JoeDirt

Yeah, I have no idea what the asterisks are for. Maybe someone could fill us in on that. (Maybe signalling that Austin's return for each show was a draw?) And I'm kinda surprised by Unforgiven 2000's position on there.

Discuss! 1. WWE WrestleMania 17 - 950,000 buys - The Rock vs. Steve Austin 2. WWE WrestleMania 18 - 840,000 buys - The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan 3. WWE WrestleMania 20 - 825,000 buys - Triple H vs. Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels 4. WWE WrestleMania 16 - 824,000 buys - The Rock vs. Triple H vs. The Big Show vs. Mick Foley 5. WWE WrestleMania 15 - 800,000 buys - The Rock vs. Steve Austin 6. WWE InVasion - 770,000 buys - Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Kane, & Chris Jericho vs. Booker T, Rhyno, Diamond Dallas Page, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley 7. WWE WrestleMania 14 - 730,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels 8. WWE SummerSlam (08/30/98) - 700,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker 9. WWE Royal Rumble (01/20/02) - 665,000 buys - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock 10. WCW Starrcade (12/28/97) - 650,000 buys - Hulk Hogan vs. Sting 10. WWE WrestleMania 5 (04/02/89) - 650,000 buys - Hulk Hogan vs. Randy Savage 10. WWE Royal Rumble (01/24/99) - 650,000 buys - The Rock vs. Mankind 13. WWE Backlash (04/30/00) - 625,000 buys - The Rock vs. Triple H* 14. WWE Unforgiven (09/24/00) - 605,000 buys - The Rock vs. Chris Benoit vs. The Undertaker vs. Kane* 15. WCW Bash at the Beach (07/12/98) - 600,000 buys - Hulk Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone 15. WWE SummerSlam (08/22/99) - 600,000 buys - Steve Austin vs. Triple H vs. Mankind Credit: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

From WO... WWE house show report 4-4 Dothan by Byron Vester Opening match, SD Tag Titles: Too Cool vs. The Bashams Big pop for Too Cool and good heat for the Bashams(probably because it was the opener). Decent tag match with all the usual Too Cool spots and Rikishi getting the pin with the superkick and both guys dancing with a kid from the crowd. Rico(w/Miss Jackie)/Jamie Noble So-so match that the crowd didn't really get all that into except for when Rico started doing his schtick by messing with Noble old school Goldust-style. Rico gets the pin with some odd move I've never seen before. Nunzio/Orlando Jordan Another blah match with the only highlights being Nunzio mocking Jordan and talking smack with the fans at ringside. Jordan gets the win with whatever his finisher's called. Booker T/Undertaker Booker comes out to an insanely huge pop and then cuts the "SD is the minor leagues" promo to turn heel. Funny bit was when he dissed some guy sitting up front for not standing up when he made his entrance and still got cheered. He makes the challenge to the SD dressing room and Taker shows up like at all the rest of the house shows leading up to this one, shocking everybody. The "match" was literally Booker punching Taker 3 times and kicking him to break up the Chokeslam only to get Tombstoned like 10 seconds later for the pin. Intermission time as the announcer shills the Product Booths they set up. Dudleys/Akio & Sakado Really blah match with the Dudleys winning with the usual. Rob Van Dam/Charlie Haas Damn good pop for RVD, so-so heat for Haas. Haas still used the old WGTT theme(which rocks). Pretty much the MOTN(which isn't saying much). Lots of arm work by Haas that RVD actually SELLS FOR ONCE! RVD wins with the usual, but at least he sold for once. Bob Holly/Mark Jindrak Smackdown GM Kurt Angle came out to a mixed reaction and did the spiel he used for his first show as SD GM and then Dawn Marie comes out asking to be his assistant. They make a few Clinton-esqe sexual puns and then Kurt intros Holly who gets a so-so reaction while Jindrak gets no heat whatsoever. The match itself was rather boring and rally dumb with Dawn Marie being made special ref mid-match and screwing Holly by not counting 3 and fast counting for Jindrak's school boy. John Cena/Rene Dupree, US Title match Cena comes out first to the biggest pop of the night, bar none. The crowd chanted his name so much and so often that it took him a good 4 minutes to get into his spiel. Dupree comes out and tries to rap on Cena and John grabs some guy's markerboard from ringside and writes "Rene's gay" on it and shows everyone in the arena, which gets a HUGE "Rene's Gay!" chant going. The match starts and the chant comes up again(for about the 4th time) and Rene does the old, great heel standby and threatens to leave if the chant keeps going. Match was kinda blah, but the fans were INTO Cena, as in "chant his name every 30 seconds". Dupree even pulls out the Dance~! and gets huge heel heat for it. Cena finishes with the FU and Rene gets the "Rene's Gay!" chant again as he's leaving. Main event WWE Championship Match, Eddy Guerrero/John "Bradshaw" Leyfield We got gyped on this one because the advertised main was supposed to be Eddy and Big Show. Angle comes out again(who stayed ringside to put a stop to any cheating that may happen) and intros Bradshaw(who gets no heat), who's still wearing the APA tights. Bradshaw cuts a promo on Eddy asking for a thousand bucks for his hat and then disses the Crimson Tide which gets him booed(although it didn't last for the match). Eddy came out to the third biggest pop of the night(kinda disappointing, but I understand why since he got no promo time whatsoever). The match itself was terrible. Bradshaw controls it almost the entire time and it SUCKS. He'd go from a regular chinlock and into a Million Dollar Dream, get back up and trade stuff with Eddy for maybe a minute or so and then go back to the chinlock. Bradshaw ain't ready for this push and this match shows it. Finish came when the ref gets bumped and Angle throws the belt into the ring and Bradshaw gets it and missed Eddy only to get DDT'd. Eddy grabs the belt, KOs Bradshaw, and Angle gets in the ring to interfer again. The ref revives and Eddy tosses the belt to Angle who gets caught redhanded and admonished by the ref while Eddy frog splashes Leyfield for the three count to end the show. Biggest pops 1. Cena 2. Booker T 3. Eddy 4. Undertaker 5. Too Cool Biggest heel heat 1. Booker T(once he cut the "minor leagues" promo) 2. Rene Dupree 3. Bradshaw(once he dissed Alabama) 4. Bashams 5. Nunzio

Yeah, they won't postpone the cage match for 2 months. And really, they probably want to start up mostly new storylines once TV starts, won't they?

Let me add my name to the hat of those who find nothing too great about BJ Whitmer.

This doesn't help much, but this is from a google RAW Recap of the show the night after Summerslam. "And now, accompanied a strange smile on his face, it's Paul Bearer, and his new charge, Mankind. Jim Ross is the designated interviewer, and his goal is to find out why the change of allegiance. But wasn't that answer on his hotline a few weeks back? Lawler would like to see Mankind begin and end proceedings with the Mandible Claw, but that would be a bit predictable. So, the interview begins, and Ross asks the question. Bearer begins, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired," and from there the interview goes on to make a little less sense. Before it gets too far out of hand, though, the lights flicker again. Ross asserts that this is a sure sign the Undertaker is present. Bearer denies this, saying it must be Mankind doing it, since he now has the power of the urn. And not only that, but he has the power of the nerve hold of doom, and as if that weren't enough, he has a title shot at Shawn Michaels coming up at the next IYH. Quite a bit of ambition for a mindless individual don't you think? Mankind explains it by saying he and Bearer figure that his winning the title would be the best way to inflict pain upon as many people as possible at once. Meanwhile, the lights keep on flickering, and Mankind doesn't seem to know why. The grin is also gone momentarily from Bearer's face. When the lights continue to refuse to stay lit reliably, Ross once again puts it to Bearer that the Undertaker must be present. Bearer denies it categorically. "That is not the Undertaker. That is not my Undertaker. That is not your Undertaker." And this is not your father's Undertaker. Bearer continues, asserting that the Undertaker is dead, he is passed away, bereft of life, he rests in... >>> BONG <<< ...he's getting better..."

Thanks for the Monday Night ratings links. Another question: Who was writing the WWF shows in 2000-2001? When did the current writers get their positions?

What I want to know is why noone ever slides out feet first, seeing as how they always make a point about the guys FEET touching first whenever their hands touch the floor. Or why they don't just jump down instead of letting the guy pull them back in.

Has anyone ever gone through the door to win a cage match?

I still need to get the Bloodbath DVD.

Rock's like a kid with two groups of friends, and he has to talk differently around each.

More Walking Tall stuff. *Yawn*

Eh, I didn't have a problem with it. So how much of Bret/Owen in the cage are they going to show? 3 minutes?

Orton: "Yeah, I wrestled two years in high school, and didn't do very well, that's why I do this." (Makes a "cut" motion). Lol.

I'd hate to lose to that kid. Seriously, not discriminating or anyone, but HOW CAN YOU LOSE TO THAT? I think Meltzer said he was undefeated this year or something.

I wouldn't want to be the guy that had to wrestle that kid.

It hasn't been very good at all.

Bashams pull a mid match switcheroo. Cool.

Billy Gunn vs. Danny Basham - four or five star match coming up, I'm sure.

You can find it pretty easily on Kazaa or any file sharing system.

Isn't the point of having them face jobbers is to DOMINATE the match? Jordan wins with the Flatliner...at least he's not using a body slam anymore.

It's a double knee back breaker that "Hurricane" John Walters does in the indies. Like an Edge-o-Matic down onto your knees.

Whoa! Rico did the John Walters backbreaker!

Nice slingshot suplex by Rico.