The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 285

Date: Wednesday August 25th, 1999 11:01 am

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

KIDMAN CORRECTION
In Issue #284, I incorrectly spelled the real name of Billy Kidman.
Kidman's real name is Pete Gruner.

On the 8/24 WCW LIVE, Bob Ryder shared his opinions on the situation.
While Ryder admitted that its very possible that Kidman will end up
leaving WCW, Ryder claims that he feels Kidman will ultimately stay
with the company.

Although Bischoff agreed to grant Kidman's release, we will see if
there is a compromise in order…

THE IDENTITY OF MISS KITTY
Reported by SamJerry & Al Isaccs at http://www.scoopswrestling.com
Miss Kitty, the newest member of Jeff Jarrett's entourage, is in
reality Stacy Carter, the real-life girlfriend of Jerry Lawler. Fans
of the Memphis based Power Pro Wrestling will remember Stacy as
Lawler's valet.

McMAHON ON CONNAN O'BRIEN
Reported by Bob Ryder at: http://www.1Wrestling.com
Vince McMahon is scheduled to appear on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"
on this coming Thursday night (8/26).

QUICK REMINDER
"WWF Smackdown" will be premiering this Thursday night (8/26), at 8:00
on UPN

ECW will be debuting this Friday night (8/27) on TNN; this will be the
first exposure many of will have to ECW, and its not to be missed…

SMACKDOWN SPOILER IN TOMORROW'S ISSUE
Thursday's edition of Smackdown was taped Tuesday (8/24) at the Kemper
Arena in Kansas City. In tonight's issue we will have the spoiler for
those of you who need to know a day early; going back to the Kemper
Arena is a bittersweet experience for both the WWF performers and fans.
Despite ongoing litigation, it will be interesting to see if the WWF
has the integrity to acknowledge Owen Hart's death on-air.
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"UNEASY LIES THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE DUNCE CAP" OR
"DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE @$$ON YOUR WAY OUT"

BY SAMJERRY
Visit My Home Page At: http://members.aol.com/samjerry

Let's take a peek at what's happening of late in the once happy little
town of Turnerville, USA. You may recall that in our last episode, Good
King Eric (GKE) was telling all his kiddies not to worry; that all
would be fine and the big bad @$$hole up north in Stamford couldn't
hurt them. He was
going to make the bad man go away. Then the sun would come out and
shine on Turnerville once more. All the little kiddies felt warm and
comfortable. They didn't have to be afraid ever again.

Unfortunately this is not a fairy tale (unless you are talking about
Lenny and Lodi, that is), and not everyone is going to live happily
ever after. This past Monday, prior to NITRO, GKE rounded up the
troops, and it wasn't to reveal who the next President of WCW will be.
There has been muchunrest in WCW and in an attempt to head of a
rebellion by the peasants, GKE said that he was tired of the bitching
and anyone who wants out, can have it.

It seems that the night Chris Jericho made his WWF debut on RAW, many
of the wrestlers at NITRO were watching RAW instead of NITRO. This PO'd
WCW management and they told them that was a no-no. It is reported that
several
of WCW's finest have been grumbling about the mistake they made signing
their new WCW contracts after seeing Jericho. The feeling was that they
have been laboring in relative obscurity in WCW and couldn't see
anything
changing. There was a feeling of wanting to kick themselves in the @$$
for not moving to the WWF when they had the chance.

Jericho has been in contact with some of his old buddies in WCW and
told them how impressed he is with the WWF's planning and how well
organized they are. He told them he already knows his role in the next
three PPV's. Contrast this to WCW, where many have bitched they aren't
even sure what their role is the night they show up for NITRO. They
have been flown in to NITRO (and Thunder) and not been used. To
compound the problem, there are complaints that when they approach
management with ideas, they are ignored.

To GKE's credit, he did what any good manager should. He attempted to
take control of the situation and let everyone know who the boss is. I
don't think he expected the reaction he got. Raven stood up, took him
up on his offer on the spot and walked out of the meeting. He is said
to be PO'd that
among other things, one his ideas was usurped by one of GKE's "inner
circle." Raven was a World Champion in ECW; look where he is in WCW. He
has contacted his agent about arranging details of his release.

After NITRO, Kidman approached GKE and asked for his release. After an
initial rejection, it was granted. There could be more. Eddie Guerrero
has been outspoken in his feelings; The Public Enemy is unhappy ..
again; The Macho Man has no showed House Shows and NITRO this past
Monday; and of course, there is Slick Ric. It is inconceivable that GKE
will just grant outright releases and allow Raven, Kidman and anyone
else to sign with the WWF and have another Jericho situation on his
hands. The same goes
for ECW, who I suspect would love to have Raven back. It is more likely
he would grant releases with a non compete clause prohibiting them from
signing with the WWF and ECW for some period of time. In Raven's case
it shouldn't
make much difference since he is still healing from an injury.

It looks like GKE opened Pandora's box. It seems to have backfired in a
big way. What he really needs to do is to take control back from the
likes of old Baldy, Dirtbag Doophus Page, "retired" Big Sexy, and some
of the others who put themselves ahead of needs of the company.

To compound GKE's problems, there is the story this past week that ABC
offered Vince McMahon $100 million to move RAW to another night because
of the impact it has had on Monday Night Football. That has to frost
Uncle Ted's little guys. ABC is concerned about RAW and not worried
about NITRO.

Finally, there are those continuing reports that GKE may get "the" call
from Dr. Schiller. If that happens, he won't have to worry about WCW's
problems anymore, and he certainly won't live happily ever after.
===========================================
Straight Shooting
By : Fritz Capp (pwbts)

August 24, 1999
What the hell happened with SummerSlam? The pay-per-view that ranks
only second to WrestleMania was worthy of an old "In Your House"
standing at best. And what is up with (in my opinion) the most
entertaining match being Test vs. Shane McMahon? I can here the
collective groans but be honest..it had the most intrigue, the most
false finishes, the better storyline and Shane Mac did a Corkscrew
Moonsault. (albeit not perfect it was still there, when was the last
time you saw a main eventer pull that move?) I have to give it to
Shane, he really worked his ass off. And what about the flying elbow
onto Test while he was on the Spanish announcing teams table?

The worse match of the night, of course, belongs to Ivory vs. Tori.
Sorry everyone, but these girls do not belong in the ring. They are
stiff, and I mean in fluidity of motion and they are not over. Vince
would do best to scrap the Women's Division until he gets some real
talent and knows how to get the division over. Tapes of All Japan Women
are available for viewing Vince.

After watching Nitro I have to take back a statement I made last week
and give the Insane Clown Posse their props. Their match with
Mysterio/Kidman was a really good match. ICP showed me that they have
taken their wrestling seriously and have gone the distance to learn
what they needed to make a match interesting.
Nitro really wasn't too bad this week, in fact I wonder why everyone
down there doesn't wrestle with the same intensity that Eddie Guerrero
does. If they all did that they would be over without having too worry.

I found it interesting that WCW didn't think enough of their own talent
too draw ratings so they put off the KISS segment until it went head
too head with the WWF's title match at the end of the night. If I was
one of the boys in the locker room I would be pissed that the company
didn't have enough faith in any of us and had to go to a rock band to
try and help get the last quarter hour ratings and overrun up a notch
or two.

I have too say it and I know people are going too bitch but I have an
open challenge too Eric Bischoff. I guarantee that I can book WCW
better than anyone else you have down there...in fact better than any
three people you have currently working for you. I would need three
guarantees:

1 - absolute control of the booking

2 - wrestlers who are willing too do "WHAT IT TAKES" for the company

3 - absolutely no backstage politics from anyone
Give me that and I can put WCW over the top. It is actually so easy it
frustrates me that you guys down there cannot see the forest for the
trees. Three short months Eric, that's all it would take. I can stop
the changing of the channel at 8:59 pm. I can keep the fans interest.
You would once again be on top of the industry. But I know your ego
wouldn't allow you too have someone like me come in and straighten out
your company. But let's look at what I would have done different this
past Monday night.

1 - I would have had KISS open the show. This would really fire up the
crowd and would have created interest in your viewing audience. At
$500,000.00 you should have had them on more than once during the night.

2 - You should have had Demon interfere in the first match, either
doing the patented Gene Simmons trademark of spitting blood or fire ( I
would go with fire) onto the workers in the ring, thus establishing him
right away.

3 - Not one...but two heavyweight title matches between Hogan and
Sting....one early in the show after some backstage heat between the
two...the second one as the main event. The first one broken up by
Steiner and Sid as you did...the second one with the belt exchanging
hands under very controversial conditions. You are way too predictable.

4 - Show Goldberg starting to let Sid get under his skin. Start the
obsession with Sid's record. Hint at a possible heel turn (or at least
starting to lose it) by Goldberg as the frustration starts too show. Do
this throughout the night.

5 - Have Sid each time he interferes in a match to also start to show
more obsession with Goldberg. Do this by having Sid administer more and
more punishment to each person he beats on to the point where the fans
are afraid that Sid is going over the edge and could really hurt
someone.

6 - Push DDP's character too the brink of madness by having a hidden
camera showing that Kidman actually does want Kimberly and Kimberly is
actually receptive to the advances. If your going to feign a gay angle
with Lenny Lane and Lodi, this is not out of the spectrum. (This point
is moot in view of the recent possibility of Kidman leaving the
company, substitute someone else in Kidman's place and keep this angle
going...this would also enhance the fact that DDP wants to go solo
again as this would give him the reason to be a loner)
7 - Have Shane Douglas turn on the Revolution by having him cause
Benoit lose the belt to Steiner. This sets up Douglas to form his old
gimmick of "The Triple Threat" with him being the mouthpiece for
Steiner/Sid/Douglas. Believe me, Steiner and Sid need someone who has
great mic work on their side.

