Wrestling Observer Rewinder

October 11, 1993

WWF's upcoming Survivor Series PPV at the 16,000-seat Boston Garden legitimately sold out within 90 minutes of going on sale, possibly the fastest major arena sellout in North American wrestling history. It's the first time ever that a WWF PPV has sold out on the first day tickets went on sale (despite all the times they've lied about it in the past). Among the matches expected to take place are the Rock & Roll Express defending the SMW tag titles against the Heavenly Bodies, which will be the first time a title from another promotion has been at stake on a WWF PPV.
As for WCW, they drew 800 fans to the Omni in Atlanta, which is the smallest crowd they've drawn in nearly 20 years at that arena. Three days before, WCW cancelled a TV taping in Anderson, SC because they drew less than 200 fans to a 4,000 seat arena. The production crew and wrestlers outnumbered the audience. Cancelling the taping reportedly cost the company around $50,000.
EMLL held their 60th anniversary show last week, drawing the biggest crowd they've seen in a year and a half. In a business as cutthroat as pro wrestling, Dave acknowledges how impressive it is for an organization to survive for 60 years, noting that the only other example he can think of is the Don Owen Portland promotion that just shut down in 1991. The fact that EMLL could not only survive but also be the #1 promotion in Mexico for most of that time (aside from a few years in the 70s-80s when UWA was on top) is even more impressive. Currently, AAA is the top promotion, but with a couple of high profile wrestlers recently jumping ship from AAA back to EMLL and with the success of this show, Dave thinks the momentum of the EMLL vs. AAA rivalry may be starting to shift.
Bret Hart was on a a sports radio show in Toronto this week and made some comments that are sure to be controversial. On the subject of WCW, he basically said he doesn't think WCW is that good and that most of their roster is obviously on steroids. He then said that WWF tests every 7-8 days and "there's absolutely not one single wrestler taking any kind of drugs. That's any kind of drugs, period, from amphetamines, you can barely get away with caffeine, I think." He talked about how it used to be a problem with guys like Hulk Hogan being on steroids and how it wasn't fair to guys like him, who weren't on them.
On the same show, a caller called in to dispute Hart's claim of being the best there is, was, etc. and said Ric Flair is the greatest wrestler of all-time. Bret's response is worth quoting in full: "What could you possibly see in Ric Flair? I mean this. This is the truth. Ric Flair was the most overrated wrestler there ever was. If you've seen Ric Flair wrestle one time, you've seen him wrestle a million times. He's the most uncreative, unimaginative wrestler there ever was. He was the pits. You are wrong. You don't know anything about wrestling if you think Ric Flair is a great wrestler. Wrestling Ric Flair was the biggest letdown of my entire career. I've wrestled all kinds of wrestlers everywhere and I thought when I stepped in the ring to wrestle Ric Flair that I was going to be wrestling a legend, like one of the greatest of all-time. On a scale of one-to-ten, I'd rate Ric Flair as about a three. He sucks. I'd even say Jerry Lawler quite conceivably has at least a little more imagination than Ric Flair. Ric Flair, I don't hate him or anything, I hear that all the time that Ric Flair is the greatest, Ric Flair is the greatest. I don't know how anyone could even begin to think he was good. If you've seen Ric Flair wrestle one time, you've seen Ric Flair's whole show."
Dave's analysis of these comments: as for which company's product is better, WWF has the better production and has more overall popularity, but for pure wrestling, WCW's Wrestle War PPV was better than any WWF PPV this year. As for steroids, WWF has definitely done a better job of cleaning up the drug problem, but they're under a lot more pressure than WCW is. But saying that nobody in WWF is on drugs is a ridiculous statement. As for his comments on Flair, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but Dave says if you asked every pro wrestler in the business today who the best of all-time is, Flair's name would be mentioned far more than anyone else's. Dave doesn't quite come out and say it, but kinda hints that Hart's comments might stem from jealousy, since Bret is considered one of the best wrestlers in America today and is constantly finding himself compared to Flair (and with people often saying Flair is better).
