Kurt Angle Mark

Tim Duncan is my favorite player, so I'm a Spurs fan but their championship in 1999 does need to have an * because the season was only 50 games long. It's like Phil said, it needs to have an * because the season was played under different circumstances. Does it lessen the Spurs championship? No Phil was playing mind games. He knew that such a comment would be taken the wrong way by the Spurs.

What about Ultimo Dragon taking Chavo's spot? If the injury is legit. He is going to be there, so might as well use him.

From 1wrestling.com Dave Scherer says there have been talks of doing a six man tag featuring Benoit, Rhyno and Spanky vs. Cena and The FBI(I'm guessing Johnny The Bull and Chuck) at the PPV

According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Live and also on the PWtorch newsletter, as of right now the scheduled main event for Vengeance is going to be Angle/Brock II. However PWtorch also said that just like Goldberg/HHH it may be saved for Summerslam. I don't know, I think this is a little to early to be having the rematch. I say they should meet at Survivor Series and then have the rubber match at Wrestlemania 20. Let Benoit feud with Brock during the summer.

Booker T was hospitalized today at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital in Philadelphia due to flu like symptons, including dehydration. Booker Huffman, 38, wrestled on Friday night in Wilkes-Barre, PA but was too ill to wrestle last night. He was in good spirits considering he was sick. At this point in time, it is believed he'll be flying home to Houston tomorrow and be unable to appear at Raw, which takes place at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. --thanks to Tom Robinson From wrestlingobserver.com

IMO Booker T's best matches in the WWE all have been against Kurt Angle. They have had good chemistry everytime they have been in the ring together.

IMO the downfall started with not having a pay off to the Love Triangle. While the ratings and attendance remained strong until Wrestlemania X-7, the Love Triangle if played out correctly could have attracted more viewers because it was a storyline that appealed to both males and females. Personally speaking when the storyline got killed that is when the WWE stopped being must see TV. Turning Austin heel without turning HHH face after Wrestlemania X-7, is what started the WWE's financial woes because they were left with no major babyface who could draw. The ratings and attendance have been on a decline ever since. This is the big one because the WWE still hasn't found a major babyface who can draw or giving a chance to those who might be. I still look at Unforgiven 2000, as the day when things began going downhill and the creative team has been making worse and worse ever since.

Webber's injury= punishment for ruining the Michigan program.

From the wrestling observer newsletter "Morale in both the Raw and Smackdown! locker rooms is said to be bad to the point where management is wanting guys like Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero to step up as "lockerroom leaders" by assuring the others that everything is fine with the company." credit: Rajahwwf.com Here is something for management to ponder. Perhaps if you have given Angle and Eddie the pushes they deserve, you wouldn't be asking them to lie for you.

From Lordsofpain.net VELOCITY Chavo Guerrero defeated Crash w/ Shannon Moore Sean O'Haire defeated Funaki Johnny Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo defeated some local guys SMACKDOWN They announce the main event of Smackdown to be Brock Lesnar and Chris Benoit vs. Big Show and A-Train Vince McMahon starts off the show and says that Hulk Hogan isn't here tonight. Vince then mentions that Hogan is live via satellite from Tampa, Florida. Hogan appears on satellite and says that Mr. America will be in the arena tonight. Vince says that's impossible, assuming that Mr. America and Hogan are the same. Eddie Guerrero w/ Chavo Guerrero defeats Matt Hardy w/ Shannon Moore and Crash After the match, Team Angle steals their gold medals back. Brock Lesnar says that he accepts Big Show's challenge at Judgment Day and that the match will be a stretcher match. Brian Kendrick defeats Jamie Noble. Backstage, Vince orders Funaki to pour him a coffee. Funaki says he just saw Mr. America walk by. Vince tells Funaki he's hallucinating. Mr. America makes his way to the ring to a HUGE ovation. Vince McMahon can't believe his eyes and says he's going to rip off Mr. America's mask to reveal to the world that it's Hulk Hogan. Better yet, he'll get Stephanie to do it. Stephanie comes out but doesn't make any attempts to rip off Mr. America's mask. When Mr. America has his back turned, Vince low blows him and attempts to rip off the mask. However, Mr. America pushes Vince into Stephanie and then knocks Vince out of the ring. Mr. America carries Stephanie to the back. Backstage, Vince asks Stephanie if Hogan hurt her. She says that Vince was the one who hurt her. Sable comes out as guest announcer for the next match. Torrie Wilson defeats Dawn Marie. Sable challenges Torrie to a bikini contest at Judgment Day. Torrie accepts. Sable touches herself a bit, and Torrie massages her own breasts. Team Angle defeat Rikishi and Tajiri After the match, the Guerreros steal Team Angle's portrait of Kurt Angle AND the gold medals again. Rhyno defeats John Cena after Brian Kendrick distracts Cena. Kendrick runs through the crowd while Cena chases. Backstage, Nunzio tells Brock Lesnar to not mess with the Big Show. Lesnar shoves Nunzio and then Nunzio slaps Lesnar. Lesnar then chases Nunzio down the hall and Lesnar runs into the room he thinks Nunzio is hiding in. However, Johnny Stamboli locks the door with a 2x4 and then Chuck Palumbo blocks the door with a forklift for good measure. Big Show and A-Train thank the F.B.I. for the good deed. Tonight, Big Show has a stretcher with Benoit's name on it. Big Show defeats Chris Benoit After the match, Big Show tries to do the same thing to Benoit as he did to Rey Mysterio but Brock Lesnar busted the door down in order to save Chris Benoit. However, A-Train and Show are too much for Lesnar, and Lesnar is finished off with a Chokeslam. All that happened after the cameras stopped rolling was Brock stuck around for a bit and gave the Undisputed Championship to some kid in the front row (they lose more belts that way), and then he waved the Canadian flag around for a bit. End of show.

The working lineup for the May 18 WWE Judgement Day pay-per-view features the following matches: Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show for the WWE Title, Triple H vs. Kevin Nash for the World Hvt. Title, Goldberg vs. Chris Jericho, Team Angle vs. Los Guerreros in a ladder match for the Smackdown Tag Titles, and Undertaker & Nathan Jones & Chris Benoit & Rhyno vs. John Cena & The FBI in an eight-man tag match. Obviously, additional matches will be added. Credit: PWtorch.com

Add Mr. America vs. O'Haire to the card. The match is being advertised in radio commercials in Charlotte.

WWE cutbacks beginning by Dave Meltzer [email protected] The WWE has acknowledged cutting ten front office employees in recent days, which are only the first round of cuts, as the company's fiscal year ended on Wednesday. The belief is that a series of cuts, which would affect many departments, will be finalized before the next shareholders conference at the end of the month. The cuts were concentrated in the company's finance and facilities departments, which are being reorganized. The company will be doing a business review of every department over the next few weeks. Cuts had been expected because of company losses both having to do with closing the Times Square restaurant, as well as what is expected to be a significant (in excess of $5 million) budget shortfall when it comes to revenue from Wrestlemania. House show business also finished far below projections for the year.

Molly was at Backlash, so if she was released it must have been this week. However the WWE did fire 12 office employees this week so perhaps they also released a few wrestlers as well.

by Dave Meltzer [email protected] Lex Luger was charged with 14 different drug possession counts, 13 of which were felonies, after a search of his townhouse yesterday. Among the drugs found at his home were Xanex, various forms of anabolic steroids, OxyContin, testosterone and a synthetic growth hormone.

