Hogan Knows WCW Best

Clash of the Champions was in Las Vegas because that’s where the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention was. WCW did succeed in stealing the spotlight from rivals WWF. Head honcho Vince McMahon, Diesel, The Undertaker, and Jim Ross were all in Vegas for the event, but WCW got much larger crowds at their booth, because they had Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff even gave a speech saying WCW is where the stars are and the Titanic Wrestling Federation has WCW rejects like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Mark Callaway. WWF is still the No 1 promotion in the World, but they definitely didn’t look like it in Las Vegas.

Yokozuna hasn’t been on WWF TV lately because he has been ordered by Vince McMahon to lose weight for his own health, before they’ll let him back on the road. However, he still appeared on WWF’s behalf at the NATPE convention in Las Vegas.

Crusher Jerry Blackwell, died from pneumonia complications at age 45. He was regarded as one of the best big-guy workers ever, but the obesity had led to poor health. He was mostly known for his run in Verne Gagne’s AWA in the early 80s and was one of Hulk Hogan’s frequent early opponents in those days and in fact, he was the first big 400+ pound wrestler to allow Hogan to bodyslam him, which helped get Hogan over as a powerhouse which is the gimmick he still uses today against big monster wrestlers. He also had a run in the WWF in the 70s and feuded with then-champion Bob Backlund.

Rumour has it that The Undertaker is being pushed as the new “Figurehead” of WWF.

WCW wrestler named Frank Anderson, who they mainly use in Europe because he’s famous there, was arrested and convicted on charges of purchasing and possessing HGH growth hormones. Two days after he was convicted, WCW had him filming promos for the upcoming European tour. Basically, it calls into question WCW’s drug policy when a worker is convicted of possessing illegal drugs and not even suspended.

ECW champ Shane Douglas makes waves by trying out for a color commentary slot in the WWF. Douglas is one of the hottest indy stars at the moment and currently holds the ECW World Tag Team titles, the IWCCW Heavyweight title and the PWA Heavyweight championship.

Michael Hayes of Fabulous Freebirds fame also received a tryout for the color commentary slot in WWF. Hayes is currently working for GWF and NWA Dallas, and is the reigning NWA North American Heavyweight champion.

As mentioned before, Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine is putting together a huge show in Japan featuring wrestlers from 11 different promotions. However, this week, a competing magazine called Weekly Gong is trying to put together a similar show on the same night at an arena right next door and has gotten one or two promotions to pull out of the other show and join theirs. They’re also trying to get wrestlers from U.S. promotions like WCW and ECW to appear as well.AJPW has long been an isolationist promotion, refusing to work with anyone else, but they’re even considering getting involved in one of the shows, although they would want their promotion’s match to be the main event and rivals NJPW wants that spot also.

Dan Spivey has signed a contract with WWF, adopting the name “Waylon Mercy” a character based on Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Max Cady in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear. Like Cady, he has jet black hair, white attire with a Hawaiian shirt, and several strange tattoos. The character was introduced on Monday Night Raw through a series of vignettes that always had Spivey speaking in a calm yet sinister manner, finishing with the phrase “Lives are gonna be in Waylon Mercy’s hands. You know what I mean?”

A 22-year-old student training at the New Japan dojo named Hiromitsu Gompei died this week after undergoing brain surgery from injuries suffered in training. Gompei reportedly took a bump wrong on his head during training and was rushed to the hospital and immediately taken into brain surgery, but didn’t survive.

WCW publicizes its firing of the small-but-expendable Brian Armstrong for failing a steroid test. Both WWF and ECW are rumoured to interested in giving Brian Armstrong a tryout.

According to WWF insiders Bret Hart was close to joining The Kliq in September, 1994. Hart was drinking with Nash, Michaels, Hall and Waltman, and that’s when talk of a Kliq started. Nash and Hall wanted Bret to be their figurehead, since he is the WWF Champion. They reasoned that he could fight their corner with management, and they respected him as an in-ring performer. At the time, Nash was on the cusp of being Vince McMahon’s chosen champion. Bret declined the offer and things may have been very different had Bret agreed to the pact. Trying to enlist Bret Hart to The Kliq is also the reason for the frosty relationship between Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash, since Michaels has personal problems with Hart being the bigger draw of the two.

WCW will be raising PPV prices from $24.95 to $27.95, and they’re hoping the increased price won’t lead to less buys.

Following several weeks of negotiations, NJPW wrestlers Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Dean Malenko finally commit to entering WCW, and join the new Cruiserweight Division. The trio had initially been reticent to accept Eric Bischoff’s offers due to his poor track record for handling wrestlers whose appeal is workrate-based. The trio agreed to sign, though, after New Japan’s Masa Saito intimated to them that New Japan their primary source of income at the time would release them should they not sign with its Western business partner. The main behind-the-scenes proponent of hiring the three is Kevin Sullivan, whose latest concept is for WCW to differentiate itself from the WWF by featuring a flank of world-class workers.

ECW tag team Public Enemy (Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge) are rumoured to be on the shortlists of both WCW and WWF. With their wild brawling style, and the inclusion of tables, the team has quickly became one of the more popular acts in the company.

WWF’s new backstage announcer Stephanie Wiand has been pretty much awful and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the company, who have all but taken her off TV for the most part.

John Tenta leaves WCW and moves on. According to our sources Tenta could be returning to WWF to reform The Natural Disasters with Typhoon as Jim Ross is keen to strengthen the tag team division with more top tag teams.

The WWF bolster their tag team division as The Can-Am Express (Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon) have signed a contract and is expected to be managed by Alundra Blayze. WWF head booker Jim Ross hopes that The Can-Am Express will become a key part of the Post-Hogan “New Generation” as WWF continues to push work-rate based workers. The Can-Am Express is rumoured to be put in a storyline with
Sunny and The Bodydonnas.

WCW and Maxx Payne have parted company after his contract expired. Maxx Payne is rumoured to sign with Paul Heyman’s ECW and given a darker character than his WCW gimmick.

NJPW saw a title change last night,as the previously vacant IWGP World Tag Team titles was won by Tarzan Goto and Yoshiaki Yatsu. The titles has been vacant since The Steiners Brothers left NJPW for WCW.

The signings of multimillion-dollar-free-agents Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat have provided a much needed boost in revenue and ratings for WWF. The two aging stars are currently engaged in a heated feud.

Jim Duggan sustained a Broken Jaw during the recent WCW TV tapings. He left the ring under his own power, which indicates he probably will not miss any time with this injury.

On the latest episode of ECW Hardcore TV Paul E. Dangerously referred to the Dangerous Alliance as the greatest gathering of talent ever and that he has a big surprise. At ECW CyberSlam he will debut his next big signing. A Internationally recognized top wrestler and a legitimate contender to the ECW World Heavyweight title. He has found superstar that he will manage in ECW and it is one of the greatest Stars in Pro Wrestling.

The new Number One in Professional Wrestling…

These are the results from WCW Saturday Night, being held by World Championship Wrestling. It is being held in front of 17,000 people at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a Sell Out!

Tony Schiavone, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Eric Bischoff open the show telling us that tonight’s Main Event will be a 3 vs. 3 match between fanfavorites Dustin Rhodes and The Steiner Brothers vs. Meng and Miracle Violence Connection.

Schiavone says that tonights episode could become the greatest and most explosive night in the history of our sport…

A Statement from the Commissioner

Commissioner Nick Bockwinkel makes the announcement that the match between Dustin Rhodes vs. The Blacktop Bully at SuperBrawl V has been changed to a 3 vs. 3 Thundercage Match between Team Rhodes (Dustin Rhodes, Vladimir Koloff and Ray Traylor) vs. The Stud Stable (The Blacktop Bully, Kurosawa and Meng)

Rating: 78 B

Bischoff gave a speech saying WCW is where the stars are while the Titanic Wrestling Federation has WCW rejects like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Mark Callous…

WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament Opening Round

Kid Flash vs. Juventud Guerrera

In a energetic Cruiserweight bout that had high-flying and fast-paced moves, underdog Kid Flash defeated Mexican luchador Juventud Guerrera in a Tournament Opening Round match in 5:43 by pinfall with a quick roll up out of nowhere.

Rating: 61 C

WCW Cruiserweight Title Tournament Opening Round

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Silver King

In a energetic Cruiserweight bout that had high-flying and fast-paced moves, Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Silver King in a Tournament Opening Round match in 6:24 by pinfall with a Top Rope Senton.

Rating: 67 C+

Interview w/ Dustin Rhodes and The Steiners

Backstage, “Mean” Gene Okerlund is with “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes and his buddies The Steiner Brothers. Dustin Rhodes says that they isn’t afraid to wrestle in the main event tonight and that The Stud Stable will fall to his team.

Rating: 84 B+

David Walby vs. Steven Regal

His Lordship tears the jabroni apart for one and a half minutes and really tweaks the arm, even working at the wrist, hand and fingers. David Walby tries to make one of those stupid jobber-esque offensive comebacks, but Regal nails him with some very stiff European Uppercuts and hits a Swinging Neckbreaker. The Regal Stretch ends the squash match. In an stiff squashmatch, Steven Regal defeated David Walby in 1:43 by submission with a Regal Stretch.

Rating: 56 C-

Interview w/ The Stud Stable

Eric Bischoff had an interview with Col. Parker hyping his clients upcoming 3 vs. 3 match with Dustin Rhodes and The Steiner Brothers.

Col. Robert Parker tells us that the Miracle Violence Connection has been around the World winning titles and will take out Dustin Rhodes and The Steiners. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Terry “Bamm Bamm” Gordy hopes that The Steiners are ready to compete tonight. “The Face of Terror” Meng hopes that Ray Traylor watch the match so we will have more witnesses to the slaughter tonight.

Rating: 88 B+

The Nasty Boys vs. The Power Company

Bodybuilder duo The Power Company tries to control the match using their size, but The Nasties starts clubbering away with their stiff and sloppy garbage wrestling. Brian Knobbs drives Dean Power down to the mat with a Running Powerslam and Jerry Saggs hit a Top Rope Elbow Drop for the win. In a bout that had hard-hitting brawling and a good reaction from the crowd, The Nasty Boys defeated The Power Company in 6:28 when Jerry Sags defeated Dean Power by pinfall with a Top Rope Elbow Drop.

Rating: 76 B-

Interview w/ The Nasty Boys

After the match, Mean Gene interviews The Nasties and Jerry Saggs tells Kevin Sullivan and One Man Gang that they better be prepared at SuperBrawl V, because they are going to straight to Nastyville. Brian Knobbs doesn’t think Kevin Sullivan and One Man Gang can beat them in an Philly Street Fight at their home turf in Philadelphia. He also warns Woman that Pity City will be in her future if she gets involved. The Nasties screams and call their opponent fat.

Rating: 91 A

Adam Flash and Bobby Blaze vs. Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Col. Parker

Bam Bam Bigelow really takes his time in the deconstruction of these jobbers with clubbering blows and devastating clotheslines. After a brutal assault on both, he hits the Diving Splash on Bobby Blaze to win, while Col. Parker strut around smiling and puffing his cigar.

But wait!

He demands that the match restarts and hits a Chokeslam and a brutal Release Powerbomb on Adam Flash and has the referee count 3 for that pinfall at 1:31.

Rating: 56 C-

Non-Title Match

Stars ‘n’ Stripes vs. Harlem Heat

WCW Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot at 5:54 when Booker T defeated The Patriot by pinfall with a Heat Bomb.

In a bout that had great wrestling and a decent reaction from the crowd, Harlem Heat defeated Stars ‘n’ Stripes in 5:54 when Booker T defeated The Patriot by pinfall with a Heat Bomb.

After the match, Booker T twice hit a Splash off the top onto Bagwell before Fire and Ice made the save and cleared the ring.

Rating: 78 B

“Mean” Gene Okerlund is promoting the WCW Hotline by teasing a possible plot involving Col. Parker and Harley Race.

SuperBrawl V Control Center

SuperBrawl V Control Center segment hosted by Gene Okerlund.

After a break, we’re with Gene Okerlund.

“Mean Gene” interviews Hulk Hogan and Sting and they vow to have each other’s backs. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan says that everything is on the line at SuperBrawl V. He says whoever wins will have the piece of wrestling for the 1990’s.

Sting puts over Hulkamania and says he is the target in WCW. Sting says everyone wants to get in his face no matter what, but nobody is going to be able to change Sting. Not even Curt Hennig. Sting is confident about winning his match against Curt Hennig at SuperBrawl V.

Hogan warns Sting to watch his back at SuperBrawl V. Hogan does look worried. Sting assures Hogan that he and all The Stingers will believe in him forever and tells Hogan he will watch his back and make sure nothing happens to him. Hogan knows how quickly Vader can break him in half if he isn’t prepared for the big title match. Hogan flexes his muscles to finish off the interview.

“Mean” Gene talk about the upcoming SuperBrawl V and makes the announcement that the following matches will take place at SuperBrawl V:

No. 1 Contenders’ Tag Team Match

The Steiner Brothers vs. Miracle Violence Connection

Philly Street Fight

The Nasty Boys vs. Kevin Sullivan & One Man Gang

Iron Man Match

Sting vs. Curt Hennig

WCW World Tag Team Title Match

Fire and Ice vs. Harlem Heat

Two Out of Three Falls for the WCW United States Title Match

Mystery Opponent vs. Ric Flair

Best of Seven Series Match 5

Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin

Thundercage Match

Dustin Rhodes, Ray Traylor & Vladimir Koloff vs. The Blacktop Bully, Meng & Kurosawa

Thundercage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title

Hulk Hogan vs. Vader

Rating: 95 A*

WCW World Television Title Match

The Great Muta vs. Arn Anderson

Crowd’s hot and the match has a ton of energy and drama! In an exceptional match, The Great Muta drew with Arn Anderson in 15:00 when the time limit expired.

Rating: 75 B-

Interview w/ The Four Horsemen

Curt Hennig considers it an honor to stand next to “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair as the WCW United States champion and “The Enforcer” Arn Anderson as the WCW World Television champion.

Ric Flair believe he is the greatest WCW United States Champion of all time. He says that his “Mystery Opponent” will fail to take the championship away from him.

“To be the man”

“Woooo!”

“You gotta beat the man!” Woooo!”

“It’s time to go to school!”

Curt Hennig wants Sting to show him just how great he thinks he is, because Hennig is in absolutely perfect shape.

“Now Sting, you’re going to see a Perfect-Plex at SuperBrawl.”

All Four Horsemen are confident about winning their matches at SuperBrawl V.

Rating: 95 A*

Dustin Rhodes & The Steiners vs. Meng & Miracle Violence Connection w/ Col. Parker

It’s time for the six man tag team main event! The babyfaces enter the ring and send the heels to the floor to get the early advantage. Rhodes and Slater open the match with Rhodes hammering away on Slater. Buck enters but doesn’t fair any better than Slater. Sting tags in and press slams Buck onto Blacktop Bully. Dustin tags in and clotheslines Bully down to the canvas. It was only a matter of time until the heels got the cheap advantage and they work on Rhodes in their corner. Col. Parker gets a few cheap shots in on the floor as well. Rhodes fights back with a leaping cross body on Bully, but that doesn’t last. Rhodes collides with Bully after a backdrop and tries to make a tag. Savage and Slater the tags. Savage cleans house until Buck comes from behind with a shot to his back.

In a bout that had superb wrestling and good heat, Dustin Rhodes and The Steiner Brothers defeated The Stud Stable (Steve Williams, Terry Gordy and Meng) in 16:19 when Meng was disqualified when The Blacktop Bully ran in and attacked Dustin Rhodes.

Rating: 82 B

Pull Apart Brawl

All seven men begin to fight with Dustin Rhodes taking The Blacktop Bully on the floor. Buck accidentally hits Slater with his boot and Savage comes off the top to hit the elbow drop for the victory. After the match, Sting and Meng almost have a brawl but they are held apart. They are joined by Ray “The Law” Traylor.

Team Rhodes and The Stud Stable are in the ring, and are squaring off, in a wild brawl, with the chaos spilling out all around ringside. Parker draws Sting & Savage away, and the Studd Stable does a brutal 3 on 1 on Dustin. Bully again goes to Piledrive Dustin, but Savage & Sting become wise to Parker’s game and run back to chase off the heels. They help Dustin up and celebrate together.

Eventually a number of officials and other wrestlers have to hit the ring and pull them apart before they kill each other.

Rating: 92 A

Interview w/ Vader

“Mean” Gene Okerlund conducted an interview with Vader, alongside his manager Harley Race, who claimed WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan was filled with fear for the first time in his life at The Clash.

There is no bigger bad ass than Vader. A big, stiff, powerful, muscular, athletic monster from the Rocky Mountains, anyone who gets in his way is destroyed and sent to the hospital for his trouble. Vader is an legend in Japan and due to Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan avoiding him and his title shot, his rage grows stronger than ever. No one can escape the Monster’s wrath.

Vader says that SuperBrawl V is going to be the biggest event in wrestling history. Vader says the fans saw fear in Hogan’s eyes. Hogan is willing to take on any challenger to avoid facing Vader. After months of being ducked, it’s finally Vader time!

Vader calls Hulkamania “crap”, which is censored by TBS.

Harley Race notes that while Hogan may be the man and what makes pro wrestling tick, when you have to stand across the ring from the 400+ Vader and know that it’s no longer about winning, it’s about surviving, that’s fear, and at SuperBrawl V, Vader is going to rock the house.

“Watch out Hogan!”

Rating: 100 A*

Show Rating 87 B+

John Tenta has confirmed that he has recently signed a contract with AJPW, and will be part of their next tour. So it looks like The Natural Disasters tag team isn’t being reformed in WWF at the moment.

The most talked about small promotion in the world right now is ECW. Even WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff is bothered by them, and recently made a comment on TV about how WCW runs arenas, “not bingo halls.” ECW has 2 of the most exciting wrestlers in the world as top stars (Sabu and 2 Cold Scorpio) and has the most creative and innovative TV show in the business. It has a cult following of fans who are rabidly passionate about it.

AJPW about to embark on a new tour, have also completed the signings of Kamala, Dan Spivey, Bobby Fulton, Rob Van Dam and John Nord in order to bolster their roster.

Herb Abrams is supposedly desperate to land a short-term deal for a weekly time slot on ESPN 2 to prevent UWF from going under.

D-Lo Brown extends his deal with WWF.

On TV this week, Eric Bischoff buried Jean Paul Levesque, talking about how “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright beat him several times and how a lot of people thought Levesque would be a big deal, but turned
out he was just another guy who couldn’t cut it in this business and ended up in the Titanic Wrestling Federation with the other WCW rejects.

WWF World champion Bret Hart has chosen to relocate and resides in Florida. This makes him a ideal worker for WCW and rumour has it that he is on Eric Bischoff’s shortlist.

Eric Bischoff wants to run his own UFC-type events and is negotiating with Rickson Gracie while in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago at The Clash Of The Champions. Gracie apparently wants a huge
guaranteed amount of money to do it, but word is WCW is still strongly considering it and want Meng and Craig Pittman to participate in the event.

According to behind-the-scenes sources, ECW owner Paul Heyman and Jim Cornette of SMW are said to have had some angry exhanges over the past week, and for all intensive purposes the two companies are now firmly locked in a state of war after Cornette accused Heyman of trying to steal his star workers.

Paul Wight, the 7’2, 440-pounder who was recently backstage at a WCW show, is reportedly being brought in under the name Paul Bunyan. He’s currently training in the WCW Power Plant for his debut. Hulk Hogan wants a new Andre The Giant-type heel for him to face and this is likely to be the guy.

It’s rumored that Jesse Ventura will be returning to commentary in WWF. It’s thought that bringing back Ventura is also part of an out-of-court settlement for the $1 million that WWF owes him after losing the lawsuit with him last year. Ventura’s current WCW deal expires at the beginning of March and he’s currently making $5,000 per week to sit at home and do nothing, so if he does return to WWF, he won’t be coming in before that expires.

“British Bruiser” Johnny Smith signs with ECW as one of Paul Heyman’s new backbone work-rate workers.

Gary Plummer of the San Francisco 49ers was on a radio show and said that, after their SuperBowl win, Vince McMahon offered him $30,000 to wear a WWF hat and say on camera that he was going to celebrate by going to Wrestlemania. Plummer turned down the offer. Reportedly, his teammate Ken Norton Jr. accepted the deal.

AAA and WCW engaged in some business last night, with Ric Flair and Meng being loaned out to AAA for a one-shot appearance on an upcoming AAA show.

The New York Daily News reported that Lawrence Taylor was paid over $100,000 for participating in the angle at the Royal Rumble and would be paid another $100,000+ to work in an angle at Wrestlemania.

Pancrase 16 report! Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling held Pancrase 16 last night in Toda Sports Center, and drew 3,230 fans. The feedback has been that the show was awesome. Performance of the night belonged to Ken Shamrock after defeating Victor Mar (known as Black Cat in AAA). In the main event of the show Masakatsu Funaki defeated Masayuki Naruse to retain the King of Pancrase title.

Diesel is participating in a celebrity slam dunk contest in conjunction with the NBA All-Star game and will also take part in an MTV celebrity softball game.

Brian Pillman has been in California and being part of a ‘Baywatch’ episode.

WWF turned down a Make-A-Wish request to have Bret Hart visit a terminally ill 11-year-old boy. Usually, the sick children come to the arena but in this case, the kid is too sick to leave his home and WWF’s policy is that they don’t let wrestlers go to someone’s house like that. Naturally, the refusal made front page news in Worcester, MA and WWF got a ton of negative heat for it. So the next day, WWF responded and said that while they still wouldn’t authorize Hart to visit the boy at his home, they would have Bret give him a phone call, which got yet more negative press in the paper the next day.

In a recent newspaper article, WWF’s publicist was quoted telling all sorts of lies. For starters, he claimed that the WWF is a $200 million dollar-per-year company. When they testified in court earlier this year, the number they gave under oath was $100 million and claimed that at their peak in the 80s, the company was grossing $500 million per year. In reality, their best year ever was $186 million. They also claimed the steroid trial cost the company $4 million in legal fees, when it was actually only $3 million.