Wrestling Observer Rewinder

January 24, 1994

The New York Daily News officially named Hulk Hogan as the previously "unidentified" WWF performer that the grand jury claims received steroids directly from Vince McMahon(remember yesterday, Dave was hinting at it but didn't want to name Hogan himself until it was corroborated). The story is that McMahon allegedly asked his former limo driver to deliver a shipment of steroids to Hogan back in 1988. Word is that Hogan has cooperated with the Justice Dept. investigation so far and will likely be called on to testify if/when this case goes to trial. Dave says that Hogan would likely be a reluctant witness, since his image will surely take a big hit in this case and further prove that he has been lying about steroids in interviews for the last few years. Hogan's image has been removed from the opening of the WWF Superstars show and Dave thinks this might be part of the reason why Randy Savage buried Hogan in that radio interview a few weeks back, in order to try and discredit him as a liar.
For probably the hundredth time in the last couple of years, Dave recounts all the lies Hogan and Vince have told publicly that brought us to this point. Hogan's claims of only occasionally experimenting with steroids in the early 80s, despite overwhelming evidence that he was a constant, heavy user up until around 1991. Vince's claims that the company didn't have a steroid problem and that the drug testing was unbeatable, etc.
WWF and WCW attempted to run PPVs within 4 days of each other. The result was the lowest buyrates in the history of both companies. In WCW's case, the Battle Bowl PPV estimates are around 60,000 buys which might be the first ever major promotion PPV that doesn't even make a profit. WWF's Survivor Series PPV early estimates show 185,000 buys which is only an 0.82 buyrate and the first WWF PPV to ever fall below a 1.0 buyrate. In fact, if you combine the estimated revenue of both the WWF and WCW PPVs, they don't even equal what last year's Survivor Series did on its own.
Battle Bowl doesn't even get the usual Dave review, other than him saying many people are already calling it the worst major PPV ever.
As for Survivor Series: Shawn Michaels substituting for Jerry Lawler killed the live crowd, who just weren't interested after months of Lawler vs. Bret buildup. Plus, the Smoky Mountain tag titles being defended didn't appeal to the northeastern live crowd (even though it was the best match), and Ludvig Borga and Lex Luger just ain't cutting it in their respective positions, as the crowd doesn't seem to care about either of them.
Bobby Heenan may be on his way out. His contract expires later this month and several sources say there's less than a 50% chance that he will re-sign. Heenan is considered the best in his field in the business and he co-hosts all the major WWF weekly TV shows, so if he leaves, it will leave them with a huge hole to fill. Bruce Prichard recently filled in on TV for Jerry Lawler as a commentator using the name Reo Rogers and it was considered the biggest flop ever. The biggest stumbling block in negotiations is that Vince wants all announcers to move to Connecticut, to cut down on travel expenses. Heenan lives in Florida and is 50 years old with a family and reportedly doesn't want to relocate them. This is largely the same reason Okerlund left, Dave says. On TV, they seem to be building up to a confrontation between Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon that will be used to write Heenan off TV if he ends up leaving.
WATCH: Eddie & Doug Gilbert cut shoot promo in WING
Business comparison time again. WWF's numbers are mostly the same-ish. Average attendance down slightly, average TV rating up slightly, etc. Nothing to note. WCW, you ask? Average attendance is down 49.2% compared to last year. Live gate? Down 49.4% from last year. So yeah....things aren't going great in WCW.
The EMLL match where Oro died in the ring aired last weekend on TV in Los Angeles and Dave watched the show and describes what happened. No crazy bumps or anything, Oro just took a chop and fell down to sell it and never got back up. More importantly, what the hell are they doing airing a match on TV that a guy legitimately died in? Dave doesn't even seem fazed by that or acknowledge it as weird.
EMLL also held a press conference last week to announce that their biggest star, Canadian Vampiro Casanova, is no longer with the promotion. Vampiro had recently no-showed several events, blaming it on recurring asthma attacks causing him to be hospitalized twice (Dave says this is legit). However, EMLL is refusing to book him because they don't want to be guilty of false advertising, so they're saying he's gone. Vampiro is still talking about retiring soon anyway. It's also rumored he was hospitalized for epilepsy as well as the asthma.
The state of Indiana has dropped its investigation against Jerry Lawler without filing charges after the girl in Kentucky changed her story. Kentucky investigators haven't dropped their charges yet, but it seems impossible that they'll be able to continue with the prosecution now that the alleged victim is saying it never happened. On the USWA TV show that aired this week, Lawler spoke about the situation, calling the whole ordeal an unbelievable nightmare and said hopefully the end is in sight. They then aired clips of Lawler doing local charity work in the Memphis area.
