From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 08/24 Date: 1995/08/24 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 108757501 sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling { In honour of the release of Windoze '95 today, I was going to try and make this post as kludgy and uselessly resource-demanding as possible, but in the end thought I'd just stick with the usual format. } - The WWF has SummerSlam on Sunday. The line-up has: - Diesel vs. Mabel for the WWF Title - Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon for the IC Title in a ladder match - Alundra Blayze vs. Bertha Faye for the Women's Title - Bret Hart vs. Dr. Isaac Yankem - Undertaker vs. Kama in a coffin match - Skip Bodydonna vs. Barry Horowitz - Hakushi vs. 1-2-3 Kid - Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Bob Holly - Smoking Gunns vs. the Brothers Blu Most people are betting that Razor Ramon will not turn, as the story line has been hinting. Nowadays, when you consider people turning you have to think about how much merchandise their gimmick sells. - There's been a lot of buzz recently about WCW bringing in Sabu, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, and Dean Malenko in September and October. Most of the buzz in the newsgroup has been negative, and people have gone so far as to say that these guys absolutely didn't want to go to WCW, and were forced into it when Eric Bischoff contacted New Japan to force the move. Very shortly after the mid-June decision to create a new Monday night show to challenge the WWF's Monday Night RAW, it was reported in the Observer and hence in many other places that there was a lot of thought being paid to the idea of having a great Jr. Heavyweight style (for lack of a better description) match on each show. Indeed, WCW began contacting wrestlers who could work that style. In the 08/07 Observer, Meltzer wrote that "WCW had wanted [Al] Snow, Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Sabu, and possibly Dean Malenko to up the workrate of their new show which goes head-to-head with Monday Night Raw starting on 9/4. At this point, they've accomplished getting none of the above, because it appears the company won't be offering any newcomers contracts and in fact is constantly looking for ways to cut the payroll. "There has been concern expressed by several of the names above that WCW has been unable to get anyone over, that Benoit's treatment when he was in WCW along with the treatment of Brian Pillman and Steve Austin, who have been with the company for years and are two of the three or four best workers in the company, seemingly have had their careers go nowhere." In the subsequent Observer, Meltzer wrote that talks had continued, but that Benoit, Guerrero, and Malenko must have turned down the tabled offer, the last two "strongly" because Terry Taylor "buried" them on his hotline segment, saying that Guerrero hadn't ever drawn money and that Malenko wanted control of his programs. A week later, all four wrestlers had signed with WCW. Al Snow has accepted an offer to go to the WWF. A key point to the deal for Benoit, Guerrero, and Malenko is that WCW went through New Japan to get them, making New Japan their primary employer. In the original deal, they would have become WCW wrestlers who would get their Japanese tours booked through the WCW office. The accepted deal apparently puts their New Japan commitments first and offers a little protection against being buried or severely misused by WCW. This detail seemed to be the sticking point in the WWF's offer to Chris Benoit as well. While Benoit was offered a deal that would allow him to work New Japan, it wasn't clear which commitments, Japanese or WWF, would take precedence should both promotions want him to work. Besides, New Japan still holds a grudge against the WWF over the breakdown of their agreement in the mid-80s. Meltzer mentions that Guerrero said his fears had been alleviated. To top things off, 2 Cold Scorpio is also looking to get work with WCW again; Scorpio was let go for failing a drug test a couple of years back. Most of the story sounds like routine negotiation, not strong-arm tactics. In the end, the wrestlers will work for WCW. How does the promotion plan to use them? The 9/4 debut Nitro show will tentatively feature: - Hulk Hogan vs. Big Bubba Rogers - Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger - Scott Norton interview - Ric Flair vs. Sting The 9/11 show will tentatively feature: - Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff - Sting vs. Mike Rotunda (WWF's IRS) - Randy Savage vs. Scott Norton - Sabu vs. Alex Wright Certainly, the Pillman vs. Liger and Sabu vs. Wright matches have a lot of potential. If they are allowed to work to their potential, these wrestlers could put on great matches to be sure, but will