Wrestling Observer Flashback–12.23.91

And so we come to the end of 1991, with the WWF slowly going into the crapper and WCW seemingly on the upswing. Wrestling is a weird beast.

– Top story this week (and it’s a legit slow week) is the SWS/WWF Supershow at the Tokyo Dome, which drew 40,000 fans (30,000 paid, 61,000 announced) so it was a good number no matter which fake one you’re ignoring.

– Reports are mixed from the show, and the crowd was filled with freebies who were there to cheer on Hogan and the LOD because they’re big TV stars, not because they like the wrestling. Most of the matches were ** or less and there were no big angles on the show. However, backstage was a different story.

– All logic had pointed to to Tenryu winning, since Hogan doesn’t have a title and Tenryu needed the win and Hogan didn’t. The Japanese papers also thought that result made the most sense, but most fans know that Hogan hasn’t done a job in Japan since 1981 and that wasn’t going to change. However, Hogan showed up late for the show, and booker Great Kabuki was already telling reporters that have no fear, Tenryu would beat Hogan, and how, and when, so they could get their stories up for the morning paper. So the reporters filed their stories, went to watch the match, and suddenly Hogan was beating Tenryu clean with two clotheslines and it was like…

– Oh, Hulk, that rapscallion.

– Not much else of note on the show, other than Ultimo Dragon debuting as a masked wrestler in Japan and Naoki Sano winning the first SWS junior heavyweight championship by beating Rick Martel in a “tournament final”. Hogan beating Tenryu at least had a way for Tenryu to save face, as they did the same finish as the famous Hogan-Inoki match where Inoki bumped off the apron and didn’t get up. But Tenryu did get up from this one. And then he lost anyway.

– Dave did his own blind draw for Starrcade to see what the potential matchups might be like, and they all sucked. Official prediction: This show will literally only be ordered by the hardcore fans who will order ANYTHING. On the bright side, the World Series is over.

– According to a press conference in Japan, the UWFI will be offering a taped PPV in America sometime in the new year, taped on 12/22 and “offered” to all the major networks. The idea will be a series of boxer v. wrestler matches, playing off the historic Ali v. Inoki fiasco. The boxer promoters behind it are assuring everyone that they’ve got the services of top men like Roberto Duran and Bonecrusher Smith under contract for the concept. The main event of the PPV is scheduled to be Takada taking on Trevor Berbick, with the talking point being that the Ali match was a sham, but THIS will be real. For the record, Dave notes, it’s all a work.

– Gordon Scozzari’s AWF debuted with a TV taping and live show, bankrolled by his inheritance, which then lost him a huge chunk of money thanks to a ton of no-shows, including his booker Eddie Gilbert. However, there were a surprising amount of names who actually did show up, including the impressive US debut of TNT from Puerto Rico. (aka Savio Vega). The TV taping in Lowell sold 1100 tickets, but only 450 people showed up. (That’s kind of a bizarre reversal on the usual trend for wrestling shows.) Paul Orndorff pinned Stan Lane in a ***1/2 tournament final to claim the AWF World title.

– Apparently the TV shoot cost $22,000, using four cameras and a crane shot ala WWF TV. The show was enjoyable enough as a fan, but wrestlers backstage were all complaining about how it was the most disorganized production they can remember being a part of. There was also a ton of mixups with airline tickets, like Eddie Gilbert being given a flight out of Atlanta when he needed one out of Dallas. However, everyone who showed up at the first show was paid in full with a cashier’s check, so even if they skipped the second show they still got their money. Some guys, like Al Perez, worked the first one and then just took the money and went home before the second one due to how badly it was being run.

– WCW has moved “SuperBrawl ‘91” on 02/29/92 from the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to a much smaller hall in Milwaukee. The change comes because Donald Trump wanted to book a one-on-one basketball game between Kareem Abdul Jabar and Dr. J for 02/28, and WCW needed a whole day to set up for their show.

– I feel like I can get a LOT of use out of that one.

– Dave runs down the results of the FMW tag tournament (which was won by Onita & Goto), and one of the random guys jobbing in the first round was young Eiji Ezaki, who would go onto much, much greater fame for the promotion later on as Hayabusa.

– In the aftermath of the WING promotion splitting, Mr. Pogo turned himself babyface and will be the lead guy in that role. Dave is somewhat skeptical that they can pull this off.

– They ran an angle on Japanese TV where Hiro Hase travelled to Toronto to personally confront Tiger Jeet Singh, and the end result is another Jungle Match, this time with Hase v. Singh, in a recreation of the famous Inoki v. Saito match from 1987. The winner of this match will face Inoki at the next Tokyo Dome show.

– Sandman is still hanging around Memphis and getting a big push in a feud with Jerry Lawler. (It’s kind of hilarious reading about it, though, because Sandman was still firmly in his “beach bum” gimmick and it’s jarring to read about him hitting people with his surfboard as a finish. Talk about a miscast gimmick!)

– Bruce Prichard is working with the GWF now and will be doing color commentary as a babyface shortly. He will NOT be doing anything reminiscent of Brother Love. (Didn’t he return to WWF TV as Rio Rogers around this time anyway in their oh-so-subtle jab at Dusty?)

– The mainstream TV media continues to be on the steroid story like racism on Trump, as Inside Edition is moving their steroid story up to 01/03 to capitalize on the public feelings, and now 20/20 wants a piece of the action as well.

– The WWF is basically shut down for the season, so pickings are slim.

– The Randy Savage v. Jake Roberts matches coming off the cobra angle are drawing poorly. (Just shows again that despite how great Jake was as a heel, he just wasn’t a drawing card in that position.)

– The WWF is coming out with new titles priced for the purchase market at $9.95 each, rather than the usual rental-priced releases. They’ll be 60 minutes in length as an experiment. (I had some of those! There was a Hogan one for sure that I reviewed as part of a Coliseum Video Rant, at least, although I can’t remember the others.)

– They’re going to try to prop up the Savage-Roberts shows by adding a co-main of Sid v. Undertaker when Sid’s ready to return in January.

– A correction from last week: Although Hercules is obviously still signed with the WWF and thus cannot be with Herb Abrams as Herb claimed, Jimmy Snuka is in fact released from his contract and could go to the UWF. Herb’s still likely full of shit anyway.

– Van Hammer is now doing all kinds of jobs and getting beat up by Cactus Jack on a regular basis, which makes his push somewhat more bearable now.

– Terry Taylor broke up with the York Foundation and seemingly turned babyface on the 12/28 show, although fans were confused about how to react to him. (He actually stayed a heel for some reason and got even LAMER.)

– And finally, it’s time for another UNDERSTATED OBSERVER DEBUT! This week, WCW was touring the UK and needed bodies to fill out their shows, so one of the guys who worked a bunch of shots for them was a British wrestler named Steve Regal, who Dave clarifies is NOT the more famous American wrestler. (I guess he must have impressed them on that tour!)