July 19, 1993
- WCW took a big risk this week, by taping months of shows in advance. Over 3 days at MGM Studios in Orlando, WCW filmed all episodes of their syndicated show that will air from August through late-November and in doing so, spoiled months of storylines and title changes. For example, in shows that will air in August, Flair came out as the NWA champion, which means he's obviously going to be defeating Windham for the belt at Beach Blast. Then in shows that will air in October, Rick Rude came out as NWA champion. The NWA, however, has threatened to sue WCW if they initiate a title switch without clearing it with the NWA board of directors first. WCW has essentially been ignoring their threats lately and doing what they wish with the NWA championship, but filming major angles around it months in advance without NWA approval is risky.
- They also taped Cactus Jack interviews, building towards a PPV main event match against Vader. The amnesia gimmick has been dropped. Also, in shows that will air in November, the Hollywood Blonds were seemingly working as babyfaces. Ricky Steamboat and Lord Steven Regal both have runs as TV champion during these tapings and several newcomers (Yoshi Kwan, The Colossal Kongs, and Ice Train) all debuted. It was announced that the Road Warriors are coming in, but since Animal is currently sitting at home collecting $20,000 a month on a Lloyds of London insurance policy for a back injury, Dave doesn't see that happening. But WCW said it and filmed it regardless. In November, WCW will be doing another set of tapings, which will carry them through February.
- Overall, the shows were said to be near WWF-quality in terms of production value which is a huge step up for WCW. The crowd were all freebies who happened to be at DisneyWorld, and they were shown a video in advance, telling them who to boo and cheer for. Word is WCW is somewhat embarrassed by their own fanbase and wanted it this way because they figure a non-wrestling crowd at an expensive amusement park will be better dressed and more upscale looking than the average wrestling fan and that would look better for television. The show was never advertised to wrestling fans. Many old-timers in the business were mortified at the idea of taping so much in advance and giving away title changes before they happen, saying that it exposes the business. Dave thinks it's stupid because WCW has backed themselves into a corner that they can't get out of if something changes. If one of the top stars gets injured or leaves the company between now and November, they're completely screwed. In a business where things change constantly, they've locked themselves in to not being able to change anything for the next few months.
- WCW added another PPV for November, meaning they will now be running one PPV per month for the rest of the year. Dave says this will help in the short term, but in the long run, it will rapidly burn out the WCW's main source of revenue (PPVs) "if they survive into 1994." Dave isn't too confident in the viability of monthly PPVs.
- Carlos Colon announced his plan to retire from wrestling next month, with his final match scheduled against Abdullah The Butcher on Aug. 8th (it ended up being Terry Funk in that match. And it was Colon's final match.....for 9 months, before he returned and continued wrestling sporadically up until 2014).
- NJPW's biggest draw, Riki Choshu suffered a torn Achilles tendon last week and will be out of action for several months. Luckily, New Japan has a deep roster and this probably won't hurt them as much as it would another promotion, but it's still bad news.
- Year-to-year business comparisons for the month of June. Right now, both WWF and WCW are dealing with all-time low live attendances, but TV ratings are holding steady and in some cases, even increasing a little, so that's a silver lining. It says to Dave that they are generating casual interest while still losing their core fanbases, and casual interest can't sustain them for long. Dave also credits the success of Monday Night Raw for the WWF's not-entirely-terrible TV ratings, but overall, both companies are still in the worst shape they've ever been in.
- Antonio Inoki held a press conference for the wrestling media and said he's training for a comeback match against Genichiro Tenryu. His political scandal was never addressed.
- Japan promotion W*ING is in rough shape with 2 of their top stars gone. Mr. Pogo has left the company to go to FMW and Leatherface was arrested recently for fighting in a restaurant and is still in jail in Japan and will likely be kicked out of the country (he's American).
- Dutch Mantell was scheduled to start in USWA soon but he was fired before he could start. Mantell appeared on a wrestling radio show recently (a show which airs in Memphis) and openly talked about Brian Christopher being Lawler's son, which they've gone out of their way to try and keep secret. Lawler was furious. They were also upset about Mantell appearing on other radio shows and doing interviews for newsletters lately, saying it exposes the business, which Dave says is hypocritical since both Lawler and Jerry Jarrett have done the same many times before. He says Lawler especially has no right to talk about anyone exposing the business, since he plays a heel on WWF TV and a face on Memphis TV and is often seen praising people on WWF TV while feuding with them in USWA.
- GWF has scrapped plans to release a videotape of the Kerry Von Erich benefit show, no reason given. Guess that explains why I couldn't find any clips of it on YouTube.
- Tokyo Sports ran a story this week claiming that Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Hart, and Hiro Matsuda are planning to start up their own wrestling promotion together in Tampa.
- World Wrestling Network, a new promotion started by Jim Hudson and which Paul Heyman and Jim Crockett are also involved in, will be holding its first shows next week in Texas.
- Shane Douglas is going to be working ECW's next taping in August.
- Former NJPW star Tony Halme debuted at the latest WWF tapings under the name Ludvig Borga, doing an Aryan gimmick (not just a gimmick with that guy) and a new tag team called The Quebecians (close) also debuted. One of them is Jacques Rougeau, better known as The Mountie. Plus another tag team called Well Dunn (Rex King & Steve Doll from USWA) debuted as well. Given that the company is cutting back on shows and yet continue to add new wrestlers to the roster, Dave assumes some major roster cuts will be made sooner or later.
- Vince's son Shane McMahon debuted in front of the cameras as an interviewer in a segment with Yokozuna & Fuji (I guess Dave is ignoring the fact that Shane was an occasional referee before this. Anyway, I looked but can't find any video of this).
- At a house show in Montreal, Ted Dibiase offered $1,000 to any fan who could slam Yokozuna. They brought a few fans in and they weren't plants. All tried and failed. One fan in particular got in the ring and was really playing it up to the crowd and showboating and mocking Yokozuna. When the guy got close to attempt the slam, Yoko slapped him hard across the face.
- Stu & Helen Hart are expected to be involved in some kind of angle to build the Bret Hart/Jerry Lawler match at Summerslam.
- Van Hammer is done with WCW and has had talks with WWF about coming in.
- WCW injury report: Tom Zenk out with a neck injury. Davey Boy Smith out with back injury. Yoshi Kwan has a knee injury and Kent Cole has a knee injury.
- WCW has booked the 45,000 seat Alamo Dome in San Antonio. The only TV show they have in the area is a 1am time slot, so needless to say, no one in San Antonio really follows WCW. It's a "sold show" which means the venue is paying WCW a set amount of money do the event, so WCW isn't going to lose any money on the show, but it's going to be one seriously empty building.
- WCW had a show booked that was advertised as starting at 4pm. But it actually started at 3pm so everyone who showed up at 4 only saw the final two matches. "Only in WCW," says Dave.
- Sorry, no videos or pics of anything today, kind of a dud issue.