Issue # 139

Date:  Thursday January 21st, 1999  11:13 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

SHAWN MICHAELS UPDATE
Though the speculation has been rampant for months, it now appears very possible
that Shawn Michaels' wrestling career may truly be over. During his four hour
back surgery on 1/12, it was discovered that one of the discs in Michaels' back
was largely destroyed.

Although the severity of his injury has been known for quite a while, I was one
of the more optimistic fans that hoped for the in-ring return of HBK. Shawn
Michaels is arguably the greatest worker in the history of the sport (its
arguable, and there's a couple other athletes you can make a case for). Shawn
Michaels' wrestling future appears to largely be limited to
managing/announcing/commissioner.

The part many of us overlook is that the real life pain Michael's is
experiencing is far more serious than our disappointment; regardless of his
physical condition, HBK has the charisma to carve out his own unique nitch in
the wrestling landscape. If he can ever return, he will. Let's just hope if
its in the ring, its truly the best thing for Michaels', not just a quick fix
for his many fans.
(The facts of this story were first reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling
Observer)

TERRY TAYLOR JUMPS TO THE WWF
It has been no secret that Terry Taylor has been on less than secure footing in
WCW of late. In addition to reportedly working without a contract of late for
WCW, he was recently largely moved from the booking end of the company to the
merchandise end of the promotion. I got word on 1/18 that things came to a head
at Nitro and Taylor and WCW have finally parted ways. The early word is that,
and this will shock no one, he will end up in the WWF. Whether he will actually
return to the ring (he’s “only” in his early 40’s) for the company, where his
in-ring career was killed when they gave him the horrible Red Rooster gimmick,
is up in the air at press time. Whatever they use him for, he will be a great
addition to the WWF. He is one of the few office guys that is almost universally
liked by all of the wrestlers. In a business where paranoia is a job
requirement, that will make him a valuable asset to the WWF. Don’t discount the
fact that he has a good knowledge of WCW’s inner workings either, and that the
WWF find that very attractive. The really weird thing about this is it seems
that a lot of the heat between the sides originally stemmed from the fact that
some newsletters reported there was friction between Taylor and WCW when he was
given less booking to do and more production duties. Most people I talk to say
that the change was not meant as a demotion, but when it hit the sheets, some in
WCW thought Taylor complained about WCW, when he didn’t. If that is the impetus
for this, that would be a shame. As for Taylor himself, he got into a losing
battle with producer Craig Leathers’ right hand woman Annette Yothers a while
back, in a miscalculated power play, and has been held in lower esteem in WCW.
(Reported by Dave Scherer of http://www.1wrestling.com )
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"I BOUGHT WCW'S LAST PPV"
OR
"ANOTHER $29.95 DOWN THE DRAIN"
BY SAMJERRY
VISIT my Home Page: http://members.aol.com/~samjerry

Last Sunday many (or at least some) people ordered WCW's most recent PPV, Souled
Out. I haven't read even one positive report about it. Comments I've seen ranged
from "The absolute worst PPV ever," to "At best, it qualified to have been a
NITRO." Hardly glowing comments for something that you had to pay to watch.
Along with those evaluations, a lot people said they have ordered their last WCW
PPV, having been disappointed once again.

There was a lot of unhappiness about the quality of matches. People said they
couldn't understand why some of WCW's most notorious Jobbers were scheduled to
perform on a PPV. The one bright spot seems to have been the Four Corners Match
for the Cruiserweight Title, won by Kidman. It appears to me that having to rely
on your Cruiserweights to provide the highlight to a PPV tells a lot about state
of things. With the "talent heavy" roster WCW enjoys, one would have expected
better.

How has WCW responded you ask? The Main Event for their next PPV is reported to
be a WCW Championship Match, with Old Baldy defending against Slick Ric. How's
that for Fat Tony's next "Greatest Match / Rematch Of All Time?" The retired (or
should I just say 'tired'), / unretired walking joke meeting another elder
statesman, who has seen very limited action over the past year. I can just see
people burning up the phone lines to their cable and satellite companies
ordering it. It looks like Good King Eric and Old Baldy have conspired to put
another nail in WCW's coffin.

Compare that to the WWF's next PPV, The Royal Rumble. The Main Event there will
also be a World Championship Match, pitting Mankind (Mic Foley) defending the
Title against The Rock, in an "I Quit Match," with Foley promising a match that
will be long remembered. Thinking back to his Hell In The Cell Match last year
v. The Undertaker, you have to wonder what he has planned that can possibly top
that. We will be seeing a match with the man who defines "Hardcore" meeting one
of the best young wrestlers in the world today.

Since this is The Royal Rumble, the winner of the Royal Rumble Match itself goes
on to face the WWF Champion at Wrestlemania. That makes the Royal Rumble PPV a
Double Main Event. There will be thirty (30) participants in the Match, with
Stone Cold Steve Austin (SCSA) being No. 1 and WWF Owner Mr. McMahon No 2.
That means they will be alone in the ring for up to two minutes. With the heat
built up between them, there is wide spread anticipation of their meeting.

To make it even more interesting, Mr. McMahon has placed a $100,000 bounty on
the head of SCSA, with the money going to the wrestler who eliminates him. SCSA
may have a major decision to make: try to win and get what could very well be
his last Title shot, or eliminate himself, take the money and run, laughing all
the way to the bank. Then there is the matter of who No. 30 is. Chyna won the
right to be the last person in, and also to be the first woman to compete in a
Royal Rumble Match. The possibilities raised are endless.

If you have $29.95 to plunk down to order one of these two upcoming PPV's, which
one would you order? If you even have to think about it, maybe you should switch
channels and check out Golf, where watching the grass turn brown promises to
provide as much excitement as the Hogan v. Flair Match.
===========================================
HALFTIME HEAT
Reported at http://www.wwf.com
By Bill Banks
Quick—name this year’s performers during the Super Bowl halftime show…

Stevie Wonder? Gloria Estefan? Aren’t they the same musicians that have done it
for the past 25 years or so? End it already! Nobody cares! Well, at least World
Wrestling Federation fans don’t…

If you want a REAL show on January 31, click your sweaty little digits over to
the USA Network for "Halftime Heat" as soon as the Super Bowl goes into
halftime!

Here’s how it works:

Beginning at 7 PM/6C on Sunday, January 31, Sunday Night HEAT will air normally
on the USA Network. At the end of the second quarter HEAT will automatically
switch over to "Halftime Heat." If the midway point of the game happens to occur
AFTER Sunday Night HEAT goes off the air, USA Network will cut in to "Pacific
Blue" for our brand of Federation Attitude. Either way, just turn the damn
channel over to USA Network during halftime!!

In a memorandum distributed Monday afternoon in Titan Tower in Stamford,
Connecticut, the producers of the show promise a "never-before-seen match" to
take place during the special. At this time, no other information has been
released to WWF.COM. However, one high-ranking Federation official tells us a
major announcement concerning the bout could occur within the next week.

Also, we know that "Halftime Heat" will mirror the approximate 20-minute
interval of the Super Bowl, and will contain NO COMMERCIALS! The show will even
provide fans a special countdown clock on their screen to inform them of when
the Super Bowl will continue.

So what are you gonna choose—the Federation or Stevie Wonder? Stevie could be
singing in front of a box of rocks for all he knows! He doesn’t realize the
difference! What you need is some Attitude…

CHECK OUT "HALFTIME HEAT" ON THE USA NETWORK DURING HALFTIME OF THE SUPER BOWL
ON JANUARY 31!

On another note--we've learned from Federation marketing officials that fans
attending the game will find the Federation represented in the official Super
Bowl program!
===========================================
ONE COUNT--a column by OSIRIS-- (burkeandhare@xxxxc...)
We exist on the moving wave of the present and sometimes the edge of the wave
just seems to pile up a mountain of troubles. Then we begin to long for a
simpler time; this phenomenon can occur when you become dissatisfied with
anything, in any field. Take me, for instance: my first love is wrestling, yet
for a long time I`ve been worried about it in a vague, nagging way. Something
seems to be missing, but I`m not quite sure what, so let me back-track into the
past a bit and see if I can order my thoughts.

Forty years ago, when I became a fan, our sport was much simpler: The NWA, my
favorite area, was under the leadership of the late Sam Muchnick. It consisted
of dozens of smaller promos under one umbrella. Each promo had their local
champ,
and a few times a year, there might a world title bout in your area. This was
more exciting, because you concentrated on your own area. Then there was the
now defunct AWA, then the WWF, these major feds worked within their own
boundaries, pretty much until the advent of Vinnie Mac, Jr. Then wrestling
became, has become, a very big business, maybe big business, which bothers me. I
miss the days when there didn`t appear to be angles, when matches semed to be
straight shoots, concentrating on holds and strategy, not like today when there
is so much glitz and glamor, feathers, wet leather suits, semi-porn storylines
and emphasis on mic skills, and not in-ring skills. Yes, Virginia, there IS
real wrestling out there, you just have to look for it. All kidding aside,
though I gripe and wish for the old days, those days are gone. So let us
appreciate the fact that we still have our game and support it the best we can
--------------see ya ------ring the bell-----
===========================================
SMART FANS
Submitted by reader: fdaghistani
Hi everyone! Just a note from a long time wrestling fan from "Down Under"
Australia. I'd like to make a comment about an issue many writers on the net
seem to
continuousy complain about, and that is the lack of "unpredictability" that is
happening on the Monday night shows. Especially, it seems, Nitro. People feel
that they're no longer "surprised" by match results or storylines. Well guys,
let's think about it. Every day, dozens of writers send free newsletters on the
goings on behind the scenes of the major wrestling federations. There are
hundreds of web sites which are devoted to giving us the low down on what is
happening in the world of wrestling. On top of that, there are more pro
wrestiling mags out there than ever. We know what's happening in their private
lives, where they eat out, what shoe size they wear, even what people inside the
federation personally think of an individual wrestler. On top of all that, most
of this info seems to come from people who work for the
federations and already know what's going to happen storywise and where every
angle is headed.

Now the point is, with all this information overload, how on earth can anybody
who follows wrestling closely be surprised by ANYTHING!! Many writers seemed
dissapointed that WCW bothered to have a Kevin Nash vs Giant match knowing full
well that the Giant is on his way out of WCW and there was no doubt who was
going to win. Okay, what percentage of wrestling fans out there knew beforehand
that the Giant was not about to renew his contract with WCW and therefore was
slowly being written out of story lines ? You see, the majority of wrestling
watchers don't have a clear idea of what is happening behind the scenes,
therefore anything that happens on Monday night seems to be spontaneous and
unpredictable to them. But, like I
said earlier, to people who follow everything closely (which surely must be a
minority) we get the feeling of "oh I could see this coming from a mile away"
and "everyone knew that was gonna happen".

Folks, the bottom line is that if we as fans want to know so much about
wrestling, we have to face the fact that a lot of what we find out will make the
clashes played out on our screens every week seem boring and predictable. The
great thing is though, no matter how boring, or predictable, or unrealistic, we
still can't keep ourselves from tuning in every week to see what's going to
happen next, can we?
===========================================
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===========================================
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. We have no problem if you want to use our stuff; just credit it properly.

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