by Dave Meltzer
ECW NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
(November 30, Monaca, PA)
Attendance: 4,634 sellout (4,218 paid)
Live gate: $103,900
Est. buy rate/revenue:
0.20/$400,000
Thumbs up/down/middle:
71 (36.2%), 102 (52.0%), 23 (11.7%)
Best match: 36 - Chris Candido & Lance Storm vs. Jerry Lynn & Tommy Rogers, 32 - Sabu vs. Sandman
Worst match: 88 - Sabu vs. Sandman, 32 - Taz vs. Pit Bull #2
Highlights: While ECW couldn’t live up to its expectations and hype from previous years when it came to putting on better shows than its much larger opposition, this show clearly established them as a PPV promotion for the long haul as they maintained their buy rate after a disastrous second show. Shane Douglas, in his home town, regained the ECW title from Bam Bam Bigelow in 25:02 of a so-so match (*3/4). Sabu pinned Sandman in 20:55 of a tables and ladders legal match that was among the worst matches of the decade (-***1/2). Tommy Dreamer went to a non-decision against Rob Van Dam in 16:02 (**3/4). Tracy Smothers & Little Guido retained the ECW tag titles in a four-corners match beating the Dudleys, Axl Rotten & Balls Mahoney and the Gangstanators (*1/2) while Taz beat Pit Bull #2 in 1:29 to retain the TV title (1/2*).
WWF D-GENERATION X
(December 7, Springfield, MA)
Attendance: 6,358 sellout
Live gate: $112,864
Est. buy rate/revenue:
0.40/$1.51 million
Thumbs up/down/middle:
22 (17.2%), 96 (75.0%), 10 (7.8%)
Best match: 83 - Taka Michinoku vs. Brian Christopher, 26 - Shawn Michaels vs. Ken Shamrock
Worst match: 60 - Sgt. Slaughter vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley, 44 - Marc Mero vs. Butterbean
Highlights: D-Generation X, in the spirit of the NWO which the concept was a knockoff of, delivered its own poor show loaded with run-in DQ finishes and poor matches. In the main event, Shawn Michaels retained the WWF title losing via run-in DQ to Ken Shamrock in 18:29 (***). In a match he was asked and refused to drop the title in, Steve Austin retained the IC title, which he voluntarily vacated the next night, by pinning Rocky Maivia in 5:12 (**1/4). In another of the series of worst matches of the year, Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Sgt. Slaughter in a Boot Camp match in 17:39 (-**), while Billy Gunn & Jesse Jammes retained the WWF tag titles beating Legion of Doom via DQ in 10:33 (DUD), in a worked Tough Man match, Butterbean beat Marc Mero via DQ at :10 or found four (DUD) and Taka Michinoku became the first WWF light heavyweight champion actually recognized in the United States (another version of the title had bounced around Japan and Mexico for 16 years) by pinning Brian Christopher in 12:02 (***).
WCW STARRCADE
(December 29, Washington, D.C.)
Attendance: 17,500 sellout (16,052 paid)
Live gate: $543,000
Est. buy rate/revenue:
1.6/$5.58 million
Thumbs up/down/middle:
26 (9.4%), 216 (78.0%), 35 (12.6%)
Best match: 138 - Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko, 19 - Chris Benoit vs. Perry Saturn
Worst match: 69 - Bill Goldberg vs. Steve McMichael, 67 - Hulk Hogan vs. Sting
Highlights: The biggest money PPV show in more than five years ended with Sting, having been held out of the ring for 16 months, returning to beat Hulk Hogan for the WCW title in 12:54 when Bret Hart, playing off the famous Survivor Series finish, punched ref Nick Patrick who was supposed to have screwed Sting on the finish, and ruled Hogan submitted to a scorpion deathlock. Patrick was supposed to fast count as Hogan pinned Sting, however it was a normal count, making the Hart attack of Patrick and taking over make little sense (1/4*). It was the climax of the biggest year in WCW history, but it was yet another poor show even without much of an undercard. In a match billed where Nitro was at stake, 44-year-old announcer Larry Zbyszko beat 41-year old WCW President Eric Bischoff via DQ in 11:12 with Hart also as referee (1/4*). Diamond Dallas Page pinned Curt Hennig with the diamond cutter to win the U.S. title in 10:52 (**). Eddie Guerrero retained the cruiserweight title pinning Dean Malenko after a frog splash in 14:57 (**3/4).
1997 Year End Tabulations
WWF
Total shows: 12
Thumbs up shows: 4
Thumbs down shows: 1
In the middle shows: 7
Average buy rate: 0.61 (-9.0%)
Average revenue: $1.84 million (+10.8%)
WCW
Total shows: 12
Thumbs up shows: 4
Thumbs down shows: 5
In the middle shows: 3
Average buy rate: 0.77 (+20.3%)
Average revenue: $2.45 million (+36.1%)
UFC
Total shows: 5
Thumbs up shows: 4
Thumbs down shows: 1
In the middle shows: 0
Average buy rate: 0.52 (-1.9%)
Average revenue: $838,000 (-21.7%)
ECW
Total shows: 3
Thumbs up shows: 1
Thumbs down shows: 2
In the middle shows: 0
Average buy rate: 0.22
Average revenue: $375,000
46 – The Big Shows Directory: Major International Events
NJPW WRESTLING WORLD IN TOKYO DOME
(January 4, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 62,500 sellout
Television rating: 11.3
Highlights: In a show where the primary draw was the tradition of the 1/4 big show, Shinya Hashimoto retained the IWGP heavyweight title pinning Riki Choshu in 18:04 with a brainbuster DDT (****). The other two major titles changed hands, as Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura, the first-ever IWGP tag team champions (having won the belts in 1985) regained them for the fourth time beating Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 16:10 when Fujinami made Chono submit to the dragon sleeper. Jushin Liger won the J Crown from WCW cruiserweight champion (the WCW title wasn’t at stake in this match) Ultimo Dragon in 18:21 (***3/4). Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki) pinned Great Muta in 16:09 (***1/4). 53-year-old Antonio Inoki beat 48-year-old former karate star Willie Williams in a horrible match in 4:13 in the first meeting between the two since a legendary match in 1980 (-*). The undercard was mainly Big Japan vs. New Japan matches, which New Japan winning all but one. A trivial note underneath is that Super Liger (Chris Jericho) debuted pinning Koji Kanemoto. This was supposed to set up Liger’s main feud for 1997, however management decreed this idea didn’t work, the match never even aired on television and Super Liger was never heard from again.
RINGS BATTLE DIMENSION
(January 4, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 11,800
Highlights: Volk Han captured the tournament for the second time (previous win in 1994) beating Kiyoshi Tamura in 12:36 with an achilles tendon submission and in a surprise, Bitzsade Tariel captured third place beating Yoshihisa Yamamoto in 6:19. In what would prove to be an interest result with the year over, Akira Maeda in a worked match defeated EFC (and eventual UFC) champion Maurice Smith in 5:35.
NJPW SUMO HALL
(February 16, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 11,000 sellout
Highlights: Shinya Hashimoto retained the IWGP heavyweight title beating Kazuo Yamazaki with a brainbuster in 18:55 (***). Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura retained the IWGP tag team titles beating Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi in 14:41 (**1/4). Great Muta pinned Shiro Koshinaka in 12:43 with a moonsault (**1/2). Jushin Liger retained the J Crown pinning Koji Kanemoto in 19:26 (****3/4).
AJPW BUDOKAN HALL
(March 1, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 16,300 sellout
Highlights: Mitsuharu Misawa retained the Triple Crown pinning Steve Williams in 27:52 (***1/4) and Akira Taue & Toshiaki Kawada retained the Double tag team titles beating Gary Albright and future Kingdom wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama in 14:12 when Kawada made Takayama submit to the stretch plum (*3/4). The Misawa-Williams match was also a high-water mark for the company doing a 5.0 rating in the post-midnight
Sunday time slot.
AJW WRESTLING QUEENDOM
(March 23, Yokohama, Japan)
Attendance: 5,000
Highlights: A disappointing crowd turned out to see Kyoko Inoue retain her own newly-created Triple Crown of the WWWA world title, the All-Pacific title and the IWA world title pinning Aja Kong in 29:29 (***1/2). Tomoko Watanabe & Kumiko Maekawa retained the WWWA tag titles beating Takako Inoue & Mariko Yoshida in 28:00 (***3/4), and Kaoru Ito pinned Manami Toyota in 29:29 to earn a future Triple Crown title shot.
rings nk hall
(March 28, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 6,872 sellout
Highlights: In the first meeting between the biggest name of the past in the promotion (Akira Maeda) and his apparent successor by year’s end in the main event slot (Kiyoshi Tamura), Maeda won with a choke sleeper in 7:54. The two actually had wrestled many years earlier in Tamura’s first pro match where Maeda had scored a win in the old UWF promotion.
NJPW TOKYO DOME
(April 12, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 50,000 (heavily papered)
Television rating: 10.3
Highlights: Of a show that was added to the schedule when New Japan thought it had a deal for a Shinya Hashimoto vs. Ken Shamrock match which would have been an easy sellout, when Shamrock pulled out to join the WWF, New Japan moved Naoya Ogawa, a three-time former world heavyweight champion in judo who was to debut on the card, into the main event against Hashimoto, and to create him as a superstar, put him over in a non-title match in 9:25 (**1/4). Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki won the IWGP tag team titles from Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura in 15:39 (**1/4), Great Muta pinned Masahiro Chono in 14:09, but after the match the two shook hands, continuing a long storyline that resulted in Muta joining the NWO (*1/2). Antonio Inoki beat Tiger King (Satoru Sayama) in 6:46 with a cobra twist submission (*). Jushin Liger retained the J Crown beating Great Sasuke in 20:08 (***3/4).
