From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 07/18 Date: 1996/07/18 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 168825737 sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling_TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Picture of the Week This week's picture is the final collage featuring the FMW Kawasaki Baseball Stadium show from 05/05/96. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Shawn Michaels][ - ] The WWF has [In Your House] on Sunday. Line-up has: * Vader & Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson & Psycho Sid * Undertaker vs. Goldust * Mankind vs. Jake Roberts * Savio Vega vs. Justin Bradshaw * Smoking Gunns vs. Bodydonnas * Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero Justin Bradshaw vs. Savio Vega may be the Free For All match. People expecting Sid to turn will likely be in for disappointment since he's picked up all of Ultimate Warrior's in the near future. [ - ] The Observer called the Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis match from WCW's Bash at the Beach one of the best matches of the year so far, giving it a ****3/4 rating, and putting it in the top few matches in North America this year. [ - ] Some things from the Observer that are relevant to my recent ECW-related posts. First, from Dave Meltzer's review of the Bash at the Beach: "In a double dog collar match, Nasty Boys beat Public Enemy in 11:25. Their typical match with lots of foreign objects used, lots of stiff shots and almost no selling. It was your basic bad ECW brawl match sans juice. Sags in particular was atrocious when it came to selling. This match ranged from being a great brawl in certain spots to a total cluster toward the end. There were hard shots with garbage cans and lids, chair shots, surfboard shots, etc. Rocco came off the lifeguard stand in the back and wound up hitting a chair when Sags yanked his chain for real. He went up a second time and Sags knocked down the entire lifeguard stand. They used tables. At one point Sags piledrove Rocco on the floor. Rocco put Sags through a table. Knobs did some more garbage can shots on Grunge. The match was too long for this style since there is no story or building involved so you can't be out there for a long time unless it's ECW, and these guys really got sloppy at the end. It got worse as they got one of those industrial strength tables that kept not breaking. By the end the guys were tripping over each other's chains. Finally Rocco was clotheslined with a chain and Sags pinned him. Public Enemy beat up Nasty Boys after the match. *1/4" Second, from a letter to the editor: "I want to vent something that has really been bothering me of late. That is the behavior of the ECW fans. I've loved wrestling since I was a little kid and will until I die. I must say that I'm embarrassed that people who call themselves wrestling fans would chant things like "show your tits" and "Bischoff takes it up the ass, doo dah." I'm sorry, but people who really like wrestling don't yell crude and crass remarks like the ones you hear at ECW Arena. There's a line, and they cross it. It's almost as if they are a group of people with a chip on their shoulder that have to constantly prove they are hardcore fans. A real hardcore fan doesn't have to prove it to people around him at shows. The behavior of many of the American fans at the World Wrestling Peace Festival was downright embarrassing. Are these people only happy if matches are blade fests with multiple tables broken? I'm sad to see fans acting idiotic. I know it's a fact of life, but it's still sad to see it proliferate. The behavior of those fans and the way the fans treat women at those shows is deplorable. What's next, a gang rape angle getting cheered? I don't want to hear from ECW fans who say they don't want to be lumped in with the rude ones. I'm sorry. But if a fan next to you is yelling things like "show your tits," you should tell him to shut up." [An Outsider]It's D...well, you know who it is. [ - ] Reports are that WCW has made a substantial offer to Davey Boy Smith, who is still in the process of ironing out a new deal with the WWF. Bret Hart's contract with the WWF has expired and WCW has pursued him too. The 1-2-3 Kid is heading to WCW, after Vince decided he was no longer marketable. Some Indy show had somebody work as the 4-5-6 Kid. The men formerly known as the Quebecers are supposed to start very soon with WCW, perhaps as one of the first extra additions to the New World Wrestling Organization, currently comprising Hulk Hogan, and "we know who these men are," aka the Outsiders. Ted DiBiase will come in first as a commentator. To get the feuding promotions story line over, WCW could use the precedent of New Japan supposedly buying TV time on WCW Pro late last year and have the NWO buy time as well; DiBiase could be one of the commentators. [ - ] The WWF newcomers of Freddie Joe Floyd (Tracy Smothers), TJ Hopper (Tony Anthony), and Alex Porteau seem pretty weak to me because of their gimmicks. There are a few more gimmicks to come. Ron Simmons and Barry Windham are supposed to both start soon. [Aja Kong][ - ]I had the chance to watch a few tapes this past weekend: * highlight of the weekend was the Jun Akiyama & Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue title change from All Japan. It's a definite match of the year contender. Akiyama is just incredible. Misawa is the best heavyweight champion in the world. * from All Japan women, the highlight was the Akira Hokuto & Mima Shimoda vs. Takako Inoue & Kyoko Inoue WWWA Tag title change, with the double Inoues winning the belts back in a 2 out of 3 falls classic. Another match of the year contender in my book. This show was from 01/22/96 and featured Reggie Bennett's first tope, which she nervously mentioned in her post match interview. * "Enter The Sandman" from 05/95 ECW was a big letdown. They edited the Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko 30-minute draw down to just under 15 minutes. It was the only match worth seeing. The Sandman was in the ring twice (some would write "wrestled twice," but that's a double lie). * the 02/03/96 Queens ECW show was easily highlighted by Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera, which was only about 12 minutes long and nowhere near as good as the Rey vs. Psicosis match from BatB. Steve Richards can be entertaining, but he goes on for too long. They didn't include the Chris Jericho vs. Rob van Damme match on the home video, which is upsetting, especially considering they wasted time on Buh Buh Ray Dudley vs. J.T. Smith. It's perversely funny to see Dudley's gimmick get over in the Arena. [ - ] WCW has Hog Wild on 08/10/96. Line-up has: * Giant vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title * Sting & Lex Luger vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash * Ric Flair vs. Eddy Guerrero for the US Title * Harlem Heat vs. Steiners for the WCW Tag Titles * Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan * Scott Norton vs. Ice Train * Madusa vs. Bull Nakano * Rey Misterio Jr. vs. El Ultimo Dragon or Jushin Liger This looks like a really strong show with a weak main event to me. The PPV takes place on a Saturday and will be preceded by a live two-hour Saturday Night show. [ - ] WCW has Clash of Champions XXXIII on 08/14/96. [ - ] The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/18/96. Line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Vader for the WWF Title * Ahmed Johnson vs. Owen Hart for the IC Title * Godwinns vs. Bodydonnas vs. Smoking Gunns vs. New Rockers in an elimination tag match * Psycho Sid vs. Davey Boy Smith * Undertaker vs. Mankind * Jake Roberts vs. Jerry Lawler * Marc Mero vs. Goldust It's sort of weird to not see Steve Austin's name on the list. The elimination tag match has been worked at some shows, so it should be well done. For an idea of the outcomes of this show, one need only consider the Toronto show a week later and the current finishes at the house shows: in the Vader vs. Michaels main events, Goldust interferes for the DQ and kisses a laid-out Michaels. Hmmm, I'll bet that Sid makes the save on the PPV. There's a two page spread advertising the show in my pay-TV guide. The write-up on the WWF's wrestling product is humourous and presumably not written by a WWF representative. It mentions that the WWF "has made wrestlers Hulk Hogan, Razor Ramon, Randy Savage, and Undertaker recognizable heroes and villians". It also says that the WWF's "TV audiences have doubles and their pay-per-view numbers have soared." Also, "maybe they don't really punch each other in the head before jumping up and down on each others throat Still accidents happen, muscles are pulled, ligaments are torn and a little blood flows now and then." Atrocious writing. Anyhow, one has to wonder how Rogers Cable and Viewers Choice Canada can stomach broadcasting such an event. [ - ] I've received a little more UFC-related feedback. My letter regarding the dropping of the UFC from Viewer's Choice Canada's roster (see TidBits a couple of weeks ago) has been sent up the line to senior management and I have been promised a written response in the next week or so. Stay tuned. [ - ] The WWF has the sequel to the Big Event at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto on 08/24/96. Line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Goldust for the WWF Title in a ladder match * Psycho Sid vs. Vader [ - ] [Nitro] beat [RAW] on 07/01 with a 3.3 rating (6.2 share) against a 2.6 rating (4.5 share). Nitro's two hour broadcast rating is averaged. Over the past three weeks Nitro has scored the three hhighest shares since the head-to-head competition began. The Observer reports that for the week ending 06/16, total WCW viewership was 5.73 million on 180 stations, and total WWF viewership was 4.01 million on 153 stations. The detailed ratings are a click away. [ - ] The PPV buy rates of the past six month (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. [Manami Toyota][ - ]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. This is the first show that Jeff Jarrett can work. [ - ] 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. The Observer reports that there are very serious talks about doing the show live from Tokyo. [ - ] 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. [ - ] Awards: As long-timers know, I've run the r.s.p-w year-end acheivement awards since 1990 and bowed out after last year's. Earlier this week, I was contacted by Mohammed Hashim (hashbros@batelco.com.bh), who would like to run the awards this year, with help from any other interested people. I'm not involved, but I thought I should post about it just in case (a) there are people reading this that want to volunteer, or (b) there is someone reading this that wanted to run the awards themself, etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click here to return. E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca