by Dave Meltzer
(November 24) The final wrestling show ever at the Dallas Sportatorium was held on 11/17. It had been widely reported everywhere, including here, that the decision to tear the building down and turn it into a drive-through liquor store had been rescinded. Actually the story was that if the local CWA promotion could get the crowd up to about 2,500 paid, it would show that there was enough interest to save the building. Considering that there were no Freebirds or Von Erichs to be found on 11/17, all the hype and pleading with fans to save the building resulted in 500 fans, by far the largest in the history of the promotion, but still not enough to save the lease. The final match in the building saw Action Jackson & Warrior 2000 beat Al Jackson & King Parsons & Baboose in a handicap match. The CWA will continue to operate, moving their base of operations for weekly Friday night shows to the Longhorn Ballroom, which is a former famous Country-Western spot during the 70s that has housed pro wrestling in the past, and is located only a few blocks from the Sportatorium.
Gorilla Monsoon
(November 10) The condition of long-time WWF icon Bob Marella (Gorilla Monsoon) had improved over the week although as of press time he was still listed in serious condition at Allegheny University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Marella was on a respirator and kidney dialysis much of the past week, and early in the week his condition was listed as grave after a heart attack on 10/26. By the end of the week he was able to be removed from the respirator and doctors were hoping to perform a much needed heart bypass operation when his physical condition improved to where he was considered out of danger.
Doctors had, prior to the heart attack, recommended to Marella that he undergo a heart transplant but he was reluctant. He had more than 90 percent blockage in more than one ventricle.
Marella, a former amateur wrestling star at Ithaca College, made his professional name first as a heel after being given one of the all-time classic ring names, has been part of both the old World Wide Wrestling Federation and current World Wrestling Federation since the mid-60s and a famous title run against then-champion Bruno Sammartino while managed by Wild Red Berry.
He later turned babyface, and was a long-time part-owner of the old Capital Sports (parent company of both the WWWF and early days of the WWF) before selling his stock to Vince McMahon Jr. in 1982. He had remained with the company ever since, both in his visible roles as a television announcer and later figurehead company President, and behind the scenes working the front office and giving the time cues at television tapings.
Phil LaFon
(November 17) Phil LaFon was arrested on 11/5 after a domestic dispute in Calgary. It was a really strange situation as basically someone came to his house looking for a fight over a woman. Both, unknown to the other, were carrying a gun. LaFon pulled his first and had the guy on the ground with the gun in his mouth crying for mercy. At that point the woman, who didn’t know what was going on, came over and stabbed the other party. LaFon dropped his gun to stop the woman from slashing the guy’s throat and wound up fighting the guy and it was pretty one-sided. In the melee, a gun went off, neighbors called police and they arrived with SWAT helmets and dogs. LaFon was arrested for assault with intent to do bodily harm and the girl was arrested for firing a firearm within city limits. He has a court date on 12/22.
41 – WWF Ins and Outs
Harlem Heat
(January 20) Public Enemy and Harlem Heat are currently working in WCW without contracts. There have been a ton of rumors about Heat going to WWF. Based on what I’m hearing, WWF has so much committed to guys already under long-term contracts with guaranteed money that they’re second-guessing a lot of the deals already (does the name Mark Henry come to mind?). Anyway, obviously an exception would be made for really big names, but I’m pretty well sure that medium big names aren’t going to get guaranteed $250,000 contracts from WWF right now.
Brakkus
(March 10) Muscle Mag International ran a story on Brakkus (Achim Albrecht) and his switch from pro bodybuilding to pro wrestling. The gist of the story is that he was fed up with bodybuilding. At 34, he was unable to place high enough in contests to justify the huge costs of preparing for shows and talked about being fed up with the drug scene. He said he remarked to Ed Connors, who runs the Gold’s Gym chain, that he’d like to do pro wrestling and Connors called Shane McMahon and an interview was arranged and he had the job within a week. He said he signed a paper with Titan saying he wouldn’t use any drugs and that he’s been surprise tested on three occasions including the night of his pro debut in November.
Jake Roberts
(March 24) Jake Roberts was fired. Two weeks back he took a rental car while on the Texas-Louisiana tour and disappeared for two days including missing a shot. It was just a few weeks back when he was fired, but then re-hired the next day for something similar. I guess his nine lives were up this time. He’d been working in the office helping write television besides working as an occasional in-ring performer when needed.
Big Foot
(March 31) WWF apparently made an offer to the huge bodybuilder (second guy who came out) in the Roddy Piper angle who looked good in 40 seconds. He works indies around Georgia as Big Foot. There was real heat in WCW about WWF making offers to guys who haven’t even turned pro from their own Power Plant.
Neville Meyer
(April 21) Neville Meyer, who was the highest ranking person in the history of the Titan Sports company not named McMahon, resigned this past week. Meyer was the co-CEO of the company with Linda McMahon. We really never heard much about him after he was hired. He was supposed to be in charge of taking the business to a new level but nothing changed drastically and his leaving didn’t seem to even cause that much of a stir.
Hugo Savinovich
(May 5) Spanish language announcer Hugo Savinovich, 38, was fired after being arrested at his apartment in Stamford, CT on charges of possession of narcotics, child neglect and possession of drug paraphernalia on 4/24. Stamford police arrested Savinovich and two companions when they investigated in his apartment and found malnourished five and six-year-old children and an apartment lined with cockroaches and crack cocaine vials. All three adults were held on $20,000 bond. When the WWF was asked to comment, they said that Savinovich no longer worked for the company.
Mankind
(May 19) In regard to Mankind, while he hasn’t signed a new contract, his old one isn’t due until the fall but he’s begun negotiations for a new one and it is generally believed he is looking to stay since his only real options are ECW and FMW which don’t pay nearly as well as he’s got a lawsuit out against WCW.
(June 16) Mankind has verbally agreed to but not yet signed a five-year renewal which would put him under contract until November 2002.
Dusty Rhodes
(May 19) For whatever rumors there are about Dusty Rhodes going to WWF, and WWF did design the pieces with the expectations that those rumors would start, Rhodes has one year left on his WCW contract.
PG-13, The Funkettes and Tracy Smothers
(May 26) As far as the status of different wrestlers and rumors, PG-13 is gone after the Road Warriors deal. Apparently the guys think it’s that Jerry Lawler had them fired because they’re working opposition to Lawler in Tennessee, although that’s been denied internally. They were told there is a chance they’ll be brought back for the light heavyweight division but that would likely be only for television purposes if it happens at all. J.C. Ice had gotten a lot of heat in his short tenure there. The Funkettes haven’t been officially eliminated, but unless things change, don’t expect to see them around as a cost-cutting measure. It appears they’re trying to get them to drop their per-show price as it’s an expensive entourage act, particularly for a wrestler getting no push. Tracy Smothers probably won’t be used since he’s working ECW and he’d only be used here as a jobber, which would hurt him in ECW.
Michael Cole
(June 23) WWF has hired a new announcer named Michael Cole, who did the Shotgun show over this past we
ekend with Jim Cornette. Don’t know anything about Cole but reports we heard were that it was obvious he didn’t know much and Cornette was carrying him.
The Patriot
(July 14) The Patriot, who left AJPW and signed with WWF without apparently informing Giant Baba, was officially fired this past week when word reached Japan about him wrestling Rockabilly on the 6/30 WWF show in Des Moines. Patriot had told the office he needed an operation due to suffering a torn tricep and would be out of action for several months. This was after All Japan created the new threesome called GET of Patriot & Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace. Johnny Smith, who is a good worker but on the short side in a promotion usually built around taller guys, and who has a history of being a prelim wrestler here, has joined Kobashi & Ace in the group. In addition, there are rumors in Japan already that Ace will be the next one to join the WWF.
Jim Neidhart
(August 4) Jim Neidhart disappeared as well. The situation with him is that before coming to WWF, he had signed an exclusive contract with Universal Championship Wrestling out of Deer Park, NY and the WWF wasn’t aware of that. When the WWF was told by UCW of the existing contract, they wanted Neidhart to legally get out of the deal before they’d put him back in the mix. So the stipulation about Neidhart shaving his beard on Raw on 8/4 was dropped.
Jim Ross
(August 18) Jim Ross has been elevated to Senior Vice President of Titan Sports and is the highest ranking official in the company not named McMahon. He’s in charge of things like contract negotiations and talent recruiting along with playing a major role in booking the house shows and PPV shows. The ultimate decisions are, have been and likely always will be in the hands of Vince McMahon.
Jerry Lynn, Jacques Rougeau and The Great Sasuke
(September 8) Jerry Lynn wasn’t offered a WWF contract because they have so many people under contract and don’t have enough full-time work for those already under contract, but will likely get a lot of TV bookings based on his performance in Chicago. Jacques Rougeau has looked for work and may get some bookings in Canada part-time or be involved in some way in helping promote the Survivor Series in Montreal. There are no plans right now regarding Great Sasuke returning. Sasuke wanted to trade an appearance on a major WWF show in exchange for Undertaker appearing on his 10/10 show but WWF wasn’t going for it believing that Undertaker in Japan is worth far more than Sasuke in the U.S. Paul Heyman asked Vince McMahon if he could use Sasuke and his talent on his 11/30 PPV and McMahon gave him the impression they didn’t want anything to do with him and to be his guest.
Taka Michinoku
(October 27) A press conference was held on 10/16 in Stamford, CT with Vince McMahon, Jim Ross, Bruce Prichard, Great Sasuke and Victor Quinones to announce the signing of Taka Michinoku. The figures released in Japan, and I’m under the assumption these numbers aren’t real although the three-year time frame is, that he signed a three-year-deal at $333,000 per year. They also said that McMahon wrote a check for $250,000 for Great Sasuke and would give it to him if he gave McMahon the old WWF junior heavyweight and light heavyweight belts. That latter deal is a gimmick for sure. As mentioned here before, WWF has wanted New Japan, to stop calling the light heavyweight belt (which is part of the J Crown currently held by Shinjiro Otani) a WWF belt. McMahon claimed that the WWF hasn’t recognized either belt since 1984 (actually it would be 1985 when the WWF and New Japan broke off their business relationship). The WWF junior heavyweight title, created in 1978 for Tatsumi Fujinami, was dropped by New Japan in 1985 and replaced in 1986 by the IWGP junior heavyweight title. The WWF will be starting its light heavyweight title tournament on 11/3 in Hershey, PA after numerous delays due to problems working with both Japan and Mexican offices.
Crush
(December 8) Crush was out of action this weekend due to jamming his neck in the angle with Kane on 11/24. In actuality, he’s involved in a contract dispute. Don’t know the particulars. Either they want to renegotiate his contract for less money, or his contract is coming due and they’re offering him less money to stay. Either way, he isn’t happy and I’d say it’s a solid bet he may be leaving for you know where, not that it’s any kind of a major acquisition or anything. They are going to push Chainz now as the leader of the DOA.
Stevie Richards
(December 8) Stevie Richards had a meeting with Titan. Richards was at the ECW show saying that he was offered a spot in DX but turned it down. Those close to the situation confirm he was offered a great spot in the WWF although didn’t confirm it was in DX.
42 – WCW Ins and Outs
Don Frye
(January 27) Don Frye was interviewed recently on a Texas radio station and asked about the rumors of him replacing Steve McMichael in the Four Horseman and he said he’s been talking regularly to Ric Flair about it and hopes it happens.
Randy Savage
(February 3) Savage’s new contract was for a limited amount of dates and for $1,000,000 per year. Apparently the deal was completed about the time the Savage Slim Jim commercials started appearing once again. WCW is justifying the deal because they were going to lose the Slim Jim sponsorship without Savage, and that brings in about $500,000 per year by itself. We had heard talk that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were both given raises. Their original deal was $780,000 per year but Nash did a newspaper interview in Detroit and he claimed he was making $900,000.
Mike Tyson
(June 30) WCW is still working on Mike Tyson appearing at the Las Vegas Nitro but with his fight two days earlier, it probably won’t be a definite until the last minute.
Jose Lothario
(July 7) WCW attempted to bring in Jose Lothario as a surprise for the show, just to get people talking, but it didn’t materialize.
Several Firings
(July 7) WCW has let about a dozen wrestlers go. Don’t have all the names but the ones bandied about were Michael Wallstreet, Craig Pittman, Nasty Boys, Jim Duggan, Joe Gomez, Ice Train and Nancy Sullivan. Nancy Sullivan may make a final appearance in Chris Benoit’s corner at the PPV show or she may be gone completely already. Supposedly Kevin & Nancy are splitting up in real life, although this has nothing to do with the storyline, although they’ve been pretending for so long when they weren’t that it’s like the boy who cried wolf when it comes to them talking about splitting up.
More Firings
(July 14) Add to the list of dearly departed from WCW when their 90 day windows are up to their contracts as Renegade, Lanny Poffo, Col. Rob Parker, Jerry Lynn, David Taylor, Pat Tanaka and the French Canadians. Some of the guys being dumped may get a restructured deal or be taken off guarantee but still used. For example, there is talk that Duggan will be taken off his $250,000 per year deal and work on a per-night deal and mainly be used in a p.r. capacity and not so much if any in the ring. Wallstreet has told friends he’s been offered a new deal. Ice Train may be kept around provided he moves to Atlanta, etc. Jim Powers may also be on that list.
Verne Gagne and The Crusher
(August 4) WCW is negotiating to honor both Verne Gagne and The Crusher at upcoming house shows in Minneapolis and Milwaukee respectively. Gagne has so much heat with so many people (I’d guess in the mid-80s that Gagne was, even more than myself or Vince McMahon, the most hated person in the industry) in this industry that it isn’t the easiest thing to get people to cooperate about.
Syxx
(August 18) Syxx was fired for a short time. Bischoff was under a lot of heat from the higher-ups for standards violated largely having to do with vulgarity standards. Syxx must have used naughty words and some of his gestures weren’t met with the highest of approval either. In the tag match with Flair & Hennig vs. Norton & Bagwell, when Syxx did the run-in, he pulled Flair’s tights down and Bischoff claimed it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. When he told Hall & Nash what happened, they were ready to walk, and an hour later, everything was fine again.
Rick Martel
(September 1) Rick Martel was in the office for an interview.
Martel’s original plan was to come in as a tag team with Winnipeg wrestler Don Callis, a Howard Stern lookalike who does really good interviews. WCW told Martel they weren’t interested in adding any tag teams. People were saying Martel, 41, was in excellent condition.
Stampede Wrestling
(November 24) Bruce Hart is talking about re-starting Stampede Wrestling in Calgary with an affiliation with WCW as a way for the younger wrestlers to gain experience on the road every night.
Sean Morley
(December 8) Bischoff reportedly told Sean Morley, who has had try-outs with both WWF and WCW in recent weeks, that whatever he’s offered by WWF that Bischoff would match or top it.
Jacquelyn
(December 29) Jacquelyn was let go because on the 12/15 show, she was supposed to be attacked and left laying by Elizabeth and she refused to do the angle. She had a lot of heat on the way out for that one, since they put her over Disco Inferno and had her beating up on so many men despite her being so small, and then she refused to sell in an angle where she’d be jumped from behind and it wouldn’t be like she’d be beaten up face-to-face by Liz. It’s one thing to not do a clean job like Disco got fired for not doing, but another to refuse to do an angle to set up a situation to give her a program that she didn’t have.
