QuestionMan

We had pictures with Orton. And he doesn't have 1/1000 of the talent ot heat or skill of Eddie, so of course Eddie gets the BotD. Fair or not, (probably not) we're willing to give the talented people more leeway And by all accounts Jindrak did more then ask him for an autograph. What did he supposedly do? I don't recall precisely, but I think it was because Jindrak was angry at some spots in the Evolution/Team MaveKick six man match earlier that night? That'd be my best guess. and you do realize the whole fucking thing was a joke from those two... ONCE AGAIN a case of IWC over reacting to bullshit. Seriously, The IWC is so fucking fickle and gullible No, in this case the two of them starting a fight in a restaurant to work us is a case of backtracking... or an incredible immaturity on their part. There were police present at the restaurant if I remember correctly. Yeah....to play along in the joke. Didn't Orton even admit on a radio show or something that the whole thing was a prank? I wish I could live in a city where police have nothing better to do then particpate in pranks to rib the IWC. In one of the pictures, you could clearly see one of the policeman beside Orton with a laughing smile on his face.

Considering he had to drive home, I think it's safe to say he wasn't.

You think you derived this clearly? Well, then let me be more clear. According to my friend, he said he only said "Eddie" twice. The first time Eddie just walked off ignoring him, and he said it a second time thinking Eddie just didn't hear him and Eddie just turned to him and said the afformentioned obscene statement. This is his story, and he has no reason to be lying about it. Even though that doesn't make it 100% true, it doesn't mean it's 0% true either. And just to clarify, yes, these relations to Eddie's drug/alcohol problems are stupid and asinine. Just because someone pops off does not mean they're on said substances.

Thank you. Some schmuck posts a SECONDHAND story ("Yeah, I have this friend who met Eddie G and sez he was an asshole! I'm SHOCKED and DISHEARTENED by that.") and some people here are almost taking it as the gospel. A) "Testimonial" stories like this should ALWAYS be taken with a grain of salt, and B) We have absolutely no reason to believe the validity of this story in particular. Feel free to continue your instant speculation that he's back on drugs / booze, though. Excuse me? I was just called a schmuck for sharing with the board what happened to my friend? I never said the report was true, notice I continually say "If" in my post. All I'm doing is telling you what my friend told me. I never said it was the gospel. So quit your childish name calling.

Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura did the commentary for the PPV, and WWE is editing Ventura out of all their retail releases due to some controversy over royalties again.

They told us that during a halftime of one of the games, they would take us inside one of the cheerleader's locker room and indirectly advertised nudity. Instead, what happened was Vince McMahon coming up to a cameraman outside the locker room who was nervous to go inside. Vince ended up knocking the guy out and we went into a dream sequence of the cheerleaders in the locker room which probably could have been rated PG.

He didn't directly insult Lesnar, he just said he was the best Champion. It was more reasonable than his "Smackdown and their paper champion (Kurt Angle)" promo.

I miss Steve Blackman.

Wow, someone's just a tad bit biased.

His "Dream Match" with Rob Van Dam was quite forgettable.

Benoit/Flair ---> HHH/HBK ---> Benoit/HHH

Watch Armageddon 2002 and Batista fuck up the powerbomb on Kane.

Angle said he wasn't a fan, first tuned in late 1998, early 1999. Says amatuers have misconception about it which is why they hate it. Turned down first contract listening to peers and coaches. Didn't watch it or understand it. Watched four straight Raw's, got hooked. Good thing he didn't tune in a year earlier. Very surprised he got so big so fast. Thought it would take a good three or four years. He said he improved dramatically every single week. It's true. Says wrestlers aren't selfish in the WWF and think more about the company than about themselves. Said he wanted to work on mic skills in Memphis but they never really gave him a chance to do that. Said he really didn't know what to expect when they told him to grab the mic at Survivor Series. Said he was quite a natural in many ways. Brother Eric is in Lousville, he's a great athlete. He thinks Eric will make slower progress than he did, but he'll do it and become a great asset in due time. Says in a few weeks Eric has already passed up a few guys in terms of technique. He'll have harder time with mic skills and character development. Lots of his amatuer peers were very bitter at first with his WWF career, but they enjoy it now. Recently they've picked up a lot of fans from the amateur ranks. Six new amateurs signed since Kurt made his debut. Another new avenue for amatuers to pursue. Said he had to forget about everything he learned in amateur, and he's not sure others will be able to do that. He said he learned it backwards. Angle said he really follows the three I's, doesn't drink, doesn't take drugs, etc. Presumably drinks lots of milk. Lots of things about his character that do resemble him. He just takes it over the top. Says the Rock is great and he loves working with him. He and Triple H have been tremendous in teaching him what he has to learn. Said it is great to perform in front of 15,000 to 20,000 people because they get into it more. Said sometimes when you work in front of 20 or 30 people, you feel kind of stupid. He says he doesn't think the Triple H/Stephanie love triangle is finished and it was just put on the back burner for awhile. He says it has kind of just died out right now and they'll work back into it. You won't see Kurt Angle as a babyface anytime soon. Probably more cynical, dastardly Kurt Angle. I've heard that before. Says he's still a follower in the ring and lets guys lead him because he's not completely comfortable leading yet. Doesn't want to turn into a badass like Triple H, but wants to be more aggressive and not just get his ass kicked all the time. I guess he's starting today, because he sure got his ass kicked Monday. Said the reason he takes such a beating right now is because he needs to pay his dues. Says he won't be disappointed if he's not in the main event of WrestleMania. Said his plans are to work with Austin at WrestleMania and he's thinking of stuff to do. Said this with straight face. Says they haven't even talked to him about what they're going to do at No Way Out. Says he never became a "poster child" for amateur wrestling until he became a WWF star. Loves WWF more than anything in the world, and he really loved amateur wrestling. Wants to be more effective as a heel. Puts over Triple H as the best in the business. Likes how when Triple H comes out, crowd pops huge for him as a star, then starts booing as they get into his character. Angle wants them to do that for him as well. Says Triple H has helped direct his character and has really helped push him in the direction he's been going lately. What a shocker. You can tell he really respects Hunter. He has plans of doing movies, TV shows, etc. Wants to broaden his horizons as an actor. Somewhere down the road, not anytime soon. "I will always call the World Wrestling Federation my home." He says he'll be the next one to come out with a book, which will be released in August. Mostly about his formative years, odds he overcame and the Olympic medal win. A bit of stuff about the WWF, but that won't be the focus. Says his parents have always been very happy for him, their only concern was if his body could hold up (he had previous broken neck, herniated discs, etc). Says he really enjoyed putting together the Kurt Angle video because he stayed in character the entire time. He said the plan the whole time was for him to being a heel. He said they brought Rocky in and tried to have him be a babyface, and it totally didn't work. Fans did the "ROCKY SUCKS!" chants and everything. He didn't mentioned "DIE ROCKY DIE!" Funny to hear Kurt chant, by the way. Company ignored it and tried to keep making him a babyface. They took the Rocky experiment and applied it to Angle, except made him a full-fledged heel. Said he didn't know what the hell Vince was doing at the beginning, so he just listened to him and did what he said. Says they're really going to take their time on the eventual babyface turn. Says everyone has helped him out a lot during his career. Says Vince has always worked with him firsthand. Mentions Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco, Triple H, Rocky, Undertaker, Benoit, Jericho. Also, Mick Foley. Says Foley just loved his character. Before coming to the WWF, he did some fitness shows and was a sports broadcaster for a year which he didn't enjoy. Probably would have progressed as a motivational speaker and worked at wrestling camps if he didn't go to the WWF. Also would have tried acting. Says he sees WCW coming on strong again and thinks they might be right up there at the top if they get their act together. Likes watching Page, the Steiners, Goldberg and others. Doesn't think any of them are coming to the WWF anytime soon. People need to separate real-life Kurt Angle from the character they see on TV. Likes to think of himself as a real role model. Says he got really concerned at Hell in the Cell at one point as he was climbing the side of the cage and suddenly thought: "I'm not sure I'm going to make it up there!" Says he was more happy putting on a great performance in winning the WWF Title than actually possessing the belt itself. Says he doesn't feel he won the belt too early because it's not about that. Says it was his idea to air the Pizza Outlet commercial on Raw. Says people tell him he was an idiot for making that commercial, but he really liked filming it and really throught it was a funny commercial.

