Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03.24.97

Wrestling Observer Flashback – 03.17.97

In our top story: MMA seems to be in some trouble.

– Much like ECW is experiencing in advance of their first PPV, various fighting shows are running into cable systems who are now refusing to carry them. ECW actually was able to avoid the worst of it because they are upfront about being “theater”, whereas the various UFC wannabes sell their product based on “real” and violent it is, making it harder to justify to cable and PPV providers who are hesitant to promote content like that.

– Dave points out that although cable companies are theoretically part of a free market where consumers can subscribe to what they want, in reality they’re more of a monopoly in many places, and it’s not like you can just switch from Cablevision to whatever else is carrying the shows you want to see. (Very much the case in Canada at the time, and still mostly today, where Shaw/Rogers had virtual monopolies over most of the country. Unless you wanted to go to satellite, which was, SURPRISE, also owned by Shaw in a lot of places.)

– The other layer of hypocrisy here is that the shows are also being blocked by PPV companies, which is even sillier if you’re playing…

…because PPV shows by their nature have to be PAID to be VIEWED, and it’s not like kids can just switch over to them accidentally and see an MMA fight or whatever. Also what about pro boxing, which is just as violent as the UFC? (Yeah we all know the answer as to why they get a pa$$ from lawmaker$, and it’s the same reason why no one will ever question Dana White again.)

– Steve Williams was arrested on 3/17 in Laredo TX on drug charges, in the midst of negotiating with the WWF about coming in for a big push. This was actually the third time in his career he’s been popped with pharmaceuticals. Drugs seized included 80 boxes of Neo-Percodan, 17 boxes of Valium, 16 boxes of Halcion, 15 boxes of Tamegesic, 26 boxes of Darvon and eight boxes of Ritrovil. (Holy shit dude, save some drugs for the rest of the world.)

– Also on the WWF’s radar is Del Wilkes, aka the Patriot, and he is expected to sign with the WWF after making a name for himself in All Japan in the past year. Both the Williams and Patriot signings indicate a major shift away from All Japan being considered a top spot for wrestlers to land with a plum contract, as WWF and WCW are becoming more aggressive about getting top talent locked up and paying guaranteed money. This has resulted in former AJPW top talent like Furnas & Lafon leaving, which would have been unthinkable before.

– Dave thinks All Japan is either gonna have to adjust their attitudes toward talent signings or else risk becoming the AWA. (Ouch. Harsh. Things got worse for them, unfortunately, but never to Verne levels.)

– Dennis Rodman debuted for WCW on Uncensored 97, which was certainly a PPV that happened. And yeah the main event was terrible and most of the show sucked, but they got some big mainstream pub from Rodman, so that’s as good as a win these days. Of course, Hulk Hogan made sure to “surgically attach himself” to Dennis Rodman for every bit of the publicity he did. (Can’t hardly blame him, honestly.)

– Rodman is expected to debut in the ring at the Bash at the Beach show in July. The number being thrown around is $2 million for his appearance, although Dave suspects that they might be exaggerating.

– Feedback is that the show was saved by the closing angle with Sting descending from the ceiling and finally making his choice, destroying the entire nWo with death drops to a thunderous reaction. (Still another nine months to go for the payoff, unfortunately, but it was indeed an awesome moment.)

– The show on 3/23 drew a sellout of 9295 in North Charleston, SC. Dave really hated the announcing job of Dusty Rhodes, who he says is getting worse somehow even while Tony still tries to maintain decorum and get better. (Yeah well that would change soon.) Dave notes that Tony probably hurt his neck trying to carry the “600 pounds of dead weight” in the booth with him thanks to the double whammy of Dusty and Bobby.

