From: hekunze@barrow.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 03/13 Date: 1997/03/14 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 225403208 Sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) Organization: University of Waterloo Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ RAW ] this week featured a new opening sequence and a new theme: "RAW is WAR." I wasn't too inspired by the show, although the extra-large TV screen was pretty cool. The wrestling, on the other hand, was nothing special. It seems like Vince may be considering switching the order of the co-main events at WrestleMania by having Bret Hart capture the WWF Title on next Monday's RAW show. Not only does Sid vs. Undertaker promise to be a bad match, it seems like even Vince has decided that the PPV freshness of the pairing isn't going to draw. The promotion for WrestleMania has been incredibly poor this year based on the WWF's usually excellent standards. After getting bashed in e-mail for calling Sid vs. Undertaker a dog, I've received e-mail from some people who witnessed house show matches between the pair last year, saying that those matches were abysmal. This interchangeability of the co-main events is all part of the grand scheme of emulating the Japanese promotions that push several guys as equal, with anybody in that batch being able to beat anybody. In the WWF's case, the top batch consists of Bret Hart, Sid, Undertaker, Steve Austin, and soon Ken Shamrock. Shawn Michaels will likely be lumped in there too when he returns. The wrestling highlight of the show was the AAA trios match. Hector Garza looked alright and Heavy Metal looked great, but it was a nothing match because there enough guys involved that are not good. RAW featured ECW again this week. All of the PPV plugging for ECW in the two RAW appearances, including the excellent highlight package on Superstars, has to get you thinking that the WWF has an interest in ECW being successful on PPV. There is much postulating over whether that interest is financial. This week, Jerry Lawler and Paul Heyman had a debate in which Lawler continued to win me over with his wonderful jabs at the ECW product and fans. Earlier in the show, Taz came out to attack Lawler and Sabu attempted, and missed, a somersault tope, breaking a table. The confused commentators referred to the fallen Sabu as "Taz" several times, once again leaving the impression that important people in the WWF don't give a damn about who these ECW guys are. Before coming down to ringside, Taz gave a splitscreen interview saying that ECW hired athletes and pushed wrestlers. Despite the praise the promotion generally gets on the net and despite the fact that some good wrestlers have worked there and have been allowed to show what they can do, that statement from Taz was damn funny when, later in the show, Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Buh Buh Ray Dudley, Devon Dudley, etc., were all in the ring: athletes? wrestlers? People who praised the RAW ratings during the ECW segments last time around will have trouble explaining why RAW's rating was not increased by their promoted return. Finally, Ken Shamrock is being worked into the mix, delivering a couple of good lines to Bret Hart and giving off a good star aura, IMO. I still have to wonder (and the wonder is great enough to keep me watching) how the WWF will fit him into the upper echelon. It seems like they are going to push him as the submission wrestling king, but how are they going to convince the fans that these submissions are legitimate match-enders and not boring restholds? Given the strong predilection to delivering non-stop screw jobs at PPVs and on TV thus far in 1997 (and the WWF isn't alone in this booking strategy), are any of the guys listed in the top echelon actually going to submit cleanly to a Shamrock submission to put the hold over? Sure, Ken will get submissions from low-level guys, but more than that is required to re-educate the fans. [ - ] The Observer rated the Davey Boy Smith vs. Owen Hart European Title match at ****1/2. Agreed. [ - ] WCW has Uncensored on Sunday. Tentative line-up includes: * Team NWO vs. Team Piper vs. Team WCW in a crazy gimmick elimination match * Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko for the US Title in a no DQ match * Rey Misterio Jr. vs Prince Iaukea for the TV Title * Marcus Bagwell vs. Scotty Riggs * Glacier vs. Mortis in a martial arts match This card seems to have gotten a whole lot worse over the past week. A great wrestler, Chris Benoit, was sucked into the main even when Horsemen members (Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, Steve McMichael) were offered to Roddy Piper as teammates. One would guess that this eliminates the planned Jarrett & McMichael vs. Public Enemy match. The main event has stupid stipulations: if Team NWO wins, they can challenge for any title of their choice in any place and at any time in the future; if Team Piper wins, then Piper gets a cage match title shot against Hogan on a subsequent show; if Team WCW wins, the the NWO is banned for 36 months. Gee, what could happen? Dennis Rodman will appear on the show. Wasn't the story-line that gave rise to Uncensored based on the NWO putting the WCW Title and WCW Tag Titles on the line in one match? The stipulations for this match toss that out. WCW is getting cocky enough that they ignore basic continuity issues. The Syxx vs. Ultimo Dragon match is probably off the card now because of Syxx's injury. There are still two (and maybe three) good matches in the short line-up above, but I hope they add something else that's strong involving some of the Mexicans. I saw the god-awful Nitro segment featuring Roddy Piper and friends this past week on the Southern Ontario Nitro show. It was absolutely horrible. It kept me transfixed, though, because it was incredible to watch Piper's charisma and appeal just fail so miserably. [ - ] The WWF has WrestleMania on 03/23/97. Tentative line-up features: * Sid vs. Undertaker for the WWF Title * Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin in a submission match * Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart vs. Vader & Mankind for the WWF Tag Titles * Rocky Maivia vs. The Sultan for the IC Title * Faarooq & Crush & Savio Vega vs. Ahmed Johnson & Legion of Doom in a Chicago street fight * Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Goldust * Doug Furnas & Phil LaFon vs. Headbangers vs. Blackjacks vs. Godwinns * Flash Funk vs. Diesel [ - ] The Observer writes about the 02/21 Sabu & Rob van Dam vs. Eliminators ECW Arena match: "I guess it's an acquired taste to watch wrestling on the stunt man level and ignore the rest of the picture. The high spots are out of this worldwhen they hit, but they miss a lot, and the transitions and psychology aren't there. If you're into wrestling for high spots alone or for stunt man work this is as good a feud as it gets. But it's no better than a mid-card Mexican match with a bunch of fliers without years of experience who still miss a lot of their spots, except these matches had table and ladder spots thrown in, and they are bigger men". [ - ] I took a one-tape stab at the pile of 100+ unwatched tapes, picking the much-heralded 10/10/96 Michinoku Pro show to watch. This show featured: * Dynamite Kid & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Dos Caras vs. Tiger Mask Sayama & Mil Mascaras & Great Sasuke: A legends match that was great for nostalgic reasons, but sort of sad to watch on other counts. Obviously, all but Sasuke are not what they once were, and even with the surprising topes from Mascaras it was not a stellar match at all. I enjoyed it, despite the disappointment. * Dick Togo & Mens Teoh & Shiryu & Taka Michinoku & Shoichi Funaki vs. El Gran Hamada & Super Delfin & Tiger Mask & El Gran Naniwa & Masato Yukashiji: I had very high expectations for this match and I was disappointed. It was billed as a ***** tour-de-force, but I think I've seen better Michinoku Pro matches over the years. This was still ****1/2, but it was not a hands down match of the year winner and I'm not sure I would even place it in the top handful. Having ten wrestlers involved helped the exciting saves at the finish, but it also muddled things up a bit along the way. Still, an absolutely excellent match. * Hayabusa vs. Jinsei Shinzaki (Hakushi): Sabu has often been called "one-dimensional" in threads that discuss him; well, Hayabusa seemed to have a fractional dimension (a third?) in this match. [ - ] There is talk that the WWF is interested in Del Wilkes, who has been an All Japan regular for a while as the Patriot, where he is excellent, and worked recently as Marcus Bagwell's tag partner in WCW, where he was mediocre. [ - ] WCW has Spring Stampede on 04/06/97. Tentative line-up features: * Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa for the WCW Women's Title [ - ] WCW comes to Montreal, Quebec, making a rare visit to Canada, on 04/11/97. Planned matches include: * Hulk Hogan vs. Jacques Rougeau * Giant vs. French Canadian Pierre in a "patch match," where each wrestler wears an eye patch * Harlem Heat vs. Faces of Fear * Lex Luger vs. Steve McMichael * Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko Several matches with local wrestlers will also be added. Ric Flair couldn't appear on the show as originally planned because he won't have medical clearance until May. [ - ] New Japan has a Tokyo Dome show on 04/12/97. Featured line-up includes: * Jushin Liger vs. Great Sasuke * Great Muta vs. Masa Chono [ - ] ECW has their first PPV on 04/13/97, airing from the ECW Arena from 9pm to 11:55pm. Tentative line-up includes: * Sabu vs. Taz * Terry Funk vs. Sandman vs. Stevie Richards in a triangle match for a title shot against Raven later in the show * Shane Douglas vs. Pit Bull #2 for the TV Title * Great Sasuke & Gran Naniwa & Gran Hamada vs. Dick Togo & Taka Michinoku & Terry Boy It should be no surprise that the Michinoku Pro match, worked on three mid-February dates, was just awesome. The affiliated (?) ECV is also rumoured to be trying to get on PPV. Viewer's Choice has revealed their total hypocrisy by saying that they would consider airing a second ECW PPV they problems that they had on paper with the first show were cleaned up. This has to translate to "if the first show draws a good buy rate." [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 04/20/97. [ - ] [Nitro ] beat [RAW ] on 03/10 with a 3.5 rating against a 2.4 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. [ - ] The PPV buy rates of the past six months (year or so) show that the WWF has an average buy rate of 0.49 (0.59) and average gross of $1.21-million ($1.54-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.68 (0.64) and average gross of $1.97-million ($1.90-million). The details as they stand are available. [ - ] 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. [ - ] 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