July 06, 1992
- The issue starts with a 3-page obituary for "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, who passed away this week. As is usually the case for Dave's big obit pieces, it's a fantastic read and really tells the story of one of wrestling's legends. He popularized many of the basic tropes of wrestling that are still used today, he's known as the man who invented the figure four leglock and many of Ric Flair's mannerisms, the hair, the robes, etc. are all concepts that Rogers made famous (alongside Gorgeous George). He was widely regarded as the best wrestler of the 1950s and was consistently one of the biggest draws in the business throughout his career, second only to maybe Lou Thesz. In fact, Rogers is partly responsible for the creation of the the WWE we have today. In the 1960s, due to a controversy over Buddy Rogers dropping the NWA title, Vince McMahon Sr. withdrew the WWWF from the NWA and took over the northeastern territories by himself, and the rest is history.
- Final numbers are in and the Beach Blast PPV buyrate (0.4) and the Clash of the Champions TV rating (2.8) are both all-time lows for PPV and Clash specials. The Clash rating especially was a shockingly major drop compared to previous Clashes. Also, WCW's cable shows (Power Hour, Main Event, etc.) also set new all-time lows. WWF's ratings weren't much better.
- Question of the Week is back. This time it's a series of questions, with multiple choice answers, basically about Bill Watts' new rules (what's your stance on blading, what's your opinion of the ringside mats being removed, what's your opinion of the top rope ban, etc.).
- There's some heat on Big Van Vader in Japan. Vader is on salary and makes a certain amount of money (around 200K per year) no matter how many shows he works for the company. After injuring his knee at a New Japan show a few weeks ago, NJPW wanted Vader to go home and rest and get his knee taken care of so he'd be ready to come back and work the next tour. Instead, Vader came home and immediately worked WCW shows, which resulted in him blowing out his knee again. Needless to say, New Japan wasn't thrilled.
- At age 67, The Sheik became probably the oldest man ever to be recognized as a world champion by winning the World Martial Arts title from Atsushi Onita at an FMW show in Japan this week.
- Genichiro Tenryu's new promotion (after splitting off from SWS) will be called WAR. The initials stand for Wrestling and Romance. "Something is definitely lost in translation here," Dave adds. (The promotion ended up lasting for the rest of the 90s before officially closing up shop in 2000)
- Wahoo McDaniel was arrested for a DWI in South Carolina last week. Also, WCW jobber Snake Watson was stabbed to death in Jacksonville, FL.
- Dave saw a tape of a wrestling show from the Phillipines that aired on TV there. They have a wrestler who grabbed a live chicken and started eating it with blood gushing out everywhere.
- Indie star Perry Saturn worked as a jobber at the latest WWF tapings, losing to Tatanka.
- Roddy Piper is negotiating with HBO about starring in a television series (don't think anything ever came of that).
- Jane Fonda appeared on Body Stars this week (she was Ted Turner's wife at the time, and Dave makes it sound like she wasn't really involved. Like maybe WWF had some tape of her working out and used it without her knowledge or something. I dunno). Anyway, Vince McMahon joked about Kamala and Jane Fonda doing a "Tarzan & Jane" movie and said Ted Turner could play Kim Chee.
- Former WWF wrestler Paul Roma was interviewed about the sexual harassment scandal and said that he and his tag team partner Jim Powers had both been approached by one of the higher ups at different points and both turned it down. Roma says the reason the Young Stallions was never tag team champions was because they refused those sexual advances.