WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER

EDITION NUMBER 9

16TH APRIL 2001

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The brand new Wrestling Globe Web Site can be found at www.oocities.org/wrestlingglobe or linked to through www.evanswrestling.com. Don't forget to vote in the all important polls!

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IN THE WRESTLING GLOBE NEWSLETTER THIS WEEK

LATEST NEWS

"HE'S HARDCORE, HE'S HARDCORE" - PART ONE

REBELLION: BECAUSE ALL IS WRONG IN THE WRESTLING LAND

T & A (Trivia and Answers)!

RUDO RAMBLINGS - EMLL RESULTS JUST IN

JAP ATTACK - RESULTS FROM THE TOURNAMENT FINALS THIS WEEK

WRESTLING HUMOUR - FROZEN POPSICLES

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LATEST NEWS - by Matt Singh

Yet another slow week in the wrestling industry, but here's the news…

WWF

Spike Dudley has apparently been getting heat from other ex-ECW performers because they feel they should have been contracted to the WWF before Spike. The XFL continues to pull in ratings under the 2.0 mark, which makes the WWF's purchase of WCW all the more risky and Vince McMahon cannot afford to let the new WCW fail. Smackdown also continues to get low ratings, as this past week's episode got a 3.7 final rating. TAKA Michinoku is currently rehabbing a shoulder injury, and Rikishi is also out of action with an injured eardrum. K-Kwik is another WWF performer on the injured list. Buh Buh Ray Dudley also has a knee injury, but will not take any time off TV. The UK-only Pay Per View, Insurrextion, has some good matches booked including Chris Benoit vs. William Regal, a rematch from the Pillman Memorial 2000 show. Speaking of that match, Regal considers it his best match of his career, so expect a top-notch performance from those two. Also currently set for the card is the Undertaker challenging Steve Austin for the WWF Title along with Kane vs. Triple H and Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle. As always, there's hardly any hype for the event, and don't expect any major titles to change hands, as this is a "UK only pay per view", and is not going to be seen by any fans in North America, unless it is decided to show it at WWF New York. William Regal and Bradshaw will be heading to the UK a few days early to do promotional work for the show amongst other things. The PPV is on May 5th on Sky Box Office.

WCW

WWF producer Kevin Dunn will probably be at the first taping of the new WCW program, now scheduled for June 9th. As well as the 24 performers already signed, it is expected that there will be some wrestlers under WWF development contracts from Ohio Valley Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling appearing in the new WCW, possibly along with various Indy workers, and some name talents as well.

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STRONG STYLE TAPES

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"HE'S HARDCORE, HE'S HARDCORE" - PART ONE - by Matt Singh

"He's Hardcore, He's Hardcore"

…Words chanted many a time by ECW fans and followers. But who is hardcore, who is extreme? And how is someone judged to be hardcore? Is it the grappler who gives out the most punishment, the grappler who receives the most punishment or the grappler who takes most crazy bumps? When asked who is the most "hardcore" performer today, chances are 'Johnny H Wrestling Fan' will say Steve Blackman or Crash Holly, but fans in the know will give a more sensible answer such as Onita, Funk, Dreamer or Foley, just to name few. So here is a look at some of the hardcore performers who have given it their all in order to gain respect from wrestling audiences the world over.

First up lets begin with a lesser-known hardcore grappler (in the States anyway).

Atsushi Onita has been performing crazy acts for over ten years now. Forming Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) in July 1989, Onita made it clear that his promotion was based on the blood and guts side of wrestling and set about staging inhumane gimmick matches and stunts, many of which Onita was the willing guinea pig. Employing a hungry roster of talent that was willing to do what ever it took to get respect, FMW was the most talked about promotion on the dirtsheet circuit due to the brainless acts of violence going down on every FMW card. Staging the first No Rope Barbwire match on August 4th 1990, Onita fought and not so surprisingly beat Tarzan Goto. Onita went on to win another first, a No Rope Barbwire Land Mine match, this time downing Mr. Pogo. Gaining more and more exposure Stateside, Onita was quick to act and invited numerous hardcore grafters from the States, booking them in fairly profitable matches. This gave Onita the chance to book his idol Terry Funk in a No Rope Barbwire Time Bomb match on May 5th, 1992, in which 41,000 witnessed Onita go over the Funker. Onita's box office drawing power did plummet somewhat in Japan due to him to dishonouring his retirement stipulated matches, and FMW has also lost some of its supporters after being force fed 10 years of the same product. None the less, Onita still stands out as being one of the bravest and craziest performers alive today and pushed garbage wrestling to new highs throughout the nineties.

