~~~~~THE TBL NEWSLETTER~~~~~
Issue #2, Volume 2
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Brought to you by:
The Balrog’s Lair –
http://www.geocities.com/jpalazzolo/
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Contents:
I. Note from the Editor
II. News & Rumors
III. Columns
IV. Advertisements
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Note from the Editor:
Joe Balrog
balrog275@geocities.com
Note from the Editor:
Ladies and Gentlemen, the internet world is rocking and now
is the time to get on your connection and start browsing!
The ECW/WCW merger, the WWF’s apparent flailing in this
interpromotional war, and tons of commentary are what
makes this edition of the TBL Newsletter a keeper! All of
the commentary seen here is taken from The Balrog’s Lair
so if you’ve read it there, then you’ve read it already!
The absolute latest on the ECW/WCW Invasion is listed in
the news and rumors. Hey, remember to tell your friends
about this newsletter and to get the word out about it!
Have a good one!
____________________
News & Rumors:
^^^Paul Heyman and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley^^^
While just about everyone on the internet seems to believe
that Paul Heyman is the mastermind in the WWF booking
scheme with Stephanie McMahon as his back up, it should be
known that the entire ECW invasion on RAW was NOT an idea
of either of these very talented writers, it was straight
from Vince McMahon himself. The word that I received was
that not only was Vince McMahon pleased with the reaction
that the ECW angle garnered, but that he felt a bit of a
chill for the entire segment. Apparently, the part of the
angle that got Vince and most of the locker room to mark
out (yes, they mark out) was not the great promo that Paul
Heyman gave, but rather the part of the run-in where the
WWF guys turned slowly around and beat the hell out of
Kane and Jericho. It’s nice to know that even the
wrestlers still mark out for stuff like that!
^^^Top Secret^^^
Only certain wrestlers and backstage personnel were told
the entire events of the night, although a lot of the
wrestlers found out about the angle from the appearances
of Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam in the locker room. And
in case you are wondering, I heard that Tommy Dreamer
designed and brought the ECW shirts with him to the arena
(which would make sense if you read his WWF.com interview).
^^^Sandman and Jerry Lawler^^^
The two big rumors going around the internet right now
revolve around Jerry Lawler and the Sandman. As far as
the Sandman goes, I have a feeling that sooner or
later “The Icon of Extreme” is going to make his presence
felt. However, Jerry Lawler has been able to do something
that no one else in recent WWF history has ever achieved.
Not only did he walk out on the WWF when they fired his
wife, but he rejected a contract from the company to bring
him back afterwards. One popular train of thought has the
whole ECW invasion angle springing forth from the fact
that the WCW desperately needed a color commentator and
Paul Heyman was the best that the WWFE has to give at the
moment. With that, the popular belief is that not only
did the WWF iron things out with Lawler, but that they are
ready to bring him and his wife back in. To make things a
little easier to understand – the WWF really has no choice
but to bring back Lawler if only for the fact that not
only did Heyman and Tazz jump to the WCW, but the C-team
color commentators of Michael Hayes and Tom Pritchard are
no where near good enough for RAW is War, the number one
show on cable television. The prevailing thought with
Lawler is that the WWF realizes that not only do they need
him, but that he would be able to bring a vein of hatred
towards the new WCW/ECW group since his much publicized
feud with ECW a few years ago. We’ll have the latest on
this story on our newsboard.
^^^WWF’s Backstage Area^^^
Not only was Triple H backstage at RAW, but there were tons
of ex-WCW talent at the arena looking for work or
inquiring about their contracts (for those who were bought
in the WCW sale, but haven’t been used yet). Guys such as
David Penzer and Doug Dillenger are being looked at for
spots with the new WCW if only because of their long
standing history with the WCW promotion. Both are said to
be in good spirits and very happily looking forward to
negotiating contracts. However, as far as the backstage
area at RAW, one of my good friends who was actually
backstage (can’t reveal who it was) claimed that it was
the best backstage atmosphere he’s ever been in. It was
like a gigantic reunion for so many wrestlers between the
WWF roster, the WCW roster, Dreamer and Rob Van Dam, and
the dozens and dozens of former WCW employees that came to
the event to say hello and talk to the stars. The person
who I talked to said that it was one of the best
experiences that he’s had as far as backstage fun is
concerned.
^^^The WWFE and the ECW^^^
RUMOR has it that the WWFE is in the process of buying the
ECW brand name from Paul Heyman in return for paying off
his multi-million dollar debt. This is JUST a rumor!
^^^The Latest^^^
Our team of reporters at The TBL Newswire will keep you up
to date on the latest news on the WCW/ECW invasion of the
WWF!
