WWE Notes from the 4/5 Observer

[Enigma 0]

With company stock closing at $14.40 per share, Vince McMahon's stock in the company has a paper worth of about $788 million. The close on 3/30 was the highest in more than one year. The increase, besides the increase in the market in general, is because a few analysts covering the stock have listed it as a buy, being underpriced based on the profit margin over recent quarters (and that was with underestimating this upcoming quarter). There is also the belief among analysts things are turning around. While there is no question there are signs of short-term gains, and I don't consider Mania because that was expected, but in the long run, and I'm thinking 2004 and 2005, it's the constant creation of new stars, and that's a subject we've been through.

 

The 4/18 Backlash show in Edmonton is now Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. HHH (last I heard it was going to be a ladder match but that hasn't been announced officially), Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley for the IC title in a falls count anywhere match with Evolution barred from ringside (they need to explain this as barred from interfering, because presumably much of this match won't be fought at ringside), Kane vs. Edge, and Chris Jericho vs. Christian. While this isn't going to happen, if they are serious about the Shelton Benjamin elevation (and they are or they wouldn't have done it), they should add him to the main event. Logic says if a contender loses, the guy who beats him should be in line, or at least announce that Benjamin gets a shot at the winner on Raw the next night to make the win over HHH mean something more than The Hurricane's win over The Rock did in the long run. Since the show is in Edmonton, it would be ridiculous to have any winner other than Benoit. HHH's movie filming, I believe, starts in late-April so he'll be gone for a while after the PPV so his winning would be illogical as it would ice the belt. Michaels winning in Edmonton just doesn't make sense. I presume HHH gets the belt back either in late-June or at SummerSlam.

 

Some of the new booking ideas for Smackdown are a Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Dudleys program over the tag titles with the Dudleys eventually going heel before the Los Angeles PPV. The Mark Jindrak pairing with Teddy Long that we mentioned last week is on, as is the John Cena vs. Rene Dupree feud over the U.S. strap. That match, as well as Chavo vs. Mysterio for the cruiserweight title, is both tentatively planned for the Judgment Day PPV. Kurt Angle is on the road full-time as G.M. There is also a plan of making Funaki a heel manager for Kenzo (Kenzo Suzuki). His first program may be with Billy Gunn, and I'll bet anything that one is a disaster waiting to happen. After the first TV, there were already people second-guessing the Eddie Guerrero vs. John Layfield PPV main event direction.

 

Randy Orton had a tonsillectomy on 3/19 which is why he missed Raw last week and the house shows. He won't be wrestling for a few more weeks but will be doing TV.

 

Raw crowds have been noticeably up, but there has not been the same increase evident in Smackdown. An interesting note this coming week is the 4/2 show in Hidalgo, TX, which I believe is a 7,000-seat arena, is already sold out. They sold out their first time in the building, but it was thought at the time to be for Guerrero and Mysterio, since it was a total Hispanic audience. But they drew a return sellout with a brand that includes no Hispanics.

 

Lots of character changes without actual turns. On Raw, Lance Storm is now a heel, Matt Hardy is now a face (which was really weird since they wrestled each other on Heat this weekend and played their new roles) even though people largely have been reacting to him as one all along. Storm did a heel promo on Raw, but that was more to establish Rhyno as the face probably than to get his own character over, since 35-second squashes really help get the person over being squashed. Shelton Benjamin, Chuck Palumbo, and Rhyno are all pegged as faces without turns, although with Shelton Benjamin they at least went all the way with him on the first TV. All were playing their new roles at the weekend house shows, although in the case of Rhyno, it backfired since it ended up with fans cheering Kane. Nidia is still a babyface, and was switched because she wanted to develop more as a wrestler. And she decided this after getting those enormous implants.

 

The 6/13 Bad Blood PPV, scheduled as a Raw brand show, has been moved from Louisville to Columbus, OH.

 

The company's marketing department is apparently of the belief that William Regal will never return to wrestling. Those who know the situation best say it is still up on the air, and if Regal's heart problems can be taken care of, he will wrestle again, but right now nobody knows for sure if or when that will happen. Regal wrote a book, which apparently was very interesting. I would have thought he has the potential for a great book with his experiences in the game since breaking in working carnivals as a teenager and just being an intelligent guy, which he is, and working for WCW is a book right there, not to mention his battles with drug addiction that nearly killed him, coming back, and his current health woes. The release of the book has been stalled for some time, because they wanted him back on TV first. Anyway, because they now no longer expect to bring him back as a television character, at this point it may never be released in the U.S. The U.K. branch of Simon & Schuster is trying to convince the U.S. branch that it could still be a viable project for that market, but no decisions have been made.

 

The numbers listed last week for Brock Lesnar when it came to strength, speed, and dexterity, were top-of-the-line numbers for a 285 pound lineman. They were equivalent to what the top draft choices coming out of college were putting up, but the difference is, they also had years of football experience. Bob Sapp was another guy who had excellent speed for his size coming out of college, but wasn't a great player. He was still drafted in the third round coming out of college because people saw his numbers and saw potential (you know, the football version of Lex Luger or Sid Vicious), but he never panned out. I know of one team that this past week got a tape from Lesnar's people showing him training and doing the drills and the G.M. wouldn't even look at the tape or give it a thought. The feeling is he'd be, at best a several-year project and at 26, it will be hard to find many takers willing to take that risk. But athletically, he's at the level of the top guys in the league his size.

 

Before Wrestlemania, when The Rock agreed to return, he and Pat Patterson (who guided Rock's career as a wrestler) proposed to Vince he wanted to come back for a dream match. He suggested Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, and Randy Savage as potential opponents but McMahon wanted him in the match with Mick Foley. Goldberg had his thing to do and McMahon wasn't even interested in discussing using the other two. He told friends he loved doing Mania, but it felt weird because he sees himself as the same person and he knows everyone, but so many of the people in the company and even wrestlers were wanting to get their picture taken with him and it was weird to him. Rock has earned $33 million in his last three movies. While The Rundown was not considered a box office success, its video release this past week was a big success, as it sold 1.5 million units in its first 24 hours of release. Rock did a million interviews this past week. In the Newark Star-Ledger, when asked if he missed doing a full-wrestling schedule, he said, "It's tough. There's no seasons. It's a year-long grind. Do I miss the grind and being tired? No. But I miss the road and camaraderie you have, not only with guys you travel with but with just being on the road, being in your favorite hotels." When asked about Lesnar, he said, "He's got a shot. I admire him. It's a tough move to the non-guarantee of the NFL. Brock is a great athlete, but the odds are against him." When asked about if there are banned substances and drug testing in wrestling, he said, "I don't think so. I've never been tested." Rock came out for the strongest drug testing possible for baseball players when he's been asked, but didn't for wrestlers (Mick Foley has for wrestlers, and they are probably the only ones who publicly could say that and get away with it). Rock also made an interesting comment in the Boston Globe regarding his return at Mania. He said that when he came back, he found that not everyone in the WWE was pulling for him. "I don't get that from the entire crew, just a handful of guys, who, interestingly enough are at the top now. But most of the guys are genuinely excited. They come up to me, and they're like,' Hey, I saw The Rundown. Congratulations. But you're going to get negativity from some people. That's just the nature of the business." Now everyone is going to be trying to figure out what he means. I know Goldberg, Foley, and Steve Austin consider Rock as their friend. I would strongly presume, based on what he's said and how Rock helped his career, that Chris Jericho would as well. Rock's current schedule is he's working on the movie "Be Cool," where he has a supporting role playing a large gay Half-Samoan in a movie starring John Travolta ("Get Shorty” sequel), then in July will be the top star in "Spyhunter." His own project he wanted to star in, where he would play the lead role in "King Kamehameha," is scheduled for shooting in early-2005. He's considering for later in 2004 doing a movie called "Skiptracer," which is a comedy written by Stevie Franks (who wrote "Big Daddy").

 

Maven has fully recovered from his knee and elbow surgeries and will be headed to OVW to get back in working shape.

 

Matt Morgan has been sent back to OVW full-time, as they've acknowledged he was called up too soon. Worse, he got a lot of negative reviews when he was up as there are those internally who think he's a slow learner, after first getting a rep as a quick study.

 

Jon Heidenreich has disappeared because of an injury.

 

The debut in Mexico on 4/3 at Arena Monterrey is scheduled as Benoit vs. HHH (managed by Flair), Chavo (billed as Chavo Guerrero Jr. because his father was pretty famous in Mexico) vs. Mysterio (not billed as Rey Jr., even though his uncle is also pretty famous) for the cruiserweight title (this is a special Smackdown match to get a Lucha-Libre flavor on the show), Shane Michaels vs. Kane, which is billed as a match to determine the No. 1 contender, Chris Jericho vs. Christian, Batista vs. Matt Hardy, Victoria vs. Molly vs. Jazz vs. Lita, Rhyno vs. Garrison Cade, Tajiri vs. Val Venis (who was well known in Mexico years ago as Steele, and held the world heavyweight title in Mexico for five months in 1997 before joining WWF), and A-Train vs. Shelton Benjamin.

 

Nick Dinsmore was given his new character this weekend on the Raw tour. He's called "Eugene," and plays the role of a backwoods hillbilly goofy babyface billed from Louisville. It's a total comedy gimmick, based on the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie "Rainman." Well, they are only a decade late. He's actually supposed to be a cross between that character and the old Mighty Igor character of a simpleton with superhuman strength he doesn't realize he has. The idea is he stops in the middle of matches and waves (ECW acid blowout brains Spike Dudley), and runs around shaking hands in the middle of matches. He's supposed to dress all funny, come out with one boot untied and things like that. They're clearly trying to make fun of someone, but I'm not yet sure who. The plan was to already introduce him doing TV vignettes. They were filmed, but then the decision was made to tweak the character so they may be redone. It's funny because basically everything Dinsmore has learned about wrestling over the years has to be thrown out the window, as they don't want him doing anything mechanically sound and nothing but comedy. As a babyface, and he did get over as that type of character always does (your Bushwhacker, Hillbilly Jim style character that the crowd responds to but doesn't sell tickets, not that anyone else does these days). Surprisingly, he jobbed to Garrison Cade at the weekend Raw house shows, as that type of character should be put over early in the run. People also reported he was managing Tajiri, which made people think at first he was a heel. Actually, people weren't supposed to think he was managing Tajiri. The idea was he's so stupid he came out when it wasn't his match. The reason on OVW they started teasing problems with Dinsmore and Impact & John Laurinaitis was when the decision was made for the gimmick, it's a way to explain that Laurinaitis now hates Dinsmore for screwing up and is making him do this gimmick to make sense to the OVW audience.

 

Wrestlemania drew 450,000 TV viewers in the U.K. (they got the show for free on Sky Sports), making it the second highest rated show of the week on the station, behind a live soccer match. Velocity, which aired before Mania, did 160,000 viewers. The Raw which aired two days before Mania did 290,000 viewers. The early 90s episode of WCW World Wide Wrestling, which is marketed as WWE Classics, drew 30,000 viewers that week.

 

WWE had actually decided to merchandise a Trish Stratus t-shirt that read "Blow Me" and was on the European version of shop zone web site. Due to complaints, the product has been pulled. How did it even get that far?

 

The company received the "Legacy of Hope" USO award on 3/23 at a USO dinner in Washington, DC, for the company's frequent visits to military hospitals and running the wrestling show in Baghdad to entertain the troops. Mick Foley, Linda McMahon, and HHH were at the dinner accepting the award for the company. Thankfully, nobody at the dinner was aware this was the same company planning to market a "Blow Me" t-shirt.

 

Soccer star Kieron Dyer Of Newcastle United, who John Cena mentioned in his rap when they were at the show, was shown on Smackdown in the film footage of the tour. He was the guy thumb wrestling with Torrie Wilson.

 

Eddie Guerrero's neck has been bothering him the past week. Rey Mysterio was also shaken up, while Big Show's back is bothering him again.

