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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2021 19:58:41 GMT -5
Since the 91-01 stuff went over so well I thought I'd cover the "backstory" starting from when the Observer becomes "available" on a consistent basis in December 1986. At this point JCP is coming off a tremendous year and all signs point to 87 being even more successful. This is Dave Meltzer pre National so his writing style is completely different from what it ends up becoming later.
As always credit goes to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Dec 1, 86
"Latest word on Hawk is he'll start back on Thanksgiving and will work all his scheduled dates afterwards. Hawk will basically stand in the corner in most of those matches until he heals up, so Animal will be forced to do the vast majority of the work in the tag matches (they’re booked almost exclusively against the Midnight Express in December). By the way, the correct name for the bone Hawk broke twice is the fibula."
"They've been announcing that Road Warrior Hawk has had car trouble and plane trouble to explain his non appearances everywhere this month. Crockett may promote the best actual wrestling in this country, but they have a long way to go before I’d call them a good promotion. A good promotion doesn’t need to lie to the fans about someone they know full well in advance won't appear"
"Barry Windham starts right after Thanksgiving and Dick Murdoch should be back around Christmas. The promotion deserves a lot of credit, because they did go after probably the best piece of talent in the country not under contract with one of the big three (Windham) at a time they needed the infusion of a big name. If they’re smart, they’ll get Windham over by having him win most of the Bunkhouse Stampedes."
"Sam Houston won the Central States tournament on 11/16 in St. Louis to the surprise of absolutely no one. Houston defends the title against Bill Dundee at Starcade from Atlanta. The tournament drew between 1,500 and 1,800 fans which at best, barely covers the rent at the arena."
"11/9 in Cincinnati drew 6,500 (great crowd for that city--Titan’s last foray into Cincy drew 200)"
"Does anyone know division department—Flair has been talking about how Starcade will draw 100,000 fans and gross $15 million. Get out your calculator and you'll realize if that's the case, the average ticket price is $150-Flair claims he'll gross 10 percent--or $1.5 million from the show. For one thing, the show itself won't gross close to $1.5 million, and last year Flair's take was somewhere between $22,000 and $25,000 and it’s unlikely it'll be any different this year"
"11/22 in Baltimore drew a sellout 14,000 which is more than Titan has drawn there in a long time (the gate must be $125,000-150,000)"
"Dusty deserves a lot of credit (or whomever thought up the idea) for this Bubba Rogers character. That’s the ultimate example of making something out of nothing"
The 12/29 Los Angeles and 12/30 San Francisco shows will both be headlined by Bunkhouse Stampedes. For the California markets, they'd better be able to get over exactly what a Bunkhouse Stampede is because nobody knows. but they will understand Battle Royal. Los Angeles probably won't draw well because the only local TV time is 1 a.m. on Saturday. SF has its problems as well (bad arena, no parking) but should sellout anyway since it's Crockett’s first shot in Northern California"
"Flair's pre-Starcade interviews on WTBS were excellent, especially the one where he mentioned Magnum T.A.--if he was talking to Terry Allen personally in the interview, if he was doing that interview for the fans, that’s another story"
"I don't doubt for one second that Dusty and Allen are best friends, but how come Dusty can't realize just how tasteless it is to use Allen's condition to try and sell Starcade tickets? I realize Fritz Von Erich did the same thing with his own sons"
"As you can tell, this Nikita thing is still hot and I suspect the openings in Chicago and San Francisco next month should be hot as well."
Dec 8, 86
"Magnum T.A., whose career may have been terminated in an auto wreck six weeks ago, is apparently doing extremely well on his recovery. Allen, who became a focal point of the Starcade promotion, was transfered on Thanksgiving from the Charlotte Memorial Hospital to the Charlotte Rehabilitation Center. Apparently he'll be undergoing physical therapy which hopefully will enable him to walk again, as you are reading this."
"At Starcade, before the start of the Ric Flair-Nikita Koloff match, they showed a long musical video of Terry Allen and his mother, with Allen running on the beach, which was shot about 15 months ago before a big match Allen had with Flair in Norfolk. I realize they are trying to cheer Allen up, as his spirits obviously are like a roller-coaster these days. At the same time, they aren't being fair to their audience by making it seem like Allen will be returning to championship form within a few months."
"When Jimmy Garvin would say "Shut your mouth" to the crowd, instead of booing, the crowd laughed and cheered for the most part."
"Fans watching were fairly "smart" as when Wahoo pulled out the blade, fans started changing "Bleed, Wahoo, Bleed." People were also loudly screaming when Rude took his blade out of his mouth."
"Rude and Paul Jones then jumped Wahoo after the match and beat on him until Hector and Baron came running down the aisle to make the save. Hector had to struggle to run in place to make sure he didn't reach the destination too far ahead of Baron."
"Dusty suplexed Tully into the referee (not another bump) and pounded Tully until he bled. The ref stayed down for an eternity here on a pretty weak bump--almost like this was fantasy-land or the WWF (same thing)."
"Dillon then handed Tully a roll of coins (quarters it looked like--at least Dillon isn't cheap). Although Tully hit Dusty in the chest, Dusty went down and chopped up his forehead, one person remarked it must have been high blood pressure for Dusty to get hit in the chest and bleed from the forehead."
"Hawk, four weeks to the day after breaking two bones in his leg, didn't move too bad. In fact he appeared to have the most guts of the four, hanging on in all sorts of weird positions to railings which were breaking left and right. This bout is sicko."
"The scaffold railing continued to fall apart throughout this match as the guys held on. It was the longest 7:00 match I've ever seen."
"After the bout, Paul Ellering chased Jim Cornette up the scaffold. Animal was still up there and Cornette was caught between the two. He climbed under the cage and hung there and screamed for Bubba to catch him. Bubba obviously never played Centerfield because he misjudged the play and Cornette fell, trying to break the fall with his legs but actually took the bump on his tailbone. OUCH. Cornette hasn't been heard from since."
"Hawk jumped off the ring apron onto the floor and had a real major look of pain on his face and nearly crumbled in the aisle and it was said he reinjured his leg, however he worked two nights later. The sick part about this, is they are planning to have more scaffold matches between the two teams around the circuit"
"Nikita then started throwing both refs around and they had a pull-apart brawl with both breaking loose etc. for nearly four minutes after the bell rang at 20:00. The first two guys to pull them apart were Randy Mulkey and Sam Houston, and knowing they are the two best guys in wrestling at selling a clothesline, you know what happened. Mulkey wasn't even working the card."
"Greensboro drew a sellout 16,000 plus 3,000 more at a closed-circuit showing at a hall adjacent to the Coliseum. Atlanta drew 13,000, which is a few thousand shy of a sellout. Other crowd figures Include 9,000 in Charlotte, 2,000 in Cincinnati and a sellout 2,700 in Kansas City. I should have accurate figures next week, but the crowd was probably In the 60,000 total range with a gate right around $900,000 which would put this show in third or fourth place on the all-time list."
"The odd number matches were from Greensboro while the even number bouts were from Atlanta and there were no satellite snafus"
"The show didn't end until 12:30 a.m. yet NOBODY went home early."
"Virtually everyone seemed to go home happy although fans in Greensboro were upset that Flair was in Atlanta for the second year in a row"
"Early in the show, Dundee did Dusty Rhodes shuffle and hand twirling bit in a slugfest with Sam Houston. Dusty was real late getting to the ring (he was just trying to be fashionable and build heat for his entrance) so one fan remarked, "He's on the phone to Atlanta cussing out Dundee for stealing his only move." "
"Crockett followed Starcade up with a tremendous show in Richmond, Va. which drew 9,000 fans at $12 and $15"
"Actual results of the Central States tournament on 11/16 in St. Louis as without ring announcements, most of the fans couldn't figure out what was going on. First round saw Arn Anderson beat Dave Peterson, Sam Houston beat Blanchard via DQ, Ric Rude drew Armstrong (both out), Dundee pinned Robert Gibson, Rhodes DCOR with Warlord and Todd Champion pinned Tijo Khan. Semifinals saw Dundee pin Champion and Houston pin Anderson while Houston pinned Dundee to win the tournament."
"Bob Armstrong appeared on a WTBS taping to set up a feud where he & Brad will battle Jimmy Garvin & Bill Dundee. My guess is this is being done to pick up attendance in Georgia, where Bob has a strong following and Crockett hasn't done all that well in. Aside from Starcade, Atlanta crowds have been in the 3,000 range at the Omni. In addition, the Deep South promotion remains as opposition to Crockett in Georgia using former area big-names like Tommy Rich, Mr. Wrestling II and The Oates boys as headliners."
"11/23 in Kitchner, Ont. saw Angelo Mosca promote a show using some of Crockett's guys drawing 1,000-1,500 as Nikita Koloff pinned Wahoo McDaniel (Nikita's switch hasn't aired on the local TV which shows month old tapes)"
"Fans were yelling at Dundee about the whereabouts of Buddy Landel and Dundee's response, which I can't print, was pretty much the truth"
"Kareem Muhammad won the Florida title from Barry Windham on 11/25 using Brass Knux and Barry celebrated by walking out on the remainder of his dates to get a short vacation before starting with Crockett."
Dec 15, 86
"Lots of news coming out of the big Starcade show. As mentioned last week, the show really went off well, The matches were neither to long nor too short and nobody can complain about anybody's work-rate or a lack of action as it was from start-to-finish, consistently the most heated card I've probably ever seen. The only real complaints I heard were about all the referee bumps (a Dusty specialty, but certainly expected from a card with so many big matches) leading to heel wins."
"There can be no doubt that Starcade, both aesthetically, athletically and economically was a success."
"I don't have an official gate figure for the card, other than it was the third largest gate in the history of pro wrestling on this continent, trailing only the two Wrestlemania shows, both of which aired in 15 to 20 times as many locations. The only problem was the fans in Columbia, S.C. weren't able to see the show because of a transmission problem, so the fans all received a ticket refund. If it wasn't for that, the gate would have exceeded $1 million-My estimate is the gate was right around $985,000 and the show was viewed by around 67,000 fans."
"The gate in Greensboro alone was $380,000 (a sellout of 16,000 in the Coliseum plus an overflow of 1,000 in an adjacent closed-circuit theater), which ranks as the sixth largest single-site gate for pro wrestling ever in North America."
"The crowd in Atlanta was just shy of 15,000 ($280,000) which is less than 1,000 off of a sellout."
"The lone casualty of the show was manager Jim Cornette, who fell off the scaffold after the Road Warriors vs. Midnight Express match. Cornette underwent arthroscopic surgery last week and will be out at least until Christmas....As you've all probably seen or heard by now, Baby Doll is the interim manager of the Midnight Express until Cornette gets back. From what I'm told, there is some doubt as to whether the knee may need major surgery as well. If the recent arthroscopic surgery didn't take care of the problem and major surgery is needed, it will probably be early spring before Cornette can return."
"Manny Fernandez & Ric Rude won the NWA tag team belts at the WTBS tapings on 12/6 in Atlanta from Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson. The bout lasted something like 50 minutes and although I fell asleep watching it, I'm told it was a good match in that it "told a story." "
"It’s good to see Rhodes pushing new fresh faces. Although Rude has improved since coming to Crockett (I don't see how he could help but improve after being in Dallas), he's really not in the class of the other area heels (Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Midnights, etc.) when it comes to providing action. Fernandez is a great heel for all of the same reasons he was a terrible babyface. I don't know what he's like in person, but his TV persona comes across as just completely obnoxious"
"Dusty’s idea of the Bunkhouse Stampede (which I believe was first developed by John Boyd as a "Texas Brawl") has caught on so well that both of his competitors are copying it. Titan will be holding a bunkhouse stampede at the end of this month at the Nassau Coliseum and in a few other sites. UWF will also be holding several Bunkhouse Stampedes this month, although with different rules. Thus far, the Stampedes are drawing very well"
"12/3 in Raleigh saw Big Bubba win the thing tossing out Barry Windham in the finals. The top undercard bout saw Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff over Tully Blanchard & Ric Flair in a combination bullrope and chain match when Rhodes pinned Blanchard in a very good and bloody event before 7,200 fans at $10 and $15"
"12/6 in St. Louis drew 2,300 ($26,773) as Rhodes won the Stampede by tossing out Bob Brown. Fans were pretty furious at this show, because tickets were raised to $15 for ringside, and they taped two hours of television with 90 second squashes and long pauses for interviews, etc. The only non-squashes besides the Stampede saw Nikita Koloff beat Ric Flair via DQ in 14:00 of a very typical bout"
"With Houston winning two TV bouts underneath, plus Barry Windham on the card, there were four matches ending with a bulldog headlock and pin."
"Murdoch and the Roadies were advertised for the Raleigh stampede but didn't appear. Murdoch, of course, is in Japan for the tag team tournament while Roadies didn't appear although Paul Ellering did. Hawk seems to be making his important dates, but passing on others."
"By the way, the Hogan-Piper vs. Race-Orndorff match at MSG was really bad. It went 8:00 and maybe deserves 1/2*. The worst match on Starcade was four or five times as good."
"I wish somebody could tell me why they continually try and tell fans that Magnum T.A. will be back stronger than ever. They continue to give fans false hopes. In fact, even though he was transferred last week from the hospital to a rehabilitation center, he is still in very bad shape. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise, but using Magnum’s name in the last TV show before Starcade so frequently during "hardsell" was an example of extremely poor taste. I'm not going to harp on this subject anymore"
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Post by CeilingFan on Jan 27, 2021 20:37:01 GMT -5
I always felt the beginning of the end was the purchase of the UWF.
However, it was that purchase that got them Sting.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Jan 27, 2021 21:22:22 GMT -5
I've been listening to some Jim Cornette stuff lately. Yeah, I hate his opinions on modern wrestling and try to avoid those rants, but I found his discussions on the old territories fascinating and informing. He has a lot of stuff available talking about his time in JCP during this time period, and as I said it's very interesting. I'm curious to see opinions and info from other sources.
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Post by BorneAgain on Jan 27, 2021 22:03:14 GMT -5
JCP's biggest problems essentially come down to bad priorities in spending, poor geographic selection in touring, and an overall underperforming infrastructure.
As far as money, Crockett made a huge error in buying up any territories, no matter what shape they were in. As heartless as it may be, the smart move would have been to let them die out, getting ideal talent from each, and then negotiation for their timeslots once they were gone. No excess titles, less roster bloat, and a great deal of money saved.
In terms of tours, many of the layouts were baffling. Even getting beyond the insistence on going to areas where the company wasn't that well known, many of them weren't even done efficiently or with any regard to what made sense of terms of a schedule. Largely staying east of the Mississippi not only would have played to the company's strengths with territories but could have curbed wrongheaded investments like another private plane, purchases which further added to the debt problems.
Finally the company long term needed to gradually evolve its business layout. Move away from he same kind of staff they were using in the early 70s into those that could actually be adept at what JCP had become. All the revenue saved from not buying territories and being smarter with live events? Put that into TV production so that stands out to affiliate stations and advertisers. Get in touch with a marketing firm that could build an ad campaign around positively contrasting NWA wrestling against the WWF's version, perhaps outright emphasizing the athletic and more mature presentation.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Jan 28, 2021 6:47:54 GMT -5
I've been listening to some Jim Cornette stuff lately. Yeah, I hate his opinions on modern wrestling and try to avoid those rants, but I found his discussions on the old territories fascinating and informing. He has a lot of stuff available talking about his time in JCP during this time period, and as I said it's very interesting. I'm curious to see opinions and info from other sources. Yeah, his stuff on JCP was often fascinating, and he didn't whitewash that Crockett made shitty decisions sometimes that ended up costing him. Haven't really listened to him in a long while now, but I did find that content fascinating, along with the nitty gritty of trying to run SMW in a changing landscape, along with having to juggle working with WWF and Tim Horner's stupidity.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Jan 28, 2021 8:51:27 GMT -5
I've been listening to some Jim Cornette stuff lately. Yeah, I hate his opinions on modern wrestling and try to avoid those rants, but I found his discussions on the old territories fascinating and informing. He has a lot of stuff available talking about his time in JCP during this time period, and as I said it's very interesting. I'm curious to see opinions and info from other sources. Yeah, his stuff on JCP was often fascinating, and he didn't whitewash that Crockett made shitty decisions sometimes that ended up costing him. Haven't really listened to him in a long while now, but I did find that content fascinating, along with the nitty gritty of trying to run SMW in a changing landscape, along with having to juggle working with WWF and Tim Horner's stupidity. While he doesn't whitewash Crockett's decisions, I do think he has a tendency of being way too forgiving to Dusty's booking at times. But I guess he owes a lot of his career to Dusty so it's not like he has too much room to complain without seeming ungrateful.
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Post by James Fabiano on Jan 28, 2021 9:15:35 GMT -5
Oh yeah, fill my veins with this stuff!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 9:40:43 GMT -5
Dec 22, 86
"Jim Crockett’s group appears to be finishing out the year in a big way. From every logical standpoint, Crockett shouldn’t be able to challenge Titan Sports as the No. 1 wrestling promotion. Don't get me wrong, I still don't think they can overtake Titan, but challenge them they are doing."
"If you compare the talent roster (in terms of numbers, certainly not in terms of quality), Titan has them beaten three or four-to-one, in terms of front office staff, it's probably more like ten-to-one. In terms of strong television times in major markets, the difference is every bit as vast as McMahon makes it out to be. If you look at the top 10 markets in the country, Crockett only has strong local television in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Chicago, while McMahon has strong TV in all 10. Even though Crockett's syndicated shows are technically strong, they aren't nearly on a par with McMahon's shows."
"By logic, McMahon should have blown everyone away, but instead he's facing a strong challenge. There's only one reason for this. McMahon isn't giving the public a product they want to see. Crockett is. If all gimmick and no substance wrestling was the correct product mix, why can't McMahon draw well when he doesn't have Hulk Hogan on the card? Why does Crockett draw increasingly well in McMahon’s home markets?"
"Titan will remain the No. 1 group throughout 1987, barring McMahon getting carried away at Wrestlemania and ruining everything. However, Crockett is now a stronger adversary as we start 1987 then he was when 1986 began. The marketing income is down considerably since April, and there's no reason to expect that trend to change. The Saturday morning cartoon, which is probably Hulk Hogan's key vehicle, is no longer one of the hottest cartoons on television and most shows of that type only last two years. Even if it gets renewed for a third year, it still hasn't proven to be a major force in getting anyone aside from Hogan into real prominence. Many of Titan's most loyal fans are calling to replace Hogan, a decision, at present which would be economically a disaster."
"Crockett is on a rise. Watts might be. McMahon definitely isn't. As one staunch Titan supporter told me last night from Philadelphia, where both groups went head-to-head with their best shots and the results were a lot closer than anyone had a right to expect. "McMahon better make some real changes when it comes to his product. Everyone thinks the NWA is the real wrestling. 40 percent of McMahon's audience is under 15-years old. He's losing ground." "
"Last night (12/13) in Philadelphia saw Titan draw 14,132 for the Hogan-Orndorff cage match. By the advance sales and the main event, it was expected to be a near sellout. Crockett drew a near sellout of 10,000 at the Civic Center and a $110,100 gate (McMahon’s gate was $160,800) – however he had just one week to promote the card compared to four weeks for McMahon. McMahon had sold between 11,500 and 13,000 tickets before Crockett ever publicly announced he was coming in with a Bunkhouse Stampede. Sales died from that point on. Starting in January, Titan will be running four shows per night, which means even if Hulk Hogan carries a full schedule this year, they’ve got three non-Hogan shows to try and draw with. There is no evidence at all that Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat or Andre the Giant will be able to pick up the slack in those other cities."
"Titan and Crockett will go head-up again on 1/10, and Crockett is sure to win this battle from a dollar standpoint as he's raised tickets to $15 and $20 for the scaffold match (normal price is $10 and $15). Titan counters with an abortion of a card headlined by Andre the Giant vs. Randy Savage, Jake Roberts vs. King Kong Bundy, Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation (which won't take place most likely). Honkeytonk vs. George Steele, etc"
"I can't figure out how he did it, but Dusty has somehow managed to re-arrange talent and input a few key new faces to make the post-Starcade atmosphere actually quite fresh"
"Barry Windham & Ron Garvin won the U.S. tag belts at the TV tapings on 12/9 from Ivan Koloff & Khrusher Khrushchev. I'm not sure about this move, because I'm of the opinion Windham should be pushed as a single (perhaps over Blanchard for the TV belt) and be Ric Flair's leading challenger this year. Maybe it's just wishful thinking hoping that Flair will get to work with someone who can carry his end of the match up"
"If you wonder why there's such a drug problem in the pro wrestling business, listen to this schedule for Crockett's main-liners. On 12/12 they were in Charlotte, 12/13 they started with an early morning taping in Atlanta, had a 3 p.m. show in Baltimore and finished with a 6 p.m. show in Philadelphia. 12/14 they were in Chicago. That's five shows within hours, and all of the house shows were Bunkhouse Stampede shows which means some guys worked twice. Some guys actually worked 10 or 11 matches in one weekend. The most amazing thing about it is that I heard the shows in Baltimore and Philadelphia were both very good."
"The Baltimore show drew 13,000 fans and roughly $120,000"
"I can't figure out why, but I'm really enjoying Manny Fernandez as a heel. He reminds me of all the kids on the "other" side of town when I was growing up. Matter of fact, he probably was one of them"
"With the exception of Ric Flair, probably the single most important act for Crockett is the Road Warriors. They are not under contract to Crockett, and from most reports, that doesn't look like it will change. Their leaving would by no means kill the promotion, or even wound it severely, but it would hurt"
"A few more Outback Jack discoveries is just what Crockett needs to close the gap"
Dec 29, 86
"As some of you may have suspected from this weekend’s television, a new Russian heel, Vladimir Pietrov, will be in shortly. Barbarian John Nord will be brought in as the new giant Russian to feud with Nikita Koloff. The idea of bringing in a big Russian monster, and Nord certainly is big, to feud with Nikita makes sense and was expected. However, think about a series of matches between Nord and Nikita—that’s truly a Russian Nightmare."
"This Nord sure has had an interesting career. He got his first break in Mid South trying to copy Road Warrior Hawk, then went to AWA and changed his style and appearance to copy Bruiser Brody. Now he’s going to copy Nikita Koloff. All he’s got to do now is bleach his hair blond and he can copy every single monster-sized attraction in the business. I suspect Nord will shave his head, because it would be pretty stupid to pretend he's Russian looking the same way as he did in the AWA since he had all that national ESPN exposure."
"Crockett's Russian who got lost in the shuffle, Khrusher Khrushchev, has given his notice and is basically working it out now before heading back to the Kremlin (or suburban Minneapolis, whichever is closer). Khrushchev's leaving has been rumored for a long time. It's said he was upset about his Starcade payoff (reportedly $2,500—while Uncle Ivan received $5,000 for the same match), but he'd sent out feelers long before Thanksgiving. No leads as to where he'll wind up."
"Another expected addition to the Crockett camp, probably around the first part of February, if not sooner, is the much-ballyhooed Lex Luger, as a heel. They've already got Ric Rude, so what they need with Lex Luger is beyond me. They'd better give him a manager is all I can say, because he won't get over as a heel there without one. I can already smell the problems here—a guy who won't bleed working for Dusty. While this isn't completely confirmed, the folks in Florida are expecting Luger to leave shortly (and from what I gather, aren't the slightest bit upset about it either--something to the effect of regretting that they created a monster). In Luger's defense, the guy has the potential to be a major force in the business if he even had a slight concept of how to wrestle. Maybe watching Ric Flair and Tully Blanchard play heel on a nightly basis will be a positive influence."
