______________________________________________________________________ I'm still working on the tape update...apologies to anybody who is waiting for it. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ RAW RAW on 08/17/98 was a taped show. As the wonderful scripting of the Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon story line moves to the backburner to avoid overexposure on TV, the accolades that those weeks of TV received should also fade into memory. This week was another example of a poorer quality TV show from a wrestling standpoint. Even from a story line standpoint, things weren't great; I think the Undertaker vs. Steve Austin match would draw well on PPV pretty much with any build up, but I certainly remained unmoved by the one they've chosen. The show opened with Steve Austin demanding a confrontation with Undertaker later in the show. The three musketeers (Pat, Jerry, and Sarge) and Vince all came out. This stuff used to seem great, but now it seems as overacted as most wrestling. First wrestling match was the best on the show, with Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Dan Severn in a triangle match. It was well-booked in that Severn just stood in the corner looking like a moron for the whole match, while Owen & Ken had a good match. It was badly-booked because Dan Severn continued to look like a moron and Owen & Ken also looked stupid pounding each other and ignoring Severn. At least they have an issue between them to explain their stupid approach to this match. Severn ended up putting his reverse choke on Shamrock to get the win at the less-than-five-minutes mark. Severn then went nuts, but it resembled Meng going nuts, i.e. nobody cares. After the match, Shamrock was complaining big time, I guess thinking that if Severn stayed out of the match for four minutes, he's obligated to stay out forever. Later in the show, they announced that Severn would be training Owen Hart for his Lion's Den match against Shamrock at SummerSlam. Finally, a little too late and with the winds already taken out of the sails, they are going to build up Ken vs. Dan. In a BrawlforAll match, Bart Gunn beat Kama in what looked to be a worked fight. In the second BrawlforAll match later in the show, Bradshaw won a weird decision over Darren Drozdov. David Heath made his RAW debut as Gangrel, a vampiric character who drinks blood before his match, has sharp fangs, and wears weird contact lenses. Heath is a pretty good wrestler, so there is some promise here if the gimmick doesn't take over. I guess he'll get a big push through to Halloween (like Zanta Klaus did at Christmas not that long ago), anyhow. They seemed to position him for a program with Edge. The Disciples of Apocalypse ended the winning streak of Faarooq & Scorpio in the expected bad match. Degeneration X lost to the Nation of Domination in a street fight, that broke out all of the ECW paraphernalia, including forgetting about wrestling psychology and transitions. It was six minutes of bashing with garbage cans, ladders, and the like, complete with blood. I guess this sets up the ladder match at SummerSlam. Sable & Jackie had an arm wrestling contest that ended the same as every other arm wrestling contest, with the heel pushing the table over on the face. She also broke Sable's trophy over her back. Now, if you were holding out any hope that the Michinoku Pro wrestlers would be used correctly at some point in the near future, that was crushed by the next segment. Val Venis had to run the gauntlet of the MPro wrestlers in order to earn a bout with Wally-san. Well, Venis killed Mens Teioh in one minute, then killed Shoichi Funaki in 15 seconds, and then killed Dick Togo in a couple of minutes. Sigh. Taka Michinoku at least managed to get a pin on Venis three minutes later. Really depressing. It gets worse. Afterwards, all four Kaientai members, Wally, and Mrs. Yamaguchi came in the ring so that the Mrs. could slap Venis. Venis broke free and sprayed the heels with his giant pink super soaker. Of course, the heels all ran because being sprayed with a super soaker is what made them shrink into jobbing munchkins to begin with. Really stupid. The finale saw Undertaker and Austin have their showdown. Wrong. Kane came out dressed as the Undertaker. The two brawled a bit. Austin shoved Kane into a hearse that he had used earlier, but....the Undertaker was in the driver's seat and drove off. Oh wow, that's so exciting. Final standings for the BrawlforAll: First Round ______________________________________________________________________ Quarter Finals ______________________________________________________________________ Semi Finals ______________________________________________________________________ Finals ______________________________________________________________________ Steve Blackman Steve Blackman (06/29 TV) Marc Mero ______________________________________________________________________ Bradshaw (08/10 TV); beats Marc Mero Justin Bradshaw Justin Bradshaw (06/29 TV) Mark Cantebury ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Bradshaw (08/17 TV) Savio Vega Savio Vega (07/09 TV) Brakus ______________________________________________________________________ Drozdov (08/10 TV); Droz back in tournament Hawk draw (07/09 TV) Darren Drozdov ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Bart Gunn Bart Gunn (07/16 TV) Bob Holly ______________________________________________________________________ Bart Gunn (07/30 TV) Steve Williams Steve Williams (07/23 TV) Quebecer Pierre ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Bart Gunn (08/17 TV) Dan Severn Dan Severn (07/16 TV); Dan withdraws; Kama back in Kama ______________________________________________________________________ Kama (08/03 TV) Eight Ball 2 Cold Scorpio (07/23 TV) 2 Cold Scorpio ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Nitro Nitro on 08/17/98 aired in full in Canada. After that great show last week, they delivered something that resembled the previous product more than that great previous week. Sigh. It still seems like they have made a conscious decision to have a few longer matches on TV again, but this time the quality wasn't that great. As Exhibit A, the opening match was Steve McMichael beating Sick Boy in the usual really bad Mongo match. The Observer makes a big deal about Jim Duggan being the worst wrestler on the planet, but Mongo has to be in contention. Here's an example of where a longer match is not that great a thing. Next up, Alex Wright & Disco Inferno faced High Voltage in a match that was stopped by Meng going nuts. Eddy Guerrero was slated to face Konnan, but instead came out and did one of those cliche shoot interviews that everybody finds so cool. The question is will his shoot interview put him on the level of Scott Hall or Jeff Jarrett? Anyhow, the camera crew zoomed in on him, killing any illusion that this might be a shoot. Eddy even made sure to mind his language. But, hey, if it means he gets a legit push, that's great. Saturn & Raven beat Kanyon & Horace when Saturn DVDed Horace. It was the usual thing: a few good spots, but a general mess. Afterwards, the flock came in and Kidman was DDTed for trying to stop Raven, which will hopefully lead to greener pastures for Kidman, the only flock member who really deserves something. Scott Norton crushed Scott Putski. The big moment. Yawn. Ultimate Warrior returned to wrestling, damn, and confronted Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately, he didn't challenge him to a match where the loser must permanently retire and the winner must follow suit. It's hard to believe that they blew the Warrior's debut. Sure, they popped a good rating, but that doesn't make them the money that a PPV debut could and the rating would have to be bigger if they had hyped his debut. Oh well, Warrior is going to be at Fall Brawl. Curt Hennig beat Dean Malenko with some help from Rick Rude. In WCW's triangle match of the night, Chris Jericho beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Stevie Ray. Ray followed Dan Severn's course and stood around doing nothing, so the match was actually good for a little while. Then Ray jumped in and used a blackjack (not Windham or Bradshaw) to set up a pin, but Giant came in and choke slammed him. Jericho ended up winning the race to get up and beat the count. Bret Hart beat Diamond Dallas Page by DQ when the referee found an object in DDP's tights (one that wasn't supposed to be there). Of course, Bret had planted the object earlier in the match. Lightning didn't strike twice, as Bret couldn't pull a strong match out of Page like he did he did with Luger last week. Finally, Goldberg faced Giant, winning by DQ when everybody came in. Disciple ended up getting jackhammered. The commentators sputtered and wondered if Goldberg would be able to get Giant up for a hackhammer, already forgetting the Road Wild battle royal. It shows how flippantly things are booked in WCW. In the post-match melee, Goldberg speared Nash again. Thunder Thunder on 08/20/98 was a mixed bag. It started out strongly, and my hopes were way up. The opener saw Juventud beat Psicosis in a good match. They went reasonably long, about 12 minutes, with a commercial break inserted. So, I'm thinking, yeah, this show was taped so it