Radio WWF (partially found professional wrestling radio show; 1993-1994; late 1990s-2000)

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Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Ross providing commentary for the 1993 Summerslam.

Status: Partially Found

Radio WWF is a professional wrestling radio show. Produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), it provided commentary for its pay-per-views, and discussed news surrounding the wrestling industry as a whole.

Background

In September 1993, the WWF started promoting a radio show that according to owner Vince McMahon, would enable fans to interact and ask unfiltered questions to the company's wrestling personalities.[1] Entitled Radio WWF, the main host was wrestling commentator Jim Ross. The show would not only provide alternative commentary for pay-per-view events, but was also novel in that it discussed current events in the WWF and in the wrestling industry overall. For instance, the show reported the scissors fracas that occurred between WCW wrestlers Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious, which resulted in the latter being fired from the organisation.[2]

At the 1993 Summerslam pay-per-view, Ross and Gorilla Monsoon provided alternative commentary for the show, with the show also being briefly promoted during the television broadcast.[3] By 25th September, Johnny Polo, better known as Raven, took over as regular co-host from Monsoon.[4] Nevertheless, Monsoon and Ross were also known to have provided alternative commentary for the 1993 Survivor Series event, although they switched over to the television broadcast with McMahon and Bobby Heenan taking over midway through.[5] It is also possible that Radio WWF lasted long enough to cover the 1994 Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania X too.[6]

Additionally, a segment on the 16th October 1993 edition gained infamy, featuring Randy Savage discussing Hulk Hogan. Savage made various comments surrounding Hogan's personal life, including steroid usage and his acting career, while also accusing Hogan of causing him and wife Miss Elizabeth to divorce in 1990 because Hogan had flirted with Elizabeth. It has led to discussion on whether the interview ended up being a shoot or a work. Nevertheless, according to the 25th October 1993 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Ross and Polo may have known in advance since they hyped the interview as saying that "Savage was going to make waves", with Ross asking leading questions to him.[7]

Cancellation and Late 1990s Revival

At some point, Ross would be replaced as host by McMahon himself, with the fan questions now being screened in advance. Ultimately, the original show was cancelled primarily because it was unable to attract enough stations to carry it.[8] Nevertheless, it did make a return in the late-1990s as an Armed Forces Network show, enabling those serving within the US military worldwide to be informed of the latest events surrounding wrestling.[9] Radio WWF carried on until at least the 2000 Summerslam, with Michael Cole and Mick Foley as hosts,[10] before quietly being discontinued.

Availability

Likely due to each version of the show proving unable to attract many stations to carry them, recordings of Radio WWF remain scarce. It is therefore coveted media among those seeking the alternative pay-per-view commentary,[11] as well as the Savage interview. The Savage interview transcript remains publicly accessible on an archived Miss Elizabeth.com page.[12]

On 3rd January 2022, commentary from the 1998 Royal Rumble was uploaded to YouTube by Rich Liptak. On 28th January 2022, AdFreeShows announced it had obtained a cassette tape consisting of 40 minutes of commentary from Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon from the 1994 Royal Rumble.[13] It was originally released as part of its Studio Sessions Patreon,[13] although it has since been leaked onto YouTube.

Gallery

Videos

Audio from the 1994 Royal Rumble.

Audio from the 1998 Royal Rumble.

OSW Retrospective discussing Radio WWF.

Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard discussing the Savage interview on Radio WWF.

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Blog of Doom noting that a WWF Superstars of Wrestling broadcast had Vince McMahon promote Radio WWF. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  2. ↑ WrestleCrap detailing the scissors incident. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  3. ↑ KB's Wrestling Reviews mentioning the 1993 Summerslam show with alternative Radio WWF commentary. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  4. ↑ Blog of Doom noting that a WWF Superstars of Wrestling broadcast promoted Polo as co-host of Radio WWF. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  5. ↑ KB's Wrestling Reviews detailing a Radio WWF switchover during the 1993 Survivor Series. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  6. ↑ KB's Wrestling Reviews mentioning a possible Radio WWF commentary of the 1994 Royal Rumble. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  7. ↑ Reddit post containing the the 25th October 1993 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which reported on the Savage interview. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  8. ↑ WrestleCrap detailing WWF Radio and why it was cancelled. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  9. ↑ Ring the Damn Bell detailing both versions of Radio WWF. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  10. ↑ KB's Wrestling Reviews detailing a Radio WWF segment occurring prior to the 2000 Summerslam. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  11. ↑ Twitter post discussing finding the Radio WWF pay-per-view commentary tracks. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  12. ↑ Archived Miss Elizabeth containing the Savage transcript. Retrieved 21st Dec '21
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 AdFreeShows announcing it had received a cassette tape consisting of audio from the 1994 Royal Rumble. Retrieved 24th Jul '22
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