PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 November 8, 1999
WCW HALLOWEEN HAVOC FINAL POLL RESULTS
Thumbs up 41 (38.7%)
Thumbs down 50 (47.2%)
In the middle 15 (14.2%)
BEST MATCH POLL
Eddie Guerrero vs. Perry Saturn 26
Bill Goldberg vs. Sid Vicious 19
Ric Flair vs. Diamond Dallas Page 14
WORST MATCH POLL
Berlyn vs. Brad Armstrong 27
Hulk Hogan vs. Sting 15
Based on phone calls, fax messages, letters and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/2.
The most publicized story ever in North American pro wrestling, the tragic death of Owen Hart on 5/23, is brought vividly back to life with the documentary "The life and death of Owen Hart."
The one-hour piece, debuted in Ontario on TVO on 11/3, in the rest of Canada on 11/6 on the A Channel and will be part of A&E's bio week on pro wrestling, with an 11/16 showing. The film was still having the final editing touches put on at press time, as there are apparently numerous changes from version we are reviewing.
It's a tear-jerker, with a lot of home video footage of Hart with his two young children, Oje and Athena. The most powerful part of the movie is the fact that Producers Paul Jay and Sally Blake, who also produced the highly acclaimed "Wrestling with Shadows," made the point to bring out that this was a real person with a real family who just happened to be a pro wrestler. This portrayal of Hart and all the family home movies made it impossible to dismiss the repercussions of it even though it's a business that has built up thick callouses because deaths happen with such frequency.
Perhaps the most powerful scene was from Martha Hart, talking about why she invited Vince McMahon to the funeral, saying, "I wanted him to realize, you guys are so desensitized from all the garbage that you put in your show you don't even realize the degree of pain that's being caused here, and I want to show you. I want to show you Owen, in the coffin, that he was really gone and he was really taken from me and this is what really happened. This is reality."
This is a story, more about a young family that had the rest of its life mapped out ahead of time. Just a few days, literally, before they were to live out their dream in their new home and a few years before Hart had saved enough money to come home for good, that all his hard work at an arduous job and saving every penny possible along the way to create almost an idyllic family life in the long run, was crushed for good. It's a story that will probably play stronger among women then men, and far stronger among non-wrestling fans than wrestling fans.
For wrestling fans, particularly those who followed Hart's career from its inception, there may be some disappointment in the broad life story of Hart. The movie established that he was a very good amateur and pro wrestler, but it really didn't come across just how good he was at both. It was clear that both amateur and pro wrestling were not worlds he chose, but worlds that he was more or less was drafted into, and that, ultimately, he would never fully escape from. Hart didn't like amateur wrestling. But since Stu's career as a full-time wrestler had wound down, he had more time to raise and teach Owen, who was the best natural athlete in the family, wrestling than any of the older brothers and Owen stayed with wrestling to not disappoint his father. His amateur wrestling, much like Bret's, was living out his father's dream of having a member of the family represent Canada in wrestling at the Olympics, something Stu's shot at doing was taken away by the Olympics being canceled due to World War II, and much as their grandfather (Helen's father) did at the turn of the century in track for the United States. But Owen didn't like the pressure of being an amateur wrestler, particularly because he had to live up to the Hart name in high school and college at a time when his older brothers were already local celebrities on the Stampede Wrestling circuit and his father was the legendary area tough guy who tortured all the football players and weightlifters who thought they were tough. It was interesting to see Hart himself (much of the footage of Hart was filmed when the same company was doing the "Wrestling with Shadows" film in 1997 about his older brother, and you'll notice many similar scenes and photos from that film in this) talk about getting a wrestling scholarship to the University of Calgary (where it never mentions how he was one of the top college wrestlers in the country) and in hindsight wished he hadn't, because his time on the wrestling team took away from his studying time and he felt he screwed up his priorities of what he should have gone to college for in the first place. Since he was on scholarship, when the college dropped its wrestling program after Hart's junior year, where he placed second in the Canadian national championships, he wound up being drafted into pro wrestling rather than finishing and getting his degree.
He had fooled around in pro wrestling and it was more of less a given that he'd try it, given that all his older brothers and several brothers-in-law were doing it, and he took to it more naturally than any of the others. Within about a month or two, he was having classic matches with rivals like Hiroshi Hase (wrestling under a mask) and later Makhan Singh, and was the biggest star in Stampede Wrestling and the hottest young performer in the business. Area wrestling legend Badnews Allen (Allan Coage), rival of Hart in Stampede rings, noted how he at first didn't like Hart, seeing him as a pretty boy member of the owning family who was booked to never lose, but ended up liking and respecting him because he was a good person. His reputation as a ribber was talked about, in particular by Brian Knobs and brother Bret, although not nearly in as colorful terms as would have been possible had their been more time.
Although I don't profess to have been close with Owen Hart, and certainly not over the past several years, the stories that he hated pro wrestling, at least in the early stages of his career, as portrayed here seem exaggerated. He did have his priorities straight and his family was always first. He was notorious when working for the WWF for living a very tame lifestyle on the road and saving every penny possible. He didn't like what pro wrestling in the WWF had turned into over the last year or two of life and was one of the few in the company who would say so publicly. Living for his family first, and his priorities not being pro wrestling first, is a priority structure different from many in the industry, as noted in the film by Mick Foley. Foley was the only WWF wrestler that was part of the movie as there was a company directive, whether in writing or not, for wrestlers not to cooperate with this film and apparently Foley, out of respect for Hart, cooperated anyway, both facts of which speak volumes. But it's hard to believe someone would go all over the world to learn and actually master every different style (something among modern wrestlers, really only Chris Benoit can say they went everywhere and mastered every style) was the same person who hated wrestling. The people who hate wrestling but do so because they can make a good living at it, usually wrestle like Lex Luger, not like Owen Hart.
It should also be noted that I was featured in this, including falling victim to my own personal pet peeve of simplifying the changes in wrestling brought on as a result of a war between Vince McMahon and Ted Turner.
Wrestling fans who followed Hart's career will be disappointed from a history basis. But maybe it's fair the way it was presented because, even though Hart gained his fame inside the ring, his priorities were outside the ring, just as this film emphasized. But still, the story of the life of Owen Hart without mentioning his wrestling trips to Europe and Mexico, let alone his stardom in Japan, even in one-hour form, comes off as incomplete. His career was presented as if he started out and became an immediate star in Stampede Wrestling (although just how good he was in the ring for the standards of that time doesn't come across), went to the WWF as the Blue Blazer where he was asked to lose every match and eventually quit (Blue Blazer was never given the big push, but he was very popular for an undercard wrestler initially and won all his undercard matches for several months until the decision was made to not push him because of his size, and the losses started becoming more regular). He went back home, and when Stampede folded, he tried to get into the fire department and when that failed, went back to work in the WWF, where he was buried in an undercard tag team (the forgettable "High Energy" with Koko Ware) before his famous break came when he feuded with his older brother and he remained a top star until his death.
Footage was shown of the night he accidentally injured Steve Austin with the tombstone piledriver at the 1997 SummerSlam in East Rutherford, NJ, and his thoughts, while standing there knowing he was supposed to lose the Intercontinental title in this match, while Austin laid motionless and temporarily paralyzed, in what he himself described as the longest 20 seconds of his career and ended with the decision to transparently pin himself, saw him question his and others wrestling bred reactions to the tragedy of not dropping the facade and getting the EMT's in and having the match stop immediately. However, the impact on Hart's career, in that Austin, when he became the biggest star in the industry months later, refused to work a natural grudge program with him, was never gone into. Perhaps most eerie in hindsight, was Hart's 1997 conversations and footage from the previous year being shown of his nephew Matthew, the son of local gym owner B.J. Annis and sister Georgia, who was a teenager training to be a third generation Hart family member in the business, and who suddenly became ill with a rare disease and died in the summer of 1996. The irony of Hart talking about how suddenly life can end was a weird jolt, not unlike the footage, looking down, from the catwalk 90 feet above the floor at Kemper Arena, where everyone is forced to leave the fantasy world again to see exactly what the last seconds of Hart's life looked like.
The story about the Survivor Series in Montreal was repeated, with Martha and Bret saying he wanted to leave but was trapped by his WWF contract. The WWF has, at least since his death, maintained Hart was given the option of leaving but chose to stay, trying to use that as evidence that even his own brother didn't think what happened at Survivor Series was that big a deal. From my own knowledge of the situation as things went down during this period, which is pretty detailed, Hart felt trapped between doing the right thing for loyalty to Bret, while doing the right thing for his career and family. He felt his options were to quit wrestling or return to the WWF, and like it or not, pro wrestling was how he made a very good living to provide for his family. I don't believe the option was ever given to him of basically giving back more six months of income as a penalty, but if it had, I also don't think it was a decision he would have wanted to make. He was not as vocal about the incident at the time as Davey Boy Smith was and didn't push as hard for a release. Smith was allowed out of his contract provided he pay the WWF a $150,000 fine--which was later negotiated down to $100,000, half of which WCW agreed after the fact to pay). It was during this period that McMahon threatened Bret with a lawsuit claiming by discussing this situation with Owen he was tampering with his contracted personnel. To soothe Owen's feelings, he was promised a huge push as the company's new Canadian superstar and his career would skyrocket with Bret not there. He was also given a raise from $250,000 per year to $400,000 for the remaining years of his contract. That promised status never materialized for a variety of factors probably most importantly Shawn Michaels' initial refusal to drop the European title to him. Then, before a headline program could ever get started, Michaels suffered a career ending injury. In the storyline, and Hart came back to the WWF for the specific purpose of getting back at Michaels for Montreal (the decision to make McMahon a heel character based on Montreal came about a month later and by that point it was clear Austin should be the one he was married to). He wound up on the short end of a feud with Helmsley, and didn't get over to the degree it was thought. He was then overshadowed by Rock in his next role as co-leader of The Nation, and largely fell into the middle of the cards where he wound up paired with Jarrett in a tag team of good workers in the ring built around Debra as the star.
The last year of his career was portrayed as him mainly saying no to various sexual angles. There were incidents described of suggestions of Goldust sticking his hands down his pants, and of Debra rubbing his crotch, and the more well known angle where he'd have a "crush" on Debra, causing a rift between himself and Jeff Jarrett, all of which he turned down. It was portrayed as him going on the catwalk to do a stunt that he clearly didn't want to do, was because of pressure he'd put on himself for saying "no" to so many angles. His mother described the final time she saw him alive, as him being so disgusted with the direction of the business that when wrestling was brought up, he said he no longer wanted to talk about it.
The aftermath of the death, such as not stopping the show, airing the funeral footage on Raw (and some funeral footage and grave side footage does air in this piece) is not gone into, perhaps not to detract the viewers from what the producers felt was the most powerful message the movie should send. McMahon, who was not made a focal point of this piece, nor was he interviewed for it, although he appears in several clips either from the filming of "Shadows" or various news clips, comes off badly when they air a confrontation where he snapped at a reporter in St. Louis the day after Hart's death when she simply asked about why there was no back-up safety wire on his rigging device.
If you're looking for more answers as to what really happened to cause Hart's death, there are none. Nor are any potential answers even hinted. If you're looking for something to remind yourself of how great a performer this man who died prematurely was, as one would expect an A&E bio to focus on, you'll be disappointed. But this is still a must-see. Behind all the headlines and media posturing at the time, words and lawsuits back-and-forth that are still ongoing, bitterness, passion and even deceit, comes the most basic of reality that after everyone else has moved on, a few people, who have been largely forgotten in the five months since this has happened, will never, even for a moment, achieve their life-long dream of someday being a normal family.
The first preliminary round of the 32-man RINGS World Mega Battle Open tournament King of Kings on 10/28 at Tokyo Yoyogi Gym II ended with four men advancing to the finals, Brazilians Renato Babalu and Antonio Noguiera, along with former U.S. Olympic Greco-roman wrestler Dan Henderson and RINGS regular Ilioukhine Mikhail.
The first of three tournament shows, before an announced sellout crowd of 4,520 (some reports have the real number pegged at closer to 3,600), where the ultimate winner gets $223,000, was the first of two preliminary nights of 16-man tournaments with two rounds. The first two nights each end with four men advancing to a one-night eight-man tournament final in Tokyo in February.
The second tournament takes place 12/22 in Osaka. While there were many fighters with some good credentials, the tournament thus far has been plagued by a lack of fighters with superstar name value.
Babalu reached the finals with an armbar submission on RINGS regular and former Olympic wrestler Grom Zaza of Georgia (that's Soviet Georgia, not Atlanta) in 1:11 of the second five minute round (matches are fought with two five minute rounds with them going to the judges if no submission or knockout is rendered) and a decision win over another RINGS regular, Lee Hasdell of England.
Nogueira was most impressive scoring two quick submissions, beating frequent RINGS headliner Valentijn Overeem in 1:51 with an armbar and following with a win over Russian Iouri Korchikin. Korchikin's opponent, Allister Overeem, was a last second replacement for one of the tournament favorites, Gilbert Yvel who apparently was there and injured just before fight time (which may very well be true in this instance but 90% of the time something like that is announced it is usually a last minute money problem). Yvel holds wins this year over both Semmy Schiltt and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Nogueira, said to be the best ground technician in the tournament, beat Korchikin with an armbar in 40 seconds.
Henderson, who represented the United States in both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics at 181 pounds in Greco-roman wrestling and remains active as a world class wrestler today, has never lost an MMA rules match including winning tournaments in both the UFC and in Brazil (his lone loss in this genre was in a pure submission rules match to Frank Shamrock in 40 seconds), knocked out Gogiteze Bakouri in 2:17 with a knee and followed winning a decision over RINGS regular and former UWFI pro wrestler Hiromitsu Kanehara. Kanehara in his preliminary round had ended the long winning streak of UFC regular Jeremy Horn (I believe it was something like a 25 match winning streak although that streak was under different rules than this match), who would have had a pretty substantial size edge on the 5-6, 208-pound Kanehara (Horn is 6-2 and 230 pounds), with a victory via decision in what was called a very close fight.
Mikhail defeated Justin McCulley, who has done some pro wrestling for the UFO organization as well as worked indies in California (Justin Sane) with a footlock in 4:48, and followed beating another pro wrestler, Minneapolis indie Brad Kohler (who had Road Warrior Animal, a pro wrestling legend in Japan, as his second), with an armbar in 2:16. Kohler, coming off one of the most devastating knockout wins in UFC history on 9/24, scored the biggest "name" win of his shoot career in the first round beating Yoshihisa Yamamoto with a cross face submission across the nose in just 1:57 after doing heavy damage, including possibly breaking Yamamoto's ribs, with body punches.
Horn and Kohler were both booked through Monte Cox, the Extreme Challenge promoter who also acted as a judge, which was controversial in itself as he judged matches involving his own fighters including ruling Horn vs. Kanehara as a draw. Both worked the previous UFC show, and there was apparently an informal talent trade type of allowance made in that they worked this tournament and in exchange, RINGS President Akira Maeda allowed Kohsaka to work the Japanese UFC PPV show on 11/14 (Maeda had allowed Kohsaka to work previous UFC shows, but none were in the Japanese market).
Aaron Alvarado Nieves, who wrestled under the name Brazo Cibernetico and had gained his most fame in the early 80s as Robin Hood of Los Arqueros, passed away on the late afternoon of 10/27 from acute pancreatitis.
Alvarado, who was 33, was hospitalized five days earlier when his pancreas shut down and immediately was labeled in grave condition. There were no immediate hints as to what caused the disease, which in most cases is caused by either gallstones or alcohol abuse. In about 15 percent of the cases the cause is unknown. His funeral was held the next afternoon in Mexico City, attended by all his family members except his most famous brother (who couldn't get back from Acapulco, where he was wrestling, in time).
As the son of one of the biggest stars in the history of Mexican pro wrestling, Black Shadow, who was also known as Alejandro Cruz, he was part of perhaps the largest pro wrestling family in existence, with about a dozen brothers who wrestled in Mexico, the most famous of them being Super Porky, Brazo de Plata. Many of whom married woman wrestlers. He followed his older brothers, who became one of Mexico's most famous trios in history, Los Brazos (Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata & El Brazo) into wrestling, and had his first pro match at the age of 13, back in 1979. Unlike other younger brothers, he didn't take the Brazo moniker, and instead was part of a high flying team called Los Arqueros, which means The Archers, with Danny Boy and Lasser, a comedy team aimed at young children. On January 21, 1990, they became the first comedy team ever to win the Mexican National trios championships when they defeated Los Temerarios (Black Terry & Jose Luis Feliciano & Shu El Guerrero in Mexico City, holding them until August 17, 1990 when they lost them to Los Thundercats, Leono & Tigro & Pantro. After losing his Robin Hood mask, he wrestled for several years as Super Atomo, before losing his mask and finally donning the Brazo name. His final match was 10/17 teaming with Rocky Santana & Kid Flash vs. Danny Boy & Gallego & Bronco in Tlalnepantla. He had three sons, the youngest, Robin, named after his first wrestling character, who is now 10, is interested in becoming a third generation wrestler.
He was rushed to El Hospital de Urgencias de la Villa in Mexico City on 10/22 when his pancreas shut down.
In a semi-shoot angle, after Vader captured his second Triple Crown world championship in All Japan on 10/30 at the company's 27th Anniversary show at Budokan Hall, the foreign wrestlers in the company began a push to get Vader elected Pro Wrestling MVP.
Vader this past year won the Triple Crown twice along with the Champion Carnival tournament, and headlined before the biggest crowd in All Japan history. The official Japanese media pro wrestling awards are highly political and structured. A foreign wrestler can't win the MVP award, much like a junior heavyweight wrestler can't, nor can a junior heavyweight match, no matter how good, win the Match of the Year award. In addition, the politics dictate that the awards are spread around the various companies. There is little doubt that Vader was the MVP of Japan this year, because his joining the company, providing Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi with a new main event opponent, was the biggest thing of the year and kept the company from falling even farther at the box office, particularly after the death of Shohei Baba and the fact that Toshiaki Kawada missed most of the year with injuries.
Vader was given the title in 12:12 in the main event of the show using a power bomb as the finish. Vader used three released german suplexes and two splashes early for near falls. Misawa came back with two german suplexes of his own and also hit his elbow suicida, a tope ending with an elbow smash. Vader power bombed Misawa outside the ring, to set up a pin attempt. Misawa came back with a missile dropkick and his Tiger driver finisher, but Vader kicked out, before Vader came back with the power bomb to end what was reported as a great show.
Before the match, Motoko Baba, holding a photo of her husband, along with Stan Hansen, Akira Taue and Misawa came to ringside for a ceremony honoring the company's anniversary and Baba, who started what was one of the most successful pro wrestling companies in history back in 1972. At that point they announced the teams for the annual World Tag League tournament, the traditional highlight tour of the year, which this year opens 11/13 at Korakuen Hall with the finals on 12/3 at Budokan Hall.
On paper, it appears the current Double Tag Team champions, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama, who retained their titles in the previous match beating Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori in 14:54 when Kobashi pinned Takayama after a lariat, would be favored to repeat last year's win. The other teams will be Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa, Takayama & Omori, Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue, Taue & Hansen, Johnny Ace & Mike Burton (formerly Bart Gunn), Vader & Johnny Smith and Gary Albright & Wolf Hawkfield.
Due to some computer problems from the weekend, the Monday night ratings for 11/1 were unavailable at press time.
We also don't have much in the way of details on the Thursday ratings for 10/28 other than Smackdown doing a 4.3 and Thunder doing a 2.2.
For the weekend numbers, Livewire did a 1.8, Superstars did a 1.9 and Sunday Night Heat did a 2.78. The Heat number was a significant drop from the normal figure which has been in the mid-3s to mid-4s in recent weeks. The HUT levels (number of people watching television overall at that hour) was not down from usual levels so that eliminates the fewer people watching TV because of Halloween explanation for that rating. WCW Saturday Night was just above its record low levels doing a 1.4.
It was clearly bad news for ECW on 10/29, as its audience dropped 34% from the previous two weeks' high water marks, doing an 0.79 rating and 1.4 share. There's no real explanation, as it opened with about a 30% lower audience than the show has opened with the previous few weeks. It also declined slightly after its first quarter peak as the show went on, which is becoming typical for ECW (it's now three straight weeks with the same audience declining from the first quarter pattern) but is unusual among wrestling shows that go unopposed by another wrestling show. Even WCW Saturday Night, the least talked about wrestling show every week, generally has the audience grow throughout the show. For the first time, it was also not the highest rated show on TNN for the night, as the Professional Bull Riding world championships that aired from 10 p.m. to midnight did an 0.96. RollerJam, which followed ECW, did an 0.60.
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MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULE 11/5 TO 12/5
11/5 Seikendo Yokohama Bunka Gym (Sayama vs. Otsuka)
11/7 ECW November to Remember PPV Buffalo Bert Flickenger Center (Dreamer & Raven & Sandman vs. Rhino & Credible & Storm)
11/7 Michinoku Pro tag team tournament finals Sendai New World Tennis Club
11/8 WWF Raw is War State College, PA Bryce Jordan Center
11/8 WCW Nitro Indianapolis Conseco Fieldhouse
11/9 WWF Smackdown tapings Baltimore Arena
11/10 WCW Thunder Fort Wayne, IN War Memorial Auditorium (Sting vs. Hart)
11/13 All Japan Worlds Strongest Tag League opening night Tokyo Korakuen Hall
11/13 ECW TNN tapings Binghamton, NY Broome County Arena
11/14 WWF Survivor Series Detroit Joe Louis Arena (Helmsley vs. Austin vs. Rock)
11/14 UFC Japan PPV (air date on PPV in U.S. is 11/19) Tokyo Bay NK Hall (Randleman vs. Williams)
11/15 WWF Raw is War Pittsburgh Civic Arena
11/15 WCW Nitro Little Rock, AR Alltel Arena
11/16 WWF Smackdown tapings Cincinnati Gardens
11/18 ECW Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
11/19 WCW Cleveland State University Convocation Center (Goldberg vs. Luger)
11/20 WWF Toronto Skydome
11/21 WCW Mayhem PPV Toronto Air Canada Center (WCW title tournament finals)
11/21 Dream Stage Entertainment Pride Eight Japan only PPV Yokohama Arena (Enson Inoue vs. Kerr)
11/21 WWF Montreal Molson Center
11/22 WWF Raw is War Buffalo Marine Midland Arena
11/22 WCW Nitro Auburn Hills, MI The Palace
11/23 FMW Anniversary show Yokohama Arena (Tanaka vs. Fuyuki)
11/23 WWF Smackdown tapings Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
11/26 WWF San Jose Arena
11/27 WWF San Francisco Cow Palace
11/27 ECW Philadelphia ECW Arena
11/28 Pancrase Osaka Namihaya Dome (Kondo vs. Schiltt)
11/29 WWF Raw is War Los Angeles Staples Arena
11/29 WCW Nitro Denver Pepsi Center
11/30 WWF Smackdown Anaheim, CA Arrowhead Pond
12/2 WCW Thunder Topeka, KS Expocentre
12/3 All Japan Real World Tag League tournament finals Tokyo Budokan Hall
12/4 WWF New York Madison Square Garden
12/5 WCW Chicago United Center (Goldberg vs. Luger)
RESULTS
10/24 Dayton, OH (NWA Ohio West Virginia): Super Hentai won three-way over Shirley Doe and Vince Viper, Awesome Arpin b Goonberg, Doink the Clown b Lord Zoltan-DQ, Logan Caine b Wife Beater, Savannah Slim b T.Rantula, Bushwhackers b Big Neil the Real Deal & Bigg Playa
10/26 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (EMLL): Mascarita Magica & Ultimo Dragoncito b Pequeno Pierroth & Fierito, La Diabolica & Amapola b Flor Metalica & Lady Apache, Solar & Solar II & Olimpus b El Hijo del Gladiador & Virus & Super Cacao, Brazo de Oro & Tigre Blanco & Astro Rey Jr. b Karloff Lagarde Jr. & Halcon Negro Jr. & Valentin Mayo, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Tinieblas Jr. & Ringo Mendoza b Black Warrior & Blue Panther & Cien Caras
10/27 Fukushima (All Japan - 1,800): Masao Inoue b Takeshi Morishima, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi b Tamon Honda & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Daisuke Ikeda & Jinsei Shinzaki b Maunukea Mossman & Jun Izumida, Johnny Smith & Mike Burton & Johnny Ace b Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori & Satoru Asako, Akira Taue & Stan Hansen b Gary Albright & Giant Kimala II, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga b Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara
10/27 Koriyama (Michinoku Pro - 384): Chaparita Asari b Yuka Nakamura, Tiger Mask & Kendo b Yoshikazu Taru & Suwa-DQ, Fake Naniwa & Sasuke the Great b Minoru Fujita & Gran Hamada, Magnum Tokyo & Masaaki Mochizuki & Great Sasuke b Curry Man & Cima & Sumo Dandy Fuji
10/27 Toyohashi (Big Japan): Masayoshi Motegi & Fantastik b Kato Kung Lee Jr. & Ryuji Ito, Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa b Daisuke Sekimoto & Daikokubo Benkei, Mike Samples & Mens Teioh b Abdullah the Butcher & Black Samples, Winger b Kamikaze, Shadow WX b Shunme Matsuzaki
10/27 Jeffersonville, IN (NWA Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling): Chris Alexander b Scotty Sabre-DQ, Flash b Low Rider, Jebediah b Mr. Black, Jason Lee & Rip Rogers b American Eagle & B.J. Payne, The Damaja & Russ McCullough b Stefan Gamlin & Flash, Rob Conway & Bull Buchanan b Trailer Park Trash & Rico Constantino
10/27 Glen Burnie, MD (Maryland Championship Wrestling - 900): Gregory Martin b 2 Dope, Quinn Nash b Adam Flash to win MCW cruiserweight title, Julio Fantastico b Dino Divine, Romeo Valentino b Danny Rose, 2 Dope & Sydeswype b Martin & Qeenan Creed, Valentino b Bruiser to win MCW title, Gillberg & Andy Blacksmith b Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers
10/28 Tokyo Yoyogi Gym II (RINGS World Mega Battle Open tournament A block - 4,520 sellout): Lee Hasdell b Lavazanov Ashmed, Renato Babalu b Grom Zaza, Iouri Korchikin b Gilbert Yvel, Antonio Nogueira b Valentijn Overeem, Hiromitsu Kanehara b Jeremy Horn, Dan Henderson b Gogiteze Bakouri, Ilioukhine Mikhail b Justin McCulley, Brad Kohler b Yoshihisa Yamamoto, Babalu b Hasdell, Nogueira b Korchikin, Henderson b Kanehara, Mikhail b Kohler
10/28 San Diego (WCW Thunder - 5,091/1,451 paid): Juventud Guerrera NC Evan Karagis, Maestro (Rob Kellum) b Prince Iaukea, Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn b Silver King & Dandy, Stevie Ray b Curly Bill, Konnan & Eddie Guerrero & Billy Kidman b David Taylor & Chris Adams & Steve Regal, Lash Leroux b Chavo Guerrero Jr., Berlyn b Jerry Flynn, Buff Bagwell b Scotty Riggs, Chris Benoit b Sid Vicious-DQ, Evan Karagis & Madusa b Lash Leroux & Mona, Berlyn b Iaukea, Disco Inferno b Bill, Bagwell b Flynn & Brian Knobs, Saturn won four-way over Benoit, Vicious and Konnan
10/28 Tattori (New Japan - 3,400 sellout): Shinjiro Otani b Shinya Makabe, Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto b Kazuyuki Fujita & Takashi Iizuka, Tadao Yasuda & Kensuke Sasaki b Manabu Nakanishi & Shiro Koshinaka, El Samurai & Jushin Liger b Dr. Wagner Jr. & Kendo Ka Shin, AKIRA & Michael Wallstreet & NWO Sting & Masahiro Chono b Hiro Saito & Satoshi Kojima & Keiji Muto & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
10/28 Cleveland (ECW - 1,000): Danny Doring & Roadkill b C.W. Anderson & Bill Whiles, Nova & David Cash b Dupp Brothers, Spike Dudley b Simon Diamond, Balls Mahoney b Tracy Smothers, ECW title: Mike Awesome b P.N. News, Super Crazy b Tony DeVito, Yoshihiro Tajiri won three-way over Little Guido and Jesus Cristobol, Justin Credible b Jerry Lynn, Sabu b Rhino
10/28 Yonezawa (Michinoku Pro - 311 sellout): Beef Wellington b Kazuyu Yuasu, Chaparita Asari b Yuka Nakamura, Kendo & Great Sasuke b Fake Naniwa & Cima-DQ, Gran Hamada & Minoru Fujita b Curry Man & Sumo Dandy Fuji, Magnum Tokyo & Masaaki Mochizuki & Tiger Mask b Yoshikazu Taru & Suwa & Sasuke the Great
10/28 Numazu (Big Japan): Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa b Daisuke Sekimoto & Daikokubo Benkei, Abdullah the Butcher & Crazy Sheik & Masayoshi Motegi b Shadow WX & Winger & Mens Teioh, Kamikaze & Shunme Matsuzaki b Mike Samples & Jun Kasai
10/28 Kanazawa (All Japan women): Momoe Nakanishi b Kayo Noumi, Zap T b Nanae Takahashi, Zap I b Kumiko Maekawa, Kyoko Inoue b Nakanishi, Manami Toyota & Miho Wakizawa b Miyuki Fujii & Yumiko Hotta
10/28 Bristol, England (British Wrestling Federation - 522): Pete Collins b Kashmir Singh, Darren Walsh b Mr. Flash (Phil Barker), Shane Stevens b Ian Diamond, Earthquake (John Tenta) & Andy Flyer b Spinner McKenzie & Corporal Punishment (Jason Berry)
10/29 Okayama (New Japan - 3,500 sellout): Katsuyoshi Shibata b Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinya Makabe b Wataru Inoue, El Samurai b Black Cat, Tadao Yasuda & Kengo Kimura b Takashi Iizuka & Osamu Kido, Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani & Koji Kanemoto b Dr. Wagner Jr. & Kendo Ka Shin & Jushin Liger, Manabu Nakanishi b Kazuyuki Fujita, Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto b Shiro Koshinaka & Kensuke Sasaki, Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima & Keiji Muto b AKIRA & Michael Wallstreet & NWO Sting & Masahiro Chono
10/29 Tsukuba (All Japan - 1,800): Makoto Hashi d Masamichi Marufuji, Daisuke Ikeda & Tamon Honda b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Kentaro Shiga, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi b Takeshi Morishima & Mitsuo Momota & Rusher Kimura, Mike Burton b Jun Izumida, Jinsei Shinzaki & Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama b Johnny Smith & Gary Albright & Giant Kimala II, Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori b Maunukea Mossman & Johnny Ace, Masahito Kakihara & Yoshinari Ogawa & Mitsuharu Misawa b Masao Inoue & Stan Hansen & Akira Taue
10/29 Warren, OH (ECW - 1,200): Rod Price b Scott Warton, David Cash & Nova b Dupp Brothers, Yoshihiro Tajiri won three-way over Jesus Cristobol and Super Crazy, Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney b C.W. Anderson & Bill Whiles, Spike Dudley & Tracy Smothers b Danny Doring & Roadkill, Jerry Lynn b Little Guido, Tommy Dreamer b Simon Diamond, ECW title: Mike Awesome b Rhino, Sabu b Justin Credible
10/29 Mexico City Arena Mexico (EMLL TV taping): Starman & Mr. Hoy b Rencor Latino & Dr. O'Borman Jr., Lizmark Sr. & Antifaz & Tony Rivera b El Satanico & Ultimo Guerrero & Rey Bucanero-DQ, Atlantis & Felino & Mr. Niebla b Shocker & Zumbido & Bestia Salvaje-DQ, Negro Casas d Blue Panther, Casas d Fuerza Guerrera, Casas b Scorpio Jr., Pierroth Jr. & Villano III & Guerrera won three-way over Brazo de Plata & Tarzan Boy & Emilio Charles Jr. and Apolo Dantes & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000
10/29 Akita (Michinoku Pro - 303 sellout): Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Chaparita Asari b Yuka Nakamura, Yoshikazu Taru & Cima b Minoru Fujita & Kendo, Curry Man & Sumo Dandy Fuji b Magnum Tokyo & Tiger Mask-COR, Masaaki Mochizuki & Gran Hamada & Great Sasuke b Sasuke the Great & Suwa & Fake Naniwa
10/29 Iida (JD): Bloody b Sachie Abe, Cooga & Hiroyo Muto b Yuki Morimatsu & Kazuki, Lioness Asuka b Morimatsu, Yuko Kosugi & Megumi Yabushita & Sumie Sakai b Bloody & Saya Endo & Fang Suzuki
10/29 Suwa (All Japan women - 200): Kayo Noumi b Miyuki Fujii, Kumiko Maekawa b Miho Wakizawa, Manami Toyota b Nanae Takahashi, Zaps I & T b Momoe Nakanishi & Yumiko Hotta
10/29 San Francisco (All Pro Wrestling): Jimmy Ripp won Battle Royal, Boom Boom Comini b Vanilla Frost, Snott Brothers b Freak Show, Frank Murdoch b Larry Brisco, Dic Grimes b J.J. Perez, Bushwhackers b Ballard Brothers, Westside Playaz 2000 b Bison Smith & Maxx Justice, Michael Modest b Tony Jones-DQ
10/29 Reseda, CA (Xtreme Pro Wrestling): Kid Kaos b Cybil, Phenomenal Phil b Jimmy the Homeless Guy, Carlito Montana NC Pancho Killa, Supreme NC Donovan Morgan, Dick Dudley b Jake Lawless-DQ, Pit Bulls d West Side NGZ, Damien Steele won Battle Royal
10/30 Tokyo Budokan Hall (All Japan - 16,300 sellout): Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinobu Kanemaru b Makoto Hashi & Masamichi Marufuji 17:00, Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue b Giant Kimala II & Jun Izumida 13:01, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi b Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota & Satoru Asako 12:41, Yoshinari Ogawa & Masahito Kakihara & Daisuke Ikeda b Takeshi Morishima & Johnny Smith & Gary Albright 12:55, Akira Taue & Stan Hansen & Jinsei Shinzaki b Johnny Ace & Mike Burton & Maunukea Mossman 16:40, PWF & Intl tag titles: Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama b Yoshihiro Takayama & Takao Omori 14:54, Triple Crown: Vader b Mitsuharu Misawa to win title 12:12
10/30 New York Madison Square Garden (WWF - 16,678 sellout): Godfather b Viscera *, D-Lo Brown b Mideon 1/2*, Big Show DCOR Big Bossman DUD, WWF tag titles: Bob & Crash Holly b New Age Outlaws **1/2, Mankind b Val Venis *1/2, X-Pac b Kane *1/2, European title: British Bulldog b Test *, Rock b Chris Jericho **, Edge & Christian & Matt & Jeff Hardy b Dudleys & Acolytes **, WWF title: Steve Austin b Hunter Hearst Helmsley-DQ
10/30 Dayton, OH (ECW TNN tapings - 2,500): Simon Diamond b Nova, Danny Doring & Roadkill won three-way over Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney and Bill Whiles & C.W. Anderson, Jerry Lynn b Steve Corino, Chris Candido b Spike Dudley, Yoshihiro Tajiri b Super Crazy, Sabu b Tracy Smothers, ECW TV title: Rob Van Dam b Little Guido, Sandman NC Rhino, ECW title: Mike Awesome b Taz
10/30 Imabari (New Japan - 2,000): Hiroshi Tanahashi b Wataru Inoue, Kazuyuki Fujita b Shinya Makabe, El Samurai & Jushin Liger b Black Cat & Koji Kanemoto, Dr. Wagner Jr. & Kendo Ka Shin b Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Shinjiro Otani, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi & Takashi Iizuka b Tadao Yasuda & Osamu Kido & Shiro Koshinaka, Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto b Kengo Kimura & Kensuke Sasaki, Hiro Saito & Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Keiji Muto b AKIRA & NWO Sting & Michael Wallstreet & Masahiro Chono
10/30 Memphis (Power Pro TV): Alan Steele b Bulldog Raines, Loose Cannon & Ken Raper b Brian Christopher & Spellbinder, Robbie D b Mic Tierney, Steve Bradley b Derrick King, Lance Jade b Blade Boudreaux, Ali b Glen Kulka-DQ
10/30 Shiroishi (Michinoku Pro - 285): Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Chaparita Asari b Yuka Nakamura, Sasuke the Great & Fake Naniwa NC Gran Hamada & Kendo, Great Sasuke & Masaaki Mochizuki b Sumo Dandy Fuji & Curry Man, Cima & Suwa & Yoshikazu Taru b Tiger Mask & Minoru Fujita & Magnum Tokyo
10/30 Osaka (Osaka Pro Wrestling - 1,800): Masato Yakushiji b Super Dekimen, Bear & Police Man b Kuishinbo Kamen & Ebbesan, Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Tsubasa b Dick Togo & Daioh Qualtt & Buffalo
10/30 Shimizu (JWP): Azumi Hyuga b Kayoko Haruyama, Devil Masami b Akyuto Sae, Hyuga & Genki Misae b Dynamite Kansai & Haruyama, JWP tag titles: Carlos Amano & Commando Boirshoi b Runyuyu & Misaki Kana
10/30 Nagahama (Big Japan): Shunme Matsuzaki b Daisuke Sekimoto, Yoshiko Tamura & Lady Apache b Marcela & Chihiro Nakano, Masayoshi Motegi & Fantastik b Ryuji Ito & Kato Kung Lee Jr., Daikokubo Benkei b Kamikaze, Abdullah the Butcher & Black Samples (Gennosuke Kobayashi) & Crazy Sheik (Arias Romero) b Shadow WX & Winger & Mens Teioh, Barbed wire board match: Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa b Mike Samples & Jun Kasai
10/30 Kawaguchi (All Japan women): Nanae Takahashi b Kayo Noumi, Zap T b Miho Wakizawa, Takako Inoue b Miyuki Fujii, Zap I b Momoe Nakanishi, Yumiko Hotta & Takahashi b Kumiko Maekawa & Manami Toyota
10/30 Hamilton, OH (Heartland Wrestling Association): Rory Fox b Todd Morton-DQ, Race Steele b Xtremist, Matt Stryker b Astin Ambrose, Chad Collyer b El Suicidio, Todd Morton b Collyer, Tony Atlas & Chip Fairway & Anthony McMurphy b Bull Pain & G.Q. Masters III & Bobby Casanova-DQ
10/31 New Haven, CT (WWF - 7,913): Al Snow b Steve Blackman, Godfather b Viscera, Mankind b Val Venis, Edge & Christian & Matt & Jeff Hardy b Dudleys & Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor, Kane b Mideon, Non-title: Test b British Bulldog, X-Pac b Chris Jericho, WWF tag titles: Bob & Crash Holly NC New Age Outlaws, Big Show DCOR Big Bossman, WWF title: Hunter Hearst Helmsley NC Rock
10/31 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (EMLL - 4,500): Fiero & Principe Negro b La Flecha & Sombra de Plata, El Filoso & Mano Negra Jr. b Sangre Azteca & El Jeque, Solar II & Mr. Hoy & Halcon Negro Jr. b Reyes Veloz & Americo Rocca & Damian El Guerrero, Olimpico & Astro Rey Jr. & Starman b Violencia & Karloff Lagarde Jr. & Valentin Mayo, Tarzan Boy & Tinieblas Jr. & Mascara Sagrada b El Satanico & Villano III & Gran Markus Jr.
10/31 Aahi (Arsion): Ayako Hamada b Mikiko Futagami, Mariko Yoshida b Rie Tamada, Michiko Omukai & Yumi Fukawa b Mary Apache & Linda Starr, Yoshida & Futagami & Tamada b Aja Kong & Candy Okutsu & Hamada
11/1 Washington, D.C. MCI Arena (WWF Raw is War - 14,407 sellout): Davey Boy Smith b Godfather, Kurt Angle b Taka Michinoku, Superman b ?, Gillberg b ?, Steve Blackman b Sean Stasiak, D-Lo Brown b Sho Funaki, Acolytes b Mideon & Viscera, Rock NC Road Dogg, Christian & Edge & Matt & Jeff Hardy b Brian Christopher & Scott Taylor & Bob & Crash Holly, Hardcore rules: Mick Foley & Al Snow b Prince Albert & Big Bossman, Chyna b Stevie Richards, Steve Austin b Billy Gunn-DQ, Val Venis b Test-DQ, Kane b X-Pac-DQ, Head Bangers b Dudleys, WWF title: Hunter Hearst Helmsley b Shane McMahon
11/1 Minneapolis Target Center (WCW Nitro - 8,362/6,632 paid): Vampiro b Berlyn, Lash Leroux b Ernest Miller, Strap match: Buff Bagwell b Stevie Ray-DQ, Curt Hennig b Disco Inferno-COR, Norman Smiley won three-way hardcore match over Barbarian and Meng, Pole match: Eddie Guerrero b Perry Saturn, WCW tag titles: Sting & Lex Luger b Konnan & Billy Kidman-DQ, Jeff Jarrett b Booker T, Madusa b Evan Karagis, Cage match: Chris Benoit b Dean Malenko, Scott Hall b Sid Vicious
11/1 Hiroshima Sun Plaza Arena (New Japan - 5,200): Dr. Wagner Jr. b Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shinjiro Otani b Kendo Ka Shin, Hiro Saito & Hiroyoshi Tenzan b Michiyoshi Ohara & Tatsutoshi Goto, Yuji Nagata b NWO Sting, Osamu Kido & Jushin Liger b Koji Kanemoto & Shiro Koshinaka, Genichiro Tenryu & Manabu Nakanishi b Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuyuki Fujita, Keiji Muto & Satoshi Kojima b Masahiro Chono & AKIRA
11/1 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (JD): Cooga & Sachie Abe b Saya Endo & Fang Suzuki, Kyoko Inoue b Hiroyo Muto, Megumi Yabushita b Sumie Sakai, Dynamite Kansai & Kayoko Haruyama b Lioness Asuka & Yuki Morimatsu, AWF title: Bloody b Yuko Kosugi
11/2 Higashine (Big Japan): Daikokubo Benkei b Daisuke Sekimoto, Yoshiko Tamura & Lady Magic b Tanny Mouse & Marcela, Mens Teioh b Ryuji Ito, Kato Kung Lee Jr. b Fantastik, Mike Samples b Masayoshi Motegi, Abdullah the Butcher & Crazy Sheik & Black Samples b Shadow WX & Winger & Jun Kasai, Ryuji Yamakawa & Tomoaki Honma b Kamikaze & Shunme Matsuzaki
Special thanks to: Mike Omansky, Bruce Buchanan, Bobby Baum, Bryan Alvarez, Dan Parris, Ken Jugan, Dominick Valenti, Brad Hughes, Tadashi Tanaka, Joshua Christie, Steve "Dr. Lucha" Sims, Chuck Morris, Mark Coale, Phil Jones, Brady Laber, Georgiann Makropolous, Jeff Beecher, Manuel Gonzalez, Jeremy Medeiros, Larry Lee, Pete Maguire, Rob Hunt, Mohammed Chatra, Frank Douglas
JAPANESE TELEVISION RUNDOWN
10/17 ALL JAPAN: 1. Kobashi & Akiyama & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Misawa & Ogawa & Masamichi Marufuji in 22:19. A little more than half the match aired. Misawa had his working shoes on a lot more than usual for a non-major show. It was great with he and Kobashi and had good heat. The wrestling throughout the match was very good, but the heat died in the last several minutes with Kanemaru working with Marufuji. Actually they were good, highlighted by Marufuji doing a double springboard quebrada, which got no reaction. The crowd dying toward the finish took the match down, which ended when Kanemaru pinned Marufuji after a moonsault. ***; 2. Takayama & Omori beat Taue & Honda in 22:19. Only the last 4:00 aired on television. It looked pretty bad. They were missing things bad and had no heat. Finish saw Takayama make Honda submit to a crossface.
TELEVISION RATINGS RUNDOWN
The latest update on all WWF and WCW performers that have appeared as a main focal point of a competitive segment at least 12 times in 1999. A competitive segment consists of a competitive quarter hour or competitive total run-over period after 9:15 p.m. on Monday nights. Ranked by quarter hour percentage increase or decrease. A +1.00 average means that on average, when this performer is featured on a segment, the audience increases by .1 ratings points which today would be about 76,900 homes or 115,400 viewers. Updated as of 10/25. The 5/24 shows, because of the unique circumstances, are not included in the averages. A +4.46 rating means on average, when this performer is featured, the audience for the show increases by 514,700 viewers. A -2.26 percentage means that on average, when this performer is featured, the audience for the show decreases by 260,800 viewers.
Performer Up/down Total pts Qtr percentage
Sable 11-1-1 +58 +4.46
Bill Goldberg 24-7-3 +146 +4.29
Gorgeous George 9-4 +46 +3.54
Tori 9-3-1 +44 +3.38
Scott Hall 9-5 +47 +3.36
Hulk Hogan 27-18 +143 +3.18
Sting 21-7-1 +90 +3.10
Ivory 12-3-2 +51 +3.00
Stephanie McMahon 7-5-2 +39 +2.79
Vince McMahon 36-18-5 +158 +2.68
Sid Vicious 12-8 +53 +2.65
Ric Flair 24-16-2 +107 +2.55
David Flair 8-4-1 +33 +2.54
Randy Savage 13-7-1 +51 +2.43
Kevin Nash 28-19 +110 +2.34
Chyna 39-21-4 +147 +2.30
Steve Austin 35-23-2 +135 +2.25
Undertaker 47-25-3 +163 +2.17
WCW: Dr. Harvey Schiller quit his post as President of Turner Sports on 10/29 to most likely take a job with George Steinbrenner to head his proposed new sports empire built around the New York Yankees and NBA New Jersey Nets. Schiller, who was the overseer of WCW for the Turner/Time Warner empire, had been rumored for months to be leaving for the new venture and insiders for a long time had expected the move if Major League Baseball owners approved of Steinbrenner owning a team in the NBA (the NBA owners had already approved of the proposed deal), but had continually denied it. How this will affect WCW is unclear. It was Schiller's decision to dump Bischoff and go with Bill Busch so he had a pretty major impact on wrestling this year. This could wind up being a huge story, depending upon who is chosen as Schiller's replacement and what their attitude about wrestling is, particularly in this era of wrestling when content is based on how far the higher-ups allow the content to go
There was a meeting called before the 10/25 Nitro with Bill Busch where they talked about having major problems with the standards and practices department. At the meeting, Ric Flair's name was never mentioned nor was he buried personally but there was tremendous heat on him for the blade job on the PPV. We've already gone through the story of what happened regarding them basically begging to do one match with heavy juice for storyline (and trying to convince standards and practices they would be using fake blood rather than a blade job, although Sid did use a blade) and then the people in the department feeling double-crossed because of the second match having even heavier juice and wasn't being stopped. There was also the problem with that match in that the original finish was changed and Charles Robinson was never told, which is why he held up the count at two when it was supposed to be the pinfall in that match, plus Page and Flair booked a ref bump in their match and so many other ref bumps were already booked on the show and Robinson, who was beaten up by Page, was needed "fresh" for the Goldberg-Sting match. Anyway, at the talent only meeting, the Nitro Girls were booted out, at a time when many of them are pushing for more air time and to be involved in storylines where they'd be linked to the wrestlers. Kevin Sullivan noted that the company has given them a TV-14 rating as opposed to TV-PG and was cutting the show to two hours in January. There was actually the threat given, which no doubt was totally overblown, that if there are more problems with the company not following Turner standards, that they would take away the TV-14 and even shut the company down. Bill Busch said from this point on there would be no more referee bumps without authorization (since so many get booked in the storylines already), that there would be no more juicing or swearing on television without authorization and that no male could grab or hit a woman unless it was within the context of a match which is why Asya was brought back for someone to be the one who actually kidnapped Torrie Wilson since the guys aren't allowed to
11/1 Nitro in Minneapolis drew 8,362, which was 6,632 paying $186,212. From a booking standpoint, this was the best Nitro in a long time. The three hours didn't seem too long. The show never really slowed. The production was admittedly beyond awful and some of the angles were really bad, but some of the really bad stuff (Nitro Girls, Nash as Vince in the ring where he was fumbling over his words) was probably still effective counter-attack booking. Watching the two shows, while neither had a distinct wrestling advantage over the other, Nitro seemed fresh because of so many new people in new angles. Raw, with all its production advantages, came off as stale, in particular, of all people, the character of Steve Austin, who carried the company for so long. I suspect the ratings gap is close to be closing if things keep up like this. They also did it without much in the way of shock TV, when it came to sexual content or swearing (I mean, it was ridiculous, they were bleeping out the word "screw," which is the basis of every WWF angle for the past two years, and "piss" on Nitro this week). The show opened with Hart yelling at Hall & Nash for interfering in his match with Goldberg even though they helped him win. The plan at this point still seems to be to eventually hook Hart up with them. Hart, on crutches selling an ankle injury, limped to the ring and said Goldberg should be the U.S. champion (since Goldberg in his interview never acknowledged the match the previous week, that pretty much makes it like the belt doesn't matter anyway). Sid came out and said he wanted the belt, and clotheslined Hart on crutches. Hall & Nash came out and handed the belt to Sid. The showed the WCW title tournament bracketing. Somehow DDP is in the second round even though his match with David Flair never took place, but they also had Kimberly act like DDP was injured and gave the impression he'd be forfeiting his remaining matches. Asya is now dressed like Chyna and promoted the some way. She looks more attractive in her new outfit if you don't mind the mustache. Vampiro beat Berlyn in 4:11 when after a ref bump, first the unnamed bodyguard interfered, but them the rock group The Misfits tripped Berlyn's leg and kept him from kicking out of the pin. Wright is back to talking English. They were editing out every other time he said "screw" in his interview. Revolution did an interview, and Benoit came out and they set up Saturn vs. Guerrero for Torrie Wilson and Benoit vs. Malenko in a cage. Kimberly quit the Nitro Girls in what would have been one of the worst pieces of acting on either show, except that Stephanie McMahon was let loose doing color on the other show. The Nitro Girls acted disappointed that their much beloved leader was leaving them. Bet they really partied big-time when that pre-tape was over. Lash Leroux beat Ernest Miller in 57 seconds with a half crab. They acted as if Miller had a knee injury going in. Miller is now The Godfather. They did the Kidcam (Kidman's video camera) spying on Luger & Liz, with the idea that Liz was changing. Anyway, she wasn't. Luger was just pumping up. This was a production nightmare. The video and audio were way off track. It looked like one of the 70s Kung Fu movies dubbed into English. They don't know how to edit, because when it was over, you could see one camera man filming the sound guy with the boom mic underneath Kidman and them yelling, "Cut. That's a wrap." They also held the camera on Liz to where she dropped character, started laughing and drinking a soda. At first I thought they were trying to spoof wrestling angles by showing it was an angle, but that wasn't the case. Scott Steiner did a total face interview talking about his legit back surgery. Steiner said he tried every option to avoid the surgery but he was in so much pain he had no choice due to having three ruptured discs. It'll probably be months before he can get back in the ring. A.C. Jazz and Spice of the Nitro Girls started their angle during a routine when they had a really lame pull-apart which made Moolah and Mae Young look like Flair and Steamboat. This followed with the worst backstage fight between the two of them. They looked like fans in the second row pretending to do really bad wrestling moves on each other when they mug for the crowd. Bagwell beat Stevie Ray via DQ in a strap match when the Harris Twins, who are now called Creative Control, interfered. Let's see. If Bagwell was booked to lose and he was having the advantage and those twins started pounding on them, why did the ref, who obviously knows the finish ahead of time, rule him the winner? Jarrett said he didn't take out Elizabeth. He explained that was something his WWF character would do. Nash had been shown putting make-up on to do a Vince McMahon spoof. Anyway, he came out live. He looked nothing like McMahon except he was wearing a McMahon style suit. Heenan and Schiavone tried to sell it like he looked exactly like McMahon, which was made more pathetic since the crowd at first reacted like they had no idea who he wa or who he was spoofing. Eventually the crowd figured it up. Nash was lame, stumbling over his words, but was funny introducing Hall as being sober and having more than one catch phrase and talking about his trouser snake. Hall ripped on McMahon's clothes. These guys needed Jason Sensation bad. The pre-taped segments where Nash was pretending to be Vince were hilarious that aired as the show went on. Hennig beat Disco Inferno via count out in 3:29 when Disco walked out. Larry Hennig was at ringside and slugged Disco several times. C.G. Afi, the wrestler who played the role of the Lodi fan (and boy did that storyline go nowhere), came out and Disco walked out with him. They are doing some sort of angle where Disco has tons of gambling debuts and the mob is after him and somehow Afi is his friend. Smiley won a three-way over Meng and Barbarian under hardcore rules. Smiley came out wearing a catchers mask and chest protector. Heenan called him Roy Campanella (a famous baseball catcher in the 50s who was later paralyzed) and luckily, Tony Schiavone translated that reference into the 90s for the rest of the audience that is under 50 years old. This match could best be described as a comedic mess. Smiley did a stretcher job although nothing serious happened to him. WWF at least has a lot better looking female EMTs. Barbarian and Meng both knocked each other out, but how they did it was a mystery since the cameras never showed it nor on replay. Smiley then got up from the stretcher, all healthy, went into the ring, and pinned Barbarian in 6:28. Duggan was shown in a suit and tie backstage with Creative Control watching begging for his job. He talked about beating cancer. The voice of the creator himself (Vince Russo, not God) played with him saying, I don't care about your cancer or problems, all I care about is ratings. Nash did another Vince segment, copying Vince's fake laugh and saying "Get it" (spoofing the Super Bowl commercial from last year). Jarrett came out. Luger & Liz came out and Luger apologized. Jarrett ripped on Meng for taking so long to beat Madusa, who he said must be 50 years old at least (If she is, then Jeff would be 45). Meng showed up. Jarrett called Meng a "woos" (I think that word went out when I was in junior high school) and Meng chased him but Jarrett ran away. Luger then destroyed Meng with a tire iron. Earlier Luger had been telling Meng all the things Jarrett had said about him. The next production miscue saw the director actually giving Sting & Luger a countdown for another pre-tape where Luger convinced Sting to be his partner and go for the tag title. Guerrero beat Saturn in 5:29 in a pole match with the key to a cage, with Wilson in it, on the pole. Saturn was KO'd and Eddie was supposed to climb the pole. The pole was slippery and he kept slipping when trying to climb. This was one of those moments when time stood still. Kidman and Misterio Jr. ran to the corner and were clearly in a panic about Eddie not being able to climb the pole. Finally Guerrero jumped off the top rope and came down with the key and opened the cage. Sid cut a promo on Nash saying how he (Vince) had ruined his career over the previous two years. Then they all laughed. At this point on my TV, with 40 minutes to go in the show, an ad ran for the 11/1 Backstage Blast WCW PPV which started at 5 p.m. Sting & Luger beat Konnan & Kidman via DQ in 2:47 in a tag title match. Luger acted as if he was injured. It wound up with all the Animals destroying Sting for the DQ while Luger was on the ground selling his knee and not helping. The Animals stole Sting's bat. Sting shoved Luger after. Goldberg did a taped interview. In this segment's production screw up, they listed the movie as being named "Slam" instead of "Ready to Rumble." Madusa beat Evan Karagis in 2:11. Basically Madusa seduced him, he laid down on his back, she started kissing him and he didn't kick out. I was just glad it was over by that point. Benoit beat Malenko in the cage match in 4:27 when Benoit delivered a head-butt off the top of the cage. Thank God the camera caught that awesome move. The camera missed Saturn coming off the cage with an elbow drop. Saturn, Douglas and Malenko tied Benoit's legs and arms to the cage and they began to take liberties with him. The Animals came out for the save but those poor guys, and there were four of them, had to sell for one-armed Douglas and Asya. Asya was pounding on poor Misterio Jr. before the Animals made a comeback. David Flair then showed up with a tire iron and cleaned house, chasing Kidman away. Flair then unhooked Benoit. As Konnan was running off, Sting clocked him and took back his bat. What was the purpose of that? Apparently the cameras also missed, which they did at least show on replay, the reason Revolution was able to get in the cage was Asya had literally ripped the chain apart with her bare paws. As David Flair was leaving, Kimberly ran him over and left him for dead. Of course it was a stunt man. Nash, as Vince, was at this point knocked out on the dressing room floor and Hall screamed that Bret did it. I'll bet Vince loved the parody right up until that point. Hall beat Sid in the main event. Hall told Sid he'd lay down for him, but then tried to double-cross him. Fans were chanting for Goldberg. This was not a terrible match, which if you've ever seen previous bouts between these two, makes it a miracle. After a ref bump and Sid had Hall beat after a choke slam, Hart came out and broke a crutch over Sid. He went after Hall but he escaped and got the pin in 4:53, and then grabbed the U.S. title belt which Sid came out with and left
Lenny Lane was backstage at the show but still wasn't used
Little new on the Ric Flair front. As things stand right now, he's supposed to be brought back in late January in the commissioner role with occasional major show matches
As you can imagine, morale generally is way up, particularly among the mid-card wrestlers who see this as their first chance to get a real shot. Some of the veterans who had been keeping everyone down to maintain their positions aren't as happy, but none of them have officially been phased down, just forced to work on a more of an even keel with some of the physically smaller guys that had been kept down. Harlem Heat may also fit into this category based, in particular, on Stevie Ray's "I'm not happy about this" face when putting over the much smaller Filthy Animals on television. Nash and Luger, who seemed as much as anyone to behind the idea that the smaller younger guys simply weren't top talent and convincing others not to "help" them, aren't complaining since they are being kept strong and it's pretty clear Nash & Hall are going to be given the most television time of anyone
The Top Guys gimmick for Disco Inferno, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera was dropped. Disco didn't want to be grouped with those guys and Psicosis is injured. Disco is going to do some gimmick where he's grouped with the guy who briefly did the Lodi worshipper gimmick that was hitting the ring from the stands
Brad Armstrong's new gimmick, teased on Nitro regarding they want him to have more personality like his brother, is to basically steal his brother's gimmick and be a Road Dogg like character with a name very close to that
Among those on the set during the filming of the movie, now officially called "Ready to Rumble," over the weekend were Pee Wee Herman (friends with star David Arquette), Courtney Cox Arquette (wife of same said star) and Marilyn Manson, who was in for filming on 10/29 in the role of the boyfriend of the Rose McGowen character. The 10/30 movie filming at the Olympic Auditorium to shoot more wrestling scenes saw about 4,000 people come in as extras to play wrestling fans. There was a Los Angeles Times story about the filming noting that the fans didn't have to be prompted to react in the way extras usually are in similar situations
Don Frye was backstage at the show in Phoenix, but that's more because he lives there
There is some talk of bringing back some of the Mexicans dropped on a per-show basis to work WCW Saturday Night
The March Uncensored PPV is tentatively scheduled for Miami
Eddie Guerrero is still bothered by bad ribs and Konnan's neck injury flared up after taking Stevie Ray's finisher on 10/25
In the Hall & Nash match against the strippers on 10/25, the original plan was for the skinny girl with the ridiculous implants who goes by the stage name of Mika, to wear a bikini, but she looked so ridiculous in it that they made her go out there in clothes
Thunder live on 10/28 in San Diego opened with another Juventud Guerrera vs. Evan Karagis match with Sid jumping in at 3:58. Sid challenged anyone in the back and Benoit accepted for the main event. Sid then power bombed Guerrera and Karagis, who like idiots, stood around for Sid's entire interview and tried to shake hands with him after the match. Okerlund interviewed Maestro (Robbie Kellum), which with Okerlund there and the guy in a cartoonish gimmick looked like mid-80s WWF television. Maestro beat Prince Iaukea in 3:01 with an STF. Malenko & Saturn beat Silver King & Dandy when Douglas threw Malenko a chain and he KO'd Dandy with it and used the cloverleaf on him in 4:16. Curly Bill did a terrible interview, also reminiscent of one of those real campy bad Iron Sheik level interviews from the 80s. He did note that Curt Hennig was no longer part of the West Texas Rednecks. They never did an angle to explain this, although I guess if they had just brought out a map and shown the proximity of Robbinsdale, MN to Amarillo they could have made sense out of it. Stevie Ray beat Curly Bill in 3:36. After a ref bump, Curly used his cowboy boot but Booker T, doing commentary, ran in with a side kick. Ray used what they called a Slapjack but actually looked exactly like a Pedigree for the pin. Konnan & Guerrero & Kidman beat Regal & David Taylor & Chris Adams in 4:36 when Guerrero pinned Taylor after a frog splash. This match had super heat and was the only match on the show to even have good heat. Lash Leroux beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. with whatever his move that ends up like a Michinoku Driver is called in 3:10. Berlyn beat Jerry Flynn in 3:55 when the bodyguard threw a punch on Flynn. Backstage, Sid Vicious shoved Chavo into the most dangerous looking cardboard boxes in history, because it was a very weak shove and Chavo was KO'd deader than Mike Tyson's career. The least WCW would do is hire Mae Young to take bumps for Sid. Ernest "Godfather Number Dos" Miller came out with three ho's. At least he dances a whole lot better than the other guy. Bagwell beat Scotty Riggs in 4:18 with an inside cradle. The story of this match is that Riggs was supposed to win. You know, wink, wink, those evil powers that be (who were mentioned more times on the show than Sting, Luger, Flair, Hogan and Goldberg added with the total number of chops Sid took from Benoit in the main event combined) are ordering Bagwell to do jobs, but he ain't do no more jobs. So you see, Bagwell went against the script and pinned Riggs. Why ref Mickey Jay would count isn't really explained. In fact, what I just wrote was never explained. They just had Mike Tenay throw really vague hints with the idea that the millions....and millions, okay, well it is Thunder so it isn't that many millions, of casual fans watching would be so confused they'd have no idea what was going on, and probably not care either. Finally Benoit beat Sid via DQ in 7:22. This was in the **1/2 range which is quite a testament to Benoit. Let the record show Sid took one chop. Benoit got the crossface when Saturn and Malenko interfered for the DQ. After the match, Sid showed his appreciation for saving him by power bombing both of them, and Benoit. The Filthy Animals attacked the injured Douglas and bombed out Malenko and Saturn as the show went off the air
The three-way tag team title match with Harlem Heat, Misterio Jr. & Konnan and Hugh Morrus & Brian Knobs didn't go anywhere close to as planned at the 10/24 Havoc PPV. First, Misterio Jr. suffered a torn meniscus during the filming of the movie and couldn't do the match. Since he's in a program where he's being pushed, he's trying to avoid surgery which would keep him out a few months and hoping to rehab it and be back in the ring in a few weeks. The planned finish was to be Knobs being pinned backstage by Heat and Morrus being pinned in the ring at the exact same time by the Animals, with Kidman using a shooting star press. The idea was the two refs would argue about the photo finish, go to a replay which theoretically would show it as a tie, and the decision would be made it was a draw and have a title match later in the show with Kidman on his own facing Heat with Konnan being in the corner selling the shoulder "injury." The idea was for Kidman to win the match and the belts for he and Konnan. Of course, the timing was totally botched up, Heat scored the pin too early (or the Animals too late), Kidman didn't even do the shooting star press and there was no way they couldn't announce Heat as the winners and new champions after showing a replay, so for those of you compiling record books, Heat won the title in a match they were not scheduled to win the title in. That's the reason Konnan & Kidman ended up working twice on Nitro (which led to a poor quarter hour because in 90% of the cases when a wrestler works twice on the same show, the second match does a poor rating), because they were already booked in the match against each other for the WCW singles title tournament, but since they were supposed to be the tag champs all along, they added the match to Nitro where they would get the belts back
They did the DDP injury angle with David Flair since DDP has a major role in the movie as the heel world champion (can you imagine DDP playing the role of Shawn Michaels?). One of the many problems with the movie, besides the bad script, is that in the movie, pro wrestling is supposed to be real. They don't even pretend that anymore on pro wrestling television shows
Time Warner higher-ups basically ordered WCW to do a house show in Atlanta on 1/27 at the Phillips Arena in conjunction with the Super Bowl at the Georgia Dome. There will be an attempt to do a lot of p.r. work for the company revolving around Goldberg's status as a former NFL star with so much media in town for the big game
Vampiro signed his $200,000 per year deal this past week. ICP announced themselves early in the week that they were coming back to WCW, but WCW announced later in the week that they had been released. Until next week
It now appears it'll be closer to six months before Douglas can return to the ring after surgery to repair a torn bicep
There was a push within WCW to consider signing Tammy Sytch, as there seems to be regularly, but after last week, that's soured again
Harlem Heat (both brothers earn in the $750,000 per year range) were the latest put in a position to be asked to accept a pay cut using the 90-day cycles for termination and then being offered a new and lower contract
Believe it or not, there are rumors swirling that Juventud Guerrera's future here is in jeopardy because he doesn't speak English well. If he is cut, I'd be willing to bet that ECW would make him into a superstar
WCW has banned all magazine photographers from shooting ringside except from the hard camera position effective with the TV tapings this week. This ban includes not only the U.S. wrestling magazines but also the Japanese and German magazines, which have in the past been allowed to shoot ringside even when organizations were keeping the American publications away. WCW is setting up a payment scale where the magazines can buy high quality ringside shot photos from WCW. WCW had the advantage from the so-called independent magazine standpoint since WWF had at least banned some of the magazines feeling it wanted exclusivity of the best photos for its own house organ magazines
Just had a chance to watch the complete unedited Hart vs. Benoit match from Kansas City. It was definitely better without the commercials and I'd say it was a ****1/4 match, maybe in some ways better. Had it been held in the 80s, particularly at the Calgary Pavilion, it would have been even better. From a psychological and logical standpoint, it was the best match in the United States this year but didn't have any of the in-vogue gimmicks, wild antics or ref bumps and run-ins, which is actually the reason it'll be talked about for longer than 99% of the matches this year. It reminded me of Flair's matches in the 80s except it was more serious and realistic without the patterned Flair bumps, but Flair's matches also had more flamboyance and breathtaking near falls in the closing minutes. From any standpoint, it was a very close candidate. To me the best U.S. candidates are this one, Rock vs. Austin from the April PPV (super heat), the Hardys vs. Edge & Christian ladder match (best high spots) and Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg, which deserves in some ways the most praise of all of them because of all because it had awesome heat and even better moves while being a prelim match with two wrestlers that get no push, which usually is a recipe for "boring" chants
The race car driver that passed away on 10/31 at the Marlboro 500, Greg Moore, 24, was someone that Bret Hart knew fairly well and hung out with in the past when Hart attended the Molson 500 the past few years. Moore was in a terrible crash at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA, which was repeated to death on all the sports shows that night, in the 10th lap. He was rushed to the hospital and died one hour later. Unlike a similar accident at the Charlotte Speedway in May, the race continued although the death wasn't immediate (he died about one hour later but the rest of the drivers weren't informed of the death until the race ended two hours later). The post-race awards ceremony was canceled and the awards banquet was initially canceled, but due to a request by the Moore family, it went on
"Wrestling with Shadows" airs for the first time on television in the United Kingdom on 11/6. Hart went to England after Nitro for promotional work
Psicosis will be undergoing an MRI on his leg this week. He was injured bad enough he was pulled from movie filming
At least at one point there was a plan for Jushin Liger to come to the U.S. in December, but don't know where that stands right now. While they were in Japan, both Benoit & Malenko were talked with about appearing on the 1/4 Tokyo Dome show, but nothing has been finalized about it
Phil Mushnick wrote a column in the 10/31 New York Post regarding Ted Turner and Vince McMahon, basically saying that when McMahon acts righteous, most people recognize its a con but when Turner does, a lot of people buy it because he has an air of respectability. He then knocked Turner for signing Hogan in the first place in the wake of the WWF's steroid scandal, and then for the new direction of WCW, and also ripped on UPN President Dean Valentine for his calling WWF "incredibly mild entertainment." He said that if Turner beat McMahon the first time by buying McMahon's steroid-swollen TV characters, then why not try to unseat McMahon a second-time by playing McMahon's sexual content game. While the basic facts of the column are right, the reality is that Ted Turner, while an influential co-owner of Time Warner, which owns WCW, has virtually nothing to do with the decision making process at WCW. For better or for worse, the arrows should be pointed at Time Warner as the conglomerate, TNT, or Schiller and Busch, for the current direction
Sting has been filming a TNT movie in Vancouver that's expected to air in early 2000
On WCW Live, Vince Russo said again that he would never show his face on television, which means it would become the first time in pro wrestling history that the most pushed person in the promotion on TV not only doesn't wrestle in main events, but doesn't even appear on TV. He didn't discount his voice appearing on television
Barry Windham took two months off to be with his wife who has just given birth
Hogan settled out of court for $15,000 on a lawsuit by reporter Broward Listan who claimed Hogan battered him after the 1997 Bash at the Beach when he attempted to interview Dennis Rodman
The paid Nitro crowd on 10/25 in Phoenix was 8,160. The 9,360 figure listed was the total in the building. The actual gate for the Halloween Havoc 10/24 in Las Vegas was $312,730, with 2,700 comps and it was 1,273 tickets shy of a sellout. House shows for the week saw WCW Saturday Night tapings on 10/26 in San Bernardino, CA drew 1,894 paying $34,480 and Thunder on 10/28 in San Diego drew 1,451 (5,092 total tickets out) paying $45,952
WWF: WWF is estimating 330,000 buys for the No Mercy PPV, which would be about an 0.88 buy rate. At this point the September Unforgiven PPV show looks to be at 375,000 buys which would be right at a 1.0
Mick Foley's "Have a Nice Day!" legitimately debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best sellers in the non-fiction category
Terry Taylor did come into Connecticut to do some voice-over work on 10/27, but then was sent back home. Apparently he's still refused to sign the non-compete clause and until he signs, they apparently are playing hardball about using him. He has until mid-week to make a decision. At last word, WCW had not made him a bonafide offer, but indications were that he may get one. He's apparently telling people he's leaning toward staying with WWF, although it was made clear to him that Vince McMahon is going to be head writer of the TV shows, a position he was trying to get. There may be a monkey wrench concerning a potential return to WCW, which is that there was a complaint made to Human Resources against Taylor which could get in the way of a re-hiring
Raw on 11/1 at the MCI Center in Washington, DC drew a sellout 14,407 paying $421,031. It opened with a Rock interview. Rock got his normal great reaction until cracking on Austin, which drew a few boos. Rock vs. Road Dogg went all of 1:00 before they were brawling near the curtain. All of DX jumped on Rock. Vince started yelling at DX and set up the show. Big Show did an interview with Michael Cole. Big Bossman threw in tear gas. Cole escaped and Show as near death taken to the hospital where we were told he was changing colors. Bossman and Prince Albert also wore gas masks and put the boots to him. In the best television match of the night, Christian & Edge teamed with the Hardys against Too Cool & the Hollys. Of course no crowd heat but it was a fast paced good match. The camera work was WCW-like, missing big spots left and right. It wound up with Edge pinning Crash after a spear in 5:02. Foley and Snow were signing autographed books with Foley joking about his Snow references throughout the book (an inside joke that everything really bad in life would be compared with an Al Snow match). Foley & Snow beat Bossman & Albert in 3:57 when Mankind threw powder at Bossman (camera's missed this as well) and Bossman, blinded, slammed Albert. Snow then rolled a bowling ball into Bossman's groin. He rolled out of there and Mankind put the claw on Albert and Snow hip tossed him through a vertical door for the pin. While this was going on, Venis threw all the books in the dumpster and went to set them on fire. Mankind came out with a fire extinguisher to save his prized property. Chyna and Miss Kitty came out with matching outfits. Chyna's top read "master" while Kitty's read "slave." I wonder what that's supposed to mean. She did a promo, which still wasn't good, but did have one good line saying that she's taller than Jericho, even though he wears higher heels then she does. Stevie Richards came out dressed as Jericho and lost all of 1:01 before being hit with the pedigree. The real Jericho came out and attacked Chyna, putting her in his Walls of Jericho finisher and grabbed the belt and left. Austin beat Gunn via DQ in 5:37. Austin didn't get nearly the pop he usually gets. When he did his interview, basically the same interview he's been doing, for some reason it seemed a little stale and didn't get the crowd reaction it usually gets as well. There were boos for him when he made his comeback on Rock. He bled, probably hardway, since his eye was busted. DX did a run in after Austin hit the stunner. Austin didn't need help as he cleaned house hitting X-Pac and Road Dogg with chair shots. Venis beat Test via DQ in 4:55. Venis cut a promo on Stephanie, who was at ringside doing the worst job of color commentary since Sherri Martel (and that includes her brother's early work on Heat). Foley attacked Venis for the DQ. Foley chased Venis away. The WWF needs to be careful and not put Foley in a position where he needs to sprint in an angle because he doesn't move fast enough to pull it off. Stephanie then proposed to Test in the ring. Kane beat X-Pac via DQ in 13 seconds after a choke slam and DX run-in. HHH hit the Pedigree on Kane and X-Pac used the bronco buster. They aired a Kurt Angle vignette, giving his legitimate collegiate and amateur wrestling background. He was playing such an old style babyface that it looks as though they are planning on setting him up for a quick heel turn when it doesn't go over. His trade line appears to be that he's the most celebrated real athlete in WWF history, which can be argued but WWF has never had a full-time Olympic gold medalist on its roster. They had another backstage brawl with Kane attacking X-Pac. Vince and HHH argued and HHH challenged Vince to a title match. Shane wound up tacking HHH and Vince set up Shane getting the title match. Head Bangers beat Dudleys clean in 4:31 when Thrasher pinned Buh Buh after a DDT. The match had loud boring chants, which is too bad because all four worked very hard. Mean Street Posse attacked the Bangers after the match. Main event saw HHH beat Shane in 7:34 in a good match. Austin was doing color. One of the reasons his character is flattening is he's becoming more of a traditional babyface, praising people like Vince and the other faces. Kane was the second ref. Rock was timekeeper. Vince was at ringside. Jim Ross kept talking about Montreal and the Survivor Series. They even went so far as to say this is only the second time Vince has been at ringside with the other being the match in Montreal. Actually, Vince has been at ringside mimicking Montreal in angles so many times over the past two years that nobody can even keep up with how many times (do you remember the Mankind vs. Steve Blackman classic finish). X-Pac interfered first, giving Shane a hell of a spin kick over the guard rail. Kane chased him away. Shane used the pedigree (being the son of the owner does have its privileges) for a near fall that popped the crowd. Road Dogg did the pump handle slam to Shane on the floor and Rock attacked Dogg and chased him away. After a ref bump, Gunn interfered but Austin attacked him. HHH hit the Pedigree, but no ref. Austin hit the stunner on HHH, but no ref and Shane was injured and couldn't follow up. Finally Vince grabbed the title belt, went to hit HHH, who ducked and Vince hit Shane with the belt and HHH scored the pin. The show ended with Jim Ross wondering whether Vince's actions were intentional or accidental
