Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 23:39:39 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199709290339.XAA23252@freenet5.carleton.ca.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Subject: News From Dayton -- 09/29/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of September 29, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sting's Back / Will Austin be "Gone"? 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 September 29, 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 * Unfortunately for those of us in Dayton, Alex Marvez has moved on to bigger and better things. Instead of covering the Bengals and pro wrestling for the Dayton Daily News, he has moved to Denver to cover the Broncos for the Rocky Mountain News starting this season. We are all indebted to Alex for the reliable inside wrestling news he passed along to readers, both via the NFD and by his weekly wrestling column in the Dayton Daily News. Alex hopes to continue a weekly column in Denver, and also hopes that it will be available on the internet. I'll no longer be able to include information from Alex here in the NFD, but if/when his column is available elsewhere on the 'net, I'll be sure to include a hyperlink to it here. IN OTHER NEWS... * I told you last week was rare... all three major feds were competing for top billing here in the NFD Weekly. This week, it's back to normal. If anything, after the MSG RAW, there has been even less news than usual to report on. Apologies in advance if you think this week's edition is slim pickings. * Perhaps the biggest news of the weekend is that Sting returned to nominal action for WCW at house shows along the eastern seaboard. If you're interested in a great first hand write-up of Sting's return on Friday night, check out Bill Milano's DDT Digest. If you're willing to settle for a second hand recap, read on. After about a year of only appearing on the biggest house shows (like this Summer's "Saturday Nitro" in LA), and a month-long disappearance from TV, Sting re-emerged to do a run-in on Friday night's WCW house show in Virginia. The main event (which had to be altered because of an injury to Kevin Nash and a purported injury to Scott Hall) had Syxx and Curt Hennig wrestling against Lex Luger and the Giant. The match ended with NWO interference (as Randy Savage, Scott Hall, Bagwell, and Norton converged). When the babyfaces appeared to be in trouble of going home with a bona fide ass whupin', Sting -- the REAL Sting, mind you -- appeared with his baseball bat and cleaned house. After the NWO had dispersed, Sting helped Luger and the Giant, and then, at the urging of the crowd (who were chanting "speak -- speak" at him), let forth one of his old trademark howls. The crowd ate it up. At this time, it's unknown if WCW was using these house shows as "test runs" for an impending return of Sting to televised action, or if they simply carted him out to make sure the live crowd went home happy despite a number of changes to the card and no-shows (most notably Kevin Nash and Ric Flair). Other action over the weekend saw Dallas Page and Randy Savage trade wins at two house shows and Ultimo Dragon get a non-title win over Eddie Guerrero in Fairfax, VA. * On the heels of the "Stunner Heard 'Round the World," Steve Austin will likely be facing some stiff ramifications for his impetuousness. If you DON'T want to know those ramifications (and other spoilers from tomorrow's RAW), then stop reading and skip down to the next bullet point. The highlight's of tomorrow's RAW (taped last week in Albany) will mostly be Steve Austin continuing to run wild over the WWF and the building of three-way friction between Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, and Bret Hart. [BTW, if you care, I'm predicting that the "Hell in the Cell" match will end in such a way that the only thing the WWF can do is to make the main event at Survivor Series a Three Way Match between those same parties.] Quick recap of RAW results: o Steve Austin will be given a choice by Vince McMahon to clean up his act and get a doctor's permission to wrestle, clean up his act and sign a waiver absolving the WWF of all responsibility for his future injuries, or get fired. Austin tells McMahon, "You'd better fire my ass, cuz I sure as hell can kick yours." o Proving that he wasn't gonna clean up his act, Austin dressed in riot gear and was part of the brigade "protecting" Owen Hart during an interview. Austin eventually removed the riot helmet, and attacked Owen. o A scheduled Undertaker vs. HHH main event never really got off the ground, as the Hart Foundation attacked UT before the bell. Soon thereafter, Michaels (along with HHH, Rude, and Chyna) continued the onslaught. UT recovered enough to tombstone HHH on the steel ramp, while Michaels climbed the TitanTron to escape. These are only the biggest highlights of the show. A complete rundown of what to expect on tomorrow's RAW is available in an NFD Update made last Wednesday. * Joey Styles is reporting both on the ECW Hardcore Hotline as well as his Real Audio update on Bob Ryder's 1Wrestling.com that ECW will face no further legal ramifications stemming from the New Jack/Mass Transit blading incident of last November. If you recall, Eric "Mass Transit" Kulas was an underage performer who not only asked to be booked on an ECW show in Massachusetts, but also asked if New Jack could blade him in a match. Kulas was granted a spot on a card, substituting for Axl Rotten, and was sliced too deep by New Jack during their match. Gruesome footage of the incident was the impetus behind decisions made by PPV distributors and cable companies to NOT air ECW PPV events. However, after hearing both sides of the case, including testimony from both Kulas and Jerome "New Jack" Young, a judge has decided there is no reason to have the case go to trial. Almost a year after the ordeal, ECW has finally been absolved of wrong-doing. * Speaking of ECW, they returned to Florida over the weekend. ECW had held many profitable shows in Florida back in 1995, before losing their TV outlet down there. They returned to Florida with the "Hardcore Heaven '97" PPV in August (in Ft. Lauderdale), and during this swing, added a show in Orlando. The most notable news from the ECW shows was the return of Doug Furnas to action. Furnas, along with Phil LaFon, had been competing as a tag team in the WWF for about 7 months when a car wreck in Canada left Furnas seriously injured. Previous to the WWF gig, Furnas and LaFon (at the time, LaFon was wrestling as Dan Kroffat) had been splitting time between Japan and ECW. LaFon returned to ECW competition on September 20, when he was the surprise contender for Shane Douglas' ECW World Title. Furnas' appearances were his first since the crash. In their ECW return, Furnas and LaFon scored a win over the duo of Paul Diamond and Al Snow. Furnas and LaFon remain under WWF contract, and are appearing for ECW under the continuing and on-going special arrangement between the groups that has allowed Chris Candido and Al Snow to wrestle for ECW, while Rick Rude continues to make appearances in the WWF. * A lot of thing are starting to circulate about the next live RAW on October 6. The WWF has already announced that Goldust and Marlena will "renew their marriage vows" on that show, prompting speculation that some major twist with the Pillman angle will take place. Also, Cain's debut in the WWF seems to still be just over the horizon. If he doesn't appear on the PPV, we might instead see him on the live RAW. While the plans for Cain haven't been totally scrapped, obviously, they've been set on the back burner while Undertaker's three-way feud with Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart takes precedence. Finally, whatever the next major step in the Steve Austin feud will be will take place live on Oct. 6. Personally, my feelings are that everything is leading up to Austin getting "fired" on the show, after he interferes with Owen Hart's IC Title Final match against Faarooq on the PPV. Austin's not the kind of guy they can build up an emotional return from injury angle around (like the Shawn Michaels' thing they did 2 years ago), so perhaps the best way to create interest in his return from injury is to make it a return from him being fired. What Austin could do while "fired" is also an interesting topic for speculation... * WCW's Halloween Havoc PPV is going to have to be shuffled around a bit, as it's looking more and more like Kevin Nash's knee surgery last week will be keeping him out of action longer than expected. Currently, Bob Ryder is saying that it could be 3 months before Nash returns to action. Nash was scheduled to face the Giant in one of the potentially more interesting matches on the PPV. The remaining top two contests will pit Hulk Hogan against Roddy Piper in a steel cage, while Randy Savage and Dallas Page will once again do battle. Also on the card will be a Scott Hall vs. Lex Luger match with Larry Zbysko as guest ref. * If you missed the news last week, USA Network -- the current cable outlet for all WWF programming -- is now wholly owned by Seagrams. This move came after months of legal dealings, as co-owners Seagrams and Viacom battled over who controlled the network. During the battle, the possibility that USA might be broken up and divested was considered. Now that Viacom has agreed to sell its half of USA to Seagrams for $1.7 billion and both parties have agreed to drop all lawsuits against each other, we can at least rest assured that USA Network will continue to exist, and will continue to broadcast WWF programming, at least until the current contract is up. Some are speculating that because the deal also sets up USA as the cable outlet for Universal pictures (and Universal has tenuous ties to the Turner media empire), that there could be trouble for future WWF negociations with USA. But that remains utter speculation at this time. * The NFD Poll this past week put you, the Faithful Readers, in the shoes of Vince McMahon. You were given a chance to sign any one WCW performer to join the WWF, regardless of current contractual status. And the vote came out pretty close between Sting and the Giant... you can check out detailed results over in the NFD Readers' Forum, and also vote on this week's poll (which puts you in the shoes of Eric Bischoff). Also, all discussion areas have been updated today, so be sure to check those out! * Finally, here's some of the least anticipated news of all time: I think I'm going to be doing some more Fantasy Booking. If you're familiar with what I did last year, then you're probably one of those annoying people who has been e-mailing me constantly asking that I continue. If you're not familiar, then you can just check out the Fantasy Booking page and brush up. Bottom line: I'm going to be starting up again soon if all goes well, with "Alternate Universe" events from Survivor Series '97 through WM14. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The News From Dayton is Copyright 1995, 1997 by Rick Scaia. -- 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