DeanColes1987

I can easily see George Scott or an agent like Paul Jones bringing this to Herd's attention as a way to deflect blame in some meeting. I'd love to have been in the room when Rick Steiner was told he can't bring his dog Arnold backstage anymore.

NWA rules and regulations handed down by Jim Herd and George Scott from the Mar 20, 89 Observer 1. All wrestlers, managers, referees and other officials must be in the building one hour before the start of the card 2. Babyfaces and Heels can't be seen mixing in public together 3. No profanity on the mic at house shows or on TV, including use of the word butt, ass or whatever, also no off-color gestures either on television or in the ring 4. Wrestlers or managers are not allowed to use the house mic before intermission 5. No low blows 6. No using chairs, tables or the guard railing (those are Abdullah the Butcher's only three moves) 7. No more than one man on the floor at a time before intermission (in other words, no fighting outside the ring before intermission) 8. No touching referees 9. Wrestlers must dress in collared shirts while entering and leaving the arena (in fact, they even want reporters covering matches to wear suits and ties if they go backstage) 10. No spitting (Iron Sheik's only move) at any time on either TV or house shows 11. No pulling down tights (Dick Murdoch's best move when he's not in Japan) 12. Wives, girlfriends, children and pets aren't allowed backstage 13. No long-distance phone calls from the WCW office phones in Atlanta by wrestlers

Amazing stuff, Barry Windham all of a sudden becoming motivated again in 1999 WCW of all places is both awesome and hilarious.

Cable Industry uses Turner and NWA as pawns, WWF does huge business and Vince offers Turner a peace pact "The USA network will be running a three hour WWF special card on 2/20. What a coincidence. This obviously has nothing to do with the fact the NWA is running a PPV card the same night, since the NWA is no competition to the WWF." - Jan 23, 89 Observer "The NWA has planned its next PPV event after the 2/20 show to be held on 4/2 from the Omni in Atlanta head-to-head on a Sunday afternoon with Wrestlemania V from the Trump Plaza....Many of the key cable operators are members of the Turner board, and with McMahon's free show on 2/20 hurting not only Turner's company, but the cable owners themselves because it would have cut down on the buy rate of the show, the cable owners will side with the NWA on this." - Jan 30, 89 Observer "The big battle is 4/2. The WWF will present Wrestlemania V from Trump Plaza in Atlantic City....The NWA will counter, head-to-head with 'Wrestle War 89: The Ultimate Gamble' from the Omni in Atlanta....McMahon has nobody to blame but himself for what at this stage of the game appears to be a loss of several million dollars of potential revenue, since Titan is the one that sabotaged three NWA PPV events and one AWA event. Titan is also loading up a Chicago card two days before the NWA's event in an attempt to hurt the NWA's house (which from early sales, the WWF's efforts will probably succeed)." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "There are roughly 11 million homes in this country with PPV potential. Of those, TBS claims that the majority will carry Wrestle War 89 and not carry Wrestlemania. Approximately two million of those homes have the capabilities to carry both programs, although many of those homes are serviced by companies in which the heads of the companies also serve on Turner's board, thus it is expected they will also boycott Wrestlemania. The two largest PPV clearing companies, Request and Viewers Choice, are locked in the Turner camp for this show. Right now it appears that McMahon won't be locked out of PPV completely, but will have to battle to clear between two and three million of those homes." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "The USA network special turned a great percentage of the cable industry into McMahon adversaries on 4/2 because he showed he wasn't interested in the good of the PPV but only looking at monopolizing the industry....Titan even tried to get Viacom to agree to guarantee a seven percent buy rate, which isn't totally out of the realm of possibility for Hogan vs. Savage, but showed incredible chutzpah given the Royal Rimble did between a 1.4 and 1.9 buyrate, or less than the NWA's Starrcade show three weeks earlier which did a 2.1" - Feb 6, 89 Observer "Almost immediately upon the word leaking out saw McMahon's first step in retaliation, signing J.J. Dillon away from the NWA. While on the surface, as far as talent goes, it was no loss at all (if you think it was, play back the ring introduction on TBS 1/14 for the Windham vs. Gilbert match and check the crowd reaction for Dillon), however Dillon was handling a significant work load in the office....There is some bitterness over Dillon's departure as he left on Monday with only a telegram in his wake and gave no notice." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "There is speculation Vince could try and put WM5 on free NBC TV which would draw a huge rating and destroy Turner's show, but many factors negate that possibility: 1) It would be hard to get NBC to agree on such short notice, although possible; 2) If Wrestlemania is put on for free on NBC, it would destroy any potential videotape sales (which probably will be higher for this WM than any other since it won't be readily available on PPV); 3) It would be almost impossible to sell any PPV shows for $20 to $25 after putting the big show on for free, especially when the other PPV events will be much weaker draws." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "A better alternative would be to try and get a huge rights fee from HBO, but it would be hard to get the seven figures Titan would want to dump the PPV showings. All in all, if Titan could have done a seven buy rate for Hogan vs. Savage, the TBS maneuverings will cost the show about $13 million in gross revenue and cost Titan itself about half of that in potential earnings." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "Titan is now claiming the reason they are running the 2/20 special on USA is simply because they are looking for a hot show to help USA during the sweeps." - Feb 6, 89 Observer "Well, Super Sunday II has an entirely new twist since our last issue. What earlier appeared to be a coup by Turner Home Entertainment against Titan Sports turned out instead to be a victory for neither side, but instead a victory for the cable industry, which used Turner and the NWA as pawns in order to drive down Vince McMahon's original deal to carry Wrestlemania on pay per view." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "Officially the proposed NWA PPV event on 4/2 is off, and it is expected that Titan will clear around 9.4 million PPV homes for Wrestlemania V, which my guess is will be the largest grossing pro wrestling event ever." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "As of Friday, the NWA was in the planning stages of running a three hour live show, tentatively from the Superdome in New Orleans, free on TBS which would start 30 minutes prior to Wrestlemania." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "Viacom, Request TV and Viewers Choice and other cable biggies wanted to knock Titan Sports off its pedestal when Titan changed its deal and the revenue split for Wrestlemania, and also wanted to cut out the middlemen (Request and Viewers Choice) and sell its show directly to the cable companies themselves. The cable companies then went to Titan's competitor, the NWA, and asked them to run a show head to head which would have knocked Titan out of most of the PPV markets and cost Wrestlemania V eight figures of potential income." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "It was expected that Titan would change its deal in order to save its PPV, however at least one major company was saying things like, they could offer us 90 percent of the Wrestlemania revenue (a 90/10 split in favor of the companies) and they still weren't going to run it. Well it turns out, McMahon changed his deal, and while I'm not sure of the exact percentages, it is the same deal that McMahon and the cable companies had for previous PPV events, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 percent to the cable company, 40 percent to Titan and 20 percent to the middle man. The cable companies then went to Turner and asked him to cancel his event." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "Titan had one of its biggest weekends in history from 1/27 through 1/29 drawing in the $1.2 million range." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "The Hogan vs. Savage match was already being advertised in Atlantic City for the Wrestlemania V card on 1/28, a full five days before the angle." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "On 2/3, Vince McMahon called up Ted Turner and wanted to make a peace pact about the wrestling war. He wanted both sides to agree to stop raiding talent and to stop trying to sabotage each others PPV events." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "Tony Schiavone gave notice on Monday to the NWA that he was accepting a Titan offer (reportedly for $138,000 per year) but was willing to work his two weeks notice, but the NWA released Schiavone from any further duty at the time. While one can't discount the size of the Titan offer as the main lure for Schiavone's switch, he was unhappy with the decision by NWA management that would take him off all TBS shows and relegate him to being lead announcer on the syndicated package....Two Titan sources have said Schiavone would be groomed to be the eventual replacement for Vince McMahon (who often talks of stepping down) as the lead play-by-play announcer on the syndicated package." - Feb 20, 89 Observer "As of late last week, the WWF had sold 9,400 tickets for its 2/18 show in Chicago while the NWA had sold just over 1,500 tickets for the 2/20 PPV event" - Feb 20, 89 Observer "Savage's drawing power has greatly picked up since the NBC special and some of the Savage vs. Warrior bouts have strong advances. The MSG show on 2/20 is expected to be a sellout, which is something they haven't done for a non-Hogan show (or even a Hogan show) too often of late" - Feb 20, 89 Observer "Vince is actually throwing a double-barrelled competition against the NWA PPV and even competing with himself....they are also going to run the MSG card live on the MSG cable network. All three shows (USA, MSG and NWA's PPV from Chicago) will be going on simultaneously." - Feb 20, 89 Observer "Apparently the NWA agreed to Roddy Piper's request for a $500,000 one-year wrestling deal and NWA folks even claim Piper gave a verbal ok to the deal. However Piper's agent, David Wolfe is a lot tighter with Titan and McMahon was able to convince Piper to work the Wrestlemania shot. Officially, Piper is only committed to the one non-wrestling appearance for Titan, and supposedly, NWA head honcho Jim Herd actually flew to New York on Monday (skipping the PPV event in Chicago) to meet with Piper about signing the one-year wrestling deal, but I'd say it is 98% certain that if Piper is appearing at Wrestlemania that he isn't going to be wrestling in the NWA." - Mar 1, 89 Observer "The WWF is on fire. There are several reasons for it, but the main one is that heel Randy Savage has been selling out every arena that he appears in (My Note: against Warrior), and Hulk Hogan has been doing likewise (My Note: against Bossman). Titan had a phenomenal week, probably among the biggest non-big show weeks in its history, which included a phenomenal $189,000 house in what had long been considered 'dead' St. Louis....Titan's MSG show on Monday drew a legitimate sellout of nearly 20,000 fans, and its Chicago card two days before the NWA PPV event also drew a legitimate sellout of 19,000 fans at the Horizon (17,900 paid--$223,000 which is the second largest indoor gate in the city behind only the Wrestlemania II live show which had the $100 tickets and drew $294,000 even with a half-house)" - Mar 1, 89 Observer "Attendance for Chi-Town Rumble was around 7,500 in the 9,000 seat building. About 5,5000 was paid ($67,000) which has to be dissappointing considering all the television hype given to the show." - Mar 1, 89 Observer

What was Gene doing in 93 TV wise? It actually in hindsight looks like they are trying to phase Gene out and/or give him less leverage for a contract renewal with how little he's used on TV All I remember is him doing All American and the PPV Reports plus the PPVs themselves, I don't think he ever appeared in person on Raw, Rougeau and Blackstone did the podium interviews and the only big angle I recall seeing Gene involved in on TV was the Bret/Yoko contract signing. Edit: Forgot that he did Face to Face when Sean Mooney left, I'm actually surprised Gene agreed to doing them, the reason Mooney did the house show stuff to begin with was because Gene didn't want to do them anymore

"WCW, with 32,076 fans in attendance, the third largest crowd and the all-time record gate for pro wrestling in the state of Texas, which turned out to be 31,460 paying $755,995 and another $257,339 in merchandise, put on an unforgivably bad show in front of a crowd that large." - Dec 14, 98 Observer "There is talk of the WWF lowering Raw’s rating to TV-PG to avoid the sponsor backlash from reaching their flagship cable program." - Dec 11, 99 Torch "The Dusty Rhodes suspension has been postponed and won't be announced until this weekend's television and won't go into effect until 4/16 which is to allow Rhodes to wrestle in the Boston Garden on 4/15." - Apr 11, 88 Observer "The New Year’s Eve pay–per–view with WCW matches and a Kiss concert was cancelled late last week. A number of factors caused the cancellation, including the outcry by wrestlers and employees about having to work on that day. The financial cut for Kiss would have made it difficult for WCW to make money (supposedly 80 cents on the dollar)." - Sept. 18, 99 Torch "They showed a clip of Goldberg at the Miami Marlins game hanging out with Mark McGwire. And yes, WCW is interested in having McGwire wrestle after the season is over although that deal is probably not even in the preliminary stages." - Sept 7, 98 Observer "Those who have attended the shoots of the Ready to Rumble movie are laughing at Dallas Page for his 'director–like' approach on the set. Page, along with Kanyon and Sid, has his own chair with his name embroidered on the back. He has been giving the other wrestlers tips on their acting. He also watches the scenes on a monitor and points out what he sees as flaws." - Nov 7, 99 Torch "11/1 in DuQuoin, IL at the fairgrounds will have Disciple vs. 'a surprise opponent from the NWO black & white' (won't those fans have a nice surprise when it's Vincent)" - Oct 19, 98 Observer "There have been preliminary talks in the WWF of signing Bryan Clark and Brian Adams as a new 'Demolition' tag team. WCW exercised their rights to terminate the contracts of both Clark and Adams in January. WCW has not offered either contracts for renewal as of deadline.... Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara are interested in using them in a Road Warrior style tag team updated for the 90s, but it is up to the front office (J.J. Dillon, Bill Busch) to authorize a contract offer." - Dec 18, 99 Torch "Bagwell was dressed as Mark McGwire in a Cardinals jersey and a bottle of androsteindione came out. Scott asked McGwire Bagwell how many homers he'd have hit without it, and he said five. Being that McGwire was nice enough to give Goldberg all that pub over the summer, doing that angle on him was pretty low class for WCW. Scott was supposed to burn the McGwire Cardinals jersey, but it wouldn't light. He wound up burning a Cardinals cap instead." - Dec 28, 98 Observer "Remember when we reported that after Mabel nearly injured Diesel the last time they wrestled, Diesel insisted to management he would never work with Mabel again? Well, that vow is why the Raw match between Diesel and Mabel was so short. Diesel was unwilling to put himself in Mabel's hands during the match, thus came up with the five second squash scenario as a compromise." - Jan 6, 96 Torch "Adrian Adonis dropped about 60 pounds and his gay image on the New Japan tour. He's still fat, looks to be 280 but he doesn't look like he could die at any given moment at least." - June 6, 88 Observer "Brian Lee said on the phone that Doug Gilbert should 'bring his brother to the matches Monday and prop him up in his corner.' " - Aug 19, 95 Torch "NWA took the World Class group's TV time in Jackson, MS and celebrated by sending a tape this past weekend totally void of commentary." - May 9, 88 Observer "One woman said there are some people around who think the WWF 'lacks cultural merit.' Another man said, 'They are the same bloody idiots who cut down the rain forests.' Added another person, 'Destroy the ozone.' And concluded a woman, 'And even colorize old classic movies.' The last comment was a shot at Ted Turner, of course. The vignettes were inspired by how Vince McMahon's neighbors in Greenwich, Conn. look down upon him. Apparently they see him as a sleazy wrestling promoter, even though he has one of the nicer homes in the neighborhood, so skits are his way of letting off some steam." - Apr 22, 95 Torch "Arn gave Sting a DDT on the arena floor and Sting made a comeback 30 seconds later. stupid. The WWF ran Ricky Steamboat and Jake Roberts for six months off that move and these guys treat it as a transition." - June 20, 88 Observer "Another segment aired where Randy Savage talked with his father on a beach. Savage was surrounded by women in bikinis. Savage said he was so eager to wrestle Flair and Vader, he'd swim to the Bayfront Center. He put his sun glasses on his father and then jumped in the water followed by dozens of beach goers. He kept on his hat and full outfit." - May 27, 95 Torch "Gene Okerlund is also out, reportedly fired, and they are going to work Sean Mooney in as his heir apparent." - June 20, 88 Observer "Flair, who is a huge Florida football fan, said as president he was giving the national championship back to Florida from Tennessee which got a huge pop from the crowd." - Apr 24, 99 Torch "Gene Okerlund is also back. Okerlund and McMahon seem to have bi-annual blow-ups (they had another at the SLammy Awards with Okerludn quitting for a day, then coming back) but always get back together since Okerlund's contract with Titan is too lucrative to stay away from for any length of time. Okerlund will be toned down, however, only doing major stuff like NBC specials and the Summer Slam updates." - Aug 8, 88 Observer "A snowstorm and a temperature of four degrees basically killed all the walk-up for the record-setting Nitro at the TWA Dome. The show did break the all-time U.S. record for a non-WWF arena event by doing $914,389, ahead of the 7/6 Georgia Dome which did $906,330. In better weather, the $1,000,000 mark would have been threatened. The paid attendance was approximately 29,000, so it actually trailed the 12/7 Astrodome show despite being announced on TV as having beaten it, although that fact was entirely due to weather. It destroyed all records for St. Louis." - Dec 28, 98 Observer

89/90 is great for that sort of thing because Dave talks to almost everyone on the NWA booking committee, so for example you'll have the Gilbert excuse for why an angle isn't drawing and in the next sentence you'll have the Ross excuse. I also get a kick out of Dave in his long opinion pieces on the business in the 80s/90s quoting "a former world champion" which is so obviously Terry Funk.

"If you are wondering how Cactus Jack could possibly qualify as a lightheavyweight, well, World Class raised the weight class to '241.5 pounds,' which or course would make every single recognized World champion (Lawler, Flair, Fujinami, and Savage) a lightheavyweight." - Jan 16, 89 Observer "Taz called ECW officials to complain about the TORCH reporting that he will not be released from his contract before Dec. 31, despite making his final appearance in the company." - Dec 4, 99 Torch "It appears they won't be doing the Tuesday Nitros anymore. TNT asked for shows every week in December, but WCW tried to convince them otherwise because there is no way to go a fourth hour of TV without the audience being comatose, the wrestlers being exhausted and the announcers working on fumes." - Dec 7, 98 Observer "Because Vince McMahon was blindsided by the departures of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, he 'offered' most front office employees 'the opportunity' to sign a 'loyalty pledge' that would bind them to not working for WCW for a period of one year after the conclusion of their employment with the WWF. The clause would be enforced whether they quit or were fired." - Oct 23, 99 Torch "WCW brought in Dr. David Lee Black from Nashville to give a seminar on steroids to its wrestlers before the television taping this past Tuesday in Birmingham. Black went through a slide show and talked about negative side effects, which those who don't use didn't care about and those who do use didn't want to hear.... One person described it as almost like a comedy scene from a movie when almost all the wrestlers were there for the seminar, then ten minutes late, in a sleeveless t-shirt with his 20+ inch guns showing, in walks Scott Steiner." - May 11, 92 Observer "Lex Luger, Sting, Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell and Scott Hall are the closest part of the new Nash clique. Luger and Hall, though, do not get along, which makes things more difficult for Nash as he tries to keep everyone on his side content." - Feb 13, 99 Torch "J.T.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." - Mar 16, 92 Observer "It has crossed the minds of top WCW officials what a coup it would be to have Jarrett and perhaps Armstrong (the 'Roadie' name and character are, of course, trademarked by the WWF) show up on the debut show of WCW Monday Nitro." - July 31, 95 Torch "Word we get is the Undertaker vs. Yokozuna matches that start 2/19 have the strongest advances of any house show feud in about ten months." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "Of everyone associated with SMW, only Tim Horner and Sandy Scott knew Cornette and the Bodies had struck a deal with the WWF. One good friend of Cornette's in WCW knew for about a month.... Hildebrand said "I got suspicious when Vince McMahon gave Big Bossman his blessing to work for us, because at first Bossman could only work as far as Georgia independents. I looked at Jimmy (Cornette) and said, 'Vince doesn't do something for nothing.' He didn't say anything. I should have known something was up." - July 24, 93 Torch "Before the match, Kerry grabbed the house mic and said that Hayes & Garvin had left to wrestle in the NWA so they wouldn't be here tonight. Good Lord. He told the absolute truth." - Jan 23, 89 Observer "WCW booker Kevin Nash made a speech to the wrestlers before Nitro this week to establish a stricter set of rules. He told wrestlers they need to get to the arena when they are asked to, which is early in the afternoon on Mondays. Nash said they plan to do more pre–produced vignettes and interviews. A hotline number has been set up for wrestlers to call to find out which events they are scheduled for. Nash also said there will be zero tolerance for wrestlers putting up a fuss about doing jobs....there was snickering that Nash managed to keep a straight face talking about being tardy and avoiding jobs given his well–earned rep in those areas." - Feb 6, 99 Torch "Frey was enthusiastic as all hell and ready to fight the big fight. He started spending money, had ideas of upgrading the shows, not all of which were good but he was in a bad position having little knowledge of wrestling going in. He spent big money to sign the talent, added incentive bonuses to increase their workrate, truly wanted to clean them up from steroids as a real deal rather than a p.r. con, signed Jesse Ventura, one of the five biggest wrestling celebrities in this country, and made big money offers to some near-the-top WWF talent, although the only one his negotiations truly netted was Jake Roberts (who ultimately, his successor, Watts, is being given credit for bringing in). But after a few months of the fight, General Kip was recalled. The casualties were too high. The soldiers were happier but the tide of the battle hadn't changed one iota. Frey never had a chance to succeed in his battle plan. And the reality was, even if given a chance, the odds were huge against him." - Sept 7, 92 Observer "Management was disappointed and embarrassed that the live shoot for Hennig’s video drew such a low turnout. Some reports say as few as 30 fans were present." - July 3, 99 Torch "Lee Marshall will be done on 1/4. He went on Bob Ryder's web site with an interview claiming he was quitting because WCW wanted him to move to Atlanta, and because he had a production company in Los Angeles, he didn't want to make the move. Actually Marshall attempted a power play to get more air time, largely trying to either cut into or get Mike Tenay's spot. When Tenay lost his voice before the 11/30 Nitro and Marshall wasn't even used to take his place, he realized his die was cast. His contract was expiring and he opened negotiations with WWF, which basically guaranteed his exit. Tony Schiavone seemed so thrilled with Marshall that on the 12/21 show when he led into the road report with Marshall's voice, Schiavone wouldn't even say his name." - Dec 28, 98 Observer

"SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL LEX LUGER THERE IS NO SUCH WORD IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS ALLOCADES." - Jan 16, 89 Observer "At one time, Berlyn (Alex Wright) was vocal about wanting to go to the WWF. However, Dallas Page convinced him to stay by promising he would personally make sure he was given a push. Page is said to have made similar assurances to Disco Inferno, Kanyon, and most recently Kidman." - Sept. 11, 99 Torch "Powers of Pain completed the 'Super Double,' stinking up against Road Warrior and Road Warrior clones and being managed by each federation's worst manager." - 88 Observer Yearbook "The September In Your House is slated to headline with Diesel vs. Waylon Mercy." - Aug 26, 95 Torch "When you see guys like Owen Hart, Terry Taylor, Bret Hart, Paul Roma, The Bulldogs, Blanchard & Anderson, etc. either not pushed or being put in tag team spots where they can't draw money or break out of the pack, and then you see a no talent, no charisma wrestler like Bravo in a money spot, it makes you wonder what goes into the decision making." - 88 Observer Yearbook "Dennis Coraluzzo, an insurance salesman who presells independent shows on a sporadic basis in the Northeast. He made news last week when one of those presold shows actually made money for the sponsoring charity. Coraluzzo is now feuding with NWA member Tod Gordon over who gets to run money-losing shows in the Philly area. Crockett, logically, thinks it should be Gordon since he has proven to be better at running red-ink shows in the area than anyone since Joel Goodhart." - Oct 2, 93 Torch, Bruce Mitchell Column "The idea that guaranteed contracts create lazy athletes isn't borne out by examples in almost every other team sport, in most of which the top stars are on multi-year guarantees. And forget about sports, let's talk about wrestling. WCW had guaranteed income contracts. So does All Japan. So does New Japan. The WWF doesn't. Which wrestlers on a nightly basis, as a group, work harder and put out more effort in the ring?" - Sept 28, 92 Observer "There had been talk of hotshotting an angle on the debut of Monday Nitro that would result in a Hogan vs. Vader match on Sept. 11 head-to-head with Raw. That hotshot angle did take place, only with Luger instead of Vader." - Sept. 9, 95 Torch "MARK MADDEN: The only circumstance where I could imagine Dusty being a good wrestler is if he had to fight Orson Welles for the last Big Mac at McDonald's around clsoing time. Yeah, I know Orson Welles is dead, but so is Dusty's career." - 88 Observer Yearbook "McMahon is said to be very concerned that the 'v-chip' or 'violence blocker button' that may be installed on TVs in the future may block out the WWF for being too violent." - July 28, 95 Torch "New Japan made Hogan a $250,000 offer to work just three shows in 1993, the 1/4 Tokyo Dome, 5/3 Fukuoka Dome and 9/23 Yokohama Arena show. Hogan turned down the offer. Apparently Hogan told New Japan he earns that much in two months just sitting home and collecting royalties." - Dec 28, 92 Observer "Tony Schiavone: 'Did you wonder how Missy Hyatt got her job as manager of the Nasty Boys? Ole Anderson will tell you only on the hotline tonight.' Jesse Ventura: 'How would Ole know was he there? Does Ole have film of how Missy got her job? Videotape? What's it rated?' " - Oct 23, 93 Torch "Butch Reed, who debuted just two weeks earlier, was fired Tuesday after no-showing the television taping in Macon, GA without calling ahead of time with an explanation. WCW had a storyline set up involving Reed which was to start in Macon and had to be postponed. The company was attempting to find a replacement for Reed to debut at Center Stage on Monday night. Mondo Kleen (a larger version of Teijo Khan, both in ability, charisma and physique) was offered the spot apparently on Friday, and then called Titan and got a starting date with them at Titan's October tapings." - Sept 28, 92 Observer "There is a small faction that is pushing for Dusty Rhodes to be given the booking position because they believe it is easier to manipulate him into letting them do their ideas." - Aug 21, 99 Torch "They also during the show plugged Bulldog-Mountie which made no sense since both weren't even with the company and you can't even say there were financial reasons of trying to steal based on bait-and-switch, since that match isn't going to draw any extra buys on its own." - Nov 23, 92 Observer "Ric Flair was not supposed to bleed at Halloween Havoc. WCW management fought hard to get the representative from Turner’s 'Standards and Practices' division to agree to let Sid bleed....When Flair bled in the next match, WCW management looked bad for being 'unable to control their wrestlers.' ....What was worse, Flair bled perhaps worse than Goldberg, but his match wasn’t stopped due to excessive bleeding like Sid’s was....Dallas Page also improvised by adding a ref bump, which ended up contradicting the Sting storyline where later he was going to be stripped of the WCW Title for hitting a referee." - Oct 30, 99 Torch

To show how out of the blue Bret's win was, the same night he won the WWF title a match aired on Prime Time where he was pinned by Blake Beverly (admittedly with Slaughter reversing the decision)

"The reason Lex Luger, whose contract with WCW didn't expire until March 1, 1993, was able to start with Titan on January 24, was because Watts released him from the last five weeks of his contract period." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "AWA served to piss people off in Salt Lake as Jerry Blackwell missed his second straight card and Slaughter was also absent. They announced Roadie vs. Birds for the 11-18 card there, but people yelled things like 'who cares! they won't show up anyway!' " - International Wrestling News "Booking plans have Juventud Guererra losing his green card and then marrying a woman Kevin Nash sets him up with, only to have the woman turn out to be a transvestite." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "Nov 7th I saw Vince arrive and asked him why he doesn't let the great wrestlers in the WWF wrestle and instead puts on the circus. He asked 'why are you here?' I replied 'I saw great wrestlers like the Road Warriors and Ric Flair the show before and wanted to see what a circus was like'. Vince replied, 'well, enjoy the circus'. - Mat Results Vol 04 No 04 "Can you believe Jane Fonda was on Body Stars this past weekend? Jane probably didn't even know it. Vince McMahon couldn't help but get his digs in with he and Perfect talking about how Kimala and Jane Fonda could do a Tarzan and Jane movie and McMahon said that Ted Turner could play Kim Chee. That line was right up there with the line about Virgil being a perfect example of drug-free competition." - July 6, 92 Observer "Test broke his nose on Smackdown last week when he ran in to confront DX. Although it appeared DX bloodied him, Test did it to himself. Test ran to the ring and meant to slide under the bottom rope. He didn’t duck enough and his nose actually rammed into the bottom rope." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "2/1 TV taping for WCW Pro in Gainesville, GA was stopped after five matches because a pipe broke in the bathroom and flooded backstage, which is where a lot of the equipment was. They held up the show for 20 minutes before announcing to the crowd they'd have to stop the show because of the flood and would be back on 2/9 with a taping and everyone who had a ticket stub could get into that card for free." - Feb 08, 93 Observer "Talk about good timing: Vampiro signed a four–year contract with WCW three days before Bischoff was removed as WCW V.P" - Oct 13, 99 Torch "The 'fear of God' was put into several wrestlers when word came out that Terry Taylor's contract was eliminated. Taylor was earning a figure probably in the range of $156,000 per year and was told he wasn't being renewed but told he could stay and work for a nightly guarantee (rumored to be $300 per night but I can't vouch for the accuracy of that figure)" - July 20, 92 Observer "Vampiro verbally agreed to a deal with ECW....The contract, like many WCW contracts, had a 90–day review clause which allowed WCW to reassess it every 90 days. Weeks later, Bill Busch spoke to Vampiro and notified him that they were going to terminate the contract on Nov. 15....Vampiro contacted WCW and offered to do a quick job on Nitro (which he did to Disco Inferno) in exchange for a release which would allow him to go to ECW immediately. WCW management agreed. At press time, ECW officials were waiting for Vampiro to fax them his release from WCW." - Oct 23, 99 Torch "Akbar and his lawyer, Gaston B. Means came out to talk with Manny Villalobos, who the storyline has it just got approval for a HUD house he's been working on getting for months. Akbar produced the note for the house saying he bought it up, and noted the note contained an escalation clause and Akbar said he's upping Villalobos' monthly payment from $380 to $790. Villalobos said he couldn't afford that payment, so Akbar told them he was evicting them immediately." Oct 5, 92 Observer "In response to Vampiro telling people he gave up on ECW because they didn’t return his calls, Heyman told the TORCH, 'He called fifty times in a week and I’m forty–nine calls behind him.' " - Oct 30, 99 Torch "The goofy angle of the week came in a Bunkhouse Battle Royal. The final two left were Manny Villalobos and Johnny Mantell. Villalobos had the advantage when an 'officer' approached the ring with Akbar. He summoned Villalobos and served him 'an arrest warrant' for 'slandering' Akbar by calling him raghead on television while was tearing up Akbar's Iraqi flag. Villalobos was carted out of the ring leaving Mantell as the winner. This angle was made even more ridiculous when Villalobos came out two matches later as one of the lumberjacks for the Perez vs. Brooks match. It was only made more noticeable because he was immediately recalled back to the dressing room." - Nov 9, 92 Observer "Vampiro signed a renewal with WCW for $150,000 with his all transportation paid, which is lower than the contract Bischoff signed him to, but more than he would have made in ECW." - Oct 30, 99 Torch "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 10, 92 Observer "Former Los Angeles promoter Mike Lebell pleaded guilty to possessing 61 U.S. Spring access codes which he gave others so they could make charge calls without paying. LeBell was arrested as part of an investigation into a nationwide ring suspected of marketing unauthorized codes which U.S. spring claims cost them $3 million." - Sept 12, 88 Observer "All of the ECW wrestlers’ licenses with the state of New York expired on Oct. 1. Tommy Dreamer took over the job and was having a hard time with the commission on Oct. 21 (the first show in N.Y. since the new licenses were issued). Dreamer jokingly walked around the locker room asking where Buh Buh Ray Dudley was as Buh Buh used to be in charge of dealing with the commission." - Nov 7, 99 Torch "6/7 at the Omni in Atlanta drew 2,600 with Ron Simmons winning the Battle Royal and the first eight eliminated were to not work the undercard and the remainder were to work in pairings (9 vs. 10, 11 vs. 12, etc.). Minor screw-up as apparently Rick Steiner was supposed to go out before Barry Windham and he didn't, but Windham still worked the undercard even though Windham went out No. 8 and Steiner No. 9." - June 15, 92 Observer "Sting’s new idea of taping his boots has become a subject of jokes in the locker room. He is telling people his boots are old and are falling apart, but others believe there is a Wolfpac symbol underneath that he is covering." - May 8, 99 Torch "TIger Ali Singh's manservant Babu was extradited back to Ecuador for a combination of having to stand trial for crimes in that country (I swear I'm not making this up) and not having a green card to be in this country, so he's done, at least for now." - Dec 21, 98 Observer

Yes, considering the response to this, it's amazing there was no public outcry about the segment they ran to open the syndicated shows the weekend after Summerslam with a "Japanese news broadcast" that is presented as a propaganda piece, describing Luger's bodyslam as a "hippu tossu" and making it seem like Yokozuna won.

"KTTV (Ch. 13) in Los Angeles refused to air the Yokozuna vs. Jim Duggan match on Superstars this past weekend because of heavy protests from the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists (AAPAA), Japanese American Citizens League and Media Action Network for Asian Americans....Steve Planamaneta of Titan claimed to have not seen the Duggan-Yokozuna match but said that it wasn't the company's intention to offend anyone.....Planamenta said Yokozuna had been very well received by fans since he was brought in and defended his company saying the WWF has another Japanese wrestler, Tenryu, who is a good guy." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "A caller told Mankind he had all of his matches in Japan on tape. Mankind said, 'I’m going to go on record and say that anyone who has seen all of my matches from Japan probably doesn’t have a girlfriend.' Another caller said Vince should allow him to be more hardcore. Foley said, 'I used to be considered a real bad–ass. Of course, back then I was sleeping in my car and eating peanut butter sandwiches. I’m happy with who I am now.' " - Oct 24, 98 Torch "Forget Sting going in the other direction, unless he's either completely miserable or out of his mind. Leaving a $14,000 per week deal in order to hit the 'big-time'--a big time that will probably pay a lot less than half as much is not something a 33-year-old with a family is going to do." - Sept 7, 92 Observer "At Nitro, Lex Luger continued to annoy others in the locker room by complaining. This time he let everyone know how how bad he feels the Tony Marinara and Maestro gimmicks are." - Nov 27, 99 Torch "The Executive Producer apparently will either be Keith Mitchell, David Crockett, Tony Schiavone, Eric Bischoff or someone not currently working in the company at present. Speculation within the company over the weekend is that Mitchell or Bischoff had the best shot at the position." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "Before Taz jobbed to Sabu at the Plymouth, Mich. TNN taping, he did his best to get out of both the match and ECW. He was upset about Paul Heyman’s plans for him to job to Sabu and told him he was uncomfortable with it. Heyman told him that he would not grant him an early release or let him sit at home until his contract ran out because they have a deal through the end of the year." - Oct 13, 99 Torch "Rude did his speech before the match and everyone cheered him like crazy since they didn't know the english language and didn't realize he was calling them puny, sleazy Nips. He seemed really perplexed because it got the exact opposite reaction of what he was trying to get....This time when Rude came out and did his speech, the place booed a lot. Apparently somehow they must have found out what he was really saying." - Sept 8, 92 Observer "Dallas Page is getting laughed at for standing behind the cameras and directing some of the wrestlers during pre–taped spots for Nitro. Apparently Page put himself in charge of the Triad’s backstage brawl with Kidman and Goldberg and ordered several re–takes. The joke among other wrestlers is that Page appeared in one movie and already thinks he’s Steven Spielberg. Goldberg got angry with Page, refused to do any more takes, and stormed away telling Kidman, 'I hope you appreciate the rub.' " - Aug 28, 99 Torch "WCW has had serious talks about bringing Marty Jannetty and Shane Douglas in as a Rocker-like tag team. As irony would have it, more than a week ago, Jannetty allegedly had a squabble with police in Florida which resulted in a car search which turned up cocaine. Officially, the WWF suspended Jannetty (who was set to tour Japan in February and not return until the end of the month although he was on the cover of the new program) indefinitely pending an investigation. The assumption within the dressing room is that is another way of saying fired, at least for a while." - Feb 10, 92 Observer "A.C. Jazz quit the Nitro Girls and WCW on Nov. 14 after refusing to take part in a mud wrestling match that was scheduled the next night on Nitro. Few in the company have sympathy for her since she and the other Nitro Girls have been politicking for mic time and on–air roles." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "They are doing a voodoo spot during the Warrior-Shango matches where Warrior sells without being touched and the reaction in every city is groaning and in some cases, people walking out of the building in disgust which is interesting because they put them on early in the show every night." - June 8, 92 Observer "Sting said: 'We need to start delivering for the fans. I’ve been betrayed by Kevin Nash, what, four times in the last year and a half? Then we’re buddies again. People don’t want to be insulted, and storyline–wise, we’ve done that in the last year.' " - Aug 14, 99 Torch "Austin & Pillman have a few tag matches booked, but aren't going to be a regular tag team after all as was in the cards just one week ago. Austin pretty much was vehement about nixing that idea." - Oct 12, 92 Observer "Chris Jericho was contacted about being Jerry Lynn’s mystery partner in the Heat Wave main event. ECW attorneys phoned WCW in an attempt to make a deal to use Jericho during the final days of his contract. WCW lawyers were open to the idea but said it would have to go through Eric Bischoff. Heyman and Bischoff apparently played phone tag all week but were unable to discuss the matter before a deadline Jericho gave Heyman passed." - July 31, 99 Torch "On the localized interviews that played in this market, the tape dubbing system must have almost worn out because while Papa Shango's video is on doing his interview, you hear Jimmy Hart & Mountie doing an interview in the background which with Hart's voice is so loud that it completely distracted you from Shango's interview. Actually, that's not bad for entertainment, but it's bad production." - Aug 3, 92 Observer "Page came out to new intro music that sounds a lot like 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and wore new hot pink tights." - May 25, 96 Torch "Jim Garvin was tentatively released Tuesday after a contract buy-out. Garvin had approximately 17 months remaining on a reported $186,000 per year contract, and was given a huge lump sum, reportedly in the $180,000 range, to give up the remainder of his deal as a buy out. As part of the release, he's free to wrestle anywhere he can find work." - Sept 28, 92 Observer "Strangely, because Hogan has a clause in his contract that gives him $300,000 if he wrestled on any Clash, he will wrestle on the Main Event in the first hour against Kamala." - Aug 5, 95 Torch "The only other newcomer, who came out for an interview wearing a suit and tie was Jimmy Garvin. Garvin was also a heel and predicted all the heels to win at Survivor Series and bad mouthed Warrior & Savage. Told the segment was pretty bad." - Nov 2, 92 Observer "The Baltimore, Md. house show on Sept. 10 drew 3,190 paid for $93,160. Ric Flair gave a speech to fans on Friday, in reaction to the news of Bischoff’s removal from WCW, that it was embarassing to him personally that WCW would draw such a small crowd in a core WCW city." - Sept. 18, 99 Torch "Both Freebirds' contracts were originally planned to not be renewed early this year, however due to an office clerical error, they were informed they wouldn't be renewed just days after the contract had automatically renewed itself (similar situation to what happened with Tom Zenk) for two more years." - Sept 28, 92 Observer

"Main eventers under Watts would earn $1,000 per show, middle-of-the-card guys earn $500 and prelim guys $350. There would be no guarantee of the number of dates you'd be booked....Every four months, the contract comes up for renewal by management. No job security. A definite negative when compared with Titan, which unless you are really unlucky or really a screw up, actually has a decent amount of security at least as far as totally losing ones job. However, your option to give notice only comes up during a certain window once each year. If a main eventer gives notice, his contract is downgraded to the $350 per night for the final two months so the company doesn't have to spend as much money while it jobs the leaving wrestler out....Wrestlers who earn the $1,000 will actually only receive $750 per show each pay period, those at $500 will get $350 and those at $350 will get $250. The remainder will be kept in escrow and released every four months in lieu of possible fines, making sure wrestlers do jobs (not doing so and you'll forfeit one hell of a lot of money), don't miss shows and don't walk out in the middle of the program." - Sept 7, 92 Observer "Pat Patterson, WWF vice president of wrestling operations for most of the past eight years, announced plans to retire this December. Former WCW vice president and before that owner of Mid-South Wrestling, Bill Watts, has been chosen to be Patterson's replacement." - Aug 12, 95 Torch "Watts confirmed all new contracts will have a time period in which the company, but not the wrestler, has the option to terminate the contract provided the company gives the wrestler 30 days notice in writing. In wrestlers who sign multi-year deals (keep in mind this only applies to wrestlers who sign new deals from this point, not those on existing deals), they will come up for renewal every four months, while those on a yearly contract come up every three months. Watts admitted this gives the wrestlers no security, but claimed there's no security factor in any sports. 'If you want security, go to work in a bank. You have the choice. You can make big money or you can have security. There's never been a time in America when you can get both.' " - Sept 28, 92 Observer "ECW's way of welcoming Bill Watts to the WWF came as part of the following 900 line plug on their Aug. 8 program.... notify the NAACP and the ACLU, 'Cowboy' Bill Watts has returned to a power position in the sport of professional wrestling. As the Cowboy would say, 'Let's string 'em up!.'" - Aug 19, 95 Torch "It also should be noted that reportedly the new WCW deals also include a clause that the wrestlers can be asked to relocate their home base. In other words, they can be sent to another territory provided that territory picks up the $1,000, or whatever per night deal. On the surface that doesn't sound bad, but a worst case scenario could see someone transferred to Puerto Rico." - Sept 21, 92 Observer "Bill Watts purchased a ticket from a scalper to Saturday's Madison Square Garden event and attended the card without the knowledge of WWF management." - Aug 19, 95 Torch "The official company policy on blood is that Watts is going to use blood. However, because of the higher-ups being afraid of a lawsuit by a wrestler unwilling to cut themselves and taking the company to court if they either lost their spot or their job over it (and in that case, the wrestler would almost surely win), Watts is unable to order anyone to cut. However, he will suggest it when he feels it is useful for the product but the wrestler has the option to turn down the request and doesn't have to give a reason and no punishment in terms of a lessened push will result in turning down the request. There are wrestlers who believe that turning down the request is akin to having the man with the pencil erase you from main event consideration, but it was clearly stated as blading would be up to the discretion of the wrestler." - June 15, 92 Observer "After just a two month run in the World Wrestling Federation, and only 18 days after Vince McMahon gave Watts a vote of support in front of the entire crew of wrestlers, Bill Watts and the WWF cordially parted ways on Friday, Oct. 13." - Oct 21. 95 Torch "Ron Simmons came out and they went at it with Simmons initially cleaning house on both Vader and King Harley. Then Simmons jumped outside the ring to continue to pound on Harley. Vader attacked him from behind and did an elbow drop, a big splash and two shoulderbreakers on the floor. By this point I was expecting Watts to run out and give Simmons his notice. Boy, it sure doesn't pay to no-show." - Jan 20, 93 Observer "The story now is that McMahon asked several current WWF employees who had worked with Watts before (probably Jim Ross, Bruce Prichard, Ted DiBiase, Dok Hendrix, etc.) what they thought of him being brought in as a booker. The story is that every one of them advised against it. McMahon, though, went ahead and hired him. The psychology of why McMahon thought he would be able to get along with Watts despite virtually everyone else's skepticism is another column for another day." - Oct 21, 95 Torch "Marty Jannetty was fired because at the San Jose tapings, he was asleep in the dressing room. He claimed he was sleeping, but apparently others felt it was more like passed out. There is some heat among the wrestlers on Ray Stevens, who reported it, because of the belief that Stevens was once a wrestler and all the boys should stick together." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "On Nov. 12, TNN finally aired a commercial for the ECW on TNN show. Unfortunately, the commercial was aired during the ECW program." - Nov 20, 99 Torch "The resignation of Watts leaves the WCW company headed by Bill Shaw (President), Bob Dhue (Executive Vice President) and the four department heads, Sharon Sidello (pay-per-view), Eric Bischoff (television), Ole Anderson (house shows and wrestling personnel) and Rob Garner (syndication)" - Feb 22, 93 Observer "Nash did the job to Misterio because he wanted to send a message to the locker room. He choose to lose to Misterio because he believed viewers would believe it was corny and not take it as seriously as they would lost to another major name. Meanwhile, he is telling others that he did it as a payback to Misterio for taking off his mask." - Feb 27, 99 Torch "Apparently Watts tried to discourage using chops to the chest ala Ric Flair, feeling that they expose the business, in favor of more punches. This has been cause for some dispute since the stiff chops ala Flair have become very popular and in some ways the loud sound effects of a stiff chop makes things seem more realistic than punches with no sound effects." - June 15, 92 Observer "Bischoff, in a speech to front office workers a few weeks back, reportedly predicted that Nitro would jump to a 7.0 rating when they upgraded the set of Nitro and changed the format." - Apr 24, 99 Torch "The Control Center that aired on Saturday listed Rhodes & Windham as tag team champions about an hour before the match where they were beating Gordy & Williams to win the titles was to air for the first time." - Oct 12, 92 Observer "While shooting promos backstage, Public Enemy used a line about bouncing their opponents more often than 'a Paul E. check.' Noted Heyman enemies such as Jim Ross and Jim Cornette laughed when they heard the line." - Feb 27, 99 Torch "At least one of Watts' local promoters was an outright racist who didn't even want JYD booked on the shows despite JYD literally being the goose laying the golden eggs at the time. JYD, with his classic sense of humor, used to do localized interviews on television for that market, talking about coming to Jackson, MS, going over to his good friend promoter George C. Culkin's house before the matches to eat watermelon and fried chicken before kicking whomever behind later that night at the Coliseum, driving Culkin crazy, as he'd call Watts up and demand not only that JYD be fired, but that Jim Ross, who handled the interviews at the time, be fired as well." - June 15, 98 Observer

Even without the Watts relationship he had several things going against him both on screen and off Was all over WCW television from 89-93 to the point it reached 84 Vince levels of overexposure Had no chemistry with Jesse Ventura at all unlike Schiavone and he also made it really obvious on the air that he didn't like working with Jesse He was to quote Bruce Mitchell a "consummate corporate gamesman" who would say the right things and praise the right people at the right time (his Torch Talks are a great demonstration of this) but was never linked close enough to a particular regime (until Watts) to be collateral damage when it failed. Ironically because of this he had no real strong allies left in the company at this point. In the meeting Bill Watts had with Bob Dhue and Bill Shaw where he was demoted guess who Watts tried to shift the blame to for WCW's poor performance during his run?

"A huge booking committee was put together. Officially on the committee are Watts, Dusty Rhodes, Greg Gagne, Bill Dundee, Jim Barnett, Keith Mitchell, Ole Anderson, Ross, Zbyszko, Sidello, Mike Graham, Bischoff and Hayes. In addition, it is expected that if the Ric Flair deal doesn't fall through, that Flair will be added to the committee. Sid Vicious was also promised a spot on the committee should he sign with the company." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "Chris Jericho’s debut was originally supposed to include a verbal confrontation with Road Dogg, but WCW changed those plans. Musical performer Kid Rock, who was backstage at a Raw last month, was going to be involved in the angle on Monday, playing into Jericho’s rock music character. WCW, though, signed away Kid Rock, so the WWF completely rebooked Jericho’s debut. Without the celebrity power of Kid Rock, the WWF apparently felt a bigger name than Road Dogg was necessary for Jericho’s debut segment." - Aug 14, 99 Torch "Jim Ross, whose official title had been Vice President in charge of television, took the biggest fall of anyone. Ross will be removed as a personality from all TBS shows effective March 1, and will no longer be part of the announcing team on Clashes and pay-per-views with his final major assignments being the 2/21 SuperBrawl III show from Asheville and the 3/7 PPV air date of the January 4 Tokyo Dome card." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "Lou Albano was backstage at SummerSlam and tripped and fell onto his face and had to be revived" - Sept 12, 98 Torch "Not one member of the Dallas Cowboys showed up for the Dallas Cowboys night on 11/20." - Nov 30, 92 Observer "Sources within the cable industry are saying TNN expects a 3.0 rating from ECW from the start." - Aug 21, 99 Torch "Funny Eddy Mansfield story. His Texas tour from last week saw him show up the day the bus to Dallas was supposed to leave and tell the guys there was an ice storm in Dallas and they have to cancel the tour. One of the guys went home and watched the weather channel and saw it was 54 degrees that day in Dallas." - Jan 25, 93 Observer "A 'Blood Runs Cold' promo aired, presumably previewing the arrival of either Nash or Hall." - May 11, 96 Torch "Shawn Summers beat Chaz Taylor via DQ when Chaz attacked Steve Dane at ringside who was eating muffins that a fan had brought for Chaz." - Aug 3, 92 Observer "The woman who made allegations against Michaels was supposed to resemble Elizabeth." - May 18, 96 Torch "Supposedly we can expect to see a noticeable product-mix change in the WWF starting with the television shows that aired this past weekend. On all the shows the commentators talked about stricter enforcement of existing rules as a new directive from Jack Tunney and talked of the appointment of Sgt. Slaughter as a rule enforcer/guest ref, etc. Actually on the Superstars show, Vince McMahon sounded almost, but not quite, like Bill Watts did his first week in with the emphasis on going back to wrestling and with Slaughter in almost the exact same role as Ole Anderson." - Oct 19, 92 Observer "Doug said that Brian Lee used to be a USWA guy but he turned his back on the USWA and is now an SMW guy (ironic since SMW billed him in the exact opposite way at Fire on the Mountain the same day)" - Aug 19, 95 Torch "McMahon apparently wanted Rock to actually bend over and kiss his ass on the 11/16 TV show but Rock refused to do it." - Dec 14, 98 Observer "The entire Slim Jim Tournament had been pre-taped at Center Stage with the same finishes as the live matches from Charlotte that replaced them. Col. Parker must have used Star Trek technology to get from Charlotte to Center Stage, since he appeared in both locations and both appearances were portrayed as being live." June 3, 95 Torch "Tupelo show was a mess as they were stalling for Giant to be released from prison. They had Silver King & Lizmark Jr. vs. Ciclope & Damian go 20:00, then Prince Iaukea vs. Lodi go an interminable 20:00 and then do a 30:00 intermission. Because there were so many no-shows already (Raven, Saturn, Alex Wright, Disco), they wound up having Ciclope come out again without his mask as Elvis Gonzalez (Elvis is from Tupelo of course) and job for Chris Adams. They didn't get Giant out in time to do the angle in the Luger-Wrath match to set up the tag, so Giant and Nash had to do a main event single with Nash winning." - Dec 14, 98 Observer "Dec. 2 in Denver, Co., WCW ran a rare house show. They recently ran a Monday Nitro event in Denver and in order to fill the arena, they sent free passes to people in the area who had recently ordered wrestling pay-per-views. A problem arose when all seats were taken before all the passes were used. Fans were turned away at the door, so the local cable companies and WCW agreed to solve the problem by having WCW put on a separate house show so the fans who were turned away could use their free passes to see a WCW show." - Dec 9, 95 Torch "Jim Ross saw his position fall even farther this past week as the decision was made to remove him from all television effective immediately. Ross' last television broadcast will be the Saturday Night show that airs this coming weekend. Ross was pulled from the announcing line-up for the 2/21 Asheville, NC SuperBrawl PPV and was also removed from consideration for hosting World Wide Wrestling and would be off television in all forms completely." Feb 22, 93 Observer

"Dutch Mantell of 2928 High Rigger Dr., Nashville, TN is selling tapes of the public access television show he does with Reno Riggins for $15 per show." - Nov 30, 92 Observer "Apparently the reason the WWF resists calling Flash Funk by the full name Too Cold Scorpio and instead calling him Scorpio is not to cause confusion with the Too Much tag team" - Sept 5, 98 Torch "Fujiwara left Japan after the show to attend Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, which makes him probably the only pro wrestling personality invited." Jan 25, 93 Observer "Chris Jericho was flown in for the May 27 Thunder, but he wasn’t used. Jericho was under the impression that he was invited so he could discuss his contract status with Eric Bischoff. Bischoff, however, didn’t attend the show. Management asked Jericho how he was recovering from his ankle injury. Jericho felt he was the butt of a management joke but played their bluff and didn’t show any signs of frustration." - June 6, 99 Torch "Jesse Ventura was sent a memo from Watts reprimanding him for not being serious enough as an analyst." - Feb 15, 93 Observer "Steve Williams pinned Italian Stallion in 15:17 with the Oklahoma Stampede. Unless this match was designed to 'kill' Williams, it failed." - Dec 19, 88 Observer "Dallas Page is responsible for Van Hammer’s recent push. Management is pushing Hammer as 'the next Wrath' (whatever that means) although the real Wrath is still under contract while recuperating due to having knee surgery" - June 12, 99 Torch "Roma said that in order to get a release from Titan Sports to keep his 'Glory' nickname that he had to sign a deal that said he would give Titan Sports no negative publicity although he termed his stay there 'six years of hell.' " - Mar 9, 92 Observer "Before the matches began, Lord Steven Regal limped out to the ring in street clothes and announced he 'had a little slip in the bath' and would be unable to wrestle Rick Steamboat as scheduled. Local event coordinator Elliot Murnick then announced that Sir William (Dundee) would have to take Regal's place....Steven Regal was very effective at ringside attacking the Dragon - so effective that one fan took justice into his own hands, snuck up behind him, and swiped his umbrella. Regal yelled at the guy until a police officer got the umbrella and gave it back. " - Aug 21, 93 Torch "Houston is bigger than either of the Rougeaus both in height and weight, but his rep is he's too skinny. Their rep isn't that they are skiny so they get a push." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "A few weeks ago Lenny and Lodi were told they were going to get a run with the WCW tag titles, but have since been pulled from TV for being 'too gay.' " - Oct 9, 99 Torch "Starting 10/1, WCW wrestlers will be assigned who they travel in cars from town-to-town with, four to a car, rather than being allowed to travel with their friends." - Sept 7, 92 Observer "Also announced to the crowd on Friday was that Jackie Goldman had kidnapped Plowboy Wilbur's pig Freda. Goldman was supposed to run off with it after last Friday's match to establish the storyline better, but was too scared to go near the pig." - July 12, 93 Torch "Bushwhackers beat Double Trouble (Val & Tony Puccio, formerly the Undertakers from IWCCW who are probably working some dates as a settlement since they originally had trademarked the Undertaker name)" - June 29, 92 Observer "Insane Clown Posse had agreed to appear at the ECW PPV, but they pulled out of the agreement when they were told they would have to do a job to Tommy Dreamer & Raven. They apparently told ECW that WCW had promised one of them the Cruiserweight Title and unless Heyman agreed to let them win their first match in ECW, they would stay in WCW after all....Styles said ICP were planning to burn WCW by jumping to ECW without giving their notice. He buried them, saying there is no way Bill Busch would want one of his first moves to be signing ICP after they planned to 'humiliate WCW.' " - Sept. 25, 99 Torch "Hogan did a stretcher job to try and put heat on the Hogan-Bossman main events. The next night in Fort Wayne they did almost the exact same angle, only in this one, instead of doing the stretcher job, Hogan makes a comeback." - Oct 24, 88 Observer "Unlike Vampiro, Harlem Heat and Luger are known for being polite to anyone in management and telling friends they do it because they never know who will eventually end up in charge." - Oct 2, 99 Torch "There was pretty much a disaster regarding the Fort Wayne, IN show on 6/4. First off, the promos one week ran the Savage-Flair card and undercard when it was supposed to be the Warrior-Shango crew. There were all sorts of confusion and mishaps regarding other publicity, and then when the card came, both Warrior and Kerry Von Erich no-showed for inexplicable reasons. In a display of fairness to the audience never seen before in recent wrestling history, the WWF is offering refunds to all of whom attended since they expected Warrior there and never made an announcement and offered refunds earlier in the night." - June 15, 92 Observer "This weekend has been full of turmoil and disaster for the NWA. There have been several no shows each night, finishing off with a near record 12 no shows tonight in Chicago." - Nov 28, 88 Observer "I just received the three issues of the Torch with my interview in it. I must tell you that not having kept up with the wrestling business these past several months, I was appalled at the obvious dismal state it’s in. I had no idea it was degenerating like it is....Also, let me emphasize that I did leave SMW because of money, but not because I wanted more. Rather, I left because I refused to accept a pay cut. Jim wanted to cut everyone’s pay $25 per night, including mine, and I disagreed. Having read Jim’s current pay rates in his rebuttal, I can see that not only did he invoke that $25 cut, but another one as well. When I was there, top talent made $150 per night; now it’s $100. I’m sorry to see that. These figures constitute the gross pay, not net. After taxes and expenses, the amount changes significantly....I hope this will change any misconceptions your readers and my friends at SMW may have had. Speaking of change, obviously some things do change dramatically. I remember on more than one occasion being told by Jim that he would quit the business before going to work for the WWF. Oh well…" - August 7, 93 Torch, Letter from Stan Lane

Dave looking at the numbers for the Watts era of WCW in the Feb 22, 93 Observer WATTS' RECORD VS. PREDECESSORS (JIM HERD & KIP FREY) (A comparison of the Bill Watts era (June 1992 through February 1993 compared with the same months the previous year ie June 1991 through February 1992, mainly the Jim Herd era and the first two months of the Kip Frey era) AVERAGE ATTENDANCE Watts 1,594 (-2.7%) Predecessors 1,638 AVERAGE HOUSE Watts $14,158 (-27.2%) Predecessors $19,444 SELLOUT PERCENTAGE Watts 2.4 Predecessors 4.5 AVERAGE CABLE TELEVISION RATING Watts 2.04 (-19.4%) Predecessors 2.53 AVERAGE CLASH RATING Watts 3.15 (-19.2%) Predecessors 3.90 AVERAGE PPV BUY RATE Watts 0.55 (-40.9%) Predecessors 0.93 Overall measurable interest level decline during Watts era: 21.9%

"Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero all no longer want to work in the cruiserweight division feeling that label the way that division is portrayed dooms them from moving up, so they are all out of that title picture." - Sept 7, 98 Observer "The July 26 Challenge taping in St. Louis baffled everyone as it drew 10,500 and $95,000. That's without local TV" - Aug 12, 95 Torch "Alex Porteau beat Terry Simms in an I Quit match when Shawn Summers snuck up from behind Simms and yelled 'I Quit' and the ref assumed it was Simms and ended the match" - Aug 3, 92 Observer "There is talk among wrestlers of a staging massive walk–out if WCW management insists they take part in the New Year’s Eve PPV." - Sept. 11, 99 Torch "Jericho's dropping of the TV title to Konnan and not getting interview time despite being generally considered the most talented interview in the company over the past few months, and Guerrero's loss to Billy Kidman on the 11/30 Nitro shows were both directly resultant from neither having signed the new deals presented to them over the past few weeks. There were complaints of a double standard since WCW didn't do the same thing to Scott Steiner, who had also had talks with Titan, until he waited until less than two weeks before his contract expired before re-signing, although Steiner's intimidating presence backstage makes burying him almost feel like something potentially hazardous." - Dec 7, 98 Observer "Flair then continued circling the ring, delivering trademark insults to the crowd. The look on Sting's face as he tried not to laugh was priceless. After Flair was finished, Sting took the mic and began to speak, but was seized by a sudden coughing fit. After he was done coughing, Sting said, 'I'm sorry, I must be allergic to assholes.' Another huge pop as Flair tries not to laugh, but failed." - Mar 9, 96 Torch "The NWA managers won't be travelling to towns as much. Acutally some managers will travel all the time, and some part of the time. The good ones will be part of the time and the bad ones look like all of the time, which if it sounds like backwards logic, it is more like a positioning game before the ax falls" - Nov 21, 88 Observer "The Giant stayed heel after a short babyface turn because the original reason to turn him babyface no longer existed. Hogan wanted Giant turned face so they could hang out together in public without raising eyebrows. Now that Giant doesn't hangout with Hogan much anymore, Giant might as well be a heel." - Apr 13, 96 Torch "Debra distracted Goldust as he had Jarrett set up for Shattered Dreams, and since he was distracted, it proved he's heterosexual and therefore all those rednecks that hated him the last time he played face should know they can cheer him." - Nov 16, 98 Observer "Okerlund said that Tenay had news regarding a top WWF executive departing the WWF and then said that a top WWF superstar was involved in a fight with a fan in a parking lot and came up on the short end of the stick....He made it sound as if Michaels lost a one on one fight." - Oct 21, 95 Torch "Guerrero actually wanted Meng to be his bodyguard since they were looking for a bodyguard for Eddie role. Bischoff turned it down because he only wants Mexicans in the LWO" - Nov 9, 98 Observer "Ross said, 'Don't be mistaken, Hunter is not a regal man,' in reference to Hunter copying Steve Regal's character." - Sept. 2, 95 Torch "The shows advertised were to have Kevin Nash vs. Stevie Ray and Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bret Hart as the main events. Nash vs. Ray turned into the tag match with Konnan joining Nash and Ray joined by La Parka after Ray interfered in the Konnan vs. Parka match....The Page vs. Hart matches didn't take place, because it was decided to do an angle to give Page a few weeks off, and with no Page, they also gave Hart the weekend off when he asked since house shows are of such low priority to both the company, and due to that realization, to the stars as well. They were replaced by Booker T vs. Wrath." - Nov 9, 98 Observer "Big Bubba Rogers beat Dave Sullivan in the opener. Dave came out with the rabbit. Not long after their initial hook-up, Bubba began scratching, seeming to indicate that Bubba is allergic to the rabbit (or maybe Dave). Dave got very little reaction during his entrance. The match wasn't much, but Bubba scratching himself while wrestling was said to be entertaining." - Aug 5, 95 Torch "Most of the Mexican wrestlers missed the TV taping in Gainesville, GA on 10/6 because their individual contract discussions with J.J. Dillon (yes, that's really his role) took longer than expected and I guessnobody from WCW thought to call Arn Anderson at the building to tell him the guys would be late so he was blowing a fuse waiting for them to arrive." - Oct 19, 98 Observer "Hogan is said to be responsible for putting a halt to the first batch of Raven’s skits and told Bischoff they were the worst things he’d ever seen on television." - Feb 27, 99 Torch "Garza looked hesitant in his first U.S. match back from reconstructive knee surgery. Actually Garza is supposed to be out for another two months but WCW found out that he's already worked a few matches in Mexico and ordered him in." - Sept 14, 98 Observer "Umm, let's see if I've got this straight. Owen Hart is nowhere to be found, so President Monsoon tells Jim Cornette to find another partner for Yokozuna. That WWF superstar will get a much coveted chance to win either the WWF World Title or the WWF Intercontinental Title in the Triple Threat Title match. Okay, makes sense so far. So, out of every superstar in the WWF, the first person Cornette begs to take the match is, of all people, Psycho Sid. Well, actually that was pretty funny. Then, even though he spent several weeks crying about his lost SummerSlam Intercontinental Title shot, and even though he didn't get a rematch after IYH2's match against Diesel, Sid turns down Cornette flat. So, for no discernible reason, does everyone else Cornette approaches. And no one else even bothers to ask Cornette if he will pick them for this once in a lifetime chance. Hey, it's one thing for the WWF Title not to be over at the house shows. It's another for the thing not to be over in the WWF's own storylines." - Sept. 30, 95 Torch, Bruce Mitchell Column "Eddie is no longer a cruiserweight (which has nothing to do with weight, being a cruiserweight is based on whether or not you've complained to management yet about being called a cruiserweight)" - Nov 30, 98 Observer

Not sure of the exact timeline but he retired a few months after he started wrestling without the mask, made a brief comeback in the early 80s for Brian Dixon (not sure if he used the mask here) and wasn't back full time until 86 or 87 when he was definitely masked.

If there wasn't a limit on numbers would you still be a yes on Kerry? I know you did some podcasts on it.

Scott was fantastic on this, the Gilbert interview on Spotlight basically being like you said him cutting a promo was hilarious. Something I found cool about the Lawler vs. Luger deal is that in 91 it would have been Piledriver vs. Piledriver as well.

"McMahon again falsely claimed in the article that his company gave Turner the best numbers he ever had when WWF was on his station in 1984-85 and claimed Ted demanded that he sell him some of his stock and later demanded to sell him a majority of the company and when McMahon turned him down, Turner had it in for him ever since. Bischoff countered, 'I meet with Ted Turner probably for about five minutes a year; that's Ted's involvement in WCW. But Vince likes to portray to the media that there is a big grudge match going on between him and Ted. I kind of think if Vince were to talk into Ted Turner's office, someone would have to remind Ted who Vince is.' " - Aug 31, 98 Observer "WCW cancelled its traditional Omni card on Thanksgiving night, historically the biggest night of the year for wrestling. After the 600 they drew at the Omni last time, they need to regroup before returning." Oct 30, 93 Torch "On WWF television that aired locally, think of all a fan had to comprehend. They made mention of either hyping or talking about five different Bret Hart title matches, a house show match with Rick Martel that the week before was with Mountie, a Prime Time match with Berzerker, a Superstars match with Virgil, a SNME match with Papa Shango and a PPV match with Michaels. Pushing the champion in so many different directions at once pretty much guarantees none of the individual directions are going to get over" - Nov 23, 92 Observer "During his match on Nitro, Juventud Guererra performed the People’s Elbow on Mysterio. Juvi then looked into the camera and said, 'I know your role' which most people believe led to Rock taking a shot at him Juvi during his promo on Raw. People are also laughing at Juvi (who speaks broken English) for saying he and Psicosis are 'better than nobody' into the camera" - Oct 9, 99 Torch "Godfather offered Regal the ho's. Two of them were constantly pulling their dresses up all the way and being over to show their g-string uncovered butts. The third was a little on the heavy side and the audience booed her. Godfather offered Regal all three, and he said he's from England but he's not Elton John and accepted. As he was leaving, Godfather said he didn't think he'd accept because he thought everyone from England were fags, which started an uninspired brawl. Godfather is a riot as long as we don't have to watch him wrestle." - Nov 23, 98 Observer "During new WCW V.P. Bill Busch’s investigation into payroll expenses, sources say he discovered Hogan is on pace to make more money this year than WCW will. In fact, WCW may barely break even while Hogan will pocket $6–8 million." - Oct 16, 99 Torch "Watts is attempting to get wrestlers off their guaranteed deals when they expire. I'm sure in some cases he'd like to do it sooner, but that seems to be awfully hard to do. Nobody is going to quit a job that pays $3,000 per week when the options elsewhere are to make nowhere close, even if it means being jobbed out on television. And the contract, even if you do quit, can easily preclude you from, if McMahon wants you, even going there. Don't believe it? Tell me what Lex Luger would be doing this Saturday night if he hadn't been injured. Do you think, with business the way it is, that McMahon doesn't want him on the road as the new superstar on top instead of Razor Ramon? Contracts aren't nearly as easy to break as some have been led to believe. It's also not the 1970s when a promoter, wanting someone to quit, simply jobbed them out, shorted them on pay, and the guy stormed out because he had about 25 different other territories he could go to." - Sept 7, 92 Observer "J.J. Dillon headed a meeting on Dec. 6 to inform wrestlers they will be fined for being tardy to upcoming events. Sources say Total Package and Elizabeth had yet to arrive at the building when Dillon’s meeting took place." - Dec 11, 99 Torch "The Fantastics were booed when they won, and no belts were presented as apparently someone forgot to bring them." - Dec 19, 88 Observer "May 11 was WCW ring announcer Gary Capetta's final date with WCW. His contract expired and they couldn't reach agreement." - May 20, 95 Torch "Austin and Earl Hebner celebrated drinking beer in the ring together (they must really feel they need to work on Hebner's image as I guess the scene in the movie has gotten under their skins because since the movie was finished, they've started linking Austin with Hebner at many of the house shows with the closing beer drinking scene)" - Nov 23, 98 Observer "WCW cannot, because of TBS and TNT policy, mention on television the 'first blood' stipulations on the Uncensored main event. They can say it’s in a cage with a barbed wire ceiling and no door, but rather than say 'blood' on the air, they have told viewers to visit their website." - Mar 13, 99 Torch "At that point a Blue Blazer came from the ceiling ala Sting, but 'had trouble' unhooking himself and ended up being hung a few feet above the ground as a sitting duck for Blackman to nail before being dragged back up. The whole deal was a spoof on the Sting angle." - Nov 23, 98 Observer"Dustin Rhodes & Arn Anderson beat Bunkhouse Buck & Amarillo Slim in 15:00. This was the best match on the show. It was hinted on TV that Slim would be Terry Funk, but it turned out to be Erik Watts wearing face paint." - July 29, 94 Torch "Sable hit a low blow on Mero and power bombed him on the floor. A lot of men at home fantasize about being married to a wrestling babe. But it sucks. If it doesn't suck at home, it does suck in your storyline role." - Nov 23, 98 Observer

The Ten Commandments of Bill Watts in WCW 1. Use of the ring barricades and the ringpost is forbidden and will also be cause for an automatic disqualification 2. Wrestling outside the ring is discouraged 3. Absolutely no low blows. First offense is a $1,000 fine, second offense is a $2,500 fine and third offense is a $5,000 fine and will be considered a breach of contract. If a wrestler is hit low, he is to make every effort not to sell the move as a low blow 4. All wrestlers are due in the building one hour before the scheduled starting time of the show, with fines again being implemented for being late of $1,000 for a first offense, $2,500 for a second offense and $5,000 and a breach of contract for a third offense 5. Missing an event except in the case of the most severe injuries is considered a breach of contract. The only excusable exception to this rule is an act of God 6. Wrestlers who are injured and can't perform are still expected to make the town in order to show the fans that WCW will no longer be falsely advertising talent. The only exception would be a crippling injury which doesn't allow for traveling 7. Talking over the p.a. during the show is to be discouraged. Lewd hand gestures are prohibited, as is any cursing loud enough for the audience to hear 8. Fraternization (between heels and babyfaces) in public is not acceptable. This includes traveling together to and from the arena, to public appearances, restaurants and even to the gym. This also includes faces and heels socializing together in social situations and the gym 9. No guests are allowed in the dressing room, including family members, media, etc. 10. Each wrestler is allowed only two complimentary tickets to each show for friends and family. Any number of tickets above that number must be purchased at face value by the wrestler

"Rod Price beat Sam Houston via DQ when Gary Hart shot the ref with a stun gun (I'm serious) and gave to to Price who used it on Houston. Hart then took the batteries out of the gun and put it in Houston's hand. The ref saw Houston with the gun and DQ'd him. Houston got mad and tried to shoot Hart but with no batteries, Hart just walked away. I can't believe I just typed that." - Aug 3, 92 Observer "One of the great things about the New Work is that the marks will do much of the work for you. Witness the lengths many sites on the Internet went to convince anyone who would read that ECW’s inaugural TNN rating was actually a success....The 0.9 rating 'was almost twice' the Big Truck rerun or whatever was preceding the ECW show. Or 0.9 'was as good as Roller Jam.' Or my favorite rationalization was 0.9 is a 'good rating for TNN programming,' like the only ones allowed to watch ECW are your normal TNN viewers....But what is nauseating is seeing Internet marks scrambling as fast as they can to rationalize that rating (in fairness, it was embarrassing to see the wrestling net’s real 'power' to draw an audience) just in case they bump into Nova in a bar one night and want to brag to him about their site." - Sept. 11, 99 Torch, Bruce Mitchell "Watts has now banned babyfaces and heels from flying in the same airplane which in some cases has made a tough travel schedule that much tougher with the faces and heels alternating weeks in having to take the early flights out of town (after wrestling the previous night). The reason given wasn't kayfabe as much as the fear that if everyone was on the same plane and it went down, there would be nobody left to wrestle. So now, the billion-to-one odds of that happening are doubled." - July 13, 92 Observer "It's rumored that at the 2-5 Philly NWA card there were fans chanting 'Boring', 'NWA Sucks' and 'We Want Hogan', but the fans didn't pick up on it. The rumor going around is that you know who paid folks to chant those things." - Feb 85 Eastern Wrestling News "Christopher Klucsaritis of 1324 Willow Oak Dr., Columbia, SC 29223 is looking for any info on wrestling schools or independent promotions in the Carolinas, Virginia and Georgia." - Sept 1, 92 Observer "Sandman is on the cover of ECW’s CD that came out the same week he left the promotion." - Sept 19, 98 Torch "Vince lost between 5-8 million dollars in 84. He has cut the payroll, he was close to losing Piper because Roddy hadn't been paid in 3 weeks. Rod talked to Georgia and Mid-Atlantic and Vince finally paid him and gave him a bonus." - Mat Results 1985 Yearbook "Can somebody get Bobby Walker to drop his lawsuit so we don't have to watch Stevie Ray in main events." - Sept 28, 98 Observer "And, god, was that Undertaker vs. Ken Shamrock match inane. Let’s see if I’ve got this straight: The Lord of Darkness uses all of His Powers of Evil to trade leglocks with the Ultimate Fighting Champion, who had chances to break his ankle, but never did it because, what did happen to his sister Ryan, anyway?" - May 1, 99 Torch, Bruce Mitchell "Got a copy of the current WWF depth chart so if you're interested, here's how the office ranks the guys. Babyfaces: Hulk, Macho Man, Sid Justice, Piper, Bret Hart, Boss Man, Virgil, Jannetty, Tornado, Bulldog, El Matador, Valentine, Chavis, Walker. Heels: Flair, Undertaker, Snake, DiBiase, IRS, Mountie, Michaels, Repo Man, Berzerker, Skinner, Warlord, Kato, Hercules. Face tag teams: LOD, Slaughter & Duggan, New Foundation, Bushwhackers. Heel tag teams: Natural Disasters, Nasty Boys, Beverly Brothers." - Jan 10, 92 Observer "Big Bubba Rogers has been repackaged into a biker gimmick in anticipation of the August pay-per-view." - May 11, 96 Torch "Dustin Runnels, the 18 year old son of Dusty Rhodes, makes his pro wrestling debut this Tuesday for Mike Graham and Gordon Solie's Florida Championship Wrestling promotion under the name Dustin Rhodes....You have to give Dusty credit for not bringing his son into the big time right away, before he's ready and making a big deal out of him ala other sons of bookers and promoters who were pushed as main eventers from the start." - Sept 12, 88 Observer "Imagine what the Bret Hart documentary would have been like if Mickey Jay was in the Earl Hebner spot. Bret Hart would still be the WWF Champ." - Mar 20, 99 Torch, Bruce Mitchell "The explanation for the Severn turn was that Vince Russo had given McMahon a list of all the faces and all the heels on the roster (and by saying that it shows that every statement made in the press about WWF getting rid of the face/heel concept because it's outdated and passe is a crock by their own internal admissions) and as you could imagine, the list is heavily weighed on the heel side and they needed to get some heels onto the face side." - May 11, 98 Observer "For WCW Saturday Night, Harlem Heat beat The American Males to win the tag titles. This was a retaping of their previous tag title change apparently because there were too many missed moves in the first match, although the same screwups surfaced in this match....The crowd acted confused because they had seen the Males lose the belts two weeks ago and heard nothing of Heat winning the belts again....Scotty Riggs of The American Males, real name Scott Antol, is working without a contract" - Oct 21, 95 Torch "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." - Jan 6, 92 Observer "The first Hogan vs. Savage match won't take place until Halloween Havoc on October 27. Caesar's Palace and Slim Jim management were guaranteed the first WCW meeting of Hogan and Savage as part of the sponsorship of the event." - Apr 13, 96 Torch "Bobby Walker wound up dropping his discrimination lawsuit against WCW. Apparently his lawyer refused to take the case on contingency (which means the lawyer is doing the case with no fee but gets a sizeable percentage of the reward at the end) and Walker wouldn't pay the fee. Teddy Long was helping Walker in his case, and when it fell apart, it meant Long's days in WCW were numbered. He has since joined WWF as a ref, and started appearing at the last taping although to this point they haven't acknowledged his name. WWF is considering breaking him off starting as a referee into being a character at some point" - Dec 28, 98 Observer "Obviously Goldust will be used to get homophobic heat, but nothing offensive was said. Anyway, I think the guy's onto something. Razor Ramon certainly follows a gay archetype. You never see him around any women and he always seemed a little too interested in 1-2-3 Kid. I'm sure this angle will degenerate into the same old gay baiting that hasn't worked in years." - Dec 23, 95 Torch, Bruce Mitchell "Ric Flair missed all three television tapings last week because one daughter had a piano recital during the week and another daughter graduated high school." - June 15, 92 Observer "Kevin Sullivan beat Renegade....Hart wiped Renegade's facepaint off Renegade after the match, told him he was nothing, and said, 'You're not the Renegade, you're just plain ol' Rick' " - Nov 18, 95 Torch "WCW received a cease and desist order from Titan Sports claiming the character Renegade was a trademark infringement on their own developed character of the Ultimate Warrior. While that's an open-and-shut case, the timing of it was curious since the same case could be made about Hunter Hearst Helmsley being nearly completely lifted from the WCW character of Lord Steven Regal just a few weeks later. Can you imagine if this actually went to court? Titan's attorneys would argue that they developed the intellectual character of a no-talent steroid freak who can't work a lick, paints his face, blows up in 30 seconds, runs around like he's spastic, shakes the ropes and does unintelligible interviews and by gosh, judge, they're copying our ideas and we want damages. The judge would probably rule in favor of Titan and say the damages are worth 50 cents. Next thing you know Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow will go to court against each other claiming they're stealing each others' fat man moves and gimmick." - May 15, 95 Observer