Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.20.87

But first, a mailbag question relating to the last issue.

Scott,
First, love the Observer recaps and there is a hole in my life on days they aren’t posted. Anyway I’ve been following along and it sounds like the UWF is doing great, the BOOM! Watts sells? So what’s the deal there? Was is kind of like ECW where they were running successful shows and making money, but not enough money? Or was Watts simply sick of the grind?
What gives man?

Well, you have to understand, the UWF was an EXPENSIVE proposition because they were trying to go national, and their home territory (and much of Watts’ own personal investments) were losing money into the tens of thousands by the week. It’s documented that Watts was personally half a million dollars in debt at the point when he sold to Crockett out of necessity. The shows on tour were doing fine, but Oklahoma’s oil market completely collapsed and he could no longer draw enough money in his dwindling home base to cover the costs of travelling and renting arenas. Much like ECW, at that point he was too big to be small and too small to be big. To his credit, it took a fairly long while for the truth about his situation to come out because he was never screwing guys over even when drowning in red ink.

Anyways, more on this situation this week, I’m guessing.

– Jim Crockett apparently paid $4 million for the UWF, and Dave is very skeptical about that. (In fact it turned out that Crockett actually paid Watts very little, if anything, in real money when all was said and done.) What Crockett actually purchased was the assets and trademarks for the promotion, but not the contracts for the wrestlers, and in fact individual deals will have to be made with everyone. Also, in a move that would end up being a much bigger deal in the long run, Crockett is moving the TV production headquarters to Dallas and setting up an office there for both the UWF and his own promotion. (That move would end up costing him a LOT of money that didn’t need to be spent and put him in the exact same position that Watts was in) As a part of the deal, Watts had to sign a contract agreeing not to promote wrestling for an undisclosed term rumored to be anywhere from two years to ten years, and he’s still liable for all the debts of the company.

– In another blockbuster, Paul Boesch has jumped ship to the WWF and will be affiliated with them moving forward in Houston. Apparently Boesch was greatly offended that Watts sold the company without even telling him first.

– Dave suspects that with former UWF cornerstones like Jake Roberts and Jim Duggan already in the WWF, there might be some more major talent raided through them before deals are signed with Crockett. (Well, you know what they say: Everyone’s got a price…)

– Also, no one knows what’s up with the Freebirds, since Hayes in particular has heat with both Crockett and especially Dusty, so they’ll probably just end up going back to World Class.

– The Riki Choshu story continues to get crazier, as the Japan Pro Wrestling (Choshu’s group of friends/promotion-within-a-promotion) crew are now fractured in their destinations. Yatsu and some prelim guys have chosen to stay with All Japan, while Hiro Hase and Masa Saito are jumping to New Japan, and a couple of others are still undecided. Baba, meanwhile, won’t even let Choshu out of his contract in the first place unless TV-Asahi (the home network for Inoki) agrees to pay what amounts to extortion money to Baba in exchange for breaking the contracts.

– Verne Gagne is suing a rogue promoter in Minnesota named David Strecker for advertising a show on 4/12 with a bunch of AWA talent (like Jimmy Snuka) who weren’t going to be at the show. (I guess if anyone is going to false-advertise these guys, it’s going to be Verne himself!)

– Finally onto the Crockett Cup, which Dave thought was a ton of fun, but a disappointment at the box office with 3000 on the first night and 13,000 on the second night, when Crockett was expecting a sellout both nights. To the review!

1. The Thunderfoots beat Bobby Jaggers & Rocky King in 5:54 after a messed up attempt at the finish and a repeat of the same spot. Basically a loaded boot to the head for the pin on King. *1/2

2. Bill Dundee & Barbarian beat Mike Rotunda & Tim Horner in 8:34 after Dundee knocked out Horner with brass knuckles and Barbarian pinned him. Both of the babyfaces looked good here. ***

3. Teijho Khan & Shaska Whatley beat Lazertron & Jimmy Valiant by DQ in 4:35. Hector backdropped Whatley over the top rope for the DQ in a blah match. *

4. The Garvins beat Italian Stallion & Ricky Lee Jones in a total squash at 2:24. -* The Garvins had no chemistry together.

