March 15, 2004
- Rob Feinstein, the founder and owner of Ring of Honor, was caught this week in a sting operation by the Philadelphia NBC news affiliate targeted at exposing pedophiles. Whew lord, this one's about to get messy. Feinstein, who built RF Video into the leading wrestling tape company in the U.S. on the back of selling ECW videos, was caught on March 3rd by WCAU-TV in Philly when he showed up to a house to meet with someone who he believed was a 14-year-old boy that he had been talking to online. When Feinstein showed up at the door, he was greeted by news cameras and promptly sprinted back to his $70,000 Lexus and fled the scene. According to Gabe Sapolsky, booker of ROH, Feinstein is gone from ROH and will never be back. ROH commentator Ray Morrow (real name Doug Gentry) has been named as CEO and President of both ROH and RF Video going forward, with claims that Gentry has purchased all of Feinstein's ownership from him, but some are suspicious of that (more on that in a sec). Feinstein supposedly owned 100% of RF Video, which is expected to undergo a name change very soon (never did. Still RFVideo to this day). He also owned 51% of Ring of Honor. The company has hired a crisis management team to help deal with the issue. ROH itself has never made much profit, usually just breaking even, while the small profits are made on the RFVideo sales of ROH shows on DVD.
- It's an interesting situation because the news outlet worked with a website called perverted-justice.com which is a vigilante anti-pedophile site that does these sting operations but often without police involvement. As a result, even though the site has gotten a lot of publicity for these things, there has never been a conviction resulting from any of their stings and few cases ever even led to charges. That seems to be the case here, as police in Philadelphia were unaware of this sting operation ahead of time and there were many locally that were upset that this sting was happening in their area, and that the TV station was luring pedophiles to their neighborhood so close to an elementary school without police being notified. The city DA is looking into seeing if the TV station broke any laws. The local school board lashed out at the news station, claiming they acted irresponsibly and endangered the children in the community by running the sting. FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi spoke on the topic, saying these stings don't help law enforcement because they can't use the evidence if it's not gathered in a legal way. In response to the publicity, WCAU-TV said they're turning over all the footage they shot to the police to investigate and determine if they can charge Feinstein with anything.
- On the ROH side, pretty much all of the talent has pledged to continue working for ROH, assuming Feinstein is really gone. But some of the other names who occasionally work with them, not so much. Bobby Heenan, who was scheduled for several shows in the coming months, immediately pulled out of the company, which kills Sapolsky's plans for a Heenan vs. Cornette manager's feud he was planning to book (and which Cornette was said to be super excited about). Low-Ki, Abyss, and Roddy Piper have also pulled out of future ROH bookings as a result. Mostly though, ROH is extremely worried about losing AJ Styles, who is their most popular star. Styles was said to be on the fence about continuing to work with ROH, especially since he has a higher-profile gig in TNA and is also a devout Christian. But he finally decided to stick with ROH, noting, "I am aware that some priests and preachers have been accused of similar activity, but that does not mean I will not go to church. Church is not about the preacher, but the people." No matter what happens, this is a stigma that's going to take a long time to wash off the company.
- And of course, there's always questions about whether Feinstein is really gone from ROH. Pretty much all of the roster has said they would never work for any promotion Feinstein is involved with, but the eternal truth about wrestling is that there's always people willing to look the other way if they can make money. Dave runs down other promotional scandals. WWF and the ring boy scandal in the early 90s, K-1 and its recent tax evasion scandals, WWC after Bruiser Brody's murder, etc. and the lesson here is that generally, fans will support a promotion they like that entertains them, regardless of what they feel about its owner (*ahem*).
- Several wrestlers commented on it publicly but Samoa Joe has been the most outspoken. The current ROH champion posted this online after the story broke: "Rob, please do not allow yourself to ever enter my sight. My anger for you and your actions far surpass anyone or anything imaginable. Your heinous, terrible acts are beyond excuse and explanation. Your shame is yours alone, and forced upon us by your arrogance and lies. Though others formerly close to you are holding their tongue and focusing their efforts on salvaging what your sick, self and stupid actions have caused, I have the luxury of telling you that I hope you get exactly what you deserve. My gut instinct tells me I hope you are found one morning without breath, but in reality, as a decent human being, unlike you, I hope you find some help for your sickness." BASED JOE.
