83 Weeks - Monday Night Raw 01.19.98 Watchalong [Show Notes] (Patreon)

WWF Raw on Monday, January 19, 1998 happened at the Selland Arena in Fresno, CA. The show drew a sellout 7,329 paying $123,064.

As a reminder, this show happened the night after Royal Rumble 1998. At that show, Mike Tyson sat in a skybox with Shane (and at times, Vince) McMahon. He cheered on as “Cold Stone” Steve Austin won the Rumble and as Kane and Paul Bearer murdered the Undertaker following his loss to HBK. It is worth noting that show was where Shawn legit hurt his back and at tonight’s Raw, there are moments where you see him favor it slightly on camera, like backstage with the minis.

News and Notes

WWE has been doing hotline teases based on trying to make money off false stories in wrestling, and there is certainly never going to be a shortage of that. Last week they teased to call about Hogan in the Rumble, and then indignantly said he wasn't and there had been no negotiations. The Savage hotline story went exactly the same

This comes on the heels of years of Mean Gene doing similar stuff on the WCW hotline. I wish we had tapes of these old hotline segments because you know they were gold.

What were the rules or directives regarding dishonest information on the hotlines?

Davey Boy Smith was backstage at the (same night’s Nitro) show. His WCW start was held up a few weeks as there were complications in his getting his release from WWF. As it was all settled, Smith & Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart will have the right to tag up, but not to use the Hart Foundation name which is owned by the WWF. At one point they were considering, and probably still are considering doing a feud with Flair & Benoit & Steve McMichael vs. the can't use the term Hart Foundation, but there was some concern because the idea was to use Hart & Smith as faces and in this program they would be the heels. Smith and Neidhart were both dressed in their ring gear but the decision was made not to use them on television because even though Flair worked as a heel in the angle with Neidhart and Hart, everyone cheered Flair and they didn't want Smith to debut getting booed. I'll presume Smith will be on within the week

Did you want to book The Hart Foundation vs. The Four Horsemen??? Also, can you talk about the concern regarding the Hart family getting booed?

Expect Louie Spicolli to join the NWO, probably in a Vincent like flunky role

We know Spicolli did join the NWO but had an untimely death during a program with Larry Z. Can you share some positive memories about Louie Spicolli?

Perry Saturn suffered a concussion in his match with Booker T on 1/12 Nitro

He would end Rick Martel’s career within a few months.

Anyone else who injures their opponents like this is shit canned. Why not Booker?

Hulk Hogan has not signed his new contract, which we've been led to believe would be for three years, nor do I expect he will sign any time soon as being a free agent at this point gives him some major leverage. He could leave, although I don't think there's much to the idea of his leaving right now. WWF sources vehemently deny there have even been preliminary talks with him and WCW sources insist he's going nowhere. His not signing still leaves questions unanswered. Randy Savage is under contract through the end of 1998 so there's nothing to those rumors at all. The Giant's contract expires in March and WWF is very interested in him and his name did come up behind the scenes at WWF over the weekend, more as something hoped for as opposed to something expected

What can you tell us about Hogan’s contract during this time? We know he actually did negotiate with the WWF and there was consideration given to programming him and Austin - which seems so insane, looking back. Did you know?

The Nitro girls were on Regis & Kathy Lee this past week. To show how Regis follows WCW, when Kimberly was talking, they acknowledged her husband in the audience and Regis called him Diamond Dan. Speaking of the Nitro girls, the newest tall brunette who can hardly dance (not Kimberly, who can dance but is out of her league as a dancer since she's a fitness routine dancer compared with the others who are all real professional dancers), there is no truth to the rumors she got her job through a recommendation from Vernon Jordan or that she got her job after sleeping with the President. Clinton, that is

What do you think about Diamond Dan?

MAGAZINE: WWE had also published separate Raw and SmackDown magazines. Those two magazines lasted until July 2006, when they were merged to form WWE Magazine. (Raw debuted April 1996)

Ref Mark Curtis, sidelined for the past few months after an operation for stomach cancer, is hopeful of returning by March

Memories of the beloved Shooter Mark Curtis?

