The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 219

Date: Monday April 19th, 1999 9:14 am

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

MORE ON CHRISJERICHO.COM
Patty Therre, the Executive Editor of WCW Magazine, has this to say about the
rumored closing of Chris Jericho's website:
"As a friend and a coworker of sorts of Chris Jericho, I have asked him and he
has said he is not closing his website, never had any intention of doing so and
that it is simply a rumor. He and his webmaster are planning on continuing his
site indefinitely, he told me. I just wanted to set the record straight for
Chris.
Patty Therre, Executive Editor, WCW Magazine"

THE DEAN RECOVERS
Our best wishes out to Gordon Solie who is on the sidelines after throat
surgery. We wish him a full and speedy recovery.
Reported by Al Isaacs at: http://www.scoopscentral.com

SHAMROCK & THE BROOD?
Last Monday on RAW, The Brood and Ken Shamrock were both victims of the same
factions they were once loyal members of! As a result, could Shamrock and the
Goth Warriors find a common bond...and go after the Ministry and Corporation?
Reported at: http://www.wwf.com/

DOUGLAS INJURY NOT SERIOUS
Shane Douglas suffered a hairline fracture of his ankle in Dayton OH, but the
injury is not expected to keep him out of action more than 3-4 weeks. Douglas
was on crutches this weekend, and the injury is being worked into current ECW
angles, although the injury is not as serious as being made out in the
storyline. Douglas will be seeing a doctor to have a cast fitted for the ankle
this week, but hopes to be ready to return after a short layoff.
Reported by Dave Scherer at: http://www.1wrestling.com/

NEW JAPAN 4/17 RESULTS
New Japan ran their 4/17 show at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall drawing 1,922 paid. Shiro
Koshinaka and Manabu Nakanishi fought Tatsutoshi Goto and Michiyoshi Ohara and
went to a no-contest at the3:52 mark when the ref got beat up by both teams.
This sounds custom made for Chono's new group. Kensuke Sasaki and Kazuo Yamazaki
beat Keiji Mutoh and Satoshi Kojima when Sasaki used his Northern Lights Bomb to
pin Mutoh at the 14:28 mark.
Reported by Zach Arnold at: http://www.1wrestling.com/
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"I PROMISE YOU UNCLE TED, NITRO WILL GET A 7.0 AT LEAST"
OR
"FIGURES DON'T LIE, BUT GOOD KING ERIC FIGURES"
BY SAMJERRY
Visit my Home Page: http://members.aol.com/samjerry
Time for another dose of reality in Phil Muschnick's favorite pastime:

Item: Good King Eric holds a Pep Rally: About a week before the big NITRO in Las
Vegas, Good King Eric (GKE) held a meeting with all of his indentured servants.
At the meeting, GKE "assured" them that despite all the rumors to the contrary,
he wasn't going to pull a 'rat on a sinking ship routine' and bail out on them.
In fact to prove how confident in WCW's future he is, he predicted that the
Vegas show, with his new Star Wars Set, DJ, Music and 'Enhanced Graphics', would
draw a 7.0 Rating and not only beat RAW, but set a new record. We all know its
not nice to laugh at the boss to his face, so the servants waited until he left
and then went hysterical. When they recovered, it was every man for himself
rushing to the phones to get their bets against it down with the Vegas bookies.
As we all know, not only didn't NITRO get a 7.0 or break any records, it barely
matched the previous weeks abysmal number. GKE has to have the largest set of
grapefruits known to man, or else he's been visiting Big Poppa Steroid's
"Herbalist." Take the needle out of your arm Eric, its going to take a lot more
than a new set and window dressing to rescue NITRO. Some decent booking and
story lines might help. A "Reality Check" is called for.

Item: The Koloff's Return: Remember Ivan Koloff? How about Nikoli Koloff? The
two "Super Russian," Ivan, who "unretired" and is thought to be 62 and Nikoli
who is 51, teamed up last weekend and performed at some Indy Shows in the
Carolinas. Can the promoters there be that hard up that they had to resort to
using Ivan, who had to leave his daily checkers game to perform? Can the
Koloff's be in that dire need of a few bucks? Of course there is another
possibility; they may have looked at some of the ancients working in WCW and
figured if they could not only wrestle, but even "win" the WCW Championship, who
not us. If they do end up in GKE's Rest Home, I hope they go easy on their
seniors there.

Item: The Macho Man's has a new "Squeeze": Gorgeous George, the 21 year old fine
young thing that is now the Once-Was-A-Macho-Man's lady, is going to wrestle
Slick Ric's personal referee..or is she? Don't be too sure that Mr. Robinson is
the "lady" the Macho Man was referring to. It is reported that Alundra Blaze is
close to signing with WCW and she could be the "lady" in question. Have you
noticed a trend in WCW lately? Douchebag Doophus Page's wife Kimberly is half
his age and George is less than half of Macho's. Oh well, I'm sure its true
love and not the lure of fame and the money. Nah. If the Executive President of
WCW's Executive Board for Executive Decisions, Jo Jo Dillon, shows up with a
Dallas Cowboy cheerleader, it will prove there's hope for everyone. Don't bet
the ranch on it.

Item: Stone Cold Steve Austin to make another guest appearance on Nash Bridges:
When he appeared a month ago, Don Johnson's low rated show scored its highest
rating since Noah loaded the Ark. Proving he is smarter than the pile of rocks
he is usually compared with, Johnson is having Austin make another appearance on
the season's finale. What better way to impress the brass at CBS than to close
out the season on a high note, enhancing the shows chances of renewal. Word is
Johnson told Austin that if he looked like Melanie Griffith, he'd ask him to
marry him. The other half of the story is that the same brass are so impressed
with Austin's acting ability, they are considering a show with him as the star.
If this happens, maybe he'll have SuperDuperMan as a guest...if they need
someone to grunt a few syllables.

Item: Prince Shane didn't apologize: Contrary to rumors that he would apolgize
on Heat last night for "The Slap Heard Around The World," the little ingrate
reinforced his feelings for Dear Old Dad (DOD). It looks like The Corporation is
now being led by a two-headed dragon, or is DOD being sent to the Shady Acres
Rest Home For Very Old Wrestlers (and Promoters). I have a feeling that Shane
may find out that "DOD 3:16" means he just had his ungrateful @$$ kicked. It may
not be nice to fool with Mother Nature, but its deadly to fool with Father
McMahon.
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENTS
If you want to be part of a wrestling poll, e-mail RobGoodDam your top
ten wrestlers. After he gets 100 different wrestlers, it will start.

You are invited to compete in a Worldwide Internet Wrestling Trivia Competition,
consisting of ten rounds of ten wrestling trivia questions, run over five weeks.
The questions are all concerned with the WWF, spanning between Wrestlemania 5
and present, with a broad range of general knowledge questions. To secure you
place in the league, email Nate@xxxxcxxxc... To those who have already sent an
email requesting entry, please resend your entry with your name and email
address included! Sorry for the inconvinience but the problem was out of my
control...
===========================================
WWF house show results fromCalgary, Alberta - April 17, 1999
• D-Lo Brown pinned Al Snow
• The Acolytes defeated DOA after Faarooq powerslammed a member of DOA.
• Tori defeated Jacqueline and Ivory in a Triple Threat Match when Tori pinned
Ivory.
• Hardcore Holly pinned Val Venis after Al Snow interfered
• Ken Shamrock defeated The Undertaker via disqualification
• The Godfather pinned Tiger Ali Singh after executing the Pimp Drop
• Kane and X-Pac defeated Test and Triple H, after the same ending as RAW occured.
• Mankind defeated Goldust
• Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett defeated The New Age Outlaws and The Brood when Owen
put the sharpshooter on Road Dogg. Billy Gunn eliminated The Brood earlier in
the match.
• "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and "The Big Show" Paul Wight defeated The Rock and
The Big Bossman after Austin stunned Bossman. This was a great match, and after
the match Austin and Paul Wight chugged many beers.
Reported by James Hankinson & Jeff Jacobson at:
http://www.ultimowrestling.com/rwin/index.shtml & Phaas24
===========================================
WWF Sunday Night Heat Results for April 18th, 1999
By Chris Shamrock (ChrisShamrock@xxxxcxxxc...)
Visit his homepage at: http://www.ringsiders.com/SkyHigh/
Taped in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Shane McMahon was interviewed
The a**hole chant starts throughout the arena and Shane looks around while he is
standing in the middle of the ring with a mic. Shane says that all week long
people have been saying that he would apologize to Vince for slapping him. Shane
says he does own Vince an apology. Shane also says that the crowd would feel the
same way if this happened. Shane says that standing face to face with his dad:
"IT FELT GREAT TO TAKE THE POWER". Shane is proud to say he is the only McMahon
with balls the size of grape fruits.

