QuestionMan

Ross Report for Sept. 8, 2005 September 8, 2005 Greetings from under the black, 200X Resistol hat! We’re burning daylight, so let’s get this show on the road … Important business first: I never contemplated suicide after my Sooners took one on the chin at home in Norman against the TCU Horned Frogs. However, I was in denial and shock — much as I felt a few months after my second marriage.I have to admit I got on “the sauce” pretty heavy after the Sooners’ season-opening loss. First, there was the BBQ sauce, then some off-branded — I’m so ashamed — generic steak sauce! I promise to clean up my act. Don’t be surprised to see Texas win Saturday night at Ohio State. Speed kills. I want Texas to be unbeaten when they play Oklahoma on Oct. 8, in Dallas. L.O.D. Animal’s son James Laurinaitis played some at linebacker last Saturday for the Buckeyes as a true freshman. Vader’s son Jesse White may be redshirted at OU this season. White is strong as a bull and an excellent center prospect, wearing No. 66. Waco, Texas gets Monday Night RAW on Sept. 26, replacing the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Biloxi, Miss. Laredo, Texas gets SmackDown on Sept. 27, replacing New Orleans. Please help these displaced families who have lost everything in any way you can. If you have already contributed, thank you, and if not, WHY? A gentleman in an airport asked me the other day if Chris Masters reminds me of a young Lex Luger. I politely answered, “HELL NO!” (Just joking, even though that’s what I was thinking.) Masters already understands his job better than Luger at a comparable age. Internet observation of the week: “Ric Flair is a pervert for grabbing Carlito’s privates!” Sure he is. Now, turn off your computer and go to bed. Dick Murdoch was one of the Top 5 in-ring hands I ever saw … when he wanted to be and when he took his business seriously. I loved old Dickie like a brother and cried when he died a few years ago. Dick Murdoch was special. He could wrestle, he could brawl and he could talk. He wouldn’t win any body building contests, but who cares, in all honesty? I truly hope Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch can find the magic that the original Texas Outlaws of Dick Murdoch and Dusty Rhodes developed over time. That’s a helluva tall order, but that would be my goal if I were Cade or Murdoch. Promoter Cowboy Bill Watts once fined Dick Murdoch every dollar he earned over a two-week period except for one lone dollar! That’s right, Dickie made $1 for two weeks worth of work because he was late for work two or three times and he clowned around in an important — at least to Big Cowboy — match. Dickie told me he was going to get even with Watts by never cashing the check, therefore, Watts checkbook could never be balanced. I miss you Dick, even though you loved those danged Texas Longhorns. Damn, is Kurt Angle on a roll, or what? In all due respect to several WWE Superstars, including WWE Champion John Cena, I don’t know if I would bet against Angle vs. anyone based on what I’ve seen since SummerSlam. I’m not forgetting Angle’s victory over HBK at WrestleMania, but over the past month, the Olympian has been virtually untouchable. I’m excited about Unforgiven being held in my home state of Oklahoma, and I hope I make it out of the Ford Center on Sept. 18, without getting my ass kicked … again! It’s going to be very interesting to see the evolution of several younger wrestlers on both RAW and SmackDown. I am encouraged by some. One thing is for sure: any young, potential WWE Superstar better understand ASAP that this a seven-day-a-week cycle of preparation in one form or another; focusing on this career opportunity part-time will not get them to big money and longevity. Even if a wrestler takes a day or two off to physically rest, studying tapes of the great ones isn’t to physically taxing. Check out The Coach this weekend on CSTV doing play-by-play for a college football game. Remember, “Topeka,” they’re called sound bytes. My congrats to Coach. I wonder if he will wear his shades on camera. I think his game starts at 6 p.m. (ET). Have you read, “Scooter,” yet? Check it out and let me know your thoughts. For being such a wonderful husband, dad and son, there must be some small, isolated part of Mick Foley that is very dark to have written such a disturbing and totally realistic work of fiction. It’s a legit page-turner. RAW may be entertaining our troops in Iraq (or so we hope) in December. This is not etched in stone, but I hope it happens. I would love to volunteer to go. I’m begging for a good two-out-of-three fall match on TV. Too many young wrestlers have the basic same look, tattoos, hair, etc. Individuality is seemingly becoming a lost art. This business is so much more than a mullet, a few tattoos, some baby oil and the willingness to execute untimely high-risk maneuvers just for the hell of it. Jake Roberts’ father, Grizzly Smith, was missing in New Orleans for several days following Hurricane Katrina, but, thankfully, he was found alive. Why do some wrestlers wear jewelry such as earrings in the ring? I just don’t get it. Does anyone outside San Francisco care if Barry Bonds plays baseball this season or not? Lance Russell’s home on the gulf coast was not destroyed, and our friend Lance and his wife Audrey are okay despite the result of America’s most infamous natural disaster. Will the Edge-Hardy Steel Cage Match at Unforgiven “steal the show?” Don’t bet against it. Fans are invited to attend a huge Unforgiven press conference this Tuesday morning at Oklahoma City’s Ford Center at 10 a.m. I hope to see you there. Rob Conway has the ring skills to be a star. He must be tougher than a government mule, or he wouldn’t be man enough to wear those tights. In my personal opinion, Brock Lesnar is making a big mistake by not accepting WWE’s very fair contract offer. Does ESPN’s Trev Alberts, a Nebraska alum, annoy you as much as he does me? It’s nice to see Dusty Rhodes back working behind the cameras for WWE. I would love to host a DVD of the “Dream’s” favorite matches. Dusty is a future WWE Hall of Famer in my view. Are you excited about the U.S. Open tennis tournament? Me neither? In my opinion, no team has a better shot at making the Super Bowl this year than the New England Patriots. We are looking forward to our October International tour. I’ll head to the UK right after the OU game at Texas Tech. Busy weekend for yours truly. As a fan, I would love to see more emphasis put on SmackDown’s cruiserweight division. There’s lots of talented athletes in that weight class. I think I should be paid a royalty when football announcers use the term “slobberknocker.” Let’s get to your e-mails … From: Jeff Starks Mohammed Hassan and Daivari have been banned. While they caused a lot of controversy, they had potential. Do you think we will see them return as different characters in the future? I hope so and am optimistic that will happen at some point in time. I agree with you, Jeff, that both these young men have potential. New stars must be cultivated for the long-term success of WWE, and these two could contribute, in time. From: Andrew Lister Dear Mr. Ross, My name's Andy and I've been doing play-by-play commentary for an independent federation in Scott County, Iowa. I have to say that you are one of my biggest influences as a commentator, and I hope to one day be as talented and knowledgeable as you are. I have to ask you, as one PBP guy to another, what words of wisdom would you have for a guy like me? What sort of things do you do to make yourself one of the best in the business? I’ve never understood why more young broadcasters have not aggressively pursued jobs with WWE TV. Opportunity is knocking. Someone else will be doing play-by-play on RAW someday (not anytime soon, I hope), but who will it be? Andrew, never not be a fan of wrestling, study all the tapes you can, recognize match situations and transitions and out-prepare and work harder at being better than your peers. Plus, good luck never hurts. From: Jason JR, First of all, it was a tough loss for the Oklahoma Sooners this past weekend. It will be a tough season for them this season. My question is this...If one former WWE Superstar could return to RAW or SmackDown, who would you want that to be and why? Who would make the biggest impact? The Sooners played with no passion against a solid, well-coached TCU team. Eliminate the passion from any equation and one usually fails — no matter the endeavor. Stone Cold or The Rock returning and being involved in a spirited, personal issue would be awesome, especially if it played out over time. From: Joey Fiscella Hi Mr. Ross...I am and always will be a huge Ultimate Warrior fan. I have watched wrestling since I was 4 and I’m wondering if you think we'll ever see him in a WWE ring again? Not very likely. Warrior, and that is his legal name, does not appear to be a big fan of this organization. His frequent rants seem to indicate much. His charisma and “look” took him further than any Superstar I can think of, however. Being outspoken is cool, but appearing to be irrational or delusional, isn’t. When Warrior and Sting were the “Blade Runners” in the old UWF, we though we had found our own L.O.D. It didn’t quite work out that way. From: The Madman I appreciate Jerry and of you commentating on RAW. What does Jerry do when he is off the show and is he still married to KAT? PTA meetings. Bake sales. Crossing guard duty. Only kidding, Madman. The King has a lovely, young, early 20-something girlfriend who is in college in Memphis. He still wrestles frequently and closely follows the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns. His marriage to Kat is long over. From: Michael Hello J.R, how are you? I was wondering if you could answer me one question, do you think Bill Goldberg will ever come back to the WWE? Well, Michael, the old “never say never” cliché fits well here. I assume if all the stars lined up properly and enough cash were involved that it could happen. But I seriously doubt it, and that’s too bad for a variety of reasons. From: Chris Hi Jim, I was wondering on the current status of the Big Red Monster. Is he coming back anytime soon? Cheers, Chris Chris, I expect to see Kane very soon on RAW. Check out the Kane novel. It’s called “Journey Into Darkness.” I personally thought it was well-written and imaginative. From: Charles I am happy with WWE's attempts to get tag teams going. The team of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch has caught my eye. I rub my eyes watching Trevor in the Ring — a mirror image of the Dirty One. Val Venis-Viscera is a neat idea as well. And my favorite of all is William Regal and Paul Burchill. I hope this team keeps things going, Burchill reminds me of another wrestler from Stampede Wrestling. He has that Benoit, Dynamite Kid, Johnny Smith look to him a real ring grinder. There is a chance one of these teams could take the world by storm like the NEW AGE OUTLAWS did. Not sure why I am saying this, but I am getting a huge kick out of Rob Conway! That theme song is the best ever. I look forward to it every week. You sound like a longtime fan and student of the game, Charles. The tag team area is ripe for the pickings and it is anyone’s guess as to which duo is going to step up, innovate and improve this aspect of RAW and SmackDown. There is big money to be made if a team can go on TV and get hot. I hope the young teams are preparing and watching tape of the Midnight Express, Rock ’N Roll Express, Brisco Brothers and the Horsemen, to name a few. There is a reason all those teams were great.

