DeanColes1987

"Jim Crockett has come up with some slight changes which will probably mean the end of the NWA as we know it. One of the biggest is signing NWA Champ Ric Flair to an exclusive 3 year contract. Crockett says Flair will wrestle in the promotion 5 days a week, and will appear in the other NWA groups (Texas, Florida, etc.) the other 2 days. If the other groups want Ric they have to go through Crockett and pay him a guarantee, Crockett is thus in complete control of the NWA Title." - May 85 International Wrestling News "When Lance Von Erich didn't show up for his scheduled return match after albow surgery, Kerry was called upon to make 'the most embarrassing anouncement of my career.' Kerry said, 'William Vaughn, who you know as our cousin Lance Von Erich, isn't here tonight because he chickened out of a match with Brian Adias.' " - July 6, 87 Observer "I need a typewriter that I can program to print 'the ref was down' since it comes up so often." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 08 "Bill Watts did an interview on the St. Louis airing of the UWF program. Watts basically gave his side of the UWF's inability to book a show at the Kiel Auditorium, charging restraint of trade and painting the city government as the heavy handed heels who have catered to Titan. From what I'm told, Watts did a brilliant job making himself the underdog to the public, but in doing so pissed off most of the politicians in St. Louis and everyone in the city remotely connected with arena management. He used a lot of phrases like free enterprise and restraint of trade." - Mar 23, 87 Observer "Can you believe Dusty's line on Power Pro this week about Missy's ability to suck chrome off something or other? I used to say stuff like that too. Then I graduated 8th grade." - July 20, 87 Observer "The highlight, or lowlight of the taping was Michael Hayes repeating Dusty Rhodes' remarks about Missy Hyatt." - Aug 3, 87 Observer "Hyatt won't be doing color commentary on the Power Pro shows anymore as was lots of bad blood between her and the Freebirds--most of the commentary you heard by her during the Birds matches was a shoot, or at least the Birds took it as such and Hayes & Gordy each had at least one interview which had to be edited out of the show with their comeback remarks which weren't exactly in the best of taste." - Sept 14, 87 Observer "Probably the biggest surprise of the week came during the 'Ask Fritz' segment on the World Class show as Fritz told the truth. It's kind of funny that the first time he's probably ever told the truth, was the time that telling the truth made him look even stupider than had he lied. The question asked was whether or not Lance Von Erich was really his nephew and Fritz responded, 'I believe the boy's real name is WIlliam Vaughn and he is in no way related to us and can't use that name anymore because I copyrighted it.' " - Aug 10, 87 Observer "Because Deep South did so well in Marietta, the Crocketts screwed them by booking the Marietta Civic Center on all their open Sunday dates for six months." - Mat Results Vol 05 No 02 "Give WWF credit for overtime work this weekend. They produced two sets of Superstars and Challenge shows over the weekend, one set for air dates on Saturday talking about the upcoming Saturday Night Main Event and another for Sunday with commentary and inserts talking mainly about what happened 'last night.' That's the difference between an organization committed to television perfection and one that just churns out television product." - Feb 17, 92 Observer "If there is a category for most tasteless comment of the year, David Crockett has it won for his 6/20 WTBS statement that 'Ric Flair wants Precious so bad he can taste it.' " - July 6, 87 Observer, Reader Letter "Jim Crockett is making offers to a lot of the wrestlers, he's telling them to show him an income tax form of their best year and he'll pay them that plus get a 2 year contract." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 09 "In the past two weeks the folks at Kiel have slightly backed off their deal with Titan, and have instead put the exclusive rights to run shows at the Kiel to a sealed bid proposal. Apparently the city council put pressure on Kiel after hearing Watts' comments. The UWF, which caused all this to happen, has instead decided to run at the Arena in St. Louis with a 4/20 date." - Apr 6, 87 Observer "Flair was booked in Alexandria, Louisiana to wrestle Duggan but Flair was pulled by Crockett a few days before the match so he could use Flair himself. Has Crockett ever heard of what goes around, comes around?" - Mat Results Vol 04 No 02 "Did you see that silly new Horsemen emblem they show whenever Flair, Blanchard, Luger or Anderson do a match or interview?" - June 15, 87 Observer "They aired a video of Johnny Ace, still kidnapped by Sullivan & Bugsy McGraw who were bullying him around. Sullivan was making Ace wash Kevin's hands while Bugsy was making Ace read the book 'The Three Little Pigs' although he made Ace called the Pigs, Sheep instead. There's nothing wrong with the idea of the skit (actually maybe there is, but if so, it's the least of their problems) however Ace kept cracking up while doing his lines. That's not the worst of it either, later in the show, the Sheepherders come out for a match, and who is carrying their flagpole? You've got it--Johnny Ace. It was explained that Ace was released from captivity by Sullivan & Bugsy. Later in the show, The Sheepherders come out for an interview demanding Sullivan & Bugsy release Ace (who was with them earlier in the show) and claim they're going to start hurting people left and right until Ace is released." - Sept 28, 87 Observer

Dave trying to get a typewriter with a working O "Special thanks to Ted Robinson of KCBS radio in San Francisco as I appeared on his 'Sportsbeat' talk show this past Sunday and he made me promise on the air to get a new typewriter within two weeks I'll do that and we won't have to be driven crazy by the broken O's." - May 11, 87 Observer "I know I promised a new typewriter this by this week--next week for sure." - May 25, 87 Observer "Sorry once again about the typewriter. I ordered a new one about a week ago and expected it here by now, but with the holiday it was delayed. I realize how hard it is to read this, because I didn't even want to read last week's issue but bear with me and it'll be straightened out." - June 1, 87 Observer "After all those weeks of promises, I finally came through with a new typewriter, which should make these issues easier to read if nothing else." - June 8, 87 Observer "I know you are all going to start cursing me, but I've had two typewriters break as I've done this issue and this ancient model with the flying O's is the only one left." - July 27, 87 Observer

"Central States is now hyping an angle where they claim Warlord is really a Russian trained by Ivan Koloff posing as an American, in reality, Warlord is a statue posing as a wrestler." - Apr 27, 87 Observer "The wrestling bear matches with bear Victor have been axed by the Texas Department of Labor & Standards because he's not a human & he can't sign a contract." - Nov 84 Eastern Wrestling News "As 1991 began, Pedicino was still in negotiation to launch Global Wrestling Federation, financed by a northeastern trust, headed by entrepreneur Olu Oleyami." - 1990 Matwatch Annual "They had a pole match for $7,000 between Warlord and Earthquake Ferris. In typical KC fashion, neither of the two could climb the pole. Porkchop had to climb the pole, come down with the money and have Ferris (the babyface no less) steal it from him to win." - Apr 27, 87 Observer "Ann Gunkel told Rep. Dick Lane that there was no need for a wrestling commission but she then said if a commission was voted in she would be the perfect choice for one of the positions." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 09 "The fact Hart was losing the title in Springfield was the world's worst-kept secret being that the WWF syndicated shows went out on the satellite Wednesday, which means anyone with a dish (which probably means well over one million potential viewers) would have been able to watch on Wednesday them talk about, in the past tense, in detail, an angle that was going to occur two days later." - Jan 27, 92 Observer "George Scott is no longer booking for the WWF, crowds have fallen off as much as 58.4% in some areas when comparing crowds before and after Wrestlemania 2." - June-July 86 International Wrestling News "After about three minutes with Bubba in the ring staring down with Ronnie, the ref actually mistakenly counted out the Express who were both on the floor. Thankfully the guys didn't listen and went another 13:00." - May 4, 87 Observer "USA network is unhappy with Titan because they felt they should have been the ones to show the Moolah-Richter match instead of MTV. They're also not happy with him being on WTBS." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 02 "Bully went for the horn and Rhodes stopped him. The truck came to a stop for a church bus to pass." - March 25, 95 Torch "On the 10/18 CH. 11 show, as the World Class credits were going on, there was a voiceover by Chris Adams telling fans about the new UWF show Ch. 11 is airing." - Oct 27, 86 Observer "As soon as the rumors of the Dallas group invading St. Paul got out, the tapes two of the next three weeks had been mysteriously damaged to the point they couldn't be aired." - Sept 30, 84 Observer "Jarrett was involved in the 4-22 Memphis co-production of a TV audition tape with Ann Gunkel being the other producer. The tape was to be sent to ESPN for them to decide whether or not to take wrestling on. Before the end of the night Jarrett and Gunkel got into a fight which ended their association. The tape was never sent to ESPN." - May 85 International Wrestling News "To insure a proper fan reaction for segments that air after the Undertaker turn, they did a dark segment in Amarillo where Mr. Perfect was doing an interview and insulting Undertaker who came out and basically cleaned his clock as a babyface." - Feb 10, 92 Observer "Randy Savage turned down a WWF offer while Jimmy Hart turned down the AWA because they didn't offer him enough money to leave Memphis." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 04 "These guys are borrowing from the pages of Vince McMahon talking about the 10 year history of the Horsemen (a term that was never used until January 1986). Reminds me of when Paul Orndorff fired Bobby Heenan as manager ending a long association which never even started since Heenan never managed Orndorff before the skit where Orndorff fired him." - Mar 9, 87 Observer "Brutus Beefcake is a flashy new individual. He could be good. I have to wonder if Dave Wolfe has anything to do with him. On the Cyndi Lauper video of She Bop you see the word "Beefcake" on a magazine and a jacket." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 02

Looking at historyofwwe.com he's gone from May until the 1st Superstars taping at the end of August. "Hillbilly Jim quit the WWF which is why nobody has seen him around. They wanted to get rid of the Hillbilly act anyway which had run its course. Anyway Jim had to work 70 straight nights and finally got fed up and went home." - July 7, 86 Observer

"On the Power Pro show, it was announced Tatum was in an accident and broke both his legs and the fans cheered wildly." - Dec 15, 86 Observer "Matwatch chooses Eddie Gilbert as its first Man Of The Year for creating six months of excitement in one of the nations least anticapated promotions, for proving his almost unparalleled ability to create quality wrestling television, for making a quarter of Memphis wrestling intense to watch, and for bringing a sense of the unexpected to the arenas he has populated in 1988." - 1989 Matchwatch Annual "Hillbilly Jim has quit the WWF, he was sick of the travel and has since tried getting booked in Memphis who didn't want him." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 08 "Skin magazine 'Hot Talk' will be running a 'Confessions of a Ring Rat,' story in a future issue." - 86 Observer Yearbook "Vince and Turner bought some new studio equipment together prior to their break up. It included stero sound production equipment and special cameras. The WWF foot the bill for these improvements and Turner is now letting the NWA people use them." - Apr 85 Eastern Wrestling News "With the exception of Brenda Britton, Misty Blue has to be the ugliest girl ever described as beautiful in the human race. Her and Linda Dallas is almost embarassing how bad it is. They are literally doing nothing but selling their asses." - Mar 9, 87 Observer "Goldberg was upset Monday when he found out that WCW originally planned to have Elizabeth accuse him of raping her." - Jan 9, 99 Torch "Geigel and Brown fought in the audience and a fan on crutches got too close and was knocked down by Brown's hand swinging backwards. This caused an audience riot when the fan went into convulsions and the crowd shoved Brown through closed doors and threw him down a flight of stairs." - Apr 28, 86 Observer "Bob Brown and Mike George had a pole match with $2500 on top of the 20ft pole. Since Mike was too fat to climb and Bob was too old, Sonny Myers pushed Butch Reed up the pole to get the money who gave it to George." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 08 "Jonathan Boyd came out and claimed he had found out Joe Blanchard was paying Voodoo Malumba money to lose matches while Boyd had him under contract. Next thing you know Boyd will be claiming Manny Fernandez uses small bits of blade to massacre his own forehead." - Sept 30, 84 Observer "Gilbert was either fired or resigned or fired as booker after a charge that Eddie was not truthful to CWF about working a show in Kansas City while he was allegedly still suffering with the shoulder. Sources close to Gilbert insist the promotion know of Gilbert's KC booking." - 1989 Matchwatch Annual "My only comment is that irregardless of my opinion on the looks of Misty Blue, the costume she wrestles in makes her fair game for the comments I made, plain and simple." - Mar 23, 87 Observer "Hillbilly Jim has returned after striking out with other promotions and failing in a singing career." - Mat Results Vol 05 No 01 "Those of you who caught the show this week must have laughed when Bill Mercer said 'the winner gets to leave town' in hyping the match." - Jan 5, 87 Observer

