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Post by willywonka666 on Jul 20, 2014 11:53:10 GMT -5
I was just looking up the list of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards on Wikipedia, and they had a section for "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic" and World Class shows up for exploiting the deaths of Gino Hernandez and the near death and eventual death of Mike Von Erich and later Fritz's fake heart attack.
I don't recall how they exactly exploited those deaths however as I have only seen footage of the press conference when Mike nearly died and Fritz's fake heart attack from the WCCW independent documentary.
So how did they exploit the tragedies (or others) exactly and was it something the fans found in extremely poor taste or was it the Observer taking a critical stance on it?
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Post by mcmahonfan85 on Jul 20, 2014 12:01:03 GMT -5
well according to the always reliable Wikipedia (the most trusted name in professional wrestling) the angle where Chris Adams was fake blinded was treated as equally important as Gino Hernandez really dying
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2014 13:23:39 GMT -5
Mike Von Erich's brain was semi-fried by a fever that almost killed him, but Fritz let him get back in the ring anyway and turned his near-death into a "most inspirational wrestler of the year" type thing. I'm sure Fritz didn't look at it as exploiting, but in hindsight it could be seen that way.
You could say the same thing about the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions, which held the record of the largest attendance for any wrestling event until that record was broken by WrestleMania III. The WCCW tragedies took a heavy toll on the promotion, but Fritz's "the show must go on" mentality certainly didn't help matters.
I'm not one who subscribes to the myth that Fritz lorded over his sons and made them become wrestlers, but I think that the boys ended up becoming wrestlers largely because that was Fritz's singular focus and the most powerful thing he instilled in them. I hope that his boys, especially Mike and Chris, knew that they didn't have to succeed in wrestling for their father to be proud of them, but I'm not sure that they did.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Jul 20, 2014 13:44:56 GMT -5
Allegedly he also sold David Von Erich signed photographs shortly after he died, a WCCW referee sing the 8x10s as David all under Fritz's knowledge
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khali
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Post by khali on Jul 20, 2014 17:26:57 GMT -5
This Gino Hernandez/Adams thing was apparently them saying something something almost exactly like "We've suffered two tragedies in World Class. Gino Hernandez has died and Chris Adams has been blinded."
Mike was billed as "The Living Miracle" when he came back in no condition to wrestle. Even before then they put him in a car to boost ticket sales at one of the big shows.
When Kevin legitimately passed out in the ring, that was turned into an angle that he was hit with some new dangerous move from the orient.
They found Mike's suicide note a couple days before the body, so at the house show that night they insinuated he might have been the victim of foul play.
The big emotional tribute show for the newly deceased Mike also included a female mud wrestling match.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2014 17:33:18 GMT -5
Meltzer was one of the first guys who take a big stand against Fritz for what he was doing. None of the magazines did anything because they would be cut off from the company. The Penthouse article really brought a lot of what Fritz was doing to light.
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Post by willywonka666 on Jul 20, 2014 18:35:57 GMT -5
Meltzer was one of the first guys who take a big stand against Fritz for what he was doing. None of the magazines did anything because they would be cut off from the company. The Penthouse article really brought a lot of what Fritz was doing to light. There was a Penthouse article? That sounds interesting
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Jul 20, 2014 20:18:52 GMT -5
The big emotional tribute show for the newly deceased Mike also included a female mud wrestling match. "I have the weirdest boner."
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jul 20, 2014 20:25:12 GMT -5
During the heart attack angle (and I have to rewatch it at some point as I believe they never actually referred to it as a heart attack, just sort of implied one) they at least once reported that Fritz was recovering but when house gates started dropping, his condition suddenly got worse. It's been claimed they pulled this back and forth for a few weeks trying to reinvigorate the gates, but I can't confirm that myself.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Jul 20, 2014 21:35:19 GMT -5
This Gino Hernandez/Adams thing was apparently them saying something something almost exactly like "We've suffered two tragedies in World Class. Gino Hernandez has died and Chris Adams has been blinded." Mike was billed as "The Living Miracle" when he came back in no condition to wrestle. Even before then they put him in a car to boost ticket sales at one of the big shows. When Kevin legitimately passed out in the ring, that was turned into an angle that he was hit with some new dangerous move from the orient. They found Mike's suicide note a couple days before the body, so at the house show that night they insinuated he might have been the victim of foul play. The big emotional tribute show for the newly deceased Mike also included a female mud wrestling match. The Kevin one at least could be seen as a "make lemonade" moment, in that they might as well get something out of it. A lot of the rest of this is appalling, though.
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Post by cabbageboy on Jul 20, 2014 22:43:24 GMT -5
The more you read about Fritz the more of a monster the man sounds like. In fact early today I thought about the whole David Memorial show and how creepy it was that this company drew its biggest gate because one of its top stars died and his own father exploited it. I even recall a WWF show on 24/7 from 1984 where they took time out to do a 10 bell salute for David, and that was shocking for WWF of that era to acknowledge another promotion's wrestler.
In a way I would have hated to have been a WCCW fan in the 80s and watch as a promotion that had such massive potential just became a shell of itself since its wrestlers all died and the promoter took zero steps to reign any of them in (or get them help) before it was too late.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on Jul 20, 2014 22:50:14 GMT -5
That press conference with Mike, where Fritz is talking about getting him back in the ring, is just disturbing; cuz you look at Mike's face, and you can tell that dude ain't all there anymore.
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Post by OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 on Jul 20, 2014 22:54:23 GMT -5
How about the time he forced Kevin to work a Japanese tour, just as a doctor was treating him for a concussion in a hospital? The doctor told him that if he took a bit on the head he would die. The video is on youtube, also it wasn't for a wrestling company it was a shoot fighting show. Reading the muschnick article, and I don't know how this was never brought out, WCCW had a real preacher working for the company, he even appeared on tv singing Fritz's praises.
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Post by Captain & Diet on Jul 21, 2014 3:19:23 GMT -5
How about the time he forced Kevin to work a Japanese tour, just as a doctor was treating him for a concussion in a hospital? The doctor told him that if he took a bit on the head he would die. The video is on youtube, also it wasn't for a wrestling company it was a shoot fighting show. Reading the muschnick article, and I don't know how this was never brought out, WCCW had a real preacher working for the company, he even appeared on tv singing Fritz's praises. Was the preacher Mark Lowrance, their TV play by play guy? I seem to remember him leaving WCCW to take over a ministry.
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Post by James Fabiano on Jul 21, 2014 8:23:40 GMT -5
The more you read about Fritz the more of a monster the man sounds like. In fact early today I thought about the whole David Memorial show and how creepy it was that this company drew its biggest gate because one of its top stars died and his own father exploited it. I even recall a WWF show on 24/7 from 1984 where they took time out to do a 10 bell salute for David, and that was shocking for WWF of that era to acknowledge another promotion's wrestler. The WWF Magazine at the time had an obit too. I think Vince had a soft spot for the Von Erichs, when Kerry came in later, he did acknowledge briefly his family background on SNME. The Kevin thing is nothing unusual...kayfabe explanations for legit injuries have always been around. Only controversial thing about that was when Kevin passed out, a fan was said to yell, "Don't die on us too, Kevin!" Now, how would you rank what WWE did in the 2000s against WCCW's actions? At least Fritz didn't book someone to start a feud with his sons by saying David or Mike were in hell.
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Post by Mozenrath on Jul 21, 2014 8:27:44 GMT -5
The more you read about Fritz the more of a monster the man sounds like. In fact early today I thought about the whole David Memorial show and how creepy it was that this company drew its biggest gate because one of its top stars died and his own father exploited it. I even recall a WWF show on 24/7 from 1984 where they took time out to do a 10 bell salute for David, and that was shocking for WWF of that era to acknowledge another promotion's wrestler. The WWF Magazine at the time had an obit too. I think Vince had a soft spot for the Von Erichs, when Kerry came in later, he did acknowledge briefly his family background on SNME. The Kevin thing is nothing unusual...kayfabe explanations for legit injuries have always been around. Only controversial thing about that was when Kevin passed out, a fan was said to yell, "Don't die on us too, Kevin!" Now, how would you rank what WWE did in the 2000s against WCCW's actions? At least Fritz didn't book someone to start a feud with his sons by saying David or Mike were in hell. Had he thought of it, and that it'd get heat, hell, he probably would have.
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Post by cabbageboy on Jul 21, 2014 8:33:13 GMT -5
I might actually hate the Eddie crap worse, but then I wasn't in an area to watch WCCW much back then. With WWE it was more just one particularly awful storyline with Rey, whereas with WCCW it was a 3-4 year long depressing experience that went along with exploitation.
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Post by khali on Jul 21, 2014 9:31:43 GMT -5
As bad as the Eddie thing was, Fritz was much worse. For one, there's just the sheer number of times he exploited death, with the extra added fact that it was his own sons he was exploiting. And in the case of Mike, he was hurting a living but very sick person at the same time.
I found the Penthouse article, and it included something else I forgot about: Kerry's foot wasn't amputated immediately. He came back early after the motorcycle accident hopped up on pain medication, and that's when he did the damage to his foot that required the amputation.
The Penthouse article was on another forum so I'll just copy and paste it here.
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Post by khali on Jul 21, 2014 9:35:46 GMT -5
The article:
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 9:59:29 GMT -5
Wow. Thank you for posting that.
I never knew what Mike's suicide note said.
Fritz was messed up.
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