There were winners and losers when it came to network appearances this past week with Vince McMahon appearing on both the Today show and Conan O'Brien on NBC on 6/24, Rena Mero appearing on Jay Leno that same day, and Hulk Hogan appearing the previous night for the full hour on Larry King Live on CNN.

Hogan, appearing for the full 60 minutes, scored the p.r. coup for WCW with a great, if transparently self serving and often times dishonest, performance with King, a show which has been criticized heavily by television critics for Hogan getting an entire 60 minutes with claims of conflict of interest due to CNN and WCW both being under the Time Warner umbrella and claiming the news show shouldn't have been used for an appearance that had no news value and was strictly for promotional purposes for a sister company.

Mero, who literally had nothing to say, didn't fare well on Leno. McMahon was a mixed big, appearing as a concerned businessman on Today, but coming off as nervous and stiff, even worse if possible than Mero, trying to trade comedy barbs on Conan. Neither late night appearance came off as the slightest bit newsworthy.

McMahon was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the "Today" show, arranged by the WWF, like the Conan show, as a promotional appearance for King of the Ring. However, Lauer wasn't interested in talking about the show, which was never brought up, and the entire interview regarded the death of Hart.

When Lauer talked about pro wrestling being popular, McMahon interrupted claiming it isn't pro wrestling that's popular, but it's the WWF, borrowing a 1980s advertising slogan the company was using during the last boom period. McMahon claimed that Hart never expressed concern to anyone in the company over doing the stunt (there is no confirmation or even indication he expressed concern to anyone in management but it is just as clear he did to several wrestlers and to several others who were backstage including Harley Race). McMahon said if Hart had expressed concern, they wouldn't have done the stunt, pointing out Hart rehearsed it earlier in the day. He blamed the lawsuit on the family being too quick to go the attorneys saying he and his wife Linda were prepared, and still are prepared to make a financial settlement saying it would be the right thing for her (Martha) and Owen's children but wouldn't admit to any responsibility, saying people should wait for the investigations to be completed. He said he told Martha that over the phone the week after Owen's death and tried to contact her again later with a settlement and were told to contact the attorneys in Kansas City. When shown a clip of Jesse Ventura on the same show saying that today's pro wrestling was getting out of control and said if they wanted to do stunt man spots that the wrestlers should be trained as stunt men and be part of the stunt mans union (if they were, a man as inexperienced as Hart wouldn't have been allowed to do the stunt in question). McMahon responded saying Ventura has been out of the business for some time and maybe he's not up to speed on current conditions. McMahon called Hart's ring entrance a routine thing, comparing it with Peter Pan and Garth Brooks, and then noted "Time Warner's wrestling company has done it dozens and dozens of times with the same rigger." At this point in time to still try and compare the stunt WCW has done with Sting and others, which used one of the same riggers but was a different stunt and had back-ups in place, to this stunt, which didn't, is almost insulting. Lauer brought up comments Bret Hart's about the direction of wrestling made on the show and McMahon responded by labeling Hart as disgruntled, saying his popularity has plummeted since leaving the WWF and said he's got a personal agenda.

Mero, appearing on Leno later that night, was advertised in TV listings all week and in NBC promo's as Sable, but that night Leno called her Rena Mero, the artist formerly known as Sable. She got only a tepid reaction and showed very little in the way of charisma or personality in the setting to an audience that didn't really seem to know who she was or really care. It was a real reality check as to her being able to make it outside the choreographed confines where all she had to do was look a certain way and dress a certain way and she'd be a star. She claimed the obscenity and vulgarity in the WWF had gotten out of hand and said she'd never participate in the WWF again unless things changed. When asked about the name Sable, all Mero said was that it would be up to the courts to decide. Leno said that he hoped she wins her lawsuit.

McMahon, on Conan, plugged the PPV show and seemed ill at ease, but the hosts were generally kind of him just making fun of his shocked look on Raw, and asking logical questions about illogical storylines such as if he runs wrestling why he doesn't simply make himself the world champion (he said it would hurt the credibility of the WWF, which he didn't mean as a comedy line but the audience laughed) and why he simply doesn't fire Austin if he hates him so much (he said they already tried that and it didn't work). He ripped on Ted Turner and came off bad doing so since it was totally out of the context of the comedy the rest of the interview was, and subjects like Hart and Rena Mero were never brought up.

