From: hekunze@math.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 06/19 Date: 1997/06/20 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 251445548 Sender: news@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca (news spool owner) Organization: University of Waterloo Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling [Wrestling TidBits] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apologies for not updating the page last week. I was bogged down with midterms: preparing, administering and marking them. Combine that with preparing for lectures and I had no time to log in. I'd hoped that I would be able to update the page on Friday (one day late), but I never found the time. Sorry. In July, my e-mail address will change to match my web page info. I'm moving from the machine "jeeves" to the machine "math." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ - ] WCW had the Great American Bash this past Sunday. I gave the show a slight thumbs in the middle, mostly because the main event and the opener were very good matches. A quick run-down: o Ultimo Dragon beat Psicosis with the Dragon sleeper, named after Tatsumi "Dragon" Fujinami. The match was very good, with lots of good wrestling. A very good opener. o Harlem Heat beat the Steiners by DQ when NWO's Vincent interfered on the Steiners' behalf. This was a lame ending to make the point that the Outsiders are afraid of the Steiners and wanted to thwart their opportunity at becoming number one contenders. There was nothing really noteworthy in the match. The down-time of the show had begun. o Konnan beat Hugh Morrus with a clean submission victory. The match was nothing special, but, despite the praise that some would heap on Morrus, that is about what I expected. Maybe I'm still coloured from seeing Morrus work in FMW as Crash the Terminator, but he just isn't rounded enough to be a good singles wrestler. o Glacier pinned Wrath. I don't like this whole martial-arts sub-world of WCW. The matches are nothing to get excited about. Wrath pulled out more than usual by hitting a somersault cross-body block off the apron, but a single spot hardly makes a match good. Three nothing matches in a row. Boy, I miss the Mexicans and other Cruisers. o Akira Hokuto beat Madusa, with Madusa putting her career in WCW on the [ Madusa vs. Akira ] line. They spelled Hokuto's name "Hukuto" on the big screen, as they have done in numerous promos and Lee Marshall, brought out as an expert on women's wrestling (like he's an expert on anything to do with wrestling), followed Madusa's poor lead and called Hokuto "Akita" at least a few times. The match was nothing special. I'd like to believe that Hokuto could still pull out her usual ***** classic if she had a good opponent, but she clearly sees no need to bother for WCW, while in matches with Madusa. Speculation has Madusa taking on a role as a heel valet, maybe with the NWO. o Chris Benoit beat Meng in a death match. It was really just another submission match. No matter how hard they have pushed Meng as a monster, and even though Benoit put his finisher over clean last time around, he's still a slow-moving, uncharismatic, comparatively unskilled wrestler who can't inspire fans to care. Benoit was great when he was on offence, but the match was terrible when Meng had his turn at bat. The finish had the commentators screaming that Meng would never submit to Benoit's Cross-face Crippler, something they have said about every name wrestler and every submission move for so many years that submission moves have no impact in North America, but this time Meng did tap out. The match was nothing special, but Benoit was great, and I do give WCW credit for trying to get some submissions over and trying to get "tapping out" over as a means of submissions. o Kevin Greene beat Steve McMichael when Jeff Jarrett's interference backfired. I don't like watching non-wrestlers pretend to wrestle, so this match left me unexcited. In different ways, both football players have some potential to be stars in wrestling, but they don't deserve marquee status, putting on a match that almost any non-wrestlers could work. o Scott Hall & Kevin Nash beat Ric Flair & Roddy Piper, when Piper was pinned while Ric Flair was off in the back chasing Syxx. Flair was great at the start, but when he tagged Piper in, the match went way downhill. Flair looks old but can still work. Piper looks old. Two basically bad matches in a row. o Randy Savage beat Diamond Dallas Page in an anything goes, fall count anywhere match. A pretty darn good match, to my surprise. I'm still surprised that Page can deliver reasonably high quality matches. They wrestled a bit, brawled a bit, and delivered a mixed match that was not even close to Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania, but was still pretty good. Kimberley looked great and came across believably when Savage went after her (mentioned because she usually looks phony). [ - ] The WWF had its annual King of the Ring PPV on 06/08. I thought it