From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton - 11/19/95 Date: 1995/11/19 Message-ID: Sender: ag725@freenet2.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Since I'll be spending an hour or so online tonight recapping Survivor Series, I'm squeezing "The News from Dayton" in earlier in the day... not *too* much to report, this week. First, here is the stuff from Alex Marvez's weekly DDN column: * Headline for the column is "Diesel unlikely to survive 'Series'", so I think you can figure out what the lead item is. Basically, Marvez runs down why it is very likeley that Bret walks out of SS as the champ; declining buyrates, miserable house show attendance figures, his "weakness as a grappler," etc... however, Marvez also theorizes that Bret could be in for only a 4 month reign, or so, since Shawn Michaels could well take the belt at WM12. * Ahmed Johnson is really getting over with the fans; he is heading for a program with Davey Boy Smith after tonight. [Hmmmm... remember that lame Muscleman feud a couple years back with DBS vs. Warlord (and all the DUDs it produced)? It's the same basic premise, I bet, but for some reason, this should be a lot more fun.] * WWF will have a Monday Night RAW taping in Cincinnati on February 19, 1996. Tickets are already on sale. I don't think I'll fart around waiting for comps on this one... I'll just buy a damn ticket. * "The Giant" Paul Wright was discovered when he attented a WCW card as a fan this Spring. Although he had virtually no experience, Jimmy Hart spotted him, and figured with his passing resemblance to the late Andre, he could make Wright a superstar. If this little anecdote is true, it explains a *lot* of WCW's problems with finding and grooming young talent. Stuff from AOL and elsewhere: * King Mabel and Sean Waltman (the former 1-2-3 Kid?) both had chats ealier in the week, and both were pretty interesting. Mabel talked about how he is only 24 (!), and looks forward to being around a long time. He also was willing to break kayfabe a little bit by saying that he and Shawn a friends, and that if he'd been with Shawn in Syracuse, things would have been different. All in all, he mixed sticking to his gimmick and being fairly open in an more-interesting-than-usual fashion. * The Kid's chat was super. He talked about how aligning himself with DiBiase was not anything against Razor, it was just a move for himself. Didn't try to build cheap heat, or anything by calling Razor a chump. He said that now he's with DiBiase, we'll see a different style from him. He said that "people who trade tapes from Japan" will already be familiar with the new style; whatever that means. He also talked a bit about his high-risk arsenal, and how he's changed over the years. Now, Waltman says he doesn't put his body in the hands of others as much, but does moves that are still entertaining, but which he has control over. Makes sense... Kid also said DiBiase is working on getting the Kid into Survivor Series. This was confirmed on the Action Zone. [My guess would be that the Kid is plugged into the "Bodydonna" team, taking Tom Pritchard's place... I can see the heels going over HUGE, maybe even winning 4 guys to 0, in the match.] * Also on the Zone, Jim Ross once again split his "Ross Report" between dissecting the Bret/Diesel match in a very realistic, professional, and insightful manner and hyping the women's match. This week, Aja Kong got a big push; Ross drew some comparisons to Blayze's feud with Bull Nakano, then intro-ed Kong as an even more impressive force. He did a minute or so of Aja highlights while hyping an impending Alundra/Kong feud. At least, that's the impression I got. * Finally, one more tidbit from AOL. In addition to the already hyped Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart match for the 11/20 RAW, the Kid will also face Hakushi. Kids, I hate to sound like that chump "Mongo" McMichael, but if you miss this show, you must be a few cards short of a full deck. Yeah, I know Nitro has Hogan/Sting, but you'll obviously get an inconclusive finish there that leaves you wondering why you spent an hour on WCW... when you could have seen 2 **** matches on that OTHER channel. I won't dog anyone who feels they've been burned on WWF PPVs recently, and won't order them anymore (even if Survivor Series looks like champ on paper), but tommorrow night on (relatively) free TV... well, with Shawn/Owen and Kid/Hakushi, you better have a damn good excuse for doing something else. And that is the end of my terribly biased pro-WWF prosyletizing; at least until it's time to post my SS review. Later... -- Rick Scaia | "Barkeep... Run as you may, you cannot escape! | Another whiskey!" ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | - The Infamous BlueKid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------