From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 12/19 Date: 1996/12/20 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 205046160 sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) organization: University of Waterloo newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are on the web and you aren't reading this on my web page, click here to make the leap. There are other items to browse. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. This will be the last TidBits for 1996; I'll be back the first Thursday in January. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ - ] The WWF had [In Your House ] on this past Sunday. I gave the show a moderate thumbs up because one match was excellent and two showed some glimmers of promise. The opener of the show, Flash Funk vs. Leif Cassidy, was the best match of the show and hit the **** mark, but did not exceed it. It featured the two wrestlers in the promotion most capable of working this style of match, but it didn't really build to the finish. Compare this match with either Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon or Rey vs. Psicosis from WCW PPVs this year to see the difference; these matches actually built to a hot final few minutes. The first glimmer of promise occurred in the Hunter Helmsley vs. Marc Mero. Mero is great. Helmsley is pretty good. The finish in this match (Goldust interfering) was terrible. They seem to be building to a triangle match with Goldust as the third wrestler; that would seem like it could go either way. The second glimmer was in the tag title match. The new Ramon & Diesel are pretty awful, with Ramon being particularly crummy, but Owen was just on fire in this match and made it something interesting. The finish was suprisingly good. The Undertaker vs. Executioner match was lousy. This is the second major show where the revamped Undertaker who supposedly wrestles more has been just as bad as the previous incarnation. Despite limited reports to the contrary, Terry Gordy still seems to be having trouble getting back into things; either that or he is just completely miserable in his role and didn't feel like doing anything. The Texas Death match stipulations for this Armageddon Rules match never really came into effect; they should have just made Armageddon Rules mean that there was no countout and no disqualification if this is what they were going to book. It was stupid to have the match end at the first fall. The main event was about what you'd expect when Sid is in the ring. Bret Hart may be the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be, but he's no miracle worker. [ - ] WCW has Starrcade on 12/29/96. Tentative line-up features: * Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper * Scott Hall & Kevin Nash vs. Barbarian & Meng for the Tag Titles * El Ultimo Dragon vs. Dean Malenko for the J Crown * Eddie Guerrero vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the US Title * Madusa vs. Akira Hokuto for the Women's Title * Lex Luger vs. Giant * Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Jushin Liger * Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett [ - ] Interesting comments in the Observer: "Sabu has been doing the job in all of his team's losses including doing jobs for both Kamala II and Omori, while Albright is getting the pin in most of the wins. The feeling is that he's doing okay, basically better than some thought he'd do but not nearly as good as his supporters expected him to do. Baba has allowed him to do his gimmick spots with the chairs and tables even though it's against the All Japan serious style because without the gimmick spots, he's a small, below average worker so what's the point of using Sabu if you're not going to let him be his gimmick. There were complaints from some wrestlers about it but Baba told them Sabu had his approval to do the spots." [ - RAW ] this week was relatively interesting since it was the live broadcast. Even on tape (as we see the show in Canada), the live broadcast always has a better energy than the the canned show; it must have something to do with the limited editing and the live commentary. The Southern Ontario version on CKVR (the US version airs on TSN at midnight) featured a lot of old shit plus the awesome Owen Hart vs. Raymond Rougeau boxing challenge from a Montreal house show; what a waste of time. There is much speculation that the story line will evolve to a pseudo parejas increible match (Mexican tags where wrestlers team with a foe to wrestle another friend & foe team), with Bret Hart & Sid teaming against Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin (perhaps at an In Your House pre-WrestleMania?). [ - ] [Nitro ] beat [RAW ] on 11/25 with a 3.1 rating (4.6 share) against a 2.1 rating (3.1 share). Nitro's two hour broadcast rating is averaged. Sorry to be behind on the ratings; I'll catch up in the new year. 