It’s week 3 of the WWF title being held hostage by Diesel! But don’t worry, this can’t possibly last very long. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. 95. It's great historical reading of the rise and fall of wrestling's biggest boom period. Wrestling Observer Flashback: 07. The grand plan for five days a week has been dropped and ESPN will air reruns of Pro Wrestling This Week instead. 4. By Scott Keith on 27th October 2016. Maybe if I skim over the Eddie Gilbert stuff it’ll get done easier. Flair’s contract was scheduled to be terminated as of 08/01, and Flair was scheduled to drop the WCW World title to Barry Windham on 7/1 in Macon, GA. 02. GROUP #2: Nobuhiko Takada is forming the UWFi (Union of Pro Wrestling Force International) and they’ll also be running Korakuen Hall, in May, and. He was the person credited with popularizing the superplex, although he didn’t invent it. 03. 95. 96. 96. 95 (Part 1) So after Dave takes a week off, it’s a DOUBLE ISSUE featuring Wrestlemania XI, the show that drew so much money that Dave needed a second issue to contain it all!Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. (My joke, not Dave’s) In freezing temperatures, Crockett had his showdown with Vince, featuring the debut of the NWA in Hamilton taking on Roddy Piper’s Canadian farewell in Toronto. Hogan! Starrcade ‘87 v. – Dave sums up the last PPV of 1996 as “solid but. tesseract 5. . – Jim Cornette Update: He turned down the WCW managing job because he’s opening up a new promotion with Sandy Scott and Tim Horner called “Smokey Mountain Wrestling”, starting on 10/30 in Greenville. Dave, however, cites the court case of Boy v. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. 567. Perfect won a battle royale in 12:55. 95. 23. – Dave’s opening salvo this week: “After its television show reached a new low in. Newsletter, Magazine, Wrestling, WWF, WCW, All Japan, New Japan. Heyman is making. Ric Flair pinned Butch Reed in 14:13 to earn a tag title shot at Starrcade. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. – Dave brings up the example of New Japan’s light heavyweight division taking off and Stampede Wrestling’s mid-heavyweight division, although of course Stampede tended to produce talent that left for greener pastures instead of. “Which is great for wrestling, I guess. 96. He says he was promised $2,500 and they only paid him $1,500. Baba had actually been. (Just wait until Slamboree. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 26. 09. Dusty is certainly the top candidate, and that theory is bolstered by the house show results from the past week, which saw Dusty doing 90 second jobs to VIRGIL at every show. By Scott Keith on 29th August 2016. 96. – The Rougeaus are telling Montreal newspapers that they’re taking a one year sabbatical from wrestling before returning late in 1990. 77, or about the same as Starrcade. Chip screwed up early, but it was decent by the end. The first wrestling move of the match came at 10:00, which was Hogan no-selling the powerbomb and making his comeback. Ted Dibiase & Virgil beat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes at 9:57. 92 By Scott Keith on 16th February 2017 Hey, I picked up a Nintendo DSi XL for $60 (Canadian) from EBGames and it’s pretty rad. 19. )This argument includes Wrestlemania V, which is widely believed to be the highest grossing wrestling show in HISTORY. ABBYY FineReader 11. Ware on 12/14, as expected. Um, never mind. – The WWF continues to insist that Summerslam sold 80,000 tickets in the first day, and also announced several new matches for the show: Tatanka v. The idea is to combine a bunch of small promotions into the Global Wrestling Federation, with offices in five different regions, including Jarrett now officially going back into Dallas to run the USWA there again. – Unfortunately, we start with the inevitable death of Scott “Hog” Irwin, who succumbed to cancer after a year long battle at the age of 37. Well this was all well and good, but wrestling magazines found out about it and started publishing stories and photos, and the NWA had to go into coverup mode. 21. And now it’s time for the MONDAY NIGHT WARS. By Scott Keith on 7th March 2017. – Paul Heyman was indefinitely suspended on 10/7 for reasons that are still unknown at press time (still unknown to this day, in fact!) and this is gonna mess up their plans big because the (don’t call it a ) booking committee wanted to switch him back from announcer to manager if they could strike a deal with Rick Rude. 96 (Part Two) – In the top story, “Sycle” Sid won the WWF title in the main event of the Survivor Series. – And now, let’s talk about pay-per-view. I just don’t think things are gonna work out for that promotion. – The really big