November 23, 1992
- Both Ultimate Warrior and British Bulldog quit the WWF this week, within 1 day of each other, for unrelated reasons. This forced WWF to come up with an emergency angle which saw Mr. Perfect turn babyface and he will now replace Warrior and team up with Randy Savage against Flair and Razor Ramon at Survivor Series. In Warrior's case, it was somewhat expected (although Dave doesn't say why?!) due to all the current issues taking place behind the scenes (what issues, dammit Dave?!) although most expected he would be fired after Survivor Series. However, Warrior instead quit before that could happen. It was expected that Warrior was heavily factored in to the WM9 main event plans, so plan A for Wrestlemania is out the window now.
- WATCH: Mr. Perfect fact-turn on Prime Time Wrestling
- British Bulldog is a different story. Word is that he wanted superstar treatment because he felt he was the Hulk Hogan of Europe (which Dave says he pretty much is) and felt he wasn't getting it. Bulldog has quit twice before, back when he was still a tag team wrestler, and ended up coming back. Dave expects he'll come back again at some point because everyone always does, noting Bob Backlund as an example.
- With both guys now gone and with Savage and Bossman taking time off after Survivor Series, plus Hogan still being gone, the company is severely lacking in top level babyfaces now. Dave says that Warrior's career is probably over for the time being, because WCW won't pay him what he wants and he wouldn't get over there anyway. As for Bulldog, he could be huge for them in the European market, where WCW still has a following that they never capitalize on for some reason. WCW has a tour scheduled for Europe in March and Dave says it would be the perfect time for them to try to get Bulldog.
- Dave also notes that it's no coincidence that many of the most obviously steroid-juiced guys (LOD, Warlord, Barbarian, Sid, Bulldog, Warrior, etc.) have all left in the last year and have been replaced in main events by guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. Vince deserves credit for finally appearing to get serious about steroids in his company but now his biggest fear may be realized. There's no evidence that Bret or Shawn are or ever will be able to draw or be seen by the audience as legitimate main eventers, but for better or worse, Vince is all-in with those guys now, as evidenced by Bret vs. Shawn being scheduled to close the show.
- As for the "real" main event of Survivor Series, the tag team match is questionable. This will be Mr. Perfect's first match in over a year after suffering a bad back injury and Flair is still under doctor's orders to not wrestle for 6 more weeks, but he's going against them to work the show. Most people didn't see the angle on Prime Time Wrestling because it's their lowest rated show, so most casual fans will be ordering the show still expecting to see Warrior in the match. All in all, it has the potential to be a disaster.
- In Smoky Mountain Wrestling, Killer Kyle will be "out of action for awhile after being rear-ended. You know, his car, while he was driving." Was that a gay joke, Dave?
- Kerry Von Erich has been appearing at GWF shows in Dallas every week and apparently I somehow missed him getting released from WWF while doing these recaps. I think it happened during that 3 weeks Dave missed during August and either I didn't see him cover it or he just never did.
- The Road Warriors/Legion of Doom appeared together at a charity wrestling event last week and were friendly with each other. Dave believes it's the first time the two have seen or spoken to each other since the tag team split.
- Former Stampede wrestler Jason The Terrible received a large, undisclosed out-of-court settlement in his lawsuit against Stu Hart and Stampede over career-ending injuries he suffered in a car accident several years ago (Bulldog and Benoit were in that accident too).
- Paul Orndorff debuted for WCW this week. Also, Charles Skaggs (later known as 2 Cold Scorpio) is expected to debut at Clash of the Champions as Ron Simmons' mystery partner in a "Ghetto Street Fight" match. Dave says Skaggs has a lot of potential and a great finishing move, but says the main reason he was chosen for this match has nothing to do with either of those things. Dave's pretty sure you can figure it out (spoiler: he's black and WCW is terrible).
- Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton's contracts expire in January. WCW wants to keep Anderson in some capacity, possibly on the booking committee, but there's no way they'll renew his $260,000 a year salary. Bobby Eaton's future is less secure.
- Chris Benoit won't be coming in to WCW after all. Negotiations fell through. The plan was for Benoit and Pillman to form a tag team because the company needs heel teams. With Benoit out, it looks like Pillman and Steve Austin will end up becoming a regular tag team after all, despite Austin being against the idea. And the rest is history, as they say.
- Paul E. Dangerously and Madusa were both fined $500 for the language they used in their promo against each other at Halloween Havoc (bitch, hooker, and bastard specifically).
- WATCH: Paul E. Dangerously fires Madusa at Halloween Havoc in an absolutely legendary heel promo
- Erik Watts finally did his first job in the company, losing to Rick Rude. But he came out looking strong and was booked to kick out of several finishing moves first. Yay nepotism!
- Jesse Ventura is contemplating running for the US Senate in 1994.
- All WCW wrestlers were drug tested this week, but no one really knows what for. They were told "for illegal drugs" but not alcohol. No one is sure if that includes steroids or not. If steroids were included in the testing, it would be the first time WCW has actively tested their roster. Also, no one knows what the penalties for failing the test are.
- Earthquake is expected to leave WWF after the Royal Rumble.
- Undertaker returned to action this week, too soon. Ultimate Warrior leaving without notice required Taker to return from injury before he was ready. He worked house shows against Nailz, doing 30 second matches with Nailz having to jump up in the air for Undertaker to give him a chokeslam. Crowds have been furious about the short main events and no-showing Warrior and there were heavy "refund! refund!" chants during the match.
- Jesse Ventura's lawsuit against WWF is scheduled for February. Ventura claims WWF owes him residuals on 135-140 different videotapes in which his commentary appears. Ventura is also seeking damages for merchandising deals from when he was a wrestler, saying he didn't get a fair cut. He's also challenging the "independent contractor" status of professional wrestlers and claims the contract he signed in 1985 was signed under duress, stating Gorilla Monsoon put the contracts in front of him and said, "sign them now or you can't work." Ventura says he signed them but that he told Monsoon at the time that he was doing so under duress and wasn't happy about it.