April 06, 1992
- Lots of corporate shakeups in WCW. Bill Shaw, the head of personnel at Turner Broadcasting has replaced Jack Petrick as WCW's President. Shaw then appointed Bob Dew, who runs the Omni Arena to be the "executive overseer" (WTF?) of WCW. Executive VP Kip Frey will now report to Bob Dew.
- Geraldo Rivera's show Now It Can Be Told has been planning to do a show on the WWF scandals for weeks but it keeps getting pushed back. One of the holdups is that Tom Cole, the ring boy who accused WWF of sexual misconduct and later settled out of court and went back to work for the company, had filmed an interview with Geraldo prior to the settlement where he trashed WWF. Cole has since filed a restraining order to prevent Geraldo from using the interview now that he is back with the WWF.
- Vince McMahon held his big "steroid symposium" with one of the world's leading steroid experts and a bunch of media people there. Vince announced that their initial steroid tests showed "nearly 50%" of the wrestlers were on steroids, but several months later, that number is now down to 15% and they plan to get it down to 0%. Vince's steroid expert then went on to say that the new tests are unbeatable which is laughable. The doctor assures the media that the WWF will be completely clean by next month. Dave spoke with the doctor at length and doesn't seem impressed and most other experts he has spoken with vehemently disagree with the doctor's statements. TL;DR - Vince went out and bought himself an "expert" to help push his lies on the public.
- Phil Mushnick wrote a column the following day exposing the doctor as being known in the steroid community as someone who is an expert in beating tests and that the whole thing was a farce to deceive the media, most of whom don't know anything about steroids and could be easily fooled. He also revealed that last year, a former limo driver for Vince McMahon filed a lawsuit against him, claiming that Vince fired him because he refused to keep quiet about the "immoral and illegal conduct he witnessed." Mushnick's columns are scathing and he used to tear into Vince almost daily (and would continue to do so for many years, sometimes still to this day). Given the kind of person Vince is and the money he has, I'm honestly a little surprised Phil Mushnick never ended up in the bottom of a river somewhere. I guarantee you Vince has at least considered it.
- From here, Dave starts breaking it all this steroid stuff down scientifically and statistically, and it's pretty long and gets a bit boring. But the short of it is: Vince and his quack doctor have promised an unbeatable test (something no one else has ever come close to creating) and despite clear evidence of an ongoing steroid problem in the company, not one person has been suspended yet. All in all, Dave surmises that Vince McMahon is completely full of shit.
- Lex Luger made his first television appearance on WWF TV this week, plugging Wrestlemania and the WBF BodyStars show on the USA Network. Luger's WCW wrestling contract doesn't expire until next year. Kip Frey was furious when he learned of this and told Mike Tenay of the Wrestling Insiders radio show: "I think it's the worst thing Lex Luger could do. It's very sad but I have no more emotional attachment to Lex. I hope he gets Vince McMahon for a lot of money. The WWF are being slimeballs. The spirit of the contract wouldn't allow this to happen but there'a a loophole in the language. So what. I have no problem with Lex Luger in the WBF. If they want to be jerks about this, we just don't want to get tied up legally. As long as he doesn't wrestle or commentate on wrestling it's okay."
- The big rumor heading into Wrestlemania is that Ultimate Warrior will be returning at the show. The company aired a Wrestlemania special on USA and showed the Hogan/Warrior match, which got people talking. Dave says he can neither confirm or deny the Warrior rumor. Well then. Also on the special, Hogan's "final" interview, where he hinted at retirement, was one of the best babyface interviews Dave has ever seen.
- The future of John Arezzi's Pro Wrestling Spotlight radio show in New York may be in danger. Arezzi's financial backer, Vince Russo, had a split with Arezzi after meeting with Vince McMahon on Tuesday and Russo wanted Arezzi to lay off criticism of the WWF. Gee, I wonder if this Vince Russo fella is about to land himself a nice cushy job somewhere...
- It has been reported that Mr. Hughes checked into rehab for drugs, but he's actually undergoing therapy for a problem that isn't only drugs. Umm...okay? Meanwhile, Van Hammer checked himself into a psychiatric facility for personal problems and will be off the road until he's released. Uh, right on I guess.
- Kerry Von Erich was arrested again last week when police learned he hadn't been attending his mandatory drug rehab after the previous arrest. He turned himself in after a warrant was issued and spent 2 hours in jail (signing autographs for other prisoners) until he was released on $7500 bond.
- Billy Graham underwent a 2nd hip replacement operation this week. After the surgery, he suffered a partially collapsed lung and lost a lot of blood. He refused a blood transfusion and had to stay in the hospital longer than normal to make sure his body replenished its own blood.
- Yet more 1991 year end award results!
- A magazine in Mexico reported that Konnan was retiring to pursue an acting and singing career. Dave calls bullshit and says last he heard, Konnan is still headed to WWF after Wrestlemania, but it's been awhile since he's heard anything about it, so it could have fallen through.
- Hulk Hogan has not yet signed a contract to work with New Japan, but they want him to debut at the Jan. 4 Tokyo Dome show. It would be interesting, since those shows are usually joint PPVs with WCW, which would mean Hogan would be working on a show with lots of WCW stars and the PPV would be presented in the United States by WCW. Speaking of Hogan and Japan, the recent steroid and cocaine allegations cost him a commercial deal in Japan.
- Koji Kitao (the guy who got into a shoot fight in the middle of a match with Earthquake last year) just signed a ridiculous contract with a Japanese company called UWFI. The contract is said to be for $75,000 per match and a clause that he never has to do a job. How Kitao is worthy of a deal like this is beyond comprehension for Dave.
- Jerry Lawler appeared on local Memphis radio to talk about the Hulk Hogan/WWF scandal and basically tore down Hogan and made a point to assure local wrestling fans that USWA has nothing to do with WWF and disassociated themselves from any of the things WWF has done. Give that a few more months...
- Wrestling trainer Larry Sharpe had a long-running lawsuit against Bam Bam Bigelow that was settled this week. Sharpe was suing Bigelow, claiming that he trained Bigelow for free in exchange for a percentage of Bigelow's earnings for the first few years of his career. Bigelow broke away and went out on his own and was successful. The jury ruled in favor of Bam Bam.
- There's a wrestler named Mike Somani who wrestles on the indies despite having multiple sclerosis. I only mention this because, when I tried to google it to find more info about this guy, Google asked if I meant to search for "Mitt Romney multiple sclerosis."
- The Steiners had a match against a couple of jobbers and there were major blown spots by the jobbers during the match and, as Dave says, "you know what happens when there are major screw-ups during a Steiners match." AKA: Steiners beat the shit out of them for real. The original match won't air and they re-taped the match later in the show.