______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! _________________________________________________________________ - ECW had November to Remember on 11/07/99. Overall, I'd end up giving the show the usual middling review. There was some good in-ring wrestling, but, as with shows from the WWF and WCW, there was a lot of crap wrapped around it. And as with the WWF, really, the show ended up being all about garbage wrestling and ranuchy stuff with women. The show opened with Taz coming out to confront Joey Styles, who backed down from him. Taz drew a "you sold out" chant. He laid out Joel Gertner. No loss. I guess they were trying to suggest that Taz wouldn't lie down later, that he wouldn't go out by doing the necessary jobs. Run down: * The first half-hour of the PPV was atrocious. It was the not ready for prime time players carted out one after another, to the point that the promotion came off as being filled with no-talent amateurs with lame gimmick names. I don't even want to try to list what happened. There were a few one- or two-minute pinfalls in there, all embarrassing. I did make some detailed notes, but I can't find it in myself to type them in. At one point, the commentators called Nova "the single-most imitated wrestler in the business today." Let the hyperbole flow. My final comment was "thank god that's over." One half-hour gone. After that, they showed a house show schedule rundown. That made them look minor league. Worse yet, they showed the exact same schedule several times throughout the show, each time taking a few minutes to go through all of the shows. Sad. * Jerry Lynn beat Yoshihiro Tajiri & Super Crazy to win a handicap match: Match had good action. When the wrestler in Tajiri's tarantula gets punched, why does that make Tajiri release the hold? There were some shaky spots, but overall it was good. Crazy was pinned by Tajiri. When it was down to the two guys, the action was pretty good. Tajiri, in particular, was great. Lynn got the win with a piledriver. Steve Corino attacked Lynn afterwards. But Lynn got his comeback. Match ran 10:56. * The Baldies beat Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten: Garbage wrestling. New Jack came out. His music played the whole time. He dove off a basketball backboard through a table. I guess that's exciting to some people, and those freaks chanted. New Jack ended up getting pinned in the ring. This was horrible. 8:30. They aired the house show schedule again. They also started up an angle where "the office" was sending down instructions through Cyrus, more or less. It seemed pretty much like WCW's Powers That Be angle. * Sabu beat Chris Candido: Sabu didn't look good in the match. Candido had so much potential a few years ago and has never managed to convert that into anything. He still seems like he has so much to offer. The commentators tried to put him over in losing, so maybe they have hopes for him still. They did a spot where Tammy Sytch, who looked like hell, was supposed to be in danger of being tabled by Sabu, but Chris just managed to save her. It didn't come off like that. Instead, Tammy easily left the table on her own, while Chris threw himself across the table for no apparent reason except to get squashed by Sabu. Match ran 17:37, which was probably 7 minutes too long, if not more. * Mike Awesome beat Masato Tanaka to retain the ECW Title: It looked weak to put this on at this point in the show. The WWF positioned their world title matches at this point on shows to bury Bret Hart, but I don't know why ECW is doing it. At the start of the match, Cyrus informed Joey Style that he was "on the bubble," which couldn't have anything to do with Curt Hennig's storyline in WCW. Awesome powerbombed Tanaka through a table from the apron. It was mostly garbage wrestling. Even though these guys work well with each other, the matches are sort of simple, not filled with a variety of moves. Awesome was superplexed through a table in the ring. They did several top rope spots like that, which makes the match sound exciting, but they spent a lot of time "jockeying for position," as Styles said, which looked way too much like helping each other get into position for the next stunt. I don't know if the ropes were too lose or if their combined weight was too much, but they just seemed tentative in that position. The crowd didn't care, chanting "E-C-Dub" for the stunts. Just when we thought that the "E-C-W" chant couldn't be dumbed down, they dropped the "L-U" part at the end: "E-C-Dub." After a final jockey on the top rope, Awesome hit a powerbomb for the pin. 12:37. Match was okay. * Rob van Dam beat Taz to retain the TV Title: Taz had the "I'm gonna job" face on during the intros. There was a weird spot when RVD kicked Taz coming into the corner and time sort of stood still as RVD expected Taz to charge again and Taz seemed to expect RVD to do something out of the corner. They went out of the ring and cued up some garbage. The camera kept zooming in and out on the brawling sequences, which was darn annoying. Back in the ring, Taz clipped RVD's knee. A tiger suplex seemed to lay out RVD. Instead of going for a win after that great bump, Taz went outside for a table. Sigh. Back in the ring, with a table in the corner, RVD hit some acrobatic spots, some of which looked better than the others. Taz hit a clothesline on an airborne RVD in a good spot. He suplexed RVD through the table. Alfonso came in to distract Taz, who was slapped by Bill. Before he could retaliate, RVD got involved. RVD finally hit his stupid kick to the chair to the face van Daminator spot. This one was just as contrived as the others. RVD was crotched on top. They jockeyed for position. RVD dropped to the outside, guillotining Taz across the top rope. That wasn't explained very clearly by the commentators. Shortly thereafter, RVD hit the frog splash for the pin at 14:36. Cyrus said that "if god were a wrestler, he'd be Rob van Dam." Sorry, but Chris Benoit is higher on the deity scale. Afterwards, they shook hands. But we didn't really stick to the ring, because it was too important to run down the house show schedule one more time. Match was okay. * Rhino & Justin Credible & Lance Storm beat Tommy Dreamer & Raven & Sandman: The entrances and ring intros took 13:58. I'm just mentioning that for ECW fans who complain about the same amount of time spent on WWF or WCW intros. Match had good action because of the tags. The heat was inconsistent, as the crowd was more interested in chanting this night than actually cheering for wrestling. Credible took a backdrop from Raven and landed in the ropes, bumping on his head, a la Psicosis. The difference is that Psicosis knows the bump is coming when he does it. Credible didn't know, so he landed in a dangerous way. Luckily, he shook it off and was okay. In the lamest spot of the night outside of that first half-hour, Rhino whipped Sandman into the corner, and Sandman flipped himself into the "tree of woe" so slowly and so obviously on his own that the crowd died totally. And they really wanted to cheer for Sandman. Raven attacked Dreamer and then missed a splash through a ringside table. Rhino speared Lance. Sandman caned Rhino several times. Finally, it was time for the match climax: Francine & Dawn Marie came in for the catfight. Dawn Marie exposed 90% of a boob. The wrestlers all stood there during the catfight, just like the cruiserweights who get interrupted by a Sid walk-in in WCW. Finally, Raven caned Sandman. Was it an accident? Hey, accidents happen. Vince hit Austin by accident just last week. Incredible got the pin on Sandman. They pushed the idea that Raven could have saved him but just walked off. RAW No details on the 11/01/99 RAW show. There's a student in one of my classes who concluded that I was a wrestling fan when I wore a Four Horsemen shirt to a lecture. He described himself as a big WWF fan, even though he complained that a lot of what they do sucks these days. I ended up describing myself as a long-time serious wrestling fan, except when I actually have to watch most of what gets delivered in North America. In 1999, especially, I'm a wrestling fan more in theory than in practice, because there really is so little good in-ring wrestling. Still, this student is one of the "new" fans, a guy who gets into all of the out-of-the-ring stuff: interviews, characters, angles, etc. He thinks Kane could be a big star. The point is that we are pretty much total opposites in our likes. I mention this only because after this RAW show and the 11/08/99 RAW show we both said that the shows sucked. With RAW's rating having taken a hit in the past few weeks, I'm left wondering if "new" and "old" fans alike are becoming sick and tired of the product's formula. I've long felt that the usual downturn in business was fast approaching. RAW on 11/08/99 opened with the requisite "old formula" of lengthy confrontational interviews. The fallout was that Vince McMahon will be the referee in the Survivor Series PPV triangle match. I got a sense of deja vu all over again. Vince's microphone didn't work. When asked whether hitting Austin in the head with the belt was a mistake, Vince said everybody makes mistakes and that that was an accident. Rock came out, too. Rock is stealing Austin's thunder. It will be very interesting to see the battle of these egos in 2000. Vince reminded everybody that Rock whacked Austin at No Mercy. Hmmm. Vince even said that it was an accident that HHH is WWF champion. That was funny. It brought out HHH. Yadda yadda yadda. Even though Rock is stealing Austin's heat, they both have so much more than HHH, who comes off as a weak third wheel. Let's see: HHH is champ, he's not over, ratings are dropping, WCW's are increasing. I think HHH is going to get blamed for something. Al Snow & Mankind defended the Tag Titles against the New Age Outlaws. Okay, we'll never learn who raised the briefcase, but why can't they explain why these DX guys are back together? They are so fond of showing guys walking around and goofing around between segments; would it be so hard to show a segment with DX talking about coming to a business deal to redistribute the DX souvenir money and explaining why they rejoined? I guess so. It's annoying that the volume of television that they produce makes storylines move so quickly. Add the thin roster to it, and guys that were just feuding are now best friends. Road Dogg got excited about Al Snow's trouble with Walmart. A US professor commented that Al Snow's action figure glorified violence against women because a women's head with "HELP ME" written backwards on it was packaged with it. While that's an analysis that ignores what Al Snow's character is about -- in reality, the prof should be questioning charaters like Jeff Jarrett for violence against women, or the Godfather for glorifying things that kids should know nothing about -- a non-fan would wonder when they see that doll, wouldn't they? On the weekend show, the WWF immediately went on the defensive saying that it was another uninformed anti-WWF attack with no merit. Yeah, like the WWF is so beyond criticism in 1999. This match went a whopping 4:12 before Al Snow was whacked with a chair by Billy Gunn behind the referee's back and pinned for the title loss. Earlier on, Val Venis ran in. He was brawling outside with Mankind, which distracted the referee. Snow hit the Snow Plow on Dogg for the win, but Gunn reversed that. We almost didn't see the interference by Gunn. Two segments, two production foul-ups. Al Snow blamed the loss on being preoccupied with the Walmart deal. Val Venis faced Godfather. Weren't these guys tag partners at one time? What happened there? Oh well. They showed a clip of Val burning Mankind's books, with Jim Ross accidentally calling Val Al Snow. Val teased that he was going to take the hos and then attacked instead. Jim Ross called the Godfather good-natured. The WWF is just like real life: good-natured pimps. Match was horrible. Val seems to be trying more because he wants his push to work. Mankind dumped Val off the top at just after 1:00. They brawled into the crowd, with the bell ringing at 1:30. Three weeks away from Stephanie's wedding. Of course, it will happen in the arena on RAW. Test said he's marrying the greatest family in the world. Lilian Garcia did a horrible announcement of the death of Big Slow's father. Was she supposed to be rattled by having to make that sort of announcement or is she just that bad? I know which conclusion I'm leaning towards. As the bell was tolling 10 times, Big Boss Man came out to interrupt the ceremony. This whole angle isn't tasteless because its a cancer storyline. It's tasteless because it is stealing so many elements from the very real death of Owen Hart. From Jerry Lawler & Jim Ross acting exactly the same as they did when Owen died and even delivering the same lines to the ten bell salute for this angle, it's just pathetic. I mean, Gorilla Monsoon died a few weeks earlier and they didn't give him a salute, so you can't say that the ten bell salute is a tradition in the WWF. They did it the one time it was a real death, and now they did it for this cheesy angle. It's sick. Kurt Angle is dedicated. Good for him. He's doing these clean-cut promos, which makes it seem like he'll fit in really well to the WWF product. Edge & Christian & the Headbangers faced Davey Boy Smith & the Mean Street Posse. Christian threw a great dropkick. Otherwise, it was nothing. 