June 29, 1992
- So it turns out Wale is a fan of these posts which is ironic because rap is my shit and Wale is great (only other subreddit I really post in aside from this one is r/hiphopheads). Anyway, thanks man! Everybody else, if you want a little wrestling mixed with your hip hop, check out the song Wale did over Razor Ramon's music and if you like rap and want something not wrestling related, I've actually always liked this song Wale did with Brother Ali.
- Word is that all 83,000 tickets for Summerslam in Wembley Stadium sold out within the first 6 hours of going on sale, which blows away any other first day ticket sales records. However, other sources report that only 60,000-65,000 tickets had actually been sold during the first week, which is still insanely impressive but perhaps not the instant sellout that WWF claimed. Regardless, obviously Summerslam is going to be hugely successful for the company and if the venue were bigger, Dave thinks they probably easily could have broken the Wrestlemania 3 attendance record. Given how rabid the European market is for wrestling, and how stagnant American business is right now, it could be interesting to see if the company reduces American shows and starts touring Europe more.
- More details on Luger's motorcycle accident. It was thought that the injuries could be career-ending but it looks like he'll probably recover eventually. Luger suffered torn knee ligaments, a crushed elbow, a torn groin and torn abdominal muscles. The elbow was the worst, requiring 3 different operations and word is he came close to losing use of his arm permanently.
- Murray Hodgson gave his deposition in the lawsuit against WWF last week. Meanwhile, Vince McMahon has counter-sued Hodgson for slander. If Hodgson is lying, then Vince is right to sue. If not, they may just be trying to run up the legal costs to force Hodgson to back down because he won't be able to afford the battle.
- Vince McMahon and JJ Dillon had meetings this week with AAA president Antonio Pena this week regarding possibly working together with talent exchanges and co-promotion. WWF wants to promote shows in Mexico City, since it's the largest wrestling city in the world. Meanwhile, Pena wants to expand AAA into the United States in the southwest. As of now, there won't be any combined shows between WWF and AAA, but they have agreed on limited talent exchanges. AAA will help WWF run shows in Mexico City while WWF will lend AAA a hand in promoting shows in southwestern US cities with large Spanish-speaking populations. Meanwhile, EMLL is looking to work with long-time rival UWA in order to take on AAA.
- After much delay, Konnan will finally debut for WWF next month in a "Jushin Liger-like costume" but will probably be using a different name. Speaking of Konnan, he was expelled from Mexico this week, which is similar to being deported. Konan is an American citizen, though he was born in Cuba and was working in Mexico on a work permit allowing him to work for EMLL. Antonio Pena was trying to get the permit switched over so Konnan could work for AAA, but when EMLL got wind, they somehow got the permit canceled and Konnan was arrested and kicked out of the country. Which Dave says isn't that big a deal since Konnan is starting with WWF next month anyway.
- Dave must be bored because he spends the next 5 pages breaking down key economic indicators in the wrestling business from 1992 compared to the same period in 1991 for all the major companies. Yanno, WWF house show attendance is currently down 36% from the same period last year, WCW is up 13% from last year, but lower ticket prices mean live gate is down 6%, AJPW has had a 28% increase in attendance, etc. etc. TL;DR - business in America is in worse shape than it was last year while business in Japan is thriving.
- Dave debuts a new feature called Question of the Week, where he'll throw a question out there and get the readers' response. This week's question: "If you were in charge of WCW, what wrestler would you build the promotion around as the top babyface?" Dave says it doesn't have to be a current WCW star, but try to keep it realistic and limit your answer to a viable candidate that the company could reasonably get if they wanted to. Sorry everybody, this is kind of a slow issue with not much newsworthy going on.
- Assorted WCW tidbits: the steroid PSA's are no longer airing on TV. El Gigante has been in Atlanta this week trying to get his job back. There is no more talk at all about Jake Roberts coming in. Mr. Hughes is bleaching his hair and beard blond and coming back with a new gimmick.
- The WBF PPV did a 0.02 buyrate (about 3000 buys in the U.S.) which is shockingly low considering how much it was promoted on WWF TV. It's in the same range as Herb Abrams' failed Beach Brawl PPV last year.
- Steroid doctor George Zahorian is going on a speaking tour to tell teenagers the harmful effects of steroids and is talking about writing a tell-all book about his involvement in the wrestling industry (man, that never happened, but it could have been interesting. Although I'd imagine as a doctor, there's probably all sorts of laws he would be violating if he started writing about different people he'd treated).
- Bob Backlund reportedly turned down WWF's offer in the negotiations mentioned last week.