____________________
Columns:
Balrog Babblings
By: Joe Balrog
balrog275@geocities.com
In today’s cable television world that consists of ratings
power and corporate dominancy, I salute the fans at the
Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia for making a statement.
The WWFE big wigs did what they had to do to get the WCW
over. They brought them home. They brought them to the
birthplace of corporate WCW. They brought them to the site
of the 1996 Olympics and the site of Goldberg’s earth
-shattering victory over Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan in one
night to claim the WCW title. The WCW came home to Atlanta
…and they got booed out of the place.
The main problem with the WCW InVasion lies in the
demographics. It lies in the fact that the entire WCW
roster consists of heels (except Billy Kidman). Think
about it. Booker T. uses trickery to win, Shane McMahon
uses the same trickery to help his performers get a ruse
up on a WWF legend – The Undertaker. At the same time,
Torrie Wilson and Stacey Kiebler have definitely gotten
off to a rocky start with the hardcore WWF fans now that
they are taking on Lita and Trish Stratus, arguable the
two hottest WWF women in history. But all of that means
nothing right now…because the ECW just invaded the world!
I’ll be honest, I truly intended this article to focus on
beating down the WCW InVasion and why it sucked so far,
but I am also writing this as RAW is War is being
broadcast…and I swear to God I just saw a host of WWF
wrestlers exit the locker room to beat the piss out of
Mike Awesome and Lance Storm. But as they were standing
there something went through my head. It went something
like this: “Hey, that’s Tazz – he’ll probably want a piece
of Awesome. Oh and look, the Impact Playaz are in the same
ring again. And how funny is it that Dreamer and Raven are
standing next to each other? Come to think of it…I wonder
if RVD wants a piece of Rhyno to get that ECW Television
Title…hey, wait a minute. (In a Joey Styles voice) Oh my
God, it’s on!”
And with that thought in my mind I watched as Tazz, The
Dudley Boyz, Justin Credible, Raven, and Rhyno turned in
such an eerie body movement that something HAD to be up.
And lo and behold…BAM! In Heyman’s own words: “This
InVasion has just been taken to the extreme!”
Now, as I stated earlier, I meant for this article to bash
the WCW InVasion, and that is still quite possible. All
you have to do is look at the players on both sides. How
can you compare Palumbo and O’Haire to the Acolytes? How
can you compare Vince McMahon to Shane McMahon? I’m
not “marking out,” but going by sheer star power alone,
there is no competition, at all. Oh wait, I AM writing
this as RAW is playing…and I’ll be damned if Stephanie
McMahon-Helmsley doesn’t own the ECW. The same ECW that
just merged with the WCW!
I think it’s hilarious! I start this column to publicly
bash this invasion crap for the first time and it seems
like I am going to wind up praising it! The addition of
Paul Heyman and his ECW group to the WCW roster gives the
angle a few things that it sorely needed.
First, I don’t know about the rest of you fans out there in
internet world, but I really was starting to catch on to
Paul Heyman and his ECW style announcing. It was really
getting good between him and Jim Ross. But there was a
certain twinge in the whole invasion angle. Something just
wasn’t right with him defending the WWF after – for years
– he bashed the corporate image with his ECW. With him
defecting to his “home” so to speak, it just seems to put
a bit of reality in the whole invasion thing. Finally, he
gave a promo that was worth the price of admission (or the
price of my cable bill for the day). Anyone for Heyman as
the WCW Commissioner? And bringing Heyman over to the
WCW/ECW side does another thing…
Second, Heyman will undoubtedly be able to take the place
of “Double A” Arn Anderson as far as commentating goes. I
have no qualms with Arn Anderson, since he is a living
legend himself, but when it comes to color commentary…he
just doesn’t cut it.
Third, along the lines of the first point, I really thing
that having guys like Tazz and Raven and Justin Credible
sticking up for the WWF really didn’t make sense. Yeah,
they are all “WWF Superstars” and yeah Tazz has been with
the WWF for over a year and change, but there is something
about having men that JUST made the crossover to the WWF
stick up for them like they are the company that they
truly believe in. Although, with these ECW icons finally
going “home” with Heyman – that brings up a fourth point
that this merger has brought to the forefront…
Finally, this merger and coming home of superstars puts
guys like Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and especially Jerry
Lynn and Tajiri in the spotlight (if only the internet
spotlight) as far as where they stand on the whole
invasion. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing Jerry
Lynn “go home” and become the star that he can become in
the WCW/ECW, but for guys like Dean Malenko and Tajiri, I
think it might be better to have them stay with the WWF.
Tajiri because he is a great foil to Regal and Malenko
because when he retires, he’d be able to get a great
position for the WWF as far as booking the Light
Heavyweight division.
The last thing that this merger does is bring some meat to
the WCW fold. The Dudley Boyz, Tazz, Raven, Rhyno (who I
feel is the biggest loss), and Justin Credible will do
great for the WCW. Where does this leave X-Factor? Where
does it leave Michael Cole on Smackdown? Or better yet
…where does this leave Jim Ross on Mondays?
So with that all being said, my column that proposed to
bash the WCW InVasion has turned into the opposite of what
I thought it would be. So I go from wanting to bash the
WCW to praising the WCW/ECW merger. Excellent storyline!
Joe Balrog
balrog275@geocities.com
Archives:
http://www.geocities.com/jpalazzolo/columns/balrog.html
The Middle Turnbuckle Report
By: Sean O’Leary
Santeria36@aol.com
I usually wait until the middle of the week to write my
column, but after a Raw of truly epic proportions, I
simply had to write one tonight. As Raw went off the air I
laughed, but not because anything was funny. But because I
had just seen the most amazing turn of events ever on
wrestling program, even moreso than Hulk Hogan turning
nWo. It was amazing because I literally did not see any of
it coming. With Hogan, you knew someone was turning nWo,
you just didn’t know who. But tonight? Turning WCW into
full-blown heels made sense to me because, well, they are
the heels. The WCW fanbase is gone, and the WWF fans hate
the WCW product, so it only made sense. But then ECW? And
then Stephanie McMahon? It was sensory overload, and
that’s when I realized I needed a scorecard.
Stephanie McMahon returned and is now the owner of ECW,
which made no sense in any loose sense of the word because
Heyman should be the owner, and all signs pointed to him
being the owner. Have they forgotten Stephanie
is “married” to Triple H? Then the whole ECW thing, which
was a true wrestling markout moment, turned into garbage
in a span of fifteen minutes. Why turn everyone ECW, when
they are going to turn WCW that quickly? What was even the
point? ECW isn’t alive, it’s part of WCW. Logically,
nothing made sense tonight. Shane McMahon turned on the
Undertaker, but what would have happened if say, the
Undertaker didn’t come out for the match? Did McMahon
know? And then after all the incredible ECW stuff, we get
a pointless match between X-Pac and Scotty 2 Hotty, which
was funny since X-Pac was showing no ill regard towards
the fact that Justin Credible just, you know, turned on
him and stuff. But to top it all of was poor Lance Storm
and Mike Awesome, who by no fault of their own, ended up
looking stupid. Why? Because they turned on WCW at 10:30,
just to rejoin by 11:00. Again? What is the point of all
the turns so quickly? Is Vince Russo back there booking
again?
Before the hate mails coming flowing in, keep in mind, I
liked Raw tonight. I actually think I loved it because in
the days of the Internet, this was a swerve that shocked
everybody in all senses of the word. But as a fan, as soon
as Raw went over the air, there were just way too many
questions to answer and the logic of everything was
confusing to say the least. The formation of ECW and the
turning of WCW made sense, if it had ended there. But the
combination of the two and the addition of Stephanie
McMahon just made me scratch my head, because it shows
that the rumors of the WWF booking by the seats of their
pants become very apparent. Where do they go from here?
More importantly than that, whose the faces and whose the
heels? Vince McMahon and the WWF suits once spewed garbage
to us in 1997 that there are no longer good guys and bad
guys in pro wrestling, and nothing could be further from
the truth, as there will always be good vs. evil. The WWF
has made its product revolutionary by blurring those
lines, and disguising who is the good guys, and who are
the bad guys. Now, fans are left with the task that
everyone on the entire roster, pretty much, is in-between.
You could hear the fans confused during the Booker T/Angle
match, though in the end they sided with Angle. ECW was an
instant face when they were announced, because most of the
guys are faces from the WWF along with Rob Van Dam, but
then they join with WCW. Is that good or bad? Stephanie
McMahon? I don’t even know what to say about Stephanie
McMahon because it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.
So the WWF dropped the ball with the straight WWF/WCW
invasion and they did they smartest thing possible, they
freshened it up, shocked the hell out of everyone, and got
us watching. But at what price? I long stated that the
downfall of the nWo was its simple premise, that a whole
promotion’s wrestlers is turned into a de facto babyface
or heel. You can’t have that because the invasion can’t
last forever, and things get stale quick. Stone Cold and
Kurt Angle are all now faces, and will be as long as the
invasion continues, but what happens when it ends? Is this
Invasion going to last until SummerSlam and into the fall?
There are way too many questions, and most of which have
questions that I don’t like the answer to.
The biggest problem with this mess, besides the logical
flaws, is the simple fact that no one on the new WCW/ECW
roster can compete with the WWF wrestlers, save for Booker
T. Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Kane, and the
Undertaker all exist on a level than no one in the WCW/ECW
faction can even approach. The only man even close to it
is Taz, but his brush with Stone Cold two weeks ago has
lead to nothing, which is disappointing. Diamond Dallas
Page would be but the Undertaker just keeps kicking his
ass like a jobber. And if the WWF was *so* concerned about
ECW, why did they send out the Big Show, Hardcore Holly,
Billy Gunn and the Acolytes to fight? Do those five strike
fear into anyone, and the sad thing is that those five
guys annihilated WCW’s five. The point? The WWF is too
strong for anyone to take this seriously if it ever gets
down to serious one-on-one competition.
So after a night of unprecedented turns that would make
Vince Russo proud, where do we go from here? I give the
WWF a whole heaping helping of praise for getting the
wrestling world talking again and giving the people on the
net things to discuss and reasons to watch. There is one
huge causality to all of this. The common WWF mark that
makes up I’d say at least half of their audience. They
have no idea who any of these WCW guys are, and they only
know the ECW guys from their WWF days, which if you take
out the Dudley’s, haven’t been all that impressed. And
they certainly don’t care about Rob Van Dam and don’t give
one iota about Tommy Dreamer. So two-thirds of this
invasion is made up of faceless characters that WWF fans
who go to the shows care about. 1,000 fans chant ECW, and
people think its going to work. It’s not the smarks that
make pro wrestling money, it’s the masses. So when you see
an ECW chant you can see it as 1,000 fans chanting, or as
12,000 fans sitting on their hands. To make this angle
work successfully the WWF has to do two very important
things. First, they have to give us some sort of halfway
believable explanation why Stephanie McMahon is in the
fold (and I’m not talking about a “I hate Daddy” reason
which will make me cringe) and explain why they introduced
an ECW that was just a part of WCW. And secondly, more
importantly, they have to make this angle appeal to
everyone, especially the diehard WWF fans, who I feel
right now know they say something important tonight, but
don’t really know what it is yet.
Sean O’Leary
Santeria36@aol.com
Archives: http://www.angelfire.com/ct/TheCWF/mtr.html
The Dirty South Chronicles
By: GrandMaster D.
ROOS26@AOL.COM
The time’s…they are a’changin’–bob dylan
If I were to tell you that alot has happened within the
last week, hell within the last twenty four hours, in the
wrestling world I’d be lying to you. More than ALOT has
happened. WWF buying WCW was an actual, real, historic
moment both in the real world and the wrestling world. It
suprises me though that the bonafide realistic purchase of
WCW by the WWF did not make my spine shiver the way a
fictional merger has done. And with that let me just say
one thing about the July 9th RAW…IT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKIN
SHOW!!!
I tuned into RAW knowing something was going to happen. All
I expected really was some more WCW debuts and the
progression of the InVasion angle. Even if I had known
every single detail about tonight’s RAW is WAR it still
would not have prepared me for what I saw during the
second hour of tonight’s show. I was confused throughout
the first hour of RAW. Shane screwed the Undertaker, and
along with DDP, beat him and his wife Sara mercilessly. I
was left to think to myself, “So WCW will be presented as
the heel in the InVasion angle?” I could not have been
more right, nor could I have been more wrong.
I saw Booker’s promo in the locker room with Angle and
there was a grin on his face that told me EVERYTHING in
the wrestling world would change withing a matter of an
hour. The Angle/Booker match was good, Booker’s getting
back into shape and improves every time he is on T.V. in
all areas. The golden child of WCW did not win cleanly to
the Olympic Hero in WCW’s backyard. Once again I found
myself pondering, “Why are they changing WCW’s image when
it hasn’t even been established.” It was not even
concievable to me how far off base I was.
Hour two rolled around and I found myself dozing off during
the Kane/Jericho Vs. Awesome/Storm match. Then Jim Ross
spoke something that was equivalent to the gospel through
my television set, “Good Lord, that’s Tommy Dreamer and
Rob Van Dam! What in the hell are they doing here?” As
Ross pestered on about the suprise appearance I noticed
two things that began to make my mouth water. 1) Paul
Heyman started to get excited, as if a plan had come
together, as if he had all of a sudden been relinquished
of his sidekick duties and would once again challenge the
WWF empire. 2) I expected to see RVD, Dreamer or both
tonight, but what kept catching my eye was that they did
not jump the security wall wearing WCW black and red, but
rather ECW black and purple. I began to think back to a
few months ago when the WWF was rounding up the remaining
worthwhile ECW talent. I told myself and others, even
corresponding with GraySox and Ed Johnson, and DDP on
numerous occasions on how perfect it would be to see and
ECW stable. Then I caught it sooner but I looked and saw
past ECW tag, world, and television champions. Then as the
group of WWF midcarders who once reigned supreme over ECW
stared at each other I saw visions of Mecca, of bingo
halls, of a basement in upstate New York. Then I heard the
chant faintly throughout the crowd, “ECW, ECW ECW” and as
if I could not be amazed anymore, the taunting ceased,
Lance Storm and Mike Awesome embraced their former co
-workers and took out Kane and Jericho. At this point I was
beyond elated. Little did I know there was more to come.
Paul gets into the ring with his boys “You want an
explanation JR? You want answers?!” Yes Paul, please give
us the answers. And he did with one of the best promos
I’ve ever heard. We have our stable guys. Taz will getto
actually wrestle on T.V now. RHYNO is going to gore
everyone in sight. Storm and Awesome will be at the top of
the tag team rankings indefinitely. Raven will be the
future intercontinetal champion, The Dudleyz will start
lighting tables on fire again, Mr. Dreamer will further
perfect the art that is violence, and Mr. Monday Night has
found a home. E-C FUCKIN- W! is back, and they will take
this InVasion to the extreme.
As if I wasn’t already satisfied with the show enough, next
I see Shane and Vince coming to terms with each other.
They say how they need to put their, and their companies’
differences aside for one night, join forces and hold back
this ECW onslaught. The APA rounds up the only healthy
decent guys left and shane brings
Palumbo,Kanyon,O’Haire,Stasiak,and Jindrak along. 20 man
tag, 5 WWF with 5 WCW versus the ECW 10. At this point I
assumed I was having some acid flashback and was the only
person watching these events. I didn’t care, it was too
good not to enjoy. Team WWF and WCW make their way to the
ring and within minutes begin to brawl. WCW lays out the
WWF and then the music starts. Paul leads his band of
Outlawz through the crowd and into the ring for a stare
down with WCW. But there are no blows exchanged, no minced
words, no aggression of any kind. Only an agreeing glance
between the members of each faction, as if to say “Now its
time, now we take control.” And that they did. WCW and ECW
wrecked shop on WWF and I am left in a state of complete
disbelief. On one channel, on one night, in one building,
on one show, two of the former big three joined forces to
combat the evil empire of the WWF. Vince comes out to get
some answers, he would get more than he or any of us
bargained for. Shane tells his dad he was responsible for
it all, for the tag match, for the InVasion, for the run
-ins, for the stalking of Sara, and for most importantly,
THE MERGER. ECW and WCW are one now. Before Vince can
catch his breath and truly soak up how royally dicked he
is, Shane introduces the new owner of ECW…Stephanie
Mcmahon!!!
Hindsight is twenty twenty and now this all makes sense,
but I NEVER saw this coming. The InVasion angle is
completely off the ground now, unless these guys just
don’t work there is no way in hell of blowing this angle.
The angle is bigger than anyone and everyone involved, all
they have to do is show up, work and the rest will take
care of itself. This merger solves almost every “problem”
brought up by critics of the InVasion angle so far.
1) Lack of stars–with future grovleing towards
Sting,Nash,Hall, and Goldberg in the works, the merger of
WCW and ECW will provide a somewhat known and respected
roster to get the fans attention. ECW fans mat be a select
and small crowd, but they are rabidly loyal. They will
cross numerous state lines now just to chant ECW one more
time.
2)Logic and Continuity–Before we had meaningless run-ins,
a lackluster RAW is WCW, and countless other holes. Now
the loose ends have been tied. I am now aware of the
seriousness of this war, I care who is standing when the
smoke clears. This business is a big yard, and in it you
have the little kids and the big kids. For years the big
kids (wwf) beat up on the little kids (wcw and ecw) until
finally the little kids just left school (got bought or
went under) well now those kids have grown up and are
seriously pissed off. This is about all the times Vince
never listened to Shane and Steph, the times Vince would
bury talent from other companies, the times when he raped
and stole everything from ECW. The past has come back to
haunt the WWF.
3) Realism–This isn’t some fantasy camp anymore where we
get to see Goldberg ansd Austin fight it out. This is war,
PLAIN AND SIMPLE. WWF/WCW/ECW is not going to draw out a
map of who to cheer and boo for you, and thats the best
part. No one is being made to look like a bad guy or a
good guy. It’s all up to us now. Where do YOUR alliances
lie? Sure you rented a few ECW tapes and you loved to
style and profile with Ric, hell I’m sure most of you ate
your vitamins and said your prayers like good little
Hulkamaniacs. But when it comes down to it, the most
important and relevant question in the history of
wrestling, that went unspoken between fans for years, was
broadcasted live on TNN. “WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?” You love
RVD, but did you love him when he drove a chair into
Jericho’s face? You loved DDP, but did you love him when
Diamond Cutted Sara and mauled the Undertaker? You love
Stone Cold, but will you love him when he gives the
stunner to Goldberg? or Booker? or Ric Flair? It’s a
question we’ve answered in our minds for years but not we
must all make a real decision because neither of these
three companies are going to play fair, and don’t be
suprised if Paulie screws over the WonderBrats. One
company fighting for respect, one fighting just to exist,
and one fighting to stay on top. I ask you again, “WHOSE
SIDE ARE YOU ON?” These guys are going to do anything and
everything it takes to win this war. Some of your heroes
may not come out of this thing the same, or at all even.
Some of your most hated enemies will become your most
trusted allies for lack of any other options and means of
survival. EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED.
The best part about this? This ain’t even the best to
offer. SCSA is still suffering from a sore back, The Rock
is coming back soon, Benoit will be back in about a year
or so, The Game is still rehabing and how he reacts to his
wife’s business dealings with the “enemy” (or are they the
enemy?)should be interesting. What we’re seeing right now,
what the WWF/WCW/ECW is doing, they are doing it with the
second string players, and doing a damn good job at it.
Where will the alliances of guys like Eddie G., Jericho,
Benoit, Foley, and other multi-promotional workers lie
now? Will Tajiri heed the call back home and turn on
Regal? Will Vince have a nervous breakdown? I wouldn’t be
suprised to see ole’ Vinnie on Smackdown begging and
pleading for anyone and everyone who was every involved in
the WWF to come to his aid. One problem Vinnie, all the
guys you could call are lined up to destroy your
company. “Mr. Michaels, they’re playing your music” I
could be wrong, but I’m probably not.
GrandMaster D.
ROOS26@AOL.COM
Archives:
http://www.geocities.com/jpalazzolo/columns/dirtysouth.html
Rounding the Squared Circle
By: Sam Jerry
SamJerry@aol.com
“RETURN OF THE SHE-DEVIL”
OR
“ECW, ECW, NO – IT’S EC-F’N-W!”
Last week we were subjected to what arguably was the worst
RAW ever. The main Event put every insomniac in the
country to sleep. However, last night the WWF redeemed
itself and gave us one of the most spectacular wrestling
programs ever. There were more surprises than there were
Indians at The Little Big Horn.
Things started innocently enough, or so it seemed. The
opening match was a Street Fight between WCW Owner Prince
(or now more properly King) Shane and Dirtbag Doophus
Page. The match was a result of Dirtbag kicking Shane’s
gold plated butt all over the parking lot last week on
SmackDown when Shane tried to stop his attack on The
Taker. We expected another of Shane’s wild matches,
however, it was not to be. The Taker came to the ring and
said he had first crack at Dirtbag’s crack. Surprise No.
1: Shane came in and used his Kendo Stick on The Taker,
showing it was all a plot to get The Taker. When Sara
(Mrs. Taker) came in to help hubby, Dirtbag nailed her
with The Diamond Cutter, sending her to the local ER. Not
a surprise: Just shook up and staying overnight.
Things seem like they returned to normal as we saw Our
American Olympic Zero meet WCW and US Champion Booker T
(The “T” stands for Tepid) for the WCW Title, in the first
ever Inter-Promotional Match. Surprise No. 2: Zero got a
great ovation, while Booker got less of one than a vendor
who spilled a tray of soft drinks. Since RAW was held in
Hotlanta, home of the “Old WCW,” one would expect Booker
to get a big pop. This shows why the “Old WCW” failed; not
even their “home” crowd gives a rats rump about WCW. Zero
forced Booker to tap to his Ankle Submission and later
pinned him after The Angle Slam. The WCW Referee who had
the match was more interested in keeping his job, so went
for a coffee break and then a smoke break, causing him to
miss both. WWF Referees took exception and we saw a Ref v.
Ref Tag Team Almost-Match.
