Issue # 326
Date:
Sunday September 26th, 1999 7:02 pm
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Flair deserves WCW reins
Sunday, September 26,
1999
By Mike Mooneyham
Last week in this
space I offered a suggestion as to how WCW might
begin its rebuilding
process in the post-Eric Bischoff era. Turner
Sports president
Harvey Schiller could make no better move than to name
Ric Flair as company
president. New executive vice president Bill Busch
already has
implemented a number of measures to trim the company fat,
but WCW also needs a
leader to point the company in a new creative
direction.
No one is more
deserving of the position than Flair. He always has been
WCW's "go to" guy, the
one individual who cares enough about the
company to carry it on
his back and stick with it through thick or
thin, often to the
detriment of his own reputation. It now seems only
fair that he
officially be asked to take the reins of WCW - not as a
president whose hands
are tied and who allows his top stars to dictate
the direction of the
company, but as a president who has complete
control over the
creative aspects of the organization and can provide
strong leadership.
The chore will be far
from easy. Pay-per-view buyrates, television
ratings, merchandising
and house show attendance have steadily
declined. Morale has
been at an all-time low. The company has been in a
state of chaos for far
too long.
Long-term planning has
been almost nonexistent, with the company
looking for hotshot
angles and quick fixes, most recently evidenced by
the turns of Hulk
Hogan, Lex Luger and Sting, none of which should have
any long-term impact
on the ratings.
Unlike Bischoff, Flair
realizes that a new leader cannot be influenced
by the personal
agendas of other wrestlers, nor can the wrestling
product be camouflaged
by bringing in celebrity athletes, television
personalities or rock
acts.
Shawn Michaels may
have put it best when he recently said on a WWF Web
site audio interview:
"Kevin (Nash) went (to
WCW) for the money and he makes no bones about
that. He doesn't have
it in his heart when he's there. He had it in his
heart here, and that
is something the WWF brings out of you because
only in the WWF is it
anybody's ball game. Down there, its decided
when you come in the
door where you're going to be at. That's one
reason I never wanted
to go."
Michaels added that
Nash joked about becoming WCW booker and giving
himself the title
because, as Nash explained, "Hey, when its your
movie, you get to
write the ending." Michaels said "you've got too many
guys sown there, going
into their contracts, who are saying 'I want
creative control.'
Creative control is just a fancy word for saying, 'I
want to be able to do
this when I want to do it.' You can't have that
in this business. If
you're not willing to listen to somebody else and
take suggestions, you
give your boss limitations on what he can do for
you."
My second suggestion
would be for the company to appoint someone to an
expanded human
resources position. This would not be a mere title, but
a hands-on job that
would address the growing needs and concerns of
those in the business,
including health, morale and family issues.
Never before in the
wrestling profession has there been such an urgent
need for that type of
role.
My recommendation is
an individual who has worked for WCW for the past
three years but has
been greatly underutilized. Ted DiBiase, long one
of the most respected
workers in the business, would be an ideal choice
for the job. DiBiase's
abilities as a communicator and motivator have
been lauded
nationally, but more importantly, though not as publicized,
has been his
willingness to work with wrestlers on a personal level.
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.
===========================================
BACKYARD WRESTLING
Written by reader:
Kathy (KatViolet9)
The Wrestling Booking
Sheet
WBS Issue # 326
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===========================================
NWA 51st ANNIVERSARY
RESULTS
Reported by Jon Massey
(Massey316)
The NWA presented its
51st Anniversary Show live on Saturday night,
September 25th at the
Grady Cole Center in
Charlotte, North Carolina.
The show was held in
front of a few hundred fans and began at
8 pm
Eastern time, and
concluded at about
11:30. The show results:
Triple X defeated The
Sex Pistols
-This was the first
match in the Tag Team Invitational Tournament and
Triple X moved on with
the victory.
Team Extreme defeated
Hard Times (Gene Austin & "Death Dealer" Tommy
Starr)
-This was the second
match of the tournament and Team Extreme moves on
in the
tournament.The Rage
versus "Gorgeous" Michelle Starr & Crusher Carlsen
- No
Contest-Both teams
were disqualified in this matchup and it was then
announced that Team
Extreme and Triple X would meet in the finals of
the tournament for a
World Tag Team Title
shot later in the evening.
Queen's Cup Match:
E.Z. Ryder defeated Sebastian P. Sterling
-This was a
UK versus Canada match and
billed as the first ever
"Queen's Cup"
matchup. EZ got the
pin and the victory.
Team Extreme defeated
Triple X
-Team Extreme faced
Triple X in the finals of the tournament and
defeated them to gain
a World Tag Team Title shot later in the evening.
