WCW NWO WWF RUMORS - Wrestling - http://maxpages.com/wwfstoncold316/WCW_NWO_WWF

WOW's Dave Conroy sent in the following piece
from Variety. After months (years?) of speculation,
it seems it's finally happening. The WWF is going
public. That basically means a lot more money for
Titan, more resources, and more departing WCW stars
should they want them... such as Chris Jericho, hmm?

"WWF to get into ring with Wall St. Stock offering
hits at ratings high point

By MARTIN PEERS, May 20, 1999

NEW YORK - Taking advantage of professional
wrestling's increasingly prominent position
in showbiz, World Wrestling Federation owner
Vince McMahon is planning to take the com-
pany public in a deal expected to put a
value on WWF of at least $750 million.

WWF is understood to have hired Bear Stearns as lead
underwriter on the stock offering. The promoter is expected
to sell a minority stake in the company in the offering,
raising about $150 million, Wall Streeters estimate. WWF
did not return calls seeking comment.

McMahon's timing could not be better. Not only have
USA Network's broadcasts of WWF been hitting ratings
records lately, but the UPN weblet is expected to ann-
ounce today that it plans to air a two-hour block of
WWF matches every week beginning in the fall.

But McMahon has extended WWF's franchise into syndication
and pay-per-view, as well as merchandising, home video,
magazine publishing, the Internet and live events. In
total, WWF generated $230 million in revenue in the year
to April 30,and $50 million in cash flow (earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), sources
said.

Wall Streeters say WWF will be marketed to investors as a
"branded content" company, similar to Playboy Enterprises,
which sells its content across a similar range of markets.
But WWF's popularity is growing, whereas Playboy's growth
has been stagnant in recent years.

WWF's Monday night two-hour show on USA Networks is the
highest-rated program on cable, drawing an average of 5
million households, which puts it on a par with some of
the lower-rated broadcast network shows, according to
Nielsen Media Research.

Including TNT's World Championship Wrestling, wrestling
accounts for six out of the top 10-rated shows on cable most
weeks. WCW badly lags WWF in the ratings most weeks, however.
What is particularly appealing about WWF for advertisers is
that it reaches the young-male demographic, Nielsen figures
show. Monday night's USA broadcast has even drawn viewers
away from Monday Night Football, WWF claimed in a recent
"Slam Gram" newsletter.

And WWF benefits from the strength in ad dollars more than many
program suppliers to cable networks because it sells its own ad
time, splitting the revenue with USA. It bundles the ad sales
together with those of its syndicated product and is expected
to do the same with the UPN program block.

People close to the WWF said the company is making more money from
its merchandising and licensing business than TV, however.

Even its Internet site is popular. WWF claims its Web site draws
more than one million visits each month, making it "the sixth most
popular sports Web site," according to "Slam Gram."

Wall Street analysts estimate WWF would be valued in a stock
offering at 15-18 times cash flow, which puts a minimum of $750
million on its overall value. But the size of the offering will
be likely pitched on WWF's fiscal 2000 cash flow,which is likely
to be higher than the $50 million earned in fiscal 1999, Wall
Streeters said."
______________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ ____ \___________________________
/ / / / / / / __/ World Wrestling Federation
/ / / / / / / __/ Online -> Http://www.WWF.com
\____/\____/_/ _______________________________
_________________/ N E W S H E A D L I N E S

<> WWF NEWS AND NOTES

- Here is an update on the Sable situation. Micasa is reporting
that she showed up to Raw with a lawyer to try to get out of her
match with Debra. Sable does not have a wrestling contract and
she does not work house shows, so that is why the WWF wanted to
get the belt off of her.

She did not want to do the job, so that is why they had the
ending they did. Debra was upset on how roughly Sable was ripping
the clothes off. Debra had to hold everything up,if you know what
I mean. There were even words exchanged between the two.

The Torch is reporting that Sable is the least liked person
backstage. She is so disliked that they play pranks on her on
a regular basis.

She is even in more hot water for no-showing The Conan O'Brien
Show on 5/19. However, Sable is still supposed to be there for
the TV Guide shoot on 5/22. Also according to Playboy, Sable is
supposed to appear in the September issue of the 18 or older
magazine.

- Here is an update on the Ed Ferrera story. According to Dave
Meltzer, Ferrera did not quit because of the stress. He quit
because of a difference of opinion with Vincent K. McMahon.The
disagreement was because of a Beaver Cleavage skit that
McMahon thought was a little over the edge for the WWF.
Really? Is that possible?

