•Hurricane Helms ended up bloodied after a backstage confrontation with Rodney Mack last weekend at house shows. Helms and Mack had been disagreeing during the planning of their house show tag matches over the Sept. 12-14 weekend. Sources say Helms felt he was the more tenured of the two wrestlers and should have more say-so over the content of the matches. Meanwhile, Mack felt Helms was being especially difficult because he wasn't happy that he and his partner Rosey were booked to lose the matches. Helms ended up complaining to road agent Arn Anderson on Saturday, Sept. 13 in Knoxville about their match against Mack & Mark Henry the night before in Nashville. Sources say Helms was upset that Mack was talking down to him, he felt it was unfair Mack wanted to kick out of his finisher, and he felt that Mack was intentionally not bumping for him. Mack attempted to talk to Helms, but according to those who have heard Mack's side, Helms blew off his attempt to talk about it. In fact, when Mack offered a handshake, sources say Helms slapped his hand away. Anderson and Michael Hayes had to step between them to prevent a physical altercation. Mack felt Helms had disrespected him. Then, later that night in Knoxville, Mack felt that Helms got stiff with him during the match that resulted in Mack suffering a black eye. Later that night, Mack either challenged Helms to a fight or Mack sucker punched Helms backstage, depending on various versions of the story. In any case, a physical altercation did take place. Helms told people he got in a few shots, Mack says it was one punch and over. In any case, Helms was knocked backwards into a shelf on the wall and suffered a gash on the back of his head that required a hospital visit and six staples. In fact Helms immediately called for the trainer after the fight to tend to his cut, which was pouring blood. Rodney told the trainer as he passed him to tell the agents he did it. Wrestlers say they've heard two sides of the argument and aren't sure what the total truth is. Some have theories, though. "Helms has a reputation for being arrogant and cocky," says one wrestler. "He went off the deep end this weekend. He was being a complete and utter ass, bitching and complaining." The Sunday house show in Asheville was changed to Mack & Henry vs. Jindrak & Cade and Hurricane & Rosie vs. Dreamer & Richards.
•Injury Updates: Lance Storm didn't attend the PPV or Raw this week because he was recovering from an injury he suffered in his match against Mark Henry last week on Raw. Henry rammed Storm into the corner turnbuckle and afterward Storm's right leg went numb on him because his pelvis or hip was jammed or popped. He left the arena on crutches that night and was still aching days later, thus he was given the weekend off… Rob Van Dam bumped into ref Jack Doan last week, dislocating Doan's shoulder, requiring Doan to go to the emergency room to get it popped back in… Shelton Benjamin did suffer a knee injury at the end of his tag match on last week's Smackdown. He had the knee scoped the next day and isn't expected to miss much time, but he was given the weekend off. Charlie Haas worked singles matches at MSG and in Binghamton. Haas was visibly stunned at the end of his Smackdown match last week, but didn't suffer any diagnosed injuries… Lita suffered a chipped and loosened tooth in her match at the PPV. She got yanked by the legs and fell face-first onto the ring apron. She bled pretty heavily during the match and was clearly in great pain. She will need to have dental work done… Matt Hardy was slowed all weekend by strep throat which caused him to lose his voice. He worked tag matches with Shannon Moore at house shows and Moore did most of the work due to Hardy's illness…
•WWE Notebook: Hunter wore a bandage on his forehead during Raw, selling the cut he gave himself in his match against Goldberg the night before. Rob Conway and La Resistance were also bandaged up on Raw. This is part of WWE's new official policy of selling cuts by wearing bandages. Wrestlers have also been told by agents to sell injuries at house shows if they happen on TV beforehand as to the previous lack of attention to that sort of detail. WWE wants there to be a greater consistent logic to what's happening from week to week and show to show…
Even though attendance was low for the MSG show last weekend (under 12,000, and many saying the smallest crowd in years), wrestlers weren't down about it because the crowd was really into the key angles and personalities, which helped boost the morale… Rikishi has been telling friends that he is so frustrated with his WWE contract negotiations that he is starting to consider other options, particularly NWA-TNA… A clip of the Smackdown Your Vote and Hip Hop Summit Action Network press conference was shown on Raw. It aired in its entirety on C-SPAN. Bradshaw, Maven, and Vince McMahon represented WWE. Wrestlers and rappers will be making appearances at college and high schools encouraging youth to vote…
Kevin Kelly told "Get in the Ring" radio last weekend that when he worked in WWF, he was surrounded by people in the office who weren't wrestling fans and didn't watch the product. He said WWE continued to seek out people who were B-level Hollywood types for the creative duties rather than wrestling fans. It's not just new hires that don't watch wrestling, either. A story going around the locker room among mid-carders last week was that Stephanie McMahon vetoed the ongoing Stevie Night Heat storyline that had been a Heat exclusive. She had no idea that the storyline was going on until last week and felt it didn't fit with what she wanted in terms of WWE storylines. It wasn't a morale boost to wrestlers who are predominantly working hard on Heat to gain notice of management and eventually get a promotion to being a Raw regular that one of the most influential members of management hasn't been watching the show…
Many wrestlers are taking joy in seeing Hunter squirm in trying to keep up with Rock's fame. There was snickering all week because it appears WWE has basically hired an accomplished writer to create a movie script for him specifically, so Hunter didn't have to earn the part by auditioning or winning over anyone in power in Hollywood that he actually can be a draw. The financial risk is all on WWE's shoulders. It's true. The John Millius script for "Jornada del Muerte" was written specifically for WWE, which is fronting the money for it to be a theatrical release. There has been a lot of speculation among the wrestlers that the script was originally conceived and written with Steve Austin in mind. The character Triple H will play is said to be a Southwestern biker outlaw, which certainly sounds more like Austin than Triple H. "It kills Hunter that he wasn't able to keep Rock from becoming a star like he has tried to do with so many wrestlers," says one veteran colleague. "He's always been jealous of Rock, even dating back to the days of The Nation and DX. Rock has never been anything but professional and never had a problem putting anyone else over when asked"…
Review for Rock's "The Rundown" continue to be very positive. ENewsZone's Ben Johnson said: "There's no denying his [Rock's] ability, and with a talented cast that compliments his style on so many levels, as well as outstanding directing and a well-written screenplay, The Rundown seems to have all the goods necessary to run away from theatres as the most talked about film of the fall, possibly the year"… When Hunter's mic went out last week on Raw where TV viewers could hear him but fans in the arena couldn't, he was immediately given a signal by a cameraman to keep talking, but Hunter waited until the house audio was fixed before continuing. Some criticized him for that, but others defended the decision because if he kept talking the crowd would have booed because they couldn't hear him…
There is no truth to the rumor that Paul Heyman reached out to NWA-TNA recently. Sources believe Heyman has more than two years left on his WWE contract, so he's not going anywhere. Although there is always a chance that WWE could release Heyman, the popular opinion is that a big reason Vince McMahon hasn't released Heyman is because he doesn't want him to work for a competitor… WWE showed last minute interest in Konnan through Rey Mysterio. Despite making several attempts to get in WWE over the years, Konnan passed on the chance to return because he feels he will be booked more effectively in TNA…
The Oct. 6 line-up for the Smackdown house show in Trenton, N.J. is Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Chris Benoit vs. Big Show in a four-way, APA vs. Bashams, Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Rhyno, Rey Mysterio vs. Tajiri, Orlando Jordan vs. A-Train, Billy Kidman vs. Charlie Haas (w/Shelton Benjamin), Matt Hardy (w/Moore) vs. Sean O'Haire, Torrie vs. Sable vs. Dawn vs. Nidia in a bikini contest, and Paul London & Spanky & Funaki vs. The FBI…
WWE is planning to blow off the Eddie Guerrero vs. John Cena feud so that Cena can move on to a feud with Kurt Angle. Other Smackdown booking plans include Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker, and Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero. The general consensus of the wrestlers is that the Guerrero vs. Guerrero feud won't be as beneficial to Eddie as the Cena feud would have. There is even some frustration with the wrestlers over Chavo receiving the push, as they don't believe he would even be under contract if he wasn't related to Eddie… In an interesting note about Chavo, friends say he speaks very little Spanish, unlike Eddie… WWE did not directly contact TNA's Trinity, as some sources have implied. Some members of the writing team were interested in hiring her, but did not approach her once they found out that she was already under contract…
Goldberg's first feud as champion will not be with Kane, which most were expecting. Instead, Kane will continue to feud with Shane McMahon, and there is no definitive word as to whom Goldberg will feud with… Is Goldberg's rep in the locker room improving? Says one wrestler: "Goldberg's a nice guy sometimes, but he actually believes his own pub. You just want to tell him, 'Hey, Bill, people are taking bumps for you. It's work. You're not really beating people up'"…
Kevin Nash's contract expires early next year. Because he was signed at around a $700,000 a year downside, there is no way he will be renewed at the same rate. He may not be renewed at all. Don't be surprised if he pushes for a feud with Goldberg since he was the person who ended Goldberg's winning streak in WCW… One veteran wrestler regarding Vince McMahon's somewhat unpredictable moods and behavior: "He doesn't answer to anyone other than God. You lose perspective when you don't have to answer to anyone. The normal self-regulation isn't there because there's no consequences to your actions"…
Regarding Shane's push and his rep backstage with wrestlers, says one veteran wrestler: "Shane's a nice guy, but he's lost touch. Just look at how he wrestles Kane, who's supposed to be a killer heel"… For what it's worth the working plan has been for a couple weeks for Ross & Lawler to lose at Unforgiven, but then for Austin to order a rematch of some kind resulting in Ross & Lawler returning to the air… The Sept. 15 Raw, the first up against Monday Night Football, drew a 3.7 rating, down from the 4.0-plus ratings it had been drawing before football returned as competition
