Wrestling Observer Flashback–06.13.88

Moving onto June of 1988, with Dave having recovered enough from the AWA TV taping that he was able to make it to a WWF Superstars taping. It was at least much better.

– Dave notes that they’ve ditched the in-arena broadcast booths so that they can just do a series of squashes without having to act like they need to be in any particular order.

– Big angle is Superstar Billy Graham getting attacked by Greg Valentine and injured with the figure-four. Dave notes that Muraco had to run back and forth to the ring twice as a part of the angle while making the save, and it’s a good thing that it wasn’t Warrior because he might have had a heart attack.

– The Rockers debut here and Dave jokes that they’ve already beaten their previous longevity record by making it to the end of the tapings without getting fired.

– Big Bossman debuts and squashes someone, and Dave notes that this gimmick isn’t as effective as Big Bubba Rogers. OK then.

– Bad News Brown squashes a guy and Dave goes on this funny rant about how doing the Black Panther salute would have worked in 1969, so he’s surprised that Verne Gagne isn’t using it at that point. Dave then notes that Verne only learned of baseball breaking the color barrier in 1968 yesterday, so he’s still a year behind anyway.

– Demolition destroys Strike Force in the tag title rematch and Rick Martel gets stretchered out. Dave notes that either the team is getting a renewed push when they return, or they’re history. Well, we know which way Vince went with that one.

– WWF starts adding not only “C” shows at this point, but now “D” shows as well for really small towns and charity shows. The rationale is that with most of the territories on the ropes, Vince needs to move in for the kill in the spot show areas they would normally run. And guess what, it WORKED.

– Over in Japan, Adrian Adonis returns to team with Dick Murdoch again, having dropped some weight and gone back to his leather jacket look. Fans are unimpressed by his physique.

– Onto the NWA, and the pre-orders for the Bash PPV are doing pretty well and could help the financial situation. As it turned out, nope, it didn’t help. More Clashes are planned, of course. Dave notes that the Jimmy Garvin & Precious vs. Kevin Sullivan angle is getting over well, but is suspiciously like the Rude vs. Jake Roberts feud getting over well in WWF. I never saw it as the same thing, actually. I saw the Rude one as Rude wanting to steal Cheryl, whereas Sullivan was just an asshole who wanted to terrorize the Garvins.

– Everyone believes that Luger will win the title from Flair at the Bash. Dave coyly notes that “let’s just say nothing is certain right now.”

– Back to the WWF, as Tama gives notice due to pressure from the other Samoans over the treatment of Sika. This leaves the Islanders as Haku & Siva Afi (“from one of the best teams to one of the worst”) which lasted about two weeks before we got King Haku instead.

– Vince gives a lecture about the evils of steroids (!!!) and how WWF TV makes you larger than life, so you don’t need the juice. This stems from an unnamed worker accidentally leaving a needle laying around the dressing room and an arena employee getting stuck by it, then freaking out because they thought they might get AIDS from it, so I guess Vince decided to do some damage control before legal had to get involved.

– The AWA is planning some kind of “Battle of the Belts” deal with people from World Class and Memphis appearing on a big supercard. We’ll see how that one pans out.

– Speaking of things not panning out, a very defensive letter from a Stampede Wrestling insider goes off on people who think that the territory will be dead once Owen Hart leaves. They’ll do just great with Bruce Hart on top! Stampede was of course dead and buried a year later.

And that’s it for this week!