Wrestling Observer Flashback–10.01.90

I’m currently writing this during a very tense 7th game of the World Series, and what better way to unwind than with an in-depth look at the life of Antonio Inoki?

– It’s a History of Inoki for reasons that aren’t readily apparently, but go with it. Dave relates how Baba and Inoki came up together as students of Rikidozan, and they both debuted on the same day in 1960. They actually wrestled each other a bunch of times in their rookie year, and today any photos of those matches are like GOLD in Japan because no one can find them.

– Rikidozan was killed and nearly took the entire wrestling business in Japan with him, and at that point Baba was chosen as the guy to lead the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) to greatness again, and Inoki was having none of it. So he and Masa Saito formed Tokyo Pro Wrestling, the first outlaw promotion in Japan, with crazy ideas like using American talent. But after Inoki’s promotion died two years later, the JWA took him back and he became a tag team star with Baba. After a few years of playing second to Baba and travelling to the US to defend his United National title, which was also unheard of at the time. Inoki took a shot at the top dogs again, and again was banished from the company, which resulted in the formation of New Japan Pro Wrestling.

– Eventually Baba left the JWA and formed All Japan Pro Wrestling as the two feuded for 20 years, with AJPW receiving NWA membership when the JWA folded. Ironically Baba achieved his greatest success using Americans, but never had the ups and downs and scandals that New Japan did. New Japan countered by using a more progressive style, and riding the charisma of Inoki. Inoki was basically the earlier template for Akira Maeda, working a “shoot style” and doing matches with people from other combat sports like boxing and martial arts. The biggest such match was of course the 1976 debacle against Muhammad Ali. Inoki had essentially figured that Ali, who loved pro wrestling, would happily put him over and do business, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Ali’s camp pretty much refused to do the match unless Inoki was prevented from doing anything that might be construed as an offensive maneuver, and eventually Inoki gave in and worked one of the worst matches in history with him, crawling around on the mat and kicking at Ali’s legs for 15 rounds. Inoki actually considered it a victory to be so handicapped in the match and still hang in for 15 rounds.

– Inoki soon found other semi-stars who WERE willing to lay down for him, and he built his reputation up on those matches while Baba continued promoting pro wrestling. And then war erupted in the 80s, with the promoters raiding each other until NJPW took the lead on the back of Tiger Mask and other top Japanese stars. All Japan raided Riki Choshu in response, and a bunch of Inoki’s top talent broke off and formed the UWF. Finally things mellowed out at the end of the 80s, and now both men celebrate 30 years in the sport (OK, finally we get the payoff) on Sunday.

– Dave points out that there’s almost nothing going on in the US, which is why we got the lengthy history lesson to start.

– Word is that the WWF has signed a deal to do a prime time special on FOX in February, and speculation is that NBC is not very happy about the WWF working with their rival network. Especially since FOX is paying more than NBC does and kind of showing them up. Furthermore, Ted Dibiase did an angle with the Rhodeseseseseseseses at the last SNME taping where Dustin bled a gusher, and we know how NBC feels about blood on these shows. (Well, put it this way: There sure weren’t many SNME shows left on NBC!) In fact, blood is expressly forbidden by the contract that Vince has with NBC and they nearly got booted off the network over Big Bossman’s blade in the famous cage match. For their part, the WWF is claiming that it was accidental and/or hardway. They can always just edit it off the show, if that’s the case.

– Speaking of Vince making friends in high places, they have filed suit against the New Jersey state commission over the TV tax thing, after their ploy of admitting that wrestling is a work failed to get it repealed. The WWF suit contends that wrestling is “an art form” and not a sport, and thus shouldn’t be subject to taxation.

– And now, let us journey to California once again for my new favorite pimple on the ass of God…

– OK, so the mystery of the UWF taping that wasn’t continues! As a reminder, the show was mysteriously cancelled an hour before the alleged showtime, with the whole crew of wrestlers there ready to perform. Current conspiracy theories about the cancellation:

1. The building manager booked the date for the UWF, but the actual owner of the theater didn’t want wrestling in his building and refused to allow it.

B. Due to a zoning technicality, namely that the building is zoned for entertainment and not sports, they couldn’t get a permit from Anaheim.

3. Herb Abrams failed to get the proper permit to hold a TV taping in the building.

So someone from the local newspapers actually asked the building manager about theory #1, and he had no idea why the show was cancelled and had never heard anything from the owner about it. Then the district attorney for the city was interviewed and he also had never heard about issues with permits or zoning, and in fact it turns out that Herb Abrams himself cancelled the show at the last minute with no pressure from anyone outside. (Amazingly, this group started in the basement and kept finding lower levels on the elevator.)

– Back to Japan, where The Great Muta did his Japan debut tour in the gimmick and had a pretty awesome and famous bloodbath against Hiro Hase, ending with a green mist DQ.

– Back to Inoki, who spent the past week in Jordan trying to put together a show in the Middle East. And rescue hostages from Iraq while he’s there. You know, just another day in the life of Antonio Inoki.

– FMW had a show that was devastated by a typhoon, which resulted in the ring crew not being able to make it to the building. No matter, though, as Onita did the main event without a ring, using gym mats and no ropes.

– Still no word on whether Jose Gonzales is actually coming or not. The FMW guys are rather drastically downplaying the angle, with Mr. Pogo apologizing for the attack in an attempt to defuse the situation.