Shane, the guest referee at 'Backlash', promised to count the 1-2-3 on Stone
Cold. "Once again Rock will become the champion. I am the toughest SOB in the
WWF!"

Ken Shamrock defeated The Big Boss Man & Test in a Handicap Match
Shamrock's music starts and he comes out to the crowd and a huge pop. As
Shamrock dominated Test, the Boss Man is jumping in the corner yelling for the
tag. As Test is ready to tag Boss Man his partner leaves ringside, leaving Test
helpless in the ring. Shamrock then applies the Anklelock to Test for the
submission victory.

Lucas Swineford interviewed X-Pac, with both men wondering if Kane would join
him for their tag team title defense tonight.

In the back the Big Boss Man and Test are yelling at each other. Shane says that
Test has been screwing up a lot now and he better improve. Tomorrow the Boss Man
will fight Shamrock.

After Tiger Ail Singh began his degrade the Americans routine, he declared that
he would give $500 to any American woman in the crowd that would massage his
feet.
PMS (Terri Runnells & Jacqueline) accept the challenge, and Singh was silly
enough to try to give each woman $250 each. Women scorned, they both grab his
feet and a newcomer (Power Pro Wrestling's Shaun Stasiak) runs in and brutalizes
Singh.
Leaving with both women on his arm, Stasiak will have his own future problems to
deal with.

Jim Ross interviewed The Rock; here's the partial transcript below:
JR: What motivated you, Rock, to throw Stone Cold off the bridge?
Rock: Well first, why do you want the smokin skull belt. It is heavier than the
other belts.
JR: What if Stone Cold couldn't swim?
Rock: Well first thing, the Rock could care less.
JR: How can you say that?
Rock: You've never been in the ring with Stone Cold like the Rock has. The Rock
knows him much more than a lot of people.
JR: A lot of people are saying you can't beat Stone Cold unless Shane cheats.
Rock: The Rock needs nobody to be the ref. That's not the Rock's job to appoint
the ref. Shane did that. Is this a personal issue with the Rock?
JR: Absolutly not, I just want the answers.
Rock: Well I don't need Shane. As I said, he appointed himself as ref.
JR: After hearing everything you said.... Is there anything you WOULDN'T do to
become the champ at Backlash?
Rock: The Rock will do all he can to become the WWF champion. To the Rock, Stone
Cold is nothing. As of Stone Cold being the man I am a man and a half. This
will have two goals.... One will be to be 4 time champ and the other would be to
take down Stone Cold.

The Brood defeated Median & Viscera via disqualification
The action went back & forth, with the Ministry taking the advantage due to
Viscera's
bulk. After The Brood took the advantage, the Acolytes stormed the ring,
leading to the Brood enduring a vicious beating.

Making her much heralded "Big announcement", Sable formally introduced her new
bodyguard, Nicole Bass, to the audience.

