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"Austin: He's hired!
Bischoff: He's fired!
Austin: Hired!
Bischoff: Fired!
Austin: Hired!
Bischoff: Fired!
Austin: Hired!
Bischoff: Fired!
Jerry Lawler: My God, what a resumé J.R. is going to have!"
-- Steve Austin brings Jim Ross back to RAW using his Co-G.M. status - RAW, May
05
"... The Jabronie-beating, pie-eating, trail-blazing, eyebrow-raising, stronger
than a bear, faster than a buck, the biggest thing to hit Canada 'cuz the Maple Leafs
Suck!"
-- The Rock explaining the people who the
WWE Superstar of the Decade should have been - RAW, February 24
You are nothing but a slave to the government.
They are stealing your money... your hard-earned money. So why do we even need to
pay taxes? They're nothing but a scam. And who's gonna know? You think the IRS has
time to go after a little guy like you? They're way too busy tailing the big fish.
Besides, paying taxes is un-American. Remember what our fore-fathers said... No taxation
without representation. And right now, your elected officials are not doing a very
good job of representing you. What has the government done for you? Think about it...
Who needs your money more? You or filthy rich uncle sam? Hey, I'm not telling you
anything you don't already know.
-- From Sean O'Haire's video package.
"Stop the prayers, hit the snooze, you'll
go next week. Hell, don't even go at all. If God is everywhere, why should we even
go to church? He could be sitting right next to you on the couch. Who even knows
if there is a God anyway. The church is nothing but a farce, a way to judge you.
You have to take control of your own life. You are your only judge. Save yourself
the headache. Do something more valuable with your time. And if there is a God, he'll
forgive you. Hey, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know."
-- From Sean O'Haire's video package.
"You see, there's a very good reason why
Steve Austin isn't here tonight. And that reason quite simply is... He wasn't invited.
And that's the bottom line cuz Mr. McMahon said so!"
- From Vince McMahon's speech after
having just accepted Steve Austin's "Superstar of the Decade" Award at
RAW X -- RAW's 10th Anniversary Special, January 14
"And if you don't turn RAW around in 30 days, Eric... Me and you, we'll be standing
in front of a live assembly, just like we are here tonight... and you're going to
hear the following words ... YOU ARE FIRED!"
- From Vince McMahon's speech to Eric Bischoff
on his 30-day warning -- RAW, January 13
"You see Bubba and D-Von that little
stunt of yours was a slap in the face to me and everything I stand for! And that
crap is over with starting right now. You see 2003 is going to go down as the year
of Eric Bischoff Which means everybody in this company...and everyone of you people
are going to show me the kind of respect that I deserve!"
- From Eric Bischoff's promo on the Dudleyz -- RAW, January 06
"Darkness Consumes the Light, and Beckons His Return, the Dead Man Walks Again...
Royal Rumble"
- From the video package hyping Undertaker's return at Royal Rumble... as the
Phenom?! -- SmackDown!, January 02
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Rumors and News - Monday, July 14
- As seen on RAW, Triple H is currently suffering from a
leg injury. The Game couldn't wrestle at house shows due to the injury as well. As
it stands right now, he has a hematoma, but the problem isn't serious, as he wrestled
on RAW.
- Here's some news & notes from the PWTorch Newsletter:
- The feeling backstage in WWE amongst many was that Hulk
Hogan was a shrewd businessman. There have been stories of the conversations that
Hogan had with Vince backstage about Vince suggesting storylines and Hogan saying
that they needed to talk money first.
- There has been some conflict from some industry sources saying that Vince McMahon
is not interested and has never been interested in buying the UFC promotion. That
has proved untrue as UFC official Dana White confirmed that McMahon has shown interest
in purchasing the company and has actually made offers in the past, but did not elaborate
on them.
- For those who still think that Mick Foley could wrestle Triple H at SummerSlam,
here is a quote made by Foley to the Charleston Post and Courier: "I
did tell them that I'd be finishing up the book tour by SummerSlam, and that possibly
I could play a role in it. But I have not been approached, nor would I be ready to
slide into that spot. I really believe that if and when I get into the ring, it will
only be because I'm pretty sure that I can live up to what's expected of me."
- Anticipation is high for next week's episode of RAW from
Los Angeles. Yours truly will be in attendance for the show, and I'll have LIVE Notes
for you after the event. Until then, check out the WAY-EARLY WWE.com Preview:
Monday's RAW is already beginning to take shape. In a WrestleMania
rematch, the legendary Shawn Michaels will go one on one with the "Highlight
of the Night" Chris Jericho.
Also, Rob Van Dam claims he is responsible for Kane's random acts of violence as
of late. With that on his mind, Van Dam has signed on to battle his former tag team
partner. What will happen when the former Tag Team Champions meet each other in the
ring? Will RVD be just another one of Kane's victims? Or will Van Dam be able to
curb the big red monster's mean streak? Find out Monday night on RAW on The New TNN
at 9/8 CT.
- The plans are still for Triple H to wrestle Bill Goldberg
at the July 20th House Show in San Jose.
- The McMahon family will be receiving more money soon as
the four cents a share divident the company announced earlier has been paid out,
and the family owns millions of shares of the stock.
- Trish Stratus is on the cover of the current edition of
Ontario Golf Magazine. Also in the magazine, golf and wrestling is compared , and
Trish talks about playing golf with Booker T in England.
- Chris Kanyon, Chris Jericho, Dawn Marie, Test, Stacy,
and Victoria have all been confirmed of being present at Billy Kidman and Torrie
Wilson's wedding.
- Chat it up: Message
Board
- E-mail me: [email protected]
Rumors and News - Sunday, July 13
- All of the following news & notes come from the PWTorch
and Wrestling Observer newsletter. Credit should also be given to RajahWWF:
- Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson are now officially married.
The ceremony took place yesterday in Connecticut and was said to have a huge turnout
from the wrestling community. Several co-workers from WWE as well as former co-workers
from WCW were invited. Jeremy Borash and Glenn Gilberti were among guests from TNA
that were invited to the wedding. Congratulations to both Billy and Torrie.
- The reason that we did not see Mark Jindrak join Evolution
this past Monday on RAW was because he made a bad impression on road agents at house
shows during the weekend due to poor connections with the crowd during his matches.
The decision to let him join the lead heel group on RAW is definitely up in the air.
- Due to the fact that John Cena was cheered at SmackDown last week against the babyface
Billy Gunn, it might change the winner of the U.S. Title tournament. The plans going
into last week’s edition of SmackDown were for Gunn to win the title; however, Benoit
could actually end up walking away champion.
- The talk of Mick Foley replacing Goldberg at SummerSlam against Triple H has stopped.
It is doubtful that Foley will wrestle at SummerSlam and that he will indeed make
his return to the ring at WrestleMania XX in New York City.
- The WWE senior management, which consists of Jim Ross
(talent relations), Kevin Dunn (television production) and Ed Kauffman (legal affairs),
were all promoted this past week. But the promotions seem to be only in their company
title because their duties remain the same. Ross, Dunn and Kauffman were boosted
up to Executive Vice President. Stephanie McMahon was promoted from Director of Creative
to Vice President of Creative. A memo was sent out to all employees announcing their
respective promotions.
- Criticism has been mounting in WWE about the pushed talent on television not working
house shows. Now, Vince McMahon, Steve Austin, Eric Bischoff and others will be working
house shows. Austin will be doing the usual ass kicking and stone cold stunning followed
by the beer guzzling.
- Nothing new on Bill Goldberg’s situation with his arm. We do know that he had taken
creative control of his character. Most of the recent happenings involving him were
from his ideas. The Goldberg & Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho & Christian on
the 6/16 edition of RAW and the Goldberg vs. Rodney Mack on the 6/23 edition of RAW
were mainly his doing.
- Former WCW announcer Mark Madden was slated as ghost writing the Ric Flair autobiography
for what seems like the past couple of years. He recently received a phone call from
Keith Elliot Greenberg, who wrote the "Classy" Freddie Blassie Biography,
to be asked a few questions about Greenberg's book on Flair. It was the first time
Madden heard he was not going to write the book.
- The decision was made final to terminate Crash Holly from
WWE when he exchanged words with a member of the writing staff. Crash had a bad reputation
backstage and was known for constant complaining. One colleague went as far as calling
Crash a “f—k up.”
- Nidia’s sister is currently doing work in Ohio Valley Wrestling (WWE’s developmental
territory) as valet Nurse Lulu.
- Newcomer Orlando Jordan is said to handle himself well in the locker room, but
is very much a rookie in the ring.
- Nidia’s sister, known as “Nurse Lulu” has been doing some spot shows for OVW. We
are now hearing that she is no stranger to the OVW scene as she has been working
there for a very long while.
- John Heidenreich was signed to another WWE developmental contract. He did have
a contract already but was dropped after a budget cut back. He wrestled at Zero-One
for a while then came back over to OVW. He was really praised for driving 10 hours
between shows to work. He is a really big guy, standing at 6 foot 7 and weighing
in at 285 pounds and use to play in the NFL for the New Orleans Saints. You can check
out a photo of the big man by clicking
here.
- Nova tore ligaments in his knee when he overcompensated in mid air after being
dropped wrong by Lance Cade and Mark Jindrak during a match over in OVW. Dr. James
Andrews operated on him and it looks like everything was taken cared of, but he will
be out of action for about four months.
- Torrie Wilson had her bachelorette party last month at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas.
Stacy Keibler, Ivory, Sable and Victoria were all there from 6/25, they were later
joined by Trish Stratus, Nidia and Dawn Marie on 6/26. They expected to stay there
until 6/27 but then they had to get back to work.
- Rico had been studying old tapes of Adrian Street, who
use to prance around the ring during matches. Rico was told to mimic Street for his
new gimmick. After a few of the agents saw him doing it at a couple of house shows
and noticed the bad reaction from the crowds, he was told to cut back on it.
- Speaking of Rico, he is getting his own segment on Sunday Night Heat Called “Rico’s
Runway.” This is being done to get his character over more.
- Lance Storm injured his ribs before the 6/27 weekend and was told to take that
weekend off.
- Chris Nowinski did not work wrestle at any house shows on the 6/27 weekend. His
spot was taken by Rosey, he mainly worked in the corner of Rosey and Rodney Mack.
- Buff Bagwell called WWE road agent John Laurinaitis, better known as Johnny Ace,
asking if there was any work. John said that he was calling at a really bad time,
which actually means “no we don’t”.
- Nathan Jones returned to Australia last week to renew his visa. He is expected
to return this week.
- Right before he debuted in TNA, Joe E. Legend, (better known in WWE for his “Just
Joe” gimmick) was brought to the RAW show in Buffalo to work a dark match, which
means that WWE doe have some interest in him.
- Stacy Keibler was listed at number 81 in the 100 most
irresistible women, a special that aired after RAW on TNN.
- WWE now has 100 percent ownership over all ECW tapes.
- Sharmell Sullivan, better known as WCW’s Paisley, who is also Booker T’s girlfriend,
has been taking care of Book’s hip hop store in Houston, Texas. She was under a WWE
developmental contract, but blew out her knee and was dropped by the company. She
reportedly has no interest in returning.
- There is much talk of giving Maven a bigger role in WWE because he is a good talker.
- Here some WWE numbers:
6/27 RAW in Poughkeepsie drew a sellout crowd of 3,100 people. The 6/28 SmackDown
in Providence drew 3,618 people and $122,000, for the first house show featuring
Vince McMahon that isn’t too bad. The 6/28 RAW house show in Elmira drew 2,500 people.
The 6/29 SmackDown in Augusta, ME drew a crowd of 2,400 people and $78,000, also
had a bunch of local ads about McMahon being in appearance. The 6/28 RAW house show
in Syracuse drew 2,000 people. 6/30 RAW taping in Buffalo drew 7,000 people. The
6/30 SmackDown house show in Utica drew 1,900 people. Finally, the 7/1 SmackDown
taping in Rochester, New York drew 4,000 people.
- Raven was not at the July 9th NWA TNA PPV, despite being
advertised for it the week before. Raven has been telling those close to him that
his ankle is still bothering him; however, he is telling others that he is fine.
The TNA superstar has worked Indy dates since suffering the injury and has told friends
that it has made the injury worse. At any rate, Raven is being advertised as to being
on next week’s show, although his injury came at the right time, as it will force
him to sell the storyline of the fireball injury from his last appearance with TNA.
