November 20, 1995
- Only 1 week left in 1995. Next Wednesday will be the last issue for the year. Then, as usual, I'll take a week or two off and begin 1996. Just a heads up!
- It's becoming more apparent that both WWF and WCW are engaging in directionless, hotshot booking on Monday nights in an attempt to one-up the opposition. WCW's decision to strip Hogan of the title after the finish of Halloween Havoc was a last-minute change of plans and they aren't sure who will win the World War III battle royal. Short-term, the best bet would be The Giant, because he's hot right now, but that would mean he inevitably loses to Hogan and Dave thinks jobbing him out so early in his career could kill his momentum. The best bet is either Savage or Sting or possibly Luger but WCW hasn't decided.
- Sid was scheduled to win the IC title from Razor Ramon this week, but WWF changed plans a couple of days before and made the previously advertised title match a non-title match. The new plan is for Hunter Hearst Helmsley to eventually win the belt. Sid was reportedly upset about being promised the title only to have plans change. Many in the locker room see it as "the clique" (Shawn, Razor, Diesel, Helmsley, and 1-2-3 Kid) controlling things and say that different rules apply to them. Dave says the leader of "the clique" (Diesel) is scheduled to lose his WWF title to Bret Hart this weekend at Survivor Series, so Dave doesn't quite believe they have that much control over things (and that, ladies and gents, is the first ever Observer mention of "The Clique"....or Kliq, whatever).
- The latest word on Randy Savage's arm injury is that he has decided against getting surgery to repair the tricep tear for now and he will be in the World War III battle royal. Hogan was scheduled to take a few months off but those plans have changed now too and he'll be in the battle royal also.
- A confidential hearing was held by the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission regarding the fire incident at last month's ECW show. Officially, lawyers and the attorney general are reviewing the case to decide what, if any punishment, is appropriate. But from sources Dave has spoken with, Paul Heyman was told in no uncertain terms that if anything like that ever happens again, they will shut down ECW. So it looks like they're probably escaping with a slap on the wrist and a "don't let it happen again."
- There's a good chance several of ECW's top stars are leaving soon. Public Enemy recently met with WWF but WCW has offered them a 6-month contract and they're currently leaning towards WCW because it's less time on the road for more money and there's more teams to work with. WWF does a better job of getting new stars over though. WCW wants to rename the team The Mac Daddy's but keep the same gimmick. WWF wants to rename them Assault & Battery (which, holy shit, am I alone in thinking that's still a pretty awesome team name?). ECW will also almost certainly be losing Woman, who is headed to WCW soon, where her husband (Kevin Sullivan) is the booker. She may be replacing Sherri Martel as Harlem Heat's manager since Sherri may be getting phased out of the company soon. WCW is also interested in Konnan, who has dabbled in ECW and is, of course, a top star in AAA.
- Cactus Jack also recently had a meeting with WWF last week. In the past, they never would have been interested in someone who looks like him, but times change. Paul Heyman has told WWF he wants to keep Cactus until around April or so to finish out his current storyline and WWF is in no hurry to take him. WWF has taken a friendly approach with ECW, and is looking at it as a place where they can send their guys to work since WWF isn't running as many house shows. Cactus is good friends with Dean Douglas and it's well known that Douglas is currently unhappy with his position in WWF so that may play a role in his decision.
- WCW and NJPW held a joint show in Tokyo last week and it flopped. The show drew 7,500 fans to Sumo Hall, which is the smallest crowd NJPW has drawn there in over 15 years. Kensuke Sasaki won the U.S. title from Sting. The match is scheduled to air on Nitro this week to build heat for the WCW/NJPW Starrcade show. Sasaki is expected to drop the title back at Starrcade. Sherri Martel, who is already on shaky ground with WCW, somehow missed her flight and didn't make the trip to Japan, which didn't go over well with management. The Giant made his debut on the show and got over big with the Japanese fans and was impressive. Everyone said that, with a little more experience, he could easily be the top foreigner in NJPW.
- Rey Misterio Jr. and Psicosis are expected to be in the Super J Cup tournament for NJPW next month.
