From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Wrestling TidBits   -   03/22
Keywords: NWA,AWA,WWF,CNWA
Message-ID: <35571@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 23 Mar 90 04:05:15 GMT
Sender: daemon@watmath.waterloo.edu
Distribution: rec
Lines: 86
Posted: Fri Mar 23 05:05:15 1990


 - CNWA report: Kerry Brown and his dad, Bulldog Bob Brown, have been
   suspended indefinitely from the CNWA for missing some tapings.  This puts
   a dent into the Kerry Brown & Duke Myers tag team push.  CNWA booker Gama
   Singh has rallied nicely however, tagging the Angel of Death with Duke
   Myers instead.
     Benkei Sasaki has gone a little off the deep end.  A couple of weeks
   back he broke Skull Mason's nose, in what seemed to be a shoot.  This
   week he faced Gama's little brother, Akam Singh, and really pounded into
   him.  Akam was covered in welts after the match!  As announcer Ed Whalen
   said, "Akam is achin'."  The match ended in a double count-out, after
   which both men shook hands and Sasaki attacked Akam again.  After some
   action, Gama did the run-in.  This seems to further solidify Benkei's
   heel status, although if he continues to work this recklessly he might
   get canned.  This also helped to being over Gama's face turn.  The
   post-match interview saw an uncharacteristically polite Gama say he wants
   to try Sasaki and that the Singh Brothers will going after the tag
   titles.
     Randy Thatcher is out with strained ligaments in his back.  This puts a
   real damper on the "Canadian Connection" push we've witnessed the last
   few weeks.  Randy's CC partner Ron Ritchie tagged with a jobber who got
   nailed by Duke Myers' arm brace (a la Mike Sharpe) for the pin while the
   Angel of Death handled Ritchie.

 - I saw an AWA ESPN show this week which I think was fairly current.  They
   kept promoting a big card for early April.  This show saw the return of
   D.J. Peterson to the AWA, who used the Scorpion death lock for a
   submission win over Frankie DeFalco.  Announcer Larry Nelson was quick to
   point out that "to prove you're a worthy professional wrestler, ya gotta
   get past Frankie DeFalco."  I guess that's an unwritten rule ;-)
   D.J. later challenged Masa Saito for the AWA championship.
     The announcers made a big deal about Larry Zbyszko losing his title in
   Japan the night before Tyson lost his boxing title.  According to them
   the wrestling match had twice the live house of the boxing match.
     Also introduced was newcomer Curtis Hughes.  The match commentators
   called him "The Bull," but the pre-match announcer called him "The Cat."
   In any case, he's quite a charismatic black wrestler, that reminded me a
   bit of Rufus "The Freight Train" Jones from many years back.  Curtis
   ended up getting pinned in this 6-man match, when the Russian Brute
   nailed him with a Heart Punch.
     The feature match was Larry Zbyszko vs. Nikita Koloff in a two out of
   three falls match, with special referee Bob Lurtsema.  Zbyszko took fall
   1 by rolling up Nikita with a hand full of tights.  Nikita took fall 2
   with a backslide reversal out of a swinging neckbreaker attempt.  Nikita
   took fall 3 with a pin after a Russian sickle.  Bob Lurtsema gave a real
   quick count on this fall and played quite a role in it, manhandling Larry
   quite a bit.

 - Steve Planamenta, public relations officer for the WWF, has confirmed
   that 66000 fans will be in attendance in the SkyDome to see WrestleMania
   VI.  Although Hogan is rumoured to have plans off doing some work with
   Walt Disney, he has denied these rumours himself.  He will take some time
   off after WM VI in any case to make his second film.  Earthquake has
   challenged the winner between Warrior & Hogan, and Hogan has already been
   signed to wrestle Earthquake in late April, among others.  It seems that
   either Vince is putting up a big smoke screen or we're gonna be stuck
   with the Hulkster for a little while longer.  The question is: If the WM
   VI match is not a win for one man (they can't have either *lose*), then
   how will Vince work a draw when it certainly can't be a time limit draw?
   There's just no way that these guys can go at it for a half-hour or more;
   can you see all the restholds?  Maybe the action will be soooo hot early
   on that they'll both collapse after a double knock-down at the 10 minute
   mark and not be able to answer the count.  Then with new-found respect
   they'll shake hands and Hogan will endorse Warrior as next face champion
   when he is ready to leave the WWF.

 - The NWA is hurting for able talent.  Those out include: Arn Anderson,
   Danny Spivey, Michael Hayes, Mean Mark Callas, Eddie Gilbert, Buzz
   Sawyer, and Shane Douglas.  As a result they're bringing in Bam Bam
   Bigelow and Abdullah The Butcher.  And they've rented the Destruction
   Crew to play the masked Wrecking Crew for the Horsemen.  This way Arn can
   recover (~3 months) and Ole can stay out of the ring but still give those
   great interviews.   Also rumoured to be coming in are the Youngbloods.

 - Apparently, Ricky Steamboat has filed suit against the NWA for using his
   name to promote the Halloween Havoc video.

 - The "Elizabeth is pregnant" rumours seem to have resurfaced here as of
   late.  Liz ain't preggy; she's simply staying away from the ring to allow
   the Sapphire character to be developed without interference.  When the
   mixed tag-team match goes down at WM VI, Liz will probably be returning.
   Look for some interference (by Sherri perhaps...) during the Rona Barrett
   sketch at WrestleMania VI.  Maybe she'll attack Liz, and Randy will do a
   face turn and save her.  Lord knows the crowds cheer him anyways.

                                                       Herb...