World Wrestling Entertainment dropped creative team member Rudy Fischmann, who had been with the company about 8-12 weeks. Fischmann had a reputation for "acting markish" according to one source and for talking down to wrestlers despite his relatively low position on the creative team's totem poll. One of the last straws was said to have been Fischmann browbeating and yelling at Ashley Massaro and Torrie Wilson after their match on Monday. Despite the Divas being told by several road agents and even Vince McMahon that the bout (which obviously didn't go well) was OK, Fischmann loudly complained that it wasn't what he wanted out of the segment.

Actually, the Ross Report went away because HHH got in Vince's ear about striking down anything that remotely broke kayfabe. That's why the Ross Report shut down, WWE.Com turned into all kayfabe all the time, Confidential was cancelled and replaced with WWE Experience, and WWE announced they weren't going to do anymore Tough Enough MTV shows all within one month.

Remember when The Big Bossman ripped out Droz's nose ring after a match? That was awesome.

When was the last official In Your House? I think Fully Loaded 99 was the first one where they didn't use the IYH name at all.

I was at Smackdown and no, they did not change the set. It's still the same one.

I was at the show. Here is my write-up: Velocity/SmackDown spoilers from the Gwinnett Center in Atlanta, GA Tony Chimel welcomes us to the show and tells us we’re going straight to the Velocity tapings. No dark matches tonight. Well…pre-taping dark matches that is. VELOCITY Brian Kendrick & Kid Kash vs. Mike Knox & Derrick Neikirk Kendrick got a good response, as everyone seemed to remember who he was. Kash was also well received. Knox & Neikirk are from WWE’s developmental group, Deep South Wrestling, that runs in McDonough, GA. Kendrick is looking weird though. He’s really pale and wears these really skimpy pink trunks. Yikes. Kendrick attempts Sliced Bread #2 on Neikirk, Neikirk breaks it, but Kendrick rolls him up in a Rolling Prawn for the 1-2-3. Winners: Brian Kendrick & Kid Kash Josh Mathews & Steve Romero are introduced for Velocity commentary. The Mexicools (Psicosis & Super Crazy) vs. Nunzio & Vito Mexicools were insanely over. Juventud was with Psicosis & Crazy. Psicosis & Crazy used a lot of innovative team moves. While Vito and Crazy were brawling outside the ring, Nunzio set up Psicosis for a superplex. Psicosis shook him off to the mat, and hit the guillotine leg drop for the win. They were placing emphasis on the fact that Psicosis pinned the Cruiserweight Champion. Winners: The Mexicools (Psicosis & Super Crazy) Sylvain vs. Matt Johnson Johnson was billed as the hometown boy from Atlanta, GA but to no avail. Total squash. After a few minutes of a beat down, Sylvain applied his finisher, which looks like a typical suplex, but he brings them down on the front of their stomach. Winner: Sylvain Booker T. vs. Steven Richards Sharmell was with Booker. It’s a shame they dropped the bWo, because that was a lot more entertaining. Back and forth action, until Booker kept Steven down enough to perform a Spinaroonie. Follow it up with the axe kick, and this one’s done. After the match, Sharmell kept pointing to this huge ring on her finger. Winner: Booker T. Mathews & Romero leave, and Michael Cole & Tazz come out for SmackDown. SMACKDOWN GM Teddy Long comes up on the screen and announces that the first hour of SmackDown will be seen on WWE.Com and the second hour will be seen on UPN on Friday Night at 9pm. Long flubbed up and originally said “9pm central” and then quickly corrected himself. He announced that tonight, you’d see three of the biggest matches in the history of the WWE. Chris Benoit defends his U.S. Title against Orlando Jordan, Eddie Guerrero takes on Rey Mysterio in a Steel Cage Match, and Batista goes up against JBL in a Bullrope Match for the World Heavyweight Championship. “One of the biggest matches in WWE history” and “Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan” do not need to be grouped together. WWE Tag Team Championship Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich vs. MNM Mercury & Nitro are accompanied by the always-lovely Melina. You’ve got to check her out Friday night on WWE.Com. She was wearing this tiny black miniskirt. It was so short that if she walked