Wrestling Observer Rewinder

March 20, 2000

WWF officially gave notice to USA Network this week that they are cancelling their contract effective in September. WWF's deal with USA expires in Sept. 2001, but there's a clause that allows WWF to get out of the deal a year early by giving 6 months notice, which they have now officially done. This doesn't necessarily mean WWF is leaving USA but it means they can now legally shop around their cable package to other networks. Apparently CBS/Viacom is looking to make a huge investment in bringing in the WWF. CBS is in the midst of a merger with Viacom and Viacom owns 50% of UPN (which airs Smackdown). Word is they're trying to get 100% ownership of UPN, which if they do, that would also give CBS/Viacom the rights to Smackdown as well. However, Chris Craft Industries owns the other 50% of UPN and they're furious that Viacom is merging with CBS, saying it violates their contract and yada yada and they're trying to use legal means to stop the merger. If that happens, it could likely screw up the WWF deal. This all gets pretty in-depth with TV insider business talk. Long story short, if all these mergers and plans go through, it will lead to CBS/Viacom having all the rights to WWF and XFL programming in the U.S. It's believed that all the current USA Network shows (Raw, Superstars, Livewire, Heat, etc.) would move to TNN, which would undergo a name-change and face-lift to give it less of a Southern country music reputation. Many industry people are saying the deal is pretty much already done and that WWF will almost certainly be leaving USA Network later this year.
Losing WWF will likely mean USA will lose it's status as cable's highest rated network and it's unknown what they will do to counter that. USA is said to be interested in keeping wrestling on their network. Paul Heyman seems to already see the writing on the wall, and believes ECW will likely be kicked off TNN when the deal goes through, which is why they've started painting the TNN network as heels on TV. USA is said to be potentially interested in airing ECW if WWF leaves, but that would require a lot of changes for ECW. They would have to massively upgrade their production values and USA is going to want them to fill more airtime than just the 1-hour show they do on TNN now. And they'll probably want it to be live on Monday nights because they want to keep that time slot for wrestling. ECW is basically a mom-and-pop operation almost entirely run by Paul Heyman and he is already said to be collapsing under the workload as it is. Dave just doesn't see how it would be possible for ECW to make it work but thinks it would be interesting. ECW on TNN is small fries right now, because it's a smaller cable channel airing on Friday nights and doing low ratings but he wonders how ECW would do if they were on the big stage, running live Monday night prime time shows on a major network like USA. They have proven they can do good numbers on PPV (in fact, the most recent ECW PPV did a bigger buyrate than WCW's most recent) and despite the TV ratings being low compared to WWF and WCW, the truth is ECW is basically the highest rated programming on TNN aside from NASCAR. If they had the money and production ability to handle it, Dave seems to think ECW might actually do pretty well on the big stage. They're already slowly creeping up on passing WCW in several key areas and in head-to-head competition, they'd probably be able to surpass them for the #2 spot. Of course, then the problem is that WWF would then become the enemy. WWF has been helpful to ECW throughout the years, but the bigger ECW gets, the more of an enemy WWF will become and ECW just isn't going to win that battle. Of course, if USA buys an ownership interest in ECW, then the money might not be a problem anymore and Heyman could focus on handling the creative stuff and then, who knows? Basically, there's a lot of potential possibilities coming out of all this and a lot of the television decisions that are made over the next few few weeks will likely change the future of the industry.
Things are interesting with WCW right now also. After the Turner/Time Warner merger a few years ago and the Time Warner/AOL merger in the works right now, Ted Turner no longer has the power he used to have. With this new merger, there will be new eyes on WCW, which is currently losing tens of millions of dollars and plummeting. The good news is that with the merger, they will be a $180 BILLION dollar company, so WCW's losses are just a small drop in the bucket. But WCW has always been allowed to exist because Ted Turner had a loyalty to pro wrestling and with him no longer wielding the power he used to, that could always change. Nitro still does competitive prime time ratings for TNT every Monday compared to other networks, which is good, but it's obviously nowhere close to the numbers they were doing a year ago and of course, wrestling has always been a tough sell to advertisers. Thunder is a different story, as even many of the lowest rated cable shows are routinely beating it. And WCW Saturday Night is often the lowest rated programming on all of TBS from the noon-to-midnight time period. So with Ted Turner losing power, a lot of things could conceivably change (at the moment Dave wrote this, WCW was exactly one year away from that very thing happening).
