Now I am just wondering what wacky footage exists on these supposed Christmas Party reels. Would love for those to get posted as Quick Hits on the WWE Network.

From a November 1992 Observer:

 

The latest in the Howard Finkel angle took place in Louisville. Finkel was all set to announce Kimala when

Harvey Whippleman started yelling at him. Finkel loses his cool and Kimala gives him the big chop and two

big splashes and Finkel does a stretcher job. All the agents came out and put Finkel on the stretcher, but

he fell off. Later as they were wheeling him from the ring, the stretcher collapsed so he fell off a second

time. We'll know in a week or two what the story on this angle is. A lot of people seem to think they are

just gathering footage for the Christmas party and that none of this will ever air on television. But if stage

one airs, than you can figure they're going all the way with this.

That didn't happen on TV did it?

 

Is there a reason Dave wrote Kamala's name as the original gimmick's name?

 

Heh, who would have thought Meltzer started that hipster smark thing of referring to someone not by their WWF name (though IIRC, the i was changed to an a before Harris signed with the WWF) but their prior names!

Dave still goes with Koko Ware.

More 92 Observer stuff

 

The latest on Jesse Ventura's lawsuit against Titan Sports is that it is scheduled for February in Federal
District Court in St. Paul. Ventura claims he's entitled to residuals on what he estimates are 135-140
videotapes in which his commentary appears. Ventura, who worked as an announcer for Titan without a
contract, claims his agreements as an announcer on television, SNME's and PPVs were for the event
specifically and that he's entitled to residuals for any use of his commentary for profit in any other avenue.
Ventura is also asking for damages on the original merchandising deals from the mid-80s claiming the only
contract he ever signed with Titan, a 1985 contract as a wrestler, was signed under duress. Ventura said
that in Hollywood the actors who have dolls made up in their images receive 25 to 33 percent of their
merchandising while the wrestlers percentage is nowhere near that. He also claims unauthorized use of his
photos or likeness on two calendars, gum cards, and dolls. Ventura is also disputing the traditional
wrestlers' status as an independent contractor, claiming that the wrestlers are given a schedule, told where
to be, when, what to do when they get there and even told to do things like lose which affects their
marketing value which is a classic employer-employee relationship and not independent contractor work.
Ventura also claims that his lone contract signed in 1985 was done in Milwaukee when Gorilla Monsoon
came up to him with three or four things to sign and he wouldn't sign them. As he was about to go to the
ring, Monsoon told him that if he wouldn't sign, he wouldn't work. Ventura claimed that he specifically told
Monsoon at the time he was signing the contract under duress.

I know Ventura won this suit which is why they were still cutting his commentary out of DVDs sometimes. Did the court rule on the independent contractor status? I didn't know that was originally part of his lawsuit.

Is there ANYONE who is pro WWE status quo as it relates to the independent contractor stuff? Any wrestlers? Fans? ANYONE?

Do fans care at all? Any more than they do about labor disputes in sports? They want games, not business talk.

Adding another story in the "Haku/Meng is a badass" collection

 

Canek was in a six-man teaming
with El Satanico & Pirata Morgan against Dos Caras & Villano III & King Haku. As the story goes, Canek
and Dos Caras, who have worked together for 20 years, went in and did their spots to little reaction and it
soon became clear to Canek that Haku was the most over wrestler of the faces. So Canek, who is world
champ of the UWA, went in there to eat Haku's lunch. Those who know Haku know that is basically
impossible as Canek quickly found out. Although the attempt wasn't even noticed by the fans, the
wrestlers there were most amused

Even if you give Canek the benefit of the doubt and say he might not have known about his rep, I wonder how anyone could look at Haku and think "now there's a guy I can probably bully around in the ring".

To add to that story, Meltzer had also written about him a few weeks earlier that lots of guys had asked not to work with Haku because of how stiff he was, which Meltzer said he'd never even heard of guys doing before in Mexico. Canek didn't wrestle for EMLL though so he wouldn't have known and was just in working a show for EMLL to run opposition to AAA. I'm sure the other guys in the match were watching with anticipation when they saw that about to go down.

Was Haku really known as being stiff though? There's a big difference between being a guy who can kill you if he wants to and a stiff wrestler.

His work looked good, but never stiff to me. He worked pretty much every top face multiple times while he was there which tells me he was a reliable hand.

Even when Haku was young he was always stout as fuck. A few of his King Tonga matches from old MSG shows are on WWE Network & even back then he was built like a brick shithouse. Not to mention he was always ox strong. Why would someone try to mess with him, even without his reputation? Craziness.

Is there ANYONE who is pro WWE status quo as it relates to the independent contractor stuff? Any wrestlers? Fans? ANYONE?

I can't think of any reason ethically to support the status quo. Just wondering though - how would it affect WWE?

To add to that story, Meltzer had also written about him a few weeks earlier that lots of guys had asked not to work with Haku because of how stiff he was, which Meltzer said he'd never even heard of guys doing before in Mexico. Canek didn't wrestle for EMLL though so he wouldn't have known and was just in working a show for EMLL to run opposition to AAA. I'm sure the other guys in the match were watching with anticipation when they saw that about to go down.

 

Indeed - Haku had a rep in Mexico as working stiff and many top line rudos HATED working with him. He'd probably have been gone soon but Pierroth Jr. was a big fan of him because he liked to work matches with back and forth stiff chops and Haku, of course, would never complain about the chops.

 

Canek should have known better but during the El Toreo days he faced a lot of large foreigners who couldn't fight. Rookie days Konnan used to get especially frustrated with Canek, who wouldn't give him anything if he felt like it, and there was nothing Konnan could do about it.

 

Is there ANYONE who is pro WWE status quo as it relates to the independent contractor stuff? Any wrestlers? Fans? ANYONE?

I can't think of any reason ethically to support the status quo. Just wondering though - how would it affect WWE?

 

 

 

It would cost WWE a lot of money in terms of having to pay into state unemployment tax and having to offer them benefits like a real employee.

Was Haku really known as being stiff though? There's a big difference between being a guy who can kill you if he wants to and a stiff wrestler.

According to the WON this was right after he'd been to Japan having super stiff matches with Tenryu where neither of them wanted to sell anything and apparently he didn't really change that style up when he went to Mexico.

I see Hogan,Flair, and Jimmy Hart are coming to Houston,Texas for an autograph convention. Hulk is charging 129.00 for an auto with it personalized an additional 59.00. Flair is charging 59.00 with a 29.00 personalization up charge.

That seems highly over priced. I have no idea how anyone makes money on those conventions but what do I know.

That seems highly over priced. I have no idea how anyone makes money on those conventions but what do I know.

Hulk's is way out of bounds. This show has a lot of famous athletes from LT, Gale Sayers, Mike Tyson, Ozzie Smith to name a few,

This is the most random thing I've seen reading old Observers from 92-93.

 

 

Anyway, Fujiwara left Japan after the show to attend Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, which makes him probably the only pro wrestling personality invited.

This one's from 95, but it makes me want to track down the initial report:

 

 

 

There is already advertising out in the Nashville market for the 7/23 In Your House II PPV show announcing Diesel vs. Sid for the WWF title as the main event for the show and that Jeff Jarrett would both make his singing debut and also defend the IC title. The singing debut is apparently part of the angle to split up Jarrett and Roadie since Roadie is the one who can actually sing and at some point apparently Jarrett will be singing and it'll be surprisingly good and it'll later come out it was Jarrett lip-synching and Roadie singing. If you recall, when Brian Armstrong and Darryl Peterson (Man Mountain Rock) first met with Vince McMahon about going to WWF, it was along was with the idea that along with Nick Patrick (WCW official) that they could do a rock & roll band gimmick.

Too bad he didn't go all the way with that, I would have liked to see Nick Patrick in the Roadie role. He was a pretty good promo whenever he had a reason to cut one.

Heard he's a pretty good guitar player too.

 

This is the most random thing I've seen reading old Observers from 92-93.

 

 

Anyway, Fujiwara left Japan after the show to attend Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, which makes him probably the only pro wrestling personality invited.

i gotta find out more about this story