The Dave Meltzer Appreciation Thread.

Meltzer is obviously the Yoda of professional wrestling and people should always check back issues of his fanzine out if they want to get the full facts. Here are some examples of Dave's great work....

In December 1998, Dave wrote about how Ron Simmons and Bradshaw were foolish to permanently scar their bodies by getting tattoos on their chest just for a tag team that wasn't going to be successful anyway.

In 1987, Dave said Wrestling Eye magazine was harming wrestling with its article about insider terminology. He said it was more harmful than his fanzine because it was sold in shops. Dave didn't stop using insider terminology in his fanzine when his subscriber base increased.

In 1993, Dave wrote that Del Wilkes (The Patriot) had joined the USWA and debuted as The Spellbinder.

In 1994, Dave wrote about how Jinsei Shinzaki was doing an Undertaker knockoff gimmick. I guess because he also did that walk the top rope spot where it never occurs to the recipient to shove the opponent to the arena floor.

Any wrestler who does a powerbomb is a Sid knockoff.

On a podcast recorded shortly after WrestleMania 32, Dave buried Zack Ryder for looking happy during a promo on Raw. Dave couldn't understand why Ryder would act so elated just because he had won the IC championship the night before at WrestleMania.

In 1996, Dave told his paying subscribers that WCW Bash At The Beach was going to be in Lake Tahoe that year and that it would include matches that take place in the water on some kind of makeshift island. He said the show was going to be called Quake At The Lake.

In 1990, Dave wrote that The Road Warriors would be growing their hair before debuting in the WWF and that they would wrestle Demolition in a Loser Must Stop Wearing Facepaint match at WrestleMania VII the following year.

This is a strange one....

Dave wrote in March 1990 that there was ZERO chance of Beefcake defeating Curt Hennig at WrestleMania 6, so I can't work out how it happened.

Weird

In 1984, Dave wrote that the Crossface Chickenwing was the worst submission hold he'd seen.

I don't know how he feels about the hold these days but maybe if somebody actually put it on him he could begin to appreciate it.

Also in 1984, Dave said that Tommy Rich was the worst babyface of 1983.

Tommy Rich in 1983 = shit

Marko Stunt in 2020 = not shit

Understand?

In 1995, Dave told his subscribers that WrestleMania 3's real attendance figure was only 78,000. This was despite the Silverdome having 80,311 fixed seats for football games (which were all clearly filled at WM3) and all the floor seats being added.

In March 1988, Dave wrote that the first Clash Of Champions TV special was going to be the most watched Crockett house show ever. Until I had read this, I foolishly thought that a house show is an untelevised wrestling event.

Slight correction: Dave wrote "If this isn't the most-watched Crockett house show ever, and in fact except for the NBC specials and the Royal Rumble, the most-watched wrestling show of the modern mat era, then Crockett should be very disappointed."

This is taken from an April 2017 issue of Dave's fanzine. This is exactly how it appears on the page. Dave was trying to write something about Dean Ambrose marrying Renee Young.

"She went on Yelp, found a poastor to cmoe to the hir hoem and got amrried in their backyard."

On commentary at Summerslam 1993, Bobby Heenan said "He took a backdrop so high he came down with icicles on!”

When Dave reviewed the show a few days later, he couldn't figure out what that line meant and basically accused Heenan of talking gibberish. https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-is-air-colder-the-higher-up-you-go-116822

Throughout 1993, Dave accused WCW of having a policy of only allowing white people to sit facing the hard camera at TV tapings. If you check the TV shows from that time period though, you will see people of varying ethnicities sat facing the hard camera.

In October 1989, Dave wrote that Konnan is American, not Mexican.

Konnan was born in Cuba and is of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent.

Things like this must be why Dave's supporters are always talking about how his facts are always so accurate.

Kevin Sullivan, Tony Schiavone & David Penzer witnessed the Vader/Orndorff backstage fight in 1995. They all say Vader was a mess afterwards. Penzer said his face looked like it exploded. They're all wrong though. Dave (who wasn't there) wrote that he emerged virtually unscathed.

“What’s with the mats around WWF rings now?  So guys don’t get hurt bumping over the top rope?”  - Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer, April 28th 1986

"I've learned to accept the gimmick. What I can't accept is that this man (Adrian Street) is a disgrace in the ring." - Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer, August 1983

Someone should say this to Dave now about Sonny Kiss and watch him freak out.

Street was a great wrestler.

In January 1993, Dave wrote that Ric Flair carried Bret Hart through their match in Boston on the 9th.

Bret says it was the other way around but what does HE know? Just because he was in the ring having the actual match, that doesn't mean anything. Dave is a facts machine.

In 1986, Dave wrote that Marty Jones' hometown is London and that he debuted in 1977.

His hometown is Oldham and he debuted in 1972.

^ The age is incorrect too. Marty was 33 in 1986.

In December 1991, Dave reported that WCW's UK tour didn't draw well because their TV show here had stopped being shown a few weeks prior.

I must have false memory syndrome then because I have vivid recollections of watching WCW on ITV every week from mid 1991 until mid 1994.

