February 20, 1995
- WCW has made the decision to add 2 more PPVs to their 1995 schedule, bringing the total number of PPVs for the year up to 9 and they're considering adding one or two more, which would pretty much make PPVs a monthly thing. PPV is by far the most profitable thing for WCW but the question is how many PPVs can they add before they over-saturate the market? If Hogan works most or all of those PPVs, Dave estimates that he alone would probably rake in over $4 million just from his cut. They've also raised the prices of the shows and Dave says history has shown that fans will continue to buy PPVs even if the price increases, so this is probably a wise move on WCW's part, but eventually if they keep adding shows, they'll hit a saturation point. Dave talks about the PPV market in general, not just WCW, but WWF has 5 scheduled, UFC has 4 scheduled, AAA and UWFI may be doing PPVs this year, and at some point (maybe not this year), ECW is going to probably take a crack at it.
- In related news, WCW adding more PPVs to their schedule almost certainly kills any possibility of them producing another AAA PPV. They had been negotiating for a date in June, but WCW, UFC, and WWF all have PPVs scheduled that month, so the chances that WCW will also run a PPV for AAA is highly unlikely, especially now that they're doing more of their own.
- At the Slamboree PPV in May, WCW will be inducting several wrestlers into their Hall of Fame. Confirmed so far are Dusty Rhodes, Fritz Von Erich, Dory Funk, Antonio Inoki and Jim Barnett. There was talk of inducting Ricky Steamboat, but that's out the window now because Steamboat is reportedly threatening a lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination stemming from them firing him 10 weeks before his contract ran out after he was injured.
- The idea for a WCW cruiserweight tournament has turned into a political headache. The original plan was to bring in a lot of outsiders to compete in the tournament because, within WCW, Brian Pillman is the only credible cruiserweight they have. However, so far, they haven't been able to lock down anyone noteworthy. They had discussions with ECW, but Paul Heyman doesn't want any of his stars working WCW or WWF shows. That eliminates most of the top U.S. names like Chris Benoit, Sabu, Dean Malenko, or Too Cold Scorpio. They could still do it if they wanted to, they aren't under strict contract with ECW but if they do, Heyman will no longer use them. Benoit already turned WCW down and Sabu has been offered a spot but he likely doesn't want to give up his spot as ECW's top star just to work a couple of shows for WCW. They also negotiated with AAA for a few guys, but in typical AAA-fashion, they do business slow so nothing has been agreed to yet and time is running out.
- The Steiner Brothers have been negotiating a return to WCW and were scheduled to debut next month but it's been pushed back. Harlem Heat are the current tag team champions and WCW wants to push them hard. But bringing in The Steiners is expensive and to justify their contracts, they would need to be involved in the tag title scene. And the Steiners are simply never going to agree to put over Harlem Heat and WCW isn't ready to job the Heat out to anyone just yet, so instead, they've decided not to sign them right now (they ended up not coming back until 96).
- The all-time attendance record (set by Hogan/Andre at WM3) may be in jeopardy. The show being put together by Antonio Inoki in North Korea in April in conjunction with the North Korean government is going to be held at the 150,000-seat Mayday Stadium. Very little is known about the show other than New Japan will be heavily involved and negotiations are underway for WCW to be involved also.
- Gene Okerlund's teasing of the death of a 45-year-old former champion on the WCW hotline last week has come under even more criticism. The tease worked, generating an all-time record number of calls to the hotline from people thinking Ric Flair had died but was considered sleazy by pretty much everyone in the industry. Turner Broadcasting has gotten involved and said that deaths can no longer be used as hotline teases on TV, and forced Okerlund to apologize on the hotline the next week, though many said Okerlund's apology seemed insincere.
- Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi faced Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue in a 60-minute draw in AJPW and Dave gives it the full 5 stars. He says that there have been better executed matches with more good moves, but from a ring psychology and storytelling standpoint, it may be the best match he's ever seen. Regarding the ending of the match, here's an exact quote: "If you want to know what it sounds like to hear 4,200 people have a simultaneous orgasm that lasts 15:00, you'll have to see this match."
- Jerry Lawler is the current SMW champion after winning the belt a couple of weeks ago to start a USWA vs. SMW angle. Lawler came out with the SMW belt on USWA TV and offered to put his belt up against Sid Vicious but Sid completely dissed SMW and said he didn't want the belt and SMW is just a company full of wrestlers who can't get jobs anywhere else.
- Great Muta defeated El Gigante in a singles match in Japan, making him only the 3rd person ever to pin Gigante (Scott Norton and Undertaker being the other 2). This ended up being Gigante's next-to-last match ever. He wrestled in one more tag team match about ten months after this and then retired.
- Local hothead Jim Cornette has been in a long-time beef with Pro Wrestling Torch writer Bruce Mitchell. Last year, due to something written about him in the Torch, Cornette called both Mitchell and Wade Keller and left them a bunch of threatening voicemails about how he'd hurt them if he ever saw them and yada yada. Well Bruce Mitchell evidently wasn't shook because he attended a recent SMW show. Cornette didn't find out about it until after the show and when he did, he called Mitchell and told him to never come to one of his shows again or he'd go fight him right there in the crowd.
- Sandman is being kept off ECW shows for the next few weeks because he's still shaken up from the concussion he suffered in the match with Cactus Jack a couple of weeks ago.
- Virgil had a phenomenal match (the first and only of his career, Dave says) at an indie show for a promotion called the National Wrestling Council (NWC). The reason why is because his opponent was Terry Funk, who put on a one-man show to make the match great. The show drew over 1,000 fans. A few weeks before, Sabu vs. Cactus Jack drew 1,500 for the same promotion and Dave says this might be the hottest indie group to come along in awhile (that didn't last long).
- Jim Crockett wants nothing to do with the current NWA, but he's sill promoting his Dallas promotion as "NWA Wrestling." Crockett didn't pay his yearly organizational dues to the NWA so he's no longer part of the group and the real NWA has sent a cease & desist order telling him to stop promoting his company as NWA.
- The WWF/WCW feud has now taken to the race tracks. WWF already sponsors Bob Holly and his race car (yes, he legitimately races) and now WCW has entered a 1-year sponsorship agreement with Winston Cup driver Billy Standridge.
- Harley Race recently had major hip replacement surgery, stemming from his car accident last month. After the surgery, he was dropped at the hospital and re-injured and they had to completely redo the entire surgery. "Race is apparently scared that this could mean the end of his wrestling career." Pretty sure that was long over already, but maybe he means as a manager?
- Tammy Sytch is no longer doing the WWF Events Center segments and will soon have a new role as some type of cheerleader for Chris Candido when he debuts at the next tapings. It's expected Candido will debut as a babyface.