From Lordsofpain.net I missed the dark matches. ***VELOCITY*** Crash w/ Shannon Moore beat Jamie Noble w/ Nidia Tajiri beat Jason Pakoro A-Train beat Bill Demott with the bicycle kick. Michael Cole and Tazz come to the announce table for Smackdown. ***SMACKDOWN*** Backlash highlights are shown of Big Show swinging Rey Mysterio into the ring post. Smackdown opening theme. Rey Mysterio update tonight. Torrie Wilson and Sable will take on Dawn Marie and Nidia. Mr. America will be the guest on Piper's Pit. Los Guerreros beat Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore w/ Crash when Eddie hit Matt with the frog splash. After the match Team Angle tried to rush the ring but failed in their attempts. The door of Mr. America's locker room is shown. -commercial- Backstage, Josh Matthews asks Stephanie who Mr. America is. Stephanie says she does not know, she signed him sight unseen. Team Angle walks up and asks Stephanie what she will do about the Guerreros stealing their tag team titles. Stephanie says the Guerreros will be returning the titles to them tonight after their match. But at Judgement Day, they will have to defend those titles against the Guerreros in a ladder match. Backstage, Stephanie walks out of Mr. America's locker room with a puzzled look on her face. -commercial- Big Show comes to the ring with a mic in hand. Show says all he keeps hearing ever since backlash is "pick on somebody your own size". Show says there is nobody his size. Tonight he picked his own opponent and atleast he is bigger than Mysterio. Big Show beat Funaki in a match longer than it should have been. Backstage, Stephanie is informed by an assistant that her father Vince is on his way to the arena. -commercial- Big Show is shown backstage walking the hallway. A-Train tells Show what he did to Mysterio was great. John Cena comes to the ring and gets on the mic. He spits it thuganomic style talking about how he got screwed at Backlash. Brian Kendrick comes to the ring dressed hip hop style. Kendrick announces himself as Spanky. Spanky says he has a rap but he needs a beat. Cena hands the mic to an official to give the beats. Spanky starts spitting rhymes dissing Cena. Spanky gets everyone to wave their hands in the air. When I say Cena, you say sucks. Cena gets mad and takes off his shirt. Spanky starts "scratching" on Cena's head. Cena attacks Spanky and gives him a super fireman's carry takeover. Backstage, The FBI are playing craps. They make some jabroni leave the room who wanted an autograph. They concentrate on taking out Chris Benoit tonight. -commercial- Chris Benoit vs Johnny Stamboli w/ Nunzio and Chuck Palumbo. The referee Brian Hebner officially makes it a tag match after Rhyno came down to the ring and gored Nunzio. Johnny Stamboli and Chuck Palumbo w/ Nunzio beat Chris Benoit and Rhyno when Nunzio helped Palumbo pin Benoit. In the parking lot, Stephanie is on her cell phone talking to Vince's answering machine. She says he does not need to be here tonight and she will meet him for dinner later. Brock Lesnar arrives. Stephanie wonders why he is there. Brock says he has something to do tonight. -commercial- Brock Lesnar comes to the ring and gets on the mic. Brock says he went through one hell of a fight at Backlash with Cena. Brock says he is looking for another fight. I came tonight looking for a fight with Big Show. What you did to Mysterio at backlash was gutless. Not only did you beat him, but you had to pick his helpless being up and swing him like a baseball bat into the ring post. You gutless coward. So I have to ask you, why Big Show? Did it make you feel better? Did it make you feel like a bigger giant than you already are? Or was it that you realized that Mysterio had a bigger heart than you? I can tell you that answer Show because I've been in the ring with both of you. Show, you have a lot of potential but you are lacking heart. You don't have the heart of a true champion. You can bully anyone you want but I ain't standing for it. You wanna bully somebody Big Show, why don't you bring your big giant slobbery ass down here and try to bully Brock Lesnar. bring your ass down here so you can feel the pain. Show walks out to the top of the stage with a mic in hand. You are calling me out to a fight? I will beat your ass just like I did at Survivor Series. I will not step in the ring with you until the title is on the line. You want this title? Come and get it! I get to pick the time and the place. I've already had one match tonight. I can't think of a better time and place but now. You are on....but not tonight. Show leaves. -commercial- Team Angle w/ a large picture of Kurt Angle beat John Walters and Eric Stevens in a quick match. After the match Haas gets on the mic and demands that Los Guerreros give them back their titles. Los Guerreros walk to the ring. Eddie gets on the mic and says he and Chavo came out here to tell them what they did was wrong. Eddie wants all the kids to know that stealing is wrong. Crime does not pay. We are sorry. In feeling bad about this we want to make an apology. We also want to make a promise in that we will never steal anything of yours again. Los Guerreros lay the belts on the mat. Team Angle pick their belts up and their music plays. Haas gets back on the mic and tells Los Guerreros to take a good look at the titles because they will never see them again, even after the ladder match at Backlash. Chavo gets on the mic and says that he and Eddie are olympic gold medalists. Chavo holds up the gold medal that they stole off the Kurt Angle picture frame sitting at ringside that Team Angle brought out. Backstage, Torrie Wilson tells Sable she did not appreciate her lying to Stacy Keibler at Backlash. Sable says they can be great partners as long as Torrie is willing to play with her. Because if she doesn't, what happened last week is just a taste of what Sable is capable of. Sable walks off telling Torrie she will meet her in the ring for their tag match coming up against dawn Marie and Nidia. -commercial- Dawn Marie and Nidia w/ Jamie Noble beat Sable and Torrie Wilson when Dawn Marie made Torrie tap out to an ankle lock after Sable refused to tag and walked to the back. In the parking lot, Stephanie is on her cell phone taking to Vince's answering machine. Stephanie turns around as Vince arrives in the parking lot. Vince says he wants to meet Mr. America. Stephanie tries her best to get Vince to leave but he will have none of it. -commercial- Sean O'Haire and Roddy Piper walk to the ring for Piper's Pit. Piper says he heard Piper on Raw last week say that Piper was fat. Piper says when he loses weight he will call Jericho, and when Jericho gets some talent he can call him. Piper announces his gueast Mr. America. Hogan's Real American music plays. Out comes Mr. America with his mask on acting just like Hogan. The blonde hair is even sticking out the backside of the mask. Piper accuses him of not being Mr. America and being Hulk Hogan. Piper says he knows it for a fact. Mr. America speaks, sounds just like Hogan, and says that is the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard. Mr. America says he is freedom, justice, and liberty for all. Mr. America says he is not Hulk Hogan. Vince McMahon comes to the ring and gets on the mic. How dare you Hogan? I suspended you indefinitely. I ordered you to go home and stay there for the duration of your contract. I did it because I wanted you to rot. And I did it so these Hulkamaniacs would never cheer for you again. You show up here in my ring and my show? You are going back home. But this time there is a difference. I will send you back home with your american institution with you...for breaching your contract. Mr. America says that it sonds like Hogan gave Vince a serious case of brain damage when he kicked your ass. I am not Hulk Hogan. I am Mr. America. Just ask all these Americanmaniacs. You are insulting my intelligence and I will not stand for it at all. wait just a minute. You are right. You are not Hogan. You are Mr. America. So I'm sure that Mr. America has just signed a contract here in WWE. And since I am the chairman of WWE I want you to read my lips - you are fired! Now get the hell out of here Hogan. I'm not going anywhere brother because I did not sign with you. I signed with Stephanie an iron clad contract that says mr. America not be fired or suspended so I am here to stay brother. And there is not a damn thing you can do about it. And one more thing McMahon, God bless America! I'll tell you what we're gonna do Hogan. I'm gonna prove that you are Hogan and we are gonna rip that mask off your face. Just wait a minute brothers. Don't do anything stupid. Let me ask you a question that has never been asked. Whatcha going do when the 24 inch patriots run wil on you? O'Haire grabs Hogan from behind for Vince to punch. Hogan gets out of it and decks Vince and leaves to the back swinging the american flag. This may not be shown on tv - Piper gets on the mic and says it will be a cold day in hell before he comes back to New Hampshire. Vince, Piper, and O'Haire leave to the back. Chimmel thanks everyone for coming. Thats it...

I find it funny that every person in WWE that defends HHH can only bring up his run in 2000. However the last time I checked its 2003 and HHH has meant nothing to the company since he came back. It's like a reporter or a fan saying that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player today because he won six titles in the 90's.

Raw did a 3.9 rating up from last week's 3.8 credit: Dave Meltzer

By Dave Meltzer As things are currently planned, Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show will be the co-main event for the Judgment Day PPV in Charlotte

Angle waiting to see how everything heals by Phil Speer April 23, 2003 Kurt Angle isn’t quite ready to announce his return date yet, although he says he’s feeling much better since having surgery on April 11. Instead of having spinal fusion – the way seven other WWE Superstars have – which would have forced him to miss one year, Angle elected to have a less invasive procedure, performed by Dr. Hae-Dong Jho in Angle’s hometown of Pittsburgh. “I’m really happy with the surgery,” Angle said. He was feeling good enough, in fact, that he attended Tuesday’s SmackDown! taping (he did not appear on the show). But he said he’s been feeling a tingling sensation in his left arm. “That could be due to swelling in my neck,” he said. “I talked to the doctor and he said, ‘Let it heal. It’ll be alright.’ What I think it is is a lot of swelling in my neck which is causing pressure on my nerve; I don’t have a pinched nerve or bone spurs anymore. When the swelling goes away, I’ll feel much better. “If it’s not the case, we might have to do something else.” Some of the Superstars that had spinal-fusion surgery, including Lita and Rhyno, also experienced a pins-and-needles feeling in their arms and hands as they recovered. For them, it was just part of the healing process and it eventually went away. But since Angle’s the first Superstar to have this procedure, he doesn’t have anyone with whom to “compare notes.” Plus, his symptoms – problems with four vertebrae and two discs, and a bruised spinal cord – were the most severe of any of the Superstars, except Stone Cold Steve Austin. He said he’ll have to wait and see whether the surgery worked for him. “The doctor said it’s going to take a good three, four or five weeks to get my strength back,” he said. “He might not have fixed it. I don’t know yet. We won’t know for another month. I pray to God that it works out well because now the wrestlers have an option besides fusion, which limits your working ability because you don’t have as much flexibility in your neck.” On the plus side, Angle said he’s been feverishly rehabilitating his left hamstring, and that today it’s fine. “I get a little pain here and there,” he said. “Once you tear it once, you’ve got that scar tissue. You’ve got to keep stretching through it.” Angle tore the hamstring 20 seconds into his match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX, and he said it was actually causing him more discomfort during the match than his neck. While it’s too early for Angle to set a timetable for his return to the ring, he’s already thrilled that he had Jho’s procedure because he’s not in any pain. Jho made only a small incision in the front of Angle’s neck, next to his throat. That incision is already barely noticeable, said Angle, who didn’t even have to wear a neck brace. “The first thing I did when I woke up (after surgery) was, I moved my neck back,” he said. Before surgery, when he would do that, he’d “have this grueling, sharp, stabbing pain in the back of my spinal cord.” But the pain was gone. “I said, ‘Man, this is a miracle.’” Since February, when the circulation to his left shoulder and arm were cut off, Angle had been in so much pain that he had been prescribed valium. It was the only way he could sleep. “I’m not having the pains anymore,” he said. “It’s not that hard for me to get comfortable. I like to sleep on my stomach, and when I had the injury, I couldn’t because it pushed my head back, which caused the sharp pain. Now I’m sleeping great.” Angle laughed and added that he hated not being able to sleep on his stomach. “I think it’s because I never like to be on my back because of amateur wrestling,” he said. Angle said he also considers the surgery a miracle because he was able to get back in the gym the day after the operation. “To have this doctor pry on your neck one day, and then the neck day I’m doing heavy bench pressing…and running on the treadmill for 30 minutes straight, that in itself was a miracle,” he said. After WrestleMania, he said he had only about a third of the strength in his left arm that he has in his right. But now he says it’s closer to 70 percent. He also said that the only atrophy he’s suffered is in his left hand – the small muscle between the index finger and the thumb. “I don’t have that anymore in one hand,” he said. “They say it might come back. But if that’s the only atrophy I have, I’m pretty happy with it.” Angle is actually a bit concerned that he may have been training too hard since the surgery, and that that’s what’s causing the tingling sensation in his arm. Angle’s kicking himself not learning from his mistakes. “I’ve always thought of ways of training around my injuries because I always felt like if I wasn’t training, someone somewhere around the world was training harder than me,” he said. Angle has had this philosophy since junior high, when he broke his arm, but returned to practice a day later, wearing a cast but not giving the injury time to heal. He ended up breaking his arm repeatedly and being forced to wear a cast 23 weeks instead of four. Likewise, one year before the Olympics, he severely broke his hand, but was back to working out the next evening. And when he had arthroscopic surgery on his knee last December, he was walking around two days later. “I’m just hoping I didn’t cause (this latest injury) to turn south and go the opposite way,” he said. “I probably should have taken it a little more slowly. Now I’m in a situation where I have to step back a little bit. I need to sit back and relax and not be so stubborn about going to the gym.” Angle said he increased the intensity of his training when his symptoms kicked in in February. As a result, he’s dropped 22 pounds and today he tips the scales at 228. He said he regrets letting himself get up into the 250-pound range and believes that may have been a factor in his recent injuries. “I’d like to remain 230 or under,” he said. “I think it helps with my legs. I think it’s going to help with my neck. Although 20 pounds doesn’t seem like a lot, it can take its toll on your body.” Angle flew to Nashville, Tenn., for Tuesday’s SmackDown! taping because WWE officials wanted to see how he was doing, and because he wanted to offer instruction to some of the younger Superstars. “I’m really trying to help out (John) Cena,” he said. “I think he could be a major player, and I’m trying to be there for him and give him advice, like a few of the guys did for me when I started. I see a lot of potential with John, so I’m really looking to make him the next big player.” Because Angle’s no longer in any pain, he was a bit tempted to try out a few wrestling moves. “I got in the ring just to sit and watch,” he said. “I was going to start doing some stuff, but I thought, ‘You know what? Somebody’s going to slap me if I start getting in the ring and wrestling.’ But could I have? Yeah, I definitely could have. I’ve got to learn how to take it easy.”

Technically it was Dr. Jho who contacted Kurt Angle after the Doctor read the article about Kurt 's injury in the Pittsburgh Gazette. Kurt Angle called Scott Hall to ask about Dr. Jho and Hall gave Dr. Jho the highest of recommendations.

I just found out about this from someone who has the magazine and I just thought that some of you here (especially AndrewTS)would want to know about this.

Credit goes to degenarate902 of the IGNboards for providing this interview Raw Magazine: Stone Cold made some scathing comments about you. How do you respond to them? Triple H: I could care less. RAW: Were you surprised by it? Triple H: No. RAW: Why do you think he said what he did? Triple H: When somebody does something wrong, they make all the excuses in the world that what they did wasn't wrong. They blame everybody else. But I could care less what Stone Cold Steve Austin thinks about me, about my career, about anything I do. I do what I do whether anybody likes that or not. I could care less. RAW: He complained particularly about the times you've referred to him "taking his ball and going home." Triple H: If Austin has a problem with that, then he can tell me to my face. Don't write about it in a magazine. RAW: Has he done that? Triple H: He hasn't talked to me yet. RAW: Has he done that? Triple H: He hasn't talked to me yet. RAW: Have you had any words at all since he's been back? Triple H: We've spoken. But just pleasantries, and that's it. RAW: Is there any tension between the two of you? Triple H: No more than usual. RAW: And why would there usually be tension between you two? Triple H: It's a competitive business. RAW: So it's safe to say that you don't consider Austin a friend. Triple H: I consider him somebody I work with. Sometimes we've been friends, sometimes we've been--I don't want to say enemies--but competitive. The best rivalries in the world are fueled by competitiveness. RAW: Do you think he doesn't like you? Triple H: It doesn't matter to me if he does or doesn't. RAW: How do you feel about him? Triple H: I think Austin is one of the biggest draws ever. If he wrestles, it's good for business. Raw: Would you work with him? Triple H: Sure. From a professional standpoint, Austin is one of the greatest performers ever. People make too much out of all these other things. The bottom line is that Austin is a great wrestler and a great entertainer. I think we're all about giving the fans the best entertainment they can get, and certainly Stone Cold gives them that. RAW: But do you think he's making this too much of a personal issue? Triple H: I don't know 'til I talk to him. You've got to understand something: Just 'cause you guys write it on a piece of paper, doesn't mean it's true. RAW: But what's in RAW Magazine are his actual words. Triple H: Who knows what his inflection was? Who knows what he was feeling that day? Who knows what he's feeling today? Until I speak to Austin the man, look in his eyes and talk to him face to face, I have no idea what his feelings toward me or toward anything else are, just as he has no idea what my feelings are. And honestly, that's between nobody but me and Steve. RAW: You've said that you don't care what he thinks about you. Yet in Raw Magazine, he said you need to stop worrying about him and start worrying about your own career. Triple H: See, that's where he's mistaken. I don't worry about Steve. RAW: He said you need to start worrying about yourself and about drawing money for the company. Triple H: And so does he. Steve doesn't know what I worry about. He doesn't really know how I feel. RAW: If he's never spoken to you about these things, where do you think he would get these impressions from? Triple H: Obviously, he's watched the show, and he's heard comments Triple H has said to him. Were those comments written for me? Did I say them on my own? Steve doesn't know. RAW: Could he be confusing your in-ring comments with your feelings away from the ring? Triple H: Maybe. We've always had respect for each other, from before we were big stars. When Steve would have matches, or I would have matches, there were certain guys whose opinions we ask for--certain guys you know you're gonna get the truth from because you share their sensibilities. Steve and I had that relationship. We know how each other thinks. But we were never best friends. I've never stayed at Stone Cold's house or gone hunting with him. We're different people. But that's cool. RAW: Do you still have that respect? Triple H: Oh, definitely. But again, I can't tell you what Steve thinks. Here's something you've got to understand: If you're Stone Cold and you go home, you have people calling you up and winding you up, saying "This guy said this..." or "I read on the internet..." Way too many people put way too much stock in what's said on the internet. What some six-year-old in Podunk thinks about the show that night, or the match I had... It's a bunch of crap. But if you've got those people in your ear, or you're reading these things, it might seem like someone's attacking you, especially when he's not here to defend himself. What I've said about him in the media or backstage is nothing I wouldn't say to his face. And I'm sure we will have that conversation. The things I've said in character are in character; the things I've said out of character are how I feel. And I would say those to his face. If he has an issue with that, fine. We'll hash that out. We don't have to see eye to eye on everything. But even if I don't see eye to eye with him, I still respect the hell out of Austin the performer and Austin the athlete. The thing people don't understand is I've traveled all over the world with Austin. We've drawn some of the biggest houses in history. It wasn't just him doing it; it wasn't just me doing it. No different than the way it was when Rock and I worked, or Foley and I. It was both of us. We've done all that together, and there's a bond between us for having done that together. There's never been a guy more popular than Steve, and I respect him for that. But we will have that coversation between him and I, not in a magazine. RAW: Austin stated that you're not where you should be with the amount of TV time invest in you. How do you respond to that? Triple H: That's an easy thing for him to say. But there's a problem with him criticizing what's happening, or anyone criticizing who's not in our business. Before Steve left, he wasn't where he should've been with the amount of TV time invested in him. Raw: But this is from somebody who is in the business. Triple H: No, he wasn't. See, that's the issue. He wasn't at the time he made those comments, and hadn't been for a long time. So he had no idea what was going on. He contradicts himself by saying, "I left because I didn't feel like I was being used right, I wasn't where I was supposed to be," and then looking at me and saying "He's not being used right, and isn't where he should be." Why is my situation an different? He was sitting at home every day, with no contact to the business, watching the show as a regular guy, thinking he had a bead on what's going on 'cause he knew how things were done in the past, and was bitter about the business in general anyway. Trust me, you have to be very bitter to walk out. I'm not saying what he did was right or wrong; in his mind, he had reasons. Whatever they are, I'm not the judge. But when you leave and you're bitter and then you look at the business that you're bitter at, what are you gonna say? "These guys are doing a tremendous job, they haven't missed a beat since I've been gone?" No, that's not what you're going to say. RAW: If you share a respect for each other, how could it not bother you that he said what he said? You wouldn't think that someone who shared that respect would say those things. Triple H: If you sat at home for six months, stewing, and finally got an opportunity to say your piece, you're probably gonna overextend what you want to say. Things could be said a certain way. And I'm not saying anybody printed it to wind people up. I'm not making that accusation at all. What I am saying is that if things are written a certain way, they sound a certain way. It's not necessarily how they were said. I read the article. Did it bother me? No. Did it upset me? No. 'Cause I know it's just an article. When I speak to him will be just when we decide whether we have a problem with each other, and whether we're still the same as we ever were. Either way, I'm cool with it. I don't have to be best friends with Stone Cold Steve Austin. I've wrestled guys that are just someone I work with, and if that's the way it is now between us, that's fine. If we staytight, that's fine too.

I like Smackdown. All my favorite wrestlers except for the Rock are on the show. Even if there is crap like the Torrie/Sable storyline on the show, I always find way more good than bad on the show.

Oops ignore this post