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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 11, 2021 17:21:42 GMT -5
Now wonders what Missy was saying about the Freebirds?
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Post by Terry McConkey on Feb 11, 2021 18:42:44 GMT -5
Funny how Dave mentioned 3 things that caught my eye:
1. Mike Rotunda's wife giving birth, which I'm assuming is Windham (Bray Wyatt). 2. Dave actually claiming that he stopped saying lewd things after he graduated the 8th grade. What a joke now that we've seen 'ol Dave in the modern era. 3. Dave actually praising Cornette at the time as a better manager than Jimmy Hart. Too bad they no longer get along.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2021 6:12:35 GMT -5
Sept 21, 87
"I'm pissed off. Now I've seen enough stupidity in this business that it's become easy to take things in stride, and I'm not sure why this minor point is bugging me, except that I've had several phone calls this weekend expressing the same point. On the WTBS broadcast Saturday, they were hyping a match at the end of the show between Barry Windham and Arn Anderson for the Western States title. It was alluded to several times, with Arn even doing an interview talking about the match and how he was going to win the title. No problem. Then they brought out Missy Hyatt with David Crockett before the match. Forget the fact Crockett could barely get the words out of his mouth, but they started talking about the match with Missy predicting a title change. Well and good, her role is as a heel commentator so no problem. Then they show the match. Here's the problem. The match was taped earlier in the week in an arena and they ended up going 30 minutes to a draw in a kind of disappointing match."
"I wouldn't even be mad if they had done all this and even pretended the bout was live to build the audience to thinking the belt could change hands—but to do so, Arn couldn't have been in studio, and Tony Schiavone and David Crockett, who were both in studio, did the play-by-play of the arena match. So every idiot knew it was a tape. If it was a tape, why did Arn talk about winning the title and why did Missy predict a title change when the match had already taken place when they were doing the talking. Now I realize wrestling is wrestling and all that, however every fan knew once the thing started they were watching an earlier-taped arena match, so the comments should have been directed another way. I realize this is all a minor point, but it's one which obviously didn't go over many people's heads judging from my phone calls, and it's the kind of thing which never should have happened."
"If you are tired of reading about Starcade '87 or the Survivors' Series now, just wait until the next eight weeks are over. They started pushing Starcade on television this weekend and I'm certain with about 10 weeks to get it over, they should have everyone's curiosity level raised real high when the hype is over. My expectation is the official announcement that Starcade will be at the Pavilion in Chicago on 11/26 will come this coming Sunday night when the NWA has a show in that same building. I'm very curious about the reaction in Greensboro because the few that know aren't too pleased, but maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this."
"They will hold a live show in Greensboro that night with several arena matches, then show the three-hour Starcade show from the Pavilion on closed-circuit which isn't tons different than the past two years when half the Starcade show aired on closed-circuit to Greensboro from the Omni in Atlanta with the other half live."
"Pay-per-view plans and closed-circuit plans are in the offing for Starcade, which is the NWA's premier card and I'm confident in their ability to hype it to the levels where it'll be tremendously successful. How these PPV plans will be affected by Titan's plans on doing a Survivors' Series PPV event the same day, apparently emanating from the Richfield Coliseum in suburban Cleveland, will have to be watched."
"Crockett's wrestlers aren't over to the general public the way Hogan and Andre are, but that doesn't mean PPV won't be successful. They've got a ton of television time in almost every major market now to hype toward the one event, and I have no doubt at all it'll be an excellent card. But will it be hurt by Titan holding a card on the same day, most likely at the same time? Probably a little although the two groups do appeal to a different audience and Andre vs. Hogan has little appeal to NWA die-hards. They may even benefit a bit in media publicity, because the media may choose to compare the two products giving Crockett publicity he wouldn't have received on his own. But probably that won't happen."
"Besides Buddy Roberts, add Terry Gordy and Chris Adams to the list of guys departed from this area. If you saw the interview with The Freebirds on Power Pro this past week, you kind of could see it was a last act of guys expecting to either quit or be fired. Actually Michael Hayes is sticking around but I wouldn't be surprised to see him working out of Charlotte rather than here"
"The Sheepherders debuted at the 9/9 taping in New Orleans which drew 500. Johnny Ace is also in as their flag-waver so the skit in which they split up in Miami Beach which was to result in Ace turning babyface has been forgotten. I'm sure somewhere down the road Ace will wind up babyface but now that they are in a new area, it won't be happening soon"
"The new UWF show debuts this upcoming weekend and will appear on WPIX in New York at noon on Saturday. Since I've been asked this a lot, Pro Wrestling this Week has been canceled on WPIX and it would be safe to assume the two items are related."
"Hayes did color commentary with Jim Ross at the New Orleans taping and is back in the top 10 (there was legit heat about none of the Freebirds being in the last top 10)"
"The 9/11 card in Memphis drew a $20,000 gate which is roughly double what the Jarrett card on Labor Day drew. Considering the lack of success that everyone has had trying to promote cards in Memphis, that's considered very successful. The Road Warriors worked the show along with the remainder of the card being the UWF regulars and the Midnight Express. The Roadies & Steve Williams teamed together for the first time to beat Midnight & Bubba Rogers. Jerry Lawler had booked a softball game with the CWA babyfaces against the heels opposite the UWF card with $1 admission price"
"The highlight of the New Orleans taping was a Taylor vs. Sting match which wound up with both Gilbert and Adams interfering (this was Adams' last night) and finished as one of those concession stand brawls"
"Give Dusty credit because he's getting himself over really well with the sleeper, which is a great finishing hold for him because it requires someone to do nothing"
"The double-shot on 9/5 in Philadelphia and Baltimore actually drew 9,000 (5100,000) in Baltimore and 3,200 ($40,000) in Philly"
"Lots of people cut Crockett down for taping in the studio, however Ted Turner wants it that way and having the two hours in the studio on Saturday is a whole lot more beneficial than not being on WTBS at all"
"9/12 in Greensboro drew 3,725 as Denny Brown beat Gladiator #1, The Barbarian pinned George South, Italian Stallion pinned Tijo Khan, Mod Squad & Sean Royal beat Hectortron & Jimmy Valiant & Kendall Winless, Barry Windham beat Ivan Koloff to keep the Western States title, Jimmy Garvin pinned Manny Fernandez, Lex Luger beat Nikita Koloff via DQ in a title vs. title match and the finale saw Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson go to a 60:00 draw with Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard. Since Greensboro is the hottest city on the circuit it pretty well shows they can't draw well without Flair, Dusty or the Roadies on the card"
"Rock & Roll wrestle Tully & Arn again on 9/20 in Atlanta. Since Tully needs a belt, I figure the titles could change hands any time these teams meet"
"Do you realize with his new non-juiced-up physique Nikita looks like the Angel of Death's little brother?"
"My guess, strictly based on advertising, is that Crockett's individual videos actually sell more units to the public (partially because there are fewer of them and because they are pushed harder on TV—not because the matches are better). Titan's I'm certain rent more because they have greater availability at the video stores"
Sept 28, 87
"9/20 at the Omni in Atlanta drew 2,300....Most of the big names were in Chicago which is why the card was really diluted"
"The Detroit card on 9/25 is being pushed as the major card of this month so expect something to come out of it"
"On the Florida TV show which aired this weekend (at the end of the show they had the word "Finis" designating this was the final show ever of CWF in that format), they aired a video of Johnny Ace, still kidnapped by Sullivan & Bugsy McGraw who were bullying him around. Sullivan was making Ace wash Kevin's hands while Bugsy was making Ace read the book "The Three Little Pigs" although he made Ace call the Pigs, Sheep instead. There's nothing wrong with the idea of the skit (actually maybe there is, but if so, it's the least of their problems) however Ace kept cracking up while doing his lines. Can’t they do a second take when a guy can't do his lines with a straight face? That's not the worst of it either. Later in the show, the Sheepherders come out for a match, and who is carrying their flagpole? You've got it—Johnny Ace.It was explained that Ace was released from captivity by Sullivan & Bugsy. Not bad, either—but this is—later in the show, The Sheepherders come out for an interview demanding Sullivan & Bugsy release Johnny Ace (who was with them earlier in the show) and claim they'll start hurting people left and right until Ace is released"
"The more title matches on a card, the less each one means as well which is Crockett's big mistake with these eight title match cards because it gives them nothing to come back with, plus all these titles makes the important belts like Flair's not draw either because there's nothing special about any title because "everyone" has one. This is one of the reasons Titan is more successful then Crockett in retaining its audience at road shows because it only does limited gimmicks, the TV focuses on one angle each week rather than overdosing on so many angles the viewer can't even recall all of them a minute after the show ends (which renders them meaningless)"
"I'm told Flair has had four blood vessels broken in his chest of late and has so much dead skin around his chest that you wouldn't believe it"
"Before anyone writes and tells me how terrible the new UWF show is--remember that this show was being done specifically for the New York market which hadn't seen all those angles beforehand. For those who didn't see it, the show was done with Jim Ross, Magnum T.A. and Missy Hyatt in a newsroom type setting introducing clips of one angle after another (first 10 minutes on Dusty of course). Showing all those angles for a new market before getting all the personalities over in the first place was ridiculous and for the old markets, the show was 90% repeated material."
"I watched the UWF show with some friends who are very casual fans, who then watched Titan's show. They remembered everything about the little which happened on the Titan show and nothing of what happened on the UWF show. Too many angles coming on too fast means most of, if not all the angles don't register with the casual public which is where your big crowds come from."
"Crockett and the gang, at their convention last week should have spent time trying to correct the obvious problems facing them (stale main eventers, a television product that looks weak in comparison to Titan) so that their strength—better and wilder action at the house shows, would be appreciated by more fans"
"Moreso unsettling was advertising Chris Adams, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts on the card—Now if they had just quit a few days earlier, it's one thing, but they’ve been gone for 10 days before the card plus (three weeks in Buddy's case) so they’ve had ample time to correct the promos. They don't have the manpower to cover all the markets so they didn't get to correcting and updating promos, so the 1,800 or so who show up at the Forum on Wednesday will be mad because three key wrestlers didn't show up and it'll hurt the crowd the following card."
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petef3
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,783
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Post by petef3 on Feb 12, 2021 11:44:58 GMT -5
3. Dave actually praising Cornette at the time as a better manager than Jimmy Hart. Too bad they no longer get along. I mean, Cornette won every WON Manager of the Year award from like 1984 to 1993 with the exception of '91 when he was out of the national eye and Sherri won it. He was a god among men among both newsletter-writers and readers at the time, and for good reason. The only person at the time who would ever advocate for Hart being a manager for Cornette would be someone who just reflexively declared that only the WWF matters so therefore Hart is better. (Memphis Hart vs. Cornette is much closer but that wasn't really under consideration in 1987.)
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 12, 2021 17:00:09 GMT -5
So JCPUWF was on at noon on WPIX? When did GLOW end?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2021 6:30:56 GMT -5
Oct 5, 87
"As most of you know already, Ronnie Garvin defeated Ric Flair on 9/25 at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit to win the NWA World's title in a cage match to highlight Crockett's debut in Motown. The last minute of the title change aired over the weekend on WTBS and the finish had both guys standing on the top ropes after Flair tried to climb out, Garvin banging Flair's head into the poles holding up the cage a few times, Flair took his two steps and collapse bump, straddling himself on the top rope and fell into the ring. When he got back up, Garvin leaped off the top rope with a flying sunset flip to gain the pinfall at 33:17."
"The NWA debut in Detroit, which included seven title matches, drew just over 8,000 paid and $111,000, which is less than they were expecting, but still nothing to be disappointed about."
"Because of Titan announcing its Pay-per-view event that same evening from Richfield, Ohio— The Survivors Series—a few plans have been changed for Starcade. One change which I feel is definitely for the worst is the starting time, as the tentative plans for now are that Starcade will start at 4 p.m. in Chicago, which is 5 p.m. on the East Coast. Not only does that compete with the NFL's Thanksgiving schedule (actually it's Dallas vs. Detroit which is no big deal and at this point who knows how much competition the NFL will really be), but more importantly, Thanksgiving dinner for lots of families. Crockett didn't want to run head-to-head with Titan on Thanksgiving evening, more because of-his own plans to Pay-per-view the card nationwide than because he felt the competition of McMahon's show would hurt the live gate"
"I don't think it's any major revelation to say a major, if not the major reason Titan is putting on this show is to keep JCP from getting its foot in the door of the potentially lucrative PPV industry. If that's the case, than the Survivors Series is already a success because it appears JCP is going to have problems clearing cable systems because of Titan's show, and even moreso, moving Starcade to the late afternoon is a lot riskier proposition than I would gamble on. I really don't see why JCP simply didn't move Starcade to either the Wednesday, Friday or Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend, all of which surely would be better for attendance."
"They are going to have a hard time breaking through into the PPV households because Titan is putting heavy pressure on for exclusivity and coming off the success of the past Wrestlemania on PPV, they have the muscles they can flex to be successful in their demands."
"Bubba may be the most improved wrestler of this past year"
"Headed into town is the Mighty Wilbur, billed as 6-5, 450 to be managed by Paul Jones. I've got this hunch from the way they played it on TV (Jones said he'd never seen the guy but heard from his good friend Red Bastien who would never deceive him) that next week when Wilbur arrives it'll have a comedic flair. Besides, I was told they were going to call him Country Boy Wilbur which sounds like a babyface with a talking horse to me"
"The Wrestling Network has moved up to No. 4 in the ratings of all syndicated programming in the United States behind only Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and the WWF network. As I've stated many times in the past, these ratings can be misleading because in the case of Jeopardy and Wheel, it's the rating of the show itself. In the case of TWN and the WWF network, it's the combined rating of several shows so the individual ratings of different WWF and TWN shows are nowhere near those of Wheel and Jeopardy, it's just a rating for advertisers who, when purchasing a 30 second slot from either promotion, get the same 30 seconds on every syndicated show in the package"
"The new Florida show is hosted in studio by Jack Gregory & Jim Ross showing clips mainly of the Charlotte guys with a little UWF. With the Florida circuit closing down, Mike Rotunda is staying around as Florida champion, however it appears The Mighty Yankees (Bob Cook & Jerry Gray) as Florida tag team champions has been forgotten and the belts may vanish"
"Manny Fernandez has apparently left the NWA as Paul Jones never mentioned him when referring to his Army on television but mentioned Barbarian"
"Michael Hayes & Shane Douglas & Sting won a first blood elimination cage match from Big Bubba Rogers & Terminator & Rick Steiner. It came down to Sting vs. Bubba which was awesome and although the others all lost via blood, this one ended when Sting got a clean pinfall in the middle"
"The way the title change was handled on TBS this weekend was terrible. Why pretend it was happening live? I can't understand why promotions feel the need to lie when it is both unneccessary, doesn't add to the angle and moreso is a lie that a large percentage of the fans know is a lie. Funny watching Ricky & Robert in studio, then the first to congratulate Garvin in Detroit for winning"
"Nikita Koloff and Ric Flair will wrestle for Baba in Japan this week. Nikita wrestles 10/2 through 10/6 while Flair (not as champion) will wrestle three dates"
"Jim Crockett was elected president of the NWA at the convention last week with Giant Baba and Carlos Colon elected Vice Presidents. I believe they were the only three major promoters in attendance at what was basically a JCP company party"
"Expect the UWF circuit to suffer the same fate as Central States and Florida under Crockett. You can’t make fans feel the local talent is minor leaguers and the big stars are all in Charlotte and expect to draw when the Charlotte guys aren’t in town"
Oct 12, 87
"I know that most of the newsletters including this one have been very critical of the direction JCP has taken over the past few months. I'm not going to waste space going over points that have been beat to death, however this past Sunday in Greensboro, the Road Warriors & Dusty & Nikita beat The Four Horseman in a cage match before 5,117 fans. I think that makes more of a point than all the points everyone else has come up with"
"Titan got its second knock at Dusty Rhodes (the first of course was the character Virgil) by naming its new tag team of Hogan & Savage the Megapowers (a takeoff on Dusty's self-proclaimed name for his tag team with Nikita Koloff as the Superpowers)"
"According to an article in the 9/21 issue of Multi Channel News, attorneys for The Wrestling Network (a JCP subsidiary) have sent a written request to Titan asking that the WWF drop a clause in its contract with cable operators which prohibits the cable companies from "promoting, marketing, advertising or presenting any other wrestling event 60 days prior to or 21 days after a WWF event." The same article also contained comments from James Troy of Titan Sports, the vice president of the department in charge of PPV, who said the clause was necessary so it wouldn't create confusion in the PPV marketplace between the two products. Troy also said the WWF wouldn't waive its protective clause as a result of the letter."
"So what does that all mean? For one thing, at last count, Titan has already closed deals with something like 280 cable TV companies for pay-per-view of the Survivors' Series, while Crockett has closed deals with less than 10. Crockett's moving of Starcade to a late afternoon showing from its traditional Thanksgiving evening start was specifically to make it possible for cable companies to air both wrestling shows without a conflict. As mentioned here many times, Titan is coming off the biggest PPV event in the history of the industry (Wrestlemania III, which grossed $10.3 million on PPV, more than any boxing match in history), so it has tremendous clout with regards to its demands, and the 60 day before and 21 day after clause was aimed specifically at JCP and the Starcade show in particular. Additionally, Titan has offered better deals for Wrestlemania IV to cable companies that pick up the Survivors' Series"
"In the chess game of wrestling promoting, Titan has just called "check." JCP is going to need one hell of a big next move to avoid "checkmate." I believe even the folks at JCP would have to admit right now that Starcade isn't going to be anywhere near the success they had been expecting all year. At the same time, I don't look for them to change any of the current plans or make a big next move. JCP is determined to break into the PPV market, and this Starcade will do so, even if it's just in a small way. Crockett has plans for several major PPV events in 1988, and if nothing else, Starcade will become a much-ballyhooed dry run."
"Figuring Wrestlemania for late March, with the current contract stipulations, JCP will have to run its next PPV event earlier than January 27th and it'll be very interesting to see if Titan tries to run interference with that one"
"I know JCP feels it can easily fill the 10,300 or so seats at the University of Illinois Pavilion for the live show, but I wouldn't be so sure with that 4 p.m. starting time. I still recall that Titan's "Wrestling Classic" fell 4,000 shy of a sellout in Chicago and that Wrestlemania II, which included William Perry, a then local superhero, in a Battle Royal, drew only a half-filled Rosemont Horizon for part of the three-live site-show."
"JCP seems to be sworn to secrecy on the Starcade card, but the match-ups aren't hard to figure out. Ron Garvin defends the NWA title against Ric Flair, Lex Lugar vs. Dusty Rhodes, Terry Taylor vs. Nikita Koloff to unify the NWA and UWF television titles have all been obviously pushed. On the UWF show this weekend, they started pushing Steve Williams vs. Barry Windham as well."
"I guess I'd be remiss in not commenting on the NWA title change of last week. In my mind, it isn't the big deal a lot of people are making it out to be. First off, I don't think the NWA title means that much as a drawing card. Whatever drawing power the title had was due to Ric Flair, and even so, it has become more and more obvious in recent months that once you get out of the Carolinas, where Flair has been King for more than a decade, that it's the Road Warriors, and not Flair, who are the leading draws."
"Of course, Ron Garvin as NWA champion won't draw a thing unless he's against Flair. But if Garvin holds the title for any length of time, I'll be shocked and Virgil should be committed. I don't think they are counting on Garvin to be a draw on his own, so whether he can draw as champion or not is a moot point."
"Crockett's treatment of the title change on WTBS the first weekend downgraded a title that already has been downgraded too much. The fact that four of the five Crockett syndicated shows didn't even mention the change (and remember, half the country still doesn't get cable and the ratings on WTBS are nothing to brag about anymore) is just ridiculous. I know these shows were taped before the title change for airing this past weekend, but they should have left a "hole" in the show, as they did last weekend on WTBS, to bring you this special bulletin—in fact this should have aired on the syndicated package on 9/26, but the fact it didn't air on 10/3 is ridiculous. When the title changes hands, you should open your show with the news and probably show clips right away."
"Hogan is what works in today's marketplace, the heel champion who never wins and survives on ref bumps, no matter how great a worker he might be, has proven beyond any doubt to not be nearly as successful in today's marketplace"
"Ric Flair was scheduled to tour Japan as NWA champion this week. Well, not only is Flair not NWA champion, but he was pulled from his Japan tour "due to an injury" (although he'll surely be well enough to challenge Garvin all over the country this coming week). This is the third Japan tour of the past four that Flair had been booked on that he had been pulled (which sounds like the way McMahon booked Hulk Hogan in Japan in 1984-85 before the McMahon-Inoki relations completely broke off)"
"I'm going to start bracketing UWF and NWA together because they are basically one group, which Crockett has basically seen to by showing those videos of Dusty and Flair as the main performers on the UWF tapes and putting Steve Williams and the UWF title with opposition which almost insures he can never get too strong of a following"
"The big news from here is that Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard won the tag team title from Morton & Gibson on 9/29 at the Pfieffer College Gymnasium in Misenheimer, NC. This will air on the syndicated package this coming weekend. Basically what I'm told is that The Midnight Express attacked Ricky in the dressing room "injuring his shoulder." Robert then went into the title match on his own and was getting creamed, when one-armed Ricky came out to help him. They ended up working on Ricky and destroying the bad arm until Robert threw in the towel"
"Lex Lugar did his first "job" of 1987 on 10/3 in Charlotte to who else but the legend himself, Dusty Rhodes. Lugar was not only pinned, but he also juiced in losing the non-title cage match before the smallest crowd of the year in Charlotte, estimated as less than 2,000. This was all done to set up Starcade's Dusty vs. Lex title match"
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 13, 2021 11:48:45 GMT -5
So JCPUWF was on at noon on WPIX? When did GLOW end? As per Newspapers.com searching, it would appear that GLOW's last week was 9/12/87. The next Saturday, the noon slot is just described as "wrestling." (no brand given) So I guess Dave was correct on this one.
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Post by Triangle Lancer on Feb 13, 2021 12:16:29 GMT -5
So JCPUWF was on at noon on WPIX? When did GLOW end? As per Newspapers.com searching, it would appear that GLOW's last week was 9/12/87. The next Saturday, the noon slot is just described as "wrestling." (no brand given) So I guess Dave was correct on this one. That was typical of TV Guide; only the WWF would be the specific brand mentioned. Weirdly enough, our local paper would have every company listed.
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 13, 2021 18:43:31 GMT -5
As per Newspapers.com searching, it would appear that GLOW's last week was 9/12/87. The next Saturday, the noon slot is just described as "wrestling." (no brand given) So I guess Dave was correct on this one. That was typical of TV Guide; only the WWF would be the specific brand mentioned. Weirdly enough, our local paper would have every company listed. By at least 1990 NWA got similar consideration.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Feb 13, 2021 19:40:13 GMT -5
I still wonder was Soul Train a lean into World Wide Wrestling or did it lead into Soul Train in New York. The two products go hand and hand, because when I think of R&B music I think of Jim Crockett promotions.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2021 5:46:26 GMT -5
Oct 19, 87
"Jim Crockett Promotions pulled a major surprise in booking the Nassau Coliseum in New York for a show on the day before Thanksgiving, 11/25. Once Crockett got television on WPIX, it was only a matter of time before he started promoting in New York, but few expected the first show until early 1988. Just about everyone assumed all along that Crockett's first show in New York would do great business, but there are lots of questions about long-term success in that market that we'll have to wait and see about for the answers."
"JCP is shooting for a big first one in New York with "War Games IV" on top, this time with Dusty Rhodes teaming with Ron Garvin & Barry Windham & Rock & Roll Express against the Midnight Express & Big Bubba Rogers & Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson. The co-feature is Ric Flair & Lex Lugar vs. the Road Warriors, with the undercard including Nikita Koloff vs. Eddie Gilbert in a Texas Death match, Steve Williams vs. Rick Steiner for the UWF title, Brad Armstrong & Tim Horner vs. The Sheepherders for the UWF tag team title, Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin vs. The Jive Tones, Kevin Sullivan vs. Larry Zbyszko, The Canadian Kodiaks vs. Ron Simmons & Sting plus a six-man tag match featuring Jimmy Valiant and Paul Jones' army"
"Starcade was announced for "Thanksgiving night" with no mention of the early starting time. One point I haven't made clear is that the early starting time of 4 p.m. Central time in Chicago, 5 p.m. Eastern and 2 p.m. here on the West Coast was specifically to allow cable systems to broadcast this show and the Survivors' Series by Titan with no overlap. Titan's contract clause with the cable systems, which specified these companies could show no wrestling event on pay-per-view 60 days before or 21 days after their event, knocked Starcade off the majority of potential PPV homes. Because several companies will be offering Starcade on PPV, it's too late to change back to the evening starting time."
"Even though Starcade won't be the PPV bonanza that the Crocketts were projecting a few months back, it is inevitable Crockett will get a shot at the PPV market with a January 24th extravaganza. Because there won't be any competition from Titan (which will already be setting the stage for Wrestlemania in late March), it's very likely JCP will be able to clear several million homes for PPV and if they are strong enough to do business, could make a lot of money on the show. The show will emanate from either Las Vegas or the Nassau Coliseum, and if it's the latter, expect the heat between the two groups to escalate"
"Lots of changes on the horizon when it comes to the format of the UWF show. As most everyone who has seen the new format will agree, it just didn't work and they are going back to a live arena taping, either this coming weekend or at the latest, the weekend of 10/24 with matches taped on 10/7 in Cleveland. They will be running bi-weekly tapings of UWF, which will be similar to a Titan taping in that they'll not only tape matches for the UWF show, but also tape occasional matches for their other programs. The tapings will include virtually all the top names from both promotions just as Titan's tapings include virtually all the big names."
"10/3 in Pittsburgh before 2,000, which is the smallest card in decades at the Civic Arena, saw Road Warriors beat Midnight via DQ when Bubba interfered, Barry Windham double count out with Dick Murdoch (who is in for a few weeks but won't be pushed on television because he's leaving for Japan the first week of November), Rotunda pinned Dory Funk, Ron Simmons beat Samurai #1, Todd Champion beat Samurai #2, Bugsy McGraw pinned Mod Squad Spike and Warlord & Tijo Khan beat Cuban Connection"
"10/10 in Denver drew 600...Titan had a show in Denver the previous week in which I reported the crowd at 1,200—actually the crowd was a little larger than that—close to 1,500— however the paid attendance was only 700, so Denver is turning into disaster city for all three promotions in town"
"The 10/15 card at Reunion Arena in Dallas was canceled because of no advance sales. It was a pretty solid line-up headlined by Garvin vs. Flair, but it was bucking the State Fair of Texas, not to mention that Dallas is a terrible wrestling city at present"
"When I see guys like these Kodiaks, Petrov, Dingo, Warlord, Nord-it's really sad the influence the Roadies have had on the business because of all their imitators. With the Roadies themselves it isn't bad—excellent gimmick in fact and they play the role well and aren't bad in the ring if you don't mind guys who don't sell. But their copiers are pathetic workers who come into the business with the wrong idea of how to work a match"
"Titan is going to run several shows in Chicago before Starcade in an attempt to combat Starcade, using Hogan on each show, with the next one on 11/1"
"While the two groups do draw a different crowd, I'll guarantee you that if you put either Flair or Dusty into the WWF and they did their same act they do with the NWA, they would get the same reaction doing their act. It's simply cheap heat, showing your bare ass, swearing, etc. and I've never seen an audience that doesn't pop for it, and I've never seen it done where some members of the audience don't get turned off by it as well"
Oct 26, 87
"The first-day sale for the live Starcade card in Chicago (5 p.m. Eastern time start, 2 p.m. on the West Coast) was tremendous and it does look like they'll sellout the UIC Pavilion. As for the 65 or so closed-circuit sites—well a few should do well in the cities like Baltimore and in the Carolinas where they are established, but for the most part this smells like a disaster."
