June 27, 1994
- Dave opens the issue by saying it takes a lot of nerve for someone to call wrestling fans gullible when those same people were cheering on O.J. Simpson as he led the police on a chase last week while trying to duck out of his murder charges. Okay then...
- This past Sunday was one of the more embarrassing days in wrestling history (that seems like an overstatement), with both WCW and WWF making major blunders. WCW aired a taped segment that recaps the previous week's news. However, they aired the segment for NEXT week so they ended up ruining all the results for next week's Clash of Champions show, including all the title changes and things that are scheduled to happen to set up the Bash at the Beach PPV. It probably won't hurt the Clash ratings or PPV buyrate but needless to say, WCW officials are pissed and embarrassed.
- WWF followed suit by making the worst decision they've made in months by having football Hall of Famer Art Donovan join the King of the Ring broadcast team. Donovan is a local icon in Baltimore where the PPV took place and someone thought it'd be a good idea to have him call the entire show with Gorilla Monsoon and Randy Savage. Donovan didn't know who anyone was, and at one point, asked, "Hey Gorilla, who's the guy with the flag on his shirt?" (Oh, yanno, just the guy they spent the last year trying to build up as the next Hulk Hogan). Monsoon himself was filling in for Vince McMahon, who had surgery for a herniated disc last week and wasn't even at the show. Monsoon did his normal poor job announcing and as the show went on, he just awkwardly began to ignore anything Donovan said or asked. "When Randy Savage has to carry a three-man broadcast, things are really in trouble." (You can watch the whole PPV on the Network or watch these 2 videos to get an idea. He's so bad that even WWE.com posted a video of him sucking).
- WWF spent the entire King of the Ring show pushing the "New Generation" catchphrase to counter WCW's signing of Hogan. Of course, it's ludicrous since the show was main evented by 2 guys older than Hogan and the company has already brought back or is planning to bring back such "new generation" stars as King Kong Bundy, Jim Neidhart, Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, Koko Ware, Lanny Poffo and Nikolai Volkoff. They then interviewed Maryland's governor William Schaffer who was at the show. Schaffer mentioned that his favorite wrestler is Hulk Hogan, and Todd Pettingill nearly wet his pants and set a new record in mic-pulling-away-speed.
- Tonya Harding is getting involved in wrestling after all, agreeing to a one-shot deal for promoter Sandy Barr in Vancouver, WA. The deal is for Harding to work as the manager for Love Machine (Art Barr) and Eddie Guerrero. They're also bringing in several AAA wrestlers (Konnan, Blue Panther, Perro Aguayo and others) to work the show. A press conference was held in Portland where Harding announced she would be managing the team. The plan was for Konnan to make a Nancy Kerrigan comment, which would lead to Harding to throw a drink in Konnan's face and lead to a pull apart brawl with Love Machine. But Harding was so nervous during the entire thing that it never happened. Harding's only statement to the press was saying she was there to support Art Bar because she likes wrestling and she's a fan. The brawl eventually broke out and Harding got nervous and asked Sandy Barr if it was fake or real. Barr, protecting the business, told her it was real and she got scared and left. Harding looked very uncomfortable and out of place on TV. Then Konnan started talking to the press but since Harding left, all the media people turned their cameras off and left before he was finished.
- Speaking of Harding, apparently a big reason she turned down All Japan Women's offer is due to a multi-million dollar insurance policy she has on her legs, which is still in effect because she has hopes of one day returning to pro figure skating. The company would have cancelled the policy if she wrestled because of the high risk of injuries to her legs or ankles.
- So back to King of the Ring again. It was okay, nothing special, Dave says, but as previously mentioned, the commentary was god awful and the company parading out one 35-year-old+ after another while constantly touting the "new generation" was funny. Diesel worked his biggest profile match of his career and with a torn groin, and deserves credit for being good enough that Bret was able to carry him to a watchable match.
- In a huge shock, the Great Sasuke announced plans to retire this week. Sasuke is only 24 years old and is arguably one of the best high flyers in the world and one of the hottest young stars in Japan and is at the peak of his popularity. He announced that he wants to go out in a blaze of glory and his final match will be against Atsushi Onita in an exploding barbed wire match. As you can expect, there's a lot of thought that this might be an angle (gee Dave, ya think?)
