Issue # 158

Date:  Saturday February 6th, 1999  5:44 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

RAVEN & PIPER ASSOCIATION
A lot of you have been asking about the Raven character in WCW. From what I have
heard, they filmed some more vignettes with him on 2/5 which basically will
continue the storyline where it shows that Raven will not have any real reason
to be depressed. Word I get is that his "mom" will not be in them. There is talk
of a Roddy Piper vs. Bret Hart match for Monday night in Buffalo. It would not
stun me to see Raven somehow get involved with Piper and start the much talked
about angle that has been talked about between the two. Reader Jay Simola
theorized that they may use the two's past association in the Portland territory
as part of the angle. Could be very interesting if they do.
(Reported by Dave Scherer of http://www.1wrestling.com )

BILLY GUNN IC TITLE SWITCH
The original plan was for Billy Gunn to win the Intercontinental title at the
Royal Rumble, but Gunn has been a backstage problem of late and it was felt that
going through with the title change under these circumstances would send a bad
message about the company condoning his behavior so he instead had to submit to
the Ankle Lock. (Reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer)

SUPERBRAWL LINEUP
At this point the 2/21 Oakland PPV lineup is:
Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Title
Bill Goldberg vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Bret Hart vs. Scott Hall for the US Title
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Scott Steiner
Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Nash & Luger (Rey's mask vs. Elizabeth's hair)
Booker T vs. The Disco Inferno

Two more matches look to be added, probably:
Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Hennig & Windham for the vacant Tag Team Belts
Billy Kidman vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. for the Cruiserweight Title
(Reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer)

Mysterio/MASK DETAILS
With the Rey Mysterio Jr. mask loss in Oakland upcoming, a mask vs. mask match
between Mysterio Jr. vs. Psicosis was set up for Tijuana sometime this month.
Logic would dictate that Psicosis will claim both the victory and the mask,
leaving Rey unmasked in both territories...
(Reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer)

GIANT BABA HOMAGE
In this weeks issue of the Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer wrote a terrific
article paying homage to the fallen icon, 'Giant' Shohei Baba. Although I
mention this every week, it stands repeating: any serious wrestling fan
should/needs to subscribe to The Observer. To subscribe to The Obsever, send
$11 for 4 issues to:
The Wrestling Observer
P.O. Box 1228
Campbell CA 95009-1228

Here's a quick excerpt from the Baba piece:
"In 1973, Bruno Sammartino, seeing the huge Baba squirming to get out of his
small car (in Japan, they didn't have big cars in those days because they didn't
have many big people, except for Baba and the heavy sumos, that would have
needed them), gave Baba one of his old Cadillacs that he wasn't using as a gift.
It cost Sammartino $3,000 to ship it to Japan, and Baba repaid him the money on
the next tour. This past week Sammartino remarked to the Japanese press that if
Baba's business during that period ever hit rock bottom, that he'd have gone to
All Japan and worked for Baba for free to help rebuild it, noting that Baba was
the only promoter that he ever dealt with in his career that he would say that
about".
===========================================
The Jackyl's February 6th, 1999 Winnipeg Sun/Thunder Bay Chronicle Column
By Don Callis
By sure to check out http://freeweb.digiweb.com/sports/thejackal
Whereever you go, there you are." -Buckaroo Banzai
Extensive travel is one of the perks of being a pro wrestler, or so it would
seem. Coming up the ranks of pro wrestling I truly would have gone anywhere to
further my career, and did, wrestling in such exotic locales as God's Lake,
Manitoba and enduring sub arctic road trips across frozen lakes.

So needless to say, when I received a call to go on a five week tour to sunny
South Africa I was ecstatic. I was to wrestle only once a week at a state of the
art outdoor stadium, I would be flown "first class" from Winnipeg to Durban,
South Africa, and would be residing at a hotel on the Indian Ocean called the
Palm Beach. Sounded fantastic and a long way from Tony Condello's Northern
Tours, so I jumped at it.

