Wrestling Observer Rewinder

April 02, 2001

The WWF's purchase of WCW this week and the end of wrestling on Turner networks will no doubt change the entire landscape of the professional wrestling industry forever. The final episode of Nitro began this week with the surreal image of Vince McMahon addressing the audience. The final scene of Nitro was a music video promoting the Rock/Austin match at Wrestlemania. In between, a huge angle, simulcast on both Raw and Nitro, featured Shane McMahon "buying" WCW out from under his father. They made it clear that WCW will still be kept alive as a babyface company under Shane to feud with Vince. Nitro's final match saw Flair and Sting, WCW's 2 most enduring stars, doing one last shortened version of the match they have done a million times. And it ended with Sting beating Flair, because even to the bitter end, they never realized that Ric Flair was always the face of WCW, not Sting.
WATCH: the final WCW Nitro opens with Vince McMahon
WATCH: Sting vs. Ric Flair (the final match of WCW)
And that is the last time pro wrestling would ever appear on Turner netw.....wait, what? Today??
Dave talks about this being the biggest news week in the history of the business and not to mention, Wrestlemania 17 is coming up this week also, which is going to be one of the biggest money shows in history. While the sale of WCW is the big story, there are countless smaller stories stemming from all this. What becomes of WCW's big stars? Several of them are collecting huge paychecks and WWF isn't going to want to take over those contracts, which means several of WCW's biggest names are likely going to sit out for a long time and continue collecting on contracts that Turner still has to honor. What becomes of the wrestling boom? It exploded a few years ago due to the ratings war, but ever since it became so lopsided in WWF's favor, the business has clearly been declining. A worked version of the WWF vs. WCW war will probably do big business for awhile but when that's over, then what?
In one prescient paragraph, Dave talks about the history of failed inter-promotional angles due to egos getting in the way. Specifically, he uses the JCP/UWF angle from 1987, when Crockett bought UWF with the idea of doing a big inter-promotional angle. But instead, Crockett couldn't help itself and they booked all the UWF guys like jobbers and the whole thing fizzled out, with Sting becoming the only breakout UWF star to go on to have success in the new company. I can't possibly imagine Vince McMahon would do the same thing though.......right? Anyway, Dave has some advice for WWF: the war is over. It's time to make money. Vince has nothing to prove by showing the fans who was "better" because he now owns both companies. It's imperative not to bury WCW if this is going to have any chance of working (lol).
The TV situation is particularly interesting. As mentioned, the business is clearly in a downturn. Last year, WCW was on the market to be sold for $600 million and there was never even a consideration that they would lose their TV deal. At the same time, WWF was securing a huge TV deal with Viacom. There were more TV networks that wanted wrestling than there was wrestling. But a lot changed in a year. Turner cancelled WCW and Fusient couldn't find another network that would carry it. ECW was kicked off TNN and they couldn't find another network either. The bloom is off the rose and TV networks are no longer as interested in wrestling as they were a year ago. Not only is that why ECW and now WCW are dead, but that means it's going to be that much harder for any new company to come along and fill that void on a national level. Bottom line: one man now has a monopoly on American professional wrestling and that's bad for the business as a whole.
The word is WWF and WCW reopened negotiations for Vince to buy WCW back in late-February. That's interesting because, at the time, there was no indication that Turner planned on cancelling WCW programming. But the last time WWF and WCW were in negotiations last year, that deal fell apart because Viacom wouldn't allow WWF to air their programming on Turner. So the fact that they started negotiating again back in February means that obviously somebody knew weeks before it was announced that WCW's television was going to be cancelled, otherwise, there was no reason for WWF to come back to the table. The WWF side was apparently told weeks ago that the Fusient deal wasn't going to happen, even though Fusient was still working on finalizing the sale with the belief that everything was still a go. Once the TV cancellation was announced and Fusient officially pulled out of the negotiations, WWF finalized their deal within days, at what is believed to have been a fire sale price. No terms of the sale were announced, but that info will eventually come out in the company's stock filings.
WWF has purchased the name and trademarks owned by WCW, the videotape library, and the contracts of 24 of the lower-paid wrestlers. Time Warner is still on the hook to fulfill the remaining contracts as well as dealing with any of WCW's outstanding lawsuits and bills. Vince and Linda McMahon have both spoken in the past of launching a 24-hour wrestling channel, which would make extensive use of the WWF and WCW libraries, and presumably the ECW library as well, depending on their deal with Paul Heyman and whatever becomes of the ECW library.
As for WCW airing as a separate brand on TV, that's the ultimate plan. But they now have to get a TV deal for this new WCW show. WWF and TNN have discussed it but have been unable to come to an agreement for a good time slot. As of now, the new WCW weekly show will air on TNN on Saturday nights from 11pm-1am, which obviously isn't ideal. No start date has been set yet, but at the final Nitro, Shane McMahon told WCW wrestlers that they hope to be on the air within 6-8 weeks. Dave thinks they should have scrapped Sunday Night Heat and put WCW in that time slot, since it's prime time on MTV and it's not like Heat is important anyway. Obviously the TNN time slot isn't great, but it's the best that TNN would agree to, and Vince has been trying to spin it as a positive, joking that it's his way of going head-to-head with Saturday Night Live as revenge for Lorne Michaels' comments about the XFL.
There's no long-term plans for the new WCW yet. They'll likely tape the show on Wednesday nights. There's no plans for house shows or PPVs under the WCW name as of yet either but if/when they are able to rebuild WCW enough, that would eventually be the plan. There's no plans for WCW stars to appear on WWF TV for now, because they want to keep them separate, although Dave expects some WWF stars to "jump ship" to WCW. But he's worried that the WWF guys would immediately become the top "WCW" stars, thus making the existing WCW talent look like the B-team (yuuuup). And of course, once WCW is rebuilt, this would ultimately lead to a WCW vs. WWF angle. Dave examines all the difficulties in trying to rebuild WCW, especially with a shitty TV time slot. Curiosity will get people to tune in at first, but the XFL proved how fast curiosity can fade if the product sucks. Not to mention, since WWF isn't buying the contracts of the top stars, the new WCW will be mostly minor guys. There have been no decisions yet regarding announcers, bookers, agents, writers, etc. Word is things don't look good for Ed Ferrara getting rehired, which was probably a given considering how he and Russo walked out on WWF in the first place. Doesn't look like they want Tony Schiavone either.
Dave has a list of WCW wrestlers and where they stand. Many of the wrestlers who were signed were the low-level guys who were already on 90-day cycles in their contracts. When those cycles end, WWF is expected to evaluate who they want to keep and renegotiate deals with them. Of the names WWF is highest on, Billy Kidman and Shane Helms are said to be near the top of the list. Mike Awesome and Lance Storm will probably be kept as well. Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire have the look that WWF likes and will probably be kept. Stacy Keibler is money and will be kept. And Dave expects some of the others to be sent to developmental.
Then there's all the names that WWF appears to have no interest in. Vince McMahon told people backstage that he planned to publicly mention certain names on TV (Jarrett, Luger, Bagwell, and Animal in particular) that were going to be fired and he pretty much did exactly that on Raw that night. Over in WCW, Jarrett had no idea if Vince's firing him on TV was a work or a shoot (turned out to be a shoot, inasmuch as Vince didn't pick up his contract). Luger and Bagwell basically buried themselves with their behavior in the last few weeks of WCW, and it wasn't like WWF was going to take Luger back anyway. There's no interest in Rick Steiner because he's 40, boring, not a good talker, and most of all, he's unprofessional and has repeatedly hurt people in the ring by taking liberties (Konnan just last week for instance), and WWF wants no part of that. Jim Duggan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Stevie Ray, Animal...all too old. Jeff Jarrett is obviously paying the price for holding up Vince for a large sum of money 2 years ago on his last night in WWF. Dustin Rhodes didn't leave WWF on good terms and the story Vince told on Raw about Rhodes wanting to get real breast implants for the Goldust character is actually true, as it was something he suggested and was turned down shortly before leaving. Bagwell's name got a surprising amount of cheers when Vince mentioned him on Raw, so they may change their mind and bring him in, but he's perceived to have a terrible attitude. Sid Vicious left on bed terms last time and at 41 with a severely broken leg, they don't have interest in him either. Kronik is a copy of the APA and both members have, in the past, left on relatively bad terms with WWF. But they have friends in high places (Undertaker) and still might get a chance (yup). Vampiro has had tryouts in WWF in the past and they weren't interested, and he didn't get glowing praise from others who have worked with him in the past.
Who else we got? Kevin Nash has 10 months remaining on a huge contract that pays him more than $1.6 million per year and he'd be stupid to accept a buyout from Turner, so Dave doesn't expect him in. Plus, he has a bad reputation and WWF doesn't want to upset locker room morale right now. 10 months from now, who knows? Things could change (yup). Scott Steiner's repeated unprofessional behavior in WCW has soured WWF officials on him, although he was professional and put over Booker T clean as a sheet on the final Nitro, obviously in an attempt to try and be seen as a team player by WWF. And he got a huge response when Vince said his name on Raw, so he may still get a chance (eventually, yes). WWF is also not interested in Rey Mysterio, which surprised a lot of people and when word of that got out, several wrestlers approached Vince and went to bat for him. Needless to say, Mysterio is well-liked by everyone and is a star and Dave is befuddled why WWF wouldn't want him, aside from the fact that he's small. Konnan is also on the no-interest list, which isn't a surprise. When the Radicalz all left last year, Konnan was going to jump with them but WWF wasn't interested then either. Same with Shane Douglas.
Lots of other names to consider also: Sting has a year left on a near $2 million-per-year deal and much like Nash, he ain't giving that up so don't expect to see him. Plus, he's 42, hasn't wrestled a full schedule in years, and is said to have somewhat of an ego. DDP is in his mid 40s and WWF actually is interested in him, but he also has a big WCW contract that he probably isn't going to want to give up to come in and make less in WWF. Friends have said he may take a year off to become a motivational speaker, which he has been talking about doing. WWF would likely sign both Alex Wright and Kanyon, but both have long-term contracts without a 90-day clause built in, which is why WWF didn't take them. And there's definite interest in Ric Flair, because they believe the "WCW" brand is basically synonymous with him (and he's been their most consistent ratings draw). At his age, he definitely shouldn't be a full time in-ring performer anymore, but as his promo on the final Nitro (which Dave says was better than nearly anyone else in the business can do on their best night) proves, Flair still has a lot to offer in an on-screen role. Booker T has a $750,000-per-year contract so WWF didn't pick him up either and it's unknown whether he'll take a buyout (Turner is basically offering to buy out these deals for .30 cents on the dollar). WWF is said to see a lot of potential in Booker T as a top star and they're really interested in him.
And finally......Goldberg. Obviously, there's some serious dream matches there with guys like Austin and Rock. But he has 2 and a half years left on a $2 million-per-year deal. Dave thinks, if given a monster push and put against WWF's top stars, it still might be worth it for WWF to sign him because they'd make their money back and then some with those dream matches. But the problem is, doing so would upset the WWF salary structure. No one in WWF is making $2 million per year guaranteed and if they bring Goldberg in with that salary, there's gonna be a lot of upset WWF wrestlers. Goldberg is also outspoken, doesn't like doing jobs (noting that the one time he did a job, it ended his undefeated streak and totally derailed his career) and he likes to do things his way. That sort of thing is generally frowned upon in WWF. Chances are, Vince is going to pass on Goldberg and, when his WCW contract expires in 2003, they'll reexamine things then. Think back to late-1998, when Goldberg was the hottest star in the business, undefeated streak world champion, and Dave says, who would have ever imagined that barely 2 years later, he'd pretty much be out of the business. But here we are.
And that's it for now. All of those paragraphs were just the lead story of this issue. We still have a ton more to get to. But first....
NBC's Dick Ebersol did an interview with the Washington Post and strongly hinted that the XFL would not be returning for a 2nd season, at least on NBC, despite the network's two-year commitment. The decision is expected to be made by the end of April but Ebersol said that ratings are going to have to do a huge turnaround if NBC is going to even consider doing a 2nd season. Later that week, Vince McMahon did an interview with the New York Times and kind of hinted at the same thing, saying, "If we have no network TV partner, we have no league." McMahon said they have had discussions with UPN about being the primary carrier for the XFL if NBC decides to pullout. But the UPN ratings for the games they air now have been abysmal so Dave doesn't see it. And the TNN games have been doing lower ratings than ECW and even Roller Jam used to do. NBC has a contract to do 2 seasons, but word is they're willing to break the contract and pay the penalty because it would be cheaper than funding a second failing XFL season. The past 5 weeks of XFL games have resulted in 5 of the top 8 lowest rated shows in the history of prime time television, and next week's game, going against the NCAA Final Four, is expected to break the all-time record low. Vince also admitted that the locker room camera idea was a failure and once again said that hiring Jesse Ventura to announce was a mistake. He also said Jim Ross won't be brought back if there's a 2nd season and promised that the XFL would no longer focus on sleaze and gimmicks to hype up the ratings. Vince still says he believes in the XFL but was realistic in recognizing that things definitely don't look very good right now.
And then there's Inoki, who currently has sort of a weird dual-role in both PRIDE and NJPW, where he helps book both promotions. Inoki came out during the show (getting the biggest reaction of anyone) and cut a promo and talked about doing an invasion of NJPW along with Kazuyuki Fujita and Shinya Hashimoto. The appearance of Hashimoto also got a huge pop from the PRIDE fans. Inoki had the original IWGP title belt from 1987 with him and gave it to Fujita, saying it's the "real" IWGP title to set up a match with current IWGP champ Scott Norton. He also had the old WWF World Martial Arts championship that Vince McMahon Sr. awarded to Inoki in 1978. Inoki announced he would be awarding that title and said it would be given to the winner of the Mark Coleman/Allan Goes fight later that night (Coleman won and Inoki presented him the belt after the match).
After the PRIDE review, there's another long ass recap of the latest RINGS show. Lots of MMA coverage in this issue if you're interested in that stuff.
And the result of the final ratings battle of the Monday Night Wars: Raw wins. Of course. Nitro did a stronger-than-normal rating, obviously based on the curiosity factor of it being the death of WCW. Meanwhile, Raw did basically the same average rating it always does. Overall, the head-to-head ratings for Raw vs. Nitro was the closest it's been since January of 2000. It's curious though because the end of Nitro (with the Shane/Vince simulcast promo) coincided with the end of the first hour of Raw. But when Nitro ended, most of those WCW viewers didn't bother switching over to Raw to see the continuation of literally the biggest angle in the history of professional wrestling. Instead, the second hour of Raw did about the same average rating it's been doing for months, and Dave doesn't think that's a great long-term sign. Bottom line, a lot of WCW fans (particularly the die-hards who somehow stuck around to the bitter end) were people who simply aren't WWF fans and they liked WCW because it was an alternative and now that WCW is dead, they simply have no interest in following WWF. And that's a wrap on the Monday night ratings battle.
Lots of online poll results in this issue, mostly about the death of WCW. One in particular is interesting, so let's see who the fans of 2001 blamed for WCW's death at the time:
Who would you rate as the person most responsible for the fall of WCW?
a) Eric Bischoff - 25.9%
b) Hulk Hogan - 21.8%
c) Kevin Nash - 13.4%
d) Vince Russo - 26.4%
e) Brad Siegel - 12.5%
Puerto Rican wrestler Invader I (real name Jose Gonzalez) turned 55 this week and Dave just wants to take a moment to remind everyone that this guy is still the top babyface in WWC even though he's the piece of shit who murdered Bruiser Brody and beat the case.
Antonio Inoki has been ignoring questions from the Japanese media about his claims a few weeks ago that Mike Tyson was coming in to work a match with Naoya Ogawa. Needless to say, that's because Inoki was full of shit and doesn't want to answer to it.
From the latest NJPW tapes Dave has seen, Scott Hall is looking ripped. Dave says he's more muscular than he's been since the early 90s during his Diamond Studd days. He also showed great charisma and sold like crazy for the Japanese wrestlers. He got over great and all the guys in NJPW love working with him (man, it's kind of a shame Hall didn't just stay in Japan during this time and finish out his career there. He was doing good work, was well-liked, and most importantly, seemed to be staying clean and out of trouble).
The Observer won a best wrestling newsletter award from some other publication. Dave notes that their website wrestlingobserver.com also won the award for best wrestling website of 2000, which Dave doesn't even agree with. He says up until December, before he was in full control of the site, he thought it was an embarrassment at how slow they were getting news posted. But that was due to some company they were working with. Dave also congratulates Bryan Alvarez for his Figure Four Weekly newsletter getting 2nd place (beating out the Pro Wrestling Torch).
Rob Van Dam recently filmed an episode of NBC's Spy TV (I can't find video of this). Hey, speaking of, since it doesn't matter anymore, Dave reveals that RVD was in serious negotiations with WCW recently to bring him in as a big surprise debut for the planned re-launch of the company. Bischoff was attempting to keep it quiet so as to not ruin the surprise and Dave has apparently known and also chose to keep it quiet for whatever reason. But since WCW is dead now, he spills the beans.
On the Power Pro Wrestling show in Memphis this week, they showed the classic concession stand brawl from 1979 featuring Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee vs. Moondog Spot/Wayne Ferris. Dave notes that match is what spawned FMW (Onita loved it) which in turn spawned ECW (Heyman copied a lot from FMW), and in term kinda spawned the whole "hardcore" genre. It can basically all be traced back to this 1979 Tupelo concession stand brawl match. On the show, they also talked about WWF recently pulling their developmental deal from PPW due to the Jerry Lawler association. Stacy Carter cut a promo crying saying she cost Lawler his job and offering to step aside so he could get his job back and PPW could get its developmental deal back. Dave thinks this is actually kind of ironic because the reality is, if Stacy really was willing to step aside and Lawler was willing to return to WWF without her, there's a good chance he really would be able to get his job and the PPW deal back.
WATCH: 1979 Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl
In UPW in California, Christopher Daniels recently lost a loser-leaves-town match to Samoa Joe. The reason Daniels lost the match is because he was expected to start soon with the new Bischoff-led WCW. But, well, that's obviously not happening now so....whoops. Dave thinks Daniels has just about the worst career luck. The same show featured a new WWF developmental signee named Nathan Jones. Several former ECW wrestlers also worked the show, with CW Anderson in particular putting over Prototype (John Cena).
Scott Hall's estranged ex-wife Dana Hall wrote an apology letter to Scott Hall which she sent out to various wrestling websites to apologize publicly for the things she has said about him in the media (watching their drama play out in public has been sad).
Dave has seen some demo footage from this MatRats.com project that some group is funding. It's basically a bunch of young wrestlers doing a bunch of high spots and they're all glammed up like Backstreet Boys and the goal is obviously to appeal to the female audience (the crowd is full of obviously paid teenage female fans who "whoooo!" at all the dreamy guys). Teddy Hart is the star of the show, along with Harry Smith (Davey Boy's son) and a bunch of other young Canadian indie guys. Mauro Ranallo, who does commentary for Stampede, does the commentary for this also and is excellent, probably better than any other announcer in the business aside from Jim Ross.
WATCH: Marky Starr vs. Jake Evans vs. Vince Hall (MatRats)
WATCH: Jack Evans vs. Marky Star vs. Harry Smith (MatRats)
Notes from the final WCW Monday Nitro: in fitting fashion, there were only about 1,000 paid fans because of a screw-up on WCW's part. The original plan was to make it a free show but about a week before the event, they decided to sell tickets instead and, with less than a week's notice, they didn't sell many. Ric Flair opened with an incredible promo about the history of WCW and Dave jokes that maybe WCW would still be in business if Flair was cutting promos this good every week. Several anti-WWF signs could be seen in the crowd during the opening segment, but security confiscated those real quick, and this whole thing is just surreal. Scott Steiner dropped the world title to Booker T in the opening match which was as good as could be expected since Steiner is working with a pinched nerve. Sting and Flair worked the main event even though Sting is still injured and hasn't wrestled since November. Dave thinks it was actually really cool of Sting to show up and do this match for the final show despite the fact that he is still injured and wasn't expecting to work again so soon. On the flip side, he finds it kinda fucked up that Kevin Nash and Goldberg couldn't be there. Goldberg is still recovering from surgery but you'd think he could have still made an appearance. And Nash is only off TV to sell the retirement angle from the February PPV, so no reason he couldn't have shown up either. As for Hogan, Dave understands why he wasn't there (he's still got a lawsuit pending against the company). Dave thinks Nitro should have ended with Flair winning the title again and fireworks going off. If WCW is going to die, it should have died with Ric Flair as the sentimental final champion. But alas. And then, of course, the show ended with the big Shane/Vince simulcast and a video plugging Wrestlemania.
And that, ladies and gentlemen.........is the official end of the Monday Night Wars. RIP WCW.
WATCH: Ric Flair's promo on the final WCW Nitro
WATCH: Nitro/Raw simulcast (full segment)
Backstage at Nitro, Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger were reportedly still acting like big timers and being cocky, saying that no matter how things turn out, they're both big time stars and are certain they'll have a job after this. (*cue Bad News Barrett*)
Rick Steiner's recent brutalizing of Konnan during a match wasn't the only instance. In the last couple of weeks, Rick has done the same to Vito and Lash Leroux and there's a belief that it wasn't entirely Rick going into business for himself. There's a lot of speculation that Steiner was being used to send a message or punish people by management. They've been on Leroux to lose weight and Vito apparently annoys some people. There's talk among the wrestlers that Rick was told to go out there and send a message to those guys but no one can prove it. As for Konnan, he definitely got the worst of it and after his match last week, several people in management apologized to him for Steiner's actions.
Disco Inferno did a radio interview and said he thinks the news of TNT and TBS cancelling WCW and the company being sold to WWF is all a work by Bischoff. Because of course he did.
Turns out Scott Steiner wasn't thrilled about losing the WCW title on the final Nitro. Two days prior to the show, this was posted on Steiner's personal website, spoiling the title change and threatening to shoot on Booker T during the match: "In protest of World Championship Wrestling's decision to have Scott Steiner lose to Booker T on the final WCW Monday Nitro, BigPoppaPump.com is temporarily closing its doors. Booker T has already signed a contract with WWF. Big Poppa Pump has not. WCW and the WWF cannot have the world heavyweight championship belt in the hands of someone who may or may not work for the new company. In other words, Big Poppa Pump will be handing over the belt to Booker T. Better Booker T than Hollywood Hogan! The best part of this whole situation is the fact that nobody controls Scott Steiner. Nobody. You know...maybe Big Poppa Pump will "forget" how the match is supposed to end. Fans of The Big Bad Booty Daddy should always remember who the true final World heavyweight champion of WCW is."
Don Callis revealed that he had been in secret talks with Bischoff and had been scheduled to debut with the new WCW. But then, of course, the deal fell through. I'm loving all the interesting scrapped plans that are coming out of this story. First RVD, now Don Callis. Really makes you wonder what could have been.
Nobody knows what is going to happen with WCW's international deals. There was talk of continuing to air re-runs of the WCW WorldWide show in syndication in the UK in order to keep those time slots, but nobody knows yet.
As of last week, the plan is still for Austin to turn heel at Wrestlemania and align himself with Vince McMahon, although the crowd reactions should have them second guessing it. Austin is clearly more over than Rock at the moment and Dave still seems to think turning Austin right now might be a bad idea.
A handful of full-time undercard WWF wrestlers are pretty upset about the gimmick battle royal happening at Wrestlemania. Those dozen or so undercard guys are being left off the show and therefore won't get a cut of the big Wrestlemania payday, but the company is bringing in a bunch of old legends for the battle royal who will be getting a cut. Needless to say, the full-timers who are missing out are annoyed.
Shawn Michaels was backstage at the Raw and Smackdown tapings this week and it looks like there's problems with him again. It's been rumored for weeks that Shawn will get involved in the Triple H/Undertaker match at Wrestlemania, in order to set up his in-ring return. But Michaels was backstage at Raw and was originally scheduled to appear, but was later cut from the show. So then they were gonna do it at Smackdown, but he ended up being cut from that show too, which was the last show before Wrestlemania. After his segment was cut, Michaels reportedly stormed out of the arena. That's all Dave knows at press time (we'll surely find out more in the coming weeks, but long story short, Shawn showed up wrecked on drugs yet again and passed out in Vince's office. It would be over a year before they'd bring him back again and by then, he had finally gotten clean).
Vince McMahon did an interview on the Howard Stern show this week. During the interview, Vince said when he passes the company on, it will be to Stephanie, Shane, and Shane's wife Marissa. He also talked about his multiple affairs in his past. They both bonded over their hatred of the PTC, since they have also gone after Stern. Vince also seemed remorseful about how he behaved during the Bob Costas interview, later saying he let his emotions get the better of him. Once again said he believes the XFL is going to have a 2nd season, again said hiring Jesse Ventura was a mistake, and admitted trashing the NFL to get publicity had been a mistake because the actual play wasn't good when the XFL started. Stern's co-hosts joked that it's still not good. They talked about the Owen Hart death and Vince once again talked about how WCW still does the same thing with Sting every week. Dave points out that Sting always has a secondary safety mechanism on his harness, which Owen's didn't have and also, Sting has only done it a few times in the last 2 years, not weekly. Also, WCW is dead 4 days after this interview, so what the fuck? (Took a bit of looking, but I found the audio of this interview on SoundCloud. Closest thing we'll probably ever have to a real Vince shoot interview. It's a fascinating listen and Dave leaves a lot out.)
Oh yeah, Vince did another interview on a different radio show and NY Post reporter Phil Mushnick called in while Vince was on there and oooooh, boy! Mushnick did NOT come off good. Dave says Mushnick made some good points if you were to read them on paper, line-by-line. But listening to him, Mushnick made things personal and got so pissed at Vince that he came off just as bad as Vince did in the Costas interview. Mushnick's demeanor was totally out of line that he basically buried himself, Vince just sat back and listened. He asked if Vince still uses steroids, which Vince of course denied (Dave doesn't outright say that Vince is lying here, but he sure doesn't seem to buy it either). Vince admitted to using them when he was younger, when they were "legal" and then he and Mushnick bickered over the semantics of what "legal" means because technically, the ones Vince got from Dr. Zahorian back in those days certainly weren't legal. Mushnick also brought up the sexual abuse allegations of the early 90s, which Vince also dismissed, saying no charges were ever brought and then outright denied that it ever happened. Mushnick called bullshit and said years ago, Vince himself had told Mushnick that he knew about Mel Phillips behavior and had kept him employed after only scolding him to stop molesting ring boys (yeah it's been said by several people that Vince knew and turned a blind eye to it until he was forced to address it. Kinda interesting considering that exact same thing brought down Joe Paterno years later). Then they started on about all the usual WWF-is-too-risque complaints and Dave says Mushnick seemed to have an obvious vendetta against Vince which just made him look bad. Anyway, all of this leads to Dave recapping, in detail, the pedophilia and sexual abuse allegations of the early 90s and the lawsuits, bad publicity, the roles of Terry Garvin, Mel Phillips, and Pat Patterson, Vince's subsequent lawsuit against Mushnick and Geraldo Rivera who had both covered the story.
WWF has apparently had negotiations with Hulk Hogan about returning and at one point, they were very close to a deal, but it has recently fallen apart for whatever unknown reasons (give it a year).
Various WWF notes: Just Joe and Jason Sensation were released from their developmental deals. Undertaker needed 16 staples in his head following a chair shot from Triple H a couple weeks ago on Smackdown. The plan within WWF is to revive the ECW as a brand name for an angle, probably within the next week or so (not quite that soon, but yeah, close). And Jerry Lynn made his debut at a house show, beating Essa Rios in a great match.
Triple H did some out-of-character interviews this week also and had some interesting stuff to say. Called Shawn Michaels the best pure athlete in wrestling history but said we'll have to wait and see if he is still as good if he returns (this was before Shawn showed up drugged out and got the whole plan cancelled). Said he wishes last year's Wrestlemania match had been a 1-on-1 with him and Rock. Said he wishes he was in the WM main event this year because everyone wants to be, but was happy for Austin and Rock. Hopes Mick Foley doesn't come back because he likes Foley and wants him to have a long, healthy life and doesn't think it's worth the risk for him anymore. Praised Ric Flair but says he wishes he wouldn't wrestle anymore so he could remember him as he was. But said Flair still shows more passion for wrestling than anyone else in WCW and is still the most entertaining part of that company. Praised Paul Heyman's passion and knowledge for wrestling and said that's why so many people worked for him for so long without making any money, because talking to Heyman makes you excited about wrestling.