a certain way, you could see half of her rear-end. Jillian and her monster growth was nowhere to be seen and probably not missed. MNM spent the whole match working over Heidenreich, which led to the hot tag to Animal. Heidenreich and Nitro spilled out to the outside, while Animal started slamming Mercury into turnbuckles. The second turnbuckle he rammed Mercury into had the referee Jimmy Korderas in front of it, so he went down. Melina grabbed one of the tag belts and attempted to blindside Animal. Animal grabbed the belt from her and backed her into the corner. Just as Mercury was about to attack, Animal splattered the belt across his forehead. Animal revived the ref and got the win. Winners and STILL WWE Tag Team Champions: Road Warrior Animal & Heidenreich After this match, attention was drawn to a luxury box, where Teddy Long, “Network Executive” Palmer Canon, Stacy Keibler, & Christy Hemme are seen watching the show. Ken Kennedy vs. Paul London After Chimel introduced Kennedy, Kennedy took the microphone and berated Chimel some more. “There’s two things you are really horrible at: announcing and…announcing.” Kennedy then introduced the match being one-fall with a 20-minute time limit. He then introduced himself at 243 pounds as “Mr. Kennedy…Kennedy”. London came out. This was nothing but a squash. London really is getting buried since that rumored verbal scuffle with Vince backstage. Kennedy hit his amazing finisher off the middle rope for the win, and announced himself as the victor. Winner: Ken Kennedy Paul Birchill vs. Scotty 2 Hotty I had no idea Scotty was still around. They showed a replay of Birchill debuting on Velocity two weeks ago, attacking Scotty. William Regal accompanied Birchill and did commentary. Pre-match, Birchill gave his first promo. This got the “What?” chants going for a legitimate reason: either he was talking so low or the audio volume decreased to the point where we could barely hear him. After a few minutes of back-and-forth, Scotty set up for the Bulldog which usually precedes the Worm. But Birchill threw Scotty left- shoulder first into the ring post, and did it two more times for good measure. He then hit Scotty with a beautiful shoulder breaker and followed with a Fujiwara Armbar for the tap out victory. Winner: Paul Birchill Josh Mathews is backstage with Randy Orton & Cowboy Bob Orton. They are holding a gift for the Undertaker, which is a giant check. The Undertaker comes out to the ring, intro and all, and says it’s time to quit playing games. “You and your father are going to find out what death and The Undertaker have in common: we wait for no man.” Father & Son then come out. They ask people to come out with their gift for the Undertaker. The signed Undertaker DVD they put up on WWE.Com’s auction block apparently sold for $1,416 and they had a check ready for Taker’s retirement fund. Orton put his signature on the check, but told Taker he had to come get it himself. The lights and the titantron start getting screwy. Taker apparently uses his dark, magic power to summon lightning that strikes down on the check and sets it on fire. Both Ortons bolt out of there. Chimel informs us that this is where WWE.Com’s portion of SmackDown cuts off and UPN’s portion starts. Steel Cage Match Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio The match starts off interesting. Rey immediately tries to go for the 6-1-9 but right when he’s about to do it, realizes he can’t with the way the cage is. Lots of high spots in this one, such as a Russian Leg Sweep from the top rope, Rey powerbombing Eddie from the top rope, and Rey jumping from the top of the cage on Eddie, who is standing on the turnbuckle below him, and hitting a hurricanrana. The finish comes when Rey, instead of climbing out of the cage, tries to hit a cross body splash from the top of the cage, but misses. Eddie is on the steps about to touch the floor, but goes back in to hit a Frog splash and finally gets a win in WWE-land over Mysterio, 1-2-3. Certainly not the best cage match ever, but it was good for TV. Crowd was split for Rey and Eddie, with tons of “Eddie” and “Eddie Sucks” chants. Winner: Eddie Guerrero Ken Kennedy meets up with Sharmell backstage and introduces himself. He plays troublemaker by telling Sharmell that her husband and Chris Benoit are such good friends, but Benoit hasn’t given Booker any title shots. He then defends this with a classic line: “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk…but they sure as heck give each other title shots!” As Sharmell is about to respond, Kennedy thanks her for her time and, reminding her that the name is Ken Kennedy, leaves. He than pops right back in the shot and says Kennedy again. This guy is seriously money. I’ve honestly never seen a guy this charismatic since the breakout days of The Rock. And he’s getting over too. As one guy in my section said after this promo, “Wow, that Ken Kennedy guy is f**kin awesome!” WWE United States Championship Chris Benoit vs. Orlando Jordan Before the match, they replayed both matches from SummerSlam and SmackDown last week. Right when the match started, a timer came up on the TitanTron, and you knew then this match wasn’t going to last long. Benoit squashed Jordan in 22.5 seconds. Jordan threw a temper tantrum in the ring, while still selling the shoulder. Winner and STILL United States Champion: Chris Benoit World Heavyweight Championship Bullrope Match Batista vs. JBL After JBL makes his intro, he reminds us that it was this very match in which he won the WWE Championship in, and tonight would be no different. Batista comes out to the biggest pop of the night, even bigger than Undertaker’s. They did the same deal from the JBL/Guerrero Bullrope Match with the lights in the corner. JBL’s was green and Batista’s was red. This is where it gets weird. Batista had the biggest pop of the night, but this match was a huge snooze. It was easily worse than their Great American Bash and SummerSlam matches. Bullrope Matches are usually bad by default, but Jesus, this was brutal. The crowd was absolutely dead. After about 30,000 clotheslines, Batista hits the Batista-Bomb and starts dragging JBL around behind him while touching corners. JBL remembers his old tricks from the Guerrero match and touches the corners after Batista does. After the third one, JBL jukes in front of Batista and is no less than 6 inches away from the World Title. After about 10 seconds, Batista finally pulls him back, hits a spinebuster, and touches the 4th corner for the win. As J.R. would say, mercifully it’s over. Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Batista This is where SmackDown ends. Local advertising was promoting a special bonus dark match, a 6-Man Tag with Batista, Rey Mysterio, & The Undertaker vs. JBL, Eddie Guerrero, & Randy Orton. It really didn’t look like this was going to happen and about half of the arena was empty……when Randy Orton’s music hit. Orton came out bedecked in his wrestling gear, sans Cowboy Bob. Orton got on the microphone and said, “I’m tired of all the smoke and the mirrors, and I’m tired of the bullsh*t. Get out here Undertaker, and let’s fight right NOW.” Taker comes out, Brian Hebner’s in the ring, and it’s an instant-super bonus match. SUPER BONUS DARK MATCH Randy Orton vs. The Undertaker Orton and Taker easily had the match of the night, and I’m willing to say this one was better than their WM21 or SummerSlam encounters. It was just that good. No man dominated this one and it was totally competitive. Immediately after Hebner got squashed in the corner, Orton hit the RKO on Taker, but there was no referee to count. Cowboy Bob came out dragging Charles Robinson to the ring, but only got a two-count. Taker chokeslammed Orton, but the Cowboy dragged out Robinson at 2 and just decked him on the outside. Orton went for another RKO, but Taker shook him off. While he was distracted, Cowboy Bob came in the ring and nailed Taker in the face, which Taker no-sold. Taker tombstoned Cowboy Bob, chokeslammed and tombstoned Randy, and pinned both after Brian Hebner recovered. Winner: The Undertaker NOTES --- People were wondering where Christian was all night. There’s an obvious demand for this guy, and why WWE has chosen to not capitalize on that and do nothing with him is one of the biggest mysteries. A lot of people were disappointed they didn’t get to see Captain Charisma. But his t-shirt was in fact on sale and it seemed to be a hot seller. --- Arena was not full the entire upper deck was tarped off and a lot of sections on the hard camera side were empty. The place looked sold out for RAW back in March, but didn’t look anything close to it tonight. --- Batista got the biggest response of the night.

Leave....The...Horsemen...Alone.

Did they censor Bobby Heenan screaming "what the fuck are you doing?" when Pillman went crazy at the announce table during his match with Guerrero?

The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom WCW Clash of the Champions February 6th, 1990 The Steiner Brothers and Doom had one of the most heated rivalries of 1990 and this match was further proof of that. The Steiners put their WCW Tag Team Championship on the line, but if Doom lost, they would have to unmask and reveal their real identities. Would Doom become new WCW Tag Team Champions or would the world finally find out who lurked underneath their masks? Brian Pillman vs. Eddie Guerrero WCW Clash of the Champions January 23nd, 1996 Before Eddie Guerrero found his Latino Heat in WWE, he was clashing with Cruiserweights in WCW like the late Brian Pillman. These two could take to the air like no others and they put their impressive aerial arsenals on display in this one. Would Eddie crash and burn or would he fly high and pick up a win against Flyin' Brian? The Outsiders vs. Ric Flair & Chris Benoit WCW Monday Nitro July 21st, 1997 The nWo was always at odds with the Four Horsemen when in WCW. On this particular edition of Nitro, it was Ric Flair and Chris Benoit who teamed up to try and take down the Outsiders. Could Flair and Benoit cut their much larger opponents down to size and make them submit to the Crossface or the Figure Four Leglock? Or would Hall and Nash find a way to come up with yet another win for the nWo? Andre The Giant vs. Gorilla Monsoon August 16th, 1977 At WrestleMania 2, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper faced Mr. T in a well-known Boxing Match. But several years prior to the event, WWE Hall of Famers the late Andre the Giant and the late Gorilla Monsoon laced up the gloves for a boxing match of their own. Andre the Giant rarely lost in a wrestling match, but would he also be able to dominate a boxing match? Goldberg vs. Sid Vicious WCW Halloween Havoc 1999 October 24th, 1999 This one is not for the faint of heart. Goldberg and Sid had been embroiled in a heated rivalry over the United States Championship and it all came to a head at Halloween Havoc. Despite receiving a beating before the match at the hands of the Outsiders, Goldberg was able to go on the offensive and bust Sid wide open. Sid was bleeding profusely and before long was wearing the proverbial crimson mask. The bleeding was so bad that the referee had to stop the match despite Sid never giving up. Super Calo vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr. WCW Fall Brawl 1996 September 15th, 1996 Rey Mysterio had countless classic Cruiserweight clashes in WCW and this one against Super Calo is no exception. Super Calo was able to dominate Mysterio, who was the Cruiserweight Champion, for the majority of the match. But would Rey be able to come back and keep the gold around his waist? The nWo vs. Ric Flair, Sting, Arn Anderson, & Lex Luger -- War Games WCW Fall Brawl 1996 September 15th, 1996 War Games was one of the most brutal matches in WCW. Two rings, side by side, were enclosed by a steel cage. The steel cage had a roof, so once you were in the cage, there was no escape. Two wrestlers started the match and after a predetermined amount of time, another would enter. A coin toss was held before each match to determine which team would send in another team member first. This match was reserved to settle only the most bitter rivalries. This one featured Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Sting vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Sting. Both teams claimed to have Sting on their side, but only one was telling the truth. Where did the Stinger's allegiance lie? Paisley vs. Tammy Lynn Sytch WCW Monday Nitro April 26th, 2000 This match featured two of the hottest women in WCW at the time - Paisley and Tammy Lynn Sytch. But that didn't stop The Artist Formally Known as Prince Iaukea and the late Chris Candido from getting involved. Would The Artist be able to help Paisley get the win, or could Candido guide Sytch to a victory? The Undertaker vs. Damien Demento WWE Monday Night RAW January 11th, 1993 This was the first ever main event from the first ever RAW. Undertaker had his work cut out for him, taking on the unorthodox Damien Damento. Could the Deadman cap off the first ever RAW with his trademark Tombstone? Arn Anderson's Retirement Speech WCW Monday Nitro September 23rd, 1997 Double A will always be considered as one of the best technical wrestlers in sports-entertainment history. He was dubbed The Enforcer of the Four Horsemen. He was a World Tag Team Champion, WCW Tag Team Champion and Television Champion. He always did whatever it took to make sure the Four Horsemen were on top of the wrestling world. But in 1997 Arn Anderson was forced into retirement due to a serious neck injury. You won't want to miss his moving farewell speech. Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff & Harley Race November 24th, 1986 Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper didn't always see eye to eye. In fact they were on opposing sides at the first ever WrestleMania. But they decided to join forces to take on WWE Hall of Famers Harley Race and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff in a tag team classic at Madison Square Garden. Which Hall of fame duo came out on top though? Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel WWE In Your House -- "Good Friends, Better Enemies" April 28th, 1996 Shawn Michaels and Diesel were the best of friends at one time. Diesel came into WWE as HBK's bodyguard, but Diesel was ready to go out on his own and he was hungry for Michaels' new WWE Championship. This one was a No Holds Barred Match. Diesel used his size advantage in this one to lay a hellacious beating on the Showstopper, but HBK is known for taking a lot of punishment. Could he endure Diesel's wrath? Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle WWE WrestleMania 21 April 3rd, 2005 This one was an instant classic. Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle are two of the best in-ring performers in WWE history and they decided to steal the show at WrestleMania 21. On the grandest stage of them all, Angle hooked in the Ankle Lock multiple times, but would it be enough to make HBK tap out? You won't want to miss this five-star match. The Road Warriors vs. The Midnight Express WCW Starrcade 1986 November 28th, 1986 There have been several notable Scaffold Matches over the years, but this one ranks right up there. This took place at WCW's biggest event of the year - Starrcade. Once both teams made it to the top of the scaffolding, they went at it tooth and nail. The Midnight Express used powder to try to blind the Road Warriors, but would it be enough to save them from the big fall off the scaffolding? The Return of The 4 Horsemen WCW Monday Nitro September 14th, 1998 This will go down as one of the more emotional moments and nights in Nitro history. Arn Anderson introduced that the Four Horsemen were back and would be better than ever. After announcing Steve "Mongo" McMichael, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko, it was time to announce the fourth horsemen. Without any further ado, Double A announced Ric Flair as the crowd went ballistic. Flair is known for his emotional speeches, but this one will go down as one of the most emotional of all time. Bret Hart vs. Diesel WWE In Your House February 18th, 1996 The Excellence of Execution had his work cut out for him in this one. The much larger Diesel was an imposing force and it seemed like no one would be able to take him down. But no one is better at taking down bigger foes than Bret Hart. He knows how to pick apart an opponent piece by piece. But would he be able to do that against the mighty Diesel? Waylon Mercy vs. Jeff Hardy WWE Monday Night RAW July 3rd, 1995 Waylon Mercy was one of the most bizarre characters in WWE history. Also known as Dan Spivey at one time, Mercy's time in WWE was relatively short-lived. But he did have a match with a very young and inexperienced Jeff Hardy. You won't want to miss this rare match up. Reggie White vs. Steve McMichael WCW Slamboree 1997 May 18th, 1997 These two mammoth men used to be on opposite sides of the gridiron, but now they were on opposite sides of the squared circle. Both have been recognized as two of the best defensive players in NFL history, but they wanted to see who was the best in the ring. Mongo had the Four Horsemen on his side, but would they factor into the outcome? Samoan Swat Team vs. Michael P.S. Hayes & Steve Cox AWA Superclash 1988 December 13th, 1988 Michael Hayes is best known for being on the Fabulous Freebirds, but he teamed up with Steve Cox while in the AWA to take on the Samoan Swat Team as well. Hayes' former partner Buddy Rose was now managing the Samoan Swat Team, and the SST's only loss came at the hands of Hayes and Cox so this one had been brewing for a while. Would the SST be able to get revenge for their only loss?

Already posted a few weeks ago

Baby, baby!

Vader and Sting had some of the best matches together. The Great American Bash 1992 match is just sick. Vader totally beats the shit out of Sting, and Sting is a bumping like a pinball. And the Superbrawl 3 strap match is one of the most barbaric things I've ever seen. Vader had blood coming out of his head in about 3 or 4 places, and that match gave Sting a lot of credibility as a tough guy because he bloodied up Vader so bad.

Nope. Velocity's. 11pm on Saturday nights.

The only thing that annoys me is when the audio byte "WWF" has to be removed. It really pissed me off on Benoit's DVD when they did the Angle/Benoit cage match. You kept hearing things like: "Chris Benoit could be the next ....... Champion!" -- JR "I am Stone Cold Steve Austin, the ....... Champion!" -- Austin "This man is the ....... Champion, sir!" -- Paul Heyman Now THAT's fucking annoying.

And the fact that they're not paying for the timeslot on SpikeTV, unlike their FSN timeslot, adds a lot more to them sticking around.

Jericho was removed from the RAW page right after RAW concluded.

If WWE will fire Dave & Earl Hebner for selling merchandise without authorization, Vince would have no problem shitcanning Jericho for being a WWE wrestler giving away free advertising to his #1 rival that he's never officially recognized in a public forum.

If this is a work, WWE has opened themself up to a huge lawsuit from TNA by using TNA's name and logo to promote one of their angles. And if Jericho did this without WWE's permission...Jericho may actually have to find employment in TNA.

Dark Match *Sylvain Grenier defeated ??? Velocity *Big Vito defeated ??? *Doug Basham defeated Caprice Coleman. *Simon Dean defeated Russell Simpson. *Scotty 2 Hotty defeated William Regal by DQ when Paul Birchall interfered, making his TV debut. Regal and Birchall laid out Scotty. Smackdown *Randy Orton (with Bob Orton) defeated Hardcore Holly. *Teddy Long and a "UPN representative" announced the Friday Night Smackdown change and that the first Friday episode would feature WWE World champion Batista vs. JBL in a Summerslam rematch *The Peep Show with special guests Booker T and Sharmell. The Mexicools came out and ended up being run off by Christian and Booker. *Heidenreich defeated Joey Mercury via DQ when Johnny Nitro used a chair on Heidenreich. *Backstage, Chris Benoit said he beat Orlando Jordan faster then he could drink a cup of coffee and they played the tape of the Summerslam match in a split screen with him drinking coffee. *Backstage, JBL was going off on Orlando Jordan for losing. The main event tonight is Rey Mysterio & Chris Benoit & Batista vs. JBL & Orlando Jordan & Eddie Guerrero. *Super Crazy and Psicosis defeated Booker T and Christian. Sharmell and Christian ended up arguing and he walked out. Crazy pinned Booker. *Backstage, Randy Orton was with his father Bob Orton and said that at Summerslam, The Undertaker's legacy was destroyed. They signed an Undertaker DVD and said it would be going up for auction on the WWE website with the proceeds going to the Undertaker retirement fund. *Teddy Long came out and announced a Lingerie match between Christy Hemme and Stacy Keibler. The Network representative came out and said that they couldn't have it on TV (Note from Mike: Oh God, they are doing ECW on TNN angles?) so they had it just for the live crowd with Hemme winning. *Ken Kennedy pinned Funaki in his Smackdown debut. *They aired a video for John Cena's CD. *Rey Mysterio & Batista & Chris Benoit defeated Eddie Guerrero & JBL & Orlando Jordan after Jordan took all three finishers. The crowd went nuts for Batista. Quick Results: -- Randy Orton defeated Hardcore Holly -- Heidenreich defeated Joey Mercury by DQ -- Super Crazy & Psicosis defeated Booker T. & Christian -- Ken Kennedy defeated Funaki -- Batista, Chris Benoit, & Rey Mysterio defeated JBL, Eddie Guerrero, & Orlando Jordan

Remember when HBK jobbed to Daivari on RAW last April in like 3 minutes?

Kazarian quit WWE about two weeks ago.

Please GOD can we leave The 4 Horsemen alone and not tarnish it anymore than WCW did with it's last version?

According to Meltzer, Kazarian met up with a creative team member backstage to pitch him some character ideas. The writer had no idea who Kazarian was, didn't know he worked for WWE, and asked him if he was there for dark matches.

It was up in the air between Randy Orton and Eddie Guerrero. Judging from the spoilers, Orton looks like he'll be continuing his feud with The Undertaker, so it looks like Guerrero.