Loss

Only one Austin match two years before the feud hit its peak, no Rock matches, only one Foley match when both probably should have been there, no Jericho matches, no 2003-2004 Shawn matches.

This seems to downplay a lot of his major rivals, actually, and I'm surprised the worst Michaels match was picked.

I saw a singles match against Tiger Mask.

When we get to '89, I'm sure we'll discuss the booking committee in WCW in more detail, but I'm really surprised that Jim Ross was ever the chair. Ross has always majorly downplayed any influence had from '89-'92, but it seems he had quite a bit, as far as recruiting talent, booking, and also formatting shows. I remember Bruce Mitchell doing a column criticizing him for giving himself so much face time during this time period, which the first time I read I really thought was ridiculous, until I started watching a lot of old WCW TV and realizing just how overexposed he was.

Call me crazy, but I think that's the most rational thing I've seen Wade Keller write in a long time. You can see where he's coming from, whether you agree with it or not. And while I do at times agree with things he says, for the most part, I don't. He makes it a point to say that he was insulted when Dave said that the Torch and the Observer do different things, and while there are without a doubt more similarities than differences, even in '93, you didn't have Meltzer seeking out guest columnists and doing transcripts of interviews. Dave likes to make the USA Today/New York Times comparison. I'm glad he finally basically admitted that he has no sources of note currently in WWE. He hasn't broken anything himself in years. Maybe the way he did get screwed in the way he accurately reported the last few months of WCW while Meltzer in many ways worked against him eventually got to him, but he's not the same Wade Keller he was at one point, which he has admitted himself a few times. The Torch is glossier and more polished, and makes far better use of the available technology. If Dave had the foresight to create a WON VIP site with a private message board, old WOL episodes archived as audio files, and old WONs easily accessible and available, he would blow Wade out of the water. If Dave could learn a few things from Wade's "production values" and hire a competent proofreader and make the print format of the Observer more reader-friendly, it would help a great deal. Likewise, if Keller attempted to put more of his coverage in stronger historical perspective, and dropped his columnists, the Torch would improve. Seriously, the columns are nothing but editorials and speculation. I think it probably served a purpose at one point and Bruce Mitchell has written some great stuff, but because wrestling opinions are so plentiful with the Internet, I don't think they serve a purpose anymore. Fluff fluff fluff, the Torch is filled with it. I think both Meltzer and Keller have strengths the other doesn't have. Wade, for all his insanity, does strike me as a good-hearted person. In the same token, he is writing a sheet that exposes the wrestling business, a business that attempts to lure people in with sales pitches and hype, by trying to do the same with his readers. Dave overestimates the intelligence of his audience at times by writing things without fully explaining them, or by underestimating how much his opinions influence his readers. Wade drastically underrates his audience by writing columns about what he suspects WWE is thinking instead of REPORTING NEWS. Fluff fluff fluff. All the hype and obvious marketing of the Torch is really transparent and insincere seeming (like when he pretended that the Torch site crashed a few years back, only to miraculously find the solution by launching the pay VIP site), and because he's so clueless and behind the times, Dave comes across as much less of a peddler or salesman than Wade. In some ways, Wade gets unfair criticism. He tends to zone in on someone, Chris Jericho being the most glowing example, and rip them to shreds without attempting to balance it out with their positives. It undermines him and makes him look silly. He gives MMA matches star ratings. He stretches out his Torch Talks so much, which I would think makes subscribers feel jipped. But he's also not someone I'd classify as afraid of reporting the truth, even when it's about his friends. It's always been obvious that he is close with Sean Waltman, but he has had the courage to criticize him at times also. Dave Meltzer has never really been able to do that with Ric Flair, Jim Ross or Jim Cornette. Where Dave differs is that if he has issues with someone like an HHH, he criticizes the amount of pull he has and how stale he has become, but he also strongly argues that the guy has earned his spot and drawn money, and that his motives are not entirely 100% selfish 100% of the time. When Dave decides to criticize someone, it doesn't turn into a full criticism of everything they do most of the time (yeah yeah, Bob Backlund, but work with me, and even there, Dave did vote for him in the HOF). It's good to see Wade admits that Dave has some great sources at this time, and indirectly says that he is going through a drought in terms of WWE sources. But while I do think Dave is still the gold standard, I don't know that even he is quite as in tune as he was at one time. He doesn't speak to Vince anymore. With Stephanie McMahon now as one of the two or three most influential people in wrestling, it seems like she's a source Dave just hasn't been able to tap at all, and you can sometimes sense his frustrations with that when he writes about her. Jim Ross isn't really in a position of power anymore. Who in the inner circle is a strong Dave confidant? Vince has been willing to go on record in the Torch and answer questions at times, although it's been years, and I've always suspected that Vince felt more comfortable talking to Wade, maybe because he knew that no matter how nice and inviting he was toward Dave, it wasn't going to influence his coverage or soften his stance toward the WWF.

