June 07, 2004
- "Cheating Death, Stealing Life," a documentary special about the life of Eddie Guerrero, aired on UPN this week and was a riveting story about his life growing up in the business and his drug/alcohol addiction that nearly killed him a few years back. Unfortunately, it aired against the finale of American Idol, so it bombed in the ratings, but it'll likely be on DVD soon. Since it recaps Eddie's career, this sorta reads like an obituary, which is sad because we'll be getting the real thing in about a year. Youngest son of the Guerrero family, grew up with a ring in his backyard, legendary father....the Guerreros are basically the Hispanic Hart family. We get his early career in Mexico, the run as Black Tiger in Japan, his stint in ECW, and of course, his main run in WCW (highlighting the incredible 1997 Halloween Havoc match Eddie had with Rey Mysterio and telling the story about how Bischoff wanted Rey to lose his mask in that match and Rey desperately didn't want to. Dave says Bischoff and Rey had a big confrontation over that the day of the show and Rey managed to keep his mask. That time. Bischoff eventually got his way, and Rey lost the mask to Kevin Nash not too long after).
- To the drug issues, Eddie admits he was drinking and taking pills prior to wrecking his car on New Year's Eve of 1998. The accident caused serious injuries and at first it was unknown if Eddie would even survive. He was told he would have to learn to walk again and that his wrestling career was over. Most in WCW weren't even aware of the seriousness of it because Eddie kept it from the company and never informed them that doctors had told him to retire. But he recovered faster than expected and was back in a ring 6 months later, although he probably shouldn't have been, but he felt the pressure to not sit around collecting a check while hurt. Dave says this was a big problem in WCW and compares a lot of Eddie's story to Brian Pillman's issues (the wreck, coming back too soon, manic depressive issues, drug addiction, etc.). In October 99, Eddie overdosed and nearly died, was found by Vickie who called 911 and they managed to bring him back. Then he overdosed again around Christmas that year, at a family party where lots of family members were there. His wife and kids, other grandchildren, his parents, everybody. Had to be rushed to the hospital again. His family was furious at him and at that point, his friends (Benoit, Malenko, and Saturn) went to Jim Ross and told him Eddie needed help. Apparently Eddie didn't find out until this documentary that they had done that and even to this day, he's said to be still kinda mad at them for going behind his back and reporting his issues to management, even though he admits he also understands why they did. But it seems to still sting and feels like a betrayal to him, even now. Soon after, Eddie showed up to a Raw taping drugged out of his mind and was ordered to choose between his job or rehab. So he went to rehab, even though he was still in denial of his issues, and of course, it didn't work. He said it felt unfair that he felt like he was being punished because he wasn't being allowed to drink and party like everyone else. He was eventually arrested for DUI, at which point, Vince finally fired him and someone (it was implied that it was Jim Ross) told him he was a disgrace to the company. By this point, Vickie had already taken their 2 daughters and left him and he reportedly burned through all his money. So Eddie was broke, alone, fired, and addicted.
- Turns out that was what he needed. Eddie said being fired by WWE was the wakeup call that made him come to grips with needing to take sobriety seriously. Eddie noted sobriety is a daily struggle for him still and a key part of it is trying to find traveling buddies in the business who are also sober to help keep him on track. Dave adds that with all the injuries and pain he must be in, plus the new pressure of carrying the ball as champion and top guy, it says a lot about Eddie's inner strength that he's still holding it together. In the meantime, while he was separated from Vickie, he hooked up with a new girlfriend and got her pregnant. Then he started picking up indie dates and began work on trying to rebuild his career. He went around having banger matches but more importantly, word began to spread around the business: Eddie Guerrero is sober again and he's fucking awesome. The girlfriend didn't last and Eddie and Vickie began seeing each other again and they have welcomed his new daughter into their family. They renewed their wedding vows and WWE eventually rehired him and the rest is history.
- Vince McMahon taped another 2-part interview with TSN's "Off The Record." The first part has already aired (we'll get part 2 next week). Vince admitted that ownership of the "Stone Cold" name was indeed the stumbling block that has prevented Austin from re-signing. Vince said WWE is a publicly traded company and they can't give away their intellectual property. The host brought up recent reports that WWE had given Dwayne Johnson ownership of "The Rock" name, but Vince denied that was true, saying he is only licensed to use the name in Hollywood, but WWE still owns it. Dave notes that Austin has said repeatedly that he'd be more than happy to settle for that same kind of deal, so he can use his name on outside projects, but WWE ain't going for it because the reality is, they don't want Austin doing outside projects that they don't have a hand in. Losing Rock to Hollywood has kinda burned them and they don't want it to happen again. Vince also said, due to his injuries, he doesn't think Austin has much left to offer in wrestling and that his career is pretty much over. He said they made Austin a fair offer, but it's hard to negotiate through lawyers and he flat out said he doesn't like Austin's current attorney, who doesn't know anything about the wrestling business and said he was making unreasonable demands. He admitted Austin made more money for WWE than any wrestler before, even Hogan. But he also pointed out that Austin has walked out on the company twice before and his wrestling days are behind him, so Vince didn't seem inclined to bend over backwards to keep a problematic employee no matter how valuable he was in the past.
- Vince also talked about Hogan. He claimed Hogan has reached out in recent months trying to return to the company. But when Hogan quit last year, it was the 3rd time Hogan had walked out on Vince since returning in 2002, at which point Vince declared he'd never bring him back again. But when asked about it here, Vince claimed not to remember the details about why Hogan walked out last year and said they have a good relationship and never say never. When asked about Sting, Vince simply said he didn't think that was going to happen. Also said if he could go back in time, he might not have bought WCW and admitted that one company owning the entire industry might not be for the best. When asked about a succession plan if he were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, Vince said it would be a group effort and indicated that Shane, Stephanie, and Triple H would run things. He also claimed he was blindsided when Brock told him he was quitting, but Brock disputes that and has said he was complaining to Vince for 6 months beforehand that he wanted out. When asked about billing Canadian wrestlers as being from America, Vince defended it by saying Benoit has lived in Atlanta for 10 years and that he prefers it there (Benoit said the complete opposite when they were in Edmonton recently but whatever). He said the decision was made to increase the popularity of babyfaces like Benoit and Jericho in the U.S. and said Christian was still billed from Canada because he's a heel. So yeah, basically this whole thing is exactly as stupid as it sounded. When asked about Bret Hart, Vince complained that the last time they met, Bret was an hour late because he was watching a hockey game. Vince said he wishes he could apologize for his actions at Survivor Series 1997 but says he can't because if the same situation ever arose again, he might have to do it again so he can't honestly say he's sorry.
- In expected news, the early numbers for Judgement Day show it did one of the lowest buyrates in WWE history. It's not a surprise, since Eddie Guerrero is still an unproven champion draw and JBL was a midcard nobody 6 weeks ago. It doesn't bode well for the upcoming Great American Bash PPV though because they look to be doing an Eddie/JBL rematch on that show. And if a fake heart attack angle wasn't enough to boost the buyrate for this one, what else can they do for the next one? Dave doesn't think it's entirely fair to blame JBL for the bad number because Smackdown is just so cold right now that Eddie vs. anybody was probably gonna still flop. That being said, the jury is very much out on JBL as a main event plater. He's stepped up to the plate better than most expected, but nobody in WWE is fooling themselves that this has been a roaring success either.
- Business in the U.S. might look sketchy but WWE is crushing it overseas right now. The recent Raw European tour just did 4 straight nights of sellouts. Their first shows in Ireland in nearly a decade both sold out the day they went on sale, selling out the same venue in Dublin on back-to-back nights. Eric Bischoff celebrated a birthday while he was there and they brought a cake out to the ring, which inevitably ended up in his face. Word is Bischoff had no idea the cake angle was happening, but he's no dummy and as soon as he saw the cake, he knew what was gonna happen and he was cool with it and went with the flow and took the cake spot. Edge was working with Flair and the crowd was so into Flair that it forced Edge to work heel the rest of the tour.
- The Baltimore Ravens reportedly have serious interest in signing Brock Lesnar to their team and have already had multiple meetings with him. His public workout scheduled for last week was canceled due to injuries from his recent motorcycle accident, which was worse than reported. He suffered a broken jaw, broken left hand, pulled groin, and bruised pelvis among other scrapes and bruises. Green Bay, Dallas, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and San Francisco are all reportedly interested in bringing him in for workouts as well, though the Ravens seem to be most interested thus far. However, due to all the numbers flying around regarding how much money Lesnar made in WWE, there's a lot of people in NFL circles who are skeptical that he's serious. Even if Lesnar makes a team, he'll be coming in at a starting salary that's waaaaaaaay less than he was making in WWE and there are people who think Lesnar will get frustrated by football and the low pay and eventually run back to WWE, so they're hesitant to take a chance on him. A recent story in a Minneapolis newspaper noted that Lesnar recently purchased an 8-seat twin-engine plane and has a personal pilot on his payroll, and that he lives on a 47-acre ranch. With expenses like that, he's going to have to make big money in the future because despite a bunch of stories inflating his WWE salary, Lesnar is not actually set for life money-wise. There's also the question of steroids. Lesnar claims he was tested in WWE and passed, though WWE sources never confirmed that. He also passed steroid tests at both the 1999 and 2000 NCAA tournaments as well as passed tests during his OVW years. But NFL reps are still nervous because gestures vaguely at Brock Lesnar.
- A new wrestling promotion called Real Pro Wrestling is starting up and the name says it all. It's "real" (as in amateur wrestling) but it's "pro" because the wrestlers will be paid. But it's basically a pro league for amateur wrestling, as opposed to what we all know as "professional wrestling." All shoots, no works, no kicking and punching, different weight classes, stuff like that. And apparently they're close to landing a TV deal already, believed to be with the WB network (nah, I think this ends up on FSN for a bit, just like TNA). It's a longshot because amateur wrestling has never drawn good ratings in America, certainly not enough to sustain a national product. But who knows?
- The upcoming NOAH show at the Tokyo Dome will have Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Muto and a partner to be determined (ends up being Taiyo Kea). This would be the first time ever that Misawa and Muto would share the ring together in a match (sadly, it's also the closest we'd get to the real dream match. They never faced each other one-on-one after this).
- NJPW's Inoki Dojo has gotten its own TV deal in Southern California, airing locally on KVMD-TV Ch. 23. They will be taping shows at the Inoki dojo and using trainees along with various indie wrestlers. It will also air in Japan on Samurai! TV. Samoa Joe is expected to defend the ROH title on the debut show.
- Here's an interesting one: Bret Hart and Goldberg ended up hanging out together after the Flames/Lightning Stanley Cup game this week. They had seen each other at the game and ended up at the same party afterward and spent much of the night hanging out (friendly reminder that Bret Hart didn't start being a bitter hater towards Goldberg until many years later and in fact, he spent those earlier years saying he didn't really blame Goldberg because shit happens in the ring sometimes).
- TNA has had talks with ROH champion Samoa Joe about bringing him in. Although most won't say it publicly, within TNA, they hate Ring of Honor and are giddy at the idea of signing away its champion. There's no deal currently because Joe has flat out refused to bail on ROH without doing so professionally and with proper notice.
- Team Canada wrestler Petey Williams has been doing an amazing flip piledriver move which is probably the hottest new move Dave has seen in ages. He describes it and says it should be used as a finisher, but so far, it's just been a high spot move. They're calling the move the "Canadian Destroyer."
- TNA has reportedly purchased two of the 6-sided rings. No word if this is just for the Friday FSN show or if they will also use it for the Wednesday PPVs. The ring is being brought in the day before the FSN show debuts so that everyone can practice in it.
- Terry Taylor is trying to get back into TNA. He was here recently and quit because his wife desperately wanted him to get out of the wrestling business after his recent neck surgery. Taylor tried to do the responsible thing and got himself a job selling cars in Atlanta. He liked it so much that he quit after his first day. Reportedly, TNA may have already rehired him as an agent.
- Here's a Tank Abbott story within another Tank Abbott story. Ol' Tank showed up to an MMA show in Mexico this week drunk as hell and got into the cage and began dancing to rap music. Then he stripped his clothes off and was dancing in just a speedo while a crowd full of confused people watched on. Then he mooned the crowd and challenged anyone to come in and fight him before he was escored out. This leads Dave to recount a story of his own, about "that night Kevin Randleman and I were sitting there watching Tank french kiss some guy and we looked at each other and Randleman said, "Did you see what I saw, or am I dreaming?"
- Eddie Guerrero and JBL have been doing a lot of smoke & mirrors stuff during their house show matches to cover for the fact that both are banged up. In particular Eddie, who still hasn't fully recovered from all the blood loss at the Judgment Day PPV, so they're having him work light and doing a bunch of bullshit to cover for it. Maybe we could let Eddie have a few nights off instead?
- "Superstar" Billy Graham has signed a new 3-year deal with WWE, though not sure what for exactly. He's been given a title of "talent consultant" to work with Vince but Dave suspects this is just WWE trying to help Graham out. He was always one of Vince's favorites back in the day and Triple H idolized him. WWE and Graham have a checkered past, to say the least, although that seems to have all been squashed now. Dave says he's not really surprised. He mentions that back in the 90s, when the two sides hated each other, Dave was acting as an intermediary between Graham and Vince. At one point, Vince wanted to make a private deal with Graham (presumably to keep him quiet since Graham was causing constant trouble in the media back then) and extended an olive branch, but at the time, Graham wasn't interested. But of course, he's got a whole bunch of health issues and money problems these days.
- Notes from 5/31 Raw: they were in Montreal and the crowd went nuts for La Resistance winning the tag titles (from fellow Canadians Edge and Benoit). Edge got booed even by the Canadian crowd, although Benoit didn't. But the crowd was HEAVILY with the heels and cheered Sylvan Genier like crazy, even when he was in there with Benoit. Grenier was also waaaay out of his league in there, but whatever. Match ended with Edge spearing Benoit accidentally, which is expected to lead to an Edge heel turn. Probably a good idea, since he's been dead on arrival as a babyface ever since returning from the neck injury. That's about the only notable stuff.
- Notes from 5/27 Smackdown: Paul Heyman was there, even though his girlfriend still hadn't given birth. They must have REALLY needed him to convince him to fly out to Milwaukee for the show. Because the very next day, she finally gave birth to "to a boy who will probably be booking wrestling angles on napkins in restaurants the afternoon of a show in a few years." Oh Dave, you cheeky little scamp. The Undertaker/Booker T storyline seems to be wrapping up and the voodoo stuff has seemingly been dropped, but they did an angle instead where the Dudleyz literally kidnapped him. He wasn't there in person (he had gall blader surgery) but they did enough off-screen stuff to sell the angle that he's been kidnapped. Word is most of the writing team hates this angle, but Vince loves it and so does Undertaker, so it's happening.
- Great American Bash PPV will be presented for free to all U.S. military bases abroad. This was apparently an idea John Cena had that he pitched to management and they went for it.
- Torrie Wilson and Stacy Keibler have gotten an apartment in Los Angeles and are living there together to pursue acting roles. Wilson still shares a home in Florida with Billy Kidman also (not for much longer).
- Regarding the low-ball money offer that WWE recently made to Kevin Von Erich for the World Class tape library....apparently it wasn't an official offer. WWE has not yet made an actual offer and Dave's not sure where the 50k figure came from that Kevin is running around telling people. Jim Ross and Kevin met recently to discuss the library, get an idea of what all is available and what condition it's in, etc. Whatever was discussed didn't seem to work for Kevin because just days later, he announced a deal with a distribution company to release monthly WCCW videos on DVD, starting with a "Best of the Von Erichs" release coming in July.
- WWE also met with Bill Watts' wife, who owns the Mid-South tape library but nothing is happening on that front either. WWE feels they already have more than enough footage for a 24-hour wrestling channel, but they're always interested in acquiring more. They're also interested in getting hands on the AJPW and NJPW libraries, but that's highly unlikely for many reasons. They might be able to get some footage licensed for use in America (they've done it in the past already in order to get footage of Benoit and Eddie from their time in NJPW) but the footage is mostly owned by various TV networks in Japan and not the promotions themselves.