Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 03/10 Message-ID: Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) Organization: University of Waterloo Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 01:57:09 GMT Lines: 167 - The infamous manager of the original Sheik, Eddie "The Brain" Creachman has passed away. - Jim Ross' WWF tenure is over. As reported last week, Ross is battling Bell's Palsy, which has paralyzed part of his face. As a result, he has been absent from WWF broadcasts, forcing Vince McMahon to use Johnny Polo as an interim color commentator. It may take as long as two more months for him to recover, at which time his WWF contract is up. Word is that both parties have already decided not to renew the contract. Ross had moved to Connecticut when Vince demanded this relocation of his broadcast team (the same demand that Bobby Heenan didn't want to meet, leading to his jumping to WCW), since the promise of being the top WWF commentator made his world seem rosy. However, there was always lots of talk that the WWF product, although often more athletic than in recent years, was still too unrealistic for Ross' taste and he never felt quite comfortable pushing much of it. Ross was back in Atlanta this past week, but it's unclear whether WCW and he reached an agreement. Besides his poor relationship with Jesse Ventura, Ross also will have some trouble with Tony Schiavone, since each man would want to be the key commentator for the company. - It's already been reported on the net, but here's a recap. At TV tapings on 02/22, the WWF ran a scenario where Jim Cornette was chased off of an interview by Lex Luger, in the process dropping the WWF Title on the ground. After Lex picked up the belt, Vince suggested that it would upset Cornette if they did a mock announcement of Lex Luger as WWF World champ. So, Lex was introduced that way and emerged from behind the curtains with the belt on. Most believe that this gives away the finish of WrestleMania IX, while some think it's a ruse to fool people who are trying to guess the finish at WM. The WWF has never wasted valuable taping time before in an attempt to fool people in this manner. - Ric Flair is head of the booking committee at WCW. As mentioned here already, his first set of WCW SN tapings have hinted a heel turn. In one angle, during the Rick Steamboat vs. Steve Austin "winner gets the title shot at Spring Stampede" match, Flair makes the save for Steamboat when Rob Parker interferes. During the melee, Steamboat accidentally chops Flair and the two don't make up. This angle has been done many times before to add interest to a face vs. face match-up, so alone it doesn't really signal any turn. Flair also does an interview dumping on Hulk Hogan and, the week after, confronts Steamboat during one of Rick's interviews. Steamboat brings up the 1989 2-out-of-3 falls match that was on the "All Nighter," where he successfully defended the world title against Flair, and defends Hogan. I suppose it's quite possible that Hogan agreed to come in for a series against Flair with Flair as a heel and that's why things are going this way. Flair vs. Hogan may be the main event of the July "Great American Bash" PPV. - On this Friday, 03/11/93, the "Ultimate Fighting Championship II" takes place on PPV. Royce Gracie is back to defend his title on this cheapie PPV. - The WWF has WrestleMania X on 03/20/94 from MSG in New York. Announced matches include: - Lex Luger vs. Yokozuna for the WWF Title - Bret Hart vs. winner of above match for the WWF Title - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart - Crush vs. Randy Savage with falls counting anywhere and both wrestlers having to be back in the ring 60 seconds after a pinfall - Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels for both IC Title belts in a ladder match - Quebecers vs. Men on a Mission for the WWF Tag Titles - Alundra Blayze will defend her WWF Women's title - Adam Bomb vs. Earthquake - Doink & Dink vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Luna Vachon - Headshrinkers & Rick Martel & IRS & Jeff Jarrett vs. Smoking Gunns & Sparky Plugg & Tatanka & 1-2-3 Kid Many celebrities will appear. Rumours have Undertaker, Missy Hyatt, Roddy Piper, Curt Hennig and Jerry Lawler possibly appearing. Ted DiBiase will be involved in WrestleMania somehow. Word is that he might be brought in as a surprise manager, but for who? Some folks