20 Years Ago - WON 02/22/88

[Loss]

WWF

-- "As most of you already know, the biggest story of the week concerns the WWF holding a tournament for the vacated WWF title as the headline attraction at Wrestlemania IV on 3/27 eminating (sic) from Atlantic City. The announcement was made on the syndicated package over this past weekend, and from what I'm told, the entire card will be released publicly by next week. Besides the 14-man tournament, the early scuttlebutt I hear is that there will be four other matches. One will be a Bunkhouse Battle Royal, which will allow another two dozen or so wrestlers to share in the big payday, while I expect two tag team matches (British Bulldogs vs. Islanders and Strike Force vs. Demolition) and an Intercontinental title defense by Honkeytonk Man (with Brutus Beefcake seeming to be the leading contender--they'll need to shoot an angle this week to get that one 'over'.)"

 

-- The first round has been announced as Roberts vs Rude, Muraco vs Bravo, Steamboat vs Valentine, Reed vs Savage, Bigelow vs Gang and DiBiase vs Duggan, with Hogan vs Andre getting an automatic bye to the second round. "The brackets pretty well should tell the obvious story. There are only two possible winners, Hulk Hogan or Ted DiBiase. The bottom line is that down the road, Hulk Hogan is going to be champion once again." Dave says if Hogan's upcoming movie filming, which begins in April, won't allow him time to wrestle over summer, or if he wants to take off since his first child is due in April, then it makes no sense if he's not going to be around to defend the belt. Also, if Hogan isn't going to win the tournament, the winner has to be a heel so that person can drop the belt back to Hogan. Dave says it's obvious based on bracketing that DiBiase will make it to the finals, either to lose to Hogan or beat Muraco. Dave then goes into really, really detailed predictions on the show. The most interesting prediction is that he thinks Savage and Steamboat will be rematched and go to a draw to create a bye for DiBiase into the finals.

 

-- The NBC special earned a 15.1 rating and a 25 share, and was the 31st highest rated show of the week, which is an average number, but is probably a disappointment to both the WWF and NBC, because they thought it would crack the top 10. It did still win its time slot and the rating was better than the 11.6 average they have been getting from Rags To Riches.

 

-- Dick Ebersol was quoted in the LA Times and USA Today, saying that they weren't interested in doing weekly shows because it would hurt live gates. The truth is, however, that they won't get the chance to turn down a slot, because the feeling now is that the WWF couldn't post competitive numbers in prime time. Dave says he was surprised at the rating. He was interested in it because it would show how "over" (My note: Why does he always put "over" in quotes?) wrestling is to the general public. He says this proved that the match with the most hype and mainstream appeal can only get mediocre mainstream attention. It also showed that wrestling fans are extremely loyal and will watch no matter how inconvenient. This match on SNME Dave thinks would have gotten a 12 rating, so they picked up very few extra viewers. Dave says the WWF can still make money off of their core audience, but it does put the value of Hulk Hogan in perspective. "To a cult audience, which numbers in the millions, he is over bigger than any wrestling star has ever been in the country. But he is not a 'mainstream' star capable of making it in prime time on the networks on anything more than a one or two shot a year basis. He's not nearly as over as Antonio Inoki was in his heyday, let alone a Larry Holmes (whose title defenses always cracked the top 10 against bums like Tex Cobb when put on free TV). "Time Magazine isn't going to be banging on Titan's door this month proclaiming another wrestling resurgence. The networks aren't going to stumble onto Jim Crockett's group because nobody is looking at wrestling as a hot item, both of which could have happened had the show cracked the top five." Dave also says that even though Vince McMahon is the most successful money-making wrestling promoter in history, there isn't as much mainstream interest as there was in New Japan's 1982-1985 heyday. (My note: We get it already.) "And Hogan's TV ratings power, while again more than any wrestler of the modern era, probably isn't as strong as Chigusa Nagayo's right now. One may view the comparisons with Japan as ridiculous because of the differences in culture, but the truth is, if anything, the U.S. is the country more TV oriented. My main point out of all this is a conversation I had with a Titan employee a few months back when we got to the subject of the style of wrestling (fast food vs. hardcore) and if it was the style of wrestling which made Titan No. 1, if it was the fact it was the best run promotion that made it No. 1, or if it was the fact that they spent the most money that made them No. 1. The conclusion we came to is that it was something we couldn't answer. No promotion offering traditional wrestling has ever had the front office professionals in the hundreds behind the company, a $250,000 budget for TV taping to make them look so major league in comparison with opposition, etc. Unless opposition was equal to Titan in every way except that they had a different wrestling product (more action-oriented) and Titan was still No. 1, then we'd really know the answer."

 

-- The WWF is running a TV taping in Winston-Salem, NC on 3/9, which Dave thinks is peculiar since it's about 20 miles outside of Greensboro. "As you can see, Titan smells blood and is going right for the jugular."

 

-- The next SNME is scheduled for 3/12, and will be taped on 3/7 from Nashville.

 

-- "Probably the most bizarre story revolves around last Friday's NBC special. Apparently an Intercontinental title change was in the script and the match was supposed to be shorter as well, however Honkeytonk Man vetoed the script and there was lots of backstage commotion about it, but the bottom line was, he held out and refused to do the job and he's still champion today. If you wonder why they just didn't have Randy beat him anyway which is something that gets threatened from time-to-time especially in the old days of wrestling, is simply because Honkey must have realized that there was no chance whatsoever McMahon would take any chances on a bad situation occurring on live television and the last thing he ever wants is real violence. That probably explains why Honkeytonk Man, as IC champ, isn't in the tournament."

 

-- Billy Jack Haynes asked Vince McMahon for help to start a new promotion in Oregon and run opposition to Don Owen, but Vince turned him down. The public story is that Haynes quit because of health reasons, but it appears the real story is that he wanted a bigger push and thought Brady Boone should also get a bigger push.

 

-- Jesse Ventura will be doing heel commentary for some New York Yankees games for local pay-TV consumption.

 

-- Bam Bam Bigelow didn't have arthroscopic surgery. He's postponing until after Wrestlemania, when the WWF will take a one-month break. Speaking of Bigelow, a drug possession charge in Freehold, NJ, was dismissed when the evidence was ruled inadmissible because it was illegally obtained. The officers found a small bag of marijuana under the seat of his car and he was charged with a misdemeanor, but it was ruled the officers did not have probable cause to conduct the search. Bigelow waved to the officer, and the overzealous officer responded by pulling him over for no reason. Even though a misdemeanor, if convicted, this would have been bad for him, because he is on three years probation from a 1986 conviction after pleading guilty to threatening to kill a prostitute. Had he been convicted, he would have served a five-year prison sentence.

 

-- 02/04 in Muskegon, WI, drew 2,500 headlined by Islanders vs British Bulldogs. 02/07 in Toronto in front of a "small crowd" was headlined by Ricky Steamboat, Hacksaw Duggan & Randy Savage vs Hart Foundation & Honky Tonk Man. 02/08 in Los Angeles drew 3,000 headlined by Ted DiBiase vs Bam Bam Bigelow in a match reported as **** by reader Pat Hoed. 02/13 in Bloomington, MN, drew 7,000 headlined by Hogan & Bigelow vs DiBiase & Andre with Mad Dog Vachon in the babyface corner. 02/14 at the Silverdome drew 12,000 headlined by Hogan & Bigelow vs DiBiase & Andre.

 

-- Someone in the WWF told Dave the JYD/Reed match taped for Wrestling Challenge was a worst match of the year candidate.

 

-- Gene Okerlund's son Todd is on the U.S. Ice Hockey Team in the Olympics.

 

-- Ted DiBiase interview printed in the Chicago Sun Times on 1/15: "Because I am so versatile, the UWF used me as a utility man. I didn't get the push I deserved or the respect I deserved. I had to show a big Oklahoma football player like Steve Williams the ropes as his tag team partner, show him how to work in the ring and how to do an interview, and then the UWF tried to promote Williams over me." He also said Giant Baba's handshake is better than a signed contract from any other promoter in the wrestling business. He also said, "After the NWA bought out the UWF, I didn't want to work for Jim Crockett. He has his favorites and they get paid well and they get taken care of. But if you're not in the clique, you starve." He was very complimentary of Vince McMahon, saying "he has taken wrestling out of the closet and put it right into the entertainment mainstream."

 

-- On the live satellite feed of the Royal Rumble, you could hear Vince McMahon yelling "Stop looking like a fucking stone and show some interest in the matches" at Howard Finkel. Vince also didn't know the names of the Jumping Bomb Angels. He asked for someone to tell him the names, and then said, "Wow, I butchered the shit out of those names."

 

NWA

-- Paul Boesch is on the NWA Board of Directors. He is the only non-promoter ever on the board. It's more of a figurehead position, and they will use him for his name value in Houston. Boesch has no financial interest in the Houston shows, although he will be helping out.

 

-- The original plan for the Crockett Cup was to use two sites -- Greenville, SC on 4/9 and finals on 4/10 in Greensboro -- but TV ads seem to contradict this. Dave says they really need to work with New Japan, Stampede and World Class, but there are too many egos stopping that from happening.

 

-- Dennis Condrey wants to come in as a babyface and feud with Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane.

 

-- "Did you catch the balding blonde haired jobber named Randy Hogan who got destroyed on TBS this weekend? Kind of childish."

 

-- Shane Douglas has returned. He is using the sleeperhold as a finisher and getting a mild push. Tony Schiavone calls him the 1986 Rookie of the Year, while Jim Ross calls him the 1987 Rookie of the Year.

 

-- Road Warrior Animal's eye injury is legit and he'll be out for a few weeks. He broke his orbital bone and was nearly blinded in one eye. He was being billed as returning, which is why Dave thought it was a work, but it appears to be legit. Dave says the crowds haven't really been that much different, so the angle doesn't appear to have been effective. The injury actually happened on 1/29, the day before the angle,

 

-- "I can't emphasize enough just how quickly Lex Luger fizzled out as a babyface. Sometimes you look at something and make a snap judgment just by the looks of things without examining in detail. Luger is that way. You look at him and everyone tells everyone else just how over he is and how he's the future of wrestling and all that. The bottom line is, as good as his physique is, good physiques are a dime a dozen these days as is blond hair. His looks are nothing special. Still, he could be a big star and will be a star of some magnitude however his rapport with the audience just isn't there. It wasn't there in Florida (remember, Florida literally died with Luger as top babyface in 1986) and it still isn't there. Even though Sting needs lots of work on interviews and he may not be as muscularly defined as Luger, Sting has the rapport and has totally passed Luger by. It becomes more obvious each show as the audience reacts to everything Sting does, while seemingly acts ho-hummy when Luger and Windham talk. Sting has more of the cool GQ look of today but I've got the feeling in their infinite wisdom, the NWA will keep all three at the same level (thus inevitably ensuring none get over to the point they'll make a difference). I don't totally blame Luger for the crowd reaction because they wasted no time making him one of the boys when they should have at least given him a few months as king of all the babyfaces before ruining the impact of his turn by making him a tag team wrestler."

 

-- 2/2 in Miami only drew 1,900 fans headlined by Luger & Dusty vs Flair & Tully. 2/9 in Albany, GA drew 400 fans headlined by Sting & Barry Windham vs Midnight Express. "TV, newspaper and radio ads up until the day of the show continued to bill Rock & Roll and Michael Hayes for this card, but what the heck, Titan is still billing Billy Jack Haynes for future dates as well as he's been gone for basically just as long." 2/11 in Baltimore drew a $103,000 gate headlined by Flair & Tully vs Luger & Ron Garvin. 2/13 in Philadelphia drew 6,000 for a TV taping. 2/14 in Chicago drew 5,000 fans headlined by Flair vs Sting. Dave says they really killed Chicago with that Starrcade finish with the Road Warriors and have not been able to rebound. 2/11 in Raleigh, NC, drew 1,200 fans headlined by Flair & Tully vs Luger & Windham. 2/14 evening in Atlanta drew 13,000 fans headlined by Ric Flair vs Sting, and Luger & Ole vs Arn & Tully in a cage.

