Wrestling Observer Flashback–02.20.89

Warning: Massive spoiler ahead. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

SPOILER ALERT:

– Linda McMahon went to the New Jersey senate this week and admitted that PRO WRESTLING IS FAKE to avoid regulation from the athletic commission. What the FUCK, Linda? Do you want to just call up my kid and tell her that Santa Claus isn’t real, either? No wonder no one voted for you. What a dick move.

– The media of course exploded over this immediately. In 1989 mind you, about 100 years after wrestling started to be a work and most people above a certain age figured it out on their own. But still, A Current Affair made it into a big story and interviewed Roddy Piper and everything. His stance: Vince McMahon is a liar. Well, duh, but not in this case.

– So the key is that New Jersey has a 3% tax that goes to the commission, and the WWF is holding Wrestlemania there in a little over a month, and the tax applies to not only the live gate but to any money generated from TV revenues as well. That, by the way, is some serious bullshit and I’m glad Vince told them where to go. That would have meant paying nearly a million dollars in taxes after PPV is tallied, and that’s basically racketeering on Jersey’s part at that point. I know, shady characters in New Jersey? Fuhgeddaboudit. Thankfully, the bill was repealed and Vince got to keep his money.

– Dave thinks that a side-effect of repealing commission rule (which means no more doctors at ringside, aside from the one special doctor we all know and love) will be a return to the blade and more juice in matches. Even though Vince promised that such a practice is barbaric and his guys would never do such a thing.

– As a followup from last issue, Titan did actually lose the lawsuit to the Pennsylvania state commission and will have to pay up their 5% tribute to the godfather from their last show there.

– Larry Zbyszko-Gagne was triumphant in the battle royale to determine the new AWA champion, although he was beltless because Verne was so aggressive in burying Jerry Lawler on TV that Lawler decided to “forget” to send the belt back as a “fuck you”. And because it’s the AWA, Larry did a job to Wahoo earlier in the show for no real reason, and eliminated top flight contender Tom Zenk to win the title.

– More notably, Stanley Blackburn no-showed the taping, which ends his “250 year association” with the Gagnes. Dusty Rhodes also no-showed, although no one seriously thought he’d show up anyway. Bruce Hart & Brian Pillman also no-showed, although for once Verne stopped advertising them in advance of the show once he knew they weren’t coming, so Dave doesn’t count that one as an official no show. But Don Muraco, Iron Sheik and Tommy Rich sure were official no-shows!

– The WWF attempted to spin the Main Event rating as the highest rated show on NBC of the night, but in fact what they meant to say was that it was the LOWEST rated show on NBC of the night, and in fact lowest rated show on Friday in forever. That’s quite the spin.

– Dave notes that in fact based on percentages, the Flair-Sting match at the Clash did FAR better than this show did, although that’s cable v. network so not really fair. However, the damning thing about the Main Event is that the show plunged like the third hour of RAW as the show went on, and that’s not meaning they waited until the end of the Megapower angle and then turned off. It means they watched a few minutes and then switched to something else. However, Dave notes, by wrestling standards 15 million viewers is such a vast audience that even drawing 1% of them into buying Wrestlemania will mean a record number for the show. Ding ding!

– By the way, as a personal note, Dave talks about the “tizime” mishap from Hogan, which I never remembered. This is actually because I was watching the west coast feed as a kid, which the WWF managed to edit after the actual live feed on the east coast produced Hogan’s flub. So I learned something today!

– The talent raids have begun, just one week after Vince called up Ted Turner looking for a truce. Tony Schiavone, pissed off at being moved off the main shows in favor of Jim Ross, gave notice and accepted a big fat deal from the WWF. Dave thinks that this is gonna hurt the NWA and they’ll need a new announcer, but really it meant way more Jim Ross & Bob Caudle, and then Tony got sick of the WWF bullshit and came crawling back anyway.

– Continuing on with the neverending love affair between Inoki and the Red Menace, his current plan is to run shows in Sacramento in April, with Inoki/Choshu/Fujinami vs. The Russians as the main event, to be broadcast on ESPN. Dave thinks everyone involved is completely insane at this point.

– Both Steve DiSalvo and Steve Blackman quit Stampede, along with everyone else in the promotion. DiSalvo is going to go back to real estate and Blackman is a mystery. And in fact he actually left the business completely for 8 years before randomly popping up in the WWF. Probably because Bob Holly begged him to come back to wrestling.

– The Bulldogs are back from Japan, and no one gives a crap now. Basically they were so dominant over all the local teams that they had no viable challengers (outside of Karachi Vice getting a ridiculous tainted win for the titles) and now their drawing power is gone forever.

