June 28, 2004
- The JBL/CNBC controversy continues! On Smackdown, they turned the firing into a bit of an angle, with JBL cutting a promo on Smackdown about it. He said several things about the network, some of which were edited out by UPN. The parts that were cut apparently involved JBL talking about CNBC's ratings being in the toilet and that the network was just a stock ticker without him. Some anti-CNBC stuff did air, although UPN was apparently not thrilled about it. He also ranted about "the liberal news media" and Dave wishes pro wrestling would stay away from politics, but sources told Dave that this promo was written almost word-for-word by Vince McMahon so, ya know. They also played news clips throughout the show about JBL being fired from CNBC, but conveniently enough, never once did they acknowledge WHY he got fired. All that aside, JBL's overall promo was probably the best he's ever done.
- The next day, JBL was on the Howard Stern show to talk all this. He said the Nazi mannerisms he did weren't scripted, it was just something he did in the moment to try and get heat. He said he did the same thing in 1996 without any problems. Dave notes Triple H also did it in 1997, but it was never done since because Triple H caught some flak for it at the time and the company said no more. He blamed the whole controversy on "wrestling websites" and in particular "some guy in Florida" (who Dave identifies as Alex Marvez) who he says emailed CNBC about it (Marvez wrote a syndicated wrestling newspaper column back in those days and was apparently reaching out to CNBC for comment). Dave just kinda shrugs off JBL's complaints.
- WWE quarterly business blah blah money stuff time! One of the most profitable years ever, much of which was spent on stock dividends, paying off the lease on Vince's private plane, and purchasing videotape libraries. Wrestlemania 20 looking to finish up at around 885,000 buys making it the 2nd biggest PPV in company history. Big money on DVD sales. But house show business is still down, PPV buyrates are decreasing, TV ratings are soft, and projections for next year are below the ones for this year, which caused the stock to fall. Linda McMahon spoke of the planned Divas Search for Raw, since reality shows are all the rage right now and they're trying to capitalize. Smackdown, meanwhile, is expected to get a new version of Tough Enough for the same reason, with the contest playing out on Smackdown weekly instead of airing as its own separate show. There's also plans for a "presidential election" later this year (to coincide with the real 2004 American election) to elect new "presidents" for Raw and Smackdown, since Kurt Angle should be cleared to return to the ring by then and won't be playing the GM role anymore. She also noted old wrestlers are being signed to new contracts to appear on WWE's 24/7 wrestling on-demand project that they're working on with all the video tape libraries they own. Ya know, bumpers, interviews, match introductions, and whatever other miscellaneous bullshit Billy Graham can still be used for.
- Tatsumi Fujinami was ousted as NJPW President this week by Antonio Inoki, who replaced him with a man named Seiichi Kusama, who has no background whatsoever in pro wrestling. Fujinami was kept on the board of directors and given the title of vice chairman, but he's clearly being made the scapegoat for NJPW's recent woes. Little is known about Kusama. He is Japanese, but lived in the U.S. for years as a manager of a tech company in Silicon Valley and has held president and CFO titles at other U.S. companies. He apparently has a background in turning around failing businesses and, well, NJPW is very much a sinking ship and it's getting to dangerous levels in recent months. But that's because of Inoki's meddling in booking more than anything. Dave isn't optimistic. History has shown that having someone with no wrestling experience run a wrestling company usually ends badly (spoiler: it ends badly).
- The Rob Feinstein controversy continues to hound Ring of Honor, as they had to move its scheduled 6/24 show in Philadelphia to a new venue after the previous venue backed out when word got out last week of Feinstein's continued involvement with the company. They had to hastily move to a new venue and figure out a bunch of ticketing issues because of it. As of press time, Cary Silkin's attempt to purchase Feinstein's remaining 45% stake in the company has not been completed, as there are still a few details that need to be hammered out. Feinstein threatened to back out of the sale last week and show up at the 6/24 show. However, once they lost the venue, it seemed to finally click with Feinstein that his return would literally kill the company. At that point, he went back to the negotiating table. The main issue is the non-compete clause that Silken wants Feinstein and Doug Gentry to agree to. They're refusing, even though reportedly they don't have any plans right now to start a new promotion anyway. Feinstein realizes that his name is toxic right now and it would be impossible to book venues for a company with his name attached. But he seems to think in 6 months or so, he can jump back in. There's also some disagreement over rights to ROH videos and RF distribution deals and all that fun stuff.
- While Feinstein was "gone" (wink wink) from ROH in recent months, he claims he was still in regular contact with several people in the company and had never made a secret about his plans to return, though Sapolsky was kept in the dark. Feinstein has been insistent that he did nothing wrong (...) and couldn't understand why everyone (Sapolsky in particular) was so against him coming back. And he was also at the office working after hours, when the other employees were gone, which has been confirmed by other sources. Back in March, Feinstein transferred his stock to Gentry to be held, but it was never actually sold to Gentry like most people believed. The decision to transfer the stock was made by a crisis management team that ROH hired in the wake of the scandal. Feinstein was said to be an emotional wreck at the time and just did what they suggested to save the company, but once he calmed down, he realized they were trying to get rid of him, at which point he began fighting to return. There's a whole bunch of boring financial stuff here with confusing details about ownership and whatnot. Once Feinstein is officially gone, ROH hopes to try and resume relations with TNA and begin booking their wrestlers again. But Jeff Jarrett is pretty anti-ROH and would likely try to prevent it. But AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels are both really wanting to start working for ROH again. In regards to RF Video, they owe a lot of money (including a 6-figure settlement they owe Dream Stage Entertainment for bootlegging PRIDE shows) and with Feinstein remaining involved with it, it's going to be a struggle to find companies willing to work with them also.
- UFC's latest show is also in the books and has even less to do with wrestling. Ken Shamrock headlined, beating Kimo Leopoldo by knockout, giving Shamrock some much needed MMA redemption and possibly setting up a rematch with Tito Ortiz if the post-fight press conference shit-talk is to be believed. Frank Mir beat Tim Sylvia in what seemed like a controversial early stoppage at first, until the replays showed that Mir had broken Sylvia's forearm. That's basically it for our interests here...
- Dave apologizes to everyone who had issues receiving last week's Observer Newsletter. They were all mailed out on time, but there was a computer failure in San Jose's post office that delayed the mail and then had all of the newsletters shipped to Oakland for some reason and a bunch of people got the issue days late, if they even got it at all. Dave is frustrated as hell about it and is sending new copies out to anyone who lets him know they didn't get theirs. In the 22 years Dave has been doing this, it's only the 2nd time he's ever run into major mail carrier issues like this. So if any of you are still waiting on your physical copy of the June 14, 2004 Observer, it's probably in Oakland.
- Second week ratings for TNA on FSN actually improved on the debut number. It even beat "Best Damn Sports Show Period" which is FSN's flagship program. Needless to say, they were basically dancing in the streets about this in TNA and if ratings continue like this in the coming weeks, you can almost guarantee FSN will move them to a better time slot.
- WWE has hired a marketing group called Media Kitchen to try and recover the millions of lost fans that disappeared after WCW folded and WWE's ratings started declining. A statement from a Media Kitchen representative blamed WWE's decline on those fans now being more into video games and reality TV. Dave feels like they're already starting on the wrong foot. Until WWE admits that its declining popularity is due to its own creative struggles, bad booking, and lack of stars, and stops trying to blame it on everything else, nothing will change (spoiler: Vince never learned this and ratings and popularity continue to slowly erode for the next two decades).
- IWA wrestler Victor the Bodyguard passed away backstage in the locker room during a show after an apparent heart attack at age 38. He had been complaining for weeks about chest pains but continued working and never went to the doctor, just asking opponents to take it easy because he didn't feel well. He faced Miguel Perez on the night in question in a brief 5-minute match and then collapsed backstage afterward. He was rushed to the hospital but doctors were unable to revive him and he died while the rest of the show was still going on. Victor was a big star in Puerto Rico for decades and his death got major news coverage. He was the current IWA Hardcore champion and leaves behind a wife and ELEVEN kids. He started working as a security guard for IWA and only wrestled on weekends, as he actually worked as president of that security company during the week doing non-wrestling security as well.
- AAA's TripleMania 12 is in the books and was headlined by La Parka (not the WCW version) winning a mask vs. mask match against Cibernetico in a bloody match that kinda sucked. And Charly Manson beat Electroshock in a career vs. career match, but then Electroshock's wife begged them not to make her husband retire, and so they made a deal where she would shave her head instead. So they did and then Electroshock shaved his head too. But he's not retiring. Crowd was NOT feeling this bait and switch, and chanted "Fraud!" throughout the post-match angle. Dave points out that the original Triplemania also featured a retirement match between Konnan vs. Cien Caras, in which Konnan lost and of course they didn't adhere to the stipulation then either.
- Very little news outside of the U.S. this week. Most of the Mexico and Japan sections are nothing but results of past shows and lineups for future shows. So moving on I guess...
- More details on that Ultimate Warrior interview from last week. He's 46 years old and says he doesn't ever see himself wrestling again, noting that he's had big money offers over the years, such as the WWA tours, and turned them down. He shrugged off claims of going to TNA, saying the Jarretts came to him arrogantly, as if he was sitting at home desperately wanting to get back into wrestling. He said they approached him 2 years ago when TNA first started, claiming that they planned to do classic pro wrestling without all the shock value and adult stuff, and said time has proven that they weren't being honest with him. He also felt like the promotion was a vanity project for Jeff that Jerry was funding for him so his son could live out his dream of "being over." Talked about how he won the rights to the "Ultimate Warrior" name in an out-of-court lawsuit settlement with WWE in 2000 and also got a substantial payday stemming from the lawsuit in 1996. He talked about most wrestlers using steroids and growth hormone and said when he was in WCW, wrestlers would fly to the Bahamas to get a physical because that somehow allowed them to get growth hormone under the guise of being an anti-aging medication.
- Steve Austin is currently living with DDP in Los Angeles while he pursues Hollywood roles (and while he deals with the ex-girlfriend that still won't leave his Texas house. That story is still simmering....) DDP and Kimberly Page recently split up as well, so it's just DDP and Austin living the bachelor life.
- Remember all the flak Bruce Hart got for giving a 45-minute speech at the Cauliflower Alley banquet where he trashed Vince the whole time? Bruce has responded! He claims his speech was about Stu Hart and denies it was overly political or critical of WWE. Dave disputes this because he was literally there and also notes that hosts Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan were both furious at Bruce for hijacking the banquet. Bruce also trashed Dave for reporting on this whole mess, but Dave clarifies that he and Bruce have since spoken. Not sure if they cleared anything up though, because Dave is still pretty clearly not on Bruce's side here.
- Marty Jannetty is the latest wrestler to find religion. He was at some ministries thing in Phoenix this weekend alongside Shawn Michaels and was baptized. Sting, Billy Graham, Ted DiBiase, Nikita Koloff, Sid Vicious, Big Bossman, Terry Taylor, George Steele, Ox Baker, Luna Vachon and Steve Williams were all in attendance also (Jannetty has talked about this lots of times before, Shawn basically reached out and tried to help him and this led to Jannetty briefly getting his shit together but, of course, it didn't exactly last).
- Things with TNA and Sabu seem to have settled down. He was back this week and everything was fine, no issues on either side. Raven did injure his ribs though, so not sure when they're going to get to the first ever Raven vs. Sabu match (not until August but it does happen. And interestingly enough, it's the only time it ever does).
- Jeff Hardy is expected to be brought in as a one-shot deal to face AJ Styles at the 2nd anniversary show. Dave says this is why wrestling will always have a drug problem, because no matter what kind of issues someone has, if a guy has star power, promoters will always look the other way. WWE fired Jeff for refusing to go to rehab in the wake of a very obvious drug problem. And despite talks for him to return, they haven't re-hired him because he still hasn't gone. And now TNA is gonna snatch him up (indeed, this wasn't just a one-off. He spends the next 2 years in TNA, seemingly drugged out and no-showing events the entire time).
- Notes from this week's TNA on FSN: AJ Styles seems to be the first person to actually be gaining a following with the crowd. Styles and Dusty Rhodes are the only ones that the Universal Studios crowd treats like stars. TNA is clearly trying to position Jeff Jarrett as the Ric Flair/NWA champ centerpiece of the company. The matches are short and explosive, which is probably a good thing for a 1-hour show. They're also pushing Ron Killings and Abyss as featured stars, but neither is as over as AJ Styles, who Dave thinks should be positioned as the face of the company. The dude is incredible and everyone sees it.
- Chavo Guerrero Sr. is out here spreading bullshit about why he got fired from WWE, claiming he actually quit because he didn't like the angles they were booking him in and weren't treating him like the legend he is. Has nothing to do with him no-showing 2 house shows last weekend, nope. By the way, why did he miss those shows you ask? Chavo claimed to WWE that he was out of contact because someone drugged him and robbed him. He claimed he had gotten a $6,500 check for smething, went out partying in El Paso, and was drugged and assaulted and robbed, which led to no one (not even Chavo Jr.) being able to reach him for 2 days and for him to miss the shows. Needless to say, WWE didn't buy it and even Chavo Sr. stopped telling people that story after he was fired. As mentioned last week, Chavo immediately reached out to TNA (like, literally within minutes of the firing, he was on the phone) but there's been no word of any movement there. His reputation isn't helping and Dave isn't sure what he has to offer TNA other than the fact that he just left WWE television. But that seems to be enough for TNA sometimes.
- Notes from 6/17 Smackdown: Dudleyz won the tag titles and as mentioned last week, it looks like Rico suffered an injury, believed to be a torn hamstring that will require surgery that will keep him out a few months, and Rey Mysterio regained the cruiserweight title from Chavo Sr. in a less-than-2-minute match in Chavo's last appearance. Luther Reigns debuted in a squash over Funaki and was fine. Kenzo Suzuki looked bad again. The JBL/CNBC promo was whatever. The Undertaker/Paul Heyman stuff with Heyman threatening to bury Paul Bearer in cement is stupid as all hell.
- Notes from 6/21 Raw: it was in Miami so of course, Rock showed up. He opened the show and was, no surprise, massively over. He was interrupted by Randy Orton and Rock of course beat him up before being thrown out of the building by Eric Bischoff. Needless to say, the crowd fully expected Rock to return at the end of the show and save Eugene from a Triple H beatdown because wrestling fans have been trained to expect the babyface to come back after being thrown out by the heel authority. Well, they were sorely disappointed because while the main event was happening in the ring, Rock was already gone from the arena and having dinner with some friends at a nearby steakhouse. They're no longer billing the Triple H vs. Eugene match as a #1 contender's match because someone realized how stupid it would be to beat Eugene right now, since he's so over. Instead they just acknowledged Triple H as the #1 contender and whoever wins between Benoit and Kane next week defends against him at the PPV. Sure. Matt Hardy proposed to Lita, only to be interrupted by Kane revealing he was the father of Lita's unborn child. "Even I, who hates this angle with a passion, was shocked at how badly this died with the live crowd." Have I mentioned Dave hates this angle yet? "It was rancid. It stank. I don't have the vocabulary to do this justice," Dave adds. Triple H vs. Eugene went to a no contest when Evolution and Benoit got involved and the babyfaces were left laying and Rock was off somewhere eating steak.
- Reporter John Stossel wrote a book in which he talks about the situation from the 80s when David Schultz slapped him backstage for asking if wrestling was fake. Stossel said WWF wanted him to see their doctor at the time, and WWF's doctor claimed he was faking being hurt before he even examined him and that he was only "hurting for a lawsuit." Stossel did of course later sue WWF and it was settled out of court, with Stossel getting a $425,000 settlement out of it. Stossel joked that "After the lawsuit was settled, the pain from my injury went away. How about that!" (Yeah Stossel basically said the same thing in the Dark Side of the Ring documentary. WWF's doctor was right lol).
- Tough Enough 2 winner Linda Miles caused some major drama in OVW this week. It's noted that she was brought up to the main roster as Shaniqua awhile back but then demoted back to OVW for what were deemed "attitude issues" and for not taking the job seriously. And apparently, several wrestlers in OVW set up a day to work with her on in-ring stuff and she no-showed, which didn't endear her to her fellow OVW wrestlers. Anyway, they did an angle where Linda Miles was going to wrestle Jillian Hall and "injure" her to write her off TV for a few weeks (Hall is going to miss the next few weeks to go get breast implant surgery. Hall is one of the better women's talents in OVW, but she doesn't have "the look" that WWE wants. Some people tried to talk her out of getting the surgery, but others have realized that it's just part of the profession. Unless you're one of the rare exceptions like Stacy Keibler or Jazz, your best shot at making it to WWE television under the John Laurainitis regime is to have the "right" look). So anyway, the match with Miles and Hall was such a disaster that Jim Cornette left commentary and went backstage to get a message to the ref to tell them to finish early. After the match, Miles and Cornette got into a screaming argument backstage over who's fault it was that the match fell apart, with Miles claiming Hall deserved more of the blame. Hall was said to be in tears. Cornette, meanwhile, screamed at Miles to burn her wrestling boots and quit because after 2 years, she wasn't getting it and never would. Miles screamed back at him and it was said to be a nasty scene in front of everyone.
- Kurt Angle did an interview talking about being a big fan of UFC and PRIDE. He said he was approached back in 1999 about doing MMA and says if they were offering the kind of money back then that they are now, he would have probably done it. But he said nowadays, he's had too many injuries to ever consider MMA.
- 4 straight Smackdown house shows were canceled over the past week due to low advance ticket sales. That's means missing out on $500-per-night for the lower card guys and more for the middle and top guys, so word is the Smackdown roster is not in a great mood lately.
- Les Thatcher writes in, mostly to praise Dave's review of Ole Anderson's book and share his own thoughts on Ole and some other things. He didn't love the new TNA on FSN show as much as everyone else, feeling they all need to slow down. He also says Vince Russo is as useless as tits on a bore hog. And also, he recently saw the Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk 60-minute draw in ROH and loved it, saying that ROH is his current favorite promotion.
- WWE has decided to let Scott Steiner's current contract expire and not re-sign him. He recently got hip surgery and are just gonna let him recover and then quietly let him go. Speaking of releases, Jacqueline was cut this week and it sounds like Test is on his way out the door soon also (not until November, but yeah).