ECW's Living Dangerously PPV is in the books and will likely only be remembered for one particular spot that left New Jack seriously injured. Jack and Grimes climbed a scaffold about 13 feet from the ground (though Joey Styles claimed it was 40 feet) and the idea was for Jack to suplex Grimes off of it through a table. Apparently neither man bothered to ever go up and look at the scaffold before the show and didn't realize how little footing they would have when they got up there. Once they got up, with the world and PPV audience watching, they had to do something and couldn't back out. So they just sorta winged it and...it went poorly. Grimes, pushing 400 pounds, landed entirely on New Jack's head when they hit the concrete floor. Panicked ECW officials could be seen tending to New Jack, who was unconscious. The cameras mostly cut away from showing the aftermath as New Jack was laying on the ground, twitching while a large pool of blood formed around his head. In the locker room, there was legitimate fear that he might be dead. He laid on the ground for several minutes before being loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. The following 2 matches were shortened, as ECW officials frantically tried to rush through the rest of the PPV just to get it over with. Turns out New Jack seriously lucked out, as he was "only" diagnosed with a concussion, chest and sternum bruising, and a fractured elbow that won't require surgery. He was out of the hospital the next day but probably won't be wrestling any time soon. He was extremely lucky because it could have very easily turned into another Owen Hart situation (turns out his injuries were worse than known at the time. New Jack has said it caused him brain damage and permanently blinded him in his right eye. Anyway, here's the only free Youtube version I can find, although if you have the Network, it's on there in much better quality).
WATCH: New Jack and Vic Grimes spot gone wrong - ECW Living Dangerously 2000
Other notes from the PPV: the production value was bad even for ECW. The arena looked dark and the sound was poor. But it's expected to be the best buyrate ever for an ECW PPV and will easily beat the numbers that WCW did for SuperBrawl. The show opened with Steve Corino insulting Sandman's wife and then Rhino goring her through a table. Dusty Rhodes then beat Corino in a bullrope match which was terrible, almost entirely because Rhodes is 55 and too out of shape to be working what ended up being the longest match on the show. Gedo and Jado from FMW worked the show but it was a bad match. Maybe that Gedo guy should start booking wrestling instead of actually doing it. Super Crazy vs. Little Guido was a good match. And the still injured RVD returned to help Super Crazy beat Rhino to become the new TV champion. The show went off the air about 30 minutes earlier than planned because, as mentioned, they rushed through the final 2 matches trying to end the show ASAP because of the New Jack situation.
Finally some sorta good news for WCW, as they embarked on a tour of the UK and sold out 3 consecutive 10,000+ shows and sold out of all their merchandise. But while they sold out shows and made big money at the gate, by the end of the shows, it was the typical kill-the-town mentality of WCW, with pretty much unanimous negative reviews and complaints about stars like Goldberg, DDP, Sting, Scott Hall, Jeff Jarrett, Sid Vicious and others not being there, even though all were advertised. Jarrett only missed one show due to losing his passport. Vicious wasn't on the tour because he's allegedly not allowed in the country after the 1993 stabbing incident with Arn Anderson (although Dave notes that he did work in England in 1996 for the WWF so he doesn't buy that). Bret Hart went and got a huge response in every city and he cut promos each night to crowds that loved him. He said he had been advised not to fly due to his concussion but did anyway because he didn't want to miss the chance to come back to England and said he would give anything to be able to wrestle there but said his injuries are too severe and basically said goodbye to the fans, leaving many thinking that he may be retiring. The first show ended with Buff Bagwell as the top star, posing and having his music playing as fans filed out of the arena after the main event. Needless to say, nobody in the UK was exactly stoked to have Bagwell as the top star sending the fans home "happy." Another show, no lie, was headlined by the Harris Brothers vs. The Mamalukes for the tag titles, just in case you wonder why WCW house shows stopped drawing. Kevin Nash was there, still injured, but making appearances on crutches and was apparently pretty out of it in Birmingham, slurring his words and, although Dave doesn't outright say it, sounds like he was fucked up on something. But all in all, these sold out crowds full of rabid fans showed up and by the end of the night, they all left disappointed by terrible shows. Classic WCW.
Bad news for AJPW, as Nippon TV (the network that airs them) announced it was lowering the money they pay the company for television and also that they are moving it to a new time slot, at 2am on Wednesdays. Their old time slot, which was just after midnight on Sundays was already a terrible time slot and this is even worse. AJPW's TV ratings have actually been strong but Nippon TV is apparently not that interested in wrestling anymore.
UFC 24 is in the books and this is too interesting not to write about. It was supposed to be heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman vs. Pedro Rizzo but during the show, while warming up backstage, Randleman stepped on a pipe and fell down, cracking his head on the floor. He suffered a serious concussion and began vomiting in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He still wanted to fight, but needless to say, it wasn't allowed. During the show, the announcers stopped hyping the main event and seemed to be stalling for time as the show ran long. Finally, they announced in a backstage interview that the fight was cancelled. Unfortunately, this was the only match anyone watching or attending the show cared about. Due to commission rules and things like that, they weren't able to scrape together a replacement main event in time. The live crowd booed the hell out of it but hey, shit happens.
Both Nitro and Thunder did all-time record low ratings this week. In fact, the first hour of Nitro was beaten in the ratings by Walker Texas Ranger so USA is kicking Nitro's ass even without wrestling now.
As mentioned, Michinoku Pro is organizing the 3rd ever Super J Cup tournament next month. Jushin Liger is scheduled to win the whole thing, which was part of the agreement to get him to work the tournament since his name value is the biggest draw for it (yup, he does indeed win it).
Dustin Diamond, famous for playing Screech on Saved By The Bell, made an appearance for Jerry Lawler's MCW promotion in Memphis and did an angle where he has a crush on The Kat. But she keeps blowing him off and he gets a little pushy about it, but then gets beat down by some wrestlers. Screech even did a stretcher job afterward.
WATCH: Screech in MCW
Notes from Nitro: Dave hated it. Literally all of it.
Eric Bischoff is meeting with Turner execs this week to discuss getting out of his contract and non-compete clause so he can start doing something else. Right now, he's just sitting home collecting a check.
There are a lot of morale issues in WCW after word came out that Bret Hart's pay was cut in half because he's been out injured for so long. Lots of people pointed out that Goldberg has been out for about the same amount of time and his contract wasn't cut in half, nor have people like Hall, Nash, or Sting who have all been out for extended periods of time. Lots of double-standard-for-top-guys complaints. Even though Hart is obviously a top guy, he's never been seen as one of them. Speaking of Hart, after giving the speech in England hinting at retirement, word is he was telling people the same thing backstage, pretty much saying there's a good chance his career is over due to the concussion he suffered and he was said to be emotional about it.
Random WCW notes: During the UK Tour, Brian Knobbs shaved The Wall's eyebrows and some of Ric Flair's eyebrow while they were asleep. Gene Okerlund was arrested for DUI last week in Sarasota, FL. Christopher Daniels was signed by WCW this week. Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch were backstage at Nitro and are both signed now also.
Notes from WWF Raw: Bubba Ray Dudley powerbombed Mae Young off the stage through a table. He protected her a lot better this week and it went fine but Dave still thinks it's kind ridiculous and way too risky to be having a 77-year-old woman taking these bumps just to get a pop from the crowd. And Vince McMahon made his huge babyface return, getting a big pop. He also says that Triple H beat Rikishi clean. "Somebody is getting over a little too strong for some people," Dave says.
WATCH: Bubba Ray Dudley powerbombs Mae Young off the stage
The 2 lawsuits between Ultimate Warrior and WWF were settled out of court. Warrior had sued WWF over a bunch of trademark violations (using his likeness for things he hadn't approved) and defamation of character (for saying on TV that Warrior had no-showed dates). WWF counter-sued over him using the Warrior name and likeness that they claim they own the rights to and all that fun shit. Anyway, both were settled, but the terms are confidential.
Billy Gunn will be out for about 6 months after getting shoulder surgery.
Trish Stratus made her on-screen debut on Sunday Night Heat, "scouting" Test during his match with Gangrel. She also appeared later in the show, scouting Albert.
