Wrestling Observer Flashback–09.19.88

OK, this is the BIG NEWS WEEK.  Dave advises us not to skip to the letters page just yet!  Shit is going down in 1988!

– So yes, what we’ve been building towards for weeks now finally happens, as the Midnight Express win the tag team titles from Tully & Arn in Philly!  But more importantly, this was an unplanned emergency title switch with no cameras present because the Horsemen finally gave notice after weeks of threats, and they’ll officially start with the WWF in October.  Arn Anderson and Vince McMahon had bumped into each other a TV convention earlier in the summer and went to lunch for several hours, which is where the idea to leave came from.  The feeling was that the WWF wanted Arn and took Tully as a part of the deal, but he wasn’t going to make or break the deal because he didn’t fit their style anyway.  Arn & Tully had both been threatening Crockett with quitting for weeks because they wanted Dusty Rhodes fired as booker (you and everyone else, muchachos) and when it didn’t happen they finally pulled the trigger.  There was also issues with Crockett missing payments that were promised (something that Cornette also complained about in future shoot interviews).  This is a major blow to the NWA leading up to the sale, mostly because there was big plans for Flair’s babyface turn and the split of the Horsemen, and now the whole gimmick is dead.

– Speaking of the sale, it’s almost done, for real this time, honest, says Dave.  TBS will be purchasing all the assets of Jim Crockett Promotions, including the contracts of the wrestlers and TV syndication deals. 

– Two deaths to report this week:  Promoter Leroy McGuirk (78), and Bad Leroy Brown (38).

– Early estimates from TV Guide put the buyrate of Summerslam at ONE MILLION.  Uh, no, sez Dave.  Actual scientific estimates and not Titan’s bullshit put the number closer to 400,000 – 500,000.  With no closed circuit on this one and a realistic take of $3m for the WWF, that actually makes their profit margin kind of precarious for the upcoming boxing match.  Yeah, they lost a LOT of money on that one.  Dave goes on to note that most boxing matches which DON’T involve Mike Tyson do about 200,000 buys, which would mean that the WWF would make about $1m on the fight, nowhere near enough to justify the $9m they paid for the rights.

– Clash of Champions III did good ratings, but the show wasn’t great.  Dave has issues with Dusty’s booking and presentation of himself, and also that they never actually mentioned where the show was from.  To the rundown!

Brad Armstrong drew with Mike Rotunda in a TV title match (20:00)  **3/4

Steve Williams & Nikita Koloff beat the Sheepherders in 17:07 in a really good match.  ***1/4  I also enjoyed this one in my own viewing of the show.  How the Sheepherders got so terrible in the three months or so after this when they jumped to the WWF, I don’t know. 

Dusty Rhodes pinned Gary Hart to beat Kevin Sullivan in 6:59.  This was supposed to be Dusty & Dick Murdoch reuniting against Sullivan & Al Perez, but Murdoch was on a fishing trip all week.  He told this to Jim Crockett and Dusty, said that he wouldn’t be there, and Dusty still booked the match and advertised him anyway.  *1/2 

Ricky Morton beat Ivan Koloff in a chain match at 9:52.  The match was nothing, as Ivan was recovering from knee surgery, but the post-match angle and babyface turn for Uncle Ivan was effective, with the Russian Assassins (and Jack Victory debuting as #2) doing the beatdown until Nikita makes the save.  ** for the whole thing from Dave. 

Sting beat Barry Windham by DQ at 21:12, so Windham retains the US title.  One clever spot saw Sting punch JJ Dillon, who spit out a white Life Saver to make fans think it was a tooth.  Does Dave mean a Tic Tac, maybe?  ***1/2  The finish was terrible, but I went even higher on the match when I watched it and had it at ****. 

– Down to Memphis, and indeed the rumors are true:  Verne Gagne had ceded control of the ESPN TV tapings to Jerry Jarrett, and they’re doing some batshit crazy stuff with cross-promotional matches featuring three different territories.  Jarrett even agreed to pay Sgt. Slaughter’s insane asking price to get him for TV.  More “unification” matches scheduled on top of the cards, but Dave thinks that if they don’t actually unify that thing soon it’ll kill the gimmick forever. 

– World Class got an extension on fixing the Sportatorium, so they’re OK for the moment.

– Kevin Von Erich no-showed a World Class taping due to being hospitalized, but apparently they’ve lied to people about that so many times that fans didn’t believe it and got angry about it. 

– Keiji Muto continues to look awesome in squashing geeks as “Super Black Ninja”. 

– Buddy Roberts is doing an angle where he’s running for President, with Iceman Parsons as his running mate.  That should have saved the territory.

– Dennis Condrey made a surprise appearance in Portland, showing up to work for Don Owens without telling anyone. 

– Eddie Gilbert was hospitalized with a broken neck and severely ruptured vertebrae.  Originally he was scheduled for career-ending surgery to fix it, but that somehow got reassessed to being out for two months.  That’s a pretty good second opinion. 

– Dave takes shots at the AWA PPV, noting that he’ll have a major announcement about it in next week’s newsletter, but he doesn’t want to reveal details because Stanley Blackburn will suspend him if he talks about it. 

– Another major jump to report this week!  Dave goes through a big buildup, and then reveals that RON TRONGARD has moved to the WWF.  Man, he’s got the snark mojo going this week, I’ll give him that. 

– Tickets for Hogan v. Bossman in Edmonton went on sale this week and already hit 7000, because it’s Hogan’s debut there.  That’s really weird, because I saw him in Vancouver a few times.  They’re expecting a legit 20,000 seat sellout for the match. 

– Hulk is also debuting the ridiculous fist helmet gimmick because Titan actually expects kids to buy replicas. 

– Dave notes that One Man Gang is back on the house show circuit and growing his hair in for some reason.  Oh, there was a reason!

– The Owen Hart confusion continues, as the official name is now “Blue Blazer”, but at a house show he was introduced as “Blue Angel” on the way in and then “Blue Lazer” after the win. 

– Finally, back in the NWA, Jim Crockett is trying to get rid of his millions of dollars in debts before the Turner sale by offering creditors 40 cents on the dollar.  It’s not making him many friends.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME.