{"id":78240,"date":"2019-04-20T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-20T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=78240"},"modified":"2019-04-16T20:48:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T01:48:19","slug":"vip-1999-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-545-april-24-1999-eric-bischoffs-attempts-to-revive-the-struggling-nitro-bret-hart-shakes-hands-with-earl-hebner-drug-testing-major-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/04\/20\/vip-1999-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-545-april-24-1999-eric-bischoffs-attempts-to-revive-the-struggling-nitro-bret-hart-shakes-hands-with-earl-hebner-drug-testing-major-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"VIP 1999 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #545 (April 24, 1999): Eric Bischoff&#8217;s attempts to revive the struggling Nitro, Bret Hart shakes hands with Earl Hebner, drug testing, major contract talks, Hulk Hogan&#8217;s surgery, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-522228089\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><em>We are now posting PWTorch Digital Newsletter PDFs for the year 1997 for the first time ever. These issues from 1997 have never been made available in their original format since their original printing press run 20 years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"s1\">SUMMARY of #545 cover-dated April 24, 1999:<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"s1\"> This issue covers Eric Bischoff&#8217;s attempts to revive the struggling Nitro, and despite improvements in the show, a lack of ratings progress&#8230; Plus, Bret Hart shakes hands with Earl Hebner, the referee who carried out Vince McMahon&#8217;s orders to swerve him out of his Survivor Series match&#8230; An expanded WCW Newswire with tons of backstage news including drug testing, major contract talks, Hulk Hogan&#8217;s surgery, Davey Boy Smith&#8217;s hospital update, and much more&#8230; An expanded WWF Newswire with details on the Steve Austin-Jeanie Williams marriage break-up, Steve Austin&#8217;s a victim of a hit-and-run, how several wrestlers were released early, comments from WWE executives to the media, and more&#8230; Columnist Chris Zavisa writes about All Japan after Giant Baba&#8230; Wade Keller&#8217;s End Notes with random thoughts on the week in wrestling&#8230; Detailed reports on Raw, Nitro, Heat, ECW TV, Thunder, and more&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/PWTorchNewsletter545PDF.pdf\">DIRECT LINK: PWTorchNewsletter #545<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/category\/vipexclusives\/1998-back-issues\/\">LIST OF LATEST 1998 BACK ISSUE PDF POSTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/members.pwtorch.com\/torchbackissues98\/backissues98.shtml\">LIST OF ALL\u00a01998 BACK ISSUES<\/a>\u00a0(old text article format)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/vip.pwtorch.com\/category\/vipexclusives\/1997backissues\/\">LIST OF LATEST 1997 BACK ISSUE PDF POSTS<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/members.pwtorch.com\/torchbackissues97\/backissues97.shtml\">LIST OF ALL\u00a01997 BACK ISSUES<\/a>\u00a0(old text article format)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s4\">\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/members\/artman\/publish\/vipcatchall\/article_76799.shtml\">TUTORIAL ON DISPLAYING NEWSLETTER PDFS ON IPAD OR ANDROID TABLET<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2220049772\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em><strong>FULL NEWSLETTER TEXT AND PDF VERSIONS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY TO VIP MEMBERS\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM\u2026\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/pwtorch-vip-membership-information\/\">CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO WITH DIGITAL PDF &amp; TEXT NEWSLETTER ACCESS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>OR SIGN UP FOR HOME POSTAL DELIVERY OF WEEKLY PAPER COPY:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pwtorch.com\/papercopy\/\">CLICK HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-166370492\"><div id=\"pwtor-2982805346\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>We are now posting PWTorch Digital Newsletter PDFs for the year 1997 for the first time ever. These issues from 1997 have never been made available in their original format since their original printing press <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/04\/20\/vip-1999-back-issue-pro-wrestling-torch-545-april-24-1999-eric-bischoffs-attempts-to-revive-the-struggling-nitro-bret-hart-shakes-hands-with-earl-hebner-drug-testing-major-contract\/\" title=\"VIP 1999 BACK ISSUE \u2013 Pro Wrestling Torch #545 (April 24, 1999): Eric Bischoff&#8217;s attempts to revive the struggling Nitro, Bret Hart shakes hands with Earl Hebner, drug testing, major contract talks, Hulk Hogan&#8217;s surgery, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vipexclusivealerts","category-vip_newsletters"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2019\/04\/TorchCover545_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78243,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78240\/revisions\/78243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}