- The early numbers for the WCW/Hogan experiment aren't promising. The WCW Saturday Night TV rating the week after the debut of Hogan was a 2.4 rating, which is slightly larger than normal, but they did that same number a month ago with a Flair/Steamboat match so it's nothing special. And the rating for the Sunday show was actually below the usual average. Dave readily admits that one week of ratings isn't fair to judge things on though, so he's willing to wait and see.
- WCW desperately needs Bash at the Beach to be the biggest show in years and they're pulling out all the stops. They filmed interviews with George Foreman and Shaquille O'Neal (who is a big Hogan fan) and both are scheduled to appear at the show. Mr. T and Wesley Snipes are also rumored to be coming in for the show. They're also negotiating with Mike Tyson to appear via phone call during the broadcast (since he's currently in prison) but that might backfire and cause bad publicity since, well, he's in prison. Antonio Inoki is also expected to appear on the show, likely to shoot an angle for his appearance in August at Clash of the Champions. If WCW can pull all this off, it will be a list of celebrities bigger than any that have ever appeared at Wrestlemania.
- Dave gives a Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada match from All Japan the grand 5-star treatment. Not a lot of fancy moves, but perfect psychology and everything was perfectly timed and stiff as hell (yeah this match is brutal).
- The AAA/UWA shows may not last much longer. The current deal calls for the AAA wrestlers to get 30% of the gate money but since the UWA shows, even with AAA talent appearing, aren't drawing that great, the AAA guys are making less than they usually would. The word is that the AAA guys may up the demand to 50% of the gate money or else they'll pull the plug. Plus, the AAA guys all have heat with UWA star Canek, who has been bossing them around because he practically runs UWA. Speaking of Canek, the plan was for him to lose his UWA title in a cross-promotional match with an AAA guy, but he doesn't want to lose the belt, so he got the promotion to create the Double Power Cup (just a trophy) and lost a match for that instead so he could put over an AAA guy without having to give up his title. AAA isn't thrilled about it.
- All Japan Women is bringing in Lucia Rijker for their big Tokyo Dome show in November. Rijker is a professional kickboxer who has never lost against a woman and only lost once against a man and has been called the most dangerous woman on the planet. She will face Kyoko Inoue at the show (I decided to look this woman up and she's pretty much retired now. And retired undefeated. 37-0 in kickboxing. 17-0 in boxing).
- SMW ran two shows in their two biggest cities and only drew around 500 people to each, which was considered a disappointment. Also, SMW is telling fans to be patient with merchandise orders, as their merchandising is a mess right now and is being restructured, so if you ordered any merch, expect delays.
- Jim Crockett is talking about starting up a new promotion in the Carolinas. Guess that means his WWN promotion with Paul Heyman is already dead.
- An article in a Toronto magazine noted that a couple of local guys have plans to build a $25 million dollar "wrestling center" in Las Vegas, hire 50 wrestlers, and produce weekly TV shows. It will have a strict anti-drug policy, matches will be stopped if anyone is bleeding and, "winners and losers won't be predetermined." Dave just says he's reporting what the article says because obviously this isn't going to actually happen.
- Fabulous Moolah's Ladies International Wrestling Association ran its annual convention over the weekend, featuring matches with Moolah and Mae Young. Dave notes that Young's career started in the late 30s, meaning she is one of the few who has wrestled in 7 different decades.
- After breaking a ring last week, Sabu and 2 Cold Scorpio had another indie show match this week in a ladder match. The ladder broke, the ropes broke, and the whole match just fell apart. Only about 150 fans were there for the match, but Sabu gave his usual crazy performance regardless. On the same show, everyone raved about the performance of a 143-pound rookie named Matt Hyson, who wrestled his first match and was very impressive (Hyson is better known today as Spike Dudley).
- Being a wrestling announcer seems to be the world's most hazardous profession. Jim Ross has been out for 6 months after his Bells Palsy attack, Vince McMahon just had herniated disc surgery, and now Gene Okerlund is scheduled to undergo a kidney transplant soon. And finally, Tony Schiovane continues to have back problems and will likely need surgery soon as well.
- Jesse Ventura announced he won't be seeking re-election as mayor of Brooklyn Park, MN. Ventura made the announcement in typical Ventura fashion: "I rode into town, I ran the bad guys out of town and now it's time for me to ride into the sunset with a hearty 'Hi-yo, Silver.'" He's still contemplating running for U.S. Senate.
- Vince McMahon's herniated disc surgery is believed to be the result of years of heavy lifting, which is a common injury for weight lifters, especially those older than 40. He's said to be recovering fine, but the surgery required them to take bone from his hip to implant in his neck, so it was a pretty serious surgery (in case you've ever wondered why Vince is in a neck brace during all the steroid trial pictures, there ya go).
- Kevin Nash reportedly contacted Sid Vicious and told him the WWF is interested in bringing him back. Dave doesn't know how much truth there is to that. Davey Boy Smith is also likely returning soon, probably for the European tour in September.
- Those who attended the WWF Hall of Fame banquet gave it rave reviews and said it was a classy affair. Bret Hart gave a speech putting over himself, Owen, and 1-2-3 Kid as examples of modern wrestlers with an old school worth ethic. The downside was the obvious lack of mentioning Bruno Sammartino, to the point that when they were inducting Arnold Skaaland, they mentioned he had managed two former WWF champions, "one of whom was Bob Backlund." Some WWF officials have told Dave that the company would be glad to induct Sammartino, but they know he wouldn't accept. Dave says if WWF wants to show they have some class, they'd induct him anyway and let Bruno decide if he wants to show up and accept it.
- The upcoming house show tours feature "such New Generation performers" as Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, Koko B. Ware, Lanny Poffi, King Kong Bundy, and more. Dave really likes making jokes about this new generation thing.
- Linda McMahon sent a company-wide memo to all the wrestlers regarding the results of the Jesse Ventura lawsuit. It said:
- "Approximately two years ago Jesse Ventura brought a $2,000,000 lawsuit against us relative to royalties on video cassettes for his performances as a color commentator. Over the course of the litigation process, Jesse has changed his position from not knowing his image and likeness were being used on video cassettes to he never would have performed as a color commentator if he had known that wrestlers were paid royalties when he was not. Jesse's agent, Barry Bloom, was repeatedly told by Dick Glover that play-by-play and color commentators, hosts, MC's, etc. were not paid video royalties because their fees were negotiated up front. Jesse's agent insisted that Glover misrepresented the policy to him by stating that no "performers" were paid royalties unless they were featured on their own cassette like "The Best of Andre." Vince had also explained to Jesse during one of his negotiations that commentators are paid up front, and most, like those at the time (Heenan, Okerlund, Sean Mooney), had employment contracts. Having said all that, the bottom line is that the 3 1/3 week trial was held in Minneapolis and the jury found in Jesse's favor and awarded him $810,000. We are very disappointed by the verdict. Although the jury significantly reduced Jesse's claim for over two million dollars, we nevertheless feel that the verdict is not only contrary to the evidence presented, but more importantly contrary to the course of dealings in which Jesse engaged and the relationship he had with the World Wrestling Federation during his five years as a color commentator. We have preserved our right of appeal and will move swiftly to make that determination."
- In other lawsuit news, WWF reportedly wanted to settle the Chuck Austin lawsuit out of court, but the insurance company WWF uses for situations like this wanted to go to court and fight the case. Of course, it ended with WWF losing huge. But since it was the insurance company's decision to go to trial, they are extending WWF's policy to fully cover the $24+ million judgement, so WWF isn't going to be on the hook for that one.
- Maxx Payne did a radio interview where he buried WCW and said he was disgusted with all the money they spent signing Hulk Hogan. He also dismissed Missy Hyatt's lawsuit against the company, saying she wasn't as mistreated as she claims. And finally, he buried Sid Vicious and said no company will touch him because he's too hard to work with.