From: hekunze@math.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 06/05 Date: 1997/06/06 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 246524100 Sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) Organization: University of Waterloo Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both courses that I am teaching have midterms scheduled for next week, so it has been a busy week with no down time in sight. This past weekend was convocation; I received my doctorate. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ RAW ]in its second week of head-to-head combat with WCW's Monday Nitro was quite a let-down after the momentum of recent weeks, leading to an exceptional tag match on last week's show. This week, the wrestling once again returned to being pretty darn lousy. One can blame the Legion of Doom in the tag title match. But the greater regression featured the return of Sycho Sid to the WWF, facing the Undertaker on his first night back. That match was just as bad as you may remember from WrestleMania, and the run-in by the totally uncharismatic and poorly-skilled Nation of Domination made the picture at the top of the promotion seem sad again. In recent weeks, the Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart story line has been pushed to no end, making for somewhat repetitive, but great, wrestling, angles, and interviews. This week, that story line also received its time, but things seemed to move backward and be weakened: Bret Hart had to withdraw from the King of the Ring because his knee has not healed quickly enough; ditto with Brian Pillman's ankle; Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin, a battle of the tag champions, was added to KotR, since their opponents backed out, with that match now having to carry the PPV (and it surely will deliver). This left the build-up of weeks past as a memory of greatness that has stumbled, with the portion of the story line involving the Hart Foundation being particularly disappointing. Maybe the memories of the past few weeks make the return of Sid an even harder pill to swallow. The main event against Undertaker on this week's show was painful, like walking on pins and needles. Speaking of pills and needles, anybody watching has to wonder how Sid could return from a debilitating back injury, as he had claimed, and still be so huge. More opportunism, perhaps? Seeing the long list of injuries in the promotion, now's not a bad time to come back to a prime spot. The only item of note other than the disappointing shuffling of the PPV line-up and the depressing return of Sid was the interview with Mankind, acknowledging Cactus Jack's history in garbage wrestling, showing clips of various garbage wrestling stars (Shoji Nakamaki, Terry Funk, Tiger Jeet Singh) facing Jack. It was a bloody retrospective, so apparently the WWF is trying to see what it can get away with in that regard. The Observer speculates, as I did last week, that all of this build-up sure seems to be setting the stage for a garbage wrestling match in the WWF. [ - ] I managed to catch the Southern Ontario abridged broadcast of WCW Nitro last Sunday. The Mexican trios opener was a great match, but the commentary was infuriating. The Observer mentions that Mike Tenay & Konnan have been trying to make a trios match a regular part of WCW programming, but despite the praise heaped on the two past matches of this type, it never came to be. Apparently, Kevin Sullivan had other ideas. The Observer says that Terry Taylor decided to give the idea a try on Nitro, so the wrestlers did their all to make the match hot (how about that somersault tope by Calo?). Hopefully, it will win the right people over. Hector Garza looked better than he did in all of his WWF appearances. Terry Taylor is also credited for wanting to push Psicosis. [ - ] The cover story on this week's Observer focusses on the Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels controversy. Apparently, Michaels believes that Bret Hart purposely rambled over time on RAW on 05/12, so that Michaels would stand there like a fool when the show went off the air. On 05/19, Michaels showed up drunk and delivered the line about Bret "having Sunny days," which apparently upset people who thought that a drunk Michaels might have accidentally revealed a real affair between the two. The heat increased. When Bret was originally going to return around last SummerSlam, he was supposed to put Michaels over in ladder matches at the house shows, since the company was still built around Shawn at the time. Bret vetoed the idea, sitting out instead until Shawn's world crumbled. The next plan was for Bret to win the WWF Title back at WrestleMania, but Shawn bowed out of that arrangement, with the bogus career-ending knee injury. The Observer writes, "But the situation with Michaels over the past weeks has gone far deeper than making shoot comments after being told not to, slurring his words on live television, wearing a bandana on his head on television to signify to the world that he's still best friends with Kevin Nash, complaining backstage about having to do an interview putting Ken Shamrock over, or even walking out on the company the day he was supposed to drop his title, and not returning until after the WrestleMania that he was supposed to return the favor from the biggest victory of his career, thereby screwing up nearly one year of promotion and being a key factor in the show doing a poor buy rate and the company being down literally millions of dollars in revenue from its biggest show of the year. "The enigma of being arguably the most talented performer in American rings and seemingly being ill equipped emotionally to handle the spot his talent has gotten him, come out again in recent weeks. "Michaels became at odds with Vince McMahon by demanding a new contract, one that would put his pay at the same level as his rival, who fell into a bidding war and came out with the most lucrative guaranteed money contract in the history of the WWF. When McMahon turned down his demands, he gave his notice, wanting to join his `real friends' in WCW. With four years remaining on his contract, McMahon refused, and the general attitude during the week was that they had no idea where Michaels' head was and contingency plans were being made for television and the PPV and house shows if Michaels wasn't going to appear. There are reports that Michaels had a contract clause that was to guarantee him the status of being the highest paid wrestler in the company. What exactly happened, and how the contract with Hart is structured, is unknown in regard to how this has all and will all play out. In WCW, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have contracts guaranteeing them to be the second-highest paid (behind Hogan) in the company, but were both willing to waive the clause in order for WCW to sign Hart." And later, "The decision for Michaels & Austin to win the tag team titles was apparently made at a booking meeting on 5/23, although at the time the decision was made, the future of Michaels wasn't clear. Michaels showed up on 5/26, wrestled his first match since early February, and showed no signs of injury or ring-rust, and could very reasonably be described after his performance in the tag title match as being the best performer in the United States. He stood out in a match that included Austin, the hottest wrestler in the company and a top-notch worker, and the inconsistent former tag champs, who are as talented as they come when they have their working shoes on and decidedly did have them on in the television match. On 6/2, Michaels & Austin defend the belts against the Legion of Doom, who were intially promised to win the tag belts on the 6/8 PPV. Don't take that as a sign the belts are going to change hands again, just because logic seems to indicate a title change and break-up situation." [ - ] The Undertaker story, to be revealed in time, is that his parents and he were all set to be buried that fateful night in the cemetary (about which Paul Bearer spoke), but Papa Shango used his voodoo to bring Undertaker back to life. Shango has signed a four-year contract to come in with that story line. First Sid, then Shango...just when you thought the situation on top couldn't be worse. [ - ] The Observer also reports that the WWF has completed no deals with FMW, EMLL, or Michinoku Pro at this time, but that it is expected that something will be worked out with each promotion. The Michinoku guys could certainly make a lightheavyweight division fun. Scott Putski, who appeared on RAW recently and was pushed as a lightheavyweight contender, was not signed by the WWF. Paul Diamond may return as Max Moon for the lightheavyweight division. [ - ] I had the chance to watch a bit of wrestling on tape. Sanjay Mohanta has urged me to look at the 12/11/96 FMW show, so that's what I watched. The show featured: o Chikako Shiratori & Rie vs. Crusher Maedomari & Shark Tsuchiya: Shiratori is a teen idol from Jd'; she was the only wrestler to show some promise in this match. I have nothing good to say about Crusher & Shark, who did very little, turning this match into garbage wrestling by constantly using a stick wrapped in barbed wire. They didn't even have good matches when they were part of All Japan Women in the earlier 1990s. Chikako bled for those stiff and gave up the pin after a power bomb. 1/4* (all for Chikako's potential, which will likely never be realized) o Shinobu Kandori beat Megumi Kudo with a sleeper: This match was a mixed bag. Kandori is a tough opponent to have a great match with because she isn't much of a wrestler; she has a history as a judoka and, so, does a shootfighting style. Akira Hokuto, the greatest female wrestler ever (and, heck, probably the greatest wrestler ever), although you wouldn't know it from her exposure in WCW, managed to work two ****1/2 matches with Kandori, but that's exceptional. Kudo can be very good and she definitely tried hard here, still there were a lot of awkward spots (mistimed brawling on the floor, asome poor suplexes, lame kick outs, and slow work for what seemed to be designed as "surprise" quick spots). The final minutes were good, but sloppy. **3/4 o Super Leather & Crypt The Keeper beat Hideki Hosaka & Dragon Winger: Super Leather sucks. They tried to work a legit style match. Hosaka & Winger were okay, but green and sloppy. Transitions and psychology were not there. Execution of many quick spots was pretty slow. Oh yeah, Super Leather sucks. *1/2 o Gladiator beat Wing Kanemura to win the Brass Knux title: Gladiator has worked as Mike Awesome in ECW; he's had a try-out with the WWF, but they were not interested in signing him. Kanemura is a good worker. Gladiator got tangled in the ropes early on when he missed a tope. His toes were caught in the rope and he still sold it like he couldn't get free. Worse yet, the referee and a ring attendant couldn't free