ECW Rating; Baron Von Raschke Interview; Eric Bischoff Blasts Wrestling Dirt Sheets; Cena Chats With Snoop; 12/18 Raw Cable Rank
ECW scored a 1.4 rating, down from last week's 1.6.
Amongst the top rated shows on basic cable last week, the three hour Raw (12/18/06) was ranked #13 for hour one, #4 for hour two, and #3 for hour three.
Eric Bischoff has an interesting blog posted over at his website, EricBischoff.com. The topic has to do with wrestling 'dirt sheet' writers.
CLICK HERE to check it out.
On recent Minority Report webcasts, we've been reminiscing quite a bit and showing much love towards the AWA promotion. If you enjoyed AWA in the past like we have, you'll enjoy the following.
The website WormWoodChronicles.com posted a great interview with Baron Von Raschke.
Here is just a small portion of that interview:
WC: You were both a heel and a face during your career. Which one did you prefer?
BVR: I don't really have any preference. To me, it was all work and I did the same thing at different times. The people really enjoyed it and that was all I really cared about. In my own inimical way, I made the people happy or the opposite of that. Whatever was needed at the time.
WC: You had a lot of partners over the years. Who was your favorite to work with?
BVR: Mad Dog was my first and it's like lovers...the first is always the best. I learned so much from working in the ring with Dog and talking to Dog in the car. I would say he's my favorite but I really enjoyed all the guys I've teamed with. Horst Hoffman and Paul Jones and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Later I teamed with the Crusher. I got along good with all these guys. We always had a good time and got the job done, I hope.
WC: You wrestled in all three of the big promotions, the AWA, the NWA and the old WWF. What was the flavor of each promotion like?
BVR: Well, they're all different, but they're all the same,too. It's all based on wrestling and they guys are different but they're the same, also. There's camaraderie and fellowship and rivalries. That stuff is in every territory but there's not that much difference. Of course, the promoter is always out to make as much money as they can and give out the least money they can, so that always stays the same! Larry Hennig said that the money and the miles are the only things that are real in our business.
WC: When you were at the height of your heel days, did any crazy fans try to assault you?
BVR: Several times people would try to accost me or my partners and it usually wound up in a bad result for them. Basically the people knew enough to stay away and they did. They're there to watch the show. The protection, the cops were usually good,too.
WC: When you first started out, you teamed a little with Hans Schmidt...
BVR: Oh yeah. I broke in in Minneapolis under Verne Gagne, he was my tutor. That's where I met Mad Dog for the first time and he took a liking to me. He was an old amateur wrestler, Verne was an old amateur wrestler and I'm an old amateur wrestler, getting older every day, thank you for asking.(laughter). Anyway, Mad Dog took a liking to me and asked me if I would be his partner up in Quebec, Canada and not knowing any better, I said sure. So off I went with my new bride Bonnie, Mrs. Claw, So we teamed up there. With him being not the tallest guy in the world and me being about three inches taller than my hair and neither one of us being the most attractive guys in the world, our team was instantly hot in the territory. He could work and I couldn't, but that was OK. Any way, that territory had been down for many, many years and I think our team helped pop it so that it was up for a long, long time after that, even after we left.
Anyway, we went up there in the early spring of whatever year it was and we had a really great run going into the fall. Mad Dog unfortunately was riding with Larry Moquin and they slipped off the road during an icestorm. Dog split his pelvis so he was out of action. When that happened, the front office teamed me up with Hans, who was one of the original TV villains in wrestling. Again, we had two really ugly guys together. He was tall and I was tall and that got over,too. The heat continued throughout the whole thing.
WC: You mentioned training with Verne Gagne. How tough was his training? I heard it made Army basic training look like a walk in the park.
BVR: Well, Dan Gable, the famous amateur wrestler, said that after wrestling, everything else was easy. Fortunately, I had been an amateur wrestler for many, many years before I started working out with Verne. It was a tough training camp and it was hard and they didn't clue me in to what the business was really all about until after three months. I spent a lot of time doing hard work like running, exercising, lifting weights and chopping wood. It was hard, no doubt about it, but it wasn't anything I hadn't done or couldn't do, so I got through it.
WC: What's your assessment of Verne? Was he a pretty fair guy to deal with?
BVR: Verne's a very good businessman and as a businessman, he usually gets the best of his deals. I'm not a very good businessman, but that's OK. He gave me my break and put time and effort into starting not just me but many other wrestlers in the business. So I can't complain about him.
WC: He produced more high level wrestlers than just about any other guy I can think of.
BVR: Yeah, Verne had an eye for quality and he picked out some really outstanding people.
WC: I think it's because he did go to the amateur ranks for his guys. He already knew he was dealing with a good athlete.
BVR:. Right.
WC: At the other end of the scale, you were there at the end of the AWA. How painful was that to go through?
BVR: The miles were the same and the payoffs were the same. But it was hard, because you knew it was going out the window. The houses weren't what they should have been and blah,blah,blah. It was a sad thing to see but life goes on.
WC: I grew up with it. To me, it was like watching somebody you knew fade away. Do you watch today's wrestling at all?
BVR: Not if I can help it.
WC: How far has the psychology of it fallen since your heyday?
BVR: I think they've gone into making it a play and it's gotten almost completely away from any kind of wrestling or wrestling skills. It's not even close to what it's based on. If I say anything negative, it sounds like sour grapes but it's something that's completely different. They don't have a clue as far as what excites people, what gets people hot. You know, it's all action and high spots but there's no sense having action and highspots without a buildup, you know? No sense cutting to the chase if there's no chase!
WC: And nobody sells anymore, either.
BVR: No, that's what I'm saying. There's no need to have a high spot because nothing leads to it.
WC: Do you think wrestling will ever return to a more athletic based product?
BVR: I have a hunch that someday, sometime people will wise up to the fact that this isn't very interesting. It's a lot of glitter, it's a lot of glam, it's like "Cats" on Broadway. It's a good show but that's all it is. There's no drama, there's no reason to come back to see it. When people realize that, they'll quit going.
WC: A lot of fans such as myself have already sworn it off. I'm not convinced that they're getting new fans to replace the ones from my generation.
BVR: Yeah, I've heard that,too. They've lowered it to the lowest common denominator, they've gotten really, really vulgar. They sell a lot of stuff to kids but it's something I wouldn't let a kid watch. My children would not watch pro wrestling today. And back in the day, everybody could watch it. Grandma and grandpa, mother and father, the kids. Everybody sat around a TV on a Saturday or Sunday and watched it.
CLICK HERE to read the entire interview.
WWE.com has posted their second 'Superstar 2 Superstar' interview segment. This week has WWE Champion John Cena interviewing Snoop Dogg. Visit WWE.com to check it out.
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