 

AWA

-- ESPN signed a new two-year contract with the AWA and the contract calls for exclusivity, so World Class will no longer be on ESPN.

 

-- "The big news as far as the AWA goes is that they are 'restructing the company.' I'm not sure what that exactly means, other than after the card this coming Sunday in Las Vegas, the AWA will be closing down for about a month and will re-open in late March with a new outlook on life. I believe Verne Gagne will be doing the booking once again as it seems he's tired of people making decisions that are costing him money and he'd instead like to make those same decisions." Only Curt Hennig will be paid during this time off, so he's expected to be sent to other territories and the Midnight Rockers will probably work full time in Memphis. As for the rest of the crew, Dave suspects they will either have to go elsewhere where they can make money, or take day jobs to make ends meet.

 

-- Stanley Blackburn is getting all the heat for the 2/4 cage match with Curt Hennig vs Greg Gagne. Greg won the match and was presented with the title, but Blackburn wouldn't allow it because the match was in a cage, and the title can't be defended in a cage.

 

-- They will be using Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota as the new home base. Dave worries that their alcohol ban will hurt attendance.

 

-- Paul E. Dangerously is set to return on 2/22 in Las Vegas to manage Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond, who will feud with Michaels and Jannetty.

 

WCCW

-- 2/12 in Dallas drew 3,800 fans headlined by Al Perez vs Terry Taylor. On the show, there was also a Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts vs Kevin & Kerry Von Erich match. There was a lot of interference. Chris Adams and Terry Taylor ended up brawling at ringside, and Taylor was doing lots of floor piledrivers to do a major injury angle, and Adams ended up getting his hand broken and may have to have a pin inserted.

 

-- Michael Hayes is back as a babyface. They're building up a 3/5 concert at the Sportatorium which will probably lead to a big angle.

 

-- Ken Mantell wants to re-open Wild West. He wants to feud two promotions but Dave doesn't see the logic in it, because there are already too many wrestling promotions.

 

-- The last Houston show only drew 42 fans, not 80 fans as previously reported.

 

-- Steve Williams told the Japanese press he's coming in.

 

MEMPHIS

-- FNN announced on Tuesday that they will be airing CWA wrestling on a weekly basis starting in April. Dave thinks the time slot is 9PM Eastern and 6PM Pacific, but isn't completely sure.

 

-- Bill Dundee is leaving for the new Knoxville promotion, "... and Manny Fernandez has disappeared into the same thin air which engulfed Scott Hall, Tijo Khan and several others."

 

-- Maxx Payne won the CWA title from Jerry Lawler in Memphis on 2/8 before less than 1,500 fans. That was also Dundee's first match as a heel, against Jeff Jarrett, which shows how little impact the heel turn had. 2/15 is expected to draw better with Dundee vs Jarrett once again, Midnight Rockers vs Rock & Roll Express and Lawler vs Tommy Rich in a grudge match.

 

-- Tommy Rich did a total babyface interview on TV to build to his match with Lawler, saying he was wrong for teaming with Austin Idol and Paul E. Dangerously, but that he still hated Lawler. The two have major heat which is what caused Rich to leave when he was red hot the previous year. They expect half the crowd to support Rich, based on Rich trying to appeal to fans who hate Jerry Lawler to come out and support him in his promo. "I'm told that even though Memphis simply can't draw a lick without Lawler, that there are a large group of fans who don't like Lawler since he's always on top week after week and familiarity at that level often breeds contempt."

 

-- Brother Earnest Angel has completely changed his gimmick because of the bad feedback and phone calls to the studio. He now manages Gary Young and Maxx Payne. He had toned his act completely down and sort of apologized for his previous behavior on TV.

 

-- Coming in are the Rock & Roll Express, Tommy Rich, Samoans Samu & Kokina (Yokozuna)

 

CONTINENTAL

-- This was the last week of the territory as one circuit. The 2/12 show in Knoxville drew 7,000 headlined by Doug Furnas vs Lord Humongous in a stretcher match.

 

-- Knoxville is expected to get Johnny Rich, Davey Rich, Bill Dundee, Hector Guerrero, Ron Fuller, Austin Idol, Doug Furnas, the Rock & Roll RPMs, Lord Humongous, Buddy Landell, the Stomper, the Armstrongs and Tracy Smothers. Robert Fuller, Jimmy Golden, Dutch Mantell, Tom Pritchard, Jonathan Boyd, Wendell Cooley, Tony Anthony, Frankie Lancaster and Danny Davis will stay with Continental.

 

OREGON

-- A Frank Bonema Memorial Show is planned for 2/16 in Portland, to be headlined by babyface Curt Hennig defending the AWA title against The Grappler.

 

-- The Moondogs never showed up. It was announced on TV that they had been suspended by the NWA.

 

-- Chris Colt was fired and is headed to England.

 

-- 01/31 in Tumwater, MA only drew 40 fans.

 

CENTRAL STATES

-- The title was held up after a match between DJ Peterson (being billed as Dave Peterson) and the Cuban Assassin. Dave is unsure when the rematch will take place. The tag titles are also held up for a tournament on 2/26 in St. Joseph.

 

-- Kansas City will begin running weekly cards again starting on 3/31.

 

-- 02/05 in St. Joseph drew 442 fans. 02/14 in Kansas City drew less than 150 fans.

 

-- Local wrestler Steve Estes, 37, pleaded guilty to holding up a Mexican restaurant in October. He was charged with a Class A felony, but it was reduced in exchange for his plea. He could be in prison for between 5-15 years.

 

STAMPEDE

-- The 2/5 card in Calgary features what Dave was told was the best Stampede match in ages, as Bruce Hart & Brian Pillman defended the International tag titles against Great Gama & Jerry Morrow.

 

-- Les Thornton will be running opposition in Calgary starting in Spring.

 

ALL JAPAN

-- Takashi Ishikawa & Mighty Inoue regained the Asian tag belts from Kawada & Fuyuki on 1/29 in Tokyo before 1,860 fans at Korauken Hall.

 

NEW JAPAN

-- 1/30 in Ishinomaki drew 1,890 fans. 2/1 in Soka drew 3,150 fans headlined by Inoki & Sakaguchi vs Saito & Vader. 2/4 in Osaka drew a sellout 6,820 fans headlined by Riki Choshu vs Antonio Inoki. Inoki won clean, and Dave thinks Choshu is going to be hurt by that one. 2/5 in Tokyo drew a sellout 2,000 fans. 2/7 in Sapporo drew a sellout 6,120 fans headlined by Vader vs Inoki. On this show, Shiro Koshinaka also won the juniors tournament.

 

-- "Choshu has been wrestling pretty bad of late, like he just doesn't want to be in the ring anymore."

 

-- "[buzz] Sawyer stole the spotlight from [Owen] Hart in some tag matches. He would start barking and howling and playing to the crowd while Hart was doing his fancy moves, which detracted from Hart's moves and took the crowd's attention away from Hart."

 

-- They will be touring Brazil in late March and are also sending wrestlers to help fill out Crockett's March show in Honolulu.

 

-- Most of the shows when Inoki was gone sold out, which means Vader's huge push is catching on.

 

-- Steve Williams did an interview that he was tired of touring all over the U.S. and wants to spend more time at home with his wife. He also said the NWA broke promises they made to him when they did the takeover. He says he was promised a big unification match with Ric Flair that never happened, and they also stopped billing him as the UWF champion. "I don't go back to NWA Crockett promotions anymore. I'd like to wrestle for promotions which set a high value on ability. New Japan is good because they use Vader, Buzz Sawyer, Bob Orton and Owen Hart who can do hard wrestling."

 

JOSHI

-- There is a Japanese movie coming out called "The Crazy Family" where the daughter is 13 years old and spends all of her time singing and lifting weights because she wants to be like Chigusa Nagayo.

 

-- Crowds have been good lately. Because of high ticket prices, they're doing gates of over $100,000 on a regular basis.

 

PUERTO RICO

-- The 01/30 show at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan drew a 32,000-fan sellout, headlined by Carlos Colon vs Iron Sheik with heel manager Chicky Starr suspended in a cage above the ring. It was Sheik's last match before going back to the WWF. The buildup had Sheik burying Colon with the Iranian flag to set up the card.

 

-- Dan Kroffat is in and Dave says he looks ridiculous with dyed blond hair.

 

OTHER

-- Tempo Cable Network made a tentative deal with Angelo Savoldi's ICW.

 

-- Mad Dog Vachon is suing the Iowa City Hospital for several million dollars. They cared for him after a hit and run accident, but Vachon is claiming his leg would not need to be amputated had they properly treated him.

 

-- Florida has dropped legislation to introduce an athletic commission after pleading from Duke Keomuka and Jerry Brisco.

 

-- Mando Guerrero is training women in Southern California for a new startup group called the American Women's Wrestling Federation (AWWF).

 

-- Bruiser Brody is promoting his own show on 3/4 in St. Louis. Sam Muchnick is lending his name to it because he felt "used" by Crockett when they showed him on WTBS recently, and implied a connection that doesn't exist at all.

 

-- Tony Atlas placed third in the American Powerlifting Federation's World Bench Press championships with a 550 lb lift at 275 lbs.

 

-- Wrestlers who have done the most foreign tours:

 

Abdullah the Butcher 43

Stan Hansen 43

Tiger Jeet Singh 43

Dick Murdoch 40

Dory Funk Jr. 34

Terry Funk 33

Harley Race 31

Bad News Allen 28

Bruiser Brody 27

Andre the Giant 27

Billy Robinson 25

The Destroyer 22

Mil Mascaras 20

Hulk Hogan 20

Masked Superstar 20

Bobo Brazil 15

Lou Thesz 15

Ted DiBiase 14

Nick Bockwinkel 14

King Curtis Iaukea 14

Jimmy Snuka 13

Terry Gordy 12

Dynamite Kid 12

Ric Flair 12

Dusty Rhodes 12

The Sheik 12

Pete Roberts 11

Dick Slater 11

Marc Rocco 11

Killer Karl Kox 11

Killer Tim Brooks 10

Adrian Adonis 10

Dos Caras 10

El Canek 10

Tony St. Clair 10

[sek69]

Was Steamboat already on the way out by WM IV? His match there seemed to be the most obvious "playing out the clock" moment ever.

[Tim Evans]

-- Brother Earnest Angel has completely changed his gimmick because of the bad feedback and phone calls to the studio. He now manages Gary Young and Maxx Payne. He had toned his act completely down and sort of apologized for his previous behavior on TV.

Man I got to see this. I hope it's on the Memphis project coming up.

 

Thanks for this again Loss.

[Boondocks Kernoodle]

Even though a misdemeanor, if convicted, this would have been bad for him, because he is on three years probation from a 1986 conviction after pleading guilty to threatening to kill a prostitute.

Oh Bam Bam.

[Al]

-- Florida has dropped legislation to introduce an athletic commission after pleading from Duke Keomuka and Jerry Brisco.

No wonder Keomuka got a match on the World Class dvd.

 

The Honky Tonk Man stuff is interesting. It amazes me that Vince let him hold the title until Summerslam when he pulled that nonsense. Anyone else and Vince would've gotten the title off them post-haste and made them persona non grata for the rest of their professional career.

 

Honky Tonk Man vs. Spider Lady for the Intercontinental Title. What might have been.

[tomk]

a $250,000 budget for TV taping to make them look so major league

The last Observer had the cost of producing weekly Smackdown as $630,000 (with the WB paying them $700,000 for weekly Smackdown).

 

That in 20 years their costs for TV production have only grown from 250,000-630,000 is pretty impressive.

 

QUOTE

-- Brother Earnest Angel has completely changed his gimmick because of the bad feedback and phone calls to the studio. He now manages Gary Young and Maxx Payne. He had toned his act completely down and sort of apologized for his previous behavior on TV.

