The December ’91 Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine included the first ever PWI 500. I covered that part of the magazine in a separate series which can be found HERE. Lets find out what else was in the magazine!
BETWEEN FALLS
Dave from San Diego thinks that WCW board of directors should be booed for not giving Ric Flair what he deserved and now the WCW World Championship is vacant. He hopes that pro wrestling doesn’t end up like pro baseball with owners not wanting to pay players and losing them as a result. Mark from New Orleans isn’t a fan of Jake Roberts recently burying the Ultimate Warrior in a grave. He believes it’s not suitable for children. Also, Mark is hopeful that Ric Flair doesn’t sellout his whole career to join the WWF. Eric likes that Lex Luger has returned to being a rule breaker and thinks that he will have a long title reign now that he’s associate with Harley Race and Mr. Hughes.
Terry from Baltimore isn’t a fan of the PWI Dream Tournament citing the result between Sting and Barry Wincham which saw Sting defeat Windham 79% to 21%. He reminds readers that Windham held off Sting when he challenged him for the WCW United States Championship. He suggests that readers do some research next time. Tiffany wants to know who the heck Leatherface is in the USWA. She imagines him bringing a chainsaw to the ring and hopes officials have a plan to control him.
RINGSIDE: written by: Bill Apter
Apter starts off saying that the wrestling world is buzzing at the thought of Flair vs. Hogan, but that Sid Justice feels a little out in the cold. Justice just recently made his debut and is already being overshadowed by Flair. Justice left WCW to get more spotlight and Flair has ended up following him, which hasn’t sat well with Justice. Sid also doesn’t like the thought of losing out on title shots. Sid may not be able to wait long for the Flair-Hogan matches and an angry Sid is a very dangerous person.
Over in WCW, Sting was recently presented a giant gift-wrapped present and when Sting opened it he was attacked by Abdullah The Butcher. Apter believes someone is behind the plan since Butcher isn’t smart enough to develop that plan on his own. Big Josh, Dustin Rhodes and Tom Zenk won the six man tag team titles from The Freebirds and Badstreet on August 5th.
Jerry Lawler regained the USWA Heavyweight Championship from Awesome Kong on August 12th in Memphis, Tennessee. Lawler won the no disqualification match and spat fire at Kong’s manager Reggie B. Fine. Humongous defeated Tom Prichard to win the USWA Texas Championship on the same show. Steve Dane has turned rule breaker and is now managed by Christopher Love. Rob Zakowski has left USWA and is now working for South Atlantic Pro Wrestling.
Billy Jack Haynes has returned to the Pacific Northwest and has issued a challenge of $5,000 to anyone who can withstand his full nelson for more than fifteen-seconds. Jake “The Milkman” Milliman has been forced to retire due to a broken pelvis suffered in a match with Trevor Adonis.
FROM THE DESK OF… : written by: Stu Saks
Stu is sick and tired of Eric Embry turning from good guy to bad guy constantly. Saks believes that either a person is good or bad. They may change once, but all the time just doesn’t make sense to him. To be a fan favorite in wrestling is to basically break the rules against someone the fans dislike more. Tom Zenk was recently booed loudly in New Jersey because he didn’t break the rules and is a clean cut wrestler. Zenk is quoted as saying he doesn’t get the satisfaction of breaking the rules. Saks notes that there are only a couple of good guys truly in wrestling adding that Ricky Steamboat fits the description, too.
Saks also discusses the worst wrestler he’s ever seen in his 25-years as a wrestling fan. Lee Wong is mentioned and he was the least intimidating wrestler from the Orient back in the 70s. Wong never turned down a match in the WWF and fought the best the company had to offer. Saks says that Wong had a record of two wins compared to ninety-eight losses. It was comical to see wrestlers walk through Wong’s karate chop offense. He’s the worst wrestler.
WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW: written by: Andy Rodriguez
Andy talks about Barry Windham and his frequent changes from face and heel. In fact, Windham should have a nickname “Back-And-Forth Barry”. Windham is an ally to Ron Simmons a top challenger for the WCW World Championship held by Lex Luger. Luger is quoted as saying that he respects Windham but is out to humiliate Windham. Windham is focused on winning the World Championship and moving away from the tag team wrestling scene. Windham was surprised that Luger aligned with Harley Race and Mr. Hughes at the Great American Bash. Though, Windham believes that Luger did that because he feared blowing his chance once again to win the World Title. Kevin Sullivan believes that Windham will turn evil again when it suits him and when Simmons starts to get more title shots because Windham won’t be able to beat Luger. Windham doesn’t have the trust of fans, but that is his own doing and the world championship probably wouldn’t change that.
THE STEEL CAGE: written by: Bob Smith
In the fall of 1990, Bill Dundee introduced USWA fans to his new valet named Vicious Vicki. It wasn’t a happy moment as they were brutally attacked by Dirty White Boy and Dirty White Girl rather quickly. Dirty White Boy knocked Dundee out and rubbed broken pieces of glass into Vicki’s face to mess her face up. Announcer Dave Brown considered that act to be the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen and wouldn’t mind seeing White Boy and White Girl suspended from wrestling forever.
