Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 07/07 Message-ID: Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) Organization: University of Waterloo Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 01:31:16 GMT Lines: 95 - As already reported on the net, there are sketchy reports that WWF referee Joe Morella (Gorilla Monsoon's son) was killed a few days ago in a car accident resulting from him falling asleep at the wheel. WWF manager Harvey Wippleman was also injured in the crash, but is expected to recover. - Tiger Jeet Singh is in trouble with the law, facing a fraud conspiracy charge in connection with real estate in Edmonton, Alberta. The RCMP has issued a warrant for Singh's arrest when it became clear that he had left Canada. Singh lives in Milton, Ontario, and has a reasonably high profile in Toronto's Sikh community. He is even named as Milton's and Brampton's unofficial business ambassador. The Toronto Star has the lengthiest report on this story, filled with lots of great "facts" about Singh's wrestler career. Here are some direct quotes: - "...known as Tiger Jeet Singh to adoring mat fans in Japan and elsewhere..." - "Singh, 49, holds the Universal Wrestling Association title belt and reportedly earned $60000 per match wrestling in Japan." Don't believe everything you read. - The Vince McMahon trial began on Tuesday. Jury selection and other "mundane" stuff will fill the first few days. The trial is expected to run up to five weeks and the fur won't begin to fly until the testimony begins. It's expected that Hulk Hogan will be a key witness for the prosecution in what should be one of the more interesting parts of the proceedings. Reports that McMahon framed O.J. Simpson to take the heat of himself are most assuredly false. Jim Ross has returned to the WWF commentating fold for a two month stretch since the WWF is certainly putting up the front that they expect Vince to get off. - Scratch Sid Vicious and Davey Boy Smith from the "returning to WWF" list. Smith may well work some European dates. That leaves the list of WWF "newcomers" as Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, Lanny Poffo, Koko B. Ware, Damien Demento, King Kong Bundy, and Mike Sharpe. - WCW's Clash of Champions XVII on 06/23/94 drew a 3.0 rating, but built continually throughout the show, peaking at 4.2 for the main event. Despite the mixed reaction that Hulk Hogan received live, the ratings do indicate that people were interested in seeing how the main event on this show turned out. Hogan did get cheers for his big run-in, but went back to a mixed reaction for the post-match interview. I'm sure the Bash buyrate will be analyzed to death no matter how it turns out. - This weekend's WCW Saturday Night will be broadcast live. The are plugging this as the first ever interactive wrestling show, where fans can (what else?) call the hotline to pick the wrestlers that will meet in the main event. They'll have wrestlers in the "red" and "blue" locker room and fans will be able to pick who they want from each room. If this is legit, they can at least ensure that the match has a heel and face. Early bets are that this will be a Sting vs. Flair rematch. Of course, Hulk Hogan will appear and we can expect a confrontation between him and Ric Flair. - WCW has The Great American Bash on 07/17/94 from Orlando. Tentative line-up has: - Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan for the Unified World Title - Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan vs. Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma for the WCW Tag Titles - Steve Austin vs. Rick Steamboat for the US Title - Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes & Arn Anderson - Vader vs. Guardian Angel *- Sting vs. Steve Regal for the TV Title *- Larry Zbyszko vs. Paul Levesque Shaquille O'Neal and George Foreman have already had spots run to plug Hulk Hogan. Both men and Mr. T are expected to be in attendance at the PPV. Shaq will present the title belt to the winner of the main event. Everybody is calling in markers to stack the audience with more celebrities than ever; many ringside seats are blocked off for this purpose. Antonio Inoki and a squad of Japanese fans will also be in attendance. Absolutely everybody seems to be guessing that Hogan will win the title. - WCW has a Clash of the Champions on 08/26/94. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/29/94. The line-up includes: - Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart for the WWF Title in a cage match - Undertaker (Mark Callaway) vs. Undertaker (Brian Lee) *- Tatanka vs. Lex Luger - WCW has Fall Brawl in 09/94. Tentative line-up includes: - Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck & Arn Anderson & Ming vs. Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes & Nasty Boys in a War Games match - 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. Basically, all of the tapes in my video collection are available. If you are interested in getting a copy of VideoMarinepiad I, drop me some e-mail. VideoMarinepiad II is now available as well. Herb...