29. He apparently gave WAR $1. 567. Mid Atlantic Gateway and Wrestling Observer historical files. 13. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. THE WAR IS ON. 07. Ocr. Sorry. Dave thinks it was counterproductive to kill off the Rockers like that. 11. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 01. 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. I feel like that can’t be a coincidence. – The new Stampede Wrestling has already taken all but one of the WWF’s TV clearances in Western Canada, so this doesn’t seem to be a winning venture for Vince. This isn’t unique in itself, but if Idol. Rants. 91. A wrestling fan creating original content for YouTube based on my love for pro-wrestling. 95. 96. 95. By Scott Keith on 22nd September 2023 Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. By Scott Keith on 29th August 2016. By Scott Keith on 22nd August 2022. – Latest word on Maeda is that he’s got a new promotion in March, but Takada won’t come with. 95. 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. – Brad Armstrong will be coming back again, this time as the Candy Man, who throws candy to the kids as his gimmick. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 06. Despite the strained relationship, Florida still bills itself as NWA wrestling. 95. 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. By Scott Keith on 16th December 2017. But goddamn is “Eyes of a Stranger. Slaughter for “stealing the character”. 25. Wrestling Observer Flashback – Bret v. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 05. Wrestling Observer Flashback–12. 95. 31. – Van Hammer won the arm wrestling tournament, beating Ron Simmons in the finals, which Dave interprets as continuing his newfound push. 96. Louis Wrestling Club from running. 06. Thanks for reading! UWFI president and top star Nobuhiko Takada announced that the company is officially going out of business and that the final show will be held this week. 5-11-1987. He was at the other guys’ PPVs this year taking notes, as well as New Japan and All Japan’s major shows. 3. – 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. 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. 4. Let’s take a break from being nostalgic for 1998 and be nostalgic for 1994 again for a bit! – It’s been quiet in the wrestling world leading up to Halloween Havoc, Dave notes. Current talk is a rematch with Shawn Michaels at Summerslam in a ladder. 03. Dodge Iowa. 95. Pillman tried a crucifix and Wright reversed it for the pin. Wrestling Flashback publishes wrestling list videos, top 10’s, the history of classic. . 95. Lots of people have claimed to have discovered him, for example. Mike stuff and get into the main event: STARRCADE ‘84. Newsletter, Magazine, Wrestling, WWF, WCW, All Japan, New Japan. Dave thinks that the competition will be mostly for the better, with faster-moving storylines and better wrestling on TV. By Scott Keith on 19th March 2016. 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. He was the person credited with popularizing the superplex, although he didn’t invent it. 95. Buyrate looks to be between 0. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 09. 95. 19. 16. ). This week, a big name goes to the rival promotion in the thick of the Monday Night Wars! Call my hotline now to find out the answer! – Hiroshi Hase made a surprising jump from New Japan to All Japan this week, announcing on 9/29 that he’s starting with AJPW in January. 5-4-1987. Ocr. Well this should do better than NWA Powerrr at least. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. 23. Well, that probably won’t happen again for a while. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. By Scott Keith on 12th June 2016. 21,499 likes · 18,642 talking about this. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. – The big story this week is Dave’s preview of the Ultimate Ultimate 96!. So apparently the WrestleWar 92 issue (05/25/92) is missing from the F4WOnline. – Kevin Sullivan is a road agent now and appears done with wrestling. 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. 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”. – In the Deep South, the main guys are Wrestling II and Tommy Rich, and they run out of Georgia. . Dave runs down the TV shows over the past month and it’s all classic stuff, like the Magnum TA-Mr. – Latest figures are in, and WCW is looking like a 0. 2. Production quality was high, the wrestling quality not so much. 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. Rants. Warrior pinned Haku with the shoulderblock and splash in 4:48. 96. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. By Dave Meltzer Nov 21, 2023. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. The Road Warriors beat the Midnight Express in a scaffold match in 3:00, which kind of ruins their videotape business, Dave thinks. 25. You can view a sneak preview below. ABBYY FineReader 11. 3. Rude/Vader tag match, the highest rating for any wrestling match on TV in more than a year. – So things are getting mighty crowded on TBS, in what would turn out to be a giant turning point for the wrestling industry. – The Wrestling Classic, scheduled to be the first ever nationally available PPV show, will feature a 16 man tournament, plus Hogan v. – The Sheik did an extremely rare job, submitting to Onita’s boston crab in just 3:18 at the latest FMW show. 2 victory. – 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. By Scott Keith on 5th February 2016. Tenryu as the main event of a show on 2/7. According to Dave’s minions, there was confusion about. – Antonio Inoki is trying to get into the boxer v. – In a story that seems small but kind of ended up heralding the end of an era in wrestling, the way. 95 Guys, I don’t think this UFC thing is gonna be around much longer if lawmakers have their way! – The debate over whether UFC and the other events like it should be banned has been raging in the press and the city of Denver has become a hotspot for the controversy. The first wrestling move of the match came at 10:00, which was Hogan no-selling the powerbomb and making his comeback. It's great historical reading of the rise and fall of wrestling's biggest boom period. 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. It’s like Wrestlemania, but for NEWS. 2 million, making it the largest gate in pro wrestling history. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. *. 05. 05. 96 IT’S TIME. 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. Addeddate. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. By Scott Keith on 19th April 2016. – San Fran is the big head-to-head battle between the AWA and WWF, and Vince won that one handily thus far. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. By Scott Keith on 1st January 2021. 04. 23, because for every viewer gained on Nitro, there was a viewer lost on Saturdays and it kind of averaged out. Survivor Series!World Wrestling Federation presented a live pay-per-view event special live from Hartford, Conn. 96. – Dave sums up the last PPV of 1996 as “solid but unspectacular”. – The WWF announced that the Wrestling Classic did about 60,000 buys on PPV, which was 200,000 less than their announced projections. 5 million as a startup amount and NOW got $480,000, and once they’ve blown through that, he’s done. While it seemingly wasn’t a major milestone in his life at that. 96 (Part Two) – In the top story, “Sycle” Sid won the WWF title in the main event of the Survivor Series. – The WWF is reportedly considering adding a weekly Saturday PPV show, according to trade journal reports. Continue reading Rants. – Vince McMahon is apparently planning to sue Sgt. 26. The team (Gene and Ole Anderson) dominated tag team. Chelsea Anne Cardona (née: Green; born April 4, 1991) is a Canadian professional wrestler, stuntwoman, and model. This hold up comes on the heels of two other major stories: Hennig is supposed to be heading to WWF, meanwhile. 1. 16. 3/4. I know, I know, what a bombshell. Wrestling Observer Flashback–03. on November 22, 1990 – “Survivor Series ’90. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. )3. 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. 95. 94. At one point, UWFI was one of the biggest success stories in wrestling, and in 1993, they drew 46,000 fans to a. 90. 86. – We’ll skip past the Mr. Internet Archive HTML5 Uploader 1. By Scott Keith on 1st June 2019. – 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. Rants. 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. 20. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 10. But this week, we’ve got Summerslam to attend to. 18. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. By Scott Keith on 3rd October 2019. 2022-03-05 07:34:36. 1986 Wrestling Observer Yearbook. 01. 95 (Carrying on! Another one written on or about 09. 94. And here we had gone for almost two months without a death. 96. Marc Mero pinned Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 16:23. 1985 Wrestling Observer Yearbook. – In Japan, SWS continues to alienate Japanese wrestling fans by booking WARLORD v. 14. 95. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. – Also on the show, Scott Norton & Tony Halme won the IWGP tag titles from the Steiner Brothers in kind of a stinker. 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. I was actually going to redo the Halloween Havoc 90 rant based on the full PPV version that I’ve never seen…but the Network only has the Turner Home Video version. 