From: hekunze@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Herb Kunze) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 09/19 Message-ID: <1991Sep19.140154.23419@watmath.waterloo.edu> Date: 19 Sep 91 14:01:54 GMT Sender: news@watmath.waterloo.edu (News Owner) Organization: University of Waterloo Lines: 145 - First off, those of you who have gotten excited about a possible Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan match on October 28th in Madison Square Gardens will be disappointed. The match has been changed to a Ric Flair vs. Roddy Piper. The latest on Ric Flair is that he will drop "The Nature Boy" nickname and become "The Champ" in the WWF. Ric "The Champ" Flair. Ugh. Flair starts his WWF North American house shows on October 18th, taking on Piper in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Flair-Piper matches run for a week. The first Flair-Hogan match takes place on October 25th at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. They continue on the 26th at the LA Sports Arena and on the 27th at the Arizona State University in Tempe. The 28th of October will be Flair-Piper in MSG. On the September 28th WWF Superstars of Wrestling, they will air a skit where Piper and Flair confront each other in the broadcast area. Flair chairs Piper and Piper attempts a retaliatory chairing, but misses Flair and hits Vince McMahon instead. Vince does a stretcher job. Maybe we should all send "Get well Vince" cards to the WWF office? In any case, this is supposed to help build heat for the Flair-Piper tour. Flair didn't sign with the WWF until after working the taping in Ottawa. WCW had tried in vain to make one final pitch to bring Ric back, offering a key role in the booking of the organization, and a lead role as a babyface opponent for Lex Luger. - In the Brian Pillman vs. Badstreet match from Clash of Champions XVI, Brian legitimately hurt his thigh doing the plancha dive through the ropes onto Badstreet. He was out for a week. - The WWF's King of The Ring tourney took place in Providence a week ago. I recall somebody posting the first round draws for the tourney but I don't remember anybody posting results. Here we go: Ted DiBiase \ |-- draw \ Ricky Steamboat / \ |-- Jerry Saggs \ LOD Hawk \ / | |-- Jerry Saggs / | Jerry Saggs / | |-- IRS \ Brian Knobbs \ | | |-- Jim Duggan \ | / Jim Duggan / \ | / |-- IRS / / IRS \ / / |-- IRS / / Berserker / / |-- Bret Hart Bret Hart \ \ |-- Bret Hart \ \ Pete Doherty / \ \ |-- Bret Hart \ \ Virgil \ / | \ |-- Skinner / | \ Skinner / | | |-- Bret Hart / Warlord \ | |-- Sid Justice \ | Sid Justice / \ | |-- DDQ / LOD Animal \ / |-- Undertaker / Undertaker / The only point of note is that Pete Doherty was s sub for Kerry von Erich. - And in the monkey see, monkey do department, this year will see the creation of a WWF Junior Heavyweight title. The WWF will play a role in supplying some American wrestlers to SWS in Japan to be part of a tournament in that group to crown the WWF Jr. Heavyweight champion. This would further solidify their relationship. SWS has a few guys that are relatively small, but great workers. Of course, there's Naoki Sano, who gained most of his acclaim from his series with Jushin Riger which ran from 7/89 to 01/90. I also sort of like Kenichi Ooya (I bet Randy Savage would love that last name!), who while bland at times, does do some good high spots. There's also Masao Orihara, whose claim to fame is his moonsault out of the ring. Excluding Sano, I'm not sure if any of these guys can work as fast and hard a style as the Jr. Heavyweights do to get over in Japan. The question is who will the WWF supply for the tourney? Sano had a fantastic match with Paul Diamond a short while back, so Diamond will be there almost for sure. Maybe Pat Tanaka? Who else is light enough from the WWF? Marty Janetty? (Too bad that Shawn Michaels is injured). Randy Savage? - Mr. Fuji is on his way out of the WWF. - Rumour has it that Hulk Hogan will face the Undertaker at Survivor Series on November 27th in a singles match to top off the show, and that somehow Ric Flair will be involved in an angle that sets the stage for Hulk Hogan and Flair fighting through until WrestleMania. This PPV will be available to most fans in Canada now, as the PPV universe has just recently increased to include us. The show will cost $24.95. - Apparently, WCW's Halloween Havoc may also be available to Canadian PPV audiences, with a price of $17.95 attached to it. The preliminary line-up goes like this: - Lex Luger vs. Ron Simmons for the WCW Title in a 2 out of 3 falls match - Brian Pillman vs. Ricky Morton to crown the first WCW Lightheavyweight champion - The Enforcers vs. The Patriots for the WCW Tag Titles - Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes for the WCW TV Title - P.N. News & Big Josh vs. The Creatures - Bobby Eaton vs. Terry Taylor No word on who are what the Creatures are going to be. Just be thankful that there are no hunchbacks or Captain Hooks on the show. There is also supposed to be a "Chambers of Horror" gimmick match, which may be a Thunderdome match, or may be a stacked cage match, or be something new (possibly wrestling in a maze...?). Also I'd expect to see a Sting & Rick Steiner vs. Abdullah & Cactus Jack match if Scott Steiner can't work the show, and some other mix-up (maybe Steiners-Freebirds, Sting-Cactus for US Title) if Scott is okay. - The strangest news report of the week is that the Ultimate Warrior appeared at a WCW taping and was apparently offered a contract and a program against Sting for the US Title. Wouldn't it be funny if Dusty decided to have the Ultimate Warrior be the guy who was sending Sting those gift boxes with Abdullah, Cactus, and a blonde inside. A while back on one of the Canadian Power Hour shows, Missy said she knew who the person was that was tormenting Sting. The only hint she would give us was that the person was a former tag team partner of Sting. It would seem that they've left the door open for a strange reunion of the Bladerunnners. - The workrate lover's dream match will soon be coming to an arena near you. Van Hammer vs. Oz. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather see Sid Vicious vs. Undertaker. - Word has it that Demolitions Crush and Smash will be joining WCW soon. It's also rumoured that Demolition Axe will leave the GWF to come in and manage the Demos and work a three-man gimmick. I'm not sure what this would mean about the booking of the GWF. - The Legion of Doom has been offered a deal to work with All Japan. Of course, the WWF works with SWS so this would be a no-no for Vince to approve. But, the six-week tour offered the LOD is high-paying at $16000 a week. So Vince will have to give the LOD some extra bonuses to miss this one. Herb...