10 False Wrestling Facts You Probably Believe
7. Dave Meltzer Thought Mabel Was The Third Man
On the subject of Uncle Dave, he probably doesn't help his cause by defending himself so often. He appears guilty even when isn't, though it must be incredibly frustrating when the liar insists that you are the liar. Perhaps that cough he had for eight years was caused by him constantly choking on his own rage here.
Dave Meltzer did report that Mabel was under consideration to make the run-in at Bash At The Beach 1996. The divergent paths taken by Hulk Hogan and Mabel after 1996 do make for a comical alternate universe image, one that delights Eric "Gotcha" Bischoff so much that he tweets Meltzer's report whenever he is accused of doing f*ck all last year bar solemnly eating catering with his phone on flight mode. Mabel's name might have been discussed idly. A source might have ribbed Meltzer.
None of this matters, because Dave broke the identity of the real third man in advance of the show.
Meltzer wrote in the preceding edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
"The third member of the heel team for the PPV won't be announced until the night of the show. Speculation is running rampant about who it is. I've been told that the deal was finalized last week for whomever it is. My feeling is that it's Hulk Hogan because a reader was working on the set of the movie Hogan is doing with Roddy Piper and said that Hogan told Piper he was asked to be the third guy and that he probably was going to do it."