I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ - WCW had Fall Brawl this past Sunday. Once again, both on-line praise and criticism have been heaped on the show, usually with little regard for the actual quality of the wrestling. I end up on the thumbs up side this time because the undercard had some very strong matches, clean finishes were used in almost all of the matches, and the main event, while featuring good wrestling only when the focus was on Chris Benoit, had a strong angle that bodes well for some freshness in the future. Here's a rundown of the show: * Eddie Guerrero beat Chris Jericho to win the Cruiserweight title: An excellent match and a great opener for the show. Eddie is making it increasingly harder to confidently call Chris Benoit the best wrestler in the promotion. He helped Jericho deliver his best WCW performance yet. I liked the mat-wrestling at the start of the match, which then built into the quicker and more high-risk moves, but I would not be surprised if North American fans got impatient during the early part of the match; surely, it's not due to any education on the part of the American promotions that I appreciate that part of a match. Mike Tenay was out to call the match and correctly referred to a snappy roll-up pin attempt by Guerrero as "La Magistral." This is a pinning combination that has been used by El Dandy in Mexico for a long time and is now gaining prominence in the New Japan Jr. Heavyweight division. I think the match hit ****, but I wouldn't argue ***3/4. Even though they gave it twenty minutes with the ring entrances included, it really needed another five minutes at the end to build to the finish with the hot moves. Finish saw Jericho attempt a superplex, but Eddie rolled over and landed on top -- Jericho didn't completely free Eddie's head, which actually made the spot seem less cooperative than it sometimes looks, and, since Guerrero was clearly on top for the bump, it was believable that Jericho suffered the brunt of the damage. Eddie then hit a frog splash for the pin. Eddie will face Rey Misterio Jr. in the future, surely an incredible pairing. * Steiners beat Harlem Heat: Steiners have not done much for me in a long time, having their shining moment in 1991 when they faced Kensuke Sasaki & the awesome Hiro Hase in those legendary matches. Nowadays, they are lazy and sloppy, delivering a few exciting spots in every match, but nothing to hold it together. That compares well to other "legendary" teams who had their hey-day years back too; for example, the above description applies to the Road Warriors, too, provided you stop at the word sloppy. Anyhow, this match held no surprises. Towards the finish, everybody just came and went from the ring as they pleased, making it seem pretty darn messy. There were nice suplexes. Heat did the Heat Seeker dropkick on Rick Steiner. Finish saw Scott German suplex one of the Heat as Rick hit a clothesline on him. The tag scene in this country is pathetic. The only promising pairing in the big two seems to be Vader & Patriot vs. Owen & Bulldog, adding in Furnas & LaFon when they return. WCW's tag picture is weak. * Alex Wright beat Ultimo Dragon to retain the TV Title: The second strong match on the show. Having signed a new contract, Alex is in for a push, and he does deserve one. Dragon is such a crisp wrestler we should add him to the Benoit & Guerrero mix as one of the top workers in North America. Once again, they were given the time to build a pretty good match, 23 minutes with ring entrances. It's nice that they have turned the TV Title into a secondary Cruiserweight belt; the talent depth of the Cruiserweight division is such that they can easily afford this luxury and hopefully promote storylines surrounding each belt. This compares exceptionally well to the floundering lightheavyweight division of the WWF, which only has one marquee worker in Taka Michinoku if he ever signs his contract. Alex gets a lot of heat on-line from people who don't like him, but he's a better worker and a more promising worker than Brian Christopher. Finish saw Alex get the pin with a German suplex. Mike Tenay came out to do commentary again for this match. I think his work has really helped the commentary overall during the undercards of PPVs in WCW. * Jeff Jarrett beat Dean Malenko by submission: This match would determine the challenger at Halloween Havoc for Steve McMichael's US Title. Since Jarrett has the issue with McMichael, reportedly hot at the houses, it was clear how things would go here. Jarrett is not the worker that Malenko is (what a newsflash), but he's not bad. He's saddled with working that old-fashioned Memphis style. The match was good but nothing special. * Mortis & Wrath beat Meng & Barbarian: Meng & Barbarian are pretty bad workers. Mortis has incredible potential. Wrath is a stiff. Mortis really shined in this match, making it watchable. WCW will never learn that no matter what the truth may be about Meng's & Barbarian's toughness, the average fan views them as nothing special because of their history. Thankfully, they