Issue # 287
Date:
Friday August 27th, 1999 9:23 am
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
RAVEN RETURNS TO ECW
Reported by Dave
Scherer at:
http://www.ECWwrestling.com
Raven (Scott Levy)
made his return to ECW a memorable one at the
Queens
TV tapings when he
came to the ring to help Tommy Dreamer.
Dreamer was being
double teamed by the Dudley Boyz, who had recaptured
the ECW Tag Titles
earlier in the evening, and were destroying Dreamer
when Raven hit the
ring. A quick DDT later, and Raven and Dreamer were
the new ECW Tag Team
Champions.
At this point it
unclear how active an in-ring schedule Raven will be
able to handle, as he
was slated to be several months away from
returning to the ring
(in WCW, its amazing how unhappy workers stretch
out their recovery
times!).
The ECW event in
Queens was a national TV
taping for the new TNN show,
"ECW on TNN". The
first episode of the TNN show will air on Friday
night, and will be an
introduction to ECW with highlights and profiles
of ECW's top stars.
The first show will be hosted by Joey Styles, who
will not have a
broadcast partner on the debut show.
The footage from the
Queens show will be used for
the next two TNN
shows. Footage from
the
Toledo show that had been
previously planned
for TNN will be used
instead on ECW's syndicated program, now being
called "ECW HardcoreTV".
TANAKA BACK IN ECW!
Reported by Zach
Arnold at:
http://www.1Wrestling.Com
The FMW promotion
announced that Masato Tanaka would return to ECW to
participate in the
promotion's next PPV, Anarchy Rulz. No other future
dates were announced
for Tanaka in ECW.
ECW REMINDER
ECW debuts tonight
(Friday, 8/27), at
8:00 on TNN (check your
specific
cable listings for the
channel number). Please check it out; many of
you have never had the
opportunity to watch ECW, and I think that you
will be pleased…
DON FRYE ISSUES CHALLENGE
Reported by Zach
Arnold at:
http://www.1Wrestling.Com
Don Frye is doing an
angle where he has told New Japan officials that
after he beats Scott
Norton at the 8/28 show, he wants to fight Mutoh
for the IWGP World
Title at the 10/11 Tokyo Dome show and he wants to
team up with Masa
Chono to win the IWGP World Tag Titles.
UFC fans will remember Frye
as a former Ultimate Ultimate Champion;
its really only a
matter of time before we see Frye compete on the
US
scene, probably in
WCW. Frye has a great cocky demeanor that would
make him an instant
heel (and a real heel, not a "heel" that is trying
to be cool at the same
time).
Considering his lack
of experience working matchs, his workrate is
terrific. When he does
make his US debut, hopefully he will be
marketed as an
outsider, a true shootfighter. The WWF blew a great
opportunity with Ken
Shamrock when they immediately turned him into a
standard pro wrestler…
DDP ON BISCHOFF'S
ULTIMATIUM
The following is
excerpted from Diamond Dallas Page's direct mailing
lisr. To be placed on
the list, send a blank e-mail to:
udc-subscribe
"Now, let's talk about
what went down this Monday backstage at Nitro.
First of all, my
viewpoint…Life is all about attitude. You can be
positive or you can be
negative, but most always you have to make
things happen. Yes, it
is true that Eric came out with an ultimatum
for people to start
being company oriented, and I agree with him. If
you don't like it
somewhere, don't take the six figure (or better)
money …leave. I don't
care what position you sit in, first match or
main event.
Nobody knows what its
like to be held down more in this business than
me. There is nothing I
hate personally more than a negative attitude.
Since we are talking
about Raven here…if you don't buy that I was held
down in my career back
then, just ask Raven, because he talked me
through a lot of it.
Do I think Scott "Raven" Levy is a top talent?
You're damned right I
do. I have always respected Scott, but when Eric
Bischoff said at the
meeting, "Raven, if you don't like it here and
want out of your
contract, the lawyer is right down the hall. Get up
and leave" and Scott
did it in front of everybody, I respected him even
more…and everyone was
in there, but nobody else left.
I can comment that
Kidman may have had second thoughts later, which
surprised me, by the
way, but I think when he realized Eric would
release them, or
anyone, but would never let them go to
New York until
their contract was
up…you know, the same deal Rena Mero got when she
left. You can leave
but you can't work for the other guys. From what
I understand, nobody's
leaving except for Raven if he wants to.
What do I think? I
think it is a good move for Raven to leave right
now. I think he goes
back to ECW to work for Paul Heyman and helps
that ECW show, with
Tommy Dreamer, become a hell of a show and it
proves my point that
Raven is a top guy. I have always thought that.
As far as Kidman,
Konnan and Mysterio are concerned, look for them to
become a part of the
Filthy Animals. From what I have heard about it
so far, I like it."
===========================================
ROUNDING THE SQUARED
CIRCLE
"SMACKDOWN SMACKS
THUNDER DOWN"
BY
SAMJERRY
Visit My Home Page At:
http://members.aol.com/samjerry
Last night was the
beginning of a new era ... The era of WWF
SmackDown on UPN. From
start to finish, the WWF showed they know how to
launch a show. Right
from the beginning with the appearance of the
SmackDown set, you
just knew that the WWF had gotten it right. The set
is strictly something
you might associate with the millennium. It is
fresh and colorful,
with a
neat video circle off
to the side. The designers of the NITRO set might
want to contact the
people who designed it and take some lessons.
Unlike the NITRO set,
I don't expect we will hear too many complaints
from the wrestlers
that the ramp is hazardous to their health.
Since I wasn't writing
a TV Report, I was able to watch the show and
enjoy it for itself,
without having to take notes. In a word, it was
"Fan'F'N-tastic."
It opened with a
spirited and humorous exchange between Triple H and The
Rock, with WWF
Commissioner Shawn "HBK" Michaels, Mankind and Shane all
getting into the act.
This resulted is a WWF Championship Match between
Triple H
(C) v. The Rock,
ordered by HBK, and featuring HBK as Special Referee.
It also resulted in
HBK ordering Shane to face Mankind, as a result of
Shane's actions on RAW
this past Monday that helped Triple H defeat Mankind
for the Title.
As only HBK could do,
he out maneuvered Shane, who is the "owner" of
the WWF, and wanted to
be a Second Special Referee for the Championship
Match, into facing
Mankind.
A highlight of the
evening was Sweet Stephanie accepting Test's
proposal of marriage
on RAW this past Monday. Shane tried his best to
spoil Steph and Test's
tender moment by having The Mean Street Posse:
Pete Gas, Rodney and
Joey Abs take Test out. A brawl involving the
Posse, Shane, Test,
Mankind and The Stooges, Pat Patterson and Jerry
Briscoe erupted. Sweet
Steph
got into the act
defending her true love and put it to one of the
Posse. This romance
couldn't be playing out any better on a soap opera
or Jerry Springer.
Yeah, I know all the wrestling "purists" are shaking
their heads at it.
They would prefer to see Malenko and Benoit mat
wrestle for a half
hour. That too has its place, but for pure fun,
this is the ticket.
The Shane v. Mankind
match took place at this point, with Mankind
teaching the little
snot nose a lesson in manners. He fed him Mr. Socko
and introduced him to
a Double Arm DDT. Chyna came to ringside and
distracted the
referee, allowing Triple H to waffle Mankind with a chair.
He
then placed The Little
Rich
Twerp atop him and got
Shane the victory. Mankind's imitation of some
of The Rock's sayings
and motions ("... with the dozens and dozens of
Mankind's fans ..."
and ... with his $3.50 Salvation Army Shirt and Tie
he got free from the
WWF") was absolutely hilarious. McMahon can't pay
him enough.
The "slightly" screwy
Al Snow begged The Bossman to return Pepper. He
said he would do
anything to get him back. All The Bossman wanted was a
return match for The
Hardcore Championship and win or lose, he would
return "the little
rat." Snow granted the match and The Bossman brought
Pepper out
wearing a muzzle!! The
Bossman won the match, thanks to his trusty
night stick, and ever
the villain, made off with Pepper again. Snow
again went nuts and
took off after his little buddy. They are closer
than Gilligan and The
Skipper, and almost as smart. The King kept
things going during
the match as he help
Pepper and kept asking
for more napkins. Apparently the little fugitive
from a Taco commercial
isn't quite housebroken. Then again, maybe it
was JR he was cleaning
up after.
We saw the ring debut
of Chris Jericho as he showed Road Dogg what Y2J
was all about. He
Power Bombed Doggie through a table and was DQ'd. The
bit with The Fink kept
going as Jericho sent his new Warrior in to
reclaim his ring
announcers job, only to see him get his @$$ kicked.
Jericho also sent his
hapless little buddy to an almost sure death by
telling Ken Shamrock
off.
This led to Shamrock
chasing the Fink and Jericho out of the arena.
Jericho sped off in
his car leaving The Fink to fend for himself
against Shamrock, when
Shamrock caught the little guy. The Fink begged
for mercy. The words
Shamrock and mercy are oxymoron's, however,
Shamrock released him
due to the smell coming from his pants. The look
on Shamrock's face as
he first
took a sniff and then
looked down at The Fink's lower body was a
keeper. Jericho and
Finkel work together so well, that you will forget
the Jericho -Ralphus
combination immediately.
The Undertaker and The
Big Show defended their Tag Team Title v. The
Acolytes, and X-Pac
and Kane. I should say The Big Show defended the
Titles alone as The
Taker joined JR and The King. He was teaching The
Show a lesson in
toughness, allowing him to get double teamed and beat
on as he stood by.
When The Show was thrown out of the ring, The Taker
smacked him in the
face and told him to get with the program. This
lesson in tough evil
(you didn't expect tough love from The Dead Man,
did you?) worked. The
Show Choke Slammed X-Pac for about the 57th time
and pinned him, as
Kane was fighting on the floor. The Taker still
wasn't happy. A
dejected X-Pac, who blamed Kane for letting him get
killed again left the
arena, with a saddened Kane tagging after him and
looking for
forgiveness from his only friend. It was like
watching Frankenstein
and the little village waif, realizing his entire
world was crashing
down on him. Call out the villagers with their
torches. Time to pity
the poor misunderstood monster. Maybe, just
maybe, Kane will get
off the goodie two shoes, scarred and
misunderstood monster
kick, and return to being
the dominating killer
he was before X-Pac made nice with him.
Miss Kitty brought The
Kittens along as she made her second
appearance with her
boss Debra, who was packing The Puppies as usual,
and JJ. JJ met Mr. Ass
in a non-title match and once again. Chyna came
down to watch the
action. Miss Kitty again showed she needs some more
time away from the
litter box as she allowed Guitar No. 3880
(unofficial count) to
be yanked from her hands by Mr. Ass. He swung it
at her, she ducked,
Debra learned to play it with her teeth. A
concerned JJ was easy
pickings for Mr. Ass and took a Fame-@$$er. Chyna
came in and Mr. Ass
began showing her his money maker. Instead he took
one from her where his
testicular fortitude resides, or at least did
before Chyna played
"Take me out to the ball game" on them.
Tori strolled back
stage toward the ring topless. She was told there
were little kiddies in
the audience and at home so couldn't let it all
hang out. She was
given the shirt off his back by WWF official Tony
Garea (Damn him). She
met Ivory in a non-title Evening Gown Match. It
didn't take long for
her to strip Ivory down to her frillies. Tori
wanted the world to
see more, but Luna played spoil sport and held her
off. Garea and Luna
may now be
hated worse than Vince
McMahon.
The Main Event for the
WWF Championship between Triple H (C) and The Rock,
with HBK as Special
Referee was the one hell of a match. HBK argued
with Triple H before
and during the match. Chyna did her worse and was
chased backstage by
HBK. It went back and forth, with HBK being
distracted when it
appeared that
The Rock had Triple H
pinned. The Rock hit Rock Bottom and went for The
People's Elbow. He
took The Commissioner's Sweet Chin Music. Huh? HBK
decked The Rock with
it, Triple H wiped The Rock out with The Pedigree and
pinned him. HBK,
Triple H and Chyna hugged. Is this the beginning of the
long rumored New DX?
Like they say,
"Anything can happen in the WWF." It did last night. HBK
getting back together
with one of the other original members of DX. It
will be a tough act to
follow. Anyone want to bet on what the ratings
of SmackDown and
Thunder will be? It looks like Good King Eric now has
two nights that will
be turning
his hair grayer.
===========================================
WCW THUNDER
TAPED IN: LACROSSE,
WISCONSIN
By Rick Phelps (wrestleric)
Opening
Mike Tenay and Larry
Zybysko discussed "the trail of bodies" that Sid
has left in WCW.
Public Enemy versus
Sid Vicious
A double choke slam
was all she wrote for the P.E.
Winner: Sid Vicious
via pinfall
--Clips of Coach "Buzz
Stern" motivating his class of wrestlers was
reaired. Later, he
would give them a pep talk in the weight room.
West Texas Rednecks
w/Curt Hennig versus Rey Mysterio Jr./Kidman/Eddie
Guerrero
Rey Jr. won this match
for his team when he hit a picture perfect
frankensteiner on
Duncum Jr. from the top rope. Harlem Heat made the
save when the rednecks
began attacking.
Winner: Rey
Mysterio/Kidman/Eddie Guerrerovia pinfall
--Mene Gene
interviewed Sid and Rick Steiner. Sid said he and the
DFG
were the pioneers of
WCW. Steiner said that the revolution would be
minus two members when
they got rid of Saturn and Benoit tonight.
The Cat w/Sonny Onoo
versus Prince Iaukea
The Cat took another
one by kicking the Prince in the back of the
head with his ruby
slippers. Penzer announed the time of the match was
2:59. (The Cat said he
would beat him under three minutes).
Winner: The Cat via
pinfall
Harlem Heat versus
Brian Knobbs/Hugh Morrus
Harlem Heat defeated
these members of the First Family following a
missile dropkick off
the top by Booker T on Hugh Morrus.
Winners: Harlem Heat
via pinfall
Disorderly Conduct
versus Dean Malenko/Shane Douglas
Dean Malenko won this
match for the Revolution by forcing Tough Tom to
submit to the Texas
Cloverleaf.
Winner: The Revolution
via pinfall
--Mene Gene
interviewed Diamond Dallas Page. Page said the top three
men on his hit list
were Sting, Goldberg, and Hulk Hogan. He said he
would kick Goldberg's
teeth down his throat. He said that he owned
Hogan and that Sting
was toast.
Diamond Dallas Page
versus Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Before the bell, the
two men exchanged "your momma is so fat" jokes.
Chavo Jr. won that
match, but not the one that counted. DDP won with
the Diamond Cutter.
Winner: Diamond Dallas
Page via pinfall
Rick Steiner/Sid
Vicious versus Perry Saturn/Chris Benoit
Sid powerbombed Saturn
while Benoit had Steiner in the crippler
crossface. Referee
Mickey J was out. Charles Robinson ran in and
counted Sid's three
count on Saturn.
Winners: Rick
Steiner/Sid Vicious via pinfall
Ricks Comments:
--This Thunder was
better........ALOT
LESS CLIPS......MORE
WRESTLING.....I LIKE
IT.--It reminded me when Tenay was talking about
KISS. I think that
sucks......WCW advertised KISS for several
weeks......and what
did they do when they got on the air........they
lip synced the song
they sang......that is wrong!
===========================================
Now, its time for Josh
Hewitt's debut column…
By Josh Hewitt (San316born)
For my initial column
for the Booking Sheet, I decided to do that
voodoo that I do so
well, which is to logically analyze why the WWF
seems to be the
greatest thing since an egg white omelet these days.
That, and run off at
the mouth, logic and BS being the two things I do
best. It seemed funny
to me, reading the Booking Sheet and other
wrestling newsletters,
how the WWF was the second coming, while the WCW
was....well...as about
as nice as that panty hose Billy Gunn had his
face stuffed in. I
then started the dark journey into the world of the
WWF's attitude
(someone hold me.......please).
First I looked at the
booking. Does the WWF have phenomenal booking?
Well, maybe, but then
again we're still suffering from that Big
BossMan/Al Snow junk
(and, I tell ya, Pepper's the Whole F'N
Show...this I know).
Does the WWF have more talent than the WCW? Well,
there is Jeff Jarrett
(who should have named his squad Double D
Enterprises, with such
members as Debra, Miss Kitty, and, of course,
Mark Henry--a true
Double D if I've ever seen one....someone get that
man a Cross-My-Heart).
Is it because the
WWF's Raw is Jeric...uTriple H..War is only 2 hours,
compared to Nitro's 3?
Well, there is SmackDown!, Superstars,
Heat....the list goes
on and on of WWF programming, and that's not
counting the hours of
Webcasts they have. Personally, the WWF's on
television more than
CNN. Finally, I came to an epithany--my girlfriend
was getting tired of
my constant jabbering about wrestling. So, I took
one last look at the
WWF, and realized why its tops. The target
audience for wrestling
are 18 to25 males, and being an 18 to 25 male, I
see that the WWF
provides us with three things we love the most--Blood,
Beer, and (homina)
Breasts (Ironically enough, those three are what I
really majored in at
college).
Remember, this is the
demographic that made Jerry Springer a higher
rated show than
Nightline. The rallying cry of this demographic is
"Give us Hooters, or
give us another program to watch!" Don't believe
me? Ask my girlfriend,
who got a glimpse of the magazines I read for
the "articles". With
those three things, WWF has climbed on top of the
heap.
So, what does this
teach us? Well, simply, if Monday Night Football is
sooo worried about Raw
taking away their ratings, instead of Dan
Dierdorff, Frank
Gifford, and Al Micheals--Give us the Swedish Bikini
Team. Who cares who's
playing, let us see the.....ahem......Color
Commentators. What a
pair. Someone pass
the bud…
===========================================
IN RESPONSE TO
STRAIGHT SHOOTING
Written by reader:
Mike Rose (DKR122)
I would like to
respond to Fritz Capps commentary in issue # 285, I
loved his ideas and
suggestions on how he would have redone Nitro,
Fritz has more
creativity in one hand then all the WCW writers put
together. However, he
was way off the mark when it came to comments
concerning Bret Hart.
Saying that Bret needs to accept his brothers
death and move on was
very insensitive. It has only been a few months
since the accident
happened, the pain for some people doesn't go away
that fast. In time,
Bret will learn to come to terms with what
happened, but that is
what it is going to take..... TIME. Now, with
all the defections
that WCW is experiencing , why don't they open the
door and throw out the
ones that they really don't need? Like Ernest
The Cat Miller!!!!!
~Mike Rose DKR122
===========================================
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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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