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Australian employers slashed workers last month as government restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus forced the shut down of many industries across the economy. Unemployment held up as labor force participation tumbled. Employment plunged by 594,300 in April, compared with an estimated 575,000 drop, data from the statistics bureau showed in Sydney Thursday. The jobless rate rose to 6.2%, well below economists’ median estimate of 8.2% as participation plunged to 63.5% from 66% in March. Unemployment rate spikes from virus shutdowns The underemployment rate rose to a record high 13.7%, up 4.9 percentage points, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. The Australian dollar held declines on the day and was trading at 64.32 U.S. cents at 11:43 a.m. in Sydney. The result comes as companies ranging from Australia’s two major airlines to casinos to department stores furloughed or stood down tens of thousands of workers as demand collapsed and, in many cases, doors forced shut. The Reserve Bank of Australia predicts the economy will contract 10% from peak-to-trough this year and expects unemployment to surge to around 10% by June. Governor Philip Lowe says hours worked will be a key metric to gauge the hit, as the government’s JobKeeper initiative that keeps workers attached to employers during the shutdown, and an expected fall in participation, limit some of the increase in the official unemployment rate. The government and central bank responded with a massive fiscal-monetary injection worth 16.4% of gross domestic product to support the economy. Qantas Airways Ltd. in March furloughed most of its 30,000-strong workforce and rival Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. stood down 80% of its workforce. Star Entertainment Group Ltd. furloughed 90% of its 9,000 employees after the government ordered the closure of casinos and Myer Holdings Ltd. temporarily shut all stores. Retailer Premier Investments Ltd. closed all of its stores for about a month, standing down almost all 9,000 employees, while Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd. said it was furloughing 3,800 people. Tabcorp Holdings Ltd. stood down 700 workers. The initial closure of swathes of the economy had a dramatic impact on consumer and business confidence, with both plummeting in response. Sentiment regained some ground in the subsequent month, reports showed this week. Authorities success in flattening the infection curve has improved sentiment and allowed restrictions to partially be eased. The government aims to reopen many parts of the crippled economy by July and get 850,000 people back in jobs. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/australia-employment-slumps-by-record-594-300-unemployment-6-2?sref=s0L1qQ1H
Australia Goes Back to the 1980s With Its Economy Closed to World
Australia’s success in curbing Covid-19 infections is allowing it to slowly ease some restrictions even as it remains largely closed off from the rest of the world, taking its economy back to the pre-globalization era. Mining and agriculture continue to support exports and a government-sponsored group is looking at ways to revive manufacturing. But the flow of foreign tourists, students and immigrants has been frozen, pinning hopes for a rebound on local consumption. The closed borders and domestic reliance has the economy harking back to the 1980s, before the lifting of tariffs opened up trade and Paul Hogan offered to put another shrimp on the Barbie for international visitors. Services Driven Nearly two-thirds of economic output from service industries Australian Bureau of Statistics Nominal gross value added, 2018-19 The capacity of services to quickly turnaround and the fact Aussies aren’t blowing savings on holidays abroad could help the nation fare better than many developed-world peers. Much will depend on the mood of households as unemployment rises, with a poor construction outlook adding to headwinds. What Bloomberg’s Economists Say “Close to 1 million Australians per month traveled overseas in 2019. They will now be looking for a change of destination, heading to Noosa instead of Nusa Dua; Port Douglas, not Penang; and catching up with friends at bars in Melbourne Laneways, instead of Hong Kong’s mid levels. Containment measures change the economics of international travel.” James McIntyre, economist Household consumption, which makes up around 55% of the economy, has been boosted on the one hand by people stocking up on essentials during the lockdown, but hammered on the other as they couldn’t eat out or go to the movies. Shops and restaurants are gradually reopening but, for consumption to drive any rebound, households must put aside concerns over job security and debt to drive spending. That may be tough. Wesfarmers Ltd. is seeing shift in consumer behavior across its retail portfolio. Home improvement and office products stores, Bunnings and Officeworks, have seen significant uplift in sales, while general merchandise stores, Target and Kmart, have seen sales slow. Pessimistic households have consumption outlook seeming bleak Even before Covid-19, Australian households were among the most indebted in the developed world, with debt almost double disposable income. The threat of unemployment to people’s ability to meet their debts is now key, and the Reserve Bank of Australia has long acknowledged it as a major risk facing the economy. The unemployment rate is currently 6.2%, with the central bank expecting it to peak at around 10%. Banks are offering repayment holidays to help tide homeowners over and have quadrupled provisions for an expected surge in bad debts. Australia Passes Massive Stimulus Measures as Virus Spreads People wait in line outside a Centrelink office in the Bondi Junction suburb of Sydney, March 2020.Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg The absence of skilled migration due to closed national borders will also hit pause on what had been steady stream of profitable mortgage lending for the banks. That could flow through to housing prices if sustained. Commonwealth Bank of Australia said its base case is for an 11% fall in home prices, though in a prolonged downturn a cumulative 32% slump is possible. National Australia Bank Ltd. said in a severe downturn, prices could plummet 21% this year. Uncertainty and job insecurity impacting property market Residential construction typically closely follows house price movements, and the sector was already scaling back activity following the previous flood of new stock still working its way into the market. The RBA earlier this month said that indications from the initial stages of the development process suggests demand for new housing “has deteriorated significantly.” It expects dwelling investment to plunge 17% in the 12 months through June and remain a drag on growth until 2021. Property investors have been hit by the six month moratorium on tenancy evictions during coronavirus. Without renewed interest from investors, it’s challenging to get a new apartment development, particularly of any size, into construction. The same holds for business investment. Unless the project was already underway, or is related to creating a covid-safe environment, capital expenditure plans have been parked until demand returns. Natural Endowment Things look brighter as you leave the cities. Internationally, Australia is known as a commodity powerhouse. While it accounts for just 10% of output, it is a key source of export income and prosperity in the country. Iron ore shipments from Port Hedland, a key export hub, hit a record for April, while gold sales from Perth Mint -- the main refiner -- also surged. Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lifted its projected annual iron ore shipments in a wager on China’s recovery. “We are selling everything we can possibly produce,” Chairman Andrew Forrest says. Net exports important source of economic growth It’s less rosy for the liquefied natural gas producers. Just as the coronavirus sent the global economy into lockdown, Russia and Saudi Arabia began a standoff that sent oil prices tumbling below zero. Top producers Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and Santos Ltd. have slashed spending plans and deferred flagship growth projects -- worth over $15 billion -- in line with drastic steps by energy majors worldwide to hunker down during the pandemic. On The Sheep’s Back Virus Fears Grow In Sydney As Growing GDP Expected To Be Hit Rolls of toilet papers sit in an empty section of a supermarket in Sydney, March 2020..Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg As supermarket shelves were stripped bare, a panicked nation was reminded of the sheer mass of food the country’s farmers produce. Domestic food production services more than 90% of fresh produce sold in supermarkets and still is able to more than match that amount in exports. The industry could also become an unexpected source of employment. Backpackers and workers from Pacific Islands flock to rural areas to pick up work with seasonal tasks, but with borders shut and jobs being lost across the economy, farmers are likely turn to the local community for the extra labor. Other producers have greater worries. Barley and meat exporters have been caught in China’s crosshairs in retaliation for Australia’s public call for an independent investigation of the coronavirus outbreak, while the wine industry is looking on nervously. It’s been a tough year for wine, even before the virus. Clonakilla winery in New South Wales, north of Canberra, decided against producing a 2020 vintage after analysis showed unacceptably high levels of smoke taint from wildfires over the summer. Exploring Our Own Backyard Australia's China Reliance Backfires as Virus Fallout Spreads Students sit on the grass at the University of Sydney, Feb. 2020.Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg The education industry was one of the first to feel the pinch from coronavirus restrictions. When the government imposed travel bans on flights from China in February, around 100,000 international students were unable to enter Australia to begin the academic year and left universities bracing for a costly fallout. The University of Sydney, where students from China represented nearly one-quarter of the total student body, projected a A$470 million loss this year. Other institutions, including the University of Melbourne and Monash University, are bracing for similar hits. Even smaller regional institutions that don’t attract nearly the same level of international students have been affected. With a lot of money at stake, there could be a relaxation of international border restrictions for students to study in Australia, before leisure travelers are allowed. But for businesses catering toward an offshore audience, demand is unlikely to snap back. Qantas Airways Ltd. is currently operating just 1% of its network and has canceled overseas fights until at least the end of July. Its main competitor, Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., collapsed into administration in April. Virgin Australia Collapses After Pandemic Halts Air Travel Virgin Australia check-in kiosks inside a deserted Sydney Airport, April 2020. Photographer Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg Crown Resorts Ltd. and Star Entertainment Group Ltd., which both target big-spending visitors from Asia, were forced to close their casinos in Australia as the country locked down. Crown is just months away from completing a A$2.2 billion luxury gaming resort in Sydney. The tourism industry was already reeling from the wave of cancellations following the December and January wildfires. The silver lining is that Australians will have no option but to spend holidays on home soil once inter-state travel is allowed again. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-19/australia-goes-back-to-the-1980s-with-economy-closed-to-world?sref=s0L1qQ1H
Going through old issues of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and posting highlights in my own words. For anyone interested, I highly recommend signing up for the actual site at f4wonline and checking out the full archives. PREVIOUS YEARS ARCHIVE: 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
What's up everybody. Hope everyone's doing well. Just a heads up, there will be no Rewind posts for the rest of this week. I won't be around on Wednesday or Friday this week so the next post after today will be next Monday. Hope everybody has a good Thanksgiving. Also, ham is better than turkey and I will die for that belief, fuck you, fight me if you disagree.
The long-rumored split of AJPW has finally come to pass, as company president Mitsuharu Misawa resigned his position on on 5/28. All sides attempted to keep it quiet to ensure a smooth transition but when word leaked to the media a week or so later, an emergency board of directors meeting was called and 5 more members of the board (wrestlers Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue, Mitsuo Momota, along with front office exec Yoshihiro Momota and AJPW managing director Kenichi Oyagi) all formally resigned as well. It confirmed that virtually the entire company has decided to leave Motoko Baba. It's strongly believed that will Misawa will be starting his own promotion, probably in September (ends up being August actually). Misawa had hoped to avoid a public promotional war with the wife of Giant Baba and had attempted to negotiate with her to use the AJPW name for his promotion to preserve the legacy and history of what Giant Baba built without it turning nasty. But Motoko Baba refused the proposal and refused to give up any financial control of the company (she owns 85% while Nippon TV owns the other 15%). Both Misawa and Motoko Baba are expected to hold separate press conferences this week to detail their future plans. According to sources, every single wrestler in the company with the exception of Toshiaki Kawada and Masa Fuchi have pledged loyalty to Misawa and pretty much the entire front office is going with him as well. Kawada will likely be named the new AJPW president this week. Kawada and Misawa have known each other since high school but haven't ever really fully gotten along, with Kawada feeling like Misawa was holding him down from being the top star in AJPW. With him in charge, it's expected he will become the top star and will attempt to form a working relationship with NJPW while also bringing in indie talent to fill out the now-empty roster to keep the company afloat.
Misawa and Motoko Baba have never gotten along since Misawa took over as company president following Giant Baba's death. A lot of the problems stem from Baba wanting to maintain the status quo in a company that has been floundering, while Misawa wanted to make major changes, push younger wrestlers, and things like that, only to find himself often overruled. Dave notes a specific show last year when Misawa booked Budokan Hall and put Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori in the main event, which Baba was adamantly against, feeling a Budokan show shouldn't be headlined by wrestlers who weren't yet established main eventers. Misawa also wanted to modernize the contracts, with wrestlers having medical coverage if they're hurt, full pay while out injured, and things like that. Usually every year at the end of March, the wrestlers get raises but that didn't happen this year and as a result, nobody re-signed, so currently the entire AJPW roster of wrestlers are free-agents right now, which is why they're all able to up and leave with Misawa. As much as everyone loved Giant Baba, his wife has always been notoriously unpopular in Japanese wrestling circles and was nicknamed "Dragon Lady." Shortly after Giant Baba's death, she forced Jumbo Tsuruta out of the company after he had worked there for 27 years.
Needless to say, there's some potential legal hurdles here. It's believed Misawa may have a non-compete clause in his previous contract that hasn't run out yet. There's also the possibility that Baba will file a lawsuit claiming that Misawa had started working to set up his new company while still employed as AJPW president. During the meeting where Misawa resigned, Baba didn't attend, instead sending her lawyer with a note saying that she wasn't going to be there. The key to this whole thing is Nippon TV, which has been broadcasting wrestling weekly since the Rikidozan days. Dave says this whole thing is really similar to the 1972 situation when Giant Baba left the old JWA promotion (Rikidozan's company) and started AJPW, and Nippon TV went with him. 7 months later, JWA was dead. Publicly, Nippon TV isn't saying anything but it's believed that they are likely going to side with Misawa also, so AJPW's days on television may be numbered. If for some reason that doesn't happen, the Fuji Network in Japan is interested, so Misawa's promotion will surely end up on TV one way or another. All in all, this is pretty devastating for AJPW.
The situation with AJPW's foreign wrestlers is uncertain. They all ride on the same bus and were told to clean out all their stuff. They also checked to see if their hotels were booked for the upcoming July tour only to find out they haven't been booked yet (they usually are by now) so the foreign stars are said to be pretty concerned that they suddenly might not have jobs. Many of the foreign wrestlers are closer to Mrs. Baba since, well, she writes the checks and the money's never late. But they've all been told not to worry, although they haven't been given any details of what their futures hold. Steve Williams and Johnny Ace are the closest to her on a personal level. Stan Hansen, the highest paid foreign star in AJPW, is staying out of the situation. He's just about ready to retire anyway and has saved his money well, so he's just chillin' and waiting to see how this whole thing shakes out.
Things are only slightly less chaotic in the United States. The WWF vs. USA Network trial began this week and the futures of both WWF's Raw and ECW as a whole probably depend on what happens. USA Senior VP David Brenner testified during the first 2 days and revealed that USA pays WWF $42,000 per episode for Raw. Last year during negotiations, USA had offered to increase the payment to $80,000 per episode in 2001, $85,000 in 2002 and $90,000 in 2003 as well as offering increases in payments for the other three weekly shows on USA but Vince McMahon turned them down. USA then increased the offer but McMahon again turned it down and began negotiating with Fox.
More talk about the future of WCW also. The SFX talks to purchase WCW have seemingly gone nowhere so far but are still ongoing. Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan have been meeting with Fox about a deal. The idea being that Bischoff and Hogan would go to Fox to start a "new promotion," which would then do a big inter-promotional angle against WCW. Meanwhile, WCW is also still reaching out to ECW about possibly working together, but Heyman has once again refused because he wants no part of anything to do with WCW.
Oh yeah, speaking of....ECW is pretty jolly well fucked up right now too. Heyman has also had discussions with Fox but they haven't gone anywhere. Even though WCW is suffering financial losses the likes of which have never been seen before in professional wrestling, ECW is actually the company in the most danger right now. They're in a major financial crunch and wrestlers are weeks behind on getting paid. Several sources are said to be willing to loan ECW money or to buy a stake in the company, including WWF, which has offered several times to bail Heyman out. But the loan would come with certain conditions that Heyman isn't willing to accept because they would basically give WWF too much control over his company. Furthermore, the situation with the WWF/USA lawsuit is precarious because it's entirely possible and likely that TNN will boot ECW off the network if/when they get WWF Raw, which would leave ECW sitting on a mountain of debt without a national TV deal. Heyman is hopeful that they can survive on syndicated TV, just as they did before they had TNN, but things have changed a lot since then. If TNN ends up getting Raw, ECW's best hope is that they will be picked up by USA but that's by no means a guarantee. Given the state of the company, Dave says they're going to need a major network deal and a much larger production budget from that network if they hope to survive or be competitive.
WCW's Great American Bash is in the books and after a heavily-hyped build-up that something game-changing would happen, the big surprise ended up being the heel-turn of Goldberg. Dave says the show was a huge let-down. Endless run-ins, 3 big "stunt" spots which meant none of them stood out, predictable swerves, and the 3rd straight PPV with the same finish. Goldberg's heel turn got a lot of heat but Dave says it's way too soon in Goldberg's career, plus he just came back after being injured for 6 months and the fans have been dying to see him back. But Russo was determined to turn him heel immediately because "omg swerves are awesome!" so....here we are. Needless to say, Dave thinks this is just about the dumbest thing WCW could have done. It also re-solidifies Hogan and Nash as the top 2 babyfaces in the company, because this company just refuses to fucking learn. Coming out of the PPV, it seemed like the obvious direction for the next PPV would be Hogan vs. Jarrett for the title and Goldberg vs. Nash, but in their infinite wisdom, they went ahead and gave away both matches for free on Nitro the very next night, which, to be fair, it's not like anyone buys WCW PPVs anymore anyway so it probably doesn't really matter. To show just how far WCW has alienated its fans, both Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were in matches on this PPV where their career was at stake if they lost. Two of the biggest names in history in potential retirement matches should be an instant sellout and monster buyrate but needless to say, they only drew 4,600 paid (in Baltimore, a city where both Flair and Hogan have been huge draws during their careers) and the buyrate is expected to be among the lowest ever. Dave says try to imagine a scenario in Mexico with El Santo and Perro Aguayo in retirement matches only selling 4,600 tickets to Arena Mexico, or Inoki and Riki Choshu putting up their careers and drawing 4,600 to the Tokyo Dome. It would be unthinkable, but welcome to WCW in 2000.
Other notes from the show: the opening cruiserweight match ending got screwed up because the guy who plays Rection's dad came out 5 minutes early and since his run-in was part of the finish, they had to rush to it early. How does that even happen? Kanyon turned on DDP, making it 3 PPVs in a row that DDP lost because someone betrayed him. In the words of Raylan Givens, "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." I'm just saying, maybe we should start asking why all of DDP's friends keep turning on him. Hogan vs. Kidman was about what you expect: Hogan overcoming all the odds and beating Kidman like a jobber. Ric Flair's entire family got involved in his match with David Flair, including his daughter Ashley (Charlotte) attacking Russo. Vampiro beat Sting in an inferno match, with "Sting" (a stunt double) being set on fire and knocked off the top of the video screen and Dave hated this. And of course, finally, the Goldberg heel turn.
WWF is planning to slowly enact a new rule banning all moves in which a wrestler might land on his head (aside from tombstones and DDTs). The details are still scarce but it would essentially ban all forms of piledrivers, brainbusters, and other back and overhead suplexes. It won't be an immediate change, and wrestlers who use those moves will be asked to move away from them and gradually change their moveset. The idea, of course, is to try to lower the injury risk of guys dealing with neck issues who are working 4 shows a week. Dave talks about major injuries that have happened, particularly the Masa Chono and Steve Austin neck injuries which both came from botched piledrivers and nearly ended the careers of both. No word on why exactly this was decided, but Dave talks about a crazy looking DDT from the top rope that Dean Malenko did to Scotty 2 Hotty at Backlash that scared a lot of people backstage. And of course, there's also the issue with Droz being paralyzed (although that was a freak accident) and things like that. Tazz had already been told to limit his suplexes and wasn't allowed to use some of his more dangerous ones. And Perry Saturn was told to change his brainbuster finisher so he's using an elbow from the top now as his finish.
The New Jersey state assembly passed a bill to regulate "extreme wrestling." It's a bill clearly designed to shut down Jersey All Pro Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling, while not applying to other promotions that operate in the state, like WWF, WCW, or ECW. The bill still has to pass the state senate and the governor (who has come out in support of it) before it becomes law. There's a lot of direct quotes from the bill in here that tries to distinguish between WWF/WCW/ECW and promotions like JAPW and CZW and it's pretty bullshit. Most of the things that are listed as being banned in CZW and JAPW happen regularly in the main promotions too. Dave talks about Jeff Hardy doing dives off ladders in WWF, or New Jack jumping off balconies in ECW. Those would still be fine on those shows, but Jeff Hardy or New Jack went to an JAPW or CZW show and did the exact same thing, it would be banned. Any "extreme wrestling" promoter or wrestler that allows someone under 18 into a show would be subject to a $5,000 fine. Other wrestling promotions can run shows without a license but "extreme" promotions (only CZW and JAPW) have to not only get a license to operate, must notify the public safety director 20 days beforehand to get permission in writing, and a bunch of other shit. It's also subject to a bunch of taxes that the other companies aren't. And the biggest thing is that "extreme" shows must carry medical insurance on all the wrestlers and have 2 doctors and an ambulance on site at all times. For these small companies that only draw a couple hundred fans, that's an expense they can't afford. In short, the entire purpose of this bill is to run JAPW and CZW out of business, or at least out of the state, and it looks like it's likely going to become law.
A&E aired a Biography special on Hulk Hogan and I can already tell this is going to be good. Dave's itching to point out the lies and inaccuracies. In an interesting note, after the show finished filming, they got a negative response from an early screening because they never acknowledged Hogan's role in the current downfall of WCW. So they tacked on a thing at the end mentioning that WCW had declined in popularity due to promoting wrestlers who were too old. Anyway, the rest of the documentary was basically Hogan and his friends and family telling a wonderful tale of fiction. Some of it is nitpicky stuff but others, like Vince McMahon's role in Hogan's success and the 80s boom of wrestling, was completely downplayed. He told a bunch of lies about his past steroid use, basically just that he dabbled in them when it was legal. Of course, none of that's true and Hogan's own testimony in Vince's 94 steroid trial contradicts it, but whatever. Overall, it doesn't sound too bad compared to the tall tales Hogan usually tells, but Dave always delights in nitpicking Hogan's conveniently selective memory.
This week's ratings fun: on Raw, the Crash Holly vs. Gerald Brisco match did double the rating of Nitro's Nash/Goldberg main event, which was Goldberg's first match since turning heel the night before. As soon as Nitro ended, 40% of fans switched over to Raw, which is much higher than the usual number.
NJPW experimented with selling tickets online for a show this week. It was a 17,000 seat arena but since this was an experiment, they only put 2,000 of the tickets online for sale and they sold out within an hour, so needless to say it was a success and they'll probably start doing that more often. Watching the business slowly begin implementing technology and taking advantage of the internet is one of the more interesting parts of doing these Rewinds to me.
There was a big news story in Japan due to a recent incident where RINGS president and former wrestler Akira Maeda attacked Pancrase president Masami Ozaki at a hotel. Ozaki ended up pressing charges against Maeda for the attack. From reports, apparently Maeda lost his temper for some reason and punched Ozaki and threw him into a table. Around the same time, a newspaper article ran with Maeda talking about having a friend in the Yakuza, which seems like a pretty thinly-veiled threat.
A newspaper in Sydney Australia reported that promoter Andrew McManus would be running some shows, including a major show headlined by Dennis Rodman vs. Brutus Beefcake at a 19,000 seat arena. The largest crowd for wrestling in Australian history is around 12,000 for an Andre the Giant match several years back. Word is Rodman will work several shows and will be making 7-figures. Dave is skeptical of this to say the least (turns out it was sort of true. Rodman did end up wrestling one show, headlining against Curt Hennig but I'm sure we'll hear more about it when the time comes).
The FX Network is airing a toughman contest featuring wrestlers against football players. Most of the wrestlers are no named indie guys. The biggest names are XPW's Damien Steele and Mustafa from the Gangstas. The Fox Family channel is currently casting roles for a show called Los Luchadores about a group of Mexican wrestlers (this was a kid's show, only lasted 1 season).
Memphis Championship Wrestling has been taping shows at the nearby Sam's Town casino but because no kids are allowed in the casino, the shows have been basically empty so they're moving them back to an all-ages venue in Memphis. Several of Shawn Michaels' students are expected to start working there soon.
Sable is on the cover of the new Muscle & Fitness. In the article, it described her as "the most popular female athlete in wrestling history" and Dave supposes you could make a case for it. The story also said she can bench 225 and squat 405, to which Dave says he hasn't laughed that hard in weeks.
Dave notes 2 promotions that are apparently starting. One is called Urban Wrestling Federation and is gonna be based on hip-hop and target Spanish audiences and they're bringing in Koko B Ware to build it around. On the other end of the spectrum is the Christian Wrestling Federation, which is wrestling without the vulgarity and sexual stuff and at the end of the show, all the wrestlers return to the ring for a big group prayer. I'm absolutely baffled that neither of these clearly brilliant ideas are still around today.
ECW's Heat Wave PPV will take place in Los Angeles which is the first time the company will attempt a west coast show. Dave thinks it might be interesting since that's XPW territory (boy, I'll say....)
Regarding the incident mentioned last week with Sandman being drunk at a show in Florida and making a scene in the ring, word is it got heated backstage afterward. First, Tommy Dreamer and Sandman got into it physically but were quickly broken up. Then shortly after, Jack Victory and Sandman got into a fight that left Sandman bleeding from a cut above the eye.
Notes from WCW Nitro: we're starting out at peak stupid this week. Commentator Scott Hudson did the entire show shirtless because on Nitro last week, Vince Russo got his shirt torn off and all 3 announcers made jokes about his physique. So Russo thought it would be great to order all 3 announcers do the entire broadcast without shirts to get him over as a heel. Mark Madden and Schiavone apparently refused but Hudson went along with it. They showed Vampiro talking to a mystery man in a robe in a smoke-filled room, who is expected to be revealed as Christopher Daniels. They wanted to name him God or Lord but the Turner standards and practices people shot that down and he still has no name (this ends up going nowhere but yes, it was indeed going to be Daniels before it got forgotten). They also had an idea for Vampiro to set the dressing room on fire and Asya would get burned, to set up a feud with Vampiro vs. KISS Demon (who is Asya's real life fiance). Also, the Millionaire's Club group has been rendered pretty much dead because most of the guys are out. DDP and Flair are on the shelf with injuries. Sting is out ("another vacation, what a great job he has," Dave says) and Luger is, of course, gone after walking out last week over creative differences. They had a bit where Kevin Nash's fake 8-year-old nephew Hunter (3 guesses why they picked that name) gets left with Scott Steiner to babysit and Steiner just leaves him with one of his half-naked women. They did an angle with Vince Russo shaving Ric Flair's head and Dave admits it was a really great angle and really well done (including another run-in by daughter Ashley, aka future Charlotte). But much like everything else in WCW, they left money on the table. This is Ric Flair's trademark hair that he's had for 30 years. They could have turned it into a huge deal on PPV or built up to it or something. Instead, just shaved his head with no notice on free TV. It was a great angle, but it puts all the heat on Russo and the end game is still Flair vs. Russo, which isn't exactly going to sell out arenas. Dave suspects Flair went along with it because he's trying to help David Flair get over but the kid just isn't any good and he's being pushed way beyond his capabilities.
Goldberg was quoted in an AP news story criticizing the direction of WCW. "We are farther away form the kids and closer to pornography. It bothers me. Absolutely. We have a show that has a girl in a bikini in every single segment. I'm not in favor of that. I voice my opinion on everything I have a problem with. We can't shut our eyes on the kids who watch. There is a time and a place for segments where kids can watch with their parents, and we don't have it."
WCW head Brad Siegel called both Bischoff and Russo in for a meeting regarding the 6/7 Nitro rating because everyone was hyping that show up and it was expected to do a bigger rating than it did, but it pretty much flopped and Siegel wanted answers. This Russo/Bischoff team isn't exactly doing great things for WCW, you see.
Christopher Daniels made his WCW in-ring debut at a World Wide taping, losing to Chris Candido in a decent match.
Regarding the incident a couple of weeks ago when a horse almost kicked Terry Funk during a hardcore match, turns out the horse had been traquilized beforehand (Dave believes it had been given PCP) and had also been harnessed. But it still lashed out and kicked Funk when he got too close. Dave points out how we could have seen a tragedy on live TV if the horse had kicked Funk in the head (let's be honest though: getting kicked to death by a horse in a hardcore match would be the most Terry Funk way to die. If you told me that happened, my first response would be, "Yeah that sounds about right.")
Random WCW notes: WCW is once again considering bringing Dennis Rodman back in for some matches, in hopes of getting some publicity out of it. Elix Skipper was in a serious car accident and will be out for a few weeks. Lance Storm's debut has been delayed due to visa issues.
WWF has hired a guy named Stuart Snyder to be the President and COO of WWF. That position used to belong to Linda McMahon but she has been given the new title of CEO while Vince remains Chairman of the Board. Snyder used to work for USA Network and will be helping lighten the workload on Linda. He'll handle more of the day-to-day stuff while Linda will focus on Wall Street and stockholder business. He will report directly to Vince and Linda (not sure how long he was with WWF, but he later became the head of Cartoon Network I believe).
Judgement Day is looking to be around a 1.05 buyrate which will be the lowest WWF buyrate this year (but still, like, 10x the numbers WCW is doing on PPV).
Triple H fought Chris Jericho in probably the best Raw match of the year and Dave actually says that Triple H put on a master class in how to get yourself over, get your opponent over, protect the integrity of the title, and entertain fans all at once. Dave says with a match this good, it's an easy thumbs up for the entire show, even if everything else sucks. Luckily it didn't because Benoit vs. Matt Hardy was really good too. But Dave really heaps the praise on Triple H for this one (yeah, 2000-era Triple H was absolutely on fire before injuries slowed him down and paranoia led to him burying everyone).
Jim Ross sent all the wrestlers a memo saying they can't do anymore media appearances or interviews without office approval. Vince McMahon apparently feels that doing interviews with other media outlets is basically competition for their own website and they want to be in control of when WWF wrestlers talk to the media and what is said publicly.
Random WWF notes: Chyna is doing a fitness video that will be released soon. Billy Gunn is expected back from injury in September. Shawn Michaels may still be used sporadically, but there are no real plans to bring him back for any weekly role.
NCAA heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar signed a WWF developmental deal this week and will start in OVW this summer. Lesnar will be the 3rd NCAA wrestling champion under contract, with the other 2 being Kurt Angle and Sylvester Terkey. Dave talks about the history of NCAA champs in pro wrestling and starts listing names like Verne Gagne, Dick Hutton, etc. He doesn't know about Lesnar or Terkey, but he predicts Angle is going to end up being a top star in this business sooner rather than later (2 out of 3 did okay for themselves. The other guy probably would have done better if his name was Sylvester Ham though).
Giants Stadium in New York and Soldier Field in Chicago have officially been named as 2 of the home fields for upcoming XFL teams.
Curt Hennig's WCW contract expires soon and it's thought that WWF isn't interested. At 42 years old, and after years of being a big star, there's doubt that he would even want to come in and accept a lower card role. They have no plans of pushing him as a focal point of the company and think he might not be easy to work with if they want to use him to put over others. There's also the question of whether WWF would accept Lex Luger back if his current WCW issues lead to him being fired. Henning is still a good worker and while he left WWF on bad terms, they weren't unfixable. Luger, of course, left on the worst terms possible, literally walking out of a WWF house show on Sunday and showing up on WCW Nitro 24 hours later. So it's more likely that Hennig will end up in WWF than Luger, but Dave doesn't seem to think either guy has much of a shot (Hennig returns at the 2002 Rumble. Luger, to this day, hasn't stepped foot back in WWF or even gotten a HOF induction, although he has done a couple of DVD interviews and things like that).
NEXT MONDAY:more on AJPW/NOAH split, WWF/USA trial continues, Vince Russo "quits" WCW again, and more...
List of Las Vegas casinos that never opened Over the years there have been several casinos and resorts planned for the Las Vegas Valley that never opened. The stages of planning may have been just an announcement or groundbreaking.[1][2][3] Asia Resort and Casino Where the Palazzo Casino and Resort currently stands (adjacent to the Venetian Hotel and Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center), an Asian themed casino was proposed but was rejected for the present Palazzo project.[4] Alon Las Vegas A proposed luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip on the former site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, announced in 2015.[5] The project was put in doubt after Crown Resorts announced in late 2016 it was suspending its involvement in the development.[6] Crown announced in December 2016 that it was halting the project and seeking to sell its investment. The remaining partner Andrew Pascal announced he was seeking other partners to proceed with the project. However in May 2017, the land went up for sale.[7] The land was later purchased by Steve Wynn. Beau Rivage Steve Wynn, who had purchased and demolished the Dunes hotel-casino, had originally planned to build a modern hotel in the middle of a man-made lake. He later built the Bellagio with a man-made lake in the front of the hotel.[citation needed] The name was later used by Wynn for a resort built in Biloxi, Mississippi. Caribbean Casino In 1988, a sign for a proposed casino was erected on a fenced vacant lot on Flamingo Road. Standing near the sign was a scale model galleon. For several years, that was all that stood on the property. The empty lot was the source of many jokes by the locals until the ship, which was later damaged by a fire started by a homeless person, was torn down in the 1990s and the lot became the site of the Tuscany Suites and Casino co-owned by Charles Heers, who has owned the property since the 1960s.[8] Carnival In 1990, the Radisson group proposed a 3,376-room hotel next to the Dunes, with a casino shaped like a Hershey's Kiss.[9] Cascada A proposed resort that was to have been built on the site of El Rancho Vegas. The parcel is now partially taken by the Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Las Vegas Festival Grounds.[4] City by the Bay Resort and Casino A San Francisco-themed resort was proposed for the site of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. The project was rejected in favor of the Swiss-themed Montreux, which was also eventually cancelled.[4] Countryland USA A country music-themed resort was planned for construction of the site of the former El Rancho Hotel and Casino. For some years, the El Rancho sign stood with the words "Coming Soon - Future Home of Countryland USA."[10][11] Craig Ranch Station Main article: Craig Ranch Station A Mediterranean-themed hotel-casino for North Las Vegas, proposed by Station Casinos in March 2000.[12] The project faced opposition from nearby residents,[13][14][15] which led to the proposed location being changed to a vacant property on the nearby Craig Ranch Golf Course.[16] Residential opposition to the new location led to the project being rejected by the Nevada Gaming Policy Committee in March 2001. Station Casinos still had the option to develop the project on the initial site,[17][18] but the project was cancelled entirely in July 2001, following a weak financial quarter for the company.[19] Crown Las Vegas Main article: Crown Las Vegas Formerly known as Las Vegas Tower, the Crown Las Vegas was to have been a supertall skyscraper built on the former site of a Wet 'n Wild water park. In March 2008, the project was canceled and the property was put up for sale.[20] Desert Kingdom In 1993, ITT Sheraton purchased the Desert Inn casino, and had announced plans to develop the large parking lot into a Balinese themed resort to complement the Desert Inn. The project was never developed and the site is now the location of Wynn Las Vegas.[4] DeVille Casino After building the Landmark Hotel and Casino on Convention Center Drive and selling it to Howard Hughes, developer Frank Carroll built the DeVille Casino across the street from the Landmark at 900 Convention Center Drive in 1969. Chips were made for the casino (and are sought-after collectibles), but the casino never opened.[21] The building was renovated in 1992 as a race book parlor named Sport of Kings which closed after nine months.[22] It became the location of The Beach nightclub, which was demolished in 2007 to make room for a planned 600-unit tower[23] that was never built.[24] The land sits currently empty. Echelon Place Main article: Echelon Place An announced project by Boyd Gaming planned to have a hotel built on the property of the former Stardust Resort & Casino. Construction was suspended on August 1, 2008 due to the Great Recession. In March 2013, Boyd Gaming sold the proposed site for $350 million to the Genting Group, which is redeveloping the project as the Asian-themed Resorts World Las Vegas. Fontainebleau Las Vegas Main article: The Drew Las Vegas Located on the Las Vegas Strip and originally known as Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Construction began in 2007, and the resort was to include a casino, 2,871 hotel rooms, and 1,018 condominium units.[25] Construction on the $2.9 billion project ceased in 2009, the year of its planned opening. Investment firms Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC purchased the unfinished resort in 2017.[26] In 2018, Witkoff and Marriott International announced a partnership to open the renamed project as The Drew Las Vegas in 2020. The resort will include a casino and three hotels totaling nearly 4,000 rooms, with the condominium aspect removed from the project.[27] Harley-Davidson Hotel and Casino A resort themed after the motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson was proposed, complete with hotel towers shaped like gigantic exhaust pipes, but was never built.[4] Jockey Club Casino The Jockey Club is a condominium and timeshare resort at 3700 Las Vegas Boulevard South. It was planned to have a casino, and chips were made for its use, but the casino was never opened.[28] Kactus Kate's By April 1994, Gold Coast Hotel and Casino owner Michael Gaughan was interested in building a hotel-casino in North Las Vegas,[29] at the northeast corner of North Rancho Drive and Carey Avenue. In January 1995, the city planning commission approved the rezoning of the land for use as a hotel-casino. The resort, to be named Kactus Kate's, would be built by Gold Coast Hotel/Casino Limited. The hotel would include 450 rooms, and the casino would be 105,000 sq ft (9,800 m2),[30] later decreased to 102,000 sq ft (9,500 m2).[31] The resort would be located directly north of the nearby Fiesta and Texas Station resorts.[31] In December 1998, Coast Resorts, Inc. received approval from the planning commission for a use-permit relating to the undeveloped property. In November 2000, the planning commission unanimously approved a two-year extension on the permit, giving the company more time to decide whether it would build Kactus Kate's. Because of a 1999 Senate bill that placed restrictions on casinos in neighborhoods, Coast Resorts had a deadline of 2002 to build the casino. The hotel would measure over 100 feet (30 m) high, and Coast Resorts was required to notify the Federal Aviation Administration of its final plans, due to the site being located less than 1,000 feet (300 m) from a runway at the North Las Vegas Airport.[32] In January 2001, Station Casinos purchased the 29-acre (12 ha) site for $9 million. Coast Resorts president Harlan Braaten said, "As we saw the competitive nature of that area intensify, in terms of the size of competing facilities, we just felt we would have to build something much bigger than we had intended to compete with Texas Station and Santa Fe Station. It was just going to be a very expensive project, and we didn't feel the returns would be that good." Station Casinos planned to sell the property as a non-gaming site.[31] Las Vegas Plaza Main article: Las Vegas Plaza Not to be confused with the Plaza Hotel & Casino. This was to have been modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The project was announced shortly before the demolition of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino, where the new hotel would be built. Las Vegas Plaza was cancelled in 2011 due to the Great Recession. London Resort and Casino This announced project was to have been themed around the city of London, and featuring replicas of the city's landmarks. The project was to be built on land across from the Luxor Hotel and Casino. A second London-themed resort was to be built on the former land of the El Rancho Hotel and Casino. Neither project ever began construction.[4] London, Las Vegas This was a proposed three-phase project using London as its design inspiration. When completed, the 38.5-acre (15.5 ha) property would have featured 1,300 hotel rooms, a casino, a 500-foot-tall (152.4 m) observation wheel named Skyvue (partially constructed), and 550,000 square feet (51,097 square meters) of restaurants and shops — all of which would be architectural replicas of various British landmarks and neighborhoods.[33] The project was to be constructed on land across from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, where — as of November 2019 — the partially-constructed Skyvue still stands. The wheel was to be "Phase I of London, Las Vegas". Montreux Resort This Swiss-themed resort was to have been built on the property of the former New Frontier Hotel and Casino, but was ultimately cancelled.[34] Moon Resort and Casino Proposed by Canadian developer Michael Henderson, this is a planned 10,000-room, 250-acre (1.0 km2) lunar-themed casino resort.[35] Gaming experts doubt it will ever be built in Las Vegas, simply because the space planned for it is too large for the Las Vegas Strip.[4] NevStar 2000 Further information: Craig Ranch Station § NevStar 2000 Proposed by NevStar Gaming in 1998, the NevStar 2000 entertainment complex in North Las Vegas would have included a hotel and casino,[36] but the project faced opposition from nearby residents who did not want a casino in the area.[37][38] The project was cancelled when NevStar Gaming filed for bankruptcy in December 1999.[12] North Coast/Boyd Gaming project In May 2003, Coast Casinos had plans for the North Coast hotel-casino, to be built at the southwest corner of Centennial Parkway and Lamb Boulevard in North Las Vegas. The project would be built on approximately 40 acres (16 ha) of vacant land, surrounded by other land that was also undeveloped. At the time, the North Las Vegas Planning Commission was scheduled to review requests for zoning changes and approvals for the project. The project was not scheduled to be built for at least another four years, after completion of a highway interchange at Lamb Boulevard and the nearby Interstate 15, as well as the completion of an overpass over nearby railroad tracks. Bill Curran, an attorney for the land owner, said, "We're going through the zoning changes now so everybody knows what's going to be out there." The North Coast would include a casino, a 10-story hotel with 398 rooms, a bowling alley, movie theaters, and a parking garage.[39] In June 2003, the Planning Commission voted 6 to 1 to approve preliminary applications necessary to begin work on the North Coast.[40][41] Boyd Gaming, the owner of Coast Casinos, announced in February 2006 that it would purchase the 40-acre site for $35 million.[42] Jackie Gaughan and Kenny Epstein were the owners at the time.[43] Boyd Gaming had not decided on whether the new project would be a Coast property or if it would be similar to the company's Sam's Town hotel-casino. At the time, no timetable was set for building the project.[42] In March 2007, the project was put on hold. At the time, Boyd Gaming had been securing construction permits for the project but decided to first review growth in the area. Construction had been scheduled to begin in mid-2007.[44] In August 2013, Boyd Gaming sold the undeveloped property for $5.15 million.[43] Palace of the Sea Resort and Casino This was to have been built on the former Wet 'n Wild waterpark site. Conceptual drawings included yacht-shaped towers that housed suites, a casino resembling the Sydney Opera House and a 600-foot (180 m) tall Ferris wheel-type attraction dubbed a "Sky Wheel". It never left the planning stages.[4] Paramount Las Vegas A casino and hotel and condo resort with more than 1,800 units that was planned by Royal Palms Las Vegas, a subsidiary of Royal Palms Communities.