WWE Confidential May 17, 2003

June 21, 2003

WWE Confidential May 17, 2003

This week on Confidential: Booker T, Freddie Blassie, Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant, and more on Miss Elizabeth's death.

First off though, as you all know the SmackDown! crew just wrapped up their European Tour de Force. The first day was spent in Aberdeen, Scotland. Not much of note besides guys like Rhyno, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena getting cheap heat by mentioning the name of the country. Cena, "You all think I suck? That's not a shocker. At least I play real American football. All you pansies play is soccer."

Before the show, Matt Hardy plays golf since that is what Aberdeen is famous for. Not to worry though, Matt also has his uncanny caddy Shannon Moore tagging along. Matt reveals that he is a very good golfer considering he has only played four times. Someone plays the old exploding ball trick on him early on. He goes on to miss a few shots and then ends up in the sand. The uncanny caddy rakes the sand for Matt. Matt's highlight was trying to run Shannon over with the golf cart after Shannon had tried to do the same to him.

Next stop is London, England. Nothing is shown besides a couple of fan comments and three seconds of match clips.

Belfast, Ireland is next up. John Cena attempted to tour a castle, but was kicked out because it is against the law to film inside the castle. Fortunately, Chavo Guerrero also did something of note. He went to a pub and showed off his bartending skills.

The tour ends in Sheffield, England. Chris Benoit talks about how great the fans outside of North America are. This segment was partially saved by Team Mattitude.

Segment 1: .5/1

Before They Were Superstars: Booker T

Booker grew up in a part of Houston called South Park. His father died, so it was just his mom and her eight kids. They pretty much all paired off, which is how Booker and Stevie Ray became so close. Booker was so good at sports because he would always play with Stevie's friends, who were much older than he was. Stevie relates a story of how he used to ditch Booker very easily because Booker was horrible at running.

Once their mother died life became really tough. They struggled financially and couldn't even afford water or electricity. One thing led to another and Booker was involved in an armed robbery. He was sentenced to 19 months. Due to his tremendous pride, he wouldn't let any of his family members visit him. Nonetheless, he spoke with Stevie Ray on the phone. They mostly talked about getting into the wrestling business. Once Booker got out the two began to wrestle. If it weren't for professional wrestling, Booker would probably be a very different man. This was pretty interesting for a BTWS segment since it wasn't just your normal "Grew up with loving family, trained to become a wrestler" story. Plus it was nice to see Stevie Ray again.

Segment 2: 1.5/2

This segment originally aired on February 22, 2003 and garnered itself a full point. Since it is a rerun though I'm going to knock it down to half a point this time around.

Freddie Blassie started wrestling in 1935. His only regret is getting old because he wishes he could relive the past. Freddie's mother always considered wrestling to be nothing more than foolishness. After making $1 and getting the shit beat out of him in his professional match, Freddie began to believe his mother, but still never conceded. He was without a doubt the most hated man in wrestling. He incited many minor riots. Blassie had been cut and stabbed 21 times. The first time was in Georgia while he was taunting the fans. The guy was fined all of $120 for stabbing Freddie. Another time someone threw acid on him. In Boston, two mongrels threw a hard-boiled egg at his eye. "I enjoyed agitating those bastards." While living in Southern California, Freddie met Burt Reynolds, who went as far as to kissing his hand. Blassie was never a drinker, but was invited to all the parties based on his reputation. Blassie ever had a role on the Dick Van Dyke Show. "You could spend all the money in the world and you wouldn't have had as much fun as I had." Not listening to his mother was the best move he made in his life. See that kids, sometimes rebelling against your parents does pay off. Freddie is a class act (HAHA "Classy" and "class act" nevermind). I just wish the WWE would utilize him better when they decide to use him on TV. Having Steph and Shane wish death upon the guy isn't really what he deserves.

Look at that. It seems like for once the WWE actually took my advice and used Blassie in a respectful manner last week.

Segment 3: 2/3

Outside the Ropes: Jesse Ventura

You will soon see that this isn't an official OTR segment since the questions aren't altogether ludicrous.

Q: What did you learn from your days as a Navy Seal?

A: To persevere. Also that pain always goes away and to never think that his current life is tough considering what he went through while in training.

Q: Your thoughts on McMahon getting in the ring at WrestleMania X9?

A: He feels bad that Vince isn't fighting him at WrestleMania. That is the one and only match he would come out of retirement for. Hmmm... I thought Ventura wanted to work with Brock Lesnar.

Q: What changes would you make if you were to become president?

A: He wouldn't want that job, but he would want to make one change, and that is to give states back their rights and diminish the power of the federal government. George Bush promised to do just that, but ended up doing the exact opposite. As far as Jesse is concerned, the only power the federal government should have is that of the military.

Q: What will be the legacy of the XFL?

A: That it was never given a fair chance due to the United States allowing the NFL to monopolize the industry. He believes that the concept of "being paid to win" would have greatly helped by the players and the sport of the football.

Q: What do you feel is your greatest contribution to the sport of wrestling?

A: Although Vince will probably hate him for saying this, Jesse was the first wrestler to use outside representation. In other words, he had an agent who would pay attention to his contracts and legal issues, this way Jesse could focus 100% on wrestling. Nowadays, that is not uncommon in professional wrestling.

Segment 4: 2.5/4

From the Vault: Chuck Palumbo

Chuck Palumbo's favorite main event match ever is Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant from WrestleMania III, so here we go...

WWF Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant w/Bobby Heenan ~ WrestleMania III

The match starts with a staredown. Hogan attempts a slam early on, but his back gives out. Andre falls on top for a looong 2 count.

[CLIP]

Andre has Hogan in the bearhug. Hulk's arm drops twice. He then goes on to punch his way out of the hold. He hits a couple of shoulderblocks, but then runs into a chop. The Giant boots Hogan to the floor. Andre follows him out and headbutts the ringpost as Hogan ducked. I use the term "headbutts" loosely. Hogan pulls up the protective mats at ringside. Andre counters a piledriver attempt with a backbody drop. Back in, Hogan ducks a boot and knocks the Giant off his feet. HULK UP~! Hogan with the "Bodyslam Heard Around the World" and the legdrop for the win. (5:02) As pretty much every wrestling fan knows, this match is essentially the best "horrible" match of all-time, so I appreciate the WWE showing it. BUT they just devoted an entire segment to this match about two months ago. I mean it is a spine-tingling encounter, but it is not necessary to air the match twice in such a short period of time. Either way, at least they didn't forget about this segment yet. ;-)

Segment 5: 3.5/5

Due to the overwhelming response from last week, the segment about Miss Elizabeth's death is being replayed on this episode.

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 McMahon 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.

Gene adds that the autopsy was inconclusive, so further tests need to be done and those results will take somewhere between a month and two months. Supposedly the WWE asked Lex Luger to comment on the situation. He declined all of their offers. Once more information becomes available we will hear about it on Confidential.

Nothing is announced for next week’s show, which marks the One Year Anniversary of Confidential. Although since it is a holiday weekend, I highly doubt we will see a new episode.

Segment 6: 4/6

THIS IS IT

This show did score an impressive 4 out of 6, but keep in mind that two segments were previously shown on past episodes. Of the new stuff, the SmackDown! tour and Jesse Ventura Q & A was alright. Booker T’s past and From the Vault were both entertaining. In conclusion, the show wasn’t really as good as it should have been based on its numerical score.

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