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Vandy! (September 1996)

 

Beer!  (February 2006)

Issue # 334

Date:  Saturday October 2nd, 1999  10:04 am

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

NITRO TRIBUTE TO OWEN HART
Reported at: http://www.wcw.com
With Nitro live at the Kemper Arena this Monday night, WCW is putting
on a match that has the potential to be legendary. Below is the
statement directly from WCW.Com:

"At the request of Bret Hart, WCW officials are highlighting a tribute
match to Owen Hart at Monday Nitro in
Kansas City. The match will
feature the best two Canadian wrestlers in the world – Chris Benoit and
Bret Hart. The match will take place in the building where Owen Hart
suffered his tragic death earlier this year."

I imagine that they will be given the time to put on a classic; Owen
did briefly wrestle for WCW in 1991, and it would be a classy move to
show some footage (I remember that he did go over Bobby Eaton several
times).

With any luck WCW will avoid commenting on the WWF, and will hopefully
keep the focus positive, and directly on Owen. Petty (even if they are
correct) comments about the WWF's handling of the situation will
undermine the classy idea behind the show.

DAVE MELTZER INTERNET RADIO SHOW
Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer revealed an exciting new project
in this past weeks issue. Starting Monday, October 4th, Meltzer will
host a live call-in radio show over the internet (similar in format to
WCW Live). Broadcast on Eyada.Com,
the show will be daily (Monday-Friday) from 6:00 PM-8:00 PM EST
(3:00-6:00 on the West Coast).

Meltzer is the top wrestling journalist in the world; I'm hoping that
this venture will expose his viewpoint to the internet fans that all
too often haven't been exposed to The Observer. I hope all of you will
give the show a chance, it promises to be interesting. Find it at:
http://www.Eyada.com

BRET HART'S CALGARY SUN COLUMN
Bret Hart posted some comments about Davey Boy Smith & Monday's Nitro
in his October 2nd Calgary Sun column. While I share many of his
opinions on the subject, I also feel that he should not publicly
address it any longer. Here's the portions regarding Smith & Nitro:

"Speaking of dreams, when I heard the British Bulldog expounding on
how it was his dream to come back to wrestling in honor of my brother,
Owen, I had no idea he was going to go back to fight girls. I don’t
watch the WWF shows but I heard he got beat up by a girl on Monday, or
something like that and if that’s the case I guess I should wish Davey
the best of luck winning the ladies titles. I don’t know what to think
of this anymore than anyone else but it does seem to explain this
really funny photo that someone passed on to me. I’m assuming maybe it
must be Davey’s latest publicity shot. At least I hope that’s what it
is. I like the braids.

I don’t approve of anyone who says they’re doing something to honor my
brother, Owen when it turns out they stand to gain from it either
financially or through publicity. If you want to honor my brother, do
it selflessly, with Owen in mind.

That’s why when WCW told me they’re doing a Nitro show this Monday in
the same arena where Owen was dropped to his death, a show that was
scheduled long before any of this happened, I had to think long and
hard about what my role should be. I’ve put a lot of soul searching
into how to best honor my brother in a way that would be clearly seen
by anyone as tasteful. They told me I didn’t have to be there at all
but that seemed to me to be slighting Owen’s memory. Besides, why
shouldn’t I be there for the fans in Kansas City? The more I thought
about it the more I realized this is something you decide with your
heart more than your head. I came up with
something that I think anyone who loves wrestling will appreciate and
will understand it for what it is.

The thing is ....no matter how hard I try not to, I know I will be
compelled to look up. And that will be one of the hardest things I’ve
ever done in my life. By far, this will be the single most important
time I’ve ever climbed into the ring. I will try my best to do my
brother proud. I hope my best is good enough. I dedicate this Monday
night to you, Owen, and to those who loved you."

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 10/1 ROSS REPORT
Ross claims that the WWF has had no conversations with Madusa in quite
some time about returning; he said that the WWF has not negotiated with
Yokozuna, though there could be interest if he got his weight under
control; Kimona Wanalaya has not signed with the WWF nor has she spoken
with anyone who can offer her a full-time contract. The odds of her
coming in are slim; Vic Grimes may be loaned to ECW; Taz won't be
joining the WWF until after January 1st;

ONLINE VINCE RUSSO INTERVIEW
Ben Miller has conducted a must-read interview with WWF writer Vince
Russo. One of the more influential figures in the industry, his views
are shaping the industry, for better or for worse.

I personally disagreed with many of his conclusions; check it out and
decide for your yourself. The transcipt can be found at:
http://www.wrestleline.com

Q & A CORRECTION
When we listed many of the Doinks, we neglected one very prominent one.
Ray Apollo donned the clown gear immediately after Matt Bourne vacated
the role...
(My thanks to Sal)
===========================================
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===========================================
"Straight Shooting"
By : Fritz Capp (pwbts)

October 1, 1999
PWBTS 2000
http://pwbts.com

Well everyone who loves to trash and bash get your e-mails open because
this week your gonna have a lot to say.

WCW.com is reporting that Bret Hart has requested a special "tribute"
match in memory of Owen Hart, coincidentally in the very same building
that Owen died in earlier this year. Now I think that is great, a true
way to once again remember Owen Hart, right? Well it would be if Bret’s
wishes didn’t once again show the utter hypocrisy of both Bret Hart and
WCW. You see, if Bret and company would have just kept their mouth shut
as far as saying that the WWF did their Owen tribute just to increase
their ratings everything would be fine. But neither did so. Every time
that they do something to promo something on Nitro using Owen’s name it
just rings that little alarm in my head saying, "ummm...aren’t you
doing the same thing right now?" I am sure that Bret is going to go
through many emotions when he walks into Kemper Arena and I understand
how he feels, truly I do. He is not the only person to lose a family
member. And my sympathies have always gone out to the Hart family
because the loss of Owen was tragic and needless, but it was an
accident and no one entity should be blamed for it.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Bret, in his infinite wisdom,
should learn to keep his mouth shut on certain things because they
always seem to come back and bite him, especially when it comes to Owen
and ratings. This is now twice Bret has allowed WCW to use Owen’s name
for ratings or to draw viewers since Owen passed away. Keeping the
memory alive is one thing, allowing and hoping this will bring viewers
is another. I can imagine the outcry if the WWF every 4-6 weeks found a
way to mention Owen.

This past week I went haywire posting around the new Playboy cover
featuring Rena Mero. I have come to find out that at that particular
time I was one of the very elite who had it. I got it in my mail. The
person who scooped the Internet on that was Georgiann Makropoulos.
Since I got it in my mail I really didn’t know that at the time or I
would have given Georgie credit in my posts. Anyway I saw that NO ONE
had it and I posted it around as I said above. Only this time, (and
this is one of the very few times I did this) I didn’t put the pic on
the boards, I kept it on my site and directed people there. Now as I
see it this is done hundreds of times everyday, this is not something
new to the Internet, in fact scores of reporters do that, even on my
site. Well one newsboard dropped me because I did that. After all the
news I have provided for them they got all pissy because for once I did
something to promo my site. Awww....what I saw was funny was that they
deleted my post and another one replaced it with the picture. Talk
about little kids. So to all the people who read the top-rope newsboard
and are wondering where I am, that’s what happened. (I was going to
trash the juveniles but why?...they probably wouldn’t get it anyway)

I am trying to figure out where some of you utter morons get your
wrestling news? Did you get it out of your favorite cereal box? Maybe
someone in school is related in someway to your neighbor who has a
friend who knows someone who is the second cousin twice removed from
the janitor who used to work for the company who picks up the trash
next door to the advertising firm who used to do the ads for a small
indie promotion? I mean come one, in the past couple of weeks while
browsing the boards I have seen that Jimmy Hart died, Road Dog was out
of the WWF because of a drug suspension, people are leaving their
company although they have contracts, people are signing contracts
although they have never even contacted or been contacted by anyone. It
is all so mind boggling it isn’t funny. What really gets me is a lot,
and I mean a lot, of this crap is taken as factual news and it shows up
everywhere. Now I have to say that save the very very very few people
on here who actually work for a promotion (and even their news is
suspect because they are told what they can say and what they cannot)
almost every person on the net in nothing more than a read and paste or
cut and paste artist. The PWBTS site has a former wrestler, a current
wrestler, two referees, an announcer and people who have been around
the business longer than most of you have been alive. Think about it.

A lot of whining and crying came out of the NWA-New Jersey promotion on
Thursday due to a piece that Dan Moreland wrote on the PWBTS site. It
basically mocked last years Eddie Gilbert Memorial debacle where Dennis
Corralluzo and The Gilbert family had a screaming match with some fans
at ringside during the "plaque presentation" part of the show. In fact
Dennis himself called me up trying to "hold me responsible" and tried
to strong arm me into taking the post down. What a hoot! Dennis tried
to talk to me about credibility. Who is this guy to even mention that
word? Just check into some of the things that Dennis has been involved
in. Can we say "Charity Show" Dennis?

Two so-called "big names" on the Internet are once again working the
fans pretending to be fighting hoping that people will grab this and
run with it thus getting their name mentioned all over the Internet.
How sad is this? I will not ever understand how these two overweight
jobrones could ever be considered credible considering how many times
they have "worked" all of you. But then again, maybe you like it like
that huh?

A lot of people are trashing the 20 minute piece that the Rock and
Mankind did on Raw. Personally I loved it but then again I do not hide
the fact that I am a "Foley" mark. While I hope the WWF does not
continue this as it should be just a one shot deal I fear that since it
garnered an 8.4 rating for that quarter hour we will be subject to
another attempt at this kind of programming which I feel will be a big
mistake.

Speaking on that for a second though I have a question, "How much is
the WWF product going to suffer when Vince actually starts to get into
television programming and making movies like he is positioning his
company to do? I remember when Paul Heyman went more into production
instead of booking and the results were two years of dismal ECW
product. Will the same thing happen when Vince does this? Give me your
opinions and I’ll print some next week in this column (send your
thoughts to pwbts, do not hit reply).

Do the WCW cruiserweights kick ass or what? I now realize why Bischoff
and the top guys would never really allow these guys to get air time or
would just have them squashed. Because they make the top names in the
fed look like horse crap in comparison that’s why. Give me a night of
Kidman, Benoit, Malenko, Mysterio, Psychosis, Juventud and the rest
anytime over DDP vs Hogan.

I hope that Vince doesn’t do to Taz what he is doing to The Dudley’s.
Vince is killing them with the stupid stuttering gimmick. Here we have
one of the top ECW tag teams ever and they can’t even beat the
Acolytes. This feud is generating no heat whatsoever in my opinion. Get
rid of the stuttering, Bubba Ray can rip a crowd apart and generate a
lot of heat if you would let him.

Eric Kulas is suing ECW again? While it is true that New Jack cut this
guy open so bad that the blood flowed from his head like a gushing
fountain and poured out like running stream (you have to see the tape
to believe this) Kulas has to realize that this is going to be another
failed attempt. My guess it is to keep his name in the limelight so to
speak because I highly doubt he is going to get a dime and I cannot
imagine a promoter wanting to touch this kid with all these lawsuits.

What do you think of when you think of the NWA? Sold out Tokyo shows?
The Four Horsemen showing people why they were the true force in the
business? Magnum T.A. doing a perfect belly to belly suplex on his
opponent? Ric Flair showing you why he was "Space Mountain"? For those
of you who remember this once great promotion send in to me in some of
your fondest memories. Try not to have them too long as I am looking to
have them in upcoming issues of "Straight Shooting". In fact if I get
enough of a response I’ll make a special section in "Straight Shooting"
devoted to just that. (pwbts)

And with that I am outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than
it appears to be.
===========================================
ECW ON TNN
Written by reader: ROBLEE4U

I have a question and a reality check for all wrestling newsletter
scrips who seem to be overwhelmed with their love of ECW to the point
of avoiding the obvious ... they are a monumental bust on TNN.

Why is it scripts do not report the facts that ratings of 1.0 and
lower, which ECW has achieved from week one on TNN, fall WAY below the
promised 2.5 ratings TNN promised their sponsors? If things keep up
this way with the ratings, TNN will start to have to make refunds to
their sponsors and someone's head will roll (Paul E?) if not flat out
cancelling the show.

Secondly, TNN made it clear it was adding pro wrestling to their Friday
night lineup to help building the ratings of their piss poor Roller Jam
show. Last time I checked the Roller Jam ratings were at an all time
.5 rating. So much for ECW helping out that cause.

As Jim Liberatore of the Sunshine Network told me "ECW has a large
following
among a very small segment of the population and we find that our
sponsors have little or no interest in promoting their products and
services to neo-nazi's and skin heads".

The proof is in the pudding ... ECW is a bust on national TV because
their target market is exactly as Jim Liberatore stated above. They
have no recognizable names to the general public and are far to rude
and crude for family oriented programming on TNN. That's the facts Jack!
RR
=========
Steve Appy responds:
ECW fans are "neo-nazi's and skin heads?" Come on, a little harsh!
Getting nasty like that is the best way to ruin an otherwise
well-reasoned point of view...
===========================================
SHADES OF GRAY
Written by reader: Newton E Calkins (mr.gray)

I haven't written to this sheet in a while, but I felt I had to respond
to a recent fan response. This was a WCW fan. First of all, he stated
that he could remain objective. Sure. Right. Obviously his view was
objective enough to get printed, but I think it was still way too
biased.

He pointed out Stone Cold, and the shades of gray that exist in
characters represented by the WWF. I agree to an extent. I think the
Rock's responses on Raw to Mick's guests were totally uncalled for.
He's supposed to be representative of a hero. Maybe making fun of his
home-ec teacher was funny. A little extreme, but funny. And the coach
too. But his response to his high school sweetheart was sickening.
She wouldn't let him get to third base? Well, Rock, as date rape
victims will tell you, no means no. So I can agree that some actions
aren't appropriate for a
character. But that was one tiny example.

I can't see the bland, black-and-white characters that this WCW fan
wants back, and I'm happy for it. The world isn't black and white, so
neither should wrestling
characters be. The last thing that bothered me was the citing of DX
crotch chops. Look, for the last damn time, PARENTS, not the WWF, are
responsible for a youth's upbringing. You don't want kids doing crotch
chops and saying "suck it", DON'T LET THEM WATCH. That's it. That's
all. Final. WWF is NOT a kid's product. Yes, they make toys. But
you know who buys toys? EVERYONE, not just kids. I really hate this
mindless call for censorship...
===========================================
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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