My World w/ Jeff Jarrett - The Most Watched RAW Ever! [Show Notes] (Patreon)

The May 10th, 1999 Raw took place from the O-rena in Orlando, Florida.

Meltzer reported - Austin was actually hit by a car on 4/16 at the San Antonio Airport getting ready to fly to Vancouver for the show that evening. He was hit by the car and rolled over the head and the driver drove off, but Austin apparently got the license plate number 

Meltzer reported - The Edmonton Journal had two lengthy pro wrestling articles leading to the house show this week. One was the same basic WWF Raw wrestling story you’ve seen a million times. Teachers complain about its effect on kids. WWF wrestlers say parents should monitor the show and if they don’t like it, turn the channel. Wrestling fans love it. 

The other was a story by former Stampede Wrestling announcer Jim Davies reminiscing about his days covering Makhan Singh and Bruce Hart. The most interesting anecdote from circa mid-80s regarding the famed David Shults. Davies had written a newspaper story about Shults slapping John Stossel, and Shults, who was one of the scarier men this profession ever produced, showed up in the dressing room and pulled the newspaper clipping out of his gym bag and began yelling at Davies and pinned him up against the wall. Several wrestlers pulled Shults off him 

Rick Rude passed away on April 20th  1999   Do you have any memories of Rick?

On April 25th  the WWF held the Backlash ppv. You & Owen’s tag team on TV effectively ended here from this match…

New Age Outlaws defeated Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett in 10:33 in a match where the winner was to challenge Kane & X-Pac for the tag titles at the UPN special that airs on 4/29. Debra came out in a black bikini and most of the match was based on teasing she was going to take her top off. They’ve done one thing really smart. In using puppies as the metaphor for tits, they got fans to loudly chant “Show Your Puppies,” which is a lot less controversial than the former chants started at ECW. Solid match ending when Billy pinned Hart after his famouser. Billy pulled down his trunks giving everyone his panties shot, which probably isn’t the panties shot the majority of the audience was looking for. **1/2 

So Owen would move to be the Blue Blazer but the UPN special was going to be the pilot for Smackdown. Had you already had gotten your contract reduced by JR?

If the WWE was looking to add another night of television - you had to be thinking - man what are we doing here right?

How close were you with Vince Russo at this time?

From Meltzer

Vince sent a letter to Entertainment Weekly complaining because Goldberg was on the cover of their issue instead of Austin. His basic point was that whatever growth over the past year in pro wrestling was not pro wrestling growth, but WWF growth (a valid point). Then he complained about an inside photo of Goldberg and over it said something like 35,000,000 people can’t be wrong, saying Austin was liked by two-thirds of those people. Jeez, 35 million is such a worked figure. There are 11 million wrestling fans who watch on Mondays, and probably a few million more in the country. I think there should be a law against complaining about not getting your fair shake on an issue that’s a total work to begin with. He said EW should have let its readers know that their parent company also owns WCW and that’s why Goldberg got the cover. You see, there’s always a reason 

Full court press on getting the most media coverage - did it feel like in the locker room the WWF was far in the lead at this point?

At the Calgary show last week, members of the Calgary Hit Men hockey team brought jerseys for Owen, Debra and Jarrett to wear to the ring. They wanted do, but Jack Lanza wouldn’t let them. That old Hit Man name there again 

What can you tell us about this interaction with Lanza and why you weren’t allowed to wear this?

Meltzer reported - U.S. News and World Report in its 5/17 issue put pro wrestling, and really Vince McMahon, as its cover story with a photo of Val Venis from behind wearing a towel claiming “Pro wrestling is brash and bawdy. With 35 million viewers, it’s also become big business.”

The seven page spread, a profile on McMahon, with reporter Lynn Rosellini obviously charmed by McMahon’s candor about taking steroids (in the past when they were legal of course) and repeatedly cheating on his wife, bought the rest of his story, hook, line and sinker. The story opened with a scene of six-year old Vince beaten bloody with a screwdriver or a wrench by his mean stepfather, and had the 35 million viewers (which looks to be the new media buzz figure) and Titan Sports taking in $500 million annually worked figures. The story was positive toward McMahon as a successful promoter, and he is a great one, and as a person, which is of course more of a debatable subject, but not at all of his product, and portrays him as almost the be-all and end-all of pro wrestling’s popularity with virtually no credit given to anyone else.

Man things like this make things today feel a whole lot different doesn’t it?

The 5/6 Richmond, VA Times-Dispatch had a front page of the entertainment section cover story on Earl and Dave Hebner talking about their background starting out working for the Crocketts for $15 a night and claimed both make well into the mid-six figures in the WWF. There was a second story inside about you know what. Earl’s comments regarding the match. “It was the most difficult situation I have ever been in in this business

It was something I did because I was told to do it. I basically did it to protect the business for the rest of the boys. Here is one guy who was going to screw up 150 guys’ lifestyle (somebody explain that one to me)

The guy already had a $9 million contract. What was the big deal

. If you work for somebody and you don’t do what they tell you to, they don’t need you

. When asked about Hebner swearing on his kids life to Hart that he wouldn’t let anything fishy happen, Hebner admitted doing so and claims he kept his word, “I said I would never count him out, and I didn’t

Bret and I were real close, but Bret didn’t offer me any money. He didn’t say if you do this, I will give you this. I have a family that I have to take care of.

What did you think of Earl’s position in the Montreal Screwjob and his defense of it after the fact?

Did you ever sit down with Earl and discuss any of this with him?

That brings us to the May 10th Raw. It drew a sellout of 12,213 paying $306,455 

In a dark match before Raw, maybe what's become the most wanted, hidden gem match in wrestling for many years now, Owen Hart defeated Kurt Angle.  After the match, Owen told people in the back that Kurt was going to be a future World Champion. Did you see this match?

Unfortunately, exactly 2 weeks later, Raw would be a tribute episode to Owen; he sadly passed away just 13 days after this match, at the Over the Edge pay per view

Show opened with Kane and Billy Gunn having one of those sports entertainment matches. You know, the kind that is neither sport nor entertaining nor ever ends. A plant (a local DJ) attacked Billy as he was going to the ring. He should be called Mr. Tan and not Mr. Ass. Certainly this wouldn’t be called Mr. Match. Gunn sold a foot to the face that missed worse that the moves in the Konnan-Stevie Ray match. Kane did do the first thing that required skill in his WWF tenure as he took a bump outside the ring and caught his ankle in the ropes. 

While he was hanging there and getting pounded, Road Dogg and X-Pac ran in for the save. Dogg threw Billy over the barricade and Billy had to leap frog a photographer who was in the way to do the move. Brown & Henry attacked X-Pac and Kane while Billy ended up beating on Dogg. 

X-Pac & Kane as a tag team had legs didn’t it?

Monica Seles was watching. 

Vince came out leading the union to battle which has its ironies. Vince challenged Shane to come out. Shane and the CM came out. The lights went out while Shawn Michaels read the card. Shawn was in the ring in police riot squad gear at the same time when he announced himself as ref for the main event. 

Vince & Unions are quite the interesting combination isn’t it?

Big Show vs. Paul Bearer was another sports entertainment match. There was a choke slam and an elbow drop and Show challenged Undertaker. 

My goodness having Percy Pringle in there doing this huh

He came out but the CM attacked Wight and the Union made the save with 2x4s. 

Debra vs. Sable in an evening gown match saw Venis come out and distract Debra so Sable could tear her dress off. Lawler made a comment about how great her dress would look on the floor beside his bed. 

Michaels indicated it had already been there beside his. Nicole Bass chased Venis away and Jarrett hit him with the guitar. Michaels then said as far as he’s concerned, the one who loses their clothes is the winner so he awarded the match and the womens title to Debra. Believe it or not, they’d had problems getting Sable to do a job and give up the belt. I know that sounds stupid but wrestling often is. Anyway, I guess this was the compromise, because unlike Wendi Richter and that other situation that we talk about every week, they don’t want her to quit and she’s making so much money I don’t think she wants to walk away either. 

This would be Sable’s last night in the company for a long time as she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the WWF not long after. What can you tell us about the negotiations to get this done?

What did you think of Debra getting the title? Did you think it was going to help or hurt you?

In a night stick on a pole match, Bossman beat Test in 7:02 which was the first match on the show with an actual finish. 

Test got the stick but Bossman had hidden another one and used it. The fans didn’t give a rats ass about this match. They only wanted to be seen on TV. This match was impossible to pay attention to because the crowd standing up and holding their signs in unison in the section every time there was a camera switch (and sitting down when the camera wasn’t on them) became the whole f’n show. That’s also why the match had no heat. Luckily there was no Nitro because this was a channel switching segment. 

Running unopposed against Nitro is a big deal is it not?

Cactus Jack, as Cactus Jack, beat Mideon & Viscera in a hardcore handicap match in 4:35 when he hit Viscera with a chair on the floor off the apron for the pin. It wasn’t good as Jack’s mobility is way down because of his knee problems, but Jack can do no wrong these days. 

Cactus Jack - Mick Foley can do so much but this…probably not the best use of him right?

He came to the ring with basketballs and hit Mideon with one of them. Bruce Prichard, who has lost weight, was on camera running out there retrieving the ball so intently like some in the mob had hidden a stolen diamond in there and it was about to go into the crowd. 

Chyna said she was on her period. Isn’t that stealing the gimmick of Jacqueline and Terri? Men all over America then had to wonder if a women on steroids actually gets a period. Which leads to the second question if a woman with gigantic implants can breast feed. 

Oof - come on Uncle Dave.

They showed a Steve Blackman video. The idea is he’s coming back as a heel. Bradshaw vs. Faarooq in a lumberjack match with the Union as lumberjacks went 3:00 before another sports entertainment finish where they just stopped fighting. 

The CM came out to attack the Union but the Union chased them off except for Viscera, who was too fat and slow to move out of there. So he was hit with the lamest 2×4 shots you’ll ever see. 

This is something isn’t it?

Patterson and Brisco came out talking about who they’ve beaten in the past. 

Patterson mentioned he beat “Ray Steven” which brought back memories of everyone’s childhood in San Francisco. Patterson, who was a great interview even though he could barely read English, always mixed up last names. Roy Shire was always Roy Shires and Ray Stevens was always Ray Steven, and I heard him blow those names every Saturday for years. Patterson & Gerald Brisco beat Pete Gas & Rodney in 2:13 of a loser leaves the WWF match. Patterson & Brisco came out to Hogan’s “Real American music” and were cupping their ear and posing. This scene was a total riot. This was the best thing on Raw in months. They just mocked Hogan. Brisco, 52, is really pretty bad in the ring, but Patterson, 61, no matter how sleazy he may be in real life, will be one of the best workers in the business five years after he’s dead. Rodney didn’t want to take Patterson dropping his crotch on the top rope. 

Anyway, Brisco used the figure four on one and Patterson put the boston crab on the untalented one (I know, both have no talent). They played Hogan’s music and Patterson took off his shirt and began posing. This was a riot. Jim Ross finished the segment by saying, “and fellas, he’s single.” 

THIS WAS THE SECOND MOST WATCHED PRO WRESTLING MATCH ON CABLE AT THE TIME

SECOND MOST

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE JEFF?

Jarrett beat Venis in 8:00 of We Want Puppies chants. 

Venis was about to win when Debra took her blouse off. Venis decided against winning the match and actually thought he was going to be able to have sex with Debra right there in front of 12,000 people. I’m sorry, but nobody that stupid should be a babyface. When Jarrett saw what was happening, Debra slapped Venis and Jarrett hit him with the womens title belt for the pin. 

8 minute match in the Attitude era is impressive - not many were given that task or responsibility. Showed the faith they had in you as a worker was it not?

Next was supposed to be Ken Shamrock vs. Chyna. Shamrock said he was raised to never hit a woman. That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with that testosterone filled beast he was supposed to wrestle? 

He was probably raised to never sleep with his sister, and what kind of preparation was that for the real world of the WWF? Chyna slapped him and forearmed him and Shamrock went crazy and gave her a belly-to-belly and stormed off and left. 

This…this is a lot isn’t it?

Finally Vince & Rock & Austin beat HHH & Undertaker & Shane in 4:35.

Rock had a cast on his left arm and clearly very limited in what he could do. The confusing thing about all this is that if you watch the tape of his bump, he fell on the right side of his body. He also wrestled all weekend without a cast, but showed up on TV Sunday with one. WWF on its web site told fans for Heat in Jacksonville to bring slings since Rock broke his arm. Nobody did and on Raw they really played down the idea of a broken arm. 

Vince was laid out immediately by a tombstone piledriver from Undertaker so he didn’t have to wrestle. Rock KO’d Shane with a cast so he didn’t have to either. Austin ended up stunning Shane and Vince went to cover him, but Austin threw Vince off, gave Shane another stunner and pinned him himself 

Talk about 6 of the biggest stars at this point - and you add Shawn to the mix. The WWF really knew how to take advantage didn’t they?

Raw drew an 8.09 rating (7.76 first hour; 8.42 second hour) and a 12.1 share, making it the most watched and second highest rated pro wrestling program in the history of the USA network. The original Royal Rumble on the USA network on January 24, 1988 drew an 8.2 rating although far fewer homes had cable so at that point that was 3.2 million homes and less than five million viewers as compared with 6,148,000 homes and an estimated 9.2 million viewers this past week. The figure is amazing because the previous weeks total wrestling audience was approximately 10 million viewers. 

In the past when either Raw or Nitro are pre-empted, the other program should be expected to gain only about 20 percent of the regular audience of the other show due to the pre-emption (and the last time Raw was pre-empted, Nitro gained far less than that). In this case, roughly half the regular Nitro audience tuned in o Raw. This translates into more bad news for WCW for 5/17.

The peak period was the three-minute over-run for the Rock & Austin & Vince vs. Undertaker & Helmsley & Shane match with a 9.17 rating, making it the single most watched pro wrestling match in the history of cable television and the first match in cable history to top 10 million viewers (6,968,000 homes and approximately 10.4 million). The highest rated quarter was an 8.61 (6,543,000 homes and about 9.8 million viewers), for Bradshaw vs. Faarooq and Pat Patterson & Gerald Brisco vs. Rodney & Pete Gas. 

Other TV ratings over the past week saw Sunday Night Heat draw a 3.84, Live Wire did a 2.0, Superstars did a 2.0 and WCW Thunder on 5/6 did a 2.80 rating, which would be its lowest unopposed number ever in the Thursday slot. At press time, we don’t have any figures for WCW Saturday Night.

The NBA doubleheader which pre-empted Nitro on TNT against Raw got slam dunked. The Detroit Pistons-Atlanta Hawks game, which went against the first 75 minutes of Raw, drew a 1.2 rating, while the Phoenix Suns vs. Portland Trailblazers game, which went against the remainder of Raw, did a 1.4.

When you look at that comparison - it’s amazing that the WWF and really pro wrestling as a whole was able to draw those numbers against a NBA playoff game - and people still didn’t respect the brands for that level of TV deal isn’t it?