Wrestling Observer Newsletter  The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the Wrestling Observer website merged with Bryan Alvarez's Figure Four Weekly website in 2008. Issues are offered in print and digital. The newsletter is often considered the first "dirt sheet", which is a wrestling publication which covers the art from a real-life perspective. 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, except for a six-month period in late 1983 and early 1984 when Meltzer resided in Wichita Falls, Texas. For most of its existence, it has been published from Campbell, California, 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 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 and mailing lists. 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.