From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 01/02 Date: 1997/01/03 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 207524366 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. I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This issue of TidBits contains many left-over pictures from last year's scans. I thought it would be fun (and clear some disk space) to go over my archives and post these things. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pictures of The Week This week's pictures feature an incredible suplex by Toshiaki Kawada on Kenta Kobashi and a promo shot from the New Japan Tag Tournament. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Tiger Mask vs. Taka Michinoku ] [ - ] WCW had Starrcade this past Sunday; it was an easy thumbs up show and probably among the best shows of the year (note that that isn't saying all that much). Like all of WCW's recent PPVs, the show was structured to have a solid undercard and a crummy main event featuring the "stars," and that's pretty much what it delivered. The show opened with the three matches featuring Japanese talent. El Ultimo Dragon captured the WCW Cruiserweight Title (to go along with his eight-title J Crown) from Dean Malenko in an excellent match. The crowd seemed quite hot for this match, which is a good sign that the style of match is starting to win them over even though the commentators are generally abysmal. Mike Tenay tried to squeeze in some quality commentary amidst the pap from his colleagues. They did some mat wrestling early on to build up a solid match that had a pretty good finishing sequence. They did several false finishes that got great reactions from the crowd. Akira Hokuto captured the WCW Women's Title, beating Madusa in the tournament final. Madusa looked like she had inflated her breast implants by another cup size; too bad that doesn't improve her wrestling. It was great to see Hokuto go over, but it was sad to see her use so many stupid tactics that the North American women use(d) all of the time. Still, while the match was a mediocre effort and nowhere near what Akira has delivered over the years, it was great to see a legend like her in action go over for the first title. There's always the (likely misplaced) hope that she'll get to wrestle some quality Japanese women while she holds the title. Jushin Liger beat Rey Misterio Jr. in another excellent match. Liger has diverse experience and it showed here; he did a great job of meshing New Japan Jr. style with Rey's acrobatic Lucha Libre style. It was a treat to see the first singles match between these two excellent guys on a WCW PPV, augmented by the fact that the match was truly excellent. Mike Tenay mentioned that Liger would challenge Dragon on Saturday in the Egg Dome for the J Crown and called a lot of the moves correctly, but the other commentators drowned him out most of the time with inanities. Chris Benoit lost to Jeff Jarrett after much interference that furthered both the Benoit vs. Sullivan feud and the Jeff Jarrett storyline with the Horsemen. It was a bit muddled at the finish and it was stupid to see Sullivan dig up a wooden chair to break over Benoit's head (it's always annoying when the one unique chair in the building gets used for an angle), but Benoit, much like Akira Hokuto, is just so talented and intense that watching him is a pleasure. The final pretty good match was Eddie Guerrero vs. Diamond Dallas Page. Page still strikes me as somewhat limited, especially compared to Eddie, but they've grown to work well with each other. It was pleasant again to see Eddie go over for the US Title, meaning that a great wrestler won each of the three titles that changed hands. [ Jushin Liger & Chris Benoit ] In the lacklustre matches, Lex Luger beat the Giant in a weird spectacle. Both these guys are limited, so the match consisted of the usual Giant fare until the storyline took over. After a referee bump, Nick Patrick came down to ringside and hit the ring just as Luger was putting the Giant in the torture rack. Patrick kicked Luger's knee out in plain sight, which I guess makes him the official head referee for the NWO. Sting came into the ring with his bat, knocked Patrick out of the ring and whispered to each of the wrestlers who were draped in opposite corners (possibly) feigning exhaustion. I think Sting told Luger what the Colonel's secret recipe was and he told Giant what goes into the special sauce; Luger was possessed with the idea of owning all of the fast food industry's secrets, so he tried to get Sting's discarded bat. One groin shot and a few bat shots later and Luger had the pin. There was a subtle storyline here, since the NWO only sent Patrick and Syxx to ringside to help Giant. It was annoying to see them ignore the stipulations of their previous PPV: for some reason, the Giant, who had won a title shot at that show, now challenged Luger for a title shot. Somewhere along the way, they needed to say that the NWO didn't want to challenge their own for a title shot and that Luger was really just proving himself here to earn a title shot. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash beat Barbarian & Meng to keep the Tag Titles. This match did little for me. Hulk Hogan lost to Roddy Piper in a non-title match. It was neither the best nor worst match of the century based on work and workrate. It was pretty bad, as we'd expect; but, it will be memorable because Hogan did the job for a simple sleeper hold. After the match, Hogan blamed Giant for his losing the match, since Giant's interference didn't work out. Hogan doesn't want the Giant to turn on the NWO, so this will likely be resolved in some other way. Adding this show to the past few PPVs from each promotion makes a few things clear: * The WWF has much better (usually excellent, until Sid came along) main events. * WCW has much better undercards. * The key storylines in each promotion are quite hot. * The WWF has nowhere near the talent depth that WCW has. * The WWF is incapable of putting on matches in the WCW Cruiserweight style. * There is only one great tag team in either promotion (Phil LaFond & Doug Furnas in the WWF). [ Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid ] [ - RAW ] this past week was interesting since the show was live. That live energy can improve a mediocre show's watchability. In this case, the highlight was the live crowd reaction to Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. At the past In Your House, Shawn Michaels was noticeably pissed off when fans at ringside, if not in general, seemed to support Hart over him. So this time around, they played it safe and announced Shawn Michaels as the first interviewee to come to the ring. These two guys have very good presence and their confrontational interview, continuing the slow build to their WrestleMania match (can anyone other than Bret Hart win the Rumble?), was excellent until Sid showed up. The rest of the show was a mixed bag. Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Flash Funk didn't work too well together since they have drastically different strengths. The continuing masculinizing of Goldust and feminizing of Marlena is interesting, but will they let Goldust actually wrestle now? It's hard to believe he'll wrestle as a babyface while groping and fondling himself and his opponents, so there is hope. [ Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid ] [ - ] The WWF's Shotgun Saturday Night starts this Saturday. It's a one-hour show that will air from 11pm to midnight on most of the 20 stations that will carry it (some will air it an hour later). The wrestlers appearing on the show will be Goldust, Ahmed Johnson, and the Godwinns; most of the big names will be working a house show in California (this will become a recurrent problem since Saturday night is the best house show night). It will have some mature themes, but will not include any blood or wild brawling. [ Shawn Michaels vs. 1-2-3 Kid ] [ - ] The WWF has the Royal Rumble on 01/19/97. Tentative line-up has: * Royal Rumble, which will include some AAA wrestlers * Shawn Michaels vs. Sid for the WWF Title * Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Goldust for the IC Title * Ahmed Johnson vs. Faarooq * Undertaker vs. Vader * El Canek & Perro Aguayo & Hector Garza vs. Jerry Estrada & Fuerza Guerrera & Heavy Metal I'm quite curious to see who they get to call the AAA trios match; only Garza & Metal are young, good workers in that match. Everybody except those six Mexican wrestlers, Sid, and Shawn Michaels will be in the Rumble match as well. [ - ] The Observer reports that Eric Bischoff negotiated a three-year deal with Canal Plus, a French television network station, to air Nitro, stealing the spot that the WWF has had for nearly ten years. The deal is worth in the seven digits for WCW. [ Sunny ] [ - ] Hector Garza may come in to the WWF full time. [ - ] It's expected that Barry Windham & Justin Hawk Bradshaw will become a tag team. It's hard to believe that this idea would excite anyone. [ - ] NWO has a Clash of Champions on 01/21/97. Tentative line-up has: * Hulk Hogan & Giant vs. Lex Luger & partner * Eddie Guerrero vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the US Title * Chris Benoit vs. Kevin Sullivan in a falls count anywhere match * Dean Malenko vs. El Ultimo Dragon for the WCW Cruiserweight Title * Steve Regal vs. Rey Misterio Jr. for the TV Title * Steiners vs. Amazing French Canadians [ Taka Michinoku vs. El Samurai ] [ - ] NWO has NWO Souled Out on 01/25/97. Tentative line-up has: * Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger for the Title * Syxx vs. Eddie Guerrero in a ladder match for the US Title * Masa Chono vs. Chris Jericho Well, that second match looks like it could be great. The final match is a tough call because there is a big style clash in what those two wrestlers do to make matches great. [ - ] New Japan's Yuji Nagata starts with WCW this week. Tatanka is also expected to come in. [ - ] In his review of the most recent WWF [In Your House ], Observer editor Dave Meltzer gives a surprisingly low *** match rating to the Flash Funk vs. Leif Cassidy match, saying that "not only were there missed spots, but Funk was moving slow and the two weren't smooth and this had the look of two indie wrestlers who do a lot of Japanese and Mexican spots". [ Cactus Jack ] [ - ] ECW's PPV, tentativly scheduled for 03/30/97 or 04/13/97, is no more. There are two major PPV companies in North America: Request (the biggest in the US, with about 70% of that universe) and Viewer's Choice (with the larger foothold in Canada). By mid-to-late December, word was already around that Viewer's Choice was concerned about the product due to content that could draw heat, most notably the oft-discussed use of Sandman's son Tyler, the characterization of his mother, the treatment of women in the promotion, the blood, and the brawling in the crowds; in the end, Viewer's Choice took advantage of the escape clause in their contract with ECW and opted out of broadcasting the show. That left Request, with a sizeable share of the PPV universe, considering the idea. This past week, the president of Request announced that his company would also be opting out of carrying the ECW show, should it still take place. That leaves ECW with a few tiny PPV options, with estimates being that the show would need a 0.5% buy rate from that small subset of the PPV universe just to break even, an unlikely outcome to say the least. The show is dead. Request also cited concern about the product content. Apparently, they had also expressed concern about the same items that troubled Viewer's Choice (it seems likely that each company would find out why the other abandons a show when that happens) and Paul Heyman (Paul E. Dangerously) was adamant that an ECW PPV could not take place without those items. He was apparently willing to negotiate away whatever item most offended Request, but was unwilling to eliminate them all. Keep in mind that the primary reason that WCW and the WWF don't have intentional blood on their shows any more is because the added viewership is not worth the hassle that it brings their broadcasters and, hence, them. [ All Japan Women ] Some additional details have popped up on rec.sport.pro-wrestling. Apparently, Pro Wrestling Torch editor Wade Keller interviewed Paul Heyman, who told him that ECW had warned all of their broadcast partners and potential broadcast partners, including the PPV companies, about the most recent incident in Revere (where New Jack bladed 17-year-old Eric Kulas from ear to ear, resulting in a bloody pool that needed mounds of towels to be somewhat sopped up) and that the promotion had even sent the PPV companies a tape of the incident. According to Paul, this meant that everybody would enter into an agreement with their eyes open and would not be surprised later by this incident (or any other) seeing the light of day. Wade called Request, since Viewer's Choice had already abandoned the show, and asked them what they thought about the incident in Revere. Lo and behold, no tape had ever been received nor mentioned by ECW and Wade told them what the incident was. This seems to be the thing that pissed off many people in the newsgroup: "a reporter making the news, not reporting it." More later. Request has never received a tape of the incident. In the end, they did opt out of the show. Pointing the finger of blame for the cancellation of the ECW PPV at Wade Keller (or that goof, Bruce Mitchell) is avoiding the real issue. But let's look at the statement anyhow: "a reporter making the news, not reporting it." Every day, I read at least two daily newspapers and watch at least one TV news broadcast. Almost every bit of news that is given to me is "made" by the news media in the guise of being reported. There are simple things, like deciding the order of stories on the TV news, the layout in the paper, and the headlines. Sure, that's different from a reporter supplying a tiny tidbit of information to somebody over the phone. But there are more subtle things in the news too, like the words that get used, the video that gets used on TV, the interpretation of statistics, the spin. Those often make the news. Wrestling newsletter writers are not journalists and most journalists, it would seem, are not ideal journalists either. It's a stupid finger to point at Keller, even if Bruce Mitchell goads one into doing it; it's pettiness is transparent. The real issue is also transparent and has been so for so long that only the loudest