NWA World Heavyweight
Title Match
Gary Steele defeated
Brian Anthony & Naoya Ogawa
-This was the three
way dance for the NWA World Title. A few minutes
in, Brian Anthony was
eliminated by Ogawa. A few short moments later,
Steele pulled off the
suprising upset to win the title. There was some
controversy after this
one amongst those involved as well as some of
the
Tokyo contigency that was
there in the crowd. It looked to me as
if Ogawa may have
possibly been screwed. This was the first NWA World
Title change since
March of the this year.
Abdullah The Butcher
versus A Local Worker - No Contest
-Abdullah then battled
a local worker and bloodied him up very badly
with a fork. The match
was thrown out and other NWA talent came down
to stop Abdullah but
Abdullah attacked them all with his fork. He
busted up everyone and
the blood flowed until Ronnie Garvin ran out and
made the save and
began brawling with Abdullah. The two bloody men
brawled to the back,
as the show went to intermission.
Junior Heavyweight
"Free For All" (Royal Rumble style battle royal)
-The winner here was
scheduled to get a Junior Heavyweight Title shot
following the Battle
Royal. The order of entrance was: Air Paris,
Buck Quartermaine,
Chris Michaels, Tony Kazina, Gary Royal, Mercury,
Chris Hero, Twiggey
Ramirez, Vince Kaplake, Johnny Moss & Danny
Dominion. The order of
elimination was: Chris Michaels, Buck
Quartermaine, Air
Paris, Mercury, Gary Royal, Johnny Moss, Chris Hero,
Vince Kaplake and
Danny Dominion. Twiggey Ramirez was the victor and he
gets the title shot.
Junior Heavyweight
Title Match
Logan Caine over
Twiggey Ramirez
-The two men battled
for the Junior Heavyweight Title and
Logan got the
victory. After the
match, the two men shook in a show of respect, but
Twiggey turned on
Caine and laid him out cold, before walking out with
the Title belt.
Legends Match: Ronnie
Garvin defeated
Stan Lane
-The two legends
battled with Tommy Young as the referee. During the
match,
Garvin (who played the
face to Lane playing the heel) nailed Lane with
a "hands of stone"
right hand shot to get the pin and the win.
NWA World Tag Team
Title Match: Team Extreme defeated The Brotherhood
-The Brotherhood came
in as the champs and defended against Team
Extreme, but
lost the match and the
titles in doing so, when Team Extreme was
victorious after a
wild brawl between both teams.
The NWA World Title
and World Tag Team Titles changed hands. There was
a
ceremony for legends
such as Tommy Young, Ronnie Garvin, Nelson Royal,
Don
Kernodle, Penny Banner
and others. Wahoo McDaniel, Ricky Steamboat,
Lou
Thesz and Mr.
Wrestling I were all recognized as well. The only
advertised match that
did not occur was the NWA National Title match
featuring Doug Gilbert
vs. Big Don Brody. Also, The Misfits did not
appear on the show.
===========================================
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ADVERTISEMENT
The Empire Wrestling
Federation is a fast growing Independent
California Promotion
owned by Jesse Hernandez and Bill Anderson. On
October 8, the E.W.F.
are in
Concord California with Ted
DiBiase with a
Christian Theme event.
7:00 p.m. start at Mount
Diablo High School
2450 Grant St. Concord,Ca.
Also on the card is Tony Atlas and many
E.W.F. stars such as
Mr. Quick, KrazyK.C. Los Cubanito, Sun Warrior and
many others.
On October 9th look
for the E.W.F. at
San Bernardino High School in
San
Bernardino,
Ca. In action: Big Tim, the actor who starred in Malcolm
and Eddie . Big Tim is
6'9" and 500 lbs. Tony Atlas will also wrestle on
card. On October 16th
E.W.F. will be in Parker, AZ with E. W. F. stars
in action.
7:00 p.m. start.
On October 30th The E.
W. F. will be at Centennial High School in
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time around to Victor
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contract of Rico
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working under Danny Davis and Jim Cornette at Ohio
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a development contract with W. W. F. and working
out of Power Pro.
Wrestling and soon to start on W. W. F. TV.
-Jesse Hernandez
http://www.ewf-wrestling.com/
===========================================
The miser does no one
any good, but he treats himself worst of all.
-Publius Syrus
"I looked into your
eyes and my world came tumbling down"-GH
===========================================
The staff of The
Wrestling Booking Sheet
Editor: Steve
Appy
Columnist:
Mark George
Columnist: SamJerry
Columnist: Fritz
Capp
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Barnes
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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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Copyright- Steve
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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
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after you lose your innocence and believing in the power of
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adult
world." - Bruce Springsteen
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