Clooney's Pub Softball     Backwards K Softball     The Patio

Home  Photo Albums  Stats  Win/Loss Records  Lifetime stat rankings 

Offensive MVP's  You Tube Videos  Gear & merchandise  Field Directions  Softball Links 

Bats  Amazon Store  Contact Us

 

Vandy! (September 1996)

 

Beer!  (February 2006)

Issue # 243

Date:  Monday May 10th, 1999  10:53 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

GOLDBERG INJURED?
Goldberg was taken from the building following the Slamboree PPV on an electric
cart with his leg immobilized, and apparently has suffered a legitimate (?)
injury during his match against Sting when Bret Hart came to the ring and hit
him with a chair. At this point there is no word on how much time he will miss;
I can't confirm the validity of this story yet, so take it for what its worth.
While both WCW and the WWF enjoy working their online fans, at this point its
too early to know anything for sure...
Reported by Dave Scherer at: http://www.1wrestling.com/

TULLY BLANCHARD ON THE RADIO
Tully Blanchard is this week's guest on Ringside Live, sponsored by
WrestlingClassics.com.
Highlights of the interview include
*Tully explaining how he ended up on the outside looking in on today's wrestling
scene.
*The Four Horsemen was a phenomenon created by the fans rather that WCW.
*He's unsure whether he would go if WCW asked him to come back.
*Blanchard says Shane Douglas is very talented. The reason that their infamous
ECW match didn't work is because management wanted Tully to work as a babyface
in that match.

To hear the interview as well as the rest of Ringside Live, go to
www.WrestlingClassics.com and click the Ringside Live icon on the home page.
Reported by Mark Nulty at http://www.1wrestling.com/

SLAMBOREE ATTENDANCE
Attendence for Slamboree at
St. Louis' TWA Dome was disappointing to say the
least. The dome can hold upwards of 80,000 fans, and was going to be configured
for about half that. But as of late last week, WCW had only sold about 12,000
tickets. They wound up giving a bunch more away for free. No word on how many
people were finally in the Dome last night (and how many paid), but the number
of visible empty seats on camera does not tell a good story.

FWIW, 12,000 is a good number of tix to sell... its only made to look bad when
you book an arena that you hope to fill with 40,000. Maybe this'll put WCW off
the big domes they've had a tendancy to run. They've got another Dome show --
Houston's AstroDome -- coming up later this month for the May 31 Nitro, I
believe. We'll see how they draw there.
Reported by http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/
===========================================
UPN considering Smackdown series
By Mike Mooneyham
Sunday, May 9, 1999
Talk about laying the smack down.

That's exactly what Raw did to Nitro last week in the ratings, and it also will
be the name of a possible new WWF offering on network television this fall.

The recent "WWF Smackdown" special on UPN earned a 4.0 national rating that was
one of the network's highest ever. UPN executives, ecstatic over the potential
of a new wrestling show they feel can take a chunk out of standard network
television, reportedly are set to pick up the option to make Smackdown a regular
series starting next season. No deal has been reached yet, but UPN is
considering the show for a
9-10 p.m. Tuesday time slot. The network will unveil
its lineup for the fall season on May 20.

Raw, meanwhile, rode a pay-per-view-caliber lineup to a 6.38-3.41 rout of Nitro
last week in one of the most crushing setbacks for WCW since the Monday night
ratings race began. It was even uglier in the head-to-head hours: 6.4-3.1. Raw
posted hours of 5.86 and 6.89, while Nitro did 3.98. 3.44 and 2.80 for its three
hours.

There were very few bright points for Nitro on the night Ric Flair returned to
the Charlotte Coliseum. Flair, WCW's top ratings draw, could muster no more than
a 3.0 for his 16-minute world title match with the rapidly sinking Diamond
Dallas Page. And, while Curt Hennig and Booker T were doing a show-low 2.38 for
their match in the
10:30-10:45 period, Ken Shamrock vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
and The Undertaker vs. The Big Show were registering a 7.32, the highest mark
ever for a competitive quarter hour in the Raw-Nitro Monday night war.

Individual Raw highs saw 6.6 for the Shane-Vince McMahon match, a 6.7 for
Mankind vs. The Acolytes and a 6.7 for the Debra-Sable evening gown segment
(Nicole Bass filled in for Sable).

As if WCW needed any more setbacks, its April 29 Thunder show did a 2.6, an
all-time low for that show. And, things aren't likely to get better any time
soon, as Nitro is being preempted the next two weeks due to the NBA playoffs.