still insist that this will be Shawn Michaels' final match with the WWF before jumping to WCW. WrestleMania will be run hand-in-hand with "WWF FanFest." They've run ads for this event during the syndies, saying that Doink will be set up in a dunk tank. You can get your picture on a mock cover of WWF Magazine. You can do the voice-over commentary for a match and take the video tape home (you know I would fun with this ;-)). The whole thing will have a carnival atmosphere and admission will be $22 for 2.5 hours. - WCW has Spring Stampede on 04/17/94. Tentative line-up includes: - Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat for the WCW Title - Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne for the WCW Tag Titles in a Cleveland street fight - Rick Rude vs. Sting for the WCW International Title - Vader vs. The Boss - Steve Austin vs. Great Muta for the US Title - Steve Regal vs. Brian Pillman for the TV Title - Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck (Jimmy Golden) in a bunkhouse match - Tom Zenk vs. Terra Rizin' - WCW has Slamboree II on 05/22/94. Tentative line-up includes: - Rick Rude vs. Vader for the WCW International Title - Steve Austin vs. Johnny B. Badd for the US Title - Steve Regal vs. Larry Zbyszko for the TV Title - Dustin Rhodes vs. Bunkhouse Buck - The WWF has the King of the Ring PPV on 06/19/94 from Baltimore. - Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request. Once again, this is your VideoMarinepiad I Control Centre! VideoMarinepiad I is scheduled to take place on 03/20/94 and is sure to be the premier event of the day. The live site is sold out and, unfortunately, attempts to set up closed-circuit venues all over North America were blocked by the WWF's legal wrangling. To recap, at press times, no celebrities were scheduled to appear, there were no special referees or guest ring announcers expected, and it seemed doubtful that Undertaker would make an appearance. This is the only Control Centre that can tell you most match ratings *before* the actual event, so that it's guaranteed not to disappoint. Of course, the entire line-up is subject to change, but you're informed of this upfront and not just in little type at the bottom of the screen. The tentative line-up announced last week was: 1. 01/22/93 UWA Super Dolphin & El Loco Zandokan vs. Great Sasuke & Kendo 2. 03/11/93 AJW Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Sakie Hasegawa & Debbie Malenko 3. 08/05/93 AJW Akira Hokuto vs. Harley Saito ****1/4 4. 08/25/93 AJW Bull Nakano & Manami Suzuki ****1/2 LLPW & Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda & Bat Yoshinaga vs. Eagle Sawai & Harley Saito & Leo Kitamura & Yukari Osawa & Miki Handa (elimination tag) 5. 11/18/93 JWP Manami Toyota vs. Hikari Fukuoka ****1/2 6. 12/06/93 AJW Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki WWWA Tag ****3/4 vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota 7. 12/06/93 AJW Akira Hokuto vs. Shinobu Kandori **** Match 2 is the one where Malenko breaks her leg. Matches 6 and 7 are the re-matches from the 04/02/93 Dream Slam classic match-ups. Some matches still vying to be added this card include: 8. 01/22/93 UWA Dos Caras & Villano V vs. El Gran Hamada & Villano IV 9. 05/29/92 AJW Aja Kong & Bison Kimura vs. Debbie Malenko & Sakie Hasegawa 10. 05/29/92 AJW Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Yumiko Hotta & Kyoko Inoue 11. 07/10/93 WWA Brian Christopher vs. Chris Candito 12. 07/10/93 WWA Sabu vs. Jerry Lynn 13. 08/25/93 AJW Aja Kong vs. Dynamite Kansai WWWA ****1/4 Match 8 is a "Parejas Incredible" match, where usual tag partners switch teams. Matches 11 and 12, quite likely the only North American contenders for inclusion in VM I, are from WWA/NWA Grand Slam II. Of course, like all large events, VideoMarinepiad I, will have some interviews too. The list of interviewees will include Ric Flair, Jim Cornette, Jerry Lawler, and Roddy Piper, all of whom will give classic interviews (and we can tell you they're classic in advance). Due to popular demand, we've booked the venue for the entire day and VideoMarinepiad I may run as long as 6 hours as a result. The home video of VM I will be made available to the general public a short time after the live event takes place. Until that time, watch for the "VideoMarinepiad I Review" on 03/21/94. You may have to sort through a lot of "other" posts to find it, unfortunately. Herb...