JIM ROSS RETURNS
GREAT news as it is announced that Jim Ross will return to television early on
this Monday's RAW! Another return set for the Cleveland broadcast is the Road
Dogg, who is getting a title shot at The Rock that very night!
(Reported by Al Isaccs at: http://www.scoopscentral.com )

MASK MATCH CALLED OFF
Bob Barnett sent this one along, concerning the supposed Mask vs. Mask match
between Rey Mysterio Jr. and Psychosis from 2/25 in Tijuana. ... There was no
mask match. The commission decided not to allow the match after Rey had already
lost it at Stuporbrawl. They threatened the promoter, Benjamin Mora, with a
suspension. They threatened never to allow Rey to work in TJ again, and they
threatened Psychosis-by stating they would allow Antonio Pena's phony version of
Psychosis to work in TJ. Rey Jr. looked genuinely pissed when the fans started
whistling (booing) at him after he unmasked before the match. The match was
good, but short. And f'd up by doing a double screwjob ending featuring Rey Sr.
(Rey Jr.'s uncle). As a sign of friendship and respect, Psych gave Rey Jr. his
mask when he lost-but covered up his head.
(Reported by Bob Barnett & Dave Scherer of http://www.1wrestling.com )

GOLDBERG IN NEW JAPAN
New Japan announced that they will send Bill Goldberg a contract to sign to
fight Keiji Mutoh at the 4/10 Tokyo Dome show for the IWGP Title. All of the
figureheads are talking about proceeding with the match instead of going with
Mutoh vs. Chono. There's more talk that Chono's injuries are back and not even
closed to healing up.
Of course, it appears doubtful that WCW will put together the match, especially
if Goldberg is not booked to go over.
(Reported by Zach Arnold at: http://www.1wrestling.com )

PHIL MUSHNICK SLAMS ECW
"I'm flattered he watches our show"
New York Post columnist, Phil Mushnick took a shot at ECW in his Friday column
saying ECW has "all the socially redeeming quality of a gang-rape".

The column also criticized Disney for the involvement of their television
division, Buena Vista, in upcoming ECW PPV's. Mushnick said "next month's ECW
pay-per-view event is a weekend prime-time event that's designed to attract
kids."

An ECW source said, "He makes it sound like we've never run a PPV before. Where
has he been?"

When asked for comment on Mushnick's remarks, ECW owner Paul Heyman said "I'm
flattered he watches our show".
(Reported by http://www.1wrestling.com )

TORRIE WILSON UPDATE
The Now Reformed Misogynist sent this one along.
Recently spoke briefly with Torrie Wilson -- fitness celebrity, megababe, and
David Flair's arm trophy. She responded to questions pertaining to her WCW stint
and her upcoming guest appearance on Baywatch, slated for March. "It is an
episode about the Ms. Galaxy fitness contest in which I won in Florida in June
of 1998. There are lots of beautiful fitness women from that actual fitness show
appearing as well," Wilson mentioned. "I do not have any type of contract with
WCW at the moment, nor am I exactly looking for one, either," Wilson told me. "I
know that we are planning to do more -- I heard they may be giving me a moniker
-- but I am not looking any further than the immediate future at the moment. I
am just having fun," she remarked.
(Reported by http://www.1wrestling.com )
===========================================
Jackyl's Winnipeg Sun/Thunder Bay Chronicle Column
by Don Callis
Be sure to check out http://freeweb.digiweb.com/sports/thejackal
In the past few months, we have seen an interesting reversal of fortune with
respect to the "wrestling war" between WWF and WCW.

We all remember not so long ago, that week after week, WCW Nitro would blow WWF
Raw out of the water on a consistent basis. It was such a common occurrence that
WCW boss Eric Bischoff said that it just wasn't fun anymore to get the ratings
on Tuesday afternoons, and that beating Vince in the ratings had just become too
easy. Well, all I can say is that sometimes too much power can be a bad thing.

Business patterns being cyclical, the latter part of 1998 saw Vince turn the
tide in the ratings war, and now the people in Stamford can have fun waiting for
the ratings. Eric Bischoff finds himself in an unenviable position, that of the
man who made fun of Vince when he was on top, and now must deal with
Mr.McMahon's vengeance, exacted every week with bigger and bigger wins on Monday
nights.

