04/01-05/01
Interview recap from Sunday Night Heat, from rajahwwf.com: On the stage, Cole and Tazz are in sit-down interview mode and they bring GrandMaster Sexay and Steve Blackman to the stage. GMS says that Scotty 2 Hotty is about one month away from coming back to action. Blackman says that he's looking forward to commentating tonight. Cole asks if Shane McMahon has spoken to either of them about joining WCW and both men say no. Blackman then hints at a possible relationship between himself and Trish Stratus. GMS says that Blackman's new name is "Boogie Woogie" Blackman. GMS says that he's going to work with Trish on her dancing so that she can groove all the way down the aisle the next time she teams with Too Lethal.
From wrestlingobserver.com: Kevin Kelly was promoting Raw on KYFB in Tacoma, WA yesterday. Said Tajiri and Regal would feud with Grandmaster Sexay & Blackman. (Update 05/28/01 - I just found out this newbit was a fake report, please disregard).
From the Ross Report: Scotty 2 Hotty has been cleared to return to work. He is scheduled to work in Louisville for OVW for a couple of weeks so he can slowly work his way back up to a match and work out some ring rust. We should see him back in a Federation ring in about 3 weeks.
Grandmaster Sexay is not booked in a match on Sunday's Judgment Day card which leads many to believe he could be used as the bail for Rikishi. As we all know by now, Rikishi injured his shoulder at RAW and probably will need surgery but is battling through it this Sunday and possibly on RAW the night after. His match with William Regal, whom viciously attacked Grandmaster who happens to be Rikishi's former running mate. Neither of the two have been on the same page since Rikishi's revealing of hitting Steve Austin with a car, but now that he is back to his lovable dancing self, Sexay could re-unite and bail him out of a long match with a rough shoulder all in one shot.
From the June 2001 edition of RAW Magazine, Ross From Ringside...
In my opinion, Grandmaster Sexay is one of the most underutilized talents in the Federation. He's a top-level performer. Must be those good genes.
Dina's note: It's nice to see JR post this rather than tease a Too Cool breakup like he's done in some recent editions!
In the GMS/Regal segment in last night's RAW is War, it was speculated that the women that were brought up to dance in the ring were some of the Godfather's prior ho's. I just read a report from someone that attended the event, and that person said that he was told that the women were local Cincinnati strippers!
From the Ross Report: No return date has been determined for Scotty 2 Hotty from the injured list.
Reader Martin Hawrysko sent this in: "Rikishi was dancing to the original Too Cool music but from what I remember, didn't the WWF lose the rights to use that music? Plus the last time he danced, he DID use the music that GrandMaster Sexay currently comes out with (the Turn It Up one)." Well, here's my explanation: from what I was told, the WWF is allowed to use the theme music but they can't put it on a CD (i.e. make direct money off of it). And because the Volume 5 CD was coming out and they wanted Too Cool be be featured on the CD, they decided to change the music so it could be used. I may be wrong, but I heard this straight from a friend in the WWF.
From the Ross Report: Scotty 2 Hotty is still having problems with his neck, and an MRI last week showed little or no improvement from two months ago. He may have to undergo surgery to correct the problem. GrandMaster Sexay cut his leg in Denver but is going to be OK.
From last Friday's Ross Report: Scotty 2 Hotty has been doing well. Concerning his injured neck, it has been giving him more pain on some days than on others. He has an MRI scheduled on Tuesday, and he will see his orthopedic specialist on Friday. He has no return date yet, but we will know more after his two doctor visits this week.
This is an interesting commentary posted today:
Looking At The Returns of Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty
By Tommy Fierro
Today I will look at something the WWF should start doing more, and that's developing mid-card feuds. It's something that needs to be done more often to make the mid-card guys mean more. Don't get me wrong, they tell some stories for the mid-card guys, but there should be more told. Thery are telling a little story between Eddie Guerrero and Raven, the week before the PPV, so they can "get it on." They always do that. Start up a feud a week before the PPV, so those guys have a reason to work each other at the PPV. What ever happened to feuding for a few months? Well again, that seems to be what is starting to take place with Benoit vs. Angle, which is a pretty cool idea. It should be brought down to the lower level guys too. That way when Raven has to team with Grandmaster Sexay and Steve Blackman, there will be a reason behind it. I thought of a cool mid-card feud that can be done on TV to tell some stories, here we go:
Have X-Factor start messing with Grandmaster Sexay in the locker room. Everytime they see him, they give him a hard time, and often beat him up. After a week or two of skits like this, Steve Blackman comes to Sexay's aid. It leads to a few RAW and Smackdown matches such as Sexay/Blackman vs. X-Pac/Credible, Sexay vs. X-Pac, and Blackman vs. Credible. In every match, Albert interferes and costs the babyfaces their matches. A few weeks down the line on RAW, Blackman is talking to Sexay and says that they need a third guy to be on their side against X-Factor. Sexay says he knows who, and calls him up on his cell and tells him they need him for Smackdown. So for Smackdown it's X-Factor vs. Sexay/Blackman/Mystery Partner. The Mystery Partner turns out to be the returning Scotty 2 Hotty! But the story is just starting.
The finish of the match is coming, and Scotty is about to give one of them the worm. W...O...R...M...the people are getting into it big time, as they haven't had the chance to do this in a while. Whooo Whooo Whooo and a chairshot to the back of the head by Sexay as Scotty was about to drop the worm! Sexay lays out Scotty and leaves him for dead. The next week on RAW, Sexay can talk about how when Too Cool were the hottest team, Scotty left him for dry.
They are booked for a one on one match on RAW, with Blackman running out at the end and killing Scotty. They double team Scotty and leave him for dead. Then for Smackdown, Scotty says he wants a tag team match vs. Blackman/Sexay, and that he has a partner. Match time comes, and Scotty's partner turns out to be the returning RIKISHI!! This can lead to the babyfaces going over strong, and Rikishi returning to his old gimmick. This might also lead to Rikishi taking over as the top babyface of the company, as his old gimmick was over big time. Rikishi, if built up right, could hold his own vs. HHH & Austin.
So there, that's how you build up a story. The beat down of Sexay lead to the return of Scotty and the turn from Sexay and the beatdown from Scotty leads to the return of Rikishi, who is now a babyface and back over again. Easily done, right? LOL
Anyway, that's my mid-card idea for the day, maybe I'll be back tomorrow with another one.
Former Power Pro Wrestler Koko Ware has had legal council send a letter to Randy Hales and WMC regarding his dismissal from PPW after a promo went bad with Brian Christopher a couple months back. On the 2/17 PPW TV show, Ware went against the script and cut his own promo on Brian Christopher, who was doing commentary that week. He accused Christopher of "trying to be black," to which Christopher responded that if Koko was what it is to be black, he didn't want to be black. They cut to commercial immediately following that remark. After the show went off the air, Dave Brown chastised Koko backstage, ordered him to leave the building, and said he would never be used on TV again. A law firm representing Ware sent a letter to Hales and the TV station saying they were investigating allegations by Ware against WMC. The letter specifically questioned why Ware was fired but Christopher, the other wrestler involved in what one would presume was a questionable exchange for airing, was not, adding that Ware tried to ask Brown why he was fired but Brown wouldn't provide a substantive reason. Also questioned in the letter was why Dave Brown had the power to fire people from PPW.
GrandMaster Sexay has been announced as being on the "Insurrextion" UK PPV on May 5, 2001. He is scheduled to face Rhyno.
From the Ross Report: Scotty 2 Hotty is having another MRI on his neck in a few weeks. He's doing rehab at home and is progressing well, but is still several weeks away from returning, in our estimation.
From the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter - check out prowrestlingtorch.com for pricing and subscription info
Wrestlers say that management has gone out of its way to show Brian Christopher (Grandmaster Sexay) that is is on solid ground with the company despite his father's (Jerry Lawler) recent termination.