December 08, 2003
- The Jerry Lawler birthday show held at the Mid-South Coliseum was supposed to be a celebration of Memphis nostalgia, but instead turned tragic when Larry Booker, better known as Moondog Spot, died in the ring during a match at age 51. Unbeknownst to many who knew him, Spot had been suffering from diabetes for several years and was very overweight going into the match. The match was billed as a Concession Stand Brawl, which is something the Moondogs made famous decades ago. In this instance, a small table of concessions was set up in the ring and the wrestlers (it was a four-team match so 8 guys in the ring) used the concessions as weapons. At one point during the match, Moondog Spot collapsed in the corner. At first they thought he was selling but soon, the wrestlers realized something was amiss and they rushed to a finish as paramedics hit the ring and 911 was called. CPR was performed and several wrestlers, Lawler included, came out from the locker room to survey the scene. Spot was taken out on a stretcher and intermission was called. He was later rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead. Fans and wrestlers alike didn't know Spot's condition and the show continued after intermission but during the main event, word got back to the arena that he had passed. After the match, an announcement was made over the PA system and everyone came out to the ring for a 10-bell salute.
- So now it's time for my story: I was at this show. In fact, I was right near the ring. Some friends and I went and our seats were right alongside the aisle about 5-6 rows back. The match in question was a glorified food fight, just a bunch of slow old dudes hitting each other with bags of popcorn and hot dog buns and whatnot. We actually noticed Moondog Spot laying in the corner before anyone in the ring did and we started joking that he was sleeping because he wasn't doing anything. Needless to say, we were horrified a few seconds later, when everyone realized something was wrong and the match came to a very sudden stop and it was panic. I remember there was a scaffold match booked for later in the night and they had to get several people to help carefully move the scaffold to get the stretcher over to the right side of the ring where Spot was laying. When they eventually got him out of the ring, they sprinted up the aisle pushing the stretcher right past us. I remember vividly that his face was completely blue. They announced an intermission that lasted for probably 30-45 minutes and we were in the concourse area and everyone was kinda stunned. I remember seeing a group of people (some kids and a woman) and they were crying and rushing through the crowd at one point. Always assumed that was his family. And then yeah, basically what Dave said. The show went on, but it felt pretty weird the rest of the night. And then at the end, after the main event, they got on the house mic and told us he'd passed away. Ten bell salute and then everyone just sorta left the building quietly. Anyway, here's a video that has some local news coverage with clips from that show.
- WATCH: Local Memphis news coverage of Moondog Spot's passing - 2003
- Mick Foley returned to Raw as new co-GM in a deal that was just put together a couple days ago. This will lead to Foley sticking around and setting up some sort of Wrestlemania angle. Foley has talked recently about working with Triple H on the show, but has been told they have different plans for him. Last Dave has heard, it's expected Foley will feud with Randy Orton, leading to Foley coming out of retirement for a match against him.
- We take a look at how house show business has changed over the years. House shows used to be WWE's main source of income. Now it's a distant 3rd behind television fees and PPV revenue. House show attendance now at the end of 2003 is down 70% from its peak in 1999-2000 but because of higher ticket prices, they're usually still profitable. WWE still runs a full house show schedule but fans are conditioned to believe they don't matter. Vince is vehemently against title changes at house shows to change that perception. Other ideas have been pitched but no one ever seems to stick to an idea and things always ends up falling by the wayside and house show business keeps declining. This all leads into Dave reviewing a recent WWE house show he went to, as well as a Smackdown TV taping, and it's not newsworthy, it's just Dave Reviews Wrestling.
- TNA management are privately starting to question whether Hulk Hogan will ever work for the promotion. There were always people concerned when Hogan kept putting off signing a contract and then were extremely skeptical of his choosing to get knee surgery when he did. Hogan also avoided making any appearance on TNA TV to shoot an injury angle to explain the PPV delay, or even to do a telephone interview. He reportedly keeps coming back to TNA with excuses that didn't hold water as to why he couldn't or wouldn't commit to anything. Jimmy Hart, who has been working on finding a venue for the proposed show, continues to insist everything is fine and TNA officials are overreacting to Hogan's hesitancy. TNA officials say Hogan has stopped returning phone calls in the last week. They did an angle with Jarrett this week that allows him to move on from what they've been teasing, but leaves the door open in case Hogan does end up showing up, but right now, they're not holding their breath. There's some who feel Hogan is trying not to commit to anything because he's hopeful of getting back into WWE so he can do something at Wrestlemania 20.
