July 01, 1996
- WWF filed a lawsuit and restraining order request against Turner Broadcasting, WCW, and Eric Bischoff this week over the angle involving Kevin Nash and Scott Hall "invading" WCW. There are 4 counts to the lawsuit. The first is "Unfair Competition under the Lanham Act" which basically says WCW has falsely and deceptively tried to confuse viewers into believing WWF is affiliated with or involved in an inter-promotional angle with WCW. The second "Trademark and Trade Dress infringement and False Designation or Origin" which is basically WWF claiming they have the rights to Scott Hall acting like Razor Ramon. The third is another unfair practices claim citing WCW privately spreading false rumors that WWF is facing bankruptcy or having money problems in order to encourage wrestlers to leave. And the final count is a defamation and libel charge stemming from the 2/5 episode of Nitro when the lights went out and Eric Bischoff, on commentary, implied that WWF was responsible for the power outage (which was also hinted at on the WCW Hotline). Bischoff was forced by Turner lawyers to apologize on-air the following week but no apology was ever made on the Hotline. The lawsuit is asking that Turner and WCW forfeit all profits earned from the Hall/Nash angle and to pay punitive damages and attorney fees.
- The restraining order request also asks that WCW be prohibited from insinuating that WWF is involved with the angle in any way or from using any of WWF's trademarked names or dress that would confuse viewers, no references to "Razor Ramon" or "The Bad Guy" and no presenting Scott Hall as Hispanic, using the accent, the toothpick, etc. Same in the case for Kevin Nash, no references to "Diesel" or "Big Daddy Cool", no black leather pants and black glove, etc. The request also asks that WCW not be allowed to show any clips of Hall and Nash's previous WCW appearances in advertising. Best of all, on every Nitro from now until the Bash at the Beach PPV, the WWF lawyers request that WCW announcers give the following statement 3 times per episode: "Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are both under contract to the WCW and all their actions since May 27, 1996 have been at the direction of WCW. Any statements made by us, or suggestion made by us, that Hall or Nash were affiliated with the WWF were false and misleading. The WWF was not, and has not been in any way affiliated with the portrayal of Hall and Nash since May 27, 1996 and there will not be any matches between WWF wrestlers and WCW wrestlers on Nitro, on any of our shows, or on any of our pay-per-views. Any statement or suggestion to that effect by WCW and TBS personnel was false. If you wish to view WWF wrestlers, you should watch the WWF's programs, including Monday Night Raw, which airs on the USA Network Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST." (lol can you imagine WCW being forced to say that 3 times per show for 2 months?)
- WCW and WWF lawyers appeared before a judge to make arguments in the case, but the judge is currently in the midst of a major organized crime drug case and said he doesn't have time to devote to the case at the moment but that when the organized crime trial finishes up, he'll take hearings on the case. However, by that time, the Bash at the Beach PPV will have already taken place so this is a major win for WCW. WWF is still exploring options to try to get the angle changed before the PPV.
- During the hearing, WCW's lawyer argued that in the past few years, 41 wrestlers have jumped from one promotion to another and in 28 of those cases, they showed up at the other promotion using the same name and/or persona and there was never a lawsuit filed before. He also argued that Scott Hal's mannerisms and look and even "Bad Guy" nickname stemmed from his first WCW run as Diamond Studd and that WWF were actually the ones who copied all of that for Razor Ramon.
- In a press release, Vince McMahon stated that he regretted filing the lawsuit but said, "I have finally been pushed up against a wall with no other options to protect my company. My wife and I have committed our adult lives to building the World Wrestling Federation. This company competes very well, and I dare say, stays ahead in a marketplace where quality of programming, creativity, start development and consumer interest reflects success. However, when a giant competitor uses your very creations to dupe and confuse the public, then the playing field isn't level, and you are forced to fight in a different arena."
- Dave thinks the whole thing is ironic because both sides are making totally opposite arguments that they did in 1991, when Ric Flair showed up in WWF with the WCW title and was initially portrayed as being from a rival promotion, at which point WCW went to court to have it stopped. Dave says the most damaging statements actually came from Gene Okerlund and Mark Madden on various WCW Hotline recordings, which did heavily imply that Hall and Nash were still with WWF. So WCW has now vowed to closely monitor what is said on the Hotline and Madden in particular will be required to submit a script 3 days before his Hotline reports are aired. On the 6/12 WCW Hotline, Madden said, "On last week's Raw, Vince McMahon said that Big Daddy Cool and The Bad Guy were no longer affiliated with his promotion. But what else would McMahon say? I mean, when the good old US of A caught those dirty commie nuclear spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and fried them in the electric chair in the 50s, Russia didn't step forward and admit responsibility. Espionage is espionage. It's secret."
- On to other news now, King of the Ring is in the books and was a pretty good show. Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith in the main event delivered a hell of a match that more than made up for the In Your House debacle a few weeks ago. The crowd chanted for "Sable!" during Marc Mero's match. Ultimate Warrior's match with Lawler was short because Warrior has a shoulder injury, but nobody in the biz is better than Lawler at stalling and getting heat with his words, so it worked out okay. Mankind shockingly beat Undertaker in convincing fashion, which Dave thinks is a gutsy move. Before the KOTR finals match, Austin had 15 or 16 stitches put in his tongue backstage (not at the hospital, as they claimed on TV) stemming from the earlier match with Marc Mero. After Austin won the tournament, he "did a strong post-match interview knocking Roberts' religion and drinking problems." (yeah, that's one way to undersell a historic moment, I suppose).
- The latest on Dick Murdoch is that he may have died from a massive stroke rather than a heart attack as previously reported, but no autopsy was performed so we'll never know for sure. The night after his funeral, several Dallas-area wrestlers went and had a few beers beside his grave and left a 6-pack at the grave when they left. In fact, Murdoch was buried with a Coors Light bottle. Murdoch's death was acknowledged on TV by WWF, WCW, and ECW and at live shows in NJPW (10-bell salute) and other various indie promotions around the world.
- ECW's Hardcore Heaven 96 took place and was a mess of a show due to various technical problems but was still regarded as one of ECW's best shows ever. Over 1,500 people were jammed into the ECW Arena and the show lasted more than 5 hours due to delays. For starters, the sound system went out. Then at one point, the ring broke and there was a long delay, going after midnight. In order to keep the crowd from getting restless, Kimona Wanalaya came out and did a strip tease for the crowd (which, of course, was used in commercials to sell VHS tapes until the day the company folded). And finally, when the Sabu/RVD main event started at nearly 1am, the top rope broke early in the match so they just worked the rest of the match without it. I can't find any video of the Kimona strip tease, but here is an old VHS commercial that has a brief clip of it near the end. But the full striptease seems to have been wiped from the internet.
- One of the matches was Taz vs. UFC fighter Paul Varelans in a so-called "shoot fight." The idea was to have Taz beat a known UFC fighter to give him credibility but before the show, Varelans refused to do a clean job to Taz. A compromise was worked out for Perry Saturn to interfere and cost him the match. There was a lot of heat in the days before the match because Varelans was acting like he might not show up and talked as though he was really going to shoot on Taz. Just in case things went wrong, Paul Heyman had several other heel wrestlers at ringside for the match so they could get involved if Varelans went rogue. Heyman reportedly begged Varelans to do a clean job and even threatened to ruin him in the wrestling biz if he refused. Eventually, Varelans agreed to put Taz over but not cleanly (this is sort of a famous story because in her book, Missy Hyatt says he refused to do the job at all so she promised him a blowjob if he would do it. So he finally agreed and then after the match, he went to collect his blowjob and Missy allegedly told him, "Sorry, I don't blow jobbers" and he got upset and destroyed some shit in the locker room).
- Other notes from the show: Sandman's wife Peaches became Raven's new valet and they got Sandman's 9-year-old son involved in the angle too, with the story being that he now worships Raven and has disowned his father. Tommy Dreamer took a chokeslam from the balcony through 3 tables in an insanely dangerous bump. Blue Meanie did a Goldust imitation (Blue Dust) and Dave says he and Stevie Richards are such a great act that he's shocked none of the other promotions have tried to steal them yet (so much shit happened during this show that trying to find all the separate clips would be useless. Plus it's not on the WWE Network for some reason. So here's the whole show on Dailymotion. But once again, for whatever reason, Kimona's striptease isn't on here).
- AAA wrestler Angel Mensajero was scheduled to work a show but he no-showed because he's currently wanted by police for being involved in a stabbing (that dude still wrestles in Mexico under the name Black Abyss apparently).
- Dan Severn agreed to work a shoot-fight match for a promotion in Japan and Dave thinks it's foolish. Severn is by far the odds on favorite to win, but he just started with NJPW and if he loses this fight in Japan, it would destroy his drawing power with New Japan. Dave doesn't think it's worth the risk, even though he'll probably win.
- Steve Williams said in a magazine interview that he would like to compete in UFC but only if AJPW promoter Giant Baba gives his blessing. Dave notes that Williams actually defeated Dan Severn in an NCAA tournament 15 years ago and that Williams is regarded by many as the legit toughest pro wrestler. (Bart Gunn's gonna have some shit to say about that in a couple of years...)
- At the final USWA show at the Mid South Coliseum, Flex Kavana and Bart Sawyer won the USWA tag titles (The Rock's very first championship in wrestling).
- The identity of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's third man is being kept super secret. The original plan was Lex Luger but that probably isn't happening now. Hall, Nash, and Bischoff have been discussing names and currently the top candidate is Mabel (HAAAHAHAHAH oh god can you imagine) and they also floated Crush's name but decided against him. They'd really like it to be Bret Hart but he's previously turned down all of WCW's offers and is still under contract with WWF so it won't be him. Bischoff reportedly has a plan and is keeping it so secret that even Hall and Nash don't know yet. Bischoff has told them to trust him on this but unless he miraculously pulls Bret Hart out of a hat, most people think it will be a letdown.
- This week's Nitro easily beat Raw in the ratings, which is a big deal because it came the day after a major WWF PPV and ratings are usually higher on those nights. But WCW just wiped the floor with them this week (and for many, many weeks after).
- Media outlets have reported that NFL player Kevin Greene received $100,000 for working the match at Great American Bash. Dave says that's not quite true and that the real number is slightly less.
- A lot of Dusty Rhodes commentary was edited out of this week's WCW Saturday Night show due to the WWF lawsuit because apparently Rhodes was strongly pushing the angle that Hall and Nash were WWF invaders.
- Randy Savage will appear on the Regis & Kathy Lee show this week to promote the PPV.
- Canadian indie wrestler Don Callis got a tryout at the WWF tapings, losing to Barry Horowitz. Callis was described as a cross between Raven and Bob Holly and reportedly did okay.
- Brian Pillman did an interview with Vince McMahon on Raw and told Vince he wants "my goddamn money." The "goddamn" was edited out of the west coast feed but aired on the live show.
- For next week's Raw, which was pre-taped, they did a bit where Marlena was coming on to Sable. "A lesbian angle. Where in the world did they ever come up with that?" Dave cheekily asks. (That 7/1/96 episode of Raw doesn't work on the Network for me for some reason).
- Todd Pettengill was hospitalized this week for kidney stones. He called in during the King of the Ring pre-show to help hype the show from the hospital.
- Recent WWF signee Bill Irwin will be brought in as The Goon, with a hockey player gimmick.