From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 12/16/96 Date: 1996/12/22 Message-ID: <59if8r$rlm@mtinsc01-mgt.ops.worldnet.att.net> followup-to: rec.sport.pro-wrestling content-type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII Organization: The National Capital FreeNet mime-version: 1.0 Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling.info,rec.sport.pro-wrestling The News From Dayton For the Week of December 16, 1996 Updated Throughout the Week, as Necessary _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Crazy WWF Title Situation / Terry Funk at Rumble Read on for more on this week's Headline Stories! _________________________________________________________________ The News From Dayton is compiled weekly by: Rick Scaia (ag725@freenet.carleton.ca) However, I do not work in a vacuum... by virtue of being MUCH more dedicated to to regular, insider updates on breaking news than I am, the following kind and generous online personalities and forums provide key corroboration and details on the stories I report here; without them, the NFD would be a much less informative document: The Wrestling Lariat WWF On-Line (on America On-Line) Alex Marvez (alex_marvez@coxohio.com) and his Dayton Daily News Column The Newzfirst Folder (on America On-Line) and the NewzFirst Web Page The Bagpipe Report and MiCasa's Daily News and of course... My Many Top Secret Sources Whose Names I Cannot Divulge _________________________________________________________________ The News -- December 16, 1996 The News From Dayton rolls boldly on with yet another exciting edition... And as is always the case, I encourage anyone reading this in a edited or text-only format to stop by the NFD Web Page at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html In addition to the regular weekly "News," there are semi-regular updates on breaking stories and tons of unique features that I'm sure you'll enjoy. As always, the NFD starts with a recap of the weekly Alex Marvez pro wrestling column from the Dayton Daily News, and then moves on to other information: * Top story is tonight's WWF pay-per-view event, and the interesting title situation at the top. Right now, it looks like a three-way feud for the title is in place (Sid, Bret, Shawn), but with Steve Austin also a possibilty to interject himself. Tonight's match-up will help determine where they are going, as it seems likely -- says Alex -- that the match will end after outside interference that allows Sid to hold on to his title. This way, the Bret/Shawn rematch is saved for WrestleMania, after Shawn beats Sid in his hometown next month at Rumble. And no matter what happens, WWF house shows after the new year are headlined by triangle matches between Bret, Shawn, and Sid. Things are really getting interesting here. * Next, Alex discussed last week's Ultimate Fight Championship PPV. As I mentioned last, week, Don Frye won the whole thing, making Tank Abbott submit in the finals. However, Alex mentions that he was most interested in Scott Ferozzo's appearance on the show. Marvez says that Scott (who weighs 350 lbs.) could not pass his physical to compete last week; so Ferozzo was relegated to doing a lengthy interview on the PPV. Alex was impressed by Ferozzo's interview, and says that Scott could be a big star in the WWF or WCW -- where he wouldn't have to pass a phsycial to compete. * Alex hypes the Blue World Order which is attempting to "take over" Extreme Championship Wrestlign, a la the WCW's New World Order. This is a hilarious parody of the increasingly stale NWO; and on the most recent ECW television shows, the BWO apparently made a new acquisition, as the Gangstas (ECW Tag Champs) first came to the resuce of the BWO, and then after winning their match, saluted the BWO and wore a BWO T-shirt. In Dayton, ECW can be seen at 2a.m. Friday night (Sat. morning) on SportsChannel, or on Saturday afternoon and/or evening (the timeslot floats) on WUCT-51. * Finally, Alex confirms speculation that's been running wild on the web: Terry Funk will compete in the 1997 Royal Rumble. This comes on the heels of the news that Funk is gonna be working ECW full-time starting in January. Then again, as I reported here last week, Chris Candido is still a WWF employee working shots for ECW... so why couldn't Funk be an ECW employee working a shot or two for Titan? It gets curiouser and curiouser... * Alex can be contacted via e-mail at this *NEW* address: "alex_marvez@coxohio.com". Due to time and computer limitations, Alex is no longer part of the AOL Grandstand Wrestling Area. Now, onto some other interesting stories: * The WWF has finally made "Shotgun Saturday Night" official.... they announced the new program on their AOL "WWF Online" site on Thursday, saying that it will be totally live, with tons and tons of shocking surprises from a different New York City night spot each and every week. [According to Todd Pettingill's radio show, the start time for Shotgun will be 11p.m., not midnight as has been widely reported.] The WWF info says to "check your local listings," which pretty much confirms that the new show will be syndicated, and not picked up by a network or cable "superstaion." * Speaking of WWF TV, it looks like they're loading up tommorrow's live RAW; in addition to the hyped Billy Gunn vs. Bart Gunns grudge match, the WWF Online site reports that we will get to see Vader facing Steve Austin on the live show. Also, they will be announcing Royal Rumble participants, including, I would assume, Terry Funk. On top of it all, I think we'll probably be introduced to the Mexican stars of AAA at this set of tapings, so we might see some of them tommorrow, too. * Alright... how many of you have been bugging me about where the MiCasa wrestling page has gone? Be honest, now... it's like scores of you! Well, I just got word from Mike C. that he experienced an unfortunate hard drive problem right in the middle of his final exams. His exams have now concluded, and he hopes to address the situation and get the MiCasa news page up and running soon. * Ads for the WWF hotline are hyping information on Randy Savage; but keeping in mind the last time they mentioned somebody in Savage's position by name, it was Roddy Piper (and look where he wound up), I wouldn't say this necessarily means Savage will be back in the WWF. In fact, Canadian WCW programming this weekend hyped a possible appearance for Savage at StarrCade. This is not "news" per se, but educated speculation, so take it with several grains of salt. * Ratings for last Monday saw Nitro win the head-to-head hour with a 2.9 to WWF Raw's 2.3. This was almost an exact replay of the previous week's ratings. What was not an exact replay was Nitro's second hour ratings, which only rose to a 3.4, for an overall rating of 3.2. Nitro's second hour has been averaging in the upper 3's (nearing 4.0) of late. * Those of you in markets where the Pat Bullard Show is broadcast should tune in this Friday (12/20) to see the Giant on as a guest. * On a purely editorial note, the WWF needs to make Jim Ross the permanent host of LiveWire. If he kept up that schtick of cuttin of ignorant callers, and telling them to have something good in mind to talk about when they call, they might just get a higher caliber of callers each week. Hell, I might wake up and try to call in myself, instead of taping the show and watching it when I wake up on Saturday afternoon. Ross just makes the show lots more interesting to watch than any combination of Pettingill, Sunny, and/or Dok Hendrix. * WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future: + In Your House --- W. Palm Beach, FL --- December 15, 1996 + Royal Rumble --- San Antonio, TX --- January 19, 1997 + In Your House --- Memphis, TN --- February 16, 1997 + WrestleMania 13 --- Chicago, IL --- March 23, 1997 + In Your House --- Rochester, NY --- April 20, 1997 + In Your House --- [Baltimore, MD?] --- May 11, 1997 + King of the Ring --- Providence, RI --- June 8, 1997 + In Your House --- [Calgary, Alberta, Canada?] --- July 6, '97 + SummerSlam '97 --- E. Rutherford, NJ --- August 10, 1997 + In Your House --- [Louisville, KY?] --- September 7, 1997 -- 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------