Directly from the WWF website:
COULD THERE BE ANOTHER HELL IN A CELL MATCH AT THE 1998 KING OF THE RING?
According to Jim Ross on the latest edition of the Ross Report on the Superstar Line (1-900-737-4WWF), there are rumors circulating that World Wrestling Federation officials are currently working on bringing another HELL IN A CELL match to the 1998 King of the Ring!
As everyone knows, the first HELL IN A CELL match took place last October at "Badd Blood", and became one of the most memorable and aggressive matches in World Wrestling Federation history! That night, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels nearly annihilated each other inside the steel creation!
So, if this Hell in the Cell match happens (I'm assuming between Undertaker/Mankind) then the card for King of the Ring looks pretty damn good! So far:
World Title Match: Austin vs Kane
Hell In The Cell match: Undertaker vs Mankind
Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws vs L.O.D. 2000
KotR Tourney itself: 8 man tournament
Possibilities:
IC Title Match: The Rock vs ????
Owen vs Shamrock (depending on if neither of these guys make it to the tourney)
European Title Match: HHH vs ????
I hope most you got to read the second installment, because this one has come pretty quick. Of course, you can always just hit the link at the bottom to read #2 if you missed it. Anyways, another Monday night has come and gone. Sting joined nWo Wolfpac, Kane will get his first title shot, a new WWF stable has formed, and Benoit is still being screwed in WCW (sigh). 8)
More importantly, you can now read John Petrie's Monday Night recap at his Slobberknocker Central homepage. Like I've said before, John's got one of the best recaps on the net, so I whole-heartedly suggest checking it out.
I want to rant about the surplous of stables plaguing the wrestling world today. There's just too many! In the WCW, there are only 2 or 3, but the numbers in each stable is huge! The two nWo factions have more than six in each, and WCW as a faction is huge as well (though lacking in Main Eventers).
The WWF has even more: The Nation, D-X, DOA, LOD 2000 (I consider more than 2 guys a stable), Los Boriquas, The Jackyl's Parade Of Oddites, Kaientai, Southern Justice (for lack of a better stable name), and the rumoured Shamrock/Severn/Blackman alliance.
In ECW, there's The Dudleys, The Triple Threat, and a few others (though I'm not up on my ECW these days).
Now I'm not saying stables don't work. Look at the original nWo: Hall, Nash, Hogan, Ted DiBiase. (Correct me if I'm wrong). Here we have three of the biggest names in wrestling and their manager. Fine. A Horsemen for the future perhaps. And this trio of wrestlers and a manager turned the tide in the ratings war toward WCW two years ago. It was exciting, fresh and new. But it seems that everyone hpped on the band wagon. The nWo got bigger. And bigger. The Nation Of Domination popped up in the WWF. That group disintergrates. Now we have two more: DOA and Los Boriquas. Blah blah blah.... and the rest is history.
What ever happened to the "stable structure" of the 80's? It was much better. for example, Jimmy Hart managed The Hart Foundation, Honky Tonk Man, Adrian Adonis, and a few more different guys over the years. Jimmy would show his face on the same ppv oor tv show 2 or 3 times but with a different member of his stable. But how often did stable members cause a disqualification for another? Not nearly as often as we do now, which is on a weekly basis. The only time I can remember off the top of my head where a member of the Hart Stable helped another is when the Hart Foundation held Randy Savage so Honky could lay him out with the guitar.
How many clean pins do we ever see between feuding stables? When was the last time a stable member pinned clean without interference? How many clean finishes have we seen on nitro since the nWo started? Not many. Vince and Eric should realize that too many stables, too many rivaling factions just gets boring. Plain and simple. Sure, the shock value of "who will be the next member" has its advantages, but perhaps overuse put WCW back to #2.
Much like Shawn Michaels, another wrestler who has done alot for the world of pro-wrestling is:
Bret "Hitman" Hart
What they say is true. If there's any wrestler today who stands for tradition, it's Bret Hart. He's never had some fancy gimmic, like being a plumber, a dead man, a rocker, or a real american. Bret Hart simply went out and wrestled. Whether it be in The Hart Foundation or as a singles wrestler, he has earned great amounts of respect by being a hard worker and a great pro-wrestler. Bret has worked from the bottom up to being one of the most recognized and decorated wrestlers today. From his time in Stampede Wrestling, to his tenure in the WWF, and now an instant main eventer in WCW, Bret has worked hard to arguably be the best there is, was and will be.
I won't spend much time discussing Stampede Wrestling (which was based in Calgary and run by Bret's father Stu Hart), simply because I have little or no experience with it. I know that a large portion of "Big Time" Canadian pro-wrestlers as well as American wrestlers made their start there. Guys like Owen Hart, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Jim Neidhart, and the late, great Brian Pillman. But since this article deals with a wrestler's impact in the last five years, I'll focus mainly on Bret's WWF and WCW stint.
When Hulk Hogan left the WWF several years ago for "greener pastures down south", Vince McMahon needed a champ who could be that #1 fan favourite much like Hulk Hogan. Yokozuna had beaten Hogan and was on a tremendous roll as World Champion, one of the best heel champions ever. Bret had won the World title once already, from Ric Flair at a house show in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Bret had a loyal fan following, but a problem was that just Bret wasn't a heavyweight. Bret lost his title to Yokozuna who ended up losing it back to Hogan 5 minutes later.
Anyway, after Hogan had gone, Vince needed something more than a fan favourite. He needed a role model. His #1 and #2 faces were Lex Luger and Bret Hart. Both men ended up winning the Royal Rumble that year, creating an interesting scenario for their guaranteed World Title shots. I for one thought Luger was a lock to win the title. But I think Vince saw something in Bret Hart, and took a risk. Bret won his second World title at Wrestlemania 10, which started a great title reign where he took on all comers. Sometimes he lost. Most times he won. Bret hart never needed to "hulk up". He didn't need to shake the ring ropes and growl like a madman. Bret Hart was a wrestler, and beat his challengers with skill - sharpshooters, small packages, roll-ups, even the crossface chicken wing.
Bret's mic skills wreren't that great, but his actions could get his point across. Like Shawn Michaels, Bret could carry almost anyone to a 4 star match. In total, Bret was champion an impressive 5 times.
But then Bret's popularity began to dwindle, much like his predecessor Hulk Hogan before him. So, Bret slowly began to dwindle. He lost his fourth title to Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 12, and disappeared. Bret came back at the Survivor Series to answer the challenge of up and comer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, which would be the feud that first put Austin over with the fans as a real heel. It would be a classic rematch at Wrestlemania 13 that would Austin over as a face and Bret..... as a heel.
Of course, Bret's "Anti-american", crybaby angle would be the angle that would eventually cause Bret to desire to leave the WWF. He didn't agree with Vince's new direction and wanted out. Of course, the problem here was that Bret was now in his fifth title reign. Vince wanted him to job to Michaels again at Survivor Series '97. Bret refused, saying he didn't want to lose the title in Canada if it was to be his last WWF PPV match. So, he said he'd forfit the title on the next night's RAW in Ottawa. This seemed ok, but Vince had a problem. The next live Nitro. Vince figured that Bischoff had a chance to say he had signed the current WWF champion to WCW/nWo, and didn't want to give him that chance. So, as we all know, Vince "screwed" Bret Hart out of his 5th WWF Title that night at the Survivor Sreies. A move which got Vince much slack from his employees, his wrestlers and the WWF fans. It even got him a black eye from Bret himself.
But a few weeks or months later, Bret Hart showed up in WCW. He expected a hero's welcome and all the fan support had before any of the things that had happened in the WWF. But he didn't. Bret didn't get much in ring time or much mic time. Bret was no longer a big fish in a small pond, he was getting lost in the shuffle in a wrestling organization where there where already far too many inflated egos and big name stars. So, after a while... Bret's shock value fizzled out and Bischoff did what McMahon had to do to get Bret over: turn him heel. Now we have the Bret Hart of the present: stuck in a storyline with the nWo, fighting men (like him) who are past their prime, protecting Hogan's title only so he can win it from him at the next Starrcade which just happens to occur in Toronto this year.
Sorry to have this article go on so long, but the point of all this is that Bret Hart carried the WWF through its tough times in the early/mid 1990's, not through the dumb angles he's a apart of now, but through hard work, dedication and skill. Bret Hart now expects instant celebrity, but he has to realize he most likely won't get it without working at it.
I'm also sorry this article ends on a slightly sour note, but I've come to lose a lot of respect for Bret since he left for WCW. But still I can't deny that at his true peak, his 2nd regin as WWF champ, Bret was THE man in pro-wrestling. He carried a company out of bankruptcy, and deserves respect for that. Without Bret, wrestling today wouldn't be the same.
Now for some news (some old, some new)... plucked from various sources around the web. If you want to read about these tidbits in greater detail, I suggest checking out some of the great wrestling newspages located on my Links page.
This week Sylvester Ritter, who was known among wrestling fans as The Junk Yard Dog, passed away due to injuries resulting from a car accident. JYD was a big fan favourite during his career, especially during the eighties, when I remember him best. My deepest sympathies to his family, friends and fans.
And a small apology to SCOOPS for stealing the above JYD graphic. JYD pictures are too hard to come by. 8)
Thanks for reading, and the next update should show up sooner than later!Click to visit the previous "News and Views". (though slightly condensed)
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