"Jimmy Snuka was sent home from the WWF Kuwait tour for being a naughty boy." - March 85 Global Wrestling News Service "The Kuwait government pulled the permits for any future Titan shows. Oh well, took 65 grand to help out a star in a jam there last tour. Maybe a little more palm spreading will bring them back." - Apr 85 Global Wrestling News Service "Jim Ross continues to inject legitimate names and backgrounds into his Action Zone play-by-play. He called Mantaur by his real name, Mike Hallick, on Sunday and talked of his amateur background." - March 25, 95 Torch "Dr. Jerry Graham is no longer with the All Star California Championship wrestling office. His match with Victor Rivera ended when The Good Doctor bared it all when his tights fell to his knees." - Aug 85 Global Wrestling News Service "I hear Brody got quite a kick out of Verne's proposals for him to be pinned on Thanksgiving in the Metrodome by either Blackwell or Verne himself." - Sept 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Diamond Dallas Page is an ex-wrestler. In the late 70s he toured Canada and the East Coast as Handsome Dallas Page" - Aug 25, 88 Torch "Our business is changing rapidly and there is less cooperation than ever between promotions. I think we all owe Vince McMahon Jr a vote of thanks for waking us up. His venture 'should' cause a deeper, critical evaluation of our own business and the way we approach it. I feel severe stagnation has set in and we need to rejuvenate it. I appreciate the remarks and insights of real wrestling afficionados." - Feb 4, 85 Observer, Reader Letter from William F. Watts Jr, President, Mid South Sports "Brody has made it quite clear that he'd appear more often but his 'good friend' Harley Race has got to go (Race-Brody are bitter enemies stemming from jealousies about Brody's drawing power, his refusing to take falls, his salary, etc). Brody says he'd appear more if his close friend Buck Robley was reinstated as booker. No word on any action by Geigel on this as yet, but if it was me I'd tell Race to take a hike." - Oct 84 Eastern Wrestling News "In St. Louis on 11/16, Blackwell messed up the ending of the Flair-Brody title bout by coming in the ring too soon. It was supposed to appear that Brody won the title only to have a second referee reverse it. Then Ric and Jerry were to tie Brody in the ropes and beat him badly but Brody was upset and shot on both Flair and Blackwell. They wisely decided not to pursue the issue and left the ring." - Mat Results 1985 Yearbook "6-10 in St. Paul Race was to be in the $100,000 battle royal, until Brody was announced to appear. Race didn't go that nite because he knew Brody would have kicked his ass for real in the battle royal." - Oct 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Race was to meet Larry Hennig 9-30 but was scrapped because you know who (BB) was there too." - Oct 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Most of the wrestlers appeared worn out from a ridiculously hard Christmas week schedule. They worked Charlotte (afternoon) and Atlanta (night) on Christmas day. Richmond on the 26th, Atlanta (am) and Bloomington, Minn. (pm) on the 27th, Greensboro (afternoon) and Albuquerqe (pm) on the 28th before the shows in California. If that wasn't enough to kill them, after the Albuquerque show, several of the big shots decided to spend the night in Las Vegas, which means they didn't sleep much." - Jan 12, 87 Observer "Verne nearly lost Brody after a card in Chicago. The main event was a 6 man tag, & Brody was involved. Verne decided to split the main event take 6 ways, leaving Brody with only $900 for the night. But Verne was able to talk his number one star into staying. The 10-21 St. Paul big payday is probably what did it." - Nov 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Ted Arcidi is looking for work." - Feb 23, 87 Observer

My favourite thing about that Road Warriors story is Garvin and Regal's entrance music being "Would I Lie To You?" Ellering fucking with Verne is one of the highlights of the newsletters in 85, it's pretty amazing in hindsight that they actually dropped the titles in the ring.

Can only imagine the reaction if Dave did something like this now "Mike Bellew, the editor of Wrestling Eye magazine, died this past week in an auto accident in the New York City area. Bellew was 27. Ironically, the recent issue of Wrestling Eye had a story which has caused more furor than anything in a wrestling mag in a long time. It basically defined several business terms and reading between the lines, was an expose. I realize my next statement is going to come out as hypocritical and in poor taste, but that article should not have appeared in a newsstand wrestling publication. I realize this newsletter exposes the business a lot more frankly and thoroughly than that article did, but readers of this newsletter know what it's all about. I have no quarrell with folks who take a journalistic approach to the business, but a pulp magazine which devotes article after article treating wrestling as authentic sport and then prints an expose is in the long run making itself look foolish." - Jan 5, 87 Observer "To gloss over Bellew's 'real-life' death in one and a half sentences--only to spend practically the next quarter page lambasting Wrestling Eye is a lack of editorial discretion as shameful as Crockett and Fritz using Terry Allen and David Von Erich's real-life tragedies to sell tickets, which you shook a reprimanding finger at once again in the same observer." - 86 Observer Yearbook, Reader Letter "DM: I opened up a can of worms here. There are another dozen letters similar to these on my desk as well. Thanks to everyone for the comments." - 86 Observer Yearbook, Response to Reader Letter (not the one above) "I'm hereby giving myself the poor taste award for some comments made last week. I knew beforehand that editorializing about something in a magazine while at the same time reporting the death of the mag's editor was poor taste and awful timing. I still did it, which shows stupidity as well. I'm not taking back anything, just in hindsight wish I hadn't written it that week. I was very sad to hear that Mike Bellew died, of course. I didn't know him personally, although he was a subscriber and I kind of feel that makes him a friend. While I'm not a fan of Wrestling Eye magazine, I do have to thank them because they've done several things that have helped this publication immensely and Bellew was responsible in a big way for many of you finding out about the Observer." - Jan 12, 87 Observer

I wish a Babyface who lost a Loser Leaves Town match just showed up the next week as if nothing happened with footage shown of them driving out of the town as proof they lived up to the stip.

