Wrestling Observer Rewinder

October 21, 2002

The top story this week is the staggering loss of WWE's over-30 audience. When wrestling peaked in late-1998, there were almost 6 million viewers over 30 watching Monday nights. That number is now less than 2 million. WCW always had an older audience, and when WCW folded, many of those fans simply went away. WWE's over-30 audience didn't really noticeably increase. Those fans just vanished and probably won't ever return. And over the past year, WWE has seen its over-30 audience continue to plummet, along with teenage viewers who are leaving at an even faster rate because wrestling is no longer viewed as "cool" the way it was just a couple of years ago. Anyway, the whole point of this story is that last year, Dave conducted a survey of readers over 30 who were losing interest in wrestling or who had stopped watching WWE to try to determine why (yeah that's in one of the 2001 Rewinds somewhere, I remember that). So now, a year later, with the over-30 audience continuing to vanish, we're revisiting the study to see how things have changed.
Last year, the overwhelming reason given by lapsed fans over 30 for losing interest in WWE was the botched Invasion angle, which ran people off in droves. Dave says it will probably go down as the biggest bungled storyline in the history of modern wrestling (yup). The second biggest reason given was too much of the McMahon kids. Well, a year later, Shane is virtually gone from TV and Stephanie is in a much more reduced babyface role on Smackdown, so that's good. The next biggest reason given was the lack of big WCW stars making the move to WWE. In the year since, Flair, Hogan, Nash, and Hall all made the jump and business kept getting worse. Goldberg still may never happen because he refuses to work the schedule. Other reasons given: lack of competition (well, they tried to make their own competition, but it's been a flop). Lack of emphasis on titles (they've spent the last few months unifying various titles and trying to make them matter again but time will tell). Too much T&A (they dialed it back for awhile, but with the HLA storyline stuff, it appears to be making a comeback). Bad writing (continues to be a problem). Stale product with the same people on top (that one is worse now than it was last year). This goes on and on. Basically just Dave criticizing how much WWE sucks right now and given the collapse of business, he's clearly not the only one who feels that way.
NJPW's latest Tokyo Dome show is in the books and ended up being a success for only one reason: Bob Sapp. Coming off a huge K-1 victory over Ernesto Hoost a couple weeks ago, he filmed an angle with Nakanishi immediately afterward. Then, 5 nights later, they did a second angle where Sapp was doing commentary for a boxing event and Nakanishi presented the winner with the belt. Afterwards, as Nakanishi was walking back, Sapp threw a water bottle at him and they had a big pull-apart. Thus the match was made and that was all it took. About 38,000 fans were in the building (announced as 50,000) and most of them were there to see Sapp. While 38,000 is a big crowd, it's still the smallest crowd NJPW has ever drawn in the Tokyo Dome but considering the way business has been, it's still a success. Bob Sapp's involvement in the show itself was kind of a last minute thing. The original match was Nakanishi v. Yoshihiro Takayama, but 3 weeks before the show, Takayama got injured in a NOAH match with Misawa and had to pull out. K-1 promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii (more on him in a moment) saw his chance and offered Sapp (who he has under K-1 contract) and the rest is history. The match was insanely heated and Sapp dominated it before getting a count-out victory. The crowd was okay with it though because it was decisive. Sapp super-stiff dropkicked Nakanishi out of the ring it made Sapp look like a beast. The IWGP title match that followed was anti-climatic and everyone realized in retrospect that Sapp should have main evented. Right now, Bob Sapp is unquestionably the biggest combat sports star in Japan. Kickboxing, MMA, pro wrestling, all of it. He's a mega-star (here's the match. If nothing else, watch Sapp's post-match comments. He's hilarious).
