Indikator

But you shouldn't forget how much Misawa is going to cost. I heard how much he cost in 2005, I think it might have hit the 5 digits range IIRC. Edit: Or maybe it was hypothetically like "if there wasn't a UK Supershow he would cost that much". You need to know that the UK Supershows were the primary reason for his trip and everything else was a B-Show. But because of it Misawa (and later on Kobashi) were a lot cheaper. Maybe that 5 digit figure was for Kobashi match without such a UK Supershows. I can't really remember. I really suck when it comes to paydays. I am just not too interested in them. Which is mostly a good thing. The only other figure that might be true, here for Misawa is 4k. But that doesn't cover plaintickets / hotels etc. which were splitted between the European promoters. His crew is also not cheap, and there can be up to 10 people. They even had office guys with them, I had a nice chat with one of them. So those costs also make the prices so high.

I was standing 1 feet away from him for 20€ He almost stepped on me while tagging. Good times... especially considering the officials were frightened by the thought Misawa would cancel the show after getting into the venue as it was quite shabby I know a lot of puro nerds who will only come for the very big names and neglect the midcarders so I would also say that 100$ isn't out of question for those folks.

Why do you think Morton & Gibson have a stronger case than Angle? R&R's peaks weren't that long, outside their first JCP run they don't have much speaking for them. If you include other territorial runs you lower the bar significantly - which is the way this and every other HoF is going anyway.

I really need to search the RSPW archives for 90-93 postings about Kerry's death pool.

There is a promotion in Germany that pays shitloads of money for non-wrestling appearances by people like Bret Hart and Mick Foley (and even Bill Apter) that began as a fantasy wrestling promotion. They also pay way too much for TNA wrestlers. So every promotion that didn't begin as a fantasy promotion is okay in my book. It is very depressing to go to a wrestling show knowing that every fan in attendance you haven't seen before at another independent wrestling show is strictly attending because of some has been that isn't even wrestling that night. And they were outperformed (even if you only count the promos) by young locals that probably got 50€ instead of the 4-5 digits the has beens were getting.

That comment came from an WO interview with Karl Gotch from 1990.

I'd like access please for both forums. PM'd you. -- Loss, 08/09

It was New Japan

When Norton debuted during the first Nitro he clearly said the word "bullshit" . I think something similar happened during the first Raw show. So if you want to have a successful tv show, start it with an audible 4 letter word.

Antonio Inoki & Roland Bock con normal people / investors In 1978 former Olympian Roland Bock managed to get Inoki to participate in a European Tour. For this tour with 21/22 dates (a show was cancelled) they had to collect 3 millionen Deutsch Marks (a lot of money, don't ask me how much that´d be today) and got them from unsuspecting investors who clearly didn't have a clue about wrestling. Bock had a promoter as business partner called Paul Berger who was rather good and experienced at promoting, but I guess he liked to con people as he was a former wrestler (in the US for Capitol Wrestling ~ 1957 with Ludvig Von Krupp / Rene Lasartesse). This business practice must have been not the only case in European wrestling history. It's a pity that most information has been lost. So anyways, Bock/Berger/Inoki got their money and the investors had no luck at all. In spite of a magnificent roster and well known people like Anton Geesink and Wilhelm Ruska the shows were abysmal, on one night it was noted that the showstealer was a limbo performance during intermission. 4500-5000 people were needed each night for the break even point, they made maybe half of it. Reviews were horrible. Press destroyed the shows. Also... - Inoki was announced as the current Karate - Catch - world champion - Inoki was said to be WWA champion (Asia) , Roland Bock WWU champion (Europe/Africa) and Bruno Sammartino WWC champion (World Wrestling Council !!! - USA) - Inoki and Roland Bock were both said to have beaten Bruno Sammartino in qualifying matches, thus their fight(s) will be for the undisputed world title - Inoki was going to defend his world title on every show ; it was not said what the title name was nor which organisation sanctioned the title matches. It was a generic claim - in the yellow press Inokis pay was billed as 2,1 Million Deutsch Marks (in the paper the investors got, I have a copy, it was 1 Million) - Inoki wrestled an Austrian Olympian who promoted in his hometown of Linz, Austria successful pro wrestling tournaments. The guy, Eugen Wiesberger Jr. , was so bad during this match that his own hometown crowd and media turned against him. They never forgave him his atrocious performance and Wiesberger retired a couple of years after that and no more tournaments were held in Linz. Wiesberger/Linz could be comparable to Kohler/Chicago, because there has to be a really good reason why a hometown hero & Olympian & wrestler & promoter kills his own promotion. Here is a letter from Gerhard Schäfer to Dick Beyer (I assume it was him) about the tournament. It's in English so you can read it. http://home.arcor.de/indikator/letter.zip And the funniest thing about the whole deal - Inoki did a newspaper interview and was asked if he was involved in politics. His answer was: "Not at all. No sports person should participate in politics as it collides with his character and integrity."