Issue # 398
Date:
Monday November 15th, 1999 8:34 am
The Wrestling Booking Sheet
A&E WRESTLING REMINDER
Reported by Al Isaacs at:
http://www.scoopswrestling.com
A&E's week of wrestling
documentaries starts tonight (Monday, 11/15).
All shows will be shown at
8:00 PM EST, and 5:00 PM on the West Coast.
Here's the schedule below:
Monday - 'Stone Cold' Steve
Austin: Lord of the Ring
Tuesday - The Life and Death
of Owen Hart
Wednesday - Mick Foley:
Madman Unmasked
Thursday - Jesse Ventura: The
Body Politic
Friday - Andre the Giant:
Larger Than Life
Initial reports indicate that
the Owen Hart piece is the best of the
bunch, as it was produced by
the "Wrestling With Shadows" team. Either
way they all sound worth
checking out, with the Ventura piece generally
cited as the weakest of the
collection. It'll be interesting to see
how the Austin piece will
affect Nitro's first hour rating.
===========================================
LEGAL DISCLAIMERS
Written by reader:
Sammyfren
In response to your recent
Booking Sheet about Austin's appearance at
Survivor Series and the "Card
Subject to Change" loop-hole:
Legally there is nothing
anyone can do to the WWF. Austin did show at
the PPV and as part of the
angle was hit by a car and rushed to the
hospital. Therefore he did
"appear". The fact that he did not wrestle
does not have any effect on
the PPV or their misguiding advertising.
===========================================
THE INFAMOUS "CAR ACCIDENT"
Written by reader:
TWOD
We all have a level of
tolerance for poor taste. Some people handle an
ethnic joke well, but wince
at sex-filled comment. I tend to enjoy a
certain level of drama, and
have always believed that my intestinal
fortitude was able to stomach
the best of the storylines a fed's
creative team could dish out.
After all, I liked the
Ministry of Darkness angle, I could even handle
the Pepper-steak, Terri's
titillation's and the like. Now, the Big
Show's dad thing got me
riled, and I felt that the manipulation of the
audience's emotions was just
unethical...but now...it is the Steve
Austin "incident": that has
left me speechless.
Jerry Lawler's face. That is
it. He played the role way too well when
telling the audience of
Austin's automobile accident. It hit me hard in
the gut. It was the same face
that has been etched in my brain from the
Owen Hart tragedy. The
halting words...the uneven sentences. I got a
chill up my spine, turned to
the people in the room and said "this is a
cover for the injury, right?"
I, a grown woman, who
considers herself somewhat savvy considering
wrestling angles and gimmicks
said something similar watching the PPV,
about six months before:
"This is not real, right?" Somehow, I am
missing the entertainment
part of this sport. I am glad to see The Big
Show get the belt, and liked
some of the matches, but I do not want to
be reminded of something I
have tried so hard to forget...not to forget
Owen and all his work, but to
forget how it happened and how I felt
that night.
I am in my 30s, but a piece
of my innocent love for the sport, was
taken away from me, and it is
still missing. I would like to be able to
sit back and enjoy the match
without certain cruel realities burping up
from my memory. This is a
painful reminder that is hard to swallow.
===========================================
A MOVIE ANALOGY TO THE WWF
Written by reader:
Kshi8762
Ok now, the lawyer in me once
again says I need to respond to your
misuse of the legal system,
or references to it. Although they say
card subject to change, I
doubt it is more than just words, in that the
WWF calls itself sports
entertainment. Sports entertainment is a short
term basically meaning an
athletic play, if you will. Much like the
Young Guns movie, touting
Charlie Sheen as a major role player who was
actually shot shortly into
the film, Austin was taken out by a car
early.
Being a show means, they have
the ability and the right, to throw in
subtle or not so subtle plot
twists into the scenario. They have no
legal bind to star certain
people on cards, they may say what they want
and do what they want with
their matches and whom they decide to put in
and remove at certain times.
Now, if you really want
something to complain about from the PPV, try
Jericho vs. Chyna, first they
tout him as the Millennium Man, then
demean him by having him
wrestle Chyna, then demean him even more by
having him lose.
The WWF does many things I
don't agree with, however, your reference to
the legal system was way off
base, and though you may disagree with it,
it is in no way an
opportunity for sue-happy folks to run out and find
a mockery of the legal system
lawyer to sue them.
===========================================
DOES THE TERM "STORYLINE"
JUSTIFY IT?
Written by reader:
PATMAN943
I don't write to newsletters
much and to be honest Steve
Appy usually makes sense
when he gives his opinion. Heck, I
usually sit back and agree
with him. His view on the Survivor Series
Main Event change of Austin
for The Big Show, I however, did not agree
with.
Now granted, the WWF did
advertise "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at
Survivor Series. True and the
hardcore Austin fans probably were very
disappointed that he did not
wrestle. The truth is he doesn't know all
the facts. There could be
many different reasons for the apparent
"deception" but the one that
comes to mind most is that it was a
STORYLINE!
GASP! A storyline in the
WWF??? Why, that has never happened before!
I mean seriously, is it
really worth getting that upset over? So
Austin did not appear like he
was supposed to. Like you said Card
Subject to change. I mean
would you have rather had Austin come out and
do a half assed performance
at one of the biggest PPV's of the year?
Granted Survivor Series
wasn't spectacular but I don't think the
addition of The Big Show to
the main event was the reason for this.
Like it or not the WWF made a
decision and stuck with it. They did it
in 1993 with Perfect and
Savage (granted it wasn't the main event) but
I am sure anyone who bought
that PPV to see Mr. Perfect was
disappointed. My point is,
things like this happen the WWF made the
best of a situation. Telling
the world Austin was injured would have
hurt the storyline they had
planned and ruined the surprise element.
I mean, the Survivor Series
was not the "Stone Cold Steve Austin PPV",
there were others advertised
as well. Call it lying, call it deceiving,
call it whatever you want. I
call it a big deal out of nothing.
===========================================
LET THE BUYER BEWARE
Written by reader:
Nvrmor4lif
The whole Austin
non-appearance is akin to the saying "a sucker is born
every minute" and Vince
suckered a few hundred thousand households.
The Austin backers will say
"yeah, but...", the marks will say "I saw
it coming", the WWF will say
"disclaimer", and no lawyer worth his salt
will take the side of those
who paid to see one thing and got something
else. The "buyer beware"
rings oh so true. Can you say "take the
money and run?"
===========================================
RYAN SHAMROCK INFORMATION
Written by reader: Barry
Stulberger (mrmom57)
I have a great honor of
working with NWA NJ. We have just finished 2
shows this weekend, in Hazlet
and Pt. Pleasent with Ryan Shamrock. She
is a REAL nice person to work
with, and when I mentioned Mark Madden's
story about her signing with
WCW, she was AMAZED to say the least. As
far as she knows, no one from
WCW has called her about it.
She was genuinely surprised
about it. I must say this about Ryan, she
is a truly sweet person and
can't seem to do enough for her fans. She
has never said no to anyone
who asked for an autograph, and really
seems to enjoy her
appearances. During the past few years, there have
been alot of WWF, WCW, ECW
personalities that have worked with us, but
NONE were as fun to work with
as Ryan. Thanks,
Big Barry
P.S. to see the photos of
Ryan's appearances with us, Please come to my
webpage. I will have the last
shows pictures on there before the end of
this week.
www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Bleachers/3710/Oct30.html
===========================================
YOU MAY HATE IT, BUT YOU
CAN'T STOP WATCHING!
Written by reader:
NYPaisan57
Can we all please stop
arguing over the over this purity of wrestling
thing??... Fans need to
realize what sells and that has been three
things since the beginning of
time intrigue, sex, and scandal. Nobody
cares about a well worked
plancha or how stiff a guy is working except
us net "smarks".
The average fan is out there
to be entertained. We as a group need to
stop taking this so
personally... because the fact of the matter is as
much as you complain you must
still be a fan otherwise you wouldn't be
writing into this
publication.
If you want to put a stop to
the smut on Monday nights stop
watching it... otherwise
quite complaining, sit back and enjoy. I
remember a line from the
Howard Stern Movie ..."55% of the survey said
they absolutely hated him...
but listened just to see what he would say
next". Controversy is part of
life and is interesting... McMahon knows
this... so should you...
===========================================
A DEFENSE OF THE SUGGESTED
"RAPE"
Written by reader:
WeEatFish
There have been lots of
letters in the WBS about whether the Stephanie
thing was or was not rape.
No, it definitely was not, the best reason
is that the thought of rape
wouldn't have even crossed anyone's mind
had it been Shane instead of
Stephanie. They were doing nothing sexual
to Stephanie-a rape has to
have sex involved.
===========================================
A "PRO CANCER ANGLE" FAN (HIS
LABEL)
Written by reader:
Mishudog14
I know lots of people are
complaining about The Boss Man/ Big Show
cancer angle, but I think it
is great! The Big Boss Man may not be a
great wrestler, but he sure
is funny! The whole skit, when The Boss Man
tricked the policeman to tell
The Big Show his father is dead, to the
tear gas, to the card, and
finally to the funeral, (which was
hysterical), it has all been
great!
Sure, this disease is very
serious, and the WWF aren't saying it isn't,
so what is so bad about that?
Little kids may even be learning from
this angle! If they hear
about cancer enough times, they may want to
go online or go to the
library and research it. And please, don't blame
the WWF. If it is anyone to
blame, it is The Big Show.
===========================================
IN THE MIDDLE ON THE CANCER
ANGLE
Written by reader:
RanmaSolo
I've seen a lot of letters
about the Big Show/Big Bossman angle. I
personally can see all three
sides of it. Yeah, three, there's those,
the majority, who are
sickened by it. Those, the middle group, who
don't care. Then I have seen
a few, one or two people, supporting it.
I, as I said, can see all the
sides. The pros and cons. And I'm not on
any of those sides. I myself
don't know what to think. I think that I
think I should be concerned
but I'm not sure if I really am.
I mean wrestling HAS been
taking a turn into more 'TV' show style
drama. Maybe this is just a
sign of things to come? Maybe eventually
all angles will be more like
this and wrestling WILL become a soap
opera for men, literally. Is
it a good thing? I don't know. But I have
to say I don't like the idea
much. Though incorporating the idea
sometimes in certain angles
might be interesting I do also like the
less over the top (Or is that
more?) wrestling angles much more.
BTW I know Head is a sexual
reference (To people who know the double
meaning already) but next
thing you know they'll be insinuating that
Socko is a reference to
condoms and that it's corrupting kids too.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Steve Appy responds:
Socko a condom reference? Now
that would be an interesting theory!
===========================================
ADVERTISEMENT
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[Steve Austin] vs. [Andre The
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===========================================
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
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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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