______________________________________________________________________ I'm off to the doctor tomorrow. I had managed to shake the flu by late last week, or so we thought. Sadly, by Sunday, WCW wasn't the only organism in chaos. My body was wracked with flu-like symptoms yet again. Sheesh. Now, I'm left with a terrible cough. Having been sick to some degree pretty much since the new year, I think the Y2K bug was real! My wife knows of people who have stumbled into bronchitis, pneumonia, and even a nervous system disorder based on first having had the flu. So, off to the doctor I go. With apologies for being sick, I'll postpone the PPV buy rate summary for 1999 and the tape update until I'm feeling better, which better be next week, 'cause I'm more sick of being sick than I am of garbage wrestling. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - WCW had Souled Out this past Sunday. The details of the show and, indeed, the matches that took place on Nitro and Thunder were hardly the major story in the promotion this week. It was well-known that Bret Hart's appearance at the show was questionable. Sure enough, Bret, having suffered a concussion in his Starrcade match with Goldberg and, despite working several other matches in a cloud, couldn't make the show. Bret himself seems to be in a real state of confusion over what wrestling has become in the past two-to-three years, as evidenced by his column in the Sun. Hell, I'm confused by the switch to garbage wrestling, profanity, and soap operas over pretty much any hint of actual wrestling, so it is totally understandable to me that Bret, given his illustrious reputation and track record to back it up, is tormented. Who knows where Bret will end up after the fallout of this week? In addition to Bret being out of the show, Jeff Jarrett had to drop out. While both wrestlers planned to work despite their injuries, outside forces removed each of them from the show. Late in the game, then, the show had to be rebooked, since these two guys played such prominent roles on the original line-up. Apparently, Vince Russo's retooling of the show would have led to Tank Abbott winning the world title in a surprise main event. Turner exec and WCW overseer Bill Busch vetoed that idea and removed Russo from his post (likely due in no small part to the miserable PPV performance of recent shows). Somehow, with some booking team, the PPV that was delivered was put together. Overall, the PPV was lacklustre. Given the result of the main event, I'd love to rave about the show, but even that result was bittersweet because of the obvious foot under the rope and, more importantly, because it took such major chaos in the company to reward Benoit. Anyhow, I think this was a thumbs in the middle sort of show, bordering down. Run down: * Kidman beat Dean Malenko in a "catch as catch can" match: Kidman had to work three matches, replacing the "triple threat theatre" deal that was supposed to involve Jarret and Chris Benoit. They replaced the dungeon match with this match, but kept in effect the rule that a wrestler would lose if he left the ring. They traded holds for about two minutes, and it was pretty good. Then Dean went to the outside for a rest and lost the match at 2:36. What crap. Kidman drew a good reaction. Dean argued the ruling, but then walked off. Some people speculated after the fact that Dean purposely ended the match way early in protest of the chaos that was brewing in the promotion, but Dave Meltzer doesn't buy that argument. * El Vampiro beat David Flair & Crowbar in a triangle match: The scheduled singles match was turned into this bout because of a backstage attack during the pregame show. In that pregame show angle, Masa Chono surfaced to interrupt Vamp's interview. I thought that always meant that we should expect the interrupter to get involved in some match at least later in the show, but we never saw Chono again. Chono was in North America for quickie surgery and would be around for Nitro and Thunder as well, although we only saw him on Nitro the next night. As for the match, Vamp dominated. He would outsmart, cut off, and generally punk one team member to give him some time to beat on the other. He did a tope. Finally, Crowbar hit a somersault tope on both Vamp and Flair. Somebody in the crowd had a sign saying "David Flair is my idol!" I can understand that sentiment: with absolutely no ablity he has been pushed to the upper echelon; while it isn't something to respect, it is something to envy. Crowbar did his spot wrestling on Vamp. Match was disjointed. Vamp hit a top rope superplex on Crowbar, with Flair making the save at two. Vampiro drew a slight chant. Crowbar & Flair doubleteamed. Crowbar tried for a power bomb, with Vamp attempting the roll through and facecrusher counter that Kidman always uses, but it didn't work out, looking very sad. With the figure four on, Crowbar did a splash on Vamp (completely missed by the crack production team) and went for the pin. Flair seemed upset by that, pulling Crowbar off. Flair suplexed Crowbar and kissed Daffney. A second later, Flair accidently ran into Daffney, Vamp hit the Juvi driver, and the match was over at 10:23. It was like something out of ECW. * Big Vito & Johnny the Bull beat the Harris Boys: Green wrestling all around, but hard work in general, particularly from Johnny & Vito. Johnny looks great considering he's only had a dozen matches. Unfortunately, in today's environment he'll develop into a spot wrestler or garbage wrestler. The crowd let out some "boring" chants, largely because the characters aren't really over and there's no real issue here. Match was too long and slow-paced for what these four can do. With Vito went to the top rope, Disco pushed Vito off the top, actually launching him into a clothesline on one Harris, setting up the pin at 9:33. Disco tried to screw them, but it didn't work out. * Oklahoma