September 17, 2001
- Needless to say, this issue opens with Dave's thoughts on the recent Sept. 11th attacks. It's a touching piece about how horrible this week has been, his deepest sympathy to those who lost loved ones, and praise for the police and firefighters who sacrificed their lives trying to help people. He ends it by acknowledging that pro wrestling has never felt less important than it does right now, but that wrestling is like any other form of entertainment and that maybe it can give everyone a temporary escape from reality. So it's on to wrestling news, but the shadow of 9/11 is hanging pretty heavy over this and the next few issues (I also suspect most of this issue was already written before the attacks. We get more later).
- With all the talk of the American wrestling scene and WWF these days, what about the rest of North America aside from them? Aside from small-time indies, there isn't any other wrestling scene in America anymore for the first time in history. WWF has a monopoly on the sport. It seems like the perfect time for something new to pop up and fill the void left by WCW and ECW, but in today's business climate, it's impossible to do so without burning through millions of dollars of losses to get there. And pro wrestling in general has become more of a variety show than fake dramatic sport. Dave looks at some of the concepts that are out there right now, being used around the world, and where the problems lie with trying to create an alternative to WWF.
- Option 1: Copy the WWF - this is the easy choice and it's the option that 90% of other wrestling promotions around the world have been trying to do for years. Variety show style, people are familiar with it, and it works. There's something to appeal to everybody. The problem is, no one can afford to produce that type of product the way WWF does. You can be a minor-league version of WWF, but without spending hundreds of millions of dollars, nobody is going to come along and do a better version of it, with bigger stars and bigger TV exposure, than Vince. The only way to compete with them on this level is to have an unlimited checkbook to steal all their stars. It worked for Bischoff for awhile, but even that ultimately failed.
- Option 2: Hardcore - popular in Japan and then in ECW. The upside is WWF will only go so far, so if you're willing to be more hardcore and extreme than WWF, then you can definitely carve out a niche as an alternative product. The problem is it's next to impossible to get TV if you're doing hardcore death matches and shit. And without TV, you're not competing with WWF.
- Option 3: Lucha Libre - this has had success in the past, obviously in Mexico and in small pockets here and there in the U.S. at times. But it's always failed to transcend Mexican audiences. And the Lucha scene these days is in far worse shape now than it was in years past, even in Mexico. Dave just can't see Lucha Libre catching on in the rest of North America to the degree it would need to be competitive with WWF.
- Option 4: Serious Wrestling - basically, old school mat-based style stuff. Dave says this is happening in OVW right now. Logical stories, wins and losses matter, good old school booking, and hard fought athletic matches that are treated like a sport. But even in Louisville, OVW isn't exactly a booming success. Dave doesn't know if this style could catch on on a national level unless Vince McMahon himself starts doing it. Dave thinks a promotion, run in this way, with major financial backing could have a chance, but he worries that today's fans would be bored with it and doesn't see this happening anytime soon (it took years but this is actually what we've slowly migrated to, in a way. The next few years of WWE definitely puts the focus back on in-ring work, with guys like Angle and Benoit having classics. Plus the birth of ROH. This whole style is basically what NJPW is and what I think most of us expect from AEW).
- Option 5: Worked Shoots - this style was huge in Japan for awhile but these days, it barely exists anymore. The problem is, once you've seen real fights (MMA), doing worked shoot fights in a wrestling ring just doesn't cut it and people see through it. This ain't happening.
- Option 6: Niche Wrestling - wrestling marketed to smaller subsets of fans. In the last couple of years, there have been Women of Wrestling and Urban Wrestling Federation. Both came and went without a blip on the radar. WOW had national syndication and tried to run a PPV and ended up losing more money in a few months than ECW did during its worst year. UWF, in an attempt to market to a black audience, did even worse. They made the mistake of bringing in guys with a good look but no talent or wrestling skill and it turns out, bad wrestling transcends race. Black, white, doesn't matter...nobody likes it. In the past, women's wrestling has had big success in Japan but the cultures are different. Women's wrestling in America has never had any real popularity. They're simply seen as sex objects.
- Option 7: Real Wrestling/MMA - this seems to be the only alternative model with a shot right now. UFC is back on PPV and doing the same kinds of buyrates as ECW and WCW were in the last year which sounds bad, but they're doing it with no TV exposure at all and zero advertising up until recently. The upcoming UFC show has sold more tickets than any ECW show ever did and more than most WCW shows. Dave talks about all the things UFC needs to do to grow (TV deal, mainstream sports coverage, wider PPV availability, etc.). Dave can absolutely see a future where UFC becomes successful and competes with WWF. But they're also 2 totally different sports so it feels wrong to compare them. But on the same hand, the reality is, they are competing for the same fans. Dave thinks this is the most viable alternative we're going to see to WWF on a major, national level for the foreseeable future (yup. To this day, UFC is WWF's biggest competition, whether they want to admit it or not. I suspect that will change come October though).
- Steve Austin faced the Rock at a house show in Dallas this week and at one time, this would have been a huge story because it was the WWF champion facing the WCW champion. Of course, that distinction is meaningless now. In the past, the 2 biggest stars in the business with the 2 biggest championships in North American wrestling history, in a title unification match would have probably broken the PPV system. Here, it was just a nothing match that ended in a DQ at a house show. Interestingly enough, this wasn't the first time. Before Vince Jr. went national in the 80s, the WWF was part of the NWA and there were several unification matches between WWF and NWA champions, all of which ended inconclusively. Dave recaps the history of those matches. All the Lou Thesz/Buddy Rogers drama, and a famous Super Bowl of Wrestling match between WWWF champion Billy Graham against NWA champion Harley Race back in 1978. Bob Backlund, when he was WWWF champion, also faced Race and Flair a couple of times, but those all ended in double-DQs and count-outs also.
- There was a big battle in the ongoing promotional war between IWA and WWC in Puerto Rico. This week, WWC put on its biggest show of the year, Anniversario 2001 which drew more than 10,000 that were there to see Carly Colon (Carlito) and Ray Gonzalez. To counter it, IWA ran their own show nearby, drawing 4,200 fans with the help of some stars on loan from WWF (Tommy Dreamer, Mike Awesome, Scotty 2 Hotty, and Justin Credible). Dave recaps the shows, but mostly it's just interesting to me that in 2001, there was this vicious promotional feud still happening in Puerto Rico that most of us were probably unaware of. Also, this is a decent crowd but I'll be damned if this is 10,000 people.
- WATCH: Carly Colon & Ray Gonzales vs. Thunder & Lightning - Anniversario 2001
- A recent NJPW show had a match with a surprising finish, with 2nd year undercard wrestler Hiroshi Tanahashi scoring an upset pin over Scott Hall. Tanahashi has a great look and a ton of potential, but hasn't been given any kind of push in NJPW up to this point.
- WATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi pins Scott Hall - 2001
- Kensuke Sasaki was scheduled to appear on a major late night network talk show in Japan to promote the October Tokyo Dome show, but the talk show was pre-empted due to the worldwide news coverage of the 9/11 attacks.
- The latest on the situation between Antonio Inoki and Shinya Hashimoto: as mentioned last week, Inoki had been attempting to sign UFC fighter Mark Kerr to his stable of MMA fighters. But at some point, Hashimoto swooped in behind Inoki's back and signed Kerr himself to Zero-One, which had led to a falling out between Hashimoto and Inoki. It's also complicated because Inoki has a big ownership stake in Zero-One even though he doesn't run it and Inoki has ties to NJPW and NJPW wants Hashimoto to work more shows for them and yada yada yada. It's a political mess and Dave doesn't seem to understand it all either. Anyway, Inoki pulled some of his wrestlers out of an upcoming Zero-One show and now it looks like the chances of Hashimoto returning to work NJPW may have shrunk.
- Randy Savage filed a lawsuit against his former girlfriend Stephanie Bellars for using the name Gorgeous George to promote a porn video. For those not aware, Savage bought the rights to the "Gorgeous George" name from the heirs of the original Gorgeous George's estate. He originally purchased it for his brother Lanny to use as a gimmick in WCW but it ended up never happening. So he instead gave the name to his girlfriend to use when she was introduced in WCW. But when the two split up, she continued using the name to promote herself in the porn video as well as for stripping.
- WATCH: Stephanie Bellars/Gorgeous George porn video (NSFW)
- In the wake of the terrorist attack, the Smackdown taping scheduled for 9/11 in Houston was postponed to two days later on 9/13 and will air live.
- Former WCW-turned-WWF referee Billy Silverman has quit the company. Apparently, Silverman had the gall to upgrade himself to first class on a recent flight. Turns out it's considered a sign of arrogance to do that because first class is seen as only for those who have made it to the top in the company and "earned it" I guess. One of those dumb unwritten locker room rules. As a result, the rest of the roster ribbed Silverman unmercifully over it. They told him they'd let it go if he bought beers for everybody on the flight, but apparently he didn't buy enough beers or something and they kept bullying him about it. When the flight landed, Silverman got off the plane and told WWF officials he quit (Silverman has spoken about this in the years since. Turns out this was pretty much the last straw. He had been bullied for awhile before that too. And if you're wondering who the main bully was, Mauro Ranallo could probably tell you all about him).
- During a dark match with an indie guy before Raw, Hugh Morrus got pissed off during the match when a clothesline spot went awry. Apparently the guy ducked when he wasn't supposed to and taunted Morrus. So in response, Morrus threw him to the ground and started beating the shit out of him for real, including a hard elbow to the spine. Then he turned him over and held him down to pin him. As soon as the ref counted 3, the other dude jumped up to his feet, no longer selling, and left the ring (no video of this I could find).
- Dave has a lot of new business numbers for WWF and they're not great. Merch sales are down 31% from last year. TV production costs are up over $3 million due to the new format of airing Sunday Night Heat live from the WWF New York restaurant. It's a double whammy because not only are the production costs up, the ratings are barely half of what they were last year. Wrestler payoffs are down $1.2 million overall. It's even worse because there's so many new guys under contract these days (all the WCW/ECW guys) so there's more people splitting a smaller pie so a lot of guys are making way, way less than they were last year. But nobody is complaining because, well, where else are you gonna go? Coincidentally, travel costs are up $1.2 million, mostly due to the use of Vince's new private jet. Home video sales were down $600,000 while home video production costs went up $400,000. Just like that, a million dollar profit margin erased. And of course, the losses associated with the XFL are still trickling in. Make no mistake, the decline of WWF has definitely begun.
- Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler recently filmed an AT&T commercial with Carrot Top (can't find the video of it, but Torrie posted an Instagram pic from it awhile back).
- Rock was making the media rounds this week, including an appearance on Howard Stern. They had a segment where a porn star would vomit on a fan in order for the fan to get the chance to meet Rock. So there's that. Dave says Rock is basically a can't miss with mainstream interviews. He handles them perfectly and Dave says he's the perfect P.R. guy, always says the right thing, quick on his feet, likable, etc. This Rock guy might have a shot in Hollywood.