out in bars and drink after shows with the 'in' crowd." - Apr 13, 96 Torch "WCW nearly had a deal with Sky Box Office to air the PPV shows in England, but it fell through since it would be a Turner company doing business with a Rupert Murdoch company and the bigwigs had to nix the negotiations over that problem." - Sept 14, 98 Observer "A group of fans mocked the American Males intro song by singing 'American Males... Suck! American Males... Suck!' They chanted that to the music as the males left the ring, so the sound guy turned off the Males' music before they got back to the locker room." - Mar 9, 96 Torch "Ron Garvin and Tim Horner are no longer here. Garvin quit/was fired over a misunderstanding before a norfolk card....Horner was supposed to do a job for The Masked Maniac (Italian Stallion) in Norfolk as part of an angle plus for footage for the 'Learning the Ropes' series....Simmons got his job back on the spot opened up when Horner left" - Aug 29, 88 Observer "Razor Ramon didn't do any jobs at the Raw and Superstars tapings last week because he had a note from a doctor concerning a groin injury. He actually wasn't supposed to work the match against Vader but did anyway. Had he not been injured, he supposedly would have been asked to do a job for Mankind for television." - May 11, 96 Torch "The most embarassing moment of last Sunday belonged to Crockett when the Wrestlemania ad ran during his special. Apparently Titan bought five ads under a bogus name to air during the special, four of the five were caught but one slipped through." - Apr 11, 88 Observer "Sources are saying Lex Luger is not thrilled with being turned heel (even though he admits he's stronger as a heel than a babyface), nor is he thrilled with being placed in the Dungeon of Doom. During one of the live interviews that airs during 'Thunder in Paradise' as a preview to Monday Nitro, which follows, Lex Luger was interviewed. He said something to the effect, 'Well, I guess now I'm a member of the Dungeon of Doom,' to the point where it seemed his lack of enthusiasm was coming through." - Nov 11, 95 Torch "Goldberg vs. Giant was advertised as the dark match main event in both Terre Haute and Peoria. Some time back, Goldberg had asked for those two days off and J.J. Dillon gave him the days off. Somehow, with the typical great communication internally, the promotions department never knew that and continued to advertise him. Nobody even knew there was a problem until the day of Terre Haute when they realized the only match advertised was Goldberg vs. Giant and Goldberg wasn't there....the decision was made to not inform the crowd in Terre Haute about Goldberg not being there, and to basically warm up the cars and all sprint out of the building like Earl Hebner in Montreal the minute the Page-Hennig match was over and before anyone in the crowd realized what was up and started throwing furniture." - Sept 7, 98 Observer

"The first time Raw goes head to head with WCW Monday Nitro (9/11), the Raw main event is slated to feature Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels." - Aug 5, 95 Torch "The only guy in history whose had his ribs taped longer than Page is King Tut." - July 27, 98 Observer "Paul White, at 7-2, is headed to the USWA as a WCW trainee to hone his skills." - May 5, 95 Torch "There was no mention on the telecast of the evil twin angle. In fact, Earl Hebner refereed several tournament matches with no mention of his name, Dave Hebner's name or any name of a referee on a card." - Apr 11, 88 Observer "The Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels match may not end up taking place. After their tag match in St. Louis, there is a movement to keep Michaels and Bret apart due to Bret apparently being unhappy with Michaels's 'spotlight-stealing babyface push.' It may get booked for Sept. 11 anyway." - Aug 12, 95 Torch "NWA returned to the Boston Garden on 4/15 for its annual show and drew just 5,000....When the card ended, the scoreboard message said, 'we hope you enjoyed tonight's WWF event.' " - Apr 25, 88 Observer "Guerrero came to the ring to new music that isn't stereotypical Mexican hat dance music (My Note: Juvi got it later) Eddy apparently didn't like the music and got it changed." - Oct 21, 95 Torch "Sting came from the ceiling with his old music and his old look, with no acknowledgement of whatever happened to the Wolfpac and him.....The legit heat with Kevin Nash with Hogan and Bischoff reached a new level during and after this television show. Nash apparently believes, and the booking does bear this out, that they are doing everything to make Wolfpac look bad and apparently Nash wasn't aware of what they were doing with Sting until it happened....Nash was supposed to do an interview on the show and refused when he found out Wolfpac was going to be whipping boys on the show, that the members wouldn't be helping each other when getting beaten on in angles making the unit look bogus (similar to the Horsemen last year)" - Aug 10, 98 Observer "WWF wrestlers speculated that McMahon flew to Columbus because Ramon was upset that his non-title Raw pinfall loss to Sid was being changed into a title match, thus Sid would be the new champion. Others speculated the only way the WWF figured they could sneak the belt off of Ramon without him putting up a stink was to bill the match originally as a non-title match and then afterward, when it aired, bill it as a title match. (Around the time Sid found out the match was switched back to a non-title bout, he returned home immediately to tend to a family medical emergency and missed the final three house shows of the tour)" - Nov 18, 95 Torch "Since Valiant has pretty well been banned from television and relegated to the C team duty in towns few people know even exist, he hasn't been able to kiss Schiavone in a while." - May 2, 88 Observer "Hulk Hogan sliding under the ropes and avoiding elimination was apparently an in-ring audible by Hogan. Originally he was slated to be eliminated over the top rope. He told the final few wrestlers in the ring his new finish late in the match." - Dec 16, 95 Torch "At 9 p.m., one of the two key time slots of the night, WCW gave us Norton pinning Jim Neidhart in :16." - Aug 3, 98 Observer "Buddy Landel wrestled Mosh and Thrasher on the undercard in two other bouts. He wrestled with a patriotic outfit for a movie that was being filmed that night called 'Box of Moonlight.' The movie contains wrestling scenes and Landel is 'Uncle Sam' and Mosh's character is 'Fidel Castrator' (he came to the ring with big scissors in his hand) and Thrasher's character is 'Saddam Insane'. - Sept. 16, 95 Torch "Former long time promoter Paul Jones passed away on Sunday, 4/17 at the age of 86. Sadly when this was announced at Jerry Blackwell's TV taping in Marietta that evening, some fans cheered because they thought the Paul Jones they were referring to was the NWA manager." - May 2, 88 Observer "McMahon told various people that Jarrett called him an 'asshole' as they concluded their conversation Sunday night. McMahon told people he was dismayed because he, too, thought they had gotten along so great. As it turns out, McMahon told Jarrett that from now on Jarrett should speak up louder and let him know immediately if he has any problems with the way his career is handled by the WWF. Jarrett had admitted to being to timid in the past. As a rib, Jarrett basically said, "Okay, asshole, you'll know how I feel in the future." It was his way of showing McMahon he could be up front with him. Jarrett laughed immediately afterward and said it was a sarcastic comment. McMahon, who as one observer put it, 'wants badly to be one of the boys but doesn't understand how the boys talk to each other,' was offended by the comment and apparently took it wrong. That slowed the negotiations and caused McMahon to move the negotiations to the lawyers." - Aug 12, 95 Torch

Really nerdy question I know but Is the Undertaker vs. Vader match on the Action Zone tape the last Coliseum Video Exclusive?

"On the WWF web site, they are asking women that attend live shows to take off their tops when asked. In case there was any doubt, the woman who flashed on Raw was the same woman who did so on the Canadian house show swing a few weeks back." - Aug 3, 98 Observer "BRUCE MITCHELL: I loved the various sexual dysfunctions that raised their little heads, ahem, during this Tupelo throwdown. Everything from crossdressing to bondage to mustard rubdowns to submissive, masochistic strappings (Flair needs a therapist), to various strippings to Mike Tenay domination." - March 25, 95 Torch "HHH and X-Pac started looking around to find a women to flash her boobs, but the crowd (My Note: San Francisco) was so motley looking that they couldn't even find anyone worthy to even ask and gave up in futility." - Aug 3, 98 Observer "The judgement is in and it appears most of the wrestlers, and especially Cornette, have found the new three-day tapings worse than the old two-day tapings with a weekly in-studio day to tape interviews. The stamina needed to make it through the three days is said to be incredible...Legal pain killers are still described by some wrestlers as a 'necessary evil' because of the WWF's at times rigorous schedule." - Aug 21, 93 Torch "Vince Russo, using that name and not Vic Venom playing a character, gave Sable a plaque for supposedly selling the most magazines of any issue in history. Luna came out and clocked her with the plaque, which broke in several pieces, and then ripped up Sable's dress. Luckily Russo gallantly sloppily tried to cover up Sable's underwear and did such a good job of it that we kept getting shots of it." - Mar 30, 98 Observer "The WWF magazine speculated that MVP could be Don Mattingly, Roger Clemens, or some amateur baseball player and said that the imposter Undertaker (Brian Lee) is now wrestling in 'another federation in the Smokey Mountain region. The bogus dead man is working under an assumed name with a much different look.' " - Nov 5, 94 Torch "Two plants, who were local strippers, took off their tops. What, you think people who look like that and dress like that are hanging out at wrestling matches? Not in this state (My Note: San Diego) they aren't." - Aug 10, 98 Observer "Okerlund interviewed the Three Faces of Fear, although this interview will likely never air on television. Sullivan said the reason Butcher turned on Hogan was because Hogan was late for Butcher's mother's funeral because he was too busy filming a movie. Later, perhaps because of that comment, the interview was redone without that comment included." - Oct 29, 94 Torch "Sable had her dress pulled off revealing her bra and panties and like any good Christian mother with a young daughter, she paraded around on television in front of nearly five million viewers in them. It's just a pity that Bischoff didn't understand modern religious values or she could have been doing that on Nitro." - July 27, 98 Observer "The Nov. 20 Baltimore, Md. Nitro was moved to Macon, Ga., some speculate because Baltimore is within a 90 minute drive of ECW's hardcore fans who might drive down and create havoc." - Nov 4, 95 Torch "I want to work in a company where every time one of the female employees gets mad at the boss she responds by taking off her clothes." - Aug 3, 98 Observer "Female models were brought in to the last tapings to sit in front of camera-view in order to make the crowd look 'better' than the usual clientele who are admitted for free." - Aug 21, 93 Torch "With all her make-up and trying to soften her look, Chyna now looks like Lilly Munster with implants and after taking two zillion shots of testosterone." - Aug 31, 98 Observer "A couple months ago, the WWF cut back its health benefits for office employees, asking them to contribute substantially to their insurance coverage. There have also been reports of other, smaller cutbacks that are a sign off tough times, such as taking the water coolers out of the offices to save money." - Jan 8, 94 Torch "Chyna pulled down her pants revealing this weird mutated half male/half female butt and then HHH pulled down his pants as well. I guess they tried during he commercial break to get women to take off their tops but no takers in Omaha." - Aug 17, 98 Observer "More than a few people in ECW are saying Paul Heyman has 'too much on his plate' in trying to run a large part of the company, book, and produce the TV shows. Heyman responded to that criticism. 'No shit,' Heyman told the TORCH." - Oct 9, 99 Torch "Are there any two more screwed up characters in this business than the Giant, who is 500 pounds and wants to get bigger, and Sable, whose breasts make her look like a human oddity and she should be managed by Jackyl but for whatever reason will probably get them enlarged a few more times by the end of this year." - June 29, 98 Observer "Two days before SummerSlam, WCW aired Dusty Rhodes beating a heel Lex Luger on the Power Hour flashback segment." - Sept 25, 93 Torch "The one major negative of using Sunny on the show is that on most ECW shows when Francine is around, everyone's eyes are on her. When Sunny is around, Francine might as well be a guy for all the attention she's going to get." - Mar 9, 98 Observer "The Kongs and Ebony Experience impressed Sid Vicious when he wrestled on the Kerry Adkisson Benefit GWF card earlier this year. They got hired by WCW based on the pull Sid has in the WCW front office." - July 12, 93 Torch "Francine came out in a white dress and looked almost anorexic, one person called and said she's looked so drawn and skinny, which it was speculated was from worrying so much about Douglas, that she almost looked like Karen Carpenter with implants." - May 11, 98 Observer

"Brian Adams is out of action with a back injury. One of those deals where he was supposed to wrestle Goldberg on the 6/8 Nitro in Auburn Hills." - June 22, 98 Observer "Undertaker beat Yokozuna in a casket match ending when Yokozuna jumped through the ropes and landed in the casket on a freefall, damaging the casket and injuring Yokozuna. The next night, Crush subbed for Yokozuna and after the match the damaged casket fell completely apart." - Sept 24, 94 Torch "Did you notice that when Sam Houston entered the ring for his debut when he beat Danny Davis that his entrance music was the song 'Midnight Rider.' Sounds like they're trying to get the jump on somebody (My Note: Dave thought Luger was beating Dusty at Starrcade because of the 90 day suspension stip)" - Nov 9, 87 Observer "Zodiac turns babyface on TV in April and returns to his Brutus the Barber gimmick under the moniker 'Clipmaster.' He accompanies the babyface Giant to the ring. Giant (Paul Wight) and Hogan have become real-life good friends. The turn was done in part so Hogan and Wight can hang out together without getting snide comments from fans' " - Feb 17, 96 Torch "May was a big month for house shows, with the World Wrestling Federation doing 16 regular shows drawing a total of 150,112 fans and $2,431,184, not including the PPV show in Milwaukee which would increase the total house show take for the month at $2,617,567....WCW ran 23 house shows not including Spring Stampede in Worcester totalling 146,717 paying customers and $2,979,719. Including Worcester, the gross for the month was $3,331,754." - June 29, 98 Observer "Solofa Fatu was injured in a match against M.O.M. on Feb. 10 in Whitewater, Wisc. He has since been replaced by his brother Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid), who looks so much like Solofa, it's doubtful fans will notice. Solofa, injured when Mabel landed on him with unsafe force, was stretchered out of the arena. The feeling in WWF locker rooms was that Mabel was, and has been, careless since he arrived in the WWF. They were not popular with fellow wrestlers upon their first days in the WWF. This incident, and according to WWF sources their nonchalant attitude after injuring Solofa, has put them in even worse standing. One