- In USWA, they're still doing a USWA vs. SMW feud and had a match where the winner wins control of the promotion. Jeff Jarrett returned to USWA and cut arguably the best promo of his career and then beat Jesse James Armstrong so as the storyline goes, USWA now owns SMW. It's interesting of course, because Armstrong is better known as The Roadie and he and Jarrett walked out of WWF earlier this year because they didn't want to break up their duo. Jarrett is still under contract to WWF but they're allowing him to work USWA shows and it's likely that Jarrett will be returning to WWF soon.
- All Japan Women wrestlers are scheduled to work both WWF and WCW shows and WWF is doing a much better job promoting them. On WWF shows, they've been showing video of the women and talking about their finishing moves and promoting them as great wrestlers. By comparison, in WCW, Gene Okerlund mentioned the names of the women coming in and then said they "sound like something from the menu at a sushi bar."
- Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Henry Godwinn have been having slop matches at recent house shows, with Helmsley winning but Godwinn pouring the slop on him afterward.
- Bam Bam Bigelow, Bob Holly, Jean Pierre Lafitte and Kama have all been complaining about not getting enough bookings lately. Bam Bam is almost certainly headed to New Japan soon and may work WWF shows on the side. As for the other 3, none of them have given notice about quitting yet, but they're not happy.
- Diesel was on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" this week (can't find video).
- Episodes of the TV show Lonesome Dove featuring Bret Hart should start airing next week.
- Ahmed Johnson debuted on TV doing a version of the Liger Bomb as a finisher, which Vince McMahon simply called a power bomb.
- A week away from Survivor Series, only 8,000 tickets have been sold which is less than half of the arena capacity. Dave predicts that they'll still claim it's a sellout when the PPV airs.
- Aldo Montoya has been told they are going to take his jock-strap mask off and change his hair and give him a new gimmick.
- Diesel was on a radio show answering fan questions who called in. He was asked about Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair and said he'd never wrestle anyone as old as them and said they were washed up. He also talked about backstage politics running WCW. Oh, the irony...
- Former President Jimmy Carter was on Jesse Ventura's radio show recently and talked about wrestling. Carter talked about how he and his mom used to go to wrestling shows every week before he was governor of Georgia. They also discussed the famous picture of Jimmy Carter putting Mr. Wrestling II in a headlock.
- Jim Cornette wrote another classic Cornette letter in to the letters section, trashing everyone else and complaining about things. Let's read it, shall we?!
- I don't get the Torch anymore, since, drat the luck, my parakeet died a few months ago so there's no longer the need for it around the house, but I want to request all newsletter readers to keep me posted on the latest ECW story.
- When SMW's famous "Wise, Virginia" incident happened, it was a major story for months, necessitating calls to everyone but the Governor of Virginia. I was greeted with chants of "Wise, Virginia" from fans at WWF shows 1,000 miles away. I received dozens of phone calls from people in and around wrestling about our "major riot."
- For you statisticians, our major riot consisted of one out-of-line security guard being called a n----- (daprice82 editor's note: Cornette neglects to mention that he's the one who called the security guard that word), and later punched by Jimmy Del Rey. Several of his friends tried to start trouble. One of them pulled a knife. The Bruise Brothers swung a few chairs. A lot of people cussed each other. The police were called, hell, it was the most excitement they'd seen since Prohibition in that town. And then, everyone got in their car and went home. One fan said he got hit but never showed in court to press charges.
- Has anyone figured out yet that as much of the blame for the wrestling business being in the worst condition it has ever been in history goes to this ridiculous horseshit that Paul E Dangerously is foisting off on the public as much as the ludicrous garbage presented by the gang of surgeons at WCW? Do you know how frustrating it is to try and present a solid wrestling product when the task is made hopeless by people being able to tune in to murders of nasty giants and a bunch of insane stuntmen at the same time? And now for the $64,000 question--Will this story be given coverage in proper ratio to Wise, Virginia, or is it a case of a first time offender getting 20 years because the jury didn't like him or a man going free for two murders because of his bank book and his skin color? Whoops, there I go again.
- Jim Cornette
- A woman writes in and just trashes Shawn Michaels and says he's overrated and yada yada. She gives all the credit to Razor Ramon for the great ladder matches and says, "If you think the average fan likes Michaels over Ramon, you don't know the average fan. Ramon is liked by men because he's tough, has guts and doesn't back down. He's liked by women because he has more sex appeal in one of his toothpicks than Michaels has in his whole body, and that's with doing a striptease before every match."