WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
EDITION NUMBER 20
2ND JULY 2001
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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK
LATEST NEWS - WRESTLEXPRESS CHANGES, LAWLER NOT ON RAW TONIGHT
RUDO RAMBLINGS - VAMPIRO NOT RETIRING, NORMAN SMILEY RETURNS
THE PURORESU RUNDOWN - MUTOH v WILLIAMS SET FOR 14th JULY
T & A (Trivia and Answers)! - HISTORY OF ECW - PART ONE
THE DANGER ZONE - HALF YEAR OPINIONS
PEARLS OF WISDOM - WWF v WCW - ACCOMPLISHING THE RIGHT GOALS
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LATEST NEWS - by Matt Singh and Andrew Evans
Hi Globe subscribers, here's this weeks news…
World Wrestling Federation
Chris Benoit's neck surgery last Thursday in San Antonio, Texas is said to have been successful. Benoit is expected to be out of action for 5-6 months for a return in January or February.
Steve Austin's hand is almost fully healed, however, Austin is now suffering from pain in his back and will most likely not be wrestling at this weeks Raw and Smackdown tapings once again. After what happened on last weeks Smackdown, the apparent plan was to have Austin vs. Tazz for the WWF World Heavyweight Title on Raw, but that now looks to be changed. Tazz is now scheduled to be at WWF New York on Raw.
Earlier this week, reports stated that Scott Hudson had been at WWF headquarters last week negotiating a contract, with a view of being one of WCW's announcers. Talks went well as Hudson will appear on Raw tonight to commentate on the WCW matches (the main one rumoured to be Booker T v Buff Bagwell for the WCW World Heavyweight Title). It is said he will be joined by Arn Anderson, who was placed into the role after Jerry Lawler pulled out...
Lawler was set to return to the WWF on Raw tonight (as part of the WCW angle) along with wife Stacy "The Kat" Carter at his side, after verbally agreeing terms. The plan was to have The Kat's contract being very low guarantee, if any guarantee at all. After internal opposition, Jerry Lawler was sent a contract, and Kat wasn't, even though the WWF still wanted her to appear on Raw tonight. Lawler didn't feel that was acceptable, and backed out of the deal. (Credit www.wrestlingobserver.com for that information).
Danny Doring and Roadkill wrestled a dark match before last weeks Raw taping, and although the match went well, it's expected that WWF management won't offer them a spot in the WWF or WCW.
World Championship Wrestling
Although still not confirmed, the new television show should be on Monday nights, named "WCW Raw", and will feature Scott Hudson as a lead announcer. An angle where WCW "win" the time-slot is expected soon.
DDP will be a main eventer in the new WCW, coming off his feud with the Undertaker. All talents under a WWFE contract have been told to cancel all further Indy bookings, as the invasion angle is now under way.
Elsewhere
Rena Mero has once again stated that she is interested in joining Hulk Hogan's new promotion. The promotion is expected to be aired on Fox in the US in either August or September, with further shows coming later in the year. But remember, anything to do with Hogan should be just thought of as rumours, and only believed when seen...
The new web site featuring Tammy Sytch and Missy Hyatt opens today. The site,
www.wrestlingvixxxens.com will feature pictures of Sytch and Hyatt nude, and will be a subscriber-based site.WrestleXpress are still in talks with the PPV company U>Direct, for with the chance of them showing around 4-5 PPV's a year, but no PPV or TV deal has been officially announced yet.
The biggest WrestleXpress news of the week is changes to their card for 20th October. Firstly, Rob Van Dam has now officially cancelled his appearance at the show, which should mean that he has officially signed with the WWFE, but a credible source is yet to confirm this. The announcement of RVD's cancellation was given out in a press release that also stated Curt Hennig would appear at the event. Hennig is not booked as a straight replacement for Van Dam, and his opponent is currently unknown.
RVD's main event spot against the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Steve Corino, in a "Hardcore, No Holds Barred Match" has been taken by Vampiro, who is once again a definite for the card. There is more news on Vampiro's injury in Rudo Ramblings...
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RUDO RAMBLINGS - by Martin Walton
A ton of news this week, with the main news centering around Vampiro (as usual), Norman Smiley and the huge Tijuana show last Friday night.
