WON Flashback: 9/1/97 Issue

The following archived edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that we are re-printing here is from 1997. What you see here with the archive is what Dave Meltzer does on a weekly basis with the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. If you order the online or print versions of the sheet, this is the kind of work and length that you would get. The Observer can be ordered through the web site or also at P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228. $11 for four issues, $21 for eight, $28 for 12, $36 for 16, $54 for 24, $72 for 32 and $90 for 40 issues.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

PO Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228
September 1, 1997

ECW HARDCORE HEAVEN FINAL POLL RESULTS
Thumbs up 104 (42.3%)
Thumbs down 137 (55.7%)
In the middle 5 (02.0%)

BEST MATCH POLL
Douglas vs. Funk vs. Sabu 97
Al Snow vs. Rob Van Dam 37
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jerry Lawler 25
Taz vs. Chris Candido 22
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley 18
Dudleys vs. PG-13 13

WORST MATCH POLL
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Spike Dudley 53
Tommy Dreamer vs. Jerry Lawler 34
Dudleys vs. PG-13 25
Douglas vs. Funk vs. Sabu 20
Taz vs. Chris Candido 19
Al Snow vs. Rob Van Dam 12

Based on phone calls, letters and fax messages to the Observer as of Tuesday, 8/26.  Statistical margin of error:  +-100%

 Perhaps it was only fitting that the official announcement on 8/25 of the end of the wrestling career of Arn Anderson was largely an angle to get someone else--in this case Curt Hennig--over.  Because in many ways that was the story of his career.
 Anderson, born Martin Lunde, in one of the best interviews of this or any other year, announced on the live WCW Nitro show from Columbia, SC that he recognized he had nothing left to give due to neck injuries that wouldn't be coming back.  This announcement was confirmation of what nearly everyone had speculated since he had major neck surgery a few months back which resulted in the strength in one of his hands being so weak he couldn't even button his own shirt.  Anderson received an incredible standing ovation, that overwhelmed even he reaction to Sting earlier in the show, when he showed up on camera for the first time since his operation before fans in one of his old stomping grounds.  And the fans who reacted that way had no idea of what he was there for, while long-time partner Ric Flair was in the background fighting hard to hold back tears.  Anderson labeled himself as an average wrestler, with average size, skill and speed, who achieved success through a lot of hard work.  Although at his peak Anderson was considered among the best workers in the world, he always low-keyed his particular talents and would refer to himself as a solid journeyman wrestler.
 With Raw pre-empted due to coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Nitro devastated all previous records on 8/25 drawing a 4.97 rating (4.33 first hour; 5.48 second hour) and 8.19 share which would have made it the largest audience ever to watch a pro wrestling television show on cable, a total of 3,549,000 homes for an average minute during the show.  The show peaked from 9:15 to 9:30, drawing a 5.8 rating in 4,153,000 homes for the Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve McMichael match and the Rey Misterio Jr.-Konnan angle, breaking the all-time quarter hour cable wrestling audience record of 4,126,000 homes set on August 24, 1994 for the Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair WCW title match on a Clash of Champions.  After Eric Bischoff came out and took over the show, it went into a decline every quarter finishing with a 5.1 for the Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage main event.  While the total audience should have WCW and TNT thrilled, it is a precautionary tale for the idea of doing an NWO only show, which ranges from a strong possibility to a likelihood next year, because, like with the NWO PPV in January which did a shockingly low buy rate which had nothing to do with it ending up being a poor ***********************************************************
 ARN ANDERSON

 CAREER TITLE HISTORY

Source:  Wrestling Title Histories third edition

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM:  w/Tully Blanchard def. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson September 19, 1987 in Meisenheimer, NC; lost to Barry Windham & Lex Luger March 27, 1988 in Greensboro, NC; def. Windham & Luger April 20, 1988 in Jacksonville, FL; lost to Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane September 10, 1988 in Philadelphia

WWF WORLD TAG TEAM:  w/Tully Blanchard def. Demolition (Bill Eadie & Barry Darsow) July 18, 1989 in Worcester, MA; lost to Demolition October 2, 1989 in Wheeling, WV

WCW WORLD TAG TEAM:  w/Larry Zbyszko won tournament for vacant titles beating Rick Steiner & Bill Kazmaier September 5, 1991 in Augusta, GA; lost to Ricky Steamboat & Dustin Rhodes November 11, 1991 in Savannah, GA; w/Bobby Eaton def. Steamboat & Rhodes January 16, 1992 in Jacksonville, FL; lost to Rick & Scott Steiner May 3, 1992 in Chicago; w/Paul Roma def. Brian Pillman & Steve Austin August 18, 1993 in Daytona Beach, FL; lost to Nasty Boys September 19, 1993 in Houston

NWA TV TITLE:  won tournament for vacant title beating Wahoo McDaniel in finals January 4, 1986 in Greensboro, NC

WCW TV TITLE:  def. Great Muta January 2, 1990 in Gainesville, GA; lost to Tom Zenk December 4, 1990 in Gainesville, GA; def. Zenk January 14, 1991 in Marietta, GA; lost to Bobby Eaton May 19, 1991 in St. Petersburg, FL; def. Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero) January 8, 1995 Atlanta; lost to Renegade June 18, 1995 in Dayton, OH

NATIONAL TAG TEAM:  w/Ole Anderson def. Thunderbolt Patterson & Manny Fernandez for vacant title April 28, 1985 in Charlotte.  Title dropped in 1986

SOUTHEASTERN TAG TEAM:  w/Jerry Stubbs won tournament for vacant title January 15, 1984 in Montgomery, AL; lost to Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden March 1984; def. Fuller & Golden March 1984; lost to Johnny Rich & Tonga Kid June 1984; w/Stubbs def. Rich & Kid July 16, 1984 in Birmingham, AL; lost to Rich & Scott Armstrong August 1984; w/Pat Rose def. Rich & Armstrong October 1984; lost to Rich & Scott Armstrong October 1984 show, NWO is cool to a segment of the audience but the masses seem to get annoyed when it's overdone or at Eric Bischoff in large doses (in small doses his segments have done tremendously in the quarter hours).  In the so-called modern (post-1987) era of cable ratings, this was only the fifth show to crack the 5.0 barrier (a 4.97 rounds up to a 5.0) and the first since a Clash of the Champions on September 5, 1990 with Sting vs. Black Scorpion and Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger as the double main event.  The all-time record cable rating was USA Network's 8.2 rating for the first Royal Rumble special on January 24, 1988, although cable has expanded to the point where a 5.0 rating today actually delivers more homes than an 8.2 did then which is why it's so much easier today to break total audience records because so many more homes are wired.  The only other 5.0 ratings in modern cable history were a 5.6 for the very first Clash on March 27, 1988 (Flair vs. Sting) and a 5.4 for the third Clash on  September 7, 1988 (Sting vs. Barry Windham).  Since all those shows were special shows, the rating was the highest rated in at least modern history for an episode of a regular weekly television wrestling show.
 In the early 80s there were numerous pro wrestling shows that topped 6.0 but there were less than one-third as many homes hooked up to cable as there are today.  The television show Georgia Championship Wrestling, the forerunner of today's WCW Saturday Night, for the year of 1981 averaged a 6.4 rating.  In that era the all-time record was a 9.1 rating on February 18, 1985 for the MTV Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper "War to Settle the Score" match which set up the angle for the first Wrestlemania.  Because so many more homes, particularly in those days, got broadcast TV as opposed to cable, all the NBC specials in the WWF glory days delivered far larger audiences than any of the wrestling today.  By far the all-time record audience for pro wrestling in the United States was a 15.2 rating for the Hogan-Andre live match on February 5, 1988 which aired on NBC in Prime-Time and delivered 33 million viewers, which would legitimately be more than five times as many viewers as Nitro had on 8/25 in case anyone starts claiming any largest audiences in the history of wrestling as WCW tried to claim a few weeks back for the Hogan-Luger match (which wasn't even the most watched match ever on cable).  The Nitro replay, with its more advantageous time slot in recent weeks combined with no Raw, should have set a record but fell slightly show of the 2.31 record set on 8/4 with a 2.22 rating (2.53 first hour, 1.74 second hour) and 4.43 share.
 In looking back over the nearly 15-year career of Lunde, 39, asks the question of whether he was one of the luckiest or unluckiest wrestlers when it comes to his level of success.  On one hand, while a solid worker, he was unspectacular, not the slightest bit glamorous or muscular in an era where that meant a lot more than ability, so you could say he came along in the wrong era for his strengths.  But he was still a prominent star everywhere he went due to the respect most in the profession had for him.  He was one of the best interviewers in history.  But the real truth is, his break in wrestling came due to his looks, his uncanny facial resemblance to Ole Anderson.  The other truth is without a great deal of ability that "luck" would have only taken him so far before the business spit him out like virtually all his contemporaries.  It was his non-glamorous look that made him almost a "meat and potatoes" wrestler, a wrestler with tremendous charisma based on the fact that he looked, based on the standards of his era, like he shouldn't have any charisma.  But due to his ability, respect the fans, particularly in the Southeast had for him, his long-time affiliation with Flair and perhaps most importantly, the Four Horseman name, Anderson lasted longer as a  major player in this profession despite being written off numerous times than 90 percent of the pretty boys lavished with major pushes and in many cases bigger money contracts that he spent his career putting over.  His career was made putting over a collection of stars of the past and "Where are they nows?" and then getting on television the next Saturday and doing such a strong interview that after a few years fans actually forgot he made his mark while almost always putting people over.
 Lunde, who played football, wrestled and powerlifted in Rome, GA while growing up, broke in under his real name in 1982.  Due to his resemblance to Ole Anderson, he was re-named Arn Anderson after about one year in the business, and billed from Minneapolis, MN, since Ole & Gene Anderson had made the Minnesota Wrecking Crew legendary heels in the Southeast.  After being a headliner in the small Alabama promotion teaming with and later feuding with Jerry "Mr. Olympia" Stubbs, he was brought into the Carolinas to continue the Anderson family dynasty.  He was billed as a nephew, cousin or brother, depending on the week, of Ole's before the fictitious world seemed to settle on him being cousins of both Ole and Ric Flair.  Put together with Ole, Flair and Tully Blanchard, they became the original pro wrestling Four Horseman in 1985, in many ways a forerunner to nearly everything that goes on in pro wrestling today, and a name that has remained in existence on-and-off in wrestling to this day.
 With Flair as the perennial world champion, Anderson, known as "The Enforcer," was generally the fourth banana on the four-man team which had later incarnations with the likes of Lex Luger and Barry Windham during its glory days after Ole phased out of active wrestling.  Arn usually feuded over the tag team and TV titles holding tag titles with partners such as Stubbs, Ole Anderson, Blanchard, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton and Paul Roma.  He and Blanchard are one of only four teams in history to have held both the NWA (or WCW) and WWF tag titles, and was TV champion on five occasions.  Anderson was often times high on the Observer balloting for tag team of the year and best on interviews, capturing the 1990 award in the latter.
 Although the run that solidified his reputation came from a push from booker Dusty Rhodes, by 1988, with Jim Crockett Promotions on the verge of bankruptcy which many blame on Rhodes booking patterns, Anderson and Blanchard, fed up with how things were going, quit JCP to join the WWF, where in a land of the Giants, they became the undersized tag team known as The BrainBusters with Bobby Heenan as manager and had classic matches against The Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty.  The other irony of Anderson's career is that he was considered too small to be pushed to the top during his heyday, yet by today's standards he'd be considered a large wrestler.  But in his heyday he was considered one of the best workers in the business, but by today's standards his work, while solid, would be hard pressed to get him past the middle of the shows.  After the demise of Rhodes, and Ric Flair obtaining power in what was now WCW, Flair was able to lure both Anderson and Blanchard back in late 1989, although Blanchard never did return as after giving notice and dropping the tag team titles back to Demolition, he failed a WWF drug test, was suspended by the WWF and WCW pulled its $250,000 per year offer off the table.
 Alternating between face and heel, Anderson had another strong run for a few years before it was believed that he had run his course.  There were periods his career was virtually iced out.  There were periods he was doing fast jobs for the likes of Erik Watts, Van Hammer or The Renegade, the next generation supposed superstars of the future that he, and most of the fans as well realized even though promoters at the time couldn't see it, couldn't even carry his jock.  At one time, when Bill Watts was brought back in control of WCW, after jobbing Anderson to his son, he basically cut Anderson loose figuring there was nothing left to get out of him.  But in every case, both being jobbed out to the future nobodies of wrestling, after a herniated disc in a 1992 match against the Steiners that threatened his career and after an overseas incident where he was stabbed silly in a hotel room brawl with Sid Eudy after both had apparently had too much to drink, he came back, not quite to superstardom, but to that level one notch below where he seemed to fit perfectly.  The most recent neck injury, suffered nearly one year ago, was far more serious, and he didn't come through surgery with flying colors.  It had largely been acknowledged for a few months that Anderson wouldn't be able to return to the ring, and every now and then ideas were thrown out, either of being a color commentator or as the late 90s version of the J.J. Dillon of the 80s with the Horseman to take advantage of his interview skills although the last word we'd heard was that the powers that be nixed the idea when Flair pushed for it.  He currently and has been working behind-the-scenes with the WCW booking department.  He wasn't supposed to steal the show on Nitro on 8/25.  That was for today's glamour boys who are just toooo sweet.  But unlike the glamour boys from ten years earlier in the same position, this time Arn Anderson won't be still around in a prominent role while they become "Whatever happened to?" trivia questions.
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 After his exam by noted Philadelphia neck specialist Dr. Joseph Torg, the current prognosis on Steve Austin is that he'll be out of action for a minimum of two months.  Austin aggravated an already injured neck when his head was too low when Owen Hart gave him a tombstone piledriver at SummerSlam on 8/3 in the match where Austin was given the IC title.
 Among other injuries, Austin, 32, suffered a bruise of the spine along with his fairly significant neck problems that were a combination of both the recent jar and the cumulative effect of the wear-and-tear of his wrestling career.  The injury has resulted in continual tingling in his shoulders, similar to if one sleeps wrong on their shoulders and wakes up with their limb asleep.  The feeling was that Austin would eventually be able to wrestle although the first doctor he saw in Texas recommended he retire and warned him that suffering another serious injury of the type would put him at risk of paralysis.  Due to that, he'll likely have to modify his style in the ring and not take certain bumps that could potentially aggravate the injury.  The basic prognosis was that after laying off and doing rehab for the next two months, he'd be re-examined and at that time he'd have a better idea of when he could return to the ring.
 When it comes to WWF current plans, Austin will have to relinquish both the tag team and probably the IC title belts.  The original plan was for Austin & Dude Love to drop the tag titles to Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith on the 8/4 Raw show due to outside interference from Shawn Michaels, but Austin's injury thwarted those plans.  The tag title will now go to the winner of the "Fatal Four Way" a four corners tag team match on the 9/7 Ground Zero PPV from Louisville, KY.  With Austin out of the match, the advertised four teams will be Hart & Smith, Godwinns, Legion of Doom and Head Bangers.  However, I've got a suspicion that the day of the show that they'll shoot an angle to get the Head Bangers out and put Dude Love back in the match and given him a new partner, with the best bet being Vader, although that is all speculation and officially Head Bangers are the fourth team.  As of press time, no decision has been made regarding the IC title.  Since the WWF hadn't advertised any major matches nor made long-term plans regarding the belt, there is no hurry to make a decision.  The position seems to be to wait about two weeks to see how Austin is progressing and have a better idea when he could return, and make a decision at that point.
 On the WWF One Night Only England PPV from Birmingham, England on 9/20, Austin was scheduled to challenge for the WWF title against Bret Hart.  That match has been changed to Hart defending against Undertaker (whose undercard match with Ahmed Johnson was also going to have to be dropped since Johnson won't be back from his knee injury by that time of that show).  The only other change on the England PPV show is that the Owen Hart vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley match has been changed to Hart vs. Ken Shamrock.  This means that both Shamrock and Vader (who is working a dark match in England) will have the unenviable schedule of working within a one week period in England, Madison Square Garden, Albany, NY and Kawasaki Baseball Stadium in Japan.
 The Austin injury has spooked a lot of wrestlers in both WWF and WCW as to the dangers in the current style of wrestling.  With the American style being harder hitting, faster paced and with more high risk maneuvers than ever before, the injury rate has skyrocketed.  Austin's injury, while just another one on the list, seems to carry more weight because it was so visually scary, it came on such a high profile card, it was from a maneuver that is delivered regularly in pro wrestling where the person taking the bump wasn't at fault and because Austin was one of the highest profile wrestlers and arguably the hottest wrestler in the entire business at the time.  Not to mention that the wrestler delivering the move has a reputation for being one of the most competent people in the business to work with.  In many ways the U.S. is experiencing what Japan did several years ago when it started down the similar stiffer and more fast-paced style path.  Eventually, because the wear and tear on the wrestlers was such that top stars were literally risking premature ends to their career not from any move but just from the accumulation of daily pounding, that submissions were put over strong to enable to holds to mean something.  WCW, and to a far lesser extent WWF, have also started down that road which may be a necessity for a combination of maintaining the now expected intensity level of the matches while at the same time preserving the species.
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 The future of the 29-year-old All Japan Womens wrestling promotion, the third oldest major wrestling promotion in the world, has come into serious question over the past week with word that the company may be one step from bankruptcy.
 The company, run by the same Matsunaga Brothers who formed it in 1968, hasn't paid its talent and office staff since the end of March which has caused several of its top stars and many key members of the office staff to leave of late including wrestlers Aja Kong, Kyoko Inoue and Toshiyo Yamada along with undercard wrestlers Yumi Fukawa and Rie Tamada.  The company's long-time headquarters, a combination business office, restaurant, dormitory type apartments and wrestling gymnasium, is up for sale.  And all four Matsunaga brothers have had to sell their houses and move into apartments to keep the company going.
 Exactly what the true story is as far as the financial picture and how things got to this stage are somewhat clouded and unclear.  The general belief is that the problem is more stemming from non-wrestling business interests of the Matsunaga brothers than the wrestling company itself being a big money loser, although nobody can dispute the popularity of the company and the future of the company have hit the skids over the past year or two.
