From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [INFO] The News From Dayton, 5/19/96 Date: 1996/05/19 Message-ID: <4nnjmk$t3s@freenet-news.carleton.ca> Sender: ag725@freenet5.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling,ncf.sigs.sports.wrestling Back to the regular grind... here's the run-down of the weekly Alex Marvez column (reproduced, as always, without permission of the Dayton Daily News): * Top story is that we Daytonians ought to pat ourselves on the back. Or we're some kind of gullible sons of bitches. Cuz it seems that our PPV buyrates are about a third higher than the national average. At least they are in terms of WCW buy rates, according to event coordinator Zane Bresleff (I believe, late of the WWF). To this end, Dayton is one of the few markets where WCW aggressively marketed its Slamboree PPV for tonight (including radio ads). * However, Marvez doesn't think that even aggresive marketing will save Slamboree from being the least bought PPV in a long time; he states the the main selling point, the 32-man "blind draw" tag team tourney, includes to many mid-level wrestlers to be truly interesting. On top of that, the Sting/Giant and Liger/Konnan (misspelled in the column as "Conan"... probably the work of Alex's editor, not Alex himself) matches are of the same caliber that WCW is giving away for free on Nitro. Marvez doesn't see too many fans (not even us gullible Dayton fans) shelling out the $27 for this one. * While we've all been figuring Lex Luger as the BattleBowl winner, there is talk of Diamond Dallas Page getting the upset win in his return. [IMODO, this would go over just about as huge as "King" Mabel did last year.] * Randy Savage's "suspension" angle airs next Saturday (which sort of answers one of my concerns... namely, "If he got suspended last night, how's he suppossed to be at the PPV?") He won't be allowed on TV to wrestle, but he'll still do arena shows, sayeth Marvez. * Big developments with Brian Pillman... first Marvez's scoop: the National Enquirer is suppossedly working on a two page spread on Pillman. It will focus on his accident and the speculation over where Pillman will wind up working in the next few months. * For area fans: WCW returns to Ohio in July, with live shows in Cincinnati (July 24, a Wednesday night.... Omygod -- tm, Joey Styles -- a *real* non-weekend WCW house show; what's the world coming to?) and Dayton (July 27, a Saturday). Also, the WWF will return to Cincinnati on October 23 (a Wednesday) with what Marvez claims will be another TV taping. This is right after the October PPV in Indianapolis, so a taping in Cinci (where the last RAW was hugely successful) would make sense, but not on a Wednesday night. No tix are on sale for any of these shows. * Titan *heavily* edited the Goldust/UT confrontation from the last RAW; they left in some of the tamer gyrations of 'Dust over UT, but took out a lot of other "sexual content" (Marvez is not specific). * Shane Douglas beat 2 Cold Scorpio at ECW Arena a week ago to take the ECW TV Title. * In answering a fan's question, Marvez informs us that the man once known as Hercules (Ray Hernandez), is now living in Tampa, FL, working sporadically on indie shows. However, a return to the Big Two seems highly unlikely. * Also, if *you* would like to leave a question for Marvez, you can now do so by calling (513)436-4636 and entering code number 3036, or by sending Alex e-mail at his new address: alex_marvez@dni.com As always, I try to scour other info resources for the biggest and best news for my loyal readers. And as usual, you will have to settle for a bunch of crap I culled from various places on America On-Line: * Last Monday (5/13) saw RAW once again convincingly defeat the out-of-its-usual-timeslot Nitro. The numbers saw RAW do a 3.5, while Nitro scored it's best rating at the 7pm start time yet, with a 2.3. * The Free For All match kicking off the next WWF In Your House, on May 26, will be a Tag Team Title match, with the Bodydonnas defending their titles against the returning Smoking Gunns. * Word is Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw is in for a big time push before the end of the year. [I, for one, find this extremely exciting news; "Hawk" is really a fun brawling-type of guy to watch.] * "Psycho" Sid has remained in contact with Vince McMahon about his back injury, and it is expected that once Sid does the "coming-out-of-retirement" angle in USWA, he'll return in a big way to the WWF. * The WWF will have the Ultimate Warrior wrestle on the live 5/27 RAW to partially combat the WCW move of pushing Nitro to a 2 hour show starting at 8pm. However, there is talk of Bischoff wanting to pull another big deal, grandstanding-type angle, and just happen to pull it off between the 8:55-9:05 timeframe. This could be the debut of the "Blood Runs Cold" trio, or even the WCW debut of Kevin "Diesel" Nash or Scott "Razor Ramon" Hall. * Pillman scoop #2: Apparently, Brian Pillman has promised his loyal followers that he'll have signed on with either the WWF or WCW in the next "10 days." This promise was made on May 17, I guess, which means that May 27 (with the always hot live RAW and the special 2 hour Nitro) would be a great place for Pillman to take his shot. I think most of you know where I'd prefer to have Pillman surface... * For those of you dying of curiousity over the Kuwait Cup tournament the WWF ran during its trip overseas... here is the entire tourney bracket: Bret Hart -------- ---------- Bret Hart Leif Cassidy ----- ---------------- Owen Hart Yokozuna --------- ---------- Owen Hart Owen Hart -------- ---------- Ahmed Johnson Marty Jannetty---- ---------- Steve Austin Steve Austin------ ---------------- Ahmed Johnson Ahmed Johnson----- ---------- Ahmed Johnson Aldo Montoya------ AHMED JOHNSON Kuwait Cup Winner Undertaker-------- ---------- Undertaker Isaac Yankem------ ---------------- Undertaker Duke Droese------- ---------- British Bulldog British Bulldog--- ---------- HH Helmsley Savio Vega-------- ---------- Savio Vega Bob Backlund------ ---------------- Hunter Hearst Helmsley Bushwhacker Butch- ---------- Hunter Helmsley Hunter Helmsley--- NOTES: Bret Hart pinned by Owen after Bret released Sharpshooter to go after Jim Cornette. Undertaker DQ'ed for using foriegn object introduced by HHH. Ahmed over both Owen and HHH clean with Tigerbomb. * Here is the full line-up of WWF PPV dates and sites for the rest of 1996: - In Your House Florence, SC May 26, 1996 - King of the Ring Milwaukee, WI June 23, 1996 - In Your House Vancouver, BC July 21, 1996 - Summerslam Cleveland, OH August 18, 1996 - In Your House Philadelphia, PA September 22, 1996 - In Your House Indianapolis, IN October 20, 1996 - Survivor Series MSG, New York City November 17, 1996 - In Your House Lakeland, FL December 15, 1996 Later..... -- Rick Scaia | I'm on the Web now! All of a sudden, I'm relatively sane | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ag725/ ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | Prepare to be Disappointed!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------