87. Bruiser Brody (“Nobody gives an aura of violent realism. See if you can guess when we get to it. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. – 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. By Scott Keith on 10th July 2016. Shinjiro Otani retained the UWA junior heavyweight title pinning El Samurai. 04. 19. Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive talk about the biggest news in wrestling! Wrestling Observer Live podcast on demand - Wrestling Observer Live is among the most popular wrestling shows in the world. 06. tesseract 5. Tenta was pretty over during his one appearance, so EMLL is trying to get him back. Ocr. The 1997 Observer Rewind shall resume this on Aug. Nasties sold well at least. By Scott Keith on 4th June 2016. Just like in the old days, it’s a NEWSFLASH to start the issue! Well, a results flash, actually, as the Tokyo Dome show came in too late for a proper review. Get all the news from F4WOnline. 3. There are moments when you can pinpoint exactly when a major promotion started to go completely off the rails. Newsletter, Magazine, Wrestling, WWF, WCW, All Japan, New Japan. – Zulu was fired from World Class for refusing to do a job to Mike Von Erich. – 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. Scanner. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. – Speaking of wanting to be in business with them, Jimmy Hart debuts in March as Greg Valentine’s manager, and King Kong Bundy debuts to have terrible matches with Hogan. – The Rougeaus are telling Montreal newspapers that they’re taking a one year sabbatical from wrestling before returning late in 1990. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. WWE News. The Vancouver version of the NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in two National Wrestling Alliance-affiliated Vancouver territories. 95. 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. Trying these in the afternoon again because the blog is always SUPER dead after lunchtime. Max Moon was eliminated quickly because his spaceship was double-parked. 95. 3/4. Wrestling Observer Flashback–09. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Basically Vince sent his PR people to the magazine to produce what Phil Mushnick of the New York Post (no relation to Sam or Irv, Dave notes, although we’ll get to know Phil very well in later years) called a “six page. 7. 0 number predicted by. The biggest story of the week is actually buried way down. – Whereas most people had to stand around on the beach and had a lousy view of the ring, rest easy knowing that there was a set of bleachers reserved for employees of Slim Jim. – Dave also got to see some tapes from Puerto Rico, which gives us the Observer debut of Invader #1, aka Stabby McMurderer. 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. – Anyway, moving on. Marc Mero pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 16:23. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. They of course had an immediate roster of excuses, mainly that it was scheduled on a night with really tough competition on TV. Pillman was playing subtle heel to start and got less subtle as the match went on. And now, for the first time I can remember, the UFC gets the lead story. 27th May 2016 by Scott Keith. 20 to an average of 2. Big stuff in the news this week, and the start of the biggest shift in coverage in the history of the Observer. Most of the match was Hunter working the arm and going for a cross-armbreaker, which neither Vince nor Jerry had any idea how to call. And since “long term thinking” these days is “three. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. ) An industry shaking death in this issue, but. Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. Current talk is a rematch with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam in a ladder. – 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. Back on track after our detour back to March yesterday. Eaton did a scary kneedrop from the top rope to the ramp outside the ring for the highlight of the match. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. Public Enemy went to a double DQ with the Nasty Boys in 4:02. – Dave reviews the 1/21 MSG show (which did NOT sell out, he notes, although he assumes that the War to Settle the Score sold out both the arena and the Felt Forum):Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. (1) Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom & Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich) beat Team Demolition & Mr. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. 18. Wrestling Flashback publishes wrestling list videos, top 10’s, the history of classic. – 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. – In the top story, the Justice Department dropped one of the charges against Titan Sports. Tenryu as the main event of a show on 2/7. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. 96. By Scott Keith on 15th March 2021. 15th September 2023 by Scott Keith Rants Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. ”. 90. Production quality was high, the wrestling quality not so much. Perfect. 27. 96. The ratings were just too low and the costs were just. OK, let’s get back into these again. Dave notes we. 13. Well, one week left until the WWF really goes off a cliff. Collection. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. 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. We’ve gotta skip all of November due to more gaps, but at least I can now promise that everything from now on is 100% complete! And we didn’t miss Starrcade. Nasty Boys retained the tag titles over the Bushwackers in 6:46. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. It drew a legit sellout of 5708 to West Palm Beach. 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. Main event is. 95. 96 You know, for someone so washed up and done as a top guy, Ric Flair sure keeps winning World titles, doesn’t he? – Let us take you back to 1989, as Ric Flair came off a big year with memorable matches against Rick Steamboat and Terry Funk, but the year was a failure for Turner. 01. 29. (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. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. 96. 95. It’s time for SUMMERSLAM! But first, the WWF is messing with their PPV schedule again. – Bam Bam Bigelow is trying to get into the WWF, but word from on high is that he’s “too inexperienced”. 95. By Scott Keith on 20th September 2016. OK, 2005 posts are FINALLY complete, and I got to see Star Wars, so let’s get back to Observing. 94. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. 23. 22. 95. 95. – Dan Severn won the Ultimate Ultimate on 12/16 in Denver after all the controversy over the show, beating Oleg Taktarov in the finals via unanimous decision. 22. – The top story of the week, and for a long time in general, was Ron Garvin winning the NWA World title from Ric Flair on 9/25 in their debut in Joe Louis Arena. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. 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. This week is one of them. Observer Flashbacks; Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. The previous record was 69,000 for the Big Event. 24. By Scott Keith on 9th November 2017. com archives, and any other sources I’ve checked, so we’re skipping ahead a week. 86. – The first Saturday Night show is going to be taped on 10/3, and Dave expects to heavily feature the freakshow wedding of Uncle Elmer, which will likely be even worse than the Paul Vachon wedding. 09. By Scott Keith on 14th January 2019. These words open the issue this week, because Wrestlemania IV is in the books and, well, it was not pretty. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. He says he was promised $2,500 and they only paid him $1,500. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. Publication date. By Scott Keith on 24th February 2019. NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship. Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. 96. 4. Hogan! Starrcade ‘87 v. – Interestingly, the WWF was shown to be popular with 18-25 year olds, with men twice as well represented as women. 01. – While the World title may not change hands, the US title certainly will, since post-Clash TV direction has Steamboat winning the title and suffering a shoulder injury in the process. Spoiler: Dave gives WarGames 3/4. By on 9th March 2017. “Hey look, it’s Joe Weider” – Not sure what that refers to, but I’m sure we’ll find out. The PPV showdown of 1987 is upon us! It’s Vince v. 96. Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. 21. 20. – So things are getting mighty crowded on TBS, in what would turn out to be a giant turning point for the wrestling industry. (Just wait until Slamboree. 24. 07. – 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. 5 million as a startup amount and NOW got $480,000, and once they’ve blown through that, he’s done. – Fall Brawl was great undercard wrestling, bad main event, and booking filled with more holes than Swiss Cheese. You can view a sneak preview below. 95. Severn. 96 Can I make it more than. Buyrate looks to be between 0. 2 million, making it the largest gate in pro wrestling history. *3/4. He apparently gave WAR $1. 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. Collection. – In the top story, the UFC has decided to drop the superfight concept after the debacle that was Shamrock v. 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. 3-28-1988. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 16. ABBYY FineReader 11. Just like the Untouchables, if you sign two of ours to a guaranteed contract, we sign one of yours to a guaranteed contract! And his hot wife! – Johnny B. Chip screwed up early, but it was decent by the end. 02. 96 By Scott Keith on 15th September 2023 Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Mid Atlantic Gateway and Wrestling Observer historical files. 5-4-1987. 90. 92. 06. By Scott Keith on 19th September 2016. 95. – In the top story of the week, and in fact one of the top stories in wrestling history, Ric Flair was fired from WCW effective immediately when negotiations fell through. ark:/13960/t2z39wg7w. Well, that probably won’t happen again for a while. 94. – But first, speculation is still running rampant in the wake of Ole Anderson getting fired as booker. Davey Boy Smith (“Athletically the best in the business. 95. 26. 96. Smackdown Date: May 12, 2016 Location: Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Byron Saxton, Jerry Lawler. Dave runs down the TV shows over the past month and it’s all classic stuff, like the Magnum TA-Mr. The debut of Giant Gonzalez (who was “wearing Ultimate Warrior’s old underwear”) perked things up again. 01. I’m giddy. Survivor Series!World Wrestling Federation presented a live pay-per-view event special live from Hartford, Conn. Understated Wrestling Observer Debuts! So new to the Memphis area is a prelim guy named Scotty the Body, who is getting booked like a total nothing and apparently his. Topics. Pillman was a little rusty but still got an excellent match out of Wright. Wrestling Observer Flashback–10. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 05. The one in 1995, although you might also assume I was talking about the NXT one recently because that one wasn’t great either. 3-21-1988. Identifier. The 85 issues are quite a trip, since it’s a very different writing style than even these ones. 300. Jim Herd has already killed the wrestling business, and now he’s working on killing the magic business. Ken Wayne found the body after. Brian Pillman pinned Badstreet with a flying bodypress in the light heavyweight tournament semi-final at 6:52. )This argument includes Wrestlemania V, which is widely believed to be the highest grossing wrestling show in HISTORY. – Another quiet week in the world of wrestling, as we’re waiting for Starrcade and Superdome results. ark:/13960/s2tmw3h1hz8. According to Dave’s minions, there was confusion about. 2. 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. So after Masa Chono won the NWA title tournament, Thesz did a press conference for UWFI where he agreed to award his old NWA World title belt to the winner of the UWFI World title match between Takada and Gary. 28. – In the top story, Titan Sports filed a lawsuit against World Championship Wrestling on 6/20, stemming from the invasion angle with Hall and Nash. 03. NEXT WEEK: The Monday Night War begins. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 06. )3. I must now face the eternal dilemma of sports fan who has lost their team in the playoffs: Do you cheer for the bastards that eliminated them because they earned it. By Scott Keith on 19th April 2016. Obviously, doctors gave him some mumbo-jumbo diagnosis about “severe spinal disc and sciatic nerve damage”, and. 30. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. -. 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. Steve Jennum was put into the finals as a last-minute. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. 19. Here’s a shocking story to start this week’s issue: Dave is a really big fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling. But don’t be fooled by the Slow News, as two major promotions actually reach their finales this week, although we didn’t realize it at the time. Winner of the 2016 Doomie Award for Favorite Blog Post!. *. – In Mid-South, we get the first Observer mention of young rookie Sean Michaels in Mid-South, as he pins Jack Victory. This got the most heat of the night from all the sumo fans, because they’re not hardcore wrestling fans and just knew Kitao as the “bad boy”, and thus booed the shit out of him and cheered everything Earthquake did. Also, the fears about Sting winning the IWGP title from Muta proved unfounded, as Muta retained in a disappointing match where he was trying to be The Great Muta instead of Keiji Muto. 88. – Next up TV ratings, which went from an average of 2. 90. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. Ted Dibiase & Virgil beat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes at 9:57. The. The main event. 25. 17. By Scott Keith on 1st June 2019. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. -The Mondo 19 most intriguing personalities of ‘86-30 key pro wrestling personalities of ‘86 with quick bios-Observer Awards, leading news stories of. 16. 01. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. It’s week 3 of the WWF title being held hostage by Diesel! But don’t worry, this can’t possibly last very long. By Scott Keith on 12th June 2016. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. By Scott Keith on 1st January 2021. Topics. While it seemingly wasn’t a major milestone in his life at that. 87. 8 this week. 05. 27. Louis is finally over, and the WWF has won. 16. 96. 02. The low buyrate is being. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. 06. – 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. FLASH REPORT FROM THE TOKYO DOME SHOW ON 1/4! 1. For It’s Time. . By Scott Keith on 14th March 2019. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter. 95. . 29. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. 14. By Scott Keith on 18th October 2016. 28. – Dave is kind of shocked at the response to Wrestlemania, in that it was not only one of the biggest responses to a show that he’s ever had, but also there was pretty much no consensus on the quality of the show, with a fairly even split between thumbs up /. – 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. Rants. 2. I know, I know, what a bombshell. 26. 16. Wrestling breakup and Cornette getting his face shoved in a birthday cake. 19 as I try to get as much done as possible in advance. – Reportedly, World champion Mike Tyson has signed with the WWF to referee a match. – And now, a turning point for the Observer, although we didn’t know it at the time, as Dave announces that he’s taken a job with the National, writing a wrestling column for the paper. Also, be sure to check out the SquaredCircle subreddit, where some dude is RIPPING OFF MY. 29. Wrestling Observer Flashback–07. 86. 95. (Clearly Wrestlemania had not become the thing it is today, because $429 barely gets you a nosebleed seat at this point. THE WAR IS ON. The Twin Towers beat the Rockers at 8:02 when Akeem splashed and pinned Michaels. 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 – 08. 90. 13. A wrestling fan creating original content for YouTube based on my love for pro-wrestling. It was basically just a backdrop for the Virgil babyface turn. I feel like that can’t be a coincidence. ABBYY FineReader 11. 0-1. – 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. 11. 94. 1985 Wrestling Observer Yearbook. 95. There’s a big main event at the Tokyo Dome! And it sure didn’t go down how anyone expected. By Scott Keith on 7th March 2017. 2. – Chris was of course around wrestling dressing rooms his whole life, and idolized Kerry in junior high to the point where he’d dress and act like him. 09. 09. – Both the WWF and Crockett are running Philly on 10/18, but there’s a law on the books that says no two wrestling promotions can run shows within 25 miles of each other, and the respective arenas are less than 25 miles away. 96 (Part Two) BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE! – ECW also held their biggest show ever, the 1996 November to Remember, which was an immediate sellout of 1500 people at the ECW Arena, and Dave even attended the show! – Steve Richards pinned David Morton Tyler Jericho in 9:25, as Stevie had his. 21. Baba had actually been. Warrior pinned Haku with the shoulderblock and splash in 4:48. history-of-wcw. 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,. 06. 07. The NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship was the top singles title in Maple Leaf Wrestling from 1978 until 1984,. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. Wrestling Observer Flashback: 07. “Which is great for wrestling, I guess. 95. – 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. In fact, even today I’m not sure that those title switches are counted as part of the “real” count of Flair’s title reigns because the NWA did such a bang-up job of denial that. By Scott Keith on 27th October 2016. – The WWF is reportedly considering adding a weekly Saturday PPV show, according to trade journal reports. The team (Gene and Ole Anderson) dominated tag team. This hold up comes on the heels of two other major stories: Hennig is supposed to be heading to WWF, meanwhile. 26, 1994 (Final Post for 1994) Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. Slaughter for “stealing the character”. 15. 5 to 2. Crockett! Dusty v. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. – The show drew 7000 with 4700 paid and a $94,000 house. 60 (150,000 buys) for King of the Ring. At 4:00, Warrior splashed Demolition Axe. Welcome to 1996 WCW, notes our teaser for this week. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. 96. Wolf, where. 03. 86. 3. – Dave feels that the team of Sting & Rick Steiner are improving so rapidly that they’ll be one of the best in the world by the summer. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. 96. 95. It’s the year end awards issue! Lots to argue about here, I’m sure. – Anyway, moving on…. 15. – Dave’s opening salvo this week: “After its television show reached a new low in. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. – Kevin Sullivan is a road agent now and appears done with wrestling. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. The match died once Flair went out.