July 21, 1997
- R.I.P. to the voice of my childhood, Bobby Heenan. This one really sucks. I want Raw to just be a 3-hour Heenan tribute show tonight.
- WCW's Bash At The Beach PPV took place, featuring the in-ring debut of Dennis Rodman and he surprisingly wasn't that bad given it was his first match. Dave talks about Rodman doing an armdrag on Lex Luger and then jokes that Luger probably had to be taught the move also. Rodman's ring work was limited but decent and of course he's naturally athletic so that helped. And he worked the crowd like a natural, which shouldn't surprise anyone familiar with Dennis Rodman. Dave says he was better in his first match than guys like Sid or Ultimate Warrior have ever been. Rodman's debut made all the big news outlets and generated tons of mainstream publicity for WCW. Rodman's deal with WCW is for 2 matches plus the Nitro appearances, reportedly in the $1.5 to $2 million range. It's expected Rodman's next match will be before the next NBA season starts but no word exactly when. Dave then breaks down all the numbers on how many more PPV buys WCW would have to get to make the deal worth it financially.
- Other Bash At The Beach notes: Curt Hennig made his in-ring return as DDP's mystery partner, looking heavier and more out of shape than he's ever looked and was unimpressive in the ring. The crowd wanted Sting and were let down when it wasn't him. As usual, the undercard matches were all pretty great. Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon was Jericho's best match since debuting in WCW. Benoit beat Kevin Sullivan in a stiff loser-must-retire match. Debra McMichael turned on Steve McMichael and joined up with Jeff Jarrett. Flair vs. Piper was actually a surprisingly good match, the best Piper has had in WCW.
- WWF television is expected to undergo major changes later in the fall. It's believed Raw may go back to doing the live/taped schedule because going live every week has quadrupled the expenses of the show and hasn't really improved ratings at all. They may also move the time slot around. Last week, WWF aired a Summerslam special in the 10-11pm hour after Raw, showing highlights from past Summerslam events, and it did a pretty huge rating. The special featured highlights and matches of several of WWF's top names who are now in WCW, like Hogan, Savage, Piper, Hennig, Hall and Nash, etc. Of course, no one really knows if the big rating is due to the time slot or if it was the footage of all the WCW wrestlers that drew the number. Between Raw, Nitro, and the Summerslam special, the total combined audience of people watching wrestling that night is easily the most for any Monday night in history.
- Aja Kong held a press conference to announce that she is leaving All Japan Women, the promotion she has been a staple of for 11 years. Word is she wants to continue wrestling but not the grueling 250+ day per year schedule that AJW runs and she wants to stay independent and wrestle in other promotions. In the past, AJW has usually pushed their stars to retire at age 26 because they want the roster to stay young. But they have relaxed that rule in recent years because they've been unable to produce new stars that are as good as the ones who would be retiring. Kong, who is 26, clarified that she's not retiring, just leaving AJW.
- Dave gives 5-stars to the final match of NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors tournament between El Samurai vs. Koji Kanemoto and says this pretty much elevates Kanemoto to being among the best workers in the business today.
- In WWC in Puerto Rico, the wives of 2 wrestlers (Rico Suave and Huracan Castillo) have been banned from attending any more shows because they got into a fight backstage. It's led to heat between Suave and Castillo as well. Castillo is heading to WWF soon, but is expected to continue working for both companies (he was a member of Los Boricuas in WWF for a little while).
- A guy named Sheldon Goldberg (no relation) is suing Great Sasuke and Michinoku Pro. He was the intermediary who set up the deal for Michinoku Pro wrestlers to work for ECW and also set up the first meeting they had with WWF. He claims he was promised $5,000 but was only paid $1,000.
- Lots of changes in USWA on the business front. No one seems to really know who owns the promotion anymore, but the new president of USWA is a guy named Michael Selnick from Cleveland, OH. A meeting was held last week and the wrestlers were told Jerry Lawler is no longer running things and that the new owners plan to invest more money into the company and expand operations. Lawler's new title is VP of Public Relations and while he is no longer running the day-to-day business, he is still involved in decisions. The plan seems to be to try and get USWA syndicated in other markets, such as New Orleans and St. Louis. Also, Dutch Mantell is booking the promotion (this all gets really messy pretty soon).
- The latest USWA show drew one of the biggest crowds they've drawn in a long time for the USWA vs. ECW feud. The crowd was actually split 50/50 cheering for each side and they were so intense about it that the atmosphere was described as being dangerous. Sandman, Dreamer, Heyman, Bill Alfonso, Sabu, and RVD were all there. The crowd began to get out of control after the main event, with Christopher getting punched and Lawler and another fan spitting at each other. USWA fans were also going after ECW guys, with Sabu whipping fans with a belt and one of the fans got hit with a garbage can. Christopher was hurt badly from the punch he got from the fan, because it nearly knocked him out and split his lip open so badly that he may need plastic surgery to fix it. If the ECW feud continues to draw well, USWA is considering running some shows in the Mid-South Coliseum again (nah).
- In September, Terry Funk is planning to hold a show billed as his final match ever, which will lead to Funk's retirement. The plan is for Funk to face Bret Hart (this is the Funk "retirement" match that is featured in Beyond The Mat).
- ECW announced that their next PPV will take place on Aug. 17th from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, at the 1,700-seat War Memorial Auditorium. ECW once drew 1,000 to that building a few years ago and they're way more popular now, so they should have no problem selling it out. The show was originally supposed to take place at a college in the Cincinnati area, but a local snitch indie promoter sent the college a tape of the Mass Transit incident, and that killed the deal. So now it's in Ft. Lauderdale.
- Here's the latest on all the Paul Heyman/ECW/WWF drama. Last week it was mentioned that Joey Styles was considering filing a lawsuit against WWF over his likeness being used in a video clip WWF aired on Raw. WWF sources say they had permission to use the clip and in fact, it was Paul Heyman who personally brought them the tape to use. WWF sources also claim Heyman had agreed to host Shotgun Saturday Night but he wanted to wait and tell it to the ECW wrestlers first before it became public knowledge. They also say Heyman specifically talked to WWF in regards to getting his airline ticket to Des Moines to do the show and trying to make it work with his schedule, but then they sent him the ticket and Heyman never showed up, claiming he never agreed to any of it. Heyman's response to all this is basically saying that WWF is lying to try and save face.
- Speaking of possible Heyman lies, last week Paul Heyman says he never agreed to apologize to Dennis Coraluzzo in front of the ECW wrestlers, but Coraluzzo says that Heyman and Chris Candido both promised him that Heyman would apologize and that Heyman's version of the story is a total lie. The whole thing was because Paul Heyman wanted Jim Cornette to work an ECW angle. Cornette's take on the whole situation is that he never trusted Heyman to begin with, but he got a limo ride, a free meal, a good payoff, and some good publicity for doing the angle, so he's happy with it all. But he says he has no plans of ever going back to ECW to finish off the angle.
- The WWF/ECW relationship is all but dead at this point, although no one has come right out and said it. The planned ECW match at Summerslam is off the table but Heyman is hopeful to get it back on the card, but that seems unlikely now.
- At an ECW show in Allentown, PA there was an incident with some wrestlers and fans. Dave's heard multiple versions of the story but it seemed to have started with a fan taking a swing at Shane Douglas, who then went after the fan but was jumped on by another fan. At this point, a backstage ECW employee named Gabe Sapolsky yelled for help and the whole ECW locker room came running out. Perry Saturn (still with the knee injury) tackled one of the guys who was attacking Douglas while Tommy Dreamer and Bubba Ray Dudley tried to keep everyone apart. Shane Douglas has talked about pressing charges against the fans who attacked him and Paul Heyman has threatened to stop running shows in Allentown if the venue won't let him use his own security instead of having to use the security provided by the venue.
- ECW is writing the Pitbulls off TV for now until their legal situation is sorted out. In the meantime, they'll be helping to train wrestlers at ECW's training school. Heyman wants to try and get better wrestling at ECW shows so he doesn't have to rely on gimmicks and bloodbaths to get over. Heyman's an expert at hiding people's weaknesses and the reality is most of the wrestlers in ECW flat out suck when it comes to actual wrestling.
