I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ - The WWF had In Your House on Sunday. It was a reasonably flat show, IMO, with both a weak undercard and a weak main event, making the absence of Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels painfully obvious. In the dark match, the LOD beat tag champs Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith by DQ. In the Free-For-All match, Rockabilly beat Jesse James; the Rockabilly gimmick seems so poor that you've just got to pray they abandon it before it does what the Red Rooster did for Terry Taylor. The promo segments during the pre-game show was awesome in getting over Ken Shamrock and Steve Austin. In the PPV matches, Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Flash Funk is a reasonable opener; I can't say that Helsmley has met any of the expectations I've had for him in the past, but he does have great hair. Mankind beat Rocky Maivia in a mediocre match, that didn't play to Mankind's strengths (Rocky hasn't developed enough to have any strengths). Ahmed Johnson beat Crush, won by DQ over Savio Vega, and was pinned by Faarooq. Ahmed was sucking wind after going under 20 minutes for all three matches. The matches were throwaways with story line being the whole point. Ken Shamrock debuted on PPV against Vader, scoring a submission win after an ankle lock. I was disappointed by this match, largely because the WWF booking had to gear the match to fans who don't understand mat wrestling. When Vader has wrestled in UWFi in Japan, the matches have often had lots of cool mat wrestling and submission attempts in them; in the promotion of this match, I had been hoping against hope that they would air some clips of Vader working in UWFi in Japan, but that was too much to ask. In North America, non-UFC fans think a fight involves stand-up competition, so this match had the guys on their feet way too much. I was expecting them to broaden Vader's repertoire by letting him mat wrestle, start educating their fans to the holds and techniques of the style, and showcase Shamrock in that style. Instead, the commentators didn't know anything about the style, Vader was the WWF's brawling "bull," and, but for the cool finish, Shamrock didn't get to dazzle us with something legitimate and dazzlingly different. The big question is what's next for Shamrock? Vader is the only WWF wrestler who could be believably hyped as being able to work the style with him, IMO, because of the history that some UWFi clips would reveal, so I really think they missed an opportunity to establish Shamrock's uniqueness. Austin lost to Undertaker in a screwy main event, muddled by Hart Foundation interference. Austin looked good, but Undertaker can't be carried to a good legit-style match. On the bright side, the only screwy finishes were Savio getting DQed and the main event. RAW this week was another enjoyable show, once again due to the one story line in wrestling that is actually exciting: Bret Hart. Once again, however, the actual in-show wrestling was nothing to get excited about, although it was better than in the past few weeks. Bret Hart derided the American fans again, much to my pleasure. He has yet to surpass the line from a previous RAW, paraphrased, "You know how I keep saying that I'm the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be? Aren't you sick of hearing that? Well, that's how the rest of the world thinks about the US." Sharp stuff. Anyhow, this time he had a surprise, but the American fans wouldn't be quiet enough for him to tell us, so he decided to wait to tell us. He came out with just a few minutes to go in the show, which unfortunately ended while he was berating Shawn Michaels, with no surprise revealed. This story line has caused a rift in my parents' household: my mom is firmly supporting Steve Austin because Bret Hart has changed and now has a gang mentality; my dad supports Bret Hart because Austin is a "hyena" who has to be handled with these tactics and the American fans don't support real wrestling skill (holding up what he has seen from ECW as a further example). After the show went off the air, Shawn Michaels superkicked a standing Bret Hart over his wheel chair, was attacked by the Hart Foundation, and saved by Steve Austin. In actual wrestling matches, Ahmed Johnson got a DQ win over Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a somewhat poor match. Scott Putski debuted, being carried to a mediocre match by Leif Cassidy, while Jim Ross Rob van Dam vs. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi rambled on about junior heavyweight wrestling; these guys did nothing to differentiate themselves from the heavyweight style that the WWF delivers, reminding me of the failed lightheavyweight title in WCW under Bill Watts. If the lighter weight guys don't do something different, something that the heavyweights by-and-large do not do, they can't be effectively promoted, because they'll always be second-rate. Putski was bad, IMO, with no transitions and a fair bit of roughness. I've seen others make that observation, too, but, nonsensically enough, those others also praise wrestlers in ECW who have the exact same weaknesses. The Legion of Doom sent PG-13 packing from the WWF; the duo is off to ECW. Undertaker, Mankind, & Paul Bearer traded interview jabs, hinting at secrets from the past; surely this means that the Black Scorpion is going to come after the Undertaker...ooops...just had a horrible flashback...it seems likely that the secrets have something to do with Charles Wright, better known as Papa Shango, who is scheduled to return as Papa. Rob van Dam appeared, dogging ECW with Jerry Lawler, and wrestling a squash. This seems like fuel for ECW's story line with Rob, a favour by the WWF, as opposed to van Dam actually working in the WWF. It was sad that they had pushed Putski as a junior heavyweight star earlier, when van Dam clearly did different stuff that could have actually made a junior division seem interesting. Faarooq tried desperately to get some heat for his King of the Ring match against the Undertaker. They did a four team elimination match that was pretty bad. Dustin Rhodes did an interview saying he loved his dad and cried while hoping that his dad was proud of him; surely that will get him over as a babyface. - WCW has Slamboree on 05/18/97. Tentative line-up has: * Ric Flair & Roddy Piper & Kevin Greene vs. Scott Hall & Kevin Nash & Syxx * Steve McMichael vs. Reggie White * Steiners vs. Konnan & Hugh Morrus * Madusa vs. Luna Vachon * Chris Benoit vs. Meng in a death match * Rey Misterio Jr vs. Yuji Yasuraoka * Ultimo Dragon vs. Steve Regal for the TV Title * Dean Malenko vs. Jeff Jarrett for the US Title * Mortis vs. Glacier - I had the chance to catch up on some video watching this past weekend, getting through ten SP tapes. First on the list was catching up on New Japan and All Japan TV. The tapes ran from mid-February through to the beginning of April. Highlight from the All Japan show was the Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Terry Funk vs. Hayabusa Toshiaki Kawada match from the 03/30/97 TV show. Unfortunately, my copy of the show had some static bursts, so it wasn't as enjoyable as it should have been. The match was a match of the year contender. New Japan TV highlight had to be the Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani match from 02/22/97 TV. Absolutely incredible match, with Liger successfully defending the J Crown against a typically passionate Otani. Only 13:00 of a 27:14 match aired on TV, but with these two it always seems safe to assume that they worked superbly in the part that didn't air. The only slight flaw was when they didn't sell an out-of-the-ring spot as long as they might have. The finish had lots of hot moves, building to Otani setting Liger on the top turnbuckle, possibly for a Frankensteiner or a superplex, but Liger knocked him off the ropes when he tried to get in position. Otani quickly rose to try again, with Liger knocking him down. Otani rose a bit slower, trying a third time, with Liger knocking him off again. Otani rose even more slowly, headbutted Liger like mad, and hit the Frankensteiner, for the best near fall of the year. Liger then slapped the heck out of Otani, winning with an open palm strike. On the following week's TV, Liger defended against Koji Kanemoto in another tremendous match, that didn't quite capture the same emotion, featuring a slightly more pronounced lack of selling (still absolutely nowhere near the routine lack of selling that takes place in North America, but not quite at the standard that these guys can be at). All three of these matches were ****3/4, but Liger vs. Otani seemed the best, from what aired on TV. The following weeks of TV had a lot of NWO stuff and usually had a great tag or six-man match involving Liger & Chris Benoit & El Samurai (three of the Horsemen) against Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa. On the garbage front, I sat through the tail end of the 10/16/94 IWA show, witnessing Crash the Terminator (now Hugh Morrus in WCW) vs. Leatherface in a barbed-wire baseball bat match that pretty much sucked, Brian Christopher & Dark Patriot (Doug Gilbert) vs. Dick Slater & Nobutaka Araya in a tag match that was mediocre at best (this was a semi final in the tag tournament to crown the first IWA Tag champions), and the Headhunters vs. Shoji Nakamaki & Hiroshi Ono in a glass death match, which was as bad as it sounds. After the match, the Headhunters tossed Shoji into one of the glass pits. I also watched the 11/13/94 IWA show, featuring a hair vs. hair fire match with Terry Funk & Hiroshi Ono vs. Shoji Nakamaki & Nobutaka Araya. It is exceedingly sad to see Terry Funk, as great as he once was, work in the garbage wrestling world, seeing him in this match this week and on the ECW PPV in two garbage matches. It's clear that he he still has the heart to want to be involved, but his body can't work a legitimate match. Finally I watched the ECW show from 08/03/96, featuring Doctor Death Steve Williams. The line-up had: Mikey Whipwreck vs. Devon Storm European Jr **1/4 0.08.40-0.23.22 ex Louie Spicolli vs. Johnny Smith *** 0.23.22-0.32.13 ex Axl Rotten vs. D-Von Dudley DUD 0.32.15-0.40.49 ex Stevie Richards vs. Sandman *1/4 0.40.51-0.53.03 ex 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Chris Jericho ***3/4 0.53.05-1.15.55 ex Pit Bull #2 vs. Shane Douglas **1/4 1.15.57-1.45.46 ex Taz & Brian Lee * 1.45.46-1.59.29 ex vs. Steve Williams & Tommy Dreamer Eliminators & Samoan Gangsta Party 1.59.27-2.13.52 ex vs. Bruiser Brothers vs. Gangstas Sabu vs. Rob van Dam **3/4 2.13.54-2.38.50 ex The best match on the show was Scorpio vs. Jericho, in Jericho's final ECW appearance. The Johnny Smith match was also quite good. Sabu & van Dam did a stretcher match, which afforded lots of wild spots, but also added a lot of garbage elements and crazy spots, with the associated sloppiness. The biggest disappointment, compounded because it was the reason I decided to watch this tape from the 100-odd tapes that sit unwatched from my thesis-writing term, was the appearance of Steve Williams. To bring in Steve for the style of match they had booked was a total waste. There were a couple of minutes where he could show us something, but otherwise it was just a nonsensical brawl. - - RAW 04/21 with a 3.38 rating against a 2.75 rating. For the next month, the shows will not be head-to-head. 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 0.55 (0.54) and average gross of $1.42-million ($1.41-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.70 (0.65) and average gross of $2.05-million ($1.92-million). The details as they stand are available. Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask - New Japan has a major show at Budokan Hall on 06/05/97, featuring: * Shinya Hashimoto vs. Keiji Muto for the IWGP Title * Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Masa Chono & NWO Sting for the IWGP Tag Titles that Kojima & Nakanishi won on 05/03/97 * Tiger King (Satoru Sayama) vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi (the two had a famous series of matches in late 1982 and early 1983 when Sayama wrestled as Tiger Mask) * Riki Choshu & Tadao Yasuda vs. Kengo Kimura & Takashi Ishikawa * Top of the Super Junior tournament final match * Tatsumi Fujinami & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi OharaJunji Hirata & Takashi Iizuka vs. Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan - All Japan Pro-Wrestling has a major at Budokan Hall on 06/06/97, featuring Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuhara Misawa. - The WWF has King of The Ring on 06/08/97. Line-up has: * Undertaker vs. Faarooq for the WWF Title * Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart vs. Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Titles * Shawn Michaels vs. Bret Hart for a WWF Title shot at SummerSlam * Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman * King of the Ring Title Tournament semi-finals and final: Quarter Finals Semi Finals Finals Ahmed Johnson Ahmed Johnson Hunter Hearst Helmsley Vader Vader? Crush Goldust Goldust? Jerry Lawler Mankind Mankind? Savio Vega Originally, the WWF had announced that Undertaker would face Ahmed Johnson for the WWF Title and that Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels would team to face Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart for the Tag Titles. It would seem that since Bret Hart can return to the ring earlier, and perhaps since Brian Pillman is becoming comfortable working on his resconstructed ankle, that the line-up was shuffled. You've got to wonder why Ahmed was dropped from the title match; oh well, either way it is a waste of a match. - WCW has the Great American Bash on 06/15/97. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/06/97. - WCW has Bash at the Beach on 07/13/97. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/03/97. Tentative line-up has: * Undertaker vs. Bret Hart for the WWF Title - WCW has Hog Wild on 08/09/97. - ECW has its second PPV on 08/17/97. - The WWF has In Your House on 09/07/97. Konnan vs. Juventud Guerrera - WCW has Fall Brawl on 09/14/97. - FMW has a major show in Kawasaki Stadium on 09/28/97. The scheduled main event has Atsushi Onita facing Wing Kanemura. - The WWF has In Your House on 10/05/97. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/26/97. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/09/97. - WCW has World War III on 11/23/97. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/07/97. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/28/97. - 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. I'm way behind on tape watching and I haven't had time to respond to tape-related e-mail. Apologies to anybody who has contacted me, but things are just too hectic for me these days. ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks to: Masaki Aso. ______________________________________________________________________