The most newsworthy of the interviews was Hogan on King. Hogan was smooth and his delivery was excellent. Aside from nearly everything he said being self serving and a good portion untrue, if it wasn't for him trying to take seriously the Presidential thing and using the word "Polock," which ended up making him look bad, the appearance would have been a pretty sizeable a p.r. coup for both he and WCW.

The "Polock" word came when Hogan was asked about where he got the name Hulk Hogan. He told the story that he had quit wrestling because he was disgruntled about making $125 per week and sleeping in his car (presumably his days working for Jerry Jarrett), and Terry Funk talked him out of it and put him in contact with Vince McMahon Sr. That story also isn't true, but that's another thing. He said when meeting McMahon Sr., that McMahon wanted him to die his hair red and become Hulk Hogan (saying he got the name Hulk because he was bigger than Lou Ferrigno and "The Incredible Hulk" was a popular TV show at the time--the first time I saw Hogan wrestle in the late 70s was out of Alabama as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and he couldn't work and had so-so charisma but it was clear because of his size--there were very few men of that height in wrestling in those days and none had what would be by today's standards an impressive looking physique since steroid abuse was in its infancy--and look, that he was a can't miss superstar), an Irish hero since McMahon had Bruno Sammartino for the Italians, Pedro Morales for the Puerto Ricans, Chief Jay Strongbow for the Indians and Ivan Putski for the "Polocks." Hogan came under heavy criticism for that line from the Polish National Alliance, saying it was a derogatory term and he should have used either Poles or Polish people, comparing it to the dreaded "n" word for African Americans. Hogan had a spokesperson respond saying Hogan himself didn't say the word but that he was repeating what McMahon Sr. had said in their conversation nearly 20 years ago and it was McMahon Sr. who had used the word. It's doubtful any of that was true either.

Funk's connection with Hogan occurred at least a year before he went to the WWF and had nothing to do with setting him up with a meeting with McMahon. Hogan, as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder, was talking about quitting wrestling over being frustrated about not making any money and Funk talked him out of it, gave him the name Sterling Golden, and introduced him to Jim Barnett, who was promoting in Georgia and got him his first national exposure. Funk also suggested Hogan, at the time working in the WWF as a heel and as a regular with New Japan where he was becoming a huge draw, to Sylvester Stallone for the role in Rocky III which was a minor reason (this was overrated in many people's eyes because Hogan's AWA popularity was going through the roof and he was already a big money player for New Japan before the movie was ever released) Hogan became the biggest draw in the American business for Verne Gagne before leaving Gagne for McMahon Jr. in December 1983. The idea that a guy who looked like Hogan did in 1979, when he first made the connection with McMahon who had what everyone in wrestling knew was the perfect look if a promoter could create a wrestler out of cloth, but his interviews and ability at the time were somewhat suspect, would be asked to change and die his hair red is preposterous. With the tan and the blonde hair and the body when it came to that kind of size that was totally unique in wrestling at the time would have been a natural post-Superstar Graham heel for the WWF and Vince Sr., who was by no means a dumb man what it came to promoting wrestling, and certainly Vince Jr., who was wielding a lot of power by that time, would have never at that point in time wanted to tinker with what was so obvious right before their eyes. That's probably Hogan coming up with a story based on Vince Jr. wanting Bob Backlund to die his hair and turn heel in 1984 Backlund being fired when he refused.

Hogan said he left the WWF due to being singled out with McMahon for the steroid controversy (leaving out that he actually quit because McMahon wanted him to pass the torch in the ring to Hart and he wasn't going to lose at that time to what he perceived as a little guy although at this point one would almost be sure he'll put Hart over now because in a program the only way Hogan can get over is to put Hart over) and said that athletes in every sport used steroids and continued to use steroids even after the law was changed (making it felony). When asked if he continued to use steroids after the law was changed, Hogan said that he had, but I'm not sure if from his reaction he didn't misinterpret King's question.