06. This was the one and only match in the whole tournament that actually showed why the division could. 27th May 2016 by Scott Keith. – Eddie Gilbert was found dead in his apartment in Puerto Rico on 2/18, at age 33. Lesson the Fourth: Antonio Pena is the new innovator in wrestling and everyone should listen to him. – 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. I guess I’ll just be typing one-handed. Chip screwed up early, but it was decent by the end. 4. It’s week 3 of the WWF title being held hostage by Diesel! But don’t worry, this can’t possibly last very long. Everything is confusing and it’s all centering on the AWA. 29. They even flew in Steve DiSalvo as part of the ring crew to. WWE News. 95. 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. The WWF drew 16000 and Crockett drew 3000, so point to Vince on that one. 86. 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. -The Mondo 19 most intriguing personalities of ‘86-30 key pro wrestling personalities of ‘86 with quick bios-Observer Awards, leading news stories of. 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. 300. Owen Hart was the second-best star of the show after Flair. 15th September 2023 by Scott Keith Rants Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 11. Nasty Boys retained the tag titles over the Bushwackers in 6:46. Public Enemy went to a double DQ with the Nasty Boys in 4:02. – The WWF is on hiatus for a bit after WM, so Dave apologizes in advance for the light news week. The taped episode of RAW wasn’t particularly different than any other one they’ve. 27. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. Curiosity over Kevin’s return is. 0 (Extended OCR) Ppi. The debut of Giant Gonzalez (who was “wearing Ultimate Warrior’s old underwear”) perked things up again. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. 95. – 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. 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. – 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. 77, or about the same as Starrcade. Back to the trenches after taking Friday off! And the big story this week is an abject lesson in John Lennon’s famous saying, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans”. – 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. 19. 96. Well, sort of. Wrestling Observer Flashback–06. (1) Ultimate Warrior & Legion of Doom & Texas Tornado (Kerry Von Erich) beat Team Demolition & Mr. – 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. 3-21-1988. I know this year has been a slog, but we’re getting closer to September, when the magic happens! But first, WWF returns to your house! Whether you wanted them there or not. Steve Jennum was put into the finals as a last-minute. I like how even the editors of the Observer site are scoring off Dave with the headline on this one. 95. There are moments when you can pinpoint exactly when a major promotion started to go completely off the rails. 28. 11th January 2017 by Scott Keith. Brian Pillman pinned Badstreet with a flying bodypress in the light heavyweight tournament semi-final at 6:52. com & WrestlingObserver. Daprice did every issue for the 90's through 2001. Main event is. Sid actually drew pretty big on the East coast, doing 11,000 at the Nassau Coliseum and 8000 in Philly. Wrestling Observer Flashback–08. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. 11. – 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. Back in the saddle with these again. 88. 14. 19 as I try to get as much done as possible in advance. ABBYY FineReader 11. 20 to an average of 2. Ric Flair pinned Butch Reed in 14:13 to earn a tag title shot at Starrcade. He does 100 but we’ll just do the top 10 because otherwise I’d have to break this up into 5 parts instead of 2. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 04. – Jim Cornette continues bringing the funny. 96. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03. – Jim Crockett’s promotion was down to 575 people on 12/3, with a main event of Kevin Von Erich & Chris Adams over Dick Murdoch & Black Bart. 16. 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. Dave notes we. 26. 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. The NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship was the top singles title in Maple Leaf Wrestling from 1978 until 1984,. The PPV showdown of 1987 is upon us! It’s Vince v. The grand plan for five days a week has been dropped and ESPN will air reruns of Pro Wrestling This Week instead. Severn. – 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. 