10 Lies About Famous Wrestling Matches That You Probably Believe

2. "Mabel Was The Third Man"

King Mabel SummerSlam 1995
WWE

Eric Bischoff insists on his podcast racket that Dave Meltzer thought that Mabel was set to be the "third man" accompanying the Outsiders as they took on Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger representing WCW at Bash At The Beach 1996.

This report delights Eric. He laughs, with scorn, at the idea that the great Dave Meltzer was dumb enough to believe a line fed to him by some rapscallion masquerading as a source. Eric laughs and laughs, and whenever someone points out to him that WCW business was plunged deep into the sh*tter, as a result of his total inability to pen a satisfactory conclusion to every last one of his beloved "stories", he can use this report as evidence that he is blameless.

"How can this be right? Dave isn't credible. He thought Mabel was the third man!"

Except he didn't. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter's archives are available online, and there, the week before the show, you will read Meltzer reporting that Hulk Hogan was scheduled as the third man. In fact, here's the link, and here's the quote:

"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."

Enjoy the oxygen. I hope it makes you very happy. Dear lord, what a sad little life Eric. You ruined the wrestling discourse, completely, so you could have the relevance.

 
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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!