May 31, 2004
- WWE's upcoming PPV schedule looks pretty daunting. The company has 3 PPVs scheduled in a 6-week time period: 2 Raw PPVs and a Smackdown one. The Smackdown PPV (Great American Bash) is in a real tough spot, since they're going with Eddie Guerrero vs. JBL again, after it was such a buyrate-flop last time. They'll almost certainly make it some kind of stipulation match but considering Raw is doing a Hell in a Cell PPV 2 weeks beforehand, there's not many gimmicks you can add that will help. That being said, Dave gives WWE credit for working so hard to try and make a new top heel out of JBL, and also credits him for doing such a good job in the role, buyrates and ratings notwithstanding. JBL was a tag team afterthought for years and almost overnight, he was thrust into a main event role and is being counted on to carry PPVs, and he's made the best out of a bad hand. But god help that Smackdown PPV buyrate. The Raw Vengeance PPV in July may be without both Triple H and Shawn Michaels. The plan is that Triple H will be off filming his movie around that time (nah) while Shawn Michaels is wanting to take 6 weeks off around that time because his wife is due to give birth to a daughter this summer. As it stands, the tentative plan is for Benoit vs. Edge to headline Vengeance, followed by Benoit vs. Triple H at Summerslam (at which point Dave expects Triple H to win the title back).
- Latest on Kurt Angle is that he's likely not going to get another neck surgery yet. He's still rehabbing it and the plan is for him to return to the ring around Summerslam and work part-time after that. His current role as GM is to keep him on TV but the role is KILLING him as a character and Dave thinks it would be better to not have him on TV at all.
- Jerry Jarrett had a heart scare last week that resulted in his undergoing a 4+ hour quadruple bypass surgery due to multiple blockages. It happened at the Nashville Fairgrounds while he was there putting together that week's TNA PPV show. He began feeling lightheaded and fell back into a chair complaining that his heart was racing. Jimmy Hart and Bert Prentice rushed him to the hospital where they ran tests. They went ahead with the show that night and Jeff Jarrett returned from the hospital to take part in the angle he was booked for before returning to be with his dad. And from here, we get a full recap of Jerry Jarrett's life and career, which feels like an obituary, but the dude lasted another 20 years after this so maybe we shouldn't rush to eulogize him just yet.
- Chapter 2 of TNA's history begins next week when the promotion debuts on national television with Fox Sports Net, approx. 2 years after it was founded. When they first began, no one believed TNA would last 6 months, let alone 2 years. Of course, they still haven't made any money, are deep in debt, and are paying for the TV time but....they're still alive at least! It's believed the TV is costing them $15k per week, plus they have to cover the taping expenses, travel expenses for talent, etc. They DO have control of most of the advertising time during their show and can sell it as they see fit, but it's not gonna recoup most of the costs. Dave thinks the last time someone started a pro wrestling company from scratch in America and actually made a profit would be back in the 1970s (he notes that ECW and Smoky Mountain were never actually profitable, despite their popularity at times) and the business now is a far cry from what it was in the 70s. TNA is a very different product now than when it first began. Dave believes the best thing for the wrestling business is for TNA to be successful and become a viable competitor to WWE, but the odds are ridiculously stacked against them.
- TNA's TV shows will be taped in Orlando at the Universal park and it appears that the tickets will be free with park admission, so they can try to usher tourists in to watch the tapings. Gonna be really difficult to have a hot crowd that way, with fans who don't actually know the wrestlers and storylines. This is going to be a long process to try and build an audience, especially for a promotion that has no real momentum, and Dave wonders how committed Panda Energy is to the process, and if they're aware that they're going to lose millions upon millions of dollars before they ever make a cent, if they even do. TNA's entire existence hinges on Panda Energy deciding to stick with it. Dave compares TNA to ECW and points out all the different ways in which TNA is already spending more than ECW ever did trying to keep things afloat. Everything ECW tried and failed at is the stuff TNA is trying to do now, with a weaker TV deal and with the wrestling business in a decline.
- Things are not looking good for Puerto Rico's WWC, as the company has announced they are suspending operations until further notice. They flew Sabu, Abyss, and Jim Steele in for shows this weekend, only to end up canceling all the shows due to low ticket sales and then made the announcement. WWC, the 31-year-old promotion that was once one of wrestling's hottest territories in the 70s and 80s, was never really able to recover after the murder of Bruiser Brody and has been struggling for years after IWA came along and surpassed them as Puerto Rico's top promotion. The loss of Ray Gonzalez to IWA seems to have been the biggest blow, and Carlos Colon can't really perform anymore. His son Carly, who was presented as one of the promotion's top stars, has since left for WWE but he has been allowed to return on occasion for big shows. IWA's Victor Quinones has inquired about buying the promotion in the past, but WWC was asking for far more than its worth and IWA balked. As of press time, WWC does plan to restart and come back soon, but the situation definitely looks bleak (it wasn't reported at this time, but it turns out Jimmy Hart was also trying to negotiate a sale of WWC to Panda Energy, to basically merge the promotion with TNA at this point, but that also never happened. Alas, WWC still manages to hang on to this day, although the last 20 years have been rough).
- K-1 held their latest show which saw more bad news for NJPW, as their IWGP world champion Bob Sapp got wrecked by Kazuyuki Fujita in the main event. This is once again an example of why pro wrestling needs to stick with working rather than shooting. The event also did a lower-than-usual TV rating because there was a huge news story breaking in Japan that same night (Japanese citizens who had been held hostage in North Korea for decades were finally released and returned to Japan) and most people in Japan were glued the breaking news coverage. NJPW is surprisingly not too upset about this. Yes, their world champion got demolished in a high profile MMA fight, but he lost to Fujita, who is a fellow pro wrestler and someone that NJPW can book if they want. So at least it's not like their world champion got beaten by an outsider who isn't even a wrestler. That being said, it was a BRUTAL beating, with Fujita taking Sapp down and then just kicking and punching him repeatedly in the head until Sapp weakly tapped out. Following the match, there was more concern for Sapp than there was celebration for Fujita.
- Meanwhile, in other matches on the card, NJPW fared better. Shinsuke Nakamura faced Alexy Ignashov and avenged his loss from earlier this year, while NJPW wrestlers Josh Barnett and Blue Wolf also won their fights. After the fight, it was announced by K-1 officials that Bob Sapp would be vacating the IWGP title but NJPW hasn't confirmed this yet. If so, it would force yet another storyline change, as Sapp was scheduled to defend the title against Hiroshi Tanahashi in a couple weeks and the show has the strongest advanced ticket sales for Osaka in ages. So if Sapp can't/doesn't work that show, NJPW is probably gonna be pretty upset (and so they were).
- Dave finally got to see a tape of NJPW's latest Tokyo Dome show from a few weeks ago. A mostly forgettable card. The opening 6-man tag match of American Dragon/Ultimo Dragon/Koji Kanemoto vs. Tiger Mask/Heat/Naomichi Marufuji, which gets 4 stars and had American Dragon looking like a star. This was the best match on the card by far (Bryan Danielson already stealing the show in the Tokyo Dome 20 years ago). Josh Barnett and Ken Shamrock did something of a worked MMA match that ended when Shamrock shoved down the referee to get DQ'd and yikes, this was bad and the crowd hated the finish. Minoru Suzuki got the win for his team to retain the tag titles by using a cradle piledriver, which they are now dubbing a "Karl Gotch style" piledriver, as his new finisher. Sean O'Haire made his NJPW debut, fresh off being released from WWE, and looked horrible. Even Tanahashi, one of the best young workers in NJPW, couldn't get anything out of him (first and last NJPW appearance for O'Haire). And while Sapp retained the IWGP title over Nakamura, the match was designed to get Nakamura over as a star. In fact, the whole show seemed designed to get Nakamura, Tanahashi, and Shibata over as the future of the company.
- Shinya Hashimoto is continuing to try to wrestle for Zero-1 but it's not going great. He has so many injuries that he's working through that he can barely move or do anything, but he's under pressure to keep working because of the belief (likely correct) that Zero-1 will go out of business if he has to get surgery and miss several months. But he's never going to get better if he doesn't take time off so he's in a tough spot (we have about 3 more months of Hashimoto left before he finally takes time off for surgery and then passes away before he can ever return).
- It's looking like we might get something close to a dream match at the upcoming NOAH Tokyo Dome show. The idea floating around is to do Mitsuharu Misawa and a partner vs. Keiji Muto and a partner. There was a time not too long ago where Misawa vs. Muto by itself would have easily sold out the Dome but Dave's not sure that's still the case these days, as both men are broken down shells of their former selves. But it would still be a major thing to have those 2 in a ring facing off (indeed, we shall have that. Stay tuned!)
- Multiple NJPW officials were backstage at WWE's Judgment Day PPV. They ran photos of the execs talking to John Laurinaitis and the magazines published completely fabricated stories claiming that NJPW is going to be sending talent to WWE and in return, Chris Benoit and/or Eddie Guerrero will be working the G-1 Climax tournament in August. Dave's not sure why they put all this stuff out there becase it's not true, not happening, and it's gonna make NJPW look bad when Benoit and Eddie aren't there, but that's how things have been done in Japan with the weekly magazines forever. WWE does have interest in getting U.S. rights to NJPW footage for their upcoming 24/7 library, especially Benoit and Eddie footage as well as older 70s and 80s footage that features names like Hogan and Andre, but TV-Asahi owns the footage so the NJPW execs were powerless to make a deal.
- ROH is looking to make a big push this summer in storylines and angles to try and grow the company. They'd like to use Spanky (Brian Kendrick) more but he's signed to Zero-1 and doesn't find out when he's going to be booked until late, so it's hard for ROH to book storylines for him without knowing when he's available. If they have a show and he's free, they will continue to book him as a random attraction. They're also interested in booking a CM Punk vs. Ricky Steamboat match, but Steamboat hasn't agreed to come out of retirement for it yet, although he's been training to get in shape and has been agreeable to doing more physical stuff to keep the storyline going. But he's adamant that if he does it, he doesn't want to have a bad match. They've also started a new stable called Generation Next, consisting of Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Jack Evans, and Roderick Strong and are pushing them hard to establish them as a top act right out of the gate. And ROH has also stripped AJ Styles of the Pure title since they can no longer book him due to the TNA issue. A mini-tournament will be held in July to crown a new champion.
- Weird incident at an indie show this weekend. Missy Hyatt showed up to the show as it was in progress, apologizing for being late. But she wasn't actually booked for the show and no one had a clue what she was talking about or why she was there. She claimed she thought she was and seemed to think someone had played a rib on her. At this point, New Jack got involved and of course, he stepped in, calmed the situation and sorted everything out rationally.
- lol kidding. New Jack screamed at Missy and said "if you weren't a bitch, I'd knock your head off" among other things. Hyatt ended up sitting in her car while New Jack was "cutting promos" on her in the locker room after they were separated. There were rumors that Missy might have been drunk and caused the disturbance, but others who were there have disputed that and said things were fine until New Jack started getting loud.
- K-1's planned show with Mike Tyson in July seems to be in danger of falling apart. Tyson won't agree to do kickboxing rules, and he's also refused to fight Bob Sapp, Akebono, or Jerome LeBanner, all of whom would be the 3 biggest possible fights. Tyson is said to be treating the K-1 stuff like it's a side gig and not a serious avenue he's willing to explore. He basically just wants to do a standard boxing match against a hand-picked jobber and that's it. K-1 obviously wants more than that for their investment. K-1 has also been paying Tyson's living expenses in recent weeks, due to Tyson's well-documented financial issues. He's basically just milking them for money.
- The reason Rock appeared on Raw last week was simply because he was there. The show was in Los Angeles, where Rock currently lives, and he wanted to have some fun. Basically, as long as his Hollywood schedule permits, he wants to show up whenever he can.
- Notes from 5/20 Smackdown: Eddie Guerrero, with 16 stitches in his head and looking awful, came out and offered JBL a title rematch on the spot and JBL refused. Dave is befuddled at the lack of logic. It was pointed out how much blood Eddie had lost at the PPV, how weak he still was, how he had just gotten out of the hospital...and JBL turns down a chance to take the title from him? Makes no kayfabe sense. Then Kurt Angle (the heel GM, remember) came out and booked the 2 men on opposite sides of a 6-man match later that night, which JBL was fine with. Why would JBL be afraid to face a weakened Eddie for the title, but be perfectly fine to face him in a meaningless 6-man where he has nothing to gain? They did the whole Shawn Michaels angle where Eddie collapsed in the middle of the match, allowing JBL to get an easy pin and then he was taken out on a stretcher. Probably should have accepted that 1-on-1 title match and he'd be champ now. Chavo Guerrero Sr. (now going by the name Chavo Classic) won the cruiserweight title at 55-years-old. And that's basically it.
- Notes from 5/24 Raw: the streak.....is over. After weeks of solid shows with great main events, this one was pretty mid. Vince announced a new reality show for Raw, the 2004 Divas Search. He was surrounded by the contestants and noted the winner would get $250k and a 1-year contract and fans will vote on the winner. Dave likes the idea (oh, he will grow to hate it VERY quickly) and thinks it will draw a good bit of interest. That being said, Smackdown needs this way more than Raw does. WCW did something similar to this in back in the day, which is how Stacy Keibler ended up in the business. The storyline with Kane/Lita took an even grosser turn, as it was implied that Lita gave in and had sex with Kane so that he would leave her alone, but he's still stalking her, and meanwhile, Lita's hiding all this from Matt. Dave hates this storyline with a passion. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels was announced for the next PPV in a Hell in a Cell match. And that's basically it.
