= = = = = = = = = = [ WCW ] = = = = = = = = = = As reported by the man himself, Johnny B Badd (who has been working without a contract since 28 February 1996) gave his notice to WCW after what seemed (admittedly after only hearing his side of the story) to be unreasonableness on Bischoff's part. For my opinions on the matter (given before I read the interview that was posted) see my follow-up to one of the first articles on the topic. Best guess for his new gimmick is "Magnificent Marc Merro". He says that Hulk was dissing him about his workrate. Pot Kettle Black. I haven't picked up my tape of Nitro yet, but the Steiners (who wanted to wrestle for New Japan, who only accept US talent which is signed by WCW) made their return, defeated by the Road Warriors. Dave Fields reported that New Japan has been paying the Steiners $12,000/week even though they haven't been wrestling. The Nasty Boys signed back on with WCW a week after being let go. As has been reported on RSPW, Ric Flair was arrested on 8 March 1996 for letting a 20-year old "friend of the family" chick drive his "$100,000 automobile" while intoxicated. At the 11 March 1996 Nitro, Flair got on the house mic and said "Can you believe they arrested the Nature Boy?" Kevin Sullivan made the insider comment that it was David Penzer with a 12 year old, not Flair with a 20 year old. Penzer is the ring announcer who apparently is trying for the "Art Barr Memorial Ring Rat Award". In an interview on P$, Eric Bischoff said that "[WCW's] primary goal is to grow the audience... If that means a short-term drop in pay-per-view ratings, we are prepared to deal with that." Bischoff was in talks with TNT about some WCW specials they might run later in 1996. He also said that WCW has no plans to run any programming opposite WrestleMania. TNT's ratings are up 43% compared to last year. Multi/channel News lists the two main factors as the NBA and WCW. At the 6 March 1996 WCWSN taping, Kid Flash lost in the opening dark match. KF is yet another of the great newcomers being compared to Sean "Lightning Kid" Waltman. Sounds like he'd be a great addition to the Cruiserweight Division. The 19 May 1996 Slamboree/BattleBowl in Chicago will feature the Iron Man Challenge that was much praised in the Wrestling press and RSPW when it featured the Road Warriors, the SST, Doom?, and [gh0d... I'm drawing a blank] in a round robin tag tourney and four singles wrestlers in a singles round robin tourney. Proposed entrants for the 1996 version are Flair, Sting, Luger, and Giant. Tag teams being mentioned are the Road Warriors, The Steiner Brothers, Harlem Heat, and either The Public Enemy or The Nasty Boys. Each team would have one match against each of the other three teams. According to a story in the National Enquirer, Vince McMahon challenged to wrestle Ted Turner. Upon hearing this, Bischoff offered to fight McMahon. "Oh my God!" --Joey Styles = = = = = = = = = = [ WWF ] = = = = = = = = = = As has been reported by everyone, Diesel gave his official resignation. Though both Diesel and McMahon have said they are still friends, Vince questioned Kevin's work ethic/love of the sport in an interview on AOL. People associated with the WWF claim the three-year contract is for $750,000/year while people in WCW are giving figures between $450,000 and 575,000. Diesel will do clean jobs to the top names in the WWF before leaving in June. I haven't seen all of last week's Raw or read any results of the taping, but the storyline is supposed to be Diesel turning on Michaels because he's jealous of Shawn's success. Barry Horowitz almost got a pin on Diesel after the Live Raw on 11 March 1996. Raw will get another chance to show what kind of ratings it can pull in when it goes Nitro-less again on 9 April 1996. Either Isaac Yankem has returned or else he was never let go. Sources differ on what the real story is. In either case, he no-showed the USWA Unified Title Tourney (which Lawler won) on 4 March 1996 but wrestled later on the same card. There is still talk that Bret Hart will leave the WWF after WrestleMania to pursue acting, then jump to WCW when that fizzles out. No celebs at WrestleMania this year. Vince is cutting costs. Five no-shows at the 4 March 1996 WWF house show: Razor Ramon (jumping ship), Diesel (injury), Undertaker (family problems), Yokozuna (weather or family problems), Jeff Jarrett (injury/back problems). Many sources suspect Yoko and UT have the "blue flu" and are unhappy with their recent paychecks. At the 5 March 1996 Austin house show, Goldust teamed with the 123-pound kid. Kid spazzed out when Dustin rubbed against Kid's leg. Worst blown spot of 1996 (so far) has to go to Savio Vega on the live Raw on 11 March 1996. Fatu and Samu will re-team, with Fatu keeping his "just say no" lame-o gimmick. Hakushi is now wrestling for New Japan. = = = = = = = = = = [ ECW ] = = = = = = = = = = Raven is out for another week or so with a broken toe/foot. More great angles with Pillman, especially where he's holding a kid in front of himself to avoid getting hit. = = = = = = = = = = [ MISC ] = = = = = = = = = = On a personal note, I'm going to retire from doing the Hack Notes until there is a RSPW.info group. It just seems to get lost in the clutter here in RSPW and doesn't seem to be worth the effort. 2-4 March 1996 ratings: Raw = 3.6 Action Zone = WWF Mania = Nitro = Nitro Repeat = WCWSN = WCW pro = WCWME = 9-11 March 1996 ratings: Raw = 2.9 Action Zone = WWF Mania = Nitro = 3.2 Nitro Repeat = 1.5 <-- highest rating ever WCWSN = 3.0 WCW pro = WCWME = Contract expirations (as close as I remember): Brian Pillman......4/96 Razor Ramon........5/96 Diesel.............6/96 Jeff Jarrett......10/96 Hulk Hogan.........4/97 $4,000,000/year Eddy Guerrero......1/98 Chris Benoit.......2/98 $ 125,000/year Dean Malenko.......2/98 Eric Bischoff......2/99 $ 250,000 to 500,000/year For Torch subscription info, write to Wade Keller He has a great interview with Johnny B Badd that he conducted on 12 March 1996 in the next few issues. As always, the info in this post comes from various sources, hotlines, and newsletters. All names are trademarks of someone else. :-) This article is copyright 1996 Otto E Heuer. All rights reserved.