Wrestling Observer Flashback – March 1984 Part Deux

Wrestling Observer Flashback – March 1984 Part 2

OK, off to the territories now as we cover the other half of March 84!

– First up, the Southwest, with Scott Casey as the champion and Embry & Timbs as the tag team champions.

– Bruiser Brody spiked attendance for them a few times this month, as he does, and Dick Muroch & Manny Fernandez beat the Sheepherders in a match so bloody and violent that Butch Miller had to be taken to the hospital afterwards and the staff thought that he had been in a legit car wreck.

– Dave notes that ALL of the Sheepherder bouts have been “gruesome gorefests that leave the folks at the Red Cross Blood Banks drooling”. (So you’re saying it’s for….)

(And just think, Tony Khan wasn’t even BORN yet!)

– Gino Hernandez got fired, again, and last Dave heard, he’s off trying to open a nightclub somewhere in South Carolina.

– Next up, World Class, with champion Chris Adams, and the Freebirds as six-man champions.

– Junkyard Dog debuted on 1/30 and they shattered another attendance record, although Dave wants to stress that those two things are NOT related.

– So the main event that drew the house was Ric Flair going 10 minutes with young Mike Von Erich, which gives David Von Erich a title shot at Flair at the next Star Wars show in April. (Or not).

– For the meantime, Flair and Harley Race are set for a series of World title matches overseas, going through New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore, and then David will be back from Japan and they can start building up that match. (Or not.)

(Also a fascinating fact about that tour he just mentioned, Flair and Race traded the World title a couple of times in what ended up being “secret” title switches for the longest time. In fact I still don’t think WWE even counts the New Zealand/Singapore switches as part of Flair’s reigns. Oddly enough I think they do count Race’s, though.)

– Dave notes that Mike Von Erich subbed for Kevin in a six-man match against the Freebirds because the Birds had attacked Kevin and “beat him delirious in the dressing room”, although he clarifies that it’s mostly impossible because that’s Kevin’s normal state.

– For perspective on the crowds at the time, the Sportatorium show on 2/3 drew 1000 people more than capacity of the building, the second largest crowd ever in the arena.

– Young Rick Rude was brought in for the show, not to wrestle, but to watch Jimmy Garvin’s match and learn to imitate him when he goes back to Memphis. (I’d say he did a pretty good learning job.).

– Dave calls the Kerry-Kamala feud “just about the worst thing the promotion has to offer” but to be fair he says that about a lot of stuff.

– Moving onto Mid-South, with heavyweight champion JYD and tag champs Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum TA.

– So Wrestling II & TA won the tag belts from Jim Neidhart & Butch Reed on Christmas night in what Dave is DRAMATICALLY underselling with an offhand mention, in that it was one of the greatest deals in the history of the territory to that point. But then he TOPS himself by offhandedly noting that they’re gonna lose the titles to Jim Cornette’s new team of Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton soon, and then they’re gonna split up because TA “has been using the old guy’s knee lift to win”.

– Dave notes that there’s a definite Memphis flavor to the territory lately because Watts is paranoid about a Vince invasion. (Two things: First up, Watts and Jarrett were in the midst of a famous talent exchange at this point, so yes. Second, Watts was right to be paranoid because Vince decimated his talent roster.)

– In another crossover, the Jimmy Garvin v. Chris Adams feud from World Class has been headlining shows for Watts as well, and drawing monster crowds in every city.

– Dave also notes that young Crusher Barry Darsow probably should have gotten some consideration for Rookie of the Year. (He could have just repossessed it from the winner.).

– Also, Dave wants to finish by thanking the USFL for existing long enough to keep Steve Williams out of wrestling as long as they can.

– Next up, the AWA, with heavyweight champion Nick Bockwinkel, and tag champs Patera & Blackwell.

– Harley Race is now in the promotion and backing up Bockwinkel on behalf of Bobby Heenan, which will likely lead to an eventual turn and title match. Dave has been told that Race looks good, although compared to the usual roster, anyone looks good.

– Apparently crowds have been booing Verne Gagne at the live shows (What? Not daddy Verne!) because fans are a tad upset about Verne letting Hogan and Mean Gene walk to the WWF.

– Off to Central States now that Dave is done slagging on the AWA, with Tully Blanchard as the heavyweight champion and apparently no tag champs back in 1984.

– Dave notes that the area is a revolving door of talent thanks to booker Buck Robley mismanaging the place and putting himself over all the time.

– Dave was amused that a 1/26 Flair-Race World title match in the area was the first meeting between them since Starrcade 83, which is amusing because Flair got “like 15 or 16 rematches” immediately after losing the belt to Race. Although he concedes that it just means Flair is the bigger draw as a challenger.

– Dave’s confusion of the week comes from Tommy Rogers, as there’s apparently ANOTHER Tommy Rogers in Georgia who is actually the third Sawyer brother, but the announcer in Central States pretends like this Tommy Rogers is the same Tommy Rogers from Georgia even though they’re completely different people. (OK, so clarification time. The Tommy Rogers from Georgia, who actually is NOT the third Sawyer brother as Dave thinks he is, is the wrestler better known as Tommy Lane of the Rock N Roll RPMs, whereas Tommy Rogers of Central States is the guy who we know better by that name.)

– To Missouri, where Harley Race is the Missouri champion of course because he books the promotion.

– Dave continues to slag the “Chrome Dome Connection” running things, noting that they’re getting help from other NWA promoters and bringing in AWA talent to shore up the troops. So he points out that one of the big main events here is Dusty Rhodes v. Luke Graham, and he quips “Honestly folks if you’re in a promotional war, why would you even put this match on?”

– Despite the WWF taking over St. Louis TV and trying to destroy the territory, they still did about 10,000 people at the Kiel for their annual battle royal, with a Flair v. Brody feud juicing business at the houses as well.

– To Memphis next, with Austin Idol as heavyweight champion, plus Lawler as a heavyweight champion, and Randy Savage as a heavyweight champion.

– Dave again dances around the Memphis/Mid-South talent exchange without getting the bigger picture, noting that all of a sudden a bunch of guys are gone like Dennis Condrey, the Moondogs and other members of Jimmy Hart’s stable.

– Lawler’s next big monster feud is with King Konga. (I’m assuming that’s the early form of the Barbarian.)

– As promised earlier, Rick Rude has debuted and he’s doing a Jimmy Garvin impression with a female valet.

– The Road Warriors debuted on 1/3 in Louisville against the Fabulous Ones and HERE’S A SHOCK they drew the largest gate in the history of the city with 6000 people. It was a double DQ, of course.

– Dave notes that if the Warriors are used well in Memphis, they’ll probably continue to be really big draws. (Hot take there, Meltzer.).

– Dave continues begrudgingly giving backhanded props to this new Rock N Roll Express team who he clearly wants to hate but they keep having good matches and drawing money. In this case he notes that they worked with the Fabs on 1/23 in Louisville and although the Fabs were immensely popular, Morton & Gibson weren’t actually booed. (That had to be KILLING him!)

– To Calgary with heavyweight champion the Stomper and tag champs of Davey Boy & Bruce Hart.

– This month, Dave discusses Bad News Allen, who is living up to his name. This year so far he punched a fan while brawling in the crowd with Davey Boy, resulting in a pregnant woman getting knocked over and sent to the hospital during a show in Edmonton. (A baby taking bumps IN THE WOMB? I bet it grew up to be an Outrunner!)

– He also broke the collarbone of the Stomper’s son Jeff Gouldie, “apparently legit” because it was so brutal that the Calgary commission banned wrestling and Ed Whalen quit the promotion over the violence. (Two things: Jeff Gouldie was the guy we were just discussing earlier as the mysterious second Tommy Rogers, aka Tommy Lane. Also, NO IT WASN’T FUCKING LEGIT, HOLY SHIT DUDE.)

– Montreal has Dino Bravo as their heavyweight champion, so you know THEY’RE THE WORST.

– To Florida, with Ron Bass as heavyweight champion and Kendo Nagasaki as another champion.

– Dave is just burying this Kevin Sullivan stuff, mocking Kevin bringing in Gene Lewis as “Kharma”, a lobotomized madman that Sullivan brainwashed into doing his bidding.

– Next we go to Georgia, with Ted Dibiase as heavyweight champion and the Road Warriors as tag champs.

– The tag team titles bounced around a bunch in February, with the Sawyer brothers beating the Road Warriors on 1/27 in Cleveland first of all. (That was an unauthorized title switch with Buzz going rogue as booker, by the way) and then the new champs no-showed TV and they announced that the Warrior were tag champs again, but then later in the show the Warriors were no longer champs and were now chasing the Sawyers again. Then on the 2/4 TV tapings the Warriors had the belts back somehow and Buzz Sawyer was suddenly injured and brother Tommy Rogers was teaming with Brett Sawyer as the new challengers. (Again, not actually related to the Sawyers.).

– Dave notes that Ole Anderson is just about out of money and Jim Barnett is trying to move in and take over. (You don’t say?)

– The Tommy Rich retirement stipulation match against Ted Dibiase on Christmas night at the Omni only drew 2500 people, which makes Dave think people don’t really care if Tommy retires or not. He certainly doesn’t. And then the 1/15 show drew 4500 people, which Dave credits to Tommy Rich not being on the card.

– To the Mid-Atlantic, with Dick Slater as champion and the team of Don Kernodle & Bob Orton as tag champs.

– Ricky Steamboat is doing a farewell tour of the area, drawing 6800 in Greensboro before I’m assuming retiring and opening a gym in North Carolina.

– And now some LATE NOTES! Thank god for the book format here because this kind of stuff would be scribbled in pencil in the margins in the original sheets.

– The 12/26 MSG show where Sheik won the title will be shown on the USA Network, Dave hears.

– That new Condrey & Eaton team in Mid-South will be called “The Midnight Express”.

– Hulk Hogan managed to draw 6000 to an AWA show in Las Vegas on 1/4 where Verne billed him despite knowing he was gone, and then replaced him with Jesse Ventura.

– Dave is pumped for the 2/18 Philly show, with Hogan v. Masked Superstar for the WWF title as the main event and a “very interesting” semi-main of Andre & Snuka v. Muraco & Slaughter. (RICHARD! PAGING RICHARD!)

– And finally, The Sheepherders had a match somewhere on the East Coast with Bobby Jaggers & Manny Fernandez that local police actually stopped the match and arrested the participants. (I’ve seen a few ECW matches in my time where I wish everyone would be arrested, to be honest. Not because they’re too violent, but because they’re so shitty).

And that’s the news and I’m OUTTA HERE.