I stumbled upon this article from Norm DaCosta who used to do a weekly wrestling article when I was a kid in the Toronto Star from May 23, 1991. The article, almost a year prior to the match is talking about Hogan vs. Sid @ next year's WrestleMania (WM8).
Flair didn't make his TV debut with the WWF until September 9, 1991 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, and the common story as to why they didn't do Hogan vs. Flair @ WM8 is because they already did the house show loop with Hogan vs. Flair and the feud had cooled off and wasn't drawing after the initial run, as well as Sid being super hot at the end of '91/early '92.
However, it's pretty clear that Hogan vs. Sid was in Vince's head all along, even though we know that "plans change" and Vince promises guys a lot of things far out in advance which don't always take place. In this case however, it seems he stuck to his initial plan, which I'm sure was also influenced by the Hogan/Flair house show loop, but that narrative has seemed to take over from the fact that the Hogan vs. Sid Mania match was widely reported as early as April 1991 by Meltzer in the Observer.
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Flair didn't make his TV debut with the WWF until September 9, 1991 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, and the common story as to why they didn't do Hogan vs. Flair @ WM8 is because they already did the house show loop with Hogan vs. Flair and the feud had cooled off and wasn't drawing after the initial run, as well as Sid being super hot at the end of '91/early '92.
However, it's pretty clear that Hogan vs. Sid was in Vince's head all along, even though we know that "plans change" and Vince promises guys a lot of things far out in advance which don't always take place. In this case however, it seems he stuck to his initial plan, which I'm sure was also influenced by the Hogan/Flair house show loop, but that narrative has seemed to take over from the fact that the Hogan vs. Sid Mania match was widely reported as early as April 1991 by Meltzer in the Observer.
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April 15, 1991 Observer:
Topping off the news this week is that the split between Sid Vicious and World Championship Wrestling appears to have been reconciled. About two weeks back, Vicious, who had asked to renegotiate his contract for a raise from $5,000 per week to either $7,000 or $8,000, depending upon the source, then gave his notice and gave the word he would sit out the summer and join Titan Sports in September, after his WCW contract expired. By the end of last week, it appeared it was nearly a formality that Vicious would be leaving WCW shortly after the next PPV card, and he was in the process of being "written out" of the promotion's storyline. However after negotiations over this past week, it appears the two sides have agreed to terms. Jim Herd said late Wednesday that he was 99 percent certain Vicious was staying and that he wouldn't be taxing the summer off. Another major office executive on Thursday called it a done deal, although those close to Vicious have said that the contract hasn't been signed yet and until it is, it's not a done deal. Nobody that I would call a good, source has given me any terms that the two sides have verbally agreed to, although the rumor mill within the promotion seems to be that Vicious has agreed to $350,000 per year in base pay plus bonuses for PPV events. WCW was trying to get Vicious to agree to a three-year deal, but the length of the new deal may or may not be that long-term.
April 22, 1991 Observer:
Forget last week's headlines. Sid Vicious is bolting WCW for the WWF. The word came in the middle of this past week when the contract that both sides had agreed upon the previous week was drawn up and presented to Vicious, who then gave his notice once again effective after the 5/19 PPV show in St. Petersburg.
There has been a great deal of talk about this situation from many different perspectives over the past month. WCW officials believe Vicious was promised the main event spot opposite Hulk Hogan at next year's Wrestlemania in Indianapolis as the lure to get him away. It appears WCW made some major promises to Vicious besides just money in order to keep him. There was some demoralization within WCW, since the company did everything it could to keep the guy and basically he turned down guaranteed money and probably the title in order to get a chance to lose to Hulk Hogan.
There are many different ways of looking at this, from the perspective of the respective companies and also the attitude of fans following both companies. As far as any changes in any balance of power, the truth is that with or without Sid Vicious, WCW is a distant second from a business standpoint (and from just the wrestling standpoint, losing Vicious is a plus for WCW). Hogan-Vicious should do big business for the WWF. But the WWF has to be careful with this character because if he's portrayed as a heel, he may become the counter-cult hero (similar to The Undertaker) and wind up threatening Hogan's popularity. The latter thing doesn't matter if the match draws money because looking at wrestling as a business, promoters really shouldn't care about the reaction of the fans once they v have purchased the ticket for the main event in regards to who they favor, but worry about whether or not they purchased the ticket. But signing Sid Vicious helps the WWF without a doubt.
