WCW Everybody! 1991-2001

[Deleted]

Thanks to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for the notes

WCW

1991: Jan - Apr    May - Aug    Sept - Dec             
1992: Jan - Apr    May - July    Aug - Oct       Nov - Dec

1993: Jan - Mar    Apr - May    June - Aug     Sept - Oct     Nov - Dec

1994: Jan - Feb    Mar - Apr     May - June    July - Aug     Sept - Oct    Nov - Dec

1995: Jan - Feb    Mar - Apr     May - June    July - Aug     Sept - Oct    Nov - Dec

1996: Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr     May    June    July    Aug    Sept    Oct    Nov    Dec

1997: Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr     May    June    July    Aug    Sept    Oct    Nov    Dec 

1998: Jan    Feb    Mar    Apr     May    June 1    June 2    July    Aug 1    Aug 2    Sept 1    Sept 2    Oct 1    Oct 2    Nov 1    Nov 2    Dec 1    Dec 2

1999: Jan 1    Jan 2    Feb 1    Feb 2    Mar 1    Mar 2    Apr 1    Apr 2    May 1    May 2    June 1    June 2    July 1    July 2    Aug 1    Aug 2    Sept 1    Sept 2    Oct 1    Oct 2    Nov 1    Nov 2    Dec 1    Dec 2

2000: Jan 1    Jan 2    Jan 3    Feb 1    Feb 2    Mar 1    Mar 2    Apr 1    Apr 2    May 1    May 2    June 1    June 2    July 1    July 2    Aug 1    Aug 2    Sept 1    Sept 2    Oct 1    Oct 2    Nov 1    Nov 2    Dec 1    Dec 2

2001: Jan 1    Jan 2    Feb 1    Feb 2    Mar 1    Mar 2    Buyout

Post Buyout/WWF business collapse

2001: Apr 1   Apr 2    May 1    May 2

Invasion

2001: June 1    June 2    July 2nd    July 9th    July 16th    July 23rd    July 30th    Aug 6th    Aug 13th    Aug 20th    Aug 27th    Sept 3rd    Sep 10th    Sep 17th    Sep 24th    Oct 1st    Oct 8th    Oct 15th    Oct 22nd    Oct 29th    Nov 5th    Nov 12th    Nov 19th    Nov 26th

1991 January - April

Jan 8, 91

"Although no announcement has officially been made, it is a virtual certainty that Dusty Rhodes will be the new booker for World Championship Wrestling (and also that in 1991, the name National Wrestling Alliance will virtually disappear from the wrestling industry except for the names of a few championships in Mexico and references to WCW in Japan)."

"Rhodes' final house show date with Titan was 12/30, although he's scheduled for one last night of humiliation at the Royal Rumble on 1/19. There are some within WCW who believe Rhodes will actually come on board to book before the Rumble, provided WCW can get a release from Titan Sports on Rhodes. If that doesn't happen, then Rhodes will almost surely start as booker very soon after Jan. 20"

"Interesting to see all the tapes of the guys who have left the promotion doing jobs on TBS--Mean Mark, Legion of Doom, Stan Lane, Great Muta, etc. WCW named the Feb. 7 match from Beaumont, Tex. between Ric Flair & Arn Anderson vs. Rock & Roll Express (which aired Feb. 17 on NWA Main Event) as its television match of the year. After seeing it again, you can understand why"

"Local TV plugs, as I guess are the case in all cities, simply consist of two quickie line-up rundowns of the show. No interviews, either generic or localized, pertaining to the show even air. At least in New York they have the commentary localized to get the angles over. After two years in this business and using how Vince McMahon sells his arena shows as an example it amazes me that can try to sell shows with virtually no hype"

"As of the last word I had, the Steiners still hadn't signed 1991 contracts (current deal comes due within the next two months or so). There were problems because the last contract issued cut their percentage of gimmick sales from 33 percent to 17 percent of net profits and also had a clause that in case of an injury that lasts more than one month that the time period of the contract is put on hold"

"The Juicer finished up this week. He's going to have a hard time because he can't work at home in Oregon both because the media pressure would be intense and the commission won't license him, and other national offices won't book him because they'd face the same media pressures if he got a push"

"Flair and Windham are bleeding in the final two matches just about every night so they are bringing blood back but only in top matches"

"In the commentary on the Zenk-Anderson match they talked of Zenk having a 45 match win streak coming into the match. At Starrcade it was 35, but he was pinned at Starrcade"

"The Sunday TBS show had a mention of Doom as former world tag team champions out to regain the belts. These shows were all taped before Starrcade and when the thing didn't happen, they had to erase all mention of the change from the tape. And I guess they got every mention but one."

"Fans have been confused everywhere by Horsemen-Doom because the angle on TV in the limo paints Doom as the heels, but at the house shows Doom works as faces"

"The 1/30 TBS Clash of the Champions will take place from "The Atrium," which is the lower level of the CNN Center mall. The CNN Center is the corporate headquarters of all the Turner companies, including WCW. It's got maybe 32 floors or so and from the outside looks similar to a shopping mall. It's located next door to the Omni. The wrestling matches will take place on the level with all the restaurants."

"Inside Edition" will tape a segment on Michael Wall Street at the Meadowlands card on 1/11 for a February air date. If you can't understand why this character is getting so much mainstream publicity when it is a minor character and thus far hasn't set the world on fire it is because this is a character that the Forbes Magazine types (Forbes is doing something on the character) can relate to"

Jan 14, 91

"Dusty was announced as booker to the guys Monday night. Magnum T.A. was in as a road agent and the booking team appears to be Rhodes, Windham, Magnum, Grizzly Smith, Kevin Sullivan, Ron West and Jody Hamilton with the latter two more messengers"

Dusty changed Clash main from Flair-Pillman to Flair-Scott Steiner. He's starting a Ron Simmons babyface turn and going to have Anderson and Windham broken into singles wrestlers with Anderson in a three-way program with Zenk and Eaton (tweener) for the TV strap. What about Terry Taylor, are you asking?

"Dustin is coming"

"Bobby Eaton was offered a $156,000 contract for 91-92 plus a $15,000 signing bonus and would also be bumped up from $2,300 to $3,000 per week effective immediately should he sign so very strong chance he's staying, in fact, almost for certain. It's amazing that Eaton is finally getting the respect he's deserved all along, at a time when he's in a role inherently less effective because he doesn't have the manager to make up for his interviews"

"WCW heels Kevin Sullivan, Tony Schiavone, Master Blaster Blade, Sid Vicious and Dutch Mantell beat Glow Girls four of five last week (I know, Tony isn't a heel) and supposedly had pity on them in the one they lost. Wonder if the FTC can go after you for not trying your hardest to win on Family Feud?"

"Norman got his notice that he's done on 1/30. Juicer also done although he made one last play to get his job back. Minotaur will probably be gone before you read this"

Jan 21, 91

"July 8, 1990. Baltimore Arena. Sting wins the NWA world heavyweight title from Ric Flair. Fireworks go off. It was supposed to be the end of an era. The Ric Flair era. The 90s were here and the champion of the 80s was said by many who would never admit to it today to being the problem holding back the company. I'm not here to write that some of us knew better. The problem wasn't Ric Flair, the problems, as in multiple plural, went much deeper than that. But in wrestling, the booker and the champion are often scapegoats when the company doesn't do good business"

"The audience was more-and-more hardcore. The company calls them heel fans, particularly in the Northeast, but that's a misnomer. They were hardcore fans who cheered for who they thought was either the best performer, or the toughest performer. Even the so-called heel fans rarely booed the likes of The Steiner brothers, Lex Luger and Sting. But Ric Flair generally received a lot of cheers because he was a great performer, as did the Midnight Express and Jim Cornette. So did Sid Vicious, for reasons altogether different. But the die-hard fans, the 2,000 or so in cities like Chicago, Baltimore and Philadelphia that were left over from the near packed houses of a few years back, knew that the main events the past six months couldn't match up to those of the previous several years and also knew the reason why. Despite an intense marketing effort that was almost sad and embarrassing, there really weren't that many "Little Stingers" in evidence at the shows"

"Realistically, Sting never had a chance. The fact that his return from knee surgery to win the title, a result that was hardly wrestling's best-kept secret, failed to sell out Baltimore, was an unheeded warning sign. Getting a huge pop and drawing huge houses aren't the same thing."

"Probably around late November, with the house show situation reaching a new low, the decision was made to go back to Flair. Whether it be just as an interim to groom Scott Steiner (who from all accounts doesn't want it in the first place and he doesn't want to break up his tag team with his brother) or segue into Lex Luger, or as a longer term while someone else is groomed or while nobody else is groomed and wheels simply spin, Flair was going to get to tie the hallowed record of Harley Race as a seven-time champion"

"Originally the change was to occur at Starrcade, with Flair wrestling as the Black Scorpion and winning the title. But Sting didn't want to put Flair over in that scenario. Sting refused since he wanted to finish the Scorpion scenario with a victory in the blow-off. At that point, Barry Windham was moved into the Scorpion spot and Flair moved into a tag team spot on the card. But as it became obvious the company insisted on the change, Sting agreed to do it on Jan. 11 at the Meadowlands. Since he did, Flair agreed to put Sting over, as Scorpion, for Starrcade."

