July 08, 1991
- The big story this week is that WCW has fired Ric Flair after the two sides failed to agree on a contract extension. It has been announced that Flair has been stripped of the title and that the top 2 contenders, Barry Windham and Lex Luger will face each other at the Great American Bash PPV in a cage match. It's the first time in the 43-year lineage of the NWA/WCW that the title didn't change hands in the ring. The contract offered would have cut Flair's salary more than half, which naturally, Flair balked at. On the same hand, WCW took major losses last year and has to start making significant cuts. Flair is seen as being on the downswing of his career and has been mostly used to help create stars out of Sting and Lex Luger. Also of note is that Ric Flair owns the current championship belt (well, sorta) so WCW will need to get a new title belt (that turns into its own big story in the coming weeks).
- What's next for Flair? Probably WWF, although Dave wonders what his place would be there. Flair is neither young, nor a big beefed up monster, and with new young stars like Sid Justice and Undertaker, where does Ric Flair fit in Vince's hierarchy? It's also possible Flair could work the independents and Japan and make a comfortable living, but that would require dealing with some shady bookers (indies) or changing his style to adapt to what fans expect (Japan). In the end, Dave figures he'll show up in WWF because no matter how you slice it, he's still Ric Flair and he's still one of the best wrestlers in the world and Vince won't let that opportunity pass him by.
- Back to the steroid trial of Dr. Zahorian which is over now, more names are coming out that Dr. Zahorian allegedly sold steroids to, from Hogan and Piper, all the way to Lord Alfred Hayes and Vince McMahon himself. Dr. Zahorian was found guilty on 12 of the 14 counts. Sentencing takes place in two months and Zahorian is facing 44 years in prison. Meanwhile, millions of dollars of his assets have been seized by the government.
- When Zahorian took the stand, he admitted to selling steroids to Hulk Hogan and claims Hogan had a serious steroid problem from the time he met him in 1984 all the way up to recently. A photo of Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan and Dr. Zahorian together has been running in newspapers throughout the country, much to the chagrin of WWF.
- Superstar Billy Graham testified against Zahorian, first about the significant health effects he suffered from steroid use and also shooting down Zahorian's claim that he only sold steroids in small doses. Graham claims he once bought a year's supply from Zahorian at one time and was a heavy user. Graham appeared to be in significant pain, often standing because he claimed sitting for long periods of time was painful.
- Meanwhile, in USWA, Eddie Gilbert quit the promotion and is reaching out to WCW for a job, but he burned some bridges last time he was there, so it probably won't happen.
- Two wrestlers from Detroit have been working in Memphis lately named Samu and Rob Zakowski. Samu, who is the nephew of the legendary Sheik and wrestled in Detroit under the name Sabu The Elephant Boy. As for Rob Zakowski, he has worked in Detroit under the name Rob The Polish Prince (and we all later knew him under the name Rob Van Dam).
- The first GWF tapings for the new ESPN time slot seemed to be a pretty big success, with everyone happy with how it went.
- In WWF, there is apparently major heat regarding the Mountie character in Canada, with the real Royal Canadian Mounted Police trying unsuccessfully to get WWF to drop the character, saying it paints them in a bad light.