Grilling JR - Fully Loaded 1999 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Fully Loaded took place on July 25th, 1999 at the Marine Midland Arena, in Buffalo, New York. It was a sellout, drawing 16,605 fans (15,194 paying $547,380 plus another $102,007 in merchandise)

This was the 2nd of 3 pay per view events with the name Fully Loaded that the WWF would do. There'd be another in 2000, and then in July 2001, the Invasion pay per view happened, and WWF never went back to the name Fully Loaded.

Why didn't you guys use the name Fully Loaded again after 2000?

The Attitude Era is in full swing and business is very hot at this time. We're coming off of the King of the Ring pay per view, in which Steve Austin lost his CEO title to Vince & Shane McMahon in a ladder match. However, the next night on Raw, Austin pinned the Undertaker to regain the WWF World Title for the 3rd time. 

That night on Raw was the second highest rating ever in the Monday Night Wars with a 6.82 rating (6.41 first hour; 7.19 second hour) with 11.2 share. Nitro did a 3.59 rating (3.94 first hour; 3.20 second hour; 3.63 third hour) and a 6.0 share 

The Austin vs Undertaker title match got a 9.5 rating and 17.1 share, making it the most watched match in cable television history. It became the first match in cable television wrestling history ever to break the seven million homes (7,215,000 for the final five minutes) and ten million viewers (10,721,000) mark.

That brings us to this pay per view. Austin and Undertaker are set to have a rematch for the title, but there's very high stakes on top of the title. It's a first blood match, and if Austin wins, then Mr. McMahon can never appear on WWF television again.

You guys made some big, long term signings in 1999. First, The Big Show, who was known as The Giant in WCW, made his WWF debut in February at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay per view when he hid under the ring and appeared during the Austin vs McMahon cage match and unintentionally helped Austin win by throwing him through the cage and Austin dropped to the floor, winning the match.

Now here in July, you guys make another huge signing with the acquistion of Chris Jericho.

Meltzer reported -

In what was a huge signing, not only for its long-term repercussions but for what message it sends short-term about the future of both respective major U.S. organizations, Chris Irvine (Chris Jericho) inked a three-year deal with Titan Sports on 6/30.

Jericho, whose WCW contract expires on 7/27, technically has a 90-day non-compete clause in his WCW contract, but those non-compete clauses haven't been enforced in the past (Steve Regal, Paul Wight) because of the question as to whether they would stand up in court and is expected to debut on WWF television in some form immediately after the contract expires.

Titan immediately announced the signing on its web site. Jericho still has a handful of house show dates remaining with WCW, but unless plans change, is not expected to appear on any telecasts per order of Eric Bischoff who had made the decision not to use him on television until and unless he signed months ago. Signing Jericho had been considered the No. 1 personnel project of 1999 for Jim Ross (the Paul Wight deal had really been finalized more than one year earlier verbally), who handles contract negotiations for the WWF, particularly after Benoit, who was considered an equal or close second priority to lure, decided to re-up with WCW.

WWF getting Jericho, continues the recent pattern of good news for WWF and bad news for WCW, at least when it comes to the wrestling aspect of the war.

Irvine, 28, has been considered since he was allowed to carry the ball to a degree with his verbal skills by WCW in 1998, to be almost an unquestioned top player for the future. He's got the in-ring ability, the interview skills and the look, with the only question being him being untested in the United States as a headliner, because WCW never gave him that chance, and the slight question of size as he's smaller than most wrestlers Titan gives pushes to. 

Although slightly shorter, he's physically heavier than Shawn Michaels, who he has often been compared with, and was at a time Titan's biggest star. Irvine is a totally different performer. He's not in Michaels' league in the ring, nor are all but a handful in the history of the industry. He's considerably funnier and better on the mic, although Michaels made up for that with stage presence and his ability to have on occasion unbelievable matches.

Several WCW wrestlers noted that the company had offered huge raises and big contracts to newcomers and celebrities but did not come forth with the offer Jericho couldn't have afforded to turn down. All that is known about Jericho's contract with Titan is that it is heavily incentive based with a lower downside guarantee than WCW was offering, but a higher potential if he gets a strong push. It is believed WCW's most tangible offer was only in the $425,000 to $500,000 per year range, meaning the company wasn't offering him superstar money and most likely without it, they had no need to push him to justify a superstar salary which is how so many of the big names now keep their position. 

Those close to him indicate Eric Bischoff's reaction was he could stay or go and Bischoff didn't ever act like it was a big deal either way, with the only thing offered him was a spot in the old vs. new angle. Without question, Titan's reputation, which has been enhanced greatly over the past 12 months, for its ability to create new stars and not rely on stars long in the tooth made it the place to go for career enhancement. The fact WCW didn't get serious in negotiations, which some have attributed to Bischoff being mad at Jericho personally because at one point he felt they had agreed to a deal verbally months back and Jericho didn't sign, until the very end may turn out to be a key story five years from now when the final chapter is written about the period WCW actually was for a short-term the global leader in the industry, only to piss it away by lack of management foresight. 

What's your memories of signing Chris Jericho, and everything that led up to it?

Meltzer reported - Vince McMahon suffered a cracked tailbone in a motorcycle accident on 7/4 in Greenwich, CT. Reports are that McMahon was coming around a corner and was hit by a driver backing his car out of his driveway and knocked off his motorcycle and shaken up. He was back at work producing Raw on 7/5 and in the office on 7/6 

Meltzer reported - Big Bossman will appear on America's Most Wanted on 7/10. There was a wanted guy on the show who greatly resembled Bossman, causing a lot of calls that the guy they are looking for is on WWF television and they are bringing Bossman on to joke about it 

Meltzer reported in the middle of July - In an a press conference that was scheduled for after press time, it was going to be announced that Minnesota Governor and former wrestler Jesse Ventura would be a participant in the 1999 SummerSlam event on 8/22 from the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Details of his role in the event were apparently to be made clear at a press conference on 7/14 in Minneapolis, which would be attended by the top WWF stars. It can't be emphasized strongly enough what a major coup this is, not simply because Ventura's name associated with the show will lead to curiosity buys and strengthen the buy rate.

While WWF continues to draw good ratings and maintains loyal fan support, its image from the outside has taken a beating over the past few months. Ventura's association with the event takes the prime WWF story away from stories about the product content, the Rena Mero lawsuit, and the deaths of Owen Hart and the three-year-old child in Dallas. That image enhancement and publicity alone coming at this point in time is worth well into seven figures to the company even if Ventura doesn't sell one additional PPV buy.

But he will. And whatever wrestlers that are associated with him, whether they be in a match he referees or in some form participates in, will benefit from the media rub, which will be substantial. There were literally no hints regarding money figures for Ventura, only that much if not all would go to a charity he'd earmark the money for. The charity is also a good political position for Ventura to avoid criticism for jumping into a controversial product, and for the WWF to at this point in time very publicly donate seven figures to a charity.

The going rate for celebrities in wrestling being a major star on a PPV event over the past year plus have ranged from about $900,000 for Karl Malone, $1 million for Jay Leno, $2.25 million for Dennis Rodman and more than $3.5 million for Mike Tyson. One would suspect Ventura in terms of PPV market value would mean more than any of the aforementioned names with the exception of Tyson, and in terms of media value, he could rival Tyson, and he's coming at a time when WWF is far more profitable and at a time where WWF needs this kind of image enhancement badly. In addition, while Tyson took a lot of negative media hits for being in wrestling, he was, after all, Mike Tyson. Ventura, as a Governor and not someone with the background and criminal record of Tyson, and with wrestling far more risque than it was 15 months ago when Tyson was involved, puts himself as risk of getting a lot of negative publicity for his involvement.

There are other aspects of this story most interesting. WCW was also interested in getting involved with Ventura. Both companies had sent him feelers about involvement from when he won the election in November. Ventura left both companies on bad terms, the WWF in 1990 after being fired by McMahon over a video game dispute, and Ventura later successfully sued McMahon over videotape royalties, collecting more than $1 million. Ventura left WCW, and pro wrestling, in 1994 when his performance as an announcer declined and Bobby Heenan passed him by, and Eric Bischoff made the call not to use him anymore and let his lucrative contract expire. 

How did all of this come together?

Meltzer reported - Jerry Lawler officially announced on 7/6 that he would be running for Mayor of Memphis, and before the week was over, already had his first so-called publicity scandal.

Lawler, 49, has been a Memphis wrestling headliner and the biggest consistent drawing card in the history of wrestling in that city from very early into his pro career which began in 1970. He grew up in Memphis and has lived there virtually his entire life except for a year years during his childhood when his family moved to Cleveland (hence his longstanding and well publicized fandom of the old Cleveland Browns). He officially filed for office the next day, trading autographs at the court house for signatures on his candidacy petition.

Lawler, who had hinted of running for several months, joins a race which at present time already has 12 candidates and may wind up with as many as 15 before filing ends on 7/15. With that many candidates siphoning off votes from each other, and with Lawler's celebrity status possibly drawing new voters to the poll, it is generally conceded he will play a major factor in the election, which takes place on 10/7. 

Unlike Jesse Ventura at the start of his campaign, and due to Ventura's success, the formula of which Lawler is attempting to capitalize by positioning himself as an every day person and a political outsider, the local media and the other candidates are taking Lawler very seriously.

Lawler, who had thought about running in the past, thought this was a unique race because there would be so many different candidates and it would be the time to try for the $140,000 per year post. He felt he had a strong chance to win in a racially polarized city, but the official announcement two days later that Pete Sisson, a former county commissioner would be running, he felt would make it a lot more difficult.

Lawler had actually thought of running as far back as the 70s, when he was in his prime as a wrestling draw and Memphis wrestling drew incredible local television ratings, being the most widely viewed locally produced television show and its local viewership beat almost all the network programming of that era, at one point peaking with a 23 ratings and a 70+ share. In his best year, with Lawler as the big draw, more fans attended live wrestling in Memphis during the course of a year than any city in the United States, as they ran weekly Monday night shows and averaged close to 8,000 paid at their peak. His name recognition locally stemming from his decades in the ring as the top local star, to doing his own talk shows, television commercials, etc. far exceeded Ventura's in Minnesota before he declared his candidacy. At the time Lawler wasn't wanting to cut down on his wrestling career, but now with him slowing down his scheduled as an in-ring performer, the timing appeared right. 

Lawler of course is a legend in Memphis and has been for several decades. Did you ever talk to him about his decision to do this? Did Ventura becoming the govenor of Minnesota make Jerry decide to try this at the time?

Jerry's campain ended up focusing on making the streets safer for residents, beautifying the city, and improving the quality of education. He vowed to attract businesses to Memphis, improve the flow of traffic, create more parks, and decrease property taxes.Lawler ended up with 11.7% of ballots, beating 12 of the 15 candidates. 

Was he disappointed that he didn't end up winning?

Meltzer reported -

In another political situation that ended with a surprising result, the Oregon House of Representatives voted down Senate Bill 238 on both 7/6 and 7/7, which appears to mean that WWF and WCW will continue with their policy of not coming to the state.

The bill, whose main task was to give the police department enforcement power over commission regulations, had a provision tacked onto it which would eliminate drug testing for national touring pro wrestling groups. It was the Oregon commission drug testing policy, testing for illegal recreational drugs such as cocaine (although steroids were a huge part of the debate, the commission does not and never has tested for steroids at this point although the law gives them the right to do so and there have been hints testing for steroids may be added) as well as for HIV, that is the prime reason both WWF and WCW have avoided running shows in the state.

After Governor John Kitzhaber made it clear even if the bill passed the house that he would veto it, the legislature, which was expected to approve of the bill which flew through the senate, first voted it down 28-26 on 7/6 with five legislators not voting. A second vote a day later saw the bill officially killed by a 33-26 margin.