did not go over. Mortis & Wrath did a supersuplex double team spot where Mortis sat on Wrath's shoulders and then hit the superplex. It didn't require a long set-up time, so it was a cool spot. Other than that and Mortis' potential, this match was nothing special. * Giant beat Scott Norton: A surprisingly passable match. This seemed like more of a Nitro main event match than a PPV pre-main event match. Still, it was in no way embarrassing and, in fact, both guys worked pretty hard. Giant is inexperienced and even someone of Norton's experience can't carry him to much of a match; it doesn't help that Norton has been lazy in recent years. The bout only went nine minutes with ring entrances. Norton took a suplex on the ringside floor and hit an over-the-top-rope clothesline. After a barrage from Norton, Giant kipped up, hit a drop kick, thought he was Jerry Lawler for a second and pulled down his shoulder strap, and then hit the choke slam for the pin. That move seemed to be way over with the fans. At this point, the undercard seemed finished and we were set to head into the two co-main events. The undercard was very strong. * Lex Luger & Diamond Dallas Page beat Scott Hall & Randy Savage: This was not much of a match. Even it had tried to be much of a match, it would not have stood a chance with Lex Luger and Savage in the ring. Luger's wrestling ability has atrophied to the point that even his clotheslines, one of the few moves he still does, look absolutely atrocious. Storyline took over as Luger got dropped between the two Wargames rings and was continually stomped by Hall. The referee tried to stop it, but Hall obviously watched Ground Zero and just decked him. Finally, Larry Zbyszko threw off his headset and hit the ring apron, taunting Hall and capturing his attention long enough for Luger to get in position. Larry shoved Hall, who fell into a schoolboy from Luger, with Larry delivering a fast three count. A really hokey, screwy finish. Since the match was going to stink no matter how it was booked, I'm just glad they kept it relatively short (sixteen minutes with entrances). Since the NWO team should have lost by DQ after decking the referee, the finish with them losing to Larry's three count is supposed to make WCW fans think, "oh yeah, take that!" I guess that's the idea anyhow. * Kevin Nash & Buff Bagwell & Konnan & Syxx beat Ric Flair & Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael & Curt Hennig in Wargames: Earlier in the show, during a Gene Okerlund hotline plug, the NWO team apparently injured Curt Hennig, who then failed to appear with the other Horsemen during their interview. Well, every brain surgeon in the audience could see the finish coming a mile away. The opening pairing featured the two best workers of the eight: Chris Benoit vs. Buff Bagwell. Benoit looked awesome. Bagwell looked great too. That was about the story of the match. Those two wrestlers looked strong. Everybody else didn't. Eventually, seven wrestlers were in the double cage, with the Horsemen having the next entry. Curt Hennig had shown up earlier, wanting to go in second last ahead of Flair despite his arm being in a sling. When Hennig did come in, he took off the sling and swung his arm around, indicating that it was fine. The entire angle, of course, was a ruse, and he promptly turned on the Horsemen and beat the stuffing out of Flair. McMichael & Benoit were handcuffed to the cage while Flair was demolished. Even here, Benoit did a tremendous job of trying to break free, etc. Eventually, Hennig threatened to slam Flair's head in the cage door, so McMichael gave up for his team. Hennig slammed the door anyhow. The show went off the air almost immediately, a few minutes early, with Tony Schiavone saying how terrible the situation was. It was a good main event, because of the gimmick and the angle, but the commentators were made to look like morons once again. First, they repeatedly fall for the fake Sting routine. Now, they don't for a second consider the possibility that Curt Hennig might switch sides. I know it's the only way to work the angle and have it shock those that don't expect the turn, but at some point the commentators should get a chance to look at least a little intelligent. Hopefully, somebody will be careful to ensure that the Horsemen get their revenge for the events of the past couple of weeks. So, there was really only one screw job. One might argue that Wargames was a screw job finish, but, even so, that leaves six clean finishes out of eight, one by submission. - The Observer described WWF Ground Zero as an "overall slightly-above average show," with the most memorable moments of the show being the Steve Austin angle and Shawn Michaels' performance. No question on that last part. Meltzer does describe the triangle match between Savio Vega & Crush & Faarooq as a "strong worst match of the year candidate" so I'm in strong agreement on that point. From that match description: "Lots of near falls but none were exciting. Match went too long and got really bad. In particular, Vega and Faarooq blew a neckbreaker spot worse than you'd expect from two guys in their first pro match. The match disintegrated from that point into one of the worst matches you'll ever see. Crush finally hit Faarooq with a heart punch, but before he could score the pin, Vega hit him with a spinning kick and pinned Crush. The finish would be best described as a mercy killing. -*1/2." Meltzer also buried the four corners tag match. As mentioned last week, I did add an animated gif based on the show. I tried to keep file size down, but it's big (~700K). I'm looking for feedback on the animated gifs. I was going to do something similar for Fall Brawl and it's been suggested that I do something with Japanese matches as well. I'm curious about file sizes, though. What's the cut-off file size that you can stomach? Given that upper bound for file size, would you rather have a bigger picture with fewer frames or a smaller picture with more frames? RAW this past Monday was a taped broadcast, that, as always, came off a little flatter than the live shows. The only real highlights were Taka Michinoku beating Pantera in a good lightheavyweight match and the minis Max Mini & Mr. Lucky beating Piratita Morgan & El Torito. Luckily, Vince McMahon was not on commentary, so the butchery of Piratita's name that occurred last week was not repeated. Sunny did guest ring announcing for this match and the babyfaces tried to look up her skirt. Brian Pillman advanced in the IC Title tournament, coming to ringside with Marlena, who was dressed in a black leather outfit with a short skirt and thong underwear. It's expected that Marlena will reveal herself to be a willing participant in tormenting Goldust. Jim Cornette replaced a stunned Jerry Lawler in the second hour and delivered yet another stellar performance on commentary, actually taking the time to explain why we should care about certain matches, etc., and never taking time to get himself over. The Truth Commission appeared again and looked absolutely horrible, particularly the tall Interrogator. The current standings in the IC Title tournament: Quarter Finals Semi Finals Finals Brian Pillman Brian Pillman Dude Love Goldust Owen Hart Owen Hart Ken Shamrock Ken Shamrock Faarooq Ahmed Johnson Rocky Maivia - The WWF has One Night Only on 09/20/97 in England. Line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Davey Boy Smith * Owen Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley * Legion of Doom vs. Godwinns * Vader vs. Tiger Ali Singh * Rockabilly vs. Flash Funk * Headbangers vs. Savio Vego & Miguel Perez The show will air on PPV in Canada as a late addition by VCC. The line-up will likely change a little. - On 09/15/97, All Japan held a fan appreciation show at Korakuen Hall, with a main event of Mitsuhara Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada & Hiro Hase vs. Akira Taue & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama in a "parejas increible" match, where usual foes form a team. You know that had to be a great match, but it sounds even better with the news that it was a one-hour draw. - In what has to be a big disappointment, Masa Chono's tag partner in the New Japan single-elimination tag tournament (featured this tour in a seemingly nuts move since October has the annual Super Grade Tag League tourney) was NWO Sting. I had the chance to catch up on some Japanese TV on the weekend and have to say that NWO Sting has really improved as a worker thanks to being in that environment. - Because of the new Thursday night WCW show beginning in January, we can expect that WCW will be signing quite a few more wrestlers in the coming weeks. - I've read some confused statements about New Japan's J Crown. The J Crown originally consisted of eight titles: * WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Title * British Jr. Heavyweight Title * WWA Jr. Lightheavyweight Title (Mexico) * NWA Welterweight Title (Mexico) * UWA Lightheavyweight Title (Mexico) * IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: a New Japan belt, created in 1986 and first held by Shiro Koshinaka, who defeated the Cobra (who went on to an unmemorable unmasked career under his real name, George Takano). * NWA Jr. Heavyweight Title: adopted by New Japan in 1982, when Tiger Mask defeated Les Thornton on 05/05. The title change is not recognized in North America, where the title is abandoned in 1988. In Japan, it was abandoned in 1985, when the idea of creating the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight title caught fire. * WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title: created in 1978 when Jose Estrada (yes, the father of Jose in the Boricuas) defeats Tony Garea. Tatsumi Fujinami, touring the US, is given the belt on 01/23 and takes it to New Japan, where it has stayed. When the British Bulldogs jump to All Japan in 1984, the belt is vacated. Cobra beats Black Tiger (Mark Rocco from England) to win the belt in MSG; this is one of the great matches that is squished onto a WWF commercial tape. The belt was also abandoned in 1985 when the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title was created. With that said, there has never been a "WWF Lightheavyweight Title." Talk of New Japan breaking up the J Crown to free up the WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title for the Lightheavyweight division is nonsense. It's true that WCW was careful not include a camera shot of the WWF Jr. Heavyweight Title when Ultimo Dragon defended the straps, but that was just sensible carefulness. - FMW has a show in Kawasaki Stadium on 9/28/97. Line-up has: * Atsushi Onita vs. Wing Kanemura * Gladiator vs. Masato Tanaka * Shark Tsuchiya vs. Aja Kong * Ken Shamrock vs. Vader - The WWF has Badd Blood on 10/05/97. Tentative line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker in a cage match where the cage has a roof * Head Bangers vs. Godwinns for the Tag Titles * Owen Hart vs. Ahmed Johnson in the Intercontinental Title tournament final * Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Patriot & Vader in a flag match * Faarooq & Rocky Maivia & Kama vs. Hawk & Animal & Ken Shamrock * Brian Pillman vs. Dude Love in a falls count anywhere match It's my understanding that the cage match will feature a Thunderdome style cage that actually sits on the ringside floor; it will be chain link. They have announced that under the ring will be inspected before the match to ensure that there is no interference in this match...which of course means that the finish will be due to interference, presumably Cain getting involved in the match by misteriously coming out from the under the ring. They are apparently going to do a very slow build to the first Undertaker vs. Cain match. With the line-up announced, there's only the one possibility for the IC Title tournament final. You've got to think that the Godwinns have to go over in the tag title match since they now have the horseshoe gimmick with Uncle Cletus. Sigh. - There has been much noise on-line about a supposed tampering scam perpetrated by WCW upon ECW, in attempting to lure ECW wrestlers to WCW to work an NWO-style gimmick. The only thing that can be said for sure is that Tod Gordon's affiliation with ECW is history. The Observer makes some astute observations on the matter: "It is difficult to buy such a scenario [...] actually being able to take place in WCW. What Gordon and [Terry] Taylor were supposedly putting together begs the question as to whether Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall would allow a group of wrestlers, none with any name value to mainstream fans, do what is basically their own angle within the same promotion at a time when their angle is still, based on TV ratings and house show attendance, in its ascension rather than its decline? And even if is was on the decline, we've seen how they guard their positions and their angle. A source within WCW claimed that Gordon approached Taylor with the idea of being a manager of two or three ECW wrestlers that he would bring along, but that they nixed the idea because they didn't think Gordon would make a good manager. There are pieces of the puzzle that are somewhat curious and don't appear to add up, Gordon's being surprisingly quiet in the wake of his departure from the company he had founded, particularly since he wasn't a behind-the-scenes anonymous type money man [...]. The other is that given the opportunity to go to a major league company that is far more stable when it comes to long-term, particularly after several parties expressed dissatisfaction with PPV payoffs, to earn more money and at the same time work a less dangerous style, that at least a few of the wrestlers wouldn't have taken offers if they were serious." - Reports are that Perry Saturn's contract with WCW was a $100K, three-year deal. WCW can kill the contract in the first 90 days if Saturn's knee problems stop him from working. It should come as no surprise that his dark match debut at the 09/08/97 Nitro featured many big moves and many sloppy moves. - Barry Darsow (Blacktop Bully, Demolition Smash) was looking for work with WCW. - TSN will pick up WCW Nitro beginning 10/22/97. - - RAW 09/15 with a 3.8 rating against a 2.6 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 0.59 (0.52) and average gross of $1.51-million ($1.32-million), while WCW has an average buy rate of 0.69 (0.67) and average gross of $2.12-million ($2.02-million). The details as they stand are available. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/26/97. Tentative line-up has: * Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper in a cage * Giant vs. Kevin Nash * Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage * Jeff Jarrett vs. Curt Hennig for the US Title Surely, the last match was planned to be Jarrett vs. Steve McMichael since they have the issue, but with Hennig's title win and Jarrett's Fall Brawl victory, this is the current situation. - 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 a PPV 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. ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks to: Masaki Aso. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me