WWF/NWA WAR -- "The biggest news story in this business in probably the last few decades is the pro wrestling war and Vince McMahon's rise to prominence. The wrestling war, which began in November 1983 when Titan Sports signed Hulk Hogan and Gene Okerlund away from the AWA, is for all real purposes, over. No, the business competition is still there between Titan and the other promotions, particularly JCP. And the two groups will continue to attempt to play little mind games with each other. But whether or not JCP can make a small recovery, or even a full recovery from its recent troubles, and even pop big houses again, the gap between Titan and Crockett is only going to expand." -- Dave says it's a busy news week, but he feels the biggest news story of the week hasn't gotten much attention. The WWF announced plans for several pay-per-views: Wrestlemania IV on March 27, an unnamed PPV on August 29, "Survivor Series II" on November 24 and "Royal Rumble II" on January 15, 1989. "On the surface it sounds harmless enough, but its effect on JCP is enormous." Crockett planned originally to do the Crockett Cup on PPV in early April, one of the Great American Bash shows in July, and was going to have Starrcade on November 24. But the WWF has a 60 days before and 21 days after clause in their PPV contracts. Survivor Series was a big success and Wrestlemania IV is expected to break Wrestlemania III's record and be the biggest grossing event in the history of PPV, and the WWF's monopoly prevents Crockett from effectively breaking into the market. -- "The long-term impact of PPV is such that eventually, like boxing, it will turn the live gate into an insignificant part of the overall business." (My note: Wow! He called that one.) He says it's not an unreasonable prediction to say that Wrestlemania IV will be a bigger money than any other promotion will likely make in the entire 1988 calendar year. He doesn't expect the NWA to die as a result, but says the competition aspect means nothing now. -- Crockett plans on countering this by moving several of its big shows to prime time specials on TBS, and has plans of having four prime-time specials this year. And unlike the previous year's Superbouts on the Superstation, which was a huge flop, these will be major cards either shown live or only slightly delayed. WWF -- The Royal Rumble drew an 8.2 rating and a 12 share, airing in 3.2 million homes. About twice as many people watched the show as would watch TBS when Georgia Championship Wrestling was hot a few years prior. The Rumble was the highest-rated show in the history of the USA Network, and the repeat drew a strong 4.8 rating in the Prime Time Wrestling spot on Monday nights when they normally average a 2.9 in that time slot. The repeat showing was probably the #2-rated show on cable television during last week. -- Wrestlemania IV has already sold out Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. 14,000 seats went on sale at prices of $150, $100, $50 and $25 and all but a few thousand were gone by the end of the first day. Because of the ticket prices, this show may actually pull a higher gate than Wrestlemania III at the Pontiac Silverdome, which had a $1.6 million gate with lower ticket prices. When you add in the fees Vince is likely charging the casino to do the show, it could exceed $1 million easily. Trump Plaza is promoting it hard and using it as a way to bring families into casinos. (My note: Ha!) A concert from Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine will be taking place adjacent to the convention center ballroom, and the WWF estimate is that the show will be available in 9 million homes. "If it gets over as good as last year's, and there is no reason to believe it won't do as good or better, then you are talking about $15 million plus on PPV alone, not to mention $1 million live and probably $4-5 million on closed-circuit locations." -- The Saturday World Championship Wrestling ratings were way down in the fourth quarter of 1987. It had been the second highest rated program on cable TV and fell to No. 8 with an average 2.9 rating. WWF All American Wrestling was actually doing better ratings at this point, averaging a 3.1 and coming in at 7th place. Prime Time Wrestling fell from No. 3 to No. 10 with a 2.9 average, and the Sunday show on TBS fell from No. 10 to No. 20 with a 2.4 rating. The AWA show on ESPN has fallen completely out of the top 20. Some of the decline is attributed to "people-meters", which is a new method of measuring ratings. Shows that appeal to women tend to do better than normal, so it was expected the switch would cause a delcline. Most wrestling shows dropped 10% in the fourth quarter, but it may not mean anything significant. The Saturday TBS show started picking up toward the end of the year, and they're continuing in that direction lately by doing more arena tapings. -- Jake Roberts is on the cover of this month's Ellery Queen mystery magazine, and Muscular Development magazine has a story on Jesse Ventura, which Dave says is excellent but is more about his life and training philosophies. -- The British Bulldogs had no-showed a few times. Dynamite Kid has been missing several dates over the past week. "One of them" collapsed at the airport and the other went to the hospital with him, but no word on if it's anything major or not. -- Billy Jack Haynes, who has missed pretty much all of his bookings lately, is in bad health, to a point where most think his wrestling career is about to end. -- Bam Bam Bigelow has undergone arthroscopic knee surgery and there is no word on when he'll be back. Dave says wrestlers have been telling him for a long time that Bigelow working like he does at his size was eventually going to catch up to him. -- There were so many no-shows on a recent Cow Palace show, which drew 8,000 and a $93,000 gate, that the athletic commission ordered the WWF to offer refunds to anyone who wanted them by the end of the second match. This was just a few days after the California state assembly voted 60-7 to reclassify pro wrestling as entertainment instead of sport, but the bill had not yet passed the state Senate. Wrestlers will no longer need a license to work in California, which was a joke anyway, as Dave got a listing of everyone not long ago who was licensed in California, and Hulk Hogan and Ricky Steamboat were nowhere to be found. -- Something happened recently at a house show where a wrestler (Dave didn't say who) who wasn't supposed to be able to speak English was stalling outside the ring for most of a match. A fan shouted, "Get in the ring you lazy bum" and the wrestler responded, "What do you think this is, the NWA?" -- The Royal Rumble show in Hamilton actually drew 16,200 fans, but around 10,000 of the tickets were tie-ins giving a free ticket to a hockey game. Live reports haven't been good regarding the show. -- 01/25 at MSG drew a 19,750 sellout and a $236,000 house headlined by Hulk Hogan & Bam Bam Bigelow vs Ted DiBiase & Virgil. The 02/22 card is expected to be headlined by DiBiase vs Bigelow. 