______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ I had planned to talk about some tape-watching this week. Believe it or not, however, as I was getting ready to watch the garbage wrestling matches that resident garbage-guru Sanjay Mohanta had lined up for me, my TV stopped working. With the tape literally in the VCR and playing, the TV just conked out. I managed to get it fixed with a one-day turnaround (broken regulator IC), but I took this as a justified statement against garbage wrestling, at least for this week. _________________________________________________________________ [rm.gif] Movie of The Week Equal time. A few weeks back, I had movies of Vince McMahon appearing on "Off The Record" (see Pics page). This week, I've got yesterday night's broadcast of the interview with Eric Bischoff. _________________________________________________________________ - WCW had Uncensored this past Sunday. It was the first easy thumbs up show in what seems like a long while, as the line-up on paper indicated. The only complaints that can be made about the show are that (1) no titles changed hands (but it's weird reasoning to complain about what didn't happen) and, related, (2) no member of the group of awesome workers (Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero) was put over. It is true that once the show was over, I was a little disappointed that the bookers chose to not award a title to any of those three favourites of mine, but that doesn't reflect poorly on the quality of work that they delivered. Quick run down: * Booker T beat Eddie Guerrero to retain the TV Title: Good opener. Eddie looked absolutely fabulous and Booker T is becoming a good singles wrestler. Eddie is skilled enough to blend his style in with Booker's strengths, but they aren't really ideal opponents for each other. Chavo Jr. was at ringside scowling at Eddie, but there to support him after their wager last week. When Eddie was pinned, Chavo smiled, so Eddie beat him up. * Konnan beat Juventud Guerrera: Awesome performance by Juventud. Konnan was much better than usual, rising to meet a strong opponent but still not as good as many others in the company. Even with some minor sloppiness from Konnan, this was still a good match, in part because of Juventud's fire and in part because of the story they told, even though that story (basically Juventud never surrendering) is becoming cliche after continually stupid use of him by the bookers. Konnan did the Shinjiro Otani kicks across the face when Juventud was sitting in the corner. He didn't do it with Otani's intensity, of course. Juventud took some incredible bumps but refused to be pinned. He finally got the upper hand when Konnan did the top-rope German suplex where he hooks his own legs on the ropes to avoid going over (as an example of Konnan trying more in this match, when was the last time he did that move? the Otani kicks?). Juvi somersaulted through the suplex and started pounding Konnan, who had unintentionally left himself in a "Tree of Woe" position. Juvi eventually went for the 450 firebird splash, with Konnan moving and Juvi landing on his feet. Konnan then hit his 187 cradle DDT, signalling the finish since nobody has kicked out of that move. Juvi did kick out, to a good pop. Konnan tried another carefree cover, which Juvi reversed into a crucifix pin. * Chris Jericho beat Dean Malenko to retain the Cruiserweight Title: Exceptional match. Jericho has developed well in his new character and his work is always very good. Malenko is damn good. With entrances, they gave this match about 20 minutes. They built a great match, going to a fast-paced final few minutes. At the finish, Dean went for his reverse kick off the ropes, but Jericho caught the leg and dropped Dean into the Lion Tamer. Serveral times earlier on, Dean had avoid the Lion Tamer by going to the ropes, lending credibility to the finisher that really doesn't get over that well here because the commentators don't know how to push that sort of thing well. This final time, Dean tried to make it to the ropes, but Jericho dropped low and got the tap out, a spot that would have got a good pop in Japan after what they had built in this match. Looking back at recent history, the cruiserweight matches have been expertly booked to get Jericho's finisher over, with him reversing major maneuvers from every contender to put on his hold, but nobody really cares because the commentators are too interested in talking about Hulk Hogan and the NWO. Afterwards, Gene Okerlund raked Dean over the coals, calling him a "loser" since he had dropped his past four PPV matches. Dean said he was going home, which presumably means a return to his roots. At this point, we were fifty-five minutes into the show, with three good matches, earning it a thumbs up without even considering what was to come. * Lex Luger beat Scott Steiner: This promised to be the first crummy match of the night and it delivered. Thankfully, though, they only gave this match eight minutes, with ring entrances! They did nothing, which really helps get White Thunder over. Rick Steiner & Scott Norton came out at the finish and, amidst the distraction, Luger whacked Scott Steiner from behind with his forearm and got a quick roll-up. Surely, the finish should have gone the other way. * Diamond Dallas Page won a triangle match over Chris Benoit & Raven to retain the US Title: Somewhere along the way, they decided to make this a falls count anywhere match. The first ten minutes were great. They stayed in the ring and wrestled. DDP was dumped out by Benoit, who then laid into Raven. Benoit was the only guy who used any psychology and tried to build something with each opponent. At the ten minute mark, they brawled back to the entranceway and the garbage aspect of the match (really the strength of Raven and DDP) took over. A garbage can and a stainless steel sink were used. DDP was pitched through the "Uncensored" sign at the back, a spot that looked a bit dangerous. Indeed, DDP had a couple of scrapes and cuts because of it. Throughout the match, Benoit always seemed to bring it back to wrestling. His brawling was substantially more focused as well; I haven't been alone in calling him the best brawler going. After ditching DDP, Raven & Benoit returned to the ring, where Benoit schooled Raven. At least somebody realized that Benoit & DDP don't mix well; given that Benoit is basically the universal donor of match quality, that says a lot about DDP. DDP crawled back to the ring just in time to make a save. They did the hokey double sleeper spot, dropped into a double jawbreaker. They did a double German suplex spot. Garbage took over as a table was brought in. Lodi had a "use my sign" sign at ringside, which easily made anybody that has seen the spot in ECW know what was to come. The sign had a STOP sign inside it. At the finish, Benoit was dumped out of the ring and DDP did a crummy Diamond Cutter onto the table on Raven. A mixed bag match, with some great stuff from Benoit. The match was given 22 minutes, including entrance times. There will no doubt be people who call this the best match on the show, probably because a table was broken. * Giant beat Kevin Nash via DQ: Short match, no more than ten minutes with entrance times. They did nothing. Don't act surprised. After the circumstances surrounding their last (okay) match and the heat from Nash about taking the power bomb from Giant on TV, they just didn't seem like wanted to work with each other again. When Giant kept no-selling, the NWO ran out. Brian Adams came in with a bat and hit Giant as he was going to power bomb Nash (power bombs had been made legal for this night, so the fans expected a finish at that point). Giant broke the bat over his knee and started choke slamming the NWO jobber squad. He was about to choke slam Adams, when Nash broke a second bat over Giant's shoulder. Giant no-sold that as well and the NWO scurried away. Why Adams is being turned into an important player in the NWO is yet another of those WCW mysteries. * Bret Hart beat Curt Hennig: This was an old-style match that sort of slipped into mediocrity. Rick Rude interfered here and there, making the match more about story lines than work, which was disappointing given who was involved. Really, that sort of booking should be saved for the Lugers, Hogans, and Nashes. Bret still looked very good. Hennig was lackluster. They were given 20 minutes, including ring entrances. Hennig worked on Hart's knee, with Hart doing a good job of selling the damage throughout; that's an aspect of Hart's ring work that other heralded wrestlers don't come close to emulating. I guess the idea was that Hennig was trying to take away the Sharpshooter from Hart by injuring his leg. The commentators didn't bother to get into the psychology of the match. Eventually, of course, Hart did get the Sharpshooter on and Hennig tapped out before Rude could make his final run-in. After the match, Rude did a Rude Awakening on Hart and Hennig delivered a weak chair shot on a fallen Hart. Without Rude's interference, the basic story line of this match carried by what should have been high-quality work from both sides would have made a much stronger match. * Sting beat Scott Hall to retain the WCW Title: They did nothing. Sting has seemingly forgotten whatever he once knew. I find the routine "walk to the ring" entrance that Sting now uses to be boring after all of the "down from the rafters" stuff. Dusty Rhodes interfered freely, delivering a big elbow drop and shaking his belly welly like a bowl of jello. Hall also tried to use a foreign object to knock out Sting, but Sting kicked out. Referee Mark Curtis, looking thin but well, did a great job in the match. They ackowledged his absence, but credited Hall injuring him (which was the story line) instead of his cancer. Anyhow, Hall went for the Outsider Edge, but Sting rolled through and hit the Scropion Death Drop for the pin, since we can't have two wrestlers using the same submission finisher. * Randy Savage beat Hulk Hogan by DQ in a cage match: Imagine you see a cage match where both wrestlers bleed and even blade in plain sight, there's a highspot or two from the top of the cage, there's stiff whipping with a leather belt, there's a surprising and inexplicable turn, and there's really very very little wrestling. The match is going to get a negative review from me no matter where it takes place. But if the match involves Tommy Dreamer or Sandman in ECW, it gets raves as being a **** must-see affair. When it involves Savage & Hogan, it will likely be panned by all. IMO, it deserves panning in both venues, but that's life. Surprise, surprise, to show his control over the promotion, Hogan blades. Savage blades as well, with the combination of sweat and blood painting his face and chest red. The camera never zooms out. It was a nothing match. For some stupid reason, the referee on the floor lets the wrestlers out of the cage and then tells them to get back inside, locking the door once again. They really whipped the skin off each other's backs. Savage did a double axe-handle off the top of the cage. With Savage on top of the cage again, Ed Leslie, the Disciple, ran down to ringside, decked the referee, found the key, and entered the cage to save Hogan, once again totally killing the cage match gimmick, if it wasn't already dead. Savage climbed down inside the ring; since he was on top of the cage, he could have gone down the outside to avoid a two-on-one situation. As Hogan & Disciple move towards him, Sting came down from the ceiling to stand beside Savage. They all stared at each other, way too long. Savage clotheslined Sting, left the ring, and told Hogan "I still hate your guts," while Hogan yelled that Savage works for him. With Sting lying in the cage to potentially be thrashed by Hogan & Disciple, the show went off the air, eight minutes early. The finish was muddled. No decision was ever announced. Sting is left to the wolves, but they don't show his demolition or escape. Not a good way to the end the show, although it will likely guarantee a good TV rating for Nitro. Overall, they did a really good job of giving time to the guys that can work. Even with the minor sloppiness of Konnan and the faltering of the Hart vs. Hennig match, the workers were given substantially longer average match times, a good sign. Sure, people pay to see Hogan & the non-workers, but that type of fan will be just as happy to see those guys for less than ten minutes as they will be to see them for a longer period of time. RAW was another lacklustre taped show, this time airing in Canada one day ahead of its US broadcast date. Woo-hoo! They did a good job of pushing some of the story lines, but were also cornered into some silliness by recent injuries. First off, Rocky Maivia interfered in a Ken Shamrock vs. D-Lo Brown match, nailing Ken with a stiff chair shot at Ken's urging. They said that Shamrock had to be taken to the hospital. The match was nothing, but they did heat up Shamrock vs. Maivia at WrestleMania. Jeff Jarrett beat Tom Brandi in a squash; Jarrett's return to the Double J character came across weakly, and I'm sure that effect will increase weekly. Jarrett just hit the big time a generation too late; his style doesn't translate well in the new style, making him overrated in both of his previous pushes (in the WWF and in WCW). The Headbangers won a handicap match against Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton & Jim Cornette. Again, this wasn't much of a match, serving primarily as a backdrop for the debut of the new Midnight Express: Bombastic Bob (Holly) and Bodacious Bart (Gunn), apparently the new twin brothers from different mothers. They did a couple of double team maneuvers and surely have the ability to quickly become a cool team. Hey, a match against Roaddog & Billy Gunn (Bart's story line brother) could have potential. We'll have to see if