JerryvonKramer

When the guy said that Sting is arguably Ric Flair's greatest opponent, I laughed out loud. And also felt embarrassed for him.

Okay, first some good news, I managed to sign a PPV contract deal with Request TV for 12 months, with them taking 90% of the profits. But ... this gives me coverage in both the US and Canada and should ensure good live gates. This calls for a new schedule. I should be able to run MSG and the Spectrum on the monthly loop again now, and will put them on PPV. Then I want to run a third big live show every month OUTSIDE the North East. Yip, this is because I'm going to war now. I cancelled all the WWF's working agreements with every US and Canadian promotion, as well as New Japan because I want exclusivity rights on certain guys (like DiBiase). Most of the promotions responded by declaring war. I imagine Vince Sr wasn't thrilled at me severing his lifelong contacts over night, but I'm blaming Vince Jr anyway ... Okay, now I moved really quickly to lock up guys on the roster for whom I have long-term plans to exclusive contracts. Offered three years: Andre, Slaughter, DiBiase, Arn, Tully, Savage, Hennig. Offered one year: Bruno. Okay, so DiBiase and Arn both decided to stay loyal to Watts. I didn't lose them, they signed an extension on their existing non-exclusive deals. Annoying, but at least I don't lose them. Andre, Savage, Hennig, Tully, and Bruno all signed. Slaughter though ... Slaughter went and fucking signed with Crockett. And he's leaving the territory in a week. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Anyway, let's get back to the booking. Week 21 (June, Week 1) WWF Tour: Look at that crowd!! 10,000 and in the Spectrum again! This was technically the June House Show and the last of the old schedule I was running. The main event was the blow off to the Ventura vs. Graham feud. I felt it had actually run its course and was struggling to give Graham stuff to do. So here Graham went over and won his TV slot back. Superstars: Superstars came back on air. Another benefit of "cult" status is that it is much harder to lose popularity in your base region. The North East is sort of ring fenced now, so even though I'm B- there, and this was a C+ show, you'll notice it didn't lose me any popularity. This is vital if the promotion is going to grow beyond the North East. The idea is that I will run strong shows out of New York and Philly, but through my TV on Tempo and the PPVs on Request, the audiences in all of the other regions will grow. And then in the first week of every month, I'll run a show in target regions with talent that is over there. For example, run against Watts in the Mid-South region with someone who is a draw in that area (e.g. DiBiase) in the main event. Or I'll run a show in LA, say, with Ray Stevens on top. These shows will help guys on the undercard get over in different parts of the country. The TV exposure helps get guys over everywhere, but being at a live show in a region gets guys over in the region faster than TV does. To give an example, look at Vince's overness progression. He's mainly just been sitting on commentary, so this is all TV: Incidentally, that's one of the reasons that Jesse rates so high in so many regions because he's been sitting on commentary too plus he's been working (mostly in-ring) for Verne who has a good TV slot. Now let's look at DiBiase's, a guy who I've pushed quite a bit at live shows: In the space of 3 months, Ted went from a D+ to a B- in New England because he was going over there in decent matches there quite a bit. He's also working for Watts, of course, so that accounts for his Mid-South rating, but look at Great Lakes there. That's gone up purely through TV. It's slower than the live show, but it is still going up. The overness of THE PROMOTION is similar. TV will get you so far, but actually running shows in a place boosts the rate of increase. So anyway, all of that is a good rationale to run shows outside the North East once a month. I will assess the roster soon to work out which would be the best area to target first. Back to Superstars ... Graham: Brothers, it's good for the Superstar's Super Show on WWF Superstars to be back! And it's good for WWF Superstars to be back period! I'm joined today by my guests Captian Louis Albano and his main charge Sgt. Slaughter. Albano: First of all, one thing no one has mentioned is that there's been a travesty of justice here in the WWF! Afa *spits* Sika *spits*. I taught them good for nothing Samoans everything they know and I took them to MANY tag team titles only for them to walk out on me and ally themselves with that *spits* good-fa-nuthin' Superfly Jimmy Snuka who thinks he's something now that he's the Champeen. Sika had never seen a fork until I showed him one and first thing he did was stick it up his nose! These Islanders I'm tellin' ya animals. Well let me tell ya somethin', Jimmy Sunka ain't gonna be Champeen for long, because the Sargeant here, he's the next one. Ya looking at him. The next World Heavyweight Champeen. Superstar Billy Graham! Show the man some respect!! The next