Issue # 256
Date:
Saturday May 22nd, 1999 1:30 pm
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
GREAT AMERICAN BASH MATCHES
The only matches known
for the 6/13 Bash PPV from Baltimore are Nash vs. Savage
for the WCW Title,
Flair vs. Piper for the WCW Presidency, and Raven & Saturn
defending the tag
titles against DDP & Bigelow. Page & Bigelow are expected to
get the belts, so the
long title program with Raven & Kanyon & Saturn as a
Freebird-like trio
against the Horseman has been cancelled.
Reported by Dave
Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer
NITRO GIRLS ABSENT
FROM NITRO
There were no Nitro
Girls on the 5/17 show because they were on the Bruise
Cruise. The live fans
weren't happy because that's part of the Nitro
experience, but the
wrestlers were thrilled. The Nitro Girls usually practice
their routines in the
ring before the show, which doesn't allow the younger
wrestlers as much time
to work out their matches in the ring,when they actually
know them ahead of
time.
Reported by Dave
Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer
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The Wrestling Observer
P.O. Box 1228
Campbell, CA
95009-1228
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A FAN OF BOTH
Written by reader:
NYPaisan57
I, personally, am
getting sick and tired of WWF fans
putting down WCW and
WCW fans screaming bloody
murder over the WWF's
use of mature themes and
adult language in
their program. As a wrestling fan I love
everything about
wrestling, the matches and the mic work.
I am constantly
switching between Nitro and Raw, and my thumb
nearly falls off every
Monday night because I, unlike quite
a few out there, am a
true wrestling fan. I don't tune in just to
see Debra's puppies
but I do enjoy the segment as any other man
would. I believe WCW
is in a slight slump, and its not because
of their moral codes.
It is because of their lack of intelligence
in the front office.
The company is over loaded with talent and
yet men such as
Diamond Dallas Page get pushes while Sting
and Bret Hart are
turned into midcarders. Rumor has come down
from on high that Bret
may be allowed to carry the WCW title
over the summer, and
all I have to say is that took long enough.
I appreciate
Goldberg's appeal and even think he has improved
greatly since debuting
in WCW, but handing him the title last
summer was a mistake.
Then again Hogan having the belt at that
point was also a
mistake. I like WCW, but Bischoff needs to
realize that he is
fighting against a very creative man in Vince and
that if he does not
use his wrestlers in a equally creative manner, people
will continue to
change the channel.
I read a recent report
from a fourteen year old stating that
Degeneration X made
him change the channel to Nitro. While
this might be the case
for a minority of the people, most of us love
the new harder, more
real WWF. I speak to wrestling fans of different
kinds all over the
net, and the one thing I have found is that most believe
the age of the "hero"
died when Hogan put down the Yellow and the Red.
I argue that this age
has never died, but changed as does everything else in
life.
How can a wrestler
tell a fan to say his prayers, eat his vitamins ect. when
teens in school are
under the constant threat of being barraged by gunfire
by classmates. The
truth of the matter is the hero had to change to fit
society.
Stone Cold Steve
Austin offers the world a hero who no one can knock down,
no matter how hard
they try, and if he does by some miracle fall, he will
return,
to borrow a line from
the movie
Tombstone, with hell riding
behind him. WCW
attempted such a thing
with Sting, but the need for a climax in the Sting/nWo
conflict and high
moral standards of WCW caused the downfall of the
federations
greatest angle. And if
the children are learning anything from these new heroes
it is to stand on
their own.
As with all great
heroes, the character must have good and evil in him before
he can truly
understand what he is facing. The babyface days are quite
gone and
I wish the WCW would
realize this and move their wrestlers into more real roles.
They do not have to
use cussing and sex but tell me the truth, which is more
believable:
a father/son feud over
the successful family business, or a feud between two
legendary wrestlers
over who will have pretend control of a company which is
really
run by Bischoff and
the champ (and the majority of fans know Piper and Flair
hold
nowhere near the
booking control of those two). If WCW wants to fight the
good
fight, I applaud them,
but I also say that if you want me to watch put wrestlers
in
the ring worth
watching.