"JCP is also going to run live shows at the Greensboro Coliseum and the University of New Orleans Lakefront Arena. In both of these cities the live matches will be presented along with the big-screen live showing of the Chicago matches. The Greensboro and New Orleans matches will not be beamed to any other city....Greensboro will have as its main event, egads, Ivan Koloff vs. Wilbur (Randy Buchanan), a 7-girl Battle Royal, Mike Rotunda defends the Florida title against The Warlord, The New Breed vs. Mod Squad, Kendall Windham & Ricky Santana & David Sierra vs. Samurai Warrior #1 & Hiro Matsuda & Konga the Barbarian, plus Denny Brown & Italian Stallion vs. Thunderfeet"
"In January of this year, JCP was coming off an immensely-successful Starcade, and followed it up with huge gates from coast-to-coast in December and January. There were many who thought that their better actual wrestling and as a general rule, more heated live shows, would cause them to become a real contender to the throne of Titan Sports by the end of the year. I thought so myself, although really being No. 1 is an overrated issue because both Titan and JCP could do tremendously well simultaneously, as was the case at that time. And both could do pretty badly simultaneously, as has been the case the past few months, or one could do good and the other falter, etc."
"If in December, you had told me that over the next six months, JCP would add names like Lex Lugar, Barry Windham, Steve Williams, The Freebirds, Terry Taylor, Eddie Gilbert, Chris Adams, Sting, Rick Steiner to its stable, pick up all the UWF television and arena contracts and lose at the same time only a few non-headliner talents like Wahoo McDaniel, Rick Rude, Bill Dundee, Dutch Mantell and a few others, I’d have thought that irregardless of how Titan was doing, JCP would be drawing huge crowds from coast-to-coast. Instead, with the exception of Lugar, none of the newcomers were used correctly or for that matter allowed the opportunity to get over. Instead, "the clique" continued to be pushed past the point of staleness while the rest of the pack was treated as middle-of-the-card guys. By virtue of the way they positioned talent on the big shows which drew, they made it impossible for Florida, and more recently the UWF, to draw on their own."
"I really don't want to go on a long diatribe about Dusty Rhodes, as every newsletter already has and the points are all valid. And in Dusty's defense as a worker, he does have lots of charisma even if he's out of shape and his work itself is pretty bad. However, he is not the wrestler to build up as your top babyface, and the fact he now gets as loud a crowd reaction as anyone but the Road Warriors is not justification for doing so. Anyone given the kind of push Dusty has given himself for as long as he's given himself the push, plus built every major issue around himself and to his credit, gives a darn good interview, would be over three times as much as Rhodes is right now."
"As a booker, Dusty should be judged on if he gets the most out of his talent roster and on that score, he's failed miserably, especially since the UWF' purchase. The booking has become, to the point of being preposterous, simply ego-feeding for Dusty and pushing only his "clique" of guys, all of whom besides the Road Warriors, Flair and Lugar are stale to the point they should be moved down the cards. Flair is stale as well, but obviously should still be a headliner and the Warriors aren't used correctly, although I don't know if anyone knows how to use them correctly."
"Before talking about what appears to be the impending death of the UWF, one point should be made clear. When Jim Crockett bought the UWF in April, according to an article in the Charlotte newspaper, he was buying to to get control of their TV network, which in combination with his own, would put him in the tops stratosphere of all TV syndication networks in the country, in other words, it would enable him to make several million per year in national TV ad sales, as compared with virtually zero dollars he'd made beforehand. Getting the UWF talent wasn't the major, or even a major item. Judging from the way the talent has been used, it appears they were happy with their clique and nobody was going to even get the chance to break into it."
"The first combined shows were the Bash cards, which drew really well even though the only major angle of July was Dusty vs. Tully and the two War Games (a brilliant idea to be sure). Because the UWF show got on WPIX in New York, it was a smart idea to start showcasing talent from both groups on the card. However it hasn't turned out as well in reality, because virtually all the guys given the big push were NWA guys and there were so many titles being talked about that you'd need a computer to keep up with them. By making the UWF side the obvious "B" team in the fans' eyes, it killed any chance the UWF could draw on its own, which ultimately will lead to its demise."
"The heat between the wrestlers of the two circuits also came out on television (My Note: He's talking about Ric Flair and Eddie Gilbert), which is ridiculous because they all work for the same boss and in reality they are all one promotion."
"Eddie Gilbert will be meeting with Vince McMahon this upcoming week representing himself, Terry Taylor, Sting and Missy Hyatt. It's no secret within the industry that Sting is one of the wrestlers Titan covets the most"
"Judging from recent attendance figures and just crowd observations on recent TV shows it is obvious Ron Garvin was a terrible choice to be champion. In fact, he may be the worst NWA champion in history. At least Dusty Rhodes, Tommy Rich, Kerry Von Erich and Giant Baba were at least all "over" to the public as main event stars. Garvin is a solid worker and even a decent challenger for Flair, but as far as anchoring a card—forget it. As far as comparisons with Hulk Hogan go, I think the issue isn't even worth talking about."
"To anyone except the small percentage that understands what working is really about, Hulk Hogan is the best of the champions because he's over the most, always wins and is never embarrassed"
"Of all the World champs today, the only one who deserves the belt based on the fact he's the best wrestler on his circuit, is Curt Hennig"
"Apparently the pulling of Ric Flair from this Japan tour was the last straw, because all relationships between Giaht Baba and Jim Crockett appear to be finished, and one report I got is the relations between the two are irreparable although my feeling is that is worded too strong"
"The Wilbur/Paul Jones thing is actually kind of funny. Even though Jones hardly qualifies as a good manager, or even an average one, for some reason his manner of being perturbed I've always found humorous as this takes advantage of it. The incident where Wilbur (I'm still waiting for the talking horse) turns babyface has already been taped and he's set to team with Jimmy Valiant & Bugsy McGraw to feud with Paul Jones' army of Ivan Koloff & Warlord & Konga the Barbarian. Poor Ivan & Konga. Whether Dusty will admit it or not, this thing is basically a copy of Hillbilly Jim. They are saying that Wilbur was discovered by Red Bastien (who is the new JCP promoter in California) when he was picking grapes in California"
"Big Bubba Rogers is back with Jim Cornette full-time which is both good and bad. Obviously anyone would get over better with Cornette than with Akbar, but Bubba is one of the most improved wrestlers in the business and one of the few big men who are worth watching in the ring. I'd hate to see him not work on a regular basis"
"With the cutting down to two shows per night, there is going to be a lot of talent phased out between now and the new year. Hector Guerrero (Lazartron), who held the NWA jr. heavyweight title (the world's most worthless championship belt) has already walked out for Memphis. Actually I'm not sure how many guys will be dropped and just how many will have their bookings cut back so far they can no longer afford to stay. Because Dusty makes his booking decisions based on his personal feelings and not the guys' abilities or the good of the company, I expect you'll be very surprised as to what wrestlers get phased out, because some of the best ones will be on the list as Guerrero's leaving should show"
"Ron Garvin has been World champion for three weeks now and they are still showing that video of Flair as the champion"
"Greg Valentine starts here on 12/1 and will be pushed as one of the major heels on the circuit. My guess is he left Titan because his role as Dino Bravo's partner was going nowhere"
"10/18 in Atlanta drew 1,800"
"10/18 return to Detroit was an outright disaster drawing 1,000"
"The lowlight of the taping was the opener where the Kodiaks beat two jobbers however something went wrong with the cameras and the match didn't tape, so they had to bring the guys out about a minute later and go through the same 1:00 squash"
"10/17 in Lakeland drew 2,000 for Rhodes vs. Lugar, Sullivan vs. Bubba, Sheeps vs. Hayes-Garvin and Taylor vs. Mike Graham. Steve Keirn was there getting an award from the say no to drugs people and was scheduled to wrestle but Dusty told him not to bother getting suited up. Apparently he'd heard that Keirn had worked in Memphis earlier in the week"
"10/11 in Orlando headlined by Roadies vs. Tully & Arn drew 1,500 although Titan bombed in Florida this past week with bad crowds and two cancellations (due mainly to the hurricane but neither card would have drawn anyway)"
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 14, 2021 15:09:44 GMT -5
Spoiler: the Survivor/Starrcade thing is going to get ugly.
