The magazine features an interview with WCW World Champion Vader, Bret Hart being a fighting champion, Paul Bearer losing faith in the Undertaker, and Ric Flair being in the same company as Rick Rude, which should lead to a battle, right?
BETWEEN FALLS
Several readers sent in their condolences and thoughts on Kerry Von Erich (Texas Tornado), who had committed suicide months prior. Clearly, his death impacted a lot of fans. Another fan believes that Hulk Hogan is running away from Ric Flair out of fear. Hogan retired shortly after Flair’s arrival in the WWF and then decided to comeback after Flair left for WCW. Hogan is clearly the coward in this dream feud, right?! Lastly, another fan believes that Doink is the best wrestler going today and could dethrone Hulkamania with Doinkamania.
RINGSIDE: by: Bill Apter
The WCW World Championship changed hands on foreign land on March 11th when Sting defeated Vader to win the championship. The reign was short-lived as Vader regained the championship six days later. Dino Bravo was murdered on March 11th due to several gunshots wound all over illegal cigarettes, reportedly. The Bruise Brothers have arrived in WCW and attacked the Cole Brothers upon their debut in the company. Brian Pillman and Steve Austin won the WCW World Tag Team Championships from Shane Douglas & Ricky Steamboat on March 2nd. Who knows, they might have to deal with the Bruise Brothers in the future. That’d be a dream match, right?
A feud between Col. DeBeers and Jimmy Snuka has sparked up in Championship Wrestling USA. Snuka is apparently dominating the feud but DeBeers isn’t about to give in. Ultimate Warrior is has signed with an entertainment company and is filming Fire Power. Hercules has signed with NJPW.
WIN, LOSE OR DRAW: by: Andy Rodriguez
Apparently, years ago Jimmy Hart managed Hulk Hogan in Memphis and Hogan lost a match to Jerry Lawler. Hogan lost so badly that he never returned to Memphis and Lawler dominated Memphis for years after. Hogan, according to sources, blamed Jimmy Hart for not preparing him well enough. Hogan is aligned with Hart now that he saved Brutus Beefcake from an attack on RAW by WWF World Tag Team Champions Money Inc. (IRS & Ted DiBiase). However, what if Jimmy Hart is doing this all just to screw over Hogan and Beefcake? Maybe the red and yellow that Hart wears signifies the blood that will be spilled due to him and his cowardice.
IN FOCUS: by: Craig Peters
I thought this was interesting. Hulk Hogan reached out to a family that had their young son pass away due to complications from chicken box. Hogan is featured on the tombstone and his letter and autograph are included at the gravesite.
THE STEEL CAGE: by: Bob Smith
The major topic is the lack of coverage on women’s wrestling, something that neither WCW or WWF had on their programming at the time. It mainly highlights the disrespect women wrestling receives in America while in Japan it is regarded highly and often female wrestlers go overseas to compete.
OFF THE TOP ROPE: by: Eddie Ellner
Missy Hyatt has bailed on the Barbarian just days after signing him due to Barbarian not liking that she called him “Barbie doll.” Ellner believes that Flair will win a 10th championship. He also rips on Sid Vicious saying that his bite doesn’t backup his bark. Another is under the impression that Ellner can help his friend meet a few wrestlers, but as Ellner points out, the writer didn’t leave any kind of contact information and jokingly says that the wrestlers (Bret Hart, Brutus Beefcake & Shawn Michaels) were all going to be in Canton, OH. Ellner also rips on a fan who complimented him saying he doesn’t need to like someone who praises him. I enjoy the snarky columns towards fans.
SCOUTING REPORT
Giant Gonzales: They list that intimidation, athleticism and killer instinct are his strengths. He is clumsy, has a limited repertoire and has had many past failures in his career. At WrestleMania, if he beats the Undertaker he could be a future World Champion, or if he loses just be forgotten about. The latter occurred.
Hulk Hogan: He’s rejuvenated, quicker (since losing muscle mass), and has an intimidating aura as his strengths. However, he gets distracted, reliving his old glory and has predictable offense as his weaknesses. It’s anticipated that he will chase after a fifth WWF World Championship.
Cactus Jack: His strengths and weakness are basically that he is crazy. They’d prefer to see Cactus challenge for titles instead of competing in meaningless feuds.
Arn Anderson: He is focused, versatile and is always professional inside and out of the ring. His weaknesses are that he can’t wear his glasses in the ring, he’s too loyal to Flair, and suffers from a knee injury. Anderson can either compete in SMW or WCW and feels most comfortable with a heel stable.
Eddie Gilbert: A master of deception, a good finisher in the hot shot and is a student of the game for strengths. He’s a social misfit who doesn’t get along with anyone, is obsessed with Jerry Lawler and has a vulnerable neck are his weaknesses. It’s expected that Gilbert won’t join WCW or WWF and instead remain a big fish in the small pond winning the USWA Championship from Jerry Lawler.
Razor Ramon: Razor’s Edge finisher is powerful, has a lot of confidence that can’t shake him and is a street fighter. His weaknesses are that he is an underachiever, over aggressive and suffers a knee injury. Ramon has been stalled since his debut in the WWF but a victory over top tier talent like Mr. Perfect or Bob Backlund might be what he needs to get back on track.
PRESS CONFERENCE WITH BIG VAN VADER
Vader says that his dominance in Japan transferred over to WCW and that Ron Simmons was WCW World Champion for several months because Simmons avoided his challenge. Vader has made a lot of promoters and himself rich with his style of offense. Vader says he and Sting are two totally different people and they can’t exist in the same company. He also notes that he has never heard bones break as easily as Sting’s do. Vader dismisses the thought that he was in any danger against Sting at Superbrawl III. He also denies that he and Harley Race setup a feud between Cactus Jack and Paul Orndorff so that neither man came after the gold.
WWF CHAMPION BRET HART DOESN’T TAKE ANY CHALLENGE LYING DOWN: by: Craig Peters
Peters is impressed with Bret Hart defending the WWF World Championship against anyone that challenges him. Whether they are brawlers like Razor Ramon, Kamala and Bam-Bam Bigelow or scientific wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, he has successfully defended the championship. Hart defended the championship five times in eight days against three different opponents being Razor Ramon, Bam-Bam Bigelow and Yokozuna. It’s basically just praise for Hart willing to defend the championship against anyone to prove he is a fighting champion.
EGOMANIA! WHY RIC FLAIR AND RICK RUDE CAN’T CO-EXIST IN WCW: by: Dave Rosenbaum
The chants of “We Want Flair!” drove Rude nuts because he was there in WCW and he didn’t know why they wanted Ric Flair. Now that two of the biggest egos are in the same federation, there is no way that they can co-exist. They think too much alike and that is what will cause them to destroy each other. They want the same women, money, fame, fortune, fans and adulation. Flair is quoted to saying that if Rude wants him to come and get him. Shortly after the magazine was released, they entered into a program on WCW television.
NOW IT CAN BE TOLD! WHY PAUL BEARER SACRIFICED THE UNDERTAKER TO YOKOZUNA: by: Andy Rodriguez
Paul Bearer saw the Undertaker getting soft and in order to save his career, he put him in a match with the dangerous Yokozuna. Bearer thought that perhaps the fans cheering for Undertaker had made Taker soft, but wasn’t sure. After Giant Gonzales attacked Undertaker at the Royal Rumble, Bearer feared that Taker had lost the motivation. Undertaker was told of Bearer’s plan and was fired up more to compete and get his momentum back. It should be noted that in the matches between Taker and Yoko that it evenly contested and Yoko lost by disqualification after using the salt bucket.
DON’T JERK US AROUND HULK HOGAN: ARE YOU BACK OR NOT?: by: Dave Rosenbaum
There is question on whether or not Hogan is truly retired or he’ll return to wrestling. He returned in February ’93 saving Beefcake from an attack, but is he going to go after the WWF World Championship again? It’s likely that Hogan will stick around briefly and then return to Thunder In Paradise TV series. Basically, fans are upset that Hogan is using them for whenever he wants to return to wrestling only to go back to Hollywood. That’s something Hogan would do for the duration of his career.
WRESTLING ENQUIRER
Dirty White Boy has turned into a Yankee and has challenged Tracy Smothers to a chain match putting his SMW Heavyweight Championship on the line. Arn Anderson has started a feud with Bobby Eaton in SMW because Eaton didn’t call him when Arn had a knee injury. Jim Duggan returned to action in the WWF defeating Damien Demento after being out due to injury suffered by Yokozuna. Also, the Lightning Kid has been invited to compete in a juniors tournament in Japan. The tournament includes Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and defending champion Jushin Liger.
The articles in the magazine seemed to be rather vague and didn’t have much substance behind them. The Rude/Flair article is a fine teaser of an article, but would be suited better for when they actually started to feud a few months later. The Vader interview didn’t provide anything all that new and it was by the books. The Undertaker article wasn’t all that believable and seemed like they were grasping at straws to provide something interesting in the WWF.
What are your thoughts on the magazine or on what was happening in the world of wrestling at the time?
Thanks for reading.