beat Madusa to win the Cruiserweight Title: Match was horrible. Madusa headbutted his groin by mistake. She did two dropkicks off the ropes, but she sure isn't Manami Toyota. She whippe OK to the ropes, he held on, and 30 seconds later she launched herself into a dropkick for no apparent reason. It was pitiful. Spice and Asya slapped OK around and tossed him back in the ring. OK ended up pulling her skirt down, sort of, and getting a roll up pin at 3:02. Afterwards, the girls poured BBQ sauce on him and beat him up. * Brian Knobs beat Norman Smiley & Fit Finlay & Meng to retain the Hardcore Title: When Smiley garbage canned Meng, he no sold it. He pretty much didn't sell a thing this match. Smiley did a lame ass uranage on Knobs outside, with Knobs not wanting to go up. Out came a table. Smiley's crotch was posted. Smiley & Fit went into the crowd briefly. Heenan called it the "beat hardcore match I've ever seen," which is like calling rabbit poo horse poo. The table was broken, but we never saw it. In the ring, Smiley headbutted Knobs in the crotch, but got whacked with a police riot shield for the pin at 6:11. At least it was short. Meng dumped Smiley when Smiley wanted to make friends. * Billy Kidman beat Saturn in a bunkhouse brawl: Since falls counted anywhere and anything was allowed, they pretty much stayed in the ring and wrestled. Retarded, but it was a pretty good match. They did one cover attempt outside of the ring. They set up a table at ringside. Saturn belly-to-belly suplexed Kidman over the ropes through the table. The cameras missed it, but we saw it on the replay. They did a lot of big moves but drew no heat. Kidman countered a power bomb with a facecrusher for the pin at 10:06. * Booker T DQ Stevie Ray: Booker did some nice moves, but Stevie's offense is so boring. Booker was setting up for the win when Ahmed Johnson ran in. I knew about Whisper and I knew about Nancy Sullivan, but I didn't know that Ahmed Johnson was pregnant...and so late into his term. They two(three?)-on-oned Booker. They called themselves the new and improved Harlem Heat. Match ran 6:39. * Tank Abbott beat Jerry Flynn: The match would end by submission or KO only. Tank looked fit for the second time in his life that I've seen him. Flynn tried for some armbars. Abbott was caught in Flynn's guard, but it was so lame. More armbars. Abbott lifted Flynn up for a power bomb style counter and then rabbit punched him for the KO. * Buff Bagwell beat Diamond Dallas Page in a last man standing match: They brawled around the arena a bit. Buff did a really sad neckbreaker on DDP. They walked over to the WCW.COM set up, remember to brawl occasionally. They threw monitors at each other. DDP keyboarded Buff. Buff elbowed DDP through the WCW.COM table. Garbage wrestling. Back in the ring, Buff hit what must have been the tenth low blow of the night. He got caught posing and ended up with his crotch being posted. He rallied with a splash. Both guys got up at eight. Another double knockdown followed. Buff hit the blockbuster. Buff used a baton. Each time, DDP got up at nine. DDP hit the diamond cutter out of nowhere. DDP didn't make it up, do Buff got the win at 11:40. Kim came out. DDP attacked Buff. Kim walked off with DDP; she looked strange. * Wall beat Kidman in a cage match: They had announced that Kidman, having won two matches already, would face a mystery opponent in the cage match. Shane Douglas came out to berate Kidman and introduce the opponent. It was such a great surprise, right up there with Paul Roma. Cage matches have to be stunt man shows these days, but there guys actually just stayed in the ring except for a few bumps against the cage. The commentators pushed the cage as being immense and talked about how it could be used in different ways, none of which we saw. It was sad. Kidman tried for a cross body, but Wall caught him in a choke slame for the pin at 5:02. * Kevin Nash beat Terry Funk to win the commissionership of WCW: This was hardcore. In the set up for the match, I expected that we'd see the surprise return of Oliver Humperdink, since Terry Funk said the match would be hardcore if Nash had the big Kahuna. I really expected that Nash would have to cheat to win, that they'd try to give Funk some credibility in the loss. Originally, they had offered this spot (coming in as commissioner to lose it to Nash) to Ric Flair, but Flair saw it as another offer to get punked out and turned it down, so Funk was brought in at the eleventh hour. Anyhow, with Jarrett & Bret injured and Scott Steiner still not ready, I expected that Chono, who had appeared earlier, might surface to help Nash, but nothing like that ever happened. Nash power bombed Funk through the commentators' table. For some reason, Nash came up bleeding severely from the head. Maybe he was posted. Nash cut a promo in the ring, telling Funk that he could remain commissioner if he could crawl back into the ring. He did, but Nash then told us he was lying. Hey, wasn't that a verbal contract? Funk did his goofy rubber leg stuff, reminding me of DDP earlier, who mirrors Funk. They kept wide camera angles. I found no pleasure in this match at all: what kind of sport is it to watch a 54-year-old garbage wrestler prostitute his almost forgotten legend by carving himself up one more time? Funk hit some chair shots, and the crowd booed mildly. More brawling, crappy chair stuff. Funk set up two chairs with one across them, while Nash relaxed. Nash then powerbombed Funk through the chairs for the pin at 8:21. Oh my, the lead heel wrestler now gets to put together the matches. What a fresh, unique idea! * Chris Benoit beat Sid to win the vacant WCW Title: Arn Anderson was the referee. He cut a great promo before the match. Another babyface vs. babyface main event. The crowd booed the fair play early on. Saturn & David Flair came out to the entryway to watch the match, trying to get the title over like ECW does. Eventually, the locker room emptied into the entryway, and referees and staff even joined in. Sid did some power stuff early, with Benoit taking big bumps for three minutes. Benoit rallied, going after Sid's knee. He used the steel steps on Sid's knee. Sid actually sold Benoit's punches. Sid reversed a figure four, but Benoit made the ropes. Dragon screw by Benoit, like Sid knew how to take that. Snap suplex. Great Muta's leglock and chinlock submission. Sid wouldn't give. About ten minutes in, Sid started hulking up. Benoit cut him off with dropkicks to the knee. Sid rallied again, but was German suplexed. Sid avoided a second suplex, hitting a power slam for a two. Benoit hit a beautiful ankle scissors takedown into an ankle lock submission. Sid didn't sell it well. Sid waved to the crowd like Hulk Hogan used to. German suplex, swan dive head butt, two count with a big kick out just like Hogan. Sid hit his finisher, the chokeslam, but Benoit had his foot under the rope, so Arn stopped the count. As Sid lifted Benoit up for another choke slam, Benoit wriggled around, taking Sid down into the crosface for the finish at 14:57. Of course, Sid's foot was also clearly under the ropes. The wrestlers in the entryway all applauded, and Benoit was emotional. The crowd noise level dropped, perhaps indicating that the live crowd had a mixed reaction to the decision. Afterwards they interviewed Benoit, with Kevin Nash telling him to enjoy his reign until Nitro. All of this brings us to Monday and the planning for Monday Nitro. Nitro Bill Busch ended up putting Kevin Sullivan in charge of a new booking committee. It's understood that Terry Taylor is a part of the committee, that Ed Ferrara has stuck around (presumably to offer input as well), and that Kevin Nash is also on the committee. The funny (sad) part of that is that Kevin Nash (and Scott Hall) had requested a release from WCW because they wanted to return to the WWF, where their former Kliq underling is mediocre heavyweight champion. In Nash, WCW has a guy who tore down the promotion during his booking run by booking based on ego, a guy who wanted out of the company a few weeks ago. That's obviously the guy that should be shifted back into a decision-making position. Only in wrestling. Everybody will recall that during their hardcore feud a few years back, Chris Benoit ended up stealing the affections of Kevin Sullivan's wife, Nancy. Nancy & Chris live together, with their first child on the way (or perhaps here already). Since Bill Busch has said that he doesn't want unhappy wrestlers working for the company, and Benoit felt that working under Kevin Sullivan was not good for his career, Benoit asked for his release on Monday. In fact, a group of wrestlers, interestingly enough including strong workers -- Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Rey Misterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Konnan, Shane Douglas, Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, if not more -- all asked for their release on Monday, presumably mere hours before Nitro would go on. Not a good thing. Konnan was sent home before the show. Bill Busch met with Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Shane Douglas. He asked what change they wanted to placate them, pointing out that he wasn't going to fire Kevin Sullivan. He suggested that Sullivan could be put in charge of WCW Saturday Night only and that the complaining wrestlers would never have to work on the show. They suggested Terry Taylor, Arn Anderson, and Vince Russo as a booking committee, with the idea seemingly being to bring some wrestling influence into Russo's soap opera. Hey, despite the crap, Russo was the first guy open to the idea of giving these guys real roles in the product. The meeting actually ended with the wrestlers thinking that they'd found a solution. But before the show, Bill Busch called for a second meeting, presumably having been advised to divide and conquer the dissidents. Pro wrestling rebellions like this in the past have shown limited team spirit; usually the group protest crumbles quickly, leaving just a few individuals to pay the price. In this case, Busch sent home Saturn, Malenko, and Douglas, and had a second meeting with Benoit alone. He offered Benoit three matches on Nitro, all wins as part of his push, but Benoit refused to stay in the building when he learned that the other three wrestlers had been sent home. Ooops. Busch asked for the title. Benoit handed it over to Nick Patrick. Some incorrect reports say he tossed it in the garbage can. The fallout was that all four wrestlers want their releases unless Kevin Sullivan is removed from his position. They were to meet with Busch again on Wednesday. Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, and Juventud Guerrera all said that they would leave if the foursome left. Eddie Guerrero asked for his release, and, in fact, there were some reports that he was granted a release by midweek. This brings us to Nitro. Nitro on 01/17/2000 was actually a better, more focused show than the Russo efforts of previous weeks. But the turmoil surrounding the workers listed above weighed heavy on the heart of any fans of actual wrestling. The show was built around the NWO, Kevin Nash specifically, taking control of the promotion. We saw him arrive in his limo. We the Harris Boys inexplicably working their previous gimmick, this time protecting the NWO locker room. The wrestling was improved. In the opener, Kidman faced Psicosis, with neither guy being given a ring entrance. Match was tremendous, with the commentary really putting Kidman over, so I guess Kidman is the least likely to leave. Lots of great action, going for close to 7:00, with Kidman once again countering a power bomb with a facecrusher to get the win. After the match, the commentators immediately detailed the Bret Hart & Jeff Jarrett situation, ending by saying that Chris Benoit beat Sid the night before for the WCW Title, not without some controversy. Cut to Arn Anderson, who delivered a taped interview explaining that he had to kill his decision from the PPV because he'd seen the tape of the match and knew his ruling was wrong. I bet that's a selective booking idea again, that the next screwjob title change doesn't get overruled. They didn't bury Benoit at all, but after this segment they pretty much never mentioned him again. Heenan did say that after the match with Benoit, Sid had even greater respect from everybody in WCW and that Sid came out of that match "smelling like a rose." In a messy segment, Stevie Ray & Big T (Ahmed Johnson, real name Tony Norris) came out. That due date must be close. Of course Booker T & Midnight came out, with Booker getting destroyed. They even called it an impromptu match. Booker rallied, only to get punked with a slapjack by Big T for the loss. Disco Inferno faced El Vampiro. Vampiro was put over big in commentary. Good action again. Vito & Johnny threw Disco into the ring before he could rest enough and Disco was pinned. Dave Flair & Crowbar faced Shane Helms & Shannon Moore of Three Count. Before the match, Three Count "performed." Evan Karagias told us that eventually "everybody goes down for Three Count." Shouldn't he have said "All of the women go down...?" Maybe not, given what they want these guys to be. Helms & Moore tried hard to be the next Hardy Boyz, hitting topes at the start and taking a couple of big bumps during the short match. At the same time, these guys obviously aren't ready. Anyhow, after a really indyish attempt at a match, Crowbar got the pin. Afterwards, they tried to perform the rest of their song. Tank Abbott faced Maestro. Well, I guess that they are going to abandon Maestro, who lost in very short order to a knock out. Before Kevin Nash could make his first announcements as commissioner, the entire roster of wrestlers came out to stand around the ring. It was a bit annoying to see Tank Abbott out there, but he did try to look like a loner. The bigger annoyance was when Tony Schiavone got all excited, saying that we'd never seen all of the wrestling come out to listen to what the commissioner had to say, when the other promotion did the same damn thing last week. Nash did his stand-up comedy routine that wasn't particularly funny, but did run several minutes longer than his material suggested. The only wrestling content was that DDP would faced Buff tonight with Kimberly as referee. Mike Rotunda & Rick Steiner faced Masa Chono & Super J. Super J is the new name for Jeff Farmer. In New Japan, he was worried about the long term effect of using the Sting gimmick, so he changed his gimmick. Masa Chono, maybe with surgery as an excuse, looked the worst I think I've ever seen him look. The match was just atrocious. Chono & Rotunda traded punches with nobody even hinting that the blows might actually be landing. J got the pin on Rotunda. Match was close to 10:00 and just pure hell. Sid faced the Wall, in a battle of former tag team partners, but that was different time. Sid got the reasonably quick win with a choke slam. At the request of Kevin Nash, Johnny & Vito & Disco went to the ring to attack Sid. Disco backed off while the other two got laid out. Lex Luger faced Bam Bam Bigelow. Before anything could happen, Kanyon came in to screw Bigelow over. In the main event, DDP faced Buff. Kim looked great as referee, although she barely patted the mat when she counted. They teased that Kim might side with either guy. The match could have used some promos from the participants to build interest, but I guess Nash's comedy routine was more important. Match was pretty good. Kim ran into Buff, fell over, and Buff checked on her. DDP used that opening to hit the diamond cutter. Kim counted the pin and then walked off alone. All of this brings us to the Thunder taping the next night. Giving the benefit of the doubt for being rushed on Monday, this was the first show of the new regime that had at least a little bit of time to be put together. One might argue that next week's Nitro is the real measure of what the new team will do, but Thunder was the show that would set up Nitro next week. And, after the show was over, that was a scary thought. The show opened with David Flair & Crowbar defending the tag titles against Big Vito & Johnny the Bull. The crowd didn't know who to cheer. I voted to cheer for nobody. Johnny shows promise and Vito tries hard, but they should not be in this spot, this spot being world tag team champions. Disco Inferno was really happy that they won the titles, but they seemed to want to exclude Disco from the celebration. No sign of Mr. Marinara. Curt Hennig faced Jim Duggan. After all, the guys in Jim Duggan's program are all off TV pending resolution of this chaos. Match was a horrible no contest. They couldn't even decide who to put over here. Ugh. Three Count performed again, with Norman Smiley sneaking into the ring to wiggle behind them. He disposed of all of them, made an open challenge. Tank Abbott answered the challenge, Smiley ran away, he screamed, and he got KOed. Lash LeRoux vs. Psicosis vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. was up next. Juventud Guerrera came out to do his Rock shtick. Match was pretty good, albeit too short. They gave Psicosis a win after his loss on Nitro. Prince Iaukea's fourth recording session aired. I guess this was filmed at the same time as the others, under Russo, and the new team decided that they should use it anyhow. Prince did some decidedly unPrincely singing, with Paisley enjoying it and the techies in the skit acting like Prince was insane. Prince faced Kidman, who is surely staying with the company, it would seem. Torrie Wilson came out in a great outfit. After Kidman won, she came in the ring to kiss him and celebrate. Terry Taylor came out to settle the world title situation. The WCW booking committee, er, board of directors decided that Sid would face any wrestler of Kevin Nash's choosing for the WCW Title on Nitro next week. Nash came out to say that he would face Sid. But first, Sid would have to get through Jeff Jarrett on Nitro. In fact, they explained later, if Sid loses to Jarrett, he'll forfeit the title match to Nash. Yeah, that agrees with the Board of Directors' decision. Worse yet, the commentators went on and on about how Sid had the best claim to the WCW Title, even though he did lose the match to Benoit on Sunday, only to have that decision overturned on Monday. It becomes apparent that they don't expect Benoit to stay. Berlyn faced Wall in the match to end their heated feud. Yeah, well, Berlyn tried to leap up on the turnbuckles, but fell off his perch. Alex Wright used to be one of the best young wrestlers in the sport. What the hell happened to him after that injury? Wall squashed him in short order. Oklahoma came out to vacate the Cruiserweight title. Is his character gone? We can only hope. Madusa came out to lay into OK. Sheri Martel attacked Madusa from behind. Sheri looked old and out of shape. At least she lost very quickly. There is speculation that she will manage the new Heat. The commentators talked about the cruiserweight title and having a new tournament to crown a new champion who would return some prestige to the belt. Mike Tenay mentioned the Super J Cup and said that there are many deserving cruiserweights around the world who should be considered for the tournament. Why does that sort of talk make me remember the Richard Morton vs. Mike Graham type matches in the lightheavyweight tournament from another era? Jerry Flynn faced Fit Finlay. Knobs came out and accidentally hit Finaly, who gave up the win in the short match. Kanyon faced Diamond Dallas Page in an okay match that was also short. Kanyon lost to the diamond cutter. In the main event, in a match cooked up by Kevin Nash to show how devious he is, Booker T & Big T faced Lex Luger & Sid. On Sunday, I consoled myself by trying to argue that Booker T had lost that anchor Stevie Ray. Yet here he was with three anchors tied to him. He may be good, but he couldn't save this crap. Horrible match. Gee, Big T turned on Booker. Lex used the rack for the submission. Back to the chaos. There was no new meeting with Bill Busch. Apparently, Busch was convinced to stick with the Sullivan decision. Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Shane Douglas, Eddie Guerrero, Konnan, Billy Kidman, and El Vampiro were given papers that would grant them a release from their WCW contracts effective 02/01/2000. All they have to do is sign the papers and hand them in. It appears that Kidman has decided to stay with the company. The others are trying to figure out what to do. In Benoit's case, he has a three-year contract with the promotion for somewhere between $450K and $650K per year. He isn't going to make that same money anywhere else, but feels strongly enough about working under Sullivan that he'd even consider working Japan tours alone for the time being. The first four on the list hope to market themselves as a group to the WWF. ECW doesn't really seem to be an option because there is just no way that the guys on the list, all earning $400K per year minimum, could come close to half their current salary. Besides, the ECW crew would have no choice but to make room on top for guys this talented earning that sort of money, which would surely affect the locker room morale of the current crew. It does appear Eddie Guerrero, Konnan, and Vampiro will all stay with WCW as well. There is talk that Vince Russo will be offered a spot as the writer of the TV shows, with the current booking committee actually putting together the wrestling marriages. But Russo reportedly wants full control back or a full buy-out of his contract. There is a good chance that Russo will stay under contract on the sidelines while the new regime hangs itself quickly. Don't you think that Bill Busch will come under intense scrutiny when the next WCW PPV does an even worse buy rate? Oh, and don't think it won't. Anyhow, the above-mentioned foursome would stay with the company if Vince Russo were still in a controlling position, so this isn't pointless speculation. It appears that the wrestlers can sit on the sidelines until 02/01/2000 to see if anything falls apart in that time. RAW RAW on 01/17/2000 was preempted on TSN for NHL hockey. They ended up airing the second hour or so of the show after the hockey game, with the show abruptly joined in progress. Instead, then, I caught the rebroadcast the next afternoon, which means that any raunchy stuff was snipped. The show opened with a good Cactus Jack interview. The mediocre Triple H came out to do his part, too. Man, the WWF could put a broom vs. a pot in the main event and draw a good buy rate as long as the broom and pot have catchphrases. First match had Boss Man vs. Test for the hardcore title. The garbaged it up all over, finally coming back to the ring. Prince Albert got involved. Test hit the elbow with the nightstick for the pin and title change. Hard work, but garbage. Boss Man moves into a feud with Prince Albert. Godfather & D'Lo Brown faced Edge & Christian. Hey, the Godfather, with hos, made his fun-loving pimp debut long before 10pm EST. Match stunk when Godfather was in there. As Christian ran the ropes, he accidentally ran into a ho on the apron. Edge raced over to check on the ho. Christian needed a tag, man, but Edge was ho-checking. That's that, then, 'cause Christian got pinned. Poor Christian, and he's the best man at the wedding, you know. The scene cut quickly, so I'm guessing there was some ho action that TSN couldn't justify for broadcast on The SPORTS Network, as if the rest of the shoe makes sense. Kurt Angle faced Steve Blackman, who was announced as a mystery opponent. Angle will face a mystery opponent at the PPV too. Angle got the win quickly when Davey Boy Smith interfered. They announced that the Royal Rumble will feature the first annual Miss Royal Rumble bikini contest. Pretty much all of the women in the WWF were in the ring. They pretty much promised that we'd see breasts again. By accident of course. And if it happens, the exhibitionist will be punished! HHH & X-Pac faced the Acolytes. Man, Bradshaw made Masa Chono & Mike Rotunda look like the Ricky Steamboat when it came to their selling. They brawled around. Before much could happen, Road Dogg & Billy Gunn ran in for the DQ. After the same old Rock interview, Jeff Hardy faced Buh Buh Ray Dudley. Hardy is fun to watch. And can you believe he went over? Good news, then D-Von ran in. Bad news. They powerbombed Matt through Jeff through a table in the ring. Reminded me of the promotion whose abbreviation doesn't start with W. Rikishi Phatu faced Chris Jericho for the IC Title. Phatu is getting over, which is just a scary thought. As Jericho found himself in trouble, Chyna snuck in and somehow maneuvered her forearm between the ample thighs of Phatu to hit him in the phatu. But, hey, we still got to see him dance. Kane faced Prince Albert. Earlier on, Albert was pummelled backstage by Boss Man, tumbling through a locker room door and getting a glimpse of Tori. So, Kane just demolished him in short order. Billy Gunn & Road Dogg faced Big Show & Rock. The crowd, god bless them, chanted "Big Show sucks" late in the match. Show, just like Snow, hates the Rock. Maybe Show & Snow will form a tag team at some point. Anyhow, Show tried to beat up Rock and the Outlaws. It backfired, with Rock whacking Show with a chair and Show giving up the loss. I guess this is supposed to add intrigue for the Rumble as the obvious winner of the match is on the outs with the biggest guy in the match. - 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 - Regarding my diatribe over the "smart" selection by "Team WOW" of Diamond Dallas Page as the "Outstanding Wrestler of 1999," I thought I'd mention that the Observer year-end awards only mentioned DDP as the tenth runner-up to one award: most overrated. Now, that's funny. Who was outstanding in 1999 according to Observer readers? In order, Mitsuharu Misawa, Chris Benoit, Kenta Kobashi, Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Billy Kidman, Jerry Lynn, Rob van Dam, Jun Akiyama, Jeff Hardy & Jushin Liger (tie), Juventud Guerrera, Super Crazy, and Masato Tanaka. I guess that they, too, just accidentally overlooked the "smart" choice, or, heaven forbid, Apter's choice of the Rock. - The 10/23/99 New Japan TV show opened with a press conference with Shinya Hashimoto, presumably regarding his Dome show loss to Naoya Ogawa. First match had Kensuke Sasaki vs. Genichiro Tenryu. Tenryu is making up with stiffness what he lacks due to age. Match was okay, but had nothing really noteworthy. Sasaki tried a tope. He hit his triangle submission, but Tenryu survived and hit a brainbuster suplex for the win. Hiroyoshi Tenzan beat Tatsutoshi Goto. Now, Goto is an old, crappy wrestler; that this match was good speaks volumes for Tenzan. Tenzan won with a big splash off the top. Finally, Masa Chono & Don Frye beat Scott Norton & Satoshi Kojima. Frye has great charisma. At some point, a North American promotion will no doubt lure him over here. Norton did all of power stuff. Frye suckered him into an ankle lock. He caught Norton's arm on a clothesline attempt and did some neat maneuvering to get Norton down, first with an armbar and then floating into an ankle lock again. Really sweet. Chono miscued, shouldering Frye off the top. But the NWO handled it well, with Frye then going for an armbar. Norton powered Frye up, like Bob Backlund and others used to do. Kojima came in on fire. His offense was cut off when Frye hit a sleeper, but Kojima made the ropes. Yakuza kick from Chono for a two. Another attempt, but Kojima hit a reverse atomic drop. Charge into the corner met with a kick. Kojima recovered, though, hitting a forearm into the corner and a big splash. All four in. Norton power slammed Chono silly, but Kojima missed the Savage elbow drop. Frye put a sleeper on Norton as Chono hit the STF on Kojima. Kojima struggled to reach the ropes. Each little crawl of progress he made received loud support from the crowd. Frye went after Kojima, punching from the mount. As Chono held Kojima, Frye missed the big roundhouse, hitting Chono. Could they rally? Well, no, Kojima was cut off, the STF was put on, and Frye cut Norton's save off with a choke. Match was okay. I like watchin Frye in this mix. I know I'll hate watching him in North America, should the time come, because I'll know what he could have been. The 10/30/99 New Japan TV show opened with Justin McCulley facing Kazuyuki Fujita in a shootfight. McCulley tried for an armbar while Fujita was in a pseudo-mount, but Fujita powered him up in the air and delivered a power bomb of sorts. This was pretty stinky, with Fujita hitting a standing ankle lock submission in short order. Good intensity, but a throwaway. Tatsumi Fujinami & Shiro Koshinaka faced Osamu Kido & Takashi Iizuka. Surprisingly boring match. All of these guys had a period in their careers where they were great workers, but I'm not sure if anybody has that much left. Koshinaka still shows some fire. Kido is old. Iizuka isn't passionate. And Fujinami plans to lose weight and return to the junior heavyweight division. Now that will be weird. They aired snippets of matches from a day earlier involving the NJ rookies. They worked that simple Japanese rookie style, with no flashy moves, but generally good execution of the basics. They were all green, but they were all already better than Test, for example. Final match on the show was for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Titles, featuring Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka defending the straps against Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani. Oh yeah. Sit back and relax; this is going to be a ride. Koji opened on Otani, kicking his ass silly. Otani always makes me think he is the best in the world. His selling is tremendous. He finally slapped that cocky Kanemoto until Kanemoto backed into a corner. They traded slaps. Otani did the kick across the face bit in the corner. The crowd applauded. Coming off the ropes, they both tried for spin kicks, hitting air, both went up for dropkicks immediately, hitting air. Tanaka & Takaiwa were tagged in. Tanaka got an armbar submission really quickly, but it was broken up by Koji. Tanaka's kicks were no sold by Takaiwa, who does a bit of a power gimmick. Tanaka hit a gorgeous spin kick. To no avail, though, as Takaiwa took over on him. He managed to get Takaiwa in the corner, though, spreadeagling him on the ropes and dropkicking him a few times. Kanemoto & Tanaka then did dropkicks and double dropkicks all around. Somehow, though, when the dust settled, Takaiwa & Otani had Kanemoto at their mercy in their corner. Otani did some dirty tactics, like rubbing his forearm across Koji's nose. Nothing good ever comes from those tactics, and Otani soon found himself getting kicked in the back by both Koji & Tanaka. Tanaka went for a headlock. Otani countered with a head scissors and then flipped into an armbar before tagging out. Takaiwa chopped Tanaka's chest, making him look like Ron Garvin in 1988 during the Ric Flair series. Headlock on Tanaka, hooking an arm as well. To the mat with a facelock. Suddenly, Tanaka stood up and Takaiwa was screaming. Ah, Tanaka had Takaiwa's thumb in his mouth. Koji was tagged in. He chopped Takaiwa's chest silly. The champs took turns kicking Takaiwa. All of these kicks are martial arts style kicks, not generic Acolyte stomps. Tanaka put another great armbar on Takawaia, who got his foot on the ropes. Takaiwa backed Tanaka into the corner. Otani slapped Tanaka hard, Koji came in to grab Otani, and Tanaka returned the favour. Otani took a marvelous spin kick to the head and stumbled, with the ropes holding him up. The crowd "oooohed." Try to picture this beautiful sequence: Tanaka whipped to the corner...as Otani charged, Tanaka rolled out with a somersault under the incoming clothesline...Otani turns just as Tanaka is back to his feet and turned to face his opponent... Otani immediately tries to kick Tanaka in the gut...Tanaka catches the leg... Tanaka immediately drops into a somersault, floats behind and ends up taking Otani down with an ankle lock submission on. A wonderul 20 seconds. Otani squirmed his way close to the ropes, with Koji using his foot to stretch the rope as far away as possible. He still made it to the ropes. Otani recovered, hitting some kicks of his own before tagging out. Takaiwa missed a top rope elbow. Tanaka hit a beautiful spin kick, and a missile dropkick for a two. Takaiwa overpowered him when they both got up, hitting the death valley driver. Off the ropes, Tanaka countered a clothesline, trying for the Fujiwara armbar, but Takaiwa quickly hoisted him into a backbreaker. Too much good stuff started happening. It's impossible to call. Tanaka ended up with an armbar after some suplexes, but Otani appeared in frame out of nowhere for the diving save. Takaiwa hit an awesome powerslam on Koji off the ropes. Brainbuster, tag to Otani, some bragging from Otani. Otani followed a whip into the corner with a brutal high kick to the head. Koji played possum, hitting a german suplex to counter Otani's attempt. Slam, rolling senton. Outside, Takaiwa & Tanaka were occupying each other. Takaiwa snuck back in, clotheslining Koji out of his boots. All four guys in. Lots of great stuff. An amazing suplex Koji. Moonsault on Otani for a two count. Meanwhile, Tanaka had an armbar attempt on Takaiwa. Koji hit an ankle lock on Otani. Takaiwa amazingly powered Tanaka to his shoulder and somehow flipped him into a death valley driver. All four guys kept going. Tanaka & Otani paired off in the corner. Koji hit a top rope rana and a tiger suplex for a two, thanks to Otani's save. Tanaka missed a tope on Takaiwa. Koji & Otani slapped each other. Takaiwa came in with an enzulariato, with Otani then getting a two. Swan dive dropkick for another two. Takaiwa did a triple power bomb, with Otani hitting a missile dropkick to help on the first bomb. Takaiwa went after Tanaka, while Otani hit one last spinning poweromb for the pin and the title win. One of the best matches from 1999 that I've seen. Better than anything in North America, with no hesitation. * * * * 3/4 The 11/06/99 New Japan show was another great show. First match had Dean Malenko vs. Koji Kanemoto. It was a really good match. Dean suplexed Koji out of the ring. They did some quick mat work. It was about what you would hope for when Dean is in an environment that favours credibility of the in-ring product. Dean hit the cloverleaf, but Koji made the ropes. Top rope superplex. Koji tried for a rana, but Dean hit the cloverleaf again. Koji tried to crawl to the ropes, but Dean pull him back to the centre. Koji had to tap. Chris Benoit faced Jushin Liger. Oh yeah. These guys can't have a bad match against each other. Benoit was working on Liger's gut with lots of moves, including a few nasty ones. He pounded Liger in the corner. Finally Liger tried for his slap, but Benoit ducked and hit two German suplexes. Liger blocked the third one, going for his own brainbuster. But Benoit dropped down and hit the third German suplex for a two count. Liger hit the slap in the corner, but Benoit managed to hit a devastating clothesline. They reversed several waistlock. Liger got dumped. Benoit hit a tope suicida, maybe more of an elbow. Back in the ring, Benoit set Liger on the top rope. He did a top rope belly-to-back suplex, but Liger landed on top of him. Koppo kick in the corner. Pounding, power bomb, two count. Brainbuster for another two. Top rope fishermanbuster. Slow cover. Two count. Tombstone counter by Benoit, headbutt off the top, two count.Liger rolled through a power bomb attempt to come out with a DDT. He slapped Benoit, missed the second one, Benoit hit a dragon suplex for the pin. Great match. Better than every Benoit match in the Russo era. Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima faced Yuji Nagata & Shiro Koshinaka. Another great match. Suddenly, I'm high on New Japan again. At least until the next match. Nagata has great fire. Finish saw Muto hit the armbar submission on Shiro. The ring filled with other wrestlers. Even the NWO ran in to kick ass. That included Mike Rotunda and Jeff Farmer. In the main event, Manabu Nakanishi & Kensuke Sasaki faced NWO Sting & Masa Chono in an okay but boring match, with Sasaki getting a scorpion submission from Sting. Everybody filled the ring again afterwards. At least the run-ins happen after a decision. On the 11/13/99 New Japan TV show, Genichiro Tenryu & Tadao Yasuda opened, facing Kensuke Sasaki & Yuji Nagata in a good match. In an injustice, Yasuda got a Boston crab submision off Nagata for the win. In a great match, Shinjiro Otani & Tatsutoshi Takaiwa faced Jushin Liger & Chris Benoit. Match was superb, also better than anything we saw in North America in 1999, although not quite at the level of the earlier tag title change. Man, I like seeing Benoit get to strut his stuff. He missed the swandive on Otani early. Otani hit a swandive spin kick for a two count. Otani did Manani Toyota's roll through on a power bomb attempt. Benoit worked such intricate sequences with these guys. Later, Benoit & Otani were outside while Takaiwa & Liger went for pins in the ring. Liger hit a top rope suplex on Takaiwa, Benoit did the headbutt, Benoit hit a plancha on Otani, and Liger set Takaiwa on top for a top rope Frankesteiner. Ooop, Takwaiwa just sat there when Liger scissored his head. Takaiwa launched into a power bomb. Benoit saved. Otani & Benoit resumed the activity outside. Liger hit a head scissors. As Takaiwa picked him up for a death valley driver, Liger dropped into a roll-up for the pin. Spectacular. Afterwards, Benoit & Liger challenged the junior tag champs to a title match. The final two matches on the show were Akira Nogami & Michael Wallstreet vs. Hiro Saito & Satoshi Kojima and Masa Chono & NWO Sting vs. Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Nothing on this show was below * * * . If a North American PPV could deliver something like this TV show, we'd be in heaven. We'd have to be heaven, 'cause I don't think that a North American group can achieve such a thing in this lifetime. The 11/20/99 New Japan TV show opened with a promo for Bill Goldberg, who was supposed to work the Dome show on 01/04/2000. First match on the show had Akira Nogami & Michael Wallstreet vs. Hiro Saito & Satoshi Kojima. It was good, but not great. Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto faced Jushin Liger & El Samurai in a good match. It wasn't as good as you'd hope, though (still better than 90% of what we see on North American TV and PPV). Finish saw Otani block a top rope Frankensteiner attempt by Samurai. He hit Samurai with a springboard dropkick, and followed that with a spinning power bomb for the win. The final two matches were okay. Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan faced Takashi Iizuka & Kensuke Sasaki. Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi faced Masa Chono & NWO Sting. The 11/27/99 New Japan TV show was also solid with nothing stellar. TV line-up had Jushin Liger & Osamu Kido vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani vs. Kendo Ka Shin, Genichiro Tenryu & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuyuki Fujita, and Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima vs. Akira Nogami & Masa Chono. Everything was sort of * * * ish. It shows you how pampered fans of Japanese wrestling can be: if a North American group had a show filled with matches at that level, we'd be ecstatic, but when watching Japanese tapes, I only pay it terse lip service and move on so I can talk about the really great stuff. If we applied that mentality to North American wrestling, we'd never even say the names Big Slow, Kane, Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Sid, etc. Next up is the 11/13/99 All Japan TV show. Sadly, I seem to have missed out on the previous month's TV, which, according to the Observer, had some great wrestling. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to come across that tape in the near future. Anyhow, 11/13's TV started the annual tag tournament. Matches on this first tournament show were good, but not great. First up, we had Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Vader & Johnny Smith. Match was good, ending with a showdown between Ogawa & Smith while Vader & Misawa kept themselves occupied. Really nice exchanges between Ogawa & Smith. Smith did a stuff piledriver on his own for a two count. Vader held Misawa at bay. Smith hit a reverse DDT for the pin. Second match had Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama vs. Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue. Obviously, Kobashi & Akiyama went over. Match was very good. Finally, they aired clips of Stan Hansen & Akira Taue vs. Wolf Hawkfield & Gary Albright. The 11/20/99 All Japan TV show had Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama in a great tag tournament match. All Japan heavyweight style is the best heavyweight style in the world, and even a match that doesn't quite hit the great level, like this one, stands as an example of that. ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________