 

WWE has its first shows in Italy in more than a decade was the Smackdown crew runs 6/3 in Milan and 6/4 in Pesaro.

 

The company has inked some new international TV deals. Raw and Velocity have been cleared in Portugal. A one-hour weekly version of Smackdown was cleared in Greece. Raw, Smackdown, Velocity and Heat were all cleared in Romania.

 

Famous boxer Vinnie Paz (formerly Pazienza), who announced his retirement on 3/27, has told friends that WWE made him an offer to manage the FBI. However, they wound up being far apart on money so it didn't happen. If you recall, he was the ref in the 1999 Wrestlemania match with Butterbean vs. Bart Gunn from Philadelphia. He didn't know the match was a shoot until he got there that day, and went to Butterbean, and asked what the plan for the finish was. Butterbean looked at him, his manager, at him again, and then walked away. He talked about how all the wrestlers before the match were joking about how Bart Gunn was going to knock Butterbean out.

 

The Dudleys got heat with the Smackdown crew on their first night in, because Bubba has a rep for working stiff and there was a feeling D-Von took liberties with the Bashams the first night in. There is the feeling that'll end in a hurry because they won’t work like that with Rikishi & Scotty because of Rikishi.

 

Chuck Palumbo had heat with several in the Smackdown crew who were happy to see him switch over.

 

Tim White is needing another shoulder operation, which would make the fifth one. He hasn't refereed since doing the Jericho/Christian Mania match.

 

Catching up on the business notes: the paid for the Raw after Wrestlemania on 3/15 in East Rutherford, NJ was about 12,500, although it was sold out. For the Smackdown in Boston on 3/16, the paid was about 4,500.

 

The U.K. numbers were 3/18 in Newcastle doing a sellout of 9,300 and $600,000. 3/19 in Sheffield did 10,700 and $650,000. 3/20 in Aberdeen Scotland was a sellout 4,300. 3/21 in Glasgow, Scotland, was a sellout 5,200. The company did $1.82 million for the four dates not including merchandise, so it was a big success. The only domestic house show from last weekend was 3/21 in Fort Wayne, which drew 3,300.

 

The 3/27 Raw show in Cape Girardeau, MO, drew 3,400. The 3/28 Raw show in St. Louis drew 8,900 fans and $285,000. There was a lesson in this one, which this exemplifies one more time. This was, I believe, the biggest crowd for a domestic non-TV event in months, probably dating back to the first show in Portland about a year ago. It went head-to-head with the NCAA basketball tournament game which drew 30,648 fans to the TWA Dome, and was just one week after the NCAA wrestling tournament in the same building 87,675 fans over six sessions. The point being, if business had sucked like it did six months ago and it would have drawn 3,000,people would have used both of those things as an excuse, and probably buried whomever booked the city on that date. But the truth was, neither would have had anything to do with it. It's the second example of this in recent months. Raw was on a Monday night in the fall, in Chicago, going head-to-head with the first Bears game ever at the new Soldier Field, and this came at a time when attendance was at rock bottom. However, the show ended up drawing the largest paid crowd for a Raw event in months. The attendance is determined, 98%, based on how hot your product is on that given day, and every other excuse is just that. 3/28 Smackdown brand house show in Tampa drew 3,200. 3/29 Raw TV shoot in Cincinnati drew about 9,000. 3/29 Smackdown brand house show in Louisville drew 2,700.

 

In Cape Girardeau, Benoit beat HHH again with a crossface, even though Batista tried to interfere. Said to be a great main event. Christian beat Jericho with Stratus distracting. There wasn't much else to the show. Tajiri debuted and beat Hardy, while Palumbo beat Conway on his debut. Coach did the m.c. work. After Benjamin beat Horshu, making it three Smackdown wins in a row, Coach said the streak would end, and put Kane out against Rhyno, and, the streak ended. Tajiri played heel, making Hardy the babyface. Tajiri won the match. Kane worked as the face against Rhyno. By the way, that wasn't the plan, as they expected, since Coach did a promo backing Kane, for the fans to cheer Rhyno, but they didn't. They tried to do it stronger the next night.' They did the spot where Benoit put Coach in the crossface before intermission, and he came back after intermission doing the announcing with his arm in a sling.

