WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER
EDITION NUMBER 29
19TH NOVEMBER 2001
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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK
WWF SURVIVOR SERIES 2001 PPV REVIEW
WORLDWIDE NEWS ROUNDUP - CHOSHU v MUTOH?
THE DANGER ZONE - LEGIT FIGHTS PART TWO
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WWF SURVIVOR SERIES 2001 PPV REVIEW - by Andrew Evans
WWF Survivor Series 2001 PPV - 18th November 2001
(PRE-EVENT THOUGHTS: Once again, on paper, the WWF have a good card lined up. But, most of the matches mean little compared to the main event, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they execute the finish of the match to further the angles that are planned for the future...)
The show opens with a very good, fitting, video package, showing off classic WWF moments. In return, I thought it was a shame that no classic WCW footage was played, but of course - look who's on the side of the Alliance tonight. Three people who historically are WWF.
Christian's music hits and we're away...
(1) Christian defeated Al Snow to retain the WWF European Title [**3/4]
I guess this was one of the matches announced on Heat. A good, smooth wrestling match that flowed nicely. The WWF needs more wrestling as was displayed here. The end came when Christian nailed Snow with the Unprettier for the pinfall victory.
Backstage in a locker room, with Team Alliance members surrounding, Stephanie asks Steve Austin if he's joining the WWF tonight. Austin flatly denies it.
Vince and Linda McMahon arrive at the arena. Vince tells Michael Cole that the 6 WWF members will defeat the 4 Alliance members tonight.
(2) William Regal defeated Tajiri in a non-title match [**]
Regal has some new ring attire, and he looks better. Also note that Tajiri received a very good reaction on his entrance. Regal busted his nose very early on. The match ended up lasting about three minutes as Regal scored the pin on Tajiri after a tiger-bomb. After the match, Regal hit another tiger-bomb on Tajiri before leaving the ring. Torrie ran to the ring to help out Tajiri, but Regal returned and tiger-bombed Torrie as well.
Backstage, Test gets ready for his match, with Stacy close by. Test continues his new and downright bad narcissist gimmick in this segment.
Coach interviews Edge in a short promo. Edge says he's not worried about losing tonight because he knows that he'll win, and finishes by doing a great impression of Test.
(3) Edge defeated Test to unify the WCW United States Heavyweight and WWF Intercontinental Titles [**3/4]
Seconds after the bell, Heyman puts over Pat Patterson's original IC Title win in Rio De Janiero. Anyone got any footage of that match? Decent opening few minutes that improved greatly when the near-falls started, which the crowd were heavily into, and the last minute or two were really well worked. Edge won the match via pinfall after rolling up Test in a move that reversed an attempted Full Nelson Slam.
(ANALYSIS: So far, Christian and Edge are "keeping their jobs". Test should stay on screen after being given a good push recently, so is an Alliance win actually on the cards?!)
Backstage, a worried Steph talks to Kurt Angle - hilariously, she tells him that if the Alliance loses tonight she will have to become a regular person! Doing grocery shopping! And washing her own car! Angle re-assures her before leaving.
(4) The Dudley Boyz defeated the Hardy Boyz to unify the WWF and WCW World Tag Team Titles in a cage match [***1/4]
Once again, Heyman puts over the history of the titles on the line. Good cage match, and the spots (which were fairly minor) didn't spoil the flow either. Stacy pick-pocketed the key to the cage from Nick Patrick, and slid a table through the door. Matt Hardy managed to escape from the cage, but that left Jeff alone with the Dudleys. About to escape and on top of the cage, Jeff turned around and saw D-Von laying on the table inside the ring. Instead of climbing out, Jeff attempted a Swanton Bomb, but D-Von moved, and Jeff crashed through the table. He was then covered as the Dudleys unified the titles.
Mick Foley appears at WWF New York. Seems like he will be appearing on Raw.
Test attacks Scotty 2 Hotty backstage... seconds later as Alliance members come to the ring for the Immunity Battle Royal, Test appears at the back of line, apparently taking Scotty's place.
(ANALYSIS: Looking at the situation now, after the tag team titles match, Test should win the battle royal and the WWF should win in the main event.)
