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1WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
2September 21, 1987   
3
4 
5
6I'm pissed off. Now I've seen enough stupidity in this business that it's become easy to take 
7things in stride, and I'm not sure why this minor point is bugging me, except that I've had several 
8phone calls this weekend expressing the same point. On the WTBS broadcast Saturday, they 
9were hyping a match at the end of the show between Barry Windham and Arn Anderson for the 
10Western States title. It was alluded to several times, with Arn even doing an interview talking 
11about the match and how he was going to win the title. No problem. Then they brought out 
12Missy Hyatt with David Crockett before the match. Forget the fact Crockett could barely get the 
13words out of his mouth, but they started talking about the match with Missy predicting a title 
14change. Well and good, her role is as a heel commentator so no problem. Then they show the 
15match. Here's the problem. The match was taped earlier in the week in an arena and they 
16ended up going 30 minutes to a draw in a kind of disappointing match. I wouldn't even be mad if 
17they had done all this and even pretended the bout was live to build the audience to thinking the 
18belt could change hands--but to do so, Ara couldn't have been in studio, and Tony Shiavone 
19and David Crockett, who were both in studio, did the play-by-play of the arena match. So every 
20idiot knew it was a tape. If it was a tape, why did Arn talk about winning the title and why did 
21Missy predict a title change when the match had already taken place when they were doing the 
22talking. Now I realize wrestling is wrestling and all that, however every fan knew once the thing 
23started they were watching an earlier-taped arena match, so the comments should have been 
24directed another way. I realize this is all a minor point, but it's one which obviously didn't go over 
25many people's heads judging from my phone calls, and it's the kind of thing which never should 
26have happened. 
27
28
29WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
30September 28, 1987   
31
32 
33
34With the NWA/UWF closed down much of this week because of its team party in San Martine, 
35most of the major news from the past week comes from the Titan TV tapings and a few 
36personnel changes, some of which we touched upon last week. 
37
38
39
40WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
41October 5, 1987 
42
43As most of you know already, Ronnie Garvin defeated Ric Flair on 9/25 at Joe Louis Arena in 
44Detroit to win the NWA World's title in a cage match to highlight Crockett's debut in Motown. 
45The last minute of the title change aired over the weekend on WTBS and the finish had both 
46guys standing on the top ropes after Flair tried to climb out, Garvin banging Flair's head into the 
47poles holding up the cage a few times, Flair took his two steps and collapse bump, straddling 
48himself on the top rope and fell into the ring. When he got back up, Garvin leaped off the top 
49rope with a flying sunset flip to gain the pinfall at 33:17. The NWA debut in Detroit, which 
50included seven title matches, drew just over 8,000 paid and $111,000, which is less than they 
51were expecting, but still nothing to be disappointed about. 
52
53WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
54October 12, 1987   
55
56 
57
58Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage? The Megapowers? Things are going to be heating up in the next 
59couple of months, and I don't mean in the ring (at least not in the U.S.).
60
61WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
62October 19, 1987   
63One of the strangest matches in this history of this business tops things off this week. As we 
64reported here a few weeks back, Antonio Inoki and Masa Saito were scheduled to square off on
6510/4 on the island of Ganryujima in Japan's version of the famous Jerry Lawler-Terry Funk 
66empty arena match. Ganryujima is a famous island in the Pacific just off the coast of Japan 
67where as legend has it, the samurai warriors used to fight to the death. In this match they had a
68ring set up in the jungle with two tents, one for Inoki and the other for Saito and the only folks in 
69attendance were a few reporters and the TV camera crew which taped the match for airing the 
70next night. The match was to start at sunrise, although in actuality, Saito came out twice and 
71Inoki was nowhere to be found both times. Finally, at approximately 4 p.m., Saito came out one 
72more time and at this point, Inoki came not out of his tent, but instead out of the jungle to jump 
73Saito and the match was underway. It was reported that Inoki won the match in 2 hours, five 
74minutes and 14 seconds when Kotetsu Yamamoto (a New Japan official and the color 
75commentator on the TV show) stopped the fight after Saito was put out with a sleeper hold. 
76About 30 minutes of the match aired on television the next night and apparently in reality the 
77match itself went in the 45 minute range and in actuality was mainly rest holds. It was kind of 
78interesting seeing the photos in the Japanese newspaper from the next day of Inoki and Saito 
79brawling in the dark in the middle of nowhere. What's interesting about this empty arena 
80concept is that the three previous meetings between Inoki and Saito drew three of the largest 
81gates in the history of the business, two in the $400,000 range and the other around $700,000, 
82while this one was done strictly for TV ratings and for Inoki to attempt to stay "above" Riki 
83Choshu in the minds of the Japanese fans. The match was shown as part of a two-hour special 
84on TV-Asahi (one of the Japanese networks) which included Riki Choshu's television return with
85New Japan. I'll have details on the show, and hopefully ratings (which were most important as 
86the New Japan show is in the danger zone as far as ratings) next week. 
87
88 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
89October 26, 1987   
90
91 
92
93We have to open this week on a sad note reporting the accident that befell former pro wrestling 
94great Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon. Vachon was hiking down a little-used gravel road in Des 
95Moines, Iowa (where he was visiting his sister-in-law) when he was struck by a hit and run driver 
96and knocked into a ditch where he laid, apparently unconscious for an estimated eight hours. 
97The driver of the car, who has since been charged with a hit & run and several other counts, ran 
98over both of Vachon's legs which were badly mutilated. During this past week Vachon 
99underwent at least five major operations, the most recent of which, this past Friday, resulted in 
100the amputation of portions of his right leg. He will be fitted with an artificial leg in six to eight 
101weeks. The left leg was so badly broken that four pins and a steel rod had to be inserted. At last 
102report, Vachon was listed in serious, but stable condition in an Iowa City hospital. Vachon was 
103listed in news reports as being 58-years-old, but I've got him listed as being born in November 
104of 1923, which would make him 63. He was originally a top-notch amateur wrestler, 
105representing Canada in the 1948 Olympic games, and later winning a gold medal in the British 
106Empire games as an amateur in 1950. He turned pro shortly thereafter and was given the "Mad 
107Dog" nickname and went on to hold the AWA version of the World title on several occasions in 
108the 1960s. He continued as an active wrestler until a final farewell appearence in September of 
109last year in Montreal, ending a 35-year-career and had retired and now resides in Omaha. 
110
111
112WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
113November 2, 1987 
114With all the talk about the big Thanksgiving shows in the U.S., we really haven't covered the 
115annual tag team tournaments in Japan in much detail. As most of you know, both major 
116promotions in Japan hold tournaments in late November through the early weeks of December, 
117which is traditionally the hottest time of the year for wrestling in Japan. Antonio Inoki's New 
118Japan promotion starts up the Japan Cup tag team tournament on 11/9 with the finals on 12/7 in 
119Osaka. This tournament will be a round-robin, with each team wrestling each other team once, 
120and points awarded for each match. A win is worth five points via pinfall or submission, a win via 
121count out or disqualification is worth four points, a draw is worth two points and a double 
122disqualification or any kind of a loss nets you zero points. In last year's tournament, they added 
123a unique stipulation that any match ending with a double count out (which is an all too common 
124finish in Japan) would be re-started and fought to a new conclusion. The last night of the 
125tournament will be 12/4 at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo and the two teams with the most points will 
126meet for the championship in Osaka. Only two foreign teams will be invited, Ron Starr & Ron 
127Ritchie and Dick Murdoch & Scott Hall. The remainder of the tournament will be Japanese 
128teams, with only one pairing, that of Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki, already announced. I figure 
129the best possible pairings would be to have Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi, Tatsumi Fujinami & 
130Kengo Kimura (1985 winners), Riki Choshu & Masa Saito, Super Strong Machine & Kuniaki 
131Kobayashi (or put Hiro Saito or Hiroshi Hase in Kobayashi's place if he's still injured), Keiji Muto 
132& Shiro Koshinaka (who held this group's World tag title earlier this year), Akira Maeda & 
133Nobuhiko Takada (also former World tag champs) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki 
134(current IWGP tag champs) which would make this as loaded a tag team tournament as Japan 
135probably has ever seen. 
136
137WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
138November 9, 1987 
139
140 
141
142Before opening with the news, I want to send my condolences to the friends of Bill Wilson, many 
143of whom read this newsletter. Wilson was a long-time reader and correspondent who died last 
144week after a bout with cancer. His friend Diane Devine wrote that Wilson, a Kansas City native, 
145lived for wrestling and for corresponding with wrestling fans. He was a regular at almost all the 
146matches in Kansas City for several decades. Everyone should realize that whatever success 
147this and other wrestling newsletters have had these past few years is because of so many 
148people just like Bill Wilson and I will certainly miss him. 
149
150 
151
152Two of the major World tag team titles have changed hands since our last report. Strike Force 
153(Rick Martel & Tito Santana) captured the WWF tag team belts on 10/27 in Syracuse, N.Y. at 
154the "Superstars" TV tapings from Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart. The match, taped for the first 
155television hour at the taping, with an air date of 11/7, ended when Neidhart submitted of all 
156things to a boston crab by Martel. I heard the match itself was short and well-paced, but the 
157finish I'm told was one of the worst of any major title change in a long time because referee 
158Joey Marella called for the bell too quickly after Martel put Neidhart in the hold making the 
159submission look unbelievable. 
160
161WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
162November 16, 1987 
163
164 
165
166The Battle of Thanksgiving is going to be a head-to-head confrontation after all. Jim Crockett 
167Promotions announced on its syndicated package this weekend that the starting time for its 
168closed-circuit airings of Starcade around the country will be 8 p.m. Eastern time and 7 p.m. 
169Central time. The live card itself in Chicago will still be starting at 4 p.m., mainly due to 
170commitments with the few companies that are going to air it on a pay-per-view so the PPV 
171showing won't conflict with Titan's Survivors Series, which will air on PPV live at 7:30 p.m. 
172Eastern time. 
173
174 
175
176~~~~~~
177
178WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
179January 4, 1988 
180
181 
182
183I hope each and every one of you had a happy holiday season and are all rarin' to go in 1988. 
184There is literally a ton of news to open the new year with, so let's get on with it. 
185
186 
187
188The biggest story is the report that NBC-TV will broadcast a prime-time wrestling special 
189sometime in early 1988. Now the rumor mill is working overtime on this one, and it really 
190wouldn't be prudent to even comment on the rumors because they are all in speculation form. 
191No doubt the special will be used to set up the "big angle" for Wrestlemania IV. The report I've 
192received is that the show will be on a Friday night, February 5th and I should have confirmation 
193of this and the exact time slot either later in this issue, or certainly in next week's Observer. 
194From all indications, the main event will be Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant for the special, and 
195if that's the case, it will become the most-watched pro wrestling show of all-time. It's almost 
196scary to think what the potential audience for this will be and if Titan is as successful with this 
197special as they've been on Saturday night's, just what this would mean in the long run to Titan 
198and pro wrestling. 
199
200 
201
202~~~~
203
204Wrestling Observer Newsletter  
205April 4, 1988 
206
207 
208
209"This is horrible, Gorilla" 
210
211 
212
213It sure was. I saw it and I still don't believe it. Was it a dream? Was it a nightmare? All I know is 
214in every sense of the word, it was a bomb. 
215
216 
217
218But why? Last year's Wrestlemania was the best overall wrestling production probably of all-
219time. It wasn't the greatest wrestling card ever, in fact the wrestling couldn't even compare to a 
220Starcade (well, Starcade in 85 and 86 at least), but it was an overall entertaining show. The 
221main event was terrible, but it generally got over to the fans(most of whom came to see a slam 
222and a pin and got both). At this time last year Vince McMahon was the omnipotent king of the 
223business. He's still the king, but Sunday he proved he was no longer omnipotent. After 
224bushwacking Jim Crockett on Thanksgiving and putting on a superior show, then winning the 
225battle on January 24 in most people's eyes, many folks were talking like Crockett must be either 
226suicidal or insane to try and compete head-up with Wrestlemania, McMahon's showcase card of 
227the year. We all could recount the reasons. Wrestlemania is the one card where Titan's guys 
228really go all out. It's a multi-million dollar production which Crockett simply can't compete with. 
229Vince had two network specials to get his angles over. The media at large goes ga-ga for Hulk 
230Hogan at this time of the year while ignoring that a competition promotion even exists. And even 
231if Crockett's wrestlers put on the superior wrestling matches, which really wasn't inconcievable, 
232they'd still fall victim to Titan's incredible production, glitz, celebrities and atmosphere at 
233Wrestlemania. 
234
235 
236
237Jim Crockett kicked Vince McMahon's ass Sunday afternoon, and on the single least likely day 
238of the year for that to happen. Of course we won't have anything resembling economic figures, 
239and McMahon did make more money of course which some would say is the bottom line. But on 
240January 24th, Crockett made more money, but Titan came out ahead in reality. I can't believe 
241anyone who watched both shows, and fewer did than I had imagined, could do anything but 
242laugh at the comparison. Overall, and these are preliminary figures but I've been making calls to 
243cable companies and hearing from fans at arenas--Wrestlemania was down about 40 to 45 
244percent in interest from last year. The pay-per-view buy rate appears to be around six percent, 
245or roughly half of the 12 percent than Titan had predicted and well off the 10.3 percent of last 
246year's show. Still, even at six percent, the PPV grossed $10.8 million, but in reality, of that the 
247Titan bank account won't see more than $3.5 million. Preliminary reports indicate a U.S. closed-
248circuit audience of around 175,000 (last year was 375,000) which accounts for an estimated 
249$2.3 million more. The live gate was around one million, and Donald Trump paid a nice-sized 
250but undisclosed site fee to Titan for the show. The overall estimate, adding in Canadian 
251markets, is that the show grossed just under $14 million--however because of pay-per-view 
252splits and the like, maybe $6.5 million will eventually find its way to Connecticut. Titan was 
253predicting its take at $18 million just two weeks ago. That's all money figures and of the 40 to 45 
254percent less interest, you'll have to speculate for yourself as to what percentage was caused by 
255this year's promotion just not being as interesting to the general public as last year's, and what 
256
257
258percentage was because Crockett ran a free show head-to-head. The truth is, Crockett hurt 
259McMahon with his free show tons more than I had anticipated, and tons more than McMahon 
260hurt Crockett on January 24th (although still probably less than McMahon hurt Crockett on 
261Thanksgiving). 
262
263 
264
265As for the shows themselves, it was like night-and-day. I suppose TBS deserves the credit, from 
266the nice opening, their show was a 3 1/2 star production overall. There were flaws to be sure. 
267There were far too many commercials early on. In fact, of the first 90 minutes of the special, just 
26830 minutes were wrestling. That was to make up for them going 45 straight minutes in the Ric 
269Flair vs. Sting match without any commercial interruptions, and in hindsight, I really appreciated 
270it. 
271
272 
273
274The announcing was great, in fact superlative during the main event. The matches, aside from 
275the barbed wire match, were all good, the crowd lively and two of the matches were excellent. 
276I'm convinced beyond belief they should no longer allow Steve Williams to talk in public--give 
277the guy a manager and turn him into a monster. Nikita Koloff even did a good interview and I 
278like his new-look, even though it probably won't improve his wrestling any. The skit with Ken 
279Osmond (of Eddie Haskel "Leave it to Beaver" fame) with Jim Cornette was priceless, which 
280was a relief since those spots with celebrities usually turn out awful. In comparison, it made 
281those silly Bob Uecker and Gene Okerlund spots on Titan's show look even worse than they 
282really were. But the real story was the flow of the show and the production and getting the 
283angles in tune with the audience, all of which were very weak on their two previous specials and 
284made McMahon look major league. The thing at the end with the judges was terrible, and really 
285anyone with half a brain knew Flair and Sting were going the complete 45 minutes (but nobody 
286was complaining when it was over, were they?). 
287
288 
289
290Wrestlemania on the other had made Starcade '87 look like Starcade '85. Really, that's even too 
291nice. I don't want to fault individuals, but the general appraisal was that everyone on the JCP 
292side gave not only a little extra, but a lot extra, while the Titan side figured that since it was 
293Wrestlemania, everything would fit neatly into place since Vince is a genius and everyone else 
294can coast along. The announcing wasn't bad, but it was the weakest of any big Titan show. 
295Particularly Jesse Ventura didn't seen prepared as he had no good lines and just coasted 
296through. Gorilla Monsoon was so monotone and predictable that you could have replayed any 
297Wrestling Challenge show's commentary on this and it would have sounded the same. As 
298mentioned before, Uecker, who did a good job last year, simply wasn't funny at all this time 
299around. But those were minor problems with the televised events, there are a few real problems 
300Titan had: 
301
302 
303
304**Hulk Hogan--The guy is so "over" that he over-shadows the entire promotion. The lack of 
305success 3 of this show was at least in part because Hogan wasn't the featured attraction, but 
306was made "one of the boys." One cable TV operator I spoke with today termed the lack of 
307success on PPV due to "that idiot McMahon devaluating his only attraction." Maybe, but it's time 
308they tried on Randy Savage night to put Randy Savage over. But instead of putting Randy over, 
309
310
311they put Hulk and Liz over, just as they've done on two NBC specials. It's like Randy can't even 
312order a taxi cab unless Liz tells Hulk to flag down the cab. 
313
314 
315
316**The location--Okay, hindsight is always 20-20. Nobody would have dreamed that a 
317Wrestlemania crowd would be dead for 3 1/2 hours. The Trump Plaza should have been called 
318the Trump Mauseleum. It wasn't a wrestling crowd and they reacted to almost nothing, which 
319made those matches where the guys were really putting out still come off as flat and tedious. 
320Vince made a major tactical error taking wrestling away from the wrestling fans with the high 
321prices. Sure, he got a huge live gate, but he could have gotten a good live gate anywhere and 
322could have priced it so wrestling fans, and not Casino Hi-Rollers who thought they were 
323watching burlesque, filled the stands. McMahon deserves credit for trying to make wrestling an 
324upper-class entertainment, but on this night the Hi-Rollers ruined his show. 
325
326 
327
328**Steroids--I joke about steroids all the time. I give guys funny nicknames and I suppose I'm the 
329most hated person in the world among heavy steroid users in the wrestling business. However, 
330I'm not trying to be funny here. It was totally embarrassing watching guys really try to work hard, 
331which they aren't used to, and have every match but a few totally die within two minutes 
332because one, and often both guys, couldn't keep up a decent pace for a five minute match. I 
333don't even want to talk about health risks here, because nobody listens. I don't even want to 
334blame the guys here, because the reality of what the promoter is trying to sell forces 82 percent 
335of the Titan workers to become human guinea pigs. However, the tournament was 
336embarrassing. I was embarrassed as someone who appreciates the talents and sacrifices 
337wrestlers make to see this stuff. It wasn't ha-ha, let's watch Lex blow up like lots of fans do, this 
338was a sad situation. Shoot, Luger kept up a pace in his match that put most of Titan's guys to 
339shame. 
340
341 
342
343**The tournament idea was a flop. This was the key to the show not selling. There was no 
344specific issue to focus on. Like we've said, no belt in wrestling means much of anything 
345anymore. It's the personalities themselves that are the drawing card nowadays. Wrestlemania 
346proves that point. Nobody cared about the tournament matches unless they involved Hogan, or 
347to a lesser degree Savage and DiBiase. The rest were like a waste of time. 
348
349 
350
351**Too many people knew the outcome. After all that has happened over the last few weeks, 
352giving the title to Savage was a blunder in itself. Hey, the magazine typo was picked up by the 
353wire services. This morning on the ABC news, it said "Randy Savage was the winner at 
354Wrestlemania, but of course everyone knew it since the WWF magazine had printed the result 
355three weeks ago. The WWF claims the magazine report was simply a typographical error." I was 
356at the beach on Saturday--the folks I talked with, and these aren't newsletter readers, they aren't 
357even really wrestling fans and I don't talk "smart" to them (I don't insult their intelligence either) 
358all knew Savage was going to win. It was pathetic. I'm sorry to go on a tirade at this point, but 
359I'm sick to death of narrow-minded folks blaming me because their promotions aren't interesting 
360enough to draw fans at live gates. If everyone who read this newsletter Quit watching matches 
361tomorrow, pro wrestling interest would drop 0.002 percent. In reality, the fans who read 
362newsletters support this business probably in 20 or 30 times greater proportion than the so-
363
364
365called "marks" and if this business was to die (which it won't, and I'm not predicting anything of 
366the sort), they'd be the last ones killed off. Again, I'm sorry for the tirade but it's been building up 
367lately. However, for Titan to give away the endings for two major shows in a row, and basically 
368turn the business into a joke, and then not change the ending can't be beneficial in the long run. 
369
370 
371
372I should get ratings on Crockett's show, but if it did a five rating on TBS, then it reached two 
373million homes. Wrestlemania reached about 540,000 homes and got 195,000 more viewers 
374through closed-circuit and PPV in this country. This year's Wrestlemania, after all the 
375cancellations, ran in just 95 closed-circuit sites this year in the U.S. and 39 of them were less 
376than 2,000-seat capacity buildings. 
377
378 
379
380WRESTLEMANIA IV: WHAT PUT THE WORLD TO SLEEP   
381
382 
383
3841. The show opened with a 20-man Battle Royal. By the way, the graphics at the opening were 
385outstanding as were the banners around the arena. The production was first-class as well, but 
386with JCP's improvements, there was little noticable difference to the average fan. The Battle 
387Royal started out hot, even though the crowd didn't react to more than two or three of the 
388introductions. After 40 seconds, with the crowd in silence, the thing went into slow-motion and 
389as Battle Royals go, it was a dud. George Steele did his usual act of never even getting in the 
390ring in the first place. Eliminations in order were Sam Houston (after just 40 seconds), Sika, Jim 
391Neidhart, Brian Blair, Raymond Rougeau, Jim Brunzell, Ron Bass, Hillbilly Jim, Danny Davis, 
392Jimmy Powers, Nikolai Volkoff, Boris Zhukov, Ken Patera, Jacques Rougeau, Harley Race and 
393Paul Roma. This left Badnews Brown with Junkfood Dog and Bret Hart. They doubled on the 
394Dog for a minute and threw him out and Brown and Hart acted like they'd split the money. 
395Brown instead turned on Hart giving him an enzuigiri (karate kick to the back of the head) and 
396pounded on him a little before tossing him out at 10:40. After the match Hart came back in the 
397ring and dropkicked Brown and broke his huge Battle Royal trophy. It appears Hart is going to 
398turn babyface and feud with Brown. 1/2* (for the angle at the end, match was a dud) 
399
400 
401
4022. Ted DiBiase pinned Jim Duggan in 4:54 in the first match of the title tournament. Match was 
403slow-paced, especially since they only had to go five. Duggan bears almost no resemblance to 
404the wrestler Bill Watts used to push of the same name. DiBiase did some good work to make it 
405watchable, but that was about it. Finish saw Duggan down for the spear, Andre the Giant (at 
406ringside) tripped him, Duggan turned his back to go after Andre, DiBiase gave him a knee from 
407behind and then pinned him after a fist drop. Shockingly little heat for all this. *1/4 
408
409 
410
4113. Don Muraco downed Dino Bravo via DQ in 4:53. They came out and Muraco tried to carry 
412things early, but by 2:30 he was drenched in sweat. Bravo did a piledriver, but Muraco reversed 
413the second one. Then they did a double clothesline. At this point, both guys were puffing like 
414they'd gone a hard 20. Muraco came off the ropes for a flying forearm,-Bravo put the ref in front. 
415Then Bravo used a side suplex and went for the pin but the ref signalled for the hell and ruled a 
416DQ instead. 1/2* 
417
418 
419
420
4214. Greg Valentine pinned Ricky Steamboat in an upset in 9:12. Some nice moves early but by 
422four minutes Greg, who used to be known for stamina, was finished. Valentine really looked like 
423a tired old man here. At 5:00 they started trading hard chops. The timing on a few moves were 
424missed, seems Greg just didn't have it for the distance in a "long" match, but both guys were 
425working hard. Finish saw Steamboat use the flying body press off the top ropes and Greg 
426reversed the move and got the fall using the tights. By the way, Steamboat brought his son 
427Ricky Jr. to the ring before the match. I thought it was a tremendous sight with all the pressures 
428and commotion around that Steamboat was oblivious to everything but his son. I guess they 
429didn't want a babyface match later, but Steamboat deserves a lot better than this. **1/4 
430
431 
432
4335. Randy Savage pinned Butch Reed with an elbow drop off the top ropes in 5:07. The crowd 
434did pop for the finishing move but was dead the rest of the way. The match was in super-slow 
435motion with Reed with the advantage most of the way. * 
436
437 
438
4396. One Man Gang beat Bam Bam Bigelow via count out in 2:56. Give Bigelow credit for 
440wrestling since it was obvious his knee was in bad shape (in fact I'm told he'll have undergone 
441an operation before you read this). Still, the knee destroyed his agility which is his gimmick and 
442reason for his potential great effectiveness. Slick pulled the ropes down when Bam Bam went to 
443the ropes, he tumbled over and was counted out. In reality this was a negative 11/2 star match, 
444but I'll give it a dud considering Bigelow's condition. 
445
446 
447
4487. Rick Rude and Jake Roberts went to a 15:00 draw which eliminated them both. Rude's tights 
449with lips on the back were an eye=catcher. Awful. Long, intermidable rest holds. Very similar to 
450the Bobby Eaton vs. Nikita Koloff draw at the Nassau Coliseum, but maybe worse because at 
451least Bobby did a few great moves. Jake did a few decent spots but really not enough. Crowd, 
452dead during most matches, chanted "boring" here so I guess that makes it the worst match of 
453the show. Certainly a worst match of the year candidate to be sure. -** 
454
455 
456
4578. In a non-tournament match, the Anabolic Warrior pinned Hercules Hernandez in 4:29. Warrior 
458sprinted to the ring and blew up before getting into the ring. They did a staredown which got no 
459reaction at all. Then they tried to wrestle, and it got worse. You can't blame Hercules for this 
460fiasco, but I guess somebody has to work with the Warrior who has a great physique and loads 
461of charisma and if you put his ability in a thimble it would rattle around like a--well, you know the 
462joke. 'Finish saw Hercules put on the fullnelson (no reaction at all to the finishing move), Warrior 
463kicked the ropes, they both went down with their shoulders down and Warrior got his up just 
464before the three count. -*1/2 (it was actually worse than the previous match, but not ranked as 
465low because at least it was over in a hurry) 
466
467 
468
4699. The first match of the second round was Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan, the only match on 
470the card which seemed to have real interest. Andre opened with head-butts and chops and 
471Hogan made a comeback. Andre collapsed at one point but recovered and went to his dreaded 
472chokehold. Andre could barely stand up after the 2:30 mark and went back to the long choke 
473hold. Finish saw DiBiase hit Hogan with a chair, which Hogan didn't sell. Hogan and Andre 
474fought over the chair and Hulk potatoed Andre with it and Andre then potatoed Hulk back. Good 
475
476
477chair hits, which wound up as a double disqualification in 5:22. After the match Hulk chased 
478DiBiase, who threw Virgil to him (apparently a future babyface turn by Virgil--will we find out his 
479father is a plumber?) and Hulk suplexed Virgil on the floor and didn't protect him at all on the 
480way over. Hulk then ran into the ring and slammed Andre, and then posed forever. The match 
481was terrible, but watchable. The posing wasn't watchable but that is what the crowd came to 
482see. By the way, it wasn't announced until after the posing than Hogan had been eliminated 
483from the tournament. 4* for the match, DUD if you include the posing. 
484
485 
486
48710. Ted DiBiase pinned Don Muraco with Eddie Gilbert's "hotshot" move in 5:44. The crowd was 
488drained from Hogan so there was no heat but it was an all-action decent match. *1/2 11. Randy 
489Savage pinned Greg Valentine in a good match in 6:06 when he caught Valentine in an inside 
490cradle when Valentine went for the figure four leglock. Good pacing and good action here. **1/4 
491
492 
493
49412. The Intercontinental title match saw Brutus Beefcake awarded a DQ win over champ 
495Honkeytonk Man via DO in 6:30. I was amazed here, since both are usually over in a big way, 
496yet Honkey's pre-match routine was dead and once the bell sounded, when Honkey's always in 
497trouble, Peggy Sue (Sherri Martel) made more noise than the other 18,165 folks watching. With 
498his new hairdo, Beefcake has an amazing resemblance to Davey Boy Smith. You can tell the 
499two apart by watching them wrestle of course. Beefcake put Honkeytonk out with the sleeper 
500however Jimmy Hart KO'd the ref with the megaphone. Hart then stole Beefcake's clippers and 
501they went under the ring together, Beefcake got small scissors, cut off the hair in back of Hart's 
502head and no bell ever rang but Beefcake was awarded the win via the DQ. DUD 
503
504 
505
50613. The Islanders & Bobby Heenan downed Koko Ware & The British Bulldogs in 7:30 when 
507Heenan pinned Ware after the Islanders dropped him on top of Koko. Some comedy since 
508Heenan wore the suit that pit bull fighting trainers wear and afterwards Matilda chased Heenan 
509and started licking him. Match went 7:30 and started off decent but got boring pretty fast. *1/4 
510
511 
512
51314. Randy Savage beat One Man Gang via DQ in 4:05 when Gang tried to hit Savage with the 
514cane of Slick but missed. Savage made it watchable but the finish was terrible. 1/2* 
515
516 
517
51815. Demolition took the WWF tag team titles from Rick Martel & Tito Santana in 12:53 of the 
519best match on the card. It was good solid work throughout although crowd cheered the heels 
520(the few who responded did, I should say). Finish saw Martel put Smash (Darsow) in the boston 
521crab, then Axe got Mr. Fuji's cane (hey, didn't we just see that in the previous match) and hit 
522Martel who wound up pinned. If the crowd had responded this would have been a top-flight 
523match. **1/2 
524
525 
526
52716. Finally it came down to DiBiase vs. Savage for the title. Andre twice tripped Savage. The 
528crowd had their heads turned to the dressing room area and missed two top-flight guys trying to 
529work a good match. They instead waited for the inevitable save by Hogan. Both were trying real 
530hard here, but it was nothing compared to their SNME match of a few weeks ago (which was a 
531super match). Andre interfered again, Randy told Liz to scoot to the back and bring back Hogan 
532and the crowd of course turned their heads to the back again and quit watching the match. 
533
534
535Hogan came out. Savage missed an elbow, DiBiase put him in the cobra hold and while the ref 
536was distracted by Liz, Hogan hit DiBiase with a chair. Savage then finished the job with the 
537elbow off the top in 9:27. Naturally they wouldn't let Randy have the spotlight and instead 
538focused all the winning attention on Hulk and Liz. **1/4 
539
540 
541
542Actually, the card wasn't terrible after intermission although most of the before-intermission stuff 
543was not just Restholdmania but Rigir Mortis Mania. 
544
545 
546
547CLASH OF THE CHAMPIONS drew just 6,000 fans to the Greensboro Coliseum (since it was 
548being shown live on free television), but they were rabid fans that spurred the wrestlers on to 
549top-flight matches. 
550
551 
552
5531. Mike Rotunda retained the NWA TV title pinning Jimmy Garvin under amateur rules at 1:10 of 
554the second round. The rules were three 5:00 rounds and a pin is a one count instead of a three 
555count although they wrestled "pro-style" with just a small smattering of actual amateur wrestling. 
556Finish saw Garvin hook Rotunda for the brainbuster, then Kevin Sullivan attacked Precious. 
557Garvin went after Sullivan and Rotunda caught him from behind and got the one count pin. Rick 
558Steiner then did a run-in and attacked Garvin but Precious hit Steiner with a 2x4 and then 
559choked Sullivan with a coat hanger. **1/4 
560
561 
562
5632. The Midnight Express retained the U.S. tag belts beating The Fantastics via DQ in 10:45 of 
564what is known in the trade as a classic Memphis brawl. There was so much action that the 
565cameras missed a lot of it. They used chairs, tables and tennis racquets and did lots of brawling 
566outside the ring. At one point Bobby Eaton threw Tommy Rogers into a table held by Jim 
567Cornette. Eaton then slammed and bulldogged Rogers on the table, and Rogers got an 
568abrasion above the eye from it and had to be legitimately hospitalized. Fulton got a swollen lip 
569as well. Finish saw Fulton throw the ref over the top rope and a second ref ran in just as Rogers 
570came down for the pin using the rocket launcher and made the count but of course the decision 
571was reversed. The only bad thing is that it's an ending they do way too much. Lots of post 
572match action as well with Cornette hitting two refs with the tennis racquet and eventually lashing 
573Fulton's back with a belt as the Midnights held him. ****1/4) (Four-and-a-half for the action in the 
574match, minus one-half for the overused finish, plus one-quarter for the post-match) 
575
576 
577
5783. Dusty Rhodes & The Road Warriors won a barbed wire match from The Warlord & Barbarian 
579& Ivan Koloff in 3:39. Dusty, with face paint wearing a black T-shirt looks like a dead ringer for 
580Dump Matsumoto, except Dump is better looking. Ivan juiced in 20 seconds and Dusty in 90 
581seconds. I hate barbed wire matches because the wire is a tremendous detriment to the match 
582because everyone becomes cautious and mainly stays in the middle of the ring. Finish saw 
583Animal pin Warlord after a slam and then a cover and Barbarian came off the top rope with a 
584head-butt on Animal, who moved, and hit his partner. Ivan took his chain and knocked off 
585Animal's mask after and they had a nice brawl. * 
586
587 
588
5894. Lex Luger & Barry Windham won the NWA tag title beating Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard 
590in 9:35. Actually, for a guy who had just decked Magnum the day before, Blanchard didn't get 
591
592
593that much of a reaction. Seems all the real heat is on J.J. Luger was wearing new tights which 
594"bled" on the screen so it made him look radioactive. Match was good all the way, ending when 
595J.J. held up a chair and Lex reversed Arn's attempted whip and Arn went into the chair and was 
596pinned. ***1/2 
597
598 
599
6005. Ric Flair and Sting went to a 45:00 draw in an NWA title match. This was certainly a match of 
601the year candidate. The match started out slow-paced but the heat never died and it was never 
602dull. Flair did a great job of selling the restholds like bearhugs and headlocks early on. Actually 
603there is no wrestler in the business who could have put on the performance Flair did in this 
604match. He was so good I almost thought Sting was going to stand there in awe of him. Sting 
605held up his end although Flair was certainly doing the carrying. I also want to make mention of 
606Jim Ross who did a tremendous job with Tony Schiavone on the commentary the whole show, 
607but especially in the first 25 minutes when things were slow-paced, he "sold" the match and 
608"sold" the intensity and importance of the match. We had the impression we were watching a 
609"classic" even before it actually did turn into a legit "classic." The match built and built and was 
610Worked to near perfection. Sting had the scorpion deathlock on at the bell. It was said over-and-
611over again that in the case of a time limit draw, that three judges would decide the winner. Well, 
612we had five guys at the judging table (four guys and one girl to be exact) but two of them didn't 
613vote (Ken Osmond of Leave it to Beaver Fame and Jason Hervey of ABC's "Wonder Years"). 
614So the judges were Patty Mullen, the Penthouse Pet of the year, who was on TV the day before 
615in Flair's arms and of course voted for Flair. Gary Juster, the NWA promoter in most of its most 
616successful cities in the non-original territory then got to be a babyface and vote for Sting. Sandy 
617Scott then ruled it a draw. It made the whole judging thing needless and stupid as nothing 
618resulted from it. By the way, Lyle Alzado was a no-show as judge. ****3/4 
619
620 
621
622Notes: After the first match there was an ad on TBS for the WWF 900 number advertising play-
623by-play for Wrestlemania which was hilarious that Titan could get an ad on during Crockett's 
624opposition special. They also aired the first commercial for the new Four Horseman vitamins. 
625The commercial is hilarious, but unintentionally so, it's like a SCTV or Saturday Night Live spoof 
626of the WWF but unfortunately they were serious. I don't think they are going to sell many 
627vitamins, either. All the big news wasn't limited to the NWA and WWF. 
628
629 
630
631In last week's issue I noted a major story and I'll never do that again without giving more details 
632(see, I expected the thing to break at the last minute but it didn't). The story is that Crockett has 
633been in heavy negotiations over the past 10 days with Ken Mantell of World Class, I've heard 
634several reports, some conflicting about it. I know Crockett was going in with the idea of taking 
635over World Class (not buying it but a take-over similar to Florida and Central States) which 
636would give him the valuable Ch. 11 time slot on Saturday nights in Dallas which is the highest 
637rated pro wrestling show in any of the top 20 markets in the United States. To complete the deal 
638would require approval of Fritz Von Erich who still controls majority interest in the World Class 
639promotion, so if the deal were completed, Kevin & Kerry would be guaranteed a job and a push 
640with the NWA, although since Kevin & Kerry don't want to travel, the deal would be that they 
641would only work shows in the area, a few TV tapings and maybe St. Louis where both they and 
642their father were good draws in the past. The bottom line here is that even though Michael 
643
644
645Hayes and Ken Mantell are probably doing the most creative and best job of booking right now 
646of anyone in the business, their business just isn't turning around and perhaps the economic 
647factor, which is out of their hands, may not allow the thing to turn around. I don't expect a deal to 
648be made now, not at least until May so Mantell and Hayes give themselves a chance to see if 
649they can get the area going and promote a lucrative Texas Stadium show on their own. 
650
651 
652
653An example of Hayes' creative booking revolves around the World Class title change on 3/25 in 
654Dallas before 1,700 fans. We all knew Kerry Von Erich wasn't long for the title and the new 
655champion, Iceman King Parsons is one of the least-likely champs in the history of the business 
656(He'd better be a short-term champ). The match itself wasn't particularly good since Iceman ran 
657most of the way. Black Bart, Buddy Roberts and Hayes were at ringside and then Terry Gordy 
658came down the aisle as well when the lights went out. At that point Bart and Roberts pulled out 
659flash-lights and shined them in the eyes of the fans so nobody could see what happened in the 
660ring. 45 seconds later the lights were on, Kerry was knocked out in the ring and Hayes was 
661juicing like crazy on the floor but nobody knows who hit who. Parsons pinned Kerry to win the 
662title and Kerry did a stretcher job which may be the first one of his career which shows just how 
663desperate they are to turn things around. I don't know when, but I don't look for Parsons to have 
664a long reign and Hayes appears to be the best prospect for successor. 
665
666 
667
668In another big story, Eddie Gilbert will be leaving Memphis and start as booker for Continental 
669on 4/10. Continental has hit rock bottom from a business standpoint and it will be interesting to 
670follow Gilbert and Missy Hyatt and see if they can spark up Alabama the way they sparked up 
671Tennessee. This puts the CWA is fairly dire straits since the Gilbert family was the entire 
672promotion and crowds around the territory had tripled over the past two weeks. Without Gilbert, 
673whose last Memphis match should be on 4/4, they are doing to have a lot of problems 
674sustaining even a fraction of their current business. 
675
676 
677
678Lanny Poffo, brother of new WWF champ you-know-who, is coming out with a book called 
679Wrestling with Rhyme, a poetry book that will be available in Walden Bookstores in late April. 
680
681 
682
683The only information I've got from Japan right now is that on 3/27 at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, 
684Bruiser Brody regained the International title by pinning Jumbo Tsuruta with a kneedrop. Also on 
685the card, which drew an announced crowd of 11,500 fans, saw Genichiro Tenryu keep the PWF 
686title beating Stan Hansen via DQ (I was told this was the best match on the card), Abdullah the 
687Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh (who return in May as a tag team) beat John Tenta & Yoshiaki Yatsu 
688when Butcher pinned Tenta and Big Bubba Rogers pinned Shunji Takano. Rogers will start with 
689Titan shortly after this Japan tour ends. The Rock & Roll Express are booked for their first Japan 
690tour in May for Baba. 
691
692 
693
694Roddy Piper's latest exploits is in a new film which starts production soon called "They Live." 
695Piper once again is in the starring role under director John Carpenter. Meg Foster is co-star. 
696
697 
698
699A quick correction. Titan Sports isn't trying to ban Bruno Sammartino from using his name in any 
700outside activities. They instead are trying to stop Sammartino from using the trademarked 
701
702
703phrase "Living Legend." There has been tremendous amount of talk within the industry 
704stemming from Sammartino's appearence on a Pittsburgh radio talk show last weekend (some 
705excerpts in the readers pages). 
706
707 
708
709A film depicting the life of former pro wrestler and Olympic wrestler Chris Taylor, the 450 
710pounder from Iowa who earned a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics and died several years 
711ago, called "Lean on Me," based on the book "The Gentle Giant" will begin in May. There is still 
712no word from Hollywood on any Hulk Hogan movie upcoming, however. 
713
714 
715
716The syndicated ratings for the week of 2/28 show Titan in the No. 4 slot with a 10.6 rating which 
717was an increase from the previous week, while The Wrestling Network fell to No. 9 with a 7.6 
718rating (from an 8.9 peak earlier in the month). 
719
720 
721
722The Pro Wrestling this Week skit where Paul E. Dangerously fired Joe Pedicino, Gordon Solie 
723and Boni Blackstone aired this past weekend. Just tremendous stuff and Dangerously has 
724established himself as one of the two top managers in the business through it. The PWTW this 
725week will be the final show in the current format. What eventually will happen is the show will 
726start on 4/9 with a new 30 minute format with Pedicino and Patrick Schaeffer (who was the guy 
727who mastermined the Global Wrestling stock being sold over the counter to build up $1 million 
728in operating capital) at the helm with Schaeffer as a heel commentator to play off Pedicino. 
729
730 
731
732I can't go any farther without mentioning the "big" angle on WTBS which was taped on 3/21 and 
733aired this past Saturday. It started when they showed the film of 3/18 in Cincinnati where 
734Magnum hit Tully Blanchard with a baseball bat and caused a DQ in a tag title match. Magnum 
735was doing an interview when Blanchard and J.J. came out and then Barry Windham came out. 
736Tully popped Windham. At this point J.J. was standing behind Magnum and Tully popped 
737Magnum. J.J. held Magnum and set him down ever-so-softly on the ground due to Magnum's 
738condition. Dusty comes charging out with a baseball bat and just goes hog wild on Tully (this 
739part of the angle was just tremendous) battering his back and stomach with the bat. First David 
740Crockett and then Rob Garner (two VP's of JCP) went after Dusty and he shrugged them off 
741until Jim Crockett climbs on Dusty's back, Dusty doesn't realize who it is and rears backwards 
742with the bat and KO's Jim Crockett before finally all the faces pull Dusty away from Tully. The 
743best part of everything was the teary-eyed interview Jim Cornette did later in the show talking 
744about "his good friend Jim Crockett." Magnum bladed himself as well although that didn't air on 
745television. When I first heard about this angle I thought it was great because you have to figure 
746Magnum wants to be involved in the worst way and this gives him a purpose. But still the idea of 
747beating up a cripple, which unfortunately is the reality of the situation, and the way that part of 
748the angle worked, was truly pathetic. The angle will draw of course and it will allow Dusty (now 
749managed by Magnum) to push himself that much harder as the top star in the promotion and 
750work with Tully again. Well, if it's possible to put heat on those two against each other, this will 
751do it, but I'm not sure how possible it is anymore considering Tully's lack of reaction the next 
752night. What will end up happening here is that Dusty will be suspended for 120 days on 
753television this Saturday (which takes us through the entire month of July--do I dare smell Flair 
754vs. Midnight Rider matches at the Bash). He will re-appear in mask and bodysuit as the 
755
756
757Midnight Rider (at least he don't have to look at as much of him) managed by Magnum T.A. 
758Dusty will be stripped of the U.S. title which will be put up in a tournament on 5/13 in Houston. 
759Dusty & Nikita will lose their spot in the Crockett Cup. Besides the tag team tournament, in 
760Greenville on 4/22 at the Cup, Jim Garvin will take on Kevin Sullivan in a Prince of Darkness 
761match (both "blindfolded" when they wrestle) while on 4/23 in Greensboro the Rider will take on 
762J.J. in a bullrope match and Flair defends against probably Nikita Koloff, but possibly Steve 
763Williams. 
764
765 
766
767The Oregon State Commission had a public hearing on 3/18 which received a lot of local press 
768coverage. Most of the topics were safety-related, dealing with installing barriers at ringside, 
769cleaning the mats, increasing security at buildings and placing mats on the arena floor to make 
770falls out of the ring safer on the wrestlers. Appearing at the hearing were Don and Barry Owen, 
771Billy Haynes (who will be opening up his rival promotion shortly to Owen), Matt and Tony Borne, 
772Art Crews, Mike Miller, Moondog Moretti, Rip Oliver, Coco Samoa, Sandy Barr and Mark Kaplan 
773(who is working in the front office with Haynes' new group). Most of the wrestlers took a 
774negative stance toward the Owen promotion with the only two to speak up for him being Crews 
775and Borne. Crews testified that Owen was one of the few promoters who helped him with his 
776medical expenses. Borne testified against the use of mats outside the ring say it is more for 
777looks than effectiveness, however all the other wrestlers took exception to this line of 
778questioning. Borne also commented on the commission's drug testing proposal. He said it was a 
779good idea, but they were taking it too far. The commission plans on testing not only for cocaine, 
780but also for marijuana and pain killers. Borne also asked if an incident happened in the ring 
781which brought forth blood (hardway) would the match be stopped or the wrestler fined and the 
782commission said no, however they would fine or stop matches due to razor cuts. The 
783commission also commented on a 3/12 match in Portland between Borne and Grappler (a good 
784brawl I'm told) where chairs were used. They said action like these will be looked at in the future 
785and fines could be levied. Borne responded saying he was just giving the fans what they want. 
786As Mike Rodgers stated in a letter this week, it is contradictory for the commission to allow 
787hardway blood, which is relatively dangerous, yet ban blading which is far safer. The blood thing 
788is becoming a major commission issue around the country and I've got mixed feelings on it. To 
789the outsider, the practice of blading is barbaric, but in reality compared to steroid usage, other 
790drug usage and just plain nasty bumps and the natural dangers of the business, it is a very 
791minor safety issue in comparison. At the same time I am not convinced that excessive blood 
792draw fans. I think excessive blood turns away an important percentage of the audience (the 
793casual crowd, which swells the most when a promotion is hot). I think blood in rare cases can't 
794hurt the gate, however. Actually in Oregon the biggest danger isn't the highly publicized AIDS 
795(which in reality, wrestlers are far more succeptible through wild outside lifestyles than from 
796bloody matches although given the nature of the disease, it probably isn't wise to perform in 
797bloodbaths without AIDS testing) but a contagious disease called scabies, which is caused by a 
798parasitic mite that burrows under the akin and lays eggs. It is contracted through physical 
799contact and results in intense itching and skin discoloration. The disease went through several 
800of the Owen wrestlers and eventually spread to their families. Oliver said he's contracted the 
801disease four times himself since July and has spread to his wife and two kids. Miller's wife 
802contracted the disease and because of the medication, it poisoned her milk which deprives his 
803
804
805new son of nourishment. The commission passed a law stated wrestlers who have 
806communicable diseases are not permitted to wrestle and must notify the promoter. With the 
807promotion war having broken out between Haynes and Owen, Owen made up with Buddy Rose 
808who debuts on 4/2 as a heel. Haynes was recently on a mid-day talk show in Portland with 
809Miller, Brad Rheingans, several amateur wrestlers, child psychiatrists-university philosphy 
810professors, etc. talking about wrestling's popularity. With the exception of Tony Borne, who 
811behaved like Lou Albano did when he was debating Jeff Blatnik, the wrestlers did a very good 
812job of representing their sport and their business. 
813
814 
815
816This is the second week of the current four-issue set. If you've got a (1) on your current address 
817label it means your Observer subscription will expire in two weeks. Renewal rates remain $5 for 
818four issues, $10 for eight, $20 for 16, $30 for 24 and $50 for 40 for U.S. delivery. There will be 
819no rate increase due to the postal increase. Overseas subscriptions for weekly airmail delivery 
820are $9 for a four issue set. Copies of the 100-page "Best of the Wrestling Observer 1983-87" 
821book are still available for $10 for subscribers and $12.50 for non-subscribers All renewals, 
822letters to the editor, news reports, match reports and other correspondence can be sent to the 
823Wrestling Observer Newsletter,  P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. 
824
825 
826
827NWA: A quick correction, there is no NWA show at Noon on WPIX in New York as I stated a 
828few weeks back. The Noon show is GLOW wrestling. . 3/26 in Richmond drew 10,000 as Ricky 
829Santana pinned Rick Steiner using the ropes (pretty good), Shane Douglas pinned Gene Ligon 
830(no crowd reaction but okay work), Fantastics beat John Savage & Mark Fleming, Midnight 
831Express beat Jim & Ronnie Garvin when Kevin Sullivan interfered using the spike on Jimmy 
832(real good), Mike Rotundo kept the TV title going to a 20:00 draw with Barry Windham (pretty 
833good), Lex Luger pinned Tully Blanchard (pretty bad), Barbarian & Warlord & Ivan Koloff beat 
834Dusty Rhodes & Road Warriors via DQ and Sting beat Ric Flair via DQ in a great match. . . 3/19 
835in Chicago drew 7,000 ($91,000) as Ivan Koloff pinned Douglas with a legdrop, Steiner pinned 
836Kendall Windham, Midnight beat Garvins when Sullivan interfered on Jimmy, Arn Anderson 
837drew Windham over 20:00 in the best match of the card, Luger beat Blanchard via DQ, Rhodes 
838beat Rotundo via DQ, Flair pinned Sting when J.J. interfered (stale but still good) and Warriors 
839beat Powers of Pain in a lumberjack match. . . NWA returns to Nashville on 4/25 with Flair vs. 
840Hawk, Dusty & Animal vs Tully & Arn, Midnight vs- Fantastics. 
841
842 
843
844CWA: The 3/21 card in Memphis drew 6,000 fans and—$22,000 as Eddie Gilbert pinned Jerry 
845Lawler by using a foreign object when Lawler tried a back suplex and getting the fall. I'm told it 
846was a four star match and that their 3/14 match (which drew a $25,000 house) was a 41/2 star 
847match. . . On TV 3/26 Gilbert came out and threatened like he was going to throw fire at Lance 
848Russell when Lawler came out from backstage (it was Lawler's first TV appearence in more 
849than a month) and the two of them brawled all over the studio and then into the parking lot. They 
850wound up fighting on the hood of a car and Gilbert bodyslammed Lawler on a car windshield 
851which shattered the windshield. . . Also on 3/21 in the semifinal saw Tommy & Doug Gilbert 
852against Eddie Marlin & Jeff Jarrett ending when Marlin was handcuffed to the ropes and the two 
853double-teamed on Jarrett until he was bleeding badly. I'm told the heat in the final two matches 
854was great but the crowd didn't react to the undercard. . . Newcomers to the area are Tom Brandi 
855
856
857as a babyface who is pretty green and Scott Steiner (Scott Rechsteiner, brother of NWA's Rick 
858Steiner and a former All-American wrestler at Michigan) as a babyface plus Mike Graham & 
859Steve Keirn have arrived as Florida tag team champions. Graham & Keirn are in more for 
860business as they are trying to put together a new promotion with help from Jerry Jarrett and 
861working with Gordon Solie for Florida. . . . Brickhouse Brown is now getting a slight push 
862managed by Brother Ernest Angel. Brandi pinned Brown on TV to set up a feud as Brown 
863posted him after and he juiced although the skit didn't work well. . . 3/28 has Lawler vs. Gilbert 
864with Jerry Bryant at ringside (Bryant is Lawler's buddy, a sometimes pro wrestler suffering from 
865Lou Gehrig disease) to counteract Missy Hyatt and Lawler vowing to burn either Gilbert or 
866Missy, Tommy Gilbert vs. Marlin in a street fight, Jeff Jarrett vs. Doug Gilbert, Graham & Keirn 
867vs. Jonathan Boyd & Moondog Spike (Bill Smithson), Max Pain & Gary Young defend the tag 
868titles against the Bruise Brothers with the rock group Sawyer Brown putting up a gold record if 
869the Bruises don't win the belts, Ken Wayne vs. Don Bass, Brown vs. Brandi and prelims. 
870
871 
872
873NOTE: For those of you who want to write letters, I'll be giving addresses the next few weeks. 
874This week you can write to The Financial News Network at 6701 Center Drive West 15th Floor, 
875Los Angeles, CA 90045. You can write attention to Dan Wolfe, who is a big wrestling fan and is 
876their programming director. They are happy with the Memphis show but are very receptive to 
877the idea of airing a Japanese show. If all of you write, or even if just a small percentage write, 
878they are interested in your different ideas. 
879
880 
881
882Puerto Rico: A few clippings from recent shows. On 3/5 in Caguas had Carlos Colon & TNT vs. 
883Chicky Starr & Hercules Ayala on top, plus Invader #1 defends the TV title against Super Black 
884Ninja (Keiji Muto), Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki defend the WWC tag belts against Chris & Mark 
885Youngblood, Bobby Jaggers & Dan Krofatt vs. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson, Miguel Perez Jr. 
886vs. The Professor and Invader #3 vs. Tony Falk. . . 3/19 in Caguas had Hercules Ayala 
887defending the Universal title against TNT, Invader #1 defending the TV title against Super Black 
888Ninja in a lumberjack match, Colon vs. Starr, Pogo & Nagasaki defend the tag belts against the 
889Youngbloods, Perez Jr. defends the Puerto Rican title against Jaggers, Hurricane Castillo Jr. vs. 
890El Toro Salvaje (Spanish for Raging Bull Manny Fernandez), Invader #3 vs. Dan Kroffat." 
891
892 
893
894AWA: For all you trivia buffs, here is some background on Paul Diamond, half Of the AWA tag 
895team champs. Diamond's real name is Tom Boric and thanks to Joe Lancello for this info from 
896the 1983 North American Soccer League guide. Boric was born 5/11/61 in Winnipeg, was 6-0 
897and 170 as a goalkeeper for the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the defunct North American Soccer 
898League. He played college soccer at Old Dominion and was the 6th player taken in the 1980 
899collegiate draft by the Calgary Boomers. He was traded to Tampa in 1982 and played in five 
900games under coach Al Miller and had a 1.01 goals against average. He stayed with the Rowdies 
901until the NASL folded, at which time he got into pro wrestling. . . Tanaka & Diamond got the 
902belts apparently because the promotion wanted them off the Midnight Rockers who wanted a 
903$500 weekly guarantee to stay, although the Rockers haven't left yet. 
904
905 
906
907Continental: Big news is Gilbert starting as booker replacing Robert Fuller. This group is 
908looking at running shows throughout Mississippi and Alabama along with the Florida panhandle. 
909
910
911. . Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong (The Southern Boys) won the Continental tag belts from 
912Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden on 3/5 in Dothan, AL in a match where both Wendell Cooley and 
913Dutch Mantell interfered in. Mantell continues to hold the Continental title, Lord Humongous 
914owns the Southeastern title, Tom Prichard holds the Alabama title. The U.S. jr. title was last held 
915by Larry Hamilton who showed up a few weeks back and gave the belt to Fuller and quit so 
916there is no champion and they probably won't have a new one since they are looking at getting 
917rid of most of the titles and have just one singles and one tag title with a tournament in May in 
918Birmingham. . . Golden has given his notice. . . Black Assassin (Bill Tabb) is gone as well while 
919Scott Hall has left for a Japan tour but probably will return upon its completion. . . The incident 
920with Columbus, MS sportscaster Jeffrey Rupp was actually an accident but it turned out good 
921(Rupp was shoved on a sportscast by Humongous setting up Rupp managing Scott Hall for 
922matches with Humongous who is managed by Downtown Bruno) since Columbus, MS is the 
923hottest city on the circuit drawing some $9,000- gates . . . A newcomer is The D.I., a 260 pound 
924rookie trained by Nelson Royal. . . Also in the area are Danny Davis, Tony Anthony, Detroit 
925Demolition (Randy Culley). 
926
927 
928
929USA: The new promotion ran its first big show in Knoxville on 3/19 drawing a $10,000 gate 
930(previous sellouts for Continental were $27,000) as "The Dog" (formerly Moondog Spot and 
931then called The Loondog) won a squash, Hector Guerrero won a squash, Scott Armstrong 
932pinned Billy Ash, Bill Dundee pinned Jonathan Boyd in a match with no action at all, Rock & Roll 
933RPMs went to a 45:00 draw with Johnny & Davey Rich (Davey Rich is David Haskins), Austin 
934Idol won a squash, The Bullet (Bob Armstrong) pinned Mongolian Stomper (Archie Gouldie) in a 
935bad match when Ron Wright's interference backfired and the main event saw Buddy Landel win 
936the Tennessee title from Doug Furnas. Landel juiced heavy. Ron Wright interfered to give 
937Landel the win. . . Cousin Junior was there and introduced to the crowd but didn't wrestle, while 
938Terry Gordy was a no-show. . . The debut in Chattanooga the day before drew a $6,000 gate. . . 
939They will be awarding the U.S. heavyweight title to the winner of the 4/1 Knoxville tournament 
940with Kimala, Abdullah the Butcher, Gordy and Wendell Cooley announced as coming. . . The 
941RPMs hold the USA tag team title. 
942
943 
944
945World Class: The 3/25 Dallas card drew 1,700 as Parsons beat Kerry to win the World title. 
946Also on the card saw a battle of heels and of the two best guys on the circuit as Terry Gordy 
947beat Terry Taylor via count out when Taylor walked out. Taylor & Real Thing also lost to Chris 
948Adams & Bill Irwin when Adams superkicked Thing. The other main event saw Michael Hayes 
949vs. Buddy Roberts. Buddy kept trying to apologize to Hayes but Hayes would have none of it. 
950Gordy does a run-in and breaks it up just as Hayes was starting to pound on Roberts and Hayes 
951and Gordy start yelling at each other with Buddy hiding behind Gordy. Gordy tells Hayes to cut 
952out the feud with Roberts and told Hayes that they've sold the Angel of Death's contract to Vince 
953Apollo so they can all be friends again but Hayes walked out on Gordy. . . Fabulous Lance 
954continues to be booked on shows everywhere but has yet to return. Still problems as Lance's 
955agent doesn't want him to be a heel because he won't be able to get as much TV-and modeling 
956work that way but the promotion wants him as a heel to feud with Kevin & Kerry. . . Fort Worth 
957cards were canceled on both 3/28 and 4/3 and they return on 4/10. The new policy will be to run 
958Fort Worth every three or four weeks instead of weekly as its been done for decades. . . They 
959
960
961are cutting production costs by having most of the material on the local show also airing on the 
962World Class syndicated show. . . 4/2 in Dallas has Kerry & Hayes teaming up against Black Bart 
963& Angel of Death plus John Tatum & Jack Victory vs. Missing Link & Jason Sterling and the 
964return of Killer Brooks. . ... Complete results of 3/20 in Fort Worth saw Vince Apollo beat Jeff 
965Raitz, Angel of Death beat Bob Bradley, Jason Sterling drew Eric Embry, Raitz beat Buddy 
966Roberts, Adams beat Taylor via count out, Hayes beat Parsons via DQ, Irwin & Link beat Apollo 
967& Real Thing, Simpsons beat Victory & Tatum, Kerry beat Gordy via DQ and Von Erichs & Irwin 
968& Simpsons won the thunderdome cage match beating Parsons &" Roberts & Angel & Thing & 
969Embry. . . World Class ran three shows last week in Mississippi with the biggest gate of the 
970three being $783 which shows you just how bad business is even with the creative booking. 
971
972 
973
974WWF: 3/20 in Lafayette, LA drew 700 as Jim Powers & Paul Roma beat Demolition in the main 
975event subbing for Strike Force, Randy Savage pinned Hercules Hernandez, George Steele beat 
976Harley Race, Sam Houston beat Steve Lombardi, The Jumping Bomb Angels beat the Glamour 
977Ghouls, Killer Bees beat Bolsheviks and Hillbilly Jim beat Sika via count out. . . 3/16 in Wichita 
978Falls, TX drew 800 as Dan Spivey pinned Lanny Poffo, Junkfood Dog beat Badnews Brown via 
979DQ, Hillbilly Jim pinned Sika, Danny Davis pinned Houston, Jim Duggan won a Battle Royal, 
980Duggan beat Ron Bass via count out, Anabolic Warrior pinned Race and Rougeaus beat 
981Demolition. . . David Peschel of Washington, NJ is suing Randy Savage for more than $1 million 
982stemming from a 1986 incident when he claims Savage punched and bodyslammed him. 
983Peschel claims to have gotten out of his car at a light and asked Savage, in his car, for an 
984autograph and Savage, Liz and a 6-foot, 350 pound bodyguard got out of the car when the 
985alleged attack took place. Peschel describes Savage as 6-4 and 280 pounds. Maybe it was a 
986different Randy Savage? 
987
988 
989
990Other notes: Jerry Blackwell appeared on 3/15 on a Denver independent card which drew 60 
991fans. . . . Old ICW tapes produced by Angelo Savoldi can now be seen on the Tempo network. . 
992. It is said that Angelo Poffo had a $1 wager on Wrestlemania, but that his pick was Ted 
993DiBiase. . . . USA Today did some publicity work for WM4. . . Former Japanese Sumo star 
994Futuhaguro is 99 percent certain he isn't going into professional wrestling according to a sumo 
995journal in Japan. . . Independent Tri-State wrestling drew 500 in Shaler, PA on 3/25 as its 
996champion Hercules John Gavin went to a double count out with the Mighty Goliath (who used to 
997appear in Memphis) which was Goliath's first match back since suffering a nasty broken ankle 
998several months back. Local legend Johnny DeFazio wrestled and beat the Sicilian Beast when 
999manager Mark Curtis' interference backfired. . . The mystery wrestler Owen Hart wrestled 
1000managed by Makhan Singh on 3/19 in Calgary turned out to be a big guy in a mask (former All-
1001American wrestler Gary Albright who is training under the Harts) however Singh wound up 
1002jumping Hart and they did a number on him. Kevin Stewart is headed in as a heel with Karachi 
1003Vice. . . Real name of Stampede wrestling manager Abdul Wizal is Milad Zein. . . Jerry 
1004Blackwell's Southern Championship Wrestling outfit is holding a tag team tournament on 5/6 in 
1005Macon. . Dale Veasy is now working for Deep South as The Psycho. . . Lucha Libre returned to 
1006Los Angeles on 3/13. . . Bob Raskin's United States Wrestling Alliance drew 1,682 fans to a US 
1007Naval Base in Groton, CT to see Sgt. Slaughter beat a Russian Assassin, Rocky Johnson & Afa 
1008the Samoan beat The Beach Boys (Larry Winters & Eddie Miranda), Cheetah Kid beat David 
1009
1010
1011Shults via DQ and a Tonga Kid pinned King Kaluha (Mike Kaluha). . . .  The Kentucky Athletic 
1012Commission has put in the rules that all wrestling matches should have guard rails around the 
1013ring at least four feet high and at least five feet from the ring. Wrestlers who toss opponents 
1014over the top ropes can be fined or suspended and any referee who doesn't stop a match for that 
1015reason will be fined and suspended. The top rope rule is now state law and must be enforced at 
1016all times according to a notice by commission chairman Fred Lampson. . . Independent 
1017manager Nasty Ronnie from the Rock Group Nasty Savage performed on a 20-date European 
1018tour including one shot in Poland before more than 10,000 fans. Savage managed an NWF 
1019show on 2/29 in Jacksonville, FL which drew 500 fans and included Don D.C. Drake and Sgt. 
1020Slaughter. . . Manny Fernandez is to work some independent dates in South Carolina for 
1021promoter Eddie Bradley in early April. . . Susan Green is moving from Texas to Columbia, SC to 
1022open her own training school in the same city as Moolah's school which should cause a major 
1023rivalry. . . Johnny Hunter is promoting a show 4/9 in Asheboro with Tommy Rich vs. Dick Slater 
1024advertised on top but it will be changed to Mr. Wrestling II vs Slater since Rich is now in Japan. 
1025Also Buddy Landel, Buzz Tyler, Rick Link, Mike Jackson, Kevin Dillinger (Alan Martin), Rick 
1026McCord, Susan Greene, Paula Kaye all booked and Lou Thesz will referee. . . Apparently Tom 
1027Zenk is hot at the AWA for their remarks about how Curt Hennig "injured" him on television 
1028when he quit the promotion. 
1029
1030 
1031
1032EARLY AWARDS FAVORITES: Wrestler of the year--I can't find anyone who fits all of the 
1033criteria better than Chigusa Nagayo for all the same reasons I picked her last year. This country 
1034pickings are slim, but the best choice I can come up with is DiBiase; Best Babyface--Hulk 
1035Hogan, with Chigusa second and I guess Randy Savage third; Best Heel--Based on the last few 
1036weeks I'd pick Eddie Gilbert but for overall with Dump Matsumoto out then DiBiase's in; Best 
1037Tag Team--Midnight Express still; Best Manager--Paul E. Dangerously is getting closer but I 
1038think barring execution or imprisonment Jim Cornette is a cinch; Match of the year--The best 
1039match I saw or will see was the 12 girl tag in Tokyo but not including that I'd have to go with Flair 
1040vs. Sting from Clash of the Champions; Rookie of the year--None have made a mark. The only 
1041one I've seen much of is Akira Taue and he's shown me nothing; Most Charismatic--Hogan; 
1042Best Flier--Owen Hart; Most Outstanding--Lots of close ones here but for overall I'd have to pick 
1043Nobuhiko Takada; Best Brawler--Two stand out right now, Bruiser Brody first and Terry Gordy 
1044second; Best technical--Hiro Hase is a standout as a technical wrestler even in Japan; Feud of 
1045the year--Lawler vs. Gilbert is going to be too short. Hulk vs. DiBiase is actually good but a little 
1046one-sided and actually for a Hulk feud the drawing power wasn't much. Still, I can't come up 
1047with anything better yet; Best on interviews--Cornette; Most Overrated--Dusty; Most Underrated-
1048-Sam Houston (doing jobs for Danny Davis); Best Promotion--All Japan Women; Best TV show-
1049-New Japan; Best TV announcer--Jim Ross; Worst TV announcer--Mark Lowrance or Rod 
1050Trongard. 
1051
1052 
1053
1054Some late NWA notes: Rip Morgan, who wrestled in World Class as The Real Thing is headed 
1055in at the end of the month . . . NWA returns to Detroit on 4/30 with Flair vs. Sting, Road Warriors 
1056vs. Powers of Pain in a cage, Rotundo vs. Williams and Varsity Club vs. Garvin in a bullrope 
1057match . . . TV tapings this month are 4/2 in Charlotte, 4/10 in Roanoke, 4/17 in Asheville and 
10584/24 in Charleston, WV while the NWA main event tapings (which is the new show that starts 
1059
1060
1061this Sunday on TBS) will be taped 4/14 in  Greenwood, SC and 4/28 in Rock Hill, SC . . . TBS is 
1062looking at doing another special like Sunday's in prime time on a Wednesday night early in the 
1063summer. I'll have national numbers next week but in Atlanta the TBS special drew an overall 
1064rating of 11/,7 and the Flair vs. Sting match upped the ratings to 14.5. Now the national 
1065numbers aren't going to be anywhere near that high, but a national five rating doesn't seem out 
1066of reach at all. The special beat the NCAA basketball tournament on the networks going on at 
1067the same time in the Atlanta market  . . . NWA will lose KCOP in Los Angeles shortly. Ratings 
1068weren't good because it was head-to-head with Titan and they were splitting the wrestling 
1069audience on TV and the station didn't want o move it to a new time slot . . . JCP is expecting a 
1070gate in excess of $300,000 for the second night of the Crockett Cup in Greensboro . . . Steve 
1071Williams & Nikita Koloff return on 4/3 at the Omni against the Midnight Express 
1072
1073 
1074
1075Stampede: 3/19 in Edmonton saw Makhan Singh & Johnny Smith go double DQ with Owen 
1076Hart & Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit beat Great Gama, Jason the Terrible beat Steve DiSalvo, Rip 
1077& Gordie Rogers beat Mr. Hito & Suni War Cloud, Jerry Morrow pinned Biff Wellington and 
1078Randy Thatcher downed Hashif Khan . . . 3/26 in Edmonton drew 850 as Cuban Assassin 
1079returned from Kansas City and beat War Cloud via count with a DDT on concrete, Rip Rogers & 
1080Kerry Brown downed Dr. Jonathan W. Holliday & Wellington, Benoit beat Gama via CO, Jason 
1081pinned Morrow, Smith DDQ Pillman and Owen Hart pinned Markhan Singh . . . 3/24 in Medicine 
1082Hat before 900 saw a six man cage match with Owen & Bruce Hart & Pillman against Singh & 
1083Morrow & Gama which lasted 60 minutes . . . DiSalvo has left for South Africa . . . They set up 
1084an angle where Johnny Smith (supposedly Davey Boy's brother or cousin) and Diana Smith 
1085(Owen's sister and Davey Boy's wife) argued on TV and Owen came out to defend his sister. 
1086Davey Boy was supposed to work here this past month after Wrestlemania to feud with Johnny 
1087but Vince vetoed the idea. Actually at one point there were plans for some wrestlers from here 
1088to work the Crockett Cup as well but political pressure put an end to that one. So it probably was 
1089no coincidence that it was just outside Greensboro where Owen did the submission job for 
1090Hercules. It's pretty well assumed from all this that Owen will wind up with Titan before the end 
1091of the year, especially since it appears Bret is turning. 
1092
1093 
1094
1095Finally: Tony Anthony beat Tom Prichard to win the Alabama title on 3/28 in Birmingham while 
1096The Bruise Brothers beat Max Pain & Gary Young to win the CWA Southern tag belts on 3/28 in 
1097Memphis in a match they put up a gold record by Sawyer Brown to get the shot. Jerry Lawler 
1098threw fire at Eddie Gilbert in the main event. . . Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson made some 
1099appearances for WOW and won their tag belts from The Fargos (Pat Rose and someone else 
1100managed by Don Fargo make up the team) on 3/8 in Mobile. 
1101
1102 
1103
1104THE READERS' PAGES   
1105Clinton Freeman of 196 East 75th St., New York, NY 10021 is looking for VHS tapes of Ric Flair 
1106from 1980-83 and also looking for recent tapes of Stampede Wrestling. He can trade tapes of 
1107Madison Square Garden matches from 1983-present, Puerto Rico, AWA, Memphis, UWF old 
1108tapes and NWA tapes from 1984-present. . . John Lucus of 40 Wall Street #2124, New York, NY 
110910005 wants to hear from fans who are interested in a professional wrestling league that would 
1110be legitimate sport. . . The P.M. Film and Video Tape Company of 1905 North Atlantic Blvd 
1111
1112
1113Suite e-5D, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33305 has an incredible collection of wrestling tapes for sale and 
1114reasonable prices. The collection goes back through the 1950s and features just about every 
1115big name from that era. They also have old Sheik shows, old ICW (Angelo Poffo's group 
1116featuring tons of footage of a pre-WWF Randy Savage), old Bruiser shows from Indiana, old 
1117Southwest, old CWA and tapes of the old Pedro Martinez IWA promotion than ran in the mid-
111870s. Write them for more details. . . Don Freedman of 113 Linbrook Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 
111927106 has hundreds of wrestling magazines and photos from the 60s and 70s for sale. . . Austin 
1120Mustafa of 67 Childs Road, Chipping Norton, New South Wales 2170 AUSTRALIA would like to 
1121buy or trade videotapes with anyone from North America who has a PAL system converter. 
1122
1123 
1124
1125OREGON REGULATIONS   
1126After attending the 3/18 Oregon wrestling and boxing commission hearing, I really had an 
1127opportunity to see a different side of wrestling. The promoter/wrestler struggles really came out. 
1128Mike Miller testified how he has wrestled for Owen promotions for six years and the longer he 
1129wrestles, the more he goes into debt. There were some definite hard feelings toward Owen 
1130among the wrestlers there. After watching the newly appointed commission in action, I have 
1131mixed emotions. They are doing an excellent job in improving the safety and working conditions 
1132for the wrestlers, trying to add mats outside the ring, having to add proper security personnel at 
1133the matches, adding barriers that separate the ring area from the fans, etc. However, they are 
1134also attempting to alter what the fans see in the actual business end of wrestling. They want to 
1135legitimately fine wrestlers who use chairs or foreign objects. There was no attempt to even try 
1136and discuss blading as the commission is very adamantly against the practice. What the 
1137commission doesn't understand is that promoters do what they can to fill up arenas. For years, 
1138blood has been one of the main attractions here. The commission has banned the blade, but 
1139they haven't banned the blood. This allows the wrestler to force himself to draw blood by some 
1140other means, such as Rip Oliver doing a hardway 2/16 on the cage. For the life of me, I can't 
1141understand the logic that allows a wrestler to be able to do a hardway, where the chances of a 
1142legitimate injury are countless times greater than the relatively safe practice of blading. The 
1143trouble with the commission is that they are not "smart." The wrestlers had trouble opening up 
1144and really saying the things that needed to be said because the commissioners didn't even 
1145understand what wrestling is all about. One commissioner, when trying to solve the question if 
1146mats are needed outside the ring asked various wrestlers "If it was optional or up to them if they 
1147were thrown out of the ring." A nervous stir went through the crowd and at that point I realized 
1148just how little the commission knew. The whole idea of the commission when they interfere with 
1149the product itself is very frustrating to the promoters, wrestlers and fans. 
1150Mike Rodgers 
1151Seaside, Oregon 
1152
1153 
1154
1155BRUNO ON RADIO 
1156People who worry about newsletters exposing the business should have caught Bruno 
1157Sammartino's two-hour act on Pittsburgh's KDKA radio last Friday (3/18). I heard and taped the 
1158second hour and hope to eventually get a tape of the first hour. He was on from 11 p.m. to 1 
1159a.m. when the 50,000-watt signal covers about 35 states and parts of Canada. Before Bruno 
1160becomes the patron saint of McMahon-bashing smart fans, let's look at the issue. You wrote 
1161
1162
1163that Bruno's opinion was that wrestling should treat its fans as intelligent and try to maintain 
1164credibility. Pro wrestling credibility is as laughable a contradiction as military intelligence. Titan 
1165bills itself as sports entertainment and has relaxed the entire is-it-real issue. It isn't real and it 
1166hasn't been in any of our lifetimes. Ditto for the NWA. Today, self-inflicted blade cuts are rare in 
1167the WWF. Does that hurt credibility? The sham was when somebody like Bruno sliced himself 
1168with a blade, then went on TV to say he spent the night in the hospital and needed transfusions 
1169and stitches. That's credibility? Did Bruno really hate Larry Zbyszko? Didn't matches end with 
1170Professor Tanaka throwing salt in Bruno's eyes? Was Gorilla Monsoon really from Manchuria? 
1171Did Bruno enter the ring not knowing who would win the match? When Bruno booked Pittsburgh 
1172(and he did in the late 1960s and early 1970s until he sold out to Geeto Mongol), didn't he 
1173employ wrestlers who needed a gimmick to get over? Was Antonio Pugliese really his cousin? 
1174Didn't Bruno work tag team matches here from 1966-68 with a guy (Tony Marino) who was 
1175dressed up in a full Batman outfit? Come on. Lying and silly gimmicks aimed at kids didn't start 
1176in 1984. For all the protective paranoia, the masses knew pro wrestling was worked in Bruno's 
1177heyday just as they know it is today. They also know the woman isn't really going to be cut in 
1178half but they still like to watch the magic show. Fans enjoy the story lines developed for the 
1179characters in the same way they enjoy "Dallas" or "Moonlighting." I have to believe that pure 
1180marks and few and far between. Bruno seems to have settled comfortably into a routine that 
1181lads a listener to conclude the wrestling he did was NFL-caliber legit sport but today it is a 
1182gimmicky fraud that he can't even stand to watch. I suspect this is just the beginning of media 
1183opportunities he'll have to spout this lie. It's odd that he feels this strongly only after cashing four 
1184years worth of Titan checks and worked matches for them up until a year ago. Is a whore who 
1185doesn't enjoy the work any less of a whore? On a lighter note, someone recently wrote about 
1186the inept commission-appointed ring announcer at the Pittsburgh shows. The guy is so awful 
1187that he's funny. He worked an NWA card and did a straight intro of Mike Rotundo. Somebody 
1188then informed him to add the Varsity Club line and he solemnly said, "Mr. Rotundo is a member 
1189of the Variety Club." Probably hopes to join the Kiwanis Club too. Final thought on the NBC 
1190special. The overall ratings are only one part of the story. The real success or failure will be 
1191demonstrated by the demographic breakdown. In TV, it's not only how many watched, but who 
1192watched. You may recall CBS cancelled highly-rated shows in the early 1970s because their 
1193demographics weren't desirable. In other instances, more modestly-rated shows have survived 
1194because they delivered the target audience for advertisers. The show's position in the overall 
1195weekly standings is a convenient barometer, but not the most important. Viewing levels vary 
1196from night to night, so that also has to be considered. A lot more people watch TV on a Monday 
1197or a Thursday then on a Friday or Saturday, for example. Some highlights of the second hour 
1198when Bruno was on: 
1199(Caller asks, is WWF wrestling 100% fake?) 
1200"(laughs)...uh...It's 100% show, What can I tell you? It's all show. 
1201(Blading--denies it ever happened in his day) but..."Today, nothing would surprise me." 
1202(Possibility of working for a different organization such as the NWA) "Absolutely not- I wouldn't 
1203touch it with a 50-foot pole." 
1204(On George Steele) "He's an educator. He's been a teacher for years. He's an educated man so 
1205he's not quite the way they portray him." (On Bobby Heenan) "McMahon likes people like 
1206
1207
1208Heenan and the way he portrays himself in the wrestling game. Personally I think he's a dud 
1209and a disgrace." 
1210(On Managers) "They're just hired to portray themselves as managers." 
1211(On the NWA) "There are a lot of things I don't like about them, either. They have a lot of 
1212nonsense too. They do have people like Ric Flair, who you can see in a 30 or 40 minute match 
1213who will give you a lot of excitement. They do have guys like that moreso than the other 
1214organization but no, I'm sorry. They do have some guys who can go and are in shape to keep 
1215the action up but even they have an awful lot of bizarre nonsense in there that, to me, is no 
1216good." 
1217(On David's career) "I'm sorry to say I was his hero and he wanted to be just like me. I did 
1218everything to discourage him. He wanted to be the wrestler his dad was, just the tights and 
1219boots. But as he found out, and as I tried to tell him, that doesn't go anymore. They're not 
1220interested in guys who just want to wrestle. People like David have a hard time and that's why 
1221he's going overseas a lot. He'll be wrestling in Japan. Over there, they still like more wrestling." 
1222(Rick McGraw) "He died from chemicals that people shouldn't be fooling around with, which is 
1223very widespread in this business, unfortunately." 
1224(On Jesse Ventura) "I didn't have any relationship with him. McMahon love controversies and 
1225Jesse's very good at that sort of thing. I never felt comfortable to get into that. A lot of people 
1226would tell me I didn't talk enough when we did that. It was very difficult for me to get in the swing 
1227of that sort of thing. I was uncomfortable. When it came time to go on the air I would go and 
1228when it was over I would go my way. I never spent much time with any of those guys. I was very 
1229unhappy with what I was doing. I would be there on time to do my thing and as soon as it was 
1230over I would leave as quickly as I could to get back to my hotel." 
1231(WM4 tournament) "They really didn't have anything great to come up with to create great 
1232interest. They figured if the title was up for grabs it would create some interest. 
1233(agents) "In the wrestling business, no way. A promoter wouldn't handle a wrestler if he had an 
1234agent. They want to control everything." 
1235(A caller asks if his wrestling was all real) "Well, it was in my day, at least I thought it was." 
1236John Mehno 
1237Baden, Pennsylvania 
1238
1239 
1240
1241AND MORE ON BRUNO 
1242Being raised on Bruno Sammartino and the WWF, your comments on the situation echo mine 
1243completely. I was all set to write a letter on this sad and disgraceful situation when you 
1244published your own comments in the latest issue. McMahon would be nothing without Bruno. He 
1245was for almost eight years the only reason the WWF remained in business. Even after he lost 
1246the title for the first time, Pedro Morales drew well in the big cities with spanish populations but 
1247he was a poor draw in the working-class towns. Back came Bruno to the rescue again. I would 
1248love to see Dusty Rhodes lambast Vince McMahon on WTBS in regards to McMahon trying to 
1249desecrate his own legend. If Crockett could sign Sammartino, I would consider it a wrestling D-
1250Day. He has natural feuds with Zbyszko and Koloff. 
1251John Corrigan Parlin, 
1252 New Jersey 
1253
1254 
1255
1256
1257KUDOS TO ANGEL, MANTELL 
1258Ernest Angel has won my vote for the best wrestling manager of 1988. TV evangelists are the 
1259talk of the town and he plays a great one. CWA was wrong in toning down his gimmick. It is 
1260timely, poignant and has the chemistry to put the promotion on top. Ken Mantell is a miracle 
1261worker. World Class was the worst promotion in the U.S. in December and now it's the best. 
1262General Motors could use a guy like Mantell. 
1263Joe Becht 
1264Oak Brook, Illinois 
1265
1266 
1267
1268STAUNCH NWA FAN GETTING FRUSTRATED 
1269For the past 15 years I have been the NWA's biggest supporter as my dwindling bank account 
1270can attest to. At this point even I have to admit that Crockett is screwing up badly. Eddie Gilbert 
1271in my opinion has the potential to be the hottest act in wrestling and to simply discard him when 
1272most all the other acts were stale should be cause for a criminal indictment. The New Breed 
1273drew the most heat on one of the cards I saw them in Philadelphia last year and I think they 
1274would have been a hit here in New York just as I think The Freebirds would have been here. A 
1275wrestler as consistent, hardworking and talented as Ricky Morton could have been used more 
1276creatively to avert his downfall and volumes have already been written about Terry Taylor and 
1277Steve Williams. While I didn't mind Lex Luger as the Fourth Horseman hidden behind the other 
1278three, he is horrible as a main eventer (even though Ric Flair could probably carry Jim Crockett 
1279himself to a good match). I could tolerate Nikita Koloff in his role because I did see him in some 
1280real good matches to offset the many stinkers, but Luger isn't even as good as Hulk Hogan. 
1281Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotundo and Rick Steiner have an entertaining act, but their matches are 
1282lousy. Bobby Eaton has done so many jobs of late that he has lost all his credibility. Crockett 
1283finally came to New York in November and put on a great show in front of a big crowd, and 
1284three months later, his New York future is in grave danger. After drawing less than 3,000 last 
1285time, Crockett is sending a poor card on 4/8 mainly because Flair and Jim Cornette, his two 
1286hottest acts, won't be there. The WWF hasn't run any cards at the Nassau Coliseum since the 
1287NWA came in and my guess is McMahon has told the Coliseum they won't run as long as the 
1288NWA is booked there. Although the WWF has never drawn there consistently, Coliseum officials 
1289will take not of the big crowd for Wrestlemania. I am not yet ready to jump off Crockett's 
1290bandwagon since I can't afford to fly to Calgary, Memphis, Fort Worth or Tokyo on a regular 
1291basis, but my passion for wrestling has been dwindling as rapidly as the skin on Dusty's 
1292forehead. 
1293Gary Fishman 
1294Kew Gardens, New York 
1295
1296 
1297
1298SICK OF PRAISE FOR JAPAN  
1299 I get so sick of the way that people talk about Japanese wrestling. There's no question it should 
1300be covered extensively in the Observer because it is a significant part of the wrestling world. 
1301However, when you start printing letters that criticize the American society and the jazz scene, 
1302then you are going way too far. Anyone who thinks the Japanese never forsake quality for 
1303showmanship is full of it. The rock group KISS has enjoyed phenomenal success there because 
1304of their wild appearence and stage show. In fact, when they stopped wearing their makeup in 
1305
1306
1307the United States, they waited almost two years to do the same in Japan because they knew 
1308they wouldn't be accepted there without it. And what about the movie industry? Do you think the 
1309Godzilla movies are popular because of great acting? As a student, I find teachers constantly 
1310comparing the American intelligence with that of the Japanese. I'm sure that the wrestlers love 
1311being compared to Japanese wrestlers as much as I love being compared to Japanese 
1312students. The Japanese do well at everything because they become obsessed with it. For them, 
1313it's a matter of pride. If they screw up, it's not only a mark on themselves but also on their entire 
1314family. You may think that's great, but it puts a lot of pressure on everyone. They spend hours 
1315studying and I'm certain spend hours learning wrestling skills and have no time for themselves. 
1316Cut the North American wrestlers some slack. They're just trying to make a living and preserve 
1317their bodies in the process. Look at what trying to wrestle like the Japanese did to Tommy 
1318Billington. Everyone would love matches filled with nothing but high spots, but working them is a 
1319great way to destroy yourself in a hurry. Now there is no excuse for total duds like Hulk Hogan 
1320and Andre the Giant either, but there are many non-Japanese who can hold their own without 
1321going crazy about it. I wonder how many of the Observer readers can honestly say that they 
1322work as hard at their own jobs as the Japanese in the same profession do. If they do, then I 
1323think they would quality as workaholics. If there is anything wrong with our society, it's the lack 
1324of national pride, which is so evident in the pages of the Observer. You seem to hate everything 
1325that wasn't imported from the other side of the world. I have absolutely nothing against the 
1326country of Japan or Japanese wrestling, but I don't think it's up to a bunch of wrestling fans to 
1327dictate what's wrong with our country just because they prefer the Oriental style of wrestling. I 
1328think the Observer is great, but I'd like to see you stick to writing about wrestling instead of how 
1329rotten our way of life is. I'm sure that's what a Japanese journalist would do. 
1330Michelle Johnson 
1331Watertown, New York 
1332
1333 
1334
1335DM: Have I ever written about how rotten our quality of life is or done any cultural comparisons 
1336between the U.S. and Japan except to where it pertains to the wrestling business? If I lived in 
1337Japan and made a comparison of the quality of the football product and wrote the U.S. product 
1338was superior, I hope people wouldn't take it as an indictment against an entire society. 
1339
1340 
1341
1342A LETTER TO CROCKETT   
1343Dear Jim, Didn't we just have this conversation? Jim, believe me, I try to understand your 
1344thinking. I really do. But six months after I wrote to you, I find myself having to do it again. It 
1345seems as though every step you take forward, you take two in reverse. GOOD NEWS: Ted 
1346Turner seems to be helping you compete with Titan in trying to break into the PPV area. The 
1347free show on 3/27 was a great idea. BAD NEWS: Dusty Rhodes is still the booker. There are 
1348some things Dusty has done that border on genius (The War Games, Magnum vs. Nikita best of 
1349seven series, the build-up for Flair vs. Nikita at the 1985 American Bash, the Varsity Club 
1350gimmick), but on the whole, the man has systematically destroyed your promotion's future and 
1351you seem oblivious to it. I won't even discuss Ron Garvin as World champion, the continuous 
1352push of a way-past-stale Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard as main event heels, the destruction 
1353of all the potential angles with now-departed UWF wrestlers or any other things that have been 
1354pointed out in the past. Instead, let's examine your biggest problem. Pushing Dusty Rhodes as 
1355
1356
1357the promotion's top star. Look at your house shows in 1986 compared with now. Look at your 
1358TV ratings. If you want to draw an interesting comparison, compare Detroit in the 1970s with Ed 
1359Farhat or Indianapolis in the 1970s with Dick the Bruiser or the AWA with Verne Gagne and in 
1360some respects, New Japan with Antonio Inoki. The similarities with the promotions listed above 
1361and yours is that those groups went with the same star on top until he was way past his prime 
1362and didn't make the change until they nearly killed the promotion. I sure hope in two years you 
1363don't look back and wake up and that we don't mention the NWA in the same breath as Detroit 
1364under The Sheik and Indianapolis under Dick the Bruiser. GOOD NEWS: The Fantastics are on 
1365their way as replacements for Ricky & Robert. They've been a hard working team for a long time 
1366and it's good to see them get a break. They were the best team at the first Crockett Cup and will 
1367make fresh foes for Midnight, Tully & Arn, Sheepherders and Varsity Club. It would also be nice 
1368to Bring up the history of the Fantastics vs. Sheepherders feud if you ever get around to 
1369rekindling it. BAD NEWS: Al Perez is in with Gary Hart. Who cares? I've got no problem with 
1370Perez or Hart, but that gives you eight managers. That's a lot of people collecting paychecks 
1371who don't wrestle. As far as Perez goes, as the good-looking arrogant heel he's not in the class 
1372with Rick Rude, let alone Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, Lex Luger or Ric Flair. As Arn says, the 
1373bottom line is Perez has as much chance of getting over nationally as Jimmy Valiant has of 
1374winning wrestler of the year. What really is irritating is that you push Perez and allow Terry 
1375Taylor, Terry Gordy, Eddie Gilbert and Ted DiBiase to get away (okay, what happened with 
1376DiBiase was probably beyond your control, but not the other three). Not only that, but because 
1377Rhodes is so enamored with his close-knit circle that continue to kiss his ass on television, 
1378wrestlers like Owen Hart, Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody or Austin Idol who could get over in a big 
1379way are not even considered. Let me leave you with one final thought. What other promotion do 
1380you know of anywhere at anytime that has remained successful and hot with the same booker in 
1381charge for so many years? 
1382Jeff Bowdren 
1383Plantation, Florida 
1384
1385 
1386
1387NEWSDAY ARTICLE 
1388There was a big article about wrestling making the big-time in the TV magazine of the Sunday 
1389Newsday (Long Island's biggest newspaper) including a big color photo of Hogan holding the 
1390evil twin referee over his head on the cover. The article mainly talked about the WWF but did 
1391mention the NWA. They portrayed McMahon as the marketing genius add even described how 
1392he blocked Crockett's pay-per-view shows. They quoted the producer of Saturday Night's Main 
1393Event as saying the other promotions are just a bunch of Neanderthals rolling around on the 
1394mats and slicing their heads with razors." They also quoted David Crockett as saying the NWA 
1395has grown 1500% since going national. Even though the article centered around the WWF, it 
1396was surprising to see the NWA get mentioned at all. They never even mentioned the NWA's 
1397free show on TBS to counter Wrestlemania. 
1398Michael Desharnais 
1399Baldwin, New York 
1400
1401 
1402
1403PROGRESSION OF LETTERS   
1404
1405
1406I've noticed a progression in your letters section regarding coverage of women's wrestling. First 
1407there were letters wanting more space allocated to conventional female wrestling. This was 
1408followed by requests for coverage of GLOW. This was followed by some support for coverage of 
1409POWW. By the same logic, I can only assume you will next be bombarded with requests for 
1410coverage of the girl apartment house wrestling scene whose articles have made the newsstand 
1411magazines so popular. Harry White St. Louis, Missouri I hope you realize you would be 
1412offending about 90 percent of your readers if you bowed to the whims of the few who want you 
1413to cover GLOW and POWW. Anyone who even considers GLOW as pro wrestling can't have 
1414any idea of what working a quality match is all about. What next, coverage of the local mud 
1415wrestling scene. 
1416John Fitzgerald 
1417Chicago, Illinois 
1418
1419 
1420
1421 
1422
1423 
1424
1425 
1426
1427 
1428
1429 
1430
1431 
1432
1433 
1434
1435 
1436
1437
1438WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
1439April 11, 1988 
1440
1441 
1442
1443"What goes around comes around" -- I'm not sure what wise man first coined this phrase, but 
1444he's a whole lot wiser this week 
1445
1446 
1447
1448 
1449
1450THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF SUPER SUNDAY 
1451March 27 may wind up being the most important day of this year when it comes to wrestling. 
1452Both the NWA and WWF presented big shows, amidst tons of hype, intrigue, sabotage, media 
1453manipulation and careful planning. The results, in a big surprise showed that if wrestling doesn't 
1454fit into that equation as well, then all the careful planning in the world is for naught. 
1455
1456 
1457
1458POLL RESULTS: This was the largest response we've ever gotten for any reader poll in history, 
1459which isn't surprising. Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious after the shows were over was just 
1460how one-sided would the readers think the results were. We had 532 responses between letters 
1461and phone calls and the results were stunning. Of those, 504 (94.7 percent) enjoyed Clash of 
1462the Champions the most. Only 20 (3.8 percent) enjoyed Wrestlemania more than Clash of the 
1463Champions, while eight (1.5 percent) enjoyed both shows about the same. In the category of 
1464which show you thought was the better card, 489 (91:9 percent) said Clash of the Champions, 
146539 (7.3 percent) thought Wrestlemania was the better overall card while four (0.8 percent) 
1466thought both cards were about the same in quality. But probably the most stunning statistic, but 
1467then again really not surprising is that of 532 responses, only two voted a match from 
1468Wrestlemania as the best overall match, as the Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage championship 
1469match and the Ted DiBiase vs. Don Muraco second round match each received one vote. 
1470Seven others couldn't pick one match as being the best. It was almost a tie as to the match the 
1471readers thought was the best of the day with Ric Flair vs. Sting 45 minute draw getting a slight 
1472nod, with 245 votes (46.1 percent) while the Midnight Express vs. Fantastics match got 242 
1473votes (45.5 percent) and the NWA tag team title change with Barry Windham & Lex Luger 
1474beating Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson got 36 votes (6.8 percent). Clearly, as far as which 
1475group put together the better show, it was no contest as far as the readers are concerned. 
1476
1477 
1478
1479HOTTEST WRESTLER: Well, of course it's Hulk Hogan, whose popularity transcends pro 
1480wrestling. But the second hottest guy in the business coming off of Sunday is undoubtedly Sting. 
1481The response pretty well indicates that Sting vaulted past the Road Warriors and Randy Savage 
1482into the spot light years behind the Hulkster as the game's hottest act. Sting's popularity is 
1483almost an explained phenomenon. Up until just a few months ago, he never had any kind of a 
1484national push. He's probably never scored a clean pinfall on any major star. He's never even 
1485won a singles title. While he's very good in the ring considering his experience, he's far from the 
1486most polished performer in the NWA. And his interviews leave much to be desired. Call it 
1487charisma, rapport with the fans or what have you. The Ric Flair vs. Sting match was the most 
1488widely-viewed match in the history of the modern NWA, and probably the most widely-viewed 
1489match ever on cable television in this country. It was certainly the biggest match of Sting's 
1490career and just as certainly the first time he'd ever been asked to work a match anywhere near 
1491
1492
149345 minutes. While it was Flair who carried the match and controlled the pace, Sting held up his 
1494end and did a great job. Flair deserves a lot of the credit for Sting's sudden surge in popularity, 
1495but if there was nothing there in Sting himself, Flair’s efforts would have been in vain. The thing 
1496is, there really aren't a lot of options open to the NWA in pushing Sting and keeping his 
1497momentum going. He's already worked four straight months with Flair, ironically getting hotter 
1498by the month even though the majority of cases he put Flair over. There is no other singles heel 
1499in the promotion he can have a meaningful feud with. With Nikita Koloff getting the title shot at 
1500the Crockett Cup and Dusty Rhodes, as the Midnight Rider, fixing once again to be the focal 
1501point of the entire promotion, it looks like the NWA will fail to take advantage of something they 
1502really lucked into. But Sting got over big with less of a push than any major star in the business, 
1503so he'll probably retain much of his popularity as just one of five contenders to the No. 2 
1504babyface position. 
1505
1506 
1507
1508SUNDAY'S STATISTICS: Although Wrestlemania didn't do anything resembling the amount of 
1509business that Titan, and most everyone else as well, predicted, the modern pay-per-view 
1510technology prevented it from being a financial flop. Approximately 585,000 homes paid an 
1511average of $19.95 to watch Wrestlemania IV on pay-per-view, or a six percent national buy rate 
1512(I've heard estimates from 6.0 to 6.5 percent this week depending on the source) so that's $11.7 
1513million. Add in $3 million from closed-circuit (about 220,000 viewers in the U.S. and Canada), 
1514and another $1.6 million from the live venue (a combination of Donald Trump's site fee and the 
1515actual live gate), and you've got an overall estimated gross of $16.3 million. With the current 
1516number of PPV clearences, if they had the same amount of interest as last year's show (and no 
1517competing show), the show would have grossed $26.6 million. Of that $16.3 million, Titan will 
1518probably actually see just over $7 million and between souvenirs and the videotape and 
1519possible foreign rights, they may get another $1 million. So even with payoffs, inherent major 
1520expenses of putting together such a production, advertising, etc., the show was certainly 
1521profitable on the night. However, the real success or failure of a major show of this type is not 
1522whether it makes money on the night. Titan takes four weeks off after Wrestlemania, one week 
1523off before. Houses were way down the past five weeks, even in the cities Hogan appeared. 
1524Houses will no doubt be way down all summer as well, stemming from this show, and leading to 
1525the late August PPV show. For Wrestlemania IV to be a financially successful show, it has to be 
1526profitable enough to offset all these other losses of income, not just make money on the night. 
1527Last year's show certainly was. The year before it certainly wasn't. We'll have a better idea what 
1528picture this year's fits into in August. 
1529
1530 
1531
1532Clash of the Champions drew an overall 5.8 rating/12.6 share, which means it was viewed in an 
1533average quarter hour in 2,561,000 homes. The rating isn't as high as Titan's Royal Rumble on 
1534USA in January, although the share (percentage of homes watching television that was 
1535watching the show) was slightly higher because far less people are watching TV on Sunday 
1536afternoons as compared with prime time Sunday night. However, an interesting phenomenon of 
1537Clash is that the audience increased in every successive quarter hour, which is unusual for any 
153821/2 hour show and especially for wrestling, which often loses ground in these types of events. 
1539The Ric Flair vs. Sting match had a 7.1 rating/15 share with 3,138,000 homes watching (almost 
1540exactly the same audience of the Royal Rumble), while the last 15 minutes of that match had 
1541
1542
15433,447,000 homes watching, which made it the most watched wrestling slot on WTBS and ever 
1544for the NWA, and probably the most watched wrestling slot ever on cable television as well. The 
1545ratings services figure that a household equals 2.2 viewers, but I'm certain that a PPV show has 
1546to average at least three viewers per household, even though pro wrestling, even McMahon's 
1547style, is not something the whole family really watches. Anyway, no matter how you slice it, 
1548Wrestlemania was viewed by less than two million people in the United States. My guess is the 
15492.2 figure is also a little low for Clash, although certainly not as high, as it would be for the Titan 
1550show. However the household figures don't include later viewings on VCR, which my guess is 
1551that Clash had a higher than normal percentage of. All in all, Clash was probably viewed by six 
1552million people, and the Flair-Sting match by more than seven million. 
1553
1554 
1555
1556MOST UNJUST CRITICISM (WM): The card was too long. The truth is, the card wasn't too long 
1557for what was being billed (16-18 matches). The matches, and most importantly, the atmosphere 
1558wasn't good enough to sustain a long card. The card went three hours and 40 minutes, with a 
155912 minute intermission. I've been to Starcades that went 41/2 hours and few, if anybody 
1560complained the card was too long, and nobody went home early because the matches and the 
1561atmosphere enabled the enthusiasm to be sustained. Most of the WM matches were six 
1562minutes or less, and cutting a half hour from the show would have made them four minute 
1563matches and cutting an hour would have made them two minute matches. Wrestlemania wasn't 
1564a good card and because of that, it seemed like it was too long, but if it had gone any shorter, 
1565people would be complaining about the brevity of all the matches. 
