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Falls
Count Anywhere
03-25-07
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But
I can find it on eBay.
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Welcome
to Falls Count Anywhere! My name is Chris and I still can't
freakin' talk about it!
Some
Notes
This week, I missed SmackDown!. It's rare that I don't' even
get a tape of it, but folks were busy and I missed it. There's
still a lot to talk about.
The big
news is still the Steroid scandal. The big names are all off
the hook, as it stands, but the little names might have some
more trouble. Those other names haven't made the wire services
yet, but according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer,
there's at least a half-dozen more. My guess is that they'll
probably hand out a few suspensions to those folks, but I
doubt they'll fire anyone.
The bigger
issue is Sports Illustrated. They're running a big
story about it, really focusing on Gary Mathews, Jr. The big
problem is they got all the names of the wrestlers and are
using that as a secondary focus. That may change and they
could become a bigger part of the piece.
The last
time there was a focus on wrestling's steroid issues it was
1992 and whether directly or indirectly, it really caused
business to drop to dangerously low levels that didn't pick
up until the Monday Night Wars were in full swing. The Phil
Donahue episode with Meltzer, Vince, Barry O and a few others
was brutal on Vince, but was really about the sex scandals.
The WWF
got hit hard and Vince was actually brought up for various
charges including conspiracy and distribution of illegal substances.
The real problem with it wasn't that Vince didn't do anything
illegal, because he did, but the charges, much bigger than
the crimes he was guilty of, were poorly chosen.
This time
there's no criminal charges being brought, or at least not
yet. The idea that they might take the article in SI and then
file charges is there, but it's not likely. The BALCO trial
is still going on and they're having a hell of a time making
things stick, so the odds are they'll just get off.
This could
be the biggest story of the year, or it could just be swept
under the rug when the other big story breaks fully. The purchase
of Pride by Zuffa, the group that owns UFC, is either very
close to being completed or is finished and just not announced.
Dana White of UFC has said that there's no deal, but he could
have been told to keep things quiet. This would be huge and
there are plans.
Since
UFC is really hot in the US and Pride really hasn't taken
hold, the idea is they'll keep Pride as a separate brand,
mostly for Japanese audiences and then have UFC bring guys
in for big matches when they need them. That would be huge,
but there are a lot of potential problems with a non-Japanese
company doing business in Japan.
The big
deal will be the fact that UFC has several fights on the horizon
that could do huge business. Mirko Cro Cop vs. Randy Couture
will do great business, if it happens because Cro Cop's got
a match before that and it's possible that he could become
victim of the Curse of 2007 where the heavy fave ends up losing
at the worst possible time. The recent win of Randy Couture
over the favored Tim Sylvia was just another example, and
pretty much every match on the last big Pride show fits that
mold.
The UFC
purchase would be even bigger than WWF buying WCW because
it's the two biggest MMA companies in the world combining.
It would be closest to WWF getting bought out by New Japan
in 1998 or so. That's how big a deal it is. I gotta say that
I'm hoping this works out and isn't another set-up for a fall
like the WCW purchase was.
So, that's
the current news in wrestling. I'll have a report on RAW on
Thursday and hopefully we'll get caught up on other articles
I've put on the site soon!
Talk
about today's column in the forums!
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