WWE News & Notes from the 8/16 Observer

[Enigma 0]

Bruno Sammartino did an interview with Mike Lano this past week regarding his dealings with WWE. Sammartino said that it was WWE that approached him, as is well documented by Jim Ross flying in to meet with him on 6/22 and having an amicable meeting. Sammartino said, it's "Not me, I have no use for them... I've not contacted them, not pursued them, this is all their doing, and I'm giving them a few more weeks to put down on paper exactly what they are proposing to me, what they want us to do, what money will be involved for my attorney to consider and review. I'm not really interested. I don't want any of my fans to think I'm selling out. I'm just politely listening to their offer rather than discounting it and being seen as bitter."

 

WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt had been calling Sammartino's attorney regularly while he went to Italy a few weeks ago. He got back on 7/24, two days before Raw, and Sammartino described it as his attorney convincing him to attend the show, listen to what Vince McMahon was offering and to keep an open mind.

 

Attorneys for both sides talked after Sammartino spoke to McMahon briefly. "And Flair snuck away from me like a thief in the night," Sammartino said. "We were staring right at each other, and he took off before I could reach him. All I wanted to do was talk, but I guess he's afraid of me."

 

Sammartino said he went into a room with McMahon and McDevitt at about 2 p.m. before Raw on 7/26 in Pittsburgh. Sammartino said McMahon, “acted like we were long lost buddies, came right up to shake my hand as if we were always friends, the same deal he did with Billy Graham after he got Graham to do whatever he did. McMahon introduced Sammartino to Shane, Stephanie, and HHH, and HHH said it was ‘an honor to meet you, sir, heard so much about you, etc.’” He told McMahon about a documentary called "Big Like Sammartino" that starts shooting next month. He asked Vince what ideas they had because he was busy with other projects, and if Vince isn’t serious about doing something, not to waste everyone's time. "You don’t need me, Vince, and I don’t need you, either," Sammartino claimed he said.

 

"You should have seen the look on his face," Sammartino said. "I don't think that many people speak to him in that way. I was standing. He was sitting." McDevitt told Sammartino that Vince has great respect for the old-time wrestlers, and Sammartino claimed he cut off McDevitt and said, "No! If he had respect for the people who grew this company for his dad and himself, he's never shown it," he claimed he said. "He used people like Killer Kowalski, Domenic (DeNucci), (Lou) Albano, (Fred) Blassie, all for his own purposes. He threw $1,500 for Domenic to do that little show with Mick Foley on PPV. That shows great disrespect to me for someone who busted his ass for the WWWF. The rewards were small then, and they still are now." He claimed he then told Vince that he gave a convicted rapist, Mike Tyson, $3.5 million for WrestleMania and gave a disgraced Pete Rose more than $400,000. Sammartino claimed he said he told Vince to put something up in writing, "But don't show me the respect you showed those other wrestling legends. Show me the same respect like the people who didn't deserve your financial respect."

He said Vince interrupted and said, "Bruno, I had the utmost respect for you always. I learned so much from you."

 

"I didn't let him finish," Sammartino said. "I said, 'is that why, Vince, on that two hour A&E cable documentary, you made sure I was left off?"

 

Vince reportedly said, "I had nothing to do with that," and Sammartino claims he responded with, "I differ with you. A&E wanted to do a story on me for the documentary but after it was completed, they leveled with me and said they got lots of flak from you and were told in no uncertain terms-No Bruno. They said they were told it was a choice between you or me, Vince, and that you said if they even mentioned my name, you wouldn't give them any film clips. So you had me completely ignored, and my peers like Pedro (Morales) and Ivan (Koloff). It came right from them, Vince. You intentionally didn’t want me in it, and forced me out of it."

 

Sammartino said McMahon looked down and never answered, and everyone in the room went quiet. Sammartino said he got up, told Vince that was all he had to say, the lawyers can negotiate, and whatever you want, put it down on paper.

 

"If we can live with it, and it's proper, well have more meetings and discus your interest with me," he claimed he finished with. "If it's something not acceptable or decent, I’ll tell you to forget it, and well go our separate ways again." He also told McMahon not to ever tell him to not attack him on the drug and steroid problems. "I must talk about what I choose to talk about…I want to continue to go around the country and talk out against the dangers of drugs and steroids, a real cancer in this country. I won’t point out you or your wrestlers specifically. I don't even know any of these guys now really other than Angle, Benoit, (and) Eddie Guerrero. I won’t verbally attack your wrestlers, but I will talk about the dangers of these drugs anytime I want." He said he left the room and everyone went quiet.

 

He said he didn't want to stay because he was afraid they would film him at the show, and refused to be seen at ringside. After declining the invite to stay and watch the Chris Benoit/HHH Iron Man match, leaving the building, and going out to eat, Vince called him on the cell phone and asked him to at least make an appearance at the next Madison Square Garden show (a live Raw on 10/4). Bruno said he told Vince, "No way," since Vince had kept him out of the Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame. He also said he wanted to defend himself against Flair on radio for Flair's comments about him, but wanted to wait until McMahon had time to make a legitimate offer.

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Apparently feeling the recent experiment of doing three PPV in six weeks was a success, WWE has released a PPV schedule with 15 shows in 2005, with two shows each in January, May, June, and October.

 

However, the shows are spaced out better, and there will be no period with three shows in six weeks. Among the notes are that the 10/19 Tuesday night Raw PPV, after shooting a huge angle the night before, will take place in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center. This is an experiment with a Raw showing taking place 16 days after the No Mercy Smackdown event from East Rutherford, NJ. The 10/19 show will be called Taboo Tuesday, and not Halloween Havoc, as was the original idea. Survivor Series on 11/14 will be from Cleveland, and the final PPV show of this year will be Armageddon (Smackdown) on 12/12 in Atlanta.

 

For 2005, the first show will be a Raw show on 1/9 from San Juan, Puerto Rico at the new building, the 18,500-seat Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. That show is almost guaranteed to be a sellout since WWE has never done a PPV show from that island. The Royal Rumble will be 1/30 in Fresno. No Way Out (Smackdown) will be on 2/20 from Pittsburgh. WrestleMania will be on 4/3 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The remainder of the dates are Backlash (Raw) on 5/1, Judgment Day (Smackdown) on 5/22, Bad Blood (Raw) on 6/12, Great American Bash (Smackdown) on 6/26, Vengeance (Raw) on 7/24, SummerSlam on 8/21, Unforgiven (Smackdown) on 9/18, No Mercy (Raw) on 10/9, a 10/30 Smackdown show that is as of now not named, Survivor Series on 11/27 and Armageddon (Raw) on 12/18.

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Ric Flair's book will be at No. 8 on the 8/15 New York Times best seller list in its fifth week out.

 

Sakoda was fired this past week. He and Akio (Jimmy Yang) were sent to OVW some time back (although they were brought back for a few TV matches). Sakoda was just starting to show improvement, but he's been bothered by a bad back and hadn't had much ring time of late. Jim Cornette didn’t want to book them as a team in OVW because Akio, even though he lived not all that far from Louisville (he lives in Cincinnati), had missed a few scheduled dates.

 

The Rock has signed to play a juvenile detention center counselor and football coach as the lead role in a movie called "Gridiron Gang" for Columbia Pictures. It's about kids in the center gaining self respect and confidence through football.

 

Add Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, & Paul London vs. all three Dudleys after Spike Dudley’s heel turn on Smackdown, to SummerSlam.

 

Upon further examination of his broken nose, it was found The Hurricane's right sinus is damaged and he can’t breathe out of this right nostril. He underwent corrective surgery on 8/9 and will be out of action an indefinite period of time.

 

Trish Stratus was scheduled to perform on stage in Toronto doing comedy sketches on 8/12 with the “Second City Invasion Free Since 1812” revue.

