Date: Tue, 19 Aug 1997 14:24:07 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199708191824.OAA00322@freenet5.carleton.ca.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Subject: The News From Dayton -- 08/18/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of August 18, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hardcore Heaven!!! 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 August 18, 1997 The News From Dayton remains a combination of the MOST RELIABLE wrestling news as reported elsewhere in the wrestling underground and the most interesting morsels of exclusive and unique news that I can dig up. The goal is the both inform and entertain you, the Home Viewer, without cluttering up your brain with total lies and fabrications that are common on other web pages. By the way, if you are reading the NFD on one of the RSPW newsgroups, or anywhere on the web other than the Official News From Dayton Web Site, or if you are linking directly here without checking out the main NFD 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 * As I first reported a couple weeks ago, Alex Marvez has moved on to bigger and better things. He is no longer covering wrestling and the Cincinnati Bengals for the Dayton Daily News; he will instead be starting his coverage of the Denver Broncos for the Rocky Mountain News starting this season. Alex fully intends to continue his weekly pro wrestling column for the RMN, and has even indicated that it should be made available on the Web every week on the RMN website. And while I'll no longer plagarize Alex's work here (even though I did do it with his full knowledge and approval), I'll make sure that there is always a link from this page to the new OFFICIAL home of his weekly wrestling column whenever it becomes active. IN OTHER NEWS... * First off, big apologies for all for skipping a weekend update to the website... I'm sure you don't care about my busy life, but I had honestly wanted to do a quick update on Saturday to make sure the ECW PPV got "front page" status here on the NFD heading into the PPV. As it turned out, I got sucked into travelling my own "path of rage" on Friday night, as we hit about 8 bars on something of a farewell tour to a friend who is leaving Dayton for Milwaukee. Saturday morning came around after only 3 hours sleep; and I had agreed to spend the day in the studio playing bass for one of the bands I used to play for. That made for a long day. So in lieu of doing a late afternoon/early evening update to the webpage, I napped so I could be a 60 minute man and all night long later in the evening. So sue me. And Sunday I was too busy trying to figure out how to witness Hardcore Heaven live to do an update on the web page. So there... enough lame excuses for you? * Lame excuses aside, the big news for the NFD Weekly is last night's ECW Hardcore Heaven PPV. After being told over the phone by my cable company (TCI) on Thursday that they had reversed their standing decision not to air ECW, I anxiously watched hour upon hour of the Sneak Prevue channel to find the phone number for ordering the event. I never saw it. So early Sunday, I phoned in some favors, made use of the old friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend network, and eventually arranged to see the the PPV at the house of a very casual acquaintance who happened to have one of those cool dish systems. Moral of the story: as far as I can tell, TCI's Dayton office is infested by a bunch of lying ingrates. They will hear from me. I am not so much angry that they didn't offer the event (since I got to see it anyway) as I am that they apparently saw fit to lie to me regarding the availability of the event. But hey, like I said, the story has a happy ending. I saw the show, albeit in unique environs. And I enjoyed it. I don't think Hardcore Heaven was as good as Barely Legal was in terms of presenting a totally unique and kick-ass feel; but in terms of satisfying their regular viewers who had been following storylines and were into the characters, this was a show that was definitely a Thumbs Up. With all the injuries to top stars, ECW put on a show that was devoid of some of their top names and most appealing (and talented) performers. But they still managed to make it work. This was not a show that -- like Barely Legal -- would earn ECW new fans from the legions of WWF/WCW-watching viewers; but it was the sort of show that would make existing ECW viewers quite happy. A couple of general comments to start off: the Ft. Lauderdale War Memorial venue looked good. It's an actual arena, and that's definitely a step up from a converted bingo hall. On the downside, it seemed like ECW did a pretty poor job of lighting said venue; the ring had tons of shadows in it, and when action moved into a corner, or outside the ring, things were really dark........... Joey Styles was flying solo on commentary all night. Maybe I just got really used to how quick and entertaining the reparte between Joey and Rick Rude was over the last few months, but I really think Styles could use a foil in the broadcast booth to keep things interesting. That is not to say Joey did a poor job or anything; he was solid as always. It's just that he could use a partner........... and the pacing of the show was really well done; in between matches, they'd cut back to Joey for a quick bit of info (be it an interview regarding an upcoming match, or the tracking of the Sandman's whereabouts), but then shoot it right back to the ring. There's something to be said about keeping things moving from match to match; the Big Two could take notes on the proper time and place to use lengthy history packages (hint: it's on the preview show, not on the PPV itself). And with those comments aside, here's a rundown of the Hardcore Heaven '97 PPV: o The show opened with Joey Styles in the ring previewing the night's matches. But Rick Rude quickly made an unwelcome appearance. Joey let Rude have the mic, and Rude introduced Chris Candido after riling the crowd up with some heel schtick. At this point, ECW commissioner Tod Gordon hit the ring and told Rude that by appearing on WWF RAW, he flushed his 2 year ECW deal down the toilet, and that since Rude isn't a licensed manager, he had a 10 count to leave the ring, or else Candido would forfeit. Rude eventually left, leaving us with the night's first match. o Taz vs. Chris Candido -- ECW TV Title. This was a very solid match. Nothing was really spectacular, but everything was tight and sound. In a lot of ways, this was probably a bad choice for an opening match; the same criticisms I'd make about Steve Regal opening WCW PPVs apply here. In other words, as good as Taz is, he's not flashy enough to warm up a crowd. These two went about 15 minutes, with a lot of nice back and forth action. Candido was gloating while he thought he was setting Taz up for a superplex, but as it turned out Taz recovered and cinched on the Tazmission for the tap-out victory. Good match, but maybe not a good choice to open the show. o Throughout the PPV, between breaks, Joey Styles took the time to document bits and pieces of a breaking story. For clarity's sake, I'll just present the whole thing here in one blurb. Before the show went live on PPV, Insane Clown Posse got in the ring to warm up the crowd. They were dancing around and rapping in the ring when Rob Van Dam and Bill Alfonso joined them. ICP tried to welcome the duo, but were instead jumped by Van Dam. Sabu eventually joined his partner in absolutely destroying the rappers. They weren't pulling any punches or anything, either; kicks and chairs were landing on ICP stiffly. I'm sure they're aching today (but equally sure they're pleased as hell to have gotten their asses kicked by two of the best). [Total tangent: if you care, ICP stole my only motivation for ever wanting to be in a rock band that was hugely famous -- as it stands, I've been perfectly happy to be in bands that I thought were good, rather than famous. I just always thought it be cool for somebody who is an actual celebrity to get in a wrestling ring, and actually get beat senseless without worrying about "looking good." One of the biggest things that exposes wrestling is when guys cross-over to wrestling and somehow manage to be competitive. Just once, I wanted to see a famous person(s) get their ass kicked in a wrestling ring. I would have sacrificed myself, but ICP beat me to the punch. Oh well.] Anyway, Sandman eventually tried to come save ICP, but he wound up getting his (already injured) ass kicked, too. In fact, he was carted out in an ambulance. It was at this point that we started getting live updates on the Sandman's whereabouts from Lance Wright (who was in the Extreme Chopper following the ambulance). It turns out that the Sandman took over the ambulance, and was -- in his state of confusion -- trying to get back to the War Memorial to get revenge on Sabu and/or Van Dam. Sandman was spotted driving all over Ft. Lauderdale, with Wright reporting that he stopped only to pick up a carton of cigarrettes and a "frosty beverage of some kind" at a gas station. Finally, immediately before the main event title match, Wright reported that the Sandman was pulling into the War Memorial parking lot. That situation took just about the first 2 hours of the PPV to fully develop. Now, I'll take you back to the second match of the show... o Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley. Spike managed to score an upset win over Bam Bam last week. This was billed as Bam Bam's revenge. And it was some of the most decisive revenge I have ever seen. Bam Bam just dominated. At one point, he dumped Spike face-first onto the steel turnbuckle post. Spike got up hemmoraging blood; this was bordering on totally disgusting. Bam Bam dragged Spike back into the ring, and then pressed Spike over his head (while Spike blood flowed freely back down to the mat); and then Bam Bam threw Spike from inside the ring out into the third row ringside. Awesome. The fans on that side of the ring got Spike a towel, so he wouldn't be so disgustingly bloody when he got back in the ring to do the finish, which was Bam Bam hitting a quasi-moonsault to get the pinfall win. Leave it to ECW to make a squash match stand-up-and-cheer exciting. And leave it Spike Dudley -- that gritty SOB -- to get my personal Gold Star of Valor for the night. o Rob Van Dam vs. Al Snow. I expected a hell of a lot out of this one. It didn't quite live up to lofty expectations, as these two actually muffed a few spots, which bogged down an otherwise very good match. Snow seemed to be doing the same borderline-insane bit he was doing as Leif Cassidy during his last WWF TV appearances. The end to this 15 minute match came when Van Dam was able to evade an attempted SnowBomb, and hit the Van Daminator to get the pinfall. o Dudley Boys vs. PG-13 -- ECW Tag Titles. PG-13 hit the ring and did some wicked old-school, southern style heel schtick. They insulted the Dudley's mama, Buh Buh's weight, and Gertner's general sorriness. The Dudleys hit the ring with "Extreme Porn Star" Jenna Jameson. Actually, she seemed to be attached to Joel Gertner. No accounting for taste, I guess. This was another solid match, though it wound up ammounting to pretty much a squash for the Dudleys, who won in under 10 minutes (or so it seemed) when they hit the awesome Dudley Death Drop. o Tommy Dreamer vs. Jerry Lawler. Lawler hit the ring and did some mic work, in which he said that Vince McMahon and all the WWF wrestlers had called him and offered him moral support (with Steve Austin suppossedly giving Lawler permission to use a "big can of whoop ass"). Dreamer hit the ring and started kicking ass. Within 30 seconds, Lawler was bleeding. The action eventually switched over into Lawler's favor. And then when Dreamer started making his big comeback after about 20 minutes of this brawling, the lights went out. Rick Rude appeared at ringside and waylaid Dreamer with a steel chair. So Lawler was back in control for a few minutes. Then Dreamer made another come back, and was about to hit a DDT on Lawler when the lights went out again. This time, it was JAKE ROBERTS in the ring. He showed Dreamer how to execute a DDT properly, by performing one on Tommy. And then, Roberts shunned a handshake from Lawler in favor of clothelining Lawler to the mat. When both men recovered, Dreamer regained control, when the lights went out one last time. When they came back on SUNNY was in the ring, spraying Dreamer with hairspray. This prompted Beulah to come into the ring for what can only be refered to as a Special Moment; Sunny and Beulah rolled around the mat cat-fighting for several seconds until they were finally broken up. [Another tangent: a study released last week showed that men have 4 billion more brain cells than women. A friend of mine recently put forth the theory that those are the 4 billion brain cells that men use to work out their lesbian fantasies. I cannot offer proof against that theory.] At this point, Dreamer was finally able to nail Lawler with a low-blow followed up by a Testicular Claw. A three count later, and Dreamer had earned the victory. A solid brawl, in which Lawler did Memphis and the WWF proud by keeping up with Dreamer; the storyline with Rude, Roberts, and Sunny all interfering ought to be interesting. o Sabu vs. Terry Funk vs. Shane Douglas -- Three Way Dance for the ECW World Title. Solid match, and a fine example of how ECW makes the absolute most of available resources. With Sabu involved, this was a tons more exciting match than a straight up Funk vs. Douglas match would have been. Over the first 25 minutes of the match, they did enough story bits mixed in with great spots by Sabu to keep this interesting. At that point, the Sandman entered the arena, and was able to help bring about Sabu's elimination from the match. In response, Sabu did a triple jump cross body onto Sandman and the police who were trying to escort him out of the building. The locker-room emptied at this point, as ECW stars tried to "guard" the entrance aisle to prevent further outside interference. Funk and Douglas did about 10 more minutes, but after 4 consecutive belly-to-belly suplexes, Douglas got the pinfall on Funk, and regained the ECW World Title for the first time in over 2 years. o A final show-closing angle took place last, as Joel Gertner came into the ring to offer his services as Shane Douglas' personal ring announcer. Douglas and the Triple Threat didn't take the offer seriously, and after sparking a huge brawl between Gertner's Dudleys and all the other ECW stars who were around ringside, they left. The brawl continued, and finally shifted in favor of the anti-Dudley crew when New Jack and Kronus came out together and started cleaning house. The brawl climaxed when all the wrestlers in the ring decided to gang up on Joel Gertner; after Kronus topped things off with a 450 splash on the Annoying One, the ECW crew went into the crowd to celebrate as the PPV faded to black. And that's that. Quite a show. If you're starting to think that ECW on PPV is, indeed, a good thing, then make sure you clear Sunday, November 30, on your calendars, as that's when ECW returns to PPV with November to Remember from suburban Pittsburgh, PA. * On a note related to ECW PPV availability: while dealing with TCI cable, I was told by a local customer service rep that the decision to not air ECW was a "corporate" one, not made at the local level. That was also a lie; according to several TCI employees who've e-mailed me, there has never been anything circulated regarding an official TCI decision against ECW. I think this is something that I'll just have to deal with at the local level. In the meantime, keep working on *your* local cable distributors and make sure that you won't get shut out of the next ECW PPV. * And on a final note related to the ECW PPV, I asked in the NFD Weekly Poll last week whether or not you fans thought that something as extreme as the barbed wire title match between Sabu and Terry Funk (held on August 9 at the ECW Arena) was appropriate for PPV or not. You all weighed in, and all seem to think that PPV is ready for barbed wire; 84% of you said you'd be willing to see something like that on PPV TV. You can go to the NFD Readers' Forum to see full results and also to vote in the NEW poll this week. * Tonight on RAW (in case you're anxious to know): the main event will be Undertaker and Mankind taking on Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Also, the Legion of Doom will take on Owen/Bulldog, and Rick Rude will do an interview to address his "situation." Don't be surprised if Wolfie D (Jamie Dundee) wrestles in a Light Heavyweight match. * BTW, thanks go to NFD Reader Rich Humphreys for passing along the highlights of this week's "Byte This" WWF RealAudio show. On the show, Kevin Kelly reported that although Steve Austin has been told by numerous doctors to retire or risk permanent paralysis, "Stone Cold" plans on returning to the ring. This seems to suggest that the WWF is confident that Austin will wrestle again, regardless of the seriousness of his neck injury. If you're one of those people who think this is all a work, then this also could fit into your worldview of the WWF building Stone Cold up for his eventual return. Also on the show, Kelly hinted at wrestlers interested in jumping from WCW to the WWF. The only one he named specifically was Hugh Morrus. * Chris Jericho is again the WCW Cruiserweight Champion. He beat Alex Wright last Tuesday in Colorado for the belt. The match aired on TV this past Saturday. * I don't know if all you missed it, but there is a lot of incorrect information circulating about the WWF's Chicago show on August 23. While it's being billed as "Saturday Night's Main Event," it is NOT a live broadcast. It's a TV taping for special late-night Friday RAWs that will air on USA during the WWF's pre-emption due to tennis. The WWF shows will air on August 29 and September 5 at 11 pm. The SNME billing for the Chicago show is just to build local interest and to ensure a full house. * Since I went on for so long about ECW's PPV, I'll truncate the weekly update and just stop here... there are a couple other interesting bits I could pass along, but I'll save them up for an update tomorrow. This is only the NFD Weekly Edition. Check here every Monday for in-depth coverage of 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 web 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 True Yankee Bastard | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | http://homepages.udayton.edu/~scaiarij/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- - List: nfd - Majordomo v1.94.3 - Aimnet, Santa Clara, California, USA