[45][46] The project was to replace the Klondike Hotel and Casino at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip,[47][45] beside the Las Vegas welcome sign.[48] The resort was approved in October 2006,[45] but an investor pulled out of the project in August 2007, and the land was put up for sale in May 2008.[46] Pharoah's Kingdom Pharoah's Kingdom was planned as a $1.2 billion gaming, hotel and theme park complex to be built on 710 acres (290 ha) at Pebble Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, five miles south of the Las Vegas Strip.[49][1] Construction was approved in October 1988,[49] with Silano Development Group as the developer.[50] The project would have an Egyptian theme, including two 12-story pyramids made of crystal, with each containing 300 suites. The hotel would have a total of 5,000 rooms,[50] making it the largest in the world.[51] The 230,000 sq ft (21,000 m2) casino would include 100 table games and 3,000 slot machines, while an RV park, mini-golf, a bowling alley, and a video game arcade would be located beside the casino area.[52] Three of the project's various pyramid structures would house the 50-acre (20 ha) family theme park. Other features would include sphinxes, man-made beaches, waterways resembling the Nile river, an underwater restaurant, a 24-hour child-care facility, a 100-tenant shopping promenade, and a repertory-style theater that would be overseen by actor Jack Klugman.[52] Additionally, the resort would feature an 18-hole PGA Championship golf course,[52] and a monorail located within the theme park.[50] The project would have one mile of frontage along Las Vegas Boulevard.[52] Frank Gambella, president of the project, stated that financing was in place, with groundbreaking planned for March or April 1989. Gambella said the project would be financed by several entities, with the money coming from a Nevada corporation, suggesting the entities would be grouped together as an umbrella corporation. Gambella stated that the project could be opened by Labor Day 1990. The resort was expected to employ 8,000 people. Following the completion of the resort, Gambella said a complex of 750 condominiums would be built on the land along with 900 retirement-care apartments.[52] The project was cancelled shortly after it was announced, as authorities became suspicious of developer Anthony Silano's fundraising efforts for the project. It was discovered that Silano and his associates hacked into the Switzerland bank accounts of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos following his death in 1989. Silano pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges. Another Egyptian-themed resort, Luxor Las Vegas, would open on the south Las Vegas Strip in 1993.[1] Planet Hollywood Resort (original plans) Not to be confused with the current Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. Originally planned to open in the late 1990s on the site of the Desert Inn, it was to be one of the largest hotels in Las Vegas. Because of the bankruptcy of Planet Hollywood Restaurants, the hotel was never built. However, in the 2000s, a group of investors bought the new Aladdin Hotel and Casino and remodeled it with a modern Hollywood theme.[4] Playboy Hotel and Casino A proposed casino resort themed after Playboy magazine was rejected in favor of a nightclub and suites built at the top two floors of the new Palms tower.[4] The planned location for the Playboy Hotel and Casino, on the Las Vegas Strip, was later used for the Cosmopolitan resort.[53] Santa Fe Valley Main article: Santa Fe Valley Santa Fe Gaming, which owned the Santa Fe hotel-casino in northwest Las Vegas, had plans for a second Santa Fe property in 1996.[54] The Santa Fe Valley would be built on a 40-acre (16 ha) lot[55] in Henderson, Nevada, adjacent to the Galleria at Sunset mall. The start of construction was delayed several times because of poor financial quarters for Santa Fe Gaming,[54] and because of the company not yet receiving financing for the project.[56] Site preparation started in July 1998, with an opening date scheduled for December 1999,[57] but construction never began. In 1999, the property was sold to Station Casinos,[58][59] which sold the land a year later for use as a shopping center.[60] Shenandoah Hotel and Casino A project by Wayne Newton. Although the hotel operated for a short time at 120 E. Flamingo Road, the management was unable to get a gaming license. After years of floundering it was sold to a Canadian company and became Bourbon Street Hotel and Casino. Silver City proposals By January 2000, Luke Brugnara was planning to build a San Francisco-themed resort on the site of the closed Silver City Casino.[61] Brugnara intended to give Silver City a multimillion-dollar renovation, with plans to have a fully operational hotel-casino by 2002.[62] In March 2001, Brugnara's request for a gaming license was rejected.[63] In May 2002, it was announced that Brugnara had sold the casino while retaining six acres located behind the building.[64] In 2003, Brugnara was planning to build a 24-story, 304-room hotel and casino resort on a portion of the Silver City property. The resort, to be named "Tycoon", was to be designed by Lee Linton, with an expected cost of approximately $100 million.[65] Starship Orion International Thoroughbred Breeders (ITB) announced plans to demolish the El Rancho and construct Starship Orion, a $1 billion hotel, casino, entertainment and retail complex with an outer space theme, covering 5.4 million square feet (501,676 square meters). The resort was to include seven separately owned casinos, each approximately 30,000 square feet (2,787 square meters).[66][67] Each potential casino owner was to contribute up to $100 million to own and operate a casino within the complex.[68] The complex would have included 300,000 square feet (27,871 square meters) of retail space, as well as 2,400 hotel rooms and a 65-story hotel tower. ITB hoped to begin construction later in 1996, with a planned opening date of April 1998.[67] Sunrise This was to have been located at 4575 Boulder Highway. Property developer Michael Mona Jr. built the hotel-casino and stated that he was going to break tradition by starting a "casino without a theme". He failed to get an unrestricted gaming license when suspicions arose concerning his associations with alleged organized crime figures. Chips were made for the casino, but were never used.[69] The building was opened as Arizona Charlie's Boulder. Titanic In 1999, Bob Stupak was planning a 400-foot-high (122 m) resort themed after the RMS Titanic, to be built on a 10-acre (4 hectares) property he owned near downtown Las Vegas. The resort would have included 1,200 rooms, 800 of which were to be used for timeshares to help finance the project. That year, planning commissioners rejected Stupak's request to change the zoning to allow for a hotel.[70] The project was later planned for the former site of the El Rancho Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip, but was rejected by the Las Vegas City Council.[4] W Las Vegas Main article: W Las Vegas W Las Vegas was proposed in August 2005, as a $1.7 billion joint project between Starwood and Edge Resorts, with a scheduled opening in 2008. The project would include a 75,000 sq ft (7,000 m2) casino and approximately 3,000 hotel, condo hotel, and residential units.[71][72] The project was cancelled in May 2007, after Starwood pulled out of the deal.[73] Wally's Wagon Wheel Wally's Wagon Wheel was to be developed by Walter Weiss through his company, Magna Leisure Partnership.[74][75] The project was proposed for 2200 South Boulder Highway in Henderson,[76][77] between Wagon Wheel Drive and Roberts Road,[78] near Henderson's Old Vegas western theme park. Manga Leisure Partnership purchased the 15.5-acre property in late February 1988. Weiss, at that time, had tentative plans for a western-themed, 112-room property known then as the Wagon Wheel Hotel and Casino. The Wagon Wheel was expected to cost $15 million, and financing had yet to be obtained for the project, which Weiss expected to open in early 1990.[74] The project, which would include a 55,000 sq ft (5,100 m2) casino, was to be built in two phases.[79] By October 1991, Wally's Wagon Wheel remained unbuilt due to difficulty obtaining financing.[80][76] That month, the Henderson Planning Commission voted to give Weiss more time to make progress on the project. At that time, the project was to include 204 hotel rooms and would be built on 13.30 acres (5.38 ha). Weiss noted that the nearby successful Sam's Town hotel-casino opened with 204 rooms, and he believed his project would be successful if he opened with the same amount of rooms for good luck.[76] By the end of 1992, Weiss had still not acquired financing for Wally's Wagon Wheel. At the time, the project was the largest of five casinos being planned for Henderson. The three-story project was to include 200 rooms, two restaurants, a theater lounge for country and western entertainment, and a large bingo room. Weiss stated that groundbreaking was scheduled for May 1993, with an expected opening in June 1994. The hotel-casino would employ approximately 600 people upon opening.[81] Weiss met with nearby residents to discuss the project, and he had the original design changed to include a larger buffer zone between homes and the hotel-casino. In November 1994, the Henderson Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of Weiss' requested zone change as part of the redesign. The project, at that time, was to include a one-story casino and a four-story hotel with 400 rooms.[82][83] In December 1994, the Henderson City Council rejected Weiss' plans for a 200-foot (61 m) buffer.[84] In July 1997, the unbuilt project received its sixth extension from the Henderson Planning Commission for a use permit and architectural review.[85] In August 1997, the Henderson City Council approved the sixth extension, but denied Weiss' appeal for a one-year extension, instead giving him six months to make progress on the project.[77] Up to that time, $1.7 million had been invested in the project by Magna Leisure Partnership.[86] As of 1998, the project was expected to cost $80 million and employ at least 1,200 people, and the proposed site had increased to 19 acres (7 ha). At that time, Weiss stated that he was close to obtaining financing for the project from a casino operator.[87] The project was never built. Wild Wild West Not to be confused with Wild Wild West Gambling Hall & Hotel. As of 1993, Station Casinos owned a 27-acre (11 ha) site on Boulder Highway with the potential to be developed as a casino. The site was located across the street from Sam's Town hotel-casino.[88] In January 1998, Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. announced plans to purchase Station Casinos, which had intended to sell the land prior to the announcement.[89] By March 1998, Station Casinos was planning to develop a hotel-casino complex on the land, which was occupied by a vacant strip mall. The complex would be known as Wild Wild West, with local residents as the target clientele.[90][89] Crescent's purchase of Station Casinos failed in August 1998, and Station Casinos subsequently slowed its plans to build the project.[91] By the end of the year, the project had received approval from the Clark County Planning Commission for a 273,000 sq ft (25,400 m2) casino and a 504-room hotel.[92] No timetable for construction was announced,[92][93] and Station Casinos had already decided by that point not to start any new projects prior to 2000.[92] Station Casinos sold the undeveloped land for $11.2 million to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in April 2004.[94] World Port In 2000, Howard Bulloch, David Gaffin, and their partner Tom Gonzales transferred ownership of the Glass Pool Inn property to their group, known as New World, with plans for a megaresort.[95] New World purchased several other nearby motels to accumulate a 77-acre (31 ha) parcel located on the Las Vegas Strip and east of the Mandalay Bay.[96] In January 2001, plans were announced for World Port Resorts, a megaresort consisting of hotel-casinos, a convention center and a fine arts facility. The project was to be built on the 77-acre (31 ha property, a portion of which was occupied by the Glass Pool Inn.