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 0.53 (0.65) and average gross of $1.39-million ($1.69-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.60 (0.57) and average gross of $1.82-million ($1.69-million). The details are an interesting read. [ - ] "Fist of the Northstar" came out straight to video in the past couple of weeks. It's the movie featuring Leon "Vader" White as a heel (that's the way his name is listed in the credits on the box). [ - ] El Ultimo Dragon looks to be working full-time with WCW now, with the exception of limited New Japan and Mexico tours or dates. [ - ] The WWF has the Royal Rumble on 01/18/97. Tentative line-up has: * Royal Rumble, which will include some AAA wrestlers * Shawn Michaels vs. WWF Champion for the WWF Title [ - ] Let's take a look back at the year that was 1996. Who would have thought that the year that featured the big angle would also feature the advent of big wrestling, all in the same promotion? The jump of two top WWF wrestlers, Razor Ramon & Diesel, led to a heated angle in WCW that a lot of people credited with more gate power than it seemed to have. The New World Order story-line seemed to boost the Monday night ratings for WCW and draw great heat at live shows (PPVs), but the buy rates have yet to show a massive blip as a result. The company is still better off than it was in the pre-Hogan-turn days, since Hogan's lucrative contract is no more. After the success of Monday Nitro (the big story in last year's 1995 review), the Monday night war has become the focus of both companies to a large degree. So, the big angle helps satisfy WCW's business need to win on Monday. In a sense, there's really no reason to offer much more...but they did. The Cruiserweight division, led by Dean Malenko and Rey Misterio Jr., was typically responsible for the quality wrestling matches on WCW shows; the addition of other AAA (now Promo Azteca) wrestlers to the mix helped keep things interesting. Rey Misterio vs. Psicosis on 07/07 and Rey vs. Ultimo Dragon on 11/24 were likely the two best matches in North America this year. The promise is still there and WCW seems committed to offering this style of match on every show, even though the commentators, with the exception of Mike Tenay, have yet to offer any quality commentary. WCW is also committed to the big angle. They've continually upped the ante by bringing in more wrestlers that have broad recognition. Roddy Piper. In the new year, Curt Hennig. They made a solid play for Bret Hart, to the point that Hart himself only had complimentary words on a live RAW interview. Everything isn't rosy in WCW if you are a fan cut from the same cloth as I am. Besides the Cruiserweight stuff, there's Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero, and maybe a few more guys of interest. The tag scene, despite it's depth is still weak, IMO. The women's title could offer solid mediocre matches as long as Madusa is in all of them. Women's wrestling in North America will never reached the heights of 1993 All Japan Women. Still, the old ruler for a thumbs up PPV was one great match and WCW has delivered that, and usually exceeded that, on the majority of its shows this year. There is a rich potential for quality matches as long as the guys in the big angle don't cross over into the matches involving the guys that can wrestle. Things haven't been so smooth in the WWF. Besides the losses of talent over the year, capped with the desperation deal to keep Bret Hart, the comparative lack of talent depth has really hit hard. The promotion has had little real change in talent over the year, with the notable exceptions being the ascension of Steve Austin to the top level and the arrivals of Marc Mero and Doug Furnas & Phil LaFond. That, in itself is not a real criticism. Look at All Japan: they've run with Misawa & co. vs. Kawada & co. for so long; despite Kenta Kobashi's climb, the guys on top have changed little. The difference is that while All Japan is headlined by Kobashi, Kawada, and Misawa, almost everybody on the roster is a damn capable wrestler; to me, the mix doesn't get boring because everything is so darn good. The WWF is also now headed by an awesome threesome: Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, and Sid; okay, psyche (Syche?) on that last one. Maybe Steve Austin should be listed at the real third worker. After the aforementioned Mero, Furnas, and Kroffat, who's left that's a star worker? Vader has only shown something in a couple of matches in the WWF. Helmsley is a mid-carder. Goldust is mostly sad. Flash Funk & Leif Cassidy (whose contract is still in limbo, it seems) offer some promise, and in some ways are more versatile workers than anybody else listed in the WWF. Rocky Maivia? The Gunns? Ahmed? Faarooq? That brings us to the big difference between WCW and the WWF. In the WWF, the great wrestlers (Bret, Shawn, Austin) are involved in the big angle, while in WCW the great wrestlers are separated from the big angle. Some might think this is a good thing (does Martha Stewart watch pro-wrestling?), but it generally hurts the PPV shows, I think. The typical WWF PPV show had no quality wrestling underneath, unless Marc Mero or Steve Austin were working the show. There were no quality angles or story lines on the undercard either. It's all locked into the typically great (until the addition of Sid) main events. The Undertaker lumbered through the year with supernaturally stupid story-lines, undergoing many changes along the way (the loss of Paul Bearer, many tainted losses against Mankind, returning with a more wrestling-oriented, cough...cough, style) and, at the end of the year, he still seems as abysmally unenthusiastic and incapable as always. The word most often used to describe the WWF's booking style this past year was "desperate." Again, I don't think that's a particularly bad thing for them if they make money or for me if they put on matches that I like. So, fans of "Japanese Jr." style (for lack of a better description) have the Cruisers to cling to and fans of other quality wrestling have guys like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels, and Bret Hart to cling to, but what about fans of garbage wrestling? That's where ECW comes in. Despite the recent cries from long-time ECW fans that the promotion now caters to the bloodthirsty vampire fans, who we are to believe only this year appeared in