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Issue # 364
Date:
Sunday October 24th, 1999 10:36 am
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Tonight may be Flair's last
WCW match
By Mike Mooneyham
Sunday, October 24,
1999
Ric Flair, the
greatest wrestler of the modern era, could be nearing
the end of his
illustrious in-ring career.
Flair was told last
week by the new creative team at WCW that he was
"being retired" and
that his last match with the company would be
against Diamond Dallas
Page at tonight's Halloween Havoc pay-per-view.
The 27-year veteran
previously had been booked for programs with Billy
Kidman and Chris
Benoit and had agreed to put over and elevate the
younger talent. The
latest plan is for DDP to injure Flair, with Flair
returning early next
year to take over as figurehead commissioner.
Flair's first official
job for the new bookers was to get
unceremoniously mugged
by The Filthy Animals while watching son David
get humiliated twice
on the same show.
It has become
painfully clear that the company known as World
Championship Wrestling
has no intention of according Ric Flair the
respect befitting a
14-time World Heavyweight Champion.
It was obvious from
the beginning that Eric Bischoff resented Flair for
whatever reasons.
Bischoff, however, is gone. It now appears that the
new regime, with Bill
Busch as executive vice president and a booking
team headed by WWF
transplants Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, also wish to
turn their heads to
the truth - that Ric Flair, at the age of 50, is
still the company's
most entertaining quarter hour, is still its best
interview and is still
the finest representative and goodwill
ambassador that
promotion has ever had. And, despite the age factor, he
remains a darn good
worker inside the ring.
My words and thoughts
on the subject have been well-documented. Despite
WCW's failed efforts
to push politically selected stars down its
shrinking audience's
collective throat, there is a bond between Ric
Flair and his loyal
legion of fans that cannot be broken.
Unfortunately, many of
Flair's longtime
followers no longer
watch WCW, mainly because of the fact that they,
too, have been used by
the company.
Perhaps Jim Cornette,
borrowing a fairly famous quote, said it best:
"None are so blind as
those who will not see."
"They're having the
same idea they had 10 years ago, and every time
their ass is in a
crack Flair has to be the one to bail them out,"
Cornette elaborated.
"They refuse to admit that he's a wrestler instead
of an entertainer and
he's old instead of young, and they still want to
see him more than
anybody they've got. They just won't believe it."
There's no need to
beat a dead horse. WCW is no longer the organization
spawn from the old
NWA. It is a company that aspires to be "Raw
Junior." It books for
the Internet crowd. It wants to be
New York hip
down south in
Atlanta.
So let's give Tony
Schiavone a cool new haircut. Put some shades on
Bobby Heenan. Let Buff
Bagwell and Jeff Jarrett do their "worked
shoots" so Internet
marks can have something to talk about the next
day. Have a couple of
wrestlers stagger around the building each week
in stupors and pretend
its the "in" thing to do until the time comes
when we are forced to
read their obituaries. Everyone will mourn and
sing their praises for
a couple of weeks, and then they'll move on to
the next fresh meat.
And what about the
proud tradition of Ted Turner and the SuperStation?
Just ask Dr. Harvey
Schiller.
• The first Nitro
booked by Vince Russo drew mixed reviews but closed
the ratings gap with a
5.39-3.30 loss to Raw, which doubled the
opposition in only two
of the eight competitive quarters. Raw posted
hours of 5.53 and
5.27. Nitro registered hours of 3.77, 3.11 and 3.05.
• Veteran wrestling
journalist Steve Beverly was among those last week
who took WCW to task,
accusing the new creative braintrust of "chipping
away one more inch of
the fiber that we have of any kind of values that
exist whatsoever, all
in the name of making a buck. If Ted Turner is
willing to allow this
to happen on World Championship Wrestling, you
can count me out,"
said
Beverly.
Beverly also rightly accused
the organization of tailoring its
advertising and
marketing to young people while building an adult
product.
"They are not only
providing the ultimate hypocrisy, they also are
contributing to a
continuing decline in any kind of standards or
respect for young
people ... When people continue to contribute with
irresponsible content
and irresponsible creativity and irresponsible
behavior simply
because they know there is an element of audience out
there that will
embrace this because they don't have that in their
lives, then, in my
opinion, these are some awfully sick people."
Beverly also pointed
to performers such as Bret Hart, Steve Borden
(Sting) and Terry
Bollea (Hulk Hogan), who have said publicly that they
didn't approve of the
product Vince McMahon put on the air, wanted WCW
to distance itself
from the WWF and said they wouldn't allow their own
children to watch
those programs. "Yet it appears to me that some of
these people who have
made those public statements are going to be
working for an
organization that's going to copy-cat that," said
Beverly.
"Clothing that doesn't
quite fit you" was the analogy made by another
longtime observer
after viewing the "new" Nitro. Jim Cornette,
narrowing his aim to
booker Russo, said he initially tried to help his
former WWF colleague
with wrestling protocol in his early days with the
company - "the way he
talked to the boys, and the political stuff." But
Cornette claims Russo
systematically worked his way into WWF boss Vince
McMahon's inner
circle.
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.
===========================================
ECW ARENA RESULTS FOR
10/23/99, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Reported by Chris
Woodward at:
http://www.ecwwrestling.com
Sandman & Mikey
Whipwreck make their ECW return!
ECW World Heavyweight
Champion Mike Awesome (w/Jeff Jones) pinned Mikey
Whipwreck
Nova pinned Chris
Candido (w/Tammy
Lynn Sytch)
Cyrus introduced a new
valet for Danny Doring, which led to Miss
Congeniality being
destroyed in preparation for her jump to the WWF.
Super Crazy defeated
Little Guido and Spike Dudley in an Extreme Three
Way Dance
Yoshihiro Tajiri
(w/Steve Corino & Jack Victory) pinned Jerry Lynn
Tom Marquez fought
David Cash to a No-Contest
ECW TV Champion Rob
Van Dam fought Sabu to a Time Limit Draw
ECW World Tag Team
Champions Raven & Tommy Dreamer (w/Francine) fought
Justin Credible &
Lance Storm (w/Dawn Marie) to a No-Contest when the
Sandman returned,
coming to the aid of Dreamer. As the show ended
Dreamer & Sandman
celebrated in the ring together, as the heels were
run off (and Raven
skulked off).
===========================================
Straight Shooting
By : Fritz Capp (afcapp)
October 24, 1999
PWBTS 2000
http://pwbts.com
The Vince Russo/Ed
Ferrera era is now in full swing with the two of
them taking over the
last Monday Nitro booking. Let’s just take a quick
peek into what really
happened.
While I enjoyed the
first hour (anything is better then what was being
presented) I do have
to wonder how long the two of them will allowed to
give the fans an
almost exact reproduction of "RAW" before the powers
that be tell them they
have to try to do something different. As the
show went into the
second and third hour it started to remind of the
old Nitro, though. The
longer Nitro was on, the more it seemed to drag.
I mean, let’s be
honest with ourselves everyone, did the first hour
look any different
then any "RAW" you have watched in the past year? I
sat in the WCW "Live"
room to see the responses of the people who have
criticized "RAW" on
numerous occasions these past 12 months and what I
saw was this exact
statement being said by all the participants, "Nitro
Is RAW"! Is that what
WCW had in mind when they signed these two
people to book their
program?
I also am totally
amazed at the number of people who have "trashed and
bashed" Russo and
company over the past year for their booking of the
WWF and they are now
kissing his ass like he is the second coming of
God. This is not only
true of wrestling columnists but also of WCW fans
themselves! How can
this be, people? I have received letter after
letter telling me that
over the past year I have supported and enjoyed
a pornographic
exploitive wrestling promotion who was only interested
in the bottom line,
which is doing whatever it takes to makes
themselves a dollar no
matter who it offends. I have received letters
saying that the WWF
Booking Committee has absolutely no morals and
should all rot in hell
for their actions. Well now, how is WCW any
different?
1 - Dustin Runnels
being brought in as an "Undertakerish" type
character.
2 - Kimberly Page
using "sex and adultery" to try to lure David Flair
to a hotel room.
3 - Sting’s use of
"crotch chops".
4 - Evening Gown
matches just for the sake of having a woman’s clothes
ripped off.
I’m not sitting here
bashing them people, so put your e-mails away. I
am just pointing out a
few things to the millions....and millions...of
hypocrites that reside
here on the Internet. If I was trashing and
bashing, as all who
are familiar with this column know, I would delve
into much more detail.
There is a huge
difference in what Russo and company had to work with
in the WWF and what
they have now in WCW. In WCW they have some of the
greatest wrestlers in
the world today. There is no way to deny that
fact (And I never
have). But.....does that mean that Russo and friends
know what to do with
this wealth of talent? No, it does not. You see,
the difference is that
in the WWF the Russo boys had some of the
industries greatest
entertainers. While I am not saying in the least
that the WWF’s top
talent cannot wrestle (because they can) they have a
monumental edge over
WCW’s talent as far as intensity (in matches and
promos) and mic work
ability.
Again, put away your
e-mails as I do not want the letters telling me
that Flair is great on
a mic, or DDP or even Hogan. Flair was great 10
years ago and
sometimes finds his old groove but for the most part
Flair flips out too
much anymore. Go back and look at his interviews
from 1986 and compare
them to now to understand what I am saying. DDP
is good and Hogan is
in the midnight of his career. Who else does WCW
have though that is as
fluid on the mic as Austin or the Rock or Foley
or Road Dog or Jericho
or Helmsley, just to name a few? One thing is
true though, Scott
Steiner’s promos from earlier this year would fit
right in with the new
WCW philosophy.
It is going to take
WCW a little while to grasp the new concept that is
being presented to
them, but I have every bit of faith that they will
grasp the "sports
entertainment" moniker that Russo and company will
shove down their
throat all in the name of ratings. That’s too bad to,
because except for the
nWo angle when WCW was trouncing the WWF in
ratings it was done by
solid wrestling. I hope for WCW’s sake that the
Russo boys will mature
just enough not to take the edge of what they
can do but to also
realize that the name on the marquee is still
"wrestling" and can
find a way to incorporate that into their program.
===
The Wrestling Guys
Radio Show this Monday will have LEGENDARY champion
Harley Race, and are
working to have either Don Callis (Cyrus) or
Little Guido with us
on Monday. Plus some of the Outlaws stars that
will appear at The
Tropicana will be in 'da house!! Tune in Monday at
6pm for the action!!
http://www.wrestlingguys.com
===
The "King OF
Reporting" contest is down to it’s Final Four and here are
the final brackets:
Bob Ryder vs. Dave
Scherer
Zach Hickenbottom vs.
Joe DeLeon
Pick and choose your
favorite reporter as we get ready to head into the
finals.
Http://steelcageasylum.com/kor
===
While touching on the
above subject for a minute word going around is
that my last opponent
has gone on record as saying that I promo’d
myself during this
contest trying to get votes??? While it is true that
I hyped this contest
around the boards I have still yet to find
ONE
place where I said
"Vote for me" as he did in private e-mails mass
mailings.
The reason I hyped
this contest so much was because it was fun and the
guys at Steel Cage
Asylum put a lot of work into doing this. They never
asked me to do this, I
don’t even know who runs SCA. But I do want to
go on record as saying
that I never asked for anyone to vote for me.
That would be lame if
you ask me. If you have to "beg" for people to
vote for you then you
probably shouldn’t be in the contest in the first
place. Anyway, what it
comes down to is once again people on the
Internet "outright
lying" for a small piece of glory which is sad.
===
And with that I’m
outta here. Remember wrestling is nothing more than
it appears to be.
===========================================
THEORIES ON THE
REPUBLICAN FANDOM
Written by reader: Sam
Halsall (hentai)
First off, I am
politically left-of-center, *way* left-of-center in
certain instances but
usually not -- what most people would describe as
"liberal". So bear
that in mind as my bias during the following.
Now, with that out of
the way, let me take a stab at the question: why
would registered
Republicans be more likely than registered Democrats
to order a wrestling
pay-per-view? Several possibilities present
themselves, but the
most glaring is the issue of violence. Democrats
tend to be political
liberals (the two terms are *not* mutually
inclusive, however)
and thus opposed to violence in most of its forms.
Since the point of
professional wrestling, no matter what style we're
talking, is violence
of one sort or another, this makes liberals less
likely to be serious
wrestling fans willing to spend money on
pay-per-view
wrestling. (Yes, I realize I'm an exception, and that
there are many others
like me.)
On the other hand, as
anyone who has seen an Arnold Schwartzennegger
(sp?) film can attest,
Republicans have little difficulty with the idea
of violence so long as
it can be justified on one pretext or another.
The other possibility
would be the issue of money. Since the Republican
credo, once you cut
through the rhetoric, is that the rich ought to be
made richer and the
poor are irrelevant, most Republicans are either
wealthy or in the hunt
to become wealthy.
As a result, they
would have more disposable income to spend on such a
thing as three hours
of men in tights pretending to fight on TV. Of
these two theories, I
find the first more likely. However, both
probably work in
tandem with other factors I'm too lazy to think of to
create the phenomenon
Meltzer describes.
+++++++++++
Written by reader:
Rick Mahr (r.mahr)
A little bit 'o
trivia: Registered Republicans are more likely to order
a pro wrestling PPV
because (as a general rule) Republicans have a
higher average income
than registered Democrats (typically a more "blue
collar" or "working
class" demographic). Thus, those rowdy Republicans
have a higher
discretionary income for such items as "entertainment" --
or in this case
"sports entertainment". (Although somehow I don't quite
see George Bush
opening up a can of whoop @xxxxcxxxcs with Barb Sunday
night:
"wouldn't be
prudent...")
+++++++++++
Written by reader: (shanev)
Strangely enough, I
too, am a registered Republican. I would venture to
guess that the reason
for the odds swinging in our favor versus the
Democrats would be
that Republicans tend to be less conservative than
Democrats in voting
style, and so would I suspect lifestyle. That being
the case, Professional
Wrestling may be more appealing to someone who
would more than likely
agree with a Republican approach to things in
general.
:) Shane in Alaska.
+++++++++++
Written by reader:
Kyle Smith (bluedvl85)
In WBS #363 you
reported that there was recently a poll conducted in
Philadelphia about
politics relating to the likeliness of someone to
purchase a wrestling
pay-per-view event. My interpretation of the
Republican party is
that they tend to be more "easy-going and passive"
and I tend to think
they are much more against regulation. Well, the
majority of wrestling
pay-per-views ordered are WWF, which would tend
to be more apt to
censorship, and with the Republican views on things
combined with this it
would seem to make them more likely to buy a PPV.
I hope you can make
some sense out of this, my thoughts are jumbled
because it is 1:00AM
and I am typing a 20 page report.
:-) Kyle Smith
===========================================
TERRY TAYLOR
Written by reader:
CDikRun
In recent weeks , many
have heralded Russo and Ferrara as the two
individuals
responsible for the wide ratings gap between the WWF and
WCW. Correct me if I
am wrong but the margin was little more than a
ratings point until
last December or early january of this year. At
that time Terry
Taylor, who was one of the powers that be in WCW, left
abruptly. In the weeks
that followed the gap widened to where it is
today.
I'll give Russo and
Ferrara their due, but I question what
Terry's role in the
success WWF has achieved, especially since I read
recently that Terry is
rumored to be on the outs with the WWF now and
may be returning to
the WCW.
Believe me I think the
"Red Rooster" was one of the worst gimmicks of
all time, but if Terry
is responsible for either feds success I'd like
to see him get the
recognition he deserves.
===========================================
DISGUST WITH TNN
Written by reader: Ben
Martin (extremeicon00@xxxxs...)
I would like to voice
my displeasure with TNN about how they have
treated ECW. It is
obvious to me that TNN doesn’t know what they have
on there hands.
It is obvious to me by
the lack of advertising that all TNN wants ECW
for is to jump on the
wrestling bandwagon so they can use it not to the
gain of ECW but to the
gain of there fledgling program Roller Sham,
OOPS, I mean Roller
Jam. In the past 2 months that ECW has been on the
air on TNN they have
doubled the ratings of every program on TNN,,
making them the
highest rated show on TNN aside from there regular
Nascar coverage, which
is the only other reason I watch TNN.
You would think that
TNN would be advertising the hell out of them BUT
NO!!!!!.They advertise
Roller Jam and that other crapfest they have on
before ECW on Fridays,
Motor Madness like its the greatest show on the
planet.
Why does ECW only get
an occasional plug during the day or if they feel
like it a plug during
a Nascar race, usually right before the race is
over and the people
are pissed off at Jeff Gordon they turn it off when
the commercials come
on? TNN refuses to let ECW do what they are
famous for, Vignettes,
Extreme Angles and Hardcore wrestling.
Not that we haven’t
gotten the wrestling part, but they refuse to spend
money to advertise ECW
but when it comes time to advertise Roller Jam
they have unlimited
money. The blame isn’t all on Paul Heyman’s end;
here is our chance to
tell TNN what we think. You see, it was an E
mail campaign that got
ECW on PPV, an e-mail campaign that got ECW on
national TV, and
hopefully its going to be an e-mail campaign that will
get ECW a little
better treatment on TNN. So here we go, either E mail
me at
extremeicon00@xxxxs... or go to this address:
http://www.country.com/cgi/emailer.cgi?category=WholeSite
at
Country.com and let
your voice be heard. Together we can make TNN
realize that ECW can
and will make them the number1 network on cable.
===========================================
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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