May 10, 1993
- Two of the largest crowds in wrestling history attended shows this week. First, AAA's TripleMania in Mexico, headlined by a "loser must retire" match between Konnan and Cein Caras, the top babyface and heel in the country respectively. It broke pretty much every crowd and gate record in Mexican history and was the largest paid attendance for any show in North America since Wrestlemania 3. Jake Roberts made a surprise appearance, cutting a heel promo on the crowd and challenging the winner of the main event. Jake eventually cost Konnan the match, forcing him to retire ("as if", says Dave). Fans were shown crying after the match and there was so much heat on Jake Roberts afterwards that it took several hours to clear fans away from the heel dressing room so Jake could leave safely. It looks like the tentative plan is for Konnan vs. Jake Roberts at TripleMania 2.
- The other huge show of the weekend was of course, NJPW's Fukuoka Dome show. Dave notes that it's the first time Sting and Hulk Hogan have worked the same show. Apparently the Sting/Norton match was stopped because Norton bladed too deep and bled so much that a doctor came in and stopped it and Sting was covered in Norton's blood. And of course, Hogan defeated Great Muta in what was said to be a really good match by Hogan standards, who wrestled like he was trying to prove that he can be a good worker. (I can't find the Sting/Norton match, but here's Hogan/Muta).
- In the post-show interview with the press, Hogan made waves by saying that the WWF title "is like a toy, a Christmas tree ornament. The WWF belt is like a Honda. The IWGP belt is like a Rolls Royce. It's the real world championship. Winning this (WWF belt) was very easy. The IWGP belt is very hard to win. No bullshit. I can wrestle. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I'm the old dog, but I know all the tricks. I never quit wrestling. I'm not one of those guys coming back disgracing my former reputation. I'm still the best wrestler. The match (with Muta) today was fun, but it was easy. He is a star, but I beat him 1-2-3 in the middle. I should be wearing the IWGP belt. I want to wrestle every top name in Japan and hopefully wrestle Mr. Inoki again." Hogan then proceeded to talk on and on about wanting to face Inoki. Dave says the match would definitely be a huge draw, but says neither man will be willing to job to the other. I can't seem to find this interview anywhere.
- In an interview prior to the match, Hogan also made similar comments about the WWF belt, calling it a stepping stone to the IWGP title. As you can imagine, Vince was just thrilled about all this.
- Dave says it seems very likely that Hogan vs. Bret Hart will headline Summerslam.
- Paul E. Dangerously has been on a few radio shows the last couple of weeks, promoting the new promotion he's involved in. They're holding their first show in Fort Hood, TX and will be taping it to try to sell to TV networks. Dangerously will be the booker and will be trying to get over new stars to American audiences. Among the people he wants to bring in are Eddie Guerrero, Konnan and Crash The Terminator (better known these days as Bill DeMott).
- Sam Muchnick, the last surviving member of the original National Wrestling Alliance and president during much of its heyday, underwent open heart surgery this week and it went well (he ended up living about 6 more years and died in his 90s).
- On SMW TV this week, Tammy Sytch came out and offered to manage Brian Lee, who responded that if he wanted a woman to tell him what to do, he'd get married, but she isn't his type. This got a huge pop (I'm choosing to just use her real name here, even though she was going by "Fytch" in SMW at the time, but whatever).
- GWF announced that they will be back on local television soon on KTVT Channel 11 in Dallas. When contacted, KTVT seemed to know nothing about this.
- A European indie tour finished up this week that was headlined by Ultimate Warrior and other ex-WWFers. An incident on an airplane with Hercules made every newspaper in Germany. Apparently Hercules was heading to the bathroom when the plane hit major turbulence and threw Herc into a couple of women. A shouting match ensued and the crew reported to the ground that a huge American wrestler was on the rampage. When the plane landed, Hercules was arrested but he apologized to the women and was released.
- Looks like WWF is cracking down on indie companies using former WWF gimmicks when they hire former WWF stars. First it was Nailz not being allowed to use his name and now Jacques Rougeau is no longer allowed to use The Mountie name. So on the indies, he's now going by the name Canadian Law & Order.
- Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) will be using the name Kamikaze Kid in WWF (yeah, for like a week).
- Former GWF announcer Boni Blackstone got a job with WWF and will be doing a live interview segment called Face To Face among other interviewing duties. Word is Jim Ross had a hand in getting her the job, which furthers Dave's opinion that J.R. has gained some power in the company after only being there a few weeks.
- On WCW, they debuted the first Flair For The Gold segment, with Vader as the guest. Dave says it was excellent and teased a future Flair/Vader match. (Fun fact: Fifi The Maid from those segments is Flair's current fiancé in real life).
- Latest on the Cactus Jack/Vader angle is that they'll probably do a story where Cactus has amnesia and doesn't remember anything (boy, did they ever...).
- Tully Blanchard is no longer coming back to WCW. Word is he was upset at being offered less money than guys like Johnny B. Badd, Jim Neidhart, and Tom Zenk so he told them to shove it and won't be coming back.
- The Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper did a story on how Jesse Ventura has done so far as mayor. During his term, there's been a dramatic drop in crime and has been credited for leading the charge on economic development and personally talked an 85-employee company that was planning to leave the city into staying. The story hinted that Ventura may run for the Senate in 1994.