Random Newsletter Stuff

[CarpetCrawler]

There's a story from like, 2000 I think, where Steve Beverly was the Phone a Friend lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and he gets the question wrong for his contestant friend, and Tony Schiavone makes a subtle jab about it the next night on Nitro.

[DeanColes1987]

"Chyna, who Henry in that terrible interview, said was his girlfriend (insert your own joke here, I'm saving mine for Nitro), was kicking the hell out of Mark Henry. When she was pulled off, Henry started laughing like he enjoyed it. So then she hit him in the back with a tire iron, pulled up her shorts and rubbed her ass in Henry's face and told him to kiss it. Bet he enjoyed that too. Anyway, because of that, the cage match with Austin didn't take place. I enjoyed that." - Oct 5, 98 Observer

"Brad Armstrong punched Brian Knobs on a bus ride a few weeks ago. Knobs, who is known for being unruly because it fits his personality and because he is friends with Hogan and thinks he can get away with anything, made a crack to Armstrong as he got on a bus. Armstrong, usually mild–mannered, punched Knobs in retaliation. Knobs got hired by Bischoff again last year because Hogan lobbied for it." - Nov 13, 99 Torch

"Volkoff won't allow his photo in the Houston program and has demanded of Paul Boesch they play the Russian national anthem before his matches, Boesch refuses saying 'he won't give in to the terrorists.' " - Dec 83 Observer

"A segment aired 'from Venice Beach' with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage 'going back to their roots.' Hogan asked Savage to stick with him on his walk through the dark side. There was a crazy old guy between them imitating Steve McMichael at age 55." - Nov 18, 95 Torch

"Raven is so much better than I thought he was last year. Either that or Benoit is so much better than Sandman." - Feb 23, 98 Observer

"It's hard to believe either Michaels or Undertaker will be eliminated in the first round, thus that sets up an intriguing possible second round match-up of Michaels vs. Undertaker. Mabel may advance via DQ over Undertaker, though, to prevent such a match-up." - June 3, 95 Torch

"Lately within wrestling it's become obvious that the best way to get over is to be given a unique ring entrance that makes you look like a star and some catch phrases repeated to death. In that way, if given a chance, it's far easier to get over nowadays than it's been since the mid-80s. Unless your name is Jeff Jarrett." - June 1, 98 Observer

"Stasiak jumped Lawler early and handcuffed him for the DQ. He groped and kissed Stacey, who resisted at first, but started giving in as several people worked to free Lawler. Lawler freaked out as Brown acted disgusted over Stacey giving in." - Jan 30, 99 Torch

"I've felt about Memphis wrestling the same way I feel about Indoor Soccer. I love soccer, and indoor soccer is not soccer, but I actually like it better than soccer." - May 84 Observer

"Good work doesn't draw money. Never has. Never will. Characters draw money. Charisma draws money. Circumstances draw money. The ability to talk draws money. Promotion draws money.... If you want to fantasize about your dream matches, do it. Become as VCR-fixated as you like. Let Sabu and ECW highlights take the place of Racquel Darrian and Teri Weigel as the object of your fantasies. But remember this: If Sabu could draw money in this country, he'd be doing it, not working in some little sweatbox in Philly." - June 25, 94 Torch, Mark Madden Column

"Titan can send people like Bundy or Sheik, who have no drawing power left in the big cities, to headline these small towns who have never seen Titan wrestling, and even though they generally will put on stinkeroo shows, who cares. They won't come back for six months and by that time everyone will have forgotten." - Dec 22, 86 Observer

"There remains resentment in some circles of the WWF locker room toward Mick Foley for the finish of the I–Quit match with ten chairshots. The argument is that next time one of them take a chairshot or two to the head fans will yawn because Foley raised the bar so high." - Feb 13, 99 Torch

"Konnan, Disco Inferno and Juventud Guerrera were all banged up on 8/24 taking bumps unknowingly on the part of the ring where the trap door was set up for Warrior's disappearing act." - Sept 14, 98 Observer

"Sid didn’t appear as scheduled for the ECW Arena event on Apr. 3. While Heyman said he fired Sid, Sid may have actually quit over a bounced check or not receiving a plane ticket....Crowds lately have been chanting 'Sid' several times during each live event so Heyman now has to deal with fans’ raised expectations." - Apr 10, 99 Torch

"Rey Misterio Jr. was at Nitro and supposed to do an angle. They even plugged his return on Monday on the WCW Saturday Night show but with Hogan needing eight segments for himself, there was no time. Actually, if you can believe this, there was heat because someone or ones in the office who read this publication saw the name Rey Misterio in the Tijuana notes and didn't realize it was his uncle and wanted him back in the ring if he was working elsewhere." - June 15, 98 Observer

"Last week's ECW Arena event was not the largest crowd to date as our correspondent estimated. Instead of a record 1,600 (as several ECW employees were bragging), it was just under 1,000." - July 9, 94 Torch

"Take one look at Ric Flair's face. It reminds me of Jimmy Carter when he was president" - Dec 26, 89 Observer

[sek69]

8 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said:

"Good work doesn't draw money. Never has. Never will. Characters draw money. Charisma draws money. Circumstances draw money. The ability to talk draws money. Promotion draws money.... If you want to fantasize about your dream matches, do it. Become as VCR-fixated as you like. Let Sabu and ECW highlights take the place of Racquel Darrian and Teri Weigel as the object of your fantasies. But remember this: If Sabu could draw money in this country, he'd be doing it, not working in some little sweatbox in Philly." - June 25, 94 Torch, Mark Madden Column

This is such a pure Mark Madden quote, where he's not necessarily wrong but he's such an asshole in making his point you want to disagree with him out of principle. 

[DeanColes1987]

Dave replying to a letter in the Feb 12, 90 Observer that says Flair has no credibility with the "marks" because the only guys he can pin are tag wrestlers (Eaton), prelim wrestlers (Gilbert) and senior citizens (Funk)

"Here's a mark view of Lex Luger, he doesn't have the skill to win the big one. Let's look at his last 18 months. While he dominated Flair in Baltimore, he had dozens of rematches at house shows and never won. Then when he got his chance at Starrcade, he got Flair in his winning hold and Flair still beat him. He got the U.S. title after being destroyed most of the way by a one-handed wrestler (Windham) who beat himself through carelessness, and then left him for dead after the match. He then lost it to a tag wrestler who had never won a singles title in his life and even though there was outside interference, it was nothing more than a shove. He won it back from that guy, but in no more of a convincing manner than Flair's wins are. He turned heel on Steamboat, but in their only widely-viewed match, chickened out of a no DQ clause, got his butt whipped and ran away. Then he ran away from Brian Pillman a few times in TV angles even though Pillman is much smaller than he is. Then he needed a chair to beat Pillman at the Clash after a fluke win on PPV. Then he got the shot at Flair at Starrcade and even though it was a draw, was physically whipped again so badly that 20 minutes later he couldn't even walk to the ring. After that, he got shots at Flair everywhere and again never won, and if by any chance you went to your local house show, you saw him pinned. But none of what I just wrote is germane to the issue because the percentage of fans who would analyze wrestling like that and still believe it is real and that all those things matter and remember them all is pretty much insignificant."

[sek69]

I'd say both of them are correct, at least at that time. Lex was absolutely seen as a choker who couldn't win the big one since there was always some ridiculous behind the scenes drama that kept him from getting his big win. When he finally did get a win, it was after Flair was gone from WCW.  

There also was a knock on Flair around this time that he would sell too much for prelim guys when he was the champ. They were usually good matches, but for a casual fan it was the NWA champ looking like he had to put in effort to beat guys everyone else beats every week while Hulk would be dispatching monsters in the WWF.  

[DeanColes1987]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

There also was a knock on Flair around this time that he would sell too much for prelim guys when he was the champ. They were usually good matches, but for a casual fan it was the NWA champ looking like he had to put in effort to beat guys everyone else beats every week while Hulk would be dispatching monsters in the WWF.  

The letter to Dave actually brings that up saying "Hulk Hogan always wins clean against the top guys and doesn't even have to hook the leg" while in comparison Flair beats Eddie GIlbert with an inside cradle and takes 20 minutes to beat Bobby Eaton.

Everyone rightly brings up the George South match as being stupid, but the worst part of it is South was doing jobs on WWF TV at the time as well, so not only was the world champion struggling with a guy who because Dusty booked TV to have short squashes would lose to the pushed guys in JCP in about 30 seconds (there's a Tully match on youtube that lasts about 15 seconds), the WWF guys were also beating South as well right at the same time

 

10/1/88 Superstars: Brutus Beefcake defeated George South via submission with the sleeper at 1:46

10/9/88 Challenge: Davey Boy Smith & the Dynamite Kid defeated Barry Horowitz & George South at 2:40 when Dynamite pinned South following a superplex

10/23/88 Challenge: Sam Houston pinned George South at 2:08 with a bulldog from the middle turnbuckle

11/5/88 Superstars: WWF IC Champion the Ultimate Warrior pinned George South at 2:40 with the press slam / splash combo

11/12/88 WCW: NWA World Champion Ric Flair (w/ JJ Dillon) defeated George South via submission with the figure-4 at 11:28

11/19/88 Superstars: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty defeated Gene Ligon & George South at 2:34 when Jannetty pinned Ligon with a bridge, following a superkick from Michaels

[BruiserBrody]

 

Quote

"Butch Reed, who debuted just two weeks earlier, was fired Tuesday after no-showing the television taping in Macon, GA without calling ahead of time with an explanation. WCW had a storyline set up involving Reed which was to start in Macon and had to be postponed. The company was attempting to find a replacement for Reed to debut at Center Stage on Monday night. Mondo Kleen (a larger version of Teijo Khan, both in ability, charisma and physique) was offered the spot apparently on Friday, and then called Titan and got a starting date with them at Titan's October tapings." - Sept 28, 92 Observer

Somehow Demento fits right in with all the other goons WCW was using in 1993. (Kongs, Equalizer, Shockmaster, etc.) Kind of odd he didn't get a gig when they signed everyone under the sun in 1995-98. 

[BruiserBrody]

On 11/8/2018 at 2:50 AM, DeanColes1987 said:

"Dusty Rhodes missed some dates this past week because he had to appear in Florida because of the lawsuit against him by former pro wrestler Steve DiBlasio (Big Daddy) stemming from an incident in 1983....In typical Rhodes fashion, when asked about DiBlasio, 'He had no athletic ability, no charisma, which you have to have. He was as dry as a piece of bacon. I'm the most charismatic guy you've ever had sit in this room here' " - Oct 2, 89 Observer

 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1986-03-23-8601180030-story.html    March 86 article on the lawsuit. 

[DeanColes1987]

"Pro wrestlers Kendall Windham and his father Robert Windham (Blackjack Mulligan) were arrested on Dec. 26 on charges of trying to pass counterfeit $20 bills. The two were held on $25,000 bail, and Barry Windham posted the bail for both of them. The two were charged with attempting to pass the counterfeit bills on Dec. 22 and the Secret Service had an arrest complaint and affidavit out for them." - Jan 8, 90 Observer

"Jim Ross, who is Steve Austin’s close ally, didn’t work especially hard to retain Jarrett....Ross’s negotiations came down to chasing Jarrett out of the arena door on Tuesday last week after the Smackdown tapings and yelling to Jarrett, 'So are you staying or going?' Jarrett let Ross know he wasn’t impressed with his negotiating style." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"The police made a $1 million buy of the fake money, and the man who brought the suitcase to the undercover officials was Mulligan. The police, who had been following the situation closely, believe that Kendall Windham had purchased the counterfeit money earlier in December and that the money was to be used to buy into some big-time drug action" - Jan 15, 90 Observer

"Vince McMahon, understandably distracted by front office departures and his tour of the West Coast to pitch the WWFE Inc. IPO, left the contract negotiations in Ross’s hands." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"12/26 in Detroit drew 4,000 for the night show with the Toronto crew but there were transportation problems....Honkeytonk Man had to lip synch his song to stall for time and he was booed out of the place since he was the first guy in and the rest of the guys didn't start showing up until something like 9:30 p.m. for an 8 p.m. show. Neidhart beat Brawler and Honkey beat Rooster and they had another 30 minute intermission and a Brother Love segment with Liz and Sherri until finally everyone started showing up" - Jan 8, 90 Observer

"Ross apparently never went to McMahon to say Jarrett wasn’t happy with the first contract offer. McMahon, extremely upset with Ross, told Ross to fix the situation. Ross tried to reach Jarrett on Thursday, but Jarrett didn’t return his calls. Jarrett told the front office he would only talk to McMahon. Jarrett and McMahon finally talked Thursday at which point McMahon told Jarrett that Ross dropped the ball on negotiations and that he really wanted him to stay in the WWF. The offer was upped, stock options were thrown in, but Jarrett told McMahon he had a verbal agreement with WCW that he felt comfortable with." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"Several cable companies reported a significant number of phone calls on Halloween night for Halloween Havoc, so the name did confuse some people into thinking the show was on the 31st" - Nov 20, 89 Observer

"Jarrett and McMahon had a cordial conversation, as evidenced by a posting on the WWF website on Friday. It read: 'Due to a contract dispute between J.R. and Jeff, Jeff Jarrett will be leaving the WWF for WCW. Although his contract with the WWF expires this Saturday, he will be at No Mercy on Sunday, which is a testament to the kind of human being Jeff Jarrett is. The WWF hopes to do business with Jeff again in the future.' " - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"WWF had a major fiasco for its afternoon show in Springfield, MA. Card was set for a 1.p.m. start, however the wrestlers were for the most part arriving from Detroit the night before and the plane wasn't even due to arrive until 1:50 and didn't arrive until 2:30 so the card started one hour late, with the main event of Savage vs. Duggan (who worked in Syracuse, NY the previous night) on first as they were the only ones at the building on time. They did a three-star match and stalled for 23 minutes with a five minute ref bump in between. Second saw Bushwhackers beat Powers of Pain via DQ in 20:10 1/2*. Then a 23 minute intermission followed by Volkoff going to a 20 minute draw with Rivera -*. Perfect pinned Snuka in 17 minutes * (Hennig stalled ala Zybszko most of the match), Tim Horner collapsed in his match with Bret Hart with a legit injury after four minutes. Hercules pinned Akeem 1/2* and Warrior beat Bravo via count out *. No shows were a Roberts vs. DiBiase match and Widow Maker" - Nov 13, 89 Observer

"Jarrett told McMahon he wouldn’t return to the WWF as long as Ross worked for the company." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"Oakland on 11/26 was a disaster. WWF had run Fresno earlier that day (drawing 3,000 fans--main event saw Warrior beat Mr. Perfect) and had 6,000 in attendance in Oakland--but no wrestlers. Fresno to Oakland is a 3 1/2 hour trip no matter how you slice it, but holiday traffic and making the guys drive it saw none of the guys there when the card started. After sending out a jobber match, sending Warrior (who did make it somehow--must have been allowed to fly) vs. Andre (wasn't in Fresno) for nearly 30 minutes, a 45 minute intermission, a battle royal with local guys, an attempt at a Bobby Heenan interview segment which went over really bad, they finally cancelled the rest of the show and offered either refunds or allowed you to use your stub for the 11/28 show in San Francisco. Right after the announcement, then seven guys showed up. SF drew 7,000, but 4,000 of them were from the show two nights earlier getting in free" - Dec 11, 89 Observer

"Jarrett confronted Ross and cut a promo on him in front of a number of other people, letting everyone know that he thought Ross sabotaged the company by letting him go just to kiss up to Austin. The tongue lashing was intense, probably a sign that Jarrett felt very frustrated in recent months when his scheduled program against Austin was vetoed by Austin only after he sold Austin’s stunner three times on television as a set–up for their then–planned feud." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"The Luger interview in Philadelphia where he talked about Hogan and said how all the little dogs have grown up in reference to an interview Hogan did years ago was pretty much a shoot and not something he was supposed to do." - June 29, 98 Observer

"Road Dogg, a good friend of Jarrett’s, cut a promo on Bruce Prichard shortly after Jarrett did. He said that Prichard and Ross were, in essence, a cancer on the WWF. He accused them of basically working toward monopolizing power and becoming Vince McMahon’s only confidants at the expense of the company. He was so upset he threatened to make life so miserable for the WWF as long as Ross and Prichard were in power that the WWF would have no choice but to release him." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"Randy Savage was on the Arsenio Hall talking about the match with Ultimate Warrior and wouldn't you know it, that Hall fed him a question about steroids. Savage said he didn't use them, that they were poison, and told kids not to use them, but admitted experimenting with them at one point. Yeah, and I've experimented with using a typewriter at one point." - Aug 10, 92 Observer

"Ross is telling people he is being made out to be the scapegoat for the Jarrett loss, and he accepts that role as part of his job. Nobody seems to believe Ross’s spin and instead believe McMahon is genuinely upset with him." - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"Venis beat Runnels via DQ when Kaientai attacked Venis. After the match Mrs. fake Yamaguchi-san slapped Venis, which, this being pro wrestling, means they'll end up having an affair. Whoops, he has to piledriver her first." - July 6, 98 Observer

"Jeff Jarrett, before agreeing to wrestle the PPV match the day after his contract with the WWF expired, insisted he get paid for that match ahead of time. He also insisted he get paid all money he was owed for other matches in recent months that he had not yet been paid for....Jarrett, because of the circumstances of his departure, didn’t have faith that those somewhat arbitrary payoffs would necessarily equal what they would have had he renewed with the WWF." - Oct 30, 99 Torch

"The deal to get the title for Lawler is that the promotion agreed to pay Hennig his $1,500 per week guarantee while Lawler holds the title. This way Verne Gagne isn't responsible for Hennig's guarantee." - May 23, 88 Observer

"Ross had a talk with Brian James (Road Dogg) last week about the Jarrett situation and the two sides reached a truce of sorts." - Oct 30, 99 Torch

"The name 'Powers of Pain' will be used by Titan, which means Crockett failed to trademark it." - June 27, 88 Observer

"Bigelow has become the unofficial substitute of the big stars. He is the first person who is called on if a top name is injured or wants to get out of a house show which has become a regular occurrence." - Apr 17, 99 Torch

"Blanchard was fired by the WWF because he tried to recruit wrestlers to join the NWA. Failing a drug test was a convenient excuse. One wrestler doing the same stuff Blanchard was doing is headlining right now with the WWF (My Note: from how it's worded I'm guessing it's Curt Hennig), and probably a lot more than one. Blanchard wasn't signed by the NWA because those in the organization, when it came time to sign the contract, felt it wasn't nearly as big a coup to get him as it was when the promises were made" - Dec 26, 89 Observer

"The judgement is in and it appears most of the wrestlers, and especially Cornette, have found the new three-day tapings worse than the old two-day tapings with a weekly in-studio day to tape interviews. The stamina needed to make it through the three days is said to be incredible...Legal pain killers are still described by some wrestlers as a "necessary evil" because of the WWF's at times rigorous schedule." - Aug 21, 93 Torch

"Beefcake is over huge here because the poor folks in the Bay Area actually take pride in his being billed from San Francisco. To me that's like taking pride in living in the AIDS capital of the world." - June 13, 88 Observer

 

 

Also this small item from Dave which ends up completely changing the Observer

"As some of you may already know, I started this week for The National, the new daily sports newspaper (available right now in the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago markets) which debuted this past Wednesday. The wrestling column will run weekly, and as of this writing, is slated to run on Monday's although that could change" - Feb 12, 90 Observer

[DeanColes1987]

"One of the first things anyone entering Titan has done to them is ways to break their spirit (My Note: This is why you'd see weird results like Rick Rude losing to Jerry Allen and Rockers losing to Conquistadors). The spirit is what gives you that enthusiastic live show performance, and it's the same spirit that makes one rebellious, because that performance is important to the individual. When the performance isn't important, there is less complaining about what is asked to be done. When wrestlers care greatly, maybe even too much, as was the case with Paul E. Dangerously, every little aspect becomes important and it leads to a powder keg environment with wrestlers getting frustrated by the lack of push or their roles. The truth is, for running a promotion with the least amount of headaches, the way McMahon does it works" - Feb 26, 90 Observer

"People can say now the NWA Main Event still has good ratings. Yeah, but they're giving them Ric Flair versus Bobby Eaton. When I was hosting the NWA Main Event we had main event matches like Dick Murdoch versus Bill Irwin, we had Ron Simmons versus Tommy Rich, and we every single week, bar none, did better ratings than World Championship Wrestling on Saturday nights. For eight years of wrestling being on TBS both Saturday and Sunday, Sunday had never once outdrawn Saturday night" - Jan 11, 90 Torch Talk with Paul E. Dangerously

"The crowd reacted to almost everyone equally, as long as they had the accompanying music. For example, Mark Young, who has never been pushed on TV for Titan and nobody in the building knew who he was, still got about the same reaction as the Anabolic Warrior since the music was cranked up. Definitely Pavlov's Dog stuff here." - Aug 21, 89 Observer

"Russo was not an advocate of hiring Randy Savage. Now that he’s gone, McMahon may be more apt to pursue Savage, especially with Jericho being a disappointment thus far." - Oct 13, 99 Torch

"Pavlov's Dogs? That thought came to me at a television taping a few years back when a babyface won, using his big move, and there was no crowd reaction at all, despite the fact it was a heavily pushed and seemingly over act. When the music came on, late, because of a backstage screw up, the place went bonkers, but the crowd reacted to the music, not to the wrestling, and to the music immediately throughout the night. I've later seen this same thing happen dozens of times. Recently at a Titan show, a heel cheated to beat a face and when they announced the winner, they played the face music and everyone cheered on cue" - Oct 30, 89 Observer, Dave replying to a reader letter

"When Michael Buffer read introductions for Butcher, he said, 'He is the lifelong friend of the Hulk. He helped the Hulkster to the top only to be left behind when the glory and riches came. Tonight he's out for revenge.' Doesn't sound exactly like Butcher is the heel of that scenario, does it?" - Nov 29, 94 Torch

"WWF crowds have always had the Pavlov's dog element to them. But this time, they were bleating sheep to the point they made Pavlov's canines look like rebels....They salivated during the entrance music and cheered loudly for the faces and booed the heels. Vince couldn't have hired Hollywood extras to do a better job, and yet the fans were the ones paying the money" - Mar 5, 90 Observer

"Friends say Flair has resigned himself to having lost all control in WCW to the point where he wonders aloud why he even attends booking meetings because Hogan will overrule him, anyway. (The entire booking committee is sometimes flown to Florida to meet at Hogan's house so Hogan and Jimmy Hart don't have to fly to Atlanta.)" - Apr 1, 95 Torch

"JYD got a huge pop, which has its weird ironies since the original lure of ECW was presenting supposed good wrestling when the big promotions were feeding the fans immovable garbage like JYD on top....The fans at the end began chanting for JYD.....At about this time, with no heat for the match (My Note: Sabu vs. Van Dam) at all, the fans started a loud 'JYD' chant which basically told the story of the match." - May 11, 98 Observer

"There is heat on Scott Norton and Brian Adams for working stiff and not selling.  On Nitro, things escalated when they refused to sell for booker Kevin Nash." - May 8, 99 Torch

"There is a method to Herd's madness that nobody seems to realize. In wanting to bring in Long John Silver as a contender for Ric Flair's title, he's got the perfect challenger. Just like his Hunchbacks tag team idea couldn't get pinned, Long John Silver would be immune to the effects of Ric Flair favorite hold--The Figure Four Leglock. Also, it would be one of the toughest foes for Flair to beat. After all, how does Flair win 90 percent of his title matches? When the other guy has his foot on the ropes. This reduces the possibility of that ending by 50 percent" - Mar 26, 90 Observer

"Mo was taken off the road because the WWF wanted to push Mabel as a singles. Plans are for Mo to return to the road (he was already at the last TV tapings) to reform Men on a Mission for a series against Diesel & Michaels." - Nov 26, 94 Torch

"Before the main event, they aired a video feature on Douglas starting with his winning the NWA tournament in 1994. It was almost like watching a soap where they changed the actor playing the character in mid-stream, that's how different Douglas then and now looks with the added 30 pounds and totally different facial features." - May 11, 98 Observer

"There is heat on Kevin Sullivan and Mike Graham for booking the tag title change that gave the Windhams the tag titles. Most feel that the Windhams aren’t over and were only given the titles because they (especially Barry) have a long–time friendship with Sullivan and Graham which dates back to the days when all four wrestled together in Florida." - Sept. 4, 99 Torch

"Everyone is raving about the interview Ric Flair did on Superstars this past weekend regarding the Randy Savage match. Bet what you don't know is it was the 17th take. Says something about the difference between cranking out television and trying to put together flawless television." - Mar 16, 92 Observer

"Lawler used to briefly mention his upcoming celebrity softball games on Memphis TV briefly before his interviews; now, his softball updates stand alone and have their own chroma-keyed softball art image in the background." - July 9, 94 Torch

"The bunkhouse bout was terrible, with the highlight being after the match when a fan threw beer all over Hawk and Hawk jumped into the crowd, grabbed a beer from another fan and poured it all over the fan who poured it on him to begin with." - Jan 23, 89 Observer

"The Most eventful occurrence in the match was when Vincent talked a woman in the crowd into flashing her chest, which caused quite an uproar in the crowd." - Jan 9, 99 Torch

"In the Class Act move of the month, the semi-main was scheduled as a tag match non-title in a cage with Paul Diamond & The Trooper vs. Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos. Trooper wasn't there and Brad Rheingans took his place. The faces win in nine minutes of a very good match. Anyway, it was announced to the crowd that the previous day Trooper's parents were in a car wreck and that they both had passed away as the reason for Trooper missing the show. In reality, more than a week before the show, I'd received a letter telling me that Trooper (Del Wilkes) had never agreed to work the show and was being falsely advertised and he was working an independent date in the Carolinas on that night (which he did)" - Feb 26, 90 Observer

[sek69]

7 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said:

"Before the main event, they aired a video feature on Douglas starting with his winning the NWA tournament in 1994. It was almost like watching a soap where they changed the actor playing the character in mid-stream, that's how different Douglas then and now looks with the added 30 pounds and totally different facial features." - May 11, 98 Observer

It always amused me that the "Ultimate Warrior was replaced by a different guy" urban legend grew out of him getting highlights in his hair (and possibly some people confusing him with Kerry Von Erich), yet Dynamic Dude Shane Douglas and late era ECW Franchise Shane Douglas might as well be two separate people. 

[Ricky Jackson]

Funny thing about Warrior and Kerry is that when Kerry debuted as the Texas Tornado I can remember a friend of mine telling me that he was really Warrior without makeup. I wasn't watching much wrestling at the time and didn't know he meant Kerry because he just called him "Texas Tornado". When I finally saw him wrestle a few months later I realized my friend had no idea what he was talking about, but he had probably already figured that out anyway

[DeanColes1987]

"Luke McMasters (Giant Haystacks) came in from England and was going to work as 'The Titan' as an inside joke starting this week, but something happened and he went home before even working one show and won't be back. The gimmick was Luger was going to go around everywhere and beat The Titan" - Apr 16, 90 Observer

"The money from the Acclaim deal has already been allocated and will be spent on paying off debt, upgrades in production, advertising, and new talent among other things." - Nov 27, 99 Torch

"Vince wanted Greg Valentine to use his wife, Julie, as a valet, but Valentine declined the offer. So instead Randy Savage brought his wife, Elizabeth, into the business. Originally Elizabeth was supposed to be a heel, her role was to play a gorgeous bitch who behind-the-scenes screwed the babyfaces in contract negotiations" - 1989 Observer Yearbook

"WCW cancelled the Germany tour for the end of October and the UK tour for Nov. 11–13" - Oct 9, 99

"Center Stage tapings on 1/16 were canceled because of building renovation but nobody knew until they got there" - Jan 22, 90 Observer

"With WCW getting out of the house show business on a national scale, the WWF is going to try to add importance to house shows by putting almost all top talent on each show and make all house shows part of a special tour with names, trying to capitalize on the initial success of The Great American Bash." - July 12, 93 Torch

"One of the Titan guys was walking around us wanting to plant the gimmicks for the TV cameras to pick up. Unfortunately, one of my friends was wearing a TBS Sports cap so we didn't get any free Duggan foam rubber 2x4's" - Aug 21, 89 Observer

"There is talk of eventually repackaging Brian Adams as a hindu character. He does some sort of a hindu accent that is said to be popular among the wrestlers in the locker room." - Feb 13, 99 Torch

"There was a huge banner being walked around the building which said 'NWA #1'....All of a sudden the card stopped. Several security officers and Tony Garea started chatting and then went into the crowd....It became obvious they were looking for the banner but couldn't find it, and they wouldn't re-start the card until they found it. Luckily the WWF has no competition in this business and it was only a fictitious banner for a non-existent competitor. Finally, after a long delay, a few kids finked on the guys with the banner and they carted the guilty parties out of the building and ripped up the banner" - Aug 21, 89 Observer

"Duggan said his great, great grandmother from Ireland was a taped fist champion." - Sept. 2, 95 Torch

"A correction from last week on page two, when describing Sid Eudy, the word that should have been used was unprofessional, not professional." - June 8, 98 Observer

"Test lost considerable points among fellow wrestlers when he skipped the Europe tour due to having the stomach flu." - Apr 17, 99 Torch

"The two fans who were kicked out of the Oakland Coliseum Arena WWF taping on 8/8 for holding up the NWA banner are contemplating suing the WWF and the Coliseum for being kicke dout without unruly behaviour and for what they were kicked out for apparently constitutes some sort of violation of freedom of expression" - Sept. 3, 89 Observer

"Razor Ramon was reportedly one of the top names to receive a big money offer regarding jumping to WCW." - Feb 17, 96 Torch

"Davey Boy Smith is apparently done with the company. On 4/20, he was booked to put Norton over clean on the Nitro from Colorado Springs and refused so the match never took place. That's why the Hogan-Savage title change match went so long, because the Smith-Norton match scheduled to take place at 10:30 p.m. was canceled. Then on 4/27, Smith, who was booked for Nitro in Norfolk, didn't show up." - May 11, 98 Observer

"Charles Robinson is becoming very unpopular in the locker room as his on-camera personality is said to be a take–off on his real–life role as a Ric Flair mark. Robinson has a reputation for gathering gossip that goes on about Flair and Arn Anderson and then telling Flair and Anderson about it." - Apr 17, 99 Torch

"Giant Haystacks, or The Titan, went home to England because his wife is in bad shape with cancer. It is expected he'll return at some point. Ironically he was going to be pushed like mad because the next Omni card was originally booked to have Luger vs. The Titan as the main event, so he'd be challenging for a title (U.S. or World) by May 20th" - Apr 23, 90 Observer

"Eric Bischoff met with the locker room and informed them that the company is going to focus its booking efforts on ten top names. While Bischoff didn’t mention names, the ten men are believed to be Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Randy Savage, Bret Hart, Goldberg, Sting, Lex Luger, Rick Steiner, Scott Steiner, and Ric Flair or Roddy Piper." - May 29, 99 Torch

"Kensuke Sasaki from Japan had a match and delivered a real stiff kick and TV announcer Ed Whalen went nuts and screamed to cut off the match from television and fired Sasaki on the spot" - Apr 2, 90 Observer

[sek69]

12 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said:

"Kensuke Sasaki from Japan had a match and delivered a real stiff kick and TV announcer Ed Whalen went nuts and screamed to cut off the match from television and fired Sasaki on the spot" - Apr 2, 90 Observer

Good ol' Ed making sure he stops anyone who might accidently do something that would possibly get over.

[DeanColes1987]

"There was talk of the NWA actually buying the AWA (primarily for its syndicated network and ESPN slot--but then again, would Turner allow his own product on ESPN?) but Verne insisted that if the deal was made, the AWA must be kept with its own identity as a seperate promotion so that ended those discussions" - Mar 19, 90 Observer

"The person said to be having the biggest problem remembering his lines is Benoit, whose promos usually don’t come close to the scripted version." - Nov 7, 99 Torch

"Apparently the deal the NWA was negotiating with the AWA was that they would take over the AWA's syndication and promotion and in return, Greg Gagne would get to work in the office and be the promoter for the NWA in certain Midwest cities while Verne Gagne would be given a title as NWA Commissioner. The deal fell apart because Verne also insisted that the AWA be kept as a seperate entity and with its own world champion" - Mar 26, 90 Observer

"Big Business Brown came out and said he's upset that the microphone was pulled away from him earlier. Brown slapped Macklin, who slapped him back. Lance Russell and Dave Brown made their first save in over two decades of doing this show." - Feb 25, 95 Torch

"At the Spectrum, Valentine-Santana was announced as having a one hour time limit. After 20 the bell rang with the announcement time expired. They're rematched next time with a one hour time limit." - May 84 Observer

"ECW officials are said to be interested in Brian Clark. There is talk of aligning him with his former WCW manager, James Vandenburg, for a series of matches against Mike Awesome" - Nov 7, 99 Torch

"NWO Sting (isn't that name rather stupid today when the original Sting is part of the NWO?)" - Oct 5, 98 Observer

"The booker quit. The dead guy broke his face. The pretty boy was viciously beaten. Maybe they just should have called it a night. When the highlight of a pay-per-view show is a guy who couldn't even have been there in the first place just standing in the ring looking sad, you know the show wasn't much. Speaking of the Michaels situation, Titan pulled the ol' bait and switch this weekend on their loyal fans by leading them to believe that the Boy Toy would wrestle after all. It's too bad that instead of having Razor Ramon show that Bret Hart couldn't have been flown in. Oh, wait a second. He was already there." - Oct 28, 95 Torch, Bruce Mitchell Column

"Rock & Roll Express beat The Freebirds in a Capital Punishment match in 18:59....A certain individual who will go nameless but his namesake was a famous cowboy was told to buy whips for the match. Instead of buying leather belts, he went to a sex shop and bought a cat-o-nine tails" - May 28, 90 Observer

"Footage for Pulp Fiction montages were taped at the weekend tapings. When the TNN representative noticed how many promos were being filmed he asked what they were for. He was shown a tape of past montages and is said to have loved the concept." - Oct 16, 99 Torch

"Sensational Sherri's return, which was originally scheduled for the last set of tapings, was postponed until the Royal Rumble. Sherri needed eye surgery because when they shot the angle, a piece of glass actually got into her eye." - Dec 28, 92 Observer

"Adam Bomb, meanwhile, decided against returning to the WWF for some of the above reasons and is now accepting independent dates. The WWF would have never 'lowered themselves' in the past to actively seek the return of a wrestler who walked out on them. In Adam Bomb's case, they did just that, which is another sign of the WWF's fading mystique." - Nov 18, 95 Torch

"Probably the biggest news of the week revolves around Stan Hansen. This is the second straight tour that Hansen, who turns 49 next month, hasn't been booked on. Hansen, who probably ranks as the most popular foreign wrestler ever to work Japan as he was the top drawing foreigner almost consistently from 1981-1997, has clearly been on his last legs and Baba has cut down on his bookings. The word got out this past week that Hansen had made a contact with New Japan, which as the story goes, turned him down due to their style and his age, and that when the word reached Baba about Hansen talking with New Japan, his future in Japan, which has basically been just about his entire career since the late 1970s, is in jeopardy" - Jul 13, 98 Observer

"On the recommendation of WWF booker Jim Cornette, Tracy Smothers, Alex Porteau, Johnny Gunn (Tom Brandi), Tony Anthony (a/k/a Dirty White Boy), and Bill Irwin have been signed as low-card wrestlers. They will be pushed a level above pure jobbers but always put over bigger names on TV. Referee Brian Hildebrand (a/k/a Mark Curtis) was considered as was Mark Kyle (a/k/a Killer Kyle), but they weren't hired." - June 1, 96 Torch

"Since I'm always writing negative things it's only fair to praise Steve Williams and Rob Richsteiner who saved a few lives pulling two men out of a burning auto back in December." Feb 17, 86 Observer

"Wrestlers weren’t pleased to hear that during the PPV broadcast, during the Hak vs. Bigelow match Schiavone said those weapons make a lot of noise but don’t really hurt. Some wrestlers want to test that theory on Schiavone." - Apr 17, 99 Torch

"Tim Horner said that he was going to sue Vince McMahon in order to get out of his contract. McMahon won't book Horner but since he's under contract, he's threatened to sue Horner if he negotiates with the NWA. Similar situation with Terry Taylor. Taylor is negotiating for a Japan tour and wants to work some independent dates as well this summer as he can't work for NWA until late August" - Apr 23, 90 Observer

"If Jarrett's decision was a surprise, Roadie's is astounding. Six months ago he was a TV jobber on WCW. The WWF then prepares to make him a major babyface and this guy walks out on them? What was he thinking? At least Jarrett has bargaining power, proven talent, and legal right to use his name. Roadie, on the other hand, has a bad reputation and no use of his gimmick name." - July 31, 95 Torch

"The July date in Los Angeles was canceled and there was some heat with the Forum over the cancellation since they asked WCW to get the ring they were storing at the Forum out of the building." - June 15, 92 Observer

"Courtesy of WCW Main Event, we take you to Gene Okerlund for a preview of this Thursday's Clash (if you were fortunate enough not to see the Main Event and not have the finish of the match spoiled for you, skip the following): 'Talk about your action, we now have a brand new, undisputed, unified champion in the Nature Boy, Ric Flair. History was made Thursday night at the Clash of the Champions, Flair defeating International Champ Sting'....David Crockett, who is vice president of production, is where the buck stops, although both Jackie Crockett and Tony Schiavone were speculated to be the hands-on culprits; no blame has officially been placed yet" - June 25, 94 Torch

"A whole bunch of WCW guys came in together, both faces and heels, to attend to Luger. It was really funny seeing Barbarian wearing a tie in the ring acting concerned, kind of killing his gimmick." - Mar 2, 98 Observer

"The Gene Ross porn rumor webpage reported that adult film stars John T. Bone, Zoe, and Holly Landis were backstage at the May 1 Anaheim house show and the women were used as Godfather’s hos....Ross quoted Bone as saying Big Show was a 'big porn afficionado' and called Mick Foley a 'big porn fan' who enjoys the older stars. Both were said to have recognized at least one of the women. Foley reportedly gave out his address in order to receive tapes at home. Apparently Chyna found out about the adult film stars and complained to management but nothing was done." - May 15, 99 Torch

"The latest, and final issue of the WBF Magazine has a story on Lex Luger where it said he was a former world heavyweight champion (how did that one get past the proofreaders) and also that he got interested in being a wrestler after watching Wrestlemania III at the Silverdome. Nice story, since Luger had been wrestling for nearly two years at the time." - Aug 3, 92 Observer

"At the Bluegrass Brawl, I had a promoter's dream - a sellout crowd of WRESTLING fans, cheering the faces, booing the heels, many believing and the ones that didn't not caring how it 'worked,' as long as the heels got beat....In the middle of this sat Miller and his friends yelling things like, 'You suck, K-9' at Bruiser Bedlam, 'Your brother Bruce LOOOOVES you' and 'Nice juice, Tom' at Tom Prichard, words like 'angle,' 'screwjob,' 'finish,' and more at the top of the lungs. Most of this during a classic Rock & Roll vs. Bodies match that they couldn't be bothered to take the time to enjoy because they had to impress each other with their witty repartee. I had all I could stand and told them to go poison someone else's territory. These goofs reacted to my anger by laughingly 'playacting' the role of fans by yelling at the heel to show everyone in the building they were part of the 'act.' Miller is lucky he only got spit on - if it wouldn't have killed the match I'd have stuck my fist halfway down his throat." - July 9, 94 Torch, Letter from Jim Cornette

[sek69]

7 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said:

Rock & Roll Express beat The Freebirds in a Capital Punishment match in 18:59....A certain individual who will go nameless but his namesake was a famous cowboy was told to buy whips for the match. Instead of buying leather belts, he went to a sex shop and bought a cat-o-nine tails" - May 28, 90 Observer

This always and forever will be my favorite David Crockett story.

[paul sosnowski]

Was Davey Crockett a cowboy?   Lol

[CarpetCrawler]

10 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said:

"The Gene Ross porn rumor webpage reported that adult film stars John T. Bone, Zoe, and Holly Landis were backstage at the May 1 Anaheim house show and the women were used as Godfather’s hos....Ross quoted Bone as saying Big Show was a 'big porn afficionado' and called Mick Foley a 'big porn fan' who enjoys the older stars. Both were said to have recognized at least one of the women. Foley reportedly gave out his address in order to receive tapes at home. Apparently Chyna found out about the adult film stars and complained to management but nothing was done." - May 15, 99 Torch

The weird tangent Mick went into about porn/Kay Parker in his autobiography that came out a few months later makes a lot more sense now.  

[sek69]

Mick was a MILF Hunter before that was even a thing I suppose.

[DeanColes1987]

"Clash of Champions card for 6/13 in Charleston, SC, at the University of Citadel called 'Coastal Crush' as The Steiners with Sting in their corner face George Washington & Thomas Jefferson with Sid Vicious in their corner--whoops, I mean Ric Flair & Barry Windham. Just that Flair looks so much like George Washington with that pony-tail. Got to drop that one." - May 21, 90 Observer

"WCW’s Alan Sharpe said fans should know that stars shown on the advertisement are only 'guys that could be there.' He said, 'Wrestling is episodic and what will happen a month from now is hard to determine, so it’s very difficult to know exactly what talent will appear in any city.' ” - Sept. 19, 98 Torch

"Curt Hennig made his TV debut at the tapings but wasn't over a bit. From most accounts, the Mr. Perfect routine isn't getting Curt any heat at the arenas (aside from the cities he was already over in from the AWA days)" - Nov 7, 88 Observer

"Lawler laughed about what happened to Michaels. McMahon said it is a serious matter and that Syracuse police are investigating why 'ten thugs' attacked Michaels." - Oct 21, 95 Torch

"Curt Hennig got less response than any winner and most jobbers on this card." - Nov 28, 88 Observer

"Downtown Bruno brought out a cake and congratulated the SMW wrestlers. The cake then sat on the desk for the rest of the show and was not smashed by anyone!" - Nov 18, 95 Torch

"It totally mystifies me the crowd reaction for Hennig because they've given him such a big push but nobody cares. The theory among those who know more than I is the problem is twofold: 1) Even though his character is not the same as DiBiase, his entrance to the fed is exactly the same and fans see it as nothing new. Copies never get over well in wrestling in the same territory; 2) Even though Hennig is a great worker and appeared to have a strong personality in the AWA, his interviews and personality which stood out amongst Kevin Kelly and Soldat Ustinov mean nothing when he's out there with guys with strong personalities who have their act down pat. Who really knows, all I know is it isn't working." - Nov 28, 88 Observer

"Mark Madden said on his WCW 900 line reports last week that Vampiro, when he debuts in January 'will suck' " - Oct 10, 98 Torch

"Hennig looked good in the match but he's still not over, but they are determined to get him over and it really doesn't matter if the crowd responds because they do what they want (example: Dino Bravo)" - Dec 5, 88 Observer

"Hollywood Hogan was conspicuous by his absence at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. for the Feb. 1 Nitro. The story is that he didn’t want to appear because he felt once fans saw him they would taunt him with chants of 'Jesse, Jesse.' " - Feb 20, 99 Torch

"Kip Frey awarded Steamboat, Rude, Liger and Pillman $2,500 each for being the hardest workers on the PPV show." - Mar 16, 92 Observer

"The WWF's former Irwin R. Schyster is coming in teaming with Big Bubba Rogers as The C.P.A.s (Certified Public Accountants)" - Aug 26, 95 Torch

"Scott Steiner signed his deal but only after the booking committee actually voted to fire him if he didn't accept the $156,000 offer" - Apr 30, 90 Observer

"During the match, the announcers made continuous references to the strange relationship between DOA and Too Much." - Apr 3, 99 Torch

"Junkfood Dog (whose nickname is derived not from his love of Junkfood but from his poor work rate because admittedly he's hardly the only pro wrestler who sometimes binges on candy bars)" - June 18, 90 Observer

"They showed Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco forcing Big Bossman and Ken Shamrock to drink 'salt peter' ('a sexual urge inhibitor') before their match where Debra McMichael would be at ringside." - Jan 30, 99 Torch

"Flair's foes this month are Sting, JFD, Perez and Steiner and Flair hasn't talked about any of them." - Jan 16, 89 Observer

"Big Bubba fought Jim Duggan to a no contest. During the match, Dave Sullivan and Ralph (his pet rabbit) were at ringside. Duggan shoved Bubba who flew into Dave. When Bubba came close to the rabbit, he had an allergic reaction and began scratching himself." - Aug 26, 95 Torch

"In order to switch from being No. 2 to No. 1, you need to have the most recognizable stars, which, in this case, were names like Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Randy Savage. While WCW did have 'secret' meetings or phone calls with Piper and Savage, at no point did they get a name of that calibre to jump. They couldn't pull the trigger...I used to appear on non-wrestling talk shows several times per week a few years back and was always asked, when will (Flair, Luger, Steiners, Sting, Road Warriors) jump to WWF, but never when will (Hogan, Piper, Savage) jump to WCW." - Sept 7, 92 Observer

[DeanColes1987]

"Raven's Nest, to put it bluntly, ought to be renamed Raven's Rough Trade. The clues aren't subtle. This All-Male-Revue features Raven, who had the classic butch/fem abusive relationship with Stevie Richards, so much that the Richards character went back to submissively serving Raven after declaring his supposed independence....Everyone in the Nest views for Raven's love. Saturn didn't steal his look from Taz, he took it from Biker Boys magazine. Lodi's look is straight out of every college gay bar in America. Hammer, whose name fits this concept perfectly, comes right from the peep show. Nice fishnet, too. Billy Kidman has got the Bus Station Runaway look down cold" - Jan 10, 98 Torch, Bruce Mitchell

"Bossman has just turned into an incredible worker. I used to think Jerry Blackwell was the best working obesity case I'd ever seen, but Bossman blows him completely away" - Apr 3, 89 Observer

"For reasons I can't even begin to figure out, Luger didn't want the title." - Mar 5, 90 Observer

"They showed a Nitro party tape. Schiavone said afterward that Nitro parties keep dangerous people off the streets." - Jan 3, 98 Torch

"The problems that have been brewing in the NWA last July came to a head Friday night in Chicago. Basically Ric Flair was 'scheduled' to lose the NWA title to Lex Luger that night, but it didn't happen....the original plan apparently was to change the title in St. Louis on Saturday night. If you watched the NWA Main Event on Sunday, you saw that the wrap-arounds with Ross and Hyatt were done live. The Planning for having special studio time on a Sunday, which is very costly was scheduled so they could announce on Sunday about the title change the previous night....At some point during the week the scenario was changed to having the title change on Friday night in Chicago....Naturally, the blame will still be placed on Flair, who, according to one neutral party, was no angel in this situation either....On Friday, there was a heated discussion, with much profanity going back-and-forth between Herd and Flair....When it was all said and done, it was Herd, not Flair who decided not to have the title change" - Apr 2, 90 Observer

"Debra now no-shows any house show that Austin isn’t on. Although McMahon has acted nonchalant about it (to avoid ruffling Austin’s feathers), people in the WWF believe Debra will pay if and when she and Austin are no longer an item." - Aug 7, 99 Torch

"They had the camera crew in Chicago, plus Bill Apter and the NWA flew in several folks like Lance Russell, Chris Cruise and Dennis Brent (program editor) for the big thing that never happened. Between that, studio time on Sunday, no doubt changes having to be made in pre-taped television, this whole fiasco could cost a bunch of money....George Napolitano flew in for the St. Louis show the next night, although the NWA folks had all flown home but there was a video crew for this card as well" - Apr 2, 90 Observer

"Schiavone then made fun of 40 year olds who still live with their moms who are NWO fans and suggested they tune in to the Cartoon Network....Schiavone continued to lay in the anti-NWO attitude by saying NWO isn't for life, it's 'for looosers'" - Jan 3, 98 Torch

"Before the whole fiasco in Chicago took place, Flair wanted a two-year extension on his contract and was turned down. In Chicago, the basic gist of the argument was that Flair would put Luger over, but in return he wanted a contract release which would give him the option of negotiating with the WWF--an option he doesn't have despite all the rumors he's going and that I'm sure he's talked with Titan of late. Herd turned it down and the title change didn't take place because it would have risked losing Flair, who is the only heel capable of drawing on top right now" - Apr 16, 90 Observer

"Luger guarantees at one point he'll win the title at the PPV and in another interview says if he doesn't win the title at the PPV he'll never ask for another title shot" - May 7, 90 Observer

"Hogan's contract with WCW expired late last week, and outside of an apparently loosely worded commitment to four WCW pay-per-views in 1998 (which, technically, he could supposedly fulfill while also working for the WWF), he is a free agent....Before Hogan's contract expired, he refused to even give Bischoff's contract proposals to his agent, Henry Holmes, to look over. Instead, he waited until the deal expired, then listened to WCW's offers....He is now working WCW television strictly on a night-by-night basis, apparently earning five-figures per TV appearance, negotiating his price along the way" - Jan 17, 98 Torch

"Luger had another good match here, so I don't want to hear anymore about Luger not being a good worker" - Mar 1, 89 Observer

"Bischoff and Hogan came out. Because there were so many highlights of Thunder on the show, Schiavone had to point out it was live footage, not more Thunder highlights" - Jan 17, 98 Torch

"Speculation is running rampant as to who the new booker will be. According to one source within the company, the job was offered to Jim Crockett who turned it down. Bill Watts was flown in during the middle of the week and had a meeting and/or meetings with Jim Herd....Herd apparently flew to Texas later in the week to meet Jerry Jarrett....Jerry Lawler's name has also been bandied about. There was also a lot of talk among the wrestlers over the weekend that the leading candidate was Dusty Rhodes....Another name that has come up is Greg Gagne" - May 14, 90 Observer

"In a two–page advertisement in MultiChannel News, WCW touted the strength of Nitro’s ratings recent success with young male demographics. What photo did they use in the ad? That of Mr. J.L. (Jerry Lynn) flying through the air." - Sept 26, 98 Torch

"The new NWA booker is Ole Anderson, the decision was officially made last Tuesday and Anderson was introduced to the wrestlers as the man in charge at the television tapings in Indianapolis on 5/14....Bill Watts was considered the front-runner for the position as late as the day before Anderson got the job. However Watts insisted upon more power than the promotion was willing to give him. In particular he wanted to not have to answer to Jim Herd and deal with Jack Petrik. It was a power the company wasn't willing to give to its booker. The two sides were also unable to come to a money arrangement....The list included the names speculated on last week, including Greg Gagne, Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Jarrett and Lynn Denton. Herd did have a meeting with Jarrett last weekend. According to one source Jarrett turned down the position. A meeting was scheduled with Gagne during the middle of this past week, but it was canceled when the decision was made to go with Anderson" - May 21, 90 Observer

"Patrick went around the next day asking wrestlers backstage at Nitro if they thought his count was fast. Patrick tried to find people to agree it was faster than usual" - Jan 3, 98 Torch

"Scott Steiner is already back in action after missing about five days with a staph infection in his eye....Luger apparently got a staph infection is his knee. Some believe it was caught from Steiner, who was still working with a contagious eye infection" - May 14, 90 Observer

"Originally at Breakdown, Mankind was going to win and take another extreme bump in the process, setting up house show tag matches with Mankind & Austin vs. Kane & Undertaker. They scrapped that in order to give a megapush to Rocky" - Oct 17, 98 Torch

"Luger was nowhere near 100 percent. In fact, I don't think he was near 50 percent. He had to wrestle because there was simply no alternative and the promotion had so much confidence in Flair that there was little doubt this would be a good match....Luger was supposed to juice a gusher originally but because of the staph infection, it couldn't be that way. I'm sure the original plan was for them to go longer as well" - May 28, 90 Observer

"A shot aired of Sting (wearing the black and white facepaint) standing in the rafters. Flair got mad and asked what the hell Sting was doing there. Flair said he’s the president and should be informed when Sting is going to be 'flying around here.' - Apr 3, 99 Torch

"Luger simply wasn't in condition for a title change even if that was the original plan. (And it was the original plan before Ole Anderson became the booker, and only Ole and his friends know what would have happened had Luger been healthy because by the time Ole was announced as booker it was already well-known that Luger was going to work the PPV and have to lay off afterwards which makes no sense to give him the title when he can't work house shows for a while--maybe not even until Sting comes back)" - May 28, 90 Observer

"Rick Martel was scheduled to win the TV Title at the Dec. 28 Nitro, but he forgot to bring his wrestling gear. Therefore, they decided at the last second to put Booker T in that role" - Jan 10, 98 Torch

"According to one reliable report, Ole's finish on the Flair-Luger PPV match was a lot closer to the one described here (My Note: Dave fantasy booked a finish with Sting throwing the towel in) than the one that turned out. Specifically, Luger wouldn't do the job this time which necessitated a screw-job finish. Well, at least it was his turn to do it. This wasn't the time or case but some big star is going to have to be fired over this some day to keep it from ever happening again. Luger isn't the one to discipline over it because he's been promised the strap somewhere between 4 and 400 times over the past three years and between bad luck and booker changes and who knows what, he never gets it and one can understand the frustration. Plus the other two stars got away with the same thing (My Note: Sting with Funk and Flair with Luger)" - June 4, 90 Observer

"Public Enemy have been showing a recently bounced check from ECW for $1,000, claiming Paul Heyman still owes them thousands of dollars." - Apr 17, 99 Torch

"Lots of problems stemming from a 6/6 show in Columbia, SC. First off, the card was booked for Flair vs. JFD on top originally, but the office found out JFD had an indie booking in his hometown of Wadesboro, NC so they let him out of it. They asked Luger (who started back on 6/1) to take his place, but Luger had already been given the night off and wanted to see his son's baseball game and refused to work the date. This created considerable heat with Luger being deemed not dedicated enough by some (My Note: 3 weeks before this he worked a 20 minute cage match with a staph infection even though his money was guaranteed). Anyway Flair wrestled Ricky Morton on top as it turns out" - June 18, 90 Observer

"If McMahon were to acquire a major name from WCW, he would want to do it in as covert a way as possible and blindside Bischoff with it because of how McMahon found out about Savage jumping from WWF to WCW. In the midst of contract talks, he called Savage on a Sunday night at his home in Florida and the person answering Savage's phone said, 'oh, is this Eric Bischoff calling back?' " - Jan 10, 98 Torch

"They had an unbelievable newspaper ad in Toronto. Main event was listed as Rick Flair vs. Lex Lugar with Flair billed as U.S. champ, Sting in corner while Lugar billed as World champ with 'Vicious Sid' in corner (neither Sting nor Sid were there), 'Stiner Bros.' vs. 'Doon1' with manager Long while also advertiesd was Mean Mark 'with manager Long' and Johnny Ace vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, neither of whom were there" - July 9, 90 Observer

[DeanColes1987]

"If you've watched any TV since Wrestlemania, you'll see the only thing Warrior has is possession of a belt. As for who is the top star and most heavily pushed attraction, that torch was not passed" - Apr 23, 90 Observer

"The Dragon-Guerrero Cruiserweight Title match on Nitro originally was scheduled to go 11 minutes, but because the TV show was being booked on the fly, they panicked over time management and ordered the match to go less than two minutes at the last second instead" - Jan 3, 98 Torch

"Since so many are asking why they see all these Pillman videos but never actually see him wrestle, here's the real scoop. You see, a few weeks back they taught Pillman how to fly a helicopter, as you've all seen in the music video. The problem is, they never taught him how to land the thing, so he's still flying somewhere over Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta the last I've heard" - June 26, 89 Observer

"When John Wayne Bobbit made his guest appearance at Raw, there was heat because he was given his own locker room while the wrestlers were crowded into a small locker room. As a joke, the wrestlers moved the sign on the door of his locker room to a broom closet" - September 26, 98 Torch

"I had my first opportunity to see Lucha Libre live on Friday night (2/16) in Tijuana, Mexico....I'm not the world's biggest Lucha Libre fan. To me, it's kind of like you sit and watch a bunch of bad wrestling waiting for the spectacular dives" - Feb 26, 90 Observer

"Due to the trust and friendship between Heyman and Dreamer, Heyman stayed out of Dreamer’s contract talks and allowed him to write up his own contract. Dreamer took the contract to Gene Shirkowski who fine tuned it and gave it his approval" - Oct 23, 99 Torch

"Alex Wright vs. Barry Horowitz went 3:32 with no finish as the Wolfpac just showed up, Wright left, and Nash patted Horowitz on the back." - Nov 16, 98 Observer

"It would be easier for the audience to buy Goldust-Sex Pervert if the gimmick hadn't been watered down by Dustin going from Gay to Pretend-Gay to Family Man to Cuckold to Pervert so quickly" - Jan 10, 98 Torch, Bruce Mitchell

"Baba had his choice of using either Bigelow or Big Van Vader at Budokan in exchange for New Japan using Hansen on its big show on 6/12 in Fukuoka and Baba chose Bigelow because he felt he was the better worker" - May 28, 90 Observer

"There is talk of making the Hardy Boyz 'DX pledges' " - Mar 20, 99 Torch

"Pushing Reis as his real height of 7-2 only made things silly when Giant, who is two or three inches shorter and seeing them in the same ring on the same night made that pretty evident, came on later in the show and they had to push him as 7-4." - June 22, 98 Observer

"Because of I.R.S.'s departure, Tony Garea has been recalled as a road agent. I.R.S. had become a road agent before leaving." - Aug 19, 95 Torch

"The Royal Rumble in St. Louis on 10/4 turned into a royal mess. It turned out there were never more than three guys in at once and the eliminations all looked terrible. It also turned out the two minutes between additions seemed more like one minute, the whole things was over in 12:00 with One Man Gang and Junkfood Dog going over together, but Gang was awarded the win. On TV they had said the winner of the rumble would get a title crack at Hogan, but during intermission they announced Hogan would wrestle Gang on the 11/7 card." - Oct 12, 87 Observer

"There are no plans to use Debra McMichael with Flair or anyone at this point. The last role proposed to her was to join Raven's Nest and do a Courtney Love gimmick, but she didn't like the idea" - Jan 17, 98 Torch

"The Survivor preview show headlined by Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna for the title did a 2.9 rating on Sunday, the show wasn't nearly as cohesive as normal since there were numerous shots of Jerry Lawler at ringside during the title match that all had to be edited out so in a sense the match that aired was very different from the match that took place live." - Dec 6, 93 Observer

"Ken Shamrock flat out refused to go along with the WWF’s proposed angle that it be revealed he was having an affair with his sister Ryan, which would explain why he was so protective of her regarding other men." - Apr 3, 99 Torch

"Russian Assassin takes the scaffold bumps on his back (climbs down a bit and free-falls) which is a pretty impressive bump. Doesn't jump down like everyone else because of his knee." - July 18, 88 Observer

"Hunter Hearst Helmsley was scheduled to drop the European belt to Owen Hart on the Dec. 29 Raw. One idea batted around was to have Owen get Hunter in the sharpshooter and have Canadian referee Jimmy Korderas call for the bell before Hunter submitted, thus giving Owen Hart revenge" - Jan 10, 98 Torch

"Muta missed the Philadelphia show waiting for his gear at the airport" - Jan 8, 90 Observer

"Juventud Guererra and Jerry Flynn received little heat from management following their recent DUI arrests and were basically told not to let it happen again." - May 15, 99 Torch

"A meeting was scheduled for Monday morning to determine where the company was headed, since everything was being built around Sting as a babyface and with the triple-turn on Tuesday, the company's leading singles babyface at this writing is Norman the Lunatic" - Feb 19, 90 Observer

"Hall began talking to Nash and Bagwell and his demeanor changed. He became belligerent and angry. Hall began riding Bagwell about his skit not going very well. When Bagwell retorted, Hall stuck both of his middle fingers in Bagwell’s face. Bagwell stood up, called Hall a drunk, and slapped him twice across the face. Hall responded, 'Come on Buff, is that all you got? The other side of my face is lonely!' All eyes in the bar were on them at this point, but no one did anything to try to quell the situation. Nash, who sat right next to Bagwell during the entire incident, didn’t move. Gene Okerlund was the only one who said anything. He told them not to make a scene in public. Hall was said to be visibly upset, almost to the point of tears." - Oct 24, 98 Torch

[Beast]

Big fan of these

 

Right now this is the main reason I check this site every day.

 

Great job Dean and thanks!

[DeanColes1987]

"Eric Bischoff announced to the locker room full of wrestlers on Monday night, Apr. 13 at Nitro that he was going to make an example out of Ric Flair. He said Flair is a liar, but everybody lets him get away with it because he's Ric Flair" - Apr 18, 98 Torch

"The audiences in Tokyo and some of the larger cities even booed Hansen when he worked against guys like the Bulldogs and Can-Am Express because he couldn't keep up with them and they wanted Tenryu in since he could" - Dec 26, 89 Observer

"The worst was the morning a child walked into my class yelling, 'Mr. Mitchell said the ass word!' because he heard me discuss Steve Austin on a local radio talk show. Hoo, boy. Turned out Dad was a listener" - Jan 10, 98 Torch, Bruce Mitchell

"Missing in action this week have included Jimmy Garvin (a tree went through his house during the hurricane), Brian Pillman (his girlfriend was stabbed four times by a burglar and was hospitalized), Road Warrior Hawk (personal problems) and Lex Luger (injured)" - Oct 9, 89 Observer

"On Smackdown this week, Arnold Schwarzenegger hands special ref Austin a chair to use against Triple H in an eight–man elimination match. Also on the show, Big Bossman drags Paul Wight’s father’s casket out of the grave with his car and drags it down the street." - Nov 13, 99 Torch

"There have been suggestions at times of using Turner, or at least his name, in promotions (including a Ted Turner Cup where he'd present the winners with the trophy) but seems he wants no public involvement with them" - Feb 19, 90 Observer

"When New Japan officials were in Atlanta recently, Hogan commented that he should work the show and sell out the dome for them. Most people are laughing at Hogan since he’s never been a big draw in Japan (My note: this isn't sarcasm either)" - Aug 14, 99 Torch

"The Bulldogs want to return to the WWF and it may happen, but the morale of a lot of the wrestlers is a lot better with them gone because of their propensity for ribbing" - Dec 26, 89 Observer

"Bulldog looks really bloated and it looks like he received Jim Neidhart’s gut in some sort of bizarre transplant." - Oct 24, 98 Torch

"Rhodes now wears yellow spots on everything, his kneepad, his tank top and his trunks....With the police hat and nightstick (instead of kendo stick), and the bleached blonde hair and grossly overweight frame, Dusty looked almost exactly like Dump Matsumoto....Dusty got a good reaction for his gimmick spots and a huge reaction to his entrance and exit music....in waddled the American Dream, with music (this taping seemed to be especially designed to see how many times they could play that song)....At least if it had been Dump Matsumoto this would have been a decent match....No heat during the match, but they sure popped for that song at the finish." - Aug 21, 89 Observer

"The WWF told DOA they weren’t planning to use them on any shows and would not be renewing their contracts in January 2000. Instead, the WWF wants to send them to All Japan full–time....Jim Ross said if they could get a better deal with WCW, the WWF would agree to release them outright. (DOA are tight with Undertaker, so it’s no surprise the WWF would bend over backwards to accommodate them.)" - Apr 24, 99 Torch

"Based on what I've seen of late, I've got a good deal of confidence in Luger. Not nearly so much in Sting as far as being the No. 1 guy, but I believe Luger can pull it off" - Nov 27, 89 Observer

"Ron and Don Harris were still under WWF contract when they agreed to join WCW....The Harris Twins asked the WWF for a written release that would allow them to terminate their WWF contracts if they were to sign a new contract with another wrestling company. The WWF agreed and sent them the letter weeks ago. Negotiations with WCW didn’t start until mid–week last week and were finalized on Friday. Ironically, Prichard called them Friday saying they were looking to book them for some upcoming shows. Shortly thereafter the Harris Twins sent a contract termination notice to the WWF." - Oct 30, 99 Torch

"Ted DiBiase beat Omar Atlas. Can't stand Ted's new song. Where are The Rougeaus when you need them? They don't wrestle as well as DiBiase but their song is a lot better, and when the matches only go 45 seconds and the music plays for three minutes, that becomes an important factor" - Mar 19, 90 Observer

"Heyman called to dispute the use of the term 'borderline profitable' in last week's Torch. He said he, ECW's Steve Karol, and Request TV are the only parties with accurate expense and revenue reports regarding their first three PPVs. He describes their first PPVs as 'reasonably, mildly and then wildly successful.' He says, 'not one has been borderline profitable, and that's an insinuation I resent on behalf of this company' " - Jan 10, 98 Torch

"The shirt business has become a work by fans at all the tapings because people know that if you come into the building at a WWF taping with an NWA shirt and sit in the first few rows that they'll give you free WWF shirts" - Oct 23, 89 Observer

"Road Dog and Billy Gunn were not happy that Hunter referred to their past gimmicks as Double J and Rockabilly. They feel they are still 'living down' those gimmicks and attention shouldn’t be drawn to their pasts." - Apr 10, 99 Torch

"Beefcake gets over even bigger here than usual because the fans see him as a hometown hero, since he's billed from San Francisco, not realizing the hometown was actually a gay joke from Beefcake's days as a heel. Beefcake strutted so long after the match that they had to play his song twice. Luckily I like his song, but can't stand watching him wrestle, so that was fine" - Mar 19, 90 Observer

"Kevin Sullivan collapsed backstage at the Mar. 29 Nitro and went into convulsions. There was fear he was having a heart attack. EMTs arrived and recorded several instances where Sullivan’s heart stopped beating. When he arrived at the hospital, his condition was stabilized and early indications were he didn’t have a heart attack, but may have had a bad reaction to drug interaction." - Apr 3, 99 Torch

"In theory, the wrestlers are paid on a percentage of the house with weekly paychecks, although in reality that isn't really the case. After all, if a main eventer gets five percent of the house, that would mean something like a half million dollars on an event like Summer Slam and double that at Wrestlemania" - Feb 12, 90 Observer

"With WCW's live audio internet pay-per-listen even failing on Saturday night, Paul Heyman seized the moment to, well, gloat about the success of ECW's free live feed from ECW arena that same night, 'I guess sometimes a bingo hall is better equipped to provide you with big league entertainment than the multi-million dollar arenas that dictator Bischoff chooses to publicly buy your souls in' " - Feb 7, 98 Torch

"Many WWF wrestlers upset because at the Royal Rumble, they were paid strictly on the house gate in Orlando and didn't get a bonus for the millions of dollars generated on the PPV" - Mar 19, 90 Observer

"A porn video called 'Nude World Order' will be released soon. The plot is a satire on WCW's New World Order. It stars Asia Carrera who is on the cover of the video box with a wrestling title belt. Porn Star Tom Byron is in the video, apparently because he looks a lot like Syxx" - Feb 14, 98 Torch

[sek69]

Saddened to hear Dave wasn't a fan of the Money Money Money song.