Our local news server finally recovered from the recent power outs - this past weekend, I was greeted by 1972 articles! - The WWF's babyface side is a major state of flux, with both Razor Ramon and Diesel giving notice to the promotion and likely jumping to WCW by mid-to-late April. In both cases, the lure of a guaranteed contract (which the WWF does not offer) for big money and the lighter travel schedule played a big role. Age probably plays a big role in things too: Diesel is 36 and Ramon is 36, so both have to think that they are only going to be around a few more years. Neither wrestler will be able to go to WCW under their current ring names and Ramon may not even be able to play a similar character. I can just see Eric Bischoff creatively saying that WCW is now running on "Propane Power" as he introduces the massive Propane ;-). As has been mentioned before, Hulk Hogan is interested in working a program with a heel "Diesel," so Diesel will likely become an immediate main event heel. The changes will have immediate impact on the WWF's current direction. The Razor Ramon vs. Goldust story line has been abandoned and Roddy Piper has will likely work a match against Goldust at WrestleMania in place of the street fight that had been planned. Although Ramon & Savio Vega advanced to the semi-finals (the semi-finals still have to be taped and Ramon is suspended, so they would apparently not be able to work the match), since the match hasn't aired on TV yet, the WWF could just tape a substitution to remove all trace of Ramon from TV. Diesel will likely work through WrestleMania and drop a decisive match to Undertaker. There is also continued talk that Bret Hart is considering leaving the WWF after WrestleMania. - The WWF has vacated the tag titles (Billy Gunn is recovering from a legitimate injury) and began a tag team tournament to crown new champions. Bracketing looks like this ("*"ed teams have advanced): Skip & Flip vs. Luke & Butch ---\ The Bodydonnas The Bushwhackers \ |-- --\ / \ Razor Ramon vs. 1-2-3 Kid ---/ \ & Savio Vega & Tatanka \ |-- final *Henry O. Godwinn vs. Marty Janetty / & Phineas I. Godwinn & Al Snow ---\ / \ / |-- --/ Hakushi vs.*Owen Hart / & Barry Horowitz & Davey Boy Smith ---/ The final will take place at WrestleMania. Early predictions are that it will come down to Bodydonnas vs. Godwinns with the Bodydonnas going over. - 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 12/25/95 2.5 - N - - - 01/01/96 2.5 3.7 Y 2.6 3.8 N 01/08/96 2.8 3.9 Y 3.0 4.1 N 01/15/96 3.5 5.0 Y 2.4 3.5 N 01/22/96 2.7 - Y 2.9 - Y 01/29/96 2.8 4.0 Y 2.4 3.4 N 02/05/96 2.9 4.0 Y 2.7 3.7 N 02/12/96 3.7 5.3 Y - - - 02/19/96 2.9 4.1 Y 3.1 4.4 Y 02/26/96 3.2 4.6 Y 3.1 4.4 N - The PPV buy rates of the past year or so look like this (draw your own conclusions; the PPV universe seems to be about 23.5-million large, so a 1.0 buy rate, say, would correspond to 235K buys): buy rate revenue (millions) 95/01/22 Royal Rumble 1.0 $2.58 95/04/02 WrestleMania 1.4 $5.10 95/05/14 In Your House 0.83 $1.26 95/06/25 King of the Ring 0.65 $1.68 95/07/25 In Your House II 0.7 $1.08 95/08/27 SummerSlam 0.9 $2.37 95/09/24 In Your House III 0.7 $1.10 95/10/22 In Your House IV 0.4 $0.62 95/11/19 Survivor Series 0.57 $1.47 95/12/17 In Your House V 0.33 $0.68 96/01/22 Royal Rumble 1.1 $3.56 95/03/19 Uncensored 0.96 $2.8 95/05/21 Slamboree 0.57 $1.46 95/06/18 Great American Bash 0.51 $1.32 95/07/18 Bash at the Beach 0.82 $2.37 95/09/17 Fall Brawl 0.48 $1.21 95/10/29 Halloween Havoc 0.6 $1.74 95/11/26 World War 3 0.43 $1.11 95/12/27 Starrcade 0.36 $1.04 95/02/11 SuperBrawl 0.63 $1.86 WWF Average (past year) 0.76 $1.89 WCW Average (past year) 0.60 $1.66 WWF Average (last 6 months) 0.62 $1.49 WCW Average (last 6 months) 0.50 $1.39 - WCW has Uncensored on 03/24/96. Line-up looks like: * Hulk Hogan vs. Arn Anderson, Kevin Sullivan, Ric Flair, and Loch Ness in four cage matches * Road Warriors vs. Sting & Lex Luger * Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero for the US Title * Johnny B. Badd vs. Diamond Dallas Page in an "I Quit" match for the TV Title * Randy Savage vs. Chris Benoit in a falls count anywhere match * Steve Regal vs. David Finlay * Madusa vs. Col. Parker - The WWF has WrestleMania on 03/31/96. The projected line-up has: * Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title in a 60-minute marathon match * Diesel vs. Undertaker * Vader & Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Yokozuna & Ahmed Johnson & Jake Roberts * Goldust vs. Roddy Piper The pre-game show will include: * Finals of the tag team tournament * Huckster vs. Nacho Man with Billionaire Ted as referee - WCW has Slamboree on 05/19/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 05/26/96 (from Barrie, Ontario, not too far from here). - WCW has Great American Bash on 06/16/96. - The WWF has King of The Ring on 06/23/96. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/21/96. - WCW has Quake At The Lake on 07/07/96. - WCW has a PPV in 08/96. This was just added to the schedule. - 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. - 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.