8 - You need some sort of shock value...and I do not mean Lenny/Lodi.
During the Harlem Heat/West Texas Rangers match the Rangers should have
busted open one, if not both, of Harlem Heat. And I mean busted them
open. This is 1999 and if you want to compete you need to do things
that are not so laid back. I saw blood in mid-card matches, and I mean
a lot of blood, in 1966 so do not tell me that WCW cannot show blood.
It is part of the game.

9 - At some points in the show, you have too blow kayfabe out the
window. That was one of the first things that the WWF did when it made
it comeback. By that I do not mean give away results to the other guys
programming. Have someone come out and do a "shoot". My choice would be
either Sting or Flair with Flair being my first choice. Flair is still
a drawing commodity and if you had Flair (if you can get him back) come
out and shoot on WCW it would go over like gangbusters. Without Flair
to do it, this past Monday I would have had Sting come out as Steve
Borden after his first match with Hogan flipping out about the
politics. Not a whiny tirade that Hart does, but a real honest to God
emotion filled rip at the bookers and company. This would set up the
controversial finish in his later match with Hogan with Sting doing
what it takes to put himself over for once instead of the company.

I could go on and on and you probably will refuse too see what I am
saying. All I can say is right now you have the chance to gain some
ground on the WWF as it is starting to become stale in product. But it
will not take Vince long to regroup. If you don't do it now you will be
in for a long entrance into the millennium.
It was reported that Bret Hart worked a house show for WCW this past
weekend. Where the hell was he on Nitro? If Bret can work a house show,
he could have been on Nitro to help out the company that is paying him
a humongous salary. Stop it with the Owen Hart thing Bret...time to
either suck it up and go on or shut it down and live in the past. That
choice is yours but you not only have responsibilities to your family,
but also to the company that employs you and to your fans. We have all
lost family members Bret...time to make a choice.

Well, the ratings numbers are in and should we be surprised? Oh Hell
No! The WWF once again took down Nitro but the interesting numbers are
the ones that show how well WCW spent half a million dollars. For the
overrun where KISS made their appearance the number was a dismal 2.3.
That equals .0000004 of a rating point for each dollar they paid KISS
to appear. I have to wonder about the economics of these moves by WCW
as they never seem to pay any dividends at all.

Reports are everywhere that Bischoff, in a bold move during a meeting,
told anyone who wasn't happy in the company that they could be
released. Well guess what? Raven got up and walked out of the meeting.
A later report says that Billy Kidman also asked for his release.
Hopefully WCW will just cut these guys so they can go somewhere else.
Now here's the shocker. Hopefully neither one of these guys go to the
WWF. WHY? Because ECW needs these guys. (Waiting for everyone to
collect their breath) Ok, now that you all are over the shock of that
statement let me give it to you right between the eyes. If all this
goes down and Raven and Kidman are released who stands to benefit by it
more? Paul Heyman. Heyman needs these two guys. Raven was a top heel in
the company. Kidman is a fabulous worker. ECW goes national this week.
What better combination is there? Now we will all see just how bad
Heyman wants ECW to succeed. Heyman will have to pull every string he
can to secure the services of these two but he should pull every one
and then some. While the WWF may offer them more money can they offer
them instant top spots in the company? It is would we be lock for
Heyman to give Raven a top heel role and Kidman would we be elevated
almost instantaneously also due to his in-ring ability. Yes, I hope
they go to ECW because in a time of horrible booking in WCW and with
the WWF starting to look a little stale around the edges the wrestling
community will once again look for a hero in the night. Can ECW do it
again? Call me sentimental but I believe if Heyman pulls his head out
of his ego and gets back to doing what he used to do when ECW was the
force in professional wrestling then yes ECW can and will grab the
spotlight once again.

And with that I'm outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than
what it appears to be.
Fritz Capp
PWBTS 2000
http://pwbts.com
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENTS
New Dimension Wrestling will be returning to Danville, VA this
Thursday.night, at Dan Daniel Memorial Park, with a huge championship
wrestling show, after the Danville Braves home baseball game. In the
main event the ladies will do battle as Bambi squares off against Peggy
Lee Leather for the Ladies World Title.Plus you will see, "The Ghetto
Superstar" Chilly Willy, "The Natural" Jeff Knotts, J-Money, The
California Kid, 3 all-star matches in all! For more information call
the Danville Braves at 804-791-3346, the New Dimension Wrestling
hotline at 336-882-4921 or a http://twww.ndwwrestling.com

oWa: Online Wrestling Association. To learn more about this E-Fed, go
to: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/oWa/right.html

Check out http://members.aol.com/Frospice/index.HWZ.html
to see a cool wrestling site with some great links…
===========================================
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

"I'm going to love her forever; I'm going to die remembering her face" -Maurice Bernard