Kurt Angle Mark

So I wasn't the only one to notice this

Well Lebron trails T-Mac by more that 250,000 votes for the second guard spot. So I doubt that Lebron will make that up in the next few weeks

I think the starters for the East will remain as is G- Iverson G- McGrady F- Carter F- O'Neal C- Wallace The West however is a different story, Yao will pass Shaq when the China votes are counted G- Bryant G- Francis F- Duncan F- Garnett C- Ming Now for my reserves East: Lebron James Baron Davis Paul Pierce Michael Redd Shareef Abdur-Rahim Jason Kidd Ron Artest I just could find another PF or C worthy of being an All Star West: Peja Stojakovic Zach Randolph Andrei Kirilenko Sam Cassell Shaquille O'Neal Antoine Walker Corey Maggette

It looks like they may be hinting at an Angle heel turn and a possible feud with Eddie if these two descriptions of the backstage segment are correct. -Backstage package was shown with Angle trying to calm Eddie. Kurt accuses Eddie of being at fault for being selfish when trying to enter the Rumble. Angle told Eddie he entered the Royal Rumble for the troops but Eddie had to back Chavo because it was family. Seemed like a hint that Angle may turn heel again. -Backstage Promo with Angle telling Eddie that he agrees with Chavo. Tells him Chavo is his blood and he has to stick with him. Eddie just yells that Angle isn’t his family and that he’s done so much for Chavo. Angle just keeps repeating that he agrees with Chavo.

Raw did a 3.7 rating last night, which has to be considered a huge disappointment with no NFL competition. credit: Dave Meltzer

I want to see either Angle/HBK or Angle/Rock at Wrestlemania Plus I'm dying to see Angle take on Eddie, one on one, in a PPV match since that has never happened.

I just saw the match here in L.A. and for Scott Keith to give this match the same rating he gave Benoit/Angle from RR is sheer lunacy. The emotion of the match and the crowd heat deserve ****+, but not the match itself. I saw Angle/Benoit a few weeks ago for the first time since January and I thought it was the best WWE match I have ever seen. It was better than I originally remember it being, which usually never happens when you see a match again. So to say that HHH/HBK was just as good is crazy talk.

That might be true. However that won't stop the Clippers from snapping the Spurs winning streak on Tuesday.

From the preview on WWE.com it doesn't sound as though the Show/Cena match is for the title. Besides they never said it was on Smackdown either. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM IRAQ Dec. 25, 2003 World Wrestling Entertainment in proud to present a special edition of SmackDown! from Iraq on Christmas night. Join the Superstars of SmackDown! as they have the honor of competing in front of America’s troops in what should be an evening filled with action, excitement and emotion. In a blockbuster match, John Cena and the Big Show finally get the chance to meet in the ring after weeks of jawing back and forth, including a memorable battle rap two weeks ago. It may take an army to keep these two from destroying each other – luckily there will be one present! Also, last week on SmackDown!, Hardcore Holly not only was reinstated by the WWE Board of Directors, but thanks to perhaps the fight of his life, he earned a future shot at the WWE Championship and Brock Lesnar. He has vowed to take Lesnar’s Championship and break his neck, when will he have the opportunity? SmackDown! could provide the answer. " All of this and more on a special SmackDown! from Iraq, Thursday at 8/7 CT on UPN!

