Bix

Someone who's now a McMahon family member picking a Marc Mero match in 2008 is pretty mindblowing. I guess he really liked that feud or insisted on including his first title win no matter what.

"lol, nobody ever gets hurt!" seems like an oddly stupid talking point to use.

n/m

Actually, Jeff Carr at TBS wanted one host for TBS and one for syndication. Beverly said he should use Ross for TBS because he was the stronger personality. Schiavone saw it as a demotion and quit.

You're forgetting that they brought in Lance Russell as a semi-replacement for Schiavone.

Tony Schivone seriously sounds like he wants to off himself during the Flair-Keibler wedding.

From various C&P sites crediting the newest WON:

Y'know, hearing the column name now, it may have been in one of the Torches I got a sample of in '92. As far as the GWF goes, I've gotten the impression over the years that Pedicino was conned by Oleyami. I talked with Jon "Craig Johnson" Horton about the subject when he was on my podcast.

More timeline: June 3-9: - Jim Herd removes Dusty Rhodes from his commentary role on the big shows. - "Veteran insider fan" Bruce Grummert & the Zajicek twis are kicked out of a WWF show due to wearing T-shirts and shouting insults at Col. Mustafa & Jim Duggan. - UWF Beach Brawl is estimated to have purchased by 780 homes. - Eddie Mansfield's IWF gets TV on the Sunshine Network. June 10-16: - Clash XV draws a disappointing 3.9 rating and 6.7 share. The Flair-Eaton main event didn't gain a substantial amount of viewers, as it drew a 4.3 with a 7 share. - Max Andrews drops the USWA and gets the syndication deal for the GWF. - Dusty wants Flair to step down as an active wrestler after the Bash tour so he can become Jim Ross's color commentator. - Vivacious Veronica is gone after 2 weeks, replaced by Jeannie Clark [Throwing a monkey wrench into GWF booking plans as she was one of the original choices for "The Boss." - WCW(SN) drops to a 1.6, Power Hour to a 1.3. June 17-13 - Jim Herd surprised insiders with comments amounting to "PERSONAL CHOICE!!!!!!!111111111" when asked about the Zahorian trial involving current WCW wrestler Dan Spivey. - Bill Watts passed on an offer to be figurehead commissioner for the GWF

What was the Mitchell column about? The Olu Oleyami disaster?

Timeline continued... April 1-7 - Sid Vicious agrees to a contract where he would be paid $500,000 and get the world title during the Great American Bash tour. - WWF publicly inflates the Wrestlemania VII buyrate to a 6.1 w/ 820,000 buys. - Paul E. Dangerously & Diamond Dallas Page appear on MTV's Dial Mania Battle [What was this?] - AJPW's TV show moved to 1:30 AM. - Former Tennessee & Alabama star Len Rossi to Matwatch: "What little (wrestling) I watch has little art or science. I think what they've done is get in a position where they can't top themselves." April 8-14: - Sid Vicious doesn't sign contract, tells Jim Herd he's going to the WWF after getting a huge push at the previous night's TV tapings - Every WWF & WCW cable show drops sharply in the ratings. April 15-21: - Jerry Lawler takes 4-6 weeks off to rest muscle spasms in his neck. - Johnny Ace breaks his elbow in a match with Cactus Jack in AJPW [My note: Cactus never came back because of Motoko Baba, infatuated with Ace, blaming the injury on him.] April 22-28: - Jim Herd announces on WCW's hotline that Sid Vicious will be given an early release from his contract the night after Superbrawl, as well as claiming that Dusty Rhodes will return to in-ring wrestling. - Jim Cornette rejects an offer to return to WCW as a color commentator, blasts the company on Joe Pedicino's Saturday night wrestling block on WVEU TV. - Dino Bravo quits the WWF. April 29-May 5: - Steve Austin signs with WCW, will have a new valet named Veronica - WWF Prime Time Wrestling & WCW Main Event tie for #1 in the 1st quarter cable ratings, World Championship Wrestling (Saturday) falls to a 2.6 from a 3.2 the same quarter in 1990. - Jeff Jarrett & Frank Morrell barely escape injury after a firey car accident. - Rick Martel leaves the WWF - Steve Keirn goes to the WWF - Brad Armstrong initially refuses the Freebird Fantasia/Badstreet gimmick before changing his mind - WCW to get slot on Texas superstation KTVT (former home of WCCW's Saturday night show from Ft. Worth) in September. - South Atlantic Pro Wrestling stops tapng TV. - Van Earl Wright of CNN Sports [now the American Gladiators PBP announcer] joins WCW to voiceover the upcoming event promos. - Scotty the Body was in a car accident on 5/4. May 6-12: - Supermarket tabloid Globe "links The Ultimate Warrior (Jim Hellwig) to homosexuals" and alleges that he has appeared in pornographic films. - Ted Turner says WCW is having "encouraging success" on PPV. - NBC cancels Saturday Night's Main Event after the February prime time special drew a 6.8 w/ an 11 share and the latest SNME drew a 7.2. - After their barbed wire match at a TWA show in Philadelphia, Cactus Jack collapses (stemming from his entanglement by the throat in the wire) and Gilbert has to be treated for a strained neck. - Cable wrestling ratings drop to a 2 year low with World Championship Wrestling falling to a 1.7, below the Power Hour for the first time. May 20-26: - Bruce Prichard fired as a producer by the WWF. - On ESPN, Irv Muchnick describes Hulk Hogan as someone "who has big muscles and almost no talent" and says that the Ultimate Warrior "has no talent and probably couldn't do this interview for 30 seconds without blowing up." - Master Blaster & Tex Salenger try to suffocate Robert Fuller with a plastic bag on USWA TV. - WCW was pissed at some "hardcore insider fans" at Superbrawl, mainly "smart" comments shouted at ringside and an obscene gesture on camera after a Missy Hyatt segment. - UWF Beach Brawl will only be available to 155 of the country on PPV. - ESPN strongly warns Max Andrews about the large amount of blood and man on woman violence booked by Eric Embry on their USWA shows. May 27-June 2: - Various older wrestlers refuse to appear at a WWF "Legends" show in St. Louis. - Gordon Solie is dropped as co-host of Worldwide. - Road Warrior Hawk is out for 7 weeks after herniated disc surgery.

http://davidbix.googlepages.com/realpants.pdf This was on another board (posted by the wonderful KS) and was so good I compiled it into a PDF to share. Worth looking at even if you've read the book, and a must-read if you haven't.

Got this several months ago, and being inspired by Loss's WON posts, I figured that I'd go over some of the more interesting stuff. The "four years of stories" feature at the end of the annual is especially good stuff. Matwatch Man of the Year: Cactus Jack - In 1989, soon after Jim Ross became chairman of WCW's booking committee, he told Steve Beverly "We could take someone like Cactus Jack and build him into the kind of character that you don't have to put a belt on for him to be a star. He's made in the mold of (Bruiser) Brody." - Ole Anderson hated the big bump that Cactus took in his match with Mil Mascaras, sayng that Foley was "exposing the business." - When he came back to WCW for his 2nd run in 1991, he started without a contract while still working for the GWF and various east coast indie groups. In July, he was on 3 first-run TV shows from 3 separate promotions in the same weekend: GWF Major League Wrestling, WCW's self-titled Saturday night show, and Universal Independent Wrestling in the Baltimore area. - The Cactus-Abdullah feud was the first time since the Brody feud that the newsletter fans at large seemed to enjoy Abby. Timeline '91 (I won't include a ton of the most well-known stuff like "Wrestlemania happened' unless there's a less-known detail added to it) January 7-13: - Olu Oleyami's Kongi Sports and Entertainment resumes talks to buy the USWA while Eddie Gilbert quits as USWA booker January 14-20: - Gulf War begins on 1/16, Sgt. Slaughter wins WWF title on 1/19 - IWCCW financial backer Howard rapp threatens to sue stations carrying USWA's TV show, claiming that Kevin & Kerry Von Erich (who were licensing the WCCW trademarks to the Savoldis) still owned the slots personally [My note: Whaaa? I looked in the WONs from the period and couldn't find anything about this. I presume this was bullshit because USWA Legends of Wrestling & Challenge stayed on the air and then were replaced by GWF Supercard and Major League Wrestling, respectively, but I MUST know more about this]. January 21-27: - Joe Pedicino tries to sell the GWF TV shows at NATPE - Jesse Ventura agrees to host The Grudge Match with Tim Brando & Lyle Alzado, but the latter 2 pulled out - Dusty Rhodes returns to WCW as booker and color commentator for Clash & PPV shows - Nick Gulas dies in Nashville at the age of 76. January 28-31: - TBS moves Clash XIV from CNN Center to Gainsville, GA after security threats during the Gulf War - Mike Rotunda quits WCW due to only being offered a 6 month contract extension - Mike Graham hired by WCW as a road agent - ABC airs the pilot for Tag Team starring Jesse Ventura & Roddy Piper February 1-10: - WWF moves Wrestlemania due to a poor advance and "bomb threats." - Clash XIV draws 2nd lowest Clash rating (3.9) and lowest combined rating w/ the replay (5.6) to date. February 18-24: - The Freebirds lose the WCW tag titles to the Steiner Bros. at a TV taping before winning them from Doom. - Jim Herd agrees to a forum with Steve Beverly, Dave Meltzer, & Wade Keller on 4/27 February 25-28: - Bob Costas drops out of Wrestlemania - E! and Atlanta's WXIA TV falsely report that Missy Hyatt and Jason Hervey were engaged. - A Nashville newspaper quotes Ron Fuller as saying "Five years from now, there will be only one wrestling group in America and they won't be doing very well." March 4-10: - WCW fires Buddy Landel for allegedly for shooting mucus from his nose onto a fan. - Jerry Jarrett moves Memphis house shows from the Mid-South Coliseum to the Pipkin Building over a dispute w/ MSC officials. - Roseanne & Tom Arnold drop out of Wrestlemania. - Owen Hart debuts in WCW - WCW Power Hour sets its record Saturday morning rating with a 2.3 in 1.29 million homes [Was it still on at 7 AM then? If so, that's really impressive] - Jerry Lawler to The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis on newsletters: "I deny everything that's in them." - Sid Vicious asks for $350,000 to re-sign w/ WCW. - The Iron Sheik returns to the WWF as Col. Mustafa - Eddie Mansfield to revive indie promotion in Florida - Jim Herd says WCW talnt coordinators think Owen Hart is "too stoic" in so far in his matches for the company. - Michael Wallstreet (Rotunda) profiled on Inside Edition March 18-24: - Vince McMahon gets a positive six page profile in Sports Illustrated March 25-31: - Buyrate of 2.8% for Wrestlemania VII is the worst outing to date for WM. - Paul Heyman signs a new one year contract with WCW while Ron Simmons signs for another two years. - Owen Hart leaves WCw - The Jerry Lawler Show airs its 400th episode - Jim Ross is close to a deal for a weekly talk show on WSB-AM in Atlanta. - Herb Abrams announces that he's trying to put together a Buddy Rogers vs Bruno Sammartino match for his first UWF PPV. Neither wrestler was aware of this. More in a little while...

Michael Hayes talked to Dave on the record for the Terry Gordy obituary. It wouldn't shock me at all that he's a source. Back to Wade, the "we do completely different jobs" stuff (Originally "Worse, [bischoff] linked me in the same sentence as Wade Keller without any sort of differentiation.") came off as much more unnecessarily nasty than anything Dave's said about anyone in years, though when I asked him about it later he said he just meant that it wasn't right to group everyone together as the exact same thing.

He's actually right about some things, but still comes across as whiny...

Because it amuses and sometimes disturbs me which wrestlers will get sexualized (and how they are) to sell tapes on eBay and such. Gay or straight, doesn't matter. I don't care about dudes swooning over Tom Zenk, just the stuff that makes you go "WHAT?" in good-natured fun. For example: I mean really, a dude wants to put it to The Bullet? Does he not want to but think other dudes would? Sometimes, I wonder if they're just writing these to make me laugh: So basically, for the GAYS, search eBay for "jobber" or go to http://www.jobberuniverse.com/Jobbers/MainJobberVolumes.html and for a straight dude with major issues, go to http://impacthosting.com/manzerman/ and try to find the most horrifying description of a sleeper hold. And yes, Loss thought this was an amusing idea for a thread and pre-approved it.

This has left me pretty amazed since I first read it in the Horsemen/JCP features last year. I can see how TWN dropped so much, but how did All-Star pick up so much steam? Could CWA on WMC have skewed it that much?

This was before the PPVs started, so I doubt he would've lied then.

They were getting to be more like ECW, with Gabe thinking PPV would strongly impact the business direction. Hasn't happened. He appears to be more realistic about hitting a roadblock than Paul E was. In fairness, PPV was a Cary Silkin idea and Sapolsky was allegedly strongly against it.

He allegedly has superstar presence/charisma, which led to Meltzer & Sapolsky hilariously admitting in the WON that everyone in ROH is a bland fuck.