While there are two schools of thought, both valid, when it comes to this argument, neither appeared to have been a factor in the eventual decision. The argument can be that other entertainment events do not have their performers drug tested and why should pro wrestling be singled out, instead of, perhaps, the strip club industry which is just as if not more sleazy and where drug use is probably just as prevalent. The other argument is why change the law, as Kitzhaber noted, because big companies can't abide by it, which comes off as almost an admission of guilt and sending a bad message. There had been times in the past where the WWF, during the period they were doing extensive drug testing, had given the indication they would return to Portland and abide by the drug testing if the commission dropped the HIV aspect of the testing although there had been no recent indication that was still the case. 

At one point several years ago before a show in Oregon, Hulk Hogan had the blood submitted for testing ahead of time under his name for an HIV test by the WWF which turned out to actually be the blood of ring announcer Howard Finkel. 

Meltzer reported - The Philadelphia Daily News on 7/6 did a cover story called "X-Rated Rasslin?" about the WWF leading to the house show in the market three days later. It, like every media wrestling story of the past week, tried to tie the death of the three-year-old in Dallas whose older brother was emulating Austin and Undertaker to the current product. The story was talking about the women of the WWF and said Chyna looked like Sylvester Stallone with a bad wig. 

The story had advice for parents whose kids like wrestling to go to the video store and rent a tape before deciding if you want your kids to see it, suggest the kids watch WCW instead because the story says it has less sexual contest (if parents don't want their kids watching wrestling, suggesting they watch WCW is a very clever way of doing it), talk with kids about what they do and don't know about the characters and the language being used, if kids want to watch WWF, limit them to the morning shows, and finally, if you think it's too risque, don't let them watch 

Meltzer reported - It appears that Rena Mero's lawsuit against Titan Sports is on the verge of a settlement.

The $140 million lawsuit, which garnered much publicity with the sensationalistic sexual harassment charges, was at its best and worst, a high stakes poker game in an attempt for Mero to get the rights to the name Sable and to keep her reported $850,000 deal with Playboy that she negotiated rather than having it been negotiated by Titan Sports as her contract with the company owning her likeness specified it would have to be.

On 7/12 in court in Hartford, CT, it was ruled that Titan Sports owned the rights to the name Sable. There was no legal precedent, even if Mero was able to prove her charges, where she would get the name, so it appeared her strategy was hoping Titan would settle on the name out of court rather than incur the bad publicity her charges would bring. When Titan moved to have the issue of the name settled immediately, long before a jury trial, and won that aspect, the key element, as opposed to the elements of the suit largely meant for publicity purposes were already settled. At that point, negotiations began and continued throughout the week to work out a settlement between the two sides. Details of these negotiations are said to be highly confidential because the settlement was not completed, but it was expected a settlement to be completed in short order and the lawsuit to disappear.

The major issues needing to be finalized appear not to be money directly as far as a money settlement which may not even be an issue at this point, but more the financial details and split of the Playboy deal (the magazine already promo's next month's magazine billing her as Sable, and the magazine, which comes out in a few weeks, may have gone to press already with her billed as Rena Mero, the artist formerly known as Sable), future merchandise revenue, terms of her release and the release of Marc Mero, and attempts for both sides to come out of this while saving as much face publicly and there is belief that when all it settled that a confidentiality clause will be placed over the settlement and that both sides would agree not to denigrate the other side publicly.

The lawsuit was settled out of court on July 22nd

Meltzer reported - In what may prove to be next week's major story, TSN's Off the Record television show is going to Stamford, CT on 7/22 to film three shows, the first with Vince McMahon, the second with Vince & Linda McMahon and the third with Shane and Stephanie McMahon with air dates scheduled for 7/27, 7/28 and 8/3 respectively at 6 p.m. Eastern time. The first show is largely going to discuss McMahon's handling of the Owen Hart death, the Owen Hart Raw show, not stopping the PPV show, writing the letter to the Calgary Sun about Martha Hart, why nobody from WWF went to Brian Pillman's funeral, Jesse Ventura and unionization of wrestlers and criticism of the content of the Raw show. All the shows are expected to discuss and show a lot of clips of Hart 

Any memories of this happening?

A few weeks later, Dave wrote about Vince's appearance on the show.

While nobody in their right mind believed that they'd heard the last of Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart, McMahon went out of his way to goad Hart into responding with blistering comments on TSN's "Off the Record" talk show, which was taped on 7/22 and aired on 7/27.

It was the first of three shows taped by the OTR crew on 7/22 in Stamford, CT, headed by host Michael Landsberg, who has drawn his largest ratings in show history interviewing wrestling personalities, in particular Steve Austin, McMahon and Hart.

An interview with Vince and Linda McMahon was scheduled to air after press time on 7/28, and an interview with Shane and Stephanie McMahon was scheduled to air on 8/3.

But even before broadcast, it was said the initial interview would prove to be the most newsworthy, where McMahon had agreed to answer any and all questions regarding his handling of the aftermath of the death of Owen Hart.

Although Landsberg is, generally speaking, very-pro WWF and there has been talk at times of him potentially working there, he did anything but a puff piece interview, challenging McMahon on every topic and at times leaving him almost speechless, in particular when Landsberg talked about his own viewpoint of how Jesse Ventura had disgraced the office of Governor by participating in SummerSlam and that when McMahon defended his current product mix by saying he's only giving the public what they want, Landsberg responded by saying "Pornographers hide behind that. There have to be guidelines and there has to be some responsibility."

Still, as expected, it was Vince McMahon vs. Bret Hart as the highlight, with McMahon attempting to divert the issue from the death of Owen Hart to a personal vendetta from Bret stemming from the Survivor Series.

McMahon defended continuing with the "Over the Edge" show in Kansas City after Hart died by saying while it was one of the most difficult things to do to continue the show, that at the time nobody in the company even thought of not continuing. McMahon said he knew that answer wouldn't be taken well but the truth is nobody even considered stopping the show. When asked if, with hindsight, he'd have made the same decision, McMahon didn't answer the question, but said that no disrespect was meant to anyone in continuing the show. Landsberg said that many people, including the family considered it disrespectful and that he personally if it was a member of his family that had died under those circumstances would have considered it terribly disrespectful.

When asked about not announcing to the live audience in Kansas City that Hart was dead, McMahon said his guts told him not to announce the death to the live audience. "I don't know if it's fair for the people to have to hear the announcement. They'd find out for sure later." McMahon said he didn't know how the audience would have responded had they been told Hart was dead and said announcing it "didn't seem fair," and said that announcing it after the show had concluded didn't seem right.

Landsberg brought up McMahon's meeting with Bret Hart on 5/30 which was the impetus for McMahon to lash out, almost savagely, at Hart. McMahon said he met with Hart out of respect for Owen, and said Bret carried the entire conversation and only mentioned Owen in one sentence out of an hour conversation, trying to indicate Bret really didn't care about Owen and trying to portray Bret using Owen's death for his own revenge. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing, he said I ruined his marriage, I ruined his career, all he wanted to do was talk about himself. It was like looking into the eyes of a skeleton. He wasn't human. It was a very weird experience."

In fairness to McMahon, the meeting between the two, their first face-to-face meeting since Montreal (they had one short phone conversation about a month or two after Montreal where Vince threatened to sue Bret claiming Bret was interfering in Owen's contract with the WWF), was set up by Carl DeMarco, President of WWF Canada, who has been trying in vain to mend fences between the two sides both since Bret's split with McMahon in 1997 (DeMarco got his job heading WWF Canada largely through his connection with Bret after first working as Bret's personal manager), and later the family's problems in the aftermath of Owen's death, usually due to the clumsiness of his work as intermediary (which resulted in some of the post-funeral problems between Martha and the rest of the family with McMahon as well), resulting in a larger split each time. 

DeMarco approached Bret about a face-to-face meeting with McMahon when McMahon came to Calgary for the funeral, and Bret said specifically he couldn't speak at all about Owen on advice from lawyers and didn't know why the two should meet in the first place. Whether DeMarco never told McMahon that Bret couldn't talk about Owen isn't clear, because if he didn't, McMahon's perplexed reactions to a lengthy conversation where Bret never talked about Owen isn't that outlandish, other than it being borderline tasteless to use that as personal damage control on television to circumvent the real issues of the death. If McMahon did know, that's a different issue.

When Landsberg brought up McMahon and almost the entire crew going to Calgary for a much publicized funeral, pointing out that nobody from the company went to Brian Pillman's funeral, McMahon's response was that it was "an entirely different set of circumstances," saying that Owen's wife asked for the wrestlers to attend (which insinuates that Melanie Pillman didn't care as much about wrestlers attending which certainly isn't the case), noting he went to Pillman's wake but not his funeral due to a conflict which he didn't elaborate on. 

He said, even though numerous members of the family were vocal in their disgust with how McMahon handled the situation after the death, that he attended the funeral both because he felt it his duty, because Martha asked him to be there and because he wanted to be there.

When it comes to the controversy about paying for the funeral, McMahon claimed Martha Hart wanted a very lavish funeral (family sources indicate she wanted a small private funeral but did want the WWF who wanted to be there to attend) and he was willing to pay for it and sent a deposit check to the funeral home and sent a blank check to the funeral home, but that Martha paid for "part" of the funeral which he suggested was on the advice of her lawyers (in McMahon's itemized breakdown of the $152,200 he spent, it didn't include paying for the funeral itself but did include many expenses having to do with items brought to the funeral, largely transportation and lodging for the people in his company, renting of limo's and busses in Calgary for transportation to the funeral, flowers, buying clothes, sunglasses, hairstyling, etc. for the people in his company). 

He said he doesn't blame the Canadian public for seeing him as the bad guy in the situation, and said he doesn't want sympathy but that in a conflict with Martha, no matter who was the one telling the truth, he was going to come across in a public dispute with the widow as the bad guy. He said the letter to the editor he sent to the Calgary Sun wasn't meant for publication (think about the idea of Vince McMahon sending a letter to a newspaper to respond to a story without labeling it "off the record" or "not for publication" and thinking it wouldn't be published). "She could be lying through her teeth but I'm not going to win regardless of the facts" and again stated "we were asked to pay for a lavish funeral."

McMahon claimed the reason he's gotten so much bad p.r. is not because of Martha nor because of his own actions or the situation but because of Bret (not thinking for a second even to this point that it's mostly if not entirely because of his own decisions), blaming Bret for being in Martha's ear, claiming Bret has talked horribly about the WWF fans on television interviews and again brought up that in an entire hour of conversation he never brought up Owen. He claimed Bret took advantage of Martha being in a vulnerable emotional position and that all the actions taken by Martha and the rest of the family rested on Bret's shoulders, which is something who anyone who has the slightest bit of knowledge of that family would know to be ridiculous.

Bret Hart, who was aware of the basic gist of what was said but not quite the depth of how strong McMahon went after him, didn't watch the show, but before it aired said that no matter what was said, he wasn't going to comment on it. It appears, by the portrayal of Bret, that McMahon was using his past differences with Bret to change the issue at hand to the now completely trivial and tired issue in comparison of the finish at the Survivor Series from the issues involved in a major lawsuit and his company's handling of the situation after the death, and perhaps goad Hart into a very public out of control response which would again focus the issue of Vince vs. Bret rather than the real issue. While this is classic Titan tactics in situations like this if you look at the company's history in past controversies, it's really sad, to the point of being sick, when they are used on a family member of someone deceased.

When the conversation switched to Ventura, McMahon stated that both politics and entertainment sometimes make strange bedfellows. When Landsberg brought up himself being almost disgusted with Ventura for degrading the office of Governor, who talked loudly about wrestlers needing a union, McMahon said that Ventura did believe in unionizing wrestlers at one time but said that since he realized all the revenue streams of income they make, he's changed his mind (obviously a mind change that has been bought and paid for if it's true because six weeks ago he very vocally felt differently). He claimed the two had always had underlying heat and also underlying respect for one another. 

