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Issue # 281
Date:
Sunday August 22nd, 1999 10:20 am
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
WCW didn't anticipate
reaction to Hulk
By Mike Mooneyham
Sunday, August 22, 1999
The red and yellow may
be back, but for how long?
WCW officials, who
originally planned to turn Hulk Hogan heel at this
week's Nitro in
Las Vegas, are now having
second thoughts due to the
tremendous response
Hogan has been receiving since reverting to his
Hulk character.
Hogan's babyface turn
was meant to be a short-term transitional role,
but WCW didn't
anticipate the crowd reaction the current WCW world
champion has been
receiving. The original plan was to have Hogan turn
on Bret Hart at the
Las Vegas Nitro, but that idea was scrapped several
weeks ago due to the
delay in Hart's return to the ring.
Sting, who was put in
Hart's position, is scheduled to turn the WCW
presidency over to
Eric Bischoff, who in turn will also turn heel and
join Hogan in a new
alliance that eventually will include original NWO
members Kevin Nash and
Scott Hall. Nash, who is taking time off, will
return with Hall to
reform The Outsiders, taking the old NWO angle full
circle.
Hogan initially
opposed going back to the red and yellow role this
soon, but the action
was pushed by Bischoff and the booking committee
to get Hogan over as a
total babyface so the eventual heel turn would
have more impact.
Hogan has been teasing that he is legitimately
considering
retirement, although few inside the business take him
seriously since he has
threatened retirement a number of times in
recent years. Hogan is
planning a limited schedule while he recuperates
from a hyperextended
knee he suffered three weeks ago on Nitro while
doing a spot with Sid
Vicious. Hogan's babyface pop has even prompted
talk of a possible
Sting turn, although Steve Borden has steadfastly
opposed that
proposition many times in the past. Bret Hart also was
approached by Bischoff
concerning a heel turn, although such a move
would be highly
questionable in the wake of his brother's death just
three months ago.
• WCW turmoil behind
the scenes continued to escalate as Randy Savage
missed all of last
week's shows following the Road Wild pay-per-view.
The increasingly
frustrated Savage, who was reprimanded in recent weeks
by WCW for his
over-the-edge language and behavior on Nitro, complained
about the manner in
which he was put over Dennis Rodman at the PPV,
although Rodman also
was visibly upset backstage and claimed Savage
worked overly stiff in
spots that had not been worked out in advance.
Savage, whose
relationship with longtime associate Hogan has soured in
recent months, is
flexing his political muscle and is basically sitting
out until his demands
are met.
• Ric Flair, who drew
criticism for not showing up at the Aug. 9 Nitro
for an angle with
Shane Douglas, last week downplayed reports that his
relationship with WCW
was rapidly deteriorating.
Flair, frustrated with
the moronic storylines that he has been saddled
with, is taking a
month off to tend to a recurring back ailment.
Doctors have told
Flair that he has arthritis in his back stemming from
the plane accident 23
years ago in which he broke his back.
• The much-ballyhooed
first meeting between Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart
was hastened due to
the absence of both Flair and Savage at major house
shows this weekend at
the
Cow Palace in San Francisco
and The Great
Western Forum in
Los Angeles. Original lineups
featured Flair vs.
Goldberg and
Sting-Hogan vs. Savage-Sid. WCW, not wanting to alienate a
major market, planned
to headline those shows with the Hart-Hogan
matchup.
• The backstage
paranoia and maneuverings of the top tier of WCW
talent has filtered
down to the middle of the roster where performers
seem to be growing
increasingly frustrated and hostile.
Ernest Miller and Buff
Bagwell, who have had a number of verbal
confrontations
backstage, locked horns prior to their Road Wild match
after arguing over the
finish. Bagwell took two solid punches to the
face and suffered a
scraped elbow after complaining about the original
finish, which was
changed from Miller getting the nod, and later
arguing that he should
get a clean victory using his blockbuster hold.
Miller, while far from
the most popular individual in the locker room,
has drawn some
supporters in his latest confrontation, while Bagwell
was taken off of last
week's Nitro and may be headed for the doghouse
along with Konnan.
• Curt Hennig, who was
scheduled to face Bill Goldberg last week on
Nitro, mysteriously
disappeared before the match. Barry Windham was
called in to do the
27-second job in Hennig's place.
• Hogan's crowd
response may be overwhelming, but not enough to make a
dent in the Monday
night ratings. Raw trounced Nitro, 6.62 (6.38,
6.83)-3.28 (3.78,
2.89, 3.18) in the ratings, with a head-to-head
margin of 6.58-3.04.
Total number for the combined wrestling audience
was up following two
weeks of heavy competition (a prime-time golf
showdown between Tiger
Woods and David Duval, and a highly rated Monday
Night Football
exhibition game). Raw, which doubled Nitro six of the
eight quarters, peaked
at 7.27 for its Chyna-Hunter Hearst Helmsley
match and the end of
the Chris Jericho interview. Nitro's
high point
was a 3.64 for the
Hogan-Sid Vicious match in the final quarter that
also did a 4.26
overrun. The show's low point was a 2.4 for the Chris
Benoit-Disco Inferno
match.
• Hogan continues to
pass the buck in media interviews. The Hulkster,
when asked on a recent
radio show why last month's match on Nitro
against Sid (2.9, 3.5
overrun) got throttled in the ratings by Triple H
against Undertaker on
Raw (7.0, 7.7 overrun), blamed Chris Benoit, Dean
Malenko, Perry Saturn
and Shane Douglas, saying he had to make up for
their low quarter-hour
rating that preceded his match (Hogan's numbers
actually fell; Benoit
and company posted a 3.5).
• Two network
television wrestling shows and a local radio wrestling
talk show will all
debut this week.
WWF Smackdown will
make its UPN debut Thursday from
8-10 p.m. The show
will be taped Tuesday
night at the Kemper Arena in
Kansas City. ECW
will make its national
network debut Friday night on The
Nashville
Network. Matches were
taped last weekend in
Toledo, Ohio.
On the local front:
WCW's "Little Nature Boy," Charles Robinson, will
be a guest on the
debut of "Ringside Wrestling Talk"
6-7 p.m. Tuesday
on WQNT ESPN Radio AM
1450. Robinson has carved out a reputation as one
of the top refs in the
business in addition to his hilarious role as
vice president of WCW
and Ric Flair lackey.
• A
Minnesota judge refused on
Thursday to stop Jesse Ventura from
serving as guest
referee for tonight's SummerSlam pay-per-view main
event in
Minneapolis.
A former write-in
candidate for governor had sued, alleging the referee
gig was a conflict of
interest for
Ventura. The judge gave the
lawsuit
a 10-minute read and
dismissed it.
"An elected official
does not by their election become someone who does
not have personal,
social, economic and private interests," the judge
said. If Minnesotans
disapprove, they can oust
Ventura at the polls,
declared the judge.
Mike Mooneyham can be
reached by phone at 937-5517. He can be heard
every Tuesday from
6-7 p.m. on "Ringside
Wrestling Talk" on WQNT ESPN
Radio 1450 (call in at
566-1340).
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.
===========================================
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===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED
CIRCLE
ECW -
AUGUST 20, 1999
BY
SAMJERRY
Visit My Home Page At:
http://members.aol.com/samjerry
The program began with
a match in progress between
Uganda and The
Spanish Angel.
Uganda was wiping the ring up
with The Angel as we
joined it.
Uganda hit him with a Splash
from the top turn buckle,
turned him into taco
meat and pinned him. The Angel will definitely be
using his wings. The
match was followed by a short clip of
Uganda's ECW
Arena debut, where he
squashed a jobber.
Winner - Uganda
Loser - The Spanish
Angel - He may seek other employment
After the ECW open,
Announcer Joey Styles talked about ECW's upcoming
debut on TNN and how
nasty The Dudley Boyz have been, pointing out how
much worse they have
been since the news of their leaving for the WWF
broke.
The next match was
taped the previous night in
Cleveland. It was for
the ECW Tag Team
Championship, pitting Little Spike Dudley (LSD) and
Balls Mahoney (C) v.
The Dudley Boyz, Bubba Ray (BBR)
and D-Von. The
match was picked up in
progress, as it seems almost every ECW TV match
is, and being taped by
a Fan Cam.
BBR and LSD were fighting
among the
crowd in the balcony.
BBR Power Bombed LSD thru a
table, manufactured
by The Acme Table and
Steel Chair Company, Division of The Acme
Corporation, getting
us an early "Oh, my G-d" from Joey. Thinking LSD
might be a little
thirsty,
BBR threw a soda, a product
of The Acme Soft
Drink and Frozen Food
Company, Division of The Acme Corporation, into
LSD's bleeding face,
following with a punch to his forehead. LSD tried
to fight back but took
a shot from a steel chair, manufactured by The
Acme Table and Steel
Chair Company, Division of The Acme Corporation.
BBR tried to throw LSD off
the balcony, but LSD blocked him, but took
another chair shot.
Meanwhile, we saw a bleeding Balls, who must be the
biggest customer of
every blood bank in the country, and D-Von were
fighting in the ring.
As
BBR continued pounding his
half brother, Balls
hit D-Von with a Frog
Splash. As this point
BBR was challenging
everyone in the arena.
LSD took advantage and bashed him head first
into the arena wall
twice. The crowd chanted "ECW."
