Issue # 091

Date:  Monday December 7th, 1998  11:26 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet 

HBK UPDATE
Besides collecting paychecks from the WWF on his $750,000 annual guaranteed salary, Shawn Michaels is also collecting on a disability insurance policy.
Skeptics
believe HBK will be ready to return to at least part-time action once his
insurance policy quits paying out sometime over the next year or so. Less
skeptical people take Michael's at face value that his lower back condition is
serious enough to prevent him from ever returning to the ring. His main doctor,
a back specialist, is telling the WWF that is the case and Michaels would need
to undergo back surgery in order to even have a chance at returning to regular
in-ring action.
(This report was taken from Wade Keller's Pro Wrestling Torch)

CHONO SEEKS 3RD OPINION
Masa Chono made an announcement about taking a trip to Hawaii not only for
vacation purposes, but to seek a 3rd opinion about his herniated disc (he's
already basically retired for all intensive purposes.) Chono denounced Muto's
recent actions and will try to "free" Tenzan and Hiro Saito from Muto's power in
the nWo Japan group. (Reported by http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/ )

BIGELOW/ECW MIXUP?
Before deciding to sign with WCW, Bam Bam Bigelow had changed his mind and
agreed to stay in ECW. Paul Heyman and Bigelow, sources say, agreed to terms
and all Bigelow needed was the terms in writing by a certain date. Heyman
passed responsibility for getting the contract faxed to Bigelow to Chris Candido & Tammy Sytch. Well, so the story goes, they didn't get the contract to Bigelow
in time, so he signed with WCW. (This report was taken from Wade Keller's Pro
Wrestling Torch)
Is this story true? I'm not sure. I consider Keller a very reliable source, so
I do consider it possible. I'll supply any more details as they become
available.....

WRATH GIVES NOTICE
Wrath (Brian Clark) gave his 90 day notice to WCW. That doesn't mean he is set
on leaving; instead, it prevents his current contract from automatically rolling
over in Febuary at the same salary. its expected that the WWF will put in a
bid for his services, also. No word on whether he's more likely to stay or
jump.
(This report was taken from Wade Keller's Pro Wrestling Torch)
===========================================
WCW Nitro Report for December 7th, 1998
By Steve Appy
Live from The Houston Astrodome
Mike Tenay announced that the WCW Championship Committee has approved a
non-title Goldberg/Bigelow bout for later tonight. I do wonder why the
Championship Committee had to approve a non-title match, though. Tenay treated
this as a major announcement, worthy of fanfare.

Clips were shown of Scott Steiner beating up a mascot; can you say Roid Rage?
He was interviewed, and REALLY comes off as being out of control. He's either
legit or a great actor. Steiner challenged Scott Hall for later in the evening.

Diamond Dallas Page pinned Kendall Windham
Quick squash; a Diamond Cutter and a DDP victory. Has Kendall Windham won a
match yet since returning to WCW?

A profile was aired on Nitro Girl Tigress. its a good idea it humanize The
Nitro Girls;
this is WCW's low key, intelligent response to the WWF's T & A show.

Norman Smiley defeated Prince Iaukea via submission
Iakeau screwed up a bodypress and almost flattened poor Smiley. Good thing its
still the first hour.

Gene Okerlund interviewed Eddie Guerrero. Eddie was angry that Mysterio signed a
contract to face Juvi, and he announced that he's sending Silver King after Rey.
Should be a good match, at least.

Rey Mysterio Jr. pinned Silver King
Although both of these guys are super workers, they just didn't click tonight.
At least the LwO didn't interfere.

Goldberg, accompanied by WCW Championship Committee rep Terry Taylor, entered
the arena. Kevin Nash, enraged that Bigelow would face Goldberg tonight (why
should he care, its a non title match), promised that the match wouldn't take
place. Goldberg said he dreams of applying the Jackhammer to Nash's ass; a good
segment that builds their feud.

Mike Tenay gave a logical explanation for Nash's rage; he also wants to end the
winning streak, and doesn't want Bigelow a chance to do it first. This let's
people know that Bigelow is a serious threat and capable of defeating Goldberg.

Wrath pinned The Renegade
Wrath quickly took care of the Ultimate Wannabe after a Meltdown.

Roger Clemens was shown in the audience. Disco Inferno, following up on the big
announcement he promised for tonight, introduced Konnan. He told the world that
Kevin Nash gave him a spot in The Wolfpac; Konnan looked on in disbelief and
didn't believe him. Disco really has IT when he get's the microphone.

Horace & Stevie Ray defeated The Disco Inferno & Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Strange bedfellows in Disco & Chavo. After a nWo double team and a stuff
Piledriver, Stevie Ray pinned poor Disco. No Wolfpac for him tonight.

Kevin Nash announced that Goldberg wouldn't wrestle without him involved, and
that tonight's match was now a Three Way Dance; interesting idea, now let's see
if it looks as good as it sounds.

Clips were shown of Roddy Piper's new TNT movie, with Burt Reynolds. From the
brief clip shown, I won't be setting my VCR.

Glacier defeated Perry Saturn via disqualification
Oh no. Ernest Miller is now doing a 70's gimmick straight out of a sitcom. As
Miller distracted Saturn, Glacier hit a Cryonic Kick from behind. Sonny Onno is
now wearing a neck brace, selling a Death Valley Driver. After Miller
interfered, referee Scott Dickinson motioned for the bell; the assumption was
that Glacier was DQed.
Instead, and I don't know why, Saturn was DQed. An enraged Saturn put Dickinson
in The Death Valley Driver.

Lex Luger defeated Emory Hale via submission
This is the first time I've seen Hale, and Luger gave him a great deal of
offense. Message to WCW bookers: Luger is the worst guy in the world to put a
promising rookie against. Lex can't sell offense to save his life. Luger made
the comeback, and put Hale in the Torture Rack for the victory.

Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus) pinned Bobby Duncam Jr.
Ralphus is one of the funniest men in wrestling, and that's without saying a
word. Jericho ripped on Texans, and referred to The Bad News Bears Astrodome
movie. This man has that unique, almost HBK like charisma. Although I feared
that WCW would make Jericho job to the overated Duncam, my fears went
unrealized. Using the ropes for leverage, Jericho scored a victory over the
Texan.

The Giant pinned Scott Putski
The Giant immediatly Chokeslammed his "pirate" opponent. He accepted DDP's
challenge for Starrcade, and promised to destroy Page.

Konnan was shown giving the nWo referee a bad time. This was the ref's first
interview segment, and he showed flashes of personlity, enough spark to show
he's worth a full interview segment.

Kanyon was scheduled to team with Raven against Benoit & Malenko, but Raven
refused to come to the ring. Kanyon wouldn't wrestle in a handicap match
against The Horseman (that makes sense), and offered to take on either Benoit,
Malenko, or Anderson on Thunder. He ripped on Arn, and AA responded by pulling
out his tire iron and gesturing menacingly towards Kanyon. After the Horseman
bullied Kanyon for a little bit, Kanyon left the ring and bailed out to the
back.

Gene Okerlund interviewed Ric Flair, accompanied by The Four Horseman. He
promised all kinds of bloodshed on Bischoff, and once again acknowledged legends
from the past. Flair's given some great interviews the past couple weeks, now
that he has something to focus on.

The Konnan video was shown AGAIN. Okay, its a good video, but there's no need
to show it EVERY show.......

WCW Television Champion Konnan defeated Booker T via disqualification
As Booker was on offense, Stevie Ray entered the ring and attacked Konnan,
causing the DQ. Booker T was pissed off, and Stevie responded that he wanted to
toughen his brother up. That makes sense, he'll toughen him up by costing him
the TV title. Makes sense, right?

Scott Hall defeated Scott Steiner via disqualification
Konnan "taped" up the bogus nWo referee, and the nWo black & white destroyed
poor Scott Hall. Konnan & Luger tried to make the save, but they were
overwhelmed
by the superior numbers. Who else but booker DDP made the save, nailing The
Giant with a chair. While Nash does have his Three Way Dance later, it was odd
not seeing him with The Wolfpac. Is Hall an official ally of the Wolfpac again?


Gene Okerlund interviewed Bret Hart, and Hart called DDP a coward for facing The
Giant instead of him at Starrcade. That was a huge slap in the face at the
Giant.

Bam Bam Bigelow, Kevin Nash & Goldberg fought to a No Contest in a 3 Way Dance
The three men brawled, and security quickly broke it up. Why? A three way
dance is a brawl; why in the world was the match ended so quickly. A screwjob,
and not a step in the right direction.
===========================================
This article was written several days ago, before tonight's RAW. SamJerry's RAW
Report will appear in tomorrow's issue..........
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"LET HE WHO IS WITHOUT GUILT CAST THE FIRST SUFLEX"

OR
"MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING"
BY SAMJERRY
VISIT my Home Page: http://members.aol.com/~samjerry
I have been reading Newsletters requesting we boycott RAW this week (and maybe
in the future) because of what they say we may see this week. The fuss is about
the reported hanging of Stone Cold Steve Austin on a "cross." The WWF reportedly
has said that it is not a crucifixion, as the boycott organizers are saying, but
rather a ritual by The Undertaker related to his Ministry Of Evil.