At this point Landsberg said that Ventura performing in pro wrestling was totally inappropriate and unjustifiable. McMahon tried to respond by saying if he was once a pianist and then went to perform after being elected nobody would say anything and Landsberg said it's not the same thing, that by playing a role where people can't distinguish what is and isn't real about the role and using his position for marketing the show that they've totally compromised his integrity. McMahon was rendered almost speechless by how strongly Landsberg came across, weakly responding only that Landsberg has the right to his opinion and ultimately Landsberg fed McMahon out of the uncomfortable position by offering that people publicly debating the issue only brings more attention to the show which is good for McMahon. 

When asked if he'd at some point work with Hulk Hogan, McMahon said, "Never say never," and brought up that six months ago he couldn't conceive he'd be working with Ventura but is doing so now because it's good business. When asked if Eric Bischoff called him for a job if he'd take him, McMahon said that he didn't know what Bischoff could offer but that everything he does is for the betterment of his product for the fans, and that for the first time ever having a Governor as part of a wrestling show is a coup.

The show ended with a brief discussion regarding the change in product, and Landsberg handing McMahon a softball by reading a quote Bischoff said on his show in early 1998 when WCW was winning in the ratings asking what he'd like to say to Bischoff now, and McMahon responded that he doesn't want to say anything to Bischoff, and claimed his company went ahead because they offered a more contemporary product while WCW was offering the 1980s product.

Did Vince know what questions were going to be asked beforehand?

Meltzer reported - One of the biggest news stories coming out of this past week's Television Critics Association press tour for the new season was UPN President Dean Valentine trying to defend themselves against critics for adding Smack Down to the fall schedule. Valentine rattled off all the practiced phrases that WWF usually does. How the show is less violent than any Rocky movie, said that wrestling doesn't cater to a low-level audience saying what adults see of wrestling and what children think of it are entirely different. Luckily all these people who talk this sanctimonious crap about the WWF being Sunday School entertainment compared to this or that don't socialize with anyone who teaches at public schools or parents with ten year old daughters who have to hear little boys say certain things to them that they didn't pick up on Springer or daytime soaps or in movies. 

Valentine also said he didn't think there was anything violent or sexist about the WWF. He admitted there is occasional blood but no guns ever go off and nobody ever gets knifed on WWF shows. UPN has assigned members of its broadcast standards team to review the Smack Down shows, which will be taped on Tuesday for a Thursday air date. When Valentine was asked about pimps and prostitutes after saying there's nothing sexist on WWF, his response was, "I'm not exactly sure why that's sexist" and then noted how they have similar characters on other television shows and said it's all a comedy. 

WWF hasn't toned down some of the character values as sexist, but they have greatly toned down some of the sexual aspects of the show limited largely to Debra as the tease and the ho train, and increased the emphasis on the blood in its place. The Hollywood Reporter said it couldn't have been worse for Valentine if he had a bulls eye attached to his forehead. Smack Down debuts on 8/26. The 9/30 episode will be 90 minutes, followed by a 30 minute debut of a new show called "Shasta McNasty" which will have WWF performers on the show 

Meltzer reported - WWF closed a deal on 7/14 to create a $25 million theme restaurant with more than 600 seats at the corner of Broadway and 43rd Street in Manhattan in Times Square. In addition to a restaurant, the complex will include a retail store, an interactive arcade and a theater 

This would become WWF New York, then later “The World”.  Talk about the negotiations for this. Who found the location, how did it all come to be?

Meltzer reported-

Nicole Bass, Shannon Hall, Goldust and Ryan Shamrock are all gone. Bass was officially given notice. I believe she had just signed a contract but was claiming that she could earn $15,000 to $20,000 per month doing so-called apartment wrestling, which is this fettish thing (someone actually sent me her promo literature and it sort of makes your skin creep) for guys who want to get overpowered by a woman. She wasn't making anywhere close to that in the WWF and it didn't look like she'd be making it any time soon. 

There was unhappiness over her failure to improve in the ring. There was also the problem that as long as she was around, fans would want to see her wrestle Chyna and the problem with that match is management felt it would kill the illusion of Chyna (they don't want Chyna selling for any women) not to mention the match would be so awful they'd figure Chyna would get damaged. Her being there kind of worked against Chyna's original gimmick, but with the new face, giant implants and make-up Chyna's gimmick is different anyway. 

Hall, a former fitness contestant, cheerleader, boxer and American Gladiator, was recruited when WWF was talking about doing an all-womens television show, and when WWF was looking to expand an in-ring womens division. Goldust has been out with a bad back. There are a number of reasons here, among them he and Terri Runnels are about to be divorced and apparently with her signing a new deal, they felt she was the more marketable of the two (as a side note, bookers have incredible real-life power, as over the past few years we've seen four married couples have booked break-ups, the Sullivans, the McMichaels, the Meros and the Runnels, and except the Meros, all followed with almost identical break-ups. 

After the McMichaels break-up, people joked that Kevin Sullivan, who booked both WCW angles, was the expert at booking marriages to end including his own, particularly since the angle in his with Benoit wound up with his wife legitimately winding up with Benoit). We were told, and I don't know how serious this was but it was said to me as him being very serious. I guess it could have been his way of getting a release to go to WCW (where he's expected to wind up now that his father his some power), that he suggested to McMahon that he wanted an operation to have implants put in his chest and even have the 

Obviously he'd heard about the Thai male kickboxer Parinya undergoing a sex change and all the pub it's gotten all over the world. McMahon wasn't willing to go that far and Runnels felt that they weren't giving him a chance to reach his potential and that led to the exit. Ryan Shamrock wouldn't sign the contract they offered as she, at the age of 20, didn't want to make as long a term commitment as they wanted her to so both sides have gone their separate ways

Was there ever serious consideration to having a Chyna vs Nicole Bass match?

That takes us to the Fully Loaded pay per view.

Meltzer wrote of the show - In what was probably the best pro wrestling PPV show in three months, it was the end of an era as Vince McMahon has to leave the company that his grandfather founded.

Well, forgetting the stipulation no doubt to be worked into a clever return of McMahon, it was largely an entertaining show with better than average wrestling, the expected great production and strong storylines.

As the saying goes, it's the winners who write the history, and pro wrestling is no different. You could do a book on the history of pro wrestling in New York state, which eventually grew into today's World Wrestling Federation. Toots Mondt, a former great wrestler in the 20s, would be the key man from the early 30s through most of the 50s. Jess McMahon, Vince's grandfather, was, as noted here many times, primarily the boxing matchmaker for Madison Square Garden when boxing was a much bigger arena attraction than it is today, and he dabbled a little in pro wrestling. 

Vince Sr. in the 50s became Mondt's partner, and in 1963--or about 50-plus years ago in WWF-time, the two formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) after leaving the National Wrestling Alliance and became a hot territory built around Bruno Sammartino, a huge regional draw. As Mondt grew older, Vince Sr. became the main power broker in Capital Sports, although he had several business partners which included Phil Zacko, Willie Gilzenberg of boxing fame and Bob (Gorilla Monsoon) Marella. In 1979, the name was changed to World Wrestling Federation and in 1982, Vince Jr. bought out the partners, largely through smoke and mirrors (his words, not mine) and the successful make-or-break first Wrestlemania show in 1985 and took the company nationally and even international on the back of the biggest draw of that era, Hulk Hogan. 

Heat - Val Venis pinned Joey Abbs in 3:16 with a back suplex turned into a power bomb, similar but not quite a doctor bomb. Rodney and Pete Gas were at ringside interfering until Test came out and basically killed Pete dead with a high kick. Test tried to break Abbs' ankle with a chair (although doing a similar such thing to Test didn't even result in as much as a limp) until the Posse hit the ring with chairs. 

Godfather pinned Meat in 2:06 with the dreaded pimp drop. The storyline with Meat is that apparently before the match, he got it on with Terri Runnels and was so exhausted he could barely stand up, and in that weakened condition, he had to go out there and wrestle. Didn't top athletes from Babe Ruth on down spend careers doing that and still dominate on the field? Not only that, but Runnels proclaimed that Meat wasn't very good at it either. Judging from this match, that wasn't the only thing he isn't very good at. All this back story resulted in zero heat after the ring entrance, which contained enough silicon to make a midget tag team match. 

HHH then did a "shocking" interview. At least that's what we'd been told for about a half hour. I'm still wondering about what was so shocking about it. I'd joke it was shocking that he did a good interview, but he's been doing really good interviews now for more than a year. 

Anyway, without exactly saying so, he cried about the 1996 King of the Ring tournament that he was supposed to win, but then because he and his friends (Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels, with Nash & Hall mentioned by name), did their curtain call at Madison Square Garden at a time when Nash and HHH were heels and that Michaels and Nash had just finished a cage match against each other, doing what at the time was considered high crimes against the state for violating kayfabe, he was the only one punished. He blamed Jim Ross and management for holding him back and not having the guts to punish the other guys. Well, geez, Nash and Hall never worked another day in the company so how were they to be punished? I guess they probably never punished Michaels because he was the top star and it's not like pro wrestling doesn't have double standards when it comes to the top guy in the company. 

Anyway, if you remember history, Helmsley, who wasn't particularly over at the time, had his win erased as King of the Ring (they gave it to him the next year as sort of pay back for taking it away from him the year before) and instead some bald headed guy who at the time wasn't getting over a lick as The Ringmaster came up with this new gimmick and was put over and did some anti-religious interview mocking Jake Roberts and everyone knows what happened next. 

It cracks me up when pretty boy types who are given break after break because have a look but don't get over as big as people think they should because they don't connect with the fans as the top star and thus fail on top and then complain because somehow because of their looks they believe it's their divine right to a top spot, get given chance after chance (look up in your wrestling dictionary, Pfohl, Larry and Nash, Kevin) then complain about promoters screwing them out of their spot. Anyway, HHH did do a star-quality interview once you get past that. 

Later in the show, when Lawler brought up the interview to Ross, Ross proclaimed the idea that HHH was punished in the first place was an untrue story created on the internet and the newsletters. Of course in the WWF's own company magazine since, they've, in their more enlightened behind-the-scenes new-age work storylines, also wrote up that same story. Next thing you know, Nash is going to cry on WCW about being held back the last seven months by management. 

This is the “shoot” interview that HHH did with you, where he first called himself “The Game”.  It's been said that the Game gimmick was going to be given to Owen Hart. Is there any truth to that?

What's your memories of this happening and being apart of it

Do you think this promo was Triple H's, Austin 3:16? As far as what it meant to his career.

About this time, Undertaker came into the building with a walking fashion disaster called Paul Bearer in stripes. 

They did about a dozen plus man-on-the-street interviews asking who would win Austin vs. Undertaker, and all but one blitzed moron sounded like reasonably intelligent teenagers and young adults.

The only reason I'm noting this is because WCW tried to do the same thing on Nitro and they went weeks without getting even a coherent response to any question. 

Christian pinned Viscera in 2:43. This was really bad. Gangrel blew the red mist in Viscera's eyes and Christian schoolboyed him. They teased the idea that Christian was going to wind up back with Gangrel now that they're pushing Edge as a singles wrestler.

During an interview, Undertaker attacked Austin, who bladed again, so Austin was damaged goods for the first blood match.

PPV -

Jeff Jarrett pinned Edge to end his one-day reign as Intercontinental champion in 13:22. Edge won the title as a surprise the night before in Toronto. Legit, Ken Shamrock's flight arrived late so Edge, who had worked the opener already, as put in as a sub and they decided to have him beat Jarrett since he's from Orangevale, ONT, near Toronto, to build him up for the local market, and then have them say since the match was signed with Shamrock as challenger that Jarrett is still the champ. At least that's what Edge went into the ring thinking, but somewhere in all that the idea was changed.

They had Jack Lanza hit the ring and say Jarrett was still champ for the aforementioned reasons, only to have the ref overrule Lanza and declare Edge as champ for a day anyway. Debra came out in a bikini. You're not going to find many women pushing 40 who look like that. Or pushing 25 for that matter. This was a good match but didn't have much heat until the very end, where Edge ran up a string of near falls. Gangrel came out and the lights went out, but when they came back on, there was no bloodbath and Gangrel was laid out on the floor. 

After several more near falls, by this point getting good heat, Edge hit the spear but Debra distracted the ref. Debra distracted Edge teasing taking off her jacket. Jarrett knocked Edge into Debra, who fell off the apron. While this was going on Gangrel snapped Edge's neck on the top rope and Jarrett pinned him after a reverse Russian leg sweep. After the match, Austin hit the ring and gave Jarrett a stunner. *** 

On the July 19th Raw, Jeff Jarrett defeated Christian to retain the IC title. After the match, Edge attacked Jeff. As a result, Jarrett challenged Edge to a match for the Intercontinental Championship at Fully Loaded. However, the night before, Edge beat Jarrett at a house show in Toronto to win the IC title.

Faarooq & Bradshaw regained the WWF tag titles from Matt & Jeff Hardy, who teamed with Michael Hayes in a two-on-three match in 9:32. Hayes pretty well teased a heel turn in his pre-match interview. Match started and Bradshaw clotheslined almost all the hair off the crown of PS' head. The Hardy Boys did great spots in this match and were tremendous, but Hayes and Acolytes dragged the match down a lot. Jeff did an awesome running flip dive out of the ring followed by Matt doing a moonsault bodyblock off the top rope to the floor. Matt did a pescado on Bradshaw, who caught him, but Jeff came through the ropes with a dropkick on Matt's back knocking Bradshaw over. 

Jeff did a somersault senton on Faarooq. Match didn't have much heat except for the Hardy's spectacular spots. At one point Jeff took almost a one-armed power bomb while he was on the top rope backward to the mat from Bradshaw. Bradshaw then did a backwards superplex with Jeff while standing on the top rope. Jeff broke a cane on Bradshaw's head for a good near fall. Jeff then springboarded off Matt's back and was killed by a Bradshaw clothesline. The finish saw Hayes take a double-team power bomb and get pinned, costing his team the tag titles. ** 

On the July 5th Raw, Hardy Boyz defeated The Acolytes to win the Tag Team Championship. On the July 12th Raw, it was announced that this match would take place at Fully Loaded.

How did Hayes feel about having to wrestle here?

D-Lo Brown won the European title from Mideon in 7:11. The European title is basically a spoof on titles to begin with. Unfortunately, this wasn't a spoof on matches. Brown looked in the best shape of his career and came out strong, even doing a tope. But from that point, the match degenerated. Mideon is one of those guys because he's big and kind of ugly that they think can be a good heel but he just doesn't have anything. Match had no heat after the first minute until the boring chants started. Brown totally missed a tornado DDT and won with a frog splash. 1/4* 

On the July 4th episode of Heat, Dlo  attacked Mideon during a match against Snow, causing Snow to be disqualified. The next night on Raw Mideon attacked Brown during  Hardcore title match against Snow, costing Brown the match. On the July 18th episode of Heat, Mideon distracted Brown and spitted in his face during Brown's match against Gangrel. This allowed Gangrel to defeat Dlo, and all of that led to the title match here. 

Big Bossman won the Hardcore title from Al Snow in 10:13. For the most part, this was the same match they've been having on every PPV. Bossman pounded on head with his night stick and Snow was selling every blow. They went backstage and had one of those brawls that goes on way too long. Snow poured coffee on Bossman, who sold it big. There was a funny spot where Bossman took a first down marker, flipped it to fourth down, and punted Snow. 

Snow came back hitting Bossman with a plant (shrubbery, not a fake fan) and Bossman sold. Next thing you know they'll be hitting each other with cotton candy and selling it. Bossman tried to run Snow down in a golf cart but the cart wouldn't start. They went outside the building with Bossman giving Snow a bulldog on pavement. As they were crossing the street they nearly got hit by a passing motorist. One of these shows they'll have plant keystone cops arrest the guys for jaywalking in a hardcore match. Actually that spot was funny. Bossman broke a bottle on Snow's head and handcuffed him to a gate across the street from the building and starting nailing him with the night stick. The ref counted Snow as pinned even though he was sitting upright. *1/4 

On the July 19th Raw, Big Boss Man attacked Al Snow with his nightstick when Snow requested him to hit him after Snow had gone nuts after Head was pierced by Prince Albert the previous week on Raw.  However, Boss Man continued to attack Snow with the nightstick, leading to this match.

Big Show pinned Kane in 8:13. Bob Holly was a riot as special ref doing the Barney Fife to Show's Andy Griffith routine (what a dated reference but it's the only one I could come up with). Show pressed Kane and threw him onto the floor for a crazy bump for a guy that size to take. Kane has dropped a ton of weight and it isn't like he was fat to begin with and it isn't like the costume makes having abs a benefit to his look. He has gotten quicker and more agile with the weight loss, but that means nothing working with Show. 

Jacobs looks like he's in the 260 range or maybe even lighter than that. Jim Ross actually described their KOR match as being "uglier than a bowling shoe" and promised this one would be better. Unfortunately, it was barely better. For a guy who had potential to be a total phenom because of his size and athletic ability, Paul Wight has lost virtually all that athletic ability and his work gets worse by the month. Finish saw Kane hit a clothesline off the top and go for a choke slam, but Holly clipped Kane. Show used a choke slam and Holly fast counted him for the pin. It signalled another heel turn for Wight. X-Pac ran in and kicked Holly but Undertaker came out and choke slammed X-Pac and Taker and Show joined forces after the match to lay out Kane. Fans chanted for Austin, but they did the angle backstage instead, as Taker came through the curtain, Austin jumped him and he bladed, so both sides went into the main event as damaged goods. -* 

On the June 28th Raw, Big Show cost Kane, a match against Hardcore Holly. On the July 5th Raw, Kane defeated Big Show and Holly in a Handicap match after help from The Undertaker. Big Show and Kane continued to interfere in each other's matches and attack each other, leading to this match.

This would set up Undertaker & Big Show joining forces against Kane & X-Pac, who'd end up winning the tag titles from the Acolytes.

Ken Shamrock beat Steve Blackman in the circle of cars parking lot match in 4:19. Mostly it was breaking car windows and windshields. The undercard wrestlers sat on the hoods of the cars watching with the car lights accounting for the lighting. As a concept it didn't work because it was poorly lit, and it looked more like a bad movie than a real fight because the shots showed the camera man right next to the participants, thus removing the "dangerous" aspect of the drama. The guys worked hard, took some bumps on the cars, although nothing compared to the insanity the WCW guys did on their PPV for even less of a reward. The smart thing is it was kept short so it never dragged like the Snow match, since these type of matches inherently can't build. 

Blackman brought in a chain but Shamrock got it and punched him out with it and choked him out with the chain. After the Bossman-Snow match, the last thing they needed on this show was another match held outside the arena. * 

On the June 28th Raw, Shamrock and Blackman wrestled in a No Holds Barred match, which ended when Blackman attacked him with a kendo stick. On the July 18th Heat, Shamrock challenged Blackman to this match

Road Dogg & X-Pac beat Chyna & Mr. Ass in 11:44 to win the rights to the DX name. Chyna worked a lot, and while she's fine because the guys make her look decent, she only looks decent at best when working with her friends. Match was slow early and had surprisingly little heat until the end. It picked up toward the end but was just an ordinary match ending with Road Dogg pinning Mr. Ass with the pump handle slam. **1/4 

Billy Gunn won the King of the Ring tournament and issued an open challenge to everyone on the June 28th Raw. Triple H then urged Billy Gunn and Chyna to challenge DX's remaining members Road Dogg and X-Pac to a match. On the July 5th Raw, Road Dogg was arrested by the police as he was blamed by Billy Gunn and Chyna for vandalizing Chyna's car, but Chyna informed the police that it was not her car. On the July 12th Raw, Road Dogg and X-Pac challenged Billy Gunn and Chyna to this match.

Hunter Hearst Helmsley pinned Rock to earn the title shot in a strap match in 19:21. Rock did yet another incredible interview before the match. This was a good match and Helmsley was noticeably more aggressive than usual trying to get himself over as a real world title contender, but it was nothing special. The crowd was far more into Rock as a star than HHH and until the last two minutes this didn't have any special level of heat except when Rock would play to the crowd for a reaction, especially considering it was a match which so much "importance." I'm not even sure why they had the straps because they barely played a part in the match other than each had the spots of whipping the other. 

Rock took a camera from a fan, shot a photo of HHH and gave the camera back. They brawled in the crowd for a long time. Rock took some guard rail shots. Chyna gave down. HHH in his interview said he was going to win the match by himself. Rock hit the Rock Bottom but Chyna distracted ref Mike Ciota. HHH came back with a low blow and choked Rock with the strap. Rock came back by laying the strap down on his candy ass. This brought Mr. Ass down and he hit Rock with a club but Rock kicked out. Big pop for that. Rock came back with a low blow and the people's elbow but Gunn pulled Rock off HHH. Rock gave Gunn the Rock bottom, but this allowed HHH to hit the Pedigree on Rock for the pin. ***1/4 

This win was supposed to guarantee Triple H a World Title shot at SummerSlam.

At King of the Ring, Triple H interfered in World Title match between Undertaker and Rock and attacked Rock, costing him the title. On the June 28 episode of Raw, Rock attacked Triple H which led to the July 5th Raw, where Rock defeated Triple H in a steel cage match, then this match was made.

Triple H and Rock's feud in 98 and 99 doesn't get talked about very much, but they had some classic matches, which helped elevate them both into being main event players

Steve Austin retained the WWF title in a first blood match beating Undertaker in 15:31. Vince McMahon came out to do commentary. This was a really good brawl, in particular the work by Austin. Since it was first blood, they worked a style mainly of punching the head and trying to rip at cuts. Austin took really hard bumps over the guard rails both going out and coming back in. They smashed each other on the ring steps and Austin hit Undertaker's face with a fan. Earl Hebner took a bump. 

Undertaker was tied up in the ropes. Austin grabbed a chair but Shane McMahon did a run-in and took a hard chair shot to the head. Undertaker came back with a high kick and a low (as in low, not leg) kick. Undertaker undid the padding on a turnbuckle but before he could put Austin's head in it, Austin hit the stunner. Austin then punched Vince McMahon when he got up and tried to interfere. Undertaker hit Austin with a chair shot to the back. X-Pac then did a run-in and did a Van Daminator type of move kicking the chair into Undertaker's face and he opened himself up. 

Austin then hit Undertaker with a television camera. Undertaker had Austin up for a tombstone (as if Austin was going to take that move) when Hebner saw the cut and signalled for the bell. Austin gave Undertaker and McMahon stunners after the match until Helmsley ran in and he beat on Austin, who ripped the tape off his forehead and he did a world-class job of bleeding all over the place. Rock ran in. Austin and Undertaker continued to brawl. Undertaker at one point hit Shane McMahon as well. It was a real wild finish with Austin and Undertaker, both soaked in blood by this point, brawling to the back. Austin came back, went to shake Vince's head, and gave him another stunner as the show went off the air. Really good post match brought the show to a strong finish. ***3/4 

On the June 28th Raw, Vince McMahon announced that Undertaker would defend the title against Triple H at Fully Loaded. However, Austin informed him of a contract which he had written himself while he was still the CEO, and the contract stated that Austin would get a WWF Championship title shot later that night and if Undertaker got DQ'ed he would lose the title. Austin defeated Undertaker to win the title, but was attacked by Undertaker after the match. We talked about that match earlier.

On the July 4th Heat Undertaker challenged Austin to a First Blood Match for the title at Fully Loaded. On the July 5th Raw, Vince added a stipulation that if Austin won, Vince would never appear on television again, but if Austin lost, he would never receive a World Championship match again 

Austin's win was supposed to guarantee that McMahon would no longer be allowed to appear on WWF TV. That would last for a few months.

The next night of wrestling was huge, it was the most watched match head-to-head in the history of the Monday night wars up to that point but we’ll get into that in a few weeks when we cover SummerSlam 1999!

How would you rate Fully Loaded 1999?