- Rumours have it that Lex Luger is unhappy with his contract with the
   NWA and has asked to renegotiate it. They say that Lex is so upset
   that he is threatening to jump to the WWF if his salary isn't hiked.

   - A while back I think I mentioned that Ricky Steamboat was going to
   appear in Japan in a match against Keiji Muto (aka Great Muta). This
   match took place and Muta pinned Steamboat in 20 minutes with the
   moonsault. I also mentioned that Andre the Giant would work in Japan
   in a special tag match featuring Andre & Hansen vs. Baba & Abdullah
   the Butcher. This match was won by Andre and Hansen when Andre pinned
   Abdullah.

   - Rumours on Halloween Havoc have Lex Luger losing the US strap to
   Stan Hansen and Doom losing the belts to Ric Flair and Arn Anderson.

   - NWA casualty list: Robert Gibson, Jimmy Garvin, Harley Race. NWA
   exodus: Samoan Swat Team (they were back for a second or two),
   Thunderbolt Patterson. NWA new arrivals: Kamala.

   - The WWF has hit some hard times. The post-WrestleMania slump that
   has been a standard for the last few years has extended into the
   tail-end of the year. Gates are low and talent is old. The only "star"
   in the organization is still Hulk Hogan. Vince has decided to trim the
   fat. As a result, the Survivor Series will be the last date for
   several WWF wrestlers, including Jim Neidhart, Nikolai Volkoff, Greg
   Valentine and the Honky Tonk Man. (The good news here is that Vince
   may actually push Brett Hart as a singles wrestler).

   Besides just trimming talentless talent from the organization, Vince
   has reduced the number of weekly arena shows to 8. For the last long
   while, the WWF has worked with three touring line-ups: the "A" team
   (with something like a Hogan-Earthquake main event), the "B" team
   (with something like a UW&LOD-Demolition main event), and the "C" team
   (with something like a Rhodes-DiBiase main event). Vince has
   effectively axed the "C" team. The non-prelim matches from what would
   have been "C" team cards will now be shuffled into the "A" and "B"
   team cards. I guess the idea is to have fewer cards with more good
   matches to draw more. The problem is that Vince has fostered an
   attitude where his fans just want to go see the "WWF stars" and not
   necessarily the wrestling. Adding more "wrestling" to a card may not
   increase the crowds if there are no "stars" (read: Hulk Hogan) on the
   card.

   To top it off, Vince lost a couple of big names this week. The first
   and less "big" is Akeem, who has quit to spend more time with his
   family (in Africa? ;-). The second is Rick Rude. Rumour here is that
   Rude wasn't happy with his share of the Summer Slam pie and quit.
   Akeem wasn't really involved in any program, so his loss will be no
   big deal, but Rude was just set to feud with the Big Boss Man. Word
   has it that either Haku or Bobby Heenan will replace Rude at the arena
   shows this and next month.

   Of course with the loss of Rude (& to a lesser degree Akeem) and the
   firing of other wrestlers, Vince still hasn't cured the problem of not
   having any "stars" other than Hogan. That would seem to be the reason
   for the rumours that Vince is going to go on a major talent raid of
   the NWA and other organizations (perhaps the "disgruntled Luger"
   rumour is just coincidental?).

   What will become of Rude? There was talk that he would be joining the
   UWF, but he failed to show up. The latest word has it that he made a
   stop in Atlanta and ventured into NWA headquarters. Rumours already
   have him joining the Horsemen in the NWA, since it appears that Ric
   Flair and Arn Anderson are on the outs (legit? or an angle?) after
   having a locker room brawl.

   - In an attempt to produce a new "star," Vince will be putting Roddy
   Piper into circulation again. Piper will get a big push. There's
   already talk of resuming the feud between him and Jimmy Snuka. Snuka
   looks like a heel-to-be with that beard.

   - Perhaps in another attempt to produce a new "star," Vince will be
   giving Shane Douglas a slight push after using him as a jobber for a
   while.

   - More wrestlers on shaky ground in the WWF are Koko B. Ware and the
   Bushwhackers. Koko was fined for insubordination recently and may also
   be axed after Survivor Series. The Bushwhackers are apparently upset
   with each other after Luke accidentally nailed Butch in a match. This
   led to a locker room brawl between the two of them...

   - Finally, we've all wondered how a Hogan-Flair or Warrior-Sting match
   would go. Well now almost any NWA-WWF match will be possible! Yep, the
   NWA is following the lead of the WWF and marketing NWA wrestling
   dolls.