1:56 with a pin on the Posse. They continued brawling after the finish, with the bell ringer going nuts. I guess this was supposed to build interest in the PPV. Backstage, Vince confronted HHH. Alongside Vince was Shane, Test, Jerry Brisco, and Pat Patterson. When did Vince mend fences with the stooges? Just asking. They aired a video of the supreme midcarder, Chris Jericho, in the Beaver Stadium at Penn State. He cut a promo on Chyna to hype the PPV. If he loses to Chyna, that's the final nail in his coffin. X-Pac faced Rock. Rock was named world's sexiest wrestler by People magazine. I guess they mean "male wrestler." When Rock stands on the ropes and closes his eyes while thinking about his catchphrases, why doesn't his opponent attack him? Rhetorical question. X-Pac made the most of the match. Rock met the steps and sold his knee. Jeez, like we need any more bad knees in the Survivor Series match. At 3:45, they were selling like it was 20 minutes in. Outside the ring, the referee bumped. X-Pac hit a low blow, dumped Rock back into the ring, and chaired him. Cover, but no referee. The referee crawled in, and X-Pac got a two. Rock Bottom out of nowhere for the win at 5:54. See, Rock can beat X-Pac, but Jericho, in his PPV debut, can't. DX ran in and laid into Rock. The idea was that HHH wanted to injure Rock before Survivor Series. He pedigreed Rock. HHH hasn't learned from history. Even in this match, Rock sold his knee when it met the steps and then didn't sell it again afterwards. Sure, he might sell the pedigree or the attack for a second, but he won't be selling later tonight, let alone at the PPV. You can't injure Rock enough to that he still remembers to sell later. It's impossible. Rock doesn't sell. Vince came out. Vince announced that HHH vs. Test was added to RAW, with special referee Shane and special timekeeper Vince. Better yet, if DX showed up, HHH would be stripped of the title. Bingo, as explained earlier, Rock decided he'd sold the attack enough, so he attacked HHH with the elbow, not showing a single sign of having been attacked himself. Somehow, this is good wrestling to some people. Chyna came out. Before she could get one sentence out, Stevie Richards, dressed as Elvis, came to the ring. He sang a horrible song, putting Chyna over, actually calling her a woman, and Chyna seemed to like it. Chris Jericho ran in, knocked out Stevie, and barely held his own in a brawl with Chyna. The incompetent officials couldn't keep them separated and this horrible scene (for any fan of Jericho) went on for a minute. I guess they are setting up Stevie Richards' involvement in the PPV match. Either he ends up with Chyna (and probably goes after Kitty, but then we find out the women are lesbians), or he ends up screwing Chyna. Nobody would want that. Mankind & Al Snow made head jokes. Big Boss Man faced Kane. Right from the start, they pushed that Kane was a virgin and that Tori is the first woman in his life. Kane threw a dropkick and did a pescado. He's so improved. He just moves too slowly and stiffly the other 80% of the time for me to take praise of him seriously. If he's so improved, why do all his matches suck? It must be because X-Pac has been in there with him so much. Jerry Lawler joked that Kane's penis was deformed from the fire. Wait, didn't they admit that Undertaker is just a character played by Mark Calaway, hence destroying the legitimacy of the fire story? Ooops, sorry to remind you. Prince Albert ran in for the 2:58 DQ. Boss Man used the night stick on Kane. Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor faced Bob Holly & Crash Holly. "These guys are funky, too," said Jim Ross. Yeah, that's obviously true. They are as funky as the Backstreet Boys. It's a spoof gimmick, but the crowd didn't even want to give it 0:30. Crash tried for a bridging pin, which seemed like the first graceful wrestling move of the night. Scotty Too Hottie nailed the post by mistake. The crowd could not have cared less about this match. Crash grabbed the scale and moved it somewhere before getting back to his spot in the corner. Then he put the scale on the apron and got knocked over. It was bad. Bob got the pin at 2:45 after a vertical suplex dropped into a power bomb bump. The Acolytes had another bar fight. Test faced HHH for the WWF Title. Oh no, Vince was at ringside for a match! He hasn't done that since, since, ... Okay, he's done that a lot, but they wanted you to think of the 1997 Survivor Series, okay? Jerry Lawler even pointed out that not a day goes by without that PPV being talked about somewhere, particularly on WWF TV. HHH came out alone. He's so mediocre. Even though it isn't fair to hang the responsibility on him, it will be nice to see Vince decide that he's a total failure as a champion because of the ratings drop. Shane did really quick counts for Test. Vince tossed HHH back into the ring when he tried to run. "McMahon wasn't even this blatant in 1997." Test elbowed the guard rail. HHH worked on his ribs. Rock & Steve Austin were watching the match backstage. Match was all HHH, like they realized he has no credibility and, as a result, can't sell for Test. Test finally made a comeback. He went for a backdrop, was pedigreed, and Shane went out to check the time. HHH left the ring, punched Vince, and destroyed Shane. Vince whacked HHH with the title belt, with HHH going for a bump before he was even hit. Vince set up the cover and tossed Shane in the ring. HHH kicked out at two. Test hit the pump handle power slam and the top rope elbow. Suddenly, the Titantron showed Road Dogg. They teased that DX was sexually assaulting Stephanie backstage. Shane, Vince, and Test ran to the back to save her. Lilian Garcia announced that HHH was the winner by countout, even though no official was there to make the decision. Backstage, Vince couldn't find Stephanie. They announced the decision at 10:11. Nitro Nitro on 11/01/99 opened with Bret Hart confronting Scott Hall & Kevin Nash in the locker room regarding their interference in the Hart vs. Goldberg match last week, leading to Hart's title victory. Hart said he didn't need their help and that they should stay out of his business. The plan right now is to align Hart with the Outsiders as a group of anti-WCW guys, in Hart's case because the promotion never used him correctly. Hart went to the ring and announced that, in his opinion, Goldberg is the US champ. That brought out Sid, who said he is the champion because the referee stopped the match and ripped him off at