Champeen. I want you to salute the man, go on show him some respect. *Albano salutes Slaughter and gestures for Graham to do the same. He's not playing ball. Albano sees that it's futile and mutters to himself* Slaugher: Listen up maggots! This place has become overrun with these ... these Islanders. And the Captain is right, they are filthy animals. And all over the place they are dancing and making a mockery of this country! And I'm going to clean this place up. I'm going to rescue this country from falling any further into SLIME than it has been falling. Singing and dancing and being LAZY beach bums ... ATTENTION! Maggots. I'm going to bring some displine to things around here. I'm going to bring glory back to the WWF by taking that belt and putting it where it belongs around my waist. *Graham goes to commercial break* This was booked before I found out Slaughter was about to leave, by the way. That's Dusty's last date. Since I'm now at war with GCW and Crockett and Florida, looks like it might be the last time we see Dusty for some time. Anyway, Slaughter interfered here and him and Albano went in for the heel beatdown ... To be fair, I've jobbed out the Somoans pretty bad and have them working against type, so it's no wonder they are struggling to get over in this new role. Week 22 (June, Week 2) WWF Live at the Philadelphia Spectrum I knew Slaughter was going by this point, so I thought he could go in a blaze. And yes, I ran the Spectrum two weeks running. This was the biggest show in terms of live attendance that I'd booked, and the PPV revenue was about $25k. Not bad. I am starting to think I might move the Samoans on. They are past the point of being useful. Well this looks like it was a great match. And I'm gutted that I've lost Slaughter. This is rated as the #1 match of my tenure thus far. Snuka vs. Slaughter was a hot feud in-ring-wise. Superstars: Okay, I went to the well one time too many, but the idea was mainly to extract maximum value for Snuka in terms of building momentum and overness for him. This also leaves Lou Albano with no clients. In the ring, with a plaster over his cheek and a bandage on his head Sgt. Slaughter calls out Jimmy Snuka and challenges him to a match for the title live on TV. Snuka accepts the challenge, but ONLY on the condition that Slaughter accepts a loser leaves town stipulation. Lou Albano steps in and objects, but Slaughter is adament that he can win this time. Alabano and Slaughter negotiate in private, and then seem to have come up with a plan. With both of them nodding, Slaughter picks up the mic. Will you accept, Snuka, to the match being an ALLEY FIGHT? Snuka: Bring. It. On. Sadly, this was one match too many for these two. Never mind. I have plans afoot ... So obviously, I tried to sign Hogan to an exclusive deal ... and he didn't come. I got to negotiate but couldn't make a deal that both he AND Vince would agree to. Vince is quite the pain in the ass, it has to be said. He also blocked my attempt to sign Larry Zbysko. Clearly he's blackballed for the 1980 deal. Nice attention to detail from the mod guys there! BUT I've made some signings. NEW PEOPLE!! I'm excited. Let's have a look: Spiros Arion Okay, so he's well past it. But he's also well known in the area and someone who Bruno can work with and maybe headline a Philly card with. Just a 3-month deal here. The Sheik He's 56 and so if Arion is past it, Sheik is long, long past it. But I wanted to reunite him with The Grand Wizard, and thought he could be a good stop-gap challenger for Snuka to help get him over further as a legit champ. I like the idea of him taking on all-comers and he's already been through Koloff and Iron Sheik, as well as Brisco and Dusty. The Road Warriors Someone in the Georgia office is probably blowing a blood gasket, cos I poached these and got them on exclusives. Incidentally, all of the their overness has come from exposure on the TBS show. Obviously, down the road these two will face Arn and Tully, but I want to build and build and build them before they get a title shot. I want these guys at literally 50 and 0 before they challenge for the belts. Harley Race 1-year exclusive contract. He was just working for Central States not doing a whole lot down in Kansas, and has just come back from an AJPW tour. Harley is possibly my quick-fix solution for losing Slaughter. A Race-Snuka feud with Snuka eventually going over will further help legitimate him as Champ. He's already beaten two former NWA champs. Of course, I've tried to sign The Funks but they are stubborn on the terms and it's hard to make a deal. I WILL get Dory and Terry at some point though. Greg Valentine 2-year exclusive contract. So stick that one up your arse Crockett! JCP took Slaughter, I take Valentine. That's the way it's going to be from now on. In case anyone is in any doubt at all: here's my IC champ. Rick Martel Yes!! Ricky Steamboat YES! The temptation to make Martel and Steamer an uber-blow-job tagteam and have them feud with Arn and Tully is overwhelming. But then again they would both make good opponents for Greg. But things are looking up.

Sheik had gotten arrested (and given WWF terrible press as a result), was clearly on drugs, in terrible shape, was pretty bad in the ring by 91, and a poor promo to boot. That's one hell of a soft spot. It has made me think that there might be something to the story with Verne and the bribe to break Hogan's leg. Sheik stayed loyal to WWF, and put Hogan over, and it seems like Vince has looked out for him ever since. It's not just the spot on Summerslam 91 either. It's the way WWE has consistently made Iron Sheik out to be a much bigger and more important star than he actually was. If you went by the WWE's version of history, Iron Sheik is like one of the top 5-10 biggest heels in history.

Huh? Nah I reckon I've always worked babyface on the pods. Forum is a different matter ...

Why not? He was part of the main event. Because he hadn't been a main event star since (if we're being very generous) 1985 at the latest, and he'd spent the last three years as a virtual jobber WCW. Yet Vince "saved" him for the second time and put him in that spot and gave him a huge pay day. There's a story there that hasn't been told, I'm telling ya.

Serious heel heat for this guy. Intriguing.

I find it genuinely idiotic and hate the idea, but then, y'know, I wish wrestling was still booked like it was in 1985 and make no secret of that.

What do you make of the other one I reviewed (WM17, see previous page)?

Okay, this is going to be a bit like Fast-forwarding a month. In short, I had to cancel the TV deals for Superstars and Challenge on the syndicated networks. I then negotiated a deal with Tempo Television. No, not the biggest network on earth, but they have coverage right across the US AND in Canada. Plus, they have a lot of patience and so won't be nagging for high ratings all the time or yank me off air. I'm pleased with the deal, although this does mean no more Challenge for a while. My sole TV show on air is Superstars. Also, this effectively leaves me with no TV for the month of May. I ran some extra house shows to compensate, but financially it was a disastrous month during which the company lost over $100k despite some decent gates. Week 17 (May, Week 1): New England Live Show Still marching towards popping New England. This was a really strong show all round and one of the highest rated that I've booked. Yes, there's that Ray Stevens magic again. As long as the match doesn't go much more than 8 minutes, he can seemingly do wonders against over opponents. And back to pre-Wrestlemania programming for the house show loop this month. Savage is going to be taking pins from Bruno round the horn. Oh and look, this happened: Ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho. The very idea I'd try to talk him out of retiring! Week 18 (May, Week 2) New England Live Show Not as hot as the previous show sadly. It is good being able to book these guys in different combinations. This helps to protect Bruno and showcase him. "Booking smart" around him. Week 19 (May, Week 3) This week started with some sad news. Bill Eadie had a tragic and fatal freak accident. So that's it, Masked Superstar is dead. I promptly brought in some outside talent for a memorial show in his honour. Wahoo McDaniel and Ole Anderson both refused to work for the WWF. But I got some Carolinas guys and Nikolai Volkoff to relive the Mongol gimmick (Eadie was once a Mongol). New York Live Show: Yes, it's Stevens the wonder worker again! 8 minutes or less and he'll give you a near classic every time! Speaking of which: Snuka vs. Slaughter went 30 minutes and tore the house down. This is the best match I've booked to date and I'm glad this feud is working out in the ring. New England Live Show House shows are considerably easier to book than TV aren't they. Wow, look at this again. Studd and Andre always seem to have a good match. Glad to be getting something out of Muraco. He's been much better as a babyface and away from Pedro. Week 20 (May, Week 4) Masked Superstar Memorial Show In case you're wondering the other Mongol is "The Mongol" aka Gene Petit aka Kharma in Kevin Sullivan's Army of Darkness aka Cousin Luke from the Hillbillies! Geto Mongol was actually active and available but I couldn't close the contract in time to bring him in for the show. I got Petit in from WCCW. New England Live Show In case you're wondering what Paul Jones is doing there vs. Curt Hennig, I brought him in for the memorial show but forgot to book him. So he got to put over Curt instead. My previous booking of SD Jones ensured that he didn't bring a match like this down too much. He's had a new lease of life as Snuka's stooge. Although The Islanders and The Elite aren't feuding, it's quite neat to have two stables I can put in random house show matches like this. Oh dear, a poor outing for Ventura, who is best kept in the booth clearly. The story here is that Billy Graham came out to do commentary while Ventura wrestled, but then got himself involved and cost Ventura the match. Sorry about these pics by the way, not sure what happened there. Anyway, that's it the ENTIRE month. But it was worth it because when we return, it's going to be on TEMPO, more eyeballs, more revenue! And most importantly of all, this just happened. Oh look out Verne Gagne, look out Jim Crockett, there's a juggernaut coming your way! Nothing can stop me now!!!

Week 16 (April, Week 4): House Show I tried to best on the best card I possibly could here. Off-night for Snuka, but he still got a decent match with Sheiky. Was trying out Andre in a main event spot. Planning on pairing him in a feud with Iron Sheik. Challenge Building up Slaughter now, as well as a bit of a mini-push for SD Jones, who seems to have very poor stamina. I swear Jack Brisco has worked more than 8 dates. It certainly feels like it. Not that I'm complaining. I have jobbed the shit out of him though. Superstars Okay, okay, so I made a mistake and I'm bringing Bruno back. But, this was also a response to something that happened: Bruno himself complained at working as a road agent and asked for a main eventer role. So I gave it to him. I am going to try to book him as smart as I can to get the maximum of whatever is left. Although having him about turn on the retirement is kinda booking out of a hole, better with him than without him. Jesse: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Bodyshop. And this week I have a very special intereview, with this man ... the Living Legend Bruno Sammartino. Now Mr. Sammartino, aren't you meant to be RETIRED? Bruno: Well, Jesse, it's been a month since Wrestlemania. And I've been doing a lot of thinking, y'know. I've had hundreds and thousands of letters from my fans from around the world. And they all say the same thing. They say, "How could you do this Bruno?" "Don't give up Bruno, you've still got it." "It was just one match Bruno." "You can beat DiBiase, Bruno, he got lucky". And it's all been going round and round in my head. It's been swirling like a whirlpool round and round. I keep thinking of the moment at Wrestlemania when the referee counted one, two, three. I kicked out but it was too late. And my heart sank. Jesse: The world was watching Bruno Sammartino, we all saw what happened. Bruno: And in that moment, I thought, "Bruno, this is over now. You don't have it any more". But the fans, you know, they write and they write. Everywhere I go, all I get is, "is it really true Bruno, are you retired now?" "Come on, Bruno, you can come back again". And you know, Jesse ... ya know ... *Bruno seems stuck for words. He's emotional.* Jesse (showing no empathy at all): Come on Sammartino, spit it out. Bruno: Ted DiBiase might have beaten me in one match, but he can NEVER defeat my spirit! You might be able to hurt my body, with my aches and pains, and bruises from 20 years inside that squared circle, but I've got something in here, something so big and so powerful in this heart of mine, that someone like Ted DiBiase will never be able to take that away. And let me tell you DiBiase. You were lucky. One match is all it was to me! I can train. I can get bigger and stronger. I will get back into the best shape I've ever been in even if it kills me, because I will stop at nothing until I get you inside that ring again. I wasn't at the top of my game, but they don't call me "The Living Legend" because I give up. I won't give up. I'll never give up! And I want to stand up and say something to all of my fans who have followed me for so long and for so many years now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I had a moment of weakness. And I'm thankful that you people kept believing in me. No matter what, you people are there for Bruno Sammartino, and that's why Bruno Sammartino is going to be there for you! Jesse: Wait ... wait just one minute. You're telling me exclusively here on The Bodyshop that you ... are coming back out of retirement ALREADY? How can we believe a word you say anymore? Bruno: Listen Jesse Ventura! People sometimes make mistakes in this life. And I made a mistake at Wrestlemania because I doubted myself. But now I've seen, the fans have made me see, that sometimes we have to experience failure to make us stronger. And this is my LIFE, this ... great sport ... is my life. And I'm not going to give it up that easy. Ted DiBiase! You listen to me now. I don't care if it takes a week, a month, or a year, you and me are getting back in that ring, and there won't be any doubt! New England Live Show No point hanging around with Bruno, chuck him straight back in to see what he could do. Put him in with Ivan, a familiar opponent. He did alright. Also on this card ... Not a bad match for Ted to be getting out of Graham. I have a feeling Graham is going to leave soon, he's been pissed off since the last job he did for DiBiase. Hey, at least he's not doing Kung Fu. House Show There was an extra house show in April and this is the first one from May. Once again, Bruno straight into the mix. Thought I'd give the crowd something to cheer for here with the big six man. Snuka still doing pretty well. However, ideally I need these matches to be getting B+ or more. Need to wait to build up the heel side more. Decent match. Tully Blanchard was out injured for this, hence only 3 members of The Elite. Tully is due back next week. Bruno seems refreshed because the "off his game" note seems to have gone. This is the main value of Bruno though. He's so over that he'll lift segments just by being there. --------- This pop to "cult" is taking forever. It's TV negotiating season again. I still want to cancel the current contracts and come back on a bigger cable network.

I think they should take the title off Brock and have him winning battle royles or working 3 vs 1 handicap matches against JTTS guys. Book him like Andre.

Week 15 (April, Week 3): Challenge Have started to run video packages on Bruno to remind fans about him (and hint at a possible comeback). Still running down the dates for Dusty and Brisco. Have had good value out of those loan deals. Superstars Ventura was away with an AWA date so Vince did this show alone. Could have brought in Billy Graham, but didn't want to complicate that angle any further. This show was mainly used to trigger the Slaughter vs. Snuka feud. Well look at this! Snuka surprisingly pulling a great performance out of the bag vs. Iron Sheik. In fact, look at this: The top 10 matches since I started booking. I don't recall that Andre vs. Studd match, but I might as well pair those two based on that. But Snuka has quite a few matches in there. This is actually making me feel more confident of him carrying the strap. Sheiky baby has three matches in there too, maybe I should do more with him. Randomly Ray Stevens has two as well, weird, he seemed so done in the tag team. *After the match, Jimmy Snuka outs the WWF title on his shoulder. SD Jones comes down the aisle carrying a bunch of flower wreaths* Snuka: Oh yeah. Jones: Oh yeah. We gonna have a party!! Snuka: Everybody clap your hands together! *Jones starts giving out the wreaths to fans* Snuka: Afa and Sika come on and bring the party on! *Afa and Sika come out with party poppers. They pop them into the crowd. Balloons come down from the ceiling. There's music booming* Snuka: I want everyone to have a good time yeah! Dance! Get up out of your seats and dance! Jones: Party! Party! *All of a sudden there's a loud voice on the speakers over the music.* Slaughter: STOPPPPPPP!!!! Cut the music! Stoopppp!! HALLTTT! Attention!!! Snuka, Jones and Samoans all look at the gate crasher. Slaughter: This is a disgrace maggots! This is the World WRESTLING Federation. Not the Federation for Dancing and Prancing about! If you're going to dance about and not wrestle then you should give that belt to me, Jimmy Snuka! Snuka: Whoa whao whao mon. Whoa now. There's nothing wrong with wanting to have some fun. Come on Sarge, come and dance with us. Slaughter: You're an outrage to this country!!! And all you people cheering on these BEACH BUMS oughtta be ashamed of yourself. Come on! Stand to attention! You, boy, SD Jones, stand alert! *SD Jones wiggles his butt in the direction of Slaughter* Slaughter: Why I ... *Slaughter thinks about rushing the ring but sees Snuka and the Samoans there.* Slaughter: You people haven't heard the last of this. I don't want to see this ... this partying and dancing in the WWF. There's no place for it! *SD Jones wiggles his butt again and pokes his tongue out at Slaughter in defiance. They carry on partying.* New England Live show: Just another New England house show. But look at this: Wow, Don Muraco suddenly motivated after the face turn. Getting a match like this out of George Steele in a nothing opener is something. There's hope for Muraco yet! ------- All-in-all this week made me feel more positive about where things can go.

While I agree that Kawada was mostly a tag worker in the timeframe, how much emphasis would you say there was on his feud with Taue?

My points of interest are exactly as follows: - What the hell are Sting and HHH going to do? - How will the crowd react to Reigns? - What in god's name is a 7-man ladder match? - How much more like an aging transvestite will The Undertaker look this year?

Have started to review Angle matches here. Turns out 13 years is a long time ...

Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Insurrexion 2000) Crash Holly comes out and sits on commentary where he's incredibly distracting. Hard to really say much about this match. It was just a bunch of stuff that happened in a vacuum. I did like Angle's execution on his suplexes, but it's hard to be interested in a match where even the commentators don't care. ** Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Wrestlemania 17) Angle cuts a promo against Texas and cowboy hats before the match. He has a lot more charisma than his opponent. Some amateur stuff to start, which is faintly ridiculous if you think about it. As if Benoit could go toe to toe with an Olympic Gold Medalist. What they do here is not so much matwork two men looking to get their submission finishers, ankle lock vs cross face. I'm not a fan of that in the first two minutes of the match, you've got to build to it. I think it's poor psychology. You might argue that they are trying to establish for the crowd what sort of match this will be in order to educate them, but I don't buy that. Angle takes things outside and slams Benoit on the announce table. Suplex. Cover. Back suplex. Cover. Okay, this is all fine, but what was the point of the early sequence grappling over the submissions? Ignoring that for the moment, this is a decent heat sequence worked at an even and methodical pace. Chop exchanges now culminating in a nice belly to belly by Angle. His execution is superb. Another belly to belly. Benoit's selling could be more expressive. Jim Ross busts out a Jack Brisco reference!! He compares Angle to Brisco. Heyman says he only likes Brisco because he's from Oklahoma and JR gets angry. Benoit bringing Japanese style hard and stiff chops now. He's ramping up the intensity. Snap suplex. Superplex. Beautifully executed. Rolling German suplexes. Crowd seem oddly muted for this. Neat counter by Angle for an ankle lock attempt. Benoit counters into the ankle lock himself. Crippler cross face. Angle counters and now he applies the Crossface himself. Heyman is talking a lot of shit on commentary about how he's never seen a greater display of hold and counter hold. He needs to watch more wrestling if that's true. The submission elements of this match have been very poor. Angle hits the Angle Slam but it only gets two. Heyman says he's never seen anyone kick out of that. Maybe that was true at this point? Angle goes up for a Moonsault, Benoit gets his knees up. He goes up for the diving headbutt. Only two. Armbar take over by Benoit but Angle rolls him up and over with the tights for 1, 2, 3. This was a really mixed bag. The middle portion with Angle working the heat and then Benoit coming back with the stiffness was well worked and everything was very smooth. But the opening and closing portion built around the submission finishers was really bad. There was virtually no attempt at telling any other story but "it's my finisher or yours", which can work but not if that's all there is. Angle didn't do a single move to soften up the leg or the ankle for the hold. I get that maybe the ankle lock isn't a move that requires the leg to be softened up and that it works on suddenness and sharp pain, but damn it this is wrestling. That's true of the spinning toe hold and of the figure four too. JR compared Angle to Brisco, but the comparison is very superficial because here we don't really see any understanding from him of how to work a body part or soften a guy up for a submission finish, which I find baffling in a match built around the idea of submissions. Heyman was talking about the display of counter wrestling here, but we were a long long way from Dory Funk Jr here because neither guy did anything at all to actually work organically through different holds as counters. I'd got as far as to say the matwork (if you can call it that) was exceptionally poor. And Benoit was every bit as guilty as Angle for that. The ground game of both guys consisted of precisely two moves: the ankle lock and the crippler cross face. What's even weirder is that if you follow the story they were trying to tell, why did the thing finish with a roll up? Baffling storytelling. I did like the execution of the throws, but this was explicitly not worked as a spot fest. It was being sold as a psychological duel and as that it failed dismally. *** Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit (Backlash 2001) Okay, so they used the Mania match to set up this match which is now officially built around submissions? Weird booking, but it doesn't retroactively help the WM match one iota. Angle cuts a funny promo on Chicago about Michael Jordan quitting in his prime. He also randomly calls Roger Ebert a pig! Ha ha, I wonder how many people there got that. Benoit comes out showing not much charisma as per usual. He's the Dory to Angle's Brisco I guess. Ha ha. Jim Ross talks about attacking joints and body parts. I do hope he's not setting up these guys to fail. Angle goes to the single leg takedown and it looks to be him going for the ankle lock. Benoit counters by ... going for the ankle lock, and then going for the Crossface. Come on Benoit, you must have learned more holds in that New Japan dojo. Benoit goes for the Crossface again. This is really crap. Benoit goes for the Crossface outside and gets it for a while. Angle is pissed and grabs a chair. Fairplay he's selling his shoulder. But it looks like he was playing possum because explosively he goes for the knee and gets the ankle lock for the first submission. 1-0. Terrible so far. Both guys seem to immediately forget about their respective injuries as they start up again. Angle targets the leg with a series of chop blocks and Benoit does start selling the leg, but this very quickly gives way to him hitting the Crossface for 1-1. This is appalling. Benoit starts to mix it up a bit now. Arm drag. Arm breaker. Shoulderbreaker. Sustained focus on the left shoulder, and this is good focus. 10 minutes into the match that's the first sign of any real psychology. But then Angle comes back and hits the ankle lock for 2-1. Christ, I'm hating this. We come back and Angle hits the Crossface for 3-1. Bad is the only word for this. Heat sequence for Angle now. Back suplex. Stomps. Action goes outside, rolls back in and Benoit hits a backdrop to send Angle to the outside. I'll say this though: Benoit's chops are tremendous, Back in and Angle goes for the arm breaker again. This is the first time this match has actually resembled a proper submissions match. Abdominal stretch. Jim Ross busts out a Wilbur Snyder call! Benoit hits the sharpshooter now. But he's in the ropes. Half crab by Benoit makes Angle tap. That sequence was quite nice. Angle sells his lower back. Cat and mouse now and Angle suckers Benoit coming back in the ring. Apart from execution, the strongest aspect of Angle's performance has been in his heeling. He could almost be an 80s heel. Back in and we get a suplex. Angle has the leg and threatens the ankle lock. Benoit gets to the ropes before he can do it. Angle is clearly playing for time now and resting on his 3-2 lead. He's being slow and methodical. Takes it outside. Happy to go back in when the ref tells him. This bit of heel business is the best psychology he's shown so far. His character stuff is good. Angle goes to a chin lock / veiled choke. Ref goes to the arm. Benoit is again not very expressive in his selling here. And his struggle is not very convincing either. Hits a jaw breaker. Angle hits a clothesline. About 3:30 left. Belly to belly suplex. Another one. Benoit reverses an Irish whip and goes for the rolling Germans. Counter exchange now which leads to Benoit hitting the ankle lock for 3-3. 1:36 left. Another poor fall. Another German by Benoit now but Angle hits a low blow. Ankle lock, Benoit gets to the ropes. Back suplex. Ankle lock. Benoit is about to tap, but the time expires for a draw. The ref now declares this must for to sudden death. Oh god. I wish it could have been over already. Angle pounds on Benoit. Belly to belly. Benoit is selling his leg, so why is Angle not targeting it? Makes no sense. Benoit rolls through something and Angle gets some weird lying abdominal stretch on. But Benoit gets to the Crossface and Angle taps. I really didn't enjoy this. For a submissions match the psychology was through the floor bad. The first 15 minutes or so are just appalling. Things pick up a bit when Benoit works on top but it's very short lived. Surely people don't think this match is good? **1/2