"Barry Windham & Arn Anderson beat Doom in a cage match in just 3:54....This was the match that was billed on television as a title-match....Without even an announcement that this was a non-title match when Windham & Anderson were announced as winners, they simply gave the belts to Doom. Between that and the match lasting under four minutes, they left the crowd feeling ripped-off, even on a card which saw a world title change"

"Lex Luger's clothesline at the Meadowlands popped Dangerously's jaw legit"

Jan 28, 91

"If those of you in the New York area heard a loud unexplained pop at about 9:15 on 1/11, it was Rick Steiners clothesline on Al Greene at the Meadowlands"

"Dusty is insisting on them going back to doing localized interviews"

"The 1/30 Clash has been moved from CNN Center to Gainesville, GA because of the heavy security surrounding CNN Center right now

Feb 4, 91

"WCW charged $25, $17 and $10 for tickets and had eight no-shows. As originally reported here, and then denied to me by several in WCW (in this case more due to a lack of communication as anything else), then corrected here last week, but ultimately the original story was true, to save on transportation costs, they decided to leave the undercard guys at home and replace them with locals. Instead of Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton, Terry Taylor vs. Michael Wall Street, Brad Armstrong vs. Moondog and Tim Horner vs. Bill Irwin, we got Jim Gorman vs. Matt Moon, Big Mike Huff vs. Earthquake Ferris, Bill "Superfoot" Monroe vs. Johnny Sawyer and Paul Brown vs. "Mad Dog" Buzz Sawyer (who got the best crowd pop of the entire card)."

Feb 11, 91

"I couldn't believe it when Dusty said Teddy Long was out buying condoms (I'm sure he meant condos, but that's how everyone took his speech)"

"Before the show started, they must have had the crowd chant "Bobby, Bobby" so when Eaton came out they played a tape of the chant to give the illusion that Eaton was incredibly over. This isn't a bad idea, but in every case I've seen WCW do this (like with Lex Luger when he was a heel) they do it for a heel, which defeats the illusion you are trying to create that the crowd doesn't like the guy."

"Zenk wore his TV title that he had lost weeks earlier and it was billed as a TV title match which I guess totally exposed the business to everyone in Perry, GA and any hardcore fan"

"Ranger Ross was booked on the show before the war broke out, originally to come down from the ceiling of the CNN Center but with the move to Gainesville, that stunt was impossible so they booked him to wrestle instead"

"The Sid interview was noteworthy because it was the first time in history I've ever seen three different announcers all try to "steal" the crowd's interest from a guy doing an interview. Dusty interrupted to get himself over. Tony Schiavone was making faces to steal the crowd's focus from Paul E and even Jim Ross was making faces, seemingly to stay on Dusty's good side"

"Only WCW could give away an angle like this. Gary Cappetta announced Taylor as the "computerized man of the 90s" some nine minutes before Alexanda York was to show up and "surprise" everyone by revealing her affiliation with Taylor"

"JFD pinned Sheik (they made the announcement that Sheik had nothing to do with current events in Persian Gulf--awful match)"

"They did a gimmick with Doug Dillinger where Big Josh was being taken to jail with handcuffs on for running out of the crowd into the ring and Tommy Rich begs them not to press charges and Josh breaks the handcuffs. Josh acts like a total mark and in the ring pretends to not know how to work at all (Dusty should have saved this role for bringing in Tugboat so the role would be a shoot)"

Feb 18, 91

"The Butch Reed-Ron Simmons break-up took place on 2/5 in Gainesville at the TV tapings. Since the show doesn't air until 3/2, the two will be teaming up at the house shows until that point which I guess pretty much gives away the result of the tag team title match in Phoenix"

"Advance for Wrestle War in Phoenix is around 1,500 tickets in a 16,000 seater building. WWF is in town the night before in one of those strange coincidences that always seem to happen"

"How many of you caught that the clip they used to illustrate one of Rhodes' greatest triumphs ever at the Omni on Saturday was actually a clip from Greensboro (match with Blanchard at Starrcade 86) that he lost?"

Feb 25, 91

"This is one for the books. The Steiner Brothers won the world tag team titles from the Freebirds on 2/18 in Montgomery, AL at a TV taping (match will air on WCW Pro on 3/9). I guess that gives away the result of Sunday's match."

"JFD & Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich kept their six-man titles (which they weren't to win for five more days) beating Landel & Eaton & Taylor when Eaton got made at Landel and decked him and Landel was pinned"

"Windham pinned Simmons (this was taped for TV, Teddy Long was supposed to be in a cage above the ring but the cage no-showed)"

"Ric Flair was hospitalized with third-degree burns when he accidentally had scalding hot coffee spilled on him at a McDonalds. He was supposed to miss about a week but was already back in action a day or two later"

Mar 4, 91

"Lex Luger won't be appearing against Riki Choshu after all. When Luger negotiated his NWA contract, somehow he made it only valid for the United States and Canada so therefore they had no right to send him to Japan without paying him extra and negotiating a deal."

"The 5/19 PPV show was originally moved from St. Petersburg to Charleston, SC but has been moved back to St. Pete because the building in Charleston had a problem with them using pyrotechnic fireworks during the show"

"During Big Josh's matches, the fans chant "Matt Borne" at him but he tries to pretend he isn't Matt Borne"

Mar 11, 91

"Buddy Landel did an interview talking about the title situation as well and called the Steiners the world tag champs, which they don't win on TV for another week"

"Barry Windham pinned Ron Simmons by pinning Butch Reed who attacked Simmons (as if that makes any sense at all)"

"Steiners beat Freebirds to keep the U.S. tag belts (going on the assumption that we aren't supposed to know Steiners are world champs and have given up the US belts, what sense does it make for the supposed world champs to challenge for the US belts?)"

Mar 18, 91

"The National got phone calls from readers in Milwaukee wanting to know how Brian Pillman could have been injured on TBS on 2/23 when he worked that afternoon in Milwaukee and wasn't taped up and was fine and also why they said Sting was in Phoenix that day when he was in Milwaukee"

"Buddy Landel was fired for apparently blowing snot on a hotel manager on the road"

"Flair is no longer being referred to as a seven-time champion. That phrase has been banned from television so if/when a record is set, it will never be acknowledged"

"The finishes at the Dome show will be most interesting because the Japanese want pinfalls in the middle with no trunks pulled, no ref bumps, no feet on ropes, in every US vs. Japan match. Supposedly WCW is guaranteed $500,000 for its participation in the show and New Japan doesn't want cheap finishes or bad angles ruining its biggest card of the year."

Apr 3, 91

"The Dusty finish strikes Tokyo."

"Fujinami was in his dressing room surrounded by about four dozen photographers shooting a billion shots apiece of him with both belts (My Note: IWGP and WCW). Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone were in another part of the building filming the press conference which no doubt ended with them stripping Fujinami of the belt."

"Just about every reporter thought this was a legit world title change except for the few who knew English and had travelled and seen this finish before at Starrcade '85."

"After the show was a sayonara party at a night club in another part of town. Flair continually called Fujinami "champ" and there wasn't even any hint of controversy. Friday morning's Nikkan Sports came out and the entire front page of the newspaper was devoted to Fujinami becoming the 75th NWA world champion (NWA means a lot in Japan, WCW means nothing so it was continually called NWA world championship)."

"The story that Flair had left Japan with the belt hit the papers on Saturday afternoon. At the storyline in Japan goes, after the sayonara party, at midnight, Dusty Rhodes and Barry Windham (who are the heels in this "controversy" in Japan) went to Seiji Sakaguchi and told him the result of the match is a no contest and that Flair was still the champion."

"The story gets even funnier here, as according to the Tokyo Sports story on Saturday, a reporter, who must have figured out what was going to happen, talked with Bill Alphonso and asked him who won and Alphonso said that Fujinami won. So now you've got both refs agreeing with the decision when the original story I'd heard that it was supposed to be all along was the American ref would say Flair won and the Japanese ref would say Fujinami won."

"The reason they didn't just do the Dusty finish as it's done in the U.S. is because of the fear of doing that screw-job would have ended up with the place rioting, which probably is what would have happened. So they did the Verne Gagne and sent the fans home thinking it was a title change until two days later they read the real story in the newspaper."

"So as the story goes, Fujinami is recognized as NWA world champion in Japan. Flair is recognized as NWA world champion and has the belt in the United States. And the two have a rematch on 5/19 in St. Petersberg, FL to rectify the situation."

Apr 8, 91

"Sid, who is under contract with WCW until September 1st, gave notice this past week that he wanted to leave the company effective May 31"

"In the dressing room this past week, Vicious was said to have complained that he'd done more jobs than Tim Horner"

"As of this weekend, on the WCW line-up sheet for the 5/19 SuperBrawl PPV show from St. Petersburg, the Vicious vs. El Gigante stretcher match had a question mark by it."

