______________________________________________________________________ Next week, I'll include the summary of 1999 PPVs. I'll also get through the rest of 1999's All Japan and New Japan TV (big update below). I wanted to get that done and watch some Japanese women's stuff before updating the tape list, but I'll do an update by next week regardless. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - ECW had Guilty As Charged on this past Sunday, 01/09/2000. Overall, there were three good matches on the show. Since all of the matches had a garbagy or chaotic feel to them, I don't know that I'd give the show a thumbs up. I thought the parejas increible tag match was really good, though. I guess I'd go thumbs up for the show, but hardly throught the roof. During the pre-game show, they told us that Sandman was given the night off to attend to a family emergency, killing his match with Rhino. That left me wondering if guys who had a ten-minute match booked would be put into a 20-minute slot. In ECW, that's not a good thing. Rundown: * C.W.Anderson beat Mikey Whipwreck: Match was short. I thought it wasn't good. Anderson, "the Enforcer," and "Beautiful Billy Wilds" are the new Dangerous Alliance. At least Joey Styles poked fun at the gimmick. They used the big cell phone for the win. I definitely knew that I was watching ECW during this match. I mean that in both a good and a bad way: everybody worked hard, but... * Simon Diamond & Danny Doring & Amish Roadkill beat Nova & Kid Cash & Jazz: Big Dick resurfaced. Chris Chetti returned and just joined in the match. This was total amateur hour. Really bad. The crowd chanted "show your tits" to Electra, who wore a thong. Chetti did a simulated 69 with her. It was a sad sad match. Roadkill pinned Chris Chetti with a big splash. * Yoshihiro Tajiri & Super Crazy beat Jerry Lynn & Little Guido: This match was billed as Crazy & mystery partner vs. Tajiri & mystery partner. Steve Corino announced that Tajiri's partner would be Crazy, which just seemed crazy. Lynn & Guido came out of the woodwork as the other unexpected tag team. It took 12 minutes before the partnerships were established. Good lord. Match itself was really good once it got going, but it was hard to keep track of who was teamed with whom, especially when they started turning on each other. This was the best match on the show. Lotsa good moves, even if there was an indyish feel to it at times. When they turned on each other, it got way too confusing. Lynn ended up getting pounded by everybody, with Tajiri pinning him. Steve Corino came out to celebrate and to berate Lynn. He mentioned Dusty Rhodes during his talking. Bingo, Dusty came out of the crowd. The fans chanted "Dusty! Dusty!" in the funniest moment of the night. Actually, Joey Styles called the bionic elbow the most electrifying move in the history of sports entertainment. Crowd really chanted. Dusty was over more than anybody else. They seemed to set up Rhuno vs. Dusty. * Angel beat New Jack: Easily the worst match of the night, which says a lot when you think about it. New Jack is horrible. Garbage wrestling. Balcony dive. New Jack got pinned. Really bad. * Rob van Dam beat Sabu to retain the ECW TV Title: Spot wrestling. You do your spot, I'll do mine. Psychology? Transitions? Who needs that crap. Thank god that they didn't go on last, 'cause the match was not good. It seemed like both wrestlers turned on Bill Alfonso before the match was over. They went 15 minutes, which was just too long. Sabu seemed banged up before the match started, taped his knee during the match, and generally did a lot of his spots, with most of them looking crappy or sloppy. Van Dam got the pin with the frog splash. Sabu shook his hand. * Justin Credible & Lance Storm beat Tommy Dreamer & Raven to win the ECW Tag Titles: Good match. Lance launched himself over the ropes for a Dreamer clothesline. It looked bad. They brawled outside the ring. In order for WCW to pluck Lance from ECW and build WCW around him as a fresh face, they'd need to be careful to not expose Lance's weaknesses. And that's it, right? WCW handle things carefully? Never happen. They brawled outside the ring, down to the entranceway set. The Impact Players were dumped off the platform through merchandise tables. Dreamer & Storm walked back to the ring. Oh, they grabbed at each other, but they were really just out for a stroll. In the ring, an intricate sequence of missed moves led to a superkick on Dreamer, with the challengers finally getting the advantage. They drew heat on Dreamer, who bled. Storm accidentally kicked Credible, and Dreamer DDTed Storm. Dreamer scurried along the ropes, tried for the desperate tag, missed it, fell to the floor, and time stood still. Obviously, he was supposed to have made that tag, but he missed by half a foot. So, poor Raven touched Dreamer's shoulder while Dreamer was standing on the floor, and everybody had to sell that as him tagging in. Sigh. Raven did his chair spots. Dreamer & Lance were outside. Tombstone on Raven for a two count. Lance & Dreamer came in. Credible was dumped. Lance was also dumped, onto a table. Francine low blowed Credible. Dawn Marie came in. Catfight. Credible tried to cane Francine, but Raven threw himself into the path of the cane, taking the shot and getting pinned. * Mike Awesome beat Spike Dudley to retain the ECW Title: Earlier in the show, Spike refused to cut a promo in character, saying he wasn't a character and that this night was about something real, I guess. When the match was set to go, though, Spike came out in character. It would have been better if he came out without the glasses on and without the gimpy strut. He set up a million tables all around the ring, just in case you thought this was going to be a wrestling match. He called Awesome out. Awesome ended up dumping Spike through all kinds of tables, including a stacked pair. Awesome did a clothesline dive over the rail. He hit clotheslines and power bombs, 'cause that's his offense, right? Spike managed a rana, which saw Awesome fall out of the ring. Spike dove on him. He "acid dropped" Awesome's arm pits on the top rope. The commentators sold it. He chaired him. He went for a tope suicida, but his leg caught the ropes and he would have killed himself had Awesome not stepped forward to catch him. The crowd, appreciating the effort, chanted "You fucked up!" In the ring again, Awesome no sold a rana. The idea was that Dudley wouldn't lie down until he at least hurt Awesome somewhat. Spike hit a double stomp. To the floor, with Spike getting dumped in the ringside seats. Tope, with Awesome hitting a clothesline. The ringside floor was all wet, though, since ECW fans can't really control their excitement, I guess, and Awesome slipped on it and could have been hurt. Power bomb from apron through a table. Well, that was the idea, but Spike countered, hitting the acid drop on Awesomet through a table. Awesome's selling of this move as devastating was stinky, but maybe they wanted Awesome to remain invincible. Back in the ring, Spike tried for another acid drop. That's his one move. Awesome dumped him through atable. Sort of. Spike barely grazed the table. Ouch. Back in the ring, they jockeyed in the corner, with Awesome hitting a Razor's Edge style power bomb on Spike for the win. RAW RAW on 01/10/2000 aired at 9pm EST on TSN. The show opened with pretty much the entire WWF roster coming out to gather at ringside, while the Rock did what he does best in the ring...talk. Looking