Apparently, Vince McMahon recently decided not to send any more WWF wrestlers to work in USWA. As a result, they reversed the decision from last week's show that saw Crush when the USWA title and stripped Randy Savage of the Unified title because neither of them are coming back to drop the belts. Bret Hart was originally scheduled to face Lawler at this week's Mid South Coliseum show, but that has been changed to Brian Lee. Doesn't take a genius to see that Vince didn't want his company anywhere near those rape allegations. So the talent exchange deal is dead now.
SMW's Thanksgiving Thunder shows last week were only a moderate success financially, but the shows themselves are said to have been excellent, with the Bruise Brothers vs. Heavenly Bodies matches being show-stealers and Dave says the heat for the Brian Lee vs. Dirty White Boy matches are off the charts because the week-to-week soap opera-style feud they've had on TV is one of the best angles of the year.
WATCH: SMW - Thanksgiving Thunder 1993 (Full Show)
Atsushi Onita was recently invited by WWF to participate in the upcoming Royal Rumble but he has since backed out. Onita will instead appear at an upcoming ECW show in Philadelphia instead. Damn ECW, stealing WWF's stars!
Ultimate Warrior's upcoming movie Firepower is being released in January, straight-to-video. Warrior is billed 5th from the top.
GWF promoter Gary Pierson is said to be bringing a noise-level device to ringside, in order to gauge crowd reactions and push wrestlers based on the noise level they achieve. Well....okay then, that's one way to do it, I suppose.
Jake Roberts made his official debut with AAA in Mexico, bringing along Sherri Martel as his manager. They interfered in a match with Konnan, causing him to lose. Jake will start working house shows with the promotion this week.
A group of three clowns called Los Payasos debuted in AAA this week. Dave calls them "very poor Doink knock-offs." (Los Payasos were the precursor to Los Psycho Circus, the 3-clown group that still exists in AAA to this day).
WCW has big hopes for the upcoming Starrcade PPV. It takes place in Charlotte, NC and Ric Flair is main eventing against Vader for the title and is putting his career on the line. Plus, the name "Starrcade" still means something in Charlotte so they're hoping Flair can drum up a lot of local publicity for the show.
Due to several no-shows at a recent house show in Florida, Ric Flair ended up wrestling 50-year-old Harley Race. "It wasn't 1983 all over again," Dave notes. They weren't really matches, so much as an angle where they brawled and were pulled apart. The crowds chanted for refunds.
On the Arn Anderson/Sid Vicious front, official word is that they're both still suspended without pay. Unofficially, for reasons nobody can publicly say, firing either of them is apparently more complicated than it appears, which is why it hasn't happened yet. But most of the wrestlers have been given the impression that Sid won't be coming back, but an announcement on that hasn't been made yet.
On the WCW hotline, Gene Okerlund actually came to WWF's defense in the federal investigation, calling the 2 prosecutors "clowns" and "government henchmen." He said he'd love to be a character witness for Vince because he says Vince is innocent, though he noted that Vince's ego is out of control and he should take himself off TV until it's settled. Dave thinks Okerlund taunting the steroid investigators is probably not a great idea, because god help WCW if those guys start investigating them. Okerlund also regularly talks about Hulk Hogan coming to WCW, but Dave says it's just a way to increase calls to the hotline and there's no truth to it at the moment.
In the media coverage about the Vince McMahon indictments, Tully Blanchard was interviewed and stated that he prays every night that someone takes down the entire industry because of how it has "brainwashed a generation of kids."
The indictment of Vince McMahon story has made mainstream news outlets around the country. Entertainment Weekly listed it as the 7th most talked about news story of the week, but then dismissed it by saying, "Why give real hormones to fake athletes?"
A WWF show in Montreal this week was a huge success, entirely due to Jacques Rougeau (the Rougeau family is wrestling royalty in the city). They drew 13,800 paying fans. The Quebecers got cheers that nearly blew the roof off the building, while their opponents The Steiners were 100% booed, which surprised everyone because they all expected a mixed reaction.
Doesn't look like Mr. Perfect will be coming back anytime soon. He was reportedly upset at being passed over for the IC title that he claims was promised to him, but reality is, Razor Ramon is simply a lot more popular so Dave thinks WWF made the right decision. Perfect has received an offer from WCW to work PPVs and Clashes but not house shows.
Word is New Japan is planning to make the Steiners "an offer they can't refuse" to come work there full time. But for now, they are still sticking around WWF.
Former Canadian wrestling legend and French WWF announcer Edouardo Carpentier filed a $127,000 lawsuit against WWF this week for wrongful termination.