The Custom Made News Report 08.05.07

Welcome, one and all, to the Custom Made News Report. As always, I’m Ryan, and I’m ready to guide you through the last several days worth of grapplin’ newsbits. This week we’ve got two big stories out of WWE, some information on fresh faces possibly headed to TNA, and more news on your favorite Americans in Japan. To top that all off, I’ve got a good deal of feedback to answer as a result of last week’s column, AND I’m debuting a new feature. Phew.

What Makes These Guys Money, Anyway?

Earlier this week, WWE put out its financial report for the second quarter of the 2007 fiscal year. The second quarter spans the months of April, May, and June. The thirteen page document is designed to provide investors with information about the company that they own a percentage of. However, there is still some interesting information in the report for those of us who are fans but not shareholders. I thought that I would comb through the document and hit a few highlights for you, my loyal readers.

Upon reading the report, one overarching theme emerges: Like ’em or not, WWE isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Every time that there is a slightly lower than average TV rating or every time a group of more than ten smart marks on a message board decides that they’re tired of John Cena and Bobby Lashley, a bunch of Chicken Littles pop up and proclaim that the sky is falling on WWE. That’s not the case . . . not now, and not for the foreseeable future. Why? Because the company is making money. More specifically, it gained net income of $7 million in three months. I’m no financial wiz, but even I’m capable of figuring out with a company with that sort of cash flow isn’t going on the endangered species list any time soon. Furthermore, had it not been for one bad business move, the net income level would have more than doubled. The bad business decision in question is The Condemned, which managed to lose WWE $15.7 million. Had it not been for those losses, net income would be at $16.9 million. This would be up over $2 million when compared with the same quarter last year.

Of course, this raises a good deal of questions about the future of WWE Films. Though both See No Evil and The Marine managed to turn a profit, The Condemned managed to significantly impair profits for what should be the company’s most successful quarter of any given fiscal year. (Because, after all, it is the second quarter that includes Wrestlemania.) Frankly, I haven’t heard anything about the future of the movie projects. However, it would seem to indicate that something about the WWE Films production company needs to change. Many people have suggested that the future of WWE Films is in low budget, direct to DVD releases as opposed to theatrical features. Some have suggested that the entire project should be dropped. WWE does have one more movie in the works, currently scheduled for release in 2009 according to IMDB.com. (The “modern day western” Jornada del Muerto starring Triple H.) The level of success that this movie achieves could dictate the entire future of the WWE Films franchise. If it manages to get distributed in theaters and turns a decent profit, I wouldn’t be surprised to see additional theatrical releases pursued. However, if it dies a quick death, I can’t imagine that the company would be stubborn enough to stay the course with a losing strategy.

Despite the fact that the film department may be in trouble, the financial report did contain some good news about other WWE business ventures, both old and new. Pay per view revenue held relatively steady at $39.8 million, while money coming in from house shows was up from $25.1 million in last year’s second quarter to $30.1 million in this year’s second quarter. The number of house shows WWE ran in the two quarters was virtually the same, though 30% of the shows held during the second quarter of 2007 were outside of North America compared to 20% last year. Most people might interpret that to mean that more foreign tours equals more money, though that is not necessarily the case, as attendance at the shows in North America was also up an average of 1,100 people per event. So, what were the top programs at these North American shows with increased business? Raw house shows typically saw John Cena defending the WWE Title against Randy Orton, Umaga, or the Great Khali. There was more variation in the main events for the Smackdown/ECW house shows. For a period of time, different combinations of Batista, Kane, and Chris Benoit (as faces) were wrestling different combinations of MVP, Ken Kennedy, and Fit Finlay (as heels) in either four or six man tag matches. Once Edge moved to Smackdown, the shows were usually headlined by either Edge vs. Benoit or Edge vs. Batista. If anything, this would seemingly prove that John Cena and Dave Batista aren’t going anywhere for a while, as PPV profits are steady with them on top and live event revenue is actually going up.