Havoc. The Outsiders stopped Sid from continuing his attack on Hart. Remember that Sid & the Outsiders all attacked Goldberg last week. After the Outsiders gave Sid the US Title and Sid walked off, it seemed like this might become a foursome before it all ends. Is that really how they are going to switch the US Title? By having the champ vacate the title and having the heels claim it? What crap. Well, I guess they just wanted to get the US Title off of Goldberg; at the PPV, they had no choice but to put Goldberg over. Backstage, the Revolution still had Torrie Wilson hostage. Supposedly, they are going to have hostage Torrie "fall for" her captors, I guess eventually being aligned with Shane Douglas. They re-aired Savage's crazy interview from last week; the Observer guesses that Savage will "pass the torch to the next superstar," as he said, with the next superstar being himself, trying out one more run. Berlyn faced El Vampiro. Vampiro finally settled his contract difficulties with WCW, thankfully losing ICP. Vampiro will reportedly be pushed. The commentators talked about Berlyn's bodyguard, suggesting that he had a loaded glove. Members of the rock group "The Misfits" came out to ringside with faces painted, obviously connected to Vampiro. Vampiro did a few nice spots with Alex, but Alex has always seemed a bit off in the ring since his return. The ref bumped and the bodyguard came in to nail Vampiro. When he tried to run the ropes, the bodyguard spilled to the outside when the Misfits pulled down the top rope. Vampiro chaired the bodyguard. Vamp's top rope spot failed, but the Misfits tripped up Alex to give Vamp the win. Berlyn cut a promo in English. "No more screw Berlyn. Screw USA." Great, now he speaks disjointed English. Backstage, the supposedly witty banter between Hall & Nash continued. They are really close to changing part of the Saturday Night slot into a talk show format show hosted by these clowns. Lord. The Revolution came out for an interview. They put Torrie into a shark cage and would give up the key if Saturn lost later tonight. After Dean Malenko laid into Chris Benoit, Benoit came out on the platform and announced that his tournament match against Malenko tonight would be a cage match. The heels really put Benoit over with their reactions to him, so we can only hope that he catches on. I'd like to believe that ablity will win out. The Filthy Animals arrived, beating up a security guy. Kimberly announced that Diamond Dallas Page suffered numerous injuries and she doesn't know when he'll be able to return. Since she has "more important business to take care of," she said she'd be leaving the Nitro Girls. This led to the Nitro Girls getting into a small catfight later in the show over who would be the new leader of the group. Ernest Miller faced Lash LeRoux. Miller came out with three women. LeRoux was getting worked over, but Cat's just-recovered knee gave out and LeRoux got a submission win in a short match. Bret Hart did an interview to say that he'd get revenge against somebody before the end of the night. I really wish the amount of wrestling on the show hadn't dropped off, and I find myself pretty much as unconcerned about WCW TV as I am about the WWF's TV, but something this simple -- the attacked babyface getting revenge before the night is over -- was a missing ingredient in WCW earlier this year. In a truly weird segment, the Filthy Animals hovered outside Lex Luger's locker room door, with Kidman videotaping through the crack, saying that Liz was about to change. Instead, we somehow saw the video signal from the camcorder and heard Lex & Lix discuss the upcoming tournament matches for Luger. As we heard their voices, the video totally disagreed with the words, like a badly dubbed Kung Fu movie. Finally, Luger asked Liz what she was going to do about his apparently tough, but unnamed, upcoming opponents, and we cut away, but not before we could hear the crew members say "Cut. That's a wrap." or something like that, even seeing them sitting on the floor outside the locker room. Totally bizarre. Production screw-up or some sort of weird angle? Lzrry Zbyszko interviewed Scott Steiner, who was out of character and said that the hoped he could return. He finally had back surgery. Buff Bagwell did an interview making you want to do anything but support the guy. Buff Bagwell faced Stevie Ray. "The Powers That Be" made this match into a strap match. As Bagwell got the upper hand, the Harris Twins, called "Creative Control," came out to stop things. Bagwell left the ring and the bell rang, but we were never given a decision. Kevin Nash came out after some make-up work was done on him. Earlier, Nash has said that he was going to become a promoter. Sure enough, he came out made up like Vince McMahon. The fans in the arena didn't know who it was. Nash called himself/Vince "the most powerful man in sports entertainment today." This was a horrible segment. It was funny to hear him say that the next WCW champion, the roughest SOB in WCW, a guy who will someday fight Jeff Jarrett in a main event for the title, the Trousersnake, Scott Hall. I guess that was the joke. The crowd was the opposite of "into" this segment. Hey, the WWF did this too. And, WCW did it before then. The losing side always takes potshots at the winning side. Luger told Meng that Jeff Jarrett was telling tales about him. They continued the Curt Hennig storyline, where if he loses a match he'll have to retire. Once again, he called the new writers "The Powers To Be." Disco Inferno faced Curt Hennig. Larry Hennig was at ringside and even got involved. That fan of Disco Ingerno who appeared a few times a while ago walked down to ringside. He walked off with Disco Inferno, so Hennig got the countout win. The Filthy Animals were interviewed. Eddie vs. Saturn decides who get Torrie. Norman Smiley was walking around backstage wearing a catcher's gear to protect himself in a hardcore situation. This is a funny gimmick; if only it would deliver some good wrestling. Next bout was a hardcore triangle match with Meng vs. Barbarian vs. Norman Smiley. Smiley was stripped of his support gear and was stretchered out. As he was wheeled down the aisle, he saw Barbarian & Meng were both laid out in the ring, so he got off the stretcher went back into the ring and tentatively made a cover for the win. Jim Duggan talked to one of the "Powers," whose face we never saw. They want to get across that these powers that be exist and control the show. Jeff Jarrett came to the ring and asked Luger to come out and apologize to him. He said, "This is not the WWF and we do not abuse women around here." Luger came out, looking nervous. Jeff Jarrett is the chosen one and he doesn't get physical with women any more. Luger told Jarrett that maybe Meng guitared Liz. "That giant ape? It took him a day-and-a-half to take down Madusa, and what is she? 50? At least." That brought out Meng. Jarrett scurried. Luger's plan worked, I guess. Now we have to believe that neither Meng nor Jarrett watch the monitors. Oh, wait, Liz sprayed Meng in the eyes and Luger used a tire iron on Meng. Hey, the commentators just realized that Meng might be Luger's next opponent. When they cut to Luger talking to Sting about challenging for the tag titles, we heard the count down from the crew leading into the segment. Is there an angle being developed involving us hearing/seeing crew members before/after segments, or is the production just that sloppy? Saturn faced Eddie Guerrero with Torrie on the line. Now, this is wrestling: men fighting for possession of a woman. I'm glad that Russo is in the house. Saturn drover Torrie out on a forklift, with Torrie in the cage. Torrie looked marvelous. The key to the cage was suspended on a pole. The winner would be the guy that got the key. There was a horrible bit where Shane Douglas knocked Eddie to the floor and we saw the Animals lying on the ground, waiting for Saturn to climb the ropes. It just seemed like time stood still for that one. I was disappointed by this match. Torrie choked Saturn through the cage holes and Eddie got the key. Torrie was reunited with the Animals. Kevin Nash, as Vince, continued his silliness. Earlier on, he got to deliver the requisite Hart-related line, saying that if Sid got burned "I didn't screw Sid; Sid screwed Sid." Konnan & Kidman faced Sting & Lex Luger for the WCW Tag Titles. Hey, old stars against new stars. Tony Schiavone seemed to be pushing Sting's eventual babyface turn. Sting & Luger didn't come out together. Sting opened the match by attacking both champs and dumping them. Luger didn't get to pose and seemed upset about it. Luger sold a knee injury and tagged out to Sting, who cleaned house. The Animals ran in and demolished Sting. Luger sat on the ringside floor. The idea of the segment was more to get Sting over as a babyface than to put the Animals over. Sigh. Chris Benoit faced Dean Malenko in the mesh cage. Match wasn't bad. Saturn came out near the end and tossed a chain into Malenko, but Benoit got it. Saturn bumped, too. Benoit did a repeat performance of his headbutt off the top of the cage for the pin. Saturn then came in the cage through the door. So did Douglas and Asya. They laid out Benoit. They handcuffed Benoit to the cage. The Animals ran in. It was a mixed bag as far as control goes. Rey took a clothesline from Asya. He was about to get his revenge with a rough rider when David Flair came in with a crow bar and started whacking everybody. He teased hitting Benoit, but instead freed him. As Konnan was retreating, Sting came out and whacked him. See, babyfaces get their revenge in WCW. Speaking of which, Scott Hall faced Sid Vicious in the main event. In the parking garage, Kimberly ran down David Flair, getting revenge for the attack on DDP. As Sid went to the ring, we saw Kevin Nash laid out in the back, with Scott Hall saying "Bret did it." Hart came out and whacked Sid with a crutch, with Hall getting the win and leaving with the US Title. Nitro on 11/08/99 aired as a 2:30 show in Canada. I'm not complaining at all. Any moves that reduce the amount of bad wrestling (which pretty much means all wrestling) are appreciated. I actually thought at first that they had cut the show to 2:00 and found myself disappointed when I learned that it was 2:30. Show opened here with Sid Vicious coming to the ring. They hyped the Mayhem PPV in Toronto on 11/21. It's funny. On 11/20, if I scoot over to Toronto I have the choice of seeing Chris Benoit at Pizza Pizza or Kane at Sears. Interesting that the WWF has a promotional tour at the same time. Kane will hopefully attract fans that are the opposite of me. Sid claimed that Goldberg quit at Halloween Havoc. He had the crew play back some video from Havoc; it was so sad. Sid explained that that makes him still the US champion. Scott Hall came out with the US Title around his waist. Nash was with him. Time to talk. Oh boy. The old formula again. Bret Hart came out, limping just a touch, it seemed. He said that Bill Goldberg is the US champion. He said that he would get the US belt somehow this night and return it to Goldberg. Hall called him to the ring. Goldberg came out of the crowd to join Bret. The heels scattered. I'm sure it will be revealed that Bret Hart is involved with these heels, that Bret was involved in getting Goldberg eliminated from the World Title tournament, that Bret gave him the US Title to keep him occupied so that he could win the World Title. Maybe not. Goldberg challenged Sid to an "I Quit" match, so Sid couldn't complain about losing the match. That match was added to the Mayhem PPV. Filthy Animals did an interview in the ring. It led to Dean Malenko & Asya vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Torrie Wilson later tonight. Norman Smiley, wearing hockey gear, came to the ring. They called him "Screamin' Norman Smiley." The commentators announced a "Texas Tornado ladder match" between Bret Hart, Goldberg, Sid, and Scott Hall to determine the US champion. Norman faced Kidman. Brian Knobs did commentary. Norman's hardcore gimmick and dancing gimmick took over the match. Knobs whacked Smiley across the back with a hockey stick, smashing it to pieces. The referee missed it all. Kidman got the cover at 2:11. They had so many little things to forward insignficant story lines. Kimberly & David Flair had a 10 second bit. Sting told Luger that if he ever swerved him again, he'd kick his ass. Chris Benoit faced Madusa. Evan Karagias came out during the match. They showed a clip of Benoit's headbutt from last week. Benoit took a huracanrana before hitting one chop that laid her out. That's what brought Evan out. Evan and the referee fought. Jeff Jarrett came in; he and Benoit traded a couple of punches. That caused a DQ at 1:48. Jarrett explained that he just screwed Madusa out of the tournament. Chavo Guerrero Jr. met with the Powers That Be. They showed Jim Duggan cleaning the Powers "To" Be's told. Disco Inferno faced Rick Steiner, who didn't get an entrance. Tony Marinara came out. He played Lodi's crazy fan and now's he an old acquaintance of Disco's. Oh, Disco owes him money. It's a mafia angle. After Disco got whacked by Tony, Steiner got the pin at 1:36. Kevin Nash came out dressed as the Grand Wizard of wrestling. He explained to Scott that he had a load of gimmicks in his pockets. The search for the new Nitro Girl concluded this night! They had the candidates in the ring. The candidates got to dance a bit. Some of them could barely move, particularly the really skinny white chick. AC Jazz crashed the party. She kicked the candidates out and cut a promo. The plan is to hook the Nitro girls up with wrestlers and mix them into the product more fully. Spice came out to stop AZ from acting nuts. The crowd loved this segment. When they teased a girly fight and didn't rip any clothes off, the crowd was unhappy. The other Nitro Girls ran in to pull it apart. The crowd booed. They wanted nodity. In the back, Kimberly and a camera man were hiding from David Flair. Dustin Runnels debuted in his new character. He floated tothe ring, surrounded by smoke, with burst of fires in the background. It was a neat entrance and the production values were pretty darn good, but is this wrestling? The commentators didn't know who he was. He floated right into the ring. Mood music played the whole time. He spoke. He dissed the gimmick. He dissed Goldust. He said he left the WWF to get away from gimmicks. He said he wanted to come back to WCW, but Powers That Be said Dustin sucks. "Oh, my new name is Seven, by the way." We were supposed to believe that this was a shoot interview. Last week, he said, Dusty Rhodes, his father, called him to say that he was no longer with the company. Dustin said that he the Powers That Be would ahve to deal with him and answer for all of the disrespect. Thank goodness they killed that gimmick. David Flair walked into a copy room, saw a camera man stanging in front of him, said, "Kimberly? Kimberly?", had to see the camera man focus in on a cowering Kimberly, but apparently didn't know where she was. The commentators explained later that Flair was playing mind games with her. Sting faced Goldberg. Lex Luger came out right at the start of the match. The referee, looking at Luger, took a bump. As Sting had a sleeper on Goldberg, Luger used Liz' sprayer to spray Sting in the eyes. Luger acted like he made a mistake. Jackhammer, 2:21. You'll notice that Sting vs. Luger is one of the upcoming matches in the WCW Title tournament. Buff Bagwell faced El Vampiro. The Misfits attacked Buff in the aisle. Vampiro put on a good showin the first 30 seconds; then Buff hit his comeback. Berlyn crept out. He whacked Vampiro to get his revenge from last week. Bagwell hit the Blackbuster for the win at 1:20. Berlyn came in to attack Bagwell afterwards. As Berlyn backed away, Creative Control came out to attack Berlyn. You see, Berlyn helped Bagwell advance, so the Powers That Be had to straighten him out. Lex Luger faked a knee injury. Perry Saturn faced Bret Hart. This promised to be a good match, but would it be given 10 minutes? Rhetorical question. Shane Douglas called Bret Hart a washed-up has-been. Saturn worked on Bret's ankle and knee. Bret's selling was the best in North America yet again. Bret gave a lot of the match to Saturn. Saturn missed a moonsault. Bret answered with a clothesline. Bret hit a few of his trademark moves, but always remembered to sell the leg a bit. The referee was distracted by Asya. Shane Douglass nailed Bret Hart with the cast while the ref wasn't looking. Saturn hit the death valley driver. He only got a two count. Despite other upsets in the tourney, you have to believe that Bret was going to win the title in Toronto, so the finish seemed certain. Dean Malenko came out to attack Bret. Chris Benoit ran out to stop him. Saturn hit a plancha on both men. In the ring, Bret slipped on the sharpshooter, getting the submission at 4:38. Good match, but too short. Backstage, Kevin Nash did his Johnny Carson routine. With a closed envelope held to his forehead, he declared the answer was "three sixteen." That was the answer to "How many times the Undertaker has been in a PPV main event against Steve Austin." Yeah, here's mine: "three." That's the answer to "What multiple of the average buy rate of the Kevin Nash led WCW PPVs was the average buy rate of the Austin vs. Undertaker PPVs?" Booyah. Luger's faked knee injury was supposed to get him out of his match with Sid Vicious. Sting ended up wheeling Luger's wheelchair to the ring and dumped him in to Sid. Liz tried to shield Lex, but Sid just moved her aside. Lex sold his knee like he couldn't walk. At 2:00, Goldberg ran out, straight past the supposed riot police that Kevin Nash had supplied Sid. Goldberg speared both guys. No bell rang because this was a classic sports entertainment finish. Match ran maybe 2:20. They announced a match between Berlyn & El Vampiro for Mayhem. In a hardcore match, Bam Bam Bigelow faced Brian Knobs, with the winner to face Norman Smiley to determine the hardcore champion at Mayhem. Norman followed them into the backstage area to do commentary a la Road Dogg on the WWF. He wasn't anywhere near as good as Road Dogg was. Bigelow used a garbage can on Knobs. Kimberly suddenly grabbed Bigelow, and he left with her. The commentators explained that Bigelow is good friends with DDP. This match was horrible, with a countout finish at 2:53 in a falls count anywhere match. Scott Hall faced Lash LeRoux. They pushed Lash enough that you knew he had to lose. As if you didn't know that going in anyhow. As Hall was dumped to the outside, Grand Wizard Nash offered him all kinds of foreign objects from his pockets. Lash got very little of the match, if any. Hall did his old mocking of the Giant. LeRoux finally made his comeback, with Hall selling for him. Hall caught him on a cross body and was dumped in a fallaway slam. Hall hit the Outside Edge for the win at 6:05. Heenan stupidly said that LeRoux learned more from this loss than he would have from a win. Huh? One of the riot squad guys turned out to be Goldberg, who laid into the Outsiders. Curt Hennig faced Jeff Jarrett. Not only does Jarrett have a storyline that seems to suggest he would win, the winner of this bout would face Buff Bagwell in the next round, again pointing to Jarrett winning. If Hennig lost, they pushed, he'd be out of WCW. It seems like they are building a cadre of guys that will feud with the bookers. Hennig would get added here, I guessed. They worked quickly at the start. Hennig went over to the commentators and said that "they" were all in on it; even the referees were trying to get him. Creative Control watched on on the platform. Hennig drove Jarrett into the referee. Hennigplex. Creative Control dragged Hennig to the floor and torpedoed him onto the table. They slammed him through the table. And the commentators aren't even Spanish. See, Russo is expaning from his old cliches. The referee counted Hennig out. Hennig smiled. It seemed like he would have to retire only if he got pinned or submitted but not if he was counted out. Match time was 5:40. Kimberly came to the ring. She called out David Flair. He came out, only to be attacked by Bigelow. But he used the crowbar on Bigelow and chased Kimberly out through the crowd. In the main event, we had a ladder match with Bret Hart vs. Scott Hall vs. Goldberg vs. Sid to determine the US champion. Match started as Sid & Hall were in the ring alone. No bell rang. Bret limped out. Crowd wanted Goldberg, who jogged out last. No referee was in the ring. This match was supposed to have a special referee, with the commentators teasing that he would be somebody from a "rival coporation." Kevin Nash came out in referee's garb with a ladder. They announced that Kimberly vs. David Flair was added to Mayhem. Goldberg dominated the match. Rick Steiner came out. He had been complaining to Sid all night, so here he bulldogged Sid. Goldberg ended up trading punches with Rick. Bret Hart climbed to the top, got the belt, and ended up getting whacked with a bar by Kevin Nash. Nash ended up letting Hall take the belt from his hand. Match ran 5:00 or so. Tally time: Brackets and results in the WCW Title Tournament (1024x768 resolution helpful to avoid scrolling): GROUP 1 GROUP 2 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Bret Hart Lex Luger Bret Hart (Nitro, 10/25) Lex Luger (Nitro, 10/25) Bill Goldberg ______________________________________________________________________ Bret Hart (Nitro, 11/08) Rick Steiner ______________________________________________________________________ Lex Luger (bye) Perry Saturn Diamond Dallas Page Perry Saturn (Nitro, 10/25) NO CONTEST (Nitro, 10/25) Eddie Guerrero ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ David Flair ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Norman Smiley ? Norman Smiley (Nitro, 10/25) Meng (Nitro, 10/25) Bam Bam Bigelow ______________________________________________________________________ Norman Smiley (Nitro, 11/08) Madusa ______________________________________________________________________ Sting (bye) Billy Kidman Brian Knobs Billy Kidman (Nitro, 10/25) Sting (Nitro, 10/25) Konnan ______________________________________________________________________ Sting ______________________________________________________________________ GROUP 3 GROUP 4 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round 1st Round 2nd Round 3rd Round 4th Round Chris Benoit Buff Bagwell Chris Benoit (Nitro, 11/01) Buff Bagwell (Nitro, 11/01) Dean Malenko ______________________________________________________________________ Chris Benoit (Nitro, 11/08) Stevie Ray ______________________________________________________________________ Buff Bagwell (Nitro, 11/08) Madusa El Vampiro Madusa (Nitro, 11/01) El Vampiro (Nitro, 11/01) Evan Karagias ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Berlyn ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Scott Hall Disco Interno Scott Hall (Nitro, 11/01) Curt Hennig (Nitro, 11/01) Sid Vicious ______________________________________________________________________ Scott Hall (Nitro, 11/08) Disco Inferno ______________________________________________________________________ Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 11/08) Ernest Miller Booker T Lash LeRoux (Nitro, 11/01) Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 11/01) Lash LeRoux ______________________________________________________________________ Jeff Jarrett ______________________________________________________________________ - The Life And Death of Owen Hart aired on TVO in Ontario on 11/01/99. I was teary-eyed before the five-minute mark, in which time they pretty much established that Owen was a great guy who died for a really stupid reason. After that opening, they went to the past. Interviews with the family members, Allen Coage, and Ed Whalen made Owen oh so human. Harley Race described Stu Hart as having been born about 300000 years too late: "He would have made an excellent caveman." They showed Stu stretching Tito Ortiz in the dungeon. They showed footage of the Calgary Stampede PPV, arguably the best WWF PPV of all time. There was a lot of interview footage with Owen. He said he was living his dad's dream by getting into amateur wrestling, but that he hated it. Interviews with Martha, with me knowing what was coming to her life, made me teary-eyed again. "He was just too good at it to not wrestle. Wrestling had already chosen him." They showed footage of Owen Hart from 1986 through 1988, never really making it clear how world-class he was so early in his career. They talked about Owen's debut as the Blue Blazer in the WWF, about Owen hating it. He quit, married Martha, and wanted to get a "normal job." Family footage that made me teary-eyed. The feud with Bret is discussed. Mick Foley said that they had the best matches in the world. The Observer reports that the WWF ordered all of its wrestlers not to cooperate with the film-makers, but that Mick Foley respected Owen so much that he did anyhow. More family footage as Athena was born; more teary eyes. "Owen lived for his family, and he wrestled to live," said Mick. Dave Meltzer was interviewed, summarizing the promotional feud. In the Observer, Dave said he was upset with how oversimplified it sounded. The Hart brothers reunited because there was a shift in what the fans wanted. Zoom to Owen vs. Austin, with the fateful injury of Austin. They showed the finish, with Owen doing voiceovers, including backstage footage. That was something to sit through. The recapped the Montreal Survivor Series doublecross. "The plan was for Owen to run into the ring and save Bret. The cue never came." Bret: "Owen wanted to get out" of the WWF. "Owen stayed in the WWF, but he was a lone figure in a world that radically changing." Cue the naked chicks and raunch. Meltzer's input here was good. It became hard to escape the raunch. Owen kept saying he didn't want to do the proposed storyline. The WWF wanted Owen to be involved with Debra, they wanted him to be fondled on TV, etc. He said "no" at every turn. Bingo, he was the Blue Blazer again. Meltzer said that he knew that Owen felt that the Blue Blazer role was punishment for turning down the Debra storyline. They talked about Sting coming from the ceiling, about Owen spoofing it. Owen reluctantly agreed. Martha talked about him not wanting to do it, but feeling that he had to, because he had turned down so many of the other proposals. Martha summarizes her last goodbye with Owen. Teary eyes. We saw the view from the catwalk. "It would take less