September 18, 1995
- The first head-to-head meeting between WWF Raw and WCW Nitro was a clear victory for WCW. Nitro did a 2.5 rating, while Raw did a 2.2 rating. Dave says both shows were pretty meh. WWF has chosen to not even acknowledge the competition, other than editing Lex Luger out of all the last week's pre-taped shows, and did nothing to make Raw any more special than any other episode. As for Nitro, Eric Bischoff spent the whole show trashing WWF, talking about how Luger "left the bush leagues" to come to where the big boys play, and said he wouldn't be the last, among other things. Most notably, Bischoff told viewers not to channel-surf because Raw was taped and Shawn Michaels was going to beat Sid in the main event (which is exactly what happened). Bischoff got a lot of flak for trashing McMahon for the whole show and apparently, it won't happen again (ha!). Dave thinks Bischoff was sometimes entertaining but after a solid hour of WWF-bashing, he came off like an annoying, bratty child.
- Sabu debuted on Nitro against Alex Wright and basically did his usual, insane spots but the announcers totally sucked at getting him over to people who were seeing him for the first time.
- Vader was officially suspended by WCW for the backstage fight with Paul Orndorff last week and it's believed that if they can get rid of him, they will. He's still under contract through 1999 but if WCW releases him, it's almost certain that he'll eventually end up in WWF. Japan is always an option also. From the way the announcers talked about him on Nitro, it doesn't look like Vader is going to be welcomed back so his days in WCW are probably finished.
- The UWFI vs. NJPW angle is currently the hottest thing going in Japan. The big show takes place 10/9 at the Tokyo Dome and features UWFI champion Nobuhiko Takada vs. IWGP champ Great Muta, with both titles on the line. It makes the most business sense for Takada to win the IWGP belt, but even though NJPW usually does what's best for business, it would still be surprising if they let someone from a smaller promotion win their world title.
- The verdict in the Jesse Ventura lawsuit against WWF was upheld by an appeals court this week. So WWF still owes him the $809,000 he initially won, plus interest, plus court costs, so it's expected Ventura will receive around $1.2. million total.
- At a USWA show in Ripley, TN, Bill Dundee and Wolfie D got into a backstage fight over an argument over each ones' share of the gimmick table money. Dundee was later pulled from the next few USWA shows.
- Al Snow cut a promo in SMW saying that if he couldn't beat Brad Armstrong for the title, he'd leave SMW. Naturally he lost and is of course headed for WWF.
- The NWA held their annual convention and pretty much decided to keep Dan Severn as champion since he's become a big name in UFC. Jim Cornette still wants to join the NWA but he wanted someone else (Brad Armstrong) to be NWA champion and they ain't having that.
- Ultimate Warrior cancelled some indie shows he was scheduled to work because of issues with the promoter. Turns out the promoter in question is the guy who put WCW in contact with the guy who now plays Renegade there. Warrior blames the promoter for basically giving WCW a guy to rip off his gimmick, so he cancelled the show on him. Apparently, Warrior claims he just learned about the Renegade character (which some doubt, because Warrior was backstage at the Bash at the Beach show, negotiating with WCW, and Renegade worked that show).
- Several independent wrestling magazines have folded in recent months and rumors abound that WCW's magazine may be about to go under for the 2nd time. Rising paper costs seem to be the primary reason.
- Latest on the Lex Luger situation: turns out he really was working for WWF without a contract, though he had given them a verbal agreement to stay through the end of October while they negotiated a new deal. Luger has now signed a 2-year guaranteed contract with WCW. Dave basically calls Luger a master negotiator and says since the beginning of his career, no one in the history of wrestling has managed to secure more big money deals for himself while offering so little in return. Luger has never been a draw, never been good in the ring, lacks charisma, and overall is just kind of a subpar worker who has always skated by on his physique alone. And yet year after year, for the last decade, he always manages to negotiate himself into some main event level big-money contracts despite never doing anything to justify them.
- WCW had been planning to bring in Lanny Poffo as a favor to Randy Savage but that deal seems to have gone away now.
- Gene Okerlund's WCW contract expires this week and both sides are apparently far apart on doing a new deal. Okerlund has tried to use WWF as leverage, saying he could run a 900 line there and take Todd Pettengill's job, but WCW apparently doesn't think WWF wants Okerlund back, so they're not falling for it.
- Eddie Guerrero, Sabu, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit have pretty much been brought in to have good matches on PPV and house shows, but that's it. There's no plan to push any of them as any kind of star. Meanwhile, Disco Inferno is reportedly going to get a big push.
- Bill DeMott worked the latest WCW tapings, using the name The Man of Question and billed from the Isle of Nowhere.
- WWF taped a new opening for Raw on the roof of Titan Towers at night. It reportedly cost around $200,000 for the 4 minutes of footage. Many people living in the area called police, complaining about the searchlights and helicopters that were used. The FAA also received complaints. But WWF reportedly filled out all the required paperwork and had the proper permits, so nothing about the filming was illegal, even though it annoyed the town (if you've never Google street viewed Titan Towers, it's basically a big office building right around the corner from the suburbs. So yeah, I can see how a bunch of loud helicopters and explosions would probably startle the locals).