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Issue # 209
Date:
Saturday April 10th, 1999 9:39 pm
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
BRET HART'S FIVE DRAFT PICKS
On a recent edition of
WCW Live, Bret Hart was asked if he started a new
promotion, who his top
five draft picks would be (his franchise picks). They
were:
Bill Goldberg, Steve
Austin, himself, Mankind & Chris Benoit. While my picks
would be slightly
different, I see his point...
Reported by Wade
Keller of The Pro Wrestling Torch
To subscribe to The
Pro Wrestling Torch, send $36 for 20 issues to:
The Pro Wrestling
Torch
P.O. Box 201844
Minneapolis, MN 55420
CHRIS CANDIDO
STATEMENT
Friday 4/9, while on
their way to a Jersey All Pro Wrestling card, Chris Candido
& Tammy Sytch were
delayed by a car accident. While they are uninjured, they
wanted to release a
statement, reprinted below:
"I wanted to thank
everyone for the welcome back wishes, and for supporting us
and not believing in
the rumors while we where gone. However, we had a set back
on Friday on the way
to a show in NJ where Tammy was supposed to sign
autographs. Our friend
Paul (Lance Wright's bodyguard, The Equalizer) was
driving and we got
rear ended on the NJ turnpike. His truck was not driveable,
and by the time his
wife got there it was too late. She didnt no-show. We are
trying to rebuild our
reps, and don't want more stupid rumors starting. She will
make every scheduled
appearance. And I will make an announcement about my injury
in
Queens in 2 weeks. Thank you
very much".
===========================================
Ross Report Update:
http://www.wwf.com/
(For the week of April
9, 1999)
By Jim Ross
Hi everybody! It’s
Good Ol’ JR here at WWF.COM. Thanks for checking us out!
Well, this
Monday—finally—might be the night. Yes indeed…this Monday
night in
Detroit there is a good
chance that JR is going to return to ringside and
provide play-by-play
and commentary on Monday Night RAW. That’s the rumor
swirling around the
executive offices in
Titan Tower here in Stamford,
Connecticut. I hope that it’s
not a cruel trick someone is attempting to play on
the old, jovial
Oklahoman. And I hope if it is indeed true, that I won’t
fumble
the ball or be too
rusty for my return.
Certainly if that does
happen, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it does,
I hope that all the
viewers will be a little bit patient in the fact that my
paralysis has not
fully healed. I’m not at 100 percent
AND I’m not making
excuses. I’m just
telling you that if I work Monday night, you’re going to get
the very best effort,
the passion, the energy and enthusiasm that I have in my
being. But my diction
may be a little worse than normal based on the paralysis,
and of course this
cursed
Oklahoma accent that I have!
So in all seriousness, I
hope this Monday is
the day that I can go back to work. And again, we’ll find
out this Sunday night
on HEAT or certainly Monday night on RAW at
9 PM ET.
I had a chance on
Friday to talk to Stone Cold Steve Austin and certainly I
owe
Austin a big thank-you and a
great deal of gratitude for insisting that I call
his match against The
Rock at WrestleMania which got me back into the hunt.
Austin was at his home near
San Antonio, Texas, on Friday. He’s a very, very
busy man with a lot of
outside opportunities including doing another Nash
Bridges episode for
CBS that Steve will tape a little later this month. And I
suspect that episode
will be airing during the May sweeps on CBS. Steve’s first
appearance on Nash
Bridges was an overwhelming success and certainly his return
to the Don
Johnson-starred prime time broadcast will no doubt draw huge
ratings
once again. Stone Cold
has been doing what normal human beings do in their off
time—he’s been
spending quality time with his daughters, he’s been training
very
diligently and he’s
holding together with a very hectic non-WWF schedule. He
will be back in action
this Sunday night on HEAT from
East Lansing, Michigan.
Now, on to other news:
I had a chance to chat
with Sable a couple of times this week. She taped the
Roseanne Show and the
Donny and Marie Program this week. She will also be doing
another Playboy shoot
which is scheduled for early May (the Playboy shoot that
is), in
Los Angeles. The release date
of the magazine has not been determined,
but will probably be
sometime next year. It looks as if Sable has signed a
contract to defend the
WWF Women’s Title against Tori in an Evening Gown Match
on Sunday, May 16 in
Manchester at the UK
Pay-Per-View. That event is a virtual
sell-out with over
$600,000 dollars in tickets sold for that event. Stone Cold
will headline the UK
Pay-Per-View with a WWF Title defense, at least that’s
what’s scheduled, in
what could be a Triple Threat Match at that Pay-Per-View on
Sunday, May 16. In any
event, I’m sure that the Evening Gown Match with Sable
vs. Tori where the
winner must be stripped down to their undergarments will
leave very little to
the imagination and should be a much-talked about
one-on-one match-up in
the
UK. Sources say that the
winner of this match will be
the lady that strips
her opponent down to ONLY her bottoms...no top!!
The WWF’s negotiations
with the Georgia Dome in
Atlanta are getting
interesting.
The WWF had secured a
date of Monday night, September 27, for the Georgia Dome.
That was going to be a
live Monday night RAW. After the date was scheduled, Ted
Turner’s wrestling
group decided to run the same night in
Atlanta in Ted’s new
building to open it
up. And for some reason (wink wink) the Georgia Dome decided
it would be too
confusing in the marketplace, so the Georgia Dome wants to
move
the WWF’s date of
September 27 to another date, which I find somewhat unusual.
Ted Turner’s wrestling
group used the Georgia Dome until Ted’s building was
complete. And now
Ted’s group is going to leave the Georgia Dome to go to a
competing building,
but for some reason the manager of the Georgia Dome still
holds loyalty to WCW.
But in any event, a long story short, the WWF was more
than ready to compete
and go head-to-head and "may the better team win," but
that’s not going to
happen. Other dates are being considered for the WWF’s debut
in the Georgia Dome.
The bottom line of all this B.S. is that the WWF will
compete in
Atlanta in 1999 and on a
regular basis thereafter.
The WWF’s television
taping schedule has changed somewhat. As many of you know
the WWF will be doing
a new program—a special two-hour program on the UPN
Network, that will be
airing on Thursday night, April 29. That program is called
"WWF Smackdown." That
broadcast will taped on Tuesday night, April 27 in
New
Haven,
Connecticut. And then on Sunday, May 2 in San Diego, the WWF
will produce
a live Sunday Night
HEAT followed by a taped version of Monday Night RAW for
Monday, May 3. So the
taping on Tuesday, April 27 in
New Haven will be for UPN’s
"WWF Smackdown" for
its premier two-hour special, and then on Sunday, May 2 a
live HEAT followed by
RAW for Monday, May 3 airing.
The WWF’s recent
international tour was very successful. Approximately $1.5
million in tickets
were sold in four days for the three events in the
UK and one
event in
Germany. In other numbers,
WrestleMania estimates are still hovering
somewhere between
830,000 to 850,000 buys--with the
Austin vs. Rock main event
leading the way—making
the 1999 version of the WrestleMania the most watched
WrestleMania in
history. What a great accomplishment for all the athletes,
especially the
superstars that were in the main event.
Jerry "The King"
Lawler is going to do some wrestling for the WWF in May in
Florida. That should be
interesting! The King has not been in a WWF ring, to
wrestle anyway, in
quite some time. I understand he’ll meet Midian at a live
event in
Florida in May. The King is
rumored to be purchasing a condo near Ft.
Myers,
Florida, as a vacation retreat.
The second annual
Brian Pillman Memorial event will be on Wednesday night, May
19 in
Cincinnati. Yours truly will
be attending that event along with several
other WWF superstars
as we honor my dear, late friend Brian Pillman. And we
certainly are looking
forward to participating in that on May 19.
The WWF will soon
announce the signings of several viable prospects—male and
female. All have
realistic chances of earning a spot on the roster in late
1999
or early next year.
Speaking of
prospects--one of the bluest of the blue chips—Olympic gold
medal
winner Kurt Angle who
inked a long-term WWF agreement, will be brought to this
set of television
tapings in
Michigan for evaluation and a
progress report.
Whether Kurt makes it
on television this time or not remains to be seen.