The skit was supposed to contain a situation where they would
use double entendres with the word "pussy." Ferrera wanted that
skit to make it on the air, but now, it won't.

No word on Ferrara's status, but he will NOT be going to the WCW.
(Ben Bebernitz, TBR)

<> WWF SMACKDOWN ADDED TO UPN'S FALL LINEUP

>From Blake Norton and WrestleLine.com:

UPN has announced that WWF Smackdown WILL be added to its
schedule this fall. Frankly, I'm dreading it. That's six hours
of original wrestling television a week, I'm can't keep up! I
DON'T WANT THAT MUCH WRESTLING!

Honestly, though, I used to watch WCW Saturday Night - and
enjoy it! That wasn't back when wrestlers were better or booking
was really that much improved. It was back when we weren't being
flooded with programming and flooded with wrestlers.

Booking is only getting worse as a result. It's mind-numbing.
Nobody can keep up. The WWF, I'm afraid, may go the way of WCW
-- disorganized, too much going on, the left hand not knowing
what the right hand is doing.They're like that enough as it is
without another two hours. I have to admit, I'm genuinely not
looking forward to it.

[Sorry Blake, but I have to disagree. When WCW Saturday Night
was good, there were JUST as many shows and ALL of them were
important to the overall scheme of WCW. I remember spending
weekend after weekend watching the two hour Saturday Night,
Pro, Worldwide, Main Event, Power Hour, Prime,Clash of Champ-
ions every other month, etc. I loved every second of it too.
You can't blame it on the amount of shows, because WCW has
less now than they did in the past. Blame it on WCW allowing
a once fine program like Saturday Night to go straight to
hell. They treat Nitro as their only important broadcast.
Things rarely happen on Thunder and nothing of worth happens
on the weekend programs. That's all WCW's fault. -ed]

[Sorry Chris, but I disagree with you too. Before RAW, wrestling
was generally a weekend show. The idea of Monday shows was a
real turn-around when it happened; not only was there a whole
five days of work between most important shows to mull over and
anticipate the next developments in storylines, but the shows
themselves were far from three-hours long; most stars you saw
twice a month or so, but now the whole roster seems to be invol-
ved in almost every event because of the number of hours of pro-
gramming involved; it's overkill.

<> RED ROOSTER ON THE AIR!

Former WCW employee and now WWF booker, Terry Taylor was on the
radio when he appeared at the Pillman show. Here is a report
of what the "Red Rooster" had to say.

"Hello. I was listening to the wrestling guys on WING-AM in
Dayton Ohio yesterday and they were live at the Brian Pillman
Memorial Show. They had Terry Taylor on, and he gave a little
insight on WWF, and WCW. Here's some key points in his interview.

-The WWF and WCW locker rooms are both very different. The
WWF's locker room is a very happy one while WCW's is overrun
with complaints and frustration

- It was his idea to push Goldberg. He didn't want the former
football player to drop the belt.

- He hinted that Bischoff doesn't care about the fans. He talked
about an incident involving Goldberg, where he didn't want to
show up to a WCW Saturday Night taping because "he was too tired."
Bischoff gave into Goldberg's wishes, but Taylor told Bischoff
that people didn't pay their good money to see Goldberg take the
night off. As a result, Bischoff told Goldberg to work the show.

-Said that there was a rejection involved in the Douglas/WWF deal.

-No interest in getting the services of Rob Van Dam.

-WWF wrestlers are paid based on how hard they work. WCW wrestlers
get a fixed income no matter what.

-Claimed to be responsible for WCW's rise. He also added that
their fall happened after he left.

-Everyone in the WWF locker room loves and respects each other.

Overall, Taylor made the WWF look wonderful while burying the image of
WCW.

I would like to thank KrackaCarl@aol.com for sending this in.
(Ben Bebernitz, TBR)

_________________________________________________________________
___ __ __ ____ ___
| . \\ \/\/ /| ___|| __|
| . \ \ / | __| | __| | BEST WRESTLING FEDERATION EVER |
|___/ \/\/ |_| |___|
For almost three years, the BWFE has lived up to its name as the
best e-fed on the net with the top wrestlers,superb match writers,
and top quality cards. If you think you have what it takes to mix
it up with top superstars like Daniel Dare, Adam Weiss, The Saint,
and more; mail me for an application to the
ONLY e-fed good enough to be endorsed by TBR!
_________________________________________________________________

______________________
_ _ _ _____ _ _ _ \____________________________
/ / / / ___/ / / / World Championship Wrestling
/ / / / /__/ / / / Online -> Http://www.WCW.com
\____/\___/\____/ _____________________________
____________________/ N E W S H E A D L I N E S

<> WCW NEWS AND NOTES

- The angle with Booker T. on Monday was because of the fact
that Booker is suppose to get work done on his knees.

However, that was not how the angle was supposed to be worked.
When Booker was giving his interview, Lex Luger was supposed to
attack him. But Luger had the script changed. The Total Package
was also not supposed to go help Sting when the Steiners were
about to attack him.

There is a rumor making its way around the Internet that Luger
will turn on Sting and join the Steiners with Liz as their manager.

The above news is credited to Dave Meltzer and Micasa

- There is also an update on Chris Jericho's situation with WCW.
Bob Ryder is reporting that Eric Bischoff still has high hopes
that he can sign the "Lionheart." The negotiations are being
handled by the respective attorneys.

- Also, Bob Ryder is reporting that Bischoff is saying that
there was no confrontation between Flair and Bischoff at
Slamboree. Reportedly, Flair was upset on the ending of
his match and threatened to go to Raw the next day.
(Ben Bebernitz, TBR)

<> HOGAN RETURNS ON MONDAY

On Thunder last night, Mike Tenay announced that this Monday
Night's edition of Nitro will feature the return of the former
WWF and WCW World Champion, Hulk Hogan. It will be interesting
to see what impact, if any, Hollywood will have on the ratings.
All eyes will be on the unofficial leader of the NWO Wolfpac
to see how he interacts with the slowly distancing group.Hope-
fully, he will continue the face turn that was progressing
before his injury. The last thing Hogan wants is to turn heel
again because it will be much harder to regain the fans' trust
again after such a blatant double switch. At one time, Hogan
was one of the most popular guys in the business.It seems only
fitting that he retire the same way.

<> ASSAULT ON DEVIL'S MOUNTAIN

>From RWIN: In a very exciting piece of news; the sequel to Assault
on Devil's Island (Assault on Devil's Mountain) will premiere on TNT
on 6/18.

[After seeing other Oscar worthy classics like Suburban Commando,
Mr. Nanny, and 3 Ninja's High Noon at Mega Mountain; the entire
wrestling world has to be salivating over the prospect of Bollea's
latest project.He is clearly an actor with an incredible amount of
range and depth. Bollea finds himself up there with Sir Anthony
Hopkins as one of the leading thespians of the 20th century. -ed]
________
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/ _ \ N D I N O T H E R N E W S.....
/ _ / http://www.whoowrestling.com/indies
/_/ /_/ /¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
________/ (ECW, JAPAN, INDEPENDENTS, ETC.)

<> PILLMAN MEMORIAL SHOW RESULTS

From the Lariat: Last night in Cleveland, Ohio, there was the
most important card of the year. However, it was not on UPN, USA,
TNT, TBS, PPV, or anywhere else. It was the 1999 Brian Pillman
Show. We have two reports from people that attended the historic
event. The first one is from Brandon Dickerson.

"Brian Pillman Show 5/19/1999

Before the show began, fans were given the opportunity to meet
most of the wrestlers and buy tickets to receive a Polaroid with
the wrestlers of their choice. Those wrestlers that took part in
this event were: Ric Flair, Mick Foley, Ricky Steamboat, Road
Dogg, Al Snow, Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit w/Woman, Rey Mysterio
& Konnan. All the wrestlers were very friendly with those in
attendance.

The show began with a run down of the auctions of the night.
Flair gave an emotional speech of tribute to Brian Pillman by
saying Brian was a better athlete, performer, and so on than
Ric Flair. Flair expressed his regret for missing last year's
tribute event, as well as the funeral. Ricky Steamboat had many
kind words to say about Pillman, mostly referring to his in-
ring ability, and the heart he put into his work. D-Lo Brown
came out and paid his respects to Pillman as well as the two
legends in the ring. I believe the first big auction won was
some of Missy Hyatt's Lingerie for $250.

The first match, part of the Cruiserweight tournament, was Shark
Boy vs. Matt Stryker. Not too bad of a match for a couple indies
working their butts off. Shark Boy was one of the most over wre-
stlers of the night, due to his outlandish costume and his enth-
usiasm. Shark Boy wins by pin fall to advance to round 2.

Match 2: Terik the Great over Jeremy Jett.......Terik wins,
but it wasn't so great.

Match 3: Chip Fairway over Chad Collyer.....Chip wins
with a Sting-like submission hold named "the sand trap".
Guess what his gimmick is?

Match 4: Bull Pain & Flash Flanigan w/G.Q. Masters III over
Ironman & Rob Conway.

More auction time. Mick Foley and the rest of the WWF crew came
down to encourage bidders. Someone actually paid over $300 for a
look alike "Head" signed by Snow. Missy Hyatt offered to sell
the bra off her chest as an auction during the final intermiss-
ion, that's quite a piece of real estate.

Match 5: Shark Boy over Terik the Great, everybody loves the
Shark boy, especially when he bit Terik in the butt.

Match 6: Terry Taylor over Dr. Tom Pritchard (with Missy Hyatt)
in a Legend's match. A good match for two old timers with Mark
Curtis as the referee. Terry is in great shape, but is still
haunted by the Red Rooster. Unfortunately for the two legends,
most of the attention was on Missy and her boob-flexing
exercises.

Match 7: Chip Fairway (with a bye) vs. Shark Boy. In one of the
highlights of the evening, Shark Boy wins the tournament as
Mick Foley, Al Snow, Road Dogg and Konnan rush the ring to con-
gratulate the Shark Boy. All of the wrestlers saluted the
victory with the "Shark Boy Salute" which is holding your hand
over your head to simulate a shark fin. Good stuff.

Final auction time. Chris Benoit got $600+ for a pair of his
tights. D-Lo got around $400+ for his chest protector. Missy
Hyatt's bra went for about $500, and the guy got to take it
off himself. Unfortunately,Missy was wearing a large T-shirt
to conceal her "puppies", or as she called them, "big dogs".
JR's Stetson hat went for $325. I believe Rey Mysterio's
Mask went for $300. The top auctioned item was one of Ric
Flair's ring robes that sold for $2250 to a guy that owns a
pizza place/sports bar called Sorrento's.The same guy bought
Missy Hyatt's lingerie earlier in the show, so I imagine for
him "business is about to pick up" as JR would say. Before
the next match, Ric Flair teased a bout with Steamboat,which
got the crowd riled.

Match 8: Al Snow over Road Dogg in a classic hardcore match with
the participants brawling into the crowd. They did a great fire
extinguisher bit where Al couldn't get it to work and ended up
spraying himself, from there Road Dogg tried to use it and ended
up spraying the ref. The finish looked bad as Al went to power
bomb Road Dogg through a table, and the table didn't break,
despite Road Dogg's head hitting pretty hard. Al then dropped
Road Dogg on his head to the mat and went for the pin. Al tried
to make up for the botched spot by sending himself through the
table, which seemed to be of better construction than the WWF-
brand tables. Road Dogg had to be helped to the back.

Match 9: Mankind over D-Lo Brown. Good wrestling on the part
of D-Lo, good shots taken by Mankind. The funny thing about
this match was that WCW ref Scott Dickinson was the official
for this match, but seeing the wrestler from both companies
work together and get along was what made the night truly
memorable. Mr. Socko aided Mankind for the win.

Match 10: Chris Benoit (with Woman) & Dean Malenko vs. Rey
Mysterio Jr. & Konnan. Great match with a solid effort from
all involved (including Konnan). If WCW put on more matches
like this and gave these guys the opportunity to rise to
the top, they might not get spanked so bad in the ratings.
Dean had a nasty cut on the side of the head from one of
the turnbuckles. Rey got Dean in one of Rey's classic pins
for the win. All four wrestlers entered the ring to provide
their closing thoughts of the night and pay further tribute
to Brian and his family.

At the end of the show, Melanie Pillman was presented with a
novelty check for about $35,000.

All of the people involved with this show worked their
collective ass off. It was nice to see people from "the Big
Two" interact in a positive way. It's just too bad ECW
wasn't more involved,because this event is great PR for all
parties involved. There will no doubt be a video of this
event available from HWA, as they had a camera crew
patrolling the place all night. If you want to see
some of what you missed, buy that tape.
Check www.mainevent.net for availability."

The other report is from Kirk Sheppard.

"Well, it's almost midnight and I have to get up early, but I'll give a
quick recap of the night and the highlight some things.

One, the Cruiserweight division of HWA has some great young talent.
Terik the Great, Sharkboy, and Chip Fairway all deserve major shots in a
big fed somewhere. Sharkboy won the Pillman tourney after beating
Matt Styker, Terik the Great, and Chip Fairway. Other participants
were Chad Collyer, who wasn't that impressive, and Jeremy Jett,
practically a midget wrestler in stature, but put on one heck of a show
against Terik the Great. When Sharkboy won, Foley, Road Dog, Al Snow

Chris Jericho is undoubtedly one o

Greenhill

Scold9b@aol.com,

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