sek69 Posted October 25, 2018 Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 The JR stuff was always fascinating to me. I know that in any field when there's a new boss they want to put their guys in, but he want from a fairly high executive position to out on the curb in record time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2018 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 4 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: 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? Whoa, how did that not cripple Watts and JR's relationship forever? Or did it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 JR still speaks highly of him as a mentor and has had him on his podcast. If it caused any damage it's been smoothed over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 26, 2018 Report Share Posted October 26, 2018 OK, JYD's officially my favorite wrestler of all time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 27, 2018 Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 So was the Yoko-Duggan match that offended everyone the one where Yoko squashed him and draped the flag over him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 27, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 28, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 29, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDuke Posted October 30, 2018 Report Share Posted October 30, 2018 It's funny, I don't really follow the wrestling news now, other that what people post on this board. But I remember during the Monday Night Wars when I first went online I used to read a lot of these kind of wrestling news stories online. At the time, I always just took them at face value. But now, after listening to so many podcasts and reading so many shoot interviews and biographies, I read these and all I can think about is figuring out which wrestler it was who told that story to the newsletter writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 10 hours ago, TheDuke said: It's funny, I don't really follow the wrestling news now, other that what people post on this board. But I remember during the Monday Night Wars when I first went online I used to read a lot of these kind of wrestling news stories online. At the time, I always just took them at face value. But now, after listening to so many podcasts and reading so many shoot interviews and biographies, I read these and all I can think about is figuring out which wrestler it was who told that story to the newsletter writer. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 "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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 8 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: 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 Obviously there's no way he would have known what would happen almost exactly a month later, but that's a "holy shit in retrospect" moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpetCrawler Posted October 31, 2018 Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 9 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: "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 That never changed. When Okerlund finally bounced for good in Fall 1993 (he was being used more than he wanted to and felt he should've been paid more if that was going to be the case, using high ratings for All-American Wrestling as justification) he was going around telling anyone with ears that he hadn't had a meaningful conversation with Vince in like, a year and a half. And then he tried asking for his job back with Vince in 1996 after WCW wouldn't give him a raise during contract renewal time. Vince wouldn't give him a look, period, and it led to Okerlund having to re-sign with WCW afterall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted October 31, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2018 1 hour ago, CarpetCrawler said: That never changed. When Okerlund finally bounced for good in Fall 1993 (he was being used more than he wanted to and felt he should've been paid more if that was going to be the case, using high ratings for All-American Wrestling as justification) he was going around telling anyone with ears that he hadn't had a meaningful conversation with Vince in like, a year and a half. And then he tried asking for his job back with Vince in 1996 after WCW wouldn't give him a raise during contract renewal time. Vince wouldn't give him a look, period, and it led to Okerlund having to re-sign with WCW afterall. 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpetCrawler Posted November 1, 2018 Report Share Posted November 1, 2018 6 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: 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 What made it make even less sense is by all accounts, including Okerlund's himself, Face to Face took a TON of production work, even more than the regular old house show promo stuff that they used to do around the horn in the 80s/early 90s. When Okerlund did it, they changed the format so that Okerlund HAD to be there for each individual house show promo because they had him "live" in the studio looking in on the debate the face and heel were having and interjecting with his own opinions. I'm baffled Okerlund took it on, but part of me thinks it was so he could leverage himself into getting a bigger money deal. All-American had the best ratings it had had in a long time (part of me wonders if the addition of Bobby Heenan as the regular co-host was the real reason for that) and with him doing Face to Face, I could definitely see him thinking this was his in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted November 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2018 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted November 2, 2018 Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 I like how the last one was clearly tacked on at the last minute, as if Jim Herd just happened to open the phone bill while writing these down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted November 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2018 3 hours ago, sek69 said: I like how the last one was clearly tacked on at the last minute, as if Jim Herd just happened to open the phone bill while writing these down. 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanColes1987 Posted November 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 3, 2018 "King Haku was arrested once again this past week in Rochester, NY. According to newspaper reports, Haku was insisting to a girl in a bar that she bow down in servitude to him and she refused and a scene occured where the girls' boyfriend showed up and Haku banged the boyfriend's head into another guy's head before police arrested him. Haku was involved in another bar incident in Baltimore some months back where he allegedly bit off the nose of someone he was involved in a fight with" - Apr 3, 89 Observer "Austin has already vetoed plans to wrestle Jarrett at the September and October PPVs and then feud with Gunn at the November and December PPVs while Triple H defended in the top match against Mankind at the September and October PPVs." - Aug 21, 99 Torch "Muta's knees are pretty messed up but he's still impressive" - May 1, 89 Observer "The wrestlers were laughing backstage because Madusa jokingly stuck her tongue in Evan Karagais’s mouth during their match on Nitro." - Nov 7, 99 Torch "The role was set well in advance and it was John Studd who was slated for it, but upon reconsidering, Hogan's physique was felt would look better, and to add size, lifts were put in Hogan's boots in certain scenes (not that Hogan needed them to tower over the 5-foot-8 inch Stallone)" - 88 Observer Yearbook "There is tremendous jealousy among the females in WCW. The Nitro Girls are jealous of every female with an on–air position, Madusa is said to dislike Torrie Wilson because she feels she’ll receive a big push, and nearly everyone dislikes Kimberly." - Nov 13, 99 Torch "Wendi Richter caused a minor disturbance on a recent airline. She brought a python snake on board and according to the flight status report, after a couple of drinks, took the snake out and placed it around her neck which caused a major disturbance. US Air informed Richter that in future flights she would have to put the snake in a suitable container and it would travel with the checked in baggage rather than as carry on baggage." - Feb 13, 89 Observer "Holly replaced Avatar (Al Snow) because management believed Holly deserved a pay-per-view payoff." - Nov 25, 95 Torch "The SST now have a large and vocal cheering section at the Sportatorium which pisses off the babyfaces who can't handle being booed, particularly the 'New Dream' Eric 'Von Erich' Embry, Brickhouse and the Von Erichs." - Jan 30, 89 Observer "Also, McMahon interviewed Roddy Piper. Razor Ramon came out and confronted Piper about allowing Goldust to be on TV and saying he is unfit for kids to watch. Piper then talked about the Goldust vs. Ramon back alley match in Miami that would air 'live via satellite' at Wrestlemania." - Mar 2, 96 Torch "Many give the Rocky movie credit for Hogan's eventual success in wrestling, but that would ignore the fact that Hogan had turned into the biggest drawing baby face the AWA had ever seen well before the movie was ever released." - 88 Observer Yearbook "An interview was held where Skandor Akbar said that if Manny Villalobos can't pay him $40,000 by the next ten days, Akbar will foreclose on his mortgage." - Oct 12, 92 Observer "Some are questioning Taz’s WWF fate since his main contact and biggest WWF supporter was Russo." - Oct 9, 99 Torch "Lightning Kid was fined $2,000 initially by the Maryland commission for fighting outside the ring. The fine was later lowered to $500 and he was given 30 days to pay the fine, but there's a good chance it'll result in his simply no longer wrestling in Maryland, as if he works there regularly." - Jan 20, 93 Observer "Wrestling fans in Biddeford, Maine on Monday night were surprised to see an amazing change in the WWF's 'family entertainment policy.' When an adult movie aired instead of SummerSlam, the wrestling was not the type fans expected. The cable system made a mistake since the company was preparing to add new channels to its cable system later that week including an adult movie channel. Only about 40 households received the mixed signal. One Biddeford customer complained that his sons, 8 and 11, watched the movie for 15 minutes before telling their dad, 'Something's wrong here.' Cable system manager Robert Gould told the Portland Press Herald one caller was upset to learn the movie was about to be yanked." - Sept 3, 94 Torch "Mike Lano of 68 Sable Point, Alameda, CA 94501 will dub his Canvas Cavity television show for anyone who sends a high quality VHS tape." - June 1, 92 Observer "Vince Russo had scripted Jericho to defeat Rock on the Oct. 4 Raw. The new WWF booking crew changed the finish to Rock winning. Jericho has not impressed management or his fellow wrestlers yet with his in–ring work or ability to sustain heat during matches." - Oct 9, 99 Torch "Bischoff has strongly entertained the idea of creating his own Four Horseman to feud with Flair's group. Barry Windham, Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson would be three of the members. All have been talked with. It appears Windham is already in and the other two are being strongly considered if not already in." - Nov 9, 98 Observer "On a recent market survey questionnaire by WCW, people were asked what they thought of WCW, WWF, and independent wrestlers. Non-WWF and non-WCW names included The Road Warriors, Jake Roberts, Papa Shango, Tommy Rich, Great Muta, Jushin Liger, and Sabu." - Dec 3, 94 Torch "Steiner went on a major roid rage calling Roddy Piper a queer. They beat up Kenny Kaos like he was a jobber and put him in the camel clutch. Oh, he is a jobber. So what's he doing with the tag belt?" - Nov 9, 98 Observer "On a caller's question of whether Bastion Booger was once Norman with a beard, Vince said: 'He could very well have been, uh I guess, uh, I guess he's had a number of aliases.' Johnny Polo added, 'I think he's a bit of a lunatic if you ask me.' " - Feb 26, 94 Torch "Poor Kanyon works so hard, but the question is, Who gets more heat in their matches than Kanyon?" - Oct 26, 98 Observer "Heyman has admitted to friends that he has had something to the effect of writer’s block and hasn’t had new ideas in quite a while. Within the past week, Heyman has told people that he woke up one morning with several ideas and feels rejuvenated. He says he thinks he’s three weeks away from being back to the booking level he was once at." - Oct 16, 99 Torch "Finale saw a rematch with Bulldog and Wright going a DCOR, this time in 2:00. It was supposed to go longer and maybe have a different finish, but get this. They ran out of tape and just signalled for the guys to go home." - Oct 12, 98 Observer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted November 3, 2018 Report Share Posted November 3, 2018 9 hours ago, DeanColes1987 said: "Some are questioning Taz’s WWF fate since his main contact and biggest WWF supporter was Russo." - Oct 9, 99 Torch This is kind of surprising, Taz doesn't seem like the kind of guy Russo would normally be into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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