From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 11/18/96 Date: 1996/11/19 Message-ID: <56rf2c$4u@alpha.sky.net> followup-to: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling.info,rec.sport.pro-wrestling Welcome folks.... another week, another News From Dayton. If you're familiar with all the schtick, please feel free to skip to the News, proper. If not, the usual miscellania: the NFD starts off with highlights of the weekly Alex Marvez pro wrestling column (in every Sunday's Dayton Daily News), and then moves on to other bits of info I feel that you, the home viewer, would be interested in reading about. If you're checking this out on the NFD Web Page (which, by the way, is located at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html if you want to make a note), then check back regularly and scroll down to the Update section. If you're seeing this info on RSPW or mirrored at MiCasa's superb news page, then please take the time to stop by the official NFD Web Page, where you'll always get my updates first, and where there are tons of other cool features that are exclusive to the page. And now, onto Mr. Marvez -- * Alex's lead story is the impending "bidding war" over Curt Hennig, otherwise known to us as "Mr. Perfect." WCW has been in contact with Hennig, who apparently *is* free from his WWF contract now (though he does have to sit out 90 days before appearing in a rival organization), and now the WWF has decided to attempt to counter WCW's sure-to-be-outlandishly-generous offer. A key reason to Titan wanting to keep guys like Hart and Hennig is because they've been losing ground to WCW in the 18-24 year-old male demographic, and older veterans like these are the guys the young male adults tune in to see, as they remember them from their youths. In a sidebar, there is apparently bad blood between the WWF and Hennig, though, that might prevent them from coming to an agreement. MiCasa reports that this bad blood may stem from Titan somehow indirectly causing complications in Hennig's receiving insurance payments. * Next, Alex covers what should be the last of the fall-out from the Pillman/Austin/gun angle from the 11/4 RAW. While RAW's ratings among kids plummetted during the second half of that show, the kids returned the next week, doubling the number of young viewers Nitro had. * Finally, Alex runs down (at some length) the fact that WCW's New World Order angle is becoming popular among some NFLers. A contingent from the Pittsburgh Steelers defense have started calling themselves the "NWO" and have even befriended "Vincent" (more popularly known from his WWF days as Virgil, real name: Michael Jones), who is a Pittsburgh resident. Also, defensive tackle D'Marco Farr of the St. Louis Rams has gone public as a fan of the NWO, prompting this statement from part-time WCWer Kevin Greene: "Me and Farr will have to headbutt, then. I'm not a Hulk Hogan fan. Those guys are going down eventually, and all those little NWO fans are going down with them." Farr responded by saying, "He's hurting my feelings right now. He's going where it hurts." Alex also said Farr stated that he wanted to play offense in yesterday's Rams/Panthers game to get a shot at Greene. I hope one of them was joking. * Alex covers the Cincinnati Bengals for the Dayton Daily News, in addition to covering wrestling. He remains accessible on a limited basis, both via e-mail (Alex1Marv@aol.com) and in his "Bodyslams" folder on the AOL Grandstand Wrestling Area. Some other stuff: * I guess the top story has got to be Survivor Series. A mostly very good show, the highlights had to be a great display by new WWF tag team Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon to pull off an upset win in their elimination match, a super match between Bret Hart and Steve Austin, and the crowning of a new WWF champion in "Psycho" Sid. All matches were pretty good or better with the exception of the elimination match that included the dreaded "mystery partner." The revelation of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka as the partner did nothing to really stoke me, though he did get a surprising ovation from the crowd, and the match never got off the ground before going to a lame double DQ finish. In other results, Undertaker defeated Mankind with a Tombstone, and Bart Gunn pinned Billy to be the sole survivor in the Free For All elimination match. For a more detailed report, look for my Survivor Series review elsewhere 'round the 'net. * ECW's November to Remember show was largely praised by those who saw it. Most memorably, Sabu and Taz finally showed-down in the middle of the ring after Taz demanded Sabu show up. Before they could hook 'em up, the lights went out, and when they came back on, Sabu and Taz were gone. This sets up Sabu/Taz as the main event for ECW's first PPV early next year. Also, Terry Funk returned in style to the ECW Arena, joining Tommy Dreamer in defeating Shane Douglas and Brian Lee; Funk hit a top rope to the floor moonsault that highlighted the match. Something interesting for you to think about: the match ended after Funk used a ringside hand-held camera as a foriegn object, reports "Wrestling Lariat" editor and renowned ECW mutant Dave Scherer. In other mentionable action: 2 Cold Scorpio was intent on leaving ECW in style, beating 3 ECW mid-carders before dropping a pinfall to his scheduled opponent, Louie Spicolli. In a match to determine the #1 contender tag team in ECW, Sabu/Rob Van Dam went to a draw with the Eliminators, despite Tod Gordon ordering 3 overtimes. Instead, it was decided that champions, the Gangstas, would have to defend against BOTH teams in a Three Way Dance. The Gangstas successfully defended. Despite rumors, no angle was run to explain ECW interference at Survivor Series or other upcoming WWF shows. * Ratings for last Monday night saw RAW deliver a strong 2.5 in its second week in a new timeslot (up from a 2.3 the previous week). Nitro, for the first hour, scored a 3.0. I've said in the past that if Titan could score in the mid-to-upper 2's and be within half a ratings point of Nitro, they'd be in a decent position. Obviously, there is room to build, but if performances like these continue, I think we can rest assured that Vince McMahon will continue to have a show in prime time to give Eric Bischoff fits. Nitro went on in hour two to score a 4.0, which means Nitro averages to a 3.5 on the night. * Other TV news from the WWF: it looks like there *is* another WWF show looming on the horizon. The start date is reportedly January 4, 1997. It appears right now that the WWF will distribute the program via syndication, as several stations already have a new WWF program on their schedules beginning on the above mentioned date. I'm not sure how hard it will be to syndicate a live program (i.e. a set timeslot, not determined by the station), but rumors persist that this will be a late night program, which should make getting clearance a bit easier. Several potential names are floating around for the program, though none have been confirmed. * If you care -- and dammit, you shouldn't -- Hulk Hogan's new movie "Santa with Muscles" opened 36th among all movies currently in distribution, making less than $200,000. On top of that, it would be kind to say that reviewers have gone on record with a mild dislike for the film. * Finally, Stamford, CT, resident NewzFirst reported that Jim "Warrior" Hellwig may have been in town visiting Titan Towers last week. This led to some speculation that he might be the mystery partner. In reality, I have to believe it's more likely that Warrior was there discussing his pending lawsuit against Titan, not a return to wrestle for them. -- 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------