DeanColes1987 Posted September 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 13, 2018 Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 Dave doubling down on Sunshine looking like a tramp is interesting. Secret crush perhaps? Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 13, 2018 Report Share Posted September 13, 2018 This thread has the unexpected result of showing where Randy Orton gets so much of his stellar personality from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted September 14, 2018 Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 So is that Bob Orton assault due to a cab driver calling a heel an asshole? Like he heard a bad guy wrestler was in another cab and was commenting on the wrestling character? If so, holy crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 14, 2018 Report Share Posted September 14, 2018 Wrestling Eye was an incredible change of pace magazine wise when it came out, for those of us that didnt know the Observer existed at the time (and there were plenty of us I'm sure). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 15, 2018 Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 I collected Wrestling Eye at the time and was only 9/10 years old. I remember feeling it was different than the other mags but not being sophisticated enough to understand a lot of the content. It was where I learned Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo were brothers, which felt like privileged information at the time because it was never mentioned on WWF TV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 15, 2018 Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 It's always amazes me that the same Bill Watts who would separate heels and faces, expect his talent to always win bar fights to prove wrestlers were the toughest, and "handle" fans who got to rowdy was also a long time Observer reader. That sounds like a silly thing in 2018 to be surprised at, but so many old school guys like that were always big time mad that Dave and other sheet writers were openly discussing the business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted September 15, 2018 Report Share Posted September 15, 2018 I think a lot of old promoters like Watts valued the Observer as a directory for other territories, which was important back in the days of slower communication, and that's why they subscribed more than anything Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 16, 2018 Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 I don't remember Hearing about Brody and Race having so much heat with each other before this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 16, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpetCrawler Posted September 16, 2018 Report Share Posted September 16, 2018 I'm curious when the timeframe is of the two Hillbilly Jim tidbits. Any idea what the date was for those two newsletters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 11 hours ago, CarpetCrawler said: I'm curious when the timeframe is of the two Hillbilly Jim tidbits. Any idea what the date was for those two newsletters? 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpetCrawler Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 10 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: 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 Rad, thanks for the clarification. Was curious because he would often disappear for spurts for the rest of his wrestling career after his original run and I'm guessing when he came back it was under the condition that he was given a much more relaxed schedule. And then he came back one final time in 1990 to put over Earthquake. 10 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: "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 Around then is also when they started phasing out airing random cards on the USA Network so I can see USA griping and not even realizing the direction the WWF was going with their cards. And then they would sort of placate USA with the weekly Prime Time show that would air random matches from the monthly cards. 10 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: "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 This has often been said to be the case but it's not true; Heenan did appear on an episode or two of Championship Wrestling right before the first Wrestlemania as Orndorff's manager. He had a gimmick with Heenan where Heenan would bring out a stretcher for job guys after doing the piledriver. Just one of those cases of "conventional wisdom" that have turned out to be not true at all. Also that collection of Dave and his neverending crisis with the O key are fantastic. Thank you so much for all these great tidbits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Boricua Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 On 9/15/2018 at 8:21 PM, khawk20 said: I don't remember Hearing about Brody and Race having so much heat with each other before this. I don't recall hearing this either. but you can tell by the way the tidbits are reported and presented who the source of them was. Another example of how the narrative gets shaped about certain wrestlers due to the wrestlers themselves being sources. It gets skewed to their viewpoint or perception of events which makes them the hero of their own tale. And my money would have been on Race if he had shown up for the battle royale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Boricua Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 44 minutes ago, CarpetCrawler said: Also that collection of Dave and his neverending crisis with the O key are fantastic. Thank you so much for all these great tidbits. Probably one of the greatest unsung feuds in wrestling, on the level of Randy Orton vs. the announce table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 17, 2018 Report Share Posted September 17, 2018 9 minutes ago, El Boricua said: I don't recall hearing this either. but you can tell by the way the tidbits are reported and presented who the source of them was. Another example of how the narrative gets shaped about certain wrestlers due to the wrestlers themselves being sources. It gets skewed to their viewpoint or perception of events which makes them the hero of their own tale. And my money would have been on Race if he had shown up for the battle royale. Agreed about Race there. No way he avoids Brody...or anyone else for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 You know, of all the interesting what-ifs of 80s wrestling (what if Magnum never got hurt, what if Nikita went to the WWF), my #1 what-if I never see mentioned is