Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 18:09:59 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199710062209.SAA10003@freenet3.carleton.ca.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Subject: The News From Dayton -- 10/06/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of October 6, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Pillman, Dead at 35 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 October 6, 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... * This will not be a normal edition of the NFD Weekly. While I had prepared a number of news items for this week's edition, the fact of the matter is that there are only really two things anybody wants to know about today: (1) the tragid death of Brian Pillman and (2) results of the WWF's Badd Blood PPV. And the PPV results just barely make the cut. So make sure you make frequent checks of the NFD Updates throughout the week, as I'll be sprinkling in the news items that should have been distributed today. Also, the NFD Weekly Poll, Readers' Forums, and detailed Badd Blood recap will all be delayed, as my time and energy was expended in other ways today. * Brian Pillman, wrestling's "Loose Cannon," was found dead in his suburban Minneapolis hotel room yesterday afternoon (Oct. 5). Pillman had appeared earlier in the night at the WWF's house show in the Twin Cities, and was said to be behaving oddly even then. Eddie Sharkey, a referee and friend of Pillman, said that Brian arrived on time and everything, but was seen sleeping on the floor of his dressing room during the event. Sharkey also said that he and Pillman had planned to grab a meal and a few drinks after the show, but that Pillman appeared to be zoned out, and instead disappeared on his own. Pillman was last seen alive at approximately 10:45 local time, entering the Budgetel motel in Bloomington, MN. Trouble was suspected when Pillman missed a bus to catch a chartered plane to St. Louis for the Badd Blood PPV. Police investigated, and found Pillman's body at the Budgetel at about 1 p.m. local time. Fans were first alerted to the situation by Vince McMahon, who made a grim announcement about 10 minutes into the "Free For All" portion of the Badd Blood telecast. Throughout the broadcast, sporadic mention was made of Pillman's death, with Vince McMahon actually going so far as to speculate that Pillman's death could be the result of a drug overdose ("whether prescription or recreational," as McMahon put it). No mention was made to the live audience during the telecast, which seemed unfortunate, since a 10 bell salute to Pillman would have been extremely appropriate, given the circumstances. An announcement may have been made to the crowd off camera, or may not have been made at all if the WWF did not want to deaden the crowd and its reactions during the telecast. Pillman had also failed to arrive at a Friday night (Oct. 3) house show in Winnipeg, Canada, but seemed back on track, as he appeared as scheduled Saturday night. At present time, no further details regarding Pillman's death are forthcoming. The preliminary medical examiner's report does make mention of an "injury," but the police do not suspect any form of foul play. An autopsy is scheduled to be performed either today or tomorrow. Brian Pillman will be remembered as both an exceptional athlete and an exceptional personality. He overcame throat cancer as a teenager (which left him with his trademark raspy voice) to be one of the smallest and gutsiest football players in Miami University (Ohio)'s history. He also was a reserve linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals, getting signed as a free agent in 1984. From there, he went on to play in the Canadian Football League, where he eventually met and befriended the Hart Family. Pillman decided to train to become a wrestler, and quickly showed a true talent for it. He broke in as one of the brightest stars in Stu Hart's Calagary Stampede wrestling promotion. In the mid-to-late 80's, Pillman teamed with Bruce Hart before moving on to NWA/WCW. Pillman was one of the brightest young stars in the sport when he started out with the then-NWA; he started calling himself "Flyin' Brian" and excited fans with a unique aerial style. A match against Ric Flair early in his NWA career cemented Pillman as a major player in the country's number two promotion. Pillman continued as an NWA/WCW staple through 1995, winning various secondary and tag team titles (including a memorable run as the Hollywood Blondes, teaming with Steve Austin). In late 1995, Pillman joined the new Four Horsemen (with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Chris Benoit), and rapidly recreated himself as a "Loose Cannon" who would do or say absolutely anything. In early 1996, Pillman participated in a quasi-shoot angle with Kevin Sullivan that was the talk of the wrestling world. Unfortunately, Pillman suffered a very serious auto wreck that left Pillman with a badly broken ankle. It took several surgeries and over a year before Pillman would be able to wrestle again. Bruce Hart speculates that Pillman may well have become addicted to prescription painkillers at this time, but denies that Pillman dabbled in anything illegal. Despite Pillman's injury, he became the subject of an intense bidding war when his WCW contract came up in mid 1996. After spending some time causing havoc in ECW, Pillman eventually agreed to a three year deal with the WWF. Shortly thereafter, he brought his "Loose Cannon" gimmick to WWF TV, going so far as to shock the world by brandishing a gun and letting fly with profanities during a live segment broadcast from his suburban Cincinnati, OH, home. Pillman was finally able to re-enter the ring in mid-1997, and made his return in a long-awaited match against Steve Austin. Pillman also joined the Hart Foundation, making him one of the more hated men in the sport (at least here in the United States). He had gone on to what was building into one of the more heated feuds in recent memory against Goldust at the time of his death. For other mainstream news reports of Pillman's death, I encourage you to check out: o The Cincinnati Enquirer -- Pillman's hometown newspaper included quote from Brian's high school football coach in their coverage of this story. o The Calgary Sun -- Pillman's death was the front page story of the Calgary Sun's website today (Oct. 6). They also had a more in-depth story on Pillman, including quotes from the Hart family. o Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press -- These Twin Cities papers covered this local story in some detail, including recaps of police and medical examiners reports. And of course, having said all this, the most important thing at this time is to send out best wishes to all of Brian Pillman's family, friends, and fans. He will be sorely missed. * It was during the WWF's Badd Blood PPV that news of Pillman's death was broken. The fact that the WWF did not let the tragic news totally overshadow the event can either be viewed as a cold-hearted business decision or as a very brave "the show must go on" mindset on the parts of those who knew Brian best. Personally, I prefer the latter. And for all the focus being placed on Brian Pillman, it's all the more remarkable that Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker went out and delivered the performances of their careers (so far) and gave the fans something very positive to remember about October 5, 1997. Their "Hell in a Cell" match made great use of the steel cage gimmick, and also had other exciting booking elements -- including a better-than-expected debut of Cain. The end result was a win for Shawn Michaels that should be enough to have all the hardcore fans kissing his ass again, until the next time word leaks out of something stupid he did behind the scenes. The undercard was another story, as substitute matches were thrown in to make up for the loss of the Pillman vs. Dude Love/Goldust matches. The first two hours of the show were disjointed, and in no way worthy of mention, outside of the utterly disappointing Tag Team Title win by the Godwinns. I guess the Headbangers' 15 minutes are up. Here's a quick and dirty run-down of how the card shaped up: o In the opener, the Legion of Doom chose to wrestle Kama Mustafa, D-Lo Brown, and Rocky Maivia in a handicap match because Ken Shamrock was injured. The LOD actually lost when Faarooq caused a distraction that allowed Rocky to score a pinfall. o The Godwinns defeated the Headbangers via illegal means to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. o An impromptu minis match never seemed to get on track, as missed spots plagued Max Mini and his partner during their win over Tarantuala and Mosaic. o St. Louis legends Gene Kininski, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk Jr., Harley Race, Terry Funk, Lou Thesz, and Sam Muchnick were honored in a nice segment that got great responses out of the crowd of 20,000-plus. o Owen Hart defeated Faarooq in a brief match to win the WWF IC Title. Steve Austin was sitting ringside to present the winner with the belt, and actually pasted Faarooq with it to help Owen win. Owen appeared as though he might have been the only wrestler on the card to let the loss of Brian Pillman visibly limit his performance, as this was a short and bland affair. The highlight was Steve Austin jumping between the US, Mexican, and French announce tables. o Another impromptu match had the Disciples of Apocolypse facing Los Boricuas in 8-man tag action. This was really boring. I think the DOA won after a tilt-a-whirl back-breaker on one of the Boricuas. o Bret Hart pinned the Patriot with a handful of trunks to score a win for himself and British Bulldog over Patriot and Vader. This was a surprisingly good match, with good heat, especially for Vader (who got the crowd behind him by swearing in a pre-match interview). o Shawn Michaels defeated the Undertaker in the Hell in the Cell match. This was an absolutely awesome match. If Shawn Michaels could spend respect and compliments for his performance as legal tender, then I'd be more than willing to make him the richest man in America today. It's performances like last night's that make me a Shawn Michaels fan; for all the rumors about his jack-ass behavior behind the scenes, the guy still is the best at what he does in the entire world. And rumors about jack-ass/whiny bitch behavior behind the scenes may or may NOT be true. When Michaels turns it up and puts on a show like last night, that's 100% real. I prefer to praise the real performance and try not to let the questionable rumors color my opinions. I will not rundown what happened in this match. Suffice to say: Michaels bled badly, a great mini-angle allowed this match to go outside the cage and ON TOP OF IT, Michaels went through a broadcast table, and interference from Cain allowed Michaels to get the win despite taking all that punishment. If you didn't see this match, either buy the replay, or get a tape. This match alone is worth $30 if you're a wrestling fan. It's rare when one match is so good that it can overcome a deck that is so utterly stacked against it, be it the tragic news of Brian Pillman's death or a sub-par undercard. But that's what happened last night: for 40 minutes, I was focused on nothing but what turned out to be the best match of 1997 to date. It was only afterward that the great match was relegated to being an afterthought to what was truly the wrestling world's biggest news of the day. The traditional full, detailed recap of the Badd Blood PPV will, unfortunately, have to be delayed until later in the week. Keep your eyes open for it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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