July 12, 1993
- After 3 decades as one of the most popular sports personalities in Japan, it looks as though Antonio Inoki's legacy may be going down in disgrace. In a press conference that was broadcast live on all the major networks in Japan, Inoki tried to turn the whole thing into a carny wrestling angle and refused to resign from his position in the Japanese government amidst accusations of tax evasion, tax fraud, and accepting bribes and misusing public funds. In the press conference, Inoki trashed the secretary who went public with the allegations and accused her of sleeping around. The public reaction against Inoki has been fierce, and his reputation has taken a huge hit, with many calling him a dirty politician and comparing him to Richard Nixon. Dave says it's similar to Hogan's Arsenio Hall fiasco, where someone who has spent years working wrestling angles for wrestling fans tries to go into a mainstream situation and work the media, but the same carny tactics that work in wrestling don't apply to the real world. It's uncertain how all this will end up. Many think Inoki will eventually weather this controversy and come out unscathed because he always does (and indeed, he eventually did).
- As seen on the July 4th Stars & Stripes challenge, WWF has decided to turn Lex Luger babyface and go all the way with him as their top star in the wake of Hulk Hogan leaving the company again. Luger will be sent on a bus tour throughout America in an expensive, and some might say desperate, attempt to turn Luger into a mainstream celebrity in two months before Summerslam. Some have been calling Luger the heir apparent to Hogan from almost the moment he debuted in 1985 and WWF is sparing no expense to try to turn him into that now. Luger has been the focal point of promotions in the past with no real success and naturally, this will be heavily second-guessed in the coming months. Dave questions the wisdom of going with another muscled up blond guy instead of trying to go the opposite route of Hogan (Bret Hart being the most obvious candidate, Dave says) but hey, WWF was built on muscles and that's what they do best. That being said, it's undeniable that Bret is better than Luger in pretty much every way (workrate, charisma, psychology, promos, crowd appeal, etc.) other than physique. Which means, as already proven time and time again, physical appearance means more to Vince McMahon than anything else, Dave says.
- As for the bodyslam event itself, it was a heavily xenophobic and anti-Japanese affair that "obliterated the line of bad taste on Independence Day." Several current and former NFL players, a basketball player, 2 hockey players, a bunch of other wrestlers and others all tried but then Luger flew in on a helicopter, beat up Yokozuna, and slammed him.
- WATCH: Lex Luger bodyslams Yokozuna at the July 4th Stars & Stripes Challenge
- WWF released a statement in the August 93 WWF magazine saying the following:
- It will be interesting to see which stories WWF chooses to address, Dave says. Some of the stories may have indeed been exaggerated or lacked credibility, but others (such as the steroid scandal) were obviously true and it will be interesting to see what scandals WWF addresses and acknowledges and how they paint themselves in situations in which they're obviously in the wrong.
- WWF President Linda McMahon was interviewed in a Charleston newspaper and addressed several of the scandals. On the subject of former ringboy Tom Cole, Linda says she now doubts he was ever sexually abused and says he is a "very confused young man." She goes on to say that after the initial accusation, they hired him back and gave him a bunch of money out of the goodness of their hearts and even tried to pay for his college education and keep paying his salary while he wasn't working. She claims they also tried to get him psychological treatment, but he flunked out of college and sued them when they wouldn't keep giving him money.
- A new promotion in New York has formed called the IWC (International Wrestling Council) and will be an offshoot of Mexico's AAA promotion, and also booked by AAA founder Antonio Pena.
- PHOTO: The IWC
- Canadian Vampire Casanova's new film opens in Mexico this week. (It's called Vampiro, Guerrero de la Noche and unfortunately, I can't find it on YouTube or anywhere free. But here's the box cover).
- PHOTO: "Vampiro, Guerrero de la Noche" box cover
- EMLL star Canek, who had been out with an arm injury, returned to the ring last month but it was way too soon. He was pressured to return early because crowds were down without him. But he re-injured the arm in his first match back and is now expected to be out even longer.
- Ted Dibiase will be starting with AJPW in September.
- New Japan had planned to bring in Road Warrior Animal and a partner to go against the Hell Raisers (Road Warrior Hawk and Kensuke Sasaki). But they scrapped the plan because the Hell Raisers have finally gotten out of the shadow of the Road Warriors team and fans have finally begun to accept them as their own tag team, and NJPW doesn't want to bring in Animal and focus on the past by doing a former Road Warrior vs. Road Warrior angle.
- Tom Prichard, Chris Candido, and Tammy Sytch were in a car accident last week, but none of them were seriously injured.
- Former wrestler Italian Stallion broke the world record for spaghetti eating, downing one pound of spaghetti in 17.2 seconds (breaking his own previous record of 21 seconds). This got a good deal of local publicity and will be in the next edition of the Guiness Book of Records.
- In WCW, the Nasty Boys will be debuting as heels (managed by Missy Hyatt) and you can expect them to be pushed as the top heel tag team. Ahead of the Hollywood Blonds, which has Dave baffled at WCW's ineptitude.
- An upcoming show at the Omni in Atlanta was cancelled. The "official" reason is because Vader, Windham and Orndorff are all out injured and unable to wrestle. However, that's been the case for weeks and none of the other shows were cancelled. Dave says the real reason is because they know the show would totally bomb. And the last time a WCW show bombed at the Omni, Kip Frey was out the door the next day and Bill Watts was brought in. WCW can have horrible shows everywhere else and nobody at Turner seems to know or notice. But if it happens in Atlanta, they're going to notice and heads will roll. So it was easier for WCW to just cancel the show. "Better to punt than try and run on fourth and long," Dave says. Bill Watts previously cancelled an Omni show for the same reason a few months ago when he was still in charge. The disconnect between WCW and the people who own it at Turner is staggering.
- The letter's section is about 4 straight pages of letters from people griping about how much WCW sucks.
