Kurt Angle Mark

by Dave Scherer @ 2:20:11 PM on 2/26/2004 As I talked about on my hotline earlier this week, there is a battle being waged backstage in WWE over who will get the rights to Edge when he comes back from his neck surgery. He’s about a month away from his return and is currently getting back into ring shape down at OVW. As I talked about on my hotline, in much more detail, the two brands are making their pitch for his services and it should be decided soon where he will end up going. To me, the big question in all of this is if he were to go to Raw, how long can that brand keep taking people away from Smackdown without giving anyone back? If they get Edge, someone from the Raw roster will have to move to Smackdown or the balance of talent between the brands will get too out of whack. Thus far in 2004, Smackdown has been played as the company’s number two brand in the eyes of the fans. It was a shot to the group when they booked Chris Benoit to win the Royal Rumble and then decide that he didn’t even want a shot at his own brand’s title. What kind of message does that send? That Smackdown isn’t where it’s at, that’s what. They haven’t made it clear if Benoit will go back to Smackdown in the future, but with him in the title picture at Raw through April, with his match against Triple H at Backlash, it certainly doesn’t appear that he is headed back to UPN any time soon. So in essence, Smackdown lost a top talent and got nothing back in return. In addition to that, they had Brock Lesnar lose his title to Eddie Guerrero and yet it was more important for him to fight a Raw wrestler in Goldberg than it was for him to get a rematch at the brand’s title. Then there was the Undertaker, who ran roughshod over the Smackdown brand but was “buried alive” by a Raw wrestler in Kane. The message WWE is sending is clear, that Raw matters more than Smackdown. And now, Raw wants to stick their hands in the cookie jar again. It’s time that, if the company won’t slam the lid they need to at least balance out the raids a bit. The fact of the matter is, WWE management has always looked at Raw as their top show. Smackdown has always been seen as the 1A. Vince McMahon has an affinity for Raw since it helped turn his company around, a few times. He feels that is where the company needs to set the direction and the pace for their product. While things are different now then they were on the 1990s, when the show’s impact was a focal point in the Monday Night Wars, Raw still has the “favorite child” status up in Stamford. That’s all well and good, but when WWE continually takes from one brand and doesn’t give anything back to the other, they are creating an inequity in their brands that they just can’t continue doing. As Edge prepares for his return, there is a lot of talk internally that he will in line for a classic “white meat babyface” push. That means one of two things: He will either face Brock Lesnar or will be fed to HHH. Sure, they could “do the right thing” and give him a real push if he goes to Raw, but at this point, until I see someone get such a push against the H, I won’t believe it’s possible, at least not as things are done there now. But if HHH’s lobby wins and he goes to Raw, that would be a filching that would have to be answered by Smackdown. They would have to get someone back in turn both from a business and a story line standpoint. Otherwise, they will widen the chasm between Raw and Smackdown that many in the viewing public perceive. So, if Raw takes Edge, I say that Smackdown needs to get someone in return. Raw has to give back someone who could have a similar impact on Smackdown, and that, if packaged correctly, is none other than Rob Van Dam. I am sure that some people will say, “RVD had been buried” or that “RVD can’t do the interviews needed to be a top guy”. On the former, who could argue? But certainly he isn’t the first guy in WWE to get buried, only to get another chance later. And in this case, by switching brands he would be able to, in essence, start with a clean slate. Concerning his inability to do a WWE style interview, that may very well be true but if he was pushed in the proper manner, where emphasis on his interviews came out of his work, demeanor and personality, it could work. It’s been obvious since his first day in WWE that the people want to cheer for him. That desire has been largely ignored by the Raw booking team, so why not give him a shot on Smackdown? As evidenced by Eddie Guerrero’s recent push, the Smackdown brand has been very good at turning around the fortunes of misused talent. RVD has been beaten down so much on Raw for so long that a number of people close to him have told me that the company and the politics of the brand have taken away his joy of the business. Getting away from Raw, and by extension Triple H, could be exactly what it would take to get him back on track. And he would be in the perfect place to do it, with his old ally Paul Heyman. For those who forget, Heyman built ECW around RVD back in the late 90s. Always a master at accentuating strengths and hiding weaknesses, Heyman booked RVD perfectly. While he is not in charge of creative for Smackdown, he is certainly influential and his ideas get listened to. I don’t know if RVD will ever be the prototypical WWE top talent, but they could surely get more out of him than they have thus far. With his contract expiring in June, now is the perfect time to try it. Putting RVD on Smackdown in exchange for Edge could end up being one of those ideal trades when both sides benefit. If Edge goes to Raw, Smackdown has to get someone from their roster in exchange and I can’t think of a better fit that Rob Van Dam. --------------- I whole-heartedly agree that Smackdown better get someone(heel they should get both RVD and Booker T in return) because this is getting ridiculous

Raw on Monday night drew a 3.6 rating down from the 3.8 rating it drew the previous two weeks, which has to be considered disappointing. credit: Dave Meltzer

Everyone brings it that up, but that never happened. The Rey vs. Ultimo match was not for a shot at the title. All the announcers said was that the winner COULD be in line for a title match.