I was not real happy when they touched the religion issue with Dustin Rhodes
recently and apparently the WWF recognized that they may have crossed the line
with it. To their credit, they quickly ended the angle. Since that was such a
short time ago, logic dictates that they recognized the problem with using
religion and therefore have been a bit more careful with this angle.

In either case, isn't one of this country's greatest freedoms the Freedom Of
Speech? How many times have you heard the expression, "I may not agree with you,
but I'll defend to the death your right to say it?" The rationale behind that
sentence is that we as a free society have a right to express ourselves, knowing
full well that what we may say might not please everyone. To organize a boycott
intrudes on one of our most cherished rights, The Right Of Free Speech. If you
don't want to watch, its real simple, don't watch. But don't stand by as Judge,
Jury and Executioner by impressing your value system on others. If in fact it is
offensive, count on me to be the first to say so. How will I know if it is or
not unless I see it and can judge for myself?

I know this may rattle a few cages, but the call for a boycott rattled mine and
other others. Think back to the 1930s and 1940s, there was a man and a movement
that took the Right Of Free Speech and Thought away from most of a continent,
and tried to do it to the entire free world. When we tell others that what they
say is wrong because we think it to be, aren't we doing a similar disservice?
Like I said, if you think you are going to be offended, don't watch. But give
everyone the chance to make up their own minds.
===========================================
The following was posted by Chris Candido & Tammy Sytch on their AOL Sport Guy
Message Board, found at: aol://5863:126/mB:346527
While these messages don't constitute news, they do provide interesting insight
into the lives of two of wrestling's most colorful superstars.........

This question was posed to Chris & Tammy:
Ok Tammy (and Chris,if you can help out answer this) , Whatever happened to
"Sunny"s angle with the Hart Foundation? For months, Tammy hinted that she was
the one behind the Hart Foundation's reunion, that she'd like to manage Bret
Hart, in magazines, Raw, etc. Then we have Shawn Michaels saying that Bret Hart
had some "sunny days" on a Raw. Was the Hart Foundation/Sunny angle that was
planned get dropped because of this? I always assumed Bret wanted to drop it,
because of his "family man" image, and didn't want rumors that he was having an
affair with Tammy. Or maybe it was the other way around? Maybe Chris wanted it
dropped because of the same reasons? And speaking of dropped angles and Sunny,
what about the Rocky Maivia thing? Was there ever anything planned there? Sunny
went on about how cute the guy was during his babyface tenure, but nothing ever
came of it. Tammy and Chris, you've gotta help me out here! What happened?

Chris Candido's Response:
The Hart Foundaton angle was dropped because, as was Rocky's, because the WWF
can't keep their minds focused. They change bosses, Prichard, Russo, Ross every
few weeks and they change the other guys ideas just because it wasn't their own.
And Shawn said that because he was trying to hit on Tammy, and she turned him
down, so he was trying to start problems between me and Bret instead of with
himself and me.
===========================================
Reader Submission
Submitted by reader: STINGdremr
This is in response to Rich Parkers submission. I TOTALLY agree with him. What
you see in the ring is NOT what you see out of it. I attended the Monday Nitro
on August 17th in Hartford, CT. The next morning, on a hunt for someplace open
for breakfast at 6am, and not knowing the city at all, to my surprise I found
myself in the very hotel the wrestlers spent the night. When I inquired to a
couple fans who were also in the lobby, they assured me that I would see at
least one, for they had to check out there. Well, to my surprise I met about
15!!! That 15 included Bobby Heenan, Johnny Grunge, Larry Zybysco, Scott Hall,
Kevin Nash, DDP, JJ Dillon, Arn Anderson, Paul Orndorff, Mean Gene Okerland,
Kimberly, Tygress, Spice, Doug Dillinger, and Jimmy Hart. Except for the fact
that Nash had a bad night and didn't want to talk, all of the others took the
time to sign autographs and take pictures with us. I even had a 15 minute
conversation with DDP, one on one. He was very down to earth and even told me
that he was going to be appearing in his hometown of Point
Pleasant, NJ the following week. Just so happened that I would be there for
vacation
since it was only an hour away from my home, and we had our reservations
already. I met him again, the next week, and to my surprise, he remembered me!!!
These guys are normal people just like you and me. The only thing is, they are
on TV and have busy schedules. Since then I have met some greats such as One Man
Gang, Tito Santana, Nickolai Volkoff, and Devon Storm. These guys are great. We,
as fans, have to give them credit, because they tolerate us who know they are
real people, even after getting abused by those who cannot separate TV from REAL
LIFE.
TDR
===========================================
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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