News And Thoughts For The Week

News And Thoughts For The Week - Monday, 11/03/97

By Bill

The hotel I am staying in this week does not have TNT, so one of my regular readers, Creed from Creed's Wrestling Page, will be filling in for me. Since I am not doing any TV reports this week, I'm putting my newsfeed here.
Trivia Question: When Paul Bearer debuted as a wrestler in 1975, what was his name? (Note: It was not Percy Pringle) Answer is at the bottom.
Here's an interesting link: http://www.awawrestling.com/
It seems to be an official page, put out there by Verne Gagne. It's very much under construction, but has the potential to be really cool once the bulk of it is put together. Many of the major stars of today either started or spent formative years of their careers there, including, but not limited to: Hulk Hogan, Curt Hennig, Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall and Larry Zbyszko just to name a few.
The mailbag:
- On the subject of Flair's Surgery:
  I think that Flair may have had the softball-sized calcium deposit removed from his back. He has not, however, had the pit in the upper right portion of his back repaired. Apparently, the Army Corps of Engineers must not have been available on short notice.
  Charley S.
  Richmond, Virginia
- Hogan vs. Superman?
  I just read on a wrestling news board (www.wrestlingnews.com/news) about an article in a Las Vegas newspaper (a real one, not a tabloid) that says Hulk Hogan has been contacted by one of the producers of the new Superman movie to play a bad guy. It was speculated that he'd probably be playing Doomsday (musclebound, wouldn't have to talk much, yeah I could see that). Personally I think he should play Lex Luthor, cause he has the hairline for the role.
  Dog of War
- Subject: Landover
  You were at the Flair-Piper match?? So was I...I threw up in the bathroom and missed the main event.
- Subject: Mark Curtis
  Bill, I happened to catch a late night show on satellite called "Memories of USWA Wrestling". The match in progress featured a very aged and out of shape Rock 'n Roll Express against PG-13 for a tag team title. PG-13 got the pin and were promptly blindsided by the 'Express and their manager who turned out to be a long haired, bearded, WCW referee Mark Curtis who proceeded to stomp a big mudhole in PG-13's manager Randy Hale (complete with blading).
  While not very big, Curtis was wiry and in great shape and handled himself well. The save was made by Jerry Lawler and Brian Christopher. I don't think I'd ever seen 'Express as heels before. Anyhow, I know this isn't much but I remembered in one of your Nitro reports awhile back mentioning how Curtis had grappled an interfering fan and you had speculated about him having some wrestling background. Thought this might be of a little interest to you. Unfortunately they didn't give a date for the match.
  KW from Dodge City, KS
- As an answer to my request for information on Gedo, Dean Ayass from the U.K. writes:
  Gedo also used to tag up with a guy in Japan called Jado. They worked insane matches in FMW. They wore bright red T-shirts with the slogan "F**K YOU - WE'RE GEDO & JADO" on the back, with F**K spelled out. Never did manage to get hold of one of those...their most infamous incident was powerbombing Yukihiro Kanemura (of being sliced by Sullivan in Smoky Mountain fame) after having set the ring canvas on fire during a "fire scramble death match" - totally insane. YK had legit serious burns on his back. He's crying in pain as attendants pour water on him.
A few more comments on Halloween Havoc:
- The "fan" who climbed the cage seems to be a work. For one thing, Hogan and Savage spent an awful long time beating him up before security rushed in. Second, people who taped the broadcast said they watched it again and it looks like the punches were pulled. Third, and most important, another page reported that someone overheard Bischoff in one of the bars talking about it saying "He was supposed to get to me...". The reason I believe it is that the bar named was, in fact, the bar Bischoff was in after the show.
  I'm guessing the cage door was supposed to be locked when it happened. It would explain why the guy climbed the cage and then it could legitimately take a while for the Keystone Cops to get in. As it was, the length of time it took them to make their move even though the door was open really gave the game away.
- Another page reported that Misterio was supposed to lose the mask and they changed their mind an hour before the show. In my opinion, the entire thing of Misterio being pushed to lose his mask is a work for the Internet wrestling fans.
- From what I've read, the show is pretty much being panned by everyone. I was at the show, and being there in the arena was pretty cool. However, it sounds like it was pretty lame if you were watching it at home.
- And I almost forgot the highlight of the night. After the show, some woman went up to Okerlund and asked: "Aren't you the 'Time To Make The Doughnuts' guy?" Ha ha! I kid you not.
Best signs from last week's Nitro:
- Pi 3.14
- DDT Digest
- DDT Digest (by Tony S.'s right shoulder)
H.W.M. suggests the following sign:
Havoc Fan 3:16 says "Hogan just kicked my ass!"
Something a reader (sorry, forgot your name and I accidentally deleted the e-mail) pointed out to me that I noticed again on WCWSN is that the Steiners have the old WCW World Tag Team belts. In fact, a piece of one of the belts is missing. My guess is that Kevin Nash still has his and it is with him at home in Arizona. My understanding is that the champions hold onto their belts. Nash may not have had the opportunity (nor inclination) to give his back yet, as he is recuperating in Arizona. Years ago, the wrestler would actually have to put up a bond in case they lost or stole the belt. I'm not sure if they still do. In fact, Ric Flair owned the NWA/WCW belt years ago and took it with him to the WWF, when he appeared as the "Real World's Champion". Supposedly, the WCW had to buy it back from him for something like $25,000. Madusa physically having posession of the WWF Women's Belt gave her the opportunity to toss it in the garbage can in a WCW promo when she switched promotions.
A bunch of people noticed on last week's Nitro that when La Parka was thrown out of the ring, he landed on a set of legs that were sticking out from under the ring. Weird.
Pat F. from Toronto, Ontario, Canada wrote to let all the Canadians know that Nitro is now being shown in full in Canada. Its on TSN at 4pm EST on Wednesdays.
Many thanks to "The Dean" Mike Sweetser for sending me the JPGs of the DDT Digest signs on Nitro. You may want to check out his e-fed, Pro-Continental Championship Wrestling.
And, of course, many thanks to Ben Miller, the guy with the sign.
Trivia Answer: When Paul Bearer debuted as a wrestler in 1975, he was known as The Embalmer.
See you next week for Nitro!

News And Thoughts For The Week - Monday, 11/03/97

By Bill

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