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(Unfortunately, Hotmail ate the first attempt at sending this to me; otherwise you really WOULD have read it on Tuesday... - CRZ)
GOD DAMN
Hey, let us check the news.
AUSTIN:
God damn. God DAMN. What in the sam hill. When he left after
WrestleMania, whether you agreed with it or not, most everyone could at
least understand his position. But as of Monday morning he was the top
babyface on his roster, in the top angle, the angle was going well, he'd
have great matches with the opponents he was up against. And he left again.
This sucks.
Monday night all that was known was that he'd been scheduled to face Brock
Lesnar on Raw and he flew home instead. Tuesday it came out that they
wanted him to lose to Brock and Austin, according to the Torch, refused
because "Austin felt he didn't want to be 'used' in hotshot angles with no
build up in order to try to pop a rating so the writers could make
themselves look good at his expense."
So Raw had to be rewritten and instead we got Vince winning back the other
50% of the company and taking over the show, which many people thought meant
the end of the split but that doesn't appear to be the case. But with no
Austin on TV his ongoing feud with Flair and Benoit and Guerrero will
apparently die midstream, which is quite a treat for viewers. And one can
only assume that the Austin/Eddie match rumored to be at King of the ring is
not going to happen.
If you ask me, both sides look bad. Obviously if Vince and his crack staff
hadn't been putting out what Austin described as "piss-poor" material, there
probably wouldn't be an issue here. But like I said before, at least I
could understand the last time Austin left, but by most accounts what he was
doing now is what he wanted to do. He wanted the program with Eddie. But
walking out again screws Eddie blue, not to mention the company and the
fans. He had good stuff to work with while someone like the Undertaker was
in an angle about puke.
But regardless of who to blame and whatever, the worst part of all is that
this could be the last of Steve Austin for a while. By walking out on Raw
he may have washed his hands of things, with no plan to return. But
assuming that in a few days he'd cool off and be ready to come back, would
Vince even let him? Should Vince even let him? Is Vince going to risk
taking him back just to see Austin leave a third time?
GOD DAMN.
CREDIT TO THE TORCH:
Here's some news!
Ironically, the main article in the Torch this week talked somewhat about
the need to build new stars, but how it will be more difficult than years
past because the current big stars like Austin are in the way with no WCW to
take them.
Tough Enough did a giant 2.8 rating for the final episode. The ratings of
the first Thursday airings were down from the first season, but if you
factor in all the times the show was replayed then the total Tough Enough
audience was probably more than twice what the Thursday night ratings
indicated. So if you figure that then pulling all those viewers together at
once for the finale doesn't make the number seem that surprising.
Speaking of Tough Enough, the Andy Dick Show did a parody of it where Andy
had a bad rash and none of the students would wrestle him.
Former WCW star Evan Karagis will be on the soap "Passions" as a
wrestler.
Shannon Moore is back at HWA after being on the road with the Smackdown
crew. Jamie Knoble is now on Smackdown. Knoble has been in HWA since the
WWF bought WCW. Back in WCW Knoble had a good rep as an in-ring performer,
but he struggled on the microphone. In HWA he worked on his mic skills and
became one of the better talkers there, where he wrestled as "the Red Neck
Messiah" and Jamie "By God" Knoble. His persona is comparable to the heel
character Brian Christopher used to do in Memphis. Shannon Moore has also
greatly improved on the stick since his WCW days, but it looks like he may
not be on the active roster yet.
Jesse Ventura was interviewed on the Dan Patrick show. He has no interest
in wrestling another match. He doesn't think he could take Hogan in a shoot
fight since Hogan is still an active wrestler and is in good shape, while
he's been using his mind. Jesse took the usual shots at Hulk for wearing
the feather boas.
JR was interviewed on Mark Madden's radio show. He said the stuff about
WWE not connecting with the fans.
Benoit should be ready to return by the end of the month.
JR says Rock will wrestle June 15th in Hawaii, August 10th in Australia,
and at SummerSlam.
The current plan is for Rey to wear his mask when he debuts.
Hooray!
Tommy Dreamer is being mocked behind his back by "damn near everyone" for
doing the toilet humor stunts. He really did eat Taker's tobacco.
The NWA has signed Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell to be in the big battle
royal. What a coup! They haven't signed long-term deals, though... they'll
be used to add some "star power" to the match. Talks with Lex Luger are
ongoing and he may be added this week. Scott Hall has signed and at least
he just came off a fresh stint in WWE, unlike Buff or Rick Steiner. There
were talks with Dusty Rhodes but they fell through.
"I appreciate other people's opinions, but if I passed over every wrestler
who I was told bad things about, we wouldn't have anyone left," Jerry told
the Torch. Regarding Scott Hall, Jerry said "I'm not a drinker. I rarely
even drink wine. But when I worked for the WWF for two years, I drank two
bottles of wine every day." That is to say that the harsh demands there can
cause guys to fall off the wagon. He's excited about getting Hall because
Hall is excited to be there.
Ricky Steamboat, Harley Race, and Dory Funk Jr. will be at the debut PPV.
They will be part of an opening ceremony that will establish the history of
the NWA name, but also incorporate into an angle about whether the NWA
history has any relevance today.
Ed Ferrara and Don West practiced working together at an indy event in
Nashville. Jim Cornette was backstage, got into a confrontation with
Ferrara, and spit in his face. Cornette said Ferrara deserved it for
mocking JR's Bell's Palsy on WCW TV. Cornette is a longtime Ross ally and
was part of the WWF creative team when Russo worked against his ideas, with
Vince McMahon ultimately siding with Russo and Ferrara.
Shane Douglas refused to join TNA because of Francine. He was in talks to
be part of the first show, but gave a "it's her or me" ultimatum when he
found out Francine had already been signed. Douglas and Francine had a
falling out in their friendship, obviously.
There continues to be talk that the XWF has finalized a TV deal. Multiple
sources believe the company is paying a network to air the episodes they
taped last year, although the group has not made any announcement.
XWF Wrestlers who have seen the final version of the taped shows were
amazed at how strong the final product is, and called it "MTV slick" with
credit being given to the people working in post-production.
The promoter of the Eddie Gilbert Memorial Show, which was held in
Lexington on May 27th, is accusing Ricky Morton and Buddy Landell of running
up a liquor tab and a big phone bill while they were in town for the show.
The story goes that both guys left town with half their booking fees, which
they got in advance, but the extra hotel room charges exceed the rest of the
money they were to get for working the show.
IMAGE OF THE WEEK:
God damn!
CLOSING OF THE WEEK:
Buh bye.
Seadawg
[slash] wrestling
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