Other notes from the Tokyo Dome show: FOX was there filming Chyna for a feature on her "success" wrestling in Japan. Dave figures it'll be on "Best Damn Sports Show Period" since she and Inoki were on there a few months back promoting her Japanese wrestling. The opening match was a 6-man match only notable because one team had Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask and the other had Rocky Romero....and American Dragon. So there's a fun fact if you ever wanted one: Daniel Bryan has wrestled Jushin Liger in the Tokyo Dome. MMA fighter Tsuyoshi Kosaka advanced to the finals to crown a new NWF champion (it's the belt that was the precursor to the IWGP title, the top belt in NJPW during the 70s. Inoki is bringing it back and making it a "shooters" title). Kosaka is coming off several MMA losses and made another NJPW wrestler submit in just 2 minutes, which once again makes pro wrestling look inferior to MMA, on a pro wrestling show in the Tokyo Dome. It's one of the big reasons NJPW's business is struggling. Anyway, Kosaka will now face Yoshihiro Takayama on Jan. 4th at the Dome. An MMA fighter vs. a NOAH guy to crown a "shooters" champion on a NJPW show. Antonio Inoki in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen. In fact, a lot of the matches on this show were NJPW wrestlers vs. Inoki's group of shooters. They had a 10-round "European rules" match with Bas Rutten that went 30 minutes and killed the crowd. The fake Great Muta got an "endorsement" by Great Kabuki showing up to try to help get him over. Didn't work. And then there's Masahiro Chono vs. Chyna. They both had big ring entrances. Thankfully, Chono won but it was a competitive match and he sold and bumped for her throughout. Afterwards, Chyna got her heat back by beating up the TV interviewer like she was Minoru Suzuki or something. Afterwards, Chono was asked if he would give her a rematch and responded, "Only if she gets a sex change." And Yuji Nagata retained the IWGP title to close the show (here's the Chyna/Chono match, but most of this show can be found by searching "NJPW The Spiral 2002" on Google and scrolling through videos).
So Kazuyoshi Ishii....he's the promoter of K-1 but a lot of people are calling him the Japanese Vince McMahon. He's been quietly taking over the entire combat sports world. With the two biggest draws (Bob Sapp and Mirko Cro Cop) under contract, he has a lot of leverage. He runs K-1 and has working relationships with PRIDE, AJPW, and NJPW, all of whom need him (and his stars) more than he needs them. NJPW in particular is realizing that they're kinda boned right now because they want to keep using Sapp, but he's not contracted to them and his star-power overshadows everyone else in the company. AJPW is trying to use Sapp as well. Oh yeah, wanna use Bill Goldberg? Gotta go through Ishii there as well, he's acting as Goldberg's agent for his Japan bookings. He's not a name that the average fan will know, but when it comes to MMA or professional wrestling in Japan right now, when it comes to big money moves, Ishii is the one usually pulling the strings.
WWE's quarterly business statement is out and shows the company's first projected losing quarter since 1997. To be fair though, that's misleading. It would have been a $3 million profit this quarter. But does anyone remember a couple years ago when the William Morris talent agency sued WWE for breach of contract? No? Well they did. Anyway, it got settled out of court with WWE agreeing to pay the agency $13 million. Of that amount, $6 million is being paid this quarter, which is why a $3 million profit is now a $3 million loss. The additional $7 million will presumably be paid next quarter. So if you discount that as an anomaly, they're still profitable. But even that's tenuous. Attendance, PPV buyrates, and TV ratings are all down significantly, but Summerslam was a big success and the Australia show they did in August was a much-needed big money show. If not for those 2 events, this quarter might have been iffy even without the lawsuit settlement.
Multiple media outlets, stemming from a story in a UK tabloid, are reporting that a deal has been struck for Brock Lesnar to face Lennox Lewis in a shoot wrestler vs. boxer match next year. This story is not true (yet) but it does have a grain of truth in there. WWE has had discussions about the idea and Vince McMahon has had two meetings with Lewis' people. But that's as far as it's gone. Contrary to the news outlets claiming Lewis would be making $7.5 million for the match, the 2 sides actually haven't had any serious money talks yet. Nor has Lewis or Lesnar for that matter even agreed to do it. Lewis vs. Tyson recently drew the biggest buyrate in PPV history, but the reality is, that was all Tyson. Lewis on his own against anyone else has never proven to be any kind of serious draw at that level, especially not so much of one that WWE would shell out $7.5 mil. Dave recaps the history of boxer/wrestler matches, most famously the Inoki/Ali match in 1976 which was planned to be a worked match until a last minute disagreement over Ali agreeing to do the job led to it turning into a legit shoot that went to a draw. In a shoot between Lesnar and Lewis, it would depend on the rules. If it's a straight boxing match, Lewis would destroy him. If Lesnar could wrestle, he would shoot for the legs, get Lewis down, and eat him alive in seconds. Lewis would always have a puncher's chance, but in any kind of mixed-rules situation, the odds would greatly favor Lesnar.