"This shouldn't surprise anyone by this time but apparently the WWF booked the USF Sundome in Tampa (across town from St. Pete) on--you guessed it-- 5/18. And this will continue to happen until WCW comes up with a retaliation plan"

"WWF booked Chicago head-to-head in October, the Meadowlands head-to-head with Nassau in January (both said to be purely coincidences), Phoenix the day before and now Tampa"

Apr 15, 91

"The split between Sid Vicious and World Championship Wrestling appears to have been reconciled"

Apr 22, 91

"Forget last weeks headlines. Sid Vicious is bolting WCW for the WWF. The word came in the middle of this past week when the contract that both sides had agreed upon the previous week was drawn up and presented to Vicious, who then gave his notice once again effective after the 5/19 PPV show in St. Petersburg"

Apr 29, 91

"The latest on Sid Vicious is that he's been pulled by WCW from all previously scheduled house show dates except for the 5/19 PPV show. There is a lot of internal bitterness over this, because he's being paid his $5,000 per week for staying at home for one month"

"WCW feared that if Sid were to work his scheduled dates, he would suddenly be injured and get out of doing the stretcher job at the PPV. One WWF official wanted to bet me that there was no way Sid was going out on the stretcher. I didn't take that bet, by the way"

"Flair pinned Sting in the cage match where they kidnap the giant ref, the sub ref counts as Flair wins, the giant ref comes out and counts as Sting wins and no announcement is made after the match as to a winner or loser but everyone leaves happy since Sting leaves with the belt"

"I believe that at all the "A" team shows this week in the Flair-Sting or Flair-Gigante matches that they give the appearance Flair has lost the belt, the challenger leaves with the belt and no announcement of a finish is made after the match is over"

"Sting pinned Anderson in what was advertised on both TV and in the program as a TV title match but no mention was made of the belt in the building"

"The "B" team guys worked on Saturday night in Rainesville, AL and had to drive all the way to Rock Hill, SC for a Sunday show and when they got there, the show was cancelled because the ring never arrived. Apparently the guy in charge of delivering the ring forgot about the show, and WCW has since forgot about keeping him employed"

"Barry Windham has been missing some dates and making others because he suffered a broken eardrum about two weeks back. Windham can work with the injury, but he can't take off or land in an airplane so he's making the shows that he can drive to but isn't working the shots far from Atlanta"

[James Fabiano]

Keep em coming!

[jason1980s]

Jul 9, 2020 9:05:06 GMT -5 @dcr said:

"JFD pinned Sheik (they made the announcement that Sheik had nothing to do with current events in Persian Gulf--awful match)"

"They did a gimmick with Doug Dillinger where Big Josh was being taken to jail with handcuffs on for running out of the crowd into the ring and Tommy Rich begs them not to press charges and Josh breaks the handcuffs. Josh acts like a total mark and in the ring pretends to not know how to work at all (Dusty should have saved this role for bringing in Tugboat so the role would be a shoot)"

While I love seeing wrestling history in these notes, it's thing like this that always annoyed me when reading the Observer. First, if JFD is abbreviated, and it's a first time reader are they going to know who it is? Or think Dave misspelled JYD as JFD.

Another one is Tugboat. Here there is no mention that he is a relative of Dusty so the point of such is lost on the fan who doesn't know better. I think Fred is an amazing talent. He's a lot better than Viscera or Albert or Crush or any number of WWE guys loved by the office who got push after push after push which all failed.

I get it's his newsletter, he can do what he wants and journalists often do base their words or writing on their beliefs but to me these type of things just remind of a Family Guy "remember when" moment, jokes that mostly the writers and a limited audience seem to get and for regular viewers they fall flat.

Also I love how in two weeks Sid was leaving, then decided against it, then was leaving again. That seems less about Sid being unreliable and more about Dave's sources not really knowing.

[Deleted]

Last Time...

1991: May - August

May 6, 91

"Monthly card collection ran a story on the collection in its April issue....the story was equipped with two photos of cards, a Sting card and a Scott Steiner card. The only problem with the Scott Steiner card is that while the photo on the back in B&W was Scott Steiner, the photo in color on the front is Tracy Smothers"

"On the back each card has some background. Ric Flair's motto was said to be "I'm the latest and greatest." Considering Flair's interviews are generally one motto after another, it's impressive they used something that nobody can ever remember him saying"

"Rick Steiner's motto was, "It's not my fault," which would be applicable if it was on Jimmy Garvin's card"

"4/24 in Battle Creek drew 900....That same night Sid Vicious hit three home runs in his softball league"

"The change in name from NWA to WCW was strictly on the advice of lawyers who decided it was the best way to avoid a lawsuit from an ex-NWA promoter."

May 18, 91

"This past week the wrestlers called a meeting and basically demanded more time off because they seem to be working 28 or 29 days per month"

"Apparently the June schedule is being re-worked with guys getting some time off, although during the Bash tour, everyone has seven straight weeks and the stars will be working just about every night but the guys will get a week off after the Bash"

"Most of the Bash dates are pretty much being kept in the strictest of confidence because WCW is afraid WWF will reschedule and run the same market if the dates get out, which is also probably true at the present time"

"During a Terrence Taylor & Arn Anderson vs. Morton & Dustin Rhodes match, Barry Windham came out and Morton walked out of the ring with Windham leaving Rhodes in their by himself. Of course being down 2-on-1, Dustin didn't do the job but instead lost via DQ when Bobby Eaton made the save."

May 20, 91

"The 5/14 taping in Winston-Salem was cancelled because the advance a week out was 70 tickets in a 10,000+ building"

"Apparently Rick Rude got a release from his WWF contract which allows him to work anywhere except WCW, which is the same deal McMahon used with Tim Horner and Terry Taylor. Can't understand why, if that's the case, Jim Herd is going to allow Sid Vicious out of his contract before September."

"They had a new interview segment called "Bull Drop Inn" with Dusty Rhodes and Jason Hervey, which replaced the Danger Zones. Dusty may not get TV ratings up, and he may not get house show attendance up, but one thing is certain, he will get Dusty Rhodes over."

May 27, 91

"El Gigante pinned Sid Vicious in what was billed as a stretcher match in 2:11....word was that if Vicious didnt' show up, WCW wasn't going to release him from his contract until it expired (September 5)....As soon as the pin took place, Vicious got up like nothing had happened and walked off"

"Dustin Rhodes pinned Terrence Taylor in 8:05....Taylor went outside to check with Ms. York's computer. I think it said, "You don't have a prayer in this match unless they change bookers." Later, when the two screwed up a spot, Taylor went out and checked the computer again. I think this time it said, "If you mess up one more high spot with the bookers' son, you'll be wearing your hair like a rooster again."

"The Candid Camera people came to WCW to use one of their wrestlers, but ran into all kinds of problems because WCW had no tape of the wrestler they offered the Candid Camera people (Diamond Stud), so they went to Herb Abrams instead who gave them Bigelow and gave them access to tape of Bigelow as well"

June 3, 91

"How can One Man Gang be 6-foot-10 when he's in the ring with Dustin Rhodes, who they say is 6-5, and they are both about the same height?"

" Dustin really does work hard and may down the line turn into a superstar on his own merits, but I can see a lot of people resenting him because he's going to be pushed to that status before he's ready for it."

"When Hase & Sasaki come in full-time in September, the working plan is to have them managed by Big Daddy Dink"

June 10, 91

"We've already seen Pillman dressed up like a chicken and a rat on TV in the past two weeks"

"Don't expect Bruce Prichard to be hired for any kind of a job. Jim Herd has told others he's not at all interested in bringing him in."

"Those of you out of the New York area are missing some funny comments when Ross talks about the War Games match on 7/3 at the Meadowlands. Ross continually calls the War Games a "man's cage match" and refers to "other cage matches from other federations you may have seen" as "sissy cage matches" where "the object of the match is to run away."

June 17, 91

"Apparently Bruno Sammartino was willing to come out of retirement for a match against Larry Zbyszko at the Meadowlands if he would have had complete control of setting up and executing the program."

"The show was promoted by the local Boy Scouts, who were very mad and bitter about the no-shows (Reed, Jim Garvin, Tim Horner and Dutch Mantell) and when the show ended at 9:30 p.m., fans were screaming for refunds"

"Dusty went so far as to claim that Muhammad Ali learned his interview style by watching Dusty Rhodes. Of course Ali was doing interviews like that in 1964 and Rhodes didn't start doing jive interviews until around 1971 but I guess when Ali started, he was able to see in the future and know what kind of interviews Rhodes would be doing."

"Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Morton beat Moondog & Dutch Mantell with Morton walking out on Rhodes, who was left two-on-one but of course still won"

"When a caller suggested WCW test for steroids, the Dream replied, "I think steroids are a drug and I'm living proof that you don't need steroids to be the best in this profession." That's almost an endorsement"

"The Bobby Eaton-Steve Austin title change we reported on having taken place 6/3 in Birmingham was re-taped on 6/4 in Montgomery because in the original match, Jeannie Clark interfered right in front of the ref. So they did the match the next night and this time Clark at least scratched Eaton's eyes behind the refs back"

"Ric Flair beat El Gigante via count out in a no DQ match (that finish thrilled everyone to no end) when Gigante was on the apron and had the claw on Flair, who was in the ring"

June 24, 91

"It was evident they were rushing when DDP didn't even have a chance to tell the crowd they were a punch of coupon clipping, Copenhagen dipping rednecks. Good God!"

