Wrestling Observer Rewinder

April 04, 1994

With Wrestlemania X now in the rear view mirror, Dave turns his attention to the pending steroid trial. McMahon himself and WWF as a company are each facing 2 charges of distributing steroids and conspiracy charges. The WWF is facing the same charges as Vince because he allegedly used company assets to purchase and distribute the drugs to a wrestler, believed to be Hulk Hogan, (which McMahon has dismissed as saying he was using them personally and was simply "sharing with a friend" when he let Hogan use some of his stash). However, the prosecution believes they can prove Vince distributed steroids to more than just one person. We obviously won't know what either side has up their sleeve or what will be revealed until the trial, but it's expected that several wrestlers may be called to testify and Dave thinks it will be interesting to see how many of the wrestlers can stop themselves from "working" (lying) the jury, which would be perjury in this case. But for a lot of the old timers, telling the truth about the behind the scenes of the business, even under oath, might be hard for them to do.
From here, Dave sorta recaps the history of steroids in the WWF, and talks about how Dr. Zahorian would "set up shop" backstage at WWF events and sell steroids to the wrestlers. McMahon himself admitted to purchasing steroids from Dr. Zahorian, which means he must have been aware of the relationship the doctor had with all the other wrestlers as well. This is where the conspiracy charge comes from, stating that from 1985-1991, McMahon and WWF as a whole conspired to distribute steroids to the wrestlers in order to enhance their size for marketability purposes and that McMahon knowingly allowed Zahorian to set up his drug shops backstage and assisted in distributing the steroids personally, sometimes having them shipped to his office, and that McMahon actively encouraged his wrestlers to use steroids. Dave notes that from 1992 through now, the WWF has done a much better job than anyone could have expected as far as cleaning up the company and the physiques of the wrestlers now are far different than they were 3 years ago. If Vince and/or WWF are convicted, it's possible that their honest and successful effort to clean up the company might help them when it comes time to for sentencing.
After spending 6 pages explaining all of this, Dave leaves the reader with a few questions: do you believe Vince McMahon or the WWF was actively involved in a conspiracy to get wrestlers on steroids? If so, what is a fair punishment? Is encouraging steroid use even wrong? Should Vince/WWF be forced to pay a fine, do jail time, or have assets seized (remember, if convicted, the government may be able to confiscate WWF's office building and assets)? Should others in the wrestling industry face charges? Should Dr. Zahorian be in prison? etc. etc.
Hulk Hogan has mentioned that aside from WCW, he also has an offer to start a wrestling promotion on HBO and that they are offering him a million dollars per match and he's trying to decide which one to take. Dave clearly thinks the HBO offer is obvious bullshit and is just a bargaining tactic with WCW (who also isn't fooled by and think the HBO deal is bullshit). Hogan is expected to decide in the next few weeks which offer he will take.
Hogan also started doing damage control for what may come out about him in the upcoming McMahon trial. He had a lengthy interview in the New York Daily News last week discussing steroids and his career. In the interview, Hogan admitted that his previous statements about his past steroid use were a mistake admitted he was less than honest in his original comments, and had hoped it would just blow over, but when he got caught in his lies and the scandal got even bigger, it caught him by surprise. In retrospect, he says he should have been more forthcoming and that if he had it all to do over again, he never would have used steroids at all.
Sports Illustrated reported that Tonya Harding has no interest in wrestling in Japan. All Japan Women's VP flew to Portland, OR in an attempt to meet with Harding or her representatives to try and negotiate a deal but was unable to even get a meeting with them. Basically, while this is still generating plenty of media coverage for AJW, it's obvious that this isn't going to happen.
Mitsuharu Misawa is out with a neck injury, which will cause him to miss the remainder of All Japan's Champion Carnival tournament, which Misawa was the favorite to win. He's also AJPW's top draw and triple crown champion, pretty much guaranteeing that Stan Hansen (the only other favorite) will win, although Kenta Kobashi is a dark horse possibility. Misawa being out of the tournament has tanked interest in the remainder of the shows and because the way the shows are booked in advance, with wins and losses counting as points, it has completely thrown the booking of the entire tournament into chaos.
Dave rant time! Or as he calls it, "Editorial time." But I know a rant when I see one. This one is directed at the "wrestling media," whatever that is. He starts off by noting that everyone in the industry, himself included, was shocked by the success AAA had when they started running shows in California last year. Dave believes AAA has the most innovative in-ring wrestling in the world. And while everyone is entitled to their opinion, whether they like it or dislike it, the fact is, AAA is a booming success in America so far. Which begs the question: where is the coverage? Other newsletters don't acknowledge them, the various wrestling magazines don't acknowledge them, the various radio shows don't talk about them. AAA is absolutely the 3rd most popular promotion in America today and in terms of drawing live crowds, they're actually #2, ahead of WCW. And in Los Angeles, the 2nd largest city in America, they even outdraw WWF by a large margin. Dave doesn't know if it's because they draw a primarily Hispanic audience or if it's because the style is so different that wrestling reporters don't have an interest in learning about something new, but he seems pretty annoyed that there's this huge thing happening in wrestling and he seems to be the only person even acknowledging it on a regular basis. Meanwhile, SMW and ECW and other small promotions that are basically glorified indies get far more coverage in the wrestling media than AAA does.
In UWA in Mexico, Canek tied Ric Flair's record for most world title reigns (12) by losing the title and regaining it 3 days later.
Speaking of UWA, several wrestlers just jumped ship to EMLL and Dave sees this as a further sign that the promotion is on its last legs (yup, they've got about a year left...)
Vilano V injured one of his cervical vertebrae so badly that doctors are telling him to never wrestle again because one bad bump could lead to paralysis. Most believe he'll be back anyway (indeed he was and he even worked in WCW in later years).
As expected, Rick Rude regained the WCW International title in Japan from Hiroshi Hase just a few days after losing it, and the title change isn't expected to be acknowledged in the U.S.
In USWA, Jerry Lawler gave up his position of booker because he's having to spend so much time in Connecticut doing his WWF duties. Eddie Gilbert reportedly wanted to be made booker, but was passed over in favor of Randy Hales. Gilbert was unhappy about this and no-showed the next two USWA events (despite being the current USWA unified champion). So Lawler reportedly promised to make Gilbert the booker and involve him in the revived USWA vs. Vince McMahon angle, if he would return and drop the title first. So Gilbert came back and dropped the belt to Lawler, but it apparently was just a work in order to get the belt back, because now Gilbert is gone from the company again.
There's actually been a lot of talk lately of Lawler winning the WWF title from Bret Hart next month and having him drop it back to Bret soon after, due to Vince interfering and costing Lawler the match (obviously never happened, but who knew?! They were considering making Lawler WWF champion at one point).
AAA will hold a press conference later this week to announce the locations and matches for the three upcoming Triplemania shows, with the first one being later this month.
Cactus Jack isn't suffering any hearing problems from having his ear ripped off, but is having some issues with his balance. He's still expected to work WCW's Spring Stampede PPV. Vader is also back in action after having his eardrum broken on the same tour but isn't at 100%.
Brian Pillman is sticking around WCW through the upcoming PPV and working all advertised dates, but the two sides are said to still be far apart on agreeing to a new contract.
WWF is attempting to keep WCW from using the name "The Boss" and the policeman gimmick for Ray Traylor (Big Boss Man). "Wonder if the WWF legal department is hassling Bruce Springsteen too," Dave quips.
Wrestlemania will surely end up being the largest U.S. gate of the year, but it ended up being nowhere close to the biggest of all-time, which comes as a surprise. With the advertised ticket prices, a sell out should have made a lot more money, which leads Dave to believe that most of the highest priced tickets must have been comped, which cost them a lot of money and means the gate for WM10 actually ended up being less than they made last year for WM9.
Undertaker and Paul Bearer spent Wrestlemania weekend in Japan, doing promotional work and press conferences for the upcoming Japan tour (where Undertaker will be the biggest star). Undertaker stayed in character the whole time.
Perry Saturn recently had a WWF tryout but the jobber he faced sucked and the match was bad.
Update on Jennie Garth at Wrestlemania. She was actually happy to be there because she was earning a big payday to basically do nothing, however she was unhappy with a skit they asked her to do because she felt it was in bad taste. She also wasn't happy because of a security problem (Dave doesn't elaborate but I can just imagine how safe 21-year-old Jennie Garth felt backstage around a bunch of keyed up wrestlers).
In the letters section, someone writes in and complains about the fake-President Clinton skit at Wrestlemania, calling it stupid and basically says no President would actually watch wrestling. Dave responds and notes that former President George Bush was a wrestling fan and used to attend shows before becoming a major political figure in Texas.