April 13, 1992
- Wrestlemania 8 is in the books. WWF reported a crowd of over 62,000 people but the show was heavily papered. Live gate was around $1.25 million which would be the 4th largest ever (behind WM 3, 5, and 6). Preliminary figures indicate PPV buys were substantially lower than last year, which has to be a disappointment considering how bad last year's PPV numbers already were.
- Dave runs down his review of the show, which is basically: Piper/Hart was good. Savage/Flair was great (I just re-watched it and yeah, it really is). Most everything else was boring or downright abysmal, ending with the return of Ultimate Warrior.
- Ultimate Warrior is back full time (and yes, it's the same guy as before, Dave says, despite rumors to the contrary) and there is a long-term plan in place for him. But they won't be continuing the Jake Roberts feud because...
- ...Jake apparently quit before the show. Dave says Roberts "left for non-business related reasons" and gave the impression he would be back in a few months. Yeah, turns out there was a bit more to that story.
- Geraldo Rivera's story on the WWF sex scandal was by far the most brutal major media feature so far. The show brought 2 new names into the story, both former WWF referees, including Rita Marie, who was the company's first female referee. She told a story of Vince McMahon promising her the world, saying she could make $500,000 a year and be on the cover of magazines in exchange for sexual favors. Furthermore, Rita Marie flat out accuses McMahon of trying to rape her in his limo in 1986 and says when she refused, she was done with the company. She passed a lie detector test in regards to the story and her story was also corroborated by the limo driver (who is also suing McMahon, as mentioned last week).
- The other referee who appeared on the show told a story of being fired after refusing homosexual advances from Terry Garvin. He says that there was a whole group of referees and ring boys performing sexual favors for management, lead by Garvin and Pat Patterson who were known internally within the locker room as "The Cream Team" (which is now a thing I can't un-know). Multiple sources said there's no way Vince didn't know since everyone in the wrestling business knows about Patterson and Garvin and he was warned about them on his first day in the company. Overall, the Geraldo piece went for the jugular. WWF refused to comment.
- Roddy Piper did a radio interview and when asked about the scandals, he towed the company line and told the same lies and story that WWF has been telling. Dave prints a transcript of Piper's quotes and pokes holes in all of it.
- The WBF BodyStars show premiered this week. It's mostly being used to get the bodybuilders over as celebrities, with Lex Luger essentially being the heel bodybuilder. It was taped at the gym in Titan Towers and hosted by Vince McMahon (who is also shown working out, grunting and making weird faces).
- Larry Sharpe, the same guy who lost in court to Bam Bam Bigelow last week, had a similar lawsuit against Charles Wight (Papa Shango) thrown out this week, making him 0-for-2 in court this week.
- Randy Savage appeared on Regis & Cathy Lee last week before Wrestlemania.
- "The Cream Team."
- Hulk Hogan purchased a new 2.3 million dollar home in Tampa last week, which means he's not moving to Hawaii as previously reported and also unlikely to go work for NJPW. Dave suspects he'll be back in WWF soon.
- Hogan's upcoming movie Rough Stuff (later changed to Mr. Nanny) is scheduled for a January 1993 release.
- Brian Pillman has a back injury that was worse than originally thought and won't be back on the road anytime soon.
- Kip Frey is negotiating with MTV for a WCW cross-promotion similar to the MTV/WWF tie-in that led to Wrestlemania 1 in 1984.
- No word on El Gigante's WCW status. He hasn't been seen in awhile and no one in the company mentions his name anymore, so who knows. Steve Armstrong is apparently gone also, over a contract dispute.
- Seriously though, you guys...."The Cream Team."