______________________________________________________________________ I'm still having some problems with e-mail. If worse comes to worse, I'll snag a free e-mail off some web service and go that route. But I want to get my wrestling e-mail up and running by next week. Sorry to be a couple of days late with this update. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - WCW had Halloween Havoc on this past Sunday, 10/25/98. The show opened with the Nitro girls doing what I guess could be called a dance number. This gave the commentators a chance to run through all of the matches scheduled for the evening. Gene Okerlund interviewed Rick Steiner, so the show began on a negative note; it's just stupid to waste air time interviewing either Steiner. There was an angle around all of this, as Buff Bagwell came out to diss Scott Steiner and offer to support Rick this night. Could the whole thing be a swerve? Run down: * Chris Jericho beat Raven to retain the WCW TV Title: This was a special added match. With eight other advertised matches on the show, this signalled that something later would be kept short; gee, I could think of several choice to trim. Raven said he didn't want to wrestle the match because he hadn't been notified in advance, but Jericho taunted him into getting it on. Jericho has tremendous presence. They did a few good spots early on, but the out-of-the-ring camera work was dizzying because of weird angles and rotations. Jericho uncovered the top turnbuckle. Raven reversed a rana into a pwoerbomb and then did a slingshot on Jericho into the exposed turnbuckle for the near fall. Crowd was really into it. Some more near falls before Jericho hit the Lion Tamer, which was broken when Raven reached the rope. Jericho kicked out of the evenflow DDT. They did a lot of quick near falls before Kanyon came out and had a collision with Jericho, who hit the Lion Tamer for the submission. A good match and a solid opener. * Wrath beat Meng: Wrath continues to do stuff that separates him from the great majority of big stiffs who do absolutely nothing in the ring. Don't read me wrong: I can definitely live without ever seeing either of these guys again, but I recognize that Wrath at least tries. Wrath won with his powerslam thing; they didn't show any replays, surprise, surprise. At least it only read six-and-a-half minutes. * Disco Inferno beat Juventud Guerrera: The winner would face Billy Kidman for the Cruiserweight title. Juvy screwed up his Ace Crusher spot early on and immediately returned to doing it again, which looked weak. If wrestlers blow a spot, they should abandon it and proceed with the remainder of the match. They did a series of suplex/DDT/neckbreaker reversals that came off sloppy. Disco crotched Juvy accidentally after collapsing after a giant swing. After a series of quick pin attempts and counters, Disco Interno beat Juvi. I was pretty disappointed with that result, since I would likely have enjoyed a Kidman vs. Juvi match more than a Kidman vs. Disco match. Still, a good match, despite the early sloppiness. * Scott Steiner delivered a brutal interview. He said he'd team with Giant tonight to defend the WCW World Tag Titles against Rick Steiner & Buff Bagwell. Okay, anybody can defend the title belts. JJ Dillon came out and said that if by chance the belts changed hands, Scott & Rick would face off in a fifteen minute match. * Alex Wright beat Fit Finlay: Another added match, but, hey it's sure to be better than some of the later stuff. They pushed the idea that Finlay ended Steve Wright's wrestling career. I've seen Alex's dad wrestle in the early 80s in New Japan; he was a tremendously agile technical wrestle, a real pleasure to watch. This match was way too short, expecially given what these guys can do. It had the feel of a Nitro match, somewhat unsatisfying. * Saturn beat Lodi: Saturn had a new ring outfit, with long tights, a beret, and a chain mail vest. Bad move: he looked like a reject from the Village People. Saturn worked hard as usual, but since Lodi can't do anything this match was totally pointless. A squash. * Billy Kidman beat Disco Inferno to retain the Cruiserweight Title: Good match, with some slow spots, building to a good final few minutes. Disco hit the piledriver that he had used to beat Juventud but only got the two. Disco hit more offence. Kidman countered a second piledriver attempt with a face crusher, followed it up with a shooting star press, and got the pin. At this point, even with the squash nature of some of the added matches, this was a good show. * Rick Steiner & Buff Bagwell beat Giant & Scott Steiner to win the Tag Titles: Tony Schiavone explained that although Giant & Scott Hall were the tag champs, when the NWO holds the tag titles anything goes. Giant laid into Rick to start. Scott tagged in to pummel a fallen Rick. Although Buff was doing all the requisited partner stuff, it still wasn't clear whether this was going to turn into an NWO ruse. When Rick went for the pin on Scott, Buff asked for Rick to tag him in. Of course, Buff turned on Rick, who ended up getting the stuffing knocked out of him. The crowd loved this angle (sarcasm). The only question was whether the show's downhill slide could be slowed by any of the remaining matches. The commentators talked about how we still haven't had the Scott vs. Rick match. Crowd reacted strongly to Rick's comeback on Scott. Giant did a missile dropkick that missed Rick and hit Scott; the spot sounds better than it worked out. Rick ended up pinning Giant to win the tag titles. Okay, that result made the crowd forgive the Bagwell nonsense from earlier, so this turned out to be okay booking (at least when this match alone is considered). * Rick Steiner beat Scott Steiner: The match immediately followed the tag title change. They didn't do that much before Bill Clinton hopped over the guard rail and turned out to be Buff Bagwell. Buff slapjacked everybody and tried to count a mock pin on Rick, who kept kicking out. Rick ended up dropping Buff neck first across the top rope and the commentators didn't even mention the significance of it. Sigh, they really blew it with Bagwell's injury. Rick hit a Steinerline for the pin. Okay, the two Steiner matches were nothing special at all from a wrestling standpoint, but they at least delivered crowd-pleasing endings. * Scott Hall beat Kevin Nash: Hall came out with a drink, of course. He tossed it in Kevin Nash's eyes and laid into Big Sexy. Nash was bleeding from the mouth. They brawled around ringside, with Hall kicking Nash's butt. While the trainer checked out Nash, cleaning his eyes with a towel, Hall did a drunken interview. In a bit of surprise, Nash climbed back in the ring to continue the match. It was a surprise because there was only 50 minutes left in the show. Sure, Goldberg vs. DDP would be short and Hogan vs. Warrior could even be short, but the ring entrances, combined with Hart vs. Sting seemed to require that much time or more. Nash kept asking Hall to hit him, never delivering any offence of his own. Finally, Nash rallied, eventually trying for the power bomb, but Hall escaped. Hall bled from the mouth as Nash started trash-talking on him. Nash ended up hitting Hall with the jackknife powerbomb. He didn't try for the pin, instead hitting the move again, before walking out and losing by count out. Weird finish. Blah match * Bret Hart beat Sting to retain he US Title: Bret came out first; I hate it when the champion comes out first. A woman at ringside held up a side asking Sting to give Bret the "Scoripian." Bret dominated early on. He moved crisply, but something was missing from the match, at least at this stage, since Sting barely did anything. Bobby Heenan said that control switched back and forth every two minutes, which was total nonsense because Bret was in control throughout the first 10 minutes. The other commentators didn't say anything in response to Sting. Sting finally rallied and started to take some control. Bret did the leapfrog knee injury spot, but the crowd didn't buy it. Sting was pulled back by the referee. Bret dug an object out of his tights, ended up dropping it, with Sting picking it up. The referee stopped Sting from using the object and Bret hit the fifteenth low blow of the night (who booked all of those low blows?). We were fast approaching the three-hour mark, including the pre-game, leaving 10 minutes apiece for the final two matches. The ref bumped. They did some sloppy spots with the referee lying in the middle of the ring, knocked out, but somehow able to wiggle himself into position for a spot. The wrestlers did a superplex spot that saw Bret whack across the referee's legs. The crowd popped huge. Sting overlaunched himself into a Stinger splash, hitting the post. Bret whacked Sting with the baseball bat a half-dozen times, revived the referee, and hit the sharpshooter for the win, with the referee stopping the match. Sting did a stretcher job. This was actually a pretty boring match, I thought. It was 10:35pm EST when Sting was removed from the ring; the PPV was supposed to end by 10:47pm, and there were two matches to go. * Hulk Hogan beat Ultimate Warrior: They re-showed Hogan laying into Horace on Nitro, mentioning that Horace needed 11 stitches. A "Warrior sucks" chant erupted, but Warrior nodded to it and the commentators said he was drawing strength from his fans. Warrior took his jacket off only when the bell rang; he looked a bit like Paul Orndorff at