I was also disgusted
with WCW fans in attendence for the chants of boring during
the Tag Title match at
Nitro. WCW needs to do more matches like this if they
want
to take the high road.
The skilled talent is at their finger tips all that is
required now is
a little creative
booking and what is an ratings slaughter every Monday night
could
become something quite
interesting.
===========================================
EIGHTIES RETROSPECTIVE
Written by reader:
Jared Fialko,
Jrsyboy17
You can't open a
newsletter anymore without someone putting down
Vince McMahon
complaining about the WWF being a circus and telling
him "bring back
wrestling." Now correct me if I'm wrong here but it
seems like these
people are yearning for the good ol days of the 80's
and early 90's when
there was wrestling on Monday Night Shows and
Saturday afternoon and
evening shows. The question I have for them is,
do you really want
that???? Lets go back to the days of the 80's when on
Monday evenings a
certain show called WWF Prime Time Wrestling ruled
the
USA airwaves. Was there ever
actually "Wrestling" on this show?
Lets see, about 10
jobber matches with midcarders such as the Big Boss Man,
Rick Martel, the
Mountie, The Warlord, Akeem, Ted DiBease, and maybe
if we were lucky, we
were treated to a Bushwackers vs the Fabulous Rougeaus
main event match. Is
this what you people actually want???
On the other hand lets
look to WCW Saturday Night and Pro. Once again,
jobber match after
jobber match which occasionally would have some important
matches.
Throughout the 80's
and 90's all the important and classic matches were found
on Pay Per View and
not alot has changed so why the sudden outcry from the fans?
Everyone seemingly
complains about the lack of good matches on TV, well no
kidding.
If you want to see the
good matches, shell out the money for the Pay Per View or
a Cable Box and quit
your complaining already.
Also, in response to
the WWF being a so-called "soap opera" because there are
more angles than
wrestling, let me ask you this: in the past 10-15 years,
when
has wrestling NOT been
a soap opera? Let's look back on some of the angles
which have transpired
in the past years in the WWF/WCW:
1. Ric Flair/Randy
Savage/Elizabeth angle in 1992. For those who don't
remember, Ric Flair
doctored some pictures of Savage and Liz in order to
portray that Slick Ric
and Miss Liz had an affair, a classic angle but what
could be more soap
operish than that?
2. Cactus Jack amnesia
angle in 1993 WCW. Cactus Jack wanders on the
streets of Cleveland
as a bum who can't remember his identity after receiving
a concussion after his
match with Vader? That's definitely a Days of Our Lives
plot.
3. The Dungeon of
Doom-1995 WCW. Maybe its more like an evil carnival than a
soap opera but c'mon,
the Zodiac? My personal favorite was Kevin Sullivan
pulling the whiskers
off the rare white bengal tiger at his Dungeon Master
Father's suggestion in
order to revive a 1000 year old mummy called the Yeti.
Please.
4. The Bret Hart/Owen
Hart angle-1993-97 WWF. A younger sibling revolts against
his older brother and
his family because he is tired of living in the shadow of
him all
his life. That's not
an uncommon storyline in Hollywood.
5. Randy Savage/Ric
Flair/Elizabeth angle 1996 WCW. Flair exploits the
failed marriage of
Elizabeth and carries her around as her personal valet, with
Randy Savage's alimony
money in a briefcase.
As you can see,
wrestling has been a soap opera for the last 10 years, at
least
so
blaming only Vince
McMahon now for this is quite an unfair judgment by all of
you.
P.S. I am not an
anti-WCW fan either, I do not mark for Steve Austin and the
Rock
every 15 seconds. I do
not own an Austin 3:16 t-shirt. I'm driving 5 hours to
Baltimore and
Washington to see Bret Hart at the Great American Bash and
the
following Nitro.
Jared Fialko-
Jrsyboy17
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED
CIRCLE
ECW -
MAY 21, 1999
BY
SAMJERRY
Visit my Home Page:
http://members.aol.com/samjerry
This was ECW's first
program since their latest PPV, Hardcore Heaven (HH), held
this past Sunday, May
16, 1999, and it began with a montage of the matches.
After the regular ECW
opening, Joey Styles was at the announcers position and
said the program would
review HH and its highlights.
The first match was
for the ECW TV Title, pitting Rob "Mr. PPV" Van Dam (RVD)
(C) v. Jerry "New F'N
Show" Lynn. It was shown highlight style. Lynn was
straddled on the top
rope and RVD hit him with a brutal kick to the face coming
off the top turn
buckle that sent him crashing face first to the floor
ringside.
Lynn suffered a broken
nose and a possible fractured orbital bone as a result of
this move, however,
continued the match. He took RVD's best shots, including
another big kick that
sent him into the crowd and still came back. Lynn took
control of the match
after RVD missed an attempt at a Van Daminator. However,
RVD fought back and
landed his patented Split Leg Moonsault and Five Star Frog
Splash that Lynn
somehow managed to survive. Lynn came close to winning the
match and title, but
in the end he was blasted with a Van Daminator and a second
Five Star Frog Splash
and RVD won and retained the Title.
Styles said that RVD
required several stitches to his face after the match and
that Lynn had to
examined by a doctor because of his broken nose and possible
concussion. After
things calmed down in the locker room, Lance Storm noticed
that there was blood
dripping from Lynn's ear and drove him to the emergency
room. Styles promised
to keep us updated on his condition. He also said that all
the wrestlers is ECW
showed their respect for the performance put on by both
men.
Winner - Rob Van Dam -
Retained ECW TV Title
ECW owner Paul Heymann
said ECW's next PPV would be Heatwave '99, and be held on
July 18, 1999.
We next saw a short
piece from the ECW Tag Team Title Match at HH, pitting The
Dudley Boyz (C), Bubba
Ray and D-Von v. Balls Mahoney and Little Spike Dudley
(LSD). Dudley Boyz
Advisor Joel "If it moves I'll eat it, if it doesn't move
I'll eat it, if it is
I'll eat it" Gertner came into the ring and "hit" Balls
with the absolutely
wimpiest chair shot of all time and then unsuccessfully
attempted to throw a
fireball at him. After Balls stopped laughing and Gertner's
pants had a chance to
dry a little, Balls put some alcohol in his mouth, lit a
cigarette lighter, and
showed Gertner how to spit a fireball. Gertner was
impressed and again
soiled his pants. Unfortunately Balls had made a fatal
error. He forgot The
Dudley Boyz were still in the arena. The clip closed with
Balls taking a low
blow to "Little Balls."
The next thing we saw
was highlights of an All Weapons Legal, Extreme Street
Fight, Anything Goes
Match taped in Queens, NY, between Balls and "The Original
Gangsta" New Jack.
Balls came to the ring with his trusty Acme Steel Chair. The
crowd chanted "Balls."
New Jack brought his Advanced Trash Can Of Assorted
Weapons, including a
vacuum cleaner. With the ring littered with debris and New
Jack's "toys," we saw
Balls hit a Frog Splash and attempt a cover. We then saw
New Jack perform one
of his insane balcony dives, land on Balls putting him thru
a Prime Acme Table,
from fifteen feet up. This got us an "Oh, my G-d" from Joey.
Balls was a bloody
mess and New Jack was nothing to write home about. Both men
required assistance to
get back in the ring. New Jack rolled over and tried to
pin Balls, but Balls
managed to kick out. Fast Forward to Balls hitting New Jack
with a Driver and
gaining the victory. Both men were literally out on their
feet. Balls recovered
and went over to New Jack and they shook hands.
Winner - Balls Mahoney
Loser - New Jack
Loser - A trash can
full of broken "toys"
We saw another snippet
of the Tag Team Title Match. This time LSD was playing
human spear as his
half brothers practiced for the Olympic Javelin Throw.
ECW's resident yo-yo
Steve Prazak was backstage telling us how wonderful HH was.
Things he mentioned
were: RVD and Lynn both coming away hurt, with RVD missing a
chunk of his face and
Lynn a bloody mess; Taz bleeding profusely after his Title
Match against Bubba
Ray Dudley; and in what he said was a shoot, Tommy Dreamer
not being able to walk
after his match and having to crawl to the toilet on his
hands and knees. He
was joined by Steve Corrino who said he "kicked @$$" at HH.
Prazak pointed out
that he wasn't on the card. Corrino then pulled out a pair
of
backstage passes, that
Prazak said he must have taken off a couple of press
people who @$$es he
must have been talking about. Corrino wasn't too happy at
Prazak's remarks and
threatened to kick his @$$. Remember Corrino is the jerk
who said he was going
to beat Taz and is lucky to still be able to sit up and
take nourishment.
We next saw stills
from the Tommy Dreamer v. Lance Storm Extreme Death Match.
Tammy Lynn Bytch (TLB)
has been calling herself "Beulah" in an effort to get
under Tommy's skin.
She accompanied Storm to the ring and Tommy brought
Francine. Tommy
dedicated a Spiccoli Driver to Louie Spiccoli's sister who
was
seated ringside.
Cyrus, who was at the announcers desk with Styles ran down
to
stop Dreamer, but
Francine cut him off and nailed him with a Bronco Buster.
This
led to a cat fight
between Francine and
TLB, that ended up with Tommy
setting
TLB up for a Pile Driver.
Storm stopped him with a shot to the head with an Acme
Steel Garbage Can. He
then placed the Can over Tommy's head and delivered a Spin
Kick that put Tommy
down and allowed Storm to get the pin and victory.
Winner - Lance Storm
Loser - Cyrus The
Virus
We next saw still of
the match between Justin Credible and Sid. Sid was
introduced by Judge
Jeff Jones and got a monster pop. He went to the ring and
threw Justin into the
lights and set him up for a Power Bomb. Justin's Manager
Jason made one of the
biggest mistakes of his life by coming in and stopping
Sid. His reward: He
took a major Power Bomb, landing on his head. Lance Storm
came into the ring,
which didn't make Sid real happy. He hit Storm with a Choke
Slam. Justin recovered
and threw powder into Sid's eyes and blinded him. Justin
and Storm then double
teamed Sid and set him on a table at ringside in a move
intended to mock Sabu.
These two never learn. Although barred from action
because of his
fractured jaw, Sabu stormed down and had Justin on the table
along with Sid. Sabu
hit one of his leaps over the top rope intending to put
both thru the table.
Storm pulled Justin off and Sabu only put Sid thru the
table. Security Guards
rushed down and tried to restrain Sabu. He was most
cooperative. He only
put one of them thru a table. They again tried to stop
Sabu. Sid recovered
and was in the ring with Jones. Jones chastised Sid for what
had taken place. Talk
about dumb! Sid was not amused and dissolved his
relationship with
Jones via a Power Bomb that sent Jones to his courtroom in
Oblivion.
Joey said that Sabu's
Manager Bill "Fonzie" Alfonso, upset that Storm and
Credible had gotten
Sabu banned, had encouraged Sabu to take the action he took.
Cyrus was backstage
with Credible, Storm and Jason. He called Storm and Credible
the next Tag Team
Champions. The Dudley Boyz didn't lose any sleep. Storm said
they will be the
champions, and said he's not afraid of Sid, Tommy Dreamer or
Sabu. Of course none
of them were there at the time. Credible bad mouthed Sabu,
complaining he had Sid
beat until Sabu interfered and promised to make him pay.
He also claimed they
would be the next Tag Team Champions.
Chris Candido and
Tammy Lynn Sytch (TLS)
came to the ring to open HH. He brought
The Dudley Boyz out
and called them his "Insurance Policy." Taz came to the
ring, fighting past
The Dudley Boyz, and his ECW Championship Match v. Candido
began. It ended even
faster as Taz beat Candido in less then one minute, as Taz
made Candido tap out
to The TazMission.
Winner - Taz - Retains
the ECW Championship
The Dudley Boyz went
back to the ring and blasted Taz with The 3-D Dudley Death
Drop. They then issued
an open challenge to anyone wanting a Tag Team Title
Match. This led to the
Title Match mentioned above. After Balls lit Gertner up,
The Dudley Boyz lit
him up with a 3-D and won the match.
