Wrestling Observer Recap -- 1984 Yearbook

[kjh]

I think it should be remembered that hardcore fans in general ripped on the WWF pretty unmercifully in the mid 1980s. Meltzer's opinions weren't atypical for the time they were written in. If anything, Meltzer was a lot fairer than his readership, as he would at least give Vince credit for his business success. Also, a lot of the criticism was warranted, as from a match quality standpoint the WWF couldn't hold a candle to most other territories and the booking too was often more compelling and cutting edge.

[Crazymax Jack]

I think it should be remembered that hardcore fans in general ripped on the WWF pretty unmercifully in the mid 1980s. Meltzer's opinions weren't atypical for the time they were written in. If anything, Meltzer was a lot fairer than his readership, as he would at least give Vince credit for his business success.

This was an excellent point.

[tomk]

I really have enjoyed the Moondogs as singles workers in the early eighties working workrate undercard matches against the likes of Tama or David Sammartino, etc on 24/7. I have preconceived notion of WWF Moondogs as shittybut they are fun workrate singles guys.

 

I used to write reviews of TNA shows. I used the workrate report format that I think Ollie (forgot his last name) put together on RSPW.You separate the stuff that worked for you/the effective parts of the show from the “what didn’t work”/the bad parts and write about both separately. Doing this for TNA was difficult cause I had to work really hard to come up with something that they were doing well each week.

 

On some level when the overall product is shitty, it’s far more dishonest to make sure to find something good to highlite each week.

Calling crap crap doesn't make someone unfairly biased.

[Jingus]

I used to write reviews of TNA shows. I used the workrate report format that I think Ollie (forgot his last name) put together on RSPW.You separate the stuff that worked for you/the effective parts of the show from the “what didn’t work”/the bad parts and write about both separately. Doing this for TNA was difficult cause I had to work really hard to come up with something that they were doing well each week.

Heh. Got links to these?

[Death From Above]

There's a bunch of Tom's TNA Reports in the "Greatest things ever written on wrestling message boards" thread, and a lot of them are pretty fucking funny.

[Jingus]

I know, just wondering if there was a complete listing of them anywhere, maybe in some unlit corner of DVDVR that I'm not aware of or something similar.

[sek69]

I always felt it was a bit disingenuous of Meltzer to start warming up to the WWF right around the time it was clear the territories were circling the bowl and WWF was going to end up the only real national company. I mean, I guess he was just protecting his livelyhood and all that, but it was kind of funny to see him going from go from just hating on anything they were doing to practically cheerleading for them. Of course with the drug/sex scandals in the 90s there was a brief return of WWF hating Dave, but as soon as it became clear they weren't going to destroy the company (and that WCW was never going to get out of their own way and take the opportunity given to them to blow past the WWF) it was back to "they aren't so bad I guess" Dave.

[Loss]

Dave respected what they were able to accomplish from a business perspective and didn't care for their wrestling philosophy. He was pretty consistent in that, was he not?

[Sean Liska]

I always felt it was a bit disingenuous of Meltzer to start warming up to the WWF right around the time it was clear the territories were circling the bowl and WWF was going to end up the only real national company. I mean, I guess he was just protecting his livelyhood and all that, but it was kind of funny to see him going from go from just hating on anything they were doing to practically cheerleading for them. Of course with the drug/sex scandals in the 90s there was a brief return of WWF hating Dave, but as soon as it became clear they weren't going to destroy the company (and that WCW was never going to get out of their own way and take the opportunity given to them to blow past the WWF) it was back to "they aren't so bad I guess" Dave.

When was Dave a cheerleader for Vince?

[kjh]

Dave was never a cheerleader for Vince, but there were a couple of occasions we know of where his journalistic integrity was potentially compromised by his links to the WWF (once covering for wrestlers who failed cocaine tests as a favor to the WWF and later being on their payroll as a consultant). That said, I don't think Sek's portrayal of the time period to be fair or accurate. Meltzer warming up to the WWF really wasn't surprising when the NWA was being killed by Dusty's self indulgent booking and later when WCW was being run by an incompetent buffoon in Jim Herd. The comparison made the WWF look favorable. It's simply crazy to call Dave "WWF hating" during the sex scandals, because Dave was Vince's new best friend during that period, as he wasn't a charlatan looking for a quick payoff from Vince, he wasn't looking to unfairly bury the company and he was happy to report the WWF's side to the story.

[sek69]

Well ok, cheerleading was me trying to exaggerate to make a point. When VKM was taking the company national, it seemed clear that Dave did not like the product nor did he think what Vince was doing was good for the business. Now that may be due to his sources in the territories bitching about Vince taking their talent/TV time/whatever, but once the writing was on the wall that Vince's way was the long term winner he changed his tune about WWF wrestling.

 

Maybe that was due to WMIII proving they could have quality wrestling when they wanted to, maybe Dave just smartened up that the territory guys were trying to work him, who knows.

 

 

As far as the "WWF hating" I referred to, it sometimes came across like Dave was more interested in if these scandals were going to put Vince out of business instead of the fact he was employing a known pedophile for years. Also his obsession with the Gulf War angle with Sgt. Slaughter was a bit overblown. Yes it was a stupid and tasteless angle, but Dave devoted several issues almost entirely to this as if Vince had him out there shitting on the American flag. There was a good stretch of at least 3 years where he was just hammering everything WWF did.