the end with his right arm being tiny in comparison to the rest of his body thanks to the injury. Hogan drew a "You suck" chant from the crowd. It was pretty pathetic to watch Warrior raise his gimpy arm and challenge Hogan to a test of strength. I took this match as a bad parody of a bad wrestling match from 1990 and still found myself shaking my head in between fits of laughter. The commentators tried to remind us that this was the marquee match up of the night. Sad. Warrior no-sold a body slam before slamming Hogan and clotheslining him over the top to the floor. They did some bad work off of armbars and the like. Tony Schiavone said, "And now the brutality begins on the outside." As opposed to the brutality of the attempted wrestling in the ring earlier. Hogan knocked out the referee. Hogan called out the Giant, who delivered a pathetic kick to Hogan's head. Warrior knocked Giant, Stevie Ray, and Vincent off the apron. They actually walked away with their leader, Hogan, laid out in the ring, even though the referee was unconscious. They tried hard to pick camera angles that would mask how bad the ring work was, but with a live broadcast that just isn't possible all of the time. Hogan used his weight belt as a weapon. Warrior missed his big splash. Why didn't they take it home already? At 10:53pm, they were still going. Warrior took the weight belt off of Hogan and whipped him with it. Hogan went into his tights for an object. It turned out to be flash paper, but he didn't throw it right, so the match became even more comedic. The commentators didn't know how to explain it. Hogan was bleeding from the forehead. Finish saw Horace come out along with Eric Bischoff. Horace came in and hit Warrior with a chair so Hogan could get the cheap roll up. Horace squirted lighter fluid on Warrior, but Doug Dillenger took the lighter away from Hogan. Boy, wouldn't it have been weird if a fan at ringside threw a cigarette butt onto Warrior? This might well be a strong worst match of the year candidate given its position on the PPV. There have been worse matches, not by much, but not with this stature on a PPV. I'd even consider this match in a list of worst matches ever. * Goldberg beat Diamond Dallas Page to retain the WCW Title: I presume that that's the finish anyhow. Since the show went overtime, Viewer's Choice Canada screwed up and scrambled the show at 11:02pm or so, meaning that the show died for me at that point. Reports are that WCW did in fact notice their PPV carriers that they were planning to go over time. Surely, they were luxurious early on in the show, with interviews, Nitro girls, and Ntrio-ish matches padding the undercard, with no eye on the clock. RAW RAW on 10/26 was a taped show. The show opened with the requisite Vince McMahon interview blasting Steve Austin. The key point was that some legal document would surface later in the show, but other than that it was the same old thing. Just like those NWO interviews in WCW, the McMahon interviews have become repetitive and stale. They made a big deal about Steve Austin being in the building even though he had been fired. Michael Cole even called it a mystery. But when they went to their first commercial break on TSN, their aired a promo for the WWF house show in Toronto next week, hyping Steve Austin in a four-way main event. Ooops. Those sorts of things are funny wherever and whenever they happen. First match saw X-Pac face Steve Blackman. It was uninspired, with Steve Regal re-debuting to attack X-Pac. Regal was wearing a vest to cover his weight problem, that he's still working on. The idea is that Regal will want a European wrestler to hold the European title. Rocky Maivia beat Darren Drosdov. DX did something they called music with Motley Cruše. It served as a good break for me. They sweetened the crowd noise. Kane faced Gangrel. They commentators tried to push Kane as a face. They've changed the story as of last week, with Undertaker having set Kane on fire as a kid, period. No mention of killing parents any more. Kane pinned Gangrel, of course, so Gangrel & Christian attacked Kane together. Edge ran in to help, with the three of them laying out Kane for a second. Edge called Gangrel & Christian to his side. Steve Austin came out with a contract guaranteeing him a title shot. The contract was given to him by Shane McMahon, who came out after Vince and Steve sparred. Shane said his dad was wrong, driven by ego. Shane wasn't too bad in his spot, which was a bit of a surprise after how poorly his commentary stint has been handled. All of this is likely the start of a story arc that will lead to McMahon turning face again. Vince just sat there crying while Shane laid into him. Afterwards, Steve tossed Shane a beer. Vince also decreed that Austin would fight Shamrock later tonight. Tiger Ali Singh came out to wrestle, facing Kama after their confrontation last week. This match was so bad that the fans started doing the wave just to entertain themselves. And it's not like they only did one round of the wave either. Shoichi Funaki & Mens Teioh & Taka Michinoku & Dick Togo faced Golga & & Kurrgan & Insane Clown Posse. This made the previous match look like a technical tour-de-force. The Posse ended up getting their side DQed. Goldust faced Marc Mero. I thought this was another pretty boring match. Jacqueline tried to add some heat to things, but Goldust is a stale act for me and Mero is going nowhere without Sable. New Age outlaws defended the WWF Tag Titles against Al Snow & Mankind. Snow & Mankind debated the merits of Head and Socko before the match. NAO have a hot ring entrance and then nothing. At least Jim Ross has reduced his praise of Billy Gunn as the best athlete in the WWF. The match should have been good, but it was lacklustre. Snow hit the Northern Lights Bomb on Road Dog, but the referee wasn't around. Mankind tried to use Socko, but Snow stopped him and ended up being rolled up. D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry ran in immediately to attack the Outlaws, which I guess means they want to challenge for the Tag Titles. Now that is going to be a bad match unless D'Lo is a miracle worker. Mankind & Snow each held the other's gimmick after the match, like a hostage situation, before trading. Main event was Steve Austin vs. Ken Shamrock in an "I Quit" match. There have been a couple of tremendous "I Quit" matches over the years - the first one, with Tully Blanchard losing to Magnum TA, and the classic Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk Clash match. The Austin vs. Shamrock match had some good intensity because Austin is so over and Shamrock is getting over great as a heel, but it was hardly memorable. The three musketeers were at ringside (McMahon had left earlier) trying to guarantee an Austin loss. Of course, they ended up getting involved, layhing out the referee. Mankind came in to handle Shamrock. Austin came in with a chair and delivered a sick chair shot on Shamrock, tapping Shamrock's hand on the mat, with referee returning and calling that a submission. Austin delivered some Stunners on the goons at ringside. Nitro Nitro on 10/26 was the usual three-hour show. This time it aired in full in Canada. The show opened with the commentators admitting that some 20% of fans had not seen the finish of the PPV. After long meetings to discuss this "technical problem," they said, it was decided to show the Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page in its entirety. Tony tells us the WWF called this the latest scummy ratings trick, claiming that the overtime was scheduled with the broadcast problems being anticipated. They said that the Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior match or finish (which apparently was not seen by some blessed people) would not be reboradcast because a match that ugly shouldn't be aired on TV. Of course, the tone in that last sentence is mine, but they did say that the match "got ugly. That's a match that really needs to stay on PPV." Of course, the commentators showed their short memories again, saying this was the first time ever that a PPV mega match would air for free on TV. Uh, I remember that Dennis Rodman tag match a little too well. First match saw Stevie Ray beat Kenny Kaos of High Voltage with an assist from Buff Bagwell, who tossed Stevie his slapjack. After the match, Rick Steiner save Kaos. Rick Steiner asked Kaos to be his partner this night in taking on the NWO, saying that had nobody given him a break he'd never have made it. Kaos agreed to be a part of this. Kanyon beat Prince Iaukea in a good TV match. Kanyon could really be a player in the WWF; I bet the lack of upward mobility in WCW must upset the guy. I'm not saying that Kanyon is a great worker, and have criticized his "spottiness" at times, but he's substantially better than a lot of the guys that are getting a shot in the WWF. The Horsemen came out without Steve McMichael, getting my hopes up, but Ric Flair then said that he was sure Mongo would arrive later. An angle to dump Mongo? I can hope. Eric Bischoff came out and offered Flair the chance to wrestle tonight because he wanted to give the fans what they want. Everybody suggested that Bischoff was up to something. Alex Wright beat Barry Horowitz. At this point, Tony Schiavone called Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg the greatest PPV main event that he's ever had the privilege of calling. They showed stills of Hogan vs. Warrior, which is really cruel and unusual punishment for anybody that had to see this match live. Wrath beat Sick Boy; Wrath is getting over, judging by the PPV reaction the night before. This match did a bit to dispel that conclusion, however, as the match was boring and sloppy, with the majority of fans being unresponsive, although his finisher got a good reaction. They aired the Page vs. Goldberg match next. It was well-timed since it meant fans would be tuned into WCW in the first quarter hour of head-to-head broadcast time with RAW. The question is whether WCW could maintain whatever advantage one might assume they would have in this quarter. Anyhow, I was pretty excited at seeing the best match that Tony Schiavone had ever been involved with. In the first few minutes, it was already better than any Hulk Hogan main event in recent memory. They spent a lot time in the Power Plant rehearsing and putting together this match. Goldberg used his strength and repeatedly went for the cross armbar. Page showed little early on, confused by Goldberg's strength. Key spot saw Goldberg spear the ringpost and Page go on offence. Goldberg rallied with a good spear, but Page reversed the jackhammer into a diamond cutter. He couldn't cover, though, and by the time he did Goldberg had recovered. Goldberg hit his jackhammer for a worked 155-0 record. In the end, it was a good bout. particularly because it hid Goldberg's weaknesses. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall teased a reconciliation, but Giant attacked Nash and Giant & Hall tossed Nash through a wall. After one of the worst matches in the history of wrestling (and a strong contender for the top spot on that list), Hulk Hogan delivered an interview to invite Horace Hogan into the NWO. Blech. Eddie Guerrero wrestled Saturn. The LWO ran in and couldn't even get the advantage three-on-one against a WCW low-to-midcarder. The remaining LWO members ran in to beat up Saturn. Maybe the criticism is a little harsh, since there is a lot of talk that Saturn will be pushed into a US Title feud with Bret Hart. The Observer has also mentioned that there are some in the promotion who are pushing this idea. Rick Steiner and his handpicked tag champ partner Kenny Kaos beat Stevie Ray & Giant when Ray was pinned by Steiner. And we say that WCW overlooks their younger stars. Look at Kaos and Horace. Okay, don't. After pushing the idea that a PPV main event is never shown on television (even though others have been in recent times), they showed a larged chunk of highlights from the Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan Bash at the Beach 1994 main event. This was Eric Bischoff's way of living up to his claim that Ric Flair would wrestle on Nitro this night. Billy Kidman defended the Cruiserweight title against Juventud Guerrera. Why didn't they put this match on the PPV and have Disco get his shot this night? Juvy vs. Kidman deserves the spot. Of course, this was a great match, and the fans really got into it. Scott Steiner & Buff Bagwell beat up JJ Dillon. I didn't really care; it's just become too trendy to beat up the heads or figureheads of wrestling companies. The attack was preceded by a Scott Steiner vs. Dillon interview confrontation that Steiner brutally stumbled his way through. He was trying to complain that Dillon sent in a replacement referee to count Scott out, but said something like, "Why was the match that referee started not the same referee that counted the fall?" Just brutal. Then a deep sadness struck: yes, the Warrior ran out when any sane person would have hoped he was history with the company. He was so exhausted from his ring entrance that he could barely do his interview. Oh man, he still wants to go after Hogan. Like we need another candidate for worst match of the year. Hulk Hogan came out and Horace Hogan attacked Warrior. Warrior dumped him. Warrior also dodged Giant's attacked, dumping him. Hogan attacked Warrior from behind, but Warrior rallied and also knocked Eric Bischoff off the apron. Jeez, I guess they did strike a deal to keep Warrior around. Every element of the in-ring stuff with Horace, Giant, and Hogan was utterly pitiful. The dumps out of the ring looked horrible. The shoulder tackle on Hogan was miserable. Why, why, why? Scott Steiner & Scott Hall faced Lex Luger & Konnan. They brawled around, the referee disappeared, and, all in all, it was pretty bland. When they came back from a commerical, Michael Buffer was in the ring to announce the main event. Bret Hart defended the US Title against Diamond Dallas Page. Match was good but not great, building to Bret Hart duing the backwards kick that ended up being a crotch shot on both Page and the ref. The low blow is being overused. Hart dug out an object but ended up turning into a diamond cutter and losing the title. Afterwards he destroyed Page's knee with a chair. The idea was to give Page his groove back after the loss the previous night, likely even more required because the Page loss earlier aired on Nitro. It also allowed Page to have an injury angle so he could take the time off that he's wanted (although, he's now leaving with a title). As Hart was pounding on Page, the show went off the air and Goldberg ran in for the save. Are we supposed to conclude that Goldberg vs. Hart is on tap? That's unclear. Thunder Thunder on 10/29/98 was a live two-hour show. And after the Sunday night PPV and Nitro to follow, I, for one, was hoping for a show without Hulk Hogan, Warrior, Horace, and others. Of course, they opened the show by talking about how they would recap the events of Sunday and Monday. Sigh. Main event was Giant vs. Raven, as Raven's downward spiral was sure to continue. Wrath beat Van Hammer. Hammer has been doing a hippie gimmick; they actually gave him some offence in this match. They showed Alex Wright's win over Fit Finlay on Sunday to set up a rematch between the two in the next match on Thunder. With Davey Boy Smith leaving the promotion, the feud over who is the best European wrestler has gotten thinner, leaving Wright, Finlay, and Norman Smiley, I guess. Anyhow, this time around, they had another good match, leading to a ref bump off of a missile dropkick. Alex had the pin after the move, woke up the ref, turned into a tombstone, and gave up the pin. They kept talking about Steven Wright's brilliant career, which fell flat because an incredibly tiny percentage of the viewers have even heard of Steven Wright and fewer still have seen him; those stats aren't zero, though, since I have seen Wright a few times. They aired the Steiner & Bagwell attack on JJ Dillon from Nitro. They even included the interview segment, which was as miserable as the first time I saw it. Speaking of miserable, Disciple then faced half of Disorderly Conduct, winning the apocalypse, of course. Poor Tough Tom didn't know what to do in the ring with a star of the magnitude of the Disciple. In a moment of goodness, they brought us Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero. That they cavalierly put a match like that on Thunder with no real purpose to it shows how little thought they put into the guys that should be primed to replace the current batch of main eventers. Yeah, Malenko as a Horsemen will probably get some increased status and Eddie has his Latino job squad, but they are so wasted. Two more guys that would be instant players in the WWF because of the talent dearth there. Man, do they put Edge, Gangrel, Christian, and even D'Lo to shame. The match wasn't as awesome as these guys are capable of doing, but who can really blame them. It was still a good bout, particularly the later part. Eventually, though, the LWO ran in and the Horsemen ran in for the save. And darn it all, Mongo was with Benoit for the save, so my dreams of Mongo being gone are just dreams for the moment. Disco Inferno lost to Chris Jericho. Before the match, they did a funny interview bit with Disco asking Jericho to just put the belt around his (Disco's) waste. Jericho did it and then laid into Disco. Another good match. Since Thunder is often the night that all of the "stars" take off, it sometimes seems to have a lot more good wrestling on it because the good workers get their exposure here. I guess that was particularly the case after the PPV this week, when Nitro had those guys on to deal with the PPV fallout. Billy Kidman beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. to retain the Cruiserweight Title. The above postulate gained further support. Another good match, although I'd live happily if I never saw Pepe the stick horse again. Nice match, with Kidman gettinga surprise pin. Afterwards, the LWO came to the ring and pummelled Chavo a little bit. Chavo didn't want to join the LWO. They showed the Warrior/Hogan bit from Nitro again. It sucked even worse the second time because I knew how bad it would be. Ernest Miller beat Villano V. Miller did his bad interview shtick after the match. Sonny Oono came out and seemed to lure Miller into his employ. Scott Hall beat Steve Armstrong with no difficulty. In the main event, Giant squashed Raven. The Observer reports that the idea is to have Raven's losing streak wind up with his mother coming on TV and saying that all of his miserable childhood stories are phony. Raven is apparently worried about his stock falling in WCW now that he's removed from the top half of the card, so he went to an ECW show and mouthed off about wanting to return, just as a way to make WCW think about how they are using him. The funny thing that his WCW profile is already too high compared to other guys who can deliver more. Worse yet, browsing through a computer magazine I came across an ad for a WCW Nitro PC computer game. The layout of the ad allowed for large pictures of five wrestlers. Who got the spots? Goldberg, Hogan, Giant, Sting, and Raven. Yeah, that makes sense. - The Observer reviewed the 10/19 Monday Night wars and laid into the RAW episode (Austin goes after Vince) that has received some praise elsewhere, but not on this page. The best sentence was at the start: "Between the ridiculously bad overacting by McMahon, the silly storyline that has potentially scary repercussions seeing 13000 people enthusiastically rooting for Austin to pull the trigger on McMahon, and one of the worst main events in RAW history with an Undertaker vs. Kane casket match that was actually worse than their PPV match the previous night and ended in a chorus of boos when both simply walked to the dressing room for a non-finish, it was generally, but not universally considered the worst episode of RAW in a long time." In the discussion of that Monday night, the Observer once again points out that Nitro had more viewers than RAW even though RAW had a higher rating. In the past, the point has been made that RAW has to beat Nitro by just over a 0.2 rating to have the same number of viewers. For whatever reason, the "Nitro party" may actually be a reality, since more people watch a television showing Nitro, on average. - Eric Bischoff has been pressuring Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Misterio Jr. and other good workers with less than a year left on their contracts to sign a renewal. Of course, he told Eddie & Chris & Dean Malenko that he would push them as a sign of good faith, but now he's asking for some reciprocation. Juventud Guerrera has signed a renewal. Speaking of some Mexican wrestlers, the battle for Mexico seems to have swayed to WCW's favour. The WWF has been planning their lucha TV show for a while now, but both the WWF and WCW were negotiating to have the appropriate members of their crew work in Mexico. Well, WCW has apparently reached a deal to have the LWO members work in Mexico. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98. Tentative line-up has: * Sixteen man tournament to determine the new WWF Champion. Announced participants: Kane, Undertaker, Rocky Maivia, Ken Shamrock, Steve Austin, * Sable vs. Jacqueline for the WWF Women's Title It's largely expected that Rocky Maivia will win the title on this show. Speculation now has Steve Austin winning the Royal Rumble to earn a WrestleMania title shot, where he'll regain the title. - In reviewing In Your House: Judgment Day, the Observer points out that "aside from the big pop for the people's elbow, the show ended on a flat note. It didn't help that the Undertaker vs. Kane main event was as bad or worse than all but Hulk Hogan's worst efforts and the finish was not only expected but worse than most of the Hogan main event finishes. After paying $29.95 for the second month in a row to not get a winner and using a PPV simply as a way to try and build ratings for a free show the next night, this comes across as short-sighted and hot-shotty as what WWF complains about WCW's booking." The main event bagged a whopping - 1/2* rating. - Vader will work All Japan as a foreign regular even after the All Japan tag tourney, in which he'll team up with Stan Hansen. I guess I'll have to wait to see it on TV, but I can't imagine Vader holding up under the physical strain of working All Japan style through a whole tour. - Despite his shoulder injury, Scott Norton worked his New Japan tour, successfully defending the IWGP Title against Shinya Hashimoto last night. - All Japan had a big show on 10/31/98 at Budokan Hall featuring Kenta Kobashi defending the Triple Crown against Mitsuharu Misawa. Yeah, I know that seems like tonight to people reading it after I posted it, but think about the time difference. Anyhow, Misawa regained the titles. That's not too big of a surprise. - WCW has World War III on 11/22/98. Talk of Jackie Chan appearin in WCW at all, originally talked about for this show, has ceased. If only that meant that Ernest Miller's push would cease too. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98. - - Nitro beat RAW on 10/29 with a 5.1 rating versus a 4.5 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. I still haven't managed to update them. - 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) I'll update the figures for next week. 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 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. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________