by Andrew Marchand DARK MATCHES 1) Brent Dail & MIDEON vs. ??????(Announced as being from Jacksonville) - Boy, Dennis Knight has lost a lot of weight. Local babyfaces win 2) Cory Ballou vs. Johnny Jeter (Local) - Jeter wins 3) The Machines(twins) vs. Jim Steele & Mike Barton - Steele & Barton win again Here come Josh and Bill DeMott so on to Velocity VELOCITY 1) Tajiri vs. Paul London in a non-title match. Tajiri wins with the roundhouse kick. 2) Matt Morgan vs. Funaki - Huge squash win for Morgan 3) Johnny Stamboli vs. Spanky - Stamboli takes the win 4) Akio & Sakoda vs. Kidman and Ultimo Dragon - Kidman and Dragon win Next up is Tazz & Michael Cole. Here is Smackdown. Rue sings the National Anthem SMACKDOWN We start with a video re-cap of last week's Lesnar/Mysterio match with Bob Holly's run-in. Out first is John Cena. He raps about Santa and how he's going to make Mrs. Claus his ho-ho-ho. He then sits in on commentary for the first match. 1) Orlando Jordan vs. The Big Show - Squash match for Show. Afterwards he jaws with Cena at ringside. Bob Holly walks into the building where a security guard stops him. He says Holly isn’t supposed to be there but Bob says he was called by Paul Heyman. Another security guard comes up and confirms the story. He says they are to provide extra security and escort him to a private dressing room. (Commercial Break) A-Train comes to the ring followed by Heyman, Matt Morgan and Brock Lesnar. Brock is furious over A-trains loss to Shannon Moore last week saying it cost them a lot of money. A-Train apologizes profusely. Heyman makes the announcement that Bob Holly will have a match tonight that will be all or nothing. If Holly wins he's back on Smackdown. Otherwise he will be fired and his career is over. It will be a tag match pitting him against Morgan and A-Train. And oh by the way Holly's partner will be...Shannon Moore. (Commercial Break) We get highlights of House Shows in Chicago and Indy 2) Fatal Four-Way Tag Match for the Tag-Team Titles. Worlds Greatest Tag Team vs. Los Guerreros vs. Rikishi and Scotty vs. The Basham Brothers. Everybody gets their spots in, they tease the stinkface a few times then Guerreros and WGTT step aside so The Bashams get the stink-face. Finish came when Chavo superplexes one Basham. As soon as he lands the other Basham flies off the top-rope hitting Chavo and getting the pin. Winners - The Basham Brothers Backstage Paul E. talks to Dawn Marie(looking quite hot in a VERY low-cut red dress) about his great new idea to attract big ratings. Brock will defend his title tonight against a random superstar. He has a big drum and Brock will reach in and pick out his opponent. HOUR TWO Lugz Highlight-Recaps the Cat/Sable confrontation. Out comes the Cat who does his dance until interrupted by Sable. She demands to know who does he think he his to kiss Sable. Cat tries to kiss her again. They're interrupted by Mr. McMahon's music. Mr. McMahon asks who the hell are you. Cat says he’s a great entertainer. Mr. McMahon says "I'm the best promoter, the best businessman and the best lover." He says he'll show the Cat how to entertain. The music plays and Vinnie Mac dances! He gets down and dances like a fool along with Sable.. He tells the cat to top that. Cat does his groovy dance and Mr. McMahon kicks him in the balls from behind. He yells that no one kisses Sable but him. Smack Of The Night-Recaps Jamie Noble throwing Nidia in the ring last week. 3) Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble - Same deal as last week. Noble throws Nidia into the referee and Mysterio but it backfires this time as Rey is able to roll him up for the 1-2-3. Winner-Rey Mysterio We see Bob Holly in his dressing room surrounded by Security. He's interviewed by Josh and promises to win tonight and later break Brocks neck and take his title. 4) Chris Benoit vs. Chuck Palumbo - FBI is sent to the back by the referee. Benoit wins clean with crossface. Afterwards he is beaten down by the FBI. What did Benoit do to deserve this feud?? Yuck Commercial Break) In the trainers room we see Nidia being attended to. Rey comes in and tries to explain what happened in Spanish. Nidia just screams for him to get away. They announce that next week from Iraq we will see John Cena vs. The Big Show Rhyno comes to the ring and calls out Bradshaw. Instead Farooq comes out which leads to: 5) Rhyno vs. Farooq - Short match which ends when Rhyno low-blows Farooq right in front of the ref who disqualifies him Winner - Farooq by DQ (Commercial Break) Paul again talks to Dawn Marie about the great possibilities we could see tonight. Since it's totally random it could be any lucky superstar facing Brock. I bet you have no idea where this is going... Paul comes down to the ring and talks about Brock's upcoming match. Who will it be? Brock comes down and spins the drum, reaches in and pulls out a ball with a name on it. He looks pissed. He grabs the mic and says this is unfair. How could he possibly prepare for this opponent? He doesn’t want to but he guesses he'll have to wrestle...Shannon Moore. 5) Brock vs. Shannon Moore - Brock destroys Shannon and wins by submission with the Brock Lock. afterwards he goes to ringside and talks about what great luck since Shannon has to wrestle the tag match later. He could have wrestled any superstar such as, reaches into the drum...Shannon Moore or...Shannon Moore or...Shannon Moore. Yep every ball had Shannon’s name. Oh how diabolical! (Commercial Break) 6) Matt Morgan and A-Train vs. Hardcore Holly and Shannon Moore - Shannon is still lying in the ring when the match begins. He is destroyed by the big guys for a while. Finally, gets the hot tag and Holly cleans house. A-Train goes for the big boot on Holly who moves and A-Train nails Matt Morgan. Holly hits his big slam on Morgan for the win. He's back in the WWE and earns a title shot. Afterwards, Brock stares disgustedly at A-Train as Holly celebrates. I assume this is where they go off the air. As soon after, Brock nails Morgan with the belt and give A-Train the F5. Holly returns to the ring and clears house on Brock. Holly then hold the WWE belt high above his head. Fun show and great crowd. They were into everything and very vocal. Biggest pops were for Eddie Guererro and John Cena. Biggest heat was for Brock by far. If for no other reason you must watch the show to see Mr. McMahon dance. It has to be seen to be believed.

