Well, 1988, as much as I love and care about you, it’s time our relationship came to an end again, just like James and Natalie on Big Brother last night. – In Mid-South, we get the first Observer mention of young rookie Sean Michaels in Mid-South, as he pins Jack Victory. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. (1) Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom & Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich) beat Team Demolition & Mr. ” notes Dave. 31. Baba had actually been. Dave has no idea how successful it’ll be. 87. 92 By Scott Keith on 20th March 2017 Hey, it’s another month with missing issues, as Dave has this one and the August 10 one on the site, and then it skips to September. . (Clearly Wrestlemania had not become the thing it is today, because $429 barely gets you a nosebleed seat at this point. Sid actually drew pretty big on the East coast, doing 11,000 at the Nassau Coliseum and 8000 in Philly. 25. 95. 05. 22. Earthquake John Tenta was scheduled to work a tour for EMLL in Mexico, but left after one show, claiming he was stiffed on his payoff. Oh, Dave. By Scott Keith on 1st October 2017. Brian Pillman pinned Badstreet with a flying bodypress in the light heavyweight tournament semi-final at 6:52. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. Wrestling Observer Historical Pieces. Couldn’t do this one last night, because Daredevil is a thing that exists. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. 1985. This should be good. 96. The first wrestling move of the match came at 10:00, which was Hogan no-selling the powerbomb and making his comeback. – The Rougeaus are telling Montreal newspapers that they’re taking a one year sabbatical from wrestling before returning late in 1990. *. 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. After Stan Lane lost to the Patriot on the Global show, Cornette launched into a tirade about how it was a conspiracy against Stan, just like the cops conspired against his good friend. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. . 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. Rude/Vader tag match, the highest rating for any wrestling match on TV in more than a year. – 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. Bobby Eaton pinned Terrence Taylor in 15:41 with the Alabama Jam. 96. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 06. Despite running in the red for the past three years, both WCW and the WWF are confident that they’re going to be profitable in 1995 thanks to this new-fangled PPV market. Topics. 04. 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. 96. – Reportedly, World champion Mike Tyson has signed with the WWF to referee a match. I feel like that can’t be a coincidence. 23. ark:/13960/s2tmw3h1hz8. I’m giddy. Although this one is dated after the Bash ‘90 PPV, the issue is written before. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. Time to welcome in 2021 with everyone’s favorite blog column! And to celebrate, I’m currently three drinks in with “Best Rock of 1988” on Spotify in the background, so hopefully I’ve got lots to snark on tonight. Manuel Cruz (Jose Gonzalez) b Beauregarde;. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 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. 90. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. The 85 issues are quite a trip, since it’s a very different writing style than even these ones. 96. 27. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 02. 567. I’m not. The government side says it’s for “tactical reasons”, while the WWF. – 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 –04. Well, that probably won’t happen again for a while. Wrestling Observer Flashback–01. Topics. So with the year in PPV finally caught up, let us venture back to the world of 1994 again, with rumors of Hulk Hogan. tesseract 5. 95. 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. – Inoki’s business-killing freakshow ended up drawing 11,000 people for somewhere between $800,000 – $1. 94. 16. 8 this week. 26. He says he was promised $2,500 and they only paid him $1,500. 20. Shinjiro Otani retained the UWA junior heavyweight title pinning El Samurai. C. *1/4. (This is why. Mid Atlantic Gateway and Wrestling Observer historical files. ark:/13960/t2z39wg7w. Wrestling Observer Flashback–05. By Scott Keith on 12th June 2016. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. 16. Well this should do better than NWA Powerrr at least. – So things are getting mighty crowded on TBS, in what would turn out to be a giant turning point for the wrestling industry. 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. 2. For It’s Time. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 07. – To the WWF, where Wrestlemania III passed 70,000 tickets sold, officially making it the largest crowd ever to witness a wrestling show in North America. The NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship was the top singles title in Maple Leaf Wrestling from 1978 until 1984,. 4. Tenta was pretty over during his one appearance, so EMLL is trying to get him back. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. 29. 10-28-1991. And here we had gone for almost two months without a death. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. 1. 94. 15. 96. Terry Funk has retired. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 15. A total brawl with great heat, although the DQ was called for no apparent reason. Which is still 10 pages long. 05. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. 13. 17. So apparently the WrestleWar 92 issue (05/25/92) is missing from the F4WOnline. Also, Prime Time Wrestling is just getting destroyed on Monday nights and is down to a 1. I guess I’ll just be typing one-handed. 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. And since “long term thinking” these days is “three. ”This is horrible, Gorilla. 07. Wrestling Observer Flashback–09. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. – 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. Scanner. It’s kind of hard to say what to expect around here as the show has been bouncing back and forth between focusing on the Intercontinental Title feud and then the World Title situation. 0-1. The New Foundation beat the Orient Express in 17:18. By Scott Keith on 20th September 2016. 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. No one tell Donald Trump. – 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. Big stuff in the news this week, and the start of the biggest shift in coverage in the history of the Observer. 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. – 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. Perfect. 96. 27. – 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. 95. By Scott Keith on 1st January 2021. George Scott has been fired as booker and replaced by the duo of Gary Hart and David Manning, so things are at least booked better now. 16. I just don’t think things are gonna work out for that promotion. 94. 90. Rants. -. The main event saw Tito Santana beating Bob Orton for the newly created AWF title in a *3/4 match. 15. The WWF drew 16000 and Crockett drew 3000, so point to Vince on that one. – Next up TV ratings, which went from an average of 2. 96. Winner of the 2016 Doomie Award for Favorite Blog Post!. The debut of Giant Gonzalez (who was “wearing Ultimate Warrior’s old underwear”) perked things up again. Ted Dibiase & Virgil beat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes at 9:57. 94 So it turns out that WCW’s record buyrate for Halloween Havoc wasn’t quite what they anticipated… – The buyrate for Havoc 94 currently sits at 0. 87. This is the incredible story about the people who brought Lucha Libre into America in the 1990s and the many challenges they faced! Hijo del Santo and Blue. 95. 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. 11-4-1991. So in fact apparently there was a shitload of wrestling fans in Chicago that weekend ready to spend money, but advantage Verne on that night. Wrestling Observer Flashback – Bret v. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 86. Wrestling Observer Flashback–10. At one point, UWFI was one of the biggest success stories in wrestling, and in 1993, they drew 46,000 fans to a. By Scott Keith on 14th March 2019. Observer Flashbacks; Wrestling Observer Flashback–04. 94. – Mexico’s wrestling companies are gearing up for a full-scale strike of wrestlers and referees, with syndicate head Manny Guzman calling for job action over EMLL’s network TV deal. 27. 06. Dave sarcastically notes that “it sure turned Brett Sawyer. 01. – Once again, it’s time for the most awesome feature in Observer Flashback history: – Our favorite whipping boy promotion, the UWF, debuted in New York with a TV taping, and surprisingly both Honky Tonk. – 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. But I think it’s a pretty famous case of hotline sleaze related to Blackwell’s death. 0 (Extended OCR) Ppi. Was shit real before? Well, it’s about to become real. Dave notes we. 95. 5 to a 2. 22. 96. 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. 93. It's great historical reading of the rise and fall of wrestling's biggest boom period. OK, let’s get back into these again. 96. Trying to power through this one before UFC 200. I like how even the editors of the Observer site are scoring off Dave with the headline on this one. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. 7. Identifier-ark. Continue reading Rants. – Anyway, moving on…. – The Sheik did an extremely rare job, submitting to Onita’s boston crab in just 3:18 at the latest FMW show. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. 11. 95. 5. A January 1966 issue of Vue magazine featuring Bill Hook and his octopus-wrestling adventures in Victoria, B. – Van Hammer won the arm wrestling tournament, beating Ron Simmons in the finals, which Dave interprets as continuing his newfound push. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. The team (Gene and Ole Anderson) dominated tag team. Dave is pretty sure Gonzalez will draw as long as he’s never allowed to touch anyone ever. 96. 96 IT’S TIME. 14. Rants. – In the top story, Sports Illustrated had a story on the WWF in March, and no one in mainstream media really gave a shit. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. 10-21-1991. – Vince McMahon is apparently planning to sue Sgt. – Lead story is the WWF planning a giant stadium show in Milwaukee, which ended up being called WrestleFest 88, to basically screw with Crockett’s plans to run a Bash show the night after. It drew a legit sellout of 5708 to West Palm Beach. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. 90. Marc Mero pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 16:23. wrestlingmagazinesmisc;. In fact, Dave thinks that people’s hatred of the dancing gimmick is overshadowing how much he’s improved as a worker. The match died once Flair went out. Wrestling Observer Flashback–05. – On the bright side, Warrior v. 16. Pillman tried a crucifix and Wright reversed it for the pin. Identifier. Ocr. Oh, Dave. Piper on top. 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 realize it at the time. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. Whoa oh, whoa oh, it’s Wrestlemania. So you picked a great time to start reading! – In the top story, Jerry Lawler was accused of being a very, very bad boy. 