From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 04/11 Message-ID: <1990Apr14.040431.8601@watmath.waterloo.edu> Date: 14 Apr 90 04:04:31 GMT Sender: daemon@watmath.waterloo.edu (Owner of Many System Processes) Distribution: rec Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 142 Posted: Sat Apr 14 05:04:31 1990 { Sorry to be a little late with this week's blurb, but I was away from a terminal yesterday. Enjoy. Herb... } - More Vince vilification: It seems that Vince is in a class by himself when it comes to paranoia. At WrestleMania, his underlings refused to allow phones in the press box and kept the lights out until Hulk Hogan had finally surrendered his title to the Ultimate Warrior. The explanation was that they didn't want anybody phoning in the results to newspapers or radio stations before the event was finished on closed circuit TV. Nothing like treating the crowd like a TV studio audience. - Friday is the big day in Tokyo, Japan. More than 63000 fans are expected to be present at the Tokyo Dome for the WWF's attempted invasion of the Land of the Rising Sun. Now that Hogan's lost the WWF strap, will he do a job for Terry Gordy? I'm looking forward to hearing the results from this card. - Bambi is the first Ladies Major League Wrestling champion after winning a battle royal for the title in Fort Lauderdale. - Paul E. Dangerously is still rumoured coming in to the NWA. Word has him managing Mark Callas and Dr. Death Steve Williams, currently doing some work in Japan - Williams quite successfully. If Luger does take the title soon, there has to be some heel contenders to the throne. This rumour holds some water as, if memory serves, Teddy Long was mentioning that he wanted to sell Mark Callas' contract. - WWF Predictions: Well, the Ultimate Warrior has been solidly booed in his last two appearances since relieving the Hulkster of the WWF title. Hogan is still receiving lotsa cheers. As mentioned by others, Vince has decided there's still some potential in a Rude-Warrior feud. Perhaps Vince wants to place the Warrior in the ring against a clearly established heel - someone who mere months ago was being booed while the Warrior was being cheered as they feuded - in an attempt to turn the crowd reaction to the WWF champion Warrior. Afterall, a Warrior heel turn might be good for a large draw at a megacard, but it would ruin the Warrior's grooming as the next invincible WWF champion. I think that the Hogan-Earthquake feud will continue for a short while, with Hogan winning the matches on the circuit. But at some time, the Earthquake will squash the Hulkster - perhaps during a Saturday Night's Main Event or an IC title tournament match - and Hogan will do a stretcher job. This builds up Earthquake as super-heel, while also allowing Hogan to take some time off. Besides the rumoured "No Holds Barred II," there is talk of Hogan doing some bit parts in other films. Hogan will then make his return to the ring (read: movie promos ;-) to face off against the Earthquake at SummerSlam on August 27. Meanwhile, Warrior will establish himself - and try to sell a face image - by beating all of Hogan's established enemies: DiBiase, Hennig, Bravo, etc. New challenges the Warlord and the Barbarian will no doubt get a super push as legitimate contenders. Presupposing that Ric Flair does *not* jump to the WWF, we can try to work in an angle where Hogan and Warrior meet at WrestleMania VII, once again without clear face-heel status. This is the only match that could draw 100000 if promoted correctly. If Flair does jump, Flair-Hogan would draw the 100000 without any excessive promotion. - Boxer Michael Dokes, who was at the SkyDome for WM VI, is expected to join the WWF shortly, wrestling as Dark Destruction. - Tully Blanchard is indeed working for daddy Joe in the AWA. At a recent taping, he teamed with the Destruction Crew in a six-man tag match and also teamed with Larry Zbyskzo in a tag match. Larry and Tully are saying that they want to give Tully the triple crown - World Tag Titles in all three organizations. - The Midnight Express break-up is in the works. Cornette is apparently going to lease Bobby and Stan to Woman and Ric Flair. This will no doubt lead to a clash of personalities which is rumoured to end with Bobby working with Ric, Stan out of the picture, and Jimmy working as a colour commentator. There is also some talk that in actuality the Midnight Express will eventually rejoin. This scenario has Stan and Bobby breaking up with Cornette, rejoining him when Arn Anderson's return causes some Horsemen turmoil. This is contingent on Arn healing soon - his injury is apparently responding to treatment. - Has Ric Flair joined the WWF? As I mentioned, a local insider reported that Ric Flair secretly signed with the WWF after some wining and dining after WM VI. But more and more, I have to believe that this is some sort of scare tactic that Flair himself may be employing. I mean, the NWA behind the scenes in-fighting is not going to end until either Jim Herd or Ric Flair leaves the organization. Although Herd has done some good for the wrestlers outside the ring (i.e. disability pay, etc.) he's done little for the quality of the product, which if anything has gone downhill. The failed title change that was scheduled for St. Louis is probably the final (or close to it) showdown between Ric and Jim. You see, as I understand it, not only does Ric have it in his contract that he gets to choose the successor to his thrown, he has also always known when he would be getting the title back. But at present Flair is working without a contract, so if he drops the belt he could be demoted, fired, or anything. Perhaps the "I'll sign with the WWF" threat and rumour is just Flair's way of hinting at a possibility should he drop the title without re-signing. Flair leaving the NWA would be a devastating blow, certainly something that should and could be avoided. Along a similar vein, rumours have it that Lex Luger doesn't even want to win the title at present. Everybody in the boardroom wants Sting to take the title when he comes back, and Luger is fully aware of this. So should Luger take the belt now, there is little doubt that either he will have to lose it to a heel when Sting is ready to rejoin the fold so that Sting can win it, or Lex himself will have to turn heel and feud with Sting. Neither scenario is good for Lex. If he does any more turns in the near future, the fans will be too dizzy to attend his matches, and holding Sting's torch temporarily damages his reputation too. - It looks like the WM VI match was Andre's last WWF match - at least in the near future. Word has him joining up with All Japan after the Tokyo Dome card on Friday. - Early word has the May 19th NWA PPV from the D.C. Armory featuring Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair for the title in a cage match. Thank god they ditched the hair vs. hair idea - this could ruin either man. We can still expect some sort of twist to this match - no doubt Sting will be present in some way, shape, or form. The hair vs. hair idea is being considered for the Teddy Long vs. Paul Ellering boxing match - this confuses me ;-). Also, the Steiners will probably put an end to Doom. - I'm confused about what I'm hearing from Japan. First Terry Gordy and Steve Williams were being pushed big as the replacement team for Stan Hansen and Bruiser Brody, who were super-big in Japan. Now Williams is rumoured to be coming back for another NWA stint. Meanwhile Stan Hansen is forming a new team (that will no doubt receive a big push) with either Barry Windham or Danny Spivey; Spivey is more likely. - Benkei Sasaki, who went psycho in the CNWA and got canned, is headed to New Japan. Ditto for Samu, who will be leaving the NWA shortly. - The WWF recently taped a match featuring the Orient Express vs. Roddy Piper and Jesse Ventura. Yep, you read that right. You see, the footage from this match will be used in the pilot episode of "Tag Team," the wrestlers-turned-detectives series that both ABC and NBC are rumoured to be considering for their line-ups. For those interested, Jesse and Roddy won the match when Piper, having chased Fuji away from the ring, got a hot tag from a worked-over Jesse and cleared house. Herb... As always, comments, criticisms, and questions are encouraged and appreciated. *********************************************************************** * 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 * ***********************************************************************