The Giant has a role in Adam Sandler's new movie "Water Boy." . .

How was the Giant getting roles in movies during a time when he was about to leave the company? Was this something he did on his own?

On an internet chat, Konnan was praising the direction of the WWF, said that WCW isn't interested in pushing the Mexicans and said that when their contracts run out (which is a little less than two years away) he expects that they'll all try and go to WWF

Do you remember hearing about this? Any heat toward K Dog over it?

Jesse Ventura, who is now a talk show host on KFAN, has gotten some local press in the Minneapolis area. Apparently Ventura thought the mikes were off and referred to Iranians as "towel heads," and refuses to apologize for the remark. He also had the lawyer who represents the woman who claims Hogan sexually assaulted her two years ago on his show. From what we understand, of all the people in wrestling, Hogan claims to have forgiven all his past enemies (well, that's what he claims) but that he'll never forgive Ventura

That kind of comment would get someone canceled in 2021 but back then, well…

Has Hogan ever forgiven Jesse?

The match took place on Rougeau’s show in his hometown of Montreal on April 11, 1997. Hulk Hogan held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the time, while Rougeau worked alongside Carl Ouellet in the Amazing French Canadians tag team.

He says, ‘Well, you’re going over’ in front of all the boys," said Rougeau. "I actually felt uncomfortable because [Ric] Flair was there, a lot of the big guns were there. It was a big crowd, a big card. Anyway, I laughed at the time and then when I realized Hulk was serious, I just listened to every word. I didn’t want to say one word that would change his mind. So it was like, ‘Whatever you say, Hulk, I’m all ears, whatever you wanna do.’"

Event Results

Raw on 1/19 from Fresno, CA drew a sellout 7,329 paying $123,064. Paul Bearer opened and said that everything that had happened the past two weeks was a ruse he had pulled and that he and Kane were always together and the Undertaker was gone. Undertaker never appeared on the show although they kept teasing he would.

DOA went to a DDQ with NOD (Faarooq & Kama & D.Lo Brown) in 4:40. Match was better than expected. And then D.Lo tagged out. Fans hated the finish. Mark Henry and Maivia did a run-in at the end until Shamrock and Johnson made the save.

DX is backstage talking about their angles. Triple H cuts a promo burying Owen Hart, talking about running him down south. “Because he can’t cut it here.” Seemed kind of stiff and didn’t elevate either man but it completely cut Owen’s momentum off.

(Did you want Owen? What happened?)

WWE would make jabs at WCW, including Vince saying the letters in a southern drawl. It’s really not that much different from “Where the big boys play.”

(I’ve never thought of this before now but...was the “big boys” slogan a jab at WWE having smaller champions?)

Mero pinned Brandi after a low blow and TKO in 3:30. Sable got flowers at ringside. Mero jumped all over her for it and ended up shoving the flowers down Brandi's throat after the match. Real good short match, but there's something about Brandi in this role of being the gallant gentleman that isn't clicking.

(There’s a moment in this match where Brandi gets a three count on Mero and the fans pop - but they keep wrestling.)

(WWE actually had considered a domestic violence angle here with the Meros, having Sable show up with a black eye during one Raw, and having Marc berate her like an abusive spouse. They dropped it pretty quick. Why do you think that was?)

The Quebecers (Jacques Rougeau Jr. & Carl Pierre Oulette), who signed new contracts this past week (reported in Canada as being for four years although we don't have that confirmed), returned beating Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie via DQ in 3:18 when Jack put the claw on the ref. Pretty entertaining. Funk did a Vader bomb outside the ring on both Quebecers and later Jacques backdropped Pierre over the top rope onto Jack. Jack then cleaned house with a barbed wire baseball bat.

(What happened to cause the Quebecers to leave WCW?)

Jeff Jarrett retained the NWA North American title beating Blackjack Bradshaw in 3:41. Rock & Roll Express, wearing tag belts this time (although never called NWA tag team champions) were at ringside and interfering freely. Blackjack Windham was at ringside as well but seemingly asleep while all the interference was going on. Bradshaw worked a lot stiffer and more aggressive after his Japan stint. Windham did a run-in and went to hit Jarrett, but instead gave Bradshaw the lariat when Windham moved leading to the pin. Rock & Rolls and Jarrett were beating on Bradshaw after the match when Windham teased saving him, then turned on him and Jim Cornette announced that the former NWA champion Barry Windham had rejoined the NWA. Windham looked like he was asleep, which matches the way he's been wrestling.

(So you had the NWO invading and Cornette had the...NWA invading. This didn’t last very long either. Do you think this had legs or was it just lame?)

They did a spot where Undertaker was descending from the ceiling, but it was actually Michaels dressed as him, and then he did an interview saying he doesn't lay down for anyone, roasting weanies and salamis and making all kinds of dick comments including HHH with a s*ck the cook shirt. Michaels even took a weanie and acted like he was jacking it off.

(Well. How did you like this phallic segment?)

Owen Hart & Taka Michinoku & Head Bangers beat Los Boricuas in 3:01 when Owen put the sharpshooter on Jesus (Stan: I’m sorry but is there a funnier looking sentence than this one?).

(Owen gets a win here to make up for his burial at the beginning of the show. But, it feels like no one in the Kliq will put him over. I know this isn’t your show but what is your vibe?)

Maivia beat Johnson in 2:44 of a terrible match when Henry interfered, leading to Maivia using the uranage for the finish. Something about Johnson that makes Maivia all of a sudden look like he hasn't really improved a lick. Shamrock made the save.

Outlaws beat Godwinns in 4:54 to keep the tag title. Something must have been wrong with James because he never tagged in once. Gunn hit Phineas with a stuffed animal, which had a brick stuffed in it, for the pin. Awful.

(I hated the Godwinns gimmick. What about you?)

Then came the Tyson angle…

(Questions about the Tyson angle: What do you think about Vince McMahon here? How well is he playing his role and how important was that to making all of this come together?

Did it look like a real brawl to you?

How great is Stone Cold here?)

Meltzer’s Analysis (Same Week)

After a tremendous angle on the live 1/19 War Zone hour of Raw from Fresno, CA where Austin, the WWF's hottest commodity, and Tyson, the currently suspended biggest drawing card in pro boxing, went nose-to-nose, the WWF received tons of mainstream international publicity. The angle, which started when a heavily booed Vince McMahon brought an even more heavily booed Tyson and his entourage into the ring. Just when McMahon was going to make the announcement of Tyson's role in Wrestlemania, Austin showed up. Austin challenged Tyson while McMahon did his best acting job to appear upset at the "misbehavior" of his top star. Austin ended up flipping Tyson off with both hands, resulting in Tyson shoving Austin, a major pull-apart brawl resulting in McMahon acting completely infuriated at Austin "ruining his deal," acting like he himself was out of control and had to be held back by his son from going after Austin. After a commercial break backstage, McMahon apologized to Tyson for the behavior of Austin, Tyson called Austin a "faggot" (on Barry Diller's USA Network no less) and said that he wanted to fight him.

The WWF then released word, carried by AP worldwide, that Tyson had challenged Austin and that the WWF would be meeting with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (which suspended Tyson for his chomping on the ears of Evander Holyfield in his last boxing match) to see if it would be okay to make Tyson a participant. As mentioned in last week's Observer, Marc Ratner, who heads the Nevada commission and is an avid pro wrestling fan, had already declared that he considered pro wrestling as staged entertainment and felt that Tyson and the WWF would be free to do whatever they felt like doing short of putting Tyson in the ring wearing boxing gloves without it affecting Tyson's chances at getting reinstated to boxing in July. Many media outlets on 1/20 were reporting Tyson vs. Austin as almost a done deal, since Ratner made it clear to media that asked after the angle, the commission, thought to be the lone hold-up, would have no problem should Tyson do the match. However, at press time there was still much speculation as to what actually will happen at Wrestlemania. Other media outlets were still reporting Tyson would referee at Wrestlemania, and the WWF had officially released no information conclusively other than continue the story line which we're told has many weeks to go before everything is clear.

Did you ever look at this and think they might do Tyson/Austin? Would that have been bigger?

The angle received a tremendous amount of mainstream pub, carried in most newspapers and as a top sports story that evening and the next morning on radio and on shows like ESPN Sports Center and Fox Sports. Nearly all the coverage was derogatory, but that was to be expected going in. The AP story, which ran almost everywhere, actually implied that the angle was a shoot, as did the USA Today mention, in that it said Tyson was going to be a referee but after the confrontation with Austin, he changed his mind and wanted to be a participant against Austin. It was also front page news with a large photo in virtually every sports section in Japan, where Tyson's name has a lot of mystique and where mainstream coverage of pro wrestling events is far more accepted.

But a few things are clear. One is that Tyson's run with the WWF has to end with him being a babyface, which clearly won't be an easy feat considering his status with the general public, but if nothing else, pro wrestling is a world where the public is usually easily manipulated. Tyson was booed out of the building both in San Jose and Fresno when making appearances at WWF shows. The other is that Tyson will take absolutely no injury risk at all in his involvement. Pro wrestling can be as easy or as hard physically as the participants allow it to be. You can do a totally safe match, which would, particularly with a largely untrained participant, likely be boring, although crowds are more forgiving with bigger names, even bigger names they don't really like. Or you can take more and more risks to add excitement. There is no question the original plan for Wrestlemania was for Austin to win the WWF title from Shawn Michaels, but obviously something like this takes precedence. Within pro wrestling in the days leading up to the angle, there were people saying that Tyson would wind up as a participant while most of the word was that Tyson would end up being a referee in the Austin vs. Michaels match. If the latter story was accurate, due to the price tag of the deal (thought to be between $4 million and $6 million with our generally best information leading toward the latter figure as being more accurate when all is said and done), to make Tyson a drawing card in a referee role would have required a series of spectacular angles and a great storyline. Simply put, if the $4 million figure is accurate, the WWF needs 648,000 buys out of Wrestlemania (2.2 buy rate) to make out financially and if the real figure is $6 million it would need about 807,000 buys (2.7 buy rate). These are not figures to break even, but figures to make out based on Tyson adding the revenue offsetting his cost, actual break even would be lower. No matter what, it needs a series of great angles and great interviews (which Austin can provide). It may need even more than that if Tyson will only be a referee. The recent Hulk Hogan vs. Sting match did about a 1.9 buy rate which was the biggest of the past six years. WWF did about a 1.5 buy rate for the Lawrence Taylor vs. Bam Bam Bigelow match, which was hyped tremendously, but ultimately was a huge disappointment because Taylor's drawing power wasn't nearly as big outside the New York/Connecticut area as the company, being based in that area, expected, plus Bigelow three years ago wasn't the star Austin is today. But Taylor was the catalyst for a period where Raw's ratings made a noticeable upward surge. Nor was wrestling anywhere near as popular three years ago as it is today. At its peak, which would be the Wrestlemanias from 1988-90, the show peaked at about 750,000 buys with a far smaller total universe than is equipped for PPV today. And as much mainstream publicity as those shows received, it would pale in comparison to what would be the case if Tyson was a participant. As a referee, the economics and the promotion of it are a lot trickier. Still, there is a lot more than just one PPV that this effects. You are also talking about attempting to re-establish the WWF as the "brand name" for wrestling in the United States, a distinction that slowly was slipping away over the past year, not to mention to try and take a dent out of the ratings domination by WCW over the past 19 months. You are also talking about the chance to create the next generation of Hogan and Piper's who can get over past just the wrestling audience and expose them to the mainstream and draw for the next 15 years off the name established during this boom period. It worked for Hogan and Piper at the first Wrestlemania. It didn't work for Wendi Richter at the first, nor for Bigelow ten years later when they tried to re-create the formula.

It’s a great analysis by Meltzer, because that’s exactly what the angle did, right? It began to put the WWE back in the top spot...or do you disagree?

This whole scenario also brings to mind the 1976 boxer vs. wrestler with Muhammad Ali, then the boxing world heavyweight champion and the biggest sports figure of his time, against Antonio Inoki. That event disintegrated into a disaster. First off, while the event got a ton of mainstream media publicity, and probably more than this one will get as far as taking anyone it seriously because Ali then was a far bigger and more respected name than Tyson now and he held the title at the time. But the boxing fans didn't buy the match because they didn't know Inoki and there was still the idea that this was part of a fake pro wrestling promotion. The wrestling fans didn't really take to it because wrestling was regionalized in those days and most of the regional promoters didn't like the idea of the fight since they saw it as something Inoki was doing for himself and couldn't see how it could help their regional business because even if Inoki won, it wasn't like he was going to come and appear in their cities. They didn't want to spend time getting Inoki or the show over, and virtually all didn't push the match that hard on their television as opposed to the angles they were running internally so it really wasn't that big a deal to pro wrestling fans at the time either, even though it was the first promotion nationwide up to that point in pro wrestling history. The result, people for the most part didn't buy the closed-circuit and the event, outside of the Northeast where Bruno Sammartino and Stan Hansen saved the box office, was a financial flop. Because the match was taken seriously and not as comedy as this one will be, the talks about the finish fell apart as has been noted in these pages numerous times, the match turned into a disastrous shoot almost totally lacking in action. Because once the worked aspect fell apart, Ali and his people wouldn't allow Ali into the ring with Inoki unless all kinds of rules were made to handicap what Inoki could do offensively as they feared an injury to Ali that would cost everyone money.

Probably the other show that got the most mainstream sports publicity in the United States on a national basis was the first Wrestlemania, where actor Mr. T teamed with Hogan against Paul Orndorff & Piper in a closed-circuit extravaganza in 1985 that was considered a huge gamble at the time and had it not paid off would have undoubtedly changed the entire course of the history of this industry. It was a gamble that paid off big as it put the WWF, Hogan and Piper over the top in a series of small-time promotional wars against various popular local entities and wound up with the company getting occasional late-night slots on NBC. In this case McMahon will do a tremendous job on his television in getting the match over because he has no choice but to do so, and it comes at a time when interest in pro wrestling in general is at one of its strongest points ever. The media will make snide remarks, but it'll get enough coverage that everyone will know about it. It still may not translate into buys from boxing fans, but unlike Ali-Inoki, it will from wrestling fans and with Tyson added to the mix, there may be enough to make it financially worth while. WCW, which has no problem spending money, bowed out of attempting to steal the Tyson deal largely due to feeling the figures thrown out couldn't be justified. It'll be interesting at the end of March to see not only how the story plays out in the storyline, but at Wrestlemania, and when it comes to financial acumen, which side was correct.

What do you think was bigger for Wrestlemania, Mr. T or Mike Tyson?

Due to Martin Luther King Day, no ratings information was available at press time for 1/19 when WWF debuted Tyson in the ring doing an interview, something that the company and the USA network had heavily publicized all week. Neither Tyson nor Austin appeared until the final 15 minutes of the show (which also teased throughout a late in the show Undertaker appearance), a period after WCW had already gone off the air, leading one to believe USA drew a tremendous rating in the final quarter hour. To counter the Tyson hype, WCW at first led viewers to believe on Thursday that Hulk Hogan would be handed the WCW title back due to a court order on Nitro, a story line that was never referred to on either Saturday or Monday's show and instead, to counter the Tyson appearance, hyped a Hogan vs. The Giant singles match which Hogan put Giant over clean with the choke slam in.

There are a few schools of thought as to how this will turn out:

• Tyson does a singles match with Austin. It ends with some heels, likely DX, interfering and Tyson and Austin cleaning house back-to-back and shaking hands at the end to the big babyface pop that will be carried by media worldwide that Tyson and his people are looking for out of this deal. Perhaps DX could cost Austin the match, in that way they don't have to ask Tyson to lose and people at least get a finish out of the match. Tyson can then not accept an unfair win, once again making him a babyface at the end. This would lead to the Austin-Michaels match perhaps at King of the Ring where Austin would get the title win, which would make up for the loss. Or they can go without a finish although that scenario would seem to make the least sense both for future business and for the ultimate fan reaction to the show, but would "protect" Austin.
• Tyson can do some angles before the show that end up with him liking Austin somehow, probably with something similar to the aforementioned scenario, and they can work a tag match together. That way they can do a long match, Tyson only has to do a few well choreographed spots with pro workers the calibre of Michaels and Helmsley and Austin can carry the action. All four get the media rub from being in the ring with Tyson. Tyson can KO Helmsley while Austin can stunner Michaels for a double win.
• Tyson ends up as a referee at the end, after doing an angle somewhere that somehow Tyson was "forced" out of the match. Boxing writer Dean Julpe of the Las Vegas Sun on 1/20 wrote a column where he claimed Tyson's p.r. man, Sig Rogich, knew the Nevada Commission really isn't crazy about Tyson being involved in pro wrestling, but doesn't have the legal power in which to stop him because he was only suspended from boxing, so that's why they are publicly stating he can do what he wants. Julpe claimed the trick for Rogich (and the WWF) would be to create a scenario to wind up with Tyson as a referee but having the commission not hold it against him. Julpe wrote, "Mark these words: The WWF will milk this, perhaps even petitioning the Nevada State Athletic Commission for its approval on Tyson's behalf; the commission, however will be noncommittal, not that its members' comments won't fill many a newspaper story; Tyson will eventually hedge on his participation and, at some point before 3/29, Rogich will say his man has reconsidered and is definitely withdrawing as a participant in a wrestling bout and may, in fact, also withdraw as a referee Rogich, with feigned innocence, can then approach the Nevada State Athletic Commission at Tyson's reinstatement hearing and say, "Gentleman, Mr. Tyson, good man that he is, resisted the monetary gain and the urge to wrestle back in March, demonstrating not only his good intentions but proving he is reformed and deserving of a boxing license."
• And let's add one more. Austin turns down the match with Tyson, saying he's going to win the WWF title from Michaels at Wrestlemania. This puts the belt over huge that he turned down a match that would get a ton of publicity world wide because the most important thing is winning the WWF title. Now he can't puss out, so he can say that he's going to Mania to win the title, and then after the match he's going to beat up Tyson. Tyson demands to get as close to the situation as possible and ends up as a ref, with them teasing all along that with Tyson, who hates Austin, as the ref, that Austin has no chance of winning the title, but that if Tyson screws Austin, what will happen live after the match is over? Then when all is said and done, DX attacks both several times, or even just attacks Austin, but Tyson ends up doing the right thing as a referee, leading to them joining forces with the double knockout finish and he counts the three for the title change. Austin gets the title so people are happy. Tyson ends his brief wrestling career with cheers, a scene that makes every newscast in the country that evening and becomes the last impression the public has of Tyson, erasing the previous impression of him eating some ear. They get whatever buys then can out of the lure of an Austin-Tyson street fight but never actually sanction that it will happen. And like everything in wrestling today, they tease one thing and figure out a way to get out of actually delivering it.

While there are many on the inside of this who believe the third scenario is as close to the truth as is out there, $6 million doesn't make economic sense on the surface to pay someone who won't be participating in the match unless you're telling everyone he's definitely going to be in a "fight."

Do you think any of those scenarios other than what we saw happened could have been as successful, or more?

In San Jose, Tyson was in the luxury boxes at the Arena with Shane McMahon (and at some points with Vince McMahon), cheering on the babyfaces, in particular his favorite (at least on that night), "Cold Stoned." The next night, he was all over the television, arriving with Shane McMahon in a limo, good-naturedly shaking hands and telling stories with the old-timers like Pat Patterson, Arnold Skaaland, Tony Garea, Jerry Brisco, Sgt. Slaughter and Blackjack Lanza; doing skits with DX, the NOD, Sunny and finally getting into the ring, and get this, telling Vince McMahon in a booming voice that his favorite wrestler was Vince's long-time enemy Bruno Sammartino to make it look like the situation in the ring was a shoot to set up the angle, which was pulled off magnificently.

I always thought he was shooting...

Meltzer’s Report (Next Week)

After a week filled with mainstream news worldwide stemming from the Mike Tyson-Steve Austin angle on 1/19 in Fresno, CA, the involvement of Tyson is pro wrestling is subject to a lot of speculation, and a few answers to questions, in a wide variety of circles.

What we do know is that the main event at Wrestlemania is at this point scheduled to be Shawn Michaels vs. Austin for the WWF title. We believe the plan is, and all along was going to be for Tyson to be the referee for that match. But that role for Tyson is only speculation at this point. The belief from this end is that just announcing Tyson as a referee would help the PPV somewhat based on curiosity, but overall, a special referee can only mean so much, so they would create an intricate storyline to get to that same end, but hopefully make it so people see it more than just a former boxing champion refereeing a pro wrestling match as so many from the likes of Rocky Marciano, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Joe Walcott and so many others have done in the past.

(He ends up being special enforcer in “somewhat of a guest referee capacity,” as Vince said)

How it goes isn't totally clear. What we do know is that Tyson has begun training for his boxing comeback. His training is his top priority, but the WWF is trying to get him to work dates for them in between his training. The plan is for a second angle to be shot at a press conference on 2/5 at the All-Star Cafe in New York. That will be the press conference to kick off the major promotion for Wrestlemania, which will feature Tyson, Austin and Michaels. In Fresno, Tyson was posing with Austin and Michaels for Cable Guide photos that will run in early March. We are under the impression an angle with Tyson will be shot, perhaps this time with Michaels, since WWF figures the appearance of Tyson will draw a ton of New York and national press to their press conference and thus the angle will run big everywhere. Tyson probably won't appear at the live Raw on 2/2 since it's in Indianapolis, a city that he didn't want to visit (that was where his rape trial was held). They are hopeful he'll appear on the 2/15 PPV show from Houston which appears to be the working idea for his next live involvement and I believe the official announcement of his role will come possibly at that show or on the ensuing Raw. That show won't air until 2/21 from 8 to 10 p.m. because the Raw taped on 2/16 at Reunion Arena in Dallas will be pre-empted for the usually highly rated Westminster Dog show. Much of this is WWF planning that has yet to be confirmed with Tyson.

(A lot changed when Shawn was realized to be seriously hurt, and Tyson did not appear at the No Way Out of Texas PPV)

The Tyson-Austin angle made news coverage around the world, perhaps nowhere bigger than in New York and in Japan. In Japan, the 1/21 Nikkan Sports ran a large photo of Austin confronting Tyson with Vince McMahon in the middle which took up nearly half the front page, with most of the rest of the entire page devoted to a story on the angle. The 1/22 Tokyo Sports ran three different photos as the lead sports story of the day, one of Austin issuing the challenge, another of the two being pulled apart and a third of Tyson being held by handlers in the corner, although half the front page story was devoted to Baba's negotiations with the WWF for the Dome show and the other to Tyson being at Wrestlemania. Aside from being a feast for New York sports columnists, the Tyson story received heavy coverage in the New York Daily News and some coverage in USA Today along with it being carried on most television news and sports shows later 1/19 and early 1/20 including Inside Edition. There was little noteworthy about the coverage, other than the New York media listing a $3 million figure as Tyson's purse for the show as a referee but figured it would be considerably more if he were to be a participant. According to the Daily News, last year's Wrestlemania drew 273,000 buys. Thomas Umstead, the PPV sports editor of Multi Channel News predicted Tyson's involvement as adding at least 100,000 to 150,000 buys to Mania. In comparison, the second Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight last July drew approximately 2 million PPV buys. Austin had brief introduction profiles in the Daily News and USA Today.

(For context...Wrestlemania 14 with Tyson did 730,000 buys, triple the year before)

As to what Tyson has meant thus far, the 1/18 Royal Rumble in San Jose from all accounts drew the largest PPV buy rate for a WWF show since the 1996 Wrestlemania. Sources within the WWF are predicting in excess of 300,000 buys, or about a 1.03 buy rate. Independent sources are claiming the number at 0.92, which would be a slight increase from the 1997 high water mark of the famous Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels Montreal match (0.89) and well ahead of the estimated 0.7 for last year's Rumble. Of course, business overall is much hotter this year than at the same time last year, and the figure appears to be in line with what the 1996 Rumble did (between 1.0 and 1.1). One can figure the curiosity over Tyson being there probably resulted in 50,000 to 70,000 additional buys or worth around $750,000 to the WWF just on the Rumble alone out of curiosity for the hype of him simply being there in an unspecified role and teasing with the 1995 Lawrence Taylor footage that he'd be in a "surprise" angle, which turned out to be just watching the show from the luxury boxes and not doing an angle. And even though Tyson was booed heavily by the live crowd, the rehabilitation of his animalistic image of being a rapist and an ear biter started as he came off as just a good-natured exuberant pro wrestling fan rooting for his favorite "Cold Stoned."

