Wrestling Observer Rewinder

May 28, 2001

Less than 2 months ago, the biggest televised wrestling show in history took place, with the death of WCW and the simulcast of Vince McMahon buying the company. Now, less than 2 months later, the Monday night wrestling audience has dropped a scary amount. This week's Raw was yet another low rated show. Not only has the entire former Nitro audience vanished, but an additional 16% of Raw's own core audience has also disappeared in the last seven weeks. House show business is starting to show signs of weakening as well. And anyone watching the show for the last 2 months can see how stagnant and boring the product has become since WCW folded.
All that being said, this week's Raw was a monumental show that featured Benoit & Jericho beating Austin & Triple H for the tag team titles in a match of the year-caliber bout and a performance that launched Jericho into the big leagues as a main event star, which is pretty good timing considering another main eventer, Triple H, just went down to a major injury in that same match (more on that momentarily). Dave gives the match 4.75 stars and calls it the best WWF TV match of the year.
WATCH: Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Austin & Triple H - Raw, 2001
Triple H suffered a full tear of his quad in the final moments of the match and he will be undergoing surgery this week. Triple H is expected to be out for months, probably until October or November (ends up being longer than that) and now there's a lot of pressure on Austin to carry the company. That's pretty bad timing, considering he's a heel right now and his heel turn has been disastrous for business. Triple H gutted out the match, finishing the last few spots (including being put into the Walls of Jericho) and basically saved the match on one leg, in case anyone ever doubted that he's a tough motherfucker. The long-term plan had been for Triple H to turn babyface and feud with Austin for a match at Summerslam, but that's obviously out the window now.
WWF's other big project, the WCW re-launch, seems to have been scrapped for the time being. With TNN pulling the television deal off the table, Shane McMahon cut a promo on Raw talking about WCW coming sooner than people think. It's believed some WCW wrestlers will start appearing on WWF TV as soon as the next couple of weeks. The July PPV was renamed "Invasion" and its expected there will be some inter-promotional matches done there to get the ball rolling on a WCW invasion storyline. Vince McMahon has said he is considering this something of a "soft launch" for WCW and he has cooled on the idea of relaunching WCW as its own separate promotion. It still may happen in the future but there are no longer any concrete plans for it. McMahon has talked about the hurdles that are in the way of launching WCW as a separate brand and getting the public to perceive them as equal to the main WWF brand. Expect major WWF stars to jump to the WCW side and the idea now is to try and springboard from the Invasion PPV and build off whatever happens there (Dave has later admitted that he was talking to Vince almost daily during this time, so a lot of this info is coming directly from Vince).
There has also been a change of heart regarding WCW talent. In the past, WWF made it clear that they didn't want to upset their harmonious locker room by bringing in former WCW stars who were considered cancerous to the morale. But now, WWF is relaxing on that a little and they're willing to bring in anyone who has some star power. But on the flip side, WWF is making it clear that they won't let people get away with the kind of stuff they did in WCW and will be quick to get rid of anyone who rocks the boat. For example, Shane McMahon and Paul Heyman had secret negotiations with Scott Hall recently to bring him in but the negotiations fell apart after Hall and Shane had a phone conversation that didn't go well (Bruce Prichard has confirmed this on his podcast, apparently Hall said some things that rubbed them the wrong way). For now, Hall intends to work NJPW until Nash's deal expires at the end of the year and then the 2 of them together are hoping to go somewhere as a package deal, figuring they're worth more together as The Outsiders than they are separately.
WWF has also changed their mind on Marcus Bagwell. In the past, Bagwell was firmly on the we-don't-want-that-guy list. But his WCW deal expires in a few weeks and WWF needs name-value stars from WCW for this invasion angle to have a chance, so now they're reconsidering. Bagwell is only 31 and has a star look and, most importantly, he'll be available for TV in a few weeks if they need him. So they have been in talks to bring him in recently. No change on Booker T, Scott Steiner, Kidman, or DDP. They'll all probably show up in WWF eventually when their deals expire, but unless any of them accepts a buyout from Time Warner, it's going to be a little while. And WWF has all but given up on Goldberg or Ric Flair, who are probably the 2 names they need most as far as being seen as a major league brand.