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. – 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. D if wrestling was fake and got slapped around pretty good as a result. . Dave also lists the match with the Rock N Roll Express v. – Another quiet week in the world of wrestling, as we’re waiting for Starrcade and Superdome results. Obviously, doctors gave him some mumbo-jumbo diagnosis about “severe spinal disc and sciatic nerve damage”, and. ) – 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. wrestling business himself, negotiating with Buster Douglas for a Tokyo Dome show in March. – All Japan on 9/17 saw the debut of former Olympic wrestler Jun Akiyama, who was pinned by Kenta Kobashi in the semi-main of the show. Papa Shango ran in for the DQ, and Ultimate Warrior made the save, complete with entrance music. 09. – Bam Bam Bigelow is trying to get into the WWF, but word from on high is that he’s “too inexperienced”. 95. 19. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. window replacement in Elkhart, IN. 96. ABBYY FineReader 11. “Which is great for wrestling, I guess. 23. Well, one week left until the WWF really goes off a cliff. He was the person credited with popularizing the superplex, although he didn’t invent it. Wrestling breakup and Cornette getting his face shoved in a birthday cake. ”. – 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 3-28-1988. – Actually, first it’s a bit of political talk, as Hiroshi Hase won election to the senate in Japan. Louis is finally over, and the WWF has won. The feeling is that running a show in the traditional Sunday timeslot where live shows draw will kill off the house shows. 23. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 14. 19. The taped episode of RAW wasn’t particularly different than any other one they’ve. Wrestling Flashback publishes wrestling list videos, top 10’s, the history of classic. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 96 Can I make it more than two weeks in a row? TUNE INTO NITRO TO FIND OUT! – In our top story this week, UFC presented the Ultimate Ultimate 2! Dave is really into this shit all of a sudden. 19. Newsletter, Magazine, Wrestling, WWF, WCW, All Japan, New Japan. 96. – Art Barr’s petition for a wrestling license was denied by the commission once again. Slaughter for “stealing the character”. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. 94. 09. com archives, and any other sources I’ve checked, so we’re skipping ahead a week. 30. 07. OK, 2005 posts are FINALLY complete, and I got to see Star Wars, so let’s get back to Observing. By Scott Keith on 10th July 2016. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. Warrior pinned Haku with the shoulderblock and splash in 4:48. – Two major World title changes since the last issue as well, with Vader winning the WCW World title back from Ron Simmons on 12/30 in Baltimore, and Great Muta beating Masa Chono to win the. He wears a buffalo head to the ring and everyone backstage was making fun of his gimmick. By Scott Keith on 22nd August 2022. 77, or about the same as Starrcade. Eaton did a scary kneedrop from the top rope to the ramp outside the ring for the highlight of the match. – Moving on, Joe Pedicino has purchased Jerry Jarrett’s syndicated TV network with the millions of dollars he’s got coming from Nigeria. It’s week 3 of the WWF title being held hostage by Diesel! But don’t worry, this can’t possibly last very long. *. 24. – We’ll skip past the Mr. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. 27th May 2016 by Scott Keith. I’ve noticed a sudden uptick in 1985-related questions on the Wrestling Observer radio show lately. 22. 6. Tenryu as the main event of a show on 2/7. 60 and 0. 18. Davey Boy Smith (“Athletically the best in the business. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. Baba apparently has plans to give Akiyama a major push down the line. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 03. Lots of people have claimed to have discovered him, for example. 90. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. 7th. 94. 26. 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. 95. Identifier-ark. – 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. Chelsea Anne Cardona (née: Green; born April 4, 1991) is a Canadian professional wrestler, stuntwoman, and model. But first! An update on the Shawn Michaels incident in Syracuse. 1985 Wrestling Observer Yearbook. 3/4. – 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. Collection. At the latest WWF tapings, a guy named Mantaur debuted. 94. 21,499 likes · 18,642 talking about this. 96 IT’S TIME. Dave, however, cites the court case of Boy v. Production quality was high, the wrestling quality not so much. 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. 90 / 07. Continue reading. – 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. 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. – In Japan, SWS continues to alienate Japanese wrestling fans by booking WARLORD v. Perfect won a battle royale in 12:55. – Jim Cornette continues bringing the funny. 3. 21. Newsletter, Magazine, Wrestling, WWF, WCW, All Japan, New Japan. And now, Dave would like to talk about PPV. Did you think that Best of ECW Volumes 1 and 2 was as EXTREME as the blog was getting this week? Then prepare yourself, because it’s time for WCW UNCENSORED!– The weirdest story of the week comes from Japan (shocking, I know) where Lou Thesz is making waves in the business again. 95. But goddamn is “Eyes of a Stranger. 88. By Scott Keith on 4th June 2016. Raw drew its best 18-49 number since the start of football season. – Latest word on Maeda is that he’s got a new promotion in March, but Takada won’t come with. 95. – Kevin Sullivan is a road agent now and appears done with wrestling. Crockett! Dusty v. 29. 5 to 2. 26. Rants. – 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. 60 (150,000 buys) for King of the Ring. 96. com~!Wrestling Observer Rewind • Dec. Wrestlemania III was the best wrestling. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 05.