(5) Test won the Immunity Battle Royal [*1/2]
The jobless Hugh Morrus and Chavo Guerrero Jr. entered the ring during the match, but were quickly eliminated. The last four still in were Lance Storm, Billy Gunn, Bradshaw and Test. Storm and Bradshaw were eliminated at the same time by Test, and Gunn was finally eliminated by Test after running into a big boot.
(ANALYSIS: So... Christian, Edge, Test, the Dudleys and the Hardys are all staying on TV so far, if the WWF wins in the main event, so that's more or less a certainty now, barring a big angle.)
Booker and Shane talk backstage. Booker says he doesn't trust Austin.
(6) Trish Stratus defeated Jacqueline, Lita, Ivory, Mighty Molly and Jazz to win the vacant WWF Women's World Title [*3/4]
Jazz, as expected, was the mystery competitor - she received no reaction as the crowd seemed to have no idea who she was. The match was worked with two people in the ring at one time, with the remaining four sharing the corners. Trish Stratus won the title after hitting Ivory with the Stratusfaction (springboard bulldog).
(ANALYSIS: Trish is a slightly strange choice to have as champion, especially as this was Jazz's debut match in the WWF. Although the title isn't exactly the most prestigious, surely it would have been better to have Jazz go over and immediately make a name for herself?)
Vince gives a team talk in the locker-room. He tells Team WWF that if they lose tonight, the WWF fans will never forgive them, and that they will be disgraced. Vince also named Buddy Rogers, Dr. Jerry Graham, Gorilla Monsoon, Andre The Giant and Peter Maivia as people that they would let down if they were to lose.
(ANALYSIS: Good promo that actually served a purpose.)
(ANALYSIS: One hour and 45 minutes into the PPV, ring entrances begin for the main event. That leaves approximately one hour, which is probably just the right amount to finish off the show.)
(7) The WWF defeated The WCW/ECW Alliance [****]
The first 10 minutes of the match saw regular tagging and wrestling. Two minutes later, the Big Show was eliminated via pinfall by Shane after being hit with an Angle Slam, Axe Kick, 5 Star Frog Splash and a Flying Elbow in quick succession. Another two minutes later, Shane was eliminated via pinfall by Jericho after a choke slam (Kane), Tombstone (Undertaker) and Lionsault. As competitors are being eliminated, shots of the reactions from each promotion's wrestlers are being shown, which is a nice touch. RVD eliminated Kane after 18 minutes. Two minutes later, Undertaker was eliminated by Angle after a Stunner from Austin, taking it to a 2-on-4 situation with Rock/Jericho v Austin/RVD/Booker/Angle. Yet another two minutes later, Rock whipped Booker into Kurt Angle and rolled him up to eliminate him via pinfall. 25 minutes into the match, Jericho pinned RVD after nailing him with a Breakdown, leaving the sides level at 2-2. Kurt Angle tapped out to a Sharpshooter from The Rock after 32 minutes. Two minutes later, Austin pinned Jericho after a very poor looking roll-up. Then, as Jericho refused to leave the ring, he nailed The Rock with the Breakdown, drawing some huge boos. Austin scored a near pin. Undertaker came down to the entrance aisle, and made sure Jericho left. Just Austin and The Rock remained in the ring. 43 minutes in, Rock had Austin covered after a Stunner, but Nick Patrick pulled Earl Hebner out of the ring, and took him out. Austin then nailed Rock with a Rockbottom, but only got a two count. Frustrated, Austin took out Patrick. Rock reversed a Stunner, but accidentally threw Austin into Hebner. Austin finally got the Stunner in, but Hebner was still down. Kurt Angle ran to ringside, picked up the WWF Title belt, and smacked Austin with it. Rock then finished Austin off with the Rockbottom as Hebner made the three count. Not surprisingly, the PPV went out with a shot of Vince McMahon, arms raised, on the top of the entrance aisle.
(ANALYSIS: Very good main event, and even though a WWF win was obvious by this time, the Rock/Austin showdown still kept me guessing on what exactly was going to happen.)
(OVERALL ANALYSIS: The PPV as a whole has left just a few people with nowhere to go. Angle has re-turned, and many title holders are Alliance members. Hopefully, Shane and Stephanie take an extended leave from WWF TV, but with the return of Triple H expected very soon, I'm sure Steph won't be gone long, if at all. The only lost person coming out of the main event is of course, Booker T. Maybe, just for him, they could use the situation the Radicalz were supposed to use to be brought into the WWF in early-2000, where the deal is: if you beat our guy(s), you get a job. Put him over anyone. Big Show or Kane should do nicely. Regal could get similar treatment as well. This whole angle has been a mess, but Survivor Series 2001 may have put the WWF back on track. Raw needs to tie up the loose ends though - where do Heyman, Regal, Booker, and the mid-card Alliance wrestlers stand? Are the WCW titles still worth anything? Jericho's heel turn may have started tonight, and by the looks of the heel/babyface ratio right now, it should probably stick. Good PPV overall, as usual lifted by the main event. I'm looking forward to Raw...)
Next PPV: Vengeance - 9th December 2001 at the San Diego Sports Arena.
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WORLDWIDE NEWS ROUNDUP - by Martin Walton
JAPAN
New Japan: A quiet time in New Japan since they are currently not on tour. Former booker Riki Choshu seems to be back in favour, and word has it that he may challenge Keiji Mutoh for the Triple Crown at the January 4 Tokyo Dome show. Antonio Inoki has announced his 10 man team (which will be whittled down to 7) that will face 7 K-1 fighters in shoot matches at his New Year's Eve show at the Saitama Dome Show in Tokyo. Inoki's crew consists of Naoya Ogawa (who won't go anywhere near a shoot), Kazuyuki Fujita, Yuji Nagata, Mark Coleman, Antonio Nogueria, Tadao Yasuda, Gary Goodridge, Mario Sperry and Don Frye.
All Japan: The group have officially announced their teams for its annual Real World Tag Team tournament that starts later this month. The teams look like this:
Toshiaki Kawada/Mitsuya Nagai (Nagai replacing Masa Fuchi)
Keiji Mutoh/Taiyo Kea (The heavy favorites at this point)
George Hines/Vampiro (Strange team but may do well)
Gen'ichiro Tenryu/Kodo Fuyuki (Will at least make the final)
Harris Twins (Booked through Steve Williams, will get a few wins)
Yoji Anjoh/Johnny Smith (Likely to get buried)
Steve Williams/Mike Rotundo (Last year's winners, they won't repeat)
Also booked for the tour is Masato Tanaka, Nobutaka Araya, Hideki Hosaka and as of this weekend, Tomoaki Honma, who is replacing the injured Shigeo Okumura. Speaking of Masato Tanaka, he's booked to have singles matches with both Toshiaki Kawada and Steve Williams during the tour, so this is Tanaka's time to shine.
NOAH: Starting off with some very good news for the promotion - the 12/9 Differ Colosseum show in Tokyo with Akiyama/Vader on top has sold over 7,000 tickets so far. NOAH's current tour kicked off this past Sunday at the Differ Ariake in Tokyo before a sell out crowd of 1,600. The main event saw Vader, Scorpio and Richard Slinger roll over Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama and Satoru Asako. Tickets may be selling well for the Differ Colosseum show but so far the advance ticket sales for the promotions upcoming shows in Nagoya, Hokkaido Sports Center and in Niigata are moving slowly and the shows are highly unlikely to sell out.
Indies: Shin'ya Hashimoto's Zero-One announced it's card for the 16,000 seat Osaka Hall show on 12/9 over the weekend. The main event will see Hashimoto team up with old rival Naoya Ogawa to face Mark Kerr and Tom Howard. In addition, the under-card will feature The Road Warriors, Kazunari Murakami and Shinjiro Ohtani. Big Japan is running it's biggest show of the year on 12/2 at the Yokohama Arena. The main event will be a match between Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and John Zandig, which will feature thumbtacks, broken glass, light bulbs, barbed wire, piranha, crocodiles, tarantulas and anything else they can come up with. Also booked on the show is Ryuji Yamakawa's comeback match and Shinjiro Ohtani will make a one off appearance against the promising Daisuke Sekimoto. Despite a loaded card, tickets are moving extremely slow and the arena is likely to be half-empty. Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon promotion have tinkered around with the line up of its top heel group Crazy Max, and the group now consists of CIMA, Big Fuji, Taru and Ryo Saito.