He claimed he signed with WCW when doing the show "Thunder in Paradise" and just by coincidence they were taping in Orlando at the same time he was filming and just by coincidence somebody stopped by and asked a question and they filmed him and just by coincidence, you get the picture. He said he came in and immediately the numbers changed (that is true), and then when he went heel and joined the NWO, it took off (also true). He strongly hinted throughout the show wanting to return as a full-fledged babyface. He put over Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner and knocked the WWF for pushing the envelope, exploiting women and devil worship. He started calling WWF XXX porn but then stopped himself. He said the WCW method would win in the end and claimed people like he and Bret Hart would be working together to make wrestling suitable entertainment for children again. He hooked himself to Hart's name constantly in the interview, given the feeling within the business that Hart at least initially is going to have tremendous popularity with wrestling fans due to sympathy over his brother.

In what appeared to be a cleverly set up spot, King said to Hogan regarding Owen Hart, "You were very close to him" and Hogan bowed his head. Hogan never said he was, nor denied it, but the impression was certainly given the audience that he was. He said what Hart's drop was supposed to be was a spoof to make fun of Bret and himself (Hart's role was clearly designed to be that but the stunt was to spoof Sting) and that Owen wasn't trained for that stunt and was a good enough wrestler that he didn't need to be put in that position.

They showed a clip of Martha Hart from her appearance on Larry King and said he agreed with her and again talked about he, Bret and Randy Savage getting their heads together for the good of the industry and brought up again that the industry should get away from exploiting women.

When the Sable lawsuit was brought up, Hogan noted that stuff was drawing ratings and basically said the people in charge put morals aside and go with what works for business. He said that he can't let his children watch WWF and said the American public would get their belly full and said how WCW promotes a product that kids can watch.

They showed a clip of Jesse Ventura from his appearance on the show talking about Hogan going to Vince to nix the union. Hogan said Ventura's story was totally false, and said Ventura's stories about his wrestling career get bigger and bigger as time goes by. He said Ventura always complained about money, even going back to the AWA days. He categorized Ventura as a mid-card wrestler, who only had main events on occasion when he wrestled against him (not true as Ventura & Adrian Adonis in the AWA days before Hogan came were frequent main eventers when Verne Gagne as AWA champion didn't work a full schedule of house shows and later Ventura has a main event run in WWF with Backlund, was a main eventer frequently in Oregon, although he worked probably as many matches, probably more during his career in the middle as on top). He said Ventura talked about unionizing going back to the AWA but there was never any serious talk of a union and it was never a deal that was close to happening. Hogan said there was a time in the WWF when they were wrestling at Wembley Stadium and Ventura was talking about a union strongly (for the record, WWF only ran one show in its history at Wembley Stadium, in 1992 during a period when neither Hogan, on hiatus over the steroid controversy, nor Ventura, fired by McMahon two years earlier, were even with the company. The union story occurred in early 1986. WWF never even ran Wembley Arena until 1991, and there were no dates for any arena in London during the period when this is alleged to have gone down). He blamed Ventura for having a grudge against him because Ventura asked him to help him campaign when he was running for Mayor of Brooklyn Park and due to his own political affiliations at the time, he didn't. He finally threw the biggest dig at Ventura saying they were friends at one time and in the old days, "We (on the road) always went to Jesse's room to party because he had everything to party with."

Although his candor was suspect, he was doing well until the Presidency thing came up and he tried to take it seriously. He claimed the people at Time Warner wanted to get him to run for President. When asked who, the only name he would come up with was Eric Bischoff. He said he never committed to running, then said he'd made the announcement he was running on Jay Leno when a clueless King said he could make the announcement on his show, then said when he first made the announcement on wrestling it was a publicity stunt but now it's serious, then said six different contradictory things about whether or not had announced it or would be running. When King scoffed at his ability to debate people like Al Gore, he said he admitted he'd have to have people bring him up to speed. Again when it came to a platform, he knew little to say except flat tax and "putting America first."

Regarding McMahon, Hogan said, "I have a lot of respect for how he's taken care of his family. As far as a businessman, his theme of ride the horse until it drops, shoot it, then eat the horse, I don't agree with." He said he didn't think he could go back to the WWF because there are too many hidden agendas there (like there aren't in WCW?)

By the end he was talking in circles again mixing the work and the shoot. He freely admitted wrestling was choreographed at the beginning, imparting the McMahon/Hogan system of admitting to (wrestling being fake/I used steroids/I cheated on my wife) things to make the interviewer think you're being candid, and then turn the rest of the story and the past history into complete fiction. Later he was talking about his loss to Goldberg and injury at the hands of Page as if they were real. King asked him if he was worried about getting hurt in the ring. He said early in his career when he wrestled overseas, particularly in Japan, he'd have to watch out because a guy could make a big reputation in one night taking him out, but said today in WCW that would never happen. Then after saying nobody in WCW would ever hurt him intentionally, he talked about how DDP hurt him intentionally. Then he said he wasn't mad at Page (in other words, he's decided against that program), but said he wanted to wrestle Goldberg on July 11th (that isn't going to happen and nobody at WCW knows why he pushed something that was for sure not going to happen). He sort of knocked Goldberg, but very carefully, saying he's not sure where his head is at. He again talked about Hart (Hogan called Hart over the past week and laid out a program idea where they would work against each other, both as old style superhero babyfaces, leading to a three-way program involving Goldberg later this year), said he could wrestle in his 50s (is that a scary thought or what?) and tried to tie himself to Hart once again.

Due to a computer system failure at Neilsen, television ratings for 6/28 were unavailable at press time, although given what each show had to offer, it is a ridiculously safe bet it close to if not the biggest blow out in the history of the Monday night wars.

For 7/5, due to the weekend holiday, there is also a good chance ratings would be delayed and unavailable in next week's issue.

For the weekend of 6/26-27, Livewire did a 1.8 rating, Superstars did a 2.0 and Sunday Night Heat before the PPV show did a 4.14 rating; WCW Saturday Night did a 2.0 (for those wanting to credit Dusty Rhodes for the 1.9, as if people tune in specifically to see the announcers, after much lower numbers earlier weeks, this number was up, without Rhodes, and was a one hour show which traditionally draws lower numbers than the two hour shows) and Thunder on 6/24 did a 3.30 rating, which is Thunder's best mark in many weeks.

An interesting note regarding WWF running programming that is supposedly more kids oriented on the morning shows as compared with Raw, is that Livewire this week drew 651,000 non-adult viewers, Superstars drew 747,000 non-adult viewers and Heat drew 1,447,000 non-adult viewers on shows where language and behavior is toned down from Raw. Raw, the show that isn't edited because supposedly children are less likely to watch, draws more than 2.5 million kids every week. For the weekend shows this past weekend by percentage, WCW Saturday Night draws 80% adults, Live Wire draws 61% adults, Superstars draws 63% adults and Heat draws 67% adults (the last figures we had for Raw which were about a month ago were 61% adults).

 Does it seem like everything is falling apart? Well, then why should this week be any different from any other. The Master P deal has turned into a colossal joke and may have already fallen apart. Last week in New Orleans, Master P kept making demands on WCW for more limo's and more perks, trying to negotiate contracts (apparently Swole signed a huge money contract and Eric Bischoff actually believed the guy used to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling although reports since he worked one show this past week were that he wasn't mad for a newcomer), showing less than zero respect for Bischoff and then the next morning, one of his bodyguards was arrested at the airport for carrying a gun. There must have been a blow-up because by late week, it was said that both his and Dennis Rodman's appearances for 7/5 at the Georgia Dome were in jeopardy. Both were still being advertised as of 6/29 but nobody seemed to know if they would appear or not. Actually, the latest inside word was that P was through but that Swole was at Nitro on 6/28 distancing himself from P since he was the one who was the real wrestling fan out of the group. Nobody had a clue about Rodman or what even the problem was in the first place

And if that isn't silly enough, they added Rick Steiner vs. Van Hammer for the TV title at the 7/11 PPV and there was talk of making Ernest Miller the U.S. champion and having him work a program with Disco Inferno over the title. Scott Steiner was the champ but due to his back injury, he's not expected back any time soon

Speaking of back injuries, Ric Flair is supposed to be out of the ring. It's no secret Flair isn't thrilled with his current role designed to end his career and quite frankly, Nash is the first booker who looks like he may succeed in this regard. Flair's back is legitimately hurt, and probably any wrestler who has been around as long as Flair could be examined by a doctor and numerous injuries found. Probably this is similar to Hogan in that Hogan did have a legit knee injury but took the opportune time to sit out. Flair is having an MRI done this week or next to determine the extent of the injury. He'll be kept on TV doing the goofy President role but won't be wrestling. However, unlike most of the injured wrestlers, Flair did go to all the cities he was booked at to make an appearance. In Auburn Hills, MI, he even sort of worked. They were doing a match with Savage vs. Bagwell, but with both refusing to job for the other and the agents not wanting a lame DQ, Flair volunteered to come out at the finish and it would turn into a three-way at that point and Bagwell could pin Flair. In Milwaukee, Flair came out and did an interview (even though he played heel, most of the fans cheered him), and they then had Dave Penzer say Ted Turner himself sent an emergency message for him to get on a plane to Atlanta immediately. Flair sold the message big and left, so he didn't wrestle. Flair himself liked the idea of the chemistry of himself, Hogan, Piper and Savage all together as a unit against the younger guys, but when Savage didn't want to be called an old guy and be part of that angle it was already falling apart and the reality is Flair would be doing the jobs for all four for the most part. Piper is just too physically beaten up because of his hip to be out there as anything more than a novelty and really his novelty days are even pretty well past. We've got no idea about where the proposed Flair vs. Malenko and Piper vs. Bagwell matches on the PPV stand

Nitro on 6/28 in Chicago drew 16,210, which was about 2,500 shy of capacity and 12,330 paid for a $373,073 house. The house isn't as impressive as it sounds as it's Nitro not being able to sellout Chicago, and because of all the advertising and TV expenses, break-even without even figuring in paying talent for the show was about $250,000. They did a try-out match with Chad Collyer, who has wrestled of late for Michinoku Pro. TV opened with Benoit & Saturn over Steve Regal & David Finlay in 11:00 when Saturn pinned Regal with the death valley driver. Regal was still a little heavy and even backstage talked about not being in condition, but all things considered looked real good, especially compared to just about everyone else on the show. Easily the best match on the show and better than anything on the WWF PPV the night before as well. Gene Okerlund interviewed Flair, Piper and company. Piper went crazy cutting a promo on Howard Stern blaming Stern for all the problems with kids in the United States. Flair actually said due to the political situation in the company they won't let him ever be champion again and that was his explanation for giving David the title shot. David had his hair bleached ala Ric, but still doesn't show any charisma. Flair called out Savage and Sid asking them to join forces with Savage basically saying he didn't care if he had the title but just wanted to make sure Nash didn't. Flair reinstated the top rope elbow. Wasn't that already done two weeks ago by Nash? It was interesting because the minute Sid showed up, Arn went into a corner and acted like he didn't even want to acknowledge what was going on in front of him. Charles Robinson went crazy about Flair making a deal with Savage. When the interview was over, Sid walked to the corner where Anderson was and shook his hand. A noticeable number in the crowd understood that one and politely applauded. They did another promo of Lenny Lane & Lodi backstage doing their Gaylords gimmick. Lane acted worried that he'd lose his job if people in WCW found out about them but recognized WCW was a progressive company. Eddie Guerrero beat Lodi in 1:26 with a frog splash, although Lane ran in to protect Lodi an Guerrero splashed onto both of them. Hak, who had no voice and apparently even fewer bearings, challenged Flair. Bigelow came out instead. They had this incredibly bad match where every spot looked botched up. As a gimmick to get the hardcore match concept over and Flair over as a nutty leader, Flair has banned hardcore matches. Unfortunately, we saw just how bad Hak is without having weapons to cover up his lack of timing in working a wrestling match. Page & Kanyon both interfered and Page used a diamond cutter allowing Bigelow to win in 4:37. Nash did an interview and got a real big pop. Nash is desperately trying to book