Dave attended the latest WWF show in San Jose and compares it to the AAA show there a couple months ago. In short, it doesn't appear the groups are competing for the same audience, since they both seemed to draw totally different crowds (WWF was mostly white, mostly lower class. AAA drew 95% Hispanic that were better dressed. WWF crowd was mostly families with kids, AAA was mostly teens and adults. WWF show didn't have much crowd heat, AAA crowd was nuclear hot the entire show, etc.) WWF drew a slightly larger crowd to a more expensive arena, but they also spent a lot more on advertising. In the end, the AAA show was probably more popular and even though they aren't competing for the same audience, they are competing for arena availability and good weekend dates to run shows, so if AAA continues to be successful in this area, it could mean problems for WWF. Down the road in Los Angeles, for example, WWF drew about half of what AAA drew in the same building a few weeks ago.
Canadian Vampire Casanova (Vampiro) is earning $2,000 per match, making him the highest paid wrestler in Mexico.
New Japan's annual Jan. 4th Tokyo Dome show has drawn the largest crowd/gate of the year each year for the last 3 years. Hoping to do it for a 4th time, NJPW is heavily pushing fans to buy tickets the first day they go on sale (later this week) in order to try and set a first-day sales record.
Sabu debuted for ECW this week, beating the Tazmaniac and then chased fans all over the building. Sabu was reportedly so scary that some of the children in the crowd were crying. He came to the ring strapped to a gurney, doing a Hannibal Lecter gimmick. The next night, Sabu won the ECW title from Shane Douglas and even though he's a heel, the crowds cheer him like crazy. Dave says Sabu is going to destroy his body and is even crazier than Cactus Jack. He says if you like Sabu, enjoy him now because there's no way he'll be able to physically do the things he does for very long. Can't find video of his debut but here's the match where he won the title (aired about a month after it was taped, thus the date discrepancy).
WATCH: Sabu beats Shane Douglas for the ECW title
Hulk Hogan appeared on Regis & Kathy Lee and acknowledged that he's not with WWF anymore but he still wrestles in Japan sometimes and says he wins all his matches over there because he's in better shape. Dave says that's sort of true: he's in better financial shape and can afford to say no to doing jobs over there.
On the WCW Hotline, Tony Schiovone announced that the title Rick Rude holds (formerly the NWA title) will no longer be recognized as a world title and the only world champion in WCW is Vader. Of course, on TV that just aired, Rude and Flair both cut promos talking about the title they're feuding over as being the only and undisputed world championship, so obviously, WCW booking and overall communication is just a mess right now.
Sting will have a recurring role on Hulk Hogan's show Thunder In Paradise, which seems like it should be a bigger deal, but Dave just moves on like it's nothing.
The long-term plan is for Sid Vicious to turn face and eventually win the title, which Dave sarcastically says is a great move. And then offhandedly wonders aloud what WCW is going to do when they build the promotion around him as the top babyface and then the warmer softball weather comes back in April.
Dave says morale in WCW has reached new lows and a lot of people are looking for a way out.
Jerry Jarrett was at the latest WWF tapings and seemed to be in a position of authority, according to some who saw him working there.
Ludvig Borga ended Tatanka's year-plus long undefeated streak, in order to get Borga more over and continue to set him up for a feud against Lex Luger.
WATCH: Ludvig Borga ends Tatanka's undefeated streak
The Steiners and Doink worked the latest TV tapings, even though they're still not working house shows. Although Dave has been given denials that Scott Steiner or Doink were ever suspended, it still appears to be the case. Although the suspensions seem to only apply to house shows, and they'll still be allowed to work TV. Dave says wrestlers make more money working house shows, so this could still kinda be considered a punishment, but, yanno...
Razor Ramon has been wearing a new IC title belt since Shawn Michaels never returned the original when he quit a few weeks ago. I'm sure that won't lead to anything significant.
Madusa has been offered a job with WWF but hasn't officially accepted it yet.
The new WWF magazine is out and once again, the promised rebuttal against Dave Schultz is nowhere to be found. There is a piece on Gene Okerlund leaving, with the magazine claiming it was WWF's decision to let him go (it wasn't, WCW offered him more to leave and Okerlund decided to jump when his contract was up).
In the letters section, Eddie Gilbert writes in to clarify his departure from ECW. He acknowledges that he resigned from the company when he found out they were going to be merging with Jim Crockett's startup promotion, saying ECW had built up a lot of momentum and he disagreed with giving up any of their company to Crockett when he had nothing to offer in return. He also says the decision cost him the closest friendship he's ever had in the business (not sure if he means Tod Gordon or Paul Heyman, he doesn't say, but it's surely one of them).