January 27, 1992
- In what was, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, the start of one of the biggest stories in wrestling history, Joel Goodhart, promoter of Tri-State Wrestling Association (TWA) in Philadelphia has announced that he's out of money and he's quitting the wrestling business. Goodhart often booked big name stars and flew them in for shows, which cost a lot of money and meant that even his most successful shows were rarely profitable, despite drawing huge crowds for an independent company. Surely we'll get to it in the coming weeks, but of course, Goodhart's company would be taken over by Tod Gordon and renamed, and thus the seeds planted with TWA began to blossom into a small, extreme flower....
- Royal Rumble 92 is in the books, with Ric Flair becoming the first man to ever win the WWF and NWA titles and setting up an apparent Hogan vs. Flair main event at Wrestlemania 8. In fact, last week, the WWF shipped WM8 posters to Japan advertising that as the main event. The seeds were also planted for a Sid Justice heel turn, when he eliminated Hogan from the match, although the crowd actually cheered rabidly for it and booed the shit out of Hogan afterwards. Dave suspects this will lead to Sid vs. Hogan at Summerslam or perhaps they might even stretch it out until Wrestlemania 9.
- I can't find the Japanese poster he talks about, but here's a screenshot that aired on TV briefly before the match was changed:
- SEE: Hogan vs. Flair promo photo for Wrestlemania 8
- It should be noted that Dave says the plan all along was for Bret to drop the belt the way he did, and his negotiating with WCW had nothing to do with the decision to get the belt off him. Just coincidental timing. However, it tells you why Vince probably felt like he had to do what he did 5 years later. Also, in all fairness, Bret has a bit of a different version of this story in his book. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but I feel like Vince was at least within his rights to be paranoid about it in 1997.
- Curt Hennig is also rumored to be negotiating with WCW, but Dave says there's nothing to it. He's still months away from being able to wrestle again, plus he signed a new announcer contract with WWF recently. However, Curt is good friends with Rick Rude and everyone in the business is jealous of Rude's WCW contract (rumored to be $300K a year for only working 142 dates).
- Jesse Ventura was WCW's big surprise at Clash of the Champions and he will be doing commentary at SuperBrawl, however, nothing beyond that has been agreed on so far. Word is his deal was the most lucrative single-event announcing deal in wrestling history.
- WATCH: Jesse Ventura debuts at WCW Clash of the Champions
- As was clear to see at the Rumble, most of the roster is still very obviously on steroids. At this point, Dave pretty much writes off the WWF's steroid policy as a fraud.
- Terry Funk has a small regular role on a new TV series called Tequila & Bonetti as a soft spoken police officer.
- More 1991 Year-End Awards results!
- FEUD OF THE YEAR: Tsuruta & Co. vs. Misawa & Co.
- TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR: Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada
- MOST IMPROVED: Dustin Rhodes (just barely edging out Steve Austin)
- MOST UNIMPROVED: Davey Boy Smith
- In All Japan, the Dynamite Kid retirement show did a record-setting 8.2 television rating.
- Portland Wrestling is in negotiations with Channel 49 there about airing their weekly show. Depending on how it goes, it will likely either spell the doom or survival of the promotion (spoiler: doom).
- In Memphis, Jerry Lawler is in a feud with Kamala. Dennis Coralluzzo was playing the role of Kamala's "financial adviser" and cut a promo claiming that Lawler had 2 illegitimate kids in New Jersey that he never pays child support for. Then he brought out one of the kids: Fred The Elephant Boy from the Howard Stern show. In another promo, he also claimed that not only was he Kamala's financial adviser, but he was the executor of Andy Kaufman's will and he blamed Lawler for Kaufman's death. That's one way to get heat, I suppose.
- WATCH: Fred The Elephant Boy is Jerry Lawler's illegitimate son
- The LPWA has cancelled all future TV tapings but still claim that they have a PPV scheduled for next month.
- Despite Vince McMahon's denials, Lex Luger will indeed be coming in as a member of the WBF. The angle will be that Luger enters the bodybuilding contest and gets blown away by all the real bodybuilders, loses his temper, and that will somehow transition into him becoming a wrestler when his contract situation with WCW allows (in early 93).
- Miss Elizabeth is tired of traveling and won't be on the road with Randy Savage anymore. Yeah, there was a little bit more to that story...
- Brad Armstrong is no longer wrestling as Arachnaman in WCW because of Marvel Comics' threatening letter.
- Rick Steiner arrived late for recent TV tapings because he was detained at the Atlanta airport for carrying a gun, which he forgot to take out of his bag.