source says M.O.M's tires were slashed the next day. " - Mar 12, 94 Torch "The best team in wrestling right now is the Midnight Express. I picked them second, because no matter what people say about Kid & Smith, they are better in the WWF than the Midnights were in Texas. They are also better in Japan than the Midnights are in the Carolinas, although not by much" - 85 Observer Yearbook "Watts is also being credited with the blurring of the line between black and white in the WWF. The three way feuds with Hakushi, Skip, and Horowitz, and Kid, Ramon, and Douglas are said to be the result of his influence." - Sept. 9, 95 Torch "The ironic part is that using the Monday night ratings, which WCW has won in every head to head match-up since the summer of 1996, ignores that WCW has traditionally always for the one year period been ahead of WWF when it came to cable ratings, it was just that before 1995, nobody really paid this kind of attention to ratings." - Feb 9, 98 Observer "Bam Bam Bigelow fought Mabel to a DCO in a match taped for Coliseum Video. During the match, a section of fans were chanting 'Whoops! You suck!' at M.O.M. When the two brawled outside the ring, Bigelow threw Mabel into the ringpost. Mabel flew past the ringpost and happened to land in the first row on top of the fans who were chanting. Two women were injured as a result and had to be taken to the hospital with a hand and knee injury respectively. M.O.M. were questioned about the incident and may face disciplinary action. WWF locker room talk continues to be that Mabel is unpopular with many of the wrestlers for his reckless wrestling style and nonchalant attitude." - Apr 23, 94 Torch "At one point Savage said he was going to crush Adams, and at that point everyone couldn't stop laughing." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Kama came out on a Harley and won a squash. Although he resembled comedian Sinbad, he was athletic and agile." - Jan 14, 95 Torch "Eddie Gilbert was offered a spot in the Varsity Club but apparently didn't want it." - Feb 15, 88 Observer "Hercules (Ray Fernandez), Bruiser Bedlam, and Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat have been contacted by the WWF. Hercules would be booked against Ramon as a Cuban gang member from his past." - Nov 26, 94 Torch "Last Sunday an NWA show in St. Louis started more than one hour late because the crew was coming from its afternoon stop in Charleston, West Virginia....In the long run, cross-country double shots on weekends are killing all the weekend cards and causing numerous complaints." - Feb 1, 88 Observer "Right before the angle aired this weekend on TV where Bradley's cat was 'killed' by Candido, a public service announcement from the Humane Society aired promoting adopting cats." - Jan 14, 95 Torch "I'm still trying to figure out why Ric Flair is at all the tapings, they have three hours with almost nothing good to fill it with, and why he's never on television after coming off his best match in years and doing the best interviews in the entire business. And they say booking isn't rocket science. It must be, because I sure can't figure any of it out." - Feb 9, 98 Observer "At the June 1 TV tapings in Atlanta, several hundred 'Tex' signs were handed out to fans as part of a running gag by regular Center Stage attendees to mockingly cheer for Tex Slazenger. Five minutes before the tapings began, WCW head of security Doug Dillenger was instructed to confiscate the signs. Everyone booed as Dillenger took the signs. Then, in an act of terrible timing, ring announcer Gary Capetta asked the fans to start a 'We Want Flair' chant. The fans, still agitated over losing their Tex signs, instead chanted, 'We Want Tex, We Want Tex.' Capetta begged fans to stop, saying, 'This is really important.' Tony Schiavone, showing a sense of humor, addressed the protestors by saying 'this is a dictatorship' " - June 21, 93 Torch "Flair was originally scheduled to score a clean pin on Brian Adams on the 3/9 Nitro from Winston-Salem, but with all the other problems, it was first changed to him doing an interview on the show and not wrestling, and later he ended up working with Curt Hennig....It is known that in the past Adams had been complaining about selling for Flair because he didn't think it was believable." - Mar 16, 98 Observer

To tie it in to the Hogan/Nash feud, if I had to guess I'd say Hogan was the one who got the finish changed because he was working Goldberg at the Georgia Dome and no way is he letting anyone beat Goldberg before then.

WCW everybody! "The original replacement was to be Bret Hart, but Bischoff overruled that feeling that Hart should be treated the same as Hogan and he'd never send Hogan to work in Abilene and Midland so Hart shouldn't either, so the compromise wound up with Flair vs. Bulldog main events." - Feb 9, 98 Observer "The planned PPV on 5/17 in Toronto has been moved to Worcester, MA. There were several reasons for the move, the main one being they wanted to go with Hogan vs. Hart for the title, but Bischoff felt he wanted to save it for later in the year and build it up long and slow learning for the lesson of the Hogan vs. Sting buy rate." - Feb 16, 98 Observer "Disco Inferno was told no more stone cold stunners as Hogan insisted the move be reserved for the newest nWo parasite" - Mar 9, 98 Observer "The 2/22 SuperBrawl PPV drew a 1.10 buy rate which would be about 320,000 buys and $4.12 million. It would make the third straight buy rate of above a 1.0. Under normal standards, that number would be considered huge, but it actually fell greatly under expectations since the first Hogan-Sting did a 1.9 and internally the company was predicting a 1.6 for this show, particularly after Souled Out without either Hogan or Sting on the show topped a 1.0" - Mar 16, 98 Observer "With Hall & Nash, not to mention Flair, Hart and Luger as well, all being off Thunder and the show being totally based around Hogan and Savage, who are getting into the real personal and seemingly legitimate issues with each other which is what people want out of wrestling right now, the show drew a record rating. This solidified Hogan's perception as the guy who drives the ratings and buy rates and who the company will continue to be built around." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Bischoff & Hogan did an interview trying to get heat on the Savage match by saying that Savage's brought his wife, now his ex-wife into the dressing room to be one of the boys and when she was there she "did" the boys." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "The original plan was to break up The Wolfpac from the nWo in early 1998 which would put Hall & Nash in the top program working against Hogan & Savage, but Hogan nixed the plan, basically not letting them up to his level, saying it wasn't the time to do an internal nWo feud, and immediately after started the feud, but decided instead to bring Savage back up to the top level and leave everyone else clearly in secondary issues." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Hall finally got do to his first interview for his title match with Sting on 3/15 just six days before the show, but Hogan, after giving the strap to Sting in San Francisco, the next night on television clearly positioned the title and Sting as a second level issue." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Hennig and Rude destroyed Hart including Rude using a Rude Awakening and Hennig laying him out with a chair to the head. Nobody saved Hart as it was decreed that Hart & Flair can no longer be together in the same package for reasons that make no sense, until you think about them and then they make perfect sense." - Mar 23, 98 Observer "There apparently was an agreement reached between Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash to try and use the real heat, probably including the firing of Syxx, and try and work a wrestling angle out of it which would enable Nash to headline against Hogan which pacifies him somewhat. This only solidifies Hogan as the center of the universe since Savage, Piper, Hart, Sting and Nash all have issues with him, but none have issues with anyone else that are going to be pushed to any level." - Mar 30, 98 Observer "The 3/15 Uncensored PPV did an estimated 1.1 buy rate, which is almost exactly the same as WCW's Souled Out and SuperBrawl shows, despite being on paper a stronger show than either from a star power standpoint. It's a very good figure, but the feeling is the addition of Thursday and coming three weeks after SuperBrawl took the edge off Hogan and Savage drawing what Hogan had bragged would be the biggest buy rate in company history and what wound up as only a little more than half of Hogan-Sting I" - Apr 6, 98 Observer "The Jim Hellwig situation is that he's made the deal and is expected in shortly, although when that is probably will be determined by ratings. The plan seems to be for him to debut at the 7/6 Nitro from the Georgia Dome to set up a match as Sting's partner against Hogan & Giant, although he could be in earlier than that if the ratings don't look good when they go back head-to-head over the next three weeks. The general feeling is that Hellwig will draw one big rating for WCW based on curiosity if it's properly hyped, ie this isn't the guy to bring in as a unannounced surprise. After one month, it's really questionable what he'll mean, let alone what the over/under is on him self-destructing in a company where normal people are already coming close." - May 25, 98 Observer "There is consideration being given, and apparently Nash is lobbying for it, for the NWO Wolfpac to turn on Hennig and get rid of him as he didn't want him in there in the first place. " - May 25, 98 Observer "The manipulation and jockeying for positioning began in a big way stemming from a secret meeting at Hulk Hogan's house on 5/31. It appears the main wrestling topics of conversation at the meeting, which included Hogan's basic crew of The Giant, Randy Savage and Ed Leslie revolved around the main event of the 7/12 Bash at the Beach PPV from San Diego, which features Dennis Rodman....Hogan at the meeting tried to get Page moved out of the main event and replaced by Savage, figuring a media rub because of the celebrities would be better served by being to a member of his crew." - June 8, 98 Observer "During a six week period, WCW has turned Hart, Giant, Sting, Luger, Hall (which then didn't count because it was never talked about again) and Rhodes (which nobody cared about) with basically no build or logic to anyone of those turns, and the pattern of what is happening now and what happened to the preceding company in 1987-88 when it hit the skids with Bischoff as Crockett and Hogan as Rhodes does have some eerie similarities." - June 8, 98 Observer "Despite Nitro being bounced around for the NBA playoffs, it appears the buy rate for the WCW Slamboree PPV without Hogan (he was there doing the cameo run-in for Hart vs. Savage but wasn't advertised) was about the same as for Spring Stampede the previous month with Hogan and coming off a build-up period where WCW was drawing record TV ratings....Hogan didn't work that PPV, smartly realizing bouncing around the time slot would hurt the build, yet the buy rate didn't decline. Then he didn't appear on Memorial Day, again on paper intelligently since it was the first week back after being bounced around and WWF should have won that night, but it was a tie. Then when he showed up on 6/1, the rating tumbled. While he is jumping on the Atlanta big gate momentum, this is the first strong sign that Hogan's seeming business magic has declined to perhaps not being all that significant, which coincides with Steve Austin's rapid ascension as the new top star in the game." - June 8, 98 Observer "Hogan volunteered to work a dark match on the show, suggested that his opponent be Bill Goldberg, and since it would be a non-title match and Hogan has no problem over doing clean jobs when it isn't televised, one would think he made it clear he wasn't going to harm Goldberg's winning streak. This is one of the reasons Hogan is where he is in the business. All those tickets have already been sold without anyone having any knowledge of the match. No doubt when the match is officially announced locally in about one week, it should help sales even more, and being that it is the final Nitro before the San Diego PPV show, both Rodman and the other celebrity are expected to shoot a major angle at the show and are expected to be pushed heavily starting in about two weeks as being at the show....When all is said and done and the event is over, it won't be remembered as WCW Nitro drawing the house or Rodman, doing an angle somewhere during the TV show drawing the house, it'll be Hogan and Goldberg drawing the house, most importantly, to the Turner/Time Warner bigwigs, some of whom will be in the building that night, be amazed at the crowd for a wrestling event, and attribute it to Hogan since he's the biggest name wrestling in the main event." - June 8, 98 Observer "As if there haven't been enough turns, aside from Curt Hennig and Rick Rude going back to the Hogan camp which looks to be almost a sure thing, there is also a lot of talk about Savage going to Hogan's side and Scott Hall, when he comes back, returning to Nash's side. Apparently Nash also doesn't want Page in the Wolfpac so we'll see how that goes." - June 15, 98 Observer "There is a lot of talk of having Hennig attack Konnan for the turn which would result in Goldberg losing via DQ so he wouldn't get No. 100 after all, but that idea is retarded." - June 15, 98 Observer "Bill Goldberg pinned Konnan in 1:57 to retain the U.S. title....There was a lot of heat stemming from the changing of the original finish. Curt Hennig was unhappy because the real heat for him was to be the guy who screwed Goldberg on his 100th win and he had major words with Eric Bischoff regarding both this and his interview on Thunder being canceled a few days earlier. Kevin Nash was unhappy because it was his idea that was accepted, and then later overruled." - June 22, 98 Observer

"Sting refused to turn heel which was Hogan's idea since Hogan figures he needs a top guy to do tag matches with against Hall, Nash, Savage, etc." - May 4, 98 Observer "WCW drew 100 paid and 400 overall in a 9,000 seat arena in Albany, Ga. with Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck & Arn Anderson in a cage on Friday night. There were four events in Georgia over the weekend with 1,500 fans paying for tickets. Three independent shows drew a total of 1,400, WCW drew 100." - Dec 3, 94 Torch "Ross asked what the qualifications were to be a Nitro girl, and then in specific brought up the tall brunette (known as Whisper) and hinted about actions of people in executive positions at Turner and that their actions if they came out could be very unfortunate to those in power and teased that very interesting things could result from it. It should be noted that while those who don't know wrestling gossip would probably construe that as meaning Bischoff, in this case this was not meant as an implied threat toward Bischoff, although it was a reflection of just how nasty, on both sides, this has become." - May 25, 98 Observer "Sir William Dundee at ringside was the recipient of 'Penguin' chants, which unknowing to the fans is Dundee's nickname among fellow wrestlers." - Aug 21, 93 Torch "Even though most of the NWA folks are off until Christmas, Luger, Road Warriors, Flair, Dusty and Williams are up in Toronto this week filming a pilot for Canadian TV. Lyle Alzado will be the star, which is about a school teacher who moonlights as a wrestler." - Dec 21, 87 Observer "Booker T fell out of favor with management a few months ago when he put up a fuss to Bischoff about feuding with Benoit, who he argued was too short." - Feb 6, 99 Torch "So we've got a 41-year-old man