Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze) Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 08/05 Message-ID: Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System) Organization: University of Waterloo Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1993 16:24:23 GMT Lines: 219 - WCW has a Clash of Champions scheduled for 08/18/93. Rumoured line-up: - Davey Boy Smith vs. Van Vader for the WCW title (if Vader gets disqualified, he loses the belt) - Steve Austin & Brian Pillman vs. Arn Anderson & Paul Roma for the Tag Titles - Rick Steamboat vs. Paul Orndorff for the TV title - Rick Rude & The Equalizer vs. Dustin Rhodes & Hawk - Johnny B. Badd vs. Maxx Payne *- Sting & Ric Flair vs. Awesome Kong & King Kong - Steve Regal vs. 2 Cold Scorpio - "Flair For The Gold" special segment Rumours have Cactus Jack returning to WCW on this show. - The local columnist reports that he contacted WCW's publicity officer, Mark Weber, to get information on whether Ultimate Warrior or Hulk Hogan were coming to WCW. Says Weber, "To be honest with you, I don't think we can afford them. We have broken off negotiations with the Warrior and I don't know what Hogan's plans are now." - Who's that fourth Horseman anyhow? There's a rumour in the air that WCW looking at two wrestlers, in particular, for the job, namely Stan Lane or Terry Taylor. Given that Stan Lane didn't jump at the chance to re-unite with Bobby Eaton, it's doubtful that a new offer to be a Horseman will bring him in (although it might be neat if the other Horsemen eventually kicked Stan out and he and Bobby re-united then to work against Stan's former friends). So, what do you peopl who hated the idea of Paul Roma as a Horseman think of Terry Taylor as a Horseman? - There was more detail on the Rick Rude vs. Ric Flair feud in this past week's Observer. Rude, guesting on "Flair For The Gold," kissed Fifi, who slapped him. Flair told Rude Fifi wasn't Rude's type and then, when Flair turned his back on Rude, Rude attacked. Also at this taping, Erik Watts walked out of a tag squash match against the Blonds and did an interview saying that he's tired of his partners losing matches for him and that he's going to win at all costs. I guess if everybody boos him they might as well try him out as a heel. These things will all air over the next three weeks. - The WWF has SummerSlam on 08/30/93. Tentative matches include: - Yokozuna vs. Lex Luger for the WWF Title - Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart to decide the King of the WWF - Shawn Michaels vs. Curt Hennig for the IC Title - Steiners vs. Heavenly Bodies for the Tag Titles - Undertaker vs. Giant Gonzales in an "R.I.P. match" - 1-2-3 Kid & Razor Ramon vs. Ted DiBiase & I.R.S. - Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Tatanka - Doinks vs. Crush & Marty Janetty - Adam Bomb vs. Tito Santana We don't yet know the stipulations of the "R.I.P. match," but it's supposed to be Gonzales' last match with the WWF. - Now that sweeps are over, far fewer comptetitive matches are being taped for the WWF syndies. - The NWA will be having its annual convention on 09/03/93 in Las Vegas. The Board of Directors will no doubt talk about WCW using the NWA Title again. Bill Watts resigned his post on the board. With Ric Flair as NWA champ, it's doubtful that anybody on the board will complain about who the champion is. Of course, they might not be so supportive of putting Rick Rude into that spot. And then there's the problem of NWA member promoters being granted dates on the champion. It should prove interesting. - WCW has the Fall Brawl PPV on 09/19/93. Tentative matches include: - Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude for the NWA Title - Sid Vicious & Van Vader & Harlem Heat vs. Dustin Rhodes & Davey Boy Smith & Sting & Hawk in a Wargames match - UWFi from Japan will run a shoot-style PPV on 10/05/93. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on PPV on 10/24/93 (tentative date). Tentative line-up will include: - Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack in a "Spin the Wheel, Make The Deal" match. - Nasty Boys vs. Ric Flair & Paul Roma for the Tag Titles - Sting vs. Sid Vicious - WCW has the Lethal Lottery on PPV on 11/21/93 and Starrcade just after Christmas. - The WWF has Survivor Series on PPV on 11/25/93 (previously reported as 11/24/93; it now seems to have moved to Thanksgiving) at 8:00 pm. - WCW will supposedly run a Clash live from Wembley Stadium in London, England, on 11/25/93 starting at 8:00pm London time. This means that the show will air here on WTBS at 3:00 pm on Thanksgiving. - Last night, on CBC Newsworld's "Petrie In Prime" talk show, Anne Petrie's guest was Bret Hart. There was some good discussion with Bret and I'll present some summaries, some quotes and some reasonably precise paraphrasing in the following bullets (quotes will be in quotes, and parahrasing won't be - at least I'll try to for that). For those that don't know, "Petrie in Prime" is sort of like "Larry King Live" on CNN, with discussion and callers. - Stu Hart is 78. When Bret visits home, like he did this week, he still worries about Stu roaming the halls and being in the mood to wrestle. Stu still challenges his sons to matches and Bret says he pretty much has to be tricked to go into The Basement with Stu. - He credited Stampede Wrestling with everything he learned. Because foreign wrestlers had trouble getting work permits for the US, a lot of them would work in Calgary and Bret was lucky enough to be exposed to all of this. He said his father Stu, Mr. (Hiro) Hito, and Mr. (Kazuo) Sakurada taught him much of what he knows. For the record, Hito & Sakurada were working in Calgary in the very late 70s when Bret broke into the business. - He was a little cagey about his age, saying that he'd been wrestling about 14-15 years. Anne said, "But you're only 22!" He started wrestling when he was 21, getting into it late in life because he really didn't want to be a wrestler. He wanted to make movies and compared putting together great matches with making movies. - Anne: "To what extent are the matches 'arranged'?" Bret: "No one has any control over my matches. When someone watches me wrestle, that's my creation." "No one tells me what to do." "People are quick to call wrestling 'fake'; but the fact is that wrestlers don't get credit for being great athletes (and we are) and for being great actors (and we are)." Anne: You always play possum and get beaten up before coming back and winning. Is that not arranged? Take the match against Papa Shango. "Does anyone tell him to lose?" Bret: "He doesn't have to do anything, I think." - Bret: "...Yokozuna, affectionately called the big, fat slob by me." - They talked about the ending of WrestleMania IX (Fuji throws salt in Hart's face. Everybody sees it, but nobody cares.) Anne: "And you're telling me that wasn't set up beforehand?" Bret: "Not with me, it wasn't." "I've always been a little bitter about it. I lost a million dollar job that day." Anne: "And you couldn't complain?" Bret: "I got the number one seed in the King of The Ring tournament. That was my little pat on the back." "Hulk Hogan became champion 30 seconds later." Anne: Yeah, he jumped into the ring right after. Bret: "God knows why. I never understood that part." "I was robbed. I was railroaded big time." - Question from caller: What happened to Ultimate Warrior, Zeus, Dynamite Kid? Who are the Doinks? Bret: "You can't really call Zeus a wrestler. He was just a big actor." "Dynamite Kid is living in England." UW? "Maybe he had money problems, or maybe he had trouble passing his drug testing. But I don't know that to be the case. I'm not pointing the finger." Don't know about the Doinks. "They're just two clowns, literally." - Bret resents guys that are more performance and less wrestling. Anne mentioned the Doinks and Bret agreed that that was an example. He says he's the the best wrestler of all time, or of right now. Bret: "I don't know anybody who can lace my boots up." "If I had to rate the wrestlers, I rate Mr. Perfect really high. I rate Shawn Michaels really high. They're not the same thing over and over. They're artists." "Ric Flair - I don't know if anyone remembers him - was really overrated. He was a piece of cake." He complained that he, as the King of The Ring, didn't get the title shot even though it seemed obvious that the tournament would prove that he was the number one contender. Lex Luger did get the shot and Bret used the word "scandal" to describe it and used the word "bitter" to describe himself again. Bret: "I respect Lex Luger and everything, but..." - He talked about breaking his nose in a match against the Dynamite Kid. He smacked the Kid's head against a table and Kid bounced back and hit Bret in the nose with the back of his head. - Question from caller: Did you threaten to walk unless you got the WWF Title? I read this in the Toronto Sun. Bret: "No. I saw that story too. It was bogus. That colum[Bret stops in mid-thought. Seemed like he was going to criticize Sun columnist Frank Zicarelli and then thought better of it.]" - Question from caller: Why did you and Anvil break up? Bret: "We never really did. We just kind of split off with the idea that we'd get together again some time." "Neidhart won a big lawsuit and doesn't need to do it as much as I do." - Bret said he worked 243 shows in 1992, 30 of them double-shots. - Bret is married and has a wife and four kids. - Question from caller: How can I go about becoming a pro-wrestler? Anne: "You get adopted by big Stu." Bret: "See if my dad has any daughters left." Bret was skeptical about wrestling schools. Bret: Things have changed and there aren't many good small promotions any more. There's the WWF and then some minor league promotions. The guys coming up today aren't nearly as skilled as the guys 10 years ago. - Question from caller: "How do you feel about wrestlers criss-crossing between the WCW and the WWF? I heard you say earlier about Ric Flair being [Bret interrupts]" Bret: "Wrestlers have to make a living and there aren't a lot of places to go. Once you're out of the WWF you're gonna go to WCW or vice-versa. I only wish that there was most than just the two." - On the question of salary, Bret said he gets paid more if he's in the main event, if he wins, and by crowd attendance. - Bret closed the show saying that he wished he got more recognition as being Canadian. He thinks its great that he's the best in the business and that he's Canadian and wishes that that was pointed out because he's proud to be Canadian. Overall, Bret came off as a very likeable guy who works hard and respects his profession. Anne Petrie had a very good understanding of things and helped things flow in interesting directions. - E-mail TidBits: If your site has a slow feed or you don't read news frequently enough and you want to get this posting as e-mail every week, send me e-mail saying so. - Videos: I won't be making any more arrangements to trade or sell tapes before I go to Edmonton at the beginning of September. When I return in the new year, I'll make things available again, I think. For info on tape discussions, send e-mail with a body consisting solely of the word "help" to Majordomo@cc.gatech.edu. That id handles subscription and unsubscription requests among other administrivia. The list id is rspwtape@cc.gatech.edu. Mail sent to this id will be sent to all current subscribers. Herb...