From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Wrestling Tidbits   -   02/22
Keywords: WWF,NWA,AWA,Wrestling
Message-ID: <34549@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 23 Feb 90 00:03:23 GMT
Sender: daemon@watmath.waterloo.edu
Distribution: rec
Lines: 100
Posted: Fri Feb 23 01:03:23 1990


 - Well, tomorrow night's the night for Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
   They will meet on NBC's "Prime Time" at 10:00 pm and it's expected
   that Hogan will retain the strap despite lots of interference from
   the Ultimate Warrior.
     As has been pointed out by several others posters, the new
   heavyweight boxing champion, James 'Buster' Douglas, will be the
   special referee for this match, replacing the advertised Mike Tyson.
   This switch in officials was made because it saved Vince McMahon
   some money (Why else?).  While Tyson was rumoured to be asking
   close to $1 million, good old Buster reportedly accepted the job
   for a paltry $110000.
     No one has yet mentioned that WWF paper president Jack Tunney
   will be making a most irregular visit to ringside for the Hogan/Savage
   match.  His presence at ringside adds that touch of mystery that
   Vince likes to instill on us Usenet fans.  I suspect that Savage
   might even get a pin on Hogan, thanks mostly to Sherri and the
   Warrior, but Tunney will be right there to inform Buster of his
   mistake and reverse the decision.
     Other advertised title matches for this card are:
   The Ultimate Warrior vs. Dino Bravo
   The Colossal Connection vs. Demolition
     The above tag team title match will probably not take place as
   advertised.  Rumours of Andre's leaving the WWF, mentioned earlier
   this week on the net, seem to be true.  Andre has been a no-show
   at several recent tag matches and Heenan stepped in as Andre's
   second.  It seems unlikely that Vince will leave Haku & Heenan as
   tag champs until WrestleMania (but then again it's only 1 month)
   only to have them demolished by Demolition.  Perhaps the tag title
   match will be the other aired bout tomorrow night and Demolition
   will regain the belts then.  Demolition could then defend at WM
   against a quality team that has not yet signed a match for WM.

 - Of course, if I had to choose a night to watch wrestling this weekend,
   it would certainly be Sunday.  The NWA brings us WrestleWar '90: The
   Wild Thing on this evening and, even with the unfortunate loss of
   Sting from this card, it guarantees to be the best action this weekend.
   As most of us predicted, the replacement main event will see Ric Flair
   take on his old nemesis Lex Luger.  Luger has apparently made a
   gradual face turn and is expected to win the title in place of Sting.

 - Rumours of a major NWA shakeup are unfounded.  Only the Great Muta
   and Dr. Death Steve Williams were given some time off to fight in
   Japan.

 - As mentioned in a previously posted match report, both Jim Brunzell
   and Buddy Rose have returned to the WWF.

 - Larry Zbyszko, who, as I mentioned last week, dropped his title to Masa
   Saito in Japan on the 10th, was beaten by Nikita Koloff in Rochester
   on Sunday in a two out of three falls match that would have been for
   the title.
     The tag champions, the Destruction Crew, lost to Paul Diamond and
   Brad Rheingans in a non-title match.  Brad was substituting for an
   injured Trooper.

 - Former AWA tag champ Pat Tanaka is definitely WWF-bound and will most
   likely be half of the Oriental Connection, who have been announced at
   arena cards already.  Although speculation has his partner being Akio
   Sato (his latest AWA partner), this has yet to be confirmed.  I kind
   of hope that his partner is someone else.  I like Tanaka a lot - he
   takes many risks and really knows how to take spectacular falls.
   Sato is just too stiff to complement him nicely.

 - Sgt. Slaughter has left the AWA for yet another month-long GI Joe
   related tour.  Rumours have him feuding with Colonel DeBeers upon his
   return (not this nonsense again...).

 - Slowly but surely, the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA) has
   been formed in the western Canadian provinces.  This organization is
   meant to replace Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling which died recently.
   It seems that many of the minor organizations in these provinces will
   fall under the CNWA umbrella.  Elimination matches will be held
   throughout the next few weeks

 - Re: The NWA US tag team tourney.  It really bothered me that the NWA
   has chosen not to push the Midnight Express in this tournament.  With
   their heel turn two Clashes ago, I expected them to perhaps get that
   spot in the limelight that they once enjoyed.  But now it seems
   fairly inevitable that Tom Zenk & Brian Pillman will net the US straps.
   Hopefully it won't be too long before a Zenk&Pillman/Midnight Express
   feud erupts.  It seems that the World titles are going through some
   sort of WWFization - the old 'bigger is better' rule.  The Steiners
   may not be overly big, but their power is what always seems to be
   stressed.  The Warriors and the Skyscrapers (and perhaps still Doom)
   seem to be pushed as the only legitimate contenders.  For some
   reason the smaller, faster teams are being given mid-level status.
   It's too bad.  I kind of hope that the Andersons manage to steal the
   belts from the Steiners on the weekend - then maybe we can get back
   to pushing teams that wrestle, be they big or small.  Of course, this
   is unlikely unless Arn loses the TV title in the next couple of days.

                                                     Herb...

***********************************************************************
* Herb Kunze                    *   "Whether you like it or not,      *
* Applied Math Department       *    learn to live with it, 'cause    *
* University of Waterloo        *    I'm the best thing going today!" *
* hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu   *     - Ric 'Nature Boy' Flair        *
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