How did all this happen, you might ask. It started with the whole Bret Hart
fiasco, worth noting not only for its obvious historical importance of being
the most famous finish in wrestling history, but for the window of opportunity
it opened for Vince to become the most over heel in all of wrestling. Vince as a
heel provided the ultimate foil for the ultimate babyface, Stone Cold Steve
Austin, and you could just smell the money.

Certainly around this time, the direction of the product seemed to change a bit,
become harder edged, more ECW style, with chairs and tables being used on a
regular basis. Scantily clad women became more and more in the spotlight, and
wrestlers became much cooler to the adult male demographic than they had been
before, not so much for their actual matches, but for their interviews (which
there were a lot more of) and more importantly in some cases, their catch
phrases. WWF did not look to compete on a match for match basis with WCW and
their unbelievably deep talent roster, they instead made Raw more "Melrose
Place", with compelling, cool and cutting edge storylines.

WCW could not compete with Raw in terms of some of the harder edged stuff due to
TNT's rules about what would go on the air, and stayed the course with the time
honored N.W.O. storylines, which began to finally lose steam right about the
time that Vince successfully moved The Rock and Mankind up to the upper echelon
with Austin and Undertaker. Vince placed Mankind in pay per view main events in
a new environment that he was perfectly suited to, delivering "great moments" at
each pay per view.

WCW, apparently in response to their consistent ratings losses has recently made
Kevin Nash and Dallas Page Eric Bischoff's booking assistants, which may help to
close the gap. Of course recent events such as the alienation of Chris Jericho
and the attempted burial of Bret Hart do not exactly look like sound business
decisions, so who knows how long it will be before WCW will see yet another
reversal of fortune.

Of course we shouldn't feel bad for a company with unlimited financial resources
and television power who have the deepest talent roster in the history of the
business. WCW just needs to decide what direction it wants to go. Either try to
compete with Vince with more soap opera like storylines and harder edged, hipper
product, or cater as they have been to older more traditional wrestling fans,
leaving Hogan, Flair, Piper and Savage to guide the corporate ship. What to do?
Well, Ted Turner could always hire me as the new booker...after all, it could
only help.

Ringside Insider:
Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan had a surprisingly good match on the WCW pay per view
last week. Look for Flair's son David to become more involved in storylines...
Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura got himself in some hot water on the David
Letterman show. While explaining why preferred Minneapolis to St.Paul, he said
that whoever designed St.Paul must have been drunk. Jesse later apologized...My
former boss and sometimes broadcast colleague Jim Ross will apparently start
back on TV very soon. All the best JR!!...Best non-wrestling entertainment in
town has to be the Kalvin Clippers Varsity boys basketball team with the twin
towers of Tosin Opanubi and Rennole Marcellaine. I played for Kelvin as a senior
in high school...Hottest news of the week has myself and CITI FM morning deejay
Joe Aiello starting a weekly wrestling show beginning WrestleMania Sunday, March
28 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm...check it out...You can email me at
jackal
Jackyl
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"LOOK OUT ECW, HERE COMES HARDCORE ERIC"
OR
"WCW - its NOT JUST FOR GERIATRICS ANYMORE"
BY SAMJERRY
VISIT my Home Page: http://members.aol.com/~samjerry

What's going on here? It looks like Good King Eric's latest brainstorm [talk
about oxymorons!] is a Hardcore Division for WCW. If form holds true, we may be
about to witness the birth of another in the never ending saga of the NWO: The
HWO [??] (Hardcore World Order), also to be known as the NWO Black and Blue.
Synonymous with "Hardcore" is blood, and we all know that blood to WCW is like
Holy Water and a Cross to a Vampire. The two cannot exist in the same universe.

The latest word is that James Fullington (The Sandman in a former life) is about
to be reborn as Hack or Hardcore Hack. One of the definitions of "Hack"
according to Webster is: n. one who forfeits individual freedom of action or
professional integrity in exchange for wages or other assured reward. Does that
sound familiar? He arrived for his first match v. Bam Bam Bigelow several weeks
ago wrapped in barb wire. Only problem with that was the barb wire was covered
with rubber. Hardcore? Think ECW covers their barb wire with rubber to prevent,
perish the thought, the sight of blood?

I was one of The Sandman's biggest fans. I loved the way he came to the ring,
waving his Singapore Cane, smoking unfiltered cigarettes and sucking down a cold
one, or two, or three. It really didn't matter if he won or lost, I knew I was
going to be watching one hell of a match. Somehow I don't think I am going to
get the same kick out of his WCW "Hardcore" matches. They hold about the same
promise of excitement as a match between Villanno IV (V, VI, whatever) and
Damian. Potty break time.

The rumor (there's that word again) is that Bam Bam, Raven and Kanyon will be
joining Hack in this new and exciting Division. I am positive Bam Bam and Raven
will be turned loose and be allowed to do their thing. Yeah right, just as
positive as I am that Slick Willie has taken an oath of celibacy. They were
mainstays in ECW, along with The Sandman, and know Hardcore. Kanyon strikes me
as a wrestler that could easily adapt to the genre. its a shame their talents
will be wasted. Remember The Public Enemy? Aside from The Dudley Boyz (and I
haven't forgotten Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney), arguably they are the most
Hardcore Tag Team active today. Look what happened to their careers in WCW. Not
allowed to do what they do best, they drew little heat, languished and left for
greener pastures.

Saying you are Hardcore and actually being it are two completely different
things. The WWF instituted a Hardcore Title and has had some success with it.
The Road Dogg surprised many people, myself included, with his ability. He gave
the Title instant recognition with several outstanding Hardcore Matches.
Hopefully he will return to action and we will see more of them; Hardcore Holly
just doesn't ring true. The reason his matches were as good as they were is the
WWF's willingness to allow more than the perfunctory chair shot.

With Uncle Ted's Commandment (albeit a crumbling one), "Thou shall not spillith
blood," WCW's Hardcore Division looks like it will be stillborn. Back to the
Drawing Board GKE, Uncle Ted still has a few more hundred million left you can
piss away, and we all know how good you are at that.
===========================================
Reported on http://www.1wrestling.com
NWA and UFO Form Partnership
LOS ANGELES - On Monday, February 15th, the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)
and the Japan based Universal Fighting-arts Organization (UFO) announced they
have reached an agreement which calls for the two organizations to work together
in both the U.S. and Japan.

Although exact details of the agreement were not disclosed, UFO Chairman Antonio
Inoki and NWA President Howard T. Brody came to terms on the deal following
final rounds of negotiations at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Also on hand for the contract signing was Severn, who will defend his title on
March 14th at the 15,000 seat Yokohama Arena against the UFO's Naoya Ogawa. This
will only be Severn's second NWA title defense in Japan since winning the belt
in 1995, as well as the first highly publicized NWA title defense in Japan in
nearly six years.

Ogawa on the other hand heads into the contest coming off the controversial
January 4th "shoot" victory at the Tokyo Dome over New Japan Pro Wrestling's
Shinya Hashimoto. Ogawa is a Japanese Olympic Judo Silver Medalist.

One of the purposes of the relationship according to Inoki is to honor the late
Shohei "Giant" Baba by restoring the value and prestige of the NWA World Title
which Baba held on three separate occasions. With that Inoki is not only
dedicating the March 14th show to his former friend and long time promotional
rival, but he is promising to deliver the NWA tile back to the Japanese fans
with the same prominence "as when Baba held the title."

"Dan Severn is a great martial artist and an extremely strong wrestler who
deserves to be called world champion," Inoki said following the announcement of
the partnership Monday afternoon, " yet, he is severely underrated by the U.S.
media. By matching Severn against top UFO fighters such as Naoya Ogawa and Don
Frye, we can restore the value of the NWA title in honor of my friend, Giant
Baba."

Severn, who overheard the comments through an interpreter agreed . . . sort of.
"Well, he is bringing the NWA title back to the Japanese fans . . . because I'll
be wearing the belt to the ring. I just hope Mr. Inoki realizes that when the
match is over, the belt will be going [home] with me."

"Whoever wins the match in this scenario, the NWA is the real winner here," said
Brody. "This is a huge step for us in our rebuilding process. By aligning
ourselves with a legend like Mr. Inoki, and also the UFO group, which believes
in a traditional or "strong" wrestling style like we do, its a giant leap
forward toward once again becomming a global power."

Another positive aspect of this NWA-UFO relationship is the possible
participation of UFO fighters on future NWA events in the U.S. and Canada. A
deciding factor was that, although the exact fighting styles are somewhat
different, both UFO and NWA pride itself on tradition, thus fans can expect to
see some exciting matches in the upcoming months between UFO and NWA wrestlers.

