Ross report for 4/26, lots of injury updates

[Guest]

Injury update:

 

Lita fractured her neck in three places on the set of FOX's "Dark Angel." Surgery is Tuesday in San Antonio with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood, and Lita's recovery time is expected to be at least six months, perhaps up to nine months. The good news is that she will be able to come back at 100 percent.

 

Diamond Dallas Page will see Dr. Youngblood on May 16 to have his injured back evaluated and examined. There are issues with DDP's spine.

 

Scotty 2 Hotty is scheduled to have surgery on May 7 with Dr. Youngblood. He has significant problems in a variety of places on his neck, and recovery time is estimated to be one year. There is a wide range of problems that have apparently accumulated over his career.

 

Sharmell Sullivan will have ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery next Thursday in Birmingham, Ala.

 

Raven's gums are black and blue after being kicked in the mouth on TV recently and is in danger of losing some teeth as a result. He will not be on the international tour and will remain in Stamford to complete his TV commentary assignments.

 

Billy Gunn is working through a nagging hamstring injury.

 

Kane is doing well one week after biceps surgery and will have the stitches removed from his arm on Tuesday.

 

Hollywood Hulk Hogan is working through a rib cartilage injury.

 

Chris Benoit is stepping up his in-ring workouts somewhat and should be ready to go by the end of June based on how things are going.

 

Kevin Nash begins more extensive therapy on his torn biceps in the next few days. He's still about six weeks away from returning.

 

Perry Saturn is doing therapy for an ACL repair. Also has shoulder pain, which is being addressed.

 

Rhyno has his six-month checkup with Dr. Youngblood in a couple of weeks. Healing seems to be progressing very well.

 

Mike Awesome is about four to six weeks away from returning from ACL surgery.

 

Kanyon is about two to four weeks away from returning from ACL surgery.

 

John Heidenreich -- a big athlete training in Louisville, Ky. at Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) -- will be out three to four months after separating his shoulder in training.

 

Mike Sanders will be back in two weeks after sustaining a broken foot. He's currently in Cincinnati at Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA).

 

Eric Angle is rehabbing his torn biceps and is still three months away from returning to basic training.

 

Mark Jindrak is rehabbing his knee and is still three months away from re-starting his training.

 

R.C. Haas is rehabbing his torn ACL and is expected to be back in the ring in early July.

 

Eddie Fatu will require six more weeks to rehab his broken fibula (leg).

Random thoughts:

 

Bubba Dudley will not be traveling on our upcoming tour due to a family emergency but will be on RAW Monday night from Buffalo, N.Y.

 

Matt Hardy will miss RAW and the first international event, in Germany, to support Lita during her surgery on Tuesday.

 

Nothing has changed regarding Triple H appearing on the international tour, as he will compete on May 2, 3 and 4, as was always scheduled.

 

Germany ticket sales have increased significantly even though our TV situation there is not as strong as we would like. Looks like we will have 10,000-12,000 attending that event; the arena holds about 15,000. All other tour events have been sold out for quite some time.

 

Ric Flair will wrestle at more than one upcoming international event, especially with Bubba not making the trip. It is expected Flair will compete in Germany, Scotland, and perhaps at Insurrextion itself. Flair will not be in Birmingham, as he will be attending a Make-A-Wish Foundation dinner with yours truly and others from the World Wrestling Federation staff.

 

The Undertaker will do an "on-sale signing" tomorrow morning in Nashville, Tenn., for Judgment Day.

 

Big Show is currently in India doing public relations for the company and then will travel to Germany to begin next week's tour.

 

The Rock continues to be everywhere promoting "The Scorpion King." The movie is No. 1 in the country, and I still encourage those of you who have not seen it to check it out. Rock's next movie deal has been set, and I will be speaking with him in the next few days to address his schedule as it relates to Federation events and the new film's pre-production schedule. Rock wants to balance both and that's what we will attempt to accomplish.

 

Bradshaw will be a guest on ABC's "Politically Incorrect" on June 18.

 

The Federation cookbook "Can You Take the Heat?" will be released in paperback in May.

Jerry "The King" Lawler will be wrestling on the upcoming international tour and, as fate would have it, is in some mixed tag team matches so he can get up close and personal with "puppies."

 

Happy birthday to the Big Red Machine today. This big horse is sorely missed from our live events.

 

We are exploring the possibility of creating a training camp/developmental operation in Stamford, Conn., at the same facility that Tough Enough 1 was taped. The Federation has a long-term lease on the facility.

 

Hollywood Hulk Hogan will be appearing at live events in Anaheim (June 16), the MCI Center in Washington (June 28), Madison Square Garden (June 29), Providence (July 14) and Little Rock (July 28).

Several interesting commercial ideas are beginning to come Stone Cold Steve Austin's way. Stay tuned.

 

Ken Shamrock is interested in returning to the Federation and talks are on-going.

 

Rey Mysterio Jr. has not signed his Federation contract but is expected to do so this weekend.

 

Nice debut for Randy Orton on SmackDown! This third-generation talent has an excellent upside but, obviously, needs more ring time and we will certainly provide that for him. Randy is only 22 years of age.

 

Baltimore's live event Saturday is almost a sellout.

 

The May 13 RAW in Toronto is sold out and the next day's SmackDown! in Montreal is about 70 percent sold out three weeks away from the event.

 

We are in the process of getting more developmental talents doing Federation house shows and dark matches over the next few weeks.

 

Lots of extremely talented hands are patiently waiting in the wings for their opportunity to make an impact on either RAW or SmackDown. This process just takes time, as one could imagine.

 

RAW talent will leave immediately after the event in Buffalo on a charter to Germany to begin the international tour. Talent will then leave the UK minutes after Insurrextion in London and will land a few hours later in Hartford, Conn., for a day's rest prior to RAW in that city on May 6.

 

No preliminary numbers on how successful Backlash was last Sunday in Kansas City. I have heard it looks promising.

 

I have not seen a written report as of yet on our tryout camp held this week in Cincinnati, but I have had conversations with some of our road agents in attendance and they seemed to think we have three to five viable prospects in the group. We will have another tryout camp tentatively set for about 90 days from now.

 

The Triple H-Chris Jericho SmackDown! match was awesome! Jericho seems to keep improving by leaps and bounds, especially since WrestleMania. I have always been a huge Jericho fan and he is rapidly becoming even more spectacular. Triple H is quite simply as good an in-ring talent currently competing in the business.

 

My wife attended a function in New York City this week honoring our friend Mick Foley for all his charitable efforts.

 

A couple of interesting matches internationally include Triple H & Ric Flair vs. Undertaker & William Regal in Scotland on May 2, and Triple H & Matt Hardy vs. Undertaker & Brock Lesnar on May 3 in Birmingham. The top matches for Insurrextion are slated to be Triple H vs. Taker and Austin vs. Big Show, but that could change as a result of this week's RAW. Our live audience in the UK seems to always be red-hot, and this event in London should be no different. I will be in London beginning on Wednesday doing media for Insurrextion, and am really looking forward to that.

Tommy Dreamer has been added to the talent traveling internationally next week.

 

New Japan is interested in using some Federation developmental talent on selected tours in Japan and that conversation is ongoing with nothing finalized. No doubt the Japanese media will fabricate something regarding this matter, but that's nothing new. They are very creative at times with their reporting.

 

Were you as surprised as I was that Hollywood Hulk Hogan became the Undisputed Federation Champion again? Nothing is ever predictable around here and that seems to be a good thing.

 

Lots of ground to cover for this old Okie over the next few days. Should be interesting. Take good care of yourself.

 

J.R.

[Guest El Satanico]

I'm just glad to know that the only one that has been injured at the hands of Lita was her own fool self.

 

A gums injury...that can't be a common injury.

 

Nash rehabbing? that will be the hardest he has worked in...well years

[Guest Risk]

Too bad JR doesn't have the balls to say "Triple H needs to work on his musle mass problem.  This isn't bodybuilding, folks."  CURSE THE DEMON COUPLE~!

[Guest]

Were you as surprised as I was that Hollywood Hulk Hogan became the Undisputed Federation Champion again? Nothing is ever predictable around here and that seems to be a good thing.

 

Yeah, JR, the WWF is soooo unpredictable these days. *puke*

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I kind of wish I could go to that house show in Baltimore today. I could get there in like fifteen minutes, but i lost my motherfucking wallet on Wednesday so I have no money at all or access to any money. How come so many people are hurt?

[Guest Human Fly]

Dr. Youngblood and Dr. Andrews could do nothing but operate on WWF wrestlers and they would stay busy year round. Man, everybody's messed their neck up in the last few years. What's the deal?

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Dr. Youngblood and Dr. Andrews could do nothing but operate on WWF wrestlers and they would stay busy year round. Man, everybody's messed their neck up in the last few years. What's the deal?

Bigger bumps, harder work schedules, probably.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

So many people are injured because HHH is hitting them with shovels.

 

Someone had to say it.

 

It is the dirty dirty truth.

[Guest Raven_Effect01]

That sucks about what happened to Raven.  I hope he can get the teeth that possibly fall out replaced and get back to wrestling soon.

[Guest bcu1979]

Haven't they been announcing Kanyon and Awesome to be returning in 4 weeks since before WrestleMania?

 

I also don't understand why more and more guys keep getting injured but instead of calling up new guys from the developmentals they stick the same dead characters on television every week. Has the WWF created any new characters since Stephanie became head writer??

 

If the RAW crew is leaving for Europe right after the show, then I guess we can expect more brand crossover on RAW with Triple H appearing. Hopefully he won't get his own entrance music this time. And I guess we can offically change the rule from "only WWF champion and womens champion can appear on both shows" to "only WWF champion, WWF womens champion and Stephanie's boyfriend can appear on both shows."

 

Did any other names from the training camp ever come out besides Daffney, April Hunter and Josh Matthews?

 

Why the hell is Chris Jericho always "improving?" Why can't Ross ever say Jericho is "there" as far as being a constant main eventer goes? The only thing that has changed by "leaps and bounds" since Mania is the booking of Jericho. They decided he was a failure as champion long before Mania so they completely bury him in the WM builudup to put over Stephanie. Then after Mania when fans want Stephanie's head on a platter, Rock waves good-bye, Triple H is not getting over like a top babyface should, the fans crap on Taker in the main event and Hulkastalgia is the hottest thing in the company, the WWF decided Jericho is not so bad after all and they start to rebuild him once again. All this starting and stopping of pushes does so much damage to characters the WWF needs in tops spots right now.

 

On the other hand, it did seem like Ross was taking a veiled shot at Stephanie by mentioning how much Jericho has improved "since WrestleMania." Maybe he "gets" it more than I think.

[Guest]

New Japan is interested in using some Federation developmental talent on selected tours in Japan and that conversation is ongoing with nothing finalized. No doubt the Japanese media will fabricate something regarding this matter, but that's nothing new. They are very creative at times with their reporting.

BUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Is anyone else overwhelmed with a sense of irony to hear Jim Ross talk about somebody else's "Creative Reporting?"

 

I used to think that Monty Python's Flying Circus were the undisputed eternal kings of sarcasm and satire...but if J.R. keeps writing stuff like this, I think he can give them a run for their money.

[Guest Hogan Made Wrestling]

"So many people are injured because HHH is hitting them with shovels."

 

Don't you mean Sledgehammers, or am I missing something here?

[Guest]

"So many people are injured because HHH is hitting them with shovels."

 

Don't you mean Sledgehammers, or am I missing something here?

A reference to Triple H burying other wrestlers.

 

Or I'm guessing that that's the way the joke was intended as. Makes sense to me.

[Guest Zero_Cool]

Wasn't Benoit supposed to be back near the end of May..oh well.

 

I don't know guys..I think Triple H has started to lose some of that "injury" muscle.  He seemed a bit quicker in the ring Thursday night.  

 

Anyway, injuries galore.

[Guest Dace59]

I doubt Jericho is improving with leaps and bounds.... more like very very slowly getting back to the shadow of his former work.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Yes.

 

That was my poor attempt at a HHH buries people joke.

 

I contemplated using a sledgehammer...but that is SOOO 2000...

 

...oh wait...he busted one out on Raw didn't he?

 

Damn it.

[Guest Brian]

Jericho's never been as good a worker as he is now. Maybe in late WCW days you could make a case, but he seems to have much more command in the ring now. I haven't seen Jericho better; he had that unsteady part of 2000 where people thought Jericho had fallen apart since coming to the WWF, but he was re-adjusting and didn't seem as motivated.

[Guest]

New Japan is interested in using some Federation developmental talent on selected tours in Japan and that conversation is ongoing with nothing finalized. No doubt the Japanese media will fabricate something regarding this matter, but that's nothing new. They are very creative at times with their reporting.

BUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

Is anyone else overwhelmed with a sense of irony to hear Jim Ross talk about somebody else's "Creative Reporting?"

 

I used to think that Monty Python's Flying Circus were the undisputed eternal kings of sarcasm and satire...but if J.R. keeps writing stuff like this, I think he can give them a run for their money.

Huh?

 

Did any other names from the training camp ever come out besides Daffney, April Hunter and Josh Matthews?

They were signed?

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

no the training camp was a try out

[Guest godthedog]

this injury list just gets sadder and sadder.  i know everybody complains about the big spots being so dangerous, but when people are getting injured left & right from simple moves or general wear & tear, it's time to slow your fucking style down just a little bit.  a wrestler's body just cannot keep up with the pace the wwf style is setting, & as a result they're forced to play musical chairs with their roster for in-ring time.  when is vince going to learn, and tell his wrestlers to tone it down?  when trips got his quad torn, not only did it keep one of the wwf's best wrestlers out for almost a year, it probably also shortened his career considerably.  benoit's career has probably been shortened considerably.  so has rhyno's, kanyon's, & everybody else that's either in surgery or in rehab.  if the wwf isn't careful, they're going to have an entire generation of american wrestlers that's crippled before they're 50.  wrestling needs to start being more psychologically oriented than physically oriented, for the sake of these wrestlers' bodies.

[Guest]

Jericho's never been as good a worker as he is now.

You missed his WAR days, didnt you? He was a work rate MACHINE!

[Guest Brian]

I've seen his WAR days, but look who he was against. He was never a better singles wrestler than now, he has had better matches, but never a better singles wrestler.

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Happy birthday to the Big Red Machine today. This big horse is sorely missed from our live events.

Sure that isn't HOSS?

[Guest Nater]

What the hell is a Hoss anyways?

[Guest Mystery Eskimo]

Jim Ross's perversion of the english word "horse", I believe.