AJPW CHAMPION CARNIVAL FINALS
(April 19, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 16,300 sellout
Highlights: Toshiaki Kawada won the Champion Carnival in only the second gimmick match in the history of the All Japan promotion (the other being a Giant Baba vs. Fritz Von Erich death match in 1975). Mitsuharu Misawa, Kawada and Kenta Kobashi all finished the round-robin with 19 points, with Kawada going 8-1-3, Kobashi going 9-2-1 and Misawa going 9-2-1. First, Misawa and Kobashi went to a 30:00 draw in a classic match (****1/2), followed by Kawada scoring his first pinfall victory of his career in a singles match against the tired Misawa in 6:09 (***3/4). Kobashi vs. Kawada followed, with Kawada winning that match as well in 21:27 of a match below par for the two (***3/4).
PANCRASE NK HALL
(April 27, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 7,000 sellout
Highlights: Yuki Kondo, 21, after just 15 months as a pro wrestler, became the youngest ever King of Pancrase beating Masakatsu Funaki in 15:12. Paul Varelans of same UFC infamy made his only Pancrase show of the year losing 4-1 to Ryushi Yanagisawa after they went 15:00. Noted traditional style pro wrestler Taka Michinoku made his first and only shoot match losing to Keiichiro Yamamiya in 7:36 to an armlock. Bas Rutten beat Kiuma Kunioku by a 1-0 score after the two went the time limit.
FMW ANNIVERSARY SHOW
(April 29, Yokohama, Japan)
Attendance: 16,000 sellout
Highlights: Megumi Kudo, 27, in her final match of her career captured both the WWA world championship and Independent womens championship beating Shark Tsuchiya in 21:46 in an explosive barbed wire match. In the other key match on the show, Atsushi Onita & Masato Tanaka & Wing Kanemura beat Terry Funk & The Gladiator & Cactus Jack in 20:20 when Kanemura pinned Gladiator.
NJPW strong style evolution
(May 3, Osaka, Japan)
Attendance: 53,000 sellout
Highlights: The first pro wrestling show at the Osaka Dome was a show more notable for the crowd and having top WCW than for anything in the ring. Main event saw Shinya Hashimoto avenge his defeat from a few weeks earlier and beat Naoya Ogawa in 10:20 to retain the IWGP heavyweight title after a series of savage kicks when Tiger King threw in the towel (***1/4). Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi surprisingly captured the IWGP tag team from Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki in 11:34 when Kojima used a dragon sleeper on Choshu (***1/4). Antonio Inoki & Tiger King beat Jushin Liger & Yoshiaki Fujiwara in 10:42 with Inoki beating Fujiwara with a choke sleeper (**1/2). In matches involving WCW talent, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall & Masahiro Chono beat Steiners & Keiji Muto (**), Marcus Bagwell & Scott Norton upset Lex Luger & The Giant due to outside help from Hiroyoshi Tenzan (1/2*), and NWO Sting & Syxx beat Tadao Yasuda & Takashi Iizuka (*1/2). The best match on the show was a best-of-three fall opener in which Koji Kanemoto & Shinjiro Otani & Dick Togo & Mens Teioh & Hanzo Nakajima won two straight falls from Super Delfin & Gran Hamada & Great Sasuke & Norio Honaga & El Samurai in 21:11 (****), however that combination New Japan vets & Michinoku faces vs. New Japan young juniors & Michinoku heels never got off the ground as political problems from WCW stemming from Great Sasuke and Taka Michinoku working for WWF later in the year ended the New Japan/Michinoku business relationship. A shockingly good match saw Shiro Koshinaka beat former tag partner Kengo Kimura in 13:34 (***3/4)
NJPW BUDOKAN HALL
(June 5, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 14,000
Highlights: In a head-to-head battle between All Japan and New Japan in All Japan’s traditional big show arena, New Japan came up just short of a sellout for a match where Shinya Hashimoto retained the IWGP heavyweight title beating Keiji Muto on 26:01 after two DDT’s (***1/2). In a match of the year candidate and the match in which Koji Kanemoto opened up everyone’s eyes as to his standing as one of the best all-around workers in the business, the finals of the Top of the Super Junior tournament saw El Samurai pin Kanemoto in 23:51 (*****). Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi retained the IWGP tag team titles beating NWO Sting & Masahiro Chono in 14:15 (**3/4). In other top bouts, in a rematch of a famous feud from 14 years earlier, Tiger King (Satoru Sayama) beat Kuniaki Kobayashi (1/2*) and an eight-man tag saw Gran Naniwa & Dr. Wagner Jr. & Chris Jericho & Jushin Liger beat Shinjiro Otani & Hanzo Nakajima & Yoshihiro Tajiri & Tatsuhito Takaiwa (****).
AJPW BUDOKAN HALL
(June 6, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 16,300 sellout
Highlights: Coming off his win in the Champion Carnival, Toshiaki Kawada challenged Mitsuharu Misawa for the Triple Crown with Misawa winning in 31:22 in another strong match of the year candidate (*****). The semifinal saw Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace & The Patriot debut as the GET trio beating Steve Williams & Gary Albright & The Lacrosse in 22:00 (**1/4). However, Patriot then quit the promotion to join WWF and the trio ended just after the big push began.
NJPW makomanai ice arena
(July 6, Sapporo, Japan)
Attendance: 10,000 sellout
Highlights: New Japan’s first show at the new building in Sapporo was a big success with Riki Choshu & Shinya Hashimoto beating Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono in 12:39 when Choshu pinned Chono (***1/4). El Samurai captured the J Crown pinning Jushin Liger in 19:40 (***3/4) while Naoya Ogawa beat Kazuo Yamazaki in 8:30 (**1/2) and Antonio Inoki & Tiger King beat Kazuyuki Fujita & Kensuke Sasaki in 9:34 (**1/4).
AJPW BUDOKAN HALL
(July 25, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance: 16,300 sellout
Highlights: Mitsuharu Misawa retained the Triple Crown pinning Akira Taue in 20:25 in a great match (****1/4), and in the promotion’s worst major match of not only the year but the entire decade , Steve Williams & Gary Albright captured the double tag team titles beating Kenta Kobashi & Johnny Ace in 29:36 when Williams pinned Kobashi (DUD).
NJPW g-1 climax tournament
(August 1-3, Tokyo, Japan)
Attendance:
10,500/11,000 sellout/11,000 sellout
Highlights: Kensuke Sasaki began his unbelievable August push winning the G-1 Climax tournament one day befo
re his 31st birthday pinning Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who turned in a career performance despite suffering a severe knee injury before the finals in 8:09 (***3/4). Masahiro Chono was also injured in the tournament, forcing him to cancel his main event one week later against Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP title at the first Nagoya Dome show. On 8/2, Don Frye, a UFC superstar and 1996 Ultimate Ultimate champion, made his major league pro wrestling debut beating Kazuyuki Fujita in a surprisingly good match (**1/2).
NJPW four heaven in nagoya dome
(August 10, Nagoya, Japan)
Attendance: 43,500 sellout
Highlights: Shinya Hashimoto retained the IWGP heavyweight title pinning Hiroyoshi Tenzan in 17:09 with a DDT in a brutal main event on the first pro wrestling event ever at the new Nagoya Dome (***1/2). Great Muta used the green mist to beat Naoya Ogawa in 6:39 (1/2*), Kazuo Yamazaki & Kensuke Sasaki captured the IWGP tag team titles from Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi in 12:31 when Sasaki pinned Nakanishi with his Northern Lights bomb (***), Tatsumi Fujinami pinned Riki Choshu in 6:48 in what was billed as their final singles match ever (*1/2), Don Frye beat Cal Worsham in a worked UFC style match (1/2*), Shinjiro Otani won the J Crown pinning El Samurai in 18:05 (****) and Koji Kanemoto pinned Jushin Liger in 21:51.
NJPW final power hall
(August 31, Yokohama, Japan)
Attendance: 18,000 sellout
Highlights: New Japan ended arguably the biggest month in history for any promotion, following a sold out Nagoya Dome and successful G-1 with a nearly $2 million house celebrating the impending retirement of Riki Choshu. Choshu’s protege, Kensuke Sasaki, completed his own Triple Crown during the month beating Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP heavyweight title with a Northern Lights bomb in 16:54 of a disappointing main event (**1/4). In the other top match, Choshu & Genichiro Tenryu & Tatsumi Fujinami beat Great Muta & Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Hiro Saito in 8:56 when Choshu pinned Saito with a lariat (*). Among those honoring Choshu after the show were Tenryu, Fujinami, Akira Maeda (making his first appearance at a New Japan show in ten years), long-time tag team partner Animal Hamaguchi, his daughter world freestyle champion Kyoko Hamaguchi and of course, Antonio Inoki. In other top matches, Naoya Ogawa beat Scott Norton in 6:25 (DUD), Shinjiro Otani retained the J Crown beating Koji Kanemoto via submission with the dragon sleeper in 20:20 (***3/4) and Jushin Liger pinned Tatsuhito Takaiwa in 17:00.