Wrestling Observer Rewinder

September 13, 2004

After doing the Hall of Fame issue, Dave got curious about who has headlined the most PPVs. This isn't indicative of who's the biggest draw or who's a bigger star or any of that. Wrestlers prior to 1995 have a huge disadvantage due to less PPVs, plus available households have changed drastically over the decades, and stuff like that. So nobody get your panties in a bunch over this, it's just a fun experiment. However, he did try to keep it to PPVs that did over 100k buys, so as to not waste time with ECW or UWF shows for instance, but there are some late-era WCW PPVs that fell below that mark. This also includes UFC so it's not just wrestling. He also had to determine what the "main event" of a PPV was. In most cases, it's the last match, but in some (say WM18 for instance), it doesn't matter what the match order was. Hogan vs. Rock was the main event of that show and they drew the buyrate. There are also instances where someone like a special guest referee was instrumental to drawing buys for the main event. Some PPVs like old WCW Battle Bowl and WWIII PPVs didn't have advertised main events and he's not counting battle royals. Same for Royal Rumbles, although in some cases if the Rumble was the main event, he did credit certain people (for instance, the Vince/Austin drama of the 1999 Rumble match was clearly the draw for that show and so he gives them credit). TL;DR - this is arbitrary as hell and it's just one man's opinion about fake pro rasslin' anyway, so please don't bitch about it (this goes for anything he says in 2025 while we're at it).
Anyway, here's the list: 1. Hulk Hogan 66, 2. Steve Austin 48, 3. Ric Flair 42, 4. Undertaker 40, 5. HHH 39, 6. Kevin Nash 29, Rock 29, Sting 29; 9. Shawn Michaels 28, 10. Bret Hart 23, 11. Lex Luger 20, 12. Randy Savage 19, 13. Mick Foley 17, 14. Vader 16, Big Show 16, Kurt Angle 16, 17. Sid Vicious 15, 18. Kane 13, 19. Roddy Piper 12, Davey Boy Smith 12, 21. Chris Benoit 11, Vince McMahon 11, Ken Shamrock 11, 23. Brock Lesnar 10, 25. Scott Hall 9, Yokozuna 9, 27. Chris Jericho 8, Bill Goldberg 8, 29. Ultimate Warrior 7, Diamond Dallas Page 7, 31. Shane McMahon 6, 32. Andre the Giant 5, Booker T 5, Dan Severn 5, 35. Brutus Beefcake 4, Owen Hart 4, Ricky Steamboat 4, Barry Windham 4, Scott Steiner 4, Royce Gracie 4, 41. Zeus 3, Sgt. Slaughter 3, Curt Hennig 3, Terry Funk 3, Rob Van Dam 3, Randy Orton 3, Arn Anderson 3, Eddie Guerrero 3, Road Warrior Hawk 3, Rick Steiner 3, Maurice Smith 3
Well that was pointless. What else we got? We have the upcoming debut of Real Pro Wrestling soon on PAX (still unknown today as Ion TV). Real Pro Wrestling is basically amateur wrestling but they're getting paid and there's title belts. The promotion landed a 15-week TV deal with PAX starting in February and they're hopeful of getting several major Olympic wrestlers on the show, as well as involvement of Dan Gable which would be huge for getting the amateur wrestling community to embrace it. Dave talks a bit behind the planning of this and what the goals are and has the usual concerns about how difficult running a live business like this is, especially when it's amateur wrestling and not the exciting characters and spectacle of traditional pro wrestling. Major amateur wrestling events airing live on ESPN tend to do abysmal numbers, so trying to run lesser shows, on a weaker network, with matches taped weeks in advance, is probably not going to set the world on fire. Especially when we already have MMA still catching on. But they're gonna take a shot at it (this lasted 2 years, or "seasons" and was ran more like a sports league).
