I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ I added an update last Sunday, following WCW's World War III. You can read it now if you want. The animated gifs in that update couldn't be uploaded since the twc-online web server has been in distress for the past week. Shortly, they will be moving to their own dedicated, faster server and these problems will no longer occur (right now, the server houses hundreds of web domains). I've just checked the server again before uploading this update: it is still not allowing any uploads. When the situation is resolved, I'll upload the images mentioned in the 11/23 TidBits as well as the actual TidBits text files. _________________________________________________________________ RAW this past Monday was a live show, which usually means we get a great show. Due to a technical glitch, I missed the two hour broadcast on TSN and had to settle for the one-and-a-half hour edited rebroadcast on Tuesday. I missed the opening tag title change, the Rocky Maivia attack (seeing only the re-cap), and the Goldust/Luna/Vader angle. The lack of talent depth in the company continues to be exposed every week. With Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart sitting out, Steve Austin perhaps never to be the same, Vader a couple of notches below his once world class ability level, Marc Mero completely dead after the gimmick change, and a lightheavyweight division with equal talent depth troubles and a reasonably pitiful tournament, there are just too many holes to poke at. The highlight of this week's RAW was Shawn Michaels finally delivering a true statement about the whole Bret Hart situation, saying "I take full responsibility for everything that has happened," or something to that effect. With Vince's financial explanation for breaching Hart's contract soundly debunked, it seems the only explanation is the one that is talked about in the locker room: Shawn having Vince's ear. This week, Shawn served up a swerve, saying that he had spoken to Bret and that the two had come to an agreement and would reveal and settle all later in the show. The commentators hyped a Shawn vs. Bret meeting later in the show as badly as WCW announcers rant on about all of the fake Stings being real. Anybody with a dougle-digit IQ knew that there was no chance of any such thing happening, so it was, ahem, little surprise when a midget dressed as Hart came out. They reenacted the Survivor Series finish, except the midget (in place of the referee and Vince McMahon) this time yelled "ring the bell!" in mock submission. They tacked a "WCW" sign on the midget's butt. For the opening of the show, Harvey Wippleman came out and did Rick Rude's shtick to the letter, with Michaels & Hunter Hearst Helmsley then tossing him aside, saying "That was an easy spot to fill." All of this would be hysterically funny, * if it didn't remind viewers of the sleaziest finish in the modern history of major league wrestling in North America, * if it didn't remind viewers that well-known WWF names have left the promotion (Bret Hart, Rick Rude, and Kevin Nash & Scott Hall & Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage & Roddy Piper before them) to head to WCW, or * if there were many good wrestling prospects in the promotion Don't get me wrong: I don't think the WWF is on its death bed like some others might suggest. I do think it's quite possible that the Michaels-led WWF will run into the same problems it ran into last time, namely a self-destructing leader who refuses to job to anybody, this time saddled with limited support in the talent roster beneath him. In last week's Observer, Dave Meltzer offered up an assessment of the promotion that echoes some of the above and other recent opinions I've offered on this page (comments below in reference to Survivor Series): "The lack of talent depth in the WWF was made even more glaring in a show format that requires so many wrestlers to work the show. Even more glaring was that the problem seems to be in the picking of talent. Historically, the WWF has always been known as `big man' territory. In the 80s, that served them in good stead because they were controlling the fan base into the idea that the steroid look was superior, and then continued to parade out an assembly line of guys who weren't generally very good workers, but provided the fans with what they wanted. In the 90s, for numerous reasons, mainly media and government pressure, things had to change, which is where Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, talented mid-card performers that were generally condiered in the 80s as not to have any main event potential due to their size, got their shot as superstardom. But even in those days, WWF still marketed successfully some marginally talented and even untalented big men to the top of cards. If you look at the undercards of WWF vs. WCW, in WCW you are filled with small men who wow the crowds with matches that get over. WWF has the same big men doing an outdated style of plodding brawling that gets no heat on the big shows, and generally Michaels and/or Steve Austin or Hart are there at the end to save the show. WCW still has the terrible main event matches, but it can't be argued with the results of the buy rates and that those terrible over-40 wrestlers that work on top draw the casual fans through their name recognition. But for every Kane, which is a gimmick that seems to be hitting it big, you have far too many Crushes, Interrogators, Brian Lees, Justin Hawk Bradshaws, and Kama Mustafas, who are all huge men with no fan appeal, or men like Faarooq and Ahmed Johnson with little ability in the ring and some, but not overwhelming, fan appeal. The wrestlers in the first two matches on this show [Billy Gunn & Jesse James & The Godwinns vs. Head Bangers & Blackjacks, Truth Commission vs. DOA] were a lot worse than I see locally with independent wrestlers with little experience. And the wrestlers they are scouting on the independent scene are closer to Brian Lees than to Shawn Michaels, both in terms of size and talent, if you get my drift. It's hard for me to understand, because the concept of when everyone in the ring is 6'5", that there are no big men in the ring who can get away with slow moving and a lack of action, but when everyone in the ring is 5'9", then a 6'3" wrestler can get away with doing big-man spots and still have a good match because size in the ring is all illusion based on who one is in the ring with. Yet we saw two horrible matches with a bunch of 6'5" guys, and no smaller, faster guys because with the exception of Taka Michinoku, the promotion has lagged to the point they are way behind the eight-ball so to speak. The political situation isn't entirely the company's fault based on who they have to deal with and WCW trying to corner the market, in making deals to shore up their depth by adding the new dimension, but the weaknesses have never been more glaring than the first two matches on this show." I don't think it's a stretch to compare the current promotional set-up to the long-standing situation in Japan between All Japan & New Japan. New Japan has a large amount of talent and has deals with other promotions to bring in lots of talent. The heavyweights, both single and tag, deliver a real mix when it comes to match quality, and are generally greatly outshone by the junior heavyweights, a division rich with loads of great workers (Shinjiro Otani, Koji Kanemoto, El Samurai, Jushin Liger, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and outsiders, like Chris Benoit and others from WCW, or, at one time, the Michinoku Pro guys). The comparison to WCW is natural, except that New Japan generally still manages to put on a solid heavyweight match more frequently, but things might change in WCW when Sting returns and Bret arrives. New Japan generally has longer matches than WCW, but that can partly be credited to North American wrestling being PPV-driven, with 2:47 long broadcast slots. Jump to All Japan. For years now, people have complained that All Japan features only a few stars: Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, and Kenta Kobashi. Jun Akiyama has managed to elevate himself to that level. Despite being a notch or two below those four, Akira Taue has also been part of the top echelon. In the WWF, you've got Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, and Vader as the three top guys from a work standpoint (discounting Austin's health problems and taking into account the absence of Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart). Like Akiyama, Ken Shamrock has improved tremendously quickly to fill an upper echelon spot, although Shamrock is nowhere close to Akiyama in ability. Undertaker plays the role of Akira Taue, figuring in to the top picture all of the time, despite not being as good as the rest. What does All Japan do to account for the lack of depth from which they have suffered for a while? They deliver tremendously realistic, serious, ahtletic, and lengthy matches. It's easily the toughest style in the world to work, perhaps exacerbating the talent depth problem since not too many Akiyama's come along, but at least the promotion is not in the dark when it comes to deciding what to push: great ability equals a slow push to the top. The WWF, unaccustomed to the talent base being so thinned out, has seemingly reverted to its roots: throw big stiffs against the wall and see who sticks. Kane might stick, but in the mean time, the undercard on major shows flounders. When it comes to New Japan and All Japan, I love New Japan for the junior heavyweight action and occasionally find a heavyweight match that rocks. All Japan rules in the heavyweight style because I don't get bored of seeing the same players put on great matches; occasionally, there's a match between younger, lighter guys that is quite good, but nowhere near the New Japan junior product. Guess what? In WCW, I love the cruiserweight action and occasionally (but less occasionally than New Japan) find a heavyweight match that is great. Things will hopefully improve when Sting & Bret get going. The WWF has had very strong main event heavyweight matches with nothing underneath. There are some potentially good heavyweight matches in the mix, but the list of strong workers is shorter than All Japan's list. As with All Japan, there will probably ocassionally be a good match between the lighter guys, but besides Taka vs. Aguila, there's really nothing on the horizon that will come close to a good WCW cruiserweight match. With all of that said, increasingly I can't understand people who cheerlead for one North American product over the other. Now that Bret Hart has left the WWF, every WWF cheerleader is pointing out that he wasn't so great after all, an opinion that doesn't even merit debate. The lightheavyweight tournament standings are: Quarter Finals Semi Finals Finals Aguila Aguila Super Loco Taka Michinoku? Taka Michinoku Taka Michinoku? Devon Storm Scott Taylor Scott Taylor Eric Shelley Brian Christopher? Brian Christopher Brian Christopher Flash Flanagan Nitro this past Monday was a pretty lacklustre show. Sure, they furthered the NWO vs. Larry Zbyszko, Hulk Hogan vs. Sting, and Kevin Nash vs. Giant story lines, but the show just didn't seem to have the fast pacing that has been the separator between Nitro and RAW in recent weeks. Overall, I found the show a disappointment. It felt like they were on cruise control, awaiting the debut of Bret Hart and what will likely be the hottest PPV match of the year at Starrcade. - Although they've lost matches in the annual All Japan tag tournament, The New Blackjacks, borrowed from the WWF, did manage to get a win over Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki. That's surely not to be interpreted as any sort of respect or push for the Blackjacks. - The WWF has Degeneration X In Your House on 12/07/97. Tentative line-up has: * Shawn Michaels vs. Ken Shamrock for the WWF Title * Vader vs. Goldust * Marc Mero vs. Butterbean in a four round tough man match * Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a boot camp match * Brian Christopher vs. Taka Michinoku for the lightheavyweight title in the tournament final - WCW has Starrcade on 12/28/97. Tentative line-up has: * Sting vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title * Kevin Nash vs. Giant * Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko It sure seems like they are building to Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero, and even towards a triangle match including Rey Misterio Jr., based on recent TV. - New Japan has its annual Tokyo Dome show on 01/04/97. Announced line-up has: * Riki Choshu's short retirement matches * Noaya Ogawa vs. Don Frye * Tatsumi Fujinamai & Osamu Nishimura vs. Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi * Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan * Shinjiro Otani vs. Great Sasuke * Koji Kanemoto vs. Kendo Ka Shin - - RAW 11/24 with a 4.1 rating against a 2.8 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. - 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