Issue #
042
Date:
Wednesday October 21st, 1998 11:47 am
Kidman
leads a Cruiserweight Resurgance
By Steve
App
Just a month ago the
WCW Cruiserweight Division was in shambles.
Chris Jericho,
Dean Malenko, and Eddie Guerrerorefused to wrestle
in
the division.
The Ultimo Dragon learned he had a potentially
career
ending elbow
injury; Chris Benoit, possibly the best Light
Heavyweight
in the world
never did wrestle in the WCW division. This once
strong
group looked to
be headed to obscurity.
Then, out of
nowhere, the division saw a resurgence and the main
cause
was Billy
Kidman. Always considered an underrated worker with
potential,
Kidman is well on his way to stardom. With Rey
Mysterio
Jr. out of action the past three months, the
Cruiserweight Division
was Kidman's
sole responsibility. He came through.
Kidman's
matches against Juventud Guerrera Jr. and Psychosis
have been
some of the
best matches on Nitro the entire year (not that its
saying much).
WCW has the workers available right now to create a
world class
division, possibly at the level of New Japan's
incredible
Light
Heavyweight Division.
Who are
Kidman's "supporting" players (not that Rey Mysterio
will ever
really be a
supporting player in anybody's book). There's Rey,
Juvi,
Psychosis, Kaz
Hayashi (a developing star in his own right), Chavo
Guerrero Jr.,
Alex Wright, Hector Garza, & even Disco Inferno.
There are
several international stars than can augment the
division.
Since WCW does
have their working agreement with New Japan this is
the obvious
place to look.
Although Jushin
“Thunder” Liger may have lost a step, he's still one
of the best
mat wrestlers
in the world. Shinjiro Otani and Koji Kanemoto have
become bona
fide superstars. All
Japan's Johnny Smith
is very
underrated, and
if he moves to an advantageous environment he may
shine. Although Michinoku Pro has a very loose
talent trading
agreement with
the WWF they may be open to an offer. I'd love to
see
The Great
Sasuke fly all over a WCW ring.
There's one
real key to making this division a success; keep the
Heavyweight &
Cruiserweight divisions separate. Psychosis will
never
be taken
seriously as a title contender if he loses to Scott
Hall one
week and then
challenges Kidman the next. Let the Cruiserweights
dazzle the
crowd against each other since they are the only
ones who truly
complement each
other. This very problem is what has put a great
worker like
Brad Armstrong in such a bad situation.
===========================================
Poll: ALL RESPONSES MUST BE
SENT TO:
nwo4life4ever@xxxxpuno.com
Responses sent
to any other address will be deleted
Swami Speaks
Hi, Swami here. I have
been really busy lately with extracurricular
activities.
That is why I have cancelled Swami Speaks and now I
do
Swami's weekly
poll. That’s right, every week you get to vote on a
topic. So,
starting with this week here is the poll:
What stable
rules WCW?
A. 4 Horsemen
(although there are 5)
B. One Warrior
Nation (although there are 2)
C. Latino World
Order (Eddie Guerrero, LaParka, Damien, Hector Garza,
El Dandy)
D. nWo
Hollywood
E. Wolfpack
F. All other
WCW wrestlers
All poll answers should be
e-mailed to
nwo4life4ever@xxxxpuno.com
With the
subject reading
'POLL'. Steve Appy will not forward any poll
answers to me
and therefore it will not count.
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENT
Check out a cool new
wrestling site at:
http://members.aol.com/AiE316/wden/
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
Hammerly99
I think this
would be a great scenario for the Rey Mysterio Jr.
VS.
Billy Kidman
match. I think that as many expect the Wolfpac
should
rush the ring
after the match, no matter the outcome. However, I
think
that instead of
attacking Kidman, the Wolfpac should go after
Mysterio,
making Kidman a member of the 'pac. I think Kidman
would do
well because he
has good mike skills, at least better than Luger and
Sting, and he
is one hell of a performer. Please e-mail me with
opinions.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
JKW810
I've been
receiving this newsletter for several months now and
I must
say I truly enjoy it. I've been watching wrestling
for 24 years and am
an avid fan. I watched Judgment Day on PPV on
10/18/98 and I
couldn't believe that Vince had the nerve to fire
Stone Cold Steve
Austin. Naturally, he did it the cowardly way, the
only way Vince
knows. I always knew that Vince McMahon was an
A**HOLE but I didn't
think he was a fool too. How can he get rid of SCSA?
He's his
moneymaker! Look around Vince, the majority of
signs, foam hands and
T-shirts at a live event are for SCSA. Not since
Hulkamania have I
experienced an energy that erupts a live event as
the one that SCSA
creates when he walks into an arena. I personally
tune in every week
and wait in
anticipation to see what SCSA is going to do next. I
know
he's not a role
model, but wrestlers shouldn't be role models. But
he
is who the
fans tune in
and go to see.
Okay, before
everyone starts screaming that it’s fake, I know
that. And
I do understand
that story lines are created for a reason. I believe
I read
somewhere that SCSA hurt his knee again. So I
venture to guess
that either he
needs to rest the knee for a while or maybe he just
needs some time
off. Everyone deserves a vacation every now and
then.
I hope he comes
back soon or, of course, he could be on RAW tonight.
Only time will
tell. If Vince was smart, he'd make sure that Stone
Cold is back
SOON!!!!
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
Boo0421
What's up
everybody? I'm here to predict some great matches I
would
like to see and
a little bit of some other things.
Meng Vs Kane, SCSA Vs
Goldberg, Giant Vs Undertaker
I could go on,
but not today!
Why the heck was
Chucky on WCW? What type of mess
is that?
WCW, are you
that desperate for ratings?! Come on WCW, that's a
little
overboard, don't you think? He's cool and all but
don't put
him on a wrestling show!! Who's
next, Michael
Myers?!
I hope Hall gets help
for his alcohol problem.
Blue Blazer's
back!
What's up with Gangrel these days?
I don't want
you to fall asleep while I keep typing stuff, so
I'll let
you go now. Thanks for reading!
PEACE,
Adrianna.
===========================================
FANTASY BOOKING
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
Vgmastr
Hi, this would
be how I booked the Survivor Series, first of all,
I'd
extend the PPV
to 4 hours like they did for Wrestlemania IV in
order
to fit in some
tag team elimination matches (this also assumes
Austin
is "back",
Triple H returns from injury, and Bart Gunn is back
from Japan):
Tiger Ali
Singh, Bradshaw, & Too Much vs. Bart Gunn, The
Godfather, &
The
Hardy Boyz
Elimination:
Godfather by
Singh
Bradshaw by
Gunn
J. Hardy by
Christopher
M. Hardy by
Singh
Taylor by Gunn
Christopher by
Gunn
Singh by Gunn
Survivor: Bart
Gunn (This way, Singh gets credibility staying in
that
long, and it
continues Gunn's push from BFA)
Round 1 of
Tourney:
Steve Austin
defeats The Big Boss Man
D-Lo Brown
defeats X-Pac
The Rock
defeats Mark Henry
Goldust and Val
Venis battle to a Time Limit Draw
Mankind defeats
Billy Gunn
Ken Shamrock
defeats Triple H (only because Triple H should have
a light load if
he even
returns by then
with the injury)
Kane defeats
Marc Mero
The Undertaker
defeats Jesse James
Gangrel,
Christian, & DOA vs. Edge & LOD Hawk by Skull (Droz
causes it
by accident,
more friction)
Skull by Animal
8-Ball by Droz
Droz by
Christian
Animal by
Gangrel
Christian by
Edge
Gangrel by Edge
Survivor: Edge
(This moves Edge and Gangrel onto bigger feuds while
Christian
concentrates on
the Light Heavyweight Title)
Quarterfinals:
Steve Austin
defeats D-Lo Brown
The Rock gets a
bye
Ken Shamrock
and Mankind both get DQed (setting up an IC Title
3-way
with Triple H
at the next
PPV)
The Undertaker
defeats Kane
The
Headbangers, Taka Michinoku, & Dick Togo vs.
