QuestionMan

I'm sure Dreamer's satisfied as far as his WWE career goes. I mean, he got to put on a fantastic match with his old ECW brethren Rob Van Dam in Madison Square Garden on national television. You could tell it meant something to Tommy due to the tears he shed afterward. I'm sure Dreamer is going into retirement more happily than Lance Storm, but Storm's expectations were probably higher than Dreamer's. Dreamer's never been about being a main eventer anyways.

Dave Meltzer claimed that Ric Flair had a talk with Triple H and basically told him he's got a spot in wrestling for life because he's so good, so he doesn't need to be all political and holding people back and Meltzer said this has caused HHH to behave a bit more.

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=2255&p=1 Several sources in the Japanese media, including Nippon Sports and SportsNavi are reporting that Hiroki Suzuki, the wife of Kenzo Suzuki has signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment to become the promotion's first Japanese diva. According to the reports (which list her signing a 275 thousand dollar deal with WWE, which sounds really high), Hiroki will be accompanying her husband when he debuts on the Raw brand this month as Hirohito.

http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=2266&p=1 Scott Steiner has been cleared to return to WWE but is not expected to come back to wrestle. Despite the fact that they could use name brand talent on Smackdown right now, WWE feels that they don’t have anything creatively for him. They also feel that, even though he has largely been healthy during his WWE run, his is too fragile physically to push on television because they feel that his body has taken a lot of punishment over the years. Unless something changes, it's expected that WWE will let his contract expire and not use him again. Steiner signed a two-year contract in October 2002, so his contract will expire in October 2004.

I don't understand how something that hasn't happened yet is a spoiler. Up until the point it actually happens, it's speculation and predictions.

No, no, no, that booing was because Steiner was wearing an American flag, and the Canadians didn't like that, and because they're not over Montreal, and uh...the snack bar was out of Coke, and uh...uhm...uh...it's the economy's fault. That joke would have worked if Royal Rumble '03 was not held in Boston, MA.

A clean win over a Scott Steiner would do more for Eddie Guerrero's career and credibility than Bradshaw. Anyone remember a few months ago when Bradshaw was losing to Rhyno in 2 minutes? Yeah, what an accomplishment it'd be to beat this guy.

I see Scott Keith has joined the board.

The only female I remember TAKA having any angle involvement with was Mrs. Yamaguchi-San. It was the basis of his heel turn when it was revealed she was TAKA's sister.

It wouldn't shock me to see Benjamin get win #3 over HHH with HBK's help, considering last night's finish.

