WWF Observer notes

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Strike Force didn't compete at Series '88; Martel was "injured."

 

Santana was on Warrior/Beefcake's team, I think.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

The Can Ams were basically erased from WWF history, since Vince had wanted to build them into the WWF's Rock & Roll Express, then Zenk bailed, which I guess really pissed off Vince.

[reign 0]

I never knew who Zenk was until I read his website columns and then I checked out some of his stuff...good worker and had some cool matches with Pillman but his real talent was putting a typed beatdown on the WWE...I would pay fucking money to have all of his old articles...those things used to have me in tears especially the one that got him in hot water(HHH as Lex Luger, Stephanie as Elizabeth 911 call)..some of the best and funny writing that I ever seen. It's a shame that they're lost to the world and that he'll never finish his book because Vince is an asshole scared of criticsim.

[cabbageboy 0]

Really? I thought Strike Force was in the 88 Survivor Series match with the 10 tag teams. That's a lot of teams though, haven't seen that PPV in over a decade. I would like to see the first two S. Series shows again.

[CanadianChris 0]

Easy to think that, but the fifth team on the face side was the Young Stallions (Roma and Powers). The Conquistadors evened up the JTTS quotient on the heel side.

[Frankie Williams 0]

Zenk was a pretty good wrestler but was HORRID on the mic.

[cabbageboy 0]

I do remember the Conquistadors were the last survivors on the heel side of that epic tag match. That was awesome, haha. Of course the Powers of Pain destroyed them.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

With help from Fuji, of course.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Strike Force also had a badass rematch with the Hart Foundation at MSG 11/87.

[landy1987 0]

This is the last one I'm doing as I'm not gonna have time at all to do anymore. There's a lot of stuff covered here by Dave.

 

9/7/87

 

Long-time Houston wrestling personality Paul Boesch had a farewell show in his honor on 8/28 before a sellout of 10,000 at the Houston Coliseum. It was a unique card, not only in that six non-WWF wrestlers worked the show, but also that Titan brought in literally dozens of former wrestling greats to Houston to attend Boesch's farewell card as promoter. Some of the mat world notables in attendance included Lou Thesz, Gene Kiniski, Verne Gagne, Jose Lothario, Ernie Ladd, Tiger Conway Sr., (who got a big reaction), Red Bastein, Billy Red Lyons, Jack Tunney, Vince McMahon, Pat Patterson, Sputnik Monroe, Bronko Lubich, Boris Malenko, Nick & Jerry Kozak, Cyclone Anaya (also got a big reaction), Mike Mazurki, Danny McShane (another one who got a huge reaction), Stu Hart, Jesse James, Jim Casey, Ox Anderson and probably several others I apologize for leaving out. It came off like a big event should have and the crowd seemed to enjoy the trips down memory lane every bit as much as most of the matches. Vice President George Bush even sent a congratulatory telegram to Boesch, commending him for his 55 years in the pro-wrestling industry.

 

I've got several comments to make regarding comparisons between the two leading wrestling companies in this country, Titan Sports, and Jim Crockett promotions. After seeing several different types of Titan shows (a small-town spot show, a major TV taping and a heavily-hyped "greatest card in Houston wrestling" type Supercard) within a week, and also with all the JCP shows I've seen the past few weeks, the two groups seem to be almost like night and day. I really don't believe the two are in as much competition for the same fans as many would believe. They attract a very different type of audience and their live shows are totally different both in product and atmosphere. As most of you know, there are things I both like and dislike about both groups and if anything, those same positives and negatives are more obvious to me now than ever before.

 

When it comes to the product between the ropes--the matches themselves--there is no comparison between the groups. Now there are exceptions to what I'm saying, obviously Ted DiBiase is as good as any JCP wrestler technically, he doesn't miss moves, blow up; etc. At the same time, Bugsy McGraw or Jimmy Valiant are worse than all but the Outhouse Jacks and the Junkfood Dogs of the Titan world (and yes, those two are worse than Valiant). But by and large, the JCP wrestlers have more intense battles, miss much fewer moves, are more competent as workers and work a whole lot harder in the ring than their Titan counterparts. I was really amazed in Houston as how many wrestlers, working a much slower pace than I was used to from the JCP guys, still were breathing heavy just five minutes into the match. Lex Luger may be the exception to the rule with JCP, but there are plenty of Titan guys in worse cardiovascular shape.

