Tag: wwf - Page 5

Left My Wallet: Duke ‘The Dumpster’ Droese

Posted on January 16, 2019 by Antonio Garza

It’s a blast from the past as “Left My Wallet” returns for some football and teaching talk with former WWF wrestler Duke “the Dumpster” Droese!

Duke is a lifelong L.A./Oakland Raiders fan and we go in depth about his fandom and the current state of the silver and black. We talk his favorite players as a kid, his love of Bo Jackson, playing Tecmo Bowl with Bo, failed draft picks, and why the team is in its current and long standing losing situation.

We also delve into Duke’s time as a student at the University of Miami during the heyday of Hurricanes football. We discuss the powerhouse teams they had in the 80s and 90s, what it was like on campus, some of the all-time greats that came from the “U”, and much more.

Finally, we delve into a topic that is very personal to each of us: teaching. Duke and I are both special needs teachers and we go into what led us to pursue teaching, the trials and tribulations of being an educator and what makes it all worth it.

It’s a very fun and unique episode with a little bit of sports talk and what it’s like to work with kids as a classroom teacher from the perspective of two pro wrestlers.

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January 7, 2002 Observer Newsletter: Inoki New Years Eve show, Nash to WWF, more

Posted on January 15, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

The closing moments of the worst year in the modern history of pro wrestling ended with the creation of a most unlikely star.

Antonio Inoki’s New Years Eve special was built around the creation of a comeback storyline for Tadao Yasuda, a 38-year-old former sumo. Not a wrestling comeback, but a sentimental life comeback. The television show built up his life-long problem with gambling, and that he started pro wrestling at the age of 31 to pay back debts, and then, when he continued to gamble, piling up debuts of about $760,000, his wife left him, taking his daughter with her. On 3/25, Yasuda became something of a pushed pro wrestling star with an unlikely win in a dreadfully boring Pride match over Masaaki Satake, that proved once again, you can never fully predict what will happen in a shoot.

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December 31, 2001 Observer Newsletter: 2001 retrospective, more

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

2001 will never be looked back upon as being a great year for wrestling. Wrestling always has its ups and downs, but usually there is someone doing well when someone else isn’t. This past year, with the exception of the Pride promotion, nearly every company did worse than would have been expected one year ago.

Sometimes, like in 1993, when wrestling was at something of a creative lull with some of the major companies, new promotions with new ideas (UFC, K-1, Pancrase, ECW, Michinoku Pro) form and spark the business to a stronger rebound. This year was the year of the creative lull, but instead of new promotions, we saw WCW and ECW fold once, and then the fantasy versions of them fold a second time in an angle so botched that in many people’s eyes it forever removed the tag genius booker and replaced it with one very lucky SOB on the Vince McMahon resume. We saw RINGS on the brink of going under.

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‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund passes away at 76

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Josh Nason

One of the most familiar personalities and voices in pro wrestling history is gone as WWE announced Wednesday that ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund passed away at the age of 76. The reason for death wasn’t given.

Born in Sisseton, South Dakota, in 1942, Okerlund moved from radio and TV to working for the AWA in Minnesota in 1970 as a fill-in ring announcer and interviewer. He would later take over the full-time interviewer job which became his life’s work.

He stayed with the AWA for 14 years before moving to WWF in 1984 where he became one of the company’s most recognizable faces for his backstage interviews with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and all of the stars of the era.

After nine years with WWF, he moved to WCW in 1993 and was a regular on-screen presence through 1996. He remained with the company in smaller roles through their sale to WWF in 2001.

Eventually, he would return to WWE and spent the past 18 years there in a variety of on-screen roles and was inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame on 2006.

He is survived by his longtime wife, Jeanne, and son, Todd.

December 24, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Death of Russ Haas, more

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Dave Meltzer

WWF developmental wrestler Russ Haas was found dead by his wife on the morning of 12/15 from what was believed to have been a heart attack. Autopsy results are pending.

Haas, 27, had not gotten back in the ring since recovering from a previous heart attack on 9/24 when coming back from a Heartland Wrestling Association TV taping in Jeffersonville, IN.

The death, the first of an active wrestler on the WWF roster since Owen Hart’s much publicized death in 1999, took place just hours before HWA’s planned Christmas party and three days before Haas was scheduled for a meeting with a second cardiologist after getting clearance from his first cardiologist that he could return to wrestle. The WWF, wanting to remain cautious despite Haas’ clean bill of health, because of the high death rate of pro wrestlers under the age of 40, was not allowing him back in the ring until a second doctor would clear him.

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December 6, 2001 Observer Newsletter: WWF getting more risque, Nagata vs. Cro Cop, more

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

In perhaps the most interesting booking decision and risk of a current and future superstar of this or any other year, it was announced this past week that Yuji Nagata of New Japan Pro Wrestling would be facing Mirko Cro Cop of K-1 on 12/31 in what may be the main event of a show that will be carried live on national television.

The Nagata-Cro Cop match has been reported on in many Japanese newspapers, although neither New Japan, K-1, Antonio Inoki or Pride has officially announced the match. The only public comment from Nagata is that he said he would do the Inoki show if he got a match with Cro Cop, but wasn’t interested in doing the show against anyone else. If the match is legitimate, and there is no way ahead of time of knowing whether it will be or not, this would be the biggest risk a pro wrestling organization has truly made with one of its top wrestlers.

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November 26, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Survivor Series reviewed, more

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

The WWF reset its entire promotion this past week, plus brought back Ric Flair and Jerry Lawler and the result was the first undisputed positive sign for Raw ratings with an increase to 4.81 on 11/19. Because the show started so strongly, the rating increase should be more attributed to curiosity over how the supposed demise of WCW and ECW and talent firings would be handled and what would happen next, than to Flair and Lawler, aside from the overrun. That probably could be attributed to the fact Flair’s return after long absences has traditionally drawn major ratings spikes.

The Alliance vs. WWF feud was ditched at Survivor Series after being perhaps the biggest disappointment in recent wrestling history, where WWF won in a confusing series of events. Chris Jericho first turned on Rock, when Rock and Steve Austin were the final two wrestlers left, but Rock survived.

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November 19, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Mass WWF layoffs, more

Posted on December 4, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

In the first very public acknowledgement of the business decline being a serious issue, WWFE laid off nine percent of its front office staff, totally 39 employees, along with bouncing company President Stuart Snyder in the largest mass layoff in company history on 11/8.

The cuts were across the board, but hardest hit was the internet side, with it merging with the publications department under Shane McMahon. With the change in the internet economy and the huge drop in advertising, providing constant new content for the web site no longer generates significant income and the upkeep of the site for anyone in wrestling seems to be, at best, a loss leader that is largely there to attract viewers to sell merchandise.

With the departure of Snyder, President and Chief Operating Officer, who handled the day-to-day business since being hired in June of 2000, technically called a resignation having nothing to do with the layoffs, although few believe that description, Linda McMahon will take over more in day-to-day business activities.

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November 12, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Chaos continues in WWF, more

Posted on November 27, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

It’s been a topsy-turvy week for the WWF, plagued with internal turmoil and more bad economic signs everywhere, plus planning storyline changes many are dead set against, yet at the same time, first day ticket sales for next year’s Wrestlemania pretty well guarantee it will be the biggest live gate in the history of pro wrestling in North America.

As of 11/5, approximately 53,000 tickets were out for Mania, with 51,630 of them paid for $5,542,730 Canadian, which is $3,508,548 U.S. No doubt that by the middle of the week, the company’s all-time gate record set at the 4/1 Wrestlemania in Houston of $3,530,905 will have been broken and that it’s practically a lock the event will sellout the Skydome in Toronto since there is still four months to go, which legitimately put in 64,278 in 1990 for Wrestlemania. It showed that the Mania name, even with business down, has some incredible sizzle.

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November 5, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Frustration in WWF, more

Posted on November 20, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

As business continues to fall, the WWF locker room and front office, one year ago considered almost a perfect business model, is starting to show more than just signs of frustration.

The wrestlers have started feeling the pinch for the past few months. Paid based on house show business and PPV business, those figures have decreased significantly since Wrestlemania with the exception of the monster Invasion PPV. A lot of the WWF side also had bookings cut back, which again cuts into pay for the mid and lower card wrestlers, because so many newcomers were brought in over the summer. This led to resentment of newcomers at the beginning and was a key factor in botching the potentially biggest angle in history, which lead to the fan frustration with the product that exists. This led first to smaller grosses on shows with more performers on them, meaning significantly lower pay per show for most regulars, combined with many regulars not being booked on as many house shows and big shows.

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October 29, 2001 Observer Newsletter: No Mercy review, Alliance vs. WWF set, more

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

In one of the strangest moments ever on wrestling television, almost like the moment you’re watching something crumble right before your eyes, just as Vince and Linda McMahon teased making out inside the ring in front of nearly 10,000 fans in Kansas City and were interrupted, a challenge was made and accepted.

For 11/18 at Survivor Series, what should be the biggest money match with the highest stipulations in the history of wrestling, but will come nowhere close to that level. A match with WWF vs. The Alliance, with the losing promotion having to disband. On Smackdown the next night, those draconian stipulations seemed to be amended more along the lines that the losing McMahons and their company would be under the control of the winning McMahons. If the feud was done correctly, the idea that a company would fold as a stipulation, if people still believed in stipulations, would do numbers that would make Rock vs. Austin green with envy.

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October 22, 2001 Observer Newsletter: WWF losing fans over 30, tons of news

Posted on November 6, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

The World Wrestling Federation needs to, now, commission a study of why they and wrestling in general are losing the over-30 audience so rapidly. This goes against the company thought process, because despite what may be said publicly, the company’s target age group and strongest demo per capita is Males 12-24. However, the age group that is losing interest in wrestling the fastest is those over the age of 30, who make up the vast majority television viewership for most programs (average viewership age of most network hit shows is early 40s), and are traditionally the most loyal fans.

When wrestling peaked in late 1998 and early 1999, there were just under six million viewers over the age of 30 watching every Monday night. At that point, WWF was winning the ratings, but within that age group, WCW had a slight lead and it was still a dogfight for that group as late as 2000.

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October 15, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Death of Gentleman Chris Adams

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

“Gentleman” Chris Adams, who in his heyday played the role of a Hugh Grant-like British charmer, but his real life was hardly as gentlemanly, was shot to death by his best friend in Waxahachie, TX, near Dallas.

Adams, 46, becomes the latest in what used to be known as the Von Erich curse, but later has expanded to the glory days of World Class Championship Wrestling, a promotion which in the mid-80s focused on young talent, mostly in its early and mid-20s. Through the best television production and a great mixture of babyfaces and heels that appealed to younger fans, it was one of the hottest and most innovative eras in pro wrestling.

William Parnell, 49, a long-time wrestling hanger-on known as “Brent” and “Boo Ray” by those in the business, was charged with Adams’ murder, which took place at about 1 a.m. on 10/7 at his mother’s home, not far from Dallas.

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October 8, 2001 Observer Newsletter: Tough Enough finale, more

Posted on October 22, 2018 by Dave Meltzer

“Tough Enough” started out as an unknown concept, taking people off the street and training them for nine weeks in a competition, leading to two of them getting a one year developmental contract with the WWF.

Although it was one of the real success stories of the year, many people, particularly within wrestling, felt, and still feel, the concept is ridiculous. Contracts are too hard to come by, especially now, and in nine weeks, how can it be fair they get a chance that people who have sacrificed for years and are even top quality and in some cases even proven performers will never get? Many in the WWF, both performers, office people, even those associated with the show, while praising the show itself and what the contestants stuck through, still, as a concept, at least the end result being the WWF contract, still have problems with that.

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