Wrestling Observer Flashback–11.26.90

Previously in the Observer… http://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2016/11/13/wrestling-observer-flashback-11-19-90/

We closed out last issue teasing some major shakeups coming to WCW, and we’re about to find out why…

– In the top story that should surprise absolutely no one who has been following his career through 1990, Dusty Rhodes gave notice to the WWF, and will finish up at the Royal Rumble on January 19. By a STAGGERING coincidence, word is also out on the street that Ole Anderson is done as booker for WCW around the same time, although of course everyone in the office is denying it thoroughly.

– Since it’s become readily apparent that Dusty’s days in the ring are numbered (to say the least), Vince actually has no opposition to Dusty leaving and going back to where he’s happy, although he’s offering a front office job to save face. WCW is similarly not going to let him wrestle if he they do hire him as booker, despite Dusty’s desperate desire for the retirement tour that he’s been pushing for since 1988. And of course, if Dusty does come back, Dustin will no doubt be coming with him.

– Although the company is still giving lip service to the idea that Ole Anderson is the booker, it’s clearly in name only and Jim Herd is calling all the shots. Names for a replacement, besides Dusty, include Bill Watts and Terry Funk. Watts is a longshot because he talked himself out of the job last time, and really if he was going to get the job he would have been hired a long time ago. For his part, Funk wants nothing to do with the company as long as Ole is in charge, so he’s not even entertaining offers at the moment.

– Dave’s take: Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. (Usually with a Dusty Finish.) This time, though, Dave thinks that Big Dust can actually be a very effective booker if he’s kept out of the ring and forced to focus only on running the show. That being said, it’s hard to think that Dusty, the guy who destroyed Jim Crockett Promotions and caused them to be sold off in the first place, is the guy to turn them around again. (Well we all know how “successful” 1991 was for WCW…)

– Moving on, Joe Pedicino has purchased Jerry Jarrett’s syndicated TV network with the millions of dollars he’s got coming from Nigeria. The idea is to combine a bunch of small promotions into the Global Wrestling Federation, with offices in five different regions, including Jarrett now officially going back into Dallas to run the USWA there again. Basically they are going to run a six week angle on USWA Challenge where reps from the GWF come in and negotiate with the owners of the USWA to take it over and turn it into a global brand. They have a huge detailed plan in place. (None of which really came into fruition, of course.)

– Dave notes that a LOT of the rhetoric being spouted here is the same that Herb Abrams was spouting about the UWF, although at least they’ll have ESPN when they launch. It’s a weird time to launch something like this, since the business is at one of the lowest points in recent history, although their feeling is just that people don’t like the product being delivered by the Big Two.

– Things change again: Barry Darsow will not in fact be quitting the WWF, so the Demolition team will remain Smash & Crush, with only Eadie quitting after Survivor Series. He’ll be going to Japan as Demolition Ax, but the lawyers are already sharpening their claws for that fight. (Why not just go back to being the Masked Superstar? It’s kind of proving the WWF’s point for them if you claim that you don’t need them and then steal the gimmick.) In another tag team change, Akio Sato will be quitting the in-ring side to become a full-time liaison to Japan for the WWF, with Great Kabuki being the rumored replacement in the Orient Express.

– Lawrence Taylor will be working with WCW as special ref for a Lex Luger match at their big Meadowlands show on 1/11, and will be doing cut-ins on the WPIX show airing in New York. Dave thinks it’s kind of a waste of his star power.

– Inoki’s peace tour of Iraq continues to go spectacularly well, as he’s got a show scheduled there on 12/2, plus a soccer game and concert he’s promoting as well. Plus, you know, negotiating to free the hostages there and stuff.

– Back to the UWF’s implosion, as they do have a show on 12/1 which will headlined by Funaki v. Ken Wayne Shamrock (You know, that indy wrestler Vince Torelli.) but now Maeda is claiming that he’ll be there while both sides in the dispute load up on lawyers. There’s about four different opinions internally on which direction things should go, with Fujiwara wanting to run angles and blood, and most of the public sides with Maeda. (That show on 12/1 in fact was the last! But we’ll get there soon. But how crazy is it that there’s no indication that they’ll be shuttering the promotion in two weeks?)

– Things are really looking up in Texas, with the crowd up to a stunning 305 people this week thanks to the star power of Chris Von Erich in the main event. Highlight of the terrible match was Kevin Dillinger punching Chris out of the ring and then turning himself into the ringside police for “child abuse”.

– Gary Hart has also been running weekly shows at the Metroplex with some of the same talent, but the money marks behind that promotion are getting antsy because they’re fronting all the cash for payroll and there’s no money coming back in. (Maybe they should buy TNA…)

– To Oregon, where Roddy Piper was working an angle with the Grappler that had to be dropped abruptly. Seems that Piper opened up a transmission shop in Portland called “Piper’s Pit Stop”, and hired Len “Grappler” Denton (who is himself a trained transmission mechanic in real life) to work there as a day job. But to explain why Grappler would be working at Piper’s garage, they had to turn him babyface on TV and end the feud out of nowhere. Wrestling, ladies and gentlemen.

– Jim Cornette will likely be showing up in Memphis soon, since he got a verbal release from Jim Herd that allows him to work anywhere he wants but Titan until he’s free and clear on May 15. (Or…he could go in another direction completely…)

– Lawler’s son Brian will be part of a tag team called The New Kids, billed as simply “Brian” in a boy band gag. (I’m blanking on the other guy, although it wasn’t Wolfie D or anything.)

– Jerry Jarrett apparently made “seven figures” for his syndicated TV lineup, but no terms were disclosed. (No wonder he had so much money when he founded TNA!)

– Dave has been investigating the whole “Dr. Death v. The Ref” shoot scenario from last week, and although all stories on what happened in the ring are the same, the dressing room aftermath differs. The second version of the story is that the ref apologized afterwards because he didn’t know about the run-in and no one filled him in. Williams laughed it all off, but then Billy Jack Haynes got involved and everyone thought the ref was going to be killed right there, until the situation defused.

– WCW hired an actual magician for the Clash show, where they will ask him to turn the Black Scorpion into a tiger or something. Dave wonders why they don’t put the dark arts to better use, like “turning Sid Vicious into a wrestler.”

– Mike Rotunda has been repackaged again, this time into rich guy Michael Wallstreet. TBS makeup girl Terri Boatright has been turned into his manager, Alexandra York, who carries a computer and predicts the outcomes of his matches using a program. The idea was Tony Schiavone’s, but it’s based on a Jim Herd idea from 1988, as he originally wanted to turn Sting into “The Wall Street Warrior” when Turner first bought the company.

– Art Barr is NOT fired, although Dave is pretty sure this is a time bomb waiting to blow up on them. And really, doesn’t it make everyone in charge look like morons if they claim they didn’t know he was convicted of those charges? And why put him in that position as a babyface? (Dave echoing my thoughts from last time completely here.) Also, this makes them look like assholes for not hiring Tully Blanchard due to his drug test failure, since Tully wasn’t even convicted of a crime!

– Lex Luger got a part in the Superboy show that airs 12/15. (Talk about perfect casting.)

– Master Blaster Steele did indeed get that part in the Ninja Turtles movie and so he’s on leave. (But how will we tell the difference?)

– With the Pedicino thing launching next year, WCW might be forced to give out contracts again to midcarders to prevent guys from jumping when all the contracts expire at the same time.

– House show attendance continues to be miserable, and they’re downgrading from arenas to halls in places like Philly as a result.

– Prime Time Wrestling continues to hit new lows in the ratings, dropping to a 2.1 this week, which might show that the Monsoon/Heenan team is about done.

– Update: The local DJ who was clotheslined by Ultimate Warrior has decided to sue the company after all.

– The thing in the egg is going to be known as The Gobbledygooker, and it’ll be a WWF mascot that tours with the company and attempts to sell more merchandise for them. Dave thinks it’s fine, since even legit sports use mascots.

– Although wrestling fans couldn’t care less, the WBF is a big deal among bodybuilders right now. Dave still thinks all the big names will jump.

– Craig Sager of TBS wanted to do a feature on Ric Flair, who was at a football game covered by the station last week, but TBS Sports wants NOTHING to do with pro wrestling and nixed it completely, to the point where they made sure not to show Flair sitting at the game or mention his name. People on the wrestling side are PISSED about the situation.

– And finally, Dave scrawls a bunch of stuff that happened before press time at a WWF TV taping at the end, most notably Mr. Perfect regaining the Intercontinental title from Kerry Von Erich to get that thing the hell away from him.

Next time: Dave reviews the Survivor Series, the epic takedown of Clash XIII, and another one bites the dust!