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2Wrestling Observer Newsletter
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4PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228	ISSN1083-9593	December 25, 2000
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6Alejandro Munoz Moreno, who was a 1960s Mexican movie star and possibly the second most famous wrestlers in that country’s history as the Blue Demon, passed away on 12/16 from a heart attack at the age of 78.
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8Demon, who would probably be ranked just behind El Santo as the most famous cultural wrestling icon in Mexico, staffed in even lower budget movies than those which made Santo one of the most beloved and probably the longest enduring wrestling legend in any culture. In the ring, while only a welterweight, Demon was considered in his day and pound-for-pound one of the two or three toughest shooters in all of Mexico and even at that size well known for his shooting ability in the Southwestern United States.
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10Born on April 22, 1922, Demon started pro wrestling relatively late, at the age of 26, but made up for it by wrestling regularly into his late 60s. Originally from Monterrey, which in the 1950s was the most Americanized of the wrestling cultures in Mexico because the top talent from Texas would headline, and the top Monterrey talent would headline in Texas. Before getting into wrestling, he worked in construction and on the railroad. Trained by legendary Rolando Vera, he started as a rudo in 1948 before making the tecnico turn in 1952, which started his most legendary feud, both in and out of the ring, with El Santo, who was the country’s most famous heel at the time. The feud was notable for numerous encounters, the most famous of which took place on July 25, 1953 in Mexico City, where Demon won Santo’s World Welterweight title in two straight falls, a title he held for four-and-a-half years during one of Mexico’s boom periods in wrestling. The other legendary match that same year was voted Match of the Year in 1953 with Santo & Cavernario Galindo facing Demon & Black Shadow. The Santo vs. Demon feud was immortalized in a song that is still heard frequently in Mexico entitled “Los Luchadores”, in which the lyrics talk about a wild brawl with Demon & El Bulldog vs. Santo & Galindo, which turned into something of a Lucha Libre anthem.
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12He was nicknamed “Manotas”, in his prime, because he had incredibly large powerful hands for such a small man and had grip strength that made him considered almost like a Mexican version of Danny Hodge. Along with Tarzan Lopez and possibly Gori Guerrero, he was considered the toughest shooter in Mexico of the era and trained in the ring three to four hours every day to keep up that reputation. His reputation is that in his prime he was a tremendous mat wrestler, similar to current star Blue Panther, but never did the high flying. In many ways, he’s just as famous in Mexico as Santo in that everyone in the country knows his name, but not the star Santo was, considered like the Bing Crosby to Bob Hope, which is another reason for the rivalry. Like another of the top wrestlers of the era, Guerrero (Eddy’s father), there was always the resentment of Santo, because he was not a great real wrestler and far from the greatest in-ring worker either, and they were trained real wrestlers, yet he was a bigger star.
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14Munoz Moreno suffered a heart attack while coming back from his daily early morning workout at the gym on a Mexico City subway. He always traveled alone and used the subway every day as he didn’t like taxis and couldn’t drive at his age. Mexico newspapers, which covered his death huge, had a variety of different stories as to the circumstances. Blue Demon Jr., his adopted son, told the media that he was called and rushed to the scene and that his father died in his arms while receiving medical attention.
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16As in Mexican tradition, his funeral took place later in the day and he was buried with the mask that he never lost in the ring, still on, the next day in Naucalpan. Many legends of both the film and pro wrestling world rushed to attend the funeral, including Black Shadow, Roberto Rangel, Huracan Ramirez and Bestia Salvaje.
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18While Santo and Demon starred together in several movies in the 60s, they never got along. By this point, Santo, who was not the athlete Demon was legitimately, was getting up in years. Demon would do all the tough work in the movie but in the end, Santo always got the credit and top billing. His most famous movie was “Las Momias de Guanjuato) which co-staffed Santo and Mil Mascaras (who some would rank behind Santo as the second biggest star in Mexico because Mascaras was far more famous internationally) in the 60s. In all, Demon was featured in 28 movies during the heyday of the low budget campy movie era from 1961 through 1978 starring masked pro wrestlers as crime fighters popularized by Santo, with Demon and Mascaras as the other featured players. His final movie was to introduce his adopted son, Blue Demon Jr., filmed in 1989, but because Demon Jr. was adopted and had a different skin tone, also wasn’t a great worker and didn’t have charisma, he was never accepted as the superstar that Santo’s son was.
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20When Santo finally turned tecnico in 1963, largely at his own request of the promoters because he was becoming such an idol in Mexico from the movies and he didn’t want to portray himself in wrestling as a bad influence on children, he and Demon would never team up, protecting the legend of their feud to the end. Finally in 1968, it was a huge story when they teamed up for the first time. Demon was famous for his never missing a booking, often wrestling in incredible pain, such as not even missing one match with the most painful of all injuries, a broken collarbone.
21Demon continued to wrestle somewhat regularly until a retirement tour in March of 1989. The last I can recall him wrestling in the United States would have been in the early 80s, at least for an American based promotion, as he likely may have worked for a Lucha Libre underground group after that point. I do remember seeing him wrestle in San Jose for the LeBelle promotion in the early 80s. It was hyped to death that Blue Demon was coming and quite frankly, most wrestling fans in the city had no idea who he was. But there was a Mexican American contingent that clearly did, as he drew a huge crowd for that time period and the reaction for him was almost God-like, similar to a Perro Aguayo in recent years. It totally confused virtually all the American fans in the building, who never heard of him, saw posters all over the building for this guy with a Hercules like body, and he finally came out and it was this very short old man, around 60 years old, who still had a surprisingly taut physique, but was hunched over. His opponent (who I can’t recall but he was a much larger American heavyweight) nicely sold for as if he was the Godlike creature the fans wanted him to be. He later came back for one famous legends match against retired Rayo de Jalisco Sr., where he won Rayo’s mask and revealed him as Max Linares. He had continued to train wrestlers well into the 90s.
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23Thanks to Kurt Brown and Jose Fernandez for help with this bio.
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25BLUE DEMON
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27CAREER TITLE HISTORY
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29Source: Wrestling Title Histories third edition
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31NWA WORLD WELTERWEIGHT: def. El Santo July 25, 1953 Mexico City; lost to Karloff Lagarde January 31, 1958 Mexico City
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33MEXICAN NATIONAL WELTERWEIGHT: def. Karloff Lagarde April, 1962; lost to Karloff Lagarde October 1962
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35The anarchy that is the dressing room at World Championship Wrestling totally destroyed the last live Nitro show for three weeks on 12/18 in Richmond, VA.
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37A series of incidents resulted in three wrestlers walking off the show, Sid Eudy, Page Falkinburg and Kevin Nash, all of whom had key roles in the show, resulting in both Nitro and Thunder shows literally put together on the fly and finishing with a Nitro main event of Jeff Jarrett vs. Lance Storm TV main event before a largely dead crowd. How much of this is and isn’t legit is the subject of speculation. With only a few exceptions, most within the company seem to believe all of the incidents were legit. The only overriding question mark is because of timing of certain things as well as the key involvement in all this of Falkinburg, who has done similar angles in the past, well set up, and in similar ways, and has always had a fascination with the late Brian Pillman.
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39The chaos started, and this clearly was not an angle, when Eudy had some sort of a problem with his role in the show. It isn’t quite clear what the situation was. It is believed that Eudy expected the Starrcade match to be a double count out, but did agree to do the job in the end of Scott Steiner, and was not complaining about it after the fact. He was more upset about how he was asked, as when he came to the building expecting the double count out, he was given a piece of paper with his instructions for the show listing the actual finish. He was mad that Terry Taylor didn’t come to him specifically to ask about the change rather than put it on a paper. Exactly what he expected or was told would be his retribution to get him to do the job without complaints apparently wasn’t going to materialize on television. The plan was to use the TV, since Nitro is off until 1/8 due to pre-emptions, to build the show toward a main event on the Syn PPV on 1/14 in Indianapolis of Scott Steiner defending in a four-way with Rick Steiner, Jarrett and Sid Vicious. Vicious walked out before the show, after hearing what the plans were, and later claimed that his arm and shoulder were injured the night before. He was pulled from all bookings and plans were re-worked for the show, which he was a focal part of, to now build to a three-way title match on PPV.
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41After the first live match, in a segment which was set up to start with Ric Flair doing an interview talking about the main event, and Steiner coming out in response, Steiner asked if he could tweak the segment and go out first. When he did, he cut a promo on DDP. From a fan perspective, it looked as if it was nothing out of the ordinary, just building for a Steiner-DDP match as the TV main event. Backstage, everyone “knew” Steiner was going against the script of the show once again, and when he said that Page didn’t have the balls to fight him, and talked about Page needing a sex change operation, everyone in the dressing room started looking at Page. Page got up in front of everyone and basically said something to the effect that enough is enough, and stormed downstairs. When Steiner came through the curtain, they got into an argument and Page threw a punch, or Page simply sucker punched him, depending on the version of the story one chooses to believe. Either way, it wasn’t a good enough punch, because Steiner recovered, took Page down with a bearhug suplex like move, and was putting a terrible hurting on him for a full one minute with Page helpless on his back. It took seven people nearly the whole minute before they could even budge Steiner, and it was said to be a scary scene as he had a death like grip on Page. They were pulled apart and started swearing at each other. In the fight, Page’s face was all cut up and bleeding with a deep scratch mark all around his eye and his face puffy and bloody. Steiner was going for his eye as he was pulled off. In the fracas, Steiner injured his ankle and also had swelling above the eye from the punch, but he was able to go out and do his scheduled promo and show closing angle, plus wrestle Cat in the Thunder main event.
42Again, the eye could be the key, because what sold people on the Pillman-Kevin Sullivan original worked angle on a live Nitro is that Sullivan went for Pillman’s eye, which is what wrestlers in the old days were taught to do immediately in street fight situations. Why Steiner would cut a promo on Page at this point is a question, although he was known to be hot at him, and going against the script by the major stars seems to be a weekly occurrence on a show where nobody has authority over the actors. It is true that Page had refused to work with Steiner because Steiner had insulted Kimberly a few months back, some people pointing out that their problem took place in the same building, “right here, in Richmond, Virginia,” which resulted in Kimberly quitting the company because management didn’t have the guts to insist Steiner apologize for uncalled for remarks. Many of the wrestlers sided with Steiner because Kimberly refused to work any angles involving Steiner saying she didn’t want a mad man to put his hands on her, feeling that Kimberly’s attitude was bad and was taking up so much TV time because Bischoff thought he could make a major star out of her during a time period when everyone wanted the next Sable.
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44Then again, who can blame the wrestlers, because every time Steiner has gone into business for himself, in the long run he’s been rewarded, as has most of the unprofessional conduct by major stars in the company. All of the bookers at this point don’t want to piss off any of the major talent because nobody knows who will be in charge, but the talent will always get another chance with new management no matter what happens now, and the bookers are all uncertain about their future because none of a longstanding good relationship with Bischoff. The fact the story that Page and Steiner wouldn’t work together, causing a change in the main event of the 12/10 house show in Monroe, LA, had just come out, could have led to Steiner’s actions, or also been something Page felt he could play on for a shoot angle, similar to his angle with Buff Bagwell many months back, which actually drew a 3.9 rating for a TV main event match before the angle was immediately cut off because it was getting over. Still, most, but definitely not all, believed it to be real, and that includes the ten percent or so who have seen through the shoot angles of the past that fool most of the wrestlers.
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46When it was over, Page walked out of the building saying words to the effect of “I’m out of here, f*** this place.” Nash, surprising to some because he generally was one of the people who made fun of Page because Page takes himself and the business so seriously, left with him, causing more holes in the show since they were also to be doing an angle with the Natural Born Thrillers. Before Page left, Steiner said a few parting words to him, largely about his wife. Page & Nash told people on the way out that they weren’t coming back until there was new ownership.
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48It wasn’t the only backstage story involving Page of the night. Earlier, Page, who a week earlier vowed he would work with Mark Madden, but not ever talk with him outside of business, approached Madden diplomatically regarding their problems. One could speculate if he was trying to make amends with Madden all weekend, he may have tried with Steiner as well. Madden wasn’t as forgiving, blaming Page for his being suspended on the Nitro nobody saw and claiming that Page had no reason to be mad at him, because it all started when Page called him to complain about his announcing and Page’s wife Kimberly started swearing at Madden on the phone. Page denied having anything to do with Madden being suspended but Madden didn’t believe him. When Page tried to shake his hand, Madden refused to shake in front of most of the dressing room putting his hands in the air and walking away. There was a lot of divisiveness on this issue as many were hot at Madden’s behavior but others told him they thought he did the right thing. Page came off sympathetic to some, for standing up to Steiner in a fight that he had no chance to win, but a common reaction was that all these incidents that involve Page are because he’s too much trying to constantly push himself and some noted that in a recent angle when he was supposed to diamond cut one of the Thrillers, he instead diamond cutted several of them.
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50The scripted ending of Nitro was that it would be revealed that Rick Steiner as the mystery third man in the PPV main event that was teased all show long by Ric Flair. However, due to a breakdown in WCW communication, Steiner never got the word he was supposed to be at this TV. So the show instead ended with Robbie Rage being put under a mask and pounding on Steiner as the mystery man, with the idea that probably on the next new TV show, which wouldn’t be at this point until Thunder on 1/3 (unless changes are made and the “Best of Thunder 2000” is moved to 1/3 so the Memphis Thunder taping on 12/22, now scheduled for 1/3, is moved up a week because of all the problems), it would be revealed it was Steiner under the mask. Either way, it’s a main event that appears to have zero box office appeal, but nothing in WCW these days has.
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52Assuming this is legit, and recognizing the company is dead as far as drawing money and upping TV ratings, at some point management needs to discipline this crew for their actions. Steiner, even though he’s world champion and someone the company legitimately could build around for a long period in rebuilding the belt, has to be disciplined in some form because it’s not a first time offense, nor a second, and he’s already been suspended twice this year. The situation with Nash is so far past the point of discipline to being totally comical. Page, if he started a fight backstage, has to be disciplined in some form. However, Pillman was disciplined for his angles, which was used as a reason to prove them legit, but the discipline (being fired as a work to the point he was actually sent a termination notice and used it to open negotiations to go to the WWF, where he ended up in the funniest irony in that he worked the only people in the company in on his work to the point he got a contract release and was able to jump legit) was supposed to be a work.
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54The saddest part of all this isn’t the mess the company is in today because of this, but that the young wrestlers in the company who have potential to be big players in a few years are learning that this is how the wrestling business operates by how the experienced dressing room leaders do their business. However, this is how a destructive wrestling business that doesn’t make money operates, and not how a well-run wrestling business operates, and it’s a pity they may not understand the difference.
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56When running down the past year in wrestling, it has been one of the strangest and most newsworthy years ever. It has been a great year for one company, and largely a disaster for the few who dared attempt to play on the big field.
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58As the year comes to a close, wrestling has never looked to have more of an uncertain future. It’s so strange writing that, because the years 1992-96 were very tough ones for the industry. None of the major companies were making money. Times were getting tough in WWF before the company switched gears and became the force it turned into. WCW during that period was on at least one occasion, exactly one Ted Turner veto away from being closed down because of money losses. Turner’s loyalty to the product paid off as the Eric Bischoff-led company through the introduction of Nitro, paved the way for the strong economic rebound of the industry, with the WWF following suit with the revamped faster-paced Raw built around the creation of new stars. Yet even in hindsight, looking at close the business was coming to what could have been a disaster, the future didn’t look nearly as murky as it does today.
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60While the WWF is past its peak, it’s a marketing monster. Far stronger than the 80s model on so many different levels, for the first time in its history, it looks impossible to compete with. Nobody in the business, unless they either work for the WWF, or have economic ties and are supported by the WWF, have futures that could be called stable going into 2001. Even in the 80s when it was by far the dominant organization, it didn’t offer certain aspects of the product, the old blood and guts style of wrestling than was popular in many parts of the country, and there was so much strong and marketable talent the company didn’t control and plenty of people not working for the company seemingly doing very well. There are only so many jobs for wrestlers available in the WWF and the competition is fierce. One year ago, people were talking about Rob Van Dam as the next breakthrough star in wrestling. Now, he’s looking at an uncertain future, and his future prospects are far brighter than the majority of those not in the WWF or WCW currently.
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62For the past six months, the big story has been about WCW and ECW. What will happen? And as each week goes by, things look and have gotten worse and worse over the short-term at least. Paul Heyman’s line of late is that he doesn’t fear the future, but the present is really scary. ECW is exactly one great television deal, if the deal provides for production costs and enough revenue to sustain an organization and for that matter create an organization, away from stability. But so is everyone that has attempted to get into the game in the last few years, none of whom have attempted to do something on more than a minor league basis that have survived. The nature of pro wrestling and television is that at no point in history, with the exception of the totally owned WCW group, has a television station bankrolled a wrestling company to where it could survive without other major forms of revenue. With the AOL merger approved almost completely this past week, and that merger combined with the horrible two years of business WCW has had are the probable causes of the sale, WCW appears to be 99 percent committed to being sold. At this point, a sale looks imminent to a group headed by Eric Bischoff, but it is not a done deal and those close to the situation say negotiations are progressing slowly and nothing will probably happen as it pertains to furthering them until after the first of the year because the key players involved in the finalization are going to be taking Christmas off.
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64At this point in time, not that touring wrestling is dead, but pro wrestling is a television driven business in this country. But does it need live touring to survive? The feeling within the WWF is that the live touring is still the backbone of the business, along with television. Having the big stars come to a city a few times per year ties the local city to the WWF as the home team, and providing entertaining shows, based on reviews, more often than not is like a local city supporting a winning sports franchise. That helps TV ratings, although entertaining television is far more important to ratings then providing good house shows, but in a close race, it’s an edge and it’s certainly better to provide a good live show than a bad one, or none at all. It bonds fans closer to the product, thus to the big matches and big storylines, concluded on PPV, which is where WCW really shot itself in the foot over the past few years. And, while competing against the production values of hours of free live television every week, can live touring of a company besides the WWF survive? Gate figures from WCW and ECW this year were not a strong sign, regardless of television ratings and exposure. WCW had a great level of exposure and large numbers of fans watching their TV, just not large compared with the levels of two years ago, but still similar levels of viewership to five years ago, which is about the point the company turned it around. It still has great time slots on strong stations. But a bad product that turned off its core audience while failing to interest a new audience has been death. ECW didn’t have the exposure, and also failed as a touring company, as noted by its nearly dropping out of the house show touring business as the year has come to a close.
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66September of 1999 was only a little more than one year ago. But in wrestling, it might as well be ancient history because of how quickly the economy and the world have changed. WCW was already struggling then. We used the term free-fall over the previous year to describe it. Yet, when Vince Russo was hired, there was tremendous optimism. Whether WCW could beat the WWF was never the issue, although people seriously talked about it at the start. The issue was whether WCW could rebound and wrestlers, and fans, were ready for a real fight every Monday and the return of the two-horse race. Instead, so much damage was done that the company went from an estimated $15 million in losses for 1999 to a figure estimated at $60 million this year.
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68In the September 27, 1999 issue of the Observer, we laid out a prospective course for WCW. Whether it would have been the basis of a successful turnaround is impossible to know. It couldn’t have been any worse than what was done. We wrote at that time that the answer was to mortgage the present to hope for an eventual future, a concept we said at the time wasn’t likely to ever take place.
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70Instead, the company went from phase to phase. The first Russo era. A lot of early enthusiasm. Some exciting TV’s. But more misses than hits and a destruction of the foundation of the product, the belief that the belts meant something and the characters stood for something. Prostituting the belt for a weekly rating, actually made worse during the second Russo regime, and turns so frequent that people couldn’t keep up with, and eventually didn’t care, about who to cheer for ruined the bond between the consumer and the company. Fans couldn’t live the storyline, because the storyline was made into a farcical movie, perversely entertaining as a stand-alone, but nothing you could sustain week-in-and-week out, instead of a pseudo-realistic weekly drama. Then came the Kevin Sullivan era. The upside was that they attempted to build for the future, trying to create new stars and somewhat reign in the silliness. The bad news was Russo was still popular among the wrestlers, probably most of whom worked to make sure Sullivan wasn’t successful, and he had other problems, the Chris Benoit fiasco, the injuries to Bret Hart and Bill Goldberg who could have been the key players in a turnaround, and his biggest problem was that he was in over his head and couldn’t write entertaining television shows. The Benoit fiasco killed not only the title belt even worse, but took away a key ingredient the company had going for it, the ability to put on many entertaining matches on a television show. It was also a terrible morale builder. The wrestlers who were in the company saw Chris Jericho, which everyone not blinded by star power of the past knew was a guy who could have been a key player in a turnaround, made into a bigger star than he ever was by leaving. Then they saw Benoit and company come in and immediately deliver a monster rating for the famous match in Dallas. Basically, everyone in the company felt if guys who were never given a chance could become stars somewhere else, they wanted to be somewhere else. And the stars Sullivan tried to create, such as The Wall, were so far from being ready that the public didn’t come close to buying them. Russo and Bischoff came back. For a few weeks, there was enthusiasm. But the reality was figured out by many before their first appearance. What was the over/under on how long the two would be able to co-exist? They started in April. By July they were dead, and they weren’t exactly knocking them dead in the interim, although some of their TVs in the early weeks were the best TVs of the year, but in doing so, were also destructive to the foundation. While fans for that moment probably enjoyed the TV where everyone gave back their belts as newsworthy and well written, it and other treatment (the David Arquette fiasco if you can point to one incident) of the belts killed the foundation. Russo stayed on, built everything around himself and was a killer to business in doing so. And now Bischoff is the one to pick up the pieces.
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72Rumors about who Bischoff has as investors run rampant, if it is indeed even a plural. Rumors about how deep their pockets are also run rampant. The belief at this point seems to be the deal was all but a lock (Ted Turner himself privately gave the figure it was a 99 percent chance it would be sold) and the announcement could come at any time. Of course, stories that the announcement would be coming in the next week have been rampant several weekends. A few things are a given. Their pockets, whomever they are, most likely won’t be as deep as Time-Warner’s, and they, most likely, and again this is all speculation until the announcement is made, don’t own the television station they are providing product for. Like USA Network is finding out now, the ratings pro wrestling delivers, even WCW, which still does far better than the prime time average for TNT and TBS, can make a strong difference in the perception and ranking of the network as a whole. Although with the exception of two years, the Turner era of pro wrestling was rife with money losses, bad booking, bad management and frequent management changes and a lack of a consistent direction, it still may be the best economic model for a wrestling company is being owned by the network. And that’s likely gone.
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74If Bischoff is faced with a situation where he needs to turn a profit in a hurry, he’s swimming upstream against a strong tide. And to make things worse, the confidence level in him isn’t there at the start. He’s viewed by many who recognize this lame duck position as horrible to be in, as the savior, because the company needs one so badly. But unlike before, when he was competing against a company that had its own economic problems, and stars used to making big money were looking to leave, and he had a big company behind him that could lose money short-term on big deals and exploded with the right angle, none of these forces are in place this time. The WWF brand is far stronger than ever. The WCW brand is far weaker. And there is no Ted Turner who owns a television station who can be talked into funding a comeback by out spending for the top stars, nor are there a free agent crew of 80s superstars that would mean anything today like Hogan, Piper and Savage, all of whom were practically retired as in-ring performers and thought to be done due to age by McMahon, when Bischoff resurrected their careers and drew big money with them, or what he tried to do with Warrior. There is no big company that owns the programming that is there to pounce on opposition weakness by offering big contracts at first. And there are no Rocks or Austins that are going anywhere. Between the more certain future of being with the big boys, stock options they’d leave behind, and the reality of fighting the political quagmire they’ve heard so much about, and in many cases been through, Bischoff can’t repeat his previous success with the same formula.
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76He can’t tour at first because there is no money to be made. But running TV tapings in the same location harkens back to the days of WCW at Center Stage. It’s not a revenue stream. In fact, for a history lesson for those who don’t remember Center Stage, WCW used to tape there every other week, in a 780-seat theater studio like setting in Atlanta. They didn’t charge for tickets so it was easy to fill the small place up for a while. But in time, even for free, they couldn’t fill it. By the end of the run, the company had to spend a lot of money advertising on radio in the local market on shows that for free, were only drawing a few hundred fans.
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78PPV has dried up with the Mayhem buy rate reaching a new record low level, and Starrcade probably didn’t do much better. If there was a company with patience to bring in a new group of wrestlers, give them a flashy look, great writing and acting lessons and have them be a crew athletically gifted enough that after a few years in the ring, a few HHH’s, Rock’s and Kurt Angle’s will be lucky enough to emerge. Make no mistake about it, this is a star driven business and with all the acknowledged greatness of Vince McMahon as a star-maker, he was exceedingly lucky to come across performers with the drive, look, athletic ability, acting ability and aptitude to carry the ball. If one or two guys catch on huge, like Austin did in the WWF spawning the way for Rock, it can make a world of difference, but they have to be given that opportunity and not have their legs cut off by jealous older wrestlers before they get to that level. For all people want to point to Goldberg in WCW, everyone also knows that Goldberg snuck through, and by the time the sharks went after him, he was already established as a phenomenon. But also, the sharks did in the long run get him.
79This is the catch 22. Without house shows, a farm system, and working 200 nights per year, none of these men the WWF established as stars would have progressed quickly enough. Again, one can point to Goldberg, but he did it in two-minute matches and I don’t think people will buy a second Goldberg gimmick as the big thing. None wouldn’t have made it with veterans holding them down by not allowing new faces get the interview time and be presented as threats to them in match sequences and results. If Rock would have been in WCW the way the fans didn’t care about him after a few months of his initial push, he’d have been discarded as quickly as Prince Iaukea (who was being given a huge push in WCW at the same time when both were over with the audience about an equal amount). But for WCW to put in place what makes the WWF the start-of-the-art in the industry, you are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars spent per year, and there is no way at present to offset that in revenue.
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81Bischoff’s strong suit is as a deal maker and that’s something that should never be underestimated. He convinced Ted Turner to take a huge risk and put Nitro head-to-head with Raw. Everyone thought he was insane, and it would cost him his job. Instead, he took a business where everyone was losing money, and paved the way for it to become far more lucrative than it has ever been at any time, anywhere. He convinced Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage and Roddy Piper to join WCW, people who had never even considered going to the small guys down South. Obviously, he got enough investment money together to put together a deal to purchase the company. Two of his other deals that could have been gigantic both fell through at the last minute. A deal to do bi-monthly specials on NBC could have put WCW back in the game when WWF had started dominating, that is, if the specials were good. If the specials were the quality of the product at that time, well, it would have been a great deal squandered. But the NBA strike ended and the deal was never finalized. The deal to split the company and do the Fox vs. TBS could have sparked some interest, but again, it was never completed.
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83For the good of the industry, I’m hoping I’m missing something here. Or that Bischoff will prove me wrong, and he did prove a lot of people wrong in 1995. But Bischoff proved people wrong only in the short run the first time. Ultimately, spending big money for older wrestlers with limited time left on their drawing power clock was like people predicted, the sports philosophy of trading draft choices for a lot of veterans, getting a couple of winning seasons, and suffering a drought in the standings for years as repercussion. When he was on top, he didn’t create the foundation for long-term future success. The plethora of mid-card talent he introduced is now either physically destroyed from a style not suited for long-term, emotionally destroyed from years of confidence shattering non-pushes, or the lucky ones are now in the WWF and propped up the second tier during a record year. And now, when the most important thing is re-creating that foundation, will he have the economic backing to do so? And will new fans, whose rapidly changing tastes in wrestling and increase boredom due to overexposure with even what would have been considered a great wrestling product one year ago, give it a chance when all signs point to a downward cycle. Far more than little ways, or big ways, to improve Nitro, or changing booking or even giving young guys a chance or even lucking out and finding a Rock somewhere, that is the big question facing Bischoff. Ultimately, much of the excitement of a business that seems to thrive best when there is real competition, is depending upon a surprise answer.
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85In something of a major surprise, New Japan announced on 12/20 that Riki Choshu would wrestle Shinya Hashimoto in a no time limit match on the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show.
86
87While this would indicate and make virtually everyone believe that the Hashimoto firing was a total worked angle to build up to the Dome, some are not certain. Apparently the match-up is the brainchild of Antonio Inoki, who right now appears once again, because of the success of the Pride shows based on his input to matchmaking by using pro wrestling angles to build, to be the most powerful individual in the Japanese scene as he’s able to mix and match pro wrestling and shooting, as well as use existing problems to create shoot angles. It was Inoki’s suggestion for Choshu to come out of retirement for big shows this year, and that Hashimoto would make his best drawing opponent.
88
89The original Dome plan, which was going to be announced this week, was for Choshu & Manabu Nakanishi to face Keiji Muto & Nobuhiko Takada in a tag team match. Takada had never agreed to the match. They have also changed the Jushin Liger vs. Shinjiro Otani singles match to a tag as Muto & Otani vs. Nakanishi & Liger.
90
91This is where the politics really get tricky. The New Japan vs. All Japan feud, which just started, and could generate a lot of interest in Toshiaki Kawada going through the New Japan top stars, is now in jeopardy because Motoko Baba was assured that Hashimoto working with NOAH was not a New Japan angle but he was really fired. Whether it started off as a shoot and became an angle (and I’d tend right now to believe the opposite, that it was always an angle since it ended up as the very next Dome main event), it clearly is an angle now with Hashimoto working for NOAH, All Japan’s archrival. Perhaps New Japan feels the potential for business is greater with NOAH, which it is since All Japan only has Kawada while NOAH has many different potential headliners. One would suspect interpromotional business dealings would be easier with a different company because of the problems of dealing with Baba. But this match, combined with the IWGP tournament featuring Kawada, does make the traditional second biggest show of the year in pro wrestling (behind WrestleMania) into a hot line-up.
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93WCW finished its most trying year ever in the PPV market with “the granddaddy of them all,” Starrcade 2000, the 18th version of the first attempt in many years to produce a live wrestling event in more than one venue.
94
95Starrcade, first established on Thanksgiving night of 1983 at the Greensboro Coliseum, has had more ups and downs than any singular name of a show in history. What was, in its debut, considered one of the great shows in wrestling history grew into an institution in Greensboro, and many blame the death of the hot Greensboro market in 1988 largely on having Starrcade moved to Chicago, a bigger name city, that year. After Vince McMahon established the Survivor Series as the new Thanksgiving tradition in 1987, Starrcade moved to December, usually held on the Sunday after Christmas. It wasn’t until 1992, when the company was down, that the Starrcade name couldn’t be counted on to drop a strong buy rate. By 1993, when the company was at a low point, in many ways lower than it is even today (except not on PPV) the Starrcade match with Ric Flair putting up his career against the title held by Vader, ushered in a new enthusiasm for the product and the company’s biggest gate of a paltry year. By 1995, the buy rate hit a new low for a show built around Flair again chasing and winning the title, this time from Randy Savage, and stellar undercard matches featuring wrestlers from New Japan who were given very little promotional build-up before their appearance, although the consensus was that Shinjiro Otani and Eddy Guerrero stole the show. Starrcade rebounded in 1996 with the marquee value of Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper, and in 1997, drew what at the time was the company’s largest live gate in history ($543,000 to the MCI Center) and its most PPV buys in history, topping 640,000--at the time the largest ever for a non-WrestleMania show, for a Hulk Hogan vs. Sting match that was promoted for much of a full year. The gate record has been broken many times since, but the PPV record was only approached once, for the gimmick match involving Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone.
96
97Three years is a lifetime in pro wrestling. The company on top of the world is anything but there today. A crowd of 6,596 came to the MCI Center, of which 3,465 paid $157,380 for the show on 12/17.
98
99The show itself was better than most of the WCW PPV events this year. Kind of a mixed bag overall. The crowd started off wanting to hate the opener, but the work was so strong they couldn’t. Somewhere in the middle, between the multitude of swerves that all looked the same, dead matches, and use of weapons that by late in the show had the crowd numbed, it was looking bad. But a strong tag title match and a main event that was far better than anyone had the right to expect ended it on a good note.
100
101In bringing up history, the irony was, Tony Schiavone talked about the first Starrcade, where Flair won the NWA title from Harley Race, and talked about how far we’ve come since then before the tag title match. For anyone who actually remembers that show, it was not exactly the kind of comparison that would have been smart to bring up. Kind of like a Bengals announcer saying “look how far we’ve come since that Super Bowl year.” In their attention to detail department, they said that Sid Vicious, who wrestled Scott Steiner in the main event, was having his first match since the spring, forgetting he had what was sort of a match just a few days earlier on Thunder, and had what absolutely was a match a week earlier at a house show.
102
1031. Three Count (Shannon Moore & Shane Helms) won a three-way ladder match over Jung Dragons (Kazuhiro Hayashi & Yun Yang) and Jamie Knoble (Jamie Howard) & Evan Karagias (Evan Kavagias) in 13:51. This must have set the all-time record for numbers of ladders used in the match. It didn’t start out good with Moore and Hayashi badly blowing their first spot, and the crowd less than one minute in starting loud “boring” chants. Chavo Guerrero Jr. did commentary and the announcers did their best, after destroying them for so many years, of trying to get the cruiserweight division over. Gimmick was whomever got the contract would get a title shot the next night. Yang was nearly killed with a messed up flapjack. They did a spot where Knoble & Karagias were arguing, since the idea is they are guys who have a high school grudge and are reluctant partners. They did the big dive series, Yung with a corkscrew, Helms with a running flip dive, Hayashi with Kaz special, Karagias with a springboard plancha and Moore with a top rope Asai moonsault. Knoble was pushed off the top of the ladder in mid-ring and took a bump over the top onto everyone. There was an awesome spot where Hayashi leaped up to the scaffold that Karagias was standing on and power slammed him off the ladder all the way to the ground. Moore did a famouser off the ladder on Karagias. Helms did a neckbreaker off the ladder on Knoble. Knoble power bombed Helms off the ladder. Moore clotheslined Yang off the near top of the ladder. The Dragons set up a scaffold like structure using three ladders. Moore did a head scissors on Karagias off a ladder. Match had a ton of innovative spots and big bumps. These guys deserve all kind of credit for putting this one together and hopefully they’ll get their due from whomever is running the company. Bout had a strange finish where Moore and Helms were on top and won together, each holding the contract. ****
104
1052. Lance Storm (Lance Evers) pinned Cat (Ernest Miller) in 7:24. The gimmick was that Jim Duggan wanted to be a face, but Storm told him the only reason he still had a job was because of the Team Canada gimmick and when he leaves, he’ll be unemployed. Ms. Jones has the most charisma of any of the women left in this company. Cat at one point his Storm with a bottle. Ms. Jones high kicked ref Mark Johnson. Major Gunns did her decent dropkick to Jones. Finally Duggan came out with his 2x4 to a very big face pop. Duggan ran in to save Storm, changed his mind, put down the 2x4, then clotheslined Cat, who rolled over into Storm’s maple leaf finisher. Cat actually tapped before Storm even got the hold on. To make things even more confusing, Storm & Elix Skipper attacked Duggan after the match, and guess who made the save? Cat. *3/4
106
1073. Terry Funk, at age 56, won the hardcore title from Crowbar (Chris Ford) in 10:21. Typical backstage weapons match. Probably due to Funk knowing what to do and when, it seemed a cut above the usual overdone backstage brawl. The announcers talked about Crowbar as a kid seeing the Flair vs. Funk match from the New York Knockout TV show, which was one of the hundred or so retirement matches Funk has had in his career. They brawled inside a truck and Crowbar took a bump out of the truck through a table. They traded slamming a door on each others’ head. Funk slammed it on Crowbar’s head five times. Then, borrowing the controversial spot in the Rock vs. Mick Foley match featured in “Beyond the Mat,” Funk handcuffed Crowbar and started hitting him with chair shots. The shots weren’t as brutal as the ones Rock delivered, and Funk paced them better (only delivering three at first, later two more). Crowbar came back with two chair shots to the head. Crowbar did a pescado onto a table for a near fall. Funk ended up winning with a chair to the head followed by a piledriver on a car door. **3/4
1084. Who knows who won with Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clark) vs. Big Vito (Vito LoGrasso) & Reno (Rick Cornell) in that Reno pinned Vito to win the match in 8:18. The whole storyline here is that somebody was paying Kronik to take over Vito & Reno. The announcers brought up Marie, thereby eliminating her. The bookers have to be one step smarter than the predictable story, so it ended up being Reno. However, Adams throughout the match kept chasing Marie looking for the money, even thought he job wasn’t done, while Marie denied it. The crowd was totally dead for all of this and it was the second time they had done a swerve on the show and unlike the first time, nobody cared.. After Reno used his roll the dice on Vito and pinned him, he threw the money to Kronik, who weren’t even the ones who got the job done, he was the one. DUD
109
1105. Mike Awesome (Mike Alfonso) beat Bam Bam Bigelow (Scott Bigelow) in 8:36 in an ambulance match. Awesome is apparently in the process of dropping the 70s guy gimmick for the “Career killer” gimmick. Bigelow’s knees were clearly hurting. Crowd was dead for the match. At one point Bigelow punched his hand through a window and his forearm was cut up. I hope it was gimmicked because after what happened to Goldberg and seeing the cut, while only minor, I just couldn’t stop thinking about all the unnecessary injuries due to wrestlers being asked to do dangerous things and how they’ve hurt company momentum constantly. Loud boring chant. They ended up on the top of the ambulance and Bigelow fell through the roof, supposedly, since we actually never saw it, to lose. *
111
1126. General Rection (Bill DeMott) beat Shane Douglas (Troy Martin) via DQ in 9:48 to retain the U.S. title. Another match which lacked heat. Both guys had small forehead cuts when it was over but the blood wasn’t really pushed hard in the call. Rection missed a moonsault and Chavo Guerrero Jr. came out. See if this makes any sense. Chavo grabbed the chain that Douglas had dropped. He threw it to Douglas. Then he told ref Charles Robinson that Douglas had a chain, causing the DQ. Douglas then hit Rection with a chain. Guerrero then saved Rection, but Douglas hit Guerrero with a chain and did the franchiser on Rection. Awall and Cpl. Cajun ran in, with Cajun comforting Guerrero Jr. and Awall comforting Rection. Someone ought to teach the DOR (Disciples of Russo) that angles work only when they are done to mean something. Pro wrestling is not a series of endless angles that are meant to mean nothing except a pop that they usually don’t get when presented in this manner. No matter how hard the talent worked, the scripting at this point was killing the show. 3/4*
113
1147. Jeff Jarrett & Ron & Don Harris beat Konnan (Charles Ashenoff) & Rey Mysterio Jr. (Oscar Gutierrez) & Billy Kidman (Peter Gruner) in what was billed as a combination street fight and bunkhouse match in 12:32. Actually, based on the rules, the two are the exact same thing. It was an excuse to set up a bunch of gimmicked props like a portable bar, brooms, etc. to be used as weapons. Think about this. Is their anything sillier than putting Mysterio Jr. and Kidman in a New Jack style match? After having already seen Crowbar vs. Funk do a weapons match, there was nothing these guys could do and the crowd was bored most of the way except when they shattered the bar putting Jarrett through it. Harris Twins did a good job in believably selling for guys so much smaller than they are. They spent a few minutes getting heat on Kidman as Mysterio Jr. was thrown into a dumpster and Konnan was tending to him. This traditional three-on-one-heat led to a big pop for Konnan’s comeback. They cut him off almost immediately with an H-bomb, as in the Harris Twins move and not the former drug of choice in the profession. Mysterio Jr. made a comeback using a broomstick. Funny seeing people sell for the dreaded broom bristles. They H bombed him through a table. Kidman was on top for the shooting star when one of the Twins broke a bottle over his head and Jarrett pinned him after the stroke. *1/2
115
116Lex Luger attacked Sgt. Dewayne Bruce during an interview. Bagwell did the interviews as did Gene Okerlund throughout the show. Okerlund was actually getting some of the biggest reactions on the shows with his crabby old man lines.
117
1188. Diamond Dallas Page (Page Falkinburg) & Kevin Nash regained the WCW tag titles from Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak (Shawn Stepich) in 12:05. Ric Flair came out and said that if Mike Sanders takes a step toward the ring and interferes, that the titles will change hands. Of course this meant Sanders would interfere, just not take a step toward the ring while doing so. Fans chanted “We Want Hall” with Nash acknowledging them. Nash also did a “Hey, Yo” after winning the belts, but he didn’t mention the guys’ name. The game is actually quite funny if the game is for the wrestlers to show insiders how inept the company is. Let’s throw temper tantrums and go into business for ourselves on live TV and what’s the punishment? The tag team titles, That said, this was the second best match on the show, probably because it was basic tag team wrestling psychology combined with good work. Page and Palumbo in particular looked really good. Although it wasn’t obvious to most people or picked up on by almost anyone, Palumbo was told by Nash and perhaps Page to wrestle like Hall with the idea that since they can’t mention Hall’s name, if it becomes obvious Palumbo is doing Hall’s moves (they want him to start doing the edge as a finisher under the guise it’ll get heat and get him over, which it will, but more to keep the “We Want Hall’ stuff alive to guarantee crowd reaction to the team, and also, figuring Bischoff will bring Hall back, and there is no guarantee that’s the case, that Palumbo is set up as a natural feud to come back for the swerve angle where Hall comes back and immediately turns on Nash, who spent months trying to get him back. Can you imagine anything close to this happening in the WWF?). Page sold most of the way, made the babyface hope spots, looked damn good in the process, setting up Nash’s hot tag. Crowd was largely into it, except this one guy who was on camera most of the way in the fifth row who was sleeping. Sanders gave Page a low blow and Stasiak hit Nash with a lame belt shot. Page gave the cutter to Sanders and Mark Jindrak. Shawn O’Haire laid Page out. O’Haire went up for the Shawnton bomb on Nash, but Page crotched him. Nash came back with a high kick and power bomb on Palumbo. ***1/4
119
1209. Bill Goldberg pinned Lex Luger (Larry Pfohl) in 7:19. Bagwell and Bruce came out. By this point, the question was which guy was going to turn on Goldberg. Luger pulled out Knux and hit Bruce and Goldberg with them, but Goldberg kicked out of the pin. Bagwell did the blockbuster on Goldberg, theoretically by accident. Luger went for the rack, but Goldberg blocked it. Bagwell then attacked Bruce, while Goldberg hit the spear and jackhammer for the pin. After the match, Bagwell hit Goldberg with several chair shots. Goldberg was fine a few seconds later. A lot better than their match last month. **
121
12210. Scott Steiner (Scott Rechsteiner) beat Sid Vicious (Sid Eudy) to retain the WCW title in 10:14. One of the few bright spots in the company right now is, moral issues aside, Steiner can be a strong champion to solidify and strengthen the belt. He also carried Vicious to a good match while getting himself over strong at the end. Vicious got out of the recliner twice, once with a rope break and once by powering out. Steiner survived a choke slam and a cobra. Steiner attacked ref Mark Johnson and hit Vicious with several shots with a pipe, but Vicious kicked out. Jarrett came out and went to hit Sid with a guitar, but by this point in the show, everyone knew Steiner was getting it, but Steiner still kicked out. Steiner won with two low blows and the recliner, with the match being stopped by the referee. **1/2
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124The news wasn’t much brighter for ECW on a much smaller scale this past week. Short-term, once again the paychecks didn’t come, and a horrible sign was that the 12/15 house show at the former “Madhouse of Extreme,” the Elks Lodge in Queens, while it sold out the 800 seats, failed to overflow with standing room as it usually did in the past, with tickets jacked up to $40 and $60. At this point, many of the wrestlers are close to being in a panic. Others were said to not be, since technically paychecks weren’t due for this pay period until next week, but they are seven weeks behind. If they don’t come by the end of the coming week before Christmas, a lot of people will start to worry, particularly since the idea of this show was to raise needed revenue.
125
126Through a strategic alliance with Farmclub.com on USA Network, there is another attempt to get on the station. But like with WCW, just exposure on the station isn’t enough without the right deal. But there comes a point when with no exposure is death, and ECW failing to sellout such a small building in New York City shows just how much the lack of strong TV has created lack of hope among the fan base even coming off a strong in-ring PPV effort. As each week goes by, the ECW name and franchise diminishes in value.
127
128Of the usual crew, almost everyone worked the show except Super Crazy, who was working in Puerto Rico, New Jack, who was there even though he was told not to come and ended up in an altercation, and Chris Hamrick.
129
130ECW was built on starting something and slowly building this tiny organization into something that could flourish as a cult favorite nationwide. While there was perceived growth, and at times, a spectacular product, the momentum gained. While Paul Heyman insists the company will not go under, the clock is ticking. Even with the economic problems, virtually the entire crew worked the show. For most, there are simply no alternatives if they want to stay in the business at this level of fame. The few that do have options are finding out just what a difficult market this is for wrestlers.
131
132The show itself got a mixed reaction. Actually most fans enjoyed the show as an entertaining night, but a lot of what was planned to happen didn’t and many were upset regarding the Dudleys not selling anything for the ECW guys, in particular Buh Buh not putting over the C.W. Anderson left hand which they push on television. The show was built around the return of the Dudleys, who worked the main event teaming with Tommy Dreamer over Simon Diamond & Swinger & Anderson and were clearly the stars of the show by leaps and bounds over the regulars. It was built from the recent small angle where Diamond’s trio has worked a program with the Dudleys’ former manager Joel Gertner. Early in the show, Joey Styles and Joel Gertner did an interview with Christian York and Joey Matthews. Matthews had his arm in a sling selling the “injury” from the PPV show against Diamond & Swinger. The whole group, including manager Dawn Marie, jumped them, leaving Dreamer to make the save. Dreamer bumped all of them at first and went after Dawn Marie, but ultimately was cut off when Anderson took him out with a spinebuster. The Dudleys made the ultimate save doing the wazzup spot on Diamond, which got a gigantic pop. The show later featured a surprise appearance of Tazz. Earlier in the day, the deal must have been finalized as the ECW announced on its web site a surprise star coming. In the tag title match with Danny Doring & Roadkill, two protégés of Tazz at the old ECW House of Hardcore, in their match with Da Baldies, as heel ref Danny Daniels tried to :crew Doring & Roadkill out of the belts, Tazz choked him out and they work with their buggy bang finisher. Tazz tried to give them a rub afterwards and apparently did a great job with the interview, doing his old catch phrase with a twist, “Beat them if you can, survive if they let you”. Tazz also spoke about the night Doring’s mother died and people in the audience were visibly crying.
133
134The rest of the show was typical ECW fare. Jerry Lynn beat York in possibly the best match on the show. Lynn was full-fledged heel with Cyrus, with fans chanting “You sold out” at him. The problem, and this was noted in both this match and Sandman vs. Corino, was that after five minutes, the crowd reaction started dying. Justin Credible beat Kid Kash, and afterwards did a major tease of a break-up with Francine, but they hugged when it was all over. That match was well below par since Kash suffered some broken ribs a few minutes into the match and couldn’t do much from there. Rhino beat Spike Dudley again in a TV title match, said to be a better match than their PPV match. FBI beat Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri in what was also a good match, better than both of the PPV matches, but the finish is going to be hard to air on television. The planned finish was Guido using the Maritato on a chair. He did the move, but for whatever reason, there was no chair. The ref, thinking it wasn’t the finish because there was no chair, held up his three count, and then came down realizing it was the end. In the match set up on PPV, Steve Corino defended the title against Sandman in a last call match, which is a the same as the last man standing gimmick WWF did with the ten count knockout rule. It finished with the old Texas death match finish where both men are knocked out at the same time and the first man to his feet wins. Of course Sandman was about to get up when the ref was distracted, allowing Jack Victory to interfere and Sandman went back down. Fans hated this finish. Credible caned Corino after the match. The idea was that Sandman was supposed to grab the title belt and leave to probably set up the PPV match, but he forget to grab the belt. Sandman and Dreamer are the only remaining key members of the team that actually built the company and no matter how many times he’s beaten, with Van Dam gone, he almost always gets the biggest pop on the show. His reaction still blows away anyone of the regulars in the company.
135
136This all led to the Dudleys & Dreamer beating Diamond & Anderson & Swinger on top with a 3-D on Swinger. Match was said to be a lot more comedy than in most ECW main events, with Buh Buh even pulling out his old dancing spots and doing tons of mic work for his homecoming of sorts. For the crowd it was entertaining, but it wouldn’t be good for the promotion to air the match based on reports because the Dudleys sold so little for the heels, who were supposed to get a rub from this match to be elevated, and instead came across as stooge jobbers for the Dudleys. Buh Buh power bombed Dawn Marie through a table. Earlier in the match, he also nearly got into it with a fan who held up a negative sign about him in the balcony. Dreamer, the Dudleys, Heyman and even Sandman came out to thank the crowd at the end.
137************************************************************************************************************
1382000 WRESTLING OBSERVER AWARDS
139
140The voting for the 2000 Wrestling Observer Newsletter award will remain open through January 4, 2001 and the awards will come out in the issue dated January 15. I’d suggest if you are mailing, to send all ballots by 12/30 at the latest to insure inclusion. If you are faxing or e-mailing them, do so by midnight on the 4th as tabulation will begin the next morning. Every year we get dozens of ballots in the mail or by fax in the days after the deadline that don’t end up being counted and I don’t think anyone is going to take us to court and try and change the deadlines in a close race. I know that most people who do these awards work very hard and it’s a shame if the votes aren’t counted by not being mailed on time. The votes are best on December 1, 1999 through November 30, 2000, so anything before or after those dates shouldn’t be considered in the balloting. A more detailed breakdown of the criteria for the various categories is in the 11/27 issue.
141
142“CATEGORY A” AWARDS - PICK A FIRST, SECOND AND A THIRD PLACE FINISHER IN EACH CATEGORY. POINTS WILL BE AWARDED ON A 5-3-2 BASIS. THE WTNNER OF THE AWARD IS DETERMINED BY TOTAL POINTS.
143
1441. WRESTLER OF THE YEAR
1452. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER
1463. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW
1474. FEUD OF THE YEAR
1485. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR
1496. MOST IMPROVED
1507. BEST ON INTERVIEWS
1518. MOST CHARISMATIC
1529. BESTTECHNICAL WRESTLER
15310. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD (BEST BRAWLER)
15411. BEST FLYING WRESTLER
15512. MOST OVERRATED WRESTLER
15613. MOST UNDERRATED WRESTLER
15714. BEST PROMOTION
15815. BEST WEEKLY TELEVISION SHOW
15916. MATCH OF THE YEAR
16017. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
16118. BEST NON-WRESTLER PERFORMER
16219. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
16320. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER
16421. BEST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR
165
166“CATEGORY B” AWARDS - PICK ONE IN EACH CATEGORY. WINNERS CHOSEN ON BASIS OF FIRST PLACE VOTES.
167
1681. WORST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR
1692. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER
1703. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC
1714. READERS PERSONAL FAVORITE WRESTLER
1725. READERS PERSONAL LEAST FAVORITE WRESTLER
1736. WORST WRESTLER/ROOKIES INELIGIBLE
1747. WORST TAG TEAM
1758. WORST WEEKLY TV SHOW
1769. WORST MANAGER
17710. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR
17811. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR
17912. WORST ON INTERVIEWS
18013. WORST PROMOTION
18114. BEST BOOKER
18215. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
18316. SHOOTFIGHTER OF THE YEAR
18417. SHOOT MATCH OF THE YEAR
18518. BEST GIMMICK
18619. WORST GIMMICK
18720. MOST EMBARRASSING WRESTLER
188************************************************************************************************************
189The annual Japanese Sports Media awards for pro wrestling were voted on 12/18 and from a tradition standpoint, the pick as Most Valuable Player (Wrestler of the Year) would have to be a surprise. The surprise is that Kazushi Sakuraba won the award, not that he didn’t deserve it.
190
191It breaks tradition in two ways. First, at about 180-193 pounds, depending on which fight you are talking about, Sakuraba is a junior heavyweight sized wrestler. No junior heavyweight in history, not Jushin Liger or even Tiger Mask were ever given serious consideration for MVP awards. Satoru Sayama in many ways was one of the most influential wrestlers in history because of opening the door to pro wrestling in Japan, which years later spread to the United States, for wrestlers in the 170-pound weight category as well as his strong influences on later styles. Second, many wouldn’t even consider Sakuraba as a pro wrestler, and clearly it was nothing in that one would call traditional pro wrestling that won him the award.
192
193Sakuraba got the award for his win over Royce Gracie on 5/1 at the Tokyo Dome in their 90:00 classic, as well as other wins over big names such as Guy Mezger (in a controversial decision), Renzo Gracie and showing so much heart in coming back the same night as the Gracie match and being competitive while giving away close to 50 pounds in losing to Igor Vovchanchyn.
194
195The idea that a pro wrestler clearly established himself as the biggest star in the world of mixed martial arts in a match that no doubt will become legendary in the history of two different industries is a strong point in his favor. In my mind, the award came down to only two candidates, Sakuraba and Toshiaki Kawada. Without question, Kawada saved All Japan, which would not exist without him. While Pride would be nowhere near as over in Japan without Sakuraba’s wins establishing the groups shows as arguably the biggest shows of the year to a pro wrestling audience based on TV ratings, even if it isn’t traditional pro wrestling, it is doubtful he alone made the difference in the organization surviving. Still, the argument has always favored the successful players on the successful teams in MVP voting, and while Kawada saved a failing team, Sakuraba was the backbone of a group that had struggled a lot to draw until late 1999, but became hot all through 2000. In addition, Kawada was the winner in the biggest ticket selling pro wrestling match of the year in his 10/9 match with Kensuke Sasaki, which was voted Match of the Year. I’m not sure if Kawada for that reason wasn’t more valuable than Sakuraba, even if you accept Sakuraba as being eligible for such an award. There is something of a precedent in shoots being eligible for awards as people in Pancrase when it first started out and was the hot new deal in pro wrestling, there were Pancrase wrestlers that won awards such as Yuki Kondo winning Rookie of the Year in 1996 for knocking out Frank Shamrock, and Kazuyuki Fujita and Sanae Kikuta got votes in different categories and two shoot matches were considered for Match of the Year. There is a difference because Pancrase was totally marketed as pro wrestling, and its stars all came from pro wrestling in the first generation as it was pro wrestlers doing generally shoot matches (not all, but most), whereas the second generation of Pancrase now is comprised mainly of people who never did pro wrestling first. Pride’s headliners, like Sakuraba, Naoya Ogawa and Nobuhiko Takada are all pro wrestlers, but Pride itself never claimed to be or billed itself under the category of pro wrestling, but instead as Vale Tudo fighting, even though it recognizes as a company its audience is drawn mainly from pro wrestling fans who support the wrestlers in shoot and occasional worked shoot matches.
196
197Sakuraba received 15 of the 22 votes, with Kawada receiving three, Genichiro Tenryu receiving two and Sasaki receiving two.
198
199As for the Match of the Year, while it was probably not the best match of the year, because of the aura surrounding the match, and the fact it was an excellent match, the venue and the crowd, it seemed to me a given that it was going to win. The match got ten votes in the first ballot, while the Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie match got seven, the 4/7 Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa match got three and Gilbert Yvel vs. Kiyoshi Tamura on 4/20 in Tokyo and Yuji Nagata vs. Takashi Iizuka on 8/9 in Hiroshima as part of the G-1 tournament each got a vote. In the run-off, Sasaki vs. Kawada beat out Sakuraba vs. Gracie by a 15-7 vote. Guys with Toryumon were putting on better matches at spot shows) than many of these, but they seemed to pick realistic matches that were either real, or were worked shoots with heat. Ogawa vs. Hashimoto, because of the heat, interest and impact (and drawing a peak 24.0 rating speaks loudly and clearly) would have likely won before this match stole its thunder.
200
201Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima were voted Tag team of the year in a very weak year first getting 11 votes to five for Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori and one for Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi. Generally speaking in the Observer balloting, Japanese teams, and usually All Japan teams, are dominant because of their quality of matches. With All Japan split up and NOAH’s only real pushed tag team being Takayama & Omori, it has totally opened the door when it comes to awards for WWF teams, which this year are probably the most deserving. My pick would have been Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka, but they had the junior heavyweight bias thing going against them. It ended with Tenzan & Kojima winning a third playoff over Takayama & Omori by a 13-9 vote.
202Kawada was named Most Outstanding, probably as a consolation prize for not getting the MVP award. There are a lot of great in-ring workers in Japan, although most of the best are junior heavyweights who have that bias going against them in these awards. Of the heavyweights, probably Kawada and Jun Akiyama were the strongest picks, and Akiyama was given the Fighting Spirit award, basically hardest worker, probably in the same way as a consolation.
203
204In a strange one, Fujita, who didn’t do any traditional pro wrestling after the early part of the year (his biggest match was on the 1/4 Tokyo Dome against Kimo), but did three shoot matches, winning over Hanse Nyman, Mark Kerr and Ken Shamrock, nearly won the award, as in the first ballot he got seven votes to four for Kawada and Tenryu and two for Nagata. However, in a third runoff, Kawada won 13-9 over Fujita. I can’t come up with any explanation as to why Fujita was even considered. Anyone watching can see his only claim to fame is that he happened to be in the ring when both Kerr and Shamrock had their bodies short-circuit on them and couldn’t function, and the only positive thing is he took a ton of punishment from both before they died and he was left standing.
205
206Takashi Iizuka was named Best Technical Wrestler. While his gimmick is the submissions on the ground, I’d have gone with Yuji Nagata on that one. Nagata actually got seven first round votes to four for Iizuka, three for Minoru Tanaka (actually a better pick but he has the junior heavyweight bias against him), two of Fujita and Sanae Kikuta (Pancrase) and one for Masahiro Chono, Naomichi Marufuji (NOAH prelim wrestler), Koji Kanemoto and Sakuraba. However in the runoff, Iizuka beat Nagata 12-10.
207
208Takeshi Rikioh and Kenzo Suzuki tied 11-11 for Rookie of the Year. Suzuki of New Japan is terrible, even for a rookie. Rikioh of Pro Wrestling NOAH is at least decent. There are probably many independent wrestlers starting out who are better picks, but the awards are tradition based and smaller companies with their limited exposure, especially to the veteran reports who pick these things, aren’t going to get strong consideration. As far as the match picks, Rikioh would be my choice. Takehiro Murahama of Osaka Pro Wrestling, who is actually a far better pick but he’s handicapped by being from a smaller company, also received consideration with four votes.
209
210Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda were named Most Valuable women, for working on top as a tag team on big shows of so many different promotions, beating Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka as the Crush Gals by a 15-5 vote.
211
212Also honored in Special Prizes, which are basically equivalent to lifetime achievement awards, were retiring New Japan wrestler Kuniaki Kobayashi, retiring All Japan legend Stan Hansen, retiring Pancrase star Masakatsu Funaki and the late Jumbo Tsuruta. They also gave awards to three amateur wrestlers, Katsuhiko Nagata, Yuji’s brother, who won the Olympic silver medal in Greco-roman, and women world champions Seiko Yamamoto and Hitomi Sakamoto.
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214New Japan ran its second PPV show on 12/14 before a sellout 6,700 fans at the Osaka Furitsu Gym, which included announcing the bracketing for the IWGP heavyweight title tournament.
215
216The report we got was the show was a thumbs up show, and an improvement over the company’s first PPV held on 8/30. We’ll probably have more on the show in next week’s issue after seeing a tape.
217
218The tournament bracketing was announced at the beginning of the show. The top half of the bracket has Satoshi Kojima vs. Kensuke Sasaki, with the winner of that match going to the semifinals against Masahiro Chono. The bottom half has Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, with the winner of that going to the semifinals against Toshiaki Kawada. One would expect Chono vs. Sasaki and Kawada vs. maybe Nagata (since they worked together in the tag match on PPV without a finish). Kawada has to go to the finals. I’d book it as Kawada going over Sasaki again, but only if All Japan and New Japan are completely on the same page for the next year. If All Japan still is under the impression they can survive on their own without New Japan’s help, it wouldn’t be wise putting their world title on Kawada. It would make the 1/28 All Japan Dome show a big deal if you have title vs. title (IWGP champ Kawada vs. Triple Crown champ Tenryu) for the first time in history a the main event.
219
220The show opened with interviews with Tatsumi Fujinami and Koji Kanemoto building up their match. Kanemoto said that when he was a child, Fujinami was his favorite wrestler. Kawada & Masa Fuchi did an interview about the main event, followed by an interview with Nagata and Takashi Iizuka.
221
222In the opener, Super Strong Machine (Junji Hirata) & Kensuke Sasaki beat Masahiro Chono & Team 2000 Machine (Tatsutoshi Goto). Both teams went after the mask of their opposing teammate. Match ended with Sasaki giving 2000 Machine a lariat and SS Machine pinned him after a diving head-butt. Yutaka Yoshie upset Tenzan with his version of a reverse figure four leglock for the submission. Michiyoshi Ohara, needing reclamation after his six-second loss four days earlier at the TV taping in Nagoya, pinned Kendo Ka Shin after a choke slam in just 3:17. Kojima pinned Kenzo Suzuki after a clothesline. In an interpromotional match, the New Japan trio of Jushin Liger & Minoru Tanaka & Shinya Makabe won over the Osaka Pro Wrestling trio of Super Delfin & Tsubasa & Takehiro Murahama in 16:46 when Tanaka made Tsubasa submit to an armbar in what was written up as a good match. Manabu Nakanishi beat Osamu Nishimura with the torture rack. Fujinami beat Kanemoto with a figure four leglock in 4:38. New Japan is just killing the junior heavyweights in not only jobbing to mediocre heavyweights, but doing it so quickly. After the match, Fujinami started yelling at TV announcer Kengo Kimura and challenged him to wrestle him. Fujinami and Kimura were tag team partners, and later had a short feud in the 80s. Main event was an interpromotional match where Kawada & Fuchi going to a 30:00 draw against Iizuka & Nagata. Both guys did a lot of near falls and near submissions in the main event, which was said to be the best match on the show. One would suspect the hot spots with Kawada and Nagata in the main event will build for the two of them to wrestle in the semifinal of the IWGP tournament, particularly with the match ending without a finish.
223************************************************************************************************************
224EMLL ran its third PPV as part of its annual year-end Arena Mexico spectacular on 12/15. At this point we only have sketchy reports on the show and there was no newspaper report on the attendance. It definitely wasn’t a sellout and it appears Aguayo has done so many retirements that he’s now being regarded like Terry Funk and even the local newspapers ripped on the quality of his main event match with Cien Caras.
225
2261. Ricky Marvin & Sombra de Plata defeated Alan Stone & Chris Stone (formerly Moto Cross) in 18:29. In the third fall, Marvin pinned Chris Stone with La Magistral cradle. Apparently this was a really good match.
227
2282. Violencia & Bestia Salvaje & Fuerza Guerrera beat Tony Rivera & Felino & Safari in about 21:15. The match seemingly built up a program with Guerrera against Felino, since both the second and third falls had the same finish with Guerrera pinning him after low kicks. Said to be slightly better than average.
229
2303. Los Villanos III & IV & V won over Dr. Wagner Jr. & Blue Panther & Black Warrior in 22:34 with a clean third fall finish as V-4 used a submission called "cerrajera" on Wagner. Black Warrior debuted a new mask, which was a half Blue Panther mask and half Dr. Wagner mask.
231
2324. Atlantis & Mr. Niebla & El Satanico beat Emilio Charles Jr. & Tarzan Boy & Shocker via DQ in the parejas increibles match, which means teammates that usually don’t get along. Shocker’s team worked as the rudos since the fans hate Tarzan Boy, and since Charles turned on Niebla at Arena Mexico a few weeks ago. Third fall saw Tarzan Boy get caught by the ref delivering a low blow. Total old-time psychology of having the heel go over twice in the second match and getting caught later in the card. Much of the match seemed paired off, Tarzan vs. Satanico, Niebla vs. Shocker and Atlantis vs. Charles. Also said to be slightly better than average.
233
2345. Rey Bucanero & Ultimo Guerrero retained the CMLL tag titles over El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas in 25:38. The big spot was actually before the match, when Bucanero & Guerrero chose Tarzan Boy instead of normal partner Satanico to be their second. The heels won clean in the third fall when Bucanero pinned Casas while Guerrero pinned Santo after his reverse superplex which is a huge win to get over the tag champs. Said to be really good.
235
2366. Perro Aguayo beat Cien Caras in the battle of ancient veterans in a hair vs. hair match in 8:26. Match was described as very heated, since people in Mexico love Aguayo, but with both men well into their 50s, very little action. Actually a magazine review rated it pretty much terrible. Neither man left their feet. Universo 2000 tried to interfere by Rayo de Jalisco Jr. made the save, and once again with the same finish, Aguayo used a low blow while one ref was distracted and legendary face ref Roberto Rangel simply ignored the foul to cost Caras his hair for the first time in probably six or seven years. In a surprise, Pierroth Jr. showed up at the finish, in a wheelchair. He’s been hospitalized for a terrible stomach infection, but said he would be coming back and challenged Aguayo to a hair vs. hair match at the next PPV called “Spring Havoc. Aguayo had said that win or lose, this would be his last match at Arena Mexico. By this point, nobody should believe he’ll ever retire.
237************************************************************************************************************
238UFC is going to have an interesting time on 12/22 making a PPV show out of the matches that took place on 12/16.
239
240In what was reported as the best UFC show ever in Japan, which as high praise as it sounds, the entire show contained only 35 minutes of fighting, with numerous surprising quick finishes before a sellout of 1,414 fans at Differ Ariake in Tokyo.
241
242We only have sketchy reports on the show which will aired in edited form on 12/18 in Japan on TV Tokyo, and will air unedited on Japanese PPV on 1/7. Kind of weird to have the best stuff on free TV first, and then a few weeks later trying to get people to buy it on PPV.
243
244It was a bad night for the Japanese and the Pancrase organization. The top four matches on the show pitted the traditional Japanese vs. foreigner match-up, all four matches going quickly to the foreigners. In particular, Yuki Kondo, the top star from Pancrase, submitted quickly in the main event when challenging UFC middleweight champion Tito Ortiz. There was a lot of controversy beforehand about weight. The claim was that Ortiz weighed in at 199 on a gimmicked scale which weighed people four kilograms (nearly nine pounds) under and that Ortiz really weighed 207. Basically the reports from the Japanese side claimed Ortiz brought a gimmicked scale in and from the American side that he simply weighed 199 at the weigh-in. Either way, he went into the cage after rehydrating himself with a good 25 pounds on Kondo, who weighted 193, which was going to play a major factor in the fight, either in power early on, or against Ortiz in stamina if it went long because of the physical stress on the body in cutting and replenishing. This was bad for the organization when its top shooter didn’t last long going against a guy from outside the organization. Pancrase allowed Kondo to fight Ortiz, which was first scheduled for September, with the belief that Kondo could beat him, since Frank Shamrock did, and probably the only way he would lose would be via decision in a competitive fight and it was worth taking the risk because if he won, he would become the first Japanese fighter ever to gain a UFC world title.
245
2461. Chuck Liddell beat Jeff Monson via unanimous decision over three rounds (15:00). Monson, the superior wrestler of the two, was unable to take Liddell down. Liddell is one of those fighters who doesn’t stand out of a crowd, but is very difficult to beat because he’s a very good kickboxer and wrestled in college, thus has good enough balance to avoid being taken down by people his own size.
247
2482. In a huge upset, Dennis Hallman beat Matt Hughes with an armbar in 20 seconds even though Hallman has beaten him before. Hughes, who many feel is right at the top of the rankings in the 170-pound weight class, was going for revenge with Hallman, who weighs less than 160. Early in Hughes’ career when he had never lost, Hallman upset him with a guillotine choke in just 17 seconds.
249
2503. Evan Tanner returned beating Lance Gibson in 4:48 when the referee stopped the fight with Tanner pounding him from the mount. Tanner did a number on Gibson.
251
2524. Fabiano Iha beat Daijyu Takase in 2:24 via referee stoppage in a one-sided bout by pounding him with punches.
253
2545. 2000 Olympic silver medallist in Greco-roman wrestling, Matt Lindland, made his UFC debut and apparently looked like a major star by taking down, mounting and pounding pro wrestler Yoji Anjyo into defeat in just 2:58.
255
2566. Pat Miletich retained the UFC lightweight title beating former pro wrestler Kenichi Yamamoto in 6:58 with a front choke. Reports were that Yamamoto didn’t look good in this match. Miletich was reported as having broken his ankle in the match, however.
257
2587. Ortiz tapped out Kondo to retain the middleweight (199.9 and under) title in 1:52. Kondo got a few punches and a strong knee in before being taken down, and submitted with a neck lock from the side mount. Although the odds were strong that this match would never happen to begin with, but this pretty well kills any potential marketability of Kondo gaining revenge for teacher Masakatsu Funaki for a stadium match with Rickson Gracie this year.
259
260Current plans for UFC are to run a U.S. show in February and return to Japan in March. It’s going to be tough to find a main event for February, since heavyweight champ Randy Couture will be competing in the RINGS tournament so he likely won’t want to risk doing UFC. If Miletich was injured, he’s out of the picture, plus he’s really not a main eventer. Frank Shamrock was at the show, having stayed in Japan since his fight last week, saying that he wanted to return to UFC although it isn’t believed he’s agreed to return.
261************************************************************************************************************
262Going against a strong football game, wrestling viewership fell to 7.55 million on 12/18, the lowest figure in many years. At the peak of wrestling’s popularity, on a strong night, as many as 12 million people combined were watching both Raw and Nitro.
263
264The new low figure was based on both companies drawing numbers at near record lows. Raw’s 4.76 rating (4.36 first hour; 5.11 second hour) and 7.0 share was the lowest for the show in its regular time slot since 1988. Nitro’s 2.26 rating (2.51 first hour; 2.01 second hour) and 3.2 share barely beat out the 7/3 show (2.24) as the lowest rated Nitro in its regular time slot in five years. That number, coming off the preemption, is even worse news since Nitro has two more consecutive weeks of preemptions. Monday Night Football drew a strong 15.18 rating and 25.6 share against both shows, which may account for some of the record low numbers.
265
266Raw peaked at a 5.36 rating for the proposed McMahon vs. Angle title match, which never took place, and instead was the storyline ambush to write Foley out and build up his feud with McMahon. Its other big quarters which were unopposed were 5.27 for Rock & Undertaker beating Edge & Christian for the tag titles and 5.17 for Austin vs. Regal. The numbers have to be a huge disappointment more for the WWF than WCW. WCW has nothing going and nobody is fooling themselves into believing anything different. WWF is coming off a strong number last week when it had the night to itself, and proclaiming the big number as the sign that the return of Vince to television and the new soap opera with him was a huge hit. This week, the sign seems to be that the rating increase was due only to Nitro being pre-empted, since they came back with such a low number after building TV around Vince for three weeks. If there is a problem, it may be too much soap opera for the tastes of the viewing public in their wrestling show, since most of the reaction to the shows has been good, but the reaction that has been negative is all in the direction of too much talking, and this show, like has been the case of late, opened with a long interview segment (25 minutes) and finished again without a main event match for the third straight week.
267
268The Nitro main event of Storm vs. Jarrett to determine one of the three-men in the Syn main event drew a 2.06 rating, which is only slightly below the company’s recent main event average.
269
270Head-to-head numbers saw Raw at 3.98 (Vince & Stephanie interview) to 2.06 (Awesome vs. Jarrett); Raw at 4.71 (Interview continues adding Foley and Angle; beginning of Benoit vs. Jeff Hardy) to 1.87 (Wright vs. Cat); Raw at 4.23 (ending of Benoit vs. Jeff; tons of backstage byplay with Angle, Vince, Foley, Edge & Christian & Debra) to 2.06 (Sanders killing time talking until Flair comes out) and finally Raw at 4.51 (Dudleys & Gunn vs. RTC) to 2.06 (Goldberg vs. Bagwell: Storm vs. Jarrett).
271
272Smackdown on 12/14 did a solid 4.88 rating and 7.6 share, finishing third among all shows in its time slot behind NBC and ABC. With it doing a 5.61 realistic number, it’s pretty clear that part of the reason for Raw’s decline is because Smackdown is replacing it as the main show of the week in the eyes of the slight majority of fans.
273
274Thunder on 12/13 did a 2.22 rating and 3.1 share, which is about in its normal range.
275Other weekend numbers saw Live Wire at 1 .1, Superstars at 1.1, and the struggling Heat show on MTV did a 1.81 rating and 2.8 share.
276
277Nitro on 12/12 drew a 1.71 rating (1.49 first hour; 1 .93 second hour) and a 2.5 share, which would be the lowest rated Nitro in history. Funny thing is that the main event and post-match with Steiner vs. Awall and Steiner’s brawl with Sid did a 2.22 quarter, which is a better quarter hour than most of the Monday night main events do. The huge ratings growth of the show as it went on was a positive, if there can be one on a record low show. It can’t be overemphasized how badly WCW dropped the ball by never promoting the move of the show to Tuesday, and there is going to be so much momentum lost by the Christmas and New Years pre-emptions. Of course, this show wasn’t going against both Raw and football. On 7/17, when Nitro aired on a Tuesday, it did a 2.36 rating, but WCW promoted that change whereas this one nobody knew about.
278
279Thunder on 12/13 drew a 2.19 rating and 3.1 share, basically staying steady between 2.0 and 2.3 the entire two hours.
280************************************************************************************************************
281OBSERVER POLL RESULTS
282
283Traditional Observer PPV poll results based on phone calls, fax messages and c-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 12/18.
284
285WCW STARRCADE: Thumbs up 43(48.9%), Thumbs down 25 (28.4%), In the middle 24 (27.3%). BEST MATCH POLL: Jung Dragon vs. 3 Count vs. Knoble & Karagias 64. WORST MATCH POLL: Kronik vs. Vito & Reno 29, Lex Luger vs. Bill Goldberg 13
286
287EYADA POLL RESULTS
288
289Results 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.
290
291On Raw and Nitro as a general rule, do you think? a) There is too much talking and not enough wrestling 45.7%; b) Too much wrestling and not enough talking 3.8%; c) Makes no difference as to how much wrestling or talking there is as long as it’s good 50.5%
292
293Comparing Raw and Nitro for 12/11 and 12/12, did you think? a) Raw was better 45.2%; b) Nitro was better 16.1%; c) Didn’t watch Raw 0.6%; d) Didn’t watch Nitro 27.1%; e) Didn’t watch Raw or Nitro 11.0%
294
295Who do you think Vince McMahon’s new girlfriend will turn out to be? a) Sable 25.4%; b) Tori 24.3%; c) Trish Stratus 16.4%; d) The twins 21.7%; e) Stephanie McMahon 12.2%
296
297What are your thoughts on the McMahon marriage break-up angle? a) Enjoying the angle, Vince is great 45%; b) Vince is great, but it’s not my cup of tea 18%; c) Would rather have more wrestling on the show 37%
298
299What did you think of Starrcade? a) Thumbs up 9%; b) Thumbs down 3%; c) Thumbs in the middle 9%; d) Didn’t see the show 79%
300************************************************************************************************************
301This 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 more weeks.
302
303Renewal 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.
304
305For 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.
306
307For 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.
308
309For those in Europe, you can get the fastest delivery and the best prices at Moonsault, P.O. Box 3075, Barnet Herts EN4 9YR England or by e-mailing to grappIingaction@aol.com. Rates are 8.5 pounds per set of four in the U.K. or 9 pounds per set of four for the rest of Europe.
310
311All 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.
312Fax 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 hsmeltzer@juno.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.
313************************************************************************************************************
314For 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 1992-present are available from us at $4 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.
315
316The 2000 supplement to the Observer index will be complete in a few weeks to all new indexes ordered will be complete with the new supplement.
317
318We 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.
319************************************************************************************************************
320Wrestling 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.
321
322Bryan 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, Upcoming guests include Bruce Mitchell on 12/22, John Muse talking about wrestling booking on 12/27 and Jeff Marek on 12/28.
323
324We’re also on every Saturday at 5:30 p.m. on Talk 640 in Toronto for Wrestling Observer Extra as part of the Live Audio Wrestling with Jeff Marek and Dan Lovranski as well as every Sunday at midnight.
325
326We also have late breaking news headlines on wrestlingobserver.com which also includes television reviews and columns written by Bryan Alvarez and Alex Marvez.
327
328RESULTS
329
33012/10 Monroe, LA (WCW - 1,688): Elix Skipper b Corporal Cajun, Three-way for hardcore title: Crowbar won over Big Vito and Reno, Jim Duggan b Sgt. Awall, Cruiserweight title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. b Kwee Wee, Kronik won three-way over Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. and Mark Jindrak and Shawn O’Haire, Tag titles: Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak b Diamond Dallas Page & Kevin Nash, Konnan b Jeff Jarrett, WCW title: Scott Steiner b Sid Vicious
331
33212/13 Isehara (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 1,800): Daisuke Ikeda b Kenta Kobayashi, Masashi Aoyagi b Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Satoru Asako & Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen b Makoto Hashi & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Akira Taue b Takeshi Morishima, Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda b Kentaro Shiga & Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori b Vader & Too Cold Scorpio, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Takeshi Rikioh b Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Naomichi Marufuji
333
33412/14 Cuernavaca (EMLL): Sakura & Coreano b Mr. Cosmos & Astro Boy, Brazo de Platino & Bestie Negra I b Mr. Tempest & Starman, El Satanico & Crazy 33 b Astro Rey Jr. & Zapatista, Perro Aguayo & El Hijo del Santo b Cien Caras & Blue Panther
33512/15 Queens, NY (ECW - 800 sellout): Chilly Willy b Mike Bell, Michael Shane b Bilvis Wesley, Nova & Balls Mahoney b Julio Dinero & E.Z. Money, Jerry Lynn b Christian York, Justin Credible b Kid Kash, ECW tag titles: Danny Doring & Roadkill b Baldies, TV title: Rhino b Spike Dudley, FBI b Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri, ECW title last man standing: Steve Corino b Sandman, Dudleys & Tommy Dreamer b Simon Diamond & Swinger & C.W. Anderson
336
33712/15 Niigata (Pro Wrestling NOAH - 3,100): Tamon Honda b Makoto Hashi, Daisuke Ikeda & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura b Satoru Asako & Masao Inoue & Haruka Eigen, Masashi Aoyagi b Naomichi Marufuji, Takeshi Rikioh b Takeshi Morishima, Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama b Jun Izumida & Akira Taue, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kentaro Shiga & Jun Akiyama b Kenta Kobayashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kenta Kobashi, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa b Too Cold Scorpio & Vader-DQ
338
33912/16 Carolina, PR (WWC): Black Boy & El Rockero b Rico Suave & Richie Santiago, Chris Grant b Bouncer Bruno, Eddie Colon b Bouncer Bob, Joe Don Smith b Titan-DQ , Stacey Colon NC La Tigresa, Invader I b Fidel Sierra, Universal title: Carly Colon b Horace Hogan, Cage match: One Man Gang b El Nene, Curt Hennig b Ray Gonzalez-DQ, El Bronco b Jim Steele-DQ, WWC tag titles: Thunder & Lightning b Barry & Kendall Windham to win titles
340
34112/16 Bayamon, PR (IWA): Rasta Man b Ninjitzu, Huracan Castillo Jr. b Super Medico, Shan Hall b Paparazzi, Hombre Dinamita b Pain, IWA tag titles: Son of Sin b Chicky Starr & Victor the Bodyguard, ECW title: Steve Corino b Glamour Boy Shane-DQ, Miguel Perez b Ricky Banderas-DQ, Yoshihiro Tajiri b Super Crazy, Apolo and Dinamita won elimination Match
342
34312/17 Tokyo Bay NK Hall (Shooto World Vale Tudo Open - 6,900 sellout): Alex Cook b Ray Cooper, Tetsuji Kato b Dan Gilbert, Mishima b Marcio Cromado, Nogueira b Bobo Palling, Hayato Sakurai b Frank Trigg, Mamoru b Jin Akimoto, Kaoru Uno b Rumina Sato
344
34512/17 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Gaea - 2,200 sellout): Kaoru b Chigusa Nagayo, Toshie Uematsu & Bloody b Sonoko Kato & Saika Takeuchi, Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura b Devil Masami & Toshiyo Yamada, Dynamite Kansai b Sakura Hirota, AAAW tag titles: Mayumi Ozaki & Akira Hokuto b Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima to win titles
346
34712/17 Guayama, PR (IWA): Andres Borges & Shan Hill b Ninjitzu & Paparazzi, Steve Corino b Super Crazy, Faraon Zaruxx won four-way over Eric Alexander, Chicano and Vizago, Hardcore Castillo b Nuevo Gran Apolo, Hombre Dinamita b Pain, Chicky Starr & Victor the Bodyguard b Rastaman & Super Medico, Miguel Perez b Picky Banderas-DQ, Shane NC Yoshihiro Tajiri
348
34912/18 Greenville, SC (WWF Raw is War - 11,596 sellout): IC title: Chris Benoit b Jeff Hardy, Val Venis & Goodfather & Bull Buchanan b Dudleys & Billy Gunn, Tag titles: Rock & Undertaker b Edge & Christian to win titles, Chris Jericho b Perry Saturn, William Regal b Steve Austin-DQ, Acolytes & Jackie b Test & Albert & Trish Stratus
350
35112/18 Richmond, VA (WCW Nitro - 2,872/2,080 paid): Shane Helms b Shannon Moore, Hardcore title: Terry Funk b Meng, Lance Storm b Rey Mysterio Jr., Jeff Jarrett b Mike Awesome, Cat b Alex Wright, Bill Goldberg b Buff Bagwell-DQ, Jarrett b Storm, Cruiserweight title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. b Jamie Knoble, Mark Jindrak & Shawn O’Haire and Chuck Palumbo & Shawn Stasiak co-won tag team Battle Royal, Konnan b Elix Skipper, Meng b Crowbar, Bill Goldberg b Norman Smiley, Shane Douglas & Kronik b General Rection & Corporal Cajun & Sgt. Awall, WCW title: Scott Steiner b Cat
352
35312/19 Charlotte (WWF Smackdown/Heat tapings): Dean Malenko & Tern b Matt Hardy & Lita, Val Venis b K-Kwik, Faarooq b Albert, Dudleys b Lo Down, Womens title: Ivory b Jacqueline, Chris Jericho & Hardys b Malenko & Perry Saturn & Eddy Guerrero, European title: William Regal NC Hardcore Holly, Crash & Molly Holly b Taka Michinoku & Sho Funaki, Hardcore title: Steve Blackman b Raven, Billy Gunn b Steven Richards, WWF tag title: Edge & Christian b Rock & Undertaker to win titles
354
355Special thanks to: Jeff Marek, Bryan Alvarez, Zach Arnold, Beau Hajavitch, Keith Wilcutt, Robert Bihari, Dan Lovranski, Dave Stubbs, Larry Goodman, Melissa Rose, Mike Omansky, Phil Jones, Jeff Beecher, Roberto Figueroa Cardona, Manuel Gonzalez, Ryan McFarland, Kurt Brown, Jose Fernandez, Andy Patrizio, Tadashi Tanaka, Craig Allen, Edward Aponte, Al Gatullo, Eddie Goldman, Jeremy Medeiros, Gene Restaino, Dafydd Denatale, David Lagana, Cohn Preistner, Alan Smolek
356
357MEXICO
358
359Picky Marvin retained the Mexican national lightweight title over Virus in a match that went more than 30:00 on 12/12 at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. Match will air on 12/26 in the United States on Galavision so it may be worth seeing.
360
361IWRG had its awards ceremony this past week. Ultimo Vampiro was named best tecnico, Bombero Infernal the best rudo, Los Villanos the best trio, Mega & Super Mega as the best tag team, Silver King vs. Scorpio Jr. as match of the year and Best new prospect was El Millonario.
362
363On the 12/22 Tijuana show, the Mysterio Jr. & El Hijo del Santo vs. Damian & Halloween match has changed to Santo & Negro Casas & La Parka vs. Damian & Rey Bucanero & Rey Mysterio Sr. Either Rey Jr. didn’t want to do it because his knee has been bothering him, or the office wouldn’t give him the okay to do the show, probably the latter.
364
365Pierroth Jr. must have had huge medical bills from his stomach infection, as they are did a benefit fundraiser for him on 12/18. So weird doing a fundraiser for a main event wrestler, let alone a main event heel.
366
367Vampiro met with Paco Alonso during the PPV but didn’t go into the arena because he can’t handle the noise level.
368
369ALL JAPAN
370
371The line-ups for the January tour except the 1/14 Korakuen Hall show were announced this past week. No matches that really stand out were announced. The biggest show seems to be 1/10 at the smaller Osaka Furitsu Gym, which holds about 1,800, with Toshiaki Kawada & Masa Fuchi & Nobutaka Araya & Shigeo Okumura vs. Taiyo Kea & Mitsuya Nagai & Masahito Kakihara & Mohammed Yone and Genichiro Tenryu & Yuto Aijima vs. Hiroshi Hase & Johnny Smith and the Toryumon trio of Yasushi Kanda & Susumu Mochizuki & Darkness Dragon (?) vs. Psicosis & Halloween & Damian. 1/14 will be a match to determine the vacant Double tag team title, but the teams weren’t announced. Interesting that on 1/8 in Niage they have Tenryu & Kawada & Fuchi as the main event trio against Kea & Smith & George Hines, which may be to set up something for the Tenryu vs. Kawada 1/28 Tokyo Dome show.
372
373PRO WRESTLING NOAH
374
375Shinya Hashimoto at a press conference on 12/18 said that he wanted to team with Mitsuharu Misawa at the Antonio Inoki New Years Eve show at the Osaka Dome but Misawa indicated he wasn’t interested.
376
377It appears they are going to call their world title the GHC title, and will be decided in a tournament in March and April. They are expected to crown junior heavyweight and tag team champions in January.
378
379They have their first major show after the 1/28 Tokyo Dome card on 2/25 in Kobe.
380
381NEW JAPAN
382
383Keiji Muto said that his contract with WCW expired on 12/18, but there is a non-compete clause built into the contract. He said that he’s talked with Jim Ross about coming to the WWF, but this may also be just a New Japan storyline. He said he’s been offered a job, which I’m skeptical of, but couldn’t take it because of the non-compete until June and would go to the WWF at that time if they were still interested.
384
38511/25 TV was a basic ordinary TV show based around the tag team tournament. Minoru Tanaka & Koji Kanemoto beat El Samurai & Kendo Ka Shin. Not a lot of heat, but the usual good match involving these four, with Kanemoto looking the best of the four as usual, and Ka Shin still being dead. They tried to get some heat with Ka Shin by having him constantly attack the ref, since New Japan doesn’t do DQ finishes. Manabu Nakanishi & Kensuke Sasaki & Osamu Nishimura beat Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito when Nakanishi put Saito up in a torture rack, and then maneuvered it into the old alley copter (kind of an airplane spin like move off a shoulder backbreaker) and an old-time backbreaker over the shoulder submission. Better match than it sounds. Super Strong Machine & Jushin Liger beat Team 2000 Machines when Liger pinned Michiyoshi Ohara under the mask with Ia magistral. Boring. Even Liger couldn’t save it. Finally Scott Norton & Masahiro Chono beat Yuji Nagata & Takashi Iizuka when Norton pinned Iizuka after a power bomb. Nagata was the star of course, and it turned into something of a good match. Chono worked about as well as he would, while Norton was his usual self.
386
38712/9 TV drew a 2.3 rating.
388
389OTHER JAPAN NOTES
390
391When Kazushi Sakuraba was interviewed after winning the MVP award, he said he’d like to change his New Years Eve match at the Osaka Dome from a singles match against Kendo Ka Shin to a tag match, suggesting either Sakuraba & Ka Shin vs. Renzo & Ryan Gracie (to give Ka Shin his badly needed credibility back) or Sakuraba & Ryan vs. Renzo & Ka Shin.
392
393Nobuhiko Takada’s wife, Aki Mukai, 36, a somewhat well known movie actress, was diagnosed on 12/19 with uterine cancer after a miscarriage. Because of who she is and who he is, virtually every newspaper of any size in Japan covered this. In a correction from last week when talking about the Muta & Takada vs. Shamrock & Frye match on New Years Eve, we wrote the two had never teamed up. Actually that is incorrect as they did once on a New Japan show on October 17, 1987 against Choshu & Super Strong Machine. Inoki is looking at having Naoya Ogawa vs. Tadao Yasuda, Hashimoto vs. Gary Goodridge and Iizuka & Nagata vs. Mark Kerr & Mark Coleman on the show, although none of those matches have been officially announced. The card won’t be finalized until after the 12/23 Pride show, because the matchmaking will depend on who wins those matches and who from that show will be physically able to do a pro wrestling match eight days later.
394Osaka Pro Wrestling is planning its biggest show in its history on 1/7 at the Rinkai Sports Center headlined by an interpromotional match with Jushin Liger & El Samurai of New Japan vs. Super Delfin and a mystery partner.
395
396The Crush Gals are doing a new gimmick at “Darkness Crush Gals,” where both Lioness Asuka & Chigusa Nagayo are doing the face-paint gimmick, both like Nagayo’s Zero gimmick from WCW. The two are going to team with the new gimmick against Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki on a big January show in Nagoya after Hokuto & Ozaki first won a tag team tournament earlier in the month, and then the AAAW tag titles on 12/17 at Korakuen Hall over Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima when Ozaki pinned Nagashima in 24:27.
397
398Atsushi Onita is running a show on 1/5 at the Shibuya section of Tokyo with a no rope barbed wire street fight match with Onita in an eight-man on top with his usual band of suspects, Niehi Kumicho & Mitsunobu Kikuzawa & Exciting Yoshida vs. Ichiro Yaguchi & Shoji Nakamaki & Yase Yaguchi & Shinigami.
399
400NHK-TV on 12/13 ran a documentary about Lucha Libre featuring one of the Villanos, El Hijo del Santo and Fray Tormenta. The funny part is that one of the Villanos is a dentist by trade and showed him working with a doll of himself in the office and nobody knew he was the guy who the doll was, since he wasn’t practicing his dentistry wearing his Villano mask. Santo invited the cameras into his secret room with all his fathers trophies and awards. He said.
401
402AJW is running 12/14 at Yokohama Bunka Gym with the finals of the All Japan womens tag team tournament, plus Tomoko Watanabe puts up her career against the All-Pacific title of long-time tag partner Kumiko Maekawa. AJW is one of the few promotions which up to this point generally respects its retirement stips. People have come back after retirements, in fact, most have, but only for special appearances. They also have Chie Tershita vs. Mika Nishio in a match to determine the company’s 2000 Rookie of the Year.
403
404Due to all the good pub coming from the REMIX show on 12/5, Neo Ladies, which promoted the REMIX PPV, ran a second shoot show on 12/17 at Korakuen Hall, with virtually no advertising or advanced publicity, and drew 250 fans. Show only went 90 minutes and featured Neo’s Misae Genki, who had a 65 pound weight advantage over former AJW wrestler Mika Harikae (a 17-year-old who lasted six months) but was only able to win via decision.
405
406On Arsion’s 12/17 show in Sapporo, Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda retained the Twin Stars of Arsion tag titles over Pie Tamada & Gami with a 30:00 draw.
407
408HERE AND THERE
409
410Scott Hall is back in jail at press time after being arrested and held on 12/13 when the judge viewed his recent arrest file. When Hall was arrested after kicking in the door of a taxi cab that refused to take his credit card, the case was apparently settled when Hall agreed to pay $400 to the cab driver who was willing to drop charges. But between Hall’s DUI, his probation violation for not completing community service, the most recent situation and his arrest file, the judge ordered Hall taken into custody and is expected to remain jailed until the middle of the week when he’ll get a hearing. Hall’s visitation rights for his children were canceled temporarily stemming from the Thanksgiving DUI, before this latest incident.
411
412Jacques Rougeau had a hernia operation in the past month which will keep him from headlining his own show on 12/29 in Verdun, Quebec. Rougeau must be among the best indie promoters around, because reports we’ve got is he’s got a 4,000 ticket advance for a show headlined by Pierre Carl Ouellet vs. King Kong Bundy and Raymond Rougeau vs. Richard Charland. Jacques announced that he had signed Ouellet to a five-year contract to work as his manager.
413
414Regarding the wrestlingobserver.com report on iGeneration Wrestling negotiating to do a PPV event in Portland, promoter Steve Seiden said that Portland was only one of several cities being negotiated with for the next show or potentially a follow-up show.
415
416Sabu had what was emphasized as a horrible performance against Air Paris on the first night of his Wildside tour. It was said there wasn’t a thing Paris could do to save the match as Sabu kept missing spot after spot in the NWA title defense on 12/13 in Athens, GA. Sabu later blamed the problems on a combination of having an injured right knee from a few days earlier and that he took some pain pills and passed out before the match, woke up right before the match, and also that the ring was a mess. The next night in Cornelia, GA, Sabu was scheduled to defend his NWA title against A.J. Styles. To cover for what happened the night before, promoter Bill Behrens announced Sabu had a concussion, spinal damage, convulsions and a neck injury, said the show the previous night had come off badly (when have you ever heard a promoter say that to his audience, which just goes to show how bad it must have been) and gotten bad reports. Sabu was brought to the ring to talk but was then jumped and knocked out by Tank Abbott, while Styles grabbed the title belt. WCW talent like Mike Sanders, David Flair, Abbott, Robbie Rage, Kevin Northcutt worked the show as well as developmental people like Bob Sapp, Sam Greco, Danny Faquir, etc. Flair put over local Romeo Bliss and Sanders lost via count out to local Lazz, who does a gay babyface gimmick that a lot of people rave about, pardon the choice of words. To avoid a repeat of the previous night, they announced Sabu was injured and put Air Paris, one of their better workers, into the main against Styles. A few minutes into the match Sabu did a run-in and did two minutes of all his spots, hit perfectly and pinned Styles. Behrens covered himself because Sabu was only in for two minutes, he put a match in its place that on paper looked good (although fans at first were very disappointed with the idea Sabu wasn’t going to wrestle), and if Sabu didn’t hit his spots, he had given a storyline explanation to the people. Jung Dragons and Jindrak & O’Haire appear on the 12/23 show. Mike Graham was scouting backstage. Sabu worked 12/15 in Toronto winning the CWA title for promoter Ricky Johnson (Rock’s uncle, doing the people’s uncle gimmick) in a three-way with Larry Destiny and Scott D’Amore and he was said to be fine.
417
418Wilson Rosaline, who was one of the biggest stars of the heyday of pro wrestling (which is for all real purposes non-existent today) in Brazil, passed away on 12/Il after a shooting at the age of 80. Rosaline wrestled as El Verdugo in the gimmick based Lucha Libre style promotion, and was shot seven times after arguing with a man who had punched his daughter, who then shot him. In the 60s, wrestlers like Verdugo, La Mommia, El Samurai (not New Japan wrestler obviously) and the Bronze Bull used to wrestle before sellout crowds regularly in Rio de Janiero and drew huge TV ratings for matches on Saturday nights.
419
420Randy Hales of Power Pro Wrestling guested on Observer Live this past week talking about working together with Lawler and the WWF by combining forces with Memphis Championship Wrestling. It was a situation where Hales and Lawler, who have a long relationship, but were on opposite ends of a promotional war, although not heated like many promotional wars of the past, had fallen out of favor over a number of incidents including Hales’ testimony which Lawler thought was detrimental at the trial over the folding of the USWA. Lawler maneuvered the WWF developmental deal away from Hales, which cut out much of Hales’ talent pool. Hales went to WCW to attempt to work with them, since the one thing he had was a highly rated (at least by the standards of an indie promotion in the modern era) live weekly television show every Saturday, but WCW wasn’t interested, which made little sense. There were tough times but with Hales having the strong television slot on the NBC station and Lawler having the WWF deal, they pooled resources and are getting along well. Hales noted that the TV ratings were hovering around a 3.0 before Lawler returned and the companies pooled talent, and since, ratings have averaged a 4.8, and he said he said the quarter hours involving Lawler have shown he’s a key in the ratings rise. Jimmy Hart’s appearance on the 12/16 TV show, his first time on the live Memphis show since late 1992 (Hart made his name in the early 80s as the premier wrestling manager in the business in the Memphis territory), was arranged during the interim period. Because of politics, since Hart works for WCW and his appearance was largely to promote the WCW Nitro/Thunder taping on 12/22, he was unable to do any interaction with Lawler, which would have made for great nostalgia, or any of the WWF talent. Hart plugged his DJ match for the Nitro tapings on 12/22. Brandon Baxter came out and said Hart was one of the best managers ever, almost as good as he was. Hart then did his history lesson with Andy Kaufman, Jackie Fargo and Lawler. They challenged each other to a match, which ended up with Slash holding Hart for Baxter to hit. Then Spellbinder stopped Slash and Hart speared Baxter which was good for a laugh I suppose. Much of the show was pre-empted due to Presidential coverage.
421
422Trailer Park Trash from OVW, who held the WWC jr. title, is gone over a money issue and may have been fired. The timing is interesting because he was ready to return to OVW this week all along. Jose Rivera Jr. left the promotion as he was cited by police for stealing money from a female fan and never appeared at his hearing. Woman wrestler La Tigresa, now feuding with Stacy Colon, is pregnant. Dutch Mantel is still booking although not wrestling after losing a retirement stipulation match to Victor Jovica. IWA is said to be interested in him. IWA is getting its TV show expanded from one hour to two hours starting in January on both Saturday and Sunday. IWA has been taken off the air on the Florida Telemundo stations but are negotiating with TV Azteca International. Juan Rivera (Hombre Dinamita) and Jose Laureano (Chicky Starr) received threatening legal letters from the attorney of Jose Gonzalez for going on a radio talk show calling Invader I a murderer (over the 1988 incident with Bruiser Brody). WWC has its major year end show on 12/16 in Carolina bringing in Horace Hogan, Curt Hennig, The Windhams and One Man Gang. Carly Colon kept the Universal title pinning Hogan after a stunner. Hennig, who is a babyface in Puerto Rico, beat Ray Gonzalez via DQ when Hogan attacked Hennig. El Bronco beat Steele via DQ when Hogan interfered while the Windhams dropped the WWC tag titles to locals Thunder & Lightning.
423
424For 80s fans in the Carolinas, on 1/20 in Washington, NC they have an interesting main event with Dusty Rhodes & Ricky Morton against Midnight Express 2000, who are Bobby Eaton & Rikki Nelson.
425
426Canadian wrestling gold medallist Daniel Igahi, 26, won the Lou Marsh Trophy (named after the sports editor of the Toronto Star) as Canada’s Most Outstanding athlete of 2000. He was the first Canadian wrestler ever to win an amateur world championship in 1999 and the first gold medallist in wrestling. Born in Nigeria, he migrated to Canada in 1994.
427
428XPW will be running its first arena event in months on 1/13 in Reseda. With Tracy Smothers having been let go by the WWF, he’s expected to return here.
429
430A Charleston, RI indie wrestler known at Nicolai Rasputin (real name Harris Nicholas), 42, was arrested on 12/12 on charges he attacked a female high school student with a knife and a meat cleaver according to a news report on the local NBC affiliate. When police went to arrest him, he pointed a pistol at them, but eventually surrendered after a standoff.
431
432Steve Corino, Super Crazy and Yoshihiro Tajiri worked weekend shows in Puerto Rico for IWA. Crazy beat Shan Hill to win the IWA jr. title on 12/10 in Moca and is pretty much a regular now for that promotion. They had a Corino vs. IWA champ Glamour Boy Shane rematch with only the ECW title at stake in Bayamon on 12/16. Shane scored the pin using a foreign object thrown in by Ricky Banderas. Banderas was throwing the object in for Corino. Commissioner Hombre Dinamita (Savio Vega), who is a babyface, had to do the right thing and strip Shane of the title. This set up Shane and Dinamita arguing probably for a future program. IWA’s final card of the year was 12/17 in Guayama with a Shane vs. Tajiri main event ending with run-ins from Angel, Shane, Chicky Starr, Victor the Bodyguard, Miguel Perez, Hombre Dinamita and Nuevo Gran Apolo for a no contest. Corino also beat Crazy clean in an undercard match with the ECW champ against the IWA jr. champ.
433
434A movie titled “Scooby Doo,” which at least at one point was scheduled to be starring Michael Myers, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddy Prinze Jr., for filming in Australia, auditioned local wrestlers John Howarth (Hardcore Superstar) and Mark Stephens (7 Foot Thunder). Originally the wrestling roles were for two Mexican wrestlers, but they decided to re-write the story to just be wrestlers as opposed to Mexican wrestlers to save from flying in two wrestlers.
435
436Apparently a 12/16 match in Vallejo, CA with Christopher Daniels & Michael Modest facing The Westside Playas (Robert Thompson & Boyce LeGrande) with the latter team going over in 33:13 was considered one of the best matches in the history of the APW promotion.
437
438MMA
439
440Rickson Gracie remained in Japan doing a lot of interviews basically talking about Naoya Ogawa and Kazushi Sakuraba, saying he wanted to face one of them later this year and put over Ogawa big-time.
441
442The supposed 70,200 that attended the K-1 Grand Prix on 12/10 wasn’t the largest kickboxing crowd of all-time, in fact, it wasn’t even the largest of the week. A show in Bangkok, Thailand on 12/5 supposedly drew 120,000 spectators.
443
444K-1 is looking at using Frank Shamrock again on 1/30 in Matsuyama for a match against Nobuaki Kikuta, but under K-1 rules as opposed to Vale Tudo rules. Kikuta, who is close to 40, is the referee for the group, but also an experienced kickboxer while Shamrock has trained a lot in kickboxing the past few years, but has never had a professional or amateur match.
445
446Allan Goes pulled out of the 12/23 Pride show against Akira Shoji and will be replaced by Ricardo Almeida. Almeida is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu guy said to be on a par with Goes on the ground. They also added a final match to the show in Ricco Rodriguez, who is one of their favorites because he’s got the matinee idol look, against John Marsh.
447
448Shooto ran its World Vale Tudo Open on 12/17 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall and drew a sellout of 6,900 fans for the Rumina Sato vs. Kaoru Uno rematch. The two had a tremendous match last year with Uno winning to become the company’s welterweight champion outlasting Sato in a long fight. This time, Sato got a good punch in for the knockout in 2:20 of what was said to have been awesome. The other big match was Hayato Sakurai beating Frank Trigg, a powerful American wrestler who has always looked strong in Japan, scoring three knockdowns to win at :25 of the second round. Sakurai’s coach after the match issued a challenge to Rickson Gracie.
449
450Masakatsu Funaki had his retirement party this week and said that he would now go into acting, as well as sports writing along the being the Executive Producer for Pancrase.
451
452Tokyo Sports reported on 12/20 that Akira Maeda, 41, was arrested while in the United States for hitting a woman on 9/30 in Moline, IL when he was there for the finals of the RINGS tournament in the United States. Maeda was arrested by police for punching a female office employee while at a restaurant and breaking her ribs. The restaurant called the police and he was held for a few days before he was released with a large fine. Maeda’s career has been checkered with numerous similar incidents, such as the time he punched out Keiji Muto in the 80s, or sucker kicked Riki Choshu in the ring in 1987, or punched out Masami Ozaki of Pancrase when he thought Ozaki was stealing Jeremy Horn, so I guess it was poetic justice when Yoji Anjyo sucked punched him at the UFC show last year.
453
454ECW
455
456New Jack’s situation is up in the air right now but he’s telling everyone he’s through with wrestling for good, partially over the money problems and partially over the stress of the business. Heyman didn’t want him at the next two shows, not booking him for the Queens show because of an alleged problem with the state athletic commission stemming from the PPV show and something with a daughter of a commissioner, which Jack denied. Heyman thought to diffuse a problem it was better for everyone concerned if New Jack simply didn’t appear for the show and just came after the show to shoot promos. He came to the show anyway. Heyman also didn’t want him in Philadelphia as punishment for working an ECW Arena show for Jersey All Pro Wrestling. During an argument with Heyman, and this was well before the incident that took place later that evening, New Jack told Heyman he was quitting the business, which is where that story came from, which at the time people thought was simply something said in an argument, although at press time he still says he’s through. There was an altercation at the bar with an elderly man over an incident with an older woman with an argument. New Jack and the woman were arguing and her husband stepped in. It ended up with New Jack either shoving the guy hard, or punching him, depending upon the version of the story, and he ended up being taken out in an ambulance. There are, as you’d imagine in a situation like this, a variety of reports over what happened, including New Jack’s claim he was shoved first. New Jack then left before the police got there. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was backstage at the Queens show but they didn’t do any angles with him.
457
458Justin Credible and Dawn Marie had money stolen from them backstage at the PPV, which only makes matters worse with everyone behind on pay.
459
460ECW is producing a new video game for Acclaim.
461
462The luckily nobody understands Spanish version of ECW. Tajiri, in doing a promo on Hardcore TV a few weeks ago about Crazy, said the English equivalent of: “F**king Mexican, F*** your mother, because you are a man who knows that your wife is f***ing someone else and you act like you don’t know so you won’t lose her.”
463
46412/16 TV show was largely vignettes without any new footage taped. Vignettes were a lot better than WCW vignettes for the most part but zilch as far as wrestling content. Francine did one of her best performances ever in playing the browbeating nagging bitch on Credible. Credible was good in just turning his head away with that “I don’t want to hear this” look. Anderson and Dreamer both did promos about making each other tap, so it appears they are building toward an I Quit match. I think you have to be an 80s fan to get all the Anderson Brother references, but it’s pretty campy. Gertner did a promo building to the Dudleys return. Very strange that they were building up the Dudleys coming back the day after the match itself actually took place (although before it airs on TV). They did a funny vignette where Corino and Victory beat up Sandman to take the belt back. Funny because they both left thinking the other had taken the belt but neither had. Corino went back in, saw Sandman had recovered and backed off. Victory then went in, the door was closed, you heard a fight, Corino opened the door and Victory fell down liked he’d been punched out. Cyrus and Lynn as heels beat up a homeless guy who had never heard of Lynn. They showed clips of Mahoney vs. E.Z. Money and Nova vs. Dinero from the PPV. H.C. Loc beat Danny Daniels in a battle of refs (a match from the PPV show but before the PPV took place). Considering it went more than 5:00 and was a battle of refs, it was pretty good for what was it. Not good, but they’ve both trained and when you see referees fighting, you don’t expect much. FBI and Graziano did a promo. Main purpose was to get over that Graziano beat Scott Hall. Tony Mamaluke did a pretty good Hall imitation, and Guido then joked that they better not let him drive home. TV ended with New Jack over Angel in another match from before the PPV. Only went 3:38 and it was exactly what you’d expect. Angel bladed at least twice and still didn’t bleed all that noticeably.
465
466WCW
467
468At this point the 1/14 Syn PPV is looking something like this: Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner vs. Jarrett in a three-way for the WCW title, Goldberg & Dewayne Bruce vs. Bagwell & Luger and if Goldberg & Bruce lose, than Goldberg has to retire (as if anyone takes that one the slightest bit seriously--probably this is the spot for Bruce to turn on Goldberg), Page & Nash (if the company is sold by that time or they come back) vs. two members of NBT’s who will keep the team a secret until match time, Rection vs. Douglas for the U.S. title, Funk vs. Crowbar for the hardcore title, Chavo Jr. vs. Helms for the cruiserweight title and probably something along the lines of Team Canada (Storm & Awesome & Skipper) vs. FA’s, and maybe Reno & Sanders vs. Vito & Johnny the Bull.
469
470Notes from 12/18 Nitro in Richmond, VA. Overall it was depressing because the small crowd was pretty much dead most of the way, killing the atmosphere. Flair opened saying he would later reveal Steiner’s opponent, or opponents for the Syn PPV on 1/14. Helms pinned Moore with the vertabreaker, which is a reverse Gori especial bomb (a Mexican move adapted into Japanese women’s wrestling). A plethora of high spots. They mentioned the match from the night before, but hardly put it over the way WWF was able to elevate Edge, Christian and the Hardys off similar calibre PPV matches. These guys worked great and nobody saw them as anything more than jobbers. Lots of good moves. Probably would have come across as a fantastic match in another building. Guerrero Jr., doing commentary, hit the ring and attacked both, but they came back on him with the “Nightmare on Helms Street,” a spinning neckbreaker while Moore has the guy in an airplane spin. This sets up Chavo vs. Helms for the cruiserweight title on PPV. The announcers did try to get the cruiserweight division over, saying it was one of the keys to WCW’s success a few years ago. Rection yelled at Cajun about being Guerrero’s friend. Steiner did his promo on Page. Flair came out and said the PPV would be headlined by a three-way, with one of the guys the winning of a mystery four-man tourney on TV and the other being introduced at the end of the show. Steiner vowed to find out who the guys were and take them out. Flair said if anyone revealed they were in the tournament, they’d be out of the tournament. Luger & Bagwell are now a tag team called Totally Buff. Funk beat Meng to keep the hardcore title. Funk was handcuffed, a reversal of the spot from the PPV, and then started begging off. Do you realize it’s now been more than three years since that scene in “Beyond the Mat” (it was in September 1997) was filmed where the doctor told Funk he needs a knee replacement and that he shouldn’t actually be able to walk on his knee, and since then he’s done all these pro wrestling matches in his mid-50s and taken all that punishment, and is still running around. Funk bled. Meng had the death grip on when Crowbar hit Meng with a wrench and Funk pinned him. Crowbar said that he lost his edge, was back to his old auto mechanic gimmick to get it back, and wanted to win the title back from Funk at the next PPV and would make sure Funk was at 100% when he beat him. The only way he could do that is a build a time machine and transport himself back to 1975. Vito vowed to get back at Reno. He talked about how family always came first and he always stood behind his brother but his brother this time backstabbed him. What storyline is he following? Crowbar told Awesome he was dropping the gimmick to get back his edge and suggested Awesome do the same. In the tournament, Storm beat Mysterio Jr. with the maple leaf. Not as good as you’d think, but the finish was really good. Mysterio Jr. taped his ribs selling the PPV match from the night before. There was nothing wrong with it, but it wasn’t outstanding or anything. In the other first round match, Jarrett beat Awesome. They had a bad match. After a ref bump, Jarrett went for the guitar, but he got caught. As the ref was putting the guitar away, Jarrett went under the ring for a second guitar, used it for the pin. Smiley was happy that Glacier was returning. They can bring him in but they can’t bring in someone like Tajiri or Lynn or Van Dam. Earlier in the show, Steiner confronted Jarrett and asked him if he was in the tournament and Jarrett denied it. Steiner confronted him again, but Jarrett said he had to lie or he’d have been out of the tournament but he entered the tournament to protect Scott’s back. Cat pinned Wright with the feliner in a bad match. Sanders did this long interview where he had nothing to say because the idea was to do something with Page & Nash, and when that was dropped, they told him to just go out there and kill time. Flair came out to save it announcing there would be a tag team Battle Royal on Thunder to determine who got the next title shot with Page & Nash. Goldberg beat Bagwell via DQ in 31 seconds when Luger hit Goldberg with a chair. Sgt. Dewayne Bruce made the save but Luger laid him out with a chair and Goldberg saved him. Goldberg was supposed to kick a chair into Luger’s face, but it didn’t quite happen since the chair never came close, but Luger sold it anyway. They had several bumpers telling people about the pre-emptions over the next two weeks. Main event saw Jarrett over Storm clean in 4:42 with the stroke. Storm got the maple leaf on but Jarrett made the ropes. At one point Storm missed a pescado. Partially due to it being two heels, there was no crowd reaction to the match. Steiner with a pipe came after Flair, who opened a door and left while a masked guy came out and attacked Steiner as the mystery opponent.
471
472For the Thunder tapings later that night, with the same characters missing in action. Guerrero Jr. beat Knoble to keep the cruiserweight title in what was said to be a pretty decent match. Helms interfered to help Guerrero Jr. doing the gimmick that he’s making sure Chavo doesn’t lose the title so he can beat him at the PPV. Nothing wrong with the idea except they just did the exact same angle earlier that night on Nitro with Crowbar and Funk. Duggan makes amends with Rection and wants his country back, sort of like Sgt. Slaughter, although for some reason that one was more effective. The tag team Battle Royal was said to be Perfect Event and Jindrak & O’Haire making a bunch of teams look like jobbers and then going over. The gimmick is that two of the four, but they won’t say which two, will form a tag team at Syn to face Page & Nash for the belts. Vito and Johnny the Bull beat up on Sanders and Reno, so the Mamalukes are back together. Konnan pinned Skipper. Bigelow pinned Crowbar due to interference from Meng. Goldberg pinned Smiley. Douglas & Kronik beat MIAs when Douglas hit Rection with a chain and pinned him after the franchiser. After the match, Kronik laid out the other two guys. Storm & Skipper are ready to attack Duggan, but Awesome makes the save, but Awesome then turns on Duggan and joins Team Canada as The Canadian Career Killer. Main event saw Steiner beat Cat to keep the title. After the match, the masked man was on the stage and Steiner chased him out.
473
474Rection ended up not having any ligament damage which gave everyone a sigh of relief since he’s been doing so well.
475
476Some Thunder notes from the show that aired on 12/13. The three-way with Dragons, Knoble & Karagias and 3 Count was a hell of a match. It’s really a shame that, due to size, politics or whatever, that they aren’t given any credibility when working with the stars so fans take this as the battle of the jobbers no matter how good the action is. They are doing a gimmick where Knoble & Karagias can’t stand each other as teammates, and in the finish of the match, Karagias shoved Knoble out of the way so he could get the pin on Moore after a double superplex using a ladder. Steiner killed Kwee Wee. Just before Kwee Wee got killed, he said you wouldn’t like him if he’s mad. You know, just once, I’d like to see him get mad so we can figure out what we wouldn’t like. At this point, every time he’s about to get mad, he gets his ass kicked and is left laying, which isn’t all that threatening. Duggan turn got a pop. It appears they are dropping Crowbar & Awesome’s retro gimmicks and going back to their old gimmicks. Actually Crowbar seemed to be getting over better with the new one. Since he’s right now mid-card, it’s not a bad gimmick. Where the deal with Awesome was bad, is he had a chance to be a top guy and “That 70s Guy” is not a top guy gimmick. Konnan did commentary. He was a hell of a lot better prepared than Stevie Ray. I liked him, although he didn’t even last the whole show because Jarrett took him out, because he tried really hard to get over the guys that usually not much emphasis is put on. The whole key is to get the fans emotionally attached to the wrestlers they see so they care about what they do, and then if the wrestlers work hard, that completes the package. To do that they have to be given distinct personalities and keep them for a long enough time that they get over. The impatient switching (unless it’s a total loser gimmick) just to switch just leads to fan apathy. Right now the writing is better, sans the real bad holes and the fact they can’t get it out of their system to insult their audience which right now is the last thing they should be doing. The younger guys work hard, although they are inexperienced. But nobody cares about any of the characters that much. There’s a formula to show how effective your TV is, and that’s what percentage of homes order the PPV. If WWF is getting 500,000 buys on five million homes watching Raw or Smackdown (that isn’t the exact numbers, but not that far off), that is one in ten. If ECW is getting 70,000 buys on 700,000 homes (in the TNN days anyway), that’s also one in ten. However, WCW’s 2.5 rating for a Nitro is close to two million homes. If they could get one in ten to order the PPV, that’s 200,000 homes and they’d be very happy to average that. But for all the reasons everyone knows, they are getting about one out of 33 homes to order, which is not the sign of bad ratings, but that the people who watch religiously don’t care enough about the product and it’s probably because they feel they’ve been ripped off for two years. Hopefully when Bischoff gets in charge, he’ll put a spokesperson in to give a full battle plan on TV about how things are going to change and they are going to be more fan friendly and more fan responsive. Don’t rip the last two years. We’ve heard enough of that talk on the show about how bad the product is and the new geniuses are going to turn it around only to have the product get worse. And the person as the spokesperson can’t be Bischoff. First off, his character has generally played heel and he’s more effective personally in getting people not to like him. Second, he’s already been on TV promising to turn things around when they got worse, so nobody will take him seriously. I’ve always thought Arn Anderson was the man for the spot.
477
478There was a joke going around at TV that DDP asked Sanders to deliver the line in a promo saying that DDP may be 45, but he looks 35 and wrestles like he’s 25. The line wasn’t delivered, because it made no sense for a heel to say that. However, it has been repeated backstage as a source of comedy, and Mark Madden finally gave the line on the PPV.
479Quotes from Sid Vicious in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in an interview with Coveh Solaimani. “I’m a little better wrestler than most people think. You got two guys (he and Steiner) who aren’t crybabies out there and like it good and snug.” When asked about the young wrestlers in WCW that are getting pushed, he said, “It’s not he age of the person. It’s the credibility of the person who gets over in this business. They have given some of these young guys huge pushes--some of them are getting over but a lot of guys aren’t--and if you have been on TV six months to a year and if you haven’t gotten over, then you aren’t going to get over.” Good thing WWF didn’t think that way after the first year of pushing Rock and HHH.
480
481More lack of communication. On the World Wide show that aired this week, they aired the match from the 1997 Road Wild show with the Steiners against Nash & Hall. So after the ruling from upstairs that nobody could say Hall’s name on TV, they put a tape of him on the air.
482
483Sanders did a radio interview this past week where he noted that after training for two years, WCW let him go in around May of this year. A few weeks later, Terry Taylor and Russo got him his job back and he ended up going from fired to a major pushed player on the show. He said that the Power Plant doesn’t get guys ready to do promos on TV well enough.
484
485With anarchy running so strong, a lot of wrestlers, so as not to interrupt a vacation that lasts until 1/8, may create or exaggerate injury or illness conditions to get out of working Memphis this week since the Nitro episode won’t be airing in the U.S. anyway.
486
487The only person left on the booking committee who liked the 70s guy gimmick for Awesome was Ed Ferrara, who is the head writer of the show. Everyone else was in agreement he needed to get out of it. A lot of people are talking now that Ferrara, a disciple of Russo, is responsible for most of the bad ideas when they’re broken down. The feeling is that Ferrara is very good at putting together scripts and formats with his background writing real television comedy, but that his wrestling knowledge isn’t there.
488
489Dustin Runnels was at Starrcade, being called by management to return. Runnels is reported being paid $750,000 per year but the company isn’t using him, and he’s mainly wrestling for his father Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling group which runs sold shows in the Georgia smaller cities. When he got there, they told him they had no plans for him, and he went back home.
490
491Pamela Paulshock missed Starrcade and Nitro because she was filming a movie.
492
493Nitro/Thunder tapings on 12/18 in Richmond, VA drew 2,872 in the building, which was 2,080 paying $49,610.
494
495WWF
496
497Rock was named in People Magazine’s list of the 25 most intriguing people of the past year, a list that no pro wrestler has ever made previously.
498
499Raw on 12/18 in Greenville, SC was more soap opera above wrestling, but some good wrestling. The show opened with a 25 minute promo starring Vince. He apologized for laughing about his wife’s problems on Smackdown, saying people misinterpreted him, doing a fake sincerity act and saying that he wasn’t the insensitive megalomaniac people thought he was. Linda had a storyline nervous breakdown. He blamed Foley and Stephanie and most of all Linda for her problems. They showed all sorts of family photos including wedding photos, using the same background music they used on the Raw the day after Owen Hart died. He’s holding off the divorce until she gets better. Stephanie came out and called him a mean old bastard and he went on about having to marry Linda at the time against his will or Shane would have been a bastard. Angle came out and teased he was appalled by Vince, but ended up turning on Stephanie for how she was talking to her father. Finally Foley came out. Angle cut a promo on Foley bringing up the scene in “Beyond the Mat” saying Foley was a terrible parent for letting his kids sit ringside in some of the most violent matches ever. Vince hated the move so bad he wanted to kill it, but that doesn’t mean he’s above using it to get an angle over. This segment went so long that Benoit and Jeff Hardy were cut to 3:36 with Benoit winning with a crossface in a very good match with a cool finish, of Benoit blocking a neckbreaker and doing the crossface. As the show went on, Vince got more and more out there being obsessed with winning the belt from Angle. One hilarious exchange saw Vince tell Angle he’d throw some punches and take it easy on him and Angle should lay down for him. Angle refused to lay down. They teased Chyna suffering a career ending injury and Gunn said he’d get revenge for her. E&C went to Foley & Debra to talk them out of the Angle vs. Vince match, but instead Foley booked them in a tag title match. Goodfather & Venis & Buchanan beat Dudleys & Gunn when Gunn went to piledrive Ivory but Richards kicked him and Venis pinned him with a fisherman suplex. Gunn did this fantastic tilt a whirl slam on Venis which probably shocked all six million viewers. Rock & Undertaker won the tag titles for one night over E&C in 8:40. Much better match than you’d think and super heat. It wasn’t good when Taker was in, but it was tremendous when Rock was in. Undertaker did the last ride on Christian but there was a ref bump. Edge hit Undertaker with the bell but Undertaker kicked out of the pin and hot tagged Rock, who used a spinebuster and people’s elbow on Edge to win the titles. Vince slapped Foley. Jericho beat Saturn in a short match with the walls. Jericho and Saturn for some reason never have good matches even though they’ve worked together so many times. At one point Jericho did a quebrada and nearly landed head first which was scary. After the match, Jericho put the walls on Terri, but Malenko and Benoit came out and Saturn did a death valley driver, Malenko a cloverleaf and Benoit a diving head-butt to lay out Jericho. Regal beat Austin via DQ. There was an amazing spot where Regal used a neckbreaker and had the pin for about ten seconds but no ref. Even though they did that spot in the tag title match, it was amazing to see Austin allow Regal the spot, which shows that who is put over and gets over in the WWF is awfully dependent upon who the top guys want to put over. If you compare Regal and Tazz’ original reactions in the WWF and their subsequent push, it isn’t your immediate reaction that determines your fate or getting over with the fans, but the ability to have the top guys want to work with you. Regal was about to hit Austin with the belt, but Austin stunned him. Ref Tim White got up, saw Regal laid out and Austin with the belt and DQ’d Austin. Austin stunned White. E&C walked out on Angle saying he only cared about himself. Acolytes & Jackie beat T&A & Stratus very quickly when Jackie pinned Stratus after a DDT. Jackie is now playing a tough broad who drinks beer and smokes cigars. Angle again tried to get the match stopped but Foley told him that his wife would divorce him if he canceled the match. Lita was modeling lingerie in WWF New York while Malenko was drooling on the monitor. Angle vs. Vince never took place. With Angle distracted, Vince got to take him down before they turned on Foley. It had to happen. Vince got to pin the guy who never gets pinned (HHH) for the title, he got to beat the UFC king in an octagon (Shamrock) and take down a real world champion wrestler. Angle and Vince turned on Foley and did a number on him. Foley made a comeback on both and put the socko claw on Vince until Angle stopped him with a chair shot. E&C came out and did a sandwich chair shot Foley. Stephanie came out and sided with Vince, saying the board of directors had given total power now that Linda was unfit to be CEO. Vince then fired Foley, who was all bloody, and Angle hit him with one last chair shot.
500
501Smackdown highlights from 12/19 in Charlotte. For Heat on 12/24, they did an angle where Tazz was confronted by Santa Claus. Tazz called him a fat old bastard, but Santa decked him and did the worm on him, revealing Scotty 2 Hotty. Smackdown opened with your basic 15 minute Vince & Stephanie interview where Vince talks about all his achievements. Dudleys over Lo Down with the 3-D on Chaz. Ivory pinned Jackie to keep the womens title. Jericho & Hardys beat Malenko & Saturn & Benoit when Jericho pinned Malenko after the lionsault. Regal vs. Bob Holly with Austin as ref ended without a winner. Austin was drinking a beer while the match was going on, but Regal caused him to spill his beer. Austin stunned Regal, but then stunned Holly, and started counting both out when Kane choke slammed Austin. Crash & Molly Holly beat Kaientai. They were continuing the deal where they use the fake voices ala La Parka for Kaientai. Blackman beat Raven with his own DDT off the middle rope on a garbage can in a hardcore title match. Gunn pinned Richards clean with a cobra clutch suplex. Main saw E&C regain the belts over Rock & Undertaker with Angle as ref. Taker had Edge pinned but Angle was distracted, causing Rock to get hot at Angle. Rock gave Angle the rock bottom. Hebner came out to continue as ref. Rock had Edge pinned but Angle gave Rock an Olympic slam and Edge pinned him to get the belts back.
502
503The OVW Christmas Chaos show was postponed at literally the last minute on 12/13 because the WWF talent was stuck in Little Rock and there was no way they could make it to the show as the earliest flights out were late that evening. The WWF is going to send the same talent (Austin, Kane, Hardys, Lita, Benoit) to Louisville in January as a make-up date. The show is now scheduled for 1/31.
504
505Matt Hardy’s shoulder was a mess from the 12/11 Raw match against Malenko & Saturn. In the Smackdown match the next night, Jeff had to carry the load.
506
507Early projections by the WWF regarding the XFL are pretty positive. The estimates at this point are that the league with generate $80 million in revenue on costs of $113 million. The $33 million in first year losses, which would be split 50/50 by WWF and NBC, are well under the original projections. Those figures are based on generating a combined 11.0 weekly rating for advertisers, who are paying an average of $110,000 per 30 second spot airing three times. The three spots would air once on TNN, NBC and UPN in the same weekend and the idea is the combined three shows would average an estimated 2.5, 5.5 and 3.0 respectively. The league is projected to be profitable in the third season. This all depends on whether people buy tickets and they can generate those kind of numbers. The numbers are nowhere close to what the NFL gets, but are considerably better than most sports like baseball, basketball and hockey do on the networks and cable. Wall Street analysts say the XFL’s success, or lack of success, is going to be the main determining factor of attitudes by investors in the WWF stock. Stock has dropped 30 percent over the past three months, but has come back a little over the past few weeks.
508
509Vince McMahon was quoted in a Bloomberg News story about the attempted WCW purchase, saying that he was going to keep WCW as a separate brand and build to expand PPV business by using interpromotional matches. McMahon said, There were a lot of good reasons to buy WCW, but said that Viacom standing in the way of the deal made it financially impractical.
510
511The Jim Ross cookbook has already sold well over 100,000 copies and is in its second printing.
512
513Huge error in last week’s Observer in the Armageddon rundown of Venis vs. Chyna where I wrote Chyna’s offense looked good. Actually it was supposed to read except for one good clothesline, Chyna’s offense looked bad.
514
515At this point, Foley will probably stay home through maybe late January. Nothing is definitive but the idea of shooting a big angle in February to lead to a WrestleMania match with McMahon is certainly on the drawing board. Foley has said that he doesn’t want to do the match because he’s not in condition and doesn’t want to come back unless he is. The feeling is he’s got more than three months to drop the weight, the money for such a match would be huge, and that like always, McMahon has always been able to talk him into coming back sooner than originally thought, such as last year’s Mania match after doing such a great farewell just a few weeks earlier.
516
517ESPN.com ran a poll on 12/14 asking which athlete people would most like to invite to a party giving choices like Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods, Shaquille O’NeaI, Mark Messier and The Rock, and Rock at last look was the leading vote getter.
518The 12/11 Raw, going unopposed for the first time since the move to TNN, set the record as the most-watched show in the history of the network with 7.2 million viewers. WWF sent out a media release proclaiming the rating of 5.8 as proof that the switch of networks was a success. Somehow I think the 5.6s the show did its first week going head-up with Nitro was far more impressive than a 5.8 on an unopposed week.
519
520Got this letter regarding a show listener who sent a letter to Goodmark Foods, Inc. (makers of Slim Jim) saying he would no longer purchase their products until they stopped bowing to the wishes of the PTC. They sent him a large 24 count box of Giant Slim Jims and this letter, “Thank you for writing to Slim Jim regarding you concerns about our association with wrestling. We have been involved with wrestling for 10 years and feel that the connection has been extremely valuable to our brand. We recently made a strategic decision to shift our advertising dollars from WWF Smackdown to WWF Raw. WWF Raw is more popular and brings in higher ratings than Smackdown. We view Raw as one of the most efficient media buys toward our target and that is not something we plan to walk away from.” How do you like that corporate weasel mentality. If a company thinks because of the nature of the product that they shouldn’t advertise on WWF, or Friends, or any show, that is certainly their right. But if a company thinks the product is worth advertising on but refuses to do so because of a pressure group, that’s the height of hypocrisy, particularly if they continue to advertise on that product, just bypass one show to avoid pressure. If a PTC video truly convinces companies they don’t like Smackdown and don’t want to be a part of it, that’s more the WWF’s fault for giving the PTC the ammunition. But if a company isn’t convinced by the video to pull out based on content and still pulls out, and still advertises on the product, except that it’s always bad business to run off sponsors, I’d almost want to tell them to get lost. A group that advertises Raw and pulls out of Smackdown has given the WWF’s opposition group, the PTC, ammunition, while still supporting the product and that’s not the kind of company, no matter which side of the fence you are on, that you can respect.
521
522Some Smackdown notes from the 12/14 show. Tremendous show built around vignettes with Vince and Stephanie building to the in-ring interview where Vince ran down Linda. Between Linda doing it in the back seat of a ‘69 Impala on the first date (which must have been amazing considering the two started dating as teenagers which would have been the early 60s), taking all the personal insults at Linda including about how she lays motionless in bed. Vince was the greatest heel in history, bar none, on the show. I guess the days of toning down the storylines are over. I was also surprised to see them going back to the blade for Raven’s hardcore match with Undertaker. Usually the blood to this point has been limited to getting over a special match like a PPV main event, or a heavy angle (where, if possible, they’ve used fake blood if it’s a backstage deal where they just have a quick shot of the blood as opposed to fighting in front of a crowd where the fake blood dries too quickly). This was blood for the sake of giving the product a more violent feel. That’s not a knock, because you have to be receptive to your audience and clearly this show was meant to shock interest back up. Between McMahon and Foley, the show was tremendous from the storyline standpoint. Rock also did a great promo about Little Angle, Little Regal, Little Rock (they were in Little Rock) and Regal wanting to touch Angle’s ball when they were children. Angle & Regal look to have tremendous potential as a heel tag team, particularly on interviews. While that’s great for Regal, I don’t know that it’s the right thing for Angle other than it makes for easy main event booking because they can put Angle on top, and put the babyfaces over without Angle jobbing for them.
523
524WWF is looking at either building a new and larger office building, or buying an existing larger building because it has more employees than Titan Towers has space. They also want to move the TV studio to the same grounds as the business office, as currently they are about a mile away. They are looking at keeping the headquarters in the Stamford area because all the employees live in the area.
525
526Rikishi’s back is still sore from the PPV bump. He could have wrestled at TV this week had they needed him to but they figured to let him rest another week. The story about the lacerated kidney was a work.
527
528HHH will be kept out a little while because they want to establish Edge, Christian, Angle, Vince and Stephanie as the new top heel group and then build up the idea of what HHH will think about this because he hates Angle. The problem is if HHH feuds with the group, he’ll be a babyface, and the highest on the pecking order he can be as a babyface is No. 3 or No. 4, so he isn’t going to be a babyface. They also can introduce Shane, with the idea he’s been gone caring to his mother.
529
530Nelson Frazier Jr. (Viscera) was fired several months back.
531
532Dave Heath (Gangrel) is out of action with an injury.
533
534Chris Chetti hasn’t been signed yet. It is still something under consideration to give him a developmental deal and send him to Memphis or Ohio Valley.
535
536Foley did a USA Today chat. As you can imagine, many of the questions regarded his coming back. He said he had mixed feelings about it, but wouldn’t do it unless he dropped a lot of weight, claiming to be 30 pounds of dieting away from being in just miserable shape. He recognized that the majority of fans would like to see it. He said he loves being commissioner and loves writing as much as he loves wrestling but he can write longer and it’s easier and less worry on his family. He said he’s got nothing against Terry Funk wrestling, but hopes he’ll wrestle a comedy style rather than take all the physical punishment at his age. Foley noted he became a comedy wrestler at the age of 33.
537The 12/15 HITS magazine had a profile on McMahon because of his starting the new Smackdown record label. He said he was never interested in buying the Boston Red Sox. He talked about considering buying WCW. He denied his shows being a bad influence on anyone. He claimed when he bought the company from his father and saw he was going to expand, it said it drove him nuts for a couple of years and said he regretted the pain he put his father through during that time but said he eventually came around to saying, “F*** those guys.” He said the one thing his father wouldn’t approve of is Shane and Stephanie becoming on-camera talent, which is no doubt true because Vince Sr. always had forbid Vince Jr. from being anything more on television than an announcer.
538
539At this point there is no new trainer in Memphis to replace Tracy Smothers, who was just let go. Several people are under consideration for the spot.
540
541Some Ross Report notes. HHH is expected to be kept out for one or two more weeks. He was scheduled this week to shoot another Joe Weider products TV commercial. He denied reports that Lawler’s contract had recently expired, saying Lawler had signed a long-term renewal a long time ago. He noted that Memphis Championship Wrestling and Power Pro have basically merged into one company. What happened was that MCW on 12/Il was told by UPN 30 in Memphis that they were canceling the show. While the two groups had been working together because Hales had the stronger TV but Terry Golden, who was running MCW, was running more house shows, they had been separate promotions and PPW was not aligned with the WWF. After MCW lost its TV, the WWF came to PPW to put the obvious deal together on 12/12 when Jim Ross had a meeting with Hales in Little Rock, but the announcement was held off until Saturday so the talent would know about it first. Golden will be running the house shows. Just Joe and Russ & Charlie Haas will be the next wrestlers heading in within a few weeks. X-Pac is a few weeks away from returning. Lita did the WWF New York deal because of a lower back injury. Blackman’s bleeding ulcer was apparently from taking too many anti-inflammatory drugs due a back injury. Tori is filming an episode of “18 Wheels of Justice” in early January for TNN. Guerrero is being kept off TV for a few weeks because of his hamstring injury, which explains why they did the angle where Jericho put him in the walls on Smackdown.
542
543Latest Nicole Bass update. She’s in really rough shape as he latest catscan showed multiple cysts in her pancreas. She’s also lost a ton of weight in this hospital stay and has an IV placed directly into her neck because her arms are too swollen for it.
544
545Phil Mushnick in the New York Post wrote a negative XFL column on 12/15 tying in wrestling. Now there is a valid point, and Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal did a tremendous series of articles on the XFL, largely positive, but pointing out the issue of injuries and insurance problems. Miki Yaras-Davis, the longtime director of benefits for the NFLPA called the XFL benefits in the event of injuries “scary”, and it is compared with the NFL. However, Arena Football exists, and doesn’t appear in any danger of folding soon although it isn’t flourishing, with a dangerous game with a high injury rate and the XFL benefits and salaries are far higher than AFL, and they are basically going to be using the same calibre of players who aren’t good enough to make the NFL. There was a tie-in made to the Owen Hart death and continuing the show, although I just don’t see how the two points can be brought together. Mushnick tried to tie in that the players will be disposable, replaceable stuntmen because of the XFL rules such as no fair catch. But those rules have been used in other leagues at various times. Pro football is inherently going to have an injury rate and a lot of turnover of the talent, as is every contact sport. All professional sports are going to have evils, and certainly strength sports and contact sports are going to have the drug issues. Guaranteed, like the NFL, there are going to be players on steroids, maybe more so because there won’t be drug testing and it’s a league comprised of marginal players (the USFL was a big-time drug league which many believe was due to that reason) and maybe less because the players aren’t being paid as well thus can’t afford as much help as an NFL counterpart. If you make the sport safer, a lot of the appeal is gone. That’s not necessarily a wonderful thing to say, but it’s the reality of professional contact sports business. As it pertains to the XFL, at this point we are only five weeks from the debut, and trying to guess what it will be and if it’ll make it when we’re so close to seeing it, is probably best left to reserve judgment on. The only thing for sure is that they are doing a great job of promoting it and it’ll no doubt have the same problems that face all sports. After that, everything depends on the public buying it, and the presentation of it.
546
547Smackdown will be facing even tougher competition come the February sweeps, as CBS has decided to put the new “Survivor” episodes from Australia from 8-9 p.m. starting on 2/1. This means Smackdown will have tough competition from CBS as well as the traditional strong ratings of the NBC block anchored by “Friends”. To this point, Smackdown’s numbers don’t seem to get affected that greatly by competition of other programming as much as its own storyline ups and downs. For example, the ratings don’t seem to increase when the networks are in rerun mode, which theoretically they should with Smackdown being original programming every week.
548
549There was a huge write-up on OVW and its ties to WWF in the Louisville newspaper this past week. Lots of stuff on Cornette and trainer Danny Davis, who still insist on wrestlers living their gimmicks outside the ring. Cornette is teaching the guys the old Watts philosophy, such as a babyface and a heel can’t be seen socializing in public after hours, and he doesn’t even like to hear that they are in the same night club even if they aren’t socializing. Cornette wouldn’t let the reporters know anything about the background of Leviathan, for instance. Jack McCubbins, 23, who works 40 hours a week guarding violent inmates at Central State Hospital and works for literally no money without a WWF developmental deal as Mr. Black, talked about the piling up chiropractor bills from this dangerous hobby and not knowing how long he can pursue it without a deal. About 25 wrestlers in the school have deals and Davis is currently training about 75 wrestlers.
550
551The 12/24 and 12/31 editions of Sunday Night Heat will be the same version that airs internationally as opposed to the American MTV version. The two versions have the same wrestling matches, but the international version does video features while the domestic version does the WWF New York cutaways. They won’t be doing the WWF New York cutaways or anything live so people can have those days off. One would suspect the ratings on both nights will be way down anyway.
552
553For the weekend of 12/10 in the UK, Raw drew 390,000 viewers, Smackdown drew 210,000 and Nitro drew 100,000.
554
555Smackdown tapings on 12/12 in Little Rock, AR drew a sellout 9,835 paying $333,764. Raw on 12/18 in Greenville, SC drew a sellout 11,596 paying $427,731. Merchandise in Greenville was $65,521, or $5.65 per head.
556
557THE READERS PAGES
558
559MCMAHON FAMILY
560
561A couple of things came to mind during the Vince/Stephanie skit. First, wouldn’t you love to be in a Wall Street analyst meeting with Linda when she has to explain this angle to analysts? That would be entertaining. As for the promo, Vince made a goof of WCW proportions when he said he and Linda had been married 33 years, but later saying they fooled around on their first date in the back of a 1969 Impala. 33 years ago was 1967. He probably used the year ‘69 for the sexual innuendo.
562
563The other funny comment was when he said Stephanie reminded him so much of Linda. Anyone with two eyes can see she’s so clearly Vince’s daughter. The facial expressions, the bad overacting. All that’s missing is the bobbing Adam’s Apple.
564
565Also, wasn’t the class situation reversed? I thought Linda came from a well-off family and Vince came from the wrong side of town?
566
567When he talked about a buxom blond girlfriend around Stephanie’s age, all I could think was how perfect Tone Wilson would fit into that role. I hope it’s her. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll put money on Trish Stratus getting the gig. T&A is going nowhere.
568
569Soap opera aside, it was nice to see Regal in the main event, even if he did the job. Let’s face it. He has one advantage of Jericho and Benoit. Height. And that will help him every time.
570
571Andy Patrizio
572
573STARRCADE WRITING
574
575It’s amazing what poor shape Vince Russo left WCW in. It seems all the writers “learned” from his style. The style of “too much, too fast.” Case in point. The finish of the Cat vs. Lance Storm match. The Jim Duggan turn was teased the week before. It seemed like the people at the show had actually watched the TV and were chanting “USA” at him. So, why not just do the obvious angle and have Duggan do the babyface save. The pop would have been big, and the audience was ready to give it. Nope, they went with the old Russo attitude of, well, that’s why they’re expecting, so “let’s give them more”. Well, you saw the final reaction by the fans to that overbooked ending.
576
577There was a joke on “Friends” last season that we used that fits this problem. Jennifer Anniston was telling Reese Witherspoon, “You know what happened to the girl who tried to do too much, too fast? She died.” A funny joke but a sad reality in WCW booking.
578
579David J. Lagana
580
581DM: Lagana has written for Friends as well as other NBC sitcoms.
582
583
584
585~~~~~~~~
586
587
588
589Wrestling Observer Newsletter
590
591PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 November 23, 1998
592
593WWF SURVIVOR SERIES
594
595Thumbs up 55 (46.6%)
596
597Thumbs down 41 (34.7%)
598
599In the middle 22 (18.6%)
600
601 
602
603BEST MATCH POLL
604
605Rock vs. Mankind 53
606
607Mankind vs. Steve Austin 10
608
609Rock vs. Ken Shamrock 9
610
611 
612
613WORST MATCH POLL
614
615Undertaker vs. Kane 19
616
617Jeff Jarrett vs. Al Snow 19
618
619Outlaws vs. Brown & Henry vs. Bangers 15
620
621 
622
623Based on phone calls and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/17. Statistical margin of error +-100%
624
625 
626
627Despite putting on its best Nitro in several weeks, World Championship Wrestling has seemingly lost sight of what the pro wrestling business is all about in a panic over the Monday night ratings. Even with that as the primary goal, WCW has fallen further behind than at any time in the history of the Monday Night Wars as the company is paying for its lack of developing new talent when it was on top and creating new story lines this year when it was losing its grip, and relying on a pat hand of tired old faces and suffering from the residue of a year of largely bad television.
628
629As this is being written just five days before the World War III PPV in Auburn Hills, MI, there are only two matches announced for the show with no episodes of Nitro left to promote them--a 60 man three-ring Battle Royal which has become known in the industry as an annual atrocity, and a rematch of Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash stemming from a weak match with an even weaker finish on the Havoc show and a most recent Monday angle that made little sense in building the match up. This is coming on the heels of three consecutive disappointing buy rates, at the same time that WCW stopped promoting anything but the main matches on the PPV show. WCW's policy of announcing three or four matches and hoping fans "trust them" enough to buy the undercard, after the quality of shows generally this year, has been a flop, and not changing that policy in the wake on this, is either a sign of complete stupidity or a total lack of organization to the point the company can't map out a card a few weeks in advance. Even worse, on the flagship shows, Nitro and Thunder, there have been no interviews with talent building up winning the Battle Royal and getting the shot at Goldberg at Starrcade, leaving all the promotion of the PPV to the announcers who simply can't do it alone since their credibility has already been destroyed by a company philosophy where the announcers role is to look both uncool and gullible to the point fans don't take anything they say seriously. The wrestlers on interviews seem more intent on getting in their shtick than building up a show, and PPV when correctly done should be the biggest revenue stream in the industry, except it probably won't be much longer at this rate for WCW. Only one other match is even known to be definite for the show, Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bret Hart for the U.S. title, and it probably won't be officially announced until three days before the card on Thunder. One would presume from watching TV that new cruiserweight champion Juventud Guerrera, who captured the title on Nitro on 11/16 in probably the best WCW match of the year from Billy Kidman, defending against Rey Misterio Jr., who earned a title shot in a match that aired on Thunder on 11/9. However, at press time, indications are that angle is being forgotten and they'll go with another Guerrera vs. Kidman match on the PPV, which even if it makes all the previous booking irrelevant, should guarantee at least one great match on the card. The only match previously announced, a disaster in the making with four people who have no business in the ring right now, Scott Steiner & Buff Bagwell getting a shot at WCW tag champs Rick Steiner & Judy Bagwell fell victim to reality, as Judy Bagwell was hospitalized this week due to appendicitis and nothing was announced in its place. As a cover story, they announced that Buff had given Scott the okay to basically jump his mother and beat her up so badly she was sent to the hospital, which is one of the poorer taste angles in a year loaded with them, by a company complaining long and loud about the poor taste of its opposition. The fact is they were advertising the match despite Buff being months from ready to wrestle and Rick Steiner having just underwent another shoulder operation after the previous one was unsuccessful, and he's a long way from being able to return to the ring. Even without those problems, that angle due to Judy Bagwell, was dying a brutal death to begin with, and don't even get me started about how little everyone cares these days about the WCW tag team titles with people passing around the belts with logic that makes the most insane bookers of the past look positively brilliant. The bookers had scripted an angle for the Saturday Night tapings on 11/17 in Salina, KS between Booker T and Scott Norton to set up a PPV match, but since neither wanted to do the angle, it wound up being nixed and it doesn't look like they'll be wrestling either.
630
631So despite having the match of the year, an "outsider" angle that usually works, and a show that had some lame points as well, Nitro took its biggest drubbing in history to a very good Raw show, featuring Steve Austin challenging The Rock for the WWF title.
632
633Raw drew 5,766,000 viewers, likely its largest audience in history, to Nitro's 4,508,000 viewers. Over the final two hours and four minutes, Nitro had 4,129,000 viewers. The breakdown over the head-to-head two hours and four minutes saw Raw with 464,000 Males 18-24, 1,713,000 Males 25-54, 444,000 Males 55+, 228,000 Females 18-24, 746,000 Females 25-54, 257,000 Females 55+, 807,000 Kids and 1,154,000 teenagers; while Nitro had 412,000 Males 18-24, 1,393,000 Males 25-54, 388,000 Males 55+, 139,000 Females 18-24, 604,000 Females 25-54, 336,000 Females 55+, 357,000 Kids and 500,000 teenagers.
634
635For ratings, that means Raw did a 5.50 rating (5.38 first hour; 5.62 second hour) and an 8.4 share. It's the second highest rated Raw in history and the highest ever in a competitive situation. Nitro did a 4.25 rating (5.01 first hour; 3.85 second hour; 3.91 third hour) and a 6.4 share. The head-to-head two plus hours of Nitro did a 3.88 rating, which means Raw's record head-to-head margin of victory was 1.62 points.
636
637It was a total eight segment whitewash with Nitro never coming close than one full ratings point down. The biggest disaster was for the Bill Goldberg vs. Bam Bam Bigelow confrontation, which was built up for the last 75 minutes as a world title match involving someone who didn't even work the company, the outsider angle that usually works. The match never got into the ring and was a lame ending to the show, but fans wouldn't have known about that in advance. But despite doing a great pull-apart brawl early, the competition of the Rock vs. Austin title match led to Nitro suffering a total embarrassment with a 2.74 rating for the segment. Rock vs. Austin, which went about two minutes longer on the other ended, did a 5.46 final quarter (to Nitro's 4.10 for Hart vs. Benoit), and a whopping 7.31 for the over-run, the last two minutes or so went unopposed but even without it the over-run probably did in the high 6's.
638
639There were two quarter hours that Raw won by nearly two full ratings points. Raw did a 5.6 for the Austin confrontation early with McMahon and company and the Mills Lane video, plus Outlaws vs. Oddities, while Nitro only managed a 3.7 for Guerrero vs. Misterio Jr. and the Judy Bagwell interview from the hospital. The other big period was Raw peaking at a 5.8 rating for Regal vs. Godfather confrontation and Shamrock vs. Bossman, while Nitro did a 3.9 for the Buff & Scott Steiner interview. The Ric Flair interview where he introduced Barry Windham got beat by 1.6 points by the McMahon opening monologue. The closest WCW came was a pair of 5.2 to 4.2 margins, once when Raw had an apparent ratings disaster pairing of Goldust & Blackman vs. Blazer & Jarrett while WCW had Konnan vs. Saturn, and the other when Raw had that totally lame Hawk suicide angle going against an almost as lame Hogan for President rally with a Monica Lewinsky lookalike.
640
641The first episode of Nitro Extra on 11/10, a one hour show taped the night before as a fill-in for the NBA playoffs, did a poor 2.76 rating and 4.1 share, although still beating the follow-up much publicized CHIPS reunion movie at 2.3. WCW doesn't want to do the shows for all the reasons that make logical sense as the overexposure of the product is becoming another problem, and it wasn't scheduled for 11/17, however TNT has put another Tuesday Nitro on the books for 11/24.
642
643The momentum switch is coming at a time when a lot of WCW contracts are coming due. Diamond Dallas Page recently signed a new three-year deal at a reported $900,000 per year, which given the current economic climate is not being overpaid a bit. Sting extended his contract through 2003 at approximately $1 million per year.
644
645The major contracts that will come due in 1999 are The Giant, Rick & Scott Steiner, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera in WCW, and Ken Shamrock, Jeff Jarrett and Hunter Hearst Helmsley in WWF.
646
647Of those, Shamrock can't jump if he were to decide to, which odds are extremely large he wouldn't, because his contract has an option clause which means if WWF wanted to renew him with a raise built into the renewal, McMahon has the option. Shamrock has talked about returning to the UFC for a fight or two, most likely with McMahon's blessing if he can get it. Shamrock turns 35 in February, and he's got fighting in his blood and the fighters he's trained have been dominant in the game and he's interested in being a UFC heavyweight champion one more time and time is running out on that goal. Jarrett's market value has never been lower and it's doubtful WCW would be interested in him at any price, although stranger things have happened. This leaves HHH. Privately, there are WWF officials who believe that WCW will offer him a larger guarantee, as even with WWF making huge revenues these days, they remain conservative in their guaranteed contracts, selling the idea that wrestlers can earn far more than their guarantee in WWF if business gets good (although it's hard to believe it can get much better), while in WCW they are largely limited to earn what they sign for. The idea is that if business turns around, and wrestling is a cyclical industry, that McMahon won't have out of control salary costs during a bad time period so the company will not get overextended financially in a slump. On the other hand, because WCW pays wrestlers a contract figure if it's higher, there isn't as much financial risk in case of a serious injury (which may also be why WCW wrestlers are far more content to sit out while injured). But there are a lot of disgruntled WCW wrestlers not only from their lack of push, but because with business doing so much better than ever before, they still aren't getting raises from figures they had signed for when business wasn't as good so they aren't sharing in this boom period. What makes attitudes worse is that it's the middle and lower paid wrestlers in WCW that go on the road most often while many of the highest paid wrestlers have limited road dates built in or rarely work house shows. Wrestlers with a history of injuries should recognize that while on the shelf if they sign with WWF based on potential earnings if they get hot and business stays strong, they are going to earn that lower guarantee. There is a behind-the-scenes mind set in the WWF right now regarding HHH, that he may have gotten as far as he can as far as moving up the ladder and doesn't have the working ability and attitude to past those higher on the ladder. There is a feeling the guys on top, such as Austin and Undertaker, would have been back for Survivor Series, for instance, with the same knee injury, and even that X-Pac, who is limited somewhat by size but is the best worker in the ring in the company, may have already surpassed HHH as the singles star of the DX group even though HHH is both bigger in a promotion where that usually matters a lot, and the stronger interview. However, it's doubtful HHH would leave WWF, based not only on comments he's made, but because friends of his in WCW who are making huge money, far more than he'll likely be offered if WCW sends him an offer, are always claiming to be miserable and wanting to get out when their contracts are up. So over the next year, WCW is in far more danger of losing proven talent then in gaining them.
648
649Of the WCW wrestlers whose deals are coming due over the next year plus, The Giant is considered by many in the company as very close to gone. Giant's $400,000 per year contract expires on 2/9, and reports elsewhere indicate WCW will offer him $2.9 million spread over three years to keep him. Publicly when asked about his future, Giant's response has been along the lines of, I can't answer that question, does that answer the question for you? Privately to other wrestlers he's saying he's gone and it's not like anyone in WCW doesn't think it's a strong possibility and they'll be blindsided when it happens. In most of the WCW contracts, and I'm presuming in the Steiners and Giant's, there is a 90-day non-compete clause which means after the contract ends if it isn't renewed, the talent can't work for WWF for three more months. Whether that is legal is speculative, and in the case of Steve Regal, it was taken to court and before a ruling was made, WCW simply dropped its claim of keeping Regal from appearing, which ended up being a moot point due to Regal's various injuries and illnesses this year. Giant has talked of a $1 million per year deal from Titan, although that has been denied by those at Titan who claim, since at this point it would be tampering, that no contract talks have taken place. Other sources have claimed there is an unofficial Titan offer for five years at a very high six figures per, a figure said to be higher than the guarantee than anyone under contract to the company besides Austin and Undertaker (it is said Rock has signed a six-year contract with around a $500,000 guarantee per). Those in Titan see Giant, only 27, as a modern-day Andre if promoted correctly, one of McMahon's two or three biggest draws ever (along with Hogan and Austin). However, Giant will either have to change his attitude or Titan will have to create a double standard for him, with his weight ballooning up to 505 pounds legit which has taken a major toll on both his agility and stamina not to mention the long-term effect of all that weight on his knees, and he has a reputation in and out of the ring for overall laziness.
650
651Both Steiners contracts, which are said to be $315,000 per year, expire at the end of November. There are behind-the-scenes rumors regarding Scott, probably because of his similarities in gimmick and physique to a modern day version of Superstar Graham, who was another of McMahon's all-time favorite attractions since he's a mark for physiques. However Scott is 36 and a potential major neon sign for bad publicity. He's coming off a series of major back problems and has wrestled only a few matches this year, which has caused major internal heat in WCW since he gets so much TV time despite not being a good interview, even though he never goes on the road. Rick, 37, is coming off two shoulder operations. It is said WCW is offering both men three-year deals at $500,000 per apiece.
652
653Guerrero, Jericho, Malenko, Misterio Jr. and Benoit all earn $225,000 to $250,000 and WCW is offering all except Misterio Jr. approximately $450,000 apiece for three years to sign. Jericho, who is 28, and Misterio, who turns 24 in a few weeks, both have deals that comes due at the end of July while the other three come due at the end of 1999 and none have given an indication of signing soon. Of that crew, Misterio Jr., while said to be unhappy about his push, would be best off signing unless WWF offers him a guaranteed deal above the WCW offer, as WWF has a history of not being interested or able to get smaller wrestlers over, let alone anyone his size. The addition of the Superastros program on Univision, which will be based around wrestlers that they'll be keeping off Raw and Shotgun, probably will force the company to change that stance, but there is no indication thus far they'd be willing to be competitive with the kind of money WCW is paying Misterio Jr. for a wrestler designed only for the Superastros program.
654
655Malenko, 38, who would in no way be offered a figure anywhere close by WWF, would also be foolish to leave WCW for similar reasons as WWF was never gotten a wrestler like him over before, and many feel by being in the Horsemen that Malenko is getting as strong a push as he could get on the national level.
656
657Guerrero, 31, who is really only about 5-6 1/2, would have his lack of height exposed by all those deceptively huge slugs Titan employs. The "small" guys Titan has pushed in the past are Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, who are both six inches taller than Eddie, and he'd be nearly a foot shorter than all the Godfather, DOA, Southern Justice type slugs that are all over the Titan roster not even with giant roles, let alone even being given significant pushes. He's enormously talented in the ring when motivated, although his work of late hasn't been up to levels of previous years and while he's been a good interview at times, it's largely been in Spanish and he's struggled at the mic most of this year doing English promos. McMahon is a long established size mark and as Taka Michinoku and Brian Christopher have shown, talent doesn't make a leopard change his spots, and Titan has an audience that has already been trained to a mentality that it's hard to change as noting smaller sized good workers like Jarrett, Taka and Christopher have fared every bit as poorly in the ratings as the slugs like DOA and Southern Justice. As unhappy as Guerrero is with his plight in WCW, his plight could wind up being worse in WWF, witness Taka, and he should decide based on the money offered him, even though WCW does have its apparent frustrating limits of upward mobility, he'll also never flounder in that company as long as he can perform at a high level because WCW desperately will need that on its shows in the future.
658
659This leaves Jericho and Benoit. Jericho has been in many people's eyes, probably most people's eyes, the singles most entertaining person in WCW of late. Although small by Titan standards, his interviews and persona are excellent and he's a very good worker and would immediately be one of the top three workers in the WWF should he go there. Of all the people under contract with the exception of Giant, he's probably the one who could benefit the most by leaving unless WCW either makes him a huge offer and, not or, starts giving him a push to the level of the Page, Hart type level. And WCW needs to do that, because with ratings falling and the stars all getting older, Jericho has potential to be a franchise heel like Ric Flair was in the Carolinas in the late 70s.
660
661Benoit, 31, who when healthy, and he hasn't been due to elbow problems the past several months, is the best worker in the country. Even though he's only 5-8 1/2, he's so talented and his ability to get over as being a tough wrestler as opposed to a pretty wrestler makes him a lot better fit at Titan than Guerrero or Malenko, is such that fans overlook his size. He's the one, who, unless WCW makes a direct effort to put him on the level of a world heavyweight title contender, should make the move, because he'll never be this young again. While there is a romantic notion of Benoit going to ECW, and no doubt ECW would make him world heavyweight champion and he'd almost single-handedly make ECW PPV shows at least acceptable because the main event would almost always be great, it's very questionable whether ECW can afford a deal even competitive with a $450,000 per year offer that WCW is expected to or has already made. But Benoit should attempt to get a guarantee from WWF close to that level, because it is well known in WWF, that the financial commitment made to a person "has to be justified" (witness the Mark Henry push and regular Jarrett makeovers) and if he goes in cheap and doesn't hit immediately (he probably will, but it did take him a while, largely the Kevin Sullivan feud, to catch on with the WCW audience although he's been treading water ever since), if he comes in with a guarantee competitive with all but the top three guys, they'll be patient and eventually that will pay off because his attitude and professionalism along with his work make him a sure thing.
662
663With Vince McMahon getting out of the wheelchair totally healthy, Shane McMahon turning heel, and The Rock turning heel after winning the WWF title in the exact same scene as the Survivor Series last year in Montreal (you didn't think the weekend of the movie airing in most of Canada would go unnoticed but this time Earl Hebner tried to do the right thing and was overruled by heel Shane) and becoming the much anticipated corporate champion of the WWF, the WWF's Survivor Series nicknamed "A Deadly Game," could in hindsight probably be called "A matter of personal taste."
664
665If you watch pro wrestling largely, or entirely for storyline or as a soap opera, as the majority of WWF viewers do today, than this was a very good show. If you watch pro wrestling for wrestling, it was a bad show. If you watch for both, you're opinion will be somewhere in between. I guess the answer is that everyone watches pro wrestling for entertainment, and at that point it becomes what entertains you.
666
667The 11/15 show at the Kiel Center in St. Louis drew a sellout crowd of 19,322 (it was announced on television as 21,779 and I have no idea why when the real number is impressive enough), with 17,966 paying $470,845 plus another $147,448 in merchandise, which isn't a record attendance for the city but is a record gate, although both the attendance and gate records will be broken next month as the 12/21 WCW Nitro at the TWA Dome as of the weekend had sold 26,000 tickets for more than $860,000.
668
669My reaction watching the show as it was going on was it was kind of boring and disappointing, particularly since from the bracketing this appeared to be heads-and-shoulders above all the recent PPV offerings from every company. Four hours is too long, as has been said after every WWF PPV. To me a bad sign is that the show is dragging and you're looking at the clock figuring out how many minutes are left before it's going to end. When the show was over, it was obvious, with Rock as a heel champion building up to a Steve Austin match at Wrestlemania but with guys like Mankind, Kane, HHH (for a semifinal spot underneath a hot Austin match) and Undertaker as possible challengers leading up to that point, that as a storyline for business, this is going to work and was very well executed and at least partially unexpected even if nearly everyone had Rock pegged as the champion coming out of the show. But the lack of talent depth was noticeable, and problems with the length of the show amplified by the lack of heat for all but the "trademark" spots which everyone waits to pop for. But it was still something largely boring as it was going on, with far too much emphasis put on Vince McMahon (and don't think the wrestlers aren't noticing any differently than the WCW crew in the early days of Eric Bischoff on TV before the morale finally reached the current level), with a good ending.
670
671A. In the only dark match, Brian Christopher (Brian Lawler) & Scott Taylor beat Matt & Jeff Hardy.
672
673B. Bob Holly (Robert Howard) & Scorpio (Charles Scaggs) defeated Animal (Joe Laurinaitis) & Droz (Darren Drozdov) in 2:17 in the first match of the live Sunday Night Heat show. Real bad with no heat, like negative star calibre. Holly & Scorpio are Al Snow's J.O.B. Squad. They did the doomsday device on Scorpio and Droz set Scorpio up for a power bomb. Snow ran in and hit Droz in the face with the head and Scorpio got the pin.
674
675C. Val Venis (Sean Morley) beat Tiger Ali Singh (Jodinker Hans Jr.) in 2:36 with a fisherman suplex. They were debating who the father is of Terri's baby if it isn't Val. How about Brian Pillman impregnated her extra-terrestrially or on a one year delayed reaction? Anyway, Singh is a step slow on every spot. Godfather came out and was supposed to whip Singh into the ringpost, except Singh whizzed past the post and never touched it. Poor Michael Cole sold it like he had, and they went right to the finish.
676
677DOA came out and were attacked by Bradshaw & Faarooq, in matching costumes but without Jackyl. Bradshaw & Faarooq wound up leaving DOA & Paul Ellering laying to set up a new angle before the officials broke it up. This was a quick deal and they cut to a Outlaws interview when the Head Bangers and Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown all attacked each other in a backstage brawl that looked redundant since it was exactly the same as the brawl preceding it. Sable did an interview where she guaranteed she'd win the title, which she did, and was jumped from behind by Jacqueline after being distracted by Marc Mero and hit in the neck with the title belt. They did show a glimpse of Terri Poch, who hasn't been seen of late, in a crowd shot just before the angle started.
678
679D. Gangrel (David Heath) pinned Steve Blackman in 3:21 with an implant DDT after Edge came off the top rope with a missile dropkick to Blackman's back. Christian gave Blackman a diving head-butt after the match. At that point a Blue Blazer (generally speaking, the Blue Blazer is Owen Hart. When Hart and Blazer are together, the guy in the Blazer costume has been Jeff Jarrett. On Raw on 11/16, the Blazer was Tom Prichard) came from the ceiling ala Sting, but "had trouble" unhooking himself and ended up being hung a few feet above the ground as a sitting duck for Blackman to nail before being dragged back up. The whole deal was a spoof on the Sting angle. The only reason I can think of why they did it on this show, since Sting hasn't done it in months, is because the Learning Channel special that was airing head-to-head was done in February and focused on Sting coming from the ceiling as one of pro wrestling's hot angles.
680
681The show ended with Vince doing an interview and calling out Rock, Austin and Shane. It wound up with a Battle Royal with most of the guys in the tournament as the show went off the air.
682
6831. Mankind (Michael Foley) pinned Duane Gill with a double-arm DDT in :30. Vince did an interview building up Gill like he was a big superstar, including a Southern hick knock at WCW and a video package of him with long bleached blond hair (he's shaved bald now) being squashed by Jimmy Snuka. Fans expected the mystery opponent to be Shawn Michaels and booed heavily.
684
6852. Al Snow (Allan Sarven) pinned Jeff Jarrett in 3:31. Snow did a flip body attack off the steps. They traded moves but Snow was a little slow and they didn't work together as well as you'd think. Debra stole the head but Snow got the guitar and whiffed on a home run shot. Jarrett hit Snow with the head to the back for a near fall. With the ref distracted, Snow got the head and clocked Jarrett with it for the pin. DUD
686
6873. Steve Austin (Steve Williams) beat Big Bossman (Ray Traylor) in 3:20 when Bossman was beating on Austin with the night stick. Decent brawling but too short to build too much and a real weak finish. Bossman continued to attack him with the stick after the match. 1/2*
688
6894. X-Pac (Sean Waltman) double count out with Stephen Regal (Darren Matthews) in 8:10 in a match so illogical it should have been booked in WCW. The only good thing about Regal's presentation thus far is his entrance music and his facials. His work, which had been terrible up to this point, improved to where it was decent. But the match was slow paced for the most part and had no heat, and Regal was working with the best worker in the company. Regal did use a double arm suplex. The only big pop of the match was for the Bronco ride. They were fighting outside the ring and the bell rang ordering a double count out. They were showing constant cutaways of McMahon during many of the matches. McMahon looked mad because the double elimination gave Austin a bye. McMahon had Commissioner Slaughter run out, and that was a sight, and order the match to continue "to a finish" with a 5:00 overtime. How can it be to a finish but have a 5:00 time limit? Anyway, X-Pac was selling an injury and just walked away. The bell rang. X-Pac walked all the way to the dressing room. Instead of raising Regal's hand via forfeit, because X-Pac quit, it was still a draw and both were eliminated. So all that post-match stuff was an illogical waste of time. 3/4*
690
6915. Ken Shamrock beat Goldust (Dustin Runnels) in 5:56. Not much heat but both worked better with each other than any match to this point. Shamrock worked some spots as if he was the face. Shamrock kicked out of the bulldog. Goldust set up the Shattered Dreams spot but the ref got in Goldust's way. Shamrock did a sloppy huracanrana coming out of the corner, hit the belly-to-belly and got the submission with the ankle lock. *1/2
692
6936. Rock (Duane Johnson) pinned Bossman in :03. HHH, who had been advertised from the beginning, wasn't even there to do his usual injury angle in the pre-game show. The storyline was that Vince sent him a ticket to come, he never responded (thus evil Vince was false advertising him, which I guess he was) and now he'll be fined for no-showing even though he has a legit knee injury. Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco came out crotch chopping like they were in DX which was a hoot. They told Rock even though he should have a bye, that he doesn't (which makes plenty of sense since McMahon was already allowing hated Austin to have a bye) and sent out already eliminated Bossman. He ran in the ring and got inside cradled at the bell.
694
6957. Undertaker (Mark Calaway) pinned Kane (Glen Jacobs) in 7:16. Undertaker desperately needs time to heal up as he's practically immobile. Kane wasn't selling. Really bad. Both had the other by the throat, but Kane overpowered him and got the choke slam. Paul Bearer distracted Kane, allowing Undertaker to come from behind with a tombstone piledriver and Bearer held Kane's legs to keep him from kicking out. After the match, Kane choke slammed the ref. In very untypical WWF fashion, the cameras missed it and the announcers talked about a spot you didn't actually see. DUD
696
6978. Mankind pinned Snow in 3:55. It was revealed on the split screen that it was McMahon who stole Mr. Socko, and I guess gave him to the Head. Snow hit the post hard with a chair. Snow hit a superkick on the floor, but Mankind came back with a hotshot like maneuver dropping Snow on a chair on the floor. Anyway, Mankind saw Mr. Socko on the head and began attacking the head with brutal punches. Snow hit a clothesline and a power bomb for a near fall, but Mankind came back with the double arm DDT and the Socko claw for the submission. 1/2*
698
6999. Rock beat Shamrock in 8:20. Shamrock whipped Rock's shoulders into the step. Bossman came out early. At one point Shamrock used a huracanrana into a Fujiwara armbar into the ankle lock, but Rock made the ropes. Big pop for the rope break. Rock came back with a float over DDT and a low blow and hit the People's elbow. When Shamrock kicked out of the "people's" favorite move, they got pissed. Shamrock blocked the Rock bottom into a belly-to-belly. Shamrock called for Bossman to throw him the night stick, and Bossman did, but Rock intercepted, hit Shamrock and pinned him. The spot couldn't have been executed better as if Bossman didn't have a good throw, or Rock didn't catch it, it would have looked foolish. This was nowhere close to their recent TV match. **1/2
700
70110. Sable (Rena Mero) pinned Jacqueline (Jacqueline Moore) to win the WWF womens title in 3:14. Shane McMahon was ref. Sable did the TKO early, but Marc Mero, at ringside, saved Jacqueline by pulling Sable off her. Sable hit a low blow on Mero and power bombed him on the floor. A lot of men at home fantasize about being married to a wrestling babe. But it sucks. If it doesn't suck at home, it does suck in your storyline role. Jacqueline was choking Sable on the ropes and her neck came nowhere near the ropes. Jacqueline went for a power bomb but Sable powered out and hit her own Sable bomb for the pin. This was better than most of the matches on the card up to this point. *
702
70311. Mankind pinned Austin in 10:27. Austin was selling his left arm. Austin wound up ripping the tuxedo and shoes off Mankind, who worked the rest of the match in his black socks. Vince and company came out. Austin went for the stunner but Mankind ran away. Brisco and Patterson had to talk him into returning. Austin ran out and gave the three a triple noggin knocker. Mankind backdropped Austin on the floor. Austin clotheslined Mankind over the partition. Austin tried to crotch Mankind but was reversed and Austin took a head shot into the post. It may have been nasty because there was some shot Austin took during this match that gave him a nasty looking bump above his left eye. Austin kicked a chair into his face but Mankind came back with a double arm DDT on the chair. Austin backflipped Mankind onto a chair and hit the stunner. As the ref started the count, Vince had his miracle recovery and jumped out of the wheelchair and decked ref Mike Ciota. Mankind put the claw on, but Austin broke it with a low blow and delivered another stunner. Shane McMahon ran in as the second ref, counted to two, then flipped off Austin and started laughing. Brisco hit Austin with a love tap with a chair and Austin laid down for the three with Shane counting. It's lucky nobody takes this stuff seriously because after everything Austin has taken and gotten up, it makes no sense to lay down for such a weak chair shot. Then they did a getaway car tease, as Patterson, Brisco and Slaughter got in a limo and fled, theoretically with Vince and Shane with them. Austin stole a van and left after them. ***
704
70511. Rock beat Undertaker via DQ in 8:23. No heat. Bearer hit Rock with his shoe. Rock came back with a Samoan drop. Bossman came back out. Rock hit a DDT and a low blow, and finally hit the big People's elbow spot. Bossman distracted Rock allowing Undertaker to sit up. Taker hit Bossman, then set up a choke slam on Rock. At this point Kane ran in and confronted Undertaker, then choke slammed Rock for the DQ, eliminating Undertaker. Undertaker hit Earl Hebner for making the call and he and Kane brawled into the crowd. 3/4*
706
70712. New Age Outlaws (Brian James & Monty Sopp) retained the WWF tag titles beating Head Bangers (Glen Ruth & Charles Warrington) and Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown (A.C. Connor) in 10:10. There was this gigantic sign with the entire Outlaws ring entrance speech on it in huge bold letters. Actually that was the highlight of the show. They really should have the Outlaws do the same 7:00 ring entrance every night and never have them wrestle, because nobody cares once the bell rings. No heat. Sounds familiar. Tons of low blows. One of them got a pop but by this time the crowd wasn't even reacting to them. Brown hit a nice Frankensteiner off the top on Mosh. Mosh did a leg sweep on Brown. They all tried but these three-ways, while a nice marketing gimmick thanks to Paul Heyman, almost always stink due to lack of focus. Match ended pretty well out of nowhere with Gunn pinning Mosh after a piledriver. *
708
70913. Rock beat Mankind in 17:10 to win the WWF title. Vince & Shane came out. They brawled in the crowd including Rock banging on Mankind with a rubber garbage can. Mankind was backdropped from outside the barricades back in. Mankind hit Rock with a hair chair to the back. Mankind ended up taking a bump with the ring steps on him and Rock destroyed the steps with hard chair shots, and then gave Mankind a hard chair to the head, which even Jim Ross noted killed brain cells. Mankind did his elbow off the apron. Mankind tried a legdrop while Rock was on English language announcers table but the move actually missed. Mankind backdropped Rock over the top. Back in the ring Rock hit a DDT. Jim Ross started turning it on trying to make the match into a classic, but it seemed too hard for a match that was good, but the crowd wasn't reacting like it was a great match. Mankind took a bump off the middle ropes through the Spanish table and Rock was hitting him with pieces of the broken table. Rock hit the people's elbow but Mankind kicked out. Mankind came back with a double arm DDT and Socko claw. Fans actually booed Socko. Rock broke the claw and hit rock bottom. He then put on the sharpshooter and Vince called for the bell, and you've probably seen and heard that scene about 1,000 times over the pat 12 months. Shane, Vince and Rock all hugged. When Mankind complained by Vince, Rock hit him from behind with the belt and gave him the rock bottom. Austin showed up and the McMahons ran away, leaving Rock to brawl with him and of course get nailed with a stunner. For good measure, Austin hit Mankind with another stunner (to avenge his pinfall loss earlier in the show). ***1/2
710
711It only took one new wrestler, Vader, to set the wheels in motion for a turnaround in the fortunes of All Japan Pro Wrestling.
712
713Vader, forming a tag team with Stan Hansen, the biggest foreign name ever to wrestle in Japan, opened the annual World Strongest Tag League tournament on 11/14 at Korakuen Hall by running over Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa like a giant tsunami, ending with Vader using his Vader bomb, called in Japan the "Big Van Crush," on the Triple Crown champion in just 7:10.
714
715But more importantly over the booking significance of having Vader on his first night in pin the top star in the company, was the effect of Vader on business and all the signs of a possible turnaround in the beleaguered company that had fallen to the greatest depths in its 26-year history with generally awful house show attendance outside of Tokyo.
716
717It is not news that the first two nights of the tour sold out Korakuen Hall. All Japan always sells out that small building. It is news that the final on 12/5 at Budokan Hall is already sold out, similar to the glory days of the promotion when tickets for the big Budokan shows were a premium buy and they often sold out the first day they were put on sale. And perhaps even more significant is that on the third day of the tour, 11/16 in Kofu, All Japan sold out the 4,400-seat building without a strong line-up (a typical six-man headliner on top plus Misawa & Ogawa vs. Gary Albright & Giant Kimala II in a tourney match), largely based on the novelty of seeing Vader & Hansen as a tag team for their first tour together. On the same night, New Japan failed to sellout the opening of its lackluster tag team tournament, drawing 3,700 fans to the 4,900-seat Yokohama Bunka Gym despite having one of its strongest tournament matches as the headliner, IWGP tag champs Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka against Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima, the team that the tournament appears likely to be booked around.
718
719Even though New Japan is the No. 1 company in the country, and that isn't going to change any time soon, All Japan of late has been crushing them as far as television ratings (which, unlike in the United States, are not taken seriously as a major business statistic) and for the next few weeks with Vader & Hansen's first appearance as a team in every city, that should also be the case at the house shows. Although that wasn't the original plan, it now looks like the most logical thing would be to put them over in the tournament to create a modern version of the Miracle Power Combination, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen. In their TV debut against Misawa & Ogawa, that was clearly the idea, as like Brody & Hansen, they sold almost nothing as they aggressively went after their smaller Japanese foes. In addition, correctly booked and barring injury, and with Vader at 42 that is a huge concern, Vader should draw well at Budokan not only in major tag matches with Hansen, but even better in singles matches for the first time ever against Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and even Toshiaki Kawada plus an eventual singles match with Hansen that may for a brief period resurrect the 49-year-old broken-down legend to money drawing status.
720
721The plethora of mainstream media stories and appearances by pro wrestlers, led by all the Jesse Ventura stories, continued this past week.
722
723Perhaps the most amazing sign of wrestling's mainstream appeal came in one sentence in the 11/16 issue of Sports Illustrated. On page 29, in a small item called "Wish list," it stated, "That Goldberg and Dennis Rodman don't get any ideas from the campaign of Jesse (the Gov) Ventura." What's so notable about that? The name Goldberg is listed on its own. Not preceded by the term pro wrestler, or WCW wrestler. It's one thing if it were Hulk Hogan, who is a household name. But this was Goldberg, who a magazine of the calibre believed was enough of a mainstream celebrity to have his name stand alone.
724
725Goldberg's name was hardly the only wrestling note in the issue, which had a story called "Body Language" on Ventura that was one of the most perceptive stories I've seen to this point. One note stood out--four days before the election, his poll numbers rising ominously, Ventura called his KFAN producer and on-air foil, Joe Palan. "J.P., what am I gonna do if I actually win this thing?" The story called Ventura an unapologetic homer as a sports talk show host, but was never owner friendly (probably from lessons learned from his own relations with owners and corporate execs like Verne Gagne, Vince McMahon, Bill Watts and Eric Bischoff in pro wrestling). Ventura invited rock legends Aerosmith to perform at his inauguration in January. The Newsweek story on Ventura was also good, but there were a little too many self-serving quotes from Hulk Hogan, who quite frankly, despite his trying to coat-tail the issue, is of no relevance whatsoever to the real Ventura story. The Sporting News noted that Ventura last summer had asked former baseball star Kent Hrbek to run with him as a lieutenant governor. Hrbek turned it down because he'd have missed a planned hunting trip the weekend of the election. Phil Mushnick of the New York Post ran another scathing column about Ventura on 11/15. Mushnick largely took to task all the credible journalists that have been having their fun doing comedy about the Ventura election, and noted that none (actually to this point Mushnick has been the only one) have brought up his past as a WWF performer and what was going in the WWF during that time. It should be noted that during that period, Ventura was a wrestler for a short period of time and an announcer for a longer period of time. He never worked in company management, at which point, some of the activities that allegedly and not so-allegedly were going on. It noted Ventura's nickname "The Body" comes in part for the fact he at one point used steroids, and that the WWF during that time period, was built on steroids, noting that Ventura was in the WWF during the period that Dr. George Zahorian was convicted of selling steroids to WWF wrestlers. Ventura himself has claimed he stopped using steroids in the early 80s, and judging from his physical appearance, that doesn't sound like one of those fake "I used them when they were legal but stopped when the law changed" time lines. As mentioned in his first column about Ventura, Mushnick wrote, "That Ventura would have no celebrity status--certainly not enough to see him elected governor of Minnesota--without his admitted steroid use, is, at the very least, a distinct possibility. But no one wants to go there. It would ruin a very amusing story." Mushnick brought up how many of Ventura's colleagues in pro wrestling died young, and then brought up that nobody has asked Ventura if he was aware of the alleged sexual advances initiated by male WWF management against underage males. In addition, the A&E Network is now working on a detailed biography special about the life of Ventura.
726
727The Learning Channel ran its one-hour special called "The Secret World of Pro Wrestling," on 11/15, with the brilliant foresight to run it head-to-head with Survivor Series (although it aired a replay showing later that night after Survivor Series had ended). There wasn't much in the way of new ground on the show, but it was far superior to recent A&E and NBC specials both in presentation and in regard to an accurate portrayal of the pro wrestling industry, both in history and current form. The main problem with the show is that pro wrestling itself moves so fast that a show largely put together in February, showing clips of the angles going on at the time, looks dated now, and a lot of the "current" stats used regarding PPV and TV ratings (with WCW in the lead in both), quoted by me, were accurate in February, but altogether different today. The show was both fair and accurate, almost amazingly so, regarding the business with the best part of the story not being the major league promotions, but the plight of a lot of young kids, including a tiny ninth grader from Southern California training in a local wrestling school doing Rey Misterio Jr. inspired moves, and their longshot dreams to be pro wrestlers. It showed kids learning to be wrestlers at both Billy Anderson & Jesse Hernandez' wrestling school in San Bernardino, and at Gary Key's school near Los Angeles. It was filled with clips, going back to carnival wrestling, all the way to Raw, Nitro, explosive matches like Onita vs. Pogo from Japan, and a great deal about Lucha Libre explained by Sergio Torres (Super Boy, a Los Angeles indie wrestler), with a lot of clips of the Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera WWA welterweight title match in 1996 from the Palenque in Tijuana (there has not been one match this year in the U.S., and very few in the world, that could even touch that match). The show was done in Learning Channel style, which is a documentary designed to teach students about a different world. There weren't the usual assortment of lies and mistruths about history and current product that plague most features, which one probably has to credit the producers for because I doubt the wrestlers and promoters interviewed, and everyone from McMahon, Bischoff, Hogan, Savage, Austin, Shamrock, etc. was interviewed for the piece, all suddenly decided to be 100% straight. The almost "surprising" revelation is WCW ref Nick Patrick, who noted that his earpiece is used for television where everything is on strict time, to get time cues which he in turn gives to the wrestlers in the ring to make sure everything ends when it's supposed to. It's probably hard for me to give an unbiased reaction to a show which I ended up with more air time than Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff (and where one of the indie wrestlers featured, Phil Flanders, is my lookalike), but I thought it was very good. Most people who I knew who have generally been very critical of most media pieces on wrestling were very complimentary to this one.
728
729The Los Angeles Times ran a six-page cover story in the entertainment section on 11/16 called "The Ultimate Grudge Match," basically about the war between McMahon and Bischoff, with reporter Paul Lieberman covering the wrestling scene based on attending a live Raw from the Nassau Coliseum and a live Nitro from Phoenix. There was no new ground broken, although at this point with so much coverage, it's hard to break new ground, unless you consider the revelation that the Corvette Austin destroyed on Raw wasn't really McMahon's prized car but one that was bought that day for the skit and is planned to be used as a decoration for the WWF Hotel in Las Vegas. The story did hint that the Havoc running overtime was a ratings ploy by Bischoff. The brief revised history of McMahon and the WWF now claims that the reason McMahon's tenure on TBS was short-lived was because Turner was intent on buying the company (actually it was because ratings had fallen and Turner wanted McMahon to do his show from Atlanta rather than send in tapes from Ontario, Canada). It noted that in his own legal papers written in the lawsuit against WCW that McMahon's lawyers wrote, "McMahon established himself as arguably the greatest promoter this country has produced since P.T. Barnum."
730
731In McMahon's new version of history, he once again claimed he was convicted of one charge ("conspiracy to defraud the FDA") in his 1994 trial, which of course wasn't the case. And claimed at that time there were predictions that pro wrestling would disappear, like Roller Derby, which makes the comeback seem like a good story but nobody seriously predicted the total death of the profession (although I did hear some Roller Derby analogies when things were at rock bottom in 1993 and the trial was on the horizon), although the entire business was losing money hand-over-fist during that time period. McMahon claimed Turner again tried to buy him during this time period (not true, although Bill Shaw, who ran the WCW division for a time after Jack Petrik, did once propose to McMahon a few years earlier the idea of doing an interpromotional PPV show and were so desperate for the idea that they were going to allow McMahon full control of the booking of the show, but McMahon turned down the idea because he was far ahead at the time and didn't want to give a competitor the credibility). It noted Raw was attracting more 12-34 males than ABC, CBS, and NBC from January through September (since Nitro was so much stronger for most of this period from 18-34, it no doubt was as well). He said he hopes to do a midnight talk show from his Vegas hotel, called "Strip Club," a show based on a man and a woman host who have obvious sexual tension and a little confrontation and where they never talk about politics, and talked about his Univision show aimed at the Spanish market which debuts next week. Where the story lost a lot of points was in the presentation of the photos. Bret Hart got the cover photo with a sharpshooter on Dallas Page, but so little care was taken in the presentation that photos inside of Hart vs. DDP were referred to as simply "wrestlers pounding home their point" and a photo of Goldberg was referred to simply as "a bare chested wrestler," (so much for his mainstream celebrityhood that SI believed) even though there was much talk about Goldberg in the story. The only wrestling characters whose photos were identified as if the people writing the cutlines actually knew who they were, were McMahon, Bischoff and Hogan.
732
733The 11/23 Newsweek story on Steve Austin by John Leland also broke no new ground and really delved very little into much about Austin himself. He came across like a normal guy who somehow is unusually popular seemingly from being in the right place at the right time, but in the close of the story, had several quotes from a Toronto fan whose favorite was Undertaker and actually hated Austin. In discussing the WWF's early 90s fall and the trial, while McMahon brought up his favorite conspiracy to defraud the FDA charge, which apparently he keeps in his wallet to remind any reporter (I'm not making that one up, he actually does), they at least got it right that he wasn't convicted of the charge. It stated while he was reeling, Turner lured away Hogan (which wasn't the case. Hogan was gone from the WWF over a dispute about them wanting to phase him down from the top spot and not over money. He was hired by WCW nine months later. If anything is being factual, it's that WCW lured him from New Japan, where he had a deal to work big shows starting when he was in the WWF and continuing after he left the WWF) and Savage. On the WWF's new direction, Bischoff was quoted as saying, "Vince McMahon is a desperate person. To have a character simulate masturbation with a squirt gun or urinate in someone's boots in front of an audience of 7, 8, 9-year-old kids--well, there's something demented about that." McMahon's replay was, "I've stopped being (TV) conscience or policeman. I've adopted the same philosophy as Hollywood: here it is--do you like it or not?" The story listed pro wrestling's gross as topping an inflated $1 billion annually, which is an exaggeration something with the credibility of Newsweek shouldn't have fallen so easily into. The story also featured a sidebar talking about the MTV show "Celebrity Death match."
734
735And finally, the 11/16 ESPN Magazine ran a lengthy story with a lot of colorful photos called "Loco for Lucha," largely based around reporter Jeff Spurrier attending Arena Mexico house shows on 9/18 and 9/25, based around hair vs. hair matches with Apolo Dantes vs. Ricky Santana, and Santana & El Boricua vs. Emilio Charles Jr. & Mascara Ano 2000. Ironically, and isn't this strange, the writer decided to change the booking somewhat to fit in with that he wanted his story to say I guess, as the tag match in the reality became a singles match in the magazine story claimed to have been between Santana vs. Charles. Just for changing a major fact of the story to that degree, it loses all credibility of what otherwise was an entertaining read. And the reporter himself was perceptive enough to notice that on the 9/25 show, it wasn't the hair match, but a tag team match "that includes El Hijo del Santo and the despicable rudos Dr. Wagner and Scorpio Jr." as being the highlight of the show. In that sense Spurrier, even in somewhat inventing his own main event on a show he was covering, was more perceptive than the hoards of American press in San Diego the night that Dennis Rodman squared off with Karl Malone is not noticing people like Juventud Guerrera and Billy Kidman's work underneath, but then again, they were there to see a freak show and a real-life human ballet doesn't exactly qualify.
736
737In a publicity stunt that wound up having some very ugly repercussions, Japanese woman wrestling star Kyoko Inoue took an horrific beating in what apparently was a shoot match under shootboxing rules (similar to WWF's Brawl for All rules except punches, kicks and elbows are all legal standing along with take downs, but no actual wrestling on the mat is legal making it basically the Ultimate Standing Fight) against a male Muay Thai kickboxer.
738
739The match in question took place on 11/14 at Budokan Hall before 4,000 fans on a shootboxing card, and aired later that night on the Japanese version of the Tonight show. It got mainstream pub but was largely considered a failure. Inoue, 29, who weighed in that night a hefty 202 pounds, has been one of the best female workers ever, but has limited if any training in shooting. Whatever training she may have had in actually wrestling played no part in an event where mat wrestling wasn't a legal tactic. Her opponent was Parinya Giatbusabar, an 18-year-old 147-pounder native of Thailand, of some renown in Muay Thai circles as much for his standing fighting skill as for his unique very feminine looking facial features. Inoue actually attempted a dropkick to the leg at the bell, and Giatbusabar moved out of the way easily. Inoue was nailed with hard knees, punches and kicks to the face. With no standing fighting training, no standing defensive training and far less hand speed, she had no chance to defend against the blows, and Giatbusabar was able to avoid all her attempted offense of one attempted take down and a few kicks he easily avoided. Inoue's face wound up brutally beaten to a bloody pulp, although she did last the entire three minute first round before the ref wouldn't allow her to continue due to a dangerous cut over her eye.
740
741Inoue, who was actually back in the ring as a pro wrestler two nights later, heads the Neo Ladies promotion in Japan, a group struggling for its very existence. She did the match as an attempt to gain mainstream pub for herself and hopefully if she could survive, as she had no chance of winning under these rules even with her size advantage, spark some interest in her company which aside from bringing in Nicole Bass for a few shots as a freak show, has done nothing to garner any mainstream interest. All I can say about this is thankfully, as bad as commissions often are, thankfully we have them in the United States so intergender mixed matches of this type don't take place.
742
743Balloting for the 1998 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, our 19th annual awards, will start after Thanksgiving. These are still the only pro wrestling awards that are both international in scope and receive coverage from wrestling media throughout the world. Besides published in the Observer in the United States, the results have been published in Japanese major magazines for years and have in recent years also been published in a Mexican daily newspaper Ovaciones with a circulation of more than one million. On a world wide basis, these will be the most widely circulated and read set of pro wrestling awards that there are. The time frame covered in the awards is December 1, 1997 through November 30, 1998. Anything taking place between those dates should be considered. Anything taking place before or after shouldn't. Ballots won't be accepted until December 1, so don't mail anything until after the Thanksgiving holiday. Ballots will be accepted through early January, so plan on mailing everything in before Christmas because holiday mail service is pretty bad. The awards will be released first in the Observer in mid-January. If you've got opinions on the awards, you're encouraged to send them in as quickly as possible for the letters section.
744
745We also want to clarify certain categories, mainly as things involve shooting and working. The two have to be differentiated for obvious reasons since the goals are entirely different. We have categories specially for real combat--Shoot wrestler of the year and Shoot match of the year. All MMA, Pancrase, legitimate RINGS (as opposed to worked RINGS) or legitimate matches from other promotions are eligible for the awards. Consideration for Shoot wrestler of the year should be based entirely on participation and results of legitimate matches between 12/1/97 and 11/30/98 and nothing else. Performances in shoot matches can be taken into consideration if relevant for the Wrestler of the Year award, since that award encompasses the entire pro wrestling world. That award is for overall excellence in whatever craft your company is presenting and value to the promotion over the past year. However, Most Outstanding Wrestler is an award for best worker, which means shoot matches which inherently aren't worked, are ineligible, however there are people who do worked and shoot matches who certainly would be strong qualifiers for this award, and this should only consider their worked matches. Best Box Office draw is self explanatory and work vs. shoot doesn't matter and anyone is eligible. Feud, Tag Team and Most Improved (since it's a working award) are all having to do with working and thus shoot matches shouldn't be taken into consideration. Best on Interviews has nothing to do with shooting or working although I can't imagine any non-workers being considered. Most Charismatic is open to everyone. Best technical wrestler and Bruiser Brody Award are meant within a worked environment, as are Most Overrated and Underrated. Best Promotion is open to everyone. Best Weekly TV is irrelevant since only working promotions have weekly TV. Match of the Year is only open to worked matches because there is a separate category for shoot matches and it's unfair to compare one with the other. It's the goal of the match and not the company. For example, Steve Williams vs. Bart Gunn would be ineligible (not that it's getting any votes) for Match of the Year, while Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs. Kiyoshi Tamura would be ineligible for Shoot match of the year. Rookie of the Year is open to anyone within the pro wrestling world, as are the TV announcers and best and worst major card awards. Of the Category B awards, only Shoot Athlete of the Year and Shoot Match of the Year are categories open to legitimate matches. These categories should only be for performers who performed regularly in shooting matches and not people like Ken Shamrock who have in the past but didn't at all this year.
746
747 
748
749"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.
750
751 
752
7531. WRESTLER OF THE YEAR - As mentioned, this category is open to all forms of pro wrestling. This is for a combination of being both an important and influential wrestler in a positive manner over the past year, combined with being a great performer in the ring during the same period. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa, Bret Hart and Kenta Kobashi.
754
7552. MOST OUTSTANDING WRESTLER - This is based on ring work as the only criterion. Simply, the three best workers in the world on a consistent basis over the past year. Drawing power, charisma and push shouldn't be considered. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa, Rey Misterio Jr. and Shinjiro Otani.
756
7573. BEST BOX OFFICE DRAW - Based on drawing power and drawing big houses and buy rates. Ring work shouldn't be considered. Last year's top three were Hulk Hogan, Shinya Hashimoto and Steve Austin.
758
7594. FEUD OF THE YEAR - This should be based on a combination of having a compelling storyline along with having great matches on a consistent basis that strengthened the box office. Last year's top three were Steve Austin vs. Hart Foundation, WCW vs. NWO and Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels.
760
7615. TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR - For the best working regular tag team during the previous year. Last year's top three were Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue and Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace.
762
7636. MOST IMPROVED - This is based on having made the biggest strides in ring work over the balloting period. This is not for someone who has always had the ability but is being given their first push. Last year's top three were Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Rocky Maivia and Marcus Bagwell.
764
7657. 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 account. It should be based on work over the entire year rather than one or two great interviews. Last year's top three were Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shane Douglas.
766
7678. MOST CHARISMATIC - What wrestler has to do the least to get the most out of it. Last year's top three were Steve Austin, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.
768
7699. BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER - This is for having the ability to use high level technical wrestling moves within the context of building great worked pro wrestling matches. Last year's top three were Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Shinjiro Otani.
770
77110. BRUISER BRODY MEMORIAL AWARD - This is for the wrestler who uses brawling tactics to put together the best matches during the previous year. Last year's top three were Mankind, Chris Benoit and Tommy Dreamer.
772
77311. BEST FLYING WRESTLER - This is for the wrestler who does the most innovative and solidly-executed flying maneuvers within the contest of putting together great wrestling matches. This is not for simply the hottest daredevil moves. Last year's top three were Rey Misterio Jr., Taka Michinoku and Great Sasuke.
774
77512. MOST OVERRATED WRESTLER - This is for the wrestler who gets the biggest push despite lacking in-ring ability. Last year's top three were Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger and Kevin Nash.
776
77713. MOST 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, not something based on a business reputation garnered years ago. Last year's top three were Flash Funk, Chris Benoit and Psicosis.
778
77914. 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 New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling.
780
78115. BEST WEEKLY TELEVISION SHOW - Weekly television shows are eligible, not specials or monthlies. This is for the best consistent week-to-week show, not for a specific episode of a specific program. Last year's top three were New Japan World Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling 30 and WCW Monday Nitro.
782
78316. MATCH OF THE YEAR - Pick the three best matches, in order, from the time period listed. Last year's top three were Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin from 3/23 in Chicago, Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi from 1/20 in Osaka and Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels from 10/5 in St. Louis.
784
78517. ROOKIE OF THE YEAR - This is based on ring performance and not how someone is pushed. By the standards of the category, a rookie wrestler is someone who hasn't had a wrestling job with a company that runs shows or worked regularly on the indie level before September 1, 1997. Last year's top three were Mr. Aguila, Chris Chetti and Don Frye. Among the top candidates this year are: Bill Goldberg, Brian Johnston, Erika Watanabe, Ikuhisa Minowa, Evan Tanner, Kousei Kubota, Makoto Hashi, Takeshi Morishima, Masamichi Marufuji, Daisuke Ishii, Yasuhito Namekawa, Magnum Tokyo, Shima Nobunaga, Sumo Fuji, Judo Suwa, Sable, Dragon Kid, Ayako Hamada, Tomoaki Honma, Ikuto Hidaka, Minoru Fujita and Danny Doring.
786
78718. BEST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER - Last year's top three were Mike Tenay, Joey Styles and Jim Ross.
788
78919. WORST TELEVISION ANNOUNCER - Last year's top three were Dusty Rhodes, Rick Rude and Eric Bischoff.
790
79120. BEST MAJOR SHOW OF THE YEAR - This should be a major show rather than a typical house show from the promotion. Last year's top three were WWF Calgary Stampede, ECW Barely Legal and WWF Wrestlemania.
792
793 
794
795"CATEGORY B" AWARDS. PICK ONE IN EACH CATEGORY. WINNERS CHOSEN ON BASIS OF FIRST PLACE VOTES.
796
797 
798
7991. WORST MAJOR WRESTLING CARD OF THE YEAR (WCW/NWO Souled Out on 1/25 in Cedar Rapids last year's winner)
800
8012. BEST WRESTLING MANEUVER (Diamond Dallas Page diamond cutter last year's winner)
802
8033. MOST DISGUSTING PROMOTIONAL TACTIC (WWF interviewing Melanie Pillman on Raw the day after Brian's death was last year's winner)
804
8054. READERS PERSONAL FAVORITE WRESTLER (Chris Benoit last year's winner)
806
8075. READERS PERSONAL LEAST FAVORITE WRESTLER (Hulk Hogan last year's winner)
808
8096. WORST WRESTLER/ROOKIES INELIGIBLE (Hulk Hogan last year's winner)
810
8117. WORST TAG TEAM (Godwinns last year's winner)
812
8138. WORST WEEKLY TV SHOW (USWA last year's winner)
814
8159. WORST MANAGER (Sonny Onoo last year's winner)
816
81710. WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR (Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper 10/26 Las Vegas last year's winner)
818
81911. WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR (DOA vs. Boricuas vs. NOD last year's winner)
820
82112. WORST ON INTERVIEWS (Ahmed Johnson last year's winner)
822
82313. WORST PROMOTION (USWA last year's winner)
824
82514. BEST BOOKER (Paul Heyman last year's winner)
826
82715. PROMOTER OF THE YEAR (Riki Choshu last year's winner)
828
82916. SHOOT ATHLETE OF THE YEAR (Maurice Smith last year's winner)
830
83117. SHOOT MATCH OF THE YEAR (Maurice Smith vs. Mark Coleman 7/27 Birmingham last year's winner)
832
83318. BEST GIMMICK (Stone Cold Steve Austin last year's winner)
834
83519. WORST GIMMICK (New Goldust last year's winner)
836
83720. MOST EMBARRASSING WRESTLER (New Goldust last year's winner)
838
839This is the first issue of the current four-issue set. If you've got a (1) on your address label, it means your Observer subscription expires in three weeks.
840
841Renewal rates within the United States, Canada and Mexico are $10 for four issues (which includes $4 for postage and handling), $19 for eight, $27 for 12, $36 for 16, $54 for 24, $72 for 32 up through $90 for 40 issues.
842
843Rates for the rest of the world are $13 for four issues (which includes $8 for postage and handling), $25 for eight, $36 for 12, $60 for 20, $84 for 28 up through $120 for 40 issues.
844
845All 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.
846
847Copyright 1998 Wrestling Observer. All material in this publication is considered copyright material and no portion of the Observer may be reprinted without the expressed consent of Dave Meltzer.
848
849Fax 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. You can also leave major show poll results or send live show reports to either number. We are always looking for reports from major offices, particularly after the WWF or WCW Tuesday night tapings so we can get the news and results from the taping into that week's issue. In particular, if you are planning on attending a WWF or WCW Tuesday night taping, please contact us ahead of time and we'll hold up our usual Tuesday afternoon press deadline if we know in advance we'll be getting a report on the show upon its conclusion.
850
851If you haven't ordered your copy of Tributes, our first book on wrestling in eight years, you have only a few weeks left. We are only offering the book through the end of the year, so all orders need to be postmarked by 12/28. If you'd like a copy in time for Christmas, or for a Christmas gift, you need to send a money order (not a check) postmarked no later than 12/9. Books are shipped bookrate. For ing in North America, add $2 per copy.
852
853Tributes, a book of Observer obituaries on Bruiser Brody, Dick the Bruiser, Andre the Giant, Paul Boesch, Buddy Rogers, Steve Schumann, Kerry Von Erich, Dino Bravo, Oro, Boris Malenko, Art Barr, Eddie gilbert, John Studd, Ray Stevens, Dick Murdoch, Fritz Von Erich, Jerry Graham, Brian Pillman, Louie Spicolli and Junkyard Dog is available for $20 plus $3 for postage and handling within North America, $20 plus $5 for postage and handling for surface mail to the rest of the world or $20 plus $12 for airmail delivery in the rest of the world. Payments should be made in U.S. funds and are preferred to be drawn on a U.S. bank. Send checks or money orders made out to "Powerbomb" to Powerbomb, P.O. Box 1523, Carrboro, NC 27510. You can also get more information by checking out the website at http://www.powerbomb.com or send e-mail to tributes@powerbomb.com.
854
855For the most up-to-date wrestling information we have daily updates on the Wrestling Observer Hotline (900-903-9030/99 cents per minute/children under 18 need parents permission before calling). I'm on option one. Bruce Mitchell is on option two. Steve Beverly (Tuesday through Saturday) and Georgiann Makropolous (Sunday and Monday) is on option three. Bryan Alvarez is on option four. Steven Prazak (Thursday through Sunday) and Mike Mooneyham (Monday through Wednesday) share option five.
856
857We are adding a new feature on option one every Tuesday afternoon up by approximately 5 p.m. Eastern time which will be a Monday night and weekend ratings rundown and analysis, with more details on Monday night ratings than available from any other source.
858
859New message schedule is: Monday--Meltzer on one, Mooneyham on five; Tuesday--Meltzer on one (5 p.m. Eastern with ratings rundown), Mitchell on two (Raw report), Beverly on three, Alvarez on four (Nitro report); Wednesday--Meltzer on one, Alvarez on four (Raw Tuesday tapings report every other week); Thursday--Mitchell on two, Prazak on five; Friday--Meltzer on one, Beverly on three; Saturday--Mitchell on two, Beverly on three; and Sunday--Makropolous on three, Alvarez on four.
860
861For PPV coverage, I'm on option seven approximately 20 minutes after the completion of the show and there are option eight reports up later that evening to get a different perspective. On option seven, we immediately run down the major angles and results before getting into the details of the show.
862
863Upcoming shows covered will be 11/22 WCW World War III, 12/6 WWF Capital Carnage (we should have an option seven report up approximately 30 minutes after the completion of the show), 12/13 WWF Rock Bottom, 12/27 WCW Starrcade, 1/8 UFC (option seven only), 1/10 ECW Guilty as Charged, 1/17 WCW Souled Out and 1/24 WWF Royal Rumble.
864
865For those in the Phoenix area, I'm on between 10 and 11 a.m. every Wednesday on KDUS (1060 AM) running down the latest wrestling info and taking phone calls.
866
867 
868
869MAJOR EVENTS CALENDAR 11/20 TO 12/20
870
87111/20 FMW Japan only PPV Yokohama Bunka Gym (Hayabusa vs. Fuyuki)
872
87311/20 RINGS Battle Dimension tournament first round Osaka Furitsu Gym
874
87511/20 All Japan Kumamoto City Gymnasium (Kawada & Taue vs. Misawa & Ogawa)
876
87711/21 WWF Anaheim, CA Arrowhead Pond (Austin vs. Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kane)
878
87911/21 All Japan Hiroshima Sun Plaza Arena (Kobashi & Akiyama vs. Hansen & Vader)
880
88111/21 ECW Philadelphia ECW Arena
882
88311/22 WCW World War III PPV Auburn Hills, MI The Palace (60 man Battle Royal)
884
88511/22 WWF San Jose Arena (Austin vs. Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kane)
886
88711/23 WCW Nitro Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
888
88911/23 Battlarts Battle for the Future Tokyo Sumo Hall (Road Warriors vs. Otsuka & Yone)
890
89111/27 Shooto Tokyo Korakuen Hall
892
89311/28 WWF Boston Fleet Center (Austin vs. Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kane)
894
89511/29 WWF Heat/Superastros taping Philadelphia First Union Center
896
89711/29 All Japan Women 30th Anniversary show Yokohama Arena (Nagayo vs. Toyota)
898
89911/29 Pancrase Osaka (Yanagisawa vs. Watanabe)
900
90111/30 WCW Nitro Chattanooga, TN UTC Arena
902
90311/30 WWF Raw/Shotgun tapings Baltimore Arena
904
90511/30 All Japan Sendai Miyagi Sports Center (Misawa & Ogawa vs. Kobashi & Akiyama)
906
90712/1 WWF Raw/Shotgun/Heat tapings New Haven, CT Coliseum
908
90912/2 All Japan Matsumoto City Gymnasium (Kawada & Taue vs. Kobashi & Akiyama)
910
91112/3 WCW Thunder Memphis Mid South Coliseum
912
91312/4 New Japan Osaka Furitsu Gym (Norton vs. Nakanishi)
914
91512/5 All Japan Tokyo Budokan Hall (tag team tournament finals)
916
91712/5 Big Japan Yokohama Bunka Gym
918
91912/6 New Japan Nagoya Aiichi Gym (tag team tournament finals)
920
92112/6 WWF Capital Carnage UK only PPV London Arena (Austin vs. Mankind vs. Undertaker vs. Kane)
922
92312/7 WCW Nitro Houston Astrodome
924
92512/8 Arsion Queen of Arsion finals Yokohama Bunka Gym (Okutsu vs. Yoshida)
926
92712/11 EMLL Year-end spectacular Mexico City Arena Mexico
928
92912/11 WAR Tokyo Komazawa Olympic Park Gym
930
93112/12 FMW/ECW Tokyo Korakuen Hall
932
93312/13 WWF Rock Bottom PPV Vancouver, BC General Motors Place
934
93512/13 K-1 World Grand Prix finals Tokyo Dome
936
93712/13 PAPSA War of Titans Naucalpan El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos
938
93912/13 FMW/ECW Tokyo Korakuen Hall
940
94112/14 WWF Raw/Shotgun/Superastros tapings Tacoma, WA Dome
942
94312/14 WCW Nitro Tampa Ice Palace
944
94512/15 WWF Raw/Heat tapings Spokane, WA Arena
946
94712/19 Pancrase Japan only PPV Tokyo Bay NK Hall
948
949 
950
951RESULTS
952
953 
954
95510/30 Puebla (PAPSA TV taping): Milenuium & Arana Negra & Vangelis b Hombre Lobo & Medico Brujo & Monje Maldito, Jose Ramona & Mini Psicosis & Rudy El Salvaje b Dolar & Peso & Nino de la Calle, Los Payasos b AAA Psicosis & AAA Histeria & AAA Mosco de la Merced & Maniaco, Octagon & Latin Lover & Heavy Metal & Perro Aguayo Jr. b May Flowers & Nygma & Charly Manson & Picudo-DQ
956
95711/1 Monterrey (FILL): Chucho Mar Jr. & Sombra Azteca b Los Hechiceros I & II, La Bruja & La Intrusa & La Tigresa del Norte b Tiffany & Flor de Loto & Diana la Cazadora, El Diluvio II & Ares & Crazy Demon b Halcon Galactico & Los Orientales I & II, White Wolf & Pimpinela Escarlata & Mosco de la Merced b Sergio Romo Jr. & Panterita del Ring & Orlando Santacruz-DQ, Scorpio Jr. & Felino & Head Hunters b Ricky Banderas & American Destroyer & El Texano & Emilio Charles Jr.
958
95911/7 Berlin, Germany (Catch as Catch Can - 300): Drew McDonald b Eric Schwarz, Christian Eckstein b Danny Royal, Marty Jones & Tony St. Clair b Eddy Steinblock & Cannonball Grizzly (P.N. News)-DQ, Rhino Richards b Robbie Brookside, CCC European title: Miles Zrno b Danny Collins
960
96111/8 Durango (PAPSA TV taping): Rayo Cosmico & Flash & Lobo Del Aire b Caballero Negro & Pantera Asesina & Negro Sosa, Linda Star & Princesa Sujei b Miss Janeth & Rossy Moreno, AAA Psicosis & AAA Histeria & AAA Mosco de la Merced & Maniaco b Espectro Jr. & El Hijo del Espectro & Cadaver de Ultratumba & Llorona Loca-DQ, Perro Aguayo Jr. & Mascara Sagrada Jr. & La Parka Jr. & Blue Demon Jr. NC May Flowers & Nygma & Charly Manson & Picudo, Octagon & Canek & El Alebrije b Cibernetico & Electro Shock & Abismo Negro
962
96311/10 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (Japanese Women Multi-promotional Junior All Stars show - 1,500): Mika Akino b Zap Isozaki, Miho Watabe b Sachie Nishibori, Kayuko Haruyama & Kuragaki b Miyuki Fujii & Momoe Nakanishi, Megumi Yabushita b Nanako Kanda & Toshiyo Muto b Sugar Sato & Nakamura & Mika Harikai, Emi Motokawa b Masami Iizuka, Rina Ishii & Sakura Hirota b Fung Suzuki & Echicera, Nanae Takahashi & Maiko Matsumoto & Erika Watanabe b Tomiko Sai & Nakanishi & Yabushita, All-Japan tag titles: Yuko Kosugi & Sumie Sakai b Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi to win vacant titles
964
96511/10 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (CMLL): Los Rayos Tapatios I & II b Sangre Azteca & Fiero, Americo Rocca & Guerrero del Futuro b El Pegaso & Mano Negra Jr., Solar & Astro Rey Jr. & El Hijo del Solitario b Valentin Maya & El Hijo del Gladiador & Mano Negra Sr.-DQ, Lizmark Sr. & La Fiera & Ringo Mendoza b Violencia & Karloff Lagarde Jr. & Arkangel, Villano III & Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 b Head Hunters & Emilio Charles Jr.
966
96711/12 Texmico, DF (CMLL): Mini Rey Misterio Jr. & Ultimo Dragoncito b Espectritos I & II, Black Warrior & Zumbido & Violencia & Halcon Negro Jr. b Brandon & Oriental & Olimpico & Starman, El Hijo del Santo & Lizmark Sr. & Atlantis & Emilio Charles Jr. b Blue Panther & El Satanico & Ultimo Guerrero & Fuerza Guerrera, Apolo Dantes & Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000 b Shocker & Tinieblas Jr. & Felino & Negro Casas
968
96911/12 Lula, MS (Memphis Power Pro - 300): Rex King b Derrick King, Shawn Stasiak b Bill Dundee, Young Guns title: Erin O'Grady b Kid Wikkid, Streak b Baldo (Matt Bloom)-DQ, Bulldog Raines b Vic Grimes-DQ, Jerry Lawler & Stacey b Brian Christopher & Downtown Bruno
970
97111/12 Osaka (Gaea - 1,250): Meiko Satomura b Rina Ishii, Mayumi Ozaki & Rie Nakamura b Chigusa Nagayo & Sakura Hirota, Toshiyo Yamada & Satomura b Kaoru & Maiko Matsumoto, Sugar Sato b Sonoko Kato, Chikayo Nagashima b Toshie Uematsu
972
97311/12 Bremen, Germany (Catch Wrestling Association): Cannonball Grizzly b Rico de Cuba (Tony Ricco), Tony St. Clair b Kip Abe, Christian Eckstein b Mad Dog, Ice Train DDQ Bruiser Mastino (WWF Mantaur aka Mike Hallick), Franz Schumann b Robbie Brookside, Ulf Hermann & Eric Schwarz b Joe Legend & Rhino Richards-DQ
974
97511/13 Worcester, MA (ECW - 1,679/1,569 paid): Tracy Smothers & Little Guido b Super Nova & Blue Meanie, Tommy Rogers b Danny Doring, FTW title: Taz b Mikey Whipwreck, ECW title: Shane Douglas b Chris Chetti, Sabu b Amish Roadkill, Jerry Lynn b Chris Candido, ECW TV title: Rob Van Dam b One Man Gang, ECW tag titles: Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley b Masato Tanaka & Balls Mahoney, Tommy Dreamer & New Jack & Spike Dudley & John Kronus b Justin Credible & Jason & Rod Price & Sal E. Graziano
976
97711/13 Mexico City Arena Mexico (EMLL TV taping): Kid Guzman & Brandon b Fugaz & Enemigo Publico, Olimpico & Starman & Mr. Aguila b Halcon Negro Jr. & Zumbido & Ultimo Guerrero-DQ, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Atlantis & Shocker b Gran Markus Jr. & Pierroth Jr. & Mascara Ano 2000, El Hijo del Santo & Mr. Niebla & Negro Casas b Fuerza Guerrera & Blue Panther & Black Warrior, CMLL tag titles: Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr. b El Satanico & Dr. Wagner Jr. to win vacant titles
978
97911/13 Mito (All Japan women): Kayo Noumi b Zap Isozaki, Sachie Nishibori b Miyuki Fujii, Kumiko Maekawa & Yumiko Hotta b Emi Motokawa & Takako Inoue, Manami Toyota b Miho Wakizawa, Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi d Zaps I & T 30:00
980
98111/13 Hagihara (JD): Nanoko Kanda b Toshiyo Muto, Cooga b Masami Iizuka, Jaguar Yokota & Kanda b Ryura & Echicera, Lioness Asuka b Bloody, Shark Tsuchiya & Fung Suzuki b Sumie Sakai & Megumi Yabushita
982
98311/14 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan TV taping - 2,100 sellout): Masao Inoue & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Satoru Asako & Masamichi Marufuji, Tamon Honda b Takeshi Morishima, Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara b Jun Izumida & Giant Kimala II & Gary Albright, Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace & Maunukea Mossman b Kentaro Shiga & Jun Akiyama & Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue b Head Hunters, Stan Hansen & Vader b Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa
984
98511/14 Fall River, MA (ECW - 1,607/1,503 paid): Little Guido & Tracy Smothers b Blue Meanie & Super Nova, John Kronus b Skull Von Crush, Spike Dudley b Sal E. Graziano, Chris Candido b Mikey Whipwreck, New Jack b Amish Roadkill, ECW title: Shane Douglas b Chris Chetti, Sabu b Mike Lozansky, ECW TV title: Rob Van Dam b Jerry Lynn, Buh Buh Ray & D-Von & Big Dick Dudley b Tommy Dreamer & Balls Mahoney & Masato Tanaka
986
98711/14 Memphis (Memphis Power Pro TV - 150 sellout/free taping): Baldo b Streak, Shawn Stasiak b Lance Jade, Young Guns title: Erin O'Grady b Derrick King, Vic Grimes DCOR Bulldog Raines, Brian Christopher b Bill Dundee-DQ
988
98911/14 Shiraishi (Battlarts - 524 sellout): Takeshi Ono b Mamoru Okamoto, Minoru Tanaka & Masaaki Mochizuki b Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita, Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone b Mach Junji & Masao Orihara, FMW Brass Knux tag titles: Hayabusa & Daisuke Ikeda b Hideki Hosaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda, Carl Greco & Viktor Kruger b Katsumi Usuda & Yuki Ishikawa
990
99111/14 Odawara (JWP): Erika Watanabe b Tomiko Sai, Kayuko Haruyama b Kuragaki, Yuki Lee & Kuragaki b Haruyama & Chikako Shiratori, Rieko Amano & Cuty Suzuki b Tomoko Kuzumi & Commando Boirshoi, Devil Masami & Tomoko Miyaguchi b Kanako Motoya & Dynamite Kansai
992
99311/14 Rutherfordtown, NC (Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling - 630 sellout): Brad Anderson b Mike Youngblood, Blade d Boom Boom Cannon, Jimmy Valiant b Gary Royal, Madd Maxx & Colt Steele b Jagger & Bruiser Graham, Big Daddy D b Agent Gunn, Tully Blanchard b Buddy Landel
994
99511/14 Hampstead, MD (Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation): Adam Flash b Ricky Blues, Steve Corino b Kid America, Jimmy Jannetty & Rich Myers b Executioners, Morgus the Maniac b Danny Rose, Tom Brandi b Pinky, Doink the Clown b Bob Starr, Head Shrinkers b Bad Crew, King Kong Bundy b Jimmy Snuka
996
99711/15 Zapopan, Jalisco (PAPSA La Zona de Guerra): Lumberjack strap match: Titanic & Gran Apache I & El Rata I b Dolar & Maravilloso & Oscar Sevilla Alda Moreno & Princesa Sujei & Linda Star b Rossy Moreno & Miss Janeth & Xochitl Hamada, Heavy Metal & Latin Lover & Perro Aguayo Jr. b Abismo Negro & Kick Boxer & Electro Shock-DQ, Octagon & El Alebrije & Perro Aguayo b Devastador & Pentagon & Killer, Cage match: Sangre Chicana & Picudo & Nygma & May Flowers & Charly Manson b Cibernetico & AAA Histeria & AAA Psicosis & AAA Mosco de la Merced & Maniaco
998
99911/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 2,100 sellout): Satoru Asako & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Kentaro Shiga & Makoto Hashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Takeshi Morishima, Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi & Masao Inoue b Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Jun Izumida b Masahito Kakihara & Giant Kimala II & Gary Albright, Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn b Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama b Head Hunters, Stan Hansen & Vader & Maunukea Mossman b Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda
1000
100111/15 Revere, MA (ECW - 1,273 sellout): Chris Chetti b Skull Von Crush, Little Guido & Tracy Smothers & Tommy Rich b Super Nova & Blue Meanie & Mikey Whipwreck, Chris Candido b Mike Lozansky, Taz b John Kronus, ECW tag titles: Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley b Masato Tanaka & Balls Mahoney, Sabu b Amish Roadkill, ECW TV title: Rob Van Dam b Jerry Lynn, Street fight: Tommy Dreamer & New Jack & Spike Dudley b Justin Credible & Jason & Rod Price & Sal E. Graziano
1002
100311/15 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (CMLL): Alacran & El Filoso b El Jeque & El Cafre, Rencor Latino & Dr. O'Borman Jr. & Reyes Veloz b Atlantico & Yoshihiro Tajiri & Olimpus, Mascara Magica & Pantera & Brazo de Oro b Fishman & Mano Negra Sr. & Karloff Lagarde Jr., Hair vs. hair: Lady Apache b Tania, Mascara Ano 2000 & Fuerza Guerrera & El Satanico b Lizmark Sr. & Emilio Charles Jr. & Brazo de Plata
1004
100511/15 Ariake (Fuyuki Gun): Hideki Hosaka b Gosaku, Kayo Noumi b Zap Isozaki, Tetsuhiro Kuroda b Hido, Survival War: Gedo & Yukihiro Kanemura b Flying Kid Ichihara & Ricky Fuji, Gedo & Kanemura b Fuji & Hayabusa, Hayabusa & Hisakatsu Oya b Gedo & Kanemura, Koji Nakagawa & Kanemura b Hayabusa & Oya, Hayabusa & Naohiko Yamazaki b Kanemura & Nakagawa, Nakagawa & Hiromichi Fuyuki b Hayabusa & Yamazaki, Fuyuki & Jado & Nakagawa b Hayabusa
1006
100711/15 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (JWP - 1,500): Kayuko Haruyama b Tomiko Sai, Kuragaki & Kanako Motoya b Chikako Shiratori & Erika Watanabe, Commando Boirshoi & Devil Masami b Shiratori & Yuki Lee, Mayumi Ozaki b Cuty Suzuki, Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Kuzumi b Motoya & Tomoko Miyaguchi
1008
100911/15 Yamamoto (Battlarts - 270): Mohammed Yone b Takashi Hijikata, Alexander Otsuka b Mach Junji, Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono b Mamoru Okamoto & Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda & Masaaki Mochizuki d Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita, Carl Greco & Viktor Kruger b Yuki Ishikawa & Minoru Tanaka
1010
101111/15 Bremen, Germany (Catch Wrestling Association): Tony St. Clair b Mad Dog, Joe Legend b Christian Eckstein, Rico de Cuba b Kip Abe, Franz Schumann b Robbie Brookside, Ice Train b Bruiser Mastino-DQ, Cannonball Grizzly b Rhino Richards
1012
101311/16 Lexington, KY (WWF Raw - 17,610 sellout): Head Bangers b Steven Dunn & Reno Riggins, Miguel Perez b Pirata Morgan, Negro Casas b Dick Togo, Apolo Dantes b El Merenguero (Jesus Castillo), Bob Holly & Scorpio b Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor, Bradshaw & Faarooq b Matt & Jeff Hardy, D-Lo Brown b Taka Michinoku, Al Snow b Tiger Ali Singh, New Age Outlaws b Golga & Kurrgan, Val Venis b Mark Henry, Goldust & Steve Blackman b Blue Blazer (Tom Prichard) & Jeff Jarrett, IC title: Ken Shamrock NC Big Bossman, Gangrel & Edge b Animal & Droz-COR, WWF title: Steve Austin b Rock-DQ
1014
101511/16 Wichita, KS (WCW Nitro - 8,908 sellout): WCW cruiserweight title: Juventud Guerrera b Billy Kidman to win title ****1/4, Chris Kanyon b Glacier, Sonny Onoo b Kaz Hayashi, Stevie Ray & Horace Hogan b Dean Malenko & Steve McMichael-DQ, Eddie Guerrero b Rey Misterio Jr., Chavo Guerrero Jr. NC Scott Putski, Perry Saturn b Konnan-DQ -*, WCW TV title: Bobby Duncum Jr. b Chris Jericho-COR, Chris Benoit b Bret Hart-DQ
1016
101711/16 Kofu (All Japan - 4,400 sellout): Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Masamichi Marufuji, Satoru Asako b Makoto Hashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi b Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Head Hunters b Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori, Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn b Masahito Kakihara & Maunukea Mossman, Vader & Stan Hansen b Tamon Honda & Jun Izumida, Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa b Giant Kimala II & Gary Albright, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Masao Inoue b Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga
1018
101911/16 Yokohama Bunka Gym (New Japan - 3,700): El Samurai b Yutaka Yoshie, Michael Wallstreet & Hiro Saito b Tatsutoshi Goto & Akitoshi Saito, Junji Hirata & Osamu Kido b Kengo Kimura & Michiyoshi Ohara, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto b Jushin Liger & Kendo Ka Shin & Dr. Wagner Jr., Jerry Flynn & David Finlay b Takashi Iizuka & Kazuyuki Fujita, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & NWO Sting & Big Titan b Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki & Tadao Yasuda, Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto b Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi, Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka b Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima
1020
102111/16 Tottori (FMW): Flying Kid Ichihara b Naohiko Yamazaki, Hisakatsu Oya b Hido, Yukihiro Kanemura b Ricky Fuji, Gedo & Jado & Koji Nakagawa b Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Gosaku & Hideki Hosaka, Hayabusa & Daisuke Ikeda b Hiromichi Fuyuki & Hido, Hayabusa won Battle Royal
1022
102311/17 Columbus, OH (WWF Raw/Shotgun/Heat tapings): Sean Casey b Johnny Paradise (Chris Hahn), Matt & Jeff Hardy b Steven Dunn & Reno Riggins, Stephen Togo b Dick Togo, D-Lo Brown & Mark Henry b DOA, Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) b Taka Michinoku, Hardys NC Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor, Al Snow NC Gangrel, Big Bossman b Marc Mero, Jeff Jarrett b Kurrgan, IC title: Ken Shamrock b Val Venis-DQ, Head Bangers b Golga & Kurrgan, Steve Blackman b Blazer, Gangrel & Edge b Brown & Mark Henry, Goldust NC Mero, Triangle match for hardcore title: Mankind won over Bossman and Shamrock, WWF lt hwt title: Duane Gill b Christian to win title, Godfather NC Tiger Ali Singh, Bob Holly & Scorpio b New Age Outlaws, WWF title: Rock b X-Pac
1024
102511/17 Osaka Namihaya Dome (All Japan - 2,050 sellout): Masao Inoue & Tamon Honda b Makoto Hashi & Masahito Kakihara, Yoshinari Ogawa & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Masamichi Marufuji & Satoru Asako, Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota & Giant Baba b Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi, Gary Albright & Giant Kimala II b Head Hunters, Johnny Ace & Bart Gunn b Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Izumida, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue b Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori, Vader & Stan Hansen & Maunukea Mossman b Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga
1026
102711/17 Kanazawa (Battlarts): Minoru Tanaka b Takashi Hijikata, Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita b Mach Junji & Masaaki Mochizuki, Big Japan jr. title: Katsumi Usuda b Carl Greco, Daisuke Ikeda & Hayabusa b Masao Orihara & Takeshi Ono, Yuki Ishikawa & Viktor Kruger b Alexander Otsuka & Mohammad Yone
1028
102911/17 Toyohashi (Arsion): Ayako Hamada b Jesse Bennett, Reggie Bennett & Mary Apache b Aja Kong & Faby Apache, Tiger Dream (Candy Okutsu) b Mika Akino, Mariko Yoshida b Rie Tamada, Michiko Omukai & Yumi Fukawa b Gami & Lady Metal
1030
1031 
1032
1033Special thanks to: Dan Parris, Victor Martinez, Adam Pennison, Bobby Baum, Jason Bartelheim, Steve "Dr. Lucha" Sims, Chuck Morris, Brady Laber, Mark Markley, Gene Restaino, Jerry Lane, Steve Wilde, Chris Plano, John McFarlin, Philip Laine, Scott Despres, Michael Carpenter, Rich Palladino, Mark McClain, Peter Jedlicska, James Kloetzke, Aaron Haulman, Andrew Ebbeskotte
1034
1035 
1036
1037JAPANESE TELEVISION RUNDOWN
1038
103910/18 ALL JAPAN: 1. Mitsuharu Misawa pinned Jinsei Shinzaki in 21:32. This was like two matches. The first half was the usual slow start, but this was actually deadly with Misawa looking like a totally shot wrestler. About 11:00 in, things picked up and the second half was excellent, with Misawa looking phenomenal, not in anything he did, but in making Shinzaki look like one of the world's great workers, which he isn't. Misawa used the elbow suicida (called in commentary elbow tope) and elbow off the top. Shinzaki came out with his ankle spin (similar to a dragon screw) and a pescado, and a springboard plancha onto Misawa who was on the other side of the guard rail. Shinzaki did all kinds of hot moves, not missing any of them, and a lot of nice kicks for near falls before Misawa put him away with a rolling elbow and a Tiger driver. The only problem is even the second half of the match lacked heat. ***1/4
1040
104110/25 ALL JAPAN: 1. Kenta Kobashi & Shinzaki beat Misawa & Takao Omori in 19:07 when Kobashi pinned Misawa after a torture rack dropped into a death valley driver, which is something you just have to see because if Misawa's neck wasn't a mess before, it certainly was after. This move is just insane. Only 5:00 aired with the focus on Misawa vs. Kobashi to build up the title match. It looked to be a pretty good match; They then did a video package first highlighting three previous Misawa vs. Kobashi matches (March 6, 1990 with Misawa still as Tiger Mask, October 25, 1995 which was incredible in the highlights and there is nobody in pro wrestling today as good as those two were then, and October 21, 1997, all of which Misawa won via pinfall. They then aired Kobashi winning the title from Toshiaki Kawada and his defenses against Jun Akiyama and Akira Taue in highlight form; 2. Kobashi & Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga beat Gary Albright & Yoshihiro Takayama & Masahito Kakihara in 14:28. About 5:00 of edited highlights aired. What aired was excellent, largely because it was mainly Kakihara vs. Shiga. Shiga is the best heat getting "prelim boy" in the business and both of these guys are as underrated as workers as they come, nobody in the business more so than Kakihara. Place was going nuts when these two were going at it, particularly when Shiga maneuvered Kakihara into a combination triangle choke and armbar. Takayama tagged in for the finish, and Kobashi was good enough that it didn't hurt the momentum at all. Finally Kobashi pinned Takayama after a lariat. Based on what aired, this was every bit as good as the six-man tags from the glory days.
1042
104310/31 NEW JAPAN: 1. Don Frye beat Akitoshi Saito in 5:04. Frye had both Brad Rheingans and Brian Johnston in the corner. Frye looks huge compared to his UFC days. This was the best singles match of Frye's career as Saito is the perfect opponent for him. Total RINGS style matches, just with punches and guys not breaking clean on the ropes, and with super heat. Frye sold great for the leg kicks by Saito to get the crowd into it. They traded kicks at one point with Frye going down from leg kicks. First Frye wouldn't break a kneebar on the ropes. Saito was punching the hell out of Frye and got an armbar. Frye made the ropes but this time Saito delayed in breaking. Frye came back with really stiff looking punches and knees to knock Saito down, and literally destroyed him with punches on the ground until the ref stopped it. He continued the punches after the match until they had the typical post-match bench clearing brawl. Add Saito to the list of most underrated workers in the biz. ***1/2; 2. Great Sasuke pinned Koji Kanemoto in 17:47 with a Frankensteiner. The last half aired on TV. Sasuke did his flying flip dive crashing the back on both legs on the guard rail as he hit the move. He also did an Asai moonsault, connecting with Kanemoto and also flying over the guard rail to the announcers table and crashing on TV equipment. Kanemoto used the reverse Frankentoyota which they called a reverse Frankensteiner. Finish was apparently supposed to be Kanemoto with a Frankensteiner and Sasuke rolling through for the pin, but Kanemoto botched up the first half, and instinctually, Sasuke got up and hit a Frankensteiner of his own for the pin. It's amazing that the previous match was better than this one, and this was a very good match. ***1/4; 3. Kendo Ka Shin & Jushin Liger beat Shinjiro Otani & Tatsuhito Takaiwa in a non-title match in 12:44. The second half aired on TV. It was their typical excellent match. The match had two themes. One, Ka Shin & Liger beat the tag champs in a non-title to set up a title match. But also, Takaiwa had to work hot spots with Liger to set him up as a singles title challenger. Takaiwa blocked Liger's koppo kick and basically turned it into a hot shot on the turnbuckles. He also blocked a palm and turned it into a death valley bomb. Otani and Ka Shin were both top notch, particularly Otani. Finish saw Liger hit the palm thrust on Otani and Ka Shin went for a flying armbar, actually stumbled the first time before getting it, and as Otani just about made the ropes, he blocked him and Otani tapped. ****; 4. Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi beat Takashi Iizuka & Yuji Nagata in 14:30. Second half aired on TV. Nagata was great. WCW missed the boat on him. Like that's something new. Stiff as hell. Excellent match ending when Nakanishi racked Iizuka. ***3/4; 5. Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka retained the IWGP tag team titles beating Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 23:36. It was one of those nights when Muto had his working shoes on and then some. Excellent match which told a big story. After a hot exchange between Muto and Tenryu, Muto delivered a facebuster and told Tenzan to come off the top on Tenryu. Tenzan didn't and the two started arguing, and Tenzan simply climbed down from the ropes. Muto and Tenzan exchanged hard slaps and Muto walked out. It was then near fall city on Tenzan, on his own, who kept kicking out, including Tenryu doing an Ace crusher off the top rope for a near fall. Finally Tenryu had Tenzan trapped in the WAR special (a double armlock somewhat similar to the Rings of Saturn). Muto came running back, but Koshinaka was on the ramp to block his attempted save, and Muto gave Koshinaka a dragon screw and ran through for the save. Muto managed to tag in using a Frankensteiner off the top on Tenryu and a backbreaker. Muto went up for the moonsault, but Tenryu recovered and threw Muto off. However, Tenzan went up top and nailed Tenryu as he was getting up with a moonsault. Ouch. With Koshinaka and Tenzan as legal men, Muto got Tenryu in the figure four in the middle. Tenzan nailed Koshinaka with three lariats but he kicked out and a head-butt off the top for another near fall. He missed a second head-butt off the top and Koshinaka hit Tenzan with a german suplex, but Muto saved. Tenryu back suplexed Muto and Koshinaka german'd Tenzan after a Tenryu chop, but he kicked out. Finally Koshinaka pinned Tenzan after a high power bomb. After the match, Muto ordered Hiro Saito to take off his NWO t-shirt and he threw it at Kojima. Kojima then took off his New Japan t-shirt. Kojima finally put the NWO t-shirt on and Muto & Kojima walked off together while Michael Wallstreet, Big Titan, Brian Adams, Hiro Saito, NWO Sting and Tenzan were all in the ring acting pissed at Muto & Kojima. ****1/2
1044
104511/7 NEW JAPAN: 1. Takaiwa & Otani retained the IWGP jr. tag titles beating Kanemoto & Ka Shin in 19:24. The second half only aired on TV. Every bit what you'd expect and then some. These are the most consistently excellent workers on the planet and also are the most modern when it comes to constantly updating their ring styles. Ka Shin used a triangle on Takaiwa, who tried to almost powerslam his way out, but Ka Shin held onto the move until Otani made the save. Kanemoto, who wasn't the legal man, did a moonsault on Takaiwa and then a pescado on Otani but the ref wouldn't count when Ka Shin went to pin Takaiwa because it was set up by the illegal man. Imagine if that concept caught on. At an earlier point, Otani & Takaiwa did a combination springboard dropkick and power bomb move. Finish saw another double team move of Otani doing a springboard dropkick as Ka Shin went up for a flying armbar of Takaiwa, and then Takaiwa delivered his triple power bomb followed by a death valley bomb for the pin. ****1/2; 2. Liger pinned El Samurai in 16:44 to retain the IWGP jr. title. Samurai really had the working shoes on. He did a tope, followed by a running flip dive over the top, a piledriver on a table (which is one of those thick tables that don't break), and then back in the ring a dropkick to the back of the head followed by a Samurai bomb for a near fall. Liger came back, climaxing with a sick looking super fisherman buster for a near fall. He tried another, but Samurai reversed the move. Samurai came back with a reverse DDT off the top rope followed by a spinning reverse DDT off the top rope. After Liger kicked out, he caught Samurai with three palm blows for the pin. ****1/4; 3. Tatsumi Fujinami & Nakanishi & Kensuke Sasaki beat Tenzan & NWO Sting & Wallstreet in 11:08 when Nakanishi racked Wallstreet. Only the last 3:00 aired. Finish came pretty much out of nowhere. It was watchable, but in no way was it good; 4. Muto & Kojima formed a tag team for the first time as NWO members beating Hashimoto & Nagata in 16:20. Typical excellent super stiff match. Kojima and Nagata are going to be the next generation superstars of this business in Japan kind of like Rocky Maivia is going to be in the U.S. Kojima is already one of the top ten heavyweight workers in the world and Nagata is inching very close to that level as well. They are both excellent workers, and make perfect partners for the two bigger names who both looked good as well in their roles. Just before the finish, it got a little cluttered and started looking like ECW where guys were doing spots on top of each other, which took the match and the heat down a notch. Finish saw Kojima use a rabbit lariat, followed by a regular lariat on Nagata for the pin. ***3/4
1046
1047MEXICO: There will be a major shake-up in the EMLL foundation very shortly largely as Mexico feels the repercussions of the WCW vs. WWF war. Paco Alonso hasn't signed a deal with WCW although they have a verbal agreement and WCW talent is expected to start within a few weeks. This is planned as a WCW, managed by Sonny Onoo, feud with EMLL and not an LWO vs. EMLL feud. In all the hype, they are focusing the feud around the idea that people like Konnan, La Parka, Juventud Guerrera, Silver King, Psicosis and Hector Garza would either be returning or debuting. Rey Misterio Jr. has never been mentioned or hyped as coming in. There will be no matches where WWF contracted talent (Negro Casas, El Hijo del Santo and Apolo Dantes) faces WCW talent, nor is it likely that Casas and Santo, EMLL's two biggest stars, along with anyone else WWF signs to a contract including prelim wrestler Mr. Aguila, Dantes and possibly Rey Bucanero (who was under consideration and may be signed by the time you read this) will be allowed to even appear on the TV show since it airs in the U.S. on Galavision, which is a rival network to Univision, where those wrestlers will appear on the WWF TV show starting next week. The signing of Casas and Santo by WWF is a huge blow to the box office potential of the feud, which still should draw great business, and it also lowers greatly the quality of talent that Alonso can send from EMLL to WCW since that was also part of the deal. Ovaciones had a huge story about Dantes signing with WWF but hasn't reported about Casas and Santo yet. The article claimed the WWF offered Dantes an 18 month contract, but he held out for a two-year deal, which gives WWF first call on his bookings but allows him to wrestle in Mexico when he isn't booked. That's a big difference with WCW which has caused a lot of bad feelings because the Mexicans feel that WCW allows some of its wrestlers to take indie dates in the U.S., but won't allow them to work indies in Mexico. Dantes said he didn't want to sign the contract but his wife convinced him because he was a new daughter to support
1048
1049Super Crazy, who may also be signed by WWF, has left for Germany
1050
1051Bestia Salvaje & Scorpio Jr. won the tournament beating Dr. Wagner Jr. & El Satanico on 11/13 at Arena Mexico to become CMLL tag team champions. The match was described in the newspapers as not being very good, and that there was great crowd heat for the undercard but little for the main event, which was a rudos vs. rudos match-up. In the other big matches on the show, Santo & Mr. Niebla & Casas beat Blue Panther & Black Warrior & Fuerza Guerrera and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Atlantis & Shocker beat Gran Markus Jr. & Pierroth Jr. & Mascara Ano 2000 when Pierroth and Markus both turned on Mascara Ano
1052
105311/20 at Arena Mexico has Scorpio & Salvaje & Black Warrior vs. Felino & Santo & Casas, Atlantis & Lizmark Sr. & Salomon Grundy vs. Pierroth & Fuerza Guerrera & Universo 2000
1054
1055The PAPSA La Zone de Guerra (War Zone) spectacular on 11/15 in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, drew a disappointing crowd blamed because there was a big soccer game in the city although anyone who knows about booking wrestling knows that's an excuse and if you have the show people want to see, you can compete against any event in the city. The main event was a cage match for the Scandal trophy with Sangre Chicana & Los Vatos Locos beating Cibernetico & Los Vipers when Perro Aguayo Jr. interfered and stopped Cibernetico from escaping when he and Nygma were the final two men left. The Vipers all attacked Perro Jr. for costing them the match, bring out Perro Sr. for the save, but they destroyed him as well. Antonio Pena came out to restore order but Cibernetico (who is feuding with Pena in the same American angle except in this case the promoter is the babyface) attacked Pena and destroyed his glasses. They also had a match with Perro Sr. & Octagon & El Alebrije beating Devastador & Pentagon & Killer when actor Guicho Dominguez told face ref Tropicasas about a foul that heel ref Tirantes overlooked, and they wound up having another three-way brawl. Dominguez when he gets involved physically is totally lame, but he's over like Steve Austin in the buildings. In an earlier six-man, veteran Cobarde Sr. did a run-in and hit Latin Lover over the head with a pail and he did a stretcher job to start a new feud
1056
1057Lizmark Sr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera headlines 11/22 at Arena Coliseo
1058
1059The general feeling in the press was the 10/24 OCESA PPV show was the best produced wrestling show ever in the Mexico City area, however the matches themselves were terrible. A Super Luchas editorial stated that the great production didn't mean a hill of beans because the wrestling and the wrestlers working the show were awful
1060
1061The minis, in particular Mini Rey Misterio Jr. (Max Mini in WWF) are getting over huge at Arena Mexico. There will be more to that story as well
1062
1063Alfonso Morales has really toned down his criticism of Konnan in the media now that he's coming back to Arena Mexico. Morales said it would be great to see all the WCW wrestlers at Arena Mexico because it would result in the best matches in a long time. He also called Konnan Cuban in a recent article, after making a big deal a few weeks back that he was an American and not a Cuban
1064
1065Villano IV was backstage at the 11/6 Arena Mexico show, as was Black Cat of New Japan fame
1066
1067They are having a major independent show where nearly the entire gate goes to fund the box y lucha commission on 11/20 in Tijuana with Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Super Astro & Brazo de Plata vs. Apolo Dantes & Cien Caras & El Satanico, a losers advance tournament with the final losers both getting their heads shaved with Pandilleros I & II, Thunderbird & Venum Black, Indio Yori & Firebird and Sindrome & Fantasmas, La Fiera & Arandu & Mr. Tempest vs. El Texano & El hijo del Enfermero & Depredador and more
1068
1069Lady Apache defeated Tania in CMLL's first womens hair match in more than five years on 11/15 at Arena Coliseo. After Apache (Sandra Gonzalez Alvarado) won, the scene was really weird causing some people to speculate that Apache may be leaving wrestling either temporarily or permanently. After she won, her parents hit the ring along with her husband (wrestler Brazo de Oro, real name Jesus Alvarado) and a standing ovation from the crowd which threw some money into the ring. Several women wrestlers who weren't booked on the show came out including Josselyn, her main rival, heel La Diabolica and Lola Gonzalez, and they gave flowers and bowed to her. It was never explained why there was such a celebration simply for winning a hair match
1070
1071The Head Hunters, in their final match in Mexico before leaving for the All Japan tournament, turned heel on partner Emilio Charles Jr. on 11/10 at Arena Coliseo after both Hunters accidentally did a double splash off the top onto Charles when Villano III (teamed with Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000) moved.
1072
1073ALL JAPAN: In tournament matches thus far, on 11/14 at Korakuen Hall had Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue beating Head Hunters in 8:38 and Stan Hansen & Vader over Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa when Vader pinned Misawa in 7:10. 11/15 at Korakuen Hall had Bart Gunn & Johnny Ace over Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama in 15:39 when Ace pinned Takayama with the cobra clutch suplex and Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama beating Head Hunters (0-2). 11/16 in Kofu had Head Hunters (1-2) over Takayama & Omori (0-2) in 12:46 when A pinned Omori with a moonsault and Misawa & Ogawa (1-1) beating Gary Albright & Giant Kimala II when Ogawa pinned Kimala with an inside cradle in 15:16. 11/17 in Osaka had Albright & Kimala II (1-1) beat Head Hunters (1-3) in 11:51 when Albright pinned B after a german suplex and Kawada & Taue (2-0) over Takayama & Omori (0-3) when Taue pinned Omori after a dynamic bomb in 13:11
1074
1075Bart Gunn got over big as fans just wanted to see a newcomer at the Korakuen Hall shows since that's the smartest audience crowd, and they popped when he raised his left hand because they understood about the Brawl for All match with Steve Williams. Haven't heard if that worked in the other arenas but people were expecting that would just be a Tokyo thing
1076
1077Kimala II has changed his ring outfit from the old Kimala wear to an amateur wrestling singlet so he looks like a matching partner for Albright
1078
107911/1 TV show did the 5.6 rating.
1080
1081NEW JAPAN: It's expected that New Japan will announce at least some of the matches for the 1/4 Tokyo Dome this week. What has been announced thus far is that there will be five singles matches with New Japan facing UFO as the big draw on the show. That shows double desperation, as both the idea of UFO becoming viewed as a separate promotion and doing its own house shows looks to be failing miserably, and even if it wasn't, it's too soon to do this angle but New Japan simply has nothing fresh angle wise for its biggest show of the year. Satoru Sayama was asked to pick his five guys, and while not announced, it is believed he'll pick Don Frye, Naoya Ogawa, Brian Johnston, Dave Beneteau and Murakami Kazunari. No word on the New Japan team. There has also been nothing else announced for the proposed 12/30 UFO show at Osaka Castle Hall other than Frye vs. Kazunari as the main event. While not announced yet, there is talk of Frye & Ogawa forming a tag team for the first time to get UFO over as a group that may fight each other, but is a unit, for the 12/4 New Japan show in Osaka. Also they will have all four titles (IWGP heavyweight, IWGP tag team, IWGP jr. and IWGP jr. tag team) defended on the show, which pretty well would give away that Tatsuhito Takaiwa won't be winning the IWGP jr. title from Jushin Liger on 12/4, since he and Shinjiro Otani hold the jr. tag titles
1082
1083Apparently it's being considered a very serious possibility that Masahiro Chono may have to retire because his neck hasn't responded to treatment thus far
1084
1085The tag tourney opened on 11/16 in Yokohama before 3,700 fans with two tourney matches, Tatsumi Fujinami & Shinya Hashimoto beating Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi when Hashimoto pinned Nagata in 16:05 with a DDT, and Genichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka beat Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima in 14:56. That show also featured the retirement ceremony of long-time ref Mr. Takahashi (real name Teruo Takahashi), who lives in Yokohama. Takahashi, 57, in his speech said he was very proud that he was able to referee legendary matches with all-time great competitors like Antonio Inoki, Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Hashimoto, Chono and Muto. Takahashi was a former Japanese national champion in powerlifting in the early 60s, who wrestled professionally in Asia (I don't recall him ever actually wrestling in Japan) from 1963-1971. He joined New Japan as a referee in 1973 and was considered its top official for most of the past 25 years
1086
1087It looks like Tenryu & Koshinaka will defend the IWGP tag team titles on the WAR show on 12/11 at Tokyo Komazawa Olympic Park Gym
1088
1089Big shows for the first quarter of 1999 will be 1/4 at the Dome, 2/5 and 2/6 in Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center, 2/11 in Osaka Morishima Arena, 2/14 at Budokan Hall, 3/11 in Kyoto, 3/17 in Hiroshima and 3/20 in Nagoya Rainbow Hall
1090
1091In a non-tourney match, the WCW team of David Finlay & Jerry Flynn were given a win on 11/16 over Kazuyuki Fujita & Takashi Iizuka when Finlay pinned Iizuka
1092
109310/31 TV show did a 2.3 rating.
1094
1095OTHER JAPAN NOTES: As it turns out, Bam Bam Bigelow did cancel his appearances on the 11/20 FMW PPV show and the 11/23 Battlarts Sumo Hall show. It was announced in Japan that Jinsei Shinzaki would be taking his place on both shows, however, ECW is sending One Man Gang over as a replacement
1096
1097Former superstar womens wrestler Keiko "Bull" Nakano, 30, failed miserably in her attempt to get on the Japanese womens pro golfing tour by shooting a 94-92-186 in the weekend 36-hold try-out tournament
1098
1099Atsushi Onita announced the debut of his USO promotion on 12/11 at Korakuen Hall would include bringing back former FMW stars Sambo Asako, Kaori Nakayama, Shark Tsuchiya, Crusher Maedomari and Killer Iwame (all but Asako are women wrestlers) and that Megumi Kudo would return on that show as a referee. Kudo currently is an anchor on the Samurai TV network's wrestling newscasts
1100
1101Big Japan Hardcore Wrestling is doing a gimmick show on 11/29 at Korakuen Hall where the top five matches will all be fought under sumo rules
1102
1103All Japan women's 30th anniversary show on 11/29 at Yokohama Arena has Momoe Nakanishi & Miyuki Fujii & Zap Isozaki vs. Rie Tamada (Arsion) & Mika Akino (Arsion) & Sachie Nishibori (IWA), Chikako Shiratori (JWP) vs. Yuki Lee (JWP), a mens/women/midget interpromotional match with Alexander Otsuka (Battlarts) & Yone Genjin (Michinoku) & Kanako Motoya (JWP) & Little Frankie vs. Yuki Ishikawa (Battlarts) & Gran Naniwa (Michinoku) & Emi Motokawa (IWA) & Tomezo Tsunokake, Nanae Takahashi & Tomoko Kuzumi (JWP) vs. Rieko Amano (JWP) & Tomoko Miyaguchi (JWP), Yuko Kosugi & Sumie Sakai (the JD team which captured the vacant All-Japan tag team titles beating Miho Wakizawa & Kayo Noumi of AJW as the main event on the Junior All Stars card on 11/10 at Korakuen Hall) defending the All-Japan tag titles in a rematch with Wakizawa & Noumi, Kumiko Maekawa vs. Yasha Kurenai (LLPW) for the All-Pacific title, Takako Inoue & Noriyo Tateno (LLPW) vs. Harley Saito (LLPW) & Shinobu Kandori (LLPW), Zaps I & T (Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe) vs. Eagle Sawai (LLPW) & Shark Tsuchiya (LLPW), a legends of wrestling match with Jaguar Yokota (JD) & Devil Masami (JWP) & Lioness Asuka (JD) vs. Aja Kong (Arsion) & Dynamite Kansai (JWP) & Yumiko Hotta, and the main event has Chigusa Nagayo (Gaea) defending her AAAW title against Manami Toyota in the first ever singles meeting between the top woman wrestler in the world of the 80s against the top woman wrestler in the world of the 90s
1104
1105Hikari Fukuoka, who held both the singles and tag titles for JWP, suffered a serious neck injury which requires surgery and will be out of action for several months. Both titles have now been vacated
1106
1107Cuty Suzuki's final match will be on the 12/27 JWP show at Korakuen Hall
1108
1109Fuyuki Gun ran a Survival War team deal on 11/15 at Ariake with Fuyuki's team (Fuyuki, Jado, Koji Nakagawa, Yukihiro Kanemura and Gedo) beating Hayabusa's team (Hayabusa, Naohiko Yamazaki, Hisakatsu Oya, Ricky Fuji and Flying Kid Ichihara) in a seven match series of bouts that lasted 68:09. The deal is they started as tag matches, and the loser of the match was eliminated and would be replaced by a new member of the team until everyone on one team was eliminated. It wound up at the end with Hayabusa, who wrestled six straight matches, left alone with Fuyuki, Jado and Nakagawa before losing.
1110
1111HERE AND THERE: The 11/10 episode of the Jenny Jones show was a worked segment (don't know if the wrestlers pulled a work on the producers or if it was simply a totally worked show--if you don't know, many of the afternoon talk shows are almost a complete work and by watching them you'll know which ones pretty quickly--and others, like Oprah, are a shoot) with indie wrestlers David Isley and Rikki Nelson. The segment was about a kid who was bullied in high school confronting the bully years later. Nelson played the bully and Isley played the fat kid in school who was taunted and supposedly lost a ton of weight. Nelson played total heel still as he continued to taunt Isley. The show claimed the two (who I don't believe went to high school together in the first place) hadn't seen each other in 16 years since high school. Yeah, except for every weekend when they work together on wrestling shows
1112
1113Steve Nelson is looking to sell his USWF promotion for $175,000 as an attempt to raise capital to open a restaurant. For more info you can contact Nelson at 806-358-1163. There may also be a rising political tide in Texas regarding these shows. State District Judge Peter Lowry of Austin issued a temporary restraining order to stop an 11/7 show scheduled for Lubbock from a different promotion run by Craig Kimberlin of Amarillo and Edward Deluca of New Mexico. Texas Attorney General Dan Morales requested the TRO, claiming, "This is not sport. It is a street fight with no rules, in which contestants attempt to inflict incapacitating injuries on their opponents. It is uncivilized and illegal." The state claimed they were promoting the show without a boxing license, and geez, like is it a boxing show? Kimberlin said that not only are his events not boxing, but they are amateur events sanctioned by the American Combat Pankration Association, however that Association isn't licensed in Texas or New Mexico. Kimberlin also ran into trouble for not having paid tax on prior events he's promoted. Kimberlin claimed the show is exempt from licensing and taxes because it's an amateur event, but the licensing agency claims it's not an amateur event because Kimberlin was paying fighters, referees and judges, however Kimberlin said that no fighter was getting paid and all competitors had to pay $25 as an entry fee
1114
1115Tom Drake, who served in the Alabama Legislature from 1962-1998, had an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution claiming to have preceded Jesse Ventura as a wrestler turned politician. The story claimed Drake continued to wrestle through 1978, while in the Alabama House, quitting when he embarked on an unsuccessful run for Alabama lieutenant Governor. He claimed he wrestled the likes of Buddy Rogers, Danny Savage, Killer Kowalski and Freddie Blassie and wrestled several times on the same cards as Ventura. He also claimed to have been the captain of his college wrestling team at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and a conference champion and Olympic games hopeful along with being a football star who played both ways and played in post-season all-star games and was an All-American and that he's getting back into pro wrestling as a TV announcer. He claimed to have been a Pittsburgh Steelers draft pick, and they offered him $5,000 and the NWA offered him $15,000. If you're suspicious about some, if not all of this information, you aren't the only one. I've talked with a few people on this subject. While I can't say I've heard of every person who ever wrestled, because nobody ever could, I've for sure heard of every name wrestler of the past 45 years and the idea that an active pro wrestler in the 70s would also be a member of a State House and nobody in wrestling would even know about it doesn't add up, particularly the idea that he shared cards with Ventura, who to the best of my knowledge, never wrestled anywhere near Alabama until 1984
1116
1117All Pro Wrestling has ended its bi-weekly Gym Wars shows at its school in Hayward. The last show was 10/31, which due to ticket demand (the gym holds 136 and has sold out five of the previous seven shows) was moved outdoors and drew about 228 fans. At present they only have one house show booked for the remainder of this year on 11/21 in Pinole, CA even though they've hired Allan Barrie to work in expanding the schedule and to help get a TV deal going
1118
1119Greg Price has changed the name of his promotion from NWA All-Star Wrestling to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling after purchasing the rights to use the name of the company Jim Crockett promoted the territory as during the 70s and 80s. At their 11/14 show, they announced that Vader would be coming in for some dates
1120
1121After staying out of action due to the WWF angle, with the exception of the NWA Anniversary show, Dan Severn was allowed back on the indie scene over the weekend wrestling Hack Myers in Gainesville, FL and Jimmy Cicero in Punxsutawney, PA
1122
1123Billy Jack Haynes was back in the news this past week in the Portland newspaper in a column that went so far as to say that "recreational substances and fast dogs are of particular interest to Billy Jack." It talked about Haynes convincing a member of the St. Helens, OR Chamber of Commerce that he could bring wrestling to their village. The guy introduced Haynes to merchants who chipped in money for advertising, loans, and purchasing tickets. One guy allegedly loaned Haynes $3,500 to buy a ring. Then Haynes disappeared. A criminal report was filed and it's been turned over to the State District Attorney for a possible indictment
1124
1125Phil Hickerson, a big area star in the 70s (as tag team partner of future member of the Midnight Express, Dennis Condrey), showed up on the 11/14 Memphis TV show doing commentary. Brian Christopher said he was going to expose Jerry Lawler with "secrets only he knew." They set up a feud with Streak vs. Vic Grimes when Grimes attacked Streak in a match against Baldo. Grimes, according to our reports, is doing great when it comes to interviews. Hickerson is now working as a radio DJ and was apparently on the show to promote a show that evening in Trenton, TN. Anyway, Christopher confronted Lawler and asked if he had two kids from his first marriage. Lawler asked what this has to do with wrestling. Christopher asked what does Stacey have to do with wrestling. Christopher told Lawler the only reason he has Stacey is because he's over the hill and needs to have a bleached blond bimbo with him just like Bill Dundee, which brought Dundee and Samantha out. Announcer Dave Brown walked off at this point and they all argued. Dundee wrestled Christopher, ending when Lawler shoved Christopher off the top rope for a DQ. Dundee was mad about Lawler costing him the match so they had a three-way brawl which ended up with Stacey and Samantha fighting as well. At the spot shows for this company, Lawler and Christopher work against each other on top with Christopher playing his WWF semi-gay character
1126
1127Michael P.S. Hayes (WWF announcer Dok Hendrix) worked an indie for Mid South Wrestling on 11/8 in Houma, LA
1128
1129There was a Cauliflower Alley Club combination show, banquet and convention in Pittsburgh over the weekend. The banquet itself only drew about 50 fans due to the $100 per plate price. The biggest names there were Donna Christantello, Johnny DeFazio, Ernie Ladd, Killer Kowalski, Diamond Lil, Fabulous Moolah, Mae Young, Ivan Putski, Lou Thesz and Baron Scicluna. Among those advertised but not appearing were Fred Blassie, George Steele and Harley Race. Not sure why Bruno Sammartino and Domenic DeNucci weren't involved, although there is much heat between Sammartino and Thesz over Thesz' autobiography because Thesz knocked the wrestling ability of Antonino Rocca and Primo Carnera (geez, from what we've heard, next to Carnera, Jim Hellwig was Ric Flair so it's not like he was knocking a guy who was anything but a boxing created gimmick), who Sammartino was friends with and teamed with early in his career. Thesz was actually kind to Sammartino as a person, but that wasn't good enough since he had the "audacity" to claim Sammartino's actual ability as a wrestler was largely a media creation. Both Moolah and Young wrestled on a Pittsburgh show at the Hilton on 11/15 and drew more heat than all the male wrestlers that worked the show, most of whom were one-third their age
1130
1131The Catch Wrestling Association's biggest tour of the year started 11/12 in Bremen, Germany with Cannonball Grizzly (former WCW wrestler P.N. News), Rico de Cuba (former EMLL wrestler Tony Ricco), Tony St. Clair, Ice Train (former WCW wrestler), Bruiser Mastino (former WWF wrestler Mantaur), Franz Schumann, Robbie Brookside (WCW jobber), Midwest indies Joe Legend and Rhino Richards (who WWF has shown interest in) and Ulf Hermann, who recently appeared on the last ECW PPV show
1132
1133Dusty Rhodes definitely won't be announcing on the Roller Derby show. They wanted more of a "straight" announcing team, and are having try-outs for that position shortly in Los Angeles. Ralphie Valladares, probably the most famous name in the old Los Angeles Roller Games as the long-time coach of the T-Birds, the babyface team in that league of faces and heels, died of cancer on 11/13 at the age of 62. The 5-2 former jockey hopeful was born in Guatemala, known as the Guatemalan Flyer, and was a big hit with the Latin fans for games at the Olympic Auditorium and around Southern California, and later spreading as far as Australia and Japan when the T-Birds became big hits on TV in both countries. He was an all-star jammer in Roller Derby in the late 50s, and switched when Roller Games (a rival promotion) formed a team out of Los Angeles in 1960 and the tiny skater became its most identifiable star, remaining as a top star and trainer of skaters through every attempted incarnation of the T-Birds through the early 90s. His wife Honey Sanchez was a skater, as is daughter Gina
1134
1135Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling on 12/4 in Reading, PA at The Cloisters have Christian Cage in the main event plus Jim Cornette, Reckless Youth and more
1136
1137NWA New England on 11/29 in Chelsea, MA at the Armory has King Kong Bundy as the headliner plus NWA tag champs Erich Sbraccia & Knuckles Nelson
1138
1139NCW on 11/21 in Red Lion, PA has George Steele and Missy Hyatt
1140
1141Empire Wrestling Federation on 12/13 in San Jacinto, CA at the Valley Wide Rec Center has Honky Tonk Man vs. Doink the Osborne and Suicide Kid (Mike Henderson, who was on the Learning Channel special) vs. Christopher Daniels
1142
1143EWA at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME on 11/21 has Tito Santana and Bob Orton headlining.
1144
1145MMA: Plans at this point for the 1/8 UFC PPV show are two signed matches that we've already talked about, Pedro Rizzo vs. Mark Coleman and Bas Rutten vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Four other matches are being talked about but aren't signed--Jerry Bohlander vs. Alan Goes and Evan Tanner making his UFC debut against Carlos Newton in the middleweight division, and Pat Miletich defending the lightweight title against Andre Pedernairis and Mikey Burnett vs. Townsend Saunders (1996 Olympic silver medalist in wrestling) in the lightweight division
1146
1147The planned Frank Shamrock vs. Vitor Belfort middleweight title match for the subsequent 3/5 PPV show is off. Shamrock turned down the fight since he'd made a previous commitment to do a seminar at the Arnold Classic (a pro bodybuilding show which heavily emphasizes trade shows for bodybuilding, fitness and martial arts competitors and products) that day in Columbus, OH. This ruins some SEG plans since they don't want to put Belfort in the octagon until the Shamrock fight just in case he might lose, but they don't want to have two straight PPV shows without either Shamrock or Belfort, at this point the company's two biggest stars, not on the show
1148
1149There will be a six-hour taped UFC special on New Years Eve available to both dish owners and to Canada. There will be several alternate matches that have never aired previously on a UFC PPV show, none of which are particularly compelling
1150
1151The proposed Royce Gracie vs. Mario Sperry match has fallen apart under really strange circumstances. Gracie will do a non-striking submissions only match with no point system and no time limit against Wallid Ismail on 12/17 in a makeshift arena on the beach in Rio de Janiero. According to Royce's manager and brother Rorion, both Sperry and Belfort were given the chance to fight Royce under those rules and backed out. However, Sperry's manager and Sperry himself responded to those statements by claiming Sperry had never backed out and was willing to take on Gracie under any rules at any time. Sperry's manager, Paul Viele, said that since Rorion made those statements, that he had talked to Rorion, who claimed to him that Sperry had declined the match. When Viele said that Sperry would take the match, Rorion said it was too late because a new match was made. Sperry claims it was Royce that doesn't want to fight him. The original challenge by Royce was to face anyone in the Carlson Gracie camp (Carlson is actually Royce's uncle but there is a major family rivalry between Royce's father and his brother), and they picked Sperry as their top fighter. Ismail, who is a top BJJ practitioner as well, is more tailor made for Royce under these rules because his best trait in BJJ sport matches in his ability to garner points by passing the guard, which wouldn't matter under these rules. Ismail isn't in Royce's league as far as submissions and is about the same weight as Royce but likely not in as good condition. In his recent MMA matches has blown up in 10:00 and lost matches with his stamina running out, which is a major factor in a no time limit must end with submission rules. Belfort, while experienced in BJJ, is most dangerous for his boxing skills, so this wouldn't be the kind of a rules match that would be to his benefit. Sperry has the best record over the past year in submissions only tournaments, winning the Absolute and heavyweight division in the BJJ World championships and both the heavyweight and absolute division in the Abu Dhabai submissions tournament last year.
1152
1153ECW: Business remained strong over the weekend with two basically packed shows on 11/13 in Worcester, MA (1,569 paying $31,282) and 11/14 in Fall River, MA (1,503 paying $28,710) and a turnaway crowd of 1,273 paying $21,903 in 11/15 in Revere, MA with mostly the same matches. Crowd was real hot at all the stops
1154
1155For the 1/10 PPV show, besides Shane Douglas vs. Sabu for the ECW title, the plan is for a three-way with Mikey Whipwreck, Jerry Lynn and Lance Storm and possibly Rob Van Dam vs. Masato Tanaka, but those plans will all change weekly over the next month. Heyman is really trying to gear things up for a major show in March with Douglas vs. Taz, Tommy Dreamer vs. Terry Funk, Van Dam vs. Lynn and possibly Justin Credible vs. Tanaka penciled in
1156
1157The highlight of the week were said to be matches with Van Dam vs. Lynn, particularly the Revere match which went 19:24. Paul Heyman is grooming Van Dam for the spot face spot and the crowd already thinks he's Shawn Michaels and he wants him in long matches so when he gets to the spot where he has to main event, he can do a strong title match
1158
1159One Man Gang missed the second two nights after injuring his ankle the first night in the match with Van Dam. They also messed up the finish as Gang failed to catch the chair for the Van Daminator, and actually caught the chair with is face and then Van Dam couldn't kick the chair but with Gang hobbling, they went home anyway
1160
1161They continued to strip Tammy Lynn Bytch down to her bra and panties every night. When fans chant for Tammy Sytch to show her stuff, she pulls down her top but Chris Candido blocks the fans' view, while Francine plays the main event heel bitch because she won't take whatever limited clothes she's wearing off at all
1162
1163Jack Victory had a first operation this past week and it's expected there will be more to come
1164
1165Lance Storm mainly did run-ins this weekend because his shoulder was bothering him
1166
1167Dreamer wrenched his back in Revere but no doubt will be wrestling this coming week
1168
1169Balls Mahoney broke his nose twice over the past two weeks, once in Queens and the other time in Revere
1170
1171Skull Von Crush debuted and looked okay
1172
1173Sabu and Mike Lozansky had a match in Fall River, MA that was said to be the worst match in ECW in many years as they missed every spot badly
1174
1175The ECW CD fell out of the top 200 in its second week out
1176
1177Dudleys vs. Tanaka & Balls continue to have basically the same match every night. The title change match from Queens aired on TV and I thought it was probably a step down in quality from the PPV match, which was only decent. It got over great because the Queens crowd seemed into any brawling, whether the brawling looked bad or not, and they did a lot of brawling that on TV looked worse than their previous matches. The dueling chairs and simultaneous two counts in succession make every match the same, and since fans have seen these guys deliver brutal chair shots, when the chair spots were somewhat weaker, it is almost disappointing, and the damage is still unsettling. Joel Gertner took one of the sickest chair shots you'll ever see in Queens, although I'm told over the weekend he was taking them just as bad. They are trying to push the ideas of the Dudleys as the most successful tag team in ECW history and trying to push the idea of them being the best team in the world. The other TV match was Van Dam vs. Creamer which went 18:06. Van Dam looked great over the final four minutes. Match had all the excessive run-ins toward the finish to make it look like a longer version of a Nitro match.
1178
1179WCW: Nitro on 11/9 in Wichita, KS drew a sellout 8,908 paying $185,109. Juventud Guerrera beat Billy Kidman to win the cruiserweight title in 12:07 with the 450 in one of the best American matches of the year. These guys can't win Feud of the Year since they're not draws and they've never had an interview or a storyline, but inside the ring, there is no series of matches this year in the U.S. that is on their level. Wrath was scheduled against Raven, but Raven wouldn't wrestle and walked out. Kanyon then began delivering his shtick but Wrath gave him the melt down. Glacier came out and Wrath gave him the melt down. Both guys stayed on the mat asleep through the commercial break and they rang the bell for the match. That was really dumb. They woke up and had the match with Kanyon using the flatliner in 2:59. Wrath used a sick looking rocker dropper with Glacier landing face first on the ring steps. Sonny Onoo beat Kaz Hayashi in 1:31. This sucked. Hayashi came out as El Gringo. He was supposed to lay down, as Sonny indicated he'd paid the guy who lay down for him. The guy didn't lay down, unmasked, revealing Hayashi. Of course, nobody knew or cared which killed the entire gimmick. Ernest Miller came out and kicked Hayashi and Sonny pinned him. Which makes Hayashi look even dumber as he outsmarted a manager, and still got beat anyway. The angle sucked the first time on WCW Saturday Night. Stevie Ray & Horace Hogan beat Dean Malenko & Steve McMichael via DQ in 3:45 when Ray hit McMichael with a slapjack, but Arn Anderson ran in and clocked Ray, Horace and Vincent with a tire iron. Arn was arrested and taken to jail so we're told, and you know those announcers would never lie to us. Ric Flair did an interview. Crowd went crazy. Flair introduced Barry Windham saying he was paying his own money to bring Windham back. Eric Bischoff came out and they argued with Bischoff acting like he didn't want Windham around. And people say Bischoff's made nothing but bad decisions this year. Eddie Guerrero beat Rey Misterio Jr. in 4:55 after Juvi screwed up trying to get at Eddie and instead legdropped Rey, causing Eddie to pin him. Because he lost, Rey had to join the LWO. Chavo Guerrero Jr. NC Scott Putski in 3:16 when Bam Bam Bigelow, who signed a three-year deal with WCW on 11/11, showed up as an outsider and destroyed both of them and challenged Goldberg. Goldberg showed up and they had a really wild pull-apart. Bischoff yelled at J.J. Dillon for being at fault for all this happening and they argued with Bischoff firing J.J. and him driving off. Saturn beat Konnan via DQ in 7:04 when the LWO attacked. Just a complete mess. It seemed nobody had a clue what they were doing. Saturn was fighting 10 LWO guys at once and not selling. You haven't lived until you've seen Saturn and Hector Garza's attempts at brawling. Then Konnan challenged Saturn to come back and he did and basically jumped all over Konnan and kicked his ass (Konnan took a stiff punch and was knocked silly legit, and had taken a stiff kick earlier in the match and just laid there so Saturn had to stay on top of him), making Konnan look like a total fool. Well, at least that made it everyone near the ring in that match. Buff & Scott Steiner came out with their own ref, a local lifter who actually was pretty charismatic. They brought out a guy in drag as Rick & Scott's mom and Buff started beating her up because Scott said it would be okay. Rick came out and said it wasn't his mom, and pulled his wig and dress off. Scott Norton showed up and the three of them beat up Rick and the ref counted three. Bobby Duncum Jr. beat Chris Jericho via count out in a TV title match in 4:34. Jericho really did a great job here as he made Duncum look good, which in time will become obvious, isn't an easy job. Jericho finally walked out after bumping all over the place for him. Hogan came out still running for President. Actually I hope this continues and Hogan gets on the ballot so they have to take him off wrestling due to the Equal Time Provisions. They brought out a chunky Monica Lewinsky lookalike as Hogan's "Intern" and she pulled a cigar out of her bra. She went to leave and Bobby Heenan made a remark about having to roll her out in a wheelbarrow. Somehow, Hall and Bischoff ended up arguing and Hall attacked Bischoff for no reason. Hogan then jumped Hall. Kevin Nash saved Hall, which really makes everyone want to see Nash vs. Hall. This week's idea is to build up to putting Hall & Nash back together as a team, since it's clear from crowd reactions that nobody wants to see them wrestle, and nobody has ever gotten into the feud because nobody wanted to see the split and since the split because of Hall's problems it's been all screwed up in execution. Benoit beat Bret Hart via DQ in 6:39 when Hart destroyed his bad arm with a chair. Malenko ran in for the save but Hart destroyed him as well. DDP came out of the audience to make the big save and he did an interview. Wow, an angle that leads up to the PPV. What a concept. Finally, after plugging it for an hour, Goldberg and Bigelow came out and started brawling outside the ring for about 90 seconds before everyone broke it up. Real bad finish to the show. Luckily few people were watching so not many people were pissed off by it. The bad news is they brought Bigelow in to give Goldberg a new contender and by the looks of the things thus far, nobody cares
1180
1181Booker T's knee is still giving him problems
1182
1183There was talk of Goldberg vs. Jericho at the PPV, but that doesn't look like it'll happen. It's become a big problem, as they've done all these angles, but Goldberg doesn't want to sell or have a match (he'll do a quickie squash like all his other TV matches) with Jericho, but Jericho doesn't want to do the same quickie squash
1184
1185Hogan's running for President got far more ink in Japan than Jesse winning Governor, because Hogan is so much of a bigger star. I was shocked at how much pub Hogan's publicity stunt got in the U.S. as well
1186
1187Everyone expects Randy Savage back soon, with a new valet
1188
1189Bret Hart's movie had its grand opening on 11/10 in Toronto and 11/12 in Calgary. Both were said to have been huge successes. Toronto drew an overflow crowd of 1,200 with very limited advertising. They asked for fan response and within a few days, had more than 400 positive correspondences sent. Hart and Director Paul Jay did a Q&A. One fan asked if the Survivor Series finish was a work, because an Internet newsletter claimed that. Most of the audience groaned at even the question. It's funny, because when I saw the movie, the first reaction I had was that once it comes out, because of all the access and all that was captured on film, that a lot of people would think it was a work. If I didn't know better, I'd have probably believed that as well. It wasn't. That isn't my opinion that it wasn't. That's fact that it wasn't which I was well aware of on the Tuesday morning after the show which is why I've never wasted space debating the subject here. There are wrestlers in WCW who thought it was a work because that's how wrestlers think, up until a few weeks ago, and in seeing the movie, recognized that it wasn't. And I've talked to fans who having seen it have the exact opposite reaction, which doesn't surprise me. Hart didn't do the Off the Record show on 11/6. He thought he was going to be on as a single guest to promote the movie and instead was going to be part of a panel discussion. Hart and OTR host Michael Landsberg had a problem over this months ago. The movie aired this past weekend in British Columbia, Quebec, Alberta and the Maritimes. It airs on 11/21 in Manitoba on MTN and 11/22 in Ontario on TVO. Hart nearly gave up his Calgary Sun column which everyone found so perversely entertaining because he tried to make sense out of his own character's storylines in WCW. He did a lot better job than WCW does, but it was still humorous. Anyway, he's finally taken the big step with the movie coming out, and in his column basically saying that he is on TV playing the role of his current wrestling character, saying it's the same as the wrestling character he played in the late 80s but that his favorite wrestling character was the mid-90s WWF babyface version. He basically wrote the column for the first time as if wrestling was an art form like magic and not a pure sport, using the analogy that people know the magician didn't really saw the girl in half. With the exception of his kids, nobody in his family had seen the movie until the Calgary opening and he was concerned about how Stu would take it, since many see the portrayal of Stu as being sadistic. Stu apparently loved it. Roddy Piper, when he saw it, didn't like the fact that wrestling was "exposed," so to speak, because Piper had spent his life trying to pretend it wasn't a show and he's having a hard time coming to grips with the changing world
1190
1191They taped WCW Saturday Night on 11/17 in Salina, KS. At press time all we've heard is that the best match on the show was Guerrera beating Super Calo in a cruiser title match and that there was an angle where the LWO was beating up Kidman and Misterio Jr. made the save. The gimmick is that even though Misterio Jr. is in the LWO against his wishes, he's making saves for people they're attacking
1192
1193Although there has been pub in Australia about a WCW tour in May, Eric Bischoff has yet to OK that deal. A lot depends on whether or not there is an NBA season. If there is a season and they are doing the playoffs, since Nitro won't be a priority that month, they could send wrestlers on a tour. But if Nitro is going to remain in its regular slot, they don't want to send any key pieces of talent away on an extended tour
1194
1195Jim Hellwig was in Wichita but they had nothing for him. Must be nice to pay a guy that much money and have nothing for him to do
1196
1197Thunder on 11/9 drew a 3.34 rating and 5.1 share, so probably due to the excess of doing the Tuesday show, the rating dropped. Thunder was also better than it has been. It seems the taped Thunders may be the best WCW show of them all because since they can't plan anything ahead, they can't do any bad angles so they just have guys do long matches and some of the guys can do real good ones, as they had a ***1/2 Rey vs. Juvi match, and a Chavo vs. Kidman match close to that level and a fairly good Kanyon vs. Malenko match as well. When was the last time you saw three good matches on a Raw or a Nitro? It was hilarious when Glacier did the Asiatic spike and none of the announcers had a clue what to say, and eventually Lee Marshall named it the "choked out by Glacier hold." Brilliant
1198
1199Hulk Hogan was on Don Imus and gave Imus a $154,000 check that Ted Turner owed him for the Red Cross for helping promote the Goodwill Games. Hogan spent his time on the show plugging that he's running for President
1200
1201Curt Hennig no-showed the Philadelphia ticket on-sale on 11/13
1202
1203They are still advertising Flair vs. Goldberg as the main event for Kansas City, Nassau and Philadelphia. As far as the WCW books are concerned, it is still the main event. First weekend advances were strong despite coming off bad shows in the New York and Philly market, as the first day sales for 12/29 Nassau were 6,078 and $221,760 and 12/30 Philly were 8,105 for $159,832. Starrcade, with no matches announced, had as of the first day sold 10,879 tickets for $397,097 and Raw in Baltimore had sold 8,168 for $197,250. WW3 still had a few seats left as of 11/13 with 16,012 tickets sold for $437,252
1204
1205Rumor has Bigelow as the most likely winner of the Battle Royal and to face Goldberg, although that rating for the quarter may change quickly the idea of using that as a Starrcade main event
1206
1207Harley Race was telling people at the filming of the NBC special that it was WCW that contacted him about doing the show
1208
1209The new ref that started at Nitro was former wrestler Brady Boone
1210
1211Giant was on Jay Leno this past week talking largely about the movie Waterboy. Giant seemed embarrassed by his lack of acting ability when clips of the movie were shown, but he came across very comfortable with his size and not like a freak, just like an every day guy who happens to be very huge. When asked about his height, he lied and said 7-3 1/2, but when asked about his weight, he said 505 rather than the 540-550 they say it is on TV. Leno called him Paul Wight rather than Giant
1212
1213After getting married over the weekend, Dennis Rodman is trying to get out of it saying he was totally wasted so it shouldn't count. If that's the case, shouldn't WCW use the same logic to say his wrestling contract was invalid
1214
1215Highlights of the February schedule are 2/1 Nitro in Minneapolis, 2/4 Thunder in Providence, 2/7 house show in Cleveland, 2/8 Nitro in Buffalo, 2/15 Nitro in Tampa, 2/17 house show in Salt Lake City, 2/18 Thunder in Las Vegas, 2/21 SuperBrawl PPV in Oakland, 2/22 Nitro in Sacramento, 2/27 house show at the Palace in Auburn Hills and 2/28 house show in Greenville, SC
1216
1217They are planning a Nitro on 3/29 in Toronto
1218
1219WCW Saturday Night on 11/14 drew a 2.4 rating.
1220
1221WWF: Top two matches on the 12/13 Rock Bottom PPV from Vancouver will be Rock vs. Mankind for the WWF title and Austin vs. Undertaker in a Buried Alive match and if Austin doesn't win, he's out of the Royal Rumble
1222
1223Raw on 11/16 in Lexington, KY drew a sellout 17,610 paying $326,193 (it was the only regular house show of the week and merchandise was $100,568 or $5.71 per head). In the Superastros taping it was Miguel Perez over Pirata Morgan, Negro Casas over Dick Togo and Apolo Dantes over El Merenguero (Jesus Castillo). The live Raw opened with Vince & Shane McMahon along with Rock telling the story of their swerve. Steve Austin came out and said his contract guaranteed him a title match on the 11/16 Raw. McMahon said he already had his title shot in the tournament the night before. Austin named a local Judge who claimed he had ruled the contract was binding, and then they aired a videotape of Judge Mills Lane of boxing refereeing fame, ruling the contract was binding and setting up the title showdown for the main event. New Age Outlaws beat Kurrgan & Golga in 2:53 when Shaggy 2 Dope of ICP (they had actually had a five-event deal that ran out and were given a new deal) came off the top with a chair but hit Golga and he was pinned. ICP & Oddities continued to have their problems. Anyone who wears tights like Billy Gunn does in public is anything but cool in this world. They aired a localized promo for a San Jose house show on 11/22 still listing Jacqueline as defending the womens title. Vince told Pat Patterson to talk to Mankind and smooth things over and bring him to the office. Ken Shamrock challenged Big Bossman to an IC title match. Val Venis pinned Mark Henry with a schoolboy when Henry was distracted by the returning Chyna in 2:37. Chyna had her new face, with her jaw, cheeks and lips all looking to have been redone and apparently she's suffering male patterned hair loss as well. I guess it's still healing because it looked really weird. Patterson came back and Vince told Gerald Brisco to get Mankind. Goldust & Steve Blackman beat Jeff Jarrett & Blue Blazer (Tom Prichard) in 2:09 when Blackman pinned Blazer after a front kick. After the match Jarrett and Owen Hart attacked Blackman as he was trying to unmask Blazer. Brisco came back all nervous about hearing sounds in the Boiler Room. Slaughter called him a wimp and they dared Slaughter to get him. Slaughter left, then came back saying he seemed out of his mind. Vince then told all three to get him. Stephen Regal vs. Godfather never took place, which was just as well since Godfather gets over doing his shtick, but not wrestling, and Regal gets over with his entrance music, but not wrestling. Godfather offered Regal the ho's. Two of them were constantly pulling their dresses up all the way and being over to show their g-string uncovered butts. The third was a little on the heavy side and the audience booed her. Godfather offered Regal all three, and he said he's from England but he's not Elton John and accepted. As he was leaving, Godfather said he didn't think he'd accept because he thought everyone from England were fags, which started an uninspired brawl. Godfather is a riot as long as we don't have to watch him wrestle. They showed Kane choke slamming a backstage technician on the bed of a truck. Shamrock DDQ Bossman in 3:58 when both hit the ref. Bossman didn't look good at all and they didn't work well together. Vince came out and talked Shamrock into joining Rock and Bossman in "The Corporation," the WWF's new Four Horseman like group. Ken and Bossman shook hands. They went backstage with fans asking Kane for his autograph and Kane started choking a plant, this one not looking much like shrubbery. The cops came and who knows what happened next. Gangrel & Edge beat Animal & Droz via count out in 2:14. Hawk came out loaded and climbed the Titan tron acting like he was going to commit suicide. This was easily the lamest angle on either show. Animal & Droz left the ring and they had Paul Ellering begging as well. Finally Droz climbed up to get him, but instead shoved him off. They showed an ambulance pulling out claiming Hawk was badly injured but still breathing. Nobody took it seriously for a second. The announcers ignored it for the rest of the show. It's real lame on its own, but once you do something like that, to ignore it the rest of the show is almost as weird as doing it. Sable did an interview and Shane argued back. Shane is a great heel. They showed clips of Patterson and Brisco wearing shoulderpads and football helmets going in the boiler room with Slaughter to bring Mankind back. Mankind was fighting all three. It was funny, but it was getting old about 20 seconds in. Finally Austin beat Rock via DQ in 7:59 of the title match. The heat was absolutely incredible. Match was good, although nothing special. Mankind came out and attacked Bossman. Shamrock and Bossman were doubling on Mankind. Austin hit the stunner and Shamrock pulled ref Earl Hebner out of the ring. Undertaker hit Austin with a shovel for the DQ. Undertaker was about to destroy Austin with a shovel but for some reason Paul Bearer stopped him. After the show went off the air, Austin gave Vince, Shane, Shamrock and Bossman stunners and Austin and Earl Hebner celebrated drinking beer in the ring together (they must really feel they need to work on Hebner's image as I guess the scene in the movie has gotten under their skins because since the movie was finished, they've started linking Austin with Hebner at many of the house shows with the closing beer drinking scene)
1224
122511/17 tapings in Columbus, OH opened with Sean Casey beat Johnny Paradise (Chris Hahn) in a dark match. Fans hated it as Paradise's offense looked weak. For Shotgun, Hardys beat Steven Dunn & Reno Riggins in a good match, Regal beat Dick Togo in a total squash, Brown & Henry beat DOA when Ellering accidentally hit one of them with the briefcase, Blazer, said to be Owen Hart this time, beat Taka Michinoku in a hot match with the sharpshooter. For Heat, Vince & Shane & Rock opened the show saying that they'll name a new commissioner on Raw. Hardys NC Too Much when Faarooq & Bradshaw ran in and beat up both teams. Jackyl was out with Faarooq & Bradshaw. Taylor before the match once again expressed his love for Christopher. They are talking about doing an angle leading to Christopher & Taylor marrying each other. Snow NC Gangrel when both JOB Squad and Brood interfered. Bossman beat Mero when Continued on page 18.
1226
1227THE READERS PAGES
1228
1229 
1230
1231WWF DIRECTION
1232
1233My appearance on Court TV on 11/18 in which I criticize the current booking direction of wrestling may prompt some comments from your readers. At the risk of sounding pompous, I'm trying to rescue wrestling from itself. I can't destroy wrestling, but wrestling sure can destroy wrestling. I truly believe the current booking direction, especially of the WWF, has the potential to do serious long-term damage to the sport. Industry insiders and other subscribers who might be concerned that wrestling might suffer if it gets too much attention from people critical of it, should, if they are truly fans, be far more concerned about the long-term viability of the sport, and more so, they should be concerned about what the booking we've been subject to by some of the sick minds at the WWF might be doing to our kids. Holding a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger? Pouring gasoline on a pile of live bodies? What the hell kind of sick, depraved minds are feeding our kids this crap, and, more urgently, why are we letting our children partake? As bad as promoters are for dishing up this stuff and as irresponsible are the TV program execs for allowing it to air, parents are the most deserving of our disdain and disgust for allowing their children to watch it.
1234
1235I was disappointed, but not surprised, that so many of my fellow panelists, among them four Attorney Generals of Mississippi, Minnesota, Delaware and Maryland, didn't know, until I told them, what was even going on in wrestling, and how a sport and a TV product aimed at gets was getting away with attempted murder. I think and hope that the sport will get some more scrutiny now by the Attorneys General with whom I spoke and maybe even the cable industry, but that may be naive of me.
1236
1237During a break in the 11/10 taping, I asked the student audience how many of them had seen RAW the night before, when Kane poured gasoline on a pile of bodies. More than half, and almost all the males, said they had and could recount the storyline. It was only at that point that the other panelists began to take notice, especially Michael Moore, the high-profile A.G. of Mississippi. He has an 11-year-old son who is a big wrestling fan. He was sitting next to me and leaned over and told me during the next break that he was going to watch wrestling with his son now to see what I was talking about. I could tell he didn't think what I was talking about was really happening, as it didn't fit his preconceived notion of pro wrestling. My guess is he was thinking, "Surely this stuff this Cruise guy is talking about wouldn't be allowed to air." It was a big turnaround from the reaction I got earlier before the show, when the other A.G.'s and Michael Medved, the conservative film critic and representatives of the American Medical Association and National PTA all basically blew me off once they heard what industry I was from. By their demeanor, they seemed to consider wrestling as a harmless cartoon not worthy of their attention. All they wanted to talk with me about was Jesse Ventura, although that discussion ended when Skip Humphrey walked into the room, one week from being defeated by Ventura. The producers called me a few days before the taping and begged me not to mention anything about Jesse to Humphrey. This discussion showed me how out of touch most adults are with what is happening in wrestling. The overwhelming reaction of the students was a rude awakening for all of them. After the taping, I privately chided them for not taking a hard enough look at wrestling and let them know I thought they were failing in their responsibilities to speak out about this kind of trash and were blinded by their perception of wrestling as a mere cartoon. When I told them so many people are watching wrestling on Monday nights that Monday Night Football ratings were being affected, they perked up a little more.
1238
1239I was actually brought on the show to defend wrestling. It was expected that I'd use the old "wrestling is just a reflection of society" line, advising parents to let their kids watch wrestling and to look elsewhere to place blame for the state of our society. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love wrestling. I wish I could have defended it, but the direction wrestling has taken in the last year or so absolutely appalls and sickens me. I'm starting to feel like an old-timer longing for the good old days. The fact is, as an adult, I love a lot of what is on the air, but am repulsed by the immoral way it is being marketed to children. I'm proud to say my own sister has forbidden RAW and other WWF programming from entering her home. But she is in the distinct minority. What responsible parent can let their children watch such inappropriate programming? And how can the WWF defend what it presents when it knows how many children are watching? And why is nobody objecting to the material being presented? Have we all become blinded by its popularity? Am I the only one who feels this way about the current booking direction? Does anyone else think Raw's content is inappropriate for children?
1240
1241There is just a moral depravity about wrestling, especially on Raw, that turns me off as a child advocate and uncle of four young children. As an adult, I find the show quite compelling, certainly more so than Nitro. But it is just reprehensible that a show like that is aimed at kids. It's adult TV. Great adult TV. That makes me angry, because isn't wrestling supposed to be for kids? feel like this sport is being taken away from the kids by greedy adults like baseball card and comic book collecting. My nephew is nine, the same age as I was when I first fell in love with wrestling, and he can't watch the WWF. I can't tell you how much I resent that, nor can I adequately communicate how proud I am of my sister for taking the unpopular stand.
1242
1243I'm no prude. In my work as a heel manager at New Dimension Wrestling in the Carolinas, I'm as foul-mouthed as they come, although I realize that I have to tone it down myself. I get on the kids because they react strongly and heat is the name of the game within limits. But the way they react is appalling. It's unbelievable. The majority of them stand right there beside their parents and tell me to fuck off, flip me the bird, call me an asshole, motherfucker and do the crotch chop. These are kids as young as six or seven. Where did they learn this behavior? I think we all know. And their parents join in. I chew the parents out as a shoot for being irresponsible and they spit on me, call me vile names all right in front of their children. There was a time when only adults were allowed to attend wrestling at Madison Square Garden. The way wrestling is now, maybe we should go back to that policy for wrestling should book for children responsibly.
1244
1245On the TV show, the politicians spouted off the same old crap about parents should be more responsible. That's how we got to this point. The fact American parents don't' act responsibly is the reason for the crap we have on television nowadays. When I tried to make that the issue of the show, I failed miserably. Nobody wanted to hear that. Apparently the truth hurts too much.
1246
1247The most distressing thing to me was how willing I found myself considering some censorship. I'm the kind of a guy who believes a "little" censorship inevitably leads to a lot of censorship. But I'm at wits end to come up with a solution that doesn't include censorship. It's obvious we need some kind of control because parents and TV program execs, who are supposed to provide that kind of control, have clearly abdicated their responsibility, with executives paying attention only to the ratings gods. I'm still just stunned there wasn't an uproar in the cable industry about the Raw episode where Austin kidnapped McMahon at gunpoint and put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger or the episode where Kane poured the gasoline. I still find it hard to believe wrestlers can get away with saying "Suck It" on a TV show aimed at kids. I'm not demanding good taste from wrestling. That's ludicrous. But can we not even expect promoters to act responsibly? The promoters would say they have a responsibility to their stockholders to maximize profits. I agree. That doesn't mean you maximize short-term profits at the expense of the long-term viability of the company. Look at the makers of breast implants that leaked, asbestos that caused long problems and the Dalkon shield that caused sterility in women. These companies maximized profits short-term. Now they don't exist. That a lesson for today's promoters to consider and learn from. But the history of pro wrestling is one of excess. Taking things too far. Giving the fans too much. Hot-shotting them. Then we fans have to live through the inevitable backlash from the casual fans who are either too overwhelmed or repulsed by it all and the industry contracts and stays moribound for another decade.
1248
1249Had WCW done something as violent as the gun and gasoline angles, I'd have laid into them. They are certainly guilty of racism and insensitivity, and recently, inconsistent booking, but sad to say, all of that is a given in wrestling. The subject of the show was media violence, not stupid, ill-conceived booking. It is the WWF that is most guilty of this although since the WWF has proven this booking produces numbers, I expect WCW to follow their lead in the not-too-distant future. But I hope I'm wrong about that.
1250
1251My guess is people in wrestling will say, "Cruise is just overreacting. Wrestling is just a harmless act." But you can't have it both ways. You can't have my friend Jim Ross tries to add realism and credibility to it in a way that no other wrestling announcer can, and then turn around and say in response to my concerns, "it's fake, don't get so upset about it." Personally I think Ross should be ashamed. Maybe he is. The best announcer this sport has ever known forced to call this kind of crap. He's got to be embarrassed.
1252
1253I'm not advocating wrestling going back to the way it was a few years ago but I deeply resent wrestling being booked in such a way that my nine-year old nephew isn't allowed to watch it. The most puzzling thing to me is this kind of booking is characteristic of a company in trouble, desperately trying to survive. But as far as I know, that's not the state the WWF finds itself in. Why are we seeing this kind of booking? I guess the answer is because it works, because it produces ratings. But at what long-term cost? I hope the Court TV show and this letter make people think about the future of wrestling and help make the changes to the things that threaten the long-term viability of a sport I've loved for more than 30 years. Pull back, Vince. Make it so my nephew can watch Raw again. Or at the very least, stop marketing this inappropriate stuff to children.
1254
1255Chris Cruise
1256
1257Kernersville, North Carolina
1258
1259Continued from page 16. Jacqueline accidentally trips Mero and Bossman pins him with the Bossman slam. After the match Mero dumped Jacqueline. Mankind came out with a leaf blower wrapped in a bow saying it was going to be Vince's Fathers Day present. He gave a hilarious interview and said he wouldn't take Mr. Socko off his foot until he puts him in Vince's mouth. Vince ordered Mankind to defend his Hardcore title against both Shamrock and Bossman in a triangle match on Raw. Jarrett beat Kurrgan after hitting him with the guitar when both ICP and Debra distracted Kurrgan. Sable was doing commentary and it looks like they're already building to Sable vs. Debra as they had words. Shamrock kept the IC title beating Venis via DQ when Mankind hit Shamrock with the leaf blower. Bossman ran in and he and Shamrock beat up Mankind with the leaf blower. Raw opened with Vince saying he had nothing to do with Undertaker attacking Austin, he said the new commissioner would be totally unbiased and will have control of everyone and everything except matters related to Austin. Shawn Michaels was announced as new commissioner and announced the first thing he's doing is booking Rock vs. X-Pac for the title as the main event. Bangers beat Kurrgan & Golga when ICP turned on the Oddities and cut Luna's hair with help of the Bangers, and ICP and Bangers left together. Blackman beat Blazer, who this time wasn't Owen and probably was Prichard, and went to unmask him when Owen made the save. Gangrel & Edge beat Brown & Henry when Chyna distracted Henry and Gangrel rolled him up. Chyna agreed to go out on a date with Henry after the match. Goldust NC Mero. Both Terri and Jacqueline came out later. Goldust set Mero up for shattered dreams, but the ref blocked the way. Jacqueline then hit Goldust low and Terri put the boots to him. Terri then gave Mero the shattered dreams and Terri and Jacqueline high-fived each other and left together. In the triangle match for the hardcore title, Mankind won. Bossman accidentally hit Shamrock with a chair and Mankind DDT'd Bossman on a chair. Shamrock came back and put the ankle lock on Mankind when the JOB Squad interfered and Snow hit Shamrock with the head and Mankind pinned him. Duane Gill won the lt hwt title from Christian when JOB Squad interfered and Scorpio splashed Christian. Godfather NC Singh when Regal attacked Godfather. Venis made the save and left with Godfather and the ho's. Plan is to make Godfather & Venis a tag team called Supply and Demand. JOB Squad then beat Outlaws. It was first announced as a title match. Mankind hit Gunn with
1260
1261the leaf blower and Scorpio got the pin. Shamrock and Bossman ran in and beat up JOB Squad with the leaf blower. When the Outlaws came out during the next match, Road Dog still had a tag belt but Billy didn't. Main event saw Rock beat X-Pac with a zillion more turns. Both Outlaws, Shamrock and Bossman came out but Michaels ordered all of them to the back. Rock grabbed a chair but Michaels took it from him, then hit X-Pac with it to lead to the pin. Shamrock & Bossman ran in to join in the beating and Outlaws made the save. Austin then ran in and gave the stunner to both Shamrock and Bossman. Outlaws then jumped Austin but he stunned both of them as well. Then he helped up X-Pac and stunned him. Then he stunned Rock and started drinking beer with Earl Hebner, then stunned Shane McMahon twice. Reports are that the crowd got burned out early in the Raw taping, but came alive when Austin did the run-in in the main event
1262
1263Hard Copy was scheduled for several wrestling features this week, one of which was on Sable, Debra McMichael and Jacqueline
1264
1265The wrestler at the last tapings as Christobol Martinez was the Monterrey wrestler Zorro as we had figured
1266
1267WWF is trying to put together a connection with Univision similar to its connection with USA. They are trying to get their Latino wrestlers on soap operas and movies on the network, which has a ton of exposure in South America, and could set up tours in that part of the world. The plan right now is to keep the Latin wrestlers off Raw and the other shows so they don't have the deal where the stars of the Latin show are just jobbers on the "real show" which killed WCW making the Telemundo deal. In particular, they are trying to market Armando Fernandez (Tarzan Boy) in spanish soaps in the U.S. to make him a heartthrob celebrity. At this point in time, the idea is to take two episodes of Superastros during every bi-weekly taping. There are no plans at present to expand the show from its 30 minute time slot to a 60 minute slot
1268
1269Savio Vega's neck injury is career threatening
1270
1271When the wrestling story runs in TV Guide which should be this week, it won't be a cover story except in Florida
1272
1273Among others planning major wrestling stories this week are Electronic Media and the Seattle Times
1274
1275There was a TV news profile on Shawn Michaels in San Antonio. Michaels has been making appearances at some Jose Lothario indie shows in his home town of late, although obviously not wrestling. Michaels talked about opening a wrestling school in San Antonio, that he'd be getting married in September, that he has three messed up discs in his back and two bad knees and that his wife doesn't want him wrestling full-time
1276
127712/13 PPV in Vancouver, BC is sold out to the tune of 15,336 tickets for $380,713
1278
1279SummerSlam is now a definite for August 29, 1999 at Target Center in Minneapolis
1280
1281Some major shows the first quarter of 1999: 1/2 in Detroit at Cobo, 1/3 in South Bend at Notre Dame, 1/10 Heat taping in Beaumont, TX, 1/11 Raw taping in Houston, 1/12 Raw taping in San Antonio, 1/17 in East Rutherford, NJ, 1/24 Royal Rumble at the Anaheim Pond, 1/25 Raw in Phoenix, 1/26 Raw in Tucson, 1/30 in Cleveland, 1/30 in Pittsburgh, 2/4 Raw in Fayetteville, 2/5 Raw in Greensboro, 2/7 in Madison Square Garden, 2/8 Raw at Toronto Sky Dome, 2/13 at the NCR Center in Fort Lauderdale, 2/14 PPV in Memphis, 2/15 Raw in Birmingham, 2/16 Raw in Nashville, 2/18 in Lexington, 2/19 in Boston, 3/1 Raw in Cleveland, 3/2 Raw in Pittsburgh, 3/6 in chicago, 3/7 in Milwaukee, 3/12 in Anaheim, 3/13 in San Diego, 3/14 Heat taping in Bakersfield, CA, 3/15 Raw taping in San Jose, 3/19 in New Orleans, 3/21 in Houston, 3/22 Raw in Hershey, PA, 3/28 Wrestlemania in Philadelphia, 3/29 Raw in East Rutherford, NJ and 3/30 Raw in Uniondale, NY
1282
1283Weekend ratings saw Live Wire on 11/14 do a 1.9, Superstars on 11/15 do a 1.6 and the live Heat show before the PPV did a 3.93 rating. Once again, the USA network follow-up shows after Heat got no bump wrestling with Pac Blue falling to a 1.7, which is lower than it was doing before wrestling was in the time slot.
1284
1285WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER November 23, 1998
1286
1287POST OFFICE BOX 1228 U.S.Postage Paid
1288
1289CAMPBELL, CA 95009-1228 Permit No. 5634
1290
1291San Jose, CA