Wrestlemania 22 article

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WRESTLEMANIA 22 POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 612(81.6%)

Thumbs down 41 (05.5%)

In the middle 97 (12.9%)

 

BEST MATCH POLL

Edge vs. Mick Foley 282

Money in the Bank ladder match 176

John Cena vs. HHH 109

Mysterio vs. Orton vs. Angle 84

Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon 79

 

WORST MATCH POLL

Boogeyman vs. Booker T & Sharmell 314

Candice Michelle vs. Torrie Wilson 300

Undertaker vs. Mark Henry 49

Angle vs. Mysterio vs. Orton 10

 

Based on phone calls, e-mails and fax messages to the Observer of Tuesday, 4/4.

 

The 22nd Wrestlemania, on paper, did not appear to be a show worthy of the name, but due to the effort of those in the ring, the show greatly exceeded most expectations, even from people expecting the modern day Wrestlemania effort and a good show.

 

I'm not sure exactly when to trace the change, but at some point in the late 90s, Wrestlemania went from being everyone's best payoff of the year, and really, in many people's eyes, only a little more, to the Super Bowl it was always billed as for the participants. The change was probably a slow deal where the generation who grew up watching Wrestlemania on PPV became wrestlers, and all wanted to live up to their memories of things like Ricky Steamboat's match with Randy Savage in 1987. While many of the moments in early Wrestlemanias, due to the great hype job, have become probably the biggest parts of history to the general public, you really don't find all that many great matches in first generation Wrestlemanias. This year was another prime example that this is the show everyone aims to have their best match of the year on. Due to time constraints in many cases, it isn't always possible, but from an effort standpoint up and down the show, this card was a pretty big step up from usual WWE fare.

 

This year didn't feature a match like Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels, which will go down as one of the top matches in Mania history. But the performances of many people, from Shawn Michaels to Shelton Benjamin to Edge and Mick Foley and even HHH made several matches come across far better than they had any right to be. In the end it was a spectacular show, very worthy of the name. Whether the company achieves its financial goals, which were to break the company's record of 1,040,000 PPV buys set in 2001 (and with international, as well as far more domestic homes wired, that record is far easier to achieve nowadays) is a question. We did hear of examples in the U.S., and even more so in the U.K., where they were hoping for close to 200,000 buys alone, of cable operators being flooded with last minute orders, which delayed people seeing the show until well after it had started. If nothing else, that has to be taken as a positive sign, that in the end, a lot of people on the fence about the show decided at the last minute, what the heck, the line-up may not be great but Wrestlemania only comes once a year.

 

The 4/2 show at the All-State Arena in Chicago drew a sellout of 17.155 fans paying $2.5 million. An example of how ticket price increases affect the live gate is shown that in 1997, when in the same arena, then called the Rosemont Horizon, was sold out for Mania (with the famous I Quit match with Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin and the weak main event of Psycho Sid vs. Undertaker for the WWF title), the gate was $837,150. This year's gate was the third largest ever for pro wrestling in the U.S., trailing 2001 Mania at the Astrodome ($3,530,905) and the 2003 Mania at Safeco Field in Seattle ($2,760,035). It was the largest gate ever for an traditional arena setting, as opposed to an enclosed baseball/football stadium setting, beating the $2.4 million figure set for WM XX in 2004 in Madison Square Garden. Both Toronto Wrestlemanias, held at Skydome, also beat this year's total, and the company had a show at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne, Australia in 2002 that did better, so it would rank as No. 6 overall in company records.

 

A lot of decisions were made, changed, and made again in the weeks leading to the event. If there was a negative to be said, it was that, in the end, it still proved to be what many wrestlers have called it of late, a vanity promotion for the owner and his family. Now that isn't to knock any of their performance. Vince McMahon did all that you could ask for and more, given that he's not a wrestler, not to mention he's almost 61 and because of muscle/tendon imbalances he likely has, he's a walking major muscle tear waiting to happen. In a sense, they were careful as McMahon didn't try anything himself, but was willing to take an incredibly solid pounding with gimmick shots. The key spot in the match was Michaels climbing to nearly the top of a 15 foot ladder, so he was a good 13 feet off the ground, and came down with an elbow drop on McMahon through a table, a move that no doubt will be described for all eternity as a 30 foot drop. While that sounded and looked impressive, to the wrestlers it was even more so because McMahon had a garbage can around his head. That meant he actually couldn't see Michaels falling and tense himself to take the blow, which is a big deal. In boxing, the gimmick when you see a boxer stick his chin out and dare the guy to hit it, the bottom line is if you see the punch coming and ready for it, you can tense yourself. That spot in boxing is getting over to the public that you are fearless and can take a punch, but the people within boxing see right through it. Usually, it's the punch you don't see coming and you aren't braced for is the one that puts you to sleep. McMahon obviously knew it was coming, but he had to brace for several seconds because he didn't know the exact moment he was getting taken out.

 

The McMahon match very well could have been the biggest drawing single match on the show, due to the fact it was given the most TV time and strongest storylines. John Cena vs. HHH was clearly positioned as the main event, to the point the SmackDown main event was pretty well purposely made a distant second. In laying out the show, both matches got the most time, and the match, which on paper, figured to be the best, the SmackDown main, was shortchanged to just 9:18, ending when Mysterio pinned Randy Orton after a springboard hurricanrana.

 

They were given barely longer than the women's title match was given and seventh longest of the 11 match-show. Because of that, the expected big emotional reaction to Rey Mysterio's title win wasn't really there.

 

Two days later, Orton was suspended for 60 days for unprofessional conduct. We don't have full details of the story, but what we do know is this. There have been a series of incidents that date back to January. It is those behavioral problems that led to the decision to bring in Kurt Angle after Royal Rumble as champion instead of putting the title on Orton. Another incident happened around late February although the exact time may be off a week or two. I believe it happened shortly after No Way Out, and since he had won the match to get the title shot, they apparently decided against suspending him immediately because of Mania. The decision was made to punish him (and he had been fined in the interim, and probably on more than one occasion). It was this incident that led to the decision not to give him at the title at Wrestlemania, which had been the long-term plan before Batista was injured. There was the feeling his behavior was getting out of control in recent weeks and that it was only going to get worse. The final straw is something he did in Chicago in the days leading up to Wrestlemania. The only thing we could find out is it caused a near disaster and is being kept under wraps. It was not something that would have been good for the company. Obviously, it must have been extremely serious for them to take a main eventer out of the already depleted SmackDown line-up.

 

In addition, we're told the 60 days is a minimum, and it is actually an indefinite suspension, and the incident was so bad it is not a lock he'll be brought hack, and that anyone other than a top guy would be gone for sure. Even though WWE publicly announced the suspension on 4/4, he worked the SmackDown tapings after the story was out, putting over Mysterio in a title match, and is expected to put over Angle in the first round of the King of the Ring tournament on the 4/11 tapings. When saying with such a thin roster on top that you know he's coming back, the story is that if you knew the story of why he was suspended, you would expect he wouldn't be brought back. Again, I'm sketchy on full details, but the decision to put Mysterio in the Mania match and make it a three-way was said to have been made before the February incident, but that was the incident that led to changing the decision from Orton getting the title. We do know the company hadn't been happy with Orion's treatment of women, particularly some of the women that came out of the first diva search competition. It had become almost a running joke more than a year ago, as stories from women in the company who had left had gotten out. It is not clear the Chicago incident or the prior incident had anything to do with that.

