The Wrestling Booking Sheet online newsletter

Issue # 446

Date: Friday December 24th, 1999 9:10 am

The Wrestling Booking Sheet

ECW SPOILER ALERT
At the conclusion of this issue we have the
results of the 12/23 ECW show in White
Plains, N.Y. (a TNN taping). As always, if
you would rather be surprised, please skip
that section…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ROUNDING THE SQUARED CIRCLE
"A SLIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK" OR
"HE SAYS GRAPEFRUITS, SHE SAYS MELONS"

BY SAMJERRY
Visit My Home Page At: http://members.aol.com/samjerry

Once upon a time in the Land of Stamford
lived an evil old Emperor named McMahon.
Emperor McMahon had an adorable wife, Queen
Linda, and two children, a boy and a girl.
His son, Prince Shane, was molded in his own
image and had all the makings of following
in the Emperor's footsteps and ruling the
land with an iron fist, crushing anyone who
dared oppose him.

His daughter, Princess Stephanie, was more
like the Queen. In fact, she was so fair and
kind hearted that the people of the land
called her Miss Sweetness and Light. She
dressed in bright sweaters, skirts and
jackets, wore her hair in a ponytail and
used little makeup. She was the picture of
innocence. The people loved her as much as
they hated the evil Emperor and her scheming
brother.

As Princess Stephanie grew into a beautiful
young lady she met and fell in love with a
brave young Knight, Sir Test of Andrew. On
their wedding day, just as the Princess and
Sir Test were about to exchange vows, the
evil Warlord HHH, Ruler of the dark Empire
of Degeneration-X, interrupted the ceremony
and showed a video of his marriage to the
fair Stephanie. It had taken place the
previous evening in the wicked land of Las
Vegas.

The Princess appeared to be under a witches
spell or to have been given a potion. Her
wedding to Sir Test was halted. The Emperor
and Prince set out to find what had happened,
vowing vengeance against The Warlord. The
fair Princess sought solace with the Queen.

Now as oft times happens in fairy tales, not
long before Stephanie and Sir Test met and
fell in love, the evil Emperor and his
scheming son Prince Shane, had shown signs
of mending their evil ways. Their subjects
had ceased taunting them with a chant of
"@xxxxcxxxc$hole" and were even cheering them. The
land of Stamford was at peace and prospering.
To the surprise of the royal family and their
subjects, Princess Stephanie revealed she was
in love with her husband, the Warlord HHH,
and not Sir Test.

Her appearance began to change. She was no
longer wearing her modest clothing; her hair
was down and teased and she wore bright
lipstick. As the weeks passed, her
transformation continued; she was now wearing
leather clothes and spoke differently. She
was exerting her power and independence. She
spoke openly about her chamber experiences
with her groom.

The King was a broken man. The young Prince
tried unsuccessfully to console him. It did no
good. They both slipped into obscurity, leaving
the Prince and the Warlord to rule the land.
And rule they did; with an iron hand. They
meted out punishment to all who opposed them,
or spoke out against them. It was a dark time
in the land of Stamford. They set brother
against brother, pitting the noble knight Edge
against his younger brother Christian; Sir Jeff
of Hardy against his brother Sir Matt; they
forced Sir Test to face two and three dark
soldiers at the same time; they found many ways
to embarrass the grizzled old Crusader Mankind
of Foley; and they attempted to eliminate The
People's Champion, The Rock. These were only
some of their dastardly deeds.

The Princess caught Mankind of Foley plotting
a revolution and seemingly sided with the people,
blaming everything on her evil husband. However,
it was but a ruse and Mankind was put to the lash
for daring to speak out against the royal couple.

With Stephanie "running the company" while her
father and brother are off on company business,
things have been interesting in the WWF. We are
seeing matches we haven't seen before. Four of
the youngest and brightest stars, Edge, Christian
and The Hardy Boyz, have been split and matched
against each other; we have seen friend against
friend. While not a new concept the matches have
been interesting and a breath of fresh air.
Stephanie's "change" from prim and proper to
leather chic has been fun to watch. If nothing else,
it has demonstrated that the McMahon family has more
than one person (Shane) to follow in McMahon's
footsteps.

How much input she has actually had to the booking
may never be revealed, but it shows she has a solid
grasp on running the company. How much longer this
angle will run is open to conjecture. She has shown
that she is capable of doing the job while McMahon
and Shane are tied up doing whatever it is that has
kept them off the air. I have read many things
written about the job she is doing. They run the
entire spectrum, from "Great" to "She Sucks." As is
in most cases, the truth is somewhere between.

There can be little argument that her mike skills
have improved exponentially. Her ability to "sell"
an angle has also shown marked improvement.
Probably the most important thing she has shown is
that she can "pull a McMahon." Translated: She
inherited the "@$$hole gene." Chalk one up for
the McMahon's and for the women.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ADVERTISEMENT
Join the World Wrestling E-Federation! It's
an E-Fed that uses current & past WWF
wrestlers! No annoying e-mails! 3 cards a
week! Many wrestlers are still available!
To join e-mail me at superdave316
or visit the official website at:
http://geocities.com/TimesSquare/Metro/4700/WWEF.html
Check it out!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1999 OBSERVATIONS
Written by reader: Paul Tringali (paulie_9@xxxxs...)
A few observations on the WWF this past year,
what went right, what went wrong, and what I
would like to see in the New Year. First
what went right:

1) Chris Jericho is now where he should be.
The right federation, getting a huge push
by Vince, and holding gold.

2) The Rock claiming the top spot. You may
not think he is a very good worker, you may
not like his style, but there is no denying
that he is the man now.

3) HHH as the ultimate heel. HHH and
Stephanie are just such a cute couple.

4) And last but not least. The tag team
division is the best it's been in a long
time. The Hardy's, Too Cool, The Dudley
Boys, Edge & Christian, and of course New
Age Outlaws.

What went wrong:
1) How SCSA went out. A little overweight.
Not quite the same in the ring; too bad,
he was one of the all time greats.

2) The whole woman's division is a joke.
The WWF should scrap the whole thing and
start over again.

3) Overkill on the whole TV thing. It's on
Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Friday, to
say nothing of the Saturday morning review
show.

4) Some of the angles this year set the bar
for crap TV. Cancer and incest were just a
couple of things we would all be better
without.

What I would like to see:
1) DX growing a little bigger. I would not
mind seeing Y2J and the Hardy's giving us
two words for you.

2) Seeing Taz make a big splash, and maybe
make us not wish SCSA was still around.

3) Mick Foley as the Commissioner. Think of
the havoc it would cause to DX and Vince!

4) To find the right angle and push for The
Big Show. He is amazing for his size but
he is lost in the Federation right now.

Hope you all have a happy and safe holiday
season, peace.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
OVERZEALOUS PERFORMERS
Written by reader: Zhair
When will these wrestlers will come down to
Earth and realize they are not invincible.
Oh I forgot, its sports entertainment!

Goldberg, were you offered promotion dollars
to put your fist through a windshield made by
Lincoln? What were your thinking? Have you
ever heard of common sense or a thing in show
business called a "Prop" ? If WCW needs a
prop man, I'm sure Warner Bros. has all you
could want!

WCW may be on the verge of losing its insurance
carrier after this. They may have to put a no
brain clause in there stating: Only breakable
props are to be used in the future! No claims
will be paid because of wrestler stupidity!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SEATING FOR THE LONGTIME FANS
Written by reader: Stevie D (sdefazio)
I for one am praying for a ratings hike for
the new management in WCW. Strangley enough
I do not consider myself a WCW fan. Why then
is a WWF fan hoping for a competitor to get
more popular? My reason is simple, I can not
get my hands on WWF tickets to save my life.
I can't see so much as a house show at the
arena, and forget about a TV taping or a PPV,
they are sold in a hour or two.

It's crazy the way the fans buy their tickets
in the '90s. I remember the '80s house shows
(even when Hogan wrestled in the building) and
if it was a 75% gate maybe if they had a good
turnout. Now there are 100% gates sold in less
than one day. Don't misunderstand me, I am very
glad business is booming for Vince and the WWF,
but the fact is their popularity is not
benefiting the fans at all.

In wrestling there are a lot of Johnny-come-
lately's who are there for the show and to be
entertained (which is good) but these are the
people who get the tickets first, and life
long fans such as myself are pushed back in
random with other fans who will go with
whatever show is popular at the time.

Even if I were the only one in the building I
would still not want to miss a WWF show. That
is not to say I only watch WWF. I also go to
ECW when they are in town, every weekend I
find myself supporting the indy scene, and if
WCW were to come to town I would get tickets
(seeing how Vince Russo, or one of the guy's
would be outside passing them out to fans for
free).

The only other thing I can think of is making
the set smaller. The big 2 both have sets that
take up too much of the arena. Vince please
make it so more fans can fit into the venue by
making the set themselves smaller, thus opening
up some more room for us the fans.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WWF=WCW of 1997 WCW=WWF of 1997
Written by reader: MJenk32306
Allow me to explain. What I mean by my headline
is that the WWF is where WCW was two years ago.
WCW had all the big stars and everyone watched
Thunder and Nitro, and ratings were up and WCW
had a firm grip on the ratings, and the WWF was
just trying to stay in business. WCW had all the
good mike guys (NWO) and good angles, and a
rising star in Goldberg (the WWF now has that
in the Rock).

What I'm getting at is that the WWF was in bad
business in 1996-1997 and WCW was on top. However,
WCW was on a decline in quality starting in
October 1997. WCW was STILL WINNING the ratings
up until April, 1998. Ratings victories don't
come overnight.

What I'm trying to finish at now is that the Rock
was Goldberg in a way. The Rock is popular like
Goldberg was but WCW shoved Goldberg down our
throats, and subsequently, the fans got sick of
him. That MAY happen to the Rock. If you shove a
wrestler down fans' throats, the fans will throw
him up and move on (Do you hear this, Rock and
McMahon?)

This is not a letter to mock the WWF or get into a
feud. It shows a variety of issues. Feel free to
respond in a nice, appropriate manner.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ECW SPOILER (SKIP IF YOU WOULD RATHER BE SURPRISED!!!
Reported by Johnny London & Wade Keller at: http://www.PWTorch.com

ECW on TNN tapings
December 23rd, 1999
White Plains, N.Y. - Westchester County Civic Center

As expected, Mike Awesome regained the ECW Hvt.
Title from Masato Tanaka Thursday night in White
Plains. N.Y.

During the show there was a fan walking around
with a sign that read: "I'm not a racist, but
I believe what John Rocker said." On the other
side it said something to the effect of "ECW
is AIDS infested and for Queer loves." It wasn't
clear whether it was an actual fan or a plant in
the crowd. Probably not a plant. In any case,
Paul Heyman came out and cut a promo on him.
After Heyman made some desparaging remarks about
the fan's mother, he asked the fan how much he
paid for his ticket. The fan said $32. Heyman
offered him $64 to leave. The crowd popped.

Heyman also encouraged a beautiful woman in the
crowd to flash her breasts to the crowd. She
refused, so Heyman turned and another woman did
do it. The crowd popped. Heyman also razzed a
fan who fell asleep during the show. He tried
to convince his friends to "piss on him to wake
him up." When the guy woke up, Heyman told him,
"Good morning!"

There were a lot of fights in the crowd throughout
the night, including a near riot during the
opening minutes of the Awesome-Tanaka match
including chairs flying. It appeared somewhere
around ten fans ended up getting kicked out of
the arena for being too rowdy or getting into
fights. Overall, though, it was said to be a
great atmosphere for a taping.

(1) Kintaro "Wing" Kanemura pinned C.W. Anderson
(w/Wild Bill Wildes & Lou E. Dangerously). This
was Kanemura's debut.

(2) Super Calo pinned Super Crazy. Weak match.
Calo was sloppy. The crowd wasn't into it.

(3) Danny Doring & Amish Roadkill won a three-way
tag match over The Dupp Brothers and David Cash
& Nova.

(4) Raven pinned Mikey Whipwreck. Before the match
the Impact Players came out and told Mikey to wipe
out Raven for them. Whipwreck said something about
not being a kid anymore. The Impact Players (Lance
Storm & Justin Credible) attacked Raven after the
match. Tommy Dreamer made the save.

(5) Tajiri beat Super Crazy. A very good match.
Tajiri is learning to interact with the crowd
really well and gets great heat as a result.

(6) The Baldies beat Balls Mahoney & New Jack.

(7) Sabu beat Rhino and Sandman in a three–way match.
Sandman was eliminated first. Lots of tables were
broken during the match.

(8) Mike Awesome pinned Masato Tanaka to regain the
ECW Hvt. Title. Another really good match from these
two. After the match Spike Dudley ran out and
attacked Awesome. Spike's female admirer attacked
Judge Jeff Jones. Awesome ended up flattening Spike
with a powerbomb.

(9) Justin Credible beat Tommy Dreamer in a Stairway
to Hell Singapore Cane Ladder match. Dawn Marie and
Francine fought during the match. Great match with a
ton of crazy ladder spots and bumps.

(10) Rob Van Dam (w/Bill Alfonso) beat Jerry Lynn
to retain the ECW TV Title. Another excellent match
from these two to finish off the night. Alfonso
interfered with a chair to cost Lynn his win.

Notes: Before the show backstage while the lead
singer of Dope was practicing on the stage, in
the locker room Mike Awesome gave quite a bit of
attention to the singer's girlfriend. She ended
up walking away from him after a few minutes...
New Jack needed help from three people to get
over the railing at ringside because he was in so
much pain. His ribs may have been injured... Jack
Victory and Electra were very affectionate toward
each other backstage... Before the show started,
in the ring Spike Dudley was teaching an unknown
woman some wrestling moves... Hidaka was backstage,
but did not wrestle... The show lasted about four
hours... One of the biggest pops of the night came
when Heyman said the May 14 Hardcore Heaven PPV
would be back at the Westchester County Civic
Center...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
ADVERTISEMENT
PWX News and Happenings
For those who missed the last PWX show, here is a
summary of the events...

The show started with an announcement that the
vacant TV title would be decided tonight. 6 Tag
Teams would be drawn at random. The winners of
the tag team matches would continue on into a
battle royal! The winner of the "every man for
himself" battle royal would be the TV champ. The
6 finalists in the battle royal were: Kingdom James,
Guido Gatti, Big Poppa, Cory K, and Superstar 2000
(what?), and the Steel City Machine (can you believe
it?) The Steel City Machine didn't even have the
guts to show for the final ... or did he???

Guido Corleone was the last survivor in the ring and
had apparently recaptured the title when from
outside the ring "enforcer referee" Crusher Hanson
came in from behind apparently to award Guido the
belt. It was not the case as Hanson pulled the Steel
City Machine mask out of his pants and placed it on
his head and tossed Guido out of the ring. In such a
strange turn of events Crusher Hanson was the new TV
Champion...plus he was set to battle later in the
show in a 4 way dance for the PWX Heavyweight title.
He announced that this would be the beginning of
Crusher Hanson's overthrow of PWX

After that Marconi wants nothing to do with Atlas,
while Atlas is trying to get Marconi to be his Tag
Team partner. It was a FANTASTIC match that saw
Marconi reverse Atlas' finisher and get the pinfall.
It appeared that Marconi had proven his point and the
feud was over. Atlas was not happy with the outcome
and proceeded to get on the mike and run down Marconi
in a very personal way that we can not repeat here.
Marconi heard this and the shoot was on! The entire
locker room emptied and it got ugly! On December
30th the two will square off again. If Atlas wins...
Marconi must be his partner. If Marconi wins Atlas
must LEAVE PWX FOREVER!!!!!

Also, Vince Kaplack defended his NWA World Junior
Heavyweight Championship against the number one
contender...his cousin Brandon K! This match was the
best match in this area in years. Other organizations
may claim they have 5* matches...this really was one!!
Vince got the pin fall in a wild match! The two
exchanged words after the match, but that was quickly
quieted down when the third member of the Kaplack
family... Cory K came to the ring and made peace.

In the main event, it was Cody Michaels, Bubba the
Bulldog, Boomer Payne, and TV Champ Crusher Hanson in
a 4 way dance with the Heavyweight title belt
suspended above the ring. The first person to get the
belt was the new champ. Cody Michaels never made it to
the ring as he was taken out in the back room by Bubba
the Bulldog and his new best friend....an ax handle.
(Like we never saw this before?) Thus the match became
a 3 way dance. Let me tell you ... we have seen some
great wrestling at the 'plex and this was another
classic.

Hanson and Bubba formed an unholy alliance beating on
Payne. However, these two egos could not work together
long as they eventually turned on each other as well.
At the 11 minute mark, Brian Anthony (who had also met
the ax handle) came to ringside with his cane. He
proceeded to tell Bubba that he thought he had ended
his career, but Bubba was wrong. Since the match was
supposed to be a 4 way dance, Anthony decided to make
it one. Anthony hit the ring like a house on fire. He
took revenge out and got payment on Bubba's hide!

At the 15 minute mark Anthony came within inches of
losing more than just his career as he ducked a wild
swing of the ax handle...turned it around and gave
Bubba a piece of his own medicine as Bubba tasted the
wood! Anthony climbed the ropes and recaptured his
gold as Payne and Hanson bloodied each other back to
the dressing room. It was over...not quite!!!!

Bubba was not done. He proceeded to take out Brian's
knee again with the ax handle. He was in the ring
making sure this time he DID end Anthony's career when
it happened. The lights went out...and suddenly a
spotlight lit the balcony overlooking the 'plex. It was
RAGE... they were back! RAGE climbed down and ran Bubba
out of there and helped Anthony...the new champion to
his feet!

What will happen Thursday night December 30th when
PWX presents......PWX Y2Kaos!!
Bell time 7:30 PM
Brian Anthony -Vs- Bubba the Bulldog
Big Poppa -Vs- Klubber Korbelic
Stipulation RULES!
Lou Marconi -Vs- Paul Atlas
Unstoppable -Vs- No Limits (1 on 1)
Brandon K. is demanding a re-match against his cousin
Vince Kaplack for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight title!
3 way dance....Crusher Hanson, Boomer Payne, and Guido
Gatti for the TV title and a whole lot more !!!!!!!!!!!

For tickets call (412) 678-4290
For check out our web site
http://nwa-east.2webspinners.com
===========================================
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

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"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