Issue # 347
Date:
Sunday October 10th, 1999 10:25 pm
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
HEROES OF WRESTLING RESULTS
By Nate Pelley of The
Wrestling Informer Newsletter. E-Mail
twi-newsletter-subscribe for your free subscription.
One of the rare
chances for a national audience to see many of
wrestling's stars of
the past occurred tonight, as "Heroes of
Wrestling" was
presented live tonight on
PPV. The event, live
from the Casino Magic in St. Louis, Mississippi,
saw the
stars of yesteryear
getting together for one very special night. Randy
Rosenbloom and "Dirty"
Dutch Mantel did the commentary, with Michael
St. John handling the
backstage interviews. The PPV had a definite old
school feel to it,
from the ring set up, to the booking. It you like
the "Memphis
style," you'd probably enjoy this PPV. Here are your
complete match by
match results.
Match #1: The Samoan
Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) (with Paul Adams and
Sika)
vs. "Rocker" Marty
Jannetty and "Fantastic" Tommy Rogers. This match up
pitted the former WWF
World Tag team champs against Jannetty, a former
IC and
tag champ in the WWF,
and Rogers, who held the US tag belts with
partner
Bobby Fulton. Paul
Adams worked the mic before hand, running down the
crowd
and opposition. Match
started off with the faces (Jannetty and Rogers)
in control. The former
Headshrinkers, who seem to have put on quite a
few extra pounds, then
took advantage. Jannetty made the hot tag to
Rogers, who came in
and cleaned house. They Samoans did the "no sell
the headshots"
gimmick, and hit a doubt headbutt on
Rogers. With
Jannetty and Fatu
brawling on the outside, Samu hit
Rogers with a TKO
to get the pin.
Winners: The Samoan
Swat Team
Match #2: George "The
Animal" Steele (with "Sensuous" Sherri Martel)
vs. Greg "The Hammer"
Valentine.
This battle of former
WWF stars was a short one. Steele and Sherri were
being played up as a
couple, but it was not to be. Valentine used a
pair of brass knuckles
on "the Animal," but the green-tongued legend
would not give up.
Finally, Sherri grabbed a chair at ringside, and
struck her hairy hero,
turning on him, and allowing Valentine to get
the pin. Afterwards,
Steele tossed Sherri out of the ring, threw some
chairs inside, and
"ate" one of the turnbuckles.
Winner: Greg
Valentine.
Match #3: 2 Cold
Scorpio vs. Julio Fantasico. Fantasico, who is better
known on the Indy
scene as "Latin Dragon" Julio Sanchez, took on
Scorpio in perhaps the
best bout of the evening. Fantasico is also the
only man on the PPV
who has never had a major run in the WWF or WCW
(although he has
competed on WWF Shotgun and WCW Saturday Night in the
past). Solid back and
forth match up, with Fantasico hitting a good
plancha onto Scorpio.
Captain Lou Albano came down for commentary for
this match, and
announced he was the Commissioner of the Heroes of
Wrestling. The end of
the bout came as Scorpio hit a somersault legdrop
from the second rope,
followed by his tumbleweed from the top, to get
the win over the 27
year-old Fantasico.
Winner: 2 Cold Scorpio
Match #4: Nikolai
Volkoff and The Iron Sheik (with Nikita Bersehnov)
vs. The Men From Down
Under (Luke and Butch). Volkoff and Sheik, former
WWF tag team
champions, took on the duo formerly known as the
Bushwackers next. Luke
and Butch did their arm swinging gimmick, and
licked a few fans at
ringside before this one. Very slow match up, as
the combined age in
the ring was well over 200. Volkoff is as white as
Berlyn, and slower
than molasses in January. Sheik never was that good,
and he has an iron
tire around his waist, if you catch my drift. Luke
and Butch... well,
they haven't done anything worth mentioning since
their days as the
Sheepherders. This one was a dud, but the fans seemed
to love it, chanting "USA!
USA!" (even though Luke and Butch are from
New Zealand). Finish came
when Volkoff accidentally hit Sheik with a
wrench, and Luke got
the one, two, three on the former WWF Champ.
Winners: The Men From
Down Under
Match #5: Four
Horsemen vs. Midnight Express Grudge Match: Tully
Blanchard
(representing the Four Horsemen) vs. "Sweet"
Stan Lane
(representing the
Midnight Express). Two of the best tag team wrestlers
of the 80's went head
to head in the next bout. Lane, who currently
works for ESPN, ran
down his list of accomplishments, including being a
Fabulous One, a
Heavenly Body, and a member of the Midnight Express,
the only team to hold
the WCW World and US tag titles at the same time.
Lane, who is from the
old school of classic
Memphis style workers,
played the cocky heel.
Decent back and forth match up, which basically
stayed on the mat. The
end came with Lane hitting a side suplex into a
bridge, but both men's
shoulders were down. Blanchard was just able to
move his left shoulder
before the three count, and therefore got the
duke. Winner: Tully
Blanchard
Match #6: Hardcore
Match: One Man Gang vs. Abdulah the Butcher (with
"Honest" John
Cheetum). Gang brought his trademark chain into the ring,
and within 30 seconds,
the "Mad Man from the
Sudan" was busted open.
Abby did what he does
best, and that's bleed buckets, in this one. The
two men brawled
around, using chairs and steps as weapons. Abdulah
broke out his fork,
and that spelt disaster for the former "African
Dream" Akeem. Abby
busted open Gang quickly, and soon both men were
losing blood at a
rapid rate. The two brawled around some more on the
outside, until the
referee called for the bell. Abby and
OMG battled at
the announce table,
and destroyed several security officials who tried
to stop the bout.
Finally, the two men brawled to the locker room.
Winner: Double
Disqualification.
Match #7: "Superfly"
Jimmy Snuka (with Capt. Lou Albano) vs. "Cowboy"
Bob
Orton. These two men,
who have been battling for 15 years, took it to
each other one more
time tonight. Snuka was my first "favorite"
wrestler back in the
80s, and after getting the chance to meet him
earlier this year, it
was great to see him back on PPV and taking on a
long time foe. Orton
dominated much of this one, keep Snuka neutralized
with arm bars and
headlocks. Snuka went for a top rope move, but Orton
crotched him on the
ropes. As "Ace" went for his patented superplex,
Albano grabbed Snuka's
ankles, preventing him from being suplexed.
Orton chased the
Captain away, but while he was distracted, Snuka
regrouped. "Superfly"
took the air with a flying cross body block to
get the victory.
Winner: Jimmy Snuka
Match #8: Jake "The
Snake" Roberts (with Damien) vs. Jim "The Anvil"
Niedhart. Jake started
things off by unveiling Damien, which did not
sit well with
Niedhart. The two men exchanged moves for a few moments,
then King Kong Bundy
arrived at ringside. Bundy talked to Niedhart, and
then distracted the
official, allowing the "Anvil" to sneak up behind
Roberts. "The Snake"
proved to be a tough customer though, as he came
back with a short arm
clothesline, before signaling for the DDT. Bundy
could take it no more,
and jumped into the ring to pound Roberts. After
several minutes of two
on one action, Yokozuna arrived at ringside.
Yoko was set to take
on Bundy in the evenings main event, but the
referee ordered that
the match would now be a tag team attraction.
Winner: No Contest.
Match #9: The 1000
Pound Challenge: The Artist Formerly Known as
Yokozuna
and Jake "The Snake"
Roberts vs. King Kong Bundy & Jim "The Anvil"
Niedhart.
Yokozuna was referred
to as "the Former Yokozuna" in this bout, as the
WWF
apparently owns the
trademark to that name (much like they own the
trademark of
"Bushwackers"). Yoko looked bigger than ever, and Bundy
looked exactly like he
did at Wrestlemania II. By far not a classic (of
course no one would
expect it to be), as both of the big men lumbered
around the ring, and
Jake staggered about for most of the contest. Yoko
and Niedhart were
brawling, while Bundy whipped Jake into the
turnbuckle. Jake
moved, and tried to take down the big man from
New
Jersey.
Bundy, however, threw Jake down to the mat, hit a big splash
out of the corner, and
got the one, two, three. After the match, Jake
and Yoko beat up on
"Little Bundy," who looked as though he could be
King Kong Bundy's son.
Winners: King Kong
Bundy and Jim Niedhart.
===========================================
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO
THE WARRIOR
Written by reader:
Egg1poppa
Okay...what exactly
did the Ultimate Shakespeare have to say? True, his
opinion is a far cry
from his "when planets collide explosions occur"
speechs of glories
past, but, was his recent rambling regarding a
refusal to job, or
rather the results of steroidal abuses that did
wonders to his
mastering of Warriorism?
===========================================
GORILLA MONSOON
Written by reader:
ICHIBAN729
I read a lot of
comments and memories on him... him and
Ventura, him
and the
Brain. Here is my most
memorable memories of the big guy. It was
Wrestlemania 7. Randy
Savage vs Ultimate Warrior in a career ending
match. Bobby Heanan:
"Maybe the humanoids don't know it, but
EVERYTHING ison the
line! Everything these two men have worked for....
the fame, the fortune,
the prestige.... "
Gorilla: "For the guy
who loses this one.... when he wakes up tomorrow
morning... WHATS HE
GONNA DO???" Brain: "He'll just be another
Ham-N-Egger!"
Of course, the 1993
Survivor Series was classic too... and what about
that old
school to new school
WWF promo in early 1998? They showed Monsoon
sitting in
one of those small
venues... he said "back then there were no
fireworks, no high
flying moves.." [footage of Shawn Michaels and TAKA
Michinoku flying
through the air] The great promo ended with Gino
saying "and now I
cheer for them."
Well Gino, we all
cheer for you. Take care my friend.
P.S. The WWF tribute
video was great... just like Owen's... "with deep
sympathies and heavy
hearts... we say, good bye..."
===========================================
AN ENCOUNTER WITH A
LEGEND
Written by reader:
TheReaDog
Hi Steve, I wrote you
a few days after Wrestlemania 15 asking about
Gorilla
Monsoon and his
condition because he obviously didn't look himself. You
informed me that he
wasn't in the best of health. Well I'm writing you
to thank you for
respnonding to my letter and keeping me informed of
his condition and two
because I shared so many of my WWF memories with
Gorilla at the mic. He
was without a doubt the best in the business at
the announce table.
Not only was he a great announcer but a great guy
too. I had a chance to
meet him in the late 80's at a catering hall.
He was attending a
different function then I was but he was gracious
enough to take time to
talk to me and take a picture as well. Many
superstars today
wouldn't give you the time of day. Gorilla Monsoon
was a special person
that the wrestling world will surely miss. Rest
in peace Gorilla
===========================================
"REAL"
WRESTLING
Written by reader:
Crispy "Farley" Jones (CDCJ)
In response to
JIBt911's letter: Interesting commentary. As a
boy, I too wrestled
for many years and my brother as well. He is
vehemently opposed to
the idea that what WWF and WCW do is called
"Wrestling". I, on the
other hand believe it has every right to be
referred to as
'Wrestling'.....but it is "Professional Wrestling".
The physical exchange
cannot be defined in any other way, except
perhaps "fighting".
The difference, you
see, is that one is an athletic competition, with
nothing but personal
pride and usually only 'local' recognition on the
line. The other is an
athletic performance with the expectations of
promoters,
millionaires and hundreds of thousands of diehard fans
around the world on
the line.
The common ingredients
of the two are immense pride of the athletes and
physical sacrifice.
The question of real or fake is not a legitimate
one. Both activities
require the participants to push beyond normal
levels of performance.
Both activities cause very "real" physical
injury and in both
activities, the participants are "competing". The
difference is that the
amateur is competing to win and for personal
glory. The
professional is competing to put on the finest performance,
win or lose, and in
many ways is competing to protect his status in the
rankings of the
industry.
Are some of the
injuries or shots "worked"?.....Yes. Is the physical
performance or
dedication of the performer "fake"?.....Absolutely NOT.
And, judging from the
accidental death and suicide rate of Professional
Wrestlers; I would
venture to say that they do not consider their lives
to be "fake" either!
-CRISPY
===========================================
THE McMAHONS & THE
BULLDOG
Written by reader:
Meghann Cuniff (UYRFU)
Am I the only one that
has been smelling a setup ever since Test and
Stephanie got
together? It just doesn't fit the McMahon role to have
Stephanie be such a
good little girl. I mean, what would happen if
Test and Steph did get
hitched....would they just live happily ever
after? NO!!! Stephanie
is a McMahon!!! McMahons are pure evil!!!!
And the Bulldog?? I
think he'd be great as one of Vince's or Shane's
lackeys... maybe get a
feud going with Test after its revealed that
Bulldog was in cahoots
with the McMahons the whole time!! Who knows if
I'm right or not...but
thats the great thing about this
business.....you just
never know until it happens.
-Meghann Cuniff
===========================================
IN DEFENSE OF THE
UNDERTAKER
Written by reader:
chug
I just wanted to
respond to something I read in the WBS about the
Undertaker written by
The Big Schwag. Schwag made the point that the
Undertaker had
constantly been matched up with top names, which is the
reason why he was so
over. Really? What about his feuds with Kamala,
Giant Gonzales and
King Mable. These guys were all pathetic, yet the
`Taker was still one
of the most over men in the company while feuding
with them.
Thanks for your time,
The Chugman
===========================================
ANALYZING THE
UNDERTAKER
Written by reader:
HoLZODB
Seeing everyone write
comments on the Undertaker has made me want to
express
my thoughts. I was at
one time, a huge UT fan. I'll never forget
watching that
unforgettable Survivor Series when Ted DiBiase introduced
his "Mystery Partner".
When the monster walked out to the bone
chilling music (which
is better then any of his present themes), I
watched in awe. I
remember getting so upset because this huge 7 foot
beast did nothing but
choke Hulk Hogan with a wire. He was there to
punish his opponents,
not wrestle them.
What made the UT so
great though was the just when you thought the
"good guy" had a
chance and would fight back and knock him down, up he
sat. That was the
great UT. The one that couldn't be hurt, no matter
what. A heel that was
indestructable......it had never been done, and
UT did it perfectly.
Over the years he took many more feuds and some
how or another, his
"Impervious to Harm" image died.
Now in the WWF, the UT
is boring. His interviews are boring and most
of his matches are
boring too. All the long speeches just bore
me....in fact its one
of the times I flip to NITRO and see if Nash (in
my opinion the only
guy worth watching in WCW) is on. The UT was in his
prime when he enterd
the WWF.....Paul Bearer did the talking and UT
just stood there
making all the little kids in the audience cry and
stare in awe. He was
the perfect heel. Big, scary, couldn't be hurt.
I don't see any way
the WWF can bring that UT back and have it the same
way so I agree with
anyone saying that UT is carried in most of his
angles and matches.
Like I said before,
his mic work does not even make up for it because
that is even worse
then his matches. The WWF had a second chance with
it because Kane
entered the WWF the same way the UT did...and once
again, he went from a
great indestructable heel, to another heel for
Austin to stun at the
end of RAW, to a face.
Since I'm upsetting
50% the readers by giving my views on the
Undertaker, I might as
well get the other 50% of you readers pissed at
me. I think Benoit and
Malenko are both extremely boring wrestlers and
I'm glad they've never
gotten a huge push. Granted, they are excellent
wrestlers, I just
think if you want to see them and their technical
wrestling, watch the
Olympics.
===========================================
THE SMACKDOWN MUD
MATCH
Written by reader:
Leah Epting (ITBLeah)
To the WWF creative
team:
Allow me to
congratulate the WWFcreative team on what has to be the
best plot
twist in its history.
And this one involves us! I was totally
convinced that the
Jeff Jarrett/Chyna storyline was about women being
strong and respected,
but it wasn't. The whole thing, every twist,
turn, and contrivance
was designed to get two nearly naked women,
covered in mud, and
one of the women's bare breasts, on national
television. Boy, was I
stupid! Having Chyna show up at the end was
totally meaningless,
because you're not doing this for her and you're
not doing it for me
either.
So congartulations!
Have a good laugh at the expense of the women in
the WWF
as well as all the
female fans! You really duped us, the stupid,
gullible women, one
more time!
I decided the
sarcastic approach was best for this because words like
"livid" and "furious"
are an understatement at the moment. I feel I
should inform you that
I recently bought tickets to an upcoming WWF
event, although I now
wonder whether I should go. Will I have to watch
this insulting
spectacle in person? I recently bought my first piece of
WWF merchandise as
well. Both of these things may very well never
happen again after
what you pulled.
I enjoy most of what
you do, but I am profoundly disappointed in your
decision that
this was acceptable.
It wouldn't be difficult for me to see to it that
not one dime of my
hard earned money finds its way into your wallet, so
consider carefully the
cost of losing part of your audience. I hope
that its a move I
won't have to make, considering how many of your
people I appreciate.
-Leah Epting
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENT
The following is a
column on ECWwrestling.com. We need this movie to
go
nationwide...I really
would like to see it in the movies.
Lights, Camera, ECW!
By JJ Hunter
First, it was
Pay-per-view. Then it was action figures. Recently, it
was national
television. What is the next medium for Extreme
Championship Wrestling
to invade? How about the movies?
In case you haven't
heard about it elsewhere, there is a movie called
"Beyond The Mat" that
could possibly be the greatest documentary ever
made on professional
wrestling. It was directed by Barry Blaustein, a
lifelong wrestling
fan, and screenwriter for many Eddie Murphy hits. He
was given the
opportunity by Imagine Films to make any kind of movie he
wanted, and he chose
professional wrestling. The film covers a few
areas, but primarily
centers on three men known to ECW fans: Mick
Foley, Jake Roberts
and the legendary Terry Funk. There are also
"subplots" on former
wrestler Dennis Stamp, independent wrestlers
trying to break into
the WWF, the character development of WWF's Droz
(who we all wish a
speedy recovery to), and much more. But the real gem
to ECW fans is the
plethora of footage from our favorite promotion.In
this movie you will
see:
You will see:
- Candid comments from
ECW Executive Producer Paul Heyman.
- Never-before-seen
backstage footage from ECW's first Pay-per-view,
Barely Legal,
including Paul's speech to the company before bell time.
- Exclusive footage of
Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer following the
Funker's emotional ECW
World title win.
- An inside look at
the making of the ECW television show (you'll never
believe where they
produce the show).
This film, originally
expected to be a "throwaway" project, impressed
Universal pictures
enough to place it at the
AMC Century City Theaters
in Los Angeles for one
week, starting October 22nd, in order to qualify
it for a possible
Oscar nomination. Of course, if you want to see it,
and you don't live in
Los Angeles, you have the power to make it
possible.
Persuade Universal
Studios to release "Beyond The Mat" nationwide and
give you the
opportunity to see it the way it was meant to be seen, up
on the big screen.The
Strictly ECW fan group, 1Wrestling.com and others
have been asking fans
to give its support. There are no fans more
loyal in wrestling
than the fans of ECW. Please take the time to sent a
polite email to:
Universal Studios
Make sure to put
"Imagine Films "Beyond The Mat" by Barry Blaustein" in
the
subject header. Then
we can get EXTREME at the movies.
Thank you, JJ Hunter (JerichoholicECW)
===========================================
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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