83 Weeks -Nitro 08.23.99 Watchalong [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Just like we’re celebrating the 25 year anniversary of the nWo...today we celebrate the 22 year anniversary of...the KISS Demon!

This show is historical for so many different reasons Eric and we’re going to discuss that throughout this show but the amount of things that went on before and during this show start to happen when you call a meeting before this show.

From the Observer…”Bischoff called a meeting of the wrestlers before Nitro on 8/23 in Las Vegas and began singling out various wrestlers for public tongue-lashings. He began by saying that he was going to turn things around and only wanted wrestlers in the company who wanted to be in the company.

His first target was Scott Levy (Raven), who he yelled at for his remarks negative to the company publicly, in particular on the Mancow radio show out of Chicago. He offered Raven a release and Raven walked out of the meeting. Target No. 2 was Charles Ashenoff (Konnan), who he yelled at for going over the p.a. in Reno in response to the Cowboys cutting a promo with a comeback saying something to the effect of "You guys look like you haven't had any pussy since pussy had you." Bischoff asked Konnan how can a parent in the audience explain the word "pussy" to their six-year old and Konnan apologized for the remark. He then offered Konnan, and anyone else who wanted one, a release. Konnan didn't walk out at that moment.”

Eric were you surprised that Raven asked for a release or did you know he was unhappy?

Was the cracking down on Konnan coming from you directly or was it more based on the heat you were getting from standards and practices?

“Bischoff apparently felt that the wrestlers, despite their complaints, many of them very public, when faced with the decision, wouldn't opt to walk out on their big money guaranteed contracts.”

Was that your mindset during this meeting?

“Bischoff then went after Oscar Gutierrez (Rey Misterio Jr.) for his remark on Thursday's Thunder before the Lenny Lane title switch when he asked if he was going down the "Hershey Highway." He followed by yelling at Marcus Bagwell for his crybaby behavior that led to the fight with Ernest Miller before the show in Sturgis, and then yelled at Public Enemy because they complained so loudly about being asked to do a squash job in a handicap match to Sid for the Thunder taping that airs on 8/26. Public Enemy apparently gave their notice that night after being asked to put Sid over. A few weeks earlier they were asked to put Goldberg over in a handicap match but it was changed at the last minute to a singles match with Rocco Rock vs. Goldberg.”

Were you worried about the content with the remarks to Rey?

What were the real issues with Buff and Public Enemy? Was this your attempt to take back control of the locker room?

“There are people in the company sympathetic to Bischoff for having to lay the law down because the talent as a group has gotten completely out of control, the feeling is it would have been better served if he did so individually rather than embarrassed them in front of everyone. In addition, he came off looking badly to everyone with him making statements daring people to leave, then having to backtrack when he was taken up on the dare.”

Look we’ve all said things we didn’t mean to co-workers, friends, family, etc and once things calm down you take a step back and either realize you did it incorrectly or that you need to fix the situation. But offering a room full of talent the ability to leave a major wrestling promotion really at the tail end of a war is something I can’t imagine you planned going in. Was it?

Others were complaining that Bischoff went after mid-carders who were vocal in complaining publicly in Ashenoff and Levy, but didn't go after the big stars like Sting, who was also critical of the company in high profile media outlets, or Randy Savage, who walked out and missed the last eight days after doing questionable angles on his own without approval from the company (girlfriend abuse) and repeatedly using questionable language on television making Bischoff look stupid since he publicly has tried to portray WCW as the clean company as opposed to WWF.”

Is this a fair criticism that the top stars got lee way the mid carders didn’t?

“Bischoff then said if anyone has the balls, they can get out of their contract right then. Ric Flair, who apparently has been trying without success to get out of his contract, wasn't there. As the night went on, Levy, Ashenoff, Gutierrez and Pete Gruner (Billy Kidman) all asked Bischoff for a release and there were calls made to Terry Taylor in the WWF and to Paul Heyman. Raven was the only one of the four interested in going to ECW. Nobody else asked for a contract release. It was a ballsy move on Bischoff's part, because if everyone had gotten up and left, or even if a dozen key guys had done so, he probably would have shot his job in the head. But it would also have been gutsy of wrestlers to leave guaranteed money, when they have their own mortgages and bills, with no guarantees of similar money employment elsewhere, and if they asked to leave and found no offers and then asked to come back, they'd likely have wound up punished badly and had their pushes curtailed.”

So did this happen? You’re producing a show...and you have talent coming up to you asking for a release? Did they all do this...did only some...did more? Was there someone in that room…besides Raven who did end up leaving…had spoken up would you have let go?

“When Levy went to WCW lawyer Scott Wilkerson about getting his release, Wilkerson brought up a 90-day non-compete clause, which Levy noted Bischoff had said nothing about. In a later conversation, Bischoff told Levy he'd release him to go to ECW but that it would be a conditional release and that he wouldn't let him go to WWF for the remainder of his contract, which has about ten months left. Levy brought up that Bischoff made no such restrictions at the meeting. He also told Gruner that he didn't give him two years of television time to allow him to walk over to the WWF, but a few hours later, Bischoff changed his tune again when confronting Gruner at the bar and told him he could have a full release. It is believed by the next morning, the story had changed once again. Taylor indicated to the wrestlers that he was interested in all of them but he had to get it cleared through Vince McMahon. Later McMahon apparently told Taylor that due to the lawsuits back-and-forth and potential tampering charges, he wouldn't enter into negotiations with any talent until after Bischoff gave them a full written release. Bischoff later asked Levy what it would take to stay, and Levy said he wanted to be one of the top ten guys in the company, and noted that none of the top ten guys would put the younger talent over.”

Walk me through all these contract negotiations after the fact. Raven has asterisks, you and Kidman get into it at the bar. Tell me what’s fiction and what’s fact. How bad do you think Terry Taylor couldn’t wait to call Dave Meltzer and give him all these details?

Fire up the Peacock machine...Season 5 Episode 33 of Monday Night Nitro!

We’re live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena Eric…

This is also the last Nitro before SmackDown debuts on UPN which is another 2 hours of wrestling content. How much do you think that affected WCW and Nitro itself?

In itself this is one of the last Nitro shows you’d produce as you only do 2 more Nitros after this before you are relieved of your duties in WCW.

Also ECW on TNN debuts just 4 days after this. You’re talking about the most wrestling content on national TV...well probably ever up until this point. Was it too much content?

This Nitro is going up against the Raw after SummerSlam where Mankind defeated Steve Austin & Triple H for the WWF World Title and it’s the first Raw in forever that Steve Austin will not be on. Raw opens with Triple H demanding a one-on-one match against Mankind for the WWF World Title and then breaks JR’s arm after he gets it.

Are you throwing more creative out there knowing the WWF is coming off a pay-per-view with Jesse Ventura and a world title change?

KISS is here and here’s the first promo for it while Bobby Heenan calls Gene Simmons Richard Simmons. Eric - what did you really think you were going to get out of all of this?

You wrote in your book about how the Kiss deal was all about merchandise and licensing. Besides the nWo this wasn’t exactly WCW’s strong suit. What made you think this would be different?

We open with Mikey Whipwreck vs. Chase Tatum. Sid by the way is doing his Millenium Man winning streak gimmick. Last week he was at 55-0. This week when he interrupts this match he’s 66-0 and Charles Robinson is now his stooge. What was the plan for this other than to build to Goldberg beating Sid? Was it kind of a rib on Goldberg?

The rumor and innuendo is that Tatum had pissed off a lot of people in the locker room and Sid went out there and beat the shit out of him. What do you think?

As you clarified in your book you stated that meeting Gene Simmons opened up throwing around ideas and it was Harvey Schiller who suggested the New Year’s Day show for WCW at the Fiesta Bowl. What was Harvey’s idea that evolved into putting Kiss together for it?

Kidman and Kimberly in the back. Is this before or after Kidman asked for his release? Kim knows Kidman wasn’t trying to offend her but DDP is pissed.

DDP jumps Kidman and Goldberg arrives at the arena in the nick of time.

Eric explain the Y2K concept and why this was such a big thing at the time for the Kiss deal.

Here comes the Triad which is really a super underrated act at this time. Bam Bam, Kanyon & DDP. Kanyon is super over. This leads to Sting, and Luger returns after leaving for some time and with this being after Hollywood Hogan returned as Hulk Hogan Luger tells Sting not to trust him. This is all a lot is it not Eric?

You pull up outside in a white hummer...just months after the hummer angle that was never resolved. Were you supposed to be the driver?

WCW’s own website Eric promoted the fact that a new President would be named that night and you deny the internet rumors that it’s you. Nothing’s really changed much all these years later huh?

Ernest Miller vs. Buff Bagwell is a rematch from Hog Wild where they got into a fight before the match. The talk is Buff was mostly mad about not being able to hit his finish at Hog Wild and he gets the win after a Lex Luger distraction and the Buff Blockbuster but the camera ends up showing Onoo most of the time. With all the backstage chaos going on is that why this show is missing finish cues like this?

Berlyn is coming. Was this character how you intended it to be when it debuted?

DJ Ran...Eric you’re spending what has to be a lot of money for all things non-wrestling. We’re coming off Master P, we got KISS, you’re in talks for the New Year’s Eve PPV...is the criticism fair that you have a lot going on?

