Wrestling Observer Rewinder

May 26, 1994

With just days to go until Slamboree, the 2 main matches are still uncertain. Word is Barry Windham finally received medical clearance and should be working his match against Flair, but Terry Funk was told to be ready to work it just in case.
The other match is the planned Vader vs. Rick Rude match. Rude has been plagued with neck and back injuries for years but reportedly re-injured his back during his match with Sting in Japan a few weeks ago and hasn't wrestled since. Rude has been subpar in the ring in recent years anyway because of his injuries, and he knows it. With his big contract, WCW can't justify having him in a lower card position, so they've consistently had him working in top level matches, despite being unhappy with his ring-work. At one point, Rude reportedly asked WCW to buy him out of his contract and there's speculation now that Rude may sit out of wrestling for a long period of time and collect on his Lloyd's of London insurance policy. But either way, Rude most likely won't be at Slamboree and it's looking like he may be done with WCW entirely, though that could always change. It's expected that WCW will announce at Slamboree that the WCW International title that Rude holds will be returned to Sting with the explanation that Rude cheated to win it in Japan so the finish is being reversed.
WWF's 4-show tour of Japan finished up last week and has been called a major flop. None of the shows came close to even halfway filling the arenas (usually drawing 4,000-5,000 people to arenas that usually hold 15,000-20,000). Those that attended knew they wouldn't be getting the hard hitting Japanese style they are used to, but they went because they expected the big fancy special effects and laser lights and pyro that they've seen on WWF's video releases. These were pretty much just glorified house shows though, so they didn't even get that. Most of the matches were bad and the screwy finishes made sure everyone left disappointed and led to "Refund!" chants at every show. Dave says WWF seemed to almost go out of their way to make sure they did everything that wouldn't work in front of a Japanese audience. However, WWF announced they would be returning later in the year, which on the surface sounds crazy but there's a reason. The high ticket prices ensured that the shows were still profitable and merchandise sales were excellent as well because Japanese fans are way more into collecting wrestling merch than their American counterparts.
The 2nd of AAA's 3 TripleMania shows took place this week and was incredible. Dave was there live and spends several pages reviewing every detail. Jushin Liger worked the show and was at his absolute best and even still, Psicosis stole the show in their match. Mascara Sagrada vs. Black Cat was a 4.75 star match that Dave calls a match-of-the-year candidate. After the main event (featuring Jake Roberts, who Dave says looked to weigh over 300 pounds and seemed out of it), Jake was leaving the ring with the snake wrapped around his neck. As he got backstage, the snake constricted and legit choked Jake out. He collapsed backstage and other wrestlers had to pull the snake from around his neck and pour water on him to revive him. The whole show was building up to the final Triplemania II show at the end of the month, which will likely feature a Konnan vs. Jake Roberts hair-vs-hair match.
WATCH: Triplemania II-B highlights
Mark Bodey, an indie wrestling promoter, died in a car crash at age 26 this week along with his girlfriend. Bodey is mostly known for booking the first ever Sabu vs. Terry Funk match last year, which quickly became the hottest match on the indie circuit.
EMLL ran their first shows in California last week, drawing around 3,800 fans. Not exactly AAA numbers. It's still more than any other promotion other than WWF or AAA can draw for house shows in America but is still considered a disappointment. Word is the high ticket prices ($32, can you imagine?!) was seen as far too much for such a weak lineup and led to a lot of fan resentment. However, of note, they ran an angle where they introduced Salvador "Chavito" Guerrero III, who is the son of Chavo Guerrero Sr., one of the biggest drawing stars in the 70s. He was ringside for one of the matches and interfered and this will probably lead to Chavo Guerrero Jr. making his in-ring debut soon. Overall, the reviews seem to be that the show was decent, but nowhere near the AAA shows. And with high ticket prices and plans to run shows in California twice a month, Dave thinks this is a doomed endeavor.
Eddie Gilbert turned heel in his first match back in USWA since losing his local election. Gilbert had been working as a face in recent months in order to help his election chances.
