by Dave Meltzer
There have also been lots of problems with guys arriving late to arena shows forcing changes in the house show cards and cancellation of matches due to transportation problems in Mexico so they want the wrestlers to leave a day early rather than the day of, which would mean them giving up a potential previous night booking in Mexico.
If Bischoff makes a deal with Televisa and Alonso, it could result in the group being forced out of Promo Azteca and doing an NWO angle in Mexico against the EMLL crew, or even not being able to work Mexico at all if that’s what Bischoff wants although obviously by getting their rights to Mexico it wasn’t to keep them from working Mexico but to make him a major power broker in the Mexican marketplace.
JUNE 30
Most of the major news regards Eric Bischoff’s planned trip to visit with Paco Alonso and the political repercussions. As is well known, WWF has also had talks with Alonso through Victor Quinones. Bischoff, who has talked internally about doing as frequent as monthly Lucha Libre PPVs starting as early as late this year, needs to add Luchadores to the roster.
Alonso talked in the local press about being able to get 15 of his wrestlers under contract to WCW, which has caused strife with the Promo Azteca wrestlers under contract since in Mexico they are rival offices. In addition, it dilutes the control Konnan has over the Lucha product.
The other internal story how it relates here is that Azteca has been very aggressive of late when it comes to raiding talent, but Bischoff wants the two groups to work together and do a promotion vs. promotion angle in Mexico that will be the focus of the PPV shows and theoretically the big feud at Arena Mexico as well.
At the time same, Silver King & El Texano have jumped, Silver King for the second time. What apparently happened is that Silver King was supposed to work in WCW again but Alonso told WCW that he had Silver King under contract in response to Silver King working Boston without his knowledge. Silver King claimed he didn’t have a contract (very few EMLL wrestlers are under contract which is why raiding isn’t nearly as difficult as it would be in the U.S. or Japan) and quit EMLL to join Promo Azteca in response, making it the second time he’s made the jump in two weeks.
Due to the Bischoff attempts to make a truce between the groups, Azteca had Silver King return to EMLL, but this week it appears the truce is gone again with King and his uncle coming in and rumors that other top EMLL stars are ready to quit the promotion as well. Technically speaking, King and Texano announced in the press that they were free agents and had left EMLL, so when they go to Azteca, it isn’t as if they were raided but as if they were free agents signing a new deal. Quinones is also recruiting wrestlers to sign WWF contracts although we haven’t heard any names officially signed.
JULY 7
Paco Alonso had a meeting with most of his top wrestlers on 6/26 telling them that he’s got 15 contracts that he’s in charge of filling with WCW which repeated what he’s already said in the press. This has caused further heat with the Promo Azteca wrestlers with the feeling that they worked hard with no contracts or guarantees to get American fans into a foreign product and now they’re being shoved aside from a rival promotion. At the meeting, Alonso claimed that Konnan would be working for him when it comes to the power in the U.S. and that he’d be the main decision maker.
Eric Bischoff still hasn’t gone to Mexico, although again that is supposed to take place shortly, at which time some sort of a deal is expected to be finalized. One would suspect, given what has been successful both for WCW and in Japan, that Bischoff would try and work the EMLL crew against the Azteca crew as the top feud for PPV. Although the “When Worlds Collide” show was marginally successful, at about the same level as the first ECW show, the popularity and exposure levels of Lucha Libre in the United States are way down so a Lucha Libre PPV show today wouldn’t do anywhere close to as good business, particularly when so many of the top stars have been badly hurt in the U.S. marketplace by their jobber roles.
At the meeting were Apolo Dantes, El Satanico, Black Warrior, La Fiera, Lizmark, Rey Bucanero, Violencia, El Hijo del Santo, Negro Casas, Mr. Niebla, Emilio Charles Jr., and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. Warrior, Bucanero and Niebla are all young and good workers and would, with experience in learning the new style, eventually do well in the U.S. Santo, Charles and Casas are all very good workers but since they’re older, they’ll have more trouble adapting to a new style and since their name gets them over and they aren’t as spectacular as the guys people have seen, they’ll have a harder time breaking out of the pack. Guys like Fiera, Lizmark and Rayo are too far past their prime to even be brought in.
