August 10, 1998
- Scott Hall was arrested for misdemeanor simple battery and drunk and disorderly conduct last week in Baton Rouge, LA. A 56-year-old woman told police that she was waiting in her car outside of her hotel when she spotted Hall and rolled down her window to speak with him. Hall allegedly reached into the car and grabbed the woman's breast and tried to pull her hand to his crotch. She reported it to police and Hall was arrested in his hotel room but was later released after being charged and is still working WCW events as of press time. Dave says it's yet another incident in a scary pattern of behavior for Scott Hall, who has been to rehab 3 times in the past year but it doesn't seem to be working. Dave talks about how the warning signs with Brian Pillman and Louie Spicolli were there all along and were ignored and now the warning signs are clearly there with Scott Hall. WCW hasn't commented on the situation and word is they plan to pretty much ignore it. This is extra bad news for Hall because he's in the middle of a nasty custody battle with his ex-wife and getting arrested for charges like that won't help his case any.
- Viewers Choice announced they will stop carrying all future UFC events, which could very possibly be the fatal blow for the company. This essentially leaves UFC without a major PPV distributor. UFC is still planning to forge ahead and aren't giving up and is hoping to hook up with smaller, regional PPV providers. Dave thinks the whole thing is ridiculous since WWF these days is far raunchier and more violent than UFC has ever been.
- This year's NJPW G-1 Climax tournament is in the books. It's pretty much always a great tournament and this year was no exception, with great matches and drawing sellouts every night. Shinya Hashimoto won. Dave recaps the highlights and talks about how Hashimoto has headlined more 7-figure gate shows than any wrestler in history and is a 3-time IWGP champion but had never won the G-1 tournament until now.
- The Disciple and Kevin Eubanks won't take part in the Hogan/Bischoff vs. DDP/Jay Leno match at Road Wild and it will simply be a 2-on-2 tag match. So far, there hasn't been as much mainstream publicity as the Rodman/Malone match got and it seems to be helping Leno's ratings more than WCW's. They filmed an angle on The Tonight Show that led to a big pull-apart brawl and led to Leno accepting the challenge (I guess NBC is strict about their stuff being on Youtube, I can't find video of this). Dave also takes a moment to give credit to DDP for managing to maneuver himself into this position of main eventing the last 2 PPVs alongside big mainstream celebrities and getting to be on the Tonight Show and all that stuff. It's true that he's good friends with Eric Bischoff and that certainly helps, but he says DDP has worked hard to get to where he is, both on-screen and backstage and even though it might not have been the smartest business decision to book him in these matches, he's earned it. In case you're wondering, Dave says Goldberg is the obvious choice since they should be booking the company around him right now instead of the Hogan/celebrity-of-the-month pattern they're in now.
- WCW may be losing in the ratings right now, but don't go calling them the #2 promotion yet. They just drew over $4 million last month on house shows/TV shows and sold out something like 14 out of 19 shows. This is pretty much an all-time record in the U.S. for non-PPV shows. WWF has never done it and, worldwide, only NJPW has done it in their country. So WCW is still very strong right now. That being said, Dave says the company is basically on a self-destructive path of terrible decision making and if things don't change, they will end up as the #2 company sooner rather than later.
- ECW's Heat Wave PPV is in the books and finally broke the streak of bad ECW PPVs. It was arguably the best PPV of the year from any company. While recapping the show, Dave mentions that Sunny ("looking like she hadn't slept in days") came out with Chris Candido and was introduced as Tammy Lynn Sytch. He off-handedly notes that she was fired by the WWF last week. She was apparently given an ultimatum to go to rehab or be fired. So she went to rehab but claimed she didn't have a problem and then refused treatment and stopped responding to WWF's attempts to reach her. So they fired her. WWF owns the name "Sunny" so she can't use that anymore. She's planning to work full-time for ECW right now. WCW has been very interested in her for a long time but never made an attempt to get her for fear of a contract tampering lawsuit.
- Other notes from Heat Wave: most of the matches were at least 3 stars. Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome featured a scary spot with Tanaka power bombing Mike Awesome over the top rope out of the ring through a table which got a huge pop (this one would get replayed for years in ECW commercials). It also featured a spot with Taz DDTing Bam Bam Bigelow through the ramp (that one too). Dave says Mikey Whipwreck spent hours before the show working on getting the ramp gimmicked for that spot.
- Trying to judge WWF's Brawl For All as a success or failure is difficult. From a ratings standpoint, it's been a success as the fights have done strong ratings and at least among insider fans, the Bart Gunn/Steve Williams fight was the most talked about story since the Screwjob. But it's also been a dud live, with fans booing most of the fights. There's other negatives also. Steve Williams was brought in specifically for his tough man persona and to be built up as a challenger for Steve Austin. He was expected to win the tournament, so having him get knocked the fuck out by Bart Gunn could prove fatal to his chances of succeeding in WWF now. There's also the injuries that are piling up. Savio Vega suffered a neck injury, Hawk got a broken nose, Steve Blackman suffered a knee injury and, Steve Williams, on top of getting chin-checked by the Marty Jannetty of the Smoking Gunns, also suffered a torn hamstring, torn buttocks, and a dislocated jaw, all of which will keep him out for a couple of months. Finally, the whole thing was poorly planned. It was thrown together on no notice (the tournament was literally conceived the same week it began), so no one had time to train, the rules seem to be all over the place, the bracketing keeps changing for no reason, losers get to return as alternates for injured participants, etc. Dan Severn joined late and has already decided to quit the tournament because he doesn't like the rules. All in all, Dave thinks it's been interesting and if they decide to do it again next year, he has some suggested rule changes: never assume anything (like Steve Williams winning). Have alternates ready in case of injury so you don't have people who got destroyed in the first round somehow ending up in the final four (like Godfather). And come up with a better set of rules and stick to them. In this case, WWF is limited by athletic commission rules but hey, if you want to get into the shoot-fighting game, you gotta be willing to deal with that shit.
- WWF's new show Sunday Night Heat debuted and was hosted by Shane McMahon doing his first major commentary job ever. He wasn't great but wasn't terrible either. Anyway, it wasn't anything special but it was good and did a strong rating. Along with Raw beating Nitro yet again, USA Network has to be happy with WWF right now.
- Dave got a bunch of verified statistics of many of wrestling's most well-known weightlifters. He lists a bunch of famous records of guys like Ken Patera, Mark Henry, Doug Furnas, Scott Norton, etc. Ken Patera in particular had some insanely impressive stats, with several records that still hold today.
- Just some random observations of how broken down the old guard is in Japan. Dave saw Great Muta's first match back since knee surgery and he was still hobbling around the ring and clearly was hurting. Jushin Liger was in a tag match with 3 other guys and Dave mentions how crazy it is that the other 3 wrestlers are all light years faster and better than Liger nowadays. Genichiro Tenryu's age has caught up with him and he looked slow and old in his match. There was another match in AJPW and of course, everyone is hurt there and Dave says the match was so bad he can't believe it took place on an AJPW show, but then again, he says people have been predicting AJPW is going down in recent years and it seems to be.
- The much-hyped ECW vs. NWA show put on by Dennis Coraluzzo turned into a disappointment and only drew 325 fans. It featured a few ex-ECW guys like Stevie Richards, 911, Brian Lee, etc. Tod Gordon cut a promo saying no one really knows the true story of what happened with him and ECW and then tore into everyone including Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, and even insulted Dave (with "a silly gay reference").
- Sandman reportedly tried to quit ECW last week over his PPV payoff but it seemed to just be a negotiating tactic since his contract is up soon and he's trying to get a raise. It doesn't look like it's going to work though because there's not really any interest in him from either WWF or WCW. So ECW is really his only option. Dave expects him to sign a new contract soon probably without much of a raise.
- Still nothing very new to report on the Ric Flair situation. It's believed that the odds are better than ever now that he will eventually return and plans are being discussed for how to book him. But if it happens, it probably won't be until after the next court date.
- Dave recaps Nitro and again just talks about how much it sucked. When describing a Brian Adams vs. Jim Duggan match, he writes, "Picture the ten worst matches you've seen in your entire life all rolled into 3:08 and you have this match." And he points out a million plot holes in the main event booking and talks about how all these random things that happen are never explained, leaving fans confused.
- There's lots of heat between Kevin Nash and Hogan/Bischoff. Nash believes (probably correctly, Dave thinks) that the Wolfpac group is being booked to look as bad as possible, with them always getting beat down by the black & white NWO and looking dumb. Nash was scheduled to cut a promo on Nitro but when he found out the plans that night for the show and how it was going to be the Wolfpac members looking foolish again, he refused to go on the air. It's said to be serious enough that Nash's WCW future is in doubt and he's openly talked about wanting to quit, but he's locked into a contract for several more years and Bischoff has no intention of letting him go back to WWF until it's done.
