The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 296

Date: Saturday September 4th, 1999 4:44 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

September 4th, 1999
Jackal's Winnipeg Sun/Thunder Bay Chronicle Column
By Don Callis
Courtesy of: http://freeweb.digiweb.com/sports/thejackal/main.html

I often watch Nitro on a Monday night in the same manner that someone
watches a car wreck. You know you shouldn't look but you just can't
help yourself.

Actually, I watch because while I know that Raw will likely follow the
same, albeit entertaining formula, with Nitro I am encouraged by the
possibility that I will see something different, something desperate
that will finally be the thing that turns the fortunes of the company
around.

This week, through the morass of Evan Karagias matches and the First
Family
run-ins, a glimmer of hope. BERLYN.

The Berlyn gimmick debuted so perfectly, that if I didn't know better,
I would have thought I was watching WWF. Berlyn is of course, the
former Alex Wright, brought back in a fantastic new gimmick that has a
big league feel and seems destined for a top spot.

Coming out with his euro-trash interpreters, Berlyn had more heat than
anyone on the card. Speaking perfect German was a nice respite from the
pseudo-rap trash talking that we are usually plagued with on wrestling
broadcasts. The fact that Berlyn is an excellent technical wrestler
(his father was one of the all time great pure technicians) and a
legitimate tough guy will only serve to mold him into top talent. That
is, of course, if the office lets him.

The point has been made that instead of challenging Buff Bagwell, it
would have made the superior german technician seem more important if
he had challenged Hogan or Savage. In a perfect world Berlyn could have
been promoted by WCW like Chris Jericho was by WWF, but alas, this is
WCW, so don't hold your breath.

Which brings me to the Revolution guys. Four great workers who
collectively are currently a disaster. Their whole gimmick is that
they've been held down for too long and will not accept anything less
than the top spots that their talent warrants. So what do they do? Get
involved in a feud with the lower mid card legends, the First Family.
Who cares? No one.

Benoit is the most talented guy in the company, and this feud along
with a potential upcoming job to Sid may just be enough to kill him off
with the fans. Saturn and Malenko should be a tag team, period, and
Shane Douglas is one of the best heel interviews in the business, so
naturally, they have him play the part of the Revolutions head
cheerleader, a role he is ill-suited for.

Berlyn and the Revolution have the potential to mean a turnaround for
WCW, but its all up to the guys with the pencil, and if that makes you
a tad cynical, well, I guess you're finally catching on.

Insider
Check out my pal Mark Madden's website at www.markmadden.com, I write
an exclusive piece for him and his views are always
entertaining...Don't expect Ric Flair back in WCW anytime soon,
retirement is a looming possibility...Konnan's future with WCW remains
in doubt due to his outspoken comments...Kidman is also in the
doghouse, after asking for his release to go to WWF...You can see me at
the University of Manitoba on Monday, Sept. 13th at 1.30 pm at
University Centre for an IWA show featuring the Seven Foot 350 pound
Kurrgan...Kurrgan and I will be doing an autograph session at the
Uptown Bowling Lanes on Academy at 7pm on Friday Sept 10th......

You can catch Jackal every Sunday on the NHB (No Holds Barred)
Wrestling Call In Radio show from 6-7pm live from the Pony Corral on
Grant on 92 Citi FM. Also watch him on ECW Wresting on TNN every
Friday from 7-8pm.

Cyrus (formerly known as the...)
Jackyl
===========================================
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THE ROSS REPORT
"Until you've walked a mile in my hat...you only know half the story!"
-- Jim Ross
By Jim Ross
Sept. 3, 1999
Courtesy of http://www.WWF.com

Stone Cold Steve Austin's rehab for his injured knee is progressing
very well and it is estimated that Stone Cold will be able to return to
the ring in mid-October according to Health South medical personnel in
San Antonio. The Rattlesnake is really pushing himself in a very
aggressive rehab program for his torn PCL ligament. Even though Austin
will not be released medially to wrestling until mid-October, I fully
suspect Stone Cold to be inAlbany, New York Tuesday for the taping of
the September 9 SmackDown! on UPN. I have spoken to Steve several times
this week, and I have every reason to believe that he will be a big
part of the next SmackDown! Stay tuned.

Austin will be a guest on The Martin Short Show to be taped in L.A. on
Wednesday, September 15. Air date has yet to be determined.

Not only will Stone Cold be at the MTV Music Awards Show as a
presenter, but the Undertaker and The Big Show have also been invited
to be guests at the annual mega-event on Thursday, September 9 in NYC.

The Road Dogg is set to return to action in early October as a result
of his altercation with Chris (Y2J) Jericho. The Road Dogg and Mankind
recently shot new commercials for Jakks toys. Road Dogg merchandise is
really doing great, also.

Test is really in demand for commercial work in Toronto. Don't be
surprised if this young man becomes Canada's favorite wrestling in the
next few years. The 6' 6" athlete has extraordinary potential… and he's
young!

I'm going to be writing the foreword for Mick Foley's book this weekend.

The Rock will face Triple H in a Steel Cage Match in the UK on October
2. This is a non-title contest that will be seen on Sky Box Office from
the sold-out National Indoor Arena. Expect the British Bulldog to be a
part of this event also.

Chris Jericho just keeps getting better and better. The WWF is very
fortunate to have signed such a young performer blessed with not only
talent, but character as well.

The Dudleys made quite an impact in their debut on SmackDown! last
Thursday thanks to some lumber. The 2x4-weilding former ECW tag
champions have excellent potential. However, Buh Buh Ray and D-Von will
be challenged to continue to improve and become better than they've
ever been. Expectations are high for this duo and I think they will get
it done.

The WWF will do a date at the Oklahoma State Fair on Thursday, Sept.
23. The Oklahoma City event will be headlined by Kane, among others.

Sign Guy Dudley was never offered a contract in the WWF, for the record.

I'm happy Michael Cole is announcing on SmackDown! Hopefully, The King
will be replaced in the next few weeks, too. Seems to me SmackDown!
will be better in the4 long run with separate announcers from RAW. I
think Kevin Kelly could become an excellent analyst, if given the
opportunity. Just my two cents…

Oklahoma Sooner football is one of my passions and new coach Bob Stoops
is going to do a super job!

Test and Tori are not dating.

Expect a huge announcement regarding the WWF Title match for Sept. 26's
Unforgiven either Monday night on RAW 11E/10C/9P or Thursday on
SmackDown! My sources tell me that several opponents are in line to
challenge Triple H for the WWF Title.

No return date has been set for Thrasher's (Glenn Ruth) full-time
return to the ring. It all depends on how quickly Glenn can get himself
physically ready to go after getting out of shape during his knee
surgery and rehab. I hope Glenn succeeds because it would be a shame if
he doesn't.

Oh, man I can smell that BBQ sauce cooking as we speak! I guess I need
more hobbies because as you can tell, I'm pretty damned excited about
my sauce! Hopefully, it will be on grocery store shelves in January. It
will be so good you won't be able to sit still and eat it.

I'm not too crazy about musical concerts at wrestling events, angles
with animals, incoherent promos, paranoid veterans who stifle the
growth of young competitors or matches with cheap endings. I realize I
just dated myself so does that make me an old-timer?

My sincere thanks to all of you for spending some time reading this
stuff and for all your support as I continue to overcome my facial
paralysis due to Bell's Palsy. Your support is a wonderful reward of
the business we all love. Take care.

J.R.
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ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
ECW HARDCORE TV PROGRAM - SEPTEMBER 3, 1999, PHILADELPHIA, PA

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

The program began with ECW Owner Paul Heyman in a voice over announcing
"Late Breaking News," of Raven's return to ECW. As he spoke we saw
Raven and Tommy Dreamer in the rings moments after they won the ECW Tag
Team Titles from The Dudley Boyz. Francine was in the ring trying to
figure out why Raven would help Dreamer, since they had been mortal
enemies.

After the ECW opening, Announcer Joey Styles was in the ring and
welcomed the crowd to a chant of "ECW." He said the next PPV, Anarchy
Rulz is in two week, on September 19, 1999, from Chicago. He then
introduced Taz, ECW Champion. Taz came to the ring as short clips from
his matches ran. He will defend the Title against Masato Tanaka at
Anarchy Rulz. Short clips of Tanaka ran. Taz called Tanaka bad, but
will make him bleed, and force him to tap out to The TazMission. He
then went into a rip on Hogan as he said he wasn't some 50 year old
wearing yellow and red. The crowd joined him in dissing Hogan, as he
said it wasn't 1989 anymore. He then got on Triple H also, saying they call
themselves Champions, but he (Taz) is The Real World Champion. He next
said he remembers his roots: 1. He is from the Red Hook section of
Brooklyn, NY, and 2. From South Philadelphia.

He (Taz) has been in ECW six years and saw others come and go, but he
stuck it out. Next he turned his guns on "the guys in the back" who
bitch to Heyman that they don't want to work with him because he
wrestles "stiff," but Tanaka won't cry and he likes that. At this point
some fan got on his case and he invited him into the ring, saying he
would kill him. The fans shut up and hid. He said he lived by the rule
"Kill or be killed, " and closed with his tag line "Beat me if you can,
survive if I let you." Much of the stuff Taz said was bleeped, and I
don't mean an occasional word.

