From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 09/21 Date: 1995/09/22 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 110496262 sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling - WCW's Fall Brawl took place on Sunday and was the usual mixed bag that we get these days. High points were: - Eddy Guerrero's debut in the pre-game show in a match against Alex Wright. This was somewhat marred by cheesy entrance music and stupid commentary, not to mention Alex not being up to working with Eddy, but it was still a plus with lots of promise. - Disco Inferno's debut in the pre-game show. There was nothing special in this squash match, but I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the gimmick (What!?). Inferno essentially plays a Honky Tonk Man role, complete with neck breaker finisher in this match, but seems a lot more enthusiastic and energetic, and is a good worker. His arrival also has potential. - Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B. Badd. 29 minutes of match time, good story line, excellent work by Pillman with the subtle heel style and great work by Badd. This was one of the "good on paper" matches, but I don't think anybody expected this booking. - Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson. Ric Flair seemed a lot fresher than he has in recent time and these guys worked better together than I expected. The interviews building to this point, this match, and the inclusion of Pillman into the story line are all good things, IMO. Low points were: - Hulk Hogan's influence putting the final nail in the coffin of what was once a good gimmick match, the Wargames. - The Dungeon of Doom. They are absolutely terrible. In my worst nightmare, I'm not sure I could create a worse group of heels or do such a poor job of getting them over. - Renegade. He was abysmal, although I'll go out on a limb and say he was better than I remember his dreadful role model, Ultimate Warrior, ever being. - Colonel Parker & Sherri Martel continuing their stupid love story. This was an idea with questionable potential to begin with, but it's come off so stupidly that it needs to be abandoned quickly. - Speaking of low points, WCW announced that Dusty Rhodes would become the regular colour commentator on WCW Saturday Night. Not to be outdone, the WWF has moved Dok Hendrix off of Superstars in favour of Jerry Lawler. The good news is that the Observer reports that Gene Okerlund's contract with WCW has run out and that he likely won't be renewed; but the legal staff won't let me talk about this here...call the hotline for complete details. - There's talk that the WWF and Jeff Jarrett are talking again. Jim Neidhart is returning to the WWF. - The WWF has In Your House III on Sunday. The tentative line-up has: - Yokozuna & Owen Hart vs. Diesel & Shawn Michaels in a match where the winner of the fall wins the appropriate title - Razor Ramon vs. Dean Douglas - Bret Hart vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte - Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Davey Smith - Sid vs. Henry O. Godwinn - Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy - The first ratings are in for the Monday Night war. Last week's RAW drew a 2.2 rating while Nitro drew a 2.5. The first Nitro episode did a 2.9. This coming week's RAW vs. Nitro feud should be interesting since both will be live. - The WWF has the WrestleMania special on FOX on 09/30. This show will apparently be aired on TSN in Canada as well a few days later (10/03 I believe). - There will be a "UFC-style" PPV on 10/07/95. - The WWF has In Your House on 10/22/95. The tentative line-up has: - Diesel vs. British Bulldog - Undertaker vs. Mabel - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/29/95. The tentative line-up has: - Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant - Brian Pillman & Arn Anderson vs. Ric Flair & Sting - Randy Savage vs. Kamala - Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd - Hawk vs. Kurasawa - WCW has a PPV on 11/26/95. This show will apparently feature the return of Doom, Ron Simmons & Butch Reed. - Booking Prediction Tourney: The ballot for In Your House was posted a couple of days ago and submissions are already pouring in. - WWW: My home page is at http://barrow.uwaterloo.ca/~hekunze. The wrestling portion includes this post, tape lists, awards history, and other things. In the past week, the wrestling page has had over 700 accesses. I've updated the tape list. - 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.