"Talk about a little bit of success going to your head--did you get a load of that WTBS show on 12/20? Yes, this group is as hot as a firecracker and they are closing the gap on No. 1. But they seem to have no idea just how big a gap it is"
"Why does J.J. Dillon spend so much of his Interview time constantly trying to get Dusty Rhodes over? Isn't the fact Dusty revolves all the big issues around himself and isn't exactly shy on interviews himself enough"
"Does Ric Flair really want to be a babyface? That interview putting down the Celtics and praising the Lakers just before a trip to Los Angeles sure makes it seem so"
"I realize every intelligent fan knew they were running two shows on 12/13 (actually three If you include the TV taping), but did they have to advertise the fact they ran the same main events in both Baltimore and Philadelphia? It's one thing to say they ran two Stampedes as a vehicle for gratifying Dusty's ego while he's between title wins, it's quite another to mention Flair defended the title twice against Nikita on the same day"
"12/14 in Chicago drew between 10,000 and 16,000 (I've gotten a wide variety of estimates and no official gate figure)....After that successful debut they followed suit by not having a return date announced. At least they're predictable, even if they do a lousy job of keeping momentum in some important cities"
"The wrestlers here are spending this week on the mend, but check out this schedule. Christmas night they're in Atlanta, the next night in Richmond, Va., then fly back to Atlanta for an early morning WTBS taping, then a quick flight to Minneapolis for a Saturday night show. Then it's to Greensboro for a Sunday matinee show, then a quick flight to Albuquerque, N.M. for a Sunday night show. Then Monday and Tuesday they are in Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively, before getting New Year's Eve off"
"Actual gate for 12/13 in Philadelphia was $126,075 on a sellout 10,215 paid. The 1/10 show will have Road Warriors vs. Midnight on the scaffold and Flair vs. Nikita with tickets raised to $15 and $20, so expect an even bigger gate although the number of fans should drop"
"Starcade payoffs started at $1,500 for the guys in the first match or two, up through $10-12,000 for the main eventers. I believe the payoffs for Wrestlemania, which was a lot bigger production, weren't much different as the folks in the Battle Royal were getting $1,200 to $1,500 and the undercard started at $700. I’m sure Hulk and Piper got well over $12,000 although Flair may have as well"
"Crockett’s 12/14 Chicago show drew a $140,000 gate which means the crowd was in the 12-15,000 range"
"The WTBS show which aired this past weekend was taped on the morning of 12/14 in Atlanta, so that last weekend was even crazier than I thought. Friday night in Charlotte, Saturday morning in Atlanta, Saturday Afternoon in Baltimore, Saturday night in Philadelphia, Sunday morning in Atlanta and Sunday night in Chicago. I get tired just typing it"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2021 9:50:27 GMT -5
I normally don't post stuff from reader letters unless it's something in Dave's reply but I had to post this
"You can label Starcade '86 a complete dud. I never thought a Crockett card could be so boring. If you could have heard the comments from the fans in the Albany (Georgia) Civic Center following the Ric Flair-Nikita Koloff non-decision, you would never again use the ref taking a bump ending to a Flair match. I thought there would be a riot because of how predictable the ending was. In my opinion, Crockett should revamp his entire decision-making process. If It means dumping Dusty Rhodes as booker, so be it.
Overall, Starcade was a total waste of my time and money. Do you think Barry Windham's shoulders are big enough to carry Crockett? After this disaster, he's the only hope left."
Scott Hudson Tifton, Georgia
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Post by James Fabiano on Jan 28, 2021 9:55:40 GMT -5
I normally don't post stuff from reader letters unless it's something in Dave's reply but I had to post this "You can label Starcade '86 a complete dud. I never thought a Crockett card could be so boring. If you could have heard the comments from the fans in the Albany (Georgia) Civic Center following the Ric Flair-Nikita Koloff non-decision, you would never again use the ref taking a bump ending to a Flair match. I thought there would be a riot because of how predictable the ending was. In my opinion, Crockett should revamp his entire decision-making process. If It means dumping Dusty Rhodes as booker, so be it. Overall, Starcade was a total waste of my time and money. Do you think Barry Windham's shoulders are big enough to carry Crockett? After this disaster, he's the only hope left." Scott Hudson Tifton, Georgia Oh yeah, Hudson when he didn't have a job somewhere attended JCP and WCW shows. I remember old RSPW posts from 1995 or so detailing his bunch's antics at WCWSN tapings. Including forming a sarcastic rooting section for Hacksaw Jim Duggan. (they were also the Tex Slazenger Fan Club before that) EDIT: Here's a sample: groups.google.com/g/rec.sport.pro-wrestling/c/GlzGAsEZzyA/m/o93qZ2PRUoIJ (the infamous Duggan vs. Rocky Mountain Thunder match) EDIT 2: More... groups.google.com/g/rec.sport.pro-wrestling/search?q=%22Dagan%20LaMont%20Burrell%22%20and%20%22Center%20Stage%22
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2021 5:56:14 GMT -5
Jan 5, 87"They’ve been having Hiroshi Wajima do Japanese interviews to hopefully get some Oriental fans to appear in LA, but not in SF. I believe Baba & Wajima will work against the Mod Squad in both cities" "I’m not exactly sure what’s going on but it appears Ole Anderson is soon to be an ex-Fourth Horseman. They are snubbing him on the interviews, etc. Boy, I’d hate for them to turn him babyface. J.J. Dillon and Tully Blanchard are talking about a surprise, so perhaps they will suddenly replace Ole with Lex Luger as the Fourth Horseman. Not a bad idea for Lex because he can be easily hidden in tag matches and won’t have to say much on interviews with J.J. and Tully around" "12/25 in Charlotte drew a sellout 10,200 for an afternoon show as Road Warriors-Nikita Koloff-Dusty Rhodes beat the Four Horsemen...Later that night in Atlanta they had another cut-price night with the same main event which drew 16,000 fans at $5 a head" "How is this for an intriguing angle that won’t happen. Garvin just gave up his Mid-Atlantic title so he could keep the tag belts with Windham. Then Barry wins the TV title and when he picks the belt to give up, he chooses the tag title and Crockett declares it vacant and has a tourney. Poor Ronnie then loses two belts without losing a match, and turns heel" "Relations with Florida are now kaput since Crockett is running shows in opposition to Florida (which will be forced into pulling out of the NWA and all the mags will try and make Florida look bad like they made Fritz look bad for something they had no choice but to do) on 1/16 in Hollywood on 1/21 in Jacksonville. They are going to draw really well down there i’m told" "The folks in Florida like Hiro Matsuda are understandably fuming about this, claiming a gentleman's agreement they had with Dusty that Dusty would never work against them. In fact, Flair will no longer be appearing in Florida for CWF and on TV Gordon Solie even said that Flair has refused to defend the title and how either Badnews Allen or Luger could beat him at will on any given night. The NWA has died" "Speaking of death, the Central States circuit, known as the purgatory of pro wrestling, is still burning. 12/12 in Kansas City drew 300 as Bob Brown pinned Sam Houston in a non-title match (first pin Sam has taken in the territory since he came out there)" "Houston drew Arn Anderson over 30:00 to keep the Central States belt (boring match, Arn was interested in things other than the match and he kept talking to girls at ringside during match)" "Atlanta is a tough wrestling city to begin with as shows which would draw well throughout Crockett’s territory have drawn some crowds in the 2-3,000 range at the Omni. Titan may try again sometime, but at this rate, it can't afford trying to rebuild cities it died in when it was hot. It's having enough problems keeping its formerly hot cities as money makers when Hogan isn't around." Jan 12, 87"Jim Crockett Promotions came to California this past week and did pretty well. They drew 7,000 fans and $75,000 on 12/29 in the Forum in Los Angeles, which has to be considered a success with all their TV problems down there, in San Francisco, they drew a sellout of about 8,500 fans ($93,000 ish) and turned away several thousand more at the Civic Auditorium. Neither card was very good as most of the wrestlers appeared worn-out from a ridiculously-hard Christmas week schedule. They worked Charlotte (afternoon) and Atlanta (night) on Christmas day. Richmond on the 26th, Atlanta (a.m.) and Bloomington, Minn, (p.m.) on the 27th, Greensboro (afternoon) and Albuquerque (p.m.) on the 28th before the shows in California. If that wasn't enough to kill them, after the Albuquerque show, several of the big shots decided to spend the night in Las Vegas, which means they didn't sleep much." "They flipped a coin to determine which Roadie would win, and I believe Animal won but don’t quote me. Fans booed the finish when they did the coin-flip. What the Crocketts don't understand is San Francisco is a Battle Royal city, and for 20 years the fans have been told that there is no collusion, no splitting the money and whomever is left, whether they be brothers or tag partners, have to fight it out. The crowd really was jazzed at the prospects of the Roadies fighting each other." "8. Nikita Koloff pinned Tully Blanchard in 16:00 to keep the U.S title. Actually this bout went on sixth, which tells you how memorable it was." "With a good line-up. I expect they can get one more sellout here before the weak local TV and building nothing for a return (in every match, the babies basically beat up the heels so they blew off everyone's heat in one night except for Midnight and Flair) starts to effect them" "As most of you have noticed, this new Giant Russian dude, Vladimir Pietrov, is not John Nord as I'd reported. It seems Nord decided on Friday night (1/2) that he was going to nix the opportunity and would rather stay home with his family. Apparently the Crocketts weren't caught totally unaware because they made a quick call to the 612 area code (Twin Cities) and found another monster. This Pietrov is a guy named Al Blake, a 6-2, 280 pounder who had a reputation for being the "baddest bouncer" in the Twin Cities, which is pretty impressive since Nord, Khrusher Khrushchev, both Road Warriors and Rick Rood were all bouncers at Twin Cities night spots and I've heard some wild stories about several of them. His first pro match was taped Saturday morning after a quickie head-shaving." "1/1 at the Omni drew between 2,000 and 4,000 (coming off a Christmas card which drew just over 16,000)" "1/4 in Cincinnati drew 7,000 as Rhodes won the final Stampede" "In Dallas, Titan are being put on the station which formerly carried wrestling every night (both Crockett shows, AWA, UWF regular show) and that station dropped everyone else so Crockett has no TV in Dallas" "There will be three cards in the Miami area next week. On 1/14, Florida has a show with Luger vs. Kevin Sullivan (who returns 1/13 as the booker) in a cage match....On 1/16, Crockett has his big show with Flair vs. Dusty and the scaffold match, while on 1/18, Titan comes in loaded with Hulk Hogan vs. Kimala" Jan 19, 87"The biggest news story comes from Philadelphia where this past Saturday night, 1/10, nearly 25,000 fans paid in excess of $350,000 to witness the mat game as the WWF and its leading rival, Jim Crockett Promotions, went head-to-head. The success that both cards had is an indication of two things. 1) Philadelphia is a hot wrestling town and more importantly. 2) JCP and Titan are drawing a completely different audience. The fact both groups are drawing such a large, but differing audience probably tells the tale of this business in the next few years. Unless Titan decides to go into the wrestling business, JCP has little to worry about when it comes to being a profitable company in the future." "The Crockett show drew a sellout of nearly 11,000 fans paying $192,500--the largest indoor gate since Crockett came to Philadelphia, with the main draw being the scaffold match and a Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff NWA title match. Titan’s success was a little more surprising, since it had little aside from the Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage grudge match on the card, but still had 14,067 fans paying $160,536 at the Spectrum. Actually, taking into account the inherent expenses of running a show at the Spectrum, Crockett's show Saturday may have been the single most profitable wrestling show ever held in Philadelphia." "Finish was a referee bump, J.J. throws Tully a roll of coins but Dusty intercepted it (from what I hear, judging from Tully's college days, it would have been more realistic for Tully to have thrown something and had it intercepted), then KO's Tully and the revived ref counts the pin. J.J. then runs into the ring, puts his hands down Dusty's trunks to pull out the roll of coins, shows them to the ref, who reverses the decision. What a perverted finish" "In what could turn out to be another key move, Crockett, after a long absence, will attempt to make a go of it in the "hottest" wrestling area in North America right now, Ontario, Canada. Crockett will run his first Canadian TV taping on 2/16 in Brantford (site of Titan's now-defunct Canadian syndie) after his guys will appear 2/15 in Hamilton, Ont, for Moscamania II, promoted by former wrestler and Canadian football legend and horrible announcer of the same name." "In the early 1980s, before Crockett decided not to let Jack Tunney have any talent for fear he’d join up with Vince (which he did), Toronto was one of the hottest cities on Crockett's circuit with Ric Flair drawing several crowds of more than 15,000. Now Toronto is Titan’s hottest city, and one of the reasons is there is no real competition. It’ll be interesting to see if Crockett can make a go of it considering the handicap he’ll have of Mosca being the front-man." "Lex Luger will be in for the WTBS tapings either this weekend or next and will be the 5th Horseman. What will become of Ole is anyone's guess right now" "The Crocketts have realized they can't let their new Russian fly by himself, so instead of a Pietrov vs. Nikita singles feud, they're going to instead have Pietrov & Ivan team against Dusty & Nikita. Poor, Ivan" "I've had more comments on this Pietrov thing than anything in quite a while. Seems Crockett ruffled quite a few feathers when he took a guy with no experience and tried to push him as a main eventer. Just so nobody gets the wrong idea, Pietrov was not trained by Eddie Sharkey. Seems the Shark is having enough problems living down his association with The Warlord and Tijo Kahn and doesn't want credit/blame or whatever it turns out to be if this gig turns out as well as Warlord has" "There are tentative plans for American Bashes in July in the Forum in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Civic Auditorium. That's good provided they don't book country acts and charge $50 ringside. Hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes" "Bill Dundee is now the Central States champion. I don't have any details except that Sam Houston is gone and headed to Watts-land"
"Supposedly the Bunkhouse Stampede wound up a tie between Big Bubba and Dusty Rhodes, who will meet in a cage match on 2/13 (not sure of date, will have exact date next time) in Pittsburgh with the winner to be named King of the Stampede"
"2/21 In Philadelphia will have Morton-Gibson vs. Rude-Fernandez in a cage match on top while Vince on 2/14 headlines with Hogan vs. Kimala and nothing underneath"
"During December I listed Ted DiBiase in the NWA ratings because he was appearing in Japan for All Japan, a promotion which is a member of the NWA. I do that whenever a good wrestler appears for All Japan, since the NWA is not just Jim Crockett Promotions"
1986 Yearbook (No Jan 26 issue, yearbook had some notes for that week)
"Titan had its first card in the heart of Crockett territory in a long-time on 1/17 as they booked Hogan and Kimala in Winston-Salem, telling area fans it was their first chance to see the true World champion. They probably drew okay, because in this day and age, I don't think there's anywhere, except possibly Dallas, where Hogan couldn't draw"
"How's this for overkill. In Richmond, Va. at noon on Saturday, there are two Titan shows and one Crockett show all in the same time slot"
"Lex Luger debuted on WTBS this past weekend and starts here full-time in about a week. The original angle has been slightly altered. If you recall a few weeks ago J.J. and Tully were talking about a surprise they had, which was to be Luger. I believe they’ve changed it to make it look like Luger wanting to be a member of the four horseman was a surprise at the insistence of those in the wrestling media who would be at a loss for a logical explanation why, without any reason, Luger, the most overpublicized rookie since the Road Warriors (and most marketable) would suddenly want to allign himself with Flair. They even acknowledged Luger and Windham's former tag team."
"Did you catch Dusty trying to make fun of Titan's cage match rules? When Dusty wrestles Big Bubba on 2/27 in Pittsburgh in a cage match, the rules are that the first person out of the cage is the loser—which actually makes more sense but why talk sense when you talk wrestling. Wonder how many fans will pick up on that, however"
"Three weeks ago, when the Rock'n'Roll Express Fan Club commercials started on the air, one friend of mine called me almost immediately and said this was going to backfire. The last thing guys, who find it easy to hate Rock'n'Roll anyway, want to see is pushing Morton as a rock star and a hearthrob in those commercials. I passed it off, having seen how "over" these guys are, saying nothing is going to make people dislike them. Well, obviously I was wrong. In almost every city Morton & Gibson have appeared in since the commercial aired, save within the Carolinas/Virginia territory, the fans, particularly the guys in their 20s which make up the core wrestling fan audience, are booing these guys—against Russians, Andersons, whatever. I figured the act just didn't play in San Francisco, but instead, it's that commercial and fan club have backfired"
"Big Daddy (Steve DiBlasio), sued Dusty a few years ago after his career ended when he suffered a shattered ankle taking an over-the-top ropes bump in a match against Les Thornton. Daddy said Rhodes told him to take the bump as choreographer of the show. Over the months I’ve gotten lots of clippings on this, most of which make me ill since Daddy claimed his status as a wrestler was roughly equivalent to that of the Road Warriors ("I was undefeated in 41 matches having beaten Ric Flair, Roddy Piper and Abdullah the Butcher. I was making $4,000 a week." etc). Anyway, nothing has been settled in the case, and Dusty could wind up with some court problems since the court sent a questionnaire for him to answer, and he gave nothing but smart-ass answers, most of which consisted of nothing but foul language"
"1/11 at the Omni drew a $30,000 gate (just under 3,000)"
"1/9 in Kansas City drew just over 220 for Brown vs. Houston in a bullrope match."
"Don’t you love how Crockett welcomes Luger and Windham "to the NWA" when they join their promotion?"
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Post by CeilingFan on Jan 29, 2021 6:40:16 GMT -5
in 1987 Flair defended the World Title against Florida Champion Mike Rotundo, so the NWA wasn't died yet. I would say it died in Dec 1987 when the Florida territory was absorbed.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2021 6:21:56 GMT -5
Feb 2, 87"Since many folks have asked about TV ratings, here are some recent numbers and an explanation of them. As of the November sweeps, which for Crockett was the Starcade build-up period, the Saturday 6:05 p-m. Eastern time wrestling show on WTBS had plummeted to a 2.9 rating and a 5.3 share in 1.1 million homes nationwide. During November, 1985, this same show had a 4.5 rating, which means over the past year its viewership has fallen 35½ percent." "The wrestling show, which peaked in the summer of 1982 with a 6.8 rating in 2.2 million homes (and even more significantly, WTBS was available in less homes in '82 than right now, yet the viewership was more than doubled), is not only no longer among the top rated shows on cable (1980-83 it was consistently the No, 1 rated show on cable, even through most of 84-85 it was consistently in the top five), but those are actually worse numbers than average for WTBS. The Sunday WTBS show now gets a 3.2 rating, but only a 4.8 share in 1.2 million homes." "For those interested, the decline, which of course has been a slow erosion of interest over 4½ years, was most marked starting in June of this past year—or when Dusty went to his plethora of 30 second matches with endless interviews. The funny thing is, crowds at Crockett's live shows are better than ever right now, which shows an interesting paradox. It appears when you have marketable wrestlers, but let them talk more than wrestle, it seems to be okay at the gate but turns TV viewers off (of course in some cities, St. Louis comes to mind, obviously all talk no wrestling TV shows simply turns fans off, period)." "Interestingly, the Saturday 8:05 a.m. TBS show still is holding steady with a 2.4 rating, an impressive 11.6 share in 904,000 homes. For some reason, that time slot has held while the afternoon/early evening slots have taken a bath this year" "For those who don't know already, Jim Crockett will be holding his version of a Saturday Night's Main Event on 2/7, from 7:35 to 10:05 Eastern time (that's 4:35 to 7:05 for us west coast viewers). The only thing I've heard is it will be comprised of six main event caliber matches from six different arenas. Hopefully I'll get a complete line-up in next week's issue" "The Worldwide show which aired this weekend was comprised of a sensational Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham title match which took up the entire TV show (38 minutes) without a winner. I saw the portion that aired on WTBS (final 15 minutes) and it was a super match. I was with several friends and immediately after that match we watched a classic Flair vs. Rick Steamboat match from 1982, and let me tell you there was no comparison." "They are hyping a new Russian called "The Big Red Machine" as coming in. Didn't take them long to give up on Pietrov. Don't know who the new guy is, but the initial suspicion is that it will be John Nord. I sure hope they don't team up. Even my imagination can't handle Nord & Pietrov vs. Dusty & Nikita" "Business remains great here. The 1/11 Charlotte card sold out for another Flair vs. Dusty match ending when the Horseman interfered and beat up on Dusty while 1/21 in Jacksonville, Fla. also drew a sellout of 8,000 (gate in excess of $100,000) for Flair-Rhodes and the scaffold match" "Magnum T.A. took his first steps during the week and is walking in water" "1/22 in Raleigh drew 3,100 in a blizzard" "1/24 in Richmond drew 8,500" "Morton-Gibson-Windham beat Midnight-Bubba in an elimination tag match which went four falls and combined time was less than 5:00" "1/9 in Kansas City drew 200" "The Crockett hierarchy is talking like they are going to put the Florida promotion out of business by summertime" "Lex Luger starts full-time this week. I don't want to give away the angle here so I’ll just say it’s going to take two months to play out. Most of what people are guessing is pretty close to what’s going to happen. Luger will probably jump Windham within two or three weeks and feud with him in singles, which is his only hope to have a decent match. Luger is looking much better on WTBS than he did in Florida—of course it’s easy to look good in 90 second matches against first-rate jobbers like Randy Mulkey and George South" "Luger did jobs for Sullivan, Brody and Coage every night on the way out of Florida. He complained, but did them" "I've been giving both Crockett and Watts hard times about when they come into new areas, not announcing return dates. Actually in many cases they aren't at fault because the folks who run buildings are often not cooperative about giving return dates, especially in a few cities" Feb 9, 87"From the Crockett side, it appears the Central States disaster zone is about to be abandoned. Word I get is that the Crockett guys will be evacuating the area at the end of this month, and in early March, transfer the circuit to base it out of Nashville, Tenn., which means Bill Dundee will book the group opposite long-time rival Jerry Lawler. The plans are for this new group to not only run in opposition to Lawler in cities like Evansville, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, etc., Chattanooga and Birmingham--the two top cities the NWA Continental promotion runs in." "Lots of stuff about to happen here. From the WTBS show over the weekend it's quite obvious the end result of all this Four Horseman angle is that they'll turn on Ole Anderson and he'll become a babyface. The Sunday TBS interview with Jimmy Garvin made it obvious he also is turning. While on 1/30 in St. Louis. Dick Murdoch turned on partner Baron Von Raschke (please don't feud them), so Murdoch's expected turn to heel has already started. The only problem is, feuding with the Baron, or in the other role I've heard Murdoch is slated for, will be the types of matches that Murdoch will be awful in" "1/29 in Los Angeles drew less than 5,000" "I have no idea why they aren't hyping the TBS show at all, but last I heard it's set for 7:35 to 10:05 Eastern (4:35 to 7:05 to those on the West Coast) with the Road Warriors-Midnight scaffold match from Los Angeles. Morton-Gibson vs Ivan Koloff-Vladimir Pietrov from Hollywood, Fla. (terrible), Rhodes-Blanchard from Los Angeles, Anderson-Windham from Philadelphia, plus Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff from Atlanta" "Bill Mulkey really did get hurt last week on WTBS when Bubba spiked him, apparently a floorboard came up when Bubba landed, and Mulkey ended up with an injured back and shoulder. I guess that keeps the Mulkey boys out of the tag tournament. Don’t laugh. How else are they going to find 25 teams?" "1/30 in St. Louis drew 1,900 and $21,000 as Flair beat Windham via DQ in a match which lasted between 55 and 58 minutes and was simply incredible for the first half hour before both guys got a little tired--still good after that as well--3 referee bumps and false finishes during the match" "Rhodes beat Blanchard in a first blood match (advertised in the newspaper and on television as a TV title match, but billed as non-title at the arena)." "The 1/31 show in KC, which featured the local talent plus Brad Armstrong, Midnight Express, Murdoch, Bubba, Valiant and Arn Anderson, only drew 700"
"They mentioned nothing this week about the Big Red Machine, so I assume whomever it was, won’t be coming"
"Word I get is Snow, Boone, Stallion, Colt Steele, Khan, Dundee, Mod Squad and Champion will head to the new Memphis circuit along with pretty regular appearances by Valiant and others. Timbs, Brown, Rufus, the Battens and Korchenko will stay in Kansas City to re-form a new promotion that Bob Geigel will be in full control of (that one has an even bigger disaster potential)" "The reason Crockett is running that show in Hammond, Ind. in a few weeks is that they’ve been unable to get a return date booked at the Rosemont Horizon, so Hammond is as close as they can get to Chicago" "Hall and Humperdink and Sullivan all got in their parting shots at Luger on the TV show this weekend, making comments like "the last time we saw Lex Luger he was running away in a cage match and has never been heard from since." Apparently during Luger's last week in Florida, he had a cage match with Bruiser Brody and things got out of control with Brody not selling for Lex and doing all sorts of nasty things like cross-facing Lex and basically humiliating him. Luger didn't even bother to show up for his final two cage matches against Brody. In fact, the finish of the Lakeland match saw Luger scream loud enough so the ringside fans could hear him, "Get the door open, he's nuts." Then Lex did his best 40 time since his days in the Packer camp if you get my drift" "It's pretty well speculated that Florida will start bringing in Kevin Von Erich as its World champion shortly because they can no longer get Ric Flair." "Florida still calls itself NWA, as does Continental" "1/21 in Jacksonville drew a sellout of 8,000" "Titan's advance for the 2/14 show in Philadelphia (Hogan vs Kimala and Savage vs Steamboat) passed $100,000 this weekend, while Crockett's advance for 2/21 in the same city is $36,000 as of this weekend"
"Dusty & Nikita beat Ivan & Pietrov in 15 seconds when Ivan belted the ref. Nikita then sickled Ivan and had a staredown with Vladimir which got good heat"
"Savage and Steamboat drew a $48,000 gate in Augusta, Ga. on 1/19 which is pretty impressive since that's a lot more than Crockett has been averaging at the Omni" "Jim Crockett Promotions has a tentative date on the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. on 4/3—the Friday after McMahon’s Restholdmania takes place in the same building. Should be interesting" "I’d bet most every big name for the big three promotions are under a contract. The only Titan guy who might not be is Andre, and the only Crockett mainstays who aren't are the Road Warriors, I’d guess. Contracts range in length but most of them start at two years, and I do know of at least one wrestler who is under a six year contract"
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2021 3:06:47 GMT -5
Feb 16, 87"With the Charlotte-based Jim Crockett Promotions now expanding its schedule to include cards in competition with most of what remains calling itself the NWA, there is talk among several of the remaining "NWA" promotions about working together and forming a new NWA. Apparently the guy behind most of the talk is Duke Keomuka, one of the leading stockholders in the Florida office. Keomuka is trying to put together a coalition which would include Don Owen (Pacific Northwest), Bob Geigel (Central States--who will be starting his own new promotion on 3/1), The Fullers (Continental) and Fritz Von Erich (World Class)." "As we’ve seen too many times before, working together is not one of the strongest qualities afforded wrestling promoters, so I see little hope of this thing ever amounting to anything. I’m sure the idea would be for these groups to trade talent, recognize one World champion, and help each other for cards that they run near the date of invasion cards by McMahon or Crockett or possibly Watts down the line. The main problem is, when you add up all the talent that these four promotions have, well it doesn’t add up to much" "If there was ever any doubt as to why Titan is No. 1 and Crockett No. 2, and as to why Hulk Hogan is such a bigger drawing card than Ric Flair, then the 2/7 special on WTBS that Crockett put on should end that doubt. Now I'm a big fan of the Crockett promotion, but this show was a 2½ hour waste-of-time, with the exception of the Magnum T.A. interview which was so good it almost saved the show. At least I can see why the Crockett's didn't hype the show on their regular WTBS program--guess they were embarrassed as well." "From 1/17 in Charlotte, Ric Flair kept the NWA title going to a double count out with Nikita Koloff in a no DQ match. While they were doing too much "superman" for my taste, this was a good match. I had no problem with it, until I got a few phone calls from people in Baltimore and Richmond who had seen the exact same match, move-for-move and exact same finish, the previous night. Why do they do that? And when they do—how can they complain about McMahon exposing the business?" "Road Warriors beat Midnight Express in a scaffold match from 1/28 in Los Angeles. The match only lasted 3:00 and it was nothing compared to their match at Starcade. When they are trying to push a videotape, specifically with this match, why do they show it on free TV?" "Jim Crockett's version of the NWA (I say this because Florida, Continental, Portland, etc. still believe they're the NWA) will be running a big debut tour in wrestling's hottest province in the world--Ontario, Canada with shows 2/15 in Hamilton, a TV taping 2/16 in Brantford (Crockett is going to attempt to syndicate Pro Wrestling Canada throughout the frozen North) and a live show 2/17 in Peterborough. The big show is 2/15 with Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes vs. Tully Blanchard, Ric Rude-Manny Fernandez vs. Ricky Morton-Robert Gibson, Ron Garvin-Barry Windham vs. Midnight Express, Arn Anderson vs. Baron Von Raschke, Brad Armstrong (Bad to the bone) vs. Lex Luger (Bad all the way to the bone marrow). Last year, without TV, Angelo Mosca (who is promoting this show billed as Moscamania II) drew a $150,000 gate--so there should be a good crowd." "Only one problem, while Mosca announced the date and Ric Flair's name several months ago, he forgot to clear it with the Ontario Boxing and Wrestling Commission. Jack Tunney, who runs the WWF shows in Ontario, then booked the Hamilton Convention Center for an afternoon show on 2/15 (down the street from the Copps Coliseum where the NWA will be) with Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis and Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy Savage, plus booked Toronto (40 miles away) for another show that evening. The commission was contacted about those dates right away. The commission then wouldn't approve Mosca's date because there were already too many shows in the area that day, but when Mosca went to the media and complained about all this, the commission backed off. It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out." "Crockett has already announced debut shows for 3/21 in Houston (which has no local television), 4/4 in Boston (which would have drawn a big crowd, however the station which aired the show replaced it with a Titan show this past week so only TV is on a Worcester, Mass, station out of the range of all but certain cable homes) and 4/3 in the Pontiac Silverdome--which coming just days after Wrestlemania--sounds like suicide." "The new Southern promotion which is moving from Kansas City will start off with shows on 3/4 in Birmingham and 3/5 in Memphis as the Mid South Coliseum I'm told that the entire first team (Dusty, Tully, Rock 'n' Roll, Midnight) will be on the first area tour. Ric Flair and the Road Warriors won't be, however, since both are to be in Japan." "I just wonder if everyone who considered McMahon a "bad guy" for running shows in other people's territory two years ago will now consider Crockett a "bad guy." Neither is, or was, at least not for expanding into areas that want your product" "2/6 in Baltimore drew 11,000 ($107,000) which is most impressive since Hogan-Kimala drew 14,000 there on 1/31, and have a rematch on 2/14. It was part of a double-show as they ran Richmond (three hours away--tho they flew in) at the same time with the same headliners. Basically they stretched out the Baltimore show, waiting for Flair, Dusty, etc. to arrive till past midnight, while in Richmond, had to rush several matches. Lots of complaints, particularly from Richmond....In Baltimore, Dutch Mantell pinned Ricky Lee Jones in 14:00 (Dutch played heel), Baron Von Raschke pinned Thunderfoot (Joel Deaton) in 15:00, Hector Guerrero drew Denny Brown in a jr. title match over 20:00 (stretching things out), Bobby Jaggers pinned Pez Whatley in 13:00 before the main guys showed up....starting past midnight saw Flair go 20:00 with Nikita to a double count out in the same match that aired on WTBS" "They exposed Ron Garvin as Miss Atlanta Lively after all these years on a skit on the syndicated show over the weekend" February 23, 87"Jim Crockett Promotions and Angelo Mosca ran their first area show in more than a year, head-to-head with Roddy Piper’s Canadian farewell....Piper’s final match in Toronto, one of the cities he grew up in (he grew up in many different cities, but we won't go into that), drew 17,000 fans to Maple Leaf Gardens while the NWA at the nearby Copps Coliseum in Hamilton drew 3,206 paid ($40,000 Canadian or $28,000 U.S.)." "There was much confusion as to whether or not this show would take place, because there had been much press about WWF local promoter Jack Tunney getting the Hamilton date approved by the commission which would negate Mosca’s ability to run a live show as the commission wouldn’t approve of two shows in the same city on the same day--however, as mentioned here before, when Mosca went public to the newspapers, the commission did approve his Hamilton date, and Tunney backed off from running a head-to-head show in Hamilton--instead concentrated on pushing the Toronto show which is in the same metropolitan area (about 40 miles away)" "The two Saturday's before the card, Mosca’s TV show was pre-empted, adding to the confusion" "The NWA, which had been planning to run monthly shows in Hamilton, plus run monthly TV tapings in Brantford, Ont. (a Toronto suburb), didn't announce a return date although rumor has it they’ll try for another show in April" "The Dick Murdoch turn was done very well. Murdoch finally looks like he's Dick Murdoch both in the ring and on interviews. only two minor problems--I had to laugh about them being shocked, since Murdoch has pretty well made a career in Florida out of always turning on Dusty; secondly, two weeks earlier in St. Louis, when Murdoch turned heel on Baron Von Raschke, it was Nikita & Dusty who made the save for Baron--so what are they doing teaming with him in a six man two weeks later?" "The reason Murdoch was put in this situation was twofold; 1) Dusty always likes to feud with guys who can carry a match, and when Murdoch is on, he's one of the great workers of this era; 2) Ivan is getting worn out teaming with Pietrov every night and needs a night off here and there, they trust Murdoch to be able to carry a match and teach Pietrov, Unfortunately, as good as Murdoch can be, he's equally as bad when he's not on--rarely is he in between even" "Stan Lane is coming in as a heel and Mike Rotundo coming in as a babyface. The latter is a surprise because very few wrestlers choose to leave Titan" "Latest word is that Crockett may not be establishing an office in Nashville and instead the "A" team will tour cities like Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Birmingham and Memphis once every month or so. May be so because they seem to be pushing Mantell & Jaggers as a tag team headed to the Central States. From TV it sounded like Jaggers will be winning the Central States belt from Bill Dundee, who apparently can't wait to lose it" "The Armstrong-Dundee title match on 2/6 drew something like 140 (the advance sale was 38)" "Judging from phone calls and letters, I was too kind to the Crockett special last weekend"
"The guardian of our morality J.J. Bins participated in a skit with Danny Davis where Davis tries to ref and Bins gets to play babyface and grab the house mic saying how Davis will never ref again in Pennsylvania—guess that's why Titan guys can bleed here and Crockett guys can't"
"Lex Luger does seem to be improving a little since going to Crockett. If he ever turns into half the wrestler Blanchard or Arn Anderson have become, and has a manager to do his interviews, he could really be one of the big names in the future. Maybe the difference between his working for Crockett and in Florida is that in Florida his appeal burned out because he was the No. 1 star and didn’t have good matches. With Crockett, he's not counted upon to be in the main event and there are always going to be good matches on a Crockett show anyway, so all he has to really do is fill a role as the egomaniacal bodybuilder type which he seems to have down pat pretty good"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2021 6:38:22 GMT -5
Mar 2, 87
"May be a while before WWF returns to Pittsburgh (rumor has it early May) because Titan was upset that the DeBartolo's rented the place to Crockett (which will draw a huge crowd there this week) and Titan threatened to pull out"
"The Crockett guys who are in the Central States will all be recalled at the end of this week. The idea of running a circuit out of Nashville in opposition to Jarrett/Lawler has apparently been abandoned, however they will be running shows in cities like Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, etc. about once per month with the regular crew"
"How many of you got rubbed the wrong way when they announced on TV that fans in Birmingham will finally get a chance to see the NWA next week?"
"The hottest story comes out of Florida and details are sketchy at the present time. Dusty Rhodes and Jim Crockett were in Tampa this past Wednesday, 2/18 while the Florida office was doing its TV tapings and they went into a private room with Mike Graham. Whatever was discussed is top-secret but three rumors have come out of it: 1) Crockett will take over the Florida promotion and Graham will retain a percentage from the shows that are run in the state; 2) Crockett bought Graham out; or 3) No deal was reached and things will stay the way they are, with both sides promoting in the area. However it appears one of the first two stories is the correct one and that Crockett might be running Florida very soon."
"The Ole Anderson turn should take place either next week, or the week after as it was teased this weekend on WTBS. Ole even gave a history lesson on the forming of the four horseman which rivalled McMahon's history lesson of how his grandfather invented pro wrestling. I find this whole skit kind of humorous but it would be a lot better if somehow Ole wouldn't wind up as a babyface because he's no fun that way"
"Crockett canceled the 4/3 date at the Silverdome in Detroit and is now planning on debuting there in June"
Mar 9, 87
"Confirmation has come in regarding the rumored sale of the Florida office. Apparently the sale has gone through and Crockett is now in control of the promotion. There may not be that much in the way of shake-ups in Florida as I'm told most of the guys will be retained, including Kevin Sullivan who will be the assistant booker (Dusty Rhodes will be the booker). Gordon Solie has been invited to stay on as announcer and the talk is that if Lance Russell were to agree to come here, he'd be Solie's sidekick. With lots of fan interest in the upcoming Crockett Cup in Baltimore, this opens the way for several new faces to be brought up to the Cup from Florida"
"The Ole Anderson turn took place on 2/28 on WTBS. The story line is that Ole has been absent of late because he's been watching his son compete in local wrestling tournaments in Georgia. Tully Blanchard made a remark about it (you know, blood is thicker than water, except I guess Russian blood) and Ole decked him. When J.J. Dillon asked Ole to apologize later in the show, he called J.J. a "scumbag" and decked him. At the Omni on 3/1 (Ole wasn't there), during all of the Horseman's matches, fans were chanting, "Ole, Ole." I thought the turn was great, but I have lots of trouble with Ole Anderson as a babyface."
"These guys are borrowing from the pages of Vince McMahon talking about the "10 year" history of the horseman (a term that was never used until January 1986)."
"Stan Lane was mentioned on the syndicated show, but I didn't hear his name on WTBS, so I guess he's coming in as a heel to team with Bill Dundee after all"
"Dusty Rhodes won a Bunkhouse championship (is anyone surprised?) beating Big Bubba in a cage match in Pittsburgh before 17,000 fans. And the Road Warriors were in Japan that night--so they have at least one more sellout to return to Pittsburgh for"
"2/25 in Hammond, Ind. drew a sellout 11,500"
"Mike Rotundo made his return pinning Thunderfoot #2 (Gene Ligon) in 8:00 (boring match, in fact fans chanted "boring, boring" at the sight of Rotundo--poor guy didn't even have a chance)"
"3/28 in Philadelphia has Flair vs. Brad Armstrong (I'd love to see this match, unfortunately I don't know what kind of drawing power this has—actually I do—not that much)"
"With the exception of Brenda Britton, Misty Blue has to be the ugliest girl ever described as beautiful in the human race. Her and Linda Dallas is almost embarrassing how bad it is. They are literally doing nothing but selling their asses. The best thing about Saturday's show was they interrupted that match for the Ole Anderson angle."
"Crockett can't be criticized about running shows in the Civic Center. I’m sure if he had his way. he'd book the Spectrum since he'd draw much better there. But the Spectrum won't rent to anyone but McMahon at the present time."
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Post by Citizen Snips on Feb 1, 2021 7:10:23 GMT -5
"With the exception of Brenda Britton, Misty Blue has to be the ugliest girl ever described as beautiful in the human race. Her and Linda Dallas is almost embarrassing how bad it is. They are literally doing nothing but selling their asses. The best thing about Saturday's show was they interrupted that match for the Ole Anderson angle." Well, at least Big Dave has always been consistent with his misogyny.
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Post by Triangle Lancer on Feb 1, 2021 10:28:15 GMT -5
Who the hell sent this report? I've heard of inflating attendance, but this is absurd. You can't get more than 6,000 in that little bandbox, and that’s counting the people working there. Only time the Civic Center would come CLOSE to having that many people there would be in the heyday of when (then single class like from "Hoosiers") high school basketball drew huge throngs of people; many of whom would be disappointed they couldn't get tickets. Thanks for the laugh.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Feb 1, 2021 10:38:53 GMT -5
Who the hell sent this report? I've heard of inflating attendance, but this is absurd. You can't get more than 6,000 in that little bandbox, and that’s counting the people working there. Only time the Civic Center would come CLOSE to having that many people there would be in the heyday of when (then single class like from "Hoosiers") high school basketball drew huge throngs of people; many of whom would be disappointed they couldn't get tickets. Thanks for the laugh. Looking up the show on History of WWE, according to them it only drew 500 people.
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Post by Triangle Lancer on Feb 1, 2021 13:53:18 GMT -5
Who the hell sent this report? I've heard of inflating attendance, but this is absurd. You can't get more than 6,000 in that little bandbox, and that’s counting the people working there. Only time the Civic Center would come CLOSE to having that many people there would be in the heyday of when (then single class like from "Hoosiers") high school basketball drew huge throngs of people; many of whom would be disappointed they couldn't get tickets. Thanks for the laugh. Looking up the show on History of WWE, according to them it only drew 500 people. It took some work to get Hammond on its feet again; the last "major" event held there was the infamous AWA taping in May when the only match of consequence was the Buddy Rose/Doug Somers beating Scott Hall/Curt Hennig for the Tag Belts by countout affair. JCP was still a relatively new promotion to people here just getting cable; the syndicated show wasn't easy to get on UHF. (And the best way to find out you had an event close by.) If there was an ad in the paper, it was likely they only ran it "the day of" the actual show. Which was a Wednesday. (Yes, some genius thought that was a good day.) Looking through wrestling shows I've went to, Wednesday ties with Tuesday as the night I've seen the LEAST: Zero. I've gone on a Monday (when we just got hit with 6 inches of snow, on my mom's birthday). A couple of Thursdays. But never a Wednesday.
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 1, 2021 17:52:04 GMT -5
Huh, I always fancied Misty.
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