An individual who described himself as a longtime WCW fan summed it up when he
wrote: "If you can't fill three hours with interesting wrestling, do something
about it. The three hours of Nitro is getting too much like Gilligan's Island -
starting out on a three-hour tour, ending up being stranded somewhere with
primitive surroundings."

• its ironic that just a few years ago DDP was a mid-card manager for mid-card
performer Vinnie Vegas (Nash) in WCW. That, of course, was before DDP moved into
Eric Bischoff's neighborhood and Vince McMahon created a character named Diesel.

• Acting WCW "vice president" Charles Robinson, who has emerged as one of WCW's
most entertaining characters as "The Little Nature Boy," will don a special robe
for his Slamboree pay-per-view match with Gorgeous George (Randy Savage's
21-year-old girlfriend). The robe is being made by Olivia Walker, wife of former
mat star Mr. Wrestling No. 2 (Johnny Walker), who lives in
Hawaii and also has
designed a number of Ric Flair's exquisite robes. A series of mixed tags with
Robinson and Flair against Savage and George are planned in the upcoming weeks.

• Canadian strongman Jos LeDuc passed away on May 1 at the age of 54 while
visiting his son and ex-wife in
Atlanta. He died due to lung problems that had
plagued him the last several months of his life. LeDuc, who during his ring days
weighed in the 300-pound range, had dropped considerable weight in recent years
and was down to 175 pounds.

LeDuc, whose 20-plus-year career ended in 1989, was a main-event attraction
throughout the country and headlined a number of shows in the
Carolinas during
the '70s and '80s. His most memorable angle occurred in Memphis during the late
'70s when, during a television interview with Lance Russell, he took his
trademark ax and sliced his forearm as part of a torrid feud with hometown
favorite Jerry "The King" Lawler.

• Richard Erwin Rood, better known to wrestling fans as "Ravishing" Rick Rude,
was laid to rest May 1 in
Atlanta. An official cause of death will not be
established until toxicology reports are completed. Curt Hennig, a close friend
of Rude since the seventh grade, paid tribute to his late colleague at a recent
WCW house show at the
Target Center in Minneapolis. Hennig, in Ravishing Rick
Rude fashion, put his hands on his head, swayed his hips and did a Rude
impersonation for the hometown crowd, pointing to the sky in tribute to his
friend.

"What wrestling is, is really an art," Hennig told the
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution. "And Rick Rude was one of the last breed that really knew
the art, that knew how to tell a story during a match, how to get people up on
the edge of their seat, how to get them involved."

"He was nothing like the character," said wife Michelle Rood, who added that he
was a wonderful husband and father. "But he was a good bad guy in the ring. If
you had to be a bad guy, he was the best one you can be." WCW reportedly is
paying Rude's family the remainder of his contract - approximately $450,000
covering the next 18 months.

Among WCW performers attending Rude's funeral were Hennig, Lex Luger, Elizabeth,
Rick Steiner, Barry Darsow, Scott Norton and Scotty Riggs.

Rude leaves behind his wife; a daughter, Merissa, 5; and two sons, Richard Ryan
("Little Rick)," 8, and
Colton, 21 months.

Mike Mooneyham can be reached by phone at (843) 937-5517 or by e-mail at
mooneyham. More wrestling news with Mike Mooneyham is
available every Monday on The Wrestling Observer Hotline. The number is
1-900-903-9030. Calls are 99 cents per minute, and children under 18 must get
parental permission before dialing.
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
BY SAMJERRY
The following item is from the Orlando Sentinel,
Monday, May 10, 1999. It
relates to tonight's RAW, live from The "O" Arena, in
Orlando, Florida, The City
Beautiful. It was written by Sports Editor Jerry Greene:

Talk about a tough ticket - try finding a way to get into tonight's WWF RAW Is
War festivities at the Orlando Arena. In case you haven't been paying attention,
let me tell you that World Wrestling Federation boss Mr. Vince McMahon has been
betrayed by his son, Shane, who set up a kidnapping of his sister, Stephanie, to
weaken his father in order to take control.

Shakespeare would love this stuff.

McMahon incidentally, has taken Psychosis and perversion to new levels and made
a fortune doing it. He's a lock for American Businessman of the Year.

And wouldn't you like to see The Undertaker under the boards for the (
Orlando)
Magic? He'd scare (Matt) Geiger. *
===========================================
CONTINUITY: NASH'S ACHILLES HEEL?
Written by reader: Bob Colby (bobcolby)
The item "WCW Inconsistencies" in issue #239 struck a chord with me. While I
applaud Kevin Nashıs desire to tell better and more coherent stories, he seems
to be ignoring one of the primary tools necessary to create them - continuity.
A famous playwright once said that if you place a gun on the wall in Act 1,you
must have someone use it by Act 3. Meaning, of course, that you must do
*something* with the plot elements you set up. But in WCW it increasingly seems
as though loose ends are just being left to dangle. Consider the following
examples:

1) In and out of the nuthouse: On a Monday, Flair is committed for 72 hours
(conveniently timed for the next Thunder). On that Thunder, he is reported to be
backstage and responsible for the main event booking. Next Monday heıs back in
the mental hospital and apparently that Thunder occurred in an alternate
universe, since no one mentions it.

2) Robinson on Thunder: On the Nitro the week after Flairıs"committment" Charles
Robinson pulls a major power trip. Three days later on Thunder heıs just a
regular ref and no one seems to consider this the least bit odd.

3) The Windham save: Arn Anderson saves arch-traitor Barry Windham from Ric
Flair, and nothing more is said about it, ever.

4) The Goldberg save: Same deal with Nash, Page and Goldberg. At least the
commentators *mentioned* it later, but thereıs still no explanation. Will the
same thing happen with Nashıs Konnan save?

5) Bishoff reverses decision: Eric Bischoff may be the real-life President, but
in the current storyline he has no power at all, so just where did he get the
authority to reverse the Flair/Piper decision at Slamboree? Supposedly the
corporate officials (led by Dillon) are Flairıs cronies, so I donıt see where
heıd get the backup for this.

Making an issue of the above examples may seem like nit-picking to some, but
taken together they erode the "suspension of disbelief" that you need to lose
yourself in even the best stories. Now I understand that someone can change
their mind about whether to go forward with an angle, or other circumstances
(such as injuries) can intervene, but these changes must be *explained*. And it
wouldnıt have been difficult, either. A brief filmed vignette inserted at the
end of Thunder (showing Flair being captured and carted back to the hospital), a
backstage confrontation over the Windham save, a comment added to the (example
#2) Thunder voice-over about how
"subdued" Charlie has been the last few days since being humiliated by Madusa
and Gorgeous George, an ad-hoc hallway meeting of the Executive Committee at
Slamboree with JoJo going "I really hate to do this to Ric, but *somebodyıs*
gotta stop this nonsense - find Bischoff right now!" - a few little touches like
this would have gone a long way to changing how these events felt as they
unfolded.

If I had Kevin Nashıs ear, Iıd make the following suggestion; pick upon the idea
introduced by Konnan during his "WCW Live" appearance (i.e. hire actual movie/
TV scriptwriters), and adapt it to your own needs. You probably donıt want
someone second-guessing your basic concepts, so just hire an entry-level
Hollywood schlep, christen him or her "Continuity Czar", and let them find these
glitches before your viewers do!
Bob Colby
===========================================
FANTASY BOOKING (This will NOT happen)
Written by reader: Flactoid
This is a fantasy booking for the 5/10 Nitro, based on the events of Slamboree.

1st hour of Nitro:
Flair somehow finds his way into the building, even though he's been fired. He
gives Piper props while ripping on Bischoff. He then puts out a challenge to
Piper: 3 wrestlers of Piper's choice, plus Piper, will face 3 of Flair's plus
Flair himself.

2nd hour:
Piper interview. Piper says he's never backed down from a fight before, and he
doesn't plan to do it now, yada yada yada. He says that he believes in tradition
and that tonight he will restore the tradition of WCW with 4 of his own
wrestlers.

Main event:
Flair's music plays and he comes down to the ring. But instead of being
accompanied by the 4 Horsemen he has three other wrestlers with him. They are
the Steiner brothers and Bret Hart. Then Piper comes out with Goldberg, DDP, and
The Macho Man. This match quickly turns into a brawl. Somehow Flair pins Piper
and is reinstated. This match could set up some great future PPV's and Nitros.
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe to The Smack Down Newsletter, the internet's most reliable source for
pro wrestling news from the WWF, WCW, ECW, Japan, and the American indy scene.
Send a blank e-mail to: The_Smackdown-subscribe for your free
subscription
===========================================
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.

Copyright- Steve Appy of The Wrestling Booking Sheet İ1998, 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

 

questions?
Copyrightİ 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005. 2006, 2007, 2008 Clooney's Pub Softball
All Rights Reserved.

Home  Photo Albums  Stats 

Win/Loss Records  Lifetime stat rankings  Offensive MVP's

  You Tube Videos  Gear & merchandise  Field Directions

  Softball Links  Bats  Amazon Store

  Contact Us  Links  Entertainment Links

  Sports Links  Peninsula Bay Area  WBS

Real Estate  Names

 Clooney's Pub Softball of Burlingame, CA