– Don Muraco, despite being North American champion, has left the promotion and now they have to get the title back from him somehow. I recall Davey Boy Smith ending up with it, but I never saw the actual match so maybe it was a phantom change. Also, why the fuck would you put your top belt on DON MURACO? He’s not exactly known for his stand-up attitude or dependability.

– Larry Cameron is set to be the next top star in Stampede, which he did indeed end up being. The last one, in fact. Really sad ending for his story, too, because he should have ended up in the WWF in the Ahmed Johnson role and instead died of a heart attack in 1993.

– The continuing saga of Master of Pain: Dave notes that although he’s terrible in the ring and super green, his punches do look good so maybe he has some boxing experience? Would Dave say that maybe he’s the best pure striker in the promotion, I wonder?

– The SST quit World Class last week, so (and here’s a stunner) the Von Erich brothers made themselves tag team champions after a phantom title change.

– Chavo Guerrero (Senior) got caught leaving Canada with a gram of pot in his suitcase after an AWA show in Winnipeg, and blamed it on fans planting it there. I would have blamed it on having to go to fucking sub-zero Winnipeg in February and wrestling for Verne Gagne.

– Verne actually had to cancel three shows on the Winter-peg tour due to snowstorms. Question: How are you supposed to tell the difference between an AWA show and an empty arena, anyway?

– OK, speaking of scumbag promoters, Carlos Colon went into PR overdrive during the Jose Gonzales trial, spending so much time and effort into turning him babyface on TV that fans who were in attendance for a show the day after the trial actually CHEERED when the verdict was announced. I take it back, Winnipeg is not the worst place on earth after all.

– Next week is the debut of VICIOUS WARRIOR in Japan against Fujinami for the IWGP title, and it’s looking increasingly likely at this point that this is a thing that will actually happen and not just a beautiful dream that will be ripped away from me by softball season or Sid stabbing some guy with safety scissors. I’m giddy with anticipation.

– The 4/23 Egg Dome show will include New Japan wrestlers taking on a variety of athletes from other disciplines like boxing and judo and whatever stupid shit the red commies do in between drinking vodka and trying to undermine our way of life. Sort of a mix of martial arts, you might say.

– The AWA has apparently ended their deal with the Showboat in Las Vegas in a cost-cutting move. That’s a shame.

– Buck Robley tried running a TV taping in Memphis in opposition to Jerry Jarrett. Jarrett made it known that anyone who works these shows won’t be welcome in his promotions for a long time to come. Only highlight was Sputnik Monroe doing color commentary, and getting hit with a cowbell by Stan Hansen as part of an angle during the taping. Monroe ran back to the dressing room to escape and then just went home and never returned.

– Back to the Samoans in World Class, as the fans would continually chant for them during Eric Embry’s interviews (or, as Dave calls him, Eric Von Erich) to the point where supposed top babyface Embry would yell at the fans to shut up and pay attention to him.

– Dave confirms that the new champion discussed last week is in fact Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Championship. And he notes that that’s why Dibiase is doing all sorts of jobs to everyone, so that it sets up the new champion having a bunch of challengers. Some things never change, even 30 years later.

– The WWF is going to announce the Wrestlemania card this Saturday on TV so they can steal the thunder from Chi-Town Rumble.

– Back to Roddy Piper, who had been out of wrestling since 1987 due to a lawsuit involving him being electrocuted, where he claimed that injuries suffered as a result left him unable to wrestle ever again. The lawsuit was just settled, so Piper is suddenly fine and ready to wrestle again.

– In the impending Chicago war between the NWA and WWF, Vince is winning handibly by a score of 9500 tickets sold to 1200 tickets sold with his house show two days before the PPV.

– For those who have asked in the past, Dave mentions here that Beefcake’s haircut victims get an extra few bucks in pay, and the WWF also employs an actual hairstylist backstage to fix up their “haircut” afterwards.

– Elizabeth has been sent home until Wrestlemania to sell the “injury”. Meanwhile, Savage is suddenly a huge draw following the heel turn, juicing the advances of his title defenses against Ultimate Warrior.

– Dave awards the “stupid slogan of the week” to “This is the NWA: We Wrestle”. What a curmudgeon. I actually liked that one.

– Dan Spivey is headed into the NWA as the newest member of the Varsity Club.

– Barry Windham was offered a big contract by the NWA, but he’s hesitant to sign and they’re really pressuring everyone to sign RIGHT NOW to avoid people jumping ship in times of war. Things are quite tense.

– Finally, Dave thinks promotion for the upcoming PPV has been off-the-charts terrible, but Flair and Steamboat will probably have a hell of a match anyway.

Next week: We find out if Flair and Steamboat have a hell of a match!