83 Weeks - Dean Malenko [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Dean Simon (better known as Dean Malenko) born August 4, 1960 in Irvington, NJ.

Trained by his father Boris at a training school in Tampa, Florida after Boris retired in 1980. Dean and brother Joe would help in training several prominent wrestlers over the years (Boris passed away in 1994)

Notable Malenko Family trainees:

• -Fred Ottman (the Shockmaster)
• -Al Perez
• -Normal Smiley
• -Gangrel
• -Barry Horowitz
• -Sean Waltman
• -Buddy Landell
• -Chris Champion
• -Eddie Sharkey
• -Marc Mero
• -Perry Saturn
• -Van Hammer
• -Kane
• -HORACE HOGAN

Quite the family lineage isn’t it?

Dean would referee occasionally, in fact is a ref on the Jan 1986 WWF Saturday Night Main Event from Tampa after he had debuted in Japan in 1985, and would team with brother Joe over the next several years in All Japan up to 1992.

Did you see or hear any of Dean back then?

Dean & Joe make a one off in WCW at Clash 19 in June 92, where they lose to Ricky Steamboat & Nikita Koloff in the NWA Tag Team Title Tournament before he branches off himself a bit working in New Japan in 1993 where he would first face Eddie Guerrero. These early Eddie - Dean matches are really something to watch - have you ever had the chance to check them out?

Dean would find himself in ECW in August 94, losing to Shane Douglas in the Semi Final of the NWA World Title Tournament before winning the ECW World TV title from 2 Cold Scorpio. Is this when he begins to land on your radar?

While still TV Champion, Dean and Benoit won the ECW Tag Titles on February 25, 1995 from Sabu and Taz as the Triple Threat is originally formed. Do you think you could’ve seen Shane, Dean & Benoit coming into WCW in that time frame? Do you think that could’ve worked?

Did Dean need a mouthpiece like a Shane Douglas?

When do you first come into contact with Dean? Was it while he was in ECW? Was Kevin Sullivan the go between?

He would trade the TV title with Eddie Guerrero before his final ECW appearance wrestling Eddie to a draw on August 26 in a 2 out of 3 falls match (last appearance for Eddie too)

“During the Guerrero-Malenko match, fans were chanting "Please don't go" and "Bischoff sucks." Malenko said he had reservations at first about coming to ECW because his style isn't appreciated in the U.S. but he appreciated how knowledgeable the fans in ECW were. Malenko and Guerrero hugged and the other wrestlers, Heyman and Tod Gordon carried them out on their shoulders to a standing ovation.”

Does the Bischoff sucks chant land on your radar at the time?

Was the ideal situation for Dean to come in as a wrestler and let a character grow organically from there? Any talk of doing something different with him?

Was it really the expansion with Nitro that pushed you to sign Dean?

How important was the fact he was also working for New Japan at the same time?

4 days after last ECW appearance, Dean defeated Eddie at a WCW Saturday Night taping on August 30 (doesn’t air on TV until October 7) but his actual TV debut is on Nitro October 2 losing to Eddie in Denver and to hype the Nitro match they do interviews on Saturday Night 2 days before:

From the Observer: “Featured a sit-down interview with Dean Malenko, during which he spoke about growing up in the wrestling industry, speaking of his father who died a year before, talking about wrestling in Japan, coming to WCW, and his rivalry with Eddie Guerrero; during the segment, footage was shown of Malenko facing Jushin Liger in Japan; included a sit-down interview with Eddie Guerrero about growing up in a wrestling family, talking about wrestling in Mexico and AAA, arriving to WCW, and his rivalry with Malenko; during the segment, footage aired of Guerrero in AAA”

This is a great way to introduce these guys and it showed you knew you needed something to get them introduced instead of walking down the aisle for their debut match. Who’s idea was this do you remember?

Dean worked a lot with New Japan in 95 and early 96 before really getting his first big push when he defeated Shinjiro Otani at a Worldwide taping at Universal Studios in Orlando on May 2, 1996 to win the WCW Cruiserweight title to begin the big push in that division as well. Why was Dean chosen to really get the division a higher profile?

Dean would go on to have some great matches as we’ve covered in the past with Rey Mysterio at the 96 Great American Bash and the Nitro match where Rey would win the Cruiserweight title. Could you watch Dean & Rey wrestle every day if you could?

Was there ever thought back then of getting someone else involved with Dean to try and add a little flavor to him instead of being this vanilla Iceman type wrestler?

You were confident - just like back in the day when the WWF had someone work with Sean Waltman - that if you didn’t have a good match with Dean Malenko you could’ve have a good match with anyone right?

Dean would go on to have some great matches - surprise, surprise - at Halloween Havoc 96 in Vegas against Rey before trading the title with Ultimo Dragon in late 96 early 97. There weren’t many stories at this time with these guys - just having matches and trading titles. Do you think that was missing with the division to get them to another level?

The first real story Dean gets to sink his teeth into is when Syxx and the nWo set their sights on every title and Syxx gets the title win for the nWo at Superbrawl 7 in 97. Do you think it helped Dean to move out of the cruiserweight division?

Dean defeated Eddie Guerrero to win the WCW United States Title in a no DQ match at Uncensored 97 on March 16 in North Charleston as we’ve covered in the archives. Did you think at that time the US title should be the workers title like the IC title was for the WWF in the late 80s/early 90s?

He would drop the title to Jeff Jarrett in Boston before he starts to get involved with Debra and all that mess. This is just trying to find something for Dean to do right?

Speaking of things Dean did…he is ranked #1 in the PWI 500! When do you become aware of this? What did you think of it? Does it mean anything in the long run?

In 1998 Dean’s first memorable feud takes place with Chris Jericho over the Cruiserweight title. Was that considered a downgrade in your mind going from US title to Cruiserweight title?

Chris is really a perfect opponent for Dean. All the charisma with Chris is able to overcome any shortcomings Dean has.

Jericho retained the title over Dean at Uncensored on March 15 in Mobile, AL

After the match in an interview with Mean Gene, Dean says he is going “Home” when asked where he would go from here after this loss and all the many others the past few months.

Jericho claims he is now the “Man of 1,004 holds” to mock Malenko’s nickname of the “Man of 1000 holds) and does the skit on Nitro on March 30, starting to read off all the moves in alphabetical order.

Dean wouldn’t return until Slamboree on May 17 but before that, on the May 11, 1998 edition of Nitro, Joe Malenko came out and confronted Chris Jericho, however, the confrontation led to an attack by Jericho in Joe Malenko's only appearance on Nitro. Was this a Dean or Chris idea to bring in Joe?

At Slamboree they do a battle royal with the winner getting a shot at Jericho’s Cruiserweight title. The match was won by Ciclope, after shaking hands with Juventud Guerrera, who then eliminated himself.

Ciclope then unmasked himself to be Dean Malenko and he would then beat Jericho for the WCW Cruiserweight title, winning it for the final time. How good was all this? The pop Dean gets when he takes off the mask just shows someone can get over without being on TV does it not?

The Jericho feud continues into the Summer of 98 as Dean is stripped of the title for not earning the Slamboree title shot as himself.

Jericho wins the match for the vacant title at the Great American Bash in June - this is just classic heel booking is it not?

Malenko then caused Jericho to lose the title to Rey Mysterio at Bash at the Beach in July.

But the title is returned to Jericho and Dean is fired in the storyline. Who was the major driving point at this time in this story? Terry taylor?

Dean is brought back and is the guest ref at Road Wild in August when Jericho loses the title to Juventud Guerrera. Did you know at this point he would be joining the Horsemen?

Who was pushing for him to be in the Horsemen? What did you think of the fit?

Dean became part of the final Four Horsemen group in September 98 with Flair, Benoit and Steve McMichael and is really the highest profile part of his career. Was Dean excited to be part of the Horsemen?

Dean and Benoit won the WCW Tag Titles at Uncensored 99 from the West Texas Rednecks - Curt Hennig & Barry Windham, but lost them two weeks later to Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman.

Could there have been more with Dean & Benoit as a tag team?

Why did the Horsemen fall apart so quickly after being put together?

Dean, Benoit & Perry Saturn became part of Shane Douglas’ faction “The Revolution” in July 99 until he left WCW in January 2000 for the WWF. The Revolution was one of the last things you had put together before you left WCW. What was the idea of the stable originally and did you think they were a good combo together?

Dean would join the WWF in the beginning of 2000 after everyone walked out after Vince Russo and Kevin Sullivan and would never leave the company until April of 2019. He showed some comedy skills but was still the great wrestler but never really did get to do much in the Radicals. Everyone always talks about how when guys would leave WCW they would go to the WWE and be presented better…but this isn’t proven true here is it?

Did you get to hang out with Dean a lot as a road agent when you went back to the WWE?

What do we not know about Dean Malenko that would surprise our listeners?

He joined AEW as a senior producer a month later in May 2019 before it being revealed in 2021 he has been suffering from Parkinson’s disease for about 2 years.

Something to ask and I always wanted to know - when Kevin Nash made a line about Vanilla Midgets in reference to Dean & Chris…did Dean ever speak to you about it?

You said you recently spoke with him. How was he?