I disagree. I would have Brock and Holly at Royal Rumble since the main selling point of the PPV is the Rumble match itself. Save Brock vs. Benoit for No Way Out since the Smackdown PPV's have had really low numbers, thanks to the McMahons. Therefore they need to give the fans a reason to order.

Raw "Unleashed" house show from MSG, 12/12 By Bill Laboska, New York Biggest Pops: 1. Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair 2. The Dudleys 3. Goldberg 4. Rob Van Dam 5. Booker T Most Heat: 1. Jericho 2. Christian 3. Coach 4. Test 5. Cade and Jindrak World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg pinned Kane after a spear. Goldberg got a big pop, as did Kane. The match was decent, save a botched-spear spot that the majority of the crowd groaned at. Goldberg shook hands with the fans after the match. RVD & Booker T defeated. Randy Orton & Batista. Crowd was quiet for the beginning of the match, since it followed Flair-Shawn and there was no intermission. Orton and Batista double-teamed on Booker and RVD got the hot tag. RVD hit his signature moves, and hit the Five-Star Frogsplash for the win after a Booker T axe-kick. Booker T did a spinaroonie after the match. Legend vs. Legend: Shawn Michaels beat Ric Flair in a close to 30 minute match. The match was scheduled for 20 minutes, and the Coach made announcements every 5 minutes as to how much time was remaining (like in old-school WCW). Flair used heelish tactics, but both wrestlers were cheered wildly. Both men mainly did mat wrestling and exchanged chops for the first 10 minutes, and then did their trademark moves later in the match. Shawn pulled down Flair's trunks for about a 15 second photo-op. Flair snapped Shawn in the figure-four, and the time limit expired making the match a draw. Flair grabbed the mic and argued that Shawn gave up, and requested five more minutes. Earl rang the bell, and Shawn won with the superkick before the limit expired, although it was actually about 8 more minutes after the match was restarted. Flair bladed, wearing a crimson mask (with hair full of blood), and these two put on a classic, and no doubt the best match of the night. The crowd knew they were seeing something special, and both men recieved a standing ovation. World Tag Team Championship--Tables Match: Dudley Boyz beat Chris Jericho & Christian. This was a great tag match, as the Dudleys, and for that matter, the C-men, never disappoint on house shows. All four men were cheered during entrances. Trish and Lita (who made it out later in the show), did the “wassup” spot on Jericho and Christian. The Dudleys put Christian through a table with the 3D to win the match. As usual, the Dudleys called two young kids into the ring and gave them a piece of table. They let the kids touch the belts, and carried them around the ring for a standing ovation. Everyone in the Garden seemed genuinely touched. Garrison Cade & Mark Jindrak beat Val Venis & Lance Storm. This was a decent match, but the crowd wasn’t into it very much. Special Guest Referee Victoria: Molly Holly defeated Trish, Lita, and Jazz. Lita legitamately was injured in the opening minutes of the match. It looked like she hurt her knee, and the women broke character and stopped the match as Fit Finley and the referees attended to Lita. She was helped to the back, and the match continued. Jazz, Molly, and Trish did a good job improvising, and the heels double-teamed Trish. Trish scored a pinfall on Jazz, and Victoria helped Molly defeated Trish. Hurricane beat Test (w/ Stacy Keibler). Stacy helped Hurricane in getting the win. This was a good, fast paced opener, with several near falls. Mark Henry (w/ Theodore Long) beat Tommy Dreamer. It was nice to see Dreamer, but he was treated like a jobber, getting little offense in. Long came out with Henry and cut a promo. Matt Hardy beat Maven with the Twist of Fate. The crowd was dead for most of the match, but got into Hardy towards the end. Maven played the face, but the crowd was clearly in favor of Matt.

