The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 254

Date: Thursday May 20th, 1999 10:07 am

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

WWF LAYS SMACKDOWN! ON UPN SCHEDULE
UPN announced their fall programming schedule
will include two hours of WWF action Thursday nights.
After a special presentation of "Smackdown!" on April 29th
was deemed a success by network personnel, it comes as
little surprise to see the show given a slot on the schedule
(although early reports had only a one hour slot). The show
will air from 8 to 10 Eastern, coincidentally (?) putting it
head to head with WCW Thunder on TBS.
Reported by http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/

WWF STOCK OFFERING
WWF + IPO = $150,000,000 ?
With characteristic good timing, outside sources have revealed
that the World Wrestling Federation has hired Bear Stearns as
lead underwriter in a future stock offering for a minority stake
in the company. If they raise the expected $150M, that
would value the company at around $750M - and those are
conservative estimates from what I understand! A couple of
numbers to come out of this news: in the year ending 30 April,
sources claimed the WWF generated $230M in revenue, and
EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortizaion)
was $50M. Wow. WWF will apparently be pitched to "the Street"
as a branded content company, similiar to (get this) Playboy
Enterprises.
No word yet on how many shares are being given to the Netcop.
We'll keep you posted.
Reported by http://www.wrestlemaniacs.com/

PILLMAN 99' RESULTS
Brandon Dickerson sent the following report.
Brian Pillman Show5/19/1999
Before the show began, fans were given the opportunity to meet most
of the wrestlers and buy tickets to receive a Polaroid with the
wrestlers
of their choice. Those wrestlers that took part in this event were:
Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Ricky Steamboat, Road Dogg, Al Snow, Dean
Malenko & Chris Benoit w/Woman, Rey Mysterio & Konnan. All the
wrestlers were very friendly with those in attendance.

The show began with a run down of the auctions of the night. Flair
gave
an emotional speech of tribute to Brian Pillman by saying Brian was a

better athlete, performer, and so on than Ric Flair. Flair expressed
his
regret for missing last year's tribute event, as well as the funeral.
Ricky
Steamboat had many kind words to say about Pillman, mostly referring
to
his in-ring ability, and the heart he put into his work. D-Lo Brown
came
out and paid his respects to Pillman as well as the two legends in
the ring.
I believe the first big auction won was some of Missy Hyatt's
Lingerie
for $250.

The first match, part of the cruiserwieght tournament, was Shark Boy
vs.
Matt Stryker. Not too bad of a match for a couple indies working
their butts
off. Shark Boy was one of the most over wrestlers of the night, due
to his
outlandish costume and his enthusiasm. Shark Boy wins by pin fall to
advance
to round 2.

Match 2: Terik the Great over Jeremy Jett.......Terik wins, but it
wasn't so great.

Match 3: Chip Fairway overChad Collyer.....Chip wins with a
Sting-like
submission hold named "the sand trap". Guess what his gimmick is?

Match 4: Bull Pain & Flash Flanigan w/G.Q. Masters III over Ironman &
Rob Conway.

More auction time. Mick Foley and the rest of the WWF crew came down
to
encourage bidders. Someone actually paid over $300 for a look alike
"Head"
signed by Snow. Missy Hyatt offered to sell the bra off her chest as
an auction
during the final intermission, that's quite a piece of real estate.

Match 5: Shark Boy over Terik the Great, everybody loves the Shark
Boy,
especially when he bit Terik in the butt.

Match 6: Terry Taylor over Dr. Tom Pritchard (with Missy Hyatt) in a
Legend's match. A good match for two old timers with Mark Curtis as
the
referee. Terry is in great shape, but is still haunted by the Red
Rooster.
Unfortunately for the two legends, most of the attention was on Missy

and her boob-flexing exercises.

Match 7: Chip Fairway (with a bye) vs. Shark Boy. In one of the
highlights of the evening, Shark Boy wins the tournament as Mick
Foley,
Al Snow, Road Dogg and Konnan rush the ring to congratulate the Shark

Boy. All of the wrestlers saluted the victory with the "Shark Boy
Salute"
which is holding your hand over your head to simulate a shark fin.
Good stuff.

Final auction time. Chris Benoit got $600+ for a pair of his tights.
D-Lo
got around $400+ for his chest protector. Missy Hyatt's bra went for
about $500,
and the guy got to take it off himself. Unfortunately, Missy was
wearing a large
T-shirt to conceal her "puppies", or as she called them, "big dogs".
JR's
Stetson hat went for $325. I believe Rey Mysterio's mask went for
$300. The
top auctioned item was one of Ric Flair's ring robes that sold for
$2250 to a
guy that owns a pizza place/sports bar called Sorrento's. The same
guy
bought Missy Hyatt's lingerie earlier in the show, so I imagine for
him
"business is about to pick up" as JR would say. Before the next
match,
Ric Flair teased a bout with Steamboat, which got the crowd riled.

Match 8: Al Snow over Road Dogg in a classic hardcore match with the
participants brawling into the crowd. They did a great fire
extinguisher bit
where Al couldn't get it to work and ended up spraying himself, from
there
Road Dogg tried to use it and ended up spraying the ref. The finish
looked bad
as Al went to power bomb Road Dogg through a table, and the table
didn't break,
despite Road Dogg's head hitting pretty hard. Al then dropped Road
Dogg on his
head to the mat and went for the pin. Al tried to make up for the
botched spot by
sending himself through the table, which seemed to be of better
construction than
the WWF-brand tables. Road Dogg had to be helped to the back.

Match 9: Mankind over D-Lo Brown. Good wrestling on the part of D-Lo,
good
shots taken by Mankind. The funny thing about this match was that WCW
ref
Scott Dickinson was the official for this match, but seeing the
wrestler from both
companies work together and get along was what made the night truly
memorable.
Mr. Socko aided Mankind for the win.

Match 10: Chris Benoit (with Woman) & Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio
Jr.
& Konnan. Great match with a solid effort from all involved
(including Konnan).
If WCW put on more matches like this and gave these guys the
opportunity to rise
to the top, they might not get spanked so bad in the ratings. Dean
had a nasty cut
on the side of the head from one of the turnbuckles. Rey got Dean in
one of Rey's
classic pins for the win. All four wrestlers entered the ring to
provide their closing
thoughts of the night and pay further tribute to Brian and his
family.

At the end of the show, Melanie Pillman was presented with a novelty
check for
about $35,000.

All of the people involved with this show worked their collective ass
off. It was nice to
see people from "the Big Two" interact in a positive way. its just
too bad ECW wasn't
more involved, because this event is great PR for all parties
involved. There will no doubt
be a video of this event available from HWA, as they had a camera
crew patrolling the place
all night. If you want to see some of what you missed, buy that tape.
Check
www.mainevent.net for availability.
Reported by Dave Scherer at: http:www.1wrestling.com
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENTS
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JWBomb has many old wrestling magazines for sale;
Contact him if you are interested in buying them.
===========================================
ADVICE FOR BOTH PROMOTIONS
Written by reader: Dustin Anderson (sabbath)
I have been a big fan of both WCW and the WWF for most of
my life. Most of the time, if I have any complaints about either
company, I keep them to myself and rely on my faith that they
will try to better themselves the following week. I accept that
WCW has been going through a bit of a slump, but that's no
reason to abandon them. I hate fans of any sport who only
watch and root for the best players and the best teams. I have
been a Chicago Cubs fan my entire life so I know what the term
loyalty is all about. I remain loyal to the sport of wrestling, not
to
one federation or the other. BUT, I think that there are a few
items worth mentioning about either fed which I feel could
better the sport.

1. KEEP KEVIN NASH AS WCW CHAMPION
I have never been a big fan of Kevin Nash, but as far as I see it,
he makes perfect sense as champion. Yeah, I know he's the booker and
all, but so wha?. He is the most believable man in the role. He's
big,
he's experienced and though he might not be the most technically
proficient, as far as I can remember technical prowess hasn't been
a qualification for a champion in a long time . . .as evidenced by
Austin, Hogan, Goldberg, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant
and Paul Wight, just to name a few.

2. GIVE SCOTT NORTON A PUSH
I've heard things about people in the locker rooms at WCW
complaining about Norton not selling moves . . .why should he?
Norton is a monster, it is much more believable that he would merely
blink a little and shrug when hit by almost anyone that works for
WCW. ..
Hell, anyone in wrestling period. WCW needs to have him drop the
nWo black and white and strike out on his own as the bad ass heel
that
he is. I remember a match on Thunder from a few months back between
him and Kaz Hayashi which consisted of Norton chopping Kaz across
the chest once and delivering one of the most impressive, near
perfect
powerbombs that I have ever seen. Perhaps the best 15 seconds of
wrestling on Thunder so far and by far the best squash match in
recent history.

