Issue # 031

Date:  Sunday October 11th, 1998  10:22 pm

Sunday Night Heat Report for October 10th, 1998
By Steve Appy

WWF Women's Champion Jaqueline (w/Marc Mero) pinned Starla Sexton
This Women's Championship has been revived as a vehicle for the
Sable/Jaqueline feud. Jackie & Mero wore matching boxing robes along with Jackie wearing the chunk of Sable's hair with her own. Jackie won after a DDT.  After the match, Sable came to the ring and threw Jackie out on her ass.  While Sable's great in the ring taking her inexperience into account, she's still too inexperienced to be placed in the ring so often.

Kaientai (w/Wally Yamaguchi) defeated Brian Christopher, Scott Taylor,
Jeff & Matt Hardy when Taylor was pinned.
Some good high spot wrestlers on the American side, and some world
class workers on the Japanese side. Too Much played the heels the
entire match, refusing to coexist with the Hardy Bros. Scott Taylor
was pinned after some double team maneuvers. Too Much attacked The
Hardy's after the match and made The Hardy's look like complete wimps. A poor man's Rock & Roll Express. Too Much has potential, give them the
upset over The New Age Outlaws.

The running theme of the show was highlights of Stone Cold creating
havoc, with the theme: What will Stone Cold do tonight? Who will he
destroy next?

Edge pinned Vader
Even a year ago a victory over Vader would have elevated a wrestler up a level. Now it just brings Vader down. I would love to see Paul
Heyman take control of Vader's career; he can be a superstar once
again. At least Vader was allowed to dominate most of the offense and was given a little respect. Edge looked better up in the rafters.
Edge pinned Vader after hitting Vader w/ The Downward Spiral.

Al Snow defeated Ken Shamrock via disqualification
I'm wondering if Snow's ring entrance will explode in the WWF, since Snow needs the fan's participation to make his act work. Shamrock put Snow in the ankle lock almost immediately and Snow reached the ropes.
Shamrock refused to release the hold and was quickly disqualified.
Too Cold Scorpio tried to make the save but Shamrock quickly fought
him off. Finally, Mankind made the save. At least Snow didn't have
to job so quickly after his return. This match did nothing for Snow
and only made Shamrock look like an ineffectual madman.

Michael Cole interviewed Road Dog Jesse James.  When Cole asked James about Billy Gunn he expressed anger and ignored Cole. This is really a
unit where the sum is much more valuable than the parts; don't split up The New Age Outlaws!

Jeff Jarrett defeated Road Dog Jesse James via disqualification after
a guitar shot.
A matchup of former tag team partners. The WWF has been careful not to job Jarrett too often since Summerslam. Shane McMahon announced that Billy Gunn would address all the DX issues on Raw this week. Both men were acknowledged  as second generation wrestlers by Cornette. Road Dog was disqualified after nailing Jarrett with his own guitar.

Stone Cold Steve Austin pinned WWF European Champion D-Lo Brown
(w/Mark Henry) in a Non-Title match.
A short match and D-Lo was given very little offense. After the
match Austin also stunned Henry. I have no problem with Austin going
over but I do hate to see another championship diminished. No real
storyline, just a chance for Stone Cold to kick ass.  Funny enough for what it was; D-Lo Brown is the WWF's top Heavyweight wrestler
right now, with both the World and Intercontinental titles vacant.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Lipsyncpro
I found your commentary to be very interesting, and obviously you did
a lot of both soul searching and deep thought before you wrote. I
would like to share with you my perspective on the entire issue. In
the areas where we differ I hope you do not take it as a personal
attack on you, what you wrote, or your personal beliefs on the
situation. I want to say up front that I do not mean to do so and hope
you don't take it that way.

Like you I find the Scott Hall alcoholism situation sickening. I may
take it a little more personally because someone very close to me was
an alcoholic. I only say was because she's dead now (but not because
of alcohol, it was something else). During the time she drank it tore
my heart apart seeing what it was doing to her.

I keep trying to tell myself that this is all part of a bigger angle
that WCW is pushing where we see Scott Hall hitting rock bottom
because of his alcoholism and then becomes sober for life making him a
face. I keep telling myself that is what is going to happen but that
doesn't sound like Bischoff's style.

A lot of people talk about how this isn't a moral issue, that it is
simply as you say a "bad lifestyle choice."  That can be a bad
lifestyle choice only if the person just sits alone in their house but
more often it isn't that way. The incident you stated is a perfect
example. Hall groped a woman when he had been drinking. That sounds
more like something that could get him into trouble with the law,
either with a civil suit or perhaps an arrest. Now it doesn't matter
if he had been legally intoxicated or not, from all that I have read
about Mr. Hall that doesn't sound like the course of action
he would have taken had he been sober. Drinking is simply the first
domino in a series. Now they make light of the whole issue. When he
supposedly drove the car and had an accident, anybody who ever lost a loved one due to a drunk driver wouldn't find the skit amusing. On this you and I definitely seem to agree.

Scott Hall's portrayal of himself constantly in a drunken stupor
brings up another disturbing point. You talk about how fans have no
close personal bond with Mr. Hall. That is true to a point but as in
other sports the fans do live vicariously through the actions of the sports figures they idolize.

On Mrs./Ms. Halls letter I'm just not sure what to make of that.
Perhaps its an indication of an even deeper problem between them and
this was the only way she could respond. On this though I have no
strong feelings or opinions.

