Kurt Angle Mark

Smackdown got a 3.3 rating, which was up from last week's 3.2. 1wrestling.com

I find it incredible that a show that had no star power like Scott Keith said was watched by more people than Raw. Which had HBK, HHH, The Rock, Golberg, Jericho, Flair, Booker T, RVD, Kane, and Nash on it.

I would also like to add that according to the live reports at 1wrestling.com, Big Show vs. Rey has been added to Backlash. Also they showed a promo saying "Mr. America" is on his way to the WWE.

Here are the Velocity Spoilers Rhyno beat Kanyon( no Jackie Gayda) Crash beat Funaki Team Angle beat Los Chihuahuas(No Joke) Bill DeMott beat a jobber

Michael Tearson sent word that Kurt Angle's personal website wrote the following late yesterday. "Hi again everyone, Kurt left us a message over the weekend and said he's feeling great and expects a speedy recovery. Kurt said Dr. Jho is absolutely incredible. He just can't believe how much better he feels already." credit: 1wrestling.com

By Dave Meltzer "The Tuesday Smackdown tapings will have the Chris Benoit vs. John Cena match in the finals of the tournament with the winner facing Brock Lesnar for the title at Backlash. The plan as of earlier in the week was also for Hulk Hogan to return on the show, doing Piper's Pit, which would set up Hogan vs. Piper at Backlash. Now since that wasn't advertised on the show last night, and one would think Hogan on Piper's Pit would be advertised, I'm not sure if plans have changed. I can't imagine if they are going to do Hogan vs. Piper that they wouldn't get the match out public by ten days before the show. "

It shouldn't since last year Raw got a 4.8 rating going up against the national title game.

Cena over Benoit in the finals I don't care if FBI interferes or not in the Cena/Undertaker match, but Cena has to hit the DVD on the Undertaker or the win is meaningless. Also I would love to see Cena use the spot from No Mercy 2000 where HHH countered the Crossface with a DVD.

1. Steph 2. Trish 3. Molly

One of the FBI, since they always job on Smackdown.

I only got 9 of the sweet sixteen but 7 of my elite eight and all of my Final Four teams are still alive.

I was wondering if the WWE was ever going to try to bring those girls in.Especially since Kitana appeared at Unforgiven.

My Final Four is Oklahoma vs. UConn Pittsburgh vs. Duke Championship Game Oklahoma vs. Pittsburgh Champion: Oklahoma

Before the decision was made to go with Kurt Angle/Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, the original plan was to have Brock win the title on Smackdown and then defend the title against Chris Benoit at the PPV. "There was debate as to whether Benoit would be kept consistent and do a face vs. face match with Lesnar, or turned heel. The plan for the heel turn would have been to have Benoit behind attacks of both Edge and Kurt Angle, and have Team Angle turn and become Team Benoit. This would give Benoit a bunch of heel momentum for the match at Wrestlemania, and create natural rivalries for the returns of Edge and Angle in a year. Creative was leaning towards a face vs. face showdown, but the final decision never had to be made." Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

I was really looking forward to the show because I think that the card is one of the best in a long time. However, ever since the announcement of Angle's injury my interest has dropped dramatically. It is just hard to get into things when your favorite wrestler's health and career are at risk.

Personally speaking ever since I found out about Angle's injury, I just can't seem to care about or get into the WWE anymore. The thought of Angle leaving for a year or even worse retiring hangs over me like a black cloud, it takes all the enjoyment away from watching the shows. Then with the Rock leaving in a few weeks it just feels that things are getting worse instead of better.

I thought that Brock was looking around as though he was trying to see where Kurt Angle went. In other words he was "selling" the fact that Angle disappeared.

I am not surprised. The previous 2 years Smackdown also took a big hit during Championship week. For example take a look at 2001. This is total viewers 03/01 -7.34 million 03/08(Championship week)-6.01 million 03/15-7.33 million

Here is the article from the Pittsburgh Gazette: By Shelly Anderson, Post-Gazette Sports Writer A neck injury that almost kept Kurt Angle from wrestling in the 1996 Olympics has flared again, and this time it will eventually end his athletic career. Angle, who wrestled at Mt. Lebanon High School and won an NCAA championship at Clarion before winning the heavyweight gold medal in '96 in Atlanta, will have two vertebrae surgically fused sometime in the coming weeks or months. That will put his pro wrestling career with World Wrestling Entertainment on hold for about a year. "Then in five, six, seven, maybe 10 years if I can last that long, I'll have to have surgery to have two other vertebrae fused, and I won't be able to wrestle anymore," Angle, 34, said yesterday from his home in Moon, a day after a WWE Smackdown event at Mellon Arena. In the meantime, he plans to work through his pain and do what he can to lessen some substantial risks so that he can make a few more appearances for WWE, beginning with a gig Tuesday in Louisville, Ky. He will defend his WWE title March 30 at Wrestlemania XIX in Seattle. "I can't wait too long for the surgery, but chances are I could win at Wrestlemania," Angle said. "That means I could hold the title for another month or more." He would like to put off surgery until he is dethroned. Before he became an Olympian, Angle was told he should retire from wrestling because of a similar neck injury that also included a cracked bone, but he was able to overcome that injury. This time, the problem is two herniated disks that are pressing on his spinal cord, causing pain and nerve problems in his left shoulder and arm. He said he has been given medical clearance to continue pro wrestling until the surgery, as long as he takes precautions and understands the high risk. "I could get a worse neck injury, possibly paralysis, and they said, yes, maybe even death," Angle said. "It's a very big risk, so I have to take care of myself and be very careful." Besides a reduced schedule, Angle said he is avoiding certain moves in the ring that could aggravate his injury, adding that his opponents know what is off-limits. He also is rehabilitating his neck to try to make it stronger and lessen his pain. The injury doesn't surprise him given the nature of pro wrestling. "Wrestling is probably the most dangerous sport there is, and I've been more injured in pro wrestling than in amateur," he said. "We have taken wrestling to such a high level with such high risk and high expectations for the fans. We're doing more fighting, more bouncing around, more acrobatics. We need to go back to the true grit of what pro wrestling was." Angle and his wife, Karen, who have a 4-month-old daughter, Kyra, talked about him trying to go to the 2004 Olympics in Athens but decided against it even before the neck injury. "We wholeheartedly considered it," he said. "But for me to go back to the Olympics, I would have to train eight or nine hours a day, and I don't think I'm capable of that now."

Here is an update on why Kurt is going through with the match at Wrestlemania "PWTorch.com has learned that Kurt Angle volunteered to wrestle at WrestleMania after all, surprising Vince McMahon and the creative team who had been planning since last week a way to get the belt off of him at this week's Smackdown. The match last night was originally booked with a completely different finish, one which would have resulted in Brock winning the title. Angle decided to delay surgery three weeks in order to have his match against Brock as scheduled. He believes waiting three weeks and wrestling one more match won't put him at great risk, and he really didn't want to hurt the company if he could avoid it. (And that estimated $350,000 WrestleMania bonus check was tempting, too.) He plans to have as good of a match as he feels he is physically able to have in three weeks, and believes after three weeks of rest, it has potential to be a pretty good one." The plans were kept top secret at Smackdown yesterday as only a small inner-circle knew about Angle's change of plans until the match took place.

Stephanie. Along with Kurt Angle, she is my favorite person in the WWE. They have both been my favorites since the first time they ever flirted with each other. I really hated HHH being with Steph so I was hoping that Kurt would steal her away.

The report doesn't make sense Here is the result from Dave Meltzer. The change in plans seem to be to do the Lesnar-Angle title change at Wrestlemania and cancel Angle's surgery for a few weeks. Angle pinned Lesnar in a non-match. Eric Angle came down in one of Kurt's hooded robes and Lesnar F-5'd him in 15 seconds. Team Angle attacked Lesnar and Kurt came from under the ring (where he had been hiding all night) and rolled-up Lesnar to retain the title. Chris Benoit & Rhyno were officially announced for the originally planned three-way at Mania with Los Guerreros and Team Angle for the tag titles. Billy Kidman turned on Rey Mysterio and went heel in an earlier tag bout.

Please God let it be John Cena, not Goldberg.

I think it will be a decent match around ***-***1/2 I also feel that Booker T is going to win. HHH and Steph's engagement IMO might turn out to be a blessing in disguise, for the short run anyway, because I think that HHH is aware that if he continues to go over everyone that he will have major heat with the boys especially since he is one step away from being part of the McMahon family. So I wouldn't be surprised that if to smooth things over in the back he puts Booker T over. By the way, I saw this on a recap of the Rock's interview on Byte This "The Rock said that anybody who understands and is committed to the business will always help create new stars. Rock said he was very happy to put over Booker T this past Monday and said he is looking forward to Booker's match at WrestleMania." Maybe I'm reading to much into this but it looks to me like The Rock may have been calling out HHH to put Booker T over at WM.

I actually want John Cena to get the title shot at Wrestlemania. IMO Benoit's next title match should be when he is finally booked to win clean, and I doubt that the WWE is going to give Brock a three week title reign. I would have Cena allign with Team Angle and turn it into an OVW feud, where the underlining story is that the four trained together and the three of them or jealous of Brock's success. With Angle and Edge out for a year they have to save Benoit, Undertaker, and Rhyno to sell future PPVs.