______________________________________________________________________ Another small delay in getting the e-mail set up and the web site revamped for it. ______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - The WWF had In Your House Judgment Day on this past Sunday, 10/18/98. Overall, there's no way to avoid giving the show a thumbs down. Just like when Ric Flair headlined all of those NWA events in the 1980s, the value of a strong worker to the main event (in the WWF's case, Steve Austin) was made crystal clear this time around. The main event on this PPV paled in comparison to any Austin endeavour, even the garbage wrestling ones. I'd go so far as to say that there have been many Hulk Hogan main events in WCW that were easily comparable, if not better. And, yes, that is supposed to be huge knock. First off, a couple of WWF shows ago, we in Canada managed to get the live Heat broadcast as our one-hour pre-game show. They don't do that any more. For the past couple of events we've been treated to the horrible, canned Dok Hendriks crap. It's actually a good thing, in a warped way. Now, just like with WCW PPVs, I don't really have to give any attention until the PPV proper begins. Anyhow, here's my rundown on the PPV * Al Snow beat Marc Mero: On paper, through rose-or-WWF-coloured glasses, this seemed like it could be a really good opener. Well, reality hit home right at the start of the show, with this match and many others looking like amateur hour at the wrestling school. They did some good stuff, but there was a fair bit of sloppy and mistimed stuff, or stuff that just looked weak or way too rehearsed. Mero did his trademark crotch shot, which looked really pathetic this time out. Snow went for a moonsault on a prone Mero, but Jackie crawled in and pulled Mero clear. It sounds a lot cleaner than it came off; amateurish is the only word to describe it. It reminded me of some of those clusterf**ks that WCW's Flock has been involved in, just too messy. Finish was the snow plow, which was my favourite move in the world when Akira Hokuto did it. Even opener, then, with the show possibly going either way. * Hawk & Animal & Droz beat Skull & Eight Ball & Paul Ellering: Paul looked to be in great shape, but that has nothing to do with wrestling. Match was the usual crap that these guys have delivered for the past many years. Okay, it is unfair to lump Darren Drosdov in with the rest, but given this mess, I judge him guilty by association. Hawk hit the Doomsday Device clotheslines, which Jim Ross again called by another name, and Droz snuck in for the pin. Hawk looked miffed, and Animal also seemed to be upset later. I guess a turn on Droz will be used to try to give the Warriors back their edge. That's how things work in the 90s, right? They'll have to make Droz a little more obnoxious as times go on. * Christian beat Taka Michinoku to win the Lightheavyweight Title: Okay, after two dogs, I was hoping for something good here. Taka has pulled some great matches out of mediocre guys in numerous styles in Japan. Tonight we learned that "mediocre" in Japan is a lot better than "mediocre" in North America, as Christian showed us that he's not ready to be in this sort of spotlight. Like most of the young WWF guys, he shows a lot of potential and, unlike the WCW guys, he's in a place that will likely let him develop, but at this time he's just another one-dimensional (or maybe even half-dimensional) indy wrestler who has been given a gimmick. I was really disappointed to see Taka stuck in this situation, and despite the praise for the WWF in the previous sentence (when it comes to giving young guys a chance to become something), the WWF is still so xenophobic that they haven't bothered to figure out a way to get one of the world's most promising young workers (Taka) and his near-equally impressive cohorts over. Anyhow, Taka took a tremendous bump out of the ring, but when he eventually went for the Michinoku Driver, Christian rolled him up for the pin. Certainly the best match thus far, but nothing noteworthy. * Goldust beat Val Venis: Boring match. This was the first match where the wrestlers get more heat from their intros than they do from their wrestling. I didn't even note any details, other than the match was boring. Dustin got the win after a crotch shot. * X-Pac beat D'Lo Brown to win the European Title: Best match of this lacklustre night. X-Pac is a really good worker who outshone most everybody else this night. I enjoy D'Lo as well, although he is still developing. Unlike most of the other guys that have been plopped into the WWF mix, though, D'Lo is over the hump, no longer looking out of place and amateurish. Good match. * Head Bangers beat New Age Outlaws via DQ in a title match: A totally horrible match. The Outlaws were cut off during the intro, and it became painfully clear to anybody watching that that intro is over, not the wrestlers who do it. The match was totally embarrassing, with meaningless headlock spots that didn't build to anything in the match and didn't build any heat in the crowd. The difference between these guys and great wrestlers is that the great wrestlers (Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, you know the score) know when something isn't working and know how to make subtle changes to the booking to lure the crowd in. The word "subtle" is important; in ECW, for example, if something isn't working they just brawl into the crowd or use a chair shot for cheap heat to win over the fans. My notes for the match consist of one word: "crap." * Ken Shamrock beat Mankind to retain the IC Title: The story line, perhaps developed on Sunday Heat, was that Shamrock said he was going to get a submission and Mankind said he wasn't going to submit. Match wasn't good, as these guys just aren't a natural mesh and couldn't rise above their differences. I think each guy is a great talent in his own way, but they are oil and water. Eventually, Shamrock hit the ankle lock in centre ring, and, to avoid submitting, Mankind used his own mandible claw hold on himself to knock himself out. The referee said that Shamrock was the winner thanks to the mandible claw. Stupid finish, with no believability whatsoever, both that Mankind would be able to put that hold on himself to the point of collapse and that the referee would rule that the claw was the reason for the victory. Remember when people used to black out from the figure four? They still credited the move with the victory, right? It just seemed really stupid to me, and I was disturbed that they were going to set up a longer term submission-hold program between these two, although they might learn to mesh better with each other. Shamrock snapped at the ruling. Mankind ended up using the socked mandible claw on Ken, and, just in case you are braindead, Jim Ross said that the mandible claw might be the most devastating submission hold in the WWF. * Mark Henry beat Rocky Maivia: D'Lo helped Henry secure the win, as the WWF carefully positions Rock as a marquee singles star. It was a smooth idea, but the match stunk of course. The People's Elbow drew a tremendous pop, which I just don't get but can't dispute. * Undertaker & Kane went to no decision for the WWF Title: Steve Austin was referee. They announced that Austin would be fired if he didn't raise the hand of the winner in this match, making it sound like he'd be humiliated to surrender his title to one of these two. Of course, Austin never played up that idea in the early interviews to hype the PPV. Match was absolutely terrible, making it as pathetic a night for world title matches as there ever has been in the history of any promotion. Kane has no business being out there for any length of time; he's only ever been palatable in gimmick matches where his opponent does all of the work and takes all of the punishment. Match was really boring. There were missed moves and multi-minute rest spots. After a long period of boring stuff, the story line kicked in, and even that was uninspired. Kane & UT both laid into Austin. Kane chokeslammed UT as Paul Bearer came out with a chair. Bearer entered the ring, and I can't imagine anybody expected him to hit the Undertaker with the chair. Kane no-sold the chair shot. Austin refused to count the ensuing pin, stunned Undertaker, hit a weak chair shot, and counted both men down. He raised his own hand as the winner. Afterwards, the giant screen went up, and Vince revealed himself behind it in his wheel chair (and you've got to think that Vince will sell that ankle injury and end up being involved in some surprise interference down the line), and ended up firing Austin. While that made for some great visuals, it made little sense, given that he's endured Austin for so long and never fired him. RAW RAW on 10/19 was a live show. The WWF had promised something controversial for this night and ended up returning to the firearm motif that caused so much heat when Brian Pillman and Steve Austin did it long ago. The show opened with Vince McMahon celebrating the firing of Steve Austin the night before. Even though it is entertaining, it really makes little sense. Way back when, Vince said he didn't want to fire Austin and have a vacant title because he wanted him to lose the title in the ring and continue to make the WWF more money. Now, he's got a vacant title that Austin never lost properly. It's just a bit weird. Austin turned up outside the building throughout the show in his militia garb, complete with his guns. Vince announced that Survivor Series would feature a 16-man tournament to crown a new WWF champion. 16 men? I don't think there's more than a handful of guys that the average WWF fan might believe could carry the strap. To the matches. X-Pac beat Ken Shamrock when Mankind caused the loss. This was a good way of keeping Shamrock vs. Mankind on our minds while returning the favour to X-Pac. The Head Bangers beat the Legion of Doom when Hawk accidentally caused Darren Drosdov to be pinned. Mankind joined Vince McMahon in the back. Undertaker & Paul Bearer delivered an interview trying to explain why Bearer would ditch his "son," Kane. Undertaker really fumbled his way through this interview, sounding not unlike the Ultimate Warrior. The audience did some catcalling. Undertaker said that he set the fire that we'd all rather never hear about again. Kane challenged undertaker to a casket match this night. Steve Austin managed to get a hold of Vince McMahon, who was planning to flee the building. Austin showed Vince his knife and talking about killing animals and hunting. Rocky Maivia beat D'Lo Brown. Afterwards, D'Lo and Mark Henry laid into the Rock. Austin showed Vince his crossbow. Tiger Ali Singh offered $500 to any fan who could swallow a wiener whole. This made for some useful commentary. The woman selected from ringside seemed to be a plant, resmebling Howard Stern's kielbasa queen. Kama Mustafa came out to teach Singh about "ho"s, saying that the wiener-swallowing woman was a former employee of Kama. Singh complained that he had wanted an amateur contestent. It was a unique but pretty stupid way of creating a feud between two guys that are not over. Vince McMahon got Austin to squeal like a pig. He kept tormenting McMahon. Nobody even shook the locker room door. All of Vince's goons didn't even care enough to try to save him. Austin put some tape over McMahon's mouth. Huh? If it's airing on TV, does it matter if he screams? Like his goons won't know what is being aired from the arena...no, it's the screams that will alert them. And why didn't the camera man save Vince? Mankind faced Val Venis. Can you guess the finish? Of course, Ken Shamrock came down to ringside and caused Mankind to lose. Afterwards, they brawled into the crowd. Goldust talked to Venis Val, still selling his groin injury from the night before, seemed to be propositioned by Venis and turned her down. Austin told McMahon to pick either Undertaker or Kane as the winner in their match. McMahon picked Kane. If Kane won cleanly, Austin said that he and Vince would do things the easy way; any other finish and they would do it the hard way. Undertaker and Kane went to no decision in a casket match. Poor Vince. Anybody knows that if you have to bet on a winner in a WWF TV match, you pick "no decision." Austin wheeled Vince to ringside. Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross talked about needing somebody to help Vince. It's weird that after all of those weeks with the extra security and the like, they finally let Austin get a hold of Vince and have nobody even try to save him. Austin wheeled Vince to the ring and told him to get in. Where's the Bossman, I ask you? Vince oversold, acting like a baby. Austin gave Vince a letter and asked him to read it. Throughout the show, it was suggested that Austin was going to execute Vince. The commentators pushed it and so did Austin. Austin pulled the trigger on his toy gun and a "Bang! 3:16" sign came down. Vince squeezed a water bottle in his pocker and "peed" his pants. Austin said he didn't screw Vince, Vince screwed Vince. Even when Austin celebrated, nobody came into the ring. He was in the ring for a good 6+ minutes and the Bossman didn't show up for the save. Good help is so hard to find. Overall, it was an entertaining show, but the logic holes were incredibly massive. How come nobody saved Vince? Not just at the end, but throughout the show. Even the camera man who filmed Vince & Austin didn't save him when Austin went off supposedly searching for a sledge hammer. The stupidity of it all coupled with McMahon's overacting really made it impossible to take seriously. Secondly, the Undertaker's interview was also just too farfetched. What are we to make of Undertaker's reaction to Kane's arrival in the WWF, to Kane's admission that he caused the fire in their past, etc.? Can anybody argue that that was all a careful ruse by the Undertaker to avoid his own admission of guilt? It's all stupid. It really doesn't matter much in the end, but something tells me if WCW did it there'd be loads of complaints. On next week's show, Shane McMahon turns on his father, giving Austin a contract with the WWF again. Sounds like it should be a hot segment. RAW will air from Toronto on 02/08/98. Nitro Nitro on 10/19 was the usual three-hour show. This week on TSN we only got a short one-and-a-half hour version of the show; they aired it three separate times over two days. You'd think that if they could only find a time slot that long that they would at least air half the show in one slot and the following half in the second slot. They never do that, though. The show was brutally edited in two-minute spurt, with the front end being absolutely unwatchable largely because of the brutal cutaways. First match to make the cut was Wrath destroying Tokyo Magnum. Then they aired the Disco Inferno & Alex Wright vs. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko match. As this match aired, they talked about all of the matches that were still to come. It's nice to miss the first hour of interviews that set up the rest of the show, since I'm primarily interested in whatever quality wrestling they deliver. In any case, Benoit & Malenko can easily be the best team in pro-wrestling, clearly outclassing every team in North America to an increedible degree and rivalling the best teams in Japan. Eric Bischoff came out and went berzerk that the Horsemen would just come out and wrestle, saying that they were working without pay. Benoit & Malenko won in short order. Diamond Dallas Page faced Chris Jericho. Match was okay, ending when Goldberg ran in to the ring. Stevie Ray & Scott Hall & Scott Norton (wearing the IWGP World Title) faced Lex Luger & Konnan & Kevin Nash. Nash didn't come out, but they showed him acting totally drunk backstage. Wow, these drunk angles are just awesome. Nash came to the ring; Hall and Nash toasted each other. I guess the idea was supposed to be that neither of them can handle where their relationship has gone. Of course, it ended up that Nash was faking his drunkenness and the match turned into nothing. They plugged the remaining matches on the show, making it pretty clear that Rey Misterio Jr.'s return to WCW had not made the cut for Canada. That means that the show instantly became depressing. Thank god they shows that Wrath squash and that Nitro girls video at the start of the show. Hulk Hogan was supposed to face Horace Boulder. Here's a match that we've all been dreaming of seeing for years and years. Hey, don't tell me you never have a nightmare! Hogan chased Michael Buffer out of the ring so he could blather on and make sure that the rating for this segment tanked. Horace said his real name was Horace Hogan. Oh god. Hulk is going to make sure that his nephew gets some protection and a push. Hogan loves his nephew and wanted him to join the NWO. A nice boring chant sprung up. Man, this was lame. It got worse. Hulk attacked Horace and whipped him with his strap. Hogan just stinks. "If I'd do this to someone I love, imagine what I'd do to you, Warrior." Brutal. Warrior ran out with a baseball bat, knocked a few NWO members flying, as Hulk ran off. Just when I thought the segment couldn't get any worse, Warrior comes out to go on offence. Hey, at least he didn't deliver an interview. Warrior got choke slammed, leg dropped, and spray painted. This was one of the most brutally bad segments I've ever seen. Finally, Bret Hart insulted Sting like crazy until Sting finally came out to challenge him. They didn't really wrestle all that much, returning to their brawling style of two weeks past. Eventually, Sting hit the Scorpion on Bret and refused to break the hold. The NWO members came out and broke things up. While the content of the show really stunk from a quality wrestling perspective, they at least did a good job of hyping the PPV main events and sseem to have learned really quickly not to expose the Warrior for more than a few seconds. Thunder Thunder on 10/22/98 continued the really strong hype job that they've been doing the handful of marquee matches at Halloween Havoc. Opening match had Rey Misterio Jr. face Super Calo. Just to put some perspective on some earlier comments, both of these guys are worlds better than all of the WWF young guys, with the Michinoku Pro guys perhaps falling into the middle of these two, but neither of these guys has ever really been pushed as a draw. Even Rey, who arguably had the Cruiserweight division built around him at one point, was also jobbed out and buried as small at the same time by the old, big, slow heavies who won't get out of the way. Rey's ankle seemed to be tender at times, but they still had a really good shot match. Of course, the commentators to the opportunity to spend 90% of the match talking about Hulk Hogan. Rey won with a top rope Frankensteiner. After the match, the LWO came in the ring and invited Rey to join. As hard as it is to believe, they actually seem to be getting a little heat with this story line. Rey turned them down. They advertised a "Best of" series for Halloween Havoc and Bash at the Beach and then showed clips of all of the worst moments I remember. Diamond Dallas Page did an interview and I strolled away. Alex Wright beat Johnny Swinger. They continued to push the marquee matches at Havoc. Chris Jericho faced Kanyon in a match that had some potential. And, lo and behold, this was one of those infrequent times when Kanyon's innovativeness actually clicked well and helped turn this into something good. Finish was weird, though. After a ref bump, Kanyon rolled out of the ring and Raven came in to attack Jericho. Jericho, who was booked really strongly in this match, countered a DDT attempt and hit his lion tamer, with Raven tapping instantly. They pushed the idea that Raven is more stoic than ever before and that his career is on a downturn. It seems natural to speculate that this is meant to set up the entrance of the Sandman. They replayed the Hogan vs. Warrior stuff from Monday. For the first time, they actually talked in a little detail about the 1990 Toronto match between those two. Unfortunately, it was really contrived stuff. I don't care. Perry Saturn faced Norman Smiley in another cool little match. Saturn always tries hard, but he sometimes get caught up in those horribly booked interference-filled clusters. This was a good match, with Saturn winning of course. Lex Luger beat Scotty Riggs in a match that much longer than it had any right to be. Juventud Guerrera beat Prince Iaukea. Disco Inferno and Billy Kidman came in and they did some good three-way stuff; I guess a triangle match is upcoming, maybe at Havoc? Scott Armstrong lost to Konnan. Dean Malenko beat Kendall Windham. The Horsemen came out and did their interview routine, with Ric Flair again saying that the would get Eric Bischoff's job. There is a lot of speculation that this will build to a Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff challenge match by the end of the year, with stipulations attached. When Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Steve McMichael stand there, I can't help thinking that "one of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong." The main event started at 10:05 EST, so the show was definitely going to go a few minutes over time. Surely, the main event would only run one minute, two tops. Sting faced Giant. The commentators did one finally super push job, hyping the marquee matches at Havoc. Damn it all, if they didn't mention Chucky again. Yep, with the Halloween horror motif, surely Chucky is going to play a role in the finish of the Steiner vs. Steiner match. Giant has really stagnated. Only his ego has developed. And his stomach. Sting hit three Stinger splashes and bodyslammed him. He went for the Scorpion and, yeah, no surprise, the NWO hit the ring. Scott Steiner, Vincent, Scott Hall, and Stevie Ray came in. They tried to injure Sting's leg. Rick Steiner came in, went after his brother, and Sting cleared the remainder of the NWO from the ring. Finally, Kevin Nash hobbled to the ring (with his knees so bad, you've got to wonder how bad his match with Hall will be), along with Konnan. - WCW has Halloween Havoc on 10/25/98. Tentative line-up has * Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior * Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW Title * Sting vs. Bret Hart * Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash in a bar fight * Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner * Konnan vs. Eddie Guerrero * Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman for the Cruiserweight Title Everybody is reporting that this is Ultimate Warrior's last scheduled appearance for WCW. It sure seemed like WCW was burying him this past Monday; I guess we can expect Hulk Hogan to balance the record and UW to fade away. - Both Barry Windham and Tully Blanchard are bound for WCW. There are some interesting possibilities there for the Horsemen story line, hopefully not involving either of those guys becoming members. Steve McMichael is still working without a contract, so he could leave at any moment if somebody else wanted him. Talk continues that they will find some way to remove him from the Horsemen. - It's expected that Vader will turn up in All Japan as Stan Hansen's tag partner in the annual tag tournament. That doesn't signal a long-term commitment, as Vader & Hansen will serve as a nostalgic team of foreign once-superstars. Bart Gunn may also be brought in for the tournament. - Talk persists that with Hunter Hearst Helmsley out for the long haul that DX will undergo some changes. Word is that Bart Gunn will be worked into the New Age Outlaws duo, turning it into a threesome. - The Observer reports that Brian Hildebrand's stomach cancer has returned and the that prognosis is not good. I hope everybody reading this takes a moment to offer a good thought for Brian. - The WWF has Survivor Series on 11/15/98. Tentative line-up has: * Sixteen man tournament to determine the new WWF Champion It's largely expected that Rocky Maivia will win the title on this show. - WCW has World War III on 11/22/98. It's expected that this PPV will feature the Jackie Chan vs. Ernest Miller match. - The WWF has In Your House on 12/13/98. - WCW has Starrcade on 12/27/98. - - RAW beat Nitro on 10/15 with a 4.8 rating versus a 4.7 rating. The detailed ratings are a click away. I still haven't managed to update them. - PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet (the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches): Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WWF 98/07/26: Fully Loaded Steve Austin & Undertaker vs. Kane & Mankind 0.5 (WWF claims 0.95; WCW claims 0.34; 0.5 independent figure) $2.23 1.81 * 1/4 * * * 1/4 Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley 0% (0 of 8) 98/06/28: King of the Ring Steve Austin vs. Kane Undertaker vs. Mankind 1.1 $4.99 1.72 * 1/2* * * * * 1/2 Undertaker vs. Mankind 11.1% (1 of 9) 98/05/31: IYH Over the Edge Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 0.65 $2.90 1.06 1/2* * * * * 1/2 Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 12.5% (1 of 8) 98/04/26: IYH Unforgiven Steve Austin vs. Dude Love Kane vs. Undertaker 0.85 $3.78 1.75 * * * * * Steve Austin vs. Dude Love 14.3% (1 of 7) 98/03/29: WrestleMania Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin Kane vs. Undertaker 2.20 $9.52 1.81 * * * * * * 1/4 Michaels vs. Austin Cactus & Funk vs. NAO 0.0% (0 of 8) 98/02/15: IYH No Way Out HHH & NAO & Vega vs. Austin & Owen & Funk & Cactus Kane vs. Vader 0.45 $1.67 1.43 * 1/2 * * * 1/2 HHH & NAO & Vega vs. Austin & Owen & Funk & Cactus 0.0% (0 of 7) 98/01/18: Royal Rumble Shawn Michaels vs. Vader Royal Rumble 0.97 $3.62 2.38 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2 Royal Rumble Max Mini & Nova & Mosaic vs. Battalion & Torio & Tarantula 0.0% (0 of 6) Last 6 0.96 $4.18 1.60 1.46 3.79 6.4% (3 of 47) 1998 0.96 $4.1 1.69 1.61 3.75 5.7% (3 of 53) 1997 0.61 $1.84 2.18 1.81 3.792 27.9% (6 of 21) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * WCW 98/08/08: Road Wild Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Jay Leno 1.14 $5.15 0.61 * * * * 1/2 Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0% (0 of 9) 98/07/06: Bash at the Beach Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone 1.6 $7.21 1.81 * * 1/4 * * * * Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman 11.1% (1 of 9) 98/06/14: Great American Bash Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper & Randy Savage Sting vs. Giant 0.8 $3.52 1.67 * * 1/4 * * * 1/2 Chris Benoit vs. Booker T 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/05/17: Slamboree Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. Sting & Giant 0.72 $3.20 1.92 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4 Chris Benoit vs. Dave Finley Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko Eddie Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/04/19: Spring Stampede Sting vs. Randy Savage Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash vs. Giant & Roddy Piper 0.72 $3.20 2.40 * * 1/2 * * * * Ultimo Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. DDP vs. Raven 20.0% (2 of 10) 98/03/15: Uncensored Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage Sting vs. Scott Hall 1.10 $4.12 1.69 * * 1/2 * * * 3/4 Raven vs. DDP vs. Chris Benoit 0.0% (0 of 9) 98/02/22: SuperBrawl Hulk Hogan vs. Sting Outsiders vs. Steiners 1.10 $4.12 1.67 * 1/4 * * * 3/4 Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho 0.0% (0 of 10) 98/01/25: Souled Out Bret Hart vs. Ric Flair Giant vs. Kevin Nash Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage 1.02 $3.81 1.92 * * * * * Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Super Calo & Lizmark Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera & La Parka & El Dandy 11.1% (1 of 9) Last 6 1.01 $4.4 1.70 2.17 3.67 5.5% (3 of 55) 1998 1.03 $4.29 1.72 1.91 3.72 5.4% (4 of 74) 1997 0.77 $2.45 1.96 1.98 3.813 5.9% (6 of 102) Show Data Match Rating Data Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * * ECW 98/08/02: Heatwave Taz vs. Bam Bam Bigelow 0.23 $0.42 3.08 * * 1/4 * * * * Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka 16.7% (1 of 6) 98/05/03: WrestlePalooza Shane Douglas vs. Al Snow Sabu vs. Rob van Dam 0.24 $0.45 0.64 1/2* * * Mikey Whippreck vs. Justin Credible 0.0% (0 of 7) 98/03/01: Living Dangerously Shane Douglas & Chris Candido vs. Al Snow & Lance Storm 0.23 $0.42 1.56 * * * * * 1/4 Buh Buh Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley & New Jack vs. Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney 0.0% (0 of 8) Last 6 0.23 $0.43 1.69 1.58 3.08 4.8% (1 of 21) 1998 0.23 $0.43 1.69 1.58 3.08 4.8% (1 of 21) 1997 0.22 $0.38 2.10 2.50 3.583 10.0% (2 of 20) I'll update the figures for next week. Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991. A table of wrestlers who have delivered quality matches is also online. - The WWF has Royal Rumble on 01/24/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 02/14/99. - The WWF has WrestleMania XV on 03/28/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 04/25/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 05/23/99. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/27/99. - The WWF has In Your House on 07/25/99. - Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request. ______________________________________________________________________ Thanks to: Masaki Aso. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________