01/30 in Baltimore drew 5,500 headlined by Honky Tonk Man & Greg Valentine vs Randy Savage & Brutus Beefcake. 01/15 in Los Angeles drew 10,000+ headlined by Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man in a cage match. 01/21 in Winnipeg drew 2,500 headlined by Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man. 01/22 in Rochester, NY, drew 3,500 headlined by a Bunkhouse Battle Royal won by Don Muraco. 01/19 in Calgary drew a sellout 8,500 headlined by Randy Savage vs Honky Tonk Man. -- The 01/26 Hershey, PA TV taping drew a sellout 9,000. Standout matches were a really good Rude/Steamboat match taped for Superstars, and the main event, which was Hogan & Bigelow vs DiBiase & Andre. Because this will air after the NBC special, the commentary was not done live for this taping, and will instead be done in studio later in the week. -- The WWF will decide on exactly which finish they're going with in Hogan/Andre as soon as they know the shooting schedule of No Holds Barred. If he's available on weekends, he will be champion over summer. If he won't be available at all for several months, expect DiBiase to get the title. NWA -- Figures aren't in yet for the Bunkhouse Stampede, but even if it was profitable, the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative that no good could have come from it. Preliminary figures have a buyrate of 4.0, which if true, proves that JCP could be profitable on pay-per-view. Dave considers this somewhat encouraging, just because the line-up was weak and it wasn't really a hot show. Dave says the announcers deserve tons of credit for doing such a great job with the last-minute hard sell, as PPV and closed circuit is typically 90% of last minute sales. -- The Rock & Roll Express were fired. In Cincinnati, they were asked to do a clean job in a 12-minute match against Ivan Koloff & Warlord. They were pissed about it, because they had been a big attraction for the NWA for years, and Ivan had become a prelim guy. Instead, they ended up doing the job in seconds when Morton basically just laid down. Dusty wasn't at the show, but got word after the Rock & Rolls had flown to New York for the Bunkhouse Stampede, and then fired them. There are rumors of them going to the WWF, but most people think Vince will never give them a chance because of their size. They were also asked to do an angle where the Sheepherders would shave Ricky Morton's head bald and refused. A Charlotte newspaper reported that the Rock & Roll Express had left, and the NWA received quite a few calls about it. It appears they'll be working for Jerry Blackwell's group in Georgia now, at least until they can land somewhere full time, which Dave doesn't think will be easy. "I supposed Vince could always bring in Ricky Morton to do lead vocals on Wrestling Album III for his classic 'Boogie Woogie Dance Hall'". -- Michael Hayes was fired "due to an incident in the middle of last week." Ron Garvin will take his place in tag matches against Jimmy Garvin, and Sting will get a bigger push and take his place in title matches on house shows against Ric Flair. It's expected that Hayes will end up back in WCCW, although he wants to go to the WWF. -- Steve Williams ended up spending an extra week in Japan and missed the Bunkhouse Stampede. He had a dispute with Crockett over whether income from Japanese tours is part of his NWA annual salary. Dave says as best as he can tell, Doc has disconnected his phone line and they are not talking, although they hope he'll come back. They are no longer mentioning his name on TV, so they're not counting on it. -- The general feeling is that all the firings are because Crockett is having money problems, not because wrestlers are having disciplinary problems. With Hayes, Dave is now hearing that he and Crockett agreed to come to terms on his contract a long time ago (two years at $150,000 per year) but Crockett never actually signed it. Hayes pressured him to sign it, because he wasn't making money, and he ended up getting fired for missing Cincinnati on 01/23. Had Hayes signed the contract, Crockett would have been required to promote his album on TV in exchange for a cut of the sales. -- They are showing life at the gate. The bench press contest in Greensboro on 01/30 drew 10,000+, and they did actually use legit weights, with all four doing 460 lbs with no problem. Paul Ellering then grabbed the house mic and said to cut the garbage and increase to 600 lbs. Animal was to go first, and they threw chalk in his eyes and did a really hardcore attack angle. He juiced and was carried out on a stretcher and was taken to the hospital. -- Barry Windham and Lex Luger are being pushed as a tag team and Flair is going to continue feuding with Sting. -- The actual gate for the Bunkhouse Stampede was $60,000 which means paid attendance was around 5,000, which is pretty bad for that market, especially since their first show there did a $150,000 gate. -- Clarification from last week: "The line Road Warrior Hawk has been spouting off isn't Neo Nazi Zoom Dweebies, but 'Neo Maxi Zoom Dweebies." -- "Eddie Gilbert is still working here, but it appears they are trying to keep that a secret." -- JCP has started doing local promos to hype house shows again, which Dave thinks is a step in the right direction. -- The Mighty Wilbur will be back in March (My note: !) -- Everyone who lives in Dallas has been asked to move to Charlotte, but Dusty Rhodes, JJ Dillon and Jim Crockett are still expected to be moving during summer. They are expected to keep two offices open -- one in Charlotte where talent mostly lives, and one in Dallas for TV production. -- Tiger Conway Jr & Shaska Whatley will team in the Crockett Cup. -- Mike Rotunda won the TV title on 01/26 in Raleigh, from Nikita Koloff. Dave says the Varsity Club angle has been fun, but he doesn't think Rotunda will get over with the title. He gave Rick Steiner the Florida title, which Dave found interesting, since Dusty had just done a promo on TV about how this is the NWA and you don't buy belts in the NWA. -- 01/29 in Pittsburgh drew 6,500 headlined by Ric Flair vs Sting. 01/23 in Philadelphia drew 7,214 paid and a $103,416 gate. 01/14 in Fisherville, VA drew 1,200 and a $10,000 gate. 01/28 in Harrisburg, PA drew a sellout of 1,000 and a $10,000 gate headlined by Barry Windham & Ron Garvin vs The Sheepherders. The Rock & Roll Express no-showed. There were signs on the door announcing they wouldn't be there, and when the ring announcer said it, the crowd cheered. -- The past week's World Wide Wrestling aired two sets of commentary at the same time overlapping each other, so the show was all jibberish. -- They are setting up Dusty Rhodes vs Larry Zbyskzo US title matches. Baby Doll is blackmailing Dusty with secret photos to get a title match on her terms. -- Misty Blue is in to be part of some house show matches in 8-man tags featuring Jim Cornette. -- Dick Murdoch is leaving for Japan again, which saddens Dave because he was one of the few non-stale, entertaining guys they had anymore. -- They did an angle recently where it was Ric Flair Night in Raleigh, NC. Sting beat up JJ Dillon after a Horsemen celebration over Ric Flair winning Wrestler of the Year. On the same show, Barry Windham subbed for Hayes and lost to Flair, and Lex Luger & Ricky Santana beat Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard. AWA -- Kelly Kiniski has been fired, and they have pretty much no heels left. -- Tom Zenk is signed to face Billy Robinson on the 02/04 show at the Minneapolis Auditorium, the last show at the arena before it is torn down, and Dave is surprised by that match, because independent promotions won't use Robinson because of his rep of shooting, and that he could easily show Zenk up/ -- Baron Von Raschke and the Nasty Boys are now full-time. Steve DiSalvo is splitting time between the AWA and Calgary. -- Adrian Adonis suffered a broken ankle during the Minot, ND, TV tapings. There was a hole in the ring and Adonis stepped into it during an Irish whip spot. This also caused him to miss his scheduled New Japan tour, and he's not expected back for at least two months. -- Kevin Kelly and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey got into a fight while taping a promo that started as a work before tempers started flaring and they were really fighting. Kaissey was beaten to a pulp. -- An AWA album will be coming out soon, featuring Greg Gagne, Baron Von Raschke, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Blackwell, Tommy Rich, Dick Slater, Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, the Midnight Rockers and Tom Zenk. The album is being recorded in Atlanta. Blackwell, Rich and Slater were there because the Gagnes helped them get an insurance break for their new promotion. Lawler and Jarrett were there because there is planned to be more talent swapping between both territories in the future. In fact, Curt Hennig is scheduled to work a heavy schedule for CWA because the AWA is no longer running a full schedule. STAMPEDE -- 01/22 in Calgary drew 1,300, which is slightly below their average as of late, but still really strong considering the WWF's recent sellout in Calgary just three days before this show. The main event was Makhan Singh & Rip Rogers vs Jason the Moffat & Chris Benoit. The finish was Rogers putting Benoit in a Boston crab-like hold and the ref calling for the bell right away. (My note: Whaa?) -- The pregnant woman Bad News Allen hit while brawling in the crowd recently suffered a concussion. He was fined $200. MEMPHIS -- Terry Taylor is already gone, and headed to World Class. -- Billy Travis is out with an injury from Darryl Peterson landing on him wrong. -- They are billing Peterson as a Larry Sharpe protege that has come to get revenge on Lawler for how Lawler made Bigelow turn on Sharpe. They did an angle on TV where Peterson tossed Lawler over the table, which looked so bad that the studio audience booed it. CONTINENTAL -- The mink coat tournament drew 8,000 fans on 01/23. (My note: 8,000 fans for Continental??) The tournament final saw Bob Armstrong beat Tony Anthony to win the coat. Dave is amazed by the crowd size. It's the biggest crowd any non-NWA/WWF promotion has drawn in about 8 months in North America, and it happened on a card without Doug Furnas, who Dave credited for the recent big crowds in Knoxville. Knoxville is a huge town for them right now, but the Alabama towns just aren't drawing. Birmingham crowds are usually around 350, and Montgomery crowds are around 150. -- Hector Guerrero, the Rock & Roll RPM's, the Mongolian Stomper, Ron Wright and Buddy Landell are coming in. -- Ron Fuller will take over Knoxville effective 02/14 and it will be called USA Championship Wrestling. They are promoting Terry Gordy on the show. -- Dave still needs a tape supplier. WCCW -- WCCW recently drew only 80 people to a house show in Houston headlined by Kevin & Kerry Von Erich, The Fantastics & Chris Adams vs Buddy Roberts, Angel of Death, The Real Thing, John Tatum & Jack Victory in a Thunderdome match. 80 people! -- Crowds in Dallas have picked up to 2,500 for the Thunderdome matches, but remain at 300 in Fort Worth. -- Terry Gordy is getting his knee scoped in the coming week. NJPW -- Antonio Inoki has announced a late July show called "Martial Arts Olympic" at the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome. Dave is unsure of the prices, but they have charged as much as $220 US ringside for big shows in the previous two years and sold out those shows in major indoor arenas. Inoki's matches with Leon Spinks and Masa Saito both drew gates of over $700,000, and if Inoki vs Futuhaguro (Koji Kitao) happens, it is expected to double that. The 01/29 Tokyo Sports listed Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, Larry Holmes, Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Chris Dolman and Don Nakaya Neilsen as possible opponents. Dave thinks Futuhaguro is probably the best bet, because they have no chance with Michael Spinks or Holmes, and Inoki has already beaten Andre, Hogan and Leon Spinks. There's also that getting Hogan to job to Inoki at this stage would be impossible. -- Inoki recently toured Italy, and headlined a show on 01/24 at the Palasport in Rome that drew 8,000 fans in a 15,000-seat basketball arena paying $16 and $30. Inoki was the big draw and got a huge reaction beating Bad News Allen in the main event. On the undercard, Shane Douglas won a 6-man battle royal and had a singles match he won against Mike Kalhua. Inoki received a $10,000 guarantee for working two dates in Italy. These were the first Western-style matches in Italy since October, when the WWF drew a crowd of 9,000 in Milan. -- 01/22 drew 2,160. 01/27 drew 3,570 headlined by Antonio Inoki, Kengo Kimura & Shiro Koshinaka vs Buzz Sawyer, Bob Orton & Tony St. Clair. -- The 01/11 TV show drew a 7.1 rating headlined by Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs Owen Hart & Steve Williams. The 01/18 TV show drew an 8.2 rating headlined by Antonio Inoki & Nobuhiko Takada vs Masa Saito & Big Van Vader. The 01/25 TV show drew a 7.2 rating with a Riki Choshu, Masa Saito & Hiroshi Hase vs Steve Williams, Buzz Sawyer & Owen Hart main event. -- Owen Hart vs Nobuhiko Takada was a supposed strong standout on the 01/13 Takamatsu card. Owen is doing lots of jobs, but he's showing really well in popularity polls in the Japanese magazines. -- Finals to the juniors tournament are 02/07 in Sapporo. Masakatsu Funaki is currently in 1st place with 36 points. (My note: I tried to type this all out but Dave confused the hell out of me.) AJPW -- Genichiro Tenryu took a clean sweep of the major awards in Japan. He was named MVP of Japanese wrestling by Tokyo Sports, and received similar awards from Gong Magazine and Weekly Pro Wrestling. He nudged out Riki Choshu in Gong's popularity poll, and Choshu had been on top for several years. -- 01/27 drew 3,100 headlined by Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi vs Genichiro Tenryu, Ashura Hara & Samson Fuyuki. Buddy Landell was not on the show, but Dave is unsure the reason. -- They are hyping a huge show for 03/09 in an 8,000-seat arena in Yokohama to be headlined by Genichiro Tenryu vs Stan Hansen in a double title match with Tenryu putting up the United National title against Hansen's PWF belt, which Dave says will no doubt end in a countout. The show will also have Jumbo Tsuruta vs Tiger Mask. -- Baba is in the US negotiating with the Funks and David Manning about getting AJPW to air in the United States. Baba wants to send Gordy, Hansen, Brody, Abdullah, Snuka and some of his other top stars to help weaker territories fight Vince and Crockett. -- Toshiaki Kawada and Ricky Fuyuki are being billed as "The Foot Loose" and are a hot preliminary-level tag team. JOSHI -- 02/25 in Kawasaki is being hyped pretty huge and will be headlined by Dump Matsumoto & Yukari Omori (who will be retiring that night) against the Crush GIrls. -- TV ratings leveled off to a 6.2 on 01/10 and a 9.2 on 01/24. -- AJW held their rookie auditions on 01/17 in Tokyo. 1,500 girls showed up and seven were picked, based on how well they did at weightlifting, dexterity drills, speed and calistenics. "I think this is one of two reasons it's ridiculous to even compare the Japanese women with any U.S. promotion. First off, only the top 1/2 of a percent in terms of athletic ability even get chosen to be trained in the first place, and then they train them like spartans from the age of 15-17 and by the time they are around 22, if they've even survived, they are better workers than virtually all the men. Then they are done away with at the age of 26, so nobody stars on past their time." PUERTO RICO -- Keiji Muto is currently working as a manager for Mr. Pogo & Kendo Nagasaki (My note: Whaaa?) READER LETTERS -- Jeff Goldberg in Hatboro, PA, insists that Mike Lanzalotti's letter saying he messed up the finish to a recent Flair match in Philly was out of place, as Flair congratulated him afterwards on a job well done. He says most of the time, wrestlers screw up finishes, not the referee. -- Chris Ranucci in Brooklyn, NY, hated the Bunkhouse Stampede. Crockett created ill will by not allowing any press who wanted in except Bill Apter and George Napolitano. He says Crockett is dumb and doesn't realize the mark mags are on his side and want to help him beat Vince McMahon, and he's alienating crowds everywhere. -- Greg Roman in Ventor, NJ, was upset that Crockett announced that his cable company would be airing the Bunkhouse Stampede, despite them not even being open that day and having no intentions of doing so. -- Bob Saydlowski Jr in Pittsfield, MA, thinks Antonio Inoki is as bad as Dusty Rhodes, and is also upset that Vince was not using real 2:00 time intervals for the Royal Rumble, calling it "cheating". -- Harry White in St. Louis says Crockett has been advertising $3.00 tickets, but then when you show up, all the $3 tickets are sold out and they try to get you to buy $9 tickets. Most people turn around and go home. -- Jeff Bowdren in Planation, FL, says Bret Hart deserves a bigger push, upset that he did jobs for Paul "I Wrestle Like I'm In A Coma" Roma and Jim "Wipe That Smile Off My Face If You Don't Like It" Powers. Even the marks can see that he has lots of ability. -- Pat Crocker in Edwards Air Force Base, CA wants to share his dream card: El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas, the Crush Girls & Jumping Bomb Angels vs Dump Matsumoto, Condor Saito, Drill Nakamae & Sherri Martel, Owen Hart vs Kuniaki Kobayashi, Bad Company vs Lightning Express, Riki Choshu vs Tatsumi Fujinami, Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express, Bruiser Brody vs Terry Gordy, Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada vs Kazuo Yamazaki & Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Steve Williams vs Dick Murdoch but only in Japan and Ric Flair vs Ted DiBiase. -- Steve Hesske in Bowling Green, OH doesn't see what all the fuss is about regarding Japanese wrestling and thinks the wrestling is better in the US. He also thinks Vince McMahon's "Stand Back" performance at the Slammys was amazing and more people should be talking about it. (My note: Does this guy post at DVDVR now?) -- Carl France in Englewood, Ontario, thinks Matilda's disappearance is to cover for her tour of Japan. -- Diane Devine in Springfield, MO, thinks Ric Flair's interviews have become too raunchy and offensive, and that he talks about sex too much. -- R.E. Valuck in Binghampton, NY, thinks Memphis wrestling is the best wrestling in the world, have Jerry Lawler, and have the best announcer in wrestling.

I just like how he can't seem to admit that Stephanie McMahon outmanuevered him, instead making it seem all Vince (similar to how Vince did the same thing with Bischoff and Ted Turner). He also left out that he was fired for eavesdropping on conference calls, and that he was largely responsible for the buildup to December To Dismember.

Is there a link anyone can provide of boxing buyrates from their first PPV going forward?

The Thrilla in Manilla was broadcast over HBO's satelite in 75. Hearns v Lloyd was on PPV in 1981. While people argued at time about wether PPV was good for the sport (fuck people argue today about if PPV is good for the sport), everyone knew PPV was the future of the sport. Has anyone else gained as much from it and used it as much to make money as WWE?

Where to begin ...

He was Alex's father, although that was the only match of his I've seen and yes, he looked good.

I don't know, it wasn't as if Eddie/Rey was ever likely to headline a PPV. Trish v Lita main evented a Raw that year, but I wouldn't call it a main event feud. I actually thought of Jericho/Christian first, I liked the whole twist at Wrestlemania 20, but I'm not sure the match quality was there, and we never did get a good payoff as I recall. Rock/HHH in 98 is also a great pick. Eddy/Rey got more focus than anything on SmackDown! at the time, and was constantly used as a crutch to save ratings. It was also usually the cliffhanger for the show end and in a main event spot, and they used it to try to bring in a new Hispanic audience. It wasn't a championship feud, but it was definitely a main event feud, albeit more of a TV main event feud than a PPV one.

