The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 321

Date: Wednesday September 22nd, 1999 3:47 pm

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

SMACKDOWN SPOILER
At the conclusion of this issue we have this weeks WWF Smackdown
Spoiler, set to be broadcast Thursday on UPN. Remember, if you want to
be surprised, you know what section to skip…

SAMJERRY CUTTING BACK ON HIS SCHEDULE
Longtime columnist SamJerry has made the decision to step down from
writing his very popular RAW & ECW Television Reports. Citing the
advice of his wife, Sam, Jerry has decided to stick exclusively to his
columns.

Having at one time or another written reports on every wrestling show
in existence, I know firsthand how long it takes to prepare TV reports.
Combine that with the humor and detail that Jerry provides and the
chore becomes a huge responsibility. While the Booking Sheet will be
losing something special without the reports, the logic behind Jerry's
decision is very real.

Fortunately, we will still get the opportunity to enjoy Jerry's work on
a regular basis, which is something I'm very pleased about. As Jerry
(through the numerous newsletters and web sites he writes for) is one
of the most read writers on the entire internet, WBS has been fortunate
that the quality of his work is equal to its exposure.

HEROES OF WRESTLING PPV LINEUP
Reported by Dave Scherer at: http://www.1wrestling.com
Here's the lineup for the "Heroes of Wrestling" PPV lineup that will
take place on 10/10:

MAIN EVENT: Yokozuna vs. King Kong Bundy
Jimmy Snuka vs. Bob Orton

Four-Way Tag: Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) vs. Men From Down Under
(Bushwhackers) vs.Tommy Rogers & Marty Jannetty vs. Iron Sheik &
Nikolai Volkoff.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Julio Sanchez
Jake Roberts vs. Jim Niedhart

GORILLA MONSOON SUFFERS MINOR HEART ATTACK
Reported by Dave Meltzer & Rick Samuda at: http://www.wrestleline.com

Gorilla Monsoon suffered a minor heart attack on Sunday; Meltzer says
there may be complications stemming from the attack. Hopefully a speedy
recovery will be in the works…

PLAYBOY'S RESPONSE TO THE WWF'S LAWSUIT
Reported by Mike Samuda at: http://www.wrestleline.com

Playboy's Official Release:
There is no legal basis for the lawsuit which has been brought by the
WWF against Playboy to prevent publication of Playboy's Newsstand
Special entitled "Playboy's Wrestling Superstar: Rena Mero" which is
scheduled for publication in October. The WWF is apparently seeking to
prohibit any publicity for Mrs. Mero which describes her former life as
the wrestling superstar SABLE.

Playboy is well within its legal rights in publishing a newsstand
special devoted to Ms. Mero. The WWF's attempt to prevent Ms. Mero's
fans from getting access to this newsstand special will be vigorously
defended by Playboy and Playboy fully expects the Court to vindicate
its rights to publish the Rena Mero Newsstand Special. Any implication
by the WWF that Playboy's Rena Mero Newsstand Special was done without
Ms. Mero's permissions is false. Any implication that Playboy needed
the WWF's permission to do a Rena Mero Newsstand Special is legally
baseless.
===========================================
STING'S HEEL TURN A LETDOWN
By Steve Appy

WCW gambled when they turned Sting heel. A babyface since 1987, almost
all of WCW's current fans have regarded the heroic Sting as the
foundation of the promotion (The Franchise really isn't a bad title).

Still, the turn obviously was a shock, something the stale product
could use. its something new, and something with potential. What can
be done to make Sting the truly effective heel whom WCW is counting on?

So far there have been obvious miscues. While aligning Sting with Lex
Luger may fit the gang mentality that heels have recently been famous
for, it also makes Sting just another cowardly rulebreaker in the same
mold as Sid, Steiner and Savage. If you're going to tinker with the
formula, go all the way.

Follow Bret Hart's example (in the 1997 WWF), and let Sting use logic
to explain his actions. Start with WCW's 1996 abandonment, and let him
detail all of the times he has been turned on.

Start with Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert, and follow with the Road
Warriors, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, The Giant & Bret Hart
(I'm surely missing several other betrayals).

Let Sting go into Lex Luger's betrayal, which included hiring Cactus
Jack & Abdullha the Butcher with a mission to end Sting's career. Let
Sting detail all of the times Ric Flair betrayed him, and how it
hardened his heart to the world. Remind the world that WCW fans
embraced Hulk Hogan despite some of the more despicable deeds in recent
memory. Make Sting explain why he wants no part of a fickle audience
without a sense of right and wrong.

As Luger is smirking have Sting nail him with the bat, followed up with
the Scorpion. As Luger is tended to by the medics Sting proclaims "I
remember it all, and forgiveness isn't part of the plan".

Follow it up with Sting attacking EVERYBODY, a lone avenger with murder
in his heart. Undercard wrestlers travel in packs because Sting can
strike at any time; every single past enemy of Sting suffers an attack
at one time or another. There is a rhyme & reason, though: Sting's
evil is focused on past enemies, his past tormenters.

Several undercard wrestlers who Sting once feuded with suffer the wrath
of this monster: Barry Windham and Meng are made examples of. A video
with graphics of faces in a target shows us that the destruction of
Flair, Hogan, and Hart is the ultimate goal. These men made Sting
confront the worst of the world, and he feels tortured by the results.

The ironic part is that Sting would eventually become a bigger babyface
than ever; the lone wolf appeals to the fans, and Sting's charisma
would flesh out that role. WCW would break new ground and have an
instantly compelling character on the canvas, leading to his showdown
with Goldberg. Definitely more compelling than the typical heel bully,
which seems to be WCW's current game plan.
===========================================
GIVE US WHAT WE WANT?
Written by reader: Allhomecen

WCW give us what we want! How many times are people going to say this?
To give the fans what they want is ludicrous. It should be "Give us
what we need!". If the fans got what they wanted all we would see is
Austin as the champ fighting whoever.

Considering he has beat everyone (and won't lay down for everybody
else) it gets stale. Hence the current Triple H angle or The Rock vs.
Mankind at the beginning of the year. Now if WCW were to give Benoit
the title how long would it last before the crowd was crying enough.
its like Paul Heyman said to a reporter "Do you want to see Balls and
Axl challenge for the tag titles?" The reporter said yes. Heyman asked
again only to get the same response. The key word is Challenge. If
Balls and Axl win the titles, the feud is gone, the marketing is gone,
and the angle is gone. The same could happen if Benoit won. Besides the
fact that Benoit really isn't today's Champion, but he is getting
there.

Right now WCW should keep him around the US Title and let that play
out. Its the best for the fans and himself. Look at Goldberg, a former
World Champ reduced to fight Sid for the US Title. Why? Because the
fossils won't give up the belt so the feud could be over the World
Title. Which by the way would free up the US title to go to Benoit so
he could do something interesting.
===========================================
SELLING OUT?
Written by reader: Dabigmoo

I have something to say about the Taz selling out topic.

Taz, IMO, is not a sell-out. He stayed w/ the company (ECW) while the
company was reported to be in financial trouble. There were reports of
ECW checks being bounced but still he stayed. Now, ECW has landed a
national cable deal. Now, publications like PWI are recognizing the ECW
title as a world title. Now he leaves. He left at ECW's peak. He didn't
abandon ECW when they were sinking. Same w/ the Dudleys. They stayed
all those years too. I realize that wrestlers have families to feed and
care for so I never consider anybody a sell-out, though if I was hard
pressed into naming some sell-outs they would be guys like Sandman,
Douglas and Raven, among others. Guys who left when
the ship was sinking. Taz stayed on, and now that the ship has righted
itself (for the time being at least); he took his opportunity and moved
on.
===========================================
Please don't lie to me, unless you're absolutely sure I'll never find
out the truth. -Ashleigh Brilliant

"This fool's halfway to heaven, just a mile out of hell, and I feel
like I'm coming home" -Bruce Springsteen
===========================================
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===========================================
SMACKDOWN SPOILER (SKIP IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED)
Reported by Dave Scherer & Joefuss at: http://www.1wrestling.com

Vince McMahon Interview
-Vinny Mac came out and yelled at Triple H. He ordered that he must
face the other five members of the 6-Pac, Kane in an inferno match,
Mankind in a boiler room match, Undertaker in a casket match, The Big
Show in a Choke-slam match, and the Rock in a Brahma Bull Match. He
would have to face them all 1-1. He was ordered that for him to
participate in Unforgiven, he must win 3
of the 5.

Triple H vs. Big Show
-Triple H and Big Show went on in the Choke Slam match. Triple H
attempted to choke Big Show, but he wasn't strong enough. Big Show
preceeded to chokeslam Triple H three times.

X-Pac vs. Mark Henry
-X-Pac faced Sexual Chocolate with D-Low doing commentary at the table.
The match went on for some time. I believe X-Pac won, but what I
remember most is D-Low and Mark Henry getting into a short fight with
Sexual Chocolate throwing D-Low down.

Triple H vs. Kane
-Triple H faced Kane in an inferno match. A short period after the
match started, X-Pac was shown thrown down on the ramp. 'Taker and
Vicera and Midean came out . Kane jumped out of the ring and threw down
Vicera and Midean. However, Kane got his hand caught in the fire, so
Triple H wins. Kane went to chase down 'Taker and help X-Pac. Triple H
is now 1-1.

Jeff Jarrett came to boos since there was no Debra. Ms. Kitty was
there, but no one really cared. I think Jarrett faced someone, but I
forgot who. He ended up beating up some WWF girl employee along the
ring. Chyna came out and hit Jarrett. She put an apron on him and a
frying pan in has hand.

Luna Interview
-Luna challenged Ivory to something, probably something to do with
Unforgiven. We couldn't really hear.

Mankind & Rock vs. New Age Outlaws
-The next thing I remember happening is Mankind and Rock coming out
about facing Triple H. The next thing we now, we here Road Dogg's music
and he comes out!! Then, after him, Bad Ass comes out and the New Age
Outlaws are together again. They challenged Mankind and Rock to the
Tag-Team championship
and Mankind and Rock accepted. They started right there and the New Age
Outlaws were victorious. They did their usual, "if you a don't with DX,
you can suck it" along with the "DeGeneration X proudly presents to
you..." routine.

We saw 'Taker telling Vicera and Midean that he couldn't participate in
the casket match. Later, Vince told Undertaker that if he didn't face
Triple H, he wouldn't be in Unforgiven. 'Taker didn't care so he's not
in the 6-Pac anymore.

Mideon & Viscera vs. Triple H
-Vicera and Midean faced Triple H. Triple H got one of them in the
casket, but Shane came out and said that he had to have both in the
casket. Somehow Triple H lost the match (I had gone to get a t-shirt).
He's now 1-2.

Triple H vs. Mankind
-Triple H faced Mankind in the boiler room match. Mankind ended up
jumping from a wall and he landed about 15 feet short of Triple H. I
think he was pushed by Chyna. It was kind of funny. Triple H got out
of the boiler room first to win the match. He's now 2-2.

The Hollys vs. Al Snow
-The Hollys faced Al Snow I think. Hardcore basically did everything
and the won (I don't really remember that match well)

Chris Jericho vs. Ken Shamrock
-Y2J was then facing Shamrock. A very interesting thing happened here.
Y2J came out in his usual way, wearing a Buffalo Sabres jersey (Brett
Hull and Mike Modano of the Stars were in attendance). He was booed a
lot. However, a WWF employee with headphones on apparently told him
that they hadn't been taping yet. About 5 minutes later, Shamrock
enters and then Y2J comes out, but he doesn't have the fireworks
because they had just used them and I guess they were out. They had to
redo the introduction because someone messed up. So if anyone wonders
why his fireworks didn't go off, that's why. They started the match and
Hughes came out of the crowd to knock down Shamrock.

They showed Vince talking to British Bulldog! Vince told him that he
could take Undertaker's spot in the 6-pac challenge. British Bulldog
also asked if he could be the special guest referee for the Triple
H-Rock match tonight. Vince said sure.

They cut to Heat and the Holly's faced the new Brood. It ended up being
that both teams were counted out, pretty pointless, though Crash and
Hardcore left fighting each other.

The Rock vs. Triple H
-They then went back to Smackdown. Rock entered and then Triple H
entered with Chyna. They started the match. Rock and Triple H fought
and when they were on the ramp, Jeff Jarrett came and hit Chyna and put
her in the apron with the pan. I didn't quite understand why they did
that again. Rock and Triple H fought in the ring and when Rock did the
rock bottom, British Bulldog hit the Rock. Triple H then won the match.
Triple H, Chyna, and British Bulldog were leaving holding hands.

However, Triple H and B.B. decided to go back and rough up the Rock
some more. Then Mankind came out and the Rock and Mankind proceeded to
kick the Triple H's and British Bulldog's
asses. That's when the show ended.
===========================================
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