Issue # 021

Date:  Sunday Oct 4th, 1998  8:14 pm

After a six week hiatus, The Wrestling Booking Sheet makes its
return. While the format has been changed, the objective is still the
same. We intend to be the voice of the wrestling fan; this newsletter
will publish as many comments submitted by you, and the rest of our
readership, as possible. After our regular news sections as many
reader comments as I can fit will be included. Send in a booking idea
on how to turn your favorite wrestler into a mega star; let the world
know exactly why a certain incident disgusted you; tell us why a
certain angle was terrific. The floor is yours.
Thanks,
Steve Appy ===========================================
News
Dave Meltzer reports that The Giant (Paul Wright), may be on the verge
of signing with the WWF. Wright is claiming to have received a $1
Million a year offer from the WWF. He feels his WCW character is
stale, with few main event storylines in his immediate future. With
so few heels on the horizon to wrestle Austin I imagine the WWF would
love to get their hands on Wright.

its unknown how much time remains on Wright's WCW contract. Meltzer
thinks there is at least several months remaining, so don't expect him
on Raw anytime soon. McMahon has always been a mark for the big guys
and I'm sure he could already picture an Undertaker/Giant matchup.

Warning note: Some feel Wright is simply trying to get Bischoff's
attention, and is angling for a better deal with WCW.
Time will tell which scenario is correct. Both Mark Madden and Gene
Okerlund seem to believe Wright will be leaving.

One question: if The Giant really did receive such an offer, wouldn't
this be contract tampering. Whether Wright is unhappy in WCW or not
is immaterial, he is competing under a valid contract regardless.
Could this become an issue in the WWF/WCW suit/countersuit? That will
be an interesting development.

Ray Traylor will be returning to the WWF and reports indicate he will
once again play The Big Bossman character. Look for The Bossman to
act as McMahon's bodyguard, probably feuding immediately with Austin.
Jim Ross reports that Traylor has slimmed down to 290 pounds, which is
lighter than I've ever seen him. Although still in his mid thirties
there is speculation he may be washed up. After his uninspired WCW
stint this is a valid question. My view: With a proper storyline,
Traylor will slip his working shoes back on and Austin will carry The
Bossman to a great match.
===========================================
Sunday Night Heat for October 4th, 1998
The show was hosted by Shane McMahon and Jim Cornette. Since I
consider Cornette one of the best commentators in the business, it was
terrific to see him back in the spotlight.

X-Pac pinned Owen Hart
Triple H, Chyna, and The Road Dog joined X-Pac at ringside. Billy Gunn was
absent and Jesse James moped around ringside, unhappy due to his
split with Gunn. Owen was depressed due to the Severn angle. D-Lo
Brown joined Owen at ringside and provided commentary. I love the
angle they are doing with D-Lo obsessed with regaining The European
Championship. This was the one of the first times I've heard D-Lo
speak and he wasn't bad.

Owen was super tentative, since he feared injuring X-Pac. A distracted Owen was rolled up by X-Pac. Good for what it was, but too short to mean much. The match was mainly a backdrop to promote the X-Pac/D-Lo Title match tomorrow night.

Michael Cole then interviewed Triple H. When asked about Billy Gunn's
whereabouts an angry Triple H told Cole he wasn't there, and then was
wheeled away. The match was trying to tell three storylines, and the
one goal it didn't have was to allow Owen & X-Pac time to put on a
classic.

McMahon was shown in his hospital room, apparently suffering from a
broken leg. Vince did a great job at selling his injury. Although he
expressed hatred towards The Undertaker & Kane, the main focus of his
anger was still Steve Austin, who he blamed for the attack. Logic
would direct his anger towards UT & Kane; at this point, he SHOULD
hate them even more than Austin. Regardless, McMahon cuts one of the
best promos in the business. Vince may be the best heel in the
business right now.

Funaki (w/Wally Yamaguchi) pinned Matt Hardy
Decent, with great highspots. Unfortunately, no transitions between
moves. If the WWF is serious about their Light Heavyweight division,
hopefully they will keep their Light Heavyweights against each other; don't make them jobbers for the Heavyweights. Stone Cold was shown entering the arena and Cornette warned Shane that he could be on Austin's target list.

Kurrigan & Golga (w/ the Oddities and The Insane Clown Posse) defeated
The Headbangers when Golga pinned Mosh. I hear the Headbangers will
be facing The Insane Clown Posse in a match. Awful. If the WWF
really does sign The Giant, look for Giant Silva and Kurrigan to be
taken off television. They are as tall as The Giant and since they
are such comedy figures they would ruin The Giant's gimmick. Stone
Cold was shown carrying an ax, who is the target?

Another Steven Regal, a real man's man video was shown. While Regal is one of my favorites I'm not getting good vibes about this gimmick
yet. He's a great talker and an even better wrestler. Since he's a
real life friend of Austin's, I know Austin would love Regal to be
groomed as a future opponent. Hopefully this character will work out.

DOA (w/Paul Ellering) defeated Mankind and Ken Shamrock. Shamrock
made his full fledged heel turn by nailing Mankind with a chair, which
led to Foley being pinned. Shamrock has big time potential as a heel,
this could be a main event opponent for Austin. Austin was shown
attempting to break into the production truck with an ax.

Austin killed the live hospital feed with McMahon. The Austin/McMahon
angle was the running subplot throughout the show.

Stone Cold then made his way to ringside. Saw a funny fan sign:
Drunk: 24:7. Austin joined in on commentary. Austin threatened
Shane, but told him that if he stayed in line he was safe. Austin
vowed that The Undertaker/Kane match would have no DQ's or countouts;
he's going to let them beat the hell out of each other. Vince McMahon
broke in on commentary, but Stone Cold cut him off by threatening to
beat the hell out of Shane. Cornette asked Austin if he saw a rival
in The Rock, and Austin acknowledged The Rock as an opponent worthy of
respect

Rocky Maivia defeated Jeff Jarrett (w/Dennis Knight) by
disqualification. its amazing how popular The Rock has become since
Summerslam. The work was solid but the match was mainly a back drop
to the McMahon/Austin storyline. Jeff Jarrett must be the most
overrated worker in the business. After Knight and Jarrett began
double teaming The Rock, Austin cleared house and made the save. As
the show went off the air Austin and Maivia were nose to nose; Austin
looked amused, Rocky looked like he was freaked out.

Notes: Cornette played a non-partisan role, not obviously rooting for
anyone. Definitely the best color commentator in the sport, far
outclassing Lawler or Heenan.

 

I'd love to see Cornette and Jim Ross host Raw, since they meld
together so well.
===========================================
Below we are happy to print Chris Jericho's weekly letter to his fan
club. Jericho's official website can be found at:
http://www.chrisjericho.com/

NP: Kiss- Psycho Circus
Hello JerichoHolics!
Well its been a monumental week with the first of the T-shirt
commercials running on every Nitro, Thunder and Saturday night show!
I've been receiving tons of mail regarding the shirts, and I really
hope you like em!  If you don't have one yet, you'd better get one. 
Just click on the Shirt banner on the front page of this site, or call
1-800-WCW-8661 and ask for them by name.  I hope you enjoyed the
commercial as well!  I wanted to make something entertaining and
different from the normal merchandise commercial.

Well the hurricane was nothing more than an exaggerated rain storm and
thank God for that!  I was a little scared that I'd get blown right
off the face of the Earth, but much to the chagrin of many, I wasn't!

I did Real Radio 104 in Orlando yesterday and it was tons of fun!  I
rattled on for about four hours about wrestling, metal, 80's trivia,
hockey and UFO's.  Thanks to Dafoe, Platypus 9 and Fritz Historian for
the great time.

I'm also going to appear on Nickleodeon's "Figure It Out", in the next
couple of months.  When I get the exact date of the show's airing,
you'll know.  Did I get slimed?  Wait and see.

Let's say a prayer for referee extraordinaire Mark Curtis and wish him
a speedy recovery!  I'd also like to give my best to Jim Duggan for a
speedy recovery from his recent cancer surgery.  You knew that big
Hacksaw would kick the little C's butt!!  HeeeyyyyoooooTriple Hh!!!!

I forgot to give my review of the Van Halen show at Orlando's House Of
Blues a few weeks ago.  It was bloody awesome!!  I was standing right
in front of Eddie VH and he was killer.  They rocked super hard and
the highlights were "Somebody Get Me A Doctor", "Panama", "One I Want"
and "Mean Streets".  New Kid Gary Cherone was right on as well.

The movie of the week was Christopher Guest's, "Waiting For Guffman".
If you're a fan of "Spinal Tap", you'd better check this out.  its
HI-larious!

I've got a new PO Box address at :PO Box 8234, Clearwater FL, 33758.
So don't send anything to the old box, its closed.  If you already
have, don't worry, as I'm collecting all of the last remnants soon.
Remember autograph requests MUST include a self addressed stamped 8X10
envelope.

God bless you and be good to one another.
CJ
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Fyrcraker9 (Ed Pyle)
An angle for Runnels
One night on Raw, Dustin Runnels comes to the ring, takes the mic and
begins to speak. Runnels says he's been doing alot of soul searching
lately, and he realized that what "someone" has been saying about the
respect fans have for good guys is not what it should be these days.
He then goes on to say that he doesn't feel that the WWF is the place
the "son of a plumber" can find his "American dream" anymore. Next
he says that he wants to get things back to the way they were and that
he is starting a revolution.

Runnels then says that a revolution needs money and says he's found a
backer in Tiger Ali Singh. Singh comes out and says he hired some
muscle, which turns out to be Vader (with a new outfit). Runnels then
talks about how the wrestlers the fans like are arrogant and abuse the
gifts they been given. He mentions Venis, Godfather, Gangrel, and
Austin.

Over the next few weeks Runnels faction jumps Venis, Gangrel and the
Godfather. Runnels talks about how evil and arrogant they are.
Runnels and Vader beat on the guys while Singh does commentary and
abuses Jim Ross for being a Yokel. After Venis, Gangrel, and the
Godfather have been attacked, the faction goes after Austin. Vader and
Goldust beat on him for a while, talking about 3:16, and his
vulgarity. Eventually the faction calls Singh into the ring. Singh
puts Austin in the Camel Clutch for like five minutes. Afterwards he
is rushed to hospital.

The next week Austin is furious and calls out Singh. He beats him,
but is taken the distance. Again Austin is attacked by Vader and
Runnels. Over the last few weeks Runnels has been beating on jobbers
and seems to have found the edge he has lacked. This sets up a PPV
match with Austin and a new feud.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: KungFuCool
I am normally not the person who would write a letter to this booking
sheet, but ever since the debut of Gangrel, I've noticed that people
have been making comments like "A vampire. Hah! What a gimmick. They
must be desperate." To those of you who say this, I have but one
sentence for you. A vampire gimmick makes a federation desperate, and
yet, a man called "The Lord of Darkness" now has a shot at the WWF
title in less than 24 hours, and you all love him. So, a man with
"powers" to suddenly awaken the pyro guys and have them make flames
shoot out of the turnbuckles is a man worthy of the World Wrestling
Federation title, and yet a "vampire" is just a really desperate
gimmick? Think about it. Vampire. Lord of the Darkness. I don't see a
difference, really. Oh, and in case you people have forgotten,
remember when Undertaker had a "special message" for HBK, saying that
the "Creatures of the Night" wanted the belt? You guys liked it. And
yet, here is a guy who could become WWF champion, with a gimmick not
much more different than the Undertaker's, and you all laugh. Munch on
that.
===========================================
The staff of The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Editor: Steve Appy Columnist: Mark George
Columnist: SamJerry
Columnist: Fritz Capp
Columnist: Rick Phelps
Columnist: Cindy Barnes
Columnist: Josh Hewitt
Columnist: Swami
Columnist: Tom Misnik
Columnist: Nate Pelley
Columnist: Robert Troy (Osiris)
Columnist: Tom Kirkbride
Columnist: Ryan S. Oaks
Columnist: Darren Kramer

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