Mike Books WWF Shotgun Saturday Night 2nd January 1999

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

I’m bringing back some fantasy booking stuff for the next few weeks, as I try and write a regular weekly show and keep it interesting. I decided to create a fictional scenario where upon Vince McMahon goes mad and allows me to hold the reins on Shotgun Saturday Night at the start of 1999, with my brief being that Shotgun is going to be the show where I ideally give the less booked members of the roster some chances for minutes in the ring whilst also doing some smaller storylines that might be separate from Monday Night Raw and Sunday Night HeAT. Raw and HeAT are going to remain focused on Sports Entertainment and Crash TV, but I’ll be allowed to go at a more relaxed pace with Shotgun if I want to, so I can focus some weeks just on the matches with little additional gaga etc, which I wouldn’t be allowed to do on the other two shows.

I picked Shotgun because it gave me some self-imposed limits to what I can and can’t do, which in-turn will require me to approach things differently than I might normally be allowed to do so. For instance, because I’m booking Shotgun, it’s not like I’m going to have access to all of the top stars because they will be appearing on Raw and HeAT (HeAT was still a major show in the pre-Smackdown days) so that will mean I will have to get the best out of the mid-card and lower card talent.

Because Shotgun was a syndicated show, it’s not like I’m going to be able to do major angles or have Title changes on it, so that will also limit what I can and cannot book for the show. The WWF would sometimes book Raw, HeAT, Shotgun and their Super Astros shows all at the same tapings sometimes, so at best Shotgun is the third on the totem pole there. That means that if someone is already booked for Raw or HeAT in a major role, then it’s going to be less likely that I can also have them on Shotgun, just because the crowd could get sick of them if they show up too many times and we’re also running the risk of injuries etc. That means that I’ll have to look at what’s booked for those other shows before putting together my own cards. If I desperately have to then I WILL occasionally double book people, but I’ll do my best to avoid it if I can help it.

The challenge will be to take those limitations and still put together a fun 45 minutes of wrestling each week. Can I take a limited roster, along with limited scope for putting together storylines and angles, and still put on an entertaining episodic television show? Well, I’ll give it a go at any rate!

This taping took place on the 28th December 1998 from Albany, New York
Episode aired on the 2nd of January 1999

Three shows were held

Shotgun Taping
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=3823

Super Astros Taping
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=15839

Live Monday Night Raw
https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=2054

Michael Cole and Jim Cornette were supposedly the announce team for this show, so we’ll stick with that and try and hope that Cornette can get something out of Cole. Kevin Kelly and Dok Hendrix will fill out the rest of the announce team. This can and will change depending on how long all of these people remain employed or with the WWF, as I won’t have any say on who does or doesn’t get to come in full-time if I’m just writing one of the lower level shows.

Opening intro video and run-down of this week’s matches
1 Minute total for segment

Opening segment
Tiger Ali Singh Vs Lance Diamond

Diamond did a Dark Match on the Super Astros taping for this event against Al Phillips, so I think it’s believable that I could grab him for the Shotgun taping as well. If the WWF doesn’t want him working twice, then I can always offer up Jeff Hardy as an opponent for Phillips in the earlier Dark Match. I can’t see that request facing too much opposition, so I think it’s within the realms of reality that I might get my wish.

Tiger was pretty naff in the ring, but he could kind of promo and the WWF saw him as a future prospect, so I’ll do my best to get him doing something that the crowd can get into. The idea I’ll do for the next few shows is that Tiger will anger up the crowd and then take on one of the local wrestlers, with the local wrestler giving him more of a challenge than he expects.

Before the match we’ll have Tiger cut the stereotypical anti-American promo in order to draw some cheap heat, and we’ll let Diamond get a chance to fire back with a pro-American promo in order to get the crowd on his side. Diamond was always a good orator and he had a legitimate blue-chip All-American background, so this scenario could work well. The result should hopefully mean that a match that might usually be a heatless semi-squash will instead have some interest from the crowd now that Diamond has shown himself to be more than just an enhancement guy there to lose. Eventually Singh will go over clean, but we’ll let Diamond get a couple of near falls first before taking the loss. I have no power to sign anyone to full-time or development deals, but I can give Diamond a little something here at least in order to possibly get him noticed by the decision makers.

7 Minutes total for segment (about 3 minutes for the match, 4 Minutes for Entrance and the promo)
8 Minutes Total for show

Segment Two
HeAT Recap

This will be a standard recap; where we cover the major plot developments from the most recent episode of HeAT and then hype up whatever is going to be on the next episode that we already know about.

2 Minutes total for segment
10 Minutes Total for show

Segment Three
Pre-tape promo with The Head Bangers and Kevin Kelly

A backstage interview segment with The Head Bangers. Mosh has a match with Golga scheduled next, so the majority of the promo is spent hyping up that. All pre-tape promos for Shotgun will be done with bullet points as opposed to scripting them out in full. The wrestlers and Kelly are given certain points they need to cover and the rest will be done off the cuff. Some will do alright in that scenario, and others might not, but that’s why we’re pre-taping them earlier in the day and then inserting them into the show later. That also means we don’t have to tape quite as much in the arena itself, which will be useful if we’ve got time limits to stick to before the Live Raw starts.

1 Minute total for segment
11 Minutes Total for show

Segment Four
Head Banger Mosh w/ Head Banger Thrasher Vs Golga w/ Kurrgan and Giant Silva

The Head Bangers and The Oddities had been feuding, with The Bangers getting a win at the previous pay per view event. Thrasher will soon be going away with an injury, so we’ll have Mosh work a singles here against Golga (John Tenta), who is by far the best actual worker of The Oddities faction and one capable of putting on a watchable bout. The match itself will get about 6 minutes, with Golga getting a shine, Mosh working some heat, and then Golga making the comeback before winning it with The Aftershock. Post-match The Oddities can have a celebratory dance.

10 Minutes for full segment (about 5-6 for match and the rest for entrances/post-match etc)
21 Minutes Total for show

Segment Five
Raw Recap

This will be a standard recap; where we cover the major plot developments from the most recent episode of Raw and then hype up whatever is going to be on the next episode. I’m assuming with these that the WWF will have actually bothered announcing stuff, otherwise we’ll just dedicate more time to what happened on the previous episode.

3 Minutes total for segment
24 Minutes Total for show

Segment Six
Pre-tape promo with The Brood and Kevin Kelly

A backstage interview segment with The Brood (Gangrel, Edge and Christian). Gangrel has a match with Matt Hardy up next, so he can hype up that but also hype up his faction as well.

1 Minute total for segment
25 Minutes Total for show

Segment Seven
Gangrel w/ The Brood Vs Matt Hardy w/ Jeff Hardy

This is a competitive bout for the most part, with Matt being allowed to get some offence in until it’s time for Gangrel to get the win. The Hardyz were mostly enhancement guys who wrestled on the weekend shows at the time, and I doubt I’ll be allowed to push them that much as a result, but I will always try my best to let them have competitive outings when they can. Later in the year I’ll be able to do a bit more with them of course, although by then they’ll probably be working Raw more anyway. Edge and Christian can get involved at one stage to beat up both Hardyz behind the ref’s back, leading to Gangrel getting the win with the Implant DDT.

7 Minutes total for segment (about 5 minutes for the match and the rest for entrances/post-match etc)
32 Minutes Total for show

Segment Eight
Pay Per View Event Centre with Dok Hendrix

If any matches have been announced for the pay per view then they can be hyped up. As Royal Rumble is next, Hendrix shouldn’t struggle too much with having things to talk about.

2 Minutes total for segment
34 Minutes Total for show

Segment Nine
Pre-tape promo with LOD 2000 and Kevin Kelly

A backstage interview segment with LOD 2000 (Animal and Droz). LOD 2000 hype up their Main Event match tonight with Acolytes. There is clearly still tension between the two after Hawk took a tumble from the titantron on a prior episode of Monday Night Raw. They say they’re on the same page, but it doesn’t seem that way.

1 Minute total for segment
35 Minutes Total for show

Segment Ten
Live Event Centre with Dok Hendrix

A chance for Hendrix to do the standard market specific stuff. Hype up house shows, what matches are coming soon, when the next TV tapings are etc

1 Minute total for segment
36 Minutes Total for show

Segment Eleven
Pre-tape promo with The Acolytes, Paul Bearer and Kevin Kelly

A backstage interview segment with The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) and their manager Paul Bearer. Bearer points out that LOD 2000 can’t work together, and that will be their undoing. Kelly tries to get something out of Bearer regarding The Ministry of Darkness and The Undertaker, but he comes up with nothing.

1 Minute total for segment
37 Minutes Total for show

Segment Twelve
The Acolytes (Bradshaw and Faarooq) w/ Paul Bearer Vs LOD 2000 (Road Warrior Animal and Road Warrior Droz)

This is two “star” teams, so it’s a competitive match when LOD 2000 can actually manage to work together, which is a struggle for them due to Animal being angry at what happened to his previous partner, Hawk. Most of the match is built around LOD 2000 not getting along, with a miscommunication eventually leading to Bradshaw cleaning Animal’s clock with a big Lariat for the three count. Post-match LOD 2000 have a big shoving match and it almost descends into a full on brawl until some referees and agents break it up. Things continue to simmer between the two partners as the show comes to a close, with Animal seemingly willing to offer an olive branch and Droz walking away head bowed.

8 Minutes total for segment (about 4 minutes for the match, and 4 minutes for entrances and post-match)
45 Minutes Total for show

End of Show

And that’s our first episode of Shotgun in the bag. I hope you enjoyed it. I know it’s hardly a who’s who of exciting in-ring talent on display throughout the card, but we’ve got some elements that we can follow up on and the wrestling will hopefully have been watchable enough to ensure the show was a breezy viewing experience.

I’ll hopefully see you all for more next week when I give this another bash!