From: hekunze@mercator.math.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 08/08 Date: 1996/08/09 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 173419959 sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TidBits will return in a couple of weeks when I get back from my honeymoon. I "walk that aisle" on Saturday. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Picture of the Week This week's picture is a collage featuring the Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada match from 05/24/96. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ New Japan juniors ] [ - ] The Great Sasuke won Jushin Liger's jr. tournament (mentioned last week) and is now the holder of the eight titles listed. Riki Choshu won the the annual New Japan G1 Climax tourney. Jushin Liger has been diagnosed with a brain tumor that may well end his career and hopefully not have a worse effect. He is scheduled to be operated on on August 23. [ - ] The Iron Sheik (Hossein Khosrow Vaziri) will return to the WWF as a coach/manager, managing a bald Fatu, who will now pretend to be from the middle east. Now, that's making a difference. Barry Windham's gimmick will have him cast as a big game stalker hunting the biggest game of all, man. Sounds like Skinner II. The Blu Twins (Bruise Brothers) will return as jobbers to the stars; by taking this spot, the kill their chances of working ECW, since jobbers for another promotion couldn't be pushed there, which says a lot about the pay difference between the two work options. There is talk that Too Cold Scorpio will leave ECW to work in the WWF. [ - ] The WWF is going all out in promoting SummerSlam. I received a postcard hyping the show and suggesting I order it. The only wrestler on the front of the card was Ultimate Warrior. The WWF has severed all ties with the Warrior and he seems to definitely be history with the promotion. [ - ] WCW has Hog Wild on Saturday. 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 The PPV will be preceded by a live two-hour Saturday Night show. Sean Waltman, the man formerly known as the 1-2-3 Kid, will debut at this show, possibly as the fourth Outsider. They may run a swerve and have Sean debut as somebody who wants to defend WCW. Everybody is expecting that Hulk Hogan will not win the WCW Title. Most people are predicting that Ric Flair will drop the US Title. [ - ] WCW has Clash of Champions XXXIII on 08/15/96. Tentative line-up has * Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair * Sting & Lex Luger vs. Harlem Heat vs. Steiners in a triangle tag match * Diamond Dallas Page vs. Eddy Guerrero * Chris Benoit vs. Giant * Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis * Konnan vs. El Ultimo Dragon * Chris Jericho vs. Hugh Morrus * Jim Duggan vs. V.K. Wallstreet * Madusa vs. Bull Nakano * Randy Savage vs. Meng Doug Furnas will debut for WCW at this show. Doug's regular All Japan tag partner, Dan Kroffat, will stay with All Japan. This Clash may well be extended to two-and-a-half hours. This show will in all likelihood mark the beginning of a program between Eddy Guerrero and Diamond Dallas Page for the US Title. [ New Japan juniors ] If you are wondering whether Madusa's return to the ring in a legitimate wrestling match (as opposed to the wedding soap opera with Sherri Martel) will lead to anything, WCW is planning on creating a WCW Women's championship. Currently, it's believed that Madusa, Bull Nakano, and Akira Hokuto are definites for the tournament to crown the champion. There is talk that Mayumi Ozaki from JWP will also be in the tourney. No details on the specifics of the tournament (time, PPV or TV?). [ - ] The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/18/96. Line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Vader for the WWF Title * Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq Asad 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 in a boiler room match * Jake Roberts vs. Jerry Lawler * Marc Mero vs. Goldust Many people are reporting that this card will mark the end of the Undertaker gimmick. [ - ] 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 07/29 with a 3.0 rating (4.8 share) against a 2.1 rating (3.1 share). Nitro's two hour broadcast rating is averaged. 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 0.74 (0.70) and average gross of $1.93-million ($1.77-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.60 (0.54) and average gross of $1.80-million ($1.28-million). The details are an interesting read. [ - ] WCW has Fall Brawl 09/15/96. Tentative line-up has: * Ric Flair & Arn Anderson & Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael vs. Hulk Hogan & the man formerly known as Razor Ramon & the man formerly known as Diesel & the man formerly known as 1-2-3 Kid in a War Games match [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House] on 09/22/96. Tentative line-up has: * Davey Boy Smith & Jim Cornette vs. Shawn Michaels & Jose Lothario * Ahmed Johnson vs. Vader for the IC Title [ - ] 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. Tentative line-up has: * Sting & Lex Luger & Randy Savage & Giant vs. Hulk Hogan & the man formerly known as Razor Ramon & the man formerly known as Diesel & the man formerly known as 1-2-3 Kid in a War Games match This leads one to draw conclusions on the finish of the 09/15 show. It would be great if they did a Memphis finish of having Jarrett interfere to give the NWO the win, perhaps by hiding under the double ring? [ - ] 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks to: Masaki Aso, Nicholas Higley. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click here to return. E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca