Straight Shooting - Issue #102
Since 1997 - The Standard Bearer For Wrestling Columns
by Fritz Capp
For PWBTS.com
January 1, 2001

Another year has come and gone and to be honest I think that pro wrestling is worse for the wear. There is obviously no "Big Two" anymore, ECW is in shambles and the majority of the indy promotions that I have seen this year have either gone from ok to horrible or they sucked the whole time. That is not a good "State Of The Union" address by any stretch of the imagination.

In the past I have done "Year End Awards", The All-PWBTS Team and a myriad of other things to tout what was good and bad in pro wrestling. This year I think I'll just spit it out without all the cuteness. Screw ratings or personality points, who really needs them anyway? I cannot help it that there are very few besides myself who doesn't try to kiss anyone's rectal cavity and has the balls to tell you the way it is. Blame it on society. It's not my fault that everyone on the Internet anymore is a sack licking bend over guzzler who dreams of hooking up with a promotion so they can stroke themselves off at night thinking they are in the business. It's true! It's true! Just go read 99% of the columns on the net and you will see for yourself that the majority of these guys do not have a clue, never had a clue and will never get a clue. Of course for all of you who are getting ready to write me telling me that was a mark thing to do with the "It's true" lines, you also don't have a clue as that was meant to be sarcastic. Thought I would spell that out for you geniuses out there that permeate the Internet so frequently these days.

The WWF is once again the overall promotion to watch. Hell, it's the only promotion to watch. Vince has secured his company as the only thing going that could be considered worth watching, that is on television anyway. But on the flip side even the WWF is boring, stale and mundane. Same thing, different night or year, whichever you prefer to say. And please do me a favor, get that trash bag bottom feeding ho off of TV for God's sake. Stephanie's time has come and gone, please don't subject us to that again. Enough is enough and it is time for a change. Also do you think we could have one night of matches that didn't involve a screwjob finish? You guys are lucky Austin's back or you'd be drawing 3.0's in the ratings right now.

WCW has to be the hands on favorite to watch if you could get backstage to see the complete and utter breakdown of a wrestling company. These people just do not have a clue anymore as to what is going on, not only in the ring but with their own company. The workers in the back aren't helping things run smoothly either. Now personally I could give a rat's ass if one of them doesn't like what I am about to write. They all cry that they hate the Internet because there are all of the stupid posts that are usually the norm. Well pal wake up, your the reason for all of this crap. If you guys in WCW who supposedly "care" so much about the company would stop whining and trying to politic yourselves into not having to really "work" in order to draw a paycheck maybe the company wouldn't be in the situation it is in. I don't care if you trained at such and such place and have been "in the business" for "x" amount of years, the fact of the matter is that you guys totally "SCREWED" the company you worked for by being such complete and utter a-holes. There was no "one for all and all for one" mentality in WCW these past couple of years. It was a "hurray for me and the hell with you" attitude that truly helped destroy WCW. To be honest, I hope Sonny Ono completely rips WCW apart with his lawsuit. When the IRS sees that professional wrestling has been calling their workers "independent contractors" for all of these years when in actuality they have always been "employees" that should change the face of wrestling forever. Don't even try to debate me on this, I was an independent contractor for years running my business and had to deal with all of the stuff the IRS deals out on a daily basis. My employees were just that...employees. If I told them what time they had to be there, supplied the materials for them to do their job and told them how to do their job they were employees. Sounds a lot like what they do in wrestling huh?

Talk about being destroyed, let's talk about that vestige of virtue that was born and bred on the streets of South Philadelphia, ECW. This company not only lost it's pot to piss in but they're pissing down their own legs and are too stupid to realize it. Paul Heyman is still trying to do an 11th hour bailout of the company, but how many months (or actually years) can this 11th hour actually last? Canceled shows, lies about why, pulling talent from third party bookings even though he can't pay them for the time they work for him all adds up to disaster for any company. I wonder if Paul wishes that he would have kept his mouth shut when Vince said he could stay on TNN? I still say that Heyman did that on purpose. (getting Vince to rescind the offer) Heyman truly doesn't care about ECW. If he did he would not have done one half of the things he has done over the years that hurt the promotion and put them in it's current predicament. I would bet that Heyman has amassed a small fortune that he has tucked away for when ECW does finally roll over and die.

