June 10, 1994
- Dave opens the issue by talking about how pro wrestling evolved from the world of carnivals nearly a hundred years ago and says that it may be going full circle. WCW Vice President Eric Bischoff is in negotiations with Disney to make WCW a permanent side show at DisneyWorld, no different than the sort of shows with trained dolphins jumping through hoops. The idea would be the company running several 1-hour wrestling shows each day while the park is open for park visitors to come watch. If the deal goes through, it's expected that WCW's base of operations will be moved from Atlanta to Orlando. Dave says that if the deal can make them money, then it might be a good idea, even though it fundamentally changes the idea of what a wrestling company is.
- The announcement that Hulk Hogan signed with WCW last week gained considerable mainstream publicity, but it remains to be seen if that translates to money. Hogan vs. Flair at the upcoming Bash at the Beach PPV needs to do in the range of an .87 buyrate (which most in the industry think is going to be impossible) and WCW won't even be able to start promoting the show on TV until 2 weeks until the PPV.
- From here, Dave examines whether the Hogan deal is a bad idea for WCW. It depends on what the company wants out of the deal. If they're trying to avoid losing money, then it's likely a very bad idea. WCW simply isn't going to be able to recoup the money they're giving Hogan in the time that they have him (he signed a 6 month contract). Will it help in getting sponsorships and better TV deals? Maybe, but if Vince McMahon had believed that, he would have fought harder to keep Hogan. WCW's biggest problem as a company is that they simply can't draw people to live shows anymore and with Hogan only working a very limited amount of shows, that isn't going to change. Even if Hogan worked all the house shows, it's not a guarantee that Hogan can sell out arenas anymore in 1993. House shows he worked earlier this year for WWF didn't do great business. Dave predicts WCW will put the world title on him immediately (yup) and then he'll barely appear on TV, and then he'll leave in 6 months (and possibly throw a fit about jobbing on the way out, if his reputation holds true) and WCW will be right back where they started. Furthermore, Hogan is expected to be the star witness in the upcoming steroid trial and Hogan has been the source of more bad publicity than good in recent years and WCW doesn't want that spotlight on them, because steroid use there is far worse right now than it is in WWF.
- So is it a mistake? Dave thinks probably. But if WCW ever wants to be the #1 promotion, it's also a risk they probably had to take. It's unlikely Hogan will be the miracle that saves WCW, but there's damn sure no one else out there right now that will be able to do it. Otherwise, WCW is just going to keep bleeding money until Turner finally pulls the plug. But if the higher ups can use Hogan's names to leverage better deals for the company as a whole, then it might be beneficial in the long-run. It's pretty much dependent on WCW not fucking things up and, well, you know how that usually goes.
- Even though it's still 5 months away, All Japan Women's Tokyo Dome show scheduled for November is already shaping up to be the biggest show in the history of women's wrestling. An 8-woman tournament to crown the best women's wrestler in the world, plus Alundra Blayze defending the WWF women's title against Bull Nakano, and several other big matches were announced. It will also feature the retirement of Akira Hokuto, who Dave says has to be considered one of the greatest women's wrestlers of all time, if not the greatest.
- Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne are both on their way out of WCW. Payne, 31, told WCW he was quitting immediately and reportedly had a meeting with WWF and is expected to jump ship to them ASAP. Cactus, "who lived to see age 29", gave notice that he'll be leaving to work indies and Japan but will continue to fulfill his WCW contract through September. Dave notes that Cactus Jack is giving up a $3000 per week job (with very little travel and medical benefits if he's injured) for the uncertainty of working indies.
- Because of the World Cup, EMLL is cancelling most of it's upcoming shows. In fact, Dave says not to expect much in the way of wrestling news out of Mexico for awhile because as long as Mexico is still alive in the World Cup, nothing else can compete so the promotions don't even try. Everyone in the country will only be focused on the Cup until Mexico is eliminated.
- Mexican wrestler Mascarita Magica's 10-year-old child is missing and feared kidnapped.
- Johnny Ace and Steve Williams are being pushed as the new top foreign tag team in AJPW, which Dave says is pretty much acknowledgement that if/when Terry Gordy returns, they aren't counting on him to be able to be a top star anymore.
- SMW business has been worryingly weak for the last few weeks. And by the end of the year, they could be out several top stars. Brian Lee is expected to be gone in a few weeks, working full time with WWF and it's only a matter of time before one of the major promotions snatches up Chris Candido. Tracy Smothers is likely heading to Japan for awhile and even Chris Jericho of the Thrillseekers tag team is fielding offers from Japan. The loss of the Heavenly Bodies to WWF earlier this year was devastating. Jake Roberts only works major shows for SMW and he's out of shape and can't work so building the promotion around him won't work. The whole situation might not be anything to panic about yet, but they run on a tight budget and with a thin roster, it could get bad (they still have another year or so, but this is about where the clock is starting to tick on SMW).
- Sabu is planning to undergo surgery on one of his broken hands next month. He broke them both in Japan in May. In the same match, in order to close one of his cuts in the middle of a match, he used super glue. The cut ended up getting infected, though apparently not due to the glue.
- Dave mentions again that Mikey Whipwreck in ECW is doing one of the funniest angles in years, where he's a goofy jobber who gets destroyed in every match but somehow, his opponent always gets DQ'd or Whipwreck gets a ridiculous fluke win, so he continues to retain his ECW TV title, even though he never gets a single offensive move in during his matches. He's great in the role and takes great bumps.
- More news on Joey Styles leaving ECW: As stated, he was staying awake all night on Sunday nights working on ECW's post-production and wasn't able to function on Mondays at his day job. ECW has replaced him with a black guy named Willie Watts, which is apparently a shot at Bill Watts. Speaking of ECW TV, Dave says you have to see it. It's constantly improving and is nothing like anything else in wrestling and he says it's the result of a mad scientist at work.
- Ernie Ladd will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame next week, while Danny Hodge will be inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. Dave calls Hodge one of the two or three greatest American wrestlers ever and recaps his legendary career, which is actually more interesting than I knew. He then adds, "I wonder if either of those Hall of Fames has inducted any chauffeurs lately?" which is a shot at WWF inducting James Dudley into their HOF.
- The TV show Hard Copy ripped on Missy Hyatt this week, claiming she was dating actor Judd Nelson (Missy denies it) and that she was seen hanging out at strip clubs with him. The show criticized her for suing WCW for sexual harassment and then going to strip clubs. The fact that they claimed Missy is dating Judd Nelson apparently didn't go over well with her actual current boyfriend, ex-NFL star Mark Gastineau.
- In GWF, John Hawk (JBL) lost a loser-leaves-town match. He then got married the next day and flew to Europe for his honeymoon and is expected to remain there for awhile, working with CWA. Also on the show was Terry Gordy again and reports say that he's a shell of his former self and that the overdose and coma seems to have changed him completely, which Dave says is really sad.
- Bruno Sammartino and Randy Savage will both be appearing at the same autograph show next month. Dave notes that Sammartino is the only sports stars he knows who goes to these things and doesn't charge fans for autographs.
- Juventud Guerrera was the victim of a carjacking in Mexico, just ten days after he bought his new car. So if anyone has seen The Juice's 1994 Volkswagon Jetta, maybe hit him up on Twitter or something.
- Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat worked a 60 minute draw at a house show in Charlotte last week. The match was said to be great, big surprise.
- Too Cold Scorpio did a radio interview this week and had a lot to say about WCW. He complained about being put in a tag team with Marcus Bagwell, saying that Bagwell is a nice guy who tried hard, but "couldn't lace my boots." While it's pretty well known within the industry that Scorpio was fired by WCW for failing several drug tests (for cocaine, not steroids), he claims WCW is very selective about when and who they test. Scorpio called the tests bullshit and was also critical of older wrestlers in WCW, saying they hold back the younger talent. Scorpio is also the guy who broke up the Arn Anderson/Sid Vicious scissor-fight last year and told his side of the story on that. He said when he got there, he saw Sid kicking and stabbing Arn and when he tried to break it up, he thought Sid was going to attack him too. Sid then dropped the scissors and ran away, but he was covered in blood and ran into Vader in the lobby. Vader grabbed Sid before he could leave the hotel and kept him there until the police arrived.
- At the latest WCW TV tapings, Terra Ryzing was repackaged as Jean-Paul Leveque, claiming to be from France and making his debut (although everyone who watches knows he's been there for months, as Terra Ryzing).
- Dominos Pizza bought a major corporate sponsorship in WWF's Summerslam. The show will be promoted as "Dominos Delivers WWF Summerslam!" and ads for the PPV will be on every Dominos pizza box top. The ads are already being produced and the main event advertised on the boxes is Undertaker vs. Undertaker. Speaking of that match, Dave says Mark Calloway and Brian Lee have been good friends for years and Lee was even one of Calloway's groomsmen at his wedding. He's been trying to get Brian Lee into the WWF for years. (So while googling video for this, I stumbled across a Dominos/Summerslam/Undertaker commercial, except...it's obviously homemade and not an official commercial. Someone took the time to make a fake Summerslam 1995 Dominos commercial. WTF?)
- WWF's lawyers claim that they've been trying to get David Schultz as a witness in the steroid trial, but Schultz has been avoiding the subpoena. WWF wants to get him on the stand and show that Schultz received steroids from Dr. Zahorian years after he left WWF. Dave says pretty much no wrestler wants to be involved in this trial because none of them will come out of it looking good, so he wouldn't be surprised if other wrestlers are also trying to avoid subpoenas.
- In a British newspaper interview, Bret Hart had this to say when asked about Ultimate Warrior: "Warrior was a real hard person to like. I haven't missed him. He had no ability and was never a wrestler. But the WWF makes their cuts every year, and not everyone makes it. They replace the guys who aren't good enough. People have trouble handling it when they go down the listings, and eventually they get cut." When asked about Davey Boy Smith, he had this to say: "I don't know what his reasons were for leaving the WWF. We never communicated well after fighting at Wembley. We were close before the fight, but after we ceased to be friends. He thought he was going to be a superstar, but in a matter of weeks things changed for him. He lost his championship. I won mine and he had a hard time swallowing that. He left WWF and joined WCW, which was a step down. He felt he wasn't getting the attention he deserved. I've felt the same but it has always turned out okay. Davey didn't give it enough time. He hit the skids, but I'd like to see him come back. He's a great wrestler, and I'm sure he could come back if he wanted. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if that's something on the table now."
- Word is WWF officials came off as arrogant in Japan in regards to the recent tour that flopped. Instead of acknowledging that there was a cultural difference and that they didn't promote the shows properly, WWF officials apparently showed no interest in figuring out why the shows bombed and instead claimed that it simply shows that Japanese fans are 15 years behind American fans. If any good news came out of it, it's that Bret Hart established himself as a star by beating Randy Savage and Bam Bam Bigelow during the shows, both of whom are considered big stars there.
- WWF attorney Jerry McDevitt writes in to explain the WWF steroid indictments and subtly scolds Dave for "not understanding" the complexity of the case. Dave not-so-subtly corrects Jerry on a few points.