Wrestling Observer Flashback–01.14.91

Previously in the Flashback… http://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2016/11/22/wrestling-observer-flashback-01-08-91/

Goddamn, if you can’t trust Nigerian investors, who can you trust?

– So, unfortunately, the deal where Joe Pedicino was going to buy the USWA from Jerry Jarrett has now completely fallen through, for a variety of reasons. The main problem was that both sides in the deal had a completely different interpretation of what exactly Pedicino was buying in the first place. The main thing that brought the deal down was Jarrett suddenly not wanting to give up his ESPN timeslot, which meant that Joe was essentially buying a worthless property that would have to find a different TV outlet. Still, Joe is determined to take all that sweet, sweet Nigerian investor money and start up a third national touring company as the GWF, despite these minor setbacks.

– For his part, Jarrett is saying that Pedicino simply failed to deliver any of the money that was promised, and he got tired of waiting for the check. Pedicino’s side is that he would spending millions of dollars and essentially buying nothing for it. (Kind of like if someone was to buy TNA today.) Either way, the deal is 100% dead.

– Neutral parties say that Pedicino sent Jarrett various securities as a sort of down payment, and when Jarrett had his lawyers check them over, it turns out that they were essentially worthless and at point everything fell apart. Joe is still claiming that he’s going to take the $3.4 MILLION he was going to pay Jarrett with and use it to buy TV timeslots. (Now, I don’t know Pedicino personally or anything and for all I know he could be reading these, but if he really thought he was getting $10-$30 million and that Jarrett’s promotion was worth over $3 million, then I have a bridge to sell him, as they say.)

– Dave talks about Pedicino’s supposed Nigerian backers and their $25 million, noting that wrestling is a business built on con man scamming people. So when someone says “I have $25 million from a NIgerian backer”, the assumption from everyone in wrestling is that he’s full of shit. However, the question then becomes what exactly Joe would be trying to accomplish by lying about his finances and attempting to buy the USWA under false pretenses? Working a bunch of newsletters and making an enemy of Jarrett? Normally the con is to make money, and it’s only been Pedicino promising to SPEND money. Dave is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, because wrestling needs competition and WCW is not providing it at the moment. (Fear not, there’s more Russo-esque twists and turns yet to come!)

– In a sad note, Ed “The Bull” Gantner committed suicide on New Year’s Eve, shooting himself in the head in his parents’ home due to depression. He had received a kidney transplant from his sister two years before, which had saved his life, but now his body was rejecting it and his health was rapidly failing. The kidneys originally failed due to excessive steroid use, and Dave thinks that “The business is 10 to 15 years away from a rash of tragic endings.”

– I think we all get the point.

– Bobby Heenan was arrested on his way home from New Year’s, as he collapsed on a plane and passed out. When police revived him (with his heartbeat down to 35 BPM!) they checked his baggage and found 48 grams of pot and some paraphernalia. The WWF managed to keep it quiet for a few days, before it suddenly broke all over the news. (Couldn’t have been that big of a deal because he didn’t miss any dates and we never really hear anything about it anymore.)

– SWS officially announced their joint show with the WWF on 3/31 at the Tokyo Dome, dubbed “Wrestle Fest ‘91”. The only thing known is that the main event will feature Hogan & Tenryu v. The Legion of Doom. Prices for ringside tickets are $370, the highest in wrestling history. (Spoiler: The show drew 25,000 paid to a 70,000 seat stadium. I wonder why?) The original pitched main event was Hogan v. Tenryu, but they couldn’t get either guy to do the job, so the tag team match is the apparent solution, with LOD presumably laying down instead. (I love that someone in Japan thought “Man, Hogan won’t do a job, so let’s ask the ROAD WARRIORS to lay down in Japan!” and didn’t get fired over it.)

– Eddie Gilbert seemingly walked out on the USWA after the most recent Mid-South Coliseum show, in yet another argument with Jerry Jarrett over money and stress as booker. (Eddie Gilbert flake on a booking job? Say it ain’t so!)

– Clarification on Madusa’s “retirement”: What happened was that she broke up with the management company that was brokering her All Japan Women deal, so she claimed to be retired from wrestling and moving into kickboxing so she could get out of the deal. Expect legal action!

– Eric Embry returned to the dumpster fire that is Dallas wrestling after getting fired as booker in Puerto Rico, but crowds are still hovering around 200 people and Jerry Jarrett is cancelling shows left and right.

– Dave is amused that Alan Martin / Kevin Dillinger seemingly changes names at random depending on which part of the Dallas/Tennessee swing he’s on.

– USWA debuts on ESPN on 1/9…at 10:00am. It’ll be the tapings from Dallas on 12/28.

– Bill Watts’ son Erik was the backup quarterback at the Fiesta Bowl for the University of Louisville.

– Not only have the Savoldis’ barely existent ICW joined forces with Kevin Von Erich’s even less existent WCCW to form IWCCW in a merger that I like to imagine went something like this…

…but in addition, they have already started throwing around their newly acquired MEGAPOWER to threaten any TV stations showing USWA syndicated programming. Unless those stations capitulate to the MIGHT OF IWCCW, they will join into the lawsuit against Jerry Jarrett and BRING DOWN THE SYSTEM. Also, they have Kerry Von Erich practically wrapped up, so Jarrett is pretty much fucked now.

– Dave does clarify that Kerry Von Erich is still under contract to the WWF last he checked.

– Percy Pringle and Konnan debuted for the WWF on the post-Rumble TV tapings that were just held, with Konnan getting a look because they want a Spanish speaking megastar. (Christ, how many years have they been beating THAT drum?)

– FOX officially cancelled their planned Wrestlemania special, since NBC decided to renew the Main Event and put it on around the same time that the FOX special was supposed to air. (And you thought it was just wrestling promoters who screwed each other over.) However, this now marks two SNMEs in a row that have been cancelled by NBC at the last minute and turned into Main Events, which doesn’t bode well for the future of the show. (And in fact there was only one episode left before it was completely cancelled.)

– Now that Bobby Eaton’s manager and partner are both gone and he’s left in the wilderness, WCW has decided to give him a raise to $156,000/year and push him. Dave is like “Well, whatever.”

– Team WCW (Tony Schiavone, Kevin Sullivan, Sid, Dutch Mantell and Master Blaster Blade) trounced the GLOW girls on a week of Family Feud, to the point where they were winning so handily that they showed mercy and threw the last game to them. Dave is as shocked as anyone that pro wrestlers would be accused of fixing competitions.

– Today’s firings in WCW: Norman, The Juicer and the Minotaur.

– Although no official announcement will come until after the Rumble, Dusty Rhodes was announced as booker to the crew backstage already. His boys will be Magnum TA, Barry Windham, Kevin Sullivan, Grizzly Smith, Ron West and Jody Hamilton. (A fine team of boot-licks!) His first change is to switch the upcoming Clash main event from Flair v. Pillman to Flair v. Scott Steiner.

And finally, at the WWF TV tapings, this happened:

– Yeah, 1991 is gonna be a LONG year.