CMLL needs to mic their crowds.

(1) What do you ultimately think Vince McMahon will most be remembered for as a promoter? I think Vince McMahon has to be remembered as the greatest wrestling promoter of all time. It's a romantic vision, but there is truth in it -- he took a family business that operated regionally and expanded it into a global company with publicly-traded stock, and he did it by taking the right risks at the right times. He's flopped on a few things too, but his successes ultimately outweigh his failures. (2) What do you think is the most important positive change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? Marketing. The only way a wrestling promotion could make money prior to Vince changing the business was to hype a house show and sell tickets. He has created clothing and books and DVDs and house show matches mass-marketed for video retailers and action figures. (3) What do you think is the most important negative change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? Buzzwords (Sports Entertainment, Divas, Superstars, Medical Facility, Physicality) and wrestling matches built around the above-mentioned marketing. A wrestler has a t-shirt that mentions his finisher, so he has to use his finisher in every match so they can sell the merchandise. Wrestling doesn't feel as organic with Vince running things, a byproduct of him being a meticulous control freak, and even the moments that are supposed to feel spontaneous often feel contrived and overly calculated. (4) What is something that you have always felt WWE does well that they don't get enough credit for? There is an asterisk when Vince's son-in-law is involved, but I've always felt WWF booking is great at building strong babyfaces, giving them clean wins and keeping them protected. (5) What is something that you have always felt WWE does horribly that they don't get enough criticism for? There is an asterisk when Vince's son-in-law is involved, but I've always felt WWF booking is horrible at building strong heels, making them look like idiots and laughingstocks without letting them build heat. (6) Overall, do you think most people are fair when discussing WWE, or do you think people tended to be blinded -- either by fanboyism or hatred? It's a combination, but I think most people are fair. (7) What match would you point to as the match that most defines the WWE version of wrestling? The Royal Rumble -- a concept match stolen from a small territory and adapted for a larger audience, where the match usually sucks and is just a bunch of random, fragmented stuff happening for an hour with no overall arc to tie it together, but it's a WWE hallmark that draws money and gets people interested. It's also a decent overview of the talent depth of the promotion at a given point in time. (8) Could the WWF have had their initial success without Hulk Hogan? Why or why not? They could have expanded nationally, but I don't think they could have sustained it without Hogan. They put all the pressure on Hogan to deliver, and didn't really spread it out with a strong group of top guys, like you see in the company now. Most of their competition self-destructed not because of anything the WWF specifically did, but the early success of Crockett after going national shows that with the right approach, another promoter could have made life hell for Vince for decades. (9) Could the WWF have been more financially successful in the post-Hogan, pre-Austin time period with different people on top? Why or why not? No. The problem at this time was perception, and also really feeling like an 80s pop culture sidebar that was still going on, but existed in a vacuum unto itself. Bret Hart was great for wrestling fans, but the Hulkamaniacs didn't really take to him. Shawn was pushed as a cocky, babyface sex symbol who posed nude in Playgirl, which I think killed any mega drawing potential he had. The Undertaker tends to be a product of his environment. (10) Who do you think was a bigger star at their peak -- Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin? Hulk Hogan. Steve Austin drew more money and sold more merchandise, but Hogan knocked down doors and took wrestling places it never would have gone otherwise. In a way, Austin did too, but I don't know that Austin could have been as successful as he was without Hogan creating a template. (11) What do you think is Vince McMahon's greatest accomplishment as a promoter? Taking the pay-per-view concept and making it his core business, enticing boxing and eventually MMA promoters to eventually do the same. (12) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to WCW overtaking the WWF from 1995-1998? The WWF losing so many big names at one time hurt their perception, especially when everyone seemed to want to be in WCW. They were also stuck in a time warp, and Jim Cornette's Southern-style booking combined with Vince McMahon's cartoonish stuff came across really weird. WCW was trying new things with new stars, and also upped their production values to the point where they surpassed the WWF. (13) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to the WWF overtaking WCW in 1998? Steve Austin. The WWF's comeback and WCW's downfall are pretty much mutually exclusive in my eyes, as both things would have happened regardless of the success or failure of the other promotion. WCW's downfall came from getting way too complacent on top, and thinking that because they had the big names, they could throw a bunch of crap together, keep increasing their amount of TV time, and it would never get old. I think the WWF was able to *sustain* their dominance by signing away a lot of WCW's underhyped midcard, most of whom fit in fairly well with top guys in the WWF, and were more effective and important, whether they were or weren't higher on the card. (14) Which world champion was the best in terms of ring work and why? Bret Hart or Eddy Guerrero. Bret gets the nod because he had a longer run, but Eddy's four month run was tremendous. (15) Which world champion do you think meant most to the company? Hulk Hogan. Aside from maybe Steve Austin in 1998, Hogan as champion from 84-88 is really the only time in WWE history that I truly think in order to keep drawing, they had to keep the belt on a specific person. (16) Which world champion had the worst run? Kurt Angle's first two title runs were pretty awful, built around his twin brother who didn't look like him and 9/11 sympathy, and the later ones weren't much better. Chris Jericho bombed. I say this acknowledging that there isn't much either one of them could have done to change this, because they weren't really given a chance to succeed. (17) What do you consider the high point in WWF or WWE history? 1997 was a great year for them, where I think they found the right role for Bret, Austin, Owen, Michaels and Undertaker, before Montreal happened and it all fell apart. (18) What do you consider the absolute low point in WWF or WWE history? 1999 is a credit to Steve Austin and The Rock, because everything was HORRIBLE at that time. (19) Looking at things from their point of view, why do you think WWE frowns on employees being big wrestling fans? Because they want to teach them their way, and think they're less likely to be questioned if they aren't exposed to other wrestling. (20) Do you think the WWF has ever done a good job at booking tag teams in a meaningful way? If so, what time period? Not really. They've never had a tag team that was over enough that they could have conceivably headlined a Wrestlemania. The Mega Powers were huge in 1988. Why didn't they build up a feud with Demolition or another top heel team? The Road Warriors were a key factor in Crockett's success -- the tag teams in the WWF were always treated more like a midcard division than a main event thing. (21) What is the best non-main event feud the company has ever produced and why? A lot of feuds mentioned, like Rey/Eddy, were main event feuds. So was Savage/Steamboat, as it headlined tons of house shows. I'm going to say the whole Jericho/Trish/Christian thing, because it was really well done. (22) What is the worst main event level feud the company has ever produced and why? HHH/Kane in 2002 for reasons that have been talked to death. (23) What do you think was the single biggest contributing factor that caused the end of the 1998-2001 boom? Not pushing the new generation of guys as peers of the previous generation is what killed the boom. (24) From your personal experiences, is the WWF a company that delivers house shows where you feel you get your money's worth? Yes. (25) Where do you think they'll be in five years? About where they are now, which is cool and all, but one of the reasons it isn't as exciting to be a wrestling fan as it used to be.