Did Mike Tyson’s controversy at the time end up helping WWE way more than if he had simply been there as a champion?

Back to Tyson. Based on a lot of different things, my feeling is the plan McMahon and Don King came up with was likely the plan listed in the Las Vegas newspaper (scenario No. 3 last week) where they tease a match, then Tyson backs out and only refs, thereby showing the power of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, Tyson himself is portrayed throughout as a babyface, he gets the big pop at Mania, and his image is softened and the commission gets its authority kissed up to in Tyson supposedly bowing down to their power and wishes again and in the end they reinstate him in July and he's back in boxing where he collects his real pay days.

Politics. It’s not just in wrestling, is it?

Ratings

For 1/19, Monday Night Raw drew its largest rating since the Monday night wars began, doing a 4.00 rating (3.78 first hour; 4.23 second hour) and 6.04 share, peaking with a 4.7 rating (3,381,000 homes) for the final 15 minutes when Tyson and Austin, who had both been held off appearing except in teases up to that point, had their confrontation. Still, that figure wasn't enough to beat Nitro, which registered a 4.44 rating (4.95 first hour; 4.04 second hour) and 6.63 share.

Did you expect to win the ratings that night despite Tyson on the other show? That’s a big deal...

Nitro peaked before Raw got on the air drawing a 5.2 rating (Steiners vs. Bagwell & Konnan) from 8:45 to 9 p.m. The largest total audience watching American wrestling at one point in the history of Monday night wars and since WWF lost NBC was from 10-10:15 p.m. when WCW had the Hogan vs. Giant match do a 4.7 (3,413,000 homes) and WWF countered with DX roasting weenies getting a 4.1 rating (2,934,000 homes) or a combined 6,347,000 homes watching wrestling during that time period.

In the 79 minutes the two shows went head-to-head, Nitro drew a 4.04 to Raw's 3.84, a very close margin, including having the advantage for the first 15 minutes head to head by a 4.1 to 3.5 margin which no doubt was over the curiosity revolving around Tyson. However, the second quarter saw WCW ahead 3.8 to 3.6 and it remained ahead the rest of the head-to-head slot. In addition, the WCW Nitro replay came just shy of its all-time record doing a 2.26 rating and 4.57 share.

Do you think that’s because many fans were switching from Nitro to see what happened on Raw - and then wanted to catch up on Nitro later on?

Do you think an immediate replay might have hurt ratings by letting fans tune in to Raw live and feel like they could catch Nitro later?

While Tyson proved, in his WWF television debut when his novelty and curiosity value would be the highest, to be worth about .5 to the total rating, even the novelty of Tyson wasn't enough for Raw to beat Nitro. The truth was, that the Hogan vs. Giant singles match which went opposed by Raw had more viewers than the Tyson-Austin angle despite that going unopposed with Nitro already off the air. But both companies probably could make a strong case for being thrilled with the 1/19 numbers, WWF because they did show a strong increase and had their largest audience since the summer of 1995 and largest ever in a competitive situation on cable; WCW because even with Tyson on the other show, they still drew more viewers and drew a great rating both for the live show and the replay, prompting one WCW exec to say that if WWF couldn't win on that night, they'd never be able to win.

Ratings for the FOLLOWING Week:

One side shouldn't have been happy on 1/26. The WWF. Coming off a week world wide publicity the likes of which the federation hasn't received in more than a decade and when it left the air with a cliffhanger of Tyson challenging Austin following what will go down as an all-time classic angle, its rating fell to a 3.48 rating (3.50 first hour; 3.45 second hour) and 5.25 share, a very good number on the surface, but actually lower than it did the week before the Tyson angle took place.