However, he will be
brought in for an evaluation to see where his skills are at
this point. Angle’s
really going to be special. He’s going to be a big-time
contributor to the WWF
if he keeps progressing. I personally don’t think he’s
quite ready for Monday
nights, but I do think he will be ready in a big-time way
for Monday nights
within the next couple of months.
Speaking of getting
ready and being ready, I’m very impressed by the "Big Show"
Paul Wight’s
commitment to getting himself in to tip-top physical
condition. The
"Big Show" has lost
close to 100 pounds in the past six months and it’s amazing
what a little bit of
motivation and positive leadership will do for an athlete
that has a great deal
of pride. The "Big Show" has unlimited potential, but to
be as good as he wants
to be and to be as good as the WWF needs him to be, the
"Big Show" must be in
outstanding physical condition. Anything less will not
work.
And I find it funny,
and I’ve been just as guilty as the other announcers, that
now that the "Big
Show" has gone from Ted Turner’s company that other men of
large stature such as
Kevin Nash are considered the "best big man in the history
of the business." And
again, you know why we do things, we hype, we shill as
announcers because
we’re instructed to do so. But to say that Kevin Nash, in
all
due respect, is the
best big man in the history of the business…that in itself
is a stretch. He’s one
hell of a big man—no doubt about that. But better than
Andre in his heyday? I
don’t know about that one. Can Paul Wight be better than
Andre the Giant or any
of the other predecessors? There’s no doubt in my mind
that Paul Wight has
the physical ability to be the best big man that I have ever
seen in my lifetime.
Paul Wight is a very special athlete, a very extraordinary
performer and if he
can get his weight under control, and keep it there, improve
his conditioning and
his overall strength, he is maybe going to be the best of
all time…big or small.
So in closing, I hope
that you’ll tune in on Sunday night, because hopefully
you’ll get an
announcement on JR’s future. I’m hoping I’m back at ringside
on
Monday. That’s the
indication that I have received. If it does happen
Monday…whether I like
it or not, whether you like it or not, we have to credit
Vince McMahon for
making it happen, if it happens. McMahon has been absolutely
immersed in this whole
family situation with his daughter Stephanie, the
Undertaker and the
Ministry. There were a lot, in my view, distasteful,
unnecessary,
uncomfortable situations that occurred on television that
should
not have been there.
Obviously, something has to give in this situation one way
or another. If McMahon
does clear me to go back to work, I thank him for that.
And again, you have to
"give the devil his due." If he does extend that hand, I
will certainly give
him his proper credit and thank-yous.
So with that said, I
hope you have a great weekend. I appreciate you stopping by
along with your input
and ideas. Take care, and we’ll talk again soon.
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED
CIRCLE
ECW - APRIL 9, 1999 -
PHILADELPHIA, PA
BY
SAMJERRY
Visit my Home Page:
http://members.aol.com/samjerry
The program was taped
at Cyberslam '99 (which is available right now by calling
1-800-523-5684) and
began with Lance Storm coming to the ring accompanied by
Tammy Lynn Bytch (TLB).
Storm complained about Tommy Dreamer spreading rumors
that he used steroids.
He did his "I'm from Calgary and therefore I am great"
routine and the crowd
agreed with him. Believe that and next I'll tell you that
Mr. McMahon is
arranging a blind date between Daddy's Little Girl Stephanie
and
Good King Eric. The
crowd was more interested in seeing
TLB's surgical
enhancements. Storm
held up a urine sample to prove he is clean and dared
Dreamer to do the
same. Dreamer came to the ring, but was distracted by Cyrus
The Virus (The Jackal
in a former life), allowing Storm to nail him. Storm
dragged Dreamer into
the ring, but Tommy came back with a DDT and knocked Storm
out cold. He got the
urine sample and gave Storm a facial shower with it. The
crowd loved it.
TLB was disgusted. Storm
wasn't all that happy either.
After the ECW opening
ran, Joey Styles was in the ring. A chant of "ECW" went up
and Joey welcomed the
crowd to Cyberslam '99. He called Rob "Mr. PPV" Van Dam
(RVD) to the ring to
celebrate his one year anniversary as ECW TV Champion. RVD
came to the ring
accompanied by his manager Bill "Fonzie" Alfonso. RVD got a
major pop and
acknowledged his anniversary, calling himself "Mr. PPV, Mr.