was a lacklustre show with one very good match (with a poor finish) and one pretty good match (due to one wrestler's performance). From the top, o Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Ahmed Johnson is a poor opener. This wasn't as godawful as their RAW match, but it was still bad. Helmsley, despite the promise of his rookie period, has never matured into a well rounded wrestler. Instead, he's stuck as a mediocre performer with great hair. Johnson has a couple of nice power spots, but he should be relegated to tag matches until he learns to put things together (I'm not at all sure that that day will come). The explanation of why Helmsley was re-entered into the tournament was swept under the rug because everybody knew it made no sense (the original referee misinstructed Helmsley so he somehow believed that he could get DQed and advance in the tournament?). o Mankind beat Jerry Lawler in the second poor match in a row. Mankind doesn't seem to be over as a face even though Vince laughs at his double entendres now and Jim Ross tells me the fans are popping loudly. Jerry Lawler is an embarrassment who works the microphone well. This match was just over 10 minutes long; when Lawler is given 10 minutes that tells you the depth isn't there. o Goldust beat Crush in the worst match of the first three, setting a terrible tone for the PPV. By this time, I was really hoping that Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin would be able to save the show. Crush is brutal and Goldust had no hope of getting anything out of him here. o Owen Hart & Jim Neidhart & Davey Boy Smith beat Hawk & Animal & Sid. Two of the six wrestlers can work, but they are on the same team. Another match that just killed time. Sid's return to the WWF has had a tremendous impact on the promotion, delivering a terrible RAW main event and a second bad performance here. Because of the injuries to the good workers, when Sid was gone all this time, it was hard to realize how big of a negative impact he has on the product. At this point, the show had amongst the worst opening set of matches I can remember in recent times. o Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Mankind to win the King of the Ring title. The first good match, made good by Mankind's performance. The crowd seemed to be bored by the match, even chanting "boring" at times. It had a lot of lazy time in it, but Mankind delivered a very good performance before the match was over. The commentators did a good job of pushing his gutsiness. Still, it ended flat, because Helmsley won, and surely didn't deliver a noteworthy performance in either of his matches. o Shawn Michaels & Steve Austin went to a double disqualification finish that seemed to have been booked on a napkin thirty seconds before bell time. The work from these two guys easily outclassed everything else on the show. Michaels' return to the promotion was a much-needed boost to the average level of work & workrate on WWF shows. Michaels was tremendous in this match, but the finish was completely uncreative and weak. Austin hit his finisher and had Michaels pin, but the referee couldn't count, having been knocked down earlier, so Austin nailed him with the Stone Cold Stunner as well. Michaels superkicked Austin and had him pinned, but the second referee didn't count, instead checking on the welfare of the first, so Michaels superkicked him as well. The third ref DQed both of them. The only good part of the finish, which still could have been done with a different in-ring finish, had Michaels and Austin leave the ring simultaneously, with neither wanting to walk done the aisle behind the other, trash-talking at each other all of the way. o Undertaker beat Faarooq to retain the WWF Title. Undertaker woke up for twenty seconds and hit a plancha, but then promptly went back to sleep. Much like Wrath's one high spot, that hardly makes the match good. Faarooq can't do anything. This match ended the show on a weak note. Ahmed Johnson ran in at the end and power bombed Undertaker, hinting Ahmed's upcoming turn. I'd give this show a slight thumbs down. It was one good match short of meeting the mark of the Great American Bash. Mankind vs. Helmsley was Benoit vs. Meng, with one wrestler putting on a very good performance and the other wrestler being comparatively weak. The Michaels vs. Austin match had a horrible non-finish, while the Bash had a muddled, screwy finish to its main event. But the Bash still had Dragon vs. Psicosis on the undercard, to put it clearly ahead of the KotR. All of this will change should the WWF's much talked-about lightheavyweight division actually use the Michinoku Pro guys. [ RAW ]was once again a mixed bag this week. Brian Pillman returned to the ring and had a match with Steve Austin that was a lot poorer than anything they would have done several years ago, but Pillman is working under completely different circumstances these days. The ECW/USWA/WWF angle got its first national light. Since most people on the net know about what's been happening in each promotion, the angle probably made sense to us, but it surely had to confuse people who only watch the WWF. Brian Christopher wrestler Chris Candido, while Paul (E. Dangerously) Heyman did commentary alongside Vince McMahon and Jim [ ECW ] Ross. They talked about Candido being Skip in the WWF and Paul said that wrestlers leave the WWF to come ECW. Heyman then blurted out that Brian Christopher was Jerry Lawler's son, leading to Lawler coming out and a weak brawl involving guys that the crowd in attendance didn't know at all. ECW icon, the Sandman, ran in the ring and crotched Lawler with his cane. And I thought Crush would be the worst wrestler to be on the WWF screen in the past week. Ahmed Johnson officially joined the NOD in a transparent angle. Faarooq had announced that there would be two new members in the NOD unveiled this evening. The first was Kama Sutra, er...Kama Mustafa, and the second remained a mystery. The commentators wondered aloud who the second member could be, to the point that everybody watching should have been able to figure it out. They still feigned surprise when Ahmed did the turn. It did seem to get a good reaction from the crowd, but it will be interesting to hear how they explain these two bitter enemies joining up (surely, it's a black thing). Obviously, they abandoned the idea of bringing in Charles Wright as Papa Shango again, opting instead for the NOD character. The Observer reported last week that the idea of Shango having raised Undertaker from the dead was abandonded. No word on if this means that the whole story-line gets abandoned. They clearly have to have some reason for Undertaker staying with Paul Bearer. This could turn into a Black Scorpion thing. The biggest news to surface over the past two Monday Night RAWs involves Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels. On 06/09, both wrestlers were slated to appear on the show; however, things got ugly in the locker room and the current status of Michaels with the promotion remains unknown. [ Extremely Classy Wrestling ] The Observer writes, "Hart wound up getting into Michaels dressing room and the two began arguing. There were eye witnesses to this which basically said they argued and started fighting, and it was rather quickly broken up. Most versions have it that Hart was screaming about how Michaels' comments [regarding Sunny, on RAW] affected his personal life and he crossed the line and that Michaels was a smart-ass back. The two went at it, with most versions having it that Hart started it but Michaels was every bit as guilty in precipitating it. It was believed to have been a one-sided short tussle which resulted in a few punches thrown and a large clump of Michaels' hair being pulled out of his head to the point it was described that Michaels was given a major bald spot. Michaels face was all puffed up from the punches and he was bleeding from the elbow, apparently from being thrown on the floor. Hart apparently aggravated his recently repaired knee, but none of the injuries were serious. Agents Jerry Brisco and Pat Patterson and some other wrestlers quickly broke it up with Hart on top of Michaels pounding on him, and Brisco and Hart argued loudly back and forth in another locker room for a long time before Hart finally left the arena at about 8:30 p.m. without appearing on the television show." There has been much speculation about whether Michaels would be willing to return the job favour from WrestleMania to Bret Hart. The shoot style interviews that have become vogue in recent times apparently placed several straws on backs which couldn't hold them. Steve Austin, who had banged up his good knee at the PPV the night before, had been scheduled to face Brian Pillman on RAW, but was going to be replaced by Michaels. When Michaels left after the altercation with Bret, the show had to be rebooked quickly. The upshot of the changes is that Ken Shamrock gets plopped into Michaels' spot while Vince figures out if the relationship is salvageable. So, on the 06/16 RAW show, Jim Ross actually mentioned the fight last week and then the announcement was made that the WWF was going to run a tag tournament to determine the top tag team. Mankind begged Steve Austin to let him be his partner, but Austin brushed him off. Ken Shamrock challenged Austin to a match on the show, since he had been sneak-attacked by Austin last week. This will likely build to Austin and Shamrock having mutual respect for each other. On 06/10, one day after Shawn Michaels walked out of the promotion in a huff, Vince McMahon released a memo saying, "Last night in Hartford, Shawn Michaels breached his contract by refusing to perform. We are hopefull Shawn will reconsider his position and return to work. Shawn has four years to go on his five-year contract." It is well known that Michaels wants to jump to WCW, but that he is stuck in the WWF contract. However, unlike past WWF contracts where a performer could be forced to the sidelines (or voluntarily walk out) and