83 Weeks - Arn's Spot [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Welcome to 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff.

It has been weeks since we’ve discussed WCW in 1997 and we’re going to hop back in with a Nitro that stands out in everyone’s memory. Nitro from August 25th, 1997.

We’re one month removed from Bash at the Beach 1997 and we’ll catch everyone up on what was going on while the show is going on.

Fire up the Peacock Machine…Season 3 - episode 34.

3-2-1! Live from Columbia, SC in front of 8,058 fans - another all-time record in the city. Nitro seemed to be doing this every week at this point Eric.

Since the last time we talked WCW in 1997 - Ultimo Dragon won the TV title from Steven Regal, Jerry Lynn left, Monday Night Raw is going back to every other week taping, the WWF is moving to 3-hour pay-per-views and increasing the cost to $29.95 to match WCW, WCW was sued by ECW for Raven & Stevie Richards appearing, Alex Wright won the Cruiserweight title from Chris Jericho, the Giant chokeslammed you, you told the wrestlers no bad words, vulgar or distasteful gestures in a locker room meeting. Do you remember that?

This is reported in the Observer: “Syxx was fired for a short time the week before. Bischoff was under a lot of heat from the higher-ups for standards violated largely having to do with vulgarity standards. Syxx must have used naughty words and some of his gestures weren't met with the highest of approval either. In the tag match with Flair & Hennig vs. Norton & Bagwell, when Syxx did the run-in, he pulled Flair's tights down and Bischoff claimed it was the straw that broke the camel's back. When he told Hall & Nash what happened, they were ready to walk, and an hour later, everything was fine again.”

Wow I don’t think we’ve ever talked about this Eric. What say you?

We’re also coming off the Clash which we’ll get to shortly. That Clash was the show with Sting sending the vulture down and doing his promo in the kid’s voice. We covered that show way back when - episode 70 in fact - find it in the archives and on our YouTube channel.

We’ve also passed Road Wild where Lex Luger dropped the WCW title back to Hollywood Hogan - and the Steiners failed to win the WCW World Tag Team titles from the Outsiders. Now the rumor & innuendo at the time was that there was talk of High Voltage winning the titles from the Steiners. Do you remember that?

Here’s JJ Dillon to interrupt you and announce Sting vs. Hollywood is going to happen and you just shit all over JJ and here comes Sting! Meltzer would speculate you guys are ramping up for a $600,000 house for the match at Starrcade in the debut of the Washington, DC new arena at the MCI Center but he points out at this point you could probably sell out the Hoosier Dome with it. Was there ever any consideration to moving to a bigger building for the show?

The Omni was blown up on July 26th. A wrestling staple blown up to make way for the Philips Arena - now the State Farm Arena - was this sad to some people in WCW?

It was written in the Observer that Curt Hennig was having some issues getting back into ring shape when he was doing Saturday night tapings and those matches would never air. Is that something of a concern to you?

La Parka & Psicosis are taking on Glacier & Ernest Miller and man there’s a lot of mess in this match before Psicosis gets the win. It’s rare the luchadores beat anybody that wasn’t another luchadore…how did this happen?

Speaking of the luchadores…the whole Nitro the week before from Birmingham, AL had all the Luchadores have issues getting to the show and only La Parka shows up. Does this get you hot about it and then the next week you put them over Glacier & the Cat!

There’s also talk in the Observer that Goldberg was going to debuting shortly as Bill Gold. Was there ever consideration of that?

Now up is Ultimo Dragon vs. Silver King after King beats down Ultimo before the match. Nice little way to generate some heat out of a nothing match Eric.

Larry tells this insane story during this match about wrestling Dr. Wagner in Guadalajara City in 1977 and the city being destroyed by an earthquake the next day. I cannot find anything about that anywhere.

Good match here with Dragon getting the win.

Lots of rumors about talent at this time as well. There’s talk of Disco Inferno returning…how do you remember that going?

Sid was fired by the WWF around this time as well…we discussed this back in our Sid episode earlier this year but did anyone bring Sid up at this time?

Rick Rude debuts on Raw to be put with Shawn Michaels and even Meltzer notes how crazy it is to put anyone without a contract on TV in this climate. Did Rude cross your radar with his relationship with Curt Hennig or was it only after the Montreal Screwjob - WHICH - we will cover later this year with you watching the show and giving your thoughts on the WWF product at the time which is something we’ve never done before - you watching a WWF PPV - especially one that means so much.

Also it’s reported that Rick Martel came in and talked about bringing a young Don Callis in as a tag team but was told WCW is not interested in tag teams. Are you a part of that meeting or is that someone else?

Scott Hall & Randy Savage are out after the Clash and DDP is the newest member of the nWo after he hit Luger with the Diamond Cutter accidentally. Savage gets a great line in here that says, “I didn’t vote for Page, but the nWo needed a weak link, so it’s cool.” Savage is savage. DDP is out next to say he just needs to clear everything up with Lex Luger.