MEXICO
EMLL: Things have gone crazy in EMLL since the last Globe. Most of you will probably know that the trio of Rey Misterio Jr, Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis (working as Nicho) have all debuted for EMLL in the last couple of weeks. This was seemingly impossible stemming from the fact that the trio were closely associated with Konnan, who just happens to be hated by EMLL boss Paco Alonso. To add to Rey, Juvi and Nicho, Tijuana regulars and Konnan buddies Damian and Halloween are scheduled to debut at the Arena Mexico next week. And finally, EMLL have announced that they will run another PPV on December 14. The main event of the show will be the long awaited hair vs. hair match between Shocker and Emilio Charles Jr.
AAA: Vampiro worked a AAA show in Tijuana a couple of weeks ago, so it seems Vamp will make the odd appearance in AAA in between his All Japan and XWF dates. Cibernetico vs. AAA boss Antonio Pena is scheduled for the promotion's upcoming Plaza De Toros show with Abismo Negro in Cibernetico's corner and a mystery luchador in Pena's corner. Word has it that Texano is about to leave AAA. Normally he would head to EMLL but there might not be any space for him with the packed roster they currently have.
Tijuana: Baja promotions ran a huge show last Friday night, results are as follows:
Mascarita Sagrada defeated Piratita Morgan in a ladder match, Sagrada challenged Morgan to a mask vs. hair match afterwards.
Rey Misterio Sr., Damien 666 & Halloween defeated Pentagon, Blue Panther & Hijo del Diablo. La Parka came out afterwards and challenged Damian to a mask vs. hair match at the November 23 show.
El Hijo Del Santo defeated La Parka in a cage match, crazy match with numerous run-ins until Damian and Halloween carried Santo over the top of the cage for the win.
Well that's all for now, I'd like to thank Zach Arnold, Stuart Max, Robert Bihari and Jose Fernandez for their help. See you all next time.
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THE DANGER ZONE - by Martin Walton
LEGIT FIGHTS PART TWO
Back by popular demand (well a few people wanted a sequel), this is the follow up to the original legit fights piece that was first published last spring. As with last time, I will not feature the more well known fights such as Bret vs. Shawn, ECW vs. XPW, DDP vs. Steiner since they've been done to death elsewhere. Instead I'm going to focus on some of the less known fights and confrontations.
Ken Shamrock vs. The Nasty Boys
This incident occurred in the early 1990s when the trio worked for South Atlantic Pro Wrestling, based in the Carolinas. Legend has it that the trio were in a bar and The Nasty Boys were humiliating a young rookie - Shamrock objected and told them to lay off the kid and a short scuffle ensued between the three before it was broken up. Things really got interesting later that night when a furious Shamrock went looking for the Nasties in their hotel. The pair were apparently tipped off and promptly set a trap. Shamrock eventually found their room and burst in only to find Saggs apparently unconscious on the bed. It was then that Knobs jumped out from the bathroom and flattened Shamrock with a lamp. Saggs promptly rose to his feet as he and Knobs subsequently laid the mother of all beating on Shamrock, so much so that Shamrock was hospitalised. Shamrock would later cross paths with Knobs at an airport in 1999 only for Knobs to run for his life.
William Regal vs. Van Hammer
This incident occurred sometime in 1999 at a party. Hammer, spurned on by a healthy dose of alcohol, began to get in Regal's face, doubting his toughness even though Regal had earned his reputation through his days as a carnival wrestler back in his native England. Regal responded by clamping on a basic thumb lock and subsequently made Hammer cry like a little girl.
Koko B. Ware vs. Paul Roma
This all happened in 1987. The Bulldogs would often refer to Koko as Buckwheat in a private joke between the three. However, Paul Roma decided to join in on the joke. Koko didn't like this and told him to stop, but Roma refused much to Koko's annoyance. Koko would later explode and pound the crap out of Roma even though Roma was a past Golden Gloves winner, and would later forge himself a boxing career. By this time, Koko had created quite a reputation for himself. He had also knocked out the notoriously tough Steve Keirn in a Memphis locker-room the previous year.