I'd put Jumbo and Taue above Misawa and Kawada as a team and it's not even really close. But I don't think Jumbo and Taue will make my top 25 tag teams list. Too short-lived. And like I was getting it, I preferred the Jumbo-Fuchi combination working like the Japanese Andersons. Proper dick heels. Jumbo is awesome.

Not far in but I actually think Bruno was a draw in 86. Didn't they bring him back in to anchor Philly and Boston cards when Hogan wasn't drawing repeat business?

That's right, talking with you is always a bit like engaging with Johnny Five with his personality chip removed and sitting on the top of a very very tall mountain to ensure that no one makes any mistake that you are "talking down" at all times. Anyway, nice to see you around.

Nice to see you've cheered up in your time away John.

Was just looking at this again. Absolutely MENTAL that Sheiky baby made over 25k for this show. I swear he had naked pictures of Vince or something, because there's no way he should have been making that sort of money in that sort of spot in 1991. Also Miss Elizabeth made the same as the combined total of the Road Warriors! Also hate the fact that ol' dirt bag Strongbow was making more than double the money of the other agents. He even made more money that Slick for the show. Hate Strongbow.

Okay, here goes. There are currently 42 active wrestlers on the roster, plus I'll show you Bruno, who has just retired. I've not included the guys who are still in on loan (Brisco, Dusty, Kamala, Hiro Saito) This will give you an idea what I'm working with. This for all intents and purposes is their "overness" rating. In each case, you want to be looking mainly at the stat in "Tri-State", but we're also interested in the rating for "New England" as well, as it is my main secondary market. There is no point pushing into other territories until the promotion "pops" into cult. But it is taking an age. Until that time, there's also not much point in looking to bring in new talent. However, there is no harm in looking at potential areas to "invade" once the time comes. You'll notice certain guys are more over elsewhere than they are in New York. Jobbers Rene Goulet He's on his way out in less than a month. Contract running down. Mike Jackson Iron Mike Sharpe Frankie Williams Williams has been the drizzling shits even in 2-minute matches. He's not even good enough to be a jobber and I will probably fire him soon. JTTS Brian Blair Butcher Vachon David Sammartino Doug Somers Eddie Gilbert Johnny Rodz Jules Strongbow The Riverias Midcarders Big John Studd Chief Jay Strongbow George Steele Ivan Putski Mr. Fuji SD Jones Ray Stevens Tony Garea The average age of this lot is well over 42. Upper Midcarders Arn Anderson Curt Hennig Don Muraco Iron Sheik Ivan Koloff Mil Mascaras Randy Savage Rocky Johnson Tito Santana Tony Atlas Tully Blanchard The Wild Samoans Main Eventers Andre Bruno Sammartino (currently kayfabe retired) Billy Graham Jesse Ventura Jimmy Snuka Masked Superstar Pedro Morales Sgt Slaughter Ted DiBiase