I will do my questionnaire later today, but I'm really surprised no one has said pay-per-view is Vince McMahon's greatest accomplishment as a promoter. PPV transcends wrestling, but wrestling's success is what has led to it being a valuable commodity for other forms of entertainment. In that regard, the people running the WWF were visionairies and deserve tons of credit. I really think the WWF did a better job at exploiting the possibilities of cable TV than any other sports or entertainment company promoting at the time. Cable TV completely changed the music business too, but it's debatable whether or not those changes were for the better, and you didn't ever really see other entertainment promoters really making the most of a new medium. Also, there's not much Vince has done that has been more important than getting wrestling de-regulated by admitting it to be fake in 1989. We're still feeling the ramifications of that one today, as it permanently changed the face of wrestling in the United States and killed whatever was left of kayfabe. Sorry I'm not doing the full questionnaire now, but those are two points I wanted to make while I was thinking about them.

I wanted to a WWE questionnaire similar to the one done on WCW, with questions that apply more to WWE. I'd consider the time frame for this from the beginning of the Hogan era to present. (1) What do you ultimately think Vince McMahon will most be remembered for as a promoter? (2) What do you think is the most important positive change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? (3) What do you think is the most important negative change that has come from the WWE vision of what pro wrestling is? (4) What is something that you have always felt WWE does well that they don't get enough credit for? (5) What is something that you have always felt WWE does horribly that they don't get enough criticism for? (6) Overall, do you think most people are fair when discussing WWE, or do you think people tended to be blinded -- either by fanboyism or hatred? (7) What match would you point to as the match that most defines the WWE version of wrestling? (8) Could the WWF have had their initial success without Hulk Hogan? Why or why not? (9) Could the WWF have been more financially successful in the post-Hogan, pre-Austin time period with different people on top? Why or why not? (10) Who do you think was a bigger star at their peak -- Hulk Hogan or Steve Austin? (11) What do you think is Vince McMahon's greatest accomplishment as a promoter? (12) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to WCW overtaking the WWF from 1995-1998? (13) What do you think was the greatest contributing factor to the WWF overtaking WCW in 1998? (14) Which world champion was the best in terms of ring work and why? (15) Which world champion do you think meant most to the company? (16) Which world champion had the worst run? (17) What do you consider the high point in WWF or WWE history? (18) What do you consider the absolute low point in WWF or WWE history? (19) Looking at things from their point of view, why do you think WWE frowns on employees being big wrestling fans? (20) Do you think the WWF has ever done a good job at booking tag teams in a meaningful way? If so, what time period? (21) What is the best non-main event feud the company has ever produced and why? (22) What is the worst main event level feud the company has ever produced and why? (23) What do you think was the single biggest contributing factor that caused the end of the 1998-2001 boom? (24) From your personal experiences, is the WWF a company that delivers house shows where you feel you get your money's worth? (25) Where do you think they'll be in five years?