- For what it's worth, Feinstein's only statement on the matter was brief:** "It is with deep regret that I step down as partner of Ring of Honor, Inc. and President of RF Video, Inc. Due to recent allegations that have been lodged against me, it is in the best interest of both companies that until these allegations are resolved that I step down to avoid tarnishing the excellent reputation that has been built over the years of both companies." Perverted-Justice.com published a 17-page transcript of chat logs that Feinstein had (using the screen name RFWrestling, come on bro) with what he believed was a 14-year-old boy. In the chat, Feinstein claimed to be a wrestler who works for PWG, which is a Los Angeles-based indie. He admitted to homosexual tendencies even though he said he acts straight publicly, and when told the boy was 14, he responded, "I'll pretend you said 18." At one point, he asked if the person he was chatting with was a cop and got really paranoid and started to pull away, and the sting operation people had to work hard to reel him back to the conversation.
- And finally, we wrap this up with what pretty much amounts to an obituary for Rob Feinstein, who's days in wrestling may as well be dead. Started in the business dubbing bootleg tapes and, being based in Philadelphia, he became ECW's primary tape distributor, RF Video pioneered "shoot interviews", and when ECW folded and wrestling's popularity declined, he founded ROH to keep his tape business afloat, hired Gabe Sapolsky to book it, and the rest is history. Dave is pretty disgusted by this, but he also says it doesn't surprise him. This kind of behavior has been rampant in the wrestling industry for decades, with Dave noting how in southern territories, hooking up with underage "ring rats" was considered a perk of the job by a lot of those guys. The only surprise is that it was Feinstein, who Dave never would have suspected.
- Anyway, we're gonna hear plenty more of this in the coming weeks. But for now, here's the only real news footage I can find about the incident, although I know there's more in-depth video out there if you wanna dig into this whole story:
- Former WWF star Hercules passed away this past week at age 47, adding yet another name to the insanely long list of wrestlers who continue to drop dead in their 40s. He basically disappeared from the business in the 90s. Shortly before his own death, Road Warrior Hawk ran into him and noted that Hercules looked to be in rough shape. He had gained a bunch of weight and lost all his teeth and was bouncing around from job-to-job, completely divorced from the wrestling business. He left behind a wife and 6 kids. Prelim cause of death is heart attack but toxicology results are pending. Hercules lived the same lifestyle and did all the same steroids his contemporaries did and he was reportedly concerned for his health after seeing so many fellow wrestlers die at around the same age. Dave runs down his life and career, starting out in the Florida promotions, Mid South, getting fired for a real-life backstage fight with Wahoo McDaniel which then led to his getting signed by WWF, where he worked all up and down the card, Power & Glory with Paul Roma, but eventually disappeared when the company started phasing out all the obvious steroid freaks followed by brief runs in WCW and NJPW (where he and Scott Norton won the IWGP tag titles), and that was it. His wife is quoted here saying he was pretty much lost after wrestling and didn't know anything else and his last decade or so was spent just trying to find a purpose again, while also dealing with lots of health issues. He also lost all the money he made during his glory years so he was pretty much broke at the time of his death. Attention future wrestlers: save your money and invest wisely. Those later years when you're old and hurt and can't work anymore are longer than you think they'll be.
- Hey that was all pretty horrible, let's talk about something else, shall we?! It's widely expected that Wrestlemania will be Goldberg's last match, but it's looking possible that it may be Brock Lesnar's as well. Over the past week, Lesnar and Vince McMahon have had some issues and Lesnar has now been removed from all bookings after Wrestlemania. There were rumors (unconfirmed at press time) that Lesnar gave his notice at the 3/9 Smackdown tapings and plans to quit the company after Wrestlemania. There's also been reports that he's interested in trying out for the NFL for this coming season (something Lesnar has said for years that he would have pursued if he hadn't joined WWE). Dave thinks he has the size and athletic ability for sure, but he's never played any college football, so without the technique and skill that experienced football players have, Lesnar making it in the NLF is a longshot. But it's not impossible. There's a lot of issues with Lesnar in his personal life right now, due mostly to him being burned out on the grueling travel schedule. His post-WM plans called for a feud with Undertaker, who will be returning to his deadman gimmick and will likely be going over strong on everyone. Dave notes that Lesnar's entire WWE career has been upward momentum towards making him a top star. But in recent months, he jobbed to Eddie Guerrero (with no plans for a follow-up) and he was expected to put over Undertaker afterward. A lot of wrestlers who come from real athletic backgrounds have a problem with losing in pro wrestling, unable to separate reality from entertainment (Dave notes Kurt Angle is the exception to this, as he totally understands that it's all about entertainment) and implies that Lesnar wasn't happy with what he may have perceived as stagnation and that his Superman booking wasn't going to last forever. Especially since his matches with Undertaker would basically involve Taker no-selling everything (as is the Deadman gimmick). He also hasn't been thrilled to be flying all over the world just to have nothing matches with Bob Holly in recent months (as it turns out, pretty much every word of this ended up being accurate. More next week).