riding a bike in a leather jacket with dyed hair and a man who spent years getting his masculinity, or is it muscularity, from a steroid needle and even at 52, also with dyed hair, is strutting around in a sleeveless t-shirt four sizes too small acting as if he's tougher than all his wrestlers. Both are making themselves bigger stars than their employed entertainers, and, as it turns out, both, McMahon in particular, are great performers in front of the camera." - May 18, 98 Observer "Dallas Page was said to be less than thrilled when he found out no big names would be in BattleBowl, relegating his upset win to a win over mid-level guys." - June 1, 96 Torch "What about the most important question of the week. Who would win if they really fought? I mean, Eric's got the martial arts training but Vince is huge. But Eric's younger and quicker and knows how to deliver and punch and a kick. But Vince is huge. And Eric does have a gut. And Vince is constantly lifting weights and is still huge. But Bret flattened Vince with one punch. But Vince let him do it, and he's still huge." - May 18, 98 Observer "Public Enemy are angry with Arn Anderson after overhearing him tell Saturn and Chris Benoit not to sell as much as they have in the past for guys like Public Enemy." - Aug 28, 99 Torch "Titan announced plans for pay per view events on March 27, August 29, November 24 and January 15, 1989. On the surface it sounds harmless enough but the effect on JCP is enormous. Crockett had planned to do PPV shows in April (Crockett Cup), July (Great American Bash) and November 24 (Starrcade). WIth Titan's 60 days before and 21 days after clause in its PPV contract, the PPV monopoly they will gain by adding these shows will eliminate any chance JCP has of breaking into the market....The apparent counter to this is that JCP is going to move several of its big shows (not including Starrcade) to WTBS for prime time specials." - Feb 8, 88 Observer "Lawler says part of the reason Dutch Mantell's USWA bookings were cleared is because he was supposed to buy a donkey to bring to the ring with him, but had not purchased the donkey yet." - July 12, 93 Torch "Steve Williams doubled for Lyle Alzado in the early pilots, when Williams was wrestling Flair he injured his knee landing wrong on a leap from the top. He came back, heavily bandaged for a match against Blanchard. In that one, Tully was supposed to crack him hard over the back with a chair, but instead hit him in the head and busted him open. Doc then had his head patched up for a match with Anderson, but finally his knee blew out. Anderson doubled for Alzado and teamed with Luger against the Road Warriors. Anderson feel from the ring and jammed his shoulder on a TV camera." - Feb 15, 88 Observer "It's almost insulting that two extremely capable, talented wrestlers like Flair and Steamboat, both of whom are in great shape, chose not to try more than one new move compared to their matches in 1989. The superplex off the top rope was outstanding, but it was one move....They owed themselves a great new match to silence their critics. They gave themselves (and paying fans) a mere rerun." - Apr 23, 94 Torch "Hogan used a figure four (it took him so long to get it on I thought he was going to have to pull out one of those diagrams they had Disco Inferno use last year) - Apr 27, 98 Observer "Some B-shows have drawn poorly enough that as a result of main event wrestlers taking a $200 draw (cash advance) at the event, and because their cut of the gate was under $200, they have received paychecks in the negative figures." - Aug 12, 95 Torch "Lex Luger (Larry Pfohl) pinned Scott Steiner (Scott Rechsteiner) in 3:53. This made no sense. Steiner had just turned heel and threatened to get hot and had the ability to step up in rank, and instead they cut his legs off in his first major singles match. Actually come to think about it, it makes perfect sense." - Mar 23, 98 Observer "Mabel is a heel in the USWA now because he turned in the WWF, even though Ramon is still a babyface in the WWF and is a heel in the USWA. The convoluted internal logic is that anyone who feuds with Lawler in the USWA would also feud with him the WWF, and since Lawler is a heel in the WWF and a babyface in the USWA, other WWF wrestlers have to switch their roles when they come to the USWA, too." - Apr 17, 95 Torch "After Sting wouldn't turn heel and team with Hogan, Hogan wanted Hall to join his side of the nWo recognizing he needed a strong partner to make the feud work, and perhaps, since fake storylines turn into real life changes in friends and lovers (see Kevin & Nancy Sullivan and Steve & Debra McMichael), maybe it would weaken Nash's attempt at a power base if Hall wasn't always with him." - May 11, 98 Observer

Dory was officially head booker until Dusty came in the Summer of 84 but Dory had guys that handled booking in certain states, I want to say it was Gary Hart - NC, Wahoo McDaniel - VA, Ernie Ladd - SC. Everyone quite rightly talks about WWF taking Hogan/Okerlund/Shults from AWA as being the first big raid but grabbing Piper, Orton and Valentine (right after his face turn) might actually have done more immediate damage to a "competitor" because in 84 business went down fast (Flair back touring obviously didn't help either) and it took Dusty a long time to rebuild things.

"Steve Regal, Bobby Walker, Vincent and David Taylor were all given pink slips that when their 90-day roll-over period expires, they'll be let go....It is believed that David Finlay may have been in the same boat but he did such a great job in putting over Goldberg that it was his life preserver." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "On the live WCW Saturday show, Gene Okerlund said, 'I didn't know Terry Funk had any family' in reference to Dick Slater's being billed as Terry Funk's cousin." - Dec 10, 94 Torch "One year ago this week, when Nitro and Raw went head-to-head with the Academy Awards, Nitro drew a 3.0 rating and Raw drew a 2.5. This year, Nitro drew a 4.63 rating (4.90 first hour; 4.65 second hour; 4.35 third hour) while Raw did a 3.58 rating (3.50 first hour; 3.65 second hour)" - Mar 30, 98 Observer "The Road Warriors quit WCW on Tuesday, May 28, supposedly after coming to an impasse in contract negotiations. They believed they deserved more pay based on rumors of what Hall and Nash were getting." - June 1, 96 Torch "Jim Brunzell's lawsuit against Verne Gagne was settled out of court. Verne was selling Brunzell dolls without Jim's permission, Brunzell will get all the royalties from the sales of the dolls."- Mat Results Vol 04 No 05 "The WWF didn't disconnect its 900 line as reported here. It's only disconnected when calling from my telephone." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Four years ago Eddie Gilbert had a contract with World Championship Wrestling that he wanted to escape. He went to WCW management and told them his shoulder was so injured he was going to retire from the wrestling business. A week later he was wrestling main events in Memphis, his shoulder suddenly much better....So when Eddie pulled this little stunt to get to Memphis, Wade Keller went out of his way to give him the benefit of the doubt. Wade wrote a long, convoluted rationalization of why this blatant breach of faith was somehow ethical....Steve Beverly chose, as he always did, to protect his friends no matter what they did instead of inform his readers. Matwatch faded into obscurity when its readers realized that." - Mar 4, 95 Torch, Bruce Mitchell "The 5-19 PWUSA Meadowlands card has been cancelled. Interviews on the show 4-27 in New York said that Billy Robinson (Kimala's manager) refused to sign the contract for the Cage Match with Slaughter so the card won't go on." Apr 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Steiner beat Ray Traylor with the camel clutch in 8:25 of a pretty good match. Both worked very hard, the highlight being Traylor clotheslining Steiner into