Kurrgan, Golga, & The
Insane
Clown Posse
Togo by Golga
Michinoku by
Kurrgan
Golga by Mosh
Kurrgan by
Thrasher
Violent J by
Thrasher
Shaggy 2 Dope
by Mosh
Survivors: The
Headbangers (This will end this pointless feud and
move
the Bangers
onto the Outlaws)
Semi-Finals:
Austin defeats
The Rock after the Undertaker interferes (This puts
more heat on
the final match, and doesn't make the Rock do a
clean job)
The Undertaker
gets a bye
Jeff Jarrett,
The Blue Blazer, & Southern Justice vs. Al Snow,
Scorpio, Steve
Blackman, &
Faarooq
Knight by
Scorpio
Faarooq by
Jarrett
Scorpio by
Blazer
Canterbury by
Snow
Blackman &
Blazer both get counted out
Snow by Jarrett
Survivor: Jeff
Jarrett (after Deborah McMichael interferes leading
to
a Mixed tag at
the next PPV: Snow & Head vs. Jarrett & McMichael)
Final:
The Undertaker
defeats Steve Austin (after Boss Man interferes,
this
sets up a
double main
event at the next PPV, with Austin vs. Boss Man and
Undertaker vs.
either Rock or
Kane, with Austin and Undertaker winning their
respective
matches, leading to a rematch at the Royal Rumble,
where
Austin takes the belt, the Rock wins the Rumble, and
a Wrestlemania
main event with
Austin vs. Rock when the Rock has more credibility)
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
LlVIN
Survivor Series
is the 1 year Anniversary of Bret getting screwed.
Now after Owen
messed up Severn's neck he's retired. Yet the Blue
Blazer shows
up.
Here's a POSSIBLE
storyline:
Austin and Owen
have some kind of an agreement. Where Owen lets
Austin
compete as the
Blue Blazer at Survivor Series, Blazer wins the
belt.
The crowd is
Booing...
Vince comes in
and congratulates the Blue Blazer and tells him
something to
let him know that he knows its Owen. Owen walks out
and
says a year ago
you screwed my brother: Now Vince, this Hart screws
you.
Vince is
stunned. Blazer unmasks himself and its Austin.
Stunner for
Vince. This
gets Austin the belt back.. and Owen gets over.
Then
Vince re hires
Austin and puts a bounty on his head..
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by Alberto Rizzi (yalbster@xxxxcromo.it)
I would like to
reply to this post on one of the past editions:
>Submitted by reader:
Anfony20
>WCW likes to
refer to Kanyon as the "Innovator of Offense."
>its not true.
Kanyon is simply a cheap rip-off of ECW. First,
>the "Innovator
of Offense" moniker is probably taken from Tommy
>Dreamer's
name, "Innovator of Violence." Second, Kanyon owes
>his whole
repertoire to Super Nova. Nova is the wrestler
>with all the
innovative maneuvers, Kanyon just stole them.
Well, of course
I respect this opinion, but I would like to make you
think about 3
things: Kanyon is a heavyweight, and is nice to see
"a
giant"
performing these incredible maneuvers. Usually to
find such an
offense you
must look at smaller wrestlers.
Second: if it is true
that
Kanyon is only
stealing, you must give him credit as well. Are the
so called
champions (Warrior, Hogan and many others) able to
copy in such a
great way ?? NO. You must have the ability to do it.
And last, but not
least, let's speak about the nickname "Innovator of
offense". I
would like to bring 2 examples: if a promoter has a
great
idea for a
storyline and calls himself "Innovator of the
storylines",
has he taken
from Tommy Dreamer?? If an announcer comes out with
a
new name for a
wrestling move and calls himself "Innovator of the
play-by-play",
has he taken from Tommy Dreamer?? No, and the same
answer is right
for the
Kanyon issue.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
Kygal31
In response to
Anfony20, when he said that Kanyon is ripping off
Super Nova's
moves, I have
one thing to say, I have seen several wrestlers use
the moves
that Kanyon is using and I saw them long before
Super Nova or
Kanyon were in
the picture. Those are moves they all learn when
they
decided to be wrestlers. its just that some can do
it better than
others and
Kanyon happens to be one of them. I have never seen
Super Nova
because I don't get ECW here. I believe that he is a
great
wrestler by what all the fans say on the internet,
but Kanyon is great
also. You don't
see very many wrestlers his size that can do the
maneuvers that
he does. He is talented and for you to say he is a
rip
off, you are
wrong. He has worked hard to get where he is and he
deserves a lot
for the great performances he has given.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
AlexSRose
Too many
wrestlers not enough gimmicks.
A crowd of
18,000 people look about at each other scoping out
signs,
showing off
shirts, munching down hot dogs and booing and
cheering for
the wrestlers
walking in. Any type of talent can be seen walking
to
ringside one by
one. But for what reason, without a plot to have
them
known. This is
the problem that WCW has. They have one too many
wrestlers hired
and for what reasons, jobbers.
You got
talented guys who have worked their asses off to
make it in
this business
and the first thing to happen is being paid a low
salary and
being booed because of no push. Some wrestlers pay
alot of
money to get
into schools and when they finally graduate they end
up
being beat up
by guys to make others look cool. Come on, what the
hell
is this? Tons
of talent and WCW uses them for nothing; why is
there
too many guys
in WCW. I would like WCW to drop a few guys and keep
the
big names
everyone likes. Look at the WWF, not that many guys
and
still people
cheer for almost everyone because you know everyone.
There’s not one
person in the WWF you look at and say, "Who the heck
is
that?",
you know who
the heck it is. Lets look at something real fast. I
have the
perfect
person, lets look at Edge's brother Christian. Only
a few weeks in the
federation and
everyone cheers him after he wins the
Lightheavyweight
Championship.
And everyone knows him. Why storylines and the fact
there’s not
alot of guys all about. WCW needs to do something
with their
wrestlers in the fashion of entertainment. Not just
big guys
kicking the rap out of each other. There has always
been
storylines but
now its time WCW starts letting the talents get
chances, the
old should leave, and the smart ones should see this
and
speak out. WCW,
listen up, decrease the roster and increase the
chances.
Because the WWF has always given wrestlers a chance,
and
nobody is a
zero in the WWF. Attitude is what’s makes things
happen,
not old show
offs with old moves, and 80's mike talent.
Its no wonder
the WWF is more popular. WCW needs attitude and
needs
to get away
from Rasslin' and get into the Entertainment
business now.
And that's my
bottom line.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader:
AcidViruz
I want to reply
to a reader mailbag thing from a guy who’s screen
name
was sinister13.
He was ripping on Nitro, as all WWF fans usually do.
And he was also
saying, like after every Nitro, that WCW copy's WWF.
Well, I got a
few things to say about that. First off, there is no
way that the
Scott Hall drunk angle is a rip off of Hawk from LOD
2000. Scott
Hall's "personal problems" have been around for a
very
long time,
going much further back than Hawk's little stupidity
stage.
And, the
Sinister must have not been paying any attention to
what
Kevin Nash said
in that bathroom in the bar. Nash said "now ain't
that
a pretty sight
to see". It didn't take a genius to figure out that
Scott Hall was
throwing up in the toilet. Nash didn't give him a
swirley.
Oh, and I am
taking his comments about Sting and Bret Hart
personally.
How would you
like to fight it out lifting up pipes, and falling
through tables
for like 25 minutes??? I have never seen a better
fake
brawl than
that. Those guys worked very hard, and they deserve
some
credit. No
offense to Stone Cold (because he rocks) but just
because
Sting didn't
run in with an axe and a can of beer, doesn't mean
he
can't be a good
pro wrestler.
Referring to the
comment that
was"...and that
table break was horrendous" well listen here. That
table broke
straight though right in half. I don't
know what kind
of a person you are, but a perfect table break like
that doesn't
come all that often. I am a Pro Wrestling fan. I
like WCW
and the WWF. I don't just hate one federation
because I like the
other
federation better. I watch all the PPV's. No doubt,
it’s a cool
sport. So, from
wrestling fan to wrestling fan, think about what you
write before
you write it.
SLash
===========================================
Submitted by reader:
Dancol10
|¯-_ ¯-_-¯
|_-¯ _-¯-_
===========================================
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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Copyright- Steve Appy of The Wrestling Booking Sheet ©1998, 1999, 2000 |