Hektik

Why was the Vince/Shawn feud the main event of a broadcast network special? The WWE has found a way to put together a feud that I have absolutely no interest in seeing. Does anybody else notice how hard they are trying to get "you screwed Shawn" over with the live audience. I first noticed it when Vince did his Bret Hart DVD review a few months ago. Luckily it hasn't caught on with the crowd.

I wouldn't look to much into the close game. SDSU one three straight games at elevation with this last game being played at a supposed "neutral site."

Supposedly the mistress has audio tapes of Bonds. The publishers lawyers would have never allowed them to release this book if they didn't have damn good evidence.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/392243p-332591c.html Sex video with Kid Rock will test faithful Stapp fans Troubled former Creed singer Scott Stapp may lose the last of his Christian disciples now that a sex tape has emerged in which he co-stars with Kid Rock. Rock, 35, and Stapp, 32, do not have sex with each other on the tape, but they do trade jokes and share camera time as they get down with some strippers. In one scene, Rock and Stapp are standing side by side as a pair of buxom babes pleasures them. "This is my third," Stapp tells the cameraman. "It's good to be the king." The 20-minute tape is said to have been made six years ago after the rockers visited a Miami strip club. As if that isn't skeevy enough, they all have sex in a motor home - complete with fake-wood paneling. David Josephs, president of Red Light District Video and the man who brought you Paris Hilton's infamous "One Night in Paris," tells us the rockers also strip and that Kid Rock even takes his hat off - making this his first topless video! "We'd like to release it sometime this year, but we have to go through some legal stuff first," says Josephs, who offers a taste of the tape at www.kidrocksextape.com. Reps for the musicians "have not contacted us yet," says Josephs. "I think I did them a justice by doing this. If I hadn't, it would be all over the Internet by now." Rock's and Stapp's PR people declined comment when we called. Josephs tells Us Weekly, "We acquired the tape from a third party." When it comes to scandal, Stapp has been on a roll. Last Friday, he married former Miss New York Jaclyn Nesheiwat in Miami - only to get busted the next day for public intoxication at LAX airport. Last Thanksgiving, he got into a bar fight in Baltimore with the band 311. And back in December, he made a high-spirited appearance on Spike TV, where he insulted Bono and Dave Grohl. His cocky comment about being "the king" is bound to remind Creed fans of the band's song "What's This Life For," on which Stapp croons: "We all live under the reign/ Of the one king - one king - one king!" Back then, he was talking about Jesus.

Wrestlemania IX World Championship Bret Hart vs Randy Savage Ric Flair vs Curt Henning Those should have been the top two matches going into Wrestlemania 9. Flair should have been resigned and I guees the whole Hogan/Beefcake/Money Inc thing could stay on the card.

What does the Padres having two fire sales in the past have to do with this signing? Besides, the deal I've head about is 1 yr/2 million with a mutual option.

All the talk about "heatless" matches doesn't even matter when talking about the NFL. The Super Bowl is still going to be the highest rated event on American television for the year. It can be a matchup of two 8-8 wildcard teams from small markets with no history between the two and it will still get the highest ratings.

It is quite sad to see grown men all over this country complain about a "war on christmas" and having their values and traditions taken away. Any adult male who cares that much about it should be slapped and have their masculinity questioned.

The Padres have resigned Trevor Hoffman.

Kansas City. Someone needs to slow Denver down and the Chargers get to play KC & Denver one more time.

There is strong speculation out here that the Padres are going to trade Mark Loretta to the Red Sox for David Wells. The Padres would then sign Nomar Garciaparra to play 2nd base.

Oh man I would love to see someone get the gimmick of just shouting "WOO" and chopping random people backstage. Then come back from commercial with Maria's chest all bloody purple. Uh I believe Meltzer said a few months ago he hasn't talked to or in any way been communicating with McMahon in the last few years. The way Dave explained it was that anytime buisness is down or Vince is in trouble with the law or media, Dave Meltzer is one of his closest friends and the most respected independent wrestling journalist. When things are going good, Dave Meltzer and his dirt sheet are a threat to their prosperity and success.

The first name I thought of while reading this was Austin. After I was done reading it I thought it was Mick Foley.

1090 in San Diego is reporting that Brian Giles has resigned with the Padres. The only other info is that it is a three year deal.

