______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ RAW Over the past few weeks, the WWF product has been focused on building towards the pay-per-view tomorrow night. There were quite a few telling occurrences along the way, revealing some insecurities with previous plans. Maybe "insecurities" is inaccurate; I suppose another explanation might be that the WWF also only books for the short-term, so major decisions of the moment might well be overturned after more thought or because of sudden nervousness. Then again, one might just say that the promotion is willing to adjust when plans don't work out as hoped. First up, RAW on 09/06/99 (reviewed in the previous update ) heavily hyped the appearance of Steve Austin on Smackdown on 09/09/99. The plan was for Austin to take an extended leave from the WWF. In fact, he had told his ex-wife that he would be gone for a long while. Nonetheless, he's back after no time, sadly wearing huge knee braces on both knees when he clearly needs the time to rest. The exact same thing happened to Mick Foley. His extended leave from the group also amounted to nothing. If you are fans of these guys, you want them to disappear for a while to rest and recover. Of course, while their WWF reputations might have been built on some great wrestling, both of them can ride their reputations and get away with a lot less now, and nobody will call them on it. The WWF wanted to bolster Smackdown's ratings, so they featured a big tag team buried alive match, that was the usual sports entertainment and garbage wrestling mix, this time featuring Rock & Mankind against Undertaker & Big Slow. Slow was absolutely horrible again. They are trying to give him a rub as a killer, but it just isn't working, as he looks more and more uncoordinated and unimpressive each week. Anyhow, Hunter Hearst Helmsley interfered. Since HHH was having trouble getting over as the champion, I guess the idea was to make everybody his enemy. If he has heat with every name wrestler in the promotion, the theory goes, the fans might think he's over. So, he whacked Slow with a shovel, and Slow fell to the dirt mound, bringing to mind images of the whale beachings in a Discovery channel documentary. An ambulance showed up, with Austin coming out. Austin was hyped as appearing throughout the show. The crowd popped for Austin like they pop for nobody else. Austin ended up doing his version of WCW's humvee angle, this time driving a Mack truck into the ambulance that held HHH. All of this revealed a little insecurity with HHH as WWF champion. Although I never thought that HHH had what it takes to carry the promotion, not in the ring, not on the mic, not in any area, it seemed funny that the WWF braintrust would come to that conclusion so soon after giving him the title. On RAW a few days later, they started the angle that would lead to the return of Vince McMahon to WWF TV. "Forever," which the contract stipulation stated would be the duration of the absence of Vince McMahon, turned out to be a lot shorter than we thought. They also seemed to abandon the interview that Jim Ross did with Davey Boy Smith. Without getting heat from the Hart family situation, I don't know how Smith will get over, given the direction of this promotion and Smith's presumed physical limitations. Stranger still, on Smackdown on 09/16/99, Vince McMahon won the WWF Title from HHH thanks in no small part to Steve Austin. McMahon even bled. Match was horrible, but that is par for the course in the WWF. Hey, don't get mad at me for telling the truth. Everybody was so happy that Chris Jericho jumped from WCW, and for his career and future contract value it was a great move, but he hasn't had one good match since the jump. He hasn't even had a mediocre match. Like fans of actual wrestling feared, anybody looking for great Jericho matches will have to look at his pre-WWF work, along with possibly some PPV matches in the WWF down the line. His output of good-to-great matches is limited by the WWF's product focus. Anyhow, taking the title off of HHH showed that the promotion doesn't think that he could headline a PPV in a WWF Title match. On RAW on 09/20/99, Vince vacated the WWF Title, putting the title up for grabs to the winner of the "six pack" match at the PPV on Sunday. That match will feature Rock, Mankind, Undertaker, Big Slow, Kane, and HHH with Steve Austin as special referee. Oh lord. I really, really want a triple foot to the face spot with Undertaker, Big Slow, and Kane. Of course, the WWF had to take that hope away on Smackdown on 09/23/99. The show was a replay of shows from last year, with Steve Austin's role played by HHH and Vince playing himself, supported by his son. You see, Vince, who on RAW three nights earlier explained that he was vacating the WWF title because he had promised he would no longer get involved in WWF business, got, oh, I'd say just a little involved in the business by putting HHH through a gauntlet of matches on Smackdown. The fallout was that HHH will stay in the "six pack" title match at the PPV tomorrow, but Undertaker will be replaced by Davey Boy Smith, who, as it turned out, worked against Vince's interests. Will we eventually get Vince & Steve Austin vs. HHH & Smith? Other developments on TV during my absence: Shane McMahon continued to ally himself with Test, which just doesn't work for me, anyhow. Jeff Jarrett continued to beat up women. Big Boss Man actually brought the remains of Al Snow's dog to the ring, putting them at the top of a pole in a gimmick match. When Snow buried the remains on a later show, Boss Man urinated on the grave. Boss Man capped things off by stuffing dog food in Snow's mouth. Who writes this intelligent stuff? Chris Jericho debuted Curtis Hughes, who he called Mr. Huge even though he has lost a load of weight since we last saw him. He's almost unrecognizable because of the new muscle as well. Jericho had a first blood match against Ken Shamrock on Smackdown on 09/23/99, with Jericho wearing protective gear and Shamrock once again "bleeding internally." Another lame Jericho appearance in the WWF. My personal favourite highlight of the weeks away has to be the bit with Shane & Test teaming to face HHH & Chyna. Anybody who concluded that Shane's willingness to risk his body by jumping through a table or jumping off the top rope and twisting around somehow made him a wrestler was in for a rude awakening during this match. And since matches are so short by WWF TV standards, it was pretty funny how bad this match was. The mistiming was awesome. Oh, and Shawn Michaels' heel turn on Smackdown was never really mentioned again. Isn't he still the commissioner and isn't he in HHH's pocket? Why did HHH get so screwed then? I know there's a logical explanation because the WWF's booking is so incredibly sensible. Surely, Shawn would use his stroke to help HHH during this crisis, no? Oh well. And, seemingly as an admission that Billy Gunn & Road Dogg have run their courses as singles wrestlers, the New Age Outlaws joined up again, which of course makes a lot of sense, since they were just fighting about the gimmick money a short while ago. All of this leads to Forgiven on PPV tomorrow night. The line-up has * Undertaker vs. Big Slow vs. Kane vs. HHH vs. Mankind vs. Rock for the WWF Title * Chyna vs. Jeff Jarrett for the IC Title * D'Lo Brown vs. Mark Henry for the European Title * Dudleys vs. Acolytes * Al Snow vs. Big Boss Man in a double cage match, with Rottweilers between the cages * Val Venis vs. Steve Blackman For actual wrestling, this show seems pretty darn bad. Nitro Loads to talk about in WCW, including weekly TV shows, a PPV, and the reassignment of Eric Bischoff to elsewhere in the Turner organization. First off, Eric Bischoff was removed from his position as Executive Producer for WCW on 09/09/99. That led to a lot of high hopes for the PPV that would take place only a few days later. The jockeying for power, as one would expect, began in earnest almost immediately. The creative and business sides of the promotion were split, with the business side being given to Bill Busch, perhaps only temporarily. The creative side is the subject of much speculation. Temporarily, Craig Leathers, whose name we've all seen in the credits of the WCW product since he has produced their TV for a while, has been given ultimate creative control, with the exact same booking squad (Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan, and Dusty Rhodes) cooking up ideas. It seems sort of like firing the manager of a restaurant because the lousy food sends patrons away, but then keeping the chefs. I sure don't get it. In any case, the situation is likely very dynamic, and we should probably expect changes in the booking team before long. While elements of the TV have changed, somebody will conclude that more must be done. Hopefully. There is a lot of talk that Ric Flair wants the job as booker. Immediately, WCW cancelled their proposed New Year's Eve PPV, which was meant to be a joint show with a KISS concert. I guess somebody realized that people aren't going to be at home watching wrestling on the biggest New Year's Eve in 1000 years. Brian Adams' new gimmick as the Demon was scrapped. As has been widely reported, the original plan was to have Demon be the legitimate son of the devil who turned his back on his father's hellish life and came to WCW. No, that isn't a swerve to lead to a jump by Shane McMahon. El Vampiro, who was hypnotizing people in recent times, in a gimmick that has also been dropped, would be revealed as evil and the natural feud for the Demon. During their PPV match, Demon would dump Vampiro in a huge pot of holy water, with Vampiro then coming out of the smoky cauldron with a new gimmick as a face. WCW TV over the weeks away has shown the usual mixed signs of limited goodness and a lot of badness. I still don't get why they put on matches like Van Hammer vs. Blitzkrieg. Anybody who thinks that is a good idea should be fired or relocated a la Bischoff. But first the PPV. WCW had Fall Brawl on 09/12/99. Overall, I came away giving the show a thumbs down. I guess the news of Bischoff's relocation and the ensuing rebooking of the PPV led me to believe that they might actually do some good things. During the pre-game show, they replayed the angle where Sid & Rick Steiner ran in on Hulk Hogan vs. Sting on Nitro. Why do they show that again and again? It was so horrible. Rick & Sid just walked into the ring and lumbered around, taking forever to actually hit somebody. That's a huge difference between WCW and the WWF. In general, the WWF run-ins are at least done with some passion. In WCW, fans have trouble getting into these storylines because everything is done so halfheartedly by the wrestlers who have focus. Rundown: * Eddie Guerrero & Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman beat El Vampiro & Insane Clown Posse: Rey had his hair dyed blond. I have a lot of trouble with ICP in every regard: selling, offense, psychology, everything. This match had some really strong moments, and at least had the right side go over. Still, why did Kidman pin Vampiro? Is ICP worth protecting? More important is the aftermath of this match, with Rey's knee being injured (not seriously), and Vampiro being kneed hard in the face by Kidman during the finish. His face was mangled a bit by that. Still, this was a really good opener. Match time was 14:06. * Lenny Lane beat Kaz Hayashi to retain the Cruiserweight title: Best match on the show. Lodi told us that "everybody needs a blow pop." Lenny acted totally gay, a la Exotic Adrian Street. Kaz did a few spots that focused on Lenny's low back, and Tony said, "He's still working on Lenny's rear end." Sigh. Amidst all of this frivolity, Kaz delivered an awesome performance, totally spectacular. Lenny still doesn't seem like he can carry a longer match yet. Kaz hit a Liger bomb, which was even called correctly, for a two. Victory roll for a two after knocking down Lodi. Kaz took out Lodi, but ended up schoolboyed for a two. Lenny used a full nelson front slam, sort of a reverse Russian leg sweep, for a the three count. Really good match. At this point, I just didn't think it would be possible for the show be a downer. Match time was 12:18. * Brian Knobs & Hugh Morrus beat Shane Douglas & Dean Malenko: And here began the sad booking pattern of the evening. Earlier on, Perry Saturn promised a sweep for the Revolution, which left me feeling pretty nervous. This match was no DQ. Douglas looks so old. Flair looks younger. There was garbagy brawling at the start, with nobody really selling anything. This is exactly the way to use Dean Malenko, isn't it? They finally got in the ring, but the match never shook the garbagy feel. It did seem like everybody tried hard, which is at least something good, but if it isn't good wrestling, I have trouble praising it. Knobs tripped Malenko. Morrus hit a moonsault for the pin. That's what I call a push. Match ran 9:26. * Rick Steiner beat Perry Saturn to retain the TV title: Saturn controlled the match early on, even doing a tope. Steiner rallied. They did some garbagy brawling into the steps and the rail. Does that crap have to be in every match? Steiner moved the mats and DDTed Saturn on the floor. When Steiner was on offense the match seemed to move at a snail's pace. Why is Steiner put above so many other guys that actually have some heart and passion? At 5:00, Saturn acted dead, with his comeback being cut off. Steiner suplexed Saturn several times. Saturn was set on the top rope, but rallied with some high spots, even getting a two count. The match seemed to have some life at this point. A leap frog was turned into a power slam by Rick. As soon as Rick went back on offense, it seemed like the life was sucked back out of the match. Doesn't the creative team watch these matches and feel these shifts? Rhetorical question. Saturn DVDed Rick and only got a friggin' two count. He tried for another DVD, but Rick sent him to the turnbuckles. They jockeyed for position on the ropes, with Saturn getting dumped and bulldogged for the loss. After this pretty balanced match, just to underline the sense of indignation fans of wrestling would have, Tony had the nerve to say, "Tonight it was all Rick Steiner." Blow me, Tony. Match ran 9:25. * Berlyn beat Jim Duggan: Earlier on, the commentators mentioned that Buff Bagwell had not yet made it to the building, even though he was backstage. As usual, Buff was crying about having to lose a match. Get over it, pretty boy. So many other guys, had they been given the push that you got for a few months, would have gotten way over. You didn't. Live with it. But, no, instead Buff had to sabotage Berlyn's debut. And leaving them scrambling to the point that Jim Duggan gets dropped into the match cold is pretty serious sabotage. Also funny, before this match, as the commentators prattled on about Hulk Hogan's interview regarding Sting, the crowd chanted "we want Flair." Bagwell not being there drew huge boos. There was a huge "USA" chant as well when Berlyn came out. Alex seemed great at the get-go. But Duggan sucked so badly and came in not really knowing what his role was to be (giving the benefit of the doubt), so the match was horrible much more often than not. Alex tried for the Kunze stump puller (hey, that's what they called it in r.s.p-w), but the move just fell apart. Speaking of which, the whole match fell apart for several minutes, as it seemed like they were starting not to cooperate with each other. That was actually kind of weird to see, especially since Duggan is hardly the guy you'd want to see in the ring when this sort of thing happens. Berlyn's unnamed bodyguard exposed the floor and clotheslined Duggan on the floor. Duggan acted dead. Back in the ring, they did a sloppy neckbreaker for the three count. Match ran 7:59 (of hell, for the most part). Bagwell "arrived at the building" just as the match was ending (wink, wink) and told Mike Graham that he should have "changed the format." Yeah, like Bagwell vs. Berlyn should have been higher on the card. Is Buff supposed to be a babyface? Buff said his plane was delayed; yeah, it was circling Ego Airport and couldn't land because Buff's head was in the way. Bagwell came out to hug Duggan, who pushed him off. I was so hoping for Duggan to whack Bagwell upside the head with the two-by-four; it would have been the first time I cheered for Duggan. And it would be delicious for Buff to have a program against Duggan. Sigh. * Harlem Heat beat Barry Windham & Kendall Windham to win the WCW Tag titles: It was sort of lacklustre most of the way. Barry Windham has been pretty bad ever since his peak years of 1987-1988, while Kendall & Stevie Ray have never been good. And, of course, Booker T has singles greatness written all over him, which explains why he finds himself in this position in WCW. Late in the match, they were getting heat on Booker. The referee missed some tags. Stevie came in and cleaned up anyhow, including on Curt Hennig. All four guys came in, with Booker & Barry going out to the floor. Stevie was hit with the bell. The referee refused to count. You see, when this melee started, Booker T was still the legal man, and this night the referee was sticking to the idea that the legal man has to pinned even if that same referee lets the illegal men get all up in his area. Booker hit a missile drop kick for the pin. Match ran 13:05 and was a waste of Booker. * Sid beat Chris Benoit to win the US title: Charles Robinson was the referee. That made sense. Chris wore an armband for Brian Hildebrand, who sadly passed away on 09/08. Benoit was just awesome from the start of the match. It really says something that he didn't dog it after the supposed push of his group was tanked. Benoit hit a dragon screw leg whip on Sid, who had no clue how to bump for that spot. He went after Sid's legs. He put on an indian death lock. Sid used an eye rake. Sid didn't sell his leg at all afterwards. What a prick. Sid missed a charge into the corner, which hurt is injured knee. You know, the one that doesn't merit a small limp due to the severe injury. Benoit posted the knee, sandwiched it between the steps and the post, and pounded it to crap. Sid stood up and pretty much no-sold the whole thing. Sid caught Benoit's cross body attempt. Benoit hit a German suplex. He tried for a crucifix, but Sid dropped back into a fallaway slam. Sid sold his knee for the first time, actually limping for just a few seconds. What a pro. Sid did a cobra clutch slam for a two count. Sid sat off a sunset flip for a two. Sid limped a little more. Benoit was so awesome. Again, it felt like the crowd was ready for Benoit to get the win, but WCW is blind to its audience. Benoit put on the crossface. Just to make sure that that move gets killed, Sid stood up with Benoit wrapped around him and walked to the ropes for the break. Benoit tried a top rope headbutt, missed, and was powerbombed for the loss. Match ran 11:43. It is so sad to see what WCW does to its best workers. * Goldberg beat Diamond Dallas Page: DDP's microphone shtick just sucks. Goldberg now comes out to his old music. The fans can actually chant to that music. DDP was stripped of several foreign objects. They fought in the crowd for just a few seconds. After a low kick and an object punch, DDP drew heat on Goldberg. DDP used his object again for a two count. Goldberg hulked up. I'm not joking: three punches, foot to the face. Page countered a rope spot with a DDT for a two count. The triad came out. Kanyon broke a serving dish over Goldberg's head and DDP got a two. Goldberg speared everyone and jackhammered DDP for the pin. At least the crowd got what they wanted out of this one. This was hardly a match to compare to their PPV main event from last year. Match ran 9:04. * Sting beat Hulk Hogan to win the WCW title: Bret Hart came out to wish both guys luck and then went backstage. The match opened with those really bad Hulk Hogan technical wrestling sequences. They did some armbars and hammerlocks and counters. It was like they were wrestling underwater because they were moving so slowly. They brawled around the guard rail. Hogan choked Sting with a cord. Finally, back in the ring, Sting missed his third Stinger splash. Hogan hulked: three punches, foot to the face. But DDP came out and decked the referee. Hogan hit the leg drop. DDP hit the diamond cutter on Hogan and put Sting on top for the two count. Bret came out and chased off DDP. Sid came out. Hogan booted him. Luger came in with a bat, but was knocked down. A total shmozz. But wait, Sting picked up the bat. Sting batted Hogan. Luger batted Bret. The scorpion got the win at 13:24. The crowd hardly reacted to this as the major heel turn it should have been, maybe because everybody has turned all over the promotion in recent times. It doesn't help that the crowd really doesn't care for Hogan all that much. There were actually some cheers for Sting batting Hogan. And not just in my house. Bad show, but I guess we have to wait until Halloween Havoc passes before judging the somewhat new regime. I'm not hopeful. TV was a bit disjointed maybe because of the transition. A positive element is that they pretty much immediately started hyping Hulk Hogan vs. Sting as a PPV main event for Havoc, many weeks before the show. Of course, given that that match will headline a PPV, it might be argued that it isn't a positive. They continued to screw with the workers and mess up whatever babyface appeal several guys could have. First off, on the 09/13/99 Nitro, Chris Benoit beat Dean Malenko in an excellent match to determine who would get a WCW title shot later in the show. Ric Flair returned in the second segment on the show, making this the best Nitro open in a long while. The ensuing angle, where Sting & Lex Luger confronted Flair, with Flair saying he made them into millionaires, etc., was wonderful. Of course, they beat up Flair, who was saved by you know who. Sadly, Flair never appeared at the end of the show to get his revenge. That's an example of booking your babyfaces as weaklings. Now, in a totally annoying shift in booking, Bret Hart, who had been deliberating for so long about whether he even had any passion to return, who had finally announced the week before that only a match against Hulk Hogan could bring him back, decided to return to team with Hogan against Sting & Lex Luger. Why? Why? Why? That killed Bret. With the snap of a finger, he's back to being just another wrestler in the mix. All of his posturing, all of his honest emotion and uncertainty, it all now means nothing. And, of course, the commentators pushed the Hart & Hogan tag match, even though it was initially just a challenge by those two, when the real question should have been why was Benoit getting screwed out of his title shot? Poor Benoit had to go to the ring and call Sting out. Sting didn't surface. Rick Steiner came out, saying that Sting had more important business, but that he'd put up his TV title against Benoit. Worse yet, even though they passed the title to Benoit, Steiner hardly put him over. There wasn't even a real pin in the match, with Steiner kicking out at two but the referee counting three anyhow. You'd have to work pretty hard to screw Benoit's chances like this. At pretty much every show, the crowd is so obviously willing to accept him as a breakthrough star, but the promotion weakens him at every turn. Perry Saturn beat Eddie Guerrero in another great match. Even though I come out of every WCW show shaking my head at the crap that they deliver the majority of the time, they still deliver these great matches so much more frequently than the WWF. Oh yes, Berlyn beat Buff Bagwell on Nitro, the night after Bagwell wimped out of the PPV match. At least somebody cracked down on Buff's crybaby whining. Thunder on 09/16/99 was a compilation of main events from Nitro and PPVs. It was funny to see them try to make sense out of the past story lines. It looked like they were considering bringing back Jeff Farmer as NWO Sting to work with Sting. On Nitro on 09/20/99, Ric Flair came back hot, too little too late, though. Worse yet, he won't even get his chance at revenge until the next Nitro when he & Hogan & Bret face Sting & Luger & DDP. They gave Chris Benoit his title shot against Sting. Of course, it was the best Sting match I can remember in the past six years. And, of course, Benoit came out of it looking like a secondary shmuck. He had Sting reeling when Lex Luger ran in and used the bat on Benoit. That led to everybody running in. The fallout was that the six-man was announced for next week. Tony Schiavone said that based on the events of the title match, the championship committee was working hard to put together a special match for Nitro the following week (the six man). You might figure that Benoit would be involved, right? Wouldn't it be nice to put Benoit in that mix, having Flair play statesman, say? But no. Benoit gets shmozzed and then has to slink off without every even talking about revenge. This sort of angle is usually used to build up a challenger as a real threat; if the champ had to squeak out a win by using interference so overtly, then a match which eliminates interference as a possibility should follow as the money match, right? But that won't happen here. Okay, then, maybe Benoit will get to beat Lex Luger at Havoc. Yeah, right. Scott Steiner also returned, looking as huge as always. He did this weird interview talking about Hulk Hogan leaving the NWO, as if the NWO were still a viable entity. After having Rick Steiner shoved down our throats for the past few weeks, I had started to wonder what could be worse than one Steiner. Now I know. On Thunder on 09/23/99, Sid went over Booker T, when referee Charles Robinson, the guy who can't spell millennium, actually grabbed Booker to stop his advantage. No new ideas. All of this builds to Halloween Havoc on 10/24/99. Tentative line-up has: * Sting vs. Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title * Sid vs. Goldberg for the US Title - Rena Mero had a role in the second season premier of the Canadian-made Francis Ford Coppola TV show First Wave. The show began as a combination of other cult favourites from recent years, The Nowhere Man and The X-Files, but has sort of morphed into something that also resembles V. Anyhow, Rena played the superior alien who was destroyed by the end of the show. I guess she made this deal before the blow-up with the WWF, since she was listed as Sable in the credits. It's interesting because Playboy will be featuring Rena yet again in their issue slated for an October 19 release date. The cover proclaimed that we'd see more of "The Woman You Loved as Sable in the Raw," so the WWF lawyers actually yelled copyright foul, winning the case. This means that Playboy had to reprint their first print run of 500000 magazines. - TSN debuted a new show last Monday in the half-hour before the live RAW broadcast at 9:00pm EST. The show, called Full Contact Fighter, after the magazine of the same name, focused on the Ultimate Fighting Championship which took place last night, although they also talked more generally about mix martial arts fighting, showing clips from various recent shows. I thought the show was really great. At the start of the show they aired a package narrated by Michael Landsberg that debunked the popular misconceptions about the barbaric nature of MMA fighting. That several-minute long piece was just super, perfectly clear, and inarguably accurate. Later in the show, they had interviews with both Frank Shamrock and Tito Ortiz regarding their match at the UFC last night (and wasn't that just a great match?). They ended the show by saying that Ken Shamrock adamantly states that he will return to the MMA fighting world. - ECW TV on TNN definitely had some good moments in the past two weeks. The two Rob van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn matches were both really good, although I still find some of the stuff they do with each other to be too choreographed (usually the bits involving chairs). Still, it is nice to sit through 45 minutes or so of a TV show (minus commercials) and see 10 or 15 minutes of pretty good to really good wrestling. The WWF TV shows don't come anywhere close to that stat. And WCW Nitro TV requires 2:15 of watching for maybe 10 or 20 minutes of really good wrestling. But I sure could live without all of the garbagy stuff. ECW had Anarchy Rulz on 09/19/99. The show was pretty good, although I always find ECW stuff to be a real mixed bag. Everybody tries hard, but there are a lot of guys that just don't have much. There's almost always something embarrassingly bad and there's also almost always something really good. This show was no different, another roller coaster ride. Rundown: * Lance Storm beat Jerry Lynn: These two guys are two out of the four or five reasons to watch ECW. The match opened nicely. They did a heavily choreographed spot to get out of the ring for the requisite guard rail shots. The crowd was so appreciative of the wrestling they had done up to that point that they hurled out a "show your tits" chant at Dawn Marie. Lynn did a plancha all the way across the ringside floor a la El Gran Hamada, for example. They did loads of two counts. It was really good. Dawn Marie passed a chair into the ring, but it received minimal use, thankfully. Lance was DDTed on the chair, but Dawn Marie put his foot on the rope. Lynn took some rib shots, with the commentators pushing that as a serious injury. Lynn hit the stunner. Since this isn't the WWF, that's not a pinning move here. Storm charged Lynn, who hit a rana for a two count, but sold his own ribs. Lance rolled him up for the pin. Really good. Match time: 16:40. * Simon Diamond & Tony DeVito faced Nova & Chris Chetti: This entire segment was just horrible. First, Simon came out, with Jazz coming out to confront him. Loads of crappy guys ran in. Finally, a tag match fell into place. Early on Chetti injured himself going out of the ring. Maybe that meant that the remaining guys had to improvise, but everything was so brutally bad that I still think we should hold it against them. Even Joey Styles was off, calling a "uranage" a "uranachi." The crowd booed the flubbed moves. To save the day, Amish Roadkill ran in. That would be like offering another iceberg to the Titanic. Jazz got laid out. More losers ran in. There was a brawl. It was pitiful. What could possibly finish off this debacle? That's right: New Jack came in to clear house. That's like offering the twice-iceberged Titanic a nuclear bomb. Joey Styles said, "This situation is about to go from bad to worse." Oh lord. * Yoshihiro Tajiri beat Little Guido & Super Crazy in a triangle match: They introed Big Sal as the "Big Salbowski," which made them seem second rate. Match was good, but that's it. Tajiri hit a pretty German suplex. Crazy did a tope and the other two caught him a little too obviously. Sal fell through a table. Crazy used the Romero chinlock on Tajiri. When Guido was in the tree of woe, Tajiri nailed him with a kick and then Crazy hit the moonsault for the pin at 9:21. Crazy & Tajiri continued for a short 5:17 before Tajiri got the pin with a brainbuster. * Justin Credible beat Sabu: Credible came out with a restraining order to block Sabu from even entering the ring or building. WCW used that same idea this week for Sid & Goldberg. The referee, who apparently moonlights as a lawyer, read the paperwork and then announced that Credible had a legal and binding order. However, "tonight there is no law and order!" Oh man. Credible caned the ring announcer before he could announce Sabu. The lights dipped off, came on, and there was Sabu. Garbage wrestling right from the get-go. Credible dumped Sabu through a table. They did that terrible leg drop spot where poor Credible had to hold on to the ropes and teeter totter around while Sabu climbed to the top rope. Sabu hit a leg drop over the top on Credible on an angled table, which looked dangerous for Credible. They talked to each other to make sure things were okay. Sabu then did another dive onto the wreckage. A table shard cut Credible severely. The only actual wrestling in the match was a camel clutch spot, which dragged. They pulled a table into the ring. They used the cane, but the shots were lame because the cane was broken earlier over the announcer's head. Stunner on Sabu. That's not a finishing move. Credible hit a bulldog through the table. Styles: "He has to try to outwrestle Sabu." It's too easy to take potshots at that line. They did several tombstone counters, not the kind where they bend over backwards, but the kind where they sort of cartwheel. Bill Alfonso threw in a chair, which accidentally hit Sabu. More tombstones and counters. Finally, Credible hit the tombstone on the chair for the three count. I at least liked the result. Match time: 14:07. * Mike Awesome beat Taz & Masato Tanaka to win the ECW Title: They passed out streamers to the fans, who threw them into the ring in Japanese style. The expectation was that Taz would lose because of the WWF deal. Earlier in the pre-game show, they suggested that Mike Awesome would somehow get involved in the match. Before the match started, the crowd chanted "you sold out" at Taz. Sure enough, Mike Awesome came through the crowd, with Taz delivering a profane interview asking for Awesome to be let in the ring. Paul Heyman also got to swear a bit. The bout was turned into a three way dance. At just two minutes in, Taz was hit with the rolling elbow by Tanaka, who held him down so Awesome could hit a splash off the top to eliminate Taz. The crowd chanted "Fuck you, Taz." They had the locker room empty to watch the match, making the title seem important. With the worst worker in the match gone, there was a chance for this to be good, provided that it didn't get too nonsensically garbagy. Awesome set up a table at ringside and tried to power bomb Awesome through it from inside the ring. That was a spot that Tanaka hit in the match they used to hype this show. Tanaka dropped out, and both men ended up outside and then on the ramp. Awesome had to stand there like a moron forever while Tanaka did a wind sprint chair shot. The remaining match had this slow Hoganesque portion for a while, with Awesome doing the Hogan routine. I didn't find it that impressive. But they did some really good stuff in the final minutes. It went garbagy again: Tanaka planned to power bomb Awesome through the table that was still set up at ringside, but the lift didn't coincide with Awesome's kick-off to float over, so Tanaka ended up doing a lame power bomb for a two; Tanaka immediately picked Awesome up for another power bomb in the exact same location, which looked weak, with Awesome this time kicking off so that he had the momentum to go all the way over; Awesome then power bombed Tanaka through the table. That wasn't the ending though. They did the requisite stiff chair shots on Tanaka's head. He kept kicking out. Finally, with another table set up in the ring, Awesome and Tanaka jockeyed for postion on the top rope. Awesome ended up power bombing Tanaka through the table for the pin at 11:35. Match was pretty good, but the overall garbagy feel brought it down for me. Taz came in afterwards to another "fuck you, Taz" chant. Taz presented the belt to Awesome and shook his hand. On the ramp, Taz and Heyman embraced. That led to the schizophrenic crowd chanting "Taz! Taz!" The deal, apparently, is for Taz to finish out the year in ECW before heading to the WWF. * Tommy Dreamer & Raven beat Steve Corino & Rhino: Match started with Rhino & Dreamer in the ring. Corino & Jack Victory were around, but there was no sign of Raven. Dreamer chased off Corino. Dreamer laid out Victory, but Rhino eventually got the upper hand. Rhino then laid out Francine, who did the usual butt shot. Raven tried to run in for the dramatic rescue, but got all tangled in the ropes. It was funny. He then came in and did the miracle save. Double DDT for the win at 4:15. * Rob van Dam beat Balls Mahoney to retain the TV title: The match was scheduled to be van Dam vs. Johnny Smith. It promised to be one of the two best matches on the card. But there was a problem. Axl Rotten came out to challenge Mike Awesome. The Impact Players came out to talk down Axl. It ended with Balls Mahoney chairing Johnny Smith straight in the face after Spike Dudley laid out Dawn Marie. That left Axl & Balls & Spike in the ring, with Axl issuing a challenge to van Dam for Balls. Well, this match just got a whole lot worse on paper. Good thing this is the promotion that delivers what they promise to their fans. Despite all the talk of how Balls has improved, he's still not particularly good. They did some garbagy stuff outside. I think van Dam tried really hard. It's too bad that they couldn't use Smith for whatever reason. They brawled outside, with Balls getting cut open by a chair shot. van Dam did a somersault tope over the guard rail into the crowd. The audience chanted "RVD" or was that "Our VD"? Back in the ring, Balls got the upper hand momentarily. Mahoney did a leg drop off the second rope that took too long to get set up. They must have received a "go long" signal because they dropped to a head lock. The commentators said that Balls "would be a tremendous television champion." van Dam hit a superplex on Balls and bounced himself off the mat to sell the impact. The usual van Dam chair spots surfaced. You know, he put the chair across Balls, who (like Jerry Lynn in the TNN matches) was forced to hold it in place while van Dam prepared to launch himself for a leg drop. That just looks lame every time van Dam does it. Balls hit a power bomb on van Dam for a two. "I'm surprised by the technical mastery of Balls Mahoney in this match," said Cyrus. Oh, come now. They really tried to sell this as van Dam's biggest challenge. Balls actually won me over a bit during the match, 'cause he was better than I expected him to be, but he's still a garbage wrestler. Alfonso came in to save van Dam. They did a choreographed chair spot, with van Dam missile dropkicking the chair into Balls' face. Frog splash for the pin at 19:50. They hugged afterwards. - In the Observer, Dave Meltzer talked about the upcoming film "Beyond the Mat" which focuses on the stories of Mick Foley, Tony Atlas, and Jake Roberts. As part of the film, some wrestlers were given WWF try outs. There is a scene that sounds hilarious, where Vince McMahon watches on as a brdiging suplex is deliver in the ring, saying "that's something new for us, a wrestling move, as if that was almost something dirty." Sounds like another must-see. - Wrath is slated to return to WCW shortly. - More discussion of New Japan and All Japan TV. The 07/11/99 and 07/18/99 All Japan TV shows were equally bland and boring. Either matches were cut too short or they just weren't that good. It was pretty depressing. The 07/24/99 New Japan TV show opened with a tag match featuring Michael Wallstreet & Masa Chono against Chiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura. Now, Shiro is still great after all these years, but the other three stink as in-ring wrestlers. Match sucked. Mr. Wallstreet did the job to Shiro's butt bump off the top. Next up, Jushin Liger & El Samurai faced Koji Kanemoto & Dr. Wagner Jr. Hey, now that looked promising. As we joined the match, Liger hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Koji and then put him in the bow and arrow, with Samurai coming off the top with a knee across Koji's neck. 30 seconds in and you know you aren't watching Monday night wrestling, if you get my drift. Koji put Samurai in a camel clutch, and Wagner came in to hit a dropkick to Samurai's face. First though, he ran off the ropes to build some momentum. It was funny, 'cause he ran back and forth several times, very quickly, and even tossed a somersault into one of the runs for no real reason. Finally he hit the dropkick and the crowd popped for the sports entertainment flavour. Yes, sports entertainment without profanity, breasts, blood, breasts, nonwrestlers, or breasts. Samurai rallied, missed a top rope head butt, countered a suplexed attempt by Koji, and eventually made the tag to Liger. He hit a top rope Frankensteiner before leaving the ring. Liger came in with a diving splash of the top. Koji rallied, hitting his picture-perfect moonsault before tagging out. Wagner was a hoot in this match, doing some heavily animated spots that got over. He missed a somersault senton, but rallied, getting a two with a magistral cradle. A splash for a two. Liger escaped a razor's edge style power bomb. Samurai & Koji ended up outside after a tope. Liger and Wagner traded wonderful spots. Wagner had the pin, but Samurai saved. Wagner did the thumb-across-the-throat gesture a la Chris Benoit to signal the end. He tried for a power bomb, but Liger hit a ran. Samurai snuck in with a dropkick. Koji & Samurai went to the floor. Liger hit a Liger bomb for the pin. Wonderful * * * 1/2 match. Two more tag matches rounded out the TV show, but neither of them was particularly noteworthy. It was interesting to see how New Japan used Meng, almost convincing me that he has some strengths worth highlighting in wrestling matches. The crowd again seemed into Meng vs. Scott Norton, but the booking smartly only let them lock up for a few seconds here and there. Believe it or not, Meng got the win by putting his lame death grip on Tenzan. The 07/31/99 New Japan TV show opened with a chair attack angle at the start of a tag match involving Masa Chono & NWO Sting vs. Shinya Hashimoto & Tatsumi Fujinami. They showed what I guess was a match afterwards. It ended inside two minutes. It seemed way to North American style. Luckily, it was followed by an IWGP Jr. Heavyweight tag title match with champions Jushin Liger & Great Sasuke defending against Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani. When you've got a match involving four guys and Great Sasuke is the worst of the lot, you know you are in for something great. At the open, Otani suplexed Sasuke silly, hit his swan dive dropkick, went for a power bomb, and was ranaed twice. Takaiwa accidentally clotheslined his partner. Sasuke hit his somersauly tope on Otani, landing on the guard rail, of course. Liger hit a pescado as well. Otani did his vicious kicks across Liger's face. He even did one with Takaiwa whipping him to give the illusion of stronger impact. But Liger ended up countering a suplex with his own brainbuster. He tagged in Sasuke. Sasuke came in with a missile dropkick for a two. Sasuke's hand was all bandaged. He got a few quick two counts. Otani's selling was great. I know, I know, Rock can sell really well, and Kane is now a good worker. Sasuke missed a lame splash off the top. Otani power bombed him into next week, with Liger making the save. Takaiwa was tagged in. I really like how this guy has developed over the years. He went for his power bomb spot, but Sasuke tried to escape, so Takaiwa dropped him face first into the turn buckle. Takaiwa tried again for the power bomb, but this time Sasuke did get out. Liger took control on Takaiwa. Top rope fishermanbuster. Otani made the save. Liger & Sasuke double teamed Otani, with Sasuke then hitting a no-hands somersault tope on Otani. In the ring, Takaiwa managed a death valley driver on Liger. He hit his triple bomb. Otani couldn't hold off Sasuke, though, and the save was made. The camera angle on that was awesome. Sasuke tried for some funky moonsault-thing, didn't connect, and ended up getting dumped. In the ring, Liger & Takaiwa traded spots. They slapped the crap out of each other, before Takaiwa caught Liger's wrists on slap attempts, acted totally groggy, but managed to take Liger over in a straightjacket suplex for the pin and the title change. Afterwards, Takaiwa still lay there, selling that he'd had the stuffing slapped out of him. It was an awesome * * * * 1/2 match, enough to renew my faith in wrestling for another month or so. This great match was followed by a couple of poor tag matches. The main event saw Keiji Muto successfully defend the IWGP Title against Satoshi Kojima. Match was okay at best. - PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1999 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 99/07/25: Fully Loaded Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 1.4 $6.7 1.75 * * * * * 3/4 Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 0% (0 of 9) 99/06/27: King of the Ring Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon 1.13 $5.41 1 3/4 * * 1/2 Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon 0% (0 of 10) 99/05/23: Over The Edge Steve Austin vs. Undertaker 1.1 $5.28 Owen Hart dies 99/04/25: Backlash Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 1.06 $5.09 2.28 * * 1/4 * * * * 1/4 Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5% (1 of 8) 99/03/28: WrestleMania Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 2.3 $12.04 1.13 * 1/4 * * * 1/2 Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 9, no shoot) 99/02/14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 1.2 $5.33 1.28 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 8) 99/01/24: Royal Rumble Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia Royal Rumble 1.57 $6.97 1.83 * 1/2 * * * 3/4 Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0% (0 of 6) Last 6 1.37 $6.64 1.47 1.5 3.55 2.3% (1 of 44) 1999 1.39 $6.69 1.51 1.5 3.58 2% (1 of 50) 1998 1.02 $4.42 1.60 1.63 3.65 4.0% (4 of 101) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WCW 99/07/11: Bash at the Beach Kevin Nash & Sting vs. Randy Savage & Sid Vicious 0.41 1.95 0.75 1/2* * * * 1/2 Chris Benoit & Saturn vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon & Bam Bam Bigelow 0% (0 of 7) 99/06/13: Great American Bash Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage 0.43 2.05 0.75 3/4* * * * 1/4 Chris Benoit & Saturn vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon 0% (0 of 9) 99/05/09: Slamboree Kevin Nash vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0.45 2.15 1.75 * * * * * 1/4 Raven & Saturn vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 0% (0 of 9) 99/04/11: Spring Stampede Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting 0.6 2.86 2.31 * * 1/2 * * * * 1/4 Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg 11.1% (1 of 9) 99/03/14: Uncensored Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 0.73 $3.48 1.83 * * * * * 1/2 Billy Kidman vs. Mikey Whippreck 0% (0 of 9) 99/02/21: SuperBrawl Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 1.1 $5.27 1.89 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4 Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0% (0 of 9) 99/01/17: Souled Out Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Hall Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham 0.78 $3.64 1.83 * 1/2 * * * * Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis 11.1% (1 of 9) Last 6 0.62 $2.96 1.55 1.71 3.5 1.9% (1 of 52) 1999 0.64 $3.06 1.59 1.68 3.57 3.2% (2 of 61) 1998 0.93 $3.96 1.54 1.73 3.73 4.5% (5 of 111) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * ECW 99/01/10: Guilty As Charged Shane Douglas vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.68 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2 Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy 0.0% (0 of 7) Last 6 0.22 $0.42 1.93 2 3.42 5.3% (1 of 19) 1999 0.2 $0.42 1.68 2.5 3.5 0.0% (0 of 7) 1998 0.23 $0.43 1.56 1.5 3.00 3.7% (1 of 27) Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991. - The WWF has No Mercy on 10/17/99. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/14/99. - WCW has a PPV (BattleBowl?) on 11/21/99. This show will take place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It's expected that Bret Hart will play a major role on this show. - The WWF has Armageddon on 12/12/99. - The WWF has Royal Rumble on 01/23/00. - The WWF has No Way Out on 02/27/00. - The WWF has WrestleMania on 04/02/00. - The WWF has Backlash on 04/30/00. - The WWF has Judgment Day on 05/21/00. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/25/00. - The WWF has Fully Loaded on 07/23/00. ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks to: Masaki Aso. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. 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