Surprise No. 3 took place during a Tag Team Match between
the WWF team of Kane and Y2J v. the WCW team of Mike
Awesome and Lance Storm. Kane was set to face the two WCW
stars in a Handicap Match, replacing The Taker who was
holding Sara’s hand in the ER. To prove he was WWF to the
core, on his own Y2J joined Kane. Former ECW players Tommy
Dreamer and Rob Van Dam (RVD) hit the ring and joined
Awesome and Storm beating on Kane and Y2J. The WWF locker
room stormed in to help Kane and Y2J. After they saved
Kane and Y2J, they turned around and jumped them. The
group consisted of The Dudley Boyz, Raven, Tazz, Rhyno and
Justin Credible – all ex-ECW. They were joined in the ring
by Paul Heyman, who owned ECW before it went for a dirt
nap. He announced that everything he has done since
joining the WWF has been with the intent of rebuilding
ECW. Earlier in the evening The Dudley Boyz lost the WWF
Tag Team Titles to The APA, Farooq and Bradshaw, due in
part to the interference of Little Spike Dudley. When
offered a rematch, they said they had to think about it —
– a hint of things to come later in the show?
After losing Awesome and Storm to ECW, Shane approached
Emperor Vince with a proposal that five WCW stars team
with five WWF stars to face the ten that make up the “New
ECW.” He suggested they set their differences aside for
one match. While trusting his son as much as a lamb trusts
a hungry lion, The Emperor agreed. The Main Event began
with the five WWF stars beating down the five from WCW and
chasing them from the ring.. The ECW team hit the ring and
it was the ECW ten against the five from the WWF. Not for
long as it was time for Surprise No. 4: The five WCW stars
joined the ECW ten and beat the five WWF stars from
Atlanta to Charlotte and back. King Shane then reiterated
that since he couldn’t compete with daddy’s money, he
would beat him with smarts. The Invasion was now New WCW /
New ECW v. The WWF.
Emperor McMahon came out on the ramp and was cut short by
King Shane. Time for Surprise No. 5: Shane introduced the
new owner of ECW … Princess Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.
With a smile, Sweet Steph strutted past daddy and joined
her brother as things came to a close. It should be noted
that Sweet Steph looks like she spent some time in the gym
while she has been absent from TV and looked pretty good.
One hell of a night. Other things that kept the audience
laughing was the interplay between Zero and Stone Cold
Steve Austin (SCSA). It looked like we were watching a
Three Stooges short. Another humorous bit hadTajiri (who
curiously didn’t join his old ECW buddies) playing the
scared rabbit to perfection when Kane came into Commisar
Regal’s office. He looks like he wets his pants every time
he sees Kane. BTW, Little Spike also was absent when the
New ECW made it’s appearance. Where do Tajiri’s and
Spike’s loyalities lie?
Not to be forgotten was the announcement of a Tag Team Bra
& Panties Match at Invasion, pitting WCW foxes Torrie
Wilson and Legs Kiebler v. WWF hotties Lita and Trish
Stratus. No matter who wins the match, every male watching
wins.
As I said, one of the best RAW’s ever. Certainly one of the
most shocking. It demonstrates several things:
1. Acorns certainly don’t fall far from THE Asshole. King
Shane and Princess Stephanie learned well … Screw him
before he screws you. What will HHH have to say about
Sweet Steph buying ECW?
2. WCW still can’t stand on it’s own. Based on fan
reaction, bird watching seems to generate more interest
than WCW matches. When WWF stars face WCW stars, fan
interest picks up … and the WWF wrestler, face or heel,
gets the pop. Emperor McMahon took immediate action after
the fiasco of having WCW Championship Matches as Main
Events.
3. What took place should silence critics of recent WWF
Booking. They questioned things like Dirtbag’s bashing of
his boss. We got the answers last night to many of the
questions raised.
Sam Jerry
SamJerry@aol.com
Archives: http://members.aol.com/samjerry
Linda’s Thoughts
By: Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
How can I talk about the matches on Raw last night, when
the matches were nothing compared to the two big surprises
of the night? First of all if you haven’t seen Raw yet and
don’t want to know what the surprises are, then please
don’t read this column. I don’t want to spoil it for you.
This is a must see show.
I’m so excited about what happened that I have been trying
to get my thoughts in order. I’m so hyped from what I saw
that I couldn’t wait to do this column. WWF finally woke
up from it’s long nap and took what was to be the biggest
disappointment in wrestling the WCW invasion and made it
into something so big that this is going to be talked
about for a long time. And I think for a change it’s going
to be talked about in a positive way.
So many including me have been writing about the failure of
the WCW invasion. This whole thing has gone sour that it
until last night. What happened last night should have
happened months ago, it would have held the fans interest
and the ratings wouldn’t have taken a drop. But better
late than never. ECW LIVES!!! And I couldn’t be happier.
I don’t know about you but I never in my wildest dreams
expected an ECW invasion. To see Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van
Dam, Justin Credible, Tazz, Lance Storm, Raven, Mike
Awesome, Rhyno, Buh Buh Ray and D-Von all reunite and
reunite on Raw was incredible.
I know it was rumored yesterday that WCW was not getting
positive fan reaction, and because of this look for an ECW
invasion to happen. To be honest with you I didn’t think
much of the rumor. No I thought to improve things Steiner,
Goldberg, Nash or Sting would show up and get things
going. That’s what I expected to see on Raw.
During a match with Jericho and Kane against Awesome and
Storm, things took a major turn. Un-expectantly Tommy
Dreamer and RVD ran into the ring and started beating up
Jericho and Kane. Well I thought this was terrific Dreamer
and RVD what more could you ask for? But more was to come.
As Y2J and Kane are getting their asses beaten, Tazz, The
Dudley’s, Rhyno, Raven, and Justin Credible come out. Now
I’m thinking they’re running out to rescue Kane and
Jericho, but as they enter the ring, they have a stare
down with the ECW guys, turn and then yes that’s right go
after Jericho and Kane. It’s an ECW reunion. The fans go
crazy, and to make it more fun Paul Heyman comes in bad
mouths JR, and let’s everyone know he’s been just playing
along, and now he’s back with the big guys. I’m telling
you this whole thing was just outstanding.
That’s the first surprise. After the break, Vince and Shane
meet up. Vinny and Shane have a few words but agree they
can’t let ECW take over. So both decide to take five of
their man team them up and go against the ten ECW
wrestlers. The WWF five are Big Show, Billy Gunn, Hard
-Core Holly and The APA. The WCW five are Kanyon, Stasiak,
Jindrak, O’Haire and Palumbo.
So as much as the thought of working together bothers all
of them, they unite to put a stop to those crazy ECW guys.
As the WWF and WCW guys enter the ring, the tension
builds, and O’Haire and Bradshaw start trash talking. This
leads to O’Haire slapping Bradshaw then all hell breaks
lose. All ten are fighting with WWF coming out on top by
throwing each WCW guy out of the ring.
Finally The ECW 10 come out, they get in the ring, easily
take care of all five WW guys and then wait for the WCW 5
to come in. When the five finally make their way into the
ring, there’s a few seconds of staring and then they all
hug and shake hands. After we see WCW and ECW are
together, one by one a WWF wrestler is thrown back into
the ring and one by one an ECW wrestler does a finishing
move on them. Vince comes out upset and puzzled and by the
way looking more and more like a face and not a heel. He’s
told by Shane that WCW and ECW have merged. Poor Vince is
shocked but that’s not all, Shane announces that the owner
of ECW is someone Vince knows. The one and only Stephanie.
Out comes Steph, who we haven’t seen in several weeks. She
walks by dad gloating then joins Shane on the apron.
And the show ends with a very very devastated Vince.
Need I say more, this was one great show. Let me just add
Kurt Angle and Booker T put on a very good match for the
WCW title. It was nice to see Angle out there after being
injured and without a doubt it was the match of the night.
Also APA won the tag team titles with the help of Spike
Dudley. The Street Fight with Shane vs. DDP turned out to
be DDP vs. Undertaker. However Shane turned heel and
helped DDP beat up Taker. By the way Sara was given the
Diamond Cutter by Page and taken to the hospital. I guess
that was supposed to upset all of us, but I can’t say it
affected me at all.
Other matches were Albert vs. Rhyno for the IC title, Big
Show vs. Jeff Hardy for Trish. Well not really, but this
match was to put a little more emphasis on Trish on Jeff
Hardy. The match itself lasted about two minutes. X-Pac
defended his title against Scottie Too Hottie.
And let’s not forget Angle, Austin and Vince did their
comedy routine perfectly last night. Austin seems so
relaxed with his new role, I’m wondering if he’ll ever go
back to that tough SOB Rattlesnake character again? Hey
I’m only kidding, but he is doing a great job, and he gets
better on every show.
It’s nice to know that Vince and staff had something up
their sleeve to save what could have been wrestling’s
answer to the XFL. WCW was dying in front of the WWF fans,
but now it takes on a whole new look and one that I think
WWF fans will embrace.
I really can’t wait until the spoilers appear tonight. I
want to hear Steph’s reason for purchasing ECW. I want to
see if she mentions HHH, or if his name doesn’t even come
up. And now I want to see what the plans are for the
Invasion pay per view. Hopefully it will now be worth
ordering. Also is Tazz’s days as an announcer finally
over? And who will be JR’ new partner when it come do
doing the broadcasting?
As I said this was a must see Raw and I hope Smackdown will
be just as powerful.
I would like to thank everyone who emailed answers to my
questions from Sundays’column. I received 82 emails, and
I’m still getting more answers. Again it just shows how
devoted wrestling fans are, and I can’t thank you enough
for taking the time to write me.
Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
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