force for the Arena shows, the fact remains that bloody, violent, unrealistic brawls, crazy stunts that hardly fit in wrestling matches, vulgar language, and poor treatment of women have been staples of the promotion's extreme style since Paul Heyman has been running the show (and before). Oh yeah, there's that one great match on every ECW show (Rey vs. Juventud, Eddy vs. Dean, etc.) that I just love, and, yeah, during those matches, at least, Joey Styles, can be one heck of a great commentator. But the blood and guts of the promotion is the stuff listed above. It always has been and to deride it now, while praising it in the past, is hypocritical. Of course, there are a lot of people that remain consistent, praising it all of the time. Those people scare me. ECW will run their first PPV next March, presumably headlined by Sabu vs. Taz. There is no question that they'll put together a show that has one great match, meaning that I would order the show (as if it would be picked up by Viewer's Choice in Canada) and probably give it a thumbs up for that one great match, but there is no question that an ECW PPV will be the most tasteless and low-class wrestling PPV to ever see the light of day. Hey, we're told they pride themselves on that. [ - ] NWO has a PPV on 01/25/97. [ - ] WCW has SuperBrawl on 02/23/97. Tentative line-up has: * Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper for the WCW Title [ - ] WCW has Uncensored on 03/16/97. [ - ] The WWF has WrestleMania on 03/23/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 04/20/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 05/11/97. [ - ] The WWF has King of The Ring on 06/08/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 07/06/97. [ - ] The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/03/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 09/07/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 10/05/97. [ - ] The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/09/97. [ - ] The WWF has In Your House on 12/07/97. [ - ] Rec.sport.pro-wrestling: Partly out of curiousity and partly because it was never really done during the debate of the potential creation of a moderated pro-wrestling discussion newsgroup (which degenerated into a battle of personalities way too quickly, drowning out all but a handful of people), I've decided to ask everybody reading this to consider answering the following survey on that topic. At first, I was going to make this a form on my web page, but you can't control anonymous submissions (only capturing domain names) that way, so e-mail it is. Please take the time to answer the following questions using the scale: * 1 - strongly agree * 2 - moderately agree * 3 - ambivalent (neither agree nor disagree) * 4 - moderately disagree * 5 - strongly disagree Here is the survey. RSPW.MOD stands for "a moderated pro-wrestling discussion newsgroup," which is just too long to type many times. * I will vote against RSPW.MOD regardless of its charter and moderator(s). * I would support anybody who has shown reasonable respect for the media (the internet & newsgroups) as moderator. * A bot can be used to filter out spams like "Make Money Fast" and the like. The next two question, with sub-questions, each deal with one type of moderation scheme * RSPW.MOD should have more than one moderator. o All submissions to RSPW.MOD must be read by all moderators. o Articles submitted to RSPW.MOD could randomly go to one of the moderators for approval. o Moderators can make the subjective decisions that may be required by some of the posting rules. * RSPW.MOD should operate under the "post until you screw up" philosophy, wherein everybody can freely post to the newsgroup until they break one of the posting rules (to be established). o A bot can be used to assist in filtering out posts from people that have broken a rule. o Breaking a rule results in a period with no posting privilege. The next batch of points deal with rule considerations. Depending on the moderation model, violating a rule could possibly lead to some sort of punishment or to your article being rejected by a moderator. I think some of these considerations are more suited to one moderation model than the other. * Flames and flame-bait should not be allowed in RSPW.MOD. * Profanity should not be allowed in RSPW.MOD because many young people would read it. * All postings to RSPW.MOD must also appear in the unmoderated rec.sport.pro-wrestling. * RSPW.MOD should not allow advertisement postings. * RSPW.MOD should not allow advertisement postings, even in .signatures. * RSPW.MOD should not permit one-or-two-line follow-ups to posts. * RSPW.MOD should not permit posts that could have their included references substantially trimmed. * RSPW.MOD should allow any posting that mentions pro-wrestling in any way. * RSPW.MOD should only allow postings that are really relevant to pro-wrestling discussion. o Posts asking for nude pictures or talking about having sex with wrestling personalities are not relevant to pro-wrestling discussion. o Posts saying "[Wrestler/Promotion] [X] rules!" are not relevant to pro-wrestling discussion. o Posts often include a mix of wrestling-related stuff and some philosophy or commentary; Moderator(s) can make the call on what gets through to RSPW.MOD. * RSPW.MOD should focus on postings that clearly further on-going discussions or generate new topics for discussion. * Posts that repeat the content of other posts (eg. results posts, but not reviews) should not be permitted. [ - ] 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click here to return. E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca