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Vandy! (September 1996)

 

Beer!  (February 2006)

Issue # 057

Date:  Friday November 6th, 1998  9:35 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

SOLD OUT?
By Steve Appy

One of the favorite topics of conversation the last several years
amongst wrestling fans involves ECW alumni "selling out". An ECW star
gets a good money offer from either WCW or the WWF and they leave ECW
for more profitable pastures. Hardcore ECW fans are outraged, feeling
this proves the star has regard for neither his fans nor his
performance.

Many former and current ECW performers have faced this reaction.
Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero,
Jericho, Scorpio, Snow, Cactus Jack,
Public Enemy,
Douglas, etc. Over the past year and a half its been
Raven, Saturn, Stevie Richards, Sandman, and most recently Bam Bam
Bigelow. Are these men traitors to a hardcore dream? No.

Professional wrestling is about one thing: making money. While the
great ones ALSO care about their personal performance, money is the
goal. Hardcore cheers don't feed the family. Taking a chairshot to
the head doesn't lead to a happy old age. It usually leads to brain
damage.

Many fans (myself included) are frustrated by the treatment these men
often endure elsewhere. I'm as frustrated as anyone about the lack of
push that keeps Chris Benoit down. I'm frustrated that the WWF has no
idea how to promote poor Al Snow. In this case, my frustration means
nothing.

Sandman and Bigelow are already labeled sell-outs before they've even
made a WCW appearance. Their audience has decided they will be misused; while its possible, I wouldn't jump to any conclusions. Neither Raven or Saturn have any reason to complain about their treatment, if anything, both men may be over pushed.

 

Sandman is very close to Raven, and this connection could load to a healthy future. While we all assume WCW will strip Sandman of the cane, cigarettes, and beer, he may end up with those props. Bigelow is actually a very good worker and given a decent push could cement his standing.

ECW’s brand of “hardcore wrestling” is a very dangerous style and I can't judge anyone harshly because they may want to wrestle at a far less dangerous pace.  Sandman, a poor worker, has devastated his body in a quest to please the hardcore fan. None of us will support his family if a chairshot to the head scrambles his brain; will you support New Jack if one of those balcony dives cripples him? These men owe no obligation to me or to any of you.

From an aesthetic standpoint, are they better off in ECW? Of course.
Paul Heyman is the best booker in the business. Public Enemy's stay
in WCW was one piece of evidence in support of this. Heyman knew how
to book these men correctly, how to make the most of their strengths,
how to mask their weaknesses. Sandman may discover this first hand.
Most of the alumni were spotlighted while in ECW, and Heyman created
characters that worked for each man. I would personally love to see
him get his hands on Benoit; Heyman could make Benoit one of the bigger stars in the business.

Both Sandman and Bigelow are serving a higher power: their families.
My only objection to Sandman's decision is that he gave Heyman no
notice, which is not professional. Bigelow is going about things
correctly. He's making his dates, communicating with Heyman.  Whatever the future holds for Bigelow, I hope its positive; this man is a major talent who can make the most of a legit shot.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Pufinstuff
Not a day goes by that I don't see some unfounded rag on World
Championship Wrestling. Its always "Bischoff sucks!!" or "WCW sucks!!" or "WCW sucks!!" (that one deserves to be typed twice, since I see it so much).

 

The truth is, Bischoff offers a COMPLETELY different product than Paul
Heyman or Vince McMahon. ECW offers tons of talent, huge bumps, &
great entertainment for the extreme fan. WWF gives an adult oriented
soap opera, with an occasional great match (i.e., Hell in the Cell).
WCW is more like
Florida for wrestlers. They go down south for more
money, an easier schedule, and less bumps while still doing what they
love; wrestling.

 

Its also meant for kids, and those gullible enough to chant "gold burg, gold burg" when Bishoff feels fit to broadcast it over the speakers. Sure, I hate Goldberg. I hate Bischoff. I hate the announcers. Hell, I even hate the obscene amount of interviews that cram into their 5 hours of weekly broadcasting but this doesn't mean they suck.

