Guest TSMAdmin Report post Posted June 21, 2003 WWE Confidential May 10, 2003 Sorry for the delay, but it’s been a tough week as I was plagued with personal drama, a cold and an english paper. Not to worry though because as always I come through… Better late than never. This week on Confidential: The death of Miss Elizabeth and Lex Luger’s 911 call. Gene goes right into a brief description of Liz’s death and Luger being arrested on counts of possession of controlled substances, but before we get to the details there is a segment on the life and times of Elizabeth Hulette. Cover Story Vince McMahon talks about the special and unique qualities that Elizabeth possessed both on and off the screen. The Miss Elizabeth that we all saw on TV was no different than Elizabeth Hulette. Hulk Hogan adds that the camera was always very friendly to her. Howard Finkel and Gerald Brisco bring up how Miss Elizabeth led the way for the current WWE Divas. Since she was one of the first female managers, she did very little talking, so she communicated to the fans through her expressions and how she carried herself. Stephanie McMahon idolized both the character and the woman behind it. As a young woman who was involved in the wrestling business, Steph considers Randy Savage-Miss Elizabeth to be one of the greatest love stories of all time. Steve Lombardi calls their marriage at SummerSlam 1991 “the wedding heard around the world”. He also says that it was the first wedding in WWF history, which is inaccurate, but that doesn’t really matter much anyway. Vince will always envision Elizabeth hoisted up on Randy Savage’s shoulder giving back to the fans even more than they gave to her. So far so good. Although from what I heard the controversial segment comes up towards the end. Segment 1: 1/1 Dawn Marie, Rena Mero, Rhyno, and Rey Mysterio visited a naval base to thank the troops. Typical USA fluff piece here. You know, just like the other 20 segments we have seen over the last few months. We get the point, the WWE supports the troops. OK, let’s move on. I mean feel free to continue visiting the guys, but there is no need to continue airing these clips. Segment 2: 1/2 Here we go again… Outside the Ropes Josh Matthews is with John Cena this week. Lets see if the WWE took any of my advice from last week. For some strange reason, I have this strong feeling that they didn’t. 1. Excluding yourself, who’s the world’s best rapper? Cannabis, unless of course you don’t like Cannabis or follow rap, then the answer is Eminem. Now we’re talking in a language I can understand. 2. Where do you find those throwback jerseys and which one is your favorite? Malls across America and his favorite is the Milwaukee Bucks. 3. What do you predict will be the next fashion statement in the world of hip-hop? Steel chains with master locks and polka dot pants, but keep that one on the DL. 4. What do you think about female rappers? He doesn’t care what gender, race, religion, and ethnicity any rapper is. 5. What inspired you to be a rapper? Just to be different because as a child he grew up in “the boondocks” where everyone else listed to rock. 6. Who shot Biggie and Tupac? I would tell you, but I got to put it on a DVD for $14.95. 7. Eminem’s movie was called 8 Mile, what would John Cena’s movie be called? 200th mile because Eminem’s took place in the hood and his own life story is from a place far away from the hood. Alrighty then… Yes, this segment does still suck. 8. What does John Cena like to do? Cruise and talk to all ‘dem bitches. 9. If there is one message that you could give to all of your homies, what would it be? Thuganomics, which involves “doing your thing”. For instance, Josh Matthews is doing his “look like a 13 year old and pretend to be an announcer” thing. Finally some humor tonight. 10. Could you give a rap to Gene back in the studio? John raps his answer, which is “No”. PLEASE get rid of this segment. Why do I need to be put through such trivial bullshit week in and week out? Segment 3: 1/3 Holy shit, they are actually coming through with that Jesse Ventura segment this week. I’m thoroughly impressed that the segment they hyped last week is really happening on for this show. That’s a rare occurrence in itself. Jesse knew that his time in the ring was winding down, so he felt a transition to the announce booth was a natural one for him. He believes that his greatest accomplishment in wrestling is being known as the best color commentator ever. For a while he was announcing and wrestling on the same shows, which was a first at that time. He brought life experiences into the booth with him. He lived a full life and used that in a way to back up his credibility as a wrestling announcer. Ventura is proud of being part of the best announce team ever, in which he worked with Vince McMahon. More comments from Gorilla Monsoon (1998) as he talks about what it was like to work with a very green Jesse Ventura. For a while Jesse would only talk when he felt like, but then it got to the point where he wouldn’t shut up. This follows the standard “if it’s old school, it gets a point” rule. Segment 4: 2/4 From the Vault: Rhyno HERE is the reason that we watch Confidential every week. This week we are going to crack the doors on the vault and play Rhyno’s favorite match ever. WWF Intercontinental Title: Bret Hart vs. The British Bulldog ~ SummerSlam 1992 I thought that they aired this on the episode of Confidential covering Davey Boy’s death, but after checking my original review, it became obvious that they only showed a couple clips of it. Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan are commentating from Wembley Stadium in London, England. Bret Hart tries to heel it up a bit during the initial staredown and shoving match. Smith shoulderblocks Hart through the ropes to the floor. As Bret reenters the ring Vince mentions that “a lesser man would have been counted out already”. Right… 10 seconds into a main event match at SummerSlam someone is going to be counted out due to a shoulderblock. The Bulldog applies the head scissors, but Bret fights out and hooks a headlock. Hart blocks a military press slam and gets a roll up for 2. A small package also gets 2. Back to the headlock. Smith escapes into hammerlock and drives his knees into Bret’s arm. Hart breaks the hold with a HARD elbow, which draws a few BOOS from the English crowd. Bret applies an armbar. Smith flips out and gets one of his own. Diana Hart AKA “That Stupid Bitch” watches intently from the crowd. Smith catches Bret’s leapfrog and slingshots him into the corner. He goes back to the arm. [CLIP] Logical clipping?? Not only am I impressed, but I’m also speechless. Smith tries to suplex Bret from the apron into the ring, but Bret counters it with a german suplex for 2. Meanwhile, Bobby Heenan is pimping Ric Flair as the only man that could last through a match like this one. Smith gets 2 off a superplex. A double clothesline results in both men on the mat. Bret hooks the Sharpshooter WHILE ON HIS BACK!! That makes for quite the visual. The Bulldog makes the ropes. Smith counters a sunset flip for the win and the Intercontinental Title. (7:10) First of all, I cannot believe that they only clipped the match in one place, as opposed to the usual hack job. Secondly, they actually gave us SEVEN MINUTES. Seriously, if they keep this up there is no doubt in my mind that the ratings for Confidential will steadily raise. Gene uses this match to plug next week’s feature on the SmackDown! crew’s tour of England. Segment 5: 3/5 Michael Cole does the voiceover for this segment devoted to the investigation into Elizabeth’s death. The Cobb County Police Department is not ruling out anything yet including homicide, suicide, or natural causes. Hulk Hogan isn’t sure if Elizabeth was ever happy with her life because as far as he could see, she was always the passenger and someone else would make all her decisions for her. Vince brings up how Randy Savage’s obsession with protecting Elizabeth on TV was also a reality for the both of them. Liz used to tell Hulk Hogan’s wife that she felt Randy wasn’t just looking to protect, but he was obsessed with her. Whatever the case may be, as we all know, the two split up. Elizabeth took a hiatus from wrestling for four years, at which point Hulk Hogan brought her into WCW. Vince states that once Elizabeth left the WWF locker room and joined WCW, she was probably in a very different environment. Although he admittedly doesn’t have proof of this, he has been led to believe that the WCW locker room wasn’t as much of a family as that of the WWF. He thinks that this change of atmosphere may have lead to the beginning of the end for Elizabeth. This segues into Liz’s relationship with Luger. Two weeks prior to her death, the police were called to Luger’s home, where they found a battered Elizabeth. Even though she chose to drop charges against Lex, he was still arrested for battery. What follows is the 911 call Luger made to Cobb County Police the night that Liz passed away. Lex Luger: “She’s laying on the floor. I tried to pick her up… I tried to…” 911 Operator: “Okay, what I want you to do is to go over and see if she’s breathing.” Lex Luger: “I can’t tell. Please send somebody here who knows what they’re doin’.” 911 Operator: “I understand that Sir, I have somebody on the way but if she’s not breathing, you need to help her breathe. You need to find out whether or not she is breathing. Go over to her… roll her… put her…” 911 Operator: “Sir…” Lex Luger: “… Oh my God. Please send somebody…” 911 Operator: “Listen to me, you have got to help her. Lay down…” Lex Luger: “I’m trying, I’ve been trying to help her.” 911 Operator: “Lay down and check to see if she’s breathing, look at her chest, see if it’s rising.” Lex Luger: “Doesn’t look like it is. I’m scared to death.” Paramedics arrived and could not save Elizabeth. Luger was brought in for questioning and was let off. Shortly thereafter, the police found over 100,000 pills in Luger’s three-story town house. He was charged with 14 counts of possession and sale of illegal substances. Vince McMahon isn’t really angry with Elizabeth and Luger, but he is more disappointed in the way that they let themselves and each other down. He knows that there is a message to be learned through Liz’s death. Whether it is a fall from grace or simply an example of someone who has no purpose in life beyond this business. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that Elizabeth’s death should be looked upon as a lesson for those currently in professional wrestling. They should look back at the mistakes made by those before them and try their hardest to improve their own quality of both their present and their future. Segment 6: 4/6 THIS IS IT I guess now I get to go up on my soapbox and comment on just how controversial and tasteless that final segment was. Let’s start from the beginning. The background information on Liz’s personal life was nothing horrible and we already knew most of it. As for the 911 call, quite frankly, I would rather see it first on a wrestling program than Court TV. In a way, the WWE did have a responsibility to its fans to air that call because not only was Elizabeth one of their biggest female stars ever, but Lex Luger is also a relatively well-known household name. Nevertheless, if it weren’t for Vince’s comments at the end, this segment would have left a bad taste in my mouth. Since Vince did state that there was a lesson to be learned here, he obviously knows that the rampant drug abuse of the 80s and the cycle that it turned into was not the way to go for his wrestlers. It seems like Liz’s death may be the beginning of an active effort by Vince McMahon to stop any tragedies from happening to all those who are presently working in his company. The only problem I had with the way the WWE handled this wasn’t really something they could have changed. It just bothered me that in retrospect they completely glossed over Steve Austin’s domestic abuse case, yet openly aired this to the general public. Either way, I think that the WWE handled the entire situation very well and didn’t really put a spin on it. Then again, supposedly they will do a follow-up on the story next week, so maybe I spoke to soon. Drop me a line. Take a look at my Archives. Check out my Amazon Wishlist. My DVD List (Profiler Version) My DVD List (Aficionado Version) 1. The Smart Marks 2. 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