Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a
newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of ...
that covers
professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...
and
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
. Founded in print in 1982 by
Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...
, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Weekly'' website in 2008, becoming ''Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online''. The newsletter is often considered the first "
dirt sheet In the English speaking professional wrestling culture, a "dirt sheet" is a List of professional wrestling magazines, wrestling magazine, wrestling newsletter or List of professional wrestling websites, website that covers professional wrestling f ...
", which is a wrestling publication covering the art from a real-life perspective.


History

The beginnings of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' date back to 1980, when Meltzer began an annual poll amongst those with whom he corresponded regarding professional wrestling. According to Meltzer, he was just a fan at first. A short time later, he began maintaining a tape-trading list, and would occasionally send match results and news updates along with tape updates. Meltzer stated that he wanted to keep his friends in college "in the loop" for his tape trading as well as the happenings in the business, as the mainstream wrestling magazines catered to a somewhat younger demographic. This led directly to the formation of the ''WON'', which Meltzer first began publishing in 1982 as a way to keep fans informed of various wrestling regions that readers may not have been aware of or had no access to. The ''WON'' has been published from the start from various communities in
Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
, except for a six-month period in late 1983 and early 1984 when Meltzer resided in
Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...
. For most of its existence, it has been published from
Campbell, California Campbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 43,959. Campbell is home to the Pruneyard Shopping Center, a sprawling open-ai ...
, a suburb of San Jose. The publication was originally a 16- to 24-page publication on 8½-by-14-inch paper, and published roughly every two or three weeks. Meltzer contemplated a career change during the mid-1980s. He was to be hired to cover
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
instead and just contribute to other wrestling newsletters. In 1985, he announced that he would be ceasing publication, citing disinterest in the wrestling landscape of the time and too much time having to be spent on
bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. T ...
and
mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. Mailing lists are often rented or sold. If rented, the renter agrees to use the mailing list only at contra ...
s. At that point, he continued offering the ''WON'' on a "temporary" basis as an 8-page weekly on 8½-by-11-inch paper only to fill out the remainder of his subscriptions. Reader response convinced him to pursue the ''WON'' as his career instead. He started writing the ''WON'' full-time in 1987, retaining the smaller 8-page format. By this point, Meltzer began making appearances at major wrestling events, at first mostly in Japan. He was seen as a spectator in the front row at
Chi-Town Rumble Chi-Town Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner. It took place on February 20, 1989, at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinoi ...
in 1989, seated next to
Brad Muster Bradley William Muster (born April 11, 1965) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Stanford Cardinal. He was selected in the first round ...
, at the time a fullback with the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
. The ''WON'' earlier years were also marked by revealing insider news and various behind-the-scenes happenings in the industry, a groundbreaking approach in a kayfabe-heavy era. Meltzer's approach benefitted from professional contacts, a historic perspective, and his own analysis of trends, data, and events. The
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
's 1997 "
Montreal Screwjob The Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident) was a notorious professional wrestling incident where the outcome of a major match was changed without one of the wrestlers being informed – in order to "screw over" Bret Hart, who was i ...
" was exhaustively covered by the ''WON'', including backstage events, including from
Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...
himself. Meltzer published data-based evidence suggesting inflated record attendance figures for WrestleManias III and 23. He gave extensive space to various wrestling scandals, including
Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...
's 1990s steroid trial, the
Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...
murder investigation, and the high drug-fueled death rate within the wrestling ranks. His newsletter was also known for its lengthy obituaries of deceased wrestling figures, as well as a desire to chronicle the deaths of every wrestling figure possible, no matter how minor. Meltzer stated that this new, more journalistic approach to covering wrestling earned him scorn from many within the wrestling business. However,
Terry Funk Terrance Dee Funk (June 30, 1944 – August 23, 2023) was an American professional wrestler and actor. Widely considered one of the most influential and greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his car ...
and
Bill Watts William F. Watts Jr. (born May 5, 1939), better known under the ring name Bill Watts, is a retired American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter and former American football player. Watts garnered fame under his "Cowboy" Glos ...
were early supporters of the ''WON'' from within the business. When readers first began hotly debating whether wrestling promoters actually read the publication or not, Meltzer published a
letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...
from Watts, at the time still promoting. He also credited
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
promoter
Paul Boesch Paul Max Boesch (October 2, 1912March 7, 1989) was an American professional wrestler and promoter, most famous for his work as an announcer and promoter for Houston Wrestling. He also spent several stints working with the Universal Wrestling Fe ...
for taking him under his wing in the 1980s and teaching him how the business works. As the business evolved along with the newsletter, Meltzer gained a little more acceptance. Since major wrestling promotions would never acknowledge the existence of any "
dirt sheet In the English speaking professional wrestling culture, a "dirt sheet" is a List of professional wrestling magazines, wrestling magazine, wrestling newsletter or List of professional wrestling websites, website that covers professional wrestling f ...
s", Meltzer had to find other ways to advertise his newsletter. Advertisements and other promotion were often published in kayfabe and semi-kayfabe publications. Early sources for knowledge of the ''WON'' existence were ''The Wrestling News'' published by Norman Kietzer, as well as ''
Factsheet Five ''Factsheet Five'' was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers. In the 1980s and early 1990s, its comprehensive reviews (thousands in each iss ...
''. The latter was decidedly a non-wrestling publication, though the ''WON'' and other wrestling sheets made up a significant amount of its coverage. Other magazines such as ''Wrestling Main Event'' and ''Wrestling Eye'' also provided mention. Meltzer was also able to advertise his publication during various guest appearances on wrestling
radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production, or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netw ...
s and guest editorials in various national
newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s. With the ubiquitous emergence of the
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and wrestling web sites that are able to provide news in real time, today's ''WON'' differs in the way it covers the wrestling scene in that it provides more of an
editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...
and analysis on the news and what impacts it could have on the business. Wrestlers such as
Konnan Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'', Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve"Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan". Accessed August 1, 2016. On ...
have noted seeing copies of the ''WON'' on Vince McMahon's office desk. It is believed many, if not most, of the biggest stars in WWE and other major promotions are subscribers, although few would admit it publicly. Several subscribed under their birth names, instead of
ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
s, thinking Meltzer would not find out their true identities. Howard Finkel's wife was publicly acknowledged by Meltzer as an early ''WON'' subscriber, and at the time, the closest reach the publication likely had to McMahon, which was in response to a reader questioning the likelihood of McMahon himself reading the publication.


Influence and legacy

Though he is not a wrestler or part of a promotion, Meltzer has occasionally been referenced within the professional wrestling ring. In the short-lived Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) promotion, a jobber wrestled under the ring name Dave "The Observer" Meltzer. In 2014,
The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. , they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whe ...
introduced a finishing move, combining a springboard 450 splash with a spike piledriver, dubbing it the "Meltzer Driver". In 2016, The Addiction introduced a finishing move, combining a double jump moonsault with a spike piledriver, dubbing it the "Best Meltzer Ever". Also, Ricochet and Matt Sydal introduced a finishing move combining a shooting star press with a spike piledriver dubbing it the "Shooting Star Meltzer Driver". Meltzer's newsletter has led to a loyal fan following and radio shows. After getting a job with '' The National Sports Daily'' in 1990, Meltzer was finally able to open dialogue with Vince McMahon, leading to elevation in both Meltzer's reputation and readership. In his first autobiography,
Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and author. He is signed to WWE, under a Legends contract while also serving as an ambassador. Foley worked for many wrestling promotions, including the W ...
declared that it was the ''WON'' coverage of his independent circuit matches that caused
World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...
(WCW) to consider signing him, since he was against "type". Foley also wrote that promoters such as Watts would sometimes change their entire booking direction based on the opinions expressed in Meltzer's newsletter. In May 2015, Meltzer reported that
Destination America Destination America is an American cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries programming focused on the culture of the United States—including food, lifestyles, a ...
had decided to cancel ''
Impact Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busine ...
'' by late September 2015.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...
(TNA) vehemently denied the reports, claiming that they "constitute defamation" and that they were "seek ngall legal remedies available", but TNA was off Destination America by January 2016 and no legal matters ever arose.


''WON'' Hall of Fame

Like other wrestling halls of fame, such as the
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
, WCW, TNA, and NWA halls of fame, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not a physical place. Nonetheless, it is a respected honor in the world of wrestling. Every year, Meltzer conducts a poll of selected "insiders" and wrestlers to determine new inductees into the ''WON'' Hall of Fame. ''
Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
'' has adopted the ''WON'' Hall of Fame as their own.


''Wrestling Observer Live''

Meltzer was the former host of ''Wrestling Observer Live'', a wrestling radio show. Co-hosting the show with Meltzer was Bryan Alvarez, editor of the ''Figure Four Weekly'' newsletter. The show debuted in October 1999 and aired five days a week on the
internet radio Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...
channel, . ceased operation on July 9, 2001, with ''Wrestling Observer Live'', its highest-rated show, being the last show to broadcast on the station. On March 17, 2002, ''Wrestling Observer Live'' was picked up by Sports Byline USA, a radio syndicator based out of
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, and has stayed broadcasting through Sports Byline ever since. Meltzer and Alvarez hosted the show every Sunday night from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. EST on the Sports Byline Radio Network. Meltzer stopped appearing regularly in September 2007, but still appears periodically. On Sunday nights, Meltzer regularly appeared in a segment on the radio show ''
Live Audio Wrestling ''Live Audio Wrestling'' (also known as ''The LAW'') was a Canadian sports radio talk show hosted by "The Mouth" Dan Lovranski and Jason Agnew. The program primarily focused on news and events related to professional wrestling (such as WWE) and ...
'' prior to the show's cancellation. Currently the Wrestling Observer Live is hosted by Bryan Alvarez Monday – Friday 3pm ET and Sundays by Andrew Zarian from 6pm ET – 7pm ET.


Online transition

On June 12, 2008, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Weekly'' website to become ''Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online'', using the layout of Alvarez's former website. After being a print-only newsletter for over 25 years (other than a brief period where it was also available via e-mail in 2000), the ''Observer'' became available to subscribers online through the website.


See also

*
List of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards This is a list of both active and inactive ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' awards created by professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) journalist Dave Meltzer. The first fourteen awards were created in 1980 as an informal poll betwee ...
*
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA) hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Mel ...
* '' Super Luchas''


References


External links


Home of the ''Wrestling Observer Live'' radio show

Official website of the ''Wrestling Observer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrestling Observer Newsletter Magazines established in 1982 Professional wrestling magazines Online magazines with defunct print editions 1982 establishments in California