Today is a sad day for wrestling fans, especially wrestling fans on the internet. It’s a sad day because I am going to shatter the myth once and for all. It’s a sad day because you will learn the truth... the truth that each and every one of us knows inside our heart about Chris Benoit. The truth is that Chris Benoit absolutely sucks. It’s true. Let’s look at why he sucks. BENOIT'S WRESTLING TALENT Chris Benoit is not a good wrestler. One only needs to look at his matches. If the WWE in recent years (when it was the WWF) has taught us anything, its that they know wrestling. Just watch an Undertaker match. Then go watch a HHH match. Then go watch some selected Rock matches (as long as they are not Rock v Benoit matches). These men can work. Chris Benoit cannot. I’ll give an example. In Benoit’s Summerslam 2002 match with RVD, the first offensive maneuver he hit was a leg takedown followed by a submission hold. Excuse my language, but what in the holy fuck is that? Watching great HHH and Undertaker matches has taught us that using moves like these are always ineffective. A good slow methodical punch, followed by ten more (no matter how long it takes) is always more effective. Need proof? Watch when The Rock punches an opponent and see how the super hard impact sends them flying. Do Chris Benoit’s leg takedowns do this? No they do not. Another example of this horrible offense is the use of suplexes. One of Benoit’s trademark moves is something called the Rolling German Suplex. I think it’s a French move or something. Again, why would he bother trying to take his opponent down with that? Wrestlers like Kevin Nash and HHH (two people who CAN draw and know how to work) have proven that simply hitting your opponent with your knee is more effective. The verdict? Chris Benoit is merely trying to show off and show up his fellow wresters in an attempt to make them look bad. Backstage politics like this is killing the business (just as they helped kill WCW) and Benoit should be ashamed of himself for indulging in this, and therefore he sucks. BENOIT'S HISTORY Another reason that Chris Benoit sucks is that he cannot win. I was live at the Joe Louis Arena the first time Benoit wrestled a match in the WWE(F). It was Chris Benoit v. HHH. While it was a very good match (Benoit was obviously carried and was trying to show HHH up with those German Suplexes), Benoit lost. Let’s look forward at some more history. After Wrestlemania 2000 (the year Benoit debuted in the WWF) he began a long and tedious feud with Chris Jericho. These two produced absolutely awful matches that nobody could watch. This became especially apparent when these shows were main evented by The Rock and HHH (two world class workers, although The Rock is a bit shaky, because he always LOSES also). This becomes even MORE apparent at Judgement Day 2000. Benoit and Jericho bored the audience to tears in their match... however later in the evening, The Undertaker made his grand return with punches and chokeslams all around, showing guys like Benoit how to really work. Looking back at that match, notice how Undertaker just threw a punch or two to take a man down whereas Benoit was trying ineffective submission moves, takedowns, kicks, and suplexes. As a result of Benoit’s shameless backstage politics, he somehow ended up in the main event of two PPVs that year and wrestled The Rock. Thankfully The Rock was good enough to carry Benoit to a watchable match. His second main event was a 4 way with Rock, Kane, and Undertaker. The focus on Benoit in that match almost killed it, but thankfully Undertaker and Kane picked up the slack. Quite possibly the most shameless moment in that debut year for Benoit was the Armageddon PPV where Benoit faced Billy Gunn. After carrying Benoit to a nearly 5 star match (and Benoit almost paralyzing himself by not knowing how to take a simple bump), Gunn still did the job. It’s a sad day when Benoit’s politics kill the push of great workers like Billy Gunn. I could go on, but the pattern remains the same. Benoit wrestles in the upper midcard (depriving men like Bradshaw and A-Train of their rightful spots), politicks his way to a main event, someone in WWE comes to their senses, wash rinse repeat. The period where Benoit was injured was where workrate soared and fans rejoiced. As for other promotions, its well known that the WWE(F) is the only company that was ever any good, so we'll dispense with that. The verdict? Benoit’s history in the WWE(F) has shown that he completely sucks. BENOIT'S CHARACTER They call Benoit the Canadian Crippler... but has he ever crippled anybody? Why doesn’t anyone ever submit to the Crippler Crossface? I believe it is because the move is so terrible and weak and ineffective. There was the one time The Rock tapped out, but The Rock was obviously selflessly putting Benoit over before he left for a movie. Fans like to claim Benoit is some sort of vicious monster. However let me ask you a simple question... has Benoit ever beat HHH clean one on one? Has Benoit ever beat the Undertaker? Unless I’m mistaken, I believe the answer to both of those questions is NO. There’s a reason for that. The reason is that he sucks and HHH and Undertaker are just better. This was proven on a Smackdown when Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle lost to the Undertaker. Perhaps if Benoit had idolized greats like Andre the Giant, El Gigante, Hulk Hogan, and Kevin Nash instead of terrible wrestlers like the Dynamite Kid, things would be different. The verdict? Benoit has a piss poor character who nobody can ever take seriously and therefore he sucks. Hopefully from now on, Benoit will put the business first like wrestlers such as HHH, Undertaker, and Kevin Nash have done. Hopefully from now on, he will stop shamelessly promoting himself. Hopefully from now on, he will cease with the backstage politics. Hopefully from now on, he will attempt to make his opponents look good like The Undertaker does, instead of attempting to make himself look better. Somehow, I doubt it. Chris Benoit, rot in hell you selfish bastard. Rot in hell.

"If you're lookin for a video with a guy dressed up in pink or a guy dancing around next to some sparklers, then you picked up the wrong damn video." Lines like that were so novel for WWF 1996.

Yep, I remember specifically Jesse Ventura doing commentary for the Vader/Cactus match because Ventura left the broadcast booth to attend to Cactus when all the wrestlers came out. And I have Beach Blast '92 on tape and Jesse did commentary with Jim Ross on that show as well.

Great, so now Benoit gets paired up with two of the most political men ever in wrestling and now the crowd will be too focused on HBK to care about Benoit. And worst of all, a LADDER MATCH? How fucking dumb. I knew WWE would fuck it up.

Uh, how do you have access to the 2/2/04 WON today? I don't ever remember getting my newsletters as early as Friday.

I was given permission.

It was reported this past week that UPN has renewed Smackdown, believed to be for more than one additional season to the current contract. The actual story is that the renewal took place months ago, but with every television contract, there are options in place. UPN basically has exercised its option for several more seasons for the contract already in existance. The 2/7 show at the Saitama Super Arena is expected to sellout according to those in Japan. This is Steve Austin's first tour of Japan since he became Stone Cold. He had worked several times for New Japan Pro Wrestling during his WCW days including the now famous NWA Title Match with Masahiro Chono where he gave Chono a tombstone piledriver very similar to the one he got from Owen Hart, and started Chono on a career filled with similar neck problems as Austin. The 2/5 show at Osaka Jo Hall is also doing very well, but the 2/6 show in Hiroshima is said to be slow, and that's only a 6,000-seat arena. The Saitama show is already the most successful show the company has ever done in Japan and will end up being among the most successful, in terms of the live gate, in the history of the company. Every major Japanese promotion, including K-1, Pride, All Japan, New Japan, and NOAH within the past two months has made some sort of a bid to get WWE talent for major shows in 2004. The company philosophy right now is to do one RAW and one Smackdown tour per year in Japan, and the feeling is that anything more than that would dilute the product. There is no interest in sending talent to work for Japanese promotions. Most have approached the idea of paying big money to bring in top stars to lose to native stars, which WWE isn't interested in. NOAH is attempting to get Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle for the Tokyo Dome show in August, but there is no interest. Pride wants a WWE representative in its Grand Prix tournament this year, Angle or Lesnar being the preferable choice. While nobody has released any figures, the guess would be Pride is willing to pay huge money because they know it would take that to get stars of that level to participate in shoot matches. But there is no way that is going to happen. The scheduled card for Smackdown's No Way Out PPV on 2/15 at the San Francisco Cow Palace, at least as of this weekend, is Brock Lesnar vs. Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Title, Big Show vs. John Cena for the U.S. Title, and Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero for the Cruiserweight Title. That was advertised locally and is the current booking direction. Given the huge success that show has been the past two years (2002 with Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, & Kevin Nash as the nWo's return and 2003 with Hogan vs. The Rock II and Steve Austin's return), I think we can all safely say this year will not continue that streak. One thing about the early part of the year, everyone both internally and externally who has talked about Guerrero, Chris Benoit, and Cena needing a chance at the top, well, they look to be getting it. Kurt Angle has been training in the ring with the guys at the tapings and has told people he's feeling fine. He had been cleared to return a few weeks ago, but the company wanted to be cautious with him. Angle was on a radio show with Mark Madden this past week saying he doesn't think his career can survive another neck operation. He said he won't be taking anymore chair shots to the head and said he would be slowing down his matches. Madden asked Angle about the 2004 Olympics, and Angle said if he competed he'd get his ass kicked. He said he started to train for it, but between knee, shoulder, and neck problems, there was no way. There is a lot of talk about a Cruiserweight Battle Royal at Mania. This may wind up being a pinfall Battle Royal as opposed to an over-the-top-rope Battle Royal since a cruiserweight match of this type should involve flying over the top rope for offensive moves. At this point it's supposed to involve ten men, which include Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, Nunzio, Billy Kidman, Tajiri, Akio, and Jamie Noble. There was talk of having Dean Malenko come out of retirement for this match, but it's not looking too likely. Paul Heyman is now a bigger part of the creative staff once again, but his duties are largely house show presentation. Jim Ross, Heyman, and John Laurinaitis are doing the house show booking with the idea of throwing in curves and interviews at the show to give it more of a television show feel. Brian "Spanky" Kendrick came to work on 1/13 and asked for his release. As noted the past few weeks, he'd been concerned about the possibility of being fired, and after checking around, apparently felt it wouldn't be for the worst. He's already gotten his job back with Zero-One, starting on 1/31, which is also including working the Zero-One sponsored indie shows in the Northeast the next week. Kendrick had been offered a multi-year contract with Zero-One and was very close to signing at the time WWE made its offer to him. The company was very amicable about letting him go, and many sympathized with his position, realizing he and the cruiserweights in general are underutilized right now. He's already contacted TNA and it's almost a sure thing he'll be working there between Japan tours. They like him, but because Zero-One will be his priority, he'll be on a similar schedule as Low-Ki so he won't be pushed as the focus of the X Division. He may not be able to start there immediately as he has a 90-day no-compete clause, and no-compete in WWE's eyes of late has only meant TNA, but he's working on getting cleared for TNA sooner. The plan is still The Rock & Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton & a partner, possibly Batista, for Mania. The Rock donated $10,000 this past week for 30,000 pounds of rice, spam, corned beef, cooking oil, and other food for the island of Samoa which will be arriving next week, after the island was hit with a cyclone. Rock was contacted by his grandmother, former Hawaii wrestling promoter Lia Maivia, who now lives in a village in Samoa, saying the people in her area need food and he immediately wrote out a check to a supermarket in Kailua, Hawaii, to send food. Regarding Mick Foley, the feeling among those who know the story and where it's going is that nobody in wrestling would be able to do this story without burying themselves but Foley. As mentioned before, this is a story Foley brought to Vince, and most if not all of the layout and the timing is his. One of the key parts of the story is to make Randy Orton a star, which the company needs, and really, Foley & The Rock need as well, because if people don't see Orton as a top guy, their return at Mania won't mean as much. The Orton/Foley vignettes on television have been tremendous. After the show in Green Bay, Steve Austin stayed out for nearly one hour doing a post-match party with three curtain calls. He asked all the Packers at ringside to come in, and then called out Pat Patterson for his 63rd birthday. Most of the locker room came out while Patterson did his favorite deal at the karaoke bars and sang "My Way." Patterson jumped on Lillian Garcia and apparently he can get away with it. Austin drove Patterson to the back in his ATV, but then came back out and poured beer on Garcia for an impromptu wet t-shirt contest. Eric Bischoff missed RAW last week because his mother is very ill. Shawn Michaels was originally booked for RAW last week, but was allowed to go home because with HHH out (working on Blade: Trinity), they had nothing for him. After the Carolina Panthers' win over the Philadelphia Eagles on 1/18 to get into the Super Bowl, defensive tackle Brenston Buckner was quoted in the Greensboro News and Record saying, "Whether you like it or not, learn to love it, because in the NFC, it's the best thing going today." Because The Rock had mentioned in the past that he loves Dunkin Donuts, the company wanted to name a donut after him. There was a news item that said he considered it at first but then decided against it. At the Smackdown taping last week in Minneapolis, Lenny Lane got a tryout dark match with Paul London. Crowd was very into the match with loud chants for Lenny, since he's from the area and had years of exposure in WCW. It's a sure thing that Chris Benoit is staying on the RAW side for good. In Japan, it looks like he's wrestling Batista on 2/5 in Hiroshima, HHH on 2/6 in Osaka, and Kane on 2/7 at the Saitama Super Arena. It would seem likely that whether this takes place at Mania or not, that RAW's Backlash PPV would be headlined by HHH vs. Benoit, since it's being held in Edmonton. One would think they would book Benoit to win in that city, but it really means nothing if it's just like the Goldberg deal where the belt is loaned out so HHH can compile his own Flair-like record. As of current plans, Edge is supposed to return shortly after Wrestlemania, so it looks like he's not making his March goal to appear on the big show. As of right now, he's planned for the Smackdown roster, but that could change. Edge has recovered well from his neck surgery and will be ready by early-March, so he could be on the show. The last feeling was that bringing him back at that point would get lost in the Mania hype for people like Mick Foley, The Rock, and The Undertaker coming back and they want his return to be a big deal. Randy Orton needed six stitches to close the cut in the Rob Van Dam match at the 1/12 RAW. He was knocked out briefly in the match. RVD was all over him, apparently not realizing it. Most of this took place during the commerical break, which is why the match slowed down when they came back. Steve Madison wrote this about a talk he got from Shawn Michaels at the 12/15 show: " 'WWE used to be a place where guys worked their whole careers to get to. And when they got there, they knew they earned it. Now, guys start their careers in WWE and don't know what it's like on the indies. They take it for granted what they have and that is our problem here. Cut their necks off and they all look the same: Bodybuilders, not wrestlers. Few guys can work. Steve, you honestly think Flair needs to be wrestling at 53? Yes, he does, because these young kids don't have a clue. We need at least a few guys who can tell a story!' And then he turned to me and said, 'Keep working in Japan and keep up the work on the independents. When you get here, you'll stay here and realize you've earned it.' " At the Smackdown tapings, there was a kid with a sign that said "Vince = Steroids." Of course it was quickly confiscated. Lots of signs confiscated at RAW this week as well. Reid Fliehr, Ric's 15-year-old son, who is a high school freshman wrestling varsity against almost all juniors and seniors, is ranked No. 12 in North Carolina in the 191-pound weight class with a 23-9 record. This past weekend he was competing in Tulsa at the nationals for the 15-and-under age group, which is considered possibly the toughest tournament in the country. Garrison Cade's name has been mentioned along with Rene Dupree as those who the company believes will be stars down the line. While no decision has been made, odds for Jeff Hardy coming back have warmed up of late. If he does, and it's not a done deal, it is being discussed for Smackdown to add star power to the cruiserweight division. The Danville, IL News-Gazette had a story this week about referee Jack Doan. Doan started driving a ring truck in 