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3SEPTEMBER 9, 2002 OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: PRIDE/K1 SHOCKWAVE REVIEWED, NEW WWE TITLE INTRODUCED
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6Wrestling Observer Newsletter
7
8PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 September 9, 2002
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10PRIDE/K-1 DYNAMITE SHOCKWAVE
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12Thumbs up 127 (100.0%)
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14Thumbs down 0 (00.0%)
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16In the middle 0 (00.0%)
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18 
19
20BEST MATCH POLL
21
22Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp 127
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24 
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26WORST MATCH POLL
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28Ernesto Hoost vs. Semmy Schiltt 39
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30Royce Gracie vs. Hidehiko Yoshida 21
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32Gary Goodridge vs. Lloyd Van Dams 20
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34Vanderlei Silva vs. Tatsuya Iwasaki 14
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36 
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38ATTENDANCE AND PPV RECORDS SET, GIANTS CHANGE FACE OF FIGHTING, QUESTIONS, CONTROVERSY AND MUCH MORE AT SHOCKWAVE - In what was Japan's answer to Wrestlemania III, and what was likely the biggest money live event in sports entertainment history took place as giants changed the future of fighting on 8/28 at Tokyo National Stadium.
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40The crowd was reported as 91,007 (hopefully a number that will never make these pages again. I was thinking they'd say 93,174). The real figure was estimated at about 71,000, making it the fifth largest sports entertainment crowd in recorded history and destroying all MMA records. The top four would be 4/29/95 in Pyongyang, North Korea for Inoki vs. Flair (170,000),; 4/28/95 in Pyongyang, North Korea for Hashimoto vs. Norton (150,000); 8/31/92 in Wembley Stadium in London for Bret Hart vs. Bulldog (78,927); and 3/29/87 in Pontiac Silverdome for Hogan vs. Andre (78,000).
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42It would have been legitimately the biggest crowd ever in Japan, as there were far more people there than on the shows where attendance was reported at 70,000 at the much smaller Tokyo Dome. It also destroyed all existing PPV records in that country with a better than 4.5 percent buy rate (more than 100,000 buys grossing more than $2 million, old record was 48,000 buys for the 2000 Pride World Grand Prix finals and Sakuraba vs. Royce). Walk-up sales were said to be awesome, which were largely the pro wrestling fans (major pro wrestling shows in Japan do huge walk-ups while martial arts shows usually do most of their sales early). It saw a show that started out disappointing with one-sided matches, created controversy and questions and was ultimately a huge success due to a classic match with 230-pound Pride world heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira overcoming 375-pound Bob Sapp on a day the fighting world took notice that the day of the giants dominating may not be far in the future.
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44The building wasn't totally sold out, although the spectacular overhead crowd shots looked impressive as it was close to packed, and visually came across like the famous crowd shots at Mania III. In reality, Wrestlemania the past two years sold out buildings almost as large, albeit with lower ticket prices, so this would have to be ranked as just behind the last two Manias as the biggest show in recent years.
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46Sapp, a physical specimen so overwhelming he barely looks human, combined with 7-foot Semmy Schiltt to show that once the freaks are trained for combat, it is no longer the domain of mere mortal heavyweights.
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48Sapp, with less than two minutes of combined MMA experience in destroying former pro wrestlers Norihisa Yamamoto and Kiyoshi Tamura, used his power to largely manhandle the best fighter in the world for most of the first ten minute round. He finally was victimized by exhaustion and then, an armbar in 4:03 of the second round, in what will go down as one of the classic heavyweight matches in fighting history.
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50On the same night, Schiltt, with limited K-1 experience consisting of exactly one match, used his ridiculous reach and an effective front kick, to dominate the most successful heavyweight kickboxer in history, Ernesto "Mr. Perfect" Hoost, earning a very controversial draw decision in a fight that most feel he had clearly won.
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52MMA has shown on numerous occasions that size can't overcome superior skill, but when the monsters have guts and athletic ability and are taught that skill, it's a different ball game. In losing, the general feeling was that once Sapp gets a little more skill, as he's only been doing this for about a year since WCW folded, and improves his cardio (which will always be the potential weakness to exploit on a man that large), he'll be unbeatable, if such a thing could exist in fighting. Similarly, as Schiltt improves his ability to use his reach, even a super skilled 6-5 man like Hoost is taken out of his game. Ironically, it's that freak show element that is more of a ticket seller than two evenly matched and evenly skilled fighters.
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54That wasn't the only controversy of the night. Royce Gracie, the guy who in the U.S. created the skill overcomes size doctrine in the early UFC events, had a limited striking match against 1992 Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida, which ended in 7:24 with the referee stopping the match with Yoshida allegedly having a choke locked in. It turned into a crazy scene, with the Gracie side protesting, because Royce had not tapped, nor had the towel been thrown in and the rules they agreed on and demanded did not allow for a referee stoppage. According to Pride officials, the official result of the match has been declared a no contest, but this was never announced in Japan. In Japan, the news of Yoshida beating Gracie not only made the lead story in most of the sports newspapers the next day, but was covered significantly by the major newspapers that normally wouldn't cover this kind of a sporting event. In one day, Yoshida became a major sports superstar there and reports are has been besieged with offers from major companies for sponsorships and TV commercials. Gracie, in Japan, was the major heel, for protesting and making a scene after the match. However, from watching the show, it was clear Gracie was right, in that the choke was not even fully locked in when the match was stopped. At this point, the result may be overturned and the match ruled a no contest.
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56While the live crowd was more into the pro wrestlers, because of the media pub, it was Gracie vs. Yoshida that ended up with the most general public interest. The show aired three days later on TBS in Japan in a Sunday afternoon time slot and did a 10.6 rating, a number that was considered excellent in that slot. The Gracie-Yoshida match drew the peak rating at 14.5, which is about 20 million viewers.
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58Inoki, who skydived into the stadium, got a far bigger reaction than anyone else on the show, followed by Frye and Kazushi Sakuraba, no doubt the two biggest draws on the show. They both lost and took terrible punishment in matches that neither should have ever been put in.
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60Frye was knocked out in just 1:30 by Jerome LeBanner, the French K-1 knockout artist who came in with about a 50-pound weight advantage. LeBanner was a replacement for defending K-1 Grand Prix champion Mark Hunt (said to have suffered a hand injury in training) just a few days ahead of time and showed up in great shape. Frye didn't even know about the change in opponents until he got to Japan. The result would have been the same either way. With Frye as the top foreign fighter/pro wrestler in the Japanese market and never having lost a legitimate match on Japanese soil, the idea of putting him into a situation that it would take a miracle for him to survive asks a lot of questions.
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62Perhaps even more questions have to be asked regarding Sakuraba, who more than anyone else, has become the face of the Pride promotion and biggest draw on three of the company's four biggest shows in history. Sakuraba was unable to answer the bell for the third round against Mirko Cro Cop. Sakuraba fought his third straight fight in which he gave up more than 20 pounds and went in at less than 100% between internal problems and fighting injuries. He suffered his third straight loss, and was fairly seriously injured for the third straight time.
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64In many ways, it is unfortunate that Pride is, in reality, a pro wrestling product that largely draws from pro wrestling fans (as crowd reactions clearly showed that the K-1 fans didn't seem to support this show), except it is real. Certain fighters are ticket sellers and with so many big shows, they are overworked or put in money situations that aren't always in the best interest long-term.
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66With a stadium so large to fill, Sakuraba's best drawing opponent would be Cro Cop, because of the "pro wrestler hunter" storyline. Cro Cop handled one pro wrestler after another since August of last year. It started with then-IWGP champ Kazuyuki Fujita (a fluke win at the time on a blood stoppage, but with Cro Cop's improvement over the past year on the ground, he'd likely be favored in a rematch) to Nobuhiko Takada (actually Takada in doing the deathly dull draw fared the best of anyone) to Ryushi Yanagisawa (under K-1 rules) to Yuji Nagata. It was Sakuraba trying to save face for Japanese wrestling that would be a ticket seller. And Sakuraba, despite giving up 25 pounds (and that's with bulking up 12 pounds from his normal fighting weight for this match), was competitive and probably ahead at the time his eye socket was fractured and the match had to be stopped. Reports are he'll be out of action until next spring. But even with his skill, the day has come where a natural 183-pound man shouldn't be facing a heavyweight. They got one record gate out of Sakuraba, but the injuries are going to kill his longevity and future drawing power. Legit drawing cards in this industry are few, and when you luck into one, you can overprotect him. In the case of Sakuraba, it's not even that, it's more throwing him in situations that because of size, he shouldn't be expected to overcome. The third loss in a row will also hurt the drawing power of a prospective third Sakuraba vs. Vanderlei Silva match, where Sakuraba would again be giving up weight against a younger man who has injured him twice.
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68The situation with Frye was worse because unlike Sakuraba, Frye had no chance going into a K-1 rules match, something he'd never done before, against a knockout artist like LeBanner, who is coming off a knockout win over Hunt. Sure, there is always the rematch possibility under Pride rules, but Frye, after the knockout, is again talking about retirement.
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70Hoost and Gary Goodridge both fought their second fight in 12 days, as each prevailed on a K-1 show in Las Vegas. Nogueira had just fought three weeks earlier at the Tokyo Dome. The reality of wrestling and fighting, and this draws from elements of both, is that it is hard to create a legit superstar and a draw, and if you put them in positions to look human instead of mythical, you hurt them. Overworking them when they are hot only limits their window of opportunity, and it's a huge problem when there are constantly big shows and such a limited a number of superstars for those shows.
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72Another problem with the Japanese version, a necessary evil perhaps, is they booked the stadium and planned the show, basically with only one match, Sakuraba vs. Cro Cop. Most of the matches were made at the last minute, as noted, many with fighters who were run down from recent fights or not having time to properly peak. In the case of Vanderlei Silva, they were having an impossible time finding him an opponent and ended up putting him in with a karate guy who had almost no experience and with the match being made two days ahead of time, no time to train for such a dangerous man. As sports competition, despite its less flashy product, UFC is far superior because they don't do squash matches and stupid matches, and because for the most part, shows are completed a month or two ahead of time rather than thrown together at the last minute, so you've got guys properly trained with a game plan as opposed to stars thrown out there, like Frye was with LeBanner, not even knowing his opponent until a few days ahead of time.
73
74The American broadcast also featured a ton of Bill Goldberg. Goldberg was shown giving his thoughts on Pride, talking about how he got his pro wrestling character from MMA, and was shown backstage talking with several of the fighters such as Sapp, Goodridge and Frye. He joked with Frye about the odds he was facing in his fight beforehand, and when Frye asked if Goldberg was going to hit him with a chair, Goldberg asked if Frye would sell it. When Goldberg did an interview before the live crowd in English, he talked about hoping people would come to appreciate his work on Friday and Saturday (the two All Japan shows). During the English broadcast, while they played Goldberg up as a celebrity all over the show, there was almost no talk of pro wrestling or acknowledgement as to what he was taking about in his speech. Stephen Quadros gave his background as a major sports figure in the U.S. who played for the Atlanta Falcons, with no mention of pro wrestling. When Goldberg talked about his upcoming matches, there was no mention of him pro wrestling in Japan. Goldberg himself when asked about who could beat Sapp, responded distinctly that he himself was a pro wrestler, however.
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76Show opened with an Olympic torch lighting ceremony featuring Inoki and Helio Gracie, Royce's father and the man who popularized Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Vale Tudo in the 40s and 50s in Brazil. Inoki was seconded by Yuji Nagata, current IWGP pro wrestling champ, while Helio had Royce with him, to represent the two worlds merging.
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78It was announced that the next Pride PPV in the U.S., called Beasts from the East II, would air on 10/13, which would be a two-week tape delay from the live show on 9/29 in Nagoya. This will be considered a small show, and because there are competing events on PPV in the U.S. that weekend, they decided to go with the delayed broadcast.
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80On 9/2, Sapp reprised a famous pro wrestling scene from the 60s, where the Great Antonio pulled a bus to build up a match with Rikidozan. Sapp, on a national television show, pulled an 8,000 pound bus.
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821. Vanderlei Silva destroyed Tatsuya Iwasaki in 1:18. The bell rang at 6:58 p.m. in Japan, and the only question was whether Silva could finish him by 7 p.m. He did. Iwasaki, who agreed to the fight with just a few days notice since they couldn't find any worthy fighters to face Silva with no lead time, looked out of shape. A legit Kyokushin karate champ of Japan (an art that doesn't allow blows to the head), this was a sad, overmatched squash. Silva threw a left kick to the face and pounded him with punches from the top before it was stopped. After the match, they continually talked about a Silva vs. Bas Rutten match, which they've now been talking about for nearly one year.
83
842. Jerrell Venetiaan, the K-1 Dutch champ, beat pro wrestler Daijiro Matsui, who wasn't even asked to fight until two days beforehand. The first two rounds, said to be boring, were edited out. Third round saw Matsui badly miss a dropkick, which is kind of understood he's always going to try as a pro wrestler. Venetiaan opened up Matsui's left eye with a soccer kick. Venetiaan did far more damage, and won a split decision.
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863. Gary Goodridge destroyed Lloyd Van Dams in 3:39. Goodridge was funny in his pre-match interview, as they brought up his huge upset win over Mike Bernardo in Las Vegas. Goodridge said that Bernardo told everyone he was 100% sure he was going to destroy him, and Goodridge said until the day of the fight, he was also 100% sure Bernardo was going to destroy him. Van Dams is a 260-pound mid-level K-1 fighter from Holland who was lost once Goodridge took him down with a belly-to-belly suplex. Goodridge pounded on his face, busted up his nose, then opened up his forehead. He got a mount and was throwing in the blows before the ref stopped it. A total one-sided fight.
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884. Ernesto Hoost drew Semmy Schiltt over five rounds. This was a good tactical K-1 match as Schiltt used his reach to keep Hoost away. However, to the Pride audience, it was out of context (kind of like watching Brawl for All in the middle of a Raw show). Hoost got a few good punches in, but Schiltt was dictating the pace and the aggressor. All three judges ruled it a draw (and not only that, two of the three judges ruled every single round even). This was very strange since everyone watching thought Schiltt clearly won several of the rounds and the fight. Decision was booed. Kazuyoshi Ishii, the K-1 promoter, on commentary, admitted that a draw for Hoost considering who he is and Schiltt's lack of K-1 experience, is really a loss for Hoost.
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905. Jerome LeBanner destroyed Don Frye in 1:30. Legendary pro wrestling announcer Ichiro Furutachi (New Japan's announcer during the Inoki/Hogan/Andre/Tiger Mask glory days; sort of a Japanese Gordon Solie if Solie had left wrestling and gone on to be a big media personality) did this fight for Japan TV. LeBanner pounded him, and Frye had to take a standing eight count. LeBanner kicked his face and nailed him with some hard shots. Crowd went crazy for Frye as he came out and loved the match because it was all action, and in Japan, nobody had ever seen Frye handled like this so from a Japan standard the match was considered a huge success.
91
92They did a long presentation and intermission. First, they honored Helio Gracie in a long ceremony. Ishii said that if it wasn't for Gracie, then this sport wouldn't even exist. Then Goldberg came out. Goldberg didn't get a loud pop, but everyone in the building was standing in awe of him. He plugged his pro wrestling matches. Then Inoki's music played. He got triple the reaction of anyone else on the show as he skydived from a plane from two miles up to the building, landing on the ramp as a camera followed him down. After such a fiasco three weeks ago, he not only redeemed himself again, but literally stole the show.
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946. Nogueira beat Sapp in 4:03 of the second round (first round was 10:00, so it was 14:03 total). Nogueira immediately went for a double leg, but Sapp blocked him and gave him a ganso bomb. Nogueira was very lucky to have survived that one. Sapp overpowered him early but Nogueira was never out of it. Nogueira got a side mount and busted Sapp open over the right eye. Sapp reversed him and pounded him badly. Nogueira went for his triangle from the bottom, but every time, Sapp would power bomb him hard to break it up. Nogueira's face was a total mess from the punishment as he took brutal shots on the ground. Both men's cuts were checked by the doctor at different times. Nogueira seemed more effective standing, but kept trying to take it down. He was quicker and more skillful standing, but he'd land hard punches to Sapp's face, and Sapp wouldn't even react to them. Sapp would shove Nogueira standing and he'd go flying and want to take it down, figuring at least on the bottom he could try submissions. Nogueira would go for a takedown, but Sapp wound wind up on top with all that weight on him. Sapp clearly won the first round. When the round was over, Sapp looked totally gassed and Nogueira's face looked like hell. They traded early in the second round. It wound up on the ground. Goldberg noted that there wasn't enough air on the planet to fill up Sapp's lungs at that point. Sapp was totally gassed and Nogueira grabbed this 25-inch arm and armbarred him, and got the tap. Place went ballistic for the finish. Quadros said that this finish turned Nogueira into a living legend of the sport. This didn't air on the U.S. PPV, but after the match, Josh Barnett, who trained Sapp for the fight, issued a challenge to Nogueira for the belt. Unfortunately, that match won't be able to take place until next spring at the earliest because of Barnett's suspension.
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967. Yoshida no contest Gracie in 7:24. This was mainly submissions. Striking to the body was legal, but neither guy tried any, and both wore gi's. It was more like a combination judo and jiu jitsu style of a match. Both tried leglocks, which aren't really a specialty of either. At one point Yoshida went for a "Kimura" (entangled armlock) which was the move pro wrestler Masahiko Kimura used on Helio Gracie in 1951 in what was the biggest MMA match in history up to that point in time in a soccer stadium in Brazil. Yoshida had pro wrestlers Michiyoshi Ohara (who disappeared off the face of the Earth after his loss to Renzo Gracie in Pride) and Tsuyoshi Kosaka in his corner. Yoshida was calm all the way. He tried a shoulderlock and necklock before going for the clock choke (trying to choke Royce with his gi for a judo finisher) when the ref stopped it. All hell broke loose at that point because it was a very premature stoppage. The choke wasn't even fully applied. Still, the uncharismatic Yoshida was made into a superstar with the win. Quadros didn't shill for the finish, as when they went to the replay, he said the choke wasn't locked on and it was a bad stoppage. He also said that Schiltt should have won the decision over Hoost.
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988. Cro Cop beat Sakuraba via doctor stoppage after two five minute rounds. Sakuraba came out as Big Van Vader, with the old Vader headpiece from his New Japan days, a Vader string mask underneath, and a shirt that read "Sakuraba time." Neither Rutten nor Quadros knew the significance, and thought Sakuraba's outfit was either out of the movie "Road Warrior" or "Pulp Fiction." Goldberg only announced the Sapp and Frye matches so if he could have figured it (and of course, every fan in the building understood it), he wasn't there for the save. Cro Cop is now a superstar babyface on K-1 shows, but is heavily booed on Pride shows (he even turned "superheel" Silva huge babyface in their match) as the "outsider." Since he was heavily booed here, it told what audience did and didn't come. Seeing how well this plays out boggles my mind when in pro wrestling, these angles come around and the promotion has the advantage of being able to manipulate them for maximum gate appeal, and these gates do better with results without having that long-term edge. Cro Cop had excellent defense against Sakuraba's takedowns. He's improved so much in the past few months. Cro Cop clocked him with a punch and got a lot of strong leg kicks in. Things were looking bad for Sakuraba, but finally he connected with a strong punch and at 3:15 he got a takedown. Cro Cop actually escaped with something resembling a monkey flip. Second round saw Cro Cop connect with more low kicks and a hard body kick. Sakuraba took him down and dominated him for much of the second round throwing punches from the top. Cro Cop threw a hard punch from his back which broke the eye socket on Sakuraba's right eye. Sakuraba seemed to be winning the fight when the bell rang to end the second round, but as he got off, he eye was swelling shut badly and you could see he wasn't going to be able to continue. The doctor looked at him and stopped it. This would have been the best match of the night on most Pride shows.
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100The show ended live (this didn't air) with Ishii talking about doing a Gracie-Yoshida rematch after more complaining from the Gracie camp.
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102WWE CREATES SECOND WORLD TITLE, AND IS IT A GOOD IDEA? - Following up on the angle where Brock Lesnar went exclusively to Smackdown, Raw opened on 9/2 in Milwaukee with Eric Bischoff announcing HHH as the new Raw world champion and giving him the old WCW heavyweight title belt.
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104There are a lot of different ways of looking at this in theory. You can say with two champions, there are twice as many potential title defenses and you can have the world champion at every house show. On the other hand, the title itself was just rebuilt enough to where it finally appeared to have drawn at SummerSlam and a new top star was created. Now, that title is diluted. You may call it two world titles, but it in reality becomes two IC titles instead of one world title. The argument is that this finally establishes the Raw/Smackdown split. But what made the title special is that it meant something being the one thing above the split. There was also a change in direction over the past seven days (like there is every seven days). Last week, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler on Raw went out of their way to say how much they like Smackdown. This week the attitude was that Smackdown was the enemy and they halfway tried to portray Lesnar like a star in the old territorial days who had left for a better money offer and was being buried by his last company on the way out. Even if two champions in one company is a good idea, and it isn't long-term and isn't right now even short-term because all it did was water down Lesnar's star power, they already botched it by having Bischoff just hand HHH the belt. I'm sure the decision-making behind it is that, wow, HHH will have so much heat from the fans as a heel because they know he didn't earn the belt in the ring. But that kind of analyzing fans' emotions instead of making the title truly mean something led to the equally preposterous thought process that resulted to the Nash-Hogan one-finger touch. Wow, will Hogan have so much heel heat because he got the title and the fans know he didn't really win it. Yeah, so much heat that about two months later (after the Hogan-Flair program ran its course in March of 1999), the belt that was consistently drawing at that point in time, never drew another dime until the company went out of business.
105
106What we've learned about the title from the mistakes of not just WCW but other companies is, that it is no longer a given that the title, in any promotion, means anything. In fact, unless properly booked and protected, they really might as well not even exist for all they mean when it comes to the box office. With the exception of the WWE title in spots, the only so-called world title in pro wrestling that truly has any significance left and has the prestige to where defenses are true ticket sellers would be the All Japan Triple Crown. That's because the company remains with the philosophy that its champion is the No. 1 guy in the company and winning the belt makes the winner the new No. 1. In all other promotions, people who win or lose the belts are interchangeable, and it may help to elevate, but the belt and being pushed as No. 1 aren't the same. Generally, when they aren't, the belt, and chase of the belt, fails to mean anything. When that happens, it becomes a lot more difficult to make a dream match for a reason and pop business with it.
107
108WCW in 2000, with the nearly weekly title changes with the idea they would pop ratings (you know, changing belts on TV means ratings, and if they're done very rarely, they probably would) only resulted in declining ratings and a belt which had a negative appeal.
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110And this dual champion angle is an angle that already didn't work in WWF in 2001, and is copying a similar angle being done and has been poorly received that just started with New Japan.
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112In looking at WWE buy rates over the past year plus, we can start with WM X-7 with Austin vs. Rock, which was the biggest money event of all-time. Two babyfaces going for one belt. It was a combination of the two greatest personalities of the generation, of course, but it was also the belt in a promotion where it was clear one belt was the belt. After that, a tag title match drew poorly on PPV (325,000 buys). Austin vs. Undertaker (375,400 buys) for the belt drew better, but that was still a bad number. Austin vs. Benoit vs. Jericho, while botched in build-up and the first PPV where McMahon threw in the towel before the event, did 440,300 buys because the public was begging for a fresh match-up even with its legs cut out. Then came Invasion, a huge success. SummerSlam, built around Angle vs. Austin did 559,300 buys. Whether it was the frequent title changes or what, but that was the last buy rate the WWE title belt really drew for one year.
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114When they finally did the unification with Austin, Jericho, Angle and Rock at Vengeance last year, they did 307,200 buys. Part of the reason that was low was no DirecTV, it was also the lowest buy rate as well, which throws the DTV factor out of the equation. The show built around title unification, the theoretical end result of this new angle, was the biggest bomb of 2001.
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116In reality, the WWE title itself since the unification hasn't meant squat. Jericho was given the title largely to be the set-up man for the long-term booking committee plan for Wrestlemania to revolve around babyface HHH becoming the megastar and getting the undisputed title. The feeling is he couldn't be a babyface if Rock or Austin held it. In addition, Rock didn't have the ability to work a full schedule and the feeling was Austin could draw without the title anyway. So they went with the weak champion, which can't work today because it just renders the belt useless. While Rumble and No Way Out did very well, it was more because of the Rumble itself, and because of the NWO comeback on the latter show. Mania was huge, but that was Rock vs. Hogan, and not Jericho vs. HHH, as was obvious by the live crowd in Toronto as HHH's crowning moment of glory ended up being a dud to the live crowd not caring about the title. The feeling was the belt needed to be rebuilt and made special. They had very rare title matches on TV, and the company after the split was built around the quest for the title being the focal point of each month's PPV shows.
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118However, due to lack of long-term direction and wavering, the title was hotshotted. Hogan was getting such huge pops and riding a wave of nostalgia and they confused the pops with business, so HHH only lasted a few weeks as champion. That was a very controversial call in that the company was very much divided and McMahon had waffled back-and-forth until changing his mind the day of the event. Those who were against it, feeling Hogan may get great pops, but him getting the belt would be a disaster because of the age factor, proved prophetic as all facets of business collapsed as soon as he got the belt. So Hogan's reign was one month, and went to Undertaker. Almost nobody was against that one, except Hogan, who tried to lobby Vince the day of the show to change his mind, and failed. Ultimately, that was even worse, because they still had an old champion that wasn't going to have good matches, but at least Hogan gave the illusion of being a success to the public because of the crowd pops that he was over. Undertaker was a bigger flop and by this time the decision was made they had to create a new star in Lesnar. Rock became the transition, which was a good move because that had the best chance of drawing and the best chance of being a good match. So even though the title has now changed hands on five of the last six PPV shows, and buy rates fell all summer to the lowest point in five years, it was the quest for Lesnar getting the belt that was the focal point of SummerSlam. And all indications were it was a success. If there were two different champions, that match wouldn't have been half as big, and the buy rate wouldn't have been close because it would have diluted the quest.
119
120If Vengeance last year had been a success, maybe doing it again would be a good idea. But now we're back to the WCW mentality of not only not learning from what didn't work in the other companies, but not even what didn't work with your own audience. Still, it does make Raw the HHH show with all the real competition gone, and theoretically make HHH vs. Lesnar the dream match instead of the previously talked about Angle vs. Lesnar match to build for Mania.
121
122But it also dilutes Lesnar as the new big star. For example, on the next PPV, instead of Lesnar vs. Undertaker as the main event, they will have to equally bill HHH vs. Van Dam, which hurts the impact of Lesnar's strong win (if that even happens and I'm not holding my breath). Instead of one monster star who probably wouldn't have been a draw on his own for a while but had a fighting chance with a belt that meant something and a few more months of a push, you've got two disputed champions, each of whom, guaranteed, won't be draws at any time unless something special pops up like a new headliner is brought in for them. Even if they use the second belt and just have HHH elevate Van Dam (stop laughing, there is the possibility Michaels will interfere), what will it elevate Van Dam to? He's already IC champion. This new belt is just a fancy name for a position he's already attained.
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124GOLDBERG RETURNS FOR ALL JAPAN ANNIVERSARY SHOWS/DRAGON OUT OF RETIREMENT/PLANS FOR MAJOR LEGENDS - Bill Goldberg, at less than 100%, had his first pro wrestling matches in 19 months as the big attraction for All Japan's two straight nights of Anniversary shows at Tokyo Budokan Hall on 8/30 and 8/31.
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126The return of Goldberg in a very competitive week for wrestling in Tokyo, failed to sellout the Budokan either night, with an estimated 13,000 the first night and 12,000 the second night, both of which were crowds the company was happy with. If you take Goldberg out of the equation, they had weaker main events than they usually book in the building, it was the first time the company had ever tried two straight nights at Budokan, there was a lot going on that week and it's still a company that draws based on the main event. Having said that, if Goldberg was an over-the-top monster drawing card, they would have at least sold out for his first match.
127
128Goldberg scored quick wins over Satoshi Kojima the first night in 4:02 using the Christopher Daniels' last rites finisher, and the second night caught a kick from Taiyo Kea (Maunukea Mossman) and gave him essentially a one-arm power bomb in 3:56. It was the company's decision and not anything asked for by Goldberg for the quick wins. Their original plan was for the two matches to be even shorter. With him going in at less than 100% and his unfamiliarity with working All Japan style and the nature of his contract being he has to get over strong, there really wasn't a lot of room for questioning was needed to be done. Goldberg didn't do the spear/jackhammer combination partially because of his arm injury, but largely due to management asking him not to do it because they wanted to save that for his second trip in. After the match he acknowledged that he was going to come back and do the spear/jackhammer combination on his next trip in.
129
130From photos, Goldberg looked very large and ripped. From a WWE comparison, Kojima and Kea are the No. 3 and No. 4 guys in the promotion active right now behind Keiji Muto and Triple Crown champ Genichiro Tenryu, who are the two protected legends. So this would probably be comparable to him coming into WWE and getting fast PPV squash wins on HHH and Kurt Angle to get him ready for the big money matches. If nothing else, it shows All Japan and its wrestlers understand business and getting someone ready for big money matches rather than booking to pacify the egos of the regulars.
131
132On the first night, at ringside during Goldberg's match were K-1 promoter Kazuyoshi Ishii with Bob Sapp, former UFC heavyweight champ Josh Barnett and former K-1 star Sam Greco. Sapp and Greco were both Power Plant trainees in WCW when Goldberg was the company's top star, while Barnett, as mentioned many times, is a long-time pro wrestling fan. Greco and Sapp have both been talked with about coming to the tag team tournament, and they'd be a featured outsider team because both have pretty strong name value, Greco in particular. Sapp may have huge potential as a pro wrestler if he understands how to work as a monster for Japan. Goldberg & Sapp as massive unbeatable Americans would follow a successful company tradition (in a company built on that) of teams like Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen, and later Hansen & Vader, although Goldberg's current contract precludes him doing the tag team tournament.
133
134Goldberg was told they wanted him for his third appearance in November. It's being reported in Japan that when Muto takes control of the company, he's talked about big plans, of running the company's first ever show at the Yokohama Arena in November, with the idea of Goldberg vs. Tenryu for the Triple Crown. And then to bring Goldberg back for a January Tokyo Dome match, likely against himself. In actuality, it is Dream Stage Entertainment (Pride) that is planning an early November Yokohama Arena show, but it would be promoted likely under the All Japan banner and Muto would book the wrestling. If the Yokohama Arena deal doesn't happen, most likely Goldberg would be back in December for a one-night appearance at Budokan Hall on the night of the tag tourney finals.
135
136The final in the series of 30 year Anniversary shows for All Japan on 10/27 is expected to have a gimmick of bringing back famous NWA, AWA and WWF champions that worked for the promotion. The idea would be using Terry Funk (NWA champ 1975-77), probably against Abdullah the Butcher, Bruno Sammartino and Nick Bockwinkel, the latter two who would not wrestle. They are also wanting Harley Race, but politically I don't see how that could be done since Race works for NOAH and books foreign talent.
137
138Goldberg, 35, came out to the identical ring entrance with the inhaling smoke and ring music that he did in WCW, got what was described as a superstar pop both nights. No date was announced for his return, but with the two matches, he's got four bouts left on his contract. His left thigh was also heavily taped. The basic comment was Goldberg was totally going off his reputation, but it worked.
139
140On the second night after the win, Ultimo Dragon came out and Goldberg praised Dragon, saying he helped him as a wrestler when both were in WCW and said he's prepared to repay the favor. It is unclear whether Goldberg will appear at Dragon's 9/8 show at the Ariake Coliseum (which would be only an appearance, not a match). At least a month back, and this is before the All Japan deal was finalized, Goldberg had seriously talked about making an appearance at that show. We should have more details on this next week after seeing the PPV of both nights but all reports were that Goldberg got a huge reaction and was a big hit.
141
142The main event on the first show was Muto pin Kea after a shining wizard in 19:47 in a good match and Kronic retained the Double tag titles over Mike Barton & Jim Steele with the High times on Steele in 17:25 (this may be a match to skip). Match must have been brutal in a different way since Steele's arm was all bandaged up and Barton's waist was all bandaged when they wrestled the next night, and both looked bad (as in, worse than usual) due to having problems moving on the second night. Steele must have reinjured his arm early in the 8/31 match because he appeared to tear it and stayed out of the ring the rest of the match. Barton, who now has bleached blond hair, worked the entire match despite being all bandaged up.
143
144Reports were the two best matches on the show were Tenryu pinning Hiroshi Hase in 14:32 after a brainbuster and Kaz Hayashi pinning tag partner Jimmy Yang in with the final cut to earn a crack at Kendo Kashin's All Japan jr. heavyweight title. The gimmick duo of Butcher & Kashin (it is well known Butcher is Kashin's childhood wrestling hero) beat Mr. Problem (Pride's Daijiro Matsui, just two days removed from a real fight) & Masa Fuchi with the dreaded Butcher elbow on Fuchi.
145
146The second show was built around an elimination match as the main event, with the WAR team of Tenryu & Steve Williams (don't ask how he's on the WAR team after spending a lifetime with All Japan and never working for WAR other than they simply needed him) & Arashi & Koki Kitahara & Masao Orihara (who started his career in All Japan and drifted off about 12 years ago) beat Muto's group of himself & Hase & Jinsei Shinzaki & George Hines & Kaz Hayashi in 37:59. WAR got up 2-0 with Kitahara pinning Hayashi followed by Arashi pinning Hines. They traded falls, with Shinzaki doing the praying power bomb on Orihara and Williams using the doctor bomb to eliminate Shinzaki at 24:00. Hase then pinned Kitahara with the Northern lights suplex in 28:05, but Tenryu scored his second pin in as many days on Hase in 29:18 after a brainbuster. This left Muto alone with Arashi, Tenryu and williams. Muto lasted 8:41 and even scored a desperation Frankensteiner pin on Arashi in 32:40 before Williams finally pinned him using the backdrop driver. Match was said to be in the ***3/4 range and the best thing on the show.
147
148Dragon was at the second show because, in what was reported as the second best match on the show but a match that looked out of place on an All Japan show, Dragon's guys appeared with Jimmy Yang. Yang teamed with Dragon Kid & Masaaki Mochizuki over the Toryumon heel trio of Magnum Tokyo & Darkness Dragon & Susumu Yokosuka. They were using this exposure to hype their own match on 9/8 as they focused on Dragon Kid vs. Darkness Dragon as they were going after each others' mask. Yang in particular was the most impressive. Dragon, 35, is also coming out of retirement on the show for what is being billed as a 10:00 exhibition match with Mochizuki. Dragon hasn't wrestled since July 1998, when the WCW surgeon botched up what was considered a routine elbow operation, slicing a nerve, and causing his entire forearm and hand to go numb.
149
150Raw ratings for 9/2 were unavailable at press time due to Labor Day.
151
152Smackdown on 8/29 drew a 3.1 rating (3.92 realistic rating; est. 4.91 million viewers). Like with Raw, the number declined over the previous week but with New York, Baltimore, Orlando and Albuquerque as key markets pre-empted, it's equivalent to probably a 3.4 under normal circumstances and the realistic number was almost identical to Raw. The show finished in its usual fourth place among the six networks for the night.
153
154The difference is that Smackdown once again saw consistent gains in the show, which is the mark of a good show. The biggest gains were for Mysterio vs. Rico (+475,000 new viewers), Rikishi vs. Guerrero (+317,000) and Lesnar vs. Matt Hardy (+317,000). The show peaked at a 3.5 for the Undertaker vs. Angle vs. Benoit match, but that only increased about 155,000 viewers from Lesnar vs. Matt Hardy.
155
156Raw on 8/26 from MSG drew a disappointing 3.94 rating (3.77 first hour; 4.10 second hour; 5.14 million viewers). The rating was the first WWE show in a few weeks to decrease over its previous mark. What made it more disappointing was that the first quarter was a 3.69, one of the highest first quarters in months. That should have translated into a 4.3 to 4.5 overall rating. That would have been the expected number because they were coming the day after SummerSlam, and a PPV with major interest increases the Raw rating the next night, as does a title change of major proportions. The opening quarter showed that, but it was the quality of the show itself that killed the rating.
157
158The audience grew for the first 45 minutes, until the Jericho interview where he was singing forever saw a 165,000 viewer loss. Still, Jericho vs. Jeff Hardy gained 469,000 viewers to a 4.12 rating and the most viewed match on the show. It fell from there, as the UnAmericans angle and Dreamer vs. Van Dam lost 110,000 viewers (even though the rating increased from 4.12 to 4.16), and then another 168,000 viewers were lost during the Finkel-Garcia deal, followed by a another 305,000 viewers lost during the first half of HHH vs. Undertaker. They did get a pick-up of 310,000 viewers in the overrun period, but ultimately that was a net gain of just 5,000 viewers and a 4.08 rating overall for the main event (4.28 overrun including the Bischoff-Stephanie ending). And for once, corresponds to the dead crowd reaction for the match. It's pretty clear the audience was into seeing Lesnar and Rock (and maybe Michaels), and by the end of the show, figured they were seeing none of the above.
159
160For 8/24, Velocity drew an 0.66 rating, which was its new low, and Confidential did an 0.84.
161
162Galavision Lucha Libre on 8/24 for the new show drew a 1.44 Galavision Hispanic rating and the 8/25 second-run show drew an 0.69.
163
164This is the second issue of the current four-issue set. If you've got a (1) on your address label, your Observer subscription expires in two weeks.
