A quick update, just so that I get back to my Thursday schedule. Check the previous report for my Monday update. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ RAW RAW on 09/28/98 was a live show following on the heels of the Breakdown In Your House PPV. It was a strong show, with a really good mix of wrestling and advancing of story lines. The show opened with Vince McMahon and the three musketeers coming out to discuss the title match from the PPV the night before. Vince overacted a bit, but the segment wasn't too long and he's more fun when he gloats, so it was good. It boiled down to Vince declaring it "Steve Austin day" in celebration of the end of Austin's run as WWF champion, saying that Austin would not get a rematch or another shot at the title. He said that a new champion would be crowned later tonight, using a new WWF title belt. In the first match of the night, Southern Justice beat the New Age Outlaws when Road Dog used his guitar on a Justice member as Billy Gunn was close to setting him up for the pin. While the match was nothing, it led to Gunn storming off, past the other DX members that had come out, in disgust, eventually leaving the building. If this leads to a split of the Outlaws and a push for Gunn, I'm in favour. While I'm sure that the Outlaws will win the "Tag Team of the Year" award in the r.s.p-w year-end awards, that result surely ignores that they've delivered no good matches all year and really only have catchphrases that are over. Dan Severn faced Owen Hart in a submission match. This was weird. Early on, Owen finally regained the advantage and ended up doing the exact same piledriver spot that accidentally injured Steve Austin. In the replay it looked legitimate. Severn was stretchered out. Al Snow beat Vader by using Head. It was a throwaway match, but the result speaks volumes. D'Lo Brown won a six-an four-corners match also involving Jeff Jarrett, Marc Mero, Darren Drozdov, Gangrel, and Edge. It was short and a mixed bag because half of these guys don't have any polish. It was kind of weird to see Jarrett and Mero in this mix, since it seemed to solidify their stature as failed veterans demoted to working with the young up-and-comers. Finish saw D'Lo pin Edge when Gangrel and the mysterious Edge lookalike distracted Edge. The Edge lookalike is Jay Reso, who wrestled as Christian Cage, teaming iwth Adam Copeland (Edge). The WWF Title soap opera continued. Vince invited Kane & Undertaker to the ring to announce which one would be awarded the title. Steve Austin ended up bursting into the arena riding the zamboni. He drove right up the ring and just laid into Vince until the police handcuffed him and led him off. After Austin was gone, Vince declared that Undertaker & Kane would have to fight on PPV to determine who gets the title and that Austin would be the referee. Undertaker & Kane ended up laying into Vince, with Undertaker destroying Vince's leg. Vince also announced a handicap main event tag match with Undertaker & Kane against Rocky Maivia & Mankind & Ken Shamrock. This was a really great segment. Mark Henry faced Faarooq with Chyna as special referee. Henry must really be enjoying selling for Chyna. The story is that Henry calls Chyna his girlfriend and that Chyna keeps kicking his ass. Will the make this story line deliver by having Chyna actually jump the DX ship to team with Henry? Doubtful, given that Chyna & Hunter Hearst Helmsley are an item. In this match, Chyna refused to count Henry's pin attempt. She delivered a low blow on Henry when he press slammed Faarooq, leading to Faarooq getting a lateral press and Chyna delivering a really quick three count. With WWF security dealing with Vince, a delivery guy was able to get in the ring and serve Chyna some papers; she crumpled them up and left the ring. The Oddities and Insane Clown Posse surfaced. Golga opened a present and found a new South Park doll. While I understand that these guys are supposed to take the comedy spot in the WWF, it doesn't do much for me. Golga & Kurrgan faced the Head Bangers. The Posse tripped up a Head Banger and Kurrgan scored the pin. The Oddities looked absolutely terrible in the ring, as always. Val Venis, accompanied by Terri Runnels, challenged X-Pac for the European Title. X-Pac wore a bandage on his eye thanks to the guitar shot at the PPV, which surely suggested the result, particularly since D'Lo had established himself as number one contender to this title. After Terri interfered, Chyna came down to ring side to chase Terri off. It ended up with Chyna & X-Pac attacking Val Venis for the DQ. X-Pac faces D'Lo next week on RAW. While Terri & Val were cuddling in the ring post-match, a Goldust video aired with Dustin Runnels announcing that the "he" that was coming back was Goldust. Kane & Undertaker faced Ken Shamrock & Rosky Maivia & Mankind in the main event. Shamrock received a muted response from the fans as he came to the ring and attacked Mankind as soon as both were in the ring. The Rock joined in when he came to the ring. Rocky has developed a good following thanks to his character, but he's still so mediocre. Match was a mixed bag of spots, with some good action and some nonsense. It turned into a pretty good match before all was said and done. Finish saw the Rock get put over huge by Undertaker, who did a clean pin job for Rock's uranage. You've got to give the WWF credit for noticing the reaction that Rock has garnered and running with it. Nitro Nitro on 09/28/98 aired in part in Canada overnight Wednesday. A two-hour version airs tonight, or more precisely, Thursday morning at 3:30am, so I haven't watched any of the show yet. Thunder Thunder on 10/01/98 went unwatched by me. I taped the show, but I won't be watching it until tomorrow after I've watched the Nitro tape. After the depressing past couple (or more) of weeks of Nitro, I really don't know why I'm respecting the WCW product enough to watch the Nitro & Thunder shows in order when TSN screws up the Nitro broadcast schedule. The Observer goes so far as to say that the company is self-destructing somewhat. - In a freakish coincidence, the two times I flipped on Howard Stern during my morning commute (today and Monday), wrestling was discussed. This time around, Jerry Lawler called in to talk about (or more precisely, to hype) his worked confrontation with Jim Carrey. Lawler said that Carrey wanted him to suplex and piledrive him for real, even though they had a double on set. Before the final take of the scene, Jerry told director Milos Forman that Carrey had made the request, so Milos called it a wrap. Carrey spit on Lawler and Lawler grabbed him around the neck as he tried to leave the ring. It's the resulting stretch of the neck that led to the injury. Well, that's Jerry's story anyhow. Disappointinglty, Howard bought it somewhat, although he also seemed to feel that things were being milked as a publicity stunt. Lawler's story was that Carrey wore the neck brace to help him get into his Andy Kaufman character, so I guess he's saying that it was a bit of a pubilicity stunt, but he's claiming that the incident was real. Whew! A caller chimed in and asked Jerry why he never talked about the the charge that he had sex with a thirteen-year old girl. Lawler gave the explanation that is now old hat (the girl's boyfriend made the charge and the girl later recanted). - The WWF has In Your House on 10/18/98. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/25/98. Tentative line-up has * Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior * Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW Title * Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash * Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner * Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero * Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman for the Cruiserweight Title - There's a push to have Rey Misterio Jr. join the NWO Wölfpac. - The Observer confirms that Terri Power, who has appeared at ringside during Sable's recent TV matches, will debut in the WWF as Sable's sister and eventually turn on her for a feud. - Speculation is that Ric Flair's son Reid will be worked into the angle of Flair vs. Eric Bischoff. - - Nitro beat RAW on 09/14 with a 4.5 rating versus a 4.0 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 1.1 $4.99 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 0.96 $4.18 1.60 1.46 3.79 6.4% (3 of 47) 1998 0.96 $4.1 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 98/08/08: Road Wild Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Jay Leno 1.14 $5.15 0.61 * * * * 1/2 Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0% (0 of 9) 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 $4.4 1.70 2.17 3.67 5.5% (3 of 55) 1998 1.03 $4.29 1.72 1.91 3.72 5.4% (4 of 74) 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 0.23 $0.42 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 0.23 $0.43 1.69 1.58 3.08 4.8% (1 of 21) 1998 0.23 $0.43 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. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98. - WCW has World War III on 11/22/98. It's expected that this PPV will feature the Jackie Chan vs. Ernest Miller match. - 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. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. 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