Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 01/19 Message-ID: Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) Nntp-Posting-Host: jeeves.uwaterloo.ca Organization: University of Waterloo Date: Fri, 20 Jan 1995 01:30:16 GMT Lines: 156 - WCW will run their second "WCW All-Nighter" special on 01/21/95 (midnight *Friday*) from 12:05am to 6:00am. - The WWF's Royal Rumble PPV takes place on Sunday. Announced matches are: - Diesel vs. Bret Hart for the WWF Title - Razor Ramon vs. Jeff Jarrett for the IC Title - Undertaker vs. I.R.S. - Bam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka vs. 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly for the vacant WWF Tag Titles in the tag tourney final - Royal Rumble, with announced participants: Lex Luger, King Kong Bundy, Doink, Bob Backlund, Kwang, Duke Droese, Dick Murdoch, Henry Godwinn, Aldo Montoya, British Bulldog, Mo, Mabel, 1-2-3 Kid, Bob Holly, Shawn Michaels, Crush, Mantaur, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Timothy Well, Steven Dunn, Eli Blue, Jacob Blue. It's expected that Jake Roberts will debut as one of I.R.S.'s druids. Hopefully, the additional Rumble participants will include Hakushi and maybe even a debuting Chris Candido. My mom has just gotten into the last month's worth of TV, including the WWF shows, and Shawn Michaels' interviews have her interested in this show. She expects him to get an early draw in the Rumble and last throughout the match for the win. She's also hoping that 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly win the tag titles. Remember that Lex Luger & Davey Boy Smith have a win over Bigelow & Tatanka, so it seems more likely to me that the bigger guys will win the belts and then feud with the Luger & Smith. - I guess ECW fans don't have it easy because no matter where they turn somebody thinks they are mostly into it just for the uncontrolled violence. Even in the Observer this week, in talking about the Shane vs. Tully match from 01/07, Meltzer writes, "We've received numerous reports on the match, ranging from it really wasn't bad but the crowd didn't accept it because there were no chair shots to it was just god-awful with the latter few being by far the majority." For those that don't read Meltzerese all that well, that means that most of his reports said the match just stunk, but enough took a shot at the ECW fans to warrant mentioning the opinion. Meltzer went on to mention that ECW would like to bring in Barry Windham to face Shane Douglas down the road. There's apparently a desire to bring in Ric Flair's old cohorts to get Shane over. Barry has a lawsuit against WCW claiming that his knee was severely damaged during his tenure with the promotion to the point that he can no longer work. - On 07/20/89, a few days before the Bash PPV in which he would face Terry Funk after having his neck injured in the famous 05/07/89 WrestleWar match against Rick Steamboat, Ric Flair appeared on the Sports Byline radio show. The following exchange was interesting: Caller: Would you ever like to face the WWF champ Hulk Hogan... Flair: Tomorrow. Caller: ...and just wrestle for the title and just have one champion? Flair: Tomorrow. I'd love to do it. If it's put together I'll be there. Host: Is it possible? Flair: I don't see it happening, no. I think that the politics involved would keep it from happening. I think that five years from now it will happen. Unfortunately, I probably won't be in the position I'm in now and I... To be very honest with you, that's one thing I'm a little resentful about because I feel like I could beat Hulk Hogan, I feel like he has had an abundance of publicity that has made him a big star in this sport, which he deserves to be, but I feel I'm a better wrestler and I feel that I could beat him. That's the bottom line. Host: Do you respect him as a wrestler, Ric? Flair: I never have competed against him, but I would be very unfair to say that I didn't respect him as a wrestler never having wrestled him. I don't think he's in my class, but he has achieved a lot in this sport and he has beaten some very good wrestlers. It's very difficult for me to say he's not. And later: Caller: What do you think of Vince McMahon and his way of promoting the World Wrestling Federation? Flair: Well, let me just put it like this. All the questions that have come in today about the WWF. I have got to say one thing about Vince McMahon that I think is only fair and that the public needs to know: Vince McMahon is responsible for the fact that I'm making the money I make now from the standpoint that he brought wrestling one notch higher, he put us in the limelight. I might not totally agree with the way he did it, but I'd be a liar if I didn't tell you that I felt that Vince McMahon is responsible for not only myself but all the big stars in our business making the kind of money we are. And later still: Caller: How long do you plan on continuing to wrestle? I think you can wrestler twenty more years because you're so great. Flair: To be very honest with you, I will wrestle until I feel I have lost a step. And I'm being very sincere when I say that. I couldn't stand... I've seen a lot of guys that have been great in their day hang around [...] and I won't do that. I've been fortunate that I've made a good living and I'll be able to walk away when I have to. When I'm through, I would like to be involved with Turner Broadcasting. - As mentioned for several weeks, Jean Paul Levesque was having trouble deciding if he wanted to stay with WCW or jump to the WWF. In the end, despite offers of a tag title reign with Steve Regal as his partner, he's left to join the New Generation. - I was sad to see the Heavenly Bodies job for 1-2-3 Kid & Bob Holly this past weekend, although it was completely expected. It looks like the Bodies will be wasted in the WWF. Jim Cornette will reportedly become the manager of Mantaur, which puts Cornette at the bottom of the managerial ladder. - Speaking of "Generation"s, we get RAW on TV here late Friday nights and I was pretty dismayed at the whole William Shatner vs. Jerry Lawler thing. What's the point of having a 60+-year-old actor do a patented Star Trek flip on a 45+-year-old wrestler? Does anybody want to see this? Will it really attract new viewers? Is the New Generation going to be any different from the Old one? And what about the tuxedo "match?" Watching a show with a great wrestling match (Owen vs. Ramon) and seeing stuff like this fill the remainder of the show is disconcerting. "These are Tekwar fans!" says Shatner. Funniest line of the show. - Bret Hart is getting a bit of flak in the Calgary press for calling his hockey team the "Hitmen" because of the murderous meaning of the word. - WCW has a Clash of Champions on 01/25/95. Tentative line-up has - Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Kevin Sullivan & Butcher - Sting vs. Avalanche with Guardian Angel as referee - Harlem Heat vs. Stars & Stripes for the WCW Tag Titles - Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson for the TV Title - Alex Wright vs. Bobby Eaton "Baywatch" star David Hasselhoff will be in attendance. Vader will be interviewed (by Ric Flair?) regarding Hulk Hogan and there'll also be an Alex Wright video. After his heel turn (on this show?), Guardian Angel will return to his old Big Bubba Rogers character. - WCW has SuperBrawl on 02/19/95. Tentative line-up has: - Hulk Hogan vs. Vader for the WCW Title There is talk that Randy Savage will referee the above match and it's even been hinted at in the set-up interviews. - WCW will have a PPV on 03/19/95 called "WCW Uncensored." Rumored line-up has: - Hulk Hogan vs. Vader for the WCW Title - Booking Prediction Tourney: Several people have submitted ballots for the booking prediction tourney. Look for a ballot for the Clash shortly after you see this post. - 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. My tape list is on the r.s.p-w ftp site (128.227.59.59) in the file herbtape.zip. I have made a total of five compilation tapes for the net: R.s.p-w 1, Japan 1981-1983, Japan 1984-1987, VideoMarinepiad I, and VideoMarinepiad II. If you are interested in details on any of these, just send some e-mail or browse the ftp site. Herb...