Jim Ross was on Byte This on 4/22 and talked in depth about his position change. It was nothing that wasn't mentioned in more detail here last week. He said he considers Steve Austin a friend and that it was unfortunate they couldn't come to terms on his new contract. He said he expects him back at some point, but figures he'll explore other options before coming back. He said he hopes the people who are advising him don't put him in a position where he is going to wrestle and said he didn't think Austin would allow it to happen. He said Austin can help Japanese wrestling, which he said, "They're desperate. The Japanese pro wrestling is sucking pond water. It's not drawing. Goldberg went there. He did not draw maybe once or twice." A lot of people ripped Ross for the remarks, and the sucking pond water comment is too strong from a quality standpoint, and there are so many versions out there that generalizing an entire industry is a bad idea. You could make the same statement about the popularity of the U.S. industry in 2002-03. Ross' business appraisal isn't off, as the traditional version of pro wrestling isn't drawing well and his statement on Goldberg was accurate, in that after his first two All Japan appearances, every show he's done has been a disaster, although that's more the fault of the direction and lack of long-term planning of the promotions he's worked for. Goldberg came into Japan with great hype, and he came across like a superstar on his first two shows, reminiscent of the 1985 debut of the Road Warriors. But he didn't deliver the excitement they did, and even though he's got the great deal and works on top on high profile shows, he doesn't have the drawing power legs they had. From a quality standpoint, I'd disagree, as NOAH is a strong product and New Japan is actually real good as far as a lot of the house shows and semi-major shows go. Their booking direction is a disaster and they've prostituted their business, and affiliating with shoot groups may line Antonio Inoki's pockets and give them short term big cash, but they've killed their fan base for the long run in the process. Ross felt putting Austin in with a Japanese wrestler or Goldberg would be short sighted and poorly advised and said he didn't think Steve would allow it to happen unless a lot of money is thrown in his face. It's probably good for the future that WWE considers his agent as the heel because it's easy for him to come back, but Austin is steering his own ship. He's not the passenger, and he is the one who will make the decision to wrestle and has talked openly about doing occasional matches in Japan. Ross said he read Goldberg was offered a new contract but he wasn't. That's a semantic deal because Goldberg was asked if he wanted to come back, but told they wanted world wide rights, and no deal was reached. Even after Mania, Goldberg at least discussed with friends the possibility of taking the deal, and the decision was based on what would be better for his career, to stay on TV every week and be in the public eye, or to not be on TV every week, but not be misused. He said Brock Lesnar may be back next year if he doesn't make it in the NFL, but it's best for WWE in the long run if he makes it in football and then comes back. He didn't knock Lesnar at all. He praised Mick Foley, as he should have. He talked about some day writing a book on his life, said Simon & Schuster has expressed interest, but there are no plans as of right now. He said his new job will give him more time for such a project. He also said he's been talking with Jeff Hardy about returning, saying he belongs in WWE. There are hold-ups on this one and the return at this point isn't imminent. As mentioned before by friends of Jeff’s, that the biggest problem involves Jeff’s own stubbornness. I believe WWE wants Jeff to go into rehab first, because of his two failed drug tests and company policy, before signing him to a new deal and Jeff has always been in denial of having any problem. Ross also talked about a possible revival of Tough Enough in a year if reality TV stays strong. In the weekend movie box office, "The Punisher" fell to No. 4 in its second week out doing $6,289,000 for a two week total of $24,732,000. "Walking Tall" fell to No. 11, with $2,660,332, for a total at this point of $40,716,354. On the Mania 3-disc DVD which comes out this week, they've changed the crowd noise for the Goldberg vs. Lesnar match. They turned the noise down to take away most of the chants about how the match sucked. Some of the booing for the match couldn't be taken out, and the "Na na na na" on Lesnar was left in. You could hear "You sold out" chants at Lesnar. Some of the negative chants couldn't be taken out, but they did take out "boring" chants and a lot of the loud booing. The "na na na na" was there, but edited down. They didn't change the commentary, which led to a funny spot where Lawler says, "that's not boring," which made no sense because the loud "boring" chants had been edited off. They also edited out both of Ultimo Dragon's slip-ups, and played different entrance music (rights fees) for Victoria. As things stand right now, Lance Storm, 34, has retired with his final match being in his home city of Calgary on 4/19 against Steven Richards on Heat. Storm started wrestling almost 14 years ago. He was a college volleyball player and went to Calgary to be trained by Keith Hart. He will be starting on 5/2 full-time as a trainer in OVW. His career started in the dying days of the Stampede territory, and he worked Canadian independents, most notably in Winnipeg where he first met with Chris Jericho. The two formed a tag team in Winnipeg, worked together with the old WAR promotion in Japan, before Storm started full-time in Austria for Otto Wanz. Storm & Jericho made their first U.S. name as a tag team called The Thrillseekers for SMW. The team, which Jim Cornette wanted to make into a younger version of The Rock & Roll Express, didn't work out. Storm wrestled mainly in Japan after that, before getting a gig in ECW, where he and Justin Credible worked as The Impact Players tag team. From there he went to WCW, where he had his good moments when he got a push, more as a heel under Vince Russo playing the Pro-Canada babyface role off the 1997 Survivor Series. He got a little push early in coming to WWE after the folding of WCW (they immediately put the IC title on him in probably only his 2nd TV match, although this was probably due more to Albert’s reign tanking big time and desperately needing the title off him), but when they tried to make his blandness into a gimmick, like everyone else historically this has been done with (Doug Furnas, Phil LaFon, and Steve Blackman come to mind), it was career suicide. One of the reasons Storm hadn't been wrestling for the last several weeks is that he'd talked about getting out of the ring and everything was on hold until they came to an agreement as to what he'd do next. Storm wrote a long story on his web site saying, "I have been dissatisfied with my in-ring career for quite a while. I have been lost in the quagmire for the better part of the year, with no direction, no focus, and quite frankly, no forward motion. This isn't anybody's fault so much as it is a compilation of several factors. I have always wanted to be an important part of the product and I had come to the point where I was feeling that I could contribute more outside the ring than I have been inside it." His decision was made easier because of back problems. He has four bulging discs in his lower back and a problem with his sciatic nerve. There were bumps he could no longer take and was limping and in great pain after most of his matches. He's had his legs go numb on more than one occasion. He said if everything else was going well with his career, he could rehab it and work through it, but since his career was going nowhere, the combination of the two had him looking for ways out. A lot of the older wrestlers in the company are hoping for agent jobs, but quite frankly, there are only so many agent jobs necessary and they are all full. When the decision was that they didn't want to make him an agent, citing it would be too quick a transition from talent to office, he was offered the OVW job. Storm said he was emotional about it that night, noting he lives in Calgary, he was trained in Calgary, had his first WWE appearance in Calgary and what may be his last match was in Calgary. He was originally to beat a local wrestler, but Richards asked if he could lose to Storm. Storm said he would have liked to have gone out with a great match, but they didn't present it as a big deal so he just did a 6:00 TV match. Nothing was said about it in the commentary and the cameras cut out right after the finish, so you never saw the post-match celebration. Because WWE did more than 7,000 tickets on the first weekend of sales for 7/6 Smackdown TV in Winnipeg, they are planning on doing Raw there on 7/5. The announcement should be made next week as they are sending Eric Bischoff to Winnipeg to promote the ticket sale opening in early May. WWE is still planning on producing three movies on its own. The HHH and Kane (horror movie) vehicles are a go. The movie that was supposed to be a vehicle for Steve Austin is still going to be produced. Vince McMahon hasn't made the final decision on who is going to be put in the Austin lead role. The debut of Tyson Tomko (who is no relation to former Vancouver and Winnipeg promoter Al Tomko) with Christian makes the Sean O'Haire firing perplexing. Even though O'Haire wasn't catching onto WWE style, he was far more charismatic, better athletically, and a far better worker than Tomko. I think the main reason was that one was a WCW product and the other was a WWE find. It's also interesting to note that after several years of mainly giving wrestlers personalities that are exaggerated versions of themselves, and teaching talent that the successful characters like Steve Austin, The Rock, and Ric Flair are like that, that they've switched gears with people like Hirohito, Eugene, and Mordecai into the mid-80s cartoon era. I don't know if Vince McMahon feels this style has run its course and thinks this is the way to attract more of a casual audience with characters instead of "real people," because the audience itself wasn't taking the product to that direction. It just could be that Hirohito was an offshoot of the old Japanese wrestling stereotype heel of another generation, and Mordecai seems to simply be a big guy to give Undertaker new cartoon foe, and Eugene was because somebody on the writing staff watched Rain Man. There is talk of putting Dawn Marie and Rene Dupree together as an act. WWE's ledger books had to be redone and trading of shares was temporarily suspended after a Securities and Exchange Commission review of the company. Basically the company hadn't listed the expenses in the purchase of WCW, which totaled $9.1 million, in its annual books. The $2.5 million purchase price of WCW assets like the tape library, intellectual property, and some of the contracts were originally taken over an indefinite period of time on the books, or basically not counted. The SEC ruled they have to be taken as expenses, so they've added $417,000 in expenses over a six-year period from 2002 to 2007. In addition, the other $6.6 million in expenses, which was a combination of $5 million in promised advertising with AOL Time Warner and paying off some licensees and other expenses having to do with getting the rights to the company, was taken off the 2001 and 2002 fiscal year books. Basically that means the 2000-2001 company profit listed of $15.9 million is now $14.9 million (it would have been much higher but that was the XFL year). The 2001-2002 books profit originally listed at $42.3 million is now $38.9 million. The 2002-2003 books listed losses of $19.2 million (largely due to the losses from WWF New York) and now the losses are $19.5 million. Kensuke Sasaki was called about coming to San Jose for Raw on 5/10. It is believed he will be asked to be the bodyguard for Hirohito, although he himself wasn't even positive of that. It's funny because Kenzo Suzuki (Hirohito) is 6’4’’, and Sasaki is 5’7’’. The Hirohito promotional footage on Raw was edited off the U.K. version of Raw, probably due to the bad taste issue. The Dudley deal is they are going to push them for now as singles wrestlers. The idea is that the wrestlers will sign to face "The Dudley," but they won't know which Dudley until the match starts. And, of course, the other Dudley will constantly interfere. Tim White was back on the road last week working as an agent. He needs yet another shoulder operation because his shoulder popped out of its socket when he counted to three during the Christian vs. Chris Jericho match at Wrestlemania. He had only refereed one match in several months leading up to that match (another Christian vs. Jericho match on a house show), and was injured and replaced midway in that one. Christian and Jericho asked he ref their match, but I was still surprised he did so, since he got hurt a few weeks earlier. He told people how much of an honor it was that wrestlers asked that he ref their match at Mania. He also joked that he was bummed about the APA gimmick being over, because now he doesn't get a new bar renovation when they come to the Providence area for TV tapings. A couple of times they did staged bar fights that tore up White's "Friendly Tap" bar, and of course, whenever they do that type of a segment, the company pays for damages, since the wrestlers are allowed to go wild. Minneapolis Star-Tribune sports columnist Sid Hartman had an item saying that John Wolf, who is Brock Lesnar's agent, claimed that 14 NFL teams have expressed interest in attending his tryout to see if his 4.65, 40, and 290 pounds is legit. Wolf claimed that Lesnar earned $10 million in his four years as a pro wrestler. That number is ridiculously inflated, since only two of those years he was even on the main roster. He did make more than $250,000 per year in his two years of training because he signed one of the biggest developmental contracts ever (the only other person I can recall getting that kind of money unproven at the start was Mark Henry). He topped $1 million last year and was probably in that range the year before, so $2.5 million is probably close to the real number, with it possibly hitting $3 million. Wolf said that Lesnar, "Wanted to compete and pro wrestling doesn't include actual competition." Some wrestling fans will get mad at that, because of it coming off negative to the business, but it is the truth. There is actual competition in wrestling to be sure, but it's not in a traditional sports context. There are reports that Sports Illustrated is planning a feature story of Lesnar's attempt to make the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs have already expressed interest in him and Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice has softened his stance on him as well. Terry Funk will work doing the Steve Austin sheriff like role, doing an all-show program with Bischoff, on the 4/30 house show in Amarillo. Coming on the heels of Victoria and Christopher Nowinski making a Democratic Party gathering to promote young people voting, Hilary Rodham Clinton said that she and Bill used to watch wrestling all the time. This also came up during CNN's "Crossfire." The new TV schedule goes into effect this weekend. The final episode of Confidential (consisting of several previously aired segments) aired on 4/24. This coming weekend Velocity moves to 7 p.m. and WWE Experience starts at 10 a.m. Sundays, all on Spike. Jerry Lawler had told people that he's talked with Ross about starting a developmental territory in Memphis, because they've got the live TV that still does good ratings which is what young talent needs experience at, plus there are a lot of small-time shows in the area. Memphis had a several-year run as a WWF developmental territory, and was actually the first place both The Rock and Kurt Angle worked, but it fell apart due to all sorts of personality clashes that involved Lawler, his then-wife Stacy Carter, promoters Terry Golden and Randy Hales (who worked with each other, then split apart). Later, when Lawler quit the WWF, Hales, who owned the Memphis group at the time was told not to use Lawler, his biggest draw, on TV or shows. He sided with Lawler, so the WWF fired him and pulled all the talent, and having nothing to do with that issue, the live TV was canceled by Ch. 5 very shortly after that because they didn't want tapings in their studio any longer. While nothing is likely to happen in the immediate future, the idea of adding to OVW with one or more new territories has been talked about as a long term idea. The idea would be to sign up a lot more prospective wrestlers into the system and training them, which as noted, is something that needs to be done. Memphis, Connecticut, and Atlanta have all been talked about as potential new sites for developmental territories. This is one of the new projects that John Laurinaitis will be in charge of getting off the ground and stocking. Speaking of John Laurinaitis, in his first weekends in full charge of the house shows, the shows have continued to have pinfall finishes up and down the show. There hasn't been as much impromptu stuff as there was a few weeks ago, but there is still some, but I think that's more because Paul Heyman isn't involved in the house show booking as opposed to Laurinaitis taking more control over the shows. The Rock will be getting Punk'd on an episode of the MTV series. Last we heard is the schedule was for the episode to air on 5/16 at 10pm, or head-to-head with Judgment Day. Although it has been reported a few times in recent weeks that Chris Jericho's wife was from Winnipeg, Don Callis on his radio show this past weekend said she was actually from Minnesota. Edge was kept off the weekend house shows because of his broken hand. He appeared and got involved at the shows, but didn't wrestle. Sable has been out of action since having to undergo surgery when one of her implants leaked. She has more than one year left on her current contract but it is not definite if she will or won't be brought back. Brock Lesnar leaving didn't help her status any. I believe WWE sent a letter of apology to the Cauliflower Alley Club over the behavior of Chavo Guerrero, Sr., even though he was there on his own and not sent by the company. A correction from last week. Michael Jenkinson is the comment editor, not the sports editor of the Edmonton Sun. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle ran a story on 4/27 about High Falls Brewing Company, which was scheduled to make the Stone Cold Steve Austin beer. The story noted WWE had already started production of Stone Cold Beer t-shirts. High Falls Chief Executive Tom Hubbard said that after all the work, it was very possible that a WWE branded beer "will never resurface." Ernie Ladd, 65, who is suffering from cancer, gave moving speeches to both the Raw and Smackdown crews at this week's TV. Because Raw is on Phoenix, Billy Graham is scheduled to attend the show, possibly along with his friend Don Frye.

I've said it a million times and I'll say it again. I loathe house show reports where the author refers to things he did or said during the show, trying to make it seem like he was an important part of the show or something. It just screams "mark." And UT was wearing the non-leather hat on Smackdown this week. Also, the theme music he's using is a new version of Graveyard Symphony. The UT song from Vol. 2 is impossible to be used as a theme song because all it is a remix with him talking in it. 1/4 of that song is actual UT music.

What killed the Hardcore division was that every match was the same. And to add to that, despite what WWE wanted to think, cookie sheets and aluminum trash cans, the staple of every WWE hardcore match, are not hardcore.

WWF In Your House May 14th, 1995 Syracuse, New York @ the Onandaga War Memorial Coliseum Attendance: 7,000 Buy Rate: 0.83 Dark Matches -- Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Tatanka -- The Undertaker defeated Kama -- The British Bulldog fought Owen Hart to a draw Free For All Match -- Jean-Pierre Lafitte defeated Bob Holly PPV Matches -- Bret Hart defeated Hakushi -- Razor Ramon defeated Jeff Jarrett & The Roadie in a Handicap Match -- Mabel defeated Adam Bomb -- WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & Yokozuna defeated The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) -- Jerry Lawler defeated Bret Hart -- WWF Champion Diesel defeated Sid by DQ WWF In Your House – “Beware of Dog” May 26th, 1996 Florence, South Carolina @ the Florence Civic Center Attendance: 6,000 Buy Rate: 0.45 Dark Matches -- Ahmed Johnson defeated Jerry Lawler -- The Ultimate Warrior defeated Owen Hart Free-For-All Match -- The Smoking Gunns (Billy & Bart Gunn) defeated WWF Tag Team Champion The Godwinns (Henry & Phineas Godwinn) to win the titles PPV Matches -- Marc Mero defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley -- WWF Champion Shawn Michaels fought The British Bulldog to a no-contest WWF In Your House – “Beware of Dog 2” May 28th, 1996 North Charleston, South Carolina @ the North Charleston Coliseum Attendance: 4,500 Buy Rate: 0.45 PPV Matches -- Savio Vega defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin in a Caribbean Strap Match -- Vader defeated Yokozuna -- WWF Intercontinental Champion Goldust defeated The Undertaker in a Casket Match WWF In Your House – “Cold Day in Hell” May 11th, 1997 Richmond, Virginia @ the Richmond Coliseum Attendance: 9,381 Buy Rate: 0.57 Free-For-All Match -- Rockabilly pinned Jesse Jammes PPV Matches -- Hunter Hearst Helmsley defeated Flash Funk -- Mankind defeated Rocky Maivia -- Ahmed Johnson defeated Crush -- Ahmed Johnson defeated Savio Vega by DQ -- Faarooq defeated Ahmed Johnson -- Ken Shamrock defeated Vader in a No Holds Barred Match -- The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Owen Hart & The British Bulldog by DQ -- WWF Champion The Undertaker defeated Stone Cold Steve Austin WWF In Your House – “Over the Edge” May 31st, 1998 Milwaukee, Wisconsin @ the Wisconsin Center Arena Attendance: 9,822 Buy Rate: 0.58 -- L.O.D. 2000 (Hawk & Animal) defeated D.O.A. (Skull & 8-Ball) -- Jeff Jarrett defeated Steve Blackman -- Marc Mero defeated Sable -- Kaientai (Dick Togo, Mens Teioh, & Sho Funaki) defeated TAKA Michinoku & Bradshaw in a Handicap Match -- WWF Intercontinental Champion The Rock defeated Faarooq -- Kane defeated Vader in a Mask vs. Mask Match -- Nation of Domination (Owen Hart, Kama Mustafa, & D-Lo Brown) defeated D-Generation X (Triple H, Billy Gunn, & The Road Dogg) -- WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Dude Love. Vince McMahon was the Special Guest Referee WWF In Your House – “Over the Edge” May 23rd, 1999 Kansas City, Missouri @ the Kemper Arena Attendance: 16,472 Buy Rate: 1.24 Sunday Night Heat Matches -- Meat defeated Brian Christopher -- The Hardy Boys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) defeated Goldust & The Blue Meanie -- Vince McMahon fought Mideon to a no-contest Pay-Per-View Matches -- WWF Tag Team Champions Kane & X-Pac defeated Mark Henry & D-Lo Brown -- WWF Hardcore Champion Al Snow defeated Hardcore Holly -- Billy Gunn defeated The Road Dogg -- The Union (Mankind, The Big Show, Ken Shamrock, & Test) defeated The Corporate Ministry (The Big Bossman, Faarooq, Bradshaw, and Viscera) in an Elimination Match. Mankind was the sole survivor -- The Rock defeated Triple H by DQ -- The Undertaker defeated WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the title. Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon were the Special Guest Referees WWF Judgment Day 2000 May 21st, 2000 Louisville, Kentucky @ Freedom Hall Attendance: 17,533 Buy Rate: 1.05 -- Rikishi & Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay & Scotty 2 Hotty) defeated Edge, Christian, & Kurt Angle -- WWF European Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated Perry Saturn and Dean Malenko in a Triple Threat Match -- Shane McMahon defeated The Big Show in a No Holds Barred Falls-Count-Anywhere Match -- WWF Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho in a Submission Match -- The Road Dogg & X-Pac defeated The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley) in a Tables Match -- Triple H defeated WWF Champion The Rock in a 60-minute Iron Man Match to win the title, with a score of 6-to-5. Shawn Michaels was the Special Guest Referee WWF Judgment Day 2001 May 20th, 2001 Sacramento, California @ Arco Arena Attendance: 13,623 Buy Rate: 0.76 Sunday Night Heat Matches -- Raven defeated Val Venis -- Hardcore Holly & Crash Holly defeated Kaientai (TAKA Michinoku & Funaki) Pay-Per-View Matches -- William Regal defeated Rikishi -- Kurt Angle defeated Chris Benoit in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match -- WWF Hardcore Champion Rhyno defeated The Big Show and Test in a Triple Threat Match -- WWF Women’s Champion Chyna defeated Lita -- Kane defeated WWF Intercontinental Champion Triple H in a Chain Match to win the title -- The APA (Faarooq & Bradshaw) defeated Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn -- The APA (Faarooq & Bradshaw) defeated The Dudley Boys (Bubba Ray & D-Von Dudley) -- X-Pac & Justin Credible defeated The APA (Faarooq & Bradshaw) -- X-Pac & Justin Credible defeated The Hardy Boys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) -- Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho defeated X-Pac & Justin Credible -- Chris Benoit & Chris Jericho defeated Edge & Christian -- WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Match WWE Judgment Day 2002 May 19th, 2002 Nashville, Tennessee @ the Gaylord Entertainment Center Attendance: 11,000 Buy Rate: 0.94 Sunday Night Heat Match -- WWF European Champion William Regal defeated D-Lo Brown Pay-Per-View Matches -- WWE Intercontinental Champion Eddie Guerrero defeated Rob Van Dam -- WWE Women’s Champion Trish Stratus defeated Stacy Keibler -- Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman defeated The Hardy Boys (Matt & Jeff Hardy) -- Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated Ric Flair & The Big Show in a Handicap Match -- Edge defeated Kurt Angle in a Hair vs. Hair Match -- Triple H defeated Chris Jericho in a Hell in a Cell Match -- Rikishi & Rico defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Billy & Chuck to win the titles -- The Undertaker defeated WWE Champion Hulk Hogan to win the title WWE Judgment Day 2003 May 18th, 2003 Charlotte, North Carolina @ the Charlotte Coliseum Attendance: 13,000 Buy Rate: 0.58 Sunday Night Heat Match -- The Hurricane defeated Steven Richards Pay-Per-View Matches -- The F.B.I. (Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli) & John Cena defeated Chris Benoit, Rhyno, & Brian Kendrick -- La Resistance (Sylvan Grenier & Rene Dupree) defeated Test & Scott Steiner -- Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas in a Ladder Match to win the titles -- Christian won a Battle Royal to win the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship. The Battle Royal also included Booker T., Val Venis, Chris Jericho, Kane, Goldust, Lance Storm, Rob Van Dam, and Test -- Torrie Wilson defeated Sable in a Bikini Contest -- Mr. America defeated Rowdy Roddy Piper -- Kevin Nash defeated World Heavyweight Champion Triple H by DQ -- WWE Women’s Champion Jazz defeated Trish Stratus, Jacqueline, and Victoria in a Four-Way Match -- WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defeated The Big Show in a Stretcher Match

I believe it's: 2 spinal fusions = retirement. Not sure what the 1st one was, but the second was the Jho procedure. If he really wanted, he could get the spinal fusion now, and then come back & wrestle when he's healed. Nope. The Dr. Jho one in March 2003 was his first. His second was in November 2003, but it was relatively minor.

Way too early for this.

I think if Jim Ross would go as far in a public forum as to mention Jeff Hardy by name and saying they are trying to bring him back, then I'd say it's a 99% done deal.

Forget not wanting to buy Judgment Day. I know some people whom are so apathetic to this PPV that they don't even want to go to the local Hooters and watch it as we usually do. Now THAT'S sad.

They've done it every year since WM12, with the exception of WM2000.

12-13 days? What?

I'll never forget the look on Regal's face when Naked Mideon got him in a S.T.F. In fact, that should be Rico's new move.

Just like Grand Master Sexay was needed in the Rikishi/Scotty weirdness?

It's Jeff Hardy.

Can Tom Billington please call this guy and tell him to quit before it's too late?

Remember Luther Biggs, the star athlete discovery of Coach Buzz Stern? WCW 1999, baby. One time, I saw Glacier at an autograph signing in the local mall about a month after Vince bought WCW (and he was dressed in the gimmick) and I went up to him and said, "Hey! It's Coach Buzz Stern!" and he laughed and was surprised someone actually remembered that. He kept me around and we chatted for about an hour. He was such a nice guy.