The following is a reprint of the Torch Newsletter WCW Newswire from five years ago this week.

-Jason Powell, Torch assistant editor

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Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
Aug. 3, 1998 - WCW Nitro
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #506
Cover dated: Aug. 8, 1998

NITRO FALLS TO RAW AGAIN
In the two hours and five minutes that Raw and Nitro went head-to-head on Aug. 3, Raw drew a 4.8 rating compared to Nitro's 4.2, so Raw wins in the concurrent timeslot for the eighth time in ten weeks (Nitro tied once and has one win). To be statistically fair, the five minute overrun is factored in as being worth only one-third of what each of the 15 minute quarter hours counts as when averaging the ratings, i.e. 1/25th of the two hours and five-minutes each program runs (as opposed to factoring it in as a full quarter hour rating or a full 1/9th of the overall rating).

Overall, Nitro's three-hour-five-minute rating was 4.2. The hourlys were: 4.3, 4.3, and 4.0. Raw's hourlys were: 4.5 and 5.0. Raw's five minute overrun drew a 5.9, crushing Nitro's five minute overrun which drew a 4.0. (The quarter hour ratings can be found in the "TV Review" boxes.) Raw outdrew Nitro in six of the eight quarter hours and beat Nitro overall in each of the two concurrent hours.

Goldberg's interview at the start of Nitro gave WCW a rare first quarter hour victory over Raw and a rare loss for a Raw quarter hour that featured Steve Austin and Undertaker. The margin was 4.1 to 3.9. WCW had the advantage of the lead-in hour, but that usually isn't enough to stop Raw from a solid first quarter hour win.

WCW can be pleased that the peak rating for the program came for the hot angle with NWO Hollywood attacking Dallas Page and taunting Kimberly which was the biggest angle WCW did leading into Road Wild. It drew a 5.0 compared to the 4.4 that Raw drew for D-Lo vs. Dan Severn and the Tiger Ali Singh skit.

Otherwise, the news was bad for Nitro, with Raw's main event of Undertaker & Austin vs. Owen Hart & Rocky Maivia drawing a 5.2, soundly beating Nitro's main event of Sting & Bret Hart vs. Giant & Scott Hall, which had the disadvantage of a commercial break in the middle of the segment.

The biggest margin of loss for Nitro came at the start of the second hour. Chris Jericho vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (which featured the best wrestling on either program all night) drew only a 3.6 compared to Raw's 5.7 for Undertaker and Austin's confrontation.

The first hour of Nitro saw a steady climb in ratings. The long Eric Bishoff talk show segment with Hollywood Hogan as a guest did not hurt the ratings at all (nor did it last week).

SCOTT HALL ARRESTED
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported on July 31: "A professional wrestler in Baton Rouge for a performance was arrested Thursday morning after he allegedly groped a woman outside a hotel, city police said. Scott Oliver Hall, 39, of Chulota, Fla., was issued a misdemeanor summons for simple battery and disturbing the peace by public intoxication after the 9:30 a.m. incident, Cpt. Don Kelly said. A 56-year-old woman told police she was waiting for a co-worker in her car outside the Radisson Hotel on Constitution Avenue when she saw Hall standing near her car door, Kelly said. She recognized him and rolled down her window to speak to him, Kelly said. Hall allegedly reached into the car, grabbed her breast, and pulled her hand up near his crotch, Kelly said. He was arrested at his hotel room. Hall could not be reached for comment Thursday." Hall did not miss any dates as a result of the incident.

ON THE ROAD
July 29 in Baton Rouge, La.: Ernest Miller beat Ciclope, Lizmark Jr. beat Damien, Chris Adams pinned Fit Finlay, Hacksaw Duggan pinned Barry Darsow, Scott Hall challenged Kevin Nash to a match later, Raven pinned Saturn, Dean Malenko beat Chris Jericho in a non-title match with the Texas Cloverleaf, Bret Hart fought Lex Luger to a DDQ, Luger & Nash beat Hall & Bret when Nash jackknifed Hall and scored the pin while Luger had Bret in the Torture Rack.

July 31 in Shreveport, La. at Hirsch Coliseum: Ernest Miller beat Brad Armstrong in the opener. Silver King & Lizmark Jr. beat Ciclope & Damien when Silver King pinned Ciclipe with a cradle. Chris Adams beat Fit Finlay with a superkick. Hacksaw Duggan beat Barry Darsow. They announced Curt Hennig would not be there, but Hall would replace him against Kevin Nash. Raven beat Saturn with an Evenflow. Before the match Raven told Saturn he was sorry. They hugged, then Saturn attacked him. After the match Saturn gave Raven the Death Valley Driver. Chris Jericho did some mic work and mispronounced the name of the town.

Dean Malenko came out in gym shorts and tennis shoes. Jericho said he wouldn't fight him because of what happened on Nitro earlier in the week. Malenko went after Jericho. Jericho swung his belt at him. Malenko attacked him and in less than a minute put the Clover Leaf on him. Lex Luger beat Bret Hart by DQ in a non-title match. When Luger put Bret in the rack, Hall interfered. Nash ran out and they decided to have a tag match. Luger & Nash beat Hall & Bret ending when Luger racked Bret while Nash powerbombed Hall and scored the pin. Nash got the biggest pop of the night. Duggan got the second biggest pop, probably because of his history in the Mid-South territory. [Jeff Clemons, E.J. Ratcliff]

Aug. 1 in Little Rock, Ar. at the Barton Coliseum (est. 7,000 sellout): Silver King & Lizmark Jr. beat Ciclope & Damien, Ernest Miller beat Terry Taylor, Hacksaw Duggan (who received the biggest pop of the night) beat Barry Darsow, Fit Finlay beat Chris Adams, Brad Armstrong beat Chris Jericho in a non-title match when Dean Malenko interfered, Saturn beat Raven in a "Raven's Rules" match, Lex Luger beat Bret Hart via DQ when Hall interfered, Nash & Luger beat Hall & Bret when Luger racked Bret and Nash powerbombed and pinned Hall. A fight broke out between 20 fans on the floor. Security broke it up. All of the old Mid-South stars got the biggest pops. Taylor can still wrestle like he did 10 years ago. Curt Hennig didn't appear, but Hall appeared unannounced. [Matt Duffield]

FLAIR ON LEAVING WCW FOR THE WWF
Bruce Mitchell interviewed Ric Flair on the July 1 edition of his weekly radio show in Greensboro, N.C. The following is the final excerpt of that interview. Flair talks about leaving WCW and taking the NWA Hvt. Title belt with him: "Every NWA Champion who came along, and there were obviously a number of them before me, had to put down a 25,000 dollar deposit with the secretary treasurer of the NWA. This was for several decades. Because I had been the champion off and on a number of times, they just kept my deposit - the NWA did. I lost the title, but didn't bother picking up the 25,000 because I would probably have the opportunity to get the belt back down the road. At the time that Crockett kind of went out on his own, he had the new belt made, which is the one they have now in WCW. It is a beautiful belt.. It's actually got ten karatgold and it had real diamonds at one time. It's a beautiful piece of property. When I took that belt, I kept the old one, which is really a beautiful, beautiful belt. It's the one that Funk wore, and Brisco, and Harley Race. It's really the NWA belt, will always be remembered as that.

"When Crockett sold the company to Turner, I of course got into this big argument with Jim Herd one day over the deposit on the belt which my accountants figured out was worth 35 to 40 thousand with interest. At one time they kept interest on the deposit. When I asked him for it he told me I was crazy. I said, 'Well, I'll keep the belt.' He said, ‘Well, we're sending the police over to get it.' I said, 'I don't know how you can. It's mine.' I ended up getting the 35 thousand dollars. Turner Broadcasting, Jim Herd, we laugh about it now, he didn't want to write me a check for my 35 thousand dollars, he just wanted me to disappear without the money. Everybody acknowledges it was owed to me. I told him, 'Watch for the belt on TV. I'll wear it somewhere else.' He was a very, very stubborn man. He was determined to do things his own way. It was just one of those unfortunate things where I had to stand up for myself and 35 thousand dollars realistically is a lot of money. When I got my 35 thousand they got the belt back. But what happened was the WWF was put in a position of wanting to put it on TV, but couldn't because they have a pending lawsuit and as we all know lawsuits pretty much dictate everything that goes on now everywhere in every facet of the business. Vince McMahon, as creative as he is, made it a very interesting part of my introduction up there."

WCW NOTEBOOK
The Eric Bischoff talk show segment was not part of a quarter hour that drew a 3.6 rating as reported last week. The majority of the segment was in a quarter that drew an impressive 5.0...

Sources say WCW plans to make a big money offer to get Flair to return. To entice him, they are planning to hold a "Tournament of Champions" at September's Fall Brawl PPV with a number of former champ entered (Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Luger) and Flair would be given the tourney win. If the money's right, Flair might make the move. With the WWF's current success, they might be hesitant to make a big-money offer to Flair that could compete with WCW's. Fall Brawl will also likely feature the first Goldberg vs. Giant title match on PPV...

WCW is interested in Tammy Sytch...

Originally the NWO Battle Royal was going to be a nine-man tag match with Giant & Hall & Hennig & Norton vs. Nash & Konnan & Sting & Luger & Goldberg. The WolfPac team objected since it made them look like wimps that they needed Goldberg to compete, so the match was changed to a battle royal. Nash was asked to do an interview on the Aug. 3 Nitro to promote the battle royal, but refused. Since he's booked to make Giant look goodat the PPV in order to build up Giant for his matches against Goldberg, Nash didn't want to boast to fans and then not deliver. Perhaps more than ever he wants out of WCW...

Scott Steiner and Luger both showed open disgust toward booker Dusty Rhodes when he blew off their inquiries about the logic of the show-ending angle with all of the run-ins. Dusty said everything was just a backdrop for the Giant chokeslam of Goldberg. They didn't like being referred to as mere backdrop fodder...

Hall has been playing politics smartly by throwing out compliments toward Hogan on the air that play into Hogan's ego, such as saying Nash will never be the star Hogan has been. Even though it plays into the storyline, and even though Hall and Nash are still friends, it helps Hall continue to get a push despite outside reasons not to push him…

Just to elaborate on a controversy that a lot of people talk about. Nancy Sullivan (Woman) left Kevin Sullivan for a relationship with Chris Benoit. That is believed within WCW to be a strong factor in why Benoit has been held back to mid-level status and why he has done so many jobs on PPVs over the past year. Sullivan isn't alone among those in management who believe Benoit crossed the line by "stealing Nancy from Kevin." Whether or not that is a fair portrayal of what happened is up for debate. Benoit doesn't have a confrontational personality and is going with the flow of what he is asked to do, although the chances of him leaving WCW when his contract expires next year are pretty strong if the grudge still affects his push. Benoit and Nancy were openly together at a night club during the Orlando tapings last month. It's funny that almost no one believed Benoit and Woman were truly an item when they began groping each other in public and at bars after matches. Most in WCW thought it was some sort of a bizarre way for Sullivan to add credibility to his on-air feud with Benoit. Whether it started as a work or not, it ended up as a shoot. Benoit should return to action in a month. He underwent elbow surgery two weeks ago...

The latest and most reliable industry figures on the buyrate for the Bash at the Beach are that it did 590,000 buys...

The July 29 angle on the Tonight Show has been roundly praised as the best of the last month of WCW appearances. Jay Leno continued to rip on Hogan. Hogan and Bischoff came out from the crowd. Hogan got in Leno's face and told him he crossed the line from business to personal. Leno cracked a joke, so Hogan gave him a stiff shove to the chest that sent Leno back several feet. Band leader Kevin Eubanks ran out to defend Leno. When Bischoff insulted Leno, Leno slapped him. Bischoff and Hogan took over the show. After a commercial, Leno came out and said Page was there. Page and Hogan got into a fight. Security dragged Bischoff and Hogan away. At that point Page asked Leno to team with him at Road Wild. Page said he trained Karl Malone, he can train Leno, too. Leno agreed. Page appeared on the show again on Friday...

Bischoff is offering early 3-year extensions and raises to some of the mid-card workers. It's expected Juventud and Psicosis will accept offers since they are friends with Nash and Konnan and because the money will likely be way more than they would be offered by the WWF. Eddie Guerrero, Malenko, and Benoit will get similar offers but are less likely to accept. If they don't renew early, Bischoff says he won't push them for the next year;. Konnan was the first to agree to Bischoff's early extension...

Hogan vs. Page is the likely main event for Halloween Havoc...

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