From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 11/04/96 Date: 1996/11/03 Message-ID: <55ja7c$3nn@freenet-news.carleton.ca> Organization: The National Capital FreeNet x-given-Sender: ag725@freenet6.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling For those of you who read the NFD on my web page (just as a reminder, kids, it's http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html ), I apologize for not having any updates over the past 6 days... I won't bore you with the details, but it was an exceptionally busy week for a guy who's already pretty busy on a regular basis. At least this past week, some of the business was fun! As usual, we'll start with highlights of the weekly Alex Marvez pro wrestling column from the Sunday Dayton Daily News: * Lead story recaps Roddy Piper's move to WCW. Initially, it looks like Piper will try to revive his 80's feud with Hogan, and then will move on to "leading" WCW against the NWO. This will be necessary as Piper will only wrestle *very* sporadically due to the fact that he underwent hip replacement surgery about a year and a half ago. As widely reported, part of Piper's deal to enter WCW includes acting gigs courtesy of Turner's other divisions. * Marvez reports that Savage is likely done with WCW. He wanted a deal for big money and limited wrestling dates, and after doing the ignominious pinfall job to Hogan at Havoc, is likely not going to get it. [However, it should be noted that it has been reported that Savage *did* fulfill his WCW house show commitments over this weekend.] * WWF Monday Night RAW has had its start time moved up one hour to 7:57 p.m. eastern time, so that it will only have to compete with the traditionally lame "hour one" of Nitro, rather than the more exciting "hour two" of Nitro *and* Monday Night Football. However, the eternally over-defensive Eric Bischoff, according to other non-Marvez sources, is already making plans to make sure Nitro gets a 7:55 p.m. start time, and will now make Nitro's first hour an NWO showcase. Which only leads me to wonder, "After you've highlighted the NWO in the first hour, who the hell is gonna stay tuned to watch exciting WCW action like Jim Powers vs. Scott Norton? Or Glacier vs. Meng? Or...." * After less than a month, SportsChannel Cincinnati has pulled ECW television from a Monday morning 11 a.m. timeslot that was meant to stem the tide of complaints that began to surface when ECW was being sporadically pre-empted on Friday late nights by high school football. I would guess the move was deemed necessary because ECW's content is not exactly appropriate for 11a.m. of any morning. SC Cinci should have ECW on regularly in it's late Friday timeslot starting later this month when HS football concludes, and Dayton fans should remember to keep an eye out for ECW TV on WUCT-51 on Saturday evenings (around 7-8 p.m.)... though ch. 51 will now be airing Cleveland Cavs games which may interfere with their ECW scedule. * Tickets for WCW Nitro at Dayton's Hara Arena go on sale this coming Friday at 10 a.m. There are -- of course -- no matches announced yet. * As always, you can try to contact Alex with your questions or comments via e-mail at Alex1Marv@aol.com or through his America On-line Grandstand Wrestling Area folder titled "Bodyslams." Other info (mostly smaller news bits this week... no major stories): * Survivor Series line-up additions/alterations include a new tag team elimination match pitting Vader, Faarooq (who, with new manager Clarence Mason, intro'ed a new look on Live Wire this week; he called Ahmed Johnson an "Uncle Tom" and declared himself the first member of the new "Nation of Domination"), Diesel v2.0, and Razor Ramon v2.0 againt Yokozuna, Flash "2 Cold Scorpio" Funk, Savio Vega (or it might have been Jesse James... I wasn't paying very close attention), and a Mystery Partner. Of course, people will read the above story about Savage, see this item about mystery partner, and leap to a certain conclusion. While if the WWF could land Savage, this would be a great spot for him, you'll notice Faarooq is on one side of the ring... Ahmed Johnson is suppossedly still "healing" at home. WOuldn't it be a big surprise to see Ahmed step in there as the mystery partner? That's my guess right now. Also, the other announced tag elimination match (Mero/Maivia/Windham/Henry vs. HHH/Goldust/ Lawler/Crush) has been changed, according to MiCasa; in a story I have yet to hear confirmation of, he says Mark Henry "broke his leg" while training, and will be replaced in that match by Jake Roberts. Final comment about Survivor Series: they debuted a new "Stone Cold" Steve Austin promo this week on WWF TV for the PPV, and it's quite good. Austin really does a great job conveying realistic disdain and anger for his opponent. If this isn't making him a hated man, nothing will.... [If you're someone who wastes a lot of time on AOL, you might be interested in knowing that Austin's Survivor Series opponent, Bret Hart, is gonna have a chat on AOL this Tuesday, 11/5.] * Jeff Katz, WCW Hotline Punk, reported in his AOL Grandstand folder that it is his belief that there will be an all-NWO pay-per- view event in January, from Cedar Rapids. January, I had thought, was scheduled to be one of WCW non-PPV months (they'd have a Clash, instead...), though this would seem to indicate otherwise. Oh wait, we're not suppossed to believe WCW and NWO all draw their paychecks from the same place... * Monday Night ratings for this week slipped back to "abysmal" status for the WWF. After banging out a big number last week, Titan, despite putting on a very good show with exciting live cut-ins to the pre-taped action, dropped back to a 2.0. Nitro continued strong with a 3.4. The quarter hour breakdowns saw RAW gain a handful over viewers as their hour went on, while Nitro's first hour out-scored the second hour (though Nitro's second hour did gain viewers, peaking at the replay of the Piper/Hogan incident). * There is some genuine intrigue over RAW's move to an hour earlier, as the Toronto Sun reported that RAW is not only moving its timeslot, it is expanding to 2 hours. At least, in Canada it is, I guess. Here in the States, the Bagpipe Report broke this story, catiously suggesting that we keep our eyes open in the event Vince has got something up his sleeve. Personally, having seen results from the last set of RAW tapings, it seems obvious that there is not enough material to fill two more 2 hour shows leading into Survivor Series (though some have speculated that as part of the big surprise, this Monday's RAW will be totally live from a house show in Canada). To put it bluntly, it seems most plausible to believe that somehow, somebody in Canada got their signals crossed about exactly what Titan is planning. Look for RAW to sign off at 9 p.m. to make room for "Murder, She Wrote." * You know those Fila commercials with Bill Lambier trying to make Grant Hill "mean"? Well, they debuted a new one over the weekend, and it is closed out with a sequence where Lambier introduces Hill to a new teacher, "George." Hill says, "Nice to meet you." George picks up Hill and growls, "Not nice." Yep, it's our old pal George "The Animal" Steele playing the role. * Steve Regal is back with WCW, defending the WCW TV Title once again on TV (now *there's* a concept -- the TV Title on TV!). If we are lucky, they might build to a Regal/Benoit feud for the title. If we are unlucky, somebody from the NWO (Fake Sting? Virgil?) might go after the last of the WCW titles they haven't targeted. [On a side note regarding titles... have you noticed that "The Clique" -- Shawn Michaels, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean "1-2-3 Kid" Waltman -- are rapidly approaching being a "titleholders-only" club? Michaels is WWF Champ, HHH is WWF IC Champ, Hall and Nash are WCW tag champs... and very soon, it's expected that "Six" Waltman will get the WCW Cruiserweight title. It's interesting to see how five guys who stuck together for so long have actually split and seen their power grow, as they now all hold titles and span both the major organizations.] -- 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------