Monday
Night and The Whole
F'N Show." Fonzie took the mic and said in celebration, he
has arranged a Title
match tonight v. 2 Cold Scorpio.
The cameras switched
backstage where Sabu was being restrained by a bunch of
ECW's Jobbers. Styles
said that Fonzie had banned Sabu from ringside account of
his fractured jaw. He
wanted to keep Sabu from doing further damage. Let's do
the math; Sabu wants
to go to the ring. Bunch of Jobbers don't want him to: Sabu
= 1, Jobbers = 5,
Answer is Good Luck jobbers, you're going to need it.
Scorpio came to the
ring and it looked like he has been skipping the fries and
going to the gym. The
crowd chanted "Don't go back," obviously not wanting him
to revisit Stamford,
Connecticut. The cameras switched backstage again and we
saw Paul Heyman
telling Sabu that he can't wrestle. The Jobbers were still
doing
their best. I am still
going with Sabu.
The match was underway
when we returned to the ring. RVD had Scorpio in a
Headlock and then
toyed with him. Scorpio came back with a Double Underhook
takedown and kicked
RVD in the jaw. RVD came back with a Headbutt, followed by a
series of Forearms and
Kicks, ending with a Drop-kick to Scorpio as he leaned
against a corner. RVD
hit a Spin Kick and a series of Punches. Scorpio came back
with a Spinning Heel
Kick and a Clothesline as RVD was against a turn buckle. We
cut backstage again
and the Jobbers were still at it. I still have confidence.
Paul Heyman lectured
Sabu some more. Scorpio hit a Kick to RVD's head and we
again went backstage.
Sabu was still not convinced. My confidence has not
wavered. Scorpio hit a
Somersault Leg Drop and went for a cover. RVD kicked out.
Scorpio dropped RVD
backwards from his shoulders. Backstage once more. This time
Cyrus was talking to
Sabu. He told him he could do what he wants. Way to go
Cyrus. We went to a
commercial.
When we got back, Sabu
was at ringside. He had come out and put Scorpio thru a
table at ringside with
one of his suicidal leaps. Fonzie was screaming at him,
and his bandaged jaw
was bleeding. RVD put Scorpio back in the ring and onto a
steel chair that was
lying there. RVD delivered a Leg Drop on Scorpio as he lay
on the chair, went for
the pin, but Scorpio kicked out. RVD continued working on
Scorpio and went for a
Power Bomb. Scorpio reversed it and hit a Power Bomb of
his own. Scorpio went
to the top turn buckle, but Fonzie shoved him off and he
was crotched on the
top rope. I smell the end is near. RVD went to the top turn
buckle, Fonzie held a
chair in from of Scorpio's face, RVD nailed Scorpio with a
monster Van Daminator
knocking him three zip codes away. RVD followed with one
of his Frog Splashes
from the upper stratosphere and that was that.
Game, set, match.
Scorpio and RVD shook hands afterwards in a display of
sportsmanship that the
crowd appreciated.
Winner - Rob "Mr. PPV"
Van Dam - Retains the ECW TV Title
Winner - Scorpio, who
made a great comeback
Loser - Sabu's jaw
Steve "I get less
respect than Rodney Dangerfield" Prazak was in the locker
room
trying to interview
Justin Credible. Credible had his Singapore Cane with him
and was more
interested in it than he was in Prazak. Credible said he had
a
chance tonight to
prove to Shane Douglas that he is "The Next Franchise."
Joey said tonight's
program was the first of two we will see from Cyberslam '99.
We went to Douglas'
locker room. He said Credible will be The Next Franchise
over his dead body.
Joey sent us quickly
to the ring where Steve Corrino had been shooting his mouth
off and Taz had come
out in response. Corrino was shaking in his boots as he
told Taz he had "done
a stupid thing" and didn't mean for Taz to come to the
ring. The crowd
chanted "You F'd up." He said he was sure he "could choke
Taz
out in front of all
these people." I have heard a lot of dumb @$$ things, but
that had to rank in
the top three. The crowd chanted "Taz is gonna kill you."
