Wrestling Observer Rewinder

November 09, 1987

November 9, 1987
So, u/daprice82 is back with 2002 - first rewind of the far future here. I'll be figuring out how to incorporate that into the archive links above when we get to 1988. But hey, now you get more rewinds every week. I will be taking a short break once we get through 1987 - gotta build up some buffer on 1988, after all. And we've only got SIX (bold isn't working for some reason) more rewinds left in 1987. Hard to believe we've made it this far with me going. But I'm gonna ride this out until we get through 1990 and link back up with the original rewinds. So have fun and enjoy.
Dave opens this issue with condolences to the family and friends of subscriber Bill Wilson, who died last week from cancer. Dave credits the success of the Observer and other newsletters to fans like Wilson, who would send in reports from the many shows they went to.
Strike Force have won the WWF Tag Titles. They won the belts at the October 27 Superstars taping, beating the Hart Foundation, and the match is planned to air on November 7. Neidhart submitted to a Boston Crab, and referee Joey Marella botched the finish by calling for the bell too quickly and made the hold look unbelievable as the finish.
Watch: Strike Force win the tag titles
The AWA Tag Title switcheroos should be cleared up shortly. The AWA Midnight Express beat Lawler and Dundee on October 30 on a taping for ESPN, which ought to air in the next week or so. AWA has had a lot of issues with their tag titles of late - the Midnight Rockers left with only a day’s notice, dropping the belts to the Russians a few months back. The Russians had their reign ended when Boris Zhukov left AWA for WWF a few weeks ago, then Doug Somers came in and teamed with Ustinov to drop the belts on October 12 to Lawler and Dundee, who supposedly dropped them to Hector Gurrero and Dr. Diablo following interference by Steve Keirn, but the change wasn’t mentioned on tv anywhere but Memphis. It seems the only purpose was to build heat going into the October 26 show, where Lawler and Dundee beat Guerrero and Diablo (Guerrero tried to use hair removal cream on Dundee but got Diablo instead). The AWA was completely in the dark about October 19 which surely has led to some heat with the Memphis arm of this supposed alliance, but seeing as Lawler and Dundee had the belts going into the October 30 match, everything worked out okay.
WWF has changed up the card for Survivor Series a bit. Don Muraco replaces Billy Graham on team Hogan (they did an injury angle for Graham), while Jake Roberts takes his place on team Savage, and Ricky Steamboat replaces Junkyard Dog on team Savage. Team Hogan is now Hogan/Muraco/Bigelow/Patera/Orndorff and Team Savage is now Savage/Roberts/Steamboat/Beefcake/Duggan. Word is they don’t plan to use Graham as a wrestler anymore, but what role he will transition into is unclear.
Ted DiBiase blew his knee out last weekend. Dave’s last update on the situation is that Ted was scheduled for knee surgery on October 30. Return time from arthroscopic knee surgery is generally a few weeks, but given DiBiase has a bunch of matches opposite Hogan in less than two weeks, Dave expects Ted will make it back early and wrestle those shows.
All the wrestlers Dave mentioned last issue who had left Memphis are back, except Tracy Smothers. Dave has no idea what’s going on. The Nasty Boys are back and have face paint like the Road Warriors and “studded glove outfits” like Demolition. Tanaka and Diamond are babyfaces and feuding with Don Bass, Brickhouse Brown, and Carl Fergie. Dave’s at a complete loss, as Tanaka and Diamond had been announced for Central States as heels and Davee had heard reports last week that Tanaka was talking with other promotions.
WWF has announced a really interesting show for the Meadowlands in response to Crockett’s November 25 Nassau Coliseum show. The main event will be an old-timers battle royal featuring announced names Lou Thesz (71), Gene Kiniski (60), Pat O’Connor (61), Killer Kowalski (61), Edouard Carpentier (61), Bobo Brazil (63), Nick Bockwinkel (52), Al Costello (65), Tony Garea (41), Chief Jay Strongbow (59), Pedro Morales (45), Pat Patterson (46), Blackjack Lanza (52), and Arnold Skaaland (62). They’ll also have a battle royal with their regular guys, and Ted DiBiase vs. Ricky Steamboat and Strike Force vs. the Islanders.
With business down lately, WWF seems to be gearing up for a few changes. They’re going to do roughly eight angles, four of the top matches on any given live show, and two live shows per night. They’re also going to do more old style promotion - angles at live shows to build rematches at the next show. They’ve also apparently acknowledged the workrate issues and believe some of the blame for attendance drops is due to that. They talked to the wrestlers about this at the last tapings on October 26, so we’ll see how things shake out in the next few weeks.
[WWF] A fan rushed One Man Gang in Rochester, New York on October 27. His name is Joseph D’Aquisto, and he tried to take Gang down with a double leg. They wound up rolling around on the mat for a moment before 15 security guards dragged him away, and he was fined $50 for disturbing the peace. The guy apparently wanted to be a pro wrestler and was listed at 6’7” and 310 lbs, but WWF had rebuffed him. And thus you have the Observer debut of future WCW wrestler Roadblock, who will have his first pro match on October 28, 1987 if Wikipedia is to be believed.
Greg Valentine is in the middle of contract negotiations between Crockett and McMahon. Crockett believes he has Valentine locked in from December 1, and WWF believe he is on the verge of renewing. Smart by Valentine. What Dave’s told is that Valentine is being offered as much as he was getting from WWF, and will almost certainly be pushed harder.
WWF is negotiating with NBC-TV for a prime-time special next year. Given how Saturday Night’s Main Event has been doing, they’ll probably get it. This will become a big event in the news next year - you might even say it’s the Main Event.
Speaking of main events, Dave says it’s almost a certainty at this point that Hogan and Andre will main event Wrestlemania IV. Bigelow simply didn’t make the giant impact they wanted, so any thought of him vs. Hogan is out the window. Of course, it doesn’t help that WWF has made it practically impossible for anyone to make a giant impact.
AWA appear to be setting up Greg and Verne Gagne vs. Larry and Curt Hennig for Thanksgiving.
Despite rumors of a sale, there has been no sale in the dealings with Memphis and AWA. As far as working together goes, these things always wind up failing in the long run and this will be no different, Dave says. The two groups have just too much difference in how they believe business should operate.
Memphis is advertising a “War of the Promotions” battle royal to prove they have the best guys. They’ve got Steve Keirn, who they’re billing as representative of Championship Wrestling from Florida, Manny Fernandez (debuting that night) and Bobby Jaggers as the NWA representatives, Jimmy Jack Funk claiming to have beaten Hogan and JYD for WWF, the Nasty Boys and Midnight Rockers for AWA, and the RPMs from World Class.
Watch: Memphis Wrestling, November 7, where they advertise the War of the Promotions battle royal
[Alabama] The sale of the territory somehow fell through despite the new owner being in charge for over a month. Some kind of financial problem, but the gist is the Fullers are back in charge even though it’s questionable if they even want to be.
Steve Estes, a perennial jobber in the Kansas City territory, was arrested two weeks ago. The charges are armed robbery in connection with a hold-up of a St. Joseph fast food joint.
Angelo Savoldi’s International World Class Championship Wrestling looks like they’re promoting toward an Iron Sheik vs. Bob Backlund match. Backlund hasn’t seemed interested in wrestling for a while other than his pipe dream idea of a match against Hogan, but they did a whole thing with a “satellite feed” of Backlund and Sheik revealing that he paid off Arnold Skaaland to throw in the towel when Sheik beat Backlund for the WWF Title in 1983.
Watch: A Bob Backlund promo from Savoldi's ICW
A few letters this week puzzle over the bizarre booking in the Crockett promotions, particularly when it comes to basically burying UWF. It’d make sense if Crockett owned a bunch of big businesses and was using wrestling as a tax write off, but that’s not the case.
Another writer has the same fantasy dominating his thoughts. Dusty is taken off the book for Crockett and Bill Watts is brought in, leading to turns and jumps (Savage, Steamboat, DiBiase, and Owen Hart for major stuff). New Japan and NWA announce a talent exchange. Hogan goes full-time Hollywood, which forces Vince McMahon into retirement. Eventually words like jobber and squash disappear from the language of pro wrestling. Knowing that this whole fantasy is unhealthy and unrealistic, the writer wants to settle for “world peace, social justice, and a cure for all known diseases.”
One writer here uses the phrase “sports entertainment” before McMahon’s testimony in 1989 that brought the term to the public at large (as opposed to advertisers):
You touched on a major point in the 1986 yearbook when you asked the readership whether or not pro wrestling was “sport” or “entertainment.” My dictionary defines “sport” in such a way that pro wrestling definitely falls into the realm of a “sport,” and I tend to agree. It doesn’t say that a “sport” can’t be “worked” or endings pre-planned at all. It is sports entertainment to be sure, but not just pure entertainment.
The remainder of the above letter is one of a few largely devoted to the matter of whether wrestling ought to be regulated. The letters this week largely favor regulation, primarily for the purposes of consumer protection and the health of the wrestlers, though the last letter asks the question, after discussing how boxing promoters with enough pull could basically govern themselves, commission rules be damned, of how it’s possible to “take an athletic commission seriously.”
Once again it’s time for Dave to spend time on the award categories. He thinks for Best on Interviews, the top two are clearly Jim Cornette and Ric Flair. Jerry Lawler is his pick for third, but there are a number of other worthy contenders: Paul E. Dangerously, Brian Pillman is getting there, Dusty Rhodes, Bill Dundee as a heel. For Manager of the year, Jim Cornette looks like a landslide pick. Bobby Heenan in the first half of the year was great, but putting him on commentary has made him overexposed. Paul E. Dangerously is the big surprise of the year, and he along with Curt Hennig are the only good things going in AWA. So Dave gives them second and third, respectively. For Worst Manager, Percy Pringle’s unfortunately the favorite for this year. He’s a good manager, but the promotion he’s working for has basically made him all but useless, and his rival manager being the booker for World Class probably doesn’t help. Pringle’s just been in the same place too long. Paul Jones is really bad, but that’s being turned into something of a positive, at least. Mr. Fuji won this twice in the past, so he’s a strong contender for third place.
Nippon Sports in Japan has reported the Road Warriors as signing a five year contract with Jim Crockett Promotions.
[New Japan] The Choshu vs. Fujinami 2/3 falls match on October 25 at Sumo Hall drew 10,200 (a $400,000 gate). Choshu won the first fall with a lariat, Fujinami the second with an inside cradle (Choshu’s first time being counted down for a pin since 1984), and Choshu won the third fall via countout.
Gill Cable in San Jose is one of the few cable companies offering both Survivor Series and Starrcade, and they’re offering a package deal. If you order both shows, the price is cut to almost half off for each. Of course, Crockett wouldn’t be Crockett if they didn’t screw up somehow, so they’re advertising that Gill Cable in San Jose will have Starrcade on Channel 26 in San Francisco. Gill Cable doesn’t air that channel, so nobody watching those ads will be able to order Starrcade. Meanwhile, on Channel 36 in San Jose, which is on Gill Cable, they’re not advertising Starrcade as available via Gill Cable at all.
It’s early yet to confirm who will stay and who will go from UWF. Gary Young, Steve Cox, Doug Gilbert (The Enforcer), Haskins, and Mike Boyette were all given their notice. Tommy Gilbert, one of their road managers, is also heading out. Shane Douglas has quit, but Crockett may try to convince him otherwise. Nobody else is really confirmed.
David Manning made it out of Israel. He’s working on shows November 10 and 11 with Bruiser Brody and Terry Gordy at the top of the card.
On Florida’s tv this week, Dusty Rhodes said he’ll never give up on Florida as long as he’s alive. Meanwhile, Steve Keirn and Mike Graham are back in the main NWA as Florida Tag Champs, but no word when, where, or if they beat the Mighty Yankees to actually win the belts. The Yankees are still working shows in Florida.
The Wrestling Album II debuted at number 193 on the billboard charts. As of last week, it had moved up to number 128.
Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt got married on Halloween. They had a Halloween party at their home, and surprised guests with a wedding.