Issue # 178
Date:
Saturday March 6th, 1999 10:09 am
The Wrestling Booking
Sheet
RAW SPOILER
At the conclusion of
this issue is the RAW Spoiler for
3/8/1999. If you want to
be surprised, skip
that section.
4/10 NEW JAPAN LINEUP
New Japan officially
announced the main matches for their 4/10 Tokyo Dome show.
They could not get
Bill Goldberg from WCW. They still claim that they are in
negotiations with WCW
for getting Goldberg, but that's basically small talk.
Main match is for the
IWGP Title between Keiji Mutoh and Don Frye. IWGP Tag
Title has Tenzan and
Kojima, the champions, taking on the winner of the
Tenryu/Fujinami vs.
Sasaki/Koshinaka match coming up soon. Also, Kazuo Yamazaki
and Kazuyuki Fujita
face Yuki Ishikawa and Alexander Otsuka from Battlarts.
(Reported by Zach
Arnold at
http://www.1wrestling.com )
HARLEM HEAT REVIVAL?
Despite being the #1
contender for Scott Hall's belt, don't look for Booker T to
get that strap anytime
soon. he reunion of Harlem Heat is just around the
corner. This also
means that Stevie Ray's days in the nWo are numbered as
well.
I have to think that
Booker T is beyond teaming with his brother, but someone
disagress...
(Reported by Al Isaccs
at:
http://www.scoopscentral.com )
===========================================
The Decline of The
Horseman
By Steve Appy
The fans still respect
them; they still consist of some of the best workers in
the business. The
crowd reaction, especially in the
Carolina's, is surpassed
only by Goldberg's.
That said, the Four Horseman are in a definite decline.
its surprising that
anybody still cares. The last time that they were
presented well was in
1988, w/Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, & Barry
Windham. Although
selfish, Dusty Rhodes kept the Horseman in prime spots.
After all, he
needed them to play off. Future booking regimes buried them,
either from
professional jealousy or incompetence.
We were stuck with the
likes of Paul Roma & Steve McMichael; Curt Hennig
publicly embraced the
nWo in favor of the Horseman. Titles were few & far
between, with the last
World Championship reign back in 1996. Flair was
banished, Arn retired,
Benoit jobbed, Mongo got even worse. One would think the
legacy was dead.
Somehow, the legend
survived. "We Want Flair" chants disrupted live Nitro
broadcasts and there
was even interest in a proposed Horseman lineup that
included Fit Finlay.
Perhaps we remembered when Dusty Rhodes suffered a broken
arm, or when Benoit &
Arn turned on Kevin Sullivan. Against conventional
wisdom, we still
cared.
In August, we received
our reward. The Nature Boy returned, and the Horseman
were resurrected.
Tears were shed and bloodshed was promised. Dean Malenko
seemed a fine
addition, a worthy successor of Arn. Benoit seemed poised
for superstardom
and Mongo could be kept in the shadows. The future seemed
bright and I was
optimistic.
Then reality hit. We
were treated to a full two months of interviews with no
program in mind.
While Flair & Arn can talk with anybody, yelling at Bischoff
only goes so far.
Benoit & Malenko failed to get a push and may have been hurt
by the association.
After all, their personal interview time was reduced even
further, visibly
reduced to lackeys. A suspicious mind would call it
intentional, but
incompetence is just as likely. Curt Hennig, Barry Windham,
Bischoff & Hollywood
Hogan all went over, and the Horseman came out of it
looking second rate.
At this point, the
future looks bleak. Kevin Nash has allegedly dubbed Benoit &
Malenko "vanilla
midgets", and is committed to burying them in preliminary
bouts. Flair has
been humiliated and its doubtful that Hogan will allow him
to go over,
despite both logic and business sense.
Today's fickle fan
will soon turn on the Horseman, eventually giving WCW the
opportunity to
eliminate them altogether. Can they be redeemed? Easily.
Replacing Mongo would
be a start (Goldberg, Bret Hart, Booker T or Sting are all
possibilities). Put
Flair over Hogan, even if it is short term. Let Benoit
bypass the tag team
ranks entirely and push him to the stars. While he is not
colorful, he has a
quiet charisma that complements his intense demeanor. Make
Arn Anderson the
leader, taking over the role that JJ Dillon vacated in 1988.
Arn injects crediblity
into any angle, and has history with almost all of today’s
top stars.
Sadly, WCW is pursuing
other solutions to their problem. Despite serious
concern about their
recent two point rating defeats, an effort to rebuild a TV
ratings juggernaut is
not in the cards. By this time next year, will the Four
Horseman even exist?
===========================================
The GOOD, BAD, & the
UGLY........
By: Mark George (attkdonkey)
Maybe its just me, but
wrestling seems to have hit the wall. Don't get me
wrong, I still love
wrestling as much as ever, but lately everything seems to be
at a stand still. With
that said, what better time to push another installment
of the Good, Bad, &
the Ugly. Enjoy!!!!
THE
GOOD.................
1) REY MYSTERIO JR.
WCW does little right in my opinion, but letting Rey get
some serious push as a
"Giant Killer" is great!! Although I have lost a lot of
respect for Kevin
Nash, it was nice to see him do the job to get Mysterio
over.
2) DEBRA McMICHAEL.
What a RACK.....er, uh... personality. Yeah that's it.
For all of you women's
libers out there, save your hate mail. Debra's sexy
little number on last
week's RAW was SWEET!!! It doesn't matter that her mic
work is subpar, her
body is all that is needed to make her a hit. Long live
implants!!!!!
THE BAD...........
1) GOLDBERG'S
CHALLENGE. I will not be afraid to admit that I have been on
and
off the Goldberg
Bandwagon. Lately I have enjoyed watching Goldberg improve
with his technique and
become a very athletic big man. But his challenge to
Steve Austin on The
Tonight Show was weak. C'mon!!! I am sure Bichoff was
responsible for the
comments.
Austin is 10 times more over
than Goldberg and
his charisma is
infectious.
THE UGLY.......
1) WCW. Right now WCW
is barely watchable. Their PPV's are horrible and the
bookers have little
concept of what to do. Most of their potential stars are
being held down by
outdated has beens. Lex Luger?? Are you serious?? That
dude should have been
taken out back and shot years ago. At least with his
current injury we
don't have to see him wrestle. WCW's idea of incorporating
sex into their
programing is having Rosie O'Donnell prance around in a
thong
while shoving twinkies
in her pie hole. Television ratings for Nitro are
getting slaughtered by
RAW. Do they care?? They say they do, but it doesn't
look like it. WCW is
still making money hand over fist, so as long as the cash
rolls in don't look
for any earth shattering changes.
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED
CIRCLE
"COME OVER HERE BOY,
I'M GONNA MAKE YOU A STAR"
OR
"FROM JOBBER TO MAIN
EVENTER IN ONE EASY STEP"
BY
SAMJERRY
VISIT my Home Page:
http://members.aol.com/~samjerry
On the
March 2, 1999, edition of
RAW, WWF Owner (and resident @$$hole),
Mr. McMahon, announced
that The Big Bossman would face The Undertaker in a Hell
In The Cell Match at
Wrestlemania 15. The Big Bossman has come a long way in the
past year.
You may remember that
The Bossman / Ray Traylor went through several failed
gimmicks in WCW and
eventually left. Within a year of what may have been the low
point in his career,
he will be facing The 'Taker at Wrestlemania. The 'Taker
has been a Main
Eventer for several years, and for Traylor to be facing him
at
the first Wrestlemania
since his return to the WWF is a major step in his
career. While never a
particular favorite of mine (and many others based on what
I read), I am happy to
see him finally succeed. He is not the first to go from
obscure to star. Stone
Cold Steve Austin (SCSA) is the Poster Child for this
phenomena. There have
been others.
Of course, it works in
the other direction as well. Look at how The Canadian
Crybaby has improved
his career. Old Baldy, The Once-Was-A-Macho-Man, The
Ancient Piper, The
Alpha Male of the Wolpac, Scott "I have given up jobbing for
Lent" Hall, among
others went to WCW and became stars there after failed
careers
in WCW. Not!
Why am I writing this
Article you ask? OK, so you didn't ask. I'm going to tell
you anyway. Chris
Jericho is debating his future. Should he re-up with Good
King
Eric or try his luck
elsewhere (WWF or ECW)? Although one of the most talented
wrestlers around
today, both in the ring and with the mic, he has languished
behind the log jam of
geriatrics at the top. With not much hope of any of these
"legends" packing
their Depends and Support Hose, he has no where to go. Add
to
that, the fact that
Dirtbag Doophus Page has reportedly been booking with his
own career in mind.
