From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton -- 02/10/97 Date: 1997/02/10 Message-ID: <5do793$qhp@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 February 10, 1997 Updated Throughout the Week! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BIG WEEK COMING UP FOR WWF! / UFC RESULTS Read on for more on this week's Headline Stories! Last Update: Monday -- Feb. 10 -- 5:00pm --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 informative online personalities and forums provide key corroboration and details on the stories I report here; the NFD counts on them to make sure only the most reliable information is passed on to you, the eager fan: 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Beginning very soon, the NFD will be available via e-mail. The esteemed Chris Zimmerman is providing vital assistance, and we hope to have the mailing list up and running soon. Before February is up, details on how to sign up will be available right here! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News -- For the Week of February 10, 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 I feel are unique and worth passing on to 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 kick things off with Alex Marvez's column: * Alex recaps the big news out of last Monday Night's first two-hour head-to-head confrontation between the WWF's Monday Night RAW and WCW's Monday Nitro as his top item. He leads with the success of RAW, both in terms of putting on a hot show from the Toronto SkyDome and in terms of taking a step towards regaining a competitive Nielsen rating. RAW both finished stronger with the fans than in recent weeks, and also took a bit out of what had been a highly rated second hour for Nitro. This was a show highlighted by Vader vs. Steve Austin, Undertaker/Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq/Mankind, and clips of the Royal Rumble. There will be more on the ratings implications of last Monday Night below. * While RAW was delivering the strong SkyDome show, Nitro spent its two hours building effectively towards the impending Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper PPV main event. While the match has been known to the public for some time, WCW played it up as if Piper had not accepted the title shot; this led to a well done angle in which Piper's son was present and gave his dad the go-ahead to unload on Hogan and accept the challenge. Alex notes that if Piper does happen to win the PPV match, it will not be a lengthy reign at all, as Piper is only signed to perform a VERY limited number of dates with WCW. * Next, Alex reveals that our brothers to the south in Cincinnati will now be able to see WWF Shotgun Saturday Night at 1a.m. on WSTR-64. Apparently, Alex was less than enamored that the first show to be broadcast here in southwest Ohio included a shot of one Headbanger "vomiting" on the other; or maybe it was that they replayed this in slow motion that got to Marvez. :) * This weekend's ECW television show was again a strong and enjoyable effort. Big news from TV had Bubba Ray Dudley turning against his Dudley "brothers" to join D-Von, the renegade Dudley. They will now feud with the Gangstas. [The duo debuted a super new finisher, in which D-Von back bodydrops the opponent right into a Diamond Cutter by Bubba Ray. Trust me, it's the best variation of the Diamond Cutter yet; the "Diamond Death Cutter" and "Stone Cold Stunner" do not compare.] The Gangstas feud will likely last until Big Dick Dudley, who is the "leader" of the Dudleys, gets out of jail. Upon his release, a return to ECW to feud with his prodigal brothers is expected. * 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. Here are some other newsbites I've put together for you: * Alright, I said I'd expand upon the ratings news offered above, so now I will... The overall 2 hour ratings saw Nitro win 3.1 to RAW's 2.6. This is one of the higher combined ratings ever for both shows on Monday Night, and was sustained over 2 hours, which is very impressive (past high combined ratings occured when both shows were still 1 hour). In the first hour, Nitro and RAW were a virtual dead heat, as Nitro scored a 2.7 (quarter hours: 2.3/2.6/3.0/3.1) and RAW got a 2.6 (2.7/2.6/2.5/2.9). In the second hour, the appeal of Roddy Piper apparently got a lot of channel surfers to stay tuned in to Nitro, as they got a .7 ratings bump, without adversely affecting RAWs ratings; Nitro's second hour got a 3.4 (3.0/3.2/3.8/3.6) while RAW's scored another 2.6 (2.7/2.7/2.4/2.6). Looking at the numbers, it's obvious that Nitro needs a little bit of time to get its show moving, before they build to big finishes featuring some of their big name, big money stars. On the other hand, RAW saw no real flutuation (certainly nothing as major as the 1.5 ratings point range which Nitro had over the two hours); if they can, in the future, set up big angles to play out in the final hour, they may be able to outscore Nitro in the coming weeks. * And in those coming weeks, all RAWs will be live and 2 hours. Courtesy of NewzFirst, here are the dates and venues for all RAWs between now and WrestleMania: o February 17 -- Nashville, TN -- LIVE! o February 24 -- Manhatten Center, New York City -- LIVE! o March 3 -- Berlin, Germany -- Taped o March 10 -- Worchester, MA -- LIVE! o March 17 -- Syracuse, NY -- LIVE! A couple of notes on these dates, courtesy of me: first, the 2/24 Manhatten Center show is already SOLD OUT. The venue, which was the first home for Monday Night RAW and is just a great place to see wrestling, obviously has some sentimental value for fans who remember the 1993 shows the WWF held there. Also, the taped show from Germany will likely include footage of the crowning of the WWF European Champion, the first new WWF title since the North American title became the InterContinental Title in the early 80's. The way the brackets are set up, it looks like the tournament final will be Davey Boy Smith facing either Bret Hart or Stone Cold Steve Austin. The early thinking is that Bulldog will be splitting from Owen Hart later this week, and that he'll get a big league push as a babyface, possibly including being crowned European Champ (Bulldog is HUGELY popular overseas). This theory is strengthened when one considers that WWF house shows starting after the "Final Four" PPV have Bulldog facing Hunter Hearst Helmsley in single competition, while Owen Hart continues in tag matches with Crush and Lief Cassidy as his partners on alternating nights. * Sad news out of Kansas City, MO. Bulldog Bob Brown, who was a popular star in the KC area through the 60s, 70s, and 80s, passed away on Feb. 5, due to a heart attack. He had been working as a valet parking cashier at a KC hotel, and according to a local newspaper article, was recognized so frequently by customers that the hotel kept photos of Bulldog on hand for him to autograph for fans. * Shotgun Saturday Night this week was more memorable for the venue than for the event itself... matches included a Headbangers squash (dark match), Godwinns getting a DQ win over Faarooq/Crush when Savio Vega interfered, UT being DQ'ed against HHH for using the IC belt, and a Vega/Aldo Montoya match which degenerated into a six-man brawl when the Godwinns and Faarooq/Crush returned. The Penn Station venue looked GREAT on TV, in MODO, and allowed for a VERY cool spot in which the Undertaker, after having been DQ'ed, tombstoned HHH at the top of an escalator. * Speaking of Shotgun, it appears it may follow WWF LiveWire in undergoing a format change. The one-time interactive program has been scrapped in favor of a taped format for multiple reasons. For one thing, it's widely believed that nobody, from Titan to the home viewers, was happy with the quality of the calls the show was getting. For another, with a second hour of live RAW every week, along with the live Shotgun Saturday Night program and live commentary feeds for Superstars (not to mention the mostly-live Superstars the day of PPVs), the cost and effort of another live hour of TV may not be worth it. Still, I do not understand why they couldn't do a taped show which was still "interactive" in the sense that they could have guests and hosts respond to faxes and e-mails that accumulate over the week. Even though the increased number of "value-added" hours of in-ring WWF action has increased from two to four per week in the last month and a half, the need for an extra "let's just show highlights of RAW" show has not increased. The syndicated "WWF Challenge" and WGN's "Blast Off" are more than sufficient for that purpose, should it ever strike my fancy to watch that type of show. Just having Jim Ross and/or Vic Venom responding to interesting or provocative e-mails/faxes for half of "Live Wire" and using the other half to hype/review *truly* important happenings would result in a program which would once again be worthy of taping for a Saturday afternoon perusal. All this leads to whether or not Shotgun will also be staying live in the wake of the move to the live two-hour RAWs. Word from Titan Tower is that last night's show from Penn Station (which was, as I said, a fantastic venue from the looks of things) will be the last "rough-edged" show from unique NYC venues. While I doubt Shotgun would ever revert to being a lame highlights show or simple squash matches, there is a possibility the show could now be taped weekly for airing on Saturday night; I'd still like to see the show retain it's hardcore edge, but even that's not certain now. It's unknown whether or not there will be a live/semi-live Shotgun from in or near Chattanooga, TN, next weekend; it might be a full two weeks before we get a good idea about what the future of Shotgun Saturday Night really is. * Friday Night saw the latest in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's PPV efforts. The show, called "Judgement Day," was originally slated to include a battle between Dan "The Beast" Severn (UFC tourney winner, 1995 Ultimate Ultimate winner, and reigning UFC Superfight champion) and Don "The Predator" Frye (UFC 9 tourney winner and 1996 Ultimate Ultimate champion). It was also scheduled to be held in Niagra Falls, NY. Neither of these two things took place. First, Frye broke his hand in the Ultimate Ultimate, and was not able to fully prepare in time to accept the fight against Severn. And second, the NY State Athletic Commission arrived in Niagra Falls, after UFC had already flown in all the talent on Tuesday, with 100 pages of rules and modifications UFC would have to make to be "legal" in New York State. The modifcations included altering the traditional fenced-in octagon ring, making the fighter wear protective gloves and gear, and outlawing submission holds. UFC tried to fight these regulations in court, but to no avail. Less than 24 hours before bell time, they moved the event to Dothan, Alabama; the venue, while small and unimpressive on TV, was surprisingly full with eager fans. If nothing else, the ability of UFC to fill a venue (even a small one) on one day's notice should speak to the self-proclaimed morally upstanding lawmakers who think that we, the citizens of the US, don't want to see events like UFC. Onto the event itself: the Superfight, now between Severn and two-time UFC tourney winner Marc Coleman, provided the surprise of the night. Severn, an expert grappler and the closest thing UFC has to a "living legend," was out-grappled and made to submit by Coleman in a little under 5 minutes. The event also saw the first ever splitting of heavyweights and lightweights (the cut-off was 200 lbs.). In the lightweight division, Jerry Bohlander (a veteran of several UFC at the age of just 22) was victorious in a four man tourney; however, he was helped by the fact that an impressive Pancrase fighter (whose name escapes me right now) injured his hand in a first round win. The heavyweight tourney marked the impressive debut of Vitor Belfort, a 19-year-old jiu jitsu fighter from Brazil; usually, fighters of that discipline prefer to stick to boring ground attacks, but Belfort was impressive in his striking ability, and was a lot of fun to watch. And I had to keep reminding myself that this kid is 3 years younger than me, and could easily kick my ass. In the finals, Belfort (at 210 lbs.) took out "The Rotund One" (whose real name also escapes me right now, dammit), who weighs 320 lbs, in short order when the ref stopped the fight due to Belfort reigning blows down on his prone opponent. While the fights were, as always, fun to watch, the pacing of UFC events is so poor, with so much time killing and dead time, that you never feel like you got your money's worth. This time, even with showing two or three past UFC matches to fill space, the event still had too many holes to be thoroughly enjoyable. I maintain that the best way to watch UFC events is to get your hands on a tape, and make good use of your VCR's fast-forward feature. * Here's an interesting newsbite, which comes to you courtesy of Otto Heuer: Chris Candido has gone on record saying that -- despite what you may have heard -- it was Todd Pettingill who was inside the "Fondle Me Elmo" costume that created such a stir on WWF Shotgun some weeks back when Sunny was doing her "I'm having sex on TV" routine. Just another reason for me to want Pettingill's job... * While on the topic of Sunny, it bears mentioning that she'll be featured on a couple of those magazine shows (I think it's "American Journal" and "Entertianment Tonight") as one of the internet's most popular celebrity women. Another magazine show, "Extra," will be featuring a piece on the WWF/WCW war sometime soon; for the WWF side, both Vince McMahon and Shawn Michaels were interviewed, while a number of WCW personnel are also likely to be included. It's worth noting that "Extra" is a Time-Warner production, and Time-Warner is owned by Ted Turner. I guess as long as we're talking about wrestling on mainstream TV shows, I might as well also toss in that Bret Hart will be on "The Simpsons" on April 13 (the night of the ECW PPV). * Curtis Hughes, who in recent weeks has been portrayed as the butler/bodyguard of Hunter Hearst Helmsley, has been hospitalized with some (apparently fairly serious) illness. He was taken by ambulance from the WWF's January 25 house show at Madison Square Garden in NYC, and his current status with the WWF is unknown. Curtis was part of an angle that aired on TV this morning, but that was taped three weeks ago. It was stated in the Wrestling Truth Newsletter that Hughes was on a four week "try-out" with Titan, after which they would either offer him a permanent spot or not. * Buyrates are in for both of January's wrestling PPVs. Both the WWF's Royal Rumble and WCW/NWO's Souled Out scored somewhere in the 0.6 range. [If you care, Titan is claiming a 0.8 for the Rumble.] For both shows, these are disappointing numbers; for Titan, they probably expected more out of their second-most-popular PPV, and for WCW, they definitately expected a stronger showing from the hot NWO angle. * One thing that was definitely NOT disappointing in January was the box office numbers the WWF ran up. Taking into account 60,000 fans at the AlamoDome, 25,000 fans at the SkyDome, and 16,000 fans at Madison Square Garden (paid figures are 49,000, 23,000, and 14,000 respectively), this had to have been one of the strongest months of house show business Titan has had since the heydays of running three shows per night. * The WWF's "In Your House: Final Four" is coming up this weekend, and looks to be an interesting show. There are only four announced matches, though an additional match could come out of the big "Thursday RAW Thursday LIVE" special on USA Network this week (with Shawn Michaels defending against Sid and Vader taking on Bret Hart). Another possibility is that the "Final Four" match, by nature of having four good or better workers, could last a rather long time, leaving room for only three other matches. The PPV shapes up like this right now: Final 4 Match - Bret Hart vs. Vader vs. Undertaker vs. Steve Austin The rules for the match are not clear at this time, as Titan has been running "Triple Threat" matches that essentially came down to round robin type deals, with the non-participants in a given fall standing outside the ring. This format hasn't been popular with fans who've seen the matches, and I don't know if they'd use it for the PPV. One thing we do know is that the PPV match will be a no-DQ match, which could be very interesting. The current thinking is that Hart will win to set up a WM13 title match against Shawn Michaels; as long as Michaels retains against Sid, I'd say this is definitely the way Titan is going to go. Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Ahmed Johnson - IC Title Match Unfortunately, the set-up for this match has been rather limited, with one or two run-ins providing the motivation for this match. However, the popularity of Ahmed should certainly carry the fans' interest; a good brawl might be possible here if HHH steps it up. But I expect we will be seeing Ahmed win; either that, or some devious effort by HHH (and remember, it can't include Curtis) will prevent Ahmed from winning, setting up a rematch at WM. Furnas/LaFon vs. Bulldog/Owen Hart - Tag Title Match With all the evidence I went into above suggesting a split between Bulldog and Owen, it's almost academic to predict a Furnas/LaFon title win. The biggest question will be whether or not Furnas and LaFon will be able to get over with the fans; it'll take a hell of a performance here (not the way they've been half-dogging it lately) to accomplish that. I hope Bulldog and Owen are up to it in their farewell match as a team. Flash Funk/Goldust/Maivia vs. Faarooq/Crush/Savio This is an interesting six-man combination. Normally, a match like this one is tailor-made for a babyface win... but with the huge and convincing push the "Nation" has been getting, it looks like they might be going over here. If Funk is allowed to shine and if Goldust carries Faarooq and Crush to some intense brawling, this could be a very entertaining match. But what I expect is a run-in ending with new NOD members getting the win for the heels. * Finally, some rumors of a shaky nature for you to enjoy... this is kind of a summary of weak rumors regarding talent movement that have been going around. Only time will tell how accurate they are: both Butch Reed and Rick Rude are said to be talking to the WWF again (Reed, maybe.... Rude, I think he's with ECW at least through their PPV)......... Harlem Heat and TPE may have come to terms with WCW, and may have signed contracts (both were working night-to-night with the company).......... and here's one rumor I'll SHOOT DOWN: whatever you've heard, WCW's Glacier is not going anywhere; while the gimmick continues to be retooled, it's not gonna go away. Anyone who's been saying it is is just engaging in wishful thinking; Glacier was part of the quarterly WCW tapings in Florida that take WCW through mid-year. * WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future: o In Your House --- Chattanooga, 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 3, 1997 o In Your House --- Louisville, KY --- September 7, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Updates -- For Week beginning February 10, 1997 Shawn Michaels PINNED! I bet that subject line caught your attention... :) The news isn't really *that* huge, but it's worth mentioning that the WWF's "Divided We Stand, United We Brawl" matches from this past weekend have been ending with Michaels taking the dive. Remember, these are the tag matches that feature men who are enemies teaming with each other; in this case, it's Bret Hart and Sid against Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin. Matches this weekend saw Austin ending up landing the Stunner on Shawn Michaels (accidentally?) and Michaels being pinned by Hart. These matches have been very enjoyable and have been reviewed well. Also over this weekend, Doug Furnas was out with the flu bug that has apparently bitten about half the WWF's roster over the past month... he was replaced in tag matches against Owen/Bulldog by Bob Holly. At these house shows, which were in the Meadowlands (or whatever its new name is now) in NJ and in Bethlehem, PA, tickets for SummerSlam and the post-SS live RAW went on sale. Summerslam is in East Rutherford, NJ, on the 3rd of August (note: not the 10th as I had previously reported), and RAW on the 4th will be in Bethlehem. Thanks to NFD Readers (including John Tota) for passing the results of these east coast house shows on to me... Pillman to return in Cincinnati Heavy rotation of radio ads for the WWF's Friday night (2/14) show in Cincinnati has begun... while the card is pretty much the same as the others shows on the current tour, the ads are notable for including a heavy emphasis on the fact that Brian Pillman will be sitting ringside for the show. Cincinnati is Pillman's hometown, so this is probably just the *start* of whatever angle will bring him back; when Pillman is fully healed and ready for action, I'm sure his return will be at a PPV or televised event. Actually, as has been reported many other places, Pillman *did* make a return to TV this past weekend; but not in the WWF. Pillman crashed the live Memphis broadcast of the USWA Saturday morning show. He did some heelish mic work and commentated for a match. The live USWA show is edited to 60 minutes and airs in syndication a week later; in Dayton, USWA airs on Saturday afternoons on WUCT-51. ************ 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!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------