Excerpts from the 11/21 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: In this issue Dave writes about Eddy Guerrero’s life and tells some nice stories. - The decision was made to give Eddy the World title as the main event match on the combined tapings on 11/13 in Minneapolis, and turn him heel in the process to work with Batista on his return Not sure if that was still going to happen. Stephanie alluded to it on Raw, saying he was emotionally ready this time and would make the company proud. As for the question of whether he would have been champion on the same day he passed away, that is one the McMahons will have to answer. I know it was the plan going into that day, but there is a good chance that the plan had changed to Orton. - Eddy was seen as a “legend’ among the other wrestlers. Mark Copani (Mohammed Hassan) and Guerrero had an altercation a few months back on Smackdown. Copani, not knowing any better, told Eddy to stop using the camel clutch. When word got out on what he did, Copani was sat down and told, “Eddy Guerrero is a legend in this business. He grew up in the business. You don’t ever tell him anything. Do you even know who invented that camel clutch you’re doing.” Hassan said “The Shiek.” Hassan, who was being groomed as the top heel before things fell apart was told, “No, it was Eddy’s father. Don’t you ever question him again or you’ll never work in this company. When UPN wanted the Hassan character off Smackdown, one of the reasons WWE killed the character off completely as opposed to moving him to Raw was because of how Mark Copani handled the situation. When his name comes up and you here wrestlers make cryptic remarks about the guy playing the role, some of that was because of those who knew, he had committed a major sin in mouthing off to someone as well liked as Guerrero. - At this point, even though it is the match Hogan wants and the match the company wants, Hogan vs. Austin at Wrestlemania is less than 50%. Austin isn’t keen on doing the match. Where they are right now is they either have to find a way to convince him to do it or go in another direction. - Benoit has talked with some people, including Noble, of late, about the prospects of being able to make a living outside WWE. Of course, Benoit’s prospects and Noble’s results are entirely different as Noble never went to TNA , and while he did get some Japan tours, he wasn’t able to get nearly as much work in Japan as Benoit would be able to. The company will likely do everything it can to keep Benoit. The date we had on his contract expiring may have been wrong as others are saying the expiration date is next year, and they see him as someone who will be with the company for life. - Sting has not returned company calls about appearing, so their feeling is he has no interest. Sting has expressed interest in participating in a DVD project. - Regarding the Rock’s cryptic comments on Michaels a few weeks back, the heat actually dates back to 1985 when the Midnight Rockers were brought to Honolulu for a big show by Rock’s grandmother, who was the promoter at the time. 13 year old Dwayne was so wild he was looking for Michaels to take a swing at him because of how Michaels was behaving in the dressing room. Most people know the story about political dealings in 1997 when Rock and HHH were on the rise. Another piece of the puzzle was when Vince made the decision to go with Rock as the opponent for Austin at Wrestlemania XV, Michaels (who was theoretically retired at the time due to a back injury) went to Vince and pushed hard for HHH to get the shot. When Vince turned it down, he then pushed for Foley to get the spot. He kept telling Vince, “Anyone but Rock,” but Vince had already made his decision.

I always thought the story of Konnan teaching him the Sharpshooter was common knowledge.

Ideally, Vince would be wise to keep it to sweep months.