Dave got his hands on a bunch of UFC buyrate, fighter payoffs, and business numbers, which they usually don't release, and he uses it to make some interesting WWE comparisons. A lot of this is about payroll, as Dave is able to determine what the fighters made on a show versus what the revenue was, and uses it to determine the percentages that UFC is paying fighters, then compares that to what WWE has known to pay. Seems to be about the same. On average, both wrestlers in WWE and fighters in UFC seem to be making around 15-20% of whatever the total revenue of shows is. Of course, you can compare that to other sports like baseball and football where the athletes make a significantly higher percentage, but they have unions. Maybe wrestling should try that. But even taking unions out of the equation, name-level boxers often get a far higher percentage of event revenue than both wrestlers and MMA fighters (as always, the people putting their bodies on the line for the sports we love are woefully underpaid while people like Vince McMahon and Dana White laughed all the way to the bank off the broken bodies of their performers).
A Mexican newspaper ran a big story over the battle for the name "El Hijo Del Santo." The current wrestler has recently taken his nephew to court to prevent him from using the name. The current Santo says he owns the rights to the name and just like his father chose him, he will select who he wants to pass it down to next. He said it will have to be someone worthy, not an "average wrestler" like his nephew is. He said he wouldn't even give it to his own son if he doesn't feel he's good enough ("if he wants to be El Santo, he has to be better than me and my dad.") and that if no one he deems worthy comes along, then he will be the last Santo. The current Santo, much like his father, has been the biggest drawing star in Mexico for much of the last 20 years. The nephew said he tried to register other names but the Mexican wrestling commission said they were all too close to the Santo trademark. Current Santo says he initially supported his nephew's career, and even got him a job in AAA but he wasn't any good and Antonio Pena wouldn't push him. Sounds like the nephew has been trying to use his relation to Santo in order to get somewhere in the business ever since and current Santo ain't having it. He specifically said it isn't about money, noting that the entire family shares the royalties from the Santo movies that are still popular. He just doesn't want a shitty wrestler messing up his and his dad's legacy. He said he will never hand the gimmick off to anyone else until he retires, noting that his own father didn't allow him to use the name until after he'd retired.
El Hijo del Santo did have one other interesting quote: "This is the first time I am saying this, but technically, I am a better wrestler than El Santo was. I am not a copy of him, which is what this kid would be. I must say, though, I am only a better technical wrestler, because my father was a much larger icon." Dave says anyone being honest with themselves can't disagree. The original Santo was never a great in-ring performer, he was just a beloved icon. His son, however, is excellent in the ring but has nowhere near the charisma or cultural popularity of his father. It's interesting because many of original Santo's contemporaries (namely Blue Demon and Gory Guerrero) were famously extremely jealous of Santo's fame and popularity because they (correctly) thought they were better wrestlers than him as wrestlers. But some people just have "it" and all the fancy in-ring skills in the world can't compare.
While we're in this neighborhood, another Mexican magazine ran an interview with Rey Misterio Sr. and he basically spent the whole thing trashing both Santos. He said El Hijo del Santo is overpaid and only gets it, "because of being the son of somebody." Dave disputes this, of course, saying El Hijo del Santo definitely benefitted because of who his father is, but he's been a top star for 20 years on his own and that's because he's genuinely really good. Mistero Sr. also accused other promoters of "kissing the balls" of Santo and that he was "crying like a whore" over a recent commission ruling or some such stuff. Sure.
IWA in Puerto Rico attempted to book Steve Austin to come in as a special referee for a major show soon, but Austin is booked up with movie commitments through the end of the year and turned it down. Worth a shot.
Speaking of, doesn't look like there's going to be any Inoki Bom Ba Ye show this year, ending a 4-year New Year's Eve tradition. Last year's Inoki show got killed by the competing PRIDE and K-1 shows and they're returning this year, so Inoki has wisely bowed out. He's still telling people that he plans to do another big event in May in North Korea, "but nobody believes him."
There's a lot of people upset at the new NJPW company president Masakazu Kusama. He has been cutting costs and slashing budgets, but he just bought an expensive new car for himself and apparently has a full-time chauffeur.
There's a new movie out in Japan called "Mask de 41", about a down-on-his-luck guy who dons another wrestler's mask and pretends to be him, getting involved with the mob and things like that. I found some cover art images and stuff for this movie, but all the links to actually watch it online looked a little fishy to me so I didn't hunt further haha
British boxer Danny Williams, who recently knocked out Mike Tyson, is a huge wrestling fan and just did an angle at a UK indie show for promotion FWA. The angle was Williams getting into an altercation with wrestler Alex Shane and they presented it as a shoot, and the heat was said to be insane. The angle got a lot of media attention in the UK, with almost all of them buying it as a shoot. Williams is interested in doing something with WWE when they come to the UK in December and word is they're interested after the publicity he got from the Tyson victory, but Dave suspects Williams doing this kind of angle on an indie show might put WWE off.
Someone pitched a reality show to Steve Austin and DDP recently, as a celebrity roommate show. The gist of it was basically, "Can two divorced retired pro wrestlers share an apartment without driving each other crazy?" DDP was evidently down, but Austin refused, saying he has no interest in turning his life into a reality show. Meanwhile, DDP is apparently looking into some new idea for a reality show called "The Hottest Housewife in America" or something??? Umm...what?
As for any hopes of an Austin/Goldberg project, those ideas seem dead. If you recall, they had discussed an idea of promoting the show themselves, with them as the main event. Goldberg is adamant that he is never going back to WWE, while Austin is still on decent terms with the company and just met with Vince McMahon a couple weeks ago and doesn't really want to wrestle anywhere else other than the biggest company in the world. Basically, they aren't on the same page anymore about what a potential Austin vs. Goldberg match/PPV/event would look like, so the idea is dead.
The big Memphis show last month, which drew 4,800 paid to the Mid-South Coliseum, was the biggest indie crowd in the U.S. since an OVW show in 2001 which had guest appearances by Steve Austin, Chris Benoit, Kane, and Batista (that show drew about 5,000). Things like this illustrate just how big an accomplishment All In was in 2018.
Roddy Piper worked a Portland Wrestling show, his first match since getting fired by WWE last year, in front of about 250 people. Piper was a last minute substitution for Jim Duggan and looked better than he has in years. The main event also saw Raven return to Portland for the first time since he started wrestling in 1989 and he pinned Dr. Luther in the main event. I actually found video of this show (it's improperly labeled as 2003) and here ya go:
CM Punk pulled himself from a recent indie show after the promoter asked if Rob Feinstein could work the show as his manager. Punk basically told them to fuck off and pulled out of the show simply for them having the audacity to even ask. Feinstein is said to be trying to make appearances at more indie shows in effort to get back in the biz and revive his struggling RF Video company.
Nashville airport TSA agents detained Jeff Jarrett last week as he was leaving town because they found a clear pipe in his bag. Police were called and Jarrett denied knowing what it was for or where it came from. He wasn't charged or cited with anything and was allowed to leave, but Jeff is basically leading the charge in TNA's negotiations with FSN and their ongoing TV deal, so a lot of people were worried about how him getting in trouble could jeopardize things with the company. But sounds like it was nothing major. Jarrett is working to get TNA a better time slot on FSN, as well as discussions about quarterly prime-time specials, similar to the old WCW Clash of the Champions events.
Now that CZW has taped shows to air on PPV, they have been informed that TNA wrestlers can no longer work their tapings. That means Alex Shelley, Amazing Red, and Sonjay Dutt have all been pulled from upcoming CZW bookings. They could in theory still work the live shows, but their matches can't be broadcast on any CZW PPVs.
TNA random notes: Raven has apparently got major heat with Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel because he went over their heads and complained about something to Dixie Carter. Meanwhile, Jonny Fairplay isn't going to be used anymore and in fact, TNA is looking to buy out the remaining 4 or so months left on his contract so they can completely be done.
The latest TNA taping in Florida almost didn't happen because of Hurricane Frances. They got all the wrestlers there, but as the day went on, they started to realize that they weren't gonna have many fans. They talked about canceling the tapings and filming a bunch of interviews but by show-time, they had about 300 people there. They put all of them in front of the cameras and it looked halfway decent on TV. But it was a sparse crowd for a TV taping to say the least.
UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is working as a bouncer at the Spearmint Rhino strip club in Las Vegas. In case you're wondering why Mir, who makes 6-figures per fight, is still working as a strip club bouncer, here's the deal: "He’s working 3-4 nights per week, making $500 to $1,000 per night in tips, and looks at naked women all night." I guess when you put it like that....
Tom Prichard was released by WWE this week, in a surprise to everyone. Prichard had been with the company for about 10 years and has decades of experience in the business, worked as a trainer and in the talent office. The corporate reason is they wanted someone with more experience with budgeting and things like that. The "unofficial" reason is everyone sees it as John Laurinaitis getting rid of all of Jim Ross' people and putting his own people in place now that he has that role. In this case, looks like Tommy Dreamer is going to be replacing Prichard. Dave says Laurinaitis is making a lot of changes and the vibe is that everyone is supposed to dress nicer and basically say yes without questioning things and Prichard wasn't going along with that, apparently pushing back on a lot of the changes Laurinaitis was making. Bill DeMott and Lance Storm have also been given new roles reporting to Laurinaitis.
Meanwhile, his brother Bruce Prichard apparently has a lot of heat on him. He wasn't at the recent TV tapings and people have been told simply that he is "on retreat" and the official word is indefinite leave of absence. Dave says the word around the locker room is Bruce has more heat on him than just about anyone in the company. (Dave doesn't elaborate on this, but Prichard has noted before that he had some addiction issues, and was required to take drug tests after 2004 until he was fired in 2008. There's also been instances of Vince Russo calling him a "pill-head," so if I was a betting man, I'd assume rehab is what was happening here).
Paul Heyman is back on the WWE writing staff. Within the office, there's a lot of negativity towards Heyman being part of creative, but basically ALL the wrestlers desperately wanted him back. Even the wrestlers who don't trust him recognize that Heyman at least understands wrestling better than the soap opera writers and are confident that he can book them into logical stories, so long as Vince doesn't overrule everything and change it all at the last minute (as if that would ever happen). For the last year, Heyman has been a "creative advisor" which was little more than emailing them ideas sometimes which would be ignored. But now that he's been brought back into the meetings at TV, he'll probably get to have more of a say. Until they kick him off the team again. Dave says this is also basically Heyman replacing Bruce Prichard while he's "on retreat." He'll no longer be managing Heidenreich on the road though, so that pairing is done. All the wrestlers were super excited that he was back on the team, but Heyman basically tried to temper expectations by telling people he's just one voice of many and Vince still has all the say-so.
WWE has issued an apology over the Divas Search "diss the diva" segment that got lot of complaints, saying it happened live and was unscripted and shouldn't have been allowed to happen. The segment was edited out from all international broadcasts that went out after.
Notes from 9/2 Smackdown: they showed multiple vignettes of Carly Colon and apparently, he's "cool." WWE might be miracle workers because Carly is showing more charisma in these vignettes than he did in 5 years of being a main event star in Puerto Rico. They showed a clip from last week of Kidman (legit) knocking Chavo Guerrero unconscious with the shooting star press when his knee landed on Chavo's head. They're turning it into a story where Kidman is afraid to do the move for fear of seriously injuring people. Dave thinks JBL is the most improved wrestler in the company and he's busting his ass to prove himself as a world champion guy. The crowd still doesn't buy it and as a result, this title run has been a pretty big flop so far, but that's not JBL's fault. He's doing the absolute best work of his career. The problem is they turned him from a nobody to world champion overnight and the crowd still hasn't had time to accept him at that level yet. But he was fantastic on commentary here. Main event was an excellent 2-out-of-3 falls match between Angle and Eddie that went almost 30 minutes. Not as good as their Wrestlemania match, but better than Summerslam.
Notes from 9/6 Raw: this show featured "the single most selfish performance" Dave can recall seeing in a high profile wrestling show. Back in 2000, during the dying days of WCW, there was a match where Kevin Nash destroyed Terry Funk, no-sold everything he did, and basically squashed him. Dave thought that was the most selfish thing he'd seen in wrestling, but nope! This show had a Triple H vs. Eugene cage match, in which Triple H treated him like a complete joke and completely buried the Eugene character deader than dead. Admittedly, fans had already given up on Eugene (not his fault, blame the bad booking) and Triple H was main eventing the PPV that week, so he needed to win, but they did Eugene no favors here. This was a total burial of a talented guy and a character who was extremely popular until WWE overexposed it and ruined it. Elsewhere on the show, Edge was stripped of the IC title for not defending in 30 days. If this was 10 years ago and the titles still meant something, Dave would have opinions on this, but he's not wasting his time. Christian came out demanding it be handed over to him. Dave says there's precedent for that, if you recall Triple H killing the world championship from the very beginning by having it handed to him, so why not? Dave is spicy this week. Nidia is now being billed as being from Puerto Rico. Dave is baffled that Edge and Jericho can't be billed as "from Canada" but Nidia, born and raised in Texas, is now from Puerto Rico. The Diva Search continued and Dave is rolling his eyes that Carmella is still there. Every week they talk about how awful she is, how everyone hates her, how she thinks wrestling is beneath her, and somehow she's still never been eliminated. "If it wasn’t the fact that I know Vince McMahon would never fix something, I’d be suspicious," Dave says. They did arm wrestling and after getting eliminated, Amy Weber apparently had to go to the hospital for some injured ligaments in her arm. Next week they're doing a shoot boxing match with the remaining women and Dave has visions of Brawl For All. Needless to say, Dave HATED this show and was apparently in a pretty sarcastic "fuck you" mood while reviewing it because he rips this one to shreds.
Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice did an interview and admitted that Brock Lesnar was a lot better than they expected he would be and said he could see a future with him on the Vikings if he decides to stick with it and continue trying to pursue football and keep improving. They loved his work ethic. The Canadian Football League's season has already started but there is interest in Lesnar from teams there as well, but Lesnar has no interest because their salaries are so small.
Ivory did an interview a basically trashing the company for their treatment of the Divas. She said the creative team, "or whoever the mystery people are who make all the rotten decisions about our storylines" is working against them. She called the Divas Search a total waste, unentertaining, and unimaginative and called it "Jackass meets Top Model." Then she admitted that WWE will probably punish her for this interview by having her go out to the ring to put over the new diva that wins the contest. She talked about how Austin bitched about creative and the next week they booked him to lose to Lesnar, leading to him walking out. "And he was Austin," she says. So imagine what they'll do to her. (I don't think she was ever really punished for this because she wasn't really being used anyway. She was in OVW working as a trainer during this time and never did return to the main roster. They eventually released her in 2005).
Lots of WWE stars appeared at the recent Republican National Convention. Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, JBL, Big Show, Mark Henry, Ivory, and Linda McMahon. JBL even gave a speech. Ric Flair and Linda McMahon sat down for an interview in which Flair immediately started gushing over how great George W. Bush is. Linda, understanding the assignment, quickly jumped in and steered the conversation back to WWE's non-partisan voting drive and claimed WWE wrestlers are generally split 50/50 between Republican and Democrat. Dave understands why Linda said it, but says that from top management all the way on down, WWE's overall makeup is far more Republican than Democrat. Dave also takes this time to remind us about the Raw just before the 2000 election, when Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler spent the entire show (likely at Vince's direction) trying to push WWE viewers to vote for Bush.
Eddie Guerrero has an autobiography coming out next year called "Cheating Death, Stealing Life" which is due out in May (this gets delayed by several months and ends up being released in Dec. 2005, about one month after Eddie's death). Meanwhile, William Regal's book "Walking A Golden Mile" is scheduled to be released in March.
Porn star Jenna Jameson released an autobiography recently as well. She doesn't acknowledge her brief appearances in ECW or WWE, but she does throw plenty of shade at the Undertaker, who she claims tried to hit on her in Las Vegas a few years ago and apparently got menacing when she rejected him. She claims Undertaker basically ran off her boyfriend from the bar and threatened to kick his ass and take Jenna away with him. She said she ran upstairs to her hotel room and then she and her boyfriend left because she was genuinely afraid Undertaker was planning to kidnap her and hurt her (this story has somehow flown under the radar for years but yeah, she details all of it in her book).