- The WWF has the Royal Rumble PPV on 01/21/96. The line-up has: * Bret Hart vs. Undertaker for the WWF Title * Razor Ramon vs. Goldust for the IC Title * Jeff Jarrett vs. Ahmed Johnson * The Royal Rumble match, with announced participants: Diesel, Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Dory Funk Jr., Savio Vega, King Mabel, Bam Bam Bigelow, Barry Horowitz, Yokozuna, Tatanka, and Vader. There is talk that Diesel will get bumped into the main event, turning the title match into a triangle match and making room for Shawn Michaels to enter the Rumble as a "surprise." Vader is reportedly only coming in to the work the Rumble. He certainly can make more money working as a regular in New Japan. - WCW has a Clash of Champions on 01/23/96. Tentative line-up has: * Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair & The Giant * Sting vs. Brian Pillman * Lex Luger vs. Eddy Guerrero * Kevin Sullivan vs. Disco Inferno * Alex Wright vs. Dean Malenko * Sherri Martel & Rob Parker get married * Nasty Boys vs. Public Enemy The final match may not take place as WCW is still working on getting Public Enemy in without changing their team name. - The Observer reports that Alundra Blayze's contract with the WWF expired on 12/13/95 and that it was not renewed since Vince McMahon had decided to abandon promoting women's matches. It had originally been the plan to have PPV programs with Blayze and various Japanese women, but the plan was ditched and Aja Kong was notified that she isn't going to be used (originally planned to work Royal Rumble). Blayze, under her old name Madusa Miceli, jumped ship to WCW and did an interview on Nitro were she tossed the WWF Women's Title in the trash can. Madusa is slated to wrestle Reggie Bennett some time in January and WCW has already apparently arranged to have Dynamite Kansai work with her in the US as well. - Steve Austin debuted at recent WWF tapings as The Ring Master, as the Million Dollar Champion in the Corporation. - The Head Hunters, who work Mexico and IWA Japan, will get a WWF try-out. There was talk that both the WWF and WCW were interested in using them and that ECW had already signed them to work a series of shows. - There is continuing talk that King Mabel will leave the WWF. - WCW will run live weekly Monday Nitros for several months yet. Apparently, with the recent ratings showing that Nitro has an edge on the WWF's RAW, they don't want to let up. Originally, they were going to start taping shows. - The Bushwhackers are apparently still under contract with the WWF, so WCW can't bring them in. - The RAW vs. Nitro ratings war thus far looks like this (draw your own conclusions): WCW Nitro WWF RAW Rating Share Live Rating Share Live 09/04/95 2.9 ? Y - - - 09/11/95 2.5 3.8 Y 2.2 3.2 N 09/18/95 2.4 3.4 Y 2.5 3.4 N 09/25/95 1.9 2.8 Y 2.7 3.8 Y 10/02/95 2.5 3.7 Y 2.5 3.5 N 10/09/95 2.6 3.8 Y 2.6 3.8 N 10/16/95 2.2 3.2 Y 2.5 3.6 N 10/23/95 2.2 3.2 Y 2.6 3.8 Y 10/30/95 2.5 3.6 Y 2.2 3.1 N 11/06/95 2.3 3.2 Y 2.1 3.0 N 11/13/95 2.0 2.9 N 2.6 3.9 N 11/20/95 2.5 3.6 Y 2.3 3.3 Y 11/27/95 2.3 3.3 Y 2.5 3.4 N 12/04/95 2.6 3.8 Y 2.4 3.4 N 12/11/95 2.6 3.7 Y 2.5 3.4 N 12/18/95 2.7 4.0 Y 2.3 3.4 Y - WCW has SuperBrawl on 02/11/96. - The WWF has an In Your House PPV on 02/18/96. - WCW has Uncensored on 03/24/96. - The WWF has WrestleMania on 03/31/96. The projected line-up has: * Bret Hart vs. Royal Rumble winner (Shawn Michaels?) for the WWF Title * Diesel vs. Undertaker - WCW has Slamboree on 05/19/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 05/26/96. - WCW has Great American Bash on 06/16/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/21/96. - WCW has Bash at the Beach on 07/07/96. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/18/96. - WCW has Fall Brawl 09/15/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 09/22/96. - WCW has Halloween Havoc 10/27/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 10/20/96. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/17/96. - WCW has World War III 11/24/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/15/96. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/29/96. - This past Monday saw a big change in the WWF's attitude towards the "war" between the WWF and WCW. The WWF aired a commercial wherein the Nacho Man and the Huckster said they were too old to perform Sid's power bomb, Razor Ramon's power bomb, Ahmed Johnson's power bomb, and Shawn Michaels' splash off the top rope. The skit was hilarious, with impersonators of Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Ted Turner and ended with the line The WWF... we're on top of the hill, not over it. They also mentioned a Gene Okerlund impersonator named Scheme Gene during the show. By picking three of the key WWF guys of the past 10 years to ridicule, it also showed that Vince must consider those friendships completely destroyed. While I thought the skit was damn funny (doubly so, since they treated three power bombs as if they were drastically different moves), it shows that Vince McMahon feels the need to openly bash the WCW, something he has avoided for all of 1995, and that he must be concerned with how the "war" is going. Indeed, in his predictions for 1996, Dave Meltzer, editor of the Observer, writes, "[Vince has] already got a major fight in wrestling, one that inevitably the odds are against him in because he's trying to use brains to combat money, and in wrestling, brains usually win out in the short-run but in the long-run money is hard to beat. McMahon's acknowledgement in a recent interview that he would consider moving Raw to another night to