- Word is Bruce Prichard is behind the Mordecai gimmick. He's also being credited (or blamed, if you'd rather) for the cruiserweight division booking. For what it's worth, a lot of the cruiserweight wrestlers are pretty unhappy with how they're presented as a joke.
- Sting did an interview talking about why he worked the shows for TNA last year and possibly going to WWE. He said Jerry Jarrett gave him and Warrior their first break in wrestling. So when he called and asked Sting if he would come work in TNA, he admits that he didn't want to do it at first, but agreed to work 4 shows with them to help out the guy who helped him get started. He didn't outright say he wasn't going back to TNA, but he seemed pretty negative on the whole idea. He did say he would be open to going to WWE if the circumstances were right. The issue with Sting is schedule. He wants even less dates than Goldberg. And after the Goldberg experiment was such a failure, WWE is unlikely to consider trying the same thing again with Sting. Dave thinks they should at least try to bring him in for a short program at least. Sting probably wouldn't want Goldberg-level money and if it doesn't work, then no harm no foul if it's a short-term deal. But WWE hates doing short deals. Sting noted that he and Vince have had several conversations in recent years. They were very close in 2003 to having Sting debut at Wrestlemania 19, where he would have done an angle with Steve Austin but talks fell apart at the last minute. Dave isn't sure why they would have programmed Sting against Austin, since it likely would have just turned Sting heel with WWE fans. And since Austin retired after that match anyway, it couldn't have led anywhere.
- Sean Waltman wants to return to wrestling but he's concerned about the bridges he's burned in both WWE and TNA. He showed up backstage at the WWE PPV recently and looked clear-headed and in good shape. He had a long talk with Triple H. Dave says that if Triple H and Shawn Michaels go to bat for him, Waltman will have a job immediately. If not, well....probably not. Those close to him recognize that Waltman is a good guy who loves wrestling, but are concerned about his track record and past drug issues. It seems like he's been around forever, but he's actually only 32 and could still have plenty to offer if he has his head on straight (spoiler: he did not have his head on straight yet and evidently Shawn and Triple H realized it, because he does not return to WWE).
- WWE signed a few wrestlers to OVW developmental deals. Chad Wicks, who has been training at the Inoki dojo and was in the NJPW Young Lions tournament last month. He's good, but small by WWE standards. Ken Doan, an 18-year-old who just graduated high school (later to be Kenny of Spirit Squad). They also signed Aaron Aguilera, who has been around for years (later to be Jesus, the guy who stabbed John Cena). And another guy named Gene Snitsky, who's a big guy but still green in the ring. But he's still new so, you know, that's not his fault...
- Johnny Nitro and Melina's gimmick in OVW of basically acting like an obnoxious high school couple that won't stop making out is actually a pretty great act. Melina also has the look that WWE loves so Dave could see this whole act transitioning well to the main roster, except for the fact that WWE seems to have an unwritten rule against using any of Jim Cornette's ideas when bringing characters up from OVW. Anyway, in a recent episode, Nitro told Melina that if she doesn't behave, he won't let her have any more of "Russell, the love muscle" and holy shit how I laughed when I read that...
- WWE has filed a trademark for the name "Carlito Colon" so that's likely to be the name Carly Colon uses when he debuts. He hasn't really been all that impressive in OVW though.
- Ric Flair's daughter Ashley Fliehr just finished up her junior year of high school and has already committed to Appalachian State University as a highly recruited volleyball star. Several major colleges (Duke, Wake Forest, etc.) were after her before she made her choice (this would, of course, be Charlotte Flair).
- Shawn Michaels was interviewed recently and said that constant storyline references to the 1997 Montreal Screwjob make him uncomfortable. "Every time I've been up to Canada, they make an issue out of it. So I sit there with a big smile on my face saying to myself, 'How long are they going to keep doing this?' But if they want to go there, I’m fine with it. I always will be sorry that it happened."
- Notes from the Philadelphia house show: Jericho faced Tomko in a cage match and they brought out the old blue bar steel cage from the 80s. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels main event in which Michaels even bladed, which they rarely do on house shows. After the match, during the post-show stuff, there was a black guy in the front row dressed like Kane, prompting Triple H to get on the mic and comment that it looked like Kane had really been burned. So this is 2 weeks in a row of Triple H saying wildly racist shit.....