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