The trip started out swimmingly, as I was treated like royalty on my first class
flight to London on that king of airlines, British Airways. Feeling every bit
the Canadian Champion I was at the time, I strutted confidently through Heathrow
Airport to make me connection; it was then that things started to go awry. My
British Airways connection was grounded, and I was told I would now be flown
Gulf Air. Never heard of it, I said, but I was assured that they were a
"reputable middle eastern airline." I suppose some would see a 9 hour flight on
an airline where the stewardesses wear long veils and pointy hats as a unique
cultural experience, but when you've been in transit for 20 hours it gets old
real fast. The same could be said for our unscheduled overnight stopover in
Bahrain.

Bahrain is an island state connected to Saudi Arabia by causeway and is an
interesting little spot to go out and have a few drinks. The bars are filled
with men dressed in the traditional saudi white gown-like garb (women are not
allowed in the bars at night- talk about a happy-hour killer). By the end of the
night I had witnessed men two-stepping with each other in the absence of female
dance partners, needless to say I was a wallflower that night.

After another unscheduled stop, this time in Abu-Dhabi, we arrived in charming
Johannesburg, better known as the murder capital of the planet. Bonfires burn
indiscriminently in downtown intersections and gunshots every so often drown out
the screams of assault victims. There were no flights out of Jo'burg to Durban,
so surprise...things coming full circle as they are apt to, I found myself
riding a bus for the next six hour trip to Durban. It was suggested to me that I
use the washroom before we left, because if we stop on the highway we would
likely be killed by bandits. Lovely.

I arrived in Durban to find that Palm Beach Hotel of which I had been
fantasizing was actually a one-star dive within shooting distance of the beach.
Owned by our millionaire promoter (who like all millionaires was unbelievably
cheap) the Palm Beach's only perk was that the wrestlers would get free food,
and apparently the restaurant served a heck of a roasted game hen.

Theres nothing like a little game hen to get you ready for your big Canadian
Title defense, and I dined on it every night, until I saw the cooks out on the
roof one morning poaching counterfeit gamehens from pigeon coops.

Putting all that aside, I readied my self for my title match at the 12,000 seat
outdoor stadium. Ticket sales were brisk for the event, until a monsoon-like
rainstorm hit an hour before the match. As I walked into the stadium I noticed
that there were long line ups to get through the gates. When I asked about this,
I was told, "oh, they're just confiscating all the firearms"...Incredulously I
listened as the millionaire promoter, dry as powder in his $3,000 Armani suit,
told me to "go out there and give them a jolly good show". "Why are there german
shepherds around the ring?" i asked; The promoter looked at me and with a
straight face said "to keep the fans from killing you."

So as I walked to the ring braving the gale force winds and using my title belt
as a shield against the flying bottles and rocks, I was reminded of what I
always tell wrestling fans when they tell me that they want to be a pro
wrestler. The wrestling business isn't always glamorous, and its never easy.

Locker Room Insider:
My WWF sources tell me the live Raw at Skydome will likely feature a WWF title
match between the champion Mankind and Stone Cold Steve Austin...My good pal
Chris Jericho who is still in a behind the scenes war with Eric Bischoff has
been told that if he doesn't resign with WCW that he will find himself on a
losing streak until his current deal expires...Former WWF champion Bob Backlund
is set to make a run at a congressional seat in the 2000 election...David Flair,
son of legendary grappler Ric Flair has apparently decided that he wants to
follow in his father's footsteps and become a wrestler...On a personal note, the
Jackyl website in its first week logged over 12,000 hits, making it one of the
most visited sites on the web. Check it out at
http://freeweb.digiweb.com/sports/thejackal...you can e-mail me at:
jackal

You can comment on The Jackyl's misadventures overseas by e-mailing him at
jackal
Jackyl
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
ECW - FEBRUARY 5, 1999 - DETROIT, MI
BY SAMJERRY
VISIT my Home Page: http://members.aol.com/~samjerry
The program began with Rob Van Dam, Sabu and their Manager Bill Alfonso in the
locker room. Alfonso said this was Van Dam's home; he is from Battle Creek. Van
Dam did his usual "I am the Whole F'N Show" bit and teased Sabu.

