Enigma

J.R.'s blog said "In select parts of the world".

So Randy Orton does drugs backstage and gets a slap on the wrist, but Lance Cade does it on a plane and gets shitcanned. Nice one.

Wasn't Greg Gagne in charge of OVW for a while?

WWF @ Los Angeles Sports Arena -- October 16, 1988 -- Steve Lombardi vs. Paul Roma -- Mr. Perfect vs. Jim Brunzell -- The Blue Blazer vs. Jose Estrada -- Hulk Hogan vs. Haku in a Helmet Match -- Koko B. Ware vs. The Big Bossman -- The Ultimate Warrior vs. The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship -- The Fabulous Rougeaus vs. The Hart Foundation -- Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts

It goes farther than that. Jarrett was actually booked on the Halloween Havoc '97 show to face Steve McMichael. When Jarrett jumped back to the WWF, Alex Wright replaced Jarrett in the angle and became Debra's new man. That's how unexpected Jarrett's jump was. But I don't know how they didn't expect it. Bischoff went on an Internet chat and made some allusions that he wasn't re-signing Jarrett or wouldn't pay him nearly as much. Regardless, he treated Jarrett very unprofessionally, which is what led him to go back to the WWF. That's where the part of Jarrett's return promo where he mentions Bischoff "hiding behind his keyboard" came from.

Pretty unbelievable that Cade was on the main roster for 5 years doing absolutely nothing.

Hey, the black guy who slams the Barbarian in the training montage at the start of the show is Ice Train/M.I. Smooth.

I was just going by the figures Jake claimed on the DVD.

To answer my own question, upon doing some research I discovered why Jake left WCW. Jake's WWF contract expired on April 30, 1992. He agreed in principle to a HUGE deal with WCW while K. Allen Frey was in charge of WCW to the tune of 2 years and $7 million. The nature of contracts back then was such that Jake could sign with WCW, but it would not actually go into effect until his WWF no-compete was over with, which made his contract ineligible to be finalized until August 1, 1992 (Roberts debuted on August 2). About 45 days into the no-compete, K. Allen Frey resigned from his position and he was replaced by "Cowboy" Bill Watts. Well, Watts still had heat with Roberts for him bailing on Mid-South Wrestling to join the WWF in 1986. Watts trashed the 2-year, $7 million offer Frey gave him and only offered a 2-year, $400,000 deal. Knowing that he already pissed Vince off by leaving, he felt pressured to take Watts' lowballed deal. Roberts was so unhappy in just two months in WCW that he told Watts to fuck off after Havoc and went to AAA in Mexico after his 90-day with WCW expired in early 1993.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J9vjM7IZtY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qQTZOZnpfc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeBvwePB9VU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qy99ya91r4

Rude/Chono was fucking boring. There were a ton of "boring" chants. The fans were more interested in Madusa yelling at Kensuke Sasaki and something that was going on in the crowd than the match. And there were three specific points where you can see the snake wants nothing to do with Jake's neck so he has to forcibly pull it to his neck. To make it worse, the camera was right in Jake's face when it was going down. Horrible all the way around.

Pretty funny how after the match everyone was saying the feud with Sting/Roberts was just getting started. Jake was never to be seen again in WCW after this show. I'm not sure why Jake really left WCW, but I think they explained it on TV by Watts suspending Roberts indefinitely for bringing the snake in. I also thought it was pretty scary the haphazard way they got the snake back behind the curtain, just dragging it down the aisle. Imagine the chaos if the snake had gotten away from Jake.

I remember wanting the cage match, because they said on the TV shows it would be a special cage with weapons inside.

Hilarious show. I love how the Philly crowd was behind the heels in the first match with Ventura going nuts about it. The heels were dicks about it too and started playing to the crowd. Pretty funny seeing WWF superfan Vladimir (complete with WBF tanktop, which he later covered up), Hat Guy and his buddy with the sunglasses in the front row. BONUS: See if you can spot the Blue Meanie at ringside before the NWA Title match and during the Sting/Roberts match. Pretty weird pacing. I don't understand why they ran the Madusa/Paul E. angle right before Rick Rude's match, because everyone wanted to cheer Madusa, but she was still with Rude, a dick heel. By the way, did Madusa look hot in that skin-tight outfit or what? This stretch of time in WCW was when she really hit her peak hotness. The "We Want Flair" chants right before Rude/Chono were classic. I like how Jim Ross took a few jabs at the WWF during the Rude/Chono match. When Ventura was praising Rude's posing, "This isn't bodybuilding and posing. That's the other guys." Also when J.R. was explaining the different names of the cobra clutch to Jesse, he said, "Well, you wrestled for the other guys. They wouldn't know stuff like this." Even funnier considering he'd be in the WWF less than 5 months later. Also pretty funny how the crowd went nuts for Kensuke Sasaki beating the shit out of everybody when they were on their thumbs for everything Chono did. Overall, a pretty mediocre show. The show would have been horrible if not for the great commentary by Ross and Ventura.

Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, & Michael P.S. Hayes vs. Shane Douglas, the Z-Man, & Johnny Gunn Ricky Steamboat vs. Brian Pillman WCW United States Championship Big Van Vader* vs. Nikita Koloff WCW/NWA World Tag Team Championship Barry Windham & Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Williams & Steve Austin NWA World Heavyweight Championship Special Guest Referees: Kensuke Sasaki & Harley Race Masahiro Chono vs. Rick Rude WCW World Heavyweight Championship Ron Simmons vs. The Barbarian Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal -- Coal Miner's Glove Match Sting vs. Jake Roberts * - Vader was allowed to defend the U.S. Title for Rick Rude since Rude had a match later in the show

Ross prefaced that blog with "and random thoughts that hopefully won't get me fired".

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Dillion was on the Raw after WM24, saying goodbye to Ric Flair.

Wow, Captain Lou referenced Vince as "head of the World Wrestling Federation".

Yeah, our big, local cable company cut the PPV off right at the end of Hogan/Warrior and immediately started the replay of the show. My parents' friend who worked there at the time said that they were absolutely flooded with calls the next day from pissed off people asking for refunds because the PPV cut off early.

To be accurate, HBK didn't screw Undertaker at Summerslam. He went to hit Bret with a chair, Bret dodged, and he hit Taker instead.

-- Disproving the theory that there is an embargo against mentioning Randy Savage in anything WWE related, Savage turning on Hogan is #3 in WWE.Com's "Hardest Hitting Betrayals". -- PWInsider is reporting that a live report sent in claims signs saying "I Miss Benoit...RIP", "I am CM Punk's Drug Dealer" & "4Skin" were confiscated by security in Tacoma, WA for Raw. -- The Ultimate Warrior's ex-wife, Shari Tyree, has written a memoir entitled "Behind the Paint: My Life with Wrestling's Ultimate Warrior". She is pitching it in an effort to get it published. The book was co-written by Steve Anderson, who worked with Bobby Heenan on his autobiographies. This is the pitch for the book: For the very first time, the wife of a professional wrestling star speaks out. Shari Tyree was married for ten years to Jim Hellwig, known as the Ultimate Warrior, and saw him through his meteoric rise, and bizarre fall from the pinnacle of WWE. Warrior packed the aisles, and was a merchandising boom to pro wrestling. Fans, known as 'Little Warriors' screamed and cheered, and then were left baffled by his abrupt disappearance at the height of his success. Only Shari Tyree knows the stunning truth behind the Warrior's face paint. Hellwig was a man possessed by demons, abusing steroids to achieve his massive, muscular frame, and then pain medications and anti-anxiety drugs to quell his fears, who had led a secretive double life that filled his marriage with turmoil and doubts about his fidelity, and even his sexuality. The avowed anti-homosexual avenger and anti-drug advocate battled with his own duality, and became the engine of his own destruction. Behind the Paint chronicles Helwig's early career as a bodybuilder, and his stunning rise in pro wrestling, the excesses of success beyond imagination, his battles with Vince McMahon and the private life no fan could have guessed at. Hellwig continues to be a media personality, even outside the wrestling ring, making frequent personal appearances to espouse his anti-gay, anti-drug ideals.

A lot of the reason I killed my subscription a few years ago was because of the shitty 300k quality.

I totally disagree. In fact, I thought the feud with Owen was a step down for Austin because I still wanted to see him get his big win over Bret (no, a DQ win at "Revenge of the 'Taker" does not count). Even if anyone was tired of Austin/Bret at that point, Austin chasing Bret's WWF Title would have added new sizzle to the steak. But how could anyone be tired of Austin/Bret at that point? They only had three singles matches within a span of 9 months at the time of the Owen feud starting. But Austin/HBK was a letdown compared to what Austin/Bret should have been. Austin and DX didn't even start interacting with each other until right before the February "No Way Out" PPV. And any feeling you may have gotten about "oh, this douche is finally getting his ass kicked" was wiped out because of Jim Ross' commentary, selling HBK as this huge warrior because he was fighting hurt.

I always heard the Havoc '98 thing was a plan so they could have an excuse to air the DDP/Goldberg WCW Title match on Nitro right as Raw was starting. It worked. It was the last time Nitro ever beat Raw in the ratings.