______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ [rm.gif] Movie of The Week Okay, Sanjay Mohanta has been encouraging me to view this lowest-of-the-low match involving Shinya Kojika & Shoji Nakamaki against Mr. Pogo & Dragon Master Kendo Nagasaki. With that line up, you know that the match is going to be total manure. All four of these guys stink to high heaven, but Pogo, in particular, has remained on top in the garbage leagues despite being one of the most god-awful wrestlers to ever walk the planet. It took me so long to watch this match because, truthfully, I'd rather watch Hogan, Nash, Undertaker and Kane, if you know what I'm saying. Anyhow, the tape is passing through my hands and being mailed on; I was totally uninterested in adding it to the library. I did capture the last minute-or-so as a clip since it contains the part that Sanjay just thought ruled: Pogo takes a power drill and uses it on his opposition. I'm not sure if it will come out in the clip, but Kojika is wearing a modified NWO T-shirt that says "hWo"; I won't offer my sarcastic expansions for that acronym. Without further ado, here's a one-time clip of some truly crappy garbage wrestling. _________________________________________________________________ RAW this week was a taped show. Again, they did a good job of hyping the WrestleMania matches, but it all comes across a little flat to me, since Michaels & Austin are not 100% well, Aguila is not ready for his position on the show, and there's little else to interest a work/workrate freak. In many ways, the WrestleMania line-up reminds me of the All Japan Egg Dome line-up. All Japan has a better main event to be sure, and the two other top-of-the-card matches promise to be great as well, but it just doesn't seem like it meets the level required for the venue. The WrestleMania line-up seems incredibly weak when it comes to star power and potential match quality. What's left to be excited about? On to the RAW run-down. Chainsaw Charlie & Cactus Jack beat the Quebecers by DQ when the New Age Outlaws ran in, breaking a table over Terry's head. Jeff Jarrett ended Steve Blackman's undefeated record in the WWF, pinning him with Tennessee Lee's help. They mentioned that Jarrett would be in the tag team battle royal at WrestleMania, but never mentioned who his partner would be. They played up Blackman's supposed newness to pro-wrestling, saying that Jarrett, who started in the ring in 1985, had a great experience advantage over Blackman, who started in 1988. The Midnight Express and Skull & Eight Ball went to a no contest when loads of tag teams ran in to hype the battle royal at Mania. This was the final match of the first hour. Two run-in no decisions and a screw job. The Midnight Express are not clicking at all yet. You'd think that they would have spent a lot of time working on combination stuff, yet they look worse together than either wrestler had looked in their past. The Observer was unimpressed with their debut last week, writing Holly looked absolutely ridiculous, almost like someone was doing a bad spoof, with bleached blond hair to look like a circa 1985 Bobby Eaton. Of course, they also jumped the Rock & Roll Express so we can re-start that feud. Actually Holly has some talent. I'm not sure what to say about Gunn other than he still has no charisma. But this would be like putting a bunch of jibrone actors that couldn't even hang on a UPN show and call the new show "Cheers" and have them do the same format and stories. But in its own way it is entertaining. Kane & Undertaker kept their issue alive, with Kane delivering lightning on command in the arena, eventually setting somebody on fire. I'm sure that believing twelve year-olds found this exciting. Faarooq & Chainz went to no decision when Rocky "accidentally" chaired Faarooq and then wiggled his eyebrows in his cartoon facial expressions. Bradshaw schoolboyed Barry Windham after R'n'R Express distractions backfired. The Midnight Express ran in, but there was no excitement. Steve Austin beat Rocky Maivia. Austin looked okay and the match was longer than the usual two minutes, but it's still impossible to say whether he & Michaels, in their current states, will be able to deliver a WrestleMania main event memorable for its wrestling. Nitro this week was a three-hour show, condensed to two hours for Canada, once again. Of course, they removed the Cruiserweight Title match. Boring show, with a couple of good short wrestling matches. On those "Off The Record" ingerviews on TSN, host Michael Landsberg always made a big deal about the WWF ruling the ratings war on TSN; it's not particularly fair to make a comparison when WCW doesn't have a regular time slot and has these poorly edited versions of their show airing. What aired here: * Ultimo Dragon beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. with the dragon sleeper in a good short match. Eddie Guerrero lambasted Chavo for losing. * Sting beat Diamond Dallas Page with the scorpion death drop, countering a diamond cutter attempt. Good finish, nothing match. * Lex Luger beat Rick Fuller. * Eddie Guerrero beat Kaz Hayashi in a good short match. This was Kaz' second Nitro match; he's Shiryu in Michinoku Pro, a damn good worker. * Giant beat Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash by DQ. Afterwards, Giant choke slammed Eric Bischoff, while Hogan & Nash slinked off. Because the Giant has so much trouble, cough cough, dealing with the NWO here, he's going to take on Roddy Piper as a partner at the next PPV against the same two guys who couldn't get in any offence here. Makes a lot of sense. To confuse matters further, Tony Schiavone said that the NWO made this match a handicap match, even though it was originally scheduled to be Giant vs. Nash. Remember they have a say about their Nitro matches after winning at Fall Brawl two years ago. This is the usual "only in WCW" logic: why don't they make all of their matches eight-on-one then? They have that power, right? Ugh. * Chris Benoit & Booker T had a 7:30 time limit draw in a 10:00 TV Title match in a time-shaving record. The crowd booed unmercifully at the result, which is totally passe in the current environment. * Davey Boy Smith beat Curt Hennig by DQ after a nothing match when Rick Rude interfered, They handcuffed Smith, Bret Hart made the save, the NWO ran in, but Hart held them off. * Bill Goldberg beat Renegade * Roddy Piper and Randy Savage went to a no decision when they and the referee were all down and Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash came in with a bat. Nash went to bat Piper, but Hogan stopped him and told him to bat Savage. They argued for a few seconds and the Giant & Sting 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 with Chyna handcuffed to Sgt. Slaughter * Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock for the IC Title with the title changing on a Maivia DQ * Taka Michinoku vs. Aguila for the Lightheavyweight Title * 15-team Battle Royal with the winners getting a title shot on 04/26 Pete Rose and Gennifer Flowers will appear as celebrity guests. There are some reports that Owen Hart & Ken Shamrock won't be able to work this show, Owen because of his ankle and Shamrock due to a concussion following that stupid chairshot angle last week. As a result, there is a strong suggestion that there might instead be a Rocky vs. HHH title vs. title match. We'll see Sunday. Confirmed teams for the battle royal are: Savio Vega & Miguel Perez, Jesus Castillo & Jose Estrada, Sniper & Recon, Quebecers, Headbangers, Midnight Express, Skull & Eight Ball, R'n'R Express, Jeff Jarrett & ?. We'd expect Godwinns, a NOD team, Lawler & Christopher. While it was expected that Undertaker and Kane would be rushed into a tag team after WrestleMania, suggesting a UT win here, it now seems that they are planning to have the two headline the April IYH PPV, so I guess Kane will get the screwy win here, after all. Thunder this week was the usual live two-hour show. It opened with Eddie Guerrero telling Chavo Jr. that Chavo would have to take Eddie's match against Chris Benoit so that Eddie could take Chavo's TV Title shot later in the show. That's okay, but, face it, the best match in that whole mix was Eddie vs. Chris. Oh well. Benoit wins a good match with the crossface. Prince Iaukea beat La Parka in a sadly short match. Iaukea did a very nice Northern Lights suplex, bridging onto his tiptoes. Chris Jericho beat Disco Inferno in another good TV match. Bill Goldberg beat Jerry Flynn in a tremendous match; for whatever reason, Flynn has been able to have two really great matches with Goldberg. In an amazing moment of clear-headed booking, Psicosis beat Kidman after a leg drop; good match. They tried to add a logical transition to that silly Sabu spot where one guy gets leg dropped while dangling in over the middle rope, usually hold himself in position for an embarrassingly long time, often feigning unconsciousness. This time around, Kidman took a crotch shot and sort of moved into the right position as he struggled with his pain. A better lead-in to that spot that usual, but I still wouldn't cry if I never saw the spot again. First match in the second hour was Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart against Curt Hennig & Brian Adams. There were some really sloppy moments in this match and the ending was totally botched, as the bell rang to throw the match out before all of the wrestlers had even run off to the back. Diamond Dallas Page lost by countout to Saturn when he went after Raven. Booker T got a DQ win over Eddie Guerrero in a non-match; Eddie used an object, tossed it to Chavo, and then caught it when Chavo threw it back, leading to the DQ. Rick Steiner pinned Scott Norton, so Norton's win last week over Chris Benoit was absolutely essential for Norton's huge push after all. Lex Luger & Sting beat Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash by DQ when Randy Savage came in, attacking Sting to set up their singles match at Spring Stampede. Nash & Hogan disagreed about attacking Savage. - It's expected that Steve Regal will start with the WWF after WrestleMania. As mentioned on this page a few weeks back, Kaientai DX will be joining the WWF's lightheavyweight division. Taka & Shoichi Funaki will have some tremendous matches if they are given the chance. - All Japan started the annual Champion Carnival tour with the usual surprise victories. On 03/22, Jun Akiyama beat Stan Hansen for the first time, a result that shouldn't be that surprising this year, and Akira Taue beat Mitsuharu Misawa. The tournament is usually booked very tightly, so that all of the top guys could conceivably win it right up to the last couple of days. - WCW Saturday Night had a couple of funny bits this past weekend. Firstly, the Dave Finlay vs. Lorezno (a Power Plant guy that has had one other match air on World Wide) match was one of the funniest matches for missed moves in a long time. Finlay kept getting pissed that Lorenzo was so bad. In its own sad way, it entertained me a lot. It reminded me of Diamond Dallas Page's debut match against Johnny Rich a few years back, although it was nowhere near that bad. In that match, Page injured Rich seemingly with every move, breaking a nose, separating a shoulder, and rupturing poor Rich in less than five minutes. It's a match for video collectors. The really funny moment though was at the end of the High Voltage vs. Steve & Scott Armstrong match. Of course, High Dosage went over, winning with a cross body onto an Armstrong who was sitting on a HV member's shoulders. This match got the Starburst Replay spot of the week, with the slogan "Need a boost? Give it some juice." I laughed so hard I cried. - - RAW 03/23 with a 4.6 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. The semi-finals and final of the tournament to determine Inoki's challenger take place on this show as well. Semi-finalists are Naoya Ogawa, Brian Johnston, Don Frye, and Igor Meindart. * 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 * Roddy Piper & Giant vs. Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash in a bat match * Sting vs. Randy Savage for the WCW Title * 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. The ad features a shot of Undertaker. - All Japan has a Tokyo Dome show on 05/01/98. 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 - 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. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________