INSIDE THE RING NEWSLETTER
by Trevor Hunnicutt and Eddie T.
Edition 44
WWE TV FROM THE PAST WEEK
by Trevor Hunnicutt
RAW
RAW drained Smackdown of its best people, giving them faux-egalitarian
trades in return, in order to create a show that felt new, fresh, young, hip, and
had fresh match-ups. And congratulations: for a couple weeks, this show felt
just like this. But hotshotting, which has been the base of this show since
after the One Night Stand PPV, always backfires. Hogan vs. Michaels is the
headlining dream match and that’s about as deep as it goes in the valley that is
Triple H’s summer vacation. School is indeed out for summer, because when the
parade of senior citizens didn’t take center stage, John Cena’s tired act
that people want to hate, but don’t because he’s got so much energy he won’t
let it die, got to play champion. His interaction with Jericho amounted to
using the word “cheap” as many times in one sentence as was possible. It was a
reminder that only the Rock can play the Rock. Jericho’s mic work didn’t even
reach this level once this night. We did have a lot of time to see him, as he
was in the opening segment arguing with Carlito about whose segment was the
best. It was no more than 15 minutes of discussion building up Roddy Piper
talking for 15 minutes to Michaels. That segment was good, but there was no good
explanation for Michaels turn, and that’s problematic, but the crowd didn’t
care. Of course, the time wasting continued with the Diva Search and various
women dancing and pretending that they had talent. Alexis, the only wrestling
fan that was part of this, was cut, as expected. There was some wrestling as
a part of all this, and the little bit of it they had was highlighted by
Angle vs. the teacher who got fired for doing wrestling. Somehow, in the world
of wrestling, this made him face. He turned in a good enough performance and
Angle sold for him like he was Cena. And most importantly, Matt Hardy, and I
buried the lead because it’s been discussed so much. The execution was good,
but there was no need to tease it twice. All of the pieces are here, as is the
focus, but these writers continually prove that simply following the rules
doesn’t replace actual talent.
Score: 6/10
SmackDown!
Smackdown remains the weekly wrestling show of miscellany. Whatever ideas
are left over from the late-night sessions that produce RAW, it seems, end up
lopped on the Smackdown crew. It’s not bad enough to be self-parody (as it has
been in the past, or as Nitro was famously) but it’s just bad enough to not
draw, and that’s a position WWE seems content with. When Spike Dudley
references a sinking ship, he’s refering to the effects of the same sort of booking
that produces shows like these on a weekly basis. The Eddie Guerrero/Rey
Mysterio feud has the most emotional depth of any feud since Orton/Foley, and this
has more than even that because of Mysterio and Guerrero’s skill at playing
their roles. All of this latest secret stuff is Rey’s idea, by the way, if
you were wondering. That said, I’m split on it. The payoff is not immediate, so
it remains to be seen how effective it is. Right now, it threatens to hurt
both wrestler’s credibility. At best, it can be candidate for feud of the
year. Tonight’s angle with Vicky and children was good, in the context of what
they’ve been doing, but again it could either be really good or really bad in
the long run. They played it into a match with Bob Holly well, and in general
did good promoting the matches tonight, but without any necessary creativity
or flair. Batista/Jordan didn’t cut it, the cruiserweight match was good, and
everything else was where it needed to be in-ring, but like RAW, this was an
angle-heavy show. Even if Hawk didn’t die at 46, Nitro’s reference to his
death was tasteless. Muhammad Hassan’s lawyer was a Russo-level attempt at
blowing his character off until the fire dies down. Fat Joe and Heidenreich fail
to excite me. Nor does this card for Great American Bash.
Score: 5.5/10
RAW PREVIEW FOR TONIGHT (7/18)
by Eddie T.
WWE.com’s main topic in hand for tonight’s edition of Monday Night RAW is
the challenge laid out by Shawn Michaels last week for a one-on-one match
against Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam. It was plugged earlier tonight on Hogan Knows
Best on Vh-1, that Hulk Hogan will appear on RAW tonight and give his answer. If
you are one of the three people wondering what the answer is, then yes,
Hogan will accept the challenge, and the two will build up to what should be a
good storyline and a great match at SummerSlam.
The WWE.com preivew mentions that the Diva Search continues this week. I
don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing tonight, but hopefully it’ll be
kept short, and it won’t be painful. I can dream, right?
Also on the WWE website, they ask what could be next for John Cena and Chris
Jericho following the announcement last week that the two will fight at
SummerSlam for the WWE Championship. WWE should do a good job of building up
Jericho properly for the match, so I expect to see some of that tonight. I also
hope this will elevate Jericho to a top-level guy and keep him there after
SummerSlam. They need more fresh stars at the top, and Jericho is someone who’s
been kept out of there for quite some time. I’m also sure there’ll be some
backlash from the FU Bischoff took last week, so I won’t be surprised if Cena
is booked into an “impossible to overcome” handicap match.
The best thing to do with Matt Hardy this week is to keep him off TV. If the
company is smart, they will refer to the angle and what happened through
Edge and Lita, but will keep Matt away. That way he really creates the illusion
that he is not under contract. His web site is down and his appearance on
Byte This! on Wednesday where he got into it with Lita did an OK job of
continuing the storyline. The pieces need to come together within a week or two,
where Hardy should lay off his plan or make a challenge for a match. This might
take longer, as well. Until then, however, he should be very carefully booked,
and I think a good decision would be to keep him off tonight.
>From what I’ve read, it’s pretty much a lock that Triple H will not be
around for a while. The Game refused to do a match with Ric Flair at SummerSlam,
so he shouldn’t be around for another month. Unless they’ve come up with
something for him to do at SummerSlam, I’d expect him to return now. I highly
doubt that though.
We might find out what’s Kurt Angle doing at SummerSlam. It’ll be cool if
Striker shows up again.
I’m not sure what Carlito and Shelton Benjamin can do other than fight each
other, but unless other names are added to the battle over the IC title, then
I don’t see either Carlito or Shelton doing anything but feuding themselves
again.
AN EXTENSIVE LOOK AT SHIN’YA HASHIMOTO
by Trevor Hunnicutt
As was reported here last night, Shin’ya Hashimoto passed away at around
9:30 am local time (12:30 am Coordinated Universal Time; 8:30 pm Sunday Eastern
Time) Monday morning in Yokohama, Japan, reportedly due to a brain aneurism.
He was 40.
According to a report by Sankei Sports, Hashimoto collapsed at 8:55 am and
an ambulance was called. He arrived at Yokohama Itiminami Ku hospital
approximately an hour and a half later and was pronounced dead.
Further information on the causation behind his death was immediately
unavailable, but rumors surfaced that Hashimoto had a high blood pressure
condition.
Hashimoto had also been recovering from surgery on his shoulder. His last
match was on August 31 of last year, where Hashimoto and Yoshiaki Fujiwara
dropped the intercontinental tag team championships (a title he held twice) to
Shinjiro Ohtani and Takao Omori in Morioka. In the immediate aftermath, the
company suffered from losing its two top draws in Hashimoto and Naoya Ogawa, who
trained full-time for fighting in PRIDE.
The surgery didn’t happen until December 10 and while it had been hoped that
he could have it done by the well-respected sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews
in America, who operates on most WWE wrestlers, it ended up happening in
Tokyo. After the nine-hour operation, there was no indication as to whether
Hashimoto would ever be able to return to the ring.
A consummate worker and successful draw, Hashimoto is a member of the
Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. As a headliner on eight shows that have drawn over
50,000 fans, his legacy as a draw is in some ways unmatched, but has been
overshadowed by other figures in Japanese wrestling, many times unjustly
partially because of his recent losses. He is a former three-time IWGP Champion,
All Japan Triple Crown winner, NWA Champion, IWGP Tag Team Champion, and winner
of the 1998 G-1 Climax.
Born July 3, 1965 in Toki, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, Hashimoto was poor and
both of his parents died when he was young. He had some judo background in his
early years and joined the New Japan dojo at 19—along with other legends
Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono. Slightly more than four months later, on September
1, 1984 in Tokyo, Hashimoto made his in-ring debut. A few years later, he
was sent to the United States to get experience between October 1987 and July
1989; he worked in Calgary, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee. In Japan, the massive
Tokyo Dome was built, and Hashimoto was brought back to work on the first
wrestling show there and get a massive push.
He pinned Riki Choshu and then Victor Zangiev before losing to Vader in a
tournament to crown the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would win his first
major title—the IWGP Tag Title—in September 1989 with Masa Saito.
Although he was a relatively minor player, his tag team match with Chono
against Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi featuring Lou Thesz as referee, was
his first main event sellout—and New Japan’s first Tokyo Dome sellout. He lost
the match, which took place on February 10, 1990.
