Wrestling Observer Flashback–April 15 1985 Part 1

Previously, somewhere in Parts Unknown: http://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2016/05/11/wrestling-observer-flashback-march-25-1985-part-2/

Oh man, Captain America. So great. Want to watch over and over. Strangely also want to get freaky with Aunt May, but that seems to be the common sentiment.

Oh, by the way, this is the legendary FINAL ISSUE of the Observer. Read on for what the deal is.

– So, Dave says goodbye and announces that this is the final issue of the Observer. It’s just getting to be too much work to do the bookkeeping and maintenance for 800 people instead of 200, especially when he’s already got a full-time job now as editor for a soccer magazine. Fear not, though, he’ll continue to trade tapes and follow the product, even though he hates what the WWF is becoming.

– As for the future of the newsletter, there’s still a bunch of people who have issues prepaid remaining, so what he’s gonna do is special 6-8 page updates for those people every few weeks to burn off the remaining subscriptions. Which of course turned into 8 pages a week for the next 30 years and counting.

– Wrestlemania sucked, but it wasn’t really a factor in his decision, by the way. So for those waiting for the epic Meltz-down that’s been building, it never comes.

– Also, we bid farewell to Mr. Mike with this issue, for those who care. I have no idea what happened to him afterwards but he definitely wasn’t around the RSPW scene or anything like that.

– Anyway, onto the news, as Wrestlemania ended up being the biggest show of all-time, and certainly the biggest hype job of anything since after World War II that Dave can recall. Say what you will about the quality of the show, but Vince sold the SHIT out of it to people who normally don’t care a lick about wrestling. Dave actually apologizes for underselling Vince’s media mastery in the last issue, noting that what he pulled off goes beyond mere manipulation and into the realm of one of the greatest promotional jobs in history. As it turned out, they sold out entire arenas of closed-circuits showings in places like Boston and Philly and New York and basically exceeded their own expectations to a crazy degree.

– That new show on NBC, Saturday Night’s Main Event, debuts on 5/11 and it’ll feature three main event quality matches to start. Dave notes that it’s WWF-quality, not to be confused with actual pro wrestling.

– In the middle of the various reprinted newspaper clippings, we get a SPECIAL BONUS PAGE because the issue was so later, with various tidbits. OK then.

– The Texas Stadium show (David Von Erich Memorial #2) will be headlined by Flair v. Kevin Von Erich this year instead of Kerry.

– The Freebirds are hopeful to get into the AWA, although they’re more hopeful to wait until the Road Warriors are gone before jumping there.

– The Great Kabuki is back in World Class, now being managed by Sunshine instead of Gary Hart, and Gary just goes OFF on that one in his book. He was really personally hurt and betrayed that he spent so long developing Kabuki into a threat and a draw and now Ken Mantell was just flushing the character completely down the toilet.

– Paul Orndorff did a TV commercial for Absorbine Jr and got $7500 for it. Titan Sports, acting as his agent, got $42500 for it. But Dave notes that if he was working on his own, he never would have even had a shot at getting the $7500, so don’t feel too bad for him.

– The WWF drew about 5000 in Anaheim on 4/13, and a riot nearly broke out as about 30 fans (you know, the new generation of fans who don’t take it too seriously and watch for campy fun according to Vince) stormed the ring during Sheik & Volkoff’s anthem gag. Thank god it wasn’t in Texas or guns might have been involved.

– The Road Warriors arrived in Japan and made ALL OF THE MONEY for Baba.

– However, Inoki got his revenge right away, scoring a huge coup by signing away Bruiser Brody and booking himself in a match against him for 4/18. Baba is already crying foul play and pointing to Brody’s valid contract that runs until 1986, but with half a dozen examples of the same thing happening in the other direction, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. New Japan booker Sakaguchi is pleading innocence, saying that the whole Brody deal was done by the WWF and they just went along with it.

– Apparently on his way out of All Japan, Brody did a shoot on Riki Choshu, refusing to cooperate or sell for him because he was “too small”. Never heard about that one before, although it sounds like his match with Lex Luger in Florida.

I’m wiped out tonight, so we’ll be back tomorrow with Dave’s review of Wrestlemania, the wrapup of the territories, and his farewell to the Observer.

For like, two weeks.