February 04, 1991
- Dave recounts a long story from 1987 where Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik were fired by WWF because the story of them being arrested for possessing cocaine had made multiple news outlets. Soon after this, WWF began testing its wrestlers for cocaine. One wrestler who failed several tests was Jake Roberts, who was then promptly suspended along with several other wrestlers. Dave had written about this story in the Observer, but had not yet mailed it out when WWF contacted him and asked him not to run the story. On the heels of Duggan and Sheik's firing and the media picking up on it, it would appear that the company had a cocaine problem and if this story was made public, Jake Roberts would probably have to be fired for the company to save face. WWF admitted that they recognized the issue and were trying to clean things up. So Dave, not wanting to be responsible for Jake losing his job, rewrote the issue before mailing it out, leaving out the Jake Roberts story. Bruiser Brody found out and was upset with Meltzer, stating that his only job is to tell the truth, not to cover up stories for WWF. At the time, Meltzer thought he did the right thing, but now he realizes Brody was correct. His responsibility is to the reader, not the promoters. Just a couple weeks ago, when Bobby Heenan was found passed out on a plane, someone within WWF begged him not to publish the story. Despite feeling bad about it, Meltzer knew he had a responsibility and so he published it. From here, Meltzer apologizes and says there won't be much in the way of wrestling news this week and this won't be a normal issue of the Observer. Buckle in!
- Almost the entire issue is basically all about one big story. Meltzer's rant last week in the Observer and in a national newspaper article about the Slaughter/Iraq storyline pissed off Vince McMahon and there's been a lot of public back and forth between Meltzer, the Observer, and the WWF. Meltzer spends most of the issue telling his side of the story and talking about his experiences directly with WWF and Vince McMahon and all that.
- WWF sent a letter to the newspaper (The National) that published Meltzer's piece, denying that WWF attempted to send Hulk Hogan to Saudi Arabia for a USO tour. They say the USO wanted Hogan but the Defense Dept. nixed the trip. They deny that the trip was being used to strengthen Hogan's image. They also say that Meltzer's reporting of discussions within WWF about the Slaughter/Hogan angle have been completely inaccurate and claim that Dave never made an effort to check the facts with them. They also deny that there was anyone in the office who was thinking of quitting over the angle. WWF insists that The National print a retraction and apology and threaten to file a lawsuit against the paper.
- Dave responds that, indeed, he got it wrong and WWF is correct in stating that the Defense Dept. canceled the USO trip and he is making the correction here and will do so in the next issue of The National. However, Dave disagrees that the trip wasn't being used to strengthen Hogan's image, given things that he has been told from other sources and that WWF has been actively portraying Hulk Hogan as a flag waving patriot in a feud with an Iraqi sympathizer during the midst of an actual war. He also knows people were thinking about quitting because he talked to several of them directly and they told him they were.
- As for whether Meltzer made "an effort to check the facts" with WWF, Dave goes through everything he did: he wrote the article and then read it over the phone, word-for-word, to 2 sources within the company who verified it was correct. Then he called Vince McMahon's house and got no answer or answering machine. He then called Howard Finkel and left him a voicemail but Finkel never called back. He then tried to contact JJ Dillon at the office and left a message with his secretary. After not getting a call back, he called again several hours later to reiterate that it was urgent and again never heard back.
- Overall, aside from a small error on the USO trip, Dave stands behind every word of his reporting on the Iraqi storyline controversy and invites Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, or Sgt. Slaughter to speak with him on the record about it if they would like to share a different side of the story.
- Dave then goes on to recount his dealings with JJ Dillon (his source within the company that WWF provided for him) and says they have pretty much always been friendly and gives examples of the few disagreements they have had but that, for the most part, they were always respectful.
- One of the biggest complaints from within WWF has been that Dave has no right to write about the WWF since he has never worked in wrestling. As silly as that complaint is, Dave reveals for the first time that he actually HAS worked in the business, and for the WWF. It was many years ago and his job was to keep the company up to date on all the happenings in Japan. Tour dates, who was being booked, and just general news. WWF had him on the payroll for that job briefly and only a few people knew about it (Vince, Pat Patterson, Terry Garvin, etc.). Dave also reveals that WWF offered him a job writing for WWF Magazine, which he passed on. And that seems to be it. For now...
- Okay, on to actual news!
- Michael Wallstreet walked out on WCW last week due to issues with his contract that he didn't like.
- With Vince McMahon getting ready to announce his World Bodybuilding Federation, Ted Turner is concerned (why?) that Vince may be hiring all these bodybuilders to use on his wrestling shows (to "guest pose" not wrestle). So Turner made a deal with the competing bodybuilding organization to use their bodybuilders if Vince decides to use his. Good lord, this is ridiculous.
- Herb Abrams' UWF is bouncing checks to many of his employees and wrestlers. Meanwhile, Bill Anderson and Louie Spicoli have either been fired or quit, depending on who you believe. The reason given is that Anderson and Spicoli visited WWF's offices while they were in town for the tour and Abrams was pissed about it and canned them. Word is Vince McMahon has tied Abrams up in court over things like the Rick Rude and Honky Tonk Man contract issues and Abrams is spending all his money fighting Vince in court, which is why checks are bouncing. Meanwhile, any footage or mention of Rude, HTM and Greg Valentine have been edited out of UWF's TV show, as well as the term "sports entertainment" which Vince is also making a trademark claim for.
- Chris Chavis has been hired by WWF as their resident Indian and will be using the name "War Eagle" (not quite...)
- Jesse Ventura is negotiating with GWF to come in as an announcer. Speaking of, GWF is looking to get started around April, although most of the names mentioned a few weeks ago are no longer involved.
- Finally Dave gets one last bit in, his own opinion this time, essentially boiling down to WWF attempting to deflect criticism of their own tasteless storyline by shifting the narrative of the story that Dave Meltzer is a biased reporter out to ruin the company. Dave, of course, rejects this and says in the end, WWF has to accept responsibility for exploiting a war simply to line their pockets. And that's mostly it.