When Scott Hall comes on now I change the channel. I can't watch what
he does anymore. Eventually going into chat rooms people will talk
about what he did. Sometimes that's good because they don't think what
he did was funny, or other times its bad because even though it’s a
chat room they try to imitate what he did. A long time ago there was a
man named Foster Brooks who made a living doing comedy as if he was
drunk. Back then he got a lot of laughs out of it from the crowd. I
haven't seen him anywhere in a long time, personally I don't think
that is a coincidence.

I'm sorry if my letter has come across as nothing more than rambling.
I have written WCW and let them know about how I feel about this.
Personally, I don't expect a response one way or another. After
reading your commentary though I had to write. Thank you very much for
reading my letter and thank you for what you've written.
Louis
===========================================
Here's another letter from Dana Hall.

Straight from Dana Hall
WCW has obviously chosen not to respond to me, but I am sure I've been
heard. However, I feel they are still not going to do what's right.

Watching last night's Thunder, and hearing what they said [towards the
show's conclusion], "Nothing's wrong with Scott Hall", only proves
what they are going to try to do, and that is attempt to make the fans
think he's OK. WCW may stop exploiting Scott's alcoholism in this
"storyline", but how will that work when nothing truly has been done
to help him?

Is no one going to see him in a bar anymore, or drinking, or in
trouble - just like that? Can WCW wave its magic wand, and suddenly
he's fixed? It only proves again that they don't care - they are just
exploiting him in a different way now. The fact of the matter is,
Scott is still sick - nothing has been done to change that.

WCW thinks that they can shut me and the fans up by stopping the
"stagings", but fans should demand that this not be enough. They
should demand an apology from Scott & WCW for mocking this very real
situation, and still urge in any way possible for Scott to take a
break from wrestling and for WCW to support this. Furthermore, fans
should demand for WCW to start enforcing their own drug policies and
codes of conduct more seriously in the future.

Just because it seems that WCW will eventually change the "storyline,"
the fact remains that Scott's real life problem has not been seriously
addressed by them, and it will only interfere with their storyline in
the future. They have not atoned for their mistake, and that is not
acceptable to myself, nor [my son] Cody and [daughter] Cassidy. Scott
still has to answer to the judge and to me concerning his addictions
and inappropriate behavior. These kids deserve no less than a clean
and sober father. Scott is not living up to this, and I feel he never
can as long as he is exposed to the sicknesses of wrestling.

I wish someone could convince Scott of this. He has already missed out
on 10 months of his children's lives. His road to recovery is going to
be a long one. But he needs to get on that road, though I feel he has
no chance of that as long as he is in the wrestling industry. WCW made
the wrong choice in trying to fool the fans, and worst of all, for not
trying to convince Scott to get the help he truly needs, so that he
may be a clean and sober person and a parent to his children.

Fans cannot overlook, as I have not, the past 10 months of ongoing
turmoil in his life. That was all real, and it just can't be fixed
solely because Bobby Heenan says so in his commentary. We cannot
forget what WCW and the wrestling industry has done by helping this
situation for Scott and other wrestlers through the years, by their
lack of concern for an actual drug policy and enforcement of such in a
proper manner to allow help for wrestlers who were in need. Fans
should be very concerned, especially those with children, that
something so serious (not to mention illegal) is being taken so
lightly. The lack of moral obligation as an industry that reaches so
many families and children is inexcusable. The wrestling industry does
not have to be as sick, twisted and obscene as it is. It does not need
to help destroy marriages, families, and individuals to exist.

Scott may have agreed to be exploited by participating in this
storyline, but WCW is still in the wrong, since we (the kids and I)
did not agree. We did not choose to give WCW the power to exploit
something that has been a very real pain and embarrassment in our
lives, and for that, WCW owes us an apology and more.

I am still very much upset about this. There will be more time wasted
and more pain brought to his children until Scott chooses to be clean
and sober. WCW is deterring that from happening, and I will continue
to speak out until they stop and encourage Scott to get help. I feel I
have to do something, because all I care about is for Scott to clean
up his act and to be a father to his kids. I am asking for the support
of all of you in hopes that it will help, somehow.
From Dana Hall
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Lazyboy54
I am making a petition for anyone that is interested in signing. It is
about getting ECW on every TV in the US, and Canada. I will send the
signed petition to ALL the cable carriers: Cablevision, Turner, Direct
TV, and any other company that I can find. So if you would like to
sign the petition e-mail me: lazyboy54. I will mail the letters Friday of this week. So please respond to me ASAP.  Thank you.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: NdOg15
You know, I totally agree that Buff makes Scott Steiner's matches and
things like that worthwhile because Buff is an entertainer.  Steiner
isn't much of one. I too think that Buff is going be at the top some
day. Steiner is an excellent athlete but Bagwell acually makes it
enjoyable and Steiner just yells and screams about how amazing his
body looks. I mean, Buff does that too but he knows how to get the
crowd to really react.
NdOg15
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: David D. Shaw (WGZZ80C@xxxxcrodigy.com)
The big movie star for Nitro isn't Jackie Chan as you alluded to. Rest
assured that Chuckie will show up on Nitro to go with the laughter
that's been heard the past weeks. They mentioned the star was in an
upcoming Universal Pictures release, ‘Bride of Chuckie’ is being
released by Universal. Peace.
-David-
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Krillian (jte@xxxxpode-co.com)
The WWF's version of the Vader story is insulting. They imply the
fans wanted Vader to go when it was the front office who made him a
jobber. I think Raw is better than Nitro but in many cases in this
business, Vince can prove to be just as big a jerk as Bischoff.
===========================================
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===========================================
The staff of The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Editor: Steve Appy Columnist: Mark George
Columnist: SamJerry
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