Someone who is as crazy as Onita is Terry Funk. Funk has been "hardcoring" it up for years, both in his native country, and in Japan, where he was and still is (be it not as much now) a legend. The Funker has just about done it all in his 30 year career; Barbwire matches, Street-fight Barbwire matches, Barbwire Fire matches, Time Bomb Barbwire Street-fight matches and of course he was a participant in IWA's infamous King of the Death tournament. Funk did job when he got to the final of the tourney (to Mick Foley) but the final was gruesome to say the least, featuring C4 explosives, and the sight of Foley falling off a ladder and into the barbwire. Whilst touring in Japan and working the Indy circuit in the States, Funk had vowed to get the then small time Indy promotion, Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) off the ground. Terry and his brother Dory fought in a brutal No Rope Barbwire Street-fight against The Public Enemy, which the latter won in a major upset. Even during his last tenure in the WWF, Funk participated in brutal battles (some with Mick Foley) and of course the Dumpster match at Wrestlemania 14 against the New Age Outlaws. However, after breaking his retirement vow time after time and refusing to listen to doctors advice, Funk is a shadow of his former self who cannot sustain the beating he once could.

Tommy Dreamer may to not have as much experience as the names above, but he has given a hell of a lot since the mid-nineties and was one half of perhaps the best hardcore feud of all time. The feud kicked off on January 7th, 1995 when Scott Levy made his debut as Raven at the ECW Arena. In the weeks following his ECW debut, Raven made it clear that he was there to destroy Tommy Dreamer, and that he did, pinning Dreamer in scores of gratuitously violent matches. The feud was such a success that it featured the likes of Mick Foley, Luna Vachon, Bill Alfonso and The Dudley Boyz all playing supporting roles throughout the feud's 18-month long tenure. Dreamer also took vicious canings from The Sandman, all in order to gain respect from the often cold-hearted ECW faithful. Dreamer did finally gain respect, along with the long awaited pinfall over his nemesis Raven on June 7th, 1997. Of course, all these beatings have took their toll on 'The Innovator of Offence', as his constant back pains will tell you, but Dreamer is still able to put together a decent match, all be it in a gimmick match.

In the second part of "He's Hardcore, He's Hardcore", we hear about Sabu, the man who pioneered the broken table gimmick, and also about some of the people who where willing to do anything to get respect from wrestling audiences the world over.

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REBELLION: BECAUSE ALL IS WRONG IN THE WRESTLING LAND by Tim Padgett

By now, most of you have probably seen the ECW "Bankruptcy list" that has been posted on many sites. Well, the thing about that is, that isn't the REAL list. However, the Globe Central Intelligence Agency has uncovered the REAL list. Allow us to share it with you:

A) $670,000 to wrestlers because none were paid for the last three months. Rob Van Dam is owed the most at $470,000, Chilly Willy is owed the least at 2 cents.

B) $580,000.17 to general ECW staff. $250,000 to Joey Styles, $330,000 to Dave Scherer. The remaining money is owed to the 33 other ECW employees for four months of back pay.

C) $795,000 is owed to the producers of ECW Television, the Philadelphia High Audio Visual Club.

D) $227,000 is owed to one Vincent K. McMahon of Stamford Connecticut for posting bail countless times for one Paul E. Heyman.

E) 7 cents for 6 years back rent of ECW Arena.

F) $1.4 million a piece to every business partner they ever had a relationship with.

G) $337,000 to one Wade Keller of Minneapolis Minnesota for use of Torch printing equipment.

H) $677,000 for the automobiles of Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Mike Awesome, Lance Storm, Shane Douglas. $250 for the automobiles of Kid Kash, Chilly Willy, and Super Crazy.

I) $6.8 million to Paul E.'s mommy.

J) $93 for the Samurai Sword Paul Heyman bought New Jack to slice up a young Indy wrestler to show that ECW is "Hardcore".

K) $775,000 to Wade Keller and one Herbert S. Meltzer of San Jose California for 7 years of advertising.

L) $9.8 million for 8 years worth of Jim Fullington's tobacco products.

I would like to thank the Globe CIA team for uncovering this vital information.

"Vote YES for the sacking of Marc Lessard!"

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

1. Who trained Tazz to wrestle?

2. Scott Steiner won both his WCW United States Titles at which named PPV event?

3. Who was Mass Transit's tag team partner in the match referred to as "The Mass Transit Incident"?

4. Who wrestled the final match in the NJPW J-Crown 1996 tournament?

5. Raymond George Wagner is the real name of which legendary wrestler?

6. Scott Garland is the real name of which wrestler?

7. Who was the only Japanese wrestler to hold the "WCW International" World Heavyweight Title?

8. What title did Bam Bam Bigelow and Taz wrestle for at ECW Heatwave 1998?

9. True or False? New Japan and All Japan were both formed in the same year.

10. "Sasorigatame" is the actual name for which famous wrestling move?

ANSWERS ARE GIVEN AT THE END OF THE NEWSLETTER!

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RUDO RAMBLINGS - by Martin Walton

Welcome everyone to a new feature in the Wrestling Globe newsletter, each week I'll be keeping you up to date on the happenings down in Mexico. That's enough of an introduction, so let's get straight onto this week's news.

The big news this week is that former top EMLL stars Vampiro and Silver King have signed contracts to work for the promotion this summer. Vampiro will be starting with EMLL in June after completing his pre-arranged stint with Japanese promotion, Toryumon. Silver King is expected to start working full time for the promotion next month. Although this may excite some people, you have to wonder what the younger stars like Ricky Marvin and Voladar Jr. think about this, because at this rate it'll be another 2 or 3 years before they see any main event spots. Last night, EMLL ran a big spot show in the Arena Coliseo in Mexico City with the main event being a Emilo Charles Jr. vs. Ringo Mendoza, hair vs. hair match, but unfortunately results are unavailable at this time. Rest assured that I'll get the results to you all next week. In other EMLL news, long time headliners El Hijo Del Santo and Dr Wagner Jr. are in the process of swapping roles, with Santo going Rudo (heel) and Wagner switching to a technico role.

In the only piece of major AAA news this week, Charly Manson was released from hospital last Wednesday after suffering a fractured skull after taking a horrible head first bump onto concrete following a messed up ladder spot. He's still expected to be out for around 3-4 months.

A big charity event has been arranged for May 1st, the line up will feature wrestlers from all the major promotions in Mexico (EMLL, AAA and IWRG) The card is shaping up to look like this at the moment:

MAIN EVENT: Mil Mascaras/Atlantis/Mr. Niebla/Negro Casas vs. Apollo Dantes/Mascara Ano 2000/Emilio Charles Jr./Dr. Markus.

SEMI-MAIN EVENT: Fantasma Jr. and Los Villanos III/IV/V vs. Bestia Salvaje/Scorpio Jr./Zumbido/El Signo.

(This will be Villano V's first match back from his injury.)

CUARTA: Ultimo Vampiro/Black Dragon/Mike Segura/Dr. Cerebro vs. Super Mega/Mega/Bombero Infernal/Cirujano.

TERCERA: Aguila Solitaria/Hombre Arana/Tigre Metalico/Captain America vs. Hipnosis/Maniac Cop/Los Federales I y II.

SEGUNDA: Tzuki/Cicloncito Ramirez/Ultimo Dragoncito/Payacito vs. Jerrito Estrada/El Fierito/El Torito/Pierrothito.

PRIMERA: Julissa/Guerrera Purpura/La Seductora/Estrella De Fuego vs. La Migala/Perla Negra/La Amapola/La Nazi.

JUST IN!

Minutes before the newsletter was about to be distributed, this news came in...Emilo Charles Jr. defeated Ringo Mendoza on Sunday night in the long awaited Hair vs. Hair match, which was mentioned above earlier in the column.

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JAP ATTACK - by Andrew Evans

It has been a week of finalising this week in Japan, as All Japan Pro Wrestling finished off the 2001 Champion Carnival, and NOAH completed their tournament to crown the first ever Global Honoured Crowns (GHC) title holder.

Firstly, this past Tuesday, the final for the AJPW Champion Carnival was set after Taiyo Kea defeated Mike Barton, and Steve Williams produced a shock win over Toshiaki Kawada which meant that Kea had scored more points in total than Kawada during the tournament, hence receiving the opportunity to face Gen'ichiro Tenryu the next day in the Champion Carnival 2001 final. Well, as the booker, it came as no surprise that Tenryu went over Kea in a little over 17 minutes.

Still with All Japan, Toshiaki Kawada faced Keiji Mutoh (Great Muta) on Saturday in a much anticipated match up. Kawada had been selling an arm injury throughout the recent Champion Carnival, and continued to "sell it like death" against Mutoh. The match ended in under 25 minutes, with Mutoh taking the win with his new Jumping Wizard finisher, which is basically a knee to the face. This loss will now enable Kawada to take time off from wrestling to recover from his recent injuries. It is also rumoured that at AJPW's next big show at Nippon Budokan on June 8th, Keiji Mutoh will be facing Gen'ichiro Tenryu.

In NOAH, Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Jun Akiyama on Wednesday in a total of around 15 minutes when the match was re-started after a double count-out. Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Vader on Thursday via disqualification in approximately 9 minutes. Both matches were semi-finals for the GHC Tournament, which set up a Misawa v Takayama final. For the second time in Japan this week, the booker came out as a major winner, with Misawa taking the match and the GHC title in just over 21 minutes via pinfall (a pinfall?! shocking, eh?!).

Other various notes this week from the Orient include NOAH scoring a very low TV rate of 1.2, which was well below what was expected, and Masato Tanaka and Super Crazy appeared for Battlarts on Saturday. Also, Hayabusa's foot was "run-over" by a motorcycle on Sunday's FMW show, with an angle playing out where he may not work the 5th May Kawasaki Stadium parking lot show.

Lastly, the New Japan Pro Wrestling 5th May Fukuoka Dome show card currently looks like this:

- Riki Choshu & Manabu Nakanishi vs. Kazunari Murakami & Naoya Ogawa.

- Takashi Iizuka vs. Tadao Yasuda.

- Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Mutoh vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Masa Chono.

- Scott Norton vs. Don Frye.

- Satoshi Kojima vs. Taiyo Kea.

- IWGP Jr. Tag Titles Match - Jushin Liger & El Samurai vs. Silver King & Dr. Wagner Jr.

- Minoru Tanaka vs. Kendo Ka Shin.