WWE news from the Torch

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Once again got this from a message board from the guy who got it. Enjoy.

 

TOP STORY: Hawk died. Wade recaps his career in the detailed manner that only guys who came out of Minnesota seem to get. He had that dilated cardiomyopathy thing, which could have been caused by all the roids he admittedly took. Hawk did an interview in 2001 saying he hadn't been a saint and had put a lot of things in his body that he shouldn't have. He'd become born-again in the past few years.

 

TOP 5 STORIES OF THE WEEK:

 

#1 - Hawk died.

 

#2 - Stu died.

 

#3 - Brock beat Taker at No Mercy.

 

#4 - Stephanie gets a 10-minute promo to hype her match.

 

#5 - Kevin Nash is having the Dr. Jho surgery, canceling plans for him to feud with Goldberg.

 

WWE NEWS:

 

- The talk as of this week is for the following scenario to occur: Vince and Taker will wrestle in a Buried Alive match at Survivor Series. Vince is going to win the match, followed by an extended leave of absence for Taker. It's expected that Stephanie will be back around this show, so maybe she shows up to help Vince because she has no other choice but to join him. The finish may also involve Kane.

 

Taker will be gone until next year, and with being buried and whatever else happens, he'll be back as the original darkside Undertaker for his match with Kane at WM20. Vince and Taker both think that a return to the deadman character will mean more if Taker is gone for a while first, hence the vacation.

 

- They have a chunk of the Mania card planned already, including some inter-promotional battles. Taker/Kane will be a Raw/Smackdown match. Brock vs. Goldberg is also the plan as of now, with another Raw/SD match maybe being added too. Brock/Goldberg will not be for titles, meaning they'll both probably lose their belts by then. Hunter against Randy Orton and Angle against Benoit are the two likely world title matches, but if they go to the moon with Cena or Eddie or somebody in the meantime then anything's possible.

 

Mick Foley should be also in a match, probably against Vince because that's the one Foley's been wanting to do, although his last TV work set him up for a feud with Randy Orton. But obviously Orton will be busy if he's in the title match. An Austin match is in the back of people's minds, but no obvious opponent stands out. Plus it's gotta be someone Austin would trust with his health. A Rock match is unlikely not only due to his schedule, but no opponent stands out for him either.

 

I think I have the solution. Have Austin wrestle the Rock! Problem solved.

 

- Some VIPee forum type retards apparently thought Austin might wrestle at Survivor Series as part of the team he's putting together, but he's not. Smackdown will also have a main event level elimination match. Brock will be part of that, so he won't have a singles title match on the show unless things change.

 

- There was a 8-10 hour drive from Sunday's show to Raw, which is pretty normal, but WWE chartered a plane for the wrestlers so they could fly there. It was a smaller style plane, one that Ric Flair had flown in for years in the 80's, and it was packed full of people and luggage and stuff. There was talk that Flair pulled a rib on Mark Henry by telling him that the flight was too heavy, so Mark and Teddy Long ended up making the drive instead of flying.

 

But others say Flair was honestly concerned that there were too many people and too much weight on the flight, because a few people saw him arguing with the pilot about it. The pilot was used to a full plane, but not a plane full of 250 pound guys. Flair told the wrestlers and several considered leaving, but once big Mizark left they all figured they were safe.

 

- This John Milius guy, a screenwriter, has a boner to end all boners for Triple H. He's the guy who wrote the WWE Films thing that Hunter is doing, and he's also behind the Conan sequel and has been talking up HHH for that movie before he was even doing movies. So not only do they have the WWE Films movie, and possibly the Conan one, but Milius is working on something else entirely with Hunter in mind. That's in addition to New Line Cinema looking for new projects for Hunter.

 

And EW had a blurb about Rock being considered for Terminator 4 now that Arnold is busy doing other stuff, which would be kinda neat if two big Arnold roles ended up going to wrestlers. Although the EW story was actually a denial from T4 people that Rock was being talked about.

 

- RVD started basic early contract negotiations at Raw this past Monday. His deal doesn't run out until next summer, so there's plenty of time. Recent negotiations with Rikishi and Chuck Palumbo haven't been as smooth as expected, so it'll be interesting to see how things go with Rob since he's been speaking out lately. WWE sources say they fully expect him to get a fair, serious offer.

 

In one of his recent interviews, RVD discussed his match with Shawn Michaels last fall, which was considered a letdown. In a line that wrestlers say sums up Rob's attitude perfectly, he said he knew that if he and Shawn had a bad match, it wouldn't be because of him since he hadn't had a bad match in months. "When was Shawn's last bad match?" someone wondered.

 

- Vince is gonna be a grandpa! Shane's wife is preggers. They said this a few weeks ago, but I don't think I mentioned it. But now I did.

 

- They wanted to call Tajiri's new stable "the Yakuza", but Tajiri refused because he doesn't want to be killed in Japan.

 

THIS WEEK WITH WADE KELLER:

 

He writes more about the LOD. The team's overall impact on the business will probably end up being a negative one, with the huge muscular no-selling no-jobbing era of exposing the business while the local babyface looked weak and never recovered once the LOD went to another territory. But it's not all their fault. They were good people.

 

THIS WEEK WITH JAKE:

 

I just heard this on the TV, oh man. I almost died. You know that story where this woman in Florida is a vegetable and there's a big debate about letting her die or not. I don't know all the details, but I guess her family wants her to stay alive for whatever reason. Well, her sister or her mom was just talking about how they're keeping her alive again, and she's like "this is so great because now I could take her to the park, or to the mall, or to my daughter's birthday party".

 

Take her places?!? THE MALL? She's a vegetable! She's brain dead! Are you gonna walk around with your shoes tied together and your hand stuck up the back of her shirt like Weekend at Bernie's or something? Holy crap.

 

THE MCNEILL FACTOR:

 

He was at the bar for No Mercy. He rated matches on the "waitress scale", which is how much of a match his waitress paid attention to while she worked.

 

Tajiri/Rey: 40%

Benoit/A-Train: 45%

Gowen/Hardy: 65%

APA/Bashams: 0%

Vince/Stephanie: 100%

Angle/Cena: 80%

Eddie/Show: 80%

Brock/Taker: 60%

 

After the show he got to talking with the waitress and she asked if wrestling was fake. The only funny bar exchange was the patrons enjoying how Vince went after Stephanie's back, since that's clearly her weak point. Cause she's got giant boobs, you see.

 

WADE'S PPV STAR RATINGS (for WWE No Mercy):

 

Tajiri/Rey - ***1/4

Benoit/A-Train - **3/4

Gowen/Hardy - **

APA/Bashams - *1/2

Vince/Stephanie - nothing listed

Angle/Cena - ***3/4

Eddie/Show - **1/4

Brock/Taker - **½

 

BM: 7.0. JG: 7.0. PM: 6.0. JP: 5.0. WK: 6.0.

 

THINGS WE CAN ALL LOOK FORWARD TO:

 

- More news!

- On Topic with Jason Powell!

- Raven!

 

DEN

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

"Angle against Benoit are the two likely world title matches"

 

This warms my heart... though it will NEVER EVER EVER happen.

[cbacon 0]

Can Randy Orton really be a viable World Title contender for WrestleMania come March? Methinks no.

[the pinjockey 0]

"- They wanted to call Tajiri's new stable "the Yakuza", but Tajiri refused because he doesn't want to be killed in Japan. "

 

GOLD

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

It's certainly POSSIBLE that Orton could be over enough for it. Could he (as the heel) lead HHH through a Mania ME level match? That's something else. Orton now is starting to get over by proxy anyway.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

The natural 'evolution' of his Gimmick is to fight Flair, so that could happen by Rumble.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

I wonder why Orton went from Shawn Michaels to Mark Jindrak and 'Garrison' Cade. I really do.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

He shouldn't really be finished with Michaels given that, you know, HBK is far from "killed".

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

The natural 'evolution' of his Gimmick is to fight Flair, so that could happen by Rumble.

You never know, man. After all according to the lyrics

 

"Evolution is a mystery..."

 

Then the next lines are about Listerine, Marines, and Dennis Farina. Maybe THOSE GUYS are his next opponants?

[Guest bort]

"- They wanted to call Tajiri's new stable "the Yakuza", but Tajiri refused because he doesn't want to be killed in Japan.

 

Smart man

[JN News 0]

If you ask me, I think an Angle/Benoit main event for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania 20 would rock the world. It would be the best match since Bret/Shawn at WM 12.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

He shouldn't really be finished with Michaels given that, you know, HBK is far from "killed".

His 'legend' is dying more by the day, but I don't see how Orton has anything to do with it.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

If you ask me, I think an Angle/Benoit main event for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania 20 would rock the world. It would be the best match since Bret/Shawn at WM 12.

I can think of better Main MEs alone much less regular matches that were better then Bret/Shawn from then till now:

 

Rock/Austin X-7 for example.

[JN News 0]

I mean the best technical wrestling match.

 

 

 

Oh well, maybe the best since Angle/Lesnar.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

How bout the best since Benoit/Angle WM 17

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

I mean the best technical wrestling match.

 

 

 

Oh well, maybe the best since Angle/Lesnar.

Technical Wrestling matches need SELLING to be great. Nearly all the Angle/Benoit encounters so far, and a lot of the Angle stuff is better.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I kinda figured Technical Wrestling needed technique to be great.

[Guest TheGame2705]

YAY!!! A good opponent for Angle at WM. Anglesault rejoice!

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

AS hates the repetitiveness of Benoit/Angle as much as the next guy... who hates the... *sigh*

[NYU 0]

So let's see.....

 

Brock/Goldberg

Kane/Taker

Angle/Benoit

HHH/Orton

Foley/Vince

 

If this is what WWE is planning for WrestleMania XX, THE BIGGEST PAY PER VIEW OF ALL TIME, then it's going to be a huge fucking failure. Brock/Goldberg is fine. It's a dream match for some, something fresh, and it's easily presentable for putting on a WrestleMania card. And Foley/Vince....with the right kind of build-up, Foley's return match at a Mania is understandable. But the rest....

 

Kane/Taker - Been done. To death. I don't care if they've gone through character changes. We've seen the matches. They sucked already. Will this be different?

 

Angle/Benoit - Been done. To death. Again. They put on good matches, sure, but this is the Heavyweight Title match at the biggest PPV of all time?? Something that has been done 140560 times? Is it too much to ask to get something CREATIVE done?

 

And HHH/Orton - don't even get me started on that atrocity being put as the Raw Main Event at WrestleMania. The Quad-Tearing Cripple vs. The Unover Wonder. Amazing.

 

The way things are going, MSG will possibly shit all over this card. This is supposed to be the #1 Supercard ever. But look at what's being given. Absolutely no fucking effort. Whatsoever.

[razazteca 0]

HHH/Orton will be worst then the Steiner matches. But the good news after this match up is that Orton will disappear, beforgotten, and buried.

[Guest Frank The Tank]

HHH/Orton will be worst then the Steiner matches. But the good news after this match up is that Orton will disappear, beforgotten, and buried.

It can't be worst than the Steiner matches, at least Orton can kind of move and leave his feet at times. I could see Orton/Trips maybe hit 2* at the most, but it won't be the worst match of year.

[cbacon 0]

Angle/Benoit - Been done. To death. Again. They put on good matches, sure, but this is the Heavyweight Title match at the biggest PPV of all time?? Something that has been done 140560 times? Is it too much to ask to get something CREATIVE done?

If it's for the WWE title and Bret Hart is somehow envolved, not in the actual match, but shaking the hands of both men after the match, then it's definetly worth it

[Guest Dmann2000]

I love how Keller refers to John Milius, as "that guy", I guess Keller doesn't get out to the cinema, otherwise he might know Milius directed the first Conan, along with developing the current one, Red Dawn, Dillinger, co-wrote Apocalypse Now and was among the 70's group of filmmakers that included Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, Schrader, Ashby, Spielberg, DePalma, Friedkin, etc.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I think his affinity with HHH constitutes "that guy" status.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Hunter against Randy Orton and Angle against Benoit are the two likely world title matches

 

HOLY FUCK! I'll literally shit in my pants if they actually go with this!

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

HHH/Orton will be worst then the Steiner matches.  But the good news after this match up is that Orton will disappear, beforgotten, and buried.

It can't be worst than the Steiner matches, at least Orton can kind of move and leave his feet at times. I could see Orton/Trips maybe hit 2* at the most, but it won't be the worst match of year.

Wasn't Brock an unover wonder? You need to give Randy Orton a chance. You can't shut him out yet. With the right booking, he could be upper card wrestler. Who else can Triple H wrestle at 'Mania? Uh, Flair, Maven, Batista, Test or Mark Henry.

[AndrewTS 0]

Orton/Trips maybe hit 2* at the most, but it won't be the worst match of year.

 

That sounds reasonable enough. Although that's assuming that HHH is really committed to helping him get over and puts some decent effort into the match. He'd of course be controlling the match and would try to help him look good in such a case.

 

Yet, as soon as Orton faced someone other than HBK/Jericho/Trips, he'd be exposed. So, except for tag matches, I don't expect matches with him in it to be too interesting.

 

Wasn't Brock an unover wonder?

 

Brock also showed some natural charisma and the ability to impress fans with good matches and some cool spots. Plus, Heyman was a great heat magnet who helped him get over majorly as a face after he turned on Brock.

 

Orton isn't as good as Brock, doesn't have the amateur background, or freakish strength. He had a funny character that was killed dead when he joined Evolution. He has some decent mic skills, to his credit, at least. However, he almost never uses them.

 

That's probably the most boneheaded thing about his push to me. He shows that he's somewhat comfortable and entertaining behind the mic, but when they push him they give him next to no mic time. Hell, almost none of the wrestlers get mic time because that time is usually wasted focusing on authority figure bullshit.

 

The marks aren't as wrestling-centric in their enjoyment of the program, but they WANT to see matches with characters they are interested in. Yet, if the wrestlers get no mic time and no other real way to develop their characters, they're just wrestlers.

 

Orton's just some kid who goes out and hangs around with Trips and Flair while JR verbally fellates him. That's not a real character. Someone suggested that if his character was made out to be a cocky, undeserving prick living off trust funds, he conveyed that in promos, and the announcers put him over as that, he'd be doing a hell of a lot better.

Edited October 24, 2003 by AndrewTS

[JasonX 0]

I wonder why Orton went from Shawn Michaels to Mark Jindrak and 'Garrison' Cade. I really do.

The reason was that the plan originally was for Orton to beat Mick Foley at Summerslam and to then build towards a RO/HBK match at SS but this plan got shot to hell when plans for Mick to return to the ring as a wrestler fell through.....

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Angle against Benoit are the two likely world title matches

 

Wait, so does this mean that...

 

Spoiler (Highlight to Read):

If they hold Benoit / Lesnar in December that Benoit might actually defeat Lesnar to get the title to set-up Angle / Benoit at WM XX with Angle winning the next RR?