New Jack vs. Dances With Dudley
On October 6, 1995 a tag match was scheduled to take place involving New Jack and Dances with Dudley. Several of the wrestlers, as a joke, were telling Dances that New Jack was going to shoot on him, and Dances subsequently became paranoid even though New Jack had planned nothing of the sort. Unfortunately, New Jack accidentally caught Dances with a stiff shot during the match. This infuriated Dances and the match quickly fell to pieces as the two began shooting on each other. It all started to kick off when they returned to the dressing room - Dances immediately went looking for New Jack to hand him an ass kicking, but Jack came prepared and jumped Dances from behind with the aid of a nightstick. Things got even more extreme the following night when the pair met up again, only for Dances to pull a knife on New Jack before calmer heads prevailed.
The Iron Sheik vs. Paul Diamond
This is somewhat of a bizarre tale. The Iron Sheik, being a decorated amateur wrestler, would often claim that nobody could hold him down for a three count in a legit wrestling match. This led to Marty Jannetty dressing in Diamond's Orient Express mask and school-boying Sheik from behind in the middle of the dressing room and getting a quick three count before fleeing the room. Sheik, enraged and not knowing it was Jannetty under the mask, went on a search for Diamond throughout the backstage area. The Sheik eventually caught Diamond in one of the toilets and violently smashed his head numerous times against the bathroom stalls before agents broke it up.
Taz vs. Rob Van Dam
This comes from New Jack so make of it what you will. It all started during the 6-man tag main event of November To Remember '98 where Taz and RVD were on the same team. Apparently RVD did something in the match that pissed Taz off big time, so much so that he spent the entire night telling people that he was going to kick RVD's ass the next time he saw him. Well, the pair met up the following week at a house show. RVD had heard all about Taz's threats and walked straight up to him and punched him in the mouth. Taz soon backed off and order was restored.
Tony Atlas vs. Paul Orndorff
This one occurred way back in the early 1980s when the pair worked for Georgia Championship Wrestling. Atlas and Orndorff were travelling back to Atlanta from West Virginia alongside Brian Blair when they got into an argument over Atlas pushing his seat back too far (ridiculous, I know). Orndorff asked Atlas to push his seat forward but Atlas told him where to go. Orndorff then told Blair to stop the car as he dragged Atlas out of the car and threw him down to the floor. Orndorff ducked an Atlas punch and took him down with a spear, and then proceeded to bite part of Atlas' ear clean off! Atlas was soon rushed to a nearby hospital where the ear is sewed back on. Orndorff would go on to create a reputation as someone you don't mess with - he famously beat the crap out of Vader in 1995, and legend has it that he once put three guys in hospital when they tried to jump him outside of a bar in Florida.
Axl Rotten vs. Tommy Dreamer
This is a pretty minor scuffle that occurred in 1999. The story goes that Axl was complaining to the rest of the boys in the locker-room about the lack of his merchandise on sale and went on to say that Justin Credible was getting special treatment. As second in command, Dreamer took exception to the comment and charged for Axl, only for the rest of the locker-room to block his path and subsequently calm him down; Axl was fired by ECW a few weeks later.
Mike Sharpe vs. Billy Jack Haynes
Quite a bizarre tale and one of Bobby Heenan's favourite stories. It all came about in early 1987 when Haynes was asked to wrestle Mike Sharpe on the opening match of a house show. Haynes wasn't too happy about it but agreed to do it. During the match itself, Haynes repeatedly stiffed Sharpe. Back in the locker-room after the match, the two got into a slanging match and decided to settle it with a fight. They locked themselves in a room and took turns punching each other until one man gave up. Minutes later, a bloody Mike Sharpe stumbled out of the room and shook hands with Haynes before the two went their separate ways.
Bruiser Brody vs. Jose Gonzalez
And finally the granddaddy of fights... it all occurred backstage at a WWC show in Bayamon, Puerto Rico in July of 1988. WWC booker Jose Gonzales approached Brody about the idea of losing to rising star Danny Spivey that night. Brody who made a career out of refusing to job flatly refused and the two got into a big argument before they went their separate ways. Later that night, Brody and Gonzales met up once again to finalise a finish and decided to step into the shower to talk privately, however, Brody was unaware that Gonzales had a knife concealed under a white towel. Minutes later, loud groans were heard as Brody stumbled out of the shower after being stabbed in the stomach by Gonzales. Brody collapsed in the locker-room and laid there for a close to an hour before dying in the local hospital. Gonzales was later acquitted on all charges after no witnesses came forward to testify.
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