 

This doesn't mean that Raven (the greatest performer in the sport IN MY
OPINION), Perry Saturn, Stevie Richards, Sandman, Louie Spicolli (Am I
the only one who still misses him??), the Sandman, or Bam Bam are sellouts. It just means they want more financial security, an easier schedule, & more time with their family. What's wrong with that?
===========================================
BOOKING FANTASY / SATIRE- THIS WILL NOT REALLY HAPPEN
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: JohnPrine
Myself and some friends are comparing how we would book Starcade. Now
here is how I would book it

WCW WORLD TITLE MATCH
Goldberg- Barry Darsow
This is the match that all the fans are wanting to see. I say its
Darsow's time to hold some more gold. He wins with Goldberg's
move, the Jackhammer and starts a trend of beating guys with their own
moves.

WCW USA TITLE MATCH
The title will be vacant after DDP can't defend it in a month so we
have a battle royal for this great title. Here are the men that enter:
Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Randy Savage (making his ring return), Raven,
Saturn, Sandman, Bam Bam Bigelow, Kanyon, Marty Jannetty, El Dandy,
Lizmark Jr (who will also be in the LWO), Ultimate Warrior, Disciple,
Hector Garza, Chavo Guerrero Jr (who will have a stable called the
PWO, the Pepe World Order, consisting of him and Pepe.), Stevie Ray,
Booker T, The Giant, Mongo McMichaels, and Barry Windham (who replaces
Mongo in the Horseman.)
WINNER: Marty Jennety

WCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS
The Armstrongs (w/ Bullet Bob Armstrong in the corner) - Rick
Steiner and Kenny Kaos.

The Armstrongs make a good case over the next few weeks, proving that they are a top WCW tag team. They get the win with the help of Rage who attacks Kenny K. Why shouldn't he attack him? WCW has broken up all the other tag teams. After the match, Rage fights Kenny K back to the dressing room and The Armstrongs are attacked by Disorderly Conduct. This in my opinion, is the best match on the card.

WCW TV TITLE MATCH
Chris Jericho- Rick Martel
Martel comes back from retirement and an injury after stating he would
never wrestle again. He takes on Jericho on WCW Saturday Night just
weeks before Starcade and wins a non title match up, so he gets this
title match. Jericho wins the match but Martel proves that he is once
again a top contender for any title.

WCW LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE Kidman- Brad Armstrong
The Armstrong gets two title shots at Starcade, but they only win one
of them as Kidman keeps the title over The Candyman. Bob comes out
during this match and calls Brad a disgrace and says that he isn't a
real Armstrong. That his mother had him while Bob was doing a year
tour of Japan. He says that Bob's real father is none other than Bobby
Heenan.

WCW US TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
Yes, WCW decides to bring back these great titles, in a four corners
match between: Norman Smiley/ Earnest Miller, Buff / Big Poppa Pump, Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko and The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and Barbarian reunite for this great honor to hold these titles).  This is another great match with the winners being Miller and Smiley.

# 1 CONTENDER MATCH FOR THE WORLD TITLE
Silver King- La Parka
Silver King doesn't get the "Invite" to join the WCW and this feud
becomes huge. He then attempts to get into the PWO (Pepe World Order)
but he gets left out there as well. La Parka then takes it upon
himself to not only take out Silver King, but to kill him because he
has became an annoyance to all of the wrestling world so this great
match is scheduled. Now, I love La Parka as much as the next guy but I
see Silver King winning this match, with using a roll of SILVER coins.

WINNER GETS OFICIALLY RELEASED AND GETS TO GO BACK TO WWF
Scott Hall- Kevin Nash
Not sure but someway, they both get around this match and both get
their way, meaning that they get let go from their WCW contracts as of January 1st 1999.

LEADER OF THE LWO MATCH
Eddie Guerreo- Konnan
Konnan finally realizes how much better the LWO is compared to the
Wolfpac so he joins but then gets greedy and tries to take this great stable over. Guerrero wins the match and there is no hard feelings between him and Konnan as they walk out together.

