Date: Mon, 13 Oct 1997 04:58:31 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199710130858.EAA22463@freenet3.carleton.ca.carleton.ca> From: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) To: nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Subject: The News From Dayton -- 10/13/97 Reply-To: ag725@freenet.carleton.ca Sender: owner-nfd@majordomo.aimnet.com Precedence: list THE NEWS FROM DAYTON For the week of October 13, 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- RAW Preview / Double J Hits the Road 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 13, 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... * Hey, avert your eyes if you aren't interested in knowing too much about tonight's edition of RAW is WAR. Some people like to know, others prefer the suspense. I try to accomdate both here. "Safe" info is available at the next bullet point. Tonight's RAW will be headlined by a match being hyped as "Titles vs. Careers," as the Godwinns are putting their WWF tag straps on the line against the Legion of Doom. In return, the LOD are putting their WWF careers on the line. As if that stip didn't telegraph the result enough, we also know that since this RAW was taped 6 days ago in Topeka, the LOD won the match via pinfall. Afterwards, the Godwinns turned on ol' Uncle Cletus, blaming him for the loss. Also on the show, expect heated words from Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. In all the hubub about Brian Pillman last week, it was almost lost that these two will be facing each other at Survivor Series for Hart's WWF Title. It'll be the third confrontation between the two in a major match. At Survivor Series 1992, Michaels and Hart headlined in a match for Hart's newly won WWF Title (note: Michaels had also freshly won the WWF IC Title... when the match was announced, I don't believe either man was holding a title). Hart won via submission with the Sharpshooter after 30 great minutes of action. Hart and Michaels next met in the main event of WrestleMania 12 in 1996; Michaels won via pinfall (two consecutive superkicks) after 65 minutes of wrestling. Since that time, there has been a much-heralded real-life feud between the two men, culminating in a backstage brawl over the summer that resulted in Michaels leaving the WWF for about 6 weeks. Their Survivor Series match will be interesting not only because past contests have been excellent, but also because smart fans will be looking for "shoot" potential. There is some speculation that the match could be turned into a Ladder Match, but that is far from confirmed; the WWF's usual policy is to have two stars meet in a regular match first, then follow that up with a gimmick match a month or two later. But it should be remembered that Michaels and Hart did a house show run of Ladder Matches in the spring and summer of 1992, with Hart's IC Title on the line. Back to the RAW preview... in addition to buidling up the Clique/Harts feud, there will be continued tension between the Harts and the Nation of Domination. Owen Hart will retain the IC belt over Kama, but sparks will fly in the process. Also, Owen will be signed to wrestle Steve Austin at Survivor Series. Other notable action: the tag team of Billy Gunn and "Road Dog" Jesse James will debut, while Goldust returns to action. The Gunn/James team was forged over the weekend on WWF TV; in a surprisingly excellent angle, James re-introduced the "Road Dog" gimmick he did when working with Jeff Jarrett and did a semi-shoot speech convincing Billy Gunn to ditch HonkyTonk Man to join him in a tag team. It's too early to tell, but my gut tells me that this just might work. Also, after being tied up with the Pillman angle, Goldust and Marlena were invisible on WWF TV last week. On RAW, they'll quietly return together, probably with little mention made of the angle they had been involved in. Cain will also appear and decimate Flash Funk. They will be doing a slow build with the Cain/UT feud, as a way of protecting Cain from being jobbed out in his first PPV match. Undertaker will be absent from RAW, as he was last week, because he had flown to Japan for a co-promtional card with Michinoku Pro wrestling. * Speaking of the WWF/Mich Pro card... the top two matches had the Undertaker (representing the WWF) defeating Hakushi while Great Sasuke won over TAKA Michinoku (who was announced as also being a WWF representative, despite not having yet signed a contract). Hakushi was Jinsei Shinzaki's WWF gimmick, and he brought it back for one night only to face the Undertaker. Afterwards, Hakushi was stuck in a casket, possibly symbolizing the final appearance of the character. Even 18 months after his last WWF appearance, I still can't get over how badly the WWF dropped the ball with this guy, as he was not only a great talent, but also had a gimmick that really could have worked (if not for the pathetic pairing of Hakushi with Barry Horowitz in 1995). Sasuke got a win over TAKA in the main event, and promised that even though Michinoku Pro might be facing some rocky times ahead, he'd fight to make sure that Mich Pro returned in the future. If you haven't heard, Michinoku Pro should be suspending operations around the first of the year for a multitude of reasons (including financial difficulties and the need for Sasuke, who in addition to being the promotion's top star is also its co-founder and owner, to have major knee surgery). In the meantime, it's widely anticipated that TAKA Michinoku will be coming to the US this week (along with Sasuke, who is scheduled to wrestle for ECW this weekend) to finally sign his WWF contract (which is said to be a long term deal... upwards of 5 years). * Other Japan news... the Blackjacks (Windham and Bradshaw) will be heading to All Japan Pro Wrestling for their annual tag team tournament. This is a major change of policy for All Japan, as Giant Baba (the group's leader) has frequently voiced his distaste for the WWF and its cartoonish style. It is a testament not only to how much the WWF has changed in recent years as well as to the "name value" that the Blackjacks have, even in this re-incarnated form. Also, there are rumblings that Kenta Kobashi and Johnny Ace might do a tour of the WWF. Ace frequently teamed with the Patriot while Patriot was in AJ. Great Sasuke will also be a part of the big tag tourney, as well, with an as-yet-unamed partner. * Alright, Jeff Jarrett.... his WCW contract expired last week. He was negociating with WCW to return when word of WCW's 3-year $300,000 offer leaked out. Because he perceived this as an attempt by the Jarrett camp to up the stakes in a "bidding war" over Jeff, Eric Bischoff retracted that offer, and basically told Jeff "good luck getting hired elsewhere." In an interview with 1Wrestling.com, Bischoff said there was no chance of Jarrett returning, and that he'd be immediately pulled from all bookings and replaced in the company's creative plan. From WCW's mammoth tapings at Universal Studios (which cover the next 3 months of TV), we know that WCW is covering for Jarrett's departure by packaging Debra McMichael with Alex Wright. Debra had been paired off with Jarrett in a feud against Steve McMichael. I'm sure we'll see more of how they'll do the switch off this week on Nitro. So WCW seems to have their future covered. But Jarrett's future is less certain. Obviously, a return to the WWF would be the only option that could provide him with the sort of money he's got in mind. And the WWF has a slot open for a mid-card heel, due to the loss of Brian Pillman. Although I haven't been a fan of Jarrett's, other than for one brief, albeit inspired, portion of his WWF stay, there could be no better time for him to "come home." However, it's also possible that Jarrett could lay low, perhaps wrestling sporadically in the southern regional promotions, such as Music City Wrestling (which Jeff's dad, Jerry, is association with). After a "cooling off" period, he could restart negociations with WCW and go back to work there. The precedent is there for WCW and Eric Bischoff reneging on a previous stance regarding disimissed employees; just look at how "Disco Inferno" Glen Gilbernetti went from fired to TV champ in a six month period. * While on the topic of WCW's epic Universal tapings, there are some other tidbits worth mentioning. None should spoil specific future events in WCW, but if you want to skip 'em, do so. Credit for passing along these taping reports goes to NFD Reader Stephen Rimkus. o Barry Darsow (previously known as Blacktop Bully, Repo Man, and Demolition Smash), Kendall Windham, and Chris Adams all wrestled matches taped for future broadcast. o Jim Duggan, despite various reports that he was either retired or heading back for a final run in the WWF, made a grand return to action, wrestling a squash, and telling Hogan, "I'm BAAAAACCKK." o As discussed above, Debra McMichael appeared as Alex Wright's valet. o Raven's "Extreme Nest" took further shape, as the five man squad of Raven, Stevie Richards, Perry Saturn, Billy Kidman (with a new punked-up look), and Louie Spicolli (dressing like a Raven knock-off) made multiple appearances. With the exception of Kidman, all had extensive runs in ECW before jumping to WCW. Raven also continued his gimmick of being unsigned by WCW, and thus only wrestling in no-DQ matches. o Dean Malenko wrestled despite a neck injury that many thought would put Dean on the shelf for a few weeks. * It's been widely rumored, but now we can stop saying that Sting vs. Hogan is "pencilled in" for StarCade; WCW has jotted it down in ink. StarCade promos that have been distributed to cable companies hype the Sting vs. Hogan match as the main event. Thanks to NFD Reader and TCI employee Jim Bellamy for the heads up. * In other important cable-related news, it looks like those of us who enjoy ECW on SportsChannel Ohio's Prime Network feed are out of luck. SCOhio and SCCincinnati have extensive pre-emptions of the Prime feed scheduled in the upcoming month, and it's expected that ECW will never return to its previous 2a.m. late Friday/early Saturday slot. I have been advised that calls to SportsChannel have resulted in the network promising that they are looking for a new slot for ECW, however, I'm sure they can use all the encouragement they can get. Ohio residents, please feel free to call them at (216)-328-0333 to encourage them to get ECW back on the air ASAP. [Credit to NFD Reader Ron Gardner for passing along this info.] In the meantime, Dayton-area fans can still get their ECW fix on Saturday afternoons at 4 p.m., thanks to WUCT-51. Check your cable station listing or put up an antenna to try to pick up channel 51. They also air USWA wrestling, and replay ECW at 1 a.m. on late Saturday/early Sunday. * ECW has been honoring the memory of Brian Pillman, starting their shows over the weekend with a 10-bell salute to Brian. Shows have been topped off by various iterations of Triple Threat vs. Sabu/Van Dam matches. Bam Bam Bigelow and Shane Douglas teamed in one match to score a win, while Douglas defended his ECW Title successfully in a singles match against Sabu in another. * Finally, I'm getting the other areas of the NFD back up-to-speed after neglecting them over the past week to devote more energy to keeping up on the Pillman story. The Readers' Forum should be all updated, complete with a brand new Weekly Poll question. Also, the NFD Archives have been updated with some recent additions. And keep checking Fantasy Booking as new items are added there! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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