Cornette can heat them up; they did a good job of picking two wrestlers who need Jim to speak for them. Vince McMahon did a tremendously hot interview, saying that he could have taken out Steve Austin last week, but that he didn't want Austin to miss WrestleMania because of a broken jaw. He said he didn't want Austin in as champion, suggesting that they'll do something similar to Eric Bischoff's stint as the heel executive producer of WCW. What's funny is that it's possible to interpret this direction as still playing off of the Bret Hart fiasco at Survivor Series. Vince has cockily said many times that he let Bret Hart punch him and that a subsequent encounter would end differently. Now he's turning that delusion into a worked story line with Austin that promises to offer tremendous moments. Cactus Jack surprised The New Age Outlaws by appearing late in the game to pair up with Terry Funk. Cactus managed to tie up Roaddog by the ankles and hoist him like a giant penata. They just left him hanging; Billy Gunn acted like he had no clue how to help Roaddog, even though we all saw the spot on the ramp where Cactus' rope was tied off. The commentators acted like Roaddog was still rising. A weird angle, but it's about all they could do with Roaddog injured, I guess. Hunter Hearst Helmsley challenged Owen Hart to a match; Owen had been doing commentary throughout the second hour. Hart tore up his ankle in his RAW match with Barry Windham, so they needed some way to get the title off of him, I guess, even though he said he'll be at WrestleMania. In a total cludge, that also reeked of the Bret Hart doublecross, Helmsley got Owen in the pro-wrestling version of an ankle lock submission after Chyna had nailed Owen's ankle with a bat, the new trendy foreign object once again. The ref signalled for the bell even though Owen didn't submit, just like at Survivor Series. They didn't play up the connection in either of the two incidents. This was a really weak segment. Earlier in the show, Sable had challenged Luna to a confrontation. Luna said that she would face Sable at a time of her own choosing. That time, of course, was the end of the show. The confrontation was a non-entity: Marc Mero & Goldust, along with various officials, held the women apart. They want cat-fight fans to spend the $35 for WrestleMania to see them actually lock up. Sable sold a knee injury out of the blue, the lights dimmed, and Kane came out. Mero left Sable to "get help," and before Kane could attack her, she popped one of her twin double-E's and flew across the arena landing safely on the ramp. Okay, actually Undertaker appeared, standing on the Titantron framework, did the same old interview, gestured, and a lightning bolt hit a rigged casket which opened, revealing a mannequin of sorts, which then erupted into flames. Oh man, now I'm so excited to see this match! Nitro was a three-hour show, as usual, airing in its entirety in Canada for the first time. Damn, three hours is too long for a TV wrestling show, at least with all those commercials. I'll only be watching them on tape from now on. As it was, I managed to do my taxes while watching the show, so my viewing of it was a little spotty. Bill Goldberg squashed Lodi. Ultimo Dragon got a dragon sleeper submission from Dave Finlay in a way-too-short match; Finlay changed his hair so he looks like Tom Prichard did in the Bodydonnas. He actually looked younger to me, so maybe it's not a bad thing. Scott Norton squashed Chris Adams. Jim Neidhart & Davey Boy Smith beat Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos. In what could have been the first good match of the Monday night battle, Raven faced Chris Benoit in a match that was at least given a bit of time. They announced that the winner would get a US Title shot at Spring Stampede, guaranteeing the wrong result. Sure enough, Benoit was pinned after a DDT. In a way, it's a good thing that Benoit is hopefully freed from his terrible program, but there's really no guarantee they'll move him into a better program. Yuji Nagata lost to The Cat, Ernest Miller, who now dresses in Muay Thai gear. Scott Steiner got a recliner submission from Ray Traylor. Chavo Guerrero Jr. lost to Booker T. Just when I thought there was no hope for either Monday show, they had a great little match between Juventud Guerrera & Chris Jericho. Guerrera got a DQ win when Jericho used the belt. Jericho, who was a little stiff when he started out working the microphone in this new character, has developed really nicely. WCW is really high on the guy for a reason. Giant & Scott Hall & Kevin Nash had the requisite poolside romp, with Nash jumping in the water to excape and Hall being tossed in. Silly. The main event featured Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage against Sting & Lex Luger. Sting came in by helicopter, rapelling into the ring in a great scene. Why does he have routine entrances for PPVs? Oh well, either way, he doesn't wrestle any more. The match was a throwaway. Hogan & Savage couldn't cooperate. Luger got Hogan in the "Torture Rack of Doom," as the commentators called it, and the Disciple made the save. - The WWF has WrestleMania XIV on 03/29/98. Tentative line-up seems to include: * Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels with Mike Tyson as a ringside enforcer * Undertaker vs. Kane * Terry Funk & Cactus Jack vs. New Age Outlaws for the Tag Titles in a dumpster match (casket match rules) * Owen Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the European Title * Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock for the IC Title * Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila for the Lightheavyweight Title * 15-team Battle Royal Pete Rose and Gennifer Flowers will appear as celebrity guests. Mike Tyson is apparently being sued by two women who claim he sexually assaulted them. With the current string of injuries, anything could really happen with this show. Thunder this week was a pretty darn depressing show, with one memorable moment. It seemed like the goal tonight was to book against ability as much as possible. Chris Jericho beat Super Calo. Kendall Windham beat El Dandy. Perry Saturn beat La Parka. Ray Traylor beat Barry Darsow. Prince Iaukea beat Yuji Nagata. Brian Adams beat Marty Jannetty. At this point, the depression was sinking in. Ignoring Traylor vs. Darsow which had no noticeably talented wrestlers involved, I was disappointed with the majority of the decisions. Of course Jericho should beat Calo, perhaps not so quickly, but why have all of the Mexicans job? And then throw Nagata & Jannetty onto the heap, too? Eddie Guerrero beat Psicosis with the frog splash. Okay, that's an acceptable result, but they could have done so much more. Raven further humiliated Brad Armstrong. In a moment of booking insanity, Chris Benoit lost to Scott Norton. Sure, there were some good moments from Benoit and it was the first time that Norton has looked good in months, but whose idea was it to put these two in the ring together? Mike Tenay pointed out that they were both successful wrestlers in (New) Japan; part of the reason for that is that New Japan put them in situations that played to each of their strengths. Throwing them in the ring together like this is stupid. Tenay tried to reclaim some face for Benoit by talking about his guts and determination in facing a much larger foe, but after the loss to Raven on Monday and this loss I'm wondering whose coffee Benoit spoiled. Bill Goldberg beat Wayne Bloom in the usual quick squash. The main event was Curt Hennig vs. Rick Steiner. It started at 9:56 EST. Gee, NWO interference anybody? Ray Traylor comes out to help to no avail. Things look bleak until the only (positive) memorable moment of the show: Goldberg comes out and nails Curt Hennig & Brian Adams with a double shoulder tackle, following it up by tackling Scott Norton. After that show of force, Goldberg inexplicably walks out. Steiner & Traylor manage to keep control and the NWO seems to slink off as we go to black. Despite the hot Goldberg walk-in at the end, this show totally depressed me. - Newspaper reports say that American fighter Douglas Dedge died in hospital from brain injuries after his "no holds barred" fight against Ukrainian Yevgeny Zolotaryov in Kiev on Monday. The Toronto papers billed this as "extreme fighting" and "ultimate fighting" while the Globe & Mail, Canada's national daily, called it a team fist fighting match. The Toronto Sun, in particular, had a large picture gracing the cover of today's paper with the headline "Death 'sport'". The reason that this is of interest in Canada is that the Kahnawake Indian reserve outside of Montreal is planning on holding a second NHB event in the near future. The first event, the Extreme Fighting Championship PPV in 04/96 led to numerous arrests in Quebec of both fighters and promoters. According to our criminal code, prize fighting is illegal in Canada unless it is sanctioned by a provincial board or commission. It's similar to the deal in the US and, of course, the boards & commissions want to protect boxing's interests. The Sun's more detailed story, headlined "Canadian bloodfest?", has quotes from Gary Goodridge, a UFC veteran, who calls Canada's attitude towards NHB events hypocritical and ridiculous since severe injuries can happen in other approved sports. For several years now, the UFCs and related events have not been carried by Viewers Choice Canada. - Eric Bischoff's interview on TSN's "Off The Record" aired on 03/18/98. I thought he came across tremendously well, showing a deeper knowledge and understanding of things than I would have expected. His candor was very refreshing. He quite correctly disputed Vince McMahon's claims from his interviews a couple of weeks ago: * The WWF does not beat WCW in all categories other thn TV ratings. Eric called the Monday night battle a joke. It used to be fun, he said, to look at the ratings Tuesday afternoon, but it's not even a contest any more. What about those other categories? WCW wins in PPV buy rates, which Eric called a huge revenue stream. For house shows, Eric offered that the WWF averaged 5800 people per show in 1997 compared to WCW's 5400. The Observer seems to pretty much support those figures, going further by pointing out that in the last half of the year, WCW's average gate surpassed the WWF's by a small bit. Averages can be misleading, but it's my belief that the companies are running comparable schedules these days (perhaps WCW is running more dates because of the WWF injury situation). * Is the WWF the maker of great gimmicks? Eric pointed out that Hulk Hogan was doing his shtick before going to the WWF, that Scott Hall proposed the Razor Ramon character in response to Vince's "G.I. Joe" character. Still, he admitted that a strength of the WWF is that it lets the wrestlers come into their own by working their own ideas; he just took offence to Vince then claiming credit for creating the characters. They settled in on Steve Austin, who Eric described as a big fish in a small pond, saying that he would only be able to be a mid-carder in WCW, while all the while praising his ability. * Being part of a conglomerate that includes TV stations hardly forces viewers to actually tune into WCW programming. Sure, Eric has an easier time negotiating time slots, etc., but none of it would be going the way it was if people weren't choosing to watch his product. Maybe it's the fact that Vince spent one whole episode defending himself for the Bret Hart incident, offering further variations on his story and finally admitting that he lied to Bret, but Eric came off to me as the far more grounded individual. He listed Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrero as young awesome stars that will eventually be given the reins of the promotion when the older guys lose their shine. He said that he's taking a very slow approach to booking, presumably a lesson learned from the tremendous success of Starrcade in 1997. He could rush and throw together all of the various main event pairings that the talent depth of the promotion permits, but slow brews are better. Bret Hart & Hulk Hogan will draw big money before 1998 is out, he said, but he's not rushing into it. In a way, as frustrating as it is to see the younger stars relegated to non-main event status, Eric made some sense here. Still, those guys aren't the proven superstar draws in WCW that the old guys are partly because they've never been given the chance in that position. They have drawn money in other locations. It would have been nice to see Eric put on the spot a bit about the in-fighting in WCW and the fact that friends of Hogan and Page are getting unmerited spots. Oh well, the interview was a suprisingly pleasant look at Eric. - Lotsa trouble remains in WCW. From the Observer, Nash put on a Hogan t-shirt, but seemed less than thrilled about outwardly being a good soldier for television purposes. The problems had gotten bad enough that Bischoff noted that both were under contract until the end of 2001, and basically if they wanted to quit as the subject of them getting a release was broached, they couldn't work anywhere else for that length of time, which was a reality check, but also invites people already with a reputation for being disruptive forces from working harder at living up to that reputation. Neither was at Thunder on 3/5, which i'm not clear as to whether they were kept away due to the heat being at its peak that day, whether Nash didn't come claiming a back injury (which was the excuse given on television) but do know Nash was vehement about not doing the angle on 3/2 where Giant power bombed him, but the angle, which was Hogan's idea and got a huge pop, was done anyway. The problems were much bigger than the petty storyline stuff, although Hall & Nash didn't like the pecking order stuff Hogan has been doing since it is a shoot and Ed Leslie being brought in as Hogan's enforcer has become a pretty big deal to several people. The original plan was to break up The Wolfpac from the NWO in early 1998 which would put Hall & Nash in the top program working against Hogan & Savage, but Hogan nixed the plan, basically not letting them up to his level, saying it wasn't the time to do an internal NWO feud, and immediately after started the feud, but instead to bring Savage back up to the top level and leave everyone else clearly in secondary issues. But with Hall & Nash, not to mention Ric Flair, Bret Hart and Lex Luger as well, all being off Thunder and the show being totally based around Hogan and Randy Savage, who are getting into the real personal and seemingly legitimate issues with each other which is what people want out of wrestling right now (the whole idea why Hart vs. Michaels worked so well, except their personal issues existed outside the fantasy framework), the show drew a record rating. This solidified Hogan's perception as the guy who drives the ratings and buy rates and who the company will continue to be built around. Hall finally got do to his first interview for his title match with Sting on 3/15 just six days before the show, but Hogan, after giving the strap to Sting in San Francisco, the next night on television clearly positioned the title and Sting as a second level issue. Also on 3/5, there was a heated discussion between Chris Benoit and Raven regarding their program. Benoit apparently has had the idea put in his head from many directions since just about everyone sees it the same way that Raven and Diamond Dallas Page were basically using him to have great matches, but making themselves the strong part and main focus of the issue. When the plan was made that Benoit would interject himself in their title match, but wind up being laid Out twice, first by Saturn's RINGS, and second by Raven DDTing him on the guard rail, he got hot in the dressing room, whereupon Raven blamed the set-up on Page. Benoit, who is known for keeping to himself and rarely shows signs outwardly of being mad, asked to be taken out of the mix and just have them do their match on their own, but as it turned out, Benoit ended up doing the angle as planned. The original plan was for Raven to get the title on 3/15, but it may be changed to Benoit, although Page is listed as defending the U.S. title at house shows as far in the future as May. Benoit, Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko all `bumped into' Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin and others on 3/3 at the hotel near the Pittsburgh Airport (Steiners, Curt Hennig and one or two others were there as well) when WWF was in Wheeling, WV and WCW was in Johnstown, PA and naturally were told what they wanted to hear about their potential to be on top of the cards as heavyweight title contenders. With the exception of Jericho, the Benoit-Malenko-Guerrero trio who have normally stuck together since meeting up in New Japan, all have nearly two years left on their contracts. The situation where Guerrero tried to get a release, and supposedly Bischoff got hot and threatened to tie him up legally if he left, has remained a sore point. WCW appears really high on Jericho because of how he's gotten his personality over since going heel, but everyone else in the industry has recognized that as well. And there's once again the same situation with Ric Flair, who apparently was told that he would be portrayed as the Babe Ruth type legend of the company and not be used on television simply to get others over. Flair was originally scheduled to score a clean pin on Brian Adams on the 3/9 Nitro from Winston-Salem, but with all the other problems, it was first changed to him doing an interview on the show and not wrestling, and later he ended up working with Curt Hennig, which was a much better match and made a lot more sense than it would have been with Adams. But the end result wound up with Flair again getting beaten up and needing to be saved rather than getting his revenge in Winston-Salem, where he is still the most popular wrestler. Flair's reaction at the show was said to have been off the charts. He's still going back-and-forth about getting out of the ring and even acknowledged that in his interview earlier in the show talking about his own self doubts, not because he wants to, but because of how he's being used. Although Flair has not signed his new three-year contract, he has signed the letter of intent which is a legally binding document so he can't go elsewhere until 2001 unless Bischoff releases him to do so. It is known that in the past Adams had been complaining about