From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 07/04 Message-ID: <1991Jul4.140118.4493@watmath.waterloo.edu> Date: 4 Jul 91 14:01:18 GMT Sender: news@watmath.waterloo.edu (News Owner) Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 114 - The greatest wrestler in North America (IMO) is no longer working. Ric Flair has been fired by WCW after refusing to take a substantial cut in his salary. Flair was the highest paid wrestler in the group, earning $780000 a year, and was asked to accept a new contract with a salary of $350000 a year. Flair quite understandably balked at this offer, which would remove him from the top salary spot in the organization. "I don't know how they could possibly have expected me to accept this offer," Flair told Alez Marvez of Knight-Ridder Newspapers yeasterday from his home in Charlotte, NC. "Imagine a baseball manager walking up to Jose Canseco and saying, 'Jose, tomorrow we're going to cut your cheque in half.' Would they expect him to say 'Oh fine?'" Flair's attorney, Dennis Guthrie, was notified Monday that WCW would terminate Flair's contract August 1st. All WCW contracts have a clause that allows WCW to end contracts early, with 30 days notice. WCW has already stopped booking Flair. He is essentially shelved for 30 days and is no longer recognized as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. A statement out of WCW's headquarters in Atlanta said, "WCW was unable to reach a mutually satisfactory contractual agreement with Flair and a new champion will be crowned July 14th at the Great American Bash PPV show from Baltimore." "I'm stunned," Flair said. "They had always called me their flagship wrestler." There is some speculation that Flair may move from being WCW's flagship to being the WWF's tugboat, er...they already had one of those, didn't they? Maybe a schooner, then. - The line-up for the WCW Bash PPV on July 14th is: - Barry Windham vs. Lex Luger for the WCW Title in a cage match - Sting vs. Nikita Koloff in a chain match - Freebirds vs. Dustin Rhodes & Young Pistols in an elimination match - Steve Austin & Terry Taylor vs. Bobby Eaton & P.N. News in a scaffold match - Black Blood vs. Big Josh in a lumberjack match - Yellow Dog vs. Johnny B. Badd - One Man Gang vs. El Gigante - Tom Zenk vs. Diamond Studd - Ricky Morton vs. Robert Gibson - Ron Simmons vs. Oz It looks like Lex Luger will finally get his World title reign. It's hard to say that he doesn't deserve it. He's certainly a better choice than Sting ever was, but I'm still feeling a little sunken by the circumstances surrounding Luger's coming into the title. I expect that they'll shuffle Arn Anderson into the line-up somehow. Also, Rick Steiner is noticeably absent from the line-up now that the six man tag team match with the Steiners & Missy Hyatt vs. Arn, Barry, & Paul E. Dangerously has lost two competitors. I'll post a call for predictions, but if too many things change from the above, we'll just scrub the whole the thing. - Speaking of Dangerously, he was rather humourous on the Power Hour on TSN. Because a lot of the commentary is dedicated to the Canadian audience, I don't know if any US viewers will get to hear these remarks, so I thought I'd post them. P.N. News had just finished a match and Paul E., with a decidedly Jewish accent, did some of his own rapping over the replay: "His opponents' futures all look grim But I have a simple question 'bout him I mean, I know the man can sing and I know the man can dance But with a belly like that, how do he make romance? Yo Baby! Yo Baby! Yo!" Jim Ross remarks abour Paul E., "A nice Jewish boy from Scarsdale NY, and you can rap." To which Paul E. responds: "I ain't MC Hammer and I ain't 2 Live Crew Yo, I'm a white boy from Scarsdale I'm just 1 Live Jew. He jumps of the top rope, near or far But Missy's in the back seat of his father's car. Know what I mean? Yo Baby! Yo Baby! Yo! Oy Baby! Oy Baby! Oy!" - Scott Steiner's muscle tear was a little worse than expected. He had surgery yesterday and will be out of the ring for four months. WCW will be declaring the WCW Tag Titles vacant and will hold a tournament to crown the new champions. With the Steiners gone, there are few believable teams left in the organization. I like Dick Murdoch & Dick Slater, I guess. If Hiroshi Hase & Masa Chono come in at the beginning of September, maybe they can get the belts for a stint. Rick Steiner will be teaming with Big Josh in the immediate future. Now there's a great team. ;-) - All Japan Women will be holding a singles tournament with a title shot at Bull Nakano as the prize. I suspect they'll use this to elevate one of the newer girls to main event status. - Rick Rude starts up with All Japan Pro Wrestling this week. - P.N. News was bad news for the Angel Of Death Dave Sheldon late last week. Mr. News tried to execute his "broken record" splash off the top rope onto Sheldon and missed the mark a bit. Sheldon was ready for a chest splash, but News landed on Sheldon's knees. The Angel Of Death will be out for the next six months thanks to News. - With the trial of George Zahorian getting more press, WCW decided to act quickly and fire Dan Spivey. Although insubordination was claimed as the reason for the dismissal, it's speculated that the real reason was Spivey's openness at the trial. Spivey is off to All Japan Pro Wrestling where he'll re-join with Stan Hansen to meet Steve Williams & Terry Gordy for the All Japan Tag Titles. I would think that Williams & Gordy would have to lose the belts since Dr. Death is going to be coming to the WWF in August. Herb... As always, comments, criticisms, and questions are encouraged and appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Herb Kunze : "Whether you like it or you don't like it, Applied Math Department : learn to live with it, 'cause University of Waterloo : it's the best thing going today! hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu : Woooooooh!" hekunze@violet.waterloo.edu : - Ric 'Nature Boy' Flair