______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - I want to thank everybody that e-mailed me regarding my write-up on Owen Hart last week. There are a few updates and one correction that I want to present on the death of Owen Hart. I'll also talk about the death beyond these highlighted updates, so please read beyond following list. I'll include some additional info from the Observer here and there. * Correction: In last week's column, I should have said that Brian Pillman's last "live TV" match was against Owen Hart. * Jerry Lawler did his bit to explain how the death occurred. He said that Owen's rig had a single release on the shoulder. When the rig and wire were put on and connected, Owen couldn't wear his cape because it would get in the way. So, after getting connected, the cape was handed to him. He was presumably suspended horizontally, belly down, reaching back to get the cape and tie it around his neck. Either the cape or his hand hit the release button and he fell. Lawler also committed some intellectual dishonesty in discussing the death (more below). * The Observer reported that Owen fell head first, landing on the turnbuckle and bouncing into the ring. A newspaper report said that his legs almost whacked the referee on top of the head, but the ref just managed to scurry out of the way. * Martha Hart & Bret Hart were on Larry King Live on Monday night for a brief interview. Transcript (excuse any formatting anomalies; I simply plucked the html source from CNN's site): KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. Joining us from Calgary, Alberta, Canada is Martha Hart, the widow of Owen Hart, and Bret "The Hitman" Hart, the brother of Owen Hart. The funeral was today. Both spoke at that ceremony; 450 people were inside the church. That's all it could hold. Almost half had to stand. There were 3,000 outside. Martha, did you realize how popular your husband was? MARTHA HART, OWEN HART'S WIDOW: Well, I always hoped he -- he was that popular, and he did travel internationally, so I knew that he was world-renowned, yes. KING: Bret, did you know it? BRET HART, OWEN HART'S BROTHER: Yes. KING: It seems in death his fame is, like, incredible? B. HART: No. You know what? Everybody's a closet wrestling fan, you know. But people watch wrestling -- people watch wrestling everywhere. And you know, I -- I know just having, you know, walking through airports and everywhere I go, people r KING: Martha, we don't know yet of course what happened. And there'll still be an inquiry as to cause and how the accident occurred, but you said today, "the day of reckoning will come." What were you referring to? M. HART: Well, I wish I could tell you, but I have been advised by counsel not to, so I have no comment on that. KING: It's a strong word, though, reckoning? M. HART: It is. KING: All right. Can we expect from that statement, Bret, that this story will get bigger before it gets lesser? B. HART: Yes. I think that we're going to, you know, both of us and I think my whole family and, you know, we do want some answers, and, you know, I don't think that's unfair for us to expect that. KING: Vince McMahon will be on this show next Thursday night. And your brother wrestled for him, right, Bret? B. HART: Yes, he did. KING: I mean, that's who he worked for the -- he was also a critic of the World Wrestling Federation at the same time, was he not? B. HART: My brother Owen? KING: Yes. B. HART: Yes, I don't think Owen or I was very content with the direction that Vince McMahon took wrestling. I think that, you know, wrestling was always something that we took a lot of pride in, at least in my family. It was something that was It's a shame in a way, because Vince McMahon was actually the guy that sort of took it and brought it up to that level again, and then he took a radical course in a different direction, and it's become something very sleazy, and something that it' KING: Did Owen -- Martha did, Owen talk to you about this increased sexual attention and making this the -- playing up the sex aspect and the -- even more violent, the shows and the kind of show they put on? Was he against that? M. HART: Yes, he was. He -- we talked about it, and I think even he was more against it because I was so against it. And I let him know that, you know, I didn't think it was good, and we have a different kind of a lifestyle, Owen and I had a di And I didn't think that it was proper for him to be in that kind of a role when he is a family man and, you know, has to see these people every day, these friends of ours and answer to them and unfortunately, people in the wrestling world, when th KING: Bret, do you feel the same way? B. HART: Absolutely. I have, you know, my kid stopped watching wrestling. I had, you know, I left under a dark cloud of, you know, very bad circumstances. I left the WWF two years ago. KING: I know. B. HART: And, you know, my kid stopped watching before I left. I know Martha's two children stopped watching. And I always thought that it was a shame because I think Vince McMahon, almost like, he built his company on the backs of little childr KING: Martha, was Owen thinking of leaving? M. HART: No he wasn't. I mean he was basically happy there. He had a two-year contract -- he had a five-year contract with two years left to go with one optional year, but he'd hoped to stay there, but maybe just reduce his schedule slightly, s KING: Has World Championship Wrestling, the other big promotion in the field, helped any in the fact that it runs its matches a little differently, Bret? B. HART: I can't tell you what a difference is between the two companies. You know, there's a distinct difference in the class between one company and the other. Like, for example, when I found out about this horrible tragedy, I was met at the KING: That's World Championship Wrestling? He was on the show that night. B. HART: Yes. And he also told me, he said -- which is so kind -- and I've never had another promoter ever say this to me. He said, take all the time you need. And I just, you know, it's situations like that are sort of unheard of in wrestling, and I do want Eric Bischoff to know and the people in the WCW that I really do appreciate it. My family appreciates it. We have got all of these fans all around KING: Martha, how are the kids doing? M. HART: Well, our children are seven. And my daughter is -- she'll just be going on to four. So they really don't have their arms around it right now. They just don't have a grasp of what's happened. But I would also like to thank Kansas City KING: Can we assume, since you mentioned reckoning and the legal advice, that -- we only have 30 seconds, Martha, that we will see some lawsuits out of this? M. HART: Well, I don't think it's ever safe to assume anything, so I think time will tell, and we'll just have to wait and see. KING: But we would not be shocked, right, Bret? B. HART: I don't think so. I don't think anyone would be too shocked at that. I think that what happened here was absolutely awful and should never have happened, and someone certainly should answer for it. KING: Thank you both very much. On a sad day, we appreciate your coming on. M. HART: Thank you. KING: Martha Hart, the widow and Bret "The Hitman" Hart, the brother of the late Owen Hart. Thanks for joining us on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Good night. This led to some flaming e-mail suggesting that I was way off-base for writing that "Every newspaper reported that Owen was going to leave wrestling in two years when his WWF contract ran out," with the papers generally referencing a family member as the source. E-mail flames said that Martha would be more "in the know" than Owen, so we should accept that he was happy and wanted to stay on. Well, as a batch of newspaper clippings arrived in today's mail, wouldn't you know one had quotes from Owen on the matter: "I tried one hardcore match like that, and I got hit with a guitar, and it cut me for a bunch of stitches. So I spoke up about it and said, 'I don't want any part of that anymore.' I'm under contract and I wrestle for the WWF, but I'm not going to risk myself to become popular with the fans with a bunch of gimmick matches where I could get seriously injured. I just want to finish my contract and enjoy spending time with my family." The tabloids also had articles on Owen. The Star reported that Martha and Owen "had recently made a pact that he would retire in two years." Diana Smith reiterated that he was marking the calendar as 2001 approached and his contract ended. * In The Star, Diana Smith said that "the family does not hold WWF responsible. `Accidents happen,' she says. `Owen was very careful. He never did anything if he thought it was unsage. It was just a senseless accident.'" This blurb doesn't jibe well with most of what we've seen and heard. In the days after the death, Bret Hart and Martha Hart, for example, were extremely compassionate in saying that Vince was also feeling terrible about the death and in inviting him to the funeral, etc., but it seems clear that they also expected accountability from Vince. * The Observer also reported that Owen viewed his Blue Blazer role as punishment because he playing the role that would be the butt of jokes and jabs at WCW, but he decided that he would make the best of it and go for laughs. * Finally, the Observer cleared up my confusion over Owen's WCW appearance. In fact, he was in for two weeks in 1991 before returning to the WWF. Prior to that, when Owen worked stints in New Japan (and elsewhere) he did so because he could earn the same money as in the WWF, be with his family for just as many days of the year, and work better matches. I'm sure everybody who writes stuff on the web on a page with some traffic gets a mix of praise and flames in his e-mail. I think the praise usually outnumbers the flames because like-minded people keep coming back, while others get pissed and move on. A long time ago, though, I noticed quite clearly that my flames boiled down to the same three or four characters, who steadfastly found ways to praise all things WWF and criticize all things WCW. I've seen that same attitude on the net at large, particularly when readers e-mail me clips from other web pages or from the newsgroups; I don't have the time to check into those things myself any more, and I actually find it more fun to just do my own thing. I needed a phrase to describe that mindset, and the obvious choice was "WWF cheerleaders." I find it weird when they suggest that I'm a WCW cheerleader even though I lambast that promotion quite regularly. Indeed, the great majority of the praising e-mail first off states that they like my balanced criticisms in the quest for great wrestling anywhere. Anyhow, the point of this rambling is to address the WWF cheerleaders' complaints with what I wrote last week about Owen Hart. I was told I missed the "beauty" of last week's RAW and that I was offbase for suggesting that it was indecent to continue the PPV after Owen had fell to his death. One idiot e-mailed me to say that when he saw Stu Hart on the news he knew he was looking at a child abuser who he suggested didn't deserve anything but disdain. That's up there with the jackass who suggested that Owen committed suicide. Several people e-mailed me the writings of a web cheerleader, who laid into me quite strongly by saying that I "star rated" the wrestlers who said stuff about Owen and calling my discussion of RAW "sketchy." I guess when you are a WWF cheerleader looking for a way to praise your deity, when all else fails you have to credit the guy you want to flame with a load of stuff he didn't write; when in doubt, make it up, or as Jesse Ventura said, cheat. One reader encouraged me to answer in kind, but that isn't my style. Well, that brings us to the point. Let's look at the facts. 1. Owen was suspended above the ring by a single wire with a single release latch. 2. When the latch released and Owen fell to his death, he was treated in the ring for roughly fifteen minutes, before being delivered dead to the hospital. Revised news reports now say he was dead at the scene or that he died instantly. 3. As soon as Owen was out of the ring, the show continued. 4. A Viewer's Choice representative reported that the WWF crew was on autopilot when he phoned to see if the show should be stopped. 5. The fans in Kemper Arena were never told that Owen was dead. 6. The PPV then aired a taped segment of Vince McMahon being loaded into an ambulance to further the main event storyline. 7. Approximately one hour after the fall, Jim Ross told the PPV audience that Owen Hart had died. He said the show must go on. 8. Immediately following that announcement, they aired a promo package that began with HHH sledghammering a casket. 9. Vince called Martha Hart immediately. He had WWF Canada Prez Carl DeMarco call Stu Hart at 1am EST. Later, Vince called Stu. 10. When interviewed that night, Vince McMahon said that Owen would have wanted the show to go on, for his fans to be entertained. 11. When interviewed that night or the next day, Vince said that he thought Owen must have released himself by accident. 12. When interviewed, various Harts said that it was indefensible that the show continued. Owen's sister Ellie said that Owen probably would have wanted the show to go on, but that she thought it should have been stopped. 13. Vince promised a full investigation and said that stunt would never occur in the WWF again. He said that this stunt has been done in Hollywood and at other entertainment events. 14. The media reports, both Canadian and American, roundly criticized the WWF for continuing the pay-per-view to the point that reports on Tuesday mentioned that the WWF received broad criticism. 15. Eric Bischoff met Bret Hart at the end of the flight he was own and immediately flew him home to Calgary, telling him to take as long as he needs to handle his affairs. 16. The WWF's web page was updated Monday to announce Owen's death, delete his bio, and mention RAW would be a two-hour tribute show. 17. RAW featured numerous canned interviews with WWF employees talking about Owen. 18. RAW opened with a ten bell tribute to Owen with a prepared video piece narrated by Vince McMahon. 19. Jim Ross plugged the Alberta Children's Hospital for charitable donations. 20. Jim Ross mentioned that the funeral would take place on 05/31. 21. Ten live matches were scheduled. Several wrestlers used an Owen Hart gesture, word, or move. The usual vulgarity wasn't there. 22. The show ended with Steve Austin toasting Owen. 23. The Canadian swing of the tour that was slated for the week following Owen's death was cancelled. 24. Viewer's Choice dropped the rebroadcast of the PPV, in agreement with the WWF. 25. On 05/25, the 05/31 episode of RAW was taped. It returned to the usual formula, minus any wires. 26. During the week, various Hart interviews aired, with Stu Hart, for example, saying that Vince would have to be held accountable. 27. The funeral took place on 05/31. All WWF personnel was invited. 28. In her emotional statement at the funeral, Martha promised a day of reckoning. 29. Owen's widow directly asked Vince not to use footage of the funeral on RAW that evening. The WWF did show WWF stars entering the cathedral and spent a few minutes talking about the funeral. 30. Bret & Martha were on Larry King Live that evening, evading the question of a lawsuit. I've probably left off a point or two, but I don't think there's anything that would sway one to think one way or the other. Looking at the facts, what sort of conclusions does one come to? Let's step through things. I'll type a (#) when the current text is related to that point in the above list. I wanted the list to stand alone unobstructed by any discussion. Clearly listed facts have a way of slapping one in the face. (1& 13) The lack of safety considerations is obvious. Did Owen really have to come down on a single wire with a single release? Sting's descent has always been in a secure harness. Other entertainment settings also wouldn't care if the person descending could free himself in a split second or, like Sting, need much more time to remove the harness. In Hollywood stunts, they might use nets or airbags. They all might use a second secure line. The big difference, of course, between Hollywood or other glitzy stunts is that the person performing the stunt is a trained stunt man. In the local paper, a stunt man was interviewed and said that the parameters of Owen's stunt were such that only a 10-year stunt veteran should have done it. I don't see how you can argue against WWF negligence in the matter. This is where I should mention Jerry Lawler's intellectual dishonesty. He had the nerve to equate Owen's rigging with Sting's and even with his own from a 1983 stunt. Everybody should realize what bullshit that is. And anybody who tries to defend the WWF on this point by saying that Owen agreed to do the stunt may be pushing individual responsibility for actions, but he is also ignoring the legal responsibilities of employers not to needlessly and carelessly risk the lives of their employees. Blaming Owen in this way boils down to a vacuous swerve that any reasonable person would discard. (3& 4 & 10 & 12) Was continuing the show the "right" thing to do? Did autopilot take over? Since (9) Vince called Martha immediately, shouldn't he have asked her what she wanted him to do? Instead he presupposed what Owen would want, not bothering to ask the family's wishes. Was it a crazed autopilot deal as the VC guy said or did Vince actually stop to think about what Owen would want? It can't be both. (5) If the show continued despite Owen's death because Vince believed Owen would have wanted that, why didn't the live crowd get an announcement of his death? Would Owen not have wanted that? (7) Why did PPV viewers sit in a daze for an hour before Jim Ross finally mentioned the accident again? It does seem like the decision makers were on autopilot - hey, wrestling is a business where the bad stuff is ignored, 'cause that makes it go away, right? "Autopilot" might also explain why certain elements (6 & 8) of the PPV aired. If it was autopilot, why didn't Vince just say so later? Why would he bring up Owen's memory? Was it an attempt to position the promotion as a babyface? It has been argued that Vince should have continued the show so that he wouldn't have to deal with the refunds when his attention was really needed in other areas. That's an obvious fallacy, since Vince surely doesn't handle any aspect of the refunds personally. Speaking of handling things personally, (9) why have Carl DeMarco call Stu? That was a slap in Stu's face. The Observer actually reports that Bruce Hart answered the phone when DeMarco called. The WWF publicly claimed that they waited an hour to announce the death (7) because they were trying to reach all of the Hart family members. But Stu, at home, wasn't called until two hours after the show ended and was then only called by a flunky. Vince called 90 minutes after a furious Bruce told off DeMarco. If bringing up Owen's memory was meant to be a positive thought from a thoughtful man, why blame Owen for releasing himself (11) before any investigation could be done, all the while hiding behind false comparisons to Hollywood and other entertainment events (see first paragraph). If Vince was so thoughtful, why didn't he ask Martha if the show should continue? Why didn't he himself call Stu ASAP? Was he on autopilot? If so, why did he manage to position his company as a babyface and manage to sneak in some blame accusations on Owen? The mind reels. (17 & 18 & 19 & 20 & 21) On RAW the next night, they had the tribute show. I was flamed for not seeing the "beauty" of the show. Somebody even fantasized that I star-rated the statements about Owen. There was a lot of real emotion on RAW. Mick Foley. Jeff Jarrett. Road Dogg. Somehow, the cheerleaders would have us believe that the wrestlers came together to create this tribute show, I guess, or that the promotion has the noblest and most honest intentions in creating it. But the most emotional guys (the latter two on the above list) said that it was too early to talk about Owen. I was personally offended by Lawler & Ross saying that wrestling in the ring was what these guys needed to do to deal with their grief. Maybe they would deal with it that way and maybe not, but Lawler & Ross have no credentials to make such a statment. I received a lot of e-mail saying that most of the tribute statements rang hollow and sounded insincere. I didn't say that last week. I was just annoyed by the thoughtlessness of most of the statements. That doesn't mean that I want to tell anybody who knew Owen how to grieve. Far from it. I wonder about the sensitivitiy of a company that would ask the wrestlers to say something on tape when they likely had no time to think about what they wanted to say. I felt bad for somebody like Debra who sat in front of the camera and babbled. Was that a fitting tribute to Owen? Bruce Hart went further in the Observer, "I was even more furious after watching that sanctimonious crap on television. Vince was trying to absolve his conscience and I thought it was a fucking travesty. I felt it was heartfelt from some of the wrestlers. I thought that they had the show at all was tasteless. [...] Everyone in our family was disgusted. The wrestlers were mostly heartfelt. Nobody at the house missed that it was Vince McMahon damage control. The show was all about making Vince feel good about himself and not facing the fact that they just killed somebody. It was the same total bullshit as what they did with Pillman's wife. [...] It really makes me sick that he was trying to turn it into a celebration. It takes all the focus off that they killed somebody and now he's trying to turn it into a celebration and the poor brainwashed marks will feel better because they're celebrating someone's life instead of having to be pissed off about somebody's death. And now they're putting all the heat on Owen, how he pushed the release buttong himself. It's an easy cop out and that'll be that and they can go on with the show. I was moved by some of the boys, particularly Mankind and Jeff Jarrett. They were legit. The foundation of the show wasn't and it was done to take the focus away from what happened." Okay, so maybe Bruce is way off base and the intention of the tribute show was to honour Owen. That's the argument that the flamers wanted me to believe. The Observer reports that, in talking with various people from both companies, "one [WWF] wrestler did say that they felt so much of it was phony with people who didn't like him saying how much they loved him and how they were family." For me, (22) the fact that they ended RAW with Austin drinking a beer "in honour of" Owen and that they showed that as a lead-in to the Owen tribute on the weekend shows underscores that the tribute was not (just) about Owen. Any idiot knows that the tribute was also about damage control, avoiding a huge wrongful death lawsuit, and pushing the top babyface in the promotion, even if he hated Owen. I feel sorry that guys who really seemed to be emotional wrecks, like Jeff Jarrett and Road Dogg, were put in the ring the night of his death and the night after and were stuck in front of a camera to pour their hearts out when, as Road Dogg himself said, it was too early to talk about things. When Road Dogg's comments aired again on the Canadian version of Shotgun on the weekend, they edited his video. Given Vince's past, the industry we are talking about, and my general cynical nature (which I like to think is really only being realistic), I admit that it's through lawsuit-coloured glasses that I watched the Owen Hart tribute stuff on RAW. It seemed like the company wanted to do that to protect itself by taking the initial babyface position should there be a lawsuit. The show was hardly the wrestlers gathering and wanting to share their emotions on the matter. It was a publicity stunt, capped off with a photo op for Austin. The Observer writes, "There were many people who thought the final five minutes, in particular having Austin, who had been so vociferous since late 1997 about hating Hart and had told many people over the years that he thought Hart hurt him deliberately and has some Hart family members upset with his comments on Owen in Rolling Stone, doing a beer tribute did come off as something designed more to get the company over than something based in sincerity." The only defence I've been given for having Austin come out to toast Owen is that the company had to have its top babyface involved in the tribute. Reread that again and you'll see it is an admission that the tribute wasn't about Owen as much as it was about rehabbing the promotion. The defenders of the WWF's sincerity, however strongly that sincerity can be questioned to this point in the tale, would then argue that (23 & 24) the cancellation of various shows during the week were based on that sincerity, not public image. I guess it's a possible conclusion, but is it really a reasonable one? You might still say "maybe" -- the cheerleaders say "of course!" -- until we jump ahead one week. (27 & 28 & 29) The WWF aired footage of Owen's funeral at the open of RAW on 05/31 even though Martha Hart had asked them not to. Why? Sincerity? Would Owen have wanted it even though Martha didn't? Autopilot? A hardcore cynic would suggest that the WWF spent a lot of money flying wrestlers and spouses to the funeral and needed some return on that investment. I wouldn't go that far, but surely the footage and discussion at the beginning served as more babyface material. For the record, neither Steve Austin nor Earl Hebner were at the funeral because they didn't want old heat to make people uncomfortable. This agains begs the question of why Austin toasted Owen on RAW. (28 & 30) I've been asked in e-mail what I think should happen for there to be some justice for the Harts. Nothing can replace the father that Oje & Athena lost, the husband that Martha lost, the brother and son who was lost. In my opinion, that loss is directly due to the negligence of the WWF brought on by a desire to goof on WCW and spoof Hulk Hogan. A wrongful death lawsuit seems certain and strong. So, WWF cheerleaders, here's the challenge. In order to defend the WWF on this one, you've got to deal with the following points, detailed above. * Owen Hart being put on a wire that was more dangerous than any wire rigging ever used in pro-wrestling just so he wouldn't fumble with the release for a few extra seconds in the ring. * Jerry Lawler's intellectual dishonesty to smear the truth, saying that the stunt had been performed a hundred times because he included Sting's totally different stunt in his tally. * Vince calling Martha immediately, but not asking her if he should stop the show, and then stating that the show continued because Owen would have wanted it. * Stu being called two hours after the show. Vince not calling until three-and-a-half hours after the show. * Vince suggesting that the death was due to Owen's mistake after announcing that an investigation would be made. * Criticisms of the sincerity of RAW the next night (not just by me), including the criticisms of an anonymous WWF wrestler. * Steve Austin's toast to Owen, ending a show that was "all about Owen." * Vince airing footage of the funeral when Martha directly asked him not to. That's not even a complete list. For your benefit, I've italizied the points that are particularly troubling. Maybe you can deal with one or two of the above items by appealing the chaos of the moment, etc. But even if one item can't be defended, you're screwed! Sincerity is a funny virtue, you see; in the eyes of a reasonable person, the items listed above (and those omitted) are like dominos: if one falls, the rest are more likely than not to fall with them. The challenge is to look at the facts and come up with a defence if you feel the need to cheerlead this time out. And don't read between the lines and credit me with shit I didn't say. Try to rise to the intellectual challenge, be it on e-mail or on the web. For what it is worth, I think it really sucks that the wrestling industry has such a crappy track record that it creates in its fans a desire to excuse atrociously indefensible behaviour like the highlighted items above. Try to create an analogy to some other field that you know a lot about and ask yourself if a reasonable person in that world would even question the indefensibility of the above items ported to that framework. - RAW on 05/31/99 aired live in Canada on TSN. I should perhaps mention that we now get Sunday Night Heat in Canada on CTV SportsNet, live each week. I thought that Heat on 05/30/99 was a good show, better than a typical RAW. RAW opened with footage of Owen Hart's funeral service, even though Martha Hart asked Vince personally not to air any footage. Every newscast on the funeral showed Hulk Hogan arriving and also showed Davey Boy Smith crying, but the RAW footage showed only WWF wrestlers arriving. That's not a surprise. I can't wait for the justifications for airing the footage on RAW when Martha asked Vince not to. Back from a commercial break, we can finally moved on from the death of Owen and delivered the same raunchy product as always. But don't worry, nobody will be suspended from the ceiling any more, as if that was the problem. Secure riggings aren't an issue at all, but that fact would lead to too many questions that the WWF wouldn't want to answer. Wrestling is a horrible world when it comes to facing up to demons. The Corporate Ministry hit the ring and did their usual interview. The Undertaker's cross, er, symbol was carried to the ring by some "druids." Vince came out to say that the Ministry screwed Austin. No, Vince, Austin screwed Austin. Ooops, story line flashback. Vince said Undertaker would fight Vince this night, but Shane said it wouldn't be a title match. Who makes the matches? Who knows? At least there are fewer choices than in WCW, which is totally screwed on that issue. The audio was out of sync with the video, so RAW was sort of like a Hong Kong chop socky movie that was badly dubbed. Vince said he would take on the Undertaker too, and Shane said that if Vince won an interference-free match against Undertaker then Austin's match would be for the WWF title. As the Ministry was leaving the ring, one of his druids lifted his hood to reveal Steve Austin. The sound guy knew this, I guess, so he hit Austin's music just before the unveiling. The Union came out to support him. Afterwards, Jerry Lawler explained that that was the only touch of Undertaker that Austin might get tonight. JR jumped on that and quickly explained that Austin vs. Undertaker was on no matter what, but that it wouldn't be a title match if Vince lost. Furthermore, Austin would never get a title shot again if Vince lost. Big Slow faced Billy Gunn. Gunn took Slow down by dropkicking his knee. Gunn was counted out at 2:56, with Road Dogg chasing him back into the ring where Slow hit the Slow Stopper. We cut from Big Slow to Beaver Cleavage and his mom, with the TSN censors getting nervous and killing it before any words came out. Off to Slam Jam, with Kevin Kelly hosting in a somber voice and plugging Owen's charity again. The stooges tried to explain to Vince that he was in a no-win situation. Christian faced Beaver Cleavage, in his WWF debut. Christian came out surrounded by the circle of fire, so I guess the WWF safety experts think that they are handling that dangerous scene immaculately. This gave Lawler the chance to tell us he likes Beaver. Intelligent double entendres are great, aren't they? I'll point out when the first one occurs. Beaver's mom scolded Christian after the Beav had laid him out. Christian hit a great top rope elbow. The Hardy Boyz & Michael Hayes came out, distracted Christian, and Beaver got the win with a reverse suplex at 3:48. Christian did a tope on the Boyz & Hayes, with Gangrel & Edge coming out for the save. This was a great TV segment. Cleavage's gimmick has really good campy potential. The both did some nice high spots. Cleavage look bigger than he did as a Headbanger. Jeff Jarrett challenged Godfather for the IC Title. Debra was supposed to be a ho from a previous story line, so they brought that up here. Godfather tried for some sort of move while Jarrett was on the rope, but ended up going over the top. I've got to say that Godfather is the only good character that Charles Wight has ever had. He still stinks as a wrestler, but his shtick is funny (and tasteless). He hit his ho train splash. He did the big foot to the face. I think a leg drop was next, but Debra ended up distracting him. You'd think that a guy who pimps all over the US wouldn't get distracted by an old, implanted chick. One of the hos got on the apron and stripped to her bikini top. She was way hotter than Debra. She distracted the Godfather more; at least he has taste. JJ whacked Godfather with the women's belt and got the pin, winning the title. Afterwards, Godfather was in the ring, with the hos on all fours trying to console him. We saw this shot over JJ's shoulder as JJ & Debra were heading up the ramp. The guys at ringside were straining to soak in the best panty shot possible. Why does that make me think of Sanjay? Match ran 3:42. As 10:00pm EST approached, the Undertaker came out for his match with Vince McMahon. If Vince failed to win an interference-free bout, Austin would never get a title shot again. They showed Austin watching on a monitor backstage. Vince got in some punches after a low blow. Undertaker rallied quickly, though. Matches with nonwrestlerrs are bad. Undertaker kept throwing the referee aside, which led to the DQ at 2:13. Gee, don't say that you didn't see that one coming. JR pushed it as Vince purposely driving the Undertaker to snap. The stooges came in to save. Maknind cut a great interview asking Hunter Hearst Helmlsey to face him tonight. Big Boss Man faced Road Dogg based on the challenge at Heat the night before. Boss Man got DQed by Teddy Long for using the night stick. After being disarmed by the referee, Boss Man pulled out a chain and choked Road Dogg. I'm telling you that Road Dogg should have grabbed Boss Man by the hair! He could have run around anywhere he wanted. Match went a whopping 1:49. X-Pac & Kane faced the Acolytes in a tag title match. Match was bad. Bradshaw doesn't sell worth a damn. He's worse than Rock in that regard. Kane was trying to chokeslam Faarooq, but Bradshaw made the save. Kane tagged in X-Pac and chokeslammed Faarooq. X-Pac went for the bronco buster, meeting chair instead. X-Pac got pinned. What horrible world tag team champions. You know, that last sentence applies to all of the North American promotions any time in recent memory. Match ran 4:45. Val Venis faced Ken Shamrock. Match was shot and uneventful. Jeff Jarrett & Debra came out, distracting Shamrock, who lost by a quick pin in 2:26. This led to Venis chastising Nicole Bass for not protecting him. Mankind faced HHH in a hardcore match. Hardcore matches stink much more often than not. Somehow, though, Mankind seems to have a way of making things real. This wasn't one of those occasion. Mick Foley is so banged up and so badly needs time off that he's surviving on past reputation and psychology. Luckily, the point of this match seemed to be to give Mick a vacation to heal up. HHH used a sledgehammer on Mankind's knee and got the pin at 6:31. He laid into Mankind a bit more after the match, with Rock making the save. Undertaker faced Steve Austin for the WWF Title. On Heat, Undertaker promised that he would give "the Great Pumpkin," er, "the Greater Power" what he had promised him. Match was better than usual for these guys, with Austin working very hard and doing a bit more legitimate stuff than usual. Finish was crap, but it was what anybody would have expected: DQ because the Ministry ran in. Time was 7:15. With all of the Ministry in the ring and Shane nowhere to be found, it seemed like Jerry Lawler's insinuations that the Greater Power was Shane may have been the plan. But, wait, that was Lawler's suggestion, so it has to be wrong. A druid walked out. No, wait, that ain't no druid, it's...it's...it's the Greater Power! You figure he'd have better duds than a druid. GP approached Austin and revealed himself, with Austin saying "son of a bitch." JR said that Austin looked like he's seen a ghost. We didn't find out who the Greater Power was. Suggestion is that it will turn out to be Linda McMahon, 'cause every married man knows the old joke that his wife is the greater power. That wouldn't explain Austin's gasping reaction. Maybe it will be his ex-wife. That's a joke. My prediction: the Greater Power's identity will be disappointing to everybody but the WWF cheerleaders. The WWF scripters are running out of ideas because the hot "Vince as heel" era is over; the Union vs. Corporate Ministry is hardly going to generate the same anticipation. Tally time: 35:25 of bell-to-bell action. This gives RAW a rare win in the average bell-to-bell wrestling war. The WWF is currently running King of the Ring qualifier matches on Heat. The tournament bracketing is as follows. (Total match time to date is 8:57.) Qualifier ______________________________________________________________________ Quarters ______________________________________________________________________ Semis ______________________________________________________________________ Final ______________________________________________________________________ Semis ______________________________________________________________________ Quarters ______________________________________________________________________ Qualifier ______________________________________________________________________ Billy Gunn Road Dogg Billy Gunn (05/30 Heat, 2:04 pin) Viscera ______________________________________________________________________ Godfather ______________________________________________________________________ Jeff Jarrett Chyna Ken Shamrock (05/30 Heat, 2:54 SB) Ken Shamrock ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Val Venis ______________________________________________________________________ Big Slow Al Snow Bob Holly (05/30 Heat, 1:22 pin) Droz ______________________________________________________________________ Bob Holly ______________________________________________________________________ Test Big Boss Man X-Pac (05/30 Heat, 2:37 pin) Kane ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ X-Pac ______________________________________________________________________ Nitro Nitro on 05/31/99 aired in full Wednesday afternoon on TSN. Nitro opened with Raven talking a walk in the parking lot. We don't know why; we don't need to know. Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow attacked him. They recapped last week's show with a video package. Maybe they will do a young guys vs. old guys bit. The Observer reports that Eric Bischoff was mad that a few of the young guys detoured from their scripts and said more negative stuff about the old guys than was slated. I think it's called pent-up anger. The Observer wrote, "There was considerable legit heat between Bischoff and a lot of the wrestler for legit deviating from the script on Monday in promos where they openly knocked the direction of the company and holding the young guys back, in particular Disco Inferno, Buff Bagwell, Hugh Morrus and Dean Malenko. Bischoff and Malenko had a heated confrontation after a live angle where Malenko said that you have to show you're over 45 on your driver's license to get a push in WCW." Eddie Guerrero came out, walking slowly. This probably didn't mean much to most fans, but I felt good about seeing him return. He delivered the single-best line of commentary in this current climate as Hardcore Hak came to ring, saying something like "I'm just glad I know how to wrestling, so I don't have to do what these guys do to make a living." The sentiment was great. Guerrero also thanked Eric Bischoff for paying him while he was out. This seems as good a point as any to mention that the Observer reported that despite the confusion with the Davey Boy Smith situation WCW has apparently always been paying him. Hardcore Hak faced Billy Kidman. Why is Kidman pulled into this crappy style? Match was pretty much the usual crap, with Hak, cough, cough, trying to wrestle at times. Kidman still somehow managed to look great; maybe I just like the guy a lot. Tank Abbott, who first appeared on Thunder last week, showed up. It was announced that he would referee the shoot cage match between Rick Steiner & Sting. Hugh Morrus came out to screw up Kidman. Brian Knobs came out to attack Hak. Match ended with a DQ at 6:16. Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow challenged Raven & Perry Saturn for tonight. Raven has a rotator cuff injury, which explains why DDP & Bigelow slammed the plastic dumpster lid on Raven arm and shoulder earlier on. If Raven needs time off and Saturn's back is still all messed up, I guess the plans of keeping them around as a Freebirds style championship tag team for a good run will have to be killed. Or, if one of the two current champs isn't in that bad shape, I guess Kanyon will be put in the other's spot. Curt Hennig came out to do commentary, but ended up being offended that DJ Ran was all up in his area. He decided that he was going to sing a country tune, not a country rhythm & blues song. Bobby Duncum Jr. came out to assist him. Shit, no, are they actually going to pair up younger guys with veterans who have names? Get out of town. Konnan & Rey Misterio Jr. came out, with Konnan saying he would "PhD the strawberries." Hey, I've got a PhD; let me do it. I guess we get a tag match later Van Hammer beat Evan Karagis. Match went way too long for these guys, running 6:45. Hammer still stinks huge and Karagis isn't any better. This match was still in the first hour. Gene Okerlund interviewed Roddy Piper. Piper called out Dean Malenko, praising him and reminding us that he was a cruiserweight champion. Notwithstanding that that is the right division for Malenko, if they plan to push him as a heavyweight Piper's comments are the last thing they needed to say. Dean (who has injured an inujured back, explaining why he didn't work last week or this week) laid into Ric Flair, saying that Flair had walked away from him & Benoit. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson came out. Malenko actually talked about "passing the torch" and "wrestlers of the future." Malenko walked off. Arn followed. Piper attacked Flair because we had to hype the match between the old guys. The only way that this young guys vs. old guys thing is going to work is if all of the old guys lose cleanly before each feud ends. Konnan & Rey Misterio Jr. faced Curt Hennig & Bobby Duncum Jr. Every time I see Duncum I laugh at the memory of his vertical tope out of the All Japan ring. He launched himself over the rope and plummetted straight down, whacking the apron and hitting the floor. It was ridiculous. Match was nothing special as Rey can't do anything with these guys. I should mention that Eric Bischoff was in as a babyface commentator and doing a nonannoying job of it. Match ended when the heels were DQed at 4:57. Randy Savage said he would fight Kevin Nash tonight, if Nash had the guts, I guess. Erik Watts faced David Flair. Jeez, they found a way to make Erik Watts look good. Mind you, when he gets in the ring with even a half-assed wrestler, he looks totally out of it. Arn hit the spinebuster and David got the pin at 4:18. Buff Bagwell asked Ric Flair for a match with Savage. Flair said that Bagwell would have to prove himself in a marquee match...against Bobby Eaton. Bagwell accused Ric of protecting the old guys from the young guys, not in those words. Ernest Miller did his usual challenge thing. Scott Norton came out. They had an impromptu match with Miller whacking Norton with a crowbar for the pin at 1:23. Randy Savage faced Kevin Nash. Uh-huh. Actually, Nash & his women beat up a Nash lookalike for 2:39. Buff Bagwell faced Bobby Eaton. It was a short match. Bischoff called Eaton a midcard wrestler at this point in his career. If only he'd use age as the criterion that determines that status. Buff used the blockbuster for the win at 3:39. Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow faced Raven & Perry Saturn. Actually, Raven didn't turn up because of that "brutal beating" at the start of the show. Bischoff continued the one annoying trait in his commentary this evening by kissing Hulk Hogan's butt again and again. Saturn managed to control things for a short bit before getting pummelled. I was expecting Kanyon to come out any second. Bischoff explained that DDP's ego has consumed him. Does that really need a retort? Match was neither good nor bad. The crowd was drawn in by the end and the wrestling was actually good at that point. Kanyon came out and reached in for a hot tag. Kanyon charged into the ring right into a big right by DDP and dropped down for the pin and the title loss at 11:33. They claimed that Kanyon was in the hospital; he even had a medical bracelet on his hand. Still, if I were a suspicious sort I'd guess that Kanyon will end up revealing that he's now pals with DDP & Bigelow. Maybe not. But the face trio comes out looking so weak. Randy Savage got into his limo, which came complete with a camera man inside. The limo stopped suddenly to avoid hitting a septic tank. Kevin Nash came out of the truck, climbed on the limo, ripped off the sunroof, and sprayed muddy sludge (oh, okay, we were supposed to think it was something other than mud) into the limo all over Savage and company. The poor camera man inside caught all of this on film. They stayed on Savage and the women afterwards a bit too long. Back from a commercial, I wished that DJ Ran was all down out of my area. As the cage for the main event lowered, the commentators talked nonsense. It was a regular cage with a roof. After a recap of the events leading to this match, Tank Abbott came out with some goons. Rick Steiner faced Sting for the TV Title in a cage match. Tony Schiavone goes on about the brutality of cage matches even though this cage match sucks. Since we sere supposed to think that Steiner & Abbott were enemies based on the Thunder angle, I was guessing that Abbott & Steiner would be on the same side. Sting dropped out of a backbreaker into a backslide, well, no, he stood up while lifting Steiner off the ground. The commentators explained that this was a submission hold. I think it's called the lazy ass backbreaker. Abbott pulled Steiner out of the corner when Sting went for his splash, laughed his stupid laugh and walked away. Steiner taped Sting to the ropes by his wrists. Tank walked away as Sting got laid out. The segment ran 7:38. Let's call the match length 6:00. Tally time: 47:20 of bell-to-bell wrestling. It's a narrow loss to RAW this week. - WCW has the Great American Bash on 06/13/99. Tentative line-up has: * Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage for the WCW title * Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair for the presidency of WCW, again * Diamond Dallas Page & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. ? for the tag titles * Scott Norton vs. Ernest Miller * Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Bobby Duncum Jr. & Curt Hennig * Hardcore Hak vs. Brian Knobs in a hardcore match That line-up looks horrible, doesn't it? At least all of the issues (except the tag title match) were built up on TV for reasonable periods of time. That's something WCW has ben horrible at in the past. But to choose these wrestlers...? - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/27/99. - Sable is in a contract dispute with the WWF. Apparently, she thinks she's worth a lot even though she brings increasingly less to the product table. It's no secret that the WWF's TV has worked hard to put Debra in Sable's place. Sable thinks she has a career in Hollywood. Keep in mind that she wouldn't be able to take her name with her if she left the WWF. The Observer reports that while Sable was well-paid for her Playboy shoots (yes, Sable does shoots but won't work), she wasn't as well-paid as all of those "six-figure" reports that were floating around not long ago. - When the various networks released their fall line-ups a couple of weeks ago, UPN listed WWF Smackdown on Thursday nights. It will be a two-hour show. I wonder if the WWF will suffer from the same overexposure that plays a role in hindering WCW. - PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet (the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches): Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WWF 99/04/25: Backlash Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 1.06 $5.09 2.28 * * 1/4 * * * * 1/4 Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5% (1 of 8) 99/03/28: WrestleMania Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 2.3 $12.04 1.13 * 1/4 * * * 1/2 Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 9, no shoot) 99/02/14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 1.2 $5.33 1.28 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 8) 99/01/24: Royal Rumble Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia Royal Rumble 1.57 $6.97 1.83 * 1/2 * * * 3/4 Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 6) Last 6 1.39 $6.56 1.43 1.38 3.58 1.9% (1 of 53) 1999 1.53 $7.36 1.61 1.56 3.81 3.2% (1 of 31) 1998 1.02 $4.42 1.60 1.63 3.65 4.0% (4 of 101) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WCW 99/04/11: Spring Stampede Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting 0.6 2.86 2.31 * * 1/2 * * * * 1/4 Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg 11.1% (1 of 9) 99/03/14: Uncensored Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 0.73 $3.48 1.83 * * * * * 1/2 Billy Kidman vs. Mikey Whippreck 0% (0 of 9) 99/02/21: SuperBrawl Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 1.1 $5.27 1.89 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4 Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0% (0 of 9) 99/01/17: Souled Out Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Hall Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham 0.78 $3.64 1.83 * 1/2 * * * * Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis 11.1% (1 of 9) Last 6 0.82 $3.8 1.88 2 3.88 5.8% (3 of 52) 1999 0.8 $3.81 1.97 2.13 3.75 5.6% (2 of 36) 1998 0.93 $3.96 1.54 1.73 3.73 4.5% (5 of 111) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * ECW 99/01/10: Guilty As Charged Shane Douglas vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.68 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2 Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy 0.0% (0 of 7) Last 6 0.22 $0.42 1.93 2 3.42 5.3% (1 of 19) 1999 0.2 $0.42 1.68 2.5 3.5 0.0% (0 of 7) 1998 0.23 $0.43 1.56 1.5 3.00 3.7% (1 of 27) Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991. A table of wrestlers who have delivered quality matches is also online. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/25/99. - Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request. ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks to: Masaki Aso. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________