|
Issue # 318
Date:
Sunday September 19th, 1999 8:08 pm
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Bischoff's position change a
positive step
Sunday, September 19,
1999
By Mike Mooneyham
The first step in
restoring World Championship Wrestling to its former
position of supremacy
has been taken. The Eric Bischoff era at WCW has
come to a merciful yet
long overdue end, but the most important
decisions still lie
ahead.
Turner Sports
president Dr. Harvey Schiller, who oversees WCW, has
promised his
beleaguered crew a new beginning. It certainly won't
happen overnight. A
Canadian newspaper reported last week that Schiller
himself could be
leaving Turner Sports to work for
New York Yankees
owner George
Steinbrenner.
Bischoff, meanwhile,
officially has been reassigned to other duties in
the Time-Warner/Turner
organization. He will be kept out the creative
and administrative end
of the company and is not expected to be allowed
backstage at future
WCW events.
Bischoff has only
himself to blame. He contributed greatly to his
downfall by giving
some of his top stars enormous booking control while
alienating a group of
talented workers mired in meaningless mid-card
programs that lacked
direction. He lost control of the company and lost
the respect of his
crew. He was tough in dealing with his "non-stars,"
while he consistently
caved in to demands of his favorites.
Bischoff's access to
Ted Turner's checkbook and his successful
execution in copying a
similar angle used by the New Japan promotion
(The New World Order)
helped propel WCW to the top of the national
wrestling heap.
Bischoff may have had a vision, but that vision became
blurred as he rested
on his laurels and became increasingly arrogant
and aloof while his
company sank in a sea of disorganization.
"Morale is
rock-bottom," complained one WCW performer before the
change. "The guys in
the back are very negative, and with good reason.
Certain individuals
come in and refuse to do things, and they're
allowed to get away
with it. You need to be able to plan this stuff out
two and three months
in advance like Vince does. We aren't organized.
The company is
spiraling downward and there are no indications of it
going back up."
Harvey Schiller did
what had to be done. Managers and coaches of pro
sports teams are hired
and fired on their win-loss performance. A coach
with the talent
Bischoff had who didn't win (in this case, ratings,
etc.) would have
gotten his pink slip long ago.
WCW must now confront
a number of pressing questions. The most
important one is who,
if anyone, can put out the fire at WCW? Is it too
late? How long will it
take?
Schiller's first move
at restoring stability and getting the company
back on solid
financial footing was to appoint Bill Busch, a longtime
finance head in the
Turner organization, as executive vice president of
WCW. Although Busch
does not have a wrestling background, the job
doesn't require him to
be involved in the creative end of the business.
He will be expected to
play a major role in the strategic planning of
the company and paring
down some of the organization's tremendous
expenses.
While an estimated 18
to 24 wrestlers already are facing layoffs, most
of those performers
are on the lower end of the salary rung and
represent a very small
portion of the WCW budget. Perhaps a wiser move
would be to cut the
contracts of some of the company's deadweight top
talent or simply let
their contracts expire without renewal.
The next step will be
to name a new leader at WCW who can creatively
put the company on a
competitive basis with the WWF and can boost the
morale of the crew at
WCW. The problem is that few inside the company
are qualified to get
WCW out of its current hole. Longtime WCW
television producer
Craig Leathers has assumed Bischoff's end of the
creative duties, but
is not considered a legitimate candidate to run
the company.
Hulk Hogan has
expressed an interest in taking over the all-important
book for obvious
self-serving reasons. Kevin Nash, Kevin Sullivan and
Dusty Rhodes also are
jockeying for position, with a number of cliques
and alliances being
formed as the situation unfolds.
While surely there are
no simple answers and any new strategy would
involve a long-term
approach, I'll offer a few suggestions.
First and foremost,
the company needs at its helm someone who the trust
and respect of the
majority of its performers. WCW has gone through a
number of failed
experiments, from individuals with little or no
wrestling background
(Jim Herd and Kip Frey) to those who just couldn't
fit into the corporate
structure (Ole Anderson and Cowboy Bill Watts).
Ric Flair is not only
a universally revered figure in the wrestling
business, but is an
astute businessman who runs a chain of successful
gyms and has strong
connections in the sports, entertainment and
political fields. He
holds respect not only in the WCW dressing room,
but in the wrestling
business in general. No one knows better than
Flair where the
strengths and weaknesses of the company lie. Put Arn
Anderson in charge of
the booking committee, and you have one of the
sharpest minds in the
industry.
Flair, who returned to
work last weekend after having spent the past
two months sidelined
with back problems, already has been asked to meet
with Schiller to offer
advice on how to better the company. He was
flown in to run WCW's
Baltimore house show the same
day WCW personnel
were notified of
Bischoff's removal. Flair addressed "major changes
that will be made
shortly in WCW" and told the crowd that he was
embarrassed at such a
small turnout at the building, and vowed to "make
WCW number one again."
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.
===========================================
ECW ANARCHY RULZ PPV
REPORT
By Nate Pelley of The
Wrestling Informer. To subscribe to The
Informer, e-mail
twi-newsletter-subscribe for your free subscription
Extreme Championship
Wrestling presented "Anarchy Rulz" tonight live on
PPV.
The event, live from
the
Chicago, Illinois, featured
ECW's top stars in
action. Here are your
complete match by match results:
Match #1: Lance Storm
(with "His Own Personal Bytch" Dawn Marie) vs.
"The
New F'n Show" Jerry
Lynn.
Lance Storm of the
Impact Players began the PPV by taking on one of the
most underrated
wrestlers in the world today, Jerry Lynn.
Lynn and
Storm have had their
battles in the past, and this one was quite
possibly the best
match the two have had. Mid way though the bout the
two did a great chain
wrestling spot where there were at least 10 two
counts in a span of
about 90 seconds.
Lynn was wrestling with taped
ribs, still selling
the injury sustained a few weeks ago at the ECW
Arena by the Impact
Players. After several high impact moves,
Lynn went
for the cradle
piledriver
but Storm reversed it
with a backbody drop. Joey Styles did a great job
of putting over the
fact that
Lynn shouldn't be wrestling
in his
condition, so it was
no surprise in the finish. Storm kicked
Lynn in
the gut and rolled the
man up in a 3/4 nelson to get the pin.
Winner: Lance Storm
Match #2: Simon
Diamond and Tony DeVito vs. Super Nova and Chris
Chetti.
Diamond made his way
out first, making his ECW PPV debut. The former
"Superstar" Lance
Diamond worked the mic, saying no man had the courage
to be
his tag team partner.
He offered the spot to Tom Marquez, but then sent
Marquez back when
Diamond didn't say "Simon says." Finally, Jazz's
music hit as she made
her way out to the ring to team with Diamond.
Simon went on a Jeff
Jarrett-like tear, ripping into Jazz. Simon sent
Marquez after the
Female Phenom, and with in a minute she hit the Jazz
Stinger. Diamond and
Tony DeVito then jumped in the ring and attacked
Jazz, bringing out
Super Nova and Chris Chetti. Nova and Chetti cleaned
house, and a tag match
broke out with Chetti/Nova vs. Diamond/DeVito.
Nova carried the bout
for his team, as Chetti lay on the outside of the
ring injured. Nova
appeared poised to win the battle for his team, when
Danny Doring and Amish
Roadkill (along with Angelica) arrived on the
scene. A huge brawl
erupted, with many ECW mid-carders appearing from
the back. Spanish
Angel, Vito The Skull, C.W.
Anderson, Rod Price,
and others came in to try and break up the mayhem.
Then, to make things
worse, New Jack's music blared and the "Original
Gangsta" brought his
trash can full of weapons to the ring. Jack
cleaned house, helping
out Nova. He even went to far as to put a couple
staples in the head of
Rod Price. New Jack and Nova walked to the back
together.
Winner: No Contest.
Match #3: "The Extreme
Stud" Little Guido (with "The Big Salbowski" Sal
E. Graziano) vs.
Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy, Extreme 3 Way Dance.
Another tremendous
match up between superstars from three countries.
Guido, who is being
heavily hyped as a submission expert in the mold of
his mentor Billy
Robinson, was impressive in the one. With Crazy and
Guido on the outside,
Tajiri hit an asai moonsault onto the two men.
Moments later, it was
Super Crazy hitting a top rope asai moonsault
onto Tajiri and Guido.
The "Japanese Buzzsaw" hung Guido on the tree of
woe, and Crazy went
for a baseball slide, but the FBI member sat up. He
didn't move however,
seconds later when Tajiri nearly knocked him out
with a kick, and then
Crazy hit a moonsault off the top rope to get the
one two three, and
eliminate Guido.
Tajiri and Crazy then
battled once again, reliving their classic bouts
from earlier in the
year. Tajiri went for his trademark brainbuster
three times, but Crazy
escaped time after time. However, when the
insane Luchadore tried
his three moonsault combo, Tajiri raised his
knees into Crazy's
stomach. Tajiri would come to hit the brainbuster in
brutal fashion, and
pick up the win.
Winner: Yoshihiro
Tajiri
Match #4: Justin
Credible (with "Sexiest Man on Earth" Jason) vs. Sabu
(with "The Man Who
Calls it Right Down the Middle" Bill Alfonzo). The
young
sensation Justin
Credible met Sabu in Sabu's "return" after being
suspended
from competing in the
US (even though he has worked several matches
since the
suspension began).
Before the bout, Credible tried to enforce a
restraining order
against Sabu, but the senior referee declared that
"Anarchy Rules" and
the match must take place. Sabu appeared and began
a brutal war with the
former Aldo Montoya. Sabu tried to put Credible
through a table, but
was unsuccessful. However, on the second try,
Credible was crushed
through the wood and metal. With Justin bleeding
profusely, Sabu went
to work. He hit a triple jump moonsault, as well
as a triple jump
legdrop for two counts. However, when Sabu tried to
put Jason through a
table, Credible used his Singapore cane to trip up
the Bombay native.
Credible went for "That's Incredible" the twisting
tombstone piledriver,
but Sabu reversed it. Credible, not to be denied,
reversed the reversal
and hit his finisher. but Sabu escaped! After
battling several more
minutes, the same spot was repeated, only this
time Credible hit the
move on a steel chair, and got the win.
Winner: Justin
Credible
Match #5: ECW World
Heavyweight Champion "The Human Suplex Machine" Taz
vs. Masato Tanaka vs.
"Awesome" Mike Awesome (with Judge Jeff Jones).
Originally slated to
be Taz vs. Tanaka, this one quickly became a three
way dance as well. Taz
was welcomed with chants of "You sold out."
Before the match could
begin, Jeff Jones and Awesome were shown in the
crowd trying to get
involved. Paul Heyman and ECW security held back
Awesome, while Taz
worked the mic. Taz used an obscenity laced shpeel
to goad Heyman into
allowing Awesome into the bout. Finally, Heyman let
the FMW star into the
battle and the match began. Less than five
minutes in, after very
little offense, Tanaka hit his roaring elbow on
Taz, and Awesome
followed it up with a top rope frog splash. Both men
covered Taz... and
pinned him! Taz was eliminated, meaning the winner
of the match would
become the
NEW ECW World Champion!
Tanaka and
Awesome then battled
it out, like they have many times before both in
ECW and FMW in Japan.
Tables, chairs, and a whole helluva lot of
powerbombs were not
enough in this one. After several near falls,
Awesome finally hit
the Awesome-bomb as he tossed Tanaka from the ring
and through a table at
ringside. But, the reigning FMW Champion Tanaka
kicked out at two.
The two men battled
more, with several false finishes keeping the crowd
on the edge of their
seats. Finally, with the entire ECW locker room
looking on from the
ramp, Awesome set up Tanaka on a table. However,
Tanaka caught Awesome
and crotched him on the top turnbuckle, and
attempted a superplex.
Awesome blocked, and it stuck Tanaka's head
down, setting him up
for.. yes, an Awesome off the top rope through a
table. With that move,
and a three count later, Mike Awesome became the
NEW ECW World Heavyweight
Champion!
Taz came back into the
ring afterwards, and presented the belt to the
new champ with a
handshake. Taz then left the ring, as several fans
chanted "Taz, Taz."
The former champion hugged Paul Heyman on the ramp,
and with tears in his
eyes, walked out of an ECW arena for perhaps the
last time. .
Winner: And
NEW ECW World Heavyweight
Champion, Mike Awesome!
Steve Corino talked in
the back about how the Insane Clown Posse were
supposed to be the
mystery team to take on Raven and Tommy Dreamer
tonight. However, ICP
headed back to WCW, thus leaving it to Corino and
Rhino vs. the champs.
Joey Styles ragged on WCW for bringing back ICP,
despite the fact the
clowns tried to screw the company over.
Joel Gertner
interviewed Tommy Dreamer and Francine in the ring.
Dreamer talked about
how he was going to disobey doctors orders, and
wrestle anyway. Corino
and his crew arrived, setting up the title bout.
Match #6: ECW World
Tag Team Champions "Innovator of Violence" Tommy
Dreamer (with "Head
Cheerleader" Francine) & Raven vs. Steve Corino &
Rhino
(with Jack Victory).
Dreamer wrestled most of the match by himself,
until Raven finally
arrived. Raven and Dreamer hit double DDT's on
their opponents,
scoring a pin at the same time. Mancow appeared at
ringside, and headed
to the back with Raven.
Winners: ECW World Tag
Team Champions, Tommy Dreamer & Raven.
Axl Rotten got in the
ring and talked about how he wants to make his
mark in ECW on PPV
tonight. Rotten called out new champion Mike
Awesome, but was
instead met by the Impact Players, Johnny Smith, Dawn
Marie, and Jason. A
brawl erupted, with Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley
coming in to help out
Axl. Johnny Smith took a hard chair shot to the
head, the his friends
bailed out. Axl grabbed the mic again,
proclaiming that Balls
should get the TV title shot now against Rob Van
Dam.
Match #7: ECW World TV
Champion "Mr. PPV RVD" Rob Van Dam (with "The
Man
Who Calls it Right
Down the Middle" Bill Alfonzo) vs. Balls Mahoney
(with Spike Dudley and
Axl Rotten).
Van Dam came out to a
huge pop to take on Balls. The two men battled
back and forth in a
solid bout, with Van Dam controlling much of the
action. Balls came
back, and hit all of his trademark moves, but it was
not enough to put away
Van Dam. However, Balls would not give up. The
Van Daminator was not
enough either, as Balls kicked out at only two.
Even a top rope Van
Daminator later on was good for only a two count.
But finally, it was
RVD hitting his famous top rope 5 Star Frog Splash
and retaining the TV
title with a three count on Balls.
Winner: ECW World TV
Champion Rob Van Dam.
===========================================
Jackal's Winnipeg
Sun/Thunder Bay Chronicle Column
By Don Callis
Courtesy of:
http://freeweb.digiweb.com/sports/thejackal/main.html
Eric Bischoff's name
has graced these pages on numerous occasions in
the past year.
Frequently it seemed like I would find myself waxing
philosophic about what
possible reason Bischoff could have to make the
decisions he did.
Many Tuesday morning
bookers would send me their thoughts via email,
blaming Bischoff for
everything from Benoits lack of push to global
warming. Well, you had
better find a new object of scorn, because
you're not going to
have Eric Bischoff to kick around anymore.
Just over a week ago,
Bischoff was relieved of his duties as WCW head
honcho, and shuffled
within the vast Turner Sports corporate machine to
become the consultant
to big wig Dr. Harvey Schiller.
As the new contenders
to the throne maneuver in the back rooms to try
to snatch power, I
find myself left with a feeling of loss. Say what
you will about Eric
Bischoff, but he changed the wrestling industry as
we know it.
Are you one of the
millions of fans who love the great wrestling
programming we are
treated to on Monday nights? Do you rejoice at the
fact that we often get
to see for free what we previously would have
had to wait until pay
per view to see? Well, you have Eric Bischoff to
thank for most of this
and much more.
Until Bischoff rose
from the ranks of third string announcer to
Executive Vice
President, which at the time was a surprising move, WCW
was like Vichy France
during World War Two, happy to be subservient,
just existing.
Bischoff would change all that. He would go after the
mighty WWF with a
vengeance, luring Hogan away, then Hall and Nash.
He precipitated the
whole Monday night wrestling wars by having the
guts to go head to
head with WWF when most everyone thought it was
going to be a
disaster. Due to the evolution of Nitro and its
subsequent two year
dominance over WWF in the ratings, Vince McMahon
was forced to get more
creative and deliver better television, which
all wrestling fans
have benefited from.
Before Bischoff WCW
was a non-factor. He took the company to number
one, and having won
the battle, got lazy, or disinterested or whatever,
and let the balance of
power slip back to the WWF. We can now only
guess at whether he
would have made good on his recent promise to
propel the company
back to number one.
After hearing about
Vince McMahon becoming WWF champion on SmackDown
this past week, I
couldn't help but wonder if the crowning of himself
as WWF champion was
not symbolic of his final victory over Bischoff.
With Bischoff gone,
the question for WCW now becomes: where do we go
from here, and who is
going to lead us there? And for a company that
has only known success
with Bischoff at the helm, that is a scary
question.
Insider News
ECW presents its
biggest pay per view ever this Sunday. "Anarchy Rulz"
will emanate live from
Chicago, and features many interesting matchups,
including Rob Van Dam
vs. British sensation Johnny Smith, a tag title
defense by Raven and
Tommy Dreamer and Taz defends his world title
against Japanese tough
guy Masato Tanaka...Speaking of Taz, it is
highly likely that he
will find himself in the WWF sometime soon. Taz
is one guy who is
better suited to ECW. Oh well...Chris Benoit found
himself on the
receiving end of some office heat this past week for
telling the world that
Sid tapped out during their PPV match. I wonder
if Randy Savage would
have gotten that same heat in a similar
situation?...Vampiro
has apparently moved back to his hometown of
beautiful Thunder
Bay...Former IWA star Joe E. Legend has been signed
to a developmental
contract with the WWF...Dr. Death Steve Williams
sounded frustrated
last week when he appeared on an internet audio
show. Williams feels
he deserves more of a chance than he has been
given in the
WWF...Giant She-Male Nicole Bass claimed on The Howard
Stern show to be suing
the WWF for 120 million. She claims sexual
harassment- insert
your own joke here...Look for big things from former
IWA star Dr. Luther in
the next few months...Chris Jericho should lose
Curtis Hughes. He
should also ditch Finkel soon...I rocked the house at
the University of
Manitoba this past week, tagging with Kurrgan.
Despite the fact that
the building had to be evacuated half way through
the show, Kurrgan
looked like his old self.....My NHB Wrestling Camp is
getting ready for a
new class starting towards the end of October,
interested parties can
call the office at (204) 488-8785...Email me at
jackal
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
===========================================
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
|