Battered and bruised from the critical reaction of the smart community to his booking of Wrestlemania, and rapidly running out of grace time with a certain Vincent Kennedy McMahon, the intrepid JerryvonKramer picks himself up off the floor, dusts off his suit, and his booking pen, and gets to work on the turning around the company ... Week 14 (April, Week 2): Challenge: Not a lot happening here, and when the time comes to re-negotiate the TV contracts, I'm going to try to get Challenge bumped up to an A-show because it is becoming a bit of a waste of time. Pushes for Savage and Hennig continue as The Brainbusters make their first defense of the tag titles. Superstars: This show was mainly built around dealing with the fallout from Mania: namely, Snuka as the new world champ and Bruno's loss to DiBiase. For the time being, the plan is to forget about Bruno within reason. Ted will bring up that he ended his career, but only as a means of putting himself over. So one of the little short-term plans I have is to partly rehabilitate SD Jones from jobber status so he can be a partner to Jimmy Snuka and friends in six-mans and so on. The pushing of Curt Hennig continues. He'll get over eventually. Jesse: Well, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the first edition of my new show "The Bodyshop" by welcoming my esteemed guest, Ted DiBiase!! And the NEW tag-team champions Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Only winners come on The Bodyshop, and just like the host, these gentlemen are winners. And all of them -- like me -- won at Wrestlemania this past week. And you can be sure, with me at the helm, you will only get top quality investigative journalism. I'm going to ask the hard-hitting questions that matter, unlike that hack Billy Graham! DiBiase: Jesse Ventura, you can write it in stone tablets and you can put it in the scriptures my friend, because when the historians look down the annals of history they'll see that the Great Bruno Sammartino's career was ENDED by a true wrestling Elite, me, Ted DiBiase! Jesse: What do you think that match will mean to your career? DiBiase: Make no mistake, Ventura, Bruno Sammartino was a great man, and a great wrestler. But he met his MATCH when he stepped into the ring with the next big thing in wrestling, me. And I have to tell you as elated as I am, as happy and gleeful as we all are that I put the great man out of wrestling, I also have this nagging feeling that there's now a PRETENDER holding the world title. Jimmy Snuka has something that belongs TO ME. I've been saying for weeks that there's been a conspiracy in this place and Sammartino made sure that I didn't get my hands on that title. Well I made him PAY in that steel cage. And that's a message to anyone who thinks that they can meddle in the affairs of The Elite. Jimmy Snuka, start polishing that belt, boy, because it needs to be nice and shiny when it goes around my waist! I'm a winner, all of the members of The Elite are winners. Like my business associates here, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, the NEW world tag-team champions. Arn: There's a storm brewing in the WWF and if you go to the eye of that storm, the epicentre of destruction and mayhem, you'll see our faces there! Tony Atlas! Rocky Johnson! You found out that out already, that no one steps in our way. We don't stop until we get what we want. And now we're going to be the Tag Team Champions for a very long time! Tully: "Elite" means don't lose. "Elite" means we stick together. "Elite" means when I wake up in the morning I've got this belt put over my shoulder. We're sending a message to everyone in the WWF: we're here to stay. And you'll have to prise these belt from out cold head hands if you want them, because we ain't giving them up! Jesse: Powerful words there from the tag-team cha ... *Billy Graham gate crashes the set* Graham: Well, well, well, what have we got here ... Jesse: Now, wait! You lost this slot to me inside that ring! Security!! Graham: You and all of these people know that you CHEATED, Jesse Ventura, when the referee's back was turned. I'm going to show this footage, watch it. Jesse: I don't need to see any footage from a sore loser! Graham: Well when the WWF President Vincent J. McMahon reviews this he's going to have other ideas! Jesse: Do you mind, I'm trying to present a show here, some of us are broadcast professionals. *Graham saunters away as Jesse signal to go to a commercial break* Story here is that Kamala still has five appearances left on his contract and Andre has nothing to do ... Snuka: I am so happy to be your new WWF champion! And now we're gonna have an island celebration man!! Come on, SD, bring the chicken and rice boy! *SD Jones dances down the aisle in an Hawaiin shirt. There is a fleet of kettle drum players around the ring. Jones is leading a troop of Hula dancers in traditional dress. They are shimmying up the aisle.* Snuka: SD, mon, good to see you! We got to get all the brothers out here! Jones: Ohhh we're gonna have a party!!! Snuka: Come on! Afa! Sika! Come represent the isle of Samoa! *Afa and Sika shimmy down the aisle in celebration (this signals their face turn)* Snuka: Da Samoans! We need all the Pacific to represent mon! The Island of Hawaii!! Come on, DON MURACO!! *Muraco is in a Hawaiin shirt, he seems reluctant at first, but then he hears the kettle drums and sees SD Jones dancing and gets into the party spirit and, like Balloo the bear out of The Jungle Book, can't help himself get carried away with the rhythm. He dances down the aisle to join the party in the ring.* The five islanders embrace and Snuka gets back on the mic. Snuka: We are going to bring the good times to the WWF, ya ya ya!! *The Samoans do a traditional ritual dance. SD Jones brings out bowls of rice with jerk chicken. Don Muraco has a big smile on his face* Muraco: It's time to party in the WWF! Hey, it's 1983. The promotion isn't above playing on some racial stereotypes. The babyface stable is admittedly awful, but it's literally all I've got until I can get some better talent in. Afa and Sika don't work well as babyfaces, but Arn and Tully need some competition. Don Muraco's career is greatly flagging, so maybe he can find a new lease of life here. The only positive is that Snuka seems to be getting good reactions from the crowd. New England Live Show: This New England region is taking FOREVER to get to the popularity pop. Basically using up some more of Brisco's dates, while pushing Hennig even more and trying to get Ted over in the region, while also trying to get over the new babyface Islander stable. Yeah, about that ... But look at the note on Snuka. He's doing well, even though he's surrounded by shit. --------------- Forthcoming: complete run down of roster.

I'd be interested to see Mick Foley's card placement on Manias. The thing is with Bryan is that he was never the ace and never presented as the ace, so the comparison has to be to a babyface like Foley, rather than to Hogan or even Bret. Chris Jericho might be another good comparison point.

LOL