Joey Styles was at the announcers position and welcomed the fans.

We saw a clip from last weeks show with The Dudley Boys in the ring. Bubba Ray
told the crowd that The Public Enemy (PE) wasn't there. PE charged the ring and
cleaned house. See my ECW TV Report of January 29, 1999, for complete details.

We saw a short clip shot before the show came on the air. The Dudley Boyz jumped
PE in the ring and blasted them.

Shane "The Franchise" Douglas came to the ring accompanied by Francine, who was
really looking foxy. The audio in the building was terrible and it was hard to
make out what people in the ring were saying all night long. Francine walked
around the ring and feinted dropping her top. The crowd chanted, "Show your
T*ts." Douglas said, "If you want to see them, tell her to show them." Francine
played with the crowd and finally Douglas told her to go back to the announcers
desk. He said something about showing them if Styles removed his pants. It was
difficult to make out what he actually said. Francine left for the announcers
position.

Chris Candido and Tammy Lynn Sytch came out and jumped Francine. Shane charged
out to help her. Candido blasted Douglas and took him back to the ring where he
continued to beat on him. This got our first "Oh, my G-d" of the show from Joey,
who also said, "Francine is being brutalized." Could we really have seen
Francine's assets? Candido may have PO'd the world by stopping her.

After the regular ECW opening, we saw Douglas being helped back to the locker
room. There will be no joy in Mudville tonight, we have struck out with
Francine.

We saw a bit more of the Dudley Boyz attack on PE earlier. Joey said PE was
taken to the hospital.

The first match was Amish Road Kill v. Chris Chetti. The match was picked up in
progress after a commercial. No sooner had it started, when Judge Jeff Jones
came to the ring. He passed sentence on Chetti and out came Sid to execute
(literally) the sentence. Sid came to the ring and destroyed Chetti. It wasn't a
pretty sight. After pounding him mercilessly, he Choke Slammed him and we our
second "Oh, my G-d" from Joey. Road Kill watched the execution from the apron
and this must have annoyed Sid, because he Choke Slammed him off the apron, to
the floor. Road Kill was never a more appropriate name. The crowd chanted "ECW"
and Sid must have liked it because he then Power Bombed a helpless Chetti. The
crowd loved it, so Sid gave Chetti another. It was like a Roman Coliseum; the
crowd wanted blood and got Chetti's. Sid left the ring and the crowd cheered
him. The final Coliseum score was: Lions 4 - Wrestlers - 0.

Match was a No Contest
Loser - Road Kill / Big Loser - Chris Chetti

Joey said we would be hearing more about The Dudley Boyz and PE later.

Lance Storm came to the ring accompanied by Tammy Lynn Bytch (TLB) for the next
match, Storm v. Spike Dudley. TLB was sporting her new "plastic look." The crowd
ripped Storm, despite TLB's attempts to stop them. He said "he didn't need a get
over match," and wanted to prove that Spike's victory over him was a fluke.
Spike came to the ring and as TLB distracted him, Storm nailed him in the back
of the head with a Missile Drop Kick, following up with Kicks to the back of
Spike's head, and a Cart Wheel Splash. Storm then tied Spike up from behind.
Spike escaped, Storm missed two Clotheslines and Spike went for The Acid Drop.
Storm blocked it and dumped Spike. Spike fought back and Storm went to the
floor. Spike hit him with a Splash off the top turn buckle. He then dropped
Storm face first over the guard rail and nailed him with a chair. They got back
in the ring and Spike went to the top turn buckle again, but this time TLB
knocked him off and onto the Time Keepers table. Storm rolled him back in, and
hit him with a pair of Power Bombs and a Tiger Bomb. Little Spike will not be
celebrating tonight, as Storm pinned him.
Winner - Lance Storm

Joey said Steve Prazak is trying to get the scoop on what's going on between The
Dudley Boyz and PE. He has less of a chance of getting anything then we have of
hearing Slick Willie confess. The man is totally clueless. Joey said that
someone is paying The Dudley Boyz to take PE out. They will meet in their first
sanctioned match February 12, 1999, in Queens, NY.

