WWE Confidential May 24, 2003 (Repeat Sep. 1, 2002

June 21, 2003

WWE Confidential May 24, 2003 (Repeat September 1, 2002)

Although this week’s installment of Confidential is a rerun, I’m still packing the content.

Raw is Owen Fallout

For those of you reading this on sites other than The Smart Marks, you can find my Raw is Owen review HERE.

OK, this first e-mail I thought would be good to address publicly since I’m sure many other people might have felt this way.

Johnathon writes:

I believe you should be a little more considerate when dealing with issues and events that concern a wide range of people.

Outlining what 'Owen would have wanted', 'What would be better than heaven' and 'The amount of time it should take for a person to get over another’s death’ is inappropriate and unprofessional.

I'm sure your a very talented writer, I just wish you would have shown this in your expression of this event.

Thank you.

Since you brought up those three examples, I'll defend myself just because those are my opinions.

1. Owen Hart was a tremendous athlete and entertainer. He put on dozens of fantastic matches. Now based on that, I would assume that Owen would have wanted to see a show full of great technical encounters like he used to have. Obviously the day after his death wouldn't have been the time or the place to do that, but that is a whole other can of worms.

2. I wasn't pushing my view of "heaven" on you or anybody else. I simply asked what made heaven a better place than the world we are currently living in. Personally, I don't believe in an afterlife, but if you do that's fine. Everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs. I believe that nothing could beat the world I'm living in now. You disagree, so be it.

3. As for the amount of time taken for grieving, if you read through the entire review, at the end I state that I'm one of the least emotional people you will ever meet. I even said somewhere that I might alone in being desensitized to his death. My own personal take, if you aren't related to Owen Hart or a friend/co-worker of his, I think you should have been able to move on with your life by now.

Bottom Line: Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. I'm not pushing mine on you; I'm only presenting you with my thoughts, just like you presented me with yours. I disagree with you on a few of them, but I still respect your right to think whatever you want. Quite frankly, I don't think stating my opinions makes me a bad writer, especially considering I have been doing it for the last two years. That's what writers do; they say what’s on their minds.

Now I posted this next e-mail for a couple of reasons…

Jim Dolinar writes:

Great column about "Owen's Raw". I unfortunately live in Kansas City and was there at Kemper Arena the night of Owen's death. It was truly horrible. At first everyone thought it was part of an angle or something. The thought of seeing Owen raise his head and arm mere inches off the ground right after hitting the ropes is a memory I will never, ever forget. I spoke with my buddy whom I attended the event today, and neither of us could believe that it's been four years. It still seems like yesterday. The hardcore match before Owen vs. The Godfather was great when the action spilled out into the crowd and I slapped Al Snow on his back on his way fighting through the crowd. Then minutes later, everything else has turned into a blur. I also will never forget seeing Jerry Lawler jump out of his ringside seat and immediately rush to Owen's side. This is when it probably started to actually sink in to most of the fans. The rest of the card, which probably shouldn't have continued, has almost been completely forgotten. Thanks again for the column. It really hit home. Also, if you have a copy of the Over the Edge PPV, I would gladly trade or pay for a copy of it. It is something I've been looking for. Thank you again.

If anyone has Over the Edge 1999 and would be willing to sell/trade it with Jim, you can reach him at [email protected]

One Year Ago on Confidential

Shawn Michaels discusses his days in the Kliq. (.5/1)

Brad Landis does a Goldust impression/RVD introduces us to the guy that airbrushes his tights. (1/2)

WWE Cribs with Trish Stratus. (2/3)

The Montreal Screwjob, where HBK admits his involvement. (3/4)

Lita’s surgery. (3/5)

Ivory talks about breast implants. (3/6)

You can read that review HERE.

WWE Confidential September 7, 2002

This week on Confidential, Mr. & Mrs. Lesnar give their thoughts on SummerSlam, John Cena likes being naked and Booker T on the gridiron.

This is not an official Before They Were Superstars segment, for those of you who keep track of things like that. John Cena was one of five sons. He and his brothers used to be little brats. They would spray paint the walls, burn curse words into the front lawn, etc. I'm surprised they weren't shipped off to military school. In junior high, Cena was into hip-hop, so he dressed like MC Hammer. He didn't care what other people thought. Mrs. Cena allowed them to get away with a lot of stuff. John attributes that to strength in numbers. Cena seems like a demanding prick. He would organize games with all the neighborhood kids, although John steered clear of manual labor. His dad remembers one time when all 4 of his brothers were picking up sticks in the yard. He called John over and told him to help out. John was 8 and playing baseball at the time. He told his dad, "Do you see these [his hands]? I can't risk losing this. This is money." John first watched wrestling with his dad and grandfather. He was a Hulkamaniac ever since Hogan beat the Sheik for the WWF title. At this point, John started his own wrestling fed complete with PAPER BELTS! John used to be Champion of the Universe. This is funny because all of his brothers are laughing about this, but John is taking it very seriously. John went off to boarding school at 15. He considers this his greatest decision in life. This is where John learned to act like a jackass. I'm sure his parents are glad that their money went to good use. John used to run around naked with a jockstrap on his face in the dorm. Back in his house, John terrorizes his family in a thong and an afro. John tends to get naked during awkward situations in the hopes of lightening the mood. With a package like that I'm surprised he likes to get naked so often. Cena went to Springfield College for football. He never missed a practice, which was sort of his gimmick. I used to like Cena, besides his ridiculous facial expressions, but now I see him as a pompous jerk. Maybe that will change in the next segment that is devoted to him. On a whole, this was a very run of the mill (Unofficial) Before They Were Superstars segment.

Segment 1: 0/1

WWE Rewind>> Vengeance (December 9, 2001)- Chris Jericho wins the WWF Undisputed Title.

Great, a segment devoted to Fozzy. As if their Raw appearance wasn't enough. Fozzy started about 3 years ago when Chris Jericho met guitarist Rich Ward at a WCW event. Ward was there because his band Stuck Mojo had just done a video with DDP. Jericho became Mongoose McQueen for Fozzy. Mongoose suffered from LSD (Lead Singer's Disease), or when a rock star is really into themselves. Originally, the band did pretty well because people wanted to see Chris Jericho sing and fail miserably. Supposedly that never happened. Fozzy was very excited about their performance at Raw, which I thought bombed, but they said that it couldn't have been better. A bunch of the boys in the back meet and greet Fozzy. JR to Jericho, "Is this gonna be loud?" The Rock has a quick chat and we go to footage of the concert. Jericho wants to take Fozzy, which started as an 80's cover band, as far as he could. Better than the last segment at least.

Segment 2: .5/2

Brock Lesnar's parents used to go with him for all his amateur matches, so he got them tickets at Nassau Coliseum for SummerSlam. The catch is that he told them he was going to do the job, that way they would be surprised when he went over. Brock mentions that the fans turned on the Rock during the match, but doesn't really elaborate any more than that about it. Brock compares beating the Rock to Hogan beating Andre at WrestleMania III. This was nice in a feel good kind of way.

Segment 3: 1/3

More Cena. After college John moved to California to pursue bodybuilding. He had quite a bit of success to the point of having a body like Scott Steiner's. Cena won a bunch of bodybuilding competitions. We take a trip to the gym where he used to work out. One day Cena struck up a conversation with a UPW wrestler. This is how he got his break. The UPW is where he debuted the Prototype gimmick. 50% Man (that explains his package), 50% Robot, 100% Mayhem. He would come down to the ring with a blond mohawk doing the robot. Cena auditioned for the failed UPN/WWF series Manhunt. He was told to cut a promo in front of the camera. He was chewing gum and thought of the Roddy Piper promo, "I do two things. Kick ass and chew gum. [spits out gum] I'm all out of gum. [Walk off]." Shortly after this the WWF signed Cena. WHAT THE FUCK?? They showed Jim Cornette in the teaser for this segment and I didn't see him anywhere. DAMN YOU WWE!!

Segment 4: 1.5/4

Philadelphia Eagle Levon Kirkland talks to his hand ala Booker T after he does something good. Big deal.

Segment 5: 1.5/5

Bubba Ray Dudley and Trish Stratus make some Stacker 2 commercials. ::yawns::

Segment 6: 1.5/6

THIS IS IT

This was bad. Nothing really offensive to one's intelligence, it was just soooo boring. And to think, they had two weeks to put this episode together. There's always next week...

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