1. Dean Malenko pinned Eddie Guerrero in 19:14 to win the US title. Crowd basically turned on Eddie, despite him being the babyface, but they had a great match while the announcers ignored it to due nWo hijinx in the back. Syxx came out and argued with Eddie over the belt, but Malenko stole the video camera from Syxx and knocked out Eddie for the pin. Match was even more impressive considering Guerrero had torn his pec during the match. ***3/4
2. Ultimo Dragon pinned Psicosis in 13:17. Another good match where they worked hard. Lots of big moves, featuring Bobby and Dusty making fun of Mike Tenay for trying to call them all. ***1/2
3. Glacier pinned Mortis in 9:04. They had been practicing this match in the Power Plant for months, and it showed. Basically it looked like two green guys working a match that had been planned in advance. They traded kicks with lots of interference from James Vandenberg, and Glacier finally got a kick for the pin. *3/4. Afterwards, Bryan Clark debuted and laid Glacier out, although Dave doesn’t know what he’ll be called.
4. Marcus Bagwell beat Scotty Riggs in a strap match in 12:25. Bagwell continues to have an amazing personality as a heel but Riggs had nothing and the match was insanely long. Bagwell beat his ass and dragged him to all four corners for the win. *1/4
5. Harlem Heat beat Public Enemy in a tornado match in 13:17. Standard ECW style brawl. Good early but again, just went too long. The Horsemen interfered and allowed Booker to hit Rocco with the Hangover and pin him. **1/2
6. Prince Iaukea pinned Rey Mysterio to retain the TV title after a 15:00 draw and 2:00 restart. Dave thinks they’ve basically killed Mysterio by having him too many jobs and putting him in with the heavyweights too much. (Come on, there’s ALWAYS another level of rock bottom with WCW!). The crowd completely turned on the match and was ready for the main event by this point, but Iaukea is NO GOOD and the underdog gimmick is completely dead in the water. *1/2
7. Kevin Nash & Scott Hall & Randy Savage & Hulk Hogan beat Chris Benoit & Roddy Piper & Jeff Jarrett & Steve McMichael and the Giant & Lex Luger & Scott Steiner in 19:22. Dave calls it “one of those booked on acid main events”. (Gonna have to narrow that one down a bit, Dave.) After all the buildup of Flair and Piper teaming up here, Flair wasn’t here and no one explained why. Also they changed the rules on the fly after advertising a last man standing rule and then switching to an over the top elimination for the match. Also Rick Steiner wasn’t in the match after being attacked, and no one stepped in to replace him, which made WCW look like a bunch of doofuses as usual. Match came down to Luger against the entire nWo after Hogan and Rodman spent 10 minutes posing for photographers on the way to the ring, and he actually managed to eliminate Savage and Hall with the rack before getting screwed over and losing as usual. And then they all beat him up, but Sting made his return from the rafters and finally gave the crowd something to cheer about, destroying everyone with his new finisher to end the show. *

– WWF and WCW are doing another legal battle, through AAA in this case, as Antonio Pena filed lawsuits against Promo Azteca and WCW for signing Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis and supposedly violating their contracts with AAA. This stems from Bischoff immediately signing all the AAA guys to WCW contracts once Pena started working with Vince McMahon. The guys involved are countersuing for back union pay. (I doubt this went anywhere.)

– To Japan, where the signing of Naoya Ogawa isn’t doing anything to sell tickets for the Tokyo Dome thus far. It appears that the long term plan is for Inoki to create a group of shooters with himself and Ogawa and Satoru Sayama and Yuji Nagata to feud with New Japan wrestlers.

– To Memphis, where they’re trying out a new group called The Truth Commission before moving them to the WWF main roster. They’re all said to be terrible, but the manager is friends with Bret Hart based on meeting him on a South African tour and goes by “The Commandant”. (There you go, blame Bret.)

– PG-13 lost a loser-leaves-town match to make sure they didn’t have any heat for quitting and moving to the WWF full time. (Really, they probably shouldn’t have bothered.)

– Overall business is way down and there’s a lot of talk of impending doom for the promotion. (Wasn’t just talk.)

– To ECW, where that wacky New Jack found someone in the balcony who was the booker for the Soul City Wrestling promotion, and decided to throw him off and kill him for whatever reason. The guy escaped and ran away, but New Jack dove off the balcony onto the guy below and was about to presumably kill him with his bare hands before Sabu helped him escape a second time and got him out of the building alive.

– Oddly, the Arena isn’t yet sold out for the PPV, whereas the Philly Spectrum has already sold 9000 tickets for the Nitro the next night. ECW regulars are complaining about the high ticket prices of $40! (And you though TKO was gouging people! That’s like a couple of weeks of food stamps for the ECW faithful! How are they gonna help pay rent while living their mom’s basement with those kinds of prices?)

– To WCW, where Arn Anderson did an interview on Nitro talking about his impending neck fusion surgery, and promised he’d be back at some point. Dave doesn’t think he will be back, and there’s been talk of just moving him to a TV announcer position. Dave thinks he’d be good at it. (So did the WWF. WHOOPS.)

– Nitro killed RAW again, 3.56 to 2.36, even with the Bret-Sid cage match and final push for Wrestlemania.

– The August Clash of Champions has been officially canceled because of the impending debut of Thunder on TBS. (Well plans changed, but the August show WAS the final one.)

– WCW house shows are amazingly hot right now, but they’re running the same Dusty finishes that killed off Crockett, leaving fans angry when they end.

– To the WWF, where RAW was hotter than it’s been in months and the Bret Hart turn was great. The USA Network was fully on board with all the swearing, as the plan is to give the entire promotion a harder edge in an attempt to compete with WCW.

– WWF Superstars is now just a show that recaps all the angles from RAW in the previous week.

– Jake Roberts was fired after disappearing for two days in Texas with no notice. (Gee I wonder why). He had actually been fired and re-hired a few weeks before, but finally ran out of lives.

– With Marc Mero out at the moment, they were hinting on TV about Sable looking for a new protégé. (I heard there’s a kid in Minnesota…)

– Mankind has a bad back and may have a herniated disc, so he’ll take time off after the South Africa tour. (What does Mick consider time off, two days?)

– And finally, there were apparently plans last week where Bret was going to beat Sid for the title in the cage match, and then turn heel and defend against Steve Austin at WM, but according to Dave, PLANS CHANGED.

AND THAT’S THE NEWS AND I’M OUTTA HERE!