WWE Confidential: July 6, 2002 (Repeat June 1, 200

[Guest TSMAdmin]

WWE Confidential: June 1, 2002

 

Last week Confidential scored an impressive 1.5 rating. Gene thanks us for making last weeks show such a success. He adds that we will see the conclusion of last weeks Shawn Michaels’ interview.

 

Gene brings up Davey Boy Smith's death, adding that it is still unknown how he died. Gene also talks about his personal demons. There will be an interview with Davey Boy conducted by Jim Ross after Owen Hart died that will be shown for the first time tonight.

 

A very cool montage is shown to highlight the British Bulldog’s career. Diana Hart talks about what a great person Davey Boy was and how loyal he was to his country. Bruce Hart goes on about how he discovered Smith and the Dynamite Kid. He was gung-ho on bringing them to Stampede, whereas Stu didn't think they weighed enough. William Regal calls Smith one of the greatest wrestlers of all-time and talks about a joke he played on Yoshi Kwan in WCW. Howard Finkel will never forget how strong the Bulldog was. The Brooklyn Brawler takes us through what it's like to be in the hanging vertical suplex. The Bulldog thinks his greatest moment was at SummerSlam 92. A bunch of clips of his match against Bret are shown. The Undertaker talks about how great it was for Davey to work against Bret in his home country.

 

Segment 1: 1/1

 

The first installment of "Before They Were SuperStars" features Spike Dudley. I may be wrong, but I think this footage is available on the Before They Were SuperStars DVD, so if you own the DVD you have probably already seen this. Spike's parents talk a little bit. His father's best memory of Spike was when they would go to the beach. Spike was really the runt of the liter in his family. He has been getting beat up for practically his entire life. When his brothers went off to play hockey, Spike would stay home to watch wrestling. He seems to have been a fan of Bob Backlund. In high school, Spike was a pretty good linebacker. After graduating from college, Spike got a job as a teacher. He never really wanted to teach, so he began researching wrestling schools, although he didn't think he could make it because of his size. Some clips of Spike's indy career are shown. He took a lot of beatings on the independent circuit because he worked a better match than most of his opponents, so they would take that out on him. His mother thinks that all the money they spent for his college education was wasted since he became a wrestler. Clips of his very first match are shown. Even in his first match he was almost killed when he missed a senton off the top to the floor and landed on his head. Spike kept his wrestling career from his parents until his first match. He says that they were supportive, albeit not very supportive. Spike put together a video resume and sent it to the WWF, WCW, and ECW. Obviously the WWF and WCW rejected him, but Taz called him and offered him a job in ECW as long as he moved to the East Coast. Spike was an ECW mainstay for about five years. We jump to some WWF clips and Spike closes the segment by saying that anyone can make it as a wrestler as long as they can entertain the fans and do it well.

 

Segment 2: 2/2

 

Classic WWF Moment: Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan after defeating the Iron Sheik for the WWF Title on January 23, 1984. WOW, 18 years later, Hulkamania is still running wild and pulling in some revenue.

 

Chris Sader is Hulk Hogan's #1 fan. They first met when Sader was 3 in 1983. Since then Sader and Hogan have become friends. Sader has over 5,000 pieces of autographed Hulk Hogan memorabilia in his house. Hogan talks about how Sader quit his job as an R.N. and came down to Florida to help Hulk's dad while he was in the hospital. Since then Hogan and Sader have become closer friends.

 

Remember when the WWE asked its fans to send in videos of wrestler impersonations? Well, here are some fan impersonations and as I'm sure you already know, they all pretty much suck.

 

Segment 3: 2/3

 

WWE Rewind<< SummerSlam 1995- Ladder Match: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels

 

Vince McMahon talks how difficult Shawn Michaels could have been creatively, but he also adds that Shawn always gave it his all in the ring. Shawn talks about the DX storyline saying Vince thought of the name, but he and Hunter thought of all the obnoxious things they did. A lot of cool DX clips on shown. Shawn talks about being backdropped on the casket at the Royal Rumble in 1998. He knew that his career was over, but he wanted to pass the torch to Austin at WrestleMania XIV. Unfortunately he was in a lot of pain and couldn't give Steve the match he wanted to give him at XIV. Going in Shawn knew that he was about to wrestle his final match. Shawn has no regrets because the path that he chose has led him to his wife Rebecca, his son, and most of all the lord. Shawn says that the Heartbreak Kid is dead and if he were to wrestle again it would be as Shawn Hickenbottom. Vince would love to have Shawn perform at least one more time. Vince also thinks that there is still a little bit of the Heartbreak Kid in Shawn.

 

Segment 4: 3/4

 

A clip of Davey Boy Smith teaming up with his son, Harry, for Top Rope Championship Wrestling in shown. The match took place on May 10, which was 9 days before Davey Boy's death. Harry is only 16 and the WWE is already interested in him, so he must be pretty good.

 

Davey talks about his tag-team match with Jim Neidhart at Fall Brawl 98, which is when he hurt his back on the Warrior's trap door. The footage is shown. Davey Boy says that his doctor prescribed painkillers, but they didn't work, so he was given Morphine.

 

Diana tells us that she found many bottles of pills from various doctors across the United States. She also found hidden syringes and morphine in his cowboy boots. Davey Boy began to take Morphine in his veins. Diana took 100 of his Zanex and swallowed them in front of him to show him what it is like when he overdoses. Diana woke up two days later and was told she died four times on the way to the hospital.

 

That is when Davey Boy admitted that he had a drug problem. On New Year's Day 1999, he began a seven-week withdrawal period. After five weeks he could barely move. Two days after Smith got out of rehab, his sister called him because his mother got very sick. She died two days later.

 

Diana says that Davey Boy began to take medication again after his mother died.

 

Davey Boy took a MRI and was told he had a fractured spine and staph infection. He was told that he might die. A little bit later Diana brought him a Federal Express envelope from WCW stating that he was fired.

 

Diana tells us that Davey Boy finally stopped taking Morphine on April 14, which is when he spoke to Vince McMahon and Owen Hart. Vince and Owen told him that they would do whatever it took to make him better. From there Smith was put into rehab by Vince McMahon and again by the police. Diana wishes they could have done more, but she doesn't know what else they could have done.

 

William Regal visited Davey Boy in March of 2000 when he was in an Atlanta rehab center. The same rehab center Regal was in a year earlier. That was the last time William saw him.

 

The Undertaker says that Davey Boy was never the same after he came out of the hospital.

 

Diana talks about how Davey Boy's problems led to their divorce. She adds that their relationship had begun to improve over the last year. Diana tells us that Davey was ecstatic to be able to wrestle alongside Harry a few weeks ago.

 

Harry Smith tells us that Davey was happy that he learned from his father's mistakes.

 

Back to August 99, Davey is not ready to quit, retire or fail.

 

Segment 5: 4/5

 

The divas talk about the sexiest male SuperStar. Most of them like the Rock and Kurt Angle. Ron Simmons (Ivory), Hardcore Holly, Billy Kidman (Torrie), and Matt Hardy (Lita) are also mentioned. Trish jokingly adds Vince McMahon to the list.

 

Gene, "Obviously that clip was recorded before I made my return."

 

Segment 6: 4.5/6

 

Next Week: Behind the scenes of the Tough Enough 2 Season Finale.

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Very good show this week. I missed last week's edition, so I can't really compare them. I would have preferred they aired one on Smith's best matches in it's entirety, rather than dwell on his personal problems.

 

Retro Rob