 

The person who may benefit from this would be Ken Kennedy when he's ready to return, because there is a clear spot open for a top heel. They could also fortify that spot if they do a draft this year, but every year the draft is needed to fortify SmackDown, and the end result is always that it strengthens Raw and buries SmackDown.

The Chicago crowd was unique in reactions. The company completely expected John Cena to be booed out of the place, but did not expect Mysterio and Trish Stratus to be booed, to the point Jim Ross almost did the insulting the fans saying they are trying to be defiant like they would do in cities like Toronto. It's ironic because most major market Wrestlemanias have this reaction, but when the same thing happens in Madison Square Garden, the company reaction is the Garden is the precursor to what will happen in the rest of the country and make plans to turn people, while Chicago and Toronto are defiant fans trying to get themselves over.

 

It appeared the booing of Mysterio wasn't a rejection of him as much as the crowd loving Kurt Angle. The booing of Stratus was more based on cheering Mickie James. Stratus was not booed at first, but there was a small chant for James early on, but as the match went on, it seemed like it became the thing to do and in the end, James was heavily cheered and Stratus was heavily booed. They expected the booing of Cena, to the point the company came up with an explanation. According to one company source, instead of the double turn idea that had been brought up, Vince McMahon is determined that in the end, he is going to win this latest battle with his audience and get people to cheer John Cena. It's his new game. The strategy is for Cena to stay defiant of the people who boo him, continue to work like a babyface, be portrayed as the ultimate babyface, and rallying his kids and women fan base to stay behind him and label the rest of the fan base "haters." The idea is to make the odds always against him, and portray him as someone who has less skill, but is the underdog in every match because of it. The announcers would stick with Cena, with the idea that the fans who boo Cena are "traditional" wrestling fans, i.e., portraying them as the crowd old and out-of-touch, which is the last label the largely young male fan base booing him wants to be part of. The booing of Cena is because the traditional fan base respects HHH as the better wrestler because he's the biggest star in wrestling now.

 

There were more than a few people laughing, since HHH had bad-mouthed Kurt Angle, saying he was cheered against Cena in their program because he didn't know how to play heel. As the story goes, with HHH, it's not the same thing, it's because the crowd recognizes HHH as the best wrestler in the company. You can insert your own punch line.

 

WWE on its own web site explained it as "The Cerebral Assassin's greatest mind game may have been turning the majority of the capacity crowd against the WWE champion." In the arena, during almost every break and during many of the backstage skits, loud "Cena sucks" chants broke out. Live reports indicated about 80% of the crowd was negative toward Cena, and while there were small pro-HHH chants, even during the match, the atmosphere wasn't for the match itself, but it was those hating Cena vs. those liking Cena, just as it has been for a lot of the past seven months since Jericho and SummerSlam. Whether it had been Edge, HHH, Angle, Gene Snitsky, Chris Masters or Steve Lombardi, the reaction was going to be pretty much the same.

 

In the end, in a surprise, Cena won via tap out with the STFU when it appeared HHH would make it to the ropes. I fully expect HHH gets the title and defends against Rob Van Dam (who won the money in the bank ladder match, and then on TV all but outright said he would take his title shot at the ECW PPV) on the 6/12 PPV, but the title change will simply be moved back a few weeks or a month. Saying anything will happen is foolish because, as noted, the idea of what to do next changes every ten minutes. There are people talking about turning Cena, but it seems unlikely because of the merchandise, but there is a feeling he's better off chasing the title. HHH going babyface and feuding with Edge over the title has been talked about as well, but HHH has nixed all talk of going face for years now. At Mania, both HHH and Michaels did a crotch chop, testing out a DX deal, and if they are linked up again as DX, they almost have to be faces.

 

The big hint on the show was them actually airing the TV commercial where Cena said he would take back what was his at Backlash midway through Wrestlemania, leading to the surprise of him actually winning, which few expected. A similar sleight of hand was also done with the SmackDown title match, when Orton talked about being champion, and Dave Batista (who is coming back much sooner than he probably should, perhaps by the end of this month or early next month) returned to confront him to basically tease that as an upcoming title match program.

 

While Mysterio was booed during his match, he was not booed at winning. He couldn't have been booed afterwards, since he broke down and cried, while being congratulated by Chavo Guerrero and Vickie Guerrero. But the reaction was nowhere near expected. Part of the reason was such a pro-Angle crowd, but also, the match was too short and the people hadn't been drawn to it at such a deep level to explode at the outcome. Mysterio, Angle and Randy Orton were going in the direction of having the classic Wrestlemania match, when, with no build, Mysterio pinned Orton. The people simply weren't ready to pop big.

 

Mysterio's title win, from an historical standpoint, was the most noteworthy event on the show. At 5-2 and 165 pounds, Oscar Gutierrez, 31, is, by far, the smallest man ever to hold a major world's heavyweight title in the history of pro wrestling. The idea for him to win had been bounced around since the death of Eddy Guerrero in November. Guerrero, who was 5-6 Vi and 210-220 pounds, and Chris Benoit, and 5-8 1/2 and 225 pounds, were the smallest champions in company history, and all were in the past few years. Mad Dog Vachon, a multi-time AWA champ in the 60s, was probably 5-7, but because of his ability to project complete and uncontrolled violence, he never came across as a small guy. With Benoit and Guerrero, because a lot of wrestlers were around their size as the game in WWE has become more about quickness and match quality as opposed to huge immobile guys like in the 80s. had no backlash whatsoever. With Mysterio, the smallest guy in the company, the idea of giving it to him is somewhat different. The plan always was for him to get it at some point this year. Mysterio was the plan after the Guerrero death, and then it was changed to Randy Orton. From the booking in recent weeks, it became clear, since Mysterio was either beaten, or if not, beaten down, by the top guys, at almost every turn, that he was going over. Most seemed to expect it, and I believe the booing in the crowd was people who fully expected him to win and felt Angle should retain.

 

The debate as far as show-stealing match went, pretty well was narrowed down to the Money in the Bank ladder match and the Edge vs. Mick Foley hardcore match. The former was a spectacular spotfest, with one crazy ladder spot right after the other. It was probably five minutes from peaking when it was over, and also not quite on the level as the similar match the year before, which had a higher caliber of wrestlers. The latter delivered the blood and used objects like barbed wire and thumb tacks, and a flaming table finish. Both men sacrificed themselves to attempt to steal the show in the most painful manner possible. While the match was brutal and bloody and was the consensus match of the night (I liked the ladder match more, but they were close), the Mania stage will make it legendary as I thought the recent Against All Odds Rhino vs. Abyss TNA PPV crazy spot brawl was right at the same level, really only lacking the aura of the names and the stage, and wasn't even considered for best match of that night. McMahon took a tremendous beating from Shawn Michaels, although Michaels' facials and body language carried what was essentially a one-sided beating that pretty successfully hid McMahon's athletic weaknesses. While Michaels may not have had the best match this year, as he had in more Wrestlemanias than any man in history, he more than lived up to his Mr. Wrestlemania moniker.