Here is Meltzer's report on the incident "We heard several different versions of what went down on Tuesday between Charlie Haas and Eddy Guerrero. Guerrero was injured (at the time believed to have been a separated shoulder but now appears to be a hyperextended elbow) during the match and Haas wasn't aware of it and was too tight on an injured body part. Guerrero got mad backstage and punches were thrown. Chavo was involved but Shelton Benjamin wasn't. Guerrero was hurt a little worse in the fracas in throwing a punch but is not expected to miss any time. Jim Ross and John Laurinaitis calmed everyone down and they all shook hands when it was over and apologized. The feeling was Guerrero may have been wrong to go off on Haas, since Haas wasn't aware of the injury, but that Haas also shouldn't have escalated he situation."

Rock says no to match with Cena Word is that the Rock has already vetoed the idea of working with John Cena at WrestleMania XX. Many had been hoping for a feud between the two since Cena is pretty much WWE's top young star right now and could be helped greatly by the Rock giving him "the rub." No reason is known as to why the Rock does not want to work with Cena. Credit: 1wrestling.com I actually had a feeling the Rock would say no to such an idea because I actually believe Cena would own The Rock on the mic and the fans would be behind Cena if they did cross paths.

Talk about Deja Vu, did anyone see the finish to the Clippers-Mavs game? It ended the exact same way the Lakers/Kings play-off game did,where Horry hit the shot at the buzzer to win. Replace Kobe with Brand, Shaq with Maggette, Finley with Vlade, and Horry with Rice and you got the same play. Only difference was that it was a two point shot by Rice not a three. Same final score too 100-99

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Dec. 8, 2003 – Although The Rock didn’t use these exact words, it seems like the more movies he makes, the more he realizes he can never completely leave WWE behind. There is simply no other platform in the world for a gifted entertainer like The Rock to get that live, passionate, adrenaline-inducing response like he gets at WWE events. When he appeared on the “Late Show with David Letterman” a few months ago to promote “The Rundown,” The Rock said he couldn’t envision a scenario in which he’d return to WWE. But then a few months passed. “And here I am,” The Rock said with a chuckle. Currently traveling back and forth between his home in Florida and Los Angeles, where he’s doing preproduction work on “Be Cool,” the sequel to “Get Shorty,” The Rock just happened to be in the area tonight, and he agreed to make a surprise appearance on RAW. “Be Cool” will be the most star-studded film in which The Rock has appeared. According to the “Great One,” the movie will feature John Travolta, James Gandolfini and Danny DeVito, who were in the original, as well as Uma Thurman and Cedric the Entertainer. The Rock looked as fit as ever tonight, and the tattoo on his left shoulder has expanded. Recently the People’s Champion returned to Hawaii to add a few new details to his life-story tattoo (which was discussed in detail in the pages of GQ). Near his collarbone, he has a Samoan coconut leaf braid – when braided together, coconut leafs are unbreakable – which represents the bond of his family. Just under that is a Tiki face, which exemplifies fighting spirit. And on the back of his neck, just above the sun is a female spirit, which represents his daughter “and women in general because all the women over me stand strong.” The Rock said there is still a bit more work to be done on the tattoo. But before he could return to the islands, he sat with WWE.com to discuss his schedule in early 2004, and much more. WWE.com: How’d you end up here today? The Rock: Just looking at my calendar, I knew that I had this week open. I was out here anyway, doing preproduction stuff for “Be Cool,” which is my next movie. I knew that I was coming back sometime in January, and I just wanted to get the ball rolling now and have fun. WWE.com: So your schedule at the moment is … The Rock: To come back in January. I’m going to be off in the month of February. They restructured the shooting schedule for me so I can shoot everything I need to shoot all the way through February. Then come back (to WWE) again, and build up for WrestleMania. After WrestleMania, I go into full-fledged press for “Walking Tall” (which will be released in April). After “Walking Tall,” I’ll go into full-fledged preproduction for “Spy Hunter.” WWE.com: So you’re confirming that you will be at WrestleMania. The Rock: Absolutely. I just look forward to coming back and helping out where I can, and having fun in the process. Selfishly speaking, between the energy and the electricity – no pun intended – that I love giving and I love getting from crowds when they’re hot, I can’t get that anywhere else. That’s why I love coming back. Plus, I love the business. WWE.com: What can fans expect from “Walking Tall”? The Rock: It’s a movie inspired by a true story and actual events that took place in Buford Pusser’s life. We changed the name – instead of Buford Pusser, Chris Vaughn. It’s a dramatic movie with real action. What I mean by that is, there are no high-tech explosions or anything like that. It’s reality based – the story, as well as the characters. The action is real action. When it’s time to whoop ass, Chris Vaughn is whoopin’ ass. It’s that old-school violent action that’s missing. Plus, again, because it’s a true story, there’s not a lot of latitude that we took, and frankly, we didn’t want to take it because it’s an amazing story about a human being who decided to take justice outside the law. The whole Pusser family had come up to Vancouver. They helped a ton with all of our research. His daughter -- who played an integral part in his life and was the one who pulled him from his Corvette when he died -- she was there, and she was blown away. WWE.com: Getting in the ring tonight with Mick Foley has got to bring back fond memories for you. Rock: I love Mick, and I love working with Mick. Tonight is reminiscent of all the great stuff we used to do. Like Mick, it’s nice to give back to the business. It’s been really, really good to me, and him too. WWE.com: What’s it like knowing that you’re going to walk through the curtain and the people are going to go absolutely crazy? Rock: I’ve been geeked for days now just thinking about it. It’s a privilege. Again, regardless of whatever I do, film-wise, whatever I do, I will always need this. Not only because it’s in my blood, but as an entertainer and as a performer, the opportunity to go out there and get a live reaction and a response, and generate that type of energy, I can’t do that anywhere else. And the character that I’m able to play in The Rock is so broad that I’m able to do and say anything. It’s not like Beck from “The Rundown” or Chris Vaughn is about to say, “How’s your lips? I’m gonna slap ‘em right off your face!” From WWE.com