3. DON'T MAKE PAUL WIGHT SELL MOVES
This kinda goes along with point #2, but I just find it ridiculous to
see
Paul Wight acting so hurt from a few punches from someone like
Steve Austin or DDP or Konnan . . .Undertaker and Kevin Nash I can
believe,
but very few others. People complain that he's too out of shape and
can't
move around the ring . . .again, why should he? Not intimidating?
I'd like
to see anyone who thinks that get in the ring against him and tell me
how
not intimidating he is then?

4. GET RID OF KONNAN
As of now, Konnan has to be my least favorite wrestler. He is the
only
person, other that DDP, that I will actually turn the channel just
because
they are on. I seriously think that when WCW puts a Konnan segment
during
its first hour, the ratings for "Walker, Texas Ranger" increase
dramatically,
just from people switching over to USA and wishing that RAW had
started
already. For being a luchador, have you noticed that he has almost
the worst
endurance in wrestling today? Couple that with the fact that all of
his matches
follow almost the exact same format . . .now, I know some other
wrestlers
matches are like that too, but at least they try to look interested
in the match.
Konnan almost never makes it over his opponent with that leapfrog . .
.his little
rolling lariat is almost always late .. . on most of his face plants,
the opponent's
head ends up hitting him in the crotch instead of the mat . . .and
when he
applies his finisher, he doesn't even try to act like he's cinching
it in, he
just sits there gasping for air, trying not to pass out. Pathetic.

5. SPLIT UP KANE AND X-PAC
I have been a big fan of Kane since his arrival and teaming him up
with X-Pac
just sickens me. The WWF had a great thing going when Kane and
Mankind
were the tag champs. Besides the fact that they are my two favorite
WWF wrestlers,
they seem to fit together perfectly. Unlike him and Waltman who make
no sense
together and are almost holding each other back. Separate the team,
put X-Pac
with Road Dogg, where he should be, and let Kane go it alone again.
Please.

In closing, I have one final thought. I always regarded WCW fans as
people
who appreciated the wrestling aspect more than the fanfare. But on
last Monday's
Nitro, I heard a chant of "Boring" coming from the crowd during the
Horsemen
vs. Raven/Saturn match. I can't tell you how much this sickened me.
Those four
men competing in the ring might be the best wrestlers in WCW right
now and
the fact that these ignorant fans couldn't appreciate the best match
(by far) of
the night makes me wonder if my thinking about WCW fans is misguided.

Thank you for your time,
Dustin Anderson
===========================================
THE GOOD OLD DAYS
Written by reader: Vincent Tabulka (dropspeed)
Remember the good old days of wrestling? I'm talking back
when HBK wasthe greatest IC champ and Bret Heart dominated
in the WWF. Well, what ever happened to that? Today you
have a really crappy WWF, one which severely lacks talent.
Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you say a
good 5 minute match on RAW? Can't think of an answer? That's
because there aren't any. Week after week Raw has more talking
and crucifixions and nudity than it does wrestling. Now, I'm a
14 year old WCW fan, but I do try to watch both Nitro and Raw.
I stopped rooting for the WWF when DX was formed. That one
moment was the turning point for WWF, and for its fanbase.

Nitro used to crush Raw in the ratings way back when. But ever
since WWF started to market more and more towards kids with
this whole Austin and DX saying bad, words which were "cool"
to kids, Raw started beating Nitro senseless. Its from the kids
who watch it for the sex and profanity, not for real wrestling. I
absolutely cannot stand it when I go to the mall and I see a
bunch of 9 year olds wearing "whoop ass 3:16" tee-shirts and
telling each other to "suck it", makes me sick. Now I look back to
the vintage days of WWF, and WCW too. WCW used to put on
even better matches than now. I remember back at Spring
Stampede '94 the street fight tag match between Cactus Jack and
Maxx Pain Vs. The Nasty Boys. Anyway, the point is that the
WWF may be the Giant now but just wait a few years, WCW
will come back and WWF will have to resort to actually putting
on matches just like the good old days.
Vincent Tabulka, Rockland, New York
===========================================
ANOTHER FEMALE WRESTLING FAN
Written by reader: KnashsGirl
This is in response to the whole female wrestling fan subject.
I am a 25 yr old female wrestling fan. I have been watching since
1983. I love wrestling and have since the day I started watching.
Now, I am one of those fans that watches because of the action in
the ring, and not because its trendy or some guy is cute. I am a
real wrestling fan and always have been and always will be. I
know what I am going to say now may get some negative responses,
but the ones that do are the bandwagon fans that only watch cause
its trendy and for the stupid stuff and not the wrestling. I don't
like the
3 ring circus that the WWF does.