Nitro Girls…

DDP vs. Goldberg. We’re not even one year removed from their Halloween Havoc title match and this just feels like just another match. Why is that?

Everybody but DDP gets killed by Goldberg and it’s to build to a rematch next week in Long Island.

IT’S A NEW MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE WEST TEXAS REDNECKS. Why this change????

Juventud vs. Lodi instead of Lenny Lane who is Cruiserweight Champion. Eric you’re talking about being family friendly but Lodi & Lane aren’t really part of that mantra don’t you think?

Sid comes out and kills these guys. Does it just render the Cruiserweight division useless for something like this?

Somehow this equals 3 more wins for Sid and there’s more rambling by Sid.

Look Eric...it’s our first musical performance of the night AND IT’S NOT EVEN BY KISS. It’s the West Texas Rednecks. No words. No words.

Brian Knobs, the Barbarian & Hugh Morrus taking on Dean Malenko, Saturn & Shane Douglas. I don’t know what else to say but Rick Steiner helps Knobs pin Saturn. This leads to Chris Benoit challenging Rick Steiner for a US Title Match. Because...that makes sense right?

ICP are taking on Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. The rumor and innuendo...and this is covered in the Nitro book by Guy Evans...is that you were spending a lot of time in Los Angeles talking about getting into a musical career. And here we are over an hour into this show...and we’ve had KISS promos, a music video, a live performance by wrestlers pretending to be musicians and now we have musicians pretending to be wrestlers. What else is there to say?

Vampiro is at ringside for ICP and credit to Kidman & Rey for carrying ICP. Do you think working ICP led to the frustration for Kidman & Rey to ask for their releases?

At least the wrestlers get the win right Eric?

Hogan comes out for a promo and doesn’t quite get the pop you would think just a couple weeks removed from his babyface turn. Did you think him going back to the yellow & red was a short term thing and it didn’t have the ability to sustain?

Rick vs. Benoit and it’s a damn good match. Steiner is the TV champion if you didn’t know and you wouldn’t because he didn’t carry the title with him. Charles Robinson is also the referee if you were having trouble keeping up with the storylines on the show. Well we got ref bumps, interference, here comes Sid I guess because Charles Robinson is there but they only powerbomb Saturn and don’t get the pin so it doesn’t add to his win count but Benoit runs them off with the US title swinging and makes a challenge. Benoit is often talked about how he’s not that good on the mic but he wasn’t bad here what say you Eric?

For the third time tonight we get to hear the new West Texas Rednecks song which I guess adds to the heat? The Windhams are taking on Harlem Heat for the WCW World Tag Team Titles and they get the win after some interference by Curt Hennig. It feels like every finish tonight has interference. I know not every match needs a clean finish but how about just one?

Vampiro vs. Eddie Guerrero is up next in what would’ve been a main event in Mexico just a few years earlier. Vampiro gets the win after interference by ICP. What a shame. Still no clean finishes...Rey & Kidman run the Dead Pool off.

Michael Buffer. How much was he to come to a Nitro show?

Time for the...wrestling main event. Sting vs. Hulk Hogan. A rematch of Starrcade 97. It’s good...not great...but it seems like Sting is pretty motivated. Meltzer in the Observer would write, “During the week there was still consideration to turning Hogan, and even discussion of turning Sting (this would be the worst possible time in the history of the company to do so, so knowing WCW it'll probably happen).”

Was there talk for this?

You can kind of tell in the background they’re setting up for KISS at the stage. Did any wrestlers...Hogan...Sting...DDP...anyone...stand up and say...do we really want to close with KISS?

We got table bumps and everything in here Eric. They got their working boots on and then the finish comes and Sid & Rick Steiner come out and it’s another cheap finish. Hogan offers a rematch because of the way it ended...and we throw to commercial and come back…

KISS. And the KISS Demon appears at the end and it’s Brian Adams. Was it always supposed to be Brian Adams?

Why the switch from Adams to Dale Torberg?

Was there anything KISS was told they can’t do? Gene Simmons is well known for spitting blood out of his mouth so I wonder if Standards & Practices would object to it.

What did you think of the performance and the debut?

What was it like negotiating with KISS and how were they backstage?

The ratings come in and it’s not good. Raw drops almost a full point to a 5.64 rating with a 8.9 share. Nitro...does a 2.92 rating and a 4.7 share. Head-to-head Raw doubles Nitro. Hogan-Sting gets a 2.75 rating for its quarter hero and the Kiss concert saw it drop to 2.25. How disappointing is that after all the money sunk into it?

Do the ratings for the concert make you immediately change plans?

Eric is this one of those Nitro shows and really weeks in general where you finished…sat in your office on Tuesday and thought…what the fuck am I doing here?