Dave Scherer of PWinsider.com says that Vince will announce the three cross-brand matches for WM. Lesnar vs Goldberg Kane vs. Undertaker Stacy/Jackie vs. Torrie/Sable tonight on Raw.

I'll be very, very upset if this means no real women's match at WM XX. If there is no Women's Title match, be forwarned: there will be one very angry poster here. According to Meltzer Molly vs. Victoria will take place at Wrestlemania

To me it was pretty obvious that Angle was trying to unite the Guerrerros for selfish reasons. The whole thing was done to keep Eddie out of the Rumble. Angle tried to help so that Eddie would concentrate on the Tag Titles instead of the WWE title. That failed so he had Heyman book a match between Eddie and Chavo to keep Eddie out of the Rumble. And the reason Angle can use to explain this is that Eddie was a threat because he "Lies, Cheats and Steals" which means that Eddie would do whatever it takes to win. Therefore Angle felt he had to take him out of the picture.

Hmm... That's odd, when you factor in traveling costs, a far larger "cast," the costs to ship the large sets, probably needing far more cameras and a larger production crew, more shows needing to be produced in fewer time, etc. I'd think it would be more. Or do they mean cost for the network, which would be very little? Yeah I think Meltzer is talking about much it cost UPN to televise the show. By the way Smackdown was 121st in ad rates, right? I was a little confused since the paragraph didn't say what the rankings were based on.

Good stuff Thanks for the info Hektik. I was hoping someone was going to post this up somewhere.

Sorry it looks like no Bruce Wayne on Smallville I read this a few weeks ago. It's part of an interview with executive producer Al Gough concerning whether characters like Wonder Woman and Batman may show up in Smallville "Perry may pop up again by the end of the season to be quite honest, but we're just breaking down the episodes now and Michael McKean just signed on to do Hairspray in New York, so we'll have to see," began Gough. "We had planned on having Bruce Wayne make an appearance, but can't because of the upcoming Chris Nolan movie. There's more of a possibility of Diana showing up in Smallville than Bruce Wayne. I'd like to see an episode or two with her if we could find the right story and actress."

Pretty good show tonight. However I was really disappointed that they turned Alicia into a psycho, I really liked her(before she went nuts) and wished she would have stuck around for a few more episodes.

I thought it was a pretty good show. The undercard was solid, nothing was as bad as it could have been. TWGTT and Noble winning was good to see. I really liked the Chavo/Rey match. Only complaint was that I wanted the Gordy Bomb to be the finish to the match. The triple threat match was like most triple threat matches, not great but fun and enjoyable. Main Event was great. I was eating while watching the match so it didn't have my full attention, however I enjoyed what I saw. Finish was great, thankfully the match wasn't over after the Goldberg spear, hated that crap when they did that to Angle when he would just roll over and pin a guy after someone else interfered. The post match celebration was great and if i had recorded it(My VCR is messed up) I would have seen the finish about 25 times by now.

Here is the breakdown of the Smackdown roster as it is right now. Meaning that these are the wrestlers you see on Tv on either of the two shows Upper Card: Brock Eddie Angle Cena Big Show Mid Card: Rhyno Hardcore Billy Gunn A-Train Orlando Jordan Matt Morgan Cruserweights: Rey Mysterio Chavo Tajiri Jamie Noble Nunzio Billy Kidman Paul London Ultimo Shannon Moore Funaki Tag Teams: TWGTT APA The Bashams Rikishi and Scotty FBI Akio and Sakoda As you can see the big problem is the mid-card because most of those guys are horrible and they still get pushed. For Smackdown to be a success they have to push the cruserweights hard since they are the most talented guys on the roster and basically all Smackdown has to offer after the big five, and of course that has never happened ever.

I 'm hoping that would be the teams line up as well. Plus add Jameer Nelson as the teams rookie draft pick and Chris Wilcox as the 6th man Q will leave because he is a restricted free agent.

Hey give the man some credit. He was the champ during the best month in WWE history in terms of live attendance. In January 2001 the WWE sold out every house show and the main event in those shows was either Kurt vs Austin or Kurt vs. The Rock.

Just so you know the name of the song is "El Sinaloense" You can get it on Kazaa, the Juan Gabriel version is the best one available.

The comics have the same storyline, Dr. Teng worked for Luthor.

Because in the comics the name of the doctor that created Bizarro is Dr. Teng, which is the name of the doctor on Smallville, although in the comics the character was male. Second she was the woman that was in Lionel limo testing Clark's blood to see if it was the same type when Morgan Edge brought Lionel the blood sample back.

Yeah Adam isn't Bruce, he is Smallville's version of Bizarro.

We might. since they wrestled Tajiri's group in the last few house shows.

Well they added Rikishi and Scotty vs Bashams and Shaniqua and since a WWE PPV has no less than 7 matches most of the time, I would say that TWGTT vs. APA Rhyno vs. Hardcore Holly are possibilities from reading the spoilers

The only thing WWE has done wrong with Kurt Angle is that they never gave him that "BIG" win that woud have put him over the top. He has never beaten Austin, The Rock, Undertaker or HHH clean in the middle of the ring. Kurt Angle is the ultimate middle man. He is booked to be better than everyone else in the company but when it comes to going up against the elite of the WWE he always comes up short or he has had to cheat to win. which is why I think he hasn't become the superstar that I thought he would because to the casual fans Kurt is really really good but not good enough. Brock on the other hand has a chance to become a superstar because by the end of WM he would have beaten Goldberg clean in the middle of the ring, to go along with his wins against The Rock and Undertaker. Wins that make fans go "Brock is the fuckin man"

According to Meltzer, that has been changed. Rey will now have Jorge Paez in his corner for his match against Chavo. And to quote Meltzer "As if anybody cares"

Damn It !! I bought mine for $28 at the Wherehouse on Tuesday

By Dave Meltzer It was also reported at WWE.com that Mark Henry will undergo shoulder surgery tomorrow under Dr. James Andrews and be out for several months. The web site gave the storyline reason for the surgery, which is the match with Benoit on Monday's Raw. In actuality, that match and the crossface finish were designed as a storyline reason for a pre-existing injury.

Here is another set of Spoilers by Joel Lowitt Results from Velocity/Smackdown Tapings at Gund Arena Tuesday February 3rd Dark Matches Shannon Moore d. Mike Bucci A-Train and Rhyno d. Darryl Murray and Bobby Rude Velocity Pyro Nunzio d. Paul London WGTT d. Ultimo Dragon and Funaki (good match) Bradshaw d. Johnny Stamboli Smackdown Pyro Heyman in the ring, announces that later tonight he will tell us who is going to be the #1 contender for the World Title at WMXX. And the first match starts now... Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty d. Bashams for tag title (good pop for title change) Backstage, Heyman informs John Cena (wearing Cavaliers jersey) that due to the FCC cracking down on indencency with people like Howard Stern and Janet Jackson he cannot afford to have Cena making trouble and Cena is benched for the night. Cat d. Tajiri, afterward Akio and Sakoda beatdown the Cat and Lamont until Orlando Jordan makes the save. The Cat and OJ dance to celebrate. (horrible) Big Show d. Billy Gunn to retain US Title (Gunn got no reaction) Backstage, Heyman books Chavo Jr. vs Rey Mysterio at No Way Out. Chavo says not only will he defeat Rey and take his Cruiserweight title, but he will unmask Rey. Heyman then announces that tonight, Rey will face, in a non title match, Chavo Sr. Billy Kidman d. Jamie Noble after Nidia comes out with Noble's wallet and distracts him by throwing his money into the crowd. Eddie came out in his lowrider. Big Eddie chants. Michael Cole started to interview him in the ring and Brock came out. Said he had defeated Hogan, Undertaker, Flair, Big Show Angle and others and said Eddie didnt scare him. Goldberg chants began at that point. Brock said go ahead and chant Goldberg he isnt afraid of him either. Eddie then talked about his demons and at one point dropped the mic and was holding his head like he was in mental anguish. Then told Brock that he was just another obstacle, Brock said Eddie was nothing and Eddie attacked him, Brock rolled out of the ring, leaving the title belt in the ring. Eddie put the belt around his waist and more Eddie chants before backing out the low rider. After the break, Noble tracks down Heyman and tells Paul he wants Nidia and Heyman makes Nidia vs. Noble for No Way Out. (uggh) Rey Mysterio World Premier Video Rey d. Chavo Sr., followed by a Chavo Jr. beatdown and tease of taking Rey's mask off RUe De BONA in video package reveals Torie and Sable have been selected for the Playboy cover which goes on sale February 13th. We are then "treated" to a behind the photo shoot video with Torie and Sable Kurt Angle d. Hardcore Holly in our main event. Good match thanks to Angle. After, with Angle still in the ring Heyman enters and teases making Angle the #1 Contender at WMXX, then Big Show appears and makes his case for being the #1 Contender. Heyman is going to make a Big Show v. Angle Match at No Way Out for the number one spot when Cena appears to a huge pop and proceeds with a great rap. Heyman says he has changed his mind and now its going to be Big Show v Kurt Angle v John Cena at No Way Out and the winner will be the number one contender and be in the match for the World Title at WMXX. After the cameras were off, and Cena had already left, Angle told Heyman to leave the ring and proceeded to Angle Slam Big Show.