In June 1993, Dave wrote that Mike Halac (Mantaur, Bruiser Mastino) is PN News' brother.

Up until he reported this, the brothers thought they were cousins. Dave had obviously seen some DNA test results that even Mantaur and News hadn't seen.

#Facts #BestSportsWriterEver

In April 1996, Dave said there was no truth to the rumour that Scott Hall wanted to stay in the WWF but was turned down.

In 1996, WCW was showing the Blood Runs Cold videos to hype Glacier's debut. Dave kept reporting different things about who the videos were for. One week it was Yoshi Kwan, another week it was Hakushi, he even said it was Hall & Nash at one point.

June 1994. Dave wrote that he thinks Hulk Hogan's WCW entrance theme song (American Made) was a way of mocking Lex Luger. It's not like Hogan's character was also patriotic and had used a patriotic entrance theme for years in the WWF or anything.

In September 1997, Dave wrote a report about the WWF's One Night Only pay per view and said that The Patriot had the most heel heat of the entire show.

#ShawnMichaels #BombardedWithBottles #BirminghamScrewjob

In December 1986, Dave wrote that there were no matches between Randy Savage and Bruno Sammartino booked and that they would never wrestle each other.

Guess what happened on December 30th, January 3rd, January 4th and February 7th.

Also in December 1986, the best sports reporter in the USA reported that March 1987 wasn't going to be a pleasant month for the WWF because ticket sales for Wrestlemania 3 would be very poor.

In February 1988, Dave wrote that Brutus Beefcake vs Greg Valentine in a hair vs hair match at WrestleMania 4 is "etched in stone".

Definition of etched in stone: Permanent or not able to be changed. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carved%2Fetched%2Fset%2Fwritten%20in%20stone

In January 1988, Dave wrote that Big Van Vader is a total flop that won't get over because he doesn't have a physique like Bruiser Brody or Stan Hansen.

Ah yes, what a failure Vader was, and what an impressive and ripped physique Stan Hansen had.

Even though David Schultz had been wrestling for a decade, and even though his name appeared on screen before his matches, Meltzer was still constantly spelling his name wrong in 1985.

So I shall henceforth be calling Dave Meltzer "Dave Meltser".

In late November 1995, Meltser displayed his superior knowledge by telling his subscribers that The Blue Meanie's real name is Brian Rollins.

In the December 16th 1985 issue of his fanzine, Meltser praised Tully Blanchard for how well he takes press slams, then in the next sentence he said "Actually, press slams really aren’t a big deal, even Japanese girls do them."

October 1985. Meltser writes that Ole and Arn Anderson are good at talking but not very good at wrestling.

In September 1985, a clearly brain damaged Mike Von Erich was pressured by his overbearing father to do a press conference in hospital to help promote the October 6th Cotton Bowl show.

In the October 1st Observer, Dave said he wasn't offended by the press conference at all.

“It doesn’t seem serious at this point.” - Dave Meltser talking about Terry Gordy's extremely serious overdose that rendered him brain damaged for the remainder of his life.

That was in the September 6th 1993 Observer.

Bonus Gordy/Meltser story: https://www.mandatory.com/wrestlezone/news/232377-tracy-smothers-responds-to-comments-by-dave-meltzer

Just to highlight how valid Meltser's opinions are....

Throughout the 80s and 90s, he said Adrian Street, Gordon Solie, Ole & Arn Anderson, Bob Backlund and Tommy Rich were all terrible but Rick Bognar and Jack Victory were going to be huge stars because they were so talented.

Dave used to try to deter people from stealing his work by putting little copyright warnings in his fanzines. This was despite the fact that he used photos without permission and reprinted them in those very same fanzines he sold. He even reprinted entire newspaper articles.

In the June 20th 1988 issue of his fanzine, Dave (the best sports reporter in the country) reported that a new manager called Brother Love is being brought into the WWF and he will wear a mask.

(Bonus photo of a young @bruceprichard wearing a young @TheJimCornette T-shirt)

I've just noticed that Dave corrected his mistake later in the issue and said that Brother Love won't be wearing a mask.

The tweet is staying up though because I like the photograph.

In 1986, Dave charged $17.50 for copies of a homemade book called The Who's Who In Pro Wrestling. The photos on the cover look like they were cut out by a toddler using faulty scissors, and The Barbarian's real name isn't John Fuvoulo, it's Sione Vailahi.

"Piper bores me now" - Dave Meltser in 1985

In the December 19th 1994 issue of the Observer, Dave reported that Paul Levesque had signed a new deal with WCW so there was definitely no way he'd be going to the WWF any time soon.

Correction: The Triple H quote above should say Vince McMahon instead of JJ Dillon. Dillon was the one who set the meeting up but Triple H was talking about Mcmahon here.

In June 1992, Dave was telling his paying subscribers that Ric Flair was rumoured to be challenging Bret Hart for the Intercontinental championship at Summerslam that year.

In the November 12th 1984 issue of the Observer, Dave wrote that Bill Dundee isn't good.