WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER

EDITION NUMBER 18

18TH JUNE 2001

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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK

LATEST NEWS - KIDMAN + TORRIE SIGN WITH WWFE, MORE ON WRESTLEXPRESS

RUDO RAMBLINGS - VAMPIRO INJURED AND PSICOSIS ARRESTED

THE PURORESU RUNDOWN - MISAWA v OMORI TO HEADLINE BIG NOAH SHOW

T & A (Trivia and Answers)! - HISTORY OF PURORESU SPECIAL

THE DANGER ZONE - HALF YEAR AWARDS FOR THE TOP 10 WRESTLERS OF 2001

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LATEST NEWS - by Matt Singh and Andrew Evans

FWA wrestler Alex Shane mentioned on the talkSPORT radio wrestling show in the UK on Saturday night that a representative from the BBC will be coming to check out the promotion in the near future. Hopefully, everything goes well, and the FWA get a show on one of the BBC channels, maybe the new BBC3 or BBC4 stations, which I believe are scheduled to launch sometime within the next 12 months.

And lastly is our weekly update on the latest goings on at WrestleXpress! First off, details on the status of WrestleXpress on TV. It is rumoured that a deal has been done or is at least very close to being finalised with U>Direct, a Digital PPV company, which would allow WrestleXpress to broadcast 4 PPV shows per year. In addition to this, the group are also in negotiations with ITV for a one hour weekly show. The show would most likely fill a slot on the new ITV Sport channel, which will be only available to terrestrial digital viewers. WrestleXpress want to start the show in January 2002, and Sky Digital have said that they should be carrying the ITV channels "by the end of the year", so the show should be available through all systems.

Sonny Onoo is looking to bring in more stars from Toryumon in addition to Magnum Tokyo, who was announced for the 20th October show last week, and former WCW ring announcer Dave Penzer has been announced as the ring announcer for the show. It is also a possibility that Akira Hokuto will be Madusa's opponent.

WrestleXpress have also announced that their debut show will see a new Commissioner, and this person will be a part of all WrestleXpress TV events. A big clue to who it could be was given away by WrestleXpress.com by saying, "Rumour has it that this individual believes that "he's the greatest" because he's been the Commissioner in one of the "Big Two" in the States." This indication of course points to Ernest "The Cat" Miller, formerly of WCW, but another strong possibility is Kevin Nash, who may also be at the show to accompany Scott Hall to the ring (Hall is rumoured to be at the show to be Vampiro's mystery opponent). Nash's Time Warner contract isn't up until the end of the year, so he isn't allowed to wrestle until that time.

There is still no word on the status of Rob Van Dam, as he seemingly still hasn't signed with the WWFE.

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RUDO RAMBLINGS - by Martin Walton

Plenty of news this week, and the main news centers on a retirement, drug busts and the CZW Title changing hands in Mexico!

In EMLL news, Vampiro suffered a knee injury last night working the main event of EMLL's Arena Mexico event, his first EMLL main event since returning to the promotion. Vamp injured his knee when Dr. Wagner Jr. messed up a dropkick to the knee, and there is no word yet on when Vamp will return. Veteran Americo Rocca announced his retirement from wrestling this week. He will still wrestle occasional dates on the Guadalajara Indy circuit but he's finished as a full time wrestler. It was revealed this week that the mysterious Black Tiger is actually none other than Silver King. Atlantis is celebrating his 18th year of professional wrestling this week, but even more remarkable is that Atlantis is still one of the top 5 workers in EMLL.

In AAA news, AAA Psicosis (Leon Negro) got into trouble last week. After an AAA show he was in a bus station and got into a fight. When police broke it up, they found cocaine on him (he must have been hanging around with Juvi lately) and arrested him. He got bailed out but the story made the press in Mexico City. Results from the AAA House Show in Phoenix on June 8/2001:

MAIN EVENT: Electro Shock beat Heavy Metal to win the WWA Heavyweight Title.

SEMI-MAIN EVENT: Octagon/Mascara Sagrada/Perro Aguayo Jr. defeated Head Hunter I/Cibernetico/El Yanqui

TERCERA: Pirata Morgan/Espectro Jr./El Cobarde beat Hector Garza/La Parka Jr./El Alebrije

SEGUNDA: Maniaco/Histeria/Psicosis defeated Picudo/May Flowers/Espiritu

PRIMERA: Octagoncito and Mascarita Sagrada 2000 beat Mini Abismo Negro and Mini Psicosis

Elsewhere, results from the XLAW/CZW show in Aguascalientes on Jun 14 were as follows, (2500 paid crowd)

MAIN EVENT: Damian 666 beat Sabu by count-out

SEMI-MAIN EVENT: El Depredador and Mosco De La Merced defeated Rey Misterio and Halloween in a Ladder Match to win the XLAW Tag Team Titles

ESPECIAL: Wifebeater defeated John Zandig to win the CZW Heavyweight Title

(El Hijo Del Diablo interfered to help Wifebeater get the win.)

QUINTA: Super Crazy beat Nicho El Millonario and Nozawa in a Triangle Match

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THE PURORESU RUNDOWN - by Andrew Evans

Only a few notes of real interest this week from the world of puroresu:

On 14th June, Shin'ya Hashimoto's ZERO-ONE promotion only sold 8,377 tickets for their show at the Osaka Castle Hall, which was only about half of the 16,000 seat arena.

Kenta Kobayashi suffered a fractured left foot in his GHC Jr. Tournament match against Pathfinder at NOAH's 9th June show at Differ Ariake in Tokyo.

It appears that Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takao Omori will headline the NOAH 1st anniversary show at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on 27th July, with the GHC Heavyweight Title on the line. The original plan in the works involved Misawa vs. Akiyama (which is still on the chalkboard), with Akiyama going over and then having momentum and working New Japan's annual G-1 tournament in August. Apparently, NOAH is playing hardball with New Japan and if they use Akiyama, he will work "big matches" only. NOAH keeps establishing a storyline where Takao Omori keeps challenging Misawa for a GHC title match and Daisuke Ikeda comes to all of Omori's matches and punks him out on the floor. Omori says that his true rival is Jun Akiyama in terms of age, and that Daisuke Ikeda is meaningless to him.

The theme of Big Japan's Yokohama Bunka Gym show on 19th August will be a CZW America vs. CZW Japan Big Japan theme, with Zandig headlining in the main event. The top names that will feud on the top of this card include Kamikaze, Jun Kasai, & Kintaro Kanemura.

Gen'ichiro Tenryu announced that he would run a one time WAR rally in 2001, and that the rally would have him vs. Jun Akiyama in the main event. Tenryu also announced that he will show up at New Japan's Sapporo Dome show on 20th July and wants to fight Keiji Mutoh for the Triple Crown there if he can.

The main event of the ZERO-ONE show at the Nippon Budokan on 30th August is officially Naoya Ogawa vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto. It also appears that Yoshihiro Takayama will work future ZERO-ONE shows, with his first date at the 30th August show.

At NOAH's Niigata City Gym rally on Friday, Jun Akiyama made an open challenge to Keiji Mutoh for a singles match. Misawa, at the rally, said that he would basically exchange Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Naomichi Marufuji in exchange for Jushin Liger and perhaps Minoru Tanaka in a co-promotional sense.

The word coming out of the Toryumon camp is that the prime candidates to face Crazy MAX (Shiima Nobunaga, Big Fuji, & Judo Suwa) for the UWA 6-man Tag Titles at the big Hyogo, Kobe World Hall rally on 1st July will be Los Villanos (3, 4, and 5). If that plan falls through, the back-up plan is to use Masato Tanaka, Gedoh, & Jadoh.

(Credit all information: www.puroresupower.com)

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T & A (Trivia and Answers!) - by Andrew Evans

HISTORY OF PURORESU SPECIAL

1. Who was born Kim Sin-Nak in Korea on 14th November 1924?

2. What was the full name of the JWA?

3. In what year did Antonio Inoki make his pro-wrestling debut?

4. Who did Atsushi Onita face in his first death match, a no-rope electric-explosive barbed-wire death match on 4th August 1990?

5. Who did Pegasus Kid lose to in a mask vs. mask match, to unmask as Chris Benoit?

6. Which former WWF World Tag Team Champion won a silver medal at the 1964 Olympics?

7. Who was the first Japanese wrestler to defeat Jumbo Tsuruta with a submission hold?

8. On 21st October 2001, how many years will All Japan have been an active promotion?

ANSWERS ARE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!

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THE DANGER ZONE - by Martin Walton

In the first of a regular yearly feature, the Globe proudly presents the half year top 10 wrestlers awards. Each staff member sent in their top 10 list and once averaged out, the list looks like this:

1) Chris Benoit

Benoit started off the year by tearing the house down alongside Chris Jericho in their ladder match at the Royal Rumble. Benoit then proceeded to turn face and downed Eddie Guerrero in a stormer on the March 12 edition of Raw. Benoit was then maneuvered into a feud with Kurt Angle and the pair swapped victories at WrestleMania and Backlash in good, but slightly disappointing matches. The feud climaxed in a thrilling best of three falls match at Judgment Day with Angle coming out victorious. Benoit later came out that night as Jericho's mystery tag team partner and they were victorious in the tag team gauntlet match to earn a tag team title shot the next night on Raw. Benoit and Jericho proceeded to topple the team of Austin and Triple H in a superb match and rounded off a monumental week by coming out on top in an incredible TLC match on the following Smackdown. Benoit went on to challenge Steve Austin in his hometown of Edmonton, Canada the next week on Smackdown but came up short in an awesome match. Benoit finally rounded off the half year by going down to defeat by Kurt Angle in a superb cage match. A run away leader for the no.1 spot, Benoit is quickly becoming a modern day legend.

2) Kurt Angle

Angle started off the year by going to a superb no-contest with Steve Austin on the January 8 edition of Raw. He then went on to defeat Triple H in a average match at the Royal Rumble. Angle finally dropped the World Title to The Rock in a fantastic match at No Way Out. After his title loss, he dropped down the card to feud with Chris Benoit and had several good matches on TV and on PPV before coming out on top by downing Benoit at Judgment Day. Angle was lost in the shuffle for a few weeks but rebounded by downing old foe Chris Benoit in a superb cage match. Angle, who is currently feuding with Shane McMahon has been on the back burner since No Way Out, but expect him to play a major role in the WCW angle.

3) Steve Austin

Austin's feud with Triple H restarted on the January 8 edition of Raw when Triple H interfered in Austin's superb match with Kurt Angle. He then went on to win the Royal Rumble to bag himself a World Title shot at WrestleMania. Austin subsequently went down to Triple H in a fantastic best of 3 falls bloodbath at No Way Out, but still went on to defeat The Rock in a thrilling match at WrestleMania, and turned heel in the process by joining forces with Vince McMahon. The heel turn stuttered out of the gates as he went to a chaotic no-contest with The Rock in a cage match on the following night's Raw, and also joined forces with Triple H in the process. Austin was dragged down in a lame feud with the Undertaker and Kane, but he rebounded against Benoit and Jericho by dropping the tag titles to them in a storming match. Austin then went on to defeat Chris Benoit in an awesome match on the May 29 edition of Smackdown. Austin has proved all his doubters wrong this year by taking part in almost half a dozen fantastic matches; the old dog still has several years left in him.

4) Toshiaki Kawada

All Japan's top star started the year by blasting through Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the quarter finals of the IWGP title tournament at the Tokyo Dome but was toppled in the final by Kensuke Sasaki, in a excellent match. His losing ways continued as he combined with Masa Fuchi to lose to Taiyo Kea and Johnny Smith in a match for the vacant All Japan tag titles. Disappointedly, he didn't reach the final of All Japan's Champ Carnival tournament but did down eventual winner Gen'ichiro Tenryu on March 31. Kawada vowed to take a couple of months off due to injuries but did job to Keiji Muto in an excellent dream match on April 4 before hitting the sidelines. Kawada, who is All Japan's top draw, has done a ton of jobs this year, but expect him to capture the Triple Crown title this summer.

5) Triple H

Made his grand return from hip and back injuries by destroying Steve Austin in a fantastic impromptu brawl on Jan 8. He finally jobbed to Kurt Angle in an average match at the Royal Rumble, but downed Austin two falls to one the following month in a storming brawl. Triple H managed to carry The Undertaker to his best match in years at WrestleMania, and also bested Chris Jericho in a good match to capture the IC Title which he subsequently dropped to Jeff Hardy, but soon regained it. He bumped and bled like a mad man to squeeze a good match out of Kane at Judgment Day, and sadly severely injured his quadricep muscle the next night during the fantastic Austin/Triple H vs. Jericho/Benoit match, but showed tremendous guts by finishing the match. Scheduled to be back in November, look for Triple H to come back as a monster face.

6) Yuji Nagata

Nagata started the year off by going down to Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first round of the IWGP title tournament, and then combined forces with Shin'ya Hashimoto to lose to Mitsuhara Misawa and Jun Akiyama in an excellent inter-promotional match at the first Zero-One show. Tagged up with Takayuki Iizuka to down All Japan duo Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai in a good match. Continued to march up the card by downing Manabu Nakanishi at the Osaka Dome to become the no.1 contender to the IWGP champion, Kazuyuki Fujita. Nagata fell to Kazuyushi Fujita in a brutal shoot style match, but enhanced his reputation in the process. Now regarded as New Japan's top heavyweight worker, expect Nagata to secure gold now that Riki Choshu has been fired as New Japan booker.

7) Chris Jericho

Started off the year in memorable fashion by downing Chris Benoit in a cracking ladder match at the Royal Rumble. Jericho then went on to feud with William Regal in a series of disappointing matches including a lame Duchess of Queensbury match at Backlash. The feud climaxed in a very good cage on the May 7 edition of Raw with Jericho emerging victorious. He combined with Chris Benoit to win the tag team gauntlet match at Judgment Day and went on to dethrone Steve Austin and Triple H the next day of their tag team titles. Jericho followed that up by coming out on top alongside Benoit in the amazing TLC 3 match the next night, and established himself as a legit main-eventer in the process. Jericho tends to be unpredictable, but when he's "On" he's one of the best in the business.

8) Lance Storm

Canadian stand-out Lance Storm started the year out in a feud with the Filthy Animals, alongside Elix Skipper and Mike Awesome he downed Team Canada in an entertaining Penalty Box match at Sin. He had a short spell as WCW Commissioner but dropped ownership to The Cat at Superbrawl, managing to carry The Cat to a good match in the process, which was a minor miracle. Storm formed a regular tag team with Mike Awesome and had a series of decent matches against Sean O'Haire/Chuck Palumbo on Nitro and Konnan/Hugh Morrus at Greed. Made a big impact by becoming the first WCW "Invader" by super-kicking Perry Saturn on the May 28 edition of Raw. WWFE management obviously have a high opinion of Storm, and so expect him to be pushed as one of the top stars in the new WCW.

9) Scott Steiner

Big Poppa Pump started the year off in instantly forgettable fashion by rolling over Sid Vicious and Jeff Jarrett in the amazingly bad main event of Sin. He rebounded by carrying the wooden Kevin Nash to decent matches on the Jan 15 edition of Nitro and at Superbrawl, but jobbed to the returning Booker T in a very good six-man tag on the Feb 26 edition of Nitro. Steiner then went on to defeat DDP in a intense brawl at Greed before laying down for Booker T in a decent match on the final ever Nitro, despite suffering from back and leg injuries. Currently on the shelf, Big Poppa Pump is expected to be part of the new WCW once he gets fit.

10) Shane Helms

Following his break away from Three Count, Helms challenged Cruiserweight champion Chavo Guerrero Jr. at Sin, but went down in a good match. Helms continued to charge up the card by coming out on top in an excellent six-man Cruiserweight elimination match to bag another title shot at Greed. Helms then toppled Chavo at Greed in a sloppy match to capture the title and went on to once again beat Chavo in a fine match on the final ever Nitro. An excellent performer, Helms could be a big time player in the future.

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And lastly, a message to our newer subscribers. The Wrestling Globe Newsletter conducted an excellent interview with former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race back in February, and the interview was a feature in Edition 6. If you happened to miss it, click here to download the newsletter from that week or alternatively click here to simply view it as a web page.

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TRIVIA ANSWERS - by Andrew Evans

1. Rikidozan. 2. Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance. 3. 1960 - 30th September. 4. Tarzan Goto. 5. Jushin "Thunder" Liger - 4th July 1991. 6. Masa (Mr.) Saito. 7. Mitsuharu Misawa - 4th September 1991. 8. 29.

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