Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 *Last issue Dave said that Michaels/Janetty beat Rose/Summers for AWA title. Turns out the AWA reversed the decision because Somers was pinned and was not the legal man. Somers had walked out on the promotion, but with the title going back to Somers/Rose, that must've blown over. Dave expects the Rockers to be tag champs by September anyway. *Roddy Piper continues to tell people he's retiring, but will be returning to WWF shortly. Dave speculates that he will return as a babyface. Combined w/ Pipers' return and a Hogan/Orndorff feud, Dave thinks business will pick back up for Titan. *Dave is getting sketchy reports on the Crockett American Bash shows. He does know that Cincinatti on 7/9 drew below 5,000 headlined by Flair/Animal and 7/4 Memphis drew around 800 paid. The shows have been major disappointments because tix are way overpriced and Crockett's talent is getting a little stale. *Chris Adams was arrested after getting off a plane in Dallas on 6/30. Apparently, he was harrassing a co-pilot and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. *Dave goes over his subscription policy. He recently had a subscription drive and the Observer is becoming a weekly publication. *UWF/Crockett joint show for 7/27 in Dallas appears to be on track. Dave speculates this will be the last collaboration between Watts/Crockett. WORLD CLASS *World Class has a date 8/16 in Chicago. Dave thinks it'll bomb. *Ric Rood in process of turning babyface. *Dave got a chance to see Mike Von Erich wrestle on 7/7 and he can't believe how terrible he is. He says he sympathizes w/ him because of his injuries and problems, but he's never seen someone so bad being put over since Kendall Windham. *This area is in terrible shape. The top heels are Dingo Warrior, Buzz Sawyer and Matt Bourne. Brody is around, but he's in and out. CROCKETT COUNTRY *Flair/Dusty headline a 8/28 show in Los Angeles. Dave says Dusty is the wrong guy to put on on top anywhere outside of the Southeast. He especially won't work in California. It also wastes Flair because he won't be able to have a 5-star caliber match that would really differentiate Crockett from WWF. *Dick Murdoch expected in shortly. *Indications are that Dusty will win the title from Flair in an upcoming Atlanta cage match. *Dave says this circuit needs a shot in the arm. They great matches and angles, but overall the talent is stale and new ideas are needed. UWF *Shows have been a little weak since Dibiasse and Williams left for Japan and Duggan got hurt. *Buddy Roberts has impressed lately. WWF *Dick Slater and Slick are in. *Jesse Ventura will no longer wrestle and will focus on acting. Dave isn't sure if he will keep announcing or not. Jesse got his role in Predator w/out McMahon's help, which pissed McMahon off. *Souvenirs at all WWF shows are half off. Less people are attending live shows and merch is moving slower. They're also making room for a new line of merch in the fall, led by Roddy Piper stuff. *Shows in Calgary and Vancouver each drew 16,000. Dave figures 16,000 exceeds the top four attended shows combined of Calgary Stampede Wrestling. *Andre the Giant and Bill Eadie are wearing masks and teaming as the Strong Machines. *JYD is expected to feud w/ Butch Reed. Dave thinks this could work well if they use Reed right. *Hercules Hernandez is no-showing everywhere. *Dave thinks it's too bad that Koko Ware won't get more of a push in the WWF. He thinks w/ the bird gimmick and drop kicks, he could get over. MEMPHIS *8,000 turned out for the third Lawler/Dundee loser leaves town match. *Bam Bam Bigelow, who Dave thinks will be a star, hasn't been around lately. Dave isn't sure what's up w/ him. *Dundee, Mantell, Mod Squad, LeDuc, and Landell all left the promotion quickly. If Bigelow is also gone, this promotion is in big trouble. GROSS STORY OF THE WEEK *On a recent St. Joseph, MO show, Bob Owens entered the ring in yellow trunks. He left the ring with yellow trunks in the front, but the back of his trunks had a strong dark brown coloring. *After that happy note, Dave gives his mid-year ratings. Some highlights: --Top junior heavyweights: 1. Takada; 2. Tiger Mask; 3. Fujinami. --Top regular heavyweights: 1. Flair; 2. Yatsu; 3. Eaton. --Top super heavyweights: 1. Gordy; 2. Murdoch; 3. Hansen. --Worst (regardless of weight): 1. Yamamoto; 2. Kendall Windham; 3. Uncle Elmer. --Tag Teams: 1. Midnight Express; 2. Choshu-Yatsu; 3. Bulldogs. LETTERS FROM READERS *One guy doesn't think Dave should criticize wrestlers for not selling. The reader says he likes it when workers don't sell because it makes them seem tougher. *The strength coach for the Cincinatti Bengals writes in to commend Dave for giving accurate perceptions on the drug scene and its negative effects in pro wrestling. Dave follows up by explaining how people on steroids blow up faster because their bodies are unable to absorb and discard heat properly. CLOSING NOTES *Dave saw some Portland footage and can't believe how bad it is. He says's it's completely outdated. He also says that despite all the problems w/ wrestling today, it's much better than it was in the 70s. *7/18 Bash show in Richmond, VA drew 6,500 and $150,000 gate. That's a record gate for the area. *Main event on 8/8 Richmond show is Bobby Eaton/Warlord. Dave figures they know the gates will be down post-Bash so they're not going to bother booking big names or good cards. *Dave says McMahon has fresher angles than Crockett right now. *Hercules has been no-showing because of a legit knee injury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 --Top junior heavyweights: 1. Takada; 2. Tiger Mask; 3. Fujinami. people still thought of Fujinami as a junior in 86? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted July 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 --Top junior heavyweights: 1. Takada; 2. Tiger Mask; 3. Fujinami. people still thought of Fujinami as a junior in 86? Dave's max weight for junior status was "210 or so." This was actual weight, not what promoters billed wrestlers as weighing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 Truthful weight is a pretty useless way to rank wrestlers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boondocks Kernoodle Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 *One guy doesn't think Dave should criticize wrestlers for not selling. The reader says he likes it when workers don't sell because it makes them seem tougher. Ha *The strength coach for the Cincinatti Bengals writes in to commend Dave for giving accurate perceptions on the drug scene and its negative effects in pro wrestling. Dave follows up by explaining how people on steroids blow up faster because their bodies are unable to absorb and discard heat properly. This would be Brian Pillman's mentor Kim Wood. Was Pillman already wrestling by this point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted July 27, 2009 Report Share Posted July 27, 2009 If your fighting at heavyweight you're a heavyweight. Fujinami in 86 seemed to be about as bulked up as Eaton anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 WWF *Dick Slater and Slick are in. Damn, I don't remember Slick being there that early. Where did he come from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 WWF *Dick Slater and Slick are in. Damn, I don't remember Slick being there that early. Where did he come from? Central States I believe. Dave also made some comment about Slick being the guy that he used to watch wrestling with. Some sort of inside joke that flew over my head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 I can't help but think of Yatsu as anyone but the guy on the 1983 WCCW shows playing the role of Random Vaguely Menacing Japanese Guy in the Devastation Inc stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 *Last issue Dave said that Michaels/Janetty beat Rose/Summers for AWA title. Turns out the AWA reversed the decision because Somers was pinned and was not the legal man. Somers had walked out on the promotion, but with the title going back to Somers/Rose, that must've blown over. Dave expects the Rockers to be tag champs by September anyway. That match actually exists. It aired on World Pro in Japan a few months after it happened and just recently found it's way intot he trading circles. Somers seemed to have a real love/hate realationship with Verne. He quite and came back more than once, and he actually ended up doing Verne a favour and filling in for Zurkov when he moved to the WWF while still AWA tag champ. Soldat Ustinov and Somers lost the tag titles to Lawler and Dundee in October 87. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 *The strength coach for the Cincinatti Bengals writes in to commend Dave for giving accurate perceptions on the drug scene and its negative effects in pro wrestling. Dave follows up by explaining how people on steroids blow up faster because their bodies are unable to absorb and discard heat properly. This would be Brian Pillman's mentor Kim Wood. Was Pillman already wrestling by this point? Nope. He left the Buffalo Bills after the '85 season and went on to play in the CFL in '86. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted August 3, 2009 Report Share Posted August 3, 2009 I've never seen face Rick Rood/Rude and I can't easily imagine it. What was that like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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