September 01, 1992
- Pat Patterson is returning to WWF to his same position (2nd in command to Vince). The company had attorneys present the week before, asking wrestlers if they had any objections to Patterson's return, and of course, no one did. Which seems silly to Dave since obviously, if they said they objected, they'd likely be committing career suicide. Due to a previous settlement with one of the ringboys who was sexually assaulted, both Terry Garvin and Mel Phillips are never allowed to work for the company again, however, Patterson's name was not part of that settlement because Patterson was never in trouble for anything involving children. All of the accusations leveled against Patterson came from former wrestlers like Barry O and Paul Roma. The only legal claim filed against Patterson was the Murray Hodgson case and as reported, WWF doesn't seem to view that case as a threat anymore after hearing Hodgson's (still sealed) deposition.
- In Mexico, AAA withdrew from the Mexican wrestlers union and formed their own union. This led to the original union to call for a boycott of all AAA shows. Two of the arenas that AAA has been using have cancelled AAA's shows and refused to let them use the arenas in response.
- Jerry Jarrett, head of the Memphis USWA promotion, has reached a working agreement with WWF. The basic plan is that USWA will become a feeder system for WWF and WWF will send newer wrestlers there to gain experience and test out gimmicks before putting them on national TV. WWF will also sometimes send mid-level stars down to work one-shot shows here and there against USWA wrestlers to boost their big shows. Jarrett will also help promote WWF shows that come into major USWA stronghold cities (Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, etc.). They actually already started by filming an angle where Jeff Jarrett sat in the front row of a WWF show in Memphis and jumped the rail to challenge Bret Hart for an IC title match that will take place in October (all expected to air in USWA cities, but not nationally).
- Ultimate Warrior is now wearing a bodysuit with muscles painted on, Dave thinks in an attempt to still keep his muscleman gimmick while getting off the juice at the same time. Word is that Warrior has previously been exempted from WWF's steroid policy but that may be changing now.
- PHOTO: Ultimate Warrior in muscle bodysuit
- WCW has been doing a pricing gimmick at house shows where 2 children get in free for each paying adult. This has led to huge increases in house show attendance (although not doing much for the live gates). TV ratings, however, are still in the dumps.
- Speaking of house shows, Jake Roberts has been getting big babyface reactions since joining WCW and starting to work shows against Sting.
- WCW morale is at an all-time low, several anonymous WCW sources have told Dave. After so many years of WCW making progress and becoming colorful, mainstream "sports entertainment" stars, many feel that Bill Watts is trying to take the company backwards, to the old days of smoky, dark arenas where guys work for $25 a night. Watts is reportedly wanting to get rid of the old guaranteed contracts. The sources say that when their contracts are up, many of the guys will be trying to go to WWF because at least Vince treats his employees like businessmen and the goal is for everyone to make big money. Word is Watts got wind of all this and was furious. He asked the locker room if anyone had a morale issue and surprisingly, someone spoke up. Nikita Koloff said that he has a problem with the rule of having to stay until the show is over. Often, many wrestlers like to cut out early and catch a late flight home because it gives them an extra day with their families. Watts' response was essentially to tell Koloff and the others to suck it up and that the wrestling business isn't conducive to family life and if they have a problem with that, they're in the wrong business. So, yanno, things are going great.
- Lots of rumors going around about a possible WWF/WCW talent trade, but Dave says they're all bunk and wouldn't be possible for legal reasons anyway. The big subject of the rumor is that WWF is interested in Sting, but as mentioned before, Sting has a huge guaranteed contract with WCW that lasts through 1995 and Dave would be flabbergasted if Sting wanted to give that up (and there's no way WWF will match it). There's rumors that Ted Dibiase and Bret Hart have both had talks with WCW, but Dave doesn't know any details on that and doesn't really buy it. He also is certain that Ric Flair isn't going anywhere. Most of these rumors started because Jim Ross has been feeding the rumors on his 900-hotline in order to keep the call numbers up.
- In other contract news, The Steiners' contract is up at the end of the year and the new deal they've been offered involves a pay-cut so they may be looking at WWF soon. Paul E. Dangerously's contract doesn't expire until April of 1994, but Bill Watts has made no secret that he wants Dangerously gone (boy, did that ever turn into some shit...) and has been phasing Dangerously out. He can't fire him because he would still have to pay the contract, so if Watts wants him gone, he'll have to either get Dangerously to quit or get him to breach his contract somehiw. Big Van Vader's contract expires in January and he'll probably head to WWF as a heel at that point, Dave figures.
- Terry Funk is negotiating with FMW to come in and face The Sheik, however, Sheik is currently hospitalized and reportedly in rough shape. Dave doesn't say why yet.
- Konnan has already been fired by WWF before even making his TV debut. He worked a couple of dark matches in the robot costume (which doesn't have a name yet) and I guess it just didn't work out. The gimmick was going to be scrapped until Vince McMahon overheard Paul Diamond say he could fit into the robot costume. So the gimmick was continued at the next tapings, with Diamond in the outfit (which would eventually become known as Max Moon).
- Dusty Rhodes and Bill Watts are both interested in trying to bring Chris Benoit to WCW.
- The Hogan/NJPW deal still hasn't been signed, but NJPW officials are planning as if it is and are discussing doing Hogan vs. Scott Norton or Hogan vs. Antonio Inoki at the Jan 4. show in Tokyo. Word is the price-per-match is already agreed on ($100,000) but Hogan wants a guarantee of 4 matches per year and retaining all his merchandise rights. NJPW wants to only have Hogan twice a year and wants to get the rights to a cut of Hogan's merch, so that's where the hold-up is for now.
- Speaking of Japan, it was the biggest two weeks in the history of wrestling in the country, with 7 shows drawing in excess of $550,000 live gates (that's only happened 5 times ever in America. Japan did it 7 times in two weeks) and there were also 3 major world title changes. First, Masahiro Chono captured the NWA world title in the WCW/NJPW tournament. Then Keiji Muto captured the IWGP title and finally, in AJPW, Misawa won the Triple Crown title from Stan Hansen.
- In SMW, the Fantastics defeated the Heavenly Bodies in a barbed wire cage match that multiple people reported to Dave was a five-star classic.
- WATCH: The Fantastics vs. The Heavenly Bodies - Barbed Wire Cage Match (starts at about 1:33:00 in)
- Mike Tenay has quit his wrestling radio show over issues with radio station management.
- It has been confirmed that 10 of the 13 bodybuilders (including eventual winner Gary Strydom) failed their steroid tests before the WBF Championship in June. Despite obviously knowing this, Vince McMahon was falling all over himself during the show to repeatedly talk about how the WBF was "drug free."
- Another bit comparing July 92 numbers to July 91 numbers. As always, everything in America is down and everything in Japan is mostly the same or better.
- Dave spends the next few pages recapping the shows he saw while he was in Japan. If you know Dave and his love affair of Japan, you probably already know how this goes. He loved it all. Except for a WAR show he went to, which he reports was one of the worst live shows he's ever been to. But everything else in Japan? TL;DR - it was all amazing and almost every match was an 11-star classic.
