Wrestling Observer Newsletter
PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228 ISSN1083-9593 November 15, 1999
ECW NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
Thumbs up 29 (34.9%)
Thumbs down 29 (34.9%)
In the middle 25 (30.1%)
BEST MATCH POLL
Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka 77
WORST MATCH POLL
Spike Dudley vs. Simon Diamond 28
Rotten & Mahoney & New Jack vs. Baldies 11
Based on phone calls, fax messages and e-mails to the Observer as of Tuesday, 11/9.
After what is billed as its showcase event of the year, Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling seems to have settled into a niche where it looks less likely than ever to achieve status as a truly competitive No. 3 office. In the same breath, it also appears to have survived the financial problems early in the year that threatened to put it out of business.
It is a very distant third national promotion. Its TV ratings on its best day come reasonably close to WCW's lowest rated show on its worst day. Its PPV on its best day come close to WCW's lowest rated PPV in its history. In its best cities, it can draw close to, on a good day what WCW, when it recently hit rock bottom, did at its lowest. It has some good wrestlers, but for whatever reason, with the exception of a few, they are people that the big two don't seem to want. It has changed wrestling and pioneered the more sex-driven presentation that has put WWF's popularity through the roof. But someone else is deriving the gold from its concepts.
When all was said and done, the 11/7 November to Remember PPV looked like low budget WCW. The show drew 3,000 fans to the Bert Flickinger Center in Buffalo, NY. Some guys put out there that at this point the national audience doesn't want to see on a national PPV (Simon Diamond, Jazz, Danny Doring, Roadkill, Nova). Some guys being pushed with no charisma (The Baldies are the same as the dreaded NWO Black & White of a few months back, except that if Heyman signed Horace Hogan into the Baldies, he'd be the best wrestler in the group). Some very good wrestling (Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka ranked with any PPV match put on by any company this year). Some not so good (the main event was only slightly better than typical Hogan fare). And like WCW, the show ended with the popular local icons, younger Hogan's and Savage's, who due to stress, lack of sleep, or whatever, who facially look almost as old as they do, that are so banged up at this point they can't contribute more than a nice ring entrance. It was WCW without the name value, as opposed to WWF, which usually has lackluster undercards but more often then not ends very strong, and has the major league production and announcing, leaving people with the idea they've seen a good show even when the matches aren't so good.
The dream that this was the movement that would take over pro wrestling has changed to merely being able to survive with a niche audience in a cluttered overexposed environment.
November to Remember was typical of all this. Unlike the Anarchy Rulz show, which was a huge success in every facet except buy rate, N2R was a show where the wrestlers worked very hard up and down, to an audience that ranged from enthusiastic to apathetic to easily distracted, which translated into making matches seem on television worse than they often were.
The show opened with Joey Styles and Cyrus (Don Callis) out there when Joel Gertner came out to a pretty impressive face pop. Taz came out and basically threatened Styles, who backed out and left. It appeared they went in with the idea that nobody believed Taz had a chance to win against RVD, so they wanted to portray the idea that Taz was out of control and "might shoot" on RVD because he wasn't in danger of being fired. After Styles ran, he choked out Gertner, which eliminated him from the rest of the show.
Simon Diamond (Pat Kenney) came out with Big Dick Hertz (Brent Hamner) to his usual slew of big stiff dick double entendres. Jazz (Carlene Moore) came out and challenged Diamond, but Dick grabbed her and powerslammed her, a move that was called the penile implant.
1. Spike Dudley (Matthew Hyson) pinned Diamond in 2:59. Actually it started with Dudley vs. Hertz, with Dudley giving him the Acid drop. As the ref counted the pin, Diamond broke it up. It then turned into a singles match with Diamond vs. Spike. Dudley came off the top rope to the floor with a chair shot to Diamond, who came up bloody. Dudley took a back drop on the floor but came back with another Acid drop to win. After the match, the FBI came out and Guido planted Dudley with a power bomb and Sal E. Graziano laid him out with a splash. 1/2*
2. Little Guido (James Maritato) pinned Nova (Mike Bucci) in 4:20. Nova opened with a plancha. Guido missed an elbow that looked so bad it was reminiscent of the spot that Ivory did with Moolah. Nova did a Samoan drop off the middle rope but missed a splash. Nova did a terrible DDT on Graziano. Guido won with the Tomokaze, which was re-named the Maritato (after his real last name). After the match, Graziano splashed Nova. Chris Chetti ran in to clean house, but that brought in Danny Doring and Roadkill and Doring laid Chetti out with an implant DDT and Roadkill came off the top with a splash to Chetti's back. *1/4
3. Jerry Lynn won a three-way over Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy (Francisco Pantoja Islas) in 10:59. Steve Corino came to ringside with a fresh bleach blond hair job. This match was really good, but didn't come across as good as it should have due to the lack of crowd heat. Actually some of the wrestling earlier was awesome, in particular a spot ending with Tajiri getting Crazy in the tarantula. Lynn used a plancha on Crazy to set up Tajiri doing an Asai moonsault on both. Tajiri suplexed Crazy on the chairs and Lynn did a running dive over the guard rail on both. Lynn and Tajiri brawled in the entrance area, underneath where the balcony hung over. Crazy did a moonsault block off the balcony on both. In another cool spot, Crazy held Tajiri up after doing his rolling La Tapatia (upside down surfboard or Romero special) when Lynn bulldogged Tajiri off the spot. At this point the match, as far as the live crowd went, was killed by a woman at ringside. I don't know what she did, but there were loud "show your tits" chants and when she didn't, the crowd started booing. Almost nobody live seemed to notice that Tajiri pinned Crazy after a brainbuster in 6:44 to eliminate him. For better or for worse, the selling of the scantily clad women and sexual teases as the prime entertainment in what is billed as pro wrestling, has rendered the audience largely uninterested in the actual wrestling, and when it comes to a choice between looking at a slightly dressed up female in the crowd or a wrestling match, the wrestling can't compete anymore. So Lynn and Tajiri worked their asses off for four more minutes doing a slew of great wrestling moves and spots. Lynn had Tajiri pinned with a german suplex but Corino broke it up. Tajiri missed a moonsault. Lynn used a tornado DDT for a near fall. They did a great sequence of moves for the finish ending with Lynn nailing his cradle piledriver for the pin. Corino jumped Lynn after the match. Unlike the same spot in the first two matches, Lynn made his own comeback, nailing Jack Victory and finishing by hitting his cradle piledriver on Corino. Even though on paper this should have elicited a good pop, since they educated the fans to thinking Lynn was going to be laid out but he made his comeback and had Corino build up heat for himself on the mic which should have resulted in a big pop when he finally got nailed, there was no reaction to any of this. ***1/2
4. The Baldies (Angel Medina & Tony DeVito & Vito Lograsso & Paul Neu) beat New Jack (Jerome Young) & Axl Rotten (Brian Knighton) & Balls Mahoney (John Rechner) in 8:21. For reasons that were never explained, it was announced as a four-on-two match but that New Jack had vowed to be in the building. The match was only 1:00 in when New Jack showed up with his weapons. It was the same stuff as always but not as bad as usual. After selling the injury so huge, which theoretically took place on TNN the previous night, Jack did have a band-aid on his way, but the way it was sold on television as this serious injury, he should have had a patch over the eye. It was also weird how they sold how unprofessional and over the line Angel was for stapling New Jack when Jack had been using the stapler as a gimmick on every show for more than a month. All the heels except Angel bled, although none bled heavy enough that it made an impact on the match. Jack did staple Angel in the groin, or at least that's what we were told. He also smashed a vacuum cleaner on Angel's groin, allowing Joey Styles to say how that sucks. The match was built for one spot, where Jack would come off the top of a basketball backboard onto Angel through a table. It was probably a 12 foot drop to the table exaggerated to 20 on the broadcast. They got in the ring and New Jack stapled Lograsso, but Angel hit him from behind with a guitar and pinned him. Angel looks to have some charisma. *
5. Sabu (Terry Brunk) pinned Chris Candido (Chris Candito) in 17:42. Before the match, Bill Alfonso did an out of character promo with a somber Sabu, talking about dedicating the match to a friend called "Ticho" that had just died. Apparently the friend actually had died two weeks ago, but Sabu was dedicating the match to him. It was really sad, because both guys took all the risks, hit all their spots, and while the match had weaknesses (both guys lack of facial expressions and this idea they were just setting up spot after spot hurt the flow; and they were out there too long), they worked hard enough to deserve a lot better response then they got. Sabu hit a pescado. Candido missed a diving head-butt. Candido hit a plancha. Sabu did a Frankensteiner off the top. The only reactions by the crowd were when tables were brought out, or when Tammy Sytch, who looked like a late 30's housewife who had just woken up and was wearing her daughters' tube top, tried to get the crowd into the match and they responded by chanting "show your tits" as the two wrestlers in front of them were risking their bodies trying to entertain those same fans. Candido went tailbone first through a table. Sabu put on a camel clutch and Candido sold it like a teased submission into a rope break spot but nobody in the crowd cared. In fact, at that moment they were chanting "show your tits" at Sytch. Sabu did a springboard plancha into the crowd. Sabu used a chair and did a springboard splash. He came off the top, legdropping Candido through a table for a near fall. Candido used a superplex off the top. Sabu did his Arabian press. Sabu was on the top and Sytch shook the ropes. Candido used a Frankensteiner off the top and a diving head-butt for a near fall. Candido followed with a piledriver, then went with Sytch to get another table. In a totally screwed up spot, Sytch ended up on the table, Sabu came off the top and Candido was supposed to lunge, shoving Sytch off the table and taking Sabu's blow and going through the table after a legdrop to the back of the head. That's what it was supposed to be, and that's what Styles said it was, but that's not at all what it looked like other than Candido did go through the table after a legdrop but Sytch mistimed the entire spot. Sabu finally got the win after an Arabian facebuster, followed by a camel clutch submission. ***
In the funniest part of the show, Callis kept talking about Dangerously backstage going crazy. They showed "Dangerously" from behind, and it really did look like Paul Heyman. It wound up being Lou D'Angeli as Lou E. Dangerously yelling at everyone, on his cell phone and going crazy. The skit ended funny as Sandman walked by without saying a word and "Dangerously" screamed at him, "you're fired, again."
6. Mike Awesome (Mike Alfonso) retained the ECW heavyweight title pinning Masato Tanaka in 12:26. Callis, trying to emphasize Awesome's size, said look how big he looks next to Tanaka who is 6-2 or 6-3 (Tanaka is closer to 5-8). It was the same Awesome-Tanaka match they've done many times in FMW and ECW. I have no idea why they weren't put on last because it was the only match on the show which on paper was a "sure thing" and like the last show, nobody could follow them. Awesome used an overhead belly-to-belly, a clothesline over the top and did his running dive over the top which looked more impressive than usual. He followed with a springboard plancha over the guard rail into the crowd. He delivered a hard chair shot to Tanaka's head. With all the blows Tanaka has taken in ECW and FMW over the past 18 months, I'll bet his grandkids are born with constant ringing in their ears. Tanaka took two more hard chairs and got up, which is the spot that always gets him over to the ECW crowd, which was into this match from this point forward. Tanaka did an elbow drop off the top with a chair onto Awesome and came off with another chair shot to set up his tornado DDT on a chair for a near fall. He tried another tornado DDT but Awesome turned it into a power bomb. Tanaka took a great bump off a clothesline and Awesome delivered another form of a power bomb. He then did a power bomb off the apron through a table, more of a Liger bomb variety and Awesome did take the actual bump on his ass. Awesome got a big gash on his hamstring from that one. Tanaka superplexed Awesome through another table in the ring, then hit his diamond dust (basically a somersault into a stone cold stunner) for a near fall. Tanaka got another near fall with his rolling elbow. Awesome got up and gave him a german suplex almost on his head and did a splash off the top for a near fall, before getting the pin after a power bomb off the top rope. Tanaka must be one awesome worker because this was significantly better than Awesome's match with Kenta Kobashi. ****1/4
7. Rob Van Dam (Robert Szatkowsky) pinned Taz (Peter Senerca) in 14:34 to retain the TV title. There were good moves in the match, but the two didn't work well together, and Taz' weakness when it comes to selling was apparent. Also, Van Dam was so overhyped that it was almost a guarantee he'd come across as disappointing. It's hard to hype someone as the best wrestler in the world when you've just seen Tanaka and from a work standpoint they're not even in the same league. First, before he came out, they pushed about this amazing pop you'd see. Unless it's Austin or Rock, or it's a taped show with fake noise being pumped in or a fake Goldberg chant that you know in advance is being piped in, you should never say that because there's no guarantee. Anyway, he came out to a very good pop, but it was no more impressive looking than a mid-card guy like Edge or Kidman would get. Then they tried to push him as the greatest athlete in the world and he didn't even come across as the greatest athlete on an average wrestling show. Van Dam wiped out a photographer taking a bump over the top. He crotched Taz on the guard rail and went to leap off the other guard rail for what would have been a spectacular kick except he didn't get enough spring off the rail and landed short and hurt his own shins. Taz took a short advantage, but Van Dam came back with a really cool looking spinning dropkick. In the spot of the match, Van Dam came in with a somersault and Taz hit a stiff clothesline. The match seemed to fall apart at this point. Taz did fisherman suplex Van Dam through a table. Van Dam hit a Van Daminator off the top more than halfway across the ring which looked great. Van Dam hit a split legged moonsault. Taz was bleeding from the mouth. Van Dam got the pin with a frog splash. The crowd reaction to the finish was flat. The two high-fived each other after the match and got a nice ovation. There were a lot of "You sold out" chants at Taz during the match. He should take solace in knowing that those same people chanting obscenities will be the loudest ones to chant "welcome back" if for some reason he doesn't make it in the big leagues. **1/4
8. Rhino (Terry Gerin) & Justin Credible (Peter Polaco) & Lance Storm (Lance Evers) beat Sandman (James Fullington) & Raven (Scott Levy) & Tommy Dreamer (Tom Laughlin) in 9:19. This match went downhill after the ring entrances of the faces, Sandman in particular. When Dawn Marie wound up with beer on her, Callis said that he thought they got Dawn Marie wet. I guess since this isn't TNN, she, for one night only, was back to the ring name Dawn Marie Bytch. Raven looked facially as old as Terry Funk. He's aged five years in the last month. It was a flat match, which was almost tragic. Raven went to backdrop Credible. Raven lost his balance with Credible on his back, stumbled back a few steps which wound up with Credible being thrown too far and he got caught in the ropes and landed almost head first on the mat. Apparently he instinctively was able to tuck his head a slight bit or he would have suffered the broken neck it at first appeared he might have suffered. He was clearly in grain pain, rolling over to Jason. At this point, since whatever was planned was seemingly in disarray, everyone started doing everything and the camera work was missing most of it. This probably was also a better match live than it came across for that reason. Storm did a pescado on Dreamer. Credible recovered enough to take a DDT from Raven. Raven missed a pescado and went through a table. Rhino speared Storm. This built to the big spot where Sandman started caning Rhino and Rhino took two hard shots, staggered and went down on the third. Unfortunate it was the same spot Tanaka had done two matches earlier. Dawn Marie jumped on Sandman and Francine gave Storm a low blow to set up the cat fight spot. Sandman got a hold of Marie and kissed her. Raven went to cane Credible and missed and hit Sandman. Storm pulled Raven out of the ring while they were selling Raven walked out rather than helped Sandman. Credible then pinned Sandman with a spinning tombstone. When they were celebrating doing their pose, Credible staggered backwards and Storm had to help him to the back. He was shaken up backstage for a while but the belief as of the next afternoon was that he was okay. *1/4
On April 27, 1978, a skinny teenage wrestling prodigy that Bruce Hart had spotted while in England, was flown into Calgary for a several week tour of Stampede Wrestling. He was promised a free car, a free apartment and $400 per week. He said goodbye to his dad, and said he'd see him in June. He left his home land with 20 pounds (the British currency equivalent to $33) in his pocket.
Of course, nothing happened the way he planned. There was no free car or free apartment awaiting him. The money at least was close, about $350 per week when he started. The several week tour wound up lasting 13 years before he returned to England. When he returned, he'd broken even. He still had 20 pounds left.
In between, the man ushered in a new style of pro wrestling. He had some of the greatest matches ever for his time period. There are many current wrestlers that grew up watching him that would go so far as to say he was the greatest worker who ever lived. That may be a slight exaggeration, as time often makes things from the past seem greater than they really were. But if it's an exaggeration, it's only slight. There are people who literally hated his guts, and thought he was one of the most miserable human beings ever put on the Earth, who will, without any reluctance, in the same breath, tell you that there has never been a better wrestler that ever lived.
But he paid the price for getting people to say that. He took suplexes over the top rope to the floor. He did kneedrops off the top of cages. He took bumps off the top rope, while standing, Nestea plunges if you will, backwards, onto concrete floors. At least one time, maybe more, against Bruce Hart, he stood up on the top ropes like a Mexican wrestler would do for a plancha to the floor, but instead, did a diving head-butt, landing with his knees and the rest of his body crashing onto the concrete, two or three rows deep into the aisle, to create a believable double count out finish. Steroids, loads of them, transformed the skinny teenager into a short thickly muscled powerhouse with an almost frightening tightly wound physique. They also shortened a temper that needed no help to be shortened. Pain killers enabled him to do things in the ring that the human body simply shouldn't be able to do in the first place, let alone recover from. His body began to fall apart at the age of 25. He suffered what should have been a career ending back injury at the age of 28. But he knew nothing else, hadn't saved enough money, was about to lose his house, and came back, way too quickly. At the age of 32, he overdosed, and momentarily died twice. The doctors told him all the steroid use had left black scars on his heart and was told in no uncertain terms to drop all the drugs from his repertoire, which he didn't entirely do, but did greatly tone down. Without them, he could barely perform. Although he did some comeback matches afterwards--he stepped into the ring as late as 1996 for a nostalgia six-man tag match against his once greatest ring rival--for all real purposes, his career was over a few months after that. It was the day after his 33rd birthday--December 6, 1991 with a farewell ceremony at Budokan Hall in Tokyo, the city of his most famous matches. But quitting wrestling didn't end the pain. It only got worse. By 1997, his legs and back were shot to the point it was first a struggle to even climb the stairs. It still got worse. Then he couldn't walk. He went to the doctor, who told him due to the damage from the first back operation, there was nothing they could do, and he probably would never be able to walk again. He's been in a wheelchair the past two years. He turns 41 in a few weeks.
"Pure Dynamite" is the autobiography of Tom Billington, better known as the Dynamite Kid. Ghost written by Alison Coleman, the book was spawned from an amazing interview in the U.K. wrestling magazine called Powerslam. Coming out, mainly for a U.K. release (it is available for $23 in the U.S. from Howl Too, Inc. P.O. Box 44, North Syracuse, NY 13212 or for 12.50 pounds in the U.K. or 14.50 pounds in the rest of the world from S.W. Publishing, P.O. Box 48, Lancaster, Lancashire LA1 4ZE U.K.), just days after Mick Foley's book, there will be obvious comparisons made. There are more differences. The 204-page Billington book will never make any best sellers list, but in its own way it's every bit as interesting a read, particularly to wrestling fans who have seen tapes of the early 80s Dynamite Kid. It's funny. In the last 30 years, with very few exceptions, nearly every book on wrestling has stunk, at least partially because book publishers were of the belief that pro wrestling fans can't read. In the last few weeks, two of the five best of this generation have come out.
Unlike Foley, Billington, even in his own words, does not come across like a guy you'd want to be your friend. Well maybe, if you were heading into a gang fight. Perhaps the best sports comparison would have been to Ty Cobb, one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, who by all accounts was also one of the most miserable human beings who ever lived. Billington may not have been as bad as Cobb outside the sport, but he did have a couple of jail terms (trips to, as he called it, "the monkey house") in Japan for attacking fans. Throughout the years stories about his disposition, coming from former best friends and loved ones, painted a picture that was a 180 from Foley. During his wrestling days, he was a notorious prankster, short tempered, tightly wound on drugs who worked a very stiff style in the ring. He had easy access to steroids in Calgary, and passed them around to many wrestlers. With the exception of Bulldog and giving some to WWF road agent Joe Scarpa (Chief Jay Strongbow) for Scarpa's son who was just starting pro wrestling, he protected most of the names. But he did note the Japanese wrestlers at the time were also heavily into the steroids. While his style was not shooting at all, it was one of the hardest working styles ever, even taking away his trademark insane bumps, where injuries under normal circumstances would be inevitable and all to common. Like Foley he was a daredevil, although standards were different and while he was beyond the standards of his time, he did not take the kind of bumps regularly that Foley or later people like Sabu did. As a complete wrestler inside the ring, neither of them were even in his league. Foley himself talked about one of his first pro matches, back in 1985 as a jobber on a WWF television taping, where his jaw was broken by a stiff clothesline from Kid. Kid talked about it, but didn't remember it, saying, "It's no surprise I don't remember that either; I probably did the same thing to quite a few people by accident, because that was how I wrestled at that time." Foley likes most of the people he came into contact with, and his knocks at people in the book were usually limited to people who had either told him he'd never make it, or cut off potentially hot programs from him, and now that he's made it to the top of the profession he's somewhat having the last laugh. Or at least the last laugh today.
Billington, on the other hand, didn't like all that many people he came into contact with. Certainly the one who topped the list was his first cousin, Davey Boy Smith, who he hasn't spoken with in years. While he admitted Smith was his best tag team partner he ever had (and the two were without question one of the greatest tag teams in history), his bitterness at Smith for what he perceived were a number of slights over the years was hardly camouflaged. He noted after all the years together how Smith never told him he was going back to the WWF, thus breaking up the team, right before All Japan's year end tag team tournament. Smith trademarked the name British Bulldog and kept Dynamite from using it late in his career when unscrupulous promoters in the U.K. wanted to bill him under that name after his now more famous cousin became a national hero in the early 90s through WWF television. The last time they were ever in the same building, on an independent wrestling show Smith was working in England near Billington's home, saw Billington show up (he wasn't booked on the show), destroy Smith's concession table and get hauled away from the building by eight police men while he threatened to find and take out Smith himself. He was also honest, brutally so in most cases, about what he thought about the numerous wrestling legends he came into contact with both in and out of the ring. He considered few of them really tough guys, a list limited to the likes of Badnews Allen, David Shults, Harley Race, Danny Spivey, Billy Jack Haynes and King Tonga (now known as Meng) and one or two others. He debunked myths, like the supposed superhuman strength of Andre the Giant (saying Andre wasn't really that strong at all--others who have been in the ring with Andre said his pushing or pressing strength was only average but that his pulling strength was superhuman).
There are many who believe the Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs. Dynamite Kid series of matches from 1981-83 in New Japan rings were the greatest series of pro wrestling matches ever held up to that point in time. Even ten years after they took place, they'd rank near the top of any all-time great match listing.
Billington wrote about his legendary matches and many, when he was crippled with injuries, that weren't so legendary. One memorable of the latter took place on January 26, 1987 in Tampa, only five weeks after the injury that should have ended his career. This match took place well before he could even walk.
On December 13, 1986, the legend of the greatest worker who ever lived, at least to those who grew up a few years earlier and lived in Western Canada, came to an end, even though his wrestling career lasted many years longer. He and Smith, the British Bulldogs, with manager Matilda (a dog, as in four legged dog who once got into trouble with the New York State Athletic Commission for relieving herself right in front of the commission at a Nassau Coliseum show leaving ringside with the small of urine for the rest of the card), were defending their WWF tag team titles against Don Muraco & Bob Orton at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ONT. He was doing a simple leap over on a drop down by Muraco spot. Right then and there, his back went. He crumpled to the mat in intense pain, unable to move his legs. As fans were chanting "bullshit" and "phony," he just laid there. Nobody knew exactly what to do, but since he couldn't move and had rolled himself out of the ring, he was counted out and the match ended. Mr. Fuji, who managed Muraco & Orton, didn't realize anything was wrong and began pounding his leg with a chair while one of the mentally toughest men ever in the profession was crying on the floor, "No, Fuji, please no." He was taken out on a stretcher. When he got backstage, nearly passing out from the pain, Tama (Sam Fatu) leaned over to him and said, "Have you got any cigarettes?" As they carried him to the ambulance, his left leg started violently twitching and the paramedics strapped it to the stretcher to keep it still. After loading him up on pain medication in a Hamilton hospital, he was flown to Calgary where tests showed he had ruptured two discs and needed immediate surgery, which lasted six hours. His left leg was never the same, and he never regained full feeling in his foot. The doctors told him that he needed to look for another line of work. He never told anyone, not his wife, not his cousin, nor anyone in the WWF what the doctors had told him.
Literally a few weeks later, he was asked to drop the WWF tag team titles--in the ring. TV was taped weeks ahead of time in those days, so British Bulldogs matches were still airing as tag team champions on television and title defenses were advertised at all the upcoming arena shows. The WWF attempted to keep the injury a secret. There was very little communication in wrestling in those days although on the inside they were heavily criticized for their deceit in this manner, particularly since Kid's injury was covered as a news story in his home city of Calgary. The WWF continued to advertise major house show title matches and a time when the titles meant something as far as drawing a crowd, that they knew full well weren't going to take place.
McMahon wanted the belts on Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. Kid refused, saying the only team he'd go into the ring with under those conditions, to drop the belts to, was the Hart Foundation, Bret Hart & Jim Neidhart. McMahon paid for George Skaaland, Arnold's son, who was wrestling in Calgary, to come on the plane with him from Calgary to Tampa. Kid had to be helped into the plane, and down the ramp by Skaaland, and transported through the airport in a wheelchair. Skaaland, like Kid, by this point was so messed up on beer and pills, that he tipped the wheelchair over backwards and Kid fell on his head. He came to the Sun Dome in a wheelchair, looking like an altogether different person without the weight training and the steroids. He popped some more pain pills, and linked arms with Smith, who was practically carrying him down the aisle because he couldn't walk to the ring. The match took place, with the Hart Foundation jumping him immediately, he fell to the floor and stayed there while his partner worked the match and dropped the titles. He was then carried back from the ring backstage. For his efforts, he was paid $25. That was the going rate for working television in those days. McMahon came up to him after he got his payoff from Arnold Skaaland, and said "God bless you, Dynamite." But he still got paid $25. His savings depleted over the next few months when he was off the road and not making the big money. Wrestlers didn't have guaranteed money contracts in those days. If they were injured and couldn't work, they made little or no money. He was about to lose his house, but McMahon loaned him money to pay his mortgage while he was off, about $10,000 in total. He rushed back for March, since it was at the time the biggest Wrestlemania ever (it was the Pontiac Silverdome show with the Hogan-Andre match which drew what is still the largest wrestling crowd ever in North America) and he figured he could earn $20,000 in one night, even if he had hardly recovered. McMahon quickly took back the money he had loaned him off his first paycheck after his return.
About the only promoter he ever worked for that came out unscathed was Shohei Baba. The rest all, at one time or another, either tried to cheat him out of promised money, or were cold hearted manipulators. His list of wrestlers he thought were truly great was short. Satoru Sayama and Terry Funk topped the list. He at various times talked about Bret Hart, perhaps aside from Sayama, as his all-time favorite opponent, both in their early careers in Calgary and later to the Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation matches in the WWF, although he portrayed the early 80s Hart in Stampede Wrestling as something of a crybaby. One night nearly 20 years ago at the Calgary Pavilion, after he and Bret had wrestled a 45-minute draw, TV announcer Ed Whalen, who never was into over hyping or heavily praising what he was calling, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just witnessed the greatest wrestling match I've ever seen." Billington was a lot less kind to the wrestling ability of the rest of the Hart family, with the exception of Owen, who he had his final great matches in North America against in 1989, right before the final closing of the Stampede Wrestling promotion. He talked about his many differences with many of the brothers, and remained bitter to this day, that when Stampede wrestling finally closed for good, that Stu never told him "thank you" for being one of the company's biggest draws and best performers ever.
He also highly ranked Kenta Kobashi (who one night he said, as his career was winding down, he went to Kobashi and told him it was time for him to beat him and Kobashi, growing up with Kid as a legend, refused the win saying it would cause the fans to cry), Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and just about every Japanese wrestler except Rusher Kimura; Dory Funk Jr., Owen Hart, Chris Benoit (who he noted having met when Benoit was about 12-years-old when Stampede wrestling came to his home town of Edmonton, and quite frankly, did not take nearly the credit he could have for Benoit and Owen Hart's emulating so much of his ring style; Benoit right down to his ring attire, his physique and even his walk and his moves, while Owen Hart patterned much of his early ring style from watching tapes of the Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid matches), Steve Austin and Cactus Jack.
But the book is about pain and pranks, some harmless fun, some of which were more on the cruel side. It was about making good money, he earned $6,200 per week with All Japan, and even more in the WWF when he was tag team champion and being booked in the same cities as Hulk Hogan. Living in the fast lane. Spending the money on the road almost as fast as it came in. But never, not with injuries that should have, or anything else, either being able to stop, or for that matter, wanting to. Even today, in the wheelchair he appears to be destined to spend the rest of his life in, knowing the consequences, he made it clear he'd do it all again. You'll get brutally frank portrayals of the likes of Hogan and Randy Savage, the top stars of the WWF during that period and of McMahon. You'll even hear about when Dynamite Kid, by this point physically battered, after Stampede closed, called WCW booker Ric Flair looking for work.
If there was a weakness, it was at times his trying to portray aspects of wrestling as real. This is not a book where he pretends all or most of his wins and losses were due to his athletic ability, as other wrestling books have. But at times, particularly when it comes to his Japanese matches, he seemed to want the line somewhat blurred and make you think his wins over there weren't because somebody told him "you go up tonight."
Unlike many books, where wrestling history and stories are created, this book is the real deal, historically accurate. Like Foley's, the stories are his perception of how things were going down at the time, but they aren't made up and he doesn't portray himself in the ring in a greater light than an objective outsider would, which would have to be the exception to the rule when it comes to most pro wrestlers. While some of the British slang takes a while to decipher for an American reader, the book doesn't have nearly the amount of inside references as the Foley book. While Foley's book is written for the general public, many references that the public wouldn't understand is snuck in their to give "the boys" a laugh and certain revelations that would probably upset the boys are not found in the book. This book isn't written with any dual purpose in mind.
Unlike Foley's book, there is also very little personal life involved. We know that along the way Billington married a woman named Michelle (who is the sister of Bret Hart's ex-wife Julie). Although a lot of bitterness came out of that relationship dissolving, Michelle goes unscathed in the book, and he blames their relationship falling apart on the fact he was never around, and then, when he was injured, and was always around, she'd gotten used to a lifestyle of him not being around. The end of his first marriage was described simply as him coming back from Japan with a lot of money from a tour, her being pregnant with their third child, them before the tour being unable to get along, and him coming home to an empty house with a one-way airline ticket on the table to England. He packed one small suitcase, left his pay from the tour, nearly $30,000 in cash, on the table, and almost all his belongings, kept the equivalent to the 20 pounds he originally came to North America with, and left his wife and children for good to go back and live with his mother. In 1997, just before his legs failed him for good, he married a British woman, who had never even heard of the Dynamite Kid, and has three stepsons.
"Wrestling with Shadows," which has won numerous awards at film festivals, captured its most prestigious honor to date, a pair of Gemini awards (the Canadian equivalent to an Emmy; the awards ceremony for Canadian television) at the awards ceremony held on the Gemini's opening day, 11/5 in Toronto.
The documentary, produced by Paul Jay, Sally Blake and David Ostriker of High Road Productions, won for both Best History/Biography and for Best Picture Editing at the 14th annual awards ceremony. On the first day media coverage of the event, virtually every news story led with the awards being given to the film. This made it almost surely the first national television awards of any type being given to something relating to the pro wrestling industry. The awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, took place over a three-day period with the major awards (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best movie, Best comedy, etc.) being given on a live television special on 11/7. Due to the publicity from the awards, the show, which debuted in the United Kingdom over the past weekend, aired again on the A Channel in Canada on 11/7.
Nitro didn't pick up any steam, but Raw took a slight hit so the gap did close slightly on 11/8. Raw drew a 5.41 rating (5.15 first hour; 5.64 second hour) and an 8.0 share. Nitro, despite fictitious media reports about its huge increase in ratings, remained at the level its been the past several months doing a 3.30 rating (4.00 first hour; 3.07 second hour; 2.82 third hour) and a 4.8 share. Over the head-to-head two hours, it was Raw at 5.32 and Nitro at 2.95. The combined wrestling audience of about 9.6 million viewers dropped well below usual levels probably because the Dallas Cowboys vs. Minnesota Vikings NFL game drew a 16.18 rating and 28.4 share.
In the main event battle as it went head-to-head, Raw's HHH vs. Test match with Vince as timekeeper and Shane as referee fell to a 5.02 final quarter, the second lowest quarter in months on a Raw program (the lowest was earlier in the same show when Val Venis vs. Godfather dropped Raw below the 5.0 barrier with a 4.89) which may show that everyone has tired by now of the million 1997 Survivor Series remakes from both companies (don't worry, both companies still have plenty more of them in store and this isn't for ratings reasons but because some people just haven't gotten over things), to Nitro's 3.13 for the worst ladder match in modern history with Hart, Goldberg, Hall and Vicious with Nash as referee. Raw went seven minutes longer than Nitro, and in the unopposed period with the final of HHH vs. Test, the rating grew to a 6.74, which tells the story of what the entire second hour of Raw will do when Nitro shortens to two hours in January.
Raw doubled Nitro in two quarters, with Raw's peak coming with a 6.07 rating for the Rock vs. X-Pac match destroying WCW's Luger vs. Vicious and Knobs vs. Bigelow matches which did a 2.37, Nitro's low mark. The other strong quarter for Raw was a 5.73 for Bossman vs. Kane and Hollys vs. Too Cool, beating WCW's Hennig vs. Jarrett match at 2.49. Nitro's high mark for the night were a pair of 3.17's, for Goldberg vs. Sting and for Hart vs. Saturn.
In the other 11/6-7 weekend numbers, for the first time in months, WCW Saturday Night beat out both Livewire and Superstars, with the WCW show doing a 1.7, Livewire at 1.5 and Superstars at 1.6. Sunday Night Heat did a 3.24 rating.
ECW on 11/5 rebounded from the unusually low figure of last week doing a 1.07 rating and 1.9 share.
For 11/4, Smackdown maintained its level from the previous two weeks doing a 4.79 rating and a 7.4 share while a taped version of Thunder, improved slightly over its previous week doing a 2.31 rating and 3.5 share. The Thunder replay did an 0.8 rating. With Smackdown viewed in 4,831,000 homes for an average minute while Raw three days earlier was viewed in 4,530,000 homes, it again makes Smackdown the most watched wrestling show in the country. Because UPN is available in more homes than USA, the actual rating is still more than one point lower. At this point in time, cable has grown to the point where 78% of the homes in the country get TBS, 76.6% get USA and 76.5% get TNT. Overall, the combined television viewing audience for wrestling head-to-head on Thursday hit a new high-water mark of 10 million people. For the first time, total Thursday viewership nearly topped the previous Monday, which was 10.1 million viewers (Monday viewership peaked before football season started and Smackdown debuted at 12 million this year). This week, with Schwarzeneggar on Smackdown and the Monday numbers down again, Thursday should replace Monday as the most watched day of the week.
For 10/25, Raw scored a 5.87 rating (5.88 first hour; 5.87 second hour) and an 8.8 share. Nitro fell below its September average for the first time since the Russo/Ferrara team took over, despite having the best paced Nitro in months, with a 3.18 rating (3.86 first hour; 3.00 second hour; 2.71 third hour) and a 4.6 share. Over the head-to-head two hours and three minutes it was Raw still more than doubling Nitro with a 5.79 rating compared with Nitro's at 2.85. The Seahawks vs. Packers Monday Night Football drew a strong 14.94 rating and 25.0 share.
Raw doubled Nitro in five of eight quarters as well as the over-run. In the main event battle, WCW's Vicious vs. Scott match managed only a 2.47 rating. The WWF HHH vs. Shane McMahon main event drew a 5.72 final quarter and a 6.53 over-run, although that over-run figure is statistically incomparable with any other quarters or the WCW over-run because Raw went more than three minutes longer than Nitro, so during the head-to-head over-run HHH vs. Shane was in the 5.5 range, which is not nearly as impressive, but still doubling its competition.
Raw surprisingly peaked at 6.15 for the Bossman & Albert vs. Mankind & Snow match (going against WCW's Meng vs. Barbarian vs. Smiley three-way hardcore match and Duggan/Russo interview at 2.82), which surprisingly even beat out the Austin vs. Gunn match at 5.94, which beat out Guerrero vs. Saturn at 2.96). WCW's peak rating was 3.18 for the Bagwell vs. Ray strap match and the Nash in-ring McMahon parody. In a rare situation, most likely caused by football ratings increasing as the show went on, both Raw and Nitro lost audience (Raw only slightly) in the final hour.
A correction from last week as it relates to the 10/28 ratings. Smackdown actually did a 4.81 record, basically at its same top level of the previous week (we had incorrectly last week listed the number at 4.3). Thunder went up slightly from the previous few weeks to a 2.22 rating.
Once again, the proposed Mark Kerr vs. Enson Inoue match on a Pride show won't be taking place.
The main event on the Pride 8 show on 11/21 at the Tokyo Ariake Coliseum (mistakenly listed here as the Yokohama Arena) was canceled when Kerr pulled out of the match citing health problems. This confirmed rumors circulating all week that Kerr was pulling out of the match for various reasons. According to a report in Full Contact Fighter the unbeaten heavyweight who up until the controversial Igor Vovchanchin match (which was a no contest when Vovchanchin knocked him out through usage of a two hard knees to the head, which were in violation of the Pride rules and thus hours after the match ended the result was changed from a win for Vovchanchin to a no contest), was ranked No. 1 in the world in virtually every poll, was recently near death. This was blamed in the story on a bad reaction to medication taken for injuries suffered in his match with Vovchanchin two months ago, and hadn't recovered sufficiently. At press time, there was no word on a replacement opponent for Inoue.
Kerr vs. Inoue had already been booked twice this year. The first time Inoue pulled out over an injury. The second time, Kerr pulled out due to elbow surgery a few weeks before the match.
The 11/21 show figured to be a difficult ticket seller to start with, as Pride was promoting a big show without a pro wrestling superstar (Nobuhiko Takada or Naoya Ogawa) as a draw. While Pride consists of a vast majority of shoot matches, its biggest crowds have been composed of primarily pro wrestling fans drawn by Takada, whose main events have been both works (which he's mainly won) and shoots (all of which he's lost).
While Dream Stage Entertainment has not announced this in Japan, The RAW (Real American Wrestling) team announced on 11/8 that Tom Erikson would face Gary Goodridge on the Pride show. Erikson, a former U.S. superheavyweight freestyle wrestling champion, is unbeaten in Vale Tudo rules matches including a scary knockout of current UFC headliner Kevin Randleman in Brazil a few years back. Erikson is one of those guys that everyone fears and hasn't fought in years, largely because whenever he's booked, promoters have great difficulty finding opponents willing to face him and the matches usually fall through. From a UFC standpoint, they've always shied away from him, not so much on that issue, but because of the belief he's not very marketable and it would be difficult to find someone who could beat him. Erikson is older now and didn't win the U.S. nationals the past two years, with Stephen Neal now considered the best superheavyweight in freestyle in the country. In addition, Frank Trigg, a national calibre wrestler who is unbeaten in NHB including a win over highly touted BJJ expert Jean Jacques Machado, faces Fabiano Iha on the 11/21 show. All of this was expected to be announced officially at a Pride press conference scheduled for mid-week.
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RESULTS
10/30 Cidra, Puerto Rico (WWC): Jose Rivera Jr. b John Diamond, WWC jr. title: Sean Hill b Black Boy, El Nene DCOR Mustafa Saed, WWC TV title: Shane the Glamour Boy b Victor the Bodyguard-DQ, Invader #1 b Chicky Starr-DQ, Death match: Ray Gonzalez b Carlos Colon
11/2 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (EMLL - 4,000): Pegasso & Sombra de Plata b Fiero & Principe Negro, Sangre Azteca & Enemigo Publico b Los Rayos Tapatios I & II, Virus & Rencor Latino & Dr. O'Borman Jr. b Mr. Hoy & Olimpus & Solar II, Ringo Mendoza & Brazo de Oro & Tigre Blanco b Mr. Mexico & Arkangel & Violencia, Brazo de Plata & Lizmark Sr. & Emilio Charles Jr. b Cien Caras & Mascara Ano 2000 & Universo 2000-DQ
11/2 Tokyo (JWP): Chihiro Nakano b Akyuto Sae, Hidaka b Devil Masami, Dynamite Kansai & Carlos Amano b Kayoko Haruyama & Misaki Kana, Commando Boirshoi b Runyuyu
11/2 Ishimaki (Michinoku Pro - 324): Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Misae Genki b Yuka Nakamura, Suwa & Cima & Yoshikazu Taru NC Kendo & Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada, Curry Man & Sumo Dandy Fuji b Fake Naniwa & Sasuke the Great, Magnum Tokyo & Tiger Mask b Minoru Fujita & Masaaki Mochizuki
11/3 Okawa (LLPW): Aya Koyama b Miho Watabe, Keiko Aono b Natsumi Nishina, Noriyo Tateno b Sayuri Okino, Mixed tag: Koki Kitahara & Carol Midori b Niihao & Shinobu Kandori, Harley Saito & Mizuki Endo b Eagle Sawai & Rumi Kazama
11/3 Tokyo FM Hall (Battlarts - 232): Saito b Mach Junji, Katsumi Usuda b Takeshi Ono, Minoru Tanaka b Asian Cougar, Naoki Sano & Ikuto Hidaka b Junji & Masaaki Mochizuki
11/3 Aomori (Michinoku Pro - 516): Misae Genki b Yuka Nakamura, Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Kendo b Sasuke the Great & Yoshikazu Taru & Fake Naniwa, Sumo Dandy Fuji & Curry Man b Minoru Fujita & Naniwa, Tiger Mask & Magnum Tokyo d Cima & Suwa
11/3 Tokyo (Arsion): Mary Apache won three-way over Ayako Hamada and Linda Starr, Hiromi Yagi won three way over Chaparita Asari and Mima Shimoda, Mariko Yoshida won three-way over Yumi Fukawa and Mikiko Futagami, Yoshida won four-corners over Apache, Mita and Yagi, Queen of Arsion title: Aja Kong b Michiko Omukai
11/3 Kita-Ibaragi (Big Japan): Chihiro Nakano & Tanny Mouse b Yoshiko Tamura & Lady Magic, Tomoaki Honma & Mens Teioh & Winger b Kamikaze & Fantastik & Kato Kung Lee Jr., Daikokubo Benkei & Masayoshi Motegi b Shadow WX & Ryuji Ito, Ryuji Yamakawa & Mike Samples & Jun Kasai b Abdullah the Butcher & Crazy Sheik & Black Samples
11/3 Nagano (All Japan Women): Kumiko Maekawa b Nanae Takahashi, Zap T b Miho Wakizawa, Manami Toyota b Momoe Nakanishi, Yumiko Hotta & Miyuki Fujii b Kaoru Ito & Kayo Noumi
11/3 Mie (JD): Sumie Sakai b Kazuki, Yuko Kosugi & Sachie Abe b Cooga & Hiroyo Muto, Lioness Asuka b Yuki Morimatsu, Bloody & Saya Endo & Fang Suzuki b Megumi Yabushita & Sakai & Runmaru
11/3 Jeffersonville, IN (NWA Ohio Valley Championship Wrestling): The Damaja b Bull Buchanan, Russ McCullough b Stefan Gamlin, Scotty Sabre b Randy Royal, Jebediah b Kidd Kwikk, Vito Andretti b Low Rider, Flash Flanagan b Trailer Park Trash, Jason Lee & Rip Rogers b B.J. Payne & Chris Alexander, Rico Constantino b Rob Conway
11/4 Ehime (FMW): Kaori Nakayama b Emi Motokawa, Jado & Koji Nakagawa b Naohiko Yamazaki & Yoshinori Sasaki, Fake Hayabusa b Hisakatsu Oya, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Masato Tanaka & H b Gedo & Kintaro Kanemura & Kodo Fuyuki
11/4 Hirosaki (Big Japan): Kamikaze & Kato Kung Lee Jr. b Black Samples & Fantastik, Lady Magic & Yoshiko Tamura b Chihiro Nakano & Marcela, Mike Samples & Jun Kasai b Daisuke Sekimoto & Ryuji Yamakawa, Daikokubo Benkei b Tomoaki Honma, Shadow WX & Winger & Mens Teioh b Abdullah the Butcher & Crazy Sheik & Masayoshi Motegi
11/4 Kuroishi (Michinoku Pro - 230): Misae Genki b Yuka Nakamura, Curry Man & Yoshikazu Taru b Kendo & Gran Hamada, Fake Naniwa & Sasuke the Great b Masaaki Mochizuki & Great Sasuke, Sumo Dandy Fuji & Suwa & Cima b Minoru Fujita & Magnum Tokyo & Tiger Mask
11/4 Naucalpan (IWRG): Ryo Saito b Neo, Caballero Azteca & Bestia Rubia I b Galaxia C-3 & Guerra R-2, Fantasy & Star Boy b Yasushi Kanda & Kennichiro Arai, Vader Cop & Maniac Cop & Cyborg Cop b Black Dragon & Moon Walker & Ultimo Vampiro, Torero & Matador b Fuerza Guerrera & El Suicida, Hair vs. hair: Guerrera b Suicida
11/5 Lexington, KY (WWF - 7,512): Matt & Jeff Hardy b Dudleys, D-Lo Brown b Gangrel, Kane b Prince Albert, Al Snow b Steve Blackman, Godfather b Mideon, Big Show b Big Bossman, European title: British Bulldog b Test-DQ, New Age Outlaws won three-way over Edge & Christian and Acolytes, Rock b Val Venis
11/5 Mexico City Arena Mexico (EMLL TV - 7,000): Lady Apache & Flor Metalica b La Diabolica & Amapola, Valentin Mayo & Karloff Lagarde Jr. b Astro Rey Jr. & Mascara Magica, Black Warrior & Zumbido & Ultimo Guerrero b Super Astro & Antifaz & Tony Rivera, Negro Casas & Tarzan Boy & Felino b Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera & Dr. Wagner Jr., Atlantis & Mr. Niebla & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. b Villano III & Pierroth Jr. & Shocker
11/5 Yokohama Bunka Gym (Seikendo): Tiger Mask & Minoru Tanaka b Yuki Ishikawa & Mach Junji, Mitsuya Nagai b Brasislav, Abiteshan d Kosnica, First Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) b Alexander Otsuka
11/5 Hanamaki (Michinoku Pro - 350): Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Misae Genki b Yuka Nakamura, Curry Man & Yoshikazu Taru & Sasuke the Great b Great Sasuke & Kendo & Takashi Hijikata, Magnum Tokyo & Masaaki Mochizuki b Sumo Dandy Fuji & Fake Naniwa, Gran Hamada & Minoru Fujita b Cima & Suwa
11/5 Aomori (Big Japan): Shunme Matsuzaki b Daisuke Sekimoto, Masayoshi Motegi & Fantastik b Ryuji Ito & Kato Kung Lee Jr., Chihiro Nakano & Tanny Mouse b Yoshiko Tamura & Marcela, Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa b Jun Kasai & Kamikaze, Mike Samples b Daikokubo Benkei, Shadow WX & Winger & Mens Teioh b Abdullah the Butcher & Crazy Sheik & Black Samples
11/5 Kuji (Arsion): Mikiko Futagami b Rie Tamada, Mariko Yoshida d Ayako Hamada, Linda Starr & Mary Apache b Hiromi Yagi & Chaparita Asari, Michiko Omukai & Aja Kong b Yumi Fukawa & Candy Okutsu
11/5 Miyagi (LLPW): Sayuri Okino b Tsumi Nishina, Rumi Kazama b Miho Watabe, Mixed tag: Eagle Sawai & Koki Kitahara b Noriyo Tateno & Niihao, Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo b Harley Saito & Keiko Aono
11/5 San Juan Pantitlan (AAA - 750): Black Hunters I & II & III & IV b Hayatomi & Mohicano Jr. & Metrarom & Canaandonga, Tobikage & Oscar Sevilla b Los Mohicanos I & II, Cynthia Moreno & Alda Moreno b Miss Janeth & Rossy Moreno, Queen of Queens title: Esther Moreno b Xochitl Hamada, UWA hwt title: Canek b Electro Shock, Heavy Metal & El Alebrije & Mascara Sagrada Jr. & Blue Demon Jr. b Pirata Morgan & AAA Psicosis & Cibernetico & Pentagon
11/5 Hamburg, PA (Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling - 613): One-night Giogio Foods tag team tournament: Vincent Goodnight & J.J. Johnson b Mozart Fontaine & Nick Mondo, Joe E. Legend & Jason Lee b Boogie Woogie Brown & Jimi V, Ty Street & Ground Zero b Flash Flanagan & Brown, Cody Hawk & Race Steele b Jay Love & Kodiak Bear, Legend & Lee b Hawk & Steele, Johnson & Goodnight b Street & Zero, Legend & Lee b Johnson & Goodnight to win tournament, Scott Furie b Mr. Ooh La La, Blue Meanie b Eddie Valentine, Michael Modest b Cheetah Master-COR, Master & Meanie & Brown & V & Flanagan b Mean Street Posse & Modest & Zero & Street
11/5 Gloucester City, NJ (United States Championship Wrestling - 325): Frank Parker and Julio Fantastico won Battle Royal, Jacey North b Hot Property, Kevin Knight b Lupus, Twiggy Ramirez b Inferno Kid, Doink the Clown b Cue Ball Carmichael, Parker b Fantastico
11/5 Lewiston, ME (EWA - 288): Alexander Worthington III & Dominic b Kein Mailho & Matt Grand, Damon Darchangelo b Adam Hasty, Apocalypse b Larry Huntley, Don Juan DeSanto won three-way over Dr. Heresy and Draven, Steve Ramsey NC Kid USA, Grand b Mailhot, Dave Vicious b Don Rotten, Mark Jaguar won Battle Royal
11/5 Vienna, Austria (Vienna Wrestling Club - 250): Sig the Swisstank b Maverick, Wild Chyenne b Sonja Schmockel, Southside Rockers b Hollemberg, Leon Martinez b Chris the Bambikiller, Pete Johnston b Gary Mountain, Martinez b Johnson, Freddy Barne & Michael Kovac b Hubert Fritz & Chris Goliath
11/6 Raleigh, NC (WWF - 12,099): Godfather b Mideon, Matt & Jeff Hardy b Dudleys, Val Venis b Mankind, Al Snow b Steve Blackman, European title: British Bulldog b Test-DQ, Big Show b Big Bossman-DQ, D-Lo Brown b Gangrel, Kane b Prince Albert, New Age Outlaws won four-corners match over Acolytes, Bob & Crash Holly and Edge & Christian, WWF title: Rock b Hunter Hearst Helmsley-DQ
11/6 Nashville (NWA World Wide - 1,353): Southside Soldier b Faron Foxx, Big Bully Douglas b T.J. Gray, Spunkmeyer & Ernest T b Corsica Joe & Sarah Lee-DQ, Barry Houston b Michael Youngblood, Scott Sabre b Chris Alexander, Three-way for North American title: Terry Taylor won over Jerry Lawler and Colorado Kid, Sherri Martel b Leilani Kai, Air Paris b Chris Michaels, Ashley Hudson & Cory Williams b Stan Lane & Steve Keirn
11/6 Memphis (Power Pro TV): Glenn Kulka b Loose Cannon, Robbie D & Tony Falk b Lance Jade & Allan Steele, Derrick King b Blade Boudreaux
11/6 Nakayama (Michinoku Pro - 403): Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Misae Genki b Yuka Nakamura, Yoshikazu Taru & Sasuke the Great b Takashi Hijikata & Kendo, Cima & Suwa b Great Sasuke & Masaaki Mochizuki-DQ, Minoru Fujita & Magnum Tokyo & Gran Hamada b Fake Naniwa & Curry Man & Sumo Dandy Fuji
11/6 Hakodate (Big Japan): Shunme Matsuzaki b Daisuke Sekimoto, Kamikaze b Ryuji Ito, Chihiro Nakano & Tanny Mouse b Yoshiko Tamura & Lady Magic, Tomoaki Honma & Ryuji Yamakawa & Mens Teioh b Daikokubo Benkei & Crazy Sheik & Black Samples, Big Japan Jr. title: Fantastik b Masayoshi Motegi, Int. eight man scramble title: Great Kojika won over Yamakawa, Abdullah the Butcher, Teioh, Black Samples, Honma, Sheik and Kamikaze, Shadow WX & Winger b Mike Samples & Jun Kasai
11/6 Nita (Seikendo): Sanshiro Takagi b Takashi Sasaki, Ikuto Hidaka b Brasislav, Tiger Mask b Asian Cougar, Koichiro Kimura & Daisuke Ikeda b Mitsuya Nagai & Rider, First Tiger Mask b Katsumi Usuda
11/6 Sakata (Arsion): Rie Tamada b Linda Starr, Mikiko Futagami b Yumi Fukawa, Candy Okutsu & Ayako Hamada b Mary Apache & Chaparita Asari, Aja Kong & Michiko Omukai b Mariko Yoshida & Rie Tamada
11/6 Wind Gap, PA (Pennsylvania Championship Wrestling - 575): Robert Reagle & Mozart Fontaine won three-way over Scott Furie & Johnny Maxx and Vince Goodnight & J.J. Johnson, Boogie Woogie Brown b Ground Zero, Eddie Valentine b Nick Mondo, Joe E. Legend b Flash Flanagan to win PCW Americas title, Blue Meanie b Mr. Ooh La La, Michael Modest b Glen Osbourne to win PCW heavyweight title, Cheetah Master b Ty Street-COR, Jimi V b Jason Lee, Master & Meanie & Osbourne & Flanagan & V b Mean Street Posse & Modest & Street & Judd the Stud
11/6 Oak Ridge, NJ (NWA New Jersey): Lupus & Biggie Biggs b Trent Acid & Johnny Kashmir, Great Cerenzio b Slayer, Twiggy Ramirez b Kevin Knight, Rik Ratchett NC Nicole Bass, Rocco Rock b Inferno Kid, Jim Neidhart DCOR Big Dick Dudley
11/6 Blanchester, OH (Heartland Wrestling Association): Logan Caine b Xtremist-DQ, Rory Fox & Anthony McMurphy b Nigel McGuiness & Bobby Casanova, Astin Amborse b Chad Collyer, Chip Fairway b Alexis Machine, Bull Pain b Race Steele, Cody Hawk b Brian Fury-DQ
11/7 Hershey, PA (WWF - 8,474 sellout): Godfather b Mideon, Steve Blackman b Al Snow, European title: British Bulldog b Test-DQ, Matt & Jeff Hardy b Dudleys, Kane b Prince Albert, D-Lo Brown b Gangrel, Val Venis b Mankind, Big Show b Big Bossman, New Age Outlaws won four-way over Edge & Christian, Bob & Crash Holly and Acolytes, WWF title: Rock b Hunter Hearst Helmsley-DQ
11/7 Sendai (Michinoku Pro - 862 sellout): Chaparita Asari b Yuka Nakamura, Beef Wellington b Kazuya Yuasu, Great Sasuke & Gran Hamada & Masaaki Mochizuki & Minoru Fujita b Sasuke the Great & Sumo Dandy Fuji & Curry Man & Fake Naniwa, Asari b Misae Genki, Yoshikazu Taru b Kendo, Tag team tournament finals: Cima & Suwa b Tiger Mask & Magnum Tokyo
11/7 Sendai (Gaea - 1,500): Chikayo Nagashima b Saika Takeuchi, Sugar Sato b Sakura Hirota, Sonoko Kato b Chigusa Nagayo, Lioness Asuka b Meiko Satomura, Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki & Rie b Kaoru & Toshiyo Yamada & Toshie Uematsu
11/7 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan women - 1,300): Zap I b Kayo Noumi, Takako Inoue & Chikako Shiratori b Miyuki Fujii & Yumiko Hotta, Manami Toyota b Miho Wakizawa, Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa b Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi
11/7 Yoshu (FMW): Kaori Nakayama b Emi Motokawa, Hido b Akuma, Flying Kid Ichihara b Astera, Gedo & Jado b Yoshinori Sasaki & Naohiko Yamazaki, Fake Hayabusa b Ricky Fuji, H & Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hisakatsu Oya b Kodo Fuyuki & Kintaro Kanemura & Koji Nakagawa
11/7 Osaka (Osaka Pro Wrestling - 240): Mandela b Super Demiken, Ebbesan & Kuishinbo Kamen b Monkey & Masato Yakushiji, Police Man & Buffalo & Dick Togo b Super Delfin & Naohiro Hoshikawa & Yoshito Sugamoto
11/7 Saga (LLPW): Keiko Aono b Sayuri Okino, Noriyo Tateno b Mizuki Endo, Rumi Kazama & Koki Kitahara b Harley Saito & Niihao, Eagle Sawai & Carol Midori b Shinobu Kandori & Aya Koyama, Miho Watabe won Battle Royal
11/7 Mexico City Arena Coliseo (EMLL - 2,000): Cicloncito Ramirez & Ultimo Dragoncito b Vaquerito & Pequeno Pierroth, Filoso & Solar II b Alan Stone & Motocross, Torero & Tigre Blanco & Olimpus b Americo Rocca & Reyes Veloz & Guerrero del Futuro, Antifaz & Starman & Brazo de Oro b Fishman & Halcon Negro Jr. & Mogur, Brazo de Plata & Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Tinieblas Jr. b Apolo Dantes & Scorpio Jr. & Dr. Wagner Jr.-DQ
11/7 Naucalpan (IWRG TV taping - 600): Zonick b Maligno, Neo & Bad Boy I b Volador Jr. & Silverline, Mega & Super Mega & Millionario b Fantasy & Star Boy & Kung Fu Jr., Black Dragon & Moon Walker & Ultimo Vampiro b Enterrador & Bombero Infernal & Maniac Cop, Oficial & Guardia & Vigilante b Rencor Latino & El Hijo del Gladiador & Violencia
11/7 Tlalnepantla (AAA - 2,500 sellout): Carlos & La Flecha Negras I & II b Caballero de Cruz & Fetiche Sr. & Fetiche Jr., Gringo Loco & Guardian del Infierno & Enrique El Salvaje b Full Contact & Prof
WCW: Turner Broadcasting announced that the former position held by Dr. Harvey Schiller would be split up among several existing high level executives. Brad Siegel will be the one in charge of overseeing WCW. Siegel is the President of General Entertainment Networks for Turner Broadcasting. It's too early to tell what that will mean in the long run although it does place WCW under the entertainment umbrella rather than under the Turner Sports umbrella as it had been. The departure of Schiller is said to have greatly decreased the odds of Eric Bischoff being brought back as a heel manager
Based on what we are hearing, when Nitro goes to two hours in January, it'll be 8-10 p.m. Eastern time. There are more pluses than minuses to that slot as opposed to 9-11 p.m.. First, it gives WCW an unopposed hour to build for second hour main events. In theory, it would, in the head-to-head hour, put WCW's main events against the WWF's mid-card guys so artificially it will give the impression of closing the gap. The negatives are that, theoretically, in the specious arguments about programming content, WCW might be more restricted by network execs. Also, it guarantees WWF a huge second hour rating, which will artificially greatly boost the rating of Raw, which should regularly do 7 ratings in that hour and to outsiders make the WWF appear to be an even hotter brand of entertainment than ever before
Terry Taylor was hired to work in booking. Ultimately, WCW was able to get the complaint at Human Resources against him from when he previously worked there taken care of, and opened the door to them making him a serious offer, which hadn't come until literally the day before he was forced into making the decision. Taylor felt that had he stayed with WWF he really wouldn't have any power. The only reason he left WCW in the first place was because he was Eric Bischoff's whipping boy, which is a moot point now, and because Bischoff blew up at him when rumors surfaced he was about to make a move to WWF. In addition, Taylor hadn't moved from Atlanta, so working in WCW would mean less travel or at least, not having to move. J.J. Dillon got a promotion of sorts and will be working more closely with Russo and Ferrara, so Taylor is getting some of his old duties including being in charge of booking the house show events. In regards to the non-compete clause McMahon wanted all employees to sign, which Taylor never signed, according to lawyers that have contacted us regarding this situation, in almost all cases where these are challenged in court, the court strikes them down. As mentioned before, WCW's standard contracts for wrestlers includes a 90-day period after the wrestlers leaves the company where they aren't allowed to wrestle for a competitive promotion (WCW has never consider ECW as competition so this clause is meant specifically in regards to WWF). However, WCW wasn't able to enforce this clause as it regarded the departures of Paul Wight, Darren Mathews (Steve Regal) or Chris Irvine (Jericho), two of whom started with WWF immediately after their WCW contracts expired and the third would have except he simply wasn't in shape at the time to do so
Dusty Rhodes and Sonny Onoo are said to be no longer with the company. The story is that Rhodes made a play for Russo's spot, which failed and quit on 11/1. After Russo had nixed the idea for Dustin Rhodes' gimmick (no more strange vignettes with windows) which was to be a cross between Undertaker and Goldust, it was proposed that Rhodes do an angle with his father playing off their legitimate background problems. Dusty supposedly wanted no part of it. By the afternoon of 11/8, the general feeling in the company once the script got out as it regarded Dustin Rhodes' interview on Nitro and how he was going to bring up the heartless powers that be firing his father after 25 years is that Dusty quitting was another Hoganesque work. Onoo got the position in wrestling because he was tight with Bischoff and knew some Japanese, so he was heavily involved in the dealings with New Japan. However, New Japan, and virtually all the Japanese he came in contact with, wound up hating him
A New York Post article on wrestling writers claimed that Nitro's audience has jumped nearly 25% since Russo and Ferrara came. That's a misleading stat if I've ever heard one. In September, Nitro averaged a 3.38 rating. In August it averaged a 3.27 rating. In July it averaged a 3.37 rating. For the first three weeks of Russo and Ferrara's Nitro's, the show averaged a 3.33 rating. The only way there is any significant increase is to compare their numbers to the unusually low number of the final lame duck show Nash put together which did a 2.61. At this point, you can safely say they've stopped the free-fall and while I do believe there will be a turnaround, it's too early for the numbers to really indicate anything. McMahon was quoted in the article as saying, "For (WCW) to think that (Russo and Ferrara) were the reason that we are successful is laughable. They were part of a much larger creative team." On the misleading stat department, Entertainment Weekly did them one better, claiming in its story on Russo in the 11/12 issue, that Nitro's ratings have improved 32% since Russo started writing the show. Russo was quoted as complaining that when Smackdown was added, his workload doubled and there was never any talk of him earning more money. Even worse was he claimed the lack of credit he was being given for the success of the WWF. "To see every magazine and TV show and hear how Vince McMahon was the creative genius, that starts to wear on you. Meanwhile, I had my eye on the situation at WCW and I saw it as a phenomenal challenge." Jim Byrne, WWF Senior VP of marketing said in the story, "Vince Russo's departure will have absolutely no effect on this company at all. None." The story said that Russo asked Hogan (who should be thrilled to see his age listed at 48--he's actually 46) and Flair to stay on the sidelines for a few months to combat WCW's image as a home for over-the-hill wrestlers, and said there is a role for these men in wrestling, but no longer in the main events. Russo said, "Right now, the masses don't want family entertainment. Guys love T&A, they like (characters) with attitude." Russo is also trying to shop a comedy based on wrestling called "Rope Opera.
The WCW title tournament will continue with the quarterfinals on 11/15 Nitro from Little Rock with Benoit vs. Hall, Bagwell vs. Jarrett, Hart vs. Kidman and Luger vs. Sting. Hopefully they'll give Benoit and Hart some time to actually have matches. The final four go to Toronto and the original plan was Benoit vs. Jarrett and Hart vs. Luger (or Sting, not quite sure) with a Hart vs. Benoit final which in Toronto would probably be great. Both have been suggested as winners and besides they have to get a swerve story out. I'm under the impression that match as the final may be changed as well but for the sake of Toronto at least being a decent show, hopefully it'll go down as originally planned
Nitro on 11/8 in Indianapolis drew 9,922 fans, which was 8,134 paying $231,365. Nitro grosses for the rest of the year should be in the $200,000 range because they are charging $200 ringside. It was, by far, the worst Nitro since Nash was booker. One insider described it as attempting to do too much and paying the price. The show was paced quicker than ever, but this time throwing a million things against the wall, nothing really stuck. The only thing that came close to sticking was the image of David Flair stalking Kimberly, and when they added them in a singles match on the PPV, all I could think of was all those fans in Canada deciding whether to buy WWF or WCW tickets that weekend and what choice they are going to make. Sid did an interview saying he wasn't as dumb as he looks, that if Hall & Nash got into a battle of wits with him they'd surely lose and other stuff that must have everyone backstage rolling in hysterics. Sid claimed he had the brain of a psychopath. I thought he was going to say brain of a seven-year-old. They aired a video of the Sid vs. Goldberg match with them splicing someone saying "I Quit" to build up Sid vs. Goldberg in an I Quit match in Toronto. Hall came out wearing a Walter Payton jersey. Nash came out. Hart came out wearing a Bret Hart hockey jersey. Hart got bleeped right away. Sid starting beating on Hart when Goldberg made the save, with the Outsiders taking a powder and Goldberg spearing Sid. This was a remake of those WWF TV shows where Austin or Kane would kill everyone in sight in every segment. Sting did an interview. Ever since Sting started being an actor, his interviews have actually gotten worse because he thinks he's a thespian giving a line rather than a wrestler doing a promo. Kimberly asked for help from security. She said David Flair was crazy going after her. Let's see, last week Flair got run over by a car and was left for dead. And she's the one saying he's a psychopath. Sounds like some ex-girlfriends. By the way, those bookers who pay such great attention to detail, not only forgot Flair was run over, as it was never mentioned during the show, but he came out without a scratch. Filthy Animals did an interview calling Asya a mutt. She's not a mutt because dogs don't need to shave. Revolution came out with Asya. If you look at Torrie Wilson's facial expressions, looks and demeanor at ringside, she's a dead ringer for a more fit younger Missy Hiatt. Okay, everyone got their warning and now they can screw up like they always do in those situations. Kidman beat Smiley in 2:11 when Knobs destroyed Smiley, who was wearing full hockey goalkeeper padding, with a hockey stick kept under the ring. Sting called out Luger. Liz came out, nearly tripping on the stage. Sting threatened to shake Liz up and down until her breasts fell out of her top until Luger came out. Luger said he wanted to make friends. Sting, now a complete babyface (did I miss the turn, I only watch 100 hours of wrestling a week) didn't fall for his best friend's plea and gave him the Tongan death grip and went back to his thespianism. I think Russo likes this angle because Sting told him he's a thespian and Russo thought he could finally do a lesbian angle. David was stalking Kimberly. This continued for a bunch of more hours. Benoit beat Madusa via DQ in 1:49 when Jarrett interfered causing her to lose. It was real bad. Jarrett explained that the Powers that Be came up with this plan to get Madusa out and she got screwed. Let's see, she'd already lost in the tournament and they put her back in after she was eliminated, and now they wanted to screw her (figuratively, of course). Russo than "fired" Chavo Guerrero Jr. I think Russo thought El Paso was on the other side of the border since Americans will never care about foreigners. Why do names like Hart, Jericho and Benoit pop into my head? Duggan got a job cleaning Russo's toilet. Rick Steiner beat Disco in 1:37 with a german suplex. I guess they need to speed up the killing of the cruiserweight belt. C.G. Afi, the guy who Disco owes money to, is named Tony Maranera. Somebody ate last night at an Italian restaurant. Nash was dressed as the Grand Wizard of wrestling. He sounded nothing like him and acted gay. Considering that Ernie Roth died before most of the 40-year-olds in this business even started in the business and that outside of the Northeast, the Wizard never appeared anywhere (okay, he did appear for years in Detroit as manager of The Sheik but we're talking early 70s and his name then was Abdullah Farouk) and that except for a few people who have worked within wrestling for 15 years, nobody knew he was gay, I tend to think this was a bit inside. In the worst angle of the night, and boy did that cover some ground, A.C. Jazz and Spice had the world's worst pull-apart. A.C. Jazz wasn't bad on the mic. Dustin Runnels came out in the gimmick he had planned as a cross between Goldust and Undertaker. He arrived on a zip line and then said it was a stupid gimmick the creative team came up with, that he's his own man, you know, the speech Chaz gave when he stopped beating Beaver Cleavage. This was a little better. He then complained about the powers that be firing his father after 25 years of building wrestling. (By my recollection, he built wrestling for the first 12 of those years and spent the next 13 screwing it up but who is counting?). He talked about Goldust almost ruining his career. I swear he did that interview in WWF when he dropped the gimmick. Goldberg beat Sting in 2:21 with the jackhammer after Luger sprayed Sting in the eyes, with the gimmick he was trying for Goldberg but missed. Bagwell beat Vampiro in 1:21. You haven't lived until you saw the Misfits attack Buff. Well, imagine the Nitro Girls in a street rumble. Total amateur hour. Misfits then started taking bumps from these punches that were missing by a foot. Buff did them one better, selling a missile dropkick by Vampiro that missed by two feet. Berlyn hit Vampiro with a chain and Bagwell pinned him with the blockbuster. The bodyguard beat up the Misfits. Luckily the camera pulled away from that garbage fast. Then the Harris Twins came out and beat up Berlyn for no apparent reason. Luger was working a knee injury. Hart beat Saturn in 4:59 turning a sunset flip into a sharpshooter. Douglas hit Hart with a cast and Saturn used the death valley driver for a near fall. Malenko interfered as well, but Benoit saved him. Finish was very good. Nash, in his Wizard garb, decided he was Karnak the Magnificent from Johnny Carson (70s Carson comedy isn't exactly cutting edge these days, is it?) although he did have a funny line, saying 316 was the number of times Undertaker and Austin fought on PPV last year. And I thought it was the number of consecutive bad matches Nash has had. Booker T said that the dreaded Powers that be got rid of Stevie Ray and now he has to wrestle solo. With the way they had Booker T dressed and him talking in third person, they actually want to turn him into The Rock. It was so funny. Booker T vs. Creative Control in a handicap match ended with Control DQ'd in 1:29 when Jarrett, who was doing commentary at ringside, interfered. Let's see, if they are booking finishes and in control, why were they DQ'd? A black female bodybuilder from South Florida name Anne Marie Crooks (who, surprise surprise, is the next woman in line for a boob job) who was originally hired to play Bischoff's bodyguard and has been training at the Power Plant did a run-in to save T, but Jarrett laid her out with the guitar. Heenan called her Sailor Art Thomas, which is a real funny line for everyone viewing that was over the age of 40. And grew up in Indianapolis. Tenay told Luger that if he didn't wrestle Sid tonight, he was out of the world title tournament. Malenko & Asya beat Misterio Jr. & Wilson in 2:10. Asya handcuffed Wilson to the corner. The chyron under Malenko, as he was walking to the ring, listed his name as Asya. I didn't think you could confuse them unless Malenko went crazy on the gas. Asya & Malenko crotched Misterio Jr. on the post and Malenko beat him with the cloverleaf. Animals run in with bolt cutters to unhook Wilson. It looks like it'll come out that Wilson screwed Misterio Jr. from the start since she was the one who talked him into the match. Sid vs. Luger was one of those SE finishes. Luger was in a wheelchair. Sting shoved him out of his wheelchair and miraculously he could walk. Goldberg just showed up and speared Sid and then Luger and they went to a commercial after 2:40. In a match to determine who would face Smiley for the hardcore title in Toronto, Knobs beat Bigelow via count out in 2:52. You may ask how you can have a count out in a falls count anywhere match. Well, the answer looked even stupider than the idea. They were brawling in the back. Kimberly told Bigelow she needed help. Bigelow left, and the referee, backstage, counted to ten, and Bigelow was counted out. Heenan started pushing the idea that since the Powers that Be were from another federation, the referee for the main event "Worst Ladder Match in History" TM might be someone from another federation. It's always good to add another stupid line to a stupid lawsuit. Hall beat Leroux in 6:15 with the edge. The announcers spent the match talking about how great Leroux was. He's got potential, but almost every offensive move he made in this match was mistimed. Goldberg came out and speared both Hall & Nash. Jarrett beat Hennig via count out in 5:18. Hennig used the fisherman suplex after a ref bump. The Creative Twins attacked Hennig and dropped him on the table which was supposed to break. It did break the second time. They pounded him into the ground right in front of the ref on the floor, who then counted Hennig out. Explain why the ref would DQ Control if they were sent by the P that B because he saw something illegal, but in this case, when he saw something illegal, he didn't call it because the P that B fix the outcomes of matches? Busch should have watched this episode of Nitro straight through before he made those comments to Entertainment Weekly about them adding logic to the shows. Kimberly got in the ring since Flair was stalking her. As David came to the ring, Bigelow jumped him. Flair low blowed Bigelow and got laid out with a tire iron. I think Bigelow needs to make some friends because his friends have no stroke. David wound up attacking Kimberly's car until Creative Control made the save. Finally in the worst ladder match in the history of our great sport TM for the U.S. title with Nash as ref, Hart climbed the ladder to get the belt but Nash hit him with a pipe. While falling, Hart actually handed the belt to Nash, who then handed it to Hall, who is now the champ. Somewhere in there Steiner was mad at Sid for something that happened on Thunder (never explained during the show and since nobody watches Thunder, that was good for a lot of confusion) and interfered and was supposed to do a bulldog off the top on him. As was hitting on this show, the move missed badly
The name "Ready to Rumble" for the WCW movie involved striking a deal with the Buffer Brothers (Bruce and Michael) since Michael has the phrase trademarked for commercial usage. The word is that WCW paid Michael $500,000 for his appearance in the movie and the rights to use the phrase. So much for keeping the budget in check
After getting a second opinion, Misterio Jr. was told he would definitely be needing knee surgery for the torn meniscus, which is why his match on Nitro with Malenko was kept so short. He's getting the knee scoped and is hopeful of being able to be back in the ring in six to eight weeks, but he's going to try to work Nitros even sooner so as to keep his place in the storylines
Lots of the signs in the audience at the 11/8 Nitro looked to be planted. Lots of similar handwriting on signs that you wouldn't think fans would bring in different parts of the arena
After the past two weeks of Thunder, it seems pretty clear that Scott Hudson should be the regular host of Nitro
Quick report from the 11/9 WCW Saturday Night taping in Champaign, IL is that the next two weeks of shows are worth seeing. The "names" who were there worked really hard because everyone likes Jimmy Hart and wants to see the show succeed, and some of the Power Plant wrestlers with no names showed a lot of potential, with Kid Romeo being mentioned in specific
The Lenny & Lodi characters, which I guess some thought must have been given to reviving as Vince Russo on the WCW internet audio show at one point said they would be back, were dropped again
In Bret Hart's Calgary Sun column, he wrote about the death of race car driver Greg Moore. He noted, in what is a true story, that when he last talked with Moore in July he said "just don't get hurt," which were the almost exact words he said to Owen when he decided to go back to WWF after the 1997 Survivor Series. He didn't write this, but there was substantial criticism of the way the race went on and of how ESPN covered the race in its commentary with a lot of people saying the commentary strongly underplayed Moore's death as a story. ESPN did cancel a replay airing of the race. WWF did not cancel the first replay of Over the Edge, but did cancel all subsequent replays, never released the show on video and has eliminated the phrase Over the Edge from its terminology. Hart also wrote about meeting the late Walter Payton (who did a pro wrestling appearance as a manager for Razor Ramon in a match against Diesel and Shawn Michaels bumped for him at the 1994 SummerSlam show) at the Slammy Awards wrestling banquet before the 1997 Wrestlemania in Chicago and how he was booed and heckled by some wrestling fans and Owen, among the wrestlers embarrassed by how the fans responded to a genuine sports legend, said to him that "Walter Payton is just too good for this.
Wrath was given word on 10/29 that he was being dropped from his $350,000 per year contract but he was later told that it was one of those deals where they wanted to re-sign him for a lower amount. Stevie Ray is in the process of having his contract renegotiated downward from his former $750,000 per year price. The company's ability to use leverage to get guys who have signed deals with years left to sign new deals at half or less as much money is because the wrestlers are still so naive that they haven't formed a union
The idea of one hour of the Saturday show being a comedy hour starring Hall, Nash and Mark Madden is looking stronger as there are meetings scheduled to flush out the concept
The artist formerly known as Ryan Shamrock is said to be very close to or having already signed a one-year $60,000 contract. Terry Taylor, who was responsible for getting Kristina Laum (Kimona) her job interview with the WWF, now being in WCW, in working at getting her in here
Several more Power Plant trainees were also dropped from contract. Of the younger wrestlers at the Power Plant, the reports we've heard are that C.G. Afi, the guy who played the Lodi fan and now Tony Maranera, is the standout
The amount of money Jarrett held WWF for on his last day was less than $200,000 but well in excess of $100,000 (closer to the former than the latter). Jarrett refused to do the show and drop the IC title to Chyna unless he got what he perceived was all the money that would be due him, including PPV payoffs for August through October and other income that would come later from merchandise and payoffs from house shows that he hadn't received up until that point. Jarrett and Jim Ross, after much haggling, agreed on a price (actually they agreed on a price, then Jarrett threatened to pull out again and wouldn't do the match unless they upped the price), which the belief is was probably a higher number, significantly so, than he would have eventually received under normal circumstances, and wouldn't do the show unless he received a cashiers check in the amount before going on and dropping the title. In 1998, Jarrett earned $428,000 even though his downside guarantee was $250,000 and this year topped his $350,000 downside guarantee
True story. Hart was in England to promote "Wrestling with Shadows" and appeared on their version of MTV with a host who did no research when a caller asked Hart how he thought he compared with the all-time great legends of wrestling, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and Earthquake. He rolled his eyes and got that whattamark look on his face and asked the caller how he thought he compared with those three greats. The caller said he was up there, but Hogan was the greatest because he was 60-years-old and was still wrestling
The Hall & Nash vs. 3 strippers match on 10/25, which got WCW its fair share of heat with the higher-ups, not to mention a lot of complaints from fans in Phoenix, also got a pretty significant photo spread in the 10/28 Tokyo Sports. Apparently the blond woman, I guess owing to what she does to get pops in her own form of entertainment, did some things unplanned and unexpected like rubbing Hall's face into her breasts.
WWF: Complete Survivor Series line-up is Kurt Angle vs. Sean Stasiak (they debut Angle against the most boring wrestler in the promotion in a match actually designed to get fans to think Angle is boring to lead to his getting mad at the fans not respecting his talents and going heel), a one fall match with Ivory & Jacqueline & Luna & Terri Boatright vs. Tori & Debra & Moolah & Mae Young, old-style Survivor Series (eight man elimination) matches with Godfather & D-Lo Brown & Head Bangers vs. Dudleys & Acolytes, Val Venis & Mark Henry & Gangrel & Steve Blackman vs. Mean Street Posse & British Bulldog, Big Show & Sho Funaki & Taka Michinoku & Blue Meanie vs. Prince Albert & Big Bossman & Viscera & Mideon (let's see, Show's partners all get eliminated with a bunch of size jokes against little guys, then he beats everyone by himself except Bossman), Christian & Edge & Hardys vs. Hollys & Too Cool (well, at least that guarantees one of these eight-mans will be good), X-Pac vs. Kane, New Age Outlaws vs. Snow & Mankind for the tag titles, Chyna vs. Jericho for the IC title and the main event title match scheduled as a three-way with McMahon as referee. I guess for all the people over the years who were nostalgic for the old Survivor Series style of a show, unfortunately you're finally getting what you asked for. There should be at least two good matches on the show, but the bad ones on paper look really bad
Raw on 11/8 drew a sellout 10,916 fans paying $265,785. The show sold out about five hours after tickets were put on sale months ago. Austin did an interview and called Vince out. Vince came out and said him hitting Austin with the belt on Raw was an accident. Vince's mic kept not working. Austin was amazing in his poise in handling the situation and wound up throwing a mic that didn't work into the stands. Lawler said it was an $800 mic and then McMahon claimed it was a $10,000 mic. Another mic didn't work later in this skit and Austin grabbed it and threw it into the stands. Rock and HHH were out by the send of the segment, with McMahon announcing himself as ref. It should be noted Austin missed the weekend house shows with them announcing an injury, and then did nothing physical on this show. There have been reports of his bad neck being aggravated and that it could be serious, but he himself has denied those stories. Outlaws beat Snow & Mankind in 4:12. Venis came out to distract Mankind. Gunn hit Snow with a chair and Dogg pinned him. DX did an interview and HHH pulled down his pants and showed his bare ass at 6:20 p.m. Pacific time. Mankind & Snow did an interview with each blaming themselves for the loss. Venis beat Godfather via DQ in 1:30 when Mankind attacked Venis shoving him off the top rope and brawling into the crowd. Godfather offered Venis his ho's and Venis acted like he was going to accept, but then jumped Godfather. They announced the death of Paul Wight Sr. As they tolled the bell, Bossman came out and read a nasty poem. Bangers & Christian & Edge beat Bulldog & Posse in 1:57 when Christian pinned Pete Gas after his teammates dropped him on them. Gas looked horrible. They did a pull-apart after. Jericho did a promo at Beaver Stadium regarding Chyna. Rock beat X-Pac in 5:54 with the rock bottom. They mistimed a low in the first 90 seconds but the rest was good. X-Pac looked real good and also bled from the mouth. After a ref bump, X-Pac hit Rock with a chair to tease a near fall. After the match HHH hit Rock with a Pedigree. Vince came out. After a bunch of talk in the ring, Rock recovered and laid HHH out with a rock bottom and people's elbow. Chyna & Miss Kitty came out. Stevie Richards came out dressed as Elvis singing really badly. This definitely makes the all-time bad highlight tape. Thankfully Jericho punked him out before he could drop the ratings another full point before the segment was over. Chyna and Jericho had a great pull-apart brawl after although I'm not sure what battling evenly with Chyna does as far as the perception that Jericho is strictly mid-card, even if/when he does win the title. With all the pub, Mankind gave Snow "Head" back. Kane beat Bossman via DQ in 2:56 when Albert interfered. Kane choke slammed Albert after and Bossman worked over Kane. Hollys beat Too Cool in 2:34. Crowd was dead but these guys are good. Bob pinned Scott Taylor after an orange crush bomb in 2:34. Acolytes cleaned out another bar when some fat drunks called them fake wrestlers who couldn't fight. Last time they did that they did $6,000 worth of damages to the place. This time looked almost as good. Finally, HHH beat Test via count out in the title match in 10:23. Shane, as ref, punched HHH early. Vince was also interfering. Typical HHH. Very hard work and the match has this eerie lack of hat. They brought up the Survivor Series of 1997 about 100 times in this ten minutes. HHH came off the barricade onto Test onto the announcers table, but like WCW, the table didn't break. HHH used the pedigree but Shane wouldn't count. HHH punched Vince and Shane both and clotheslined Shane over the table. Fans were chanting for Austin by this point. Vince hit HHH with the belt but no ref to count. Finally Shane got in, but HHH kicked out. Fans actually believed for a second Test could win. Test hit the melt down but the video wall was on and they showed a woman about to be gang banged, and Vince, Shane and Test thought it was Stephanie and they all ran out. I'm not sure how Test could be counted out by a ref who was with him but that was the final verdict
Smackdown taping on 11/9 in Baltimore drew a packed house. Angle pinned Stasiak to open the show. Steve Bradley won a squash. Gangrel pinned Papi Chulo. Head Bangers beat Viscera & Mideon and Julio Fantastico beat Rich Myers. Smackdown results were Bob Holly over Edge, Dudleys over D-Lo Brown & Godfather, Venis beat Bulldog via DQ, in a hardcore title match Bossman pinned Faarooq, Brian Christopher beat Jeff Hardy, Ivory NC Tori in a womens title match. Main event was DX in an elimination match against Shane & Kane & Test & Rock with Austin as the enforcer around the ring (so again he didn't take any punishment). X-Pac and Kane were both counted out. Dogg pinned Shane. Gunn was DQ'd hitting Test with a chair. Rock pinned Dogg and finally Test pinned HHH so Rock & Test were both left as survivors. Arnold Schwarzeneggar was there to promote his movie "End of Days." The feeling was that the same demo that his movies appeal to are the pro wrestling demo so it was a nice promotional fit. The deal was made for a one-time appearance. He did color commentary and got physical punching HHH. McMahon presented him with a replica WWF title belt. We'll see if this makes television or they go behind his back to edit it because Schwarzeneggar talked about being a wrestling fan and his favorite wrestlers being Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham (who was actually his training partner at one time in the early 70s at Gold's Gym in Los Angeles when Graham was getting ready for his first big money run in the AWA and Schwarzeneggar was still competing as the top bodybuilder in the world). They also did an angle where they aired Big Show Sr.'s funeral. Bossman came out and interrupted the service, tied a chain around the casket and hooked it to his car and drove away with the casket. Fans live as this showed on the screen were laughing
The WWF reported on its web site in the news section that Big Show's father had passed away on 11/7 due to cancer. Of course this was a worked angle being reported as a news item since Paul Wight's father had died years ago
Arnold Schwarzeneggar's appearance at Smackdown airing on 11/11 was largely to promote his movie since the feeling was both his movie and WWF appeal to the same teenage male demographics. It is considered to almost certainly be a one-time thing and not something to build up an angle for a major show
The reason orders of the Mick Foley book through Amazon.com have been slow in arriving is because their copies are all sold out and they are awaiting a new shipment. Officially, the book's first week on the New York Times best seller list was in the 11/7 issue and it was No. 3 among non-fiction books and it is expected to be No. 2 in the 11/14 issue. There are reports that by the 11/21 issue it may be No. 1. Most bookstores grossly under ordered, and the book is sold out in a ton of places and in many parts of the country it is next to impossible to find a copy. They already have to do a major reprinting. Even though the demand is far greater than the supply, an internet price war on the books has caused the $25 list book to plummet in price, as it was down by the weekend to $11.25 from Booksamillion.com and Amazon.com had it down to $12.50
Naturally the success has increased the demand for more wrestling bios. There will be a ghost written Rock autobiography scheduled out for January and Austin after that. There is a lot of talk about a McMahon book (won't that be a piece of work) but apparently that's a long way away as the WWF doesn't want to step on its deal with Reagan Publishing (it wouldn't be surprising for that to be written into the detail as those things aren't unusual in that kind of a business, but I have no knowledge whether that is the case or not) and put any new books on the market which would be considered competition until the three contracted books have had a shelf life
They are doing TV tapings on both 11/29 and 11/30 at the new Staples Arena in Los Angeles and then at the Pond in Anaheim, in the same TV market, and both shows are already sold out, which is a real strong sign about the current state of the business. On the same tour, they are also running 11/26 in San Jose and 11/27 in San Francisco which are also both in the same television market. It was considered a business no-no to schedule like that, but it's been proven in the New York market where they've run all three major arenas consecutively and drawn three sellouts that the house show business, particularly when TV tapings are involved, is strong enough to where the demand by consumers for house shows is far greater than the supply of shows in most markets
Jim Neidhart actually received two contracts from the WWF, one is a typical wrestling booking contract and the other is a big money contract to be talent coordinator of a new promotion based in Memphis
Rolling Stone magazine is doing a pro wrestling issue probably for its February 2000 issue. Among the stories will be features on Mick Foley, Wrestling Groupies and an expose of how moves are done to protect each other
Alex Marvez, who saw all three A&E bios that air 11/15-17 (Austin, Owen Hart and Foley) reported that all were good, and rated them, in order, Hart as clearly the best followed by Foley and then Austin. The WWF, which had influence on the Austin and Foley pieces (they didn't cooperate with the Hart piece which is probably why it was the best of the three), made both interesting as each man's WCW career was strongly down played
The WWF The Music Volume Four went platinum in its first week of release. The Billboard charts aren't out until after press time, but early returns from Wherehouse and Sam Goody's indicate it should debut around No. 4 on the charts which is considered nothing short of phenomenal. Volume three peaked at No. 10 but that wasn't until several weeks after its release and didn't debut with anything even remotely close to the first week this one did
Added notes on the 11/4 Smackdown show. They opened the show ripping on Walmart for pulling the Snow dolls off the shelves. Lawler said it's only going to make Snow more money because it'll become a collectors item. Due to the pub, the doll, which obviously wasn't a best seller, apparently increased sales during the week in stores that hadn't pulled it. Unfortunately, the pub turned out to be negative in the long run, because several major chains followed suit including K-Mart and Toys R Us. By Sunday, the WWF had publicly changed its strategy which leads one to believe they had gotten word that Walmart was rethinking its decision. On Smackdown Lawler had heavily knocked Walmart and even said how Walmart hasn't been the same since Sam Walton died. By Sunday, WWF announced praised Walmart for doing the responsible thing because of the pressure and instead put all the heat on the professor from Kennesaw, GA whose complaints to Walmart started the ball rolling. This is a very dangerous precedent because of the amazing domino game that this becomes as anyone who viewed the downfall of UFC, with no logic involved, can attest. If the Snow character, which even an iota of investigating would reveal does not portray violence against or beheading of women, can get dropped by several major chains, if some group figures out what Godfather or Val Venis are portraying, and then what the WWF product itself is, it could spiral into a huge story. Ultimately the WWF could weather the storm of any controversy as long as it doesn't lose TV or PPV, and neither is going to happen, but now with the stock on the market, it creates more of a need to give the appearance of having no problems covered in the media to keep people from wanting to sell and thus lower the price. Snow probably got the quick tag title reign because of the pub. It may also have been because as banged up as Mankind is, they wanted to make him a tag team wrestler so doing matches is easier on him and he picked Snow as the one he'd give the rub to as his partner. The Winnipeg Sun on 11/4 actually ran its editorial on the Snow doll issue, praising Walmart for its decision, knocking the wire service Snow quote as being the stupidest thing said all year, and also not spending one moment to look into the issue in the least. The paper concluded that any toy meant for little kids which suggests that violence against women, men, children or animals is OK is going too far. By that standard, the Snow doll would actually be guilty because even at its tamest pro wrestling is cartoon violence. Of course so would just about every doll on the market today
The "Life and Death of Owen Hart" show aired this past week in Canada. Based on what I'm told, the finished product that airs on A&E 11/16 is almost exactly the same, with a few semantic changes, as the version we wrote about last week. Instead of saying that no wrestling people talked with believed Hart's death will have any effect on changing wrestling, the show ended with them saying that Martha Hart hopes Owen's death won't be in vain and will result in changes in the wrestling industry. Martha Hart arranged for a screening of the documentary on the afternoon of 11/6 for friends and family to also explain why she is doing what she is doing in regard to the lawsuit. There were a few lines of coverage in the Calgary Sun. The plan is to later release a home video of the show, which would be in movie form, and be quite a bit longer than the television version
They announced the Test/Stephanie wedding for Raw on 11/29 in Los Angeles. The very next segment they did a very subtle tease for a Test heel turn after D-Lo Brown outsmarted him in a match. Formerly Too Much, now Too Cool, were not referred to as both their wrestling ring names (Scott Taylor & Brian Christopher) and also as Scotty Too Hottie and Grand Master Sexy. The Hardys looked great in their tag match with Too Cool. Both members of Too Cool pinched Terri Boatright's butt after the match. Godfather made mention that he's the real Godfather, I guess, a knock at Ernest Miller with his cape that reads "Godfather" and coming out with women. Jericho vs. Godfather was a really bad match
House shows for the week saw the Smackdown tapings on 11/2 in Philadelphia at the First Union Center draw 14,122 paying $362,505, 11/5 in Lexington, KY drew 7,512 paying $206,993, 11/6 in Raleigh, NC drew 12,099 paying $359,020 and 11/7 in Hershey, PA drew a sellout 8,474 paying $243,502. A lot of the big names (Austin, HHH, Mankind) weren't booked in Lexington so they ended up with Rock over Venis as the main event. Raleigh was something of a disappointment in a sense crowd wide according to locals even though it was the all-time record crowd and obviously all-time record gate for the city. It was the first WWF show, I believe, ever in Raleigh (if not, then the first in so many years nobody can remember the last time) and the third or fourth event in the new building that just opened. The entire top level of the arena was vacant. Austin was advertised as the headliner in both Raleigh and Hershey but it was announced in the building that he was injured, and Rock beat HHH when the Outlaws interfered for the DQ in the main event. What was interesting about that is in the second match from the top, the Outlaws were in a four-corners match with the Hollys, Acolytes and Edge & Christian. The Outlaws came out and played total babyface throughout and won the match, before playing heel in the run-in during the next match. Mankind came out without his mask, and told the crowd that it was the first time in four years that he'd accidentally forgot it in his hotel room. He also said before his match that he was feeling particularly violent because he'd been playing with his Al Snow doll
Merchandise figures from 11/2 through 11/8 was $352,264 or $6.63 per head. We left out the merchandise figures for last week, for the house shows from 10/26 through 11/1, the total was $340,356 or $8.73 per head, which was the best week for merchandise since the boom merchandise period from early 1998 ended. Overall when it comes to WWF merchandise, this past week notwithstanding, there is a strong upward trend
We had incorrect results from the 10/31 show in New Haven. The actual results were Godfather over Viscera, Brown over Blackman, Show double count out Bossman, Hardys & Edge & Christian over Dudleys & Joey Abs & Rodney, Venis pinned Snow, X-Pac pinned Kane, Bulldog pinned Test, Chyna pinned Jericho (a 44 second match), Hollys over Acolytes and Outlaws in a three-way for the tag titles and Rock over HHH via DQ when DX interfered
Chyna filmed an episode of Pac Blue for an early 2000 air date where she got to beat up on the male police officers
The odds of Vince McMahon starting an NHB promotion in Japan are the same as the name of the song Vince comes out to on television. There has been very preliminary talk in the past of McMahon doing an NHB company in the United States, but with his schedule as tight as it is, nothing serious has come of it at this point. Basically, the only talk was a meeting months back with Ken Shamrock and Barry Bloom and there hasn't even been another meeting with anyone about it. In the meeting with DSE, the subject of WWF participating in any fashion in promoting or supplying talent for real matches was made clear from the onset that it was nothing the company had any interest in doing. They won't even allow their top talent like Austin or Rock to work against Japanese style wrestlers in worked pro wrestling matches. When Naoto Morishita of DSE returned to Japan, he announced that they would be promoting a Raw is War in Japan next year (as best I can tell, that wasn't agreed upon nor seriously discussed since the idea WWF was talking about was running a Friday night show at the Tokyo Dome so talent could be back and rested for a Monday TV shoot in the U.S.) and said it was possible that Nobuhiko Takada would wrestle in the WWF. It is believed that DSE would have to guarantee WWF $2 million as their downside for a Tokyo Dome show. But there is no deal at all at this point even close to being made
Steve Williams was officially fired on 11/1 for breach of contract for not going on the November FMW tour. Williams, because of his longstanding relationship with the Babas, refused to work in opposition to All Japan even though at this point they weren't booking him either. The WWF had been wanting to drop his contract for months but weren't able to because it was a guaranteed deal which specifically stated that he was protected when it comes to getting paid in the event of an injury
The future of Debra is up in the air. She'll probably be brought back, probably just as a television and major show performer. It all depends on Austin's future condition and she's not interested in going on the road unless he is and since getting together with Austin, her priorities, when it came to pushing to be a big TV star, changed greatly
A lot of the wrestlers and office personnel were given the chance to buy stock at 17. Some did the quick turnaround sale the first day, selling it between 30 and 34 before it started its fall, making a huge one-day profit. The stock fell far quicker than expected. Many others didn't sell. A few people got stock options into their deals as well. The stock fell this week to where it closed at 20 3/4, blamed on the bad pub coming from the Snow deal
Coca Cola dropped its WWF sponsorship, which is a huge major name loss. WWF quickly after noting the loss of the Coke sponsorship (they went with WCW with a promotional tie-in where wrestlers like Goldberg appear on Surge cans, which WWF pointed out was also now doing a TV-14 show and drawing only half the ratings in doing so), brought up that all their advertising revenue is sold out for the remainder of the year
The false rumors that spread about the death of Nelson Frazier Jr. (Viscera) on the internet on 11/5 were so strong that WWF was trying to find him to see if the story was true and many WWF wrestlers not on the road were under the impression that it was true
At some point, probably not soon, Shawn Michaels will inevitably be brought back since at this point they are paying him $15,000 per week for basically doing nothing. There was internal talk about releasing him, figuring if he went to WCW, the problems he'd cause there internally (with he and Hart in the same company not to mention the inherent problems since Michaels and Russo had their problems toward the end in WWF) would be to WWF's benefit. McMahon nixed the idea because he didn't want him on WCW TV because of the perception of how it would play. Right now there is a lot of heat on him from both Austin and Rock for things he's said about both
SummerSlam this year officially (since everything has legitimately been tallied up, and when it comes to PPV, most figures can be very close estimates but the real numbers aren't official until about 90 days after the event) did about the same 600,000 buys as last year, which confirms the early estimates. However, due to the big payoff for Jesse Ventura, the show this year was less profitable. The reason is pretty obvious. The build-up for Austin vs. Undertaker in 1998 was excellent with a strong story building to that match all summer long. In 1999, the main event changed every week and thus didn't have a focused build-up or that good of a storyline. With the pub and name value Ventura brought to the mix combined with wrestling being more popular this year than last, they still did the same business
Shamrock has yet to see a neck specialist so any questions of when he'll return to wrestling and/or fighting are up in the air. WWF officially picked up his option for two more years which would put him under contract through February 2002. How WWF picking up his option affects his plans to return to fighting (which ultimately is dependent upon the condition of his neck) in 2000 is not certain
The 11/5 Wall Street Journal ran the story about how Smackdown has led to UPN ratings increasing 40% this season. The story did note how the real facts are that UPN's ratings were so horrible last year that it was a relatively small increase in viewers that makes up a 40% gain. The other point of the UPN rating gain, which is actually that the network is up barely two nights per week, down one, and Smackdown is a huge success by their standards and is almost the entire gain, is that the 1998-99 season ratings were down 35% from the previous year, so they're really basically just back to their 1997-98 levels. The story noted the ratings increase isn't necessarily making UPN more financially successful, noting how rival WB pre-sold $450 million in advertising this season while UPN struggled pre-selling only $130 million. Because WWF is almost infommercial programming on the network, its strong, by the standards of the small network, ratings, don't directly figure into the bottom line. The WWF pays the network for the time, then keeps all but two minutes of the advertising time itself, leaving UPN with little of the time on its highest rated show to sell although UPN kick back a small percentage of the advertising WWF sells, similar to how USA network gets a small percentage of the advertising revenue from its wrestling shows, USA actually doesn't even keep any of the advertising time for itself, and WWF pays USA for the time. The hope is that through promoting of its other shows, in particular "Shasty McNasty" on Tuesdays, to the young male audience that watches Smackdown, it'll increase ratings on the network across the board. While Shasta up to this point has been a ratings disappointment, with it anchoring Tuesday which is the night that UPN ratings are actually down from last season, despite teasing lots of T&A to the wrestling fans, UPN ratings across the board are up due to strong showings from, besides wrestling, which last week ranked No. 91 out of 124 prime time shows, "Grown Ups,""The Parkers" and "Voyager." For the November sweeps, UPN is adding a one-hour show entitled "Greatest Hits of the WWF" to air on 11/30 hosted by Mankind and Miss Kitty. USA Today ran a similar story on 11/8 about WWF basically saving UPN from extinction
Solofa Fatu's ring name on the 11/8 tapings was Ratishi Fatu
Luna is now managing Gangrel. In real life the two have been married for years
Rock's being named Sexiest Wrestler by People Magazine is expected to get heavy media coverage over the next several weeks
Steve Blackman was also signed to a new contract
Chris Jericho appears on "Off the Record" on TSN on 11/19
New York Daily News sports columnist Bob Raissman, who generally writes favorably about the WWF, criticized WWOR-TV for always featuring a WWF story on its 10 p.m. newscast every Thursday (station airs Smackdown). Raissman wrote that having wrestling features on the
news every Thursday may hold the wrestling audience and juice the ratings for the newscast, it does nothing for the credibility of the news, calling it "nothing more than a promotional arm for the station's entertainment programming." It has become a growing trend (the Los Angeles UPN station also tries to air a pro wrestling feature on its Thursday newscasts which has made its Thursday newscasts its highest rated night of the week). In these days of 150 stations and ridiculous competition for viewers, with so many news sources available, ultimately, the news in general has in more and more instances become far more into serving entertainment needs to deliver ratings than actually covering hard news seriously. Its just the inevitable byproduct of competition when it comes to the news business that competition actually lowers standards
The 11/6 New York Post letters column was filled with letters critical of Phil Mushnick's column on 10/31 regarding WCW following the WWF's lead. One letter was about wrestling leading to injuries with the defense saying that people get hurt in the NFL while wrestling is fake; a letter (by long-time Observer reader Jeff Bukantz) asking why Mushnick writes about wrestling because it's not a sport and points to the advertising for strip clubs in the Post; one saying that compared with the Brady Bunch, Ally McBeal seems like porn; one saying WWF and WCW wouldn't show what they show if society didn't demand it and one who thanked him for exposing the hypocrisy and lack of morality that exists in sports today. After re-reading the Mushnick article that led to these letters, not one thing in any letter with the exception of the fact did use the word porn twice in the article was a point (and even that is a stretch to even call it a point) that had anything to do with any of the content or points in the article
The 11/2 Philadelphia Daily News ran a cover story about Droz and injuries in pro wrestling, and kids getting hurt imitating wrestling. There was nothing new brought up in the stories that you haven't already heard nor were the stories particularly good, but they did mention injuries in the ring to the likes of Austin, Bagwell, Jerry Sags, Stevie Richards and Davey Boy Smith and the death of Hart.
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