Issue # 344
Date:
Saturday October 9th, 1999 11:13 am
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
GORILLA MONSOON: A TRUE
LEGEND
By
SamJerry
What feelings does the
name Gorilla Monsoon bring to me? It brings back
fond memories of the
times wrestling was fought in small neighborhood
venues, with no TV
cameras and no fireworks. It means
Madison Square
Garden, "The Mecca of
Wrestling." It means a commentator who called
things as they were;
no shilling and no nonsense. When a move was
missed, he told you it
was missed. It bring back memories of a man who
knew the sport telling
Bobby Heenan what a liar he is, and doing it all
in good spirit. It
reminds me of a man trading verbal jabs with Jesse
Ventura. But mostly it
reminds me of a very simple human being. A man
who loved the sport he
spent most of his life in; A man who loved his
family; and A man who
called things as they were, not as others would
have them called. The
true worth of a man is how others see him.
Gorilla Monsoon was
universally loved and admired. A man who was missed
immediately when he
was no longer in the public eye. I was one of those
who missed him
immediately. I miss him more now. Rest In Peace,
Gorilla. You earned
your place on the Honor Roll Of Life.
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENT
For the best in
wrestling news, e-mail
Aerodrum13 to become a
part of The Pro
Wrestling Headliner!
===========================================
"Straight Shooting"
by : Fritz Capp (pwbts)
October 8, 1999
PWBTS 2000
http://pwbts.com
I cannot believe
everything that is either going on or that has
happened this week.
There are so many places that I could begin, but
there is only one
place that I can.
===
Robert "Gorilla
Monsoon" Marella passed away this week. Now I know for
a lot of the younger
wrestling fans this means absolutely nothing to
them, but to those of
us who have been watching pro wrestling for the
past 30 odd years this
is something akin to a major movie celebrity
passing away after
having been on screen for years.
I remember going to
the old Philadelphia Arena with my parents and
totally hating
Monsoon. There really wasn't anyone who could really
take him on save a
Sammartino, who was the heavyweight champ. Even
then, Monsoon pounded
on Sammartino like I had never seen before. He
was the consummate
heel back then.
Some of my fondest
memories of Gorilla though is him being teamed with
Bobby "The Brain"
Heenan at the announcers table for the WWF. Was there
ever a better team put
together? Although some of today's fans may
argue I would have to
say no. Heenan and Monsoon had a chemistry
between them that just
didn't quit. It was always quite humorous to see
Heenan try to needle
Monsoon only to have Monsoon put him in his place
real quick.
My condolences go out
to the Marella family in their time of grief.
===
I was up at a business
meeting in New York on Wednesday and when I
returned home I not
only found out about the passing of Gorilla but
also about the
horrible injury that Droz sustained in the ring at the
Smackdown tapings
Tuesday night. I wish Droz the best for a speedy
recovery but I wonder
what all those people who say that "wrestling is
fake" have to say
about this.
You can send Get Well
wishes to Droz at:
Get Well DROZ
PO Box 2594
Ventnor, NJ 08406
===
Staying on the subject
of Droz for a second why is it that everyone and
their mother when
reporting this story bring up Owen Hart? From
ESPN.com to
1wrestling.com and almost everyone in between while
reporting the Droz
story had to take a jab at the WWF and the Owen Hart
tragedy? I am still
trying to figure out what the two had in common to
help support the use
of Owen's name in this story. If any of you can
come up with any
similarities other then the fact that they both worked
for the WWF let me
know. Can we all let Owen "Rest In Peace"?
===
Leslie Davis, that fun
loving sore loser from
Minnesota, once again is
trying his best to get
Governor Jesse Ventura removed from office. This
time the charges are
malfeasance and he is alleging that
Ventura used
his position for
personal gain. Can anyone say jealousy? From
everything I have read
on the subject
Davis has not yet been able
to
accept the fact that
Minnesota just did not want a
person like him in
office and that Jesse
was in fact the better candidate. The proof is in
the pudding folks,
since Jesse won the election. This moron, instead of
trying to help other
people who I am sure are in need in
Minnesota, has
instead created a one
man witch hunt against the Governor Ventura. This
mostly appears to be
to keep his name in the public eye, even if he
does appear to be
nothing but a whiner.
Here is a snippet from
the AP article, "Davis, an environmental
activist, alleges that
Ventura used his position to
make money from his
autobiography and from
his August return to the professional wrestling
ring as a referee.
Those ventures could bring
Ventura as much as $2
million. If the 25
signatures
Davis gathered so far can be
verified,
the state Supreme
Court could order a public hearing."