WATCH: Trish Stratus debuts in WWF
The head of the PTC group wrote an article in the New York Post talking about the CBS/Viacom merger, saying that it would combine 2 of the biggest offenders of sleaze in America today: Howard Stern and the WWF. He also talked about the case in Florida with the 12-year-old who is being tried as an adult for killing a 6-year-old girl while allegedly doing wrestling moves on her. He claimed the girl's brain injuries were consistent with the effects of a Stone Cold Stunner (Dave is perplexed since for one, that's not true and two, that's not even what the people involved in the case are saying, so who knows where he pulled that out of his ass from). Anyway, he was basically trying to paint the WWF as responsible for the girl's death.
Speaking of that case, The Rock was scheduled to testify in it but his testimony was postponed. Rock was subpoenaed by the defense who apparently wanted to have a wrestler testify about how certain moves are done. And Rock is a high-profile name who lives near where it happened, so they went for him. WWF lawyers are trying to get the subpoena dismissed, claiming Rock's testimony should have no bearing on the case. The 12-year-old in the case has talked with psychologists and they say he's totally aware that wrestling is fake and understands that wrestling moves are dangerous if performed wrong. But the kid's lawyer is still attempting to use the defense that his client was imitating wrestling moves and didn't understand the consequences. He claims he was swinging the girl around as if he was going to throw her into the ropes and lost his grip and she struck her head on a metal pipe which killed her. But the autopsy showed she died from a sustained beating, suffering more than 30 cuts, bruises, fractures, and scratches, including one that detached part of her liver. So obviously it wasn't a single wrestling move gone wrong. The WWF released a statement on the case, saying "To try to blame the World Wrestling Federation for the acts of this delinquent is a pathetic excuse being offered by a defense attorney without a defense."
The New York Post wrote a story on the controversy surrounding the WWF trying to bury Beyond The Mat. It talked about how McMahon flexed his muscle and got USA and UPN to ban advertising for the movie on their channels. Apparently Lions Gate producers offered to remove any footage of McMahon himself from the commercials if he would lift the ban, but McMahon still refused. For what it's worth, Vince did ultimately agree to allow Mick Foley to appear on Larry King Live to be interviewed about the movie. The article also claimed that prior to this, McMahon spoke with producers about buying into the movie, to help produce and fund it (and presumably to have some say over what made the final cut) but producer Barry Blaustein turned him down because he felt it would hurt the film's credibility if one of the subjects of the documentary also had a financial stake in it. WWF PR rep Jim Byrne claimed that WWF officials had screened the movie and didn't want any part of it simply because they found it boring.
On his website, Perry Saturn responded to Hulk Hogan's recent comments about him. Saturn admits he acted childish in some of his past comments about Hogan and apologized for them, but then said he was furious at Hogan's comments about Billy Kidman. He said Hogan is in a position where he should be a leader and that he should act like one. He said if Hogan wants to make things right, he should work a feud with Kidman (soon, but it doesn't exactly do Kidman any favors).
Mick Foley says that since he retired, fans have been asking him constantly when he's coming back, because nobody believes retirement stipulations. Foley now says he wishes he hadn't given his word so strongly about staying retired because people don't believe it anyway and, come to think of it, there's a lot of money to be made when/if he decides to come back...
There's a lot of heat on Brian Christopher backstage because apparently his attitude just rubs people the wrong way. Meanwhile, there's no heat on his partner Scotty 2 Hotty, who everyone seems to love. In fact, in matches, it's said that a lot of guys will go out of their way to bump all over and make Scotty look good, and then when Christopher gets tagged in, they dead-weight him and do whatever they can to make him look bad because they don't like him.
A couple of Shawn Michaels' students were recently signed to WWF developmental deals. Lance Cade is said to have a ton of potential and could be a big star. He's tall and is said to remind people of a young Barry Windham. The other is Spanky, who is said to have great facial expressions and is funny, but is really small.
Someone writes in about the XFL, saying it's a terrible idea doomed to fail and will cost the WWF millions. He asks Dave what his opinion is. Dave says the WWF has enough money that they can afford the startup costs. Whether it makes it or not, who knows but says it's not fair to judge until we see it. That being said, he thinks there will be a lot of curiosity at the beginning but in the long-run, it's going to be a tough mountain to climb.