Superstar Billy Graham

This was the last thing I expected to see when I logged in here. There is so much I would like to say about Eddy, but I can't really think of the words right now. I will instead post this article from the Febuary 23, 2004 Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It is a good article on his life and family and history in Pro Wrestling: A lot of history came together, as a member of one of pro wrestlings most famous families broke a life long size barrier to international superstardom in what is the countries oldest major wrestling arena, and among the business all time most historical buildings. A few years ago, even though he was as talented as any wrestler in the business. Eddy Guerrero would have been about the last anyone would think would ever win a WWE heavyweight championship. Quite frankly, he wouldn’t have ever been considered as a possible main eventer due to his size, the same tag line that has been said literally since he was 19 years old wrestling in Juarez. And even with his new found popularity, Guerrero had never even headlined a PPV show until 2/14, the night he captured the WWE championship from Brock Lesnar at the Cow Palace. The win capped 50 years since the first time a Guerrero had challenged for a world heavyweight title, when Eddys father, Salvador “Gori” Guerrero challenged Lou Thesz at Arena Mexico in 1954. The Guerreros have a rich family history in wrestling, dating back some 67 or so years. Eddie’s father is generally considered one of the ten biggest stars in the history of Lucha Libre. He got his name from being one of the pioneers of bloody matches and his heel tag team with El Santo, Los Parejas Atomicos (The Atomic Pair) is the most famous ever in that country. Eventually the two split up and started feuding. While Guerrero was of Hispanic descent, he was actually born in Kearney, AZ in 1921, and wrestled main events well into his 50s. During his career he held the world title in the welterweight, middleweight, and light heavyweight divisions. In the early 60s he settled in El Paso as NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion (a title stripped from him in Mexico when he didn’t return), became the local promoter for Dory Funk Sr’s operation, and raised 4 sons, all of which became top notch wrestlers. Although only 185 pounds in his prime, Guerrero and Blue Demon were renowned as the two great shooters of their time period. An innovator, Guerrero invented many moves inside the ring, the most famous being the camel clutch and an inverted surfboard like move called the Gori special. With the possible exception of Perro Aguayo, Gori Guerrero would be considered by most as the greatest non masked wrestler in the history of Lucha Libre. His son, Salvador Guerrero Jr, began wrestling as Chavo Guerrero in 1973 in El Paso. He wrestled at 118 and 126 pounds at the University of Texas at El Paso, and was considered to small to be a star. In 1975, when Guerrero won the Americas title from Ernie Ladd, who was more than a foot taller and 120 pounds heavier, it was considered a joke, that they must be attempting to kill the territory. However, Chavo Guerrero vs Roddy Piper was the feud that made both mens careers as well known national superstars. Chavo drew numerous big crowds in Los Angeles when challenging Terry Funk and Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight title. Chavo became so popular that soon, brother Mando and Hector, as well as patriarch Gori, were the headline act in southern California. The 3 brothers had a lot in common. All were good wrestlers, as their father taught them that fads come and go in the business, but if you are a great wrestler, you’ll always be able to at least find work. But all were also small in a time when the heavyweight division ruled, and were also noted, at least in the case of Chavo and Mando, for having hot tempers, and were also fearless, and there were plenty of stories of them challenging people much larger than them to real fights. Even after retirement, Chavo nearly got into it with Vader at a post show party after a WCW PPV event in Los Angeles. Some considered Chavo his own worst enemy. He went in and out of the mainstream during the 80s and aside from Japan, was never that big of a star. All ended up very bitter about not garnering the long term superstardom that their abilities probably deserved, and it seemed the same fate was destined for the youngest brother. Edouardo Guerrero was much younger than his brothers, and only 3 years older than Chavo’s son, Salvador Guerrero III (Chavo Jr). He was a good high school wrestler in El Paso, and wrestled in college in New Mexico, before starting his career in Juarez. Because of his name, he was picked on by the bigger wrestlers, but quickly earned his stripes and as early as 1987, the word came out of Mexico that he was going to be the most talented member of the family. But he’d never make it in the US or Japan because of his size. In 1989, Terry Funk brought Eddy Guerrero to World Championship Wrestling as a squash opponent for a TV match. Guerrero did a plancha, at the time almost unheard of in the US, and he and Funk had one of the greatest squash matches of the era. A performance like that normally would have gotten someone a job. The feeling by everyone was that he was super talented, but far too small for US wrestling, and despite everyone raving about the match, was only used 1 more time by the company. He got a break under a hood as the original Mascara Magica in EMLL, the name because he was magic in the ring. At the same time, New Japan was looking for a new opponent for Jushin Liger, and Guerreros name was suggested. It was quickly rejected. They knew all about him. Great worker, but was only 175 pounds. Yes, he was considered too small to work with Liger in the junior heavyweight division. Guerrero started making his name in Mexico in 1992. He caused a lot of controversy when he unmasked on his own, as opposed to losing the mask in the ring, a 1st in Mexican wrestling. He said he was the son of Gori Guerrero and shouldn’t go under an assumed name. He soon jumped to AAA, where he got his first main event push as a tag team with El Hijo del Santo. The two were put together as Los Nuevos Parejas Atomicos, as the sons of Mexicos most famous team. But the plan from the start was to turn him heel on Santo, like his father. At about the same time, another second-generation wrestler, Art Barr, was working under a mask as babyface Love Machine. An elaborate few weeks of angles saw Barr unmask, doing a double turn with Blue Panther in what was every bit as good as the more famous Bret Hart-Steve Austin double turn 5 years later at Wrestlemania. Love Machine and Guerrero became Los Gringo Locos, and whatever Guerrero lacked in charisma was made up for in spades by Barr. The 2 were tag team of the year in 1994, but it was a little known fact that dating back to 1992, Brian Pillman studied them and a lot of the 1993 Pillman & Steve Austin tag team in WCW, that years best team, came from spending hours at the WCW power plant studying their moves and mannerisms. New Japan by 1992 also changed its tune on Guerrero, not only bringing him in as a rival for Liger, but a year later, giving him the Black Tiger name, copied from Tiger Mask’s original top rival a decade earlier. When WWF officials watched 1994 “When Worlds Collide” PPV from Los Angeles, headlined by Santo & Octagon beating Barr & Guerrero in a double mask vs double hair match that was considered among the best tag matches ever at the time, they were so impressed that the lone wrestler they offered a spot to on the show was Louie Spicolli, who had juiced himself up to around 270 pounds. Guerreros career in Mexico ended quickly. Art Barr, 28, died just 2 weeks after what he and Guerrero both had called their greatest match from taking a bad combination of drugs and alcohol. Mexico’s economy crashed, and the peso was devalued to the point that Antonio Pena could no longer afford to pay big money in dollars to foreign talent. Guerrero wrestled mainly in Japan. With no money in Mexico, he started with ECW, where he became an immediate star with matches against 2 Cold Scorpio, Dean Malenko and others. The ECW success broke the US size barrier issue, and when he, Benoit, and Malenko moved to WCW in 1995, he was a solid cruiserweight star. While he could work with anyone, he was considered too small for a headline spot, although he did win the cruiserweight and US titles. Guerrero has said it is a daily battle for him, plus has suffered from regular battles with depression. Wrestling lore has it that his issues dated back to an auto accident on December 31, 1998, when he was thrown from his car and as he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt, and nearly died. He didn’t want to lose his spot so he rushed back to the ring months before his body could withstand the punishment. In actuality it only made worse his existing problems. After jumping to the WWE in January 2000 with Malenko, Benoit, and Saturn, the problems got so bad that he was getting a bad reputation, but his work in the ring was, while fallen from his peak due to drug problems, still better than most. Finally, when he passed out in the dressing room one night in Minneapolis, he was sent to rehab. Just days after being released, he went out to drink, crashed his car, and the company really had no choice at the time but to fire him, even though he was well liked. He hit rock bottom, and his wife divorced him. However when he returned to wrestling, both in indies and Japan, the word was very different from other so called reform substance abusers who publicly claimed to be clean, but were anything but. In 2002, Guerrero was rehired and cleaned up, and his wrestling returned to his previous levels. He started with Raw, but Paul Heyman, who gave him his first US mainstream break in ECW and was a fan of his dating back to Japan, maneuvered he and Chris Benoit to Smackdown when he was head writer for the show. Guerrero was made a superstar really by the fans last year, and it wasn’t planned, nor did anyone see it coming. He was teaming with nephew Chavo Jr., and Chavo Jr. tore his biceps. This put him in a tag team with Tajiri, to feud with Haas & Benjamin one the WWE tag titles. The “lie, cheat, & steal” gimmick, with some promotional vignettes that were more than borderline racist, seemed to add a layer of character to his great wrestling. But it was his heel turn on Tajiri for messing with his ride, which in a sense backfired, as fans started cheering Guerrero like a cult superstar, and eventually the company caught on and turned him back face, and he came across as a genuine superstar for the first time. Suddenly, he became business. It first showed up in television ratings with his surprising spike in the ratings for segments not expected to do well. At first it was certain markets, like Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. But soon they were national. The Lesnar/Guerrero match drew a sellout crowd to the Cow Palace, which is likely the oldest legendary major building in the US that still houses pro wrestling. The paid attendance was about 9,000 with a record $450,000 house, shattering the old record of $310,974 set on February 22, 1998, for the SuperBrawl PPV headlined by Hulk Hogan vs Sting. Guerrero is easily the smallest what I’d call major league World Heavyweight Champion in modern wrestling. While some can point to joke champions like David Arquette, or Mickey Whipwreck in ECW, as far as major league world champion, at 5’7 and 210 pounds, the guy once to small to be a viable junior heavyweight in Japan, or to even get work as a WCW jobber, may just be the best drawing full time performer in the country. Nobody of his size had ever been considered as a main eventer, let alone world champion.

I would imagine that the Saints and Rams would switch divisons. They moved from LA first so they should be the ones to switch divisions. I think a Los Angeles Saints team could get huge support from LA. If they move there for the 2006 season, I think Pete Caroll would be at the top of their list for head coach & GM. They could also end up drafting either Matt Leinart or Reggie Bush which would go a long way in LA.

The WWE was supposed to be releasing a Shawn Michaels book a week after they released the Bret DVD. It was supposed to be their rebuttal to Bret through Shawn. I'm not sure if that is still the case or if they pushed the release of Shawn's book back.

If UPN doesn't pick up Smackdown where would it go? I doubt USA will want another 2 hour prime time wrestling show on their network. The only other NBC Universal options are CNBC, Bravo, or A&E. I would put my money on CNBC.

There are rumors that the Padres are going to trade Adam Eaton to the Rangers for some kind of combination of Adrian Gonzalez, Laynce Nix, or Gerald Laird. Would you make that kind of move?

It looks like the Padres are going to start Xavier Nady and Ben Johnson next season. Do you think these two will be able to make an impact as everyday players?

[email protected] Joey Styles was flown out of nowhere to San Diego to meet with Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn today about taking over as the lead announcer on Raw, and he may debut on tonight's PPV. This is an amazing about-face, because just a few days ago the office feeling on Styles was that they wanted nothing to do with him. The new feeling is they have to drop the Jim Ross storyline because they realized they have no way out of it. Jim Ross' job is not on the line in tonight's match with Batista vs. Coachman. The feeling is the company needs to move on from Ross, that Coachman simply can't handle the job after his performance last night nor is the idea of a heel play-by-play guy, a few days ago touted as a new novel approach to TV, one that can work long-term. Styles is now believed by the company to be the only person that fans may accept in the Ross chair without a significant backlash.