LOSER HAS TO GO BEACK TO BEING THEIR OLD SELF
Sting- Hollywood Hogan
The same thing happens here that happens with the Hall/ Nash match
except with opposite results as both men get counted out . Hogan drops the NWO the next day on Nitro and goes back to the yellow and red. Sting leaves WCW for a short while (to get his family problems situated) and everyone thinks he doesn't want to live up to his contract and go back to the old Sting. BUT at a March Nitro, he makes his first WCW appearance since Starcade and he has the short hair and the old makeup.

POOP MATCH
Scott Norton- Vincent
This match is scheduled in a ring of poop. Winner? Who cares...
===========================================
FANTASY BOOKING- THIS WILL NOT REALLY HAPPEN
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Ctoke
its the first Monday Nitro after Starrcade and Kevin Nash has just
defeated Goldberg for the title. Wolfpac music blasts and the whole crew comes out to celebrate. A few minutes later, Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit come out to break the party up. Anderson tells Nash "Do you recall a year or two back when you came out and mocked me along with the rest of the Horsemen".

- Nash stands back with a grin. "Well I'm here to tell you and I
don't forget and I sure as hell don't forgive".  Benoit creeps closer to Nash. "Now this young man -Benoit- has wanted to kick your teeth in ever since that time".

Nash, "Bring it on little man", Benoit smiles. Arn, "But I think I
want to do it". Try to follow me now, Arn looks away, then hits him with the good arm. Benoit takes a pipe out, lays out the whole Wolfpac, while Arn hits Nash with a powder substance, thus blinding him. Arn hits him with a DDT, and Benoit comes over and starts kicking him in the face, later laying the Crossface on him. The Horsemen then leave the ring, with 20,000 NC fans giving them the 4-H sign. Before leaving Arn says, "Never have been a good guy, and never will".

There is so much more to this story, but with Easy E running the show,
good storylines like this will never take off!
Ctoke
===========================================
*FAW*
The FAW Has been running strong for almost 6 months. I am currently
looking for handlers interested in controlling cruiserweights or Tag
Teams. Sorry we are not currently accepting any heavyweights. For more
info check the unfinished site at
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/park/7053 or email Cooper191@xxxxpol
and FCW583
*FAW*

The OWF. One of the best feds online. Everybody Rps 50+ lines and it
has a web page being build. It has been running for three weeks and it has
25 members. If you want to join E-Mail Wrestl5259. We are
looking for some great Rpers. You need a sample Rp to join. Real or
Fake wrestlers.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: TacoElf
I am a WWF fan and I could gripe about WCW for eons. However,
most readers have done that already, so I'm going to go out on a limb and gripe about WWF (I hate to dig way down to find something to complain about).

 

Anyway, one suggestion for Vince is QUIT RUNNING A 2 HOUR SOAP OPERA. I'm serious! You really have to keep up with all the angles. You miss one show, and you're lost! You gotta call the other housewives and ask them who screwed who, who's pregnant, who's cheating on who, who's getting backstabbed, and so on. Yeah, the WWF does have better angles than WCW or ECW, but Vince is overdoing it!

Monday was an episode of the Young and the Restless with a few matches
scattered here and there. The one good thing about WCW is that they
do have some matches packed into their 3 hour jobberama, even though
most of the matches are jabroney matches or Wolfspank vs. Hollowood
(headed by the man with 24 inch biceps and a double D cup).  Also,
much like a soap opera, the angles go on forever and a day. Yeah,
Vince, you do a pretty good job with the angles, but lets have some
wrestling, K?
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Toriano Glover (lil_penny21@xxx.com)
WRESTLING CIVIL WAR!!! OLD SCHOOL FANATIC!!
I would like to take this opportunity to express my opinion on the
world of wrestling, well not really wrestling but wrestling fans. I
have been a fan of wrestling since age 3, and I am now 22. If you
like WWF fine watch it but don’t knock WCW. I will be the first to
admit WWF is more entertaining right now but there are some diehard
real wrestling fans like myself still out there who like WRESTLING and we don't care who curses the most, or who pisses on himself. 

 

We like the in-ring competition and right now because I can’t see ECW or the other indies, WCW is that for me.  Don’t get me wrong, WCW
is full of bulls*** too, but the fact is they don’t have all that
extra bulls***.

