June 20, 1994
- The title of this issue is actually pretty funny: "June 20 1994 Observer Newsletter: WCW debuts Hulk Hogan. WWF debuts Fake Undertaker. 'Nuff said."
- Anyway, WWF and WCW both revealed major debuts on TV this week that are expected to carry the promotions through the rest of the year. In WCW's case, it's the biggest name in the industry, Hulk Hogan. For WWF, they took a guy who is unknown on a national level and dressed him up as their most over character. Hogan's debut was hugely promoted and they had Hogan show up in a car with Jimmy Hart, in a ticker tape parade with hundreds of fans. Hogan cut a promo about coming to WCW (and got some things wrong when talking about the history of the WCW/NWA titles). Considering he's almost certainly off steroids and is now 41 years old, Hogan looked to be in great shape and he still had the famous Hogan charisma. This led to a "press conference" with actors as reporters, asking dumb questions. Given the money they spent on bringing Hogan in, Dave says this is the biggest risk a U.S. wrestling promotion has taken since the WWF went national in the 80s and rolled the dice on creating Wrestlemania. Dave still thinks the odds are stacked against this working out for WCW, but if they ever want to right the ship, it's a risk they had to take. Dave notes that Hogan has "creative control" and the plan is for WCW to put the world title on him almost immediately, probably in his first match.
- On Monday, WCW held another press conference, this time with Ted Turner involving himself in an angle for the first time, as he watched Hogan and Flair sign the contract for their match. This all generated a ton of mainstream publicity for WCW. As a response, WWF has started airing a retaliatory piece that shows Hogan doing his leg drop in grainy, ancient-looking footage, and then shows all the current WWF stars doing high flying moves. It coined the phrase that this is the "new generation" of WWF and that they aren't living in the past with guys like Hogan. Dave thinks this is pretty ironic, since the main event of the upcoming King of the Ring PPV is scheduled to be Roddy Piper vs. Jerry Lawler. Dave takes it as a sign that WWF is a little worried about this whole Hogan/WCW thing (sadly I can't find this commercial).
- The other big debut was Brian Lee debuting as Fake Undertaker, with the real Undertaker's voice dubbed over Lee's voice for TV. Dave says the makeup artists and production crew deserve real praise because to the unknowing eye, he doubts anyone could tell a difference.
- WATCH: Underfaker debut
- Jushin Liger won this year's Best of the Super Juniors tournament in New Japan, becoming the first wrestler to win it twice. Last year's winner Chris Benoit (Wild Pegasus) finished third. Michinoku Pro star Super Delfin was the MVP of the tournament, scoring upset wins over Benoit and Eddie Guerrero (Black Tiger) and had an all-around starmaking performance.
- Dave goes on a wild side tangent about The Assassin being inducted into WCW's Hall of Fame and compares it to 3 Chicago Cubs baseball players from 1910 who were inducted into the baseball HOF not so much because of their playing ability but more because of a poem about them that inspired the "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" song that lives on to this day. He then publishes a poem that a couple of readers submitted about The Assassin and hopes that it will live on forever behind the cotton candy stand at DisneyWorld, where WCW's Hall of Fame is sure to end up. Slow week.
- Vampiro is reportedly looking into jumping ship from EMLL to AAA. Negotiations are taking place and if he jumps, it will be a huge story in Mexico, even though Vampiro isn't quite as big a draw as he was a year or two ago. It's well known that Vampiro and AAA star Konnan have legit heat, and there's been talk of bringing in Vampiro as a heel and having them work against each other to capitalize on that. The big snag is that EMLL owns the names "Vampiro Canadiense" and "Canadian Vampire" which are the names he's most well-known by so jumping to AAA may require a name change.
- Some changes coming to the newsletter. Next issue is when it expands and prices go up. And the classified section, where people write in with their name and address, looking for tapes or other memorabilia for trade might be going away because some scam artists have been ripping people off. But Dave doesn't want to get rid of that part of the newsletter unless he absolutely has to, so just knock it off you guys.
- Dave finally saw the Sting/Rude match from last month in Japan and says the part where Rude allegedly hurt his back definitely looked pretty nasty and he's inclined to believe Rude really did get hurt on that spot.
- The 10-year-old son of Mascarita Magica is still missing as of our latest reports and presumed dead. Jeez.
- In SMW, Dave says that Jake Roberts is so good in interviews that he should be in movies or on TV, "anywhere but inside the ring doing matches." In more SMW news, they're cutting costs and some of the wrestlers got a slight paycut. Also, the production values on the TV show seems to be getting worse lately.
- At an indie show in Michigan, Too Cold Scorpio superplexed Sabu off the top rope and they legit crashed through the mat, breaking the ring.
- Dave offhandedly mentions that, despite revisionist history saying otherwise, Pedro Morales, who held the WWWF title from 1971-73, actually sold out Madison Square Garden more consistently than Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, or Hulk Hogan ever did.
- Keith and Kent Cole have been released by WCW, in a cost-cutting measure.
- WATCH: Fist of the North Star - Trailer (Vader appears at :49 seconds in)
- WATCH: Fist of the North Star - Full Movie
- Antonio Inoki is booked for the August Clash of the Champions, but Dave doesn't know what the story is yet. Possibly a favor to either New Japan or to Hogan.
- Harlem Heat is expected to get a big push.
- King Kong Bundy is telling people he's headed to WWF soon. Dave has heard a lot of talk about Davey Boy Smith possibly coming back soon also.
- B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell (the Killer Bees) filed a lawsuit against WWF this week, claiming a breach of contract.
- July house shows will be headlined by Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart in one hour ironman matches.