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2HOMERADIO ARCHIVENEWSLETTER ARCHIVETHE BOARDNEWSUFC NEWSWWE NEWSJAPAN NEWSROH NEWSTNA NEWSMEXICO NEWSINDIE NEWS
3NOVEMBER 27, 2000 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: SURVIVOR SERIES REVIEW, STAN HANSEN RETIRES, MORE
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6Wrestling Observer Newsletter
7
8PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 November 27, 2000
9
10The rapidly changing world of wrestling changed once again, as a Steve Austin vs. HHH main event at Survivor Series didn't end with a pinfall in the ring, but with a forklift dropping a car, purported to be with HHH inside, theoretically to a Wile E. Coyote like catastrophe (where the victim should be dead, but will, of course live to see another day).
11
12The angle, largely to explain HHH taking some time off to rest his back and hip injuries, kept HHH's unusual streak alive of having done no pinfall jobs in singles matches on PPV to anyone other than the Rock since 1996 in a situation under normal circumstances one would have expected him to lose.
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14Overall, the 11/19 show at the Ice Palace in Tampa was something of a routine show. It was somewhat mixed received, largely with criticism of the ending of the main event, even though generally speaking everyone was impressed with the workrate involved. There were no matches off the page and some of the work was sloppier than usual, but the crowd seemed into most of it. The risks have been toned down, which is overall for the good of everyone concerned. The main event did see Austin put on his best performance since returning (which he topped the next night on Raw), as he was moving well, his offense looked good, he even took some bumps one would figure he wouldn't. With both he and HHH injured, much of the match was brawling outside the ring, but it was intense brawling. It was not the calibre of main event that most WWF PPV shows are noted for, but it wasn't a bad match, and those who were disappointed were probably reacting more to the new wave finish.
15
16While the card didn't sellout well in advance as most WWF PPV events over the past two years have done, it was still legitimately sold out the day of the show, with 16,533 in the building and another 500 or so in the arena restaurant, which was 14,753 paid, a $778,990 gate and another $114,352 in merchandise.
17
18The other major angle was in Kurt Angle's WWF title defense, beating Undertaker, by reviving the twin angle from the 1988 Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan match. It was a twin Angle, actually not a twin, but brother Eric Angle, who was pulled from under the ring and took a last ride power bomb from Undertaker, while the real Kurt came from the other side of the ring and won the match. The win was necessary to establish Angle, who hadn't scored any pins over top-flight contenders since winning the title. It was also a much better match than Undertaker and Angle had during their previous PPV meeting, showing just how much in just a few months that Angle has improved into becoming one of the premier all-around performers in the world.
19
20In going back to an old formula, which during the 1998-99 TV season didn't seem to have worked because it created four-plus hour live shows and led to bad crowd reactions on many of the shows, they went back to trying to get the crowd in the building more than one hour early, shooting matches and angles on the Heat show live, before going into the PPV. There were complaints from a live fan standpoint that we heard from many, with the idea of spending high dollar ticket prices and having to watch the main event on the video wall because so little of it took place in the ring.
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22The show opened with a great opening video montage based on HHH and this full-year plan.
23
241. Crash Holly (Michael Lockwood) & Molly Holly (Nora Greenwald) & Steve Blackman beat Test (Andrew Martin) & Albert (Matt Bloom) & Trish Stratus (Patricia Stratigias) in 5:02. For some reason, and they did this on Heat as well, they harped on Survivor Series history during the match. It made sense to note that in the past six Survivor Series shows, the WWF title had changed hands, since they were pushing hard the idea all along that Undertaker was winning to make it more of a shock when he didn't. But they also noted the famous 1997 match and Jerry Lawler twice said that Vince didn't screw Bret, but that Bret screwed Bret (they even showed a clip of the finish on Heat). Since Vince didn't do a run-in, which at least would have made bringing that up making sense, one can only speculate what was behind that. Crash did his Irishcarana from his APW days on Test. Test did his killer high kick. It appeared, like on Raw, the pyro fogged the arena late in the match as the shots were hazy. Molly pinned Stratus with a sunset flip off the ropes. *1/4
25
26Edge & Christian & Angle did an interview. E&C thought Angle was going to ask for their help against Undertaker, so they did their faking illness, Christian claiming mono, but he said he didn't need it. Angle invited them to a non-alcoholic post-match celebration. They also did a skit where Lo Down and Tiger Ali Singh didn't get any respect when they weren't even allowed backstage.
27
282. Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Dean Simon) & Perry Saturn (Perry Satullo) & Eddy Guerrero beat Billy Gunn (Monty Sopp) & Road Dogg (Brian James) & K.Kwik (Ron Killings) & Chyna (Joanie Lauer) in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match in 12:43. They got Chyna out quick, with Guerrero hitting her with the IC belt and Saturn pinning her in 2:30. Gunn pinned Guerrero at 6:00 with a bad looking neckbreaker. K.Kwik tagged in for the first time. He worked some great athletic spots with Malenko, moving great but looking very green including blowing one spot. They barely let him in the match, making him look bad in his big show in-ring debut when Benoit pinned him in 7:12 with a german suplex. Saturn pinned Dogg in 8:49 with a Northern Lights suplex. This left Gunn vs. Saturn & Benoit. Saturn and Gunn had some major problems trying to work together and Gunn seemingly blew up by this point. Benoit got a near fall with a diving head-butt. Finally, Gunn went to suplex Benoit into the ring, but Saturn scooped his foot and Benoit fell on Gunn for the pin. Disappointing. *1/2
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303. Kane (Glen Jacobs) pinned Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) in 12:34. Jericho did a running dive over the top, but caught his leg on the top rope, to change his trajectory. Luckily, he wasn't injured. Both guys worked hard, but it's a difficult match because of the size difference. Kane brought back the old hangman move from the early 70s. Jericho got near falls with a missile dropkick and a schoolboy, before putting on the walls, seemingly forever. Actually it was closer to a traditional boston crab. Nobody in the building believed the move was going to work on Kane, which really hurt the drama when Kane finally got the rope break. Jericho did a facebuster, which Kane didn't sell well, then went for his lionsault, but after connecting, Kane simply grabbed him by the throat and choke slammed him for the pin. *3/4
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324. William Regal (Darren Mathews) retained the European title over Hardcore Holly (Robert Howard) in 5:49. This was old style, with Regal working on Holly's formerly broken right arm. He even used an armbar submission, which Holly had to get a rope break. Match had no heat as fans didn't take Holly's legit injury seriously even though what they did made sense old style. New style the match had no chance because the match was seen as filler. Holly went berserk because Regal was trying to re-break his arm, and grabbed the title belt and hit Regal with it for a DQ. The idea didn't get over at all and just came off as a flat finish to a match that went nowhere. 1/2*
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34Trish Stratus tried to hit on Angle, but he had no clue. Pretty funny, actually.
35
365. Rock (Dwayne Johnson) pinned Rikishi (Solofa Fatu) in 11:19. Much better than it figured to be going in, mainly because, like on Smackdown, Rock did a tremendous job selling his chest injury. There was a ref bump early and Rikishi grabbed a sledge hammer. Rock blocked the shot and hit a rock bottom, but ref Tim White was down. Fans were really into the near fall. Rikishi came back working on the chest including a Samoan drop and a sit splash for a near fall. Rikishi even gave Rock the stinky face. Rikishi took a spin bump off a Rock clothesline, then used a spinebuster and a people's elbow. It took White forever to get into position for the count, making it almost a surprise that Rikishi didn't kick out. After the match, Rikishi laid out Rock with four banzai drops. ***
37
386. Ivory (Lisa Moretti) retained the WWF womens title pinning Lita (Amy Dumas) in 3:52. By far the worst match on the show. Lita has great moves, but needs a good worker to carry her in a singles match. Ivory is far from that great worker. Match was notable mainly because Lita got potatoed and her left eye was busted and blood was gushing everywhere. Very different for an American womens match. Lita came back doing her spinning headscissors, and Ivory took the bump on her head and was lucky not to be hurt. Ivory also had the handicap of having to wrestle in that terrible outfit. Finish saw Lita hit the moonsault, but landed on the title belt that Ivory had brought in, for the pin. Too many belt shot finishes and this finish also looked much like the Jericho-Kane finish. Lita needed a few stitches to close the cut. 1/4*
39
40Jericho attacked Kane backstage, beating him with anything he could find.
41
427. Angle pinned Undertaker (Mark Calaway) to retain the WWF title in 16:47. Undertaker, with a new ring outfit with pants that looked like something stolen from That 70s guy gimmick, almost looked like those early 70s out of the ring photos of Andre, wearing that 70s funky clothes with the belly and being a giant. They really pushed that at the Survivor Series in 1990, Undertaker beat Hulk Hogan for the WWF title. I think that only served to make people think undertaker is really old. He said "old school" and did his rope walk spot. Angle got beat on for a long time before hitting a german suplex. Outside the ring, Taker rammed Angle's back into the post twice. Edge & Christian came out. Christian was supposed to snap Taker's neck on the to rope, but that spot was totally messed up. Taker beat up both guys and then hit the choke slam on Angle, but E&C had Earl Hebner distracted. Angle went for the figure four but Taker turned it. Taker hit a powerslam for a good near fall. Angle did the figure four around the post. Finish came when Angle went under the ring. Taker pulled him out, or supposedly, as it was his brother dressed up as him. Taker hit the Last Ride on him, but before Hebner counted three, he mysteriously stopped. The real Angle came from the other side of the ring and schoolboyed Taker for the pin. It's one of those finishes you either love or hate. **3/4
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448. Hardys & Dudleys (Mark Lomonica & Devon Hughes) won a traditional Survivor Series match over Bull Buchanan (Barry Buchanan) & Goodfather (Charles Wright) & Edge (Adam Copeland) & Christian (Jay Reso) in 10:05. Basically a quick decent match, which ended up giving the people what they wanted in the post-match. Val Venis had beaten Jeff Hardy on Heat, but in the building, before the show, which pretty well seemed to figure on Jeff being a winner at the end. Edge pinned Matt in 3:59 with a new move they call the edge-o-matic, which is a neckbreaker, except Edge has his belly to his foe's back, kind of like a two-handed scorpion death drop. Christian eliminated D-Von in 5:10 with the move Tommy Rogers invented that now has a zillion names. Edge accidentally speared Buchanan and Buh Buh pinned Buchanan in 7:32. Christian accidentally splashed Edge and Buh Buh pinned Edge in 8:06. Goodfather pinned Buh Buh with a death valley driver, which is no longer the pimp drop, in 8:40. This left Jeff against Christian and Goodfather. He pinned Christian in 9:39 with a swanton. He then pinned Goodfather after Venis' interference backfired. After the match, the entire RTC came out to attack Jeff. Dudleys and Matt made the save. Matt laid out Buchanan and Richards with the twist of fate and Dudleys laid out Goodfather with the 3-D and they did the wazzup spot on Venis. Matt ended up putting Venis through one table while Buh Buh power bombed Richards off the ropes through a second table. **3/4
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468. Austin (Steve Williams) went to a no decision with Helmsley (Paul Levesque) in about 25:00. They kept it out of the ring as much as possible, brawling to the entrance way. HHH juiced heavy after being hit with a TV monitor. Austin drank two beers. In the ring, HHH reversed an attempted stunner and hit a neckbreaker. They pushed the bad neck. HHH did another neckbreaker for a near fall. Austin came back with a spinebuster but missed a pointed elbow coming off the ropes. HHH continued to work on the neck until setting up a pedigree on the ring steps, but Austin reversed it, with HHH taking a backdrop through the English language announcers table. Austin pounded the cut and hit the stunner in the middle, but decided against going for the pin. The two ended up backstage where the Radicals all attacked Austin, with them putting the focus on Benoit, while HHH managed to run away and get into his car for the run over spot. However, as HHH went to run him over, Austin disappeared. Austin ended up with a forklift, lifted up the car high in the air, turned it over and dropped HHH to the ground as the show went off the air. There was something about a no DQ match with the stipulation of no outside interference ending with no winner and outside interference, combined with them totalling a car, that came off like Vince Russo booking. After the show went off the air, Austin came back to the ring to drink a few beers for the post-match celebration. ***1/4
47
48Motoko Baba announced on 11/19 on the first night of the tag team tournament that Stan Hansen, notable by his absence in the company's traditional biggest tour of the year and the most popular foreign wrestler in the history of Japanese wrestling, would be retiring.
49
50Hansen, who has been banged up for years with crippling injuries from 27 years in the ring, most in the hard physical All Japan style, is expected to wrestle one last match, which takes place on the 1/28 show at the Tokyo Dome.
51
52Hansen, 51, in the late 70s, popularized what later would become a fixture pro wrestling move, the clothesline, which almost nobody in wrestling did and became one of the hottest finishers in Japan by the end of that decade. By the mid-80s, the move started being copied by everyone, most notably at first, The Road Warriors in the United States and Riki Choshu in Japan, before becoming a trademark spot in almost everyone's arsenal. He'd been phased down in recent years in All Japan due to age catching up with him and the physical demands of the company's main event style. After the big split, he did one final main event at Budokan Hall teaming with Maunukea Mossman in a losing effort to Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu, largely as a way to give Mossman the rub as the future foreign star if the company could survive. Due to chronic lower back problems and lumbago, he missed several shows on the previous tour, where his main job was to put Tenryu over in a singles match to set up the Triple Crown win, and for the first time ever, wasn't brought in for the tag team tournament, which started on 11/19 at Korakuen Hall. At that point the plan was for Hansen to only work the major shows in 2001 such as Budokan Hall dates, in a semi-retirement, but his physical condition, and perhaps the company's financial condition as well, may have caused the decision for the company to announce his retirement in a company where stipulations aren't made to sell tickets with no intention of actually being followed up (with the exception of Terry Funk's retirement in 1983, but it was 17 months before he came out of retirement and the company's fans never fully forgave him for the announcement, which is why the gimmick was never done again).
53
54The retirement of Hansen officially ends one of the company's last two links to its days on prime time network television in the mid-80s when the company was built around The Funks, Hansen, Bruiser Brody, Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta, Mil Mascaras, Terry Gordy and Genichiro Tenryu. Only Tenryu, who just returned to the company after the NOAH split, remains from that era, and with Kawada, as the only two of the traditional company headliners in the most traditional of wrestling companies left.
55
56Hansen's career as a headliner actually started with New Japan in the late 1970s as Antonio Inoki's biggest rival of that time period. During one of the really heated periods of the wrestling war between All Japan and New Japan, the Funks, the All Japan foreign bookers, made a secret deal months ahead of time, kept under such wraps that literally nobody knew it was coming when Hansen showed up, just one day after finishing the New Japan tag team tournament with Dick Murdoch as his partner, at the finals of the All Japan tournament, helping Bruiser Brody & Jimmy Snuka beat The Funks on December 11, 1981 when he gave Terry Funk a lariat from outside the ring, in what turned out to be one of the most famous matches, and moments, in the history of the All Japan company. The Funks actually trained Hansen for pro wrestling in 1973 along with Tsuruta after he failed to make it in the NFL after being a college football star at the former West Texas State University in Amarillo.
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58He first made a big name in pro wrestling as the result of an accident, as he threw Bruno Sammartino wrong in a match on April 26, 1976 in Madison Square Garden, with a bodyslam, with Sammartino landing badly right on the top of his head, breaking his neck. Although legend had it that Sammartino was out of action for six months after the injury, he actually was rushed back to work the undercard of the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki show as part of a closed circuit extravaganza, headlining at Shea Stadium on June 25, 1976, before 32,000 fans, at the time the largest crowd and live gate in the history of pro wrestling in New York.
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60He was booked into New Japan partially off the legend of being the wrestler who broke Sammartino's neck, and ended Inoki's nearly five-year reign as NWF world heavyweight champion in 1980, a win which resulted in him become legendary in Japan. Besides beating Inoki during a time period that Inoki didn't do jobs, his reputation as the top foreigner was cemented during that same time period when he was the only foreign wrestler ever to beat Andre the Giant in Japan (via count out) in what most would likely consider him carrying Andre to the greatest singles match of Andre's career. In a major bidding war, Baba doubled Hansen's salary to $8,000 per week, making him with the exception of the NWA and WWF world champions, probably Antonio Inoki and Andre the Giant, probably the highest paid wrestler of that era, to make the jump and Hansen remained the highest paid full-time regular foreigner in Japan for most of the next two decades and was also the opponent in Giant Baba's last major singles feud and remained on top in the modern era with classic singles matches against Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi and even a Tokyo Dome battle with Vader where he literally destroyed Vader's eye. Although Hansen was a major star in the United States in the early 80s, he wrestled less and less domestically as the decade wore on and in the 90s wrestled almost exclusively for All Japan. His big glory period in the mid-80s saw him as half of the Miracle Power Combination with Bruiser Brody, a tag team that many would argue was the greatest tag team of its time and maybe even of all-time. Over the past 20 years, in the annual balloting for the Most Popular Geijin (foreigner) in Japan, Hansen, who combined two trademarks Japanese loved, the American Cowboy and the thick "sumo power" type physique, was routinely in the No. 1 position, even in recent years where he worked more as a mid-card legend in tag matches who would spent most of his time outside the ring, and just tag in for quick spots, saving his lariat for the finishes.
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62During his career, he held the Triple Crown title four times, with his final run coming in 1995, signalling pretty much the end of his career as a regular singles main eventer, the PWF title another four times as well as the International and United National belts separately once time each, as well as the AWA title for six months in 1986 when Baba bought the belt for him and because of loyalty to Baba, refused to do the job for Nick Bockwinkel in what was a huge story at the time. Baba basically rented the belt for Hansen, who was scheduled to defend it on an All Japan tour when Gagne asked him to lose it to Bockwinkel in Denver on Hansen's final night before leaving for the tour. Relations with Hansen and the AWA office had deteriorated going in, and Hansen refused to do the job, went to Japan with the belt and did his scheduled defenses, then gave the belt to Baba, presumably to return to Gagne, while Bockwinkel was defending the title in the U.S. using a new belt. Hansen also held the World tag team title in All Japan with partners Brody, Ted DiBiase, Gordy, Tenryu, Dan Spivey and Gary Albright.
63
64In many instances, particularly when it came to big shows such as the All Japan Tokyo Domes, Hansen would often get the biggest pop because he, like Baba, were names the casual fan that didn't attend the regular shows would know because of his status as a Japanese cultural icon. In the ring, Hansen was feared because he was terribly nearsighted, and worked a very stiff style, known for being a huge, tough and agile man who in his prime was considered one of the biggest stars and greatest workers in the business. A lot of the WWF's Bradshaw character was based around Hansen, more in his first incarnation but there are still aspects of it with the stiff offense and lack of selling in the current gimmick.
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66This has been one unique year in pro wrestling. It's a year totally dominated by one company. WCW spent the year in disarray. ECW was beset by financial problems. All Japan, after a more than one year power struggle between Mitsuharu Misawa and Motoko Baba, split into two companies shortly after the death of Jumbo Tsuruta. New Japan had a bad year for New Japan, but due to the attrition of the entire industry, were still clearly the No. 2 promotion in the world, although with its recent successes, some may claim as a big show promotion, Pride is on the verge of becoming No. 2. And the WWF had a banner year. There were some signs as the year came to a close that all may not be as great in 2001, but no wrestling company in the history of the industry ever took in anywhere close to the money WWFE did over the past year.
67
68And to cover the year, it's time for our 21st annual awards, traditionally, the only pro wrestling awards covered by wrestling media from around the world.
69
70The time frame for these awards is December 1, 1999 through November 30, 2000. Anything taking place between those dates should be considered. Anything taking place before or after those dates shouldn't. Ballots will be accepted throughout the month of December. Please plan on mailing before Christmas because holiday mail service is pretty bad. We'll have a deadline for receiving fax and e-mail ballots listed here in a few weeks, but roughly it'll be the end of the year. The results will be compiled in our annual awards issue in January. If you've got an opinion on the awards, you're encouraged to send it in as quickly as possible for consideration for the letters section.
71
72We need to clarify the term shooting. We have categories specifically for actual competitive match, Shoot Fighter of the year and Shoot match of the year. All UFC, Pride, MMA, Pancrase and RINGS matches are eligible for the shoot awards. Consideration for Shoot fighter of the year should be based entirely on participation and results of legitimate matches during the time frame and nothing else. Performance in shoot matches can be taken into consideration for Wrestler of the Year, since that award encompasses the entire pro wrestling world and there was a pro wrestler this year who brought himself into legendary status through his participation in shoot matches.
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74The top award, Wrestler of the Year, is for overall excellence in whatever craft your company is presenting and value to that company over the past year.
75
76Most Outstanding Wrestler is an award for the best in-ring performer. That inherently means that anything that takes place during a shoot match can't be considered because we are talking performer.
77
78Best box office draw is self explanatory. Work vs. shoot is irrelevant. Whatever person has box office value, whether it be for worked matches, shoot matches, or worked matches that people think are shoot matches, it's all the same as far as this category goes.
79
80Feud, Tag Team and Most Improved (since it's based on working) are all having to do with working, thus anything in a shoot theoretically shouldn't be taken into consideration. Actually, for feud of the year, because of box office, that needs to be amended this year because one of the biggest box office programs of the year was pure shoot and another was worked shoot and since they drew, they should be eligible.
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82Best on Interviews has nothing to do with working or shooting, although I can't come up with anyone in the shoot world who could possibly be considered. Most Charismatic is open to everyone in sports entertainment. Best technical wrestler and Bruiser Brody award for Best Brawler are only open to matches in a worked environment. Best Promotion is open to everyone in sports entertainment, no matter what their product is, if they are successful at producing it. Best Weekly TV show is irrelevant to this discussion because no shoot promotion has weekly TV. Match of the Year is open only to worked matches, because shoot matches have their own Match of the Year category and it's unfair to compare one with the other. Rookie of the Year is open to anyone in the pro wrestling world, as are awards for TV announcers and for best and worst major show, so shoot shows are eligible in all of those categories.
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84 
85
86"CATEGORY A" AWARDS. PICK A FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD PLACE FINISHER IN EACH CATEGORY. POINTS WILL BE AWARDED ON A 5-3-2 BASIS. THE WINNER OF THE AWARD IS DETERMINED BY TOTAL POINTS.
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88 
89
901. WRESTLER OF THE YEAR - As mentioned, this category is open to both worked and shoot forms of pro wrestling. This is for a combination of being both an important and influential pro wrestler in a positive manner over the past year, combining both being a great performer inside the ring (or successful, if performance isn't part of the product), combined with value to the company. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa, Steve Austin and Vader.
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922. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER - This is based on working ability in the ring as the only criterion. Simply, the best three workers in the world inside the ring on a consistent basis over the past year. Drawing power, charisma and push shouldn't even be considered. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa, Chris Benoit and Kenta Kobashi.
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943. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW - Based on drawing power and drawing big houses and buy rates. Ring work shouldn't even be considered. Last year's top three were Steve Austin, Rock and Keiji Muto.
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964. FEUD OF THE YEAR - This should be based on a combination of having a compelling story line along with having great matches on a consistent basis that strengthened the box office. Last year's top three were Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon, Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn and Austin vs. Rock.
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985. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR - For the best working regular tag team during the previous year. Last year's top three were Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama, Matt & Jeff Hardy and Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa.
99
1006. MOST IMPROVED - This is based on making the biggest strides in ring work during the previous year and not for someone who was already good and was simply given a better push. Last year's top three were Vader, Kane and Test.
101
1027. BEST ON INTERVIEWS - Who has given the best interviews on a consistent basis over the past year. Reputation from previous years shouldn't be taken into consideration. It should be based on work over the entire year as opposed to one or two great interviews. Last year's top three were Rock, Mick Foley and Chris Jericho.
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1048. MOST CHARISMATIC - What wrestler has to do the least to get the most out of it. Last year's top three were Rock, Steve Austin and Chris Jericho.
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1069. BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER - This is for having the ability to use high level technical wrestling moves within the context of building a great worked wrestling match. Last year's top three were Shinjiro Otani, Chris Benoit and Kiyoshi Tamura.
107
10810. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD - This is for the wrestler who uses brawling tactics to put together the best matches during the previous year. It's not for a guy who does brawling matches that aren't any good. Last year's top three were Mick Foley, Steve Austin and Chris Benoit.
109
11011. BEST FLYING WRESTLER - This is for the wrestler who does the most innovative and solidly-executed flying maneuvers within the context of putting together great wrestling matches. This is not for simply the hottest daredevil moves, which sometimes hit and sometimes miss. Last year's top three were Juventud Guerrera, Jeff Hardy and Dragon Kid.
111
11212. MOST OVERRATED WRESTLER - This is for the wrestler who gets the biggest push, despite lacking in-ring ability. Last year's top three were Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan and Sid Vicious.
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11413. BEST UNDERRATED WRESTLER - The wrestler with the most ability, who, for whatever reason, doesn't get a push commensurate with their talent. This should be based on their work during the past year and not something based on a business reputation garnered years ago. Last year's top three were Chris Jericho, Juventud Guerrera and Chris Benoit.
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11614. BEST PROMOTION - Should be based on which group puts together the best live and television product on a consistent basis, and secondarily, the ability to sell that product to a high level at the box office. Theoretically, the top pick should be a company at or near the top in both categories. Last year's top three were the WWF, New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling.
117
11815. BEST WEEKLY TELEVISION SHOW - Weekly television shows are the only ones eligible. Not monthly shows, specials, or individual episodes of a specific program. This is for the best consistent program. Last year's top three were WWF Raw is War, New Japan World Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling 30.
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12016. MATCH OF THE YEAR - Pick the three best matches, in order, from the time period listed. Please list both the date and location of the match because some programs contained several different outstanding matches. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi on 6/11 in Tokyo, Edge & Christian vs. Hardys Boys on 10/17 in Cleveland and Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart on 10/4 in Kansas City.
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12217. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - This is based on ring performance and now how someone is pushed. By the standards of the category, a rookie wrestler is someone who hasn't had a regular wrestling job with a company that runs shows or worked on a regular basis on the indie level before September 1, 1999. Last year's top three were Blitzkrieg, Shane McMahon and Kurt Angle, and looking back, isn't that amazing?
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12418. BEST NON WRESTLING PERFORMER - For the best performer on a television show who isn't a traditional wrestler. This is taking the spot of the old Manager of the Year award, since traditional managers have been replayed by heel bookers and owners and valets. Last year's top three were Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Joel Gertner.
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12619. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER - Last year's top three were Jim Ross, Mike Tenay and Joey Styles.
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12820. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER - Last year's top three were Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Michael Cole.
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13021. BEST MAJOR WRESTLING CARD - This should be a major show rather than a typical house show from the promotion. Last year's top three were ECW Anarchy Rulz on 9/19 in Chicago, New Japan 10/11 Tokyo Dome and WWF No Mercy on 10/17 in Cleveland.
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132 
133
134"CATEGORY B" AWARDS - PICK ONE IN EACH CATEGORY. WINNERS CHOSEN ON BASIS OF FIRST PLACE VOTES.
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1381. WORST MAJOR BIG SHOW OF THE YEAR (Heroes of Wrestling 10/10 Bay St. Louis, MS last year's winner)
139
1402. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER (Dragon Kid's dragonrana last year's winner)
141
1423. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC (WWF continuing the Over the Edge PPV after Owen Hart's death last year's winner)
143
1444. READERS PERSONAL FAVORITE WRESTLER (Chris Jericho last year's winner)
145
1465. READERS LEAST PERSONAL FAVORITE WRESTLER (Hulk Hogan last year's winner)
147
1486. WORST WRESTLER/ROOKIES INELIGIBLE (Kevin Nash last year's winner)
149
1507. WORST TAG TEAM (Mideon & Viscera last year's winner)
151
1528. WORST WEEKLY TV SHOW (WCW Thunder last year's winner)
153
1549. WORST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER (Sonny Onoo last year's winner)
155
15610. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR (Al Snow vs. Big Bossman 9/26 Charlotte last year's winner)
157
15811. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR (Big Show vs. Big Bossman last year's winner)
159
16012. WORST ON INTERVIEWS (Sid Vicious last year's winner)
161
16213. WORST PROMOTION (World Championship Wrestling last year's winner)
163
16414. BEST BOOKER (Vince McMahon last year's winner)
165
16615. BEST PROMOTER (Vince McMahon last year's winner)
167
16816. SHOOT FIGHTER OF THE YEAR (Frank Shamrock last year's winner)
169
17017. SHOOT MATCH OF THE YEAR (Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz 9/24 Lake Charles, LA last year's winner)
171
17218. BEST GIMMICK (Rock last year's winner)
173
17419. WORST GIMMICK (Powers that Be last year's winner)
175
17620. MOST EMBARRASSING WRESTLER (Hulk Hogan last year's winner)
177
178WWFE reported strong financial results in the August through October quarter, with net revenues hitting $111,890,000, a 27 percent increase from $88,267,000 during the same quarter last year, but profits were down overall.
179
180In the same time period last year, the operating income (profits) were $14,960,000 but this year they dropped to $9,219,000. There were three major differences that actually made a difference between record profits. The two big ones were the $7,000,000 the company had to pay as its share of the settlement of the Owen Hart lawsuit (insurance paid the other $11,000,000), and another $6,523,000 in costs associated with starting up the XFL (although in comparison to last year, that was offset as a comparison figure by the WWF giving wrestlers during the quarter last year a one-time figure of $6,020,000 in stock options). The third difference was the expenses associated with the operation of WWF New York.
181
182The business increases included a 34 percent increase in the category of live events, PPV, TV ad sales and TV rights fees, the combination of which accounted for 73 percent of the total business for the quarter. House show revenue increased 28 percent over the same period a year ago, not so much due to increased attendance, as attendance during the quarter stayed relatively consistent (the slight drop of late wasn't noticeable until the last few weeks) but ticket prices were raised, and they increased the number of shows by doubling up on Sundays in non-PPV weeks. PPV revenues were up 35 percent, largely due to the return of Steve Austin drawing an unusually strong buy rate in September and October. Television rights fees were up 165% percent due to signing new international deals and the added revenue coming from the final month of the quarter switching from USA to Viacom with the new deal. That percentage increase for the next quarter should be substantially greater because it would be a full quarter under the new Viacom contract, which is more than five times what the old USA Network contract was for the same cable package. Television ad sales increased 19 percent, although that figure is misleading because the previous year, there was no Smackdown in much of August which will the network high profile spot, is a big seller. Merchandise revenue was $30.2 million, up ten percent from the same quarter last year. All aspects of merchandise shows strong growth except licensing, which is suffering from a slowdown in action figures and WWF apparel. Merchandise itself was up 13 percent at the arenas due to the increase in per capita spending and more shows. Publishing revenue was up 17 percent due to an increase in price of WWF Magazine and the sale of a special magazine on Rock. Home videos were up 12% and internet revenue was up 56% mainly due to selling more merchandise through the internet.