avoid the competition shows he recognizes this himself." And later, "But even doing more things wrong than right, WCW has the money on its side, and it has the wrestling talent on its side, and it has the television exposure on its side. Although PPV figures vary depending upon which organization one talks to, based on independent figures, it appears the sides are fairly even, with WCW, if anything, having an advantage because the In Your House shows are priced less, have less interest and thus draw a lot less money. WCW has the big advantage overall on cable, as its weekend shows kill WWF's and Monday is fairly even. WWF has a slight syndication advantage, but in overall viewership, WCW, because it has more shows and more stations, has won every week but one (the one following the Shawn Michaels angle) this fall season. WWF has a big advantage when it comes to the ability to run house shows, but since that part of the business is in general a money loser (in WWF's case, considered a loss leader while WCW rarely runs them), whatever advantage WWF has of being the stronger house show promotion is offset by the fact they're losing money running them. WCW has stronger talent. Overall WWF has stronger and more organized television and generally better booking. While some would argue the booking advantage may not be the case right now, it is inconceivable that WWF would ever handle or carry-out a scenario as poorly as WCW did building up to the World Cup at Starrcade. But the most important thing is that WWF has to at some point make money. It doesn't appear that is the case with WCW. In a war of attrition, which this wrestling war appears to be, WCW has a very huge tactical advantage." - I thought I'd take a little more time this week to write up some of my thoughts on WCW and the WWF in 1995. The biggest news stories of the year in North American pro-wrestling had nothing to do with the in-ring action, IMO, highlighting the lacklustre state of affairs in the sport. The biggest news was certainly WCW, under Eric Bischoff, creating WCW Monday Nitro amidst much laughter from everybody expecting failure, only to end the year clearly a nose in front of the WWF ratings-wise. Heck, the mere suggestion of a Monday night show in direct competition with the WWF's flagship RAW show had people suggesting comparatively low ratings would be a "success"; nobody expected the ratings numbers to be so damn even. How could this happen? Live shows every week. Why doesn't the WWF follow suit? Live shows every week cost a lot of money. It's ironic to see Vince McMahon, who lifted the WWF to it's prominent stature of the 1980s by using money against competitors who had none, in his current situation. It's even more ironic to see him answer the money by attempting to push some guys with wrestling ability, the same response that his 1980s competitors offered. It's ultimately ironic to see the WWF's staunchest supporters bitch that "money" not quality product is what is hurting the WWF these days. Money, or a lack thereof, caused Smoky Mountain Wrestling to close down after 4-years-or-so of business. I went to the second SMW Fanweek and have the great majority of the TV shows on tape. It was a promotion that I really enjoyed watching and I'll miss it. I mention this since one can hope that Jim Cornette will take on a bigger role in the WWF. In the ring, the ascension of Shawn Michaels to the top of the heap of the regular key performers in North America was the biggest story. His work ethic this past year was something that we've seldom seen in North America. When he disappeared partway through the year after an out-of-the-ring beating in Syracuse, the WWF shows suffered a noticeable decline in quality. When he returned only to drop out again, things seemed even worse in the WWF. But he'll return in 1996 and all signs are that the promotion plans to run with him on top. There are a list of challengers I'll enjoy seeing Shawn work against and a list that I'll dread seeing him face. Hopefully, the direction will lead to more matches with the first group. WCW has no Shawn Michaels. They've got several great workers underneath, but those guys were not positioned well this year and it's unclear whether they'll be used well next year. The workers do get to face each other regularly, giving great matches, which at least makes WCW better than the 1980s WWF and often, especially in Michaels' absence, made some WCW events better than some WWF events this year, IMO. They've got several guys that can dance circles around Michaels workratewise and workwise, which is no easy feat, but Michaels still has more charisma and awesome ring presence and ring psychology. Otherwise in the WWF, this past year was mostly unmemorable as far as I'm concerned. Diesel was champion for the year and only managed to give good matches when he worked against Michaels or Bret Hart. I don't know why he garners some praise in this newsgroup; he is absolutely at the same level of ability as Hulk Hogan. His new repackaging is meaningless to me since he's still in the top of the mix, just sticking around to give us more lousy matches or to pull down the great workers who could be giving us great matches. Yet somehow, he proved to be the one guy that Vince McMahon turned into a wrestling superstar over the year, much to my chagrin. And sure, Horowitz won. Maybe they sold some T-shirts. Along the way, Skip just seemed to be completely wasted and misused. Mabel was pushed through the roof and tried darn hard to beat the Undertaker's lousy match tally for 1994. Undertaker was mercifully gone for a long