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,332
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Feb 15, 2021 3:05:49 GMT -5
As per Newspapers.com searching, it would appear that GLOW's last week was 9/12/87. The next Saturday, the noon slot is just described as "wrestling." (no brand given) So I guess Dave was correct on this one. That was typical of TV Guide; only the WWF would be the specific brand mentioned. Weirdly enough, our local paper would have every company listed. Back then the paper on the coast would list some wrestling by name and others just as "pro wrestling 1 hour." IIRC Watts,Memphis,WCCW,WWF and Crockett got listed by name. But Florida,Continental and GCCW got the generic listings.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 7:12:19 GMT -5
Nov 2, 87
"At the 10/24 NWA show in Philadelphia during the Ric Flair vs. Nikita Koloff main event, Instead of a regular NWA referee (who was brought up by the NWA but not allowed to work), commission ref Dick Kroll, working his fourth match in a row (two of which, Eddie Gilbert vs. Sting and New Breed vs. Midnight Express were pretty wild causing the ref to have to run around a lot, plus Flair and Nikita went nearly 30 minutes) completely screwed up the finish. Several fans in attendance reported to me that Kroll was obviously exhausted by the end of the match, which saw Nikita flip Flair over the top ropes to get disqualified. However Kroll raised Nikita's hand, not once, not twice, but three times while telling the ringside officials that Flair was the winner. While it doesn't sound as bad in print, those who were there told me the scene was pretty bad"
"Over the past few weeks I'd given some attendance figures for WWF, AWA and NWA shows in Denver that were actually lower than the real figures. The WWF show actually drew $23,000; AWA drew $20,000 and NWA $16,000 for their shows earlier this month."
"Basically, the UWF's condition can be labeled critical and they are about to pull out the life support systems. While the name UWF may be used in regards to unification matches, I believe as of just a few weeks down the road, the promotion will be terminated. Most of the underneath guys were given their pink slips effective the first week of November. I can't report names until next week because I've heard conflicting stories as to who they are. However all the prelim guys, with the possible exception of The Terminator (Road Warrior Animal's brother) will be history before Starcade"
"If Crockett's relations with Baba really have broken off, it's kind of ironic. Supposedly Baba didn't believe Ric Flair was injured because after all, Flair never gets hurt (I think more likely he doesn't miss matches when he's hurt because nobody can do what he does and not get hurt). However Flair did miss a week because his chest wound got infected"
"Flair and Steve Williams will hook it up for the first time on 11/16 in Los Angeles as part of an elimination tag match with Flair & Lex Lugar vs. Williams & Ron Garvin. I guess technically it'll be another first, the first time the NWA World champion and UWF World champion will be partners in a tag team match"
"Baby Doll will be returning as valet for Larry Zbyszko. To answer the obvious second question, Sam Houston will be remaining in the WWF"
"The second UWF tapings on 10/19 in New Orleans with all the big stars drew only 1,000"
"10/24 in Philadelphia before 2,500"
"10/16 in Norfolk drew less than 1,000 as Sean Royal went to a 20:00 draw with Mod Squad Basher, Bugsy pinned Mod Squad Spike, Kendall Windham beat Samurai Warrior #1, Rotunda beat Samurai #2, Sullivan double DQ with Warlord (dud), New Breed beat Midnight via DQ (great match), Lugar pinned Barry Windham (good but too short, Lugar used tights to keep U.S. title) and Blanchard & Anderson beat Morton & Gibson in a cage match to keep the title in a bout which went only 5:00"
"Just a quick note on Wilbur (Randy Buchanan). They are doing this farm boy grape picker bit but also saying he's from Hayward, California. Hayward isn't exactly Mud Lick, KY of Philadelphia, MS. It's actually a San Francisco Bay Area suburb just south of Oakland and not an agricultural place in the middle of nowhere. They should have at least made him from Turlock"
"10/17 in Baltimore drew 8,000 ($93,000)"
"Nikita Koloff was given no push at all on his recent All Japan tour, never appearing on television and generally in the third match on eight or nine match cards"
"Larry Zbyszko showed up in several AWA cities and they had security take him away because of his suspension. Don't worry, this is all a work but Larry Z is just working out his notice until he starts with JCP on Sunday but the suspension has already been announced"
"10/23 Charlotte drew 1,500 for Horsemen vs. Dusty & Nikita & Rock & Rolls"
"Greg Valentine may stay with Titan after all, got conflicting reports here"
Nov 9, 87
"The last word I've got on Valentine is this. Crockett believes he has Valentine starting 12/1. The folks at Titan believe Valentine is on the verge of renewing his contract, so my guess is he's playing them against each other which is the intelligent thing to do. I was also told Valentine would earn as much working for Crockett as he did with Titan, and no doubt would be pushed harder with Crockett. We'll just have to wait and see"
"Did you notice that when Sam Houston entered the ring for his TV debut where he beat Danny Davis that his entrance music was the song "Midnight Rider." Sounds like they're trying to get the jump on somebody"
"Kind of an interesting local note. Gill Cable in San Jose is one of the few cable systems in the U.S. offering both the Survivors Series and Starcade on pay-per-view. what's most interesting is they are offering a package deal that if you order both, the prices is almost cut in half for each. I figure Vince must love that"
"In typical Crockett fashion, they are plugging that Starcade is available on Gill Cable in San Jose on Ch. 26 in San Francisco, which is a station that Gill Cable doesn't even pick up so nobody watching would be able to order Starcade. On Ch. 36 in San Jose, which is on the cable, they aren't plugging that Starcade is available on Gill Cable"
"It's still too early to give definite names on who is going and who is staying as far as UWF is concerned. Gary Young, Steve Cox, The Enforcer (Doug Gilbert), Haskins and Mike Boyette were all given their pink slips and will be gone within weeks. Tommy Gilbert, who was the UWF's road manager, is also on his way out. Shane Douglas quit, but Crockett may try to talk him into returning."