the pool. They called that spot themselves and the people backstage were freaking because the pool deal was supposed to be saved for Hall & Nash." - Mar 23, 98 Observer "TNN rejected the original Oct. 8 ECW TV show. TNN officials and ECW have been butting heads over the content of the show....Rather then spend time editing the show, sources say Heyman decided to stick it to TNN by giving them a show which consisted of two month–old PPV matches and the Tammy Sytch interview." - Oct 16, 99 Torch "There will be a Nude World Order II porn movie. Not sure if the Observer will make the sequel as it was shown subliminally in the first one but given another name so I guess as not to make my reputation any worse since I didn't know about it until they told me after the movie was done." - Apr 20, 98 Observer "Three weeks ago, TNN issued ECW a memo notifying them they refused to air any ECW show with wrestler promos or music videos. ECW called their bluff two weeks ago by running a Rob Van Dam video. Although the video aired, TNN notified ECW they would edit out any more videos and replace them with commercials. TNN has also ordered a stop to music being played as the announcers talk in front of the ECW banner. When asked what they don’t like about the music, TNN has called Rob Zombie something to the effect of a 'Satan worshipper' and objected to the name of the band 'Godsmack.' " - Oct 16, 99 Torch "Bischoff had fired Waltman last year for about one hour after being mad about him pulling Ric Flair's tights down during a match" - Mar 23, 98 Observer "Paul Heyman apparently got so upset with TNN’s demands that on two occasions ECW executives Steve Karrel, Gene Shirkowski, and Will Byrd had to talk him out of leaving the meetings and terminating the agreement with TNN." - Oct 16, 99 Torch "Arn Anderson showed up and to show WCW's bad luck, delivered probably the worst interview of his career with the classic line, 'it says marquee on the wrestling.' " - Apr 20, 98 Observer "TNN and ECW are also at odds over production techniques. TNN has asked ECW to use more cameras and a production truck. Sources say Heyman feels neither is neccessary." - Oct 16, 99 Torch "As Kane was about to knock off, or is it knock up, Sable, Undertaker hanging around the top of the Titan tron cut a promo. Just like every horror movie I've seen. The freaked out bimbo is screaming for help as the heartless killer shows up to do whatever it is he's going to do to her. But at the last second she's saved, by a guy 200 yards away standing on a TV screen cutting a promo." - Mar 23, 98 Observer "ECW has never been more on the brink of a meltdown than now. Several wrestlers’ checks have bounced recently. Drug use among the wrestlers in the locker room is said to be at an all–time high which is turning off other wrestlers who don’t wish to be around such activity. One ECW employee is said to make a habit of cleaning up the locker room after everyone has left because if any needles or drug paraphernalia were to be left behind, it could jeopardize ECW’s chances of returning to the given facility." - Feb 13, 99 Torch "Things got worse this week when Giant Baba made public that WCW had offered to send him talent for the 5/1 Tokyo Dome show. Baba turned down the offer, but that was the first time it became public in Japan that WCW had supposedly gone behind their business partners New Japan's back to try and make a deal with their competition." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "Owen got in the WWF dog house after he was fined for being late for certain cards where Diesel was also late, but the fine was waived. To protest, Owen began showing up late on purpose to spite management. Bret helped soothe things over." - July 31, 95 Torch "Before the match Raven again brought up The Snake (Jake Roberts) and they wouldn't be bringing up his name if he wasn't coming in. Hell, they don't even bring up Ric Flair or Bret Hart's name and they are in." - Mar 23, 98 Observer "Lawler asked Dundee if he ever heard about SMW. Dundee said, 'I've heard of it, but I wouldn't go there because I don't like the guy who runs it.' " - Feb 4, 95 Torch "Ray Traylor suffered a black eye and actually passed out while in the Steiner recliner in their television match on 3/3 in Johnstown, PA that aired on 3/7" - Mar 16, 98 Observer "A corporation called H.H.G. Inc. has picked up the slack on past-due bills and is issuing paychecks to the wrestlers. No one other than Paul Heyman is quite sure exactly what or who H.H.G. Inc. is." - May 27, 95 Torch "It got better later in the show when Hogan said that he was the only reason Savage's mom and dad had a house and made some reference to Savage's brother without mentioning the name Lanny Poffo with a limp wrist as to indicate whatever a limp wrist is supposed to indicate." - Mar 16, 98 Observer "The WWF referees were given different shirts to wear so they look less like the kind WCW referees wear." - Mar 18, 95 Torch "Bobby Walker and Virgil, who were originally fired, have been re-hired. Walker is related to Claude 'Thunderbolt' Patterson (I believe he's his nephew), a noted Atlanta black activist who was a major wrestling figure in the city in the 70s. WCW has always been careful to keep a few black wrestlers on the payroll for no reason other than to keep Patterson quiet because he's caused other wrestling promoters in Atlanta lots of trouble at various times, some of which may have even been justified. So a lot of people were surprised WCW would get rid of Walker, and it didn't last long. Virgil wasn't saved by skin color, but simply by going to Hogan and getting his termination revoked." - Apr 6, 98 Observer

This being 18 years ago scares the shit out of me. Palumbo being the highest paid of the Natural Born Thrillers makes sense, he was the WCW World Champion for a few minutes.

"On Thunder they announced the elimination of that long since antiquated over the top rope rule. Not sure if it was because WWF was making fun of it or simply because the announcers were having one hell of a time explaining why guys would throw each other over the top at will and no DQ's were ever called. You know, they keep going over on their own momentum." - Mar 9, 98 Observer "Thunderbolt will remain a regular, but is on Jim Crockett's payroll as a result of his suit vs. NWA. He's getting $2000 a week for keeping his mouth shut." - Mar 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Gene Okerlund plugged his 900 line saying if Flair kisses Elizabeth on camera, imagine what goes on behind the scenes. He said he'd chronicle all of the torrid behind the scenes affairs and stressed kids should 'really get their parents' permission on this one' " - Apr 27, 96 Torch "Jim Brunzell who is frustrated with his current role wants to be made a heel and feud with Greg Gagne which was thought would happen on the 1-13 St. Paul card but didn't." Mat Results 1985 Yearbook "At the 9/15 WTBS taping, several smart aleck fans who have taken to wearing Cornette outfits, kept chanting things that hurt poor Dusty's ego (referring to his waist size) and chanted 'Go Home Ronnie' during Garvin's match. Virgil had them all kicked out of the studio." - Oct 1, 85 Observer "Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appearance in ECW didn’t come into fruition because officials from both parties couldn't agree on his involvement. Schwarzenegger’s people wanted him to make a similar appearance to the one he made on Smackdown in that he would beat up one of the wrestlers. Heyman objected because it had already been done on another wrestling show and offered several scenarios, including Schwarzenegger attacking Joel Gertner. After hearing the news, one ECW source said, 'What, Francine beats up our guys every week, but Arnold can’t?' " - Dec 4, 99 Torch "All the wrestlers were told no more power bombs, and they had a translator into espanol telling all the Mexicans that if any of them did a power bomb they'd be