- On WCW Nitro this week, they debuted "The Nitro Girls" which were led by Kimberly Page and some other local dancers. It got a mostly negative reaction from wrestling fans but Dave says it's no different than cheerleaders at football games, so he's fine with it. As long as they use them as bumpers coming back from commercial breaks. But if they give them full 3-minute segments each week like they did this week, it's going to be a bad idea.
- Also on Nitro, The Giant chokeslammed a bunch of guys in yellow shirts who were supposed to be security guards. They were actually mostly the Mexican wrestlers, so if you want to know what La Parka, Super Calo, Los Villanos, etc. look like without masks, there ya go.
- Sherri Martel has been released from WCW. The angle where Harlem Heat fired her ended up being legit because she really was fired afterward. No reason given, but WCW has been releasing a lot of lower-card people lately in cost-cutting measures. It's believed Jacqueline will replace her as Harlem Heat's manager now that Kevin Sullivan has retired. Word is Meng and Barbarian may be gone as well but Dave can't confirm it.
- WCW is advertising another Clash of the Champions for next month in Nashville. They're promoting it locally as the first time a Clash, a Nitro, and a PPV have all taken place in the same city in the span of 1 year, but that's actually not true. It happened in Las Vegas also, but evidently nobody in WCW remembered.
- Rob Van Dam was backstage at Nitro this week, pretty much just to get himself over. Earlier this year, when it was rumored that Van Dam was going to WCW, it turned him into ECW's top heel and he milked it and turned it into an angle. Then he continued it by becoming Mr. Monday Night and working matches on Raw. But with the ECW/WWF deal falling apart, Van Dam decided to go visit Nitro to get the rumor mill buzzing again. WCW had no knowledge that he was going to be there, but they let him come backstage anyway.
- The Giant and Buff Bagwell appeared on the MTV show Singled Out last week (I can't find video of this one).
- Elizabeth is getting married in December to an attorney in south Florida and she also runs a clothing store in the area called Vertigo.
- Stevie Richards won't be wrestling in WCW for a few months because he's letting all his various injuries (particularly his neck) heal up (he actually does work a handful of matches).
- Bill Goldberg worked a dark match against Hector Guerrero and beat him. Goldberg is really green but he's got a good look and people think he has potential.
- WCW is considering doing an angle to have Rey Mysterio Jr. lose his mask sometime before the end of the year (yeah we'll hear all about this soon).
- WWF reportedly went to a Hollywood studio and spent a ton of money to have a mask made for Undertaker's brother Cain. It's supposed to make him look like a real-life burn victim and doesn't even look like a mask. Dave predicts Glenn Jacobs (formerly Fake Diesel) will end up playing the role of Cain.
- Shawn Michaels was back on TV this week. After claiming he suffered a knee injury during the backstage fight with Bret Hart, he appeared to have no knee problems at all and was doing cartwheels during the commercial break. No word on when he'll be back in the ring. Speaking of, WWF has sponsored a Wrestle Vessel cruise that's taking place this week and both Shawn and Bret will be on it, along with a lot of Bret's family members. Dave seems to be implying that Shawn should probably make sure he doesn't end up in the ocean.
- Mankind came out dressed as Dude Love on Raw, the character he talked about in those interviews a few weeks ago. Dave basically compares it to Austin Powers and says the gimmick doesn't have a ton of longevity to it but they may do a gimmick sorta like Keiji Mutoh/Great Muta, where he alternates between Dude Love and Mankind.
- Sid appeared on the show briefly, but then collapsed backstage due to his back problems and was rushed to the hospital. Sid was barely shown on TV because he's lost a lot of weight since he hasn't been able to train and his injuries are very legit. His planned match at Summerslam with Vader is almost surely off now (and that brief Raw appearance was Sid's final appearance in WWF until 15 years later).
- No truth to the rumors of Johnny Ace from AJPW jumping ship to WWF. They haven't had any negotiations (well, not yet).
- Great Sasuke actually hasn't signed a WWF deal and may not be sticking around for long. He still runs Michinoku Pro in Japan and that company is having a lot of business troubles, so he can't just up and leave to go work full-time in the U.S.