himself as the guy alone against all odds ala Austin and even though he's not getting over as far as his main events selling tickets, the people who come are popping for him. He said in exchange for giving David the title match, if he won, he wanted Torrie Wilson for 72 hours and said all he would need is 72 hours and she'd be ruined. At least they're doing something with Wilson, who is so marketable. Actually the woman who plays Ryan Shamrock may be the most marketable of all of them. Nash may be using her to get him over like Dusty Rhodes used to do to hang onto his spot, but Wilson needed to be in a top program (the original plan obviously was for her to be with Ric). Hennig & Duncum Jr. & Barry & Kendall Windham beat Stevie Ray & Horace Hogan & Vincent & Brian Adams in 7:55 when Duncum & Kendall used a double bulldog on Vincent and Duncum pinned him. Barry is still washing his shorts in too much warm water. This match was terrible, but Adams actually did a good dropkick and didn't look like the worst wrestler in the world in this match. Unfortunately, Stevie Ray did. Hennig is a riot and has more talent then the other seven guys put together. The match still had no heat and even though everyone expected Hennig to be over huge as a face because of the song, only a few people were singing it and Hennig didn't get many cheers. They had a dance contest with Miller and Disco. Miller dances much better than he wrestles. He danced. When Disco started dancing, Miller jumped him and they started a match. Remind me if I'm ever hired to run a wrestling company not to give the guy who gives my dog obedience lessons the U.S. title. It's really not good for morale or business. The fans think Miller is so great that they were chanting for Goldberg. Disco usually isn't bad, but Miller proved Disco's limitations. Miller kicked him with the dreaded red shoe, but Jerry Flynn showed up and chased Onoo into the ring and he kicked Miller. Flynn kicked Miller and challenged him to a kick boxing match next week at the Dome. In a tag title match, Page & Kanyon & Bigelow beat Malenko & Bagwell. This three man tag team for the regular tag titles makes as much sense this week as it did last. It was still a good match, largely because the guys in the ring worked hard and because whenever the crowd starting dying down, Bigelow at ringside did a great job picking them back up. After a ref bump, Bigelow & Page did a double-team diamond cutter on Malenko for the pin in 16:29. There was a lot of heat backstage. Bagwell was complaining because he was asked to do a job for Sid in a dark match after the show ended, and Malenko was mad because when they do tag matches, Bagwell is the one who gets all the glory but he's the one who does all the work and looks bad in the finishes. They aired a Hennig video taped in Nashville on 6/25. The idea that the Windhams and Duncum are actually playing musical instruments was a little hard to take even though Barry as a kid toyed with the drums and Duncum can play a little as well but Hennig never sang before in his life. The song is actually getting some interest as a novelty single both from record companies and a few country stations and stations with DJ's that do a lot of wrestling talk. Vicious pinned Scott Putski with a power bomb in 4:40. Fans were chanting Goldberg during this match as well. Savage dropped an elbow on him after the match. I can just imagine the guys in the War room putting on this show. Let's see, Vince is putting Austin vs. Undertaker on top and we've got David Flair vs. Nash, so we need a really strong semifinal to give us a boost so we'll put Sid against Scott Putski. Nash vs. David was beyond bad. They had all the heels as lumberjacks, Arn as ref. Basically everyone jumped Nash, who sold very little considering it was a 16-on-1 beating. David put the figure four on him but Nash broke it like it was a joke and started beating up everyone. David got the taser but Nash got it away and zapped David and Anderson and threatened everyone else. He then carried Gorgeous George out over his shoulder and Torrie Wilson came running away with Nash to give the impression Mr. Cool Guy is almost as cool as Tommy Dreamer and going to do his own three-way dance. I guess he lost by count out. It must be one of those sports entertainment finishes but at least in those they play music for no reason and we know to cheer or boo. This guy simply took off after spending three hours building up a 3:00 match. Wasn't he supposed to have to win to get Torrie? When he went to his limo, he saw the dreaded hummer that nearly killed him so bad he had to sell almost two straight minutes for Savage. In the reflection he could see the driver. OHMYGOD! It's not Sable. It's not even a woman. It's Jeff Farmer! How many times have we seen this angle

For those curious, Tank Abbott is still being flown to every Nitro and is still under contract. They just don't use him. Among the people at Nitro who flew home because they weren't booked on the show were the real Sting, Rick Steiner, Konnan, Rey Misterio Jr., Kidman, Knobs and a slew of others

There will be a Nitro Girls in bikinis PPV on 8/2, which makes perfect sense to put a PPV on a Monday night

Jimmy Hart has made a proposal to book WCW Saturday Night. There is talk of building the show around only young guys and trying to do Memphis style angles with guys who aren't on Nitro to give them experience at talking and doing programs, although at this point Kevin Sullivan is still in charge of the show and there has been no format change

There was also talk of Snoop Dog and Naughty by Nature appearing at the Georgia Dome on 7/5, but the latter was nixed by Master P and the former was aligned with Master P so they're probably both out

Bret Hart is planning on returning at the show. In WCW's infinite wisdom on Nitro this week, they never once mentioned Hart was coming back but did do an angle to build for a Miller vs. Jerry Flynn match for that show. The booking committee loves Miller which is why he gets so much television time. It's not just that he's Bischoff's son's karate teacher. Hart is expected to leave the question of his future open in the first interview and do an angle fairly soon with Hogan to bring him back to wrestling. At first we thought it would set up Hogan vs. Hart for the Toronto PPV show in November, but we're told the angle will be coming off a lot sooner than that. I don't know if people actually believe this, but there is internal talk that things will turn around when Hogan, Hart and Goldberg all return. Hogan is trying to make a play for even more political power when he returns. There are so many games being played for power by the master manipulators that I don't know if anyone knows who their allies and enemies truly are

Thunder on 6/24 in Lafayette, LA had a really hot crowd and at least the show started out good. It opened with the Cowboys doing the worst lip synch you've ever seen to "Rap is Crap." They even made fun of the fact they were so obviously doing it. Eddie Guerrero pinned Psicosis in 12:45 with a frog splash. Guerrero looked tremendous which was good to see since he'd been out for so long and this was only his second match back, and this was one of those great TV matches that a good promotion would use to get both guys over. In this case, well, you know the picture. Nash did an interview and was so happy with his reaction that he said he may want to move there. He's trying to make himself the rebel outlaw with the belt, which is pretty hard when you're the booker, saying how WCW doesn't want him with the title. He then said Sting drove the hummer and the fans booed him. Benoit & Saturn beat Finlay & David Taylor in 12:01 when Benoit pinned Taylor after a diving head-butt. This was a good match. Regal showed up after the match when Finlay & Taylor were about to turn on each other and brought them back together. Hennig destroyed Lane in 3:02 when Lodi threw in the towel to save Lane. Hennig then gave Lodi a fisherman suplex. Savage & Sid did an interview. Savage said Sid is the best big man in wrestling. Everyone else says it's Nash. That sure speaks volumes for today's wrestling, doesn't it? In the old days the arguments for the best big man would be guys like Bruiser Brody, Don Leo Jonathan and Vader. David Flair beat Evan Karagis in 3:31 when Evan wouldn't do the job the easy way, so they zapped him with the taser and he used the figure four. They claimed David was undefeated with a 7-0 record and was chasing Goldberg's streak. Didn't Meng destroy him. Sorry I remembered. Morrus vs. Hammer in a hardcore match was a sports entertainment finish at 7:13. Flair came out and said no more hardcore matches. The match stopped. Then they started fighting and Hammer put Morrus through a table and then Hammer just left. Main event saw Bagwell & Malenko beat Vicious & Savage via DQ in 8:29. Malenko put the cloverleaf on Miss Madness, but Sid power bombed him. Savage then hit ref Nick Patrick for the DQ and crotched him on the top rope but totally missed the spot. They gave Mickey Jay a stuff piledriver and a power bomb and Jay ended up getting hurt legit on the move. For next week they taped Kaz Hayashi & Kenny Kaos over the Border Patrol, Saturn over DDP with outside interference, Brad Armstrong & Swole over Disorderly Conduct, Guerrero beat Parka, Hennig & Duncum & Windhams beat Silver King & Damian & Dandy & Villano V, Misterio Jr. kept the cruiserweight belt beating Blitzkrieg, Benoit over Enos and the main event saw Rick Steiner beat Bagwell when David Flair zapped him with the taser. Oh well, on Nitro Nash stole the taser from David. I'm just glad I'm not going to have to try and make sense of it on TV this week

There is nothing new on the status of Jericho, who worked road shows putting over Bagwell all weekend. He's got two or three house show bookings left and at this point isn't going to be used on television unless he signs a new deal. WCW is making a play for him after really not even trying to keep him for the past six months. The booking committee wants to put him on Nitro every week to job to everyone in case he leaves, but Bischoff ruled against it with the idea that he didn't want to give him any television exposure in case he leaves. The situation is being handled totally different to when Scott Steiner's contract was running out but he was still pushed big on TV every week, or even when Giant left and they still used him fairly strong on TV although that was more so DDP and Nash could beat him when he still meant something before he left

Starting this week the wrestlers who were on the road did get paid bonuses for doing the house shows generally in the $250 to $500 range. This had been talked about for some time since morale is so bad about the highest paid guys not having to work house shows but getting so much of the television time

Miller and Scott Armstrong nearly got into a fight backstage at the 6/22 show in Lake Charles, LA

They actually did a Barry Windham vs. Misterio Jr. match at that taping. Windham was DQ'd for outside interference. Windham sold a lot more for Misterio Jr. than he did in the Taka Michinoku match last year on Raw which pretty well destroyed for good the WWF's light heavyweight division

Apparently when Sting said, "I've got two words for you," and the crowd responded "Suck it" in New Orleans on 6/21, he thought the cameras were off. Boy did that come off as one lame finish of a TV show

Despite rumors to the contrary, Raven is still with the company. He's had surgery in recent weeks to repair a torn rotator cuff and also had surgery for gynecomastia (where nipples swell and males grow almost female breast like tissue, often attributed to using steroids that aromatize in the system) and he got an infection from the second surgery and was hospitalized again during the past week

WCW had a surprise drug test at the house show in Milwaukee. This was another morale killer because virtually none of the big names were at the show as seems to be the case more often than not when these drug tests take place

For 6/11 in the U.K., Raw set its all-time record rating with 480,000 viewers to 240,000 for Nitro and 170,000 for Thunder

Hugh Morrus had a large chunk fall out of his head, hair and all, during his Thunder match with Van Hammer on 6/24. It wasn't exactly his week, since he also had two car wrecks during the week

Apparently Sid is telling people he signed a two-year deal for $1.5 million per, but others who are probably (but not necessarily) more reliable peg the real figure at $500,000 per year

Bob Raissman in the New York Daily News ripped on the Hogan interview on Larry King saying it was obvious Hogan went on with a clear agenda and ripped on CNN for giving him the full hour

It's not definite, but Shane Douglas may be debuting on 7/5. The main event for the Georgia Dome, which is expected to draw around 18,000, is Nash vs. Vicious for the title

WCW has signed 21 new wrestlers in recent weeks to developmental deals ranging from $300 to $1,000 per week which tie the wrestlers to WCW for three years but the company can basically cut the wrestlers at its will. Besides Shane Helms and Shannon Moore, another guy signed was Jerry Toot, who has wrestled Jersey indies as the Hell Raiser and is 6-8, 300+. The wrestlers are to work security at the Nitros and go to the Power Plant five days per week. There is a lot of criticism since the Power Plant has turned out so few wrestlers and basically hasn't on its own groomed anyone who would be ranked as a good worker

Public Enemy is back. Johnny Grunge wrestled in Auburn Hills, MI on 6/26 against Hak and Rocco Rock was at the show backstage. There is talk about putting them in as a group with Douglas and Hak

Damian will be undergoing an operation because of a badly broken thumb suffered in that hardcore match on Nitro that Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan were laughing their way through

Bischoff wasn't at either the Thunder of Nitro tapings this past week. Since he's usually not at Thunder, it's not a big deal, but there was considerable reaction to his missing Nitro

Shows for the past week saw Saturday Night tapings on 6/22 in Lake Charles, LA drew 4,532 paying $91,895 which at this point is a good crowd for Saturday Night tapings, 6/23 in Alexandria, LA drew 2,991 paying $55,075, Thunder on 6/24 in Lafayette, LA drew a sellout 10,634 which was 9,781 paying $202,335, 6/25 in Auburn Hills, MI at the Palace drew 5,125 paying $168,837 (in the building it wouldn't have looked so bad because there were 9,500 in the building with comps since they papered it to avoid it looking bad in such a huge building), 6/26 in Fort Wayne, IN drew 2,909 paying $74,150 and 6/27 in Milwaukee drew 2,722 paying $76,370

DJ Ran and some of the Nitro Girls are now on the road at the house shows. DJ Ran is starting to get booed in some cities

Mike Weber, who worked in the front office, gave notice for a job working with monster truck promotions

La Parka was limping noticeably after his match in Milwaukee

New Japan is wanting to send Kenzo Suzuki, a former college rugby star, to WCW and to Calgary for early seasoning before debuting in Japan

For the eight show period from 6/21 in New Orleans through 6/28 in Chicago, merchandise was $310,449 or $5.55 per head

In an article in the 6/25 Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel by Alex Marvez, Bischoff admitted WCW fell asleep at the wheel after the NWO gimmick ran its course and blamed WWF for changing audience expectations for current problems. "The WWF raised the bar in terms of expectations of the audience in a way this company has decided we're not going to compete with. It's an audience who really doesn't care about advertising and long-term business growth. All they want to do is be entertained, shocked, surprised and have something to talk about Tuesday morning when they go to school or work."