fired on the spot. One week later on Nitro we see three (Kidman, Konnan and Scott Steiner) guys doing variations while still trying to keep the angle that it's banned and Nash keeps getting arrested for doing the move." - Feb 9, 98 Observer "Diamond Dallas Page vs. Great Muta was originally scheduled for Great American Bash, but Muta has balked at the plans for the match and thus won't be on the show." - June 1, 96 Torch "Gagne knew the crowd would be horrible so he decided to cut his losses and no shows were Stan Lane, Steve Keirn, four midgets, Nobuhiko Takada (billed to appear, but to the best of my knowledge never even came to the U.S.), Mad Dog Vachon and Brad Rheingans. Bobby Heenan was injured but did appear, but was replaced in the six man non-cage match which didn't enthrall the fans either." - May 84 Observer "The Yeti breaking out of the ice block was prerecorded as it did not take place in the arena. Apparently they didn't want to lock someone in the ice block for the entire hour, so taped that segment earlier." - Nov 4, 95 Torch "Mr Wrestling II defeated and unmasked Mr. Wrestling as Jesse Barr throughout the North on the 10/1-10/7 tour, however on the 10/8 television, Jesse was wearing the mask building up a mask vs. mask match in Atlanta. Remember Ole, the Georgia show goes nationwide." - Nov 83 Observer "The reason Frank Anderson is kept on his $130,000 annual salary is that WCW receives more than three times that in fees for a Swedish station to carry WCW WorldWide with Anderson matches on them." - July 31, 95 Torch "Davey Boy Smith pinned John K-9 with a Tombstone Piledriver, a move he and Dynamite were famous for but weren't allowed to use because it's similar, but much more impressive than the finisher Don Muraco uses." - Sept 22, 86 Observer "The new computer graphics opening to WCW Saturday Night cost $100,000" - Nov 27, 93 Torch "After Savage beat Santana for the IC title, Tito kept that belt and defended it for two weeks until the TV tape aired. In several of those cities, he pinned Savage, so the natural question is for Titan to explain how Santana could hold the belt and pin Savage on 2/14 in Chicago for instance, and have Savage regarded as champ by virtue of a 2/8 win in Boston." - Mar 24, 86 Observer "Paul Heyman says there will probably only be one more ECW television taping before ECW hands over its television slot to the World Wrestling Network (unofficially scheduled to be headed by Jim Crockett Jr. come Nov. 1). Heyman sees the most recent ECW tapings and the current television shows as a testing ground for some of his ideas for WWN, including Matty in the House and Public Enemy. ECW would still survive owned by Tod Gordon, but with WWN as the parent television show. And to confuse matters even more, all of this falls under the banner of the National Wrestling Alliance." - Oct 23, 93 Torch "Rhodes has gained so much weight he looked like a cross between Mark Madden and Adrian Adonis." - Feb 2, 98 Observer "Wright bounced into the ropes hard and the top rope support snapped. Wright crashed hard and fast to the cement floor before prompting at first concern for him and then quickly mock applause from the fans. Immediately WCW officials checked on Wright, who looked hurt, grabbing his back and writhing in pain. He rolled into the ring where both he and the opposite turnbuckle were tended to....Gary Capetta announced that the ring would be repaired and if Wright was able, the match would continue at the point it was left off. The bottom rope was moved to the top and the top rope to the bottom. After 18 minutes of ring repairs, the match restarted." - Jan 7, 95 Torch "They are trying to run Piper-Adonis along with the Battle Royals because on its own, the feud has flopped. Titan's brass is perplexed about that one. Do you realize that only three months ago, people actually thought Piper would overtake Hogan as Titan's leading drawing card." - 86 Observer Yearbook "Wrestlers are basically a bunch of dopes who have had their spirits broken and who have been pushed through insane schedules. Yet they never, and I mean never, turn on the company they work for, even when the situation clearly calls for it. Oh, they’ll bitch incessantly in private about how the company abuses them and how this guy or that guy gets special treatment. But when push comes to shove, no one stands up for himself. In fact, when an outsider—like a member of the media—tries to expose a wrestling company for what it is, namely something akin to indentured servitude, more often than not those same wrestlers who bitch incessantly will actually, on the record, side with the company." - Nov 13, 93 Torch, Mark Madden Column

All from Dave, in 87 he gives in and picks him 3rd (behind Flair and Choshu) because of Wrestlemania and Survivor Series but states "I can't pick Hogan first because I consider work in the ring a must for a first place pick"

"Many wrestlers believe Nash asked Triple H to make it hard on Jericho during his early days in the WWF so Nash wouldn’t end up looking bad for not pushing him while he was in WCW. The same theorists point to Nash telling Goldberg not to work with Jericho as an example of his problems with Jericho" - Dec 18, 99 Torch "Hogan's title reign has been a disappointment. He drew tremendously well in the first few months as champion in the Northeast. In other parts of the country, his drawing power wasn't that noticeable from the beginning." - 84 Observer Yearbook "Torrie Wilson signed a contract with WCW late last week. She had been in negotiations with both WCW and the WWF over the past month....She worried that in the WWF she might be asked to do things she is uncomfortable with (i.e. a lesbian angle or excessive stripping on TV)." - Dec 18, 99 Torch "By all rights, Hogan should be listed as well, because nobody made a greater impact, but I refuse to ever list a poor wrestler as a candidate for 'Wrestler of the Year' " - 85 Observer Yearbook "The line between 'big star' and 'mid-carder' seems to lie right between Buff Bagwell and Chris Benoit. Buff recently showed up at 6:30 p.m. for a show when his arrival time was supposed to be 2 p.m. He strolled in without a hint of guilt or a need to give an excuse. Benoit, meanwhile, shows up on time but would be scolded if he arrived late." - Oct 13, 99 Torch "Hogan deserves the 'Wrestler of the Year' award for all the impact he's had on the business, but the bottom line is, in my book, what's in the ring counts as well. I won't consider a bad wrestler under any circumstances." - 86 Observer Yearbook "Hall was scheduled to take part in the finish of the Nash vs. Page PPV match. The original finish was to have the arena lights go out (ECW style) and when they came back on Hall was to be in the ring helping Nash. The plan fell through during the middle of the show when Hall told management he wanted to take three to four more months off." - May 15, 99 Torch "If the WWF had lost Hulk for whatever reason, whomever his replacement would have been could do every bit as well at the gate." - 84 Observer Yearbook "At Thunder last week they promised a Goldberg vs. Ric Flair dark match. Neither wrestler appeared. They ended the card with two matches featuring The Texas Hangmen and Mike Enos & Scotty Riggs." - May 8, 99 Torch "It's easy to hate Gorilla Monsoon, and I turn the TV off whenever I hear or see Hulk Hogan." - 86 Observer Yearbook "When WCW asked Ric Flair to do a job on Nitro to Shane Douglas, he said he wouldn’t wrestle because he has arthritis related to his plane crash over 20 years ago. Flair is extremely upset WCW would ask him to job to Douglas on TV with little or no build–up since Douglas has made a name from being disrespectful toward him." - Aug 14, 99 Torch "Hulk Hogan--I have only seen him in one match in the last several months and in that one, he did the impossible, made me hate a bout involving Terry Funk. No matter what I'm doing or where I am, when this oversized idiot is on, I'm gone." - 85 Observer Yearbook "Shane Douglas, Francine, and Chris Candido got 'Triple Threat' tattoos early during their stint as a group. Rick Rude, who was in ECW at the time, laughed at them saying it wouldn’t last and they were being 'marks.' Now Francine is dating Tommy Dreamer outside of the ring and the Triple Threat doesn’t exist anymore." - Feb 13, 99 Torch "I fully expect Vince to kill my interest in wrestling, Dusty to kill wrestling in the Carolinas and Solie to make me kill my television set early on Saturday morning." - 84 Observer Yearbook "A Bunkhouse Buck match aired on WCW WorldWide this week despite him no longer being with the company." - Apr 27, 96 Torch "Roberts vs. Garvin had two boring wrestlers doing the same interviews week after week, a feud which never ended, never drew and bad matches. What more can one ask for?" - 84 Observer Yearbook "Vince McMahon called all wrestlers under contract to Titan Towers for a special 'state of the WWF' meeting and tour of the headquarters in Stamford on May 18. The tour began around 9 a.m. and didn't end until 5 p.m., and like any 'field trip,' some wrestlers enjoyed themselves while others seemed bored. Well produced videos aired showing how various aspects of Titan Sports operate. The meeting was meant partially as a pep talk for the wrestlers and as a way to show them the impressive WWF headquarters. McMahon said the WWF lost $3 million last year but that $5 million in losses was factored in for legal expenses. McMahon said in general business was looking really good." - May 27, 95 Torch "Santana and Valentine fell a lot this past year" - 84 Observer Yearbook "Eddie Guerrero wasn’t at Nitro because he didn’t receive his booking itinerary in time." - Dec 25, 99 Torch "The story I get is that Gilbert was fired by JCP for missing two television tapings that nobody told him he was supposed to be at in the first place." - Feb 29, 88 Observer "Chris Jericho’s problems fitting in behind the scenes and in the ring in the WWF came to a head last Tuesday after the Smackdown tapings. A meeting was held to work through some of the problems he was having in his matches and some of the complaints the his opponents had with his working style and attitude.... Jericho conceded that he had a ways to go before fitting in with the WWF’s match style. The Rock, Triple H, and Sean Waltman (X–Pac) were among those who had expressed to management that Jericho needed to adjust his style in order to reach his potential in the WWF. It was decided at the meeting that Waltman would become a sort of 'tutor' for Jericho since he is familiar with what the WWF expects out of its talent in the ring." - Dec 25, 99 Torch

"WWF wrestlers watching Jericho’s matches thus far aren’t overly impressed, with the evaluation being that he is 'too WCW' and has a long way to go before he adapts to the 'more efficient and internally logical' style the top WWF wrestlers strive for. His movement in the ring and timing has even been compared to Shane Douglas’s, which is not considered a compliment. His facial expressions in the ring are being criticized for being too cartoonish." - Oct 13, 99 Torch "New manager Mark Guleen talks like an actor in the theater." - Jan 4, 88 Observer "His match at the Oct. 4 live Raw against Rock caused Jericho to lose even more fans. The timing of his placement of the chinlock was judged as a crowd–killer and his punches and kicks were judged as weak. Because Jericho had a poor match with Rock, more people are taking note of his in-ring limitations now than before because Rock is a top star who has a track record of solid matches." - Oct 13, 99 Torch "Sumo wrestler 'Tamakirin' debuts for All Japan on 11/7 under his real name Akira Taue." - Nov 2, 87 Observer "In order to offset the existing shortage of heels (made worse by the disappointing start by Jericho), look for Viscera to get a bigger push (My Note: The Vis push consists of a 1 week run as a pimp that wasn't a 'fun lovin guy' and a 2 week mini feud with Kane)" - Oct 30, 99 Torch "Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty are called the Midnight Rock 'n' Rollers because Verne has treatened to sue them if they continued to use the Midnight Rockers name which he apparently trademarked." - Sept 14, 87 Observer "Henry and Viscera came to the ring with obese hos." - Nov 7, 99 Torch "Giant Hillbilly (Stan Frazier) will renew his wedding vows on 10/6 at the Mid South Coliseum. He will then travel to Hawaii for his second honeyman, and work the 10/8 Honolulu show. At that big outdoor show in August the loudest cheers, except for Inoki, came for Frazier, as Uncle Elmer." - Oct 6, 86 Observer "Chris Jericho has taken his fair share of ribbing on the road, made more intense because of his initial huge push. Jericho wasn’t included on the October No Mercy PPV. Before the event, wrestlers asked him who he booked against. He told them he was 'riding the pine' " - Nov 13, 99 Torch "While the two groups do draw a different crowd, I'll guarantee you that if you put either Flair or Dusty into the WWF and they did their same act they do with the NWA, they would get the same reaction during their act. It's simply cheap heat, showing your bare ass, swearing, etc. and I've never seen an audience that doesn't pop for it, and I've never seen it done where some members of the audience don't get turned off by it as well." - Oct 19, 87 Observer "Stevie Richards broke his leg during his angle with Chris Jericho last week on Raw. WWF management has soured on pushing Chris Jericho, at least for now, as a top–tier star for a number of reasons including feedback from other top wrestlers who insisted he wasn’t ready." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "I'm sick of watching Ric carry Crusty Toad." - Sept 15, 86 Observer, Reader Letter "When Jericho threw Richards through the ropes out of the ring on Raw, he threw him hard enough that Richards’ was unable to 'take his own bump' and ended up landing awkwardly on his leg." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "The Wilbur/Paul Jones thing is actually kind of funny....Whether Dusty will admit it or not, this thing is basically a copy of Hillbilly Jim." - Oct 26, 87 Observer "Besides Jericho working overly stiff, wrestlers have talked among themselves that the stilts built into his boots may be affecting his coordination; he is in essence wrestling on his tip–toes given the angle of his feet in the boots. Another thought is Jericho is too muscular and should return to a more natural weight so he can take advantage of his natural athletic ability and not be 'such a clod.' - Nov 20, 99 Torch "The word is out throughout wrestling that Windham can be had for any date for $250 plus transportation and as a regular for $1,500 per week." - Feb 17, 86 Observer "Busch and Kevin Sullivan headed the talent meeting held before the Oct. 25 Nitro which was attended by all wrestlers at the show. The Nitro Girls tried to attend the meeting, but were informed it was 'talent only.' They were not pleased they were asked to leave." - Oct 30, 99 Torch "Lex Luger (who seems to have his own personal fan club in the offices of the Apter mags, they call the guy a legend and act like he's the greatest thing since Lou Thesz, or at least Hulk Hogan.) - June 10, 86 Observer "The WWF has offered to let ECW use Kurrgan and Giant Silva among others." - Aug 14, 99 Torch "Okerlund announced that they are in the home of the New York Islanders. The crowd booed." - Sept. 4, 99 Torch "Police in Dallas received literally tons of frantic calls telling them they thought the death was murder and that Chris Adams did it, since apparently Chris has threatened to kill Gino on interviews." - Feb 17, 86 Observer "When D–Lo was backstage at the WCW Toronto house show (the WWF was in town the same weekend), he got into an argument with Mike Graham. Graham responded to a D–Lo dig by saying, 'At least I never crippled anybody.' " - Dec 4, 99 Torch