By this time, Hashimoto had developed into both a good worker and one of the
biggest stars in New Japan. He and his fellow Dojo trainees, Chono and Muto,
were the focus of New Japan in the early 90s, and some of the biggest
legends in recent Japanese wrestling. They are commonly known as the Three
Musketeers. His gimmick was that of a shooter, or legitimate fighter, mastering the
New Japan Strong Style wrestling. The reputation has cemented the reputations
of many of Japan’s most successful draws, from Antonio Inoki in the 1970s to
Naoya Ogawa in 2004. A new generation of shoot fighters, from Kazushi
Sakuraba to Bob Sapp, have benefited from a reputation of being the most successful
legitimate fighters, and at all times it is part-gimmick, part-reality.
In 1990, Hashimoto feuded with Tony Halme, using the boxer vs. wrestler
formula. Hashimoto put Halme over and he became a star. Eventually, Hashimoto
would have a hand in the drawing success of the aforementioned Ogawa.
Hashimoto split from Muto and Chono in 1993, winning the title from Muto,
and pinning Genichiro Tenryu in 1994. He beat Tatsumi Fujinami for his second
IWGP title on May 1, 1994. He held the belt for a year, losing to Muto on May
3, 1995, but not before headlining the January 4 Dome show with Kensuke
Sasaki. He was the Tokyo Sports Wrestler of the Year in 1994.
The April 29, 1996 New Japan Tokyo Dome show was built off of a title match
between champion Nobuhiko Takada and Hashimoto. At least in the confines of
worked reputation, Takada was a shooter of good repute, and despite a
catalogue of fights that would indicate the opposite, he is still thought to be a
great fighter by the Japanese public. Hashimoto pinned Takada in front of 65,000
fans. He kept the title until August 31, 1997, when he lost it to Sasaki. He
had also headlined the New Years (January 4) Dome show with Riki Choshu.
Ogawa, a former Olympic medalist in judo, was a national hero. His lucrative
crossover into professional wrestling was a significant gain for the
business. A credit to Hashimoto’s value, Ogawa’s first feud was with him. In his
debut match, on April 12, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome, he pinned Hashimoto. The
Tokyo Dome sold out for their rematch on May 3, where Hashimoto retained his
title. Two years later a worked-shoot style match between the two and several
more main event matches at the Tokyo Dome further established Ogawa as a star
and helped him become one of the few professional wrestling draws in Japan
recently. Almost 35 million people watched their April 7, 2000 match in which
Hashimoto said he would retire if he lost.
But the feud with Ogawa also took hurt Hashimoto’s reputation and he
suffered. Out of four Dome matches with Ogawa, he lost three and the other was a
draw.
Chono has traditionally been thought to symbolize New Japan, much like
Inoki, but Hashimoto also stakes a claim to such a legacy. From a drawing
standpoint, Hashimoto’s career is similar to Bruno Sammartino in his era headlining
more shows for the original Vince McMahon or Hulk Hogan headlining hugely
successful live shows. Nonetheless, he remains one of the most popular figures
for fans of Japanese pro wrestling in the 90s.
On November 13, 2000, Hashimoto registered the Zero-One name in Japan and
left New Japan (with Ohtani) to run the new promotion. He was the figure head,
owner, promoter, and top star. Similarly, in the same year, Mitsuharu Misawa
left All Japan Wrestling with most of its stars to create Pro Wrestling NOAH.
The promotion was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance, and also
had agreements with NOAH and All Japan (Hashimoto, as mentioned earlier, held
the Triple Crown title).
Zero-One has used talent from New Japan, but it hasn’t taken nearly as big a
bite out of their business as NOAH has done All Japan. The promotion has
used wrestlers for Japanese and American independents.
The promotion was built around Hashimoto until various injuries took
Hashimoto from the company, and he was replaced by a variety of people, including
Ohtani, Masato Tanaka, Kohei Sato, and Ogawa.
In 2004, the promotion formed another company with Dream Stage Entertainment
(which promotes PRIDE) called Hustle. The silly organization, which pokes
fun at pro wrestling (including WWE), involved both Hashimoto (as “King Hustle”
) and Ogawa as top stars. The promotion is not intended to be taken
seriously, and at the box office it has not, as the promotion has had difficulty
finding a profitable niche. In the promotion, Hashimoto has faced and beaten
Vader, with Toshiaki Kawada lost to Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman (doing pro
wrestling), and lost to the Outsiders (Nash & Hall) with Ogawa.
With the financial problems of the traditional pro wrestling industry in
Japan surmounting, Zero One collapsed in 2004. The remains were given to Ohtani
and the promotion was reincarnated as Zero-One Max.
Hashimoto’s death will only further debate about the safety and health of
athletes and athletic performers in Japan, especially in professional wrestling
and mixed-martial arts.
Yoshihiro Takayama was giving a speech in a Tokyo university about the
safety of athletes, when shortly beforehand he heard a rumor of Hashimoto’s death,
according to Yahoo Sports Navigator in Japan and in translation provided by
Puroresu Power. In 2004, Takayama himself suffered a horrible stroke after a
violent match with Kensuke Sasaki.
Two Japanese politicians and former wrestlers, Atsushi Onita (the FMW
promoter) and Hiroshi Hase (the NJPW wrestler Hashimoto faced many a time), stopped
short of suggesting any government reforms that would consider more closely
the health of pro wrestlers and mixed-martial artists.
Assemblyman Onita said that Hashimoto supported the structural reform of the
pro-wrestling industry and that Hashimoto was a very important symbol in
this fight, according to an interview by Nikkan Sports. Assemblyman Hase called
Hashimoto’s death unbelievable and expressed his sadness over the death of a
man who he has known for 20 years.
Chono called the death tragic, but said that Hashimoto enjoyed life.
Sakaguchi, still with New Japan, noted that Hashimoto has had problems with
high-blood pressure for a long time. According to Sports Nippon, Sakaguchi tied the
mental and emotional stress involved with Zero-One, to Hashimoto’s health.
Ogawa, much like Hase, expressed disbelief and shock over the death. PRIDE and
Hustle promoter Nobuyuki Sakakibara called Hashimoto one of the cornerstones
of Hustle and had spoken with him recently about returning to the ring.
Sakakibara said he would fulfill Hashimoto’s “dying wishes” at the upcoming Hustle
shows and would help with funeral arrangements if necessary.
A ten-bell salute was to be held for Hashimoto at Monday night’s NOAH show
at Kochi Resident Gymnasium.
TBL and ITR express our condolences to the family and friends of Shin’ya
Hashimoto.
You can also read a tremendous column on this topic by Trevor Hunnicutt by
clicking at this link –
_http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/figurefour/2005/0716.shtml_
(http://www.thebalrogslair.com/opinions/figurefour/2005/0716.shtml)
WRESTLING LEGEND JOSE MIGUEL PEREZ SR. PASSES AWAY
by Eddie T.
Early Saturday morning, the world of professional wrestling parted ways with
yet another legendary superstar. At age 68, Jose Miguel Perez Sr. died of a
massive heart attack while taking a shower. Perez was popular for being one
half of a tag team with Argentina Rocca. The Perez/Rocca team headlines matches
around the world, bust mostly in MSG in the late 1950s, which was the best
period of time historically, for tag team wrestling. The duo never lost a
match in MSG, and was popular for main eventing many bouts.
We extend our condolences and feelings of sorrow towards the family and
friends of Jose Miguel Perez, Sr. Rest In Peace.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ON THE MATT HARDY SITUATION
by Eddie T.
Well, based on the e-mail feedback I’ve received following Monday Night RAW,
and by doing a simple surf of the Internet, it’s obvious that the most asked
questions today are concerning Matt Hardy‘s return to Monday Night RAW.
Similarly like I did with the WWE releases a few days ago, I figured I’ll go
ahead and give you a rundown of what’s going on, hoping that you’ll learn
something new. I’ll also add my thoughts on the situation.
Was This a Work or For Real?
– I honestly can’t believe how many people are asking that question, which
really makes me think about today’s WWE audience. Of course it was a work. The
two segment that took place on RAW were booked into the show, and Hardy,
WWE, Lita, Edge, and everyone involved knew that they were happening. Do you
honestly think that WWE will let anyone, even Matt Hardy, do what they did if it
wasn’t planned? That they wouldn’t cut to commercial and show it? If you do,
then you’re dead wrong.
What About Hardy’s Comments?
– This is pro wrestling. Consider yourself worked! I give Matt Hardy a lot
of credit for doing what he’s been doing over the past few weeks. He used an
outlet in his website to build up to something special. In the modern days of
wrestling, he basically gave you a storyline directly to your computer screens
and in the touch of your fingers, instead of having you watch a TV show for
it. Matt Hardy involved all of his fans into the storyline, and brought you
that much closer to it! I am sure there’s going to be a lot of people who will
be ticked off that he basically “worked” them. He tried his best with his
latest commentaries to make everyone think he’s not going to WWE, but rather
TNA and the indy scene. He succeeded. He was smart in that he knew when to shut
up, and when to comment. His creativity was certainly shown here.
Has He Signed a Contract?
– Yes, it’s pretty sure at this point in time that Hardy has signed a
contract with WWE. As to when that happened, my guess would be in the beginning of
June. Paul Heyman actually asked for permission to say the things he said in
his “shoot” to the WWE troops at ECW One Night Stand and if WWE OK’d for him
to do the Edge/Matt referrence, then I’m pretty sure they had either signed
him by that time, or they were sure they were going to.
What’s Next!?
– A lot of people are linking this storyline to the past. (Brian Pilman
everyone?) Judging on the history of storylines like this, the best thing WWE and
Matt Hardy can do is to estatblish the fact that Matt is with the company
but at the same time that he wants nothing to do with them. He did a post after
RAW basically saying that he’s a free man still, and WWE can’t control him.
The postings on the site have to stop, as it wouldn’t be logical for Hardy to
keep saying he’s not with WWE if he appears on weekly basis. They should
only play that factor in the TV show now. He will do the ROH show on Sunday, and
the other bookings on the indy scene that he has already signed up for. If
WWE is smart, they’ll let him do even more indy shows to further the
storyline. It should be quite interesting to see what this leads to. I must say, so
far it’s been done pretty well. The only thing I would have done differently is
not done the segments on RAW where Edge and Lita showed Snitsky the repeat
of the wedding (especially Matt’s video part), or the attack backstage, which
just seemed useless. Kudos to WWE and Hardy and let’s see if in the end,
we’ll still feel positive about this, or not.
WWE GETS BAD PUBLICTY OVER HASSAN ANGLE
by Eddie T.
UPN told WWE that they don’t want Muhammad Hassan to appear on next week’s
edition of SmackDown! due to the tons of bad publicity both WWE and UPN have
gotten this weekend and yesterday over what took place last week. Hassan did
appear at the SmackDown! tapings but was a part of Velocity only. He was
talking about on SmackDown! but was never shown on camera.
As far as the bad media publicity over the wretched storyline goes, Variety
has posted an article on how bad it’s been, that summarizes it well. You can
read that by clicking _HERE._
(http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117925769?categoryid=1011&cs=1&s=h&p=0)
JURY AWARDS $1.34 MILLION IN WRONGFUL WRESTLING DEAD SUIT
by Eddie T.
The parents of Brian Ong, a wrestling school student, were awarded about
$1.34 million in a wrongful death lawsuit against Pacific Coast Sports (based in
Hayward, CA), and its owner Roland Alexander. The reason given was that the
jury felt the school acted recklessly in its coaching of an injured Ong before
coming back, when he took a fatal flapjack bump from Dalip Singh, who was in
the “Longest Yard.”
PAST WEEK’S RATINGS
by Eddie T.
Monday Night RAW scored a 3.6 rating with a 5.5 share this past Monda on
SpikeTV. Although this is up from the horrifying July 4th rating last week, it’s
certainly nowhere near what WWE was doing before the holiday. The number is
off of hours of 3.3 and 3.8.
Velocity and Heat did a 0.7, while Experience did a 0.5 cable rating. All
three shows had a 1.4 share.
SmackDown! scored a 3.1 rating this week, slightly lower from what the
show’s been doing as of late. You would think this will send them a message as far
as the Hassan stuff is concerned. You would think…
GREAT AMERICAN BASH CARD
by Eddie T.
– World Champion Batista vs. John Bradshaw Layfield.
– WWE Tag Team Champions MNM vs. Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich.
– U.S. Champion Orlando Jordan vs. Chris Benoit.
– Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. If Guerrero wins, he will tell Rey’s
“secret”. If he loses, he will never reveal it.
– The Undertaker vs. Muhammad Hassan in a number one contender match.
– Melina vs. Torrie Wilson in a Bra & Panties match.
– Booker T vs. Christian.
CONTACT US
TREVOR HUNNICUTT – _THunnicutt at aol.com_ (mailto:THunnicutt at aol.com)
EDDIE T. – _Levski11 at aol.com_ (mailto:Levski11 at aol.com)