In EMLL news, Vampiro's knee injury isn't quite as bad as first expected, and so Vamp should be fully recovered in 4-6 weeks time. He is still expected to fulfill his WrestleXpress booking in England. Vamp's agent Bob Barnett has also confirmed that Vamp will start with All Japan from late August.
Norman Smiley returned to Mexico on Sunday night under his old moniker Black Magic. No results yet but the line up looked like this:
MAIN EVENT: Black Magic/Rayo De Jalisco Jr./El Hijo De Rayo De Jalisco Jr. vs. Los Hermanos Dinamita.
SEMI-MAIN EVENT: Tigre Blanco/Astro Rey Jr./Ringo Mendoza vs. Poder Boriqua/El Veneno/Fuerza Guerrera.
TERCERA: Sicodelico Jr./Brazo De Oro/Neutron vs. Mogur/Halcon Negro/El Hijo Del Gladiador.
Elsewhere, results from the huge Tijuana show last Friday night, which featured Konnan's return to Mexico:
Kato Kung Lee/Super Astro/Solar I went to a no contest with Super Boy/El Depredador/Kiss (Damian and Halloween ran in).
Tinieblas/Tinieblas Jr./Super Parka defeated El Hijo Del Diablo/Rey Bucanero/Ultimo Guerrero by DQ when La Familia de Tijuana ran in (said to be good).
El Hijo Del Santo/Blue Demon Jr./La Parka defeated Konnan/Pentagon Black/Nicho El Millonario (said to be decent).
Damian 666 defeated Halloween in a hair vs. hair match (These two are allies but the commissioner made them face each other).
The arena was apparently jam packed with a crowd of around 3,800; Tijuana hasn't seen a crowd like that since the famous Santo vs. Nicho (Psicosis) match earlier this year.
Results from the "40th Anniversary Show" of Arena San Juan Pantitlan at said arena on June 22/2001:
MAIN EVENT: Shocker and Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Mil Mascaras (yes! Mascaras actually jobbed!) and El Hijo Del Santo
SEMI-MAIN EVENT: El Signo and Negro Navarro beat Olimpico and Villano III
CUARTA: Ringo Mendoza/Solar II/Mr. Contreras defeated El Hijo Del Diablo/Mano Negra/El Brazo
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THE PURORESU RUNDOWN - by Andrew Evans
Just a few notes of importance from Japan this week:
To set up heat for the Steve Williams vs. Keiji Mutoh Triple Crown championship match at All Japan's Nippon Budokan rally on 14th July, Williams did a run-in at New Japan's Tokyo, Korakuen Hall rally on 29th June. After Keiji Mutoh's semi-main event match, Team 2000 (Chono, Kojima, Tenzan, Norton, Hiro Saito, Jadoh, & Gedoh) ran in and attacked Mutoh. After Mutoh got laid out, Williams came in the ring and gave Mutoh a Doctor Bomb and then stood over Mutoh's prone body and did the "TOP" (Triangle of Power) symbol with his hands. After Williams laid out Mutoh, Williams made a threat to Mutoh via the Japanese media that he was going to break Mutoh's neck at the 14th July Budokan show with a homicidal back drop driver.
Kenta Kobashi had a meeting at the Pro Wrestling NOAH offices in Ariake, Tokyo on Tuesday to give a report on his current condition. Kobashi said that he expects to have one more surgery on his right knee in August and/or September, and is down to around 215 pounds. NOAH owner Mitsuharu Misawa told Kobashi to take his time and that he should be patient on the matter.
It was officially announced today that the main event of the NOAH 1st Anniversary Show (27th July in Tokyo at Nippon Budokan) would be Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Title. The under-card is expected to have Daisuke Ikeda vs. Takao Omori and Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Jushin Liger for the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title.
The word right now in Japan is that Shinjiro Ohtani is somehow a booker in the ZERO-ONE group as an under-card booker, with Hashimoto and Inoki booking the top matches on the cards. Ohtani is expected to book some sort of Japanese tournament at ZERO-ONE's Nippon Budokan show on 30th August involving Masato Tanaka and Yuki Ishikawa.
From July 19th to August 19th, Michinoku Pro will run a show every single day between those two periods of time, which adds up to 32 consecutive shows. Talents booked for the tour include Jodie Fleisch, Chris Daniels and Men's Teioh.
There is some controversy in Japan regarding Shadow WX. WX, who worked the semi-main event of Big Japan's Tokyo, Korakuen Hall rally on 25th June in a barbed wire board match, apparently hurt a spectator with barbed wire. In addition, apparently some fans in the front row of Korakuen got shattered glass all over them during the John Zandig/Jun Kasai main event match.
(Credit all information: www.puroresupower.com)
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T & A (Trivia and Answers!) - by Andrew Evans
HISTORY OF ECW - PART ONE
1. Which group, who were also Philadelphia based, are known as the predecessor to ECW?
2. Jimmy Snuka defeated whom to become the first ECW Heavyweight Champion?
3. Who threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Title to instead elevate the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title to World Title status?
4. In tribute to Louie Spicolli, which move did ECW re-name the "Spicolli Driver"?
5. ECW debuted what type of match on 10th January 1998?
6. What was the first match ever on ECW PPV?
7. The ECW on TNN show debuted in what month of which year?
8. Who is the only 4-time winner of the ECW Television Title?
ANSWERS ARE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!
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THE DANGER ZONE - by Martin Walton
Since we’ve reached the half waypoint of the year, I thought I’d share some of my opinions on such subjects as wrestler of the half year, match of the half-year etc. Any feedback is appreciated whether you agree or totally disagree with me.
Wrestler of the year: Chris Benoit.
As in this year’s Globe top 10, Chris Benoit takes this award hands down. Scoring wars with Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and Steve Austin made him a run away winner with the likes of Kurt Angle and Toshiaki Kawada trailing behind in the pecking order. Unfortunately, it seems Benoit could be out until 2002 due to injury, but hopefully he'll be able to make a full recovery, and once again claim the main event spot he deserves.
Match of the year: TLC 3.
Extremely tough choice. The WWF produced some terrific matches on PPV this year such as Austin vs. Triple H and Austin vs. Rock, while New Japan has chipped in with some tidy offerings, but the TLC 3 match on the May 24 edition of Smackdown literally took my breath away. As good as it was, hopefully it’ll be the last TLC match for a considerable amount of time, after all what else could they possibly come up with?
Card of the Year: WrestleMania 17.
Another tough choice. WM 17 just beats out competition from No Way Out and New Japan’s Jan 4 Tokyo Dome show. WM 17 contained the excellent scientific match between Angle and Benoit, the awesome TLC 2 match and the thrilling Austin vs. Rock main event. Nobody puts on a show like the WWF.
Tag team of the year: Satoshi Kojima/Hiroyoshi Tenzan.
New Japan’s current IWGP Tag Team Champions just pip Chris Benoit/Chris Jericho and Jushin Liger/El Samurai for the award. Kojima and Tenzan have been tearing the house down on a nightly basis over in New Japan against talented teams like Yuji Nagata/Takayuki Iizuka and limited teams like Riki Choshu/Shinya Makabe. Heel tag teams don’t come much better.
Worst wrestler of the half year: Haku.
Despite very close competition from the likes of Rick Steiner and The Big Show, everyone’s favorite Diana Ross look-alike takes home the award. Indeed it’s torture having to watch Haku go through his tiresome chops and head-butts routine. It’s still a mystery to me as to why the WWF signed him in the first place.
Character of the half year: William Regal.
2001 is quickly becoming the breakthrough year for England’s very own William Regal. Entrusted with the commissionership at the beginning of the year, Regal has shined in the role with the perfect blend of comedy and eloquence to become a highly entertaining heel. One must surely think that there’s even more to come from Blackpool’s favorite son.
Feud of the half year: Steve Austin vs. Triple H.
Although it only lasted for a couple of months this year, the Austin vs. Triple H feud contained some fantastic angles. From Triple H’s intense comeback brawl in January, moving onto the fantastic contract signing right up to the awesome three falls match at No Way Out, Austin and Triple H provided the goods.
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PEARLS OF WISDOM - by Andrew Evans
WWF v WCW - ACCOMPLISHING THE RIGHT GOALS
The first couple of months towards initialising the inter-promotional war between the WCW and WWF have passed, with a fair amount of negativity towards the way the angle has been handled thus far. Many people simply see the angles on WWF TV at the moment as the full on war, with everything the WWF has being thrown in towards the InVasion PPV, and thus feeling disappointed at a somewhat small pay-off, and at the extreme, thinking WCW is just being used as a 4 week story-line. But, just because the battle has begun, it doesn't mean it is anywhere near ending...
In recent weeks we've seen the WCW invasion really heat up, with Diamond Dallas Page revealing himself as the stalker of the Undertaker's wife, Booker T gaining the upper-hand over Steve Austin on several occasions, and the need for the WWF to unite a team to help stop the WCW invasion.
All put together, the current WCW angle:
1. Helps WCW as a core re-establish themselves after 3 months off the air,
2. Allows WCW main eventers to be put over to the level of WWF main eventers, and...
3. Immediately turns the huge majority of WWF fans into WCW fans as well.
To re-establish WCW, a group that have lost a lot of their great image of the mid-1990s, the WWF are booking the top WCW stars into very high slots against current WWF superstars. Although the WWF InVasion PPV is now less than 3 weeks away, its rumoured 10-man tag team main event will ensure it won't become a real dream event, while still creating a very exciting and much anticipated show. Therefore, the possibility of staging huge WCW v WWF inter-promotional PPV's that have been dreamed about for years is NOT immediately killed off for the future, as none of the dream singles matches would take place at InVasion, and the current angles will simply allow the WCW stars to be seen in a light so that they can stand on the same level as their WWF counterparts.
The type of pushes given to DDP and Booker T have only previously been used for serious WWF main eventers, or future main eventers in the federation. Only nonsensical booking from the WWF, which would be very unlikely under the current situation, can hold these two down. The way Booker and Page have been presented has had them showing that they can match up to the WWF stars, hence making WCW a force equal to that of the WWF. Little, fairly unnoticeable things help too. For example, Vince McMahon's not very believable statement of, "I'm not afraid of competition", and Steve Austin's reluctance to take on Booker T one-on-one will both help to make WCW seem like a powerful unit. All WCW lack on screen at the moment is strength in numbers.
Using WCW stars on WWF broadcasts will introduce people like Lance Storm, Booker T and DDP to the WWF fans who never watched WCW TV in the past. Making these guys look good raises a lot of interest, and will make the average fan want to tune into any WCW TV broadcast.
Another strong rumour at the moment, which seems to be heading to become true, is the plan to have WCW take over Raw on Monday Nights. An angle to have the switch take place with WCW "winning" the time slot would be able to draw well, and could be fairly profitable if used on PPV. For the opening edition of WCW Raw, ratings may well increase. If the WWFE can retain most of the current Raw audience as well as pull in some of the WCW fans who switched off from the mainstream wrestling scene at the end of March, the ratings could storm back into the 5+ area again, and the wrestling down cycle can at least, be temporarily halted.
The current plan should work out as long as it is made sure that the big inter-promotional dream matches are not made for at least a year or two, for example, Booker T v Steve Austin, unless it is crucial in order to further an angle. There is a lot of possible mix and matching to come before matches have to be repeated. But then again, by the time matches come around to be repeated due to all the options being used up, there will most likely be many new main eventers on the scene to create even more of these dream matches. Profitable business can come for a long to come, as long as the WWF and WCW are kept alive as separate entities. If this angle is stretched out over time, it will work better than any other in the history of the business, both for the fans and for the WWFE.
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TRIVIA ANSWERS - by Andrew Evans
1. TWA - Tri-State Wrestling Alliance.
2. "Wildman" Sal Bellomo - 25th April 1992.
3. Shane Douglas - 27th August 1994 - after defeating 2 Cold Scorpio in a tournament final.
4. Death Valley Driver.
5. Stairway To Hell - at House Party 1998 - Sandman v Sabu.
6. Eliminators v Dudley Boyz at Barely Legal on 13th April 1997.
7. August 1999 - 27th.
8. 2 Cold Scorpio.
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WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER CONTACTS
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