WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
EDITION NUMBER 11
30TH APRIL 2001
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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK
WWF BACKLASH 2001 PPV REVIEW
LATEST NEWS - INCLUDES DETAILS OF A HUGE UK WRESTLING CARD
RUDO RAMBLINGS
THE PURORESU RUNDOWN
"HE'S HARDCORE, HE'S HARDCORE" - THIRD AND FINAL PART
REBELLION: BECAUSE ALL IS WRONG IN THE WRESTLING LAND
T & A (Trivia and Answers)!
WRESTLING HUMOUR - 40 WAYS YOU KNOW YOU WATCH TOO MUCH WRESTLING
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WWF BACKLASH 2001 PPV REVIEW - by Martin Walton
Match 1: X-Factor beat The Dudley Boyz by pinfall (**)
Solid opener although it was basically your bog standard WWF six man tag. The Dudley's were over big time.
Match 2: Rhyno defeated Raven by pinfall (***1/2)
Arguably the most entertaining match of the night with plenty of innovative spots, the best Hardcore match in a long, long time.
Match 3: William Regal defeated Chris Jericho by pinfall (**)
Although the action was decent, the rules reeked of desperate booking, which as a result spoilt the match.
Match 4: Chris Benoit defeated Kurt Angle by submission in overtime (****)
Nicely paced action with a solid story (Angle shooting off to an early lead and then trying to hold out). However the match lacked the dynamic elements that would have made a possible Match of the Year candidate.
Match 5: Shane McMahon defeated The Big Show (**1/2)
As good as it could have been with Show showing some fire and Shane hitting an incredible 35-foot elbow drop from the top of the entrance way.
Match 6: Matt Hardy defeated Christian and Eddie Guerrero in a triple threat match (***)
Many matches would struggle to maintain the fans interest after Shane’s big bump but the work in this match was so good that the fans were popping big by the end. Some good comedy and double team spots made for a really entertaining match.
Match 7: Steve Austin/Triple H defeated Undertaker/Kane (**1/2)
This to me just felt like a long main event of a Raw or Smackdown! the action itself was pretty solid but it was a poor excuse for a PPV main event and is nothing that we haven’t seen dozens of times during the last few years.
General comments: In recent times the WWF has worked itself into a regular groove on PPV much like ECW did, the action is consistently solid but nothing seems to change with the same guys in the same spots, for the WWF’s sake they need to change this. The show overall was entertaining but other than the Shane bump, nothing was particularly special.
Overall Grade: B-
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LATEST NEWS - by Andrew Evans and Matt Singh
Hi grap fans, here is the latest news…
World Wrestling Federation
There is still no word on when Ken Shamrock will return, and the same goes for Shawn Michaels. When asked about the possibility of a 24-hour wrestling channel, Shane McMahon said it would be hard, but not impossible.
Jim Ross has had meetings with a lot of the new wrestlers signed from WCW, and also officially released a list of the 24 people that they have signed. They are: Mike Awesome, Hugh Morrus, Lance Storm, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Shawn Stasiak, Johnny the Bull, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Evan Karagias, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, Mike Sanders, Mark Jindrak, Elix Skipper, Alan Funk, Lash LeRoux, The Wall, Kaz Hayashi, Jaime Knoble, Yun Yang, Stacey Kiebler, Reno, Jason Broyles (E.Z. Money) and Kid Romeo.
Jim Ross praised Tommy Dreamer in his latest Ross Report, saying Dreamer has lost weight and continued by saying he thinks Dreamer is a class stand up guy. Ross also said he hopes Tommy is a part of the "new" WCW or WWF in the future.
Perhaps the biggest development of the past week was the meeting between Rob Van Dam and Jim Ross himself. Ross states that the meeting went well and positive, but no contract was offered.
Rikishi was apparently cleared to wrestle last week, but hasn't been used yet. He's a wild card right now, as he could easily be brought back in as either a heel, or as a face to challenge the Triple and Steve Austin alliance. The way the WWF are booking right now, it wouldn't surprise me if Rikishi was aligned with the man he ran down, Steve Austin, and they finally turn Triple H face. Who knows?
One of the best tag team workers ever, Bobby Eaton, has been released from his WWF contract, in which he was training the up and comers.
World Championship Wrestling
There is still no final date for the first new television show. This is simply due to the fact that a TV deal has not be finalised with TNN. The latest tentative date that has been thrown around for the first TV taping is 13th June, with the show being screened on 16th June.
British Wrestling
A UK group named WrestleXpress will present a huge Indy card on 20th October 2001 at the Coventry Sky Dome Arena. At present, all indications point to this being the biggest UK promoted card in a very long time. Names and matches booked on the show so far include...
Rob Van Dam v Steve Corino - falls count anywhere.
Vampiro v "a mystery opponent".
Juventud Guerrera v Psicosis.
Probably all the top British names will be there as well, as the NWA-UK Hammerlock and FWA will also be a part of the event. Maybe this could somehow spark the UK wrestling scene off again, although getting it back to what it was at its peak, with an amazing 10 million TV viewers each week, is probably too big a task for anyone. WrestleXpress are currently attempting to get the show on TV, and hopefully a station like Bravo, who have screened UWFi, ECW, WCW and Memphis wrestling in the past, will pick it up. More names will be added to the card in the weeks to come, and we will be update you whenever possible, along with when a ticket on-sale date is announced, which will probably be sometime in May.
Finally, at the latest big FWA card a couple of weeks ago, former ECW wrestler Nova told Alex Shane that he would be starting with the new WCW sometime in the next 5 months.
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STRONG STYLE TAPES
Strong Style Tapes is the leading source of wrestling action from around the World in the UK. Official tape distributor to the UK's leading wrestling promotion, the FWA, SST imports the best from America, Japan and Mexico; all in the best quality available and ready to send to anywhere in the world. Join the loyalty card scheme for further savings off already low prices and enter competitions to win free videos. For more information on tapes and ordering, visit http://www.strongstyletapes.com or email SST on strongstyletapes@hotmail.com. Or, for an off-line catalogue, either email SST with your address or fax / voice mail it on 0870 127 7895.
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RUDO RAMBLINGS - by Martin Walton
A relatively quiet week down in Mexico this week with the major news being the upcoming feuds that EMLL have booked for the next few weeks. The major feuds on the horizon is a Rayo De Jalisco Jr. Vs Universo 2000 feud along with a potential hair Vs hair match between Shocker and Emilo Charles Jr. (expect Shocker to move into a program with Vampiro after his Charles feud is done and dusted). In more EMLL news, the promotion ran a TV taping on 27/4 at Arena Mexico, the major results were:
MAIN EVENT: Satanico/Black Warrior/Shocker beat Ultimo Guerrero/Emilio Charles Jr./Bestia Salvaje by DQ.
SEMI-MAIN EVENT: Gigante Silva/Villano III/Villano IV defeated Apolo Dantes/El Signo/Blue Panther/Universo 2000 in a Handicap Match.
It was announced over the weekend that a special Lucha event entitled "Lucha Aid" will take place June 4 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The line up will feature names like Ricky Marvin, Pentagon, Gedoh, Dick Togo and The Great Sasuke. Starting in May, there will be new weight classes for the divisional titles:
Enanos (Dwarfs) - No weight limit.
Mini's (Midgets) - No weight limit.
Mujeres (Women) - No weight limit.
Pluma (Featherweight) - 63kg. - 68kg.
Ligero (Lightweight) - 70kg. - 75kg.
Welter (Welterweight) - 78kg. - 83kg.
Media (Middleweight) - 87kg. - 92kg.
Semicompleto (Light Heavyweight) - 97kg. - 102kg.
Crucero (Cruiserweight) - 102kg. - 107kg.
Completo (Heavyweight) - Over 107kg.
And finally, Californian based Indy promotion XPW is looking to hire some Lucha talent in addition to Damien 666 and Halloween who are currently on their roster.
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THE PURORESU RUNDOWN - by Andrew Evans
Lots of new bits floating around this week in Japan, and here are the main stories:
The backers of PRIDE, Dream Stage Entertainment, announced that the main event of the PRIDE 14 show on 27th May at the 16,000-seat Yokohama Arena will involve Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. It is currently up for dispute as to whether the match will be for the IWGP Title or not. It was also announced that Kazushi Sakuraba would definitely not work the PRIDE 14 show. He will return in July, probably for a re-match against Vanderlei Silva, the man who beat him on March 25th in Saitama.
It was announced that Akira Taue will be the first challenger for Mitsuharu Misawa's GHC title belt, headlining NOAH's 5/18 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center show in Sapporo (10,000 seats).
Toshiaki Kawada had cartilage removed from his right elbow on Thursday and will rest until June 8th, where it is official that he will booked for All Japan's Nippon Budokan show. He has also been booked for NJ's 6th June, Budokan show against Satoshi Kojima.
In what will be a big blow for All Japan, booker Gen'ichiro Tenryu will not be working the Super Power Series 2001 tour, but will work AJ's 6/8 Nippon Budokan show in Tokyo. At first, someone in the media broke kayfabe and said that Tenryu wasn't working because of a contractual dispute over working the tour (i.e. he didn't want to work the tour and claimed that he had a clause in his contract to not work the tour), but other media members in Japan bought All Japan's kayfabe that Tenryu is resting up due to chronic knee problems, neck problems, and a waist injury.
(Credit www.puroresupower.com)
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"HE'S HARDCORE, HE'S HARDCORE" - PART THREE - by Matt Singh
"He's Hardcore, He's Hardcore"
Believe it or not, Scott Levy has not always been known as Raven, in fact his earlier personas and gimmicks were far from what we have come to know today. The same can be said of Levy's ring work, as he has not always been the grunge garbage grappler of today. Making his pro debut in February 1989, he first wrestled under his real name in Championship Wrestling Association (in Memphis), but soon moved to the Pacific Northwest area owned by Dan Owen. Levy debuted under a different name, Scotty The Body, and did commentary as well as working some dates for the company. Earning excellent reviews for the commentary, Levy stayed with the company for a further four years before he accepted a contract with the WWF. Levy's tenure was dismal (not entirely his own fault), and took no hesitation in joining ECW when they came calling and on January 7
th, 1995, Levy debuted as the grunge rocker Raven. Even people who knew and followed Levy's previous work were somewhat stunned by his new persona as it was nothing like his aforementioned gimmicks. With his new persona came a new rivalry, one that has been called the best in garbage history. Realising the Raven character was nothing like his previous guises, Levy also changed his ring style to a more savage side. Raven made it clear from his debut that he was there to destroy Tommy Dreamer, and that he did on scores of occasions. Throughout their 18-month epic battle, Dreamer only managed one pin fall over his nemesis. Having moved on from the Dreamer feud, Raven captured the ECW World Heavyweight Title from the Sandman in a bloody and brutal No Rope Barbwire match on December 7th, 1996. He later dropped the title to Terry Funk at the first ECW PPV, Barely Legal, on April 13th, 1997. Raven then accepted a three-year contract worth £225,000 from World Championship Wrestling. Upon his debut, he banded together a WCW version of his ECW Nest, called 'Raven's Flock'. Levy had to tone down his high impact brawling and juice jobs, but still got over quickly with the WCW faithful as witnessed in his brutal triangle match with Chris Benoit and DDP (at Uncensored 1998.) With WCW in steep decline, Levy accepted a restricted contract release, which would allow Levy to sign for any company, bar the WWF. So, Levy signed a one-year deal with his old stomping ground ECW. This last stay with ECW didn't go all that well however, and after his deal was up his signed with the WWF.James "The Sandman" Fullington has given a hell of a lot to his chosen profession, although some would say that Fullington had no choice but to take the hardcore route, as his in-ring ability seems to be somewhat lacking. However, Fullington realised this and, much like Raven, became an ultra violent brawling machine, and found fame in ECW. Joining ECW, Fullington quickly gained the spotlight thanks to brutal matches with his opponents, many of whom were already established stars. Granted, the Sandman's matches were one-dimensional brawls, but boy did he do them well. The Sandman has also fought within the confines of barbed wire, with numerous garbage stars such as Mick Foley and Raven. The Sandman's best feud to date has been with the homicidal, suicidal and genocidal, Sabu. The two clicked immediately in the ring and helped set ECW on fire in the mid-nineties, thanks to scores of tough matches, in which would see both covered in tons of juice. Moving on from his program with Sabu, the Sandman was next paired up against Raven, who was fresh off his feud with Tommy Dreamer. While this feud did have its moments (including the Barbwire match mentioned above on December 7
th, 1996), it didn't live up the two's previous programs. Throughout his ECW tenure, Fullington had strong brawls with all types of wrestlers, from Mikey Whipwreck to Steve Austin. The originator of beer swilling in wrestling, Fullington was originally billed as Mr. Sandman, a surfer who carried a surfboard with him, and wrestled in a wet suit. Fullington worked in the pre-ECW Tri State Wrestling Alliance (managed by Lori "Peaches" Fullington), but gained little spotlight, until the company became ECW.Believe it or not, there is an art to hardcore or garbage wrestling, and some of the men documented in "He's Hardcore" know exactly what to do and when to do it. It may not seem like there is an art to this form of wrestling, but most of the men mentioned in this article do have skills that cannot be taught. Having said that, most garbage grafters do have shoddy in-ring ability, which is somewhat 'masked' by their hardcore style of wrestling. The future of this genre of wrestling is uncertain; on one hand hardcore/garbage wrestling is more popular now than it has ever been, but on the other hand hardcore/garbage wrestling has been somewhat diluted by the big companies, and has also been flogged to death by them as well. None the less, it seems as though hardcore and garbage wrestling will remain a big staple of the business for years to come.
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REBELLION: BECAUSE ALL IS WRONG IN THE WRESTLING LAND - by Tim Padgett
You often see lists like this made in baseball listing the future stars of tomorrow. Rarely do you see it done in pro wrestling, so I have decided to prepare a little list here, So I give you "The Five Future Stars of Tomorrow"--
1) Sean O' Haire: He displays a rare combination of size and quickness. Some have compared him to the legendary Don Leo Jonathan. A guy who weighs 260 pounds that wrestles like a cruiserweight doesn't come along every day.
2) Shelton Benjamin: Displays a lot of the same traits as O' Haire. He move incredibly well for as big as he is. He is currently at Ohio Valley, but may soon be moving up to the new WCW.
3) Christopher Daniels: Had a cup of coffee with WCW last year. An exceptional wrestler. May need to put on a little weight to ever make it big. Certainly has all the skills to be a top star one day.
4) CIMA: Those who don't follow Japan probably don't know who this is. Those who don't follow Japan are missing something special. Perhaps the best cruiserweight in the world right now. CIMA is the prize student of Ultimo Dragon. Some may remember him in his brief stint that WCW a couple years back.
5) Ricky Marvin: Some call him the second coming of Rey Mysterio. Marvin has done some moves that have never been seen before. If any promotion is ever serious about creating a strong cruiserweight division in the states than they should build around this guy.
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T & A (Trivia and Answers!) by Andrew Evans
1. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin shares a birthday with which WWF diva / valet / manager?
2. What title was stripped from Scott Steiner when he jumped from WCW to the WWF in 1992?
3. What was Little Guido's previous alias in ECW?
4. Antonio Inoki lost his first ever match in the United States to whom?
5. Joe Scarpa is the real name of which former wrestling star?
6. The "Big Van Vader" role was originally scheduled to be played by whom?
7. True or False? Goldberg's winning streak ended at WCW Halloween Havoc '98 to Kevin Nash.
8. In the Triple Threat match where Yoshihiro Tajiri won his only ECW Television Title, who were his two opponents?
9. What did the letters of the Japanese promotion, the UWFi, stand for?
10. Which legendary wrestler died on 16th December 1917?
ANSWERS ARE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!
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HIGH SPOTS
Mexico - North America - Japan tapes only $10.00
WWF title belts for $199 each
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WRESTLING HUMOUR - by Marc Lessard
This bit has been emailed to me numerous times and can be found all over the net. The author is unknown, but it's still chuckleable (?). Anyways, enjoy!
40 Ways You Know You Watch Too Much Wrestling
1. You walk into church and high five people in the pews as you walk down the aisle.
2. You purposely blade yourself while shaving.
3. Every time you see an Elvis impersonator, you ask for his autograph and get upset when it's not signed "Honky Tonk Man".
4. You attack your friends from behind with a chair, and look around the room, waiting for crowd reaction.
5. You shake someone's hand, you pause, and hesitate, while looking around nervously.
6. You walk up to get your diploma, and the graduation song is playing, you turn to the audience and shout "Ooooooh Yeeeaaahhh!" and snap into a Slim Jim.
7. You won't come out of your room until your parent's play your theme on the stereo.
8. You Leapfrog over people while playing football, then turn around, and clothesline them.
9. Every time you go to church you wait for the priest to quote something from the Book of Austin.
10. Every time you leave a room you shout, "AND THAT'S THE BOTTOM LINE, SON!"
11. Every time you score in a game, you start doing crotch chops towards your opponent.
12. You want people to leave you alone, you feel up your chest, and deeply inhale.
13. Every time a teacher's pet passes by your desk, you mumble "Lousy Babyface," and stick your foot out to trip him.
14. Every time you walk past someone lying down, you feel the sudden urge to put them in a Sharpshooter.
15. Every time you come in contact with a roll of duct tape, you wrap it tightly around your wrist.
16. Your teacher gives you detention, you give them a Stone Cold Stunner and walk out of class, flashing your middle fingers.
17. You find yourself carrying a baseball bat, metal chair, and 2X4 wooden plank around with you everywhere you go.
18. You hold regularly scheduled matches with your stuffed animals, including a monthly PPV called "In Your Room."
19. You make a Championship Belt out of cardboard, aluminum foil, and glitter and then frequently model in front of a mirror wearing it.
20. You find yourself spending hours designing ring props to bring to school to use as this years science project.
21. You are constantly telling your brothers, sisters and/or friends to eat their vitamins and say their prayers and then they can be like you.
22. As soon as someone shakes your hand, you follow with a boot to their mid-section and immediately go for an Arm-Bar Submission Hold.
23. You are always getting in trouble for trying to put a Figure Four Leg Lock on your little brother and/or sister.
24. You rent a table at the mall for the weekend and hold an autograph session.
25. You challenge the school bully, telling him he can't beat you on his best or your worst day. This is answered by a solid punch in the nose and when all hell breaks loose, school officials rush in to break it up.
26. You took you mothers' wig mannequin and painted "HELP ME" backwards on its forehead and carry it every place you go.
27. You have to be rushed to the ER because you swallowed the green dye you were planning on spitting in a classmates face.
28. You tell your friends you are the neighborhood "Icon" and demand their respect. They all get pissed off at you and a feud erupts.
29. You have to pay to fix the top rail you broke off the wooden deck attempting a Frog Splash onto your little brother or sister.
30. You refer to your girlfriend as your valet.
31. You spend hours teaching your dog to do a Moonsault off the top of his doghouse.
32. Every time your boss tells you not to present the proper corporate image, you call him "The dumbest SOB you have ever met," and hit him with a Stunner.
33. You wont enter a room until the lights go out and there is a fireworks display.
34. You switch schools swearing that the principal at your old one screwed you.
35. You ask you girl friend to get pumped up and master low blows.
36. You smash your mothers sewing dummy in the back with a folding chair.
37. You lay your little brother or sister on the kitchen table and do a 450 Splash off the refrigerator onto him and put him through the table.
38. You refuse to visit any family members unless you go in a Lear jet and a stretch limo.
39. You want four weeks worth of video promos of you shown to anyone before you meet them for the first time.
40. You wear white face paint and a long black coat to school. You rush in and chase 15 of the meanest kids in school out of the school yard when you see them pushing three of your friends around.
A visit to a very special XFL game will be coming next week. Same bat Time. Same bat newsletter.
WARNING: THIS IS PURELY HUMOROUS, MEANING, A WORK OF FICTION.
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TRIVIA ANSWERS by Andrew Evans
1. Trish Stratus - 18th December. 2. WCW World Television Title. 3. Damien Stone. 4. Prince (Curtis) Iaukea - in 1964. 5. Chief Jay Strongbow. 6. Ultimate Warrior. 7. False - it was at WCW Starrcade '98. 8. Super Crazy and Little Guido. 9. Union of Wrestling Force International. 10. Frank Gotch.
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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER CONTACTS
MARTIN WALTON |
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ANDREW EVANS |
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MARC LESSARD |
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| TIM PADGETT | tgp2585@yahoo.com |
| MATT SINGH | mattsinghy@yahoo.co.uk |
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