- Goldberg, meanwhile, has pitched an idea of he and Austin working a PPV match against each other, on their own. Like, outside of WWE, they put the show together themselves, book the rest of the show around it, and face each other in the main event and thus they get to keep the guaranteed millions of dollars that such a match would generate without WWE taking the bulk of it. Dave thinks this is unlikely because Vince is never going to let Austin go unless they have a major falling out, and he doesn't think Austin would give up a lifetime gig with WWE just to fuck over Vince and score a quick payday. Plus, we're about 5 years past the peak of when Austin vs. Goldberg would have been the biggest. It would still be a strong match, but without WWE promoting it and a weekly TV show to build it, he's not sure how successful it would actually be. Plus, WWE would probably try to sabotage it somehow.
- Vampiro walked out of a match in CMLL and reportedly won't be brought back. I guess he was defending the NWA light heavyweight title (which he has, I guess) against Black Warrior when he decided he didn't like the planned finish. So he just....left the ring. He was expected to drop the title, but the match was ruled a no contest and he left with the belt (nah, he returns almost immediately and continues working there regularly. Suspect Dave got something wrong here).
- Hey remember how Shinya Hashimoto's shoulder is all messed up and he finally did an angle last week to write himself out for awhile? Well, Zero-One held its first show without him and yikes. They got less than 1,000 people in the building. So, to no one's surprise, Hashimoto is back on the booking sheets for the next tour and is expected to work every show. "He's going to be crippled soon," Dave says.
- Rey Misterio Sr. and El Hijo del Santo got into a backstage fight this week. "Both should be old enough by now to know better," says Dave. Apparently Santo hit Misterio Sr. with a chair a little harder than he should have during their match. Backstage, they argued about it and it led to Misterio Sr. laying Santo out with one punch and then kicking him while he was on the ground. Blue Demon Jr. tried to break it up but then Psicosis (who's mentor is Misterio Sr.) prevented him from doing so, which allowed Misterio Sr. to get several more kicks in before others finally got involved. Dave says it's well known Misterio Sr. has a hot temper and it doesn't help that El Hijo del Santo isn't very well-liked by a lot of his peers because they feel Santo acts like he's above everyone else because he makes so much more money than the rest of them. So it sounds like some people weren't too sad to see him get the shit beaten out of him.
- Kevin Nash has been telling people that, after poking around the indie scene for a minute to see what was out there, he has no interest and is very negative on the idea of working indies. Unless they strike a deal with HUSTLE, it's very possible we won't be seeing Nash or Hall in a ring anytime soon.
- TNA this week was nearly a packed house, and yet again, it was because ICP was back this week. They did a run-in at one point but their match was saved for the end of the show, after the PPV was over, like they were Hulk Hogan working a dark match after the tapings. A sign was confiscated that someone brought which said "I came to watch wrestling, not rapping clowns or Survivor losers" so ICP isn't popular with all of TNA's fans.
- Juventud Guerrera annoyed several of his fellow TNA wrestlers with some backstage complaining. He and the 3 other AAA guys were scheduled for a 4 vs. 4 elimination match against Team Canada. It was booked so that Guerrera would be eliminated first, to sell the story of Team AAA fighting without their captain and biggest star. Guerrera complained loudly that fans would leave if he got eliminated because he's the biggest star and nobody knows who his other 3 partners are. Needless to say, that opinion didn't endear him to his partners (Abismo Negro, Hector Garza, & Mr. Aguila). He still went out and did it and the match went along as planned, but between this and the incident a little while back with Jerry Lynn, Guerrera isn't making friends.
- So last week's TNA show had Lex Luger returning to help Abyss win the tag team titles on his own. The idea is that Abyss would reveal his new partner and it was heavily implied to be Luger, but that evidently fell through. Whoever the next person was gonna be also fell through. Yes, they booked Abyss to have the tag titles with a mystery partner without actually having a mystery person signed. So anyway, this week, they just pivoted and stripped Abyss of the tag titles because of Luger's interference last week, rendering the whole thing pointless. Luger's per-match fee is $5000 and TNA balked at that. They did pay him $2500 for his brief run-in last week and now he doesn't appear to be coming back at all.
- Because the Fox Sports Net people were there, everyone in TNA was told to tone down the bad language. When B.G. James cut a promo saying "Let's do the damn thing!" he was forced to redo it and say "darn thing" instead. Dave would like to point out that FSN's signature prime time show is literally called "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" so this was probably unnecessary.
- Vince McMahon did an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. When asked about WCW, he said, said they had more money but WWE had a better understanding of the business and better work ethic and that's why they won, but he was still surprised when they shut down and he was able to buy it. "I didn't think that would ever happen," he said. He complained about the World Wildlife Fund, saying that the original deal they signed in 1994 (in which Vince agreed not to use the WWF initials outside of North America) was something Vince felt he was strong-armed into signing under threat of a lawsuit at the time and thus it was signed under duress. Dave says that's not how "under duress" works but, in Vince's world, that was apparently reason enough for him to feel justified in flagrantly violating the agreement, and he continues to feel like he did nothing wrong. Of course, every court that heard the case strongly disagreed. Vince said he doesn't buy into the idea that the wrestling business is cyclical. Somebody better tell Linda McMahon to stop saying that on all the investor calls then. When asked about the tape library, he talked about the options of a TV channel or video-on-demand service. When asked about the Bob Costas interview and whether it was a work or shoot, Vince said shoot. That really was him. He felt they were trying to paint him as the bad guy "and sometimes I don't disappoint them." And as far as WWE Studios, they have a movie called "The Anvil" in the works (no idea) as well as a horror movie for Kane (eventually becomes "See No Evil") and finally, a movie called "The Marine." That one is expected to star Steve Austin (later becomes Cena's first film).
- Plans for the Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Benoit Wrestlemania match were originally to do a ladder match but that has been scrapped and will likely take place at the Backlash PPV instead (nope again). Michaels worked rare house show matches this week alongside the other 2 to work out spots and try some stuff out and reports are that the matches were good.
- Bob Backlund originally agreed to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year but has since pulled out. No reason given but Dave says there are a lot of people who are pretty upset about Pete Rose being given an honorary induction. Dave says a lot of the guys he's talked to were really into the honor but feel differently about it now that Rose is going in. WWE had a chance to make a real, respectable Hall of Fame, and they feel Rose's induction proves that it's just another marketing gimmick for WWE (yup).
- Notes from 3/8 Raw: kind of a weird show. Honestly feels like the build for Wrestlemania peaked last week and that they were just treading water on this go-home show. They also rushed through a lot of the matches, as if they were deathly afraid that someone would get hurt before Wrestlemania. Todd Grisham, the new announcer, debuted. He looks like a skinner version of Dean Cain. John Hennigan was on again and this week his name was changed to Johnny Spade (he goes through like half a dozen names at this point). They did a "This is your life" segment but this time it was Rock doing it for Foley. Jimmy Snuka was out there and some old lady that Rock was making sex jokes about and they eventually told Snuka to take the lady to the Holiday Inn. Dave wonders if Snuka should be taking women to hotels. Anyway, that's about it.
- Randy Orton suffered "yet another" concussion over the weekend, to the point that he was dizzy and throwing up afterwards. But he still worked Raw the next day, although he didn't do much. He pulled out of the other weekend house shows as well as an OVW main event match he was scheduled to work as well.
- Howard Stern said on his show that Vince McMahon asked him about doing something at Wrestlemania but he turned it down because they couldn't come up with anything entertaining. WWE has approached Stern many times over the years and he always turns it down. Vince apparently asked Stern what he would want to do and Stern responded saying he doesn't spend his days thinking about ideas he can do on a wrestling show. That's your job to come up with, Vince. Stern also wanted huge money and Vince only wanted to pay $5-10k, to which Stern said he'd need a lot more than $5k to "lower himself to doing a wrestling event."
- Random WWE news and notes: Rock's contract expires in 2005; As a rib, somebody poured a bucket of water on Stevie Richards backstage, but he ended up slipping in the water and legitimately suffering injuries; Charlie Haas got a cracked tooth that went to the nerve and was extremely painful from a JBL clothesline; Kenzo Suzuki debuted for WWE beating Nick Dinsmore in a dark match at Raw and looked terrible.
- Nikita in OVW was cut from her WWE developmental deal. She's still working directly with OVW to finish out her remaining dates, but she's no longer under a WWE deal. It was a surprise to a lot of people, since she had become a fixture in OVW and there had been talk of bringing her up to the main roster several times (specifically as Torrie Wilson's evil stepsister at one point). The word is apparently she had a "WWE body" but not a "WWE face" and they think Alexis Laree (Mickie James) is more attractive and that seems to pretty much be the gist of it. Gotta love the John Laurinaitis years, huh? Anyway, after 2 years in developmental, she was as ready as she was ever going to be and Dave thought the act with her and Magnus (the future Muhammad Hassan) was good enough to be on the main roster and he's shocked they cut her.
- Hulk Hogan did an interview with Bill Apter and complained about not being called by WWE for Wrestlemania this year. Dave suspects Hogan's flirtations with TNA in recent months were actually just an attempt to get WWE to bring him back, but Vince didn't take the bait this time.