than nine pounds of pressure to snap Owen out of his safety harness, less pressure than it takes to pull the trigger of a gun." Harley Race said that Owen was not comfortable with the stunt right before he did it. They jumped to footage from the press conference announcing the wrongful death lawsuit. Vince McMahon came across sheepishly in his press conference footage. When asked by a reporter why there were no precautionary measures, Vince said, "I'm not an expert on riggings; I guess you are." Unsatisfied with that stupidity, the reporter repeated her question. Vince said, "First of all, I resent your tone. Um..." Reporter: "I resent the sarcasm." Vince: "No, I resent your tone, lady, okay. This was a tragic accident. Don't try and put yourself in the spotlight here, okay." And as Vince said, "This was an accident, okay. This was an accident, do you understand what I'm saying?", the reporter repeated, "What were the precautionary measures?" Vince: "accident. And everything that should have taken place in terms of rigging, to our knowledge at this moment, did take place. It was rehearsed in the afternoon, and everything was fine." They showed footage from the catwalk, describing Owen's stunt. It was terrifying to think about him falling. They talked about the fall, the death. Mick Foley was emotional. "I never dreamed something like that could happen in wrestling." Martha talked about getting the call from the doctor at the hospital. Bret talked about the news. Helen got the call from Martha. More teary eyes. Stu talked about sobbing. Bret said that his father couldn't bear that the death was wrestling-related. Honky Tonk Man was angry. They showed footage of the funeral, including Vince shaking hands with Hulk Hogan. Martha said she invited Vince to clue him in on the degree of pain that this caused real people. There's this great home, freshly built, without a father in the family that lives there. - Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, the documentary on the doublecross of Bret Hart by Vince McMahon, was named Best History/Biography Documentary Program at the Canadian Gemini Awards. It also recevied an award for Picture Editing. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/14/99. Line-up has: * Steve Austin vs. Rock vs. Hunter Hearst Helmlsey for the WWF Title with Vince McMahon as referee - WCW has Mayhem on 11/21/99. Tentative line-up: * Semi-final and final matches in the WCW Title tournament (brackets above) * David Flair vs. Kimberly * Norman Smiley vs. Brian Knobs for the hardcore title - The Observer reports that El Vampiro signed a multi-year (three-year?) deal with WCW for a mere $200K per year. Harlem Heat earn $750K per year, but, as with most WCW contracts, their contract have a clause which allows WCW to can them at 90-day intervals. WCW is trying to get them to take a substantial pay cut. Why don't they just fire Ray and keep Booker? Huge savings. The Observer also reports that Juventud Guerrera's future may be in trouble because his English is so bad; Russo won't push him. - The WWF on the other hand has signed Jim Neidhart. It's all damage control over Owen's death. Sigh. Chris Jericho will be on Off The Record on November 19. - Dave Meltzer also wrote about the Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart Nitro match. After watching the uncut match, he wrote, "From a psychological and logical standpoint, it was the best match in the United States this year but didn't have any of the in-vogue gimmicks, wild antics or ref bumps and run-ins, which is actually the reason it'll be talked about for longer than 99% of the matches this year. It reminded me of Flair's matches in the 80s except it was more serious and realistic without the patterned Flair bumps, but Flair's matches also had more flamboyance and breathtaking near falls in the closing minutes. From any standping, it was a very close candidate [for match of the year]. To me the best U.S. candidates are this one, Rock vs. Austin from the April PPV (super heat), the Hardys vs. Edge & Christian ladder match (best high spots), and Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg, which deserves in some ways the most praise of all of them because it had awesome heat and even better moves while being a prelim match with two wrestlers that get no push, which usually is a recipe for `boring' chants." - 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 99/09/26: Unforgiven Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Davey Boy Smith vs. Mankind vs. Rock vs. Big Show vs. Kane 1.6 $7.68 1.03 * 1/5 * * * 1/2 Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Davey Boy Smith vs. Mankind vs. Rock vs. Big Show vs. Kane 0% (0 of 9) 99/08/22: SummerSlam Test vs. Shane McMahon 1.61 $7.73 1.53 * * 1/4 * * * 1/2 Mankind vs. Steve Austin vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 0% (0 of 13) 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 1.32 $6.32 1.56 1.75 3.5 2.0% (1 of 49) 1999 1.44 $6.91 1.5 1.59 3.56 1.4% (1 of 72) 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 99/09/12: Fall Brawl Kevin Nash & Sting vs. Randy Savage & Sid Vicious 0.33 1.58 1.58 3/4* * * * 3/4 Lenny Lane vs. Kaz Hayashi 0% (0 of 9) 99/08/14: Road Wild Kevin Nash & Sting vs. Randy Savage & Sid Vicious 0.54 2.59 1.25 * 1/4 * * * 1/4 Chris Benoit vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0% (0 of 9) 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 0.46 $2.2 1.40 1.29 3.54 1.9% (1 of 52) 1999 0.6 $2.84 1.55 1.53 3.56 2.5% (2 of 79) 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 99/09/19: Anarchy Rulz Masato Tanaka vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.875 * * * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Mike Awesome vs. Taz vs. Masato Tanaka 0.0% (0 of 8) 99/07/18: Heatwave Taz vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri Rob van Dam & Jerry Lynn vs. Lance Storm & Justin Credible 0.2 $0.42 2.125 * * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Rob van Dam & Jerry Lynn vs Lance Storm & Justin Credible 0.0% (0 of 6) 99/05/16: Hardcore Heaven 0.2 $0.42 1.75 * * 3/4 * * * * 1/4 Rob van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn 12.5% (1 of 8) 99/03/21: Living Dangerously Taz vs. Sabu 0.2 $0.42 1.53 * * * * 1/2 Rob van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn Taz vs. Sabu 0.0% (0 of 8) 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 0.2 $0.42 1.90 2.75 3.92 4.5% (1 of 22) 1999 0.2 $0.42 1.40 2.17 3.58 2.3% (1 of 43) 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 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. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________