1566
1567 
1568
1569MOST UNJUST CRITICISM (CLASH): There were too many commercials. Hey, you got to see 
1570one of the best cards of the year for free. Somebody has to foot the bill and it was the 
1571advertisers. The commercial breaks were longer than usual and there were a lot more 
1572commercials than normal in the first 90 minutes, but they didn't interrupt one match with a 
1573commercial, and one of the matches went 45 minutes uninterrupted. Its a whole lot better 
1574having to deal with lots of commercials early in the show than having to deal with a great match 
1575being interrupted six or seven times by commercial breaks. 
1576
1577 
1578
1579MOST JUST CRITICISM (WM): The endless Uecker looking for Vanna skit just didn't work, but 
1580more than anything else it was the live crowd which turned the card into a Turkey. The mistake 
1581is you can't paper the house with non-wrestling fans. They don't know the characters. They don't 
1582know the plots. Even Titan wrestling isn't so simplistic that someone off the strip with no 
1583knowledge of the product can pick up all that is needed to be understood to have an emotional 
1584reaction at the right time. 
1585
1586 
1587
1588MOST JUST CRITICISM (CLASH): The judging of the main event. Everything about this was 
1589botched up. First off, it was never explained whether or not the title could change hands via a 
1590judges decision. In fact, I'm still not clear on that. Second, having one judge not only as a 
1591Penthouse Pet but in the arms of one of the competitors on an interview the day before the 
1592event ranks right up there with the Fritz Von Erich interview claiming Lance wasn't a relative for 
1593stupidity and insulting the audience. Third, after being promised there would be a winner, they 
1594had a draw. Fourth, it was never made clear by the commentators that ring announcer Tom 
1595
1596
1597Miller had screwed up by indicating that Ken Osmond and Jason Hervey were judges, which in 
1598fact, they weren't; They were just celebrities sitting at the judging table. If Flair and Sting had 
1599only had an average match, or the card itself hadn't been so spectacular, this judging thing was 
1600such a fiasco that it actually would have ruined the entire card. 
1601
1602 
1603
1604LUCKIEST PROMOTER: This one is a tie. Crockett put on a great show before a huge viewing 
1605audience. But McMahon was lucky as well. There are probably 10 to 15 million WWF fans in the 
1606United States, and less than two million saw Wrestlemania IV. If it would have had the audience 
1607predicted for it, McMahon would be in far worse shape going into the summer season. 
1608
1609 
1610
1611BEST WRESTLER OF THE DAY: The day, the month, the year, the decade and the era--Ric 
1612Flair. The only question left to answer is if Flair is the greatest pro wrestler of all-time. 
1613
1614 
1615
1616BEST SWERVE: Titan Sports on the previous Sunday in Springfield, IL. Rick Martel & Tito 
1617Santana came out with the tag team titles for a match which was scheduled for an air date in 
1618mid-April, which of course made me think that the tag title wasn't changing hands. Well, what 
1619actually happened was Martel & Santana came out with the belts. Before the match started, 
1620Slick came out and started calling them names (which one would assume was to set up a future 
1621angle with the Bolsheviks). Martel & Santana chased him from the ring and to the dressing room 
1622while the ring attendant brought the belts to the dressing room. Then they re-emerged from the 
1623dressing room without the belts. The TV cameras didn't start filming until they came out of the 
1624dressing room the second time, minus the belts. 
1625
1626 
1627
1628MOST UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENON: Martel & Santana being booed in their match against 
1629Demolition. Not only did this happen in Atlantic City, but in every closed-circuit location I got a 
1630report from. At first I thought it was due to the face-paint/spiked Road Warrior clone image of 
1631Demolition which made fans cheer them, and that may be part of it. But in plenty of cities, the 
1632fans booed Demolition as well. I still can't put my finger on why fans don't like Strike Force. 
1633
1634 
1635
1636BEST CASE OF ASSUMING FANS HAVE MEMORY LOSS: This one was a tie as well. Titan 
1637gets a mention for the evil twin referee angle. Not too many weeks back many of us were 
1638proclaiming it as one of the greatest angles of all-time. But when it became obvious this 
1639tournament idea was a flop, in usual Titan fashion, they decided that the angle never took place 
1640in the first place. There was no mention on the telecast of the evil twin angle. In fact, Earl 
1641Hebner refereed several tournament matches with no mention of his name, Dave Hebner's 
1642name, or any name of a referee who worked the card. It must have been a pre-match ordinance 
1643from above because how else could both announcers ignore the presence of Hebner as a ref, 
1644and just as much, ignore Joey Marella as the referee for the Hogan vs. Andre match. Still, NWA 
1645doesn't lose here for their handling of the return of Steve Williams. Not only is Steve not the 
1646UWF champion, but he's not even a former UWF champion. It's like Crockett and Dusty botched 
1647up and destroyed an entire promotion, so in typical wrestling fashion, that promotion and that 
1648title never existed in the first place. And we all used to criticize McMahon for ignoring wrestling 
1649history. And that's not all. Also forgotten is Steve Williams' heel turn before he quit the 
1650promotion and his feud with Barry Windham. Well, if I was them, I'd probably like to pretend all 
1651
1652
1653that didn't take place either. Williams & Windham are actually going to be a tag team on the 
16544/17 WTBS main event show and I'll bet no acknowledgement whatsoever will be made to their 
1655past feud. Next thing you know we will see Bobby Ewing in the shower, World Class will be 
1656taken over and all the angles will pick up where they left off in May with Sting as a heel teaming 
1657with Rick Steiner, The Freebirds together, Luger as a Horseman, and Dusty will be telling us the 
1658entire last season was a dream. 
1659
1660 
1661
1662PUBLIC RELATIONS AWARD: Titan Sports, no question about that. Even though Clash had 
1663more than triple the viewership and may have been the most watched Sunday afternoon TV 
1664show in the history of cable television, virtually the entire news media ignored its very existence. 
1665On the other hand, Titan had lots of TV and radio coverage for its Wrestlemania, even if much 
1666of the coverage was making fun of them for the Savage thing getting out three weeks before he 
1667won the title. The ultimate embarrassment to Crockett was that CNN, a news station owned by 
1668Ted Turner, gave five minutes of coverage to Wrestlemania on their evening newscast while 
1669ignoring Clash. Titan's claim of 10 million viewers in the U.S. was picked up by most of the 
1670media, and some, like USA Today, even went so far as to claim 50 million viewers. The only 
1671numbers the public heard from JCP were on this past Saturday's TBS show, when David 
1672Crockett said 21/2 million homes (obviously Frances read him the story of Pinnocchio before 
1673they went on the air because he told the truth) and Flair later said 5 million homes. The 
1674message is simple. Unless JCP wishes to remain ignored by the media, they have to lie, and lie 
1675big, just like Titan does. And I don't blame Titan one bit--until the media calls them on their lie, 
1676they might as well continue to spout it. 
1677
1678 
1679
1680DO NUMBERS LIE, OR DO LIARS RELEASE THE NUMBERS?: We're back to USA Today 
1681and several other newspapers for saying WM was viewed live to 50 million people in 38 
1682countries. Well, 36 of those countries are the same fictitious countries that the Sheepherders 
1683have held tag team titles in, because the only pay-per-view was the U.S., closed circuit was 
1684U.S. and Canada, and nobody watched the show live on free television in other countries, 
1685although I'm sure eventually it will be seen in the Middle East in about a year (my brother toured 
1686there last year, Titan wrestling is big there, JCP wrestling is known as well but not as big, 
1687however they are about 11 months behind on tapes for both groups). Anyway, for WM to have 
1688been viewed by 50 million, that means the average PPV home must have had something like 90 
1689guests per household. 
1690
1691 
1692
1693HOW DID THIS COMPARE WITH PREVIOUS WRESTLEMANIAS?: Pretty bad on all 
1694accounts. As a card, it was unquestionably the worst of the four by a wide margin. The first 
1695Wrestlemania drew between 430,000 and 450,000 fans on closed-circuit, although PPV was 
1696negligible in '85. The second drew 320,000 to 350,000, with more PPV which proved to be its 
1697saving grace. Last year's drew 441,000 via closed-circuit and more than 90,000 live as well, 
1698plus was the most successful PPV event in the history of the industry. The closed-circuit of 
1699220,000 fans was only half of WM1 and WM3, and well off WM2 as well. The PPV money 
1700probably ranks in the same ballpark as last year's because of the increases made in the 
1701industry, but the buy rate was just over half of the buy rate of the first three, all of which did in 
1702the 10% range. 
1703
1704
1705 
1706
1707MOST QUICKLY FORGOTTEN MAJOR ATTRACTIONS: The Rock & Roll Express 
1708
1709 
1710
1711BEST WRESTLING SPOT: Ric Flair's flip into the turnbuckle, landing on his feet on the apron, 
1712going to the other corner, coming off with a flying body press, and Sting reversing it for a 2 3/4 
1713count at the 43 minute mark. 
1714
1715 
1716
1717BEST SMART-ASS REMARK: Hulk Hogan. When asked by a reporter after the card if his not 
1718winning the title means he's going to the movies, Hulk replied, "Yeah, I'm going to see Fatal 
1719Attraction." 
1720
1721 
1722
1723BEST JOB OF STEALING MONEY: George Steele, who probably got a nice payoff even 
1724though he never even climbed up the ring stairs, let alone provided any action during the Battle 
1725Royal. Georgie just stood outside the ring for a few minutes, then went back to the dressing 
1726room when nobody was looking. 
1727
1728 
1729
1730TOP ATTRACTIONS DEVALUED ON SUNDAY: Ricky Steamboat, Bam Bam Bigelow, Road 
1731Warriors and Randy Savage. In Savage's case it was a first. It's the first time in wrestling history 
1732that any wrestler has actually lost steam while winning a World title. Ronnie Garvin lost 
1733popularity while champion because fans didn't accept his with the belt, but Savage probably 
1734didn't lose much in the way of popularity, but a lot in the way of respect. 
1735
1736 
1737
1738THE NEW COMPARISON: For years fans have been debating about who was better, Ric Flair 
1739or Hulk Hogan. The way the two were handled made Flair look bad in comparisons by anyone 
1740other than fans that understood than Flair is so good because he makes his opponents look so  
1741good. For for all those folks who complain because they never let Flair win, he came off looking 
1742great on Sunday whereas his WWF new kingpin didn't. A so-called mark (and I hate using that 
1743word) who saw both shows would probably think Flair is the superior wrestler. 
1744
1745 
1746
1747SATELLITE OWNERS GOT SIGNAL: After vowing that WM wouldn't be available to dish 
1748owners for months, the folks with dishes tuned in and got the show descrambled. The only thing 
1749they didn't get was the audio. In other words, they got the same show you and I got. 
1750
1751 
1752
1753TITAN BETTER AVOID THE SPCA: I'd tab it cruel and unusual punishment, not only on the 
1754wrestler, but on the fans, having to watch Junkfood Dog struggle through almost 91/2 minutes in 
1755the Battle Royal. He looked like he was going to explode at the end. WAS THIS THE WORST 
1756BIG SHOW EVER? Well, nobody rioted. Vince should count his blessings. Nobody tried to burn 
1757down the building either. Antonio Inoki should be so lucky. Really, some of the matches really 
1758were alright, it's just that the dead crowd made them seem worse. 
1759
1760 
1761
1762TRADING PLACES: Do you think Jim Crockett would liked to have promoted a show which 
1763grossed $16 million that was an artistic failure? Damn right he would have. Do you think Vince 
1764McMahon would have rather had a great show which sabotaged his opposition even though he 
1765wouldn't make as much money? I wouldn't be surprised at all if he would have as well. 
1766
1767
1768 
1769
1770NEW MARKETING SCHEME: Not to be outdone by Crockett's Four Horseman Vitamins (what 
1771a joke), Vince is coming out with his own new item. For $39.95 you can get something that can 
1772calm down hyperactive children and put them to sleep, and help your own insomnia late at 
1773night. You got it, it's Wrestlemania IV: The Videotape.  
1774
1775 
1776
1777WHAT THE FANS LIVE THOUGHT: I either talked with or received letters from 23 fans who 
1778were in Atlantic City. Six of them thought it was a good show. The other 17 had opinions ranging 
1779from terribly boring and too long to moderately disappointing. On the other hand, I've heard from 
178016 who attended the Greensboro Coliseum. All 16 remarked it was the best live show they'd 
1781seen in years. One person said it was the best live show he'd ever seen. Considering 
1782Greensboro has been host to some of the best wrestling cards of this era, that's doubly 
1783impressive. 
1784
1785 
1786
1787WORST JOB OF ANALYSIS: That one goes to me for the article where I gave all the reasons 
1788Clash of the Champions wouldn't hurt Wrestlemania. I also said Wrestlemania would gross $25 
1789million this year. My only solace is the geniuses in Titan were even farther off base than I was. 
1790And at least I knew that in today's wrestling scene the fans for the most part care only about the 
1791personalities and belts don't mean diddly-squat. BEST TAG TEAM OF THE DAY: There were 
1792some good ones, but they were all on the Crockett show, but the best was The Fantastics. Tully 
1793Blanchard & Arn Anderson worked a technically excellent match. The Midnight Express did a lot 
1794of wild moves. But between getting whipped and taking bulldog headlocks and tennis racquet 
1795blows and smashes into tables, Rogers & Fulton worked well beyond the call of duty. No 
1796wonder nobody remembers the Rock & Roll Express anymore. 
1797
1798 
1799
1800SADDEST SIGHT: Jim Duggan unable to have a decent match with Ted DiBiase. Last August, 
1801when he must have weighed 310 pounds and was totally out of shape,  Duggan still had a 
1802decent match with DiBiase. And in that match, he blew out his hamstring and blew up within 2 
1803minutes and couldn't even walk. 
1804
1805 
1806
1807IS THE FAD OVER?: Well, wrestling has gone down from its peak, and the nation is somewhat 
1808overexposed. The smaller promotions aren't making it. The bigger ones are drawing smaller and 
1809smaller crowds. But don't write off Titan Sports because of one bad show. I consider 
1810Wrestlemania IV like somebody stubbing their toe. It's going to hurt like hell for a week or so. 
1811But after that, everything is pretty well the same. 
1812
1813 
1814
1815FUTURE ANALYSIS: There is no doubt that Crockett Promotions was the big winner on Super 
1816Sunday. The momentum clearly has been turned around. They have proven that when they 
1817present something right and have quality match-ups, that they can provide a show that Titan's 
1818glitz can't match. They are not going to surpass Titan as No. 1. And it really doesn't matter. JCP 
1819can be an enormously successful company regardless of whether Titan is succeeding or failing 
1820at that particular time. The enthusiasm from the crowd, both in the Atlanta studio and in 
1821Spartanburg for the TV shows that aired this weekend showed that the Clash has breathed new 
1822life not only into the wrestlers, but into the NWA's fans. But this Saturday night, I notice that Ric 
1823
1824
1825Flair and Sting are headlining matches in both Baltimore and Philadelphia at the same time. In 
1826other words, they'll work a rushed match in one spot, hurry to the other, exhausted and try and 
1827do it again. This almost always results in two bad shows. As long as the NWA continues to put 
1828themselves in a position where their live shows are below par, they will never reach their 
1829potential. As shown by the TV ratings on Sunday, their potential is awesome. They are behind 
1830Titan when it comes to fans, but they aren't as far behind as they should be, given all of Titan's 
1831advantages in organization. They are very much competition to Titan, maybe moreso now than 
1832in a long time, and ironically they were no competition whatsoever until McMahon started a fight 
1833on Thanksgiving and continued on January 24th that ended up costing him more than he cost 
1834the opposition. They put Crockett in the position of retaliating, and in that position which 
1835Crockett never would have dared try on his own if McMahon hadn't started the sabotage, he 
1836ruined McMahon's biggest show of the year. Still, the same problems they've had for the last 
1837year are still there. We are back to the Dusty Rhodes show, every babyface spends half his 
1838interview talking about Dusty and every heel spends his entire interview talking about Dusty. 
1839This is what got them into trouble last year, and just when they taste success (much of which 
1840was luck because it was nothing JCP did that got Sting over, and now that he is, they are going 
1841back to Dusty on top again) they go back to doing business the only way they know how. 
1842Actually this past Sunday's Main Event show was another breath of fresh air with a super main 
1843event. Maybe they are on the right track. 
1844
1845 
1846
1847Hey, nobody in Hollywood still knows anything about a Hulk Hogan movie. He is taking time off 
1848because he's got a child due any day now. Titan did lose momentum from the show, but they've 
1849got a unique knack of, through public relations and media manipulation to putting a new 
1850soundtrack on the Wrestlemania crowd of making Wrestlemania seem like a success. 
1851Remember, all that matters to Titan is imagery. They don't need substance, and if you think I'm 
1852exaggerating, look at Hulk Hogan. If Vince can convince most of his fans that Wrestlemania was 
1853a success, then ultimately out of shape, it won't be a failure. But they've got lots of problems 
1854upcoming. The key one is nobody is and blew up within two minutes and couldn't even really 
1855"over" except Hogan, and that they spent months building up certain angles (most particularly 
1856Heenan vs. Matilda) that flopped miserably from every aspect. There is no major box office in 
1857any of the bouts they're headlining and building up. Roberts vs. Rude is okay third from the top, 
1858but not as a headliner. Savage vs. DiBiase won't mean a thing. It could have after their SNME 
1859match, but not now. Duggan vs. Andre will be pathetic. JFD vs. Ron Bass? Ken Patera vs. Dino 
1860Bravo? Ultimate Warrior vs. Hercules? Are you kidding? 
1861
1862 
1863
1864THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Titan destroyed JCP on Thanksgiving, costing the show 
1865somewhere between $2.25 and $2.5 million by keeping them off PPV and running opposition. 
1866That was a good business move. On January 24th they ran a free show opposite Crockett's 
1867Bunkhouse Stampede. That was purely attempted sabotage. What Crockett did was retaliation. 
1868It cost Wrestlemania several million dollars , showed that Crockett has a cable audience that 
1869isn't all that much smaller than Titan's, and head-to-head, exposed the difference in the product 
1870that Crockett had been unable to show on either Thanksgiving or January 24th. Sunday may 
1871just have been Crockett's lucky day, or it may prove to be a turning point for pro wrestling. But 
1872
1873
1874this time, Vince McMahon has nobody but himself to blame for it. What goes around comes 
1875around. 
1876
1877 
1878
1879This is the third issue of the current four-issue set. That means that everyone with a (1) on your 
1880current address label will have their subscription expire with next week's issue. The subscription 
1881rate remains the same, $5 for four issues, $10 for eight issues, $20 for 16, $30 for 24 and $50 
1882for 40 issues. Overseas airmail rates are $9 per four issue set. The "Best of the Wrestling 
1883Observer: 1983-87" book is available for $10 for subscribers and $12.50 for non-subscribers. 
1884We also have all back issues of the newsletter format Observers from September 1985 to the 
1885present. For new subscribers, you can order back issues by the month for $5 per month. We 
1886also have a complete set of 1984 issues (15 magazine style Observers from 24-32 pages) 
1887available for $45. Please note on your envelope "Back Issues Department" if you are ordering 
1888back issues. Those who have ordered back issues or who are owed pages from the yearbook 
1889will have their orders filled And mailed back in three weeks. All orders of back issues, plus all 
1890other correspondence such as letters and match reports can be sent to the Wrestling Observer 
1891Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. 
1892
1893 
1894
1895For fans in this area, it appears the NWA won't be around for a while. Because they lost KCOP 
1896in Los Angeles, until they get a new outlet they've canceled dates in both LA and San Francisco 
1897and apparently don't feel it's worth coming out here without a Los Angeles show as well to break 
1898up the travel costs. 
1899
1900 
1901
1902As most of you know, the most embarrassing moment of last Sunday belonged to Crockett 
1903when the Wrestlemania ad ran during his special. Apparently Titan bought five ads under a 
1904bogus company name to air during the Crockett special but four of the five were caught but one 
1905slipped through. For those who want to make plans early, Wrestlemania V is scheduled for 
1906March 19, 1989. 
1907
1908 
1909
1910The Financial News Network began showing weekly main events as part of their Memphis 
1911wrestling package which airs on Saturday nights. The 4/2 show aired the complete Jerry Lawler 
1912vs. Eddie Gilbert match that headlined the Memphis card on 3/28. Next week's main event will 
1913be Lawler vs. Curt Hennig in a stretcher match and it airs once again on Saturday and it will 
1914continue to be done in that manner. The NWF group is scheduled to do a TV taping for FNN 
1915sometime later this month with Sgt. Slaughter and others and the show will debut right after the 
1916taping in the Sunday night slot. For now, the Memphis show will air in the Sunday night slot. For 
1917those wishing to write FNN on what type of wrestling you'd like to sec, as mentioned last week 
1918you can write to program director Dan Wolfe at 6701 Center Drive West 15th Floor, Los 
1919Angeles, CA 90045. I'll also give the address for ESPN for those of you wishing to write them, 
1920it's ESPN, ESPN Plaza, Bristol, CT 06010. Next week I'll give the address for the Tempo 
1921network, which currently airs ICW tapes. 
1922
1923 
1924
1925The NWA debuted its "NWA Main Event" show on Sunday and by and large it was a hot show. 
1926The card was taped on 3/31 in Spartanburg and the crowd enthusiasm was super, and they did 
1927a super job of getting the noise across to the viewer. It makes the matches seem better than 
1928
1929
1930they really are when the crowd is going crazy for every spot. There were some problems, Tony 
1931Shiavone seemed confused at times and the lighting could have been better, but overall the 
1932Crockett product is becoming a lot of fun to watch. The first show started with the Road Warriors 
1933beating Super Destroyer (Gary Royal) & Larry Zbyszko in 3:00. Zbyszko walked out after about 
1934a minute and the Warriors used all of their moves to decapitate Super D. Given what it was, it 
1935was just fine as the Warriors used lots of nice moves including that clothesline off the top rope 
1936while Animal has the guy on his shoulders finish. The second saw Dusty Rhodes pin Ivan Koloff 
1937in 6:30 in a U.S. title match. The match was a lot better than I expected because the crowd was 
1938going crazy for Dusty and since it was short, they got a lot of spots in. Actually given Dusty's 
1939limitations both guys did a good job and Ivan is amazing for his age. Rhodes won with a flying 
1940body press off the top ropes. Honest. The real hot match was the main event where Ric Flair & 
1941Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson downed Barry Windham & Lex Luger & Sting in 18:00. They 
1942did an early jump cut, editing five minutes of the match away so I guess they went long in the 
1943original taping. This match was super and fast-paced from start to finish. Most of it had Luger in 
1944there but the action never slowed down. Blanchard in particular was hot, but this was an easy 
1945four star match. This is the first time I've seen a U.S. promotion try and duplicate what the 
1946Japanese do on their television show and for a debut show, I was impressed. Next week's show 
1947will have Blanchard vs. Windham, Steve Williams vs. Anderson and the Powers of Pain vs. Tim 
1948Horner & Italian Stillion, while on the show which airs on 4/17, Williams & Windham will be in the 
1949main event as partners against Blanchard & Anderson. 
1950
1951 
1952
1953Chigusa Nagayo and the All Japan Women's promotion made a tour of Thailand two weeks 
1954back and were all the rage of that nation, drawing crowds of between 8,000 and 11,000 and lots 
1955of newspaper headlines. The Bangkok newspaper called the Japanese women "The new craze 
1956of Thailand." Still, not everyone was impressed. One newspaper reporter wrote: "I didn't know 
1957that women's wrestling was drawing so much attention in Thailand. The visit of the Japanese 
1958wrestlers has created tremendous interest and according to promoter Sombhop Srisomwongse, 
1959a record crowd is expected tonight at the National Stadium. How surprising it is that a few 
1960women with about two months of training and especially big framework, a few flying kicks and 
1961some TV exposure could be a draw here when traditional Olympic sports like Greco-Roman and 
1962freestyle wrestling failed to find a foothold." 
1963
1964 
1965
1966And speaking of freestyle wrestling, that professional "legitimate" wrestling league is attempting 
1967to start a 12 franchise circuit and hoping to begin its inaugural season in November in this 
1968country. 
1969
1970 
1971
1972All Japan: Just a few notes. When Bruiser Brody beat Jumbo Tsuruta on 3/27 in Tokyo to win 
1973the International title, he went into the crowd and started hugging the fans so he's over huge as 
1974a babyface. The guy doesn't miss a trick. . . Genichiro Tenryu has PWF title defenses coming 
1975up against both Yoshiaki Yatsu and Brody. . . The current series opened 3/26 in Koga before 
19762,350 which was the final prime time show before wrestling moves to 10:30 p.m. Sunday nights 
1977because of baseball season. The main event saw Jumbo Tsuruta & John Tents go to a double 
1978count out with Brody & Big Bubba Rogers (who is using his NWA gimmick of wrestling with a 
1979suit on), Yatsu & Takashi Ishikawa beat Austin Idol & Tommy Rich, Tiger Jeet Singh & Abdullah 
1980
1981
1982the Butcher downed Isao Takagi & the return of Hiroshi Wajima from his neck injury, Tenryu & 
1983Ashura Hara beat Kabuki & Isamu Teranishi in a good match, Stan Hansen destroyed Akira 
1984Taue in 2:22, Rusher Kimura & Goro Tsurumi beat Giant Baba & Motoshi Okuma, Shunji 
1985Takano & Tiger Mask beat Tom Magee & George Skoaland and The Foot Loose (Toshiaki 
1986Kawada & Samson Fuyuki) went to a double disqualification against Shinichi Nakano & Masa 
1987Fuchi. . . Baba will have two wrestling matches as part of the martial arts card on 4/2 at 
1988Budokan Hall. The card includes shoot-boxing (combination of wrestling submission moves and 
1989boxing with the gloves on), kick-boxing, women's wrestling (from the JWP promotion), boxing 
1990and karate matches. The pro wrestling bouts have Baba & Tiger Mask against Abdullah & 
1991Skoaland plus Fuchi defends the jr. title against Yoshinari Ogawa, a prelim wrestler who 
1992wrestles under Tenryu's Revolution banner. . During a press conference earlier in the week with 
1993Singh & Butcher, Singh went wild and started attacking reports hard. Butcher did some stuff and 
1994in the course of the meelee, Butcher threw a glass which cut the head of a Gong Magazine 
1995reporter and he needed two stitches--juice the hard way. . . When the Malenko brothers were in 
1996Japan, they met Mike Tyson who was all the rage over there. Tyson thought they were the 
1997British Bulldogs and they pretended that they were until Tyson asked if he could pet Matilda. 
1998
1999 
2000
2001New Japan: I don't have much from here although the new series started on 4/1. . . They held a 
2002card on 3/11 in Nagoya which drew 9,150 fans and nearly $350,000 for a triple main event with 
2003Antonio Inoki & Dick Murdoch challenging Tatsumi Fujinami & Kongo Kimura for the IWGP tag 
2004team titles, Riki Choshu & Masa Saito vs. The Gasper brothers (Bob Orton & Dee Karolet) and 
2005Hiroshi Hase defending the jr. heavyweight title against Nobuhiko Takada. I don't know the 
2006results but none of the titles changed hands. 
2007
2008 
2009
2010World Class: There are obviously problems around here financially as they've cut way back on 
2011television tapings. They've cut back to running Fort Worth every third week, doing nearly four 
2012hours worth of television on those cards which still leaves them one week for showing almost 
2013nothing but re-run material. The regular World Class show is also taping every third week which 
2014means lots of shows feature lots of old tape. Fort Worth had been running weekly since World 
2015War II. . . The 3/20 Star Wars show in Fort Worth drew 2,300 paid and $18,000 while the next 
2016show is 4/10 with Kevin Von Erich & Michael Hayes vs. King Parsons & Angel of Death in the 
2017main event, Terry Taylor vs. Chris Adams and Black Bart & John Tatum & Jack Victory vs. Bill 
2018Irwin & The Simpson brothers. . . The 5/8 Parade of Champion card will probably be held at 
2019Texas Stadium, but may be moved to the Cotton Bowl. Nothing is definite yet, but they are 
2020doing some sort of a gimmick triple cage type of a match. . . Hayes has been doing some super 
2021interviews on television. . . . The Penthouse story on the Von Erichs was dropped from the July 
2022issue and no rescheduling date has been announced. . . With Scandor Akbar dropped by 
2023Crockett, I wouldn't be surprised to see him wind up here. . . The reason Fabulous Lance hasn't 
2024shown up yet is because he's extended his tour of South Africa where he's a hot babyface, 
2025ironically using the ring name of Lance Von Erich. There's some apprehension of Lance coming 
2026in because there is legit bad blood between himself and Kevin and Kerry because of all the 
2027"embarrassment" he caused the family by quitting the promotion. Can you imagine how bad a 
2028match with Kevin vs. Lance would be even if both guys wore working together? Now think of 
2029how bad it would be if there was a cooperation problem? 
2030
2031
2032 
2033
2034Stampede: 3/18 in Calgary saw: 1. Johnny Smith pinned Biff Wellington in as good an opener 
2035as you will find anywhere in the world. They had a few awesome high spots and near falls. 
2036Wellington took a bad spill outside the ring and Smith suplexed him back in for the pin. This was 
2037a 3 1/2 to 4 star match; 2. Makhan Singh & Jerry Morrow downed Suni War Cloud & Mr. Hite 
2038when Singh splashed Hito. Decent; 3. Owen Hart was supposed to wrestle Makhan Singh's 
2039mystery man, "a two time North American champion." Well, a masked guy showed up, probably 
2040from the training school and Singh attacked Hart from behind. Anyway, the match turned out to 
2041be Hart against Singh and Owen got pounded on for five minutes, including with an object. 
2042Finally Owen got the object and Singh ran out of the ring. Hart did a Tiger Mask-like dive 
2043through the ropes onto Singh and kept pounding on him with the object until both guys were 
2044counted out. It was good but short; 4. Jason the Terrible beat Steve DiSalvo via count out in 
204514:00. Mainly the match consisted of DiSalvo bearhugging Jason. After the bout DiSalvo tried to 
2046press Jason over his head (he couldn't because Jason goes a legit 270) but still dropped him 
2047over the top rope and onto the timekeepers table. He went out of the ring and dropped Jason on 
2048the table a couple of more times. Finally they announced DiSalvo was suspended, apparently to 
2049tour South Africa; 5. Chris Benoit won the Commonwealth mid-heavyweight title beating Great 
2050Gama. Johnny Smith tried to throw powder at Benoit who ducked and the powder went into 
2051Game's eyes. This was a 3 1/2 star match. . 3/25 in Calgary drew 1,000 as Morrow pinned Hite 
2052in 11:30 with a superfly splash; Randy Thatcher & Dr. Jonathan Holiday upset Goldie Rogers & 
2053Hashif Khan (Shinya Hashimoto) when Holiday pinned Khan; Smith pinned War Cloud in an 
2054average match; Cuban Assassin (Angel Acevedo) returned from Kansas City and pinned 
2055Wellington after a DDT on the floor and a Russian leg sweep. It was a good match because 
2056Wellington took a lot of hard and solid bumps; Brian Pillman beat Rip Rogers via DQ. This was 
2057a 3 1/2 star match with both guys using chairs at one point. Rogers beat up Pillman for a while, 
2058but Pillman looked exceptional on the comeback. He did a dropkick off the top rope that was 
2059more of an awesome move than anything that took place on 3/27 in the big US cards. Pillman 
2060was on the top rope for the superfly splash when Kerry Brown tripped him, Pillman straddled 
2061himself. Rogers then put on the boston crab but Bruce Hart did a run in as did Brown; Jason 
2062pinned Brown in a match which went more than 20:00 with decent pacing but not a lot of heat. 
2063Jason won with a superplex and a diving head-butt off the top rope; Benoit pinned Game in 
2064another good match for the Commonwealth title. The finish saw Benoit try and suplex Gama into 
2065the ring, however heel manager Abdul Wizal tripped Benoit with Gama on top. Wayne Hart, who 
2066is playing trouble-shooter ref while his ankle is on the mend, put Benoit's leg on the ropes and 
2067told ref Jurgen Hermann about it. When Gama started arguing with Wayne, Benoit cradled him 
2068from behind; The main event was the normal good match with Hart defending against Singh. 
2069These two do good spots and work well despite the visual appearence they are all wrong for 
2070each other. Singh moved when Hart went for a dropkick off the top rope and Hart dropkicked the 
2071ref. Smith then interfered and gave Hart a DDT on the floor. Singh then gave Hart two "Karachi 
2072Krunches" (Bundy's move) and had Hart up for a powerslam when Jason came out, got on the 
2073top rope and as the ref was looking the other way, knocked both guys over with Owen on top of 
2074Singh for the pin. Smith posted Jason who juiced heavily and all four got into it. . . The 4/2 card 
2075was headlined by Singh & Smith against Hart & Jason in a non-televised street fight, Pillman & 
2076Bruce Hart defend the tag team titles against the Midnight Cowboys (Kerry Brown & Rip 
2077
2078
2079Rogers) and Benoit vs. Cuban Assassin. . . They are giving Holiday some interview time and 
2080even though he's a babyface, he's doing a very poor Ric Flair shtick about being a playboy and 
208160 minute man. I expect him to turn soon. He's calling himself Dr. Jonathan W. Holiday, the 
2082doctor of love or something along those lines. 
2083
2084 
2085
2086CWA: I don't know too much about last Monday's (3/28) card other than the crowd was 5,500 as 
2087Jerry Lawler used the fireball on Eddie Gilbert and the Bruise Brothers won the Southern tag 
2088team titles from Gary Young & Max Pain. . . The 4/4 card saw ticket prices lowered to $1 for all 
2089students so they should have a decent crowd with Lawler vs. Curt Hennig in a non-title stretcher 
2090match on top. They are saying Eddie Gilbert is putting up a $25,000 bounty on anyone who can 
2091break Lawler's leg. Even though Gilbert has left the area, he supposed to be sending in 
2092interviews to keep the bounty thing going and the current plan is that this group, Continental, 
2093Jerry Blackwell's Georgia promotion and the new promotion that Jerry Jarrett, Mike Graham, 
2094Steve Keirn and Gordon Solie are starting in Florida will all be working together. By the way, 
2095Missy Hyatt will be managing Hennig in the match against Lawler. Also on the card Paul 
2096Diamond & Pat Tanaka return as AWA tag team champions defending against the Cuban 
2097Assassins (no idea who they are, one might by Tapu but whoever they are, they aren't any 
2098good), Eddie Marlin vs. Tommy Gilbert in a cowboy boot match, Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis vs. 
2099Gary Young & Doug Gilbert, Pain vs. Scott Steiner for the CWA title and the Bruise Brothers 
2100defend the Southern tag team titles against the Mighty Yankees (probably Bob Cook & Jerry 
2101Gray but don't know for sure yet). . . . Steve Keirn will be back before the end of the month. . . It 
2102appears that Jonathan Boyd & Moondog Spike (Bill Smithson) are already gone as they weren't 
2103mentioned at all this week. . . There was a very slight hint on TV that they may turn Travis heel 
2104on Jarrett although I may be reading more into the comment than I should. 
2105
2106 
2107
2108WWF: Very little going on since there won't be any shows until the end of the month. They've 
2109announced post Wrestlemania shows all over the place and Ted DiBiase vs. Randy Savage for 
2110the title will be the headline matches everywhere through the end of May at least. Hulk Hogan's 
2111name isn't on any cards through the end of May. . . . 4/25 in Madison Square Garden is the first 
2112major show after the break with Savage defending against DiBiase, One Man Gang vs. Bam 
2113Bam Bigelow, Anabolic Warrior vs. Hercules, Ken Patera vs. Dino Bravo, Badnews Allen vs. 
2114Bret Hart and Demolition vs. Strike Force for the tag team titles. 
2115
2116 
2117
2118This and that: World Class is making noises on TV about making Houston their second home. . 
2119. 3/12 at the Hawaiian Gardens drew 1,000 for California Championship Wrestling as Jack 
2120Armstrong beat Kiss in a bloody match, Toru Tanaka & Peter Maivia Jr. beat The Mercenaries 
2121and Tony Rocco beat The Owl. . . Ron Simmons may be headed to Japan for Inoki in May. . . 
2122Johnny V, who was dumped by the WWF, will be working as a wrestler and manager on 
2123independent shows, mainly managing the Iron Sheik. David Sammartino vs. Sheik are 
2124headlining lots of the smaller Northeastern independents. No surprise that V got dumped since 
2125he and Bruno Sammartino are good friends, and V had pretty well been completely phased out 
2126anyway. . . Quick correction, Michael Hayes was singing "Heaven Needed a Champion," not 
2127"My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" when Buddy Roberts and the Von Erichs and the rest 
2128had their concert brawl early last month. The angle was great. . . The Mongolian Stomper 
2129
2130
2131(Archie Gouldie) became the first USA champion for Ron Fuller's promotion in Tennessee 
2132winning the tournament on 4/1 in Knoxville beating The Bullet (Bob Armstrong) in the finals. The 
2133most notable participant in the tournament was Terry Gordy. . . Verne Gagne has taken to 
2134showing lots of pre-1984 tape of several of the WWF main guys like Hulk Hogan, Jesse 
2135Ventura, Jim Brunzell, Tito Santana, etc. on his show in an attempt to build up his TV ratings. In 
2136other words, by actually giving the WWF guys publicity, it seems he's almost completely 
2137throwing in the towel as far as pushing house shows and looking to just do some small 
2138guaranteed shows in the area and basically keeping the AWA all le to keep producing tapes for 
2139ESPN. . Eddie Sharkey, the founder of Minnesota independent Pro Wrestling America is no 
2140longer synonymous with the group. Jim Koch has taken over the group and hired Jim "Iron 
2141Duke" Mitchell as the booker. Chris Love is promoting some shows for this group in Iowa and 
2142Minnesota. Sharkey is promoting shows as well using The Terminators at the Iron Horse Bar in 
2143Crystal, MN. . . Rob Russen has arranged, a tour of France, Austria, West Germany and Italy 
2144from 4/12 to 5/5 with Kimala, Tom Zenk, Terminators, Derrick Dukes, Ricky Rice, Candi Divine, 
2145Bambi and Damien Kane. . . Zenk will apparently head to Oregon for Don Owen after the tour. 
2146
2147 
2148
2149NWA: The Dusty Rhodes suspension has been postponed and won't be announced until this 
2150weekend's television and won't go into effect until 4/16 which is to allow Rhodes to wrestle in the 
2151Boston Gardens on 4/15. There are already cities in which the Midnight Rider is billed as 
2152appearing, however. It will definitely by Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff as the main event for the 
2153second night of the Crockett Cup. Even though Sting would be the logical choice since he's the 
2154hottest singles guy, or even Lex Luger or Steve Williams would be hot since it would be their 
2155first shot (and even Windham at least you would be guaranteed a super match) but Dusty is 
2156giving Nikita the shot, probably for admirable reasons but none of them have to do with what 
2157makes sense for the business. . . 3/20 in Charleston, WV drew 3,000 as Rick Steiner pinned 
2158Kendall Windham, Stan Lane drew with Shane Douglas, Pez Whatley & Tiger Conway & Green 
2159Machine (Buggy McGraw) downed Jimmy Valiant & Chris Champion & Italian Stallion, Lex 
2160Luger & Barry Windham beat Tully Blanchard & J.J. Dillon, Mike Rotundo pinned Jimmy Garvin 
2161when Kevin Sullivan interfered and Dusty Rhodes pinned Bobby Eaton. . . Charlotte Memorial 
2162Hospital and Charlotte Rehabilitation Hospital have sued Terry Allen for $56,692 in back 
2163medical care. Allen's medical expenses have surpassed $100,000, which far exceeds his 
2164$25,000 of health insurance coverage. A Toronto spinal cord expert has proposed to Allen a 9-
2165to-11 hour operation which he claims will give him full usage of his bad limbs and could give him 
2166at least a remote chance of returning to the ring. Allen's right hand and arm are weak although 
2167his left arm is fairly normal. . . Brad Armstrong is out of action with knee surgery and no word if 
2168he'll be back in time for the Crockett Cup. . . Steve Corey, the hotshot former tennis promoter 
2169who gave World Class so much help in the Von Erich over American tour (tour didn't draw but 
2170he did a great job with publicity) is negotiating to help promote this group. 
2171
2172 
2173
2174And finally: Syndication ratings for the week ending 3/13: Titan was No. 4 with 10.7 on 248 
2175stations, Crockett No. 6 with 7.8 on 178 stations and the All-Star Wrestling Network No. 9 on 7.2 
2176on 174 stations. . . A big screen wrestling movie is being planned with Roddy Piper (who seems 
2177up to his ears in movie offers these days) for a Christmas release. . . Stan Hansen's popularity 
2178in Japan is up again due to the Tenryu angle early last month. Everyone in Japan, from the 
2179
2180
2181press to the fans, thinks the thing was a shoot when Tenryu kicked Hansen who was flat on the 
2182mat for 45 seconds before waking up and slapping the you know what out of Tenryu. The thing 
2183was made stronger because Tenryu left the arena early and Hansen went into the dressing 
2184room looking for Tenryu, and later that night Hansen went into Tenryu's hotel looking for him 
2185and Tenryu wouldn't get out of the room. Since Tenryu is the hottest wrestler in Japan, the 
2186angle made the fans think Tenryu was "afraid" of Hansen which of course makes Hansen "real" 
2187and gives him the hot popularity of a Brody or a Maeda. I don't know what is was, only that I've 
2188heard from reliable sources that it was a work. . . . Jim Shyman's 976 wrestling hotline in Los 
2189Angeles was rated the top 976 number in a L.A. publication I saw, given five stars. That's the 
2190first time I've ever seen pro wrestling top the charts in any category. . . Notes from Australia: 
2191The top wrestler in Australia is champion Kevin Martin. The top five contenders for the title are 
2192George Barnes, who feuded with Bill Dundee in Memphis last year, Ken Medlin, Ken Dunlop, 
2193Billy Codolian and Bruiser Davis. 3/27 at the Revesby Workers Club saw Jack Claybourne pin 
2194Lou Marciello, Hercules destroyed Corporal Hardy who was stretchered out, Billy Condolian & 
2195Danny Burns beat Ken Dunlp & Ken Medlin in the best match on the card and Kevin Martin went 
2196to a no contest with Animal Harpas in a chain match which was bloody but terrible since Harpas 
2197can't wrestle 
2198
2199 
2200
2201APRIL RATINGS   
22021. Ric Flair 
22032. Nobuhiko Takada 
22043. Owen Hart 
22054. Barry Windham 
22065. Ted DiBiase 
22076. Terry Gordy 
22087. Hiroshi Hase 
22098. Bruiser Brody 
22109. Tully Blanchard 
221110. Keiichi Yamada/Curt Hennig 
2212
2213 
2214
2215THE READERS' PAGES   
2216Bob Saydlowski Of 246 Pomeroy Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01201 has up-to-date tapes of New Japan 
2217and the Japanese women's promotion available. . . Robert Shepherd of 129 Highfields Rd., 
2218Abington, MA 02351 is looking for audio cassettes of Bruno Sammartino's KDKA radio interview 
2219and Tony Atlas' WCKZ interview. . . . Kara Roberts of P.O. Box 33765, Juneau, AK 99803 is 
2220looking to buy a tape of Wrestlemania IV and is looking for tapes of World Class and 
2221Continental. . . Harvey Cobb of 2619 Ruffin Way, Norfolk, VA 23504 is looking to buy VHS tapes 
2222of CWA, Stampede and Japan. . . Gary Graham of 217 E. Main St., South Zanesville, OH 43701 
2223has a list of tapes available for sale or trade. . . Glenn Fox of 432 Dewey Place East, Seattle, 
2224WA 98112 is looking to trade for tapes of any Southern independents plus the CWA. He can 
2225trade by sending tapes from Portland, Japan or Stampede. . . Harry White of 1075 McCausland, 
2226St. Louis, MO 63117 has more than 350 wrestling magazines and programs from the 1940s 
2227through the mid-1970s and 15 hours of 1950s and 1960s wrestling videotape for sale. . . Pete 
2228Jarvis of 175 Locke St. South #2, Hamilton, ONT L8P 4B2 CANADA would like to get 
2229
2230
2231videotapes of CWA, Continental, Southern from Georgia and other independents. He can 
2232exchange with tapes of Stampede and Tomko promotions. 
2233
2234 
2235
2236REACTIONS TO SUPER SUNDAY   
2237I doubt you will ever hear a WWF employee spouting the age-old standby line, "The name on 
2238the marquee out front reads wrestling." The importance of the elements of a McMahon show 
2239appear to rank as follows: 1. Hype; 2. Celebrities who have nothing to do with, nor have any 
2240knowledge of anything that's going on; 3. Animals (birds, bulldogs, snakes, gorillas and George 
2241Steele); 4. A plethora of ring announcers, colorless commentators and inane interviewers all of 
2242which appear to be vying desperately for the "biggest asshole of the day" award; 5. Time 
2243permitting, wrestling, however please use extreme discretion so that it doesn't sneak in at the 
2244expense of elements one through four. Make it appear as though the wrestling was presented 
2245as an afterthought. The difference between wrestling and McMahon's style, or lack thereof, is 
2246clear. Most promotions try and give you a package designed to let you have fun at wrestling. 
2247McMahon gives you a package designed to let you make fun of wrestling. Anyone who saw the 
22483/28 Prime Time Wrestling show (which should have been sub-titled: A two-hour symposium of 
2249everything that's wrong with the WWF) and still will defend this organization, especially after 
2250watching Wrestlemania Bour, must have an IQ that falls below the dollar amount needed to 
2251purchase the fiasco. If someone had spent millions of dollars on an anti-wrestling propaganda 
2252piece, he couldn't have approached the job that Vince did on himself this weekend. I mean to 
2253tell you, I got so excited watching Tito Santana's 15 minute romp through an Hispanic menu that 
2254I thought my bladder was going to burst. Unfortunately, instead I simply nodded out from the 
2255excitement. Anyone who tapes the 3/28 show should review the ending. Looked at Vince's face 
2256after having pushed Bored Alfred Hayes' face into the cake. That face is screaming, "I'm so glad 
2257that I have so much money that I can buy somebody body and soul. Look everybody! I pay this 
2258man so I can demean him on national TV and he won't even protest! Ain't I cool?" Isn't this the 
2259same attitude Vince has spent the last six months instilling in Ted DiBiase? March 27th belongs 
2260to the NWA. It will be remembered as the day that Jim Crockett grabbed Vince McMahon 
2261behind the referees back and tossed him over the top rope. Vince landed squarely on his head 
2262on the concrete floor. Crockett then mounted the second rope and while pointing at Vince, said, 
2263"You stand back." The day can be summed up simply. Crockett smashes. Titan crashes. 
2264Freddie Fargo 
2265Dallas, Texas 
2266
2267 
2268
2269The "Clash" came off perfectly. I know several people who watched it while I was the only one 
2270who watched Wrestlemania IV. I just can't compliment "Clash" enough. I loved every match and 
2271Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone were great calling the action. 
2272Steve Gentry 
2273Cincinnati, Ohio 
2274
2275 
2276
2277Over here we watched Wrestlemania live and after that show mercifully ended, we watched a 
2278tape of the Crockett show. I had never before had a chance to watch both so closely but the 
2279difference in the promotions was like night and day. The difference in the work rate was as 
2280noticable as people have been saying for years. The matches at WM were short, but still lacked 
2281
2282
2283explosiveness whereas the Crockett matches all had more than their share of action. The only 
2284part of WM that I enjoyed was Allen Coage's turn on Bret Hart at the end of the Battle Royal. On 
2285the other hand, I enjoyed every match on the NWA card. The ending of the Garvin vs. Rotunda 
2286match was wild and got great heat. Having never seen a barbed wire match before, I suppose it 
2287was about as good as it could get considering the people involved. No question about it, The 
2288Midnight Express vs. Fantastics was the best match on either card. All five guys worked their 
2289asses off and Jim Cornette adds so much to the excitement of a match. The finish of Ric Flair 
2290vs. Sting was a disappointment. Once again Flair was shown as a beaten man at the end. Why 
2291can't Dusty ever let him have a clean win? Even on WTBS a few weeks back he had to use the 
2292ropes to beat Ricky Santana. Now that's ridiculous. 
2293Dan Petronio 
2294Rochester, New York 
2295
2296 
2297
2298The two of us are Anthropologists here at the University of Illinois who have a long-standing 
2299interest in pro wrestling, ever since we were young. We had high hopes for both events, but as 
2300you are probably already aware, one of them turned out to be a flop. Clash of the Champions 
2301made Wrestlemania IV look lethargic. We yawned and talked about refunds for most of the 
2302show. We were glued to the set for Clash. On a scale of 1 to 10, we gave Wrestlemania 
2303somewhere between a 2 and a 2.5 while Clash was a solid 10. Overall, we think Wrestlemania 
2304flopped because the crowd was dead, the plots had been overplayed and were stale and the 
2305Uecker/Vanna White skit had no punch. The wrestlers and the wrestling itself was slow and 
2306lackluster. Also, Savage's win was too predictable because of the article in the magazine. It was 
2307a real rip-off compared to the other Wrestlemanias. Overall Clash was the superior show in 
2308every way. Vince deserves to get rotten reviews because he put on a rotten show. Crockett, on 
2309the other hand, deserves a production of the year award. He put on one of the best cards in 
2310wrestling history. 
2311Paul Benson 
2312Pete Heinricher 
2313Champaign, Illinois 
2314
2315 
2316
2317I'm really burned up. $17 for pay-per-view and $20 for pizzas, pretzels and chips. And what did I 
2318get for it? Nothing. Wrestlemania was a bore, plain and simple. The matches were slow. The 
2319best ones below average. It was as if the WWF took a bunch of clips from Superstars and All-
2320American Wrestling and strung them all together. No wonder McMahon never showed his face 
2321this year. For $17, they could have at least had Andre and Hogan go more than five minutes. 
2322For $17 we could have at least seen a pose-down between Liz and Vanna. Vince has sucked 
2323me into my last PPV. Never again. Now, as far as Clash goes, the first three minutes of Midnight 
2324Express vs. Fantastics had more action than WM had in four hours. I'm not an NWA fan for a lot 
2325of reasons, but after today, I'm not a WWF fan anymore. 
2326Mike Porcaro 
2327Schaumburg, Illinois 
2328
2329 
2330
2331After watching both shows, NWA gets my vote. They won hands down on all accounts. Easily 
2332the most satisfying of the two shows. Titan sucked in all departments. 
2333
2334
2335Dr. Mike Lano 
2336San Francisco, California 
2337
2338 
2339
2340Sure, the unresponsive crowd of high-rollers created some problems for Titan's guys and made 
2341for a flat show in which everybody's timing was a little off. Also, Titan blew the chance for a hot 
2342angle by not having Virgil come to ringside during the finale and interfere on Savage's behalf, 
2343but we know why they couldn't do that. But frankly, I'm not sure Titan wanted to make this a 
2344blow-away incredible show. I sense they deliberately scaled it back to set up their 8/29 pay-per-
2345view. I think they want their public to perceive Wrestlemania as one of their big shows, not their 
2346only big show. On the Crockett side, Sting and Flair obviously put on a match of the year 
2347performance. No doubt about that. But I believe the marks in the Titan audience were satisfied 
2348and the marks in the Crockett audience weren't. And in my opinion, in judging the shows, that's 
2349all that matters. The closed-circuit crowd at the L.A. Sports Arena popped like crazy for 
2350Savage's victory, but I doubt you'll find many crowds who would have popped for the abysmal 
2351non-ending of Sting vs. Flair. It just wasn't commercial. Let's face it, we were led to believe, that 
2352via the use of judges, the match was going to have a positive winner. The public perceives this 
2353as a blatant rip-off. Combine that with the screw job ending of the Midnight vs. Fantastics match 
2354and the card as a whole leaves a bad taste. Don't get me wrong. The Crockett wrestlers put on 
2355one hell of a show. It was better than Titan's. They had to. They're number two. But the booking 
2356still left a lot to be desired. Dusty and Crockett have given Sting a chance on national TV to 
2357elevate himself to superstar status just before his contract came up. Vince should send them a 
2358thank you note. They should have instead given their stale promotion a needed shot in the arm 
2359by having him win the title via a decision. Flair wouldn't have had to even do a job. It was the 
2360perfect controversy. Now that would have given everyone something to talk about. The only 
2361thing I feel strongly enough about to judge is that Sting and Flair was the best match of the day. 
2362Robert Strauss 
2363Los Angeles, California 
2364
2365 
2366
2367There's no doubt in my mind that JCP's Clash of the Champions was the better show. The 
2368matches were all good, and three of the five were exceptional (Midnight vs. Fantastics, Tully & 
2369Arn vs. Windham & Luger and Flair vs. Sting). The commentary was concise and the production 
2370was above average. To me, the best match on either card was the NWA tag team title change. I 
2371expected great things from Tully, Arn and Windham, but Luger amazed me. I didn't think he had 
2372Pt in him. And what can you say about Ric Flair that hasn't been said a million times? I think that 
2373gash opened up on Sting's chest showed how hard both guys worked. After seeing that match, I 
2374really felt cheated by Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase. Sting surprised me also. I had seen him 
2375wrestle Flair twice before and they didn't work well together. But this time they sure did. After 
2376seeing the previous day's TBS show, it certainly looks as if some hot angles are coming. The 
2377incident with Dusty, Tully, Magnum and company was tremendous. By the way, somebody 
2378should give Jim Cornette an Emmy award for his performances over the last two weeks. He's 
2379just been tremendous. I don't know what's been his best thing, his bodyslam of Mike Jackson or 
2380his tearful concern for Jim Crockett. The only drawback of Clash was the length of the 
2381commercial breaks early, but at least they didn't interrupt a match, and the cameras missing 
2382Bobby Eaton's bulldog of Bobby Fulton on the table. After sitting through Wrestlemania IV, I 
2383
2384
2385know how the guys who run the Boston Marathon must feel. I guess I was expecting too much. 
2386There were too many matches, underscored by the appearance that nobody seemed to be 
2387working all that hard. I was also amazed by the number of missed and botched up moves. Ricky 
2388Steamboat looked rusty. The whole Bulldogs/Matilda/Bobby Heenan thing turned out to be 
2389pathetic. They had to drag the poor dog so he would chase Heenan. Then they threw him on 
2390Heenan. And he still wouldn't attack him. They would have found a lot better finishes than 
2391recycling everything from their last Saturday Night's Main Event, especially in the final match. I 
2392just can't help but feel that a lot of people went home disgruntled. But, Titan usually learns from 
2393its mistakes. It should be interesting to see what Virgil comes up with next. 
2394Mike Lanzalotti 
2395Williamstown, New Jersey 
2396
2397 
2398
2399I thought Wrestlemania IV was better because of superior atmosphere and the fact that the guys 
2400all tried to work hard. Not that the NWA wrestlers didn't work hard, but it is hard to compare a 16 
2401match extravaganza to five matches on television, even if the NWA's matches were better. 
2402Jeff Lynch 
2403Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 
2404
2405 
2406
2407First off, Atlantic City was the wrong place to hold this. The heat was non-existent. This really 
2408hurt the card, especially since Crockett's card in Greensboro saw the crowd responding well to 
2409everything. From the very first minute, the Wrestlemania production appeared to be first rate. I 
2410wish I could say the same for the matches. Some of these would have been good if there were 
2411any heat in them. I just couldn't pay attention to the card this year, whereas I was glued to the 
2412screen last year up until the final match. It wasn't worth $20 to be sure. It was also obvious that 
2413the heat was good at the very beginning, but died more and more once the people saw how bad 
2414the show was. The matches at the end got no heat because of how bad the earlier matches 
2415were. The show itself had a very tedious and disorganized feel to it, similar to Dusty's 
2416Bunkhouse Stampede. It was the worst of the Wrestlemanias. I didn't think it would happen, but 
2417Crockett had the better show. I think what hurt the card was so many of Titan's guys are so 
2418used to working at slow paces, and when they had to move at a decent pace, which they 
2419weren't used to, they couldn't handle it. The production itself was excellent. Bob Uecker was 
2420funny in spots,'and a bore in others. Vanna White proved to be nothing but a set of teeth. Robin 
2421Leach was a waste. Jesse Ventura and Randy Savage kept this from being the ultimate dozer. 
2422Maybe Hulk Hogan will learn how to wrestle in between making his movie this summer. Crockett 
2423had the better show. McMahon spent more money, but unlike the last two confrontations, it 
2424really didn't matter. The NWA tag team title match was the best match on either show. The 
2425Fantastics and Midnight Express generated more heat in one match then Titan's guys did the 
2426entire show. Vince went for flash and name dropping. Crockett went for good wrestling. Crockett 
2427succeded. Sean Ryan 
2428Danny Martin 
2429Anchorage, Alaska 
2430
2431 
2432
2433 
2434
2435
2436WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER 
2437April 18, 1988 
2438
2439 
2440
2441The top story for this week comes from Japan, where Akira Maeda officially announced this past 
2442week that he is restarting the Universal Wrestling Federation and that the first card would take 
2443place 5/12 at Tokyo's Korauken Hall. Joining Maeda with the new promotion will be Nobuhiko 
2444Takada, probably the most talented of all the Japanese wrestlers, and Kazuo Yamazaki as the 
2445top stars along with prelim wrestlers Yoji Anjo, Tetsuo Nakano and Shigeo Miyato, all of whom 
2446were members of the original UWF organization which closed up in September of 1985. The 
2447official announcement of this was to take place on 4/8, but the story was broken a few days 
2448earlier. Of course this promotion's matches will be wrestled in the same style as the old UWF, 
2449with virtually no showmanship and concentrating on karate kicks and submission holds and in 
2450the interview Maeda said the promotion would return to its hard martial arts style. The old UWF, 
2451which lasted 17 months until folding, achieved a cult status in Tokyo and some of the bigger 
2452cities, but couldn't draw well on the road because they didn't have television, and because the 
2453style without any high spots wasn't easily understood by anyone but the hardcore fans, who are 
2454generally located in the big cities. An interesting thing is this group isn't going to run tours like 
2455the other promotions, but instead run one big show per month in only the big cities. For 
2456example, after the first show, they won't return to Tokyo until August (probably at a new 10,000 
2457seat Coliseum that is being built) and will run a big show in Sapporo over the summer and won't 
2458debut in Osaka until December. Maeda was suspended by New Japan for delivering a legit kick 
2459to the face of Riki Choshu, which broke two bones underneath Choshu's eye on November 
246019th, and then fired on March 1st when he failed to come to terms with New Japan booker Seiji 
2461Sakaguchi, who originally wanted Maeda to take a 15 percent pay cut and tour Mexico, which 
2462he refused, and later supposedly agreed he'd welcome Maeda back if he would do a job for 
2463Choshu and Antonio Inoki. I would think this group will have a difficult time making it, simply 
2464because it will be difficult to keep a promotion going on one show per month gates and 
2465subsequent videotape sales with no TV income and exposure. Yoshiaki Fujiwara add Osamu 
2466Kido, who were stars with the old UWF, re-signed with New Japan so they won't be making the 
2467jump. The others' contracts all expired at the end of March, and officially gave notice to 
2468Sakaguchi as to their leaving on 4/1. It appears that the foreign talent will be booked through 
2469Karl Gotch in Florida, and will probably include mainly the pupils of Boris Malenko's wrestling 
2470school and perhaps some Europeans.