In this edition of Inside the Magazine, I look at the March 2001 publication of WCW Magazine. Eric Bischoff goes in-depth about his plans for WCW upon acquiring the company. Glacier is coming back to WCW, but with a twist. Johnny The Bull recovering from injury. Getting to know Leia Meow and her difficult childhood. All this and more!
LETTERS
Stephen from Texas agrees with what Madusa said in the January edition of the magazine saying that he prefers a good women’s wrestling match instead of them being used as sex symbols. He hopes some day women will be known as great wrestlers. Luke from Australia thinks that some stability has been brought to WCW since Ric Flair has returned as the CEO. Plus, he likes seeing DDP and thinks that Scott Steiner as WCW World Champion is great. He also enjoys the Natural Born Thrillers and admits that Shane Douglas is a great bad guy. Harry praises Paul Orndorff for his abilities in the ring and for now training wrestlers at the Power Plant. Cody from Australia has continued to tune into WCW programming thanks in large part to the great announcing WCW has, most notable the job that Scott Hudson does.
Eric and Serge wrote in to give some praise to Tony Schiavone’s article in the WCW Magazine as they really enjoy his stories about his interactions with wrestlers. Joel from Texas enjoyed the January WCW Magazine and praises Stevie Ray for his column and for putting on great matches over the years. He cried when Booker T won the WCW World Championship in a well-deserving moment. Mike is a big fan of Crowbar dating back to his days going by Devon Storm. He hopes that Crowbar and Daffney have big plans in WCW.
ECK’S FILES: written by: Kevin Eck
WCW locker room has been smiling as of late with the news that Eric Bischoff is back in charge of the company. They are thrilled that Bischoff is back as WCW President due to his success in the position from 1993 to 1999. Eck recalls his reaction when Bischoff first got the job in 1993 and was stunned that a guy from the AWA and then in WCW as a B-level announcer had such power. He didn’t know how that could have happened. What Eck didn’t realize is just how much Bischoff had learned in television production or how capable he truly was to run WCW. Bischoff’s success started in 1994 when he signed Hulk Hogan away from the WWF. Following that move, Bischoff risked his job in getting a weekly primetime wrestling show to go against RAW to truly compete.
With the signing of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in the summer of ’96, Bischoff led Nitro past RAW in the ratings for 83 straight weeks. Eck is excited about what Bischoff can do for WCW after more than a year out of the company. (That’s not entirely true since Bischoff reappeared on WCW television from April to July 2000, but not with any backstage power.)
ROPE DOPE
Goldberg’s monster truck team has continued to be quite successful after a rookie season where they won eight out of nine races. Sid Vicious is going to be out of action for up to eight months after suffering a gruesome left ankle injury at WCW Sin. Vicious had a 43-centimeter long titanium rod inserted into his ankle. He was able to workout his upper body shortly after the injury. Daffney recently got married to Rich Ward, a guitarist for the band Stuck Mojo. Ward is a self-admitted that he’s a wrestling mark and met Daffney through Dale Torborg after he recognized Daffney working out at Lex Luger’s gym in Atlanta. Jeff Jarrett, Kwee-Wee and Mark Jindrak recently attended a Pacers basketball game.
Ricky Santana has recently been signed by WCW to work as a road agent at the suggestion of Johnny Ace. Lance Storm had his website covered by the magazine, which is still active as of June 2017. He created the site as a promotional tool and spent between five to six hours a week on it. Storm enjoys writing his commentaries the most.
Mike Awesome was asked his view on the following wrestlers,
Scott Steiner: An animal.
Bam-Bam Bigelow: A monster.
Booker T: A hell of a wrestler
Disqo: The guy everybody pokes fun at.
Kevin Nash: One of the tallest guys I’ve ever met.
Major Gunns: Major guns.
UNCENSORED: ERIC BISCHOFF
Bischoff and Fusient Media Ventures have agreed to buy World Championship Wrestling from Turnder Broadcasting and it was revealed on January 11th about the intent to purchase the company. Bischoff sat down with the magazine to discuss WCW related things. Here’s what Bischoff had to say.
Bischoff noted that it was an odd feeling coming back ti the CNN Center considering his history with the company and now being part of a team to purchase the company. Bischoff says that the process to purchase WCW has been going on since July and even told Brad Siegel that he had plans to buy WCW. Bischoff could tell that WCW wasn’t a brand that fit in with Time Warner’s vision dating back to late 1998 to early 1999. Bischoff says that his first order of business is to make it clear this is a long rebuilding process. He also says that they need to rebuild their stars and essentially make them feel like larger than life people again. The program today has a backyard wrestling feel, to him. His five year plan is basically to strengthen the brand and venture into other projects such as animation, sitcoms or films. He also admits that they are going to experiment various things and knows that there will be success and failure. He just hopes their batting average remains high enough to be successful.
For the most part, Bischoff will be focusing his time and effort on the creative side of company. He has a great business partner who has already recruited a great team to bring WCW to a great place. He doesn’t have any desire to be an onscreen character again and feels the story of talent going against authority has been told for almost six years at this point. He’s going to venture into the future and focus on the talent and characters. Though, if the story makes sense and calls for his character, then he would, but he doubts that will occur.
In regard to his return in April and failure with Vince Russo, Bischoff admits he wasn’t as engaged or involved with the company like he once was. He didn’t want to push his vision when he was working there part time, basically. He knew within sixty days that it just wasn’t going to work. Bischoff does believe that the company has taken reality angles a little too far in regard to the business being exposed too much.
When it comes to how long it would take to challenge the WWF, Bischoff doesn’t want to sound like he’s avoiding the question, but says there is a clear and large distance between WCW and WWF. However, they can’t focus their sights solely on the WWF. If they do that, they are setting their goals too low. When asked if WCW would still directly air against the WWF, Bischoff can’t comment on that, but says he’d rather have a good fight than a good steak. He thinks that competition is good for the business. He would resist anyone that didn’t want to go head to head because he strongly believes it is best for both companies. Bischoff is going to spending a lot of time finding new talent and he’s excited about that process. He’s excited about the roster he has right now and thinks it’s just a matter to tweaking the recipe to make sure it all works out to the best level. Bischoff doesn’t think that the WCW locker room is out of control, but having someone in charge is going to keep the peace and keep everyone level headed.
Bischoff hopes that Hulk Hogan will be working with him in the future. He can’t comment on the issue regarding Hulk Hogan and Jeff Jarrett at Bash at the Beach 2000. In regard to Scott Hall and Randy Savage possibly coming back to WCW, they are both a possibility. He thinks there is a place for women on WCW programming and it’s just a matter of finding the right way to present them on television. He thinks he’s smarter now than he was when he was WCW President the first time around. He has to be more aware of his own limitations and not have to think he has to do everything on his own. Bischoff believes that they are two good ideas away from being back in the midst of success. His batteries are recharged after saying he was burnt out in 1999. He’s going to delegate more things and not run a race like a sprint, but rather run it like a marathon to make sure he doesn’t get burnt out again.
Bischoff also had a word association for several guys,
Vince McMahon: Smart guy
Vince Russo: No comment
Hulk Hogan: One of my best friends
Goldberg: Incredible talent and potential
Scott Steiner: Same as Goldberg
Diamond Dallas Page: One of the most committed people I ever worked with
Kevin Nash: Complex
Jeff Jarrett: A wrestler’s wrestler
Sting: Wait and see
Ric Flair: Foundation of our business
INSIDE INFORMATION: written by: Chad Damiani
It’s kind of shocking that they would openly state that Kevin Nash hung out with Mike Sanders and Chuck Palumbo the night before Starrcade where the tag titles were on the line. Nash was feuding with Palumbo and Sanders while teaming with Diamond Dallas Page. They even note they are on-air foes and DDP gave the young guys in the group, the Natural Born Thrillers, some tips. Back in 1992, both Nash and DDP careers were fading. Eventually, Nash went to the WWF and found success as Diesel. DDP lost his job after suffering an injury, but came back and was told that he’d never be a top guy and WCW top guys wouldn’t want to work with him. At that point, DDP made it a mission to make it to the top.
DDP eventually rose to the main event level while working with the Outsiders. However, the segment where DDP hit the diamond cutter on Scott Hall was cancelled for ten straight weeks and it was originally going to be a twelve minute segment, but was cut down to four. Page was pissed when he left the arena that night. Page notes that 2000 was a rough year and they both wanted out, but working with the Thrillers and teaming with Nash has been fun. Nash and Page have brought a new focus in the locker room showing that the veterans will help the young guys reach their fullest potential.
BODY SHOP
This is a rundown of what Scott Steiner does in the gym to maintain his incredible physique. Apparently, Steiner does 1,000 crunches a day and often uses freaks in his workout routine.
DECONSTRUCTING LEX LUGER
I’m sure Luger would have loved this part of the magazine as they highlight Luger’s body and mostly just put over his strengths.
HEIR FORCE: written by: Chad Damiani
Chavo Guerrero Jr. recalls learning wrestling moves before he could walk or talk. The Guerrero family is credited with bringing a lot of different styles of wrestling to America. Eventually, Chavo got a tryout in WCW and worked with Steven Regal, who he credits with making him look like a million bucks. After the demise of the cruiserweight division and Eddie Guerrero’s departure, Chavo was left in limbo at the start of 2000. He was put in the Misfits in Action group because nobody knew what to do with them. Luckily, they got over. Chavo is honored and ready to take on the responsibility to rebuild the WCW Cruiserweight division as its champion.
STRONG LIKE BULL: written by: Graham Boain
Johnny The Bull is on his way back from two serious injuries. During a match with Terry Funk on July 3rd, Bull tore his bladder and urethra. He also stretched his pelvis badly and his left hip was out of alignment. Bull tried to tell Funk that he couldn’t finish wrestling, but Funk didn’t hear him. Bull doesn’t know how he finished the match as he felt stuff moving around inside him. He came back in two months, but was hurt again when he broke his fibula in a match against Kwee-Wee in Australia. He gets annoyed when he’s told he is injury prone. He’s been out of action for five months. He’s excited about 2001 and reforming the Mamalukes with Big Vito. He’s going to keep his in-ring work on the mat and not do crazy stuff.
THE ICEMAN COMETH… AGAIN: written by: Scott Hudson
Glacier was hyped strongly in the summer of 1996 to a point that it would be hard for anyone to live up to the hype. The man given the task was Ray Lloyd. Glacier never got over with the crowd and eventually was gone from the company. Now, Glacier is back but is given the gimmick of a superhero parody. Lloyd first appeared in WCW during the Great American Bash Tour in 1989 where he wrestled Butch Reed and was intimidated. Lloyd also worked Great Muta in a squash match and did so well that Muta requested Lloyd for a house show tour. Lloyd competed in Universal Wrestling Federation in Japan for three years and it was a brutal time for him, but he loved it. Lloyd had became friends with Diamond Dallas Page and got in contact with Eric Bischoff, which led to a contract on the spot. Lloyd never caught on in large part to the NWO and there huge popularity. By the end of 1999, Lloyd was out of WCW and working for Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling. He worked hard to improve and now he has the chance to prove himself again in WCW.
WILD RIDE: written by: Kevin Eck
Kristina Laum, better known as Leia Meow, had a troubled youth which forced her to grow up fast. She is quite comfortable with her sexuality and thinks other women need to be open minded. She was born in South Korea but was adopted by a family in Philadelphia. The family was very abusive and was taken away by the state when she was 13. She was in several group homes and often ran away because she didn’t know at that age that it wasn’t her fault. She had no privacy in the group homes, but was able to get emancipated when she was 16 and graduated high school at 16. When she worked at a lingerie store her sexuality really came out. She became an exotic dancer at 17. She didn’t take her clothes off.
Through her dancing, she met a DJ who just so happened to be Raven. Raven was working for ECW at the time and she became his valet. When it’s all said and done she’d like to become a child’s counselor to help kids get through bad situations just as she had done for herself.
NITRO GIRLS SPOTLIGHT
The spotlight this month is on Chae. She attended Armstrong State University in Georgia. She was a cheerleader for the Atlanta Falcons prior to becoming a Nitro Girl. She auditioned for Kimberly when the group was formed originally and knew AC Jazz to make the connection. The best part of the job is entertaining the fans and the close bond she has with fellow dancers. Her favorite song to dance to is Independent Women Part II by Destiny Child. Her favorite wrestlers are the Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. She likes to ride her Harley and take care of her two horses. She looks for a man with a great laugh and sense of humor. She is turned on by sensitivity and hates people being pretentious. Her motto is live healthy, love strong and laugh a lot. Her ambition in life is taking each opportunity as they come and wanting to eventually be happy. Her role models are her parents who immigrated to America from Korea in 1983. Nobody knows her middle name and she says that her best quality i always being optimistic and positive about everything.
TWO QUESTIONS
1.) What is the nicest thing a fan has done for you?
2.) What do you find attractive in a woman?
Stevie Ray
1.) Someone painted me a portrait of myself with “Fruit Booty” written across it. It’s hanging in my game room now.
2.) In most women, nothing. I’d probably say legs.
Shane Douglas
1.) Sued me. It makes me feel food to think that somebody feels that they have a right to put their hand in my pocket and take what I’ve worked hard and broken my body in half for.
2.) Brains and sincerity
Yang
1.) A fan made two tapes of the “Best of the Jung Dragons.” He made a cool box and the tapes were awesome.
2.) Her face.
Johnny The Bull
1.) A girl from Australia wrote me a nice letter, and she also put a bunch of pictures that she took of me on the internet.
2.) First of all, I them to be intelligent and I really like nice eyes. They also have to be beautiful. I’m not going to come up and talk to them unless they have some kind of beauty.
Rey Mysterio Jr.
1.) The way they express themselves about me, the reaction i get one on one outside the ring.
2.) Booty.
Brain Adams
1.) When I wrestled in Portland, Oregon a fan always carried my bags for me every night to the building. It saved also to war and tear on my back. That fan’s name was Shawn Stasiak.
2.) What kind of car she drives.
Disqo
1.) They got me tickets to the second Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas.
2.) Me.
GETTING TO KNOW THE REAL STEVIE RAY: written by: Tony Schiavone
Schiavone says that Stevie Ray has transitioned from wrestler into a top rate announcer in quick fashion. Schiavone and Mike Tenay really enjoy working with Stevie and Schiavone notes that Stevie gets an entrance for when he comes out to commentate Thunder, which he deserves. Stevie has developed some catchphrases that Tony has listed.
Dirty Harry Burgers: Stevie called the Harris Brothers the “dirty Harris Brothers”, but Ed Ferrera is convinced it was dirty harry burgers.
Foo-Plex: Stevie accidentally said this instead of saying suplex, which he denies but there is video evidence.
Gigidy-Gigidy: The dance that Ernest Miller does.
Kwee-Wee-Wee: He added another Wee at the end and both Schiavone and Tenay laughed after that one.
Yak: A woman in WCW.
Suckas Gots To Know: When Stevie Ray is confused and needs an answer.
AIR WAVES: written by: Scott Hudson
Hudson recalls Terry Funk returning to the NWA and having one last run where he attacked Ric Flair after Flair won the NWA World Championship for the seventh time. Hudson believed in what he was watching. Funk developed the hardcore style in the late 80s and brought it to national attention in America along with Cactus Jack. Now, he’s dominating the hardcore division in WCW.
WOMEN BELONG IN THE RING ONLY IF THEY ARE WRESTLERS: written by: Stevie Ray
Stevie thinks it is a bunch of crap that women are on WCW television just because of their bodies. He doesn’t like when a woman is on the program just for her body and is then tried to be turned into a wrestler. Stevie hopes that his comments aren’t offensive to anyone, it’s just how he feels about women in wrestling. If you’re going to be a wrestler, be a wrestler. But, if you’re going to be a valet, stick to being a valet.
AWESOME LEAVES THE ‘70s IN THE PAST: written by: Mike Tenay
Tenay says it’s not true that Mike Awesome got his Career Killer gimmick from another competitor saying that his 70s gimmick would be a career killer. Tenay isn’t surprised that Awesome is now associated with Lance Storm after a few not so great characters. The only drawback is that the team could derail his singles career. Tenay believes that Mike Awesome could be WCW World Champion someday.
MEMO TO CREATIVE TEAM: BRING BACK MADUSA: written by: Madusa
Madusa is calling out the creative team to get her back on the show because her fans want to see her in action. She likes Ed Ferrera, but thinks he’s trying to get back on TV as Oklahoma since he liked dumping barbecue sauce onto Madusa a year ago. Madusa is annoyed with not being able to do a TV show pilot because it’s on a network that carries WWF television and Vince McMahon doesn’t want WCW associated with the network. She says she has plenty of time left in the ring and notes that there are several male wrestlers who are older than her still competing.