87. Which is still 10 pages long. He literally stole Verne’s TV slot out from under him (the AWA wasn’t even told by the station until the day the show was supposed to air!) and Verne’s big show at the Cow Palace in March as a complete debacle due to scheduling. 20. 93. – 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. 25. 01. 90. Wrestling Observer Flashback–10. – 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. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 02. Wrestling Observer Flashback–11. 21. He wears a buffalo head to the ring and everyone backstage was making fun of his gimmick. This week is one of them. It’s time for SUMMERSLAM! But first, the WWF is messing with their PPV schedule again. 18. – 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. This group will likely merge in and out with SWS and make appearances on their shows, and will have the pro wrestling ga-ga that Fujiwara wanted to work into the UWF promotion originally. Apparently Bret Hart’s negotiations with WCW were so potentially fruitful that someone else is wanting to give it a try. 6. 03. Couldn’t do this one last night, because Daredevil is a thing that exists. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 11. wrestling business himself, negotiating with Buster Douglas for a Tokyo Dome show in March. 5 to a 2. – 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. Ware on 12/14, as expected. 95 I love that the teaser for this one on the site is “Hotline sleaze award winner” because really it could be ANYTHING coming out of Mean Gene’s mouth. Maybe if I skim over the Eddie Gilbert stuff it’ll get done easier. Continue reading. I’m actually recovering from a shoulder injury at work today but I’ll power through an Observer Flashback for you. 02. (Clearly Wrestlemania had not become the thing it is today, because $429 barely gets you a nosebleed seat at this point. – 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. – 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. Terry Funk has retired. This should be good. 19. 90. And NOW the main event! Hog Wild 96 and the introduction of the Observer Hall. – Dave also got to see some tapes from Puerto Rico, which gives us the Observer debut of Invader #1, aka Stabby McMurderer. Ken Wayne found the body after. Wrestling Observer Rewind ★ Dec. Wrestling Observer Flashback–02. Shinjiro Otani retained the UWA junior heavyweight title pinning El Samurai. Wrestling Observer Flashback–10. Raw drew its best 18-49 number since the start of football season. Dusty missed a blind charge and got pinned by Ted for the finish, ending his WWF career. Ted Dibiase & Virgil beat Dusty & Dustin Rhodes at 9:57. Also, Prime Time Wrestling is just getting destroyed on Monday nights and is down to a 1. OK, let’s get back into these again. – On the bright side, Warrior v. 96 Apparently it’s time for WCW to get rowdy. Owen won with a Rocket Launcher on Tanaka. The show would air live every Saturday night, from New York, and would cater heavily to an. I’ve noticed a sudden uptick in 1985-related questions on the Wrestling Observer radio show lately. 96. I’m giddy. 96. 0. Trying these in the afternoon again because the blog is always SUPER dead after lunchtime. 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. 95. To the news!This is up for them, and Dave notes what a great night for wrestling that Thanksgiving really is, because even Central States almost drew money! Later, he corrects a previous title change, noting that Art Crews actually won the TV title from Gary Royal on 11/27 in Ft. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 08. 26. 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,. By Scott Keith on 10th July 2016. 2. Dave thinks that the WWF is turning into more of a circus of litigation than a wrestling company. Piper on top. I’m not. The biggest story of the week is actually buried way down. In fact, Dave thinks that people’s hatred of the dancing gimmick is overshadowing how much he’s improved as a worker. Wrestling Observer Flashback –04. Oh, Dave. 88. 96. 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. – In the top story, Sports Illustrated had a story on the WWF in March, and no one in mainstream media really gave a shit. Manuel Cruz (Jose Gonzalez) b Beauregarde;. 16. 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. 5. 14. – Art Barr’s petition for a wrestling license was denied by the commission once again. 15. 07. Wrestling Observer Flashback – 12. By Scott Keith on 26th May 2016. FLASH REPORT FROM THE TOKYO DOME SHOW ON 1/4! 1. Warlord won a battle royale by tossing out Ricky Steamboat. 04. So I guess it’s a Wrestling Observer Flashback Flashback. – Inoki’s business-killing freakshow ended up drawing 11,000 people for somewhere between $800,000 – $1.