~~~~~THE TBL NEWSLETTER~~~~~
Volume 2, Issue #6
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Brought to you by:
The TBL Newswire –
http://www.360revolve.com/balrog/
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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:
The Royal Rumble is on it’s way and here is a packed newsletter with the latest news and opinions from your favorite TBL writers! As for me, I’m hanging in there with college (I got a 3.4 GPA this past semester) and I’m hoping to improve upon on that (because that GPA is really too low for me). I hope you all enjoy this newsletter and continue to visit the site for the latest real news in the wrestling world!
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News & Rumors:
All news and rumors taken from The TBL Newswire
^^^Jim Ross Comments^^^
Slam! Wrestling recently had an interview with Jim Ross where the following information was revealed:
On the proposed roster split:
“‘That’s a creative issue that would be better if asked of Vince,’ Ross informed SLAM! Wrestling over the phone from his office in Stamford, CT. ‘I don’t know when the brand is going to be split, I just know that they are. It is going to happen, though. Absolutely it will.'”
Nash and Hall:
“Have we talked to Hall and Nash? Yes. Are they interested in coming in here? Yes. Do we have a deal finalized with either talent? No. Do we have a timetable of when the negotiations are going to be done and an announcement can be made? No. We don’t have a timetable.”
Added Ross: “We have a strong interest in them coming back to the company, as do they. There has been ongoing discussions about them returning but at this point and time we do not have a time set for them to come in. Bottom line is there’s ongoing discussions, there’s no bona fide time line to bring them back and there’s no guarantee.” Joe Balrog
^^^Stormwrestling.com address “What?” ^^^
Chances are that wrestlers who are caught speaking out against the phenomenon that is known as “What?” will be taken down a few notches in their current programs. While only two wrestlers have gone on record against this catchphrase, Lance Storm and Chris Jericho, they are hard men to put down since Jericho is the champion and both Jericho and Storm as well as Test and Christian are in the process of forming an alliance among themselves (with a strong backing by the writers to be a Canadian-centered group). Look for this group to either be put on hold or for them to be regulated to jobbing on every show. The WWF appreciates the fact that the crowd loves “What?” and that it has taken off, but truth be told – it has gotten out of hand. However, the WWF doesn’t like when it’s wrestlers speak out against the current product which is what Lance Storm has done on his website. – Joe Balrog
^^^Charlie Haas and the HWA^^^
In one of the most emotional moments in recent pro wrestling memory, Charlie “R.C.” Haas became HWA Heavyweight Champion, making Val Venis tap to a new leg-submission maneuver in a six man “all titles on the line” match between Haas, The Island Boys, HWA Tag Team Champions Val Venis and Steve Bradley and HWA Heavyweight Champ Ez Money. The rules stated that if any member of the champions were pinned, titles would switch hands accordingly. – Dave Talbert
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Columns:
Rounding the Squared Circle
By: Sam Jerry
samjerry@aol.com
“GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR, YOUR HUNGRY, YOUR USELESS”
OR
“THE ROYAL STUMBLE?”
BY SAMJERRY
With The Royal Rumble, the first big PPV of 2002 coming up next Sunday, the WWF has invited several old (and the operative word is “old”) friends to be a part of the fun and games. Who will we see that we have had the pleasure of not seeing lo these past couple of years you ask? To misquote an old poet “Let me count the neighs.”
Returning from purgatory, aka one of the WWF’s minor leagues, where they have been banished for seasoning, gimmick makeovers, etc., are:
Sean Morley, aka Val Venis, who had the chance to become a star but wound up back in the minors. His biggest claims to fame were his catch phrase “Hello, Ladies,” and his actions behind closed doors (or in some cases open ones). Val was the John Holmes of The WWF, getting lost in his porn star gimmick. Hopefully his time in hell has improved his ring actions and he will find a place on the loaded roster(s)?
Charles Wright, a man who has had more gimmicks than David Copperfield, including Papa Shango, The Godfather (his biggest) and The Goodfather (the low point of his career). He is said to be returning as The Godfather, however, in The Royal Rumble Match he wont be able to bring his Ho’s. Without the Ho’s, he might as well return as the Gonefather. The pops he got were for the boobs he brought.
Then we have some individuals that left The WWF for greener pastures, only to find that the pastures were desserts. Among those we will see are:
Virgil Runnels little (now there is an oxymoron if I ever saw one) boy, better known to us as Golddust. What’s the best way to describe Little Dusty? A couple of weeks ago on Excess, The Big Slow was the guest and being the great imitator he is, was asked to do Goldie. He said “I don’t do him.” To which The Little She Devil with the 36 DDD’s responded, “I don’t do him anymore either.” For those who aren’t aware, she used to be married to Little Fatso.
Curt Hennig, aka “Mr. (Im) Perfect, will grace us with his presence. How can you not love a man who could shoot baskets better than Michael Jordan (in his heyday), out hit Ishiro, out throw Kurt Warner, etc.? It may have been a gimmick, but one gets the idea he began to believe it. Too bad he can’t out wrestle anyone above the mid card.
Now we come to the real winners. Who does The WWF need as much as Custer needed more Native Americans? more than bin laden needed more B-52’s? Who else but The BIG Lazy. The one thing he did well was to remain an asshole buddy of The Emperor. After many “he dids” and “he didn’ts,” he has signed a contract with The WWF, reported to be for seven figures and for two years. He originally wanted to work only on days of the week with an “X” in them, or on Eskimo Holidays (and “work” in his case is not to be confused with physical activity). Other than name power he brings little with him, unless we end up seeing his faithful Indian companion Razor down the line.
It is possible, but highly improbable that Shawn (HBO) Michaels will make an appearance, Should this happen, look for him to make a quick exit if he is entered in The Royal Rumble, or at least take bumps no bigger than Princess Stephanie before her transformation.
Last, and certainly least, is The Chumpster. Like The Big Lazy, he too remained but a phone call away from The Emperor. There is no doubt that there are still a lot of Chumpamaniacs who will wet their Fruit of the Looms should be appear, but at what cost. The WWF has people up the ying-yang who deserve a chance to be on a PPV. The Royal Rumble gives The WWF the chance to empty the locker room, so why do we need to be subjected to this over-the-hill zero?
With all these outsiders invited, why wasn’t old Grandpa Dudley among them.? After all, he can still kick Bubba Ray’s, DeVon’s, Little Spike’s and all the other Dudley Boyz asses, sometimes two at a time. Hell, at the last Dudley Thanksgiving Day Dinner, he put Bubba Ray and DeVon thru the dinner table during dessert.
Oh yeah, we will almost surely see Dirtbag Doophus Page return to action. He is needed slightly less than The Big Lazy or The Chumpster. He uglied up SmackDown last night when he appeared in an environment he belongs in; he showed up in the little boys room as Mr. Sucka was trying to clean off The Stinkface he just received from The Ass That Devoured Mexico. If he was of any use, he would have brought a 50 gallon drum of lye to help Mr. Sucka.
What is significant is that the Goldie and ImPerfect (as well as The Chumpster if he shows) will make a one night appearance and disappear as fast as they came. None of the invited guests will win The Royal Rumble, a spot the smart money says is reserved for HHH. Of course, this is The WWF and anything is possible. Who knows, we could see the first female Royal Rumble winner.
Sam Jerry
samjerry@aol.com
Linda’s Thoughts
By: Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
I don’t care what anybody says Spoilers are a very important part of life at least to me they are. Had I not read this week’s spoilers I would have been sitting and watching the bathroom scene with Rikishi and Booker T. Thankfully I knew about it and left the room for a few short minutes to make popcorn, which by the way was damn good. Had I not read the spoilers this week I would have watched Booker leave the ring nauseous from getting the stink face and vomit on Michael Cole. But again I had warning and turned my back just when that marvelous scene was going to take place. Had I not read the spoilers this week I would have been shall I say pissed beyond belief that Hunter with all the hype in the last three weeks would only show up at the very very end of a two hour show. But see I knew it and yes when I read them it angered me, but at at least I knew what to expect. So I say God Bless The Spoilers.
And even though I was very upset about Hunter’s very short appearance, I really did like Smackdown, it was definitely loaded with a lot of surprises. Val Venis, or should I say the Big Valbowski will be at Royal Rumble. That’s the character that I always enjoyed and I’m looking forward to seeing him reprise the porn star role, that was one funny character. The Godfather will be at RR, back in his pimpin clothes, I remember at one time I found his act to be very stale, but after that miserable stint he did along with Val with the RTC, I welcome The Godfather back with open arms. And continuing with the surprises, Goldust will also be a RR participant. Now I saw Goldust for a few months when I got started watching ant I think he was going downhill by that time. I remember him at my first house show tag teaming with the Blue Meanie, oh there’s a guy I would like to forget. Anyway the match just began, and Goldust decided he didn’t want to be in it and left. Yeah, Goldust and Blue Meanie just didn’t have it, so his return doesn’t thrill me and as far as Mr. Perfect, never saw that character, but I have seen Hennig in the WCW and recently I’ve seen him plug his new fed XWF. And truthfully, he comes off like a cocky ass. So he’s another guy I could do without. But for the veteran fans, I’m sure they’re pleased to see him in the Royal Rumble, and that’s fine with me. Also DDP is back, back in the bathroom after Booker vomited telling him that’s a good thing no that’s a bad thing, you know the usual.
Smackdown reeked with bathroom humor and to add to the fun vomit was an added addition. That kind of stuff I have never been able to handle, but I’ll tell you my very conservative husband was laughing his head off during the bathroom scene. So I’m sure many will find it funny and not be as stuffy as I am. The matches were ok, I thought the crowd was a lot quieter than Monday, but then again that crowd was pumped for the return of Hunter. Tazz and Spike won their match against Christian and Lance Storm. A good match but it wasn’t the match we saw on Raw. However, after their win Buh Buh Ray and D-Von ran in the ring and a nice little brawl ensued. I thought that was pretty good. And with Storm as Christian’s tag team partner, it makes me ask the question, Is Christian’s solo career over? I guess time will tell.
Christian’s brother beat that main eventer, The Big Bossman who was dressed like the Bossman of old, no more suit and tie, and yes he carried that great big bad stick. This match didn’t do anything for me although Edge put a lot into it, however again the ending with Edge winning brought William Regal on the screen doing his bit about beating the hell out of Edge at the RR. He talked about having three operations for his nose and Edge would pay. I found the fans extremely quiet during this and it was Edge’s reaction that put a little spark back into the crowd. I thought maybe Regal could make this one work, but as of now this match for RR is going to be a dead one.
RVD has new music with singing. It sounded pretty good; God knows what the words are since the crowd was so loud, but from what I heard not bad at all. He and Rock took on the Living Legend Y2J and the Non Breathing Legend Test. Ok, sorry about that. This was a very good match; Test was fine I’m not going to say anything against his work last night, but RVD and Jericho I thought really worked this one. Rock was good but those two I think carried the match. A really nice fast paced match, and one the fans seemed to love.
Well Booker vs. Rikishi was good. I liked seeing Booker against Rikishi for a change. I’ll tell you maybe it’s me but this time when Rikishi came down the ramp the crowd just sat there, he doesn’t seem to get very good pops at all. I really think he needs to team up with someone. But back to the match, after Booker got the stink face, the vomit theme took over, I think I will pass on talking about it. Only I will say Michael Cole had to leave the show and JR took his spot. You guys can fill in the blanks.
The main event was long but I really enjoyed it. It was Angle vs. Austin. They worked their asses off, and again this was a definite crowd pleaser. Toward the end of this match, Kane came out and took Angle and Austin out with chokeslams. Then The Big Show came out and took Kane out with a chokeslam. Then yes with a minute to go HHH’s music hit the fans went crazy he slowly walked down to the ring, stared at Big Show, Show stared right back at him, and then Hunter went after him. Hunter kept going at him but Show didn’t budge finally a low blow and Triple H hits the pedigree on him. The fans were thrilled, Hunter’s music played, and Hunter worked the audience into a frenzy. Then as Hunter is turning he sees Taker on the ramp staring at him, and Hunter stares right back at Taker. Kind of a cool way to end the show, and set you up for Raw. And that’s the end of Smackdown. If you noticed I gave you the matches first now let me quickly talk about the promo’s.
I guess what really bugged me about Hunter being on for a few seconds was Stephanie opening up the show. Now you know and I know that Vince and his staff realize the fans are put off by her long promo’s by any McMahon. So I ask myself why give her all the time and none to Hunter? The answer because she’s Vince’s daughter, and I guess the idea here is to put a big strain on their marriage. The whole promo was Stephanie taking credit for Hunter’s success, his rehab going so well, everything good Hunter has achieved is because of Stephanie. Also at the very beginning of the show Steph told Debra that Hunter will beat Austin’s ass at the RR. That’s her other thing, that Hunter will take out anyone Stephanie wants taken out. She talked about Flair not accepting her offer and said if he had he wouldn’t be home with a concussion that her father gave him. She willing to give him a second chance, but if he doesn’t change his mind Triple H is back. All she has to do is point a finger and Hunter will take care of them. Obvious as this might be it shows that Hunter at one point and I do hope it’s this week on Raw, will be dumping the wife. He’s not going stand for her taking all the credit, not after he worked so hard to get where he is and get back from his injury, but wait could this be a curve? I’ll go into that another time; I’ll make you wait with anticipation for two of my theories.
It wasn’t only Steph getting TV time on Thursday that bothered me it was Vince also being interviewed by JR on his match with Flair for the Royal Rumble. Again I said to myself HHH fans have waited 8 long months why the hell can’t he have all the time the two McMahons are having? Well it’s Vince and he’s not going to give up the spotlight. I thought the interview was good, it just showed what a SOB McMahon is, and I wonder how much was acting. The best quote from Vince was “ruining peoples lives turns him on.” It makes you wonder doesn’t it? Anyway he was asked about his relationship with HHH, he refused to answer but I found something interesting. While complaining about this children selling their stock to Flair, he said Shane, but when he mentioned Stephanie he put a little more hate into it, making me feel those two are going to make up and be together. I wish I could be more specific how he put it, but too me it was a tiny clue, like Steph is so much worse than Shane is. Anyway a very entertaining interview.
Talk about entertaining, Kurt Angle again was hysterical. Backstage Lillian acted like Goldust being at the RR was great. Kurt immediately let her know if he wanted to see freaks he could step outside into midtown Manhattan. He put HHH down for stealing his thunder on Raw and then the pouting started. The fans kept doing What, and Angle kept getting aggravated, the more they did it Angle looked like he was crying. An over grown baby and man was he funny. He told the fans if they continued he would beat Austin’s ass tonight, and the crowd loved that. He blames Austin for the WHAT, yeah I guess Austin is the one to blame. Anyway that set up their match. Rock too had a promo he told Jericho that he’s not larger than life, Rock has something much larger and that’s his boot and Rock’s going to stick it up his candy ass, and you all know the rest of that. So there you have it a rather interesting and fun Smackdown. Now I’m really hoping that this Monday fans of you know who will get to hear him talk and see him on camera for more than 10 min. and 30 seconds. I won’t hold my breath, but I can at least hope for that.
Two more shows until the Royal Rumble and a lot more guys to pick for the big match. Could Kevin Nash be the next one on the list? I think it’s a possibility. Anyway I enjoyed both shows and I do look forward to Raw on Monday, and just for all you fans who didn’t get enough of Hunter he will be on Byte This today. I hope someone asks him something about a storyline, I don’t need to hear about his injury or rehab anymore, let’s get on to what’s in store for him as far as an angle goes, although he probably won’t want to give it away. I guess we will just have to keep watching and waiting.
Linda Robin
lvaccarp@hotmail.com
As I See It
By: Bob Magee
bobmagee1@hotmail.com
Inter-promotional wars are nothing new in wrestling. They were occurring decades before Vince McMahon and Ted Turner went at it on a national stage.
If you go to Wrestlingclassics.com, you can read stories of the wars between promoters in Georgia, Tennessee, or any one of a dozen other territorial wars in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Kayfabememories.com also has some nice stories about the creative methods for members of a certain State Athletic Commissions to make a few bucks, back in the days of Vince McMahon, Sr.
Well, here’s yet another example of inter-promotional warfare…and the fans wind up as the losers.
The following was sent to various wrestling media by Ray Sager of Jersey All Pro Wrestling after the abrupt cancellation by the Woodbridge School District of the JAPW show scheduled for January 19th, that was to feature Eddie Guerrero vs. Low Ki.
JAPW has stated privately that they believe a rival promoter that runs shows in northern/central New Jersey may well be responsible. They have not listed this person’s name, as legal action is pending against the School District and potentially others:
Here is a description of what occurred with this show:
“…[Since] everyone is asking, here is a brief chain of events of the Woodbridge incident:
It seems to me there are a lot of shady underhanded tactics being used on the independent wrestling scene in New Jersey and it is the fans and the wrestlers themselves who suffer. I hope whoever did this is proud of their actions.
While I can not 100 percent confirm who initiated these actions that caused the Woodbridge NJ show to be cancelled, I can 100 percent confirm that an outside person did call the school board, and a complaint was lodged about Jersey All Pro Wrestling.
On December 6, 2001, Jersey All Pro Wrestling entered into an agreement with the Woodbridge Township School Board and Woodbridge High School.
On December 10, a check written by Jersey All Pro Wrestling was accepted by Woodbridge High School as a deposit for the rental of the high school gym.
Between December 10 and January 4, Jersey All Pro Wrestling spent time and money promoting this event. Business were lined up as sponsors to sell tickets. I had contacted the parents group that supports the high school wrestling team and a portion of the ticket money that they sold would go directly to them. The school store in the high school was going to be provided with tickets and the money they made was going to be donated to them directly.
On January 4, I received a phone call saying that the school board had cancelled the event. Right away, I went to the principal and he told me to go visit the school board acting superintendent Vincent Smith.
After a few hours, I was able to get a meeting with Vincent Smith who is the top guy in Woodbridge for the school system and makes all the final decisions.
Here is what was said.
I straight out asked why was the show cancelled, he responded saying that he received a phone call and mentioned to me all the problems in Bayonne and the Extreme Laws and blood. At first, I was relieved as I could easily explain us out of this problem.
I informed him about that law and that we do not run Extreme Events since 2000 in New Jersey, in fact this event we would be running was a suitable for all ages show and that their would be no cursing, no blood, and no exploitation of women.
It is funny that this 50 year old guy knew about the Extreme Law and was quite thorough in our history.
After I explained he then began to run in circles and now find a valid excuse. He then brought up that the floor can get damaged, then was worried about the fans… then said it needed to be sponsored by a high school group… then was worried about the women on the show after a wrestling show 2 years ago from another organization in another high school in the town received complaints about half dressed women and their actions. I followed up and answered every concern he had.
The floor would be protected from the ring and chairs after I spoke to the school janitor and took precautions.
We had hired Woodbridge Police and our own security, and I mentioned in 6 years we never had a incident with a fan or fans including any type of fights or riots.
I had secured the School Store as a ticket location and they would get money in return for the prom committee and the parents group for the high school wrestling team would get money.
As far as being sponsored, a few years back ESPN had live boxing from this same gym without any sponsorship.
I told him that our show would be a family show suitable for all ages and once again reiterated that their would be no blood, no cursing, and no exploitation of women on the show, and in fact it was even in writing from my part on the application that was approved. I said how we can guarantee that in writing as well an another form.
So later that day I was given a letter explaining the school board’s cancellation of our event and simply put they used the excuse of not being sponsored by a school group.
Well now I can say it is time for the lawyers, we have a signed and legal agreement from Woodbridge High School, clearly stating approved and money was deposited to the school, so clearly they are in a breach of contract and that’s all I can say on that as our lawyers are working on this matter.
It is a shame that some underhanded promoter had to do this. How can I say this for sure, as a graduate of Woodbridge High School, I still know some people, and asked point blank what happened and 2 of them specifically stated something about a phone call.
To whoever called I hope you are proud of yourself. I can’t say for sure who it is and would not do that in a public forum as this. However, I have a good idea who it may be, and I probably will find out down the road as people in this business like to talk and like to brag so eventually I look for it to get back to me in some way.
I hope you are proud now that about 30 workers will lose their payday.
I hope you are proud you cost the PAW group (Parents Around Wrestlers) in the high school money.
I hope you are proud you cost the prom committee money.
I hope you are proud for giving independent wrestling another black eye that we sorely do not need at this time with the current state of wrestling and the economy, some groups are actually trying to improve their reputation and put on fun and exciting shows.
Ray Sager (Glenn Strange)
Talent Coordinator
Jersey All Pro Wrestling”
Another recent example of local promoter(s) involved in inter-promotional wars involved the attempts to prevent the December 15 ECW Arena debut of Combat Zone Wrestling from taking place. Many readers have no idea of all the behind the scenes politicking and attempts at interference that went on during the month prior to the show. This included individual(s) actually setting up a website to encourage people to lobby Pennsylvania State legislators and members of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission to prevent the show from taking place; with outlandish claims made against CZW, its workers, and employees.
Some of the things CZW was forced to do for this show to occur, as a result of these efforts, was sickening to see from the viewpoint of an informed observer. I heard comments from a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission testifying to one of the things I know they had to do.
Let me speak from the viewpoint of a fan.
I’m getting tired of these childish games that are going on in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/New York area.
There are promoters, who well know who they are…and may be surprised to know that more than a few others know who they are.
Their swollen egos seem hell bent on ruling their little fiefdoms of shows run they run once or twice per month; and ruining it for someone else who runs another promotion, perhaps a different style…or is just a competitor.
More importantly, they ruin it for the workers who get a payday (albeit a small one) from these shows. They ruin it for these workers, who lose chances to practice their craft. They ruin it for people like me who simply want to see a show on a weekend.
When will promoters start learning that the name of the game is to make a buck by putting asses in the seats through producing an entertaining wrestling product and doing the work necessary to promote it, whether they run family-oriented or hardcore style products…and not by spending their majority of their time trying to cause problems for their competitors?
Why will they not attempt to find creative ways to promote their product that will draw more to their shows, as opposed to making phone calls to School Board Superintendents, or members of Athletic Commissions?
The time will come soon enough when the names of these promoters start being made public, with evidence to back up what is said.
I don’t draw a paycheck from any wrestling company (despite the delusions of L. Brent Bozell to the contrary), so I’ve no personal interest other than wanting to see this nonsense stop…and see workers and promoters I know, and many others that I don’t…get to work and promote without this continual and childish garbage getting in the way.
Until next time…
AS I SEE IT archives/PWBTS.com
Bob Magee
bobmagee1@hotmail.com
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Copyright © 1999 – 2002 Joe Vincent