"A quick apology for all the typos this time. I type this thing in the wee hours of the am and I ran out of my correcto-ribbon and can't buy another one this time." - June 25, 85 Observer "Crockett doesn't want to publicize the entire Omni card in case there are no-shows." Mat Results Vol 03 No 10 "Bob Orton has a ton of no shows because he's been sent to Saudi Arabia for a tour, then started in Australia last week. They've got to keep the guy out of the country for several reasons, some of which are easy to figure out." - July 7, 86 Observer "The Crocketts increased ringside prices at the Omni from $8 to $10." Mat Results Vol 03 No 10 "Vince was able to stamp out the NWA invasion to New York City in late Nov. It is believed that Vince (or his representatives) cancelled the NWA dates in Bronx (11-28), Queens (11-29) & Long Island (11-30) by saying they represented Jim Crockett and he wanted the dates cancelled, which he didn't." - Dec 84 Eastern Wrestling News "If you wonder why there's such a drug problem in the business, listen to this schedule for Crockett. On 12/12 they were in Charlotte, 12/13 started with an early morning taping in Atlanta, had a 3 pm show in Baltimore and finished with an 8 pm show in Philadelphia. 12/14 they were in Chicago. That's five shows within 48 hours and all of the house shows were Bunkhouse Stampedes which means some guys worked twice. Some actually worked 10 or 11 matches in one weekend." - Dec 22, 86 Observer "Permanent seat reservations will be dropped by the first of the year at the Omni. It's the Omni's idea and not Crockett's, but they don't really care. Some people have had permanent seats for over 35 years." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 11 "They repeated verbatim, the Randy Savage-Billy Jack Haynes TV match from the previous taping on the Rochester show, which also should air this week." - Oct 27, 86 Observer "Jimmy Garvin has left AWA for Montreal and later will move to Dallas. No real reason that I know of, but he's wanted to leave since his wife got cut with a piece of glass by a fan in Denver." - June 85 International Wrestling News "Jim Crockett promised in January on 'Fan Appreciation Night' that Omni ticket prices would not be raised in the forseeable future. Well the future is now as fans went to the ticket office and found out ringside seats for the March 9 show were $15." Mat Results Vol 04 No 07 "By the way, if something screwed up with Butch Reed, never fear. Vince was going to have a bleached blond black no matter what. If Butch had changed his mind, he'd already promised the spot for Rocky Johnson." - Oct 27, 86 Observer "In the Turkey Cage Battle Royal every one climbed over the top and when they got to within four-five feet on the outside they'd jump, except for Jay Strongbow who hung on for dear life, and when he finally hit the ground he was given a standing ovation for quite an effort. Those still in the ring stopped upon hearing the applause and then realizing it was a joke, for Jay, they went on." - Dec 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Sorry about the typing problems. Mine is in the shop due to exhaustion so I'm using a manual which is about as reliable as Jimmy Snuka." - July 21, 86 Observer

"Sunshine, who looks significantly trashier each time I see her, was attacked out of the crowd twice by an as yet unnamed female." - Oct 1, 85 Observer "The Road Warriors won't be appearing in New York for the AWA anymore because Paul Ellering does not want to decrease their value in the area." - May 85 International Wrestling News "Several wrestlers were late arriving, including Tully and Magnum who drove up together in the same car with Baby Doll and Dillon." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 03 "Superclash caused problems between Crockett and Verne as Jim felt the gate was $300,000 while Verne said it was $200,000 (in other words they couldn't agree on the split). Verne later announced it to be over $300,000." - Feb-Mar 86 International Wrestling News "There is apparently been a battle for who gets control of day to day operations once a sale is made. This battle includes David Crockett versus Jim Crockett." - September 8, 88 Torch "Bob Orton Jr. was arrested once again on 5/12 for third degree assault and second degree property damage for apparently grabbing and shoving a cab driver and kicking in the taxi cab. He was on a cab to the airport and heard over the CB radio another cab driver calling him an asshole. Orton demanded to know who said that and when the cab driver didn't give him an answer, Orton delivered the punch-line". - Mat Results Vol 04 No 10 "Gagne asked the Roadies not to make the Cleveland card for Crockett, which is probably why they went." - Apr 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Don Owen says he will never book the Road Warriors again. In the dressing room they tried to hold up Don for airfare to and from their next and most recent destination. Their next stop was Tokyo and they weren't due there for another week." Mat Results Vol 03 No 11 "It was announced Saito's plane had mechanical difficulties getting in from Japan, which is bound to happen when a plane leaves Japan on the 6th and has to arrive in Chicago by the 3rd." Mar 4, 85 Observer "Speaking of valets, Sunshine (Valerie French) has turned into one of the trashiest looking girls on any TV show. I'm not sure what person is making the decision to dress her up like a, well you get the picture, but a cheap one at that." - Oct 1, 85 Observer