"Dustin Rhodes beat Terrence Taylor via DQ in 4:27. Taylor got out of the ring after an early flurry to check the computer, which read "You've only got four minutes to get him over tonight." "

"In nearly ten years of watching Japanese wrestling, I've never seen a Japanese wrestler use the move Jim Ross calls a "Japanese arm drag." "

"Teddy blew Ric Flair's classic line when he went to the girls and said, "None of you can be next, but one of you can be first." "

"Steve Austin pinned Joey Maggs (subbing for Tim Horner) with his hotshot in 25 seconds. They didn't even have time for a ring entrance or to adequately explain Lady Blossom (Jeannie Clark), although she probably got over by the aerial camera shot"

July 1, 91

"Danny Spivey has been fired with the reason given being his refusal to do a job for P.N. News on a road show this past week. The coincidental timing of this and his testimony in the Zahorian case seems too convinient"

"Angel of Death suffered torn ligaments when P.N. News accidentally splashed onto his knees rather than his chest and will be out of action four to six months"

"WCW has a show booked on 9/28 at the St. Paul Civic Center and in September they will pick up a major Twin Cities TV outlet. Ironically WWF has a show booked on 9/27 at the Target Center"

"Anderson & Windham beat Yellow Dog & Sting in an elimination match. It wasn't announced as an elimination match. So when Sting pinned Anderson, everyone thought it was the finish. But they kept brawling and were all out of the ring and Windham got in so both Sting and Dog were counted out in the second fall"

"6/22 in Chicago drew 1,250 and $18,000....At the box office the night of the card they refused to sell $9 GA tickets claiming the section was sold out and only $15 and $12 tickets were put on sale, even though the section was in reality empty and they were just trying to get those who normally buy GA tickets to pay the extra $3 because so few fans were going to show up"

"Wasn't that great to see seven-minute Desperado videos on every single television show and virtually no hype for Flair-Luger on PPV"

July 8, 91

"Ric Flair was fired by WCW Monday, effective immediately, after both sides failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension which would be from June 1, 1992 through May 31, 1994. The official word was faxed Monday afternoon by Jim Herd to Flair's attorney, Dennis Guthrie, in Charlotte, that Flair's contract is being terminated effective August 1, 1991. Flair was scheduled to drop the WCW title to Barry Windham on 7/1 in Macon, GA in a revised plan decided upon within the past week that had been the subject of many behind-the-scenes problems. WCW officials weren't expecting Flair to show up to Macon (he was originally scheduled to be on vacation until Wednesday's show at the Meadowlands but was given the word last week to be in Macon). The revised plan was for Windham to defend the title against Lex Luger in Baltimore, with Windham's title victory airing on TBS either this coming Saturday night or the day before the Baltimore show."

"I guess it can be reported here that the original plan was for Flair to drop the title to Luger in Baltimore. The hang-up was that the two sides haven't been able to come to terms on a contract extension that had been verbally agreed upon seemingly forever. WCW offered Flair $350,000 per year, which would cut his current salary in half or slightly more than in half. According to Flair, as quoted in the Miami Herald in Wednesday's paper, WCW asked Flair to have his salary cut in half effective immediately. Other reports are that WCW wanted Flair to agree to terminate his existing contract and sign a new contract at $350,000 per year, but TBS sources say the disagreement was over the extension and that no major cut in pay was requested for the period covered by the current contract, which was to expire on May 31, 1992. Flair wasn't willing to take such a massive pay cut for the extension period to begin with, plus there is the ego involved in earning far less than Lex Luger (who will earn $600,000 next year, which politically, is a key reason why the company decided to make him champion because they have to be able to justify that huge contract) and also less than Sting."

"The 7/1 television taping in Macon, GA before a packed house of 4,700 (tapings are heavily padded) was supposed to be the most eventful taping of the year, complete with a world title change. But instead it was only eventful for an announcement made by Gary Cappetta that Flair was stripped of the title, which drew great applause"

"Whether this was true or not, certainly there were a lot of people that expected Flair's role after losing the title would be to put over Dustin Rhodes."

"The official story on Dan Spivey is that in a tag team match in Chicago, he was asked to put Zenk over (it was Zenk & Rick Steiner vs. Stan Hansen & Spivey) and refused, which caused a backstage argument. Actually they should have understood his position, because he and Hansen are world tag team champions in Japan so they couldn't very well do a job in the U.S. for anyone, let alone Zenk & Rick Steiner. He was then asked to put P.N. News over every night and, well, that was the end of that job"

"The original plan was for Luger to defend the title against Mr. Hughes as the headline match of Halloween Havoc"

"Everyone has to work overtime in the studio this week because all syndication has been taped through the end of July, including references to Bash finishes. Instead, all references to Bash finishes have to be edited out of the late July shows, and all references to Flair also have to be edited out."

"WCW lost approximately $6,465,000 in 1990"

July 15, 91

"Among the readers of this newsletter, there is no wrestler as popular as Ric Flair. He's been named the readers' favorite wrestler for the past seven years, or ever since we started tabulating votes annually in that category. He's also been named Wrestler of the Year by Observer readers seven times in the past nine years. It is very easy to take Ric Flair's side in what is being called a contract dispute but is really a lot more than that. On one side we have arguably the best wrestler in the history of the business. On the other side we have a company that has, quite frankly, done a miserable job in promoting pro wrestling since it purchased Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988"

"We really have to go back more than a year to Chicago when Flair was supposed to drop the title to Lex Luger in late March of 1990 and refused to do so. There were many factors involved in that decision, but Flair was negotiating to get a contract extension and/or a contract release which would allow him to go to the WWF is he wanted to before he'd drop the title. When Flair finally lost the title to Sting in July at the Bash, Jim Herd refused to give Flair a contract release, although there were plenty of negotiations regarding a contract extension through June of 1994. What was agreed upon was that if a contract extension hadn't been agreed to by a certain date, a date of which I'm not sure but has probably just recently passed, that either side would have the right to terminate the current contract of $14,000+ per week given 30 days notice. This was the escape clause Flair wanted, because it would give him the option to leave for the WWF, which he didn't have one year ago, which ultimately is why the much-talked-about Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan main event at the last Wrestlemania never took place."

"Although Jim Herd told me personally that Flair had an escape clause and that WCW didn't in regard to the current contract, which went through June 1, 1992, as all the details became sorted out this past week, obviously the company had an escape clause as mentioned above and exercised it. According to several sources, the story is that WCW gave notice that they were going to terminate the current contract on August 1st, and that they were attempting to re-sign Flair to a new contract for three years (which would call for Flair to earn figures rumored to be $350,000 this year, $350,000 next year and $250,000 the year after). According to one WCW official, the new figures, which represented a major pay cut for Flair, were fair because the company was going to cut back in the number of dates Flair would be asked to work."

"The money offered is far less than the $500,000-per-year offer made to Randy Savage to jump from the WWF within the past five weeks, which Savage turned down (my feeling on this, without knowing for sure, is that any WWFer is going to be wary of WCW offers because the company has established a bad reputation among WWF wrestlers, whether fair or not, based on its negotiations with Ricky Steamboat, Tully Blanchard, Bret Hart, Arn Anderson and others in regards to honesty in dealing with contract negotiations)."

"There was openly talked about fear within WCW that Flair was going to hold the company up for a better deal on his 1992-94 extension before agreeing to drop the title to Lex Luger at the Bash this coming Sunday. That is why, at least on the surface, for the abrupt change in the championship plans for Flair to drop the title on 7/1 in Macon, GA to Barry Windham (who, ironically, doesn't even have a WCW contract). This change gave WCW a way to avoid a possible major embarrassment and to alleviate fears of Flair no-showing a PPV main event. So in order to avoid a possible major embarrassment, the company set up a situation that virtually guaranteed a major embarrassment."

"No matter whose fault it may have been, he was stale in fans' eyes. A marketing business needs fresh new faces to keep things looking new. When the best actor in the world has been around for a long time playing the same role, even if he's still the best actor, he may still not get as many leads as guys who can't carry his jock, so to speak, as an actor, but are fresher and younger faces. While one can argue that WCW didn't treat Flair fairly, or even that part of the problem in Flair appearing stale was how he was portrayed, was Ric Flair worth $750,000 in revenue to WCW over the next year?"

"To the credit of WCW, they have made no attempt at all to "bury" Flair nor have they tried to hide that Flair is no longer with the organization or pretend that he never existed."

"Another Ross comment on NWA Pro New York regarding the brutality of the War Games is that "it's not like those cage matches where the object is to run away. You know, the cage matches sanctioned by the Girl Scouts of America." "

"6/26 in Wichita drew 400 as Josh beat Joey Maggs, Austin beat Houston, Zenk beat Studd by pinning Page, Rhodes & Eaton beat Taylor & Morton when Rhodes pinned Taylor, Steiner pinned Jim Garvin and Sting & Luger beat Windham & Anderson. Of the matches listed in the program, the only match that took place as advertised was Zenk vs. Studd."

July 22, 91

"Sid Justice wasn't too thrilled when he got his contract with the same $2,250 per year guarantee as everyone else and made some contact with WCW last week, but after considering everything, everything has been settled."

"You knew Barry was doomed when they spelled his name "Windam" on the graphic"

"I actually feel sorry for Dustin Rhodes. Considering his experience level, he's a very good worker. He has potential, down the road, to be what he's being pushed as today. But it really has gotten annoying to see him pushed so hard simply because his father is the booker."

"Dick Murdoch & Dick Slater "kidnapped" Missy (now with black hair) before the match and carried her away. Poor Missy still had to take a bump because a fan went after Murdoch, and he dropped Missy on her head so he could take a pop at the fan"

"El Gigante faces One Man Gang on 8/25 at the Omni in a match where Gigante has to go back to Argentina if he loses and Gang has to shave his head if he loses"

"Dutch Mantell and Dead Eye Dick (Randy Culley) haven't signed those $300 per night contracts so the Desperados may be history once they fulfill the current house show dates. Black Bart, who did sign, has worked television in a jobber role with other partners. Well, those videos will go down in history as some of the best use of television time"

July 29, 91

"Jim Ross spent six hours in the emergency room with kidney stones after the PPV show"

"El Gigante won a 20 man Battle Royal (highlight being when Rick Steiner, who wasn't in the Battle Royal, ran in and attacked Dallas Page who was (now you figure out why Page, Big Daddy Dink and Teddy Long were in a Battle Royal and Rick Steiner wasn't), and tore off all his clothes, leaving him with just a little bit of cloth to cover his crotch"

"Anderson beat P.N. News via forfeit when News' bags were lost in transit"

"No-shows advertised on the house shows this week included Scott Steiner, Missy Hyatt, Paul E. Dangerously, Mr. Hughes, Oz and Deadeye Dick"

"This week in California saw the 7/25 show in San Bernardino already be canceled because the advance as of the weekend was only 100 tickets. The San Diego for Wednesday advance was just over 200 tickets but that hasn't been canceled"

Aug 5, 91

"Dick Murdoch & Dick Slater beat Tom Zenk & Black Bart (subbing for the Steiners)"

"In what was billed as a best-of-seven fall elimination match but instead was a one fall match, Yellow Dog & Sting & El Gigante & Ron Simmons beat Barry Windham & Diamond Studd & Nikita Koloff & One Man Gang in 12:11 with Sting pinned Gang. The match itself was a good match but fans were furious because they ignored the advertised stipulations"

"Jack Petrik apparently has ordered Jim Herd to compile a written report with details of a plan to get the company back on its feet by the end of the year"

"Windham pinned Yellow Dog in a match billed as a taped fist match with the mask at stake but it wasn't a taped fist match and when Windham won, both guys just left the ring and nothing was done about the mask"

"Teddy Long, P.N. News and Johnny B. Badd appeared on the Black Entertainment Network on a sports talk show. The appearance went great, but the funniest part was when the host asked why it's been so hard for blacks to get a break in pro wrestling. Funny since News is a white boy from Nebraska and Badd is a jewish guy with a great tan from New York City"

"The September mini-PPV, which was originally going to be a special on the career of Ric Flair, has been dropped"

"Current plan for Halloween Havoc is for Luger vs. Simmons on top plus a gimmick match called Master of the Maze in which two guys will wrestle in a transparent Plexi-Glass maze. Three guesses where that idea originated from"

"The final Desperados video was pulled since they never are going to make it into WCW"

"The 9/5 Clash was originally scheduled to have a Georgia Red Clay match which would have the ring filled with quicksand like clay and it would be like a reverse Battle Royal with a bunch of guys thrown in and the first guy out as the winner. But that entire card has been torn up since the higher-ups vetoed Dusty's original Lex Luger vs. Tom Zenk main event"

Aug 12, 91

"This past Wednesday, WCW made another last-ditch effort to get Flair back in a meeting with Jack Petrik and Jim Herd at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Atlanta. Both sides signed confidentiality agreements not to discuss any of the contents of the meeting. Sources in WCW believe Flair was offered the job as booker"

"In an amazing interview with Wade Keller in the 8/1 issue of the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter, Bill Watts was open and very outspoken regarding the failure of Turner Broadcasting in the wrestling business. Watts himself is said to believe that the interview virtually guarantees that he'll never be considered to run the company"

"Luger came out with Mr. Hughes and Harley Race and they triple-teamed Simmons until Barry Windham (now a full-fledged babyface) made the save. When Simmons asked Windham why, Windham said he's been around a long time and is not going to let guys get away with that kind of stuff. So who has the bounty out on Yellow Dog now???"

"Advertised Bobby Eaton vs. Austin never took place (Eaton got the night off to take his driving test)"

"Jim Cornette sent a funeral wreath to Jim Herd at the WCW offices in Atlanta as sympathy for killing the promotion. Herd was said to have laughed it off"

"Turner Home Entertainment last week sent out ad sheets for the September release of the Bash video headlined Legend vs. Legacy talking about the Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger main event that never happened and the six-person in a cage match that also didn't happen"

Aug 19, 91

"News in his rap talked about how glad he was to be in Charlotte, except he was in Greensboro"

"Luger pinned Windham when Hughes interfered ***3/4 (really hot match, by the end of the match fans were cheering Windham as the face--pretty strong "We Want Flair" chants during this match and some members of the audience put paper bags over their heads when this match started and had names on the bags like Flair, Steamboat, Funk, Cornette, Muta, etc. to signify the big names the companies has lost)"

Aug 21, 91

"Jim Herd was quoted in Matwatch.... He also denied having offered Ric Flair the book in order to say with WCW and said that "It wouldn't surprise me if this (story about Flair being offered the book) is coming from him. You're talking about a guy that's never told the truth in his life. He wanted to go and we helped him" "

[DSR]

"Current plan for Halloween Havoc is for Luger vs. Simmons on top plus a gimmick match called Master of the Maze in which two guys will wrestle in a transparent Plexi-Glass maze. Three guesses where that idea originated from"

Uh...where did that idea originate from?

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Okay, the bit about Dusty pronouncing “condos” has me scream- laughing. Holy crap.

[James Fabiano]

Oh god, this is where Rick Steiner got his SNES catchphrase from!

[BlackoutCreature]

Jul 9, 2020 11:40:06 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

While I love seeing wrestling history in these notes, it's thing like this that always annoyed me when reading the Observer. First, if JFD is abbreviated, and it's a first time reader are they going to know who it is? Or think Dave misspelled JYD as JFD.

It's not a misspelling, at the time Meltzer commonly called the Junkyard Dog the "Junk Food Dog".

[cjh]

Jul 10, 2020 23:31:20 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Jul 9, 2020 11:40:06 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

While I love seeing wrestling history in these notes, it's thing like this that always annoyed me when reading the Observer. First, if JFD is abbreviated, and it's a first time reader are they going to know who it is? Or think Dave misspelled JYD as JFD.

It's not a misspelling, at the time Meltzer commonly called the Junkyard Dog the "Junk Food Dog".

The issue is that those initials will make no sense unless you know the story.  It just looks like a typo if the joke isn't explained.

[BlackoutCreature]

Jul 10, 2020 12:14:23 GMT -5 DSR said:

"Current plan for Halloween Havoc is for Luger vs. Simmons on top plus a gimmick match called Master of the Maze in which two guys will wrestle in a transparent Plexi-Glass maze. Three guesses where that idea originated from"

Uh...where did that idea originate from?

My guess would be Dusty Rhodes. It sounds like the kind of wacky idea he'd come up with.

[Deleted]

Last Time...

1991 September - December

Sept 6, 91

"WCW sent posters out to the Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland to publicize the 9/7 show but all the posters had Friday, September 6 listed on them, while the ad for Ticketron lists the show as taking place at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, so it had the wrong building"

"The line about Flair not telling the truth (My Note: see Aug 21) caused Flair's attorney, Dennis Guthrie, to call Jack Petrik at TBS and demand a retraction or threaten a defamation of character suit. After denials and claims of being misquoted, followed by Matwatch editor Steve Beverly also being threatened with a suit when Guthrie said he was told that Beverly made the quote up. Beverly, who announced last week that he's folding Matwatch at the end of January, said that Herd wasn't misquoted. TBS has agreed to print a retraction which should appear in this coming week's Matwatch"

"Nikita Koloff, who was originally scheduled to win the US title tournament many weeks back, was told not to show up (it was to be his last night) even though he was advertised until the last minute"

"El Gigante beat One Man Gang in a loser leaves town vs. hair match but Gang simply got a crew-cut in the ring although the stips announced were that the loser would be shaved bald"

"The original Havoc line-up had Jim Herd's Hunchbacks gimmick (they asked Kevin Sullivan to return and be one of them) but it looks like that idea was dropped"

"A reporter from the newspaper in Winston-Salem, NC called this past week wanting to do a story on Flair being with the WWF. I told him the story of the set of circumstances that led to where we are now and when it was over he said that this was a good story that promotions had concocted. He didn't believe it for a second even though I insisted that wasn't the public story they were giving but what happened and he didn't believe it because no company would be dumb enough to do what WCW did"

Sept 9, 91

"Although WCW officials are denying there was ever a plan to use The Hunchbacks, there definitely was since Kevin Sullivan was asked to be one of them. I don't know what the status of them is right now, but Jim Ross denied there were ever any plans to do the gimmick. It's pretty well-known that Jim Herd, from when he began in 1989, thought having a Hunchback tag team (with a rounded back so both their shoulders could never be touching the mat, hence they could never get pinned) would be this great idea but everyone had managed to circumvent the idea"

"Tom Zenk pinned Diamond Studd in a tuxedo match in 3:22 (when the match started it was announced the only way to win was to strip your foe of his clothes and leave him in his underwear, but the match ended with a pinfall anyway--after the match it was announced the match could end either by stripping the clothes or via pinfall"

"They announced a return date of 10/16 for the Meadowlands, with the only thing announced being a seven woman Battle Royal which is sure to have people standing on top of each other to get tickets"

Sept 16, 91

"The 9/6 card in Phoenix was canceled, even though the entire crew was sent to Phoenix. Apparently there was a problem with the ring in that it was an 18-foot-ring but had no ropes and whomever told the people who brought the ropes said it was a 16-foot ring, so the ropes were too short. There were only about 450 fans in the building, so the show was canceled. The fans weren't too thrilled about it for obvious reasons, and also because they weren't going to offer refunds until the following Tuesday"

"World Championship Wrestling has canceled its 10/16 Meadowlands date"

"Kazmaier bent a thick steel bar. A contrast between WCW and WWF. If this was WWF, the feat of strength would have been far more visually effective, and also would have been gimmicked."

"Freebirds beat The Patriots in 5:42. Since the match where the U.S. tag team title changed hands wasn't going to air until Saturday, neither team came out with the belts and while the titles were mentioned, they avoided any references to the Freebirds as the current champs (since the title change was taped in Atlanta and to have the Birds come out with the belts would only expose the charade in the home city of the company where most of the fall TV tapings will take place)"

"Kevin Nash is going to be a force in wrestling because of his size, but: a) It won't be for a few years; b) It won't be with this company; and c) It definitely won't be with that name"

"A newcomer called The Web was on the booking sheets for shows this week"

"In early October in the Florida cities they've got the dream match of Oz vs. Van Hammer scheduled"

"At the television tapings on 9/3 in Perry, GA, the only highlights were Cactus Jack wheeling guys out in a wheel barrow after beating them"

Sept 23, 91

"WCW has organized a "steering committee" as opposed to a booking committee"

"One Man Gang's future is in limbo. On 9/13 in Charleston, he refused to do a clean job for P.N. News, although he did it in a polite way as opposed to others who aren't so polite about things."

"The TV commercial (which I loved, by the way) for Galoob toys with Paul E. Dangerously about toys that are enough fun to make a grown man lie, had to be pulled because the commercial agent for Jason Hervey is suing WCW and Galoob because they didn't have Hervey or his agent's permission to use Hervey or his likeness in a commercial for the product"

"This show was a basic disaster in the no-show department with nine no-shows without any explanation or offer of refunds and the crowd that was there was really upset. Those who weren't there were Pillman, Gang, The Web (who was supposed to be Brad Armstrong, who was booked for Japan months ago), Josh, Oz, Austin, Johnny B. Badd, Lady Blossom and Studd. Van Hammer, who wasn't announced to the fans, was also scheduled but not there. Hammer, Oz, Badd and Studd were in the same car and got lost trying to find Bristol"

"Oz and El Gigante will be taping an episode of Swamp Thing"

Sept 30, 91

"There has been contact made between Savage and WCW, but I don't believe it's anything that could even be close to being termed serious negotiations. You can see just how big a threat Titan sees WCW as being today when they devote so much television time to an angle with a guy who has given notice and can actually leave before ever doing the angle, although I'd give you long odds against WCW being able to pull the trigger on this deal since they haven't on any other big ones yet....The Rockers also gave notice on Tuesday, but the same goes for them."

"Did you notice on television when WCW did a skit surrounding Ron Simmons with kids that all the kids were black (and not particularly snappily dressed) but when the WWF did something similar with Virgil, all the kids were white and dressed like kids of yuppie parents. I'm not trying to insinuate which is better or worse, just that the difference was so marked in how each group pushes what, in reality is, its token black star"

"I have no explanation for this, but this weekend was said everywhere to have been the week where the WCW Pro New York show switched from WPIX on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. to WCBS on Saturday night at 12:30 a.m. Most everyone in the company went under that assumption and the localized voice-overs were done with that in mind. Well, lo and behold, the show aired on WPIX, the old station, despite the previous week them making a big deal about it being their last show on the station. Not only that, but there were frequent references to it being Saturday night and being on the new station"

"One Man Gang is officially fired over not doing the job for P.N. News last week"

"They are going to keep the concept of the Chamber of Horrors match as a mystery until the match itself. They are actually trying to sell a card on mystery, a mystery as to who The Creatures and the Phantom are and why Windham is on the heel side, etc. Mystery did draw one good TV rating of a Clash for Sting vs. Scorpion, but that show was also free. Mystery drew a poor PPV buy rate with Sting vs. Scorpion"

Oct 9, 91

"The New York situation has been straightened out with the show on every Saturday night on WCBS. There was miscommunication between whomever inked the deal and everyone else as to the date of the station switch so everyone in the company thought it was a week earlier than it really was"

"Scott Steiner got 36 stitches in his shoulder in a chainsaw accident, but I don't believe it'll be a factor in slowing his return to the ring"

"Apparently the original finish in the Chamber of Horrors match at Havoc was to be One Man Gang losing the fall by getting "electrocuted" by one of the special effects gimmicks. The electrocution wouldn't injure or kill Gang, but cause him to get amnesia and he would come back thinking he was Reverend Billy Bright and be a character babyface, but obviously none of this is going to happen"

Oct 14, 91

"The reason for this big push for Kazmaier is, and this isn't made up, that Luger vs. Kazmaier is going to headline shows in early November including the card at the Forum in Los Angeles and probably the show in San Jose as well"

"The 10/12 show at the Omni will draw one of the largest crowds of the year because they are giving 3,500 tickets away. Paid advance as of Monday was less than 900"

Oct 21, 91

"A group called American Championship Wrestling drew 600 on 10/12 in Winston-Salem, NC (crowd noteworthy because it was more than WCW drew the next night at the Greensboro Coliseum)"

"Ranger Ross and the NAACP are making noise about WCW's character of Private Todd Champion since Ross is a legitimate military man, unlike Champion, but he didn't get the spot with the claim being it was because he's black and Champion isn't"

"Lots of heat with the boys on the push Van Hammer is getting. For example, at the Omni on Saturday night, they announced the next show for Thanksgiving as the opening night of the Van Hammer tour. I believe the main event will be Luger vs. Rick Steiner. Anyway, there was a backstage prank where someone put vaseline on Hammer's guitar strap, so when he was swinging it around, it got out of control and popped him in the eye so he got a black eye"

"Additional heat in regards to Hammer since he changed his plane flight and he and Badd (who are roommates) both arrived late for Kansas City on Thursday night, which is why Hammer worked so late in the show and Badd never worked. Then Sunday night in Greensboro, they changed plane flights from Atlanta and both missed the card"

"Lots of problems regarding ticket stips in St. Louis. To boost the lagging advance, it was announced on television two weeks before the show that kids 12-and-under would be admitted free with a paying adult. While it added some to the crowd, it also brought a lot of complaints to the box office among those who had already purchased tickets for themselves and their kids-under-12 wanting a refund"

"10/13 at the Greensboro Coliseum drew just 430 fans and $5,000 (both all-time lows for pro wrestling in the 32-year history of wrestling in the building)"

"The Screaming Eagles (Freebirds) angle with the Enforcers just didn't work right, not that it's a bad idea, but when you do an angle like that, the team under the hood pulling the surprise can't get pinned cleanly and then still try and take the match around at the house shows"

Oct 28, 91

"10/17 in Baltimore drew 1,000 (the all-time low in the building)"

"The same crew drew about 820 paid in Philadelphia, which is actually up from the last month show there but still the WWF outdrew them 11-to-1 on the same day with Flair vs. Piper"

"The Chamber of Horrors is just going to be the Thunderdome cage from Halloween Havoc in 1989 with a few minor alterations. The problem is that WCW no longer has Tommy Young or Keiji Muto, so this time when they turn on the juice, if the thing catches fire, they may burn down half of Chattanooga. "

Nov 4, 91

"Van Hammer pinned Doug Somers in 1:12 with a slingshot suplex. Hammer only missed three of the five moves he tried"

Nov 11, 91

"There were also complaints voiced within the cable industry at the card, including a letter from Request TV to WCW. The complaints were directed at the excessive blood (eight men bled during the show, although two of them were unintentional) and they wanted better explanation beforehand of all future gimmick matches because of the generally poor response to the Chamber of Horrors match."