"The Rock & Roll Express & New Breed will team up against Midnight Express & Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson on 11/8 at the Omni in Atlanta"
"Crockett received a reported $1 million for the sale of the Charlotte Orioles which was officially transacted this past week"
"Titan's return to the Omni on 10/24 with Savage vs. Honkeytonk drew 1,924 ($21,000) or roughly the same as NWA did on 10/18 with Morton vs. Blanchard"
"Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt were married Halloween night at a surprise party (the party wasn't a surprise, the ceremony was) at their home "in the Southwest." "
"Valentine definitely staying with Titan"
Nov 16, 87
"Jim Crockett Promotions announced on its syndicated package this weekend that the starting time for its closed-circuit airings of Starcade around the country will be 8 p.m. Eastern time and 7 p.m. Central time. The live card itself in Chicago will still be starting at 4 p.m., mainly due to commitments with the few companies that are going to air it on a pay-per-view so the PPV showing won't conflict with Titan's Survivors Series, which will air on PPV live at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time."
"The change to showing Starcade on a three-hour tape delay in the 44 sites which it will be closed-circuited avoided what could have been a borderline-suicidal affair for Crockett in the theaters. Instead of conflicting with traditional Thanksgiving family dinner, the show will now take place at what has proven to be the single best time on the single best night of the year to draw wrestling fans. It seems to insure that Starcade will be at least a minor success."
"Actually by all rights, this Starcade should be the most successful one in history. JCP has its strongest TV network, which includes almost every major market in the country, something it didn't have in the past. They are also beaming the signal to about twice as many cities as before. However it probably won't be the most successful because the promotion itself has lost a lot of ground since the summer and the enthusiasm for the card itself isn't building to anywhere near the level it had in past years"
"Another note that has to be brought up when figuring how well Starcade will do in comparison to the past two years is the big difference in live gates. Last year, most of the nearly $1 million grossed on Starcade (roughly $650,000) came from Greensboro and Atlanta, the two live spots. This year in Chicago, with less than 10,000 seats available, you are talking about a sellout gross (and the card will almost surely sellout) in the near $200,000 range. That's a big difference to make up."
"Although a lot of people will talk about the Survivors Series as being the main factor in this, the Titan show only affects JCP in that their debut on national PPV has to be postponed until 1/24/88. Whatever money that would have been made on PPV for Starcade won't be there, but it was never there in past Starcade's either, all of which were considered successful shows."
"I really want to refrain from negative comments for at least a week on this group because everything that need be said has already been said and it's up to those in charge to recognize that certain obvious problems have to be addressed (changing around the talent at the top or at least freshening it up; freshening up angles that can draw—this Wilbur thing is fine but when your only fresh angle is with a guy who is in your opening match on most cards and not even at Starcade—well that speaks for itself; and most importantly, adding some life to the television shows). If they are, this promotion has the talent and the exposure to be second major force in the business. If they aren’t then Dusty can build himself up to his hearts content and feed his ego to no end and move to Dallas to follow in the footsteps of his role model, who had the hottest promotion in the country only three years ago"
"The only other negative is that David Crockett was at his absolute most embarrassing this past weekend on television. For years when everyone was hating DC, I felt he was bad, but at least tolerable. He truly is the worst right now"
"11/2 tapings for Power Pro Wrestling, done before 400 fans in Greenville, SC saw only one former UWF wrestler get a push, that being Ron Simmons"
"What actually happened with Shane Douglas was that he was given a finishing notice, and asked if he could leave early to start school in Pennsylvania, and then when he got back, he was told the notice was a mistake and he was wanted back"
"NWA drew only 1,200 on 11/7 in Houston"
"Manny Fernandez got some barbs in on Dusty Rhodes & Nikita Koloff during his interview on Memphis TV calling Dusty a "Fat Nightmare." "
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 4:43:59 GMT -5
Nov 23, 87 "It's been kind of funny lately to watch the attempts at saying something without really saying anything both the NWA and WWF have done of late. We've had the Megapowers and Sam Houston with the Midnight Rider theme, and virtually every NWA big name making allusions to the Survivors' Series. We've even had Manny Fernandez make some "read between the lines" remarks about Dusty and company ("a group of mules being led by a jackass") on the Memphis television show." "Just to clear up a few things about Starcade. Even though they announced Mighty Wilbur vs. Ivan Koloff as part of Starcade, which I guess technically it is if you include New Orleans and Greensboro as co-host cities, those prelim matches still aren't scheduled for the closed-circuit airing. I think the announcement over the weekend has confused many and I can't see how they could have made that announcement without realizing how the fans would take it." "The live show at the Pavilion in Chicago has already sold out (nearly two weeks ahead of time) which is a real feather in their cap, considering how so many of us thought the early starting time would have made a sellout difficult. Instead they probably could have sold out a building twice the size of the Pavilion. For Chicago readers, they've opened up the Aragon and Regal theaters in Chicago for closed-circuit of Starcade." "The NWA came to town on 11/9 with a card at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium which drew slightly less than 2,000 fans and a $25,000 house. Considering they hadn't been here in four months and had both Ric Flair and the Road Warriors on the show, it has to be tabbed a pretty disappointing gate" "From his physique and athletic background one would think Simmons should be a superstar in this business, but whenever I see him live I start questioning that. He's just not improving from when he started, and that was more than a year ago." "Zbyszko got the best heel heat of the night. Kind of amazing since he had yet to appear on television, but I get the impression the guys on Crockett's show have gotten fans bored." "Road Warriors aren't over nearly as well here as they were a few months back. They are over more than the other babyfaces, but it's not all that special." "They aren't returning until February because they don't think they can come here any quicker and draw. In other words, no Bunkhouse Stampede, which would have been a sure $60,000+ gate. This is the one city left in the country where a Battle Royal is still a sure draw, as the AWA will prove next Saturday night, and when they come back in February, even if they have the entire package on the card, they won't draw 2,000 again. These guys have a lot of talented heels, and a few talented babyfaces, but they are lacking in almost everything else" "Probably the worst news for JCP isn't the bad houses of late or even the possible departures of some of its name talent (lots of grumblings and unhappy folks although I doubt anyone will be gone before Starcade), but in its TV ratings. The Neilsen fast weekly syndication reports of the top 15 syndicated networks have seen JCP do an incredibly fast drop right out of the listings. The Wrestling Network (the combination rating of Worldwide Wrestling, NWA Pro Wrestling, UWF, Power Pro and Championship Wrestling from Florida), which had been consistently around No. 7 in the rankings of syndicated networks, and peaked at No. 4, is now out of the top 15 and behind even the All-Star Wrestling Network (No. 14—combination of Dave McLane's POWW, Verne's AWA show and Joe Pedicino's Pro Wrestling this Week). That has to be a complete embarrassment to Crockett because his package is seen on something like 200 stations, yet Verne and company combined are on 123 stations yet have more viewers." "In fact, the ratings for JCP's package have dropped something like 40 percent, in just two months, and leading up to its biggest night of the year (Starrcade) and more importantly, the November sweeps (which determine ad rates for the next quarter) is something which can't be emphasized enough. Crockett bought the UWF mainly to improve his TV network, but the results have been obvious and Crockett will lose affiliates, and lots of them, if the ratings don't take a major turn for the better. When you consider JCP has affiliates in every major market except Boston I believe, it emphasizes just how poorly the numbers are." "In my opinion, TV ratings are actually the most important barometer of the amount of interest the public has in a promotion. There are lots of factors which could go into houses being down (putting on matches fans don't want to see; bad economy; competing events; focusing attention on one big show which hurts other shows during that month) but when TV ratings are down, it shows fans are being turned off by the current product." "At this point, nothing can be done until after Thanksgiving because all the plans have been finalized for Starcade and it's too late to throw in a big angle. However, unless several big things happen, major angles to bring fans back to the arenas and more importantly, upgrading the television product, than 1988 could be an awfully long year for the NWA. I just hope they don't look at the Nassau show and Starcade, both of which will do very well, and think they've solved their problems." "It was billed that Ric Flair would wrestle Ron Garvin in a non-title match, but instead fans were "privileged" to witness both men in "Starcade workouts." Garvin had a handicap match against The Gladiators (Gary Royal & George South) which Ron won in 7:45....Ric Flair's workout was against Kendall Windham & Italian Stallion. Flair dominated Stallion but mainly sold for Kendall. Actually it was a slow moving 8:30 and Flair didn't show much. It wound up with Kendall beating on Flair and Arn Anderson did a run-in and J.J. declared "the workout is over." Flair now can't even pin jobbers" "The scheduled Christmas night show at the Nassau Coliseum has been canceled so allow more time to build up the 1/24/88 Nassau card which should be a biggie" "Let me clear something up. Even though he's a poor worker, I have nothing against Dusty Rhodes being a star, because he has charisma and does a good interview. However I have a lot against him being the No. 1 star, because he doesn't appeal to a wide enough audience and because he holds back anyone who threatens his position. It is no big deal to get the fans who are paying for a ticket to cheer the babyface or boo the heel. They’ve already paid their money and are going to react to the main event. It is a big deal to put people in the seats." "George Steele gets tons of cheers and so does Jimmy Valiant, but neither sells tickets. So of course because Dusty pushes himself as the star and puts himself in the main events, those that pay to see cards he's on will generally give him a big cheer because they see him as the star. The problem is, Crockett's houses are in the toilet because the star has the appeal closer to a George Steele or a Jimmy Valiant than to a Hulk Hogan, the competing star who does have widespread appeal."
