Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 01:58:07 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199706230558.BAA21540@freenet2.carleton.ca.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Subject: The News From Dayton -- 06/23/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of June 23, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Austin-Mania Runs Wild! / UFC Caves In... Read on for more on today's Headline Stories! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News From Dayton is compiled weekly by: Rick Scaia (ag725@freenet.carleton.ca) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News -- For the Week of June 23, 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, or if you are linking directly here without checking out the main News From Dayton Headlines Page, I strongly encourage you to make the jump to the NFD on the web at http://homepages.udayton.edu/~scaiarij/wrestling/nfd.htm 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. THE ALEX MARVEZ COLUMN * Anyone who doubts that Steve Austin -- despite his "Stone Cold" monnicker -- is red hot simply needs to check out some numbers to realize the error of their ways. Alex Marvez's weekly column is sub-headed "The current wave of Austinmania is rivaling that of Hulkamania." That pretty much says it all... Steve Austin may not be the mainstream star that Hogan was in his hey-day, but within the ranks of wrestling fans, his status is unmatched even by the one-time "Real American." "Austin 3:16" shirt sales during the months of March through May, 1997, exceeded the sales of "Hulkamania" shirts during the same period in 1987. The Austin shirt has become the best-selling in WWF history. The latest WWF attempt to cash in on Austin's popularity is the new "Cause Stone Cold Says So" video -- which contains a ton of Austin's more memorable actions from the past 18 months in uncensored form. In fact, the video also includes some footage from Austin's brief ECW stint in late 1995. The issue of Austin's popularity among wrestling fans appears to be obivous: he's one of the trademark stars of this era. However, this does raise the question of whether or not Austin can parlay his popularity into the lucrative mainstream success that Hogan and the WWF enjoyed 10 years ago. Marvez notes that with WCW and Nitro being such hot commodities now, a lot of pressure may come to bear on Steve Austin to acheive just that level of success, both for himself and for his company. * Alex next moves on to recap the the latest interpromotional efforts involving ECW, the WWF, and the USWA. Lost in the speculation about a "war" between the WWF and ECW is the fact that ECW and the USWA are embarking on what could be a very entertaining and profitable joint venture that will be, in many ways, independent of the WWF. Alex speculates that the ECW/USWA deal could be the result of ECW wanting to branch out into new territories, while USWA welcomes the venture as a way to help bolster ticket sales (during a time in which the Memphis-based USWA is badly in need of drawing more fans to their shows). Alex also notes that the USWA/ECW/WWF copromotional effort should come to fruition in a big way, as stars from all three groups will be participating on the WWF's SummerSlam PPV in August. * Alex closes out with a few WCW tidbits.... first, he says not to worry about Madusa's future in wrestling; she's scheduled to become a valet for Ric Flair once Flair splits with Roddy Piper. And second, the big star that WCW hopes to unveil on June 30 is hoped to be a mainstream, non-wrestling personality. However, WCW is also preparing to debut Curt Hennig, as a contingency plan should the mainstream star not pan out. * Alex Marvez's column appears every Sunday in the Dayton Daily News. In addition to sharing his wrestling thoughts there, Alex is also once again lurking about the America OnLine Grandstand Wrestling Area, and can be e-mailed with questions at "alex_marvez@coxohio.com". Also, Alex can also be heard on Mondays and Fridays on WING-FM (102.9) at 7:20 a.m. talking about wrestling and other sports. IN OTHER NEWS... * Big NFD-oriented news, folks! After three months of thinking, testing, and procastinating, I've finally got the NFD Readers' Forum up and running. I think you'll really like the way I've got things set up, as there are separate areas for each of six different topics, plus a weekly poll that you'll get to participate in. Each area has its own e-mail address, and will be updated one time per week. Hopefully, the NFD Readers' Forum will become a popular and entertaining diversion for folks who want intelligent and topical wrestling discussion -- which is the sort of thing that is pretty much impossible on the various Usenet Newsgroups or America Online and their ilk. Please, I encourage you to check it out! In other NFD administrivia, I'm going to be redoing the "Navigator Bars" on each page to be a bit more useful... I'm not done with everything yet, so you'll be seeing those changes added slowly and over time. * Onto some real news! The Ultimate Fighting Championships have caved in to pressure and announced several rule changes that will go into effect with their next PPV. As you will recall, there has been a lot of underground rumbling among informed fans that the UFC was in some real trouble, and might have to cancel their upcoming July 27 pay-per-view event. However, with this set of rule changes, they hope to avoid any further legal or political pressure, and get more cable systems back on their side. Expectations are now that the July 27 event will go off as planned... For those of you keeping track, the announced rule changes (according to an item on ESPN's SportsZone) are: o There will be three weight classes (under 160 lbs., 160-200 lbs., and over 200 lbs.) o All participants will wear martial arts gloves o Kicking an opponent who is down will be illegal o There will be no "pressure point strikes" o There will be no "small join manipulation" o There will be no hair pulling o There will be no groin strikes Taken on a one-by-one basis, the rule changes don't seem to be that big of a deal; UFC already had been moving towards different weight classes, and I for one have never been a big fan of seeing another man hit in the man-sac. But it will take seeing a UFC event conducted under these rules to know for sure what the impact on the competition will really be... * ECW had an eventful show in Waltham, MA, this past Friday night. The biggest news is that the Dudley Boys won the ECW Tag Team Titles from the Eliminators. As you will recall, the Elims were able to retain the titles two weeks ago at WrestlePalooza '97, despite the fact that Perry Saturn was hobbled by a knee injury and was mainly a spectator for the match. Friday night, however, the Dudleys had a "restraining order" against Saturn, who was forced to leave the building. Left by himself to fight the Dudleys, John Kronos put up a valiant effort, but finally lost the match and the titles. The other newsworthy item out of the Waltham show was that Sabu and Rob Van Dam brawled with Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, and the Pitbulls as the ECW/WWF angle continued. Thanks go to NFD Reader "Steve" (who did not leave a last name), who passed along results of the evening. * Speaking of Van Dam, NFD Reader Michael McCumsky reports that "Mr. Monday Night" himself has a small part in the movie "Bloodmoon" currently showing on HBO. * This is off the AP Newswire: legendary boxer Thomas "Hitman" Hearns has bought a ringside seat for tonight's WWF RAW telecast from Detroit, MI. The AP Story says that there may be a confrontation between Hearns and Bret "Hitman" Hart over just who is the real "Hitman." It sounds like a story planted by the WWF, so I'd look for Hearns to play some role in tonight's show. * Sad news: Stan "the Man" Stasiak, a former WWWF champ and the man who made the Heart Punch into a feared finisher, passed away last week at the age of 60. Stasiak had a memorable feud with Bruno Sammartino through the 60's and into the 70's, and also battled WWWF champ Pedro Morales in several huge matches. * WCW got a lot of publicity from Dennis Rodman's appearance on Monday Nitro last week... CNN/SI's "Play of the Day" on Monday night was Rodman's particpation in the show-ending brawl (is it coincidence that CNN/SI and WCW both fall under the Turner empire?? I think not...). And mid-week last week, Rodman was a guest of Jay Leno on the Tonight Show; in my opinion, the appearance was as much evidence as I'll ever need to declare that Rodman should stick to being the best damned rebounder the sport of basketball ever produced, and leave the talk show guesting and pro wrestling to professionals. To say the Worm did the single worst job of promoting a pro wrestling match that I can remember would be an understatement. Rodman is scheduled to be on ESPN's "Up Close" sometime this week, and I'm sure he'll once again broach the subject of wrestling for WCW... I hope he's more convincing this time. * The Shawn Michaels situation does appear to be improving, as the sides are at least talking again. However, that does not mean all is totally rosy. A lot of sources are saying that Michaels should be back in time for the July 14th RAW in San Antonio, TX (Michaels' home town). But the fact of the matter is that the Michaels return on the 14th is merely what the WWF is shooting for, not anything that has been agreed upon yet. FWIW, the WWF does appear to be aiming to have the tag tourney winner vs. Austin and Partner match on the 14th -- two first round matches tonight, with two semi-final matches on the 30th, and the final on July 7; if Michaels does make the show, it'd be a plus. * Jose "NewzFirst" Rivera is reporting that some of the lucha minis that appeared on WWF programming earlier this year will be jumping to WCW soon. Mascarita Sagrada Jr. is said to be pegged to become "Mini Rey Misterio Jr." It's not like this will sway the momentum of the Monday Night Wars in WCW's favor or anything, but I do have to admit that the minis were damned entertaining. * From the "don't believe everything you read" file: there was word flying around AOL and the 'net about a Jim Ross WWF Hotline report that made some pretty wild claims. The WWF's Bill Banks reports that Jim Ross never likened the June 30th "surprise" on RAW to Greg Maddox jumping from the Braves to the Yankees, nor did Ross state the SummerSlam might be 4 hours long and include an IWA style death match with Mankind. * Some more plausible WWF news: Brian Lee (who was the fake Undertaker 3 summers ago and is a legit close friend of the real 'Taker, Mark Calloway) should be coming in soon to form a tag team with Crush. And also, you can expect to see Sabu appear on RAW very soon. Probably as early as tonight. This is only the NFD Weekly Edition. Check here every Monday for the in-depth looks at all the news, as well as for the exclusive Web Home of the Alex Marvez Column. At other times during the week, be sure to check out The NFD Updates for quick recaps of breaking stories! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News From Dayton is Copyright 1995, 1997 by Rick Scaia. This document, as well as all contents of the pages in the NFD hierarchy, are the intellectual property of Rick Scaia. Please refer to the "Thanks and Acknowledgements" page for full copyright information. In short: You are not to reproduce the content or style of these pages for financial gain. -- Rick Scaia | VISIT ME ON THE WEB A Loathesome, Offensive Brute | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | http://homepages.udayton.edu/~scaiarij/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - List: nfd - Majordomo v1.94.1 - Aimnet, Santa Clara, California, USA