1991 and helping set up the shows before hired to referee in 1992, and has been with the company most of the time. He took a year off because he had a family and wanted to be home more, but said he missed the rush of the show more than the money and went back. Now 32, he said his goal is to referee until he is 50 years old, and then try to get into coaching football. WWE Originals opened in the UK at No. 11 on the charts for this past week. The U.S. first week won't come out until after press time, but industry sources said based on preliminary sales, it looks like the first week would do between 50,000-to-60,000 units. That is considered very strong for this time of the year (a weak time for the music industry), and early reports, and this was said on RAW, that it would debut at No. 3. The review in Rolling Stone was brutal, saying you'd think something like that would be comedy, except it's not funny, "and shockingly, much of it seems to be intended seriously." It said it could end up being the worst album of 2004. The Olympic sports book has gambling on who will replace Lisa Guerrero on Monday Night Football. One of the women listed as a longshot was Stephanie Levesque. WWE is allowing Billy Kidman and Charlie Haas to appear on 1/24 at the ECWA show in Wilmington, DE, to be inducted into that promotion's Hall of Fame. There was only one Smackdown house show this past week because the weekend events in Minot, ND, and Grand Forks, ND, got off to bad advances and were canceled. It is now company policy that if it appears a house show will be a money loser, that it gets canceled and, if possible (and it wasn't this time), they try and book a new city. Maven was back on the road this weekend, but was injured in his first match back in Des Moines. He beat Matt Hardy, but in the process of hitting a flying body press for the finish, his arm landed badly and he suffered an elbow injury, believed to be a radial head fracture of the elbow. He underwent surgery on 1/20, and looks to be out 6-8 weeks. The upcoming Stone Cold DVD looks to be a tape of the UPN special, with additions of the 6/27/93, Steve Austin & Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair & Arn Anderson 2-out-of-3 falls match for the WCW Tag Titles from WCW Clash 23 (which was Flair's first televised WCW match since returning from the WWF), some ECW promos and a 11/18/95 ECW match against Mikey Whipwreck, as well as the 12/18/95 debut match of The Ringmaster managed by Ted Dibiase against jobber Scott Taylor, better known today as Scotty 2 Hotty. Test has been working with an abscess in his mouth. The paid attendance for the 1/5 RAW tapings in Memphis was about 5,000 and for the 1/6 Smackdown tapings in Huntsville it was about 3,100. The 1/19 RAW show in Oshawa drew 3,600, the 1/11 Smackdown show in Cadillac, MI, drew 1,600, and the 1/11 RAW show in St. Johns, Newfoundland drew 2,100 (that is scary because Eastern Canada, because they go so infrequently and don't get much in the way of major league entertainment, has always been huge for WWE). This past weekend, the 1/16 RAW show in Des Moines drew 3,400. 1/17 RAW show in Madison drew 2,400. 1/18 RAW show in Milwaukee drew 3,500. 1/19 Smackdown show in Duluth drew 1,400. The 1/19 RAW tapings in Green Bay did nearly a full house while 1/20 Smackdown tapings in Minneapolis did about 6,500. 100% CREDIT GOES TO Dave Meltzer & The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Support them.

Who said I was joking

Like 2Gold said, what did this have to do with anything? I already cleared this up. Flair used to use that saying (without the NFC reference of course) in the NWA in the 80s. Try reading the whole thread before asking.

Flair used to say that in the NWA in the 80s all the time.

Official match time for HHH vs. HBK was 22:47.

That wouldn't make sense because the February 2004 issue of Playboy already listed Torrie Wilson & Sable as being in the March 2004 issue. I don't think WWE is THAT stupid. Anyways, they caught a lot of flak, even from their own wrestlers, for doing that pointless T&A crap with the Miller Lite girls at last year's WM.