news coming out of the first head-to-head meeting of RAW and Nitro is that WCW immediately took the lead in the ratings war, with a 2. ) – The rumor mill continues to churn around the idea that Dusty Rhodes and his $300,000 / year salary will be cut at the end of the year. This should be good. ” (Now there’s an understatement!) – Based on current trends and advertising, SuperBrawl is looking to do. – Kevin Sullivan is a road agent now and appears done with wrestling. – The show drew 7000 with 4700 paid and a $94,000 house. -. – Next up, Dave offers a preview of the next WCW PPV, Uncensored, which he sums up thusly: “On paper it looks like a weak show as none of the matches look to be sure bets to be good. Dave has no idea how successful it’ll be. 26. – Hachiro Tanaka, the money guy behind SWS and WAR and a bunch of other groups, is reportedly tired of losing money in the wrestling business and wants out, according to the Takano brothers. 96. Get all the news from F4WOnline. – Interestingly, the WWF was shown to be popular with 18-25 year olds, with men twice as well represented as women. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. – In our top story, Roddy Piper made a surprise debut at the end of the Halloween Havoc show, doing what Dave describes as an “undisciplined dialogue” with Hollywood Hogan that actually ran past the expiration of their PPV time. So apparently the WrestleWar 92 issue (05/25/92) is missing from the F4WOnline. And NOW the main event! Hog Wild 96 and the introduction of the Observer Hall of Fame awaits! This one took me a little bit longer to write than last night’s quickie, obviously. Wish me luck! – The top story is Dave being confused by a unique gimmick match in Memphis, with Austin Idol v. Jim Herd has already killed the wrestling business, and now he’s working on killing the magic business. The team (Gene and Ole Anderson) dominated tag team. Tenryu as the main event of a show on 2/7. Big stuff in the news this week, and the start of the biggest shift in coverage in the history of the Observer. Main event is. 2022-03-05 07:34:36. By Scott Keith on 26th May 2016. – In an understatement, Dave notes that the babyface side in the WWF is in a state of disarray, what with Scott Hall about to jump to WCW in late May once all his contractual stuff ends. 96. Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Dec. By Scott Keith on 19th September 2016. Pillman was a little rusty but still got an excellent match out of Wright. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 05. Collection. 06. – Flair defended the World title on a pair of Mid-South shows in Oklahoma, but there’s no plans or indications of Watts joining the NWA. On May 2 they did an angle where the AWA World title was held up following a Bockwinkel/Hennig match where Hennig used a foreign object. 95. The NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship was the top singles title in Maple Leaf Wrestling from 1978 until 1984,. WWE News. And here we had gone for almost two months without a death. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. These words open the issue this week, because Wrestlemania IV is in the books and, well, it was not pretty. It's a recap of the old issues of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 19 as I try to get as much done as possible in advance. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 06. – As the date of his trail approached and the firestorm of publicity continued unabated, Barr managed to plea bargain down to first degree sexual abuse with 180 hours of community service and 2. com archives, and any other sources I’ve checked, so we’re skipping ahead a week. By Scott Keith on 24th February 2019. Wrestling Observer Flashback – Bret v. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. 96. At the latest WWF tapings, a guy named Mantaur debuted. 96. Winner of the 2016 Doomie Award for Favorite Blog Post!. Papa Shango ran in for the DQ, and Ultimate Warrior made the save, complete with entrance music. 22. C. com & WrestlingObserver. Until then, there’s the Clash! – Dave was in Japan for DreamSlam (very short version: It was an amazing show) and missed the Clash of Champions from Jacksonville, but to say it wasn’t well received would be an. By Scott Keith on 22nd September 2023 Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Inoki pinned Leon Spinks in the eighth round of whatever their match was supposed to be, cradling him after a double-leg and getting a five count. Sid actually drew pretty big on the East coast, doing 11,000 at the Nassau Coliseum and 8000 in Philly. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. For. 87. 25. 