Falls Count Anywhere

10-25-07

anyone know where we could donate money?

San Francisco Fiasco
These Wrestling Fan Fests sound like such a great thing but too often they turn into massive failures. The Cow Palace WrestleFest was one of those failures, partly because they just over-reached and partly because the promoters were jerks.

Sadly, I couldn’t go. I had planned on going to the Ring of Honor show, but circumstances forced me away. A shame, too, because it sounds like there were some decent matches, with everyone saying that Austin Aries vs. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson was a match worth every penny. Those two are both exceptional athletes and have both had good runs with the belt (Aries beat Samoa Joe and Danielson lost the belt because he got injured and had to drop it). I hope they’ll make the West Coast Swing an annual event.

OK, to the Fan Fest itself. Sales were not what they expected. Part of the reason was the price. Even with the top packages you didn’t get all the autographs and they were in the 500 dollar range. That’s just nuts. I am really angry with any signing that doesn’t throw in at least most of the autographs for a reasonable fee (the Newark signing in late 2005 was 60 bucks but it got you Piper, the Hart Foundation, Rocky Johnson, RVD and a bunch of others). I understand that some folks buy tables to sell their own autographs, and that’s fine, but you should get your money’s worth.

The second problem was no-shows. That is the biggest problem over-all in Indy Wrestling because that money is so small you have to take what you can get for the highest amount you can. That led much of the talent for the MMA show they had scheduled on Saturday to book themselves elsewhere. That was a problem, but the cage they had also wasn’t put together properly and that led to the commission not allowing it, which led the promoter to say that he wasn’t paying anyone for the show. Now on one level that totally makes sense, but on another, that’s just plain old fashioned bastardity. It’s a shame.

The Friday night show was legends and Indies and had a long card announced. Only one match took place as planned: The Steiners over Team 3-D. The Steiners won, by the way. The match that a lot of folks were very excited for was Dr. Death Steve Williams vs. Mil Mascaras. That didn’t happen because Mil didn’t show. Neither did Kevin Nash or Scott Hall or Kurt Angle (who claimed to have a stomach flu) and about 10 other folks. The show sounded like fun still, even with all the troubles.

The scariest thing was Lex Luger. The guy’s in bad shape and at first it was thought that he had a heart attack in his hotel. He was rushed to Stanford Medical Center and according to the Observer, he had a nerve problem that ended up with him being temporarily paralyzed. That’s bad news. As of Sunday, he was still listed as in Stable condition at the hospital.

There was also an incident with Don The Predator Frye and Sonny Westbrook. The two got into a fight that has had various people saying various things. I got it from the mouth of someone who was there and it sounded like Frye was drunk and Westbrook was being a jerk and they went at it. These things happen.

The worst part was the promoters supposedly slipped away early so they could avoid the guys who weren’t getting paid. That’s the sad part. If you’re going to put one of these things on, you better well know you’re going to lose money and be ready to face that. No word on what happened to guys who didn’t get paid.

Lesnar’s Official
UFC and Brock Lesnar came to terms and he was at the UFC 77 show where they did an interview with him. They’re pushing him for February as the debut. That’s a good time for it because they can coast at least that long on the names they’ve got and it gives them time to build some guys more. The guys I really think should be getting serious attention include Forrest Griffin and Nick Diaz. They’ll probably also put a lot on Quintain Jackson since he’s gotta have a defense coming up.

I’m eager to see who they’ll throw at Lesnar, my guess is someone like Gonzaga or maybe even Cro Cop. Either one would draw a big buyrate, but if he lost, I really don’t think they’d be able to turn him into a drawing card. It’s been very difficult for new guys to come in and make a name unless they come through The Ultimate Fighter.

Couture
Randy Couture has been saying a lot about the way he felt that UFC was treating him, and Dana White has been saying a lot about the way they treated Randy Couture. The numbers they’re both throwing around are pretty different, but it’s also opened a serious can of worms. There are reports, published in the Observer but also hinted at on various forums and in some of Randy’s statements, that UFC is underpaying their talent when it comes to PPV buys and percentage. Rampage was paid on 730,000 buys when the real number was supposedly around 1 million. That’s a big difference. There’ve been others who have said, or at least intimated, that they were paid on far fewer buys than actually happened.

This is very typical for Boxing/Wrestling promoters. They’ll over-report actual buys and then either pay on the real number of buys or pay on even fewer. Either way it isn’t really the right thing to do.

Candice Michelle Injured
Candice took a nasty fall from the top-rope on RAW and cracked her clavicle. That’s bad news as she’s one of the hardest working women on the show and is in the middle of a big program with Beth Phoenix. She’s going to be out 4 to 6 weeks. She slipped from the top and was knocked out momentarily and they went right to the finish.

RAW Parts
I didn’t see the whole show (I got back too late) but I caught two second-generation stars (well, technically one second and a third) get some push. They finally gave Cody Rhodes a win, at the cost of Shelton Benjamin, but what are you gonna do? He was being attacked by The World’s Greatest Tag Team after the match and Hardcore Holly made the save. It will hopefully get Rhodes back on track and make him into the star he certainly has the tools to become.

The other thing was the debut of Harry Smith, Grandson of Stu Hart, Son of Davey-Boy Smith. They’re calling him DH Smith, which isn’t a bad name. They just sorta put him out there and had him beat Carlito. It wasn’t a bad match, mostly a showcase for Smith. He hit a really nice Northern Lights Suplex too. He got the win with the running Powerslam, just like Daddy. I see big things for him if they push him right. Start him out and give him some air-time with vignettes and make it happen, Vince!

That’s all for this week.

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Chris Garcia