"The catfight cage match saw Sue Greene blade herself once again but come back to strip Evelyn Stevens down to a two-piece bathing suit. She had most of her clothes torn as well, good family entertainment." - Sept 30, 84 Observer "For five consecutive weeks Beauty and the Beast attacked Adrian Street's wife, Linda. Booker Robert Fuller endlessly repeated the angles, stopping short of a planned setup of Linda 'becoming pregnant' and 'losing the baby' at six months after an attack by the Stud Stable. Fortunately, the angle was vetoed." - 89 Matchwatch Annual "Kobashi nips Michaels for Wrestler of the year" - Jan 12, 97 Observer "Tully and Joe Blanchard got a rumor going around before the Kerry-Flair Texas Stadium match that the Von Erichs were going to steal the title belt in order to prevent Kerry from being able to win (Kerry would win and go to the WWF was their rumor.)" - Mat Results Vol 3 No 02 "Southwest lost their San Antonio TV outlet to Fritz who passed it on to Watts." - Mat Results 03 Vol 02 "Reed bitched about losing to Nord all the way back to the dressing room. Once in the dressing room, Reed told Nord in no uncertain terms that he 'was the worst person he had ever wrestled'. Nord proceeded to beat the shit out of Reed and give him 2 black eyes." - May 85 International Wrestling News "Shinma's poster for his first series had photos of Hogan, Andre, Backlund, Inoki, Sayama with a note added that 'these wrestlers have possibilities of making an appearance on the UWF mat.' " - May 84 Observer "AWA drew 1000 in Indianapolis for a lousy card and to top it off they announced the wrong arena for 3 weeks and the arena they announced was the one the WWF was running the same week, WWF drew 8000." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 03 "We can thank Crockett for the cancellation of Mid-South Wrestling from WTBS. The last straw for Crockett was when Watts showed Buddy Landel losing three straight weeks, after Buddy walked out of Mid-South for Crockett." - May 85 International Wrestling News "This past week ESPN aired old USWA tapes from Dallas from a few years back every day but Friday, when a GWF show taped two weeks earlier aired. From what I've heard, the picture quality was subpar and the crowd audio was dead and the show was filled with mistakes, the funniest of which was a graphic announcing, 'Coming up next: CALVIN KNAPP vs. JOBBER.' " - May 17, 93 Observer "6/29 Los Angeles has Flair vs. Magnum. The original opponents for Flair were Kerry Von Erich (which couldn't happen), Sgt. Slaughter (called it off himself), Magnum (changed because they wanted him in another match), Harley Race (called off because they felt he was too old), Arn Anderson (cousins, remember) and now back to Magnum." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 11 "After all those terrible gates the past few weeks with the stripper cage matches (catfight cage matches they're called) between Sue Greene and Evelyn Stevens, Southwest has figured out the problem. You see Sue isn't, how do we say it, voluptuous enough so therefore nobody came out to see the match. Apparently this new foe for Evelyn has more to offer." - Sept 30, 84 Observer

"Verne Gagne has been suspended by Stanley Blackburn. No that doesn't mean he's jumped to Titan." - Sept 8, 88 Torch "Dillon says Dusty will never get another shot at the National title. If that's true Dusty only has another 8 titles to go after." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 08 "Barely tipping the scales at 218 pounds, Funk pitched entering the NWA as a junior heavyweight champion, a division which had floundered in the years Jim Crockett controlled the alliance's name." - 1989 Matchwatch Annual "The other group in Japan is the current foreigners in town, Dick Murdoch, Adrian Adonis, Abdullah the Butcher, Pete Roberts (from England and quite good), David Finley (from England and not-so-good), and Brian Blair." - Aug 83 Observer "Lawler won the 11-27 Mink Coat battle royal and gave it back to promoters to sell and in turn drop ticket prices to $3.00 for Dec." - Dec 84 Eastern Wrestling News "I'm sorry to announce this but the world and Kansas City were deprived of the Bob Brown-Uncle Elmer match on 6/5 when Elmer no showed." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 11 "KELLER: Bruiser Brody.... VERNE: Probably got what he asked for." - Aug 24, 89 Torch "Ole Anderson's stint as WCW booker began with the 48 year old veteran telling his troops in a Georgia dressing room: 'Gentlemen, the calendar may say 1990 but I'm here to tell you, it's 1974 all over again and what worked then will work now.' " - 1990 Matchwatch Annual "Savage got into some hot water with WWF brass at MSG because his bout with Rick McGraw lasted 15:00. It was supposed to go only 4:00 and threw the entire time schedule of the evening off." - June 85 International Wrestling News "Shaska Whatley and Ron Simmons continue to feud. Shaska has been showing everyone a newspaper article of where Ron had been arrested and is telling people to be careful of Ron because he would steal from them." - Mat Results Vol 05 No 06

"Flight 191 Delta that crashed in the first part of August. Bobby Heenan was scheduled to be on that flight but missed it by three minutes." - Aug 85 Global Wrestling News Service "Toshiaki Kawada is currently wrestling for Texas All-Star." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 04 "Tom Zenk, originally scheduled to debut as a space-oriented character with kid appeal, had an outfit designed by TBS which Flair rejected. So at Clash VIII, Z-Man was strictly Tom Zenk in his classic white trunks with his 'Batman' theme music the only unusual aspect of his arrival." - 1989 Matchwatch Annual "At the taping in Phoenix where the Hogan-Bundy angle happened they announced that the doctor couldn't get a pulse on Hogan which caused the crowd to go into hysterics. The announcement was edited out of the tape that aired, but not the fan's reactions." - Feb-Mar 86 International Wrestling News "100 people showed up in Marietta when WTBS ran an old promo by mistake." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 04 "Paul Roma, who supposedly had been bragging about big money WWF offers coming his way, was given the chance to accept one of those offers by being fired." - March 25, 95 Torch "Nick Kiniski tried to shoot on Toshiaki Kawada to teach him a lesson but almost found himself being the pupil." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 04 "One episode of Learning The Ropes had 'special guest star' Trent Knight." - 1989 Matchwatch Annual "Only in Memphis would Dundee be allowed to beat Rhodes. This was a one fall Texas Death Match. They used the first man to stand up finish as Tommy Young had counted both men out. Dundee grabbed Young's legs as Dusty made it to his feet, Barbarian got up on the apron and headbutted Rhodes. With Rhodes down, Dundee got up and was declared the winner." - Mat Results Vol 05 No 06 "On the 4-6 AWA TV show they announced that 'Prince may sing the national anthem.' " - Feb-Mar 86 International Wrestling News "Billy Jack did an interview to introduce his cousin Brady Boone but he couldn't remember his name. Billy tried to cover up by saying he'd hadn't seen him in 10 years, never mind the fact that both were in Crockett a few months ago." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 05 "Lawler put on a free outdoors show the night of the Memphis Bash which hurt Crockett bad. Lawler also had a free afternoon show which was all done in association with a special day Memphis was having. Crockett did allow people in free 2/3 into the show which I'm sure thrilled the 1000 people who had paid. Dusty Rhodes grabbed the mic and told the people to tell Jerry Lawler they would be back to kick ass. I guess signing Dutch Mantell, Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel is one of their paybacks." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 12

"Piper was arrested for drunk driving in Covington, KY recently. The best part is that Snuka-Tonga Kid had to bail the Rowdy one out." - Jan 85 Eastern Wrestling News "On 2/19 afer the Fresno matches police got word of a disturbance at the Old Fresno Hofbrau. Piper, Orton and Muraco ran off as soon as the police got there. Piper had decked someone at the restaurant. The cops chased their rented car in a 100 mph race and Piper and co. crashed. They then fled on foot and lost the police. Police later got word that night of a disturbance in the Holiday Inn and when they got there they found Orton on the roof nude and Piper in the lobby causing a similar ruckus. They shot Orton twice with a stun gun which had no effect since he was drunk. The police finally calmed the two down and arrested them and they spent a night in jail." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 07 "Before the Aloha Stadium card, Lars Anderson and Jim Crockett had words. The argument got so heated that Lars threw a coke into Jim's face and backed him up against the wall. Jim told his wrestlers to pack and leave before the show started. Bruiser Brody shouted for Lars to deck Crockett. No blows came about and the show went on." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 02 "AWA first took Slaughter, then has planned cards in New York, and publicized both moves in a press conference. These moves served to piss off Vince, so watch out." - Jan 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Vince paid off the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, it's rumored, to hastle the PWUSA Meadowlands card on 2-24. The wrestlers had to obey commission by-laws (like the 45 year old limit, which Dory and Race were challenged on and had to produce documents. Also, Blackwell wasn't allowed to compete because his blood pressure was too high)." - Mar 85 Eastern Wrestling News "STEVE BEVERLY: 'David Crockett is the basal cell carcinoma of professional wrestling." - 1988 Observer Yearbook "Gino Hernandez is supposed to come in. With Tully Blanchard and Baby Doll actually getting married, I wonder how Gino will be involved with Crockett." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 02 "Sam Houston and Baby Doll are engaged which means that her and Tully obviously weren't married last year." - Jan 86 International Wrestling News "Vince McMahon told the crowd regarding the Kane vs. Rock match, 'Don‘t get your hopes up, nothing’s going to happen.' WCW should play that before every Nitro main event." - Jan 23, 99 Torch "Road Warriors no showed the 9/9 tapings, Verne waited and waited for them to show up and tried to hold things up making the taping last 4 hours. They could wait no longer so when Garvin and Regal came in (with 'Would I lie To You' playing) they announced the Road Warriors flight was cancelled and sent out Greg Gagne and Curt Hennig instead." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 02 "Martel beat Garvin on DQ when Precious handed Jim a foreign object. When she interfered in the match, a fan came out of the crowd, walked right up to her, and used a broken glass bottle to cut her face (right near her eye). Luckily she didn't lose that eye, but a scar will no doubt result." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "In my world of wrestling I felt there was a void But then I saw Lance Russell And thus became a Memphoid" Mat Results Vol 04 No 03

"On the 9-15 Chicago card, during the Rheingans-Hennig match, the fans only applauded each time the timekeeper announced the minutes left." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 03 "Another group of newcomers are Pez Whatley, replacing Tony Atlas as the token -- and a thoroughly obnoxious wrestler. Nevertheless, nobody can be as bad as Garvin." - July 83 Observer "Eric Bischoff has made a big deal out of Nitro being a family-friendly program. In the first 15 minutes this week, you had Ric Flair bashing in the side window of a limousine with a tire iron, Flair vowing to literally kill Hulk Hogan, the use of the word 'ass' several times, 'son of a bitch,' and a reference to 'shaving an ass.' " - Jan 23, 99 Torch "Road Warriors weren't booked in Kansas City the night they didn't show. Just call it false advertising." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 04 "Tully Blanchard will contain to remain in this area as nobody else will take him." - Sept 83 Observer "Buzz Sawyer was fired by Ole because while Buzz was in charge of things on a northern tour, he and Brett won the tag titles from the Road Warriors, something Ole didn't want to happen." - Mat Results 1985 Yearbook "You know I could see myself as a WWF fan but not with such an asshole running the group." - May 84 Eastern Wrestling News "3-16 Ridgewood Groves, Queens, N.Y. drew 1600 in a 3000 seat arena, the buildings owner, Nancy Siocca, told the announcer to plug the Wrestlemania closed circuit telecast for her building during this card. When they did promoter Gary Juster went off the deep end and started tearing up Wrestlemania posters displayed in the arena, and was heard to scream 'Her and this building can go fuck themselves.' The building won't be used for Pro Wrestling USA cards anymore." - Mar 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Dallas Page wants WCW to hire Erik Watts and wants Hammer to get a push. His contract reportedly is for $1.5 million, not the previously “leaked” figure of $900,000. The lower figure was leaked so Page could avoid charges of favoritism." - Jan 23 99, Torch "In St. Louis on 5/11, the third meeting of Chirs Adams and Jim Garvin was scheduled with the stipulations that if Adams won then Sunshine would get 5 minutes with Precious. No announcement was made until after word had gotten around that Sunshine wasn't in St. Louis. A riot occurred and fans tore the power lines out for the microphone and the announcements for the main event had to be made by police bullhorn." - Mat Results 85 Yearbook

"Hogan actually wore Konnan–like pants, a flannel shirt, and a stocking cap. Simply put, he looked like a complete jackass going through a mid–life crisis." - Jan 16, 99 Torch "Speaking of horrible, the climax of the Dusty Rhodes feud with Adrian Street took place on 7/2 in Key West, which doubles as this country's #2 capital of homosexuality (please don't ask what is #1 to save me having to run down my home area). The only way to win the match was to put your opponent into a dress. - Aug 83 Observer "MARK MADDEN: 'Lance Russell bores me at times, he's almost too realistic and calls it like he would call a baseball game.' - 1988 Observer Yearbook "Before hand, Konnan grabbed the mic and told Horace, 'French, Creamy Italian, Ranch… those are the dressings, pick one. Because tonight, you’re gonna bow down and toss my salad.' " - Jan 9, 99 Torch "One person who has arrived in the WWF is Iron Sheik, complete with his flag with Ayatollah's picture. It's too bad Ivan Koloff doesn't go prancing around with a flag with a falling jet." - Oct 83 Observer "Patterson and Konnan should shop for belts together. Hey, after they’re done shopping, maybe Patterson would take Konnan up on his salad and potato offer, too." - Jan 23, 99 Torch "Sunshine, Jimmy Garvin's extremely attractive valet (I'll try and dig up a photo of her for next month), got involved in a dressing room brawl with referee Nick Roberts' wife in 7/15 in Abilene which resulted in a torn-up arena and a show which had to be stopped with two main events left to be wrestled." - Aug 83 Observer "Kevin Nash appeared on Mark Madden’s Pittsburgh, Pa. radio show last week. Nash said Sting has a severe yeast infection and that’s why he’s out of action." - Jan 16, 99 Torch "A few weeks back Southwest went into the heart of Von Erich country--Dallas, across the street from the Sportatorium. The paid attendance for that debacle was 31. The TV promos for that Thursday night card didn't appear until the following Saturday." - Sept 83 Observer "Would you believe Slaughter loses in a cage match, by countout. He was actually counted out the ropes, because of the space between ropes/cage." Mat Results Vol 03 No 12

"MARK MADDEN: 'When Dusty Rhodes was covered with the brown stuff in his infamous WWF plumber's skit, it was the closest to truth in packaging that the WWF has ever come. He's fat and getting fatter. His WWF defection shows that not only has he no wrestling ability, but his integrity is in short supply as well.' " - 1989 Observer Yearbook "They said Billy Jack beat up Kimala so bad he was severely injured, showing a tape from Houston without the ending. Kimala actually won that bout with a clean pin." - June 23, 85 Observer "Next came our 10 minute intermission. The only problem was it lasted 26:00. I went down by the wings to complain to Strongbow in person, and heard him say they would have to 'stall a little more for it to be over at 10:30.' " - June 85 International Wrestling News "Originally the 7/6 outdoor show in Charlotte was to have Flair vs. Landel and Koloffs vs. Roadies but they felt Landel wasn't over enough." - June 23, 85 Observer "Billy Jack is undefeated in Florida, they claim he's an Indian, and that he beat then NWA champ Harley Race before 43,000 fans at the Seattle Kingdom. This caused Race to be an easy victim in Greensboro turkey day to Flair." - Mat Results Vol 2 No 8 "STEVE PRAZAK: 'I don't think Vince McMahon could do for Continental what Eddie Gilbert did.' " - 1988 Observer Yearbook "Bill Watts only wants to use young wrestlers now so don't call Vince signing Junkyard Dog a theft. Watts just didn't want him anymore." - Mat Results Vol 3 No 2 "Vince had been against JYD's dancing until JYD informed him that if you're against that you're against me." - Eastern Wrestling News Nov 84 "Flair vs. Rhodes didn't take place because both men thought the money would be low (typical lazy Dusty attitude, too lazy to take a chance and make something happen for the Georgia group)." - Eastern Wrestling News Nov 84 "MARK MADDEN: 'Virgil Riley Runnels represents everything I hate about pro wrestling --egocentric booking, cronyism (push of J.J. as top manager), self-proclaimed legends; and fat guys who can't wrestle a lick. Pretty soon we can add nepotism to that list.' " - 1988 Observer Yearbook

All quotes taken from the Observer Who's Who in Wrestling, 1986 "Most European countries have wrestling, however the only place it draws decent crowds are West Germany and Austria." "Casey looks like the marlboro man in TV ads, has been married more times than perhaps any active wrestler" "Garvin is an adequate worker who needs an opponent who takes lots of bumps to be effective" "Graham is scheduled to return to the WWF to challenge Hogan, and later turn babyface and be Hogan's partner during the fall of 1986" "Hogan earned about $5,000 per week in the AWA, peanuts considering he was worth anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 fans per show on his own" "Because of Houston's lack of weight, many of the larger wrestlers don't like to lose to him" "Inoki missed several months of action due to a concussion in a match against Hulk Hogan, which he nearly died from" "Race looks old and fat and todays fans want to see youthful steroid-bodies" "Reed was sent to Georgia -- Some say because Florida booker Dusty Rhodes was jealous the blacks were cheering for someone else. Had a tour of the AWA which was a disaster confirming the 'word' that a black wrestler would never work for Verne Gagne" "Rude's musculature is simply too ordinary to be put over on a major circuit since he lacks talent"

Mark Rocco by Kenny McBride

"WWF has hired Terry Garvin as an assistant booker. Garvin and Pat Patterson, one of the WWF road managers, are old buddies if you get my drift, if you don't, you don't want to" - Sept 19, 85 Observer "The WWF brought their brand of boring, shitty wrestling back to Columbus, Ohio on 10-26 at the Ohio Center and some 3500 folks were duped into paying for it. I was one of the gullible ones who layed out the currency for this mess." - Oct 85 International Wrestling News "Terry Gordy has been banned from Northwest Orient Airlines. Gordy acted like the Freebirds tend to do when they get rowdy and mix with the general public. There was no fighting involved, but he gave some of the people on the plane a hard time. He found out he couldn't book a flight on the airline, so instead booked another one using the name Curt Hennig. Needless to say Curt Hennig is now barred from Northwest Orient Airlines" Oct 16, 85 Observer "They even resort to a very average looking girl in shorts as a referee, plus another of those valet feuds with the Midnight Cowgirl and Fantasy, the trampy heel who gives good interviews. - Dec 30, 85 Observer "John Valiant has potential but he's stuck with the talentless Brutus Buttplug" - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "On 11-29 the WWF was to debut in Oklahoma City but that night also in Oklahoma City, Bill Watts offered a free wrestling show to everyone in an effort to combat the WWF" - Dec 84 Wrestling: King of Sports "Buddha Khan got in the ring and waited there 10 minutes as officials tried to get an opponent to quit partying and come in. Finally something started playing on the loud speaker. I'm sure it was music but I have no idea what song. Anyway, Sam Anoai came out and destroyed Buddha in about 90 seconds with a diving-headbutt, and without blinking, rushed back to the dressing room" - Dec 30, 85 Observer "Rick Rood showed up in Dallas on 1-6 for the purpose of studying Jim Garvin and imitating him in Memphis." - Mat Results 1985 Yearbook "Between bites of prime rib, Eddie related emotional hurt which has built over the last ten months" - June 26, 90 Matwatch "Steve Beverly headlined with a feature article in Matwatch during the time that Eddie was trying to get out of his NWA contract that was so sympathetic that I wondered whether the two were related" - Nov 29, 90 Torch

Always found it odd how in 93/94 they started to acknowledge guys leaving the company even if they did put their own spin on it (don't have it on my PC but I remember the Okerlund one being pretty harsh) Hogan getting buried the moment he signed with WCW was awesome WWF pettiness.

"Sunshine keeps ripping her clothes each week in fights with Missy. Someone should tell her about the Grapefruit 45 plan." - Dec 30, 85 Observer "If anyone has any memorabilia on Vladimir Petrov (videotape or photos) let me know" - Oct 12, 87 Observer "Cruise was subjected to comments in front of other wrestlers like this from Kevin Sullivan: 'We're gonna do this tonight. Chris be sure and tell Meltzer about this one.' " - Matwatch 90 Annual "It won't happen soon, but I bet it will happen someday -- Nikita Koloff to turn babyface. The reason is Nikita's shirts sell better than almost everyone else on the Crockett circuit, which tells you something, but I'm not exactly sure what" - Sept 15, 86 Observer "Ole conducted interviews with fans who said WWF, Hogan and Andre all stink and Georgia is the greatest" - May 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Flair, Magnum, Landel, Eaton and Cornette are among those that have bought expensive sports cars since Thanksgiving" - Dec 30, 85 Observer "The nWo aren't really heels at all. They said they'd beat everyone up and they did. They said they'd surprise everybody and they did. They said they'd outsmart everyone and they have. They said they'd take over and they have." - Oct 5, 96 Torch "In answer to an inquiry, Bob Armstrong is a terrible wrestler now. Brad is tremendous, Scott is a joke and Steve is really green and can't do much but is a hard worker and has potential." - Dec 9, 85 Observer "Gordon Solie remains as a co-host with Lance Russell on the TV show much to the dismay of many fans. Dave Brown, Russell's sidekick, is relegated to doing ring announcing. I've heard there was a petition started at the arenas trying to get Gordon dumped" - Jan 85 Wrestling: King of Sports "I'm skipping Southwest this month; the inspiration just isn't there this month for me to do it, sorry." - Dec 84 Eastern Wrestling News

Random stuff from various newsletters that catches my eye, non Observer or Torch stuff is all up to download at http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/downloads.html "Verne is trying to get his wrestlers to sign a contract. In the letter with the contract, Verne has told the wrestlers not to show the contract to a lawyer." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 12 "Although Morton-Gibson are great babyfaces and the Andersons are great heels, I don't like the chemistry of matching them up. For one, bouts are guaranteed to be bad because of style conflicts (actually anyone vs Andersons is bound to be bad). Midnight Express, the best tag team in the world, continues to be buried." - Dec 30, 85 Observer "Any Big Bear Collie match is bad enough, but I'd like to know the true thoughts of Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross when they had to watch this one FOUR times on NWA Main Event." - Matwatch 88 Annual "Zane Bresloff, a Denver rock promoter has taken over as the local promoter throughout the Midwest." - Dec 30, 85 Observer "Fans are used to these massively muscular steroid freaks and Ric the Stick's abs alone aren't going to get him over." - Aug 24, 87 Observer "The Road Warriors are being pursued by the WWF but are expected to go to Memphis full time." - Jan 84 Wrestling: King of Sports "Andre The Giant's movie he filmed last fall in England will be coming out shortly. Andre is the sixth lead in the flick called the Prince's something or other." - Sept 21, 87 Observer "Iron Mike Sharpe was fired at the Hamilton, Ontario TV taping when he refused to lose to Tonga Kid." - Dec 84 Eastern Wrestling News "Since Mid-South would do big business themselves vs. the local closed circuit, McMahon asked Watts if they could put on shows with Watts' undercard and Vince's tag main event (and so we can all make $$$). The Mid-South people told Vince to go screw himself." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Baby Doll was going to jump to the WWF and feud with Wendi Richter but has decided to stay." - Mat Results Vol 03 No 09