This week’s edition of Raw did a 3.8 cable rating, with a 5.0 share, according to Nielsen Media Research. The show did hours of 3.5 and 4.1. The highest rated segment of the show was for the return of the Rock at 10 p.m., which did a 4.6. The 12/6 edition of Velocity did a 0.6 cable rating, with a 1.1 share. The 12/6 edition of Confidential did a 0.9 cable rating, with a 1.7 share. The 12/7 edition of Heat did a 1.0 cable rating, with a 1.5 share. credit: 1wrestling.com

I agree the feud sucked. Not only was it disappointing but IMO it took alot of luster off Kurt Angle. Except for Angle making Lesnar tap at Summerslam, Angle came off looking really bad.

Rest of the show according to WWE.com Christian and Chris Jericho will face the Dudley Boyz for WWE Tag Team Titles! RVD vs. Batista Lance Storm and Val Venis vs. Mark Jindrax and Garrison Cade Lita and Trish Stratus vs. Victoria and Molly Holly Booker T/Rosie/Hurricane vs. Mark Henry/Scott Steiner/Test Good thing I got sick and decided to not go to the show.

According to Meltzer there will be a table match for the tag titles between The Dudleys and Christian & Chris Jericho

You have to ignore it. If it's ESPN put the mute button when Vick Labron or The Lakers play because the ass kissing will never end

Yeah, The Clipps got killed tonight. The Delta Center owns us, the team is 1-24 in that god forsaken building

WOOOOO!!! Elton Brand is finally back From NBA.com The Clippers have activated forward Elton Brand from the injured list and placed guard Eddie House on the injured list with a sprained left foot. Brand will be in uniform and available to play in the Clippers-Jazz game tonight at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Brand, who was originally placed on the injured list on November 15th with a hairline stress fracture of the right foot, has missed the Clippers’ last 13 games. The injury occurred in the Clippers first game of the season, an opening night loss to the Seattle SuperSonics in Saitama, Japan. Brand went on to record 21 points, 15 rebounds and tied a career-high with 8 blocked shots in the contest. In his sixth season out of Duke, the All-Star forward has tallied 19.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 38.3 minutes per game over his career. House missed Wednesday night’s Clippers victory over Cleveland with the injury and has averaged 6.1 points and 2.0 assists in 13 games played on the year.

i just saw it too and agree with everything you said. This was better than any of the Angle/Lesnar matches because this match had way more emotion to it. The crowd was really into it. I was never hyped for any of the Brock/Angle matches because it was evident to me from the start that they didn't have that chemistry that makes fueds great.

By Dave Meltzer On Spike TV's video games award show, they are advertising Raw vs. Smackdown matches at the show. There are scheduled to be a first-run Raw vs. Smackdown match between significant names as well as a second match on the show. I believe the high profile match will be taped Tuesday night in San Jose.