Dave gives an update to last week's review of Mick Foley's new book. He hopes he didn't give anyone the impression that he didn't like it, because he loved it. But I guess some of Dave's criticisms rubbed some people the wrong way. He still thinks it's one of the best wrestling books ever written, even if he thought Foley's first book was a little better. During his review, Dave criticized Foley for choosing to be nice rather than be honest in some instances. That was in reference to some parts where Foley changed the names of some people or refused to name certain people when telling stories. Well....Mick Foley himself wrote in and he has some thoughts on Dave's review. Let's see it, shall we?
I read with great interest your thoughts on my book "Foley is Good." I'm flattered that you thought enough of the book to dedicate so much space in the Observer to it, although I regret any sleeplessness it may have caused.
I was really quite surprised at all of the criticism and will look forward to discussing some of it, but until then, I just wanted to make a few points.
(1) I wish I had let you proofread the book. Really. Your insight would have been valuable and I may have changed, or at least reworded certain sentences.
(2) I clearly differentiated between cocaine use and crack use. I admitted to seeing crack being used in WCW, which is true, and said that I didn't honestly know of a single crack use currently in the WWF, which is also true.
(3) I really do resent the charge that "Foley is Good" is not an honest book. How much more honest could it be? I feel like I was honest about my career, my ability or lack thereof, the man I worked for, the people I worked with, the problems the business is faced with, and my responses to the criticisms I've heard, read or seen. The book's somewhat happy feel and humorous approach may seem to soften the criticisms I have for many of the people I wrote about and the things I've been involved in, but they are in there, nonetheless. In order of appearance a partial list includes Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff, The Rock, myself, Vince Russo, Vince McMahon, 20/20, the buildup to the empty arena match, the empty arena match itself, the decision to use a ridiculous camera shot in that same match, the publishing world including my own publisher, the Big Show vs. Mankind Wrestlemania angle, the Big Show himself, the Jacks commercial director, my ghostwriter, my punctuation and grammar, the teaching profession, the Al Snow-Big Bossman kennel from hell match, childrens fairy tales, WWF payoffs, Shawn Michaels, Judith Reagan, "Tuesday with Morrie," "Who Moved By Cheese?," the legal system, the people's elbow, big limousines, Roseanne, talk shows in general, book critics, Hulk Hogan, the New York Times, two teachers at Kennesaw State College, two national department stores (neither by name, or else they wouldn't carry my book), Rob Reiner, Jimmy Swaggart, Vince McMahon's critics, the Pat Patterson vs. Gerald Brisco evening gown match, Joe Frazier, Leon Spinks, Wrestlemania 1997, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Pillman (much of the Pillman commentary was edited out of the book for legal reasons), Clement C. Moore, the Stephanie-Test wedding, Test's acting skills, Bill Gates' hair, the X-Pac spends the holidays with Tori stipulation, Mike Hegstrand, Joe Laurinaitis, the Wrestlemania 2000 storyline, Vince's comparing my wife to Robin Givens, the Indiana University study, the PTC, Margaret Carlson, 37 different newspapers, the Mark Henry transvestite angle, X-Pac, the term "suck it," crotch chopping, L. Brent Bozell II, L. Brent Bozell III, Tom Johnson, Steve Allen, Pat Boone, Dean Jones, MCI Worldcom, Billy Graham, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Mrs. L. Brent Bozell II, Lionel Tate, Kathleen Grossett Tate, Tate's attorney James Lewis, Earl Rose, Jason Whala, Sen. Sam Brownback and last but not least, Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
I sometimes think that you and many Observer readers sometimes confuse bitterness and honesty as well as happiness and dishonesty. Tom Billington's book is extremely bitter. In places it is also extremely honest. But in all places? Come on. I called everything exactly as I felt it. I don't mind my opinions, matches, interviews, psychology, career or even my writing skills being questioned, but I will forever defend the integrity of that writing and of my book. I plead guilty to changing Lou Sahadi's name, not only because the WWF asked me to, but because I felt in my heart that Lou, despite his writing experience, was not a public figure, and that the tiny bit of legitimacy lost by not printing his name was not in proportion to further hurting a very nice 70-year-old man's personal feelings and professional pride. And if looking back at the people and events of the last 15 months of my active career with happiness instead of disgust is a crime, I guess I'm guilty of that too.
(4) There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any such thing as going overboard in getting in zingers at Test, Al Snow and the Mean Street Posse.
Vampiro had his first matches back since suffering a series of concussions last year in WCW, working for Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon promotion in Mexico, and boy did that turn into a mess. During the first show, Vampiro was reportedly rude to fans to the point that it went beyond heel heat and he was just being an asshole. And then during the tag team match he was in, Vampiro literally just sat down on the ring apron while the match was going on and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. The next day, he was booked for another show and arrived waaaaay late. The show had already been going for more than 2 hours before he walked into the building, which forced them to change the main event. So they were going to just have him do a run-in. However, instead of a big heated run-in at the climactic moment of the match, Vampiro casually walked out....and started posing with pictures for fans and whatnot rather than rushing to the ring to do the hot angle. Ultimo Dragon has since told people that Vampiro will never work for his promotion again (in case you're wondering, Vampiro did eventually wrestle a couple more times in Toryumon, but it was about 2 years after this).
A promotion called XLAW in Mexico is running some shows next month and advertising Konnan and Norman Smiley among others. Dave says there's no interest from WWF for either guy so he figures both of them will probably end up working for XLAW full time, since they both have history and name value in Mexico (Smiley of course eventually ends up signed by WWE in 2007 and works as a trainer at the Performance Center to this day).
Dave talks about NOAH wrestler Takashi Suguira, who is still a rookie, and talks about how he's had a rapid rise to the top already. Dave compares him to Kurt Angle, saying Suguira picked up the business in record time and is already main eventing NOAH shows only a few months into his career (yeah, Suguira eventually wins just about every NOAH title there is, including being the 2nd longest reigning GHC champion of all time. In fact, as I type this in Dec. of 2018, he JUST lost the title yesterday to Kaito Kiyomiya).
Rena Mero is now appearing in a TV commercial for Fuccillo Auto, which is a car dealership that has a few locations in New York. She has a speaking part, but they make no reference to who she is or why she's famous, so if you don't know her from wrestling, she's just another nameless face in a commercial (can't find video of this anywhere).
A 24-year-old in Lebanon, TN is the first person (that Dave knows of) to die from a backyard wrestling injury. He was taken to the hospital and kept on life support for 6 days after suffering a head injury in a backyard wrestling match before he was removed from life support.
AAA ran a show in Los Angeles last week, the first time they've ran a U.S. show in several years. The show drew about 3,700 people which actually means that AAA is technically the #2 promotion in the United States now, since no one else other than WWF can draw 3,000+ fans to shows right now. Not that "#2 promotion in America" means a lot in the grand scheme of things these days, but still.
CZW ran a show in New Jersey that had some people raving. In particular, brothers Jay and Mark Briscoe (ages 16 and 17 respectively) worked a match against each other and stole the show. Dave hasn't seen the tape yet and he'll comment on it when he sees it, but he had more than one person tell him it was the best indie match of the year. The Briscoes have been getting a lot of praise for how good they are, especially considering they're both teenagers, but there's also concern that they may injure themselves and burn out young before they make it big because they both take so many risks.
Greg Valentine was booked to work an indie show, but he ended up getting a better money offer to work a different indie show the same night, so he no-showed the original one. They tried to tell the crowd that Valentine wasn't there because his daughter had been in a serious car accident, which of course wasn't true. Dave says that's an old school lie-to-the-fans technique and says, "When I was a kid, you have no idea how many wrestlers' mothers were on their deathbed" every time someone needed to miss a show.
Bobby Heenan did an interview recently and talked about the failed Women of Wrestling promotion that he briefly did commentary for as well as WCW. Heenan blamed the failure of the company on TV time being too expensive and their one PPV flopping. He said he would never work for Eric Bischoff again, but would like to return to the WWF. Also said he'd like to work with Hogan some more and said he's bored to death in Florida while not working. Heenan also trashed Tony Schiavone, saying he hates wrestling and that he looks down on wrestling fans and that Schiavone hadn't spoken to either him or Mike Tenay since WCW folded. Said that Vince Russo's problem is that he only books for internet fans, which are a small minority and said he also thinks the internet in general has been bad for professional wrestling. Finally, Heenan ranted about how stupid it was for Kevin Nash to end Goldberg's streak and also talked about how WCW misused all the great Mexican wrestlers they had.
Notes from Raw: as mentioned, this is the show with the classic Austin/Triple H vs. Jericho/Benoit match and Dave is pissed. The show took place 10 minutes from his house, but Dave didn't go and ended up watching it on TV instead and now he's kicking himself for not going. In other news, Shane McMahon cut a terrible promo teasing the return of WCW sooner than people expect and ended up getting booed for it, which shows you how much WWF fans care about WCW stuff. And of course, Triple H suffered a torn quad in the final minutes of the match.
Mick Foley was the subject of an interview and news story in the New York Times. It was about his book and a lot of it was talking about how Foley's book didn't get a lot of mainstream coverage and wasn't reviewed by most media outlets because it's a "wrestling book", despite the fact that both of his books have been #1 bestsellers. They talked about other wrestlers using ghostwriters for their books, which prompts Dave to mention that Bret Hart is working on his own autobiography and is writing it 100% himself (I still think Foley's first book and Bret's book are the 2 best wrestling books ever written). Foley also talked about not liking the Austin heel turn, not liking some of WWF's past storylines (Big Show dad cancer angle and Hawk drug problem angle in particular). Foley seemed to recognize WWF was in a rut right now and said the company desperately needs to do something different. And finally, he mentioned wanting to write a fiction novel about an orphaned teen who is reunited with his abusive father and slowly realizes that he's not what he imagined (this is, roughly, the plot of Tietam Brown, which was Foley's first fiction novel that came out in 2003).
Prior to Wrestlemania, WWF was in serious negotiations with Baltimore Ravens football star Ray Lewis to work a match against Triple H. The proposed idea was to be similar to the Lawrence Taylor angle at Wrestlemania 11. Lewis would have been sitting in the front row at Raw and get into a verbal altercation with Triple H, who would trash talk Lewis and even call him a murderer (look it up) to get heel heat. Lewis was on board for it and the deal was nearly finalized and Lewis had even flown in to the city for Raw, but then his lawyers and advisers stepped in and killed the deal at the last second. So then they changed the plan to Triple H vs. Undertaker and that's what we got (there's a slightly different version of this story out there. The Rock did an interview awhile back and said that the plan was for Rock/Ray Lewis vs. Triple H and somebody else in a tag match. Wouldn't surprise me if Vince told both of them something different. But yeah, this almost happened).
It was reported that WWF is looking to be more aggressive in marketing overseas. There's even talk of opening a separate WWF headquarters in the UK and possibly even doing an IPO on the UK stock market. Back in the early 90s, when WWF business was really bad in America, they toured extensively overseas, which helped prop up the business because they still did strong numbers over there. But these days, they rarely tour overseas because the U.S. business is so strong. But with early signs of business starting to weaken, Dave says it's smart to get ahead of the problem and start planning for more overseas business, which is what WWF appears to be doing. WWF shows in the UK tend to sell out super fast at high prices. Even WCW did strong business in both Europe and Australia during their last few months, because outside of America, Mexico, and Japan, the rest of the world is pretty starved for major league pro wrestling and they turn out in mass numbers whenever they get a show, no matter how shitty it is (the WWA will prove this later in the year also).
WWF is attempting to negotiate a multi-picture movie deal with a major studio, most likely Universal. A news story quoted Vince saying that the movies will involve WWF wrestlers and storylines. Depending on how big of a star Rock becomes in Hollywood, his involvement is probably the key to making this deal happen. Dave hopes whatever they come up with is better than No Holds Barred or Ready To Rumble.
Speaking of, the Rock was the cover story of this week's Rolling Stone, the first wrestler ever to do so. The article mostly focused on Rock's Hollywood potential as a new top action star (here's the full article and interview. The headline is....something).
UPN announced it will pick up a 6-episode season of the WWF-produced reality show "Manhunt." The show will feature WWF wrestlers and basically has the same premise as The Running Man (this show eventually happens, but the WWF's involvement in it falls apart. John Cena does end up in it though).
Correction from a couple weeks ago: Rey Mysterio still has a year left on his WCW contract. WWF is said to be interested if he is willing to accept a buyout from Time Warner, but they're not aggressively pursuing him or anything. Mysterio's making way more money on this contract than WWF will offer, so he's not in any hurry to go there either, so he'll likely be sitting out the remaining year.
Bradshaw is planning to write a book along with a sportswriter named Cody Monk (it's actually a finance book called "Have More Money Now: A Commonsense Approach to Financial Management" and it came out in 2003. That Cody Monk dude is an FBI agent now).
Ken Shamrock suffered a knee injury, to go along with his recent neck injury, and it appears he's through with MMA. He's started negotiating with WWF again to return there (the WWF return never happens and Shamrock wasn't finished with MMA by a long shot. He eventually returns to UFC, only to get knocked out 3 times by Tito Ortiz).
Jim Ross went on WWF.com and talked about some of the contracts being finalized for the new WCW roster. He didn't give exact names, but it's expected that Kanyon and Rob Van Dam are the two key guys signed right now. Ross said some verbal commitments had been made but didn't name names because there might be some Time Warner contract buyout negotiations still going on with some people.
In the ongoing WWF vs. PTC legal drama, the WWF is hoping to get PTC head L. Brent Bozell to publicly apologize and give a retraction for his comments blaming the WWF for the deaths of several children (yup, when the PTC loses this lawsuit, Bozell does indeed have to publicly apologize, and it is oh so sweet).
WWF threatened to file a lawsuit against musician Wesley Willis because a logo on his most recent album cover is said to look too similar to the WWF logo. Willis has agreed to change the cover for the next pressing of the album (yeah, it was his punk band Wesley Willis Fiasco and they made a "WWF" logo that is pretty obviously a rip-off: Decide for yourself)
WWF has registered trademarks for several names, which may end up being used for WCW TV shows or PPVs: Anarchy, After Hours, After-Hours, Climax, Defiance, Hard-on Saturday Night, Hard on Saturday Night, Hotbox, Late Night Appetite, Nailed, Primal Urge, Saturday Night Nitro, Saturday Nitro, Turned-on, Turned On, and Uprising.
The plan for the Matt Hardy/Lita angle is for them to feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna. Apparently Chyna has been pushing for it a lot because she likes to work with the guys and knows this would give her the chance to wrestle guys like Eddie and Matt. A lot of people in WWF are kinda over the whole Chyna-vs-men stuff and don't want to do it (Bruce Prichard later said Chyna used to drive him crazy with this shit because she wanted to wrestle all the top men and be in world title matches and whatnot. Anyway, unbeknownst to Dave at this time, Chyna is already done. Her match with Lita at the last PPV was the last time she was ever in the company).
The newest member of the WWF writing team is a guy named Alex Abrahantes (he's now the Spanish commentator for ROH).
Regarding the issue last week where Perry Saturn beat the shit out of a jobber during a match, apparently he was given a pretty stern talking to by Vince McMahon and Jim Ross but everything is squashed now and it's been swept under the rug. Or should I say, mopped under the rug?
A recent article talked about how Vince McMahon was rejected by pretty much every notable TV network when trying to secure a 2nd season for the XFL. He also made an offer to the NFL to sell them part of the league for use as a developmental league. The NFL not only turned it down, but reportedly thought the offer was laughable. Vince pretty much couldn't give the XFL away at this point.