 During the boom periods of the company, both in the mid-80s with the Crush Gals, and the early 90s behind Kong, Bull Nakano, Manami Toyota and Akira Hokuto, the company was tremendously profitable.  The Matsunaga brothers at that point got heavily into real estate and a failed attempt at franchising a health-food style Ramen house restaurant chain.  When the real estate market in Japan took a nosedive, the company took out heavy bank loans to keep up with its obligations in that business, and in recent times were having a hard time simply keeping up on paying the bank interest on the loans, let alone paying the principle owed.  Still, there is little question the wrestling side had hit the skids.  With the exception of groups in Mexico, no company in the world ran more house shows that AJW, to the tune of about 250 shows per year.  Attendance had dropped considerably since Japanese wrestling when it comes to drawing at spot shows is based on fans watching new stars grow up to the next level, and AJW had failed to find a new star that fans cared about in years.  Womens wrestling even more so, has in its history been based on teenage sensations who would draw fans only a few years younger than the stars themselves, but AJW was no longer a big deal to that age group since it's TV was moved from weekly on Saturday afternoon delivering huge ratings to maybe a few specials per year, which aired well past midnight to tiny audiences.  In many ways, up until a year or two ago when the company was still doing well, it was living off the success of the Crush Gals era since so many young girls wanted to be pro wrestlers having grown up watching the heyday that they had a great pool of athletes to pick from.  Even though all the Crush Gals attendance records were broken in the latest hot period from 1993-95, the promotion didn't have the television visibility and it was more driven by traditional hardcore wrestling fans rather than teenage girls, so the pool of those wanting to become wrestlers with the group dwindled.  When the likes of Toyota and Kong debuted, AJW literally would get thousands of applications from teenagers wanting to be wrestlers and weed them down into try-outs where only a few would survive, and those that did were trained by Jaguar Yokota, whose departure has also resulted in a lowering of the quality of work of the newer women wrestlers.  This past year, there were maybe 15 women who attended the try-outs, so the pool to get superior athletes for the future isn't there and both Yokota and Chigusa Nagayo of Gaea were doing a better job of training the teenagers for the future.
 As spot show attendance fell, it became harder to sell shows to local promoters (in its heyday, the group would sell its spot shows usually for $20,000 to $25,000 to local promoters and do the big shows on its own).  To keep up the 250-show schedule, they began promoting more and more of the shows on their own and without being local and knowing the localities, that became an overall financial drain.  In addition, many of the local promoters if crowds were poor had stiffed the office on its guarantee, causing more of a drain.
 Still, those who remember the groups history aren't nearly so negative about the future, citing that there were occasions in both the 70s and the 80s (before the Crush Gals) that the company was in every bit as bad a financial position and near closing, and in both cases ended up rebounding stronger than ever.
 Word of the problems reached the public this past week after one of the company's traditional biggest show of the year on 8/20 at Budokan Hall, where then-champion Kyoko Inoue, Fukawa and Tamada joined Kong, who had made the announcement several weeks back, in announcing they were leaving the promotion.  There was tremendous heat on Inoue, who held the WWWA championship at the time, because she made the announcement unbeknownst to anyone in the company over the p.a. just as the show was getting started.  As all the wrestlers before the show were introduced, Inoue said something to the effect that she would be leaving the promotion after finishing up her current commitments, which apparently majorly upset her long-time rival both in and out of the ring for the top spot, Manami Toyota (who have had something of a Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels rivalry behind-the-scenes since their situations and positions in the company are actually remarkably similar) and Yumiko Hotta, who was scheduled to challenge her for the title that night.  The crowd, announced at 9,100 but estimated to us at around 6,000, was comprised of largely smart fans who have something of a knowledge of the business and Inoue's announcement told everyone that there would be a title change in the main event and largely killed the heat during the match and the expected surprise reaction to the switch when Hotta got the submission with the armbreaker in 18:33.  It was clear that Inoue was doing this on purpose since logic would say her own announcement would have carried far more weight and emotion had she done it after losing the title, not to mention would have made for a better match.
 Kong, who wrestled to a 30:00 time limit draw with Toyota in her final major match with the company, is expected to fare well outside the company.  Virtually all the women promotions in Japan are interested in using her as a freelancer on major shows, and several of the smaller mens groups including Big Japan and Social Pro Wrestling Federation are interested in booking tag matches involving well-known Kong and Kyoko Inoue on their shows.  The big fight in her case is which company can get her to do the first job in cleanly putting over one of their own.  Kong this past week did an angle in FMW for a match with Shark Tsuchiya, and has a prominent match on 9/20 for Gaea against Chigusa Nagayo.  In addition, because of her unique look, Kong has a measure of celebrity status and is expected to fare well doing appearances, television shows and television commercials outside of wrestling.  Inoue and the other women really can only be celebrities within the wrestling world.
 It appears that Toyota, Hotta, Tomoko Watanabe, Kaoru Ito, Kumiko Maekawa and heels Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda will remain with the company and try to rebuild it, although from all accounts the company isn't going to be able to run the kind of scheduled it has in the past nor remain on the level it had with the depleted office staff.
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 Last year we started the unenviable endeavor of attempting to begin a Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.  It goes without saying that anything of this type invites controversy, and encourages divergent point of views and debates of merits of various people included and comparisons with people who aren't included.  Before getting started on the new inductees, I want to make a few points and list those who are already in from last year.
 What exactly is the criteria for the Hall of Fame?  This isn't a real sport although it is very real as an entertainment form, and whatever statistics there could be or even are such as titles held or victories in major matches can be totally meaningless in a lot of cases when it comes to true ability.  In other cases they should carry weight as perennial champions were generally at least among if not usually the most important wrestlers of their era at least within their territory.  There are great workers that never had the charisma.  There are people who had all kinds of ability but never had the right political connections.  There were people who had the right connections, and became superstars without much in the way of ability.  As mentioned last year, this is not a list of all-time nice guys.  There are nice guys on the list, and owing to the fact pro wrestling got its start in the carnivals and at its roots is a con-man business, some of the names on the list are the biggest cons around and that was the reason for their success.  Since pro wrestling as a general rule existed in a non-competitive business environment most of the time, promoters who were usually local monopolies could run things as they saw fit and ability and charisma in the past didn't matter nearly as much as it does today as to who became stars.  Although in any era, someone with super charisma was going to make it even if everyone hated them because the real ability to draw consistent money was always at a premium.  Attempting to judge wrestlers of different styles against each other is difficult at best, ridiculous at worst.  Not to mention judging the abilities of wrestlers from different eras.  Pro wrestling as an athletic art form advances very quickly, both as the athletes get better, and as their creativity opens more things up to be copied.  There are wrestlers who are considered average workers today that work rings around the best workers in the business from past eras.  That's a fact of life, although one that long-time fans seem not to want to admit.  And then there's things like historical importance.  Anyway, the prime things considered are overall stardom, being a top worker or a top drawing card within that person's era, having been a major player when it comes to the history of wrestling and people that were major historical figures or having unique talents that simply can't be ignored.  The people on this list should be unquestioned superstars, not simply major stars, main eventers or title holders during their era either because of superior ability or superior drawing power based on the standards of their era, non-wrestlers whose importance in shaping this industry can't be ignored and/or unique out of the ring talents that can't be ignored.  The only non-abstract criteria is that nobody will be considered unless they are at least 35 years old or have been an active pro wrestler for at least 15 years.  Most Hall of Fames have a five-year waiting period after the person retires, but in pro wrestling, since nobody that announces a retirement actually does, this seems to be a better way.  There are several active wrestlers who haven't been around long enough or aren't quite old enough yet who probably should be in there, and when their times comes, they'll be in.  Of course, dissenting opinions are encouraged and try to make a strong logical argument if you've got one, because there are a number of people on the bubble so to speak that nobody has made a strong enough argument for and we'll be doing new inductions at the end of every summer.
 The names from last year, in alphabetical order:  Perro Aguayo, Andre the Giant, Bert Assirati, Shohei "Giant" Baba, Jim Barnett, Wild Red Berry, Fred Blassie, Nick Bockwinkel, Paul Boesch, Bobo Brazil, Jack Brisco, Bruiser Brody, Dick the Bruiser, Mildred Burke, Abdullah the Butcher, Canek, Negro Casas, Riki Choshu, Jim Cornette, The Crusher, Alfonso Dantes, Blue Demon, The Destroyer, Ted DiBiase, Dusek Family Riot Squad, Jackie Fargo, Ric Flair, Tatsumi Fujinami, Dory Funk Jr., Dory Funk Sr., Terry Funk, Verne Gagne, Cavernario Galindo, Ed Don George, Gorgeous George, Frank Gotch, Karl Gotch, Superstar Billy Graham, Eddie Graham, Rene Guajardo, Salvador Gori Guerrero, George Hackenschmidt, Stan Hansen, Bret Hart, Stu Hart, Bobby Heenan, Danny Hodge, Hulk Hogan, Antonio Inoki, Rayo de Jalisco, Tom Jenkins, Don Leo Jonathan, The Fabulous Kangaroos, Dynamite Kid, Gene Kiniski, Fred Kohler, Killer Kowalski, Ernie Ladd, Dick Lane, Jerry Lawler, Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Jim Londos, Salvador Lutteroth, Akira Maeda, Devil Masami, Mil Mascaras, Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama), Dump Matsumoto, Earl McCready, Leroy McGuirk, Vince McMahon Jr., Vince McMahon Sr., Danny McShane, Rey Mendoza, Mitsuharu Misawa, Joe "Toots" Mondt, Sam Muchnick, Bronko Nagurski, Pat O'Connor, Kintaro Oki, Atsushi Onita, Pat Patterson, Antonio Pena, John Pesek, Roddy Piper, Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Rikidozan, Yvon Robert, Antonino Rocca, Road Warriors, Billy Robinson, Buddy Rogers, Lance Russell, Bruno Sammartino, Billy Sandow, El Santo, Jackie Sato, Randy Savage, The Sheik, Hisashi Shinma, Dara Singh, Gordon Solie, El Solitario, Ricky Steamboat, Joe Stecher, Tony Stecher, Ray Steele, Ray Stevens, Nobuhiko Takada, Genichiro Tenryu, Lou Thesz, Jumbo Tsuruta, Frank Tunney, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, Big Van Vader, Johnny Valentine, Fritz Von Erich, Whipper Billy Watson, Cowboy Bill Watts, Jaguar Yokota and Stanislaus Zbyszko.
 The new inductees are:
EDOUARD CARPENTIER - Known throughout his career as "The Flying Frenchman," Ed Wiecz, a former gymnast and acrobat with the physique of a bodybuilder took to the ring with the gimmick of being the nephew of Georges Carpentier, a boxer who fought Jack Dempsey in a legendary fight a generation earlier.  In a 31 year career spanning the early-50s through the mid-80s, Carpentier ended up not only being the most popular wrestler for more than a decade in Montreal, but a main eventer internationally.  He held numerous versions of the world title during his career, but from an historical standpoint, his most important match would have been on June 14, 1957 in Chicago against Lou Thesz in an NWA title match.  Thesz didn't come out for the final fall claiming a back injury, and the NWA ruled that the title can't change hands due to injury.  However, Carpentier's win over Thesz ended with him recognized in many parts of the country as world champion (and to give that recognition legitimacy, Thesz, while still NWA champ--the mostly widely recognized title in the world at the time, did challenge Carpentier for the latters' title and put Carpentier over).  Carpentier then dropped his version of the title in Omaha to Verne Gagne, which a few years later became the historical reference point to legitimizing the creation of what became the AWA world title.  Similarly, Carpentier came to Los Angeles in 1961 as champion and when he lost to Fred Blassie, it became the starting point for that territory's own WWA world heavyweight title.  Carpentier is now 69 and living in the Montreal area.
TOSHIAKI KAWADA - It's almost fitting that the perennial No. 2 wrestler in All Japan, follows one year later in the footsteps of Mitsuharu Misawa because it's almost a life-long legacy.  Misawa and Kawada were high school classmates in Japan.  In 1981, Kawada was the national high school wrestling champion of Japan in the 165-pound weight class (perhaps an even bigger irony is that in the finals he defeated Keiichi Yamada or better known today as Jushin Liger, a guaranteed wrestling Hall of Famer as well).  That followed in the footsteps of Misawa, who was a high school national champion in 1980.  He debuted with All Japan in October of 1982, joining the company shortly after graduating high school, one year after Misawa did all of the same things.  By starting one year after Misawa, he becomes eligible for this one year after Misawa, and considering his ability in the ring was an easy and obvious pick.  The two classmates were a mid-card high flying tag team, although Misawa got the first push as Tiger Mask.  He won the Triple Crown for the first time in 1994, actually two years after Misawa.  And the two captured both their first World tag team title together (1991) and first Real World tag team tournament (1992).  But they are going to be best remembered not as high school classmates or as tag team partners, but for their rivalry as singles wrestlers.  Like Jack Brisco and Dory Funk in the 70s and Ric Flair and Rick Steamboat in the 80s, the 90s version--Misawa and Kawada--of perhaps the two best workers of their era, whose careers are inexorably locked together historically having the state-of-the-art singles matches of their time.  Kawada, 33, has been one of the top workers in the business for a decade, an incredible length of time working a style as physically demanding as he's worked from his days as a mid-card tag partner of Tiger Mask (Misawa) and later with Samson Fuyuki and "The Foot Loose," from a movie theme long since forgotten, and during that time has been featured in so many match of the year calibre bouts that it's almost mind-boggling.
JIMMY LENNON - A total oversight last year with the failure to include the only ring announcer to make the listing.  Lennon was both the boxing and wrestling voice of the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles from the late 40s through the late 70s.  He was the Michael Buffer of his era when it came to boxing announcers but doing pro wrestling was never a second-class job and he never came off as a celebrity brought in as a gimmick but as someone who was the best ring announcer in every sport he did.  With his Irish accent and perfect pronunciations, he was particularly popular among the Mexican community in Southern California because he spoke fluent spanish and was so precise in his ring introductions of Mexican fighters and wrestlers.  He appeared in numerous movies as a ring announcer, and was brought around the world to announce both major boxing and pro wrestling world title matches.  His son, Jimmy Lennon Jr., who is almost an exact image of his father, followed in his footsteps and did both boxing and wrestling announcing (although he hasn't done pro wrestling in years) and is probably the No. 2 boxing ring announcer in the country right now.  Lennon died in 1992 of heart failure at the age of 79.
WILLIAM MULDOON - The biggest name pro wrestler of the 1880s was a pioneer of many facets of the "art" of working, deception, hype and image creating into being arguably the most well-known American sports figure of his time.  Despite participating in a sport that even in those days was largely a work, he came out of it with incredible credibility to the point he was named the very first Chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, the most powerful commission in the country at a time when commissions wielded enormous power over both industries, which governed both pro wrestling and pro boxing from its inception in 1921.  He got his post, ironically enough, because by reputation he was considered incorruptible.  Born in 1845, Muldoon was a New York City police officer in the late 1870s before becoming the most famous pro wrestler in the country.  During his days as a police officer, he was credited with founding the New York Police Athletic Association, which was the forerunner of the state athletic commission.  As a pro wrestler, he captured what was billed as the American Greco-roman championship in 1880 and the world title in 1883 and legend had it that he never lost a Greco match during his career.  He was the innovator of numerous promotional concepts, many of which are still used effectively today.  He popularized stipulation matches and working programs to build up gates for major rematches.  He popularized mixed matches between wrestlers of different styles (in those days there were three styles, Greco-roman, which was the most popular due to Muldoon's personal charisma and skill at working the mainstream press; Catch-as-catch-can which is actually the style that evolved into today's pro wrestling; and collar-and-elbow) where he'd lose to wrestlers within their style to build big gates for rematches in the most popular style.  Although after his death, his legend grew to the point it was said he never lost a match, it was not uncommon for him to work programs where he'd lose out of his style to build gates and would often carry opponents to make them look good to build future matches.  He had his own regular troupe of opponents that he'd go on tour with and beat.  Known as a fitness freak, he's even credited by some as either inventing or popularizing jumping rope and using the heavy ball as training devices for fighters.  He was credited in 1921, when he was 76-years-old, for writing the rule book for New York, later copied in much of the country, to govern both pro boxing and pro wrestling.  At one point he trained the legendary boxer John L. Sullivan, and legend has it that after an argument, the two had an encounter in a field in Gloucester, MA which has been used historically as the first boxer vs. wrestler mixed match.  The story has it that Sullivan decked Muldoon first, but Muldoon recovered, took Sullivan down and was hammering him at which point it was broken up.  Whether that incident ever even happened is speculative as Muldoon, who had a strong dislike for Sullivan, never brought it up in his own autobiography.  Muldoon died on June 5, 1933 at the age of 88.  Thanks to John Williams and Steve Yohe for help on this biography.
CHIGUSA NAGAYO - The single most popular, and arguably (with the possible exception of Mildred Burke due to her longevity and being a pioneer in creating the popularity of American womens wrestling) the most historically important female wrestler who ever lived.  It's hard to believe Nagayo is only 32, as her peak of Crush Gals popularity and the high school girls with their pom poms and streamers going crazy for every spot seems like eons ago in a rapidly changing pro wrestling world.  Part of the deceptive age is that Nagayo made her pro debut at the age of 15 in 1980 and was almost a legend in the business before her 20th birthday.  Along with Lioness Asuka, she formed the most popular womens tag team of all-time, The Crush Gals, in 1983 at the age of 18.  The pair took womens wrestling to a new level of popularity in the mid-80s and became a heroine for schoolgirls in Japan, who were actually most just a few years younger than her.  They became not only wrestling stars, but singing stars (with singles that made the top ten in the music charts) and poster and calendar pin-up girls as well, becoming a pre-Hogan merchandising phenomenon, and took the popularity of womens wrestling to a mainstream level that it never achieved before and has never achieved since.  The Wall Street Journal did an article on the Crush Gals phenomenon and reported that Nagayo's annual income at her peak was $400,000.  Even if that figure is somewhat exaggerated, it is a virtual certainty that no woman wrestler before or since ever earned or generated the kind of money Nagayo and Lioness Asuka did in their heyday.  The Crush Gal fad was brief, lasting only a few years as fads are wanton to do, but the weekly TV ratings for the company's weekly matches on Saturday afternoons during her Crush Gal prime would be equivalent to NFL ratings in the United States.  And I have never in my life seen any reaction to any pro wrestler as fervent as the teenage girls shrieks for Nagayo to the point.  Nagayo retired in 1989 but the number of young girls who idolized her that wanted to follow in her footsteps to become pro wrestlers created the next generation boom of the super athletes in All Japan womens wrestling that took it to its next big run from 1990 through 1996.  Her popularity had started to wane in the last year of her career and she was famous enough from wrestling to get into acting.  Although she did major plays and had a starring role in a movie, acting didn't pan out and she returned to a wrestling world with a totally new landscape in 1993.  At first, she was the returning legend, but quickly seemed like a wrestler from another era and looked to be in a time warp.  Nagayo's roles in the ring have ranged from being the ultimate underdog cute young girl babyface against the monstrous beast Dump Matsumoto (including one of the biggest hair vs. hair matches in history in 1985), to her recent makeover as being the large almost bull dykish beast herself a decade later working with her own younger girls.  Currently she is the owner and trainer of the Gaea promotion, and is well respected in the latter role as that promotion has introduced the best of the next generation of womens wrestling talent.  Besides her own popularity during her heyday, her popularity inspired yet another big run, and perhaps her training will carry a new generation to the next popularity run.  Nagayo held the WWWA title from October 20, 1987 through August 25, 1988 (vacating it due to injury), the IWA and All-Pacific title twice each, and with Asuka held the WWWA tag team titles three times between 1984 and 1986.
EL HIJO DEL SANTO - With so many wrestling families as prominent as they were, it's something of a shock that just three pairs of father-and-sons made the original list (Stu & Bret Hart; Dory Funk Sr. and sons Dory Jr. & Terry; and promoters Vince McMahon Sr. and Jr.).  Even more of a shock because there are so many legendary wrestling families, but it is fitting that the first second generation Hall of Fame wrestler from Mexico is the son of El Santo.  Jorge Guzman, the son of the most beloved wrestler arguably in the history of wrestling debuted in a Santo movie as the man to carry on the name, and went into pro wrestling in late 1982.  Now 34, the younger Santo was a far better wrestler than his more famous and charismatic father, and within just a few years of his debut became one of the wrestlers to take high flying to the next level.  From 1984 to 1989, he was the biggest draw in Mexico along with drawing some large crowds in Los Angeles, and he's remained even in the television era as one of the top draws in the country.  To this day, he's arguably the most important wrestler right now in EMLL, particularly after his recent heel turn.  Santo's first big feud was with Negro Casas, the best worker in Mexico of the mid-to-late 80s dated back to feuding over the UWA lightweight title in 1984, and their decade plus feud which included a few mask vs. hair matches and brawls over numerous lighter weight division titles would have to be considered the Mexican equivalent to Steamboat-Flair or Kawada-Misawa.
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 With TBS officially adding a new weekly live prime time wrestling shows on Thursday nights beginning on January 7, 1998, the future of the "Clash of the Champions" series becomes a question mark.
 Currently we've heard no official word that the show on 8/21, the 35th Clash in a history dating back more than nine years, would be the last one.  But with Nitro, a two-hour live weekly show almost making the Clash obsolete, doing a second live show should finish the deal because if WCW goes through with its plans of two Clash specials in 1998, it would mean during those weeks it would have three night of prime time live wrestling.
 If the 8/21 turns out to be the final Clash, it'll probably best be remembered by one of those unfortunate screwed up angles that seem to only happen at Clashes (remember when the Shock Master fell through the wall?).  After the main event, they built to the Sting appearance.  The angle was built up on Monday that Sting would have to speak to J.J. Dillon about what he wanted or WCW was going to break off negotiations with him.  As it turned out, Dillon wasn't even part of the planned angle.  Sting was on the rafters while the NWO was celebrating a victory in the main event.  With him was a buzzard.  The idea was that when they would ask Sting what he wanted, the buzzard would fly from the rafters to the ring as the lights in the building were turned off with a note that said, "Hogan's soul."  Well, somewhere on the buzzard's trek, the note fell out of his clutches and he wound up on the ropes, with a group of NWO guys in the ring trying to avoid outwardly laughing and crying at the screw up with several minutes left to kill and nothing to do on a live television show.  Actually even if the angle had gone as planned it would have been a stupid finish to the show.
 Just to show how Clash is a name and concept from the 80s and considered passe, WCW, which has been packing them in for regular house shows and Nitros, drew a disappointing crowd of 4,122 paying $75,089 to the Nashville Municipal Auditorium despite a heavy local promotional push.  The show drew a 3.64 rating and 6.36 share, which is a healthy number, although lower than they've been drawing with head-to-head competition on Monday nights for regular weekly television shows.  There isn't much to say about the ratings.  It started with a 2.6 and continuously built, peaking with a 4.5 rating for the Savage & Hall vs. Luger & Page main event.  The over-run segment with the Sting/NWO angle with the bird fell to a 4.3.  As a show, it had two title changes, one of which was a surprise (Steve McMichael winning the U.S. title from Jeff Jarrett) and the other which was expected (Alex Wright winning the TV title from Ultimo Dragon).  It had three good matches out of seven, but in typical Clash fashion, the good matches were somewhat rushed.  And it featured a show-long silly angle where two TBS movie hosts played fantasy wrestlers, doing a heel turn during the show and ending up with one of them getting a Diamond cutter from Diamond Dallas Page.
1. McMichael won the U.S. title from Jarrett in 8:07.  Since he was doing the job at the end, Jarrett had almost all the offense and did a good job carrying the match.  Finish saw McMichael have the sleeper on Jarrett, which was almost his first offensive move of the match.  Debra McMichael distracted the ref and Eddie Guerrero came out.  Guerrero went to hit Steve with the U.S. belt, but he moved and Jarrett got it instead, and McMichael scored the pin.  After the match Debra went to Steve to congratulate him for winning saying she knew he'd do it all along, to portray her as a golddigger wanting to be with whomever held the title, but Steve walked off on her saying it wasn't going to be so easy.  *
2. Raven (Scotty Levy) pinned Stevie Richards (Michael Manna) in 5:01.  Raven said he wouldn't wrestle unless it was a no DQ match.  Raven was announced as having had numerous foot operations to explain him working with a built up show, which looked similar to the old loaded boot gimmick, although it never came into play in this match.  Raven did a dive over the top to the floor early, and dropped both an elbow and a forearm off the apron.  Raven used a drop toe hold with Richards face hitting a chair set up in the ring.  He then used a bulldog on the chair.  Richards reversed and Raven took a bump into the chair.  The two did several fast near falls before Raven hit the DDT for the pin.  They worked hard in their allotted time but neither was really over and the actual wrestling looked almost backyardish in comparison with most of the other matches on the show.  *1/4
3. Alex Wright won the WCW TV title from Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai) in 13:55.  Doesn't the TV title have a 10:00 time limit?  Crowd popped pretty big for Dragon's kicks.  Pretty good match.  Wright got a lot of offense early which was a surprise since he was going over clean.  Dragon dropkicked Wright off the apron to the floor, but missed a pescado.  He did hit his Asai-moonsault and got a near fall with La Magistral.  The two then traded several cradles and reversals until Wright got the clean pin after a german suplex.  ***1/4
4. Chris Jericho (Chris Irvine) pinned Eddie Guerrero in 6:41.  Isn't life amazing?  Guerrero tears his pec, and comes back with a much better physique than when he left.  In fact, he's the most muscular he's ever been in his entire career.  Guerrero did a great job here both in wrestling in the ring and in working the crowd.  Fast-paced and really good.  Jericho did a nine-rep giant swing, but then hit a spin kick too low and caught his foot on the turnbuckle while trying a plancha and ended up crashing on the floor.  He recovered and suplexed Guerrero over the top rope to the floor.  Guerrero came back with a superplex off the top for a near fall.  All kinds of moves and counters ending with Jericho scoring a clean pin with a cradle.  After the match, Guerrero dropkicked Jericho, hit a brainbuster and finished him with a frog splash.  ***1/4
5. Psicosis (Dionicio Castellanos) & Villano IV (Tomas Diaz Mendoza) & Villano V (Reymundo Diaz Mendoza) & Silver King (Cesar Gonzalez) beat Juventud Guerrera (Anibal Gonzalez) & Hector Garza (Hector Segura) & Lizmark Jr. (Juan Banos Jr.) & Super Calo (Rafael Garcia) in 4:52.  This was the expected high flying-fest but it was simply too short for these eight guys to build any kind of a match, but they didn't miss a spot.  In particular, Silver King and Garza were doing fast-paced spots back-and-forth.  They finished with a dive-fest climaxing with Garza using his corkscrew plancha.  In the ring, Calo went for a flying ankle scissors off the top on Psicosis, but Sonny Onoo held Psicosis from going over and Calo took the bump himself.  Psicosis then got the pin after a legdrop off the top rope.  ***1/4
 During the show, Paul Gilmartin (a Craig Johnson lookalike) and Claude Mann of TBS' "Dinner and a movie" show were cooking some food, and then turned on Gene Okerlund and pulled off their shirts to reveal Macho Man NWO t-shirts.  They began running down Diamond Dallas Page and showed an NWO birthday cake.  Well, the cake didn't wind up in their faces as you'd expect, but Page destroyed the set and gave Gilmartin a diamond cutter.
6. Ric Flair (Richard Fliehr) & Curt Hennig beat Konnan (Charles Ashenoff) & Syxx (Sean Waltman) in 5:09 when Hennig pinned Konnan after a fisherman suplex.  Nothing wrong with the match but the finish came out of nowhere.  Gene Okerlund asked Hennig after the match if he was joining the Horseman and he said that he wasn't, and Flair got mad at him.  The original plan for this match was for Hennig to turn on Flair, which still may happen, or may not happen.
7. Randy Savage (Randy Poffo) & Scott Hall beat Lex Luger (Larry Pfohl) & Page (Page Falkenburg) in 9:55.  Before the match, Kevin Nash said that it would be a WCW tag team title match as he was giving Savage the right to defend the title.  He interfered early but was booted out by ref Nick Patrick.  This was similar to their match three days earlier but not nearly as good or as heated.  Finally Luger hot tagged in and was cleaning house.  Page ended up being blinded and Luger bumped into him, and Page gave Luger a diamond cutter and Hall pinned Luger.  Not good at all.  *1/4
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 For the most up-to-date wrestling information, I can be reached every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the Wrestling Observer Hotline (900-903-9030/99 cents per minute/children under 18 need parents permission before calling) with a recorded news update.  We also have updates on all PPV events on options seven and eight.  I'll be on option seven approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of the show and immediately run down the results and major angles before getting into the details of the show.  We have option eight reports up later that evening to get a different perspective.  The reports stay on the hotline until the next PPV show.  Upcoming events covered will be 9/7 WWF Ground Zero, 9/14 WCW Fall Brawl, 9/20 WWF One Night Only (option seven only, this will be a second hand report of the show hopefully very shortly after the conclusion of the show), 10/5 WWF In Your House, 10/11 IWF, 10/17 UFC, 10/26 WCW Halloween Havoc and 11/2 New Japan Fukuoka Dome (option seven only).  Our Tuesday hotline reports feature coverage of Nitro on option one and Raw on option two.  Hotline line-up besides myself is Mike Mooneyham (Monday), Steve Beverly (Tuesday, Friday, Saturday), Bruce Mitchell (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), Ron Lemieux (Wednesday, Sunday), Steven Prazak (Thursday) and Georgiann Makropolous (Sunday).  Starting 9/1 we are beginning a new hotline feature which will be updated daily by Don Laible covering this day in wrestling history and also with both trivia and where are they now type of questions.

 RESULTS

8/13 Humacao, PR (WWC Anniversary show - 1,200):  Ram Man (Johnny Evans) b Skull Von Crush-COR, Herbert Gonzalez b Black Boy, El Profe b Rico Suave, Street fight:  Victor Jovica b Victor El Guardespalda, Mark Youngblood b Huracan Castillo Jr. (Jesus Castillo)-DQ, Mohammed Hussein b La Ley, Ricky Santana b Golden Boy, Invader #2 (Roberto Soto) b Abdullah the Butcher-DQ, Carlos Colon & Invader #1 b Los Pastores (Sheepherders aka Bushwhackers)-DQ, Universal title:  Rey Gonzalez b Tom Brandi (Salvatore Sincere) to win vacant title
8/14 Ponce, PR (WWC Anniversary show - 750):  Mohammed Hussein b Herbert Gonzalez, Tom Brandi b Ram Man, Skull Von Crush b El Profe, Victor Jovica b Victor El Guardespalda, La Ley b Golden Boy, Ricky Santana b Rico Suave, Stretcher match:  Abdullah the Butcher b Carlos Colon, Los Pastores b Chris & Mark Youngblood, The Great War:  Abdullah & Pastores & Brandi b Invaders & Rey Gonzalez & Santana
8/15 Bayamon, PR (WWC Anniversary show - 8,000):  Vampire Warrior (David Heath) b Herbert Gonzalez, Bar room brawl:  El Profe NC Rico Suave, Skull Von Crush b Ram Man, Luna Vachon b La Tigresa, Flag match:  Ricky Santana b Mohammad Hussein, Barbed wire tornado match:  Invaders NC Los Pastores, Hair vs. mask:  Golden Boy (Chicky Starr) b La Ley, Loser must retire:  Carlos Colon b Abdullah the Butcher, Universal title:  Rey Gonzalez b Tom Brandi
8/16 Huntsville, AL (WCW - 4,304):  WCW cruiserweight title:  Chris Jericho b Alex Wright, Steiners b Scott Norton & Marcus Bagwell, U.S. title:  Jeff Jarrett b Chris Benoit, Ric Flair b Syxx, The Giant b Kevin Nash-DQ
8/16 San German, PR (WWC Anniversary show):  Vampire Warrior b Jerry Gonzalez, Skull Von Crush b Ram Man, Mohammad Hussein b Mark Youngblood, Luna Vachon b La Tigresa, Bar Room Brawl:  Rico Suave DCOR El Profe, Golden Boy b La Ley, Barbed wire match:  Ricky Santana & Invader #1 b Los Pastores, Universal title:  Rey Gonzalez b Tom Brandi, Stretcher match:  Carlos Colon b Abdullah the Butcher
8/16 Nanaimo, British Columbia (Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling eve. show - 1,900/free fairgrounds show):  Ole Olson b Bob Brown Jr., Lorena Wells b Iron Maiden-DQ, Dillon Powers b El Antorchia, Mike Roselli b Randy Tyler-DQ
8/20 Tokyo Budokan Hall (All Japan Women - 6,000):  Yoshiko Tamura & Miho Wakizawa b Saya Endo & Nanae Takahashi 11:41, Miyuki Okada (SPWF) b Chiharu (SPWF) 11:37, All Japan jr. title:  Momoe Nakanishi b Emi Motokawa (IWA) 13:38, Chaparita Asari & Yuka Shiina b Misae Genki & Tiny Mouse 11:23, Shark Tsuchiya (FMW) & Crusher Maedomari (FMW) b Rie Tamada & Yumi Fukawa 10:55, Amateur wrestling:  Kyoko Hamaguchi b Reiko Sumitani 4:00 decision, Amateur wrestling:  Seiko Yamamoto b Machitani Momoko 3:04, Vale Tudo rules:  Kaoru Ito b Crystal Contal 1:57, Aja Kong d Manami Toyota 30:00, WWWA title:  Yumiko Hotta b Kyoko Inoue to win title, WWWA tag titles 2/3 falls:  Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda b Kumiko Maekawa & Tomoko Watanabe 28:56
8/20 Yoshida (All Japan - 1,750):  Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Daisuke Ikeda & Tamon Honda b Kentaro Shiga & Maunukea Mossman, Giant Kimala II b Masao Inoue, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota b Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi, Stan Hansen & Takao Omori b Gary Albright & Johnny Smith, Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace b Steve Williams & The Lacrosse, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa b Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako
8/20 Fukui (JWP):  Devil Masami b Sari Osumi, Boirshoi Kid b Tomoko Kuzumi, Cuty Suzuki b Rieko Amano, Mayumi Ozaki b Kanako Motoya, Masami & Hikari Fukuoka b Dynamite Kansai & Tomoko Miyaguchi
8/20 Kingsburg, NJ (Pro Wrestling America - 900):  Bam Bam Bigelow won Battle Royal, Blade Runner b Doink the Clown (Gino Caruso), Hell Raiser b Kodiak Bear, Jimmy Snuka b Metal Maniac, 911 b Johnny Handsome-DQ, Moose Moretti & Rocco Murder b Caruso & Deion Turbo (Christopher Michaels), J.L. Superstar b Equalizer, Bodyguard for Hire DDQ Bigelow
8/21 Hyannis, MA (WWF - 2,005):  Flash Funk b Rockabilly, Savio Vega b Rocky Maivia, Godwinns b Head Bangers, Goldust b Brian Pillman, Ken Shamrock b Vader, Crush & Chainz & Skull & Eight Ball b Faarooq & D.Lo Brown & Jose Estrada Jr. & Miguel Perez, Mankind b Hunter Hearst Helmsley
8/21 Queens, NY (ECW - 850 sellout):  Spike Dudley & Chris Chetti b Tracy Smothers & Little Guido ***, ECW TV title:  Taz b Pablo Marquez *, ECW title:  Shane Douglas b Al Snow ***1/2, Tommy Dreamer b Rob Van Dam ***1/4, Chris Candido b PG-187 (Aldo Montoya aka P.J. Walker) *1/4, ECW tag titles:  Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley b Balls Mahoney & Axl Rotten *3/4, Sabu b Bobby Duncum Jr. *, Bam Bam Bigelow b Spike Dudley **, Street fight:  New Jack & John Kronus b Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley ***1/4
8/21 Kamisato (All Japan - 1,400):  Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Jun Izumida, Kentaro Shiga & Satoru Asako b Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yoshinari Ogawa, Johnny Smith b Daisuke Ikeda, Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi & Giant Kimala II b Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace b Akira Taue & Tamon Honda, Toshiaki Kawada & Masao Inoue b Stan Hansen & Takao Omori, Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse b Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunukea Mossman
8/21 Yokosuka (FMW - 2,100 sellout):  Ricky Morton & Ricky Fuji b Flying Kid Ichihara & Shocker, Hideki Hosaka b Mr. Pogo II (Gosaku Goshogawara), Crusher Maedomari & Shark Tsuchiya b Miwa Sato & Miss Mongol, Masato Tanaka & Tetsuhiro Kuroda b Hayato Nanjyo & Koji Nakagawa, World Brass Knux tag titles:  Mr. Gannosuke & Hisakatsu Oya b Wing Kanemura & Hido to win titles, Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki b Super Leather (Mike Kirchner) & The Gladiator (Mike Alfonso)
8/21 Seagirt, NJ (USA Pro Wrestling - 600 sellout):  Larry Brisco d Frank Murdoch, Cousin Luke b Metal Maniac, Manny Fernandez b Tommy Cairo-COR, Ace Darling & Devon Storm b Harley Lewis & Derrick Domino, Demolition Ax b Kid USA, Tito Santana b Mr. Hughes, Bam Bam Bigelow b King Kong Bundy
8/22 Houston Summit Arena (WWF - 10,228):  Godwinns b Head Bangers, Savio Vega b Flash Funk, Vader b Jesse Jammes, Crush & Chainz b Faarooq & Rocky Maivia, Ken Shamrock b Rockabilly, Legion of Doom & Goldust b Owen Hart & Brian Pillman & Henry Godwinn, Falls count anywhere:  Mankind b Hunter Hearst Helmsley, WWF title:  Undertaker b Bret Hart-DQ
8/22 Knoxville, TN (WCW - 4,364):  David Taylor b Bobby Eaton 1/4*, Juventud Guerrera b Psicosis *1/2, Dean Malenko b Eddie Guerrero ***, Steiners b Wrath & Mortis **, Lex Luger b Scott Hall-DQ *1/4, Ric Flair b Jeff Jarrett *
8/22 Osaka Furitsu Gym (All Japan women - 3,500):  Tiny Mouse b Miyuki Fujii, Miho Wakizawa b Nanae Takahashi, Yuka Shiina & Chaparita Asari b Misae Genki & Momoe Nakanishi, Non-title:  Manami Toyota & Kyoko Inoue b Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda, Yumiko Hotta & Kumiko Maekawa b Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo, WCW cruiserweight title:  Yoshiko Tamura b Saya Endo, All-Pacific title:  Tomoko Watanabe b Kaoru Ito to win vacant title
8/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 2,100 sellout):  Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takao Omori b Masao Inoue, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota b Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi, Hiroshi Hase & Kentaro Shiga b Daisuke Ikeda & Tatsuo Nakano, PWF jr. title:  Maunukea Mossman b Yoshinari Ogawa to win title, Stan Hansen b Giant Kimala II, Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith b Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Satoru Asako, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Tamon Honda b Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse
8/22 Niigata (Kingdom - 2,250):  One night tournament:  Yuhi Sano b Kenichi Yamamoto, Kazushi Sakuraba b Yoji Anjoh, Hiromitsu Kanehara b Billy Scott, Yoshihiro Takayama b Shunsuke Matsui, Sano b Sakuraba, Kanehara b Takayama, Serano b Walter Hess, Sano b Kanehara to win tournament
8/22 Downingtown, PA (ECW - 400):  Tracy Smothers b Davey Morrison, Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney b Bad Crew, Bam Bam Bigelow b Spike Dudley, Chris Candido b Al Snow, ECW TV title:  Taz b Little Guido, ECW title:  Shane Douglas b Chris Chetti, ECW tag titles:  Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley b New Jack & John Kronus, Sabu & Rob Van Dam b Tommy Dreamer & Sandman
8/22 Holiday Inn, NJ (USA Pro Wrestling - 630):  Larry Brisco d Frank Murdoch, Cousin Luke b H.D. Ryder, Jason Knight & Derrick Domino b Manny Fernandez & Tommy Cairo, Demolition Ax b Kid USA, Jimmy Snuka b Metal Maniac, Tito Santana b Mr. Hughes-DQ, Sgt. Slaughter b King Kong Bundy
8/23 Chicago Rosemont Horizon (WWF Friday Night Main Event/Shotgun tapings - 8,132):  Miguel Perez b Sonny Rogers, Savio Vega b D.Lo Brown, Taka Michinoku b Jerry Lynn, Sniper & Recon b Head Bangers, Scott Putski b Steve Casey, WWF title:  Vader b Bret Hart-DQ, Goldust b Salvatore Sincere, Dude Love b Rockabilly, Road Warrior Hawk b Davey Boy Smith-DQ, Chainz & Crush DCOR Faarooq & Rocky Maivia, Interrogator b Rogers & Gary Fox, Patriot b Owen Hart-DQ, Dude Love b Smith-DQ, Undertaker b Hunter Hearst Helmsley-DQ, Legion of Doom b Jesus Castillo & Jose Estrada Jr.-DQ, Ken Shamrock b Sincere, Godwinns b Flash Funk & Jesse Jammes, Tiger Ali Singh b Adam O'Brien, Lynn b Casey, WWF title:  Undertaker b Bret Hart-DQ
8/23 Greenville, SC (WCW - 5,660 sellout):  David Taylor b Bobby Eaton, Psicosis b Buddy Lee Parker, Eddie Guerrero b Dean Malenko, Lex Luger b Scott Hall-DQ, Steiners b Mortis & Wrath, Ric Flair b Jeff Jarrett
8/23 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (All Japan - 2,100 sellout):  Satoru Asako b Masao Inoue, Daisuke Ikeda & Tatsuo Nakano b Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Yoshinari Ogawa, Masa Fuchi & Haruka Eigen & Jun Izumida b Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota, Gary Albright b Giant Kimala II, Hiroshi Hase & Tamon Honda b Stan Hansen & Takao Omori, Steve Williams & The Lacrosse & Yoshihiro Takayama b Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & Johnny Smith, Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama & Maunukea Mossman b Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Kentaro Shiga
8/23 Trenton, NJ (ECW - 1,100):  Blue Meanie b Jason, Chris Chetti b PG-187, Tracy Smothers & Little Guido b Davey Morrison & Roadkill, Axl Rotten b Al Snow, Bam Bam Bigelow b Spike Dudley, ECW TV title:  Taz b Chris Candido, ECW tag titles:  Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley b New Jack & John Kronus, ECW title:  Shane Douglas b Balls Mahoney, Sabu & Rob Van Dam b Tommy Dreamer & Sandman
8/23 Himeji (FMW):  Hayato Nanjyo b Flying Kid Ichihara, Kaori Nakayama b Miss Mongol, Shark Tsuchiya b Miwa Sato, Ricky Morton & Ricky Fuji b Mr. Pogo II & Koji Nakagawa, Masato Tanaka b Hideki Hosaka, Wing Kanemura & Hido b The Gladiator & Shocker, Hisakatsu Oya & Mr. Gannosuke & Super Leather b Hayabusa & Jinsei Shinzaki & Tetsuhiro Kuroda
8/24 Florence, SC (WCW - 3,378):  David Taylor b Bobby Eaton, Psicosis b Buddy Lee Parker, Dean Malenko b Eddie Guerrero, Steiners b Wrath & Mortis, Lex Luger b Scott Hall, Ric Flair b Jeff Jarrett
8/24 Kitagawa (All Japan - 1,700):  Daisuke Ikeda b Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yoshinari Ogawa b Satoru Asako, Giant Kimala II & Jun Izumida b Kentaro Shiga & Takao Omori, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota b Masao Inoue & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi, Stan Hansen & Johnny Smith b Jun Akiyama & Tamon Honda, Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace b Mitsuharu Misawa & Maunukea Mossman, Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse b Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi
8/24 Yahaba (Michinoku Pro - 749):  Tiger Mask b Oriental, Shoichi Funaki b Gran Hamada, Dick Togo & Mens Teioh b Naohiro Hoshikawa & Masato Yakushiji, Ladder match:  Great Sasuke b Super Boy
8/25 Columbia, SC (WCW Monday Nitro tapings - 8,048/7,457 paid):  Wayne Bloom b Bobby Eaton, David Taylor b Scotty Riggs, La Parka & Psicosis b Glacier & Ernest Miller, Ultimo Dragon b Silver King **3/4, Jeff Jarrett b Chris Benoit, Meng & Barbarian b Wrath & Mortis, U.S. title:  Steve McMichael b Eddie Guerrero, WCW cruiserweight title:  Chris Jericho b Yuji Nagata *1/2, WCW TV title:  Dean Malenko b Alex Wright-DQ, Lex Luger NC Randy Savage 1/2*
8/26 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center (All Japan - 5,800):  Tsuyoshi Kikuchi b Masao Inoue, Kentaro Shiga & Yoshinari Ogawa b Daisuke Ikeda & Satoru Asako, Johnny Ace b Tamon Honda, Giant Baba & Rusher Kimura & Mitsuo Momota b Jun Izumida & Haruka Eigen & Masa Fuchi, Giant Kimala II & Maunukea Mossman b Stan Hansen & Johnny Smith, Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue & Takao Omori b Tatsuo Nakano & Yoshihiro Takayama & The Lacrosse, Kenta Kobashi b Hiroshi Hase, PWF & Intl tag titles:  Steve Williams & Gary Albright b Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama

Special thanks to:  Stuart Kemp, Ron Lemieux, David Williamson, Dominick Valenti, Dan Parris, Joe Nguyen, Mick Ward, Bob Barnett, James Titus, Sammy Eans, Joe Grana, Eric Krol, Trent Van Drisse, Joe Silva, Mike Johnson, Gene Restaino, David Rude, Bruce Buchanan, Manuel Gonzalez, Neil O'Brien, John Kowal, Hunter Johnston, Jay Reddick, Gary Will, Bob Barnett, John Williams, Steve "Dr. Lucha" Sims, Steve Hicks
 Puerto Rico:  The 24th anniversary of the beginning of Capitol Sports took place with four major shows last weekend.  The big show was 8/16 in Bayamon which drew nearly 8,000 fans, the biggest WWC crowd since last year's anniversary show which drew about 10,000 fans headlined by Carlos Colon beating El Bronco in a loser must retire match.  There were several major no-shows, a few title changes, and the supposed ending of the 28-year-long feud between Colon and Abdullah the Butcher.  The Islanders, Tahiti & Kuhio, no-showed the weekend and were stripped of their WWC tag titles which were given via forfeit to Mark & Chris Youngblood on 8/16 in Bayamon.  In the Universal title tournament final, as expected, Rey Gonzalez came out with the title.  It was announced that Jim Steele (All Japan Lacrosse) won the international tournament in the Mexico and Japan division by beating Canek.  However, the night of the title match on 8/14 in Humacao, it was announced before the show that Steele was injured although that wasn't the case, so manager Rico Suave came out with Tom Brandi, wearing his Salvatore Sincere gimmick.  The commission announced before the match that Gonzalez was the champion via forfeit but he said he didn't want to win the title that way, so he faced Brandi and pinned him in 19:15 with a small package.  On television leading up to the match they've been giving Gonzalez the huge push to build the future around him.  He's 24 years old and did a Cactus Jack deal where they showed a video of him as a kid wrestling on his bed, and pushed how Colon was teaching him the secrets of the figure four leglock.  It was first announced that EMLL wrestlers Negro Casas, Apolo Dantes, Atlantis and Emilio Charles Jr. would appear but they all canceled out.  It was then announced that Mexican minis would be brought in, but they weren't mentioned on TV in the last week either.  The belief is that with so many wrestlers that had worked in this area working in EMLL (Sean Morley, Kevin Quinn, Head Hunters, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Miguel Perez, etc.) of late that the word had reached Mexico about the economic problems as far as getting paid within this promotion so they didn't come.  The 8/14 show in Humacao drew about 1,200 with Gonzalez beating Brandi in the title match and Carlos Colon & Invader #1 beating Los Pastores (Sheepherders) via DQ when Butch Miller hit the ref.  8/15 in Ponce drew about 750 with Butcher beating Colon in a stretcher match due to outside help from Skull Von Crush and Mohammad Hussein.  The main event was scheduled as a War Games match with two rings, but it ended up only being one ring with a cage that didn't have a top.  The heel group called Devastacion Inc. of Abdullah & Pastores & Brandi beat The Justice Army of Invaders & Gonzalez & Ricky Santana.  8/16 in Bayamon for the main show featured a flag match where the loser could no longer bring his flag to ringside with Santana and his Puerto Rican flag beating Hussein and his Iraqi flag.  Youngbloods were awarded the tag belts via forfeit.  The show turned into a disaster area due to heat stemming from Invaders vs. Pastores in a barbed wire match.  Invader #1 hit Luke Williams with his heart punch when Invader #2 attacked Invader #1.  Chicky Starr then hit the ring and began hugging Invader #2.  Fans began throwing chairs at the ring at this point and since the wrestlers were inside barbed wire, they were pretty much trapped and security was non-existent.  It took 20 minutes to quell the disturbance that never quite escalated into being a riot.  Manager Suave, Victor El Guardaespalda, Invader #2 and Starr were in real trouble because more than 200 chairs were thrown at them.  None of the wrestlers were injured although Invader #2 was hit with a chair, but a 12-year-old boy at ringside was hit with a chair and busted open.  In a hair vs. mask match, Golden Boy (Chicky Starr) beat La Ley.  Fans were expecting La Ley to win and reveal Golden Boy as Starr, but when it didn't happen, they began throwing chairs again.  Because of all the problems, the promotion said that La Ley was injured and they didn't cut his hair because of fear it would turn into a full-fledged riot.  The show had to be stopped for another 40 minutes as the police were called and 50 officers showed up to quell the fans before starting the next match.  Colon vs. Abdullah in a match where the loser had to retire followed.  Colon won the match in 19:02 with what was described as a poorly performed finish.  After the match Colon said that he would also be retiring soon but for the present time would be watching the back of Gonzalez (who is being groomed to be the new top face in the company).  Gonzalez beat Brandi again in the final match which ended at about 1:15 a.m.  8/17 in San German saw Golden Boy again beat La Ley in what was supposed to be a scaffold match but wasn't, Santana & Invader #1 beat Pastores in a barbed wire match, Gonzalez beat Brandi again and in Butcher's supposed last match ever in Puerto Rico, he put Colon over in a stretcher match.  The idea is to build toward Invader #1 vs. Invader #2 with the mask at stake but right now Invader #2 won't give up his mask.  At the Bayamon show, the Financial Department confiscated $18,000 in ticket sales since Colon and the company owned that much to the government in back taxes.  On the television building up the retirement match, they ran a history of the feud.  They said the two started feuding in Calgary in 1969.  They aired a clip from around 1983 where Colon asked Abdullah to be his tag team partner against Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody.  Colon climbed out of the cage to win the match, but it left Abdullah in the ring against both of them to take a pounding.  When Colon came back in to make the save, Butcher attacked him.  They also aired another match where the two got together as a tag team against Ric Flair & Dory Funk, and in that match Butcher walked out leaving Colon by himself.  They showed their match from the very first Starrcade in Greensboro, NC in 1983.  For the first time in his career in Puerto Rico, Butcher spoke during an interview. . . The first big show after the Anniversary week took place 8/23 in Caguas with Gonzalez defending the Universal title against Vampire Warrior managed by Luna Vachon and Colon putting up his hair against the mask of Golden Boy
 Mexico:  Most of the news we have regards things outside the ring.  The meeting with Eric Bischoff, Konnan (Promo Azteca) and Paco Alonso (EMLL) to discuss working together in Mexico, getting a weekly television show on in the United States and doing PPV shows is scheduled for 8/27 in Marina del Rey, CA.  However, Konnan and Alonso and their companies remain at war.  As expected, Los Hermanos Dinamita jumped from Azteca to EMLL and debuted at Arena Mexico on 8/22 as retribution for Konnan's recent signings of the likes of Silver King, Mr. Aguila and Black Warrior.  The war between the two groups has gotten deeper as Alonso was attempting to get the independent promoters to no longer book Promo Azteca talent on their shows, thus attempting to bring the group to its knees and force the wrestlers without WCW contracts to work for him.  There was yet another hearing last week in regard to getting Konnan deported for his frequent fights with fans and the like,  but the end result of the hearing was he was fined $1,000 but not deported.  Alonso also sent letters to independent promoters saying he wouldn't allow any of his talent to work on any shows where Lizmark Jr., Super Calo, Damian or Halloween appeared because he claimed they were all attempting to talk his wrestlers into jumping to Azteca.  At the same time, Antonio Pena registered the names, costumes and gimmicks of Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis and is attempting to get them banned from using their names and outfits. . . At the Arena Mexico show on 8/22, they held a tag team tournament for the vacant CMLL tag titles.  The last champs were Silver King & Dr. Wagner Jr., plus Silver King jumped to Azteca and WCW.  The finals will be held on 8/29 with Head Hunters vs. Wagner & Emilio Charles Jr.  Hunters beat Steele & Gran Markus Jr. in one semifinal while Wagner & Charles beat Cien Caras & Apolo Dantes in the other.  The other teams in the tourney were Rayo de Jalisco Jr. & Lizmark, Brazo de Oro & Brazo de Plata, Atlantis & Mr. Niebla and Universo 2000 & Mascara Ano 2000.  The main event on the card saw Negro Casas & Ultimo Dragon & La Fiera beat Scorpio Jr. & Bestia Salvaje & El Satanico.  The biggest card of the year set for 9/19 now looks to have two of the following three matches as the double main event--a hair vs. hair with Salvaje vs. Fiera, a mask vs. hair with Casas vs. El Hijo del Santo, and/or a mask vs. mask with Atlantis vs. Steele.  Figure the first and third will be the likely ones to take place, so the Santo vs. Felino mask match, which Felino would have had to lose, that had been pushed most of the year, isn't going to happen after all. . . Andy Barrow jumped from Azteca to AAA.  Tinieblas Jr. (from AAA), Super Astro (from EMLL) and Black Magic (who hadn't worked in Mexico in a few years) are all headed to Azteca. . . AAA's biggest show of the week was 8/20 in Aguascalientes headlined by Heavy Metal vs. Sangre Chicana in a street fight and Perro Aguayo & Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. Fuerza Guerrera & Mosco de la Merced. . . Azteca's biggest show was 8/22 in Mexico City with Los Villanos III & IV & V vs. Silver King & Dandy & El Texano, Hector Garza & La Parka & Super Parka & Mascara Sagrada vs. Pierroth Jr. & Pirata Morgan & Damian & Halloween and  Pantera del Ring defending the Azteca middleweight belt against Calo. . . There is a show in Tijuana on 8/29 headlined by Santo & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Casas & Felino, but Misterio Jr. won't be wrestling due to an injury. . . On 8/10 in Nuevo Leon during a womens tag match, a drunk cracked Wendy over the head with a beer bottle.  Wendy wasn't seriously injured but did need five stitches in the back of her head.
 ALL JAPAN:  The big show of the week was 8/26 in Sapporo's Nakajima Sports Center before a near-sellout 5,800 fans.  The double main event saw Gary Albright & Steve Williams retain their Double Tag team titles beating Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama in just 8:42 when Albright scored his first pinfall ever on Misawa using a dragon suplex.  The other bout was the first singles match ever between two of the great workers of the past decade as Kenta Kobashi handed Hiroshi Hase his first defeat since joining the company by pinning him after a lariat in 32:49. . . It was announced this past week that on the 9/28 FMW show at Kawasaki Baseball Stadium, that Kobashi & Maunukea Mossman would do something of an interpromotional match against FMW's Jinsei Shinzaki & Hayabusa, both of whom have appeared on recent All Japan shows. . . Mossman won the PWF jr. title from Yoshinari Ogawa on 8/22 at Korakuen Hall in 16:10 with a small package.  Mossman, 21, was a state champion high school wrestler in Hawaii who has been wrestling with All Japan for just under three years and is considered to have a great future. . . Former UWFI wrestler Tatsuo Nakano has been working the undercards as has current Kingdom wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama. . . All Japan has also reached an agreement with the tiny Wrestle Dream Factory group with Hiroyoshi Kotsubo and Kamikaze debuting on 9/4 in Ashikaga against Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kentaro Shiga.  Kamikaze wrestled at the same high school as both Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. . . There is still talk about doing a Tokyo Dome show in February which could be a three-way combined anniversary show--The 45th anniversary of the formation of Nippon TV (which would thus be a major sponsor of the show), which has aired this company since its inception, the 25th anniversary of the start of the company, and to celebrate Giant Baba's 60th birthday which will be on January 23, 1988.  Baba is the most conservative by far of all the major promoters and his still never attempted to promote a show in a building bigger than Budokan Hall for fear of failure, and also fearing it would take away Budokan Hall as the special big arena by trying a show somewhere bigger.
 NEW JAPAN:  The following matches were announced for 9/23 at Budokan Hall--Shinya Hashimoto defending the IWGP title against TBA (rumored to be a UFC fighter, perhaps Scott Ferrozzo), Naoya Ogawa vs. Brian Johnston (the UFC fighter from San Jose with a 6-5 overall record and a sometimes training partner of Don Frye, Frye vs. Kazuyuki Fujita in a rematch of their 8/2 match from Sumo Hall, Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Great Muta & Masahiro Chono (not announced as being a tag title or non-title match), Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura & Akira Nogami vs. Akitoshi Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara, Manabu Nakanishi & Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito and Takashi Iizuka vs. Tadao Yasuda.
 OTHER JAPAN NOTES:  A few more notes on the death of Plum Mariko.  The death is now thought of to have not been related to the Liger-bomb from Mayumi Ozaki or landing wrong, although she was knocked out from the move, but from injuries she went into the ring with.  She died the next day on the operating table from a combination fractured skull, brain hemorrhage, aneurism and was also believed to have been suffering from post-concussion syndrome.  Reportedly there were 50,000 bouquets of flowers sent to her funeral, which was attended by about 500 people.  After the anniversary shows at Korakuen Hall the next day, JWP went back on tour on 8/20 to Fukui where it drew a much larger than usual crowd with tons of press and Ozaki, in the first minute of her singles match with Kanako Motoya, symbolically used the Liger bomb.  She said to the press after that she believed that Mariko would have wanted her to continue using the move.  According to wrestling historian Gary Will, there have been approximately 36 deaths since 1950 of pro wrestlers either in the ring or the dressing room or hospital immediately after a match, but only five this decade, one each in England, South Africa, Mexico (Oro), Germany (Larry Cameron) and Japan (Mariko).  Virtually all of the deaths were heart attacks and only two conclusively appear to be from injuries.  The last recorded death due to a ring injury (and in hindsight Ozaki's death doesn't neatly fit into that category either anymore than Malcolm Kirk's 1987 death of a heart attack at the time Big Daddy gave him a big splash does) was Sangre India in a match in Mexico City on December 25, 1979 after hitting his head on the floor missing a tope.  The other injury related death appears to have been a wrestler named Curtis Peterson in 1951 in Richland Center, WI from a broken neck. . . Besides Yumiko Hotta beating Kyoko Inoue to win the WWWA title, other highlight matches on 8/20 at Budokan Hall saw Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda keep the WWWA tag titles beating Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa in a 2/3 fall match that went 28:56, Aja Kong and Manami Toyota went to a 30:00 draw in Kong's farewell major show match, Kaoru Ito beat Crystal Contal in 1:57 with an armbreaker submission in a Vale Tudo match (don't know if it was worked or shoot), in two shoot amateur wrestling matches involving the top women amateurs in Japan, Kyoko Hamaguchi beat Reiko Sumitani by decision and Seiko Yamamoto pinned Machitani Momoka in 3:04.  The other title bout saw Momoe Nakanishi keeping the All Japan jr. title beating Emi Motokawa of IWA in 13:38.  AJW's other major show of the week was 8/22 in Osaka's Furitsu Gym before about 3,500 which was headlined by Watanabe becoming the new All-Pacific champion beating Ito in 17:23.  The former champ, Takako Inoue, who is out of action with a broken orbital bone near her eye, did not return the belt and they're doing an angle where she's going to return on a big show later in the year to face Watanabe because she's mad about being stripped of the title while being injured.  Also Yoshiko Tamura kept the WCW cruiserweight title beating Saya Endo, in an interpromotional match involving the so-called worked shooting element, Hotta & Maekawa beat LLPW's Shinobu Kandori & Mizuki Endo (expect that to be evened up when they have a rematch on an LLPW show) and Toyota & Kyoko Inoue won a non-title match from Mita & Shimoda in 22:34. . . Kingdom ran its first UFC-style eight-man tournament on 8/22 in Niigata before 2,250 with Yuhi Sano beating Hiromitsu Kanehara in the finals. . . Nobuhiko Takada said this week that even if he loses to Rickson Gracie that he isn't going to retire from wrestling and wants one more major match between October and the end of the year.  Nothing new on the 10/11 show although expectations now seem to be that the card will take place and that it'll be a financial bomb.  It's said to be even more disorganized than the U Japan show last year and that show was a mess live. . . Mitsuya Nagai of RINGS makes his pro kickboxing debut on 9/28 at Korakuen Hall against a cruiserweight from Washington. . . Because of Dan Severn's commitments to an IFC show on 9/5, his IWA tour has been moved to late October, with them announcing a UFC rules match against Daikokubo Benkei on 10/27 in Chiba and an NWA title defense against Great Kabuki on 10/29 in Takayama. . . Mr. Gannosuke & Hisakatsu Oya won the FMW World Brass Knux tag titles beating Wing Kanemura & Hido on 8/21 in Yokosuka. . . FMW had a no rope barbed wire match on 8/25 in Ibaraki with Ricky Morton & Ricky Fuji & Jinsei Shinzaki losing to Gannosuke & Super Leather & Gladiator in which Shinzaki did his rope walk spot on the barbed wire. . . Michinoku Pro ended its tour on 8/24 in Yahaba before 749 fans with Great Sasuke beating Super Boy (a Los Angeles indie wrestler) in a ladder match.  This was set up five days earlier when Super Boy pinned Sasuke in a singles match.  It was originally to be Hanzo Nakajima in the ladder match, but he blew out his right knee so they put in Super Boy as a sub and gave him the big singles win over Sasuke to give him credibility for the match.  Michinoku Pro is totally depleted with Super Delfin's mysterious disappearance believed to be over unhappiness with how things were going, Gran Naniwa with a broken right leg, Yone Genjin with a broken right hand, Wellington Wilkens Jr. also disappeared this past week, Taka Michinoku and Shiryu out of the country and Nakajima's injury.  Both Gran Hamada and Masato Yakushiji also have neck injuries but are wrestling every night because the troupe is so depleted.  They held an in-ring ceremony at the show for Mariko because Gran Hamada was her wrestling trainer. . . Paul Varelans is negotiating with IWA.
 USWA:  Tommy Dreamer will be working the 8/31 Memphis show, but as a babyface challenging Dutch Mantel for the Unified title.  He'll be the only ECW wrestler on the card, which also includes Jerry Lawler vs. Rod Price, Doomsday defending the USWA title against Doug Gilbert and PG-13 vs. Rex King & Paul Diamond with the winners meeting Steven Dunn & Flash Flanagan for the USWA tag belts later in the show.  Although not announced yet, expect Billy Travis vs. Brian Christopher to be added to the show as they did a television angle where they were fighting in the parking lot and the police came and wanted to arrest both of them.  Neither was arrested because the incident took place on private property.  Think about that one logically. . . Lance Russell is out of the hospital after quadruple bypass surgery and doing pretty well.  He was talking about being able to return to the golf course in about three months.  No word on when or if he'll be returning to announcing duties here. . . Buddy Wayne, a long-time former wrestler who has been a fixture behind the scenes with this company forever is suffering from cancer. . . The 8/30 show will be the end of the era as it'll be the final live television show in Memphis.  They'll continue to tape Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. for a midnight broadcast.  Lawler did an interview telling fans about the time slot change and blamed it on Bill Clinton and Al Gore, saying how they were trying to tell people how to run their families and them pushing for more educational childrens programming on Saturday mornings is why wrestling has to move.
 HERE AND THERE:  Jeep Swenson, who did some pro wrestling in Texas in 1987 and worked a WCW PPV match last year passed away on 8/19 at UCLA Medical Center believed to have been from a massive heart attack at the age of 40.  Swenson, a 6-4, 400-pounder strong-man type who had a lead role as the villain character "Bane" in the recently released movie "Batman and robin," was reputed in some muscle magazine circles to have carried more muscular bodyweight and arguably the largest muscular arms of any man alive.  A fixture as the largest man who trained at Gold's Gym in Venice, CA, the steroid rumors flowed after the death, particularly given his size and since Swenson apparently wasn't shy about his use.  The funeral was scheduled for 8/27 and they were going to attempt to bring in Ted DiBiase to deliver the eulogy.  Swenson had been a gym monster for years before trying his hand at pro boxing, where he was knocked out by guys the size of Greg Gagne, before Bruiser Brody brought him into pro wrestling when he was the booker for World Class in Dallas.  Brody carried Swenson, who had less than no wrestling ability, to matches that were actually acceptable by the standards of the time.  Swenson did a few indie dates in California after that before resurfacing in an angle that led to one of the most memorable horrible matches in history on March 24, 1996 in the WCW Uncensored main event in a three-level cage match teaming with Meng, Barbarian, Arn Anderson, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan and Ze Gangsta (Tom "Zeus" Lister) as The Ultimate Solution losing to Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage in a match that easily won last year's worst match of the year balloting.
 NHB:  The 10/17 UFC PPV show has been thrown for a loop as Mark Coleman tore his anterior cruciate ligament in training last week and was scheduled for reconstructive surgery this week, which puts him out of action for at least six months.  SEG had sent out contracts to Coleman and Maurice Smith for a rematch for the title on top and the tentative plan was for a second superfight with Vitor Belfort vs. Randy Couture with the two winners meeting on top in December.  SEG had promised both Smith and Belfort singles fights on this show, and are going to approach Smith with the idea of defending against Belfort.  If Smith doesn't agree to the match, they'll probably put Couture against one of them, most likely Belfort, and find another opponent for the other with Dan Severn's name being batted around among several of them.  Marco Ruas' name has been brought up for Smith as well, but the problem politically is that Belfort had made it clear he won't work on a show if Ruas is higher on the card than he is. . . Smith was contacted this past week by Rorion Gracie about doing an NHB match with Royce Gracie on the 11/9 K-1 show at the Tokyo Dome.  The purse for both fighters to do this match looks to be huge because the venue and the promotion guarantees a sellout and a $6 million house. . . Tank Abbott was being sought by police after allegedly punching out a night club patron after midnight on 8/24.  According to Huntington Beach Police lt. Dan Johnson, Matthew Franco and his cousin were watching Abbott kicking cars in the parking lot of The Majestic Dance Club in Huntington Beach when Abbott turned around to Franco and allegedly said, "Why are you looking at me?  You want something?"  He then allegedly without provocation punched and kicked Franco in the head, leaving Franco with a concussion.  Abbott's name had resurfaced once again over the past week or two about being in the heavyweight tournament on the 10/17 PPV show. . . Les Gutches officially pulled out of negotiations for a proposed 10/11 PPV match against Frank Shamrock on the first IWF show.
 ECW:  Here are some more estimates on the Hardcore Heaven buy rate.  Request TV is releasing an 0.25 buy rate which would be about 42,000 buys, down 15 to 25 percent of what they released as a figure for the first ECW show.  Other estimates are pegging the figure at between an 0.18 and 0.21 buy rate, or 30,000 to 35,000 buys which is believed to be also 15 to 25 percent down from the first show.  In comparison with the other recent PPV shows in late July and August, the WCW Road Wild looks to be between an 0.65 and 0.70, WWF SummerSlam at between 0.75 and 0.80 and UFC at about 0.53.  We do know that Paul Heyman promised Request the lighting would be much better on the next show.  Heyman's reaction has been uncharacteristic, particularly since a lot of his core audience did like the show, because he's openly stated it was a bad PPV show, went on the house mic at his TV taping in Queens (which won't air on television) and said he thought the show sucked but that the next one would be better, and on his television show made jokes about how bad the lighting was on the show.  When WWF and WCW have done shows that were far worse received, they've gone on television and tried to spread the illusion it was still "the greatest SummerSlam in history." . . Main focus now seems to be building a WWF vs. ECW feud, but with no WWF wrestlers involved at this point.  Sabu & Rob Van Dam have been burying Sandman & Tommy Dreamer under a WWF banner at all the weekend house shows including at television.  Dreamer did an interview on television that would lead one to believe that Jerry Lawler won't be returning because he said it was a feud he knew would end after one match and they did a video of the feud acting as if the feud was over. . . At the 8/21 TV tapings in Queens, NY before a sellout 850, Heyman did an interview running down Raven and Richards for leaving and then ran down McMahon, Bruce Prichard and Eric Bischoff to get over his us vs. them angle for his fans.  The gimmick with Shane Douglas and Rick Rude is that Rude is saying he wants to toughen Douglas up, and brought in Al Snow to wrestle him on TV and the two had what was said to have been a really good match.  After Dreamer pinned Van Dam, Sabu came in and he and Van Dam buried Dreamer until the WWF banner.  Aldo Montoya showed up and claimed McMahon made him look like shit and sent him to a hellhole in Memphis.  He then took his mask off and threw it in the crowd and said he was PG-187, but the fans chanted "You still suck" at him, and then he lost to Chris Candido.  After Dudleys beat Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney, New Jack & John Kronus did the run-in to build to a non-title street fight later in the show.  Sabu beat Bobby Duncum Jr.  After the match, Sabu clotheslined Beulah.  Sandman & Dreamer came out and were beaten up and Dreamer & Beulah were buried under the WWF flag.  Taz ran in and was attacked by them as well.  Lance Wright went to interview Taz and the two started arguing with Wright saying how much better things were when he worked for WWF and Taz suplexed him and choked him out.  In the street fight, New Jack & Kronus beat Dudleys.  New Jack dove off the balcony and landed on his feet and blew either his knee or his ankle out.  It was said to have been his craziest bump to date.  He worked the rest of the weekend but was basically attacked before the matches and didn't do much.  Sandman was back in the ring on 8/22, but on both 8/22 in Downingtown, PA (which drew 400) and 8/23 in Trenton, NJ (which drew 1,100) he was handcuffed to the ropes quickly and beaten on so he was being protected due to his injuries.  Mikey Whipwreck was out of action this week due to a hamstring injury suffered when he missed the tope on the 8/9 ECW Arena show. . . Bam Bam Bigelow beat Spike Dudley all three nights. . . Sid was among the wrestlers contacted about a surprise appearance at the PPV but turned it down because he was still suffering from his recent neck surgery. . . A couple of things clear from the PPV show.  First, in ECW, fans don't take winning and losing as to having any importance.  The Spike Dudley angle didn't work, even though he beat Bigelow to logically set up their PPV match.  That angle, whether it be Barry Horowitz or the classic with the Mulkeys, is an easy one to get very short term super face crowd reactions for a jobber.  This didn't happen at all.  In fact, the biggest ECW supporters appeared to be the ones who resented the most that he was even on the PPV show, even though he and Bigelow did a good job in their match.  It was as if people's minds were made up about that match because Spike was in it and they saw him as a jobber, and it didn't matter how hard they worked or what they did.  The other thing is that Shane Douglas needs a new finisher.  The belly-to-belly comes from his WCW days as Magnum T.A.'s protege when Dusty got the belly-to-belly over as a killer finisher, but that's another generation, nobody today even remembers Magnum T.A. and they don't buy it as a finisher no matter how many people Paul E. has had go down to it over the past three plus years. . . The wrestlers received their PPV payoffs for the 4/13 show last week and most were unhappy, receiving far less than they expected.  This past week was the first time wrestlers in the dressing room were openly complaining about pay. . . No shows this coming weekend so the next cards are 9/5 in Waltham, MA for a TV taping (Sabu vs. Sandman, Dreamer vs. Van Dam, Dudleys vs. New Jack & Kronus) and 9/6 in Revere, MA (Sandman vs. Van Dam, Sabu vs. Dreamer, Dudleys vs. Axl & Balls, Douglas vs. Kronus, Taz vs. Candido)
 WCW:  The record-breaking Nitro on 8/25 in Columbia, SC also set that city's all-time attendance and gate record with a near sellout 8,048 fans (7,457 paying $129,945).  Wayne Bloom (Beau Beverly in WWF some years back) got a try-out and beat Bobby Eaton in a dark match and was said to have looked lighter than in his WWF days (well, just about everyone from that era should look lighter today).  The show opened with a Bischoff interview with J.J. Dillon on the phone.  Dillon said he was going to sign the Hogan vs. Sting match (still slated for December) by the end of the year.  Bischoff said it would never happen.  Sting came out with a Hogan t-shirt and shoved it in Bischoff's mouth.  La Parka & Psicosis beat Ernest Miller & Glacier when Parka hit Glacier with a chair and Psicosis got the pin in 2:09.  After the match Parka, Psicosis and Silver King all attacked Ultimo Dragon before his match including a pair of topes by Parka and Miller.  Dragon beat Silver King in 5:19 with a spinning huracanrana off the top and dragon sleeper in a good match.  Scott Hall, Randy Savage and Elizabeth did an interview building up Savage vs. Luger as the main event.  They said Page had joined the NWO.  Kevin Nash and Syxx weren't at the show.  Nash was moving his family this week from Daytona Beach back to Phoenix as his new house was ready.  Page did an interview saying he wasn't joining NWO, that what happened with Luger at the Clash was an accident and asked Luger to come out so he could apologize but Luger never came out.  Jarrett pinned Benoit with a small package off a superplex (a finish from a famous Dynamite Kid vs. Randy Savage PPV match a decade plus ago) in 3:01 of a real good short match.  Meng & Barbarian beat Wrath & Mortis in a real bad match when Meng used the Tongan death grip on Mortis in 4:42.  Jimmy Hart, who will still work for the company backstage, was taken off a televised role by Bischoff.  Next was the Horseman interview where Arn Anderson asked Curt Hennig to join and Hennig agreed.  Don't know where they are going next, and with Kevin Sullivan returning backstage at this show (he and Terry Taylor are said to have equal power when it comes to booking so many of the plans from last week have changed again) I don't even want to speculate.  A Flair vs. Hennig singles match was scheduled to be announced in the Baltimore market already and probably has been for the 9/27 house show, so they may still do an angle or the planned angle may have been nixed.  Virtually the entire Fall Brawl card listed here last week is questionable.  Guerrero vs. Jericho, Malenko vs. Jarrett and Wright vs. Dragon are all still on the card.  It appears they are going to do a triangle match (has WCW ever done one of these that wasn't terrible?) with Bagwell & Norton, Steiners and Harlem Heat.  War Games now looks to be Horseman vs. NWO although that's only a guess.  McMichael pinned Eddie Guerrero clean with a tombstone in 3:07 to keep the U.S. belt.  Misterio Jr. did an interview talking about having an appointment the next day to get his knee looked at by Dr. Jim Andrews (which is the truth) and Konnan start bullying him.  Misterio Jr. got zero reaction when he came out which shows how well all the injury and sympathy angles they constantly do with him work.  Giant came out and Konnan walked off.  The idea of Rey & Giant as a tag team has possibilities.  Bischoff came out at this point and Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan left.  Bischoff and Tony Schiavone were amusing for about 4:00 but then their lack of chemistry was really annoying as the rating decline showed.  Jericho beat Yuji Nagata with a boston crab in 7:50.  Jericho had one of his bad matches here as they were off on a lot.  They did an interview spot with Heat, and Steiners and Bagwell & Norton all came out to build up the triangle.  Alex Wright kept the TV title getting DQ'd against Dean Malenko in 3:46 when Jarrett and Guerrero interfered.  Savage and Luger went to a no contest in 8:15 when Hall and Page both ran in.  Luger, not seeing Page, put him in the rack after the match as the show went off the air.  In the building, the two ended up hugging each other and making up. . . Ratings for the weekend saw Main Event at 1.3, Saturday Night at 2.2 and Pro at 1.5. . . For 8/18, it wound up with Nitro at 4.03 rating and 6.80 share to Raw's 3.13 and 5.04 share.  Both shows showed good growth except during the WCW over-run of the Luger & Page vs. Hall & Nash title match, where WCW grew from a 4.1 to 5.1, nearly doubling WWF which did a 2.6 for Patriot vs. Vader going head-to-head. . . Update on Steven Regal is that he was charged with a misdemeanor over the incident on the airplane.  The belief now is that he accidentally urinated on the flight attendant which caused them to have an emergency landing of the flight from Tokyo to Detroit in Alaska and boot Regal, Norton and Bagwell off.  He won't be deported, but he may not be allowed to fly for one year which would mean WCW couldn't very well use him so his status is very much up in the air to pardon the pun. . . Hogan vs. Piper in a cage is almost a definite for Halloween Havoc and will be announced locally in Las Vegas when tickets go on sale this week. . . 9/27 Baltimore line-up is scheduled as Hall & Nash defending against Luger & Giant, Page vs. Savage, Flair vs. Hennig, Jarrett vs. Malenko, Steiners vs. Bagwell & Norton, Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero for the cruiser title and Wright vs. Dragon for the TV title. . . Rick Martel was in the office for an interview.  Martel's original plan was to come in as a tag team with Winnipeg wrestler Don Callis, a Howard Stern lookalike who does really good interviews.  WCW told Martel they weren't interested in adding any tag teams.  People were saying Martel, 41, was in excellent condition. . . The release of Ted DiBiase's autobiography "Everyone Has A Price" has been delayed until 9/5. . . Meetings were held this week regarding the new TBS Thursday night live show.  If you hear any rumors about what it'll be, they are just rumors because literally nothing has been decided.  The only things made clear is that the show has to be as good as Nitro because TBS with all the money they are paying for the show won't settle for a second-rate Nitro.  There were talks about adding stars from the past or about using the Thursday show to focus on the Guerrero, Malenko, Benoit types and give them more time to have better matches, or even using ex-UFC fighters to give it more of a shooting aura.  Based on things at the meeting and what Bischoff is saying on television, it seems his idea is to make Nitro a two-hour NWO show and the new unnamed show a WCW show and make it seem more like a promotional war between the two.  For reasons alluded to earlier, it's a risky proposition on Mondays. . . Weekend house shows saw Knoxville on 8/22 draw 4,384 paying $67,084; Greenville, SC on 8/23 outdoors at the baseball stadium drew a sellout 5,660 and $83,365 and Florence, SC on 8/24 drew 3,378 paying $53,066.  All three shows were largely the same, six-match cards with Flair beating Jarrett as the main event and Luger over Hall twice by DQ and the third time they called for the bell and gave Luger a submission win when he put Syxx in the rack.  Malenko vs. Eddie, since they were given 25:00 all three nights, stole the show all three nights.  Greenville was said to have been really hot but Florence was a bad show due to poor lighting and a bad sound system.  There were complaints since Jarrett was in the main event that Debra McMichael wasn't on the tour.  Normally WCW doesn't send the women to house shows, but the manager of the heel in the main event should have their manager there. . . Kevin Greene's pro wrestling career looks to be over after only three matches as the new six-year, $13 million contract he signed on 8/26 with the San Francisco 49ers includes a clause that would restrict him from doing any pro wrestling until 2002.  Greene, who led the NFL in sacks last year, was cut by the Carolina Panthers a few days earlier, largely because he had held out all training camp for a raise from his $1.25 million annual contract. . . Fall Brawl next February is once again planned for the Cow Palace in San Francisco, coming just a few weeks after WWF does Royal Rumble at the San Jose Arena.
 
