Wrestling Observer Flashback–09.12.88

OK, Summerslam recap coming up, for reals this time.

But first, some other news…

– The Turner sale continues to drag on, and the rumor mill is completely out of control at this point. Speculation is running rampant with theories on everything from the entire roster jumping to WWF to Verne Gagne coming in and taking over the Carolinas. Or Ted Turner could just buy the company and everything mostly continues on like it was.

– One interesting wrinkle that was still floating around at that point was an unholy coalition of Ole Anderson and Jim Barnett basically restarting Georgia Championship Wrestling, and THAT was pitched by them to TBS as the company that Turner buys. Ole’s argument was that he buys up all the remaining free agent talent for cheap (Basically raiding the remaining territories and stealing what he can from Crockett, who is going bankrupt by the end of the year anyway) and thus Turner gets the dollar store version of WCW for pennies on the dollar. That is actually kind of genius and part of me is shocked that Turner didn’t bite on it.

– Enough teasing, on with Dave’s review of Summerslam. The headline is “More Brutal Than The Bunkhouse…” so I’m pretty sure he didn’t like this one.

– Overall, he calls it “the most forgettable show in the short history of pay-per-view” and describes it as “everything it was advertised to be and less.” TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL, DAVE.

– The announcing? TERRIBLE. Worst ever. And they advertised a “big happening” and then didn’t deliver anything. This cost FIFTEEN DOLLARS. That’s, like, $150 in 2016 money. More if you’re taking current gas prices into consideration. Back in my day, we got a double feature for a NICKEL, plus a cartoon and a newsreel, and had change for popcorn, too!

Oh yeah, the card? THAT FUCKING SUCKED, TOO.

– British Bulldogs drew with the Rougeaus in 20:00. Actual time was 20:04. That’s four extra seconds that Dave was punished by watching this horrible show that cost him FIFTEEN WHOLE DOLLARS. The match was perfectly fine. **1/2

– Bad News Brown beat Ken Patera with the Ghetto Blaster in 6:33. Not as bad as feedback seemed to indicate, but Patera is pretty much done. *1/2

– Rick Rude beat Junkyard Dog by DQ at 6:18. Granted, this was terrible and it was all Dog’s fault. Dave notes that it should have been negative stars, but the Jake Roberts run-in was good, so it gets a DUD.

– Powers of Pain squashed the Bolvsheviks in 5:15, as Dave once again notes how ice cold that the Powers have become now that the stupid WWF sheeples have figured out that they’re not the Road Warriors, duh duh duh. 1/2*

– Jim Duggan was the special guest of Brother Love, someone who not only HAD appeared in MSG before, but in fact had main-evented a month before. Dave is already sick of Brother Love. DUD DUD DUD DUD DUD

– Next up, the thing that was the BEST THING ON THE SHOW. From a booking standpoint, Dave notes. From a wrestling standpoint, however, he thought that Warrior running out to squash Honky Tonk Man in 28 seconds blew him up so bad that he thought we’d get the first case of a man giving birth on national TV. However, even though all of us educated readers knew exactly what was going to happen (which he stresses multiple times) the idiot fans in the audience who watch WWF programming and didn’t even know that the Powers of Pain are not the Road Warriors were SHOCKED. So this was pretty effective. -1/2*

– Dave stops here to complain about the intermission and the hype for the upcoming Sugar Ray PPV on the show. Paying FIFTEEN DOLLARS for non-wrestling content? And you guys think that I get overly worked up about commercials and video recaps on PPV today!

– Dino Bravo pinned Don Muraco “in a pathetic 5:38”. Both guys were horribly blown up and the finish might have decent if anyone had cared about the match, which they didn’t. DUD

– Demolition retained the tag titles over the Hart Foundation in 9:38. Finish was decent, but the match was completely boring. *1/2

– Big Bossman pinned Koko B. Ware with the Bubba Slam in 5:57. This was the best of the squashes, Dave notes. *1/2

– Jake Roberts pinned Hercules with the DDT in 10:07. Dull and deathly slow, but Herc still managed to be blown up. *1/4

– The Megapowers beat the Megabucks in 13:57. Dave thought Dibiase looked great, but he hopes that he saved his money from the main event because that time is done. **3/4

FIFTEEN DOLLARS for this?

– Onto other news, as a major Penthouse story on wrestling comes out soon, and the big focus is on the Von Erichs. They managed to get Irv Muchnick (someone who would become a much bigger enemy of the sport later) to tone down some of the really bad stuff from the initial version that Dave read, however it still now comes out that David Von Erich actually died from a drug overdose and not bad sushi or whatever ridiculous story that Fritz was trying to get over that week.

– The WWF is internally predicting a 6% buyrate for Summerslam, and I can tell you that the show did nowhere NEAR 600,000 buys so we’ll see how that one shakes out in weeks to come.

– Next wacky idea for Starrcade: With the PPV (that is NOT Starrcade) moving to 12/26, Starrcade in November will instead become a whole WEEK of Starrcades, like the Great American Bash tour, and none of them will be televised on PPV. Because a show every month would be ridiculous.

– Down in Memphis, Austin Idol decides to no-show again, but they still advertise him anyway despite flying in Buddy Landel to replace him. I don’t think Idol ever reappeared on the national scene, in fact.

– Kevin Sullivan broke Jimmy Garvin’s leg with a cinderblock to write him off for surgery this week. Garvin would actually disappear until 1989, when he got turned into a Freebird.

– The Midnight Express and Horsemen continue to have **** matches around the horn, with the crowd getting more and more behind the Midnights each time.

– Ron Garvin debuts for Continental as a heel, but fans cheer him wildly and he even has fans congratulate him for turning on Dusty Rhodes!

– Dave starts dedicating big chunks to Continental TV, which sounds like a really fun show as booked by Paul E & Eddie Gilbert.

– Dustin Rhodes, the 18 year old son of the son of the plumber, debuts in Florida next week after being trained by Skandor Akbar. Akbar is really high on his potential for the future. Your hilariously ironic line of the week: “You have to give credit to Dusty for not bringing him into the big-time right away and pushing him as a main eventer before he’s ready.” JUST WAIT, DAVE!

– The city inspector in Dallas told World Class that if they don’t have $40,000 worth of repairs done to the Sportatorium, it’ll have to be closed down in 30 days. I’m shocked it was only $40,000, frankly.

– The Simpson brothers quit World Class. That must not have lasted long. Perhaps they actually tried to get a job elsewhere and realized that no one wanted them?

– Ken Mantell has apparently disappeared off the face of the earth.

– More weirdness in the AWA, as the next ESPN tapings will supposedly be run by Jerry Jarrett and include talent from World Class, Memphis and Continental.

– Another update on the Crockett sale here at the end of the newsletter: It’s right back to square one.

– Butch Reed has been working rodeos as a bulldogger since his departure after Wrestlemania.

About all until next time! Really, no Brainbusters here? We’ve gotta be getting close.