they be used to do more than provide an isolated great match on the weekly Nitro show? On the one hand, the guys may be crippled by WCW politics and the matches will be lousy. On the other hand, Eric Bischoff (who has promised big things involving WCW & New Japan beginning later this year) may have decided that the kid market that WCW is trying to tap with Hulk Hogan and gang on top will also be attracted to smaller, faster guys, just like New Japan discovered in 1981 with Tiger Mask, and re-discovered in 1989 with Jushin Liger. Along the way, New Japan even managed to enthrall an adult audience. In the end, we'll just have to wait and see. The loss of Benoit, Malenko, and Guerrero will certainly have an effect on ECW, which had been using the wrestlers regularly. In a sense, the promotion that Guerrero and Malenko were feuding with each other, so their loss only eliminates one great match from the ECW line-up. The wrestlers will apparently fulfill their ECW commitments. The Nitro show will air on TNT, a channel which is not available to cable subscribers in my neck of the woods. As such, I'm looking for somebody to supply me with tapes of the show, at least for the short term. Ideally, I'd like somebody able to send me 2-hour original copies of the shows bi-weekly (easily possible if you have two VCRs). I'll trade hour-for-hour, tape-for-tape. If the show is good, I'd probably go for this being an ongoing arrangement. - As I mentioned last week, Mike "I.R.S." Rotunda had been working as a road agent for the WWF. Apparently, WCW lured him back to the ring, presumably with the idea that it would show that talent is shifting from the WWF to WCW; there is talk that Rotunda will team with Big Bubba Rogers and that the team will get a run as tag champions. Tony Garea has resumed his role has a road agent to fill the spot left vacant by Rotunda. There's also talk that Lex Luger may return to WCW, apparently with the proviso that he jobs for Hogan before being repackaged as a WCW wrestler. Luger recently gave notice to the WWF, leading to a quick heel turn for Davey Boy Smith. The WWF is labouring for good heels on top; Smith will dump on the USA to get instant heat. A few years ago, major news about Lex Luger was front page news; these days nobody is remotely interested. - The Ric Flair & Arn Anderson split aired this past weekend with a lot of video trouble. The angle was hurt by the jerky and often static video, but thankfully the problems faded by post-match interview time. Highlights of the angle aired the next night on Main Event. Arn took the position that a lot of Ric Flair fans have these days: Flair has been better, he's lost his touch. Flair offered to teach Arn a lesson and Arn stormed off. Line of the night (paraphrased), "I guess Arn better call a taxi, 'cause he ain't riding home in the limo." There is talk that after the one match between them, Flair & Anderson will join up again, to re-form the Four Horsemen along with a heel Brian Pillman, and one of Alex Wright, Steve Austin, or Big Bubba Rogers. - On 09/04, WCW will air another All Nighter. - UFC VII takes place on 09/08/95. - WCW has Fall Brawl on 09/17/95. The tentative line-up has: - Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage & Sting & Vader vs. Shark & Zodiac & Kevin Sullivan & Meng in a Wargames match - Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson - Bunkhouse Buck & Dick Slater vs. Harlem Heat for the WCW Tag Titles - Diamond Dallas Page vs. Renegade - Johnny B. Badd vs. Brian Pillman - Craig Pittman vs. Cobra (formerly Thunder of Thunder & Lightning) Renegade is reportedly being sent to training school after this show. Badd & Pillman are reportedly set to put on a Jr. Heavyweight style match on this show, as that becomes a regular element of major WCW shows. - The WWF is setting up some promising feuds in Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte, and Hakushi vs. Skip. - I had the chance to see the interview debut of Goldust on WWF RAW (which airs here the Saturday morning following it's Monday broadcast in the USA). On the surface, it seems terrible, but maybe they'll still let him wrestle in the ring. As with Shane Douglas' "Dean" angle, I'll wait to see what he's allowed to do in the ring. - The WWF has In Your House III on 09/24/95. That's my birthday, so I will probably be looking for somebody who can supply me with a tape of the show. - There will be a "UFC-style" PPV on 10/07/95. - Booking Prediction Tourney: The ballot for SummerSlam has been posted. - WWW: My home page is at http://barrow.uwaterloo.ca/~hekunze. The wrestling portion includes this post, tape lists, and other stuff, including a reworked version of my SMW Fanweek review from last year. - 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. The VideoMarinepiad III home video is now available.