not receive any pay while his contract ran out, Shawn's contract has a "down side guarantee," which means that he gets paid $15K a week minimum for the duration of his contract. Obviously, if he works, he can earn much more than that. But if he decides he really wants to leave, he can drain $750K a year from the WWF by sitting on the sidelines. Surely, that is a situation that Vince McMahon can't accept. But can he accept letting Shawn leave and show up in WCW? On the 06/16 RAW, it was suggested that Michaels would return in four to six weeks from the injuries suffered in the fight with Bret. That time can be used to try to soothe things over with Shawn, but from the sounds of things, he's anything but happy. Could Vince really have him return to the ring and not program him against the Harts, who Shawn has said he doesn't trust any more (to not shoot)? Would Shawn want to return if he wasn't headlining when he can just as easily draw $15K a week by sitting out? More trouble plagued the WWF this week. While driving to Ottawa on the weekend, Sycho Sid, Dan Kroffat, Doug Furnas, and Flash Funk (hey, why are these guys travelling together?) were involved in a car accident. Reports are that Sid, who was driving, took his eyes off the road while opening the sun roof of their rental car. Funk and Kroffat will be able to return quickly, but Sid and Furnas suffered some injury. Furnas broke his collar bone. I have seen some reports saying that Kroffat suffered the shoulder injury, but I have read Furnas as the victim. Goldust is being dropped into Sid's place for the upcoming PPV in Calgary. [ - ] The ECW deal with the WWF and USWA will apparently lead to an interpromotional match at SummerSlam or the following In Your House. [ - ] In an interesting blurb on the Monday night war, the Observer writes, "If one or both shows are money losers, it makes the fact that each group seems to focus its resources primarily on Monday night that much more curious. Television has traditionally when it comes to wrestling been a loss-leader, the shows themselves don't make the company money but are used to promote events and push merchandise. However, with Titan and WCW both not wanting to spend that much time doing hard-sells during the show for PPVs because of fear of viewers switching, and if the shows aren't making money on their own, the strategy of fighting for ratings numbers above all else is really preplexing since ratings numbers aren't where the money is made, and any study of pro-wrestling world-wide shows that there is no correlation between good ratings and drawing crowds or running a profitable company. The bottom line for a company is just that, the bottom line. WWF lost $4-million when it had Monday to itself and was drawing big ratings each week. WWF was said to ahve been profitable last year while ratings were at their all-time low, so to me that says the obvious purpose of television is not to draw ratings, but to put on shows that draw money. The angles, such as the return of Shawn Michaels, are better saved for PPVs than blown on free television for whatever miniscule ratings bump they deliver." [ - ] WCW is not without its own backstage problems. The ongoing friction between Ric Flair & Roddy Piper and Kevin Nash & Scott Hall & Syxx persists, but thanks to talent depth in the company, programs can be switched so that Flair & Piper can remain separate from the Wolf Pack. [ - ] Del Wilkes, the Patriot in All Japan, has signed a WWF contract and will debut later this year. Sabu & Rob van Dam have both severed ties with All Japan. [ - ] The Observer reports that there is "nothing at all to the idea of Atsushi Onita doing a bomb match in the U.S." You know, Sanjay Mohanta doesn't live in town any more, but I swear I can hear him sobbing. [ - ] [Nitro ] beat [ RAW ] 06/16 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. 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. Full 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) beat Kuniaki Kobayashi (the two had a famous series of matches in late 1982 and early 1983 when Sayama wrestled as Tiger o Riki Choshu & Osamu Kido lost to Kengo Kimura & Takashi Ishikawa o El Samurai beat Koji Kanemoto to win the Top of the Super Junior tournament final o Tatsumi Fujinami & Kazuo Yamazaki &Kensuke Sasaki beat Shiro Koshinaka & Michiyoshi Ohara & Akira Nogami o Junji Hirata & Takashi Iizuka beat Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan Mask) [ - ] All Japan Pro-Wrestling had a major at Budokan Hall on 06/06/97, with Mitsuhara Misawa defeating Toshiaki Kawada to retain the Triple Crown. [ - ] The WWF has [In Your House ] on 07/06/97. Tentative line-up has: o Bret Hart & Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin & Goldust & Legion of Doom & Ken Shamrock [ - ] 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. It is speculated that he will face an American star from All Japan. [ - ] 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 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