165
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177
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182 
183
184RESULTS
185
186 
187
1888/27 Niigata (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,700): Kishin Kawabata & Haruka Eigen b Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Izu & Daisuke Ikeda b Kotaro Suzuki & Tamon Honda, Bison Smith b Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Akitoshi Saito b Trevor Rhodes, Takashi Suguira & Yoshihiro Takayama b Masashi Aoyagi & Akira Taue, KENTA & Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga b Takeshi Morishima & Masao Inoue & Mohammed Yone, Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Makoto Hashi & Takeshi Rikio, Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano & Yoshinari Ogawa b Vader & Too Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger
189
1908/29 Tokyo Budokan Hall (New Japan - 7,000): Tiger Mask & El Samurai b Hiroki & Pablo Marquez, Gedo & Jado b Curry Man & Ikuto Hidaka, Wataru Inoue b KENTA, Koji Kanemoto b Makoto Hashi, Masayuki Naruse d Takehiro Murahama, Giant Silva b Giant Singh, Tadao Yasuda b Shinya Nakamura, Kensuke Sasaki b Minoru Fujita, IWGP jr. tag titles: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka to win titles, Yoshihiro Takayama b Kazuyuki Fujita
191
1928/29 Nagano (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,800): Masashi Aoyagi & Haruka Eigen b Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Takuma Sano b Kishin Kawabata, Akira Taue & Daisuke Ikeda b Mohammed Yone & Kenta Kobashi, Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama b Richard Slinger & Bison Smith, Vader & Too Cold Scorpio & Trevor Rhodes b Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue & Jun Izumida, Kentaro Shiga d Osamu Nishimura 30:00, Takashi Suguira & Takeshi Rikio & Takeshi Morishima b Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Kotaro Suzuki
193
1948/30 Tokyo Budokan Hall (All Japan - 13,000): Kazushi Miyamoto b Tomoaki Honma, Hideki Hosaka won three-way over Nobukazu Hirai and Ryuji Hijikata, Yoji Anjo & Mitsuya Nagai & Shigeo Okumura b Arashi & Nobutaka Araya & Yuto Aijima, Johnny Smith & George Hines & Gran Hamada b Gran Naniwa & Mike Rotunda & Steve Williams, Abdullah the Butcher & Kendo Kashin b Masa Fuchi & Mr. Problem, Kaz Hayashi b Jimmy Yang, Genichiro Tenryu b Hiroshi Hase, Bill Goldberg b Satoshi Kojima, PWF & Intl tag titles: Kronic b Mike Barton & Jim Steele, Keiji Muto b Taiyo Kea
195
1968/30 Lincoln, NE (WWE Raw - 3,000): Justin Credible b Shelton Benjamin, Tommy Dreamer won three-way over Raven and Steven Richards, Bradshaw b Lance Storm, Booker T & Goldust b Christopher Nowinski & William Regal, Trish Stratus & Jackie b Molly Holly & Victoria, Chris Jericho b Bubba Ray Dudley, WWE title: Brock Lesnar b Undertaker-DQ, IC title: Rob Van Dam b Big Show
197
1988/31 Tokyo Budokan Hall (All Japan - 12,000): Nobukazu Hirai b Ryuji Hijikata, Mike Rotunda & Johnny Smith & Gran Naniwa b Masa Fuchi & Gran Hamada & Kazushi Miyamoto, Abdullah the Butcher & Kendo Kashin b Mitsuya Nagai & Yoji Anjo, Jimmy Yang & Dragon Kid & Masaaki Mochizuki b Magnum Tokyo & Darkness Dragon & Susumu Yokosuka, Kronic b Yuto Aijima & Tomoaki Honma, Mike Barton & Jim Steele b Shigeo Okumura & Hideki Hosaka, Satoshi Kojima b Nobutaka Araya, Bill Goldberg b Taiyo Kea, Elimination match: Genichiro Tenryu & Steve Williams & Arashi & Koki Kitahara & Masao Orihara b Keiji Muto & Jinsei Shinzaki & Hiroshi Hase & George Hines & Kaz Hayashi
199
2008/31 Corpus Christi (WWE Smackdown - 3,000 sellout): Rikishi b Rico, Billy & Chuck b Hardcore Holly & Randy Orton, D-Von b Batista, Mark Henry b Albert, Kane b Bull Buchanan, Matt Hardy b John Cena, Billy Kidman & Hurricane & Shannon Moore b Jamie Noble & Tajiri & Chavo Guerrero-DQ, Rey Mysterio b Eddy Guerrero, Edge b Chris Benoit
201
2028/31 Springfield, IL (WWE Raw - 1,500): Spike Dudley b Raven, Shelton Benjamin b Justin Credible, Booker T & Goldust b William Regal & Christopher Nowinski, Tommy Dreamer b Steven Richards, WWE title: Brock Lesnar b Undertaker-DQ, Trish Stratus & Jackie b Molly Holly & Victoria, Bradshaw b Lance Storm, Chris Jericho b Bubba Ray Dudley, IC title: Rob Van Dam b Big Show
203
2048/31 Tsukubakapio (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,800): Mitsuo Momota b haruka Eigen, Takeshi Morishima b Trevor Rhodes, Rusher Kimura & Akira Taue & Masao Inoue b Kishin Kawabata & Makoto Hashi & Tamon Honda, Takeshi Rikio b Mohammed Yone, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga b Izu & Bison Smith & Too Cold Scorpio, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Suguira b Richard Slinger & Vader, Jun Akiyama & Slinger & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano & Kotaro Suzuki
205
2068/31 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Zero-One - 1,500): Yoshito Sasaki b Shinsuke Yamakasa, Kintaro Kanemura & Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Don Arakawa b Fuyuki Takahashi & Yumeji Fugofugo & Wagyu Kuroge, Tetsuhiro Kuroda b Kohei Sato, Naohiro Hoshikawa & Kazuhiko Ogasawara NC Ikuto Hidaka & Wataru Sakata, Shinjiro Otani & Masato Tanaka b Hirotaka Yokoi & Shinya Hashimoto, Arakawa won Battle Royal
207
2088/31 Philadelphia (XPW - 900): Psicosis b Super Crazy, Sandman NC Pogo the Clown, Tag titles: Halloween & Damian b Smokey Carmichael & Malcolm XL (Brian XL), Supreme b Angel, Juventud Guerrera b Chris Chetti, Vic Grimes won three-way over Altar Boy Luke and Little Guido, Ladder match: Kaos b Chris Hamrick, XPW title: Shane Douglas b Terry Funk
209
2108/31 Mexico City Arena Mexico (EMLL TV tapings): Fire & Pierrothtito & Espectrito I b Bracito de Oro & Ultimo Dragoncito & Tzuki, Tigre Blanco & Tony Rivera & Volador Jr. b Arkangel & Dr. X & Hooligan, Emilio Charles Jr. & Scorpio Jr. & Bestia Salvaje b Olimpico & Hombre sin Nombre & Safari, Fuerza Guerrera b Virus, Negro Casas & Atlantis & Mr. Niebla b Rey Bucanero & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Tarzan Boy, Vampiro b Ultimo Guerrero
211
2128/31 Nassau, Bahamas (Paradise Wrestling - 1,000): Rasta Man b Kid Romeo, Ian Harrison b King Cobra, Konnan b Hector Guerrero, Jim Duggan b Cuban Assassin, Nasty Boys b Mike Graham & Steve Keirn, Tyree Pride b Buff Bagwell
213
2149/1 Dallas (WWE Smackdown - 5,000): Billy Kidman & Hurricane & Shannon Moore b Tajiri & Chavo Guerrero & Jamie Noble, Matt Hardy b John Cena, Batista b D-Von, Mark Henry b Albert, Billy & Chuck b Randy Orton & Hardcore Holly, Rey Mysterio b Eddy Guerrero, Kurt Angle b Rikishi, Kane b Bull Buchanan, Bra & Panties: Dawn Marie b Stacy Keibler, Edge b Chris Benoit
215
2169/1 Chicago (WWE Raw - 6,000): Tommy Dreamer b Steven Richards, Justin Credible & Shawn Stasiak b Crash Holly & Shelton Benjamin, D-Lo Brown b Raven, Bradshaw & Spike Dudley b William Regal & Christopher Nowinski, WWE title: Brock Lesnar b Undertaker-DQ, Trish Stratus & Jackie b Molly Holly & Victoria, Chris Jericho b Bubba Ray Dudley, WWE tag titles 2/3 falls: Christian & Lance Storm b Booker T & Goldust, IC title: Rob Van Dam b Big Show
217
2189/1 Kofu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,700): Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota b Kishin Kawabata & Haruka Eigen, Too Cold Scorpio b Makoto Hashi, Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda & Akira Taue b Trevor Rhodes & Bison Smith & Vader, Takeshi Rikio & Takeshi Morishima b Masashi Aoyagi & Takuma Sano, Jun Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Akitoshi Saito b Richard Slinger & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kentaro Shiga, Kenta Kobashi & KENTA b Mitsuharu Misawa & Kotaro Suzuki, Yoshinari Ogawa & Masao Inoue & Mohammed Yone b Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Suguira & Daisuke Ikeda
219
2209/2 Milwaukee (WWE Raw/Heat TV tapings - 8,000): Sean O'Haire b Johnny the Bull, Jackie b Victoria, Goldust b Steven Richards, Shelton Benjamin b Shawn Stasiak, Spike Dudley b Raven, Tables match: Bubba Ray Dudley & Trish Stratus b Christopher Nowinski & Molly Holly, Booker T b William Regal, Raw title: HHH b Ric Flair, Kane b Lance Storm & Christian, Big Show b Tommy Dreamer-DQ, Pillow fight: Terri b Stacy Keibler, Flair & Rob Van Dam b HHH & Chris Jericho
221
2229/2 LaCrosse, WI (WWE Smackdown - 2,000): Albert b Rico, Rey Mysterio b Eddy Guerrero, Chris Benoit b John Cena, Kurt Angle b Rikishi, WWE title: Brock Lesnar b Edge, Mark Henry b Bull Buchanan, Hardcore Holly & Randy Orton b Billy & Chuck, Batista b D-Von, Matt Hardy b Funaki, Hurricane & Shannon Moore & Billy Kidman b Tajiri & Jamie Noble & Chavo Guerrero
223
2249/2 Isezaki (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,000): Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen b Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Tamon Honda b Kishin Kawabata, Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Richard Slinger, Mohammed Yone & Akira Taue b Trevor Rhodes & Bison Smith, Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio b Masashi Aoyagi & Masao Inoue, Takashi Suguira & Daisuke Ikeda & Yoshihiro Takayama b Makoto Hashi & Akitoshi Saito & Jun Akiyama, Vader & Too Cold Scorpio b Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa, Kenta Kobashi & Kentaro Shiga & KENTA b Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano & Kotaro Suzuki
225
2269/3 Green Bay (WWE Smackdown/Velocity tapings - 8,000): Billy Kidman b Albert, Funaki b Mike Awesome, John Cena b Chavo Guerrero, Rey Mysterio b Billy, Jamie Noble b Shannon Moore, Brock Lesnar b Randy Orton, Mark Henry b Tajiri, Batista b D-Von, Hardcore Holly b Matt Hardy, Crash Holly b Hurricane, Undertaker & Edge & Rikishi b Kurt Angle & Chris Benoit & Eddy Guerrero
227
228 
229
230Special thanks to: Manuel Gonzalez, Jeff Marek, Bryan Alvarez, Alex Marvez, Mike Coughlin, Mike Kuzmuk, Crystal Bush, Bret Querner, Robert Bihari, Alejandro Amaro Diaz, David Wills, Matt Pelletier, Scott Williams, Neal Jones, Joel Kolsrud, Joel Nurre, Trent Van Drisse, Bruce Grummert, Dominick Valenti, Aaron Luke, Tim Noel, Coby Anderson, Ryan Anderson, Paul Sosnowski, Aaron Wilson, Bryce Yang, David Farmer, Jerry Cusson, John Fletcher, Cody Endres, Michael Lightbourne, Michael Weaver, Mike Omansky, Scott Decker, Matt Creamer, Clint Wolf, Mark Wautier, Wayne Waupoose
231
232MEXICO: There are two huge shows coming up for EMLL next week. The Anniversary show will be on 9/13 at Arena Mexico, with Negro Casas vs. Tarzan Boy in a hair vs. hair match, Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero vs. Shocker & Vampiro for the CMLL tag team titles, Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Pierroth Jr. (will that be horrible or what), Cien Caras & Universo 2000 & Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Brazo de Plata & Atlantis & Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Volador Jr. & Hombre sin Nombre & Virus vs. El Satanico & Averno & Mephisto and Ricky Marvin & Tony Rivera & Tigre Blanco vs. Dr. X & Arkangel & Zumbido. They've also added a second show, just three days later, in the same building. This is to combat AAA which is running at El Toreo in Naucalpan with its biggest show in a long time in the Mexico City market that same night. They are doing a mask tournament with Atlantis, Villano IV, Mephisto, Wagner Jr., Nitro, Bulldog, Killer, Blue Panther, Violencia, El Hijo de Anibal, Lizmark Jr. and Universo 2000. Rules are that whomever scores a pin is eliminated. The last two guys left do a mask vs. mask match. Also Gigante Silva & Brazo de Plata & Mr. Niebla vs. Apolo Dantes & Scorpio Jr. & Emilio Charles Jr. & Bestia Salvaje, Virus & Hombre sin Nombre vs. Fuerza & Juventud Guerrera, Black Warrior & Felino & Olimpico vs. Takemura & Mazada & Black Tiger
233
234The 8/31 Arena Mexico show drew a big crowd with Vampiro over Ultimo Guerrero via submission in a singles main event to set up the tag title match on the Anniversary show. Casas pinned Tarzan clean in a trios match in the semifinal also to build. The 9/6 Arena Mexico is Vampiro & Shocker & Lizmark Jr. vs. Blue Panther & Ultimo Guerrero & Bucanero and no Casas or Tarzan do shoot a late angle for their hair match.
235
236PUERTO RICO: Carlos Colon is claiming that he's going to sue IWA over using Ray Gonzalez, who was actually the only person WWC had under contract. Supposedly they are filing a lawsuit against IWA owner Victor Quinones, the IWA, Telemundo Puerto Rico (which broadcasts IWA) and Gonzalez himself. Gonzalez actually had two contracts, a regular contract through October 2003, and a second contract which called for non-compete in the Puerto Rican market through 2005. Colon still blames Gonzalez leaving on Invader I, since Gonzalez grew up with Invader as his mentor and Invader left on bitter terms a few months ago after being with the company for about 100 years. WWC claims Gonzalez was paid in full and thus they haven't breached the contract and by Gonzalez working last week (under a mask as Fenix) on IWA, they've got a great case. Others say that the contract called for Gonzalez to be paid every two weeks, they got far behind on payment, and thus it was a breach. WWC, which paid Gonzalez in cash, seems to have the version that since the payment was in cash, Gonzalez has no proof of any money being late. IWA was banking on a loophole that Gonzalez was under contract to Capital Sports Promotions, which no longer exists. After a period in bankruptcy, WWC changed its company name to World Wrestling Council, Inc. (with two owners, Victor Jovica and Carlos Colon, with the name change, minority owners Quinones, now IWA owner, and Jose Gonzalez aka Invader I, lost their ownership interest)
237
238Gonzalez had his first match on 8/31 in Bayamon and drew 4,300 fans where under a mask as Fenix he beat Shane. People were chanting "Mr. Ratings" at him because that's the name he would nickname himself in WWC. With the big crowd from Gonzalez, they shot a major angle with Miguel Perez going heel attacking Shane with a kendo stick and giving babyface valet Habana a stunner. Perez hugged Savio Vega when it was over. Chicky Starr also returned as a face to save Victor Rodriguez from an attack by Vega and Primo Carnera. At the end of the show when all the main faces were in the ring doing the fist salute, Apolo walked out. The booking there, and it's been working for nearly two years, is always teasing a babyface is unhappy
239
240IWA dressing room with Gonzalez in is said to have a lot of disharmony as Vega (booker, who pushes himself copying the WWE Vince McMahon heel storylines) is building everything around Gonzalez. Huracan Castillo called a meeting with Vega complaining about how the booking is going and Vega said that anyone who is unhappy could leave
241
242They announced the Anniversary show line-ups for WWC which will be 9/12 in Cayey, 9/13 in Yabucoa, 9/14 in Bayamon and 9/15 in San German. The only outside talent being brought in are Konnan, Ian Harrison, Kid Kash, Kid Romeo and Nasty Boys. Top matches are Carly Colon vs. Konnan for the Universal belt, Super Gladiador vs. Harrison in what is billed as WWC vs. XWF, Reggaetones vs. Nasty Boys (same deal) and Eddie Colon vs. Kash in what is billed as being for both the XWF cruiserweight title and WWC jr. title. They'd better hope the Konnan-Colon angle is hot because aside from that, it is by far the weakest Anniversary line-up I can ever recall. IWA is going to counter on 9/14 with Ricky Banderas defending the IWA title against Fenix, with Fenix promising to unmask. The feeling is that if it isn't Gonzalez under the mask (and if they're feeling scared about legal threats they could theoretically do a switch) that the people will be furious
243
244All we heard on the first Konnan vs. Carlos Colon match on 9/1 in Caguas is that they drew 1,000 (triple the usual crowd in that city of late but still hardly through the roof) and it ended with a non-finish as Konnan was about to hit Carlos with a guitar, when Carly ran in. Konnan laid out Carly with a guitar. Carly challenged Konnan to a match for the Universal title and Konnan accepted, but then said he wouldn't do it until the Anniversary show
245
246Invader I is said to have no interest in returning to wrestling
247
248Victor Siemes gave his side of the UCW fiasco that took place last week. He claimed he was just a staff member and that Luis Vega was the Promoter and Greg Valentine was the President of the promotion. He said the wrestlers thought he was the promoter. He said Vega wanted to cancel the first show with no advance, but he convinced him to go on with the show. He said he paid Tony Atlas $40 because Atlas said he wouldn't go on without money first. He said he was told after the first show that Vega was arrested on drug charges. He said he checked with his friends in the department and found out that it was a ruse, and that instead Vega was disappearing. Oldest trick, I remember once in San Jose, the late Steve Schumann (colorful guy and good worker actually, we had a great bio on him in Tributes I) ran a show and when it came time to pay the boys, he pretended to have hung himself and attempted suicide, and was rushed to the hospital and nobody got paid.
249
250ZERO-ONE: Low Ki and Keiji Sakoda along with a heel ref from UPW are scheduled on the next tour. It would be Low Ki's Japanese debut.
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252ALL JAPAN: The company will be holding its 30th Anniversary party on 9/30 where Motoko Baba will retire and step away from the company and put it in Keiji Muto's hands
253
254There was a lot of comments inside in Japan over the past week over what appeared from their end to be the successful ascension of Lesnar to the top. Not just All Japan, but all the Japanese companies over the past few years have been largely unsuccessful at creating new drawing cards and there is nobody on the horizon in any of the companies to take the positions from the older Muto and Tenryu types who get by largely on their name and their smarts. Even though All Japan has made a huge comeback this year, everyone recognizes long-term it's a big problem and New Japan it's maybe bigger
255
256They are doing the gimmick with Satoshi Kojima after his loss to Goldberg, on the next tour, he had to work his way up, starting from opening matches
257
258Even though the September tour hasn't started, it's pretty much seems to be a throwaway now that they've announced the October schedule, from 10/6 to 10/27 with big shows on 10/20 in Sendai and the final Anniversary show on 10/27 at Budokan Hall. They will be reviving the old Terry Funk-Abdullah the Butcher feud over the last week of the tour. Funk spent years not wanting to work with Abdullah in Japan because of the belief it would tarnish what they did in the 70s that everyone saw, but they finally worked together in the All Japan ring again in January 2001. Also on the tour as foreigners are Taiyo Kea, Steve Williams, Mike Rotunda, Johnny Smith, Mike Barton, Jim Steele, George Hines, Kronic and Jimmy Yang.
259
260PRO WRESTLING NOAH: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, after winning the IWGP jr. tag title, showed up in his home city of Kofu on 9/1 wearing two belts
261
262With NOAH sending four wrestlers to the New Japan Budokan Hall show, New Japan sent them Osamu Nishimura on 8/29 in Nagano. Nishimura did a 30:00 draw against Kentaro Shiga
263
2648/18 TV show was this outdoor show in a terrible rainstorm. Takeshi Morishima & Takeshi Rikio & KENTA beat Mitsuharu Misawa & Takuma Sano & Kotaro Suzuki in 11:06 when KENTA pinned Suzuki with a falcon arrow. They tried to do a match,and it was mostly KENTA vs. Suzuki trying all their spots with the ring filled with puddles. Every time someone took a bump, water splattered everywhere. Still, nobody was taking it and only once did KENTA slip. The outdoor place was packed with people under umbrellas while the wrestlers got drenched. **1/4; Other match was a horrible Battle Royal that Makoto Hashi won. Like the old style All Japan Battle royals, if they were held in a rainstorm. Aside from a 20 second exchange with Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama which the people were into, it was those awful comedy Battle Royals. -*1/2
265
266NEW JAPAN: The 8/29 show at Budokan Hall drew 7,000 fans (announced to save face at 9,000). It was sandwiched in between the two All Japan shows with Goldberg in the same building as well as the Pride & K-1 show. Most of the New Japan top stars (Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Masahiro Chono, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Scott Norton) didn't even work the show, so it is lucky they even drew that many. Nagata, Nakanishi, Chono and Tenzan were at ringside for the show with Chono and Nagata doing TV. In the main event, which was a first round match in the NWF title tournament, they did an upset as Yoshihiro Takayama pinned Kazuyuki Fujita in 8:28 after a knee to the chin. Takayama will face the winner of the 10/14 Dome match with Tsuyoshi Kosaka vs. Tadao Yasuda for the title on 1/4. Takayama gave Fujita five hard knees to the head (remember, and this is a shoot, Fujita's head thickness is far greater than a normal man which gives him this ridiculous ability to take hard shots and unfortunately his brain will feel the brunt of it as he gets older because they take full advantage of this). Fujita's ear was bleeding from the hard knees. Fujita was expected to win the tournament on 1/4 and lead to a title vs. title program with Yuji Nagata. I guess the new plan is to give Takayama the big push, which would be far more effective if he hadn't lost to everyone in big matches over the past few months. Fujita hadn't lost in pro wrestling dating back to the idea of giving him the Bill Goldberg push and IWGP title after his Pride wins over Ken Shamrock and Mark Kerr. He vacated the title due to injury, so hadn't lost there either, and his only loss was a blood stoppage last August to Mirko Cro Cop in a Pride vs. K-1 match. They did three New Japan vs. NOAH junior heavyweight matches. New Japan took the first two, as Wataru Inoue beat KENTA with an octopus submission, while IWGP jr. champ Koji Kanemoto beat Makoto Hashi in 15:41. NOAH did gain the IWGP jr. tag titles as Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru won over New Japan's top two junior heavyweights, Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka when Kikuchi pinned Liger after a form of a power bomb in 22:18. They put the tag title match as the semifinal on the show. Was told this was the best match on the show, but that management was disappointed as they expected more heat from the promotional feud aspect of it. They had a weird stip match with Kensuke Sasaki against Minoru Fujita. The stips were that if Fujita could last 5:00 with Sasaki, then Sasaki would have to wrestle with Fujita on the Taka Michinoku K-Dojo independent group. Well, Sasaki destroyed him in 1:12 so they didn't even do a match where Fujita would hang on until losing at the end. Yasuda won via choke in 4:28 over the debuting Shinya Nakamura, who placed third in 2001 in the national collegiate freestyle championships and fourth in the nationals. The theme was mainly New Japan against outsiders, as they also had New Japan's Masayuki Naruse go to a 20:00 draw against Osaka Pro's Takehiro Murahama (who has done K-1 and many shoot bouts but is much smaller than Naruse), plus Gedo & Jado beat Curry Man (Christopher Daniels) & Ikuto Hidaka (Michinoku Pro team) and the opener saw Tiger Mask & El Samurai over the K-Dojo duo of Pablo Marquez & Hiroki. The other match, which has been awaited by nobody except those who wanted to see just how bad a pro wrestling match could possibly be, saw Giant Silva pin Giant Singh with a splash off the ropes in 10:30. Yes, it was bad enough they booked the match due to whatever perverse idea they had that people cared about it after a Tokyo Dome bout between the two was canceled when Singh suffered a broken cheekbone. But they didn't understand to keep it short. After the match, a masked man called The Heat (Minoru Tanaka under the hood getting a big push ala Liger or Tiger Mask) came out and destroyed Silva, who did a stretcher job for him. Well, they promised ahead of time that the new guy would make an impact. That's something totally different, having a 190 pound guy doing a beat down on a 450-pound guy and having him do a stretcher job
267
268The Heat will debut in the ring on 10/9
269
270They are going to add Kazunari Murakami to the Makai Club. Well, at least a guy who can deliver an exciting pro wrestling match
271
272Bas Rutten has matches on 10/14 (Tokyo Dome) and 10/26. The talk is they'll do Nagata vs. Fujita for the IWGP title at the Tokyo Dome. Masahiro Chono has gone from saying he doesn't want a match with Joanie Laurer despite fans voting for it, to saying he'll do it, but he wants it as a handicap match where Laurer would have as a partner one or two other women
273
274Takashi Iizuka is scheduled to return on 10/6 for a Fujinami produced Muga show after being out for 16 months after suffering a brutal concussion in a PPV match against Mitsuya Nagai. Nagai went for a hard kick to the chest in a match he was supposed to lose. Iizuka slightly dropped his head, and took the kick full force to the head and was knocked out badly. They were doing a best-of-five deal that night with New Japan vs. All Japan, and Nagai's unexpected win screwed everything up
275
2768/17 TV aired a lot of the G-1 tournament. This was far better than the travesty of a show the previous week, and would be a good show by normal standards but not by G-1 standards. They aired the last 2:30 of a Hiroshi Tanahashi upset win over Shiro Koshinaka. Great television, being sarcastic. Koshinaka had Tanahashi in a boston crab for a good length of time and they cut to a break with the crowd buzzing. When they came back, the hold was broken and the crowd wasn't buzzing. Crowd was into all the near falls and Tanahashi got the pin with an inside cradle to a huge pop. Then they aired Tanahashi's upset win over Kensuke Sasaki in 1:40 with a small package. Not much to say about the match, but the crowd went nuts for the finish. Then they aired the weird Yasuda vs. Kenzo Suzuki angle. They kept playing Suzuki's music and he wouldn't come out. Finally the ref rang the bell and started a count. Tanahashi came out. He and Yasuda had words, and then Suzuki came out from the crowd and speared Yasuda and got the pin, even though Yasuda in his generosity, actually kicked out. Match was 37 seconds and thank god for that. Yasuda jumped him after to keep his lack of heat. Nagata beat Suzuki with a crossface submission. They showed the last 5:00 and looked to be about **1/4. Solid wrestling. They aired the last 5:00 of a 30:00 draw with Osamu Nishimura vs. Manabu Nakanishi. Nakanishi had the torture rack on him for the last 30 seconds when the bell rang. Fans politely applauded the draw, but what aired on TV wasn't good. Then they aired the last 9:00 of a 30:00 with Nishimura vs. Chono. By today's standards, this wasn't good, but they were doing a 70s style match. By those standards it was good. Finally Sasaki pinned Takayama in 12:11 in the TV main. One of those heavyweight style matches where they just pound the hell out of each other. Takayama did a running along the ramp high knee. People were into this. Bout ended with both guys standing there with Sasaki hitting lariats and Takayama hitting high kicks to the face. They did the deal where both were weakened and fading fast and the question was who would drop first. Sasaki finally blocked a high knee and nailed Takayama with a lariat that he went down for, before the Northern Lights bomb pin. ***1/
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2788/24 TV was, except for the first match, a Yasuda level disaster. Unbelievable a G-1 show could be so bad. Nakanishi beat Nagata in 17:21 with a rack followed by a german suplex. A little slow early but turned into a good match in the last few minutes including a Nakanishi attempted spear being caught as a guillotine and a spot where they traded exploiders. ***1/4; Fell apart. Yasuda beat Nagata via count out. Only the finish aired, but it sucked. Yasuda threw down the ref, then sucker punched Nagata, who won on the apron. He fell to the floor "knocked out" and was counted out of the ring; If that finish wasn't bad, Nishimura beat Yasuda in 1:36. Nishimura put on the gloves like in Pride and crowd got jacked. Yasuda again knocked down the ref and kicked Nishimura low. Nishimura came back with the octopus submission. The ref stopped the match even though Yasuda wasn't even close to submitting. Wow, now their idea of a good finish is copying a bad MMA finish. Came across even worse than one of the million Survivor Series remakes. -**; Chono beat a masked dude from the Makai club, who was Ryushi Yanagisawa. Manager Kantaro Hoshino sure got old, but then again, he's been gone for years. Match went 2:48 ending when the other masked guys interfered and attacked Chono. -*; If that wasn't bad enough, then we had a tag with Yasuda & Yanagisawa over Nakanishi & Masayuki Naruse in 3:49. Naruse and Yanagisawa traded kicks and tried to work together. Yanagisawa choked out Naruse for the finish. 1/2*; To attempt to save it, they showed the last few minutes of the Chono-Takayama G-1 final match.
279
280OTHER JAPAN NOTES: Eiji Ezaki (Hayabusa) debuted as a promoter for the 8/28 WMF (that's FMW spelled backwards) show at Differ Ariake which drew a sellout 1,800 going head-to-head with the Tokyo Stadium show. Hayabusa came out in his first public appearance at a show since his injuries that ended his career (he landed on his head doing a lionsault and was paralyzed for a while) and was sable to stand up by himself, which was considered a big deal. The major angle they did is that they claimed ahead of time they were doing a wrestling promotion and not a death match promotion. In a match with Jinsei Shinzaki & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya, during the match, Mitsuhiro Matsunaga did a run-in with a barbed wire baseball bat attacking Gannosuke, who juiced. Gannosuke was pinned. Goemon also threw water all over Hayabusa to set up those two as the main heels in the group
281
282AJW on 8/27 ran a big show at the Fuji TV studios and drew 1,060, which shows how far they've fallen since it was considered their biggest show in a long time, with Kaoru Ito retaining the WWWA singles belt over Nanae Takahashi in 27:64 and Momoe Nakanishi kept the All-Pacific title over Kayo Noumi. This was to set up Ito vs. Nakanishi for the title on 10/20 at Kawasaki City Gym, which is a few train stops away from the Yokohama Bunka Gym, where Gaea has its big show of the fall at the same time.
283
284HERE AND THERE: There has been talk over the past week of the Olympics dropping Greco-roman wrestling. They've also been talking about dropping baseball as they attempt to cut down the number of sports. With college wrestling programs being dropped left and right due to Title IX, the sport of wrestling is in trouble
285
286The latest on the Messiah (William Welch) case is this. There was forensic evidence left at the scene of the crime. As mentioned before, Welch claimed to police officers that he thought the assault was wrestling related but didn't know the two men who attacked him. The police have concluded that Welch was specifically singled out for an attack, and that it wasn't random, and robbery wasn't a motive. The assailants would likely be charged with Mayhem, which would be a two-to-eight year term. Jerome Young (New Jack) has claimed that Rob Zicari (XPW promoter Rob Black) offered him $10,000 to do a number on Welch and did contact the local police with that story. The police said it was too early to know if that story had any validity. The problem from a time line standpoint is that Young had jumped from XPW to Epic long before the attack took place and it was actually Young's promo live which set off the chain of events that led to Welch claiming at a live show that he slept with Lizzie Borden (Black's wife). Zicari also bounced a check on Young and Young did an unprofessional promo on Black at an EPIC show. Scott Williams had an article on the subject in the Galveston County (TX) Daily News
287
288Wrestling Observer Live returns to radio every Sunday night starting on 9/8 from 10 p.m. to midnight Eastern time and 7-9 p.m. Pacific time through Sports Byline USA. If you want to call in to talk about any current topics in pro wrestling and talk to various different guests, you can join us between those hours by calling 1-800-878-play (we may have another number as well but I won't know that until the weekend). For info on stations in your area you can go to the www.sportsbyline.com web site or you can listen to it live through that web site. We'll also be available world wide on the Armed Forces Radio Network and on Ch. 123 on Sirius Satellite radio which has been advertising a lot of late and will be available in a lot of the 2003 cars
289
290XPW ran its first show in Philadelphia at the old ECW Arena on 8/31 drawing a reported 900 fans, which is a better crowd than anyone else is doing. There were no incidents with CZW at the show. The show ended up with Shane Douglas beating Terry Funk in a short match. Funk gashed his arm something fierce and the ref stopped the match. Funk piledrove Lizzy Borden (Janet Zicari) after the match. They did promos early in the show where Funk and Douglas argued over who was the man who really made ECW and after the show apparently did a worked internet shoot where Funk took a punch at Douglas. Funk did legit need 20 stitches to close the gash which was so deep you could seen the tendon threw the opening. Funk has for shock value in the past on big shows, done major blade jobs on his arm like that, the most famous being in 1977 at the finals of the first World Tag League in the angle that really got the Funk-Abdullah feud going (to where people still remember it 25 years later) and made the Funks into strong American babyfaces. Former ECW wrestlers like Psicosis, Super Crazy, Sandman, Chris Chetti, Danny Doring, Vic Grimes, Juventud Guerrera, Little Guido and Chris Hamrick also appeared. Douglas claimed at the end of the show that he's the new owner of the ECW Arena and said that CZW and Blue Meanie's fed (3PW) will have to kiss his ass if they ever want to run the building again. As it turned out, even though the building has been for sale for years, the building owners the next day told CZW they knew nothing about any of that and it was all bogus. Angel got over taking a lot of sick bumps, and he got a huge ovation when it was over, in a bout that included a barbed wire board and light tubes, and he want through tables, boards and tubes as well as took a power bomb off the balcony
291
292Jimmy Hart and Cory Maclin along with local promoter Charlie Majors put together a show in the Bahamas to celebrate the 50th anniversary of pro wrestling at Nassau Stadium on 8/31 using 80s top area draw Tyree Pride along with people like Nasty Boys, Jim Duggan, Konnan, Steve Keirn, Mike Graham and others. The show drew a disappointing 1,000 fans, although the crowd reactions were strong, said to be similar to Puerto Rico. In the local paper, Hart said the main event, advertised as Pride vs. Hart's mystery opponent, "could be" Dusty Rhodes or Hulk Hogan. Turned out to be Bagwell. Maclin told the wrestlers their goal is to tape a TV show out of Tampa that would air in Memphis, St. Croix, Bahamas and other areas and run shows off the TV in each region, which sounds awfully ambitious nowadays and a bad first house didn't get it off to a strong start. On the Memphis TV this week, they ended up with a gimmick where Hart took over the show and aired his favorite footage, so the show was built around the 1982 Lawler vs. Andy Kaufman feud
293
294Messiah returned to action on 8/31 for CZW in Dover, DE in their Ultraviolent Tournament of Death which was promoted same day as XPW's debut in Philadelphia. Messiah beat Adam Flash, but lost to Slick Nick Mondo in a fans bring the weapons match
295
296Ventura was all over the political talk shows this week, mostly saying the same quips and plugging his book aimed at teaching school kids how government works. It was funny, because when he was on CNN, during his interview they ran a crawl saying Ventura hasn't ruled out running for President in 2004. Then, when asked if he was going to do anything in politics, he said he couldn't say never, but said he has no intentions of ever running for public office again. Ventura said his health is now fine after the blood clot in his lungs that hospitalized him, and said he feels great but will have to take blood thinners for the rest of his life. It's his third blood clot, so he noted he's very susceptible to them
297
298Sting sort of returned to wrestling on a religious show on 8/31 in Omaha that Ted DiBiase put together. They drew more than 1,500 with the biggest names wrestling being Terry Taylor and the Road Warriors. DiBiase played heel all night as the Million Dollar Man, and the show climaxed with Sting, who didn't wrestle, somehow (please don't try and get me to explain this) having the option of going through a table (to take the place of an "injured" Taylor via pre-match stip) or signing a lucrative contract to turn heel with DiBiase. Of course he chose to go through one of the most gimmicked tables ever. After doing so Sting got up and cleaned house with a baseball bat. Sting, Warriors, DiBiase and Taylor then all ended the show talking about their love for Jesus. DiBiase preached for quite a while and invited anyone who wanted to give their life to Jesus to come to the ring. At least 200 people came into the ring, and unfortunately, basic physics overwhelmed religion and the ring collapsed under the weight, but fortunately only one person was hurt
299
300Those who have talked with Heenan a lot say the current book tour has resulted in his speech improving greatly
301
302Mil Mascaras & Santo headlined a night club show on 8/28 in Los Angeles that drew a sellout of 1,200 paid
303
304At the Jacques Rougeau show on 8/24 in Montreal, the actual paid was said to be 5,500 even though there were less than that number in the building. Even though it's far less than he drew in December, by today's standards, no other indie promoter may do half that paid all year
305
306The Hamilton Spectator ran a story about the death of wrestler Abe Zvonkin of Hamilton from cancer at the age of 92. Zvonkin wrestled all over the word, including places like South America, New Zealand and Australia. Originally from New York, he migrated to Hamilton and according to the bio, won a bronze medal in the discus in the 1930 British Commonwealth Games and then played a year of football under Knute Rockne in 1931 at Notre Dame. He played ten years of pro football with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats (today's Hamilton Tiger Cats) including playing on the Grey Cup winning 1943 team, and then went into pro wrestling from there. It was interesting that the bio listed pro wrestling ahead of football in importance
307
308A couple of long-time readers from the New England area remarked that the ROH show last week was one of the best shows they'd ever seen in their lives
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310Tough Enough Darryl from the first season made his pro wrestling debut on 8/24 in Altoona, WI
311
312Azteca Promotions in Los Angeles is doing a TV taping on 9/6 in Compton for KJLA, which already airs EPIC and XPW
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314The new Entertainment Weekly had a review of the kids show "Mucha Lucha!" and gave it an "A.
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316A lot of the former WCW vets are exchanging horror stories about the indie scene. Between the Puerto Rican fiasco with Valentine, the Atlanta fiasco (that show in Marietta we wrote about has already been canceled) and a Mississippi fiasco where Terry Taylor ended up on the hook for $960 in plane tickets when the promoter pulled a disappearing act. Everyone needs to realize with unknown promoters especially, this is a market where you have to beware at all costs
317
318Amazon.com top ten ranking pro wrestling books for 9/3 with overall ranking among all the millions of books they carry: 1. Bobby the Brain by Bobby Heenan (202); 2. Sex, Lies and Headlocks by Shaun Assael (497); 3. First Goddess of the Squared Circle by Fabulous Moolah (3,993); 4. Tributes by me (6,202); 5. First Lady of Wrestling by Missy Hyatt (7,134); 6. Pure Dynamite by Dynamite Kid (8,761); 7. Bodyslams by Gary Cappetta (19,900); 8. I'm Next by Bill Goldberg (26,375); 9. WWF Wrestlemania by Basil DeVito (35,059); 10. Positively Page by DDP (35,918).
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320NWA TNA: Based on the response we received (31 total responses, 22 up and 9 down and all best matches being the ladder match, as compared to 588 for SummerSlam and we'd get the hardcore response), the idea of taped PPVs doesn't work and this promotion would seem in trouble at this point since we've never had this bad a response to any PPV except something like the WOW or DeGeneration type of shows that literally nobody ordered. Among the problems, besides the low rent feel and angles that are started and go nowhere, is no discernable face/heel personalities. The Siaki personality only makes the company seem bush league the more he is like Rock, and that means it's worse every week. When he tried to do that quip about saying your prayers and eating your vitamins only leads you to prematurely losing your hair, it just shows what a child Russo is to have to do that Hogan dig after all these years. Digging at the opposition only works when you've got a competitive product or are superior in some way or another. When you put out an inferior product, it comes off as being a crybaby
321
322A local fan drove by the Fairgrounds on 8/28 to see what was going on that caused them to cancel the show. As it turned out, there was nothing going on at the Fairgrounds that night. The building schedule conflict story appeared to be a work and shows were taped to save money, which everyone pretty much figured going in. . Three-way ladder match was ****1/4. Not on the level of the top five WWF ladder matches, but still a fantastic performance by all three going 19:48 (particularly when you throw in that Lynn and Style had already wrestled 32:00 earlier in the night and Ki had done 12:00) and ending when Lynn piledrove Low Ki off the ladder from about three feet after Styles crashed and burned on the floor. There was a spot before the finish where Lynn knocked Ki's ladder over and he tipped, landed on the ropes, balanced, kicked off the rope holding the ladder and springboarded back which was incredible. Ki also did a dragon sleeper on the top of the ladder. The first half of the match had the feel to it where you were watching hard working, but unpolished (the spots that didn't involve Lynn) performers. Second half was tremendous. As far as the other stuff, the Jarrett-Bullet angle is terrible and fans have turned on it. Jarrett is the face now. When 62-year-old Bob made a comeback on Jeff, there was no pop. But when Jarrett clocked him with chair shots and Bob was bleeding, fans were chanting "one more time." When the faces are portrayed as lame, the heels become the faces. Brian Lawler is back as a heel against Jarrett, also a heel, after Lawler was seemingly a face. They at least hinted what he hated Jarrett for and had something to do with "his girlfriend." It was funny because Lawler insulted Goldylocks, which is so novel (everyone does it and nobody even cares anymore) and then the girl who plays the girlfriend role looked somewhat similar to Goldy. Killings tried to be a face confronting Lawler, who backed down from him, but then Killings, instead of attacking Lawler as threatened, just walked away. Well, he did have a concussion, but why was he playing a face, and if he wasn't, he's being scripted all wrong because he came across as one, and if he is, then he shouldn't threaten a guy and then walk away like he did leaving fans feel unsatisfied with him. There is a total and complete lack of understand of the most basic crowd psychology in the booking here, which is amazing because Jerry Jarrett with his experience should have a better handle on it than anyone. It appears he's mainly editing the real stupid stuff out of the Russo playbook. The Killings thing was also lame as early in the show, Mike Tenay and Don West were talking about a Killings vs. Lawler NWA title match coming up later. Then when Killings came out, they screamed they didn't think he was there because of the concussion he'd suffered from a chair shot by Lawler, which Lawler then said was an accident. Maximos vs. Yang & Estrada was one of those second match in TJ type matches where there are great acrobatic spots but the work itself is pretty bad. They told the story about how the Maximos first came to TNA taking a 17-hour Greyhound bus trip from New York. In a sense it makes them appear hungry, but it also makes the product seem even more low rent, even when they tried to say they now fly first class in (which they don't). Funniest thing watching the match on tape is to watch how Estrada outside the ring is trying to hit on a girl in the front row rather than pretend he's hurt and be "into" the match. Kash and Red was a match that also had some great moves and was an entertaining opener in its setting. It also would have been considered terrible on WWE TV had the exact same match taken place. Red's weakness is punching. Highlight was Kash doing a press-slam of Red while standing on the top rope. Match had good stuff and sloppy stuff
323
324They are planning on opening a wrestling school in October with Lynn as head trainer
325
326On the Ferrara leaving deal, he was asked to take a pay cutback and told the office he'd think about it, before coming back a few days later and deciding against it.
327
328MMA: Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock appeared on "Best Damn Sports Show Period" on 8/29 (head-to-head with Smackdown). Ortiz was in studio live and Shamrock was via satellite. They did a great job of making it a match you want to see as opposed to two good fighters having a fight. Shamrock, who was never a good pro wrestling interview, was very good at using pro wrestling interview techniques work. All the hosts of the show when it was over were talking about wanting to go to Vegas and see the fight and how thick the tension was between the two. The next day at the gym, I had people running up to me the whole time I was there talking about that angle. Whether the two dislike each other as much for real as it came across and how much is hype (and it's a combination of both), it came across as two guys who had a real grudge for years and this is UFC's best opportunity to get a casual sports fan audience. Ortiz told Shamrock he'd better call Vince McMahon because he's going to be needing a job when he gets through with him. Shamrock said he's going to make himself a bigger star for pro wrestling by taking Ortiz' title. My view is that Shamrock was doing what he thought was needed to sell the fight, whereas Ortiz wasn't acting. Ortiz, at least to me, also seems like he doesn't feel Shamrock has a chance against him because of the age and size. Ortiz would be the safe pick for those reasons. Ortiz has grounded and pounded people who are a lot better wrestlers than Shamrock. If they keep it standing, Ortiz does not like to get hit but nobody, including people who are much better wrestlers than Shamrock, have been able to keep a match standing with Ortiz. Don't also fail to consider the major pride issue with Shamrock because in his mind this isn't a match he can afford to lose because his rep is more at stake here than in any other fight, plus he's fighting a guy that his brother beat and there is that Shamrock family issue there as well involving Ken not losing to a guy Frank beat. Anyway, this is the company's chance to prove they can promote, when the angle, the name, and an easy storyline is handed to them. On the 9/27 PPV, they need to have both Shamrock and Ortiz there, and do an angle with them but it can't look like an angle (tricky), but at least dueling promos like Frank and Ortiz did before their fight
329
330Pride is planning a November Tokyo Dome show based around yet another Nobuhiko Takada retirement match, this time for Takada to pass the torch to Hidehiko Yoshida. Inoki made that announcement, and apparently Takada was pissed, because he never agreed to any such thing
331
332For the 9/29 Pride show, besides the Ryan Gracie vs. Shungo Oyama and Andrei Kopylov vs. Mario Sperry, the only match talked about we know of is Heath Herring vs. Fedor Emelianenko (a good match for the hardcores but of zero box office value and not really an on paper exciting fight as Fedor's match with Semmy Schiltt was boring, tho Herring is a much better wrestler than Schiltt). Also scheduled according to various sources, none official, are Ricardo Arona, Anderson Silva, Vanderlei Silva, Igor Vovchanchyn, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and the Pride debut of Kevin Randleman. Sapp vs. Cyril Abidi (winner will then face Jerome LeBanner) under K-1 rules and Bernardo vs. Tom Erikson (who has never done a kickboxing match in his life) under K-1 rules are official for 9/22. Ishii is doing a pro wrestling stipulation stating that if Erikson can beat Bernardo, that Bernardo then has to retire, and the winner of that match will later face Mark Hunt. Ishii was shocked and embarrassed by Bernardo being knocked out in Vegas by Goodridge
333
334They are trying to match up Semmy Schiltt vs. Hunt on the 10/5 K-1 show.
335
336WWE: Regarding the 8/26 Raw at MSG, Vince and Rock spoke throughout the day and both were going back-and-forth as to whether or not he should appear on the show. Vince did announce early in the day at the production meeting that Rock would appear on the show. There was a lot of discussion about this, more along the lines that what was scheduled and the way it was (don't know what the angle was) would have killed the brand extension, more than a lot of discussion over whether he would be booed doing it (which he would have been). Both Vince and Rock had agreed at the end he shouldn't do the show. Then, later in the day, Rock was nearly talked back into doing it, but ultimately decided against it. Vince did want him doing the show. Some feel that ultimately even Vince realized at the end his wanting him on the show was a hotshot panic deal
337
338The last Raw before Monday Night Football on 9/2 in Milwaukee was the second straight weak show at a time of the year when they needed strong shows. Opened with Bischoff giving HHH the old WCW belt. He said Lesnar proved to have no balls. There was no crowd reaction to any of this. Flair came out with the speech about how he won his titles in the ring. When you treat the belt as a joke, the drawing power of the belt becomes an equal joke. Man, nobody did learn anything from WCW. They tried to use Flair's credibility because the specific belt is most remembered with Flair, but nobody in Milwaukee cared about it. Bubba & Stratus beat Nowinski & Molly in 6:35 in a double tables match. The big thing about this bout was a pre-match interview where Nowinski said that after he puts his foes through broken tables, he was going to celebrate by breaking Molly's hymen. Yes, they said the word. Ross & Lawler spent the rest of the match trying to set a record for saying the word hymen. Nowinski had a bad match. He did one dropkick so low that they even called attention to the dreaded dropkick to the navel. He made up for it doing a plancha out of the ring through a table. Guess that stipulation about it having to be an offensive move from the opponent for a table breaking to count has been forgotten, because he was eliminated. Bubba put Molly through a table with a power bomb to win it in two straight tables. Booker pinned Regal in 3:13 after an ax kick. Not their best match either. Michaels did an interview on tape to plug his return. HHH beat Flair with a pedigree in 9:39 to keep the new title after a low blow. Slower match, but either the best or second best bout on the show. I've noticed a problem with Flair matches, and that's in so many of his singles matches of late (Rock, HHH and to a lesser extent PPV bout with Jericho), Flair's opponent is like a little kid in the ring. You can't take it seriously because HHH facially looked like he was just so happy to do a singles match with this guy he idolized as a kid. Rock was even worse, although that was sort of the story of that match. Jericho's bout, a grudge match, wasn't as bad as these two, but still in spots you could see Jericho wanting to impress Flair by doing his spots. Kane beat Storm & Christian in a handicap match in 5:23 when he choke slammed Storm. Remember when Undertaker used to do this stuff with E&C? They said it was Kane's first match in four months at least twice during this match. Well, except for his house show matches over the weekend. With house show business the way it is, either they should just say house shows are passe, which isn't going to happen. Or they should try and rebuild business. This where the fans at the shows all weekend, the most loyal fans the company has in those respective markets, see Kane wrestle, then watch Raw and are told he hasn't wrestled in four months, it's like the company is giving the finger to its most loyal fans because they're the only ones who know they're being lied to and that isn't good business. Test made the save and threatened to burn the flag until Bradshaw saved Kane. Show beat Dreamer via DQ in 3:05 when Dreamer wasted Show with a series of chair shots. Dreamer took ungodly punishment before that time. Bischoff had gotten a call that a member of Raw was jumping to be with his family member. Jeff Hardy and Crash then came out. Bischoff had the Island Boyz lay out Jeff and Bischoff yelled at him for leaving with no notice. Crash then revealed he was the guy leaving, and left. Terri beat Keibler in a pillow fight match with Lawler as ref. Keibler then tarred & feathered Terri after the match. This was amateur hour level bad. Then for the main, RVD & Flair beat HHH & Jericho in 9:36. Good match. RVD pinned HHH with a frog splash after kicking the belt into his face. That sets up HHH's title defense at the next PPV
339
340Yes, we're getting the gay wedding after Russo couldn't pull it off three-and-a-half years ago, and it's coming next week. Smackdown on 9/3 in Green Bay opened with Mysterio over Billy in a match where Billy dominated and Mysterio snuck over. After the match, Rico urged Chuck to pull a ring from way down deep in his trunks and propose to Billy. Billy accepted and they announced the wedding for 9/12. Noble pinned Moore. Lesnar pinned Orton in a strong match. D-Von complained about the sinful nature of the gary marriage, but Stephanie informed him he's presiding over the ceremony. Henry squashed Tajiri in a one-sided bout. They did a long contract signing of Undertaker vs. Lesnar. Heyman berated Undertaker, who pie faced him. I think it'll be revealed somewhere in here that Sara Undertaker is pregnant. This can't be good. Lesnar was pulled away. Came off bad live. Batista beat D-Von with a power bomb. They teased a potential Benoit-Angle program. Matt was playing obnoxious babyface with Moore. Bob Holly pinned Matt Hardy holding the tights. Fans still cheered Matt as the face. Crash pinned Hurricane and the two shook hands after. Crowd didn't give them a chance. Edge & Rikishi & Undertaker beat the dream trio of Angle & Guerrero & Benoit. Rikishi gave Angle the stink face and Benoit laughed at him, leading to them going nose-to-nose. The two fought each other with Angle posting Benoit. Guerrero got destroyed by all three faces. Guerrero got speared by Edge, shoved up Rikishi's rectum and finally choke slammed by Undertaker
341
342Smackdown notes from 8/29 from the Mohegan Sun. Blew Raw away again. The three-way where Undertaker won over Benoit and Angle was a very good match. Mostly due to Benoit and Angle, but Undertaker was fine even if when he was in, they worked it like a handicap match and Undertaker held his own with both. I understand him switching to Smackdown for the month, because they want him and Lesnar on the same show to work their angles, but any finish other than Undertaker losing clean at this point (unless they need to stretch it out because right now they've got nobody ready to headline against Lesnar) either September or at the latest an October blow-off would be a mistake. I didn't even mind the spot where Benoit had him in the crossface and Angle had him in the ankle lock, but the announcers should have played it up more how superhuman it was for him not to tap. For better or worse, Lesnar has no viable contenders that he'll draw with right now on PPV. When you look at the list of potential guys, it's HHH, who just turned heel so shouldn't be doing it, Angle, who they need to save and make it mean something, Benoit, who s also a heel and needs more of a build-up for the spot coming off the loss, so you're left with Van Dam and Undertaker. Of the two, I don't really think Undertaker is going to draw anymore on PPV at this point, and Van Dam would have the better match. However, if the idea is to build Lesnar, done correctly, which would be a bigger deal for him to be elevated, theoretically, a win over Van Dam, or a clean win on Undertaker? What made Lesnar was the win over Hogan, so I'd say, done correctly, and it better be, and that does mean an F-5 finish after an evenly fought war, Undertaker is the best victim to build a guy for the future. And to make that mean something, the next three weeks have to be dedicated to making Undertaker superman so Lesnar is beating superman, and not tired old man. Matt Hardy did a great job with Lesnar, as they had a good TV match. Actually there was nothing on the show that was bad, Benoit-Rikishi was so short it didn't have time to be much. Mysterio-Rico was great for a TV match, as was Edge-Guerrero. Not much to comment on regarding the skits. I could do without Stephanie but the way the show was written, I guess they needed them. The one where Matt Hardy hung up the phone on her was good
343
344In the divorce filing by Austin on 7/22, it noted that the two were married on September 13, 2000, but are now separated. The ground cited by Austin is the marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities that destroyed the legitimate ends of the marriage and prevents any reasonable expectation of reconciliation. Austin noted that they would try and work out the community property issues and that he owns property that isn't part of the community estate
345
346There was definite conflict between McMahon and the UnAmericans regarding the angle at MSG. It wasn't as much that they didn't want to do the burning the flag angle (since they weren't going to burn it anyway), but wanted proper security. Others took it as that they were lucky to be put in a potential heat getting angle and they're wary of it getting too much heat, and that heels should strive for the most heat possible and they should look at this as their big opportunity. There is also the problem that if terrorists attack the U.S. again or something happens, the angle will either have to be dropped based on good taste, which will leave the three guys sort of like Bart Gunn was after Butterbean killed him, or, they'll exploit it, which will get tons of heat, but may also hurt the company from a p.r. standpoint. Of course, hopefully that's an issue that will never have to be thought about
347
348Vince & Linda McMahon will not be getting performance bonuses according to the company's latest filing, although in the case of Vince, that announcement in a sense was very misleading. Vince earns $1 million in straight salary and Linda earns $750,000. They also get paid as performers when they appear. Vince got a $900,000 performance bonus last year, but didn't get one this year. However, this year he earned $929,965 from working as talent ($850,000 annual downside guarantee) as compared with $64,719 the previous year, as well as some insurance, 401K plan and money the company paid for some housekeeping services. Linda, however, who got a $675,000 bonus last year, earned $13,350 including 401K contributions and some talent fees, so her talent fees really don't amount to a significant amount
349
350Several sources have confirmed that Rock was very upset regarding being booed, but also that he was expecting it based on crowd response up until that point of time leading into the SummerSlam match. No confirmed reason, if that were to be it, for him deciding against doing Raw, but people were upset about that as well
351
352Also a correction from last week's issue on the Smackdown results, it was D-Von over Cena. Wow. Somebody ought to tell Linda McMahon about stuff like that because she was on television talking about Lesnar and Cena as the two new stars of the company earlier that same day. It was funny because in the All Japan note, the exact thing that everyone was talking about was how well WWE is developing talent (which used to be something the Japanese did better than anyone) and how they can shoot a guy like Lesnar and Cena to the top so quickly. Oh well, half right. Cena gets buried every time they call him "rookie," which seems to be the one thing on that show they don't get. They called him it something like seven times in the first minute. They should just take Cena off TV if they're going to bury him like that because once guys get scarred with the loser label, it's very hard to make them draw. The whole Lesnar lesson is protecting someone rather than 50/50ing everyone except the top guys and then crying about how all these midcarders can't get over like top guys
353
354Lita was off commentary on Velocity after one week and they went with the soundalikes (Cole & Lloyd)
355
356When Ventura was on Larry King last week, and King, who knew nothing about anything, asked Jesse is he was going to go back to being a wrestler (not realizing he hasn't done that in 16 years). Ventura said that at 51, he was too old for that. He sort of in passing talked about maybe announcing if an offer came up. Actually, if someone were to start a new promotion in about a year with network backing (that's the if that isn't going to happen), a nucleus of Ventura, Goldberg and Austin could make a viable start in that it would get a ton of mainstream attention at first. It probably would lose a ton of money and fail fast without patience and great management, because it isn't like Ventura didn't give the XFL attention and a lot of good that did. But those three would garner enough attention that there would be initial interest
357
358Hugh Morrus' ring name will change to Bill DeMott. This will start next month when MTV airs Tough Enough and he's a trainer, and the decision was made this week to refer to him as DeMott instead of Morrus on the show, which would become his new ring name as well. He got into a really bad car wreck this past week in Los Angeles. Reportedly it could have killed him. He's recovered enough that he's going to Iceland where the Tough Enough 3 crew it doing their location shoot
359
360Very little in the way of Ross Report notes this week. Jackie Moore will be back shortly after minor surgery. He said that Fit Finlay will be doing a lot of one-on-one work with Batista, who they want to push. On Smackdown, they used Cena as a set-up man to get Batista over, which shows how the priorities have changed. Kane has lost a ton of weight, Ross pegged him at 275 to 280, so he's got to be down a good 30 pounds or more. Dreamer is getting married on 10/12. Bubba and D-Von Dudley and Jericho have all signed new contracts and both Hardys have signed extensions on their current deals
361
362At the show in New Haven, with fans constantly on Albert's case about shaving his back, he ended up mooning the crowd, which as you can imagine, ranked up there with Finkel in the underwear as not a pretty sight
363
364In a Minneapolis Star-Tribune article on Lesnar, where he praised McMahon for seeing something in him, he noted that his grandfather was almost as large as he is. They acted as if he spurned a potential NFL career to go to WWE. NFL teams have often given try-outs to great athletes from other sports, and one or two have even stuck. Angle had a try-out with the Steelers for example but Angle was a great high school football player. But Lesnar, who never played college football, had no serious chance to play pro football even if his size and quickness for his size are NFL quality. He noted his doctor's say his cholesterol is going through the roof and he's got to start eating more white meat
365
366A lot of former WCW people are laughing about the idea that Schiavone went to Fayetteville when they did Smackdown there and kissed Jim Ross' ass in an attempt to get a job because of Schiavone being so vocal about their past history forever. Schiavone has also been calling TNA looking for work as well
367
368Even though they did the angle on Raw where Lesnar was exclusive to Smackdown, he ended up working the Raw house shows against Undertaker (who had also "jumped" to Smackdown) all weekend and Kane worked on the Smackdown house shows because those were the original plans before the weekend and they wanted to give the people Lesnar and Undertaker since they were the advertised main and it would look bad for the markets for them to both no-show. It's our weekly speech about booking with lack of long-term direction, which kills your main storyline since the people in the cities see the big angle as being a farce. Lesnar and Kane were still booked as late as Sunday to headline the Raw shows in two weeks, or at least St. Louis. That will be changing, most likely to HHH vs. Kane. The decision making usually is that in the house shows, and in particularly a major market house show, that the people who are advertised to be there should be there, even if the matches continually change, the feeling is it's not the matches that draw but they don't want to false advertise personalities. But then they change storylines a few times a week and with this one, it forced it to happen anyway. When the writers do a switch, the house shows often take a few weeks to catch up to that switch based on prior advertising, but with the split in the titles, they had to catch up on that one immediately and pull Lesnar from his advertised Raw appearances
369
370A lot of WWE contracted talent worked the Russ Haas Memorial Cup show on 8/31 in Toms River, NJ for Don Bucci's Phoenix Championship Wrestling. The show, which drew about 600 fans, was said to be an amazingly well done tribute to Russ, including his family members being there as well as brother R.C. (Charlie). They did a one-night tag tournament which included Red & Stryker (not Matt Stryker), SATs, Divine Storm, Jamal of Island Boyz & R.C. Haas, Hit Squad, Malice & Seven, Ballards, Doug Basham & Damaja, Christian York & Joey Matthews, Ballard Brothers, Prophet & Tiger Khan, Bo Dupp & Matt Vandal and Lance Cade & Nick Dinsmore plus had a three-way where TV champ Frankie Kazarian won over Low Ki and Jerry Lynn. So lots of TNA guys and lots of WWE contracted guys on the same show. Tournament saw injured Rosie of the Island Boyz join with Jamal in turning on R.C. Haas after their semifinal win over Prophet & Khan. This led to Haas teaming with Nova in the finals against OVW stars Damaja & Basham, and obviously Haas had to go over considering the situation
371
372OVW, which has been running low key ever since Jim Cornette's mother took ill, is scheduled to get back on track this week with the 9/4 TV tapings at the new Danny Davis Arena. They are doing a free taping in the new 600-seat gym made for wrestling, said to be similar to the old Center Stage in Atlanta, which will air in prime time on 9/7 as a two-hour special in Louisville as something of a homecoming for former OVW stars like Lesnar, Rico, Orton and others plus Jim Ross and more. Confidential will also be doing a piece on the event, but not sure when it airs
373
374Confidential this past weekend was a repeat as they gave the production people Labor Day off. The show they aired featured a positive piece on Austin
375
376After leading her team to the WNBA title, Lisa Leslie, the league's biggest star, did the "If you smell" Rock line like Rock in the network interview
377
378Next year's No Way Out PPV is scheduled for 2/23 at the Molson Center in Montreal
379
380While things can always change, at press time, there were no plans whatsoever regarding Scott Steiner nor had there been any talks with him, nor even any plans to open up any contract talks with him. This is due to his physical condition, and not due to attitude or ability (although if people had seen his recent Japan stuff, athletically he's declined a lot). Attitude wise, he likely has a clear field since the company was happy he dropped the WCW title to Booker T on the last Nitro despite being seriously enough injured that he probably shouldn't have gotten in the ring
381
382The Hogan autobiography is set for a November release, coinciding with the release of a WWE trivia book. Somehow I think that one will be funny. Lawler's book is scheduled for a pre-Christmas release. The other major fall release looks to be John Molinaro's non-WWE book listing the 100 greatest wrestlers of all-time which I helped with editing of
383
384On the Billboard video charts for 9/7, in the rec sports category, the HHH video is no. 3, the highest of the 14 of the top 20 videos for WWE, followed by WM X-8. Best of Backyard II is No. 13
385
386Some actual attendance figures. 8/24 in Albany, NY drew 2,628 fans and $98,668, so it was probably about 2,100 paid, which is terrible. The 8/12 and 8/13 shows in Seattle at Key Arena for Raw and Smackdown were both not sold out despite announcements of sellouts at both shows. Raw was about 1,000 shy of a sellout, drawing 10,400 paying $303,570. Smackdown, which was set up differently, was 1,300 shy of a sellout with 9,407 and $275,770
387
3888/30 Raw team show in Lincoln, NE drew 3,000. 8/31 Smackdown team in Corpus Christi drew a sellout 3,000. 8/31 Raw team in Springfield, IL drew about 1,500. 9/1 Smackdown in Dallas drew 5,000 and Raw in Chicago drew 6,000. 9/2 Raw taping in Milwaukee drew 8,000 and Smackdown house show in LaCrosse, WI drew 2,000
389
390Lincoln was headlined by Lesnar over Undertaker via DQ for a chair shot in a match where Lesnar juiced. The show ended with Van Dam over Show in a no DQ match which was said to be pretty bad. Corpus main event was Edge over Benoit with Mysterio over Eddy Guerrero in the other top match. They did an interview segment using Funaki with Dawn Marie and Nidia, which ended with Nidia with no pants and Dawn with her blouse off. They had D-Von pin Batista in something of a surprise and the only thing I can think of regarding that is that they want to make sure everyone has no trouble losing before they start pushing them. They did the same thing with Lesnar early on. I guess fans know that when they say undefeated on television that house shows don't count, but it's still sort of insulting the most loyal customers of all, the ones who attend the house
391
392shows, to say that on TV when people in markets have seem differently. I think Goldberg worked because even though Goldberg actually lost once match in front of no fans to Hector Guerrero months and months before he started on Nitro, once he became a star, the streak was "legit" in that he didn't job anywhere and the streak fell apart when fans realized they were making up the numbers (up until about 100, the numbers were pretty much legit). Springfield was the same show as Lincoln. HHH still had the weekend off and hasn't done any regular house shows yet. In Dallas, they went with Edge over Benoit in the main event. Guerrero tried to interfere, but Mysterio made the save for Edge before he finish. Kane worked Smackdown over Buchanan for reasons mentioned earlier. They also had a Stephanie-Bischoff confrontation. After Kane beat Buchanan with a choke slam, Bischoff came into the ring to congratulate him. Don't know if they explained what he was doing there. Stephanie came out and they argued. Bischoff kissed Stephanie, who slapped him. Bischoff then told Kane to choke slam her, but of course, he choke slammed Bischoff. In Chicago, they did the same show for the most part as the other Raw cities except adding Heyman in Lesnar's corner and Flair in Undertaker's corner in the main event. Lawler refereed the womens tag match on the show. They also did a 2/3 fall tag title match with Christian & Storm over Goldust & Booker when Storm pulled Booker's leg from the outside doing a suplex. Goldust did a better spinnaroonie than Booker after the match. In LaCrosse, they went with Lesnar over Edge as the main event. Apparently they had a great match, with Eddy Guerrero's interference crotching Edge allowing Lesnar to hit the F-5 for the win. Poor Rico, he was even putting over Albert, who never wins. Matt Hardy was total babyface again against Funaki. Nobody knew Cena, so that didn't work. They ended the show with Hurricane & Moore & Kidman over Tajiri & Chavo & Noble in an excellent finish.
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