Wrestling Observer Flashback–08.03.87

Well, it’s my last day of vacation and no one has died this week that I know of. So let’s head back to 87 and hopefully no one died that week, either.

– Dave complains again about it being a slow news week.

– The top story is that Wrestlemania III shattered all existing PPV records, grossing 10.3 million dollars. With the addition of giant closed circuit numbers and the $1.6 million gate at the Silverdome itself, that puts their money a little over $17 million for the show. (Keep in mind that Dave wasn’t getting actual buyrates and such at this point. I forget what the actual number shook down to be, but Dave’s numbers here put it between 500K and 700K if you divide the 10 million by a $15-$20 price tag, which seems really high for the limited PPV market in 1987.)

– The Montreal promotion officially closed and Pat Patterson was hanging around the office trying for Steve DiSalvo. (To sign him to a wrestling contract!)

– Sherri Martell debuted for the WWF on 7/24 and pinned the Fabulous Moolah to win the Women’s title in her first match. Dave notes that although Sherri as a babyface is a fail, anything is an improvement over Moolah, up to and including Ronnie Garvin in drag.

– More big money for Crockett on the Bash tour! Dave is getting conflicting reports on the gate, with money that would translate to 16,000 tickets sold in Greensboro and Charlotte, but all the reports put attendance between 20,000 and 24,000.

– The question about what will happen to Jim Duggan has been answered – he’ll be back at the end of the month as a babyface again. Dave is pretty glad about it, because it was only through an “incredible series of bad luck” that he was ever fired in the first place. Not that he’s condoning drinking and driving. (Don’t even get me started. I know times were different then, but if he was actually arrested for a DUI and found with drugs in the car, then he should have been fired and would have been today.)

– Roddy Piper and Tama did a movie together called “Body Slam” and it actually got a good review in Variety. (If there’s any magazine that’s more incomprehensible for outsiders than the Observer, it’s Variety.) This would be the historic first ever good review for a wrestling movie! Dave doesn’t think anyone should doubt Piper’s ability to play a wrestler, but the question is whether that can translate to other roles.

– The WWF and NWA are competing hard and heavy for Houston now, with the WWF running Duggan v. Dibiase and Hogan v. One Man Gang on top on 8/28, while Crockett runs with Dr. Death v. Big Bubba and Rock N Roll v. Tully & Arn for the tag titles.

– To the WWF, where Jim Duggan was actually at the last UWF taping on 7/25, looking for a job there, so obviously that’s what pushed the WWF into bringing him back.

– Dave is offended that Bruno Sammartino has to play dumb on commentary when it comes to Bam Bam Bigelow, since the guy has been all over mainstream media and Sports Illustrated and such.

– There is definitely some bitterness towards the departure of Tom Zenk, judging by the weekend TV shows. Martel will be given a new partner and the Can-Am gimmick will be dropped, and Dave’s suggestion is Superstar Graham because at least he can talk.

– The WWF has been running Hogan v. Savage title matches on top, with Mr. T as ref, usually with Savage winning by countout. With the crowds down so much lately, they’ll be running that match in a lot of smaller markets where Hogan wouldn’t normally appear to try and juice the numbers a bit.

– Dave notes that new announcer Craig DeGeorge’s real name is Craig Menovini.

– The story on the Hart Training Camp war with Les Thornton appears to be dead already. Basically some guy signed up for the Hart camp, and showed up out of shape and flabby, so rather than teaching him to “wrestle” on the first day, the Harts put him through actual training to try and get him into shape so as not to die first. After a week of that, the trainee rage quit because he thought they’d just show up and do suplexes or something, and went to Thornton’s school instead. But to pay for Thornton, the guy had to get his money back from the Harts, and since he stayed a day longer than the 7 day refund period, the Harts refused and it went to court. It was quickly thrown out and everything blew over between the schools.

– For those keeping track, another Japanese guy under the Viet Cong Express mask has bit the dust, with Shinji Sasazaki blowing out his knee, leaving Hiro Hase as a singles wrestler yet again.

– Jason the Terrible is into Stampede and looking good.

– Davey Boy Smith was supposed to be lent out to Stampede for the summer to help out, but since Brian Blair is “gone for a while” it looks like he’ll be needed with the Bulldogs instead.

– Dave is pretty much convinced that this Brian Pillman kid should be Rookie of the Year already.

– To the UWF, where Terry Taylor returns on 8/8, which is a pretty amazing comeback. He’s still a heel, and he should be all right as long as no one punches him in the gut.

– The AWA is giving Tommy Rich an ultimatum – either quit the Deep South promotion or quit the AWA. (Not sure why they’d really care.) The Original Midnights were given the same deal, since they’re working Deep South shows for Tommy.

– Dave clarifies why they would care later in the section: Jerry Blackwell is back on good terms with the AWA, and so his Georgia promotion is once again an AWA affiliate, and thus Deep South is an ENEMY. (Talk about missing the forest for the trees.)

– Booker Wahoo McDaniel fired Sheik Adnan for whatever reason, so expect the Russians to drop the tag titles pretty soon.

– In what Dave describes as a “bizarre and suicidal move”, they’re planning to run a show in Charlotte.

– In World Class, yet another tragedy as Kevin Von Erich accidentally backed his car over his baby daughter. She’s currently in critical condition. (She’s still alive, fear not.)

– Scott Hall has fallen so far that he’s headed to Continental as Lord Humongous next.

– The Continental group, by the way, is currently in some kind of power struggle between the Fullers and Ron West. Dave doesn’t exactly know who owns what. (Yeah, we’re still trying to figure that out to this day.)

– Oddly, All Japan put the PWF tag titles on Ted Dibiase & Stan Hansen, but Dibiase clarified in a magazine interview that his WWF contract allows him to work a few weeks a year in Japan so it’s cool with Vince.

– OK, finally to Crockett, as everyone has been asking Dave about “The Skit.” (We all know what we’re talking about here, right? Flair wins a night with Precious, shows up at the house, things go badly for him? Here’s the link if needed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3vtROGWd8I

– Anyway, Dave thought parts were hilarious (like JJ asking “Can I watch?”) but otherwise it was just another angle to him. Ron Garvin does good interviews, but Dave can’t believe anyone could possibly be excited by the prospect of matches against Flair. (Oh, just wait, Dave!)

– Al Blake, aka Vladimir Petrov, was all over the headlines in Minnesota this week, facing drug trafficking charges as a part of a group of six. Dave notes that if this had been a WWF wrestler, it would have brought down the organization because the media is looking for any reason to crucify the WWF. Dave’s not sure how the trial went because Petrov made all his dates for Crockett for the week. (Spoiler: It went VERY badly for him.)

– The Stampede show on TSN debuted, but it’s 11 weeks behind the normal show, with the benefit of having the main event matches shown in their entirety instead of clipped to nothing by Ed Whalen.

– That rival promotion in Alberta from last issue is already done.

– Bob Geigel is coming out of retirement to save his promotion, despite being 63 years old.

– And finally, apparently Tom Pritchard is headed to the WWF, since Bruce works in the front office.

TILL NEXT WEEK.