The Official History Of The WWF: Mid 90's Edition

[HindSightBeyondSight]

The Official History Of The WWF

 

The Mid 90's

 

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Join me, Gene Okerlund, as we take a comprehensive look back at the moments that defined the mid nineties. We have unprecedented access to all the archive footage, as well as brand new interviews with the movers and shakers of the era. Starting with the aftermath of the 1995 SummerSlam extravaganza, we leave no stone unturned in the search for the definitive and official history of the WWE, then of course, known as the WWF.

 

The Official History Of The WWF: Mid 90's Edition is available nationwide from this Monday.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

It was the beginning of September 1995. SummerSlam had only just concluded and talk had already turned to the next big event.

 

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In 95, I came up with the idea of running a two hour PPV in the months where we didn’t have a major PPV. The PPV market at that time was expanding rapidly, so we were moving quickly to meet the demand. It started in May with In Your House, Then July with IYH 2: The Lumberjacks, and the next was scheduled for the end of September.

 

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The In Your House concept was really borne out of WCW moving to a monthly PPV schedule. I think in Vince’s mind, it really was as simple as, “If WCW has twelve PPV’s, I’m having twelve, dammit!”

 

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The original In Your House PPV’s were perhaps a little thrown together. Remember, we had gone from having a couple of months minimum in which to build to a PPV match, but now, we had to book something compelling each and every month. I don’t think anybody realised at that point how much of a strain that would be on the booking team, so they just carried on regardless.

 

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I remember there being a lot of talk in the early days about how much we should really put into In Your House. As a new concept, we had to give the fans enough incentive to actually want to buy the show, but then again, we didn’t want to take anything away from the prestige of our big events. I mean, if you can pay twenty dollars to see Diesel vs Shawn at In Your House, why would you wanna pay thirty to see it again the following month at Survivor Series? With that in mind, we decided to use In Your House to showcase and give title shots to wrestlers who perhaps wouldn’t get that shot at one of the big shows.

 

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We took the decision to put The British Bulldog in the main event of In Your House 3. He was somebody we saw as a credible challenger to Diesel’s title, but perhaps somebody who was not quiet at the level of main eventing a WrestleMania.

 

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You know, I’ve heard the stories that Davey got the title shot because he was a weak challenger, and the top brass didn’t want to give too much away on the In Your House PPV’s, but to be honest, I think that’s BS. Vince himself told Davey that he was giving him the chance to show he belonged in the big main events. If I remember correctly, Davey had only just turned heel, so there was a little uncertainty there, but Vince saw this as a springboard for Davey, not a burial.

 

With the main event planned out, the rest of the card needed to be shaped quickly. Current Intercontinental champion Shawn Michaels would also be in action, defending the title against an unlikely opponent

 

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It was probably the biggest opportunity I had had at that point in my career. The chance to wrestle one of the guys I respected the most on Pay per View for The Intercontinental title.

 

 

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Waltman deserved his shot at the IC title in my eyes. He had played his underdog role to perfection for the last two years and had overcome a lot of obstacles in the eyes of the fans. So to have him compete for the IC title was a natural progression.

 

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The Battle of The Kids. 1-2-3 vs. Heartbreak. It had a nice ring to it, yeah. I was looking forward to wrestling him.

Another huge match was added to the card. The WWF tag champions Yokozuna and Owen Hart would defend their titles against The Undertaker, and Owen’s brother Bret.

 

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One of the overlooked advantages of a monthly event like In Your House is that you have a legitimate forum on which to build your bigger events. So at IYH3, we were planning on Undertaker and Bret teaming up for a shot at the tag titles, which in it’s own right is a huge match, but it builds to something even bigger in the grand scheme of things.

 

 

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I was happy, more than happy to team with ‘Taker. The booking team had told me of the plans they had for us going down the line, which made me all the more eager for this match to go ahead. At the time I was, like I say, really pleased with the direction we were headed, but things wouldn’t quite work out the way I had expected…

[jw_forever]

This sounds pretty intriguing. I'll certainly be keeping my eye on this.

[juggaloninjalee]

I like the documentary style of this so far. It has my attention.

[James Casey]

I like it. The retrospective has been used to great effect in other diaries, and I like the potential for this one. This period of WWF history was just when I was starting to drift away from it for a while, but I know who everyone is (was?) so I'll be interested to see how you go.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

Great to have you all on board guys! Try and get the next section up soon.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

VINCE- Let me make one thing perfectly clear. I never had a problem with Bret Hart

 

OWEN HART-The day after SummerSlam, Pat Patterson calls me and says we need to bring the tag titles to the next Raw taping. We're gonna be working a programme with Bret and Taker and they wanna get the ball rolling straight away. The very next day, me, Davey Boy and Jim, that's Jim Cornette, are set to drive through Greensboro for the Raw tapings. I saw Jim and I said, "Man, it's gonna be great to work with Bret again and to get to work with The Undertaker." Jim looked at me kinda blankly and said "Wait, don't you know? Vince is going in a new direction." And that's the last I heard about that.

 

BRET HART-It was a programme I had faith in and I thought would have benefitted all four of us. I trusted Yoko, Taker and of course Owen and I knew we could have done great business. For whatever reason, I get the call telling me that Vince has cooled on the idea and we're going in a new direction. "OK," I said. I was dissapointed but these things happen. "OK, what's the new direction?" The line went quiet, and eventually Pat says; "We don't know."

 

PATTERSON-Vince changed his mind, pure and simple. It wasn't the first time and it sure wouldn't be the last. As far as I was aware, there was no ill feeling behind the decision.

 

OWEN-I don't know what Bret did, or what Vince thought Bret had done, but their relationship certainly changed at that time.

 

BRET-I don't think I had done anything to upset Vince. I mean, Vince and I had a pretty close relationship. He always told me when he was pleased with what I was doing, and he certainly wasn't shy about telling me when he wasn't. Then, all of a sudden, all of that went away.

 

ERIC BISCHOFF-Of course, I wasn't around here at that time, but it was my job to know what was going on. I had my moles so to speak, and I'd gotten wind that Bret was a little unsettled. There seemed to be two schools of thought on what had happened. Some of the guys thought Vince was being vindictive, simple as that. Some of the smarter guys began to realise that maybe Vince had other motives for the sudden de-push of Bret. Hell, we were buying his top guys left and right at that point. Hogan was gone, Savage followed, and Vince thought Bret was next. The last thing he needed at that time was his most over guy jumping ship when he was also the best pure talent he had on his roster. In my opinion, Vince had let paranoia get the better of him.

 

OWEN-So we went from working with Taker and Bret to not even being on the In Your House card. It was fair to say we weren't exactly pleased with Vinces new direction.

 

BRISCOE-That storyline had legs. Believe me, it could have got us through to the next years WrestleMania if we had wanted it to. For whatever reason, and nothing was ever officially passed down to me, Bret didn't seem to be our go-to guy anymore. Now we gotta find something new for our tag champs to do, and we gotta find a new challenger for The Undertaker.

 

PATTERSON-The Undertaker needed something to do. His deal with Kama was over, and most of the top guys were tied up in other feuds. A few names were mentioned but Vince wasn't keen. And then, out of nowhere, Vince came up with a name nobody expected. Cactus Jack.

 

OWEN-The real irony of the whole Cactus Jack thing is that Vince would never have even heard of him if it wasn't for Bret Hart.

 

BRET-I had pushed for the office to sign Mick for the last year or so. I had wrestled brawlers, I had wrestled technically sound guys, and I had wrestled high flyers, but I hadn't really wrestled anybody who was competent at all three. I thought Mick would be the perfect opponent for me, so I got hold of some tapes of his work in ECW, WCW and Japan and passed them onto JJ Dillon.

 

DILLON-I liked Mick, I really did. I was aware of his talent before Bret got involved, but seeing it all on these tapes, the bloody brawls, the emotion, the storytelling, I really got on board. The problem was, and no disrespect to Mick, he wasn't exactly the guy we were looking for appearance wise at that time. You know, he was never a six foot five body builder with a face made for T.V. So as talented as he was, Vince would always pass on signing him.

 

VINCE MCMAHON-Mick Foley, Boy, Mick was a real trooper. He wasn't blessed with the perfect smile or the perfect body, but he made the most of what he had. Unfortunately, up until that time, we perhaps felt he wasn't right for us or we weren't right for him. But then we started thinking along the lines of having him face The Undertaker and things started to click into place.

 

OWEN-So now, not only is Bret losing his spot, but he's losing it to a guy he recommended. I don't know if it was a coincidence or what, but it was certainly another blow to him.

 

MICK FOLEY-I was on the road with ECW when I got the call that Vince himself wanted to talk to me about bringing me to the WWF. Straight away I got the feeling that this was a little different from all the tryouts I had before because I alway's dealt with the munchkins rather than the wizard of Oz himself. On my way over to Stamford, who should call me but no other than Dusty Rhodes. WCW must have got wind that I was on my way to sign with the WWF, and now they decided they want me to. Dusty said "Mickey Babeh! I have it straight from the horses mouth that Eric Bischoff will double what ever offer WWF put at the pay windah!"

 

BISCHOFF-There was never an offer on the table for Mick, certainly not from me, no.

 

DUSTY RHODES-Bischoff said he didn't particularly want Mick in WCW, but neither did he want him signing for The WWF, so he told me to go get him, if you will.

 

FOLEY-So I'm finally in Vince McMahon's office. The place I spent my entire pro career trying to get my foot into. He was very honest with me, and told me he had been reluctant in the past, but that he thought now was the ideal time to bring me in. Then he put his cards on the table.

 

VINCE-I made Mick what I thought was a very generous offer. He looked at me and said thankyou, but that he had a family to support, and he owed it to himself to accept a better offer from WCW.

 

FOLEY-At first I thought Vince thought I was bluffing, and I was pretty sure he was going to try and call it, but he must have seen something in me that told him I was a man of my word

 

VINCE-Personally, I thought Mick was full of ****, but here he was in the lions den with the grapefruits to chance his arm. And I admired that. Mick said WCW were prepared to double my offer. "OK," I said, "What if I was to offer you just less than that, but I give you five percent of your merch. I mean, who thought anybody would ever buy a Cactus Jack T-shirt right?

 

FOLEY-Vince made me a counter offer, and this is how naive I was at the time, I asked if I could step outside and make a phonecall. I could tell he was kinda pissed off but he allowed it and I went outside to phone Dusty.

 

DUSTY-Mick told me what Vince had offered. It was a great deal. Nobody but the Hogans and the Flairs got merch money in WCW!

 

FOLEY-Dusty knew he couldn't offer me a percentage and I think he could tell I wanted to work in the WWF, so he didn't try very hard to persuade me. He just wished me luck and hung up. Thirty two T-shirts, twelve action figures and a DVD boxset later, I think me and Vince both did pretty well on the deal

[HindSightBeyondSight]

Pictures or no pictures? I can add them when I get home, I was just rushing to get it posted at work.

[Chuck]

Pictures or no pictures? I can add them when I get home, I was just rushing to get it posted at work.

 

I think for events they work fine but I prefer text to tell the story.

 

Good job so far. I'm doing Jan 96 Dynasty that I'm enjoying immensely so far. Just posted the first show. Different writing style than yours but Ill be following this! I love Cactus Jack being brought in!

[HindSightBeyondSight]

OK, I might keep it picture free for now, or it might all get a bit cluttered down the line.

 

By the way, I read your show. Top stuff! I'll leave a comment soon

[Phreak]

Love the concept. Liked the pictures. If your on the fence about them. I could suggest maybe making them smaller? 100X100 or so?

[HindSightBeyondSight]

The first Raw after SummerSlam was filmed in the sold out Don Haskins Center in El Paso. The Pre Show featured the yet to officially début Goldust beating Avatar and the young team of Jeff and Matt Hardy taking a beating at the hands of Kama and Jean Pierre LaFitte. Then, the ten thousand in attendance witnessed the official start of Raw, as well as a competitive tag match between The Blu Brothers Eli and Jacob, and The Smoking Gunns

 

BILLY GUNN- I remember we beat those sacks of crap The Blu Brothers. They sucked even back then, man! So me and Bart carried their asses to a competent match and then we challenge the tag champs to a match at In Your House.

 

OWEN HART- We were put in a programme with The Smoking Gunns instead of Bret and Taker. They were a great team and they were really over so me and Yoko were happy. I think they challenged us the night after Summerslam, but we didn't respond at the time.

 

Once the ring was cleared, the next man to make an appearance was Shawn Michaels himself.

 

 

SHAWN- The El Paso crowd was hot that night. I mean, they were always loud, but this was the night after my ladder match with Razor so they were rabid. It felt great to be in front of them. I can't remember exactly what I said, but it was along the lines of how I proved last night that I was a fighting champ, and I would prove it again at In Your House.

 

WALTMAN- So Shawn says his thing, and issues his challenge for In Your House, and that's when I came down to ringside. The crowd were really digging it man.

 

PATTERSON- I think the time was right for The Kid to step up his game and challenge Shawn. He'd been playing the plucky underdog since his début but he was winning his fair share of matches. An underdog who keeps winning aint an underdog, you know? So even though he'd beaten Razor in the past, and he'd took Bret to the limit, this was really his chance to step out of the shadows and show he was a legitimate threat.

 

WALTMAN- Shawn accepted the challenge and we shook hands on it. We were both babyfaces at the time so there was a little more respect than your usual feud. Well, it started respectful anyways...

Next in action was one of the WWF's newest recruits, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, against the talented Hakushi.

 

HHH- I think I remember the Hakushi match, yeah. It was funny because we could hear the noise from the crowd during the last segment and they were electric, and I swear to god, once me and Hakushi started wrestling you could hear a pin drop! Well...it wasn't funny at the time, I think Vince was pretty pissed that he had spent all this time and money on vignettes for this character, and it just wasn't getting over. I won the match, come backstage, and got into a confrontation with Marty Jannetty. Yeah. Marty Jannetty. That's the feud that was gonna get me over?

 

After the pull apart brawl, Jerry Lawler made an appearance in the ring.

 

LAWLER- I was associated with Isaac Yankem, my personal evil dentist and we were in the ring doing our usual thing, insulting the locals, yadda yadda yadda. All of a sudden, Henry Godwinn comes flying from the back with his bucket of slop aimed right at me. Only I ducked, and who was standing behind me? Isaac Yankem! Funny story, Isaac didn't have a clue that was going to happen! I told Henry before the match that I was gonna duck and let Isaac take the slop but he wasn't so sure. He was a big scary lookin bastard afterall! If you look back on the tapes, you can clearly see the shock on his face when he got hit with that bucket of crap, and the fear on Henry Godwinns face to match!

 

The main event of the evening pitted Dean Douglas against the current WWF champion Diesel.

 

KEVIN NASH- Douglas was a son of a bitch. Sloppy in the ring, he tried to sandbag me a couple of times, just really unprofessional. I hated working with him, but I loved kicking his ass.

 

VINCE- That main event between Douglas and Diesel really made me reconsider how much of a push to give to Douglas. His heart just didn't seem to be in it at all, and we could ill afford to carry somebody like that.

 

NASH- I beat him so hard that night, I hit him all the way down to the midcard. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

But the night wasn't over for Diesel. After the match, the entire Camp Cornette Stable came to the ring and attacked the WWF champion. The British Bulldog in particular laid a beating on Diesel, hitting him with his patented running powerslam. With Camp Cornette standing tall in the ring, the show concluded.

 

JIM ROSS- I don't think it was one of our better shows. A lot of things were still up in the air backstage so a lot of guys who would usually be a major part of Raw were absent. Bret, Taker, Razor, they were all missing, and I think it hurt the product somewhat.

 

VINCE- It was a pretty good show I thought. Pretty good.

 

The fans in attendance were indifferent. The Shawn Michaels/1-2-3 Kid segment had gone down well, as did the beatdown to finish the show, but not much else clicked. One thing was clear, The WWF still had a lot to do before the next In Your House.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

JJ DILLON- We were looking at freshening the roster up a little. It was no secret that WCW had all the money in the world and could sign pretty much who they wanted. Rather than see this as a negative, we tried to turn it into a positive by signing some of the under the radar guys. The guys who were perhaps lacking a bit of polish.

 

GERALD BRISCOE- I think Vaders name was mentioned but WCW and New Japan got involved which made the sums ludicrous. We turned our attention to a few other guys, one of them being Steven Richards.

 

STEVIE RICHARDS- I'd only made my début three years earlier in Eastern Championship Wrestling,which would later become Extreme Championship Wrestling, so I was surprised to say the least when the WWF came calling. It's fair to say I was still a little wet behind the ears so to speak but I was grateful of the opportunity.

 

BRISCOE- We didn't really have any plans for Stevie but we liked his workrate and his attitude so we put him in a tag team with the focus on working dark matches with Brian Lawler, who had also just signed with us.

 

JERRY LAWLER- Yeah, Brian signed a contract with The WWF, which was a great moment for him and for me. It didn't matter that he was my son, he was a great worker and he earned that contract. In fact, it was his idea to keep the Christoper surname so he could get by on his own merits rather than his attachment to me.

 

BRIAN CHRISTOPHER- Me and Stevie, man, I'd forgot about that! That's right, we were called The Right Stuff, and we were thrown together against The Hardy's mostly. That was a pretty fun time.

 

STEVIE- It wasn't the dream position to be in but it was a step into The WWF. A lot of guys worked their whole career and didn't even get that. I spoke to Shane Douglas who I'd met at ECW and he told me how great it was to even be a small cog in the WWF machine. It would have been great to work with him...but I guess the cog didn't quite fit...

 

VINCE- Quite frankly, I'd had enough of Douglas' attitude. He'd been on thin ice for a while, and the lukewarm main event with Diesel was the last straw. As much as I hate to fire anybody, Douglas had it coming.

[Chuck]

I actually just signed stevie and brian! Thought of teaming them up too! ****

[Jaysin]

I love the format. Digging the story so far too.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

I actually just signed stevie and brian! Thought of teaming them up too! ****

 

Great minds think alike eh buddy?

 

I love the format. Digging the story so far too.

 

Thanks Jaysin, appreciate the feedback!

[PoisonedSuperman]

Love this diary! Can't wait to see where it leads.

[HindSightBeyondSight]

The next edition of Monday Raw drew another sell out 10,000 crowd at The Kansas Coliseum. The show kicked off with an appearance from WWF champion Diesel.

 

KEVIN NASH- I came out all guns blazing saying I didn't care which one it was, but I was gonna get my hands on a member of Camp Cornette that night. At that point, Yoko, Owen and Davey all come storming to the ring to lay a beating on me again, but I had a few friends with me that night.

 

SEAN WALTMAN- Me and Shawn came out from the back to even up the numbers somewhat and chased Camp Cornette out of the ring!

 

NASH- Then, the prez Gorilla Monsoon comes waddlin' out from the back with a bunch of officials saying that if we wanna beat each other up so much, we might as well do it in the main event.

 

CORNETTE- So all of a sudden, all our bravado goes out the window, and we're like, awww ****! Like all good heels, we just wanted to beat the good guys up, not wrestle em' Then Gorilla tells us that's not all. Since we've been dragging our feet so long on addressing the challenge of The Smoking Gunns, he's took it upon himself to accept the challenge for us!

 

OWEN- Then Gorilla says since the two of us are tied up with our tag defence, Diesel can have Bulldog all to himself at In Your House with the title on the line. Davey sells it like he's ****tin himself! I always thought that was kinda funny, because if you think about it, Gorilla just gave him a title shot as a punishment. How the hell are you supposed to react to that?

 

Next up, after last weeks "Slop Bucket" incident. Isaac Yankem would get his chance at revenge, as he wrestled and beat Henry Godwinn, but only thanks to help from his friend Jerry Lawler.

 

LAWLER- So, me ducking the slop bucket the week prior turned out to be the best thing I could have done, because management now wanted to stretch this into a feud, and me getting slopped should be the final payoff, right? So now, I get to hide behind Isaac for the time being and we can really start to build some heat for the moment when I eventually get my comeuppance.

Ted Dibiase would be the next man to enter the ring, with a microphone to hand and his Million Dollar Corporation behind him.

 

DIBIASE- There's me, Kama, Bundy and Sid in the ring. The gist of the interview is that all three titles are up for grabs at In Your House, but once again, The Corporation has been overlooked. None of my guys are even on the card yet because Monsoon is scared of what my men can do. But, hell, I'm The Million Dollar Man, and everybody has a price! So I invite the 1-2-3 kid to the ring. Now, he's a little nervous because we have previous, but we hold the ropes open for him and I tell my guys to get out of the ring and in he comes.

 

WALTMAN- Dibiase offers me a position in his stable and all the help, money and protection I want because he desperately wants the Intercontinental Title in The Million Dollar Corporation. I politely declined, and that's when the vultures started to circle.

 

DIBIASE- The Kid flat refused, so we sent a message to him and the rest of the locker room. You're either with us or against us, hahahahahahaha!

The Million Dollar Corporation would assault The Kid until referees and officials eventually broke it up. The Kid would be escorted to the back by EMT's, putting the nights main event in jeopardy.

 

Later on that night, The Undertaker would wrestle and beat Dean Douglas in Douglas' last match for The WWF

 

UNDERTAKER- The paperwork was still being processed and Douglas was still under contract with us, so he got one last payday before he went. It's fair to say there was a little more heat behind the old soup-bones that night as a little something for Douglas to remember us by! Piece of crap...

 

It was the events after the match that caused the biggest stir however, as Cactus Jack would finally make his presence felt in The WWF.

 

CACTUS- I was finishing up with ECW so I wasn't able to be at the Raw after SummerSlam. In my last match, a match I was pretty proud of actually, I took the pinfall in a wild tag match with my partner Mikey Whipwreck. We were beaten by Raven and Stevie Richards and I got a great reception from the crowd as I left. "F U FOLEY!" was my particular favourite chant that night.

 

UNDERTAKER- I was walking up the ramp after my match when I got flattened by Cactus Jack. I hit my elbow so hard on the steel ramp that I thought I had dislocated it for sure.

 

CACTUS- I may have been a little heavy handed as I'm sure Taker will tell you, but I desperately wanted this angle to go well. It had to look believable.

 

UNDERTAKER- Cactus drags me back to ringside and bounces my head off the stairs. I knew this guy could work a little stiff, but he was starting to piss me off.

 

CACTUS- I asked Taker if he was OK and I could tell by his answer he was annoyed. Which made the next move all the more difficult. Taker was laid out on the concrete at ringside, and I climbed the turnbuckle ready to drop the elbow on him. I get up there, and I realise he's a looooong way away, like too far away to hit the move properly. What the hell could I do? I channelled the great Larry Bird and took off through the sky...and landed the move perfectly. Taker didn't feel a thing, but I bashed my knee so hard the ground that I limped the rest of the week.

 

With Raw nearing it's conclusion, Team Cornette made their way to the ring for their six man tag match. Next came Shawn Michaels, then Diesel, but there was no sign of the recently assaulted 1-2-3 kid, so the match started as a handicap match.

CORNETTE- It was real oldschool heel psychology. We had the upper hand and we made sure we kept it that way, Isolating Shawn in our corner and making sure Diesel didn't get a sniff.

 

OWEN- Just as it looked like we were gonna walk away with the victory, The Kid finally makes his way to the ring, ripping off his head bandages, and waffles me with a spin kick behind the ref's back! He slides back out and the crowd are begging Shawn to make the pin. Finally he drapes his arm over me...1...2...but Yoko and Davey rush the ring to save me as the ref throws the match out, and it's back to the brawl we started the night with!

 

It was another steady show for The WWF. It drew a combined rating of 4.78, more than a full point lower than WCW's Nitro, but there was still a long way to go in the battle for supremacy.