- WCW will be running a show in Utica, NY (where Lance Catamaran once worked) for the first time ever later this year because the venue contacted WCW after being upset because WWF cancelled multiple shows they had booked there.
- The NWO gimmick has reportedly taken over the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. Apparently many of the players wear NWO shirts under their game uniforms and they have even split it up into black/white NWO and red/black Wolfpac groups and compete against each other during practice.
- The Giant appeared on Nickelodeon's show "Figure It Out" and of course ended up being covered in green slime (he wasn't the only one, a few other WCW guys on here also).
- Kevin Wacholz (formerly Nailz The Vince Strangler in WWF) has signed a $150,000 contract with WCW. John Nord (formerly Berzerker in WWF) has the same $150,000 deal. (Nord worked about a dozen matches in WCW, mostly house shows or Saturday shows. Nailz only worked 1 match after signing that deal. Clearly a sound investment of $300K by WCW.)
- Ric Flair appeared at a Republican fundraiser for NC senator Launch Faircloth last week, alongside former presidential candidate Bob Dole. Word is Dole is actually a big wrestling fan.
- The AP ran a story talking about how pro wrestling no longer has racial stereotypes and talks about how the Jewish Bill Goldberg is the top star and also quoted Ron Simmons saying he's never experienced any racism in the business. Dave's not buying it.
- Triple H is expected to face Rocky Maivia at Summerslam in a ladder match for the IC title. The original plan was for Shawn Michaels to be the special referee, but his back still isn't healed up enough for him to be running around the ring, even if he's not taking bumps.
- Ken Shamrock will face Owen Hart in a Lion's Den match at Summerslam, which will take place in a structure similar to the UFC octagon. In fact, WWF asked UFC to let them use the octagon cage for the show, but UFC turned them down, feeling it would compromise their product if the UFC octagon was used in a worked match. WWF was a little annoyed by UFC turning them down, considering the 2 companies have a good relationship and WWF has bent over backwards in the past to plug their PPVs on TV.
- Raw notes: in a dark match before the show, Fallen Angel (Christopher Daniels) beat Minoru Tanaka in a good match. And Raw went off the air with an angle where Val Venis was strung up from the ceiling and Yamaguchi-san seemingly chopping off his dick with a sword.
- At the latest WWF training camp, the 3 most impressive guys were Christian Cage, Andrew Martin, and Ted Annis (Christian, Test, and Teddy Hart respectively). Word is Annis and Martin signed 3-year developmental deals, no word on Christian Cage.
- Steve Regal suffered a broken ankle while training and will be out for 2 months. Dave notes that he's had a rough year, dealing with several bouts of pneumonia, being fired from WCW, wasted debut in WWF, and now a broken ankle (also a crippling drug addiction, but Dave doesn't mention it).
- Brian Lee (Chainz from DOA) was fired by WWF last week, no reason given. Soon after being fired, he was arrested for something in Tennessee and the local media reported that The Undertaker had been arrested, seemingly confusing the two since Brian Lee portrayed the fake Undertaker back in 1994.
- Steve Austin recently taped a guest spot on the show VIP starring Pamela Anderson. There's been rumors of Austin hosting Saturday Night Live, but no truth to it (here's the VIP scene. Man, 90s TV shows were baaaaaad).
- A New York Daily News article talked about the recent bikini contest on PPV and criticized WWF for it, saying Sable was topless (not entirely true, if you count body paint as a top) and called Sable "the house slut" of the WWF.
- The real name of Yamaguchi-san's "wife" on Raw is Shian-Li Tsang and Dave still keeps repeating that she's 17 and under-aged and that this whole storyline with Val Venis is icky because of it. But once again, I've found different sources listing different birth years, saying she was either born in 1975 or 1981. So she was either 17 or 23 at this time. Let's hope 23.
- No truth to the rumors of Madusa returning to WWF. She did have talks with them several months ago to come in as Marc Mero's valet but that spot eventually went to Jacquelyn (interesting that they were even considering it after the garbage can stunt).
- Wrestlemania next year will be in Philadelphia.
- Terry Funk finished up in WWF this week, putting over Mankind in a falls count anywhere match at a house show.