Hunter's Torn Quad

Rating was a 4.0.

At the last SNME.

The original plan was for Orton to RKO Kevin but Kevin unsurprisingly turned that down.

Why? The company was negligent over Owen's death in not making absolutely sure that the harness equipment was safe and the right kind to use.

Absolute hatred and outright rejection.

It would have been nice for them to give some sort of rub to Umaga and let him stay in the ring after the main event. As it is, while he beat Shawn, he got nothing out of it because the spotlight was immediately put on Vince and Shane instead.

No.

The crowd reaction to the main event was incredible. Of course WWE knew what the reaction would be, and I have to think it's going to be used as an excuse, as if any were needed, to make the new ECW even more unlike the real ECW.

Not really. He was reporting and commenting on the news as it was at the time. News changes all the time.

There was a tag match on either an early FSN show or one of the last PPV's where they wanted Sadler to beat Shane and Shane complained about doing the job and at one point flat out refused to do it.

God forbid that there should be any attempts at wrestling made on a wrestling show. I guess they wanted it to be less of a wrestling match and more of a skin and pantie show.

Best of the NWA on TBS This is a 13-part 26 disc set that covers the highlights of the NWA on the TBS Superstation from 1985 to 1988. You can get it from infamous trader Bob Barnett at www.bobbarnett.com Disc 1-1 The first disc starts off with a segment from World Championship Wrestling, which sees Ric Flair and Magnum TA in the studio and it starts the build of the Flair vs. Magnum TA feud. It’s a short segment, and it sees Flair tooting his own horn in his usual style and Magnum responding with how he doesn’t need all the refined things Flair has, because he does his talking in the ring. The main thing you can tell from this is that Magnum is clearly nervous when it comes to doing an interview. Next up is the ending of a Ric Flair squash, with Magnum on commentary. After the match, Flair confronts Magnum and offers to face him right there and then in the ring. Naturally, Magnum gets in the ring, and so does Flair, but then Flair leaves to tell David Crockett and Tony Schiavone that Magnum doesn’t need to suffer a major upset right now and because he’s thinking of Magnum’s best interests he’s walking away. Another confrontation between Flair and Magnum is up, and Flair is chiding Magnum for not keeping his mouth shut and trying to embarrass him. Flair dares Magnum to pay the price and put up or shut up, but that when Magnum is ready for it “I’ll let you know, daddy.” Magnum brings up that Flair was the one who called him out last week but Flair walked away. Flair winds up telling Magnum that he’ll make his chimes ring, and Magnum brings up that he hasn’t yet had his shot but when he does he’ll show Flair what he can do. Three segments, less than 10 minutes, and you’re already wanting to see the match. It’s so simple and yet so effective. Another Magnum TA promo, and this time he gets interrupted by Ric Flair, who says that Magnum is in line for a shot and we’re waiting to find out of he’s ready to play major league ball. Flair tell Magnum to stick around for a while because Flair s going to show him how great he is. The ending of Flair beating Sam Houston sees Flair not release the figure four and Magnum TA, who is doing commentary, runs in and breaks the hold and faces off with Flair. Flair backs off and Magnum follows him to the floor but Flair just walks away to the back. Now it’s the aftermath to a Magnum TA squash, and he and Flair face off again. Flair tells Magnum he needs to dress up and even offers to have some clothes made for him but Magnum grabs Flair and tells him to back off. Magnum goes to the ring and calls Flair out again but once again Flair backs off. They wind up in the ring and Flair attacks Magnum as he enters the ring and beats him up a little before walking away. When David Crockett tells Flair he wouldn’t let him get into the ring Flair tells him to talk his mother. Tony Schiavone interviews Ric Flair who again promotes himself in the only way he can. Flair says he’s put together a video of the four most memorable moments in his career. The first one his is win at Starrcade 83, the second is his title win over Kerry Von Erich, the third is his win over Dusty Rhodes at Starrcade 84, and the fourth is his attack on Magnum TA the week before. Flair says Magnum lacks class and to show there are no hard feelings he’s had his tailors make a suit for Magnum TA and tells Tony to give the suit to Magnum. Flair then goes to the ring for a squash match and, almost inevitably, Magnum TA comes to the broadcast position. Tony gives Magnum the suit from Flair and tells him what Flair said. After Flair wins the match, Magnum takes the suit into the ring and seems to appreciate it before tearing it apart as Flair looks on in silent anger. Flair goes to walk away before charging at Magnum only to get caught with the belly to belly suplex. Magnum walks off leaving Flair in the ring. When Flair finally gets out he rants at the broadcast position a little before leaving. Another Flair promo, with Flair wondering if he might not grow old as World champion and have to just hand it to someone. Magnum TA comes out to confront Flair and tells him he doesn’t think Flair can beat him and bets $1,000 that Flair can’t beat him in 10 minutes. Flair accepts and the two go to the ring. The two have a pretty hot match that almost predictably goes the full 10 minutes. The post-match sees Ole and Arn Anderson, who came out to do commentary part way through the match, jump Magnum from behind and they and Flair beat Magnum up before Dick Slater and Buzz Sawyer hit the ring and run them off. Next up is one of Jim Cornette’s first promo’s on TBS, and it sounds like it came after the debut Midnight Express on TBS. Cornette talks up the Midnights and their success as part of the Cornette family empire. Cornette is on fine form here, getting in a couple of good insults against Tony and the fans. Another Jim Cornette promo now and this one was later on in the same show. Cornette starts off by insulting the studio fans once again. Cornette tells us that it hurt him to see the jobber the MX had beaten up staggering around hurt after the match so from now on he’s going to have someone at ringside to carry them to the back. Next is the finish of Brett and Buzz Sawyer versus the Rock and Roll RPM’s, with Jim Cornette on commentary, and one of the Sawyer’s rolls up Tommy Lane for the win. The RPM’s and Sawyer’s fight after the match and the Sawyer’s get another pinfall over the RPM’s. Cornette goes to ringside and tells at the Sawyer’s and Buzz Sawyer tells Cornette to get out the MX. The Midnight’s come out and an impromptu match takes place. It doesn’t last long before The MX knock Bret Sawyer from the ring and leave Buzz Sawyer laid out in the ring. The pace picks up now as we see Ric Flair confronting Ivan Koloff at the broadcast position during a Nikita Koloff match and the two trade heated words before Nikita attacks Flair from behind and throws him into the ring. Koloff tries to beat Flair up but Flair gets the upper hand until Ivan interferes. The advantage doesn’t last as Dusty Rhodes runs out to even things up. With his clothes torn up, Flair cuts a raving promo and tells Koloff that they’ll meet up again. Jim Cornette cuts another promo and insults a number of people, including the Sawyer’s, Dusty Rhodes and the Rock and Roll Express, where Cornette makes it clear the Midnight Express are coming after the World tag titles. Ric is out for a promo and he has words for Nikita Koloff, telling him that “we’ve only just begun”, Dusty Rhodes, telling him not to interfere in his business again and not to think the tension between them is over, and he also has words for Buddy Landell. We get another promo from Ric Flair, this time hyping a steel cage match against Nikita Koloff in the Omni. In a neat touch, he does it ‘behind’ a graphic of a steel cage that covers the whole picture. Jim Cornette is out again and, after insulting Tony Schiavone, telling him he looks like an unmade bed, Cornette insults freeloaders and bemoans having to pay taxes to subsidize them. After a break the interview continues, and Cornette again has words for the Rock and Roll Express, the Sawyer’s and Dusty Rhodes. Jim Cornette is back for another promo, this time building up his feud with Jimmy Valiant and his Street People. Cornette also finds time to insult Rocky King and Big Momma. A trifecta of Cornette as he’s out again for another promo, this time with insults aimed at Rock and Roll Express, Dusty and Magnum TA and Jimmy Valiant and Rocky King, bringing up that nobody has beaten the Midnight Express. Once again it’s time for more Cornette as he interrupts Schiavone and Crockett. Cornette talks about all the steamy fan letters that the MX are receiving and Cornette tells the women sending them that he doesn’t allow the MX any extracurricular activity, so they’ll be disappointed. Fifth Cornette promo in a row now, as Cornette once again insults Jimmy Valiant, his Street People, and Big Momma, building up their ongoing feud. Make that the sixth promo from Cornette now, as he once again has words for Jimmy Valiant and Rocky King. You can tell it’s the 80s as Cornette calls King, who is black, Buckwheat, which I don’t see happening on television today. A non-Cornette segment at last and it’s the first big angle of the set as we see the first half of the angle where the Andersons and Ric Flair broke Dusty Rhodes’ ankle in the cage. In this part, we see Dusty run-in and send the Russians, Krusher, Ivan and Nikita, packing and the clip ends with Flair apparently offering his hand up to Dusty. It then cuts to the studio where Jim Crockett is with Tony and Ric Flair and Crockett asks Flair to explain the tape they’ve just seen. Flair doesn’t really answer except to go off on not having any challengers so Crockett walks off. After a commercial Flair is still in studio and Tony is once again asking Flair about what happened in the cage. The perennial babyface announcer David Crockett chimes in and presses Flair to answer. Flair says he is the best but David responds by asking if Flair thinks Dusty is the best and if that is why he did what he did. Flair brings out Arn Anderson, who is the National champion, and Flair parades the belts they both have. They can cut to a taped interview conducted by David Crockett with Dusty’s doctor about the ankle injury. The doctor tells us Dusty suffered a third degree ankle sprain and he describes it as a very serious and injury. Time for a Ric Flair promo and this time he’s talking about Tully Blanchard in less than flattering terms, so this is clearly before the formation of the Horseman. Flair also has a few word for Buddy Landell, who is in the ring, with his manager JJ Dillon, and he also talks about Magnum TA and Nikita Koloff. Flair finishes up by informing Landell that he’d lend him one of his robes but Landell would get lost in the arms. Tony Schiavone interviews Dusty Rhodes, in a cast, at ringside. However, the interview doesn’t last long as Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard attack Rhodes, knocking him down and Arn actually steals Rhodes’ World Television title belt. A Ric Flair promo is next and it’s an expanded version of David Crockett questioning Flair about what happened in the cage where Flair and the Anderson’s broke Dusty’s ankle. Jim Cornette is out again and talks about Jimmy Valiant having a drug problem in that when he’s in with the MX he gets “drugged from one end of the ring to the other”. A few more insults get thrown the way of Valiant, Rocky King and Big Momma. The next segment starts up in the middle of an MX squash with Jim Cornette on color commentary off and on. The squash is entertaining as all MX squashes are and Cornette is funny on commentary. After the match the MX keep beating up their opponents, one of whom is Rocky King, so this naturally brings in Jimmy Valiant. Valiant gets beat down before a mysterious lady enters the ring and decks Bobby Eaton, knocking him silly. A post-skirmish promo from Valiant sees him ask for the mysterious lady to get in contact with him. A Jim Cornette promo is up and Cornette once again tears into Jimmy Valiant and the Street People. Cornette says he’s going to prosecute the mystery woman and he’s going to demand police protection from Jim Crockett Promotions because of the woman. A change in direction now as we see an angle where Baby Doll offers Magnum TA her business card and he responds by forcing a kiss on her. With babyface announcer David Crockett screaming that Baby Doll likes it, Doll pulls away and TA grabs her tearing her top and then Tully Blanchard jumps TA from behind and the two have a short but very stiff brawl but the action cuts back to the studio before we see too much. It’s back in the studio again for another Jim Cornette promo and, after bragging about being PWI manager of the year for 1985. talks about an incident between the MX and the R and R Express and we get tape of what went down, with the MX jumping the RnR’s after a squash match where the MX leave Morton laying. Cornette once again vows the MX will be the NWA world tag team champions. Another Jim Cornette promo again and he complains about not being happy when he should be, after all he’s the manager of the year and the RnR’s have been laid out, because the RnR’s fans have been writing to him and complaining about what the MX did to Ricky Morton. Ric Flair is out for a promo and he’s accompanied by the sounds of The Wanderer by Dion. Flair talks about a female fan in the parking lot asking him to come out in jeans like Magnum TA does and Flair says he might just do that one day. Flair then talks about, accompanied by the relevant clip, of an attack by Flair, Arn and Tully on Ron Garvin that gets interrupted by Dusty Rhodes and winds up with Garvin knocking Flair out with a punch. Flair gets aggravated by David Crockett and tells him that they have to show the tape simply to show that Flair is a normal human being on his worst day. Flair also tells the girls that if they see him driving along they should turn around, get in line, and the Nature Boy will make them into big girls. Jim Cornette is in the studio now and he’s got a copy of the Cornette family history and he informs us that the Cornette’s have always been successes. Cornette then talks once again about what they’ve done to he RnR’s and tears into them too. A squash match is next with Bobby Eaton facing Wee Willie Wilkens, who is as short as his name suggests. With Jim Cornette chiming in on commentary from time to time, David Crockett accuses him of having the singles match so Dennis Condrey can protect Cornette at ringside. The highlight of the match is Cornette yelling moves at Bobby for him to perform on Wilkens. Bobby ends the match with a kneedrop off the top and then he and Dennis beat Wilkens up a little more before the RnR’s hit the ring to run the MX off and, for some bizarre reason, Ricky Morton throws Wilkens out of the ring when you’d think, as a babyface, he’d help the guy up. Ric Flair promo now and, strangely for Ric, he’s wearing jeans, which he says he’s doing because when you’re as good as he is you can once in a while go against the norm, which is the suits he usually wears. After the fashion shows, Flair has words for Ron Garvin and their imminent encounter and makes reference to Garvin becoming a US citizen and says that when he beats Garvin it means he’s beaten an American. Another Jim Cornette promo is up and he once again talks about the RnR Express and we see tape of another incident between the two that sees the MX jump the RnR’s after a squash match and Cornette winds up lashing Ricky Morton across the back with his belt. In preview of a special upcoming ‘dream match’, which will see the Rock and Roll Express defend the NWA world tag titles against the Midnight Express we see the Rock and Roll Express beating Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khrushchev for the belts in July of 1985. The introductions of the match take place but the match itself is on disc 1-2 and that is where we will pick up later.

--Even though the Hammerstein only holds 2,500, it was not sold out as of yesterday. Ouch.

If it's not medical or behavioral then what the fuck is Kash suspended for? They found traces of a drug in his system that he does not have a prescription for.

According to Keller, Kash was suspended because the blood test found traces of a prescription drug that he didn't have prescription for.

--It didn't come across on TV, but we had several reports from last night indicating both Cena being heavily booed, but also a lot of people leaving after Cena's match. Even some internally who are instructed to believe that DX is what's drawing right now had it kind of hammered home that the person, at least on Raw, people are coming to see is Cena, whether it be to cheer him or boo him. People were leaving before HHH was taken out and Michaels' match had been pushed all week. Meltzer.

They did wrestle each other a couple of times leading up to WM XII at house shows, but that was down to a few no-shows and the company wanted fans to feel like the promotion was going out of there way to make things up to them by giving them the Wrestlemania main event.

That is correct. Painkillers. He really shouldn't be back until he's kicked whatever habit he has but that was never going to happen.

Possibly steroids. Some of the suspensions were for violating the steroid tests and not all of the names are known yet.

If it's not medical or behavioral then what the fuck is Kash suspended for? He does say known medical issues, so it could be something medical but it isn't known what it is.

"I've only smoked a joint three times in my life"

The deal with Sen Shi and TNA is that TNA are trying to change the deal they made when Sen Shi returned. TNA are wanting to put the top guys on a weekly salary instead of a per show deal, and in return they'll handle their guys Indy bookings. Sen Shi is against this because he's always handled his own bookings plus there are some promoters he doesn't want to work for.

Attention to detail isn't a strong point of WWE.com; Cena made Nitro tap out.

Part One – July 31st Bobby Lashley and the Great Khali have been diagnosed with liver problems and removed from the active roster for the time being. In testing both men WWE found conclusive liver problems and had no choice but to take them off the road. The damage was enough that were was real fear that one or both could have Hepatitis. Super Crazy was pulled off the Bash at the last minute for similar liver problems. Jimmy Korderas was also pulled off the road for health problems found during his physical exam. Lashley’s problems were known at least two weeks back, and the US Title was taken off of him due to preliminary testing showing the potential problem that, if further testing showed them to be accurate, Lashley would be not be available to wrestle for some time. The change was done on TV because they knew there was a good chance he would not be able to work the PPV. Lashley and Khali were rushed on the roster too soon because of their unique physiques. Lashley might have been a hopeful for Olympics at wrestling but it wasn’t his wrestling that put him on the fast track. Like with Chris Masters, Lashley and Khali were brought up far too soon because of their look, and now all three have been taken off the active roster, and off the big pushes, because of what it took to achieve that look. While it is not yet proven that the liver problems are steroid related, there are steroids that greatly affect the liver, and a number of wrestlers who have used steroids have had kidney problems too. Rick Martel had similar issues that came out during the Zahorian trial. Masters suspension and rehab was down to painkiller use without prescription, and his health issues are psychological in nature rather than physical. There is not set time for Lashley or Khali to come back. They join RVD, Kurt Angle and Joey Mercury has either being suspended, for RVD and Angle, or in rehab, with Mercury. Of them all, if it were not for the more stringent testing in the wake of the death of Eddie Guerrero, the only ones likely to not be on the road now would be Van Dam, because got arrested, and Mercury. There have also been a number of recent failures of the steroid test, and there will be suspensions shortly. The names could get released by the company as the names will get out at some point anyway. No names have yet been confirmed as failing the test, but the suspensions will likely begin after the 7/26 Smackdown taping. At least one more Smackdown wrestler will be suspended soon. (I assume this would be Tatanka) Matt Hardy’s suspension is not necessarily for failing the steroid test. Hardy wasn’t involved in anything major, but his loss makes Smackdown barley able to fill a house show card. Lashley, Khali and Crazy being taken off the roster was unavoidable due to significant health issues. If there is one good thing about all this, it’s that the new policy caught the problems early enough that there is an increased chance of people recovering. Regarding Canadian TV: Raw will never air live, but on a tape delay from 10pm. TSN cancelled Raw after the Edge and Lita live sex show but Vince was able to get a reprieve. The show got cancelled for real after the 7/3 show with the Hunter/Candice Michelle blow job skit. It was not a ratings issues. At the press conference that announced this, a couple of the wrestlers took shots at TSN over the changeover, even though TSN tried to keep things looking amicable. For Raw on 7/17, the biggest segment gain was for Cena being interviewed by Matt Striker and Cena’s match with Umaga, which gained over 1 million viewers (1,021,000). Referee Mickey Jay was moved to ECW because after getting rid of all the ECW ref’s, they were left with Mike Posey and a couple of rookies. It’s bad deal for Jay, because referees are paid on a percentage of the gate, so he’s going from a percentage of $90,000 to $200,000 gates to a percentage of $15,000 to $30,000 gates. The Diva Search finale will take place on 8/16 on USA. Part Two – August 2nd The problems for the Smackdown roster exploded over the past week. The scorecard of names taken off the active roster is now: Great Khali, Bobby Lashley and Super Crazy for liver enzyme issues, Jimmy Korderas for health reasons, and Matt Hardy and Kid Kash suspended for 30 days. Neither Hardy nor Kash have known medical issues that would cause their suspension, despite what has been said elsewhere, and Kash’s suspension had nothing to do with behavior. There was talk on 7/25 that a few more names would be added to the list of suspensions after TV, all of them believed to be on Smackdown, and none would be from the Raw brand. While there has been talk of a feared Hepatitis outbreak, due to three liver issues, the company didn’t believe that, and there is apparently evidence to support that conclusion. There is internal fear among the wrestlers that the liver problems are not coincidence. As far as the suspensions go, a number of them were for violating the steroid test, as several failed the first test before Wrestlemania and levels did not decrease in subsequent tests. At least three or four fit the criteria, not all of whom would be known right now. Not all of the suspensions are for steroids, but some of them are. Dave has spoken to doctors who have headed steroid testing for major sports organizations. The secretion of steroids is not an even handed process, in that if you take steroids and stop it is possible for levels to not drop, and even be elevated if you’re tested on the wrong day. Generally, this style of testing can be accurate, but it is not foolproof in showing of people are off steroids or are getting off them. Says steroids are such a strong part of the culture that all the deaths and controversies of the past 15-years can’t stop it. Dave knows of many wrestlers who were told flat out by doctors that certain health issue were steroid related and the wrestlers simply took the view the doctor didn’t know what they were talking about. All people are different, but there is the belief held that how can these things that can do so much for you be so bad. In addition, you are judge by management, and fans, by how you look. At the 7/24 taping, there were a very vocal segment of fans getting on Edge and calling attention to what appeared to be a loss of upper body size in Edge, and some people were upset about this feeling that this kind of response will get in the heads of some people. While Smackdown will be decimated for a while, ECW should be back to almost full strength very soon. Rob Van Dam will be eligible to come back at either the 8/5 house show or the 8/8 taping in Nashville and will apparently be back at that time. His suspension was something forced on the company, as he got arrested rather than failing a test. Kurt Angle returns on the 8/1 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The suspensions were without pay, so Van Dam is out around $20,800, minus whatever else it might cost him to take care of the legal issues. With Angle, due to his downside of $1 million per year, he’s out to the tune of around $83,300. The wrestlers taken off due to liver issues will similarly be earning their downside money, though it’s possible there might be an exception. WWE’s handling of the situations has been inconsistent, to no surprise. Van Dam and Lashley’s issues were acknowledged, while nothing was said about Angle, Masters or Mercury. As a rule-of-thumb, the 30-day suspensions are going to be for steroid violations or public situations they cannot ignore, while the longer disappearances for rehab are for painkiller issues. Disappearances for an unspecified amount of time that do not include rehab are more likely going to be down to health issues. It’s not known how they’ll handle the latest suspensions, but they’ll probably be inconsistent yet again. Lashley’s liver problems are a major concern and he is not expected back any time soon. Khali’s problems are said to be not as bad, and he was kept strong because of the belief he may be able to get his levels down to where he can be brought back. Super Crazy is also not expected back soon, and there is fear that he and Lashley’s issues are serious. Great American Bash Thumbs Up: 57 (32.2%) Thumbs Down: 83 (46.9%) Thumbs in the Middle: 37 (20.9%) Best Match Poll London and Kendrick vs. Kash and Noble: 82 Worst Match Poll Undertaker vs. Big Show: 97 Said the Bash was a show that didn’t click, that there was little heat for the undercard bouts that didn’t get pushed, but that the matches themselves were not bad. Said Matt Hardy replacing Super Crazy likely made the match better, and said that as bad as Undertaker vs. Show was that it’s mind boggling to think how bad it would have been had Khali wrestled instead. Said that Batista vs. Mark Henry probably would have had more heat than Batista vs. Mr Kennedy, but it’s unlikely it would have been as good. Said that while Finlay vs. Regal without Lashley looked better on paper the lack of crowd interest meant the match didn’t get over as well as the original match would have done. King Booker winning the World title was changed again over the last week. The scenario itself had been planned for quite some time and would have happened at Judgment Day had JBL not taken himself off the road due to injuries. Said Mysterio is hardly the prototypical WWE Champion and was booked like no other champion before him with numerous television losses that never lead to title programs. The title change had nothing to do with the other changes that were made to the show. The show drew about 9.750 fans, with 8.750 paying $490,000 Said JBL’s announcing had good and bad points. Said his non-stop talking takes over every show and while he clearly does his homework he is so dominant that, like with Smackdown, it felt like it was the JBL show, and that when it was over you don’t remember the matches as much as you remember hearing JBL commentate for three hours. Said his going off on tangents hurt some of the matches, most notable Finlay vs. Regal, although that match was already hurt by the crowd. London and Kendrick vs. Kash and Noble: ***1/4. Dave noted there some funny signs in the audience about livers, and brought up one that read, “I came to see who is left”. Fit Finlay vs. William Regal: **1/4. Said the match didn’t work on both storyline levels, as Finlay was playing face and Regal the heel but nobody caught on, and Cole never directed things to set that storyline up. Said the crowd was dead except for “boring” chants which Cole said was because fans wanted to see Lashley. Dave jokes that he didn’t know Lashley’s nickname was “boring”. Gregory Helms vs. Matt Hardy: ***1/4. Called the angle with Show and Khali attacking Undertaker shockingly weak for what it was meant to do, that being set up Show replacing Khali, but says they didn’t want Undertaker hurt so much that he’d have to sell the whole match, and that they also wanted to protect Khali. Says they got lucky, because putting Khali in there for 20:00 would have made for one of the worst matches of all time plus he would likely have lost, but now he can come back for the program and still be untouched. Undertaker vs. Big Show: -*. Said that after JBL compared Undertaker to Michael Jordan in his final year with the Washington Wizards, and how he used to be the greatest and he’s only showing flashes of it, when Undertaker won he said he was like Jordan in his prime. To which Dave commented, “Yeah, maybe Orlando Jordan. Four-Way bra and panties match: DUD. Said Dean Malenko got a lot of heat for this one, as he tried to book a wrestling match out of it. Mr Kennedy vs. Batista: **1/2. Booker T vs. Rey Mysterio: ***. Other News As well as Hunter and Vince not being at Raw, Brian Gewirtz was not there having taken a week off for a vacation. Vince did not like the Bash and wanted to re-evaluate everything on television that week. Vince rewrote Raw after the Bash and when he left the show had to be rewritten again. Vince was in constant cell phone contact with the writers, approving the new show as it was being written. Chris Benoit is expected back in the fall, although there is no timetable set. Dave said he liked the DX stuff for the first two weeks but that is now become unbearable. He called the segment with Michaels that opened the show the single worst one he can recall Shawn being a part of. Dave also said that when Shawn was rolling around laughing that almost nobody was laughing with him and that he went from cool to the epitome of uncool. There was talk of sending some of the Spirit Squad to Smackdown to bolster their roster. Said Foley’s promo’s are so good that while they are not turning Flair heel that a number of anti-Flair signs are showing up. Also said that Flair really needs a great promo right now but that he is not getting the chance to give one. Said the gimmick with Batista and Mr Kennedy is that Batista can’t find a way to pin him even though he dominates. There were problems between WWE and the staff of the Joe Louis building over the Smackdown and ECW tapings, among them being the building staff not being told about the pyro testing, and when they tested the pyro some security staff from the outside rushed in thinking that a bomb might have gone off.

Now THIS is a great KO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPxkEkGUeZU