From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton, 7/15/96 Date: 1996/07/15 Message-ID: <4scmoq$a9h@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 No Marvez column in today's Dayton Daily News... guess those pesky Bengals are giving Alex all he can handle, news-wise! As usual, this means I scramble for anything worth wasting my readers' valuable time. I humbly submit the following "News," which is stolen directly from various places on AOL (mostly WWF Online and Alex Marvez's "Bodyslams" folder): * Sunny has found her new man, who will compete for singles gold. It is not revealed who it is, but he will debut at the July 22 RAW tapings. * Barry Windham is in serious negociations with the WWF. * The WWF Hotline is spreading a rumor about a new superstar from the Middle East arriving soon. Since it is a "new" superstar, I breath a sigh of relief that this will not be the Iron Sheik's eighty-ninth WWF "comeback" since his hey-day. Obviously, rumors abound that this will turn out to be Sabu, but that is likely just wishful thinking. One more realistic possibility has Aldo Montoya getting repackaged, and taking on the Iron Sheik as a manager. Damn, just can't escape the Iron Sheik! * Looks like the rumored Jim Carrey deal (he will film a scene of a new movie at a WWF house show) has gone through. * A new look debuted for the Action Zone today, as well as a new announce team. Jim Ross and newcomer Kevin Kelly were *fantastic* as a no-nonsense, intelligent duo. Slap Mr. Perfect with them for a touch of color commentary, and you'd have a great three-man crew. Unfortunately, more than ever, the Zone plays like a "Superstars" re-hash. * As reported during the last week, in a daily update to "The News From Dayton" (which you can get just by stopping by the brand-spanking new "News From Dayton" web page at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html), WCW will portray the "New World Order" (currently Hogan, Nash, and Hall) as non-WCW wrestlers, but rather as memebers of the NWO, the #2 wrestling organization in the world. You will see all the new ex-WWFers (Mabel, Jarrett, DiBiase, etc.) join the NWO; defections from current WCW wrestlers are possible, too. * Also as reported in a web-page exclusive update to "The News," the reason Eric Bischoff was absent from the BatB PPV was because he was too busy prepping Hogan for what he had to say to get ready and get on the air. They may or may not decide to build more out of that angle. * With WCW top dogs not sure if Hogan would reneg on his agreement to turn heel, turning Sting was the back-up plan all along. Everything they did with Luger was just to tease the hardcores who thought they had it all figured out. * Warrior suspension should be lifted before too long... he is still expected to work SummerSlam. * Originally, WCW was gonna have Rey Jr. job to Malenko again on the post-PPV Nitro... then they decided to do a tag match, instead, with Rey/Eddie vs. Psicosis/Dean... then they decided to put the Cruiserweight Title on Rey. Talk about a change of plans... * Monday Night ratings for 7/8 have Nitro once again winning the night, and setting a record for the show, with a 3.5 for the live show (and another great 1.6 from the replay). This is the best WCW has pulled on a Monday Night so far. RAW was a full point behind with a 2.5. Quarterly breakdowns saw Nitro slowly build from a 3.0 start, to a 3.9 in the final quarter hour. RAW did not lose or gain any appreciable number of viewers over the hour, fluctuating from a 2.5 to a 2.6. * In ECW news, last night's HeatWave card at the Arena saw Shane Douglas win the ECW TV Title, Francine turn on the Pitbulls (and get superbombed through a table for her troubles), Raven retain his ECW Title (though he was pinned by Gordy... for the title to have changed, Richards would had to have been pinned according to stips), and two returns to ECW: "The Giant" Paul Lauria and 911. Lauria put over Mikey in a match, and 911 put over Taz in a interview confrontation (Taz choked him down). * Only item of note out of WCW TV tapings saw one of the State Patrol (Buddy Lee Something-or-other?) debut as The Leprechaun (going around biting people's legs and shit, and winning a couple squashes). * WCW house shows in weeks to come will now include an "Outsiders" vs. Sting/Luger match. * Early reports place the Bash at the Beach buyrate at .55. While this would be "good" by WCW standards (it would be their second best PPV buyrate of '96, I believe, behind Uncensored), it has to be disappointing, given that most of the wrestling intelligencia (as well as WCW officials themselves) were practically banking on a 1.0, at least, given they are in the middle of such a hot angle. I'm sure this number may be revised, but if it is even close (say within +/- .2), this has gotta be tough for WCW. * Alex answers questions from fans most weeks. You can reach him with questions at "Alex1Marv@aol.com" or "alex_marvez@dni.com", or if you are on America On-Line, you can interact with Alex in his "Hot News with Alex Marvez" folder as part of the Grandstand Wrestling area (keyword: gswrestling). * 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------