 WWF:  They taped the Raw specials for 8/29 and 9/5 and Shotgun for 8/30 and 9/6 on 8/23 in Chicago before 8,132 paying $156,004 (and did $81,000--or nearly $10 a head--in merchandise).  They will have tons of taped features inserted into all the shows as they completed six hours of tapings in about three-and-a-half hours.  Still, reports live were really negative, complaining about none of the advertised matches taking place and the redundancy of the finishes.  The latter complaint was too valid as virtually every "competitive" match on the show ended with a heel run-in DQ finish and our reports are there wasn't one match on all six hours of taping that was better than two stars.  No major angles and the biggest name debuting was Jerry Lynn, who lost to Taka Michinoku in what was said to have been the best match on the card, and then later beat Steve Casey.  The 8/29 Raw opened with Michaels doing an interview holding the chair he hit Undertaker with which was said to have been a good interview.  Vader beat Bret via DQ when Owen & Bulldog ran in and Patriot made the save.  Goldust beat
 
Sal Sincere with Pillman in the upper deck saying that Dakota was his love child.  Dude Love beat Rockabilly, with no Honkytonk Man.  Undertaker did an interview regarding Michaels.  Hawk beat Bulldog via DQ when Owen hit Hawk with the European title belt.  Crush & Chainz no contest with Faarooq & Maivia when Los Boricuas attacked both teams.  Interrogator won a handicap match.  Patriot beat Owen via DQ when Bulldog and Bret interfered and Vader made the save.  Patriot gave Bret the full nelson drop after the match.  Patriot was said to be not over but his flag was over.  In what was likely for 9/5 Raw, Dude Love beat Bulldog via DQ when Owen ran in.  Owen teased doing the tombstone on Dude but LOD made the save.  Dude then started dancing and wanted LOD to dance but they wouldn't.  Undertaker beat Helmsley via DQ (if this is sounding redundant reading this, imagine what it must have been like live) when Shawn hit Taker with a chair.  Rude also came out helping Helmsley.  Taker choke slammed all the officials afterwards.  LOD beat Jesus & Jose via DQ when Godwinns interfered.  Animal did a tope on the Godwinns.  DOA did a run-in after Boricuas and LOD and Godwinns brawled as well.  After squash wins by Shamrock, Godwinns, Tiger Ali Singh (managed by both Iron Sheik and Tiger Jeet Singh carrying a Canadian flag), and Lynn, Undertaker beat Bret via DQ in a title match which wasn't taped when Owen hit Undertaker with a chair. . . Jim Ross & Jim Cornette announced on 8/29 and Ross & Dok Hendrix did the announcing on 9/5.  Ross & Hendrix was a reuniting of the duo that did Bill Watts old UWF around 1986. . . Sid's surgery on 8/13 was deemed successful, taking bone from his hip to reconstruct his neck.  Sid is still talking about taking legal action against the WWF for wrongful termination. . . House shows this past week saw 8/19 in Warwick, RI drew a near sellout 2,441 and $44,917, 8/20 in Cohasset, MA drew about 1,800 and $34,120, 8/21 in Hyannis, MA drew a near sellout 2,005 and $43,197, 8/22 in Houston drew 10,228 and an all-time city record wrestling gate of $155,308 and 8/23 in Albuquerque drew 6,304 and an all-time city record wrestling gate of $107,007. . . Houston was said to have been a hot show with the crowd into every match and every match except LOD & Goldust vs. Henry Godwinn & Pillman & Owen was said to have been watchable.  The six man was apparently real bad.  They announced at the show that WWF will do a PPV in Houston on February 15, 1998 and put tickets on sale already for that show.  Ahmed Johnson, who lives in Houston, was at the show and distracted Rocky Maivia causing he and Faarooq to lose to Crush & Chainz.  He appeared the night before on a local TV sports talk show with the IC title and claimed to be the current champion (he and Austin are good friends which explains why he may have had the belt but doesn't explain why he'd do that), said he'd be out for another ten weeks, ripped on Hogan (a has been), Greene, McMichael and Rodman (no talent, shouldn't be in the ring) and said WCW has no dedication to the business and just steals talent. . . Anthony McClanahan of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League has gotten some press because he's trying to imitate Dennis Rodman and also wants to get into pro wrestling.  He's supposed to start with Bret Hart and Leo Burke's wrestling classes in Calgary this week. . . Major shows for October are 10/4 in St. Paul, 10/5 PPV in St. Louis, 10/6 Raw in Kansas City, 10/7 Raw in Topeka, 10/11 at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, 10/12 at San Jose Arena, 10/13 in San Diego, 10/20 Raw in Oklahoma City, 10/21 Raw in Wichita, KS and 10/24 at Nassau Coliseum. . . WWF did some taping at Patriot's house which will probably air on Raw over the next two weeks and for the first time I've ever heard with a masked wrestler, besides saying his name was Del Wilkes as they've said before, they interviewed him with his family and without his mask on. . . Weekend ratings saw Live Wire at 1.3 and Superstars at 1.7.  One of the reasons for the jump in Superstars ratings isn't so much WWF is hotter, although it appears to be, but because it was usually preceded by paid programming that was doing abysmal 0.1 lead-ins and now there is regular programming so USA leads them in a far better audience.

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