at that entire roster should make any wrestling fan sad. Just about six really good workers. Rock did a union sort of thing, saying that the roster was ready to walk out unless HHH & Stephanie made some changes. Hell, let them all walk. It's not like they'd have to wait many years, nurture and train a new group of guys, and build a wrestling promotion; they'd just have to do another casting call. Fallout: Mankind is back, and nobody will ever be fired again without "just due." Hey, that's what he said. Of course, Mankind surfaced. They finally announced that HHH vs. Foley will be the title match at Rumble and that Rock will face the winner at WrestleMania. They also set up some matches for RAW. In the end it was another 20 minutes none of us can ever get back. Did you ever think that Tums should sponsor RAW? It would allow truth in advertising for both sides. Instead of "RAW is WAR," they could promote the tough stomach medication: "TUMS is WAR." And, of course, when the uppercase words are interchanged and written backwards, the new expression also speaks the truth for RAW. First match, cooked up at the start, had Billy Gunn face Road Dogg. If the wrestlers in the locker room could get together that easily and put together matches that screw HHH & co. so easily, why don't they do it every week or every time HHH tries to screw any of them? Jim Ross announced that there was a sign-up sheet in the back where wrestlers could say who they want to wrestle on the show this night. When Jerry Lawler protested that the wrestlers should be following orders, Jim Ross pointed out that they aren't circus animals. Hey, a Bret Hart reference. Man, this match sucked. You'd think that the best tag team in WWF history might be able to split and actually have a good match, especially when it involves the "best natural athlete in the WWF." Actually, if you'd think that, you, like me, would actually have made the mistake once again of having in-ring wrestling expectations from WWF wrestlers. As Gunn went for the famouser, Dogg moved, caught him, and slammed him to the mat for the pin. "This is going to be a great night," said JR. Not for wrestling. Backstage Mankind had Mideon (dressed as Mankind) hostage. The commentators had no clue who the fake Makind was. A Toys'R'Us commercial aired. It's the first hour of RAW. It's okay that this hour targets children 'cause it's really family programming. Vince can't help it if the fans chant "asshole." At least he'd never have a pimp or porn star, referred to as such, appear in the first hour of RAW! Second match had Kurt Angle & Steve Blackman face the Hardy Boyz, in a match that the Hardy Boyz had requested on the sign-up sheet. Lawler asked my question: "This is the match that they signed up for." Of course, he meant that they'd get creamed, while I wondered why they would waste their time. Jeff Hardy hit an Asai moonsault on Blackman. Blackman dumped Jeff into the steel steps. Naturally, the Hardy Boyz ended up pinning Blackman. Matt got the pin. In an atypically sloppy moment, Kevin Kelly's Slam Jam announced that HHH would be defending the title at the Royal Rumble against somebody. The Rock is a thorn in his side, but Kevin suspects that others might come out of the woodwork. That's just so WCWish. Val Venis came to the ring. They didn't call him a porn star. They announced that his sister is engaged to Edge. Venis wasn't lewd at all in his promo. Venis faced Edge. Tazz's symbol came up on the screen; it's still the case that nobody knows what that symbol means. You'd think they'd go talk to the video guy that airs it. A couple minutes in it was like 20 minutes in in the old days. Match was good, though, despite that annoying new era build. Edge speared the corner post after getting a near fall. Venis hit the fisherman suplex for the pin. A clean finish. On Monday night. They shook hands. Edge told Val he wouldn't be the best man at his sister's wedding because Christian will be. Shit, maybe Val will kidnap his sister, drug her, and marry her to block the wedding. Chris Jericho & Chyna faced the Hollys. Okay match. Chyna gets more exposed every time I see her try to work. Jericho could be the number two guy in the company. Instead, he's stuck in this stupid gimmick of being "co-champion" with Chyna. Does that "creative" idea mean that all double pin finishes will now be declared as a win for both guys? X-Pac faced HHH, who came out with Stephanie. X-Pac looked awesome. You'd think that he and HHH should put on a hell of a match, but HHH is too mediocre. It's funny that HHH said that X-Pac was just as good as him; wishful thinking on HHH's part. They brawled outside a bit. They went after each other. They have been teasing a face turn for X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn, no doubt as a swerve. This match ended when X-Pac went to the top, Stephanie grabbed his foot, and X-Pac crotched himself. That was supposed to be how it looked, I guess, but Stephanie didn't really grab X-Pac's foot until he was already falling. Too Cool & Rikishi Phatu faced faced Head Bangers & Al Snow. Christopher & Taylor are both good workers. It still seems like the dancing is way more over than the wrestling. This match should have been good, too, right? Well, it was another short little fart of a match, ending with Phatu dropping the butt on one Banger and doing that stupid sit-out tombstone on the other. At least it almost looked like there was an impact (other than Rikishi's butt on the mat) in the tombstone. They raced to the finish so the fans could have some dancing fun. Al Snow whacked both Head Bangers with his head. D'Lo Brown & Godfather faced the Dudley Boyz. Which one of these guys was in the back thinking, "Hmmm, what match do I really want? What match should I sign up for to take advantage of the rebellion?" Well, thanks to whichever guy signed up for this duty, we got this stupid waste of D'Lo. As D'Lo tried for the froggie splash, Buh Buh pulled D-Von to safety. They tried to steal some hos, but the faces rescued them. What a good pimp, looking after his hos like that. He's fun-loving. Mankind hit on Tori. That led to Kane charging into Mankind's locker room, only to find the fake Mankind, who was just hanging out after Mankind let him go. He didn't recognize Mideon either, so he beat him up. Test & Big Slow faced Prince Albert & Big Boss Man. Big Slow sucks. The local Toronto Star columnist had a funny line saying that the Big Slow lost the WWF Title to HHH, calling it only a minor improvement. Horrible match. In the main event, DX faced Acolytes & Rock & Mankind. Angle time. Given the tension that has been built between HHH and his cohorts, you had to expect an angle. Match was long. It was okay. X-Pac was the only guy who shone. Finish saw DX refuse to tag HHH out of the ring. The other DX members walked off. Nonetheless, HHH got the pin. Mankind freaked out, 'cause we have to believe that Cactus Jack has reemerged and that HHH is scared. This all struck me as a swerve, particularly because HHH didn't give up a pinfall. I'm guessing that they'll tease the split on next week's TV, with people believing it, just so that they can do the "surprise" interference angle at the PPV (like interference on a PPV is a surprise), with DX shockingly helping HHH and then the whole group laughing at how stupid people were to believe that they had split. Nitro With the big story line developments unveiled over the past few weeks, we now finally get to see the "vision" of