April 02, 1996
- Dave opens the issue with a preview of Wrestlemania 12 which takes place this weekend. WWF is riding the most momentum they've had in 4 years heading into the show. Expectations for the Bret/Shawn iron man match are huge, with WWF basically promoting ahead of time that it will be the greatest match of all time. Talk about pressure to deliver. Dave mentions that the falling out between Vince McMahon and Bill Watts last year was due to Bret and Shawn. Watts wanted to push Bret Hart as the future of the company and Vince wanted Shawn Michaels. Watts had been assured he wouldn't be overruled, and when Vince made it clear that they were going with Shawn, Watts quit. Dave thinks it's interesting now, a year later, because with business turning around, it might be risky to take the belt off of Bret. And in the build-up to this WM match, Bret has totally out-shined Shawn Michaels in the charisma/personality department and Bret is going into the show as a much more interesting character. But arguments can be made that Shawn has been responsible for the turnaround of house show business and PPV buyrates. Either way, this match features 2 guys who are at the top of the business and who are in their primes, in what will be the biggest match of their careers on the biggest show of the year, being given a full hour to have the best match they can possibly have. Hard to ask for more than that.
- From here, Dave analyzes the history of Wrestlemania and dedicates a paragraph each to the first 11 WMs. He says Vince rolled the dice with his entire company on WM1 and succeeded. WM3 in front of "93,000" fans, which Dave yet again reminds people is a worked number. It's been repeated so many times now that people accept it as fact, but the real number was around 78,000 which is still the largest indoor wrestling crowd ever in North America. Of course, WM7 was planned to break that record but then they moved it to a much smaller building due to "bomb threats" (aka low ticket sales) and featured the tasteless Sgt. Slaughter angle. And of course, WM10 featured 2 of the greatest matches in WWF history.
- WCW's Uncensored PPV is in the books and many are calling it the worst PPV ever. Dave doesn't quite go that far, but he does think the 8 vs. 2 triple cage match may have been the worst PPV main event ever and gives it negative 3-stars. The rules were never really explained because WCW never seemed to figure out what they would be. On the Saturday night show before the PPV, they heavily hyped Brian Pillman as being part of the heel team, but he wasn't on the show due to complications from his recent throat surgery (which he told WCW about earlier in the week and yet they still advertised him all the way up till showtime). Meng and Barbarian were added to the match for some reason. There was also a lot of complaints in the locker room of obvious steroid freaks like Z-Gangsta (Zeus/Tiny Lister) and Ultimate Solution (Jeep Swenson) getting PPV main events while long-time WCW talent are struggling to even get on the show. Plus there's grumbling about the obvious double-standard when it comes to steroids, with WCW telling people to get off the juice while pushing all of Hogan's roided up monster friends in the top matches.
- As for the rest of the PPV: Belfast Bruiser (Fit Finlay) and Steve Regal had a super-stiff match that was more brutal than anything you'll ever see in American wrestling and ended up leaving Regal with a legit broken nose from a hard punch (yeah, this one is worth heading over to the Network to watch. Regal and Fit just beat the everloving shit out of each other. It's awesome). Booker T of Harlem Heat was the most impressive in the Chicago Street Fight match. Funny note: when the PPV started, Ric Flair, Bobby Heenan, and Gene Okerlund still hadn't arrived at the arena because they apparently got lost trying to find the city (Tupelo, MS) after flying in to the Memphis airport (it's literally a straight shot down Hwy 78 from Memphis to Tupelo?! How the fuck do you get lost??).
- Jesse Ventura beat WWF in court again this week after the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld last year's ruling that WWF owed him over a million dollars due to videotape royalties. WWF had appealed the decision, but this pretty much puts an end to the case and Ventura should be getting his money from WWF within the next few weeks.
- Sid Vicious hasn't been on USWA TV for several weeks and it seems he may be done with the company. He was previously doing commentary after announcing his retirement a few weeks ago. Word is the retirement isn't going to stick and he'll be returning to WWF as soon as his neck is healed up.
- The issues between Brian Pillman and ECW have apparently been resolved and Pillman is scheduled for future ECW shows. The plan is to book an angle, eventually building to a Pillman vs. Shane Douglas match later this month. For what it's worth, Pillman still has some sort of contractual ties with WCW and so for him to be working in ECW means WCW had to approve it. Paul Heyman adamantly denies working with WCW in this case and says he never would work with them again. Dave seems to not believe it (pretty sure Dave turned out to be wrong on this one).
- Dave says the Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera match in ECW that aired on the 3/19 episode of ECW TV is the best match of the year so far from any promotion.
- There's been a lot of talk within the business about a documentary being done by Barry Blaustein about the behind-the-scenes of the wrestling industry. Eric Bischoff has had a lot of discussions with the producers as of late (that would end up being Beyond The Mat, released in 1999).
- Goldust appeared on the Conan O'Brien show, completely in-character and began coming on to Conan until they called security. The whole segment was worked, but hilarious.
- The Connecticut Post newspaper is doing a big feature article on all the controversy around the Goldust character, which many gay groups have protested. From a business standpoint, it seems the Goldust character is starting to get over, but Dave can also see the point that it essentially encourages gay bashing.
- Marc Mero can't use any of the Johnny B. Badd gimmick when he starts with WWF so he'll have to come up with a new character.
- WWF has pulled out of Antonio Inoki's multi-promotion show in Las Angeles in June. No reason given, although you gotta figure with WCW being involved and Eric Bischoff openly speculating that it might air on TBS or TNT probably had a lot to do with it.
- Jerry Lawler did a funny bit on the latest episode of Superstars where he did commentary on his own match as it was happening and Dave says it was hilarious. Yeah it's good stuff.