23. Regardless of everything else, the #1 rule of wrestling in situations like this is that you ALWAYS have the babyface’s hand raised at the end of the show if you pull a major bait-and-switch like this. But if you’re reading it in the archives in December, then MERRY CHRISTMAS! – Continuing on with the saga of Dynamite Kid’s messed up back, he was flown into Calgary for surgery after being paralyzed from the waist down. – Dave sums up the last PPV of 1996 as “solid but unspectacular”. – The WWF is reportedly considering adding a weekly Saturday PPV show, according to trade journal reports. 95. – Brad Armstrong will be coming back again, this time as the Candy Man, who throws candy to the kids as his gimmick. Identifier. Dave is pretty sure Gonzalez will draw as long as he’s never allowed to touch anyone ever. 3-21-1988. I feel like that can’t be a coincidence. wrestling business himself, negotiating with Buster Douglas for a Tokyo Dome show in March. Collection. – Latest figures are in, and WCW is looking like a 0. – Over to Japan, where Nobuhiko Takada had announced plans to retire, at which point UWFI whiplashed and put out their own press release, noting that what Takada had MEANT TO SAY was that he was THINKING of retiring at age 35, which was two years away. Although this one is dated after the Bash ‘90 PPV, the issue is written before. Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 94. 96. Trying to power through this one before UFC 200. 96. 10. – Fall Brawl was great undercard wrestling, bad main event, and booking filled with more holes than Swiss Cheese. – Also on the show, Scott Norton & Tony Halme won the IWGP tag titles from the Steiner Brothers in kind of a stinker. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. The New Foundation beat the Orient Express in 17:18. The government side says it’s for “tactical reasons”, while the WWF. -The Mondo 19 most intriguing personalities of ‘86-30 key pro wrestling personalities of ‘86 with quick bios-Observer Awards, leading news stories of. – We’ll skip past the Mr. – The biggest question coming out of Wrestlemania XII is the future of Bret Hart, as he’s expected to finish the tour of Germany and then go on a hiatus until the end of the summer. By Scott Keith on 14th August 2016. 05. Just for fun, here’s Dave’s Summer 1984 Rankings. They even flew in Steve DiSalvo as part of the ring crew to. 2. 1. 93. 06. Brian Pillman pinned Badstreet with a flying bodypress in the light heavyweight tournament semi-final at 6:52. 07. -Pro Wrestling 1983-1987. 16. 96. 16. Rude/Vader tag match, the highest rating for any wrestling match on TV in more than a year. Observer Flashbacks; Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. 09. By Scott Keith on 27th October 2016. The match died once Flair went out. as they did a matinee taping of the new Sunday edition of World Championship Wrestling in Atlanta, then did a show in Columbus GA, then finally. com~!Wrestling Observer Rewind • Dec. Identifier-ark. Daprice did every issue for the 90's through 2001. The feeling is that running a show in the traditional Sunday timeslot where live shows draw will kill off the house shows. Wrestling Observer / Figure Four. 03. *. – The big story this week is Dave’s preview of the Ultimate Ultimate 96!. And NOW the main event! Hog Wild 96 and the introduction of the Observer Hall. Nasties sold well at least. 96. Badd quit WCW on 3/11 after a discussion with Eric Bischoff in the airport, and will be signing with the WWF for three years. – Latest word on Maeda is that he’s got a new promotion in March, but Takada won’t come with. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the. 21. 22. 96. 93. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. – The WWF announced that the Wrestling Classic did about 60,000 buys on PPV, which was 200,000 less than their announced projections. Rants. NEXT WEEK: The Monday Night War begins. 28. The taped episode of RAW wasn’t particularly different than any other one they’ve. By Scott Keith on 10th July 2016. By Dave Meltzer Nov 21, 2023. Join Dave Meltzer and Brian Alvarez for coverage of the latest in wrestling and mixed-martial arts. The Road Warriors beat the Midnight Express in a scaffold match in 3:00, which kind of ruins their videotape business, Dave thinks. 5-4-1987. ” notes Dave. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. 18. – But first, the lead story is the rapid descent of UWFI, as they have reached out in desperation to New Japan for a combined show at the Tokyo Dome on 10/9 and maybe more after that. 01. Pillman was playing subtle heel to start and got less subtle as the match went on. 8 this week. Also, the Rock & Wrestling Connection was all his idea and he had to convince Vince to play “Eye of the Tiger” as his entrance theme in 1984. 30. 5. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. A wrestling fan creating original content for YouTube based on my love for pro-wrestling. – In the top story, the Justice Department dropped one of the charges against Titan Sports. Slaughter for “stealing the character”. ”. – The Wrestling Classic, scheduled to be the first ever nationally available PPV show, will feature a 16 man tournament, plus Hogan v. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. Wrestling Observer Flashback–10. Tickets are 45,000 yen, which translates to $429, aka the most expensive wrestling tickets in history. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. 90. – Vince McMahon is apparently planning to sue Sgt. 2. 2 victory. Dodge Iowa. Shawn Special Edition! Okey doke, so in the 1997 RAW rants thus far, we’ve alluded to the all the crazy stuff happening behind the scenes with Bret and Shawn, but what EXACTLY was that? Well, Dave was covering it extensively in the Observer at the time, so here’s a mini-Flashback covering the top. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. Which is still 10 pages long. He was at the other guys’ PPVs this year taking notes, as well as New Japan and All Japan’s major shows. Ah, wrestling, where one guy can beat up another guy for real and flush his head. This was the one and only match in the whole tournament that actually showed why the division could. – Andre’s beginnings in the sport are something of a mystery. 10. Jerry Lawler in a cage match where the loser gets his head shaved. 23. It's great historical reading of the rise and fall of wrestling's biggest boom period. And now it’s time for the issue that kicks off one of the biggest stories in the history of wrestling, although we didn’t. 1986 Wrestling Observer Yearbook. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. Smackdown Date: May 12, 2016 Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, Jerry Lawler. Day off from work today, so I’ve got some time to craft another Flashback! Your Spotify soundtrack for this one is Queensryche’s “Operation Mindcrime”, an album that it took me many years to get into, which is weird because I was a big fan of “Empire”. 20. I think once I wrap up 88 I’ll continue into 1989, and then when we reach the end of THAT year, we’ll go back to 1985 again. 11. I’m still not 100% clear on how we got from “Jim Crockett attempts to run Florida into the ground” to “Jim Crockett buys Florida and uses it as a feeder system for his own promotion”, but I’m sure we’ll get there. 94 (Part 2) – In the only non-tournament match on the show, Cactus Jack & Mikey Whipwreck won the tag titles from the Public Enemy after Terry Funk missed his flight and couldn’t make the show. 11. Spoiler: Dave gives WarGames 3/4. This hold up comes on the heels of two other major stories: Hennig is supposed to be heading to WWF, meanwhile. 300. And now, Dave would like to talk about PPV. *. Not by putting on a better product or drawing more money, but by signing one of their soon-to-be-ubiquitous exclusivity contracts with the Kiel Auditorium and thus preventing the NWA-affiliated St. OK, 2005 posts are FINALLY complete, and I got to see Star Wars, so let’s get back to Observing. as the big blue cage that quickly became synonymous with Titan was actually purchased and flown in from Stampede Wrestling, because the normal chain link cage was too hard for Hogan to climb. – In Mid-South, we get the first Observer mention of young rookie Sean Michaels in Mid-South, as he pins Jack Victory. They’re exclusively running small towns on the far Northern island of Japan, and mostly using lucha libre guys, which the mainstream papers didn’t really get. Dave is flabbergasted by how bad a show it was, wondering if this was a dream or a nightmare that he hasn’t woken up from. This isn’t unique in itself, but if Idol. Pillman tried a crucifix and Wright reversed it for the pin. Wrestling Observer Flashback –04. 48 buyrate (120,000 buys) for the Great American Bash in June, with WWF doing 0. 94. 01. 3-28-1988. 29. Andre started in the sport at the age of 12, already 6’3”, and fell in with a. By Scott Keith on 22nd September 2023 Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 27. 22. Dave sarcastically notes that “it sure turned Brett Sawyer. Eaton did a scary kneedrop from the top rope to the ramp outside the ring for the highlight of the match. So I guess it’s a Wrestling Observer Flashback Flashback. Well it’s been two months. 25. 91. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 24. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. By on 9th March 2017. Guys, it sounds like the Diamond Studd will soon be appearing in WCW again! We’ll see how that goes for them. Mike stuff and get into the main event: STARRCADE ‘84. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback–05. 95. 08. Ah, wrestling, where one guy can beat up another guy for real and flush his head in the toilet for riding with his ex-girlfriend and people are just like “Eh,. The PPV showdown of 1987 is upon us! It’s Vince v. 90. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 03. 04. It’s just getting to be too much work to do the bookkeeping and maintenance for 800 people instead of 200, especially when he’s already got a full-time job now as editor for a soccer magazine. 94. By Scott Keith on 16th December 2017. wrestlingmagazinesmisc;. 95. NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship. – Dave also got to see some tapes from Puerto Rico, which gives us the Observer debut of Invader #1, aka Stabby McMurderer. – So UFC III was supposed to be another easy ride for Royce Gracie, but in fact the KING IS DEAD. 94. – The Ole Anderson & Gordon Solie version of World Championship Wrestling returned to TBS on 8/13, so in fact we missed the entire Black Saturday era! – The Road Warriors won the AWA tag team titles from the Crusher & the Baron as Dave breathes a sigh of relief, and apparently this was booked very last minute because Vince. 09. The Vancouver version of the NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in two National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated Vancouver territories. 95. 7th. Warlord won a battle royale by tossing out Ricky Steamboat. You can view a sneak preview below. Well, amazingly he no-showed and they had to quickly contact another local promoter for some jobbers (there were only four name guys even booked for the. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. ”This is horrible, Gorilla. ). 19. I’m actually recovering from a shoulder injury at work today but I’ll power through an Observer Flashback for you. See if you can guess when we get to it. 22. 95. By Scott Keith on 4th June 2016. OK, after yesterday’s super-abbreviated edition (well the one I wrote at least, Dave was still 100,000 words into it) we’re back with a full double issue this time to recap all the stateside news! Continue reading Rants. . Addeddate. – Bam Bam Bigelow is trying to get into the WWF, but word from on high is that he’s “too inexperienced”. Curiosity over Kevin’s return is. Trying these in the afternoon again because the blog is always SUPER dead after lunchtime. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. (Perhaps it’s time to revamp the show a bit?) – Famous San Francisco promoter Roy Shire passed away this week, after suffering a heart attack on 9/16 and dying 10 days later in the hospital. 4. (Hey, much like Bill Gates famously said…) – Back to Murray Hodgson and his case against Pat Patterson, with Vince and Pat’s depositions delayed so they could do some more legal wrangling. 25. 11. Publication date. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. – Dave watched the 12/19 All Japan show, and dished out another full monty, this one for Misawa & Kobashi winning the tag team tournament over Kawada & Taue in. 11. 0. 22. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 10-28-1991. 86. By Scott Keith on 24th July 2019. By Scott Keith on 23rd November 2017. Current talk is a rematch with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam in a ladder. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. – Another quiet week in the world of wrestling, as we’re waiting for Starrcade and Superdome results. Dave thinks it was counterproductive to kill off the Rockers like that. Louis Wrestling Club from running. 20. 15. Ric Flair (“He’s slowed down a bit”) 2. – Jim Cornette continues bringing the funny. – Next up TV ratings, which went from an average of 2. 24. 96 Remember how in last week’s issue, Kevin Nash had until the weekend to make up his mind about leaving…? – In the top story, Kevin Nash officially gave notice to the WWF that he’d be accepting an offer from WCW, via phone call to Vince McMahon on 3/5. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. Louis is finally over, and the WWF has won. – Dave notes that speaking of network TV, ABC was filming an episode of 20/20 at the MSG show, and one of the reporters asked Dr. 10-21-1991. – Van Hammer won the arm wrestling tournament, beating Ron Simmons in the finals, which Dave interprets as continuing his newfound push. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 05. ark:/13960/t2z39wg7w. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. 19. 07. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 96 By Scott Keith on 15th September 2023 Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 1. By Scott Keith on 9th September 2016. Owen Hart was the second-best star of the show after Flair.