Corrino continued
saying he had hurt himself lifting weights and had "broken
his
appendix." Taz cut him
off and told him "he had one minute to finish." He said
he needed to go to the
hospital (At the rate he was going, he sure was) and had
a "substitute," who he
called "the most underrated man, who had always been
stuck with bad
partners." At that, Tammy Lynn Sytch (TLS)
came out, followed by
Chris Candido.
TLS was wearing a very skimpy
white string bikini, with a sheer
pink negligee (?) over
it. Candido took the mic and said he didn't "tap out" to
any of his previous
gimmicks, and didn't tap out to alcohol, drugs or steroids,
and wouldn't tap out
to Taz tonight. Taz accepted his challenge for a match for
the ECW Championship
as we went to a commercial.
When we returned the
match was in progress. They exchanged punches, then Taz hit
a series of Chops, a
knee to the midsection, followed by the Brooklyn Boot that
send Candido to the
floor. The fought on the floor and out into the crowd.
Candido went to the
top turn buckle and uncharacteristically leaped off and onto
Taz in the third row.
A Van Dam he is not. Candido Irish Whipped Taz into the
guard rail and over
it. Taz threw Candido back to the lions, I mean the crowd.
They fought their way
up into the bleachers as the crowd chanted "ECW." Taz hit
a Back Drop and they
went back to ringside. Candido bounced Taz off the time
keepers table and thru
it. Acme's cash register rang. They went into the crowd
again, begging the
question "Why did we need a ring?" They exchanged punches
and
fought into the
equipment area. Taz nailed Candido and went for a pin.
Candido
kicked out and Joey
was kind enough to tell us this was a "Falls Count Anywhere
Match." For shame
Joey, we expected better of you; waiting all this time
before
telling us. Candido
came back with a Scoop and a Slam, climbed up on the
broadcast platform,
checked in with Joey, and came down on Taz with a Flying
Elbow Drop. Off to
commercial land again.
When we got back, they
were in the ring. Ripley considered making an entry.
Candido had Taz up for
a Vertical Suplex and held him there a while before
planting him. He the
came off the top turn buckle with a Diving Headbutt to Taz
shoulder, went for a
pin, but Taz easily kicked out. Taz came back fast with a
Wheelbarrow TazPlex
and stomped Candido. Candido hit Taz with a Slingshot
Belly-To-Back Suplex,
and went for a pin but couldn't get it. Taz came back with
a Power Bomb and
stomped Candido's face. Taz delivered another TazPlex, but
Candido planted his
thumb in Taz eye, and followed with a Power Bomb. He slammed
Taz head into the top
turn buckle and went for The Blonde Bombshell (the move,
not
TLS..although she would have
been my choice). Taz blocked it and hit a Head
& Arm TazPlex from the
second turn buckle.
TLS handed Candido a strap,
he
wrapped it around his
fist and clocked Taz. Taz kicked out of a pin attempt.
Candido went under the
ring and got another of Acme's finest tables and brought
it into the ring. He
leaned it up against a turn buckle. Candido delivered a
series of punches. Taz
tried to come back but took another thumb to the eye.
Candido tried to whip
Taz into the table, Taz reversed it and demolished the
table as he put
Candido thru it with a TazMissionPlex. This got us our first
and
only "Oh, my G-d" of
the night from Joey, who had almost gone an entire show
without one. A check
with Vegas and I found out there wasn't even a line on
this!
Candido lay still
among the wreckage as
TLS came in to check on him.
He wasn't
moving and the
EMT's were called to the
ring. They applied a neck brace and put
him on a stretcher as
Joey reminded us that he had suffered a broken neck during
his stint in the WWF.
TLS looked worried, Joey
sounded worried, the crowd seemed
worried, Taz was, well
Taz. As they removed Candido from the ring the crowd
chanted "F you Taz."
Apparently upset at what the crowd was chanting, although
he really doesn't need
a reason to be such a SOB, Taz went out after Candido and
dumped him off the
stretcher. He brought Candido back to the ring and applied
the TazMission,
choking Candido out. Candido tapped out, which is what Taz
wanted and he let him
go. Taz grabbed the mic and shouted his motto, "Beat me if
you can, survive if I
let you." The program ended on that note.
===========================================
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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: 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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no problem if you want to use our stuff; just credit it
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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
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