Vince Russo. It's Bischoff's stuff all over again, combined with some WWF stuff that worked a bit. There are three questions that I ask when thinking about the direction of pro-wrestling, you know, the wrestling products that get delivered in North America. (1) Is it successful? Is it making money? The WWF's product is very successful. WCW's isn't. Vince Russo says he needs time to build interest, but, as the Observer has pointed out time and time again, the house show business turns around very quickly when a promotion finds a story line that clicks with its viewers. After all, even with lower ratings, many many people watch WCW TV, but very few can be bothered to pay to see the product on PPV or at a house show. It does seem like Jeff Jarrett is getting over, but I'm not really confident that that is the case. (2) Is it good for the future of the business? The WWF had to tone down its raunch (or at least say that they would) because sponsors left. They really haven't had to deal with negative press on a wide scale. If people realized what they did on their two big shows each and every time out, they'd feel a lot of heat. For Vince Russo to travel down a similar path again shows a lack of insight and creativity, I think. But the business is resilient. Even with serious scandals, hardcore fans stick with it and the business survives until the next positive cycle. So, even though the two promotions are straying away from in-ring wrestling and focusing on (often raunchy) story lines, I don't think it really hinders the future success of wrestling in North America. (3) Is it good in-ring wrestling? This is the most important question when it comes to my enjoyment of the product. Neither company delivers much goodness, in this regard. Both groups are top-heavy with medciore-or-worse wrestlers. HHH, Rock, Big Slow, Mankind, etc. Kevin Nash, Sid Vicious, Goldberg, etc. Most wrestling in North America sucks. And very little wrestling in North America is awesome. Nitro opened with Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs. Konnan & Billy Kidman vs. David Flair & Crowbar for the tag titles. David Flair blows chunks. He's a total embarrassment who crushes whatever credibility the other guys in the ring might try to establish. This wasn't much of a match. Devon Storm did this one-dimenstional Sabu-inspired offense, which totally didn't click with Dean Malenko. It was funny to see how badly these guys worked together. Match was built around a table spot. Revolution dragged Rey Misterio Jr. back to a table. Perry Saturn walked through the crowd to get to a balcony. He dove off the balcony, doing a New Jack dive on Rey on a table. Medics came out to take Rey away. Perry sold his ribs as well. As he was rolling around, David Flair and Crowbar surfaced, presumably having polished off Konnan. Crowbar went at Malenko, and David Flair covered the writhing Saturn. As the referee counted, Shane Douglas just stood right next to this cover, with his arms outstretched in a "What the...?" gesture. It was so lame. He looked like a total idiot standing there instead of getting involved. Horrible. They replayed the dive from three different angles, which is atypical for WCW production. Fortunately, as the night wore on, the production crew still managed to miss enough spots to make up for this seemingly good work. Scott Steiner was gifted with a bunch of bouncing breasts. This is quality wrestling. Steiner picked two of the girls and went into a back room, presumably to have a menage a trois. Don't worry, though, he promised to do the other girls later. WCW is family entertainment. Oklahoma did an interview, basically challenging any woman to a match. Asya came out. Oklahoma gulped and said "I wanted to wrestle a woman," which was sort of funny. If only they would have used the big hook to pull these guys offstage after that line. He whacked her with his BBQ sauce bottle. Doesn't that bottle break on impact? Not tonight. He whacked Madusa, who ran in, with a broom. Don't those usually break on impact? Not tonight. This was horrible. Terry Funk & Arn Anderson & Paul Orndorff & Larry Zbyszko came out. They all did long interviews. The funny line had Terry call the group the Old Age Outlaws. I don't know if this whole story line is worth that gag. I guess Vince Russo monitors the internet and knows that many people were thinking about having an old vs. young feud in the promotion. Unfortunately, he seems to have decided that old vs. really old is the ticket. This might promise some good promos, but where's the good wrestling? The fallout was that Bret Hart had to face Kevin Nash in the main event. As well, Jeff Jarrett had to work three matches against "old friends" of Terry's, with Chris Benoit as referee. Diamond Dallas Page & Buff Bagwell had a confrontation. At least they are explaining the story line. But still, it's Bagwell and DDP. Who cares? Besides "Team WOW," that is? (This reference will be explained later.) Jeff Jarrett faced George Steele in a bunkhouse match. Oh, lord. Jarrett lost when Benoit screwed him. Worse than horrible. Stevie Ray & Booker T & Midnight did interviews. Ray meets T at Souled Out, even though T said he doesn't want to fight his brother. Jeff Jarrett faced Tito Santana in a dungeon match. Terry Funk had said earlier that one of the three matches that JJ would have this night would be a "wrestling match"; they then changed it to a dungeon match 'cause the idea of this crap was to get over the three matches vs. Benoit at the PPV. One of those will be a dungeon match as well. Dungeon matches end by submission or by throwing your opponent to the floor. Seriously, how's that for a lame finish? Anyhow, Tito was worse than you ever could have imagined. He screwed up move after move. It became sad and funny at the same time. This time, Paul Orndorff screwed JJ, who lost again. Things look really promising for Benoit at the PPV, eh? Tank Abbott ridiculed WCW security and called Doug Dillenger to the ring. He punched Dillenger and whacked other security before Jerry Flynn came in. This did nothing to create interest in their match, although that was the idea, I think. The Jeff Jarrett show continued, as he faced Jimmy Snuka in a cage match. Since Snuka spent most of the later years of his career in the WWF, the commentators had to talk about his NWA tag title reign with Orndorff in the late 70s. Oh boy. After Benoit laid out JJ, both Benoit and Snuka did dives off the cage onto Jarrett. That was actually sort of neat, but by this point the average age of performers on this show had to have put some viewers into comas. Poor Chris Benoit was involved in the worst three matches of his career all on the same night. In the main event, Kevin Nash faced Bret Hart. They actually did okay; Bret Hart is great, and he built a good match. Unfortunately, the Old Age Outlaws ran out. Arn Anderson whacked Nash with a rubber, er, lead pipe. Sid Vicious came out. The cage lowered. It got stuck a couple of times. Sid power bombed Bret. Anderson counted three. I don't think the title changed hands, but nobody bothered to say so. Outside the ring, Terry Funk ran out with a branding iron and branded Kevin Nash's stomach. Frustratingly bad show, based on a bad idea: really old vs. old. The really old guys need to recruit the young guys and help them beat the old guys. While we're on WCW, TSN in Canada airs the show on Wednesday afternoon (at least until February) from 4-6pm. That means we get the pleasure of seeing Nitro and Thunder on Wednesday. It is worse than watching the three hour Nitro. Trust me. Thunder this week opened with El Vampiro vs. Crowbar. Crowbar is a good worker, but he's got no depth. Vamp won a sloppy match. Bret Hart came out for an interview. He put down Kevin Nash and divorced himself from the NWO. The NWO ended up capturing Hart during the show. The beat him up. They seemingly cut his hair. Anybody watching had to know this was all a swerve. Norman Smiley faced Brian Knobs in an outdoor hardcore match for the title. It was atrocious. They brawled through the parking lot. At least it was short. Knobs pinned Smiley to win the title. At the PPV, they have a four corners hardcore match. Revolution came out for an interview. The whole idea of the interview was that all of the men called Asya a "bitch" many, many times. At the PPV, the Revolution have a mystery partner in their match against the Filthy Animals, who will need a partner also, right? It would seem that Asya will join up with the Animals after this berating. Who will side with the Revolution? Maybe Torrie Wilson? Madusa faced Oklahoma in an evening gown match. Can you believe this crap? Match (?) was horrible. Oklahoma got stripped. Yes, they decided that putting Ed Ferrara on TV in his underwear would get the ratings. He ripped Madusa's top off and poured BBQ sauce on her breasts. This is wrestling. Midnight & Booker T & Stevie Ray continued their soap opera. I refuse to call anything that happened an actual match. But, boy, I sure want to see Stevie vs. Booker at the PPV! Chris Kanyon faced Bam Bam Bigelow in a champagne bottle on a pole match. Apparently, Kanyon is only allowed to wrestle Bigelow. Match had a couple of good spots, but it was hardly good. They finally got the bottle. Bammer tossed it and hit his stupid sitting tombstone piledriver for the pin. Afterwards, Kanyon broke the bottle over Bammer. For some unknown reason, Lex Luger, dressed as Sting, ran in to attack Bammer. The lights went out, a spotlight lit up Luger, and a crow appeared on the ring ropes. I really wish Juventud Guerrera had been there to do commentary for the post-match stuff. In the main event, Kevin Nash & Jeff Jarret faced Sid & Chris Benoit. Match was only good at points because of Benoit and Jarrett. Finish saw Benoit go for the swandive headbutt, but Jarrett held the US Title up for Benoit to headbutt. That was the idea, anyhow. Benoit got pinned. Hey, maybe Benoit will come out of the PPV with the title after all. Bret Hart limped to the ring. He called out the NWO. Nash & Jarrett came out. They all squared off with weapons. Before they could do anything, the Old Age Outlaws came out. Of course, Bret helped demolish them. Finish of the show saw Terry Funk and Kevin Nash writhing to get control of the burning branding iron. I'm so happy that Vince Russo decided the use of fire was a good idea. - WCW has Souled Out on 01/16/2000. Line-up: * Bret Hart vs. Sid Vicious (Arn Anderson referee. NWO interference means DQ.) * Kevin Nash vs. Terry Funk with NWO disbanding vs. commissionership * Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit in three matches (bunkhouse brawl, dungeon match, cage match) * Booker T vs. Stevie Ray * Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn & myster partner vs. Konnan & Kidman & mystery partner * Madusa vs. Oklahoma for the cruiserweight title * Norman Smiley vs. Meng vs. Brian Knobs vs. Fit Finlay for the Hardcore title - The WWF has the Royal Rumble on 01/23/2000. Line-up: * Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Cactus Jack for the WWF Title * Royal Rumble, with winner getting a title shot at WrestleMania - There were a couple of blurbs in the paper over the holidays. Old news now, but I thought I'd quickly mention them as I come across the articles while finally cleainng up my at-home workspace. * As mentioned in the old year, TSN has changed its tune, at least for public consumption, as regards RAW. A news article reports that "a little nudge from the CRTC [Canada's airwaves regulator] was all it took to extract WWF's RAW is WAR from where it did not belong. As of February 1, the sometimes controversial wrestling show no longer will be repeated at 4pm on Tuesdays. It now will be shown only at 9pm and midnight on Mondays. [The "spin" here is that those times are EST, so the coast still gets smut at early hours.] Since September, the 4pm slot has drawn an average audience of 175000 viewers. The problem was more than one-third of that audience was below the age of 18, the minimum age for which TSN felt the program was appropriate. Bureau of Broadcast Measurement data from September 1998 had 11% of the audience between the ages of two and 11. The CRTC received 31 complaints about WWF wrestling on TSN in the past 16 months. The main concern was the violence, according to TSN president Rick Brace, although it's no secret some story lines in the WWF also have taken on decidedly overt sexual tones. "What we have had to balance is the audience, which is significant, against the concerns we have had with the content of the programming," Brace said. "All the way along, we have been talking with the WWF to try to make sure we stayed within the guidelines, but what the CRTC has done is kind of helped us with our conscience a little bit and we have made the determination that it's worthwhile making the change." WWF's Monday night 9pm tekecast of RAW is WAR draws an average audience of 365000. [No demographics given. People make the same arguments about the first hour of RAW vs. the second hour, the fact that Smackdown is on earlier, and WWF's weekend programming. In the US, all of the lip service that the WWF and broadcasters pay to elements of the WWF product being unsuitable for children is hypocritical since they know that the greatest percentage of young viewers every week occurs during the second hour of RAW. If the WWF actually gave a crap about corrupting young children, would they have sold tickets directly by the pool (let alone sold tickets at all) to children attending Miss Kitty's strip show?] TSN also carries WCW Nitro on Wednesday afternoon as well as at midnight and, while no fromal complaints were lodged with the CRTC about that particular show, Brace said it also will be restricted to prime time. Brace admitted the decision was not an easy one. He pointed out RAW is WAR has outdrawn NHL telecasts on a number of occasions. Initially, TSN attempted to keep RAW's Tuesday afternoon time slot by editing the program, but it became clear that wasn't going to work. "At the end of the day, and editing as much as we did and understanding that at some point you start to lose the context of the story line, rather than continnue on in that vein we thought it best to eliminate the time slot," Brace said. Despite the schedule change, Brace said the show still will be monitored closely by his staff and edited if necessary. * The Globe and Mail had a story late in December on ECCW, Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling, a promotion in British Columbia. It sounded pretty horrible: garbage wrestling with a bunch of unskilled guys. Some of the one-year pros talked about wanting to hit it big in the WWF. The reporter talked about a wrestler named Juggernaut challenging for the ECCW title. His parents have come to watch him work. "This is something he's wanted to do for a while, but it's not his dad's career choice," said the mom. "It's good entertainment for some, I guess, but I couldn't