______________________________________________________________________ Well, the school term is pretty much over. I still have to mark the final exams for one of my classes. My other two classes are both down. Exams are graded and final marks are submitted. Whew! This was a tremendously busy term for me. Next school term, I am teaching two courses, so I'll hopefully have some spare time on the weekend to put together better updates. Apologies to loyal readers. It's been a weird term in other ways. I haven't read news in rec.sport.pro-wrestling all term. I thought I should check in to get the awards voting info, but then realized that I just haven't kept up-to-date with my Japanese tapes, so I'd be stuck voting for guys who I know don't deserve the award on the world scale. (Can you imagine being stuck voting for the New Age Outlaws as a top three best tag team? Ugh.) I also haven't checked out what others are saying or doing on the web. Sanjay Mohanta would call occasionally to let me know that person X was saying something that he found funny and that I would find factually or logically unreasonable, but I never really had the motivation or time to surf around. My daughter turned five months old yesterday. It amazes me how time flew by this term. I finally tracked down a way to get a second e-mail account, one that I can access via dial-in from home and use for wrestling and other correspondence. I should debut that next week, updating all links to it on these pages (the html conversion program that sniffs through my files and makes that change is already written and tested. It will also fix up a couple of other annoying little bugs I've noticed in some issues of TidBits). Besides preparing for next term, spending time with my wife and daughter, and cleaning up these pages, I'm also hoping to find the time to get caught up a bit with my tape watching. I've got so many Japanese tapes to watch that I've just lost count. Besides those reasonably new tapes, I've also got roughly 170 other unwatched tapes tucked away in boxes. I'm not exaggerating; if anything that number is a low estimate. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - The WWF had In Your House on 12/13/98. Overall I found it a disappointing show. The WWF product just continues to develop in directions that take away from the reasons I watch pro-wrestling. I don't find enough to enjoy any more. And it's not like I don't try. Run down: * D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry beat Val Venis & Kama Mustafa the Godfather: Pretty boring opener. Kama & Val got great heat for their ring entrance. They both have such goofy gimmicks that they are pretty funny just standing there or talking. Unfortunately, Godfather actually tries to wrestle. I mail wrestling magazines to Japan. In the current WWF Magazine, there's an article deriding "smart" fans who talk about "workers" and "workrate," with the article writer suggesting instead that the gimmick's the thing. That about sums up the current WWF product. For me, it's the Hulk Hogan era all over again, with only marginally better work on top now that Steve Austin seems worn out, Shawn Michaels is out, and no really strong in-ring workers are left. Hulk Hogan's era had Ted DiBiase (who ruled), Randy Savage (ditto), and Ricky Steamboat, among others, in key roles. The current roster doesn't have that lustre. The WWF is enjoying great business because pro-wrestling is hot and Austin's character is over. Almost everyone that gets a reaction gets it when he comes to the ring. The fans that are watching, just like those in Hogan's 1980s, don't care about the wrestling so much. The only difference is that different gimmicks get over, rougher swearing and sexual stuff. Okay, well D'Lo came out with Terri Runnels & Jacqueline. Jackie ended up pulling down Val's tights and Val got pinned. The women are apparently now aligned with D'Lo & Henry. Henry has the goofy nickname "sexual chocolate." He may have been great in that skit on RAW, but he still stinks in the ring. * Head Bangers beat Golga & Kurrgan: At least it was less than 10 minutes. Kurrgan is absolutely terrible doing anything. This was bad. It had been built up to use the Insane Clown Posse, but they have quit the promotion. * Steve Blackman COR Owen Hart: They totally miscued when it came to crowd reaction. The crowd supported Owen Hart like mad and booed Steve Blackman unmercifully. So, of course, the match booking placed Blackman in the babyface role. They went 13 minutes with entrances and it seemed like an hour. Not in the good way. They even did a long headlock spot midway. The commentary (Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler) was substandard and juvenile all night. In this match, they bashed the Hart family and the other Hart children. When Lawler asked how many kids the Harts had, Cole said "eight or nine." The match wwas overbooked, another theme of the night. Owen undid the turnbuckle pad, took a whip reversal into it, and then they never used it again. They did a sleeper spot, reversed into a dragon sleeper, with allusions to the Blue Blazer. Owen kept walking off throughout the match, which sucks from a character perspective. Finally, he just walked off and gave up the countout. The crowd booed loudly. Owen did a couple of enzuigiri, with Michael Cole calling them "enzagoori"s. Poor Owen. He's really stagnated in the year since Bret left (not that he was doing better before). He was set up for such a strong story line after Bret left, but Austin didn't want to work with him. * Gangrel & Edge & Christian beat Too Cold Scorpio & Al Snow & Bob Holly: More "enzagoori"s in this match. The finish was atrocious, like the clusterf**k stuff we see in ECW. Really ugly. * Goldust beat Jeff Jarrett: Match stunk, as nobody cares about Jarrett and he seems to be getting even blander as time goes on. Debra got a good reaction. Debra used the guitar on Goldust in a muddled spot which led to Jarrett getting the pin. Whoopee. Of course, Debra had to strip and the guy that made it happen would get the heat from it. I guess Goldust didn't measure up when the