ECW apologists have yet to see it and instead look under any rock to find another reason, all the while pointing the finger anywhere but the right place. The real issue should have leaped out at you two paragraphs ago. What word was used many times? What word has been used so many times to describes activities at the ECW Arena, in the era of the "good ECW fan" and the current era of the "vampire fans" (another apologist excuse)? INCIDENT. [ JWP Tag Action ] Remember when countless fans and several wrestlers were put at risk by fans who threw their chairs into the ring en masse? How was that incident handled by the promotion? It became the lead-in footage on their TV shows. How was it handled by the fans? They chanted "ECW! ECW! ECW!" Did one of those chair-throwing fans get barred from any future ECW shows? Remember the fire incident, when the lives of fans and wrestlers were once again put at risk? How did the promotion handle it? To their credit, they stopped using fire. But did they otherwise check the level insanity in their product, the content of their product? Remember the crucifixion incident? How did the promotion handle it? They sent Raven out to apologize for it and claim that nobody, not Paul Heyman, not Tod Gordon, had any idea that it was going to happen. Paul echoed that line to those near him in attendance. If Raven was responsible and this act was so reprehensible, why did he not get fired? The promotion decided not to release a tape of that incident. Remember the hooplah over Eric Kulas getting bladed from ear to ear, a six-inch gash that required some 50 stitches? How did the promotion handle that? Did they fire New Jack? The promotion again decided not to relase a tape of the incident. Ooops, Rob Feinstein accidentally sold 40 tapes over the next few shows before being told to kill the tape. There are other smaller incidents that have cropped up here and there over the past two years. Remember when blood disappeared from the shows for a while? How did the promotion react? The blood was brought back, of course. Remember when Kimona when out to strip for the live audience when a show was running slow? That was edited off the tape of the show. How anybody can look at the situation with the ECW PPV - the nervousness of Viewer's Choice over blood, brawling in crowds, treatment of women, Tyler, Lori, realizing that those same thoughts are echoing down the halls at Request - and decide that Wade Keller mentioning one isolated incident to Request killed the PPV is beyond me. It speaks to a total lack of logical brain function, IMO. [ JWP Tag Action ] The fact is that this out-of-sight-out-of-mind handling of almost every incident in the history of the company, coupled with a product style that Paul Heyman admits cannot survive without blood, brawling in crowds, mistreating women, and abusing a child, is what killed this PPV. The fact that Paul Heyman thinks so little of his customers or knows that his fan education has created mostly monsters is apparent by his admisstion that the ECW style must contain the reprehensible elements that it does. I would have ordered an ECW PPV if it were available; I would have traded for it if I couldn't order it. Why? That one great match on every ECW show; hell, there probably would have been two or three on a PPV, where guys with ambition were trying to sell themselves to one of the big two. But Paul knows something and freely admits it: when it comes to being a fan of some of the ECW product, I'm in the minority - most of the fans of his product want all that shit that separates ECW from WCW and the WWF. That's what killed this PPV. [ - ] 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. [ - ] [Nitro ] beat [RAW ] on 12/16 with a 3.2 rating (4.9 share) against a 2.3 rating (3.4 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 0.53 (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. [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 05/11/97. [ Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett ] [ - ] 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: The response to my mini-survey from last time made one thing clear, namely that now is not the time to pursue a moderate group. What is interesting is that all of the respondents, limited though they were, agreed that anybody who has shown respect for the media would be supported (at least by them) as moderator, regardless of individual wrestling opinions. I'm sure this topic will rear it's head again some time down the road. [ - ] Software: I did manage to get much of what I had planned software-wise done over the holidays, but there are still a few little things I want to do, including some of my own cursory testing. I think I should have something available for a few testers in January, as I suggested once before. [ - ] 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