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

by Dave Meltzer

  The original fears were that Sid was badly injured in the accident but as it turned out he suffered some facial cuts and was suffering from a major headache from a concussion and experienced some numbness in his arms and legs as he apparently re-aggravated his bad back.

  Furnas was the most seriously injured, suffering a separated and broken shoulder and underwent surgery on 6/17 in San Diego to find out the extent of the damage. LaFon suffered a concussion and numerous cuts and bruises all over his body. They had to shave a lot of his head in the hospital to get out the glass that got in his forehead. Funk came out of it the most unscathed, just shaken up. The incident wasn’t acknowledged on television the next night.

  Funk is expected back in action for the house shows this weekend but the rest will be out of action for a few weeks, and in the case of Furnas, likely longer than that.

  Sycho Sid

  (April 21) The story on Sid is that he supposedly has a herniated disc in his back caused by straining the back while working out in the gym. The reason it was handled so clumsily on the 4/7 Raw is because they literally didn’t know about it as the show was going and didn’t know if he’d be there or not. Apparently Sid left a message at the office over the weekend, but since nobody was there and since Raw was taped on a Sunday night, nobody knew, and he didn’t think to call the building to let anyone know he was hurt. He finally talked to Vince McMahon late in the week. No word on how long he’ll be gone. There is also a lot of skepticism not limited to just the skeptical wrestlers as to the legitimacy of this, in that people seem to be following the Shawn Michaels lead. We don’t know if Sid was going to have to put Mankind over in their match although it would make sense given Mankind was in the main event on the next PPV. Sid was definitely supposed to put Bret over on the 4/20 PPV since Bret had put him over three times in a row and it was time for Bret to get the push. You can figure the skepticism out from there.

  (June 2) Sid was supposed to return on 5/30 in San Jose but now claims to have the flu and won’t be back until 6/28 in Los Angeles. I know what you’re thinking and so is everyone else. Guess the softball team must have made the playoffs or something. It’ll be real interesting to see: 1) How large he is. If he really had a bad back and the flu, he’d be way down in muscle size and why do I think he’ll show up bigger than ever? 2) How the company will use him if he shows up so large because that’ll be an indication the back injury and flu couldn’t have been all that bad. My feeling is they’ll push him hard again and a few months down the line history will repeat itself. And if it does, if any of you feel sorry for the WWF’s bad luck, you should feel more sorry for bad judgment of people who ignore the lessons the past should teach them.

  (July 21) Sid collapsed backstage due to his back problems and was rushed to the hospital. They never showed a close-up of him and showed him in clothes because the auto accident injuries are legit (as opposed to the questionable nature of previous injuries) and he’s dropped a lot of weight and clearly hasn’t been able to weight train and he no longer has that Sid look. The belief right now is that his match with Vader is almost surely off SummerSlam. It hasn’t been announced, but I believe Goldust vs. Pillman will be taken from the free-for-all and put on the main card in its place.

  (July 28) The actual situation last week with Sid was that he is believed to have suffered an anxiety attack at the tapings. Sid told friends that he thought he was having a heart attack. He wasn’t taken to the hospital, although WWF officials wanted to take him to the hospital, but he refused to go and instead went back to his hotel room and they had Downtown Bruno stay with him to make sure everything was okay. Sid has lost a ton of weight since he hasn’t been able to train due to the back injury, and also from the flu has had no appetite. He was to get another MRI this week with problems with both a pinched nerve in his neck and the bad back which sometimes causes one of his legs to go numb.

  (August 4) Sid was officially fired by the WWF. It’s almost mind-boggling that a star of that magnitude in this kind of a wartime situation would be fired, but WWF officials apparently felt they had no alternative citing their inability to get any straight answers from him concerning his condition and injuries and when he’d be available. Under normal circumstances, WCW would try to bring a guy in with the illusion it’s another major jump, but Sid has a lot of heat with a lot of people in Atlanta, not to mention quite a track record in this industry.

