Wrestling Observer Rewinder

December 02, 2002

I usually try to avoid too much MMA, but the top story this week is a looooooong recap of the Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz UFC PPV so we gotta run with it, if for no other reason than the fact it's one of the most significant fights in UFC history. Besides, half of this is just Dave talking about how UFC did such a better job with this show than WWE has done with anything in ages. The build-up, promotion, and video packages for this fight blew away anything WWE has done in years and exposed all their problems when it comes to an inability to make people care about matches. WWE has a crew of writers whose job is to book enticing storylines and they can't come close to how UFC promoted this real-life story. Fear Factor host Joe Rogan, as UFC's resident color commentator, did a better job of building excitement than Tazz or Jerry Lawler have ever done. Big name celebrities were in attendance. The gate was the largest MMA gate in the U.S. and bigger than all but a handful of Wrestlemania gates. All without TV and without much mainstream media coverage. In WWE, Shamrock was considered a "bad promo" because he didn't cut promos like they wanted. But his interviews going into this fight were the best in UFC history and went a long way towards this show's huge success.
That being said, Shamrock was totally blown out in what Dave feels was a one-sided fight. Shamrock looked good but he's 38 and simply was outclassed by the younger, faster Ortiz. It went 3 rounds of mostly ground and pound, with Ortiz making hamburger out of Shamrock's face. Even when Shamrock was able to escape, he was too gassed to do much else. After 3 rounds, Shamrock's corner stopped the fight. Ortiz put on a shirt that said "I killed Kenny...you bastard!" but the crowd immediately turned on him when he did and his own trainer demanded he take it off. Afterward, Shamrock was respectful and hugged Ortiz and did an interview making no excuses. When they asked Ortiz about a fight with Chuck Liddell, he responded that UFC better pay them more money for it, or they'll take that fight to Japan (presumably PRIDE, though he didn't explicitly say so). Needless to say, UFC officials weren't thrilled about that. Otherwise, it was a great show. They announced the return of Tank Abbott, which was a surprise since rumors had him going to PRIDE. Bradshaw was there in the front row going nuts the whole show but was never identified on camera. And that's as much as we're dwelling on this show.
Linda McMahon had to face the investors this week and try to put a positive spin on the fact that WWE just suffered its first true money-losing quarter since 1997. WWE lost over $1.6 million this past quarter, due mostly to the money they were forced to pay the William Morris Agency for a lawsuit they lost as well as losses from The World complex in Time Square. Linda said that WWE still considers TV ratings to be the key driver of business and blamed falling ratings on males 17-34 allegedly watching less television these days. Sure, why not? She said they expected business to go down with the brand split and predicted it would take 12-18 months for things to get back to where they should be. Well, we're 8 months in and numbers continue to fall and other than Brock Lesnar, not any other new star has been made by it. In regards to The World complex, Linda admitted there've been mistakes and said they plan to rebrand it again soon as "The World of WWE" after previously deciding to remove the WWE name. They're going to rename the restaurant part JR's Bar & Grill. One investor in particular called Linda out on the declining ratings, blaming it on Triple H being the primary focus (who he noted was Linda's daughter's boyfriend) and mentioning the necrophilia storyline and argued that WWE's problems stem from terrible creative. It was the most critical question Linda has ever faced in one of these calls. Linda defended Triple H, first claiming that Triple H and Stephanie's relationship is new and thus can't be credited for his main event push (no one knows the exact timeline, but given that he was cheating on Chyna with her, this relationship goes back at least 2 years, so you can't exactly call it new). Linda listed Triple H, along with Lesnar, Shawn Michaels, and Scott Steiner as their big four stars. The investor responded saying Michaels "is done" (lol) and that Steiner is just another washed up WCW guy (ok, fair) and that WWE still isn't creating new stars. He said that while WWE was better off financially than WCW was at the end, creatively, they're just as bad. Linda responded, "We are not WCW" and talked about efforts to create new stars out of Edge and Test. This was clearly not the conversation Linda wanted to have with all these other big money investors listening.