 

The announcing, when you look at how everything went down, was nothing short of weird. Michael Cole and Tazz did the SmackDown matches and were fine. Jim Ross did the Raw matches with Jerry Lawler, and without Jonathan Coachman, and it was the best Raw announcing team since the decision to put Coachman in the booth. But because Styles was so popular at some of the activities during the week, the decision was changed again the day of the show to have him announce one match, the Foley vs. Edge match. In fact, when Ross, Lawler, Tazz and Cole came out, there was a loud "We Want Joey" chant, from the fan base that hasn't been brainwashed into the idea that Styles can't announce because you get told over and over that is the case. Earlier in the day, at the company \\rcstleniania brunch. Styles said you can ask him anything you want, because. "What are they going to do? Kick me off Wrestlemania?" I think it was abundantly clear listening to that match that the problem, and this is hardly some major revelation, was Coachman, and not Styles. And while Style was given a very public slap in the face last week when he was pulled, Coachman in the end got a less publicized version of the same thing, as it was never made public he wouldn't be calling the matches, was never acknowledged, but at least Styles got the consolation prize of calling one match, that figured ahead of time to be one of the top matches on the show.

 

The ladder match had both announcing teams, but it was clear Ross was carrying the broadcast and I thought it was the best announced match on the show, although the main event was also very good. So the next night on Raw, it was back to Coachman, Lawler and Styles. Even if Ross isn't interested in going back full-time, now that we've seen the deal without Coachman being better, it's hard to understand why he's still there.

 

A lot of the wrestlers didn't know their finishes late that day because so many changes were made, including the big matches. I was told, and it was particularly obvious in the women's match, that if you go back, you could read the faces of a lot of people as they came through the entrance way and know the finishes, because telling people so late made it hard for them not to show it as they would if they knew a week in advance. In the end, based on original commercials for Backlash, the tag team title situation was changed. Instead of going to Chris Masters & Carlito as new champs and defending against Kane & Big Show, they split Masters & Carlito up and turned Carlito face, and put the Spirit Squad over as the heel champs. I doubt there was any question about Edge going over, and 1 couldn't even imagine Mickie James not going over based on the direction of the feud. The Cena win was a change clearly designed to fool people, like Cena's loss to Edge was, and like it, most likely this isn't a real direction change but a delay in going down the same path. RVD's win and the dynamic of HHH vs. RVD at the ECW PPV seems more likely than Cena vs. RVD, although Vince McMahon is very strong on the idea of Cena as a babyface right now. In addition, TV interviews by Michaels and Ric Flair also wanting shots does seem to indicate the champ will be a heel soon enough. A. The show opened with a dark match 18 Battle Royal with most of the names on the roster who weren't on the main card. The only notable absences from this match were Paul London and Brian Kendrick. It came down to MNM, Road Warrior. Viscera and Gene Snitsky. MNM was eliminated first from that group. Road Warrior was next, and his elimination looked weird, as he immediately put his foot on the apron and the refs couldn't figure out what to do. This left Viscera with Snitsky, and Viscera tossed Snitsky out and then kissed Lillian Garcia on the way out.

 

1. Kane & Big Show retained the World tag titles over Chris Masters & Carlito in 6:41. There were surprisingly loud chants for "Carlito" early on. Show pressed Masters and dropped him. Masters rolled out and Show pressed Carlito and threw him over the top rope onto Masters. Kane then came off the top rope onto both guys, but really was trying to clothesline Masters. The finish saw Show have Carlito set up for the choke slam, when Masters gave Show a chop block. Masters then came off the top rope with a double sledge, but Show moved, and Carlito got nailed. Kane pinned Carlito with a choke slam. Masters and Carlito argued after the match. Kane and Carlito were better than they've been on TV, but not much to the match. *3/4

 

2. Rob Van Dam won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 12:21 over Shelton Benjamin, Matt Hardy, Ric Flair, Fit Finlay and Bobby Lashley. Van Dam and Flair were clearly the two most popular, and really the only two who had a shot at winning. Van Dam did a dive over the top rope onto Hardy, who was holding a ladder so Van Dam crashed into it. A ladder was put resting on the ropes and Benjamin ran up the ladder legs and did a flip dive on Lashley, Hardy and RVD. Hardy superplexed Flair over the top of the ladder. Flair worked that his knee was blown out and was screaming and taken to the back. Benjamin tried a power bomb on Lashley off the ladder, but Finlay and Hardy to help him pull Lashley off. Flair then came back limping and was going crazy, chopping everyone in sight. Lashley was climbing and RVD came off the top rope, holding a chair with a dropkick to Lashley's kidneys. Hardy did a legdrop from two-thirds of the way up a ladder on Lashley. Hardy did a side effect of the ladder on Finlay. Flair had been largely eliminated a second time taking a long back bump off a ladder when he was knocked off. RVD came off the very top of the ladder with a splash onto Finlay. That drew a loud "ECW" chant. The finish saw two ladders in place. Hardy, Benjamin and RVD were all climbing. RVD switched ladders and kicked over the ladder, sending Benjamin and Hardy over the top rope to the floor, and he grabbed the briefcase to win. ****

 

Howard Finkel introduced the Hall of Fame inductees next. He stated beforehand that Bret Hart was uncomfortable about being there. I expected a lot more negative reaction because it was more just quiet, seemingly that people totally understood The crowd reaction for Vickie and Chavo Guerrero was just incredible, even more than you’d expect and you could see it really made both of them very happy. William Perry and Verne Gagne got nice reactions.

 

3. JBL won the U.S. title from Chris Benoit in 9:44. Match was too short for a Benoit Wrestlemania match. They also played too much on Guerrero for easy heat. Well, you'd think that. JBL kept doing the Guerrero dance, and either people didn't know it because he did it so badly, or they didn't care, because people didn't react. However, when JBL tried the three amigos, people were not happy with that. Benoit blocked the third suplex and Benoit came back with the three amigos of his own. He got a near fall with a diving head-BUTT. Benoit ducked a clothesline and got the crossface. JBL, while caught in the move, rolled Benoit to his back and held the ropes for the pin. JBL may have been on of the few people fully aware of his result, since he guaranteed it on TV, and also did the storyline that by beating both Guerrero and Benoit, the two best technical wrestlers of the era, both for major titles, it makes him the best technical wrestler in the world. **3/4

 

