Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 14:34:01 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199702241934.OAA26089@freenet2.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@aimnet.com Subject: The News From Dayton -- 02/24/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of February 24, 1997 Updated Throughout the Week! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ECW to get RAW this week! / Savage joins NWO 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 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 brand new WrestleSite 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 February 24, 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 leads off his column this Sunday stating that tonight's WCW SuperBrawl PPV has a big main event, but "not much else." This is partially due to WCW making four changes to the PPV card "for no good reason." The Steiners were pulled out of their role in the four-way tag team match as a result of the car crash footage we saw on the last Nitro. Alex called this particular angle "ludicrous," and pointed out that "enough fans had their intelligences insulted that Nitro's television ratings dorpped after the crash aired." Also, the co-main event tag match that was to pit the Giant and Lex Luger against the Outsiders was changed to include only the Giant taking on Hall and Nash; Alex puts Luger's "broken hand" in quotes, placing rumors that the injury is legit in question. The Steve Regal/Rey Misterio Jr. TV Title match was also scrapped as a result of the decision to put the belt on Prince Iaukea (a WCW jobber); Iaukea should drop the title to Rey tonight on PPV so that Regal and Rey can feud over the belt in coming weeks. And Big Bubba Rogers is scratched from the card after the mysterious parking lot attack that left him knocked out; it's unknown whether another lower echelon NWO member (Scott Norton or Michael Wallstreet) will step in and take Bubba's place against Dallas Page, or if the whole match is just a wash. * Next up, Marvez makes the observation that "while plenty happened on Nitro, the show was far inferior to last week's Monday Night RAW." However, this superior product did not translate into ratings success for RAW, as it was still crushed in its second hour (the hour which included a call from ECW's Paul E. Dangerously and a World Title change) by a full ratings point. [Note from Rick: First hour ratings were 2.2 for RAW and 2.6 for Nitro. Second hour ratings were 2.0 for RAW and 3.1 for Nitro. But in all fairness, you have to realize that if putting on a kick-ass show is going to influence the ratings, you won't see that influence until the *next* week, after word spreads about the quality of RAW compared to Nitro. Expecting viewers to instantaneously appear and start watching RAW in the middle of a good show isn't realistic; expecting them to hear about the show and tune in next week is. We'll see if ratings for 2/24 are any different.] * And the highlight of what is expected to be another super episode of RAW this Monday night will be the arrival of ECW stars competing on a WWF stage. All weekend long, the WWF announcers have been referring to Monday night as a "platform" upon which ECW can show its wares, and get feedback from the WWF audience. That leads me to believe we'll see a series of ECW vs. ECW matches on the show, possibly setting up an angle for future shows where the angles become ECW vs. WWF. With all the WWF's major stars except for the Undertaker on tour in Germany or sidelined with injuries, this might be a great opportunity for ECW to carry the show... * Alex reports that the new WCW show set to air on TBS in prime time should be up and running in April. Ted Turner is happy with what Nitro has done for TNT, and wants to duplicate that success with TBS. In fact, Turner is so happy with his wrestling product that he's going ahead with the rumored TV appearance (on March 3) in which he will confront Eric Bischoff. * Alex Marvez's weekly Dayton Daily News Wrestling Column provides the timely and accurate information that generally makes up a portion of the NFD. Have you got a wrestling question you'd like answered as part of Alex's weekly column? If so, Alex can be contacted via e-mail at this *NEW* address: "alex_marvez@coxohio.com". Also, if you're in the Miami Valley, you can listen to Alex's commentary on wrestling (and other sports) on WING-FM (102.9) Mondays and Fridays at 7:20 a.m. 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: * The biggest "other news" is, of course, the SuperBrawl PPV. I did not get to see the event, as Sunday was rendered a euphorious blur after my beloved University of Dayton Flyers put the UMass Minutemen in their place. [I had a great idea for a sign: "Screw the Minutemen! The U.D. Flyers are *60* Minute Men, and we're all night long! WHOO!" But making up a sign in time for the 2pm tip-off would have required cutting back on valuable time better spent sleeping off the previous night's transgressions.] In short, celebrating the 69-67 U.D. victory easily took precedence over the WCW PPV... and if attending and celebrating a U.D. win over UMass sounds like a lame excuse to you, just keep in mind the Flyers aren't exactly contending for a #1 seed to the Big Dance (we're setting our sights on an NIT berth), and UMass *is* pretty damned tought. But enough about why I didn't see the show; you still want to know what happened. Here's the dirt: o In the main event, Hogan won by pinfall with the help of Randy Savage (who revealed that he is NWO here). Savage and Sting entered the arena together, but the splits as Savage decided to go all the way to the ring; Randy then handed Hogan the foriegn object he used to subdue Roddy Piper. o Lex Luger and the Giant became WCW Tag Champs when Luger (who was not suppossed to be legal to wrestle tonight, so you might already see where this angle is going...) came to the ring and racked Nash to win what had been essentially a handicap match pitting the Giant against the Outsiders. o Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan brawled all over the building while Nancy and Miss Jackie came to blows while strapped to each other at ringside. In the end, Benoit, Sullivan, and Jackie all got stretchered out after a table spot. o Eddie Guerrero beat Chris Jericho to retain the WCW US Title. o Prince Iaukea continued his WCW TV Title reign when Steve Regal's interference distracted Rey Misterio Jr. o Syxx beat Dean Malenko by DQ when Eddie Guerrero was caught trying to prevent Syxx fromm cheating; Malenko retains teh Cruiserweight belt. o Debra McMichael helped Jeff Jarrett beat her husband Mongo McMichael by tossing him the Haliburton briefcase. Suppossedly, this makes Jarrett a Horseman. o Konnan's team won the Lucha Trios match. [Sorry, I didn't write down who all the participants were...] o Dallas Page handled Buff Bagwell with little difficulty. o The Public Enemy defeated both Harlem Heat and the Faces of Fear to win the tag team triangle match to determine a #1 contender to the WCW Tag Titles. * WWF house shows at the end of last week were notable for returning to the former Smokey Mountain Wrestling territory, and paying homage to that once entertaining organization. [For those of you who don't remember, SMW was the Jim Cornette-run organization that had some great years until late 1995, when the financial burdens of trying to run a regional fed caught up with Corny. I still remember pursuing SMW tapes with as much fervor as I would later expend chasing after ECW tapes... hardcore fans won't forget SMW for some time to come.] During shows last week, former SMW headliners Tracey Smothers and Dirty White Boy Tony Anthony returned to action on WWF shows in Tennessee. This is especially cool because previous, Smothers and Anthony were forced to portray "Freddie Joe Floyd" and "TL Hopper," respectively; this was a nice tip of the cap to their previous efforts in the area. Also, former SMW champ Buddy Landell (who has finally recovered fully from an injury suffered just 3 days after he entered the WWF) returned to action on the Tennessee swing. The capper on the tour was a show in Knoxville, TN, which was a Smokey Mountain reunion show of sorts. While Smothers jobbed for the new Diesel on the undercard, Dirty White Boy and Landell wrestled a match near the top of the card. DWB beat Landell, which might be used to set up future stories in the old Smokey Mountain territory. I doubt it'll ever get on WWF TV, but this was probably pretty fun for all the area fans who remembered these guys from SMW. All of this comes as rumors have popped up that Cornette and Landell might be looking for a way of reviving the old Smokey Mountain territory. * Sometimes I think I take a knowledge of ECW for granted... while it seems that most every wrestling fan is *curious* about ECW, there are only a few of us who actually get to enjoy this exciting promotion on a regular basis. Well, this is about to change, as a result of a exposure on WWF programming and a national PPV coming up in April. If you're one of the people who are curious about what ECW's all about, and want to be ready when you finally get your first look at them in the coming days and weeks, you might start out with this ECW Primer I wrote. It originally appeared in The Wrestling Truth Newsletter #90, which I also contribute a semi-regular column to. It includes a quick recap on ECW's history, style, and stars. Check it out. * Ahmed Johnson's injury has turned out to be more serious than originally expected. He's been pulled back off the road, as his infected arm continues to hamper him. The same could be said for Steve Austin, who is now definitely off the road until WrestleMania, where he's expected to face Bret Hart; in Austin's case, it's a hyper- extended knee that is causing trouble. The news is not nearly as good for Marc Mero, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and is definitely out through WrestleMania; it should be mid-year before we see him in action again. * The WWF European Title tournament may surprise us... most people have (quite logically) pegged British Bulldog as the likely favorite to win the title and be catapulted back to top echelon babyface status in the process. But I've heard that Bret Hart *may* wind up with the title, as a way of both legitimizing the title as being a major championship, and as a way of assuaging the damage done to Hart by having him drop so many falls lately. While going with Davey Boy may making more sense in terms of developing some interesting storylines, Bret Hart as the first Euro Champ could have the effect of introducing a second title to the top echelong of WWF stars; *if* they would decide to go with Hart, I'd bet that he wouldn't drop the belt, but would rather have to forfeit it after winning the WWF World Title at some point down the line. * SCOOPS is reporting that both Diamond Dalls Page and (much more importantly) the Diamond Doll/Booty Babe Kimberly will be included in an upcoming Playboy celebrity nudes pictorial. This was done with the blessing of WCW. All I can say is: Monkey-Spankers, START YOUR ENGINES. [In the meantime, the junior-varsity monkey-spankers such as myself sit back and wish for the day when terms can be reached with Marc Mero and Sable, as well as Goldustin Rhodes and Marlena, for similar endeavors. Not that this isn't a dandy start!] * WWF pay-per-view dates for the foreseeable future: 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 ************ 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!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - List: nfd - Majordomo v1.94.1 - Aimnet, Santa Clara, California, USA Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 15:06:36 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199702242006.PAA03433@freenet2.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@aimnet.com Subject: NFD Correction -- 02/24/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list Loyal Readers -- Just to prove that it pays to be careful about whose PPV reports you listen to when you're recapping an event for a large audience (and also proving that it doesn't pay to try to fake your way through a recap when you didn't even see said event!), I screwed up one of the match results from Superbrawl in the NFD. The Syxx victory over Dean Malenko was not, I am now told, via DQ. Syxx did, in fact, win the Cruiserweight title. I apologize for the screw-up and for any confusion it may have caused. -- 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!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - List: nfd - Majordomo v1.94.1 - Aimnet, Santa Clara, California, USA