– The UWF failed to sell out a show on 9/13, which is only the second one they’ve missed, but they’ll likely bounce right back again. (And yet, they did not and would be gone by December.)

– Dave runs down the lineup for the upcoming Survivor Series, but he doesn’t mention the you-know-what. The Ultimate Match of Survival will likely set up the Hogan-Warrior rematch somehow.

– To World Class, which is anything but. Without TV the crowd immediately dropped from 500 down to 250. Really, Steve Austin and Chris Adams are the only stars left as everyone else has jumped ship back to Memphis with Jarrett, who thankfully isn’t holding grudges in this deal.

– The USWA is holding a tournament for the Snowman’s title (which he still hasn’t given back) and Lawler is on TV every week daring him to come back and defend it. Snowman is actually still doing indies, holding the belt hostage and defending it as “Unified World Champion”.

– The court case against Chris Champion, aka “Cowabunga the Child Molesting Ninja Turtle”, will be heard on December 26, although it’s looking less and less likely that anything will come of it since the girl has changed stories several times already.

– Kevin Von Erich went to the Japanese press and accused Jerry Jarrett of “stealing” $1.2 million during his run as the owner of the promotion. (The USWA never saw $1.2 million in their entire existence.)

– In a weird twist on the SWS tournament coming up, sponsors for the show have put up a legit $35,000 purse for the winner, which has people paranoid that no one will want to do a job with that kind of money at stake.

– Another set of Larry Sharpe trainees are suing him for taking a portion of their earnings, in this case the American Bulldogs. Dave notes that really it’s pointless to take a portion of earnings from guys who never made any money in the sport. (Those Bulldogs changed their name to American Pitbulls soon after, and then shortened it to The Pitbulls from there.)

– Speaking of Sharpe, he did a sold show in NJ with a paid attendance announced of 1 person, and a gate of $10. (Actual attendance was 125 people). It was a present from a guy’s wife, for a mere $10,000, and the lucky guy got to beat Iron Mike Sharpe in the main event after his wife/manager was ejected for interference. (If only we had an Earl Hebner to send OUR wives back to the dressing room some days, AM I RIGHT, Fellas? UP HERE!)

– Don Kernodle was on America’s Funniest Home Videos, washing his snarling dog. He didn’t win. (So weird to be doing all these Observers through the early 80s and suddenly have more modern references start to creep in. It feels like worlds colliding somehow).

– The WWF returned to MSG for the first time in months due to renovations, and Ultimate Warrior was on top, so guess what happened? The show bombed, drawing 12,000 people when it should have been a slam dunk sellout. Dave is like “Eh, 12K is pretty good for the state of house show business these days”, but you had to know that put the nail in Warrior’s coffin on top.

– Also in the rundown for the show, Dave coins the phrase “atomic noogie” for Slaughter’s finisher. So no, I definitely did not come up with that one.

– The next show has “four main events”, much in the same way that Hell in a Cell had three main events. Which is to say, no main events. One of the advertised main events is Tugboat v. Dino Bravo, so that tells you what you need to know.

– Filming started on “Urban Commando” with Hulk Hogan, and in fact New Line offered Richard Belzer a part in the movie as “effeminate architect Adrian Beltz”. Belzer was not amused. (The role went to Larry Miller) Dave also reveals that the settlement was for $315,000, for those wondering.

– At the SNME taping where they did the Rhodes-Dibiase angle, Dibiase actually legit paid off fans sitting around Dusty $100 each to leave for the match so they could have the seats. (And you thought it was just Shane who gave out $100 bills at these shows.)

– With Bad News Brown gone, they did an angle on the Brother Love show where Rick Martel sprayed Arrogance in Jake Roberts’ eyes to set up that feud as a replacement. Brady Boone debuted as Battle Kat on the show as well.

– At the other set of TV tapings, Nitron did a tryout match and jobbed to Tito Santana. (Workrate aside, they’re probably kicking themselves for not locking him up.)

– Oh yeah, during all the tapings there was this huge egg on a stage that they kept putting spotlights on, so that’s probably gonna pay off with something big.

– Curt Hennig got into a backstage fight with Boris Zhukov in Oakland before agents threatened to fine them and broke it up. Boris was reportedly winning, which Dave notes is logical because how are you gonna hurt his head?

– Ric Flair did a job to Scott Steiner as a part of the Gauntlet gimmick on TV, and it was said to be a **** match before TV editing cut it down. The crowd went nuts for the win, so there might be something in Scott as a single. The gauntlet deal is being retired after a few weeks of it.

– The NWA is also rearranging their taping system yet again, as they’ll do a month of tapings at a time for the B-shows with TBS shows going live from Center Stage every other week. Dave thinks that for a group with ADD like this one, that’s a recipe for disaster because plans frequently change, to say the least.

– The SST quit yet again.

– The Master Blasters have been retooled into Al “Blade Hunter” Greene and “the tall guy”. The short guy actually walked out on the promotion and took a bus from Detroit back home to Atlanta, although had he stuck around for ONE DAY he would have a free plane ticket on the company’s dime since they were taping there.

– Black Scorpion Update: Randy Culley was playing the part on house shows this week.

– And finally, Vince is already raiding the Weiders’ camp for bodybuilding talent for his magazine and WBF promotion, and it’s apparently political suicide for the people who are getting ready to jump. Bodybuilders, however, see Vince as the conquering hero because he can put them on TV and make them money. (Well, you know, they’re not known for their smarts.)

And with that, back to the World Series!