by Dave Meltzer
Rude said he had brought someone there to take on Douglas, which turned out to be Gary Wolfe, Pit Bull #1, who has been out of action for several months after legitimately breaking his neck in an accidental spot when he landed wrong as Douglas gave him a DDT, which has been heavily pushed ever since. A short brawl erupted with Douglas and the heels taking a powder, with Rude throwing forearms as part of the brawl.
Rude, now 38, has been rumored to be headed to the WWF when his disability insurance deal with Lloyd’s runs out, for some time, with the rumors within the WWF saying it would be late spring. However, WWF officials have continually denied these rumors. Those close to Rude insist that Rude will never wrestle again, due to broken back suffered in a match at the Fukuoka Dome against Sting on May 1, 1994 coming on the heels of a herniated disc in his neck which destroyed his once impressive workrate.
Paul Heyman said that the masked wrestler wouldn’t ever wrestle in ECW but would be making more appearances as a regular performer leading up to the proposed PPV show. There may be an attempt to bring in another person under the mask in future shows to attempt to make it not a certainty in people’s eyes that it is Rick Rude under the mask. Rude had claimed his injuries were career ending in a lawsuit filed against WCW subsequent to the Fukuoka Dome match.
(August 18) Rick Rude was brought into the WWF as part of the working agreement with Paul Heyman. Rude appeared and in exchange, Ross plugged the ECW PPV show and the Lawler-Dreamer match several times on Raw. The original deal was for it to be a one-time only thing, but judging from the TV, Rude will be Michaels’ bodyguard on TV for the time being (since Michaels isn’t going on the road soon). He’ll likely still work some ECW as well. As of press time, all Rude had committed to in the future is the ECW PPV show this Sunday and the Raw in Atlantic City on Monday. Rude has no contract with ECW (although ECW did do an angle where Rude claimed to have signed a long-term contract) and it’s likely he’ll be offered a deal by WWF that would allow him to still work ECW. Heyman thinks Rude’s character is unique enough to where he’d be fine with him working both places. It appears bringing back Rude and Sgt. Slaughter is to bring back the famous names from the 80s to combat WCW using all the 80s big names that are drawing the 30+ age bracket fans that are killing WWF in the Monday ratings.
(September 22) On the 9/8 Raw in the triangle match (Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Savio Vega vs. The Patriot), originally the British Bulldog was supposed to do the match and win the match when Rick Rude would interfere helping Bulldog beat Helmsley, showing that Rude works for whomever pays the premium, but Michaels got the entire deal nixed.
(December 1) According to Paul Heyman, he only received word about Rick Rude showing up on Nitro one hour before the show, and that the WWF didn’t know about it until five minutes before the show went on the air. Rude had a lawsuit pending against both WCW and against Sting personally for negligence in his career ending back and neck injuries. There was a lot of personal heat between Sting and Rude over how Sting’s deposition in the case went. With the contract with WCW, Rude settled the lawsuit.
Mitsuharu Misawa Threepeats
(January 27) Mitsuharu Misawa captured the Triple Crown championship for the third time on 1/20 in Osaka by pinning Kenta Kobashi in 42:06. It was the third title change in five days for the normally conservative All Japan promotion, coming on the heels of Yoshinari Ogawa winning the PWF junior heavyweight title from Tsuyoshi Kikuchi on 1/15 at Tokyo Korakuen Hall and Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue capturing the Double tag team championship (PWF World & International) from Steve Williams & Johnny Ace on 1/17 in Matsumoto.
The Triple Crown change got a major publicity boost when on Nippon Television’s nightly network 11 p.m. newscast, Misawa appeared live in studio as the guest and they broadcast the final two minutes of the title change, which will air within the next few weeks on the regular All Japan 30 television show.
Misawa was working with an “injured” elbow from missing an elbow and hitting the post and Kobashi using armlock submissions. Kobashi went for a piledriver or power bomb on the apron but Misawa reversed it into a huracanrana off the apron the floor. Misawa used a Tiger driver where he dropped Kobashi on his head in the ring, and then used his regular Tiger driver followed by his running forearm smash to KO Kobashi and get the three count.
The title switch, which drew 5,500 (about 900 shy of a sellout) in the Osaka Furitsu Gym, was expected for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Kobashi has never beaten Misawa in a singles match. All Japan is currently planning on running a 25th anniversary Tokyo Dome show in October, and Misawa, 34, who is the group’s top drawing card, has to be in the main event and probably as champion to headline the show.
The tag title switch took place three days earlier before 3,550 fans. Kawada & Taue captured the belts for the fourth time, coming on the heels of winning the tag team tournament in December for the first time, in a match that went 26:12 and ended with Taue pinning Ace after two nodowas (choke slams). That match aired two nights later on the group’s television show. Taue scoring the pin set the stage for the match three nights later where Jun Akiyama scored the biggest singles win of his career by pinning Taue in just 4:48 with his exploder suplex.
Kevin Sullivan
(January 27) Sullivan and Benoit are taking their angle to the extreme so to speak. After the Nitro on 1/13, there was a brawl where Sullivan punched Benoit twice at about 12:30 a.m. at Hightoppers, a bar near the Superdome, and they had a major pull-apart after Benoit was making out with Nancy. This is similar to the Pillman deal in that the only ones in on it are probably Kevin, Nancy, Chris, Bischoff and a few others and they are trying to pass it off to the boys as legit since most of the wrestlers were there. Because of the Pillman deal, almost none of the wrestlers buy it but there are a few who thought it was legit. There were only a few people at the bar that weren’t WCW personnel.
(April 24) There is tons of behind-the-scenes heat in regard to the different factions. There is the Kevin Sullivan faction and the Hulk Hogan faction, of which Kevin Nash seems to be the most vocal member. The interview Nash did ending the show on 3/31 was totally not what it was supposed to be. Sullivan wanted him to do a promo running down Hogan and Bischoff for not being there and going to the Rodman thing instead (which he did) as an idea for a one-week storyline to build up this week’s ratings, which it did. But Sullivan also asked him to run down Scott Hall, which he refused to do apparently believing it was some kind of a trick and instead praised Hall and did the rest of his interview talking about Little Napoleon (Sullivan) backstage giving orders. All this shoot stuff makes for fascinating television for some people, but it’s one thing if it’s Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels using it as ammo to sell tickets for an eventual match, but to do it in that way and waste TV time airing real stuff on a fake TV show is kind of unprofessional.
(April 21) In the continuing saga of Sullivan vs. Nash, the Nash contingent is working to get Sullivan out of the ring. As many of you are aware, nearly one year ago Eric Bischoff told Sullivan that when the current program with Chris Benoit runs its course, that he has to get out of the ring. So Sullivan has done basically a brilliant job of keeping the feud going by using his wife, his son, Jacquelyn, etc., and to give the devil his due, in the process it has been a hot feud and has taken Benoit to superstardom. But if you’ve noticed, the angle where Kevin’s son hit him with a chair in Baltimore hasn’t been acknowledged and the pressure has been on from the other side to get Sullivan out of the ring and end the feud.
(May 19) The main topic of Eric Bischoff’s speech to the wrestlers before Nitro on 5/12 was that Kevin Sullivan was taking a hiatus as booker of four to eight weeks due to burnout and all the pressure of the job and outside personal pressures as well. Bischoff emphasized Sullivan wasn’t being replaced, although naturally that denial started all kinds of rumors that he was, and that he wanted him to come back fresh and was very adamant about how all the backstage dissension stories being public in the “sheets
” are hurting the company (they should worry about the backstage dissension and bookers plans constantly being ignored winding up in angles not making sense before worrying about people reporting on it to a microcosm of the audience, but this is the wrestling industry we’re talking about).
Sullivan is taking a leave of absence so he isn’t expected to be around for a while as a wrestler either which also puts the Jacquelyn angle on hold. The Jacquelyn angle in Palmetto, FL last week wasn’t taped, it was just done to gauge crowd reaction to it which was said to be strong, but it was scheduled to eventually take place and lead to Sullivan putting Jacquelyn over in a match.
On the Saturday TBS show, Sullivan did a bizarre interview talking about having a shoot in the bar with Benoit (the angle on the boys from New Orleans in January that nobody in the general public would have a clue about) and Meng talked English and said he broke the nerve hold on Benoit because Nancy said so because Nancy was still family. Sullivan started the Jacquelyn turn by saying she forgot where she came from and that he’s the man and told her not to come to Slamboree. They’ve given her a new wig and are dressing her to look softer and more feminine for her babyface turn.
Chris Benoit’s scheduled house show matches against Sullivan have been changed to Meng. In Baltimore, the dark match main event was supposed to be Benoit vs. Sullivan in a death match, but no announcement was made in the building regarding the match and neither Benoit or Sullivan appeared on the entire show. Bischoff, J.J. Dillon and Terry Taylor will be handling the booking temporarily.
(May 26) There appeared to be even more of a feeling this week that the booking change was something more than temporary although only a few know for sure. Terry Taylor appears to be doing much of the detail work along with J.J. Dillon, although most seem to think Kevin Nash is a very strong influence on much of what is going on and it’s Nash who was Sullivan’s biggest critic. Those close to Sullivan say that he fully expects to be back as booker when he returns.
(June 9) There are people who expect Kevin Sullivan to make a surprise appearance on 6/9 because the Boston show is such a big deal to him since it’s where he grew up. Supposedly he’s still not due back for a few more weeks. Most of the feeling now is that he’ll be back as booker on his return, although there are wrestlers with clout who have complained to Eric Bischoff and want to have Terry Taylor stay in the spot.
Jacques Rougeau
(February 17) Jacques Rougeau’s press conference for his 4/11 show in Montreal got more media publicity than any show anyone can remember ever in the city. All three newspapers covered the press conference along with every TV and radio station, attributed to a combination of Rougeau’s aggressive promotion and the appearance of Hulk Hogan. There was tape on every evening newscast and a photo of The Giant and Pierre Carl Ouelett in a shoving match while “promoter” Cookie Lazarus was laughing (the irony of the promoter laughing while a serious situation was going on is why the photo made front center top) made the front page of the Montreal Gazette.
The complete show besides Hogan vs. Jacques and Pierre vs. Giant in a pirate match (Giant must wear an eye patch) has Flair vs. Luger, Heat vs. Faces of Fear, Malenko vs. Guerrero, a midget match with local midgets and Mike Payette & Ron Trottier & Eric Shelley vs. Serge & Martin Rolland & Richard Charland and Nelson Veilleux vs. Sunny War Cloud, who are local area wrestlers that worked for Rougeau’s defunct promotion.
Most notable line was Rougeau asking Hogan how old he was, and Hogan said 43, and Rougeau’s reply to a lot of laughing was that he asked him how old he was, not how many years he’d been wrestling.
Local sports columnist Jack Todd wrote a story about the proceedings. Todd, who is 6’6”, appeared to be two inches taller than Hogan, which didn’t go unnoticed by anyone including Hogan, who refused to take a photo with Todd unless Todd scrunched down because it would ruin the gimmick of his size. Todd said that Hogan was 6’4” and 250 pounds. He also wrote Giant was nowhere near 7’4” and 450, but he was one of the biggest humans he’d ever seen.
The French newspapers brought up Andre the Giant, or Jean Ferre, as he was known in Montreal, who lived in Montreal for many years before becoming an international superstar, when talking about the new Giant and talking about him being billed as Andre’s son.
Rougeau at the press conference said he’d sell the 24,000-seat Molson Center out, which would break the all-time city indoor attendance mark set by Jean Ferre vs. Don Leo Jonathan in 1972.
(April 21) Hulk Hogan did a rare clean job for promoter Jacques Rougeau Jr. on the 4/11 WCW show at the Molson Center in Montreal which drew an estimated 9,000 fans and $209,000 Canadian.
Rougeau, the last active member of the family which has been a fixture on the Quebec wrestling scene for something like 40 years, was supposed to be the home town hero in what was promoted as a battle of the legends. However, the crowd was mixed with our reports indicating Rougeau had about 60% of the fans cheering for him and Hogan had about 40%.
Hogan lost clean to a small package with no outside interference in what was never advertised beforehand as either a title match or a non-title match although the assumption all along was that it was a title match, but made clear after the finish it was a non-title match. The finish enables them to book a rematch for the title when WCW returns to Montreal although no return date was announced in the building. It is the first pinfall job with no outside interference that Hogan has done since losing the WWF title to Ultimate Warrior at the 1990 WrestleMania in Toronto (the Piper match at Starrcade wasn’t a 1-2-3 finish) and probably the last one until this coming year’s Starrcade against Sting.
In the semifinal, The Giant was disqualified in a Pirate match (having to wear a pirate’s patch during the match) against Carl Pierre Oulett. In the other top match, billed as a battle of football players, Lex Luger, who was a starter a lifetime ago with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League and played on a championship team there, beat McMichael via DQ. After the match, Ric Flair did a run-in and was racked by Luger.
Hogan vs. Rougeau was said to be a decent match, but overall the card was said to have been a major disappointment with the only above average match on the show a prelim match with Jeff Jarrett beating Chris Jericho.
(June 9) The Rougeau Brothers, Jacques and Raymond, who hadn’t talked in more than two years, were back talking. It was supposedly Raymond who initiated things as he followed Jacques home and they talked in Jacques’ garage. With Jacques and Pierre’s WCW contract up at the end of July and with WCW supposedly considering not renewing it, this mending fences may be a way to get them back into WWF, particularly since WWF is running Survivor Series this year in Montreal. Although those close to the situation said not to discount the idea Raymond was feeling Jacques out about going to WCW.
Ted Turner on Nitro
(February 24) It’s not exactly the best kept secret that Ted Turner is supposed to appear at the 3/3 Nitro to fire Eric Bischoff. In fact, the story was not only released on WCW’s own hotline, much to the chagrin of Kevin Sullivan (who was also thrilled with Mark Madden reporting on Wednesday that he never had a conversation with Paul E.—he did—and that his angle with Nancy and Benoit was all a work), but two days later was in a planted story in the New York Daily News page six gossip column. The item was slanted toward WWF, saying how Turner is frustrated because he’s been unable to overtake Vince McMahon and the WWF in house show attendance and PPV buys and the only category he wins is cable television ratings.
(March 17) Ted Turner wasn’t at the 3/3 Nitro in Atlanta because 1) An office assistant died and he was attending her funeral; 2) He was out of town on business and canceled at the last minute; or 3) He didn’t want to do it and sent Harvey Schiller in his place. They are keeping the possibilities of doing something with Turner alive in the storyline.
Mark Madden vs Jerry McDevitt
(March 3) The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on 2/23 ran a lengthy story about Mark Madden’s position in the WWF lawsuit against WCW. The s
tory is that Madden invoked a journalists shield law to avoid having to give up his sources in discovery by Jerry McDevitt. However, during the same deposition, Madden admitted that WCW has veto power over what he says on the hotline and that he could be fired if he didn’t make script changes when WCW requests them. McDevitt claims that makes him no more than a shill for WCW and thus should have no journalistic privileges to maintain confidential sources and is attempting to get U.S. District Judge Donald Lee to force Madden to reveal his sources.
John Houston Pope, who is defending WCW and Madden, says that it is WWF that is having trouble with truth vs. fiction and not Madden and WCW. He said that on one hand, Titan argues Madden shouldn’t be treated as a journalist because he admitted his hotline commentaries are entertainment and not journalism:
“If Titan is correct in that proposition, (the lawsuit) should be dismissed, because neither defamation nor unfair competition can be based on statements the audience knows to be unreal. On the other hand, Titan has sued alleging that Madden’s commentaries are treated as serious journalism by the public—and if that’s true, he’s entitled to ‘shield’ (his sources).”
McDevitt said that Madden claiming to be a journalist is against evidentiary records which established he deliberately passed false information to the public at the insistence of his employer to promote PPV events.
(March 17) Latest Jerry McDevitt quotes on Mark Madden. McDevitt said that Madden is to journalism what Heidi Fleiss is to dating and said, “What does it have to do with journalism when you are deliberately lying” in regard to Madden using the Pennsylvania reports shield law to protect his sources in the WWF lawsuit against WCW.