- Chat it up: Message
Board
- E-mail me: [email protected]
Rumors and News - Friday, July 11
- Another edition of N & A is up at TBL. In the latest,
I talked about the 1997 Screwjob and what they did on RAW with the Highlight Reel.
The latest in wrestling is also discussed. Check it out here.
- In a related piece of news, THERE IS NO POP-UP ADVERTISING
AT TBL ANYMORE!
- Last night's edition of SmackDown! scored a 4.2 overnight
rating with a 7 share. The final rating came in at 3.6, which is up from last week's
3.0 (July 4th holiday).
- It is now official that Shannon "Daffney" Ward
has signed with WWE. Thanks to everyone who sent in word, and credit should go to
1wrestling.com. Daffney has been told that she'll be unable to honor all of her indy
commitments later this month. I'm guessing she's headed to OVW.
- In another WWE signing, the company has inked ROH, as
well as NWA-TNA star Paul London. London is pretty popular on the indy scene and
is expected to go big in WWE. He'll be headed to OVW first though, as one would expect.
- The first-ever Bill Goldberg vs. Triple H match is scheduled
for July 20th (Sunday) in San Jose, at the WWE RAW brand House Show. As most of you
probably know, WWE sometimes books main events for house shows to see how the wrestlers
work together and how the crowd reacts. I'd also like to thank reader Ray
and everyone else from Phoenix, AZ, who sent in word that Goldberg vs. Triple H is
advertised in the area for SummerSlam.
- As shown on SmackDown!, next week's edition of the show
will be taped on Sunday in Columbus, OH. The reason for the early tape is the fact
that the WWE Superstars will be on an Asia Tour next week.
- In a Vancouver radio interview, The Rock mentioned that
if WWE and him are in the same down, he'd love to appear for the company. Rock is
currently in Vancouver shooting his newest movie. He threw a rumor out for possibly
appearing on the July 21st edition of RAW in Hollywood. His appearance there would
set up a match for the August 4th edition of RAW in Vancouver. Take this for what
it's worth.
- In the same interview, Rock mentioned that he expects
to return to WWE full time in January 2004. This can not be at all confirmed, and
Rock wasn't sure either. He is expected, nonetheless, to be a part of WrestleMania
XX.
- For those interested, Vince McMahon is the voice of character
Dirk McMahon on TNN's Striperella. It's pretty amusing what Vince does,
so if you can, catch the show on the new TNN.
- Trish Stratus and John Cena are currently "involved"
in Blue Jays games, as the two were throwing opening pitches at their games. This
is a part of the WWE/Blue Jays tickets deal WWE had going a while ago.
- TSN.ca/wrestling has uploaded two interviews with John
Cena and Kurt Angle. The interviews were done before the tapings for this past week's
SmackDown!.
- The 50th Anniversary Special edition of Sports Illustrated
includes a piece on Killer Kowalski as the focus on pro wrestling in the 50's. The
piece also mentions Freddie Blassie and Bruno Sammartino.
- Don't miss WWE Confidential this Saturday, as the show
will take a look at the new WWE Women's Champion, Gail Kim. I heard the piece is
worth watching.
- Here's the official WWE.com RAW Preview:
The lovely Gail Kim is 2-0 thus far in WWE and is the current
Women's Champion. But can she survive the challenge from Molly Holly, a former champion?
We'll find out on RAW, live from Indianapolis' Conseco Fieldhouse, when the two Divas
go one on one.
Molly earned the opportunity to face Gail by picking up a tough win over Trish Stratus
last week. Can she capitalize on her victory and win the Women's Title?
The status of both of RAW's General Managers -- Eric Bischoff and Stone Cold Steve
Austin -- is very much uncertain after both were brutally attacked by Kane. Will
Austin recover from a vicious chokeslam last week? Will Bischoff recover from a "chokeslam
to hell" two weeks ago?
Find out Monday night on RAW on The New TNN at 9/8 CT.
- E-mail me: [email protected]
WWE Rumors and News -- Thursday, July 10
Hey again! I got some big news for everyone. I will be moving
my site to TheBalrogsLair.com, so we're getting away from the sucky GeoCities server!!!
YAY! There will be no pop-up ads, or banners for my site at TBL, I guarantee you
that! By the number of e-mails I've gotten and by looking at the Message Board, I
realize that I need to hurry up and get everything together. However, I'm going to
put everything I know into making this site MUCH better when I move it to TBL. In
the meanwhile, I'll be doing the updates on here, and I'll have the Rumors and News
section running. I'm back! Just wait for updates on the moving, as far as it goes.
Now let's get to some wrestling news, baby!:
- In the biggest news of this week, RAW's rating jumped
to a very high 4.2! Up from last week's 3.6, and off of hours 4.0 and 4.5. The overrun
of the show (Kane/Austin segment to end the program) scored the highest quarter rating
in years -- a 5.4.
- Velocity and Confidential did a 0.9, Heat did a 1.0 in
weekends ratings.
- No, Bill Goldberg didn't quit WWE. He wasn't on RAW due
to an arm infection he had, which required medical attention. That unabled him to
participate. It's also not known as of yet for how long he'll be out of action but
I expect him to be back soon.
- Even though Hulk Hogan is no longer with WWE, Shopzone
is still selling the Mr. America mask.
- In some unfortunate news, the reason D-Von Dudley missed
last weekend's house shows, as well as Monday Night RAW was because due to the death
of his father. We'd like to send our condolences to D-Von and his family.
- Some wrestlers backstage are pulling for NWA-TNA to become
more of a successful company and hopefully present itself as possible competition
to WWE. The same people feel that this way, things will stir up in the Creative Team
and WWE will present better television. I agree.
- The word has it that WWE is very close to signing former
WCW valet/woman wrestler "Daffney." Rumors of Shannon Ward (her real name)
joining the company have been circling around for a while. She's also been backstage
at NWA-TNA shows for a while. I'll keep you updated on which company she goes to.
- News & Notes from the PWTorch Newsletter:
* There has been a lot of talk of Randy Orton vs. Shawn
Michaels taking place at SummerSlam as well as Mick Foley vs. Vince McMahon. WWE
officials feel that Shawn Michaels would be someone great to help put the young Randy
Orton over and would continue Michaels’ feud with Evolution. Foley’s match is less
likely to happen as his book schedule will not allow him enough time to prepare,
however, anything is possible.
* The original plan was for Chris Benoit to capture the US Title at Vengeance, although
there has been some talk in the SmackDown locker room of putting the title on Billy
Gunn and feuding him with Matt Hardy. It is a secret to no one that Billy Gunn has
always been one of Vince McMahon’s favorites.
* Incase you have been living in a cave the past few weeks then you know that Vince
McMahon’s appearance on HBO’s Real Sports was very controversial. The word out of
the WWE offices is that McMahon just showed the world how he really is and always
goes crazy when someone says something that he disagrees with.
- Here's what the Vengeance card looks like:
- WWE Championship Match -- Triple Threat
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. The Big Show
- Vince McMahon vs. Zach Gowen
- Stephanie McMahon vs. Sable
- John Cena vs. The Undertaker
US Title Tournament (3 Matches)
- WWE's financial problems made it to Business Week, as
they ran an article on the company. You can read it here.
- In yet another link, MSNBC ran a story on Mick Foley's
book and his appearance on The Today Show. Read it here.
- WWE.com updates:
* Ric flairs talks about the original WWWF here.
* Mick Foley's first book-tour journal is available at http://www.mickfoley.com/.
* Droz's Commentary is avalable here.
* Edge's commentary is here.
- Zach Gowen and Eddie Guerrero will be the guests on Byte
This! today. You can always check it out by going to WWE.com
- E-mail me: [email protected]
July 06, 2003
Hey everyone. First off, a big THANK YOU to people who have already e-mailed me and
gave me suggestions over what to do with the site, and whatnot. As you can see, I've
uploaded the new images I talked about the layout is change a bit. Let me know what
you think of it at [email protected]. I have also added a Poll section on this page and the main page.
You can find it on here right under the navigation to the left. It's our old WWE
Poll so there's already some votes casted in. Make sure to cast your vote as well!
I'll continue taking suggestions and thoughts via e-mail. I'm also going to return
this week with Rumors and News (this section) so keep a look out for that and just
keep checking. I might even have rumors and news today or tomorrow, you never know!
Meanwhile, keep those e-mails coming and you're always free to check out our Message Board.
The weekend edition of News & Analysis is up at TBL -- go check it out HERE.
Thanks for your time!
~Eddie
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