while, but still managed to squeeze in several terrible matches around his absence. Has he ever had a match that was even mediocre? His presence on top in the WWF in 1996 depresses me while he maintains a gimmick that overrides the wrestling. Goldust proved to be an enormous disappoint this year too. Dustin Rhodes went from being one of the best young workers in the sport to delivering three lousy matches in his first three competitive matches in the WWF. There's a little hope here, because the memory of Dustin's ability is still fresh, but that ability has seemingly disappeared. Bret Hart wasted a lot of the year too, feuding with Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem. He managed to give us some great matches, too, and came out of the year as the guy that the promotion can call upon to try to hold things together while a new plan is mapped out, ironic since that was the role of Ric Flair, Hart's self-chosen nemesis. The more Shawn Michaels rose to the top, the less believable Hart's mantra of "the best there is, the best there was, the best there ever will be" sounded. I enjoy Bret Hart a lot and he did deliver in a pinch a few times this year, but he's just keeping the belt shined for the "the best there is" right now. Razor Ramon also improved a bit this year, but I'm not as gung-ho about him as some others. His best matches are still with other great wrestlers that he's clearly a level below, IMO. The best story of the year in either of the big promotions was Jeff Jarrett's whole shtick, which unfortunately went sour when Jeff quit the group. It's good to see him back as the year closed. The tag scene in the WWF was terrible this year. The Smoking Gunns are really the only team that can work, as long as they don't punch. In WCW, Hulk Hogan really helped sour things. The Dungeon of Doom was one of the worst booking ideas since the Black Scorpion and the whole feud with Hogan vs. DoD was abysmal. Actually, the Giant began to show some promise by the end of the year, so much so that New Japan apparently expressed interest in using him as a top foreigner. For some reason, the idea of him being billed as Andre's son upset a lot of people in the newsgroup, although I never did read one explanation of why this was worse than any other of the countless fake relationships in pro-wrestling. It's a great gimmick, IMO. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Lex Luger were all on top this year, Luger being a big surprise jumper from the WWF. These guys have big names and limited skills, and except for the Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage match early in the year and Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger vs. Sting traingle match, I didn't see them in any match that I liked. The real highlight in WCW over the year was the coming of the "Jr. Heavyweight" wrestlers - Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Jerry Lynn, Sabu - and the work that some of the more established WCW stars could do in this framework - Alex Wright, Brian Pillman, Johnny B. Badd. Any match involving any of the names just listed was at least mediocre and matches between them were usually good. Some were excellent: Benoit vs. Guerrero from WCW SN was the best TV match from either company this year, IMO. As the year ends, Eddy Guerrero is over purely on ability (the Observer reports that an Eddy Guerrero match ends the Centre Stage tapings now, since hs is the guy that the fans there come to see), Johnny B. Badd is TV champ, Chris Benoit & Brian Pillman are in the Horsemen. Ric Flair delivered big every time he was asked to, despite continuing criticism that his best years are behind him. The tag scene was terrible in WCW. Harlem Heat has one very good wrestler, Benoit & Malenko were great when they were together, and surely, coming into the new year, some combination of Horsemen will be a solid team. The year built to a really good PPV event that was terribly promoted. The racist overtones of Sonny Oono's comments were sad. For whatever reason, WCW doesn't think its audience could accept the Japanese wrestlers based on their skill. So, there are some good memories of the year gone by: Shawn Michaels' ascension, the Jeff Jarrett story line, Eddy Guerrero & Chris Benoi & (to a lesser extent) Dean Malenko coming to WCW, the Royal Rumble, Starrcade's wrestling, Johnny B. Badd's remarkable improvement, the Monday night war pushing each promotion to improve, and the move to attract an older fan base. But that's about it. The year was really filled with lots of darn lousy memories: the Dungeon of Doom in general and vs. Hulk Hogan, Diesel against anybody except Michaels or Bret Hart, King Mabel getting pushed big time, the Undertaker (even with his absence), the tag team situation in both promotions, King of the Ring, Uncensored, Sherri Martel hitting her head and falling in love with Rob Parker, heels in the WWF being afraid of getting "slopped," the terrible Million Dollar Corporation that contained 10-cent wrestlers, Brother Love's return, the absolutely terrible commentary in both promotions (Jim Ross being reduced to a hick, Eric Bischoff actually showing the most promise of learning the names of moves), the abysmal use of the All Japan Women wrestlers at the WWF Survivor Series, the racist story line building to Starrcade, Dustin Rhodes becoming Goldust and forgetting how to wrestle, Vader getting fired by WCW. I suppose most of the memories of the past year are really just mediocre, because it honestly was a mostly mediocre year, IMO. - 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.