Justin Credible was in the locker room, along with his Manager Jason and the
still unnamed Mystery Black Woman. He talked about all the people he has taken
out, including Jerry Lynn, who is injured; The Sandman, who he said he sent
packing to WCW; and Tommy Dreamer, whose ceremony to honor his dead grandfather
he interrupted. He said we haven't seen anything yet, and will be picking up
next week in Queens, NY

The next match was Super Crazy (SC) v. Tajiri. Joey said it was the rubber
match, since they split their first two. For shame Joey, we all know they have
also met in House Shows. This match didn't have nearly as much high flying
action as the other two we have seen. There was a lot more mat wrestling. Both
men put on a great show. Tajiri went for a Spin Kick that SC partially blocked.
SC took Tajiri down and hooked his leg. They exchanged a series of moves on the
mat. SC applied an Arm Wringer. Tajiri hit a Huricanrana, followed by an Arm
Drag and Rolled SC around the ring with it. He then Drop Kicked SC in the knee,
and applied another Arm Drag. SC applied a Single Leg Boston Crab, eventually
released it, hit a series of Kicks, applied an Inverted Crucifix (?) and Rolled
with it. He released this hold also. its not Christmas, so it must be Tajiri's
birthday. They exchanged Arm Drags. The fans loved the action and let them know
it. SC was sent to the floor and Tajiri nailed him with as Asahi Moonsault. Up
on the apron, Tajiri hit two kicks to the forehead and we saw The Tarantula
applied on the ropes. After more Kicks by Tajiri, SC came back with a Missile
Drop Kick and a Fireman's Carry into a Slam. He followed that with a Moonsault
and a Tiger Bomb, went for a pin but Tajiri escaped. Tajiri came back with a DDT
and went for a pin with the same result. He nailed a German Suplex and again
couldn't get a pin. He hit SC with a Kick to the back of the head and a
Huricanrana, and finally got the pin. An excellent match. Both men are real
workers.
Winner - Tajiri

We saw more of the encounter earlier between The Dudley Boyz and PE. ECW is
determined to push this feud. New Jack came to the ring with his garbage can
full of "toys" to join the fun. He didn't have very much as The Dudley Boyz tore
him up.

Joey wondered out loud who is behind The Dudley Boyz attack. Stay tuned. I have
a feeling we'll find out eventually.

The next match was for the ECW Title, pitting Taz (C) v. a local masked Jobber,
El Diablo. It lasted about one minute, which was one minute and ten seconds
longer than El Diablo would have wanted. Taz took him apart big time. To call it
a massacre wouldn't do it justice. He finally put El Diablo out of his misery
with The Tazmission.
After the match, Taz took the mic and said Detroit was a lot like Brooklyn,
Hardcore. The fans ate it up and suddenly Taz was their hero. He then challenged
every champion in the WWF and WCW to a match anywhere. He did his "Beat me if
you can, survive if I let you" bit, and the crowd did it long with him. The
crowd then picked up a chant of "Sabu," which led to Taz calling Sabu out,
saying he wants his FTW Belt back. He didn't have to wait long as Sabu stormed
in and they went at it. It took a slew of ECW officials to get and keep them
apart. The program ended on that note.
Winner - Taz
===========================================
DESPERADO JOE GOMEZ
Submitted by reader: PnkVicious
The former WCW jobber, "Desperado" Joe Gomez was on the TV show, "Judge Joe
Brown" the other day, appearing in a court case where a woman bid $500+ on him
for a charity auction, but he refused to go on the date with her, even after she
had been contacting him for two years. He claimed that due to his "heavy travel
schedule" for wrestling events and tapings that he never had time. The woman no
longer wanted to go on the date with him, but wanted the date package (which
consisted of dinner and sailing) so her and a friend could go on it.

However they had both signed a contract stating that if either of them didnt
want to go on the date, then they didn't have to, so the case was dismissed, and
Joe Gomez didnt have to pay her anything.
Kyle (PnkVicious)
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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

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