USWA did an angle to set up a Doug Gilbert vs. Brian Christopher "Singapore cane" match, which the loser will be caned. Dave says it's actually a kendo stick, which makes a great sound effect but doesn't really hurt. I found this pretty interesting because the "Singapore cane" match was made famous when ECW did it later, with Tommy Dreamer getting caned. But turns out, USWA apparently did it first. And sure as shit, as soon as I type that...
ECW will be doing "the first of what will surely be many Singapore cane matches" between Peaches & Tommy Cairo vs. Woman & Sandman, which ended with Sandman being canned. So I take it back. Looks like both USWA and ECW did it at about the same time. This was, of course, right around the time of the famous story of the American teenager who got caned in Singapore, which is why this was such a big thing right around then.
READ: The Wikipedia entry for Michael P. Fay, who was arrested in Singapore in 1994 and caned amidst much public outcry and debate
ECW also did a gimmick where jobber Mikey Whipwreck won the TV title by fluke and has continued to retain the title by fluke wins or the other opponent getting DQ'd while beating him up.
Boris Malenko (father of Dean and Joe) is extremely ill, battling cancer and there will be a benefit show held for him this week. Malenko was one of the top heels of the 60s and has trained too many wrestlers to even begin to mention.
Sabu is working with a broken hand and a broken knuckle on the other hand.
WCW's latest TV tapings in Orlando were held outdoors, after the Disney park had closed, and so the crowd was actually wrestling fans instead of just Disney park visitors (I can't seem to find any of these WCW outdoors shows from 1994).
Gene Okerlund missed several WCW tapings recently and word is he may need a kidney transplant (he ended up getting one in 1995).
WWF announced that they will be holding a banquet next month to induct Fred Blassie, Gorilla Monsoon, Chief Jay Strongbow, Bobo Brazil, Buddy Rogers, Arnold Skaaland and James Dudley into the WWF Hall of Fame. Dave says that the very idea of a WWF Hall of Fame without Bruno Sammartino is ludicrous, though going by the list, Dave thinks this HOF is a joke anyway. He points out that Skaaland was mostly a prelim wrestler who's only getting in because he's worked for the WWF front office for years and Strongbow was the #2 babyface in the 70s behind Pedro Morales (who isn't being inducted) and also has been a road agent for WWF for years. Monsoon was a headliner for a few years, but was always an awful worker. And James Dudley is the biggest joke, who was only briefly a manager and is better known to some people for being Vince McMahon Sr.'s limo driver. The rest of the choices, Dave agrees that they're worthy, but overall, he seems less than impressed with WWF's new Hall of Fame.
SMW star Brian Lee was told "not to go in the sun and not to cut his hair." It appears as WWF plans to bring him in as something like an Undertaker evil twin.
Wrestlemania 11 has been penciled in for Atlantic City, NJ. "They're going back to the site of the two worst Manias ever," Dave says. That ended up getting changed to Hartford, CT.
Owen Hart "injured" Mo of Men on a Mission at the latest TV tapings. This is so they can split up the team and Mabel can go solo.
The partially-redacted memo mentioned last week that Linda McMahon sent to Pat Patterson that will be introduced into evidence in the trial says the following:
"I spoke to Vince about the fact that the State of Pennsylvania is probably going to launch an investigation into the use of all illegal drugs including steroids."
[PARAGRAPH REDACTED]
"Although you and I discussed before about continuing to have Zahorian at our events as the doctor on call, I think that is now not a good idea. Vince agreed, and would like for you to call Zahorian to tell him not to come to any more of our events and to also clue him in on any action that the Justice Department is thinking of taking. On December 26th the State Athletic Commission is having a small meet and greet session with some of our talent, and I would definitely not want Zahorian there."
The prosecution wants to get the redacted part on the record, but WWF claims it contains privileged attorney/client information and should be kept secret. Dave calls it the "missing Watergate tapes paragraph."
And now, on to the best letters section ever!
Someone else writes in with a bunch of questions that Dave is gracious enough to answer in the most sarcastic, hilariously asshole-ish way possible.
1. Whatever happened to Bill Watts and what is he currently doing? (Dave basically calls him an out of touch old racist and says he's probably moved on to some new scam and surrounded himself with new yes-men. Tell us how you really feel, Dave.)
2. Why was Jake Roberts' stint with WCW so short? ("Jake Roberts checked himself into drug rehabilitation because he saw a video of the 1992 Halloween Havoc and thought whatever he'd been taking was giving him nightmarish hallucinations. He was then fired by Watts. When he found out everyone else who saw the show had the same hallucinations, and later, that they weren't even hallucinations, he sued WCW for mental cruelty and I believe he collected a settlement. It should have been a class action suit." Holy shit, someone is feeling their Cheerios this week. Dave then gives the real answer: fired by Watts after going to rehab.)
3. How come K. Allen Frey isn't Vice President of WCW any longer? (Fired by WCW because business was doing too good and WCW couldn't have that. Real answer: Frey spent too much money and WCW fired him and brought in Watts to get spending under control.)
4. Why isn't Sean Mooney working for the WWF? (Sean's wife is psychic and when she saw the future of WWF, she made him change careers)
5. What qualifications does Eric Bischoff have that made him in charge of the organization? ("He doesn't understand the business, which seems to be the only prerequisite for the job." Real reason: he's not a "wrestling" guy. He talks about corporate tie-ins with Disney and doesn't have outdated thinking about race and pop culture and whatnot. Basically, Turner decided they wanted a corporate TV guy running the company instead of someone hung up on wrestling's past like Ole or Watts.)
6. Are Nick Bockwinkel and Jack Tunney's positions just figureheads? (Yes.)
7. Is there a chance Jim Hellwig will join WCW? (Very unlikely.)
8. Why did Madusa leave WCW? (Watts believed women who look like her "should be seen and not heard." Dave says it's typical backwards thinking from Watts, but then says the first time he heard Madusa cut a promo, he agreed with him.)
9. I happen to like Sid Vicious. Is there any chance he'll return to WCW? ("When hell freezes over. In wrestling, that happens with a lot more frequency than in real life.")
10. Are the Road Warriors ever going to get back together? (He thinks so.)
11. When is Road Warrior Animal going to be wrestling? (Dave thinks he'll return when his disability insurance policy runs out.)
And then....someone else writes in with even more questions!
1. What happened to the British Bulldog? Did he leave WCW on good terms or was there controversy? (Wrestling in England, left over contract dispute and left on somewhat ugly terms.)
2. Was WCW really going to give Sid Vicious the world title at Starrcade '93? Why? (Yes, because WCW is dumb.)
3. Does WCW still have a working agreement with New Japan. How come there wasn't a Japan Super Show PPV this year? (Yes, but with Jim Ross gone, no one else in the company would even know how to call a show like that)
4. What happened to Nikita Koloff? (Injured and is collecting one of those Lloyds of London policies.)
5. Why didn't Hogan and Flair's feud in '91 and '92 climax with a PPV match? Was somebody against doing a job? Does anyone except Hogan and Flair even take this new feud seriously? (Because WWF is just as stupid as WCW and thought Sid was going to be a bigger draw against Hogan than Flair.)
6. How is someone like Lex Luger consoled when they are pushed as a top star and it doesn't work out. Was the American Original campaign that big of a flop? (Consoled by knowing that nothing is guaranteed. If you're handed the ball, you have to be able to get past the line of scrimmage. Luger didn't. Dave says it wasn't a gigantic flop. It was a medium-sized flop.)
And finally, this letter, which I will just copy and paste verbatim, along with Dave's response:
The newsletter is great. This was the second best thing my girlfriend ever got me for my birthday. She hates all sports, but is amazed that you can come up with so much interesting material every week on the one thing she hates the most.
D.B. Cooper
North Olmsted, Ohio