Steve Austin is dropped on his head by Owen Hart at SummerSlam 97. Obviously you & Steve had issues previously but when you see something like this it has to stick out in your mind of his health right? Any talk of banning a piledriver in WCW when you see that?

Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit is up next. This is a strict sprint and these two together worked very well. Jarrett gets the win after a small package.

We’re two weeks removed from the 100th Nitro success of Lex Luger winning the WCW title over Hollywood and with it being so successful you had to know that 3 hour Nitros were going to be a regular occurrence at this point…when you saw the ratings…you knew it was coming right?

Meng & the Barbarian taking on Mortis & Wrath. Mortis makes the Faces of Fear look so amazing. How great was Chris Kanyon?

Jimmy Hart is not out with the Faces of Fear and it’s reported in the Observer you made the decision to take him off TV. Did you have that conversation with Jimmy? Why did you think it was time to take him off?

Bryan Clark is someone who also is overlooked a lot in my opinion…why do you think it never got farther with him?

It’s reported in the Observer that Kevin Sullivan is due to return and share the booking duties with Terry Taylor starting with this show. Why did you think it was necessary for Kevin to return? Was Kevin better with the bigger stars compared to Terry?

Hour #2 we’re getting ready for the promo to end all promos. How does this come to be? How does it all get laid out? Bullet points…and how much of this is just Arn Anderson being…ya know…Arn.

Is this sold out at the monitor in the back?

Is everyone in the ring under the assumption that Curt was going to be taking Arn’s spot and the Horsemen were going to have a much longer run?

Was this a big deal to Curt?

This isn’t acted. This isn’t played out. This is real emotion by all of these men is that correct?

This is the promo of a lifetime.

From the Observer: “Perhaps it was only fitting that the official announcement on 8/25 of the end of the wrestling career of Arn Anderson was largely an angle to get someone else--in this case Curt Hennig--over. Because in many ways that was the story of his career.

Anderson, born Martin Lunde, in one of the best interviews of this or any other year, announced on the live WCW Nitro show from Columbia, SC that he recognized he had nothing left to give due to neck injuries that wouldn't be coming back. This announcement was confirmation of what nearly everyone had speculated since he had major neck surgery a few months back which resulted in the strength in one of his hands being so weak he couldn't even button his own shirt. Anderson received an incredible standing ovation, that overwhelmed even the reaction to Sting earlier in the show, when he showed up on camera for the first time since his operation before fans in one of his old stomping grounds. And the fans who reacted that way had no idea of what he was there for, while long-time partner Ric Flair was in the background fighting hard to hold back tears. Anderson labeled himself as an average wrestler, with average size, skill and speed, who achieved success through a lot of hard work. Although at his peak Anderson was considered among the best workers in the world, he always low-keyed his particular talents and would refer to himself as a solid journeyman wrestler.”

Just amazing stuff Eric.

And you pissed it all away a week later but we’ll get to that next week!

As we prepare for Steve McMichael to defend his US title for the first time against Eddie Guerrero. What an episode we did two weeks ago on Steve McMichael Eric. Amazing feedback wouldn’t you agree?

It’s reported in the Observer there’s an incident with Steven Regal on a flight from America to Japan regarding a disturbance that could be a major issue with him. When does this land on your radar?

Steve McMichael gets the win with a tombstone. Guy like Eddie wasn’t afraid to take it after the Owen/Austin thing was he?

Here’s Rey with Gene and he’s still healing up with his knee and Konnan interrupts before the Giant makes the save. Man…Rey & Giant as a team. That could’ve been something. This is also one week removed from Giant getting a restraining order from you that he has to stay 50 feet away from you. Was this to build to something eventually?

Here you come Eric..to join the rest of the show on color commentary and you kick off Bobby Heenan.

Do you remember the decision to put you commentary here for the rest of the night?

What’s your earpiece like when you’re out on commentary? Is it going insane with people backstage trying to talk to you or is it business as usual?

You spend the rest of the night bickering back and forth with Tony which makes sense - he is a grumpy old man.

Chris Jericho defends the Cruiserweight title against Yuji Nagata and even in commentary you note that Nagata is a little…beefy to be a cruiserweight.

Lee Marshall makes an Eric joke on the Road Report instead of Heenan this time which makes sense.

Harlem Heat is out complaining about how no one has determined who the #1 contenders for the tag titles were.

Here come the Steiners with Ted DiBiase - who has joined them since we last spoke about 1997. Was there any heat with Ted about you joining the nWo and essentially taking his spot?

Buff & Norton are also out and you really end up talking over the whole segment and they eventually brawl. Did you have to talk over it because they weren’t hitting the points you wanted in the promos?