[96] World Trade Center To have been located at 925 East Desert Inn Road. Leonard Shoen, co-founder of U-Haul truck rental, purchased the property of what had been the Chaparral Hotel & Casino in 1996, renovating it into the World Trade Center Hotel. A gaming license was applied for, but when it was discovered that two of Shoen's closest partners were convicted felons, the application was denied in 1998. He withdrew his application, and died in a car crash in 1999 that was ruled a suicide. Cards and gaming chips were produced for the World Trade Center Casino, but were never used.[97] The property has since been demolished and is now a parking lot, part of the Las Vegas Convention Center Annex. World Wrestling Federation A casino resort themed after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was proposed for a property near the Interstate 15 freeway across from Mandalay Bay. The project never went past the proposal stage.[4] The land where it would have stood is now Allegiant Stadium. WWF also proposed to open the project on the property once used by the Clarion Hotel and Casino, which was demolished in 2015 to become a parking lot. Xanadu In February 1976, the Clark County Commission approved the 23-story Xanadu resort, to be built on the Las Vegas Strip at the corner of South Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The resort would include approximately 1,700 hotel rooms and a casino, as well as convention facilities, a showroom, dining, and indoor tennis courts. The resort was to be developed by Tandy McGinnis – of Bowling Green, Kentucky – and his Xanadu Corporation, and would be built on 48.6 acres (19.7 ha) owned by Howard Downes, a resident of Coral Gables, Florida.[98][99][100] The Xanadu would feature a pyramid design, and was expected to cost $150 million.[100] It would have been the first themed mega-resort. Much information and many artifacts of the project are housed at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas library. The Excalibur Hotel and Casino ultimately opened on the property in 1990.[101] See also Category:Defunct casinos in the Las Vegas Valley List of Atlantic City casinos that never opened
The Mangroves of Bishop's Valley - Chapter Four (Of Six)
[Transcribed from the dictaphone of Flynn VanDeBerg, during his investigation into a murder of a man who's body was dumped in the mangroves of a rural Australian Town] Chapter four - ‘The gateway. 9 rifles.’ I'm thinking more and more about documents; hidden in the dark of the basement, down the stairs, behind the green door in the courtyard at the back of Archbishop Raymond Gubbel's house. I'm convinced there's some piece of information there which holds the explanation of these awful going's on. Tommorrow I will break the lock, search for the answer, today I must lie here in my own bed; reflect, record...then sleep. It's been two weeks since my last recorded journal. It's a Thursday. A great deal has happened in the last fortnight. I can only guess where to begin filling in my readers. I don't know what it was that possessed me to concede to Pheobe, my prejudices against heroine had always been strong. She'd always been civil to me, and I couldn't be cold towards her when she invited me in, confiding in me that the others were out in Oper Bodie for the night. Maybe it was her melancholy loneliness that I understood, or the creepy weather, the eerie sounds and my aching thumb which persuaded me to accept a drink, then stay for a several others. Yeah maybe it was loneliness, or maybe it was something more ; unavoidable attraction, of flames, and moths and.... As I was gathering up the tarot Pheobe had innocently asked me if I was able to do a reading with the dummy cards. Of course I'd told her it was possible, obviously I was keen to try out the new deck in any capacity I could. The wine was flowing steadily again; dangerously. She'd asked me first, if I could do my own reading while she watched, so she knew what she was getting herself in for. I told her that it was considered a dangerous omen to read your own fortune, and that cultured practitioners avoided it; she'd then nervously taken the role of client. 'Shuffle the deck, and think over some predicament', I told her authoritatively. There was a heavy tension between us, not least since the subject of heroin had not yet been broached. We avoided eye contact as she contemplatively allowed the cards to slide around in her slender hands, half closing her eyes. I had an uneasiness doing the reading which wasn't typical of my temperament. I'd never interfered with a layout before, but as soon as she placed down the first card, and I read with terror 'The pointer of the bone' something inside me had triggered, and I slammed my hand over hers. 'Wait!' I said hesitantly, 'I'm supposed to shuffle first.' As I quickly lifted and flicked the cards in casino style my brain was racing delicately, Why had I just felt the need to lie? That wasn't like me. Because of my research today? Because I didn't want to deal Pheobe a bad omen? The second time Pheobe dealt, I didn't interfere; even though once more, something about the arrangement of cards had me siphoning dread. The first card I laid out was the 'Milky Way' card, then Criss crossed on top of it, 'Judgement'. Why the repetition of these two cards again? What could it mean? Pheobe stared at me now, sensing the anxiety in my eyes; 'What does it mean?' She stammered, echoing my thoughts, 'Is it bad?' 'No! Not at all.' I replied recovering, trying to create a more superficial answer than the one I sensed in my terror filled heart, 'It's a metaphysical question you are asking.' I didn't say the words that were truly on my tongue, the words I feared; 'It tells me your question is a broad one, about life, you're seeking ...an answer ...to something profoundly deep, or perhaps you are trying to grapple with the random processes of the universe.' She looked at me, cynical but yearning, as if she knew I was right, but pondered the vagueness of the answer, couldn't any question be considered in that vain? No, not all questions. I laid out four more cards, then flipped them over one by one; Star cross'd lovers, the unlucky bushman. The rainbow serpent, the corroboree. I didn't like the thoughts coming into my mind. But it felt impossible not to play them out now. 'Well?' She asked impatiently. I rubbed my face with apprehensive tenseness; 'The lovers in the past tense, to some degree I feel your question is about yourself, about fate?' 'Don't teeter around' she snapped, 'Obviously it's a question about love. I don't need your interpretation to see that the cards at least are on the ball.' 'Right' I said, wishing I could somehow move backwards in time, instead of forwards to the inevitable pitfall ahead; 'The unlucky bushman rising ...is in direct relationship with your fears.' I said avoiding what I read there, 'But what does it mean?' she hissed. I sighed heavily; 'Uh...it could mean, that there is a male figure who has recently entered your life. A man...a man who is...' 'Is what?' 'Doomed... Perhaps... Doomed...To some unpredictable fate.' Pheobe went silent. I read on, afraid to dwell for too long. 'The rainbow serpent and the corroboree in the future tense...' I said thoughtfully, (as this part at least hadn't clarified completely in my mind); 'There's a meeting place. An event in the future. A perilous meeting...' Pheobe leapt in here, trying to interpret the cards herself; 'A meeting on serpentine road,' she said; 'The man of my affection is fated to a fateful meeting on Serpentine road?' 'No..' I stopped her, my heart pounding, not liking the insinuation; 'I don't think the cards would suggest anything so literal.' 'So what then?' 'I...uh...' I stammered, 'Let me look at the final cards to put it in perspective.' I flipped the final four cards in a vertical row. 'The Gateway', '9 Rifles', 'Fall of the outlaw', 'Ye olde hangman'. Some incalculable misery ran through my blood as I digested the cards before me. First, the uncanny and unwholesome fear came; that in spite of my best efforts and protestation, I was in some sense reading my own fortune, and even more, that there wasn't just the slightest of a hint of the tragic about it. Pheobe just looked at me silently now, her eyes demanded an explanation of the cards dealt. 'To the immediate future, and the conclusion of your fortune,' I said gulping in the back of my throat. 'There is something...something...' 'What?' She said, 'Something bad isn't it?' 'I don't know. Cards can be ambiguous. But the meeting referred to seems to be fated to some foreseeable ill.' 'What do you see?' She persisted. 'I....uh...the gateway. The gateway implies the opening up of some new...' 'Barry's Gateway! That's a place. It's a plateau up in Oper Bodie!' Pheobe yelled, 'Something about Barry's gateway.' 'No. I think you're being too literal. 9 rifles is a force of negativity, something surmounting against you ...or ...the male figure. There is a definite descent, an end to the narrative. A tragic decline to the romance, something....' 'What's the hangman mean?' She asked, 'what's the fall of the outlaw?.' I went quiet, feeling green, I backed away from the cards. Pheobe had sensed it in me. I hadn't resisted at all, happy to take on any escape. She dove towards me and our lips met, the wine was heavy on both our lips, but the heat was irresistible, I felt my eyes close. Before I knew it she had pulled off her loose fitting top, and my hands were running over her soft flesh. What impulse had so overpowered me? I wasn't a creature of such simple persuasion. In the frolicking of our passionate embrace, moving to Pheobe's bedroom; anything had seemed plausible, and with a sense of foreboding on the horizon I so desperately wanted to escape into the present. My pants had been around my ankles as she had thus straddled me. For a long time we warmly melded, thrusting toward nothing but a chemical bliss. When she'd sidled off for a moment I had appreciate the tease, continuing to stroke my hard cock. I hadn't even registered negative emotion as I watched her tie the strap around her arm, and push the syringe over the bubbling spoon. The intoxication was all over me, I'd only asked ; 'Why do you need it?' To which she had seductively whispered; 'Try it. Try it.' And somehow all will power and resistance within me had absconded. I tied the black leather strap on myself, pulling until it was taught and my arm throbbed with lack of blood flow, the pain in my blackened thumb increased and I welcomed the sharp piercing dullness of the needle which heralded a christ-like relief from burden. The instant the chemicals hit my bloodstream I felt the warm thrill of incalculable ecstasy which I had avoided my entire life. The screaming apathy of utter release from the pain of life. I don't recall at what stage in our love-making the hallucinations begun. It all sits fresh in my memory like a dream I've just awoken from. I remember kissing her neck, when I'd noticed something unusual about the birthmark below her collar bone. It pulsed. I'd calmly watched it grow, the laceration glowing like pink neon, as the lips of the wound, pursed and opened up like a budding rose petal. Emitting light. I vaguely remember looking inside that gaping pink hole, and inside the periscope of pink ribbon: viewing objectively a thousand sexual fantasies, bodies writhing over each other in a glorious bright-pink mardigras of lust and life. Cocks sliding in and out of cunts like pistons. Platforms of tits. I must have lost time. It could've been hours later for all I know, as I recall coming to a relative degree of consciousness, slumped against the grimy bedroom wall. The walls were textured like leaves. Wet leaves. Pheobe was not in sight, but I was hallucinating twice as much now. I remember feeling like my body was submerged in water. That the room was filled with ecstasy, like a bath tub, but through some unseen sinkhole --joy was slowly draining. Something had alerted me to the sensation in my penis, and I had looked down, initially seeing Pheobe's dainty hand rubbing furiously up and down. But then I'd looked, surprised by the change; and what I saw when I looked down first succeeded the paranoid half of the trip. Instead of a dick, all I could see when I looked beneath was a wet, muddy mangrove stalk, pulsating wildly and dribbling at the end. The floor was all mud now. That was all I could see from wall to wall, my mangrove stalk throbbed and gibbered. The mud bubbled and spluttered. I sat there, like a tree submerged in the water for I don't know how long. I knew that all joy had fled, but still there was something darker that permeated everything. I remember my black hand, behind like tree roots that wound down into the earth. Thumb was like the night sky. The pain was mere being. There was a laptop on the dressing table. I stared at it for half an hour at least. The light of the screen, wavy digital lines warped by my viewpoint. There was a meaning I couldn't grasp. The plant thing stumbled back into the room now. Wet branches for legs, it rustled with leaves, slinking like a dragging branch. The plant lady straddled me, rubbing itself over my trunk. I don't remember how I got home. I know that I lay in bed for hours before the trip subsided. I know that the peak terror came traversing the dark path from Pheobe's house to mine. I still can't think over it clearly as I lay here in bed. Was any of it real? Pheobe and I have continued casual encounters. I may be mildly addicted to heroin. I've spent a great deal of time with Norah and David, we are becoming good friends, though the whole group's foundations appear to be built upon quicksand, in some ways we are all tip-toeing around glass, aware of some inevitable looming catastrophe in our self funded addictions. I believe David and Pheobe may have had previous sexual relations. There is a tension there, although I sense that their passion was extinguished some time ago. We've had some intense and deep conversations as a group ; about the meaning of life, the nature of reality, love, existentialism and death. I see something in David that I failed to recognise in myself previously, now I can't help but sense it constantly. He is looking for something, the same thing I've always been seeking myself, some grand join the dots; a map of information to collate the puzzle pieces of history, philosophy, science, psychology, art, knowledge, the world and the self ; somehow unite it all under a colossal shadow. To recognise a faceless demon of truth who haunts the living with its indescribable yet terrible form. Something... something... More abrasive run-ins with the locals. There is a constant threatening air amidst their kin; only mildly masked by passive aggressive mockery. David and Pheobe have given me deeper information about the local fraternities but that puzzle may have to wait till later. Pheobe told me the truth about how she got her 'birthmark'; I don't know if I'm ready to share that information yet either. My agent called me last Wednesday. That was an odd conversation. I only met Jaycen Briars once, but he seemed like a nice gentleman. Jaycen was the artist who was supposed to be working on the tarot project. It would have been, if successful, referred to as the Briars/VanDeBerg deck I suppose. I can't pretend I wasn't shocked when Vicki told me that Briars had shot himself in his home; and wouldn't be working on the project anymore, I didn't know the man well enough to be devastated, but it certainly had an effect on me. Jaycen and I had brief conversations online via snap chat. I'll probably miss his funeral, which is a shame. It's a tragic waste of a rare talent. I hope there is nothing correct in my suspicious nature which wants to see something more in this tragic event than a horrid, but accidental, waste of life. It seemed to pass very quickly and conveniently that Davo would subsume the role of artist. Actually it had partially been my idea. The agent thoroughly embraced it. David has also jumped at the opportunity. He was already painting large images of the tarot cards on the walls of the old hospital-- last I left him --on Monday. His picture of 'The unlucky bushman' is quite haunting, taking all the qualities of the rider Waite 'fool' card and adding some unique Australian menace, he perfectly captured the crackled bushland, in that arid cruelty, something akin to Sydney Nolan's outback and drought series. Weeks in the library have gotten me no closer to revelation. Chelsea has curiously not been working, her replacement is a sullen old man who never says a word, and watches me with his squinty eyes; through cloudy spectacles. I dare say I have grown extremely paranoid. I never leave the house without taking Gubbel's shotgun from the wall above the fireplace. I've taken to hiding ammunition in random places; my bag, the car. I took the gun out just last Tuesday, determined to see more of the sacred indigenous sites. I have already seen 'The crown of the shadow King' and a great many other remarkable artworks in the surrounding caves. The usual congregation of hard boiled men collect themselves up town. They stare at my car, going to and from the sacred places, of course. I've taken to clutching the old double barrel, even as I wander around the sun damaged bushland near the cave sites. Sometimes I sense men tracking me. I have seen men with suits and fedoras congregating at odd locations during my walks. Often I've cocked my gun, pointed it nervously, as the sound of twigs breaking under hard shoes pursues me. The paths to and from the cave sites are almost always second rate, overgrown, and clearly neglected by men for some time. I've often had to bushwhack through hard scrub, sometimes hacking my way through miles of dry wood, in the surrounding fields of ash grey, burnt out banksia trees, the crackling fingers snap off at the touch. Surreal towers of rounded red stone, mark the indigenous defensive spiritual barrier towers. There appears to be a parasite or virus affecting the gum trees on the northern end of town. Most are ridden with a thick purple moss, the insides often festering, mulched leaves rotting in piles upon the dirt. I have also had to endure chastisement from stinging nettles, and heavy set briars which pierce through the flimsy material of my pants. The rewards have been supple. The sacred art suggests an intricate paranoia to the Warriwul not usually allowed 'primitive' societies. The painterly mathematical diagrams at different locations around the valley form a complex equation about the slow degradation of the Warriwul way of life. It's almost as if they saw the downfall of their culture before it happened, and though they knew the presence of white man marked their extinction; their calculations are much more aligned with the terror of whatever spiritual threat they perceive as occupying or emanating from the mangroves. Most disturbing. More disturbing still, was today as I was wandering down the trail between the library and Aviary paddock; I had been petrified by a gun shot. Diving onto the lumpy, gum-nut covered dirt and clutching the shotgun, I couldn't see a damned thing through the walls of twisting bushland on either side of me. I know the gunshot had been fired nearby; above my head from the sound of it. I don't think the shot had been fired at me, but I do believe it had been intended to threaten me. It had been my object to explore Oper Bodie and Murro vale sometime in the coming week, and the morning gunshot had been enough to fast track the idea. I returned home to get the car. Pheobe was there on my verandah with Norah, getting high, I didn't tell them about the gunshot; staving off chit chat, and explaining my intention to travel to Murro Vale. No, I didn't want Pheobe to come, I told her, it would be too distracting to my important work. An odd feeling returned to me as I drove uptown. Ever since the fateful tarot reading with Pheobe; the night before we first made love, I have been afraid of Pheobe's curious over intellectualisation of the cards. Her predictions of her lovers downfall, a fateful meeting at Serpentine Road, and some mystery at Barry's Gateway ; all had me over analysing everything. Was I the lover who had been foretold of in Phoebe's cards? Had I predicted my own doom? Serpentine road was the only way in and out of Town, and knowing I had to traverse it to get to Murro Vale ...had already made me cautious to go. What if this grave foretold meeting ...came true? As usual, the townsmen were all gathered around the shops on Prime Street. Today they had seemed particularly testosterone fueled. With their backs to the street, they were mobbing raucously around the doctors surgery for some reason, obviously clammering to look at something inside. I could hear Bruce laughing boisterously from within. Keen to get out of this suffocating town for a few hours, yet highly curious as to what the men were doing, I cautiously slowed down my car to suss out the brouhaha. I had never paid attention to the surgery previously and now found myself analysing the strange building, with its archaic blue communist-style logo, and deco trimmings. There was an old style sign near the side alley which read; 'Cameron Bane and A. Tasman.' Who I suppose were the town surgeons. But then, to my utter perplexity I observed their specialist titles beneath - 'bio-sculptor' ; 'skin resurfacer'.. Now... What on earth was a bio-sculptor? And why would a small town like this need anyone remotely aligned with that profession? Two of the men had noticed me now, and turned to face the car, walking towards me. I was tempted to drive off but didn't want to draw excess attention to myself. I recognised the men, they were men I had been aquainted with in the last couple of weeks. One was Clancy Digston, he was a hired muscle man from out of town, I believe he worked for Banjo, (the town figurehead). The other was Gazza AKA ‘mudslide’. The other men apparently referred to Gary as 'mudslide' because he comes from Murro-vale, and near ties to an aboriginal lineage 'through a rape'. 'Hello Flynn,' said Digston threateningly, 'Come to hang around some real men 'av ya? Sick of your dead beat junkie mates already? It's the dogsballs isn't it, being a no good nick, eh?' 'You better get out of this town VanDeBerg if you know what's good for you. ' Gazza re-affirmed like a ten dollar lackey. 'Even mudslide wants you gone you old coon. What do you think of that?' 'I'm already on my way,' I said firmly, '...off to Murro Vale. Sightseeing'. 'Snoopin' around again? You've got some nose on ya mate. Be careful where you go stickin' your nose into around here. We don't want no snoop Dogg in these parts. Here me matey-o? That's the sort of mutt --ought to be send straight to the pound. Ya git me? Now. Piss off ya dog.' A feeling of loathing burrowed into me as I slowly drove away, as Digston came at me with a few more slurs of encouragement, his face red with hatred; yelling at the carboot. The winding bends of Serpentine road were not as ominous as I feared. At least they were clear of human life, dumb cows in fields; anything seemed soothing after you were out of the presence of those rednecks up town. It wasn't a long drive into Murrovale, and it occurred to me I really had no plan of where to visit. There weren't many sacred sites in Murro Vale, and I wandered if my reason to explore wasn't entirely based on getting out of Bishop's Valley for a day. As I drove into town, those familiar dull factories and industrial warehouses came into view. It wasn't as ugly as the first time I viewed it. With the big purple mountain behind it...It was difficult for the scene to be made completely ugly. Even with all the wasteland of industrial ambition. The town seemed busier than last time I had driven through it, the hustle and bustle of rusted country cars surrounded. The men who peered from car windows looked no less sinister than the brawny men who hung around Bishop's Valley shops all day. In my rear view mirror I received another uneasy jolt. I recognised the car behind me. It was the grey Nissan Pulsar that had been parked at the library two weeks ago. It was definitely the same car, I remembered the licence number; TYZ 999. What was the car doing out here in Murro Vale? Was somebody following me? I couldn't get a clear image of the driver. He had scrappy brown hair, maybe a hair-piece, and he was wearing dark sunglasses. He was trailing me at a distance, moving out of sight whenever I slowed or parked. I wanted to get out of sight for a while, see if the man in the pulsar would give up, so I stopped at a public observation area. There was a steep incline through a bush path which led up to the observation green. Some kind of viewing spot. I figured if I blew some time here the guy in the car might lose interest in my tourist activities. Quickly I staggered along the trail, a pile of twisted broken wood, a dead tree, a pagan essence following me up, I stopped on the flat, overgrown grass, out of breath. I hadn't expected anything eventful to occur up the hill, however, the view point gave an excellent vantage to see Murro Vale. A sprawl of tin roofs, brick houses and smoking factory chimney's ; lay over the horizon like an oversized industrial cemetery. But my eye was drawn particularly to one area of interest