Nov 30, 87 "Since Starcade and the Survivors Series will be history by the time most of you read this, my guess is we'll be seeing some changes within the ranks of both promotions. JCP in particular needed to make some changes, but in the opinion of those in charge, it was too late to make them since the Starcade plans had been finalized. I expect some big changes over the next six to 10 weeks, with the prime intent being to spice up anemic television ratings." "I can see wrestling going the way of boxing over the next year. There will be six major pay-per-view events next year, and at least two or three of them also closed-circuit events. Crockett is committed to his Bunkhouse Stampede final from the Nassau Coliseum on January 24th, followed by the Crockett Cup in April (probably late April and they are still hoping for Tokyo as the live venue), an American Bash in July and of course Starcade in late November. Titan will counter with Wrestlemania IV on March 27th, and another major PPV event yet to be announced for later in the year." "In the third quarter of 1987 (July through September), five pro wrestling shows cracked the top 20 shows on basic cable television. The second-most watched cable show is the Saturday WTBS 6:05 p.m. Eastern time show produced by JCP, with an average weekly rating of 3.2 and watched in more than 1.3 million homes during an average week. In the No. 3 slot is Titan's Prime Time Wrestling on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern with a 3.4 rating in just under 1.3 million homes (Titan's show has a higher rating but is ranked behind the JCP show because JCP's is watched in more homes due to the fact more homes are equipped to carry WTBS than USA network). Titan's All-American wrestling is ranked No. 4 with a 3.2 rating and 1.2 million homes in its Sunday noon EST slot. In the No. 10 slot is JCP's Sunday 5:35 p.m. slot on WTBS with a 2.4 rating in 1 million homes, and at No. 20 is the AWA show on ESPN with a 1.9 rating in 810,000 homes." "The Saturday p.m. show has stayed consistent over most of the past year, although the first quarter of last year saw its rating jump to a 4.0 and its audience dropped 20% over the next six months. The Sunday show's audience has dropped 37% over the past nine months in a consistent downward trend. Most alarming is the ratings drop of the Saturday a.m. show, which had its time slot bettered from 8:05 a.m. to 11:05 a.m., yet has had its audience drop 35% in the last nine months. Since the "peak" of cable wrestling in 1985, the Titan numbers have fallen as well, but the slide hasn't been nearly as pronounced. Titan's shows have dropped 25 to 30 percent in audience over a two-year period." "During a press interview, Seiji Sakaguchi admitted that Jim Crockett had talked with him about presenting the Crockett Cup in Tokyo this April. No finalized plans have been made, and in fact Sakaguchi said that he thinks Crockett and Baba have talked about it and want to present a card with All Japan, New Japan and NWA wrestlers but Sakaguchi doesn't want to joint-promote." "Crowds continue to be weak with the 11/15 show in Oklahoma City drawing around 500, the Tulsa show that night with a national TV taping drawing 3,000 and 11/16 in Los Angeles drawing 1,500" "Finale saw the first time an NWA and UWF champ joined forces in a tag match and they lost to Ric Flair & Lex Luger in 22:13. Told this was a very good match with a poor finish. It was an elimination match, but simultaneously as Luger and Williams were brawling on the floor. Flair hit Ron Garvin with his shoe and got the pin and it was ruled Luger and Doc were counted out at the same time (don't tell me that's impossible as only two guys were legal so all four can't have a finish at once). I don't know why JCP does these elimination matches when they can't come up with viable finishes because the way they ended the falls here stunk as well. If your top stars don't want to do pins, or you don't want them to, then just don't put them in elimination matches, especially if you don't want 2-on-1." "Shane Douglas was fired once again by JCP"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 5:35:29 GMT -5
Interesting how he's changed his perception on how important tv ratings are. But that's a reflection of the change in the tv and media landscape more than anything.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 6:30:45 GMT -5
Interesting how he's changed his perception on how important tv ratings are. But that's a reflection of the change in the tv and media landscape more than anything. Keep in mind at that point Dave doesn't know just how much Jim Crockett had riding on the success of JCP on Pay Per View.
He goes into it more later but Dave's thought process was that if someone stops buying tickets you can get them back with the right angle or hype but once someone stops watching your TV show it's really tough to get them to watch again.
89/90 sees him soften on that view a little when he sees their ratings go up at exactly the same time live attendance is a disaster.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 8:20:26 GMT -5
Interesting how he's changed his perception on how important tv ratings are. But that's a reflection of the change in the tv and media landscape more than anything. Keep in mind at that point Dave doesn't know just how much Jim Crockett had riding on the success of JCP on Pay Per View.
He goes into it more later but Dave's thought process was that if someone stops buying tickets you can get them back with the right angle or hype but once someone stops watching your TV show it's really tough to get them to watch again. 89/90 sees him soften on that view a little when he sees their ratings go up at exactly the same time live attendance is a disaster.
That's interesting, thanks!
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Post by James Fabiano on Feb 16, 2021 9:13:42 GMT -5
Wait, so Meltzer no sold or understood Vince holding the PPV companies hostage?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 9:21:37 GMT -5
Wait, so Meltzer no sold or understood Vince holding the PPV companies hostage? What I meant was that he didn't know at that time that Crockett really needed that PPV money to come through in order to survive.
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