JULY 14
Bischoff was in Mexico this past week negotiating with Paco Alonso. Not sure of what came out of it but they met on 7/2. Alonso, who had also been negotiating with WWF, told WWF that Bischoff offered him $750,000 in exchange for 15 wrestlers under contract. Others are denying that story is correct although when Vince McMahon was given the story, his recommendation was for Alonso to sign with Bischoff because he wasn’t about to match that deal. He also met with Promo Azteca and gave his ideas for doing the promotion vs. promotion feud and taping big shows in Mexico for U.S. PPV.
AUGUST 25
Lots of rumors regarding wrestlers now jumping from Promo Azteca back to EMLL. Nothing is official. Vampiro told friends this week that he would be leaving on 8/20 to work a program in EMLL with Dr. Wagner Jr. and that most of the top names for this promotion that don’t have WCW contracts would be leaving as well since EMLL hired Ricardo Reyes to work with Negro Casas in the booking.
Reyes was the booker here when most of the non-WCW wrestlers joined the group, but lost out in a bitter power struggle over direction with Konnan and the guys who aren’t considered as “Konnan’s guys” may go to EMLL with Reyes in power. However, at a house show later in the week, Vampiro told Konnan, who he has just started a program with that should draw very well, that he was staying.
It is believed that Los Hermanos Dinamita are almost surely at the top of the list when it comes to those leaving, and that the original Mascara Sagrada, Super Elektra, Mariachi, Zapatista and Angel Azteca are likely candidates and Vampiro is certainly a strong possibility.
Of those names, the Dinamitas are a mixed blessing. They are the biggest name main event heel trio in the promotion, but they are all past their prime in a company building around young wrestlers. Sagrada has a name but he’s also 38 years old. Vampiro has a name and is hot again and his potential feud with Konnan should do business, while the other losses really have no business effect.
AUGUST 25
There is a meeting scheduled for the end of the month with Paco Alonso, Konnan and Eric Bischoff where Bischoff is going to explain exactly what he wants and probably pressure both sides into a truce when it comes to not raiding talent from each other. Anyone want to bet on the over-and-under when it comes to how long that one will last?
SEPTEMBER 1
Most of the news we have regards things outside the ring. The meeting with Eric Bischoff, Konnan (Promo Azteca) and Paco Alonso (EMLL) to discuss working together in Mexico, getting a weekly television show on in the United States and doing PPV shows is scheduled for 8/27 in Marina del Rey, CA. However, Konnan and Alonso and their companies remain at war.
As expected, Los Hermanos Dinamita jumped from Azteca to EMLL and debuted at Arena Mexico on 8/22 as retribution for Konnan’s recent signings of the likes of Silver King, Mr. Aguila and Black Warrior. The war between the two groups has gotten deeper as Alonso was attempting to get the independent promoters to no longer book Promo Azteca talent on their shows, thus attempting to bring the group to its knees and force the wrestlers without WCW contracts to work for him.
There was yet another hearing last week in regard to getting Konnan deported for his frequent fights with fans and the like, but the end result of the hearing was he was fined $1,000 but not deported.
Alonso also sent letters to independent promoters saying he wouldn’t allow any of his talent to work on any sho
ws where Lizmark Jr., Super Calo, Damian or Halloween appeared because he claimed they were all attempting to talk his wrestlers into jumping to Azteca. At the same time, Antonio Pena registered the names, costumes and gimmicks of Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis and is attempting to get them banned from using their names and outfits.
SEPTEMBER 8
In the wake of an unsuccessful meeting between Eric Bischoff, Konnan and Paco Alonso which was an attempt to put together Lucha Libre style PPV shows in 1998, the war between Promo Azteca and EMLL heated up again over the weekend with CMLL heavyweight champion Steele (Sean Couples aka Sean Morley), The Head Hunters and Kevin Quinn no-showing the 8/29 show at Arena Mexico and instead doing a run-in on the Promo Azteca show in nearby Naucalpan.
The report from the meeting held on 8/28 in Marina del Rey, CA are that Konnan and Alonso were cordial at the beginning, but there ended up being a disagreement and things got worse and they were yelling and swearing by the time the meeting ended on the sour note.
The run-ins were the public confirmation that Victor Quinones, the FMW booker and WWF foreign talent liaison, and Konnan had put together a deal in which Quinones would sent his talent to Azteca instead of working with Alonso and EMLL, and in exchange Azteca talent not booked with WCW would be made available for Quinones to send to the WWF.
With Konnan and Quinones working together, it solidifies both of their power base since they are supplying the cheaper working foreign talent for both WWF and WCW. In addition, all the Lucha style wrestlers that the WWF were to sign to contracts would likely wind up working for Azteca instead of EMLL, which would mean that Histeria will be jumping to Azteca from AAA.
SEPTEMBER 15
The basic reason for the split between Victor Quinones and Paco Alonso and Quinones sending his talent on 8/29 to Promo Azteca when they were originally booked for EMLL at Arena Mexico stemmed from international politics.
It’s a long involved story that started with a meeting Quinones set up with Alonso and Vince McMahon in Connecticut in April where Alonso agreed to supply talent for the WWF’s proposed light heavyweight division. The deal fell through in June when Eric Bischoff and Alonso spoke and Alonso decided to work with WCW. A few weeks later when the Bischoff deal wasn’t concluded, Alonso gave Quinones the green light to book EMLL talent himself for WWF.
One of, if not the prime reason WWF still hasn’t done its light heavyweight title tournament is because of problems in getting the expected talent from both Japan and Mexico they were expecting to be the backbone of the division. Quinones claimed he was going to send Dr. Wagner Jr. and Shocker to WWF for the TV tapings on 9/8 and 9/9 and Alonso agreed to it, but after the meeting with Alonso, Konnan and Bischoff in California, Alonso pulled Wagner and Shocker from going to WWF and said he was going to send them on 9/8 to Nitro instead. In retaliation, Quinones pulled his four wrestlers, The Head Hunters, Steele and Kevin Quinn, from the EMLL show on 8/29, telling Alonso about it at 2 p.m. the day of the show, and had them do a run-in on the Promo Azteca television tapings that night instead.
His feeling is that Alonso was using both he and the WWF to get Bischoff back interested in a working arrangement. He also agreed to a business truce with Konnan and the Azteca promotion and sent Pantera of Azteca along with Histeria (who was scheduled to wrestle under his former name of Super Crazy) to the WWF tapings this week along with four minis. Wagner and Shocker were supposed to debut on the 9/8 Nitro and we’re not sure what happened except that they weren’t there.
OCTOBER 20
The Head Hunters and Steele have been suspended from wrestling in the Distrito Federal, which is going to force Promo Azteca to do all its television tapings when those three are around to be outside the D.F. (Mexico City metropolitan area). The Box y Lucha commission issued the suspension after Paco Alonso of EMLL accused them of no-showing his major card without any warning and showing up the same night on the Azteca show.
The Azteca group claims that Alonso was called at 2 p.m. that day and told that they weren’t going to appear due to Victor Quinones, their business manager, and Alonso having the falling out when Alonso canceled Dr. Wagner Jr.’s bookings with WWF because he wanted to work with WCW. The funny thing now is that WCW has decided against using any new Mexican wrestlers so Wagner Jr. never did even make it to WCW, and now is scheduled to debut, probably under another name, with WWF at the 10/20 tapings in Oklahoma City.
Giving credence to the Azteca story, aside from it being consistent with what we’ve known all along, is that Alonso was frantically the afternoon trying to contact big-name independent wrestlers to work the show which he wouldn’t have done unless he had knowledge that big names were canceling out of the show. The climate is expected to change because a new commission comes in on 12/5, because the PRI party, which has controlled Mexican elections forever, lost the last election and the PRD party is coming in, and commission posts are generally awarded in exchange for political favors and the new group is thought to be more favorable to Azteca.
NOVEMBER 3
There seems to be a movement by Bischoff to totally neutralize any power or leverage Konnan has regarding the Mexicans. There was an order given to take all references of Konnan out of the Lucha Libre documentary, despite him being probably the biggest drawing card of the past ten years in that country. In addition, as the Glacier-La Parka match is an indication of, with the exception of Misterio Jr., none of the Mexicans are getting any kind of a push and they are no longer doing the six-man tag matches on PPVs and Nitros.
WCW is attempting to either get all the Mexican wrestlers to sign contracts giving WCW exclusive worldwide rights (in other words, they would no longer be allowed to wrestle in Mexico which would take much of the headline talent away from the Promo Azteca promotion, which Konnan is part owner of, nor tour Japan unless the tour was booked through WCW). In exchange for their worldwide rights, all the wrestlers who sign were to get raises although for the most part they earn far less than comparable (and even far less comparable) American wrestlers.
NOVEMBER 10
All of the Mexican wrestlers signed two-year contracts this week, and were all drug tested (given the nature and climate of the industry this week you can probably read into that) with the exception of Misterio Jr., who is still negotiating a new price. Not sure exactly what the deal is regarding them working in Mexico. They are all definitely not allowed to work indie dates in the U.S. It appears WCW doesn’t want Konnan or Misterio Jr. to work Mexico at all, but that may not be finalized and they may be interested in working maybe two television tapings per month just to keep their names on top in the market. My belief is the others are all able to continue working in Mexico provided WCW gets first priority on the dates and that WCW gets a commission on their Mexican bookings.
34 – The Montreal Screwjob
NOVEMBER 10
Bret Hart gave notice over the weekend that he was leaving the World Wrestling Federation and his 20-year contract and officially agreed to terms for a two-year deal with World Championship Wrestling.
The 40-year-old Hart, who had along with The Undertaker been the face of the WWF promotion after the end of the Hulk Hogan era, had reportedly been more and more unhappy with the new cruder direction of the WWF and that, far more than money, played a part in his decision according to some close to the situation. Others have categorized it as simply a money deal and that any other explanation as to the main reason would be misleading.
Both Hart and the World Wrestling Federation were attempting to keep the story under lids, so to speak, until after the Survivor Series PPV show in Montreal on 11/9, at which time Hart would have likely given an interview at the taping the next night in Ottawa, or an announcement would have been made by the WWF on that show or at least teased for hotline fodder. On the same night, on the Nitro from Memphis, Eric Bischoff would have also made an announcement about Hart coming to WCW.
After the story got out on 11/4, the WWF did release a statement saying they were giving Har
t the opportunity to explore other options. On the 11/3 Nitro, Bischoff teased a big surprise on next week’s show which was to be the announcement of Hart coming to the NWO, although no doubt the NWO aspect would be a swerve similar to the introductions of people like Curt Hennig and Jeff Jarrett.
The plan at press time was for Hart to continue with the WWF working all his scheduled house shows through the end of November, and then return for one final show on the 12/7 PPV show from Springfield, MA and he would start with WCW shortly thereafter. However, all plans could change since the story got out everywhere on 11/3.
Negotiations between Hart and Eric Bischoff went back about six weeks, known to only a few people, almost all of whom were sworn to secrecy. The two met three weeks ago in Los Angeles, at which time WCW officials seemed about 80 percent sure Hart was going to make the move, but Hart didn’t make his final decision until the weekend. The top WWF officials were aware of the negotiations at least over the past two weeks, if not longer, as those aware of the story as it was breaking could see in the past two weeks certain phrases said on television that wouldn’t have been said had they not been aware, although the finality of his leaving the company wasn’t known until the weekend.
As mentioned in last week’s Observer, Hart had a clause in his contract that would have allowed him to get out of his contract with the WWF if he was unhappy by giving the company just a 30 day notice. Hart negotiated both that clause, and another clause giving him creative control of his character during those final 30 days, last year in negotiations that literally went right down to the wire as Hart was deciding between huge offers from both WWF and WCW. At that point he decided on the WWF offer more because of how he always felt the “story” of his career that he wanted to write was going to end with him riding off in the sunset as a hero in the WWF, something Hulk Hogan never did, legitimately out of loyalty to the company that made him a celebrity and the WWF fans, and also to avoid what he felt were potential pitfalls of going to a company where long-time rival Hulk Hogan was the biggest star.