May 18, 1987
- Everything is confusing and it’s all centering on the AWA. On May 2 they did an angle where the AWA World title was held up following a Bockwinkel/Hennig match where Hennig used a foreign object. This hold up comes on the heels of two other major stories: Hennig is supposed to be heading to WWF, meanwhile Verne Gagne has gotten the remaining four former NWA circuits (Memphis, Alabama, Kansas City, Pacific Northwest it looks like) left to have them recognize Bockwinkel as the World Champion. The confusion comes from the fact that while Bockwinkel’s reign is held up in AWA, he continued to defend in the other territories with no issue. As for Hennig’s status, Dave didn’t print anything about Hennig going to WWF last week until he had confirmation from a source who wouldn’t tell him unless it was a done deal. But over the course of the week it seems Hennig has backed out of jumping to WWF for the second time (he agreed to jump in 1986 but stayed after being promised a run with the AWA belt, and that still hasn’t happened but appears to be ready to happen). Apparently Larry Hennig put a lot of pressure on to get Curt to stay, and while WWF isn’t happy, you have to figure Curt will finally get the run with the belt (He most certainly does).
- Watch: Nick Bockwinkel (c) vs. Curt Hennig for the AWA World Title at Superclash II
- WCCW’s big show in Texas Stadium has caused a lot of headache. It was the biggest gate they’ve had in a while, so wrestlers figured they’d get a nice bonus, but apparently the gate didn’t even break even for WCCW. So a lot of wrestlers walked out, including Nord the Barbarian, Mil Mascaras, Black Bart, and Eli the Eliminator.
- In other headaches for WCCW, their switch to Bum Bright’s syndicated package has caused some bad blood with Continental Syndication (their former home). It seems people at Continental found out about the switch by reading the Observer, then Fritz told them this was just meaningless rumor, then two weeks later Fritz told them they were jumping because of poor production (rather than that the show itself sucked, which is the real reason their ratings have been in the toilet). Continental has retaliated by taping several shows produced by Ken Mantell (who was the odd man out when UWF sold to Crockett). Dave hasn’t heard about too many major names on those tapings (Bill Irwin, Missing Link, Jack Victory, and John Tatum), and he is puzzled that Mantell would tape for a market where promotions are in such steep decline. His only guess is that Mantell is taping for foreign syndication, particularly the Middle East, where WCCW had strong syndication through Continental, and is considering running a couple tours out there. All the changes to WCCW should begin to shake out into something clearer by the beginning of June.
- New wrestling tv shows are coming to Canada. On June 1 an edited version of Pro Wrestling This Week with more emphasis on Canadian independent promotions will begin airing on TSN. It will be called Pro Wrestling Plus. On July 1 TSN wants to put on a new show called TSN Wrestling, taped in Calgary weekly, which Dave feels should make Owen Hart a household name there real quick. Basically, it’ll be the same show as Stampede Wrestling, but with an extra half hour. The big difference is that Stampede has until now been taped only with a single camera, and TSN coming in (they taped the April 24 show) will up their production significantly, and they might even try to launch before July.
- The Freebirds have signed with Crockett and will remain in UWF. Ted DiBiase looks like he’s staying too, which bodes well for Crockett’s acquisition of UWF (ahahahahahaha). The only person left who is a question is Chavo Guerrero, but Dave hears he’s staying. In other news, UWF wrestlers are scheduled to appear in Florida next week as well as upcoming Chicago and Atlanta JCP cards. They’ll also begin running nightly shows on June 11.
- [WWF] Barry Orton has been injured in a car accident that occurred a few weeks back. Details are sketchy, but it happened about two weeks back and his traveling companion died in the accident and Orton is in critical condition. Dave’s waiting for more information. In less terrible injury news, Jake Roberts has been sidelined with some torn shoulder ligaments. Could be out of action for a few weeks to two months, depending on if he needs surgery.
- Duggan’s not getting quite as over as WWF expected. Dave thinks maybe they should consider putting him against opponents who can generate more heat for him.
- All Japan has brought out the big guns: Big John Tenta and Raja Lion. Tenta made his debut on May 1 in Sumo Hall, and has trimmed down to the 330 lb range. Raja Lion is billed at 7’5”. Dave is skeptical, but notes that photos show him as clearly taller than Andre, at least. He did a martial arts demonstration and they’re building to a match between him and Giant Baba.
- Update on the Barry Orton accident, Dave got a newspaper clipping. Barry Orton was arrested in his hospital bed on May 4, pending a hearing on charges related to the death of his passenger, Sherri Jo Bennett.
- Things are looking good for New Japan. Going into the IWGP tournament they’ve got Scott Hall in to replace either Mike Von Erich or Steve Williams, and the Inoki/Saito match on April 27 was reportedly really good.
- Dave just got word that Ted DiBiase has backed out of signing with Crockett and has taken a very lucrative offer from WWF. Everybody’s got a price.
- Memphis has done a lot of work building up their heels to the point where they drew 9000 for a show without Jerry Lawler. Well, Lawler was there, but he was under a mask and only as part of a really wild disqualification finish that saw a whole lot of interference and Downtown Bruno with scissors stuck in his head.
- Crockett did a Jim Cornette vs. Ron Garvin cage match on May 9. Cornette was an incredible heel, coming with his arm in a sling and bearing 5000 letters from fans begging Garvin not to hurt him (they were empty envelopes, which Garvin exposed), then producing a letter from his mother excusing him from the match because he hurt his elbow playing tennis. Eaton and Lane tried to save him but got KOed and Morton and Gibson threw Cornette in the cage, where Garvin obliterated him.
- AWA’s tag tournament in Salt Lake City was disastrous. All but two of the matches were bad, and they drew under 300 fans. Also Leon White and Jerry Blackwell worked an independent show on May 4, just 25 miles out of Denver. If they get canned, it’s probably for that. It’s the same thing that got Debeers and Buddy Rose fired, and this independent show outdrew in Boulder what AWA drew in Salt Lake City.
- Sheik Adnan al Kaissie is claiming he’s signed a contract with WWF. Dave’s unsure why they’d want him other than his connections in the Middle East. Dave thinks he’d be more valuable to Vince if he stayed with Verne.
- Continental Championship Wrestling is planning a big show on August 2. Dutch Mantell destroyed their Southeast championship belt with a sledgehammer on tv as well.
- One letter reflects on Mike Von Erich’s death. During Von Erich’s life, the letter writer and other fans and even seemingly other wrestlers resented Mike’s push. He simply was not at the level to bear the push that he got and should never have been in that position. And yet, with his death, the writer feels very sorry for Mike and feels as if perhaps Mike resented it too. The writer has a full address printed, because he’s looking to hear from other Observer readers in Rochester, New York (Dave notes this has the highest per capita readership of the Observer of any city in the universe), as he’s going to move there and begin teaching at Nazareth College in the fall semester. I tried looking him up to see what he had taught, and it appears he died on March 7, 2019 at the age of 87. RIP, Dr. Don Smith.
- Other letters are primarily grumbling about the UWF buyout and Crockett screwing up, Flair needing to turn face, and how JCP could diversify their babyfaces a bit. Basically the same old here.
- The last letter concerns a debate between Olympic Gold Medalist (and your Americna hero) Jeff Blatnik and Lou Albano on “Sports Pros and Cons." The subject of the debate was pro wrestling’s legitimacy. It was predictably bad, in that Albano is a hothead and not the guy you want defending pro wrestling. It was unpredictably bad when (according to the writer) Albano suggested his work raising awareness of multiple sclerosis was more heroic than Blatnick’s battles with cancer. Dave responds with further context, noting that some of Albano’s more fanciful notions were that Hogan would beat Blatnick in a Greco-Roman contest (Blatnick had challenged Hogan and Piper to wrestle him back to back and was putting up $25,000 to be donated to charity if they agreed, WWF naturally and correctly ignored this).
- Fritz Von Erich is trying to buddy up to Continental Productions again. He’s claiming that since he called them on the phone, his backing out of the contract is invalid, as the contract says it can only be terminated via certified mail. Dave thinks the deal with Bum Bright must have fallen through if Fritz is already doing this.. Fritz wants exclusivity when he comes back, but Continental isn’t giving him exclusivity.
- The first pro wrestling promotion to go public and hit the stock exchange is the Global Wrestling Association. They were founded in 1986 and went public with 7 million shares at an initial offering of 10 cents a share. They immediately shot up to 70 cents. They’ll fold in a year.
- Watch: An episode of Global Wrestling Alliance