Crockett vs. McMahon: The War

From the Observer thread today:

That news item on the Miami arena situation is hilarious. So Crockett steals the old, run-down auditorium, while Vince takes 6 months off from Miami and debuts in the brand new Miami Arena in July 1988.

It’s almost pathetic reliving the Crockett/McMahon “war” in 1987 & 1988. Chess vs. checkers. Like it’s not even fair.

Yeah, I know I like to cherry-pick the silly stuff and mock Dave for my own amusement, but the thing that is so awesome about the Observers in 88 is that he was literally telling Crockett week after week that the WWF was killing off his business model and he needed to change or die.  Like he kept saying over and over “Crockett needs to get on PPV and get clearance and not have a shitty show filled with Dusty finishes” and yet we’re just doomed to sit here reading his company falling apart week by week while Vince picks off all the talent and changes the business.  Crockett was still using TV to build house shows that drew thousands, while Vince used house shows as a loss leader to build TV, which in turn built PPVs that drew MILLIONS.  It’s just astonishing how Dave and Vince could both see it, but Crockett and Dusty were too busy flying private jets out of their gold-plated Dallas office to understand what was happening around them.