tell you who any of the characters are." Of course, they bled and broke tables and used chairs and garbage cans. The article ended with, "And what did Trent, 10, and Brett, 13, like about it? They both answer at the same time: `The blood.'" - I picked up the year-end issues of wrestling magazines to send to my pal in Japan. Quickly, Pro-wrestling Illustrated stirred up their home-cooked awards as follows. * Rookie of the Year: Shane McMahon * Inspirational Wrestler of the Year: Hulk Hogan * Most Improved Wrestler of the Year: Jerry Lynn * Comeback of the Year: Eddy Guerrero * Manager of the Year: Debra * Feud of the Year: Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin * Most Popular Wrestler of the Year: Rock * Most Hated Wrestler of the Year: Diamond Dallas Page * Match of the Year: Rock vs. Mankind, 01/24/99 * Tag Team of the Year: X-Pac & Kane * Wrestler of the Year: Steve Austin WCW Magazine had a list of the "Top 100 Wrestlers of the Century," which promised a hell of a good laugh. Sure enough, consider these gems: * 1. Hulk Hogan. Enuff said. * 15. Steve Austin. They actually talked about his WCW tenure, you know, when he could actually wrestle. * 29. Kevin Nash. "Arguably the most talented big man in wrestling history..." The tears in my eyes made it impossible to continue. What a joke. And finally, then, WOW Magazine announced on their cover that they would pick a number one wrestler. They wanted to award somebody their "World's Outstanding Wrestler of 1999" prize. The word "smart," usually in quotes, appeared all over the place. Alright, then, surely a "smart" fan voting on such an award, even a smart fan restriicting himself to the North American scene, would shy away from certain choices. And that was the angle in the editorial. You see, Bill Apter wanted to go with the Rock as the choice, but the "smart" "Team WOW" crossed out Apter's glowing editorial for Rock and placed beside it their own editorial for the "smart" choice for this award. Now, who could they possibly pick? Think back. Who was so oustanding during 1999 that the name just comes straight to your mind? Yep, Diamond Dallas Page. If, like me, you said, "Nope, that's not it," don't feel bad. Because upon reflection, realizing that you never once considered DDP for such praise, you'll come to the conclusion that it was the "smart" choice. Okay, okay, I still said, "Nope, that's not it." Maybe there's an explanation? Sure enough, popping into the magazine's "smart chart," you learn that they decided to rate the five best performers in each of the WWF, WCW, and ECW. They say that "Team WOW and `insider' journalist Dave Meltzer analyzed each wrestler in several key categories." They then mention that "(Note: Team WOW then changed some of Meltzer's numbers to reflect an overall opinion.)" I added a paragaph break at this point because I knew you'd have to find your place again when you stopped laughing out loud. The ten equally important characteristics in rating a wrestler according to "Team WOW" are: believability of character, interview skills, technical wrestling workrate, overness, drawing power, crowd psychology, athletic ability, consistency, ability to make an opponent look good, ability to make a match dramatic. Each wrestler was given a rating out of 10 in each characteristic, those ratings were tallied, and the final score (out of 100) was the wrestler's "smart" score in the "smart chart." The top five WWF guy, with scores, were * 83.5: Rock * 79.5: Mankind * 78.0: Steve Austin * 74.0: Hunter Hearst Helmsley * 69.5: Undertaker In WCW, they came up with * 76.5: Diamond Dallas Page * 74.0: Bill Goldberg * 74.0: Chris Benoit * 55.0: Sting * 52.0: Hulk Hogan And in ECW, they came up with * 73.5: Taz * 71.0: Rob van Dam * 71.0: Jerry Lynn * 68.0: Lance Storm * 53.0: Sabu The funny question that you have to ask yourself at the end of those inane results is: since three WWF guys scored ahead of DDP in this "smart" process, why did "Team WOW" pick DDP as their "smart" choice for 1999? Ah, I bet the argument will be that the above scores are based on an instanteous judgment whenever the magazine was put together, while the "Outstanding" award was based on the entire past year. Maybe it's just years worth of Observer awards that make the phrase "outstanding wrestler" mean something totally different to me, so different that I would only consider one person from the above-listed 15 even as a possibility. Cooking up charactistics that necessarily link "outstanding"ness to push and how hot a promotion is (which drawing power, overness, and believability of character all depend upon in some way) is "stupid" not "smart." How can supposedly "smart" fans buy into the mediocrity of the Rock. I'll tell you that the Rock didn't score that high for some of the ringwork-based characteristics (as he shouldn't...he gets mediocre), but the fact that he comes out so highly rated shows that this "smart" "system" of rating wrestlers is unbalanced. Really, if we discard the three characteristics mentioned parenthetically earlier on and compare the Rock to Juventud Guerrera, say, who is more outstanding? Rock kicks ass on the microphone. He can't carry an opponent. He can't sell. He mails in performances (remember that awesome bout against British Bulldog on PPV.) He really has no more than five nontrivial wrestling moves. But, boy, can he talk. Now, Juvi can't talk. Well, they've let him be a campy commentator, but he can't build interest with his mic work. But in every other regard, he easily surpasses Rock. And don't even get started on who actually tries to improve his work. Which one of these guys is outstanding? Obviously neither...Diamond Dallas Page all the way. Give me another hit. - Back to Japanese TV tapes. I finally did that major run through many tapes. The 08/07/99 New Japan TV show opened with a battle royal featuring the junior heavyweights from 07/20/99. Battle royals pretty much stink. This one turned out okay, but it was nowhere near what any two of these guys could have done in singles match. With everybody in the ring, it allowed for some silly spots. At one point, one wrestler put a camel clutch on another, with a third guy putting a facelock on the camel clutcher. Another threesome did exactly the same spot right beside the first group. It was a bit confusing because were elminated in strange ways. When it boiled down to Shinjiro Otani & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Kendo Ka Shin, it got really good, the reason being that, unlike North American battle royal, pinfalls could also eliminate guys. So, it pretty much turned into a wrestling match. The remaining matches on the show were uninspiring for me. The 08/14/99 TV show aired snippets from G1 Climax tournament matches, some of which didn't air on the two nights of special shows (reviewed in an earlier update). They aired at most a handful of minutes, so it was hard to gauge much. They also aired (clips from) all of the final matches as well. Two comments: (1) WCW sure missed the boat with Yuji Nagata. Fans in North America who can recall his stint with the promotion probably don't think he was anything noteworthy, but he was great in this tournament. (2) Mananbu Nakanishi, who won the tournament, as the promotion tried to create a new star from the group of young lions, is nowhere near the level of the top guys from the previous generation. He's still better than a Lex Luger or a Sting, but it gets annoying seeing him in match after match. Imagine watching a handful of Kane matches back to back. Yow. After a while you wiggle your finger up and down on your lips and mumble "big red machine," while looking like David Flair. The 08/21/99 All Japan TV show opened with the awesome Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Maunakea Mossman & Gladiator (Mike Awesome). The crowd was really hot for Gladiator vs. Kobashi, since they had a singles match slated for later in the tour. I was curious to see how Awesome would fit into a non-garbage promotion. Hey, with Kobashi & Akiyama to work with, the proverbial broom would look great. Kobashi hit a vertical suplex, holding Gladiator up for 10 seconds. Gladiator hit a brutal release German suplex on Akiyama, who took the bump on his head. The replay made it seem less dangerous, but it was still along the lines of Steve Williams did to WCW's luchadors. They snipped the match, dropping minutes from the middle. Gladiator yelled "Awesome Bomb" and powerbombed Kobashi, but the save was made. Wtih Mossman & Akiyama locked up outside, Gladiator got a two count off a frog splash. It returned to a tag match, with Mossman tagging in and Akiyama returning to the apron. Mossman tried for a Northern Lights suplex, but Akiyama dropped his weight so that he kept a facelock. I like little things like that. Mossman did get the suplex. He also hit a float over DDT that would make you think the Rock was cooking onions because of the tears of jealousy he'd be crying. They doubled Mossman, with Gladiator outside; he made it in for the save. Kobashi & Gladiator paired up and Akiyama got the pin on Mossman. Good match, but not great. Match was followed by another tag match, featuring Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue vs. Vader & ?. ?'s selling was almost ready for grade school. The crowd just didn't seem into it when he was in, which was most of the time. I guess they protect Vader in the tag matches, since his body his breaking down. Finally, a six-man tag took place. In the old days, All Japan's main event six-man tags were the greatest matches on the planet. They had such intensity and all of the awesome moves, with a prolonged finish period. Nowadays, they still try to do that, but matches involving Yoshihiro Takayama & Gary Albright and the like will never meet the old standard. On the 08/28/99 All Japan TV show, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa won the double tag titles from Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori. Match was good, but that's it. Takayama is so bad. He comes the ring to "Bad to the Bone," which just makes me laugh. On the 09/04/99 All Japan TV show, they aired two singles matches: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Yoshihiro Takayama and Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Vader. Takayama came out to near silence. The crowd erupted for Misawa. Misawa did better with Takayama than I expected, but it was still at best okay. Misawa vs. Vader was disappointing. The 09/11/99 All Japan TV show had one match: Jun Akiyama vs. Takao Omori. I enjoyed it a lot because I like Akiyama a lot, but it was a good match and nothing more. When people talk or write about the new generation of All Japan wrestlers not being able to fill the holes that will be left by Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi, they are talking matches like this. Good but not great. Next tape. New Japan 08/28/99 TV from Jingu Stadium. Opening match had Great Muta vs. Great Nita (Atsushi Onita) in a garbage wrestling match. The fans were into the pre-match specatacle. But, boy, was this match an abortion. Onita sucks. I'd rather watch Kane. That just about says it all. Muta took the first bump into the electrified barbed wire. They did a lot of "you stand there while I pretend to push my rubber scythe into your skull" stuff. They had barbed wire land mines on two unroped sides of the ring. The other two (roped) sides were wrapped with electrified barbed wire. I'm pretty sure the word "hell" appears in the official label for this gimmick match, and it's surely appropriate. Thank god that Viewer's Choice has told the wrestling groups in North America that they can't do barbed wire gimmick matches, 'cause you know that ECW or even the WWF would get into this crap. Nita misted Muta. Nita ran around the ran slowly, with his head cocked strangely and his mouth wide open. This might have been an example of his legendary charisma. He did some pirhouettes before Muta finally just shoved him into the ropes for a second blast. At this point, the match was already deathly bad, into negative stars. Horrible is to kind. Muta tried to kick Nita onto a landmine. "Abunai!" That's Japanese for "danger," with the commentators actually somehow managing to still be awake at this point. That's Japanese discipline. In North America, commentators would be cracking inane comments or laughing. Nita triggered the ring explosion, which meant that an siren sounded, with a countdown displayed somewhere counting down to the ring exploding (or, more precisely, all of the platforms around the ring exploding). They did the final countdown. Muta looked frantic. He tried to dropkick Nita onto the landmines, missed, but Nita bumped anyhow. A little fart of fire erupted from the bump. Two seconds later, the guy in the booth flipped a switch to make the other fire works go off. There was some smoke. It was so lame. The exploding ring match that Onita did with Terry Funk looked much better as a spectacle. "Fart" does accurately describe this one. The smoked clear very quickly. Muta pulled Nita in and tossed him into the barbed wire for the third explosion of that type. Muta got a two count. God almighty, they wanted to drag this out even more! One scythe shot from Muta and he got the pin. One of the worst matches I saw in 1999, easily the worst Japanese match. Following that shit, they aired Koji Kanemoto vs. Kendo Ka Shin, with Ka Shin winning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title. Match was missing something, as things just seemed off throughout. Disappointing, although still good. And then Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata won the IWGP Tag titles from Goto & Ohara in another good but not great match. It's amazing it was good. Goto, Ohara, Nakanishi. How could Nagata make it good? Somehow, he did. On the 09/18/99 TV show, can you believe that New Japan once again aired the Nita vs. Muta match? It's unfathomable. They snipped it, but at 11:00 for the segment it was still beyond brutal. They showed Nita crying back stage. He then climbed into a casket and died. Lame. This was followed by Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani vs. Jushin Liger & El Samurai in a good match, which once again missed the great mark. I was getting disappointed by these New Japan TV shows. The juniors weren't hitting the awesome mark I've come used to expecting. Still, a mediocre effort like this match would compare favourably against the best efforts of many of North America's top-pushed guys. In a mildly interesting match on paper, not because it promised to be good, Don Frye faced Scott Norton. I like Frye a lot. I don't really like Norton; he's got way too much attitude. I was hoping that Frye would be really stiff on Norton's ass. Frye could really be something in North America. He did a sweet escape from a waist lock, dropping into an ankle lock. He tried for an armbar submission but Norton powered out. Norton did his short stiff clotheslines. Bastard. Frye took him over for a German suplex. Frye pounded Norton down in the corner with stiff punches, but Norton hulked up. He hit a hip lock on Frye off the ropes, which looked like it should have been a power bomb. The referee bumped. Oh lord. Norton helped him up; Frye hit the low blow. Frye started pounding on Norton. The referee tried to break it up. Frye tossed him down a handful of times. I expected an American finish. But no, the match continued, with Frye hitting a choke sleeper for the win. Match was crummy. Masa Chono faced Shinya Hashimoto in the last match on the TV show. Match was nothing special. The 09/25/99 and 10/02/99 New Japan TV shows were both pretty bad. They featured the first matches from the annual New Japan tag tournament. Loads of mediocre matches. Why? Listen to these teams: Keiji Muto and...Scott Norton, Shinya Hashimoto and...Meng. Good lord. The final match on the latter show was Kendo Ka Shin's successful title defence against Tatsuhito Takaiwa. It was good but not great, my mantra for this update. The 10/09/99 New Japan TV show had the final night of tag tournament matches. It started off blandly. The last two matches on the TV show were really good. Firstly, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima faced Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi in a match made good by everybody's work. The torunament final saw Keiji Muto & Scott Norton face Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi in a surprisingly strong match. Now, as mentioned above, Nagata & Nakanishi held the IWGP Tag titles coming into this match. Norton & Nakanishi were the obvious weak links in the match. Hopefully, Muto would be on on this night. Nakanishi did power stuff on Muto to start. Nagata & Muto some nicer stuff together, with Nagata hitting his Nagata lock (figure four variation) very early, but Muto fighting to the ropes. When Norton came in to save Muto from Nakanishi's backbreaker, Nagata hit Chris Benoit's crossface on the big stiff. But Muto held out, hitting a dragon screw on Nagata to rally. Nagata hit his own as a comeback. As Muto rallied and tried for a figure four, Nagata did this wonderul little twirl and ended up with an ankle lock submission. He switched to other leg and ankle submissions because Norton lumbered in for the save. We were closing in on the eight minute mark, I'd guess, and Norton hadn't even been in the ring legally yet. Finally, Muto tagged. Norton hit his clotheslines and a shoulder tackle on Nagata. He hit a power slam on Nakanishi. He tried to power bomb Nagata, but Nakanishi hit him with an enzulariato. He no-sold it, hitting the power bomb anyhow, then acting groggy. Good spot because it isn't overused here. Norton went up for a German suplex. Nakankishi hit a clothesline, Norton didn't budge, and Nakanishi hit another. When he went for a third clothesline, Norton hit a power slam instead. In came Muto. Match got better. All four uys came in. Norton went outside with Nagata. In the ring, Muto tried for a dragon screw, but Nakanishi hit the backbreaker. Norton, who had been busy no-selling all of Nagata's offense outside the ring, made the save. Norton and Nagata returned to fighting outside. As Nakanishi picked up Muto for the backbreaker again, Muto floated down and did this nice little roll-over to end up with an armbar submission for the win. Really nice match. The 10/16/99 TV show was a special show from the Tokyo Dome (from 10/11/99). After a recap of their colourful history of matches, Shinya Hashimoto faced Naoya Ogawa for the NWA Heavyweight title. They both wore light gloves a la Vader. Crowd was "Rock vs. Austin" into this. Hashimoto scored a takedown and started pounding Ogawa, finally dropping to an ankle lock. Ogawa got a rope break. Ogawa got into the mount, but Hashimoto covered up his head so well that Ogawa hit nothing before Hashimoto had wriggled to the ropes. Hashimoto looked to be in better shape than he was in a year ago. Tatsumi Fujinami refereed, with Tiger Hattori at ringside. They did these arduously slow breaks in the corner. Hashimoto hit a great suplex on Ogawa, who was all groggy and rubber-legged. Again. Hashimoto took him down and tried for an armbar, but Ogawa rolled on top immediately. He had a mount, but worked what looked like a keylock on the arm. Hashimoto made the ropes. They did some stand up fighting before Ogawa did a nodawa takedown (Rock Bottom without the flash). He did another forceful takedown, with Shinya's head bouncing off the mat from the bump. It seemed like he was knocked silly for real. When Hashimoto finally regained his legs, he kicked the crap out of Ogawa's knee, with Ogawa selling it great. Ogawa used the close quarters to hit another nodawa, though. He followed with a German suplex. He kept hitting various judo takedowns, with Hashimoto selling the impacts by getting up a touch more slowly and groggily every time. It was stupendous. Hashimoto left the ring to gather himself. He removed his gloves and unwrapped his hands. Back in the ring, he was taken down seemingly at will a few more times. He showed fighting spirit by continually getting to his feet. Ogawa hit a stiff punch on Hashimoto, who went down like a rock. When he got up, he was dropped on his ass again. Fujinami & Hattori were getting anxious when this happened three times. Could he defend himself? He kept getting up. He was just like Sid Vicious, though, refusing to quit. Ogawa just kept pounding him. Hattori waved his arms, as if to signal that the match shouldn't continue. Maybe he was saying that it shouldn't be stopped. Wrestlers were poised on the rampway. Finally, Antonio Inoki ran into the ring and interrupted an offensive salvo by Ogawa, actually knocking him over. Inoki told the referees that the match should be stopped, that maybe their New Japan egos couldn't stand this UFO outsider pounding Hashimoto's ass. I dunno. Something like that, anyhow. The match was stopped. Ogawa was the winner. Hashimoto really sold the accumulated beating. He finally got up and stumbled towards Inoki. He stood in front of Inoki and did a little bow of respect. No, wait, he headbutted Inoki! No, damn, he just collapsed from the physical toll of the match, tumbling into Inoki on his way to the mat. Now, if you would have told me that I would write that long description of Hashimoto vs. Ogawa and only in passing mention that Jushin Liger vs. Kendo Ka Shin was disappointing, I would have thought you were nuts. Turns out though that that was the case. Liger regained the title, but the match was just okay. In a weird match, UFC name Kimo faced Yuji Nagata. They showed a clip from Kimo vs. Bam Bam Bigelow from Japan (pictures in the archive on this web site). Kimo did the big entrance to organ music, carrying a crucifixion cross, I mean a symbol. I wonder if his discipline is still JoeSonDo. Kimo could be an entertaining piece of the North American pro-wrestling scene. Nagata hit a beautiful suplex on Kimo. Kimo ended up hitting a rear naked choke on Nagata for the win in short order. Good for what it was, really just okay. Finally, Manabu Nakanishi challenged Keiji Muto for the IWGP Title. Recall that Nakanishi beat Muto with the backbreaker in the G1 Climax tournament. I was wondering if Muto would be on. If so, what could he pull out of Nakanishi. Turned out he was and that he could pull a damn good match out of him. I'm kinda outNakanishied so-to-speak, so you'll forgive me for offering no lengthy descprition, I hope. Nakanishi had Muto in the backbreaker and they both tumbled over the top rope to ringside. He put the backbreaker on again, but Muto jockeyed for pusition, they tumbled to the ground, and Muto hit an armbar submission for the win in 20 minutes of which maybe nine or ten aired on TV. It was really good. The finish was incredible. Off to All Japan 09/19/99 TV. Show opened with Gladiator vs. Kenta Kobashi. Okay, if Mike Awesome is going to be counted on to head up a promotion, this would be a test to see whether Kobashi could pull an awesome match of him. With Kobashi in there, there was little chance that the match wouldn't be good; it was up to Awesome to do his part to make it awesome. Of course, it might not be fair to compare, because in ECW he gets to work a garbage wrestling style. That's why he and Masato Tanaka manage to have strong matches; in a legit framework, they wouldn't. They opened with test of strengths. It was kind of weird since strength is one of awesome's pushed traits in the US. Kobashi got dumped. Gladiator hit a tope. He climbed on the apron and posed. About half of the fans in the shot clapped. He went onto the floor again and tried to power bomb Kobashi. Kobashi back dropped him instead. But Gladiator did hit the power bomb after all. Back in the ring to pose again. Then he crouched and got into that stance that teases a tope. Kobashi acted dead. The referee stopped Gladiator from going after Kobashi outside. He did let Gladiator toss Kobashi back in. Gladiator came in with a splash. Hmmm, what other offense does Gladiator have? Well, he tried for another power bomb. Oh lord. It reminds me of the old argument I had with Zach Arnold, FMW fan, who praised an FMW match as stellar material when the match was half (both timewise and movewise) clotheslines and powerbombs. When you take away the ability to set up tables and throw people through them or to whack people with chairs, you don't leave these guys with all that much. Technique just isn't there. Sort of sounds like HHH and others that I brand mediocre. Kobashi grabbed the rope and stopped the power bomb. So, Gladiator went to a camel clutch. "What other moves can I do in the ring?" thought the Gladiator. "Dunno," so he threw Kobashi out to the floor again. Kobashi banged into the guard rail and the apron. The referee told them to get back in, so Gladiator did. Clothesline for a two count. Camel clutch. He continued working on the back, as simple as the offense was. Kobashi finally rallied with a suplex. He hit a couple of knees, Russian leg sweep, two count. His chops to the neck. Awesome hit a German suplex. Slam, slow climb to the top rope, frog splash, two count. "Awesome bomb" yelled Gladiator. Kobashi countered, no, he took it. Two count. "Kobashi! Kobashi!" Another attempt at a power bomb, but Kobashi dropped over, hitting a German suplex of his own. Half-nelson suplex to follow up. Slam, to the top quickly, moonsault, two count. Awesome hit the big foot and then speared Kobashi when he charged again. Stinger splash. He tried for...a power bomb. What else? Hit it; sort of a Razor's Edge variant. Two count. I wonder what Gladiator will go for next. Sure enough, he draped Kobashi in the corner and climbed to the top rope from the apron. He wanted to do a top rope power bomb, but Kobashi rallied and set up a superplex. But Awesome rallied, and tried again for the power bomb. But Kobashi held on, and Awesome ended up falling over, as if for a sunset flip, with Kobashi not joining him. He charged Kobashi and tried for...a power bomb. Jeez Louise. This time, Kobashi countered the power bomb with a rana and immediately snapped off a clothesline when Gladiator got to his feet. Three count. The match was actually quite good, but you'd have to be blind not to see Gladiator's lack of roundedness. Second match on the show was Akira Taue vs. Hiro Hase. Now, I've loved Hase since his Viet Cong Express days in Stampede in 1986 or so. But I don't enjoy watching Taue in singles matches. Don't know why. In tag matches I can take him. Match was good, though. The 09/26/99 TV show had clips from a few matches early. Some of the action looked good, but they really only showed a minute or two from several matches. First real match, then, had Jun Akiyama & Haruka Eigen & Tamon Honda vs. Hiro Hase & Mitsuo Momota & Jun Izumida. The mere thought of Eigen teaming with Akiyama seems funny. Eigen, of course, is famous for the "spit spot" in All Japan comedy matches. When the late Giant Baba would smack him across the chest, Eigen would let a big wad of spit fly into the crowd in the direction he was facing. Female fans often had umbrellas to protect themselves from the spit. I have a vague memory that this match was put together by some sort of draw or something, but I'm too lazy to check. Suffice to say that it was a weird mix of wrestlers. Match was good, with the fans sort of into seeing the comedy guys in a somewhat serious match. Sure enough, Hase whacked Eigen across the chest, and he let the spit fly. The crowd raised their newspapers to shield themselvfes from the spit. I said that match was "somewhat serious" because they still did a fair bit of comedy stuff with Eigen and Momota. But Hase vs. Akiyama was serious, for example. It was actually an enjoyable bout, although I wouldn't tell you it was a must-see or anything. The last match on the show had Too Cold Scorpio challenge Yoshinari Ogawa for the PWF Jr. Heavyweight title. Scorpio looked to be in better shape than usual, but, even though he has always given me the sense that he literally floats when he launches himself into the air, he still seemed to be off his best form from years back. I see him as being prime for ECW, but not really ready to be anywhere else. They did some creative spots, and the match was good. People don't give Ogawa enough credit. He's really developed into a great worker. With Ogawa slammed to the mat, Too Cold signalled that the wheels on the bus go round and round. Er, no, that's what my baby daughter means when she does that hand gesture. Scorpio meant that he was going for the tumbleweed. He hit it, but bounced off Ogawa on impact, selling his knee, while Ogawa sold the impact. The both got to their feet. Ogawa hit a jawbreaker, enxuigiri, backdrop suplex, all for a two count. Another briding backdrop suplex for a two count. Ogawa has a cocky strut sometimes. He rolled through a Scorpio sunset flip attempt and jackknifed Scorpio's leg, flipping over for the jackknife pin. Nice finish. The 10/03/99 TV show had all kinds of clips and interviews to build to the upcoming major shows. The 10/10/99 TV show opened with Kentaro Shiga & Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi vs. Masa Fuchi & Masao Inoue & Yoshihiro Takayama. Match was okay but nothing special, although the crowd was hot for exchanges between the two regular tag teams in this mix. Takayama improves slowly, but I still don't enjoy watching him at all. This was another six-man tag that tried to recreate the intensity of the old days, but it just didn't. Takayama got the pin on Shiga and then badmouthed Akiyama & Kobashi. The two tag teams brawled for a few seconds, with Akiyama & Kobashi punking the others and just walking away like they weren't worth the time and effort. They showed a few clips from another match, but the rest of the show was basically devoted to hyping the 10/30 and 10/23 major shows yet again. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________