BBR resumed his
relentless pounding on
LSD. Styles ranted on about The Dudley's leaving
ECW, saying ECW Owner
Paul Heyman encouraged them to leave.
BBR and LSD
fought their way back
to ringside, where
BBR hit LSD with a section of
guard rail. In the
ring, D-Von was choking Balls with his boot. LSD
nailed
BBR with an Acid Drop, face
first onto the section of guard
rail. D-Von stomped
Balls as the crowd began a chant of "Balls." LSD
was back in the
balcony and leaped onto
BBR, getting us another "Oh,
my
G-d" from Joey. The
move hurt both LSD and
BBR, as they lay on the
floor. Back in the
ring, D-Von was throttling Balls. LSD got to his
feet and into the
ring. He avoided two Clothesline attempts as D-Von
whipped him into the
ropes, but took a Sit Out Power Bomb.
BBR got back
in carrying a Cheese
Grater, manufactured by The Acme Kitchen and Home
Products Company,
Division of The Acme Corporation. He used it on
Balls. Balls wasn't
real pleased about it, showing his displeasure by
dirtying it with his
blood. D-Von hit LSD with a Flying Head Butt, but
Balls stopped the pin.
The
Dudley's got into an argument
with the
referee about a slow
count. They shot him off the ropes, he avoided an
attempt at a double
move by The Dudley's and hit them with a Double
Clothesline. LSD and
Balls took advantage and hit The Dudley's with a
Bulldog and Nutcracker
Suite. Sign Guy Dudley rushed into the ring and
broke up both pinning
attempt. D-Von hit Balls with a DDT. LSD went for
The Acid Drop, but got
caught by
BBR on the turn buckle and
thrown thru
another Acme Table at
ringside. Balls hit both
Dudley's with chair
shots. He then went
under the ring, brought another Acme Table into the
ring, opened it and
poured thumb tacks, manufactured by The Acme School
Supply Company,
Division of The Acme Corporation, onto it. D-Von got
back into the action
with a chair shot to Balls' head. It was the
7,879th time Balls has
taken one (unofficial count).
BBR then
demolished Balls with
a Power Bomb thru the table. When Balls got up,
his back looked like a
pin cushion. LSD made his way back into the
ring. Bad Move Spike.
He took a 3-D Dudley Death Drop. With that, The
Fat Lady swallowed the
last bite of her Three Foot Hero, product of The
Acme Provisions
Company, Division of The Acme Corporation, and began
singing. Case closed
on LSD.
Winners - The Dudley
Boyz - Seven Times ECW Tag Team Champions
Winner - The Acme
Corporation
Styles again went into
a rant about The Dudleys leaving for the WWF as
a highlight video of
all the teams they have beaten was run.
We went backstage and
saw The Dudley Boyz,
BBR, D-Von along with Sign
Guy.
BBR said they were three
brothers from Dudleyville, the biggest
misfits the world has
ever seen and goofy guys who do things their way.
He said they were on
their way to the WWF, but weren't going to leave
the traditional way.
They weren't going to put anyone over or job to
anyone. He said they
were taking the Tag Team Belts with them to the
real capital of
Hardcore, Stamford, CT. They were going to WWF
headquarters, to the
office of the top man in wrestling, who will make
them millionaires.
They will lay the belts at the feet of Vince
McMahon, who is their
hero and savior (nothing like brown nosing your
future boss on TV). He
said they were the greatest tag team in history
and if you ever want
to see the Belts, you were going to have to watch
RAW. They were thru as
D-Von "politely" evicted the camera man.
We next saw Cyrus
backstage, along with Lance Storm, Dawn Marie (his
personal) Bytch,
Justin Credible and Jason (The AWO - @$$Hole World
Order). Cyrus said he
has been reduced to acting as a stand in for
Steve Prazak. Credible
talked about he and Storm being The Impact
Players, and dissed
Sabu, Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn. Storm asked how
you beat ten men and
said you didn't. You let them beat each other and
the you take over the
Company, and that what he and Credible are doing.
He did a "Reader's
Digest" version of his Calgary Is Great routine.
Credible closed things
with his "That's Incredible" bit and we were
spare listening to any
more of their crap.
The next match pitted
Tom Marquez v. Rhino, "Steve Corino's Rookie
Monster." Marquez
started by hitting Rhino with a Drop Kick. Rhino came
back with a
Clothesline, a series of punches and chops and Irish
Whipped Marquez off
the ropes. Marquez avoided a Clothesline as he came
off the ropes, hit a
Springboard Missile Drop Kick and went for a pin.
Rhino put the boots to
his opponent, pounded him with a series of
punches, hit him with
a Sit Out Power Slam and went for a pin. Rhino
then Irish Whipped
Marquez into a corner, hit him with a boot to the
mid section and
completely demolished him with a Sit Out Pile Driver
that was nasty enough
to get another "Oh, my G-d" from Joey. The pin
was academic. The
crowd chanted "ECW."
Winner - Rhino
Winner - Marquez's
Chiropractor
Rhino was met by Jason
on his way out. Jason congratulated Rhino on his
win. They were joined
by Corino, Jack Victory and Victory's wheelchair,
a product of The Acme
Wheelchair and Motor Sports Company, Division of
The Acme Corporation.
Corino mentioned his problems with Taz. These are
the problems that will
eventually be listed on his Death Certificate
and carved on his Acme
Headstone as the cause of death. Jason talked
about his problems
with Jazz. Victory laughed so hard about Jason
worrying about a
woman, his Depends will need changing. Rhino left and
Jason gave Corino
money to take Jazz out. Corino said he will take care
of it. Victory sat
down in his wheelchair and Corino wheeled him away.
Addressing Jazz, Jason
spoke into the camera and told her she was in
for big trouble.
We saw Rob "Mr.
PPV/The Whole F'N Show" Van Dam (RVD) and his manager
Bill Alfonso
backstage. RVD said he has been the ECW TV Champion about
16 months, which was
the longest title reign anywhere, including WCW
and the WWF. He kept
it up as a highlight video of him ran. We saw a
montage of his moves
against many opponents, including Storm, Bam Bam
Bigelow, Jerry Lynn,
LSD and Al Snow.
Back at the desk,
Styles said RVD won the title on April 18, 1998, from
Bigelow.
He the addressed the
Corino/Jason deal, calling them both cowards.
The Rob Zombie Music
Video we saw last week highlighting Storm and Dawn
Marie was run again.
The next match was
Steve Corino v. Jazz, and what else, picked up in
progress. Corino had a
Headlock on Jazz, who escaped it. They exchanged
verbal pleasantries.
Jazz applied a Side Headlock. Corino picked her up
and put her in a
corner, then hit her with a series of Chops. Jazz got
out of the corner and
hit a few Chops of her own. She Irish Whipped
Corino into a corner
and went in after him. She Hip Tossed him and that
sent Corino to the
floor. As Corino thought about where to have dinner,
Joey dissed the T&A
approach to women's wrestling in the other Feds,
adding Jazz wanted no
part of it. Corino had a strategy session with
Victory and we headed
off to hear Heyman's pitch to buy all of the
tapes ever made about
ECW. When we got back, Tommy Dreamer and Francine
headed to ringside and
Joey said that Entertainment Weekly had a story
about ECW appearing on
TNN. Thanks Joey, without you hammering it into
us, we would never
have heard about ECW being on TNN. Back to the
action and we saw
Corino hit a Sit Out Power Bomb, but was unable to
get a pin. He got into
an argument with the referee, fell victim to a
Schoolboy and was
almost pinned. He nailed Jazz with a right hand and
whipped her into the
rope. Jazz came off with a Cartwheel and avoided
Corino. She hit a
Knife Edge Chop. Corino came back with a punch to her
face. Corino got into
an argument with Tommy and Francine. He got an
Acme Table and leaned
in against a corner. He lifted Jazz on his back
and shoulders, setting
her up for a table move but she slid off and
applied a Testicular
Claw. Corino was reduced to tears and cried for
his mommy. She next
hit him with an Inverted DDT. That brought Victory
in to prevent a pin.
Francine came in and nailed Victory with a Low
Blow. Corino and
Victory have auditions next week for The Vienna Boy's
Choir as sopranos.
Corino grabbed Francine, but Jazz pulled him off.
Next up were Double
Bronco Busters by Francine and Jazz on Corino and
Victory, followed by
Stereo DDT's. Jazz pinned Corino. Jason cried over
money wasted.
Yoshohiro Tajiri rushed in and kicked Tommy, then blew
his Japanese Red Mist,
manufactured by The Acme Oriental Mist and Tea
Company, Division of
The Acme Corporation, into the faces of Francine
and Jazz. He then beat
on Tommy as Victory waved a Japanese Flag,
manufactured by The
Acme Flag and Steamship Company, Division of The
Acme Corporation.
Tajiri tied Tommy in the Tree Of Woe ad hit him with
a Drop Kick to the
face. The crowd chanted "We want Taz." Dreamer
dropped to the mat and
Victory covered him with the flag. The crowd got
their wish. Taz came
out just as the program ended.
Winner - Jazz
Loser - Steve Corino -
Beaten by a woman; wait until Taz gets his
hands
on him
Loser - Jason - Pissed
his money away
Loser - Tommy Dreamer
- Got his @$$ kicked by Tajiri again
It was great to see
ECW put a good show on after just mailing it in
last week.
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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
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 ©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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