Wrestling Observer Flashback–05.25.87
By Scott Keith on July 14, 2016
You know how you go to send someone a quote on a turntable but because you type the e-mail posting address to your blog 8 million times a day, that’s what comes out instead and you end up looking like an idiot on your own website?
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Um, anyway, let’s get back to Curt Hennig and hopefully I can post this without screwing it up…
– Curt Hennig is the NEW AWA World champion, finally!
– After Stanley Blackburn held up the title due to the controversy, the championship committee voted 4-2 in favor of Hennig keeping the title, so that’s what will be announced on TV. As for the ACTUAL reason, Hennig had of course agreed to join the WWF after being dicked around by Verne and promised the World title constantly (since Christmas!) without ever getting it. Hennig had previously turned down another offer from the WWF at that point, because Verne promised him the belt on the Christmas show and then reneged on that deal as well. Dave thinks that perhaps they should have actually kept the belt held up and let Hennig win another match to get the title, instead of having old white men do a fake vote to give him the title. So now all the promoters get Hennig instead of Bockwinkel for the crossover tours, and everyone seems happier that way.
– Ted Dibiase of course has jumped to the WWF in other huge news of the week, breaking a handshake agreement for $250,000 a year with Crockett in the process. For him to give up that kind of money (not to mention the freedom to work Japan), Dave is pretty sure he’s going to be pushed as a major attraction. All Dave knows is that he’s going to be a heel with a “unique gimmick”. Dave wonders if that means he’ll be the only guy in the company having good matches. Also signed and lost in the shuffle a bit is Bam Bam Bigelow, who is finishing up with Memphis and coming in soon. (Exciting times for 12 year old Scott!)
– Bigelow actually had a standing offer to come to the WWF whenever he wanted, as long as he could get out of his Japan commitments. And since both Dibiase and Bigelow have lots of matches left for Baba and/or Inoki, that might be a tricky proposition.
– Who’s ready for more Von Erich news? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Kevin Von Erich was working a eight-man match with the Fantastics against Brian Adias and pals, when he suddenly collapsed in the middle of the ring and turned blue, until Tommy Rogers performed CPR on him and revived him, saving his life. Now, you know that it wouldn’t be a report on a near-tragedy without Fritz lying through his teeth, so of course the official statement from the family is that Kevin suffered a concussion from a blow to the jaw and he’ll be out for a few weeks. Because, you know, guys suffer concussions in the ring all the time and start convulsing and turning blue in the face as though overdosing on drugs. That’s totally how science works. Oh, those wacky Von Erichs.
– Also, in a move surprising to no one, Bruiser Brody was fired as booker and replaced by Gary Hart. (According to Gary Hart’s book, this was to the great relief of Brody).
– For those keeping track from last week, the deal between Fritz Von Erich and Bum Bright is once again a go at this point, and Fritz is telling everyone that they’ll be getting a huge influx of cash and soon be bigger than Vince with Kevin Von Erich on top. And also, Dave notes, he has some beach front property he’d like to tell you about. Anyway, Fritz and Continental Syndication have settled their differences (to the tune of $227,000 out of court for Fritz) and now there’s some question about who actually owns the tapes of World Class. The syndication company is claiming that they own the old tapes, dating back to 1982, and as a result also own the World Class NAME as well. So as a part of the settlement, Fritz has apparently agreed to let them have the tapes for syndication purposes in exchange for the fat sack of cash they gave him, but he’ll retain the World Class name. The syndication of the new episodes will go through Bum Bright as of June.
– Speaking of hilarious nonsense, Verne Gagne is telling everyone that he’s got a new big money backer, and he’ll be teaming up with Ron Fuller (who, Dave clarifies, was the guy under the mask as the Mercenary after all) to run shows on the West Coast where prelim guys get $60,000 a year.
– I will pause here for your laughter.
– Dave promises that next week for sure, he’s getting a new typewriter. Those who have seen these issues will know why this DELIGHTS me, because I’m just about ready to hurl my computer across the room every time he types an “O” in these things. Also, even in 1987 you could get a fucking Tandy 1000 or TRS-80 from Radio Shack, Dave!
– The new continues at a blistering pace this week, as Missy Hyatt has already been fired from the WWF even before any of her Missy’s Manor segments made the air. Apparently she had a strong disagreement with Vince over the character she was being asked to play (ie, a generic bimbo) and the character she thought she should play (ie, Missy Hyatt) and that was the end of her. Dave thinks it probably set a record for the amount of ink wasted between the WWF magazine and the Apter mags on someone who never even made TV.
– Back to Japan, as Riki Choshu’s status is STILL up in the air and Baba can’t work out shit out with Inoki. They did a meeting and tried to come to an agreement, but afterwards Inoki did a press conference for his next series and Choshu wasn’t mentioned and didn’t appear. Since leaving the promotion, Inoki’s ratings have dropped to nearly 50% of their current level, so low that they might have to change the name of the show to “Monday Night RAW”.
– Also, the Jumping Bomb Angels will be touring the WWF in the summer, and Dave doesn’t think that’s a good idea at all. Vince’s new vision for the division, a “Divas Revolution” you might say, is to phase out the rather plain-looking women in Moolah’s stable and instead bring in more conventionally attractive women with better gimmicks, like GLOW but without dressing everyone like two-bit hookers. (David McLane is such a lowlife that he makes VINCE MCMAHON look like the classy one! Anyway, on the topic of the women at this point, the usual girls you’d see like Velvet McIntyre and the like were basically sub-contracted employees of Moolah, pimped out in exchange for Moolah getting most of the money. It was only once Sherri came in and took over the top dog position that the women reported directly to Vince and Moolah was let go. To say that Dave is not a fan of Moolah and her “business practices” would be an understatement.)
– Another new WWF signee, but don’t get excited, it’s nothing big. World Class washout Dingo Warrior will be coming in to work C-shows in prelims until he learns how to work, and will definitely not be pushed or put on TV. And since it’s unlikely he’ll learn to work in the WWF or be able to get himself over, don’t expect to ever see him.
– One Man Gang debuted on the TV tapings, and he’ll be a B-show Hogan foe because he’s managed by Slick.
– Randy Savage continues to be heavily cheered at these things. He’s going to be wrestling Honky Tonk Man in June, which is perhaps a dry run for a babyface turn.
– Brutus Beefcake debuted his gimmick, dressing as a barber and cutting the hair of jobbers.
– The Islanders turned heel at the tapings, since they had been getting booed against Demolition at house shows anyway.
– Ken Mantell’s Wild West Wrestling is attracting some names already, including Tatum, Victory, Buck Robley, Bill Irwin, Missing Link and Sunshine.
– Turns out that the payoff for most guys (not named Von Erich) on the stadium show was $250, which is why everyone quit.
– For those keeping track of all the times it happened, Buddy Landell was fired from Continental this time for his usual self-created issues, right in the middle of a big push.
– Finally to Crockett, where the Midnight Express indeed won the US tag title tournament, beating Windham & Garvin in the finals. The match was “damn good”.
– Ole Anderson is finishing up dates with Dusty as a partner and then he’s done.
– Rough plan for the summer is the fresh and hot matchup of Dusty Rhodes v. Ric Flair.
– Dave has some real talk for Crockett at this point, because trying to run three circuits at the same time is going to burn out everyone involved. And sending a bunch of good midcarders to shore up the UWF just leaves the main roster depleted. Also, Steve Williams got a big contract to stay with the Crockett-UWF, and now guys who have been around longer are very resentful.
– In Florida, Dave is flabbergasted that Crockett would spend so much time and money printing “Mulkeymania” t-shirts up, give them a big push on TV for a week, and then send them to Florida as worthless jobbers without even bothering to follow up on their week of fame.
– Dave actually includes a full page ad for the Lawler-Idol hair v. hair cage match on VHS (a collector’s item with only 1000 cassettes printed!) which can be yours for only $45.20, sent care of the Wrestling Observer. Either VHS or Beta available.
– And wouldn’t you know it, I checked Ebay after I saw that, and look what I found:
– New to the UWF is prelim kid Troy Orndorff, who looked pretty impressive on house shows. He’ll be billed as “Shane Douglas” when he gets to TV.
– Ted Dibiase will actually make his WWF debut against One Man Gang on 6/7 in Houston, although that’s just a warmup and he’ll still be a heel when he debuts on TV.
– And finally, in a news bite that ended up kicking off a LONG downward spiral, Jake Roberts is having serious nerve problems with his arm at the moment, which he attributes to Honky nailing him too hard with the guitar.
TILL NEXT WEEK!
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