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WWE Confidenital January 11, 2003

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Guest TSMAdmin

WWE Confidential January 11, 2003

 

A little bit of sad news to kick this column off, my eight-year streak of not vomiting ended late Tuesday night. Fortunately, I'm feeling good today because IT'S TIME FOR CONFIDENTIAL~!

 

This week on Confidential: The Four Horsemen; and Edge tours Seattle.

 

Gene continues to talk out of his ass when he says that both himself and Bobby Heenan will be presenting the awards at Raw X. Someone in the WWE should probably tell Heenan that he will be doing this sometime before Tuesday night. Supposedly the awards will include Best Diva and Best Wrestler. My personal predictions: Stephanie McMahon and HHH. Seriously, if Sunny and Steve Austin do not win those awards I will be righteously pissed.

 

Cover Story: The Four Horsemen

This segment and the one later on are focusing on the original Horsemen, Arn, Flair, Tully, Ole, and Dillon. For whatever reason Ric Flair isn't here to comment on the faction, just Arn and Tully. Although he is gray and balding, Blanchard doesn't look half bad. Arn believes that the group was the best because it was the first. Tully on the other hand, attributes its success to the fan involvement. Flair was the flagship of the group, the Champ. Tully was the ring technician. Ole was just a tough SOB and Arn was the rookie. Tully adds that Ole was smarter than most guys were. I would imagine he meant that sarcastically. Arn adds that it was hard to be humble since they truly were the best. The Horsemen's job was to irritate the fans. Irritate them so much that the fans would pay to see guys like Dusty and Magnum TA whoop their asses. Clips from the first War Games match follow. Once Tully and Arn left for the WWF, the group was never the same. You just couldn't replace those guys. Arn remembers how WCW would always bring back the Horsemen as a quick fix. Don't give Vince any ideas now. All we need is to see Ole Anderson back on TV. On his last night in the NWA Tully told J.J. that this truly would be the end of an era, and he was right. Honestly I was expecting more from this segment, but there is more with the Horsemen later, so I'll comment once all is said and done.

 

Segment 1: 1/1

 

Before They Were Superstars: Chris Jericho

I would imagine that most of this footage is from the Break the Walls Down video. Chris was brought up in Winnipeg. "The -40 degree whether really hardens you." For that reason he would want his own kids to spend time in Canada. As a kid Chris liked to read, draw and participate in sports like hockey, baseball, soccer and swimming. Now he is a HUGE hockey fan, but he used to prefer baseball. He relates a semi-funny story about playing water polo in college. The "uniform" for water polo was red Speedo. He and his friends were so embarrassed to be seen in a Speedo that they were Bermuda shirts into the water. His grandmother used to watch the AWA on TV, which is how Chris became exposed to wrestling. From there he would go to local WWE events. Every year a wrestler or two would go up to Winnipeg for some convention. One year Ricky Steamboat appeared. Chris was a big Steamboat fan and tried to think of a really good question to ask him. Being a relatively small guy at the time Chris asked Ricky about his height and weight. Ricky replied 5'11'' and 230lbs. As Steamboat was saying this, Chris' friend snapped what has to be one of the WORST pictures ever. Anyhow it turns out Chris is also 5'11'' now. When he was 18, Chris ran into Jesse Ventura at a celebrity hockey game. Jesse tells Chris that before he trains to become a wrestler, he should get a degree. Chris listened to him and then went off to Stu Hart's Dungeon where he met Lance Storm. He got his first wrestling gig in a local Winnipeg federation (WFWA). He then traveled to Japan and Mexico, where he stayed for several years. His first great match was against Ultimo Dragon in Japan. During a tournament in Japan, Chris didn't win the whole thing but he did receive a huge ass trophy for being the best fighter. As for his greatest accomplishment, that would have to be his Intercontinental and Undisputed Title runs. Chris believes that "he finally has arrived". Definitely one of the better BTWS segments, except it would have been nice if they focused on his WCW career.

 

Segment 2: 2/2

 

Why does this damn show spend so much time on Bradshaw? Speaking of which, Bradshaw visited the troops in Afghanistan for the holidays. He went with a group of other celebrities. Bradshaw regrets never joining the US military, as do I. Think about it, the WWE minus Bradshaw. Sounds good to me. He gives one of those macho patriotic speeches to the soldiers. While doing so he makes sure to mention that Vince McMahon sent some wrestlers down to Ground Zero a few weeks after the attacks. Just the sight of Bradshaw on my TV disgusts me. Not to mention the fact that he just interrupted the nice roll this show was on. Typical Bradshaw...

 

Segment 3: 2/3

 

WWE Rewind>> WrestleMania X-8: Undertaker d. Ric Flair. Not sure if the point of that clip was to hype WrestleMania X-9 or the return of the Undertaker. Either way, it didn't accomplish its goal.

 

Edge spent some time in Seattle hyping WrestleMania last weekend. He did a few radio shows. On one of them the host asked people to call in and trash talk Edge. The best one had to be "I'm really glad that you guys brought my favorite diva, Edge, on to the show this week." Next up on his itinerary is Space Needle. More photos and interviews. For whatever reason, the phrase "Turn it up" is being used in the commercials for WrestleMania tickets in Seattle. He walks through a casino and signs autographs. He even got to hug a baby. EDGE FOR PRESIDENT! Business picks up once Edge gets to Safeco Field. The ring will be on second base. 12,000 people will be sitting on what would be the field. It will take a week to set up the stage and hopefully two days to take it down since the Mariners need the field six days after 'Mania. Edge can be funny, so this wasn't unbearable.

 

Segment 4: 2.5/4

 

Back to the Horsemen. Arn runs down the lists of all the luxuries that the Horsemen had like new Mercedes, private jets, limousines, expensive hotel rooms, free entrance to nightclubs and free drinks inside. Arn adds that they deserved everything because they truly were the best. Tully thinks what set the Horsemen apart from every other group are that they preached a lifestyle or glitz and glamour. And the segment is over… WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT??? What happened to "The History of the Four Horsemen"?? DAMN YOU WWE!! No other wrestling promotion would be able to fuck up a segment on the greatest stable EVER, well maybe WCW, but no one else. They had better do a follow up next week with actual FOOTAGE of the Horsemen IN ACTION. Is that asking too much? Why not spend some time on all of the great feuds with Dusty, Magnum, Sting, and the Rock 'N Roll Express? I'm just shocked that the WWE could ruin this. Even the first segment was nothing to ride home about, but at least it gave some relevant information and used cool old-school footage. Essentially the same footage was recycled for this little bit. Unbelievable.

 

Segment 5: 2.5/5

 

May 24, 1999 The Owen Hart Tribute. A touching recap of that episode of Raw closes this episode of Confidential. Brought a tear to my eye. I don't understand why the WWE doesn't do an annual Owen Hart Tribute Show. It doesn't necessarily have to go through the Hart Family, or even be done for the Hart Family. It would just be nice to see the WWE truly remember one of it's fallen wrestlers for a change. Owen Hart wasn’t mentioned at all after the Tribute Show. Maybe if Vince's meeting with Bret really did go well we will see some sort of show this year or maybe next for the 5th year Anniversary. WOW... five years....

 

Next Week: Lawler gives a tour of Memphis and Confidential takes us behind the scenes of Raw X.

 

Segment 6: 3.5/6

 

Even though the show scored well, the Horsemen crap left a bad taste in my mouth. By the way, I’m 2/2 on that New Year’s resolution.

 

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