From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 01/13/97 Date: 1997/01/13 Message-ID: <5bcaqd$5pl@freenet-news.carleton.ca> Organization: The National Capital FreeNet x-given-Sender: ag725@freenet5.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling The News From Dayton For the week of January 13, 1997 Updated Throughout the Week --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ECW PPV / Hall and Saggs Fight / USWA and WWF News 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: Alex Marvez and his Weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column The Wrestling Lariat The Newzfirst Folder (on America On-Line) and the new NewzFirst Web Page The Bagpipe Report and MiCasa's Daily News WWF On-Line (on America On-Line) and of course... My Many Top Secret Sources Whose Names I Cannot Divulge --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News -- For the Week of January 13, 1997 ============================================ The News From Dayton, as always, remains a combination of the weekly Dayton Daily News pro wrestling column, penned by Alex Marvez, and other pieces of information culled from various other sources for you, the Home Viewer. If you are reading the NFD on one of the RSPW newsgroups, or anywhere on the web other than the revamped News From Dayton Web Site, I strongly encourage you to make the jump to the NFD on the web at http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/HomePage.news.html I think you'll find the trip worthwhile, as there are many exclusive features to the NFD Web Site, along with updates on breaking news, so that you don't have to wait a full week for the NFD's take on the latest rumors. But for now, let's move on to a summary of Alex Marvez's weekly wrestling column: * Alex's top story gets to the bottom (or at least past the very surface) of the whole ECW PPV/Request TV situation... the situation essentially does boil down to Request basing their decision to not air an ECW pay-per-view on the Eric Kulas/New Jack incident in Revere, MA. Kulas had originally been brought to the show with the plan of him doing a segment with some midget wrestlers. However, a scheduling conflict for Axl Rotten led to Kulas instead subbing in a match against the Gangstas. Kulas agreed to blood being involved, but did not want to blade himself; this, in turn, led to New Jack blading the kid. Unfortunately, New Jack unwittingly sliced an atery of Kulas', leading to a scary and bloody scene. * Once this incident was brought to the attention of Request TV, which had been negotiating with ECW over a proposed Spring '97 PPV date, by an outside party, Request TV spokesman Tom Chiapetta says, "It made us stop and say 'Hey!'". According to Chaipetta, "The key word is obviously 'underage,'" as Kulas is only 17 years old. He also noted that the extent of violence and blood in ECW were, in fact, other concerns that Request TV then decided to look into further. Request TV's concerns appear to have been soothed, somewhat, as talks are back on regarding a April 13, 1997, PPV date. Paul Heyman (a/k/a Paul E. Dangerously, ECW's match maker) had this to say about the Request TV situation, "They are responsible for their viewers to present programming that is reasonably controlled. We are a new offering to them. They just want to be careful as to what we're going to present and they don't wind upin the middle of a giant controversy." Also helping in Request's decision to reconsider the Spring '97 PPV are over 100 e-mails from ECW fans who want a chance to see ECW on pay-per-veiw. * Alex quickly runs down the highlights of the debut edition of WWF Shotgun Saturday Night. Actually, in his words, the show boiled down to "comedy and risque spots." The only specific incident his two paragraph summary mentioned was, of course, Marlena's move to remove her top during Goldust's match against the Sultan. * Starting Febuary 1, old matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling will be available via the World Wide Web. Hour long programs can be viewed using VDO software. Both the programs and the necessary viewing software will be available at the web page, which will be located at http://www.ringwarriors.com. * Alex Marvez's weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column provides the timely and accurate information that generally makes up a portion of the NFD. 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. Some other information: * Big news out of the ECW Arena last night (1/11)... before I lead up to the events of the top match, here are other mentionable happenings from the show: In a non-title brawl, the Sandman defeated Raven. Raven retains the ECW World Title, but as the angle goes, Sandman retained possession of the physical belt. Mike Awesome debuted for ECW, defeating Balls Mahoney. The new Triple Threat (Shane Douglas, Brian Lee, and Chris Candido) had a big night, as Candidio got a win over his former partner Louie Spiccoli, and Brian Lee got help from his associates in beating Terry Funk. The trio also attacked Douglas' scheduled opponent for the evening, Tommy Dreamer, leaving him unable to compete later in the show. So when it finally was main event time, Douglas had no opponent. At that point, a masked man came out and basically said he had an ax to grind with Shane Douglas, and was gonna enjoy messing with him for a while, starting with providing a replacement opponent for Douglas. At that, Pitbull #1 Gary Wolfe came out to take on Douglas; you'll remember Wolfe had his neck broken by Douglas and was part of a memorable angle over the summer that really built Shane into the hated heel that he is now (in which Douglas attacked the injured Wolfe and shook the apparatus surrounding his head and neck). There wasn't really a match between Pit #1 and Douglas, though, as things quickly degenerated into an all out brawl with other Triple Threat members attempting to interfere, but being foiled by the masked man. Eventually, the Triple Threat was foiled, and Gary and the Masked Man were joined by the Sandman and other babyfaces to celebrate the return of Pitbull #1. And just who was the Masked Man? It was none-other-than Rick Rude. Apparently, most of the live crowd could tell who it was, but as part of the angle, the masked man did not want to reveal himself to Shane Douglas just yet. After nearly a year of speculating that Rude might return to the WWF, it now looks like his return to the sport will instead be with ECW. * As you've probably read elsewhere by now, Scott Hall and the Nasty Boys had a minor shoot scuffle take place, leaving Hall beaten and bloody. The occurance took place on January 4 (last Saturday) in Shreveport, LA, during a triangle match involving the Outsiders, Faces of Fear, and Nasty Boys. As part of the match, Jerry Saggs decided to introduce a chair into the ring... but Scott Hall, for some reason, decided to toss the chair back out of the ring, and to toss it in the general direction of Saggs. The chair wound up hitting Saggs in the head. [Note: there is some speculation that there was also some heat between Saggs and Hall over an overly stiff chairshot delivered by Hall a week or so previous to this incident.] At that, Saggs stormed into the ring and began unloading on Hall, blacking an eye, and doing severe damage to Hall's mouth and teeth. [Another note: Georgie of the Wrestling Chatterbox reports that the damage was serious enough to cause Hall to require oral surgery last week.] It's pretty much accepted as fact that the Nastys are good friends of Hogan's, and it's been repeated so much that both Hall and Nash dislike working with Hogan that it's become one of those self-perpetuating rumors that is passed off as fact. Thusly, over the past week, there has been a ton of speculation about how this would effect the employment status and political clout of the parties involved. At this point, I'd say reports of Hall leaving WCW or the Nastys being fired are probably just one shade above bullshit. While that may change as time goes by, I would think it's more likely that this situation will simply be peaceably resolved with both Hall and Saggs remaining employed by WCW. * Last night's WWF Shotgun Saturday Night was another interesting effort that drew mixed reviews from fans who are expecting the new show to provide something special. Instead, the show seems to be intent on simply providing a mix of bad comedy and risque material. In the case of this week's show, they provided both in the same segment: the promised "home sex video" from Sunny turned out to be a mostly PG-rated piece in which Sunny and a guy (I'd assume Chris "Skip" Candido") in a Elmo costume alledgedly engaging in amorous activities. Not really funny, and not arousing, either.... in any case, that might have been the lowlight of the show, but there was, in fact, some mentionable action in the opening match of the program. Marc Mero was taking on the faux Diesel; attempted interference from the faux Razor Ramon was spoiled by Razor's scheduled opponent for later that night, Rocky Maivia. Later on, Honkey Tonk Man came down and was taunting Sable, causing Mero to be distracted. Diesel caught Mero with a Jackknife, and pinned him. In a surprising turn of events, Mero got upset with Sable for causing his distraction. When Rocky Maivia came back to the ring to make peace between the two, Mero attacked him and the two once-mild-mannered babyfaces brawled. In the other positive occurance of the night, the "Sisters of Love" or "Flying Nuns" apparently are no more, as it was announced that they were "arrested for solicitation." Taking their place against the duo of Furnas and LaFon were the Headbangers (who were also the Nuns, but tonight performing with their regular and acceptable gimmick). That match took place last, and did not finish on the air, though I'd wager the 'Bangers jobbed for Furnas/LaFon. Other matches had Savio Vega loosing to Faarooq and Rocky Maivia beating Razor. Next week, the show will air from a nightspot in or near San Antonio, as the WWF stars mass for the Rumble PPV... while this will be the first chance for Titan to stage a "Shotgun" with most/all of its stars available, they have also already began hyping "Goldust giving birth," which leads to wonder whether they are gonna load the show up with good stuff or not... * Unless I missed something (and it's possible, as I've not been doing a lot of 'net surfing lately), it hasn't been brought up yet that Jerry Lawler is now the sole owner of the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association (USWA). Jerry Jarrett (yes, he's Jeff Jarrett's dad), who in the last couple years has worked for both the WWF and WCW while maintaining his ties to Memphis wrestling, sold his half to Lawler in late December. This comes on the heels of Jarrett promising to take a *larger* role in the company, and has to be considered surprising. The move also ends Jarrett's 20-year-long stint as a stakeholder in the Memphis territory. Over the last year, I haven't found the USWA product to be all that entertaining, though they continue to provide a solid training ground for young WWF-bound workers and a home for some of the old school veterans who wouldn't really fit in with either of the Big Two. With Lawler now coming to sole power, more visits from WWF talent, higher pay-offs, and a more organized company are promised. Lawler also wants to get Lance Russell back to do TV play-by-play. Hopefully, with this