I do watch the WWF, but I record it so I can go through all the
stupid stuff and see the little bit of wrestling matches that they do
have. Before all this bandwagoners say anything....I watch all
wrestling....
wrestling mind you, not stupid storylines that make it seem as though

I'm watching Jerry Springer. When I turn wrestling on, whether it be
WCW or WWF, I want to see good wrestling matches. So the female fan
that loves wrestling does exist.
===========================================
RIP OFF? SOMEONE'S GRASPING AT STRAWS…
Written by reader: Jeremy Thomas (ravenfeather)
This is in response to "No New Angles" in Issue #253, by "the
Immortal."
His assertion that WCW is blatantly ripping off the WWF struck me
very wrong. My reasonings:

1. Ric Flair's asylum angle vs. Kane's asylum angle: These two
angles have one thing in common--straight jackets. Everything else is

entirely different. Kane was being threatened with the asylum because

Vince McMahon wanted him to take out the Undertaker, and the
justification
for him going would have been that he was a danger, due to his
extreme
state of Psychosis. Ric Flair was sent because he was loony, as in
silly loony,
taking his pants off in the ring. NOT offering to set himself on
fire. Now,
while I didn't enjoy the scenes in the loony bin, they did serve a
purpose, if it ends up happening...the rumored bringing in of Scott
Hall to the Horsemen.

2. Asya vs. Chyna: Yes, it is a blatant rip-off, but its intended as
such,
for humorous purposes. Hell, when Degeneration X spoofed WCW, people
thought it was a riot. Now, WCW mocks the WWF, and its a rip-off?

3. DDP vs. Rock/Austin: Oh, gimme a break here...Page and the Rock
using "The People's Champ" is like Raven and Jesse Venture both
using "The Body" (Yes, in Raven's Pacific Coast Wrestling days,
he was Scotty "The Body" Levy). its not a rip-off. And as far as
the
Austin/Page goes...that one is a little different, but you know what?
The
two stars are entirely different. The similarities are there, but the

differences are staggering. Personally, I like Austin better between
the
two of them, but don't consider Page a rip-off.

4. Macho Man vs. Everyone else in the WWF: You're grasping here.
Yes, Macho was supposed to have an Austin-esque gimmick, but it seems

he's simply modified his own, original gimmick slightly. The women
are
not enough justification for a Godfather rip-off, and the current
trend is
not Austinish in the slightest. Look, Immortal, if you want to say
you
prefer the WWF over WCW, just say so. Don't make yourself look bad
coming up with evidence that doesn't exist.
Yours truly,
Jeremy L. Thomas I a.k.a. Little Sexy, the Macintosh Killer
===========================================
WRESTLING IS A SOAP OPERA
Written by reader: PicaboLyxx
In response to what MadSpector wrote on wrestling not
being comparable to a soap opera, I could not agree more. WRESTLING
is not a soap opera, it is a venue for large men to pound on each
other.
This is where the "Clown", steps in. Mr. Vincent K. McMahon realized
that people wanted more than just 2 brutes beating each other up, and
thus,
created the "soap opera", the show we all know and love, SPORTS
ENTERTAINMENT. If you are so interested in seeing large men bump and
grind each other so much, ESPN seems so show alotta sumo and
collegiate
style wrestling, so go have fun with that.
===========================================
SSCW
May 16,1999 - The Inferno Kid wins vacant Heavyweight Title from
Don Montoya, Devon Storm defeats Mike Quackenbush and Ryan Wing
to capture the vacant SSCW Lightweight title. ISPW-ISPW presents its

biggest show to date on Friday Night, May 21st at Hackensack High
School
in Hackensack, NJ with "Spring Slam '99". J.R. Ryder will challenge
Ace
Darling for the ISPW Heavyweight Title in a grudge match. Also that
night
Luke & Butch, The Bushwhackers, will be taking on"The Psycho" Derek
Domino and "Property of Derek Domino" Ryan Wing (w/T.R. Shock)..
The ISPW Light Heavyweight Champion, Billy "HighLight" Reil will
defend the title against Trent Acid. In other matches: Inferno Kid
(with
the sexy Bobcat) takes on Devon Storm, Doink The Clown vs. Mr. Puerto
Rico, Glenn Osbourne vs. "Superstar" Lance Diamond.
===========================================
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