It may go down as the most bizarre weekend in WCW history. And yes, that is saying quite a bit. It began Friday when WCW decided that due to Bret Hart’s concussion they were going to have to change the main event of the Souled Out pay-per-view two nights later. Then later that afternoon, Jeff Jarrett’s wife called WCW and told them her husband was planning to wrestle with a concussion. WCW took Jarrett off the show. That meant four matches would need to be changed.
Bret Hart, who was suffering from chronic head pain and other symptoms of a concussion, met with a specialist on Wednesday morning, Jan. 12 in Calgary. The doctor told him he had a severe concussion (where more than half of the 20 percent of the “padding” between the brain and skull is swollen) and should not wrestle, fly, or lift weights anytime soon. Lifting weights and flying are especially bad for a concussion. Holding one’s breath while lifting weights and the changes in air pressure while flying can aggravate the concussion. Bret suffered the head injury when Goldberg kicked him in the head at Starrcade. As is often the case with concussions, strenuous activity since the concussion has led to the swelling getting worse. WCW announced the change on their website on Friday: “World Championship Wrestling regrets to announce that Bret Hart will not be able to compete in the main event at Sunday’s Souled Out pay-per-view,” said the website statement. “He does not have medical clearance to wrestle due to a concussion. WCW apologizes for the inconvenience and wants to assure fans that the quality and integrity of the pay-per-view will not suffer as a result of the card change. Sid Vicious will still participate in the WCW Heavyweight Title match-up, though at this time his opponent is not known. Once we find out we will let you know.”
Jeff Jarrett suffered his concussion last Monday, Jan. 10 when Jimmy Snuka splashed him. After suffering from severe headaches all day Wednesday, Jarrett saw a doctor in Nashville, Tenn. and was told not to wrestle or fly for the foreseeable future. The concussion may not be considered as severe as Bret’s at this point, but strenuous activity could easily cause the concussion to worsen. He was scheduled to have three matches Sunday against Chris Benoit, but the doctor had strongly recommended Jarrett not wrestle. Jarrett flew to New Orleans, La. for a car show appearance on Friday. His wife, Jill, called WCW and told them that her husband planned to wrestle against doctor’s orders. She said she was concerned for his well-being and asked them to take the initiative and take Jarrett off the card. Within hours WCW announced on their website that Jarrett, like Bret, would be missing the PPV due to a concussion.
WCW did not announce that Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett would not be at the PPV on the WCW Saturday Night program. Instead of re-doing some voiceover work, or adding a crawler message across the bottom of the screen, they waited until the pre-game show for the PPV to announce the changes on TV. They made the announcement on their website Friday. The pre-game show was done live backstage since there were so many changes to the card, the pre-taped pregame show was obsolete.
WCW management wants the top three matches at SuperBrawl to be Sid vs. Bret Hart for the WCW Title, Jeff Jarrett vs. Kidman for the U.S. Title, and Ric Flair & Terry Funk vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. Look for Kidman to be rewarded for his early loyalty to WCW by getting the title win over Jarrett. The tag match hinges on a number of things, including Hall behaving and Flair agreeing to return.
