Highlighted in the magazine is the issues between Vader and the duo of Arn Anderson & Ric Flair. Paul Bearer tried to recruit Kama to join the Undertaker? The Ultimate Warrior is coming for Renegade? The Gangstas invade Public Enemy’s turf and much more!
SINCERELY YOURS
A fan from St. Clair, MN reminds us the history between The Butcher and Hulk Hogan where Butcher had challenged and failed to defeat Hogan in the WWF and took out Hogan’s friend Hillbilly Jim by breaking his leg. Then in WCW, Butcher repays Hogan by trying to end the career of his friend. It’s safe to say that Roy Barnett, the fan writing in, never liked Butcher and I can’t blame him there. Another fan from New Jersey doesn’t appreciate the hate that Shawn Michaela and Diesel have been getting. Diesel accomplished more in a year than Bret Hart did in nine years and Michaels is better off as a fan favorite, in his opinion.
Another fan from Stoneham, MA doesn’t understand how a fan in the August ’95 magazine would suggest fans should respect Jerry Lawler considering everything Lawler has done to Bret Hart especially over the years. Eric Thornton from Kent, WA thinks Shark needs to stick to one identity and follow a career path. Diesel gets defended by another fan who says Diesel is a fighting champion and fought off top challenges from Michaels, Bigelow and King Kong Bundy. The fan thinks someday Diesel will be a legend, similar to Hulk Hogan. Lastly, a fan gives credit to Jack Tunney for his run as WWF President and thanks Tunney for his decisions and managing the promotion.
NAMES MAKIN’ NEWS: written by: Bill Apter
The Heavenly Bodies have ended their long losing streak by defeating Tracy Smothers and Tony Anthony at a recent show in Smoky Mountain Wrestling on August 4th. Also, the Bodies won the USWA Tag Team Champions from PG-13 four days later. Jim Powers won the Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling US Championship from Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett declined s rematch offer but the Roadie will take on Powers instead. Taz has suffered a neck injury thanks to a spike piledriver from 2 Cold Scorpio and Dean Malenko.
The rumored reunion between Steve Austin and Brian Pillman isn’t going to happen since Pillman will never accept Col. Robert Parker as his manager. Col. Robert Parker has more trouble as he is preventing his team of Kursawa and Meng from challenging for the titles held by Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater. Apparently, Parker is paying the former more than the latter, and the champs aren’t happy about that.
Johnny Gunn and Crash the Terminator have been having a violent feud all over the East Coast. A team named Assault & Battery won the Pennsylvania Tag Team Championships from The Heavenly Bodies with Lou Albano in their corner. Albano thinks they can challenge Yokozuna and Owen Hart in a few weeks. I think we’re still waiting on that one, folks. Al Snow has signed a contract with the WWF after tryouts with WCW and WWF. The former Unabomb from SMW is indeed Isaac Yankeem, the evil dentist associated with Jerry Lawler.
Fans are saying that a match between Johnny B. Badd and Steve Armstrong at a recent WCW TV taping is a match of the year contender. Anyone know anything about that? Brooklyn Brawler and Bastion Booger are feuding in Michigan. Brian Christopher shall be returning to USWA soon after suffering an injury thanks to Billy Jack Haynes.
ON THE ROAD: written by: Chris Bernucca
Oh boy, this month the discussion is about labor. “I’m not saying that there is a place for (a players’ association) in wrestling, but certain aspects of the longevity of the wrestlers careers must be addressed… McMahon and Turner might disagree from a business standpoint but how can they personally?” – Larry Zbyszko
The idea of a union would be a bad one as it would help the bigger stars in wrestling while destroying the smaller promotions the wrestlers involved in those companies. In professional wrestling you’re responsible for essentially everything from your flights to your rented car. Simply put, none of the wrestlers are attempting to start a union because they’d all be fired. Chris simply thinks the owners of WWF and WCW should work with the wrestlers to share the travel expense, but nothing more than that.
BEHIND THE DRESSING ROOM DOOR: written by: David Rosenbaum
Apparently, Dave was going to surf with Sting and Hulk Hogan in California before Bash at the Beach, but had the courage to tell them that he didn’t actually know how to surf and backed out. By honest he told them he played basketball with Vader and needed to heal our doctors orders.
THE INSIDER: written by: Eddie Ellner
Ellner wondered what the term rule breaker truly meant and said a fan asked if he would reconcile with the Rock N’ Roll Express since they have demonstrated heel tendencies but Ellner doesn’t think Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson are rule breakers due to their motivation. He also says that Vader, who defended himself against Flair and Arn Anderson, doesn’t mean he is a fan favorite.
Ultiamte Warrior returned to beat the Honkytonk Man in Las Vegas, but Ellner doesn’t care about Warrior and awaits the implosion that always happens. Lastly, Eddie doesn’t see Psycho Sid as being a star due to his failed attempts at beating Diesel for the WWF World Championship.
ON ASSIGNMENT: written by: Liz Hunter
Liz recalls a time shopping with the late Eddie Gilbert to get some lacy underwear for Missy Hyatt and attempting to surprise her at a UWF show, only to be surprised that Missy was giving Sting a massage. Gilbert and Hyatt made up, but Liz talked to the Road Warriors who think Sting is a phony wearing face paint. Anyway, Sting and Hawk are allies now because Hawk knows Sting when before he didn’t. They both now believe they have a future together as a team and look forward to the future.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Tiger Jeet Singh: Despite being in his 50s, he is still competing in Japan and may never stop.
Terry Taylor: Recently accepted a job as a member of the championship committee in WCW, though he may return to the ring at some point.
Tom Zenk: Currently wrestling Chicago and wants a title match against his good friend Tito Santana.
Kevin Von Erich: He’s building a house for his family and goes around telling kids the dangers of drugs and to stay away from them.
NEWS FROM THE WRESTLING CAPITALS
Shawn Michaels vs. Jeff Jarrett took place in Houston, TX where Jarrett was disqualified since Roadie helped him out. Jarrett put a figure four on Michaels afterward and was nearly fined $5,000.
Stevie Richards vs. Luna Vachon took place in Philadelphia, PA inside a steel cage. They both would be bloody and Luna won after a claw hold to Stevie’s groin got a submission.
Buddy Landell vs. Brad Armstrong took place in Knoxville, TN for the held up SMW Heavyweight Championship. The title was still held up due to interference from Jim Cornette.
The Great Muta vs. Hawk took place in Sapporo, Japan where Muta retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship after hitting two moonsaults on Hawk.
Crash The Terminator vs. Johnny Gunn took place in Reading, PA in a lumberjack match where Crash retained the PCW Heavyweight Championship with help from Bad Attitude.
Billy Jack Haynes vs. Brain Christopher took place in Clarksdale, MS where Haynes was disqualified after purposely clotheslining the referee to retain the USWA Southern Championship.
PLAIN SPEAKING: written by: Matt Brock
Brock believes that WCW has gotten dull and that turning Vader into a fan favorite isn’t going to help matters. Vader is now the second best wrestler behind Hogan and beating Flair will prove nothing. Vader needs to be focused in order to dethrone Hogan and has to get past Flair first to do so. Brock assumes that Warrior will end up in WCW soon enough and feud with Hogan after his return match with Honkytonk, which lasted 17-minutes.
Brock also comments on the Owen Hart and Yokozuna team, which will be good until it likely ends in disaster, and he believes the same will happen between Lex Luger and the British Bulldog. He also wonders if Bam-Bam Bigelow looks at Mabel and wonders why their careers aren’t switched.
INSIDE WRESTLING CLASSIC: INVINCIBLE AGAIN! THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF HULK HOGAN! written by: Dave Rosenbaum
This classic article was published in the December 1990 Inside Magazine issue. Was there any doubt that at SummerSlam ’90 that Hulk Hogan would get his revenge on Earthquake after a violent attack months prior. It’s basically just a highlight of what occurred in the match thought Hogan didn’t get a clean pin. Big Bossman aligned himself with Hogan and helped Hogan fight off Earthquake, Jimmy Hart and Dino Bravo. The feud has just begun between these two.
WAYLON MERCY: PEACEFUL MAN? MERCILESS CRIPPLER: written by: Liz Hunter
Mercy is a kind, polite man who shakes everyone’s hand until the bell rings when he snaps and destroys the competition with his deadly sleeper hold. Mercy learned to control his anger after years of living in Japan. Mercy had many moments in Japan where he would relentlessly attack people after the bell. Mercy also freaked out at a restaurant due to the wrong meal being brought out to him. He also ripped a bus seat of a bus and tossed it through a window because he needed exact change to ride the bus. However, he calmed down and paid exact change. Some people don’t believe that Mercy can limit his anger to just the squared circle and that Mercy is just screwing with the fans and his peers.
VADER CHOKES AGAINST HOGAN – AND FLAIR’S THE BIG LOSER! written by: Andy Rodriguez
Ric Flair is now stuck in feuds with WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan and his former ally Vader after the Bash at the Beach pay per view. Flair doesn’t believe that Vader can handle himself and Arn Anderson since they are in a league of their own. It’s basically a piece where everyone believes that Flair pissed off the one guy he shouldn’t have and that man is Vader. Although, Kevin Sullivan does think it’s a waste of time and believes everyone should focus on taking out Hulk Hogan.
WHITE WITH FRIGHT! GREEN WITH ENVY! WHY THE UNDERTAKER HAD TO BURY KAMA: written by: Bryan Ethier
Apparently, Paul Bearer had an agreement to manage Kama if he got his release from Ted DiBiase. Kama doesn’t like his position in the Million Dollar Corporation and could have formed a good team with the Undertaker. However, Bearer didn’t consider just how much the Undertaker doesn’t like Kama. Undertaker was aware of the secret meetings between Kama and Bearer and has now requested a match where you have to literally bury your opponent. This is all according to a source named “Deep Shovel”.
HOT SEAT: THE HEAVENLY BODIES
Heavenly Bodies are aware of their struggles but blame Jim Cornette for not delivering on expectations they had for when they joined the WWF. They are upset about the lack of respect they have been given and they don’t feel like Jim Cornette has used them for their feud against the Gangstas. There wasn’t much substance to the article, really.
TURF WAR: THE GANGSTAS INVADE PUBLIC ENEMY’S TERRITORY: written by: Dave Rosenbaum
New Jack and Mustafa have left Smoky Mountain Wrestling and invaded an ECW event to attack the popular tag team of Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock with nightsticks. They were escorted out of the arena in handcuffs but they were smiling. They believe the war is going to be a quick war. It is believed that the attack cost Public Enemy the ECW Tag Team Championships one week later to Raven and Stevie Richards. Two weeks later, the Gangstas won a anything goes steel cage match against Public Enemy. Public Enemy got a win a week later, but this isn’t about the titles, but rather Public Enemy keeping their turf that is ECW, something they fought hard to call their own.
RENEGADE BEWARE: THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR IS COMING TO GET YOU! written by: Steve Anderson
Imitation is a form of flattery and they use several examples such as Demolition/Road Warriors, Jeff Jarrett/Honkytonk and then countless Doink’s that have appeared across the country. Well, now we have the Renegade and the Ultimate Warrior is back and ready to take out his imitator. Steve completely buries Renegade and his lack of ability highlighting his bad performance against Paul Orndorff at Bash at the Beach. He says that the Warrior witnessed the Bash at the Beach event live, and had a meeting with Eric Bischoff. Hogan claims he isn’t using the Renegade to call Warrior out. Only time will tell if Warrior will enter WCW to combat Hogan one more time.
ONE ON ONE
This one is between Col. Robert Parker and Sherri Martel. Parker continues to think that Sherri is in denial about her love for him and suggests that Martel come over to give him some lovin’ but Sherri declines. It’s just Sherri insulting Parker and Parker passing it off as her humor and reminding her how much he loves her and likes her. They could be king and queen of professional wrestling, but Sherri isn’t interested.
What are your memories of the magazine or what was going on at the time?
Thanks for reading.