WWE News & Notes from the 8/30 Observer

[Enigma 0]

Even with the core business hitting recent record lows in July, due to the popularity of DVDs, an added PPV show, and strong international business, World Wrestling Entertainment as a business posted a $7,646,000 profit on total revenue of $81,551,000 in the first quarter of fiscal 2004-05 (May through July).

 

The numbers were well ahead of the same period last year, which was $74,675,000 in revenue and $2,585,000 in profits. It should be noted that of that profit for the quarter, approximately $4.2 million will be paid out in upcoming weeks in stockholders dividends, totally $2,862,820 to Vince McMahon in particular. As noted many times, due to cost-cutting and increases in non-core business, they are very profitable, but the major revenue sources all dropped significantly over the past three months, as has overall popularity.

 

At the 8/23 company quarterly conference call, Linda McMahon talked more about non-core business, in particular rolling out of the 24/7 and taking advantage of the tape library, as well as merchandise. She noted that the company had signed a five-year extension of its current contact with B Sky B in the United Kingdom. She pushed the upcoming DVD releases for Eddie Guerrero (the UPN TV special from a few months back, which was excellent, along with a collection of his matches from AAA, ECW, WCW, WWE, and even an AWA match teaming with his brothers Chavo & Mondo from very early in his career) and the Rise and Fall of ECW. The latter video has been very controversial, because reports were they were very much encouraging people to bury Paul Heyman (not that some people wouldn't need encouragement to do so), which is their own employee. She pushed the idea of merchandising opportunities for older wrestlers when the new station is rolled out, saying the Jakks Pacific release recently of nostalgic wrestling action figures turned out to be a big hit. She also pushed two movies, which she didn't specify, that would be filmed over the next few months. The total budget for the two movies is $20 million. The first movie, currently in pre-production in Australia, will be the vehicle for John Cena, and will be the shot starting in probably a month or so. The second will either be a vehicle for HHH or Kane. 2001 Century Fox will distribute one and Lions Gate will distribute the other. That will start filming not all that much later. This seems to indicate Cena would end up losing the best-of-five series, since afterwards, he's going to be unavailable for TV and house shows for a month or more.

 

She also said the 10/19 "Taboo Tuesday" Raw PPV will have fans vote on the web site for matches that they want to see, and it will be promoted heavily the night before on Raw. She talked about expansion of the developmental system, something that has been talked about for a long time. She also noted that even with the ratings being flat, they've been able to increase the ad rates for the fall season, and the company's major sponsors, like Nike, Burger King, and Sony, have signed on for the next year. The big successes out of the ring have been the WrestleMania 20 DVD, which sold 180,000 copies, the Ric Flair DVD, which sold more than 120,000 copies, the Chris Benoit DVD, which has already sold more than 65,000 copies, and the Flair autobiography. She noted the "Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain" video game has sold more than two million copies.

 

The negative, more than anything else, is North American house show attendance. The company was down to a 3,800 per event average in North America and a $140,600 average gate (this includes the higher gates of the PPV events factored in). This is a drop from a $154,000 average gate in the prior quarter. However, the ten overseas shows for the quarter averaged 9,300 and $670,000, and even with the increase in expense of touring, are far more profitable than domestic shows.

 

The diva search, pushed three months ago as an idea to drive Raw ratings, was not even brought up.

 

While the conference usually compares revenues in various categories with the same-period last year, we like to compare to the prior quarter, to see if the current direction is positive or not, as in this business, one year is an eternity. Of course, that is unfair this time out because the WrestleMania and Royal Rumble quarter is always the biggest because of the revenue from those shows. A big part of the increase this quarter over last had to do with WrestleMania, because the video of this year's event was far bigger than the previous year.

 

In that regard, live event revenue dropped from $22.2 the prior quarter with 87 shows to $17.9 million this quarter with 89 shows (the same quarter last year was $18.1 million on 84 shows). This quarter had the four PPV events, which are bigger live gates, totaling $2 million. Last quarter, had three shows, but with WrestleMania and Royal Rumble, they totaled $3.93 million, so factoring those out and you have house show numbers at of $18.3 million falling to $15.9 million, a significant 13.1% drop, even while running two more shows. In the last quarter, the company averaged a $72 ticket price for overseas events as compared to a $37 average ticket price in North America.

 

Of course PPV is down from that quarter as well, but that is to be expected. The four shows at this point have Judgment Day at 220,000 buys (0.41), Bad Blood at 264,000 (0.49), Great American Bash at 233,000 (0.43), and Vengeance at 232,000 (0.43).

 

Television ad revenues showed a significant drop from $13.6 million to $10.6 million. Television rights fees also dropped form $20.9 million to $19.8 million, so total TV revenue was down 11.9% from the prior quarter. The average Raw rating dropped from 3.9 to 3.7. The average Smackdown rating dropped from 3.3 to 3.1.

 

Home video revenue dropped from $11.1 million to $5.7 million, but the prior quarter had most of the sales of the Monday Night War and WrestleMania videos, as well as the later sales of the Flair video sales. The $5.7 million, with the major titles being later sales of WrestleMania and the Benoit video, was an 128% increase over the $2.5 million from the same quarter last year, but all video business is way up due to increases in DVD sales.

 

Licensing revenues dropped from $3.7 million last quarter to $3.3 million this quarter.

 

The company currently has $343,061,000 in assets and $68,123,000 in liabilities for about $275 million in cash on hand. That is up from $265.6 million three months ago.

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The executive officers of the company, besides Vince McMahon (Chairman of the Board) and Linda McMahon (Chief Executive Officer), are Phil Livingston (Chief Financial Officer), Ed Cohen (Executive Vice President Booking & Live Events), Kevin Dunn (Executive Vice President TV production), Donna Goldsmith (Senior Vice President, Consumer Products), Ed Kaufman (Executive Vice President General Counsel), Shane McMahon (Executive Vice President Global Media), Jim Ross (Executive Vice President Business Strategies), James Rothschild (Senior Vice President North American sales), Kurt Schneider (Executive Vice President Marketing), and Frank Serpe (Senior Vice President Finance). As noted last week Vince earned $1,085,000 in straight salary and another $1,085,000 in bonus. He also earned $882,279 in other annual compensation, mostly from his $850,000 downside guarantee in his talent contract. His total income of $3,052,279 was up from $1,940,500 last year and $1,929,965 in 2002. That doesn't include his family's $11,451,279 that they are on target to earn in dividends this coming year (he did not earn that much last year; I believe last year's total would have been $8.5 million). Linda McMahon earned $750,000 in salary, another $750,000 in bonuses and $29,933 in talent fees. That $1,529,933 is up from $755,500 last year and $763,350 the year before. Kevin Dunn earned $517,692 in salary and another $300,000 in bonuses, plus with stock options and other compensation, his total earnings for the year were $1,286,337, up from $543,417 last year. Phil Livingston earned $385,000 in straight salary and $260,000 in bonuses. His total income was $740,503. James Rothschild earned $365,500 in salary and $675,866 in bonuses this past year. All totaled, he earned $1,379,181, up from $781,100 last year. Vince's $1,085,000 per year contract expires on October 14, 2006. Linda's $750,000 per year contract expires on October 14, 2003, but there is an option through 2005. Vince's $850,000 wrestler contract also expires in late 2006. Both get bonuses amounting to their annual salary based on performance goals, which a certain profit level (that they topped last year). For next year, they get the bonuses if EBITDA tops $69 million for the year. Have I noted of late that the entire budget for the developmental system has remained at $500,000?

 

Raw in the U.K. is moving from Friday night at 10pm to Thursday night at 9pm starting on 9/2. This new time slot puts it head-to-head with the FWA show on The Wrestling Channel. There will also be a repeat on Friday night at midnight. They had three different ads, one with Edge, Chris Benoit, and Randy Orton each, telling viewers about the change. Raw has been on Friday nights in the U.K. for nearly nine years. It actually started in the U.K. in September 1995, at 5pm on Thursday. In November 1995, it was moved to Friday at 5pm. In August 1996, due to some viewer complaints about the product, mainly about the Goldust character's actions, it was moved to 10pm. Wrestling has been a Friday night tradition on Sky since 1989, which was the inception of the channel. It was first WWF Superstars of Wrestling, then WWF Mania, before Raw.

 

For the New York Times bestseller list for 8/29, Ric Flair's book is expected to be either No. 17 or No. 18, so its time at the top is over. This past week, it was No. 10 on the Canadian Globe & Mail list.

 

The first Randy Orton vs. HHH match won't be at WrestleMania 21, but instead takes place in two weeks, on the 9/12 Unforgiven main event in Portland.

 

The Rock's appearance on Raw was known in advance. Why the company never promotes Rock's appearances is just mind-boggling. It is said about half the crowd knew Rock was appearing because a lot of people saw him arrive at the building, and the word got around the building fast.

 

Steve Austin was in Anaheim, since he lives in Los Angles now, for the Raw show and met with Vince McMahon. Nobody in the audience knew it, but he must have gotten a kick out of all the "What" chants in a show that had far too much boring talk. Sean Waltman also met with Vince at the show.

 

Some notes on Amy Weber. She's from Lake Weir, FL, originally, near Ocala. She was voted one of the 100 sexiest women alive by the readers of Maxim magazine, where she's done a lot of bikini modeling and some covers. She was a star in track and cross country in high school, as well as on the debate team. She's done 19 feature films. She said the reason she entered was because a friend of hers brought up WWE was offering $250,000 in a Diva Search and was she interested. Her friend then told her she was so above doing something like that. She said it got her mad, so she entered. That story does sound like a Zach Gowen story, doesn't it? She's done a lot of TV, most notably on the Howard Stern show, "Son of the Beach." She's also working on two books and wants to cut an R&B album. Weber has said she's not opposed to training to become a wrestler, but would rather have a role like Stacy Keibler. The winner of the Diva Search is bound to WWE for a one-year contract. Supposedly, after what happened on Monday, Carmella DeCesare threatened to kick her ass backstage. Also, according to Weber, their team did one rehearsal of Diva Dodge Ball before the thing aired. She claimed they worked the existing women, pretending to be klutzes so they could surprise them in tapings. Actually, Michelle, who got dumped the next day, was a total ringer. Real name Michelle McCool Alexander, the tall blond girl from Palatka, FL was a former county athlete of the year in volleyball. She was the only contestant of the ten who was not a professional model, as she's a 24-year-old local school teacher. Her biggest thrill was meeting Ric Flair, as she was a fan as a kid. She also put over Trish Stratus, Nidia, Chris Jericho, and Rhyno as being very nice to her. She was also told that even though she was dumped, she "might" be called back.

 

The scheduled 8/23 Smackdown brand house show in Richmond, CA was canceled due to low ticket sales.

 

Brock Lesnar got hazed on 8/18, at the final day of the Vikings camp in Mankato, MN. After the last practice, when everyone leaves the field, nobody left. Lesnar figured out in a hurry that he was not the predator, but the prey, and took off as fast as he could, and apparently it was really fast. He was still run down by running back Larry Ned. The rest of the team held him down, while Kelly Campbell was doing pro wrestling moves on him. He had his ankles taped together and was doused with water. That's actually a good sign, because it means the team considers him a real player as opposed to a publicity stunt. The Vikings are already merchandising a Lesnar #69 jersey.

 

It's true: Edge, Eddie Guerrero, and Undertaker were unhappy with the crowd reactions to them in Toronto. You could see it in Undertaker's face. Edge had called friends after the show and was really hurt he was booed by Toronto fans. An interesting irony in Undertaker vs. JBL in Toronto and Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg in MSG: in both cases, they were pretty much the same thing. Well, a little different, as in MSG, the chants started immediately and the people didn't give them a chance. In Toronto, it took a few minutes before they turned on the match. In Boston, with the HHH vs. Scott Steiner match, the crowd turned on the match in the first minute when they puked at Steiner's offense. In Toronto and MSG, I got a lot of response from people who thought the crowd was disrespectful. I thought they were in MSG because they turned on them before they started. In Boston, almost nobody said the crowd was disrespectful. Internally, I never heard anyone say the MSG crowd was disrespectful, because a lot of the people were mad at Goldberg and Lesnar and thought they deserved it. Internally, a lot of people were mad at the Toronto crowd, since Undertaker and JBL are office favorites. When Goldberg and Lesnar were mad about the crowd reactions, they were crybabies. When Undertaker was mad, it was the crowd's fault. In MSG, Shane McMahon, an Executive Vice President, was chanting "You Sold Out" from his ringside seat. In Toronto, I wonder what Shane McMahon's reaction was when the crowd regurgitated on his Smackdown brand champion?

 

Some more on JBL in Germany from someone at the show: there is no question what he did was against German law and there were many people offended at the show. But outside the people in the arena, nobody in Germany cared. The incident wasn't covered in any major media in the country. JBL's claim that the media in Germany backed him is incorrect, nor would it be correct to say the media opposed him. It was a non-story by the major media. The only thing he can point to is an article in a small right-wing activist newspaper which mentioned his case, never defended what he did, but did question whether the law should still be on the books.

 

The 8/12 episode of Smackdown was the third most-watched English language show among U.S. Hispanic viewers, getting a 5.9 Hispanic rating, more than double the national average on the lowest rated non-Holiday Smackdown in history. It trailed the opening ceremonies (7.5) and 8/15 prime time airing of the Olympics (7.5 and 7.2), but it beat out the 8/14 Olympics on NBC, which did a 5.1. Currently, 9.8% of the U.S. homes fall under the category of Hispanic homes. Another way of looking at it is this: Smackdown among homes where English is the primary language did a 2.26 rating that night.

 

Nunzio was off this weekend as well because his wife gave birth last week.

 

Another reason suggested for the booing of Edge in Toronto was this. The day before SummerSlam, the wrestlers were at Ontario Place in Toronto and Edge was supposed to be at a press conference. Fans were led to believe he had no-showed, plus there was an autograph session he showed up 30 minutes late for with a lot of people in line waiting. On the other hand, Chris Jericho did a concert that same night in the same place and went out of his way to entertain the crowd.

 

Kurt Angle is being told, besides to take fewer bumps, to use the Angle slam and ankle lock less frequently during matches. There is a feeling he is using those moves too often at house shows when they aren't the finish. Again, having not seen the finished product and the preceding product, I don't know, but when changes are made for "safe" moves like the ankle lock that are used less that make a match less exciting (being that Angle isn't going to win at house shows anyway), I think you fall into the category of overanalyzing matches that are getting over to begin with.

 

Both Heidenreich and Rene Dupree had problems at weekend house shows. Heidenreich was frustrated with a match with Scotty 2 Hotty in Bakersfield (imagine if he'd been working with Bob Holly as was at one point scheduled for the weekend). He was mad about Scotty missing a spot during his comeback, but Heidenreich took the bump anyway and it looked like hell. Heidenreich got back up, and was hit with a dropkick, took a second bump, and got up fuming, not so much at Scotty but just that the spot was blown. He went crazy in the ring at first. Paul Heyman and ref Jimmy Korderas tried to calm him down, but he was screaming in front of people. Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot, where he did calm down. He did come back, and talked with Heyman and Arn Anderson and he was okay by that point.

 

There was heat on Rene Dupree for stinking up a match with Charlie Haas with too much stalling and comedy, and he did call the match. He was mad at being fined recently, plus, you don't have to be a genius to see his star falling fast, for reasons nobody really could answer. There was a spot Dupree was told not to do (I believe it was his French dance, which is his trademark spot, but they feel people now cheer when he does it so he shouldn't be doing it). Anyway, he did it anyway on a recent house show, and ended up being fined. When Vince McMahon asked at a meeting if Dupree had an attitude, and if you understand the way people react from a proclamation from God in that company, people are looking for examples to prove Vince was right.

 

John Laurinatis is starting to get the heat that Jim Ross used to get that is natural for his position. He told everyone that, no exceptions, there is a $250 fine for being late and even more for dress code violations. You are supposed to wear nice slacks, nice shirt at all times while traveling, and believe me, there is a lot of heat on that one since many see this, and I can see the point of view, that they feel management is not addressing the real problems that has gotten the lack of popularity where it is, while they are worrying about unimportant things like what wrestlers are wearing on airplanes in the summer. It's the mentality from the past that if people see you dressed like a bum, they won't pay to see you.

 

Mick Foley was on Air America Radio's morning show on 8/23 promoting the "Smackdown Your Vote" drive. He said The Rock was a Democrat with some conservative values, and he said he was as well. He made fun of George W. Bush. When the hosts brought up that the drive was supposed to have been non-partisan in 2000, but on the last night, Jerry Lawler went off big-time on Al Gore (there are people significantly high in the Democratic Party who felt that could have swayed the election, although with race that close, everything on both sides could have swayed it). Foley thought Lawler was really going off on Joe Lieberman because Lieberman was aligned at the time with the PTC, which was trying to get Smackdown taken off the air. Foley said Lieberman was guilty of not checking out people he was associated with like L. Brent Bozell, whom Foley called a pioneer of smear tactics. He said he was voting for John Kerry, and that other wrestlers have gone on record promoting Bush (Flair and JBL have, very strongly and publicly). Foley said he thinks George Bush was watching wrestling in 1998 and copied a lot from watching Austin, saying that's when his swagger came around. He also said wrestling was guilty of using xenophobia to sell tickets and he said he's been guilty in the past of using homophobia to get crowds to turn on certain wrestlers, and gave an example involving Kurt Angle. Foley claimed Billy & Chuck were positive gay role models (I'd argue that, because they were heels who turned babyface by saying they weren't gay). He said his next book, "Tales from Wrescal Lane," about WWE characters as children growing up living in the same block (a children's book that comes out in October, which will probably coincide with his return to television) will go to an education center in the Philippines. He concluded with this line: "I have a conversation in my mind, where a father is putting his son to bed, and we have 40 million people living below the poverty line, 30 million other people that low-wage labor is failing them, and his kid being put to bed says, 'Daddy, I'm hungry.' And there's no excuse for going to bed hungry in the land of plenty. And the father says,' Hey, that may be. But at least those two gay people you'll never meet in a city you'll never be in can't get married.' It just seems like our priorities are out of order."

 

D-Von Dudley worked all weekend, but he's having problems with high blood pressure.

 

Kendall Cross, who was a gold medalist on the 1996 U.S. Olympic wrestling team with Kurt Angle, was asked about Angle and amateur wrestling. Cross is the current Executive Director of the Dave Schultz Wrestling Foundation, which raises money for amateur wrestlers to train. He said, "Angle was one of us, and I think he still is. He contributes to the Schultz Foundation and was one of Dave's training partners. I can get him on the phone and pick up where we left off." As noted many times, there are still people in amateur wrestling, although the number is smaller than it was four years ago, who are still mad that Angle took the career path he did.

 

Despite what is said publicly, it appears a significant percentage (I was told vast majority) of the Smackdown roster is dumfounded by the JBL push. There is a lot of feeling it's undeserved, and for whatever reason, Bruce Prichard gets the heat for it, even though it's obviously Vince McMahon's final call.

 

Rey Mysterio, Mark Jindrak, and Johnny Stamboli were all fined for arriving late in Bakersfield. They were traveling together after spending the afternoon at Mysterio's home in Chula Vista, which is a good four hours away.

 

"Walking Tall" opened at No. 2 last week in Australia with $1,356,443 in Australian money. It was considered a disappointment considering the amount of publicity the film has gotten, including The Rock coming to Australia to promote the movie.

 

The Hurricane was back training in the gym this week, but his nose hasn't recovered from last week's surgery enough to return to the ring.

 

Matt Cappotelli, Johnny Jeter, and Mark Magnus from OVW are booked on Raw brand house shows starting in a few weeks. The card given to the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, ME for 10/1 listed Jeter vs. Christian (who is ready to come back and I guess they just haven't had the time to bring him back with all the time that the main acts and diva search takes up), Cappotelli vs. Tyson Tomko, and Magnus vs. The Hurricane. Magnus is interesting, because he hasn't even been on OVW in months. The idea was for Magnus & Jimmy Snuka, Jr. to debut with a big push as an Iraqi heel tag team, and given this, that may have been dropped. Jeter is very Ricky Morton-esque as a worker, in that he has a charisma that can get over, but only if he's pushed big from the start. The negative on him is he can't talk, and it is negative enough he needs someone to talk for him, as an act like that needs microphone time. Cappotelli has a great look. I don't see him tearing the house down with Tomko, and he's also not read on the microphone. Magnus is more than ready on the microphone, but not in the ring.

 

They also look to be doing Randy Orton, Eugene, & Chris Benoit vs. Evolution main events at house shows.

 

8/9 Raw tapings in Cleveland drew 6,000. 8/10 Smackdown tapings in Detroit drew 6,600.

 

8/20 Raw house show in Bismark drew 1,900 and $65,000. 8/21 Raw in Fargo drew 1,500 and $53,000, and that was in the huge Fargo Dome, which holds like 30,000. 8/21 Smackdown in San Diego was the big success of the week (Smackdown in a Hispanic market), with 5,900 paying $195,000. It was said to have been the best walk-up crowd for any event in months, which again translates into the traditionally late-buying Hispanic audience, plus an incredible amount of last week promotion in the Latino community with Rey Mysterio. 8/22 Raw in Palm Springs drew 1,900 and $77,000. 8/22 Smackdown in Bakersfield drew 3,100 and $100,000, which was once again a big Hispanic walk-up and the second straight good Smackdown showing.

 

In Bismark, they tried an experiment on the show as Dean Malenko ordered in the first half of the show he wanted no punches thrown and nobody leaving the ring.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Both Heidenreich and Rene Dupree had problems at weekend house shows. Heidenreich was frustrated with a match with Scotty 2 Hotty in Bakersfield (imagine if he'd been working with Bob Holly as was at one point scheduled for the weekend). He was mad about Scotty missing a spot during his comeback, but Heidenreich took the bump anyway and it looked like hell. Heidenreich got back up, and was hit with a dropkick, took a second bump, and got up fuming, not so much at Scotty but just that the spot was blown. He went crazy in the ring at first. Paul Heyman and ref Jimmy Korderas tried to calm him down, but he was screaming in front of people. Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot, where he did calm down. He did come back, and talked with Heyman and Arn Anderson and he was okay by that point.

Well, I guess he saw what happeed to Mordecai and figures that the slightest mistakes are going to screw up his chances of being on the full roster long term. Especially after Taker put a stop to their program. But still, punching yourself in the head and running around screaming seems a little odd.

[Dark Age 0]

I dunno what Eddie's problem is, considering he didn't even get booed.

 

For the diva stuff, why did they cut the most athletic one there, who is also, seemingly, the only wrestling fan? Stupid.

[Guest TigerDriver91]

The diva search, pushed three months ago as an idea to drive Raw ratings, was not even brought up.

All we need now is for it to disappear from our television screen forever.

[buffybeast 0]

You are supposed to wear nice slacks, nice shirt at all times while traveling,

 

Wait, I don't understand this. I can understand management wanting the talent to look nice when they travel. But dress shirts and slacks are a bit much, particularly in the summer. When I travel, I want to be as comfortable as possible. That rule is just stupid. You can dress comfortably and still look put together.

[Exslade ZX 0]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot, where he did calm down. He did come back, and talked with Heyman and Arn Anderson and he was okay by that point.

...why do I just picture the scene from Scary Movie 2 where Cindy shouts 'IM NOT CRAZY' then starts running around 'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh'

 

[Guest Trivia247]

I personally wouldn't wanna ask Linda about the Diva search thing anyway... Im sure she was one of the Higher ups that cleared the idea but still I wouldn't want to bring that up as if implicating her for making us have to shit through this shit where at least two matches could be going on in its place

[UZI Suicide 0]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot

 

 

Oh shit..

[Guest Trivia247]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot

 

 

Oh shit..

Thats um....Bi Polar, someone should get him medication and maybe reconsider his employment opportunities

 

don't they check mental health?

[humongous2002 0]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot

 

 

Oh shit..

Psycho.

[Guest JMA]

The Rock is a Democrat? People have always said that he's a Republican.

 

I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

She also said the 10/19 "Taboo Tuesday" Raw PPV will have fans vote on the web site for matches that they want to see, and it will be promoted heavily the night before on Raw.

 

That's an interesting idea. Fantasy warfare can become a reality...almost.

 

It's the mentality from the past that if people see you dressed like a bum, they won't pay to see you.

 

What a bunch of horseshit. If I saw Chris Jericho and he looked like he had just woken up, I'm not gonna go, "OMG he looks horrible, there's no way I'm going to attend the show tonight now!!!" Fuck management.

[AndrewTS 0]

"It's the mentality from the past that if people see you dressed like a bum, they won't pay to see you."

 

Yeah, usually that would completely kill the popularity of rock stars, which WWE is most similar to.

 

How out of touch can this company get?

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Kevin Dunn is a millionaire, ouch.

[Guest Fook]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot

 

 

Oh shit..

Thats um....Bi Polar, someone should get him medication and maybe reconsider his employment opportunities

Hey this could be the start of a new mental disorder gimmick based on the successes of Eugene and Goldust with tourettes - the bipolar wrestler.

 

I can picture it now: "I'll come out and kick your ass......but I'm just not feeling up to it right now..."

[Guest theanswer1824]

He said his next book, "Tales from Wrescal Lane," about WWE characters as children growing up living in the same block (a children's book that comes out in October, which will probably coincide with his return to television) will go to an education center in the Philippines. He concluded with this line: "I have a conversation in my mind, where a father is putting his son to bed, and we have 40 million people living below the poverty line, 30 million other people that low-wage labor is failing them, and his kid being put to bed says, 'Daddy, I'm hungry.' And there's no excuse for going to bed hungry in the land of plenty. And the father says,' Hey, that may be. But at least those two gay people you'll never meet in a city you'll never be in can't get married.' It just seems like our priorities are out of order."

Regardless of what anyone says regarding his inring/outside work, Mick is the bomb IMHO. This is the only part of this report that made me smile. It's great to see Mick use his star power to help out those in need. I am biased though because the Phillippines is my home country, but it's great to see that he cares for other countries that never get any recognition or help.

[Guest Trivia247]

He said his next book, "Tales from Wrescal Lane," about WWE characters as children growing up living in the same block (a children's book that comes out in October, which will probably coincide with his return to television) will go to an education center in the Philippines. He concluded with this line: "I have a conversation in my mind, where a father is putting his son to bed, and we have 40 million people living below the poverty line, 30 million other people that low-wage labor is failing them, and his kid being put to bed says, 'Daddy, I'm hungry.' And there's no excuse for going to bed hungry in the land of plenty. And the father says,' Hey, that may be. But at least those two gay people you'll never meet in a city you'll never be in can't get married.' It just seems like our priorities are out of order."

Regardless of what anyone says regarding his inring/outside work, Mick is the bomb IMHO. This is the only part of this report that made me smile. It's great to see Mick use his star power to help out those in need. I am biased though because the Phillippines is my home country, but it's great to see that he cares for other countries that never get any recognition or help.

Thats actually a scary thought,

 

picture it based on WWE/WWF wrestlers in the past twenty years

 

theres little Hulk Hogan, he can't seem to wear a shirt without tearing it to pieces..

 

some kid calling himself the Undertaker, seems to have a morbid fantasy of being pale and walking unnecessarly slow. Hangs around with some fat kid who hasn't slept much. Has a kid brother name Kane who fantasizes about being normal and wears a match, even though he has nothing wrong with his face...

 

Young Eddie Guerrero is just the School Cleptomaniac with a need to Lie cheat and steal.

 

his younger Cousin Chavo ....well we can't quite get a personality from him yet, but boy is his father Eddie's older brothera animated character when he drinks.

 

Kurt angle is that over achieving student everyone hates

 

Mark Henry is the Big Fat kid who lifts weights and one day wants to be a center in his highschool football team.

 

little SCSA can't seem to lay off the Jolt cola and Tries stunning everyone in sight. And he seems to have a hearing problem...keeps saying What.

 

Brock Lesnar.... Looks like a five year old but for some reason has a roided up body (Oh wait thats what he looks like now)

 

Chris Benoit got a dream.... a destiny....... To be just like Dynamite Kid.. and follows him around the block

 

The Rock Appears and gives all the school girls a thrill....... then leaves school for months...only to come back again......then leave.....then back...then leaves.

 

.... ran out of ideas

 

but still...scary

[Brett Favre 0]

Chris Jericho can be the kid who makes fun of the girls, and gets bullied around by HHH.

[Guest Trivia247]

Chris Jericho can be the kid who makes fun of the girls, and gets bullied around by HHH.

Oh yea HHH needs one...

 

 

HHH is the bully, he terrorizes the school yard with a baseball bat, he has a big overground doofus underling and has a guy who hangs around the school, he is about 20ish but Flair simply cannot give up those by gone years of Highschool. Whenever he shows up to the cafateria he leaps on a table top poses and Spits Milk.... all over steph's under him.

[Guest Brian]

In Bismark, they tried an experiment on the show as Dean Malenko ordered in the first half of the show he wanted no punches thrown and nobody leaving the ring.

Ooooohh... I like this.

[Vyce 0]

Weber has said she's not opposed to training to become a wrestler, but would rather have a role like Stacy Keibler.

 

Oh, so she's flat-out admitting that she'll be worthless.

 

He went crazy in the ring at first. Paul Heyman and ref Jimmy Korderas tried to calm him down, but he was screaming in front of people. Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot, where he did calm down. He did come back, and talked with Heyman and Arn Anderson and he was okay by that point.

 

God bless the WWE - they decide to push the guy with legit mental problems.

 

Jeter is very Ricky Morton-esque as a worker, in that he has a charisma that can get over, but only if he's pushed big from the start. The negative on him is he can't talk, and it is negative enough he needs someone to talk for him, as an act like that needs microphone time. Cappotelli has a great look. I don't see him tearing the house down with Tomko, and he's also not read on the microphone. Magnus is more than ready on the microphone, but not in the ring

 

Story of just about every OVW worker that gets pulled up these days - they're decent at only one thing or the other, but never both.

[Kizzo 0]

The Rock is a Democrat? People have always said that he's a Republican.

 

I suppose it doesn't really matter in the long run.

 

I guess he swtiched parties...that's happening alot...from both sides...

 

From reading what Foley said....he just had conservative views...

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot

 

 

Oh shit..

Thats um....Bi Polar, someone should get him medication and maybe reconsider his employment opportunities

 

don't they check mental health?

Great, I was looking for the next Sycho Sid.

[Mole 0]

In Bismark, they tried an experiment on the show as Dean Malenko ordered in the first half of the show he wanted no punches thrown and nobody leaving the ring.

Ooooohh... I like this.

Of course this won't last long because Vince won't like it or whatever.

 

And wasn't Dean the agent of the Rhyno match that got shitted on?

[Guest netslob]

In Boston, with the HHH vs. Scott Steiner match, the crowd turned on the match in the first minute when they puked at Steiner's offense.

 

christ, was that match really THAT bad?!

[Guest ManKinnd]

In Boston, with the HHH vs. Scott Steiner match, the crowd turned on the match in the first minute when they puked at Steiner's offense.

 

christ, was that match really THAT bad?!

For a world title match, yes.

[Guest MikeSC]

In Boston, with the HHH vs. Scott Steiner match, the crowd turned on the match in the first minute when they puked at Steiner's offense.

 

christ, was that match really THAT bad?!

Nothing but belly-to-belly suplexes and clotheslines.

-=Mike

...It was damned horrible...

[jester 0]

He went crazy in the ring at first. Paul Heyman and ref Jimmy Korderas tried to calm him down, but he was screaming in front of people. Heyman pulled him backstage and again went to clam him down, but even after Heyman talked with him, he started tearing up backstage and punching himself in the head. Bubba Ray Dudley then went to him to calm him down, but he didn't listen, and started banging his head into lockers and ran screaming out the door into the parking lot, where he did calm down. He did come back, and talked with Heyman and Arn Anderson and he was okay by that point.

 

God bless the WWE - they decide to push the guy with legit mental problems.

A wrestler's mental stability is a low priority in the WWE.

 

Now, what they wear on an airplane trip, THAT'S important.

[DerangedHermit 0]

In Bismark, they tried an experiment on the show as Dean Malenko ordered in the first half of the show he wanted no punches thrown and nobody leaving the ring.

Ooooohh... I like this.

Did the participants in the match accidentally leave the ring like Deano did?

[Highland 0]

Actually I'm glad he's getting pissed off when things go wrong in the ring; it shows he hates failure and fucking up and more to the point that he is aware that he is fucking up spots. He'll only get better as a result.