Joey talked about the history between Tommy Dreamer and Raven. We saw a
short clip of a match between them. We will see many more throughout
the show.

The first match pitted Uganda v. Tom Marquez. Uganda is a 400 pounder,
who looks like Kamala and wears paint like him. Marquez is not quite 21
years old. That should set the scene for the massacre we were about to
witness. To call this a match is like calling Jena Jamison a virgin. It
began with Uganda raking Marquez' eyes, choking him on the ropes, Irish
whipping him off the ropes into a massive Shoulder Block, a Head Butt,
some more eye gouging, and an Irish Whip into a corner. Marquez avoided
Uganda charging in and Uganda hit the corner. This gave Marquez a
chance to go on the offensive. He did with a Springboard Missile Drop
Kick, followed by his imminent demise. Uganda hit him with a
Clothesline (from beyond Hell) and set him nicely in a corner, where he
squished him like a cockroach. He drop a leg on him, but pulled him up
from a possible pin. Uganda then clobbered him with a Senton Splash and
again pulled him up from a pin. At this point Marquez was there in body
only. He might just as well have been anywhere else. Next up was a
Flying Frog (or Elephant) Splash that got us our first "Oh, my G-d"
from Joey. Mercifully, Uganda put Marquez out of his misery and pinned
him.

Winner - Uganda - Was there ever a doubt?
Winner - Marquez' wife &/or mother - they got him back still breathing;
at least I think he was ... It was hard to tell as he was flatter than
the first girl I ever dated

Next we saw another clip of the Raven / Dreamer feud. This one was from
a match held April 5, 1995. Beulah McGillicutti, who at the time was
Raven's girlfriend, was in the ring and in Dreamer's face. He Power
Bombed her. Joey talked some more about the feud and Beulah's
involvement.

The next match pitted former tag team partners and friends, Ballz
Mahoney v. Axl Rotten. Each brought a Steel Chair, manufactured by The
Acme Table and Steel Chair company, Division of The Acme Corporation,
to the ring with them. The crowd chanted "Ballz" and "Axl" as each was
introduced. They also did the "Ballz has Ballz" song. Joey talked about
how they were a team and forced to split as a result of a Stipulation
("The" word, again) of losing their final attempt at the Tag Team
Titles to The Dudley Boyz, and made to fight each other. The crowd
loved both. They shook and the match began with them trading punches.
After each punch Ballz hit, the crowd chanted "Ballz," and after each
punch Axl hit, the crowd chanted "Axl." Joey said he could sit back and
let the crowd announce the match at this rate. Ballz hit a Scoop and
Slam, but missed a New Jersey Jam. He will be standing for all his
meals for a month. Axl hit Ballz and the action went to the floor. Axl
Irish Whipped Ballz into the guard rail and got a pair of scissors. He
jammed the scissors into Ballz face and blood began to pour out. He
then gouged it into Ballz head, and more blood. Joey called Axl a SOB
for doing it, saying they are friends and imagine what they would do to
each other if they didn't like each other. They got back in the ring
and faced off with each other with their chairs as New Jack made his
way to the ring with his garbage can full of toys, all made by various
Acme Companies. The match became a Three Way Dance as New Jack joined
the fun. He hit Ballz with a garbage can cover, pulled out a Spike and
gouged Ballz in the head with it. Not wanting Axl to feel left out, New
Jack did a Spike job on him and more blood flowed. The crowd chanted
"New Jack." He returned to Ballz and ripped into his face and head with
the Spike.

At this point we went to a commercial and another chance to but every
tape ECW ever made, along with a few dozen T-shirts.

When we got back, things had changed as Ballz nailed New Jack with The
Nutcracker Suite, pinned and eliminated him. We were back to Ball v.
Axl. Axl nailed Ballz with a chair shot to the head (No. 7,883,
Unofficial Count). Ballz asked for more and got No. 7,884, but didn't
go down. This got us a "My G-d" only from Joey. The crowd chanted "One
more time." With fans like that. Ballz don't need enemies. Axl didn't
want to do it, but obliged with No. 7,885 as Ballz insisted. It put
Ballz down on one knee. He got back up and took No. 7,886. Axl tried
for a pin but Ballz kicked out. Axl pleaded with Ballz to stay down,
but Ballz has Balls (but not a brain) and refused. Axl put the garbage
can over Ballz head, and you got it, No. 7,887. This got us a full "Oh,
my G-d." Ballz was down and the referee stopped the match. He raised
Axl's hand as Ballz got up. It looked like he was going to continue,
but instead embraced Axl. Axl called for the Ballz song and got it.
They are back as tag team partners. See what a few chair shots can
accomplish. The crowd sang along with "Ballz has Ballz" as they raised
their hands together.

Winner - Axl Rotten - He bled less
Loser - Ballz Mahoney - 7,000 too many chair shots to the head
Loser - The Philadelphia Red Cross - Will need several pints for each
Loser - The local Emergency Room - Both will need a lot of stitching
Winner - Fans of Hardcore

Joey mentioned many of ECW's major feuds: Super Crazy/Tajiri, Jerry
Lynn/ Rob Van Dam and Sabu/Taz, but none compared to the Raven/Dreamer
one. We then saw clips from several of their matches to a music video,
"Smells Like The Spirit," by Nirvana. It included Stevie Richards, who
was Raven's follower. They fought with all kinds of things including a
Pole, and a Frying Pan. They went into the crowd, fought backstage, in
the locker room and at a party.

Next up was a clip from June 19, 1995. It picked up a match involving
Luna and Beulah, with Richards involved as well. Richards hit Luna and
Beulah pinned her. Beulah nailed Luna with a DDT and stomped her.
Dreamer came in to stop the carnage. Raven came in and DDT's Tommy and
snapped one of his fingers. This got an "Oh, my G-d" from Joey. He then
DDT'd Luna and snapped another of Tommy's fingers.

From there we went to a match from January 4, 1996. Richards was in the
ring with Joey and Beulah. He wanted to kiss her, but she was having no
part of it. He wanted to know if it was because she was Raven's
girlfriend. She screamed at him "No, I'm pregnant." Raven raced in and
yelled at her about taking the pill every day, calling her an idiot for
forgetting. She screamed back "its not yours, its Tommy's." With than
Tommy ran in and jumped Raven. They went to the floor and Tommy nailed
Raven with a chair shot and threw him into the guard rail. He got a
metal sign from a fan that read "Tommy, Use my sign." He did ... on
Raven's head, followed by one with a Stop Sign, a DDT. He then wiped
Raven out with a Pile Driver on the metal sign. Tommy and Beulah
hugged. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. Wrong! This is EC-F'N-W,
not WCW or the WWF.

Joey talked about Dreamer costing Raven the ECW Championship in a match
v. Terry Funk. In a clip from June 7, 1997, Dreamer hit Raven with a
DDT and pinned him.

Steve Corino was in the ring with Yoshohiro Tajiri. He called Tajiri
the most overrated wrestler ever. Tajiri doesn't speak English so
didn't have a clue what Corino was saying. Corino said that two weeks
ago, he promised the people that Tajiri would defeat Taz for the ECW
Championship, but he failed to do so. He then rattled off a list of
sterotypical reasons why he hates the Japanese. All the time Tajiri
stood by smiling. Corino said "I hate you" to Tajiri, and hit him.
Tajiri understood that and was set to retaliate, however, Rhino, Jack
Victory and Super Crazy, who was set to wrestle Tajiri came in and kept
them apart.

Tajiri blasted Crazy. It was all a setup by Corino to get Crazy. As
Crazy lay on the mat, Corino said the best wrestlers come from Japan,
and the worst from Mexico. They left Crazy in the ring as they
departed. Crazy got up and went to the top turn buckle and hit the
whole bunch of them with a Plancha. He threw Tajiri back in and the
match got underway. Crazy hit a Springboard Drop Kick and a chant of
"Crazy" rang out. Tajiri hit a Springboard Side Kick and a series of
Buzzsaw Kicks to Crazy's head. Tajiri argued with the crowd, allowing
Crazy time to recover. They exchanged punches. Tajiri hit a Drop Kick
to Crazy's knees. He threw Crazy out into the crowd and nailed him with
an Asai Moonsault. Back in the ring and Tajiri missed a Missile Drop
Kick. Crazy put him in a corner and pounded him as the crowd counted to
ten in Spanish. Tajiri was glad they couldn't count past ten. Tajiri
came back with a Handspring Elbow and applied a Full Nelson. He then
got Crazy into a Fireman's Carry type position, whirled around with
him, and delivered a German Suplex. Crazy reversed an attempt at a
Brain Buster, turning it into a Power Bomb. He pinned Tajiri for the
win.

Winner - Super Crazy
Loser - Steve Corino - By definition
Winner - The fans of fast moving matches with aerial moves

It should be mentioned that Joey hyped ECW's September and early
October House Shows several times. If he didn't, Heyman would have been
PO'd.

The program closed on that note.
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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

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"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