Issue # 054

Date:  Tuesday November 3rd, 1998  1:48 pm

WWF RAW Report for November 3rd, 1998
By Steve Appy
To subscribe to The Wrestling Booking Sheet, e-mail:
Appy@xxx.com

RAW opened with speculation that Vince McMahon would step down as CEO
of Titan Sports, with Shane McMahon possibly taking his place. Shane
was announced as the acting chairman of the WWF, and he declared that
Stone Cold Steve Austin would get a World Title shot the day after
Survivor Series (November 16th). Vince McMahon was shown arriving at
the arena.

Vince announced that he would NOT be retiring as CEO of the WWF. When
Vince announced that many of the fans in attendance would like to see
him die, there was an alarming positive response. Vince proceeded to
fire Shane, and assigned him to be a "lowly" referee. Vince placed
Austin in the Survivor Series tournament, and said that he will face
The Big Boss Man in the first round. In other words, all the
speculation over the weekend about Vince retiring was a cheap ratings
ploy.

Vince harassed Jim Ross & Jerry Lawler, reminding them who signs their
paychecks. Vince pointed to the steel cage hanging rom the ceiling,
GUARENTEEING that someone would be serving hard time later in the
evening.

WWF European Champion X-Pac & WWF World Tag Team Champions The New Age
Outlaws fought The Brood (Edge, Gangrel, & WWF Light Heavyweight
Champion Christian) to a No Contest in 3:25
Edge and Christian performed some cool double team maneuvers on X-Pac.
The lights went out, and Kane walked to ringside. Kane chokeslammed
everybody but The Road Dog & Gangrel. I think its too late to resume
selling Kane as an unbeatable monster, though.

Vince McMahon, angry about Michael Cole's questions last week, ordered
The Big Boss Man to rough Cole up a little.

Droz defeated LOD Hawk via forfeit
Hawk showed up "drunk" again; I thought this angle was over. Droz
nailed Hawk before any bell was rung, and glorified in beating on the
helpless Hawk. The match never started due to Hawk's "condition".
Animal pulled Droz off the fallen Hawk, although he was disgusted with
Hawk himself.

Vince McMahon and The Big Boss Man ran into a shaken Jim Cornette.
They told him to get with the program, and to knock off his "80's
Wrestling Crap". It would have been nice to see Cornette mention how
The Boss Man was his bodyguard back in 1986, and maybe unsuccesfully
try to get some favor.

Michael Cole interviewed Al Snow & Mankind. Snow called Cole "Todd";
there continues to be tension between the two men with props.

Kurrigan & Golga (w/ Luna Vachon & Giant Silva) defeated Mankind & Al
Snow in 4:35 when Golga pinned Al Snow
ZZ Top was shown in the audience. Although it wasn't much of a match,
Snow's offense looked pretty good. Ross anounced that Vince had an
altercation with Howard Finkel; if I know the WWF, they pulled some
sort of weird rib on poor Finkel.
Snow nailed Kurrigan with the Head, but Mankind left the ringside area
when he couldn't find Mr. Socko. This left Snow in a handicap match,
and after some double teaming, Golga pinned Snow. I wouldn't be
surprised if it turns out Snow was responsible for the theft of Mr.
Socko.

Vince McMahon saw Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal backstage chatting with
The Nation of Domination, and he ordered him out of the arena.
Interesting. Will Shaq wrestle, especially with the NBA strike going
on? Against whom? Maybe teaming with Austin or The Rock?

Mankind tore apart the back stage area looking for Mr. Socko.
Although Foley is naturally funny, I don't like the idea of turning
him into strictly a comedy figure. Mankind went off in search of
Vince McMahon, in hopes of finding his sock.

Steven Regal fought Goldust to a No Contest in 4:50
Regal challenged anyone from the dressing room to a match, and was
obliged by Goldust. Amazingly enough, Goldust is now a babyface. Go
figure. Val Venis is claiming not to be the father of Terri Runnell's
baby. Terri came to ringside in a Marlena outfit, trying to woo
Dustin back to her side. Although Regal is a great worker, he's not
up to 100% yet. Kane stormed ringside and chokeslammed both Goldust &
Regal. unfortunately, Kane was about to chokeslam the "pregnant" Terri
Runnells. Bad message. The WWF suits helped her down before any
damage was done. The message is that Kane does not know right from
wrong; will he be aligning with someone who will teach him?

The Brackets for The Survivor Series Championship Tournament

Undertaker
Bye

Kane
Bye

The Rock
Triple H

Goldust
Ken Shamrock

Mankind
???

Jeff Jarrett
Al Snow

X-Pac
Steven Regal

Stone Cold Steve Austin
The Big Boss Man
Kane & The Undertaker are guarenteed to fight in second round.

Vince McMahon presented Mankind with The WWF Hardcore Championship
belt; the one condition is that Mankind could not interfere in the
next matchup: The Rock VS Ken Shamrock. Vince acknowledged losing a
son, and told Foley that he loved him like a son. Foley was excited,
and called Vince dad".

Rocky Maivia defeated Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock by DQ in
7:57
McMahon was conferring with Shamrock backstage before the match.
Since The Rock calls himself "The People's Champion", McMahon said he
had a problem with Rocky. Vince announced that unless Maivia win the
IC Title tonight, he will be barred from the Survivor Series
tournament. These two have worked together so often that they work
pretty well together. Shamrock hit a Hurricanrana on The Rock.
Shamrock trapped him into the ankle lock, but the hold was broken when
Maivia grabbed the ropes. The Rock accidentally knocked out the
referee, and Shamrock tried to hit The Rock with a chair. The chair
shot missed Maivia and bounced off the ropes, nailing Shamrock in the
head. Rocky covered Shamrock, but the referee was still knocked
out. After the referee was revived, Shamrock nailed Maivia in the
back with the chair, causing a disqualification.

Because The Rock didn't win the title, he was barred from The Survivor
Series Tournament.

Val Venis defeated Jeff Jarrett (w/Debra McMichael) via
disqualifiaction in 2:28
Venis tried to flirt with Debra before the match, but it was to no
avail. Jarrett's new look, so reminiscent of STUNNING Steve Austin,
is his most effective yet. Jarrett was DQed after The Blue Blazer
attacked Venis.

Vince McMahon had several police officers ready to arrest The Rock for
threatening Vince's life.

The Headbangers fought D-Lo Brown and Mark Henry to a No Contest in 6:10
The Headbangers wore dressed as The New Age Outlaws, and did a great
imitation.
Very funny. All's fair after DX imitated The NOD several months ago.
The winner of this match is scheduled to face The New Age Outlaws for
the tag belts at Survivor Series. The Headbangers played the
babyfaces. The match ended when Kane scored the ring and destroyed
all four men.

The Rock was arrested as per Vince McMahon's orders. He really is
getting the push; usually only Stone Cold get's arrested.

Owen Hart was interviewed, and once again expressed remorse for
injuring Dan Severn. Owen denied being The Blue Blazer, but he ended
up attacking Severn when he was called scum. As Steve Blackman made
the save, Owen fled the ring, crying that he had retired. I suspected
that Severn may end being the Blazer; apparently I was wrong.
Backstage, Owen and The Blue Blazer attacked Severn at the same time;
is the Blue Blazer Phil LaFon, or TEddie Hart? Or someone else?

The steel cage was lowered, and The Big Boss Man trapped all the
"stooges" in the cage. Upon McMahon's order, The Boss Man beat the
hell out of Slaughter, Brisco,
and Patterson. Vince made the Stooges bow alliegence to Vince
McMahon. Austin stormed the ring, and attacked The Big Bossman and
The Stooges. The Boss Man took control, though, and he laid out Stone
Cold. Shane McMahon entered the ring and stood over the fallen
Austin, which stopped The Boss Man from attacking Stone Cold. The
Undertaker then entered the cage, and he took the offensive against
Austin. Just as he gained control, Kane walked to the cage, and set
the cage on fire. Kane & Austin then double teamed The Undertaker as
the show went off the air.
===========================================
Lethal Injection
An Editorial By: Ryan Oaks A.K.A. The Ticking Time-Bomb, The Loose
Cannon, High Flyin Ryan Pillman. Any questions or comments are to be
sent to me at
Warriorism@xxxxpuno.com
Hi again everyone, thats right, I am writing another article just for
you, the wrestling fans. I just want everyone to know that I love
wrestling. As if you didn't know.

Well, I have decided to add some newer things to Lethal Injection, and
I will be doing it slowly over the next few articles. The newest part
of Lethal Injection is a wrestler of the day or wrestler of the week.
Although it is called wrestler of the week, sometimes I might make it
more than one wrestler, and if I write more than one article in the
same week I might make a different one for every article. I haven't
worked out the fine details yet but rest assured, I will. So lets get
things started.

First, my wrestler(s) the week are: Al Snow and Mankind, just because
they are f**kin hilarious.

Now onto my top ten in the mainstream business right now. I am
judging these wrestlers mostly on all around skill or even pure
toughness. Not to mention, microphone skills do help. If the wrestler
has a combination of skills he is probably on the list if he really
deserves it.

First on the list as #10, it is a tag team. Now I know, that when I
say the name, some of you will have no idea who I am talking about and
others will be shocked at who it is. #10 on my list is the team that
goes by "The Hardy Boys"!!! That's right, "The Hardy Boys"!! These
guys have alot of talent and potential. I have been watching these
guys since their arrival on WWF TV. These guys are really impressing
me and I just hope that WWF gives them a good push with a cool
gimmick. They have the perfect display of teamwork, and really have
what it takes to be one of the greatest tag teams in the WWF. And if
it is something the WWF
could use, its tag teams.

Okay, now onto #9. My #9 wrestler in the mainstream business today,
is Taka Michinoku. Again, some of you will be surprised and outraged.
This man is way underrated, and he should not be in that group. Taka
deserves to get a push as a singles wrestler and he should become some
kind of pro-japanese heel that is always talking about how he is
better than everyone. This could possibly cause him the heat he
needs. Anyway, he has a lot of talent, and if he is used right, he
could be one of the best wrestlers the WWF has.

Next, we have #8. My #8 pick, is none other than The Rock. Believe
it or not, behind the peoples eyebrow, and the rest of the peoples
body, there is a lot of wrestling talent as well as great microphone
skills. He comes out every week, and some people are so distracted
by his hilarious antics, that they don't even notice that he has
wrestling talent. The Rock Bottom is a great move and it isn't one of
the usual finishers either. The Rock is a unique wrestler and I am
glad to see him get a push.

Then we move on to #7. My #7 top wrestler in the mainstream business
today is a Luchador, Rey Mysterio Jr. Now, I think that a lot of
youwill agree with me on this one. This guy has so much wrestling
talent that he doesn't even need a gimmick to be recognized. He
doesn't need any kind of pushes; he became a favorite of fans due to
his overwhelming skill in wrestling.

This takes me to #6. #6 on my rankings, is none other than Chris
Jericho. I have seen this guy wrestle in ECW and I have even watched
his WCW matches. I guess you could consider me a Jerichoholic. I am
just a fan of wrestlers that can get the job done and do it as well as
Jericho does. He has the skills of flying off the top rope, and he
also has the ability to take you move for move down on the mat. His
WCW wrestling is nothing compared to his full potential and skill. I
greatly respect
this man and I think he should be getting a push toward the world
title within the next year.

I am now down to #5. The person that was lucky enough to make #5 on my
wonderful list is Rob Van Dam. I know that a lot of you may not like
him but he is a wonderful combonation of high flying skill, combined
with mat skills. Him and Sabu are a great team if they could just get
along. Not only does this man have the mic skills that are extremely
superior to any of the main eventers in WCW. I think that this guy
should be dropping his current singles title, and should be getting a
major push towards the world title or at least a major push towards a
future title reign.

The plot thickens as I am now down to my #4 pick. The person that I
picked as #4, is non other Chris Benoit. This guy is too good for the
horsemen. He belongs somewhere where he is appreciated by the
company. WCW treats him like s**t and I am tired of it. His strength,
stamina, and just pure toughness is far superior to most of WCW's
major talent. His wrestling skill speaks for itself. This guy is a
rough, tough, talented, wrestler that is too good for WCW and should
return to ECW where he would be a great contendor for the World Title.
He better be getting a major push from WCW very soon or I am going to
be one pissed off wrestling fan.

We are now one step closer to my #1 pick, because we are now at my #3
pick for the top 10. The #3 person on the list is "The Human Suplex
Machine" TAZ!!! This guy is the perfect example of pure raw power
that can be used in many different ways. Not only does he posess
power, he has skills in more than one area. As he is a master of many
fighting styles such as Brazillian Juijitsu (Sorry for the spelling)
and many other forms of fighting. He can suplex you, choke you out,
or do any
sort of punishment you can think of. He is the ideal hardcore wrestler.

We are now only one step away from our #1 wrestler in the mainstream
business. We are now at our #2 pick. My #2 pick is the Hardcore
Hero, Cactus Jack. This man is one of the two best talents of
hardcore skill ever to grace the sport. The other being Terry funk
(Who is not on the list due to the fact that he is not wrestling at
the time). He could probably take on anyone in the WWF in a real Mick
Foley style of a
hardcore match. That would include Ken Shamrock. I have seen a lot
of Mick's matches in Japan and I can tell you that they are something
that would make you agree with me on my choice to make him 2nd on my
list.

Ok, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages, Ryan
Pillman productions proudly brings to you, The #1 pick in the top ten
of the article!!!!!!!! The Human Highlight Reel, The most Homocidal,
Suicidal, Genocidal, superstar on the face of the earth. That's right
everyone, Sabu is my # 1 pick. He never talks because his actions are
an interview in themselves. He is the perfect wrestler in my opinion.
He can take you to the mat and wrestle you all day, and while your down
or stunned he will be flying off the ropes with a springboard
moonsault or some other kind of high flying plancha or what have ya.
He can attack from all directions and is just too fast for his
opponents. I have seen him is hardcore matches where he was merely in
a high school gym. This man has the talent to be once again the ECW
champ, and in my opinion, he is really the best all around skilled
wrestler right now.

There is my top ten. At this time, I would like to make a short
comment about NBC's attempt to ruin wrestling for everyone. To tell
you the truth, they didnt tell me anything I didnt know before, and I
really found it quite insulting. They tried to make it look as though
wrestling fans were mindless idiots that had no clue that wrestling is
scripted. Also, I don't know about any of you, but when I go to
wrestling events, I
dont see anyone handing out signs. I have always brought my own and
so has everyone else that I have ever seen with a sign. That was too
insulting and I think anyone that is a true wrestling fan will boycott
NBC and write them letters telling them what you think. I know that I
am and you can all expect an article on this issue in the very near
future.

Please be sure to tune in to The ShadoweMan on Squared Circle Talk on
C.R.N. The Cable Radio Network, from 10:00 PM to Midnight Pacific
Time. Any questions or comments are to be sent to me at
Warriorism@xxxxpuno.com and be sure to read my next edition of Lethal
Injection. And remember, I welcome all your comments
===========================================
FANTASY BOOKING- THIS WILL NOT REALLY HAPPEN
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Anfony20
Here is my idea for the WCW World Title.
This is a logical series of events that can finally get the most
talented wrestler in WCW on top. First, at World War 3, the final four
men in the ring will be Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Chris Jericho, and
Bret Hart. While Hart is resting on the ropes, Jericho hooks Nash in
the Lion Tamer. Hogan tries to clothesline Jericho, but Jericho moves
and Hogan accidentally hits Hart, sending him to the outside. This
will start the animosity between Hogan and Hart. Jericho tries to jump
Hogan from behind, but Hogan ducks and Jericho goes over the top.
Hogan eventually eliminates Nash, setting up Hogan vs. Goldberg at
Starrcade.

At Starrcade, Hogan gives Goldberg his first loss and wins the title.
The next night on Nitro, Bret says that he could have given Goldberg
his first loss, if it weren't for Hogan at WW3, so he challenges
Goldberg for the next Nitro. The following week, Hart defeats
Goldberg. With Hogan and Hart being the only 2 to defeat Goldberg
(officially) Hart can then say he deserves to be #1 contender. Hogan
vs. Hart would receive a lot of hype, and also given plenty of time to
build up the feud as much as possible. Give it 2 months to build up
and they fight at Superbrawl.

At Superbrawl in February, Hart defeats Hogan in a 2 out of 3 falls
match. With Hogan getting a pin on Hart, it wouldn't be a total job,
and both can come away looking good. Hart will have a solid reign, at
least 5 months. If he starts to lose
heat and WCW needs a change, then Hart will lose the belt at Bash At
The Beach
in July. If its going strong, then Hart will lose at Halloween
Havoc. Meanwhile, Chris Jericho will have moved up to US Champ at
some point. With Jericho's popularity growing every week, despite his
heel role and "feud" with Goldberg, keeping Jericho with the same
personality and same attitude towards both the wrestlers and fans can
make him the star he is capable of being. All he needs is the
opportunity. Jericho's claims of being the greatest champion ever, and
maybe even the greatest Canadian wrestler if WCW wants to use that
angle, will enrage Hart and they will wrestle at Bash or Havoc, with
Jericho pulling out the victory. This will of course be one of the
greatest matches in recent history, since both have great work rates
and understanding of the psychology. Jericho needs to be the #1 guy
in WCW, because he should be.
===========================================
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

Any submissions sent in by readers or columnists become the property
of The Wrestling Booking Sheet, and are subject to editing due to
grammar, spelling, or content. Any information taken from The
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address listed.