______________________________________________________________________ The term ends in two weeks...pant, pant, pant. I'll revamp things at that point. Be sure to check out the "previous" issue by clicking the above link. In my rush to update the page, I put it in the wrong place last week. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - WCW had World War III on 11/22/98. Overall, I wasn't too moved by the show. It had two really good matches, but not much else. The battle royal was better, or maybe just shorter, than in previous years. Quick run down: * Wrath beat Glacier: an uninspired opener. Wrath is getting over because he does different things for a big guy, but this match was not the sort of thing that will continue to get him over. It was boring. * Stevie Ray DQ Konnan: two for two, with this being another boring match. Stevie Ray has no colour and Konnan is a mixed bag. Match was really boring until Vincent slapjacked Konnan, who exploded when he recovered, batting Stevie Ray until he was DQed. Booker T came out afterwards to save Stevie and talk to him, but Stevie pushed him off. It's tough being brothers in pro-wrestling in the 1990s. What a drab show so far. * Ernest Miller & Sonny Onno beat Perry Saturn & Kaz Hayashi: Poor Kaz. He should be in the show-stealing match of the show, but instead finds himself is this sort of crap. Miller has developed some good heel heat at times, but he is still a poor worker. And Onno is only there for comedy. Kaz & even Saturn deserve more than this. Saturn got some pretty good reactions. So, of course, they did the cheap finish that nobody wanted to see: while Kaz was being pushed out by the ref, Miller kicked Saturn in the back of the head and Onno fell on him for the cover. I guess somebody likes the comedy of having Onno get this cheap wins. * Billy Kidman beat Juventud Guerrerato win the Cruiserweight title: Juvi came out with an LWO shirt on, which led to Eddie delivering his usual diatribe and Rey Misterio Jr. coming out to complain that he lost his title shot and now has to be in the same fold as the champion. Juvi worked more slowly than usual at the start, which the commentators called Eddie Guerrero's influence. They still did some nice, crisp work. The crowd dished out a loud "Juvi sucks" chant. They did some hot stuff at the finish, including some creative spots using the neighbouring rings. Juvi was a little sloppy in some spots, but in general was great. Kidman kicked out of a top rope Frankensteiner. Juvi hit the Juvi driver, but couldn't go for the pin due to fatigue. He then dragged Billy over to the corner and went for the Firebird splash, but Kidman moved. Juvi landed on his feet and immediately hit a rana on a standing Kidman for another two count. Finally, Kidman got to do some of his cool offence, with a facebuster, and a wonderful German suplex. He went up for the shooting star, but Juvi stopped him. When Juvi went up for another top rope Frankensteiner, Rey Misterio Jr. appeared and held Kidman's shorts, so Juvi missed. Kidman hit the shooting star and the match was over. The LWO came out and started yelling at Rey, but Eddie Guerrero stopped the group from attacking Rey. Eddie told Rey that he was in or out and Rey tossed his shirt at the group. * Rick Steiner Scott Steiner: Before the match, the NWO attacked Rick Steiner, "brutally" injuring his arm. Yet another Steiner match where nobody works. Why WCW with so many wrestlers has to hype a feud involving three wrestlers (Steiners & Bagwell) all of whom aren't in working condition is beyond me. To make the fans forget about how crappy this whole Steiner thing has been, they sent out Goldberg to attack Scott & Bagwell. The crowd went absolutely nuts for Goldberg, who ended up press slamming Scott's special referee into the neighbouring ring. "One of the most exciting and electirifying moments of the year," says Tony, which is hyperbole, but it was a good moment, and after those opening three matches and recent TV, we needed as many good moments as we can get. * Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash never took place: As Scott Hall was in the ring with all of the NWO Hollywood members except Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff called on the other members to turn on Hall. Nash made the save. The crowd started chanting "Outsiders." Hall signalled for the sign of Wölfpac, but Nash walked off, apparently unable to forgive Hall. * Chris Jericho beat Bobby Duncum Jr.: I was torn here. On the one hand, Jericho deserves better things, and, on the other hand, it was at least a good way to introduce a new player, giving him a long match in the hopes that he could get over even in losing. My big problem is that Duncum is nwhere near the talent of most of the guys that the promotion wastes, so I just don't like the message that bringing him in for title shot sends to the guys that work their asses off and get nowhere. Match had some good moments, although Jericho had to work hard to be the glue that held the match together. Finsh saw Jericho's security guy get involved, with Jericho then using the TV title belt behind the referee's back to set up the pin. * Battle Bowl was won by Elminations were quick at the start, with Kevin Nash tossing a whole slew of guys out in sequence. In just a few minutes, there were only 42 men left in the ring. Not that it was a good match for PPV; you still couldn't see most of the action, and there likely wasn't much action. Kevin Nash cleared his ring in short order, getting to rest until the total number of men hit the 20 mark. There was no real story line in other than the Nash deal early on. The different factions that had been pushed as appearing didn't play with each other as groups. The next time there was a story was when seven wrestlers all jumped on Giant, pounding him, until Giant shrugged them off. The group attack deteriorated, with the commentators trying to suggest that the wrestlers were avoiding elimination by the Giant until the total shrunk down to 20 and the rings were joined into one. I know it was a battle royal and work usually isn't present, but it got worse and worse as time went on because the stars were the only guys that remained and the stars generally suck. The lumbering of Giant, Stevie Ray, Scott Steiner, etc. became depressing pretty fast. Interesting that Bret Hart & DDP weren't in the bout since their match was held off for the main event. Also interesting to see Hulk Hogan wasn't there. When 20 men were left, they all jumped into one ring to start the final phase of battle royal. Ernest Miller & Saturn got into it on the floor, presumably eliminating themselves before they even got in the ring. First eliminations were the workers: Chavo Guerrero Jr., Alex Wright, Eddie Guerrero, Disco Inferno, and Billy Kidman. Besides Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko, the ring was a talent wasteland. Okay, Booker T doesn't deserve to be so labelled. Final ten were Giant, Nash, Hall, Konnan, Wrath, Benoit, Malenko, Booker T, Scott Steiner, and Luger. Bam Bam Bigelow climbed over the guard rail and hit the ring, only to be laid into by all of the wrestlers, who stopped hitting each other to go over Bammer, which was sort of cool. Crowd chanted "Goldberg!" Goldberg came out and they started brawling on the floor. The match just stopped as the guys watched the brawl. They finally resumed, and fioally cut to a camera angle that showed the ring and the crowd of security separating Bigelow & Goldberg. Booker T & Scott Steiner were tossed out, as was Wrath. Konnan eliminated himself in a goofy way by jumping through the ropes to the floor in missing a dropkick. Nash called on everybody to take out Giant. Giant fought them off but finally started selling for them and they dumped him out. Benoit & Malenko were great at the end, so they of course ended up getting eliminated, leaving Hall & Nash & Luger. Surely, it had to get down to Hall vs. Nash, with Hall eliminating himself as a gesture of good faith. All three of them hit each other. Nash took his first bump of the night from a Luger forearm. Nash whacked Luger when Luger had Hall up in the rack, sending both man over the top. As expected, then, Nash took the match and goes on to face Goldberg for the title at Starrcade. * Diamond Dallas Page beat Bret Hart to reatin the US Title: Michael Buffer once again screwed up Bret's motto. Match was slow but good. Eventually, DDP put the sharpshooter on Bret Hart. It was probably the worst sharpshooter we've ever seen, so the commentators of course called it a "darn good" sharpshooter. Bret attacked DDP's knee in true heel fashion, putting the figure four on DDP around the post. DDP did the same to Bret. After the ref took a bump, Bret put the sharpshooter on an unconscious DDP (who he'd knocked out with an object). The NWO's goofy referee came out and called for the bell as a take on the Montreal Survivor Series finish. WCW referee Mickey Jay came out and signalled that the finish wouldn't stand, that the match would continue. DDP hit the diamond cutter immediately and got the win. We can now add DDP to the list of wrestlers have had their best match against Bret Hart. - The WWF had Survivor Series on Sunday, 11/15/98. Quick run-down: * Mankind beat Dwayne Gill in the WWF Title tourney: Vince McMahon did a goofy ring intro for Gill, teasing that he was a former WCW star and a current (high school) football coach. Mankind pinned him in a few seconds. Mankind's shtick this evening was to be slowly transformed back from the corporate stooge to evil monster. In this match, he wore his tuxedo, but he would lose pieces of it over the night, until he was back in Mankind garb. This was a non-match, but they at least ran with it first. * Al Snow beat Jeff Jarrett in the WWF Title tourney: Ugh. These guys didn't do much that was that bad, I guess, although there was some sloppiness throught, but they just didn't click at all. With the WWF's roster filled with so many green guys, including guys that have improved like Ken Shamrock or Rocky Maivia, the WWF's in-ring product has no depth in so many matches; that's where guys like JJ and Al Snow, both veterans, should come in, but it definitely wasn't the case this night. There really wasn't much to the match before they went to the finish: Snow took a guitar swing, JJ tried to used the Head, Snow got the Head and used it, and Snow got the pin. At this point, I was distressed because the first round matches in the tourney only had ten-minute time limits and they'd all be rushed crap like this match. * Steve Austin DQ Boss Man in the WWF Title tourney: They brawled around uninspiredly for a few minutes. Forget about building a good match, though, since, for no real apparent reason, Boss Man decided to whack Austin with his night stick a few times for the DQ. The idea was that Austin was left in no condition to continue the tournament, so Vince & Boss Man were celebrating, but the reality is that a wimpy night stick beating like this was only debilitating ten years; since the WWF has played a role in upping the stakes in that department, you'd think they'd realize how silly this story line would look. * Steve Regal DCOR X-Pac in the WWF Title tourney: Maybe this would be the first good match? Not really. Regal is still of the mark and the two just didn't mesh well, either. Match was the longest thus far, at about seven or eight minutes, which probably played no small roll in keeping the match lacklustre. With guys out of the tournament, Austin got a walk to through the next round. Vince was unhappy, saying "I want overtime." Sgt. Slaughter went down to ringside and told Harvey to announce a "five-minute overtime to a finish." Huh? Anyhow, for some reason that didn't happen. * Ken Shamrock beat Goldust in the WWF Title tourney: Shamrock is still improving, and he's already a good worker, but he doesn't have the depth to carry a match. That's okay here, since the time limit means the match doesn't have to have much. This was the best match so far, although it still didn't break the good mark. It was sort of boring, with no heat. Again, they didn't build anything in the match. Goldust went for a low blow, and the ref stopped it. That's the first crowd reacion in the match: a healthy boo. Ken hit a sloppy huracanrana, a belly-to-belly suplex, and an ankle lock for the first non-screwy victory since the opening squash. * Rocky Maivia beat Boss Man in the WWF Title tourney: Since Hunter Hearst Helmsley is still unable to wrestle, Vince came up with a substitute, sticking the Boss Man back into the tourney. Junk. A four-second roll-up for the win, a new WWF record match length. But, of course, all was not as it seemed. * Undertaker beat Kane in the WWF Title tourney: Ugh. These guys just suck. Boring, boring, boring match. Paul Bearer distracted Kane so Undertaker could hit the tombstone. And I thought one tombstone wasn't enough to pin Kane. * Mankind beat Al Snow in the WWF Title tourney: Jim Ross announced that Mankind was wearing loafers from the "illustrious Jim Barnett collection." Match stunk yet again. I wondered if we'd have to rely on Sable for the good match of the night! Mankind saw that his sock was wrapped around Head -- you see, McMahon planted it there --, snapping in the process and hitting the mandible claw for the win. * Rocky Maivia beat Ken Shamrock in the WWF Title tourney: The Boss Man came out, with the spin being that he was pissed at Rocky. Shamrock hit a rana and rolled through through to an ankle lock, but Rocky made the ropes. This was the first good match of the night. Rocky hit a low blow and then hit the people's elbow for a two count. Shamrock countered the Rock Bottom with a belly-to-belly suplex. The Boss Man tossed in his night stick, apparently to Shamrock, but Rocky caught it and used it for the win. Bad finish. * Sable beat Jacqueline to win the WWF Women's title: A non-match, really. With intros, it only ran six minutes. Sable used a power bomb for the win. * Mankind beat Steve Austin in the WWF Title tourney: Vince & his stooges came out to cheer on Mankind. Mankind hit a DDT on a chair for a two count. Vince stopped the referee count by popping out of the wheel chair when Austin had a pin attempt. Well, that angle, which I had mentioned earlier has a angle that would draw a huge pop, was wasted. The ref was laid out. Austin hit the stunner and went for the cover even though the referee wasn't there. Shane McMahon ran in, counted two, stopped, and gave Austin the finger. The goons ran in and hit the weakest chair shot in the world on Austin, who was counted down by Shane. Vince & co. ran away, skipping in delight that Austin was out of the mix. * Rocky Maivia DQ Undertaker in the WWF Title tourney: Garbage. Kane ran in and choke slammed Rocky, so Undertaker was DQed. I hate that finish: wrestler X attacks his enemies opponent to get his enemy DQed. Kane & Undertaker brawled weakly. * Road Dog & Billy Gunn beat Mark Henry & D'Lo Brown and Head Bangers to retain the Tag Titles: This was a triple threat match where three guys would always be in the ring. Really sloppy and amateurish spots a lot of the time. For example, D'Lo was supposed to stumble into a neckbreaker, but things were just embarrassingly miscued and poor D'Lo walked backwards for a bit, looked over his shoulder to see the move was coming, looked forward again, and continued stumbling into the move. Ugh. The fans just didn't care for most of the match (after the intros), not even all of the low blows. The match was a heat segment on Road Dog, which I speaks to his babyface appeal. The crowd did pop for the hot tag to Gunn. They did a really sloppy count spot. Gunn hit a piledriver on a Banger for the pin. Gunn mooned us. * Rocky Maivia beat Mankind in the WWF Title tourney final: Earl Hebner was the referee. Jim Ross mentioned Montreal. Match was Mankind's typical fare, pretty good this time out. Vince & co. came to ringside. Rocky hit the sharpshooter and Vince yelled "Ring the bell!" Rocky, Vince, and Shane all hugged. Vince delivered a victory speech, passing off to Rocky. Steve Austin came out. Austin & Rock brawled, with Austin stunning Mankind and Rocky. The post-match angle was good, although a lot of people will second-guess turning Rocky. I'm sure that some people will praise this show, but there just wasn't much worthwhile wrestling. I like a story line that pays off as much as the next guy, but I want to see some good wrestling. Vince has been preparing well for the release of Bret Hart's movie. The ankle injury and heel promoter stuff is a direct link. And on this night, the whole show was a tribute to Bret Hart. Austin, the guy that irked the promoter like Bret did last year, was taken out in a screwy finish with a bought referee. Mankind lost the final in the same way that Bret lost a year ago. RAW RAW on 11/16 was a hot live show following the Survivor Series PPV the night before. In my opinion, the show was heavily overbooked, with just way too much happening. It's natural that some of the stuff was good and some of the stuff was bad, but that isn't the point. The point is that the show just had too many revelations, too many angles, too much out-of-the-ring stuff packed into it. I know some people are going to say the show was awesome and others are going to say it was desperation to do so much on free TV, but I find neither argument to be the case. The show opened with a clip of Austin getting screwed by Shane McMahon; this was followed by a brand new RAW opening, with clips of the newcomers like Edge and Gangrel, and more focus on Rocky Maivia. There was also a bloody closeup of Shawn Michaels, replacing the bloody closeup of Steve Austin. First off in the live show, Vince McMahon & cronies came out. Shane was dressed in all black, since the WWF will still use those simple symbols when it serves a purpose. Of course, the Rock came out and tried to solidify his position as a heel. I know they needed a heel for Austin to keep his program fresh, but you've got to think that they might have missed the boat by not keeping him a face, since he was starting to get over huge. Vince must have thought a fresh heel was more important than another babyface. I guess we'll see if the heel turn mattered when Rock eventually turns on McMahon. Rock's spin was that he won't forget that the people used to catcall him. All of the "people's" moves are now "corporate" moves. Shane got involved in the interview for just a few seconds and instantly lost whatever character development he had shown in recent weeks. How many times can you say "smell what the Rock is cookin'" in a lengthy interview segment? If anybody bothers to count, we could have an answer. While I'm sure some people will praise Rock as a great interview, particularly this night, I'm still on the fence. They replayed clips of incidents from the past few weeks, piecing together many different story line elements to build the outcome of Survivor Series. Although a fan that watched closely didn't need it, it should serve as a nice reminder of how nicelys-booked stuff can come together. When they got to revelling in the "screwing" of Steve Austin, Austin came down to ringside to confront them, with the odds against him. Why does the music guy always play Austin's music when he makes an impromptu entrance? Surely Vince must be firing these guys for catering to Austin, right? Austin's new contract says that "unless [he is] provoked, he can't lay a hand on [Vince]." Huh? Austin's deal was that based on the words of Shane he gets a title shot; he claimed to have a contract signed by judge Mills Lane, who aired a promo. That was kind of cool, 'cause Mills Lane is a cool character. I hope everybody that complains about WCW using a PPV to build up a Nitro match will level the same complaint here. I don't care; I just want to see good wrestling. At 9:21pm, we go to our first commercial break. No matches yet, but I'd expect this quarter hour to win the ratings battle and I don't even know what WCW was delivering (airs on Wednesday in Canada). Even though a lot (most?) of the wrestling that the WWF delivers these days is decidedly amateurish on several different levels, their TV focus and story line booking strongly outclasses pretty much everything that WCW does. It's the same statement that one might have made about ECW not that long ago. And, of course, both promotions (ECW & the WWF) have strayed into the heavily overbooked world (so has WCW). New Age Outlaws & X-Pac came out for a six-man match against the Oddities of Kurrgan & Silva & Golga. An absolutely junky match on paper that speaks to the comment that ended the previous paragraph. The crowd was really hot for NAO's intro shtick. Brutal action, and not brutal in the good way, if you get my drift. Who's the worst wrestler in the match? It's hard to say. There were more horrible spots in this match than in a Jim Duggan vs. Ultimate Warrior marathon match. Gunn pinned Golga after the Oddities misqueued. The Clowns & the Oddities argued afterwards, since the Clowns caused the loss. The Head Bangers attacked Road Dog after the match. Mankind arrived saying that he wouldn't want to be Vince. Vince and the stooges meet and Pat is designated to go talk to Mankind. It's time to renew Mankind's character and give him an edge. Ken Shamrock hit the ring and said the Boss Man screwed him twice at Survivor Series and challenged him to a match for the IC Title. Val Venis faced Mark Henry. Well, that makes two crappy matches out of two matches. Henry has very little clue of what he's doing in the ring and Val isn't the guy to carry him to something passable. My wife comments on how careful the WWF production crew is to change cameras when most moves impact, but we notice the difference between this live show and their taped shows. Chyna came out on the ramp, leading to Henry being distracted and losing. Chyna looked absolutely gruesome, worse than before, sort of like the way Ed Leslie has been transformed over time. Mark Henry asked her to dinner, "no sex involved." We return to find that Pat couldn't find the boiler room. Silly. Goldust & Steve Blackman faced Jeff Jarrett & Blue Blazer. Guess what? Yup, three for three in the wrestling quality category. The idea seems to be that a whole slew of people will appear in the Blue Blazer costume. Jim Ross upset the technical writer in me by using "infer" when he meant "imply." Blackman ended up pinning the Blazer seconds after he tagged in. When he threatened to unmask the Blazer, Owen Hart ran in for the save. After Jerry Brisco was too scared to get Mankind, Sgt. Slaughter said he'd go. He failed too, so all three went off. Steve Regal, with his incredibly stupid gimmick and music, faced the Godfather, Kama. Kama came out with three "ho"s, one of whom looked to be in her fifth month. The man's man decided to take the women. Apparently, Kama's shtick offended the censors at TSN tonight, since the live broadcast of RAW was brutally edited, with shots of crowds clapping and cheering spliced over most of this segment. It's weird to (not) see the things that offend each week. The overnight, supposedly unedited broadcast also featured trimming of this segment: we don't hear Kama's offer to Regal, but we do hear Regal's response and the ensuing "fag" remark. Boss Man faced Ken Shamrock. First match that really offered something. But like the PPV fare the night before, there's something missing due to the match being kept so short. It amounts to some brawling with very little else thrown in. Both guys decked the referee and continue brawling until they are ripped apart by officials. Vince McMahon came out and told them to think about what they were doing. Vince said he could use a man like Shamrock and that the fans don't care about Shamrock. "Every corporation needs a dangerous man." They shook hands. Boss Man & Shamrock also shook hands. And the heels are lining up for Steve Austin, all fresh feuds. This makes no sense of course, since, after being the king of the tournaments in the WWF, Shamrock was screwed out of his WWf Title tourney run by these yahoos and now he's agreed to join them. It weakens his character substantially to make him look like such an idiot, especially when he had been so irate earlier in the show. Again, just like with turning Rock, it's more important to have fresh heels. Some clip aired before the next match. In Canada, it was too offensive, and we jump to the Brood's ring entrance with Jim Ross saying that he hopes "he" isn't coming this way. On the overnight broadcast, they inserted a Steve Regal vignette in the spot before the Brood's entrance. Edge & Gangrel faced Animal & Droz. Hawk came out on the rampway to watch the match, climbing the Titantron. Why not tease a suicide attempt? The LOD lose by countout trying to talk Hawk down. And, honest, I typed this as I watched it. Sure enough, when we returned from the commercial break, Hawk was still up on the Titantron, but not for long. Yep, as Animal & Droz tried to talk Hawk down, Paul Ellering joined in, for another meaningless kayfabe break. By this point in the show, viewers' heads had to be spinning, so it all meant nothing. In a stupid, over-the-top bit, Droz climbed the Titantron and very sloppily pushed Hawk backwards off the Titantron. As he fell, a shadow of a falling body moved down the Titantron. Unfortunately, it was out of sync with when he fell, and it looked really hokey to boot. Sable appeared. This was just a chance for Jerry Lawler to act the lech and Shane McMahon to suggest that Sable slept her way to her current role. In the boiler room, Mankind laid out all of the musketeers. Final match was Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia. The crowd was pretty into it, but I was bored. They brawled around a bit at the start, but the only interesting part was when a fan jumped the guard rail and was swarmed by security. They get back in the ring and seem like they might actually trade some holds, but, no, they go back outside pretty quickly, taking bumps on the commentators' table. There was no actual wrestling to speak of here, but the crowd was really into things. The corporate elbow got a great pop. Finish came in short order, with Mankind coming out and brawling with Boss Man & Ken Shamrock. In the ring, they finally did a few nice wrestling, with reversals of their key moves, leading to Austin hitting the Stunner. Earl Hebner was the referee for the match. See, there's the annoying part. Apparently, on this night, schizophrenic Earl was working against Vince McMahon again (after screwing Bret last year and being the ref in the screwjob the night before on PPV), so he was actually counting Austin's covers. It all makes little sense, but things don't have to make sense when business is good. Shamrock pulled Earl out of the ring to break the count. Of course, Undertaker had to come out as well, whacking Austin with a lame shovel shot that Jim Ross swears hit Austin in the head; I guess that means the shovel mysteriously travelled through his arms and chest, 'cause they were all in the way. Well, everything else was not enough to call for a DQ, but the line is called at shovels, and Earl asked for the bell. This means that Austin has lost his only chance to regain the WWF Title. Yeah, right. Surely, Austin is going to win the Royal Rumble and challenge for the title at WrestleMania. Of course, the story line progressed at the WWF tapings on Tuesday. For some stupid reason, the McMahons said that Austin's only remaining chance for a title shot would be to win the Royal Rumble and earn the WrestleMania spot. Before he can even get in the Rumble, though, he'll have to beat Undertaker in a Buried Alive match at the December PPV. You've got to give them credit for putting Austin in matches where he doesn't have to do any real wrestling; as weird as it sounds, he's safer doing the brawling crap. Also at the tapings, Shawn Michaels turned up as the new WWF commissioner, appointed by the McMahons, and eventually showing that he was firmly aligned with them and against DX. And Dwayne Gill, who lost that 30-second match against Mankind at the PPV, appeared and won the Lightheavyweight title from Christian, which reconfirms how seriously that title is viewed by the powers that be. - "Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows" aired on TVO on Wednesday at 10pm. Earlier that night, Bret Hart appeared on a news talk show on TVO, talking about the film. The only new bit was when the interviewer asked whether Vince McMahon had sued Bret for decking him. Bret said no and pointed out that if Vince did sue him then everything would come out in court. He elaborated to say that what Vince did to him in Montreal was a breach of their contract, so in order to sue Bret for his illegality Vince would have to reveal and discuss his own. The film aired a little late, because TVO was doing a funding drive this evening. In any case, when the show started, the host said that this was one of the best documentaries of the thousands he has introduced. The talking heads described it as an action movie, a romance, and a moral drama, saying that Bret Hart was fighting for integrity in a morally bankrupt landscape. I watched the movie again. It is the single-best item on pro-wrestling I've ever seen. Maybe it's because I was leaning that way already or maybe the film presents things so clearly, but for whatever reason I find myself ever more on Bret's side of the fence in his argument with Vince. Nitro Nitro on 11/16 was the usual three-hour live show, once again airing in full in Canada. Opening match was Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera, which, frankly, got me more stoked than anything on RAW. It was a bit weird from a story line perspective, since they made a big deal of Rey facing Juventud last week on Thunder to determine which of those two would get a title shot against Kidman at the PPV. After Rey earned that shot, they made it sort of meaningless here, since Juventud got a shot before Rey. The explanation was that Kidman is such a fighting champion that he wanted to give both guys a shot. Even with a headlock spot midway, this match was much better than anything on RAW in-ring. An annoying part was the commentary that continually hyped the PPV this weekend, still only pushing the main event battle royal that always sucks. Kidman missed a tope and Juventud followed it up with an El Hijo del Santo dive of the turnbuckle. Juventud did a top rope leg drop, selling it himself like he jammed his spine on impact. The resulting slow cover only earned a two count. They did a creative bulldog spot before Kidman turned a power bomb attempt into a face crusher for a two. A deadly German suplex earned another two. Juvi rolled through the next German suplex, hit the Juvi driver, and only got a two, with the idea being that he rolled him up to much so Kidman could flip out. A top rope rana attempt was interrupted by a low blow and a power bomb for a two by Kidman. Kidman went for a the shooting star, but Juvi ended up hitting the firebird splash for the pin and the title change. Kidman surrendered the title and shook hands with Juvi. This was a tremendous match, running a good 15 minutes. I guess this means Juvi faces Rey at the PPV. For a while now, they seem to have been building up a triangle situation with these three guys. I'd like to seem them fall back on the old plan of having some instability with this title (give it to Rey, have him lost it to Hayashi, who loses it to Chavo Jr., etc.), all with great matches, leading to a Cruiserweight tournament a la the Best of the Super Junior in New Japan. They tell us that Judy Bagwell is in the hospital. I don't like that whole story line at all; it just reminds me how they missed the boat with Buff. Wrath destroyed Kanyon. They mentioned that Saturn recently divulged that Raven's family has a history of mental illness. Are they setting the scene for Raven's mother to appear? Raven has wanted to do an angle where his mom shows up and denies all of Raven's claims about his childhood. Raven talked about his mother for a split second. Raven said he didn't want to work the match, but Kanyon told him to snap out of it and wrestle. When Raven just walked off, Kanyon said he'd wrestle the match. Wrath took Kanyon out from behind and pinned him in short order. That's the right way to get Wrath over: quick, powerful squashes. Glacier came out since he was scheduled to face Kanyon. Wrath nailed Glacier as well. Good booking for Wrath. After a commercial, Kanyon faced Glacier, with both men having to recover from Wrath's wrath. They tried hard and it was an okay match, with Kanyon going over. The commentators mentioned that we'd have to wait until Sunday at the PPV to find out who Goldberg would be facing. That's a good promotional strategy. Haz Hayashi lost to Sonny Onno. Hayashi came out wearing his Shiryu mask, billed as El Gringo. After one shove, Gringo unmasked as Hayashi and Sonny started scurrying. Ernest Miller snuck in and knocked Hayashi out with a kick. Onno got a foot-on-the-chest pin. Silly stuff, with weird psychology, making Hayashi look stupid. Babyfaces always look stupid when their ruses fail. Stevie Ray & Horace faced Dean Malenko & Steve McMichael, with Arn Anderson. Malenko looked great, the only one to fit that bill. McMichael was even worse than usual. It didn't help to have Stevie & Horace as his opponents. Arn & Vincent got it on at the end. Stevie slapjacked Mongo, so Arn pulled out a tire iron and whacked all of the heels. Man, I was wishing that Mongo's slapjacking would give rise to an injury story line. In the next segment, Ric Flair was interviewed by Gene Okerlund. It was sort of weird to have just seen another portion of the Horsemen without Flair, only to then see Flair with no other Horsemen. Flair started with "Mean, wooh, wooh, wooh, by God, Gene!" Gene cut off Flair right at the start, but Flair just talked over him, since he was "on" for this interview. Flair starting promoing his upcoming and as yet unannounced match against Eric Bischoff. Flair called out a former Horseman, Barry Windham, who of course stinks as a wrestler these days. Maybe this will be the start of Eric one-upping Flair by creating his own Four Horsemen with Barry Windham as a mole in the real Four Horsemen. I sure hope they weren't expecting an awesome reaction for the introduction of Windham. Eric Bischoff came out and said that Flair can't hire anybody, yadda, yadda, yadda. Flair said that he was spending his own money on Windham. Eddie Guerrero faced Rey Misterio Jr. I guess these guys have it in their contract that they must wrestle each other on TV every week. At least this promised to raise the wrestling quality from the last sad match. Eddie said again that he wanted Rey to join the LWO, saying that if Rey won he'd let him be, but if Eddie wins Rey would have to join the LWO. They shook hands before the match. They were having a pretty good match, but Rey missed a twisting somersault dive off the top rope (in the ring), just grazing Eddie at best. The commentators tried to wash over it. Rey did an Asai moonsault. Eddie's bodyguard pulled out Rey's legs. Eddie hit the power bomb while the referee was distracted. Juventud came down and hit a leg drop accidentally on Rey. Eddie dumped Juvi, hit the frog splash and got the pin, which means that Rey has to join the LWO. Good angle, with Rey either playing reluctant member of the LWO or perhaps embracing it because of Juvi's mistake. A tape of Judy Bagwell in the hospital aired. It was plain and simple. She said that Scott Steiner put her in the hospital. They pushed that she wouldn't be able to team with Rick Steiner at the PPV this weekend to face Scott Steiner & Buff Bagwell, which I guess means that it is a swerve. Chavo Guerrero Jr. beat Scott Putski. Bam Bam Bigelow showed up unexpectedly, looking for Goldberg, pushed his way around backstage, stormed into the ring, and power bombed both wrestlers. He challenged Goldberg to get in the ring. Eric Bischoff & JJ Dillon came out together to get Dillon to leave. That made the angle a bit special. The entire police swarmed Bigelow. Goldberg came out. Security & police held Goldberg & Bigelow apart. Gee, I guess we have a challenger for Goldberg in the future. After the break, Bischoff told Dillon that he screws up too much, so he fired him. Dillon said he quit. Weird from a history standpoint, since there was a time when the NWO story line meant that Eric wasn't even supposed to be at any WCW events. It would be cool if Dillon were used as the manager of Bischoff's Horsemen squad, but I doubt they'll set that up. Saturn came out and challenged Konnan. Could this lead to a PPV prelim match? Konnan came out. During the match, which wasn't great and wasn't bad, Goldberg demanded that he get a match against Bigelow this night. The LWO members got involved, leading to no decision. Saturn & Konnan resumed their fight afterwards, but more as a brawl, which I guess means that the PPV match is a go. Someone had the bright idea that these Scott Steiner interview segments are working well, so they continued to give him more time. Ugh. He stinks badly. Scott talked about knocking out Bagwell's mom. Someone came in the ring dressed as Scott Steiner's mom, and Scott told Buff he could attack his mom. When Rick Steiner revealed that his "mom" was some guy dressed as a woman, Buff looked a little cross-eyed, which I guess will lead to him realizing that Scott Steiner is no good. Scott Norton joined in, and all three laid waste to Rick. It was pretty bad. Buff & Scott Steiner debuted an NWO referee, who was pretty funny in demonstrating a proper three count. Bobby Duncum Jr. debuted in WCW, facing Chris Jericho. Despite a tour or three with All Japan and a bit of work in the US, Duncum is not that good. Jericho did a lot to make Duncum look good, and the commentators really tried to put Duncum over, but he revealed the same holes that a lot of the new WWF guys show, with mistimed moves, general sloppiness, and a lack of transitions and psychology...you know the drill. Egad, Duncum countered the Lion Tamer, so it appears that they have set up another match fot the PPV. Jericho walked out and gave up a count out. Hulk Hogan had his interview segment (in the third hour of the show...). Frankly, I didn't even listen to it, flipping to another channel. I've found over time that minimizing the time spent listening to Hogan, Undertaker, and the like helps keep one's interest in wrestling high. After a couple of minutes, I flipped back to find that Hogan is just starting his interview; his entrance has lasted this long. Sigh. Washroom break. Scott Hall & Eric Bischoff got involved in the interview, but I wasn't in the room to hear it and I didn't care enough to rewind it. Hall hit Bischoff and Hogan attacked Hall. Nash made the save. Maybe that rematch will get scrapped at the PPV, more likely, the angle will play out there with Hall & Nash reuniting. Bret Hart faced Chris Benoit. Awesome match on paper, with match of the night potential. Benoit had new tights on, so couldn't lose, right? They downplayed their earlier meeting on a Nitro a long while back, not even mentioning that Benoit lost. Boy, did they work well together, highlighting what's wrong with so many other matches in wrestling today. Stiff, crisp work based on realism and athleticism. Benoit hit a beautiful top rope superplex and followed it up with a Dynamite Kid head butt. Bret grabbed a chair, but before he could swing it Benoit hit it into Bret's face. The referee had Benoit sidelined when Bret hit a low blow. A few chair shots later and the ref called for the DQ. Dean Malenko made the save. It was great to see these three in the ring at the same time. A good match with a bad finish. Bret snuck back in the ring and attacked Malenko for good measure. It was frustrating to see Bret lay out two Horsemen only to have Diamond Dallas Page make the save. Bret's work was awesome throughout. DDP vs. Bret Hart at the PPV. Goldberg faced Bam Bam Bigelow. Bammer attacked Goldberg during his entrance. They brawled for 30 seconds. Apparently, the police have nothing better to do on a Monday night than break up two brawling wrestlers. Could this be the PPV title match? Well, duh. Thunder Thunder on 11/19/98 was a two-hour-and-a-bit live show. The opener saw Norman Smiley lose to Booker T. Scott Hall beat Disco Inferno. Chris Jericho talked about Bobby Duncum Jr.; sad to see Jericho stuck talking about Duncum after he's been talking about Goldberg for so many weeks. Apparently, Goldberg didn't want to work with Jericho and killed whatever they were brewing. Duncum came out and hogtied Jericho. Eddie Guerrero faced Billy Kidman; Eddie replaced Rey after an interview segment that left Rey unhappy. During the match, Kidman hit a plancha on Misterio at ringside. Eddie got the pin, using the ropes for help. Scott Norton beat Scott Putski. Chavo Guerrero lost to Alex Wright. Wrath pinned Saturn after Ernest Miller interfered and kicked Saturn. Finally, Bret Hart beat Konnan when Stevie Ray slapjacked Konnan and Bret put the unconscious guy in the sharpshooter. - From the local paper, "Vince McMahon, the owner of the WWF who turned wrestling into a socially acceptable entertainment [HK: Yeah, right], will address some of Britain's brightest students at Oxford University on December 3. `Mr. McMahon's engagement at Oxford is expected to be educational and entertaining,' quoth the WWF press release. `Britain's intellectual elite will have the chance to explore and interrogate Mr. McMahon's outstanding global sports/entertainment creation.' Not to mention, when they're done the educational part, Vince can show everyone how to hit someone over the head with a folding chair." - The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98. Tentative line-up has: * Bill Goldberg vs. winner of Battle Bowl for the WCW Title * Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff It's expected that Goldberg will face Kevin Nash. Earlier in the year, a disgruntled Nash was promised by Hogan that he would win the title at Starrcade. Boy, wouldn't that be the wrong move. Apparently, Ric Flair's deal for his return to WCW stated that his first match back would be a Starrcade match against Bischoff. - RAW beat Nitro on 10/15 with a 4.8 rating versus a 4.7 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. I still haven't managed to update them. - I've updated the PPV figures below. Check out the "Last 6 Months" and "1998" numbers; as evidenced by the Monday Night ratings numbers more often than not in recent times, the WWF's business is in a definite upswing while WCW is languishing. I'd like to make the argument that WCW's decline coincides with the decline in effort in hyping undercard matches as important. I think the drop is a combination of that and the fact that they are missing the boat on what their audience wants by hyping Hulk Hogan and Warrior, etc. At this stage in 1998, the two promotions are pretty much even in every aspect, including the fact that they don't deliver a hell of a lot of great matches on PPV. 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 98/10/18: Judgment Day Undertaker vs. Kane 0.89 $3.99 1.61 * 1/2 * * * 1/2 X-Pac vs. D'Lo Brown 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/09/27: Break Down Steve Austin vs. Undertaker vs. Kane 0.86 $3.85 1.69 * 3/4 * * * 1/2 Rocky Maivia vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Mankind 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/08/30: SummerSlam Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 1.48 $6.57 2.06 * * * * * * * 1/4 Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5% (1 of 8) 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 0.93 $4.16 1.79 1.88 3.563 2.9% (1 of 34) 1998 1.00 $4.31 1.72 1.75 3.75 5.1% (4 of 79) 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 98/10/25: Halloween Havoc Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bill Goldberg Hulk Hogan vs. Warrior 0.78 $3.48 1.70 * * * * * 1/4 Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bill Goldberg 0.0% (0 of 12) 98/09/13: Fall Brawl Wargames 0.70 $3.11 0.19 DUD * * * 1/2 Perry Saturn vs. Raven 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/08/08: Road Wild Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Jay Leno 0.93 $4.15 0.61 * * * * 1/2 Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0.0% (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 0.92 $4.11 1.25 1.67 3.5 1.8% (1 of 57) 1998 0.95 $3.99 1.52 1.73 3.65 4.2% (4 of 95) 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. - WCW has Souled Out PPV on 01/17/99. Rumour has it that the show will feature Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan. - 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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