From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 06/20 Date: 1996/06/20 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 161287801 sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've re-worked the graphic banner for TidBits on my web page since I received some e-mail telling me the old one did not display fully on 15" screens. I've had a beautiful 17" Nokia for a while, so I just forgot about this. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pictures of the Week This week's picture is a collage featuring Shawn Michaels. I just felt like playing around with some neat effects. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ - ] The 07/12/96 Ultimate Fighting Championship will once again not be broadcast in Canada by Viewer's Choice Canada. I gave my cable company a ring to get a number for VCC to complain and had an interesting talk with the Roger's service rep. He tells me that a petition has even gone around inside Rogers to complain that VCC carries boxing, pro-wrestling, violent action and horror films, and porno movies, but won't carry the UFC, even though the UFC draws a higher buy rate in Canada than in the US. The number I was given is 1-416-956-2050. If you call, ask for Customer Relations; they'll patch you through to Jackie at extension 6106. The Rogers guy said that they've been getting a lot of calls about this. [Marlena][ - ]WCW's Great American Bash took place on Sunday and was an easy thumbs up. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko was the match of the show, as we'd all expect. Mike Tenay did commentary for this match and tried hard to explain moves and psychology that have never been pushed by the usual commentary crew; some of the fans watching live were seemingly bored by the early part of the match, but the last few minutes almost tore the house down. We should be grateful that they let these guys go for close to 20 minutes. I thought the finish was weak, though, and I really wish they would have put Misterio over to establish him as a surprise superhero a la Tiger Mask in the early 1980s. Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan delivered a memorable brawl, which was honestly more than I expected, but not deserving of the raves I've seen in rspw. I know it looked cool and allowed the wrestlers to get their balance, but the table spot at the finish (table laid across the turnbuckle, wrestlers do a superplex off of it) was pointless since it didn't add to the impact of the move. The highlight here was the post-match angle, where Arn Anderson helped attack Sullivan and re-establish the Horsemen as renegades. Everybody seemed to work hard on the show. Sting vs. Steve Regal was also very good and the Ric Flair & Anderson vs. Kevin Greene & Steve McMichael grudge tag was surprisingly good (but definitely nothing special) with the giveaway ending of McMichael turning on Greene (this was given to us when the commentators spoke about McMichael making decisions during his football career based on money). Even Konnan vs. El Gato and the Steiners vs. Scott Norton & Ice Train weren't bad. Only John Tenta vs. Big Bubba really stunk, but that was under 10 minutes. The World Title match was a big let-down as well, but the Giant and Lex Luger can hardly work well. Still, two pretty lousy matches out of nine, four to five middling, and two to three very good is an easy thumbs up. And, of course, Eric Bischoff took a spectacular power bomb bump from the ramp through a flimsier portion of the ramp at the hands of Kevin Nash. Just before this bump, Eric had confirmed that three WCW guys would be picked to fight the ex-WWF invaders and did the legal bit of asking Nash & Scott Hall (who are still un-named; the crowd chanted "Diesel" and "Razor") if they work for the WWF. Both replied "No" very curtly and pushed the conversation on. By doing the power bomb spot thereafter, it's likely that fans will remember that instead of the WWF question. Smart move. It will be very interesting to see what sort of buy rate they draw at the Bash at the Beach where the "interpromotional" match takes place. The following night on Nitro, Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger were selected as the three WCW stars to take on the invaders. You've got to believe that there's a strong chance that Lex Luger will turn on his WCW compadres to give the first win to the other side, since the other side has to win first to keep things interesting. One thing is for sure: the WWF will have to answer this PPV with a high quality King of the Ring. The key WCW angle is very strong, a secondary one (Horsemen) is also strong, and the wrestling on the PPV was darn good. The WWF can't afford to follow this up lamely, which means that fans will come out the winners. [Sunny][ - ]The WWF has King of The Ring on Sunday. Line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Davey Boy Smith for the WWF Title with Curt Hennig as special referee * Smoking Gunns vs. Godwinns for the WWF Tag Titles * Goldust vs. Ahmed Johnson for the IC Title * Ultimate Warrior vs. Jerry Lawler * Undertaker vs. Mankind * The semifinals and finals of the King of the Ring tournament The KotR tournament brackets look like this: Ultimate Warrior --\ |-- None --\ Goldust --/ \ |-- Vader --\ Ahmed Johnson --\ / \ |-- Vader --/ \ Vader --/ \ |-- --\ H.O.G. --\ / \ |-- Hawk --\ / \ Justin Bradshaw --/ \ / \ |-- Jake --/ | Jake Roberts --\ / | |-- Jake --/ | Hunter Helmsley --/ | |-- KotR Bob Holly --\ | |-- Steve --\ | Steve Austin --/ \ | |-- Steve --\ | Savio Vega --\ / \ / |-- Savio --/ \ / Marty Jannetty --/ \ / |-- --/ Yokozuna --\ / |-- Owen --\ / Owen Hart --/ \ / |-- Mero --/ Skip --\ / |-- Mero --/ Marc Mero --/ It would seem clear, amidst month-long rumours and even some WWF TV where he watched Shawn Michaels wrestle, that the main event should lead to Curt Hennig's return to the WWF ring to feud with Michaels. The Observer suggests that Vader will not win the King of the Ring and that the final will actually be Steve Austin over Jake Roberts. This fits with how they've been hyping the show. [ - ] I purchase PWI to mail to my friend Masaki in Japan. It's a strange coincidence that this month's issue has a column that fits in with the recent newsgroup debate over the changing face of pro-wrestling fans, in particular the advent of ECW fans. I've pieced together some of the things I wrote. "In recent times in rspw, even the stalwart ECW fans have suddenly lamented the arrival of vampire fans to their throng. The strangest thing is that, to this tape watcher and news reader, that segment of the ECW fan base has always been strong and has always been played to the most in the promotion's product mix. Why else do guys like Sandman or the Rottens get over? Why else did Axl vs. Ian (barbed wire baseball bat) get many votes in the rspw best match year-end awards? In this very thread, somebody brought up Tommy Dreamer and Dave Scherer and others responded that he got over because he was so willing to take insane amounts of punishment. Dave has said the same thing about Sandman in the past. If that (as opposed to praising skill and ability) is not vampiric and ghoulish, what is? "On a broader scale, the newsgroup was filled with articles moaning that Eric Bischoff didn't get powerbombed through a table on Nitro, followed by oh-so-much praise for him taking that bump at the Bash. Not one person that I read, and I have tried hard to read everything, has commented on that angle being a great way to wash away any memory of the `Do you work for the WWF?' question, heat up the story-line, and make some money. Instead, one moron complained that Bischoff wasn't paralyzed. Others have called it the highlight of the show, presumably because of the violence involved, not explicitly because it will pop a big buy for the next show. "Everybody seems to be praising the Benoit vs. Sullivan brawl, while the mere fact that Sullivan was in it and basically sucked big time as always is forgotten. Sure, Benoit worked damn hard and took some insane stuff (door on the head -- notice Sullivan took it on the shoulder, tumble down the stairs), but he was completely wasted in this brawl. It works a bit as a one-time oddity deal and had what I thought was a strong post-match angle added to it, so I didn't mind it too much, but 'BEST MATCH!!!' post worthy? It wasn't even a match. "There's a strange phenomenon at work in pro-wrestling fandom that confuses violence with wrestling. Violence (& blood for that matter) has its place in wrestling, but just like its absence doesn't kill a good product (see All Japan), its presence shouldn't make an otherwise poor product good. Here, I'm thinking of the Japanese gore groups, not ECW, which has a much better record of tracking down good-to-great workers and letting them work. But ECW still wouldn't have had such a high violence & blood component for so long if its fans didn't want it. Those morons at ringside that bring all of the objects with them are absolutely scary. And it's those fans that ECW profiles on TV, not the Bleacher Bums, etc." Cut to Stu Saks' column from the Sept/96 issue of PWI. "I thought I was in hell. Men were brawling recklessly, chairs were crunching skulls, and garbage cans were pounding backs. One-by-one, more men kept joining the fray. The fans' screams of delight were drowned out by blaring rap music. I was there, yet I wasn't. Everyone was involved in some way or another. Battlers. Spectators. Sound men. Security guards. Not me. I was merely an observer. Close enough to sense the raw emotions of the event, but far enough away to feel protected from the sheer horror of it. [snip] "`ECW!...ECW!...ECW!' the spectators chanted in unison after seeing a sampling of extreme wrestling. These are not fans of wrestlers per se; they're fans of a the concept that nothing is to be held back in an effort to bring them what they want. Ever. [snip] "My walk through hell occurred in the strangest of places. This was not even the official ECW hell hole - the ECW Arena on the mean streets of South Philly. This was an auxilliary hell, in the quiet upper middle-class Philly suburb of Plymouth Meeting [snip]. "As match time approached, I hear a fan yell `ECW rules!' Talk about a classic oxymoron. I bet you could fit a copy of the ECW rulebook on one page of PWI - and still have room for pictures. There are no rules in hell. Referees? They have them, but they don't even make a pretense of counting to four when traditionally illegal tactics take place. The fans booed both referees when they finally were introduced, but I don't see why. They do exactly what the fans want them to do - nothing... [snip] "And, yes, there was wrestling at the Lu Lu Temple, too. In fact, I'd venture to say that the match between TV champion 2 Cold Scorpio and Sabu was one of the 20 best matches I have ever seen. Too bad the ECW fans didn't appreciate it. About one minute into the match, many of the fans started with that ignorant `Boring!' chant. I suppose they just couldn't wait for the wrestlers to get past that feeling-out phase before really getting down to business. But get down to business they did; more accurately, I should say get up to business. These two men performed aerial feats that rendered the term `high-risk' a gross understatement. In one memorable sequence, Scorpio had Sabu in trouble and mounted the turnbuckles. Sabu lifted himself off the canvas, ran across the ring, sprung off a chair that had been left near the ropes, and maneuvered his body so that he was able to grab Scorpio around the neck with his legs. Sabu then reversed his momentum and `Frankensteinered' Scorpio from the turnbuckles down to a table at ringside. When I was a wrestling fan, a dropkick was a spectactular move. This was beyond belief! The fans were appreciative; they should have fallen out of their seats... I guess you can't give people too much because their natural inclination is to always want more. Ultimately, you'll have nothing more to give them, and one day you may even find them chating `Boring!' rather than `ECW!'" It's Stu's second paragraph above that summarizes the shift in pro-wrestling fandom, IMO. It's broader than ECW, too, I think. Sure, along the way there is some praise for the good wrestling matches, but a brawl, even one with distinct weaknesses, pops the news group because of a handful of insane (and often nonsensical) spots. In the end, violence is the order of the day, whether it fits into a pro-wrestling context or not, and wrestling is a secondary concern. [ - ] Brian Pillman's contract signing with the WWF aired in part on Monday Night RAW this week. They suggested that Pillman had become a sedate babyface, when in reality he freaked out after the clip that aired. The loose cannon will live on in the WWF. The Observer reports that Pillman was offered a three year deal worth $1025000 from WCW, with the contentious issue being that Eric Bischoff wanted 90-day cycles built in (at which point he could terminate the contract if he saw fit). Obviously, Bischoff wanted some sort of safeguard just in case Pillman's injuries had killed his ability (Pillman had his ankle restructured with bone from his hip). The Observer also reports that WCW likely had a clause in their old contract with Pillman that allowed them to match any subsequent contract offer that Pillman gets. Just to cover that, the WWF made up two contracts with Pillman, one for three months as a non-wrestler and one for another 33 months (three years total). This way, WCW would be left out in the cold, since their clause would only cover wrestling offers and Pillman isn't a wrestler in his first contract. [Sunny][ - ] The previous In Your House: Beware of Dog PPV drew a 0.45 buy rate, without taking into account refunds. No word on the encore show. [ - ] The WWF is also reportedly trying to sign Ron Simmons. While nothing is signed yet, it also looks like Davey Boy Smith will stay in the WWF. [ - ] Along with Chris Jericho, WCW has also apparently expressed interest in Scott Levy returning to the promotion. [ - ] [RAW] beat [Nitro] on 06/10 with a 2.7 rating (4.4 share) against a 2.6 rating (4.4 share). Nitro's two hour broadcast rating is averaged. The last couple of weeks I haven't flipped the icons when Nitro won the ratings battle. Please look at the detailed ratings if you want to know the current record. [ - ] The PPV buy rates of the past six months (year or so) show that the WWF has an average buy rate of 0.80 (0.75) and average gross of $2.09-million ($1.72-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.55 (0.56) and average gross of $1.58-million ($1.62-million). The details are an interesting read. [ - ] WCW has Quake At The Lake on 07/07/96. Rumoured line-up has: * Scott Hall & Kevin Nash & ? vs. Sting & Randy Savage & Lex Luger The identity of the third man that will team with the ex-WWF guys is unknown and it's suggested in the Observer that it will be kept a secret right up until the show. The Observer reiterates that Jeff Jarrett can't be third man, although he is coming to WCW once his WWF contract runs out. [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House] on 07/21/96. Rumoured line-up has: * Curt Hennig & Davey Boy Smith vs. Shawn Michaels & ? It's rumoured that the above tag match (with mystery partner unknown) will be the fall-out from the King of the Ring main event. Talk is that tag matches will carry things into the Survivor Series as the sides expand to be four-man teams. Only thereafter will we start to get Michaels vs. Hennig matches on top. This would seem to be a big risk, so I wouldn't be surprised if things changed. Other shows that the WWF ran with tag matches on top have not drawn as well as those headlined by title matches with strong issues. [ - ] WCW has a PPV on 08/11/96. Rumoured line-up has: * Hulk Hogan vs. Giant or Hulk Hogan vs. Kevin Nash [ - ] WCW has Clash of Champions XXXIII on 08/14/96. [ - ] 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 from Caeser's Palace. It will be an outdoor show. [ - ] 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. [ - ] WWW: My home page is at http://barrow.uwaterloo.ca/~hekunze. The wrestling portion includes this post, tape lists, awards history, Japanese wrestling stuff, and other things. [ - ] 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click here to return. E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca