From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Wrestling TidBits   - 04/18
Message-ID: <1991Apr18.143415.21703@watmath.waterloo.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 91 14:34:15 GMT
Sender: news@watmath.waterloo.edu (News Owner)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Lines: 131


 - Canadian wrestling fans (like me!) will be pleased to know that
   through negotiations involving TSN, Viewers' Choice and the Radio
   & TV Commission, it appears that PPV will available in-home in
   all of Canada in the very near future.

 - This Sunday evening Toronto has it's first post-WrestleMania
   "mega-card."  We have the standard card that's travelling around
   now:
      - Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt Slaughter for the WWF title
      - Curt Hennig vs. Davey Boy Smith for the IC title
      - Rick Steamboat vs. Haku
      - Virgil vs. Ted DiBiase with Sherri
      - Big Boss Man vs. Mountie
      - Bret Hart vs. Barbarian
      - Berzerker vs. Tugboat
      - Rockers vs. Orient Express

 - The Royal Rumble 1991 video tape was released yesterday in Australia.

 - My mother rented WrestleMania VII last Thursday (the first day it was
   out - what a Hulkamaniac!) and I sat through parts of it again.  For
   those that are interested in how a wrestler juices, watch the Hogan
   vs. Slaughter match again.  In slo-mo you can see the entire method
   revealed.

 - The latest rumours in the Sid Vicious situation in WCW is that Sid
   has in fact turned down the $7000 a week offer from the promotion
   (which would have increased his salary by $2000 per week and made
   him the third highest paid performer in the organization).  Sid
   wants one more thousand a week (or a $400000+ contract).  Rumours
   have Sid leaving after the May 19th WCW PPV and surfacing in the
   WWF in September.

 - Early word is that WrestleMania VIII will take place in the Hoosier
   Dome in Indianapolis.

 - The match line-up for the 5/19 WCW PPV from St. Petersburg, Florida,
   is (still subject to change):
     - Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami to settle the WCW title
        controversy.
     - Steiners vs. Sting & Lex Luger for the WCW tag titles.
     - Sid Vicious vs. El Gigante in a stretcher match.
     - Brian Pillman vs. Barry Windham in a taped fist match.
     - Ron Simmons vs. Butch Reed in a cage match.
     - Freebirds vs. Young Pistols for the vacant US titles.
     - Arn Anderson vs. Bobby Eaton for the TV title.
     - Dustin Rhodes vs. Terrence Taylor.
     - Nikita Koloff vs. Tommy Rich.
     - Stan Hansen vs. Big Van Vader
     - Ricky Morton & Josh vs. Larry Zbyszko & Dan Spivey.
   This card will be the second card in the Usenet Booking Prediction
   Tournament that began with WrestleMania as Card #1.  Start thinking
   about your predictions now, and once the matches are more definite
   I'll post the first call for predictions.
     It's no real surprise but the WWF will be running a show in Tampa
   on 5/18, as part of their ongoing effort to deflate WCW PPV crowds
   and reinforce the idea that WCW is second-rate.  No doubt the show
   will be stacked with matches that will all run double time and a
   very tired Tampa crowd will leave the arena at midnight with no
   intention of ordering or attending the WCW show.

 - It looks like Hiro Hase & Kensuke Sasaki will do a brief stint with
   WCW in the summer and run a program with the Steiners.  This might
   give some ideas as to the outcome of the tag title match on 5/19.

 - Also, in the dream of all dreams, it appears that WCW is seriously
   negotiating to get Jushin Riger (Keiichi Yamada), New Japan's Jr.
   Heavyweight Champion (and my personal favourite wrestler), to do
   a tour in North America.  This explains why they showed part of
   the Riger-Nogami Egg Dome match on the PPV.  If Riger comes over
   and WCW lets him work full-out and lets him set up his own
   program as he does in New Japan (i.e. no Dusty-influenced bookings,
   thank you very much), North American fans without access to
   Japanese wrestling tapes will be in for the thrill of their
   lifetime.

 - Herb Abrams will run a PPV in early June.  Should we consider this
   card in the Usenet Booking Prediction Tournament?

 - In WCW, Owen Hart is already gone (but the door is open for him to
   return), Ron Simmons renewed his contract, Billy Jack Haynes isn't
   coming in after all, and Tom Zenk will be out briefly with an
   injury.

 - Paul Orndorff has been re-hired by WCW, which apparently means that
   the UWF has lost him.  WCW is also courting both Big John Studd and
   King Kong Bundy.

 - Konnan worked the post-WrestleMania batch of WWF TV tapings.  He
   lost his mask in a Lucha Libre match in Mexico and will work without
   it in the WWF.

 - SWS wrestler Koji Kitao, who worked at WrestleMania with Genichiro
   Tenryu, looks to be on his way out of the organization.  He was
   booked to put the Earthquake over in both WWF/SWS shows after
   WrestleMania and, with a history of not being willing to lose,
   this probably pained him.  In their second match-up, Kitao didn't
   work the match, instead grabbing the microphone and calling
   pro-wrestling fake.  Chances are he'll get canned for that.
     There's talk of Genichiro Tenryu leaving SWS too.

 - Tonight in Budokan Hall Terry Gordy & Steve Williams defend the All
   Japan tag belts against Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey, the same team whom
   they beat in the tournament finals in December.

 - I'm getting pretty tired of Dustin Rhodes in a big hurry.  I'm not
   sure what it is, but I think I just don't like the thought of
   anything "straight from the loins of Dusty Rhodes" "coming at [me]
   live and in colour."

 - The next WWF Saturday Night's Main Event will be aired on April 27th
   on NBC.  The show will be taped in advance.  The only matches I know
   at the moment are Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter and a Battle
   Royal which will include a lot of the WWF names.

 - The WCW & New Japan Starrcade at the Egg Dome on 3/21 had an
   announced crowd of 64500, setting a record for sports crowds
   in Japan.  So, it's no surprise that the WWF & SWS joint show
   on 3/30, just after WM, in the Egg Dome had an announced attendance
   of 64618.  The actual attendance at the WWF & SWS show was far
   closer to 40000, with maybe 70% of that paid.

 - Dusty Rhodes will be hosting an interview segment on one of the WCW
   shows from now on.  Could this eventually lead to Dusty coming out
   of retirement?

 - Cactus Jack finishes with All Japan on Saturday.  Talk of him being
   re-signed, or perhaps joining WCW again.

                                                           Herb...