selling for Flair because he didn't think it was believable. For all the positives when it comes to business that having the deepest talent pool in the history of the business, there is one real negative, and that is there is absolutely no way to keep all of them happy and push all of them to their potential so for all the aiticism Bischoff gets, the pressure he's under from the talent constantly is more than incredible. - - RAW 03/09 with a 4.9 rating against a 3.6 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. - PPV buy rates and revenue (in millions) for the WWF and WCW are presented in the following table. WCW WWF Past 6 Months Past Year Past 6 Months Past Year Average Buy Rate 1.02 0.86 0.63 0.64 Average PPV Revenue $3.50 $2.74 $2.26 $1.93 The 1998 PPV summary sheet looks like this: Date Show Buy Rate Gross Average Match Rating Median Match Rating Peak Match Rating matches >= * * * * 98/01/18 WWF Royal Rumble 0.97 (1) $3.62 2.38 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2 0% (0 of 6) 98/02/15 WWF IYH No Way Out 0.45 $1.67 1.46 * 1/2 * * * 1/2 0% (0 of 6) WWF Average 0.69 $2.31 1.92 * * 1/4 * * * 1/2 0% (0 of 12) 98/01/25 WCW Souled Out 1.02 (2) $3.81 1.92 * * * * * 11.1% (1 of 9) 98/02/22 WCW SuperBrawl 1.1 (3) $4.12 1.68 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 0% (0 of 10) WCW Average 1.06 $3.97 1.79 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 5.2% (1 of 19) 98/03/01 ECW Living Dangerously 0.23 $0.42 1.56 * 1/2 * * * 1/4 0 (0 of 8) Footnotes: (1) WWF claims 1.03; (2) WCW claims 1.1; (3) preliminary figure Detailed data is available. - New Japan has a major show in the Tokyo Dome on 04/04/98. Line-up has * Antonio Inoki's retirement match. * Kensuke Sasaki vs. Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Title * Keiji Muto & Masa Chono vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Osamu Nishimura for the IWGP Tag Titles * Jushin Liger vs. Kendo Ka Shin for the IWGP Jr. Title * Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto vs. Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yuji Yusaroaka - WCW has Spring Stampede on 04/19/98. Tentative line-up has * Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven for the US Title It doesn't look like Page will lose the title to Raven here; the May booking sheets have Page vs. Kevin Nash for the US Title headlining. - The WWF has In Your House: The Unforgiven on 04/26/98. - All Japan has a Tokyo Dome show on 05/01/98. After complaints about the announced match that wasted Kenta Kobashi against ZEN/FMW guys, Giant Baba has done a big shake-up. He expects to get Vader from the WWF for the show. Vader and Ken Shamrock are the only WWFers who would mean anything significant in Japan. New line-up has: * Mitsuhara Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown * Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace vs. Stan Hansen & Vader * Jun Akiyama vs. Hiro Hase * Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith vs. Jado & Gedo * Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue vs. Headhunters * Jumbo Tsuruta & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota vs. Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi * Maunakea Mossman vs. Daisuke Ikeda * Steve Williams & Gary Albright vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara * Akira Taue & Takao Omori & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Gladiator & Hideki Hosaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda * Giant Baba & Hayabusa & Kentaro Shiga vs. Giant Kimala II & Ryakaku Izumida & Jinsei Shinzaki * Satoru Asako vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru The new line-up seems pretty acceptable. The comparably less-talented outsiders are in low-card to at-best mid-card matches. Hayabusa & Shinzaki are relegated to working with Baba & the Kamala gimmick (which Izumida does as well). Akira Taue gets a chance to finally be the best wrestler in his match (usually, he comes out as the low man on the totem pole in matches with Kawada, Misawa, Akiyama, etc.). Headhunters work against All Japan prelim youngsters. Everything is as it should be. - WCW has Slamboree on 05/17/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 05/31/98. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/28/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/26/98. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 09/27/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 10/18/98. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98. - 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 e-mail. 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