  (August 11) Sid is scheduled to undergo surgery this week where they’ll take bone from his hip to fuse his neck. The surgery would have kept him out of action another three months had he not been fired. He’s contesting his termination and has hired a lawyer and threatened to sue the WWF for breach of contract. He’s told friends that he thinks because of the legal threat that the WWF now wants him back but he doesn’t want to go back. Based on what we hear, WCW would be interested in him, but only on a per-show deal and not a long-term guaranteed deal because of his track record, and then only if people like Arn Anderson approve of him coming in.

  (August 18) The situation with Sid is that he wasn’t immediately fired. There was some sort of clause in his right about $400,000 per year guaranteed contract, which may have been an injury clause, that WWF felt they had the right to cancel it. He was then offered a new deal which was a nightly deal which basically had he worked a complete schedule would have earned him the same $400,000 per annum, so something along with lines of $2,000 to $2,500 per shot and maybe more for PPVs, which he turned down, feeling his existing contract shouldn’t have been canceled. At that point he was fired and is threatening legal action back.

  (September 29) The latest on Sid Eudy is that he’s back training. His neck is almost completely healed from his surgery but his hip is still giving him problems (they took bone from his hip to reconstruct his neck, which was injured both in the ring and from the auto accident). He won’t be able to wrestle until January and is hoping to go to WCW at that time. The lawyers are still fighting over his WWF status. What we’ve gathered from WCW is that they’d be interested in him if too many of the wrestlers didn’t complain (he had heat in the past not only with the Nash faction, but also with the Flair/Anderson faction and Hogan has never been fond of him either) and try and stand in the way, and even then, only on a per-night deal and not a guaranteed contract due to his track record.

  (January 5) Despite all kinds of rumors to the contrary, there have been no discussions with WWF and Sid Eudy since he was told he was going to be released. Titan has made no inquiries about bringing him back. Eudy has told friends that when he’s able to return to wrestling, he has no intention of working for the WWF as he’s bitter about the situations leading to his dismissal. This is wrestling so never say never, just that there is nothing to any of the rumors about him coming in or him being considered to come in as part of the DX PPV show.

  WCW Women’s Division

  (April 28) To almost no fanfare, the WCW women’s cruiserweight tournament ended on 4/7 in Huntsville, AL with Toshie Uematsu winning the finals over Malia Hosaka in a match that took place before Nitro went on the air. The womens cruiserweight title hasn’t been mentioned on Nitro or WCW Saturday Night since the first womens cruiser match bombed on the 3/31 Nitro.

  (May 12) It was announced over the weekend on the Main Event and the Pro show that Madusa beat Akira Hokuto on 5/2 in Japan to win the womens title and would defend the belt against Luna Vachon at Slamboree. The match actually never took place, but at least they saved money in the transportation budget by doing the fictitious match. Apparently they forgot to tell Madusa she won the title as apparently when she got to Nitro, she had no clue and was telling people who asked that she hadn’t won the title.

  (May 19) Here’s this week’s storyline on the womens title. It was announced on television that the title was in dispute because of a legal dispute in the match (which never took place) between Madusa and Akira Hokuto. Not only was Madusa when she showed up at Nitro last week unaware that she had won the title, but mid-week in J
apan when the news hit that Hokuto was no longer the champion, when the reporters asked Hokuto about it, she had no idea because nobody had clued her in on the angle either.

  Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert Arrested

  (May 5) Tommy Rich and Doug Gilbert spent a night in prison on 4/20 after being arrested on charges of taking money under false pretenses and possession of less than 15 grams of marijuana. Rich, real named Thomas Richardson, 40, and Gilbert, 28, were released the next afternoon after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges of taking money under false pretenses and each were fined along with being ordered to return the $500 cash they received the previous night for headlining a show that they apparently walked out on. The two were scheduled to headline against each other on a River City Wrestling show in Sisterville, WV. According to Sisterville Police Chief Robert Haught, Rich and Gilbert, seeing the crowd was about 100 fans and with each promised $250 to make the shot, asked to be paid up front. The two then drove off with the money and were stopped near St. Marys, WV, where the two were found with a small amount of marijuana. The two were held on $2,000 bond at the Tyler County Jail, and since they were unable to post bond, they spent one night in jail. Rich worked this past weekend for ECW as a manager at their two shows in Massachusetts. His status with the company wasn’t affected by this incident.

  Invader vs Trompetilla

  (May 12) The biggest angle in a long time involved Invader #1 with the top comedian on the Island of Puerto Rico named Trompetilla (real name Raymond Arrieta) doing their 90s version of Jerry Lawler/Andy Kaufman.

  It started a few weeks back with Invader as a guest of “Hello Wapa!” the local lunch-time talk show on the same TV station that airs WWC, so they were doing some cross-promotion. Trompetilla does a comedy segment on the show. They started doing the angle on the wrestling show saying that Colon and Invader would be on the show to receive achievement awards for their careers.

  On the talk show, Trompetilla began insulting Invader saying that he was old, not useful anymore and that pro wrestling is all fake. Invader challenged him to get into the ring. Trompetilla threw a bucket of water on Invader and ran away. Invader then did a promo challenging Trompetilla to come to the house show that weekend in Cayey, but Trompetilla didn’t come.

  They had a second television confrontation on 4/22. Trompetilla brought out a guest who wasn’t Invader, but a guy wearing an Invader mask and a “Just Say No” t-shirt. Trompetilla threw water on the guy. At that point the real Invader showed up and challenged him again to show up at the 4/26 house show in Humacao and said that he would put the sleeper on Trompetilla and put his hand in water so he’d urinate all over himself in the ring. Trompetilla acted afraid, but accepted the challenge.

  On the 4/26 house show, Trompetilla did an interview before the match and got in the ring and did a comedy bit running away and throwing a pathetic looking dropkick. Invader chased him around the ring with Trompetilla running away. After about 90 seconds, Trompetilla got in front of Invader and did the Ric Flair begging on his hands and knees.

  Rico Suave then ran-in and held Invader and Trompetilla went for the water bucket, but naturally Invader broke away and Suave got hit with the water. Invader put the sleeper on Trompetilla but several of his bodyguards hit the ring and broke it up and held Invader for Trompetilla to start paint-brushing his face which was the end of that part of the angle, but sounds like there is more to come.

  (May 26) The Invader #1-Trompetilla (Raymond Arrieta) angle came to its conclusion on Arrieta’s television show on 5/6. Invader said he was going to teach Trompetilla not to throw water at his guests on his TV show. The whole television angle was done in comedy, with WWC television announcers El Profe and Eluid Gonzalez at ringside with a ring acting as if it was a match. Trompetilla, who wears a clown outfit, came out wearing a mask, and was obviously not the original character. They did the match with heel manager Rico Suave (Julio Estrada) managing Trompetilla, who was unmasked, revealing WWC prelim heel Chuck Singer. The real Trompetilla came out with a role and began choking Suave and Singer and threw water on Suave. He claimed he was betrayed by Suave and that’s why he saved Invader, and promised that he would never throw water on his guests anymore on his television show.

  Alex Wright vs Hard Body Harrison

  (May 12) Perhaps the biggest news backstage at the WCW tapings was a fight between Alex Wright and jobber Hard Body Harrison. It started when they were arguing about who would get to play heel, since both wanted to. Finally ref Randy Anderson came out and said that Wright was the heel. Harrison then started getting mad about Wright going to the office or something to that effect. Harrison had some sort of a warm-up exercise apparatus and apparently Wright thought Harrison was going to clock him with it and threw the first punch, right in the eye and split his eye open. Harrison grabbed a front face lock and they went at it until it was broken up. By most accounts, Wright was getting the better of it which surprised some people since apparently Harrison has done tough man contests and is supposed to be a really tough guy. To make matters worse, since he’s not a star, Harrison pretty much got most of the blame put on him.

  Leif Cassidy

  (May 19) Leif Cassidy (Allan Sarven) gave notice but that was more an attempt to get the WWF to do something with him than a sign he’s quitting. His contract is up at the end of July. They had talked with him about doing a gimmick as The Worlds Greatest Mexican Wrestler wearing a mask and spoofing Mexicans, but with the AAA deal falling apart, they never got it off the ground. Since he doesn’t have a guaranteed contract and is only on the road as a fill-in, he isn’t making all that much money and you can imagine the frustration with not getting a push when far less talented wrestlers who aren’t getting over have angles. At the same time, he’s been a disappointment in the ring in his big matches.

  (June 2) Leif Cassidy attempted to give notice, but he didn’t understand his contract. He signed a two-year contract with a one-year WWF option. The WWF picked up his option for the third year so he can’t give notice until next year. They are doing a gimmick where he loses match after match on television until he snaps like a postal worker.

  The Ultimate Warrior

  (May 19) Jim Hellwig is apparently booked for Ultimate Championship Wrestling on 5/24 in Deer Park, NY against Chris Chavis (Tatanka), which would be his first match since leaving the WWF last summer. Kind of strange since the building only holds about 800 people. UCW usually draws about 200 per show and you figure Hellwig’s price demands are exorbitant.

  (June 23) Jim Hellwig appeared at the Licensing Fair in New York this past week pushing his Ultimate Warrior comic books. He said that under no circumstances would he ever return to pro wrestling.

  Michinoku Pro Wrestling

  (May 26) Although no deal has been completed, there is a strong probability a deal is going to be worked out with Michinoku Pro Wrestling including being a strong part of the WWF’s light heavyweight division. There is nothing new on the Mexican front other than continuation of relations with AAA don’t look good and there is more interest in EMLL, although no deal there as of yet. There is nothing when it comes to a deal as far as we can tell regarding Silver King coming in at present, although if a deal is made with EMLL, he’s likely to be among the first in.

  (June 9) Another of the most accomplished light heavyweight wrestlers in modern times, Great Sasuke, signed a six-month contract with the WWF where it is believed he’ll become the focal point of that promotion’s new division.

  Sasuke (Masanori Murakawa), 27, held a press conference on 5/28 in Tokyo to announce the signing. He said the WWF offered him a one-year contract, but that he would only agree to a six-month deal since he is President of his own Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion. Sasuke will finish up with the next Michinoku tour which ends on 6/22, and debuts with the WWF on the 6/30 Raw is War show facing Independent jr. champion Taka Michinoku, which will probably be something of the kick-off to the new division.

  The WWF is making a new set of championship belts
and a lighter weight belt is among them, and it is believed the division in its inception will be built around Sasuke, who would likely defend his crown against other wrestlers from the Michinoku and possibly FMW promotion, along with Americans and potentially wrestlers from EMLL as well.

  One of Sasuke’s rivals of a few years back, Jinsei Shinzaki, wrestled in the WWF as Hakushi. The WWF needed an international star to jump start the division, lest it be built around inexperienced Americans or wrestlers that the company has already established as jobbers. However, in doing so, it does look like WWF is copying WCW since WCW has been successful in building a cruiserweight division.

  Sasuke signing with WWF is a bigger deal than just the President and top star of a smaller Japanese office leaving his company for six months. After Sasuke and five others from his promotion appeared on ECW shows in February and again on the 4/13 PPV show, WCW and New Japan attempted to pressure Sasuke into not wrestling with either ECW or WWF. Through WCW, New Japan told the Michinoku office that if their wrestlers appeared on future WWF or ECW shows that the promotion ties between New Japan and Michinoku would be severed, which means the Michinoku wrestlers couldn’t appear on the several upcoming lucrative Dome shots and it would kill the already set up angle of Sasuke & Liger as a tag team against Kaientai Deluxe and New Japan juniors Otani & Kanemoto.

  Sasuke was asked about the problem at the press conference and pretty well acknowledged New Japan had made that ultimatum and indicated by his signing what his answer to the ultimatum was. One would suspect Sasuke would return to Japan for a few major shows with his promotion this year but not appear as a regular on any of the tours. He said at the press conference that he had a dream of presenting his six-man tag team main event on a Madison Square Garden house show in the year 2000.