Hogan regaining the WCW title over Lex at Road Wild has been long debated how it was a momentum killer for the WCW side of things. Hindsight 20/20 do you wish you hadn’t done the quick title change back and forth?

Alex Wright and Dean Malenko are up next for the TV title while you go on a rant about how the audience is tired of “people trying to cram the same old crap down their throats” in reference to WWF…you had to enjoy doing that shit didn’t you Eric? Do you think that was hypocritical considering Nitro ended with a nWo run in for like a year straight?

Jarrett and Guerrero run in for a DQ. Was this supposed to be the Apocalypse stable to combat the Horsemen - Jarrett, Guerrero, Wright and someone else? Was the Hennig turn the end of that?

With the WWF moving Raw from 9-11 TNT combats that by having the Nitro replay begin right as the show ended. What did you think of the move by the WWF with a more adult product and TNT’s way to combat it?

Steve Karel in ECW says regarding the Raven/Stevie Richards lawsuit that you and Paul Heyman had a dinner at a steak house in Orlando and you were personally shown Raven’s contract. Tell me about this dinner Eric.

This show after the Arn promo is real downhill is it not?

Lex Luger taking on Randy Savage is our main event. It’s 8 minutes…you and Tony bicker the whole time before Luger hits 4 atomic drops and Hall & DDP run in and WE’RE DESPERATELY OUT OF TIME.

From the Observer: “World Championship Wrestling is expected to officially announce shortly the addition of a second two-hour weekly live television show starting at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights with the kick-off date planned for January on TBS.

The show had been in the talking stages for months. At one point it appeared to have been a definite, as TBS, in its own ratings war with USA, Nickelodeon and sister station TNT for the top spot in cable, wanted the kind of weekly boost TNT has gotten from its wrestling show. With the money figure offered by TBS for the show, believed to be about $12 million for the year, substantial enough to insure the company as being easily and majorly profitable despite its huge talent costs (which likely will be increasing), at first it appeared to be an easy decision. However, many in WCW feared the new show in a big way, both from a personal standpoint because of the increase in work load, and the fear of television overexposure prematurely ending the current boom period and talent morale problems from adding 52 more dates per year on the road.”

We covered the Thunder debut in the archives - but my goodness - you were not ready for this are you?

This really marks the end of the Clash of the Champions gimmick does it not?

From the ratings report from Meltzer on the show:

“With Raw pre-empted due to coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Nitro devastated all previous records on 8/25 drawing a 4.97 rating (4.33 first hour; 5.48 second hour) and 8.19 share which would have made it the largest audience ever to watch a pro wrestling television show on cable, a total of 3,549,000 homes for an average minute during the show. The show peaked from 9:15 to 9:30, drawing a 5.8 rating in 4,153,000 homes for the Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve McMichael match and the Rey Misterio Jr.-Konnan angle, breaking the all-time quarter hour cable wrestling audience record of 4,126,000 homes set on August 24, 1994 for the Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair WCW title match on a Clash of Champions. After Eric Bischoff came out and took over the show, it went into a decline every quarter finishing with a 5.1 for the Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage main event. While the total audience should have WCW and TNT thrilled, it is a precautionary tale for the idea of doing an NWO only show, which ranges from a strong possibility to a likelihood next year, because, like with the NWO PPV in January which did a shockingly low buy rate which had nothing to do with it ending up being a poor show, NWO is cool to a segment of the audience but the masses seem to get annoyed when it's overdone or at Eric Bischoff in large doses (in small doses his segments have done tremendously in the quarter hours).”

I enjoy Dave saying you taking over on commentary was the beginning of the end of the ratings being a record high. Did you heed any of the advice of the nWo show or think it was an issue when you see how amazing this show does until it peaks?

Before we wrap up as this match goes on… July business comparisons for WCW

Estimated average attendance 7/96 3,200

Estimated average attendance 7/97 5,346 (+67.1%)

June 1997 6,678*

Estimated average gate 7/96 $39,800

Estimated average gate 7/97 $85,427 (+114.6%)

June 1997 $104,105*

Percentage of house shows sold out 7/96 11.1

Percentage of house shows sold out 7/97 33.3

June 1997 35.7*

Average television rating 7/96 2.3

Average television rating 7/97 2.2 (-4.3%)

June 1997 2.0

Major show 7/96: Bash at the Beach (8,200 sellout/6,400 paid/$72,000/est. 0.71 buy rate/est. $2.23 million PPV revenue)

Major show 7/97: Bash at the Beach (7,851 sellout/6,354 paid/$150,870/est. 0.89 buy rate/est. $2.79 million PPV revenue)

Buy rate +25.4%; Est. overall PPV revenue +27.8%

You can just see how far WCW has come when you see numbers like this but the television rating being down - that has to do with the lack of emphasis on the smaller shows is that right?