Midweek News from the Trivia

[Guest Trivia247]

Thanks to Delon Sykes for the following report:

 

At 7:45 a.m. Rey Mysterio phoned in to the Mancow Morning Madhouse Radio Show for a quick interview. Among the things that were discussed were Rey's mask, his feelings on Bad Blood and the brand only PPVs.

 

Mancow and the gang chanted "619" to introduce Rey to the program. Rey said that his day was just starting off and he felt good. Mancow asked how the WWE was treating him. Rey said, "They are treating me well." Mancow asked about the decision to remove his mask when he was in WCW. Rey stated that, "It was the company's decision to remove it; It was their attempt to give his character a new direction." Mancow asked whose decision was it for Rey to wrestle with the mask again, his or Vince's? Rey said that Vince suggested that he wear the mask again.

 

Mancow asked Rey how he felt about the new brand-only pay-per-views. Rey said that, "They (WWE) kicked it off two days ago with Bad Blood, I hear that it went well and I personally can't wait until my brand, Smackdown, has their own pay-per-view next month." Mancow asked Rey to remind the audience when Smackdown airs and what channel it airs on (Thursday on UPN).

 

Mancow ends the interview with a burning question that is on the minds and lips of all WWE wrestling fans: Is Hulk Hogan really Mr. America? Rey hesitates. Mancow says, "People want to know". Rey responds with, "I don't know. He wears a mask, it's hard to tell under that mask." Mancow and the gang get upset with Rey for avoiding the obvious answer. Crew once again chants "619" and the interview ends.

 

 

Thanks to Paul Little for the following:

 

Sunday night for the Bad Blood PPV, Winnipeg's wrestling radio talk show "No Holds Barred" brought in Bret Hart to the city to do an autograph signing and 1-hour interview. I was there, and the venue (a local night club) was packed with a few hundred people to watch the PPV, get Bret's autograph, and listen to the interview live.

 

During the interview by co-host Joe Aiello (the other co-host, former ECW/WWF Superstar Cyrus, was on a plane back from Europe) asked several questions to Bret about Survivor Series '97, doing the WWA appearance in Australia, and the possibility of being involved with the WWE again.

 

Bret said people often ask him if he really hit Vince McMahon. He said he clocked him with an upper cut and brought him up 6 inches off the ground. He said that the only person in the locker room who even remotely warned him about the screwjob was Vader, who simply told him to "watch his back". When asked what he thought about the "You screwed Bret" chants that still happen for Vince and Earl Hebner, he said it makes him feel good, because normally in the wrestling business if you're out of sight, you're out of mind. But the people still remember. He went on to say that Hebner had promised him the night before that everything was going to go as planned, but later heard that he was just too much of a chicken to admit it to him that night.

 

When asked why he did the WWA Australian tour, he said it was partially just as a stepping stone, to make a big appearance in front of a lot of people. Also, he just wanted to see how he could handle being in front of those people talking as Bret Hart, not the "Hitman" character. He said it got very emotional out there.

 

When Joe asked Bret if he would ever consider doing a farewell appearance with the WWE, he said that the fans probably deserve that, but if he went out at Madison Square Gardens and got a standing ovation, he's not sure he could keep his emotions in check and isn't sure if something like that would be good for ratings. He said Vince may not want that kind of thing on his show. He reiterated the entire night that he would never return to the WWE as an employee, whether it be as an on-air performer, or as a fan asked, as a backstage writer to "help improve the product". He said it would be out of principle, because he would never want to make it seem like what they did do him was okay. He did say that when he met with Vince last December, they basically buried the hatchet as far as being on a talking level, and that there has been talk about a Best Of DVD, but that he has heard promises from Vince before so he'll have to wait and see.

 

A fan asked what his favorite match of all-time was, and he picked three:

 

- Against Stone Cold at WrestleMania 13, where he says 2 guys gave it their all and had great chemistry together.

