Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 07/22 Message-ID: Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) Organization: University of Waterloo Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 19:50:16 GMT Lines: 231 - None of the usual sources of info (Observer, newspapers, and other contacts) had anything to say about the booking situation in WCW. After reading Jon Kincaid's post, I was really hoping that I'd find out something. I did (just) make a special call to a contact of mine who confirmed that Terry Funk did go in for an interview about being new booker, but turned the job down because he didn't like who'd be above him in the company. Although Jon mentioned Ole Anderson & Eric Bischoff particularly, it's unclear to me if the guys higher up (Shaw, Dhue, Sidello) weren't also a problem. I don't have independent confirmation of anything else that Jon reported, although it's completely believable that Ole & Dusty are out. Certainly, in the next two weeks we'll hear lots about this and some of us may even get hopeful again, if the replacement booker is a promising choice. Jon's report that Jerry Jarrett was offered the spot is very confusing because of the relationship between the USWA and the WWF. Terry Funk was very promising for me because of his understanding of the Japanese pro-wrestling world. We'll have to wait and see what develops. It won't really matter until November, anyhow, since they've got TV taped up to that point and, short of scrapping all of that, there's no way a new booker can really change things. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/93. Tentative matches include: - Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger for the WWF Title - Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart to decide the King of the WWF - Shawn Michaels vs. Curt Hennig for the IC Title - Steiners vs. Headshrinkers for the Tag Titles *- Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales in an "R.I.P. match" *- 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon vs. Ted DiBiase & I.R.S. (although this might get split into two single matches) We don't yet know the stipulations of the "R.I.P. match," but something tells me that match itself will be Really Idiotic and Plodding. Afterall, it is a Really Insulting Program. Maybe I'm just being Rarely Insightful and Ponderous. - After Lex Luger becomes the WWF World champion, the WWF will return to the usual super-patriot vs. foreign-menace formula. Yokozuna and Ludwig Borge (Tony Halme) as an Aryan skinhead will play heels. Luger, Duggan and Nikolai Volkoff will be the patriotic babyfaces. Of course, Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Ouellet will be heels from Quebec. (What is it with Quebec? Dino Bravo and Jim Duggan had that big flag feud and now this. Is the US at war with Canada or Quebec?) - WCW now has a Clash of Champions scheduled for 08/18/93. Rumoured line-up: *- Davey Boy Smith vs. Van Vader for the WCW title in a no-DQ match *- Steve Austin & Brian Pillman vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma for the Tag Titles *- Rick Steamboat vs. Paul Orndorff for the TV title - Rick Rude & The Equalizer vs. Dustin Rhodes & Hawk *- Johnny B. Badd vs. Maxx Payne *- Sting vs. Awesome Kong *- Steve Regal vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - WCW has the Fall Brawl PPV on 09/19/93. Tentative matches include: *- Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the NWA Title *- Sid Vicious & Van Vader & Harlem Heat vs. Dustin Rhodes & Davey Boy Smith & Sting & Hawk in a Wargames match - UWFi from Japan will run a shoot-style PPV on 10/05/93. Big Van Vader is supposed to work the show. - Scott Norton & Hercules have formed a team in New Japan and call themselves "The Jurassic Powers." No jokes from me. Okay, maybe one. I can see the reasoning: if they move too fast, the might have a heart attack. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on PPV on 10/24/93 (tentative date). Tentative line-up will include: *- Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack in a "Spin the Wheel, Make The Deal" match-up. *- Nasty Boys vs. Ric Flair & Paul Roma for the Tag Titles - Sting vs. Sid Vicious - WCW has the Lethal Lottery on PPV on 11/21/93 and Starrcade just after Christmas. - The WWF has Survivor Series on PPV on 11/24/93. - There is talk that Animal will come into WCW and work as some sort of ringside manager for Hawk. Animal is collecting on his insurance policy, so wouldn't be able to get involved in any matches or angles. - Here's the story with the various WCW titles and when they'll change. Following is a chart showing who will own each of the three WCW titles which changed at the Orlando tapings. The US title and WCW title were not used at the taping. It seems they are phasing out the US title and Vader supposedly didn't have medical clearance to work the taping. The dates that make up the columns are the weekend television dates when changes will have occured. 07/24 08/27 09/18 09/25 10/08 NWA Ric Flair -------------------------------------------> Rick Rude Tag Blonds ----> AA & Roma -> Nasty Boys ----------------> Nasty Boys TV Orndorff --> Steamboat -> Steamboat --> Steve Regal -> Steve Regal After 10/08 -- they taped TV that runs into November --, no other title changes occur. By November, - Rick Rude is announced as "World Heavyweight Champion," when to that point he had been announced as "NWA Champion." This seems to imply that are going to go to a title unification match with the NWA & WCW Titles. Once Ric Flair loses the title, he's locked up in Horseman tag matches. - Nasty Boys take on Missy Hyatt as a manager and feud with the Hollywood Blonds, who seemingly turn face. Prior to this, the teams united to feud with the Four Horsemen (who's the fourth? No match was taped) with something happening to set the stage for the Blonds' turn. Since the group has a Clash on 08/18 and a PPV slated for 09/19, it seems like we can guess at the title changes on those shows. - I'll soon be watching some AJW stuff from 08/92. Usually when I watch anything old, I try to read up on the time period and get a feel for what was happening in the promotion. In this case, Meltzer was in Japan at this time and actually went to one of the shows I have to watch. Upon returning from Japan, he asked himself the following question in the Observer: "What can we learn from the success of pro-wrestling in Japan that is adaptable to the United States?" The answer goes as follows, with nearly all writing mistakes intact (and possibly some new ones added ;-)): "First off, the most important difference is that no promotion in Japan ever insults its audiences intelligence. They don't stray from the course to the point they alienate their core audience. Thus, they don't have nearly the business peaks and valleys (and of late, mainly valleys) of their American counterparts. Whatever showmanship and gimmicks that are being used are confined to where it doesn't upstage the contest itself, rather than the contest being the backdrop for the gimmicks. This may sound overly simplistic, but quite frankly, I think the best booking is the simplest and most direct. I don't believe overbooking or hot-shotting is conducive to long-term business health. Whenever I see the way the two different business have gone in different directions, and which one stays healthy and which one is constantly in need of medical supervision, I become more convinced that overbooking has damaged the business in this country to a great extent. I'm not talking about almost non-booking, like All Japan, which simply sells itself by having great matches (and largely the same matches) over-and-over again, but like New Japan, which has personalities, characters, heated angles, changing match-ups and feuds, and great action from the opening match to the main event and every major card isn't like going to a bunch of wrestling matches but like going to a festival of wrestling (several other groups in Japan have similar atmospheres). Nevertheless, the storylines are conducive to the action but the key thing is still the matches and who wins and who loses, with almost exclusively clean finishes, and not cheap storylines being used to avoid having real finishes, which ultimately lead to television viewer and arena goer apathy. New Japan's mix is probably more applicable to the US than All Japan because New Japan does clean finishes probably 95% of the time, but when they do American screw-jobs, they are so infrequent that they work. The 100% clean finishes of All Japan are a more conservative approach that I won't knock because of just how consistently successful it is, but I hardly think the rare screw-job when almost all finishes are clean is going to alienate anyone. This trip has made me an even bigger believer in clean finishes and less exaggerated cartoonish heel (and sometimes face) characters to make things seem less preposterous and increase credibility. Not credibility within the general public, because that's never going to happen. But credibility within in the potentially hugs audience of wrestling fans when fans are "allowed" to believe by not having their intelligences insulted by what the promoters are serving. When All Japan used to end all of their big matches with screw-job finishes so none of the top boys ever had to do a job because of the belief they were protecting them when over the long haul they were doing nothing of the kind, you could buy a ringside ticket to Korakuen Hall [seats about 2300-2400 for wrestling crowds. HK] at noon on the day of the show. Since they instituted the policy of having clean winners and losers in every match with no ref bumps, outside interference, etc., well, the 08/22 show at Budokan [seats about 16000-16500 for wrestling crowds. HK] marked the 96th consecutive sellout for All Japan in Tokyo and getting into Korakuen on All Japan nights is pretty much next to impossible if you aren't already a regular. The 10/21 show at Budokan Hall is already sold out -- tickets sold out the dirst day they were put on sale again, and no line-up has even been announced [The big groups will run regular shows in Korakuen Hall and often have some important matches take place at the bi-monthly "big" shows at Budokan Hall. HK]. The talent today in the promotion is no better than it was in 1984 [when they had screw-jobs like crazy; I've seen them! HK]. Introducing and having different submission maneuvers beat top guys has added tons to the intensity of matches, even more than the spectacular high spots that needn't be done away with, but also incorporated as part of the complete package. The head when Toshiaki Kawada put Danny Spivey in a simple facelock and Spivey made it to the ropes was more than I've seen in any US move in years. Why? The facelock has been used to gain submissions on Jumbo, who fans believe is the toughest guy in the promotion. Indeed, eventually Kawada made Spivey submit to the facelock, and it was the most heated finishing sequence of the card. Chalk up a ton of more heat for the simple move. The most heat on three New Japan cards was when Chono caught Muto in the STF. And Muto, as much of a superstar that he is, submitted. Of course, Terry Gordy uses the same STF in the US and nobody reacts. But if for two years, he makes all the top faces submit at one time or another with it, they'll react like mad when he gets it on, or when the face breaks it by getting to the ropes. Will it kill the face? IT sure doesn't seem to have in Japan. The other? Hardcore wrestling fans, given time to be exposed to the product (and keep in mind, this will take years to accomplish but ultimately would be successful) will accept women's wrestling provied the women are better than the men. If they aren't as good, or even are just as good, people aren't going to buy it for anything more than a very short period as a T&A show because all things being equal, our society always treats men's athletics as superior to women excpet in the few sports (gymnastics and figure skating come to mind) where the women have the physical ability to outshine men in. If they are better, they'll be respected for it and eventually they'll have an audience because wrestling is probably the only contact sport.exhibition/entertainment/whatever in which women at the top level because they have greate flexibility, are lighter and thus have more endurance, can outperform men in. - E-mail TidBits: If your site has a slow feed or you don't read news frequently enough and you want to get this posting as e-mail every week, send me e-mail saying so. - Videos: The compilation tapes (Japan 1981-1983 & Japan 1984-1987) will remain available until the beginning of August. They won't be available while I'm in Edmonton and will be available again in the new year. For info on tape discussions, send e-mail with a body consisting solely of the word "help" to Majordomo@cc.gatech.edu. That id handles subscription and unsubscription requests among other administrivia. The list id is rspwtape@cc.gatech.edu. Mail sent to this id will be sent to all current subscribers. Herb...