Wrestling Observer Flashback – March 1984 (Taylor’s Version)
By Scott Keith on 3 June 2025
Wrestling Observer Flashback – March 1984 (Taylor’s Version)
Carrying on with the 1984 Observer book as we kind of start these from the beginning again. I’m gonna be honest, 1997 is too dense to decode on a regular basis and it was taking me upwards of four hours to get past all the business analysis stuff and get to the interesting “LOL WCW” jokes. This way I’m much happier and more likely to continue doing these again. Also, the original attempts at these were kind of a dumpster fire for a couple of reasons, as I don’t have a good archive of the original posts, and the original source newsletters were challenging to read, to say the least. So if I happen to repeat jokes or observations from any of these 80s Observers, you’ll have to live with it.
– The lead story this month is the first obituary of many in the Observer’s history, as David Von Erich died at just 25 years old. He was in Japan on a tour for All Japan and had been complaining about “stomach problems” and went back to his hotel to sleep it off, and then was found there hours later and declared dead at the hospital.
– The cause of death is enteritis, or swelling of the small intestine, which isn’t normally fatal but in this case apparently was. Fritz Von Erich is already claiming that David had “a flu like condition for six weeks” but went out there and performed night after night because in their business, if you can walk, you go out there and perform! (Man lots to unpack already in this one. This was only the first death of a Von Erich brother and Fritz wastes no time looking like a monster who lies to cover up the true nature.)
– Dave notes that at the time of his death, David was the holder of the United National heavyweight title, and “considered the strongest contender to win the World’s heavyweight championship”. (Nope, that one has been thoroughly debunked, even by Dave himself.).
– And with that out of the way, Dave has some LATE BREAKING NEWS.
– Tito Santana should be Intercontinental champion not only before we read this, but before he even types it. (That’s some Doctor Who timey wimey stuff going on there.).
– The WWF’s first show in St. Louis on 2/10 drew 13,000 to see John Studd win the battle royal, tossing out Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant to win. Apparently the WWF taped the show, trying for a TV product based on a “first rate arena show” presentation.
– Bruiser and Crusher are teaming up in Chicago, Dave notes, followed by (UGH!) to really sell it.
– Apparently Jimmy Snuka “missed several bookings and could be on thin ice.” (Apparently murdering your girlfriend and covering it up doesn’t count on “thin ice” but missing house shows does. Actually never mind, that does check out.)
– Next up, Dave has a COLUMN about, get this, Vince McMahon potentially steamrolling everyone else in the business and destroying all the territories. I mean, as if, right? Dave reveals that Hulk Hogan won the WWF title on 1/23 in MSG, and is now “the hottest wrestler going at the gate”. Dave is also pretty sure this is going to be a devastating loss for Verne Gagne, maybe even crippling. (Well, I mean, maybe if Vince just kept signing everyone in the promotion from the wrestlers down to the announcers just to amuse himself, but how likely is THAT?)
– Also, Vince poached Greg Valentine from the Carolinas just after Greg had a big babyface turn and was about to carry their business on top for a while. Also rumored to be coming in: Mike Rotundo! (True!) Terry Allen! (False!) Nikolai Volkoff! (True!) Butch Reed! (False!) Jimmy Valiant! (False!) Dick Slater! (False!) Bob Orton! (True!) Bruiser Brody! (False!)
(See, he’s not as bad as people are saying!)
– Also Dave accuses Vince of trying to open up a third promotion in Japan and maybe even expanding into Asia and Australia, using Hisashi Shinma as the promoter. (Definitely nothing to that one either)
– In response, promoters all over the country are forming alliances, such as the “Chrome Dome Connection” of Verne / Race / Geigel in St. Louis, where even Fritz and Jim Crockett are sending troops to the front line to try and halt the advances of Vince McMahon. However, Dave notes, Vince hasn’t actually SHOWN that he can go into an established territory and run them into the ground yet. (“Hold my beer” is the phrase the kids would use here.)
– Dave is actually fine with this tactic, since it will benefit everyone. Well, except the promoters. But either the old stagnant promotions will get with the times, or they’ll die. (I guess they’ll just die then.) However, Dave continues that Vince isn’t exactly going to be playing fair, as he’ll be using what can be “euphemistically described as political power plays” to crush the competition in those territories. Seems that Vince Sr. taught his son about pre-emptively blocking other promotions from running shows in major arenas by getting the arena to agree to an exclusivity deal with the WWF, or in other cases, blocking others from getting a TV deal the same way.
– In fact, now the battle is moving to the TV stations, with Ole Anderson putting together video packages featuring Vince’s new WWF stars while they were in Georgia, losing matches badly and putting them in a bad light. Dave thinks this might backfire on Ole. (I can’t imagine how Vince McMahon might possibly get revenge on Ole Anderson in 1984 in the funniest way possible, but I’m sure something will come to me. Perhaps on Saturday.).
– Dave also points out that Ole couldn’t even find clips of the WWF guys actually LOSING matches, it was more brief clips of Tito Santana selling for Pat Rose in a squash win, where they just omitted the “win” portion and pretended like Tito lost the match. As Dave notes, the fans aren’t stupid, and this isn’t making anyone buy tickets for the Omni shows.
– And now, Dave would like to list all the things from 1983 that he hated the most.
– Worst Wrestler: Ox Baker, although he concedes that Crusher is probably worse.
– Worst Babyface: Tommy Rich because he can’t think of anyone else.
– World Feud: Tommy Rich v. Buzz Sawyer would be his pick, but people actually voted for it as Best so he can’t.
– Worst Team: Pretty much everyone these days but Buzz Tyler & Bob Brown stand out.
– Worst Finishing Hold: Bob Backlund’s chicken wing, which Dave concedes is a pretty legit hold in real life but he still hates it. But the real winner here is Crusher’s bolo punch.
– Least Agile: Plowboy Frazier
– Worst Brawler: Jimmy Valiant, although Dave concedes he’s a hard worker.
– Worst Interview: TOO MANY TO NAME.
– Worst Promotion: Florida because of all their nonsense and stunts. (I can say the same thing today!)
– Worst Promoter: Ole Anderson
– Worst TV Show: Wrestling at the Chase as promoted by Bob Geigel. Not much better now that Vince is running it, but at least the Mean Gene interviews are an improvement. (Dave is SPICY this month!)
– Worst Match: Angelo Mosca Jr. v. Ox Baker
– Worst Announcer: That guy David McClain that Bruiser uses for his Indiana promotion. (Not exactly a GLOWing review there.)
– Worst Manager: Don Carson
– To the WWF, where of course Hulk Hogan won the World title from Iron Sheik on 1/23. The action was “pretty good” despite the short bout, and the heat was “unbelievable”. Apparently once they switched the match from Backlund’s rematch to Hogan getting the title match, scalpers had a run on tickets the likes of which no one had ever seen. Apparently “Hulkamania” might be for real.
– Also big crowds in Philly lately, with the Sheik’s one and only title defense against Tito Santana on 1/21 drawing 15,700. (Oh damn! I gotta see if Richard has that one. I bet he does.).
– Dave relates the funny story, although not funny ha-ha, about how George Cannon of the Detroit territory brought in Vince McMahon to help out his promotion by giving Vince his TV slot in exchange for promoting Cannon’s shows. One guess what happened there and who the only one promoting in Detroit is now.
– Bob Backlund isn’t really doing any wrestling at the moment and Dave kind of gleefully hopes that Bob is out of the WWF and maybe even out of the business now. (Dave was pretty catty in 1984 at times.).
– More news from the WWF, as Sgt. Slaughter is set to feud with the Iron Sheik “in a USA vs. Iran type thing”. Sarge is already getting 75% cheers in his matches, “which is more than Bob Backlund has received in a long time”.
– Roddy Piper is doing some kind of interview segment on the WWF TV shows now.
– Dave declares that using Iron Sheik as a transitional champ to Hogan was obviously a MISTAKE. Look at Don Muraco, who can at least generate heat still, unlike the Sheik. Plus none of Sheik’s rematches against Backlund drew at all. “Perhaps the folks were just fed up with Backlund?” Dave wonders. (Bob is gonna snap and procure the chicken wing on Dave soon and no one is gonna feel bad for him.).
I’m on a time crunch tonight so we’re gonna stop there for now and return for the territory wrap-ups tomorrow.
Until next time, BUY THE BOOK!