Summer of 1991, Dave Brown introduces White Boy and White Girl as the newest fun couple in the USWA. Just eleven months prior they were hated but now they are the top attraction in USWA. How did that happen? Apparently, Dirty White Girl had a conscience and didn’t enjoy doing all the evil things she was doing with Dirty White Boy. She ended up telling Dirty White Boy either lose the rule breaking ways or lose her. Thus, they separated for a few months. After returning from Puerto Rico, White Boy realized that White Girl was right. Shortly after his return, Anthony began a feud with Tom Prichard because he didn’t want to attack people anymore.
When White Girl returned to USWA when White Boy was attacked by Miss Texas, he knew that he needed her around all the time and proposed to her. When she accepted, White Boy was the happiest he had ever been. Credit to White Girl for changing White Boy’s way.
OFF THE TOP ROPE: written by: Eddie Ellner
Joe from Missouri isn’t happy with Ellner for his recent comments about the reunion of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Well, Ellner just doesn’t care much about what Joe has to say to him. Eddie considers Joe to be stupid and the lowest person on the food chain. It’s actually quite aggressive reading it. Jamie from Ontario is impressed with Dustin Rhodes over the past several years, but Ellner doesn’t care much for him. Ellner considers Rhodes to be a bum. Adi from England is annoyed by the WWF refusing to acknowledge wrestling outside of their own. Ellner says that Ric Flair being mentioned in the WWF caused the landscape in wrestling to change. So, that may have caused a change in wrestling that was written about. Gary from California thinks that El Gigante is going to be awesome when he get a few more moves under his belt. Ellner knows to never take a guy so big for granted and suggests that Gigante is at minimum two years away from title contention. Ellner also says that Gigante seems more motivated than Andre the Giant, who to Ellner, settled for mediocrity.
THE PWI DREAM TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT: YOU DECIDE WHO WINS!
They are at the semifinals in this edition of PWI. The match ups are The Rockers vs. Lex Luger & Sting and Legion of Doom vs. the Steiner Brothers. The Rockers had defeated the Freebirds and Nasty Boys to get this far. Luger and Sting had defeated the Young Pistols and the Hart Foundation. Legion of Doom had gotten through Eric Embry & Tom Prichard and then the Bushwhackers. Steiner Brothers had defeated the Southern Rockers and the team of Arn Anderson & Barry Windham.
RON SIMMONS’ STARTLING ADMISSION: “I’VE BEEN JEALOUS OF LEX LUGER FOR FIVE YEARS!”: written by: Dave Rosenbaum
For several years, Simmons has been trying to get out of Luger’s shadow and now has the chance to do so by winning the WCW World Championship. They were teammates in the USFL for the Tampa Bay Bandits and their wrestling careers started almost on the same day. Simmons is sick and tired of Luger getting all the title shots and noted that Luger had gotten like 200 title shots against Ric Flair. He just wants the same opportunities that Luger has had. Simmons knows that Luger is a good wrestler but he’s been jealous of all the opportunities given to him since the start. Luger has been under a microscope as everyone knew he had potential while Simmons has been able to develop under the radar. They have both had their ups and downs but they have ended up at the same point in life. Simmons says that Luger is someone that can get lazy after having everything handed to him. Meanwhile, he’s had nothing handed to him and he’s going to win the title. Luger refutes the claim that he’s lazy and says that Simmons would have given up at the first opportunity if he went through the same things he’s gone through. Luger believes that Simmons will continue to be jealous of him for a long time to come.
PRESS CONFERENCE: JOHNNY B. BADD
The interview took place at a local hair salon in Atlanta as Johnny was getting his hair permed. Johnny doesn’t think it should be a surprise that he’s climbed the ranks of WCW for the US and TV Championships. He does credit Teddy Long for helping him along the way, though. Unlike other wrestlers, Johnny appreciates Teddy and everything he has done for him. Johnny thinks it is crazy for people to question his masculinity as he could have been a pro boxer, basketball or baseball player if he wanted, but he wanted to be a wrestler. Johnny wants people to be mad at him for his velcro kiss that he puts on defeated wrestlers because that will likely lead to title shots. Badd thinks that WCW TV Champion Steve Austin is jealous of him and he nearly won the title because Austin took him lightly. Badd has also had issues with PN News and says that what News listens to for music isn’t actual music. Badd dislikes rap and insults the weight that PN has. He is confident he’ll knock PN out in no time. Badd thinks he is ready for a shot at WCW World Champion Lex Luger because he knows what flaws are in his style. Plus, when he wins the title he’ll have to paint the belt pink. Johnny finishes off saying that he and Teddy Long have a plan to rise up the ranks of WCW and he’ll be on top in short time.
FINALLY, FLAIR VS. HOGAN!: written by: Eddie Ellner
Ellner reflects on Bobby Heenan announcing that Ric Flair had joined the WWF and his many challenges towards WWF World champion Hulk Hogan couldn’t go unanswered any longer. Heenan’s reveal of Flair’s impending debut sent shockwaves throughout the WWF. The WWF previously didn’t acknowledge success of wrestlers outside of the company, but that was something they simply couldn’t do with Ric Flair. Ellner isn’t sure what is going on, but finds it to be quite exciting.
What are your memories of this magazine or what was going on in wrestling at the time? Leave your thoughts below!
Thanks for reading.