The problem here is, just like the Ali/Inoki match, there would probably be huge disagreements on both sides about what the rules would be. So that begs the question of whether it would actually be a shoot. No one is going to believe a match promoted by Vince McMahon would be legit. We recap the Brawl For All tournament, which was McMahon's first and last attempt at promoting a shoot fight and that was a disaster that he has sworn to never put his wrestlers in that kind of situation again. It's a much bigger risk for Lewis though, since the general public views wrestling as hokey fake shit and boxers as the real tough guys. Getting embarrassed by Lesnar would be devastating to Lewis' persona and would make Lesnar a megastar in wrestling overnight. Dave touches on all the other examples of this stuff, especially in Japan where pro wrestlers vs. legit fighters has been all the rage for a year or two now, with Mirko Cro Cop earning the nickname "Pro Wrestler Hunter." Anyway, this is a no-brainer for WWE if they can make it happen. The thing that catapulted Steve Austin to mainstream stardom was an angle with Mike Tyson. Now imagine how much bigger he'd be if Austin had actually beaten Tyson in a shoot instead of just doing a wrestling angle. Lewis obviously isn't the star that Tyson is, but it's the same concept, against boxing's world champion. Lesnar would be a made man and instantly become one of the biggest mainstream stars WWE ever created. But as of now, despite reports, none of this has made it past early discussions so don't get your hopes up.
WWC did a big angle on a Puerto Rican talk show called Club Sunshine that got over big. Carlos and Carly Colon were being interviewed when Konnan and Chicky Starr showed up and attacked them. They even attacked the host, who sold the beating by not returning for the rest of the show and having someone else fill in. It got a lot of publicity as it came on the highest rated segment of the show which was the highest rated show in all of Puerto Rico that night.
Speaking of WWC, they're still not doing great, but they're doing better than they were. The Carly Colon vs. Konnan feud is getting over and Chicky Starr recently jumped ship from IWA and that helped. The war between the 2 companies is so out of control that even ring announcers are jumping ship. IWA's announcer left after he was asked to take a paycut (from $200 per week to $150) and now he's WWC's new announcer.
Keiji Muto has made his first moves to modernize AJPW. Future Budokan Hall shows will now have big video screens for fans and will also feature some WWE-style backstage angles. In a little bit of a controversial decision, Satoshi Kojima will defend the MLW title he recently won at an upcoming AJPW show. In the past, Giant Baba always made a point of only recognizing championships from major promotions, in order to maintain the prestige of championship matches. So for Kojima to be defending the title of some tiny U.S. indie company that's only ever held 2 shows and hasn't drawn over 1000 fans combined raised some eyebrows. Needless to say, there's probably not a single fan in Japan who has even heard of MLW at this point.
Dave has seen the video of the Mitsuhara Misawa/Yoshihiro Takayama match for NOAH's GHC title and says if they're going to wrestle like this, they might as well just shoot instead. This was all elbow strikes, kicks, and knees. The match was incredibly dangerous, with both men hitting each other as hard as they could and Takayama in particular coming out of it with multiple injuries that led to him being hospitalized afterward and he's gonna be out of action for awhile. Dave doesn't seem to be a fan of how stiff this was, but says you gotta see it to believe it. So here ya go. And yeah, even by Japanese wrestling standards, this one is brutal. Takayama's out for 3 months afterward with all sorts of different injuries.