his toes. Kanemura hit Gladiator's knee (already wrapped in a brace) with a million chair shots. Finally, Gladiator broke free. Kanemura hit a plancha on Gladiator through a table at ringside. They used chairs and table parts for a while. Kanemura bled, of course. The insane spot of the match saw Gladiator, who had long ago forgotten to sell the severe beating to his knee, power bomb Kanemura from inside the ring out to the floor, through a table. The finish was filled with power bombs. After getting the pin, Gladiator suddenly remembered that his knee hurt and started hobbling badly for the first time in the past ten minutes. **1/4 o Great Sasuke beat Hayabusa: A mixed bag, again. It was mostly a "you do your spots, then I'll do mine" sort of match, with limited transitions between high spots and nothing unique to the pairing thrown in. Each guy seemed to work his half of the match independently from the other. It improved a lot at the end. **3/4 o Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Masato Tanaka & Atsushi Onita & Mr. Pogo beat Terry Funk & Hisakatsu Oya & Head Hunters in a tornado street fight: Almost everbody bled, most hitting a gusher. They used all kinds of objects: chairs, tables, Pogo's sickle, chains. You know how when a great wrestler retires (like Rick Steamboat, say) you feel a little bit sad knowing that you won't be seeing his brilliance again? This was Mr. Pogo's retirement, so of course I had a special feeling, the exact opposite of the feeling I had when Steamboat retired. It was exhilarating knowing that Pogo was leaving the sport after this match. There was one spot where Pogo hung a Head Hunter over the ropes using a chain and then sat on his butt applying pressure to the noose. He sat there doing nothing for a good five minutes. Terry Funk prostituted himself again, bleeding like mad and tarnishing his legend one more time. The finish saw Tanaka pin Head Hunter A after a double team belly-to-back suplex that looked good. Onita has so much charisma that he clearly stood out amongst this collection, despite the fact that nobody really did much of anything. After the pin, Onita did his usual bit on the microphone and then spit water and splashed it, too, on the ringside fans. He got Pogo involved; Pogo waved a water bottle back and forth splashing some fans and hitting his peak work rate for the night in the process. This was unadulterated garbage wrestling, so I can't give it a wrestling match rating. [ - ] [Nitro ] beat [ RAW ] 06/02 with a 3.3 rating against a 2.5 rating. The one beacon of hope for wrestling fandom is that the WWF's rating dropped to 2.3 for the Undertaker vs. Sid match. Maybe everybody was as depressed as I was. Last year. in the four weeks unopposed Monday Night broadcasts, RAW averaged a 3.7 and Nitro average 2.2 rating. This year, RAW had a 3.4 average and Nitro had a 2.8 average. 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 0.57 (0.53) and average gross of $1.39-million ($1.36-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.69 (0.66) and average gross of $2.10-million ($1.95-million). The details as they stand are available. [ - ] New Japan had a major show at Budokan Hall on 06/05/97. Partial results: o Shinya Hashimoto pinned Keiji Muto to retain the IWGP Title o Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi pinned Masa Chono & NWO Sting to retain the IWGP Tag Titles o 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 o Riki Choshu & Tadao Yasuda vs. Kengo Kimura & Takashi Ishikawa o El Samurai beat Koji Kanemoto to win the Top of the Super Junior tournament final o Tatsumi Fujinami & Kensuke Sasaki vs. Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi OharaJunji Hirata & Takashi Iizuka vs. Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan Mask) [ - ] All Japan Pro-Wrestling had 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: o Undertaker vs. Faarooq for the WWF Title o Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin o Goldust vs. Crush o King of the Ring Title Tournament semi-finals and final: Quarter Finals Semi Finals Finals Ahmed Johnson Ahmed Johnson Hunter Hearst Helmsley Hunter Hearst Helmsley (replacing Vader) Hunter Hearst Helmsley Crush Goldust Jerry Lawler Jerry Lawler Mankind Mankind Savio Vega [ - ] WCW has the Great American Bash on 06/15/97. Tentative line-up has: o Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage o Scott Hall & Kevin Nash vs. Ric Flair & Roddy Piper o Steve McMichael vs. Kevin Greene o Chris Benoit vs. Meng [ - ] 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: o Undertaker vs. Bret Hart for the WWF Title [ - ] WCW has Hog Wild on 08/09/97. Tentative line-up has: o Lex Luger vs. Giant [ - ] ECW has its second PPV on 08/17/97. [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 09/07/97. [ - ] WCW has Fall Brawl on 09/14/97. [ - ] FMW has a show in Kawasaki Stadium on 9/28/97. They have announced that Ken Shamrock will appear. [ - ] 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. [ - ] FMW has a major show in Kawasaki Stadium on 11/28/97. The scheduled main event has Atsushi Onita facing Wing Kanemura. [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 12/07/97. [ - ] WCW has Starrcade on 12/28/97. [ - ] WWW: My home page is at http://math.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. 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click here to return. E-mail: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca