~~~~~THE TBL NEWSLETTER~~~~~
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Contents:
I. Note from the Editor
II. News & Rumors
III. Columns
IV. Reader Response
V. Advertisement
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The Balrog
balrog275@geocities.com
Note from the Editor: Hola, mis amigos! I have the Reader Response about Bret Hart up in this issue along with a new newsletter-exclusive columnist. I would like to welcome The Wrestling Profit to the TBL Newsletter!
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NEWS:
(From various sources, too numerous to name)
Freelance reporters: burnonelng@aol.com
^^^Ric Flair^^^
Again, Ric Flair takes the headlines as he was on a radio talk show with Ricky Steamboat. He asid that he was on the wrong side of his law suit and that no one owns the Four Horsemen gimmick or name. Basically, Steamboat said that he could not get back in the ring due to his back problems. No questions were asked about his lawsuit against the Ultimo Dragon.
^^^Brain Aneurysms^^^
After suffering an aneurysm, Alex Wright is said to be ready to wrestle and may even make an appearance in the upcoming shows. Also, WWF referee Earl Hebner is said to be getting back on the road with the WWF in the coming months. Good luck to both men!
^^^Buff Bagwell^^^
Buff’s surgery has been postponed until Monday. This surgery will fuse a few of the upper vertabrae in his back. Good luck, Buff!
^^^Wrestlepalooza^^^
Rumor has it that 2 Cold Scorpio (Funk?) will be replacing the Sandman at the next ECW PPV. Also, Bam Bam Bigelow will be facing Chris Chetti instead of the injured Taz.
^^^NWA Results^^^
A few of the NWA’s results from their Mount Holly show in New Jersey show that Sid beat Mabel who was replacing the no-showing Ahmed Johnson. Also, Tom Brandi beat Pit Bull #2. Would Vince let one of his superstars wrestle against someone else from an opposing organization, and lose? Does this mean that the Pit Bulls are on their way in, again? We’ll have to wait and see!
^^^Rocky Maivia Online!^^^
The “People’s” Intercontinental Champion, Rocky Maivia, will be getting cyber with www.RockyMaivia.com on May 1st! Way to join the revolution Rocky!
^^^WWF Training Camp^^^
There are a few surprise faces at the WWF’s training camp. Both John Tenta and Fatu are at the camp and it is speculated that Steve Regal will come in after a few days and wrestle with both the trainers and the trainees. This is a good thing for the WWF as it pretty much confirms the idea that the Samoans are trying to get back in the WWF as well as John Tenta getting a push upon re-entry into the Federation. But again, let’s wait and see! Also at the camp is the WWF’s Giant, Paulo Silva and Vic Grimes and Erin O’Grady. The word is that both Grimes and O’Grady are the stars of the camp and are even giving Pritchard and Dory a run for their money in some of the practice matches!
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The Gospel
By: The Wrestling Profit
rblogh@sprint.ca
Hello fellow wrestling junkies. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is the Wrestling Profit and my column will be called the Gospel. First of all I’d like to thank balrog for the opportunity to let my opinion be heard. In today’s Gospel I’m going to talk about the HBK Shawn Michaels, The Lion Heart Chris Jericho and my top 10 most underrated wrestlers so let’s get going.
HBK
This is hard for me to say, but I’m actually starting to miss HBK. Sure he’s not one of my favorites, but he is the best performer in the WWF. Whenever you watch a WWF event it’s usually Michael’s match that is the most entertaining. Whether it’s the Iron man match, Hell in the Cell or the main event at Wrestle Mania 14, it’s always Michael’s who puts on a super human performance. Sure you may hate him or you may love him, but either way he’s the icon that can still go. I came up with this opinion after watching the main event at WM14 for the second time. If you watch closely you can see the look of pain on Shawn’s face. Shawn was wrestling in the main event with two herniated disks and a a pulled groin!!! Through the whole match Shawn looked like he was going to collapse, but that didn’t stop him from performing all the daring high flying moves that has made him famous and for that he earned my respect. I and many other wrestling fans are looking forward to his return to the ring, get well HBK and in memory of you I’ve got two words “SUCK IT”
Chris Jericho
I’m going to take some time now to salute the greatest heel champion in wrestling today. For the past few years I’ve been wondering why heel champions never win matches clean (excluding jobbers) , after they’ve obtained the gold. Ask yourself this, when was the last time the Rock pinned a quality opponent CLEANLY? After thinking about this for awhile I realized that the Rock hasn’t won a match clean since he became champ and come to think about it he didn’t even win the belt, It was given to him!!!. Moving on to HHH, who has defended his Europeon championship with the help of a Chyna groin shot every time. Hollywood Hogan a man who has held the WCW title for the good part of two years has only won one match clean and that was his match with that ballerina scrub Sting. Now moving on to the greatest fighting champion in wrestling today Chris the man of a 1004 holds Jericho!!!. Sure 90% of you hate him, but I and other Jerichoholics love him and here is why you should respect him. Chris defends his belt twice a week and wins all of his matches CLEAN, without any help. Chris shocked the world when he beat Dean Malenko cleanly with the Lion Tamer right in the middle of the ring. Chris has also destroyed Juventud 5 times, Ray Mesterio, Prince Iakia, Disco Inferno, Ultimo Dragon, Psychosis and Chavo Guerrero just to name a few. On top of that Chris is charismatic and is one of the funniest entertainers in the world today. The way Jericho defends his title despite the hatred from the fans is refreshing and is good for wrestling.
Top 10 most Underrated Wrestlers.
10- Two Cold Scorpio aka (Flash Funk)- let’s hope he’s getting the push he deserves.
9-Booker T- has defended his TV title every week for the last 5 months.
8-RVD- needs a shot at the big two.
7-Eddy Guerrero- frog splash 1-2-3 another win for Eddy. Boy he needs a push.
6-Al Snow- next ECW champion!!!
5-Steven Regel- one of the best technical wrestlers in the world. WWF here we come.
4-Chris Jericho- Should be getting US and World title shots.
3-Shane Douglas- ECW champ has the skills and attitude to be a big star.
2-Marc Mero- lose Sable and get the respect you deserve
1-Chris Benoit- your going to regret how you treated the Crippler Bischoff when he goes north and gets the respect and titles he deserves.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the first Gospel. If you have any feed back, opinions or problems with my article e-mail me and let me know.
Food For Thought
By: Wrestlebabe
wrestlebabe@hotmail.com
Hello Everybody, Hope you had a Good Weekend!
Did anyone get that Spring Stampede PPV? It was alot better than the last few have been!! My main problem with it was the FACT that MY GUY Brian Adams got the night off!! WHY!? I guess alot of Good wrestlers got the night off, you can only fit so much into 2 3/4 hours. I JUST FELT let down not seeing MY GUY!! I’m not going to get into the actual matches, but I will comment briefly on them.
Goldberg and Saturn went 15 minutes – That amazed me – Goldberg usually goes 3-5 minutes tops. It was a pretty good match!
Chavo Jr. vs Ultimo Dragon – this was also a good, solid match. I don’t understand why Chavo Jr. choses to put up with Uncle Eddie’s $#*^!
Chris Benoit and Booker T – This was the match I wanted to see! These guys gave it their ALL!! It was an EXCELLENT match. Booker T has come a long way! Chris – Please pick up Dean and come up to see Uncle Vince!! I know, I sound very Pro WWF. Well, I have to be, WCW doesn’t come up to Albany NY and I can’t stand Hulk Hogan, NEVER liked him EVER!! He’s the Center of Attention in WCW and I can’t stand it! British Bulldog vs Curt Henning – Why? This feud is getting old, and it NEVER had any heat anyway!! I WANTED TO SEE BRIAN ADAMS!!!!!
Prince Iaukea vs Chris Jericho – Chris Jericho reminds me more and more of HBK everytime I see him!! Too bad, he’ll NEVER be as good!! Oops, was wrong on that prediction! Now Jericho has another souveneur! He keeps up at this rate we can call him Fred Sanford!
Buff and Scott vs Lex and Ric – This is unbelievable!! Why in the hell is Scott acting like he’s afraid of Ric!? I’m the youngest in my family, I was NEVER afraid of my older and bigger sibblings!! Scott is bigger and stronger than Rick – The only thing I can see is Scott’s head is smaller! (Is it because of the hair or the body?)
La Parka vs Psychosis – I enjoy watching these two wrestle each other! Always a good match!! I just don’t understand why the same people keep wrestling each other when others get the night off!? Brian Adams should have had a MATCH!!!
The Bat Match was better than I thought it would be!!! I’m not going to talk about this match because I get vulgar when it comes to HHH!! He’s such a #*%&!! I wish someone would have beaten him up!!
Raven in the US Champion!! What a JOKE!! Even with Raven’s Rules, Goldberg kicked his @$$. Have to say, that the DDP/Raven match was the most EXCITING match of the night!! I was surprised to see Raven win, wasn’t suprised to see him lose the next night.
The Championship Match – Sting vs Macho Man I almost fell out of my chair!! Kev powerbombs Sting – Puts Macho Man on top, pulls the referee over so he can count Sting out! Amazing and wrong again!! Macho Man comes out on Nitro the following night and declares Big Sexy The Leader of the NWO. Hell of a lot better choice that HOGAN!! Then – in a desparate attempt to win the ratings this week (that by the way worked) Bischoff, Hollywood and Disciple come out and Hogan challenges Macho Man. Macho Man foolishly accepts and proceeds to lose the title in the main event. Thanks to none other than Bret The Hitman Hart! All this does is validate what I said when Bret left the WWF. He makes his “Best” statement and has gone to WCW to prove it. He said he wants the title, he was VERY clear about that. He wants it from Hogan first and foremost. He’ll be back to the WWF to win the title for the 6th record breaking time to prove that “BEST” statement. Watch and see!!
Before I go onto the RAW and Unforgiven stuff, I want to say my Hi’s to the people that e-mailed me this week. Nemesis – It’s always good to hear from you!! Skyman – Keep in touch and THANK YOU!! Special Hello to THE BRIDES!! Ladies of Grace and Taste!! They KNOW THE BEST!! Scitt and TJ – Love you guys!! Skinman – I LOVE arguing with you – though I think my last e-mail may have hit a nerve!! My sons Scrappy and Ed!! I’m VERY proud of both of you!! You’re both becoming SUCCESSFUL in your own areas of expertise!! Hi and Keep In Touch – Mooky, Joe and Kiri!! Dr. Johnny Love – I LOVE YOU to pieces!! And of course Pep!! Pep – I’m STILL waiting!! I hope you had a good time on vacation!!
Well, so Stevo has a match at Unforgiven – Dude Love!! Who da thought? Hey, don’t get mad, who else was gonna do it!?!? Steve smells a RAT and I do too. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Mick Foley, but I really think there’s an underlining plot going on and it is THICKENING!! Unforgiven should reveal ALOT!
No DOA this week!! A crappy no heat main event match!! Vince, you deserved to lose the ratings this week!!! Kick him again Steve!! Not even a report on Chainz! Kick him again Steve, harder this time! I do breathe a sigh of relief – Chainz/Brian hasn’t joined DX!! Thank God for small favors!!
This stuff with Undertaker/Cain has gone over the edge!! Exhuming dead bodies, burning Father’s remains and choke slamming UT into what’s suppose to be his Mother’s remains. I take back my lunch invitation – this person needs to be committed to the nearest Looney Bin!! Sick person – there has to be tension in those Titan Offices with this guy around!! Maybe he’s an outpatient? Yeah, that sounds reasonable and explains alot. Rumors of a VADER return and hopes of a Papa Shango return should keep us on the end of our seats for this one!!
The Sable/Luna match should be EXCELLENT if the referee stays out of the way!! ~~~IDEA~~~ Make MY GUY Chainz/Brian the referee and if he interfers, let them gang up on him and TEAR HIS CLOTHES OFF!!! Give me a HELL YEAH Kiowa!!!
I really wanted to see Farooq go after The Rock for the title. Well – 6 man tag should be good, if the referee just stands his ground.
Final Thoughts:
OWEN – TAKE BACK YOUR EUROPEAN TITLE!!
Bubby – What kind of Shampoo do you use!?
Brian Adams – Matches with THE GIANT and LEX LUGER!! Geez, talk about being throwen to the WOLVES!! These guys are in the middle of PUSHES!! When is the last time either of these guys lost a match!!!
MORE DOA!!
LOD 2000 – After all the Hype and BS – You guys better mop the floor with those NAO’s!! Can you imagine what would happen if LOD lost tonight!? That would be a mess!! I suspect this will happen – unless they even the odds.
Stone Cold/Dude Love – I know Steve is the RIGHTFUL Champ. My heart is with Mick Foley!! Best of Luck Mick, make the BEST of this title shot – you probably won’t get another one for a LONG time!!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend and have an EXCELLENT week!! :-)Wrestlebabe:-)
The Fan’s Perspective
By: Atari316
obi_wan_kenobi@email.msn.com
Bret Hart: Superstar or Ratings Killer?
I can still remember when Bret Hart’s days in the WWF were numbered. Bret was getting “screwed” out of titles and such, and the whole lame Canadian angle was in full effect. Even though I had personally grown tired of Bret Hart, I always thought he was a big superstar, and that any federation would be better off with him in their stable. Then Bret Hart jumped ship and the results speak for themselves.
Immediately following Bret Hart’s depature, WWF ratings went up. Immediately following Bret Hart’s first appearence on Nitro, the WWF actually began to catch up, and as we all know, scored a dramatic victory the week after Wrestlemania. Certainly other factors were involved, but the coincidence is hard to ignore.
Does Bret Hart hurt a company’s performance? I think so. The man is a dinosaur, a relic from a by gone era who can’t get it done the way the fans want. (Of course, that applies to many WCW wrestlers, like Hennig, Hogan, et al, but the focus of this column is Bret Hart)
It is time for Bret Hart, and every other washed up wrestler just like him to step aside and let the young guys (like Jericho!), the ones who get it done in the ring and on the mic, get the spotlight, because, quite frankly, Bret Hart, you suck.
The Untold Stories
By: K Dawg
kdavidson@hotmail.com
Hello everyone and thank you for reading another edition of the Untold Stories. I’ve been really loving wrestling the last few weeks. However, there are some things that I don’t exactly get along with. Things like Goldberg winning the U.S. title and Hogan winning the World title just to win the ratings. Also, the main event for last weeks Raw could have been a lot better, I admit though, it is hard to compete with Hogan versus Savage for the title. When Buff Bagwell injured his neck on Thunder, that was definitely a scare for everyone. That brings me to a very important topic, DEDICATION.
What is dedication? Sacrificing your body day in and day out? Is it jobbing to people who you know don’t have the talent you have, and still working hard everyday to better your company? All of these things are something that some wrestlers don’t have. On the other hand, a lot of wrestlers do have it. Take Chris Benoit for example. He has more wrestling talent in his pinky then Goldberg has in his whole body, but yet week after week he jobs to people like Booker T., Chris Jericho, and Raven. Does that stop him from training to become better at what he does? Does he just walk out and forget it? No he doesn’t! WCW and the WWF are lucky that there are people like that who work for them. I’m sure Buff Bagwell made a lot of his piers stop and think. Is it worth it? Could I be the next one laying in that ring with doctors surrounding me? That doesn’t stop them from coming out and risking their bodies just to put on a good show and entertain the fans. It’s people like Stone Cold and Shawn Michael who risk further injury just to compete and perform. Who can forget how much time a wrestler spends on the road? Don’t you think that they would like to see their families more than once a week. Oh, here’s a good one. How about the jobbers? Every week they come out just to make someone like Goldberg are Shamrock look like a star knowing that the marks out there are saying,”Oh man, that guy is a wimp, I could beat him.” How do you think their kids put up with that when other kids make fun of his dad? However, you still see them out there. If you wanna see dedication, I think you need to watch wrestling for a while. The next time someone says that wrestlers aren’t athletes, they are just dumb body builders, or that they are just wanna be football players, why don’t you tell them about what all they go through to do what they do.
Does anyone know when Goldberg’s streak will end? I, along with most of the people in the wrestling world, hope it’s soon because I’m tired of seeing people job to him. On a good note, Buff Bagwell will be okay, and he should be back in about two weeks. I wish him the best. He is one of my favorite wrestlers. Well, that’s about it for this week. Tune it to Unforgiven this Sunday, it should be quite a show. Expect Raw to win the ratings in the upcoming weeks due to Nitro’s weird schedule. Until next time…
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Reader Response:
WQHC51A@prodigy.com – “As I watched the whole McMahon/Brett deal go down at the end of last year it left a very bad taste in my mouth and I have been trying to figure out just what that taste is. I think it’s the taste of wool that has been pulled over our eyes and got in my mouth. What do I mean? Well, lets look at the whole thing. First, McMahon signs a VERY loyal Brett to the most lucrative deal in the history of the WWF. Vince, knowing that Brett did not ever want to work another program with Michaels still puts him against him at Survivor Series. Here’s what I think….Vince was tired of trying quick little gimmicks to get Monday night ratings so he started going for long term success. He took the guy that he had the tightest hold on (Brett) and asked him to help him screw Bischoff and at the same time gain immense ratings for RAW. He had Brett pretend to be pissed at him because of the current angles he was in (even though he could have probably chosen to not do them due to his limited creative control of his programs) and get a HIGH contract offer from the WCW. He used an “out” clause that nobody knew about untill it was used. If there really was an out clause then why would McMahon have kept pushing the envelope when he knew Brett was angered? Brett and Vince also had a meeting before Brett turned heel and Brett agreed to it fully. Also, McMahon began grooming Michaels for his spot as the top heel a few months before Brett left—coincidence? Then the news of Brett leaving gets out just a few days before the big pay-per-view, which brought a huge buy rate–coincodence? On the pay-per-view McMahon came down and had the bell rung—an angle that really started his whole new active heelish role that has in essence beaten Nitro in the ratings. He basically stepped his involvement up a notch to make up for Brett’s (temporary) absence. After Brett’s $10 million deal is terminated Mcmahon then has enough money to pay Tyson to work a Program with Austin that put WWF back in the running with the ratings. And he suddenly has the money to offer men like Syxx, Flair, Hall, and Nash contracts. Meanwhile, Brett got in one highly publisized punch in on McMahon that he has vowed will never happen again. Then Brett (the hottest free agent on the wrestling market) only signs a two year deal with WCW?! During the first quarter of Brett’s WCW deal he has done nothing but keep mentioning how he was screwed by Vince–constantly building heat and cheapening his reasons for entering the WCW. On his first public interview in TSN’s Off The Record Brett chose to talk about his recent McMahon screw job rather than promote the WCW. This just before Vince went on the same show and was able to give a rebuttal to Brett’s statements. Bret even went as far as to give the host a list of questions to ask Mcmahon–do you think that was approved by Bischoff–do you think it would have mattered? This is a great way to keep building heat and keep the angle alive. Isn’t Brett’s current angle in WCW built on the whole McMahon screwjob? Now Bischoff will use his vast resources to continue to boost Brett’s status into the”legend” realm only to have him resign his initial WWF deal in about a year and a half. That gives him just enough time to attain victories over the majority of the top WCW stars. You may ask why Brett would go along with this. MONEY. He can pick up a cool few million in two years and THEN still get his 10 mil for 10 year deal. This also gives Vince an informant inside the WCW. When Brett comes back the heat with Vince will be HUGE. They will probably even work a match together or at least a very physical program similiar to the current Austin/Vince angle. Didn’t Vince even say that he “helped Brett sell out”? We now know that Vince is a genious when it comes to negotiations–just look at the ingenious method he used to get Syxx. He not only added an impact player to the WWF’s roster but he also sent 2 very important messages to WCW superstars. One, that he is willing to pay market value for them, and Two, he exposed Bischoff as the weasel that he is to his own superstars. I don’t think that this whole Brett deal is out of Vince’s league at all. Also, the Bulldog supposedly bought out his exhisting contract to go to WCW. Basically Vince sent an injured Bulldog to the WCW to heal under their benefits. Didn’t Bulldog supposedly reinjure himself during an altercation with Vince McMahon? Pretty coincidental in my opinion. More great heat being builded that can be used upon their return. Another question I had was why would McMahon make Brett v. Michaels be at Survivor Series and not WrestleMania? Now it’s obvious–so he could get the money to pay Tyson for WrestleMania. It is clear to me that Vince is finally going to get his revenge on WCW for taking all of the guys he spent millions building and turning them against him. In a year and a half the wrestling world will be turned upside down and you heard it here first. The old footage will be dug out and Vince and Brett will generate heat that will make Austin/McMahon look like a playground fight. The coolest part about all of this is how Bischoff is being played like a drum. All Bischoff could see was ratings and didn’t even question Brett’s motivation. If this whole thing goes down Bischoff will look be made the sap of the century and I will laugh all the way to WrestleMania. The icing on the cake in my book is what Kevin Nash had to say on a recent Prodigy interview session. When asked what he thought on the whole Vince/Brett thing he responded ” I still think that is all a work.” Is he right? Well, he is good friends with Shawn Michaels who would have to have been part of the whole thing. If this thing does go down like I think it will it will be a great time for professional wrestling that was over two years in the making!”
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