WWF World Tag Team Champions X-Pac & Kane defeated The Rock & Hunter Hearst
Helmsly via disqualification
Kane was nowhere to be seen, and X-Pac was forced to begin this title defense as
a Handicap Match. Kane made his late entrance, which spurred Jarrett & Hart
into attacking the champions. After the New Age Outlaws made the save, Kane &
X-Pac seemed to come to an understanding, with trust finally entering the
picture.
===========================================
WCW Saturday Night Report for April 17, 1999
By Joe De Leon, reported at: http://www.ultimowrestling.com/rwin/index.shtml
Hosted by Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson
Taped from Boise, Idaho

• The Saturday Night opening was completely different. It was a bunch of young
adults dancing, with the WCW Saturday Night logo appearing in the end. The
entrance-way was in the middle of two big screen televisions and in front of a
WCW Saturday Night logo. The lighting above the ring was also more bright.

• El Vampiro defeated Bobby Blaze via Pinfall. The crowd was hot for Vampiro.

• Disco Inferno defeated Barry Horowitz with the Last Dance. Horowitz, who came
out with new glittery suspenders, was dominated and was defeated after Disco
countered his padless knee drop.

• Evan Karagias defeated Lenny Lane with a Corkscrew Splash.

• Chris Adams made his way out. He said he was tired of everyone thinking they
invented the Superkick, when he did. Adams then challenged Ernest Miller. Miller
and Sonny Onoo made their ways out. Miller insulted Adams and accepted the
match. It resulted in Miller taking the win with his Feliner, thanks to the
confusion from Onoo's interference

• Backstage, Gene Okerlund interviewed WCW Heavyweight Champion, Diamond Dallas
Page, along with Kimberly. DDP said Kimberly would be still doing her Nitro Girl
job but would also come down to the ring with him. DDP talked about being the
champion and just said he would continue to dominate.

• Bam Bam Bigelow and Wrath went to a No-Contest, after Hak interfered and
attacked both men in the ring. All three brawled up the aisle. Chastity came
down and sprayed fire extinguisher material into the eyes of Bigelow and Wrath.
On a note, Wrath's exterior ligiment on his left knee is severely damaged. He
injured it on 3/15 on Thunder in a match with Jerry Flynn (Saturday Night was
taped on 3/13).

• Brian Adams defeated Chip Minton with a Piledriver. After the match, Adams
continued to attack Minton.

• Joe Gomez defeated The Gambler with a Flying Forearm.

• Raven and Saturn defeated El Dandy and Damian with Raven's Evenflow DDT.

• Jerry Flynn defeated The Barbarian (w/Jimmy Hart) by Disqualification, after
Hugh Morrus interfered. Flynn was out-numbered by a two-on-one attack, with him
even being put through Morrus' No Laughing Matter Moonsault. On a note, Morrus
also injured his knee in a 3/15 Thunder Taping match with Hak.

• Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr. defeated Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (w/Arn
Anderson) by Disqualification, to retain the Tag Team Titles. Kidman and
Mysterio started to take the advantage, with Kidman set to execute the Shooting
Star Press, until Anderson knocked off the top rope. A brawl ensued in the ring,
with Raven and Saturn getting involved. Benoit and Malenko came out on top, with
bodies scattered in the ring.

• The show also consisted of Spring Stampede, Nitro highlights, hotline plugs
from Gene Okerlund, and frequent comments from Mike Tenay and Scott Hudson.
===========================================
WWF Shotgun Saturday Night Report - April 17, 1999
By Joe De Leon, reported at: http://www.ultimowrestling.com/rwin/index.shtml
Hosted by Michael Cole and Jim Cornette
Taped from East Lansing, Michigan
• The Big Show defeated Tiger Ali Singh with the Chokeslam.
- The Big Show broke Tiger Ali Singh's Indian flag and took the win in a matter
of seconds with the Chokeslam.

• The Acolytes defeated Goldust and The Blue Meanie with Bradshaw's Lariat.
- As the match continued, Goldust walked out on The Blue Meanie, which left
Meanie hopless against the destruction of The Acolytes. Bradshaw finished off
Meanie with the Lariat.

