March 22, 1993
- Yet another death and long obituary piece, this time for Dino Bravo, who was the victim of a mob-style hit. Bravo was shot 7 times, at least twice in the head, in his home. Police found 17 shells from two different guns on the floor. Since there was no sign of a struggle, cops believe Bravo knew his killers. His wife and daughter luckily weren't home at the time but came home later and found him dead. Because so many shots were fired, but none of the neighbors heard anything, police speculated that the killers may have been professionals who used something to muffle the shots.
- Police have been focusing on Bravo's involvement in illegal cigarette trafficking for the mob. Earlier this month, Canadian police confiscated 234 cases of cigarettes and 69 cases of tobacco, worth $400,000 on the black market. It's believed to be Bravo's fault because he failed to cover his tracks well enough, which led to the bust and the belief is that he was murdered in retaliation for losing $400K worth of tobacco. Bravo had reportedly told friends that he was in fear for his life and had been threatened recently. From here, Dave recaps Dino's entire wrestling career, starting out in Montreal in the 70s before eventually winding up in the WWF in the 80s after Vince put the local Montreal promotion out of business. His funeral was held in Montreal and the only notable name in attendance was former wrestler and current WWF road agent Rene Goulet.
- Sting defeated Vader for the WCW title at a house show in London this week, in front of the biggest crowd WCW has drawn since 1989. The European tour WCW is currently on has been a major success, much like the WWF shows are, and shows there's a huge audience for American wrestling in Europe.
- WATCH: Sting wins WCW title from Vader in London - fan-cam video
- In America, WWF, WCW, and SMW all canceled shows this week due to the Storm of the Century currently ravaging the entire eastern United States.
- Ultimate Warrior has dropped his lawsuit against WWF. Dave has no details other than Warrior is telling people he dropped the suit because he's changing lawyers. So expect this to be re-filed.
- Former WCW announcer Jim Ross was backstage at the WWF TV tapings this week and was introduced to everyone as if he was already hired. As of now, the plan is for Ross to debut at Wrestlemania, but there may be some hangups with his WCW contract, which has a no-compete clause through August. Ross is working on getting his full release from WCW so he can start with WWF as soon as possible. WWF will need a new announcer since Sean Mooney is on his way out.
- New Japan is still claiming that they own all the rights to Big Van Vader's name and gimmick and have allowed him to use it in other companies (such as WCW) because they have good relationships with them. However, there is significant competition between NJPW and UWFI so when Vader debuts for them in May, he will likely use the name Bull Power (the name he used early in his career) or his real name, Leon White (he actually ended up using the name Super Vader).
- Female wrestler Debbie Malenko (kayfabe. She's not actually a member of the Malenko family, but uses the name with their blessing) suffered a badly broken leg in a match in Japan this week and is expected to be out for about 6 months. (Nope. It ended up being career-ending and she never wrestled again.)
- Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage in Louisville, KY for USWA drew an estimated 3,000 people, which is about 2,500 more than they usually draw in that city.
- Chris Candido and Tazmaniac (Tazz) are headed to SMW for a few shows.
- Michael Hayes and Buddy Roberts are reuniting as the Freebirds for the Kerry Von Erich memorial show taking place next month. Word is The Fantastics, Ultimate Warrior, Sid Vicious and others are also expected to work the show, with all proceeds going to Kerry's 2 young daughters.
- A small local wrestler named Todd Hecht debuted at a Texas show as Dink The Clown, claiming to be the nephew of WWF's Doink. Of course, not long after this, WWF took the name and idea and gave it to a different guy.
- WWF Magazine is by far the best selling wrestling magazine, but when it comes to the other, non-affiliated publications (the Apter mags, if you will), Wrestling Main Event magazine has apparently come close to surpassing Pro Wrestling Illustrated in sales. WME had a big increase in sales this year, while PWI sales have dropped about 15% (Dave ends up correcting this in later issues because he got some bad information. In short....no. Not even close. PWI was still far and away ahead of all the rest. I'm only including this tidbit because I have fond memories of all those old magazines).
- Several new faces are expected to start with WWF at or after Wrestlemania: Luna Vachon will be coming in as a valet for Shawn Michaels and to feud with Sensational Sherri. Bryan Clark, who wrestles for SMW as Night Stalker, has been offered a job and will be getting a new name and gimmick (ended up becoming Adam Bomb). And finally, Kip Sopp and Mike Polchlopec (Billy & Bart Gunn!) will be coming in doing a cowboy tag team gimmick.
- At the latest tapings, Mr. Hughes and Mike Shaw both recieved tryouts. Both ended up getting jobs.
- WWF aired a video at the end of the March 14th episode of Raw attempting to repair Vince McMahon's image by emphasizing his role as President and CEO of WWF and showing a lot of wrestlers doing charity work. Dave continues to be disgusted by their using charity work to boost their own image. Speaking of Raw, the ratings continue to be impressive.
- Vince McMahon missed this episode of Raw because he was at a ceremony, being honored by the Michael Landon Foundation for charity work. Hogan, Randy Savage, Jim Duggan, Gene Okerlund, and Jimmy Hart all attended as well. They aired the same video from Raw and then Hogan presented the award to Vince and said Vince used to be his friend, but now he's his hero. Vince said he was unworthy of the award and credited the WWF superstars for their charity work. Raw instead was co-hosted by Not Vince McMahon.
- PHOTOS: Not Vince McMahon co-hosts Raw
- WATCH: Vince McMahon accepts his award (presented by Hulk Hogan)
- No mention on any WWF TV of Dino Bravo's death. Not surprising, given the circumstances.
- In the letters section, a wrestler who chose to remain anonymous writes a touching letter about his friend, Kerry Von Erich and says that Kerry was a troubled man who was always in pain, but he was a great friend.