For the 11/2 Heat & Smackdown tapings in Philadelphia at the First Union Center, they started with three dark matches. First Kurt Angle beat Steve Bradley, followed by Gillberg over Cue Ball Carmichael and Inferno Kid over Jimmy Cicero. For Heat, Bradley beat Julio Fantastico (Sanchez), Venis beat Christian, Dudleys beat Taka Michinoku & Sho Funaki and Mideon & Viscera DDQ Acolytes. Heat opened with Snow & Mankind beating Hollys for the tag titles. After the match the Hollys fought with each other. Austin confronted J.R. about Vince costing Shane the title at Raw. J.R. defended Vince. This turns into a pattern. Brown pinned Test. Rock confronted J.R. about Vince. J.R. again defended Vince. Hardys beat Too Cool. Kane and Tori then confronted J.R. about Vince. You know where that went. Edge beat Bulldog via DQ when Posse interfered. Vince then yelled at J.R. because he didn't want him defending him. This led to a DX interview where they claimed Vince had joined DX. This was all a set up for Vince to say that he'd rather join the Ku Klux Klan or work for WCW than join DX. I guess the parody got to him. I figured he'd consider it funny until the spot where "Vince" was laying on the floor after being punched and they claimed Bret did it. Vince ordered an elimination match with DX vs. Shane & Kane & Rock & Austin. Godfather beat Jericho when Richards superkicked Jericho. Bossman and Show went to a double count out. In the elimination match, first X-Pac eliminated Kane, then X-Pac eliminated Shane, then Rock eliminated Road Dogg, then Austin eliminated X-Pac, Rock eliminated Gunn, HHH eliminated Rock leaving HHH vs. Austin. Vince interfered in the match and knocked out Austin "by accident" giving HHH the win
Jim Ross, Bruce Prichard and Victor Quinones met on 10/29 with Naoto Morishita, the President of Dream Stage Entertainment, about possibly doing business next year. Nobuhiko Takada was not brought along for the meeting. Nothing was finalized nor was anything dismissed regarding potential of doing business. WWF is interested in running one Tokyo Dome show in 2000, either with a pro wrestling organization as its Japanese promoter or with non-pro wrestling promoters. They want the show to be on a Friday night so talent would be back in time for the weekend shows, and there was talk of June or October for the show although it really could happen at any time. They made it clear that no WWF talent would be allowed to do any shoots and also that they weren't going to put any of their top talent in the position of putting over Japanese and wanted the top talent to work with other WWF guys rather than a Japanese vs. WWF headliner as the main event as would be traditional for Japan (such as a Takada vs. Austin main event which would be how things would be first proposed and is a match for a number of reasons that is probably impossible to take place). To cover, since Morishita claimed his company wouldn't be doing worked matches, in Japan the claim was that the meeting was about booking Steve Williams for the 1/30 Tokyo Dome tournament but that isn't going to happen. Quinones made the connection, bringing DSE into the meeting
The week of 11/15 to 11/19 will be A&E biography week, with, in order Steve Austin, Owen Hart (the subject of which was the cover story in a very strong story in the StarWeek section of the Toronto Sun over the weekend), Mick Foley plus repeats of Jesse Ventura and Andre the Giant. The newspaper story, written as a review of the film, was strongly negative toward the callousness of the business. The newspaper story epilogue said that Martha Hart wasn't left financially strapped by Owen's death, but she isn't on easy street, saying she's working at the post office and taking continuing education classes. Producer Paul Jay was quoted in conclusion as saying, "We didn't want the film to get too polemical, but we asked everybody--`So you think this is going to change the way wrestling is headed?' - and virtually everybody said no. The fundamental thing is: There is a taste for the dark side in the wrestling audience, and that seems to be where the money is right now.
Titan also officially signed Jim Neidhart, 44, this past week. This is something that had been rumored for some time. If you're wondering why Titan would sign Neidhart at his age and with his track record at this stage of the game, because from a logical standpoint, it doesn't make sense, it's because the single most potentially damaging thing to the WWF is a bad verdict in the Martha Hart lawsuit (because not only the potential award if the jury wants to send a message but perhaps even more important financially the result a strongly negative verdict would send to company stock trading--or a potential selling spree based on pub leading up to the trial because of potential panic fear of what could happen in court, and please don't think anything in either direction is a given about a unique case like that if it actually goes before a jury) and it serves Titan well to paint the picture that many family members don't hold Titan responsible and the company even still employs several family members. There was talk of Neidhart & Bulldog forming a new Hart Foundation. We've also been told Neidhart's job is not expected to be as a wrestler, but as a trainer and coach of new wrestlers. The WWF did suggest he work out of the Louisville territory but Jim Cornette, saying they already have a wrestling school and a trainer (Dan Briley aka Danny Davis), wasn't hot for the idea so at this point it doesn't look like it's happening. Neidhart claimed that he insisted that he not be dragged into the political and legal mess
In regard to Randy Savage rumors, he's still under contract to WCW and WCW is still using him, and with the lawsuits outstanding, one would think the last thing the WWF would be involved in (and even though a lot of things are done quietly, they've been very careful since the lawsuit was filed on the tampering issue) would be tampering with the contract of someone from a promotion they have a lawsuit out against. Higher-ups claim the odds are against him coming in if he was available (although this being pro wrestling, my feeling is if he were to leave WCW, it would be a matter of time before he'd be here in some form) particularly in his old role on the TV side as a lot of folks who work that end haven't been favorable about his returning. There would probably be more interest in Ric Flair if he became a free agent
Darren Drozdov's mobility at this point is still limited to being able to sit up in a wheelchair so he has a long way back but doctors are happy with his attitude and his progress. There is nothing new regarding feeling or movement in his lower body
WWF still wants Ken Shamrock back but there is nothing definitive. He's supposed to see a specialist this week regarding his neck injury
Amy Dumas (Miss Congeniality) isn't coming in right away, but it shouldn't be that long either
Kristina Loun (Kimona) hasn't been offered a contract yet. A final decision regarding her hasn't been made
Scott Vick (Sick Boy in WCW) was brought in on 10/27 and it's expected he'll be offered some sort of a contract. Vick showed early potential as part of Raven's nest, but there was a knock on him that seemed to follow him regarding having lost interest after being taken off TV
A correction on the Gorilla Monsoon obit from a few weeks back. The Monsoon-Muhammad Ali angle from the summer of 1976 actually took place at the old Philadelphia Arena, not at the Allentown Agricultural Hall
Expect this as the latest stat coming from Titan regarding its TV demographics, from a letter Vince McMahon wrote to Phil Mushnick after the MSNBC piece. For a long time they've quoted the figure of only 30 percent of the audience watching Raw being kids and teens (the figure was used everywhere, although the number was always closer to 40 percent than 30 percent). Well, I guess with the percentage continuing to increase, the new quoted figure looks to be that only 27 percent of the audience is 14 and under
In one of the sillier stories we've heard, Wal-Mart has pulled all the Al Snow dolls after a complaint about the doll making light of violence against women. Stemming from complains from Sabrena Parton, an assistant professor of communications at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, and also from the manager of a Wal-Mart in Cartersville, GA, led to the company pulling the Al Snow doll which comes with a female mannequin head reading "help me" scrawled backwards across the forehead. Parton complained that the doll sent a message about brutalization toward women. Wal-mart after reviewing the complaint decided the doll was a questionable item so they announced 11/1 they were removing the Snow doll from all their shelves, probably permanently. Parton said she could understand if this was a novelty item aimed at kids, but the label says it is recommended for children four and above and that makes it terrible. It is so weird, because I could see complaints about a Godfather or a Val Venis doll because of the professions they theoretically represent or even the idea of WWF selling dolls in general to young children based on the sexual content of the product, but the Snow doll is totally tame and the Snow character has nothing to do with violence against women (that's the Jeff Jarrett WWF character). The "help me" is so clearly a spoof the movie "Exorcist" (1973 movie)
House shows for the week saw the Smackdown tapings on 10/26 in Springfield, MA draw a sellout 5,762 paying $152,488, 10/30 in Madison Square Garden drew a sellout 16,678 paying $447,373 and 10/31 in New Haven drew 7,913 paying $177,763. In notes from the MSG show. It opened with Godfather pinning Viscera when Viscera was distracted by the ho's. Brown pinned Mideon with a splash off the top.
The Show vs. Bossman match went less than 1:00 going to a double count out. Bossman ran from the ring and Show went after him. To have the happy ending, Show choke slammed Prince Albert, Dave Hebner and Tony Garea after the match. Hollys kept tag titles beating Outlaws when Dudleys interfered. Mankind beat Venis with a DDT onto his book. Mankind promo's the book before the match. X-Pac beat Kane when Outlaws interfered with Gunn hitting Kane with a chair from behind. HHH came out after the pin and they did a four-on-one on him. Bulldog beat Test to keep European title when the Mean Street Posse interfered. Bulldog left but Posse continued on Test until Shane made the save. Rock pinned Jericho, but after the match HHH & Outlaws attacked Rock. An eight-man saw Edge & Christian & Hardy Boys team up to beat Dudleys & Acolytes when Jeff pinned D-Von. Fast paced match but little crowd heat until the finish. Acolytes walked out after arguing with Dudleys, leading to the finish. Austin beat HHH via DQ in the main event when Austin was about to win the title and the Outlaws interfered for the DQ. Overall a strong show, with Rock getting a bigger pop than Austin. Austin didn't work New Haven, so the main event was HHH going to a no contest with Rock when the rest of DX interfered
In the Billboard rec sports video listings, WWF videos are now 11 of the top 12 and 16 of the top 20. The top five are Rock, Austin, Best of Raw, Austin and Women of the WWF. Three of the top six are Austin videos. The only non-WWF video in the top ten is a Michael Jordan at No. 7. The only pro wrestling video in the top 20 that isn't a WWF video is Wrestling with Shadows at No. 13
Bob Backlund set up a table outside Madison Square Garden at the 10/30 show to campaign for his upcoming candidacy in the U.S. House of Representatives
Jim Ross reported that Bob Holly has signed a new multi-year contract extension and that vignettes of Taz will start after Survivor Series although per agreement with Paul Heyman, he won't start in the ring until January
The WWF hopes to have its Times Square based theme restaurant open by mid-December.
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