"There are two large promotions in the U.S. which are very popular and I'm sure
it would be more lucrative to associate with those promotions," said Inoki.
"However, those promotions do not present pro-wrestling in the traditional
"strong" style which I was taught by legends such as Rikidozan, Karl Gotch, and
Lou Thesz. They have turned our sport into a circus. The only promotion in the
U.S. that has promoted that style of pro-wrestling despite the hype of "show
style" pro wrestling is the NWA. I know that there are American pro-wrestling
fans who want to see traditional "strong" style wrestling. I think the NWA and
UFO together will provide something exciting for these fans to see."

"The UFO alone and NWA alone might have a little something missing," Inoki
continued, "but if the two joined forces, we can create something very exciting
and powerful in the world of pro wrestling."
Reported by http://www.1wrestling.com
===========================================
Just to clarify: I have not tried this myself, and do not plan to. A chairshot
to the head looks awfully painful to me; still, here is the results of one
reader's experimentation. I have a feeling it may not be so simple, but I also
have no desire to personally find out...

CHAIRSHOTS
Submitted by reader: Rebel4War
In the proud tradition of idiotic underage products of suburbia, my friends and
I have taken to producing our own hardcore wrestling matches. None have yet
actually taken place, but we've begun to attempt a mastery of the skills. We've
long since practiced moves (before our actual high school wrestling practices),
and each have our various fortes. I am more of a power wrestler, while one of
my friends is a high-flyer and is actually able to execute a standing moonsault
as well as various other splashes and variations on that theme, and another is a
submission artist. In preparation for our hardcore matches (the first of which
we hope to film tomorrow), we set out to master headshots (with a chair, of
course). Back shots, which require merely that one be hit with the flat of the
chair, are simple, but head shots we've never quite been able to figure out
merely by looking. Anyway, we did some
experimenting and have found that a HARD chairshot to the head hurts not in the
least bit when performed correctly. The folding chair needs to make contact in
such a way that it begins to unfold with the impact and the steel thus isn't
firm against the head but produces a loud clang while moving away from the head,
though the contact is obviously quite hard. Another important aspect of this
chairshot is the sell. The sell doesn't merely make the move look good; it is
an important safety requirement. By selling the move and falling away from the
shot, with the momentum, one takes the stress off one's neck and also makes the
shot merely reverberate off the skull, which is easily strong enough to take
such an impact with little pain. We essentially mastered the chairshot
(including various forms of the Vandaminator) in merely an hour of practice, and
videotaped some of the shots. Let me tell you, they are HARD shots (or at least
they appear to be so). Let me also tell you that they hurt not a bit. My
friend's knee was busted open from hard contact with the concrete on which we
were practicing, as was my elbow, and that same
friend has a bump on his head from a hard DDT onto the chair, but I, who took
perhaps the most (and even the hardest, though that may be false seeing as they
were all very hard in appearance) chairshots of all, have nothing painful to
show for it because of the techniques we used. Anyway, this long rambling did
have a point, and that point was not merely to open myself to criticism for
being reckless, nor was it to brag. The point, indeed, was to counter the
arguments of many who've called one Mrs. Foley's son reckless and accused him of
putting his brains at risk when taking chairshots. Well, ponder this: if my
friends and I can master the performance of professional looking chairshots in
approximately an hour and come away with little or no long-lasting pain, how
much risk do you think professional wrestlers have of scrambling their brains
(at least via chairshots)?
===========================================
And with a different perspective on chair shots...
JERRY SAGGS REPORT
Submitted by reader: Jacob Vorpahl (Cyclopsjj)
Last night as I was watching the local news in Jacksonville, Fl, Fox reported
that a former pro-wrestler turned south Florida wrestler is out due to injury.
It was reported that during matches with Hall and Nash, "Nasty Boy" Jerry Saggs
was, in the script, supposed to take a chair shot to the back by Hall. Well,
when the shot actually happened, Hall struck at a knife-edge angle and severely
injured Saggs. He suffered a concussion, and should have stayed out of the ring
for 5-6 months.

Despite doctor's orders, WCW had Saggs make a return appearance just 1 month
later. Once again, Hall and Nash veered from the script and struck Saggs in the
back of the neck with the championship belt, where he was struck earlier with
the chair, putting him in a state of paralysis, and giving him daily pain. It
was reported that he is now suing Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Ted Turner's World
Championship Wrestling. Right now his case is being processed. My personal
opinion? Hall and Nash are two sick human beings.
-Jacob Vorpahl
===========================================
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

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.