November 11, 1996
- I figure I might as well deliver the news now. When 1996 finishes up, I'm going to have to take another 2-week break (instead of the usual 1 week) before starting 1997. I'm still not as far ahead as I'd like to be and if I'm going to keep these posts going on a Mon-Fri. schedule, I have to take an extra week or so to try and catch up on writing them all. So far, I've only got about half of 1997 done and I'd like to have the entire year written up before I start posting them. But these things are time consuming to write. So for right now, 1996 will end on July 24th and I'll probably start doing the 1997 posts on Aug. 7th. So just a heads up.
- In what will either be remembered as a groundbreaking storyline or an act of total desperation, WWF ran an angle where Steve Austin broke into Brian Pillman's house and Pillman held him off with a gun. Dave says it was based on a scene from the movie Cape Fear (I mean, maybe...?). Even though the matches that aired during the show were taped weeks ago, the angle was filmed live to keep it from leaking out. Dave recaps the angle (it was filmed at Brian Pillman's actual house and the 2 "friends" that Austin beat up outside the house were actually students from a local wrestling school). The angle ended with Pillman cursing on the air, which wasn't edited out of the later west coast feed, so Dave thinks USA must have given WWF approval to air it (USA Network is struggling across the board in ratings too on all their shows and they're probably even more desperate than WWF to do something for shock value to pop a rating).
- Of course there are questions about whether it went too far or was offensive. It's the talk of the business right now, which can be a good sign, but if it doesn't translate to ratings or money, then it doesn't matter. Dave worries about both companies running hotshot angles that don't plan long term and he also doesn't like that what goes on in the ring has become secondary to everything happening outside of the ring (he mentions a recent Nitro where Chris Benoit was working his ass off and having a great match but the live crowd had their backs to the ring, looking at the NWO guys walking around in the crowd). As for this angle, Dave didn't personally find it offensive and said it's no different than any other violent TV show.
- Since Raw is 1 hour and Nitro is 2 hours, WCW is planning to capitalize on it by splitting Nitro into two shows. The first hour will be NWO Nitro and will be the NWO's show, while the 2nd hour will be WCW's show. No word on when this will go into effect but it's the current plan (never happened).
- Dave addresses some issues that have come up from the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame he created back in August. The initial 126 names that were inducted mostly represent the 50s, 60s, and 70s and Dave makes an interesting comment here: "For example, with the dozens of letters we received about various people who were neglected, nearly all from the 50s through 70s, we didn't receive even one letter about Sting, who is a better worker than some on the list, and during his day was a bigger star than many, perhaps most, who made the list. Kids who are growing up now and become interested in wrestling history in 20 years would put guys like Sting and Undertaker on a list without question, and maybe even Lex Luger, but those of us watching them now probably dismiss them because they are current and because we're all aware of their shortcomings and know they aren't Ric Flair or Bret Hart." Anyway, of all the letters Dave got about people who should have been inducted from the start, the name most people asked about was The Fabulous Moolah. Dave explains why she didn't make the cut initially: yes, she's been around forever but she was never a great wrestler, never was a headliner or big draw (Mildred Burke was 10x bigger, he says), and even though she held the women's title for years, the belt was pretty much meaningless for most of it. Really, the only argument you can make in favor of Moolah is historical importance, and Dave says if you wrote about the history of professional wrestling, you could probably leave Moolah out and it wouldn't make a difference. TL;DR - Moolah just ain't that big a deal, sorry.
- Dave gives 5 stars to a Michinoku Pro match featuring Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs. Gran Naniwa & Gran Hamada & Super Delfin & Tiger Mask & Masato Yakushiji. Dave also notes that, barring injury, Taka Michinoku will probably become one of the all-time great workers of the next generation.
- AAA president Antonio Pena appeared on several TV shows and even held a press conference to respond to last week's story of many of AAA's hot stars jumping ship to Promo Azteca. During his appearances, Pena talked about all of Konnan's past legal troubles, all his arrests, lawsuits, and that he had been deported twice, among other things. Konnan responded, basically saying he's the one who kept AAA afloat and he's the one who put together the WCW deal and that Pena used Konnan to do his dirty work (had Konnan fire people that Pena didn't want and things like that) and that Pena stole money. He also claimed Pena was an alcoholic and drug addict and that Pena is gay and gave pushes to wrestlers in exchange for sexual favors. He also claimed Pena had sent people to beat him up and told a story about Psicosis allegedly being driven out to the middle of nowhere by one of Antonio Pena's people and, fearing the worst, Psicosis punched out the driver and managed to run away to find safety. Konnan said that if anything happened to him or any of his wrestlers, there would be retribution against Pena. Finally, Konnan took the AAA heavyweight title belt (which I guess he had for whatever reason) and threw it in a garbage can. So...yeah. Shit's getting serious.
- At a recent ECW show, the fans chanted "You sold out!" at Too Cold Scorpio (who is headed to WWF) and Scorpio responded, telling the fans if they got offered $200,000 a year, they'd take the job too.
- At the same ECW show, Stevie Richards got hit in the neck with Sandman's cane and collapsed. It was apparently a stinger and Richards was paralyzed for awhile and taken away in an ambulance. For about half an hour, he could only move his fingers, but by the next day, he was up and walking around fine. Shane Douglas has also recently complained about the use of the canes, as he collapsed last week after getting hit in the neck with one also. Douglas reportedly refuses to work with Sandman if the cane is involved anymore. Also on the same show, Francine got hit with a chair thrown by a fan, but she was fine.
- Kurt Angle was "almost clueless" on commentary during the Taz match he sat in on. They tried to play it as if WWF and WCW both wanted Angle but he chose ECW instead, although that's not at all the case. In fact, Angle was furious about the Raven crucifixion angle because he does so much work in the community and has an image to uphold and felt it would reflect negatively on him to appear on the show with something like that, which is the reason Raven was forced to apologize afterwards.
- More medical problems for Superstar Billy Graham. While still hospitalized following his second hip surgery in less than 2 month, he suffered a collapsed lung and a chemical burn of his lungs and will require a lengthy recovery (all the medical problems this guy has had, how is he still alive today in 2017?).
- Jeff Jarrett injured his ankle during a match with John Tenta but it's not being acknowledged because WCW already has enough real and worked injuries going on. So he'll still be on TV cutting promos and whatnot but won't wrestle for a few weeks.
- WCW brought out a Japanese women's wrestler on Nitro using the name Zero and being managed by Sonny Onno. Dave says "Zero" is the name of the planes the Japanese used in WWII and says it would be like if Hulk Hogan went to wrestle in Hiroshima and used the name H-Bomb.
- They're planning to do an NWO PPV in January. Dave doesn't know how they'll manage to pull off a 3-hour show of just NWO guys (they didn't. It was basically an NWO vs. WCW show).
- No updates on the Randy Savage contract situation. He's going to continue to work house shows until his contract expires but isn't booked for any more TV until a new deal is reached. Savage wants to only work 100 dates per year and also wants a big raise.
- Ric Flair finally had shoulder surgery this week and may be out of action longer than previously expected. The current plan when he's ready to return is for Hall and Nash to attack his 19-year-old son David, which would lead to a match with the Horsemen vs. the NWO, although Dave has heard that this angle might be dropped now that word has leaked out, which Dave says is stupid, but WCW seems more interested in surprising people than they are with running angles that make sense and make money.
- Hulk Hogan will be making the media rounds this week to promote his movie Santa With Muscles.
- One of the reasons they're doing the current angle with Sting not wrestling or appearing on many shows is because his contract called for a maximum number of dates per year and WCW only had a few dates left that he's required to work. So WCW is trying to use him as sparingly as possible.
- WCW's Halloween Havoc buyrate is reportedly higher than last year's and some are even saying it did double the buyrate of WWF's last PPV, but Dave hasn't been able to verify that yet (not quite, but close).
- Mark Henry was scheduled to work Survivor Series, but suffered a broken leg in training (he ended up not wrestling for over a year before returning in late 97). Jake Roberts will end up filling Henry's spot. "I'm not sure that the $2.5 million invested in Mark Henry will go down in history as one of Vince McMahon's best money investments," Dave says. Dave takes a lot of seemingly random shots at Mark Henry during this time.
- Sunny was on the MTV show Singled Out this week.
- The fake Razor and fake Diesel gimmicks are death, and the guy who plays Razor is especially bad.
- George "The Animal" Steele appears in a new FILA commercial with Grant Hill.
- "Has anyone ever seen the move called a "Japanese arm drag" done by a Japanese wrestler?" Dave asks. And....that's it. Umm, okay? Nope, never seen it Dave.
- Reportedly, the reason Brian Pillman's ankle didn't heal correctly the first time is because he never stayed off of it. He was travelling all over the country, did the ECW show, etc. So they had to redo the surgery and this time he's going to have to completely stay off it for several months.