will have the good longer match philoshophy in effect. Shatter that idea: Jim Duggan beat Barry Darsow next. Ugh. Maybe Duggan is the worst wrestler on the planet. Brian Adams beat Dean Malenko, who now gets to job on every show because of the horsemen story line; Curt Hennig interfered but the referee missed it. They are building up Curt Hennig as the guy that dismantled the horsemen. Raven beat Saturn & Kanyon & Horace to win a four corners match, using the evenflow DDT on Horace. You know, I'd live a happy life if I never see a triangle or four corners match again. Just to make you wonder if Duggan really is the worst wrestler on the planet, Steve McMichael came out to wrestle Curt Hennig. Hennig won by DQ when Dean Malenko came in. Mongo was just horrible. Giant lost to Stevie Ray by DQ when everybody came in and slapped Stevie around. Giant could have beaten him, so this hopefully isn't an attempt to create a program. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/98. Tentative line-up has * Steve Austin vs. Undertaker for the WWF Title * Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia for the IC Title in a ladder match * Mankind & Kane vs. New Age Outlaws (not a cage match, but perhaps another gimmick match) * Jeff Jarrett vs. X-Pac in a hair vs. hair match * Owen Hart vs. Ken Shamrock in a Lion's Den cage match - The Observer really laid into Road Wild, calling it "the car wreck of wrestling PPV shows", "by far the worst of the three" Road Wilds. The run down parallelled my run down from last week, with lots of incredulity over the booking of the battle royal. As mentioned above, WCW seems to have realized how stupid that was and is now ignoring the match. - Speculation persists that Chris Benoit will not sign a contract renewal with WCW. In ECW, where Sandman is holding up Paul Heyman for a salary increase, Heyman is telling people that he would like to bring in Benoit to replace Sandman if things don't work out. - The Road Wild PPV got some pub in "The Star," the National Enquirer's sister newspaper. Both papers also mentioned that the WWF bought Debbie Reynolds' hotel-casino in a very derogatory story, making the usual mistake of suggesting that Hulk Hogan was involved. - El Ultimo Dragon will be out for a little longer. - All Japan goes to Budokan Hall on 09/11/98, with Kenta Kobashi defending his Triple Crown against Akira Taue. - WCW has Fall Brawl on 09/13/98. Tentative line-up has: * War Games: NWO Hollywood (Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart & Scott Hall) vs. NWO Wölfpac (Kevin Nash & Sting & Lex Luger) vs. WCW (Diamond Dallas Page & Warrior & ?) (the wrestler that earns the victory for his team will get a title shot at Goldberg at Halloween Havoc) - Nitro beat RAW on 08/17 with a 4.9 rating versus a 4.2 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. I still haven't managed to update them; but, hey, I've updated the PPV figures. - PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet (the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches): Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WWF 98/07/26: Fully Loaded Steve Austin & Undertaker vs. Kane & Mankind 0.5 (WWF claims 0.95; WCW claims 0.34; 0.5 independent figure) $2.23 1.81 * 1/4 * * * 1/4 Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 0% (0 of 8) 98/06/28: King of the Ring Steve Austin vs. Kane Undertaker vs. Mankind 0.85 $3.86 1.72 * 1/2* * * * * 1/2 Undertaker vs. Mankind 11.1% (1 of 9) 98/05/31: IYH Over the Edge Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 0.65 $2.90 1.06 1/2* * * * * 1/2 Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 12.5% (1 of 8) 98/04/26: IYH Unforgiven Steve Austin vs. Dude Love Kane vs. Undertaker 0.85 $3.78 1.75 * * * * * Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 14.3% (1 of 7) 98/03/29: WrestleMania Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin Kane vs. Undertaker 2.20 $9.52 1.81 * * * * * * 1/4 Michaels vs. Austin Cactus & Funk vs. NAO 0.0% (0 of 8) 98/02/15: IYH No Way Out HHH & NAO & Vega vs. Austin & Owen & Funk & Cactus Kane vs. Vader 0.45 $1.67 1.43 * 1/2 * * * 1/2 HHH & NAO & Vega vs. Austin & Owen & Funk & Cactus 0.0% (0 of 7) 98/01/18: Royal Rumble Shawn Michaels vs. Vader Royal Rumble 0.97 $3.62 2.38 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2 Royal Rumble Max Mini & Nova & Mosaic vs. Battalion & Torio & Tarantula 0.0% (0 of 6) Last 6 0.92 $3.99 1.60 1.46 3.79 6.4% (3 of 47) 1998 0.92 $3.94 1.69 1.61 3.75 5.7% (3 of 53) 1997 0.61 $1.84 2.18 1.81 3.792 27.9% (6 of 21) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WCW 98/07/06: Bash at the Beach Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone 1.6 $7.21 1.81 * * 1/4 * * * * Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman 11.1% (1 of 9) 98/06/14: Great American Bash Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper & Randy Savage Sting vs. Giant 0.8 $3.52 1.67 * * 1/4 * * * 1/2 Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/05/17: Slamboree Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. Sting & Giant 0.72 $3.20 1.92 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4 Chris Benoit vs. Dave Finley Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/04/19: Spring Stampede Sting vs. Randy Savage Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash vs. Giant & Roddy Piper 0.72 $3.20 2.40 * * 1/2 * * * * Ultimo Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. DDP vs. Raven 20.0% (2 of 10) 98/03/15: Uncensored Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage Sting vs. Scott Hall 1.10 $4.12 1.69 * * 1/2 * * * 3/4 Raven vs. DDP vs. Chris Benoit 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/02/22: SuperBrawl Hulk Hogan vs. Sting Outsiders vs. Steiners 1.10 $4.12 1.67 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0.0% (0 of 10) 98/01/25: Souled Out Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair Giant vs. Kevin Nash Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage 1.02 $3.81 1.92 * * * * * Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Super Calo & Lizmark Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera & La Parka & El Dandy 11.1% (1 of 9) Last 6 1.01 $4.23 1.87 2.21 3.71 5.4% (3 of 56) 1998 1.01 $4.17 1.87 2.04 3.75 6.2% (4 of 65) 1997 0.77 $2.45 1.96 1.98 3.813 5.9% (6 of 102) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * ECW 98/08/02: Heatwave Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 3.08 * * 1/4 * * * * Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka 16.7% (1 of 6) 98/05/03: WrestlePalooza Shane Douglas vs. Al Snow Sabu vs. Rob van Dam 0.24 $0.45 0.64 1/2* * * Mikey Whippreck vs. Justin Credible 0.0% (0 of 7) 98/03/01: Living Dangerously Shane Douglas & Chris Candido vs. Al Snow & Lance Storm 0.23 $0.42 1.56 * * * * * 1/4 Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley & New Jack vs. Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney 0.0% (0 of 8) Last 6 0.24 $0.44 1.69 1.58 3.08 4.8% (1 of 21) 1998 0.24 $0.44 1.69 1.58 3.08 4.8% (1 of 21) 1997 0.22 $0.38 2.10 2.50 3.583 10.0% (2 of 20) Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991. A table of wrestlers who have delivered quality matches is also online. - New Japan is running a tournament to determine challengers for the WCW Tag Titles. The tournament final takes place on 09/21/98. New Japan somewhat embarrassingly announced that Sting & Kevin Nash were the champions after they had lost the belts. - The WWF has In Your House on 09/27/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 10/18/98. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/25/98. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98. - WCW has World War III on 11/22/98. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98. - The WWF has Royal Rumble on 01/24/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 02/14/99. - The WWF has WrestleMania XV on 03/28/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 04/25/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 05/23/99. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/27/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/25/99. - 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. ______________________________________________________________________ Pictures of the Week I thought I'd start a new series. A wonderful photo book was released in Japan recently featuring profiles of many, many North American wrestlers. It's amazing that an interested Japanese fan can be more knowledgeable about the history of North American stars than a North American fan can be. For each wrestler, they present some photos. Underneath the photos, in Japanese of course, you'll find the wrestlers height, weight, birthdate, and promotional/title history. It's a tremendous compilation that offers the basis for an image catalogue of the "who's who" of wrestling. I figure I can supplement the North American entries with some other scan and eventually try to handle some Japanese wrestlers as well. I hope there's interest in this sort of thing. Bret Hart Shawn Michaels Steve Austin Sting ______________________________________________________________________ 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. ______________________________________________________________________