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Andy Moseley

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THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING - 4.12.00 to 4.18.00

Hello, and welcome to another fun dose of History. You know, I just realized... I've nicknamed this column "History" for so long, yet the "History" was taken out of the title a few months ago. Whoops. Well, it's still being called History.

BRAVES UPDATE: The Braves rank in with a 4-3 record and are either half a game behind or half a game ahead of the Expos (of all teams) in the NL East, depending on if the Expos beat the Pirates Tuesday night. Andres Galarraga's miracle comeback has continued as he's up to four homers already, including a grand slam. Greg Maddux has a triple, too. The next seven days sees two more games against the Cubs in snowy Chicago today and Thursday, a three game weekend set in Milwaukee, an off day on Monday so the Braves can watch wrestling while the Phillies fly in, and Tuesday kicks off the second homestead of the season against the Phillies. Looking at my schedule here, you Thunder fans should be happy... there's not a single Braves game on TBS on Wednesdays this entire season.

Well, time for me to react to the new and improved Nitro. I watched the first hour from beginning to end, then did my usual flip over to USA and saw what happened during Raw's commercials. I have to admit it, I like what I saw. It was definitely better than what WCW has brought us every other Monday this year. On the other hand, they aren't out of their hole yet. I think the focus might have been on Russo and Bischoff a little too much (in a McMahon-sort of way), but that might have been necessary to get the storylines kicked off. I don't see how bringing in Sean Stasiak is going to help. It's not like he was over in the WWF in the first place (at least without Terri, Ryan, and Jacqueline showing some skin with him). Then there's the case of the pay-per-view this Sunday with one match so far. I read where they will announce who's facing off for the other titles at the PPV on Thunder (except WCW.com didn't mention the TV Title and no word about that women's division). Overall, I give them an "A" for effort but let's see if they can keep it up without the egos getting out of control again.

However, Mark Madden topless does NOT WORK. I see why he's called "Flounder" now. I am in no way a Tank Abbott fan, but maybe this signals the Nitro return of "The Brain." Let's hope so... he doesn't say SPINAROONI! SPINAROONI! SPINAROONI! And was Bischoff walking down the aisle really the most surreal thing Madden has ever experienced? If so, get a life man. And did Hogan say he was going to do what I thought he said he was going to do to Bischoff? Ewww... I always knew Hogan kissing Eric on the forehead was a sign of something. I guess we know why he gets the big bucks now. Hey, if nothing else, the unanswerable question was finally answered... we know who was driving the hummer.

Raw was average in their ways. It was overall a good show, and I'm really enjoying the Guerrero & Chyna stuff. I was one of the ones who actually thought Taka was going to win the WWF Title during that match, it was definitely a great match. I can't say I agree with Boss Man & Bull Buchanan in the main event in a cage. What happened to Head Cheese? What happened to Mideon? What happened to Mr. Backlund?

Side note: WCW's Bash at the Beach returns to Daytona Beach this year (July 9th) and I MIGHT be going. I might not. It depends. Stay tuned.

Why have I never seen the episode of "The Simpsons" guest starring Bret Hart in syndication? Do I just miss it everytime?

Well, not all that much actual history this week. There are a whole buttload of title changes, though. Sounds like a blast!



4.12:

1999 - The Godfather won his first WWF gold on Raw by beating Goldust for the I-C belt in Detroit.

1997 - Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki won the IWGP International tag belts from Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura in Tokyo. Meanwhile in Memphis, it's time for the "Jerry Lawler USWA heavyweight title change of the week" as Lawler lost the belt to King Reginald.

1987 - Mike Von Erich committed suicide by overdosing on Placidyl (a tranquilizer) at the age of 23.

1980 - The Samoans won the WWF World tag team gold from Ivan Putski and Tito Santana.

Birthdays - Tony Anthony, best known as T.L. Hopper, is having one today.



4.13:

1997 - ECW's first ever pay-per-view was broadcast live from where else but the ECW Arena in Philly. The main event was a two-match type thingy, with Terry Funk defeating Stevie Richards and the Sandman in a three-way match to earn a shot at Raven's title in the following match, which the dead man walking won. Perry Saturn of the Radicals & John Kronus regained the tag belts from the Dudley Boyz as well. In other matches: RVS d. Lance Storm ... Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji, and the Great Sasuke d. Terry Boy, Taka Michinoku, and Dick Togo ... TV champ Shane Douglas d. Pit Bull II ... Taz d. Sabu. In matches not shown on the PPV: Louie Spicolli d. Balls Mahoney ... Chris Chetti & J.T. Smith d. Tommy Rich & Little Guido.

1994 - In Rochester on "WWF Superstars" (I think), Diesel won his first WWF gold by winning the I-C belt from Razor Ramon. He wasn't busy trying to be funny back then by looking NOTHING like Vince McMahon. Meanwhile in St. Paul, MN, Jesse Ventura was awarded $809,958 by a federal jury as the result of a lawsuit against TitanSports. All but $8,625 was for videotapes which included Ventura.

1990 - The WWF, All-Japan, and New Japan did a joint show at the Tokyo Dome, featuring Hulk Hogan defeating Stan Hansen and Genichiro Tenryu pinning Randy Savage.

1931 - I remember it like it was just yesterday... Ed "Strangler" Lewis won the NWA World belt from Ed Don George (didn't I say he had three first names in a previous column?).



4.14:

Birthdays - Brian Adams is celebrating, but not in the nWo Black & White.



4.15:

1996 - The late, great Brian Pillman was in the automobile accident in Kentucky in which he suffered numerous injueries.

1995 - Two of ECW's all-time big stars faced off and resulted in an ECW heavyweight title change, with The Sandman winning the belt from Professor Shane Douglas.

1925 - Back 75 or so years ago (in other words, probably before any of us were born), Stanislaus Zbyszko won the NWA World title from Wayne Munn in Philadelphia. No word on if Stanislaus was a big golfer or not.



4.16:

1994 - Hey hey hey, Pit Bull won the ECW TV belt from J.T. Smith. Meanwhile in Tokyo, "Wild Pegasus" Chris Benoit won the Super J Cup junior heavyweight tournament, as he beat Great Sasuke in what is called the "junior heavyweight match of the decade."

1983 - Greensboro, NC, was the home of Greg Valentine's second NWA U.S. title win, as he defeated Roddy Piper when the match was stopped due to a gash on Piper's head.

1960 - The WWWF U.S. tag belts changed hands as Eddie & Dr. Jerry Graham won them from Red & Lou Bastien in New Haven, CT.



4.17:

1999 - Those Damn Dudleys won the ECW tag belts from Rob Van Dam & Sabu when Buh Buh Ray pinned RVD in a singles match for the belts.

1994 - The very first Spring Stamede (which may or may not be a good thing) was broadcast from Chicago. The main event was World champ Ric Flair defending his belt against Rick Steamboat, which had one of those corndog double-pins. The match was awarded to Flair. The last match on the card, however, was a Chicago street fight with World tag champs the Nasty Boys beating Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne. Also on the card: U.S. champ Steve Austin d. the Great Muta by DQ ... Sting d. Rick Rude ... Bunkhouse Buck d. Dustin Rhodes in a bunkhouse match ... TV champ Lord Steven Regal and Brian Pillman went to a time-limit draw ... Vader d. The Boss ... Johnny B. Badd d. DDP. In matches not televised: Danny Bonaduce d. Christopher Knight ... Kevin & Evad Sullivan d. Pat Tanaka & Paul Diamond.

1984 - Another WWF World tag title change, this time with Tony Atlas and a certain guy's father named Rocky Johnson losing the belts to Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch.

Birthdays - Nailz (the prisoner, not Kevin Kelly... who, by the way, is just about annoying as a commentator on HeAT) is celebrating and I guess he should get a birthday cake with a saw in it or something.



4.18:

1989 - Jumbo Tsuruta became the first All-Japan Triple Crown winner as he defeated Stan Hansen. Tsuruta was the NWA International champ and won Hansen's PWF and NWA United National belts to unify the three.

1991 - Stan Hansen & Dan Spivey won the All-Japan International tag belts from Terry Gordy and JR and Oklahoma's boy Steve Williams (who will call you "pally", because that's tough).

1990 - Legendary Mexican star Gory Guerrero, the father of Mando, Hector, and Chavo, died in El Paso.

Birthdays - Today, we celebrate the birth of one of the all-time legends of the WWF... "Brooklyn Brawler" Steve Lombardi. The only thing wrong with him is that Yankees shirt he wears sometimes!



NEXT WEEK (4.19 to 4.25): One In Your House with a funky subname, one Spring Stampede, one Backlash, two Crockett Cups, one Wrestlerock, we lose one of the greatest I-C champions of all time, and more! Have a good Palm Sunday and I'll see you next week for all kinds of Easter-related holidays!

Andy
Neve Campbell's #1 man
[slash] wrestling


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