 

- The Iron Man match vs. Shawn Michaels. He said that the 2 of them worked really well together, and actually before this match they were pretty decent friends. It wasn't until after this match when Shawn started to get a big head. When asked if he planned out the entire match, he said he can't take all the credit as Shawn put in quite a lot of it too, and they always worked well putting their stuff together. Said it was about 60-40 him.

 

- The Wembley Stadium match vs. British Bulldog.

 

When asked about the current crop of WWE Superstars, and who he would like to wrestle or be in the ring against had he never left WWE and was still with the company (which he pointed out really should never have happened, and he should still be with them today), he said really the only guys he likes are the Canadians like Jericho, Benoit, and Lance Storm, and then mentions Kurt Angle as a guy he really admires. He says he hasn't met him, but would like to, and if he was still wrestling would love to face him in the ring.

 

When asked about the up-and-comers like Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and The Hurricane, he said that he had only heard of Lesnar, but that he liked what he did. He said that they take too many risks now-a-days though, and don't have as much of the classic, wrestling-based matches that he was always a big fan of.

 

He was asked which Bad Blood matches he was looking forward to, and he said the Jericho/Goldberg match will be interesting. When asked about Jericho getting in the ring with the guy who gave Bret his concussion and essentially ended his career, all he said was, "I hope he's got insurance!" He also pointed out Michaels/Flair would be interesting to see because of their wrestling histories.

 

He said health-wise, he's at about 90%, but still has some problems walking with his left side, and can't fully smile on his left side either.

 

There was more covered in the full 60 minutes of interview, but I missed some of it because the sound was kept low in the building to prevent feedback on the radio. It was an incredible thrill to get to meet Bret Hart, especially with the limited appearances he has given since his stroke.

 

To follow-up the story I posted yesterday about Mark Jindrak being added to the Evolution stable, it has now been learned that Jindrak is advertised to be teaming with Randy Orton against Goldust and The Hurricane at upcoming house show events. This pretty much confirms Jindrak will soon be added to the group.

 

 

# The 6/14 edition of Velocity scored a 0.7 cable rating, with a 1.3 share.

 

# The 6/14 edition of Confidential scored a 0.8 cable rating, with a 1.7 share.

 

# The 6/15 edition of Sunday Night Heat scored a 0.9 cable rating, with a 1.8 share.

 

(Thanks to 1wrestling.com)

 

Thanks to reader Victor Perez for sending in the following:

 

- After RAW ends, Stone Cold and Kane celebrate with beer in the ring. HHH then gets back up and comes face to face with Austin. Austin intimidates HHH, who backs up only to realize Kane is right behind him. Hunter then receives a stunner from Austin.

 

Kane and Austin then celebrate with more beer, and Kane actually throws a beer into the audience, only to have it thrown right back into the ring.

 

HHH gets up again and tries drinking some beer to get fan support, but he just gets another stunner, followed by a chokeslam for his efforts. The segment continues with more beer until Lillian Garcia finally thanks the fans for coming and the live show ends.

 

# here is a weak rumor going around that Kurt Angle may be facing Chris Benoit at Summer Slam.

 

# Mick Foley is headed to the U.K. to promote his book.

 

# Despite Jim Ross announcing that Monday's RAW at MSG is sold out, that is far from the truth. If you log onto TicketMaster.com, you can still purchase tickets in the 300 and 400 section. With the announcement of Mick Foley appearing on the show, along with Triple H vs. Kane announced for the event, the remainder of the seats should sell fairly quickly.

 

As you saw on RAW last night, an angle took place during Lance's Storm's match with the debuting Garrison Cade, where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin kept yelling "boring" throughout the duration of the match.

 

While many were upset that Lance Storm, who many consider to be one of the top workers on the RAW roster, had his biggest weakness blatantly exposed on live television. Apparently, that wasn't what the company had intended to happen.

 

Because Storm lacks a lot of charisma and many consider him to be a very dry, boring character, WWE officials decided to use this as a way for fans to react to Storm's matches. Now, everytime he has a match, the fans won't just sit and keep silent, but will rather chant "boring" during the match.

 

I don't think this is the kind of reaction Lance was hoping for, but I guess it's better than no reaction at all...

 

(Thanks to PWTorch.com)

[Guest wildpegasus]

Thanks for posting the news.

 

Benoit/Angle Summerslam? It may be a weak rumor but this is always good. This'll be the first time ever that Benoit's the heel going up against the face Angle although it could be face vs face which I'd prefer. It looks like they're really undecided on whether to turn Benoit face/heel. Maybe Benoit will be Angle's first challanger for Angle's heavyweight run.

 

I suspected that they might be doing something with Storm. However, I'm still not changing my opinion that this is the stupidest angle of all time. (and this still could be punishment too)

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

# Despite Jim Ross announcing that Monday's RAW at MSG is sold out, that is far from the truth. If you log onto TicketMaster.com, you can still purchase tickets in the 300 and 400 section. With the announcement of Mick Foley appearing on the show, along with Triple H vs. Kane announced for the event, the remainder of the seats should sell fairly quickly.

 

- How are the seats going to sell if most people think its sold out? Top notch WWE logic there..

[Guest TheArchiteck]

# Despite Jim Ross announcing that Monday's RAW at MSG is sold out, that is far from the truth. If you log onto TicketMaster.com, you can still purchase tickets in the 300 and 400 section. With the announcement of Mick Foley appearing on the show, along with Triple H vs. Kane announced for the event, the remainder of the seats should sell fairly quickly.

 

- How are the seats going to sell if most people think its sold out? Top notch WWE logic there..

I know.......makes no sense.

[Guest Trivia247]

Thanks to "Tampa Bay Jay" for the following report:

 

Chris Jericho called in to the Bubba The Love Sponge show this morning. Here are the highlights.

 

He mentioned he would be in New York over the weekend doing promotional work for his band Fozzy. He also said that of all the young talent right now on Raw, he wished he could work with Randy Orton. But since they are both heels, he said he isn't expecting it anytime soon.

 

He then went into full blown company man speak and said that the brand extension is starting to work really well. Bubba closed the call by asking if Goldberg is okay. Jericho basically said everyone goes through a year or so transition to get into the WWE style.

 

Really great call from Jericho and, as always, he came off as a class act.

 

# Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer will be the special guests on Thursday's edition of Byte This! over at WWE.com.

 

# This year's Summer Slam is rumored to be taking place in Toronto.

 

# Rumor has it that WWE are attempting to contact Shania Twain to perform the Canadian National Anthem for the 7/8 Smackdown taping at the Air Canada Centre.

 

The following newsbit is courtesy of Chad Smith of OtherArena.com:

 

Yesterday afternoon, the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York entered an order approving the sale of substantially all ECW assets to WWE.

 

The hold-up in approval of the sale had been a late entry into the proceedings by Delta Music and Powersports, two companies that had a license agreement with ECW to distribute footage (some or all of it, at least all of the TV), specifically in the United Kingdom, and surrounding areas.

 

Upon closing of the ECW sale to WWE, Delta and Powersports will receive $165,000.00 from the Trustee.

 

WWE also must pay an additional $30,000 to Delta/Powersports. In return, Delta/Powersports will ship to WWE approximately 500 hours of ECW master tapes it has in its possession.

 

Delta also will be allowed to sell the inventory of ECW tapes/DVD's it already has for 90 days after it receives the money it is owed by wire transfer.

 

Tod Gordon is mentioned as being specifically barred from any claim to the footage. The Trustee still retains the claim against Joey Styles for allegedly diverting funds due to ECW from www.ecwwrestling.com to himself.

 

Smith provides further documentation regarding the sale via this link.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

500 hours of ECW? *Drool* Watch as they use NONE of it.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

Well, now Vince will have ALL of the wrestling footage on the planet, and he'll just keep it around so no one else can use it and make a profit and entertain fans. We'll bever see another ECW tape/DVD again. EVER. Thanks, Vince.