If
Jericho's decision is based
on long range goals, the WWF looks like his best
option. If
Jericho bases his decision
purely on money, he'll probably stay with
WCW, and in all
likelihood still be a mid-carder for the next few years. If
he
makes the move, I
foresee gold in the near future. I think his mic skills will
be exploited to his
fullest advantage. The WWF will go all out to make him the
superstar he deserves
to be.
===========================================
Tag Team Tragedy?
by Dale Moore
To subscribe to The
Pro Wrestle Report, e-mail
Cmoore316
WCW is in the process
of rekindling their tag team division and actually start
having weekly tag
matches on the various WCW programs. But will this work?
The Tag Belts are back
and around the waists of Curt Hennig and Barry Windham, a
good idea on WCW's
part but there is no team more deserving than Chris Benoit
and Dean Malenko. When
will Benoit finally get gold? He's been robbed of the
U.S., TV, and at Superbrawl
the tag gold.
Can the tag division
work again? Well, WCW has already made mistake in that by
splitting up Meng and
Barbarian. Expect teams like Hennig and
Windham, The
Horsemen, Raven and
Kanyon, The Outsiders, and Armstrongs to lead the tag
division and try to
make it sucessful again. Those teams cannot match what WCW
once had with Harlem
Heat, Nasty Boys, Sting and Luger, and so on.
So we come to the only
thing left? Will the new tag division work? My opinion is
yes, if WCW can market
it the right way, and to do that putting the gold around
the Horsemen would be
a good idea, followed up by an Outsiders/Horsemen fued.
Take Care!
===========================================
WELCOME BACK, JIM
ROSS!
Submitted by reader:
KFITZPATI
It was great to read
issue #176 and see Steve report that Jim Ross will be
returning to the
broadcast booth at the
Cleveland RAW. I figure very
few people
are going to be losing
sleep over Michael Cole leaving the broadcast table, but
I also figure that the
last few weeks have shown just how valuable Ross is to
the WWF, and pro
wrestling in general. Ross deserves a helluva lot of credit
for what he's done for
the sport, and in particular the WWF the last couple of
years. It was Ross, as
Foley put it a few weeks ago, that gave Foley the chance
in the WWF back in
1996. To say Foley has taken full advantage of it (and that
McMahon has been the
beneficiary of it) is to be underspoken. Same goes with
Austin. As vice-president of
talent relations
for the WWF, Ross has
been the link to a lot of good angles and good bookings
that have helped the
WWF take over and knock Good King Eric off of his ratings
perch.
Those of us who have
followed the sport for years are not surprised- those who
remember Ross and Bill
Watts booking the UWF/Mid-South of the 1980's remember
some of the best
matches in TV wrestling history. He also did his best in the
WCW in the early
1990's, helping Sting go from UWF mid-carder and lackey of
the
late Eddie Gilbert to
a charismatic and popular WCW World champion. And he
again has been a
primary factor in the WWF's weathering of the storm of the
man
who would be king,
Good King Eric, and the WCW/NWO activity of 1996-97. Plus,
he and Lawler make for
one entertaining announcing team as well too. Though it
is not obvious to many
"marks" who follow the WWF storylines week by week and
think of Ross as just
a man in a cowboy hat who got a "Stone Cold Stunner" from
Austin in 1997, those
of us who read the newsletter and follow wrestling day in
and day out know that
Ross is a man who should be respected and welcomed back to
the broadcast table
with open arms......
===========================================
CHAIRSHOT RETORT
Submitted by reader:
katahajime
Regarding Rebel4War
and "How to take a Chairshot"
What's
Rebel4War trying to say, that Mick Foley is NOT
really hurt when
he takes 11 chair
shots? Backyard feds are stupid. Unless you've got a ring
and
have experience in
wrestling like how to take a bump, fall, etc, its just dumb.
I watched a report on
the news a few weeks ago about some fed called "Extremely
Extreme Wrestling". In
it, the kids were just hitting each other with garbage
cans and weapons, and
the actual wrestling part of the match was a few elbow
drops and a
sleeperhold. They're
doing these so-called hardcore wrestling matches because
its easier and more
fun than a real wrestling match, and all they really have
to do is make a loud
noise with the weapon and then pretend they're hurt. The
sad part of it all is
that when one of these kids go through a flaming table or
fall off a rooftop the
wrong way and get seriously hurt, either they or their
parents are going to
blame it on pro wrestling.
===========================================
ICON?
Submitted by reader:
SirDopeNes
Has your entire staff
forgotten what the word "Icon" means? Its not who works
the hardest, has the
best mic skills, size, or all of that combined.
Its hard to put in
words what I mean so I will try to give an example and hope
you understand what I
mean. If you walk up to someone that doesn't like
wrestling, doesn't
watch it, or whatever. Ask them who the first person that
comes in to their
minds when you mention the word wrestling. I would put money
that "Hulk Hogan" and
now maybe "Stone Cold" will be said 95% of the time.
Another example is of
Computer icons. On your computer, just about everyone has
WordPad. Word Pad's
"Icon" is paper with a pencil, because when you see a piece
of paper you think of
writing.
I challenge anyone who
reads this to ask a relative, or friend that doesn't like
wrestling, or doesn't
watch it, "The first person that comes in their mind when
they think of
wrestling". See what happens. My point is that no matter how
hard
a wrestler works, how
long they've been around, size, weight, anything, that it
doesn't matter. The
word Icon is not a synonym for any of those. Mick Foley,
Ric Flair, Roddy
Piper, are all great wrestlers, maybe the best, but in no
way
an Icon.
SirDopeNes
===========================================
RAW SPOILERS (If you
would like to be surprised, skip this section)
(Reported by Dave
White at:
http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/ )
Michael Cole and Jerry
Lawler host RAW is WAR (3/8/99).
The Rock storms the
ring right after the opening pyros and calls out Paul Wight,
but its Vince McMahon
who answers. Vince says that if Rock keeps this up
everyone will start to
wonder "what the Rock is smoking," and that Rocky had
better start toeing
the corporate line. He even vouches for Wight, but Rock
isn't buying it. Wight
comes to the ring and there's a tense stare-down that
breaks up when Mankind
hits the entrance ramp. Mankind announces that he's the
new second guest ref
at Wrestlemania XV, and offers to be the ref for a Rock vs.
Giant bout later
tonight, but Vince interrupts and says that Mick isn't the
guest ref just yet. In
fact, if he wants to be the guest ref, he'll have to beat
Stone Cold Steve
Austin later tonight, with Paul Wight as the guest ref and
the
Rock as the guest
commentator. Stone Cold comes out to accept the match, and
then disappears as
quickly as he came out.
Jim Ross hits the
stage with a shopping bag, and calls Michael Cole into the
ring. He complains
about the fact that while he was gone, wrestling turned into
"sports
entertainment," Cole stole his job, and the WWF tried to
give
all-American Steve
Williams the crappiest gimmick ever (turns out the bag was
holding the red gi and
crappy Japanese mask Williams was wearing when he
attacked Bart Gunn).
He proceeds to kick Cole in the nuts. A pained Cole limps
back to the locker
room while JR takes his place at the announcing table to
some
huge cheers.
Backstage, though, Vince and the Stooges aren't taking this
very
well. They grab Terry
Taylor and tell him to go sub for Cole. JR is
understandably pissed,
and starts arguing with Taylor. Eventually Williams comes
out and leads Ross to
the back. Taylor and Lawler handle the commentary for the
rest of the show.
Shamrock hits the ring
for a mtch vs. Goldust (w/Ryan Shamrock and the Blue
Meanie). Goldie
dominates the match early, and sets Shamrock up for the
Shattered Dreams when
he notices that the Blue Meanie is having a little fun
with Ryan outside the
ring. While he's arguing with the Meanie, Ken untangles
himself from the rope
and suplexes the hell out of Goldust for the pin.
Apparently Shane has
tacked a few conditions on his European Title Match with
X-Pac, as the next
match is X-Pac (w/Triple H) vs. Test (w/Chyna and Shane).
X-Pac
dominates early, but
Test rolls out of the way of a Bronco Buster to gain
control. He dominates
for a good bit, then goes to the top rope but winds up
landing on Waltman's
boot. Triple H drags Chyna out of the ring when she tries to
interfere, but Shane
gets past him and pastes X-Pac with the European Title.
Test gets the pin, but
the Corporation is quickly chased to the back by Triple H.
Afterwards, Triple H
comes back out and promises to destroy Chyna tonight. He
sounds
like he really means
it this time...
The Godfather and his
Ho Train hit the ring for a quick match with Steve
Blackman. The crowd
starts a loud "take the hos" chant, so Blackman does. On his
way out, though, he
gets ambushed by Droz. Blackman rolls Puke into the ring and
the Godfather starts
beating on him, until the lights go out and the Ministry of
Darkness destroys
everyone in the ring. Undertaker threatens Bossman and
promises that there
will be a sacrifice in the ring tonight.
Chyna comes out and
tells Triple H to come get some. As soon as they lock up,
the
lights go out and
(Omigod its) Kane hits the ring. Some jerk throws a soda
into
the ring. Kane pushes
Triple H into Chyna and then tosses him from the ring, but
Chyna is down. Some
medics run out to help her, but Kane tosses them too. He
eventually picks up
Chyna and carries her backstage. I think he's the Big Red
Love Machine now...
They take an
inordinately long time to set up for the next match, so the
crowd
starts a loud "here we
go Steelers" chant that lasts forever. Referee Earl
Hebner cracks up in
the ring.
Sable and Tori are
out, and Sable is brandishing a copy of April's Playboy.
There's an awful lot
of posturing from Sable here, while Tori just stands in the
middle of the ring and
gets ignored. Eventually Sable sits down to do some
commentary, and Jerry
proceeds to borrow her Playboy and have the time of her
life. Luna rushes to
the ring and pounds the snot out of Tori. After less than a
minute of non-stop
pummeling, the ref calls for the bell (DQ?). Luna points at
Sable and yells
something I can't hear in the nosebleed seats, and then
leaves.
Sable goes into the
ring to help out Tori -- no, wait, she slams her to the mat,
kicks her, and rips
off Tori's "Sable Bomb" shirt for good measure. The crowd
still cheers anyway.
The Undertaker symbol
gets lowered from the ceiling and painted with pyros, so
its no surprise when
shortly afterwards the Ministry of Darkness drags out the
Big Bossman and ties
him to the symbol. The Undertaker threatens to take away
everything that
McMahon has "until you have only one thing left, and then
she
too shall be mine."
Apparently Farooq and Bradshow need to study their Boy Scout
Handbook a little
better, because Bossman quickly breaks his bonds. The
Corporation is out to
help him escape, and a buttload of cops is charging up the
entrance ramp at the
exact same time. They cuff the Undertaker, who sets his
symbol ablaze as
they're leading him away. All the while, Paul Bearer is
talking
to someone on a cell
phone...
The Rock comes to
ringside to do commentary for the Stone Cold vs. Mankind
match. Paul Wight
seems to be taking his role as guest ref pretty seriously --
he pats down Mankind,
checks Austin's boots for studs, and tries to explain the
rules to Austin.
Mankind eventually attacks Austin to get things started. its
a
fairly dull match,
actually, and the crowd is pretty dead after the talkfest
that the last hour has
been. Eventually Mankind puts the Mandible Socko on
Austin, who's standing
outside on the ring apron, but for some reason Wight does
a fast count and
declares Mankind the winner by count-out. Wight holds up
Mankind's hand in
victory, and then chokeslams the hell out of him. Austin is
back in, but gets
attacked from behind by the Rock. Rock ultimately gets
stunnered and the
Corporation is chased from the ring, and that's where the
show
ends...
(Reported by Dave
White at:
http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/ )
===========================================
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
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Copyright- Steve Appy of The
Wrestling Booking Sheet ©1998, 1999, 2000
"When you're young and you
pick up a guitar, it feels so powerful. It feels
like you pulled the
sword from the stone. I used to believe that it could save
the world. But I don't
really believe that anymore." - Bruce Springsteen
"The greatest challenge of
adulthood is holding on to your idealism
after you lose your
innocence and believing in the power of the human
spirit after you come
crashing into the limits of the real adult
world." - Bruce
Springsteen