If there is one disappointing note from the pay per view arena, it is the performance of One Night Stand this year when compared to its two prior incarnations. Last year, ONS picked up 294,000 buys, meaning that it did comparably well to the other non-Wrestlemania pay per views of the quarter. This year, however, the number dropped sharply to 186,000, putting the show in to dead last amongst WWE PPVs for the three month period. Of course, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what difference between this year’s One Night Stand and last year’s One Night Stand may have lead to the drop off. Last year, the event was still ECW themed and provided WWE fans with something different: A show featuring talent that they didn’t normally see in a venue that they didn’t normally see with a style of wrestling that they didn’t normally see. This year, despite its “all extreme rules” gimmick, One Night Stand by and large felt like just another pay per view. If there is a lesson to be learned here, it’s that giving the audience something different in limited doses can be beneficial for a business. Granted, WWE pay per view revenue wasn’t any worse this year as a result of the change (due in large part to Wrestlemania doing insanely high numbers), but I’m sure that they would have liked to have gotten a little more cash out of ONS.

More good news for WWE comes from non-television forms of media. Though I would have guessed that DVD sales would’ve leveled off by this point, the company actually managed to make more money off of its discs, $26.4 million this quarter as opposed $20.4 million in the second quarter of 2006. The three big titles for the company this time around were Wrestlemania, the Four Horsemen DVD, and the ladder match compilation. On the magazine front, WWE didn’t increase its profits dramatically, but there is an interesting statistic to look at. Last year at this time, WWE was producing two separate magazines, one for the Raw brand and one for the Smackdown brand. Those publications were consolidated in to one WWE Magazine last year. This means that WWE published seven magazine issues in the second quarter of 2006 but only three magazine issues in the second quarter of 2007. Despite this fact, magazine revenue still went up slightly from $3.0 million to $3.7 million. I don’t follow WWE magazines that closely, so I can’t say with certainty what changes the company has made in terms of its publications. However, whatever they are, they were genius, as they halved the necessary level of production but kept revenue substantially the same. Bravo.

Finally, two relative newcomers to WWE continue to look promising. WWE 24/7 saw its revenue nearly double from this time last year, up to $1.3 million from $0.7 million. Though this is a small fraction of WWE’s income overall, doubling in a year’s time is a great sign, and I can only imagine that the rapid growth will continue as the service is added to more and more cable systems and “on demand” continues to catch on with cable viewers. Finally, WWE.com related revenue was up to $4.6 million from $2.9 million. WWE’s press release credited the jump to more ad revenue and the sale of wireless content through the website. I’m not a huge visitor of WWE.com or a big fan of cell phones, but I checked out the site after reading about this, and they do have a ton of wireless content available. There are phone wallpapers and ringtones for virtually every member of the roster, which I can imagine grab WWE a good chunk of change at a relatively low cost to them.

Overall, things look up for WWE financials. Though The Condemned certainly put a crimp in things, it’s a mistake that the company will not be stupid enough to make a second time. On top of that, new sources of revenue continue to steadily grow with continued room for improvement. I’m not going to rush out and buy stock in the company, but things keep rolling right along for them in a positive manner.

Pushing the Reset Button

By this point, I’m sure you’re all familiar with the story about this past week’s Raw rating. It came in at well under a 3.0, which sent people panicking until it was revealed that the low number was caused by a technical glitch on the end of Nielsen, the company that compiles the ratings. Despite the fact that the glitch was revealed, Vince McMahon and the WWE creative team are still in attack mode, looking for some way to combat the downward trend in the ratings that has existed in recent weeks. This has lead many to speculate that there will be a major “reset” of the company’s direction this Monday on Raw. I’m not going to spend a ton of time speculating about what will happen or what should happen because we’ll all have the answers to those questions in a little over twenty-four hours. However, here are a few brief notes on the situation.

One of the initial ideas that the writers had was a return of Vince McMahon, which has been discussed elsewhere on the site. However, according to PWInsider, at least one member of the creative team is pushing NOT for a Vince return but instead for a return of the “Vince McMahon is dead” angle. I have three quick thoughts on the angle’s potential return:

1.) If it comes back, I hope it’s played up for laughs as opposed to being the serious angle as we saw in the week after the limo explosion.

2.) If it comes back, I hope that they come up with a new ending. The prior one leaked all over the internet once the angle was scrapped, with some people who religiously avoid spoilers reading it because they didn’t think it would happen. Using it now would be anti-climatic.

3.) If it comes back, I’m sure that a ton of people will start complaining about how ridiculous the return is given that Vince appeared on TV the week of the Benoit tragedy. Those people will be fools. Seriously, let’s draw a line between Vince’s kayfabe and non-kayfabe appearances on television, okay?

The other big angle that has been discussed is the unification of the three WWE brands, according to Dave Meltzer in his recent appearance on an F4W Online podcast. I know that there are scores of fans on the internet who have been begging for the brand split to end since the day that it started, but I frankly think that this is a terrible idea. There is so much potential with the brand split to build towards “dream matches” that can help make the company a ton of money when the trigger is finally pulled on them. It’s never been used to its full extent, but throwing it all away before it even has an opportunity to be used to its full potential would be disappointing and not worth whatever short-term gains the company can realize from unification.

TNA Scouting Report

Andrew “Test” Martin debuted at this past set of Imapct tapings, and there are rumors swirling throughout the internet that he may not be the only new face on the way to TNA. The company, seemingly under the impression that it will soon be receiving a second hour of television time, is reportedly taking a look at making numerous additions to the roster. Granted, I’m not backstage at TNA, so I can’t tell you with certainty who is coming in and who is not. However, I thought that it would be fun to take a look at the individuals who the promotion is allegedly considering signing. Then, because I can’t leave my own opinion out of things, I will also cover who I think that TNA should be bringing in as opposed to the names they’re reportedly looking at.

TNA is Thinking About: Nidia
TNA Should Bring In: Ariel

Most readers will remember Nidia as the female champion of the WWF’s first Tough Enough competition, after which she had a memorable role as Jamie Noble’s white trash girlfriend. After being released from the WWF in 2004, she has made sporadic independent wrestling appearances and gave birth to her first daughter earlier this year. Though Nidia did improve a lot in the ring towards the end of her WWF tenure, I frankly don’t know that I’d want to see her in TNA. She did improve, but she was still a relatively weak performer, and I can’t imagine that her very limited appearances since that time have helped her out. Besides, at this time, I’d hope that she would prefer to spend time with her daughter if she can afford to do so.

Instead of Nidia, I would bring in Boston-area indy wrestler Ariel. (Not to be confused with the “Ariel” that was recently featured on ECW . . . we’ll get to her later.) Ariel would provide the company with a wrestler who has a look similar to Nidia’s, although it comes attached to a wrestler with six years of experience and great performances in promotions in both the United States indy scene and in Mexico. Additionally, Ariel has extensively feuded and teamed with one Nikki Roxx, who recently joined TNA as the Voodoo Kin Mafia’s valet Roxxi Leveaux. Thus, we would almost be guaranteed one good series of matches out of Ariel, which is a bit more than we can say for Nidia at this point. (Coincidentally, if you want to check out a recent public access television interview with Ariel, follow these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.)

TNA is Thinking About: Shelly Martinez
TNA Should Bring In: Cheerleader Melissa

Shelly Martinez is the other Ariel, the one that accompanied Kevin “Mordecai” Thorne to the ring on ECW until a spat with Dave Batista supposedly lead to her departure from the company. Though Martinez did have some training as a wrestler prior to coming to WWE and spent an extensive amount of time in Ohio Valley Wrestling, you certainly wouldn’t have known it from watching the handful of ECW in-ring appearances she was given against Kelly Kelly. She may be a talented wrestler capable of competing on a national level or she may not be. We don’t have the evidence to tell at this point. However, given that TNA is in fact a national wrestling company with no developmental system and it appears that their goal in using women is to create credible matches (as evidenced by the Gail/Traci/Jackie interation), I don’t know that it would be wise to pick up a commodity that is a complete unknown in the ring.

So, if you’re trying to build a women’s division based on actual wrestling, why not make sure to get proven commodities? That’s why I would suggest Cheerleader Melissa for the TNA roster. Melissa, who has been wrestling since 1999, has gained experience throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. She’s talented enough that she was deemed a “Future Legend” by the venerable Cauliflower Alley Club, and she’s one of the handful of independent women to get a look from WWE. With the exception of the ROH roster, she’s put on more good matches than the majority of men on the indy scene, and I can’t imagine that there would be any difference on SpikeTV. If you’re interested in seeing higlights of Melissa in the ring, click here or check out this link to see her match on WWE Heat with Victoria.

TNA is Thinking About: Lita
TNA Should Bring In: Allison Danger

If TNA was alive and recruiting this heavily five years ago, I would’ve wanted them to sign Lita in a heartbeat. In fact, even if they get her in the company today, she’d be a bigger acquisition than guys like Rhino, Test, and the Bashams just because she was regarded as a star right up to the end of her WWE run, whereas the others were made to look like complete losers prior to their exit. However, this isn’t 2002. This is 2007, and Lita, despite still being able to get some residual heat from the Matt Hardy situation, isn’t quite the performer that she used to be in the squared circle. She certainly can’t be blamed for that. Time and a laundry list of big injuries will do it to almost anybody. Once again, though, you’ve got to question the wisdom of signing an individual based on their name value alone when wrestlers with much bigger names (e.g. Kurt Angle, Christian) have been unable to significantly improve TNA’s business.

So, if stars aren’t doing anything for TNA’s business, they may as well focus on picking up individuals who are in their prime. That’s why we turn to a familiar name to Ring of Honor fans: Allison Danger. Danger has worked closely with and learned from some of the most talented individuals on the independent scene today, including long-time associate Christopher Daniels, tag team partner Sara Del Ray, and older brother Steve Corino. She is also willing to do things in matches that few other women will try, as evidenced by her recent series of SHIMMER matches with Cindy Rogers, which included some huge brawls, a street fight, and, to top it all off, a dog collar match. If TNA wants more matches akin to the Gail Kim vs. Jackie Moore six sides of steel bout from Lockdown, Danger may be the woman for them. Not only can Danger wrestle, but she’s also better with a microphone than the majority of women in professional wrestling today. She can cut a good, serious promo in order to put over a heated angle, and she can also perform well in “shoot” interviews, which would make her a valuable resource for public relations work.

TNA is Thinking About: Sabu
TNA Should Bring In: 2 Cold Scorpio

Of course, Sabu has a history in TNA. He’s been in and out of the company for several years now, with the highlight of his run being a feud with Abyss that really solidified the big man’s status as a “monster” in the eyes of fans. Now, after taking an opportunity to return to WWE, Sabu once again finds himself without a home, and many are lobbying for the ECW icon to return to the Impact Zone. Part of me agrees. He helped make one star for TNA, so surely he could help make another. Then again, there’s really only one style of match that Sabu can use in order to get a guy over at this point in his career: The insane, hardcore brawl, generally involving a lot of weapons. TNA already has given Abyss this sort of match as his specialty, and there’s no need to create another guy with virtually the same gimmick (especially with Ricky Banderas coming in, presumably to be the heel version of Abyss). Thus, the company should turn to another veteran who can help create stars in another type of match.

Enter 2 Cold Scorpio. Scorpio, another name that will be well remembered by those ECW fans who still watch wrestling, doesn’t get nearly the credit that he deserves when it comes to ushering in high flying wrestling in the United States. He’s generally an afterthought, but, when you go back to his early work in WCW, he was one of the first men doing big flips and dives on national television. In addition to that, he’s a man who is able to combine those spectacular moves with solid, old school professional wrestling psychology, putting his highspots in to a context in which they make sense. All of this would make him the perfect veteran to work with some of the younger X Division wrestlers in order to step up their in-ring game and make them in to stars of the future. Just imagine how much Jay Lethal or even Chris Sabin could improve after a go around with Scorpio. Though some might argue that TNA already has Jerry Lynn for this role, the fact of the matter is that most everybody in the X Division has already gotten an opportunity to work with him, and it’s time that they benefitted from a second veteran’s experience.

TNA is Thinking About: Sean “X-Pac” Waltman
TNA Should Bring In: Joey Mercury

Sean “X-Pac” Waltman is another name that has been in and out of TNA since its early days. He’s unfortunately proven to be less than reliable in the past, walking away from the company on a couple of different occasions. After briefly resurfacing in Wrestling Society X, there has been little of note to come out fo the Waltman camp. Now, according to internet scuttlebutt, TNA is once again considering making him a part of their promotion. I can’t say that this is a good idea. Though Waltman is a good in-ring performer when he decides that he wants to bring his a-game, he hasn’t been received well by wrestling audiences in almost a decade now. There’s a reason that the term “X-Pac Heat” exists, and it isn’t because fans pay to see babyfaces smack this dude around. It’s because the wrestling audience as a whole is fed up with him. Maybe that will have changed after his recent hiatus from the sport. Maybe. But is that risk really worth taking? Instead of signing a contract with an individual who may turn the crowd’s stomachs, why not try something a little bit different?

And by different I mean Joey Mercury (or Joey Matthews, whichever you prefer). Most people are probably ready to declare him the “Marty Jannetty” of MNM, meaning the guy who won’t go anywhere after the tag team split. However, I’m of the opinion that there might be some value in Joey Mercury yet. Seriously, this guy may have been one of the single most underrated wrestlers to set foot in to a WWE ring over the course of the last five years. Johnny Nitro is such a good wrestler now and improved so much so quickly that a lot of fans forget how utterly bad he was in the ring when MNM first got called up. Matthews, the veteran of the two, was able to hold things together for the entire team and hide his partner’s weaknesses until he was competent enough to hold his own. Also, if you look at some of Matthews’ work from the independent scene prior to his move to OVW, he was a very competent singles heel, getting great crowd reactions for his feud against Low Ki in the Pennsylvania indy 3PW. To top it all off, he’s a guy capable of wrestling multiple styles. He can take to the air with the X Division, and he can mix it up WWE style with heavyweights. If he can stay on the straight and narrow, this man would be a fine prospect for TNA.

TNA is Thinking About: Matt Morgan
TNA Should Bring In: Matt Morgan

No, that’s not a typo. This is one rumored acquisition that I think will actually benefit TNA greatly. Matt Morgan was first introduced to the world in the second season of WWE’s Tough Enough. Due to his natural size, he seemed like a lock to win the competition, though an injury resulted in that not taking place. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, he signed a developmental deal not long after having to leave the reality show, and he immediately began training in Ohio Valley Wrestling. Numerous individuals, most notably Jim Cornette, began to rave about his potential. Unfortunately, this resulted in WWE calling him up to their main roster in 2003, far before he was ready to be featured on national television. Though he was well protected (in large part due to Paul Heyman’s excellent booking of Smackdown in that period), it was clear that he was not ready for prime time, and he was sent back down to developmental. It was in 2005 that he was given his second crack at WWE, this time as a bodyguard for Carlito. The run was too short lived for anybody to really get a gauge on how much Morgan had improved, and he was quickly released from his WWE contract. Since that time, he has toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling and made a few trips over to Europe to gain more experience.

And now he’s possibly headed in to TNA. Why would Morgan be a good acquisition for the company? Granted, he’s only been in wrestling for five years, so he most likely still has a lot to learn. If you go back and watch some of Morgan’s earlier work, though, it is clear that he progressed at a rate much quicker than other individuals who wrestled a similar style. If you look at Dave Batista’s matches from when he was a year in to the wrestling business and compare them to Matt Morgan’s matches from when he was a year in to the wrestling business, Morgan looked better. The same can be said for Mogan when compared to Tyson Tomko. The same can be said for Mogan compared to Jon Heidenreich. The same can be said for Morgan and virtually every other “big man” to make his debut in this sport in the twenty-first century with the notable exception of Brock Lesnar. He may not be the best performer in the world right now, but he’s shown tremendous growth in his limited time in the ring, and that pattern will most likely continue. His limitations can be worked around for the time being, and, if allowed to grow properly, he could be the next star “made” by TNA.

No Means No

Last week, I mentioned Konnan’s recent kidney transplant, which at the time had been deemed a success by all parties involved. However, according to the Wrestling Observer, Konnan was hospitalized on Wednesday night due to problems with his body attempting to reject the organ. We know that he was kept overnight, but I haven’t read any additional update about his health. However, I haven’t heard anything NEGATIVE about it, so I guess in this case no new is good news.

That may especially be true because a second story (again from the Observer) about Konnan broke this week with no mention of his health problems. Apparently after Konnan’s bitter exit from TNA several weeks ago, Vince Russo attempted to contact him about returning to the company for a big angle. However, Russo’s efforts were for naught, as the language used by Meltzer would lead one to believe not just that Konnan denied the offer but that he emphatically denied the offer. This should come as no surprise to anybody who has heard or read interviews with Konnan over the last several months, because it was abundantly clear that he was sick and tired of TNA and very excited to help keep his current company AAA on top in Mexico, possibly even expanding to the United States.

This is the first installment of what I hope will be a semi-regular feature, as I attempt to review wrestling DVDs in three hundred words or less, with the idea being that I enjoy reviewing shows but don’t have the time to make them as long as I otherwise would. The three hundred word limit begins . . . now.

FIP X-Factor (Buy It)

X-Pac Interview: He’s here to watch the show, but Dave Prazak interrupts. Good promo by Prazak. Waltman sounded bored.

Altar Boy Luke vs. Suicide: Luke wins a sub-five minute match with a brutal Burning Hammer and Alabama Jam.
Rainman vs. Benny Blanco vs. Evan Starsmore vs. Jaison Moore: Rainman no-sold everything and eliminated everybody. This was meant to make him look like a monster for an upcoming title shot. It worked.

Tony Mamaluke vs. Azrieal: Sucked. In seven minutes, they did twenty finishers, botching a couple. Rave and Prazak attack Azrieal. Waltman saves. Waltman calls Rave “greaseball.” IRONY!

Dunn/Marcos vs. Steve Madison/Erick Stevens vs. Jay Fury/Jerelle Clark: Another spotfest, lasted six minutes. Dunn/Marcos looked good, everybody else was sloppy. A win by Dunn/Marcos earned them a Tag Title shot.

Heartbreak Express vs. Dunn/Marcos: HBX retained their titles in a good, old school match. Marcos/Dunn play great underdogs. Best match on the show thusfar.

Rod Strong/Milano Collection AT vs. Sal Rinauro/Colt Cabana: Fun mat wrestling with Colt and Milano early. Roddy got the heat by pressing Sal in to the turnbuckles. Sick! Hot tag to Colt, bionic elbows galore. Sal pins Strong with Sliced Bread. Fun match. Afterwards, Strong kicks Milano’s invisible dog. Bastard.

Homicide vs. Austin Aries: Not as good as expected. So-so wrestling, then a ref bump. Rave and Rainman run in, beat down on Homicide. Waltman cleans house.

Rave vs. X-Pac: Waltman = Best wrestler on the show by a wide margin. Very simple yet effective contest . . . every old school trick in the book was used. Waltman wins with the top rope X-Factor.

Overall: Would’ve been a fun show live and fine to watch on DVD, though there are certainly better releases. I’d skip this one.

The Great Muta versus . . . Scott Steiner?

It’s been known for the last several weeks that Scott Steiner of TNA would be headed to All Japan Pro Wrestling this summer for one of the company’s big shows. However, this week we found out exactly what his match in the Land of the Rising Sun would be, and, let me tell you, it’s an odd one. On August 26, Steiner will team with Kohei Suwama, a 2004 graduate of the All Japan dojo to take on the team of the Great Muta and Tajiri. Though Muta and Tajiri have teamed before, it does seem a little odd to me to see an NJPW/AJPW mainstay teaming with a WWE/ECW mainstay to take on a WCW mainstay and one of AJPW’s relative rookies. Granted, I think it will be an entertaining match, but on paper it looks like they’ve just drawn names out of a hat. (Speaking of which, I want somebody to bring back Battle Bowl . . . but that’s another story for another day.)

However, if there’s one thing in the match that does make sense, it’s putting Steiner in to the ring with Keiji Mutoh. The two have a long history in professional wrestling and should be able to play well off of each other. Their first major encounter took place in 1990 on Starrcade, which played host to the Pat O’ Conner Memorial International Tag Team Tournament. Scott, teaming with his brother Rick, and Mutoh, teaming with Masa Saito, made it to the finals of that tournament, with the Michigan natives getting the duke. It looked like the two would get an opportunity to lock horns again almost a year later in Budokan Hall with the Steiners’ IWGP Tag Team Titles on the line, but an injury sidelined Steiner, leading to Scott Norton taking his place at the last minute. Perhaps because they were facing a makeshift team, Mutoh and his partner Hiroshi Hase were able to take the belts off fo the Americans.

Rick and Scott tried for a measure of revenge in 1992 but met with mixed results. Just three months after dropping the IWGP Titles to Mutoh and Hase, the Steiners would once again fall to Mutoh, this time in Tokyo Hall with Sting being the fourth man in the match. The cold streak for the WCW would end in August of 1992, when they finally managed to beat Mutoh and partner Kensuke Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome. The Hase/Mutoh team had success once again, though, downing the brothers once more in 1995.

Then, in 1997, things changed. The New World Order invaded both WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the result was several old rivals burying hatchets in an effort to fight off the rogues. One of the men on the front lines of NJPW’s battle with the nWo was Keiji Mutoh, and that resulted in him teaming up with former foes Rick and Scott Steiner in May of 1997 to take on nWo representatives Masa Chono, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash in the Osaka Dome. While there, the bad guys were able to pick up the victory . . . but that wasn’t the biggest problem from the WCW/NJPW side of the war. Though Mutoh had supported New Japan, his alter ego the Great Muta had other feelings on the matter and quickly signed on with the New World Order. Though things looked bleak for WCW and New Japan with the diabolical Muta on the side of Hogan, Hall and Nash, the Steiners were able to fight off the new force rather easily, triumphing over Muta and Chono in the United States at the 1997 Bash at the Beach.

So, in major matches, the score stands at three to two in favor of Steiner. Will Muta be able to even things up on his home turf? Time will tell.

Dupree to HUSTLE?

Last week, WWE announced that they had released Rene Dupree. This wasn’t horribly surprising to many people since he a.) wasn’t being used on TV heavily and b.) supposedly had some issues when it came to complying with the company’s wellness policy. In fact, the story was so small that I didn’t even bother to mention it last week. However, earlier this week, PWInsider had some news about the French Canadian’s future, and I thought that this story was just a little bit too wacky to pass up. Apparently, Dupree is in talks with Japanese promotion HUSTLE to come over and do some dates for the group. For those not familiar with HUSTLE, it is a self-described “Fighting Opera,” a promotion that prides itself more on comedy and over the topic antics than traditional grappling.

HUSTLE has in the past used American wrestlers to a great deal of success, including repackaging Mark Jindrak and Matt Morgan as the sinful team of “Sodom and Gommorah” or making Steve Corino in to “Monster C,” a mysterious masked clone of Toshiaki Kawada. I’m quite interested to see what exactly the HUSTLE Monster Army has in store for Mr. Dupree. He would seemingly work well in the company, as he wasn’t the greatest wrestler in the world but had this awesome goofball charisma that could translate well in to a comedy character. They could even team him up with his WWE Tag Team Championship partner Kenzo Suzuki, who has worked for HUSTLE in the past. (Though more recently he has been focusing on his work in Mexico.) Personally, I vote for repackaging Dupree as Larry, the Effeminate Construction Worker who Collects Sea Shells.

Book it, HUSTLE.

Last week was the first of my news reports to generate a significant amount of feedback, so I figured that we’d take a look at a few of the e-mails here before wrapping things up.

Nikki writes:

As I was reading through your column, I came across the section regarding Christian and his movie. He did take time off to film a movie, but from my understanding, it wasn’t this one. He left the 1PW show in England because his call to the set of Shoot ‘Em Up. Not Dark Rising. Shoot Em Up is due out in the fall and stars Clive Owen.

Fair enough. I actually had completely forgotten that Shoot ‘Em Up existed. Thanks for the correction.

From the desk of Ben S.:

Evad Sullivan rises again!!!!!! Thanks a lot! When I scrolled down and saw the pic, i hd just taken a drink of Dr. Pepper. Needless to say, my nose now burns and my monitor needs cleaned off…. But worth it!!!

Well, I said that there would be three people who would remember good ole’ Evad, and we’ve found the first of them. By the way, if you want more on his big storyline that took place after his days as the ultimate Hulkamaniac, R.D. Reynolds over at Wrestlecrap.com has done a great writeup on it here.

Chris J. wants to defend the Undertaker:

John Cena is the largest star to step foot in OVW? I have seen pictures of Kane and Taker there before, maybe not Kane, but I think Taker trumps Cena.

I do recall Kane coming in to OVW to take on Batista (when the former was known as “Leviathan”), though I have no clue whether the Undertaker ever made the trip down. However, even if he did, I would still categorize Cena as a bigger star in the current wrestling market. Though ‘Taker has certainly been around longer and means a lot more to long-time wrestling fans, I don’t think that Cena’s status as a bigger mainstream star and the favorite of current audiences can be disputed.

Javier wants some clarification:

You reported that F4W Online had those projected buy rates for Victory Road. But I didn’t see that story. Could you post a link?

It’s in the F4W Newsletter, which you have to be a subscriber to access. If you check out issue #631, it’s in the “WWE” news section when discussing the Smackdown ratings. It was also mentioned on a couple of the subscriber-only podcasts on the site. By the way, I would strongly suggest that anybody and everybody reading this get a subscription to F4W, as it’s a fine publication and a hell of a bargain when you throw in all of the audio shows on top of it. You can check out the site here.

And James M. takes us home:

I am one of the 3 people who remember Dave/Evad Sullivan

Thanks for ruining my day!!!

Well, we’ve found the second person that remembered Evad, though he wasn’t quite as happy about it as Ben was. Now, as I said last week, there would be three people to remember Kevin Sullivan’s kid brother. I can’t possibly be wrong about something like this. I know you’re out there, Evad Fan #3. You don’t have to hide from me.

And that will do it for your weekly dose of Custom Made News. As a side note, some of you may have noticed that I didn’t cover any indy news this week. Frankly, that’s because I couldn’t think of anything major happening outside of Ring of Honor, which I refrain from covering since the excellent Column of Honor usually comes out over the weekends. The indy news will be back next week if anything noteworthy takes place. Until then, take care of yourself and each other.