Does losing Sid Vicious hurt WCW? And if it does, how much? The answer is, it does hurt the company, but the degree it does is dependent on a number of factors. If the company keeps spinning its wheels without an apparent direction, while saying it's a nail in the coffin is far too strong, it hurts because fans will see it as another example (like Road Warriors, Mean Mark and Nasty Boys) of WCW as the Triple-A feeder system for the WWF. Between that and WCW's inability to book the nice suburban arenas in a lot of the major markets, kills any chance of the image change the company needs to be viewed as major league and be competition for the type of fan who only attends shows once or twice a year (which is the fan who attends the one or two shows per year in each city that does pop the big house). But in another way, the loss of Vicious individually, will hurt the company very little or really not at all if the company finds a successful direction. Vicious was not a drawing card in WCW. Sure, he got big pops, but the shows he headlined virtually never drew money. Both Sting and Lex Luger as headliners drew much larger crowds opposite Ric Flair than they ever did against Sid Vicious. Under the right set of circumstances did he have the potential to draw money? I think so. One would certainly think so. It hasn't been proven yet. All that has been proven thus far is he can get a rabid crowd reaction for his every move, which is a very positive character trait in this business, but not as positive as the ability to draw money. I personally think Sid Vicious vs. El Gigante would have drawn money, at least the first time in every city, but we'll never know for sure. The loss of Vicious absolutely hurts WCW in the short-run because so much was dependent upon that feud and because it renders Gigante's drawing power, whatever there was of it, practically nil. Gigante vs. One Man Gang isn't going to draw money. But last Saturday's TBS show's ratings were an ominous note. The "first ever" meeting of Gigante and Vicious in a tag match that was heavily plugged on all TBS shows the previous week drew a 2.5 rating--or less than the average number of viewers that normally watch the show. Granted, all TV viewership was down that day because of unseasonably warm weather, but it also shows that among the general public (and TV ratings, which are the only gauge of general public interest because even when .the business is at Its hottest, it's really a very small percentage of fans who actually will attend a house show, however it is that small percentage that are responsible for the majority of the income the business produces), a Vicious-Gigante confrontation meant nothing more to draw casual viewers than just a normal Saturday night wrestling show. To the paying public that may not be the case, or it may be the case.
April 29, 1991 Observer:
The latest on Sid Vicious is that he's been pulled by WCW from all previously announced house show dates except for the 5/19 PPV show. There is a lot of internal bitterness over this, because he's being paid his $5,000 per week for saying home for one month. You can't blame him for that because it was a decision made by the company, but it does seem like he's getting one heck of a nice reward for walking out on his contract. The explanation given to me was the company feared Vicious, if he were to work his scheduled dates, would suddenly be injured and thus get out of doing the stretcher job at the PPV. One WWF official wanted to bet me that there was no way he was going out on the stretcher anyway. I didn't take the bet, by the way.
May 6, 1991 Observer:
Here's the latest on Sid Vicious. According to Jim Herd, Vicious will be using the Sid Vicious name in the WWF and will be released from his WCW contract on May 20. Vicious is scheduled to work the PPV show and do the job for El Gigante. The match is being advertised as a stretcher match (and all the television preceding the show has been taped advertising a stretcher match). Vicious probably will do the job for Gigante. But many people would be surprised to see him do a stretcher job. Anyway, even though he is under contract with WCW until September 5, which means WCW can hold up his Titan starting date until that point, he's being released and will probably start with Titan at the following television taping. Herd said that legally, the rights to use and market a name correlate with the date the individual is under contract. If a wrestler is given a name by WCW (such as Big Josh), WCW has the right to prevent Matt Borne from going to the WWF and using the name. On the other hand, if the wrestler comes to WCW with the name, like Sid Vicious did, who used the name in Tennessee first, then WCW can't prevent him from taking the name elsewhere. In other words, if a wrestler is scheduled to go to work for the WWF or WCW with a gimmicked name, it would behoove the person to spend a few weeks working independent dates before starting with the new company. That way, if things don't work out, the wrestler can take the name with him either on independents or to a rival major.
May 18, 1991 Observer:
The big question on the upcoming PPV show was whether or not Sid Vicious will show up and do a job (or even a stretcher job) for El Gigante. But after watching the TV, I'm not sure that anyone really cares since Gigante is so obviously being programmed with One Man Gang (which nobody will care about either but is probably the best of a series of bad alternatives, but the focus of Gigante is off Vicious, as it should be since the guy is all but gone). But anyway, the betting odds are it's a major longshot Vicious will do the stretcher job. I consider the odds about 25 percent that he'll show up and do a clean job and they'll forget about the stretcher stips. The odds are about 40 percent that he'll show up, but he may show up and never get in the ring. So I'd say the odds are about 60 percent the match will be Gigante vs. Gang.
May 21, 1991 Observer:
Apparently Rick Rude got a release from his WWF contract which allows him to work anywhere except WCW, which is the same deal McMahon used with Tim Horner and Terry Taylor. Can't understand why, if that's the case, Jim Herd is going to allow Sid Vicious out of his contract before September. And I'm not sure that a release like that would actually hold up in court anyway.