- We get an in-depth look at the history of a few companies over the past 10 years: ECW, UFC, Pancrase, Michinoku Pro, and K-1 all launched in 1993. A decade later, ECW is the only one that didn't survive, and all of them have had large impacts on the industry in various ways. This gives Dave a chance to basically recap the history of each of those companies. It's interesting because, since 1993, very few startups have come along since that had anything near the impact. In America, TNA, ROH, and MLW are the most successful startups in the past decade and none of them have proven as influential as ECW or UFC have been. In Japan, things are a bit different. They've seen PRIDE, Zero-One, and NOAH come along. PRIDE has been a big success and NOAH is strong right now, but PRIDE was walking in the footsteps those 1993 companies paved, while NOAH is an extension of the old AJPW. (this is all fun and interesting, except for the fact that Dave is off by one year for Michinoku Pro: it was founded in 1992).
- Juventud Guerrera did an interview saying his goal is to get to WWE because "they pay a lot of money and you don't have to work very hard." Dave doesn't think that will endear him to WWE.
- Over in NOAH, the NJPW tag team of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata won the GHC tag team titles from Kenta Kobashi and Tamon Honda. This ends Kobashi's double title reign (he's still GHC world champ) and makes Tanahashi a double-tag champ (he also co-holds the IWGP tag titles with Yuaka Yoshie).
- WATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuji Nagata vs. Kenta Kobashi & Tamon Honda - NOAH (2003)
- Jonny Fairplay is on Survivor this season and got a lot of publicity when he and another contestant "worked a grandmother's death angle" on the rest of the cast. Have I mentioned before how much I love wrestling lingo in real world situations? Anyway, Fairplay is still hoping this will turn into a WWE gig, but they have yet to call. Don't hold your breath.
- MLW is debuting in Philadelphia next month and all of the other Philly promotions are seemingly banding together to fight them. ROH and JAPW are holding a joint show the same night less than an hour away. Christopher Daniels pulled out of the MLW show to do the ROH/JAPW show and other talents are being pressured not to work MLW's show.
- An indie show in New York saw a reunion of ECW's Triple Threat, consisting of Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Chris Candido, managed by Tammy Sytch. And it also featured a main event of Raven vs. Al Snow that went 48 fucking minutes. Dude.
- Most of the charges against Afa Anoa'i Jr. have been dropped, stemming from a robbery-gone-wrong in August where an elderly woman was stabbed. Anoa'i Jr. was charged with being the getaway driver but claimed he had no idea what the other 2 people were doing inside the house. The only charge still pending against him now is for receiving stolen property. In exchange, he's apparently going to testify against his co-defendants, who have NOT had their charges dropped.
- Even though TNA management is giving up hope on the Hogan deal happening, there's still no plans to bring back Vince Russo in a booking role. Jeff Jarrett and Russo have wildly different views on what wrestling should be, and Dutch Mantel is doing the bulk of it now. That being said, Jarrett does love Russo as an on-air character and he may still come back in that role, assuming the Hogan thing completely falls apart. Russo is still being paid by the company as of now.
- Despite news articles popping up everywhere claiming that Trish Stratus is playing Sonya Blade in the new Mortal Kombat movie, there's no truth to that whatsoever. But it would be awesome. Alas, this is just a rumor someone made up simply because Trish does the scissor flip move.
- Sable has been teasing something new with Playboy coming up soon (indeed, she and Torrie Wilson will be in Playboy together early in 2004).
- Jimmy Snuka Jr. wrestled a dark match under the name Solo. Keep in mind that the Snukas are part of the Anoa'i family tree by marriage. WE GOT TWO SOLOS!!!