I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ Animated GIF On 08/31/93, Steve Williams beat Kenta Kobashi in 27:40 in an incredible match that ended with Williams debuting the backdrop driver. For years, what we have called a belly-to-back suplex has been called a backdrop suplex in Japan; believe it or not, Masa Saito had a great twisting backdrop suplex that looked devastating and Jumbo Tsuruta also ruled with the move. The backdrop driver upped the ante by dropping the victim seemingly straight down on his head, instead of the usual upper shoulders. This match was likely Williams' best single performance ever, with the match rivalling the Ric Flair vs. Rick Steamboat 1989 matches, but with hotter moves. The finish saw Williams hit three backdrop drivers in close succession, with Kobashi rising to his feet ever slower and groggier. The bumps on the new big move were absolutely scary and, I think, started the slow build towards increasingly-dangerous moves in the sport. Here's an animated gif (21 frames, 75 colours, ~800K) showing the first backdrop driver bump. _________________________________________________________________ RAW this past Monday was a taped show that was about the same as most taped ventures in the recent past: nowhere near as good as a mediocre live show in that same time period. The wrestling highlights were non-existent this time out. Owen Hart had a fun time wearing an "Owen 3:16" shirt, only to get stunned by Steve Austin, in the best portion of the show, IMO. The rest: Faarooq vs. Ahmed Johnson, Headbangers vs. Boricuas, Vader vs. Bulldog, Undertaker vs. Helmsley - all bad matches. The only one with potential was used to set up a run-in and hype the upcoming flag match. Next Monday, Goldust & Marlena will renew their wedding vows. There is a lot of speculation that the angle will be that Marlena actually likes being with Pillman and set up Goldust's loss of her. - FMW had a major show in Kawasaki Stadium on 9/28/97. Quick partial results: * Atsushi Onita beat Wing Kanemura with a thunder fire power bomb in a time bomb match * Masato Tanaka beat Gladiator to win the Independent World Heavyweight Title & the Brass Knucks title * Shark Tsuchiya pinned Aja Kong (now, that is depressing!) * Vader beat Ken Shamrock by knock out * Kenta Kobashi & Maunakea Mossman beat Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki During the hype for this show, Onita had the nerve to say that he would retire if he lost his match (he's only just recently "un-retired" himself from his last vowed retirement). - The WWF has Badd Blood on Sunday. 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. Faarooq in the Intercontinental Title tournament final * Bret Hart & Davey Boy Smith vs. Patriot & Vader in a flag match * Rocky Maivia & Kama & D.Lo Brown vs. Hawk & Animal & Ken Shamrock * Brian Pillman vs. Dude Love in a falls count anywhere match; if Dude wins, Goldust, who will be shackled to a ring post during the match, will get a no-DQ match against Pillman immediately - Canada's CBC ran a segment on the WWF on "Venture," a business news program. Now, the CBC has a record of being duped by the characters that populate the world of wrestling. My most notable memory is when they reported that Tiger Jeet Singh is so popular as a wrestler in Japan that he earns $60K for one match. Uh-huh. Anyhow, I wasn't really expecting any flubs of that nature on "Venture," since presumably there'd be a little bit of business awareness backing up the story. The story focussed on Carl DeMarco, the mover and shaker for the WWF in Canada, and the recent Calgary In Your House show. Here are the figures that were reported on the show: Topic Reported Figure My Comment Canadian Stampede gate $230K, a new company record $229598 real gate, plus $65K in souvenir sales Canadian Stampede PPV gross $4-million $1.32-million in North America Canadian Stampede Bret Hart autograph session crowd 3000 people One Hart Foundation autograph session reportedly drew 8000 fans Yearly salary of "star" wrestlers $3-million to $4-million cough, cough, and they showed Ahmed Johnson when they gave this number Worldwide gross revenue of all pro-wrestling promotions $500-million per year and they said this was "largely due to the WWF"; reality check: New Japan rules the roost when it comes to making money Gross revenue of WWF "last year" $200-million PPV gross revenue in 1996 was no more than $20-million; that's a lot to make up from souvenirs and house shows WWF PPVs gross as much as $7-million WrestleMania in 1996 grossed $3.66-million, in 1997 only $2.14-million Number of Canadian events promoted by DeMarco in a year 40 Number of employees at WWF HQ in Stamford, CT 250 Number of souvenir products available 400 Number of Bret Hart glasses sold worldwide 1-million, "I believe," says DeMarco - From the Observer, "With a lot of criticism about ECW being mainly sloppy brawling, Paul Heyman is trying to change the face of the company using more wrestlers underneath and in the middle. [...] The basic details are that Furnas & LaFon will be wrestling here for four to six weeks with Heyman attempting to inject some charisma into the team so they'll get over a lot bigger when they return to the WWF since they both have $250K per year guaranteed three-year deals with Titan. Heyman wanted them, because in his words, he's attempting to 're-invent' the promotion with more wrestling and the two are quality wrestlers. When it comes to lack of an ECW appearance on the Raw from Madison Square Garden, Heyman said it was because they told him about the Austin/McMahon angle and he knew there was nothing he could do that would get anyone talking about ECW with that angle so he figured there was no point in appearing on the show. A WWF source categorized it as no matter what you hear, WWF wants nothing to do with ECW as far as appearing on their television at present, but they are sending him talent and that Heyman begged WWF for Furnas & LaFon and promised that in six weeks he'd give them a gimmick that would get them over when they returned to the WWF." - The Observer also reports that Missy Hiatt & Scott Putski appeared in a risque movie on New York cable TV. So, New Yorkers, you got this on tape? Send me e-mail. - - RAW 09/29 with a 4.1 rating against a 2.7 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. I will try to update the figures by next week. - 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 * Scott Hall vs. Lex Luger with Larry Zbyszko as referee * Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. for the Cruiserweight Title Keeping in mind that the new Thursday night WCW WTBS show will mean that Nitro becomes an NWO show, you've got to think that some commentators are going to switch allegiances to man the booth. Is Zbyszko a candidate? Might this be a swerve? - 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. Tentative line-up has: * Sting vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title It's expected that Sting will win the title due to NWO interference gone awry, leading to Hogan feuding with the Wolf Pack. As long as they keep all of the basically poor wrestlers feuding with each other, I'm relatively happy. There is still a fair bit of speculation over this match. Hogan's contract with WCW is up in December, although he'll surely renew with the promotion. Hogan has veto power over his finishes, so things can be as screwy as he likes. Maybe WCW will have the balls to offer him a contract renewal contingent on him agreeing to the desired finish against the desired opponent (has to be Sting after all of this build-up). - 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