Indy promotions are not without their problems, take NWA-Jersey. They did their best to whore out WCW talent in Wildwood to the fans only to draw half sold houses, all at the expense of the workers who were there for them each and every show. Sure, the shows themselves were ok for what they were, but in retrospect if your bringing in 5-7 names a show don't you think that you would at least be able to draw a decent house to compensate for the high salary payout for the night? One way to offset this was to pay the guys in the locker room $20 - $30 bucks for working. Talk about cheap. What used to get me was that Gino Moore claims to be an ex-wrestler. I would say ex-jobber would be more fitting description. How the hell do you hand a $20.00 payday to someone when you are supposed to be a brother-in-arms to them? Forget the other pantywaists that run the company. Panzarino would rather run Roller Derby and Rubenstein is such a mark for himself it isn't funny. I mean this guy thinks he's something special, although in reality he's nothing but a cheap ripoff artist with a big vocabulary. (Get the lawyers Fred, I'm begging ya) Anyway all reports lately of their shows are they are horrible (people still report on this promotion?, not that I see anywhere) with the last show at some skating rink having no draw and the people that were actually there chose to skate instead of watching the show. I even heard that some of their own employees said that the show sucked so what does that tell you?

Staying on NWA-Jersey for a sec, Craig Stewart put up a NWA-Jersey parody website that I have to say is quite revealing to say the least. In fact, it is too revealing but it is pretty funny nonetheless. The latest version has a very interesting picture on it though. It is from NWA-Jersey's Wildwood stint this past summer where they did not bill NWA-Jersey on the marquee, they were billing themselves as WCW wrestling. In fact, the marquee read, "Pro Wrestling : WCW : Tonight 8 PM". Now I may be the most naive person in the world but even to me I would take that as fraudulent promoting, wouldn't you? Since when did WCW start allowing indy promotions to bill themselves as WCW? And indy promoters wonder why third party bookings were stopped by the WWF and now WCW. It's because of companies like NWA-Jersey, who either think they are above the rules or are so sure that they won't get caught that they just do things that shouldn't be done. And these guys work with charities? This makes you wonder just how on the up and up they are with them. If they would defraud the very company that is helping them put money in their pockets by allowing them to use their workers what else are these guys capable of? I know for a fact and from firsthand experience that they lie, cheat and scam their way out of paying bills that they owe to people who help them out so I guess anything is possible with these clowns. My guess is that this is the "family oriented" principles that Gino Moore, Fred Rubenstein and Joe Panzarino really want to teach the kids today correct?

I heard from a little birdy that the morons at NWA-Jersey aren't worried about the picture because it doesn't have a date on it. I hate to be the one to inform them but every picture developed by Kodak does have a date on it, ON THE BACK OF EACH PHOTO! According to Craig Stewart, the date on the back of the original photos are August, 2000. Geez, wasn't it NWA-Jersey running the Wildwood Convention Center "EXCLUSIVELY" in August, 2000? Plus he has the negatives and the original packaging he got it all in. According to Craig, there are dates and serial numbers of the photo development everywhere, so this can be tracked as to when these photos were originally developed. So to those in NWA-Jersey who think they can con their way out of this one, forget it. They say one picture is worth a thousand words and Craig says he has 4 of them so it will be at least 4000 words of lies minimum for you guys to get yourself out of this one. Oh yeah, on the photo you did NOT see I am told that it not only shows the marquee but also the front doors which show your posters and flyers naming NWA-Jersey plus he told me he has "other" incriminating evidence. While the posters and flyers are small in these photos, negatives can be blown up to any size, thus revealing it was NWA-Jersey that perpetrated this. OUCH! So much for trying to say that it was Tommy Fiero from years past huh? Welcome to the new millennium boys. Stick that in your AOL Instant Messenger for a while and read it. For once in your pathetic lives admit it when you did something wrong instead of being a bunch of punks and trying to squirrel your way out of it. Oh that's right, I am talking about NWA-Jersey aren't I? Sorry, for a second I was thinking I was talking about someone that had a shred of integrity.

Here is the photo I am talking about so you can decide for yourself. If the link does not work it is located at http://www.geocities.com/nwanjsucks/nwamag4.jpg



Another thing I found out this past year was that there are a lot of wrestlers who want to try to protect the business and are big on respect, as long as it goes in their favor. While I will not name the one year ring veterans I am talking about, there was a situation where this guy and his partner blew a couple of spots in a match and immediately blamed the guys they were working against even though it was clear who blew the spots. Did these guys come out and say, "Hey, we messed up"? Hell no, these jabrones blamed everyone else in the world and tried to justify it in their own minds. I'll tell you what, the kids today that are learning this sport are learning it all wrong and it shows. I hope this doesn't reflect on their trainers although there would be a case for it to do just that.

CZW was on the wrong end of legislation in the state of New Jersey this past year, thanks in part to people who run rival promotions helping to spearhead the paperwork trying to shut them down. This is exactly the same as when Gino Moore called Sports Channel trying to have ECW taken off of TV. I have always said to let a promotion run and live and die on it's own merits. The legislation in New Jersey singles out certain promotions and allows others to run scott free and this is wrong. While there is nothing that anyone seems to be able to do about it, I hope CZW finally gets the funding to fight this stupid law.

There for awhile I really thought that the NWA had what it was going to take to be a viable company. Boy was I wrong. While NWA President Howard Brody gives good lip service, the actual proof is in the pudding as far as his NWA-Florida promotion goes. Look at his current show attendance. A few months ago he was drawing 700 people, then 500 and now 300. Of course he would love to blame all of this on Dory and Marti Funk but to be honest the responsibility falls squarely on his shoulders. It is the promoters job to overcome all obstacles and get people into the seats. This is a no brainer. You have to have a good card, with good workers and GREAT promotion for the show. As far as the NWA as whole goes the only thing they have that could be considered as a viable commodity is NWA Wildside. Everything else is out of sight which makes it out of mind. It amazes me that a company that has over 400 wrestlers combined in their collective locker rooms cannot get it together enough to compete on a national scale. That shows that there are too many self-serving chiefs making the decisions in the NWA. Considering some of the people involved at the top level of the NWA it is no wonder it one big clusterf*ck. They are too busy stroking each other off to get anything accomplished. But then again it is ok for an NWA promoter to invade another NWA promoter's territory under another name other than the NWA given promotion name so what does that tell you about the NWA?

Why would the WWF get rid of probably the best entrance music the Undertaker ever had? Can we say STUPIDITY? Sure we can.

It is being reported that Rena Mero has landed some sort of movie role. The question is, "Does anyone really care?" No one has missed the silicone misfit since she decided to sue the WWF to get out of her contract so she could become a major entertainment star, something that has yet to happen. Isn't it funny, this bitch had it all going for her, got an ego and now is nothing but an after thought? Who cares? She'll be doing Tampon commercials soon, thats where a rag like her should be anyway.

Lo and behold, CJ Marsicano has decided to make a section of his site devoted to me and in it he responds to my taking him to task in my last Straight Shooting. In it he says that I trash anyone who defends ECW, which is a joke. Many people come to ECW's defense and I say nothing about it. Go back to earlier in the year and even I had hope for the promotion that loves to not pay it's workers and cancel shows on a regular basis. My good friend Tony who runs Strictly ECW has NEVER heard one bad word from me. Why? Because Tony and I both understand that not everyone is going to like the same thing. But the one thing that Tony NEVER did was put out an "Open Letter To Fritz Capp" and then trash me in it and then expect no response from me. You see, that is EXACTLY what Marsicano did and expected and now his little feelings are hurt. Well CJ, there will be no apology from me. I was the one that was attacked and all I did was respond to it. All apologies start and stop with you my friend. You were wrong and as I explained there were many other ways you could have done your letter that would have been acceptable, but you chose for whatever reason to attack me and now you pay the price for your own lack of good judgement. As far as using your own column to make you look like a fool, all I did was respond to each piece of "YOUR OPEN LETTER" so that there was no doubt in anyone's mind as to what I was talking about. Hey, if you cannot take the heat, don't start the fire. As far as your "sour grapes", grow up. You once again show just how childish you really. Your ending sentence of, "That, ladies and gentlemen, is my story and I'm sticking with it." is a good one because I am sure you feel that if you perpetuate a lie enough times even you yourself will start to believe it.