• The Brood (Edge and Christian, w/Gangrel) defeated The Hardy Boyz with Edge's
Downward Spiral.
- The Hardy Boyz did their D-Generation X gestures in the beginning. As the
match continued, Gangrel switched with Christian, and started to get involved.
The Hardy Boyz, however, continued to dominate The Brood. After Jeff Hardy was
thrown out of the ring, Edge finished off Matt Hardy with the Downward Spiral.

• Val Venis defeated Jerry Legend with the Money Shot.
===========================================
BRIAN KNOBBS WHEREABOUTS EXPLAINED
Submitted by reader: Marc Lau (ballsmahoney)
Just to let you know, Brian Knobs no-showed Thunder because he went to Hawaii
this past week to wrestle on the Hawaiian Heat Superstar Wrestling show with
Greg Valentine, Tatanka, Chavo Guerrero Jr., Hector Guerrero, Typhoon, Tito
Santana and some other old unkown guys who used to be in WWF/WCW. Brian Knobs
wrestled Tatanka as well.
Thanks,
Marc
===========================================
COMPETITION
Submitted by reader: Mid12nt
Concerning the current state of the wrestling ratings war, I hope there is
always one going on. The competition between the WWF & WCW is intense, & in
continuous efforts to beat each other, we the fans are treated to high caliber
matches on TV each & every week that once upon a time would only be seen on PPV.
The wrestlers are able to make more money & have better opportunities (acting,
front office, et.), and the promotions themselves are making more money from
advertisers, wrestling gates, & merchandise, it is a win-win situation for
everybody currently.

Things change, wrestling goes in & out of popularity, promotions change,
scandals erupt, et., I've seen all of these things occur in some form or fashion
over the past 20 odd years, but I hope that we never go back to the days when
there was little if any major competition between promotions. There are good
things and bad things about
competition, but I think that for the most part we the fans and the wrestlers we
support benefit more when there is competition.

I wonder though, when wrestling ratings/popularity starts to wane, if the level
of the product we've been seeing (I'm a WWF viewer) will also wane. I doubt
I'll be able to communicate this well, but prior to cable, prior to the
Internet, a wrestling promotion was not exposed to the competition it is now.

Today people can see, via PPV, cable, satellite, & the Internet more than just
one promotion, so (not taking into consideration loss of earnings that follow
losses in popularity) when ratings decline will we still see the quality of
matches on TV that we are now? In order to stay one of the big guys, to draw
the viewers, will the TV shows continue to feature the main carders against one
another or will we see a return to the days of main carder vs nameless jobbers?
===========================================
STORYLINES, BOTH WEAK & STRONG
Submitted by reader: Muttley97
After reading Mike Mooneyham's column about WCW destroying itself, I am left
with 2 conclusions:
1) He is correct on most counts about how it appears to be...
and 2) What does it matter?

Now before the flame mail starts, let me say this; I have watched and enjoyed
BOTH groups at various time in the last couple of years. Monday Nitro was
enjoyable when Sting was the X factor in the night, and when Goldberg was on the
rise. I still get chills watching the Nitro in Georgia when he beat both Hall
and Hogan. And Raw has been equally appealing also. The Foley-Rock match (when
Stone Cold ran in with the chair) was electrifying. But I have seen both
programs start to take the downward turn. The whole McMahon-Undertaker angle
seems to be a better executed one than the Hogan/NWO-Warrior angle, but not
original. WCW is trying to show the backstage dealings more, but the WWF did
them first and better.

The only reason the WWF does better in the ratings is that the stories and
action are more compelling than what WCW offers. When WCW combined stories and
action well (Sting and the Original nWo vs.WCW) it was clobbering WWF every
week. I think that we as fans should really just let the companies know what
works for us and then, if they fail to respond (as it seems that the WCW has
done), then that company will suffer and have to do something other than
cosmetic to recapture the fans (the way it seems that the WWF has done,
garnering both fan appeal and mainstream success). But fans of both should
understand that the popularity will NOT last forever. Wrestlers retire, get
hurt, or move on. We should appreciate what we have (Austin, Sting, Foley,
Goldberg) and quit griping about which one is better.
===========================================
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.

"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