 

Brock Lesnar made a lot of press again this past week, with stuff almost daily about his trying out, and apparent rapid improvement. Any wrestling fan should have figured his improvement would be rapid given his athletic ability and how quickly he picked up pro wrestling. Whether he’ll ever play in a regulation game is still a long ways away. At a Vikings-Chiefs scrimmage on 8/6, Lesnar made four tackles and a QB sack, and was involved in a few minor skirmishes as well. The Chiefs felt the scrimmages had unwritten rules that nobody would try to hurt anyone, but the Vikings were playing at a "different tempo," which led to some fights. Lesnar, in particular, when sacking back-up Chiefs QB Damon Huard, tackled him so hard he hyper extended Hoard's elbow. There was a "no-contact" agreement when it came to quarterbacks in this scrimmage, and that you don't hurt people. Vikings coach Mike Tice said that Lesnar was progressing faster than they expected, but he still gets lost a little bit at times, but backs down from nobody. John Clayton, one of the more respected NFL analysts, said after the scrimmage, that he thinks Lesnar has a very good chance to make the Vikings practice squad, changing his belief from the day before, thinking he'd never make it. After seeing him play, he said he's a phenomenal athlete.

 

Sable had a lot of interesting comments in an 8/6 article in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. She talked about pro wrestling being a sexist business, saying that the women are hired based on their looks and not ability, and admitting she's benefited from it. When asked about her 1999 lawsuit, a WWE P.R. person on the phone (they usually have P.R. people listening in to all media interviews) broke in and said to steer the conversation away from that subject. She said she returned because she enjoyed performing and didn’t get the same feeling of excitement elsewhere. But she said the most gifted women wrestlers get passed over for WWE jobs because they lack a certain look, saying "Men aren’t hired on looks." Actually, they are, but it is easier if you have a lot of talent to overcome not being great looking if you are a man in WWE than a woman, but to say men aren’t hired on their look is ridiculous. Nathan Jones, Tyson Tomko, & Jon Heidenreich were all hired for their look alone. She also said women are held to a higher performing standpoint than men, as well as a different moral standard. I don’t believe the former, as I think the men, with more competition for jobs, are held to a higher performing standpoint. How many male wrestlers get the acting TV time of Lita and Torrie Wilson that are as bad at acting as those two are? Moral standard, I don't know, but there is a good chance she's right there. I do know that there is a general standard, and it was very big in wrestling, and just compare how wrestlers who slept around were judged as compared with Missy Hyatt or other women who did the same thing, to know what she said was very true until at least recent years. Since I don’t know of any woman wrestlers who have slept around that have gotten reprimanded by management for doing so (and Hyatt was reprimanded in WCW for sleeping around, something no male wrestler would have been yelled at for the identical thing, even if they were married at the time, remember B.B. getting fired for having an affair with a married Bob Holly?) in recent years, it's may not be as overt as it once was. Still, I know of one female character who has a rep for sleeping with married male character(s) and the heat among wrestlers I’ve spoken with was every bit as much on the guy for doing so. She also said women in wrestling have to make more sacrifices, and when it comes to getting ready to appear before the public, and stringent dieting and frequent plastic surgeries, no question they do because of the emphasis on a body that can’t be attained naturally. But it isn’t as if the guys don’t have that pressure, but again, not as much. A woman with a body like JBL can’t overcome it by wearing a suit and cutting good promos. She said women who leave their children to go on tour are judged more harshly than men. That's true, and it's wrong, but that is hardly limited to wrestling. One of my best friends growing up was a world class female athlete and everyone thought of her as having messed up priorities because she didn’t retire after having a child as a single mom. If she had been a man, in the same sport, there would have been no pressure from society on her for that. She said women also aren’t part of the management structure at W WE. Well, there is Linda & Stephanie McMahon on the wrestling side, and other women fairly high ranked on the corporate side. "I know women who know as much about this business as any man," she said. I wish she'd given an example as to who she was talking about, but I think that's more of a business deal, because I know men who have more far more ability to write wrestling than the WWE writers, and it isn’t like they've gotten opportunities.