what if the non Crockett NWA members would have got together to vote someone else as champion besides Flair? If the NWA continues to have a traveling champion, Fritz doesn't quit the NWA, other territories have the chance to have a title match on the card to combat the WWF expansion (which intially bombed in a lot of cities until they just outlasted the competition), and maybe a more unified NWA would have posed a bigger challenge to the WWF juggernaut. Of course it probably would have only prolonged the inevitable as the changing landscape of cable TV would have made Vince the winner anyway, and getting the various promoters to play nice long enough to mount a challenge would have been like herding cats, but it would have been something interesting to watch them try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted September 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 "Just a few days after the death of David Von Erich, Hart comes on TV with the bad news to Lance Russell. The Bruise Brothers are dead. They even show what looks to be a clip from a tv news show talking about them with both of supposed death dates. A funeral, attended by Hart's First Family is then shown. I found it to be by far the most tasteless thing I've ever seen in 15 years of watching pro wrestling." - May 84 Observer "Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith may appear in Memphis sometime as Lawler returned from Japan with a poster of them and praised them to no end and asked if Eddie Marlin could get these guys to come in. Bill Watts is also interested in the duo, as he's asked a well-known video tape collector and dealer for tapes of them in action." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Next Oakland show is 6/18 with Orndorff vs. Muraco & Fuji in a handicap match with Paul wearing goggles to protect against the salt." June 10, 86 Observer "By the way the $3 million Verne is asking for includes their suburban office complex, 10 rings and several cameras. It's also been said that if you have anything to do with Vince McMahon, Bill Watts or Eddie Sharkey then Verne won't talk to you." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 12 "The actual NWA power is the office of secretary/treasurer because he (Jim Crockett) signs the checks and books the world champion." - Sept 30, 84 Observer "In some ways I think JCP may be handicapped by Rhodes in going national, but at the same time, he's the guy who made the promotion so powerful it survived when the rest fell, and has the chance to go national." - July 13, 87 Observer "Kid-Smith are pretty high on Mid-South now because of the national exposure they can get on WTBS." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Ole had TV in Cincinatti for a few weeks again, however he and the station management got into a fight when they wouldn't put him head-to-head with McMahon's local TV show. The station management moved Ole's show from its 10:30 PM Saturday slot, they moved it off their lineup completely." - Apr 84 Observer "Before Journey could get to Missy, a genuine mentally retarded guy ran to the ring and hit Missy. She went crazy and the cops finally got things settled and the script was scratched and everyone went to the dressing rooms until Missy came out with her shoe in hand and pearl harbored the retarded guy. Police had to drag Missy back to the dressing room." - Mat Results Vol 05 No 02 "Dundee was hit at least six times by Cornette's tennis racket, but the first time Chops got hit, he was pinned. Have you ever noticed that the bookers in wrestling often have remarkable recuperative powers?" - May 84 Observer "Watts' debut in Memphis drew around 3,500 on 6/6. The Fabulous Ones were booked for this card as well as a card in Jackson, TN. Steve Keirn was in Memphis and I'm sure Stan Lane was in Jackson with both telling the crowd the other Fab was hurt." - Mat Results Vol 04 No 11 "The AWA are very unhappy with the Roadies, especially since they pulled a no show for their main event bout 12/30 in Green Bay. There is some talk they would like to rid themselves of the Roadies, but can't figure out how to do it and make money. It has even been considered to put them in the ring with Backlund & Rheingans to 'teach them a lesson.' " - 84 Observer Yearbook "Titan doesn't bill cards as TV tapings, by the way. They bill them as Fan Appreciation Nights. In Salisbury the line was 'the biggest card ever, 18 matches featuring (every name in the fed) and so big the open will be JYD vs. Savage'. Fans of course think they're going to see 18 main events if that's the opener." - Oct 6, 86 Observer "Rose is probably headed nowhere because he was originally going to lose to Hillbilly at Wrestlemania." - Mar 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Rhodes' biggest success, so he thought, was going to be the month long Bash tour, from July 1 through August 2. Fourteen shows were planned, with ticket prices raised unreasonably high, $50 ringside and $20 in the bleachers. Rhodes was predicting the 14 shows in total, would gross $8 million. His wrestlers were thinking about earning $80-90,000 for the month, and with stars in their eyes, started thinking about buying new homes, new cars, etc. In all the tour grossed $1.6 million--or 20 percent of the original prediction. - 86 Observer Yearbook "The thing continued with the announcement of Jimmy Hart's new Fabulous Ones (the ex-Bruise Brothers) and a video exactly like the ones Lane & Keirn used to do, but only with Porkchop Cash & Troy Graham. The video was absolutely hilarious." - May 84 Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted September 19, 2018 Report Share Posted September 19, 2018 9 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: "Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith may appear in Memphis sometime as Lawler returned from Japan with a poster of them and praised them to no end and asked if Eddie Marlin could get these guys to come in. Bill Watts is also interested in the duo, as he's asked a well-known video tape collector and dealer for tapes of them in action." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News Dave told a story about this a few weeks back. When the Bulldogs left WWF briefly he was telling Watts he needs to bring them in. Bill wasn't interested until Joel Watts got tapes of them in Japan and basically badgered his dad into agreeing to bring them in. By the time he called Dave to tell him the news, Dave had to break it to him they already agreed to go back to the WWF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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