 

Aside from the matches themselves, Titan's advantages over JCP are so obvious that to borrow an overused cliché, Ray Charles could see them. The Titan shows, whether they be in a small town or a major city, come off to the fans as very professional, major league and organized. The crowd is different in that they are generally better behaved, and for the most part ignorant of the wrestling aspect anyway. For someone with only a slight bit of interest in wrestling, the Titan shows would be far more appealing and for an upbeat atmosphere, they are well above the competition. I saw three Titan shows this week, a spot card in Santa Cruz which had almost no bumps and even fewer high spots, but the crowd was into the personalities and it was even a fun show even though the matches were terrible--until the Hart Foundation/Rougeaus match which was so dreadful I felt like I was watching four guys named Larry Zbyszko. The TV tapings in San Francisco--as a fan in the arena--was a bad show. I've already received literally dozens of letters and phone calls on how bad that was--basically by the third hour, the crowd was drained and most of the sellout crowd of 14,700 came to see Hulk Hogan and sine they didn't know for the most part, that three television shows and an MTV video were being taped, many felt "used." Houston on 8/28, as I said before, came off very well and the crowd seemed to enjoy it a great deal, even though the matches weren't that good. One thing Houston showed me, however, is since they were taping TV 9either for local use or for Prime Time Wrestling, not sure), the wrestlers all worked hard. However, for the most part, even when these guys work, most of them aren't of the calibre of wrestlers--or even near that calibre--that their competition is.

 

Back to the TV taping, however, I don't know how much Titan spends per taping (I wouldn't be surprised at all if the figure exceeds $100,000) but it is so professionally done and first class that from the casual fans' eyes, its glitter, production values, well-timed entrances, distractions from the bad matches (with those interviews insets), short matches so most attention is directed at the entrance, etc. makes it appear totally superior to its competition. That, along with better marketing explains why Titan is No. 1 by such as great deal. The fact is that most markets (and there are exceptions, for the most part any market that was real "hot" for action wrestling for example), the quality of the matches themselves do not bring the fans back--it is whether or not the atmosphere is upbeat and Titan's atmosphere at two of the three shows I saw was very upbeat. It is far more important to get the babyfaces hand raised in the main event than to have tons of great working matches…

 

8/28 at Sam Houston Coliseum - "Paul Boesch's final show": 1. Sam Houston pinned Steve Lombardi with a bulldog headlock in 14:00. Houston got a great reception and seemed to be enjoying himself. Lombardi isn't the best type of foe for Houston because Houston is into taking wild bumps and Lombardi's offense is mainly traditional face-rakes and stomps. Good for a Titan opener. **

2. Bruno Sammartino downed Hercules Hernandez in 6:00 via count out. Very little reaction to this match, both guys got tired real fast and there were lots of restholds for such a short match. Bruno still has very quick hands when he throws his flurries, but unless you are in the Northeast where he is legendary, Bruno came off as a slow old man and I hated seeing it because of Bruno aura. Hernandez tried to make Bruno look good but didn't succeed. Bruno backdropped Hernandez over the top ropes and when Herc got to the apron, Bruno knocked him off (count was eight) and the ref just continued to count to 10 ruling it a COR. ¼ *

Andre the Giant was introduced to the crowd after this match and was heavily booed. Andre walked one-third of the way down the aisle, then stormed back to the dressing room. Word I get is Andre will probably be back in action in around three months. He's lost weight and seems in a lot better shape now after his back operation that he's been in a few years.

3. Brutus Beefcake downed Johnny V in the hair vs. hair match with the sleeper in 7:30. Both guys tried their best but they don't have it. After the match Brutus shaved JV almost bald (and they finished the job in the dressing room). ½ * (just for the haircut, match was a dud)--I should note that Beefcake got a good reception but no heat at all for this match until the haircut.

Ted DiBiase then did an interview doing his Million Dollar Man gimmick. Ted was cheered by a lot and booed by even more. He then brought out a young kid to sing "Yellow Rose of Texas" after a monologue insulting the Houston economy which was very well done. He wouldn't pay the kid the $300 he promised which got tremendous heat. Actually this routine was better than any match on the card and Ted became super-heel after that was over.

4. Tom Prichard pinned Mark Lewin in 4:00 with an enziguri kick. It was all action for the time but the crowd wasn't into it. They both worked very hard while they were out there. *

5. Hulk Hogan pinned One Man Gang in 9:00 with the dreaded legdrop after a bodyslam, typical big man match. Hogan, who got as much sustained heat as anyone I've ever seen, failed to slam gang early so Gang pounded him. Hogan made a comeback till Slick distracted him (Slick was very good at ringside when they were in rest holds) and Gang blindsided him. The next comeback was the slam and the legdrop. Bout was probably 25% restholds, maybe more. Hogan took several bumps. The reaction to the post-match posing was deafening. ***

6. Sherri Martel pinned Fabulous Moolah in 10:00 to keep the women's title. Moolah looked real good here, believe it or not. The crowd cheered Martel even though Moolah was playing babyface. Better than I expected but the finish was totally messed up. I don't know what they were trying to do, but they didn't do it. They kind of screwed up a move, Sherri tried to figure out what to do and I guess Moolah just laid down and said to cover her but it was bad. **

7. Junkfood Dog (final tabulations on keeping Junkfood's name were 117-to-19 in favor) & Tony Atlas beat Kamala & Sika when Junkfood reversed a bodyslam and pinned Sika in 4:00. Words can't describe JFD now--he makes Valiant look like DiBiase. He was in 90 seconds and blew up as bad as Mr. T in the final moments of the boxing match. I thought he'd almost have to be hospitalized from exhaustion it was so bad. Kamala wanted to leapfrog JFD but he forgot to duck and Kamala nearly killed him. –* ½ (that's negative one-and-a-half)

8. Terry Funk pinned Chavo Guerrero with an inside cradle in 7:00, great performance by Funk although there wasn't that much wrestling. Chavo mainly did the savate kicks and Funk sold like crazy for them. Finish saw Chavo do his swan-dive move and shockingly Funk kicked out at two and cradled Chavo, amazing to see an NWA semi-regular pin a Titan guy in the middle of the ring on a Titan card. ** ¾

All the ex-wrestlers were then introduced to the crowd by Titan's Howard Finkel (who seemed genuinely excited about doing this). Malenko was intro'd as being from Russia. Most got nice hands. Verne wasn't intro'd as being a former World champion although both Kiniski and Thesz were. Boesch then came out and gave a retirement speech thanking all the fans.

9. Ted DiBiase pinned Jim Duggan after an elbow drop off the middle ropes in 8:30. Both guys got incredible reactions--Duggan was cheered almost as much as Hogan. Unfortunately, Duggan fell victim to another series of bad luck. They started out tremendously for about 2:00, working the same style which made their series feud of the year a few years back. However Duggan appeared to weigh about 310 and hasn't wrestled in more than three months and blew up faster than expected. Didn't matter because he was in with the best guy in Titan who carried him and made him look good, actually Duggan was spent after the first minute. A few minutes later, Duggan's left hamstring went out and with a guy as tough as Duggan when you see the tremendous combination of anguish and pain on his face, you knew it was bad. He couldn't stand up so DiBiase had to end it quickly. The crowd had never seen Duggan pinned clean-cut before and was shocked. Not a good performance at all in Jim's attempt to get his job back although it was better than average as a match because of Ted. ** ½

10. Tito Santana (with a new haircut and outfit to make him look like a Tom Zenk clone) & Mil Mascaras (managed by Jose Lothario--by the way--Ernie Ladd managed Junkfood & Atlas earlier) beat Demolition via DQ in 9:00. This match had the best pacing of the night but was marred by lots of messed up moves because Mascaras doesn't work well with his opponents. Finish saw Fuji trip Tito for the DQ. 90 seconds earlier Tito came off the ropes and stumbled, trying to trip except Fuji was asleep at the wheel which made the finish look bad. At one point Darsow pulled a shoot move (leg trip take-down) on Mascaras out of nowhere which was funny to watch ** ¼

 

The Bam Bam Bigelow thing finally took place 8/26 in Fresno at the Superstars of Wrestling taping (the reason the Superstars was taped in Fresno, not at the Cow Palace as originally scheduled was because the Fresno building was much nicer looking for TV purposes). Slick was out with Nikolai Volkoff, crowing about how he signed Bigelow. Bigelow shows up, then denies it and brings out Captain Oliver Humperdink (no, they don't really call him Capt. Oliver) as his new manager and later in the tapings, a grudge match with Volkoff is signed and Bigelow squashes him. Fresno taping drew a sellout 9,000 and $99,000 while the Cow Palace on 8/25 drew a sellout 14,700 (probably in the 13,200 range for paid) and $156,000 which is phenomenal for a Tuesday night at the Cow Palace… Several MTV videos have been taped this past week. They taped a Koko B. Ware video to the song "Piledriver" with him lip-synching and doing two takes (and being booed heavily while doing so) at the Cow Palace. It should look okay on TV but they'll have to sweeten the crowd noise. About 200 fans in front were jumping up and down like a rock concert but the rest of the arena was booing. Koko's match with Barry Horowitz early in the show was also taped for the video with Barry mainly taking bumps (including a tremendous dropkick in the finishing sequence which I'm sure will make the video) and before fans even arrived, they were taping Koko piledriving Horowitz on stained glass which will also be in the video. One 8/26 in San Francisco they taped another video at Embarcadero Center which I believe is a group video like the one they did for the last album. Not too many folks know this, but Koko used to sing in a black gospel band--a four part vocal group and Ware has a good voice (at least, I'm told, when you compare him to Michael Hayes or Ricky Morton for sure. The Fresno tapings also contained tons of hype directed toward the album…

 

8/25 taping in San Francisco: 1. Demolition beat George Steele & Billy Jack Haynes (taped for Prime Time Wrestling) in 8:00 when Fuji hit Haynes with the cane--this was the best match on the card; 2. Koko pinned Horowitz in the video match; 3. First hour of taping began with Honkytonk Man pinning Jerry Monti; Martel & Santana beat Lombardi & Terry Gibbs--Martel looked good in everything he did; 5. One Man Gang pinned Billy Anderson; 6. Paul Orndorff beat Rex Farmer (I believe he's the son of former wrestler Woody Farmer); 7. Brutus Beefcake (great reaction) put Mark Starr (not the one from Memphis, I believe this is a guy from Southern California) to sleep and gave him a haircut; 8. Islanders beat Steve Gatorwolf & Jesse Cortez; 9. In a taped for Prime Time match, Beefcake beat Danny Davis via DQ for Jimmy Hart interfering. 12:00 of an unmerciful dud; 10. In a dark match, Billy Jack Haynes pinned his old buddy, the debuting Rip Oliver from Oregon in 4:30 with a backslide; 11. The second hour began with Billy Graham pinning Tim Patterson. The entrance lasted longer than the match. The music got a reaction, but still no heat and long concession lines; 12. Demolition beat Ricky Ataki & Pete Ketchum. The Japanese jobber took three great bumps. This was the second best match of the night even though it went 2:50 and was a squash; 13. Jake Roberts DDT'd Mike Sharpe. No heat at all, half because Jake seemed to be way below par (injuries probably) and the other half because crowd was burned out and wanting to see nothing but Hogan; 14. DiBiase pinned Lanny Poffo in 3:00. Ted isn't over at all here. No cheers but very few boos and lots of people going back to the concession stand. Ted is now billed from Hyannis Port, MA and uses the spinning toe hold as a finisher. Since nobody submits in "real" matches these days, that's a dumb finisher. DiBiase was technically heads and shoulders above everyone else but Losing Lanny was no help; 15. Hart Foundation & Danny Davis beat Sivi Afi & Scott Casey & Carl Schmidt. The Harts slingshotted Davis onto Schmitz, all six were asleep here except Davis who just isn't any good; 16. Don Muraco pinned Bob Orton in a 4:00 grudge match taped for Prime Time. Orton used the ropes for a pin, got caught then Muraco pinned him using the ropes. Looked sloppy, the pace was so slow it makes Harley Race seem like Takada but Orton at least was decent; Koko then did his lip-synch act twice and was booed pretty hard; 18. Third hour began with the Killer Zzzzs beating Shadows; 19. Khan destroyed Darryl Nickel in a legit negative three star match. Nickel couldn't even walk; 20. Muraco pinned Chung Lee, at least Tiger tried; 21. The Heenan Family (Rick Rude-Bundy-Race-Hercules) beat Brady Boone & S.D. Jones & Dusty Wolfe & Rudy Diamond when Bundy pinned Diamond. Boone & Jones never tagged in, Rude did most of the work and his physique did look better than Hercules. Fans didn't react to Rude at all although the spotlight was on him--more so because fans were burned out. I think Rude will do better here than I originally thought, but at best he's on the Hernandez level as an attraction and really below Hernandez who got some title shots that drew; 22. Randy Savage (who got a big pop) pinned Omar Atlas after several elbows off the top rope. Nobody booed Savage, but Atlas thought he was the babyface so everything in this match was screwed up except the finishing elbows, very poor; 23. Butch Reed pinned Jerry Allen to end the third hour; 24. Hogan beat Khan…

 

The Rougeaus apparently won the WWF tag belts on 8/10 in Montreal from the Hart Foundation but the decision was "reversed by Jack Tunney" the next day because they got the megaphone and used it to win and also because they pinned the illegal man in the ring… Corporal Kirchner may be returning in about a month but strictly as a jobber… Dynamite Kid will also return in a few weeks and is claiming that he'll have made a full recovery by then… 8/29 in Baltimore before 11,000 saw Bruno & Hulk team up for the first time to beat Bundy & Gang when Hogan pinned Bundy. Bruno was in the ring very little and Hulk had to carry things. Bundy didn't do much either. They are going to run that same tag match in two or three other Northeast cities over the next six weeks. This was the first time ever than Sammartino & Hogan had teamed. Also on the show, Santana pinned Hernandez, Junkfood beat Kamala via DQ, DiBiase went to a 20:00 draw with Beefcake (most of the match was stalling) and Sensational Sherri beat Moolah… 8/23 in Santa Cruz before 1,500 saw Houston pin Chung Lee good), Bigelow pined Terry Gibbs (so-so), Outhouse & S.D. Jones beat Shadows (embarrassing), Steele beat Davis via count out (they didn't touch for 6:00, then 30 seconds later Davis did a walk-out, but crowd didn't seem to be mad at all--I wasn't either, I was just glad it was over), Beefcake beat Khan via DQ for a low blow (they tried and Beefcake was over in a big way) and Harts beat Rougeaus (awful as far as action although Bret & Neidhart did a few decent clowning--I mean no bumps, no high spots, just a few good faces being made and that gets old fast).

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

It's a shame it has to stop, but thank you for doing these, it was very interesting to read

[JimmyHendricks 0]

Dynamite Kid will also return in a few weeks and is claiming that he'll have made a full recovery by then…

 

 

Sound familiar?

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Big thanks to you Landy!

[JMFabiano524 0]

As far as Zenk's old articles...would The Internet Wayback Machine help? Did you try it?