change of leadership, the USWA will be able to thrive well into the future. * The ratings for Monday night saw RAW rebound substantially over it's past two abysmal performances, while still falling well short of WCW's Nitro. While RAW's content has really been stepped up at the same time Nitro's seems to be slipping (or at least, it seems Nitro has had more blase shows than they did over the summer), the ratings lead appears to be insurmountable. This past week in the head to head hour, Nitro scored a 3.0 (quarter hours: 2.7/3.3/3.3/2.8) to RAW's 2.2 (2.0/1.8/2.2/2.6). Nitro's second hour pulled a 3.8 (4.0/3.8/3.7/3.8/3.7), resulting in a two hour average of 3.4. * The Royal Rumble is this weekend. The complete line-up will not be known until the event itself, as Titan is holding back at least one spot in the Rumble match for a "wildcard" participant. However, these other matches are confimed: On the Free For All: o AAA Minis Match (Mascarita Sagrada and La Parkita vs. Mini Vader and Mini Mankind) On the Royal Rumble: o AAA 6-man Match (El Canek, Perro Aguayo, and Hector Garza vs. Jerry Estrada, Feurza Guerrera, and Heavy Metal) For the most part, the Lucha stars Titan has bagged are not of the same caliber as the Mexican talent WCW has signed. Don't expect a blow-me-away performance, a la Rey Misterio Jr., in this match, but I've seen Hector Garza and Heavy Metal, and they are both very good. I've not been as impresses with Aguayo and Estrada, and don't think I've seen Canek or Guerrera. o Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Goldust (IC Title) HHH has shown more of a proficiency for solid brawling lately, so this might actually be a good meshing of styles... the storyline is also interesting and should add a nice subtext for the match. o Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq This'll be an all-out brawl... I hope they let both men cut loose, otherwise, this is the sort of match that could fall flat, leaving the crowd disappointed, and Ahmed Johnson coming back to a situation where he'll have to rebuild his fan base. o Undertaker vs. Vader They almost seem to be rebuilding Vader, with him dropping Cornette and then getting a pinfall win over Bret Hart, so a clean job to the Undertaker seems unlikely here. I'm not sure what to expect, but if both men put their hearts into it, this could be an interesting big man/power match. o Sid vs. Shawn Michaels (WWF Title) Shawn's going after the title in his hometown, and all logical signs point to him regaining the gold here to take on the Hitman in the WrestleMania main event. It's so logical that fans everywhere are expecting it, though. I'm not so sure Shawn will walk out of San Antonio the champ. Afterall, a match between him and Bret should be just as hot *without* a title on the line... don't you think? And that leaves the Rumble match itself. This probably really is the strongest Rumble line-up since 1992, when there were about 4 legit potential winners in most fans eyes (Hogan, Sid, Flair, Piper... hell, maybe 5 if you count the Undertaker). This year, you've got top notch main event talent like Bret Hart, Steve Austin, Vader, and Undertaker all taking part. Plus, there is this "wild card" slot which seems like an opening for a potential challenger. These top guys, along with a deep roster of participants who are pretty over, but who don't seem like legit possible winners (Bulldog, Owen, Mankind, HHH, Goldust, and of course the sentimental favorite, Terry Funk, among others), should make for a pretty hot main event. Of course, it looks like Titan will be going with the 1 minute intervals again, making for a less interesting, but more fast-paced, match. As I said above, it seems logical for Bret to walk out the winner... but my personal dark horse pick is gonna be the Undertaker. Assuming Titan decides not to do the obvious... If it helps you make your own predictions, I'll toss in the tidbit that scores of places are reporting that the February WWF In Your House PPV will be headlined by Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin taking on Bret Hart and Sid. I'm can't confirm this as fact, as this seems like a case of people assuming that the house show main event for February would also be the PPV main event for that month's show. That's not necessarily the way things work. * WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future: o Royal Rumble --- San Antonio, TX --- January 19, 1997 o In Your House --- Memphis, TN --- February 16, 1997 o WrestleMania 13 --- Chicago, IL --- March 23, 1997 o In Your House --- Rochester, NY --- April 20, 1997 o In Your House --- Baltimore, MD --- May 11, 1997 o King of the Ring --- Providence, RI --- June 8, 1997 o In Your House --- Calgary, Alberta, Canada --- July 6, 1997 o SummerSlam '97 --- E. Rutherford, NJ --- August 10, 1997 o In Your House --- Louisville, KY --- September 7, 1997 ************ The News From Dayton This compilation is Copyright 1995, 1997 by Rick Scaia (ag725@freenet.carleton.ca) All rights, if any, reserved. Proper credit is given to sources of information whenever possible. Reproduction of this document, or the contents thereof, is permitted, and encouraged as long as: (1) in reproducing any part of this document, you give proper credit to both the original source of information as well as to "The News From Dayton," and (2) no profit is made from the reproduction or distribution of this information (this info is not meant to be disseminated via 1-900 lines or other media which cause the reader to incur a cost or which generate any kind of revenue for the information provider!). ************************************************************************** -- 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------