Dave recaps the latest NJPW TV episodes, which aired prior to the Tokyo Dome show. It featured Chyna cutting a promo on Chono saying she would touch him in places he hasn't been touched in a long time but it won't feel good. Then two horrible matches, one of which features Jushin Liger and still gets negative 1-star and a Nagata match that gets a DUD. Then Chyna came out and gave Chono a lariat that he sold like Stan Hansen. Then she took off her top and attacked him, so Chono was on his back getting his ass beat by a women in a mini-skirt and a bra. She handcuffed Chono to the ropes and she and other heels beat him down. Dave doesn't understand how this company has strayed so far from what made them so successful (I can't find any of this footage. I really wish NJPW would add more old stuff. In comparison to WWE, the library of archived shows on NJPW World isn't great. I wanna go back and watch all this old, bad Inoki-ism era stuff. I would love to be able to go back and just rewatch the entire 90s and 00s in order from show to show, while following along with the Observers. But so much of it doesn't seem to exist anywhere. However, if someone knows where I could acquire any of that stuff by, say, less than reputable means, I'm listening...)
Good news is that Superstar Billy Graham doesn't have liver cancer but they did find an infection to go along with all his other liver problems. As a result, he's been moved up the priority list for a liver transplant, which is good because that hopefully means he can get one sooner. But it's bad because, well, getting moved up the list means his situation is more dire than ever. If he doesn't get a transplant soon, he won't last much longer.
Almost none of you may remember a story from a couple years ago about DirecTV possibly being bought up by satellite company Echostar. If this merger had gone through, it would have turned DirecTV into the biggest powerhouse in the satellite dish market and given them huge leverage. Both UFC and WWE have had issues with both Echostar and DirecTV over money. If those companies combined, WWE would have been almost powerless in money negotiations. Well good news for WWE: the FCC blocked the merger, so it's not happening.
TNA drew its biggest crowd yet to the Nashville Fairgrounds arena. Not to see TNA though. Turns out Chris Rock is filming a movie where he becomes the first black President ("Head of State") and they chose TNA to film a scene where Rock's character gets attacked by some wrestlers at an event. So the crowd mostly came for the chance to be in a movie (here's a clip of a brief promo Chris Rock did on TNA's show, pandering to the crowd. And then the actual scene from "Head of State").
Head of State scene filmed at TNA show
Reportedly a lot of tension in TNA between Vince Russo and Jerry Jarrett. In particular, there was a lot of heat over the racial scripts that Russo wrote for recent Ron Killings and Syxx-Pac (who I will be referring to as Syxx from here on out because c'mon) segments. Almost everyone, including Killings and Syxx, were uncomfortable with how it was originally written and insisted on the content being toned down. There was also a part scripted where Syxx basically buried Low-Ki as not being a talented wrestler. If you saw the show, there was another part later where they showed Syxx apologizing to Low-Ki for that comment. Syxx insisted on doing the apology part as well because he (rightfully) didn't think it made sense to be burying a talented young star that TNA can build around like that, especially right before he's challenging for the NWA title. Anyway, those who have been around Russo know that he doesn't take kindly to being second-guessed or told to tone his stuff down and he's not happy because Jarrett has been overruling so much of the stuff he's been writing. Meanwhile, Jeff Jarrett is said to be stuck in the middle.
Notes from TNA Weekly PPV: Curt Hennig debuted, replacing Scott Hall on just 2 days notice. Hall was never mentioned on the show, so looking like he may have burned another bridge. Hennig was out of shape and asked to have a few weeks, but they needed him ASAP so he came in bigger and noticeably slower but hey, he's in his mid-40s and wasn't expecting to wrestle anytime soon. A 15 minute Ironman match ended with a botched finish. Syxx won the X-Division title in a crazy ladder match full of dangerous bumps. And that's about it..
[WATCH: Curt Hennig debuts in TNA]https://www.facebook.com/ImpactWrestling/videos/2264510047153999)
WWE's latest soap opera direction (Kane murdered Katie Vick, Undertaker cheated on his pregnant wife, Trish's secret past, etc.) is reportedly something Kevin Dunn sold Vince on, believing a focus on storytelling with those kinds of stories will turn things around. Anyway, as of this week, Kane isn't a murderer, but they said they found his semen inside Katie Vick, so he's either a rapist or a necrophiliac, depending on when it was left there. Guess we'll find out next week. Dave half-jokes that WWE is apparently making a storyline based on Jimmy Snuka allegedly murdering his girlfriend in the 80s. Anyway, this angle is stupid beyond words (just wait Dave!) and the Undertaker storyline accusing him of cheating on his pregnant wife isn't much better. But at least it's a plausible story you can tell. Kane murdering and/or raping a dead body is just preposterous. Anyway, if you're curious, Undertaker's alleged "mistress" is being played by Tracy Dali, a B-movie actress and Playboy model.
The upcoming No Mercy PPV this weekend has only sold 4,000 tickets at press time, in an arena that holds 18,000. They have since scaled the arena down to only hold 12,500 but they're probably not gonna get anywhere close to that either.
Notes from Raw: well, it was in Montreal and even though it's been 5 years, they still made constant Bret Hart references. Actually, Vince McMahon wanted to get Bret to appear on the show but it didn't happen. Ever since Bret's stroke, after Vince reached out to check on him, the two of them have gotten back on speaking terms so they're trying to rebuild the bridge. Turns out the big Trish Stratus secret from her past is Victoria accused her of holding her back when they were fitness models trying to get into wrestling and claimed Trish slept her way to the top. Riveting stuff here. Dave says Jeff Hardy is the "most stale and burned out character" on the roster looks to be about one step away from complete collapse. It's kinda awful that they kept putting him on TV in retrospect. Jeff was looking like late-2013 CM Punk at this point, even Stevie Wonder could see the dude needed time off. Kane cut a big dumb promo about how he didn't murder Katie Vick, it was an accident, after his first match 10 years ago, she and Kane went out to a party and he drove home in the rain and wrecked the car. Let's not even waste time focusing on the fact that this story completely contradicts Kane's entire origin story about being badly burned by the Undertaker as a child and locked away his entire life. Then Triple H accused Kane of driving drunk and killing her and the autopsy showed his semen inside her and accused him of raping her or doing it after she was dead. 3 Minute Warning (Dave still doesn't call them that but I'm tired of saying Island Boyz and WWE hasn't officially given them a name at this point) attacked 64-year-old Pat Patterson and he suffered a legit separated shoulder. This is by no means the first person these dudes have injured. Pretty much everyone involved in one of these 3 Minute Warning segments comes out injured, week after week, and Dave's ready to send them back to OVW. They played Bret Hart's music as part of a commercial for a new WWE music CD. This didn't air on TV but reportedly the live crowd went absolutely batshit when they heard it, believing Bret was coming out. Nope. That led to the crowd booing heavily and they spent the rest of the show with constant Bret Hart chants. Randy Orton is out with a shoulder injury they aired a purposely over the top babyface video designed to make the crowd hate him and it worked. They booed the shit outta Orton. Big Show vs. Booker T falls count anywhere ended up in the women's dressing room, in what was a not-so-subtle jab at Nicole Bass' lawsuit now that they won.
Speaking of Nicole Bass and that lawsuit, she's getting dragged through the mud everywhere in the media. Jurors outright said in interviews that they felt she was lying and there were too many discrepancies between her testimony and her deposition. One of the jurors also said he was freaking out with all the wrestlers there and wanted to ask for autographs and managed to get one from Steve Lombardi after the trial. Dave wonders how this guy ever made it onto the jury. Another juror said Bass seemed nice, but her husband seemed greedy and came off even less believable. Former WWF diva Tori testified and said Bass was nowhere near Lombardi on that flight. Howard Stern ripped into Bass on his show also, basically calling her a liar. And if we have any other questions about Bass' honesty, in an interview after the trial with the New York Post, she claimed her body was all natural. She said she only used steroids once, for a few weeks in 1988 under a doctor's supervision, but otherwise, she's built her physique with nothing but hard work.
There was another rah-rah, everyone needs to work harder pep rally speech backstage at Smackdown and once again, Triple H spoke and pretty much insinuated that business is down because so many of the guys don't know how to work properly. You probably don't need to guess how this was received by his peers.
Chris Jericho was interviewed on some show and his give-a-fuck meter seems to be in the negatives lately. When asked about the Katie Vick angle, he called it the "drizzling craps" and said he's just paid to work matches, not do storylines so he can't help when it sucks. Said he doesn't go on the internet because it's too negative. Said the angle with Triple H and Stephanie's dog in the build up to Wrestlemania wasn't great and said he wouldn't do that kind of storyline again. When asked about Larry Zbyszko (who is suing Jericho and WWE over them calling him "Living Legend"), Jericho said Zbyszko sucked as a wrestler, was shit as an announcer, and he doesn't have any respect for him.
Various WWE news & notes: Randy Orton out 3-4 months with shoulder surgery. Bob Holly out at least a year after neck surgery. Bubba Ray Dudley out with a serious concussion from the TLC match. Mysterio's knees are giving him trouble, try to hide your surprise. Little Guido and Spanky (Brian Kendrick) signed deals and will be going straight to Smackdown for the cruiserweight division.
Tough Enough season 3, currently in production, has a stalker! Apparently there was a contestant named Lisa who decided she couldn't do it and quit. But she still stayed overnight in the house they're filming in. Anyway, the next morning, she changed her mind. But producers told her, too late, you already quit. You gotta leave. So she went home. Then she flew back and tried to come back again and they said no again. At that point, she began stalking the company, showing up at several WWE shows and even getting backstage at Smackdown. Anyway, depending on how much they've already filmed, she may end up being edited out before the show airs (turns out it was way more than that. Not sure if Dave ever covers it again, but here's the story from Wikipedia):
In the cover story from the October 5, 2002 issue of the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter, it was revealed that contestant "Lisa" was removed from the show after what was referred to as a "psychotic breakdown." After being left at the house while the other contestants went out to dinner, she began throwing herself against the walls of the house, eventually breaking into the hidden MTV control room and working her way onto the roof. After being talked down by producers, she was committed to a hospital facility to receive psychiatric treatment. Her parents flew in from New Mexico to pick her up, but she physically attacked them, claiming she did not know them. She then escaped custody inside LAX, shutting down a wing of the airport until she was located. Again, she was hospitalized, but she was able to check herself out shortly after. She then contacted Tough Enough producers, claiming she was ready to return to the show. Producers informed her she had been removed from the competition due to her actions. The other contestants (and, subsequently, the audience) were initially told that Lisa simply decided wrestling "wasn't the right career for her." Lisa then reemerged in Louisville, Kentucky at the Ohio Valley Wrestling training center, claiming that trainer Al Snow and producer John "Big" Gaburick had sent her for additional training, both in the ring and to learn further about the structure of the developmental territory system. At a series of shows in California in September 2002, she managed to talk her way backstage and was even allowed to assist with the pyrotechnics for the wrestlers' entrances at a TV taping. One source claimed that she had a face-to-face conversation with Vince McMahon, who was apparently unaware of her status with the Tough Enough program. Soon after, her photograph was circulated to security personnel, and she was barred from any backstage areas.
At the latest Smackdown tapings, 16-year-old Harry Smith (son of Davey Boy Smith) worked a dark match against his cousin Teddy Hart. Word is a lot of the dressing room came out to watch this match on the monitors and afterwards, Benoit and Dean Malenko took Harry aside and spoke with him after to kinda critique him on what he did right and wrong. Word is Smith and Hart showed up to the arena just on the off chance they could talk the company into letting them work a match and it actually worked. Teddy Hart has flamed out of WWE opportunities twice before because of a perceived bad attitude. Many other Hart family members (the ones that were always on Vince's side) were there at the show also. Stu Hart was brought as well and was said to be thrilled at meeting Lesnar because he's a huge fan. Yeah, I could see Stu loving Lesnar.
And finally, someone writes a long letter about how it's bullshit that Shawn Michaels isn't in the Observer Hall of Fame yet and the fact that he's not threatens the credibility of the whole thing. The only reason he isn't inducted is because of his reputation and being disliked by people personally, but that has no bearing on his HOF qualifications and this dude is sick of it. Dave doesn't go that far, but he agrees and says he has voted for Shawn every year he's been eligible. But he also argues that Shawn's reputation for being unprofessional behavior is relevant because it's not "off the field" behavior. Shawn has repeatedly done unprofessional things that directly impacted the product he's a part of and if enough voters feel that's reason enough not to include him, Dave can't really argue it, though he personally disagrees and thinks Shawn should be in (he eventually makes it, fear not).