The Wrestling Observer Yearbook '97: The Last Time WWF Was Number Two

by Dave Meltzer

  SEPTEMBER 8

  The major news was Perry Saturn signing with WCW. All kinds of stories have come from this including that WCW was making a major raid of ECW talent and blaming all kinds of different parties for that.

  From all accounts, numerous wrestlers were contacted by WCW and it’s all free enterprise and stuff, but the money WCW offered the guys is way over what one would logically believe their market value to be considering what guys with similar or a lot more talent that are already over in WCW are earning. You can read whatever you want to into that statement although Saturn actually doesn’t fall into that category since the figure bandied about that he was offered was $100,000 per year.

  John Kronus won’t be following, as Saturn apparently has been wanting to break up the team and go as a single for more than one year and they even began the break-up angle last year, but Paul Heyman convinced the two to stay together since he’d market them as the best tag team in the world.

  OCTOBER 13

  Taz agreed to stay with ECW through the end of 1998 after a few conversations this past week with Eric Bischoff. Taz’s deal with ECW expires at the end of this year and he and Paul Heyman were apart on a deal for next year. Taz had two conversations in mid-week with Bischoff, but no dealings with the WWF since he’d talked with them in the past and didn’t like how the dealings went.

  After Bischoff’s initial offer to Taz, he verbally agreed to Heyman’s deal for 1998. Bischoff came back with a much better offer the next day that was said to have been very tempting, but after consulting with his family and weighing the difference between working 100 or so dates per year, mostly within driving distance and close to 200 dates, few of which would be within driving distance, he decided to stay put. Bischoff on an AOL chat denied ever talking to Taz. I have no idea why.

  13 – ECW Arrives on Pay-Per-View

  JANUARY 6

  After a week of negotiations back-and-forth, it appears likely, or at least somewhat likely, that ECW will debut on PPV after all in 1997, perhaps as early as 4/13.

  ECW’s Paul Heyman said he was “cautiously optimistic” the deal could be put back together after several conference calls between Steve Karel of ECW and top executives from Request TV including President Hugh Panero over the past week.

  The deal appeared to have fallen apart when Panero decided to cancel the ECW date on 12/20, largely over reservations about several occurrences within the promotion, in specific the fire incident in late 1995 and the 11/23 incident in Revere, MA where an underage untrained wrestler received a horrific beating and a blade wound the likes of which even some of the most hardened and callous people seeing the tape ended up being revolted by. The first PPV show would have been either 3/30 or more likely 4/13.

  Panero stated on 12/30 that the two sides are in the process of talking and that the Christmas holiday slowed up the negotiations because so many people were out of the office. He said he was a little bit confused about the incident in Revere, MA because nobody had informed him of it until just over one week ago. At that point Request had approved the ECW date thinking they were just another pro wrestling promotion like the WWF or WCW, but after recognizing they are a more violent form of the genre, they had to learn what they do and insure that the company take greater safeguards against injuries as they move from a regional operation to getting national exposure. He said that he doesn’t consider ECW banned from PPV but is a little concerned how a 17-year-old kid with no training got into the ring and was cut up in the manner which he was.

  “As the new kid on the block they have to demonstrate they (ECW) are up to the same level of professionalism as WWF and WCW,” Panero said. “My people thought they were like WWF and WCW and when we found out differently, we started to do more research. I have no intention of banning them.”

  Panero said that no date was on the books as of press time but if the two sides can reach agreements on the items of concern, they could still get their date in either late March or April. Heyman stated that because of the problems, he’s given up the idea of 3/30, but is still hoping to put everything together by the end of the week and be a go for 4/13.

  Request services about 18 million addressable households in the United States. The other major PPV carrier, Viewers Choice, which would be the sole carrier in about seven or eight million of the PPV homes along with a branch that covers most of Canada, had decided against carrying the show because of the content of the ECW television show, in particular the usage of Tyler Fullington (Sandman’s son) in a wrestling angle. Even if the show goes on as planned, the loss of VC would cut out about 30% of pure profit from the show’s potential. A good showing in the debut show on Request from a buy rate standpoint would probably influence Viewers Choice to carry the second show, but there is no guarantee.

  Both Request and Viewers Choice in the United States carry other controversial events such as UFC, although Viewers Choice-Canada does not carry any NHB events and several cable systems in the United States, Cablevision Inc. being the most prominent, no longer carry any NHB events even though UFC is behind the major boxing and WWF and WCW events as the most profitable regular entity currently on PPV. NHB events not being carried in some cities are the result of both political and religious pressure on the cable system, which, unless ECW does a repeat of the crucifix angle which they obviously aren’t going to do, doesn’t figure to be a problem for ECW unless the company garners substantial national media attention. By that point the company would almost have to be incredibly successful before those types of problems would even raise their head.

  The compromises being worked on have to do with ECW putting regulations and safeguards in place that would keep Request out of a major scandal and avoid a repeat of incidents such as the fire incident or the Revere, MA incident. Panero said he wasn’t against blood being used on the show as long as the show is appropriately labeled with a warning at the beginning of the show that there may be graphic violence, and that the blood isn’t overdone. Heyman said that they had agreed that no stabbing or puncture type of movements with sharp objects would be used on the show such as an Abdullah the Butcher type gimmick. He said that Request wanted the names and ID’s of all participants in such a show ahead of time to make sure they are of age and that he has no problem with it because he wants every participant in the show to be under contract before the show before advertising them. Request wanted to be informed of any “last minute surprise” participants beforehand and Heyman said he considered all of Request’s concerns to not be unreasonable. Among them was Request also demanding medical personnel be on hand as it is in boxing and NHB events, which he said the company already does on its own.

  Heyman said the show itself would contain a lot of wrestling and wouldn’t be a bloodfest. There will be no gimmick matches with blood connotations, at least as he has the show planned, such as cage matches, barbed wire matches, chain matches or dog collar matches. He said the show would culminate many feuds and would be the ECW product as it is today with no watering down.

  Panero released a public statement on 12/31 saying that based on information garnered from staff research on ECW and the fact ECW would be taking a step up going from local events to national PPV, Request had decided to temporarily cancel the event until doing more research to better understand how ECW operates. The public statement on 12/31 was decidedly more negative concerning an imminent ECW PPV show than conversations with Panero and Heyman the previous day indicated.

  “Request TV has been in on-going discussions with Extreme Championship Wrestling to carry one of its events in 1997. During these discussions we learned about specific incidents involving an underage ECW wrestler who appeared to be seriously injured during an event in Massachusetts. We were surprised that the ECW never mentioned that these public relations problems existed, and contrary to the claims made by the ECW, no tape of the incident was sent to anyone at Request TV.

  “Whenever we work with a new PPV event provider we like to be thorough in investigatin
g their ability to stage a quality event. Therefore, my staff was instructed to research these alleged incidents and discovered that they were true, and also learned that generally the ECW was theatrically more violent than other wrestling events. Based on this new information and the fact that an ECW event would be a step up from being a local event to a national PPV event, we decided it would be prudent to temporarily cancel the event while we did additional research to better understand how the ECW operates.

  “We are still considering carrying the event and, as we would with any national PPV event, we are taking great precautions to ensure that when an event does air it meets all of our standards to create longevity for that particular event,” Panero said in the statement.

  During the week the story of the original cancellation of the PPV took on a life of its own with some ECW hardcore fans losing sight of the issues that caused the problem, as hardcore fans of anything are wanton to do, and instead blaming Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch, for the show’s cancellation. That had even less credibility as WWF hardcore fans in 1991 blaming the company’s steroid scandal fiasco on someone like Phil Mushnick and ignoring the causes of the problems internally from the lies of Hulk Hogan, the double-talk of numerous executives at Titan Sports and the fact that 90 percent of the wrestlers in the company were on steroids and they were basically considered a necessity to be a Titan wrestler in that era.

  The “fault” lies with the company for ignoring a series of warning signs and non-scripted violent acts or near-violent blow-ups both involving fans and wrestlers which date back to 1995 and culminated that night in Revere, MA—or at least hopefully culminated in Revere, MA as I’d hope that Revere, MA doesn’t historically turn out to be another ignored warning sign en route to a bigger problem.

  Keller’s involvement was limited to questioning Panero last week about the date of the planned PPV event and his reaction to the videotape of the incident in Revere, MA that Heyman had claimed to have sent to Request to inform them ahead of time about a possible problem. Panero had not even heard of the event in Revere, MA, and upon further investigation, claimed that nobody from Request had seen such a tape nor had they as late as 12/30. Panero went so far as to in a public statement about the problem on 12/31 said that contrary to the claims made by Heyman, no tape of the incident had been sent to anyone at Request nor had ECW informed anyone in the company that these potential public relations problems existed. If anyone in ECW or any fan of ECW wants to point a finger of blame for this problem, the finger points in an obvious direction.

  On the surface it was somewhat perplexing to think ECW would attempt to put a lid on the tape getting out, but voluntarily send it to the people where it could do the most potential damage, although there were people at Network One (a provider of programming for mostly low-power television stations) that claimed they had been sent a tape.

  After finally receiving a copy of the tape, no previous description told to me —and I heard plenty of them from readers who were there live and even people who had seen the tape—could do it justice. Nor could anything written here do it justice to anyone reading this who hasn’t seen the tape. It was the single biggest turn-off and perhaps most revolting thing I’ve ever seen in wrestling. I can’t describe exactly why other than it was, and some wrestling personalities involved in some pretty gruesome bloodbaths in promotions far wilder than ECW that have seen the tape have had the same reaction. I’ve seen 17-year-olds juice. I’ve seen blade wounds that were as bad, maybe worse, although not many. I’ve seen more blood spilled although the faucet like flow of blood from a lengthy deep forehead cut was totally out of the ordinary in that regard. There was an ugly symbolism involved, and the crowd reaction to the circumstances, at least the most vocal members of the crowd, was appalling even by the worst standards of a pro wrestling audience.

  It was a series of strange circumstances, the underage kid showing up with no experience and being put in a situation where he’s to be juiced, taking a pretty savage beating, the cries from the father at ringside being ignored, the callousness of the audience, the botched up blade job, keeping the match going, and the post match “in character” reaction of New Jack saying he didn’t care if the kid bled to death while being cheered on and the kid laying there with blood pouring out of his forehead while fans chanted taunts at him, not caring that the fun and games aspect of pro wrestling had long since left this scene. The initial reports in this publication almost down playing the incident as being a big deal were an embarrassment to the Observer.

  The emotional reaction to such a tape is such that it is still difficult to find a proper perspective to put this event. Certainly nobody went out to permanently scar a 17-year-old by slicing his forehead open with an Xacto knife, although our initial reports that the length and depth of the cut were because Erich Kulas panicked from inexperienced and moved were not the case. The scene was appalling well before New Jack accidentally cut Kulas too deeply. Jerome Young (New Jack) disputed the report in the Observer that he laughed about the incident, claiming that he wasn’t trying to hurt the kid and didn’t laugh about it afterwards.

  It got far worse after the cut as the father, Steve Kulas, ran to ringside and began screaming to stop the match and that he’s only 17, while the beating continued unabated despite an incredible flow of blood. The elder Kulas’ voice is evident at ringside on the tape long before the blade job as his son was being pummeled with stiff shots including breaking a crutch over his back (that in real life hurts but isn’t exceedingly dangerous) to an incredible full-force shot to the head with a toaster which was where the idea that I was witnessing child abuse and a form of pornography and not professional wrestling took over.

  The uneasiness about this incident is not that there was an accidentally deep blade job, but a series of things only made worse by the accident but what was done on purpose was plenty bad on a lot of levels on its own. I recognize guys show up at pro wrestling matches with their bag and if somebody no-shows, are often thrown in the ring. Many wrestlers have gotten their first lucky break in this manner. Probably on very rare occasions in juice promotions, they may even be asked to bleed.

  Sometimes they are under 18. Terry Gordy’s first match was when he was 14. So was Rey Misterio Jr.’s. I’m certain both had done plenty of blade jobs before they became of age. Perro Aguayo Jr. last year, at 16, was blading from time-to-time right there with his father by his side. But all those arguments that try to say it really wasn’t that bad or that unusual go out the window viewing the tape.

  The sad part, as much as the incident itself, was the reaction. The desensitizing of violence was such that the reaction across the board, from the wrestlers in the ring “not breaking character,” to the promotion not stopping the match and “breaking the illusion,” when something was decidedly wrong to the at least some members of the bloodthirsty audience itself went beyond the fact that the kid was under 18 and basically untrained when it comes to pro wrestling. It would have been just as bad if he were 19, as those in the promotion claimed he lied and told them he was, and they apparently accepted without even asking for I.D. or anyone in the promotion having ever even heard of him or knowing him.

  This is not meant to downgrade everyone in the crowd in Revere, MA that night. The fact was several if not many walked out of the show, not to mention the scary sight of a fan have an epileptic seizure moments after being freaked out by the incident and the police nearly stopping the show. The incident ended later that night with Kulas in the hospital and police wanting to arrest his father for child abuse, not believing his injuries could possibly have occurred within a pro wrestling match.

  A sizeable percentage of those who stayed were appalled and revolted based on the reaction we received from people who attended the show. But while watching the tape, you only hear the chants of “You fat f***” and worse while someone for all they knew could be bleeding to death in front of their eyes, which was worse than the reaction of those involved in putting on th
e show. It’s funny, the ironic part is this description will probably sell hundreds of copies of the “banned” tape on the underground.

  In the long run, hopefully this incident and near cancellation or delay, or simply scare in the debut of ECW on PPV, will be accepted for what it is. A headache for some to be sure, but in the long run the best thing for all. ECW was a powder keg, and a potential worse explosion which results in perhaps even more serious injury, could be averted by all this as a wake-up call.

  It will be a whole lot better for the future of ECW for some safety guards to be put in place before the PPV, then another of those incidents occur live with the nation watching and resulting in the company never getting a second show.

  MARCH 17

  Paul Heyman has finalized a seven-match line-up for the 4/13 ECW “Barely Legal” PPV show.

  Most of the show has already been announced, but the complete line-up will be the Eliminators defending the ECW tag team titles against Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley; a singles match involving Chris Candido with an angle shot that night to determine his opponent; the Michinoku Pro wrestling match with Great Sasuke & Gran Naniwa & Gran Hamada vs. Taka Michinoku & Terry Boy (Mens Teoh in Japan) & Dick Togo; Shane Douglas defending the ECW TV title against Pit Bull #2; Sabu vs. Taz; the triangle match with Terry Funk, Stevie Richards and Sandman and the ultimate title match with Raven defending against the winner of the triangle match to end the show.

  The PPV show will air in the vast majority of Request systems, and a few cable companies that carry Viewers Choice that specifically asked for the show on a stand-alone basis. There were Request systems, including Intermedia Partners and some Cablevision systems including on Long Island that don’t carry NHB events that also chose not to carry this event because of the perceived violent nature.