From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 09/23/96 Date: 1996/09/22 Message-ID: <5246lb$3i4@freenet-news.carleton.ca> 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 As always, I encourage anyone who enjoy's the RSPW version of "The News From Dayton" to stop by the NFD on the Web at -- http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html In addition to the usual Sunday wrap-up of various breaking news (courtesy of Alex Marvez and others), I try to update major stories during the week, whenever possible. There are also a handful of worthwhile documents from the past several weeks, including PPV reviews, and interviews/articles featuring various stars. And to those of you who already do stop by regularly, a big thank you! But now, on to the News, starting, as usual, with a recap of the weekly Alex Marvez wrestling column from the Sunday Dayton Daily News: * Top story runs down the loaded Monday Night RAW set to air tommorrow night, and how that might adversely effect the buyrate for tonight's pay-per-view event. It almost seems, according to Alex, that Titan is hyping the live RAW more than the PPV show by putting the two hottest on-going angles (the finals of the IC tourney and the pay-off of the "return" of Razor and Diesel) on the cable show. For what it's worth, if any of you are still holding tight to a belief that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash will be back in the WWF after tommorrow night, Alex states that they are "definitely staying with WCW." The Diesel and Razor roles will be played by different people on RAW. It is also a virtual lock that Faarooq Simmons will win the IC Title and hold it until Ahmed Johnson returns. * On the PPV front, there is actually a lot of speculation about the main event title match. Marvez rehashes alot of the theory that has been running wild on the 'net about Michaels losing the title soon because he is not scheduled on the October PPV show. If they switch the title to Mankind tonight (which is actually a somewhat unlikely possibility), it'll set up another switch to the Undertaker in October. Also, the Michaels/Vader feud has actually heated up on this weekend's WWF TV, so they might be building to doing a re-match there sooner, rather than later. * This week's Nitro will have to be an NWO-driven show if it is to hold any viewers. The top WCW matches are Randy Savage vs. Greg Valentine and Harlem Heat vs. Public Enemy. While many WCW stars are slated to be in Japan, this is an awfully weak "publicized" line-up. Of course, the NWO will be there, and will probably wreak somekind of havoc, which could still make for an interesting show. One possibility advanced by Alex has the NWO turning on Sean "Six" Waltman, only one week after his apparent allignment with the NWO. Not sure where that would leave "Six" in the grand scheme of things, but I'm sure he'll fit in great with the other Cruisers. * Bam Bam Bigelow is still headed to WCW. * South-west Ohio update: first off, remember we've got the October WWF In Your House PPV taking place Oct. 20 in Indianapolis. All fashionable Ohio graps fans will make the 75 minute drive to be there. WCW is running a house show in Columbus on Sept. 28; Savage vs. Giant and Hall/Nash vs. Flair Benoit are the two top matches. WCW is also returning to Dayton with a live Nitro broadcast from Hara Arena on December 2; no details at this time, and tix are NOT yet available. Finally, for those of us who are infinitely frustrated with SportsChannel Cincinnati's inability to deliver a steady stream of Extreme Championship Wrestling (high school football has been causing SCC to be late cutting to the Prime Network feed on Friday nights, resulting in at least two missed episodes of ECW in the past month; this is a potentially re-curring problem that will make ECW available only sporadically in its traditional timeslot over the next month or so), there is good news! For one thing, after high school football is over and done with, ECW's 2a.m. Friday late night slot will be safe again. And second of all, to fend off the number of complaints they have received over the two missed shows, SCC is adding a second showing of ECW TV at 11a.m. on Monday mornings starting in October. Also, low power Dayton station channel 51 (channel 4 on Dayton TCI cable, and channel 25 on *some* Dayton-area Continental Cable systems) continues to sporadically offer ECW TV on Saturday nights. I first saw ECW on Ch. 51 last spring, but could not find it in a regular time slot; for the past couple weeks, though, it seems as though Ch. 51 will offer ECW at 7p.m. on Saturday nights. I do not promise that 51 will deliver every week, but for fans lucky enough to be able to pick up the Ch. 51 signal (and when I say "low power" I mean VERY low power!), there may be an option available for weeks when SCC does not deliver the ECW. Just to tally up the total amount of wrestling available in Dayton on a weekly basis: 7 hours of WCW (Monday Nitro on TNT, Saturday Night on TBS, Main Event on TBS, Pro on TBS, and syndicated WorldWide on WRGT-45 on Saturday afternoons) 5 hours of WWF (WWF RAW on USA, WWF Live Wire on USA, WWF SuperStars on USA, WWF Blast-off on WGN, and syndicated WWF Challenge on WHIO-7 sister station the Miami Valley Channel -- cable 44 -- Saturday mornings at 11a.m. and repeated Sunday late night at 1:30a.m.) 1 hour of AWF (WRGT-45 Saturday at 2a.m. -- not sure if that means early Saturday morning or late Saturday night) 0-3 hours of ECW (as outlined above, starting in October, SportsChannel will reported offer two showings of ECW TV every week, and Dayton Ch. 51 occassionally offer a Saturday evening broadcast of ECW) * Remember that Alex Marvez is accessible to graps fans on the 'net via e-mail (at "Alex1Marv@aol.com") and in his "Bodyslams" folder in the AOL Grandstand Wrestling Area. Now for a handful of other stories picked up elsewhere: * A lot of talk is going on surrounding a "returning WWF superstar" who has signed a 5 year WWF deal. First, a lot of people said that this would be the return of Jeff Jarrett; but he is still headed to WCW, folks. If Jarrett really was coming back, he would have been hyped as a "former WWF title-holder," not just as a returning superstar. In reality, the returnee will be Jarrett's former WWF associate Jesse James (hey, that's "Double J"!) Armstrong, otherwise known as "The Roadie." Likely return of the Road Dog will have him taking credit for all of Jarrett's music success, perhaps even adopting the "Double J" monicker for himself. By running down Jarrett, I would expect the Roadie to make his return as a babyface, which I think would work really well for him. In fact, it is my honest opinion that Jarrett did *not* legitimately fit into the upper echelon of the WWF until the Roadie debuted as his partner in crime; upon his return, I hope there are big things in store of him. * The WWF New Fall Season so far has been a mixed bag. Today's USA Network debut of Superstars was quite exciting, with the live cut-ins from Philadelphia (including confrontations between Mark Henry and Jerry Lawler, as well as between Shawn Michaels and Mankind). I'm sure this won't be standard operating procedure, but it made for a much more watchable show than the usual squash parade that is WWF Superstars. WWF LiveWire was a great concept executed poorly in its first airing. I'm not sure if we (that is the self-proclaimed "smart" wrestling fans) are really *that* outnumbered by marks, or if Titan was just doing an exceptional job of screening out potential problem callers, but the interaction we were promised consisted of a lot of moron questions. It did not help that Jim Cornette kept cutting off callers; the clever one-liners are funny, being rude to callers is not. Sunny looked great, as always, but was limited to pretty much being a verbal sparring partner for Corny. If the level of *intelligent* interaction on LiveWire does not pick up, it'll fall off the list of "must watch" shows for WWF fans pretty quickly. WWF Blast-off on WGN's national feed (not available to those of you actually in Chicago) could have fairly been titled "Son of WWF Mania." It consisted of Todd Pettingill in a studio, showing 5 day old RAW highlights. Not worth a 9a.m. wake up call! I didn't catch WWF Challenge (yet), but I'm sure it'll be a lot like Mania/Blast-off, in terms of being a highlights show. There probably won't be much in the way of changes for RAW; at least, I hope not. It ain't broke, so it don't need fixing! * It is looking like Scott Steiner's hip injury may, in fact, be more serious than we had previously known. Alex Marvez hopes to have accurate details from a source at the University of Michigan soon, but if speculation that Scott will have to undergo hip replacement surgery is true, he will join a growing list of admitted steroid abusers within the wrestling industry who have had to undergo that procedure. Other men who have suffered that fate include "Superstar" Billy Graham, Roddy Piper, and Danny "Waylon Mercy" Spivey. * MiCasa is reporting a bunch of interesting tidbits that I've not yet heard elsewhere. For reference's sake (though I suggest you stop by and read all about it firsthand!): ECW "Hype Central" host Lance Wright (who did a stretcher job at the hands of Shane Douglas on ECW TV this week) is headed to the WWF to take on some of the interview/hype duties that Pettingill currently handles. While Lance is not quite as obnoxious as Todd (Lance does not try to be funny and utterly fail every time), he's still somewhat annoying; or maybe it was just the wacky camera thing they always did during his segment. Also, rumors are renewed about the All Japan duo of Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas coming to the WWF (this just weeks after one or both were due to go to WCW), as well as word that Terry Gordy might be headed to Titan (albeit with a new gimmick, and a mask). The addition of Lance Wright will likely be a bonus (though a small one), the addition of Kroffat and Furnas would be HUGE (these guys are amazing, trust me), and the addition of Gordy would probably be a wash (he doesn't suck, but I don't see him thriving in the WWF, especially not with a goofy new look). -- Rick Scaia | I'm on the Web now! RSPW Posse Minister of OFFENSE | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | Prepare to be Disappointed!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------