183
184Over the previous six months, the company grossed $231,741,000 and profited $31,254,000. Because of the lawsuit and the XFL starting as well as the shortfall in licensing, the profits for the year will apparently fall short of the original $80 million projections. After this statement was released, the stock price held constant at $13.13 per share, which is remaining well on the low end. The company's value would be $945 million on the stock market and the paper worth of the McMahon family's shares would be $728 million.
185
186Randy Couture became the first two-time UFC heavyweight champion, but the stakes were a lot higher than the championship belt for the company as it ran its highest profile live venue in years, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ on PPV on 11/17.
187
188Before a packed house of approximately 5,000, the first of those in a long-time for a UFC event, on a show which there was some question as recently as a few weeks ago if it would even happen, the big story was not the show, or the fan reaction. The real story was the overall response from the New Jersey State Athletic Commission, which had given conditional approval of the show. The commission was very strict before the show. Overall, it seemed to have been a positive as Larry Hazzard, who heads the commission, after the event said he thought it was a fantastic show and particularly praised the main event.
189
190While UFC has run in commission states previously, none have regulated it so stringently. The fighters had to undergo far more medical testing, including a more comprehensive drug testing procedure than ever before. One of the scheduled matches, Jeff Monson vs. Chuck Liddell, was even canceled due to Monson's questionable CATSAN results. There were problems from the other end as well, the strangest being the weigh-in, which took place the day of the show (traditionally UFC has weighed fighters in the previous day, which, in the case of those with college wrestling experience and knowledge of how to cut weight, has allowed with the extra day of fluid replenishing, some fighters being able to step into the cage as much as 20 pounds over the weight limit), which seems now to be considered the fairest way to handle weigh-ins. However there were problems, as the scale the fighters were using to monitor their weight loss, weighed everyone four pounds heavier than the scale the commission was using for weigh-ins. For all the fighters where making a certain weight was an issue, they had to drop four pounds rather quickly, although none had any major difficulty in doing so.
191
192When the dust cleared, Couture, who won the title for the first time on December 21, 1997 at the Yokohama Arena in Japan from Maurice Smith, and then never returned to defend it due to a contract dispute, returned to upset Kevin Randleman in a classic main event. The epitome of a quiet, uncharismatic amateur wrestling tactician, Couture won in 4:11 of the third round via referee stoppage after Randleman had won the first two rounds in a battle of top-flight wrestlers. In the third round, Couture turned the match in his favor as it wound up in an upper body struggle, the Greco-roman game, which was his specialty, as Randleman's experience was in freestyle wrestling, including two NCAA titles. Couture tired Randleman out standing, took him down, and capitalized on that positioning throwing blow after blow as Randleman seemed to have little in the way of defense on his back, a place he had never been put previously in his MMA career. Couture in the final moments threw more than 30 punches, forearms and elbows to Randleman's face, busting his left eye open, before ref John McCarthy stopped the match. Randleman was a tremendous sport in defeat, putting the belt on Couture, hugging him, praising him to anyone who would listen and doing a glowing post-fight interview where he asked for a rematch and said that he always knew if he were to lose, it would be to another wrestler.
193
194The 37-year-old Couture is back in the MMA world full-time as his prime sport, as he's also competing in the current RINGS King of Kings tournament, where he made the final eight that will compete for that title in February. He had tried to compete in both MMA and amateur wrestling for the past three plus years, but retired as a wrestler after failing to make the Olympic team in Greco-roman wrestling this year.
195
196The main event made the show, which consisted largely of unknown fighters to whatever mainstream audience is left of the product on the undercard. With the exception of the first two matches, the matches were largely amateur wrestling based, based around who got the takedown and who had the best conditioning.
197
198UFC will return to PPV on 12/22 with a tape of the 12/16 show from Differ Ariake in Tokyo. Booking the 1,500-seat building made for smaller pro wrestling shows in Tokyo, pretty well tells a tale in and of itself, since UFC, in its first Japanese show three years ago, ran the 17,000 seat Yokohama Arena, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Yuki Kondo for the middleweight title. Throughout the show, they plugged the next card, pushing the main event hard and that Pat Miletich would defend the lightweight title (his opponent, former pro wrestler Kenichi Yamamoto, never had his name mentioned). The appearance of Matt Lindland, the Olympic Greco-roman silver medalist, was never mentioned during the broadcast. While all the push during the show had the U.S. air date, the confusion in set-up was noticeable when Ortiz said 12/15 as the date of the match with Kondo in his interview. The plans are for the next U.S. show to take place in February.
199
200From a media standpoint, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" show was filming a feature on UFC, which may be based around Ortiz, at this event.
201
2021. Jens Pulver knocked out John Lewis in 12 seconds with a left to the jaw in a battle of 155-pounders. Because of a commission timekeeper who actually started his watch early and stopped it late, this will be forever recorded as a 35 second knockout. Lewis was throwing some jabs and had his hands down when he was hit with a thunderous punch and knocked almost completely out.
203
2042. In the second straight quick match, a battle of heavyweights, Andrei Orlovskiy, a sambo specialist who clearly knew his wrestling as well as kickboxing, tapped out Aaron Brink in 55 seconds with a form of an armbar somewhat similar to a Fujiwara armbar in pro wrestling. Orlovskiy took Brink down and when Brink went for a reversal, he was caught with the armbar.
205
2063. In another heavyweight battle, Josh Barnett came from behind to beat "Giant" Gan McGee in 4:26 of the second round. This was a battle of huge men, who were both undefeated MMA fighters, but with bad physiques. The 252-pound Barnett, who upped his record to 24-0, which includes wins over big-name fighters Bobby Hoffman and Dan Severn, defeated McGee, billed at 6-foot-10, which may not have even been much of an exaggeration, who weighed in at 296. McGee, 9-0 coming into the fight and who may have been a state champion high school wrestler in California years back, took Barnett down, got a mount and started throwing elbows and punching from the top. Barnett, who after the fight said he just wasn't used to McGee's size, being that training partners of that size to get used to just don't walk the streets. Both guys seemed tired after the first round. McGee got another takedown in the second round, but Barnett was actually throwing more blows from the bottom. McGee started tiring late in the ring allowing Barnett to score a take down, get the mount and pounded on him with punches and elbows before McCarthy stopped the fight.
207
2084. In what was scheduled as a dark match, taped before the show went live but inserted in this position due to the Liddell-Monson fight being canceled, Mark Hughes, the twin brother of MMA star Matt Hughes, remained unbeaten with a decision win after two rounds of Alex Steibling. Hughes in both rounds was able to take Steibling down and keep him there. Both guys worked hard, but fans booed the fight.
209
2105. Renato Babalu won a unanimous decision over Maurice Smith in a fight similar to the previous one. Babalu, unknown in the U.S., but he went all the way to the finals of the RINGS tournament last year, the same tournament Smith lost in the first round of, was considered a strong favorite among insiders. In the first round, Babalu took Smith down when he went for a leg kick and kept him there, scoring a little from the top. Same thing happened in the second round. There was less action, as Smith threw some blows from the bottom so it was a closer round. Smith escaped from the bottom late in the round, but was taken down again. In the third round, Babalu again got the takedown and kept Smith under control. He never hurt Smith, but Smith's inability to avoid the takedown or escape from the bottom when the better wrestler didn't tire spelled the difference as Smith couldn't get any serious striking in while on his feet.
211
2126. Couture beat Randleman to win the heavyweight title in a match filled with surprises and excitement. Randleman took Couture down right away, which was a total shock, since Couture has so much wrestling experience at the international level, and while Greco is his forte, he was very successful for years in freestyle at a high level. He was attempting a can opener move. Couture made an attempt from the bottom for an armbar. While he didn't come close to fully executing it, this spot noted this was the "smartest" UFC audience ever as the place popped big with the knowledge of what he was trying. Randleman actually picked Couture up and dropped him in a short power bomb. Randleman spent the rest of the round working on Couture's ribs with some hard punches, easily winning the round. Second round saw Randleman rock Couture with two good punches standing, momentarily putting him in trouble. Most of the rest of the round was the two tying up standing, with Couture trying to connect with knees, but the early flurry of punches clearly made it Randleman's round. In the third of a scheduled five rounds, Couture again tied Randleman up Greco style throwing knees, including to the leg. He managed to tire Randleman out in his game and was able to finally take him down. The tired Randleman offered little defense on the ground, a total difference from Couture in the first round, who seemed comfortable working from the guard on his back. Couture pounded him with forearms, punches and elbows, busting Randleman's eye and leading to the stoppage.
213
214WCW also did a German market PPV show on 11/16 in Oberhausen, Germany before approximately 9,000 fans in a 10,000-seat arena. This is a report from the show by Christian Burns:
215
216Because of technical problems, a lot of people with cable missed the first hour of the show. Those people were very upset. People with satellite dishes had no problems. More people ordered the show than anyone expected ahead of time. Nothing is official, but I got the word they want to do a similar show in the future.
217
218The show was broadcast over two separate feeds, with one showing the backstage area and a lot of interviews. This channel was available over the internet as well. Newsworthy comments were made by Konnan, who didn't have many good things to say about WCW and even hinted about wanting to go to WWF if the possibility existed. Rey Misterio Jr. said similar things, although not as clearly as Konnan. It was pretty strange to hear this on a WCW broadcast.
219
2201. Kronik beat Misterio Jr. & Kidman. The FA's were treated like jobbers by Kronik. A lot of power moves and a little bit of high-flying by Misterio Jr. & Kidman, but overall it was just sad to see how Kidman has become over the past few months. I have this feeling Kidman's feud with Hogan didn't do hi many good. Kidman was pinned after the High times. *1/2
221
2222. Mike Awesome won the Battle Royal. Royal Rumble style with a wrestler entering every 45 seconds. Storm and Skipper started, and they just waited for the third participant, who happened to be Rection. Miller, Sanders, Awesome, Kwee Wee, Disqo and Kidman followed. Awesome sold a knee injury after two minutes. Kronik then in and eliminated Skipper, Rection, Kwee Wee, Disqo and Sanders all in seconds. Really bad. It wasn't clear how Disqo was injured. Misterio Jr. was next. O'Haire followed, eliminating Kidman. Kronik threw out Misterio Jr. again. Jindrak, Smiley, Wright, Konnan and finlay were the final wrestlers in. Finlay threw out a few guys and was left with Wright. When they were left, it was the best part of the match. Wright got the win, or at least he thought. Awesome then got back in the ring and threw Wright out in the style of Kevin Nash. *3/4
223
2243. Kwee Wee pinned Skipper. This didn't cut it compared to their Fall Brawl match. Some basic stuff and they didn't seem to care about doing any innovative stuff. Fans didn't care about them, either. Kwee Wee won with an inverted power bomb. *1/2
225
226Nash did an interview, where he gave everyone the impression he couldn't wait for the show to end so he could fly home. He talked about winning the European Cup title in a serious way, although he made it obvious he wasn't serious.
227
2284. Cat beat Sanders. About the commissionership controversy. This was not the fault of Dave Penzer. The match was advertised and promoted all along as being for the commissionership. Not a very good wrestling match, but it brought the audience back to life. Sanders ran down the crowd before Cat got in. Cat won after using a chair. *3/4
229
230Flair came in to a nice pop. He announced a Bavarian Oktoberfest Hardcore match with Smiley against Finlay. This was a substitute for Konnan vs. Douglas. Douglas was a no-show being said it was because of a legal case stemming from something that happened in ECW. Flair gave Jarrett's spot in the three-way later in the show to Wright (a babyface since the show was in Germany). This meant Wright had to work three times on the show.
231
2325. Rection beat Storm via DQ. Typical okay match. Neither the U.S. or Canadian gimmicks were over in Germany. Storm hit Rection with the title belt for the DQ. Not a very creative ending. **1/4
233
2346. Smiley beat Finlay. Pretty good match. Smiley won, but after the match was attacked by Finlay backstage. **1/2
235
2367. Wright & Rection won the tag titles from Jindrak & O'Haire. This was supposed to be Wright & Disqo, but Disqo injured his back earlier in the show, and the plan was for the title change. Fans popped for Wright winning the belts. They really pissed off the German audience already when the word got that they pretended on Nitro that it was Wright & Disqo who had won the titles and that by Monday, even Wright had already lost them. Rection was told to stay out of camera range in the post-match so for Nitro, the only shot would be of Wright with the belt. This is probably going to hurt selling a second German PPV because of how they treated this one after. Wright pinned O'Haire to win a decent match. **
237
2388. Nash won over Wright and Awesome in a three-way to get a match with Sting later in the show for the European Cup title. Nash did nothing, making it a bad match. Awesome and Wright wrestled each other while Nash just stood in the corner. Then Nash power bombed Wright onto Awesome and pinned both of them at the same time. Fans were loudly chanting "We Want Hall" during the match. *
239
2409. Booker T pinned Steiner for the WCW title. Charles Robinson was attacked by Steiner and Midajah was given the ref shirt. Booker then took out Midajah and another ref came out. Why didn't the second ref come out when Midajah was acting as the ref? Or do you only need to be wearing a ref shirt to be a referee in a world title match? T got the pin after an ax kick. **1/2
241
24210. Sting beat Nash in the European Cup title match with boxer Axel Shulz as the referee. This was the title Sting had won in 1994 over Vader and has never been defended since. Schulz was horrible and didn't know what to do. He once started counting a fall when Sting had Nash in a side headlock. Nash didn't do anything. Sting put Nash in the scorpion and Schulz tried to count it as a pinfall, but realized before three that Nash's chest was on the mat. Nash then submitted. Although Schulz was horrible as a performer, because he was involved, many newspapers had stories about the show and the biggest national tabloid newspaper had a big photo of the main event in the Saturday edition. Overall the reaction to the show was positive, but that's just because this market is undersaturated.
243
244Ratings for 11/20 remained flat with Nitro drawing the worst rating in the history of the show going live in its regular time slot, while Raw remained flat. Raw drew a 5.01 rating (4.70 first hour; 5.28 second hour) and a 7.4 share. Nitro, paced by the lowest rated unopposed regular time slot hour in the history of the show, ended up at a 2.27 rating (2.57 first hour; 1.98 second hour) and a 3.2 share. The total wrestling audience of 7.9 million was a little above the record low levels set a few weeks back. The Washington vs. St. Louis football game did a 13.82 rating and 23 share.
245
246Raw remained disappointing on top as the Austin vs. Benoit main event drew a 5.27 final quarter and a 5.28 over-run, one of the lowest rated Raw main events of the past few years. Raw's high point was 5.50 for Jericho & Rock vs. Kane & Rikishi and the Undertaker doing the angle with the Angle brothers.
247
248Head-to-head quarters saw Raw at 4.47 (Stephanie and Austin interview) to 1.97 (end of Nash-Thrillers angle, Luger interview, Duggan & Storm vs. Meng & Rection); Raw at 4.67 (end of opening segment, Benoit joins in, RTC vs. Dudleys) to 2.00 (Goldberg vs. Kwee Wee; Goldberg vs. Sanders); Raw at 4.64 (Jericho interview; Regal & T&A interview; Hebner interview; beginning of Regal vs. Holly) to 2.06 (Douglas vs. Bagwell) and finally Raw at 5.02 (ending of Regal vs. Holly; beginning of Rock & Jericho vs. Kane & Rikishi) to 1.88 (Booker vs. Luger).
249
250Smackdown on 11/16 drew a 4.76 rating (5.47 real equivalent) and a 7 share. Smackdown numbers in the top five markets were 9.2 in New York (so Smackdown again had more viewers in the New York Metro area than Monday Night Football three days earlier), 5.8 in Los Angeles, 9.2 in Chicago, 5.4 in Philadelphia and 2.7 in San Francisco. San Diego (2.5) and Cincinnati (0.5) were the worst markets while Memphis (13.0) remained the best.
251
252Thunder on 11/15 from Manchester, England drew a 2.32 rating and 3.4 share, which is better than what it had been doing, but it was also the best Thunder show in a while. The surprising thing is the show actually opened strong and dropped most of the way which is not the sign of a good television show and something that is very rare among unopposed wrestling shows.
253
254Weekend numbers for 11-18/19 saw Live Wire and Superstars both at 1.1, while Sunday Night Heat on MTV fell to a shocking record low of 1.55 as the lead-in show for Survivor Series, a drop of a full point from the previous week. Even factoring in the people watching the PPV on the West Coast that would have missed the show, that's only going to get it up to a 1.74, so that can't be used as a valid excuse for the big drop and if anything, one would think more fans with Survivor Series would be around on a Sunday to see Heat.
255
256The three-hour Galavision Lucha Libre block on 11/14 drew a 1.9 Hispanic rating. Just to clear up how the ratings work for Galavision, the Hispanic figure can be considered misleading in a sense. Galavision has expanded 32% in penetration over the past few months and is now in 22.5 million homes, or about 28% of the number of homes your major cable networks are in. However, since it is considered Spanish language programming, its audience measured is only based on the 3.6 million Hispanic homes that get the product and doesn't even measure whatever tiny English speaking audience is watching. Thus, a 1.9 rating would equal about 68,400 homes.
257
258OBSERVER POLL RESULTS
259
260Traditional Observer PPV poll results based on phone calls, fax messages and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/20. Due to web site not being fully operational, responses are still limited.
261
262WWF SURVIVOR SERIES: Thumbs up 71 (42.3%); Thumbs down 63 (37.5%); In the middle 34 (20.2%). BEST MATCH POLL: Steve Austin vs. HHH 37, Rock vs. Rikishi 33, Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker 21. WORST MATCH POLL: Lita vs. Ivory 54, William Regal vs. Hardcore Holly 23
263
264UFC: Thumbs up 77 (92.8%); Thumbs down 0 (0.0%); In the middle 6 (7.2%). BEST MATCH POLL: Randy Couture vs. Kevin Randleman 81; WORST MATCH POLL: Josh Barnett vs. Gan McGee 13
265
266EYADA POLL RESULTS
267
268Results of the daily poll on the eyada.com web site. New questions will be up every day at approximately 3 p.m. Eastern time with the results being announced at the start of the Wrestling Observer Live internet audio show the following day as well as each week here.
269
270What did you think of Monday night's (11/13) wrestling? a) Raw was better 49.3%; b) Nitro was better 11.5%; c) Didn't watch Raw 3.6%; d) Didn't watch Nitro 23.7%; e) Didn't watch Raw or Nitro 11.9%
271
272Should the WWF take Scott Hall? a) Yes, right now 17%; b) No, not under any circumstances 28%; c) Not now. Can be considered later if business is down and needs a boost 7%; d) Not now. Consider it later if he has no more problems 34%; e) Consider it later, but only sign him up short term because of his age 14%
273
274How would you categorize the potential loss of Rob Van Dam to ECW? a) A sign that the end is near 48%; b) A severe blow, but the company will survive at its present level 23%; c) The company will have to downsize greatly to survive 6%; d) Doesn't matter, because it all depends on getting strong TV 23%
275
276What do you attribute the WWF's drop in ratings to? a) TV network change 18%; b) Storylines aren't as compelling 18%; c) Natural downside of a popularity cycle 34%; d) Not allowing new talent to get tippity top credibility 11%; e) Lack of competition has hurt all of wrestling 19%
277
278What did you think of Survivor Series? a) Thumbs up 28.8%; b) Thumbs down 16.9%; c) Thumbs in the middle 23.0%; d) Didn't see the show 31.2%
279
280This 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.
281
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283
284For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $12 for four issues (which includes $5 for postage and handling), $21 for eight, $30 for 12, $38 for 16, $57 for 24, $76 for 32, up through $95 for 40 issues.
285
286For those in Europe, you can get the fastest Observer delivery by sending to Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet Herts EN4 9YR England or e-mailing to grapplingaction@aol.com at 8.50 pounds per set of four issues in the U.K. or 9.0 pounds for a set of four issues anywhere else in Europe.
287
288For the rest of the world, the rates are $14 for four issues (which includes $8 for postage and handling), $26 for eight, $37 for 12, $48 for 16, $60 for 20, $72 for 24, $84 for 28 up through $120 for 40 issues.
289
290All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address. This publication is considered copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of Dave Meltzer.
291
292Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at 408-244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at 408-244-2455. E-mails as it regards questions for the internet audio show should be sent to davemeltzer@eyada.com and as it pertains to Observer news should be sent to dave@wrestlingobserver.com. You can also leave major show poll results or send live show reports to either number or to the e-mail address. At this point when it comes to Tuesday night shows on deadline, please either call, fax or send e-mails only to dave@wrestlingobserver.com. We are always looking for reports from the major offices and in particular from Tuesday night television tapings immediately after the show to get the news into that week's issue. If you are planning on attending a Tuesday night taping, please let us know in advance and we'll hold up our deadline if we know in advance we'll be getting a report.
293
294For back issues of the Observer, the "Wrestling Observer Index" lists almost every issue in our history going back more than 17 years with the major headlines by the week. Besides as a guide for ordering back issues, the Index is also a great way to keep a catalog of past issues and use for historical purposes. It is available for $15 from Grant Zwarych, 151 Hart Ave., Peterborough, ON K9J 5C5 Canada. Virtually every back issue from 1982-90 is available from him at prices listed, plus $5 for postage for overseas orders. Most issues from 1991-present are available from us at $5 per issue. If you are ordering back issues from us, please denote back issues on the envelope to insure the quickest response. All payments to Grant or to us must be made in U.S. funds.
295
296We are also working with Powerbomb Publishing (www.powerbomb.com) to have re-issues of some of the most popular Wrestling Observer publications of the past. We have the 200-page book "Tributes," featuring life stories on Andre the Giant, Bruiser Brody, Junkyard Dog, Brian Pillman, Louie Spicolli, Dick the Bruiser, Buddy Rogers, Kerry Von Erich, Fritz Von Erich, Boris Malenko, Art Barr, Eddie Gilbert, John Studd, Ray Stevens, Dick Murdoch, Jerry Graham and others for $25. We have 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1990 Observer yearbooks for $15. We have 1983, 1984, and 1986 Observer yearbooks for $12. We also have the 1986 Wrestling Observer's Who's Who in Wrestling book for $20. For each order, add $4 for postage and handling within North America, $6 for surface mail worldwide or $14 for airmail overseas. If you are ordering more than one book, you only need to add $1 extra postage per additional book. All payments should be made to "Powerbomb" at P.O. Box 1523, Carrboro, NC 27510.
297
298Wrestling Observer Live airs every Monday through Friday on the eyada.com sports channel on the internet from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern time and 3 to 5 p.m. Pacific time. The show is available live throughout the world and the most recent show is available 24 hours per day on archives to listen to at your convenience.
299
300Bryan Alvarez and I open the show every day running down the latest news. We either have guests the remainder of the show, taking listener's phone calls and e-mails, or we take calls and e-mails. Even if you don't have access to a computer and just want to talk wrestling, you can reach us between those hours within North America at 1-877-392-3299 (1-877-eyada-99) and then punching in option two, or from outside North America you can call collect and reverse charges at 1-212-977-1859. You can always e-mail questions for the show 24 hours a day to us at davemeltzer@eyada.com. You can always check the wrestlingobserver.com web-site for the latest guest information. The 11/24 show is scheduled as a taped show with Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore. 11/29 will have Dusty Rhodes as a guest. We also expect Vampiro and Juventud Guerrera over the next week or two.
301
302We're also on every Saturday at about 5:30 p.m. Eastern time and Sundays at midnight Eastern time on Live Audio Wrestling with Jeff Marek and Dan Lovranski for the Wrestling Observer Extra on Talk 640 in Toronto.
303
304We also have late breaking news headlines on wrestlingobserver.com which also includes television reviews and columns written by Bryan Alvarez and Alex Marvez.
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306 
307
308RESULTS
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311
31211/13 Birmingham, England (WCW): Cat b Mike Sanders, Elix Skipper b Kwee Wee, Mike Awesome & Norman Smiley b Alex Wright & Disqo, Tag titles: Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire b Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman, Sting & Kevin Nash b Kronik, Bill Goldberg b Bam Bam Bigelow, WCW title: Booker T b Scott Steiner
313
31411/13 Nuevo Laredo (Ind - 10,000): Nicho el Millonario (Psicosis) & Arkangel & Zumbido b Brazo de Oro & Super Calo & Safari, Dandy & Mascara Ano 2000 & Blue Panther b Mr. Niebla & Villano III & Pimpinela Escarlata, Hair vs. hair: Damian b Calo
315
31611/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,100 sellout): Kentaro Shiga b Richard Slinger, Akitoshi Saito & Masashi Aoyagi b Masao Inoue & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Jun Izumida & Tamon Honda & Haruka Eigen b Makoto Hashi & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura, Naomichi Marufuji & Daisuke Ikeda b Kenta Kobayashi & Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue b Takeshi Rikioh, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa b Vader & Too Cold Scorpio-DQ, Satoru Asako & Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori b Takeshi Morishima & Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Jun Akiyama
317
31811/16 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,100 sellout): Mitsuo Momota b Kenta Kobayashi, Jun Akiyama b Makoto Hashi, Takeshi Morishima & Kentaro Shiga & Rusher Kimura b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen, Akitoshi Saito & Masashi Aoyagi b Naomichi Marufuji & Daisuke Ikeda, Mitsuharu Misawa b Takeshi Rikioh, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Masao Inoue & Akira Taue, Vader & Too Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger b Satoru Asako & Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori
319
32011/17 Shiojiri (New Japan - 2,500 sellout): Katsuyori Shibata b Wataru Inoue, Kid Romeo b Shinya Makabe, Minoru Tanaka & Koji Kanemoto b Kendo Ka Shin & El Samurai, Yutaka Yoshie & Shiro Koshinaka b Tadao Yasuda & Kenzo Suzuki, Osamu Nishimura & Manabu Nakanishi & Kensuke Sasaki b Hiro Saito & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Liger & Super Strong Machine b Team 2000 Machines (Michiyoshi Ohara & Super J), Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton b Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata
321
32211/18 Fujisawa (New Japan - 3,600 sellout): Kenzo Suzuki b Katsuyori Shibata, Kendo Ka Shin b Wataru Inoue, Jushin Liger & El Samurai & Kid Romeo b Shinya Makabe & Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, Tatsutoshi Goto & Scott Norton b Osamu Nishimura & Tadao Yasuda, Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka b Masahiro Chono & Hiro Saito, Team 2000 Machines b Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie b Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka
323
32411/19 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 2,100 sellout): Shigeo Okumura b Gran Naniwa, Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo b Dan Kroffat & Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Jim Steele & Mike Barton b Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara, Barry & Kendall Windham b Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya, Masa Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada d Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith 30:00
325
32611/19 Tokyo Differ Ariake (New Japan - 1,200): El Samurai b Shinya Makabe, Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka b Kid Romeo & Kendo Ka Shin, Tatsutoshi Goto & Hiro Saito b Osamu Kido & Tadao Yasuda, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima b Osamu Nishimura & Kenzo Suzuki, Shiro Koshinaka & Kensuke Sasaki b Team 2000 Machines, Scott Norton & Masahiro Chono b Super Strong Machine & Jushin Liger, Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka b Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie
327
32811/20 Orlando, FL (WWF Raw is War - 11,386): Tag titles: Dudleys b Goodfather & Bull Buchanan-DQ, Steven Regal b Hardcore Holly, Rock & Chris Jericho b Kane & Rikishi, K.Kwik & Road Dogg & Billy Gunn b Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn & Eddy Guerrero, Womens title: Ivory b Molly Holly, Undertaker b Edge & Christian, Steve Austin b Chris Benoit
329
33011/20 Augusta, GA (WCW Nitro/Thunder tapings - 3,775/1,988 paid): Jamie Knoble b Yun Yang, Tag titles: Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak b Alex Wright & Elix Skipper to win titles, Meng & General Rection b Lance Storm & Jim Duggan, Bill Goldberg b Kwee Wee, Goldberg b Mike Sanders, Buff Bagwell b Shane Douglas, WCW title: Booker T b Lex Luger, Meng b Mark Jindrak & Shawn O'Haire-DQ, Yang won three-way over Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias, Bryan Clark b Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman, Jeff Jarrett & Douglas b Bagwell & Cat, Scott Steiner b Big Vito, Bam Bam Bigelow & Reno b Mike Awesome & Crowbar, Lumberjack match: Shawn Stasiak b Diamond Dallas Page
331
33211/20 Himeji (All Japan - 1,300 sellout): Masa Fuchi b Gran Naniwa, Masahito Kakihara b Shigeo Okumura, Barry & Kendall Windham b Dan Kroffat & Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Johnny Smith & Taiyo Kea d Mike Barton & Jim Steele 30:00, Toshiaki Kawada b Mitsuya Nagai, Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo b Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya
333
33411/21 Fort Lauderdale, FL (WWF Smackdown/Heat tapings): Rodney b Chris Felsan, Tag titles: Bull Buchanan & Goodfather b Too Cool, Edge b Al Snow, Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn b Hardys, IC title: Billy Gunn b Eddy Guerrero, Test & Albert b Hollys, Val Venis b K.Kwik, Rock b William Regal, Raven b Tazz, Molly Holly b Trish Stratus, Steve Austin & Chris Jericho NC Kane & Chris Benoit
335
33611/21 Okayama (All Japan - 1,400): Johnny Smith b Jim Steele, Gran Naniwa & Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo b Shigeo Okumura & Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara, Taiyo Kea d Mike Barton, Masa Fuchi & Toshiaki Kawada b Barry & Kendall Windham, Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya b Dan Kroffat & Yoshiaki Fujiwara
337
33811/21 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (CMLL Japan): Tortuga b Maxx Bunny, Rie Tamada & Gami b Ayako Hamada & Ai Fujita, Ricky Marvin & Tarzan Boy & Mr. Cacao b Sasuke the Great & Kimba & Super Cacao, Pantera & Lizmark & Lizmark Jr. b Black Warrior & Violencia & Ultimo Guerrero, Guerrero won Battle Royal
339
340 
341
342Special thanks to: Jeff Marek, Devin Cutting, Alex Marvez, Kris Pope, Bryan Alvarez, David Stubbs, Samir Nurmohamed, Mike White, Sean Basler, Robert Bihari, David Romero, Jose Fernandez, Nils Braselman, Alan Smolek, Al Cotton, Larry Goodman, Patrick McClendon, Megumi Nakata, Andy Patrizio, Joe Silva, Eddie Goldman, Craig Allen, Zach Arnold, Georgiann Makropolous, Dan Parris, Mark Coale, Alexander Legrand, Tadashi Tanaka, Ron Lingron, Steve Lukosus, Shane Moore, Chuck Langerman, William Burnett, Trent Van Drisse, Aaron Dias, Michelle Malbouf, George Guida, Charles Warburton, Dafydd Denatale
343
344MEXICO: Damian beat Super Calo in a hair vs. hair match on 11/13 in Nuevo Laredo. If that sounds weird, it should. It wasn't the booked match. Damian was supposed to win the hair of a local priest, but the priest wasn't allowed to wrestle by the commission, so to save the show, they used Calo as a sub. Damian won the match, Calo removed his mask, put his hands over his face, and they shaved his head. Fans were not upset because they saw a head shaving of a big star, even if it was a masked guy that nobody will actually ever see bald. There was a national AP story that ran in the U.S. regarding this show because of the idea that a real priest was doing a pro wrestling match. The story reported the crowd for this show at almost 10,000
345
346Silver King turned on his cousin, Dandy, at the IWRG TV tapings on 11/9 in Naucalpan
347
348Ultimo Dragon protege Shimizu, who wrestles for the Mexican Toryumon group, was injured on the 11/10 show and had shoulder surgery
349
350Pierroth Jr. was back hospitalized this past week due to a blood infection
351
352ALL JAPAN: The least impressive tag team tournament in company history opened on 11/19 before a sellout 2,100 fans at Korakuen Hall. In the four tournament matches on opening night, Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo beat Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Dan Kroffat (who worked under his real name, Phil LaFon, in WWF years back with Doug Furnas); Jim Steele (who had worked here under the gimmicked name of Wolf Hawkfield for years) teamed with Mike Barton (formerly Bart Gunn in WWF) to beat Mitsuya Nagai (who gained most of his pro wrestling fame in RINGS) & Masahito Kakihara (formerly with UWFI, as part of a Japanese shooters combination) (0-1); Barry & Kendall Windham debuted as a tag team upsetting Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya and the main event saw Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi go to a 30:00 draw with Taiyo Kea (Maunukea Mossman) & Johnny Smith. They went to Himeji on 11/20 before 1,300 with the Windhams over Fujiwara & Kroffat, Smith & Kea (0-0-2) going to a 30:00 draw with Steele & Barton (1-1) and Williams & Rotundo (2-0) winning the main event over Tenryu & Araya. 11/21 before 1,400 in Okayama saw Fuchi & Kawada (1-0-1) over Windhams (2-1) and Tenryu & Araya (1-2) over Kroffat & Fujiwara (0-3).
353
354PRO WRESTLING NOAH: There was a ton of press at the 11/15 Korakuen Hall show kind of expecting that Shinya Hashimoto would show up. He wasn't there, and all Mitsuharu Misawa would say about the situation is that he has no answers and hasn't decided anything about Hashimoto coming in. They used both the blade and the DQ finish in the Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Vader & Too Cold Scorpio match. Ogawa juiced heavy at the beginning of the match and was taken out, leaving Misawa in a handicap match against both men. Vader & Scorpio double-teamed Misawa's arm including splashing on it on a chair and Vader put an armbar on Misawa outside the ring and wouldn't break it for the DQ ending. Both DQ's and using the blade weren't part of All Japan but they are making changes. I'm not sure the DQ finish is a positive change. I don't think the blade is necessarily negative from a business standpoint as long as it isn't overdone. This was all building out of Vader's elbow surgery where they did an angle where Misawa gave him an armbar for a storyline explanation when both worked for All Japan, so the big program is Vader returning for revenge. Also on that show, they had a tag team of Kenta Kobashi with rookie Kenta Kobayashi, who they still haven't given a new ring name, as they lost to Daisuke Ikeda & Naomichi Marufuji
355
356The next day at the Korakuen Hall show, Misawa said that after this tour and a Hawaiian vacation tour that he's doing with fans, which ends on 11/22, he would meet with Hashimoto, who had called him that afternoon. Hashimoto will be opening his promotion office in Tokyo on 11/20 as well as open up a company store selling marital arts merchandise
357
358They announced a January tour from 1/6 through 1/18 with big shows on 1/6 and 1/7 at Differ Ariake, 1/13 they'll go to Osaka Furitsu Gym for the first time and the tour ends with a Korakuen Hall show.
359
360NEW JAPAN: Tatsumi Fujinami left Japan on 11/18 for the United States for his meeting with Antonio Inoki to discuss the Shinya Hashimoto situation. Fujinami didn't quit as President, and came back saying that the wise man Inoki told him to always look to the future and you'll see that all your problems are really small problems. Inoki wants more New Japan guys to work Pride. It's funny, but they sell so many more tickets if they're on Pride than if they wrestle for their own company
361
362Even though it is technically the 29th year of the company, which opened in March of 1972, New Japan is going to book 30th Anniversary shows next year at the Tokyo Dome, Sapporo Dome, Nagoya Dome, Osaka Dome and Fukuoka Dome making it the most ambitious big show schedule in company history, even more than the mid-90s when the company itself was hot. Seiji Sakaguchi will come out of retirement at the age of 58 to work at least one of the Dome shows next year. I think Japan is hosting the World Cup or something huge in 2002 and New Japan doesn't want to buck that kind of competition for its anniversary shows as the explanation for why they are doing it a year early
363
364After Katsuji Nagashima, the New Japan g.m., met with Motoko Baba, they agreed to continue their working agreement and the 12/14 PPV show from Osaka was announced with a main event of the current G-1 tag team tournament winner facing a team from All Japan. It was not necessarily said it would be the winner of the current All Japan tournament in the match, but just a team. They also announced a second match as part of Fujinami's big show retirement tour, facing Koji Kanemoto and that Super Delfin and Takehiro Murahama of Osaka Pro Wrestling would work the undercard. Fujinami said that he still wants a NOAH representative in the IWGP heavyweight title tournament on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome, which is really strange, particularly with all the trouble saying that in the past caused with Baba
365
366The tournament opened on 11/17 in Shiojiri before a sellout 2,500 had two tournament matches, as Jushin Liger & Super Strong Machine beat Team 2000 Machines (Super J & Michiyoshi Ohara) and Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton beat Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka
367
368It was a TV taping, and Chono announced the top matches for the 12/10 show in Nagoya via coin toss. Minoru Tanaka's challenger on 12/10 in Nagoya for the IWGP jr. title will be AKIRA. Tenzan & Kojima will defend the tag titles against Chono & Goto in the Team 2000 battle. Although Sasaki doesn't hold the IWGP heavyweight title, they picked Ohara as his challenger in a singles match on that show
369
370Second show on 11/18 in Fujisawa before a packed house of 3,600 saw Machines win a non-title over Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (0-1) when J pinned Kojima after a flying clothesline, and Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie beat Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka when Nakanishi put Koshinaka up in the torture rack
371
372Third show on 11/19 at Differ Ariake in Tokyo was a bomb, failing to sellout the small building with only 1,200 even with a Nagata vs. Nakanishi tag team match up in the main event. Tournament bouts saw Sasaki & Koshinaka (1-1) over Team 2000 Machines (1-2), Norton & Chono (2-0) over Liger & Super Strong Machine (1-1) and Nagata & Iizuka (1-1) over Yoshie & Nakanishi (1-1)
373
37411/4 TV show was so-so overall. Liger beat Takaiwa in 5:28. Liger chopped the hell out of Takaiwa and worked the knee. It was a solid match but the fans weren't ready for the finish because the match was so short. Liger won with a brainbuster (**1/2). They showed clips of Hashimoto and Fujita training, including showing his new gym. Real irony to see Hashimoto get a big push for coming back given what was about to happen a week later. Super Strong Machine, who was Junji Hirata under a mask, beat Team 2000 Machine, who was Tatsutoshi Goto under a mask. The announced called SS Machine "Hirata," so there was no mystery. He ripped up the T2M revealing Goto's face to nobody's surprise, at least in glimpses, before winning with the old Machine suplex. It didn't seem like anyone cared about this feud (DUD). Sasaki & Iizuka beat Don Frye & Super J when Sasaki pinned J after a lariat. Bad (*). Main event saw 2/3 falls with G-Eggs losing to Team 2000, as Chono & Norton & Kojima & Tenzan beat Brian Johnson & Yutaka Yoshie & Nakanishi & Nagata. First fall was pretty good since it was mainly Nagata vs. Kojima, who are the two best workers in the match. Finish saw Nakanishi put Norton in the torture rack, which was kind of a surprise finish. Chono came back in the second fall to pin Johnston after a Yakuza kick. Third fall saw Tenzan & Kojima do one of the clumsiest 3-D's although they actually carried the fall. Chono hit Nakanishi with a Yakuza kick and Norton pinned him after a jackhammer. Bout was well paced, but overall ordinary (**1/4)
375
376There are rumors that Kenzo Suzuki and/or exiled Shinjiro Otani would quit and join with Hashimoto
377
37811/11 TV did a 3.0 rating.
379
380OTHER JAPAN NOTES: Osaka Pro Wrestling, which is heavily praised in Japan for having some of the most entertaining shows of any promotion in the country, is seemingly falling apart as Dick Togo, Masato Yakushiji, Naohiro Hoshikawa and Policeman all no-showed the 11/18 card with the word being they had all quit the promotion due to problems with owner Hiroki Wakida (Super Delfin). I don't know if this is an angle or not, because Osaka Pro is about to introduce some new masked heels
381
382Rumi Kazama appeared on TV on 11/18 saying that all of the Russian women that were going to appear on the 11/22 big show for LLPW, the L-1 card, had pulled out, so she basically had four days to find new people to take their place
383
384A correction regarding the item last week saying Naoya Ogawa hadn't done any jobs since the January 4, 1999 Hashimoto match. He hasn't done any jobs in Japan. He did lose the NWA briefly to Gary Steele of England with a gimmicked finish on September 25, 1999 in Charlotte
385
386Yumi Fukawa, 24, of the Arsion promotion, is the latest wrestler being forced to retire due to brain injuries. Fukawa reportedly had a cerebral hemorrhage and doctors told her that one more bad blow to the head could be fatal, similar to what killed Masakazu Fukuda earlier in the year. She will remain with the company on tour working backstage until 3/20, when she'll have a retirement ceremony. She said she first noticed symptoms in July when she couldn't open her eyes and was suffering from nausea, and spent a week in Intensive Care
387
388Leila Ali, the daughter of Muhammad Ali, who is being pushed with wins over stiffs to get her over in pro boxing, will be attending the 11/22 LLPW show with the idea of bringing her win for a boxer vs. wrestler match with Shinobu Kandori next spring. Ali arrived on 11/21 and said she would face Kandori in a boxing match but not a mixed match. Kandori said she would agree to face Ali in a boxing match
389
390CMLL Japan is running a one-week tour which includes Lizmark, Lizmark Jr., Mr. Cacao, Ultimo Guerrero, Violencia, Black Warrior, Pantera, Tarzan Boy and Ricky Marvin
391
392Kennichiro Arai of Toryumon has left knee ligament damage. Chocoball Kobe has a broken wrist and Masaaki Mochizuki has a problem with his shoulder joint, so that style is taking its toll
393
394Pogo the Clown from XPW is coming to FMW next week
395
396Colisseo show on NTV on 11/9 drew a 1.9 rating.
397
398HERE AND THERE: The latest entrant into the pro wrestling PPV market debuts on 12/1 with iGeneration Wrestling's taped show from Sydney, Australia's Superdome before 10,000 fans back on 7/30 headlined by Curt Hennig vs. Dennis Rodman, as well as a double tables match with Road Warriors (just days before Hawk suffered a heart attack and was in critical condition for a while) vs. Public Enemy, Tatanka vs. One Man Gang and Barbarian vs. Bruce Force (Ed Leslie). The show is not meant as a stand alone event, but actually to kick off iGN as a regular PPV wrestling company. The plan at this point is to announce a second show sometime in the days leading up to the show and announce signings of name talent. From one standpoint, because WCW has cut loose many wrestlers and with the situation in ECW, this may not be the worst time from a talent standpoint to be starting a new company. But most signs point to this as a difficult period in a difficult business, with it being so WWF dominant. I guess the question after the past year is whether there is a market for a strong second player in pro wrestling, and if there is, what form of pro wrestling should they take? WCW has had nothing but financial failure, and ECW didn't pick up interest, is whether WCW's fall was entirely (as opposed to mainly) because of turning off its audience with a bad product as opposed to WWF being such a good product to the mainstream that they didn't care for anything else (the former sounds more logical), and ECW just was unable to gather momentum due to appealing to such a niche audience, which wasn't enough to sustain it profitably, plus the continued loss of top talent. As it pertains to iGN, this show (I've seen a highlights tape but nothing more than clips of matches) has the look and production of a Nitro, complete with dancing girls, pyros and lasers. From that standpoint, as a "show," it is superior to ECW. But WCW had all that and bigger name talent and isn't doing much better grosses, and with tons more expenses so from a bottom line standpoint ECW has to be doing better, in the PPV market. As far as short-term, my feeling is the success of this show depends upon one thing. Whether there is anything left in the public's curiosity regarding Rodman. Rodman put a great media spotlight and impressive numbers on the table in his first two pro wrestling PPV appearances for WCW. The bloom seemed totally off the rose for his third one, which didn't do a strong buy rate. On his last run, he didn't seem to help the numbers for Nitro at all. And his pay was astronomical, for example, on the show he worked against Karl Malone, he wound up earning an estimated $2.25 million--more than all but maybe three pro wrestlers earned over the course of this entire past year. While it was the second biggest grossing PPV in WCW history, as a profit margin, WCW didn't make nearly what one would think. Rodman is no longer an NBA star, but he does draw media. The idea of, without television, using a lot of big names from the past and getting one PPV simply out of curiosity of whatever happened to these guys was a huge failure, both in the ring and financially with Heroes of Wrestling. So the success or failure of this event depends not as much on hardcore wrestling fans who would purchase an ECW or WCW show, but whether Rodman has any casual pull to the mainstream and how much mainstream pub they can get in the last few days leading up to the show based on that curiosity. But as a new company, Rodman is only the answer once. Even if Rodman proves to be enough of a draw that the show is a success, ultimately for success, they need the same formula everyone else needs, strong television exposure, charismatic talent and good storylines
399
400It is believed the Women of Wrestling group will also be doing a PPV show sometime early next year
401
402Bret Hart was scheduled to appear on the 11/14 "Good Morning America," but due to all the hoopla regarding the Presidential election finish, he was bumped from the show. Hart's Calgary Sun column scheduled for the weekend ended up being pulled due to its controversial nature
403
404Martha Hart had a lengthy interview on the Vicki Gabereau show in Canada. The host brought up how Martha was able to get some consolation from the Hart family and she didn't disagree, but looked uncomfortable about it, just saying that Bret was one of her best friends and that during the entire lawsuit period, he was very supportive of her and told her to take her own decisions and whatever they would be, he would support it, and said because of that, Bret had to deal with cruelty from family members. She said Owen would have been proud of how Bret handled it because he proved he could have counted on him and that he didn't let him down. The host asked Martha if she would be able to fix the problems in the family, and she quickly said No. She said members of the family, specifically naming Diana and Ellie, were working for their own self interest and financial gain and that she's removed herself from the family to reduce the conflict. She said there are other members of the family she gets along with, but they have contact with those other people which creates an uncomfortable situation. She said she remains in contact with Bret, Keith and Wayne and said that Allison is a good person and Owen parents have always been good to her. She said she didn't want to sling any mud, but said there is a truckload of mud to sling. She said that wrestling fans donations raised more than $100,000 for the Calgary childrens hospital after Owen died. She also said that every morning when she wakes up, she thinks she just woke up from a nightmare. She said she's not bitter and that she did all she could with the lawsuit. She said she wasn't mat at Owen for doing the stunt because in that situation you trust the equipment and she said she didn't think anyone knew he was being supported by a device meant for nautical equipment. She said in order to live her life, she has to let go of that and she has. She said she would never want her son to get into wrestling and that Owen never would have wanted that
405
406Russ Francis, a former sometime pro wrestler in the 70s who was better known as a legit NFL star during that same period, failed in his bid for Congress, losing to the democratic incumbent in the race for Hawaii's second Congressional district
407
408Some notes from the Stampede Wrestling side regarding Western Extreme Championship Wrestling (WECW). The only people who directly left Stampede for WECW were Greg Pawluk, who was considered one of Stampede's most promising workers (been compared by some to Chris Benoit as a rookie), Jordie Clarke, William Yeats and Irish Red O'Riordan along with the most famous switch, manager and area wrestling legend Badnews Allen, who did the color on the Stampede TV shows before the company lost TV. O'Riordan is actually the brother of Clarke, who is part of the promotion, and Pawluk is Clarke's good friend. Jason Anderson, another of the promoters of the group, was Jason Neidhart in Stampede, but hadn't worked there in months. Vic Viper had worked on occasion as a jobber for Stampede as had Mike McFly. Johnny Devine had left Stampede months ago for CanAm wrestling, and then made the move to WECW. Those at Stampede admit to owing wrestlers back pay, as well as having debts for TV production, advertising and other things. The claim is that Badnews himself was always paid for his TV work. Badnews had a few checks bounce but they always made good on it in cash when it was brought to their attention. There were others who also had checks bounce that have yet to receive their money
409
410Josh Wilcox, who briefly did some stuff this past year with ECW, will be playing this coming season for the Los Angeles Extreme of the XFL. The coach of the Extreme, Al Lugenbill, coached Wilcox when he played in the European League's Amsterdam Admirals a few seasons back. Wilcox played two seasons with the New Orleans Saints, and when the Saints dropped his contract after last season, did an angle on ECW where he turned heel on the Saints with ECW trying to portray as if he quit the team on ECW TV
411
412On the 11/14 NWA show in Tampa there was a major falling out between promoter Howard Brody and Dory Funk, which also involved Brian Blair. It basically stemmed from a Texas death match between two of Funk's students, Adam Windsor and Brent Dail, that went more than 35 minutes with Dory as referee that saw a lot of fans leave during the match, then, after the match saw a bunch of challenges were issued, they started an impromptu match and were still shooting angles before promoter Howard Brody, as a shoot, sent the referees in to tell everyone to end it, which caused more problems.. According to various reports, the match was supposed to go in the neighborhood of 15-20 minutes and was an old-fashioned Texas death match, falls don't count, the war of attrition, based on working body parts, submission finishes, and struggling to get back to the feet before the ten count to start the next fall. Unfortunately, with one wrestler having had five pro matches and the other having two, it was a lot to ask. According to one person there not affiliated with either side, the match wasn't that bad technically, but the crowd thought it was boring and it went too long, saying it was very inexperienced but technically well-trained guys in 2000 trying to do Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco to an audience not really into subtle movements of position on the mat and the match was almost entirely wrestling on the mat. Others weren't as kind, thinking it killed the show and there had been heat from the beginning of the promotion on putting the title on Windsor. The blow-up was largely because the dressing room has consisted of three factions, the Dory Funk faction with his students, who push their wrestling camps; Steve Keirn's faction, and Keirn has his own school; and the fly-in talent which on this show included Mike Rapada and Sabu. There was already heat with Windsor, who is Funk's star pupil, getting the big push, being billed as part of a triple main event and billed as Florida champion with such few matches. At one point there was even talk of putting Keirn vs. Brian Blair in a cage match before the Windsor match, with the idea it would make it hard to follow since the veterans are far bigger names locally and more experienced, plus putting and taking down a cage in the middle of a show can hurt the heat on the show in the next match. So they ended up moving the cage match to last, where it should have been, after the NWA title match. Sabu and Rapada from all reports had a really good match. Blair was so livid about the deal that before his match with Keirn, he got on the p.a. and said he wanted to apologize to all the fans that had to sit through the match and promised that their match wouldn't be anything like it, and made it clear he didn't mean Sabu and Rapada's match, and then said he meant the match before it. The sound system for the show was the Funks, so after Blair's impromptu promo, they were was so hot they took apart the sound system, so there was no sound for the announcements after the match. Dory actually gave back Brody's payoff for his wrestlers that worked the show and they won't be working together in the future
413
414Caught an episode or Urban Wrestling. Not much to say about it. Even though it's filmed at the Olympic Auditorium, it has that game show crowd feel instead of a pro wrestling feel, where it's obvious everyone is papered and the crowd seems more to be reacting on cue than on emotion. Lots of skits, most of them bad. WAY too many women, guaranteeing that none of them can get over. It's amazing to me that nobody has figured out how WWF got Chyna and Sable over, in that they were both unique characters. If WWF had ten Sables, none would get over. The dumbest thing WWF did (for many reasons) was bringing in Nicole Bass, and not just because she was useless, but because it worked against the aura of a stronger character (Chyna). The work in the ring ranged from bad to in some cases surprisingly good. Somebody needs to sign up Jorge Estrada, a Dusty Rhodes trainee who had looks in ECW. He's got a ton of potential. The episode I saw had a very good TV match with Orlando (Orlando Marcus from Maryland) against HTK (Tony Jones from California). Clearly they were pushing people based totally on look and physique and little based on what they could do in the ring and, whether this is a good strategy or not, used no "name" workers
415
416Sabu and Axl Rotten returned to the Viking Hall in Philadelphia, better known as the ECW Arena, on 11/18 to work on the Jersey All Pro Wrestling show in the main event. There was a weird deal at the show. Jason Knight was supposed to drop the JAP title to Homicide in a barbed wire match. Knight refused, and vacated the title, which Homicide won anyway beating Jay Lover. Knight later said he did so because he felt the promotion was trying to have a JAP wrestler beat an ECW wrestler at the ECW Arena. He said he would have been happy to drop the title the night before in Bayonne, NJ. Sounds like "Wrestling with Shadows.
417
418There will be an Omega Pro Wrestling reunion of sorts on 12/1 in Southern Pines, NC as Cham Pain (Marty Garner), Shannon Moore, Shane Helms, Joey Matthews, Christian York, Lodi, A.J. Styles, Rick Michaels and Steve Corino will all be working the show
419
420Shinjiro Otani worked for the Calgary area indie group WCEW on 11/17. Isn't it truly amazing that a wrestler of his capabilities is literally doing nothing, while WCW, which has a working agreement with New Japan, has all that TV time to fill and such little top quality wrestling
421
422Whenever you hear the argument on WWF broadcasts about it's up to the parents when it comes to that period when the company was producing a raunchy product to a largely young audience, think of this story, albeit extreme, about the sanity of at least some parents. Andrew Teausch, a 17-year-old wrestling fan who was a wrestling match in his front yard, with the big high spot being him jumping off the roof of the house onto a table which he had doused in gasoline and set on fire. He had his friends videotaping this. So he jumped off, and all his clothes caught on fire. His father, who was watching, was encouraging his son to do the stunt. Both father and son ended up hospitalized with severe burns, as once the son was on fire, the father tried to extinguish the fire on his son. The authorities demanded a copy of the tape and are considering filing charges against the father of child endangerment
423
424The City Pages in Minneapolis ran a long story this past week on the life of colorful area wrestler/trainer/promoter Eddie Sharkey, including the famous story of how he shot up Verne Gagne's office with a shotgun years ago
425
426In our listing before the Olympics of the former Olympians who tried pro wrestling and later updates, there was yet another omission (and there are probably more). Fred Meyer, who took a bronze medal at heavyweight in the 1920 Olympics later wrestled under the name Dr. Fred Meyer
427
428The wrestler Strawberry, also Strawberry Fields, who works Carolina indies with veteran Leilani Kai, said that she is not retiring, but is just taking time off to allow her lower back to heal
429
430Angelo Mosca, a retired area star in the 70s and 80s who before being a main event wrestler was one of the most famous players in the history of the Canadian Football League, is now doing radio spots for a denture clinic in Hamilton, ONT
431
432Anthony McClanahan, a former member of the Calgary Stampeders who was training with the Harts to wrestle for Stampede and had done some heel promo work at some of the Stampede shows but couldn't wrestle due to recovering from neck surgery, has just appeared under the name Baby Blue on Battle Dome
433
434Where are They now? Maxx Payne aka Man Mountain Rock (real name Darryl Peterson)--Peterson was a top collegiate wrestler at Iowa State, placing fifth in the NCAA's in 1985 before becoming part of the first group of American wrestlers ever trained by New Japan Pro Wrestling (along with Chris Benoit and Brian Adams, as proof positive that it's the man and not the trainer who makes the wrestler) and was a roommate in Japan with Benoit for more than one year. As Maxx Payne in WCW, he and Mick Foley had some of the best brawls in wrestling on PPV matches against the Nasty Boys. He quit largely after his WWF stint as Man Mountain Rock, where he was better known for playing electric guitar of the National Anthem than for any of his matches. He now lives in Provo, UT and runs a state of the art recording studio
435
436ECWA on 11/25 at the Bob Carpenter Center in its biggest show probably to date is bringing in Reckless Youth, Low Ki, Steve Bradley, Christopher Daniels, Lance "Simon" Diamond and Dawn Marie.
437
438MMA: In an interview in the November issue of Full Contact Fighter, both Ken and Bob Shamrock were heavily critical of Frank Shamrock including Ken actually talking about being willing to fight Frank in a match. Ken blamed poor training leading to going into the fight not in shape for his loss to Kazuyuki Fujita on 8/27. Bob called Frank a smart man, but said that when he and Ken took Frank in, all he knew how to do was play hacky-sack and volleyball and that Ken taught him to fight and he got opportunities in Japan because he was a Shamrock. Ken said that for Frank to say he would win a fight between the two of them is fantasy and said he's fed up with it and if he wants to do it, they could make money off it. When asked if he'd do a fight with Frank, he said, "Oh hell yeah. I'm not the one who says I could smash him
439
440Frank is going to make it happen and he's going to bite off more than he can chew. I'd hate for that to happen. I really wouldn't want that to happen but if it continues, he's been out of the game so he hasn't been talking, there was a point in time he was talking. Shit, if it's going t be said, it's going to be talked about. Hell, there's a lot of money to be made, let's do it." Bob did admit that at one time he was on the phone with Don Frye, who had challenged Ken to a match, and when Bob and Ken were estranged, Bob said that he did tell Frye he would be in Frye's corner if he fought Ken. When asked about going back to the WWF (Shamrock has three more fights left on his contract with DSE which runs through August of 2001), he said he liked it when he was there, he got tired of being on the road all the time but said he'd be back in pro wrestling
441
442Pride added Enson Inoue vs. Heath Herring and Alexander Otsuka vs. Guy Mezger to its 12/23 show which at last word was scheduled for a PPV in January. They are trying to put together a rematch with Gilbert Yvel vs. Vanderlei Silva from the bout which had all that potential but ended in seconds the first time due to Silva kicking Yvel low. A NHB TV show in Brazil reported two other matches attempting to be put together are Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson, which has a lot of intrigue since Henderson won the 32-man RINGS tournament last year and is one of those ringwise guys who somehow always seems to win, and Belfort is a super talent who doesn't seem to have Henderson's mental toughness; and Allan Goes vs. Akira Shoji
443
444Pancrase on 12/4 has Budokan Hall booked as a farewell to Masakatsu Funaki, who won't be fighting on the card. I don't know what they can do to draw in such a big building because the main event announced thus far is a middleweight title match with Nathan Marquardt defending against Kiuma Kunioku.
445
446ECW: There was quite a furor, with me somewhat to blame, regarding the status of Van Dam in the company. On the observer web site, we reported Van Dam as having quit, which was a false report and was corrected almost immediately. There have been money issues with Van Dam, and it's no secret that virtually every wrestler in the company is owed money, at the very least one months pay, and some may be owed more, and nobody we've ever spoken with has received PPV bonuses. From Heyman's standpoint, the unique time in the business where WCW isn't looking at hiring new people and WWF isn't looking for new talent from the outside because they have so many wrestlers they are ready to bring in that they don't have spots for (not that an exception couldn't be made for a great piece of talent, because it obviously would be, and they have brought in ECW people when they didn't have anymore commitments to ECW), nobody has left in recent weeks except Chris Chetti. Van Dam's situation was serious enough that his name was never mentioned on the PPV and he, as of press time, had still not committed to returning for any specific date and hadn't been programmed into any storylines. Van Dam did publicly state that the story of him quitting was false. ECW contracts state that if money is owed, the wrestler has to file a contract breach and ECW has a certain amount of time to make good on the money, a time period I believe is 30 days, although it may be different in different people's deals. Neither side would discuss on the record ongoing contractual issues other than as of 11/20, Van Dam was not booked on any future shows although negotiations were going on to settle things. Also, as of press time, Hall isn't booked on the PPV show, although it is believed there will be attempts this week to put such a deal together
447
448This is where the Sabu problems came up, because if Sabu was owed money, he never formally filed the breach before walking out over being asked to do the job for Super Crazy, thus Heyman still had rights to him which is why the two are headed for a court battle and technically Sabu isn't allowed to be paid for working indie shows right now, although whether that's the case in reality is another issue
449
450The idea of doing a Thanksgiving weekend show at the Elks Lodge in Queens was dropped because there wasn't enough time to finalize the deal and get the publicity out on television. They still may add a date in that building before the end of the year with the idea of making it an extra special house show and charging a high ticket price for the event
451
452At this point there are only two shows locked on the schedule until the end of the year, which are the PPV on 12/3 and an ECW Arena show on 12/23. There are 12/8 in Dallas and 12/9 in Houston cards that haven't been canceled, but there was talk as late as press time that they may be in jeopardy and it went back-and-forth early in the week. If they are to be canceled, they'll likely have to run PPV matches to fill the TV until the 12/23 taping, unless they can put together a show to tape TV at the Elks Lodge in Queens that was under consideration for this coming weekend at one point. There is another PPV date on 1/7, but no arena has been booked for the show
453
454The closest thing to a 12/3 PPV line-up is Crazy and a partner against Whipwreck & Tajiri, FBI vs. Doring & Roadkill for the tag titles, Dreamer vs. C.W. Anderson, Diamond & Swinger vs. York & Matthews and Rhino vs. Spike Dudley. The main event will be for the title, which would involve Corino defending and probably include Lynn and Credible, unless they can put the deal together for Hall, which would end up with Hall vs. Credible and probably Corino vs. Lynn vs. Sandman in a three-way
455
456Last weekend Hardcore TV was a pretty entertaining show in front of a hot crowd in Poughkeepsie. The show was far more important for what wasn't on the show than what was. Specifically, there was little mention of Van Dam, and the Jim Mitchell angle as far as the idea the FBI cut his finger tips off with scissors was also never mentioned during the show. When the FBI was using the scissors to cut Doring's hair and Roadkill's beard, there was no tie-in made to Mitchell, and nothing in the commentary on the entire show acknowledging the angle they started on the PPV and last week's TV that was so strongly negatively received. The only mention of Mitchell was Styles simply wishing him a speedy recovery. Show opened with Don Callis or Cyrus, and he's going by both names now, doing an interview talking about all the misjustice done to Lynn and talking about wanting to manage him. He sort of took credit for ECW losing TV. Credible did an interview mainly building toward something both with Hall and for the title. They kept urging people to go to the website for info on Hall, and kept saying Hall was in the building, although he did not appear on the show, nor did any photos of him appear, and they did talk about him appearing at a house show the previous night. Doring & Roadkill beat Bilvis Wesley & Prodigy in a match with Prodigette, Phoenix, Chris Kruger and Oz all at ringside. They pinned Prodgette to win with their infamous buggy bang. Crowd enjoyed it. FBI attacked Doring & Roadkill after cutting the hair and beard. Rhino did an interview building up matches with Tajiri, Spike and Kid Kash. Dinero & Hamrick & E.Z. Money beat Tajiri & Crazy & Whipwreck. Fast paced match. It was good, but short (under 4:00). After the win, Styles really tried to push the idea that Confederate Currency (the heel trio) were major players and that this win elevated them to a new level. Hey, at least they try to constantly elevate people. Tajiri then turned on Crazy, to set up the singles match. It was pretty much an awesome match while it lasted. It was as good as any match you'll see on U.S. TV these days. Tajiri did a double foot stomp off the top rope through a table outside the ring, and Crazy did a moonsault off the middle rope to the floor through a table. Finish saw Crazy set up the Asai moonsault when Whipwreck gave him the whipper snapper to set up the pin. The whole match they were telling the story of which side Whipwreck was going to side with. Show ended with Corino doing an interview, and he really was playing almost the babyface role. They are clearly setting up Victory as his best friend and mentor to turn on him. Francine was hitting on Corino, being that she wants the guy with the belt, when Credible came in. They seemed to be building up a three-way with Lynn as the PPV main event
457
458The TV for this coming Thanksgiving weekend wasn't close to that level. It had Chilly Willy over DeVito in a 90 second match which wasn't much. Angel came in and hit Willy with a chair, leading to Mahoney taking both Baldies out with chair shots. Even though the chair shots were brutal, the crowd seemed to have seen so much by that time that they didn't get much of a pop. The FBI did an interview, with them backing to alluding to the idea they cut Sinister's Minister fingertips off. They spent all their time on that subject that they didn't push their match with Doring & Roadkill. Rhino did an interview and did allude to Van Dam as a potential challenger but in passing only. Corino wrestled Lynn, which ended with three ref bumps and Credible caning both guys. They claimed Lynn was bleeding dangerously and he was taken out of the picture. This led to Corino vs. Sandman. Before Sandman came out, Corino challenged anyone from any promotion to come and take the belt from him, mentioning both WWF and WCW, to no crowd pop at all. Clearly, while Corino is a good talker and he's alright in the ring, nobody takes the title seriously with him having it. When fans took the ECW title seriously, they popped huge when the champs ran down guys from other companies. Sandman and Corino did mic work that may have worked live, but on TV, seemed like it would never end before the match started, which Corino ended up winning with an old school expulsion on the guard rail that was brought into the ring. Show ended with Spike barging into Rhino's locker room. When the cameras got in, Spike was dead and Rhino was smashing Spike's head into the lockers.
459
460WCW: Vampiro in an interview on the ICP web site claimed he was leaving WCW, at least partially due to multiple concussions suffered both at Havoc and the next night. As has been pointed out, there is skepticism within WCW of his injuries because of the belief he wants to be home since he just had a new baby. Because of the nature of wrestling and WCW, there is skepticism of every injury, even those medically documented (and even those where the company knows major reconstructive surgery and a recuperation period is involved and still books guys in the ring months before they are cleared in a business where as often as not, guys are prone to rush coming back because they want to get back in the game), and Vampiro was diagnosed with a concussion from the power bomb from Awesome on the PPV. Of late, Vampiro went on a Detroit wrestling hotline with Violent J claiming he has permanent speech impairment, a possible broken neck and will have permanent brain damage before he reaches 50 years of age. There's even skepticism of Bret Hart's concussions so it isn't just Vampiro, it's just the nature of people in wrestling and because, there are wrestlers who do fake or exaggerate injuries at times because it's a business of workers, particularly in a company that nobody seems to care about that works for them. Vampiro has retired many times over the past decade while in Mexico, including but not limited to a knee injury, attempting to become a rock star, and attempting to become a boxer. That isn't to say if he did get two concussions in 24 hours that a neurologist wouldn't suggest giving up wrestling. Vampiro, in interviews this week, was adamant about never coming back to WCW and ripping on the company, Terry Taylor (who was his biggest backer during his tenure there) and Vince Russo, saying he's going to do bass guitar for ICP and the only wrestling he would be doing is with JCW. As of the last word, he is still with the company under contract but probably won't be by the time you read this
461
462Sting will be out of action past Starrcade. If he gets elbow surgery, which is being considered, he'll be out three to six months
463
464Nitro on 11/20 from Augusta, GA was the overexposure of Sanders show. Again, much of the really illogical stuff is gone. The shows are better, but the NBT show just doesn't do it for me as the guys have the look, but they are so green to be pushed to main event level. Just being tall and having a good cosmetic body doesn't make you a singles star. It does give you many chances at a singles push that a more talented shorter guy won't get, tho, as these guys will get more chances after this one and some of them probably will eventually make it. At this point WCW would be well served to try and sign some hard workers for the undercard and give them a chance to move up as opposed to stopping their push when they get over ala Awesome and Storm, but that's a broken record. There is a nucleus, but it's so hard to remove those two years of bad taste. They've got to rebuild the belts, and the way they handled the tag titles this week isn't a step in the right direction. Nobody cares about the product because their is no holy grail to chase that means anything, and they've got to create it. The show opened announcing Wright & Disqo as new tag champs from Germany, showing the clip of the match where Wright & Rection won the belts but pretending Rection wasn't in the match. They announced they would defend against Jindrak & O'Haire, but O'Haire suffered a mystery backstage KO, so it wound up as Perfect Event. In the best match on the show, Jamie Knoble, formerly Jamie-san, pinned Yung Yang. Knoble did a flip dive over the post. Leah Meow leaped off the apron doing a huracanrana ala Lita. Moore & Helms attacked Karagias who came to ringside. Moore & Helms also attacked Jamie to set up a tag team feud. Flair did an interview saying that now that he's the CEO, he can't go all night long anymore, but he can support the guys who do. Jarrett made an announcement regarding who the father of Stacey Keibler's baby is, told a story about it being him, then said that he lied, and KO'd David Flair with a guitar, which will set up the singles program with Ric for Starrcade. Since it's Starrcade, it was Bagwell, Jarrett's next opponent, who made the save knocking Jarrett off the stage. Palumbo & Stasiak won the tag titles from Wright & Skipper when Kidman & Misterio Jr. Disqo becomes the first wrestling superstar since the immortal Judy Bagwell to hold the tag team titles while neither being involved in the match to win it or in the match to lose it. The FA's interfered with Kidman using his Kid Crusher on Wright and Stasiak pinning him in 3:20, so set up Palumbo & Stasiak on PPV against Nash & DDP and FA's vs. Boogie Knights 3-on-2. And they wonder why they can't get the FA's over when every angle they book them in, they get humiliated, and then, going against two mid-carders with no credibility, and being the babyfaces, they need to have three guys against two. Seriously, can't they get a booker who has even basic booking logic? They showed a tape of Mancow hitting Jimmy Hart with a trash can, taped from a few weeks back in Chicago, and announced that on the PPV, they will have the long-awaited Mancow vs. Hart rematch. You'd think they'd have learned by now about that. Vito hit Reno with the bat, saying it had something to do with Maria. I barely remember they had a Maria, since she showed up one week and as never talked about again. This sets up a three-way on PPV with Crowbar for the hardcore title. Wright did this goofy promo saying how WCW is scared of the Boogie Knights. Scared of what? Another mediocre tag team? Rick Steiner returned holding the Battledome belt. Four Battledome guys were in Augusta doing the angle, led by T-Money. Steiner said how the Battledome guys claim Battledome is real and wrestling is fake. That was totally ass backwards. It should be the Battledome guys doing that promo on TV (I know they've done it on their own TV, but figure nobody watches that). This got mega heat, shocking to say. The tough guys from another world saying wrestling is fake is such an easy angle to pull off that I'm shocked nobody does it. They did a four-on-one on Steiner with T-Money giving Steiner a low blow and taking his belt back. Nash, looking more muscular than he has in years, maybe feeling he has to impress WWF or try and make Muscle and Fitness magazine not look so bad for listing him as one of the five best physiques. He said he had 13 months and ten days left on his contract and he wanted to have fun. What a smart guy setting up an angle where he can jump to one company while building it up in the other company, or by doing so, pressuring the former company to feel the need to re-sign him at near his current huge deal. You can never knock someone for playing the game smart, although I wish it would help as opposed to hurt the struggling company. Sanders and Thrillers came out and it appeared they were playing a game of legit one-upsmanship that nobody at home understood. Sanders talked about flying first class and a breach of contract (Nash was complaining loudly in Europe, after not complaining for a few weeks, both about having to do a program with the Thrillers and also about not flying first class in Europe since it is in his contract). Sanders seemed a little nervous but probably got the better of Nash, who is never nervous, slightly. Thrillers all attacked Nash until DDP made the save and hit the cutter on Jindrak. DDP's pop was nothing compared to that of a few weeks ago, because the single best thing the company has promoted in the last six months is the return of Hall, and the fans were, being that it's pro wrestling and you figure what is built on TV is what you are eventually going to get, expecting Hall and anyone but he or Hogan probably would have been a disappointment. Luger did an interview and since if Luger won, Goldberg's match with him at the PPV would be a title match, he teased the idea that Goldberg would help him win the title. Meng & Rection beat Duggan & Storm. Skipper missed Rection with a flagpole shot, but he had to sell it anyway since it wa a key spot. MIA attacked Skipper and while this was going on , Rection pinned Duggan. More Sanders, like his 14th interview of the show by now. Goldberg destroyed Kwee Wee in 29 seconds. The spear looked pretty cool. Sanders thought he was softening up Kwee Wee for his PPV match with him. Flair came out and said it would be a level playing field at the PPV, and then ordered Sanders to face Goldberg, which was a 34 second squash. Bagwell pinned Douglas with a blockbuster. Jarrett tried to help Douglas but Cat started fighting with him. Good match. Scott Steiner did an interview saying he'd make sure Booker T kept the title. T beat Luger in the main event. Bad match. Luger never had it, and now he's got even less of what he didn't have. The finish at least was interesting in context. Goldberg was fighting Steiner outside, but was blinded. He went in the ring, presumably to spear T, but instead speared Luger, who was pinned. After the match, Booker yelled at Goldberg and then Booker and Steiner did a pull-apart as the show ended
465
466Thunder taping after for pretty uneventful. O'Haire, said to be injured so bad he couldn't work two hours earlier, came out fine teaming with Jindrak in a handicap match against Meng. Meng's partner, Kwee Wee, was said to be injured by Goldberg's spear (which he wasn't). It was Meng holding his own until the Thrillers ran in for the DQ and Nash & Page made the save. Page issued a challenge to Sanders, but Sanders turned it down since he had already done 18 promos by this point, so the main event was made as Page vs. Stasiak in a lumberjack match. Yung Yang won a three-way over Moore and Karagias, pinning Moore. Said to be really good but the crowd gave them no chance. Booker attacked Steiner during an interview. Bryan Clark beat Misterio Jr. & Kidman in a handicap match. Seems Wright wanted to pay the APA to soften up the FA's, but he only had enough money to buy one of them. I guess one was enough to make the FA's even look worse than they usually make them look. It was so funny on Nitro when Wright asked Kronik to beat them up and only had a credit card and they said they only take cash, when their whole catch phrase is breaking necks and cashing checks. T did an interview apologizing for slamming Major Gunns and hitting Sting with a chair (what was the purpose of that, being that Sting is out for months?) and then he and Goldberg made up their differences. I guess that means they'll break up next week. Jarrett & Douglas beat Bagwell & Cat. Steiner was mad at Stevie Ray for setting him up for the Booker attack. This led to Steiner beating Vito, as Vito attacked Steiner. Steiner sold a lot more for Vito than you'd think including giving him two or three near falls. In a match where all four guys wound up banged up, Bigelow & Reno beat Awesome & Crowbar. Sick match. Crowbar did an Asai moonsault, and all three weren't there to catch him and he hit him pelvis on the floor. He worked the rest of the match. Reno's back and arms were all cut up from going through a table and he had welts from stick shots. Finish saw Crowbar telling Awesome to power bomb him over the top like Awesome always did to Masato Tanaka, through a table that Reno was on, although as both went through the table, Reno fell on top of Crowbar for the pin. Main event was a lumberjack match with Stasiak beating Page. It's great that WCW has established stars elevating young guys with pinfall wins on TV main events. It's just the choice of the young guys to elevate is rather strange. All the lumberjacks brawled backstage, which was said to have looked really bad. Thrillers and Nash all came out for the finish, which saw Stasiak get the pin after hitting DDP with some sort of an object
467
468Mood in Augusta, GA was that everyone was down feeling the storylines make nobody interested in the product and that most people are phoning t in and the young wrestlers who aren't going half-ass through the motions just aren't accepted by the audience for their efforts
469
470More notes from Thunder on 11/15 taped in Manchester, England. Most of the backstage stuff wasn't the usual embarrassing stuff. They did a strange deal with the MIA where they called each other by their real names, well, uh, sort of. General Rection was Hugh, which isn't his real name, Lt. Loco was called Chavo, which is close enough since that's the name he goes by, Cpl. Cajun was called Lash, which clearly isn't a real name, and Sgt. Awall was called Jerry, which is. T vs. Storm turned into a very good match. Konnan seemed to land more on his shoulder badly than on his head, and Stevie Ray even called it looking like a collarbone injury. As hardcore matches go, Crowbar vs. Bigelow was a really good effort by both guys. Overall it was a good show, and it hasn't been often people could say that about WCW of late
471
472All the stuff with the Battledome guys was put together by Bischoff. The deal is it's a November sweeps thing, with the idea that it's more to up the profile of Battledome, which used the WCW logo in its advertising for November sweeps which is where WCW came out of this. The problem is what can you do with it in the ring to make it pay off? It would be difficult to put them in the ring in matches, since they aren't workers. And even if you do put them in the ring, you still have the problem of getting people to put each other over to satisfy the people running each show. Ed Ferrara (who is basically the head writer at this point although the bookers are still under the impression Russo is coming back, but nobody knows anything for sure) et al. are not allowed to touch anything in any segments involving the Battledome guys, which is basically Bischoff's baby
473
474Russo wasn't back in Augusta, GA saying he still hadn't recovered enough from his concussions. Even a lot of his strongest supporters have lost faith in him, because of the skepticism of all injuries thinking the timing was coincidental as he got to miss both foreign tours, especially because of the belief among many people that while you shouldn't wrestle right after a concussion, even though in most cases the guys do, that writing television doesn't qualify as being nearly so dangerous for a relapse. Again, he did take several head blows and he isn't trained for it, so who really knows
475
476Midajah was unhappy on the European tour because her father-in-law was very ill and she wasn't allowed to leave the tour to be with him
477
478Vito may have been suspended for two weeks for making Vamp look bad before putting him over. He was off TV for a little while either way, and in his first match back against Crowbar, he got more heat because it was felt he didn't go up good for Crowbar's superplex attempt
479
480Apparently some of the Nitro Girls went to ICP with the idea of creating a Spice Girls like musical group according to the ICP web site
481
482The episode of the "Nikki" show which features Nash, as WCW's luck would have it, goes head-to-head with the Mayhem PPV (except on the West Coast) on 11/26 at 9 p.m. on WB
483
484The Starrcade tickets for 12/17 at the MCI Center in Washington, DC went on sale and did a horrible first day, selling only 926 tickets although with the high ticket prices that is $51,000. That is far worse than scary in a building that large. With the exception of the 12/3 house show in Kearney, NE which sold 2,200 tickets over the first weekend because it's the opening of the new Tri-City Arena, none of the advances for the rest of the year are showing any signs of a rebound. The next four double TV tapings should all end up doing 2,000 to 3,000 paid
485
486The WCW developmental deal with NWA Wildside, a small promotion that a lot of people are saying good things about as far as quality of young talent, began officially in the ring on 11/18 in Cornelia, GA. Promoter Bill Behrens in particular pushed the appearances of Sam Greco, the former K-1 star who got the big TV push while they were in Australia and whose name was never mentioned again, and Bob Sapp, who did that Thunder interview a few weeks back, and Behrens pushed that Sapp would have a Tough Man match on FX soon against Refrigerator Perry (a cult football star from 15 years ago). The report on Greco, who worked a tag match with Danny Faquir against Troy Enders and former High Voltage member Robbie Rage, is that he threw some nice kicks and didn't look bad at wrestling, and came across like an excellent athlete. Work in the match said to be solid, but the future question marks revolve around charisma, which I guess in today's environment will always be the case. Sapp was said to have a monster look, being a muscular guy at around 375 pounds who can move, doing a gimmick called "The Beast," with a catch phrase, "When you mess with the beast, you end up deceased.
487
488There has been at least some interest expressed as far as people talking about Jerry Lynn.
489
490WWF: Raw on 11/20 from Orlando opened with the return of Stephanie McMahon. Not only did HHH survive a fall that would have killed just about anyone except The Giant when he fell off the roof of Cobo Arena, but like The Giant in one of wrestling's all-time worst angles, he survived without even breaking any bones. She revealed that she's trying to get pregnant and that HHH has had a change of heart and called Austin out. Austin said he was sorry HHH wasn't dead. Austin was so heelish he made Stephanie cry, except the fans still cheered him. He flipped off the TV screen, as a message to HHH. The nastier he got, the more he was cheered, until he chased her off crying. Benoit then came out and challenged Austin to a straight wrestling match with no weapons and no motor vehicles. Austin said he wasn't the best wrestler in the WWF, but said he was the best beer drinker. Dudleys beat Buchanan & Goodfather via DQ in a match where the belts were up against the rights of the Dudleys to continue using tables. What's the point of doing a stip match when you pay off with such a lame finish. They did the 3-D on Goodfather when Buchanan simply pulled D-Von out of the ring off Goodfather and a DQ was called. Regal did a funny segment with T&A& Stratus. He asked for protection. They told him to go to a drug store. Rock did an interview. He was totally fine even after going into the match injured, and taking four banzais. Remember the main theme of wrestling. If nobody sells, the business goes to hell. Regal beat Bob Holly when T&A attacked him and Regal hit him with a 2x4. Crash and Blackman made the save. Security again wouldn't let Lo Down & Tiger Ali Singh into the building. Hope this angle makes more sense when it's over than the Lenny Lane one did in WCW, where he spent weeks working being fired, then kept being in the stands to work being fired. Then before the angle got going, he was fired. Rock & Jericho beat Rikishi & Kane in 8:24 when Rock pinned Kane after Jericho hit him with a chair. Good match. Rock had the sharpshooter on Rikishi and Jericho had the walls on Kane after the bout. Jericho gave Kane a lionsault, and nearly killed him when Kane was way too far away and his knees crashed into Kane's ribs. Rock finished with a rock bottom on Rikishi. The Angle Brothers did an interview. Eric seemed scared to death in front of 11,000 people. Undertaker came out and choke slammed Eric, and then choke slammed Kurt off the stage through a table. Gunn & Dogg & Kwik beat Malenko & Saturn & Guerrero when Kwik pinned Saturn after a 450 splash (called a 720 by Ross) after a Gunn famouser. People are so quiet when Dogg & Kwik do their rapping. Foley did his comedy with E&C. He got his hand stuck by a Cactus and talked about having two pricks, then E&C came out and Foley said "I was just talking about you." They talked about Undertaker's latest catch phrase about "A decade of destruction." They had an urn as a present for him. Foley talked about putting them in a handicap match against Undertaker and they talked about Undertaker ending the career of Kimala, but Foley whispered that he thought Kimala came back two years later to work for Baba. Ivory pinned Molly Holly very quickly. Ivory was wearing regular wrestling boots and pants, so that was a major improvement at least in her trying to be mobile in the ring. Undertaker destroyed E&C in 2:40 with the last ride on Christian and the choke slam on Edge. By this point I didn't think it was possible for one of the tippity top guys to elevate anyone in the ring. Austin beat Benoit with the stunner in 8:15. Austin silenced a lot of critics with this one as he was back and looked much better than he has since long before going down with neck surgery. Very good match. Austin outwrestled Benoit most of the way, then pinned him clean with the stunner, which kind of epitomized what the previous bout did and is reminiscent of WCW circa 1998 except they never had main events half this good. Austin seemed almost fearless in there, taking german suplexes and back suplexes and basically took everything but the dreaded Benoit chop
491
492Smackdown/Heat notes from the 11/21 tapings. On Heat, Buchanan & Goodfather retained the tag titles over Too Cool when Buchanan pinned Scotty after a backbreaker. Lita attacked Ivory after the match. Edge beat Snow when Christian interfered. Saturn & Malenko beat Hardys when Malenko pinned Jeff after Saturn came off the top with an elbow. Smackdown opened with Gunn winning the IC title clean from Guerrero. Foley & Debra did a segment where Foley was a pilgrim and Debra an Indian and they were cooking recipes out of the Jim Ross cookbook. Said to be a terrible segment. Regal did an interview and Rock interrupted, leading to a challenge later in the match. They continued to push the cookbook in more segments. T&A beat Hollys when Test pinned Crash. Too Cool joined the horrible Thanksgiving vignettes with Foley, ending with Foley dancing live Dude Love. RTC did an interview and said that everyone in America were scumbags that watched wrestling and didn't spend the night with their families. They wanted to ban Road Dogg & K.Kwik's rapping. I think that's going to make them faces. Venis beat Kwik when the RTC distracted Dogg and ref and Richards used the Steven kick. More cookbook stuff. Foley offered Funaki a candy cane and Funaki freaked out thinking Foley was ordering a match with him against Kane. Angle, wearing a neck brace from the Raw angle, called Undertaker all kinds of nasty names until Undertaker came out and attacked him. E&C came in to help and Undertaker made his own save. Molly Holly pinned Stratus. Raven pinned Tazz after a DDT. Benoit & Kane beat Austin & Jericho via DQ when Austin gave the ref a stunner. He also gave one to Kane and Benoit after the match and drank beer
493
494WWFE and Headline Media Group, Inc. inked a deal announced on 11/15 to broadcast Smackdown, Metal and XFL football in Canada on the 24-hour sports Score Television Network. Smackdown had never previously aired in Canada (some cable packages did carry UPN affiliates from the U.S. so in some of the cities near the border or with good cable systems, fans did have access to the show). The deal calls for Smackdown to air, which started on 11/16, on Thursday nights both 8-10 p.m. Eastern time, concurrently with UPN, and a replay showing from 11 p.m.-1 a.m., concurrently with the West Coast feed of UPN. Metal will start airing in December, on Saturday at 5 p.m. and a Sunday replay at 6 p.m. The network will also air an XFL game for ten weeks on Sunday nights during the season, along with two playoff games and the first XFL championship game. The contract for Smackdown and Metal are for three-years, with the network having the option to renew it for an additional two years. The XFL contract is for two years. As part of the deal, the WWF will retain all commercial rights and sell the shows themselves, paying a percentage of the ad revenue back to HMG, Inc., almost like an infommercial. The situation with Score is similar to that of UPN, in that it is a struggling network available in 4.6 million Canadian homes, looking for Smackdown and WWF to give it an identity. HMG, Inc. paid an undisclosed rights fee for all three shows, and in return, the WWF spent $1 million to purchase 222,223 shares of stock in HMGI (valued at $4.50 each). The WWF in its contract has the option by the end of February of 2002 to purchase as much as ten percent of HMGI, which would be a total purchase price at the current prices of $23.5 million. An interesting aspect to all this is that Score's agreement with the CRTC is that it can air only sports programming, and WWF, by its own product description as an action-adventure soap opera, doesn't fit into that category
495
496The XFL got lots of publicity with the announcement on 11/16 that they had hired Jesse Ventura as an announcer for the Saturday night NBC games of the week starting the first Saturday in February. It's the same question as to whether Ventura was using his public office for private gain, especially when Ventura again said that it was none of anyone's business what he was making for the job. Within football, it's been heavily criticized, but Ventura does have a football background, as he's assistant coach at a local high school and spent two years as a radio football announcer with the Tampa Bay Bucs and one year with the Minnesota Vikings, being the first pro wrestling announcer of that era to cross over into real sports (Jim Ross was the second, working Atlanta Falcons games in the 90s and one very controversial show doing amateur wrestling where the entire amateur wrestling world freaked out and his voice was actually removed and new commentary was put into the show before it aired). Originally, NBC was predicting the Saturday night XFL games to average a 5.0 rating, but they've downsized their predictions now to 4.5
497
498Tentative PPV schedule for the first ten months of 2001. 1/21 Royal Rumble in New Orleans. 2/25 No Way Out in Orlando. 4/1 Wrestlemania in Houston at the Astrodome. 4/29 Backlash in Chicago. 5/20 Judgment Day in Sacramento. 6/24 King of the Ring at the Continental Airlines arena in East Rutherford, NJ. 7/22 Fully Loaded in Cleveland. 8/19 SummerSlam in San Jose. 9/23 Unforgiven in Pittsburgh. 10/21 No Mercy in St. Louis
499
500Almost as much controversy for the XFL as hiring Ventura was caused by Vince McMahon in an ESPN Magazine interview about the XFL where he noted that the cheerleaders would be part of the announcing crew and would be encouraged to date players (soap opera storylines?). The announcers are going to do the games from the stands next to the cheerleaders. McMahon said, "When the quarterback fumbles or the wide out drops a pass, and we know who he's dating, I want our reporters right back in her face on the sidelines demanding to know" (what they were doing the previous night)." After tons of criticism from that magazine quote, McMahon in a later interview, claimed he was only kidding when he made the first quote. The WWF is claiming to have sold 30,000 season tickets between the eight teams, which if that is correct, is 3,000 per team besides the flagship team in New York. It's probably a little too early to call that a bad sign, but just as certainly isn't a sign it's going to be an immediate success with the season opening just two-and-a-half months away. They claim 9,000 season tickets for the New York Hit Men, playing at Giants Stadium. They have projected in their budget, which has the league losing $80 million in its first season (half of which will be absorbed by NBC and the other half by WWF), to sell 25,000 tickets per game at an average ticket price of $25. As we've said numerous times, if they start okay in ratings and ticket sales at curiosity, and give the fun product they are promising, they have a shot. If they start out great, the momentum alone would mean they'd have to have at least a decent product. If they start out with low ratings and poor ticket sales, they'd better have a tremendous product because the first impression is often the most lasting. It's not a bad gamble for NBC, because $80 million is a drop in the bucket compared to major sports leagues annual rights fees. There is more major controversy regarding the XFL as it pertains to some of the West Coast NBC affiliates according to the 11/21 Electronic Media, particularly the Los Angeles and San Diego stations. NBC wants, during XFL season, to air the games live, which would be 5-8 p.m. on the West Coast, and then air Saturday Night Live at 8:30-10 p.m., instead of the traditional three-hour tape delay version for the West Coast at 11:30 p.m. This appears to be a gimmick to boost SNL ratings since the show would have prime time exposure on the West Coast, and then, even if XFL ratings don't do well, the NBC execs who proposed the deal can justify XFL by saying it improved the SNL ratings. The flip side is many of the local stations don't like the idea of giving up their 5-6:30 p.m. Saturday newscasts for an unproven product as well as their lucrative 7-8 p.m. programming. However, it'll be very difficult for those stations, if they choose not to carry XFL, to program three hours of Saturday night prime time for 12 weeks on this short a notice
501
502According to Vince McMahon's office, the reports that both NBC and Viacom are looking to sell their stock in WWF Entertainment are false
503
504A correction regarding the Conquistadors in the WWF. It was Edge & Christian in every actual match. Aaron Aguilera & Christopher Daniels only wore the gimmicks twice, both of which were because Edge & Christian were with them, on the Heat run-in, and in the final angle where they got paid off. So in those matches, Edge really was that bad on his own and Christian really was that good
505
506Speaking of Daniels, he has not signed a developmental deal with the WWF but there have been talks and some intermediaries expect it could happen soon. He's also interested in going back to Michinoku Pro, a job he gave up when he signed with WCW, as the totally goofy Curry Man, which made him a cult favorite in Japan
507
508HHH did an interview with Alex Marvez on wrestlingobserver.com. In explaining his various injuries, he said, "I took a powerslam a few weeks ago and it shifted the bones in the lower portion of my spine above the coccyx bone. At the same time, I tore the covering on some discs and the muscle to my hip bone. I also bruised my hip bone and sprained all the ligaments. It just compounded the injury I already was trying to heal up from. Over the past few (tapings), any time I had impact in the area of my lower back, it caused almost a complete spasm. I'm getting the spasms out now by taking a little time off." On his recent heel turn, he said, "I enjoy being a heel more than anything else. To me, it a great time for it. The hardest thing in this business is to stay one way or the other. If you've a (babyface), if you're not creative enough, people start to dislike you. If you're a heel, it's easy for people to start liking you, especially if you're doing a lot of bad-ass stuff. Toward the end of my run as a heel, people were starting to cheer a little bit It was just an inevitable fact. This babyface turn and then turning back to heel was great because I think people bought into the fact I had turned. When I turned again, it was like, `that bastard. I hate him.' It puts me back with heat and I like that. It also gives me the opportunity to work with Steve. He's always been one of my favorite guys to perform with in the ring." Regarding his rarely doing clean jobs on PPV, he said, "The thing to me is when guys are on top. When have any very, very tippity-top guys done a bunch of jobs?" Of course HHH wouldn't have fit into the category of very, very tippity-top guy from 1996, when his streak started, through SummerSlam of 1999, not to say that Ric Flair and Rock did tons of jobs as tippity-top guys although one could make a strong case Flair did too many for his position (he did) and Rock has so much charisma he can get away with doing things most guys can't. He said the famous clique curtain call in Madison Square Garden was approved ahead of time by Vince McMahon and said if he knew he would have gotten into trouble for it, he wouldn't have done it. He blamed his punishment (he was scheduled to win King of the Ring in 1996, but to punish him, they gave the win to Steve Austin instead where Austin cut the 3:16 promo on Jake Roberts and the rest is merchandising history) on "old agents" who thought that the babyfaces and heels celebrating together was shitting on the business. "We didn't see it that way at all. I don't think the fans saw it that way. It was one of the things that was a precursor to picking up business in using a little more shoots in angles. The fans thought it was cool, I think. When we came back from that night, Vince did not have a problem." He said it took on a life of its own after the fact and Vince felt pressured to punish someone and he was the only one who could be punished since Michaels was above punishment as the top star in the company and Hall and Nash left the company. On Scott Hall, he said, "I don't know this for a fact, but I don't think the WWF will say it will never hire Scott Hall. I think they're just seeing if Hall is staying on the right path and can prove to everybody that he wants to be a productive part of the business if he were given that opportunity. He was critical of WCW, but said nothing nobody hasn't said already, saying it shows that they are pushing guys who aren't ready
509
510James Lewis, the lawyer being sued by the WWFE in the PTC suit, called the suit "hogwash," and said, "It's a very chilling thing to sue lawyers who are trying to adequately defend their clients. I don't think anything we've said in this case has had any effect at all on advertising for the World Wrestling Federation." That quote is so strange, because Lewis appeared on a PTC video that was used as both a fundraiser and to show to sponsors to "inform" them of the product they were sponsoring with the idea of convincing them to pull out. Lewis talked of the possibility of a countersuit. In a story in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, a PTC spokesperson L.Brent Bozell considered the lawsuit itself as libelous
511
512Rock and Benoit had one hell of a match on Smackdown that aired on 11/16
513
514Brian Keck, who placed in the Olympic trials as a Greco-roman superheavyweight (the trials that Rulon Gardner won, and I believe Keck holds wins over both Gardner and 1996 silver medalist Matt Ghaffari during his career), worked a dark match on the OVW tapings on 11/15 putting over Ron Waterman via tap out. Keck also did shootfighting with his most notable bout being in Brazil where he lost a long grueling match to Pedro Otavio (the same Otavio who beat Koji Kitao in a shoot in Japan but lost a worked match on a big New Japan show to Keiji Muto). Keck has been training at OVW but hasn't been exactly an instant success
515
516When Jim Ross talks about Angle as being the only Olympic gold medalist ever in the WWF, he's correct regarding modern era, and as it pertains to major stars, but technically incorrect. In early 1978, Willem Ruska, who won two judo gold medals in the 1972 Olympics for The Netherlands and was actually Continued on page 17.
517
518THE READERS PAGES
519
520 
521
522CURRENT SCENE
523
524The pro wrestling industry is really in a rut. ECW doesn't have the stars anymore. Their storylines and product no longer compel me to watch. WCW just always seems to be taking one step forward and four steps backwards. The WWF is the most disappointing of them all. They have the best line-up of workers of any company ever, but they've fumbled and screwed up storylines to the point that currently I find their storylines no more interesting than WCW.
525
526I don't understand where things went wrong. They were developing some of the best storylines ever. Then someone said, "Here's what would really make for a great show. So let's do the opposite." I just don't get it. Maybe Vince is too busy with the XFL and hasn't been able to pay close attention to the direction of the storylines.
527
528Here's some good examples of what I mean: 1) We had one of the best storylines ever between HHH, Angle and Stephanie. Do we take it all the way, have Angle, the best heel in the company, steal HHH, the best worker in the company's, wife, turning HHH mega sympathetic face and allowing for a great program that everyone can relate to?
529
530No. Why would we want to do that? Let's take the guy everyone wants to cheer for, turn him heel in an effort to utterly confuse the fans. Let's take our hottest heel, give him the belt, then bury him by taking him away from working in our hottest angle of the year, and instead put him in no angle at all, thus devaluing both he and the belt. Mark my words, that angle ending in a WCW-like fashion is the beginning of a downward spiral for the WWF.
531
532The fans will never get behind HHH as much as they were going to. The fans will never hate Angle as much again. Fans could somewhat relate to that story. The WWF pulled on the heartstrings of its fans, and right when they had the fans wrapped around their little finger, they changed the whole story.
533
534Why? Because just like in WCW, insecure people doubted whether the story was compelling enough, so instead of giving us a great finish to a great build-up, we get a swerve that killed everything. Putting HHH against Austin after everyone started liking him has WCW swerve booking written all over it. This kind of booking is the reason WCW will be losing $80 million this year.
535
536Also, we have the biggest star ever in the company returning and he's looking for who ran him over. Does the culprit turn out to be Rock, an angle that has goldmine written all over it? No. Maybe HBK. Some who at least had a strong motive and could have a great program? No. Maybe for storyline continuity and nostalgia, it could be Vince McMahon. No. Who? Rikishi. Not only does that make a lot of sense, but I'm sure it will make a lot of money also.
537
538HHH doesn't want to be a face. Rock doesn't want to be a heel. So let's do storylines that make no sense for them. Sounds like some crappy third rate Russo wannabe writing.
539
540To top it off, nobody writing the stories is putting any effort into developing good storylines for the mid-carders. All this great talent is being almost completely wasted. Jericho could be the best heel or face in the company. Does he get a chance? No. Why? Because not a single WWF writer can come up with a creative angle to put him in. He hasn't been in one angle this year that can't be found in a Pro Wrestling Booking 101 textbook. Regal has a great character. Is he given any kind of angle to allow his character to continue to develop? No. Raven had some of the best storylines ever in his first ECW run and even in WCW. Does he even get mic time? No. The Dudleys. No storyline. Al Snow. He's been funny in the past, so he's hardly on camera and instead of pushing him because he deserves it and has good ring work, we'll push someone with no charisma and ring work like X-Pac.
541
542What do we do with air time that should be going to talented mid-card guys? We'll give it to RTC. Buchanan & Goodfather are so charismatic and have such great ring work. The whole RTC gimmick reminds me of something some bush league independent would do. Here in Chicago, we have Windy City Wrestling with The Outfit (a mafia group) and The Brotherhood (a biker group). An RTC gimmick should be fighting those two groups in Windy City, not in WWF.
543
544I do very much like what I see from Edge & Christian and the Hardys, I enjoy Benoit's push but I think it would be better if Shane was still his adviser and that people sold his finish better. I'm not asking for more time on storylines and less on wrestling, I just want better storylines. There are five hours of WWF TV per week. That's plenty of time for good wrestling and good storylines. I started watching the WWF in 1984. I stopped at the end of 1992 and didn't start again until mid-1996. Why did I stop? Because the storylines sucked. It just seems to be that if WWF doesn't start to straighten out these poor storylines, they will be headed toward another two or three year bad period and as a fan I would hate to see that happen.
545
546Jim Dimmick
547
548Chicago, Illinois
549
550CANDIDO
551
552I was sitting near the mother of indy wrestler Morgus the Maniac, she plays the nurse in his gimmick, but is a nurse in real life. She was summoned post-haste to the locker room to provide first aid to Chris Candido, who indeed had a seizure on 11/11 at the Hampstead, MD show as has been reported, and was taken away in an ambulance. Tammy Sytch was in the back with him.
553
554I can't tell you how horrified I felt, thinking I had witnessed a near repeat of the Gary Albright situation. What will it take for Candido, Sytch, and the wrestlers in general to address the painkiller, drug and steroid issues? I was there in the bleachers feeling sickened. Doesn't that feeling exist in the locker room?
555
556Ross Burbage
557
558Westminster, Maryland
559
560INJURY STUDY
561
562I was really impressed with your study regarding injuries over various time frames. However, about your statement that younger men shouldn't get injured as frequently as older men, to the best of my recollection from physical therapy school, the opposite is true. We were taught that most severe disabilities occur to people who are the least prepared to accept those disabilities. For example, quadriplegia and paraplegia occur mostly in young men who dive into a shallow pool, engage in a dangerous sporting event are or involved in gunshot wounds to the spinal cord, etc. Older people typically don't engage in activities that predispose them to such diagnoses. If you were referring to pro wrestlers in particular, as opposed to the general public, you may have a point, although I would also assume that most older wrestlers have learned the limits of their physical abilities which would make them less likely to get seriously injured. In any event, your analysis was excellent and the subject warrants further study.
563
564Dr. Bob Bryla
565
566 
567
568BRET HART
569
570It's too bad about Bret Hart having to hang em up. It's always better when a performer gets to leave on their own as opposed to getting a career ending injury. It's ironic that Hart wanted to leave the WWF holding his head high, but he ended up leaving the sport after being injured and fired by WCW.
571
572I've always felt he wasn't criticized enough for his part in the Montreal finish. To me, his ego and wanting to be a Canadian superhero led to what happened. Bret wasn't even a Quebecer. It's not like they asked him to drop the title in Alberta. If Vince asked Rock to drop the title in Miami, he'd have the right to bitch. But if Vince wanted him to drop it in Sacramento, what difference would it make as long as he wasn't being embarrassed at home. The Harts are starting to become a bigger soap opera than Stephanie.
573
574What total hypocrisy of Joanie Lauer. Bad enough she's always sucking up to her boss on television, but to embarrass Trish Stratus like that was uncalled for. I've lost as much respect for her as I did for Debra Ann Micelli when she threw the WWF belt in the garbage can on Nitro. At least Micelli had the excuse that if she didn't do it, she'd have been fired before she started. Lauer's on air rant reeked of jealousy and insecurity. Maybe she's afraid that prettier and younger girls like Trish and Lita are going to take her place. She's spent more money on plastic surgery than I've made this year. I saw Playboy and it left me cold. They did a great job shooting her. They always do. They made her up quite nicely, but after all the surgery, she still looks masculine. Trying to make herself a role model for women? She's no more of a role model than Terri Boatright is.
575
576Nobody is going to say Stratus is an accomplished wrestler. She's only marginally better than the women in WCW. But she obviously has a good attitude and is learning the hard way to take bumps from Lita's moves. I love watching Lita, but she's got to bone us on the basics or she's going to hurt someone or herself. Chyna's no great worker either. She can be carried by Val Venis or Eddy Guerrero, and has been in wrestling a lot longer than Stratus.
577
578Andy Thurston
579
580OWEN HART
581
582I, like no doubt many others, are at a point where I feel the discussion of the tragic death of Owen Hart should be finally put to bed. Although we can't hide it was a massive and tragic incident, I think everyone is using hindsight to judge the WWF and not seeing the unique position they were in.
583
584The best indication to whether the show should have continued occurred in late August when Jeff Jarrett was asked if the show should have continued, his answer was, "Errr....I don't know." Not only is Jarrett respected, but he knows more about the business than most, and for him to be stumped for an answer almost 18 months later sums it all up. Nobody could have made a rational decision in a moment of such pressure and emotion.
585
586My point is we need to stop debating the rights and wrongs of the decision and look to the future to make sure such an incident never takes place again, and if it does, everyone is in agreement what should be done.
587
588Simon Checkett
589
590DM: I find it impossible to believe that Jarrett hasn't formed an opinion one way or the other. I think he was probably torn between the idea of disrespecting the memory of his friend and hurting his widow by saying something that was politically the right thing to say, or saying something that could hurt him politically and be perceived by people as knocking the business, which gets you heat whether your points are valid or not. So the best answer publicly was no answer. That kind of a pause isn't someone who doesn't have an answer, it's someone who does, but recognizes they don't want to get in trouble with one side or the other for telling what they think. This is not to suggest one way or the other what Jarrett's true feelings are. Whether the show should have continued is a minor point and I think the settlement amount in a very tainted case speaks volumes about what evidence was out there regarding the major point.
591
592WWF BOOKING
593
594The end of the Austin vs. HHH Survivor Series PPV match illustrates a problem the WWF has had in regard to overbooking their PPV main events. There was no reason whatsoever there could not have been a clean finish to the match, and then done the same post-match antics. With no clean finish and the ridiculous car skit, an otherwise terrific match was taken down a few pegs. Remember the Rock vs. HHH one hour match? They had a far better match than anyone had the right to expect. Then they did all those mistimed run-ins and ended the match leaving everyone with a bad taste. As the match went on, I found myself hoping against hope there would be no run-ins because we were seeing two guys at the top of their game putting on a very entertaining show. The WWF needs to learn that sometimes less is more. With the popularity of wrestling on an expected an inevitable decline, the overbooking will only hasten the down period.
595
596What is going on with New Japan? We've all been predicting the demise of All Japan for several years now. Now it appears New Japan is also going down. The junior heavyweights are boring and uninteresting due to no new infusion of talent. As much as I love Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Otani, they need new match-ups. So what happened? They shipped Otani off and started phasing down the division. The guys on top in the promotion are colorless and bland. Toshiaki Kawada got a miracle of a match out of Kensuke Sasaki, but who knows now if a rematch will even take place. Then they fired Shinya Hashimoto. What has happened to Riki Choshu? Why is he making those decisions? Hashimoto can still mean money. Not to mention how thrilling it would be if we could see Hashimoto against Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama.
597
598Dan Cerquitella
599
600FUKAWA
601
602All I can say is I'm very sad about the retirement of Yumi Fukawa. I met her several times in the past. But I'm also very happy and grateful she discovered her brain injury before something tragic happened. This trend of major brain injuries in wrestling is very worrying.
603
604Megumi Nakata
605
606HALL OF FAME
607
608Big Daddy should be kept as far away as possible. He was pushed so hard for so long, and only had popularity with pre-teens.
609
610Jackie Pallo and Mick McManus are better candidates, despite both being heels, they had the hottest feud for the majority of the 60s and 70s. I would say McManus was the better worker of the two. Arn Anderson is the closest comparison I can make. Pallo was of his time, the consummate showman, possibly the missing link between Gorgeous George and Ric Flair. Pallo also managed to piss of most of British wrestling with an appalling autobiography, "You Grunt, I'll Groan" (Queen Anne Press, 1985). It wasn't so much that it was an expose, more because he used it to put himself over again and again, something he's continued to do on every single TV appearance since, losing more and more credibility in the process. McManus was the booker for Dale Martin, the main promoter in London and the South. If there was a British Wrestling Hall of Fame, both would be shoo-ins. In terms of world wide, Pallo loses out, as he often seemed to put himself before wrestling, while McManus seems to have given his all to wrestling.
611
612Iain Baxter
613
614London, England
615
616Big Daddy should be in the Hall of Fame. Sure, his workrate was terrible and the reason he got such a push was because his brother was the promoter. In the heyday of wrestling in the U.K., he and Giant Haystacks drew ratings that put the current WWF to shame.
617
618His popularity over here was so great, everyone knew who he was and he also had his own comic book and a short-lived Saturday morning kids TV show. If you include him based on his contribution to British wrestling, then Giant Haystacks should be included as well.
619
620Unfortunately, or ironically, both men have also been blamed for the death of the British wrestling scene.
621
622As for Shawn Michaels, he should be in. If people are quick to overlook workrate and rest their judgement on outside the ring issues, then there is added weight for the reasons to include Crabtree.
623
624David Taylor
625
626Cardiff, South Wales, England
627
628DM: Loch Ness in no way belongs in the Hall of Fame that Bull Nakano or Undertaker can't get voted into.
629
630Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks are the best known wrestlers in Britain by a mile. You should put them both in there, even if they were crap wrestlers. It was all about entertainment, and they provided millions and millions with it. Mick McManus was a better wrestler, but had less appeal.
631
632Doc Scott
633
634Continued from page 15 . a huge star in Japan off of that with his famous feud with Antonio Inoki, wrestled in the WWF. Ruska, who is actually featured in many wrestling magazine ads in the early 70s for "Bullworker" as the muscle man who used this silly contraption and got this fantastic body without even lifting weights and thanks to "Bullworker" won world titles in judo as well, was a blonde good-looking guy with an awesome, by the standards of that period, physique and Vince Sr. saw him and thought he was going to be a world champion. Unfortunately, then he saw him in the ring and it was all over, and unlike the famous Tom Magee story, there was no Bret Hart to fool everyone in the WWF. Anyway, he didn't last long in the company
635
636Some Ross Report notes from the past week. Hardys & Lita were involved in an accident while on the road on 11/12 after the show in Huntington, WV. They were rear ended, which totalled the car, and injured all three, although all still wrestled the next night on television. Bradshaw should be ready to return after a broken rib on 11/27, while Faarooq's target date for a return from knee surgery is 12/10. Ross said that because they've been losing weight, that both Big Show and Mark Henry could be brought back early next year. The UPN show "Freedom," which Terri Boatright appeared on, will do an episode using Jackie. Mick Foley's book was No. 7 in the New York Times bestsellers list for children's books while Ross' cookbook is No. 6 in self help books. Walmart has banned selling Foley's book due to a photo of a naked elf
637
638Joe C, the former sidekick for Kid Rock who was a focal point of one episode of Raw a few months back where he cost Edge & Christian the tag titles in a match with Too Cool and was then later int he show put in a garbage can, passed away in his sleep on 11/16 at the age of 26. Real name Joseph Calleja of Taylor, MI, police ruled his death of natural causes and there was no autopsy performed. Calleja was a very short man who spent his life suffering from a digestive disorder called celiac disease, which caused him to live a very difficult life. He had to take 60 pills a day and take two shots, plus be monitored every night by a machine. The disease forced him to leave the Kid Rock tour one year ago, but he returned for a few dates over the summer and had been planning a solo album. Calleja had wanted to do use his rock celebrity status gained from backing up Kid Rock on the 1998 album "Devil Without a Cause," to do more with pro wrestling over the past year, including wanting to work with ECW. He had been friends with Sabu and Rob Van Dam among many others, and was wrestling videotape collector and a long-time subscriber to this publication
639
640Bull Schmitt, Rocco Valentino, Big Daddy Moore and Brandon Groom from Oklahoma Pro Wrestling will be getting try-outs on 12/29 in Austin, TX and 12/30 in San Antonio
641
642The Orange Bowl Parade is attempting to get Dwayne Johnson, who lives in the Miami area, to be one of the announcers. Diamond Dallas Page is scheduled to be in the parade on one of the floats
643
644Victoria, who was one of the ho's in WWF for a short-lived run before the characters were dropped due to the toning down of the product, debuted in Memphis as valet for Steve Bradley. They are still doing the Mick Foley vs. Bill Dundee angle over the commissionership on the 11/18 Power Pro TV show, with Foley doing interviews taped for the show but not appearing. Kat also appeared live with Jerry Lawler on that show
645
646Just for comparison purposes since the fall season started. We took the ratings for Raw, Smackdown, Live Wire, Superstars and Heat from pre-TNN/MTV levels to the levels since the station switch by comparing the ratings since the switch (not included the ratings of this past week) with those of the eight weeks before the switch (we didn't include the ratings for Raw and Heat outside their normal slots for the U.S. Open because it wouldn't be a fair comparison. Raw was averaging a 5.94 before the switch and has dropped to a 5.21 average, or a significant 12.3 percent drop. One can attribute some of the drop, maybe .3 of the .73 drop, to NFL football, which always takes Raw ratings down a little. The rest would be due to whatever decline of interest there is in the product, if any, and switching to a weaker station. The only comparison throwing out the station drop would be the Smackdown show, which stayed on the same station, and has actually increased from a 4.74 to a 4.79 average during those same periods, which indicates the ratings drop looks be to almost entirely football and USA to TNN, because if it was a lessening of product interest, Smackdown should also decline. PPV buy rates have also increased, although house show attendance has declined a little. Live Wire has dropped from 1.25 to 1.10, also a 12 percent drop. Superstars has dropped from 1.31 to 1.11, a drop of 15.3 percent. The biggest loser
647
648is Heat, which is probably attributable to the change in format, from a 2.65 average to a 2.20, or a 17 percent drop
649
650Eric Angle hasn't signed a contract with the WWF. Ever since his brother became such a big success, he's been interested in becoming a pro wrestler and WWF has talked with him in the past. It has been discussed signing him and training him
651
652Prince Naseem Hamed's deal with the WWF regarding the 12/2 show in Sheffield is that he's there as a fan and there are no current plans for him to shoot an angle, although there is always the chance that could change. The traditional boxer getting in the ring and KOing someone probably wouldn't work, being that Naseem is only 5-2 and his fighting weight is 126 pounds
653
654The record 48,395 tickets sold on the first day for Wrestlemania (which has now topped 52,000 tickets sold) destroyed the old company domestic record for one day ticket sales of 19,395 for the first Raw at the Georgia Dome
655
656For whatever this is worth, on the promotional poster for Royal Rumble on 1/21, the wording is, "30 Men...1 Will Become Champion." Often times the marketing side does things without consulting the creative side and simply comes up with phrases that may have nothing to do with storylines, since most storylines are put together with very short lead time due to the current nature of the business. So this may indicate the title will be vacant going into the Rumble and the match will decide the champion, or it may not indicate anything at all
657
658Because of the appearance of Austin, the 12/13 OVW show in Louisville has the biggest advance in the history of the company. They seem to be grooming Russ McCullough to be a Kevin Nash clone. Bleached his hair and changed it to look like a grungier version of Nash, plus adopting the exact same style ring outfit and taking on the power bomb as his finisher. They seem to be building up a spot on that show where McCullough will confront Austin, and no doubt, get stunned for his trouble
659
660UK ratings for the week of 11/12: Nitro drew 120,000 viewers, Raw drew 290,000 and Smackdown drew 180,000
661
662Smackdown tapings on 11/14 in Indianapolis drew 11,322 paying $325,397. Raw on 11/20 in Orlando drew 11,386 paying $350,782. Because of the PPV, there were no regular house shows this past week. Between the two TV tapings, the arena merchandise was an additional $176,287 or $7.76 per head.
663
664 
665
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675HOMERADIO ARCHIVENEWSLETTER ARCHIVETHE BOARDNEWSUFC NEWSWWE NEWSJAPAN NEWSROH NEWSTNA NEWSMEXICO NEWSINDIE NEWS
676NOVEMBER 13, 2000 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER: WWF NOT BUYING WCW, ECW NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER REVIEW, MORE
677BY OBSERVER STAFF | STAFF@WRESTLINGOBSERVER.COM | @WONF4W
678TWITTERFACEBOOKGOOGLE+
679Wrestling Observer Newsletter
680
681PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 November 13, 2000
682
683With the WCW crew enroute to Europe for a one-week tour, the questions about the future of the company remain.
684
685With little substantial information available, much of the talk going around consists of rumors, but it is clear the two possibilities remain--the company will either be purchased by a group headed by Eric Bischoff, or have its expenses cut to as much bare bones as possible and remain part of Turner Broadcasting. While the rumors within the company were strong of the latter most of the week, that still seemed to be the least likely possibility based on those closer to the situation.
686
687Based on an article in the online Broadcasting and Cable magazine, using Linda McMahon as the source, talks have broken down between the two companies. The WWF purchase, considered the most likely scenario just a few weeks ago, had strongly cooled in recent weeks. Vince McMahon, publicly, as late as 11/1, had talked about it as being something the company was looking into and it was still under consideration as late as the weekend. There is confirmation to the extent that Viacom, which owns 2.3 percent of the WWF and bought the exclusive rights to the product on cable for TNN and MTV, was initially unhappy about the company providing programming to rival cable stations TNT and TBS, even under a different company banner. However, most of those issues were said to have been resolved and it is said that was no longer the major stumbling block. The same stumbling blocks remained from day one, basically the deal Turner Broadcasting wants for the company and existing deals that would have to be honored. The deeper WWF looked into it, the more existing deals the company felt were bad presented themselves.
688
689In addition, WWF wanted control of the advertising time, as it has with the Viacom deal and the UPN deal, and then pay the station a percentage of the time it sells itself as opposed to the reverse, which would be normal in most forms of television. There has always been a problem from the start regarding a difference in opinion on programming. The WWF wanted to cut WCW back to one prime time show per week, most likely a show that would be aired live on Wednesday, thus eliminating the Monday night competition, and also to cut back on the number of PPV events WCW would hold, at least temporarily until the interest level picked up sufficiently for the shows to be able to do decent numbers. There was also said to be a major discrepancy in the feelings of both sides as to what the value of the brand name "WCW" and thus the value of the company was.
690
691The WWF appeared to be the leading candidate because Time Warner was looking at selling it off, but wanting to maintain the four hours of prime time programming. The feeling seemed to be, based on track record, that McMahon would deliver better ratings for the station than Bischoff.
692
693During the week the rumors flew that Time Warner wouldn't sell the company, and would look into as much cost cutting as possible, including terminate wrestlers under contract when their 90-day cycles are up, with the idea that, given the lack of leverage most of the talent would have, they would be able to rehire them at a lower deal. Many of the recent contracts called for a lower base and additional pay based on shows being worked, but with the company cutting back to mainly just one television date a week and one PPV per month and few house shows, wrestlers who expected 150 dates when they were figuring out their deal are going to wind up with less than half that. The down side is that any wrestler cut under those provisions would be able to immediately go to the WWF, even though they'd have little leverage to cut a good deal with the WWF going in. There is a value in four hours of programming that generally does between a 2.0 and 2.5 rating, which is well above the prime time average for both stations, so the company would be willing to put up with some losses, but clearly not losses at the level they've had this year.
694
695Still, those close to the negotiations believe both the stories that Eric Bischoff no longer has any interest and that Time Warner is looking at keeping the company to be more negotiating bluffs, with each side using it more as leverage to negotiate from strength. On 11/6 in Chicago, between the Battledome angle, which is something that involves Bischoff, along with a taped interview for Thunder (which may not air for quality reasons) plugging the Tough Man show on FX (FOX's cable station, and there have been negotiations in the past with both Bischoff and Hulk Hogan with FOX about doing pro wrestling in the future) have led to the connect the dots theories putting Bischoff back in the drivers' seat. However, even before that, the belief among key insiders at WCW was that the Bischoff deal was the most likely eventual scenario. But there was no deal done at press time.
696
697In its first PPV outing since losing national television, ECW, with the toning down of the WWF, went as far as possible to re-establish the niche it once had in wrestling with the November to Remember PPV, which could have been appropriately subtitled, "The Night of the Blade."
698
699The 11/5 show from the Odeum Theater in Chicago before about 4,600 fans, which was 2,600 paying $122,000, seemed almost to be a show booked on the fly, left little in the way of structure and ended with a new ECW champion crowned for the second straight PPV in Steve Corino. With WCW running in the same market the next day, the crowd, if people were looking for a comparison, had to be a disappointment since WCW not only outdrew ECW, but drew substantially more money with much lower ticket prices.
700
701Herein lies the dichotomy of the title. Rob Van Dam, the group's biggest star, has been kept from the title because, from an old championship perspective, the title is the holy grail and the fun is the chase. There have always been reasons, and logical ones at that, why the time hasn't been right. There was no point doing it before national TV. And there is no point wasting it now that there isn't national TV. However, that old-school chase is only effective when the title is the cornerstone of the company and it's nothing something that anyone can have. The classic chases that worked at the box office were those of a title that rarely changed hands. They wouldn't work, to the other extreme, at WCW, where the title has been devalued to where holding it isn't any big deal, seeing it change isn't any big deal, and thus, winning it means nothing either. In WWF last month, even though the belt changes hands relatively frequently, the only people who have held it all year have been the top guys, and acknowledged superstars. While Kurt Angle's booking since winning it may be questioned, the fact is, it was positioned and protected enough that his winning it elevated him, and didn't hurt the title, putting him in an elite company. Waiting for Van Dam to be put in the elite company for a title belt whose main lure, as pushed on television, was not that it signifies anything other than the storyline right to sleep with Francine, a belt that the holder isn't even the main event on the house shows, and that watching the three leading contenders beat each other bloody is less important to the audience than seeing a fourth guy, going for the title, show up several minutes late to the match, take several more minutes for his ring entrance, while, expectedly, the ring entrance was a bigger deal than the guys ripping and clawing for the title. Like Goldberg's quest in WCW, Van Dam's quest is for something no longer that important in the fans' eyes.
702
703The show itself was what you expect from ECW. A lot of wrestlers working really hard to impress. This was bloodier than usual, but slightly below the standards of the usual ECW PPV show, since it lacked the one blow away match. Van Dam was in Thailand filming a martial arts movie, which was never acknowledged on the show, which took the group's one superstar out of the mix. Jerry Lynn and Justin Credible, who usually anchor the top of the card with strong matches, were put in a main event which went too long with a crowd already burned out from so much undercard blood, and their work, blood and sweat was totally devalued by the idea of making Sandman's ring entrance take up four minutes while they were trying to work a semblance of a match with the idea something important, even if it was the right to sleep with Francine, was at stake. To their credit, Credible and Corino's work in the last few minutes after the two singles matches at the same time, which turned into just another four-way, was down to those two, was very strong and the finish was really well done. The announced line-up was changed on the fly, although it probably helped the show in the end.
704
705There were two unfortunate mishaps regarding usage of fire. In the most serious, before the show, Sinister Minister (Jim Mitchell) was working with the fire blower gun gimmick and there was an accident as he was playing around with it and it went off by accident. It left a bullet sized hole in his stomach, tearing off a piece of his thumbs and forefinger and badly burning his left hand, which may result in nerve damage. He was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, bleeding badly because it cut his wrist and severed an artery and he went into shock. He underwent plastic surgery, which apparently saved the hand. Luckily the shrapnel didn't penetrate into his internal organs. He had exploratory surgery the next morning and it is believed there is some nerve damage to two of his fingers and will probably need a nerve transplant. On television during the show, they attempted to explain the accident with the decision by Paul Heyman made for the announcers to claim that the FBI had attacked Minister and cut off one his fingers as kind of a mafia like hit, which came across incredibly gross, graphic, ill-advised and a decision that was heavily criticized by many in and out of the company. Angel of Da Baldies, who took the power bomb through the flaming table, momentarily had fire burning on the back of his head and his back, suffered first and second degree burns on his back and head.
706
707The real question to this show is economics. ECW is going monthly now. That's running twice as often at a time when the business is cycling downward and at a time when the company has far less television exposure. I think everyone agrees it would be better for the business as a whole to have viewer PPV events, but it's going to be next to impossible to get individual companies to make the decision to cut back because it's a risk that running fewer shows won't increase the buy rates and profit of each show and that even though long-term it may hurt the overall business from too much paid product, nobody wants to take the step that could hurt short-term in a business where nobody can predict long-term anyway. The combination of the TNN show and Hardcore TV was doing less than a 1.0 cum rating for the syndicated package. Take out the .64 average TNN was doing (.85 on TNN broken down to what the figure would be taken as a national figure) and you can see the audience syndication delivers. But ECW is a cult, niche deal, that survived on a very small audience from day one, relatively speaking, that was very loyal. If they can maintain their buy rates on PPV, which is still believed to be profitable, the move will be a success. If doing twice as many shows with less exposure results in a decline in buys to where PPV profits are cut down, the long-term picture is even more cloudy. That probably does necessitate more title switches and more gimmicks, because of running monthly big shows with a thin roster.
708
709Simon had a problem to start the show. He blamed Christian York & Joey Mathews for hurting Swinger, who, as it was revealed moments later, wasn't hurt all that badly since he was wrestling. He then blamed Joey Styles for not crediting him for injuring Tommy Dreamer. As it turned out, this was all a backdrop for what apparently will be the monthly angle injuring Joel Gertner so Cyrus can do commentary in his place. They never even acknowledged Cyrus having any role with anyone so the explanation of him being there after the TNN split seems to be no explanation, he's just still there. The one interview blowing off the TNN angle where Cyrus was hooked up with Rhino has seemingly been forgotten as well. Diamond attacked Gertner. This time Styles jumped on Diamond and tried the old rear naked choke, which isn't nearly as lewd as it sounds. Swinger came in with a chair and Styles ran off. Don't know where he ran, but it took him forever to get to the announcing position. Dreamer ran in for his cameo, doing a baseball slide into a chair on Diamond's face until C.W. Anderson took him out with the old Anderson kneeling armbar submission. York & Matthews made the save to set up the opener.
710
7111. Diamond (Pat Kenney) & Swinger (Joe Dorgan) beat York (Adam Birch) & Matthews (Jason Spence) in 5:20. The first 3:00 had no announcing. If it was an experiment, it didn't work. Finally Cyrus came out, and seemed uncomfortable doing it solo. The idea apparently was since this was an impromptu match, and in the angle, Styles was going back to get Dreamer for help, he shouldn't have been able to get back to the announcing position in time to call this match. Anyway, while that may make sense, it was a bad idea. Anderson used a spinebuster to take out Matthews while Swinger pinned York after the problem solver double-team move. Diamond & Swinger kept on them after the match until Kid Kash made the save, including a springboard off the back of ref John Finnegan, onto the top rope and out on the floor onto everyone. *3/4
712
7132. Kash (David Cash) pinned Anderson (Chris Wright) in 10:45. Styles arrived to save the day as far as announcing went. This match clicked better than any match on the show. Kash did a dive over the top into a huracanrana on the floor. He also did a running leap over the guard rail onto C.W. When the two mistimed an old style shoulder take down, the crowd made sure everyone knew they missed the spot. They missed a few moves but built the match well with some spectacular moves and near falls. In particular, Anderson did an old style Harley Race standing pausing suplex while standing on the middle ropes, as well as the Arn Anderson spinebuster for a near fall. Anderson blocked the money maker, but Kash reversed again into a swinging DDT for the pin. ***1/4
714
7153. Danny Doring (Dan Morrison) & Roadkill (Mike DiPaoli) & Spike Dudley (Matt Hyson) beat E.Z. Money (Jason Broyles) & Julio Dinero (Brian Wohl) & Chris Hamrick in 8:23. It was 3-on-2 until Spike came in for the big entrance, which was the first of many on this show. Hamrick took the Lucha Libre high spot bump where the heel runs and gets tripped up and goes to the floor. Hamrick has no look and no rap but is a tremendous bump taker. Doring, Dinero, Money and Spike did a sequence of dives. They got some heat on Spike when Money clipped his knees. After a blocked acid drop, Money hit a power bomb on Dudley. Roadkill did his springboard double clothesline. Finish saw Spike and Roadkill do a double-team diamond cutter on Hamrick with Dudley pinning him. **3/4
716
7174. Nova (Mike Bucci) pinned Chris Chetti in 9:43 in an impromptu loser leaves town match. Chetti, who issued the challenge before the match, has taken a WWF developmental deal. One thing about ECW, in stips like this, they always honor them. They both worked hard. Nova missed a pescado. Chetti bladed right away from having his head ran into the guard rail. At times the work was a little off and the high spots seemed mechanical, but it built pretty well as they traded big moves, with Nova doing a lot of innovative spots. At one point, Lou E. Dangerously hit Chetti with the phone to set up Chetti using Nova's own novocaine spot for a near fall. Chetti clocked Nova with a chair, but Nova no-sold it and came back with probably the most fire he's ever shown on a PPV and a hot enzuigiri. Nova hit two piledrivers and went for a power bomb when Dangerously hit him with the phone again for a near fall. Nova got the pin after a kryptonite crunch off the middle ropes. It was a little sloppy in the original set up, but the last reversal into the move looked great, even if the landing itself looked very scary. **1/2
718
7195. Balls Mahoney (John Rechner) & Chilly Willy (Will Jones) beat Da Baldies (Angel Medina & Tony DeVito) in 12:11. It was what you'd expect, but probably a little better. Mahoney rattled DeVito's brain with a chair. Crowd was chanting for a girl in the stands to take off her top while these guys were massacring their foreheads. They brawled in the stands. Everyone ended up blading. Mahoney gave DeVito a very dangerous looking nutcracker suite off the middle ropes and a regular one to Angel. Mahoney & Willy sprayed two bottles of lighter fluid all over the table and Balls put Angel through the flaming table for the win. **1/4
720
7216. Rhino (Terry Gerin) retained the ECW TV title pinning New Jack (Jerome Young) in 7:55. Match consisted of nothing but New Jack hitting Rhino with one weapon after another until the finish. New Jack hit the first ref with a garbage can, which brought out heel ref Danny Daniels. He juiced right away. Rhino missed a pretty spectacular looking splash off the top. Finish saw New Jack hit the guitar shattering spot over Rhino's head. Rhino no-sold Jarrett's finisher, and speared Jack through a table for a fast count pin by Daniels. 3/4*
722
723They did a backstage angle seemingly to turn Corino heel where he was pouring out Sandman's beer while Jack Victory guarded the door. As it turned out, Sandman was in the bathroom, came in, and Corino did the wimp backing down deal saying the beer was contaminated.
724
7257. FBI (James Maritato & Charles Spencer) retained the ECW tag titles in a match which started as Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck (John Watson) as the foes, but ended with Tajiri & returning Super Crazy (Francisco Pantoja Islas), in 15:46. The worst thing these two teams ever did was have that incredible second match. It's almost guaranteed that every subsequent match, none of which have even been in the same league even though none have been bad, is disappointing. Whipwreck seemed a little off early. The crowd was really into Tajiri, who was incredible trading spots on the mat with Guido. At one point they sandwiched Guido's head in between chairs and each guy did a sliding kick to it. Whipwreck was taken out when he executed whipper snappers on both FBI guys at the same time off the middle ropes, and then started selling his shoulder big. To buy some time, Sal E. went for a splash and ended up killing Mamaluke, who somehow survived this blow. The match stopped while Whipwreck was stretchered out. It was really sad on two levels. First, it came off as if they were playing off Paul Orndorff, whether that was the direct intent or not isn't the case as I'm guessing since Whipwreck had a legit shoulder injury going in, it was just coincidental. Since Orndorff ended up okay, it was better than WCW playing off Owen Hart in Kansas City with Kanyon, but that's faint praise. Second, nobody, and I mean nobody, in the crowd bought it and in fact were chanting for the Crazy run-in. Also, I felt sorry for the credibility of Joey Styles, first talking about how he didn't want to speculate on Whipwreck's condition out of fairness to his wife that was watching, then having his concern exposed by a crowd that never bought it and by the immediate run-in from Crazy establishing it as an angle. Crazy finally arrived to a huge pop at 8:00, doing his bottom, middle, top rope moonsault spot, and landed with his knees on Mamaluke's face. Guido juiced. Match fell apart at this point and had no heat. Crazy did a spectacular moonsault block off a 15-foot-balcony although the cameras missed everything but the dive, which was apparently caught by Sal E. In the ring, Tajiri put the tarantula on Mamaluke, but Guido broke it up and bulldogged him for the pin, which nobody expected. **3/4.
726
7278. Steve Corino won the ECW title in the double jeopardy match over previous champion Jerry Lynn, Justin Credible (Pete Polaco) and Sandman (James Fullington) in 24:07. It was supposed to start as singles matches with Sandman vs. Corino and Lynn vs. Credible. Sandman wasn't there as they started the match. Fans chanted for Van Dam to be the fourth man instead of Sandman. After 3:00 of brawling, Sandman's music played. It killed everything they were doing in the ring as nobody was watching. Lynn bladed during this period. Sandman finally got to the ring at the 7:00 mark of the match and caned Lynn and Credible, so Credible then juiced. Corino then juiced, giving his old school forehead more battle scars. There was no semblance of two singles matches as it was just a four-way. Sandman suplexed Corino on a ladder for a near fall. There was so much blood already on the show, and by this point all four were bleeding in this match, and there was little crowd reaction. Sandman suplexed Corino on the guard rail. Lynn got his cradle piledriver on Credible but Francine stopped the count by attacking ref John Finnegan. This brought Dawn Marie to the apron, but Corino turned himself heel again by kicking her out when the crowd was expecting the cat fight spot. The first two matches ended with a double pin at the same moment, which came off totally contrived, as Credible hit his tombstone on Lynn and Corino hit his neckbreaker, the old school expulsion, on Sandman at 16:21. Fans hated this, maybe because it was two heels left although Corino at this point wasn't a clear heel and the crowd took him still as a face against Credible. Lynn and Sandman each interfered once down the stretch. It turned into a big-time chopfest with Corino and Credible which got the crowd finally into the match. Corino hit Francine with a superkick. Corino hit the expulsion but Credible kicked out. Credible used Corino's superkick, right on the money, for a near fall. Corino hit the expulsion again but Dawn Marie came back and gave both Corino and Jack Victory low blows. The one to Victory looked so lame as he's three times her size and he just stood there forever waiting for it. Credible nailed Corino with three cane shots, and by this time Corino was bleeding everywhere, before Corino hit a desperation superkick for the pin. Lynn presented Corino with the belt after, but then slapped him. After the show went off the air, Corino was surprised by his mother being brought to ringside after the show went off the air. **1/2
728
729"I'm Next: The Strange Journey of America's Most Unlikely Superhero," by Bill & Steve Goldberg and Crown Publishing is the latest of the round of pro wrestling books inspired by the sales of Mick Foley and Dwayne Johnson's books.
730
731The sad part about this book, is the current release date. When reading the book, there is an overriding messages that much of life is timing and luck. If this was two years ago, the book would have been a big seller. Now, wrestling isn't as popular and WCW and Goldberg certainly aren't as hot. None of this has anything to do with the quality of the book and has everything, far more than the quality of the book itself, with its eventual success.
732
733It's an easy read, without much in the way of depth. It's largely the story of a guy who didn't grow up as a big wrestling fan, although he did watch it at times in his life, who because he worked out at a gym owned by wrestlers and lived in a city that many WCW wrestlers lived in, and had the right look and drive, was talked into becoming a wrestler after a less than stellar football career was over. It's about a guy with a combination of the look and being in the right place at the right time, and because of his religion opening up the mainstream media to him, becoming a short-lived cultural phenomenon. If you're looking for a book to give insight all those things and his opinion of how and why they happened, you'll be disappointed. If you looking at insight into the world of pro wrestling, and for someone who was a key part of both the high period and the fall of WCW, and to talk about the whys, you'll be disappointed. Goldberg goes over his life, and wrestling is a part of his life, but clearly, unlike Mick Foley, not nearly as important a part of his life. Goldberg comes across as honest, and his rep in wrestling for having a problem not understanding it's a work certainly doesn't come across here. He even brings up the secret loss, before he debuted on Nitro. Unlike what internet sources have claimed, it was neither to Roddy Piper, nor Hector Guerrero, but at a small spot show in Dalton, GA, to Chad Fortune. He's very honest as to what pro wrestling is, and what life training to be a wrestler is. He's even more honest about himself, and his strengths and shortcomings as both an athlete and a person. He makes it clear he can't call a match, and that often when he looks good, it's the other guy carrying him. He doesn't pretend to be what fans think he is. He clearly still is in awe of real athletes, and talks about his thrill in meeting the Shaq's and Brett Hull's and Gretzky and McGwire's of the world that his wrestling fame has allowed to him actually in some circles become a short-lived hotter commodity than, which actually make him come across as a star worshipping fan and that his stardom has allowed him to meet people that he thinks are real celebrities. Because of that, there's way too much in the book of him being thrilled to have been able to drink from the Stanley Cup, or get free tickets to the Super Bowl and his various meetings with legit sports stars that his pro wrestling name value opened up.
734
735He makes no claims of being a tough guy, even though he clearly is. He downplays his football ability to a great degree. In many ways, when you compare Goldberg and Johnson's book, because they come from similar backgrounds--from families filled with athletes, through the football system, the disappointment of not making it as a pro, and into pro wrestling where they rose to the top in record time, this book blows away Johnson's book, but that only goes to show, in comparison, just how shallow Johnson's book is. Compared with the Cappetta book, this is not in the same league, although no doubt it will sell far more copies.
736
737It's the life story of a guy, who actually has a family that seems even more interesting than he is. Great athletes and all successful in their various endeavors. His background, economically and from a family standpoint, is totally atypical of most pro wrestlers. There were two interesting tidbits about the Goldberg family and pro wrestling. The first is that his great grandfather, Morris Wolfson, was a pro wrestler at the turn of the century briefly and once had a match with Frank Gotch. The other is that his older brother, Mike, who played football at the University of Minnesota, in his college days had two roommates that were training at the time to be pro wrestlers, Ken Patera, and a guy who was later known as Ric Flair.
738
739If you're looking for his thoughts and insights into people in wrestling, you'll get a pretty straight forward view. He likes Rick Steiner, Scotty as well. Understands Kevin Nash is manipulative, but probably not to the degree he is, but likes him and credits him for helping him. Like most wrestlers who have worked with him, doesn't see through Hulk Hogan, and sees him as the man who made pro wrestling what it is. The only guy he admits to not liking, is Scott Hall, more for his behavior in public outside the ring than for what he does in front of the camera, although aside from saying Hall treats people badly, doesn't go into detail as to why. As far as the colorful stories about wrestling that made the Billington book, honesty about the drugs (totally avoided), the nature of the promoters and many of the wrestlers, it's not here. Even the story about HHH at the licensing fair isn't here, although in discussion of the WWF, he did praise Austin and Rock, and to a degree Foley although said he couldn't understand why he did what he did. He revealed one interesting story that never had been gone into before. When he was first negotiating with WCW, because Eric Bischoff was so slow in getting back to him, he was flown into Stamford, CT and made a verbal deal with the WWF, but before he signed it, his agent got Bischoff to call him back. Given that it is doubtful WWF would have given a rookie, even with the look, anywhere near the same push, and granted, he is the exception to the rule of someone who is a new wrestler who was lucky not to be in the WWF, it just shows what timing means, because he, had Bischoff not taken him, would have likely been in the same spot as Darren Drozdov, another ex-NFL fringe player with a cool look. Because football was really a bigger part of his life, there is more on his football career, which is interesting about life and the mentality of a fringe NFL player.
740
741In comparison to Johnson, this is probably where Goldberg comes across well. Johnson, a fringe college player who wasn't even a starter in college and couldn't even make the CFL, tried to portray himself as a star in college football. Goldberg, a second-team All-American, portrayed himself, as a 6-3 and 275 pound lineman, as being someone who worked hard, but was undersized (for his position in the NFL he was) and too slow.
742
743Even though he clearly didn't like the direction of the product under Vince Russo, he was careful not to be critical of Russo himself, which, given the time frame he was writing the book, is probably the smart approach. In fact, nobody got any blame, not Nash, not Bischoff, not Hogan, for the destruction of both his company and his character. You could see he didn't like the heel turn, but he really didn't even go into detail as to why and even downplayed it somewhat, saying there were things he was looking forward to about it. He did say the Jim Duggan angle, using Duggan's cancer as part of a wrestling angle, went over the line. Maybe he didn't want to come across bitter in a book about a business that he was so fortunate in. Maybe he really didn't understand what happened.
744
745Overall I'd give this a thumbs in the middle. I enjoyed reading more as a book about the real life of being a fringe NFL player who lucked out after football, than a wrestling book. If you're looking at it from the wrestling book standpoint, you'll probably be disappointed. But unlike a lot of wrestling books, in fact, probably the majority of them, when you're done reading it, at least you won't say that the writer was either insulting your intelligence or living in the fantasy world as opposed to simply working in it.
746
747Due to a problem at Neilsen where the audience for the final 11 minutes of Raw (the Austin vs. Rikishi & Angle main event) wasn't figured in at press time, we have slightly incomplete ratings for 11/6. Raw did somewhere between a 5.1 and 5.2. Not including the last segment, the rating was 5.11 (5.07 first hour; 5.17 second hour) and a 7.5 share. Nitro did a 2.55 rating (2.98 first hour; 2.12 second hour) and a 3.6 share. The total head-to-head audience of 8.5 million was the highest since 9/25--the highly publicized first week of WWF on TNN. Monday Night Football with the Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers drew a 14.56 rating and 25 share.
748
749Of what we know, Raw's high mark was a 5.52 for the DX vs. Radicals eight man finish and Hardys vs. RTC. There was one weak quarter, a 4.84 unopposed, for Raven vs. Lawler. Nitro's Booker vs. Nash title match was a ratings flop, with a 1.89, making it the lowest rated segment of the show.
750
751Head-to-head quarters saw Raw at 4.74 (McMahon's speech) to 2.20 (Page's return and Battledome angle), Raw at 5.27 (More of McMahon's speech with Austin, Angle and Stephanie out, Undertaker vs. Venis) to 2.09 (Jarrett & Steiner vs. Sting & Bagwell), Raw at 4.93 (Kane interview, HHH recruits DX reunion) to 2.29 (Rection vs. Wright, Goldberg vs. Bigelow) and Raw at 5.33 (T&A vs. Too Cool, beginning of DX vs. Radicals) to 1.89 (Booker vs. Nash).
752
753Smackdown on 11/2 drew a 4.58 rating and 8 share (5.26 realistic equivalent) and 8 share. The show placed fifth out of the six networks in its time slot. It did win among teenagers (6.8 to 4.0 for NBC) and among kids (3.9 to 2.8 for NBC although Friends head-up beat Smackdown among kids barely). Smackdown by market was 8.0 in New York, 6.8 in Los Angeles, 10.0 in Chicago, 6.2 in Philadelphia, 4.1 in San Francisco (except for Monday Night Football, the Raiders and 49ers and the weekend golf tournament, this would have outrated all sporting events on Bay Area TV all week), 4.4 in Boston, 6.8 in Dallas, 6.0 in DC, 5.9 in Detroit and 6.8 in Atlanta.
754
755Thunder on 11/1 did a 2.05 rating and 3.2 share.
756
757WWF weekend numbers saw Live Wire at 1.1, Superstars did its all-time record low with an 0.9, and Sunday Night Heat also did its all-time record low in its regular time slot with a 1.85 rating and 2.8 share. Now that we're five weeks into the season, we can pretty well say the new Heat formula is a bomb, as the show was doing consistent 2.6-2.7 ratings in the old format.
758
759The 10/31 Lucha Libre block on Galavision did a 1.8 Hispanic rating, but where Galavision was thrilled was that in its target 18-34 Male age group, it did a 4.4.
760
761OBSERVER POLL RESULTS
762
763Traditional Observer PPV poll results based on phone calls, fax messages and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/6. Due to the web site being shut down for technical repairs and a server change, responses were limited, which I wouldn't say constitutes necessarily limited interest in the show itself.
764
765ECW NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER: Thumbs up 51 (59.3%), Thumbs down 23 (26.7%), In the middle 12 (14.0%). BEST MATCH POLL: Kid Kash vs. C.W. Anderson 11, Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Sandman vs. Steve Corino 10. WORST MATCH POLL: Diamond & Swinger vs. York & Mathews 10, New Jack vs. Rhino 8
766
767EYADA POLL RESULTS
768
769Results of the daily poll on the eyada.com web site. New questions will be up every day at approximately 3 p.m. Eastern time with the results being announced at the start of the Wrestling Observer Live internet audio show the following day as well as each week here.
770
771What did you think of Monday night's (10/30) wrestling? a) Raw was better 61.4%; b) Nitro was better 7.1%; c) Didn't watch Raw 2.3%; d) Didn't watch Nitro 19.7%; e) Didn't watch Raw or Nitro 9.4%
772
773What was the best PPV match in October? a) Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible 8.4%; b) X-Pac vs. Chris Jericho 4.2%; c) HHH vs. Chris Benoit 64.9%; d) Rock vs. Kurt Angle 17.1%; e) Misterio Jr. & Kidman vs. Boogie Knights vs. Jindrak & O'Haire 5.3%
774
775What is your opinion regarding the settlement of the Owen Hart case? a) It was as fair as it was going to be for both sides 56.4%; b) WWF shouldn't have settled the case as they weren't in the wrong 5.6%; c) Harts shouldn't have settled, the truth should have come out 9.4%; d) WWF got off too easy in the settlement 28.5%
776
777Which of the following groups do you think has the best chance to make it in the American PPV market? a) Australian shows with Dennis Rodman 10.2%; b) Pride shows 33.4%; c) EMLL from Arena Mexico 16.5%; d) New Japan major shows 33.8%; e) Women of Wrestling 15.4%
778
779What did you think of the ECW November to Remember PPV? a) Thumbs up 24.4%; b) Thumbs down 7.0%; c) Thumbs in the middle 8.4%; d) Didn't see the show 60.2%
780
781This is the final issue of the current four-issue set. If you've got a (1) on your address label, your Observer subscription expires with this issue.
782
783Renewal rates within the United States are $11 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $20 for eight, $28 for 12, $36 for 16, $54 for 24, $72 for 32, up through $90 for 40 issues.
784
785For Canada and Mexico, the rates are $12 for four issues (which includes $5 for postage and handling), $21 for eight, $30 for 12, $38 for 16, $57 for 24, $76 for 32, up through $95 for 40 issues.
786
787For Europe, you can get fastest Observer delivery by sending to Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet Herts EN4 9YR England or e-mailing to grapplingaction@aol.com at 8.50 pounds per set of four issues to the U.K. or 9.0 pounds for a set of four for the rest of Europe.
788
789For the rest of the world, the rates are $14 for four issues (which includes $8 for postage and handling), $26 for eight, $37 for 12, $48 for 16, $60 for 20, $72 for 24, $84 for 28 up through $120 for 40 issues.
790
791All subscription renewals should be sent to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. All letters to the editor, reports from live shows and any other correspondence pertaining to this publication should also be sent to the above address. This publication is considered copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of Dave Meltzer.
792
793Fax messages can be sent to the Observer 24 hours a day at 408-244-3402. Phone messages can be left 24 hours a day at 408-244-2455. E-mails as it regards questions for the internet audio show should be sent to davemeltzer@eyada.com and as it pertains to Observer news should be sent to dave@wrestlingobserver.com. You can also leave major show poll results or send live show reports to either number or to the e-mail address. At this point when it comes to Tuesday night shows on deadline, please either call, fax or send e-mails only to dave@wrestlingobserver.com. We are always looking for reports from the major offices and in particular from Tuesday night television tapings immediately after the show to get the news into that week's issue. If you are planning on attending a Tuesday night taping, please let us know in advance and we'll hold up our deadline if we know in advance we'll be getting a report.
794
795Wrestling Observer Live airs every Monday through Friday on the eyada.com sports channel on the internet from 6 to 8 p.m. Eastern time and 3 to 5 p.m. Pacific time. The show is available live throughout the world and the most recent show is available 24 hours per day on archives to listen to at your convenience.
796
797Bryan Alvarez and I open the show every day running down the latest news. We either have guests the remainder of the show, taking listener's phone calls and e-mails, or we take calls and e-mails. Even if you don't have access to a computer and just want to talk wrestling, you can reach us between those hours within North America at 1-877-392-3200 (1-877-eyada-00) or from outside North America you can call collect and reverse charges at 1-212-977-1859. You can always e-mail questions for the show 24 hours a day to us at davemeltzer@eyada.com. You can always check the wrestlingobserver.com web-site for the latest guest information.
798
799We also have late breaking news headlines on wrestlingobserver.com which also includes television reviews and columns written by Bryan Alvarez and Alex Marvez.
800
801 
802
803RESULTS
804
805 
806
80711/1 Oxford, MS (Memphis Championship Wrestling): Spanky b Enrique, Scott Vick b Lance Cade, Seven b Jack Dupp, American Dragon b Rodney, Head Banger Thrasher b Bo Dupp, Pete Gas b Tracy Smothers, Al Keeholic & Lady Ophelia b Fabulous Rocker & Bobcat, Gas & Seven & Jack Dupp & Cade b Rodney & Spanky & Bo Dupp & Dragon
808
80911/3 Mexico City Arena Mexico (EMLL): Virus & Fugaz b Neutron & Volador Jr., Felino & Safari & Mascara Magica b Rencor Latino & Arkangel & Mr. Mexico, Olimpico & Lizmark Jr. & Tony Rivera b Rey Bucanero & Black Warrior & Violencia, Shocker & Apolo Dantes & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Bestia Salvaje b Gigante Silva & Tarzan Boy & Emilio Charles Jr., Perro Aguayo & Villano III & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. b Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000
810
81111/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (FMW): Yoshito Sasaki d Osamu Makita, Chocoball Mukai & Shinjuku Same b Flying Kid Ichihara & Tomokazu Morita, Kyoko Inoue b Emi Motokawa, Gedo & Jado & Kaori Nakayama b Hisakatsu Oya & Ricky Fuji & Naohiko Yamazaki, Hideki Hosaka b Azusa Kudo, Tetsuhiro Kuroda b Mammoth Sasaki, Kodo Fuyuki & Kintaro Kanemura & Goemon b Hayabusa & Masato Tanaka & Onryo
812
81311/3 Toda (Battlarts - 15,484/in conjunction with boat race): Takeshi Ono b Urban Ken, Alexander Otsuka b Katsumi Usuda, Mohammed Yone & Ryuji Hijikata b Mitsuya Nagai & Junji.com
814
81511/3 Tijuana, BC (AAA TV tapings - 5,000): Ebola 2000 & Super Light & Guepardo b Gringo Loco & Shamu & Leoncito Chino, Octagoncito & La Parkita b Rocky Marvin & Mini Khaos-DQ, Blue Demon Jr. & Oriental & Oscar Sevilla b Charly Manson & Gran Apache I & Escorpion Negro, Cibernetico & Highlander & The Killer b Octagon & Abismo Negro & Sangre Chicana, Hector Garza & Jerry Estrada NC Zorro & Zandokan, Mexican National tag titles: Pirata Morgan & El Texano b Perro Aguayo Jr. & Heavy Metal
816
81711/3 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Gaea - 2,200 sellout): Sakura Hirota b Shikayo Nagashima, Mayumi Ozaki & Kaoru b Sugar Sato & Saika Takeuchi, Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada b Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato, Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura b Toshie Uematsu & Bloody
818
81911/3 Yuma, AZ (WXL): Pepe Prado b Buck Q (Quatermaine), Joe Gomez & Navajo Warrior b Marshal Law & Cody Ryder, Brian Blair b Doink the Clown, Public Enemy b Skinner (Steve Keirn) & Mike Rotunda, Cyborg b Horace Hogan, La Parka b Dandy, Tatanka b Typhoon
820
82111/4 Las Cruces, NM (WWF - 5,638): Too Cool b Goodfather & Bull Buchanan, Lita b Jackie, Lt hwt title: Dean Malenko b Raven, Tag titles: Hardys b Edge & Christian, Steven Richards b Crash, Hardcore title: Steve Blackman b Perry Saturn, IC title: Billy G b Eddy Guerrero-DQ, Steve Austin & Chris Jericho b Val Venis & Rikishi
822
82311/4 Tokyo Differ Ariake (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,800 sellout): Naomichi Marufuji b Makoto Hashi, Too Cold Scorpio b Satoru Asako, Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda & Haruka Eigen b Takeshi Morishima & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kentaro Shiga b Kenta Kobayashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Kenta Kobashi b Takeshi Rikioh, Vader & Richard Slinger b Jun Izumida & Akira Taue, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori & Jun Akiyama b Mitsuharu Misawa & Daisuke Ikeda & Yoshinari Ogawa
824
82511/5 Lubbock, TX (WWF - 8,571): Too Cool b Bull Buchanan & Goodfather, Lita b Jackie, Steven Richards b Crash, Lt hwt title: Dean Malenko b Raven, Steve Austin & Chris Jericho b Val Venis & Rikishi, Hardcore title: Steve Blackman b Perry Saturn, IC title: Billy G b Eddy Guerrero-DQ, Tag titles: Hardys b Edge & Christian
826
82711/6 Houston (WWF Raw is War - 12,478 sellout): Dupps b Rodney & Pete Gas, K.Krush b Joey Abs, European title: William Regal b Gangrel, Essa Rios b Zane Morris, Al Snow b Sho Funaki, Undertaker b Val Venis, Test & Albert b Too Cool, HHH & Road Dogg & Billy G & Chyna b Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn & Eddy Guerrero, Tag titles: Bull Buchanan & Goodfather b Hardys, Hardcore title: Steve Blackman b Kane, Jerry Lawler b Raven-DQ, Steve Austin b Rikishi & Kurt Angle-DQ
828
82911/6 Chicago United Center (WWF Nitro/Thunder tapings - 7,000/4,390 paid): Lance Storm b Kwee Wee, Tag titles: Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire won three-way over Jung Jang & Kaz Hayashi and Shane Helms & Shannon Moore, Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner b Sting & Buff Bagwell, U.S. title: General Rection b Alex Wright, Bill Goldberg b Bam Bam Bigelow, WCW title: Booker T b Kevin Nash, Jamie-san b Evan Karagias, Hardcore title: Crowbar b Reno to win title, Konnan b Disqo, Rey Misterio Jr. b David Flair, Lance Storm b Meng-COR, WCW title: Booker b Mike Awesome, Goldberg won three-way over Bigelow & Lex Luger
830
83111/6 Gosen (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 2,000): Naomichi Marufuji & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tamon Honda & Haruka Eigen, Masao Inoue b Richard Slinger, Jun Izumida & Akira Taue b Takeshi Morishima & Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori b Too Cold Scorpio & Vader, Daisuke Ikeda & Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa b Takeshi Rikioh & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kenta Kobashi
832
83311/6 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Osaka Pro Wrestling - 1,352): Takashi Tachibana b Shusaku Wada, Yoshito Sugamoto b Policeman, Kuishinbo Kamen & Monkey Magic & Chikako Shiratori b Ebessan & Kaiji Z-Mandora & Yuki Miyazaki, Super Delfin b Takehiro Murahama, Tsubasa & Masato Yakushiji & Naohiro Hoshikawa b Black Buffalo & Daioh Qualtt & Dick Togo
834
83511/7 Dallas Reunion Arena (WWF Smackdown/Heat tapings): Rodney & Pete Gas b Dupps, K.Krush b Just Joe, Edge & Christian b Too Cool, European title: William Regal b Al Snow, WWF title: Kurt Angle b Crash, IC title: Billy G b Eddy Guerrero-DQ, Hardys b Edge & Christian, Undertaker won four-way over Kane, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, Tag titles: Bull Buchanan & Goodfather b Dudleys, Steve Blackman & Crash b Test & Albert, Steve Austin & Rock DDQ HHH & Rikishi
836
83711/7 Aizuwakamatsu (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,800): Satoru Asako b Kenta Kobayashi, Takeshi Morishima & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura b Makoto Hashi & Kentaro Shiga & Haruka Eigen, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Jun Akiyama b Naomichi Marufuji & Daisuke Ikeda, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori b Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa b Jun Izumida & Akira Taue, Vader & Too Cold Scorpio & Richard Slinger b Takeshi Rikioh & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kenta Kobashi
838
839 
840
841Special thanks to: Megumi Nakata, Phil Jones, Bryan Alvarez, Trent Van Drisse, Kevin Gregg, Harold Williams, Alex Marvez, David Romero, Gene Restaino, Craig Allen, Craig Malone, Dominick Valenti, Jeremy Medeiros, Philip Laine, Justin Roberts, Dave Republic, Rob Moore, Christian Burns, Matt Duffield, Hector Ruiz, Jeff Amdur, Larry Goodman, George Guida, Jeff Marek, Scott Teal, Mike Mooneyham, Alan Adams, Richard Sullivan, Scott Dunlap, Craig Wozniak
842
843MEXICO: One of the strangest results ever in Mexico wound up with heel ref Tirantes getting his head shaved on 11/5 in Monterrey at the AAA TV taping before 4,000 fans. It was a cage match, with Hector Garza, Humberto Garza Jr., Latin Lover, Perro Aguayo Jr., Sanguinario, Jerry Estrada, Zorro and Heavy Metal and the last man left in the cage gets their head shaved. It came down to four major stars, Aguayo Jr., Latin, Heavy and Hector. After Garza left, he tried to get back in to fight Heavy, but Tirantes got in the cage to stop him from interfering. At this point, Aguayo Jr. got out, and then Garza and Metal went out together leaving only Tirantes in the cage. In an undercard match, Rocky Marvin beat Octagoncito to win the Mexican national minis title
844
845Rocky Santana announced he would be retiring in January. Santana was a mid-card veteran who gained a cult following in Japan because he resembled a shorter Onita
846
847At the 11/3 AAA TV taping before a nearly full house in Tijuana with jacked up ticket prices, Head Hunters no-showed with the announcement in the building that their mother had passed away. Main event saw Pirata Morgan & El Texano retain the Mexican national tag team titles over Heavy Metal & Perro Aguayo Jr. On 11/10, an indie group is running with Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Guerrero and a match billed to determine the vacant WWA tag titles with Lizmark & Lizmark Jr. vs. Silver King & Dandy and WWA minis title with Mascarita Sagrada defending the belt against the mask of Payasito Coco Verde, a masked midget clown
848
849Astro Rey Jr. retained his mask in winning a mask vs. hair match over Karloff Lagarde Jr. on 11/1 in Puebla, a bout set up when Lagarde won the Mexican National welterweight title from Rey Jr. in the same arena on 10/25
850
851At the 11/3 Arena Mexico show, Perro Aguayo challenged Cien Caras for a hair vs. hair mask but also said he would put up his hair against the mask of Universo 2000. One match or the other is the likely main event on the year-end PPV show on 12/15. Aguayo said he would retire if he wins the mask from Universo, but then said he would still wrestle in a few more arenas he hasn't done retirement matches in. This guy has done the longest retirement tour in history. I remember him telling people in 1994 that it was going to be his last year
852
853Negro Casas beat Bestia Salvaje in a hair match on 11/6 in Nuevo Laredo
854
855On 11/7, EMLL held an eight team tournament to crown the new Arena Coliseo tag team champions using its younger flyers so the tournament should have a lot of hot matches
856
85711/10 Arena Mexico headliners are Santo & Charles Jr. & Tarzan Boy (who will turn for the 13th straight week) against Wagner Jr. & Shocker & Scorpio Jr. plus Black Warrior & Cien Caras & Universo 2000 vs. Aguayo & Atlantis & Niebla
858
859EMLL's 11/24 Arena Mexico show will be Rayo de Jalisco night, honoring both the father and the son. Between Santo and Blue Demon, and probably Aguayo on 12/15, that makes four shows in the last few months of the year dedicated to legendary wrestlers
860
861Super Mega lost his mask on 11/2 in Naucalpan in one of those cage matches, revealing Juan Manuel Segura, 22 years old. Not sure if he's any relation to Micke Segura, who also works for the promotion
862
863Super Crazy, before going back to ECW, dropped the old UWA welterweight title to Oriental on AAA TV. Crazy wasn't wearing the UWA title, but instead was actually wearing an old IWRG heavyweight title belt that Pirata Morgan left the IWRG with when he jumped to AAA. Crazy had held the title for two years since winning it from Jeff Hardy in Japan.
864
865ALL JAPAN: The line-ups were announced for the tag team tournament. The plan at this point seems to be that the winner of the All Japan Real World Tag League tournament will face the winner of the New Japan G-1 tag league on New Japan's next PPV show, which is 12/14 in Osaka. All Japan tournament opens 11/19 at Tokyo Korakuen Hall with Genichiro Tenryu & Nobutaka Araya vs. Barry & Kendall Windham, Taiyo Kea & Johnny Smith vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi and Masahito Kakihara & Mitsuya Nagai vs. Steve Williams & Mike Rotunda. They're back at Korakuen Hall on 11/25 for Kawada & Fuchi vs. Kakihara & Nagai and Kea & Smith vs. Dan Kroffat & Yoshiaki Fujiwara. 11/27 in Niigata is Tenryu & Araya vs. Jim Steele (formerly Wolf Hawkfield) & Mike Barton and Kea & Smith vs. Nagai & Kakihara. 12/2 in Sendai is Tenryu & Araya vs. Kea & Smith, Kawada & Fuchi vs. Fujiwara & Kroffat and Williams & Rotunda vs. Barton & Steele. The final show before the finals at Budokan Hall is 12/6 in Sapporo, which in past years would mean the tournament would be booked with a bunch of teams still in the running, although that was Shohei Baba's style booking, with Tenryu & Araya vs. Kawada & Fuchi, Kea & Smith vs. Williams & Rotunda and Kakihara & Nagai vs. Kroffat & Fujiwara
866
867They announced a complete four-week January tour from 1/2 to 1/28. Hansen will only work the final night, which seems to confirm him only being brought in for big shows next year.
868
869PRO WRESTLING NOAH: Mitsuharu Misawa publicly talked about trying to get Shinya Hashimoto to work the company's biggest show in its short history on 12/23 at the Ariake Coliseum. This may be possible only because New Japan is trying to position Hashimoto as having quit the company so he can be an outsider when he comes back to feud with everyone, so having him work a show with this group works to New Japan's angle advantage
870
871Misawa announced they would have a tournament to crown their first singles heavyweight champion in March, which would mean the tour would go head-to-head with All Japan's annual Champion Carnival tour. They are expected to decide a jr. heavyweight champion and tag team champions in January
872
873The group opened its new tour on 11/4 at Differ Ariake with sellout 1,800 fans for No Fear (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama) over Daisuke Ikeda & Yoshinari Ogawa & Misawa. This group was also the only major league group to do a Yokozuna tribute, as Vader, who often teamed with him when he wrestled as Kokina for New Japan, led a tribute to him, despite the fact he had never worked either for this company or for All Japan
874
875Akiyama announced he was breaking away from the No Fear group after the show, saying that NOAH needed more excitement with him wrestling against Takayama and Omori
876
877Misawa said that everyone in the company would have signed contracts by the end of this week. Nothing special in upcoming line-ups. Takeshi Rikioh gets a singles match with Vader on 11/11 in Kyoto, one with Akira Taue on 11/15 at Korakuen Hall and one with Misawa on 11/16 at Korakuen Hall
878
87911/16 will also have a match to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mitsuo Momota's pro debut. Momota, the son of the late Rikidozan, will face rookie Kenta Kobayashi. His actual pro debut was November 17, 1970 for the old Japanese Wrestling Alliance that his father owned for many years.
880
881NEW JAPAN: Tokyo Sports, for whatever this is worth, has said that Masa Saito is negotiating to bring in Rulon Gardner for the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show
882
883G-1 tag team tournament opens 11/17 in Shiojiri with Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata vs. Masahiro Chono & Scott Norton and Super Strong Machine & Jushin Liger vs. Team 2000 Machines. They run Differ Ariake in Tokyo on 11/19 with Iizuka & Nagata vs. Manabu Nakanishi & Yutaka Yoshie, Kensuke Sasaki & Shiro Koshinaka vs. Team 2000 Machines and Machine & Liger vs. Chono & Norton. 11/24 at Korakuen Hall has Sasaki & Koshinaka vs. Machine & Liger, Iizuka & Nagata vs. Machines and Chono & Norton vs. Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan. The biggest show of the tour besides the finals on 11/30 in Hiroshima is 11/26 in Kyoto with Sasaki & Koshinaka vs. Chono & Norton, Iizuka & Nagata vs. Machine & Liger and Nakanishi & Yoshie vs. Tenzan & Kojima
884
885Nakanishi's wedding will be 1/6
886
88710/21 TV was more from the Tokyo Dome. The show consisted of two very good matches and one of the worst matches you'll ever see. Takaiwa retained the IWGP jr. title (which he's since lost) over Kanemoto after a death valley bomb. Match was very good, but for whatever reason, junior heavyweight matches traditionally get no heat at the Tokyo Dome and this was a prime example. Kanemoto nearly killed Takaiwa with a falcon arrow (a form of a piledriver). Built to a hell of a match (***1/2). Steve Williams pinned Scott Norton. Bet you could already guess this was the bad one. The funny thing is it had the most heat of the three bouts on the TV because it was interpromotional match with the top foreign big man in each company. Williams at least tried, but Norton seemingly was doing his best to make sure the match had no hope. Williams even did a tope. It got progressively worse, particularly as Williams was unable to do his doctor bomb spot and they kept falling on the ground. They were blowing moves all over the place by the end. Very much like Vampiro and Awesome except these guys were blowing basic moves and just standing there with no clue what to do next. Finally Williams executed the second worst backdrop driver in history (only Inoki's in the Leon Spinks match was worse), as Norton barely even went up, to get the pin (-***). Tenzan & Kojima beat Nagata & Nakanishi to keep the IWGP tag straps. Very good match, particularly Nagata and Kojima, who were both great. Nagata is among the elite workers in the profession these days. Nakanishi wasn't good, although in one case, when he suplexed both guys at the same time, they made him look bad by jumping at different times so the move looked like hell. They did an interesting spot during the match where Nagata accidentally spin kicked Nakanishi. Nakanishi then racked Nagata, but then threw him on Tenzan. Sensing the split, Tenzan held Nagata for a clothesline and told Nakanishi to do it. Nakanishi came in, Nagata ducked and Tenzan got hit. Nakanishi and Nagata then high-fived each other. Went to near falls. Only other negative is Nakanishi did so many spears during this match that when he was doing them at the finish, people didn't react at all. Kojima pinned Nakanishi with a lariat at the end. (***1/2)
888
88910/28 TV was more from the Tokyo Dome. They aired the Liger vs. Super Delfin match which Liger won with a brainbuster in 13:43. Match had no heat. They didn't do anything wrong, but it was nowhere close to what they did when they wrestled years back in a Super Juniors tournament. The match was average, with the highlight being Delfin's ring entrance where he came out with several of his Osaka Pro wrestlers, at least giving them exposure on network TV and on the big stage in front of 64,000 fans, and wearing a Liger mask. That was a take-off from their previous match on June 13, 1994 when Delfin wore a half Liger and half Delfin mask (*3/4). Don Frye beat Iizuka with a choke in 10:47. Total shoot style for 8:00, with them rolling around on the mat doing a worked UFC style match with no heat. Both guys appeared exhausted as that style is physically more draining for the participants and less exciting for the fans, which on the surface sounds like a bad combination, but it is the way Frye has to be used for his matches to mean anything. They started doing a more UWFish style, with trading punches and suplexes. They had a good exchange of punches which picked up the heat before the finish (3/4*). Main event was Fujinami vs. Hashimoto. They aired about 10:00 of the match this time, which was more than on the 10/9 show. Real good dramatic match with the sweat flying as they exchanged blows and Fujinami bled hardway from the mouth and lip. Probably the best singles match Fujinami has had in a long time
890
89110/28 TV drew a 3.1 rating.
892
893OTHER JAPAN NOTES: The 11/12 FMW PPV show from Yokohama Bunka Gym announced the following matches: Kodo Fuyuki vs. Hayabusa in a no time limit must be a pinfall finish match, Mr. Gannosuke vs. Tetsuhiro Kuroda in a match where Gannosuke has to retire (yeah, sure) if he loses, Goemon vs. Onryo, Homeless Jimmy & Supreme defend the hardcore tag team title against Mammoth Sasaki & Hideki Hosaka, Kyoko Inoue vs. Naohiko Yamazaki in a man vs. woman match and Gedo & Jado & Kaori Nakayama defend the six-man titles against Pat Tanaka & St. Louis area independent wrestlers Damien Blade & Brad Elliott
894
895Inoki is trying to put on a UFO show in January headlined by Naoya Ogawa fighting against a name heavyweight boxer. The idea is to build Ogawa with a win over a boxing champion to go along with his win over a karate champion (Satake) to build for the ultimate match against Rickson Gracie in the fall
896
897Michinoku Pro ended its tag team tournament on 11/3 in Aomori before 442 fans with Tiger Mask & Gran Hamada taking the most points beating Pentagon & Electro Shock from AAA in 15:36. Going into the 11/2 in Kashima, Pentagon & Electro Shock, Cima & Sumo Dandy Fuji and Tiger Mask & Gran Hamada each had nine points, while Great Sasuke & Magnum Tokyo had seven. Pentagon & Electro Shock then lost via DQ to Pantera & Genki Horiguchi, so they didn't get any points. Mask & Hamada went to a double DQ with Cima & Sumo Dandy Fuji, so they both also didn't get any points. Sasuke & Tokyo got two points with a clean win over Yoshiyuki Saito & Junji.com, so all four teams went into the final night with the same number of points. Sasuke & Tokyo went to a double DQ with Cima & Fuji, so basically both teams were eliminated instead of the winner going into the finals. This left Hamada & Mask vs. Pentagon & Electro Shock, with the winner taking the tournament. Taka Michinoku surprisingly returned on 11/5 in Sendai in a ten man elimination tag main event with Taka, who wasn't advertised, replacing Gran Hamada) with Sasuke, Tiger Mask, Tokyo, and Pantera winning in none falls over Pentagon & Cima & Masao Orihara & Sumo Dandy Fuji & Sasuke the Great (which is one mean trick since Sasuke the Great all along has been Masao Orihara)
898
899Yoshiaki Yatsu was hospitalized after his match with Gary Goodridge on the 10/31 Pride show. He'll be back in action for a 20th anniversary tour for his own Social Pro Wrestling Federation from 11/28 to 12/3. Yatsu's pro debut was December 29, 1980 in Madison Square Garden against Jose Estrada
900
901Gaea is doing a tournament which started on 11/3 at Korakuen Hall and ends on 11/26 in Osaka to determine the No. 1 contenders for its tag title held by Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato. It was a big success as the 11/3 show drew an overflow 2,200, which Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura (who is being pushed as the new young star of the group) beating Toshie Uematsu & Bloody in one first round match, and Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada over Lioness Asuka & Sonoko Kato in the other. The tournament continues with semifinals on 11/23 at Korakuen Hall with Nagayo & Satomura vs. Devil Masami & Kaoru and Kansai & Yamada vs. Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki with the winners meeting on 11/26. The winner of that match faces Sato & Nagashima for the titles on 12/17 at Korakuen Hall
902
903Kodo Fuyuki said he is going to create a new FMW superstar over the next few months with Hayabusa out of action. The idea at this point is for Hayabusa to return, after getting surgery on both elbows which takes place after the 11/12 PPV show, on the annual big show on 5/5
904
905The Battlarts promotion ran a show on 11/3 in conjunction with a boat race in Toda, which meant their show was viewed by 15,484 fans. They also did a show match grandstand show before 1,821 students at Shinsyu College in Nagano
906
907Reggie Bennett is back in Japan working for JWP
908
909Kyoko Inoue announced that in 2001, she would no longer wrestle against men
910
911On the 11/22 L-1 show at Tokyo Yoyogi Gym, which is purportedly a shootfighting tournament promoted by LLPW (the previous L-1 tournament several years ago was a shoot) will feature several pro wrestlers, as well as foreign women including Russians that were supposedly trained by Alexander Karelin. Main event is Shinobu Kandori vs. Yumiko Hotta
912
913JD will create a new singles champion in a one-night tournament called, get this, Queen of the Ring on 11/26 at Differ Ariake
914
915CMLL Japan will be running a 1/27 to 2/4 tour commemorating the 30th anniversary of Mil Mascaras' Japanese debut, headlined by the never to retire Mascaras, and his two wrestling brothers, El Psicodelico and Dos Caras
916
917Report we got on the debut of Osaka Pro Wrestling at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on 11/6 (they usually run their shows at a 250-seat small theater in Osaka) is that it was an incredible show. A lot of the reporters will say that Osaka Pro and Toryumon are the best house shows to attend. Osaka Pro consists of half young wrestlers who have the athletic ability of New Japan junior heavyweights and have masked outrageous gimmick performers who are very athletic and fly all over the place. Super Delfin's win over Takehiro Murahama was reported as ****, and the main event of Tsubasa (who tries to work like Ultimo Dragon) & Masato Yakushiji (a super high flyer doing a Bruce Lee gimmick) & Naohiro Hoshikawa (very good worker) over Daioh Qualtt (doing a Kane gimmick) & Black Buffalo & Dick Togo of the top heel group called Legion of Violence was reported at ****1/2. Togo in particular looked incredible. That's the whole deal we've written about a million times about the illusion of size. When Togo was in the WWF, because of his height and being put against all those big guys instead of being in a division where they are protected (for a box office analogy, see Oscar de la Hoya or people like Julio Caesar Chavez, Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran of another generation) from the illusion being destroyed, he was ineffective and had to do childrens comedy and thus people didn't even get to see his true working ability. Kept with people his own size, he was the best worker on a house show that apparently blows away most of what would be seen anywhere in the world
918
91910/25 Colisseo TV show drew a 1.6 rating.
920
921HERE AND THERE: The stats regarding injuries (which we'll be going into next week in these pages) pretty well exemplify the remarks Bret Hart made on the Jim Rome show on 11/3, saying that when he broke in, the wrestlers used to have a term for the fans, calling them marks, in that the wrestlers made the fans react the way they wanted them to and were basically in control of the show, making fans believe they were hurt when they really weren't. He said now the fans are in control and the wrestlers are the marks, with the wrestlers hurting themselves for real to impress the fans. The show, which was actually taped before the settlement of the Owen Hart case, but aired afterwards, due to the magic of post-editing, opened with a feature on the death of Owen and the career of Bret, and on the case being settled. Probably the most important thing said on the show, which for whatever reason, its importance seemed lost on everyone, as it may have been a key piece of evidence in the case (which we will do a major analysis piece on after it is officially settled because the background of this case is both sad and fascinating), is that Hart, talking about the single cable rigging without a back-up wire, as well as having a quick release, was, according to him, something the WWF was turned down by the company originally asked to do the rigging, claiming the stunt they had asked to set up was too dangerous. As noted before, the later company that did end up agreeing to do it used a harness holding him in the air with a snap shackle was not manufactured for such a thing, or for humans. It was made for sailboats, and the release button would activate with just five pounds of pressure. Despite many attempting to compare what Hart attempted to do with what Sting did on probably 100 or more occasions, they were similar in coming from the ceiling, but altogether different as far as the safety measures as well as the warnings given ahead of time if the story is accurate. An $18 million settlement, especially when one considers the actions of certain members of and the general nature of the Hart family as a whole since the death were the greatest allies the defendants could have ever had in the case, speaks volumes about which side of the line between unfortunate accident and negligence this fell. Since the particulars of the case couldn't be discussed (even though Hart ended up talking about a key piece of possible evidence that had never been released publicly), Rome tried to steer the piece strongly into the argument over whether the show in Kansas City should have been stopped, since it was a subject he personally felt strongly about and apparently was unhappy with McMahon's answers to the same question when he was on the show months back. Rome showed a clip of when McMahon was on his show and McMahon argued that Owen would have wanted the show to go on, using that as his reason for the decision to continue, out of respect for Owen's wishes. Rome at that point had said his family didn't see it that way, bringing up his brother, which McMahon defended by saying his brother had a vendetta against him, using the old Survivor Series defense for the death and the decision to continue the show, which has served within wrestling to many as a very effective propaganda tool, but to those outside wrestling comes across poorly. Bret on the show responded saying McMahon had no right to say what Owen would have wanted and that he believed Owen would have wanted the show stopped. "Owen would not have wanted this show to go on. I don't think if you look at anyone with any common sense in their family, no one would have wanted the show to go on. If Vince McMahon would have dropped Shane McMahon from the ceiling and he splattered on the mat, I don't think he would have scraped him off the mat and sent the next match out. I actually know first-hand from the wrestlers involved, they wheeled my dead brother right past all the wrestlers and actually pushed wrestlers out the door and said, `Go, go, go you're on.' That is really insensitive and really cold." He said that when Owen left the house to go to Kansas City, he told Martha that he wasn't going to do it and he didn't know what made him change his mind. Since Hart has done so much media since the death of Owen, it has become easy for many to point at his complaining over various subjects as a way to avoid addressing any issues he brings up, whether valid or not. On this show, Hart's talk about not being able to get his archival footage and photos of his heyday, all owned by WWF, while a strong personal issue with him because he claims McMahon promised them to him and reneged, came off out of place and trivial compared to the subject matter of his brother's death. Hart also declaring himself "the best" as far as an in-ring performer, as opposed to "one of the best," being that the latter category it would be tough to argue he doesn't fit into, would come off better to wrestling fans. For those looking to not like him, that didn't help him either, nor his blanket knock at current wrestling. Of course his points about it being more dangerous are borne out by facts and the different style of generally shorter matches does involve less storytelling in the ring so his basic premise is accurate. Except for the injury rate increase, which is an underreported and very real issue, the changing of the art of in-ring wrestling is just a change in entertainment, whether it's for the better or not probably depends on which era you grew up as a wrestling fan in. But to blanketly say that there are no more great matches is a disservice to the many young wrestlers who grew up idolizing he, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, who are now producing them on WWF PPV events. Rome himself hadn't done his research, talking bout how wrestling has never been more popular, not realizing that the business already peaked and for the most part, except for one company, is in the toilet business-wise today. It was the typical reaction to Bret Hart in the media. To non-fans and those in the media, as well as to many fans for that matter, it's an amazing compelling story of a career that as great as it was in the ring for more than two decades, paled in comparison to the last three years, most of which was out of the ring, and he comes off very well as a backdrop to the story that there's a lot more about pro wrestling than a bunch of guys in costumes and fake names playing cowboys & indians in their underwear. And for other wrestling fans, like on the other side, there is rarely a shade of grey. Hart will always give them enough ammunition negatively to avoid having to deal with some very unsettling questions about the entertainment form they love and don't want to deal with the realities of. To his credit, Hart has attempted of late to balance his comments, talking about his good times in wrestling to offset his strong points that aren't positive, which has made him more balanced and actually made him come off with a tremendously positive response from even the segment of the audience somewhat conditioned not to like him in his last interview on Observer Live. The world of public opinion and the media is very strange and often very shallow. Over the past decade, I can recall two extreme examples of this phenomenon, in particular the fathers of two very famous murder victims, Polly Klaas and Ronald Goldman (the sister of Nicole Simpson falls into this category as well). Because of the prominence both deaths played as two of the biggest news stories of the decade, fathers, and other family members of victims, became unwilling celebrities. At first, they were sympathetic, noble characters, bravely dealing with the worst of possible tragedies. Similar to the Hart family in the Calgary media after the death of Owen on a local basis. They grieved for public consumption. But then, through overexposure by the media and put in a world they were ill-equipped to handle, and sometimes used by political forces for their newly found celebrity status, Klaas and Goldman became viewed by the public as whiners and were criticized to no end on talk shows when their only real crimes were their inability to "get over" the deaths of their daughter and son respectively by the time the public had gotten tired due to media overexposure of a hot ratings story and got tired of seeing them. Nancy Kerrigan fell victim to the same fate, built up as a princess and a superhero to every young girl by her coming back from the attack and being the star of one of the greatest made for TV dramas, almost a reality version of what pro wrestling attempts to produce, in history. But then she almost became a heel when it turned out she was far from a perfect fantasy character and was just another human being with the same faults as everyone else, magnified by the media spotlight and pressure. In Rome's closing comment, he said the only thing worse than a brother dying a painful death is the knowledge that it could have been prevented. Rome was strongly negative to McMahon throughout the show, particularly in his closing comments when he said that the show shouldn't have gone on, and said, "That was the sickest, most cold-blooded thing I've ever seen. We're still waiting for an apology from Vince McMahon, one we know will never come.
922
923Dynamite Kid made these comments about the retirement of Bret Hart this past week: "Apparently Bret Hart has just announced his retirement. In his farewell speech he talked about a ladder match we had in Stampede back in the early 80s. I remember that match as well. I remember all our matches, taped fist matches, mixed boxing and wrestling matches. We both gave 100 percent and had the people up off their seats. They loved it. And to tell the truth, so did we. But I can't deny it was those kind of hard matches that put me in a wheelchair. I see people like Steve Austin, who get injured but come back to wrestling anyway, and I can't understand why any wrestler would want to end up in the same position as me. All said and done, you can't turn back time. Bret made the right decision to retire. I hope he has the sense to keep it that way.
924
925Cherie Dupre, who can claim credit for being the first known valet in the history of pro wrestling, passed away on 11/5 at the age of 73 in Pierce, FL. Dupre was the wife of Raymond Wagner (the real Gorgeous George as opposed to all the folks who later claimed to be), the most famous wrestler when wrestling was at a popularity peak on network television in the 50s. By the time she was involved in the act, wrestling had long since vanished from network television and George was at the tail end of his career. Dupre had been ill for several years after suffering a stroke and also had emphysema from decades of cigarette smoking. Dupre worked as a model and a dancer in Las Vegas when she met Wagner, and the two were married on October 11, 1958, at about the same time she became part of his act. George had male ring attendants in his days as the biggest star on television before introducing his glamorous wife in the role. In one of the most famous programs of its time, George lost to Whipper Billy Watson in Toronto in a hair match on March 12, 1959 which sold out Maple Leaf Gardens with nearly 20,000 fans. Two weeks later, in a rematch, George put Cherie's hair at stake in a rematch, which Watson also won, before another packed house, causing Cherie to be what is believed to be the first woman who had her head shaved in a pro wrestling angle. She divorced George in 1962, one year before his death
926
927There has been preliminary interest in the worldwide project involving the FOX network and the AAA promotion, most likely as a wrestling product for the Spanish language market
928
929The Bryan Madden, listed as an MMA promoter in Illinois, who passed away two weeks ago from an asthma attack at the age of 42 was the same Bryan Madden who worked as an indie wrestler in the Missouri and Illinois area in the 80s and was a WWF TV jobber, whose main claim to fame in wrestling was one of the wrestlers breaking up a Roddy Piper-Jimmy Snuka pull-apart in one of their major angles
930
931Victor Quinones' IWA is doing a Bruiser Brody Memorial Cup over Thanksgiving weekend. Among the wrestlers working will be Tommy Dreamer, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Super Crazy and Steve Corino from ECW
932
933Bob Backlund had been running some funny TV commercials for his failed bid for Congress. Backlund, as the Republican nominee, got 30% of the vote in the First Congressional District in Connecticut. One of the commercials shows Backlund standing in a horse field rolling up his sleeves with horses around him and a guy shoveling dung all over his feet. By the end of the commercial, his feet and legs are covered with horse manure. Said to be better than any pro wrestling promo Backlund ever did
934
935A new promotion had a TV pilot made on 11/3 in Los Angeles called Extreme Warriors. The idea seems to be to put together an old Japanese UWF style of pro wrestling, not using anyone with a pro wrestling name and trying to sell it as a shoot. The broadcast team consisted of Don Frye, Brian Johnston and Frank Shamrock to attempt to sell it as the real thing. The only name I heard as far as wrestlers involved was Justin McCulley, who I believe is under a WWF developmental deal, but also has a little bit of experience in New Japan and UFO and I think RINGS as well. Heard overall it was pretty bad
936
937An Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling show on 11/4 in Bellingham, WA was shut down by the Washington State Athletic Commission 20 minutes before the show was to begin because there was no presence of an ambulance at the show. The commission gave the promotion three options, get an ambulance, cancel the show, or run the show without an ambulance and face sanctions which could include a permanent ban of the promotion from the state. A law was passed in 1999 that there needed to be either an ambulance or a paramedical unit. The interpretation previous has simply been having an EMT at the show as acceptable as a paramedical unit, which was done at a cost of about $20 and some free tickets for friends. A commissioner at the show interpreted the law as to mean there had to be an ambulance, not the either or as the way it appears to be worded. The commission stated that the requirement at previous shows not to have an ambulance may have been a previous oversight but needed to be corrected from this point forward. Before deciding the cancel, the company priced the cost of an ambulance with two EMT's and was given a $200 per hour, or $800 price tag, which is cost prohibitive on a show that grossed less than $1,200
938
939C.J. Underwood, the long-time ring announcer for Jim Crockett Promotions shows at the old Charlotte Coliseum (now Independence Arena) passed away on 11/7 after a three-year battle with colon and liver cancer at the age of 60.
940
941MMA: Pride announced it would be running World title tournaments in both the middleweight (under 198 pounds) and heavyweight division starting with an early 2001 show at the Tokyo Dome. Sakuraba won't be entering the middleweight tournament, so basically they'll have a tournament to create a natural opponent for him for later in the year. Sakuraba at this point is scheduled to fight on both the 12/23 Saitama Super Arena show, most likely against Ryan Gracie, and Antonio Inoki's New Years Eve show at the Osaka Dome
942
943Inoki's 12/31 Osaka Dome show will apparently include singles matches with Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Kendo Ka Shin--hopefully they've learned and it'll be a work), Nobuhiko Takada and Masaaki Satake and he's also talked about using Shinya Hashimoto.
944
945ECW: Hardcore TV for 11/4 as the go-home show for November to Remember really didn't do much for getting me excited for the show. The big push for the four-way title match was pushing the idea that the most important thing wasn't the title, but who Francine would sleep with coming out of the match. Whipwreck & Tajiri beat York & Matthews in a good match. Whipwreck & Tajiri had some nice double-team moves throughout. Spike Dudley pinned Chris Hamrick with an acid drop in 51 seconds. Hamrick did the old knee injury trick. Only thing humorous was when Hamrick talks, because he's got the accent, they say they need subtitles. The rest of Hot Commodity (Julio Dinero & E.Z. Money) attacked Spike, until Kid Kash made the save, but they overpowered him until Danny Doring & Roadkill came out. Lynn retained the ECW title pinning heel ref Danny Daniels with a cradle piledriver in 52 seconds. Only thing notable was Dreamer was back on TV for a cameo. Main was New Jack & Corino over Credible & Rhino. It was the typical New Jack brawl with weapons with the music playing. The people were into it. Corino juiced right away. New Jack pinned Rhino with a chair off the top rope, which was probably pretty smart the way they played it up since I don't think anyone saw it like New Jack had a prayer to win the TV title. Rhino speared Jack through a table after until Sandman came out and laid out Rhino & Credible with cane shots. They teased a Corino turn when Sandman offered him a beer and he blew it off.
946
947WCW: Nitro on 11/6 from Chicago was a better show than the company has been doing of late. The positives were a hot crowd, as Chicago seems to be the No. 1 major market for pro wrestling, and a lot of the segments that could have been amateur hour weren't as bad as they could have been. There was also pressure to tone down the show, based on Burger King's stance on the current wrestling product, and this actually worked to the benefit of the show as some amateur hour segments were cut out. Luger ripped on Madden to start the show. Seems Luger was mad that Madden, of all people, said his bodyfat percentage had gone up (first off, it had, second, Luger, who used to claim ad nauseam 4% did his interview and said 5%). He made fun of Madden's physique in an unscripted segment that Madden didn't know anything about. It wasn't as bad in the sense as Nash going into business for himself on the Hall deal, which he's been told he can't do anymore and since he's trying to rebuild his rep as a team player so increase his chances of WWF taking him next year, he's stopped. Still, it's another example of guys going into business for themselves on live TV and as long as the company tolerates it, they have no right to complain when their written shows don't turn out as they are supposed to. Luger was backstage all day complaining about Madden of all people, ripping on his physique. Luger then brought out Ross Foreman and yelled at him for not having any photos of him in WCW Magazine, which no doubt needs all the promotional help it can get. He attacked Foreman, whose selling was less than professional, an then Luger racked him. Foreman went out on a stretcher needing oxygen. That's a first from a torture rack. Storm beat Kwee Wee with the half crab. Meng made the save afterwards. They are going to put Meng & Kwee Wee together, and maybe give one or both new ring names. They were saying how Kwee Wee has his mean personality nobody wants to see, Angry Alan. Goldberg was doing an interview when he was jumped by Luger and Bigelow. Does that end the streak? Flair came out, announcing Rection vs. Storm for the 11/26 PPV in Milwaukee as their final ever meeting, Luger vs. Goldberg and Booker vs. Steiner for the title in a straight jacket match in a cage. Steiner came out and snatched Flair until Booker made the save. Jimmy Hart, doing an interview right out of 1981 WMC-TV library, challenged any DJ and started ripping on every major DJ in the country. Mancow came out and did a promo and threatened Hart, until Moore & Helms & Hart all pounded on him. This came across much better than it had any right to. Jindrak & O'Haire won a three-way over Helms & Moore and Hayashi & Yang in a good match, ending with Jindrak pinning Yang after O'Haire did the seanton bomb. Karagias did a run-in but everyone attacked him, until Jamie-san, without his mask and looking clearly not Japanese, made the save. DDP came back and got a huge pop. He said terms like "it's a shoot" and "it's for real" so many times I thought it was an ECW worked promo. The interview was entertaining. This led to the Battledome angle where a bunch of muscleheads at ringside were taunting him. Cat, Bagwell and Rick Steiner were his back-up. They had a security pull-apart that got a ton of heat and was again so much better than it had any right to be considering amateur bodybuilders were involved. Jarrett & Steiner beat Sting & Bagwell. Very good heat. Finish saw Jarrett hit Bagwell with a guitar and Steiner use the recliner. The absolutely ridiculous thing is there is all this debris from a broken guitar all over the ring, not to mention the explosion of a guitar shot just a few feet from the ref, and somehow we're supposed to believe he doesn't know about it. Rection kept the U.S. title beating Wright with a moonsault. MIA kept Disqo from interfering and chased him away. Duggan did an interview about the election. Goldberg pinned Bigelow with a jackhammer. Goldberg had a lot of trouble with getting Bigelow up, which wasn't the last time he'd have the problem on this night. Booker beat Nash to keep the title with a pinfall, as once again, Nash is showing he's a team player. Finish saw Stasiak hit Booker with Knux. Nash then set up the power bomb, but Stasiak then hit Nash with Knux and put Booker on top. Stasiak wiped his sweat on Nash after the match. Of all the young guys in the company to push to the level where they interact with the main eventers, they pick the mannequin. Why? He's tall and has a good physique, and that meant something in wrestling--back in the 80s
948
949Thunder tapings after Nitro saw Jamie-san beat Karagias when Moore & Helms cost Karagias the match. After the match, Jamie-san saved Karagias. That now gives the big guys three teams instead of two to squash and give no offense to. Crowbar won the hardcore title from Reno due to outside interference from Vito. Konnan beat Disqo. Misterio Jr. beat David Flair. David accused Misterio Jr. of being the father. Came off lame. Nash vs. Stasiak saw all the Thrillers turn on Nash and Booker made the save. Nash is back in the mix as a top babyface. Storm beat Meng via count out when Meng was outside the ring with the death grip on both Duggan and Skipper. Booker retained the title beating Awesome in a pretty good match. Match didn't get the heat it deserved. We're told it was due to nobody, because of his gimmick, taking seriously the idea that Awesome could win the title even with all his near falls. Clean book end finish. Main was Goldberg winning a three-way, which turned into a handicap match over Luger & Bigelow. Luger walked out, leaving Bigelow in there alone. Goldberg couldn't get Bigelow up for the jackhammer, which may or may not be edited out
950
951The finish of the Vampiro-Awesome PPV match did go as planned, although much of the rest of the match didn't. Vampiro wasn't supposed to go through a table for the power bomb at the end. There is a ton of controversy surrounding Vampiro's medical condition and it wouldn't surprise me if legal action wasn't taken or threatened. The story is that Vampiro suffered a concussion on the PPV and had numbness in his fingers the next day and told the trainer about it, and even with that knowledge, the bookers pressured him into wrestling in the tag match the next night (Thunder match) where he suffered another head blow and a second concussion. Those at WCW are skeptical, as they are often when injuries are real, and the skepticism is built from the fact some wrestlers have swerved injuries to get to stay home, noting Vampiro just had a baby and the timing of that, and the timing of the Bret Hart retirement due to a similar situation. However, on 11/2, Ian Hodgkinson was examined by the Neurosurgery department at McGill University and diagnosed with a concussion, and was told he could do no work, nor even light training or minor physical exertion for the next month, and that any expected time for a return to the ring couldn't even be determined
952
953The reason the whole General Reaction deal happened in Irvine, CA, and the general feeling from just about everyone is that it was a great idea on paper that didn't work because the crowd was so small and didn't react, is that it was almost the company apologizing since they had gotten Bill DeMott so down that he was ready to quit. DeMott's feeling was that he had given up so much physically (numerous concussions and he legitimately shouldn't be working according to his doctor; stemming from that he has blurred vision and has problems reading and sometimes has problems even walking up the stairs) and the company never gave him a push even though he had talent. He was ready to quit and go back to Japan where he felt the companies at least would recognize his ability. DeMott is generally liked as a person and respected as a wrestler by the rest of the talent. He was promised the U.S. belt some time back and it didn't materialize so the idea was to make a real big deal of everything as the company's way of apologizing, only it didn't come across as a big deal
954
955Roddy Piper has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against WCW. The basic gist is that he still had one or two matches left on his contract, which was a per match deal at a very high per match price (not sure of the number). WCW let him go, claiming he was disabled for longer than 90 days and unable to get cleared to wrestle, based on the torn bicep he suffered in late 1999. The controversy is this. First off, Piper continued to perform, finishing out his program, after tearing the bicep, which is because he has that old-school mentality even if it isn't something a sane person would recommend doing. He then got the bicep repaired. By the time he was given termination notice, he had been cleared on the bicep. WCW wanted him to take a full physical and get medical clearance to return, knowing he couldn't get it due to his artificial hip. However, he's had it for years, and has worked his entire tenure with WCW with that same disability. He's in the process of writing a book. He was actually thinking as a publicity stunt of running for prime minister of Canada. He was thankfully talked out of it over the weekend
956
957There will be no tapings on Christmas and New Years. I believe the idea is that on 12/22 in Memphis, they will tape for Thunders on 12/26 and 1/2. On 12/25 and 1/1, one of the dates will be pre-empted with a special on TNT and the other date will air a compilation show
958
959Numerous WCW wrestlers have called Eddy Guerrero attempting to have him open doors to them for WWF. Guerrero apparently told Juventud Guerrera, who is now said to be really upset because everything that happened to him is setting in, to wait a few months because, due to the incident in Australia, the timing isn't right to come in. He's told everyone that the first person he'll go to bat for is his nephew, Chavo Jr., whose contract expires in the summer
960
961There was some question as to whether Jarrett would make Nitro on 11/6 since his wife is one week late in giving birth, but he came, and immediately flew back after the show
962
963The original idea was for Flair to return to the ring for a match with Jarrett at the Mayhem PPV. Not sure if he'll make that deadline or if the match will be held off until Starrcade. There have been other candidates discussed for Flair's first match as well. The problem is that while Jarrett will probably have a good match with Flair, and it's important that Flair's first match back is good, there is no box office in Jarrett. Then again, there may not be box office in Flair against anyone else either. Flair's best role is still in the suit and tie doing promos every week on television, and wrestling only on sporadic occasions and only with a compelling reason, and being protected in the ring with the booking. Fat chance that'll happen, huh
964
965For the 11/16 Germany only PPV from Oberhausen, the listed show is Kwee Wee vs. Skipper, Kronik vs. Kidman & Misterio Jr., Sanders vs. Cat, Douglas vs. Konnan, Jindrak & O'Haire vs. Wright & Disqo, Rection vs. Storm, Booker T vs. Steiner for the WCW title plus a Battle Royal with all the undercard wrestlers plus Awesome, Bigelow and Smiley. Battle Royal winner, probably Awesome, will go into a three-way against Jarrett and Nash. Winner of that match faces Sting in the main event for the European title, which hasn't been defended since Sting won it in 1994 from Vader, with Axel Schultz, the German heavyweight boxer, as referee
966
967There is some thought Vince Russo may return for the 11/20 taping
968
969Bobby Heenan was told on 11/8 his contract won't be renewed when it comes up for its 90-day cycle, as one of the first examples of the policy being put into place. It is expected that will be it for him, since the company was paying him nearly $300,000 per year at this point just to do World Wide voiceovers on a show nobody watches. It isn't certain whether Heenan will collect his money through the end of the year and continue to do the show, or quit at this point. It is believed Heenan would be interested if the WWF would be interested in taking him back. He left the company seven years ago when the WWF didn't renew his contract at that point in time because it was cutting back on costs and he had a high salary. Heenan is not the only announcer believed to be at least soon to be put in the same situation
970
971Torrie Wilson was in Chicago and not used. There has been talk about her situation since, at $250,000 per year, she earns far more than the other women in the company, most of whom are not earning six figures and are basically viewed as cheap talent
972
973Several front office employees resigned over the past week which has furthered worrying among people in the company since they are the ones in the proximity of knowing what is really going on
974
975Goldberg worked TV on a pulled hamstring
976
977WCW is in the process of finalizing an agreement with Bill Behrens of the NWA Wildside promotion where the younger WCW talent that needs experience working in front of crowds, such as the Thrillers, will work his house shows in Georgia
978
979WCW had been paying a lot of the wrestlers that worked out of Nashville $1,000 per week (the deal was $500 per night and most guys were working both Mondays and Tuesdays) as R&B Security under Russo, but that was another thing cut in budget tightening
980
981The general feeling is to expect a big announcement from Hulk Hogan when his WCW contract expires in March. The belief is that Hogan will be starting something up with FOX, and is trying to recruit Savage and Jim Hellwig to be part of it. As mentioned last week, feelers have been sent to various friends and wrestlers from Hogan basically saying to be ready because something is going to break, but not offering much more in the way of details. Of course if Bischoff gets control, this all may happen, but would likely be used as the worked angle they've been wanting to do for months. There was also talk that Hogan would return at Starrcade provided Bischoff is in control by that point
982
983ICP was on Stern, saying they left WCW because they wanted to concentrate on music, but also mentioned they quit over an angle where supposedly they were asked to turn on each other
984
98511/6 Nitro in Chicago drew about 7,000 in the building which was 4,390 paying $170,413, so they clearly beat out the ECW PPV held in the same city the night before, although they no doubt had a bigger ad budget.
986
987WWF: The WWF released to the public that its earnings for the quarter that ended October 27, 2000 will be affected by an additional $7 million in expenses related to settling the Owen Hart wrongful death lawsuit. It wasn't disclosed whether the money earmarked for the quarter is part of the settlement itself, the WWF's share of the settlement figure with insurance covering the rest, legal fees connected to the settlement, partial financial obligations of the settlement or a combination of all things. Since it's listed as an expense before 10/27 and the finalization of the settlement wasn't until 11/7, I don't think it would be the settlement money unless they are taking the settlement out a little bit in each quarter to ease the blow as one giant cash outlay in one quarter would, if insurance isn't covering a lot of it
988
989HHH suffered a pretty serious hip injury on 11/5 in San Antonio. He took a backbreaker from Kane and heard a pop. Since he was the main part of the Raw show, being revealed as the accomplice so he could go back to his top heel role, he not only worked the show, but even worked the scheduled ten-man in his last babyface appearance. What's a DX reunion without HHH anyway
990
991It appears Survivor Series on 11/19 in Tampa will be headlined by Austin vs. HHH, Rock vs. Rikishi and Angle vs. Undertaker
992
993Raw on 11/6 from Houston was an interesting clever show. McMahon returned and did a political speech. He didn't endorse a candidate, perhaps feeling if he did, it would have double-crossed those the WWF worked with on a nonpartisan voter registration campaign. However, they cleverly got their message across later in the show, so subtle that nobody can complain but basically proving the disingenuous part of the nonpartisan aspect. McMahon's interview was weird, because he came out as Vince, as opposed to Mr. McMahon. Fans booed him heavily when he came out, and then he did a babyface promo, and one filled with irony, such as telling people to vote for the candidate who lies the least. Just as he turned face, Austin came out, and he transformed back into Mr. McMahon, with the exaggerated facials as Austin's scared rival. Angle & Stephanie came out as well. Angle actually got amazing heat this time and Stephanie got in Austin's face. Angle jumped Austin, but it took Austin no time flat to make him look like a geek and hit him with the stunner without even breaking a sweat. Vince got Stephanie to leave. She wasn't sick, nor were there any hints of last week's sickness. Undertaker power bombed Venis in a match better than it sounds on paper. HHH wanted all four Radicals, unbeatable monster that he is. Foley, in order to give the Radicals a chance, being that HHH isn't going to lose, ordered him to get three partners, so he reformed DX. T&A beat Too Cool. Test throws the scariest high kick in all of wrestling. Albert used the Albert bomb on Sexay and Test pinned him. Crash did a run-in after the match with a women who was formerly Mona in WCW, dressed exactly like him, who will be called Molly Holly, which I guess makes Crash a Holly again, and she'll wind up affiliated with Bob when he comes back next week. Between Molly Holly and Billy G, I think they've gone back to that mid-90s mentality on naming wrestles that brought us T.L. Hopper and Freddy Joe Floyd. She nearly fell off the ropes trying a springboard move on Lita. WWF does so much better of a job in outfitting their wrestlers as the same woman who wore that tacky dress on WCW had a totally cool look in WWF. DX beat Radicals when HHH, who really couldn't even work the match, tagged in just for the finish of doing a pedigree on Malenko. Very good match with a lot of heat. Angle did a run-in and the Radicals attacked them after, with Angle getting a bunch of boots on HHH. Buchanan & Goodfather won the tag titles form Hardys. During this match, Lawler got the message out, as Ross asked him who he was voting for and Lawler said he'd never vote for Gore because Gore and Lieberman could be card carrying members of the RTC. Ross did that fake WWF apology, as if it wasn't supposed to slip out, and then even more slyly, without quite saying so, level headed J.R. pretty much said he didn't disagree. Ref bump at one point so when Jeff hit the swanton on Buchanan, no ref. Edge & Christian did a run-in but Matt cleaned house on them. Richards hit Jeff with one of the belts as he was doing the poetry in motion in the corner, and Goodfather pinned him in 5:19. Angle went into Rock's dressing room and attacked him with the title belt. They need to make Angle seem more like a threat than simply a very entertaining character who is playing bad guy wrestler. Blackman pinned Kane in a hardcore title match when Jericho hit the ring steps Kane was holding with a chair and he fell backwards and was pinned. Austin and Rock faced off on whether or not Rock was the accomplice. Lawler beat Raven via DQ in a match with no heat when Tazz interfered for the DQ. Lawler really shows his age in the ring with all these young juiced up guys. Snow came out with a head, and a second head with a crown, giving Lawler one and they cleaned house after. Dudleys beat E&C in a tables match when the Hardys came out, Lita gave Christian that flying huracanrana, dazing him for the 3-D through the table. After the match, Jeff put Edge through a table with a swanton off the top rope outside the ring. Rock was then injured backstage when a mystery auto knocked stuff into him, so Austin had to work the main event as a handicap match against both Rikishi and Angle. HHH came out after Angle, but alas, he clobbered Austin with a sledge hammer, who juiced, left Austin laying and as the show ended, revealed he was the accomplice
994
995TV tapings from Dallas on 11/7 for Smackdown, saw Billy G over Guerrero via DQ when Radicals interfered in an IC title match, Hardys over E&C, Undertaker won a four-way to get the title shot at Angle at Survivor Series over Benoit, Kane and Jericho, Buchanan & Goodfather kept the tag titles over Dudleys, Blackman & Crash over T&A and HHH & Rikishi ended in some sort of a DQ with Austin & Rock when Radicals interfered. HHH was limping badly but still worked the match
996
997Some Smackdown notes from Rochester, NY for the show that aired on 11/2. Show was good, but seemed a little below the level of the previous weeks. Aside from the Rock-Austin tease, nothing left a big impression but nothing was bad. WWF seems to be getting a weakness on the heel side. Benoit, by being put into the Radicals once again, has been devalued. Rikishi just doesn't have it as top heel and his frequent interviews on recent shows are only making it more obvious. Angle is great, but is still being booked as a geek, and that role isn't conducive to being a top draw heel because he isn't portrayed as a threat. Watching the four-way womens match was scary, because Stratus nearly got hurt on a few occasions clumsily trying to take huracanrana spots. Jericho was buried both in commentary and in booking when, even with a chair, he couldn't last 15 seconds with Kane before being laid out, and then the commentators portrayed Jericho as if he was Crash Holly or Taka Michinoku by saying Kane had attacked a man half his size. The whole gimmick of getting smaller guys over is illusion and they put the illusion the wrong way. Kat was already gone from Guerrero, probably because Terri will be with the Radicalz. If RTC censored Billy Gunn's entrance music, doesn't that make them babyfaces? They couldn't have given the former Billy Gunn a more lame ring name than Billy G. Sounds like some pop star from another era. I guess if they want to turn him into a Barry Manilow like heel, it's a good name. Also, Mr. G and Chyna have zero chemistry together, made worse by them walking hand-in-hand to the ramp while neither even looks at the other. Nothing wrong as a tag team, but when they were holding hands, it made the pairing look totally fake. Rock vs. Angle had a really good match to end the show on a strong note
998
999It is considered a very strong probability that Davey Boy Smith will be let go
1000
1001Right now, the priority as it pertains to TV is that Smackdown and Raw are considered equal "A" shows. At one point, when Raw was the established show and drawing a larger audience, it was considered as the "A" show and Smackdown as below it, but with Smackdown actually drawing a significantly larger audience since Raw's audience has dropped this month while Smackdown is staying at a strong level, they are given equal attention
1002
1003Because they are giving the talent Christmas and New Years Day off (which is actually something new in wrestling), Raw will be taped those two weeks. The Christmas Raw will be taped on 12/22 in Chattanooga, while Smackdown for 12/28 will be taped on 12/23 in Nashville. The New Years night Raw will be taped on 12/29 in Austin while the 1/4 Smackdown will be taped on 12/30 in San Antonio
1004
1005There was a Chef Boyardee ad on the Smackdown show on 11/2. We're not sure what the status is. L.Brent Bozell last week claimed Chef Boyardee and Slim Jims were pulling out of Smackdown. It could be that they are pulling out after current commitments and it could also be an incorrect claim. Burger King did pull out the previous week, although technically in their case they completed their agreed upon commitments and didn't renew, but told WWF it had nothing to do with outside pressuring but simply a decision they made regarding advertising
1006
1007There were discussions about bringing back Scott Hall now that he's a free agent, but the reaction was negative on virtually every front, from the wrestlers to the agents to the front office so at this point it isn't going to happen. There was a strong thought that even if he is straight, he still isn't the type of person they want right now, being that he's 42 years old and hasn't been productive in the business in years, had a history in the company when he was younger of both frequent injuries and being a disruptive force in the dressing room. Buff Bagwell also did himself less than no favors with his interview on the web site last week
1008
1009The Naked Mideon aspect of the character based on "Survivor" has been dropped. Dennis Knight will remain on the roster and use the Mideon name
1010
1011Some Ross Report notes for this week. Rock will also be off all the December house shows, which actually only means shows in Tulsa, Amarillo and Raleigh, for the same reasons mentioned last week of him getting off the November house shows. Undertaker returns to the house shows on 11/11 in Cincinnati. Faarooq's knee operation included repairing a torn meniscus and removing bone spurs. He'll be out of action another four to six weeks. X-Pac has re-aggravated his previous neck injury with a form of whiplash in the cage match on the PPV and will be out three to four weeks with rehab therapy. Bob Holly will be sent to OVW to train to get ready for his 11/13 comeback. Christian has seen three doctors about his stinger suffered at the No Mercy PPV. He hasn't missed any dates, but is not 100%. All the doctors said they didn't think the injury was serious and the MRI showed no herniation of a disc or spinal cord problems. Taka Michinoku won't be undergoing shoulder surgery. He's recuperating from his injury in Japan, and surprisingly, started back in the ring on 11/6 for Michinoku Pro. Tori is back on 12/3 as a wrestler. She'll be part of another WWF divas photo shoot in Jamaica. They are hoping for Bradshaw to be ready for Survivor Series on 11/19 with his broken ribs. Sylvester Terkey of OVW had arthroscopic knee surgery and will be out three to four weeks. Mick Foley appears on Conan O'Brien on 11/16 to promote his Christmas book. Big Show's weigh in on 11/3 was 443 pounds while Mark Henry was 348 pounds. Show as also fined one week's salary a few weeks back, which for him is nearly $20,000, for missing a weigh-in
1012
1013Of the ho's that Chyna destroyed, Mandy has been released and is expected to go back to work with UPW in California. Victoria is being sent to Memphis
1014
1015Rikishi was wearing a nose protector, which means he probably suffered Continued on page 12.
1016
1017THE READERS PAGES
1018
1019 
1020
1021APATHY ON DEATHS
1022
1023The apathy that seems to be increasing with each death of a young wrestler has to be seen as an alarming trend. It's true that Rodney Anoia's death wasn't a surprise. That makes it no less tragic, or less worthy of outrage considering wrestling's obsession on physical appearance being such an important factor once again.
1024
1025Vince McMahon encouraging Anoia to gain weight for the Yokozuna gimmick is no less despicable than if McMahon told a wrestler to take steroids for more muscular development. This takes McMahon to a new level in deplorable irresponsibility when you consider that at the time he gained the weight, he was already grossly out of shape and just 25 years old. The WWF kept him on the payroll, and tried to change his eating habits, but it's comparable to putting an alcoholic in rehab after you've spent three years encouraging and rewarding him--the monster push and the two WWF title reigns--for continuing his problem.
1026
1027Was this the only time dangerous weight gain has been encouraged?
1028
1029The nature of the Rikishi gimmick, and the fact Solofa Fatu was brought back into the WWF with all the added weight he gained since his days as Sultan, while Paul Wight and Mark Henry have been disciplined for their weight gain, really makes me wonder.
1030
1031Jeff Lowe
1032
1033Continued from page 11. a broken nose over the weekend
1034
1035The Jim Ross WWF Cookbook is expected to crack the top ten in self-help books on the New York Times best seller list
1036
1037Apparently the MCW vs. Power Pro feud in Memphis was largely spurred on by WWF and WMC-TV. Since the local NBC affiliate will be broadcasting the XFL in February, they were looking at a cross promotion since Memphis has a team, it made sense to regain power over the traditional wrestling show in the market. The idea is that the MCW show moves to a later time slot so the shows don't go head-to-head, and the companies work together to do a feud. The entire MCW roster appeared on the 11/4 PPW show, including
1038
1039pushing the Dupps vs. Mean Street Posse feud from MCW on the show. The MCW roster consists of Lawler, Bobcat, Posse, Dupps, American Dragon, Shooter Schultz, Spanky, Seven, Head Banger Thrasher, Scott Vick, K.Krush, Lady Ophelia, Lance Cade, Steve Bradley and Jason Sensation as well as trainer Tracy Smothers. They aired an interview with Foley saying that he was the new commissioner of Memphis wrestling as well as of the WWF. Dave Brown then said Randy Hales told him that wasn't the case
1040
1041Smackdown tapings on 10/31 in Rochester, NY drew 6,022 paying $200,945. House show on 11/4 in Las Cruces, NM drew 5,638 paying $189,505. They did split crews on 11/5, with half the crew in Lubbock, which drew 8,571 paying $288,810 for an afternoon show, and the rest in San Antonio, which drew 7,845 paying $243,040 for an evening show. Raw on 11/6 in Houston drew a sellout 12,478 paying $378,494. Arena merchandise for the week was $330,397 which is $8.15 per head. They no longer have, in the case like on 11/5 with afternoon and evening shows, have the wrestlers do double-shots, and instead use a totally different crew with the exception of Austin. Austin worked the main event in Lubbock and then was flown to San Antonio to do an interview/stunner angle, since Rock was pulled from the road and with Undertaker not going back until next week. In Las Cruces, they went with Austin & Jericho over Rikishi & Venis as the main event. Guerrero was the super babyface because he grew up in the area for his match against Billy G. He wasn't as strong a face as the last show in Las Cruces because he's a stronger heel on TV, but even though he attempted to heel on G, the fans were still with him. They were also said to have had the best match on the show. Austin and Rikishi were out of character in the main event completely as if something happened which only they knew. As Austin was destroying him, both guys were cracking up for no apparent reason and every time they were near each other they couldn't keep a straight face. They had Raven challenge for the lightheavyweight title, but still in the ring intros announced him at 230. Lubbock had the same crew as Las Cruces, with Austin & Jericho going on beating Venis & Rikishi midway through the show so Austin could have an easier time making San Antonio.
1042
1043 
1044
1045wrestling news
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