–Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan are in the studio as per usual for today’s broadcast. Heenan says he is bothered by the tensions between Ric Flair and Arn Anderson because they are good friends of his. He blames Hulk Hogan for their problems.
–Okerlund and Heenan discuss an anti-aging cream that Okerlund makes up, with Heenan getting worked up and not seeing through Okerlund’s joke that the man who was selling it has been alive since the eighteenth century.
–Okerlund hypes the Dungeon of Doom’s acquisition of Meng.
–Okerlund and Heenan discuss the Fall Brawl card, recapping the issues surrounding the scheduled Brian Pillman-Johnny B. Badd and Dick Slater & Bunkhouse Buck-Harlem Heat matches.
–Big Bubba Rogers (20-6-1) defeats Dave Sullivan (6-5-1) after an enzuigiri at 6:49:
Rogers uses an inhaler and dons a surgical mask as Sullivan approaches the ring because he is allergic to rabbits. He also scratches himself throughout the match, causing Dusty Rhodes to scream “He’s got the hives!” Sullivan manages to rip the mask off to spark a babyface comeback until Rogers applies another mask, giving him the energy to hit Sullivan with an enzuigiri to end this farce of a match. Rating: DUD
–Okerlund and Heenan hype the Fall Brawl WarGames match. This devolves into a discussion of wardrobe choices.
The Last Word: The feature match was arguably the worst match of the year. Dusty Rhodes tried to make it fun but there was only so much he could do when the bout includes a ton of punches and chokes.
WCW ran a show at Yankee Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This show got some hype on WCW programming and here are the results of that show courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Yankee Stadium – August 19, 1995 (800): Steve Collins beat Rick Thames…The Cuban Assassin defeated Frankie Lancaster…Television Champion the Renegade beat Arn Anderson…Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat Kamala…The Nasty Boys defeated the Blue Bloods…Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair…United States Champion Sting beat Meng via disqualification.
Backstage News*: Cable television is becoming more important for professional wrestling than syndication because of the growing importance of pay-per-view buys relative to house shows. WCW is more willing to get its Worldwide program into larger markets, but it is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get on television in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
*It has been reported that WCW is making $38,000 per week for Monday Nitro, nowhere close to the $100,000 needed to cover production and talent costs and there is also a fear that putting on big matches each Monday will hurt pay-per-view buys. WCW has also abandoned the idea of taping WCW Saturday Night at each Nitro venue.
*Nick Bockwinkel has been scrapped as WCW’s commissioner. Larry Zbyszko has expressed interest in taking the job and former WWF President Jack Tunney called the company about it.
*Missy Hyatt has a sexual harassment lawsuit against WCW working its way through the courts and depositions are ongoing.
*Tim Horner is on the shelf with a neck injury due to catching a Booker T spin kick the wrong way.
*In talent relations news, WCW is still contemplating bringing in Lex Luger. However, if Luger comes in, he can expect a less lucrative deal than the $500,000 per year contract he enjoyed with the company three years ago. Luger was supposedly given a $1,000 per match offer with no guarantee but it is unlikely he would accept such an offer. 2 Cold Scorpio of ECW has been contacted by WCW, but they are supposedly offering him less than the $120,000 per year he made in his last stint in the company and he is not interested. The deals given to Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddy Guerrero are likely to be for ninety days. Sabu will appear at the WCW Pro tapings in Anderson, South Carolina on August 21 and is likely to wrestle at Halloween Havoc with the Sheik as his manager. Lanny Poffo, brother of Randy Savage, has been signed as a favor to the Macho Man and will probably wrestle with a Gorgeous George, Jr. gimmick.
*Backstage news courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for August 28.
Up Next: WCW Pro for August 26!