Wrestling Observer Rewinder

December 11, 2000

With all the chips down, ECW came out swinging with a pretty strong PPV, Massacre on 34th Street. More importantly, everybody got paid at the show, meaning the roster is now "only" 5 weeks behind in pay. And even more importantly, nobody has quit yet. Despite rumors that the company would be out of business by the end of this month, Heyman informed the roster of 3 new shows that are booked in January. A PPV in New York, plus 2 sold shows to local promoters in Poplar Bluff, MO and Pine Bluff, AR (those will end up becoming the final 3 shows in ECW history). Heyman has said that he plans to hang on in some form, even if the company has to be scaled back. If WCW goes under or cuts back on touring dramatically, that would leave a big hole in the market for someone else to fill. But of course, that's all dependent on ECW getting a TV deal sometime soon because without one, they're almost certainly doomed.
With the uncertainty surrounding WCW, Heyman feels 2001 could be a year to turn things around for ECW. Because even if Bischoff buys WCW, without Turner paying off all the huge losses, it's still going to be a struggle for the new WCW to survive, and Heyman sees that as an opening. Those close to the WCW situation are confident that a deal will be put together before the end of the year. Bischoff has been working at it for months and it's fallen apart a few times, but when the WWF deal fell apart, Bischoff got back in the running. He has a non-disclosure clause and can't talk about the negotiations but word is Bischoff is extremely confident that a deal will be made this time. Exactly where Bischoff is getting the money is unknown. There's a rumor he's backed by Columbia Tri-Star but they denied it.
If the deal goes through, Bischoff's plan is to cut all house shows and only run 5 tapings per month (4 TVs and a PPV) and instead of touring, the plan is to move Nitro to a set location, most likely Las Vegas and run 52 weeks a year out of the same place, perhaps at the Orleans Hotel, an off-Strip location that has a 2,000-seat venue that often hosts boxing matches. The idea is to attract tourists but being off the Strip will make that difficult, and getting people to spend one of their vacation nights going to see wrestling, especially if the WCW product is as dead as it is now, is going to be a hard sell. There's a lot of entertainment competition in Vegas on any given night. Bischoff has also talked of "re-inventing" wrestling, and putting together a show somewhat like Battledome, where they take people with a good look and train them to be wrestling stars. Dave says, to be fair, in-ring skill has never mattered less than it does in today's wrestling, which is all about storylines, promos, stunts, and gimmicks. Today's fans tend to get bored with any match that goes past 5 minutes. So hey, maybe there's something to that idea.
Of all the ECW wrestlers complaining about being behind on pay, Heyman is only mad at Steve Corino, claiming he's the one wrestler who doesn't have a right to complain. Basically Corino had a pretty bare bones next-to-nothing contract when he first signed with the company in 1999. But he got over so good and he was going through a divorce, so Heyman has since given him 2 big raises since then. By the terms of the contract Corino signed last year, he should be making $300 per week and instead he's making $1,500 per week. "He shouldn't have bought a brand new house and a $35,000 car. The fact of the matter is that if anyone has anything to complain about here, Steve Corino is not one of these people. He's perhaps the only wrestler in this crew whose contract, if you read it, he's way ahead of his contract and has nothing to gripe about. He's making $1,500 a week when I could be paying him $300 per night and he'd have nothing to say about it. At the time I gave him the deal, it was a great deal for him. I'm the guy who gave him the opportunity to get over to this extent where he could make that kind of money," Heyman said. "It's a real sore spot with me because here's a guy I've really taken care of. He's broke from not living within his means. He has nothing to be upset about." Heyman says he knows the ECW payroll is inflated but said they had to offer big contracts to everyone last year because they were getting ready to move to TNN at the time and couldn't afford to have the entire locker room raided by WWF and WCW.
There's a lot of tension between Heyman and the ECW wrestlers for lots of reasons but particularly related to the Texas house shows that were recently cancelled. Sandman, Corino, Whipwreck, and Tajiri had all gotten themselves booked on an indie show in Texas the night before the ECW tapings, with the idea that ECW would fly them out there (since they had to anyway) and they would pick up an extra night's pay working this indie show without having to pay their own way out there. Heyman was upset that a bunch of ECW guys were going to work a show that would basically be competing with their own show the next night. When the ECW shows got cancelled, all the wrestlers had to pull out of that indie show also since ECW was no longer flying them to Texas.
Heyman also said he gave Jerry Lynn his highest recommendation to Vince McMahon, Bruce Prichard, and Jim Ross in WWF as well as Terry Taylor in WCW and is hoping to help Lynn land in one of the 2 companies. Lynn is also looking for work in Japan, particularly for NOAH. Heyman has said that Lynn is still in ECW for as long as he wants to be. Then there's RVD, who once again wasn't mentioned at all on the PPV. RVD has the highest contract in the company and is owed a lot of money and he's likely the one person that, no matter what happens, ECW probably just can't afford him anymore. Heyman has since offered everyone in the locker room a full release to anyone who wants to leave, no strings attached, but as of now, no one has taken him up on it.
Oh yeah, back to where we started. In the midst of all this, ECW had a PPV. Sold out crowd of 2,600 at Hammerstein Ballroom. Everyone worked hard, less dumb angles, and most of the matches were good. The crowd lost interest when the matches went too long, which really hurt the main event, but otherwise, it was a strong show. It was expected Scott Hall was going to work the show, but the deal fell through the day before and then he got arrested and all that fun stuff. Someone in the crowd opposite the hard camera had a sign that said, "Hey Paulie, where's my check?" that was confiscated. They taped a couple of dark matches so that they would have something to air on TV for the next couple of weeks since all the other TV tapings were cancelled. Whipwreck/Tajiri vs. Super Crazy/Kid Kash stole the show. In recapping the show, Dave mentions a pre-recorded skit just before the main event where it's implied that Jasmine St. Clair is giving Blue Meanie a blowjob while he's driving. And as luck would have it, that doesn't appear to be in the WWE Network version of the show. So much for "uncut and uncensored." And Steve Corino retained the ECW title in the main event.
WWF held another UK-only PPV called Rebellion in Sheffield, England. Nothing much to note about the show. William Regal got a huge face reaction but then cut a promo to try to turn himself heel, which only kinda worked and mostly just killed his heat entirely. Tazz did commentary alongside Jim Ross. Nothing much else to note though, basically just a glorified house show.
Turns out Shinya Hashimoto will debut for NOAH this year after all, on their show later this month. He will face Takao Omori in a match on the card (things are gonna continue to get weirder for Hashimoto for the next month or so).
Hey, guess who got arrested again? Scott Hall got thrown in the pokey over the weekend after a dispute with a cab driver who wouldn't take Hall's credit card as payment. Hall began kicking in the doors of the cab, police were called, and he was arrested. (At least he took a cab this time?)
Speaking of, here's more details on Hall's last arrest 2 weeks ago from a local newspaper story. Hall was driving on the wrong side of a 6-lane highway and caused an accident with 2 other vehicles. Hall was a bloody mess at the scene. Police found 2 open beer bottles in his car. Hall said he was despondent over personal issues and had drank all night before the accident, and then failed to show up the next morning to pick up his kids (although he did drive past the meeting spot where they were waiting at one point). Hall's estranged wife Dana had a bit to say in the story, (including several not-so-subtle shots at Kevin Nash), saying, "It's a shame that these so-called friends of Scott would persist in urging the fans to get Scott to return. It is only cruel of them to give the fans false hope, not to mention Scott. Obviously these men do not know all the facts or understand the seriousness of his most recent arrest. Obviously they do not wish to acknowledge that Scott did not start drinking because he lost his job, but lost his job because of his addiction. He did not start drinking after our divorce. We divorced because of his addictions and infidelities. They obviously do not understand or care that their friend and my husband and father of our children is on a very self-destructive path and is in need of help from his friends, not urgings to return, or even believe he can return to what has contributed to further destroy his marriage, our family and his life. Obviously they do not understand or care that he could have been killed, killed others or his children. They do not understand or care that if he continues on this path without intervention, they will be attending his funeral the next time they see their friend. Then they can explain to his children how much they cared or tried to help their father." Anyway, after the arrest, Hall's visitation rights with his children have been suspended until a judge reviews the case. As part of the initial agreement, Hall had signed a document promising not to do any drugs or alcohol within 24 hours of seeing his children and obviously, that didn't work out.
Bruno Sammartino will be honored in his hometown of Pizzoferrato in Italy. The house he grew up in will be marked as a historical landmark and a statue of him will be erected in front of it. They are also naming a local sports arena after Sammartino.
The referee who officiated the Dennis Rodman/Curt Hennig match in Australia is threatening to file a lawsuit against Rodman, claiming he suffered "emotional grief, humiliation, and embarrassment" during an impromptu spot in the match where Rodman threw the referee out of the ring. Apparently, he wasn't aware it was going to happen and although he wasn't hurt, he wants to sue over it for emotional distress. Dave can't even with this bullshit.
Nitro this week was actually a pretty decent episode, with well-written, sensible storylines and a hot angle to end the show. And the ratings reflected that, because the 2nd hour of Nitro did a higher rating than usual and gradually increased going into the main event, which was the highest rated main event segment in months. But of course, it wouldn't be WCW if something didn't go wrong. Even though the whole angle with Sid running in got over great, it should have been better. They had spent all day rehearsing and planning the segment with Sid driving into the arena in a police car, sirens blaring and lights flashing, then he would get out and run to the ring. But the production crew screwed up somehow and the cameras never caught the whole Sid/police car stuff. So by the time the cameras realized Sid was there, he was already headed out to the ring so they never showed any of the police car stuff. Dave is baffled that things in WCW get this screwed up so badly, so often.
Dave has seen the latest episode of Thunder and do you remember the story last week about Bagwell throwing a fit backstage because the production people screwed up a crucial part of his match? After seeing the show, Dave says Bagwell definitely had a right to be upset. Maybe not "throwing-a-tantrum-backstage" upset, but Dave wasn't there so he can't say whether or not Bagwell overreacted. But the production people clearly dropped the ball and totally fucked up the finish of the match.
WCW's legal department has now issued a ruling that Scott Hall can no longer be referenced or even alluded to on TV anymore. "Or else what?" Dave wonders? It's not like WCW ever punishes anyone for anything. Dave talks about WCW's apparent policy for what happens when you go against the script on live TV: after the 1st offense, you are given the world title. After a 2nd offense, you get the world title and a raise. 3rd offense, you don't have to do any jobs for six months. 4th offense, you get to beat seven people at once without selling. 5th offense, you are named the new head booker. Anyway, Nash has been told countless times to stop pushing a Scott Hall return on TV because it's not happening, but he just keeps doing it anyway, so whatever. This rule is meaningless.
Bobby Heenan is done with WCW and it doesn't appear that WWF has any interest and really, where else is he realistically gonna go if not either of those? Dave thinks WCW should bring Heenan back for one last show and honor him for real, no angles or silly shit. Although Heenan hasn't exactly been any good for the last year or two, he's been around the business for 35 years, was the greatest manager the business has ever seen, and is one of the greatest TV personalities in wrestling history and he deserves a proper send-off. In hindsight, he wishes Bret Hart had gotten one also, but the way WCW books things, everyone would have been waiting for the angle and wouldn't have believed it. The show must go on, but Dave thinks Heenan deserves to be honored on a big stage for the decades of entertainment he's brought to the business before they unceremoniously push him out the door. Dave suggests doing it at Starrcade. What's the worst that could happen. Just take 5 minutes off one of the mid-card matches that the fans don't care about anyway and give Heenan a proper send-off (obviously didn't happen in WCW, but thankfully, he got inducted into the WWE HOF and got to give one of the best speeches ever).
Despite all the comments he's made, Vampiro is still employed by WCW and may even be brought back. There's mega heat on him for some of the stuff he's said about the company lately, but WCW also realizes the potential legal issue they might be in since it's well known that he suffered a concussion at Halloween Havoc and then was pressured to wrestle again on Nitro the next night, where he suffered another concussion despite telling them beforehand that he was injured. Vampiro hasn't been shy in talking about it either, as well as about the effects he's still suffering from those concussions. Apparently WCW is afraid of a lawsuit and there's talk of keeping Vampiro on the payroll while he's injured in hopes of avoiding that.
Ric Flair, who is currently the on-screen CEO of WCW, has been repeatedly forgetting things during his live interviews that he's supposed to say. Like announcing matches and stipulations and whatnot. Every time they put a mic in his face, he turns into typical Ric Flair, stylin' and profilin' and woo-ing and whatnot, and he completely forgets all the important bullet points he's supposed to hit. So they've started a gimmick where they give Tony Schiavone an envelope with all the stuff Flair is supposed to say and then if/when he forgets something, they just have Schiavone claim that the envelope was sent by Flair and contains information Flair wants him to announce. But really, it's just a way to cover for Flair because he's completely unreliable in this authority role.
WCW has upped its offer to Torrie Wilson to $100,000 per year to get her to stay, which is still less than half of what she was making under her old contract. Word is she has reached out to WWF as well to gauge interest.
Vince McMahon won the Sports Executive of the Year award at the Horizon Awards (whatever that is). Dave disagrees with this one. Obviously, McMahon had an incredible year, but WWF goes out of its way all the time to emphasize that WWF isn't a sport and the XFL hasn't played a single game yet, so c'mon. In related news, Goldberg was also a presenter at the show, for a different award. No word if the two spoke to each other.
Survivor Series did a 1.0 buyrate, which is among the lowest of the year and Dave doesn't see next month's PPV setting the world on fire either. It either means that the Austin/Triple H car angle wasn't as big a draw as they hoped or the popularity of wrestling in general seems to be declining from its peak.
The New York Post ran a big story featuring a lot of quotes from Bret Hart and others in the Hart family as well as WWF officials. Bret actually praised Vince McMahon for cleaning up the company after the steroid-era of the 80s. Ellie Neidhart lashed out at Bret, saying he still holds a grudge against the WWF over the Montreal Screwjob. WWF lawyer Jerry McDevitt agreed, saying that the rest of the Hart family is happy that the Owen lawsuit is settled, but Bret is still angry because he likes being at war with the WWF. Just stuff like that.
Notes from Smackdown: it was at Madison Square Garden and was WWF's 14th consecutive sellout in that arena. ECW's Chris Chetti got a tryout dark match and got a good response, but the crowd turned on him when he missed a spot. They did an angle with Vince telling Linda he wants a divorce. Dave says the last booker (Kevin Sullivan) that booked an angle to split up his marriage on TV ended up losing her in real life. Sullivan also booked the Steve McMichael/Debra split in WCW and they ended up divorcing also. In fact, there's a long trail of booking real-life couples to split up that ended up getting too real.
When talking about some other stuff, Dave goes on a small rant talking about how good Rock and Kurt Angle are. In regards to Rock, he's such a charismatic showman that it's easy to look past the fact that he's also an amazing worker in the ring. He's not Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels, but it's easy to forget that Rock is really only about 4 years into his career and has had a lot of great matches. And then there's Kurt Angle, who Dave says is on a whole other level and is probably a once-in-a-lifetime talent. Dave has been watching wrestling his entire life and reporting on it for decades and says he's never seen someone as good as Kurt Angle with only 2 years of experience (man, I feel sorry for newer fans today who only know Angle as the broken down, glassy-eyed dopey general manager and have no idea how flat out incredible he was in his prime, before drugs and injuries wore him down. And this is still 2000. He somehow gets even better during the next few years).
The Wall Street Journal published a big story about the WWF/PTC lawsuit, and the WSJ was extremely critical of the WWF's side. The lawsuit argued that WWF is hiding behind the First Amendment while trying to prevent the PTC from having the same right. "In short, the WWF is arguing that the same First Amendment that gives them the right to air this trash somehow ought not to apply to those who find it offensive."
X-Pac pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from an incident last year. According to reports, X-Pac and his family were getting off a ride at a water slide park or something when a fan approached him and asked for his autograph. X-Pac evidently ignored him, and the "fan" slapped X-Pac on the chest and reportedly said, "You think you're too good for me because you're making the big money?" At which point X-Pac then allegedly punched the fucker in the face. Anyway, he paid a $178 fine and that's basically it. Worth it.
Steve Austin and Debra both appeared in taped segments on the Power Pro Wrestling show in Memphis with Jerry Lawler, basically to help plug and build for the Lawler/Kat vs. Slash/Victoria feud they've got going on there. I've got the video of that entire episode of Power Pro and it's interesting because not only do you have Austin and Debra segments, you have Kevin Thorn doing his original Seven gimmick, Spanky (Brian Kendrick, who also cuts a promo), American Dragon (Daniel Bryan under a mask), Victoria wrestling in her developmental days, Lance Cade, Tracy Smothers, Jason Sensation doing his Shawn Michaels imitation, and more. And then the very end of the video features a local Memphis news segment talking about Mick Foley's Christmas book that Lawler did illustrations for.
WATCH: Power Pro Wrestling (full episode - Dec. 2, 2000)
Tickets for Wrestlemania 17 have topped 52,000 and the gate is now over $3 million, making it the first U.S. wrestling show to ever top the $3 million mark. WWF's all-time gate record is $3.45 million for WM6 in Toronto and this one will probably fall just short of that.
Various WWF notes: Eric Angle will be starting in OVW soon. WWF has released Tracy Smothers, Headbanger Thrasher, and Bobcat, all of whom were working in Memphis. Rock turned down a role on Celebrity Jeopardy. K-Kwik (R-Truth) and OVW wrestler Leviathan (Batista) have signed multi-year deals. Sportcasters Dick Enberg and Bob Costas both turned down offers to call XFL games, and of course, Costas has been very critical of the WWF in the past. Jim Ross claims WWF has no interest in Torrie Wilson (pffft, like hell). There were rumors that Chyna would be the lead star in the new Terminator 3 movie after stories came out that there will be a female Terminator in that movie but they're not true (that ends up being Kristanna Loken).
An advertising trade magazine wrote about the XFL struggling to get corporate sponsors and revealed that the big problem is Vince McMahon, who keeps giving interviews and saying shit that's running off advertisers. One of the executives who handles ad buys for companies like Pepsi, Visa, GE, and Frito-Lay was quoted saying, "His comments have scared us away. Our concern is content. They've got to put a muzzle on him. He's hurting their efforts to sell." Most sponsors are said to be taking a wait-and-see approach to the XFL. McMahon's comments in ESPN Magazine, where he said cheerleaders would be encouraged to date players so they can zoom in and catch their reaction when their boyfriends fumble the ball or whatever...that's the kinds of things they're talking about. Sponsors are afraid that McMahon is planning to turn this football league into a gimmicky pro wrestling-style charade and they want no part of that. Vince later walked that comment back, claiming it was a joke. But ya know.