July 21, 2003
- Man, was 2003 just a slow ass year or what? This week's top story is more history! This time we're looking at the top major event draws of all time. Basically, wrestlers who have headlined shows that verifiably drew 30,000 or more. In case you're wondering, Shinya Hashimoto, Hulk Hogan, Keiji Muto, and Genichiro Tenryu are all tied for first place with 11 each. And then the next dozen guys are all Japanese wrestlers and then you start getting into your Flairs and Goldbergs and Rocks. Dave says this by no means is a ranking of the top draws of all time. The list skews Japanese because they don't rely on big PPV gates. When business is hot, they blow off big angles and dream matches at stadium shows. The logistics of the culture, the country, the promotion, it's all different. That's not to dispute how impressive the figures still are though. Anyway, from here on it's a bunch of stuff about Strangler Lewis and Londos and O'Connor and the big Wrestlemania shows and the Tokyo Dome shows and all the rest. Again, all very interesting history, but ya know...
- IWA, the one company on the planet that has somehow bucked the trend of the global wrestling collapse, held one of the biggest shows in its history in San Juan this week, drawing more than 11,000 fans. It was such a legit sellout that they stopped selling tickets before the show and had to call in police to handle crowd control and send the overflow fans home. Local police estimated more than 6,000 fans were turned away and, hours into the show, an estimated 800 fans rushed the gates and got into the building without paying. So yeah....hot ticket! I wonder if a young Bad Bunny was an IWA fan around this time? Prior to the show, a lighting technician fell and hurt his neck and had to be carried out by paramedics. Ray Gonzalez retained the IWA title over Apolo in a face vs. face match with Invader I as the special referee.
- WATCH: Ray Gonzalez vs. Apolo - IWA 2003
- Dave looks at some recent business numbers for attendances, ratings, gates, etc. The big story is that the decline has leveled out. WWE is still absolutely in decline, but it's a steady and stable slow decline now, instead of an uncontrolled tumble from the top of the mountain. So.....yay I guess? It's also beginning to show that there's no real draw on either brand. Raw and Smackdown are basically doing similar numbers and no matter who appears on TV or is advertised to be at house shows, numbers are generally the same. "WWE" is the draw now, not any of the individual stars. Which is what Vince has always wanted.
- Shinya Hashimoto is out injured and it's apparent that his Zero-ONE promotion is in trouble without him. He spent so long working through injuries and it finally all caught up to him. Meanwhile, the promotion canceled one show due to low ticket sales and put less than 900 people into Korakuen Hall. Hashimoto is scheduled to defend the AJPW Triple Crown title against Toshiaki Kawada next week and as of press time, no one knows what the plan is there. If he works the match, he pretty much has to drop the title. Hashimoto is strongly fighting the likelihood that he'll need to vacate the title, but sometimes, that's just what has to happen. Dave thinks it would be insane for him to do the match because he saw Hashimoto in his last tag match and he could barely move (common sense prevails in this case and he actually does vacate the belt instead of trying to wrestle).
- Speaking of Zero-ONE, Samoa Joe is coming back in a few months and they're also talking to CM Punk about coming in with him (Punk does indeed end up working 8 shows for Zero-ONE. It's the only shows he ever worked in Japan other than when he went with WWE years later).
- Just a random note from the latest NOAH show: Dave says KENTA is the best young wrestler in the entire business today. He wasn't wrong.
- Hulk Hogan is still making noise about working in Japan. Nikkan Sports weekly had a story about Hogan vs. Takayama possibily happening, based on pretty much nothing at all. Takayama said he would be willing to do the match. At this point, there's nothing to it, although Hogan once said he would be glad to lose to Takayama when he was negotiating with Wrestle-1 earlier this year, so it's not impossible.
- Ring of Honor is expecting to hold its largest show ever in Queens this week. It's scheduled to be headlined by Samoa Joe vs. Paul London for the ROH title. It almost didn't happen. London was recently signed by WWE (more on that in a bit) and WWE almost pulled him from the show after it had already been advertised. After some discussions through Tom Prichard, WWE agreed to let London work the show as his final indie appearance.
- Dave has thoughts on ROH in general. He thinks the character work has gotten great lately, everyone has a defined personality, but without TV, it's hard to get over. For example, he thinks CM Punk's straight edge gimmick is great and says he's a better talker than most people in TNA and a lot of people in WWE. And then Dave drops this epic gem: "Unfortunately, his size will prevent him from being anything more than a manager role in WWE."
- San Antonio TV newscaster Dan Cook is retiring and Dave tells a funny story. Apparently in the 60s, Fritz Von Erich was being interviewed by Cook and put the iron claw on him. Cook, not knowing what was going on, put his own claw on Fritz's testicles. Apparently, Fritz let go first and they still play the clip on TV from time to time as a historic moment in the local news there. Gonna need someone to find this video. I looked and I couldn't find it, but I saw lots of people talking about it and there seems to be different interpretations of what happened.
- Mick Foley did an interview with The Sun and was asked why wrestlers always say they're going to retire and never do. Foley's answer was fantastic: "Yeah, usually wrestlers are forced out of the business kicking and screaming, and I think that's because quite simply, we love it. Let's face it, the pop of the crowd can be addictive. Sometimes I wish I was a guy like Test, who's never heard the pop of a crowd, as retirement would be so much easier."
- TNA's current plan is to get wrestlers under contract and then book them out to other promotions when not being used by them so TNA can collect a booking fee. Jarrett is looking to book guys on indie shows as well as with IWA, Mexico, and Japan.
- Don Callis debuted at the latest TNA event, as a heel manager for NWA Wildside wrestler Iceberg to feud with Sandman. It was originally going to be Terry Funk but they couldn't agree on terms (even Terry Funk was looking at this shit-show of a company in 2003 and was like, "Nah I don't have to take every booking that comes my way"). Six way X-division match had a couple notable indie names like Matt Sydal and Delirious. AJ Styles retained the title over D-Lo Brown in a match where Vince Russo was in a dumb wood and chicken wire cage at ringside that he very obviously could have escaped from but had to pretend he couldn't. And then, at the end of the match, Trinity unlocked the cage (she had the key and apparently could have done so at any time but didn't because why bother making things make sense?) and then all the heels put D-Lo in it and then they tipped it over and Russo jumped on the cage and looked like he was dry humping it. That is your TNA recap for the week.
- Business Week ran an article on WWE's business declines this week. An interesting note is that Wall Street has lost interest in WWE stock. Brokerage firm Bear Stearns, which was involved in taking the company public, is quoted saying, "We believe the company lacks significant growth prospects in the future." Other analysts listed WWE stock as something people should start selling off and predicted further declines in 2004. WWE's CFO was quoted saying they plan to diversify into other entertainment fields. Given WWE's track record there, that should terrify investors.
- Speaking of, WWE reportedly paid a high 6-figure salary to screenwriter Alan McElroy to write a feature film for WWE Films. Dave suspects this could end up being the movie they're planning for Austin. (Sorta! McElroy's script eventually becomes the 2006 smash hit The Marine starring John Cena but that movie was indeed originally supposed to star Austin, but that's a story for the 2004 Rewinds.)
- Regarding Dana White's comments last week hinting that Vince McMahon is interested in buying UFC: Dave's sources in WWE have told him that the story is "absolute bullshit" and that interest in buying UFC "does not exist." So yeah.
- Bret Hart's website posted a response to the Montreal angle last week on Raw. Let's just paste this in its entirety, shall we?
- Regarding Shawn Michaels' comments on the 7/7 Raw from Montreal where he stated that he apologized to Bret Hart, brethart.com would like to clarify that Bret Hart has never received any apology whatsoever from Shawn Michaels. For a man who claims to have found God to outright lie to millions of people is disappointing to say the least. Then again, it really isn’t surprising when you consider that this is the same Shawn Michaels who swore to God, on videotape, right after the Survivor Series ‘97 screw job, that he wasn’t in on it, only to admit, years later, that he was in on it all along. If anyone is aware of any apology that Shawn ever made to Bret that was not part of an angle, please send us a copy. To those e-mailing us saying that Shawn apologized to Bret on Confidential, Byte This or Off The Record, actually, he did not. To say he is sorry that it had to come to that, or sorry he was part of it or sorry it had to happen is not an apology to Bret. In fact, on Confidential, Shawn said he is not sorry and would do it again. Bret never asked Shawn for an apology, anyway. And Bret or brethart.com did not bring any of this up and we wish they hadn’t either. In fact, we’re sorry they can’t seem to get over it.
- Dave has thoughts. He went back and watched Shawn's Off The Record interview and says you can interpret Shawn's comments either way. He danced around whether he would do it again, before seemingly saying he would if he was forced to. But he reiterated that he's a born-again Christian and didn't seem comfortable about it even considering being put in that situation again. He also said he would like to meet with Bret and would ask for his forgiveness if they ever talked. But he didn't actually apologize on the show and saying he would do it again if he had to probably doesn't help.
- So that was the website statement. Hart himself also responded in his Calgary Sun column, again noting that Shawn has never apologized to him but mostly laying the blame at Vince. He said he and Vince McMahon had a personal agreement not to take shots at each other and leave this Montreal shit in the past, so Bret wasn't thrilled about this most recent Raw episode. "How could he think that I can interpret it as anything but another slap in the face? Why is it so important to him try and minimize what happened five-and-a-half years ago? I thought it was disgraceful last Monday how the WWE insulted the wrestling fans in Montreal, who happen to be some of the greatest fans the sport has ever seen. I was particularly disappointed in Jerry Lawler, who came off like a sleazy carny barker trying to convince them that they are stupid for caring about some silly little thing that happened so long ago–and attempting to manipulate them and the viewers at home into believing Montreal is the only place where anyone even thinks about the screw job at Survivor Series ‘97 anymore."
- Mick Foley's second home in Navarre, FL was destroyed by a fire last week. The damage was so severe that investigators said they'll probably never be able to determine the cause other than it started in the attic and didn't seem to be suspicious or anything. Foley had already moved out of the home and has been living in Long Island but hadn't yet sold it. He bought it in 1997 and it was listed for sale when it burned (so we all agree Foley couldn't flip the house and decided to torch it and cash out on the insurance, right?)
- WWE road agent Terry Taylor was released as a cost-cutting measure. Dave doesn't mention it but this is his 4th time being let go by WWE and he's gonna get brought back again in 2012. Dude's the Marty Jannetty of road agents.
- Goldberg was hospitalized last week in Montreal before Raw for a serious staph infection in his arm. When he got back to Atlanta the next day, he was hospitalized again to have abscesses cut out and drain infection from his arm. WWE's hopeful he'll be able to wrestle again in time for Raw this week.
- Speaking of Goldberg, they finally got him to budge. He's agreed to work 8 dates per month instead of the 6 he's contracted to do. They still want him to do more, but give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
- Triple H suffered another minor leg injury after taking a frog splash from RVD. These two have been at odds for a minute. After the 6/30 Raw, Triple H was complaining to people about RVD being reckless with his kicks. RVD got wind of this and tried to ignore it because confronting Triple H about something is basically like confronting a McMahon about something now and everyone knows it's not politically smart. But eventually, he went to Triple H and asked if they had a problem and was apparently told nope, everything's fine.
- Goldberg has signed on to voice the character Nappa in an upcoming animated Dragonball Z movie. According to Dave, Nappa is a character who is supposed to be special and powerful but in the end, gets beat by the same character who beats everyone else over and over. In totally unrelated news, Goldberg and Triple H are scheduled to work their first house show matches against each other soon.
- Notes from 7/10 Smackdown: The John Cena/Kurt Angle rap battle was one of the most entertaining non-wrestling segments they have done in years, even better than the Hogan/Vince lie detector thing a few weeks back. Cena is tremendous and Dave thinks it's going to be nearly impossible to keep him heel much longer. The Vince and Zach Gowan stuff had the audio drastically changed because apparently the crowd in Montreal booed the shit out of Zach and chanted "You screwed Bret" so loudly to Vince that he had to acknowledge it to get them to stop and then that was edited off the show.
- WATCH: Kurt Angle vs. John Cena Rap Battle - SMACKDOWN 2003
- Notes from 7/14 Raw: Lance Storm's "boring" gimmick now has the added benefit of being a losing streak gimmick as well. Look for him to headline Wrestlemania 20 next year because this gimmick can't possibly fail. Jerry Lawler, without Jim Ross to rein him in, is unbearable on commentary. La Resistance sang the French national anthem and got beat down by the Dudleys. This was supposed to be Goldberg, but the staph infection took him off the show. The Dudleys then sang the worst version of the American anthem Dave has ever heard, Rosanne Barr included. The Randy Orton megapush continued with him scoring all the falls in an elimination match against the 3 Dudleys. Teddy Long called Steve Austin a "cracker snake" and said Johnny Cochran, Snoop Dogg, or Marion Berry should be the new GM of Raw instead. Teddy might be onto something here, let's let the man cook. Snoop as full-time Raw GM would probably be amazing. And finally, Kane set Jim Ross on fire. The angle was filmed the day prior in Stamford. The original plan was for Ross to sell the injuries and stay off TV until Summerslam. Dave is horrified at the idea of Jonathan Coachman on commentary filling in for the next 6 weeks. Dave thought it was cheesy with the fake screams and it was an embarrassment to watch.
- WATCH: Kane sets Jim Ross on fire - RAW 2003
- Notes from next week's Smackdown tapings: John Hennigan from Tough Enough worked a dark match, teaming with Mark Henry to beat OVW wrestlers Travis Tomko and Horshu. Hennigan tried a few cool gymnastic spots "and hit about half of them." Carly Colon also worked a dark match against Kevin Fertig from OVW. Matt Cappotelli worked a Velocity match and looked far more advanced in-ring than Hennigan, and according to some, better than a lot of the main roster guys as well. Mysterio and Kidman beat 2 masked jobbers and apparently they were Rob Conway and Nick Dinsmore from OVW. Considering those 2 are feuding in OVW, Dave's at least happy they put them in masks to team together, but Cornette is probably blowing a gasket. More Sable/Stephanie feuding, with Vince telling Stephanie she needs to take Midol for her PMS and all that classy stuff. Vince called Zach Gowan a "sick amputee" and John Cena compared him to Christopher Reeve. Charlie Haas got his eye busted up bad by an errant kick. That's about it.
- Triple H rubbed plenty of people the wrong way during a backstage meeting. He told the whole locker room that they need to start attending the pre-show in-ring workouts before house shows, so they can practice and get to the level that he is at some day. Nobody will say it out loud for obvious reasons, but a lot of people took that as pretty condescending and several anonymously voiced the common opinion that Triple H is only locked into his top spot because of who he's engaged to. As for whether there's merit to the comment or not, Dave says it probably is a good idea for the younger wrestlers to take advantage of those workouts. But a lot of the more established guys have no interest in "taking bumps off their bump card" as Matt Hardy apparently says, and don't want to be in the ring risking unnecessary additional injury (feels like Matt Hardy mighta been the source on this one lol).
- Sylvan Grenier and Bubba Ray Dudley got into a little bit of a skirmish backstage. Grenier isn't very popular in the locker room, with a lot of guys feeling like he's nowhere near ready for the big time and is only getting his push because they needed a French guy and Grenier is close with Pat Patterson, who pushed him ahead of more talented people. During a recent match, Grenier was late making the save, forcing his partner Dupree to kick out of the Dudleys 3-D finisher. At that point, Bubba started blasting Grenier with hard shots for real as a "receipt" for messing up the spot (god I hate stupid fucking wrestling traditions like this). Backstage after the match, Bubba was still pissed but people calmed him down. Grenier, however, didn't take kindly to being walloped during the match and went and got in Bubba's face and at that point, shit hit the fan and Bubba attacked him. As usual, it was broken up quickly and everyone was forced to shake hands and apologize. There's no heat on Bubba for what he did in the ring, but they are annoyed at him for attacking Grenier, even though it was said Grenier basically got in his face and egged him on. This is your regular reminder: fuck Bubba Ray Dudley.
- Paul London has signed a developmental deal with WWE and will be starting in OVW soon. When it comes to raw talent, Paul London is probably one of the best guys that was still floating around unsigned and Dave thinks TNA made a mistake by letting him get away. They can't keep everyone, but if TNA is serious, they need to start building around some long-term stars and London would have been a good one. But alas! Also signed to a developmental deal is former WCW valet Daffney.
- When reviewing the recent OVW show, Dave gives us a peak into his life. He says his usual schedule is to watch the latest OVW show after he watches Raw on Monday nights, "so that the last wrestling I see doesn't leave me with nightmares." Anyway, he fell asleep this week while watching OVW because it was 1am and as he's dozing off, he was listening to Matt Morgan cut a promo on Mark Henry and in Dave's sleep-addled brain, he thought it was Lex Luger and then he started dreaming about a Lex Luger vs. Mark Henry match and my god, could you imagine.
- Yes, that is how we're ending this issue.