The Night I Angered WCW Security

Me and the Brain in 1998

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

I spent the first 18 months of my career working in Florence, Alabama.  I was barely on the job two months when I learned that WCW would be doing a live Thursday Night Thunder show in Huntsville.  It was an hour drive from the station and with the help of my news director, I was able to secure a couple of media passes for the event.

I really didn't know what to expect when we arrived at the Von Braun Civic Center that chilly January night in 1998.  We were greeted by the media relations people and told we'd have the opportunity to talk with a handful of WCW stars.  My photographer, Brian, was also a wrestling fan.  We both hoped that Ric Flair would be a part of the group.  But those dreams came to a quick halt when we were informed Flair wasn't there.  

One of the competing stations was interviewing The Giant live for the 5 p.m. news.  We stood and watched in awe at the mountain of a man.  I'd hoped he'd be available for the lil' podunk station from Florence, but he was quickly whisked away after his live hit.

It wasn't long until we were introduced to Ray Traylor (aka The Big Bossman).  We started rolling as I asked him what his plans were for the night.  He stayed in character the whole time, vowing to get revenge on the nWo.  He'd just split from the group and was angry. The interview was short and sweet and he left the area where all the reporters and photographers were standing.

Since we had some down time before our next guests (I ended up interviewing Goldberg, Bobby Heenan, and Buff Bagwell that night), I figured it would be a good time to get some extra video footage.  The crew setting up the ring caught my eye and I asked Brian to start getting some shots.  He started rolling when WCW head of security Doug Dillinger approached us.  I could tell by the look on his face he was not happy and when he asked what the hell we were doing, I knew he was pissed.

He means business!

I explained we need some B-roll for the story and thought the ring set up was interesting.  Dillinger told us we did not have permission to record the ring crew and immediately demanded the tape.  I promised him we would not use the footage and pleaded with him to let us keep our video, because my interview with Traylor was on it.  I told him no one had told us not to get video of the set up.  His anger increased and demanded that we hand it over.  I didn't want to get kicked out, so I gave him the cassette.  He did say he'd try to make sure the production team didn't erase the interview with Traylor, but made no promises.

Flustered and frustrated by what had happened, it was time to move on to the rest of the interviews.  Brian brought an extra tape and everything went flawlessly after that.  We stayed and watched the two hour show and chatted amongst ourselves and the other reporters about why Dillinger was so mad.  Then as the main event, which featured The Giant versus Scott Hall, things became clear. During the melee that ensued the angry Giant destroyed the ring with his bare hands.

The Giant destroys the ring

That night was the first time I'd ever seen a ring being put together. Since then I've helped put together my fair share of rings.  I've got to assume that they had this one rigged to come apart when The Giant trashed it and that was the concern over the video footage we got.  Maybe though, the company wanted to keep that part of the business protected.  I really didn't think about it as potentially exposing anything.  I just wanted to share a rarely seen perspective.  I don't blame them for that, I just thought the reaction was a bit over the top.

Anytime I hear Dillinger's name brought up in an interview I think of that night and how he cussed at us for getting the footage.  It was a memorable night none-the-less and remains one of my favorite stories I did while working in Alabama.  By the way, click here for those interviews, Blogger isn't letting me embed the actual video for some reason.

Boo: What the Truck?!?

Monster Truck Sumo Match
Halloween Havoc '95
Photo courtesy: WWE

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

Let's face it, through the years, wrestling as a whole has probably had more misses than hits.  But when the hits are good, they're awesome.  When they stink, they're probably a WCW idea.  I'm kidding, the WWF/WWE has had its fair share of goose eggs too.  But for this blog, I'm picking on WCW's Sumo Monster Truck match at Halloween Havoc 1995.

Hulk Hogan was the WCW world heavyweight champion and was flirting with the dark side.  He had abandoned the yellow and red and was sporting a black bandanna and tights.  He was challenged in this "match" by The Giant.  The two monster trucks in the challenge were welded together to add to the suspense of it all.

Timber! The Giant falls

I never been one for NASCAR, Monster Trucks, or any other competition of the sort, so to me this was quite a poor and a time waster.  Giant drove the Dungeon of Doom's "Monster", while Hogan drove a yellow truck that sported his trademark "pythons" on either side.  Hogan eventually forced the Giant and his truck out of the circle, but the future Big Show sought revenge against the champion.  The two fought on the roof for a couple of minutes before the Giant tumbled over the side.  Hogan tried to save the fallen monster, even running for help.  The reaction of the commentary team was priceless, with Bobby Heenan (I think he said it), "What do we do now?" Eric Bischoff of course over sold the whole thing, which made me cringe.  In all honesty, it was Heenan's wit during the entire showdown that even made this watchable for me.

Hogan vs. Giant
Giant wins by DQ

This of course is where you have to suspend reality.  Had the Giant really fallen off the roof, would the show have continued?  Keep in mind this is pre-Owen Hart, and a different company, so there's no telling what would have actually happened.  But perhaps the silliest part of the night came when the Giant actually made it to the ring to wrestle and defeat Hogan (by disqualification) in the main event.  Hogan's manager Jimmy Hart turned heel, hitting both the referee and Hogan with the championship belt.  Blah.

Boo: Dungeon of Doom

Hogan hits the Dungeon

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter

In 1995 there was a group of wrestlers hellbent on destroying Hulkamania.  Hulk Hogan had been in WCW for about a year at that point and had already taken care of Ric Flair.  Then he defeated former friend Brutus Beefcake who was wrestling as "The Butcher."

But the Butcher wasn't done with the Hulkster.  He joined the group of misfits called the Dungeon of Doom.  The Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan seemed to be in charge of the group, although we learned he was taking orders from The Master, who was played by former WWF manager The Wizard (also King Curtis Iaukea)

Kamala, the Shark, & Zodiac

In reality, the Dungeon of Doom was almost comical, but not on purpose.  I thought the vignettes with The Master and Sullivan were laughable.  I think they really tired to make the group seem like a big threat.  With the exception of the Giant (now the Big Show) and the temporary use of Big Van Vader, the Dungeon was filled with a bunch of midcarders.  Beefcake now had crazy spiked hair, black and white makeup and was the Zodiac.  I never quite understood that.  I felt like when he jumped to WCW, despite having a friendship with Hogan, Beefcake was lost in the shuffle and became one lame gimmick after the other.

I guess Slick's intervention didn't help...

Another member of the Dungeon, Kamala.  I had always like the Ugandan Headhunter, especially in his feud with the Undertaker in WWF a few years earlier.  But to me, he seemed lost with this group.  I can't quite put my finger on it.  The One Man Gang was another wrestler I enjoyed in previous wrestling organizations, like World Class and WWF, but this time around, I just couldn't buy into him either. Hugh Morris (Tough Enough's Bill Demotte) was also a member.  If I remember correctly, he wore tights with question marks all over them and laughed a lot.  Big Bubba (Big Bossman), Konnan, Meng, the Barbarian, and apparently Lex Luger were also members.  Until I had read about it, I had totally forgotten about Luger's involvement, but I think it was when he was feuding with Randy Savage.

The Yeti.  Yes, this really happened.

John Tenta, who played Earthquake and Avalanche, wrestled as the Shark in the Dungeon.  I blogged about that gimmick before.  It was certainly beneath the big man.  Loch Ness joined the group, but was nothing more than a big man who could barely movie.  The Yeti, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, was a beast of a man too, but really did nothing in this group or in WCW for that matter.  The Ultimate Solution had tree trunks for arms, but didn't go very far either.  Jimmy Hart and Miss Jacqueline helped manage the group.

Tiny Lister was Hogan's rival "Zeus" in the movie No Holds Barred in the WWF.  The two had a couple of matches back in 1989.  Fast forward to 1995, and WCW thought it was a good idea to bring him back to join the Dungeon.  Z-Gangsta was just another guy who really couldn't do much brought in to destroy Hulkamania.

The Giant as champion

I think had the group focused on a just a handful of members, it might have succeeded in WCW.  This was nothing more than a group of guys who were hand fed to Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.  They were a mix of guys who had problems with Hogan in WWF, and I think WCW put too much focus on them and took their eyes off guys who were young and hungry.  The Giant was really the only one who experienced any success.  He won the WCW title at least once, maybe twice as a member.  The only thing I didn't like about his time in the group was the fact that WCW pushed him as the son of Andre the Giant, and that whole infamous monster truck off the building incident at Halloween Havoc 1995.

The Dungeon of Doom makes it into the Halloween blogs in part because of their "fear factor" but also for the silly costumes that many of the members wore.  I'm not sure how many fans were actually scared of this group, but hey, they tried, right?