Linda was also asked about Steve Austin and said they've talked several times and they're "good friends" but that she didn't know if he was ever coming back. Austin made a public appearance later the same day and was asked the same thing by everyone. He said WWE has been trying to get him to come back in January to build for a Wrestlemania match, but he hasn't decided whether to do it or not yet. He talked about wanting to get his home life in order first before he focuses on a wrestling comeback. Jim Ross also did an interview saying he talks to Austin all the time and expects him back eventually. So it sounds like things are maybe warming up between the two sides finally.
And finally, Linda spent a good chunk of the conference call talking about their issues with the World Wildlife Fund. She said that when she and Vince purchased the company from Vince Sr. in 1982, they trademarked the WWF name and logo. At the time, Wake Forest University had an issue with it because the logo was similar, and in exchange for getting the college to drop their claim, Vince made an agreement to never sell WWF merch on the Wake Forest campus. Easy enough. In 1994, the Wildlife people said, "Hey, that's our letters" and a bunch of legal shit happened and they reached an agreement where WWF wouldn't market itself as "WWF" outside of North America. They would have to use the full name "World Wrestling Federation." Of course, they immediately and constantly began violating that agreement, but the Wildlife people ignored it until Vince snatched up the wwf.com domain name, which is in use worldwide, and obviously could create confusion among any web users trying to find one or the other. Thus the lawsuit, which Vince lost handily and they were forced to rename themselves WWE. Then they had until Nov. 10th of this year to stop selling "WWF" branded merchandise, which resulted in them having to stop and reprint a bunch of stuff as well as take all old WWF footage off some WWF Classics TV show that I guess airs in Europe (they're currently airing WCW footage instead).
Well now, the Wildlife Fund is seeking damages, to the tune of $360 million. Linda claimed the Wildlife people offered to drop all further legal action in exchange for a $90 million settlement and they would extend the deadline until next year. WWE refused. As a result, the Fund is now going to court to try to stop sales of a WWF-branded video game that is due out this month, which is expected to be a big Christmas seller. WWE put out a statement calling it a "Grinch-like move to deny wrestling fans around the world the opportunity to receive these products as Christmas gifts." And in typical WWE fashion, they put out another statement attacking the Fund personally, specifically their lawyer who they claim lives in Switzerland but has no Swiss law license. They conveniently leave out the part that he does have a license to practice law in the UK, and that's where this case was decided, which renders WWE's entire "point" meaningless. They also accused him of having involvement with some financial scandals in the UK and even tried to tie his Islamic charity to the 9/11 tragedies, accusing his charity of funneling money to Al-Qaeda. Just the usual Jerry McDevitt bullshit. Anyway, video game maker THQ said all games with the WWF logo were shipped prior to the original Nov. 10 deadline and therefore, they won't recall them. But a British court has said THQ will be ruled in contempt if any WWF-branded games are sold and recommended THQ should—for their sake—recall the games and bill WWE for the damages because, as the judge said, "THQ must look at WWE for the losses which have been caused because it was the WWE that got them into this mess." One final note to all this: Linda McMahon admitted that they did consider doing an angle at the recent UK Rebellion PPV where Vince McMahon would have faced a wrestler in a panda suit on the show and beat him up and pinned him. Dave says, considering the damages part of the lawsuit is still ongoing, that would have been monumentally stupid and luckily, it seems WWE agreed because they didn't do it. Not even sure why they'd admit thinking about it.
Long obituary for Japanese wrestler Thunder Sugiyama, who died at age 62 this week. Big star in the 60s and early-70s, was one of the first recruits by Giant Baba when he started AJPW and later had a brief run in NJPW. After retirement, he became a millionaire in other businesses. But in 1999, due to diabetes complications, he ended up having both of his arms and both of his legs amputated, which led to a lot of media coverage since he was quasi-famous and lost all 4 limbs. Well then.
Another obituary for Billy Joe Travis, who died of a heart attack at 41. He went tanning, drove back to his mother's house, walked through the front door, and dropped dead of a heart attack. He was best known for his years in Memphis, and was regarded as one of the most promising stars in the business in the late-80s. But he had a nasty drug problem and, well, it never really happened. Most people remember him best for being the guy who legitimately got arrested on live TV during one of the Saturday morning Memphis shows, due to failure to pay child support. Cops showed up to the show to get him, they asked if they could film the arrest, cops said sure, and they did, but pretended it was for something else and made an angle out of it.
Fuji Network in Japan had Bob Sapp Day on their channel. From 5:30am until 7pm that night, Sapp repeatedly cut into shows, appeared in live interview segments, did talk shows, game shows, etc. All damn day. It's been said that American fans can't comprehend just how big a star Sapp is in Japan right now. Even people who don't follow wrestling or MMA know who he is because he's become something of a sensation throughout the country.
As further proof that anything can happen, this week's issue of Tokyo Sports featured a front page photo of Antonio Inoki shaking hands with Hisashi Shinma. For the unfamiliar, this is the equivalent of Bret Hart and Vince McMahon shaking hands on the front page of the USA Today. Inoki and Shinma were the minds behind NJPW's success in the 70s and 80s, with Shinma being the primary booker when Inoki was the top star. But an embezzlement scandal in NJPW in the mid-80s led to Shinma being fired. He and Inoki remained friends and they even worked together in 1989 when Shinma acted as Inoki's campaign manager for his successful Senate campaign. However, the 2 later had a major falling out, resulting in Shinma publicly revealing Inoki's participation in the embezzlement scandal as well as even reporting Inoki for cheating on his taxes, which led to a lot of legal headaches for Inoki. So it was a pretty serious beef. However, they have squashed it and, with NJPW struggling right now, word is Shinma will be returning to the company to help dig them out of their hole. It's also worth noting that during the 80s, Shinma was close friends with Vince McMahon and acted as the NJPW liaison to WWF during that time. In fact, he was the on-screen figurehead "President" of WWE prior to Jack Tunney, though he rarely did much of note. The relationship is still good and Shinma noted that one of the first things he wants to do when he starts working for NJPW again is send rookie Shinsuke Nakamura to WWE for him to gain more experience (took, like, 15 years but it happened).
Former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett, currently serving a worldwide 6-month MMA suspension for failing steroid tests, is making his pro wrestling debut for NJPW at the Jan. 4th Tokyo Dome show. Barnett has been a wrestling fan for years, particularly NJPW and the old UWFI in the 90s, and has been trying to get involved in wrestling for awhile. He's friends with Bob Sapp and that opened the door for him, though in Japan, most people know him as Sapp's coach/cornerman rather than being a former UFC champ in his own right, because "UFC" doesn't mean much in Japan (not only does Barnett work this show, he ends up main eventing it, losing to IWGP champ Yuji Nagata).
Chyna is scheduled to return to NJPW next week, this time teaming with Masahiro Chono to face Tadao Yasuda and Kazunari Murakami. I only mention this because it ends up being Chyna's last match for almost a decade. She quietly retired afterward, only returning for one final match in 2011 in TNA. But for all intents and purposes, this is the end of the road for Chyna's pro wrestling career.
Hulk Hogan is doing his book tour and it kinda shows the differences between Vince and Hogan. Privately, Vince has been telling anyone who will listen that he's done with Hogan, doesn't want him back in WWE, and is running him down to anyone who will listen. Hogan, knowing it's inevitable that he'll be back some day, has been much more diplomatic in interviews, praising Vince and calling WWE his home. Hogan admitted in one interview that he was supposed to return at Survivor Series, but the deal fell apart due to creative differences, but that's all he would say (creative differences = he didn't want to put over Brock Lesnar again). Hogan talked about how wrestling is predetermined, but argued against it being choreographed. He says guys like himself and Rock can go out there and call a match on the fly. Dave thinks that's a pretty poor example to use, since Hogan, Rock, and Pat Patterson all flew to Florida prior to Wrestlemania last year and spent 2 days rehearsing every step of that match beforehand. Anyway, Dave promises to have reviews of Hogan's and Piper's books in the next week or two. He's read Piper's already and enjoyed it but hints that there's some inaccuracies. He's heard Hogan's is pretty full of bullshit too, but also says we all expected that going in.
Bret Hart's condition post-stroke has improved significantly, and this week, he even got his driver's license back and is allowed to drive again, which is seen as a major step in his improvement.
Vince Russo returned to TNA this week as an on-screen character, appearing under a mask as Mr. Wrestling III and hitting Ron Killings with a guitar and allowing Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA title. The backstage fallout from this resulted in Sean Waltman quitting the company. Waltman doesn't like Russo and even though he was promised Russo doesn't have any hand in creative, Waltman didn't believe it and quit in protest of Russo's return. Waltman had no-showed TNA's previous PPV at the last moment due to injury and TNA was upset, but decided to bring him back anyway because he was extremely apologetic and because, well, they need stars. Also, Waltman being there is pretty much the only reason Scott Hall decided to come back as well. So with Waltman quitting, this leads to questions about whether Hall will be back either. TNA was also hoping having Waltman on the roster would lead to Chyna coming in, but that's probably not happening now either. Waltman has a deep hatred for Russo's booking and also felt having a company work its wrestlers the way WCW used to do isn't healthy for the company, and he felt he was being misled by TNA about Russo's involvement.
In fact, despite management denials, almost nobody in the company believes that Russo is only a talent. Pretty much everyone figures that if he's not involved in creative yet, he will be soon. During the negotiations with Panda Energy, Waltman himself went to bat for Jerry Jarrett, saying he wanted Jarrett in charge and that he wouldn't stay with the company if Russo was in charge. True to his word, Russo showed up and Waltman quit. TNA tried to pacify him, even discussing doing a match that night where Waltman and Curt Hennig would win the TNA tag team titles. Waltman refused, saying he was only staying and working that night's show because he felt he owed it to the company after no-showing the previous week, but he didn't want to win any titles because he insisted he was quitting after the show. And, sure enough, he did (he stuck to his word too. Waltman didn't return to TNA until after Russo left in 2005. At some point though, they squashed their beef and they appear to be on good terms now. But this is the end of the road for Waltman in TNA for awhile. It was also the end of Scott Hall. He also didn't return again until after Russo left. Also worth noting: Waltman was right. Despite TNA's denials, Russo was indeed involved in creative again during this time).
Other notes from Russo's return: aside from the backstage drama, the Jarrett/Killings NWA title match was actually a strong bout, with the crowd more into it, and Jarrett, than anything in the company's short history so far. Most in the locker room were against the Russo angle to end the match, but otherwise, it went over great. Almost nobody in the locker room knew Russo was returning, which led to the familiar WCW-style "working the boys" complaints but Russo and Jarrett were celebrating it backstage like they pulled off the angle of the year. There was thought that Mike Tenay might quit over it as well, because those 2 have heat going back to WCW (Russo once tried to book Tenay to wrestle a match in WCW with Scott Steiner's valet Midajah, but Tenay refused, saying his contract was to be an announcer, not a wrestler, and Russo was furious about it and the 2 haven't gotten along since).
In case you're wondering whether or not Russo has any involvement in creative, Brian Christopher's valet April dumped him for Goldylocks, with the two of them leaving together in what was played up as an "OMG, they're lesbians!" type of angle. This ain't Jerry Jarrett booking, let's just say that. Dave can't confirm it was Russo, but in all the various WWF lawsuits over the years (Sable, Nicole Bass, etc.) it appears Russo asked just about every woman in WWF to participate in a lesbian angle. So having a lesbian angle in TNA the week he returns obviously leads one to assume.
There's also controversy over BG James (Road Dogg) calling Lenny Lane a "faggot" during a promo and also some other homophobic comments towards the Bruce character (who's entire gimmick is predicated on getting heel heat for being gay). TNA is claiming the line wasn't scripted and is saying James used it on his own. Jerry Jarrett apologized online for it the next day on the wrestlingclassics.com message board he posts on. (In case Road Dogg's 2020 social media posts haven't shown exactly what kind of person he still is, here's the full quote he said about Lenny Lane: "This goes for all of you who are politically correct. This won't be a gay bashing, I'm just about to beat the hell out a faggot." Even though I'm quoting someone else, I still feel gross just typing that) There was similar heat a few weeks ago when Brian Christopher called April a "cunt" during the show.
Steve Austin pled no contest to domestic assault charges in San Antonio court this week. Under the plea bargain, he was given 1 year of probation, a $1000 fine, 80 hours of community service, and must undergo counseling and complete a 24-week domestic violence class. Austin also agreed that any further physical or verbal abuse towards Debra would be considered a probation violation. Under the terms of the probation, he's also not allowed to drink alcohol for 1 year. Dave says that one might be tricky, especially if he returns to wrestling. This was brought up in court and the attorney noted that Austin's usual post-match celebrations would technically be considered a violation. But they also said that it likely wouldn't be enforced since it would be considered acting (yeah, when he returned to WWE in 2003, I think he spent most of that year using non-alcoholic beers for his gimmick. Better safe than sorry). Once Austin completes his probation, the charges will be expunged from his record.
After weeks of Hot Lesbian Action, gay weddings, and corpse fucking, Vince McMahon stood up at a booking meeting this week and loudly declared "shock TV is dead!" and insisted it doesn't work anymore and they will no longer be doing it. So maybe that's the end of Russo-style desperate ratings grabs for now. Keep in mind, literally 4 weeks ago, he sent out a memo to the creative team mocking their critics and insisting that more shock TV was the answer. This man is insane.
WWE had a recent tour in India and nobody had fun. It was considered the trip from hell, and had nothing to do with the plane ride this time. The trip was long and uncomfortable and when they got there, the wrestlers were shocked at the living conditions in the country. WWE's stars were staying at a nice hotel, but just outside the front door, they saw multiple people literally drop their pants to shit in the streets and people living in gutters and filth. Several wrestlers also got sick from drinking the water and eating the food, with Lance Storm and William Regal so sick they couldn't work some of the shows. Booker T got so sick as they were leaving that he had to be hooked up to an IV and rushed to the hospital for dehydration as soon as they got back to the U.S., which caused them to have to rewrite some of that week's TV. The shows were a big success, drawing large crowds, but most of the wrestlers said afterwards that they never want to go back.
Notes from Raw: the newly reunited Dudleys challenged for the tag titles. This wasn't planned, since most people feel it's too soon for them to be going for the titles already, but it was a last-minute re-write due to Booker T not being available. The first hour of the show was written around that match and a bunch of backstage skits featuring Booker T & Goldust which had to be scrapped. Match was an overbooked mess, with multiple re-starts due to Eric Bischoff's new rule enforcer, Val Venis (now using his real name Sean Morley). Dudleys stole Christian and Chris Jericho's clothes backstage and threw them out to the crowd and also revealed a jar of "ass cream" in one of their bags. Dave says he flipped over to Monday Night Football during this to see how that game was going because otherwise, he would have split his gut laughing at this masterful attempt at humor (sarcastic, Raw-reviewing Dave is the best. This used to be how he reviewed Nitro near the end and I've missed it). There were also a bunch of jokes about Jericho and Christian experiencing "shrinkage." Christ, Vince McMahon has the sense of humor of a 12-year-old. Elsewhere in the show, Hurricane hit a shining wizard on somebody and Jim Ross actually called the move by name. This has been a running joke throughout the 2002 Observers about how WWE wrestlers have started using that move (stolen from Great Muta) and none of the announcers ever called it by name or even seemed to know what it was. So with JR finally calling it by name, Dave says, "so that storyline has concluded." Batista (no longer Dave) is being managed by Ric Flair now. Rico is no longer an effeminate hair dresser and is now being booked as a tough guy, which the crowd is not buying. And first thing they did after giving him this gimmick change was have him lose clean as a sheet to Goldust in 3 minutes. And main event was Shawn Michaels vs. RVD in what was regarded as something of a dream match by a lot of fans. When ECW was around, "Shawn Michaels vs. RVD" was always the WWF/ECW interpromotional match fans wanted. Well, we got it and....it was a disappointment. It was Michaels' first match on Raw in almost 5 years. It was good, but nowhere near what people were hoping for.
Notes from Smackdown tapings for next week: Bull Buchanan is now known as B-Squared and is teaming with John Cena. Tazz had a family emergency and had to pull out of the show at the last minute, leading WWE to put Ernest "The Cat" Miller in his place doing commentary. This show hasn't aired yet as of press time, but those who heard the live feed say Miller was horrendous, didn't know any of the characters or storylines, and Michael Cole had to prep him on everything during each commercial break. Stephanie McMahon suspended Brock Lesnar for his actions last week, even using the "I didn't screw Lesnar. Lesnar screwed Lesnar" line. Keep that in mind next time WWE claims Bret Hart is the one who won't move on from the Screwjob. Stephanie also made a bunch of period references at some point in the show, claiming it was that time of the month and she was being visited by her Aunt Flo, who visits her monthly. Kurt Angle, playing his goofy dork role, acted like he didn't know what she was talking about. Dave is already dreading watching this show. This, yet again, reeks of Vince McMahon 12-year-old "humor." Scott Steiner pinched Nidia's ass, because sexual assault is hilarious, and this led to Jamie Noble getting obliterated by Steiner. Guerreros vs. Angle/Benoit was good but otherwise, this sounds like a dreadful show.
Notes from this week's Smackdown: this one was a good show. Mysterio/Noble was short but awesome finish. Guerreros complained about an unsafe working environment, leading Dave to talk about the Shawn Michaels/Bret Hart backstage fight in 1997 that led to Shawn briefly claiming he was quitting because WWF was an unsafe work environment. Paul Heyman cut a great promo about Lesnar. They had a backstage segment where you could see Raw announcer JR in the background and Dave says this never would have happened a year ago, but quality control and attention to detail went out the window when WCW died. Edge vs. Big Show in the main event for the title felt like Edge being a sacrificial lamb in the Lesnar feud and exposed Edge as not quite being ready for main events.
Various WWE notes: American Dragon, Paul London, and Michael Shane are all working dark matches at TV tapings next week. In regards to DDP's recent release, he was planning on returning to the ring against doctor's orders, but Vince McMahon made the call to listen to the doctors, who said DDP could be risking paralysis if he wrestles again. So Vince won't let him wrestle anymore and they mutually agreed on his contract release afterward. Undertaker's wife gave birth to a baby girl this week.
Dave reviews the recent episode of Tough Enough and there's something pretty interesting here in retrospect. One of the contestants, Nick, had a bicep injury and went to the doctor for it. The doctor told him he had a partially torn bicep and to take a couple of weeks off to rest the injury and Nick followed the doctor's advice and did just that. As a result, the WWE trainers felt he could never make it in pro wrestling because he refused to work through the injury. They all pretty much treated him like a pussy and he ended up getting cut from the show because of it. Gee, maybe he should just take a handful of pain pills like everyone else and end up dead at 40. This fucking company, I swear.... anyway, Bill DeMott, who is on record saying he's had so many concussions that doctors have told him he's risking permanent brain damage, was one of the most appalled at Nick refusing to wrestle with the injury because Bill DeMott is an asshole.
Jim Ross in his Ross Report on WWE.com talked openly about wanting Steve Austin to return but said he needs to get his marriage issues straightened out first. In regards to Chyna returning, JR said it would be challenging because of Triple H's relationship with Stephanie, which makes him the first person in WWE management to openly admit that Chyna is basically blackballed from the company so long as those 2 are together. He also said he wants Goldberg to come in, but said he's making too much money in Japan and they won't match those offers. He also point blank said Hogan was supposed to return at Survivor Series but it fell apart because he refused to job to Lesnar. He also said WWE doesn't need a 49-year-old guy who's about to qualify for AARP membership to be their top guy and Hogan basically needs to get over his ego and know his place in the business at this point in his career. He also said they would love to have Ken Shamrock back, but only if he's committed to WWE full time, which has always been the hold-up.