 

Trish Stratus is booked as wrestling on house shows against Victoria after SummerSlam.

 

Even though he has toned down his style, Kurt Angle has already been told by management that he's taking too many bumps at house shows.

 

The paid attendance for the Raw taping in Pittsburgh with HHH vs. Chris Benoit in the 60:00 match on 7/26 was 7,200. Paid for the Smackdown tapings in Cincinnati on 7/27 was 2,800.

 

8/7 Smackdown house show in Baltimore drew 5,800 paying $175,000, which was by today's standards a big success. 8/7 Raw in Trenton drew 2,400 and $85,000.

 

There was a communication problem at the Baltimore show in a match between Rene Dupree and Johnny Stamboli. Dupree did a walk out count out loss to Stamboli. This was set up when the Divas were in the ring and Dupree attacked Miss Jackie. Theodore Long ordered a Stamboli vs. Dupree match, but Dupree quickly walked out and was counted out. This was not the planned finish but the refs are told to call it as a shoot. Stamboli was supposed to break up the count and bring Dupree back to the ring, but he's never wrestled in an environment with "breaking up the count" when a guy is out of the ring, as silly as that sounds. Dupree was way gone, apparently waiting for Stamboli to jump out of the ring and bring him back, but that wasn't happening either.

 

Paul Heyman no-showed the Baltimore show due to travel problems.

 

On the Trenton show, Shelton Benjamin wrestled his first match since breaking his hand in a Heat match against Garrison Cade. He defeated Chuck Palumbo, but reports say that the match was not good.

 

Also in Trenton, Mike "Nova" Bucci got more time to get over his Tony Little/Richard Simmons character. The name he used on the show was Simon Dean (many of you will recognize that as a rib on Dean Malenko, whose real name is Dean Simon). He came out and yelled at the crowd for being out of shape and how he can help them get in shape, and told everyone to join him in doing squats. Some fans did it with him, thinking he was a babyface. Jonathan Coachman came out to join in and praise Dean so people knew he was a heel, and then Steven Richards pinned him in a singles match. The next night in Toledo, Bucci was using his real name again, so “Simon Dean” may have just been a one night rib.

[Downhome 0]

This Bruno crap is starting to get old.

 

Then again, it's been old for a while, so whatever.

[Guest Mindless_Aggression]

I really hope I'm just misreading the part about Stamboli and the count out incident. The man simply cannot be that stupid.

[genius33 0]

does anyone know if there is heat from the wrestlers, especially ric flair and the older "boys", on doing a show in puerto rico after the bruiser brody incident almost 15 years ago? i remember there being an entire USA lockout on doing shows on the island stemming from that incident... any comments?

[Downhome 0]

Flair said in his book that after the Brody incident, the majority of guys working then decided not to return.

 

I can't say that I don't blame em either. I'll always believe that he was straight up murdered.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

I really hope I'm just misreading the part about Stamboli and the count out incident. The man simply cannot be that stupid.

Maybe he thought Dupree would come back? If he didn't know beforehand, you can't really blame the guy. It wouldn't make sense to bring Dupree back in when the count out would do the same job of getting him a win. You'd think the heel wouldn't want to take the loss, so he'd come back to beat the count.

[Mole 0]

I hope that Bruno either gets everything he wants with the contract with WWE or he doesn't do anything at all. The man IS a legend and deserves some sort of respect.

[Vyce 0]

Flair said in his book that after the Brody incident, the majority of guys working then decided not to return.

 

I can't say that I don't blame em either. I'll always believe that he was straight up murdered.

I would have to agree completely. That's one of the more tragic and fucked up stories in all of professional wrestling.

 

Nathan Jones, Tyson Tomko, & Jon Heidenreich were all hired for their look alone. 

 

They'd have to have been.

 

Because quite frankly they're among the worst workers I've ever seen in my 10+ years of being a hardcore wrestling fan.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Bruno is everything he claims he isn't: bitter, behind the times, and forgotten. Of course, this si nothing new, he was playing this tune while Hulk Hogan was revolutionizing wrestling and no one gave a damn then, either.

 

Ric Flair is better than Sammartino in pretty much every way. I cannot think of a single aspect in which he even comes close besides drawing power.

[Mole 0]

Bruno is everything he claims he isn't: bitter, behind the times, and forgotten. Of course, this si nothing new, he was playing this tune while Hulk Hogan was revolutionizing wrestling and no one gave a damn then, either.

 

Ric Flair is better than Sammartino in pretty much every way. I cannot think of a single aspect in which he even comes close besides drawing power.

Other than the fact that Flair acts like a teenager backstage.

 

I'll go out on a limb and say that Bruno is a better person too.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Bruno is everything he claims he isn't: bitter, behind the times, and forgotten. Of course, this si nothing new, he was playing this tune while Hulk Hogan was revolutionizing wrestling and no one gave a damn then, either.

 

Ric Flair is better than Sammartino in pretty much every way. I cannot think of a single aspect in which he even comes close besides drawing power.

Other than the fact that Flair acts like a teenager backstage.

 

I'll go out on a limb and say that Bruno is a better person too.

Neither of which would factor into any kind of debate on their relative merits as performers, but okay.

 

Bruno is just as petty as Flair can be. He's probobly still mad that his son sucked and Vince wouldn't push him.

[NYU 0]

I hope that Bruno either gets everything he wants with the contract with WWE or he doesn't do anything at all. The man IS a legend and deserves some sort of respect.

It's really time Bruno gets over himself. Just how many times does Vince have to extend the olive branch until Bruno finally casts aside the bitterness and acts like a normal human being?

 

Don't you think it's a little strange? Bruno, for as morally superior and ethically honest as he thinks he is compared to Vince, is proving himself to be a far more bitter, vindictive, and immature person.

 

Bruno doesn't want to get any special treatment? Dealing with WWE is a chore to him? Fuck it. They really should just permanently shut down any negotiations with him.

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Not to be negative, but how much of WWE's current target audience would there be, who'd actually know who Bruno even is? Not as in knowing the name, but knowing who he is and what he did in his career?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I haven't seen a single match of his, but I know who he is and what he did.

 

And I'm not exactly Mr. Know-It-All either.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I'm still conflicted as to whether I want to go to Armageddon or not. If it were a Raw PPV, I'd be there for sure.

 

Hopefully Raw is in Greenville or even here in Charleston and I can just go to that instead.

[Downhome 0]

I'm still conflicted as to whether I want to go to Armageddon or not. If it were a Raw PPV, I'd be there for sure.

 

Hopefully Raw is in Greenville or even here in Charleston and I can just go to that instead.

My thoughts exactly.

 

I might break down and just go to Armageddon, but if a RAW or something comes to Greenville, I'll more than likely go to that.

 

I've never been to a PPV, so I'd like to try it out.

[Enigma 0]

I will more than likely be at Armageddon.

[landy1987 0]

Trish Stratus is booked as wrestling on house shows against Victoria after SummerSlam.

isnt Victoria the no. 1 contender anyway? Didn't she win a no. 1 contenders match at Vengeance but never got a title shot? Or have WWE completely forgot this happened. But then again should Trish have been stripped of the belt by now for not defending it within 30 days? Or did she and I missed it?

[Guest DeathBecomesYou]

Trish Stratus is booked as wrestling on house shows against Victoria after SummerSlam.

isnt Victoria the no. 1 contender anyway? Didn't she win a no. 1 contenders match at Vengeance but never got a title shot? Or have WWE completely forgot this happened. But then again should Trish have been stripped of the belt by now for not defending it within 30 days? Or did she and I missed it?

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the title "match" she had against Nidia was less than a month ago wasn't it?

[Fökai 0]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the title "match" she had against Nidia was less than a month ago wasn't it?

The title defense was on July 5th, so it's been over a month.

 

isnt Victoria the no. 1 contender anyway? Didn't she win a no. 1 contenders match at Vengeance but never got a title shot? Or have WWE completely forgot this happened.

 

They mentioned it on RAW this past week.

[landy1987 0]

They mentioned it on RAW this past week.

Shows how much attention I payed to Raw!

[res37618 0]

I hope that Bruno either gets everything he wants with the contract with WWE or he doesn't do anything at all. The man IS a legend and deserves some sort of respect.

It's really time Bruno gets over himself. Just how many times does Vince have to extend the olive branch until Bruno finally casts aside the bitterness and acts like a normal human being?

 

Don't you think it's a little strange? Bruno, for as morally superior and ethically honest as he thinks he is compared to Vince, is proving himself to be a far more bitter, vindictive, and immature person.

 

Bruno doesn't want to get any special treatment? Dealing with WWE is a chore to him? Fuck it. They really should just permanently shut down any negotiations with him.

Yeah, I'm kinda torn on this issue . . .

 

One one hand, Sammartino is a wrestling legend, and does deserve respect and admiration, especially from us "die-hard" fans who have seen his work and know that he wrestled his ass off for the WWWF in its heyday.

 

On the other, it really seems like Sammartino has turned into a bitter old fart. While I appreciate everything he's done, it seems like he just wants nothing to do with wrestling anymore, despite his "attempts" to be civil to Vince. My personal belief is that he has absolutely no desire to reconcile with Vince, and probably never will. And I agree, for someone who acts so "moral and decent", Bruno is really being a BIG asshole over this whole thing.

 

Give it up, WWE. Quit negotiating with him and let him be a stubborn ass. Bruno can't deal with the fact that wrestling has evolved into what it is, if he had it his way, Vince would be running his shows in a 500 seat auditorium with one overhead light and none of the "glitz" that makes the show what it is. I agree completely with his stance on drugs and steroids as well, but why be a bitter, angry old man over it? From reading the report that started this thread, I'd say "to hell with Bruno" and let him just be angry. Even if Vince gets him to help with the 24/7 thing or gets him to participate in a Hall of Fame induction, it'll just end in Bruno getting mad because he can't say what he wants, and this whole damned thing will start all over again.

 

Now, off of my soapbox

[LooseCannon25 0]

Not for nothing, no disrespect intended, but WWE needs to give it up with Bruno. Most people don't even know who the guy is or what he did. He wouldn't be anything really positive to them and with his stubborn attitude it's just not worth it.

 

Off topic, his son might have been the worse friggin wrestler I ever saw in my entire life.

[Enigma 0]

Not for nothing,  no disrespect intended, but WWE needs to give it up with Bruno.  Most people don't even know who the guy is or what he did.  He wouldn't be anything really positive to them and with his stubborn attitude it's just not worth it.

 

Off topic,  his son might have been the worse friggin wrestler I ever saw in my entire life.

Worse than Team Hoss '03-'04 (Nathan Jones, Jon Heidenreich, and Tyson Tomko)?

[benoit4hor 0]

Off topic, his son might have been the worse friggin wrestler I ever saw in my entire life.

Have you had a chance to see Mark Henry, John Hedienwhatever, or Glacier.

[LooseCannon25 0]

Not for nothing,  no disrespect intended, but WWE needs to give it up with Bruno.  Most people don't even know who the guy is or what he did.  He wouldn't be anything really positive to them and with his stubborn attitude it's just not worth it.

 

Off topic,  his son might have been the worse friggin wrestler I ever saw in my entire life.

Worse than Team Hoss '03-'04 (Nathan Jones, Jon Heidenreich, and Tyson Tomko)?

Yes, worse than them

 

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