 

 

Man I got to see this. I hope it's on the Memphis project coming up.

 

Thanks for this again Loss.

 

Things I love about the Brother Ernest Angel gimmick:

 

-The same weeks that Memphis is running promos where heel Brother Ernest Angel is doing heel conman televangelist spots begging people to send in checks to help his mission...Jerry Lawler is doing awesome wrestling conman spots where he is telling people to call in a 99 cent 1-800 number to vote on who gets to be the special ref in the match between him and Curt Hennig (dial 1 for Larry Hennig, dial 2 for Jackie Fargo---"They're getting lots and lots of votes from Minnesota, and I need you're help").

 

-When they pull Brother Ernest Angel angle, Brickhouse Brown comes out to announce that Angel is sick. This results in the studio audience starting a "He's got AIDS" chant in regards to the missing televangelist. Brickhouse Brown is a guy who is often bad on the mic. He stumbles over promos, messes up cliches, etc. But here he is just awesome as heel offended by the audience's accusations (which results in milking louder "AIDS" chants). Someone needs to upload to youtube the whole Brickhouse Brown irate that the studio audience "has their minds in the guitter" segment.

[Robert S]

a $250,000 budget for TV taping to make them look so major league

The last Observer had the cost of producing weekly Smackdown as $630,000 (with the WB paying them $700,000 for weekly Smackdown).

 

That in 20 years their costs for TV production have only grown from 250,000-630,000 is pretty impressive.

You have to consider inflation: a buck in 1988 had nearly twice the value than a buck in 2008 has.

[khawk20]

-- They (the AWA) will be using Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota as the new home base. Dave worries that their alcohol ban will hurt attendance.

 

I don't think this ever happened. Not sure what they used in between this and Zbyszko's battleroyal win, where they went back to the Civic Center for the taping. Most of the TV is out of Vegas in 1988 so maybe they were just dormant in Minnesota for the year after the Mpls Auditorium closed.

[sek69]

The Honky Tonk Man stuff is interesting. It amazes me that Vince let him hold the title until Summerslam when he pulled that nonsense. Anyone else and Vince would've gotten the title off them post-haste and made them persona non grata for the rest of their professional career.

 

Honky Tonk Man vs. Spider Lady for the Intercontinental Title. What might have been.

 

 

That's always something I wondered too, not only did Honky dick Vince around on the night of a major national TV show, he was also brought back later as a commentator/manager in the 90s (which sucked, yes, but I don't think we'll be seeing Jeff Jarrett doing color on RAW any time in the next 20 years).

[kjh]

I suspect Honky being willing to drop the title to the Ultimate Warrior in the manner that he did was the reason Vince didn't hold the SNME incident against him for the rest of his career.

[floyd]

Just want to say again how badass this is Loss. I can only imagine how much time it takes to go through the newsletter and type all that out. It's super appreciated, reliving all these stories are great!

 

Vince also didn't know the names of the Jumping Bomb Angels. He asked for someone to tell him the names, and then said, "Wow, I butchered the shit out of those names."

Ha I remember that. During the match Ventura asked Mcmahon their names so he could ask them out later, but McMahon had no idea. The Rumble was broadcast live right?

[Loss]

It's kind of a busy week this week so there will be a slight delay. I haven't forgotten, don't worry.

[BruiserBrody]

Mad Dog Vachon is suing the Iowa City Hospital for several million dollars. They cared for him after a hit and run accident, but Vachon is claiming his leg would not need to be amputated had they properly treated him.

 

-----

Anyone have follow up on this?

[Cox]

Mad Dog Vachon is suing the Iowa City Hospital for several million dollars. They cared for him after a hit and run accident, but Vachon is claiming his leg would not need to be amputated had they properly treated him.

 

-----

Anyone have follow up on this?

Leg's still amputated.

[khawk20]

Leg's still amputated.

I was gonna go there, but for some reason thought better of it.

[JMFabianoRPL]

I can't get enough of these classic WONs and newsletters. Keep it up everyone!

[RCS1988]

Did any of the observers around this time mention that Monsoon suffered a mild heart attack?