5. Todd Champion & Denny Brown beat the Mulkey Brothers in 3:59 in what Dave calls the single stupidest decision of the tournament. People had been buying “Mulkeymania” shirts in large numbers and giving them a win would have popped the crowd huge, but instead they just went out and lost like geeks to a pair of guys barely above jobbers themselves. *

6. Steve Keirn & George South went to a 20:00 draw with Mike Graham & Nelson Royal to eliminate both from the tournament. Keirn was mainly clowning around and planning real estate deals on the apron, according to Dave, and the crowd didn’t care about the match at all. *1/2

7. Bob & Brad Armstrong beat Ivan Koloff & Vladimir Petrov by DQ in 4:10. Good while it lasted, because Ivan worked the whole match, until Petrov grabbed the chain and bopped Brad with it to break up a sleeper. *3/4

8. The Mod Squad beat Wahoo McDaniel & Baron Von Raschke in 4:35. At least it was short. Foreign object from manager Dundee puts Baron down. *

9. Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez destroyed the Thunderfoots in 4:32, drawing a babyface reaction. 1/2*

10. The Superpowers beat Dundee & Barbarian in 7:49. Nikita v. Barbarian had some good heat, but overall not much reaction from the crowd. Koloff put away Dundee with the sickle. *

11. The Road Warriors destroyed Teijho Khan & Shaska Whatley in 3:55 when Hawk pinned Khan with a powerslam. **

12. The New Midnight Express beat Ron & Jimmy Garvin by countout in 6:23 in the hottest match of the first show. Completely wild brawl that ended when Ronnie punched Eaton out of the ring, then chased him and walked into a racket to the head from Cornette to put him out. Eaton & Lane immediately looked great together here. ***1/2

13. Giant Baba & Isao Takagi beat Denny Brown & Todd Champion in 6:01. Dave notes that if the Mulkeys had made it through to here, the match still would have sucked but at the least the crowd would have cared and the bumps would have been better. This was actually Takagi’s pro debut, and it showed. Baba pinned Champion with the foot to the face. “DUD DUD DUD” says Dave.

14. The Armstrongs upset Arn Anderson & Kevin Sullivan when Brad got a surprise rollup on Sullivan at 5:25. Mostly good. **1/4

15. Tully Blanchard & Lex Luger beat the Mod Squad in 6:32. The Horsemen were cheered a lot, so Dundee tried to make the Mod Squad into the heels to go with the flow. Pretty clumsy match, and Luger got the pin on Basher with an elbow. *1/2

16. Ole Anderson beat Big Bubba Rogers in a cage match at 6:56. Nothing special, lots of blood. ** (Ole was basically retired after this one)

The Rock N Roll Express had to pull out of the tournament due to Morton suffering a serious eye injury, but they were supposed to face the winners of the match that went to a draw, so Baba & Takagi get a free ride to the semi-finals as a result.

Night two, as the quarterfinals commence!

1. The Horsemen beat the Armstrongs in 16:42. Tully got double-teamed like crazy by the babyfaces and the crowd actually got into HIM as a babyface as a result. Luger got the hot tag and the crowd went crazy, and Dave thinks Lex will be a great babyface in 1988. Dave praises Bob’s facials while standing on the apron and watching his son sell. It’s true, you can’t teach that kind of thing. Double clothesline behind the ref’s back finishes Bob. ***3/4

2. The Midnight Express beat the Road Warriors by DQ in 11:28. Another incredible tag team exhibition from the Midnights with amazing heat. Hawk actually took a pounding for a long time as face in peril, and Animal made the comeback and grabbed the tennis racket to clean house, hitting everyone in sight to draw the DQ as the crowd was SHOCKED. ****

3. Dusty & Nikita beat Rude & Fernandez in 9:40. Because it was Baltimore and they had to keep the blading to a minimum, Dusty had to sell for minutes on end with his actual ringwork and not blood, thus hampering the match. Manny tried a flying bodypress and Dusty rolled through for the pin. Better than average match, but the crowd was totally spent from the Midnights-Warriors insanity and this one couldn’t follow. **1/2

4. In semi-final #1, Blanchard & Luger beat the Japanese in 8:40. The Horsemen tried to make the Baba contingent look good and failed miserably, especially when Luger had to sell for Baba in the most ludicrous sight possible. Takagi fell out of the Torture Rack, so Luger just improvised and pinned him with an elbow instead. Dave rates this one “DUD DUD DUD DUD DUD DUD”, which is getting into the Last Deletion territory.

5. In semi-final #2, Rhodes & Koloff beat the Midnights in 11:12. First half was the Dusty Rhodes clown show, and Nikita worked the rest, surviving crazy double and triple teams before finishing Eaton with a sickle. **

6. Ric Flair pinned Barry Windham to retain the NWA title in 26:01. Windham was working on a badly sprained ankle, but guess what? They still pulled out one of the greatest matches in history. Tons of false finishes, almost too many, with non-stop action for nearly half an hour and no resting. Flair reversed a rolling cradle for the pin. *****

7. The Superpowers beat the Horsemen to win the Crockett Cup in 17:31. Really good, considering the lack of mobility of everyone but Tully. Finish saw Tully trying a piledriver on Nikita, but “Superwhale” came off the top rope with a bodypress to win it. ***1/2 “Let’s just say not everyone was thrilled with Dusty winning”, notes Dave. It also hurts morale when Dusty picks himself to win the Bunkhouse Stampede two years in a row, then the World title, and then this. (Don’t forget about another Bunkhouse Stampede win coming up in January!) Really though, a babyface team had to win, because Crockett’s mother isn’t going to hand out fake checks to a heel team, and the Road Warriors already won it last year. Magnum showed up with a cane to be at ringside for the match, and Dave was impressed with Crockett’s restraint in not “pulling a Fritz Von Erich” and selling the show around him to draw a sellout. (Well, Crockett sure as hell sold the VIDEOTAPE around Magnum) .

– Most notable thing outside the ring was the Barbarian getting kicked out of a bar due to closing time, so he punched a sizeable hole in the wall to voice his displeasure. Two cops were in the bar at the time and radio’d for backup, and Barbarian went upstairs and punched ANOTHER wall into submission, then came back down to the lobby (bleeding all over the elevator) where 15 officers arrested him. And then when he was being led away in cuffs, a wrestling fan asked for his autograph and HE SIGNED IT.

– Dave updates the Dennis Condrey situation, in that no one knows where the hell he actually is. He literally disappeared without notice on 3/25, and everyone just kind of assumed that the WWF was trying to sign him because that’s where everyone disappears to, but they swear no contact was ever made. Finally, on 3/31, Crockett had to decide what to do with the team, so they considered either Tom Pritchard or Stan Lane as a replacement and made the call to go with Lane.

– To the WWF, where Killer Khan is coming in as a heel for the next Hogan tour.

– Jim Neidhart’s trial has been postponed to 4/14.

– In the UWF, the California tour has been cancelled, for obvious reasons.

– Sting & Rick Steiner won the UWF tag titles from Terry Taylor & Chris Adams at the Omni.

– Bruce Hart & Brian Pillman won the International tag team titles in a tournament in Calgary. (Notable because they would go on to be the longest-reigning champions in Stampede Wrestling’s history!)

– And finally, Dave does a quick World Class summary and finishes with an off-hand note that “Mike Von Erich is missing most of his current bookings”.

Yeah, that he is. Not looking forward to next week’s issue.