 

If you like WWF, that’s cool, that’s your opinion but some of us would still like to see guys like Benoit, Flair, Malenko, Jericho, Saturn, Raven, Kidman, the old Sting, Hart and a few others get in the ring and show there skills, not run their mouths.

 

Wrestling is entertainment, if WWF entertains you watch WWF, if WCW
entertains you watch WCW but don’t knock the other because the wrestlers are pretty much the same wrestlers, just a new organization with a different name. And REAL IN RING ACTION WILL RETURN!!!!!!
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Ben Martin (stone_cold_48@xxx.com)
I know people are going to think that I'm biased towards every other
wrestling promotion besides ECW but most people are griping about how
The November to Remember PPV didn't live up to the enormous amount of
hype that they put on the show. This is true but every one in that
company busted their @$$ Sunday night to put on a quality show.
Heatwave 98 was the best PPV ECW has ever put on and the pressure to
top that was really more than they could bear.

Why pick on ECW for the lackluster Performance of N2R when I have seen more than one WWF ppv bomb out and have only a few decent matches, and just about every WCW PPV has sucked this year with the exception of the
Goldberg-DDP match at Havoc. Just wait though, Gulity as Charged will be better.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Zapple9999
Hello once again from sunny Florida!!! Thanks for all of your
comments. They have all been positive up to this point so I'll keep
pounding out a column until you pull the plug. The rants for the week:

1. Scott Hall - its time to reunite the Outsiders! How many more
times does Hall have to get his teeth kicked in by Kevin Nash? Can we
drag this out another 7 PPv's? This is turning into another Undertaker-Kane thing. Stick a fork in this baby!!!

2. Disco Inferno and Alex Wright are actually impressing me. They work
better in singles than a tag team. All they need is a push and a real
finishing move. Piledriver, swinging neckbreaker, and reverse neckdrop
do not qualify.

3. Fit Finlay - Not a big fan favorite, but I love his rough style.
He really puts a lot into his matches and sells well. Shows brutality
well and really looks like he is doing damage. Not much of a persona
though.

4. THE CAT - Finally, WCW sticks with a guy for more than 2 weeks.
The sad part is he is starting to be funny because he is just so bad.
Getting better on the mic too. His skills need to include more than
karate moves and kicks. Let me include the interview with Cat every
week below: "Hey, punk, by law I got to tell you 'dis. My hands and
feet are registered weapons. I am the 3 time world Karate champion.
I'm gonna give you 5 seconds to get out of here or I'm gonna whip ya.
1,2,3,4,5 ..... kicks......match ends about 2 minutes later.

5. What is up with Rick Steiner picking Kenny Kaos to be his partner?
He could have done worse by choosing these men: Armstrong brothers, El Dandy or Scott Putski. Steiner and Kaos sure got the crowd going.  I’m sure these two tag team champions will excite crowds worldwide in their horrible defense of their titles. Please let them lose the titles soon!!!

6. WCW lost whatever was left of its credibility when Goldberg beat
DDP at Havoc. I guess they don't get the idea that fans like Goldberg
but are sick of seeing him have no competition. For anyone out there
in WCW.....GOLDBERG NEEDS TO LOSE BEFORE HE GETS EVEN MORE LAME. He
can regain the title but needs to be beaten to establish that he is more than a flash in the pan. When will they get it??

7. McMahon is doing a great job selling his heel role. Convincing with
his overacting. I love watching this. Even though the Stone Cold
McMahon thing is old, they manage to make it awesome every week. This
is what separates WWF from WCW.

8. Nice job dancing with the video game Nitro Girls. You have once
again proven you add nothing to wrestling but to fill time. I’m sure
you guys were thrilled to learn you would be prancing on camera with
oversize novelty cardboard boxes. I feel for all of you. Who was the
genius that thought this one up??? Can you say "shameless plug"????

That is enough for now.  If you have any comments the address is
Zapple9999

Please let me know what you think, I actually enjoy your mail.
===========================================
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: Osiris
Columnist:
Tom Kirkbride
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
Wrestling Booking Sheet must be credited properly, with our E-Mail
address listed.

Copyright- Steve Appy of The Wrestling Booking Sheet ©1998, 1999, 2000
 

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