June 28, 1993
- This issue leads off with Dave completely shitting on the Beach Blast angle of the mini-movie showing the heels (Vader and Sid Vicious) blowing up a boat to try and kill Sting, calling it "the most flawed PPV angle in history" and "a total embarrassment." Dave essentially says that it boils down to the fact that so many of the people running WCW have no understanding of the wrestling business, then he recaps the mini-movie for those of us "lucky enough" to have missed it.
- Dave got plenty of feedback on the angle from readers but one in particular from Jim Cornette, who apparently begged Dave to quote him. So far be it from me to prevent Jim Cornette from criticizing something: "Three of the wrestlers who comprise the wrestling talent in that thing I have the highest respect for their work and think they're fantastic, but anybody that would take part in this thing for any price or for any contract is crazy. Anybody responsible for that fucking abomination should not only be shot but be forced to watch that abomination over and over again until they puke up their toenails before being shot. And they wonder why they can't do any business? I think everyone involved should suffer the most horrible painful death possible because of the money they're taking out of all our pockets who are trying to preserve this business that is rapidly going down the tubes."
- Hulk Hogan's WWF future is up in the air again. Hogan, Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart pulled out of all upcoming shows they were booked on, including next month's Summerslam. Hogan was reportedly unhappy with how business has been since he returned, with even the house shows he headlined not drawing well. Dave thinks it might make good business sense for Hogan to leave. If he sticks around in wrestling and the business is still in the dumps with him on top, then Hollywood producers might see that Hogan doesn't even draw wrestling fans anymore and it could torpedo his acting career. It's better for Hogan to give the illusion that he's such a big star that the industry collapsed after he left.
- The planned main event of Summerslam was scheduled to be a rematch of Hogan challenging Yokozuna for the title, but that is obviously out the window now. WWF will be filming an emergency angle on July 4th with a Yokozuna bodyslam challenge and it's expected that a major heel will be turning babyface and go on to headline Summerslam against Yokozuna, but for now, whoever it ends up being is being kept secret, if they even know yet.
- Ted Dibiase also gave his notice that he's leaving after Summerslam, and he will return to All Japan to work. Before making the AJPW deal, Dibiase reportedly tried to get a $250,000 a year deal with WCW but they weren't interested.
- King of the Ring's buyrate is in and it's the lowest in WWF PPV history (though still better than WCW is doing). This is especially notable because the show was built around Hogan headlining, which proves that even the biggest draw in wrestling history isn't enough to help WWF out of their current rut.
- Speaking of lowest ratings, Clash of the Champions drew its lowest rating ever, which is notable because it was Ric Flair's first match back since returning to WCW. TBS is contracted to air 2 more Clash's and after that, given the ratings, it's entirely possible that TBS might decide enough is enough and stop airing them. For what it's worth though, Dave says the Flair/Anderson vs. Hollywood Blondes main event was great.
- The head of the wrestlers union in Mexico held a protest march this week, protesting all the wrestling on television and blaming that for the declining crowds at live EMLL and UWA shows (the reality, of course, is that AAA is kicking their asses) and attempting to pressure TV stations into dropping all wrestling shows. Really, this is just an attempt to get AAA (who has their own union) taken off TV. Dave says it almost certainly won't work.
- Two brief obituary pieces for Bulldog Don Kent (one half of the 1970s tag team The Fabulous Kangaroos) and Dave Peterson, a former AWA tag team champion in the late 80s.
- A planned Jake Roberts vs. Cien Caras match in AAA never took place this week because apparently, Jake hasn't yet been paid for his TripleMania appearance back in April and wants to be paid in advance before making any more appearances.
- In USWA, a wrestler named New Jack debuted and is said to have been "the worst wrestler debuting in this territory in years, which covers a lot of ground."
- In SMW, Tammy Sytch is still continuing her gimmick of trying to find a wrestler to manage and always getting turned down, most recently by Tracy Smothers.
- In Tod Gordon's Eastern Championship Wrestling, they held a show called Summer Sizzler, featuring Eddie Gilbert vs. Terry Funk in a bloody chain match to claim the title of King of Philadelphia. One of the big moments of the show was a women's match where the object was to rip each other's clothes off and another woman (Angel Amoroso) interfered and ended up getting her top ripped off and paraded around the ring for 15-20 seconds totally topless. It got the biggest pop of the night, but many parents complained since there were children in the crowd. All of this was Eddie Gilbert's idea, as the goal is to apparently portray ECW as the ultimate hardcore promotion. Tammy Sytch from SMW worked the show as well, spraying Sandman in the eyes with hairspray (all of that aside, this show is worth watching because Paul Heyman does commentary through much of it. And since we all know what you're looking for, Part 1 has the women's match and yes, there's brief nudity, so consider this your obligatory NSFW warning).
- Lots of WWF stars are upset with the new "face-to-face" segments they're having to film to promote house shows. The segments are filmed on one of the few off-days the wrestlers have, and they have to fly in to Stamford to film them, meaning it's one less day that the wrestlers get to be home with their families. The segments don't seem to be doing anything to boost attendance, so needless to say, everyone is unhappy with it.
- Dave corrects himself on the photographer from King of the Ring from last week, saying that it wasn't Akio Sato after all but he still doesn't know who it was yet.
- New WWF tag team Men on a Mission ("who are doing the same gimmick that turned P.N. News into an international superstar," Dave jokes) are going by the names Mable and Mo, and a manager names Oscar. Dave has no idea where the manager came from, but the other two guys were a USWA tag team called the Harlem Knights up until they got signed by WWF.
- 1-2-3 Kid had a rematch with Razor Ramon with a bag of money on the line. The end of the match saw Kid botch a move off the rope and crash to the ground, but everyone did a good job covering it. This is kind of a famous story....allow Scott to explain:
- Mr. T and Richard Belzer were on recent episodes of the Howard Stern show talking about the 1985 incident with Hulk Hogan where Hogan put Belzer in a front facelock, causing Belzer to pass out and hit his head on the floor when Hogan let him go. Belzer later sued WWF, Hogan, and Mr. T (who was there at the time). Mr. T's version of the story was that he never paid Belzer a dime but Hogan got scared and paid Belzer off. A few days later Belzer was on the show and says Mr. T indeed also paid him a settlement for "contributing to an atmosphere of violence" and called Mr. T "a congenital liar.”
- Mike Shaw debuted as Bastion Booger and Dave doesn't know what he did in another lifetime to deserve this gimmick.
- WWF is really hyping up the Yokozuna bodyslam challenge, and bringing in a lot of outside sports stars. Bill Fralic of the Detroit Lions is already signed on, as well as another football player and a hockey player. And for comedy purposes, they're even trying to bring in female gymnast Nadia Comaneci (famous for being the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 score in the Olympics).