Winners - The Dudley
Boyz - Retain the ECW Tag Team Championship
They then headed back
to the locker room where Gertner revealed his "Hit List."
The Dudley Boyz then
beat up everyone they could find in the locker room.
D-Von broke his hand
on Chris Chetti's head. Chetti's head couldn't have felt
too good.
Taz said he was coming
after The Dudley Boyz and this led into the final match
of the evening, an ECW
Championship Match fought under "FTW" Rules, Anything
Goes, v. Bubba Ray
Dudley. It was a brutal match fought all over the arena. We
saw a few short stills
of it. Taz won after putting Bubba Ray thru a table with
a TazPlex and
following with a TazMission.
Winner - Taz - Retains
the ECW Championship
The next match was
taped in Philadelphia a week before HH. It was an ECW TV
Title Match pitting
RVD (C), accompanied by Fonzie, v. Skull Von Krush (SVK),
representing The New
Movement, whatever that is. Styles was providing a voice
over done after RVD's
match at HH and said this match illustrates the punishment
RVD has absorbed in
the thirteen months he has held the Title. RVD was greeted
by a major pop and
various chants. Skull raced across the ring and delivered a
big clothesline before
RVD was set, followed with a series of punches and kicks,
and threw RVD to the
floor, where he hit the guard rail. SVK went out after RVD,
punched him in the
face, threw him into the guard rail and hit him across the
back with a chair. SVK
rushed at RVD, who back dropped him into the crowd. RVD
then hit SVK with a
high cross-body coming off the guard rail. Fonzie threw a
chair to SVK and he
caught it. They never learn. RVD hit him with a Modified Van
Daminator coming off
the guard rail. They exchanged punches among the fans and
then RVD threw SVK
back over the guard rail to ringside and attempted a
Springboard Splash.
SVK caught him in mid-aid and planted him on the concrete
floor with a Power
Bomb. SVK hit RVD in the back with a chair again. Back in
the
ring, SVK hit a Scoop
and Slam, followed by a New Movement Stomp to the head,
after removing his
elbow pad and pulling The Shake, Rattle and Elbow routine.
SVK punched RVD in a
corner and Irish Whipped him to the opposite corner. He
rushed in and ate a
boot sandwich. SVK avoided a Side Kick and dropped RVD with
an Inverted Atomic
Drop. He missed a Clothesline, RVD missed a Spin Kick. SVK
hit a Side Kick to
RVD's head and a chant of "Skull" broke out, that kept up
throughout the rest of
the match. SVK hit some more punches to the face and RVD
countered with a
Sunset Flip. Another Clothesline by SVK, followed by more
stomps that led to a
Snap Mare, a Flying Leg Drop and a pinning attempt. SVK
nailed a Suplex, a
Flying Elbow Drop and another attempt at a pin. SVK then ht
RVD with a Scoop and
Slam, as a chant of "RVD" broke out. SVK missed a Frog
Splash and got caught
with a Hurricanrana. Fonzie handed RVD a chair. RVD ran at
SVK who was sitting in
a corner, threw the chair at his face at hit it with a
kick. RVD pounded SVK,
then Irish Whipped him to the opposite corner and hit him
with a Tumbling Monkey
Flip and went for a cover. RVD then did a Back Flip off
the top rope and
kicked the chair into SVK's face again. After another
attempt
at a pin, RVD hit a
Tumbling Senton Splash and again tried for a pin. RVD missed
a spin kick, and SVK
came back with a DDT. Both men were hurting at this point.
SVK went to the top
turn buckle, but Fonzie shoved him off and he or crotched
on the top rope. The
Fat Lady began clearing her throat. Fonzie held a chair in
front of SVK's face
and RVD planted a major Van Daminator on hit. The Fat Lady
signaled she was
ready. RVD demolished SVK with a Five Star Frog Splash that
had
enough height to show
on radar screens. End of the line for Skull. Joey said
Skull looks a lot like
Jerry Lynn has; he is getting better.
Winner - Rob Van Dam -
Retains the ECW TV Title
An action packed hour.
===========================================
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
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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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