booking committee talked things over, so they decided to have Shawn Michaels come out, playing babyface, to demand that Debra disrobe after he reversed the referee's decision. She stripped to her bra and thong underwear, but the camera crew never caught any revealing shots. The Blue Blazer & Jeff Jarrett ran in to stop the strip. * Billy Gunn & Road Dog bat Ken Shamrock & Big Boss Man: Boring match. Hugely so. The match was a heat segment on Road Dog, but nobody cares about him once the ring entrances is over. The crowd was silent throughout the match. During one silent patch, Michael Cole had the nerve to exclaim "The fans are coming alive." They never did. Billy Gunn pinned Ken Shamrock. * Rocky Maivia retained the title againt Mankind: In case you missed it, the WWF title picture is still all about Bret Hart, particularly because of Bret's movie. Mankind calls Vince "dad" because Bret said Vince was a father figure. Rocky was supposedly injured on Heat, but he never even sold anything here. Just like the last time he was injured before a PPV match. But, hey, he's got a goofy good facial with that eyebrow, some cute catchphrases, and a push. He's a good worker, but he can't carry the show. Knowing this, they heavily overbooked the match. Michael Cole called Mankind's title loss at Survivor Series last month "the biggest double-cross in WWF history" Mankind had a great line pre-match, talking about wrestlers having "testicular fortitude." Match dragged. They were out there for close to a half-hour and Rock doesn't have the seasoning to handle that. Mankind pildrove the referee and laid out the timekeeper before he could "ring the bell" as Vince asked. Shane went in to count Rock's pin, but ended up belting Rock by mistake. A new referee came in and counted two. Mankind hit the socko mandible claw and got the win. Vince took the microphone and said that the title can only change hands via pinfall or submission, neither of which took place here according to Vince. Mankind clawed Vince and laid out everybody before Shamrock & Boss Man hit the ring. Horrible finish. Why does the double-cross from last year create so many horrible finishes. * Steve Austin beat Undertaker in a Buried Alive match: For some reason, they hyped this as "Undertaker's match," I guess because he's wrestled one before and lost it?! It made no sense, but they kept repeating it and repeating it. The finish was really funny. Once Austin dumped Undertaker into the grave, he got a "back hoe" to come out to fill the grave. But the driver didn't position the rig correctly and couldn't get the dirt in the hole. Finally, he managed to dump one load into the hold. Austin, realizing this sucked, shovelled a couple of mounds of dirt into the hole. They then declared Austin the winner, even though, nobody was "buried." Austin ran to the ring to celebrate while the machine was repositioned and the grace was filled a bit more. Through all of this, Michael Cole talked about the "hundreds of pounds of dirt" that were on top of the Undertaker. Ugh. Austin went back to the less-than-half-filled grave and opened up a beer with Earl Hebner. They cut away pretty quickly, but they do these beer-drinking spots at the house shows too as a way of rehabilitating Hebner because of how weak he looks in the movie. All in all, then, I can't see how this could be rated as a good wrestling show. The lack of good PPVs was the reason why WCW lost its footing and the WWF went ahead. Sure, that combined with some really crisp storytelling by the WWF to take the lead. But now it seems like the door is cracked open if WCW is able to put on a killer Starrcade, and WCW is doing a much better job of hyping that PPV than they have done for recent shows. RAW RAW on 12/14 aired live in Canada. After some stills from the PPV, they opened with DX coming to the ring mocking Vince's Corporation. I guess this could have been funny, but I'm increasingly believing that I'm not in the target audience of the promotion. Remember when Vince talked about not insulting the intelligence of his viewers? Apparently, that has something to do with saying "sphincter" a dozen times in ten minutes. Gunn showed his butt. They talked about Brisco & Patterson & Shawn Michaels kissing Vince's ass. It was longwinded stupidity. Parody and mockery have a place in wrestling and editorializing in general, but this was just stupid. It all boiled down to Rock offering to defend his title against Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Despite the positioning of the wrestlers in the promotion, that's just a lacklustre match to me. Val Venis & Godfather faced Gangrel & Edge. Venis got a pin in short order on Gangrel, who said that the next time we see the brood tonight there will be a bloodbath. Oooooh. Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler were doing commentary again. Cole is like Rock; he can't carry the weight of his role on his shoulders. Back from a commercial, Steve Blackman said he would unmask the Blue Blazer this night. Blazer faced Goldust. Blazer was clearly Owen Hart. Guess what? There was an "enzagoori." Blazer flubbed ever spot. Goldust asked the fans if they wanted him to kick Owen in the crotch, getting the first reaction in the match. Jeff Jarrett came in and attacked Goldust, with Blackman coming in afterwards. Goldust & JJ paired off. Blackman went after the mask, revealing Owen Hart. Boy, how his stock has fallen. Before cutting to a commercial, they showed Mark Henry in the back, mugging for the camera as the comentators called him "sexual chocolate." Hey, it's better than watching him wrestle. Back from the commercial, the Outlaws and Ken Shamrock & Big Boss Man yelled at each other. They had a rematch later in the evening. Mark Henry came out with D'Lo Brown & Jackie & Terri. Henry's ring entrance music is Barry White style begging. Henry said that he was going to give the details of his date with Chyna. As he talked about Chyna inviting him in the bed and D'Lo taping the escapade, D'Lo mugged for the camera. It was actually pretty funny, as Henry starts to develop some character. But, like the Godfather, he then tries to wrestle. This night, D'Lo & Henry faced Bob Holly & Too Cold Scorpio. While Terri distracted the JOB squad, Jackie hit a top rope dropkick to set up a powerslam pin. Billy Gunn & Road Dog faced Big Boss Man & Ken Shamrock, defending the Tag Titles. Egad, this night the match amounted to a heat segment on Gunn. Nobody cares about the champions. Shawn Michaels, at ringside, was the only guy that drew any heat, and he did it with sexual innuendo. A "Shamrock sucks" chant lasted three seconds. This traditional tag match booking for babyface tag teams just doesn't work 'cause neither the faces nor the heels are really over and the fans don't have the attention span to let anything be built (assuming the wrestlers can and are allowed to build something). After a powerbomb on Shamrock, they did the drawn-out "both men crawl to their corners labriously slowly" bit. Both tagged. Michaels whacked Road Dog in the back with a chair. Road Dog didn't really sell it for long, lowblowing Boss Man and tagging in a limping Gunn. Michaels distracted Gunn, who came over and yelled at him. Michaels whacked Gunn with the billy club and Shamrock put on the ankle lock. The referee finally turned back to the ring to call for the bell after Gunn's arm dropped three times. So, the corporation has all of the meaningful belts. The crowd was deflated by the finish. Of course, the night before on PPV the world title didn't change hands with just such a submission. Shane & Vince McMahon came out to an "asshole" chant. Vince said, "as a result of last night, we have a real bad taste in our mouths." He was talking about Mankind's socko claw and Steve Austin's victory, but I thought he was talking about the quality of the PPV. He announced a no holds barred match between Kane & Mankind this night. He then tumbled some ping pong balls and announced that Austin's number for the Royal Rumble was number one. Shane McMahon said that Austin should get another chance. He drew another ball and said that Austin has drawn number one. Vince then put a bounty on Austin's head, courtesy of one of Shane's trust fund, of $100K to the person who eliminates Austin from the Rumble. Vince then announced another athlete for the Rumble, saying that this athlete is a wrestler that could save Ted Turner's WCW. Hah, this athlete was Vince himself. They then pulled out Vince's number: 30. I think they need to stress that Vince has to keep Austin involved in the product to get people to spend their money. Otherwise, his "screwings" of wrestlers seem nonsensical. In the hyping of the RAW broadcast from Toronto's Skydome in February, they call RAW "crazy and sexy." I guess those "Bopit" commercials are targeting an audience that can understand that sort of product. Right. Jeff Jarret faced Steve Blackman in a guitar on a pole match. Debra said that she had such a great time stripping last night she might strip tonight too. Jerry Lawler yelled "I love sports entertainment" for the umpteenth time. Gee, I wonder if Owen gets involved. They actually traded a few moves early on, and it was pretty good for two minutes. Debra unveiled her bra to distract Blackman while Jarrett got the guitar down. Blackman got a hold of the guitar. The referee bumped and Owen ran in with a guitar, whacking Blackman. Jarrett got the pin. Tiger Ali Singh was supposed to face Gangrel. He charged him. The lights went out. The lights came on. Singh was lying on the platform. In thhe dark, he apparently spilled his V8 on himself. Mankind, having challenged Vince to a match, came out, presumably to face Kane. Sure enough, Kane came out. "This is not going to be pretty." That's for certain. They brawled a bit. Vince came out and said he'd face Mankind in the parking lot. We went to a commercial. Returning from the commercial, we learned that Kane was subdued by orderlies and Boss Man & Shamrock. Mankind attacked Vince in the parking lot. Brisco & Patterson also took a bump. Finally, Rock came out and saved Vince, hitting the Rock Bottom on Mankind on the hood of a car. Finally, HHH challenged Rocky Maivia for the title. Chyna was wearing a thong swim suit with chaps in an attempt to make her look more feminine. This was the only good WWF match in the past two days. Still, it wasn't a landmark match or anything. They overbooked the finish again. It's not enough to just have some two counts back and forth and build interest in the finish from that standpoint. No, nowadays we have to have run-ins back and forth, with the intrigue being built around which run-in will be successful. To me, it takes away from things. I've never been one for run-ins protecting the talent from the stigma of jobbing. I think talent protects the talent from the stigma of jobbing. The finish here saw an unidentified blond guy run in to bash Helmsley, who finally stayed down for the three count. ______________________________________________________________________ RAW on 12/07 aired live in Canada. The show opened with another "viewer discretion" warning. The actual RAW show opened with Hunter Hearst Helmsley, X-Pac, and Chyna hitting the ring. The Outlaws came out, this time saying that "Vincent K. McMahon" presented the "the new corporate outlaws." Shawn Michaels folloed them into the ring. A DX split and confrontation. Chyna wore high-cut leather shorts, her butt cheeks on full display. After a somewhat stiff and stilted exchange between Michaels and HHH, Michaels announced that HHH & X-Pac would have to face Big Boss Man & Ken Shamrock in an "anything goes" match, more commonly called a no DQ match. HHH oversold Michaels' announcement of the match way too much, making Vince McMahon seem like Robert DeNiro. The "corporate team" came out on the rampway to pose with the new additions. It seemed likely that the Outlaws' turn was all a ruse that would lead to a screw job finish and a united DX (minus Shawn, of course) at the end of the show. You know, Shawn Michaels' turn duplicated by the other side. Jeff Jarrett faced D'Lo Brown. Before the match, they aired a clip from Heat, which doesn't air in Canada (BTW, the Canadian Superstars show that used to air in Ontario has been replaced by Shotgun). In the clip, Goldust challenged JJ to a striptease match, with the rules being that Goldust would strip if he lost and Debra would have to strip if JJ lost. Who said that wrestling was supposed to be athletic entertainment? The WWF's current lure is shock value. Austin swearing. Surprise turns. More profanity. Austin threatening to execute McMahon. Undertaker threatening to execute Austin. Women stripping naked. They are "out-ECWing" ECW. Back to this match... It was mediocre wrestling, 'cause Jarrett is just in the wrong generation. The fans could not have cared much less. The production team seem to add a little sweetener to the mix for D'Lo's power bomb. As Jarrett was getting laid into, Goldust came down to ringside and flashed Debra while D'Lo got the schoolboy pin. I can't imagine that they'll have Goldust lose the PPV match. After all, there's no better way to get a woman over in the WWF than to have her strip. And there's no better way to get a guy over than to have him be the guy that gets the woman to strip. If Goldust loses, nobody gets over, but if Goldust wins, he gets over and Debra gets over. And, hey, JJ may even start to get over, since he might get the rub from his stripping woman. After that last paragraph and all of the WWF's response to negative press, it must be the case that the product is not targeted at children, right? Of course. That's why we get a "Bone Crunchin' Buddies" ad before the next segment of RAW. Kids playing with wrestling dolls and wrestling rings. That isn't targeting kids, though. Surely those ads are meant to get the 18-year-old guys watching to buy those grown-up action figures. Head Bangers faced Gangrel & Edge. For an early suplex by Gangrel, the production team added some crowd noise and did a really sloppy job of it. In fact, the crowd noise throughout this match was nonexistent and the added noise was put in very unprofessionally. In the real world, where nobody was reacting to the match, the Head Bangers tried hard to get some heat from the crowd. Some heat surfaced when everybody ran in. Luna & the Oddities ran in, along with Tiger Ali Singh & Babu. This sets up a six-person match at the PPV. Luna won't get over until she strips. Owen Hart faced Goldust. Hey, isn't Owen retired? Poor Owen. He was positioned for a top spot and never got the shot, despite having more ability than everybody who's above him in the heirarchy. Instead, he's been used to get Ken Shamrock over, and while Ken was promoted, Owen was demoted. They talked about Owen coming out of retirement for this match. Owen looked pretty good, but he's got that Blue Blazer & Steve Blackman albatross hanging over his head. God forbid they use Owen to try to get Blackman over. Of course, JJ & Debra came out and Debra flashed Goldust. It backfired, though, since Owen was more shocked than Goldust, leading to Goldust getting the schoolboy win over the returning Owen. Sigh, nice to see Owen used as story line fodder in this meaningless feud. Another warning: "Parental Guidance is advised." The showed clips from the UK PPV the night before, mostly of the fans. Supply & Demand came to the ring with two girls. Godfather said he woulod offer one of his "fine hos" to one of the members of the audience. A fat guy was brought into the ring and the Gofather gave him both of the girls. Okay, so besides making women strip, a male wrestler can also get over if he "gives" his women to a fan. Godfather & Venis faced Bradshaw & Faarooq, whose name was given as the Acolytes. They brawled for a few minutes, setting up a PPV match, I guess. If they put Godfather on PPV a few times with women in butt thongs, etc., he'll get over with the audience that the WWF is drawing. During the Dok Hendriks segment, Mankind talked about his match with Rocky Maivia, quoting Dr. Seuss: "I will not sell the elbow. I will not sell it in a plane. I will not sell it in a train." You get the idea. It was pretty funny. They aired a commercial for "Bopit," which is obviously also marketed at the college crowd, not kids...don't let the kids in the commerical fool you. The WWF wouldn't lie about not targeting kids, right? It's a responsible business, right? I like some of the stuff the WWF does, but they've crossed so many lines that a lot of Bret Hart's criticisms from last year seem to ring true. You know, "smut" and all that. Hey, nothing wrong with smut for adults, but you can't have your smut and serve it to children too. Steve Austin did an interview; Undertaker lit a cross-like thing on fire. Ooooh. Steve Blackman beat Tiger Ali Singh pretty handily. Afterwards, Blue Blazer ran out, stumbling on his way to the ring. Tom Prichard can be pretty funny. As Blackman was attacking Blazer, Owen Hart made the save, laying into Blackman. They have a match at the PPV. Why do I fear the worst for Owen? Mark Henry faced Darren Drozdov. The police are so busy working as security guys for the big two wrestling promotions that they can't investigate attempted murders, or so we are left to believe. They sweetened the crowd noise again. Except for the trademark phrases, teasing of naked women, and Austin, I'm left to believe that nobody can draw any heat from an audience that doesn't give a crap about wrestling. This match was horrible, but what would you expect given who was in it. All Henry can do is an legdrop and a bearhug. Droz can't match that. Story line: As Henry was getting pummelled, Chyna strolled out, butt cheeks on display. Droz held Henry for Chyna and told her to hit him. She didn't. Droz yelled at Chyna. Chyna hit Droz. Henry got the win with a power slam. I bet HHH loves this story line. Hunter Hearst Helmsley & X-Pac faced Big Boss Man & Ken Shamrock. With HHH returning to the WWF rings, I realize how little I missed him and how he brings mediocrity to every endeavour. X-Pac did a great job of getting over Boss Man's size while also getting over his own quickness. The crowd looked silent early on, but there was a lot of noise coming through. They brawled outside the ring a bit, with the corporate team getting the best of it early on before the DX side turned things around. The commentators suggested that HHH & X-Pac would be facing the Outlaws at the PPV on the weekend. I wondered about it for a moment, but then Shawn Michaels & the Outlaws came out and the DX double cross seemed certain. X-Pac did a great job in this match, solidifying his reputation as the best worker in the promotion. X-Pac finally made the hot tag after an enzuigiri (the name for which the commentators butchered as usual). Shawn pulled down the top rope, so X-Pac took a spill over the top. He tossed a chair into the ring. Billy Gunn & Road Dog went into the ring and Billy asked for the chair. Well, duh, can you see it coming: Gunn chaired Shamrock with a pretty sick chair shot. Yeah, DX celebrated the screwing of the corporate team. They didn't give us a finish, though. With anything goes being the stipulation, you'd figure that the corporate side could do the job after a four-on-two. Nope. Rocky Maivia & the Undertaker faced Mankind & Steve Austin. Mankind came out without a partner and with no partner announced, since he immediately attacked the heels. Austin's entrance music started up and both heels went after him on the ramp. Rock & Austin ended up brawling on the platform and the ramp while Undertaker & Mankind duked it out at ringside. Austin works hard for someone who is so over that he really doesn't have to do anything any more. The pairings were weird, since they didn't pair off in the same way that they are matched up at the PPV. The commentators still called it a preview of the PPV. The commentary really sucked on this show; well, at best it was really pedestrian. Finally, the match settled into a match in the ring, with UT facing Mankind and the others standing in the appropriate corner. Rock also nailed Mankind, who rallied briefly but didn't make the tag. Low blow. Is Undertaker part of the corporation? Not that I know. Didn't he want the WWF Title badly? I thought so. So why is he teaming with the WWf champ? And how did Paul Bearer get out of the sewer? Oh well, back to Hulk Hogan in the PPV-hyping Saturday Night Main Event...wait, I mean Steve Austin in the PPV-hyping RAW main event. Mankind was going to get pinned after the Rock Bottom, but Austin made the save. There were conflicting booking motivations here: Rocky had to be made into a strong champion, but Mankind needed to be made into a strong challenger. Of course, they couldn't do both, and, in the end, Rocky beat the crap out of Mankind, leaving only the foolish believing that Rocky might actually lose the title at the PPV. I guess they know they can count on Mankind to deliver a memorable match, so the lead-in story can leave him weak. Ken Shamrock came in. Mankind was handcuffed to the corner. Undertaker laid out Shamrock, carried him on his shoulder up the ramp and the show ended. They blinked: the crucifixion didn't air. At least not in Canada in prime time. We'll see what happened on the rebroadcast overnight. Nitro Nitro on 12/14 aired in full in Canada. Realizing how bad the previous week's show was received, it was widely expected that WCW would try to deliver a memorable show this time out. Indeed, the show opened with a recap of the situation leading to Bill Goldberg vs. Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Kevin Nash from the 12/07 show, leading to the announcement that the three would have their triangle match this week (on 12/07, it was a 30 second brawl). The recapped Giant vs. DDP. Even though there was no new content in these opening minutes of the show, at least they were hyping some stuff for the PPV. First match saw Scott Putski face Raven. Raven talked about his mother, but I don't think anybody cared. Kanyon came out and told Putski to leave; Kanyon tried to talk Raven out of it. All of this is supposed to lead to Sandman coming in as Raven's friend and Raven's mom coming in to dispute Raven's stories of his childhood. Kanyon did a "shoot" interview talking about how great Raven's childhood was. The crowd really didn't care. Villano V faced Eddie Guerrero. The commentators talked about what a great worker Eddie is. It rings flat, though, because Eddie in positioned in a way to give the raves credibility. The crowd reacted well to Villano's tapatia and Eddie's frog splash. Eddie didn't take the pin, instead getting up and offering Villano the chance to join the LWO. The other LWO members came in too. Villano agreed. Even with Eddie talking to Bischoff, it all comes across as meaning nothing because the LWO guys are not booked as being competitive with the pushed stars. Wrath faced Al Green. It's pretty amazing that Wrath has managed to get over so well without any interview time. They need to give him a catchphrase and let him do shtick before or after the match to get that phrase over. Wrath went over. Eric Bischoff & Ric Flair did their interview shtick. They started to build up Dusty Rhodes again, since he'll be the special referee at Starrcade. The question is whether he'll stay face or turn heel. Flair was a hoot, doing some of his wrestling spots on the mat. It was damn funny. At the end of it, Ric Flair was holding his arm and chest as if he were having a stroke. The commentators acted dumb, Arn Anderson came out, and the trainer came out. Even David Crockett and Dusty Rhodes came out. Gene Okerlund suggested that the camera should be turned off, as a stretcher was brought out to take Flair away. The commentators sold it like Flair's emotional, animated interview was too much for the old guy to handle. The crowd wasn't sure what to make of it. Flair was loaded onto an ambulance, asking for Arn. They talked about the shoulder having been worked on a couple of years ago by Dr. Jim Andrews. Bam Bam Bigelow turned up, looking concerned. Scott Hall came up next to him and made fun of Flair, so Bammer laid into him, which I guess means that Bret Hart's groin injury means he won't be able to work Starrcade, so they are moving Bammer into the spot. Kevin Nash came to the rescue, with the ensuing yelling leading to the triangle match from last week being announced for this week. Billy Kidman came out in a segment that led to the announcement of the triangle match for Starrcade. Billy invited Rey out. Rey has decided that he has to work his faster-paced style to get over again, even though the highers-up have told him that he should tone things down. Billy told Rey the he wanted to have a match on the spot, with no interference by the LWO. Rey accepted. Do you really need to be told that this match had a lot of good stuff in it? They did some rest spots in the middle and the match ended with the LWO running in. Before going to a commercial, they talked about the main event triangle match, saying that there would be no run-ins. Chris Jericho & Ralphus came out. Word is that they've already abandoned hope of Bobby Duncum Jr. amounting to anything. As a result, Jericho laid into Konnan in his interview. Jericho explained that his title was stolen by him with the use of a foreign object. To demonstrate things, he brought out a skinny guy to play the role of Konnan. The bit was funny. Jericho claimed that Konnan used brass knuckles, a chain, a shovel, and the title belt. Mentioning the shovel as a secondary object was a jab at Undertaker vs. Austin. At the end of all of this, Jericho put the Lion Tamer on his Konnan flunky. Emery Hale lost to Barry Windham. Hale has potential. Dave Meltzer joked that if Hale wrestles a little longer he'll already be better than Lex Luger. Match was nothing. Perry Saturn gave an upset win to Norman Smiley, with loads of shenanigans and overbooking. Konnan faced Stevie Ray. Can you guess that Booker T got involved? Stevie sucks. Konnan ended up getting a somewhat fluke win, but I still feel like I could live if I never saw Stevie again. Eric Bischoff came out to praise Ric Flair, acting very sincere and apologizing for what he's put the Flair family through. He did a good job of looking contrite (better than Clinton, anyhow) and talked about the mix of reality and what they do in wrestling. It was a good segment that probably left some people wondering whether the earlier stroke was a shoot. Raven's mom appeared backstage, looking for her son. Hopefully, Scott Steiner won't find her, since he's got a thing for beating up moms. Kanyon offered to show her to Raven, but asked her for a fifty bucks first. Funny line. Stupid angle. And to straighten her son out, she's going to bring his old friend, Sandman, in. Scott Hall & Horace went to a DQ as everybody ran in. The only highlight here was Disco Inferno coming in suggesting he was a Wölfpac member. Van Hammer lost in short order to Scott Steiner. Main event was the screwed-up triangle match from last week. This time out, they tried to work harder, but I still didn't get into it. Kevin Nash pulls matches down, down, down, IMO. Since they promised no run-ins to the TV viewers, they went off the air as the match was still going. That's much better than last week!? I don't know what they are thinking some times. ______________________________________________________________________ Nitro on 12/07 aired as a two-hour show overnight on Wednesday. You've got to think that part of the reason that the WWF still dominates the ratings war on TSN is that TSN gives them a steady timeslot. Oh, while setting up for a final exam on 12/10, I noticed that one of the desks in the classroom had scrawled on it "Goldberg: Who's Next?" with the characters drawn in the right typeface and everything. This is a university desk. Somebody else added "Diamond Dallas Page." And somebody else added "Hey, give DDP a chance!" And somebody else added an arrow pointing to Goldberg and the text "Stone Cold rip off." Our Nitro opened with the highlights of Hogan's career, so to speak. After that, we saw Diamond Dallas Page beat Kendall Windham. They did a long piece on the Nitro Girls. Disco Inferno came out for his match, but first told Konnan that he (Disco) was a new member of the Wölfpac. Uh-huh. Disco & Chavo Guerrero Jr. lost to Horace & Stevie Ray. That seems like a reasonable result, right? Sigh. Kevin Nash came out and did an interview that was supposed to make "smart" fans go gaga. Earlier on, it had been announced that Goldberg had demanded a match with Bam Bam Bigelow on Nitro and that that match would be taking place this night as a result. Nash said that Goldberg doesn't run things, Nash runs things. Wink, wink. As a result, what could have been a mildly interesting match building to a Starrcade screw job loss became a triangle match that makes me say "blah." They aired a clip of Roddy Piper decking Burt Reynolds in a new movie. So far, with close to a half-hour of non-commercial TV time, I wasn't quite sure that this was a wrestling show. Perry Saturn faced Glacier. Ernest Miller came out before the match and made more excuses for why he wouldn't be able to beat Saturn up this night. (That had been his gimmick the week before.) Glacier attacked Saturn from behind. I didn't pay much attention to the match because I don't really enjoy either guy and I knew the result. I did notice Glacier do this really sad-looking somersault roll off the ropes, launching himself into a leg drop. That doesn't sound so bad, but the execution was like something in a grade school yard. Of course, Miller & Onno interfered and the commentators said that Saturn got a DQ win. But the referee ended up DQing Saturn, presumably because he continued to beat up Glacier for a minute. Saturn laid him out. Lex Luger beat Emery Hale, a big jobber. Luger let Hale have a fair bit of offence. Hale missed a splash off the top rope, and Luger went to his routine finish. Chris Jericho came out with Ralphus, who is so over that the WWF has signed the Blue Meanie to a three-year deal. Jericho got to speak this time (unlike last week when he dropped the title as punishment for not signing a new contract), and put down Bobby Duncum Jr., who was his opponent for the evening. My heart sank, worried that they'd continue Jericho's demand, which would be incredibly sad. Jericho was great once again. Really, Jericho has the ability in every aspect of wrestling to be the best performer on that measuring stick. He's an incredible talent. Thankfully, Jericho got the pin using the ropes. Speaking of talent, we next got to see the opposite of that word, as Scott Putski hit the ring. At least he was only coming out to job for Giant. For a second, I hoped that they would continue to humiliate the Giant by having him lose, but that's just daydreaming with disregard for money. No, Giant has to lose to DDP at Starrcade and start his plummet from there. Of course, if he signs a new contract before then, that won't happen. Giant is apparently pretty pissed at the idea of being jobbed out of WCW before jumping. Giant beat Putski in 10 seconds. His gut was huge, as he clearly continues to lose whatever conditioning he once had. Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit came out accompanied by Arn Anderson. Raven & Kanyon were supposed to be their opponents, but Kanyon said that Raven screwed him before and that he didn't want to take a two-on-one. Kanyon instead said that he would wrestle any one of the guys on Thursday. He insulted Arn a fair bit, and Arn ended up backing Kanyon into the ring, where the Horsemen laid into him for 10 seconds. What a useless segment. Three of the stronger wrestlers in the company used so pitifully. Gene Okerlund entered the ring, Ric Flair & Steve McMichael came out, and the Horsemen were interviewed. Flair hugged the other four Horsemen. Flair did a killer interview to hype his match against Eric Bischoff. They played Konnan's music video again. I still like it a lot. Konnan faced Booker T. Can you guess the finish? Booker had a knee brace on and is just nowhere near ready to be back. Match was okay, with moments of good heat, and the usual crappy ending: Stevie Ray came out and slapjacked Konnan, earning his brother a DQ. Scott Hall faced Scott Steiner. Hall wears a jacket reading "Lone Wölf". Earlier in the show, Konnan confronted the NWO referee, so the commentators hinted we'd see a surprise here in that regard. The NWO referee came out all taped up, with Mickey Jay coming out behind and pushing him over. Jay reffed the match even though the WCW referees had boycotted Steiner matches. It turned into a group run in in two minutes. Hall was destroyed and Jay was chased of. Lex Luger & Konnan saved Hall. Giant came in. DDP came in and chaired Giant. "Granted a licence at the request of his opponent, for this match only," Bam Bam Bigelow came to the ring. Kevin Nash ran in unannounced and laid into Bigelow. Goldberg ran out and started attacking Nash. Security ran in and stopped it inside one minute. The crowd booed. If this was a three way dance, why did the security stop the three guys? It made little sense, but it gave a few good freeze frames with the wrestlers being held apart by 30 guys. Overall the show as it aired in Canada was really disappointing. The wrestling was almost an afterthought, taking up a small chunk of broadcast time. Thunder Thunder on 12/17 was a two-hour show. They opened the show with a couple of still shots of Brady Boone. First match saw Konnan face Kenny Kaos. Kaos came out with one half of the world tag team titles, so they seem to be giving him that spot again. Scott Steiner came out to do commentary, saying that he would help Lex Luger's career get back on track tonight. Steiner is trying to recruit Luger. Meanwhile, Kaos got in a fair bit of offence. Nothing looked too good, but Kaos still shows some promise. In short order, Konnan hit the his tequlia sunrise for the victory. After the match, Rage, Kaos' former High Voltage partner, came out with his arm in a brace. He yammered on about the two of them breaking in together. Kaos said "business is business." The crowd chanted "We want Flair!" very loudly. Beth, Reid, and David Flair arrived. The recapped the Flair situation from Monday; we were promised an interview with his family later in the show. Tony Schiavone second-guessed the sincerity of Eric Bischoff's Nitro interview, where Bischoff praised Ric Flair and wished him well. Mike Enos faced David Finlay. They pushed Enos a bit, with the match story being that Enos got it a lot of offence, had the pin, but lifted Finlat up. Finlay rallied and got the win. The two brawled a bit afterwards. I see an uncard match at Starrcade. Scott Hall came out for an interview. He would face Lex Luger later in the evening. Scott did a "shoot" interview of sorts, saying he had no friends or family. He hyped his match with Luger. They recapped the Cruiserweight division to build for Starrcade. This is the first PPV where they are once again hyping more than the top one or two matches; I hope the buy rate goes up, since that would hopefully send the message that these guys are valuable when it comes to drawing an audience. Juventud Guerrera & Rey Misterio Jr. had an impromptu match. It was good, of course. Eddie frog splashed Rey, Juvi pinned him, Prince Iaukea came out and told the referee what happened, and the referee reversed the decision. Sadly, Prince Iaukea actually held off some of the LWO before the rest showed up. It almost seems like they are establishing a second Cruiserweight faction consisting of Kidman, Rey, and Iaukea. They ran an angle backstage to hype the Luger vs. Hall match, with Scott Steiner continuing to pitch to Luger. They showed DDP & Kimberly working a Christmas function. Shima Nobunaga faced Disco Inferno. Disco wore a Wölfpac shirt. Disco was funny doing the Wöfpac shtick. Match wasn't bad, with Disco going over. Jerry Flynn, fresh from his stint in the New Japan tag tourney, faced Norman Smiley. Smiley did some dancing after his offence, which I found funnier than usual for some reason. Smiley won with a crossface chicken wing. Chris Jericho faced Saturn. Saturn was a lot sloppier than usual, stumbling a few times. The ref bumped. Ernest Miller came in. Saturn handled Miller alright, but then forgot about him and went after Jericho. Miller came back and laid out Saturn. Jericho hit the Lion Tamer, the ref recovered, and the match was over. Jericho suffered a small cut on his eye. Tony Schiavone welcomed the Flair family. The recapped DDP's story line leading into Starrcade. Lex Luger faced Scott Hall. As expected, everybody came in and Luger sided with Konnan. Tony Schiavone interviewed David & Reid Flair. Eric Bischoff came out to apologize to them, acting all sincere and contrite. Of course, at the end, he delivered an insult and whacked David. NWO members came out as Eric continued to terrorize the Flair family, including laying a kiss on Beth and delivering a "Woooh!" ______________________________________________________________________ Thunder on 12/10/98 was the usual two-hour show. The show opened with Chris Jericho facing Bobby Duncum Jr. for the third time. By whatever magic, Jericho is able to make Duncum look okay, a feat that very few before him have been able to do. So, I guess they've decided to try to use that to get Duncum over. As soon as he's in the ring with someone less talented than Jericho (which amounts to the great majority of the WCW roster), Duncum is sure to look as unseasoned as he is. Once again, Jericho used the ropes to get the pin. This time around, Konnan came out and told the referee what happened. The referee decided to accept Konnan's word, restarting the match. Eventually, Duncum had a potential roll-up and Konnan whacked Jericho in the head with the title to lead to Jericho's loss. At least it means that Jericho will be moved into a title match against Konnan. Saturn faced Glacier. Kaz Hayashi faced Norman Smiley. They are trying to give Norman Smiley some attitude as an opening act. He beat Hayashi, with the commentators calling him arrogant a dozen or more times. Ernest Miller came out and insulted the fans. He draws some heat, but he comes across as inarticulate. Sonny Onno had a neck brace on and complained that Miller didn't help him when Saturn attacked him. Sonny asked if Ernest was afraid of Saturn. I guess that sets up an undercard match for the PPV. I can't understand why Miller & Scott Steiner get so much microphone time. Juventud Guerrera faced Rey Misterio Jr. to determine who would be the number one contender to the cruiserweight title and get a title shot at Billy Kidman at Starrcade. Unnamed LWO members came to ringside, with the announcers finally giving their names and calling the match intriguing now. Thankfully, the LWO stayed out of it for a long while. The match was really good. Juvi hit his driver, but Rey managed to recover and hit his top rope Frankensteiner. This led to the LWO coming in, with Rey holding a couple of guys at bay for a few seconds before getting pummelled. Billy Kidman came in, taking out three guys with a cross body block before dragging Rey out of the ring. We have no challenger for Starrcade. Kidman & Rey would get a great Cruiserweight tag team. The potential makes me think of what New Japan has done with its Jr. heavies. Booker T faced Lodi. Stevie Ray came out and interfered, talking down to Booker. Lodi won by DQ. Chris Benoit faced Kanyon in what looked to be a good match. It was pretty good, until the booking decided to repeat the previous finish. This time around, Raven walked in and whacked Benoit. Konnan & Lex Luger faced Vincent & Horace & Stevie Ray. They called it a handicap match, and I figured that Konnan was indeed handicapped by being in the ring with the other four. Maybe we were handicapped by having to watch the match. I'd like to believe that somebody in charge realizes how crappy four of these five guys are, but I think that's pushing it. Anyhow, Luger racked Stevie Ray. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98. Tentative line-up has: * Bill Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash for the WCW Title * Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff with Dusty Rhodes as referee * Giant vs. Diamond Dallas Page * Bret Hart vs. Scott Hall for the US Title * Konnan vs. Chris Jericho for the TV Title * Ernest Miller vs. Perry Saturn * Juventud Guerrera vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Billy Kidman for the Cruiserweight title * Mike Enos vs. David Finlay Bret Hart's groin injury may well be severe enough that he won't be able to work the show; it seems like Bam Bam Bigelow is positioned to take his place against Scott Hall. - Scott Hall The National Enquirer ran a story on Scott Hall, the usual stuff about his wife being worried about his life. The story had a photo of Hall's mug shot (left). - From the Observer this week, "Eric Bischoff went to Japan and saw the New Japan vs. UWFI feud for himself and wanted to recreate it. WWF just followed Bischoff's lead." - Owen Hart was on Gallagher on TSN this past week (actually, Bret Hart was on the night before and I missed it). The only interesting moment was when a fan asked whether Owen wished he were in WCW with Bret. Owen answered that he wished that Bret were still in the WWF with him. He said that the time period of the double-cross was difficult for everybody involved, but that he's happy in the WWF and credits the WWF with giving him national exposure. He maintains that he won't be involved in angles that his kids can't watch. - A piece on Val Venis appeared in the Toronto Sun recently. Identified as Sean Morley, a graduate of Markham District High School in Markham (just north of Toronto), he said that his porn star gimmick was originally given to him by Vince McMahon as a rib, since Vince knew that he was a vocal conservative. Val maintains that he didn't like the gimmick at first, but viewed it as a chance to do something controversial and fun. He doesn't let it affect his real life. His girlfriend Lourdes, a waitress he met while working in Mexico as Steele, stands by him. He publishes a political newsletter that he envisions becoming a magazine at some point down the line. His political views? Abolish income tax, unions, and welfare and let people control their own money. - For some reason, WCW signed Mikey Whippreck to a two-year contract. They already have so much other unused and substantially better talent, so it just makes no sense. It would make sense if they could air Mikey's win over Steve Austin. - 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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