From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton, 7/1/96 Date: 1996/07/01 Message-ID: <4r7m65$eju@freenet-news.carleton.ca> Sender: ag725@freenet6.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Back to the usual format... at least for a while. We'll start with the Dayton Daily News version of Alex Marvez's "hot news": * Lead story concerns the super week WCW had last week. In addition to Nitro scoring a half-ratings point victory over a live, post-PPV RAW, the Nitro replay set a new record for viewership, as well. On top of all that, WCW scored what has to be termed a minor victory in a Connecticut courtroom last Monday; while the judge did not find in WCW favor, he did *not* grant TitanSport the restraining order it desired. For the time being (until mid-July), WCW will be able to continue with its current handling of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. However, when hearings resume, the judge will allow Titan to continue to build its case, and WCW's guilt/innocence and any damages will likely be decided then. This essentially means that while WCW may eventually be found guilty of some decpetive acts, nothing will stop them from continuing to build to the Bash at the Beach PPV main event, pitting the "invading" team against three WCWers. * Alex next runs down highlights of the ECW Arena show from last weekend (Hardcore Heaven '96)... Tommy Dreamer going through *four* stacked tables courtesy of a Brian Lee, the angle bringing Sandman's ex-wife and son into his feud with Raven, and another appearance by Bluedust are all mentioned as things to tune into at 2a.m. on Friday nights for. * Another mention is made of ECW wanting to run a tour through Cincinnati, Dayton, and Indianapolis this fall. * In addition to Alex Marvez's Dayton Daily News column (appearing every Sunday, and summarized here in violation of many copyright laws), Alex is moving into several other forums. He has begun a folder in the Grandstand Sports area of America Online ("Hot News with Alex Marvez"), and is available by e-mail at "Alex1Marv@aol.com". Alex has also just started an info line, 1-900-285-3940, $0.95 per minute, must be 18 to call -- this is not a plug, merely info for your perusal; I, for one, chose not to patronize 900-numbers as a matter of principle, but do not discourage you from testing their worth for yourself. Finally, Alex will be starting his own WWW site soon; details will follow. In addition to Alex's column, other online sources (mostly AOL) have provided me with the following info, which I now share with you: * The big non-Dayton Daily News story is in regards to the possible departure of the Ultimate Warrior from the WWF. All last week, after TV tapings on Monday and Tuesday, Warrio no-showed all his appearances at midwest house shows. He was announced at those shows as having had "transportation trouble," and was replaced by Ahmed Johnson (who had to pull double duty to face both Goldust -- his sceduled opponent -- and Owen Hart -- Warrior's opponent). At these shows, Shawn Michaels' main event matches against Vader ended with 2-on-1 attacks by Camp Cornette, with Ahmed coming to the rescue. This policy changed last night... At a Saturday night house show in Detroit, MI, the Warrior no-showed (fans were told that Warrior refused to come to Detroit) again. Owen Hart came to the ring, demanding the ref award him a win over Warrior via forfeit. However, it was announced at that time that Owen would have to wrestle later in the night against a surprise replacement, "Psycho" Sid Vicious. In the final match before intermission, Michaels again defended against Vader, with another Camp Cornette attack bringing Ahmed Johson to the ring; this time, however, all three Cornette associates were present, opening the door for Sid to also come to the resuce of Michaels and Ahmed. With Sid thus established as a face, he essentially squashed Owen Hart in their match later on. Clearly, Warrior no-showing a series of shows may not be grounds for speculating about his departure; in addition to his less-than-professional attitude when it comes to honoring his agreements, it has also been said that Warrior may be suffering from a shoulder injury that has grown much worse in the last week. However, the insertion of Sid as a surprise babyface in the Shawn/Cornette feud bodes ill, IMODO. This leads to the strong possibility that Sid is being groomed to fill in for Warrior at the next PPV. On top of all this, Wade Keller is reporting that Warrior has, indeed, left the promotion following a Friday meeting with Vince McMahon. I never thought I'd be looking at Sid as a step up in the talent department, but that is the case here, IMODO; he's certainly not god's gift to graps, but he's a more entertaining figure to me. However, I don't believe that the miniscule gain that may be made by Titan in the talent department by swapping Warrior for Sid is justified when you consider the huge loss of name appeal the WWF loses with Warrior. It is extremely significant to remember that part of Warrior's contract to return to Titan was the signing over of the Ultimate Warrior name and gimmick to Jim Hellwig himself; he can now go anywhere and do anything with the Ultimate Warrior character. * Details on the pending lawsuit TitanSports vs. Turner Broadcasting: the WWF contends that its talent (the suit uses the word "genius") in creating successful characters for its contracted athletes to protray is an integral part of its business, and that WCW is infringing on its rights in regards to two of those created characters. TitanSports holds the exclusive rights to the trade names of "Diesel," "Big Daddy Cool," and "Razor Ramon," but not to "The Bad Guy." They contend that the WCW on-air attitude of suporting the "we can't call these guys by name, but everyone knows who they are" school of thought is decpeptive, as it is meant to convince the viewing public that Nash and Hall are something other than paid workers of WCW. Also, WCW Hotline outtakes are presented where Gene Okerlund plainly refers to the two invaders as "Big Daddy Cool" and "The Bad Guy." Finally, Titan contends that Bischoff would not have felt the need to even ask Hall and Nash if they were still in the WWF unless he felt he had acting deceptively previously in the angle. [Surprisingly, the more I read of Titan specific complaints, the more I think they might just have an outside shot at winning something in court. The full -- or at least the majority of -- the complaint was posted here on RSPW yesterday, and I found it to make a lot more sense than I would have anticipated.] And as reported above, no restraining order was granted, but Titan can continue to build its case until court dates set for after WCW's BatB PPV. * From reports in Cleveland (site of SummerSlam '96), the card for SummerSlam includes: - Shawn Michaels vs. Vader - Ahmed Johnson vs. Owen Hart - Undertaker vs. Mankind - Warrior vs. Bulldog - Marc Mero vs. Goldust - Steve Austin vs. Jake Roberts - Four Team Elimination Match for Tag Team Title: Gunns vs. Godwinns vs. Bodydonnas vs. New Rockers * Alex Marvez was not around much on-line this past week, as he snuck off and got himself married. Everybody together now, "Congratulations, Alex!" He still snuck in long enough on AOL to opine that Pillman always showing up around the same times as Austin may not be coincidence, as the two are legit close friends and Austin may be there to make sure no idiot fan tries anything while Pillman is still hurt. * Also, Barry Windham may be looking to sign on with New Japan according to Alex. * More speculation from Alex suggests that the WWF would prefer that Skip and Sunny break-up in their real-life relationship, despite their plans to get married later in the year. The locker room situation for the couple is not good, I guess, and Skip is happy to have his old buddy Jimmy Shoulders (Cloudy) backing him up just in case things would ever get out of hand. * The Giant no-showed one or two of WCW's east coast house shows because he was off filming a movie with Arnold Schwartzeneger. * In case you've been slacking of on your PPV buyrate scorecards... the WWF has banged out two 1.0+ buys this year, with Rumble doing a 1.1 and WM12 pulling an impressive 1.7. The three In Your House events thus far have garnered a .77 (Hart/Diesel cage match), .7 (Michaels/Diesel), and .45 (beware of weather... this number suppossedly includes loss of viewers due to refunds/etc. that came out of the weather problems). No word on KotR yet. So far, WCW has peaked with Uncensored (a .73, with Hogan in a MAJOR role, if you recall). The February PPV also scored well, with a .63. Since Uncensored, WCW has been on a skid, as Slamboree did a .47 and the recent Bash only did a .41. I have a feeling that the BatB PPV buyrate will have a *lot* to do with what WCW decides to about Hogan and friends. If WCW can attract a 0.8+ with Hall and Nash on top, they might decide they don't need Hogan... otherwise, I predict Hogan will pop in, see his ego's shadow on the wall, and thrust us into 6 more years of sucking. * Bulldog is, after all the chaos of last month, staying with Titan well into the foreseeable future. * Ron Simmons did *not* debut as reported at the last RAW tapings. [Did anyone else think that when Ahmed was talking about being the first black singles champ that a well-timed run-in by the pissed off ex-WCW champ would have been a perfect way to intro a new heel?] Neither did Jim Neidhart or Johnny Gunn. However, Tracey Smothers and Tony Anthony both appeared, as Freddie Joe Floyd and PL Hopper, respectively. The former is a fine gimmick, the latter makes me want to wretch. * Finally, a wee smattering of humor... in her AOL "WWF Online" exclusive column about both the world of Hollywood and the world of wrestling, Marlena is very complimentary towards Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. She calls him a "rough, rugged cowboy," and reminisces that "I remember liking that type... in a past life." Cute, Mrs. Runnels... * Here is the full line-up of WWF PPV dates and sites for the rest of 1996: - In Your House Vancouver, BC July 21, 1996 - Summerslam Cleveland, OH August 18, 1996 - In Your House Philadelphia, PA September 22, 1996 - In Your House Indianapolis, IN October 20, 1996 - Survivor Series MSG, New York City November 17, 1996 - In Your House Lakeland, FL December 15, 1996 Later..... -- Rick Scaia | I'm on the Web now! Important to the Important People | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | Prepare to be Disappointed!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------