"Steve Austin & Arn Anderson beat Dustin Rhodes & Bobby Eaton (Austin still had the TV title). Eaton made a full-fledged turn on Rhodes, giving him a shoulderbreaker and walked out of the ring and Austin pinned Rhodes, which is Dustin's first job in nearly one year"

Nov 18, 91

"Mr. Hughes working against main event talent, Rick Steiner in particular, with his sunglasses on and with those glasses not breaking exposes the business worse than almost anything"

"The 11/6 card at the Forum in Los Angeles drew a $14,000 house so the paid attendance was just under 1,000."

"Hammer pinned Terrence Taylor in 11:30 (the first 4:30 consisted of one armdrag, hiplock, punch and bodyslam and then it got worse. Whenever you feel like life isn't being fair to you, just think if you were Terry Taylor. Taylor tried to wet nurse him through this match but after 5:00 of stalling to carry him, it fell apart)"

Nov 25, 91

"There was serious consideration given last week to putting the WCW belt on Rick Steiner at the Clash. Apparently Lex Luger's contract (running from March-to-March) specifies a certain number of live dates and he'd been booked so heavily over the first eight months of the year that at his present pace, whatever the number is, he'd reach it just about by the end of the year. So in order to keep him working the major towns until the new fiscal year of the contract, Luger is being pulled from all smaller shows."

"Luger refused to work the England tour since it wasn't covered by his contract and there was heat regarding that."

Dec 2, 91

"Hot matches aren't what this business is about in 1991, but the combination of returns of Steamboat, Abdullah the Butcher and Cactus Jack with Paul E. Dangerously being recast as a manager and Rick Rude coming in as a top singles heel have started the face-lifting process WCW has so badly needed. TV ratings have made a comeback to the point WCW is consistently outrating the WWF on cable, reversing a trend where the WWF had dominated the cable ratings all summer."

"Big Josh pinned Thomas Rich in 6:03 in a lumberjack match. The Young Pistols, who had yet to turn on television, acted as heel lumberjacks and worked over Josh when he was out of the ring"

"The week before the show, WCW contacted the WWF and told them of their intention to use Steamboat at the Clash and requested that if the WWF believed they had any legal claim to Steamboat to please contact them by Friday. Steamboat had signed a two-year contract with Titan Sports which expires around January 4, 1993, although one could certainly make a case that being fired should nullify the contract....Anyway, less than an hour before showtime, Titan sent a fax to the WCW offices in Atlanta (when everyone of importance was already in Savannah for the Clash) claiming they had the legal rights to Steamboat. The word did reach the building before the show and Kip Frye (WCW legal counsel) met with Jim Herd and Jim Crockett and the decision was made to use Steamboat"

"In what came off as pretty sleazy on TV, they announced later that a protest had been filed and that the Enforcers were claiming since Steamboat wasn't on the original contract that they should get the belts back. They teased that they've had a decision at the end of the show but then went off the air telling people they'd have to call the 900 number to find out what the decision was."

"Madusa came out, got on her knees (luckily I have no idea what they were trying to symbolize), was pawing at Sting for a while and otherwise distracting him to allow Lex Luger to then jump out of the cabin and clip Sting from behind. Lex grabbed the wrong leg to work on (he should be forgiven, all that Lucha Libre experience made Lex inadvertently grab the right leg) and Sting had to practically tell him to switch legs, which he did."

"Most of this match was only on half the screen as they were showing Sting going out in an ambulance to the nearest "medical facility" with Bobby Eaton telling him he has "plenty of time" which was a very subtle way of starting the Eaton turn."

"Rude and Dangerously were in the ring ready to be awarded the match via forfeit when Sting, who had hijacked an ambulance from Parts Unknown Medical Center back to the Savannah Civic Center arrived just in the nick of time."

"Muta was apparently going to be Rhodes' secret partner for the Clash in the event that the Steamboat deal didn't come off."

"Most people seem to be crediting a lot of the positive changes in the company to the greater influence of Jim Crockett. Crockett has been saying things that make sense for the better part of the past three years but nobody has been listening, and over the past few weeks they've been."

"They had a tag match with Badd & P.N. News (who will become a regular team which I guess guarantees Badd doesn't get over too much aka threaten Dustin Rhodes' spot on the babyface totem pole)"

"Nearly an ultimate disaster on Monday as Lex Luger quit the promotion as a protest because WCW fired Harley Race. The last word I heard is that everything has been worked out, although Luger did miss the 11/25 television tapings in Macon, GA because it wasn't resolved in time"

Dec 9, 91

"Lex Luger is clearly staying (he's under contract for a long time) and will be working the England tour as well. Luger's quitting last week, apparently because of the decision to drop Race, lasted maybe an hour or two"

Dec 16, 91

"Dallas Page beat Johnny Rich in what I was told was a must-see singles match which was said to be easily the worst match of the year and Rich seemingly wound up with a broken nose from a clothesline too high and Page did a high knee but the toe of his boot caught Rich in the groin"

"I'm not making this one up. Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin and The Bad Street Band have a concert on 12/20 at Center Stage"

Dec 23, 91

"WCW has also moved the SuperBrawl '92 show, which will take place February 29, 1992, from the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to a 6,000 seat Hall in Milwaukee. The move was because WCW needed one day to set up the show, and Donald Trump himself insisted on booking the building on February 28 for a one-on-one basketball game between Kareem-Abdul Jabber and Julius Erving (which may never even take place)"

"The first match was a submit or surrender match between P.N. News and Mr. Hughes. For some unexplained reason, one of the Young Pistols came to ringside to cheer on News and then Harley Race hit him, grabbed his towel, and threw it in the ring costing News the match. Later in the show the Pistols did a heel interview. They made several references in the interview to being from the South. Later, before their title match win over the Patriots (how long ago was that match taped?), they were announced as being from Wyoming. The last time I checked, Wyoming wasn't in the South. So on one television show, WCW had the Young Pistols as both babyfaces and heels and from the North and from the South."

"Patriots-Pistols tag title change was pretty bad. They mixed up signals because on Saturday they talked about the title change as having already taken place and the rematch would be on Sunday, but the bout that aired on Sunday was the title change match."

[jason1980s]

Jul 10, 2020 23:31:20 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

It's not a misspelling, at the time Meltzer commonly called the Junkyard Dog the "Junk Food Dog".

It's not a very good joke if it only resonates with a small audience. If a new reader is coming in I think they are going to be confused. I remember reading the name Junk Food Dog in the Apter mags and just thought it was a different guy taking on a similar gimmick.

Looking at a number of these pieces of news makes me glad I only had a subscription for two years.

It also does surprise me how long some guys would stay in WCW with no TV or PPV time like Ranger Ross or Iron Sheik or Buddy Landell.

Also, how does a 32 floor look like a mall? I've never seen a mall more than 3 floors. Too bad Ted Turner never got into the mall business.

PS Harley Race was fired and Lex Luger quit.
PPS Maybe he wasn't and maybe he didn't.

DCR, no negativity meant towards you, I'm definitely reading this thread with interest and thank you for posting. It is wrestling history still.

[thegatewaydrug]

Jul 11, 2020 10:40:25 GMT -5 @dcr said:

Oct 9, 91

"Scott Steiner got 36 stitches in his shoulder in a chainsaw accident, but I don't believe it'll be a factor in slowing his return to the ring"

Hold on a second! We need more about this story!!

[Deleted]

Eeesh. I love seeing these, and thank you for posting them... but man, Meltz is such a dick sometimes.

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2020 12:10:13 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

Jul 11, 2020 10:40:25 GMT -5 @dcr said:

Oct 9, 91

"Scott Steiner got 36 stitches in his shoulder in a chainsaw accident, but I don't believe it'll be a factor in slowing his return to the ring"

Hold on a second! We need more about this story!!

[Deleted]

Last Time...

1992 January - April

Jan 6, 92

"Jimmy Garvin & Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Michael Hayes & Tracy Smothers in 12:42 when Bagwell pinned Smothers with the fisherman suplex. Our cable went out during this match so we missed most of it. Actually, the blank television screen was looking like it was going to be the best match on the card after the first four matches were over."

"The reason they did the television angle where P.N. News had his eye run into the ringpost by Mr. Hughes was because News had returned from England with a swollen shut eye courtesy of an altercation in a bar from Rick Rude. News couldn't beat Rude with both arms against one in arm wrestling and things got out of hand."

"On the syndicated Main Event show they aired a Liger & Oz vs. Hiro Saito & Scott Norton match where Bischoff continually referred to Saito as Hiro Tatsuki."

"Mike Graham really is teaching Marcus Bagwell and Van Hammer at Jody Hamilton's school on their off days."

Jan 10, 92

"Badd pinned Buddy Lee Parker (subbing for Jushin Liger, who due to a mix-up in communications, was scheduled to return to Japan after Starrcade when WCW had thought he was staying through 1/1)"

Jan 20, 92

"World Championship Wrestling Executive Vice President Jim Herd resigned Wednesday from the TBS organization after losing what appears to have been a him-or-me goes struggle with booker Dusty Rhodes."

"Jim Herd will be replaced as Executive Vice President by Kip Frey, 38, a TBS attorney with even less wrestling background than Herd entered the job with. However, there is some optimism in the WCW camp with the belief that Frey is going to leave the actual wrestling end of the promotion in the hands of Rhodes and Jim Crockett and just concentrate on legal and financial aspects of the company."

"Apparently TBS ordered a report on the wrestling company after three years of heavy losses (thought to have been in the $19 million range). After top-to-bottom interviews with the company management, the report came out that Herd was a minus and was cited as not getting along with people."

"After the resignation, Herd reportedly went to a steering committee meeting and heavily blasted Rhodes, Jim Ross and Magnum T.A., although according to several reports, he praised Jim Crockett and said he felt sorry for him having to deal with the other three."

"Luger is leaving and it's no big deal because after all those years as being a major over heel and face, he was turned one time too many and fans simply didn't care about him and his title reign was a waste, which has nothing to do with the ghost of Ric Flair."

Jan 27, 92

"As has become pretty common knowledge as the week went on, Bret Hart had negotiated and at one point agreed to a deal where he would debut on Tuesday (1/21) at the Clash of the Champions for WCW in Topeka where he'd come out with the Intercontinental title as something of a payback for the WWF bringing in Ric Flair and having him wear what WCW considered their world title belt"

"WCW offered Hart a guaranteed deal that was substantially more than he had been earning as Intercontinental champ. However after apparently agreeing to the deal, Hart had to back off because he realized his contract with the WWF, which he thought had run out, had rolled over and he couldn't give notice for several more months. However, WCW sources indicate that Hart, who had backed out of the deal as of a few days ago, will be coming in after all in not too many months."

"It should be noted that the decision made to change the Intercontinental title from Hart to Piper was made weeks ago, before any talks had even started with WCW. So despite rumors to the contrary that are sure to spread, it wasn't a last-minute decision made by Titan to get the belt off Hart for fear he was leaving. If anything, Hart knowing he was going to lose the title may have been an impetus in his exploring the option of a jump."

"Nearly everyone in wrestling is envious of Rude's contract with WCW (rumored to be $300,000 for working 142 dates)."

"Brad Armstrong is wrestling as himself instead of Arachnaman because that nasty legal letter from Marvel Comics showed up."

"Rick Steiner arrived late because he was stopped at the Atlanta airport for carrying a gun which he forgot to take out of his bag."

"Morale and enthusiasm within the organization is the highest it's been in a long time."

Feb 3, 92

"Kip Frey before the show announced that on all future PPV and Clash cards he's giving an incentive bonus of $5,000 for whomever works the hardest and has the best match on the card, and he decided to give $2,400 to Cactus, $2,400 to Hammer and $200 to referee Nick Patrick."

"Pillman's interview was as bad as his previous match was good, somehow trying to equate Liger with closing of auto plants. Badd then put his lips on Pillman's cheek and Pillman decked him. It looked like the beginning of a heel turn for Pillman, but as it turns out, that isn't the case. None of this made any sense or served to do anything to add interest to a Liger vs. Pillman match since I don't think wrestling fans can equate someone in a space-suit doing 21st century wrestling moves with U.S. economic trouble."

"Cactus wound up thrown in a water trough (and it was very cold out there) and so was announcer Missy Hyatt, unbeknownst to her (that was no acting job by Missy apparently)"

"Vinnie Vegas (Kevin Nash) pinned Thomas Rich in :55. Nash now looks like the world's tallest parking lot attendant."

"Why do they continually try out these new gimmicks (that bomb 70 percent of the time) on a live Clash before millions when they've got all these spot shows in Beckley, WV before 1,500 to test them out? Why ask why?"

"Then for WCW on 2/15, Steiners did a must-see squash on two guys who wouldn't sell right for them in the beginning and you can just guess what happened next."

"Bruise Cruise after all that advertising ended up with 170 tickets sold and supposedly WCW would have made money on that except they sent 40 of their own employees on the cruise as well which ate up the profit margin."

"WCW took out a huge ad for the Clash in the Topeka newspaper, the bouts listed were: Sting & Steamboat vs. Rude & Austin, Gigante vs. Cactus, Taylor vs. Rich, Hammer vs. Page and Badd vs. Morton. Well, having two of the five bouts that you advertise in the newspaper take place is a .400 average, which isn't bad if you're a baseball player."

Feb 10, 92

"Referee Randy Anderson is sporting a broken hand courtesy of somebody's face."

March 2, 92

"Anderson & Eaton beat Rhodes & Steamboat when Eaton pinned Rhodes with the Alabama jam (you read that finish correctly)....Apparently the original orders were for Steamboat to do the job in the tag match but Rhodes then volunteered since if he waits to be asked he'll be waiting until 1996."

"WCW will lower prices across the board at all the arenas in an attempt to bring in new customers. The top seats everywhere will be $12 and $10 with a low GA price anywhere from $5 to $7 depending upon the market."

March 9, 92

"With Luger history in WCW, who exactly is Mr. Hughes the bodyguard for?"

"Bagwell looked really gay, if that's the correct adjective, in that white outfit that was three sizes too small which is why the crowd booed him."

"There was a lot of confusion regarding the main event, a cage match with Sting vs. Rick Rude. The match was never announced as a title match nor a non-title match in the building and on television it wasn't advertised either way. When Rude won, most in the crowd believed the title had changed although there was no announcement made one way or the other and went home with that feeling."

"Junkfood Dog came out of the audience and head-butted a few security guards (who double as television jobbers) and made the save. You'd be shocked at the pop JFD got with the fans chanting his name. He's dropped 61 pounds, although when the starting point is 346, that means there's still about 15-20 left to go."

March 16, 92

"Ron Simmons & Health Food Dog beat Vinnie Vegas & Diamond Dallas Page"

"Southern did an interview and said that Van Hammer, "Can't sing, can't dance, can't play guitar and can't wrestle." All the boys in the back were cracking up at the interview for obvious reasons, although for all we know, he really can dance."

"I hope Eric Bischoff gets his game show hosting job because he's just so annoying to watch on television."

"Kip Frey awarded Steamboat, Rude, Liger and Pillman $2,500 each for being the hardest workers on the PPV show."

"Freebirds gave a 30-minute, seven song concert after the Atlanta Hawks basketball game on 3/7 at the Omni. It was well received particularly because the band was real strong."

March 30, 92

"An update on Jim Crockett is that he wasn't technically fired but was simply sent back home to Texas for reputedly being a disruptive influence. I believe that means he's still on payroll but isn't involved in any of the major decision-making processes. An emergency meeting was held Monday to appoint someone to take over as head of booking arenas."

"Mr. Hughes and Van Hammer are out of action because they've "volunteered" for drug rehabilitation although it is hopeful they'll be back in time for the PPV show."

"Most noteworthy event of the night was before the tag match with the crowd chanting "Paul E. sucks," Steamboat grabbed the house mic and said that the fans here seem to think you're about to jump to the WWF which got a huge laugh and apparently most of the crowd understood."

April 6, 92

"Bill Shaw, the head of personnel at Turner Broadcasting and a member of the Turner board has replaced Jack Petrik as President of the WCW and top overseer."

"The Steiners had a squash with Tony Mella & Greg Sawyer and there were major screw-ups during the match and you know what happens when there are major screw-ups during a Steiners match so this won't air and they did a re-take later in the show. Mella didn't go up right for a backdrop so Rick threw him over the top rope and he landed on his head. Sawyer came off the ropes too slow twice which screwed up both attempts at Frankensteiners."

April 20, 92

"Steven DeTruth on Ch. 69 in Atlanta said a line that got a few WCW folks upset when he said he was sorry to hear about the terrible accident that befell Eric Bischoff. He fell down and broke his hair."

[thegatewaydrug]

Dixie Carter can take solace in the fact that she was never as bad as Jim Herd!

[saneiac]

WWE may be creatively empty, but the difference between Vince's company and WCW on the business side of things is mind boggling. WWE messing up someone's intro graphic is rare enough to be noteworthy, and you never hear about things like WWE promoting a show in the wrong arena on the wrong date, or an entire card being rewritten on the spot because none of the wrestlers showed up. These looked like weekly occurrences in WCW land.

[Mozenrath]

Foley did confirm that Missy Hyatt had no foreknowledge she was going in the trough, too.

[jason1980s]

Jul 12, 2020 22:37:13 GMT -5 saneiac said:

WWE may be creatively empty, but the difference between Vince's company and WCW on the business side of things is mind boggling. WWE messing up someone's intro graphic is rare enough to be noteworthy, and you never hear about things like WWE promoting a show in the wrong arena on the wrong date, or an entire card being rewritten on the spot because none of the wrestlers showed up. These looked like weekly occurrences in WCW land.

I think ultimately it comes down to 1) Vince hiring guys he knows will come through for him and 2) Vince having the ultimate hand in everything whereas WCW was run by Ted Turner but like a business where it had upper and middle management guys running things along with assistants and such. It's one hand versus dozens of hands on the product and with so many hands there's bound to be many mistakes.

It surprises me just how long JYD was with the company, 1988-1993. I'm not sure if he was always fully under contract because he would never be on TV or PPVs regularly. He always seemed to just pop up. It's also crazy to read about Iron Sheik still being with WCW into early 1991.