Speaking of childish, look at the way WCW let Mark Madden go. Now it is no secret that I think Madden is a fat, overweight, out of shape, no class jaybro with the scruples of a NWA-Jersey promoter but what WCW did to him was dead lame. This company continues to show that the inmates run the asylum and as long as that is happening they will go no where no matter who owns and runs it.

I picked up Smackdown 2 and while it does have some great features they lost some in other areas. The Royal Rumble matches are tedious and annoying with all the stopping of the action to load the next participant. Thank God they are only once a calender year. Also the times that it does not let you wrestle for 3-4 cards at a time is bogus. But at least they are starting to get back to the "Create a Wrestler" that was in "War Zone".

I am sorry but I was just handed a paper that says that contracturally I do have to hand out a few year end awards :

The Fred "I talk out of both sides of my mouth because I wouldn't know the truth if it came up and bit me" Rubenstein Award goes to the person who was caught in more lies this past year than Firestone had defective tires and this award goes to L.Brent Bozell III for being caught in so many lies when attacking the WWF it isn't funny. Maybe Rev. Moon can give the a-hole some form of absolution for his deceitful ways.

The Gino "I am not involved brother even though when you turn your back I'll stick a knife in it" Moore Award goes to Gino Moore due to his lack of particpation when he turned his back on someone he called friend and let him hang when Gino's partners intentioanlly ripped this supposed friend off. This showed Gino's lack of loyalty and moral fiber and let everyone know just how big a 500+ lb. pile a sh*t can actually be.

The "Houdini - now you see it now you don't" Award goes to Dave Scherer for the constant re-editing of his column. Dave has shown a penchant for changing what he writes that is unheard of in the annuals of Internet reporting. Not taking a shot Dave, just stating facts.

The I'd sooner climb a tree and tell a lie than to stay on the ground and tell the truth Award goes to none other than Paul Heyman who's constant lying about the status of ECW not only to the media but also to his own workers shows that this idiot only has one thing in mind and that is gathering all his eggs in one basket for the eventual fall of ECW.

The I'll say one thing to your face and then do something completely different Award goes to Fred Rubenstein for his involvement in the New Jersey legislation banning "extreme wrestling" in the Garden State. Rubenstein bragged to many people that he was involved with the wording of this legislation and also helping to get it passed into law while at the same time publicly saying that he had nothing to do with it. Of course with Fred you can never tell when he is lying or he isn't. If he was involved this of course was not for the benefit of pro wrestling or to help the kids but was to try to knock off some of his competition in the state. To be quite honest I don't think Rubenstein gives a rats ass about kids. His only concern is the money he can suck out of them,. He said on numerous occasions that he saw to it that the law would not affect NWA-Jersey because he ran a "family oriented" show. Now all he has to do is find some families that actually want to watch his washed up going no where product. Hire another 12 names for your next show Fred, maybe you can draw 300+ if you get enough has beens and wanna-be's on the card. Hey, maybe WCW will let you bill yourselves as WCW again so you can defraud the public one more time.

And yet another promotion opens in New Jersey. The following is a q&a that was on the PWBTS website with Les Morgan. I am not saying that this will be bad or good but lets be honest, pretty soon wrestling promotions will out number fans in the state. The only thing I can see is that for once there isn't someone trying to milk charities out of their money on an 80/20 split with the 80 going to the promotion. All you self serving "family oriented" promotions look out. Your scam is about to be uncovered.

Q. You've been in the business since the early 1960s. Who gave you your first break?

A. I'd have to say Buddy Rogers. I grew up in Camden, N.J., and Buddy was my neighbor. I was in awe of Buddy, and began working out with weights when I was 12, and went to the various amateur wrestling clubs in the area. Buddy, Karl Von Hess and Doc D'Aganaro are the ones who really got me started.

Q. You wrestled a legend before you both even turned pro. Tell us about that.

A. I was 15, and wrestling in a catch-as-catch-can club, and we had a tournament in New York. One of the other clubs, I believe it was Brooklyn's, had Pedro Morales on their team. We wrestled then, and were good friends from that point on.

Q. You've wrestled for NWA, Crockett, Gulas and the WWWF. What was the most interesting of your experiences.

A. I love to be educated, so everywhere I went, I learned something new. I'd say with Vince, Sr., I learned a lot about running a show properly. I worked a lot in his office as well as wrestled. In-ring, I learned from Monsoon, Johnny Rodz who was a heckuva worker, and tough, too. Strongbow is another I learned a great deal from, too.

Q. Speaking of running shows, you're running shows in 2001. You're almost 60 years-old, why now?

A. First, I love the business, and I hate seeing what some of the guys around the New Jersey area have done to it. I've wanted to run some shows for years, but understand something. I never do anything until I'm 100% certain that it's
the right time.

Q. What can you do differently that the other promoters can't?

A. I've been in the business, so has my daughter, so has Artie Palmer, and you (Rick Bauer). None of us are marks for the business. We don't get our kicks from bringing in a big name, has-been talent just so we can say we've met him, had dinner with him, whatever. Too many of these guys bring in a Honky Tonk Man, pay him $500 for the night, plus hotel and travel. And he might, and I'm being generous when I say this, add maybe 40 more people to the seats.

Q. And you see that as a hindrance...

A. Well, when you've got 12 other workers on the show who are busting their tails to put on a good show and get only a $20 payday, AND have to sell tickets. Geez, I got $50 for T.V. tapings back in the 70s!

Q. Some of the promoters in the area are under investigation for fraud. What's your take on this?

A. When you go to a sponsor and offer him a chance to raise a lot of money for their charity, and ask for $5,000 up front...first of all, if I'm a charity and have that kind of money to spend, I pocket that and go have a bake sale or go
sell flowers on a street corner. Secondly, they're asking the charity to take all the risk. I'd do things differently.

Q. Such as...

A. The sponsors have to put up for the building and security. They have to sell tickets. We do a monetary split there. They get the concessions, 100%.

Q. Seems simple enough.

A. If you have a house of 500 people, you're not going to make $25, 000. You have to be upfront. The sponsor will make most of his money selling soda and hot dogs. The rest comes from ticket sales.

Q. So, tell us what you have planned.

A. Noopy's Ringmasters School/Promotions is starting up a promotion almost exclusively catered to the junior heavyweights. It's called the Internationl Jr. Heavyweight Wrestling Association. We'll have a Junior Heavyweight as well as a Lightweight Division. I cannot see holding back guys who can work because they only weigh 150 LBS. We have the Evangelist Mikey G. who weighs 155 LBS. but he can work as well as any heavyweight, so why not give him a place to showcase his talents. By that, I mean why not let him work against guys his own size, instead
of getting squashed by a guy who weighs 230 LBS.

We also will not be bringing in the has-beens. These guys deserve a real pay-day. Why spend $500 on a name who isn't going to draw? We'll have the same crowd without them, and split the $500 among the workers we have now.

Q. You have other requirements for your workers?

A. Yes, we don't want any hardcore garbage. The one thing Monsoon made me promise before he passed was not to give in to these Extreme wrestlers. For one, he felt they didn't know how to work, and I agree. You can't get kicked out of a school after 2 weeks, open your own school and promotion and then start using lightbulbs, window panes and weed wackers to compensate the fact that you can't lock up properly. We also don't do T &A. We cater towards families, and that goes beyond the ring.

Q. How so?

A. You (Rick Bauer) had always said that we should mimmick the success of minor league baseball, and do things beyond the ring, and we will. We have door prizes, we'll have magicians and dog acts before the show and during
intermission. We'll have power lifting and amateur wrestling demonstrations with local clubs and high schools. That's the difference.

Q. And you're looking for wrestlers outside the area as well. There are so many guys in your own backyard.

A. True, but I don't think none of them can work. They don't have the bodies that you see in the WWF. Even X-Pac has had to hit the gym, and it shows. Also, too many guys are burning themselves out by working for too many promotions in the area. That's why I've gone to Johnny Rambo in Maryland for help. I'd take guys from the Monster Factory as well. I'm not a fan of Larry Sharpe, but his experience as well as Rambo's, make them qualified instructors.

Q. If a wrestler wants to work for you, how do they go about contacting you?

A. They need to send a photo, resume and a video to me at Noopy's Ringmasters Promotions, 108 Route 40, Newfield, N.J. 08344. Even then, if we're interested, they'd still have to try-out with us first.

Q. It sounds like you've got all of your bases covered.

A. The thing I have on some of the other promoters is that I am a business man. I've made millions, and I've lost millions, only to gain it back. I had a successful rubbish business while I was wrestling. I've had a furniture
stripping and refinishing business, and am now locked up with a company called NoopCo that has taken off with stripping and graffiti removal products that I've formulated. We've gotten some big government contracts in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York.

So, you can see that I really don't NEED to be in the wrestling business. But, before I leave this planet, I'd like to bring the business back to the respectability that it use to have.

Q. You sound like a survivalist!

A. Listen, I was 6 years-old, and survived the Howard Unruh shootings (A mass killing in 1947. Morgan received shrapnel from stones in the street where the shooter fired his pistol), I survived a tugboating accident, and I've survived the death of my son (Les, Jr. "Snoopy", was killed in 1975 when hit by a car. The family was in Tenessee at the time, where Morgan was wrestling). I fear nothing. And I'm like a log, I just lay there waiting for the right moment. And the moment is now.

If you're a charity wanting to sponsor a show, a wrestler looking for work, or you'd like to get into the wrestling industry as a wrestler, valet or manager, contact Noopy's at 856-358-6001, or visit their website at
www.ringmasterswrestling.net.

Rick Bauer, Vice-President of Marketing
Ringmasters Wrestling School

This is the time where I do something special with it being the holidays. Choose your favorite ending to this column

1 - And with that I am outta here. I hope you all have a very happy and safe new year and my best wishes for all your wishes and dreams to come true.

2 - And with that line I am totally out of here. As Edge and Christian would say, "The hanosity of this business does not wreak of awesomeness. In fact, the freakazoids that permeate this business are total losers." Maybe I'll give Phil Mushnick a call and see if he has an opening in his office for a writer who really knows what is wrong with this sport anymore. Hey, at least it would be the truth and not Mushnick's continued misleading and lying diatribe. But then again, maybe I'll be back real soon with an eye opener that will shock the wrestling world. And no, it won't be like that Lariat eye opener that said Tod Gordon was running a wrestling camp. That news and an old bath towel still couldn't wipe Gino's fat ass.

3 - And with that I am outta here. Please remember to support your favorite wrestling promotion as long as it isn't WCW, ECW, NWA-Jersey, WWWA, NWA-Florida or any other promotion that I think sucks. If you feel you must support those promotions why don't you just take the money you were going to waste there and send it to me, because I'll do a hell of a lot more with it than those idiots would. I mean do we really need to feed Gino's fat face anymore? How much larger can this guy grow? Do we really need to see? WCW would just waste it and Heyman would just put it in his private bank account. The WWWA would just blow it and Brody would get his hair done again. So send it to me dammit!

4 - And with that I am outta here. In fact, screw this I am gone for good. Nobody really cares about pro wrestling and I am sick and tired of trying to educate you people. Over the past few years I have shown you time and time again what this business is about and yet you would all rather be worked and believe the crap that the promotion affiliates and the Internet shills put out instead of the truth. While you all "claim" to want the inside scoop none of you want that at all. Your all a bunch of friggin marks who cannot tell the difference between truth and reality.

5 - And with that I am outta here. Truth be told pro wrestling is the only true sport going. It is the only one that really touches our lives and really gets into your soul. As Afa the Wild Samoan always said, "Your born into the business and you can never leave". No statement has ever been truer. With that in mind I want to wish everyone who is involved in pro wrestling and all of it's fans the happiest of New Years. May your favorite wrestler be forever enshrined in the PWI Hall of Fame.

6 - All of the above.

(To those of you who feel that I took unnecassary shots at people in this column you are dead wrong. All were very warranted and deserved. But then again, like I care what you think anyway.)


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