4. Edge pinned Mick Foley in a hardcore match in 14:37. Foley took abuse early with hard cookie sheet and broiler pan shots to the head, followed by a dropkick of a sign to the face. Since this stuff hasn't been done here much of late, it wasn't boring comedy like they turned it into. Edge speared Foley, but then sold it, because Foley took off his flannel shirt and revealed he had hidden barbed wire underneath. Foley whipped him with barbed wire, and then got a barbed wire but hidden under the ring steps. Lita ran in and jumped on Foley's back. With Lita on his back, Foley ran toward Edge and did his running clothesline spot where all three went over the top rope together. She landed right on her BUTT, which is a lot better than landing on her head. Foley used a neck breaker on the entrance ramp. Edge hip tossed Foley into the ring steps and Foley took the bump hard on his hip. He then whipped Foley into the steps and he took a header. Edge pulled out a table and set it up near the ring. He whipped Foley on the entrance ramp and his head hit the grilling hard. He poured lighter fluid on Foley. Edge DDT'd Foley on a broiler pan after Lita distracted him. Edge hit Foley in the chest and back with the barbed wire bat, then tore up his head with it and gave him a facebuster on it. Foley poured thumb tacks and gave Edge a back suplex on the thumb tacks. Edge had tons of tacks sticking in his back. Foley pulled out Mr. Socko and wrapped him in barbed wire, and put both Lita and Edge in the claw. Lita bled from the mouth. The finish saw Foley pour lighter fluid on the table. Lita hit Foley in the knees with a barbed wire bat. Lita lit the table on fire. Edge then speared Foley, who was on the apron, and both went through the flaming table with Edge on top for the pin. Fans gave Foley a standing ovation after the match. ****

 

Next was a freak show segment. Booker T was looking for Boogeyman. Instead, he saw Paul Burchill practicing his fencing technique. Gene Snitsky practicing his toe sucking technique on Mae Young, Ted DiBiase doing a retro Million Dollar Man gimmick where he asked Eugene to bounce the basketball 100 times and kicked it away at 98. Goldust was there wearing a dress and hitting on Booker.

 

5. Boogeyman beat Booker T & Sharmell T in 3:52. Boogeyman was wearing this fur all over to cover up his born left biceps. They didn't do much of anything, but what they did looked terrible. They really couldn't do much since Boogeyman was hurt. Boogeyman pulled a huge handful of worms out of his pocket and ate them. There looked like there were 200 of them. He then kissed Sharmell, who ran off with worm drool all over her mouth. Boogey then pinned Booker immediately with the neck hanging tree slam. Booker T was the one guy after the show who was not at all happy with his match and how he was used. -*

 

6. Mickie James won the WWE women's title from Trish Stratus in 8:48. Crowd wasn't into it early, but they sure were by the end. Stratus kicked the ringpost and sold her left leg for much of the match. James wrapped her leg around the post. At this point a "Let's Go Mickie" chant started which ended up being the real story of the match. Very quickly, the crowd started booing the hell out of Stratus. Stratus did a tremendous job in the match in carrying James, who was also better than usual. Stratus failed going for the Stratusfaction. James came back to do the move, but they both collapsed and fell in a heap. It appeared that was the finish, or whatever they were doing got botched. They just got up and James hit a very weak looking kick and pinned her. **

 

Vince led the McMahon family in a hilarious prayer to God. Vince was roasted, like he had spent a month in a tanning bed, complete with blisters and had then put on 40 coats of that self-tanning stuff that makes you orange instead of tan. He knew God didn't like him, but he was going to send God's favorite wrestler to hell. Unless God told Shawn personally this week that he wants to be used in a wrestling angle with Vince and let Shawn make money merchandising him, somehow I wouldn't think he's really God's favorite wrestler

 

7. Undertaker beat Mark Henry in a casket match in 9:26. A nothing match The only thing saving it from being a bad match is that toward the finish Undertaker did this insane running dive over the top. Now granted, he's done that on big shows before, but there was a casket on the floor and he had to jump over the ropes and clear the casket, or he'd be in a lot of trouble. This is a 44-year-old man with a destroyed body due to injuries who is 6-9 and around 300 pounds doing this. He did it, flew, landed on Henry. Then, almost as scary he picked up the 400-pounder with a tombstone piledriver. For anyone under 300, that's not a big deal, but that's a lot of weight to hold, and one slip, and that's not a pretty thought. It turned out fine, in that neither Undertaker nor Henry was hurt. It didn't turn out fine as far as being a good match. * 1/2

 

8. Shawn Michaels pinned Vince McMahon in 18:28 in a street fight. After Michaels' bashed Vince's head in with his first object, the entire Spirit Squad ran in for distraction No. I. They the upsy daisy on Michaels, but Kenny missed a legdrop off the top rope. Michaels got the megaphone and cleaned house on all five guys. The big move was Michaels left with Kenny, and he hip tossed him over the top rope. Kenny flew like he was shot out of a cannon and his team caught him. That was the end of their first Mania. Vince was already bleeding badly from above the eye. Vince whipped Michaels many times with his belt. Big-time heat here. Shane McMahon came out and beat on Michaels with a kendo stick. Michaels came back with a low blow and handcuffed Shane to the ropes. Michaels destroyed Vince and Shane with hard kendo stick shots and nailed Vince with a hard chair to the head. Vince really did almost nothing, and no wrestling, but it was carried because he felt Michaels hit him as hard as he could with objects, not to mention Michaels' incredible facial expressions that kept people with it in what was really a one-sided slaughter devoid of any usual psychology, while Shane was handcuffed and had to watch. He would tease doing a superkick, then hold up, then make faces, beat Vince around, tease it again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The climax was he pulled out a 15 foot ladder, put Vince on a table, put the garbage can over his head, and came off with an elbow drop. Michaels finally hit the superkick for the win. Vince was carried out on a stretcher, but flipped off the audience on his way out. ***1/2

 

9. Rey Mysterio won the WWE title in a three-way over champ Kurt Angle and Randy Orton in 9:18. Mysterio got a big ring entrance with the band P.O.D. from Chula Vista playing his entrance music, and him coming out with a big Mayan headdress like Canek used to wear and Mil Mascaras sometimes wore. This was a fast paced excellent match with an abrupt finish. Orton hit Angle with a belt shot. Mysterio came off the ropes but Orton hit him with a backdrop. Orton was behind Mysterio and then Angle got behind Orton and lifted, basically German suplexing Orton who in turn threw Mysterio into orbit. Angle at one point threw Mysterio overhead into a hurricanrana on Orton. At this point the crowd started with a "Let's Go Angle" chant and then turned on Mysterio and started booing his offense. They booed his attempt at a 619, and cheered when Angle did the ankle lock off it like on TV. Mysterio tapped, but Orton had ref Charles Robinson distracted so he missed it. Angle then put the ankle lock on Orton. and Orton tapped, but Mysterio had Robinson distracted. Orton used an RKO on Angle, but Angle kicked out. Angle was being booked as superman since he was losing his title. Angle did a belly to belly off the top rope on Orton. Mysterio then nailed Angle with a 619 and springboard Thesz press but Angle kicked out. Angle did the Angle slam on Orton for a near fall. Mysterio then knocked Angle out of the ring and did a 619 on Orton and a springboard hurricanrana for the pin. The crowd booed Mysterio the entire match, but cheered when he won, although not the way it should have been. He went to the back and at that point Chavo & Vickie Guerrero came out to congratulate him. Crowd cheered a lot, but it was not the moment you would have expected from reading it. ***1/2

 

10. Torrie Wilson pinned Candice Michelle in 3:54 in the Playboy Pillow fight match. This was not the lingerie pillow fight people expected. It was more clothes tearing, bad wrestling, nobody cared this late in the show (it was designed to be crummy so HHH and Cena would get a fresh audience) type deal. Both ended up with their dressed torn and Wilson won with a schoolgirl. DUD

 

11. John Cena beat HHH in 22:02 to retain the WWE title. It was real clear this was portrayed as the main event. They had the most elaborate entrances, with HHH coming out as Konnan, and Cena coming out as a Chicago gangster with a bunch of gangsters in the car, many from OVW including C.M. Punk. It should be noted OVW star Colt Cabana was a druid for Undertaker earlier in the show. Fans seem to boo both men early, but Cena far more. HHH ended up getting cheered and worked almost as the face early. It was slow paced early. HHH did his Harley Race bump over the top. He also took a backdrop on the metal ramp. He whipped Cena into the steps. Cena did a big comeback and got booed. He did a hard clothesline, the five knuckle shuffle and STFU, but HHH got to the ropes. The heat in the last few minutes of the match was excellent and HHH really deserves credit for carrying this match. HHH laid out Cena and did the same DX crotch chop that Michaels did late in his match. Crowd popped real big for it. HHH got the sledge hammer and used it, but Cena kicked out. Cena used the FU, but HHH kicked out. HHH went for the pedigree, but Cena reversed it into the STFU and HHH tapped out. The last several minutes had excellent heat, as much people for and against Cena but in the end the tension for the match was strong. It was a better match than HHH vs. Batista was last year. ***3/4

[Naked Snake 0]

If you typed that up, thanks for the great read. Very interesting stuff...

[NYU 0]

Thanks a lot for typing that.

 

It startles me that it's not being treated as a foregone conclusion that Rob Van Dam should be watching out of One Night Stand with the Heavyweight Title. I understand Vince wants to keep Cena as his ultimate babyface champ, but absolutely no good can come out of RVD not winning the title at ONS. Even if they have RVD lose, then have the entire ECW locker room come out to beat up on the champion -- the fans are still going to shit all over it. If they don't give Van Dam the title, they're going to alienate a huge portion of their fanbase and kill off any extra cash the ECW name could give them. It's as simple as that.

[claydude14 0]

Triple H retaining at an ECW tribute show, would hopefully cause a riot. The fans oughta be trashed enough at that point.

[spman 0]

While this IS the WWE we're talking about, there would be no logical reason to put over a wrestler who never had any connection to ECW whatsoever over in the main event of the ECW Pay Per View. So by WWE logic, Triple H is going to squash RVD at One Night Stand and bury him back down to Internet Heat.

[Just John 0]

Trish carried Mickie and MITB was ****?

 

Right...

[TheFranchise 0]

What the hell did Orton do?

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Anyone getting Lex Luger WMX vibes here with Randy Orton?

[Si82 0]

Thanks for typing that up. It was a really interesting read.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Luger spilled a match result beforehand.... Randy is sexually harassing women who can and will sue if provoked enough.... at least i hope its only sexual harassment.....

[haVoc 0]

Anyone else having a hard time believing Dave doesn't know the whole story? It wouldn't be the first time he ducked a story in fear of being sued.

 

It has to be pretty bad if he's worried about lawsuits.

 

BTW, when did they do that over sea tour? Wasn't that a few weeks after No Way Out?

[hyperchord24 0]

One can only believe that what Orton did involved breaking a law or two. Couple that with what he's done to women in the past, it's not hard to connect the dots . . .

 

Vince vs. the live crowds and the IWC -- the hottest matches of the year and by far the best feud in wrestling today.

 

Whether vince knows it or not, a lot of people like me are watching WWE just to see how the crowd reacts to Cena, so whoever wins, vince will always win because Cena is such a hot topic amongst the marks and the smarks alike.

[The Robfather 0]

Yeah, it sounds like this goes beyond just sexually harassing women at this point. I hope the WWE dumps Randy completely.

[benn 0]

How long till the full Orton story leaks, I wonder.

[Guest Coffey]

I disagree with everyone saying Coach is the weak link of the commentary team. I think he's better than Cole, Tazz, Styles & Lawler. Only second to Ross.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Keller has pushed out a 2nd Torch for this weekand it's packed full of stuff, the big news:

 

Cena may be headlining against Rob Van Dam at the ECW PPV this summer as part of a plan to turn him full-fledged heel soon after. Originally, the widespread believe in WWE was that Triple H would want to headline the ECW PPV as a heel against ECW's own RVD in a title defense. However, because Hunter may be turned babyface, they don't want to put Hunter in a position to be booed badly by an ECW crowd since it could be too fresh in people's minds when they try to turn him. Instead, the thought is Cena would get booed by nearly 100 percent, if not 100 percent, of the ECW crowd whether he enters as an "official" babyface or heel, and that could be used as a further impetus for his eventual change in attitude to full-fledged heel. A dark horse candidate is Edge, who could win the title at Backlash and headline against RVD at the ECW PPV.

 

Mick Foley and Terry Funk have both agreed to wrestle on the second ECW reunion PPV this summer for WWE. Funk has spoken out negatively about WWE in recent years. Foley appeared on last year's ECW PPV, but didn't wrestle.

 

Here's the story according to several sources in the know, close to both Austin and Hogan. Hogan badly wants a match against Austin, but Austin has been resistant to the idea for several reasons, including those listed above (risk to health, he's saved his money and doesn't need the headache, he doesn't like or trust Hogan). Vince McMahon offered Austin a seven-figure guaranteed payday to wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania, and Hogan has a deal in place where he automatically gets the highest payoff of anyone at WrestleMania. He'd have to waive that if McMahon needed to offer Austin obscene money to get him to agree to the match Hogan wants. Austin turned down the formal offer months ago.

 

The idea for Rob Van Dam to win the Money in the Bank match and use that to set up the ECW PPV main event was Paul Heyman's. Vince McMahon liked it and agreed to it, knowing it would give the PPV a natural main event that it otherwise didn't have.

Randy Orton, say key sources, was suspended for unprofessional conduct behind the scenes at WrestleMania. On the biggest show of the year, with so many dignitaries present, his violation of WWE policy (not dress code, but something more serious) was considered egregiously disrespectful, thus the 60 day suspension. He also joked about being fined often for his backstage conduct at the WrestleMania press conference, so this is not a first offense. Orton had used the "C" word to insult women behind the scenes before, which prompted fines.

 

Regarding this latest incident, one WWE source says, "He's lucky he didn't get fired. He has a lot of growing up to do. It was just stupid - disrespectful to the boys and the company." Orton is already unpopular in the locker room, especially among veterans who see so much potential in him, but also see him as having major maturity issues.

 

Says one source: "Undertaker despises him, and Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and even Triple H have grown tired of his act. They barely tolerate him." Some wrestlers have a laid back attitude toward partying, but Orton's disrespectful treatment of women is what has turned many against him. The stunt at WrestleMania was also seen as stepping over the line.

 

Orton was originally scheduled to face Triple H at WrestleMania 21 in the main event, not Batista, but the slot was taken away from him due to his backstage conduct and overall attitude.

 

Bret Hart hung out at the bar after the Hall of Fame banquet. There were some who believed he'd just appear on camera, then leave promptly, but because he was treated well and felt comfortable with the circumstances, he decided to hob-nob with old pals for a while. Bret and Austin were seen chatting for a long time. He did leave Chicago before WrestleMania, though... Vickie Guerrero was said to appear happy at WrestleMania weekend hearing one story after another of how much affection Eddie Guerrero's colleagues had for him. WWE has continued to send Vickie the money that Guerrero was due on his contract each pay period along with merchandise bonuses... Coach is going to have more college sports duties in upcoming seasons, which could take him away from WWE more often than in the past. Coach is said to be much more excited about those duties than his wrestling lately. He and Styles have not clicked off air... Stacy was not asked to be at WrestleMania, nor did she offer. She is under contract through July, and isn't expected to seek a renewal as she explores options elsewhere in show business stemming from her fame gained from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" series. The feeling within WWE was that putting her on the card just for the sake of her star value would take time away from someone they could invest in long-term and realistically wouldn't affect the buyrate...

 

Val Venis is scheduled for elbow surgery this week. He is expected to miss about two months of in-ring time... Mr. Ken Kennedy should be back on Smackdown later this month and ready to return to the ring in May... Harry Smith, the 6-5 son of the late Davey Boy Smith (British Bulldog), was signed to a WWE contract recently. He isn't scheduled to join WWE full time until he fulfills a few overseas commitments first. Smith is seem as a potential top talent, with similar physical qualities and athletic gifts as The Rock and Randy Orton, and with a great passion for wrestling... Kurt Angle will be given a few weekends off in coming months to give his body some extra rest, but he isn't scheduled to miss any Smackdowns or PPVs. Angle is not the type to ask for time off, so people with his best interests in mind are pushing for WWE to insist on it. Angle's gotten his personal life back in better order this year as he is back together with his wife after a period of separation and there is talk of expanding their family...

 

Rey Mysterio was given the WWE Title in part because he will give Smackdown something fresh on top that it hasn't had. Management believes Rey will draw at house shows as champion, so don't expect him to lose the title right away and become merely a short-term or transitional champion...

 

Undertaker is still said to be hot at John Laurenaitis for not notifying him that Bob Orton had tested positive for hepatitis before Bob was scheduled to blade in the ring in an angle with him. Taker has since tested negative, but Laurenaitis shouldn't have let it happen in the first place. There are at least two WWE personalities who appear on camera who have hepatitis and aren't written into any physical angles for fear that even a bloody nose or inadvertent cut could lead to a transmission to someone else in the ring...

 

The name of Jamal's new character, Umaga, may be based on a famously ferocious rugby player in the UK's All Blacks team, named Tana Umaga. He was the captain of his team until recent retirement. Early in his career, he got in trouble for head-butting a woman in a pub, or so the story goes. He also was vilified in the U.K. for destroying British captain Brian O'Briscoll with what was called an illegal spear tackle... Despite some suggestions within WWE, Vince McMahon is not budging on offering any kind of settlement with Lesnar to try to get him back. It's gotten personal, and McMahon appears unwilling to even consider backing down at this point...

 

Chris Benoit is contractually locked up with WWE long-term and tells friends now that he is a "lifer." He has been told an agent or trainer job awaits him when his in-ring days are over or cut back to just occasional special appearances... The explanation that fans cheering for Hunter are "fans of tradition" was something Vince McMahon and the creative team came up with in an attempt to "own" the boos Cena was getting rather than have viewers come up with their own explanation - such as "Cena sucks" or Cena isn't accepted as a main eventer...

Triple H's father had open heart surgery a few weeks back. Friends say Triple H used to be more critical of booking, but now has softened his stance and seems more a part of the program. "It's a pressure cooker and it takes it's toll on anyone, especially when you add a baby to the equation," says one source. "But when he steps away from the stress, he's the same guy he was ten years ago." Stephanie plans to bring their baby on the road in their custom bus as soon as possible so she doesn't miss much time at all from her duties as Head of Creative... Shane McMahon's wife gave birth to their second child last week... The Survivor Series will take place in Philadelphia, Pa. on Nov. 26...

 

Undertaker and Kurt Angle love wrestling each other and have great chemistry off-camera, which is why their matches earlier this year were particular strong... Jim Ross remains in charge of WWE payroll and is paid as a full-time employee. At this point, though, Styles has been told Ross will only be used for Saturday Night's Main Events and some bigger PPVs (perhaps Summerslam and WrestleMania)... WWE has scheduled two Supershow (Raw and Smackdown) tapings for July 7 in Philadelphia, Pa. and July 31 in East Rutherford, N.J. at Continental Airlines Arena... The April 3 Raw drew a 4.1 rating, disappointing the day after WrestleMania, but more understandable since it went head-to-head with the NCAA tournament finals...

 

 

Taken from LOP.net

 

An incident involving John Cena took place at the O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois on Tuesday morning. The following information came from two sources from the O'Hare Airport. One source is a person's eye witness account of the incident. The other source is from written documentation of the incident. Here is an eyewitness report in regards to situation at hand...

 

"John Cena was at O'Hare Airport in Chicago on Tuesday morning to get a flight to Tampa. He arrived too late to check in his bag for the flight and was informed by the ticket agents that his bag wouldn't be able to make it. Cena started swearing at the agents and gave them the finger before leaving his bag and departing for the gate, despite knowing his bag wouldn't make the flight. The gate was called and told to not let him to board. Cena returned to the ticket desk and saying "f*** you" repeatedly to the agents present, and he was told to stop using profanity. A manager came to the desk and again told him to stop using profanity. He was rebooked on a later flight."

 

Apparently, this incident caused a big scene at the airport, and it could have much worse than it actually was. In situations such as this one, the customer is not allowed to the fly on his or her original flight. Customers that are abusive to airline staff usually have the police stationed at the airport, called in. A WWE representative personally called the O'Hare airline to apologize for Cena's disruptive behavior. Also, the source was told that if Cena ever misbehaves at the O'Hare airline ever again, he will be denied boarding on the flight and he will have to find another airline in which to fly on.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

From DVD MB:

 

OK BEFORE YOU EXPLODE saying how will I read this thing... here a recap... Randy was very unprofessional with the employees at the hotel until one of the employees got pissed at Randy for mistreating the hotel crew and got fired. Apparently the manager of the hotel spoke to wwe management and this are the results.

 

This is the translated report using an internet translator so remeber it wont be perfectly translated.

 

An employee as we will maintain in anonymity of the hotel in which the fighters of the WWE stayed the weekend of Wrestlemania is reader of PRWrestling.com and he relates the problems to us that this he had with Randy Orton as they comment were the people in charge of the suspension of the fighter in the WWE and in addition he brought the dismissal of the employee: Valet parking of the fighters serious detras of the hotel, instead of the entrance of the hotel. To each fighter (group contact) of the WWE I explain that to him. When Randy Orton I arrive with its fiancèe, I arrive at the entrance of the hotel, ours (Valet Parking Attendant) Nestor, I explain to him that for security reasons, the serious Valet in the designated area, the replaced one of Randy Orton was ("F#ck you, if you think, I a.m. going to drive back there") As it did not do. When desk arrived at front, it asked to me where were its keys? I answer to him that all personnel of the WWE, tapeworm that to go to (GREEN ROOM) is a fourth special one for all the personnel of the WWE, assumes that they did not make the Check in in front desk. Its answer was, "F#CK THAT, YOU GIVE ME MY F#CKING KEYS NOW" I calmly and with a row of 10 people detras of him hize the keys. And despues went to GREEN ROOM. When arriving alli, their keys also occurred him that assume that it received in the first place, alli became "8", and returned to front desk shouting, that ("Which f#cking key is going to work now") All that not to follow intrucciones of its group. By second ocación him hize new keys, but already me anxious tapeworm. When it raised the room, habia forgotten to him to put in the section of commentaries of the reservation the name of its fiancèe. In case she needed to enter habitacion and she did not have key, when the operator called, said to him that she needed to speak with "F#CKING (name of the employee)" from the front desk, the operator complained to the management. I volvi to speak with him and gave me the name of its fiancèe. The Valet Parking attendat also complained with the management, like the operator, I unfortunately am shaken with, and they dismissed to me. By having fact to him keys in front desk, without requesting identification to him, in fact I it conosco, Also gave check-in a Tommy Dreamer and my Super hermanito Crazy and only so that she removed to me from site. Now I am called my ex--supervisor and he confirmed that the suspension of Orton was bcause of the insult to me, the operator, and to valet parking attendant. That our director of trade ANDY ROSENQUIST was the one that I speak with WWE and thats how he got the suspension. I ended up losing so that in the security video one sees when I indicated him back. In other notes, Carlito was in Character when it passed by the lobby, with an apple. The WWE if it had the hotel exclusively the saturday, sunday and monday.

 

Sorry for the really LOOONG post but I thought I could bring this up to you.

[Guest Arnold_OldSchool]

Eminem was at the HOF ceremony but wasn't shown on TV

 

The PWTorch Newsletter is reporting that Randy Orton’s suspension is due to his behavior backstage at WrestleMania 22.

 

The issue with Orton seems to be mostly due to his attitude about how he is a main eventer and feeling that he does not have to follow the same rules as everyone else, as opposed to doing something to someone else or his health. The word going around right now is that Orton feels he is above the rules, and has had several issues in the past backstage, mainly with female co-workers and the way he talks to them.

 

Randy Orton is one of the least liked people backstage, and has the most heat of anyone right now. The Undertaker is said to despise Randy Orton, and it’s not just an issue with “serious people” not liking his attitude, as people who love to party like Ric Flair and Kurt Angle do not like him either.

 

This suspension is likely to be very good for locker room morale, and it doesn’t look like anyone will be missing him backstage.

 

------

Orton was suspended mainly for violating the WWE dress code over Wrestlemania weekend supposedly along with the heat he already had from people in the lockerroom due to his attitude.

 

Orton is supposed to be back at the King of the Ring PPV.

 

Here is Orton's response from wwe.com

 

“WWE has certain standards of conduct they expect out of all the Superstars on both RAW and SmackDown. Unfortunately, I violated those standards and was not representing WWE the way I should have been. Basically, my conduct was unbecoming of a champion, which is what I will be again when I return.”

 

------

[haVoc 0]

So, allegedly he's suspended for being a prick to hotel staff? He could have been arrested and/or kicked out of the hotel for this behavior. This must be what Dave was talking about when he said it would have been really bad press for WWE and Wrestlemania. They should suspend Cena as well for acting up at an airport.

[NYU 0]

Again, thanks a lot for typing all this out. I really appreciate getting the chance to read all this.

 

There has to be much, much more to the Orton story than that. That doesn't come close to living up to the hype it's gotten so far.

 

And I don't like the idea of seeing Cena/RVD at One Night Stand. Triple H vs. Van Dam has such a better dynamic, especially if they plan for RVD to win the belt. I doubt Cena and Van Dam are even going to mesh that well.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, the one thing that makes me feel relatively good about ONS is that Heyman is booking this again, with Vince just doing a token overseer job. If I recall Vince had basically no input in the first show. Somehow I just can't see Heyman booking Van Dam to job to HHH/Cena/Edge at that PPV. I'd think Vince would know that going in. They almost have to send that crowd home happy, I think they would riot if Van Dam jobbed. Not to mention if RVD jobs there it basically kills any future ECW PPVs, future DVDs, and his career. They have to bite the bullet and give him the title there, even if it's just a 2 month title reign till SummerSlam.

 

Keller and Meltzer are at odds when it comes to Cena and HHH and their respective roles. Meltzer says it is now Vince's goal for Cena to be a face, while Keller says they want to turn him heel and may use the ECW PPV as a catalyst.

 

Personally I'd go with Cena/RVD. With HHH involved you just KNOW he'd try to get out of jobbing at the ECW PPV, even though it's 100% the right thing to do and Van Dam has put him over numerous times. I don't think there would be the kind of politics involved with Cena, and his reaction from the ECW crowd would be priceless.

[Guest stringerbell]

Cena may be headlining against Rob Van Dam at the ECW PPV this summer as part of a plan to turn him full-fledged heel soon after. Originally, the widespread believe in WWE was that Triple H would want to headline the ECW PPV as a heel against ECW's own RVD in a title defense. However, because Hunter may be turned babyface, they don't want to put Hunter in a position to be booed badly by an ECW crowd since it could be too fresh in people's minds when they try to turn him. Instead, the thought is Cena would get booed by nearly 100 percent, if not 100 percent, of the ECW crowd whether he enters as an "official" babyface or heel, and that could be used as a further impetus for his eventual change in attitude to full-fledged heel. A dark horse candidate is Edge, who could win the title at Backlash and headline against RVD at the ECW PPV.

 

The explanation that fans cheering for Hunter are "fans of tradition" was something Vince McMahon and the creative team came up with in an attempt to "own" the boos Cena was getting rather than have viewers come up with their own explanation - such as "Cena sucks" or Cena isn't accepted as a main eventer.

 

Triple H's father had open heart surgery a few weeks back. Friends say Triple H used to be more critical of booking, but now has softened his stance and seems more a part of the program. "It's a pressure cooker and it takes it's toll on anyone, especially when you add a baby to the equation," says one source. "But when he steps away from the stress, he's the same guy he was ten years ago." Stephanie plans to bring their baby on the road in their custom bus as soon as possible so she doesn't miss much time at all from her duties as Head of Creative.

 

Mick Foley and Terry Funk have both agreed to wrestle on the second ECW reunion PPV this summer for WWE. Funk has spoken out negatively about WWE in recent years. Foley appeared on last year's ECW PPV, but didn't wrestle.

 

Here's the story according to several sources in the know, close to both Austin and Hogan. Hogan badly wants a match against Austin, but Austin has been resistant to the idea for several reasons, including those listed above (risk to health, he's saved his money and doesn't need the headache, he doesn't like or trust Hogan). Vince McMahon offered Austin a seven-figure guaranteed payday to wrestle Hogan at WrestleMania, and Hogan has a deal in place where he automatically gets the highest payoff of anyone at WrestleMania. He'd have to waive that if McMahon needed to offer Austin obscene money to get him to agree to the match Hogan wants. Austin turned down the formal offer months ago.

 

The idea for Rob Van Dam to win the Money in the Bank match and use that to set up the ECW PPV main event was Paul Heyman's. Vince McMahon liked it and agreed to it, knowing it would give the PPV a natural main event that it otherwise didn't have.

 

Randy Orton, say key sources, was suspended for unprofessional conduct behind the scenes at WrestleMania. On the biggest show of the year, with so many dignitaries present, his violation of WWE policy (not dress code, but something more serious) was considered egregiously disrespectful, thus the 60 day suspension. He also joked about being fined often for his backstage conduct at the WrestleMania press conference, so this is not a first offense. Orton had used the "C" word to insult women behind the scenes before, which prompted fines.

Regarding this latest incident, one WWE source says, "He's lucky he didn't get fired. He has a lot of growing up to do. It was just stupid - disrespectful to the boys and the company." Orton is already unpopular in the locker room, especially among veterans who see so much potential in him, but also see him as having major maturity issues.

 

Says one source: "Undertaker despises him, and Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, and even Triple H have grown tired of his act. They barely tolerate him." Some wrestlers have a laid back attitude toward partying, but Orton's disrespectful treatment of women is what has turned many against him. The stunt at WrestleMania was also seen as stepping over the line.Orton was originally scheduled to face Triple H at WrestleMania 21 in the main event, not Batista, but the slot was taken away from him due to his backstage conduct and overall attitude.

 

Bret Hart hung out at the bar after the Hall of Fame banquet. There were some who believed he'd just appear on camera, then leave promptly, but because he was treated well and felt comfortable with the circumstances, he decided to hob-nob with old pals for a while. Bret and Austin were seen chatting for a long time. He did leave Chicago before WrestleMania, though.

 

Vickie Guerrero was said to appear happy at WrestleMania weekend hearing one story after another of how much affection Eddie Guerrero's colleagues had for him. WWE has continued to send Vickie the money that Guerrero was due on his contract each pay period along with merchandise bonuses.

 

Coach is going to have more college sports duties in upcoming seasons, which could take him away from WWE more often than in the past. Coach is said to be much more excited about those duties than his wrestling lately. He and Styles have not clicked off air... Stacy was not asked to be at WrestleMania, nor did she offer. She is under contract through July, and isn't expected to seek a renewal as she explores options elsewhere in show business stemming from her fame gained from ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" series. The feeling within WWE was that putting her on the card just for the sake of her star value would take time away from someone they could invest in long-term and realistically wouldn't affect the buyrate.Val Venis is scheduled for elbow surgery this week. He is expected to miss about two months of in-ring time. Mr. Ken Kennedy should be back on Smackdown later this month and ready to return to the ring in May.

 

Harry Smith, the 6-5 son of the late Davey Boy Smith (British Bulldog), was signed to a WWE contract recently. He isn't scheduled to join WWE full time until he fulfills a few overseas commitments first. Smith is seem as a potential top talent, with similar physical qualities and athletic gifts as The Rock and Randy Orton, and with a great passion for wrestling.

 

Kurt Angle will be given a few weekends off in coming months to give his body some extra rest, but he isn't scheduled to miss any Smackdowns or PPVs. Angle is not the type to ask for time off, so people with his best interests in mind are pushing for WWE to insist on it. Angle's gotten his personal life back in better order this year as he is back together with his wife after a period of separation and there is talk of expanding their family.

 

Rey Mysterio was given the WWE Title in part because he will give Smackdown something fresh on top that it hasn't had. Management believes Rey will draw at house shows as champion, so don't expect him to lose the title right away and become merely a short-term or transitional champion.

 

Undertaker is still said to be hot at John Laurenaitis for not notifying him that Bob Orton had tested positive for hepatitis before Bob was scheduled to blade in the ring in an angle with him. Taker has since tested negative, but Laurenaitis shouldn't have let it happen in the first place. There are at least two WWE personalities who appear on camera who have hepatitis and aren't written into any physical angles for fear that even a bloody nose or inadvertent cut could lead to a transmission to someone else in the ring.

 

The name of Jamal's new character, Umaga, may be based on a famously ferocious rugby player in the UK's All Blacks team, named Tana Umaga. He was the captain of his team until recent retirement. Early in his career, he got in trouble for head-butting a woman in a pub, or so the story goes. He also was vilified in the U.K. for destroying British captain Brian O'Briscoll with what was called an illegal spear tackle.

 

Despite some suggestions within WWE, Vince McMahon is not budging on offering any kind of settlement with Lesnar to try to get him back. It's gotten personal, and McMahon appears unwilling to even consider backing down at this point.

 

Chris Benoit is contractually locked up with WWE long-term and tells friends now that he is a "lifer." He has been told an agent or trainer job awaits him when his in-ring days are over or cut back to just occasional special appearances.

 

Shane McMahon's wife gave birth to their second child last week... The Survivor Series will take place in Philadelphia, Pa. on Nov. 26.

 

Undertaker and Kurt Angle love wrestling each other and have great chemistry off-camera, which is why their matches earlier this year were particular strong.

 

Jim Ross remains in charge of WWE payroll and is paid as a full-time employee. At this point, though, Styles has been told Ross will only be used for Saturday Night's Main Events and some bigger PPVs (perhaps Summerslam and WrestleMania).

 

WWE has scheduled two Supershow (Raw and Smackdown) tapings for July 7 in Philadelphia, Pa. and July 31 in East Rutherford, N.J. at Continental Airlines Arena. The April 3 Raw drew a 4.1 rating, disappointing the day after WrestleMania, but more understandable since it went head-to-head with the NCAA tournament finals.

[Secret Agent 0]

This would be nice if it hadn't already been posted in the "Wrestlemania 22 article" thread.

[slimm44 0]

I'm betting Heyman believed HHH was going to win the title and have RVD v HHH at ECW, but now they are changing it around on him. Im pretty sure RVD isn't going to win anyways so his (Heyman's) dream won't come true.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The idea for Rob Van Dam to win the Money in the Bank match and use that to set up the ECW PPV main event was Paul Heyman's. Vince McMahon liked it and agreed to it, knowing it would give the PPV a natural main event that it otherwise didn't have.

 

Reading that you get a real sense that Rob is going to be looking up at the lights after that PPV.

[Guest ChampKind]

And what do you base that on?

[chaosrage 0]

And what do you base that on?

 

I was about to ask that myself. If Vince hadn't planned to have RVD win the MITB but liked the idea and went it, it's possible that he also likes the idea of RVD winning at ONS2.

[chaosrage 0]

I like the idea of RVD/Cena because we won't have to watch HHH bury RVD in promos and destroy him for most of the match. It's also much more likely that RVD will win than if it was RVD/HHH.

[4hartthreat 0]

If you really think Vince will have no say in what happens with the wwe title at a ppv and leave that decision to Heyman, you are out of your mind.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

RVD-Cena makes sense because then the WWE can also run a HHH-Edge feud which looks like it could be promising, with the winner of that being the natural challenger for the title at Summerslam.