Let me guess,
Ventura's book wouldn't have
sold if he hadn't been
elected Governor? Give
me a break. I'll bet it is safe to say that a
minimum of 85% of
those book sales went to wrestling fans. Minimum!
Also like there is
going to be a question about the signatures.
(although it would be
funny if they were faked) Even a losing dweeb
like this guy has 25
friends he could get to sign a petition. (of
course these
signatures were bought and paid for with promises galore I
would be willing to
wager)
All in all what we
have is someone who should be in wrestling not
politics because all
this jabrone can do is whimper and whine about
something he already
lost and cannot accept. Boy do I know a website
this guy could work
at.
===
What the hell is up
with the WWF and this utterly stupid Mark Henry
angle? This isn't
wrestling and it certainly isn't entertaining. Sorry
folks but I do not
find anything entertaining that has to do with
having sex with your
sister, or any other family member for that matter
and if you do then you
have a very deep seated problem and should seek
professional help
immediately. I said it a few months ago and at that
time no one wanted to
listen but the handwriting is starting to become
very clear on the
wall. The WWF is out of control as far as being in
touch with the fans
anymore. This could very well be a case of history
repeating itself as
this also happened to the WWF in the late
80's/early 90's, a
time when it was hard pressed to find WWF fans due
to their lack of
product or intelligent story lines. My guess is some
people just cannot
learn from their past.
===
There has been a
contest geared for wrestling fans going on the past
couple of days, have
you entered it yet? Well if you haven't why the
hell not? I know, you
don't want a chance at the $1000.00 Grand Prize
right? You don't want
any part of winning on of the daily prizes either
huh?
What's that? You
didn't know about it? Well not because of the lack of
me trying to get the
news out there to you. You see, not only have I
posted around on the
boards this news twice in the past two days but I
also e-mailed every
webmaster and reporter that I could to post the
press release telling
you of this contest.
You say this press
release wasn't on your favorite newsboard or
wrestling website?
Well all I can say is it should have been. This
leaves me to wonder a
few things:
1 - Is your favorite
webmaster only thinking of himself and this is why
he wouldn't share this
contest with his faithful readers?
2 - Is your webmaster
keeping this news to himself in the hopes that he
has a better chance of
winning a prize if there are not as many
submissions?
3 - Is your webmaster
just a jerk because he wouldn't print a press
release just because
the news didn't come directly to him?
If any of the above
are true then all I can say is your favorite
webmaster is not on
your side, because every webmaster and reporter
should be telling
everyone they can about this chance for all of the
Internet wrestling
fans.
Here is the official
press release from Ad-Cast on their October
SlamFest contest:
---
AdCast's October Slam
Fest
Wrestling Contest
Entry
Create the Greatest
Wrestling Tag Team Ever!
Who: All Wrestling
Fans and Internet Surfers
What: Enter to Win
Fabulous Prizes by Creating Your Own Wrestling Tag
Team
Where: Visit
http://octoberslamfest.dai.net within AdCast's Network
of
Wrestling Web Sites
When: October 1
through October 31, 1999
How: Create the
Greatest Tag Team Ever by Selecting Your Favorite
Wrestling Duo from
Over 700 Professional Wrestling Stars Featured on
AdCast's October Slam
Fest Web Site. Visitors May Enter the Contest by
visiting
http://octoberslamfest.dai.net
Why: For Wrestling
Action and Fun! Contest Entry's are Submitted for a
Drawing to Win
Fabulous Prizes Including:
GRAND PRIZE: $1,000,
WCW Mayhem Electronic Game and Either a Sony
PlayStation™ or
Nintendo 64™ Game Console
OTHER PRIZES: Games
from Electronic Arts (EA) including WCW Mayhem and
Many More!
AdCast reserves the
right to substitute prizes of equal value..
For more information
please visit the site at
http://octoberslamfest.da
i.net Or AdCast, Inc.
at
http://www.adcastdelivers.com
---
How about we try
something different. We all did it to vote for Ric
Flair in the People
Magazine Contest, maybe we can do this again, only
this time the angle is
we're doing it for every wrestling fan on the
Internet.
Take this press
release and send it to everyone you know who would be
interested in entering
a contest with these prizes. Have them send this
press release to
everyone they know, and so on and so on. (Be sure that
you do not just spam
this press release as it defeats the purpose and
could injure the
integrity of this contest seeing to it that neither
Ad-Cast nor Electronic
Arts would ever want to do this again.) This
should only be sent to
friends. Also if you like to visit wrestling
chat rooms you could
also put this contest out in there also, thus
spreading the word
even more.
So what are you
waiting for? Enter the contest yourself
NOW, and then
spread the word to all
your friends. This contest only runs until
October 31 so don't
delay.
===
Reports are flying
everywhere that Hogan has exercised a 90 day "out
clause" in his
contract due to the fact that Vince Russo, who recently
jumped from the WWF to
WCW, has no plans to push the one time biggest
name in wrestling. It
is also being reported that a majority of the WCW
see this as a "slap in
the face" to everything they have done and had
to put up with because
of Hogan. As well they should. If Terry Bollea
has indeed opted to
leave WCW because of the fact that he in no longer
going to be "the big
dog" in the house anymore this is the biggest slap
that Hogan could give
his fellow co-workers, who have time and time
again had to sit in
the back and watch Hogan be pushed through the roof
, whether he deserved
it or not.
Hogan's heyday was
with the WWF and the early part of the NWO. Since
then Hogan has done
nothing for WCW but hurt it time and time again. I
say good riddance with
my only fear being that Hogan would once again
show up in the WWF. I
hope Vince in not that stupid as Hogan is no
longer a draw. At
least not in the big markets.
Even though Hogan is
responsible for wrestling being taken to the
heights he took it to
which allowed to reach the heights it has in
recent years, it is
time for him to either hang the boots up or to go
out on the indie
circuit and autograph signing circuit but that is
about all the is left
for the one time most known wrestling heavyweight
champion. Hey, I know
a promoter in Deptford, NJ that is hard up for
decent talent. Not
that Hogan is decent but at least he is a name.
Wait, I can hear
Dennis making that call now....
===
Keeping with Hogan for
another second did you get to read the
transcript of him on
Larry King Live? This guy is a work in progress.
I'm not going to rip
apart the transcript piece by piece, it would be
too easy. Instead if
you haven't read it look around, find it and take
5 minutes to read this
piece of garbage. If you can't find it, it is
still on the PWBTS
2000 site at pwbts.com
===
Jerry Lawler came in
third as far as voting was concerned for his bid
to be Mayor of
Memphis, Tenn. While inside politics played a roll in
Lawler not winning the
election it was not the only factor and although
he did not win, he
should hold his head up because he gave it one hell
of a shot. Better luck
nect time King.
===
Have we had enough of
Moolah yet? Look, I have no problem with the fact
that Moohlah wrestled
all those years for basically welfare and I am
glad she is getting a
couple of the big bucks now but lets face facts,
the angle sucks, the
so-called wrestling sucks and seeing MaeYoung get
stripped really sucks
(have I said this sucks yet?) I am for them
getting some kicks but
enough is enough already.
===
I would like to send
my condolences to all those people who have lost
their favorite place
to have intelligent wrestling chats, WCW.com. It
seems as though
certain people who cannot take criticism to save their
life has now destroyed
3 years of dedication by loyal fans by creating
such controversy, even
among the ops, that all of the regulars and ops
have left. I went
there today and the room was totally empty. If you
were a regular to the
old WCW chat room and are interested in going to
talk to your old
friends goto: evilspeak.com port 6667 Everyone, old
friends and new are
welcome and you do not have to fear someone with an
inferiority complex
freaking out because you disagree with him.
===
Am I the only one who
finds the Goldberg/Sid Vicious car routines
pretty funny? And was
that a great promo (thank God they are starting
to get it) that
Goldberg did after his match on Nitro? I really enjoyed
hearing him say he was
going to kick Sid's "ass" instead of all the
watered down phrases
that they had to use before.
===
Was it really a wise
move for WCW to show Scott Hall with 2 beers in
his hands after all
the trouble his real life drinking problem has
caused him?
===
Is there/was there a
need for a "phantom" title change this past week
on Nitro. Ya know,
Lenny and Lodi were only following what WCW told
them to do and now
they are being ostracized because of it? How bogus
is that? One (ahem)
reporter stated that WCW had been getting harassed
by "gay right groups"
because of the way the fans yelled "faggots" at
The West Hollywood
Blondes when they came to ringside. My thing
is..."so what"? If it
looks like and egg....and it sounds like an
egg.... Besides that
report I have heard from many sources is one of
the biggest crocks
perpetrated on the Internet in...well this week
anyway. I wish these
so-called self professed "wrestling insiders"
would just shut up and
stop trying to make things up to make themselves
look good in some
marks eyes.
===
As I said last week, I
am going to share with you some of the memories
of the real NWA. (Not
the phony wanna-be promotion that runs out of New
Jersey, but the real
one that ran all those years ago. This one is from
Christian Nichols :
---
I have two very
distinct memories of watching NWA from years past, the
first is seeing a
heel, newly inducted Four Horseman Lex Luger make
Nikita Koloff, who at
this time had turned into a monster face with
Dusty Rhodes, submit
to a torture rack inside a cage for the US title.
I couldn't believe
that Nikita actually SUBMITTED...I was shocked, and
I hate to admit it, I
liked Luger as a Horseman.
The second was
watching Ric "I-put-on-the-BEST-show-in-town,
kiss-my-ass-Bischoff"
Flair make Terry Funk submit to the figure four
in a submission match
at a Starcade or Clash Of The Champions from
years ago. What made
this incredible to me was that after months of
chasing Flair,
embarrassing him, beating him down, stalking him,
hitting him with the
branding iron that he carried at the time, and
basically causing
general hell, Funk walked over, snatched the NWA
Heavyweight Belt
(which was on the line)...looked at it...and handed it
over to Flair, and he
raised Flairs hand in victory. Awesome match with
an awesome finish
which made me mark out totally!
---
Two great memories
from a time when wrestling was wrestling, and not
just an afterthought.
Thanks for sending that in, Christian. We'll have
another one next
issue.
===
With that I'm outta
here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than it
appears to be.
===========================================
RUSSO EXAMINED
Written by reader: Dr.
Michael Lano (WReaLano)
I commented this on
our syndicated radio show (Squared Circle on
CRN)
last night. Having
known Vince Russo since his days back in 1991, I
have something
germaine to say. First he was a longtime fan simply
giving financial
support to the old Pro Wrestling Spotlight radio show
in New York during the
steroid days, then he came into his creative own
faster than anyone
after showing on-air support to WWF, then getting
the gig at the (WWF)
magazine, then on from there.
More power to him-what
an incredible rise to power for one of the most
powerful and creative
guys in such a short period of time!
-Dr. Michael Lano, Pro
Wrestling Photojournalism and Dentistry since
1966
===========================================
THE RUSSO/WCW
RELATIONSHIP
Written by reader:
Jared Spinelli (BCelticsFn)
I am writing to The
Booking Sheet on the topic of Vince Russo and Ed
Ferrara
joining WCW as the
main bookers for the company. While many internet
fans are
livid over the
decision, I on the other hand, think that Russo and
Ferrera's move to WCW
is the best thing to happen to us wrestling fans
in a long time.
I am a diehard WWF
fan, surprisingly, but that is only because that was
the only good
wrestling product around. I think that was because the
WWF had Russo and
Ferrara, in my mind, two of the most intelligent
wrestling people of
all time. With their switch to WCW, I can still
watch great television
with the WWF, but now enjoy another company,
WCW, just as much.
Russo and Ferrera will
make the changes that us wrestling fans wanted
WCW to make for years.
Their product will improve greatly, and bring
back the excitement of
the Monday Night
Rating Wars. This competitiveness will be the key
factor in
making the wrestling
craze even bigger than it is now. I can't wait to
see Chris Benoit, Buff
Bagwell, and Dean Malenko get the pushes they
deserve. I can't wait
to watch WCW and actually be able to follow
storylines. I can't
wait to not be able to choose the station on Monday
Night....USA or
TNT....oh what fun that will
be.
-Jared Spinelli
The House of Wrestling
Newsletter
===========================================
THE BIG SCHWAG ON THE
UNDERTAKER
Written by reader: The
Big Schwag (TastyBear)
The Big Schwag would
have to agree with Steve Appy about The
Undertaker. Without
The WWF bookers over the years matching him up
against great workers
or fan favorites, his matches suck. He is very
limited in the moves
he performs and The Big Schwag is not terribly
impressed with his
vocal work on the mic.
Now on the Russo
matter... WOW WOW WOW what a great deal for wrestling
fans. Finally The Big
Schwag and the wrestling fans may be able to
turn on Nitro again
and watch good angles and story plots. Russo will
trim the fat and make
sure the right wrestlers and talent get the
proper push. This can
only help wrestling. That's what the Big Schwag
thinks anyway.
Don't be surprised to
see Norton in The WWF within the month if he has
been given a full
release from WCW. I never liked the way they used
him anyway, he's too
big a guy to not use. Thanks once again wrestling
fans for making the
Schwag The most popular Wrestling Manager In The
Business Today...
===========================================
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
|