Kaertos

I agree with you. I am just assuming that they won;t pull the trigger on the Evolution breakup until after WM. In fact Backlash is Raw-only, so I am guessing he might lose it there.

Logical booking says he can't lose the belt before WM unless Foley costs him the match. I don't think that will happen because Orton / Foley doesn;t need more heat. It just needs to be kept at a simmer until WM. Besides, he still needs the belt if they go ahead with the oft-rumored "Evolution break-up" idea.

Kevin Kelly = Bitter

Good job Duran, it is nice to see this back up and running. Here is your cookie...

That is a good idea for a BK Column Edwin. If anyone wants to PM me about what their retired character might be doing, I think I'll pull together a column about it. Maybe throw in some more stuff "Behind the Scenes" and a "Road Story" and have another BK up in less than a month!

Monday, February 9, 2004 First off, I apologize for the lack of a "Breaking Kayfabe" column in the last several weeks. Not only has there been tons of stuff going on (which I will get to in a moment), but between the holidays, a touch of the flu, a sick son and a wife in Arizona for a legal conference I promise you I have been a busy, busy man. Luckily, my sister Kathy doesn't live too far from the house, or I would have had to take time off the road to watch Chris. So, on to more pressing matters. As I am sure you have read online (I know smartmarks.com broke the story a week or two before CF) my best friend Brian Applewhite, best known to the majority of you as the ever-heelish Suicide King, has retired from his position as the Commissioner of Smartmarks Wrestling Entertainment. He felt that his time behind the scenes and on the road was cutting into his personal life to a far greater degree than he wanted, at least for the time being. He is still with the company (his new title is "Creative Consultant") and will travel to shows when he has the chance, but realistically, the SWF faces its first time without King in a front office position since late 2001. As his friend, I am both sorry to see him go, as he was a huge asset to the company, but glad that he will be happier. Good luck, old friend. This would have been enought to qualify as a major shake-up in the SWF by itself, but coupled with the other major event of January 2004, I think we can safely say it has been a month to remember. As all of you by now know, SWE has closed the Smartmarks Junior League and promoted all of the Leagers to the WF. Several people in the office proposed the idea, and while I can safely say that I was against it initially, I am thrilled with the Leagers attitudes and energy. I was also thrilled to be asked to be a part of the last SJL show at their home base at the Gund Arena in Cleveland. It was a very emotional night and they put on a great show, one that I am sure will be remembered for a long, long time. So, as I am sure you all saw, we welcomed the JLers into the WF at CF 2004. All of them did a spectacular job at what turned out to be an amazing Pay-Per-View. It is nice to see the Cruiserweight Title back on the board. And again, I wasn't sure about uniting the US and SJL titles, but the fan response was phenominal. So phenominal that we have decided to keep the United States / Junior League Title name. The USJL title will gain quite a bit of cachet from the history associated with both titles. A final note on CF: the world title match was a great capper to the show, and I think Va'aiga will be a good champion. I also want to wish Danny Williams good luck in all of his future endeavors as he moves on to other things. Keep in touch Danny. So, between the two massive changes there has been a pretty major shake-up in the "Front Office" here in the SWF. By vote of the Board of Directors, Alex Zenon takes over as Commissioner while I remain Director of Talent Relations. Longdogger Pete, Commissioner of the SJL, has taken the opportunity to take some time away from the business. Thoth has been promoted from SJL Talent Relations to SWF Chief Trainer. Thugg will be taking some time away from his in-ring activities in the near future to become Chief Road Agent for Storm and Smarkdown. Chris Raynor, on-air Commissioner of the SJL, will remain as Chief Road Agent for Lockdown. Finally, I would love to see some feedback on "Breaking Kayfabe". And if there are any questions you would like to have answered, just ask! Until next time, keep swingin' for the fences... - "Grand Slam" Mark Stevens

Hey man, you're management now, not talent. And management contracts are way outside my wheelhouse. Besides, how's about you fork over some of that endorsement cash you've been raking in? I did one PepsiMax spot and that will pay for a sememster of Chris' college someday.

Thugg, I'll happily drive the Caddy if you pay for the upgrade from "mid-size" to "luxury". I have a wife and kid to support.

W&D took us up on the offer, but only if you scoot your seat up a little. Obviously Thugg is riding shotgun...

GS & HVT have a spot or two in the car if anyone wants a ride to the airport from Storm.

Just remember that, between shows, there aren't really faces or heels. For goodness sake, I'm riding with King and Thugg (face, heel and tweener). That is all "Out Of Character" stuff, and I would assume we would all be pretty good friends.

Sadly, since Edwin is gone off and gotten himself hurt, X has flaked and King is gone... it's just you and me bro. And we drive a rental usually, at least that's what I had us in in all of my "Breaking Kayfabe" stories. And yes, I assume that in our little fantasy world, King stepped down as the actual Commissioner of the SWF and the Board of Directors selected Alex Zenon to take his place, keeping me in my place as Director of Talent Realtions and hiring Thoth and Thugg as Chief Road Agents. The four of us, along with some writers, comprise the Booking Committee. There will be another "Breaking Kayfabe" soon to clear all of this up...

he he he ... Annie hugged me... at the rest of you. BTW, I am not taking King's departure lightly, nor trying to hijack the thread. To be honest, King knows my feelings on the matter and I'll keep it that way. Suffice to say, I am sorry to see him go.

And updated to reflect the change in CC...

::sigh:: I'll be over here in the corner if anyone needs me... You know, to post Lockdown or something...

Darn right DMann. The crowds in Dayton are always hot. The last smackdown in the Gem City was sold-out, and this is back when they were having trouble selling out arenas. The show was mediocre at best, but the crowd was enthusiastic the whole time.

To throw my two cents worth in... I was also at this show and while I have to admit it was a scary moment, it looked like it was mostly a miscommunication. To me anyways, it looked like Batista thought Chris was going one way and Chris went the other. It was a really good match, and Bastista looked damn good in it. And to give credit where it is do, Batista did everything he could to make the spot work, then jumped into the imrovised ending with gusto. Honestly, as complicated as this stuff is, I am suprised it doesn't happen more often. What is more news-worthy are the following three facts: 1- Matt Hardy got huge face pops last night and is way over in Dayton. 2- Y2J was over as a face with everybody in the building except the drunk guy to my right and the guy in front of us who was yelling "F*ck Jericho" the whole match. 3- RVD asked Coach "What have you been smoking?" then told him "I'm checking my back when I get to the back and nothing better be missing." He then proceeded to drop the F-Bomb to a huge pop. And to be honest, none of those are really newsworthy.

How long did they let it go?

I see. Well, I have to disagree with you. However, I wonder what you were expecing from a match with a ten second count on it? By definition, there will be vast stretches of match that are one or both guys lying around for 8 or 9 seconds at a time. And I don't think he was "whining". I think he was expressing a simple thought that, given more time, they could have changed the story and psychology of the match, spreading the "two guys down" sections out a little and not starting them so early in the match. Besides, when have you ever heard a wrestler who is proud of their work say "Man, I'm glad I only had a little time to tell that story" when they had a short match or a time limit? I guess my thing is this: if this had been a Benoit / Angle match, and Angle afterwards said "It wasn't as good as it could have been. I think we could have done better with more time" everyone would be complaining that WWE booked a match they clearly didn't have enough time for on the PPV. Nobody would have said that Angle / Benoit was "whining". Its a double standard, it is short sighted and unfair to the wrestlers.

You're right CC... and for that I apologize... I just get so frustrated with Smarks deciding certain wrestlers will always suck, or will always have bad matches, or will always be locker-room cancers (mind you, sweeping generalizations themselves) that I get a little angry. I just can't see it...

Ok... let me get this straight... you guys crap on HHH all the time for not having good matches. So he has what is, in his opinion, a sub-par match, has the balls to stand up and admit that it was sub-par and that he wished he would have had more time to tell the story right, and still you crap on him. I am confused... Oh wait... no I'm not. I forgot that everything HHH does is evil, HHH is the great satan and he could never, ever put anyone over.

It took me a good four - five hours of work to get my outline and notes the way I wanted them. Once that was done, I wrote about an hour on Friday, two hours on Saturday, and six (seven maybe) hours on Sunday to get it done. And I am looking for my notes. Hopefully I will turn them up tonight and either scan them or transcribe them tomorrow.

Anyone interested, just out of curiosity, to see the notes I wrote up for the CF match I wrote?

at being #1 on the pops list...

As SWF Commissioner, I hereby claim the opening promo.