in the bushland beside a nearby factory. There was a procession of men engaged in apparently sinister activity. About twenty men in suits, labouring in a way their attire didn't necessitate. They were moving some type of goods, dragging heavy sacks from one place to another, loading the giant brown mesh bags into a commercial truck whilst others looked on and directed. There was a large hall nearby their location, I could tell by its architecture it was a niche hall, not a corporate place. Some of the men were leaving the lodge, whilst others loaded the trucks. For some reason I resolved to investigate, sliding carefully down the grassy hill, being careful to stay behind the bushes, out of sight. I think I could just make out what the men had been loading into the bags, because there was a mound of something not quite right to the far side of the grass clearing. From the looks of things, the men were cleaning up from an event which had occurred earlier. Clambering over the shrubbery, I continued my descent to comprehend the strange scene. I had to tread carefully. Since I'd been taking the junk, I'd noticed some odd side effects. I'd never hallucinated sober, but I had starting getting a hazy, purple discolouration to my vision sometimes of late. Occasionally my eyes blurred, and I couldn't see well. I still couldn't tell what the light brown mound was. The men carrying bags had all but left now, and one of the big trucks had started up its engine. Something convinced me it was safe to enter the open field. Bile rose in my throat as I realised what the pile of fresh bodies was, of the same matter as those dangling slabs of meat nailed to the trees. Massacred kangaroos. I'd hopefully assumed some sort of butchery for consumption, but the dressing of the men, and the way they loaded the carcasses in brown bags into trucks. Something was not at all right in this arrangement. I quickly scaled the walls of the hall, in case the men returned to retrieve more kangaroo corpses. I wonder where the trucks were taking the corpses? I could hear male voices talking now; but one of the trucks was definitely departing along the road, out front. Slowly moving along the other side of the building, I tried to examine what the strange hall was. The building had an almost religious quality. Like a modern Protestant church in its functionality, but with more trimmings. Almost an air of Scientology about it. Ominous closure of a kind was brought when I noticed the strange symbol of a chess bishop upon the balustrade. The same one imprinted on the old library book I had borrowed. Moving stealthily like a jaded private investigator, I made my way further around the side of the lodge; hoping to find some more useful clues as to the buildings purpose. There was a partition of the building, which extended out, upon which was an open window. Maintaining a low altitude I strafed along the wall until I could get a narrow view inside. Slowly raising my head, I found myself looking into a room, empty of people ; lights off. In the darkness, I could only vaguely deduce the shapes of a filing cabinet, a safe, and metal shelves. The voices out the front of the building made me hesitant to break and enter, but with a little optimism, I noticed a bound leather folio on the table just below the window. With a small bit of flexibility and cunning, I was sure I could reach it through the opening. Red in the face from flexing muscles; on tip toes, my arm stretched as far is it could, the hard wooden frame dug into my under arm, but successfully I grasped the book and retrieved it. I fled, hurriedly, back into thick foliage, paranoid I might be seen. Not stoping to read the book, I concealed it beneath my coat, then with wilderness cunning; I hurriedly ascended the hill I had come down, maintaining in the shadows of the shrubbery, scarpering to return to the viewing plateau. Top of the hill. Scanning the horizon, and convinced I had gotten away with my theft, I returned to the path that led back down to my car. At the bottom. I couldn't see the man in the grey Nissan Pulsar, and eager to keep it that way, I placed the book on the passenger seat of my car and engaged the throttle. Within a minute I was back on the road, uncertain of my destination, heart beating in my chest from the thrill of my crime, but moreover from the brash red iconography that stared up at me. There it was again. shining blasphemously; the all too familiar, 'red seal'. On the cover of the book. I knew i had to pull over and browse the book somewhere. But no sheltered parking spot seemed to reach out. I drove in through the industrial end of Murro Vale, until I reached a quiet street, with an odd assortment of run down shops. There was an out of the way parking spot, behind a tall, twisting blue-gum. Turning the ignition key off, I immediately grabbed the leather journal and flipped through it. It was another odd corporate record of some kind. For the most part it was nothing more than a list of names and numbers, my lungs collapsed in a disappointed exhalation of warm air. Flipping from page to page, I was daunted by the mundane cryptically vacant notes. Then I stopped and shuddered. I recognised some of these names. There! J. Briars. What was Jaycen doing listed in this curious account keeping book? I searched the listing under his name. 'Termination of employment'. Then another! P. Rimbaud. That was Pheobe's name. There was a tick next to her name under the title 'Bishop's Head'. N. James. D. Arnesto. That could be Pheobe and David! C. Hersch. I'll bet a million dollars that's Chelsea, the librarian. She said herself she was employed by an agency named RedSealRecruit, though I only just now made the correlation. I wondered how the 'Red Seal' corporation were linked to Blacklab, my publisher. My name was in the book too. 'F. VanDeBerg. Scheduled for Relocation.' This had given me much to think about. Hiding the book in my glove box, I exited the vehicle, choosing to browse the quaint old antique store opposite; to give my brain space to think, and to keep looking natural, just in case I was still being observed. The shop was called 'Alderman's little junk shop', in the window were various vintage anomalies; a giant polyester statue of 'Blinky Bill' the classic Australian cartoon koala, A cardboard cut out of Ned Kelly (legendary Austrslian bush ranger). An array of vintage police rifles. Unavoidably, my eyes scanned, counting them. Four. Eight. Nine. There were nine rifles. My thoughts were racing as I entered the store. Primarily in regards to what Pheobe had told me about how she had gotten the mark on her neck. All the input of my senses suggested that there was something sinister happening, orchestrated by this red seal company. But what? Rows of colonial pottery, jolly men's faces with pink noses, governor's hats and whiskey bottles in hand. Then there were Asian and Pacific Islander masks, Tikki and tribal sculptures. Some authentic indigenous spears. None of this did anything to sedate my fears, or provide me answers. I started to feel altogether queasy. Claustrophobic in Murrovale, my resolve was to quickly drive up the ridge and scope out Oper Bodie before sunset. The owner of the antique store scowled menacingly as I left through the strings of hanging beads, a ringing bell marking my exit. But before long I was back out on the road, leaving the putrid pollution and slums of Murrovale, and winding back into the stark country road North Westwards, into the humble mining town. The view towards Oper Bodie was altogether beautiful, rich bushland skirting the lower half of the other ranges of the valley. Blue's and purples and reds collected in a moving impressionist painting as the sun slowly rested its head against the mountain, ready for sleep. I'm ashamed to admit, but certain urges had begun to take afternoon liberties with me, right now I was stinging for relief. For a fix. As I scanned the tattered map on the passenger seat beside me, looking for a more uninhabited region of Oper Bodie to take a quick pit stop, one particular landmark stood out to me, impressed upon my brain; 'Barry's Gateway.' It was only five minutes down the road from where I was, and before I knew it -- I'd arrived at the remarkable bushland reserve; lush native banksia trees furtively lined the outskirts of the park. Further up on the hillside, the quaint rooftops of residential properties were observable, but there was no sign of life in Barry's Gateway except for the old Barn on the far side of the park. I looked nervously around, to make sure I was alone, then untying the ribbon on the black velvet purse, I removed the syringe and a small saddie. It's amazing how quickly habit becomes second nature, before long I had a lighter burning under a used stainless steel spoon. The tension of the strap was jubilation. I felt my heart accelerate as the point of the needle pierced my vein. Then, my memory fogs somewhat. There was the part where I stumbled out of the car to look at the sunset. Orgasm running through my blood, and heat in my pink cheeks, I'm quite sure I stood on the grass at The gateway for a long time. The hallucinations had come to me again in droves. They were positive at first. It was almost like a 70's musical, in the pastel colours of the sunset, I'd envisioned thousands of naked, dancing bodies. Life celebrating itself, dancing in an orange heaven; happy memories waltzed around in the refracting light whilst I'm quite sure ; 'Let the sunshine in' had begun to play on invisible loud speakers inside my ears. But as the coloured disk of daylight had actively fell behind the mountain, as heat dissipated and night stretched out it's arms... Panic and sorrow returned to me. I felt that sensation again, of joy slowly draining away with the night sky. I began to think too much, the story of the massacre at Barry's gateway began to occupy my thoughts. The slaughter of the indigenous population here was horrible enough, but there was something about the murder of 2000 convicts by the gentry of Bishop's Valley that disturbed me even more. Racism could at least be negated to bigotry, ignorance, scape goating. But who were these men ; who so loathed humanity, race, class, gender ; meant nothing to them. These men scared me more than all others. Men who were colourblind, yet homocidal, psychopathic, having no empathy, yet desiring power, dominion over other men. I think I fell asleep on the grass. Merging with paranoid dreams of flowing interconnected serpents of nature, art nouveau tentacles stretching through everything, life and nature, a patchwork quilt of an unknown yet sinister design. I believe I reached some sort of spiritual endarkenment, out there on the grass at Barry's gateway, Oper Bodie. Gazing up at the stars. My consciousness became one with the valley. I became Bishop's head. All the time, I felt the ego conflict with tomorrow, as though the place itself wanted to erase my new memories, so it could awake to some purer daylight tomorrow morning. In the car, a procession of hallucinations followed me home. Flying along beside the car. It was as though invisible alien life forms had always been occupying dimensional spaces beside me, but only now had I been able to grasp their function in the ecosystem of time, weaving destiny, inhabiting separate dimensions like reality amphibians. The strange orbs, with skin textured like testacles, may have been the ones digging those holes, I thought, insanely. Their spindly appendages seemed well acquainted to cutting and digging. Eventually I accepted that nothing was actually there outside the car, as I sobered up and arrived home. The hallucinations had abated but my troubled mind had not. I've been laying in bed for hours now, unable to sleep or calm my racing thoughts. I need to know what happened to the Honi line of bishops and to what extent the Gubbel men were involved. There must be some explanation, some link between the red seal company and the replacement of local figureheads. I can still hear the trucks, driving in and out of town, and parking down on the Southern boat ramp. I know what they are doing. I know that they are dumping that kangaroo meat down on the mangroves, but I still can't understand why. The answers are in Gubbel's basement. They must be. Tomorrow I'll have the answers. Audiobook available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVWQ8g_1tSw&feature=youtu.be Chapter Five - https://www.reddit.com/libraryofshadows/comments/6j0e0t/the_mangroves_of_bishops_valley_part_five_of_six/
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