 

St. Louis was largely the same show. Benoit beat HHH in another strong match, with the same attempted Batista interference. The only change in the show is Flair worked, and teamed with Batista over Hurricane & Rosey. Flair had his trunks pulled down, so I guess the deal from a few weeks ago where they didn't want Flair to do that in title matches anymore because they didn't want comedy in title matches is over. Flair was treated as something of a local legend since, with the exception of the Carolinas, he's been coming to St. Louis longer than any other city. Rhyno tried to play babyface with Kane, saying Kane needed an "ECW-style ass kicking." Still, the crowd cheered Kane all the way.

 

Tampa saw Guerrero beat Show in the main event. After a ref bump, Show used a choke slam. Angle, who is touring as G.M., hit the ring and counted, but Guerrero kicked out. When Guerrero came back and had Show pinned, Angle turned around to tie his shoes. Guerrero then knocked Angle out of the ring, hit Show with a belt, used a frog splash, and the original ref counted the pin. After the match, Guerrero brought his two daughters into the ring as the crowd cheered him. One goof then threw beer at them from the bleachers and got it all over Guerrero, and just missed his daughters. Guerrero went on the mic and said the guy had no class. The crowd turned against the fan, of course, and everyone pointed him out to security. The sheriffs, told him that if he apologized to Guerrero, they wouldn't press charges for drunk and disorderly against him. Guerrero came back out for the guy to apologize to him. But Guerrero first told the guy he had no class and then the guy threw his hat at Guerrero and started swearing at him. Guerrero jumped the rail and was going after the guy. People were keeping them separated including some of Guerrero's friends who were in the stands. Guerrero and the fan were yelling at each other by this point when another fan blindsided the guy who threw the drink. The guy who threw the beer ended up arrested for drunk and disorderly. The guy who punched him was handcuffed, but was let go in the parking lot. Cena pinned Dupree in the first match of their program, as they'll be working nightly. Rikishi & Scotty beat Dudleys, who worked as heels and will be turning. Booker T came out as a heel saying how much better Raw competition was. Undertaker than came out and beat him very quickly. You can really see why Lesnar left after how badly Booker was squashed. To feed Undertaker, after the match they had the Bashams and Dennis "Mideon" Knight do run-ins and Undertaker choke slammed all of them. They teased the Jindrak and Long pairing as Long was scouting Jindrak as he beat Gunn. Knight had a try-out match over Steve Madison. He's friends with a lot of the guys, and Undertaker in particular, and has been looking at getting back in for some time. It's probably just a question whether Undertaker will call in a marker for him. Winky Wright, who just beat Shane Mosely in a big boxing match, was at the show... In Louisville, once again it was Guerrero over Show with the same finish as in Tampa, as well as Cena over Dupree. Basically same stuff with Undertaker squashing Booker T quickly. Spike Dudley worked on the heel side in a trios opener with Bubba & D-Von vs. London & Kidman & Jordan. They also did the OVW match, which was taped for the TV this coming weekend. Jeter & O'Haire beat Impact & Dinsmore (obviously not doing his gimmick). They did a post-match angle where they injured O'Haire's ribs from Impact giving him a spinebuster. O'Haire was scheduled to return home for a while so this was to explain it in the OVW storyline.

[Guest Anglesault]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

Maybe he can wear a helmet while riding a motorbike around the ring screaming they hurt me ma until someone chops his head off.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

Hey it was this board's idea

[JoeDirt 0]

Can't wait for that Suzuki/Gunn feud!

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Can't wait for that Suzuki/Gunn feud!

May God have mercy on our souls.

[HarleyQuinn 0]

Bravo to the guy blindsiding the drunk fan with a haymaker...

[Tawren 0]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

Hey it was this board's idea

Fertig and Eugene are polar opposites. Fertig (and Tomco) had motivations, a story, and many good ideas to do things with him were created. Eugene's gimmick is that he is an idiot. Fertig's gimmick is entirely different. Read the thread.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

Whoa another hillbilly gimmick haven't seen one of those in the WWE.

But, for real, what is it with Vince and hillbilly gimmicks?

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

Hey it was this board's idea

Fertig and Eugene are polar opposites. Fertig (and Tomco) had motivations, a story, and many good ideas to do things with him were created. Eugene's gimmick is that he is an idiot. Fertig's gimmick is entirely different. Read the thread.

I heard he was getting vignettes. Perhaps we'll see some motivation there.

 

Oh and I *did* read the thread.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

Matt Morgan has been sent back to OVW full-time, as they've acknowledged he was called up too soon. Worse, he got a lot of negative reviews when he was up as there are those internally who think he's a slow learner, after first getting a rep as a quick study.

 

Be still my beating heart. I don't hate the guy or anything, but Jesus, talk about making something out of nothing when he was called up.

[cawthon777 0]

Wow, that Eugene gimmick sure is a winner.

 

They're gonna make me hate my favorite movie ever. I know they are.

If they get him to say "Hot water burn baby", I'll die laughing.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Jon Heidenreich has disappeared because of a lack of talent.

Fixed that.

 

Knight had a try-out match over Steve Madison. He's friends with a lot of the guys, and Undertaker in particular, and has been looking at getting back in for some time. It's probably just a question whether Undertaker will call in a marker for him.

Yeah, just what the roster needs - the return of Mideon. And Taker calling in a marker? Taker gets to do pretty much whatever he wants. Isn't that enough, without having to get to call in favors? "Hey, I sold a punch from Palumbo back the 1st time I squashed the FBI. You owe me a favor."

[Guest wrestlingbs]

I've said it once, I'll say it again. "Eugene" is Rico for 2004. He's the talented wrestler paired up with an atroious gimmick everyone hates and knows will fail, and is haunted by it for the rest of his career.

 

Suzuki/Gunn?! Bring on the suck!

 

It's good to hear business has been up since they started pushing new guys.

 

Dennis Knight seems like a genuinely nice guy, but he's not the person the WWE should be hiring. The WWE is firing guys left and right. They shouldn't be trying to fill their ranks with wrestlers who've had their chance and failed, and are just coming back to fuel Taker's push (to what end, exactly, I don't know).

[Guest Anglesault]

I wouldn't mind Dennis Knight getting a job with the company, like maybe a desk job of some sort or some backstage at the shows deal.

[Guest Choken One]

A Road Agent does what exactly?

 

It seems to be a job mainly for retired vets who haven't burnt bridges to just chill out and Mingle...

 

I know they work and set up the layouts of matches but do they have another REAL role?

[Guest Anglesault]

I think they also kind of babysit and keep control when guys like McMahon and Ross can't be back there.

[Guest Choken One]

Looks at Plane Ride from Hell, Countless Acts of childlike high school bullshit...

 

Whoo boy...Some babysitters.

[Guest wrestlingbs]

Looks at Plane Ride from Hell, Countless Acts of childlike high school bullshit...

 

Whoo boy...Some babysitters.

Yeah. And how the hell would Farooq be a road agent? During the end of his run he was the guy starting fights!

[Guest Anglesault]

Looks at Plane Ride from Hell, Countless Acts of childlike high school bullshit...

 

Whoo boy...Some babysitters.

You have to remember, they probably to a lot to try and calm a situation after it starts. It's not easy to always easy to prevent something from happening.

[Guest Choken One]

Like Hayes did with Waltman right?

[The Tino Standard 0]

I thought I read that Dennis "Mideon" Knight had no interest in coming back to the WWE, and just wanted to work a match since the company was coming through his area for a house show and he was still on good terms. If that was it, I don't really think that's such a problem.

[Internet Warfare 0]

Tim White is needing another shoulder operation, which would make the fifth one. He hasn't refereed since doing the Jericho/Christian Mania match.

Didnt he get hurt at a house show, not WrestleMania?

[Guest Choken One]

He got hurt during a HIAC match...and retired...until he came back for Mania...and reinjured it.

[Guest Anglesault]

Ah, yes, the infamous HiaC math where the only one to take a decent bump was the ref.

 

Le sigh.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Some of the new booking ideas for Smackdown are a Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty vs. The Dudleys program over the tag titles with the Dudleys eventually going heel before the Los Angeles PPV. The Mark Jindrak pairing with Teddy Long that we mentioned last week is on, as is the John Cena vs. Rene Dupree feud over the U.S. strap. That match, as well as Chavo vs. Mysterio for the cruiserweight title, is both tentatively planned for the Judgment Day PPV.

 

That's an okay undercard for JD. I can deal with that.

 

After the first TV, there were already people second-guessing the Eddie Guerrero vs. John Layfield PPV main event direction.

 

Eddie Vs. Big Show! Eddie Vs. Big Show! Come on, WWE! Make it happen!

 

Before Wrestlemania, when The Rock agreed to return, he and Pat Patterson (who guided Rock's career as a wrestler) proposed to Vince he wanted to come back for a dream match.  McMahon wanted him in the match with Mick Foley.

 

Damn you, Vince! Rock / Michaels could have happened!

 

The debut in Mexico on 4/3 at Arena Monterrey is scheduled as Benoit vs. HHH (managed by Flair), Chavo (billed as Chavo Guerrero Jr. because his father was pretty famous in Mexico) vs. Mysterio (not billed as Rey Jr., even though his uncle is also pretty famous) for the cruiserweight title (this is a special Smackdown match to get a Lucha-Libre flavor on the show), Shane Michaels vs. Kane, which is billed as a match to determine the No. 1 contender, Chris Jericho vs. Christian, Batista vs. Matt Hardy, Victoria vs. Molly vs. Jazz vs. Lita, Rhyno vs. Garrison Cade, Tajiri vs. Val Venis (who was well known in Mexico years ago as Steele, and held the world heavyweight title in Mexico for five months in 1997 before joining WWF), and A-Train vs. Shelton Benjamin.

 

Sounds awesome, I hope they record this.

 

by this point when another fan blindsided the guy who threw the drink. The guy who threw the beer ended up arrested for drunk and disorderly. The guy who punched him was handcuffed, but was let go in the parking lot.

 

That's awesome. See the problems fixed. Don't let wrestlers deal with them. Let security or other fans deal with obnoxious fans!

[Scroby 0]

How the hell do you promote what Dinsmore is going to be doing in taped promo's or whatever? Is it going to be like Mike Myers in SNL when he was running with the junglegym in tow and the words *running to a WWE ring.* I just can't figure out how they are going to introduce him that way. I would say the best way could be like Zach Gowen or just have him maybe be someone's special friend.

[haVoc 0]

Nick Dinsmore was given his new character this weekend on the Raw tour. He's called "Eugene," and plays the role of a backwoods hillbilly goofy babyface billed from Louisville.

 

He's actually supposed to be a cross between that character and the old Mighty Igor character of a simpleton with superhuman strength he doesn't realize he has.  He's supposed to dress all funny, come out with one boot untied and things like that.

 

They're clearly trying to make fun of someone, but I'm not yet sure who.

 

Hi Brock!

[Guest Brian]

Didn't Meltzer also say that the Rock's three choices were Hogan, Savage, and Goledberg? Michaels wasn't one of Rock's choices.

[SuperJerk 0]

The 4/18 Backlash show in Edmonton is now Chris Benoit vs. Shawn Michaels vs. HHH (last I heard it was going to be a ladder match but that hasn't been announced officially)...Since the show is in Edmonton, it would be ridiculous to have any winner other than Benoit. HHH's movie filming, I believe, starts in late-April so he'll be gone for a while after the PPV so his winning would be illogical as it would ice the belt. Michaels winning in Edmonton just doesn't make sense. I presume HHH gets the belt back either in late-June or at SummerSlam.

I guess there's still a chance for Benoit/Michaels one-on-one at a PPV then?

 

I fail to see why there's even a need to put the belt back on HHH for the rest of the year. Benoit still has plenty of good main event fueds he could do before dropping the strap.