April 11, 1994
- In a major surprise, Tatsumi Fujinami captured the IWGP title for the 4th time this week, defeating Shinya Hashimoto. It's a surprise because Hashimoto has been given a major push and wasn't expected to drop the title anytime soon, much less to Fujinami, who isn't quite the star he used to be anymore.
- Missy Hyatt filed a claim with the Georgia Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), claiming that during her 5 years with WCW, she was frequently sexually harassed by supervisors, wrestlers, and cameramen and was paid substantially less than male announcers. Hyatt has not yet filed a lawsuit against the company but has threatened to do so, in excess of $2 million for backpay and emotional distress. There is word that a photo was taken of Missy Hyatt when she got into the ring (at Starrcade 93) and her breast fell out of her outfit. That photo was then blown up and hung in the WCW offices where other employees saw it. Dave says this story has gained more mainstream publicity than anything in wrestling in years, other than the McMahon indictments and the Tonya Harding/All Japan Women stories. It was in most of the major newspapers around the country and was talked about at length on Howard Stern's and Rush Limbaugh's shows. Stern dismissed it as saying, "She didn't complain when she worked there, but when she got fired, now she complains." As for Limbaugh, he basically said it was her job to be sexually harassed, which Dave says might be true for the character Missy Hyatt on TV, but for the actual person who plays the role, it's inexcusable.
- The EEOC is prohibited from releasing the names of the alleged harassers, however Hyatt's attorney says that several of her supervisors made demands for sex or asked her on dates and that her co-workers constantly subjected her to public embarrassment. She claims she stuck it out only for the money ($75,000 per year) but was upset when she learned other announcers and managers were making upwards of $100,000 more than her. Dave breaks it down and says Missy's role in the company was substantially less than people like Tony Schiovane or Jesse Ventura or even Paul Heyman or Jim Cornette because they all had more responsibilities and played bigger roles so she can't really compare what she made to what they make. He says Missy may have felt pressured to maintain a certain look in order to keep her job and is known to have had plastic surgery and reportedly dealt with some bulimia issues. He says it's easy to dismiss Missy's claims because of the bimbo character she plays on TV and because she's an attractive woman in a male-dominated industry, but if true, they are valid complaints and this could end up being a serious story.
- The 2-hour Thunder In Paradise movie (which serves as the pilot for the series) aired nationally last week and was a ratings success. The first episode of the show also aired and Dave agrees with the critics and says it's pretty awful. Sting played a bad guy in the first episode and was pretty good. As for Hogan and WCW, nothing's changed: no deal signed yet, but everyone is confident that they soon will.
- Tonya Harding did her first interview since the Olympics and was asked if she had any plans to accept All Japan Women's offer to become a wrestler. She responded, "I don't really know. I don't know much about their pro wrestling. I haven't made my decision yet. It sounds exciting." She was then asked if she wanted to wrestle and replied, "I need to know more about it." Dave still says this isn't going to happen, but AJW does have a Tokyo Dome show in November and they need a major attraction to even have a chance of filling up the 60,000 seat building. Dave says every promoter in America is kicking themselves for not making the offer to Harding first, just for the publicity if nothing else.
- The Heavenly Bodies lost a loser leaves town match at SMW's Bluegrass Brawl II. They're scheduled for a tour of All Japan next month and then start full time with WWF in June, where Jim Cornette will continue to be their manager. Chris Candido also faced Tracy Smothers in a ladder match and Dave gives both matches 4.5 stars. The Dirty White Boy/Dirty White Girl vs. Brian Lee/Tammy Sytch match where the losing team is stripped of their clothes ended with Tammy going under the ring and DWG going after her and then coming out holding all of Tammy's clothes, including her underwear. Chris Candido then came out and went under the ring and when they came out, Tammy was wrapped in a towel. I can't find that match, but here's the other two.
- The W*ING promotion in Japan seems to be on the verge of folding after several of it's top stars were injured or quit the promotion recently to jump ship to other companies. No official word yet but many in the know are saying that the promotion is already history (indeed it was).
- Jerry Lawler is scheduled to face Adam Bomb at an upcoming USWA show. Downtown Bruno (Harvey Wippleman in WWF) is scheduled to be in Lawler's corner (Bruno is a face in USWA). However, Vince McMahon filmed another interview saying that everyone who works for WWF does what he says, hinting that Bruno may turn on Lawler. They also aired a WWF Adam Bomb match on USWA TV, but Lawler and Vince recorded the commentary specifically for the Memphis market, so Lawler was the face and Vince was the heel on commentary. Sadly, I can't find video of any of this.
- Terry Gordy had his first match in 8 months in GWF, after overdosing on a flight to Japan last year. He teamed with Terry Garvin as the Freebirds and Dave says sadly, Gordy looked nothing like his old self. There's a lot of fear from Gordy's friends that he suffered permanent brain damage from the overdose and subsequent coma (yup).
- Junkyard Dog had a car accident last week but still showed up to all of his scheduled shows, but wasn't able to wrestle. But he still made an appearance so people wouldn't think he was no-showing.
- Mexican wrestling legend Anibal passed away last month after being in a coma for several months due to brain cancer. He was a top star in the 60s, 70s, and 80s for EMLL. He jumped ship to AAA shortly after it formed and continued wrestling until early 93 when he got the cancer diagnosis.
- Cactus Jack may be having surgery to reattach his ear. If he does, he would be out for about 4 months, but he hasn't decided whether to do have the surgery yet or not.
- Ratings for WCW's TV show this week were the highest they have done in over a year, but Dave just shits all over the show, saying Heenan and Okerlund spent the whole episode doing comedy bits and not putting over anything and that all of the matches didn't have finishes, and the editing made things confusing and nothing was explained to the fans. "And they wonder why the company loses $6 million every year and blame it on the wrestlers being unable to draw houses."
- The trial for Jesse Ventura's lawsuit against WWF is ongoing this week. Vince McMahon isn't expected to testify.
- Alex Wright, the kid who wrestled on WCW's German tour last week received an official tryout this week back in America and was said to look really green.
- Bull Nakano will be coming to the U.S. in December to work a 6-month full-time run in WWF, feuding with Alundra Blayze.
- There's rumors that Roddy Piper will be starting a Portland wrestling promotion (with the blessing of former promoter Don Owen) sometime in the next few months. The plan is to mostly use local talent but to also set up a working deal with WWF, similar to the SMW and USWA deals.