Shawn Michaels' wrestling topic

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[quote name='mykevermin']I thought it was supposed to be symbolic, that it was one of the first coats he ever wore to the ring as Sting. Personally, I think it looks like he mugged Tina Turner.[/quote]

:lol:

I was half expecting A Pimp Named Slickback to be his manager. :lol:
 
Wow, reading a story on the Big Show right now. Sounds like after Wrestlemania(where for now, it'll be Hogan vs. Big Show), he's done with wrestling due to his back and knees. But Vince is trying to get the belt off of him, but doesn't want to put it back on RVD cause of his arrest back in July. Which it'd be pretty point less to put it on anyone else, since RVD's feuding with the Big Show and RVD's still in top card for ECW.

Sounds like they might be losing some good wrestlers soon, since Kane & Lita will be leaving soon too.
 
[quote name='tangytangerine']Wow, reading a story on the Big Show right now. Sounds like after Wrestlemania(where for now, it'll be Hogan vs. Big Show), he's done with wrestling due to his back and knees. But Vince is trying to get the belt off of him, but doesn't want to put it back on RVD cause of his arrest back in July. Which it'd be pretty point less to put it on anyone else, since RVD's feuding with the Big Show and RVD's still in top card for ECW.

Sounds like they might be losing some good wrestlers soon, since Kane & Lita will be leaving soon too.[/QUOTE]

They're doing Hogan vs. Big Show at WrestleMania 23? So, they're going to run a "20 years later: The Hulk vs. The Giant" thing? There's no way in hell that Hogan is going to be able to bodyslam Big Show and repeat WrestleMania III.
 
[quote name='Saucy Jack']They're doing Hogan vs. Big Show at WrestleMania 23? So, they're going to run a "20 years later: The Hulk vs. The Giant" thing? There's no way in hell that Hogan is going to be able to bodyslam Big Show and repeat WrestleMania III.[/quote]

Hogan dies trying to lift the Giant, that might be the only way to get him off my TV. No what am I saying, Vince will still put his corpse in a few Wrestlemania matches. I bet he would still beat Kane too!
 
[quote name='Saucy Jack']They're doing Hogan vs. Big Show at WrestleMania 23? So, they're going to run a "20 years later: The Hulk vs. The Giant" thing? There's no way in hell that Hogan is going to be able to bodyslam Big Show and repeat WrestleMania III.[/quote]

Yeah, they're going with the 20 years later storyline, but it's also due to it being in the same state as WM 3.
 
Hogan could probably slam Big Show if Show is healthy enough to jump up for it. Really, it wouldn't mean much since even Angle, with scrawny mutant arms could Angle slam him, and even Savage could slam him ten years ago - but it would be pretty cool to see.

Here's my writeup on Wrestling Observer Live with Puder and Konnan -

Puder was on WOL tonight, and he's having a blast tearing apart Angle's horseshit. He beats down his points on Angle beating Liddell, Ortiz, and him being able to beat Puder with his arms tied, while also being drug-free, and his apparent magical UFC deal. Now he's going into his deal with Angle, and he says the only instruction he was given was from the ref saying he couldn't strike. He knocks Angle's points down about it being an amateur fight by saying he broke three ribs of someone else, and he says that he asked Dana what the Angle deal was, and it wasn't $10 million. Bryan asks him if he feels that Angle will take the fight, and Puder says he won't, since Kurt isn't man enough. Dave asks him how many companies would do the fight, and he names WFA, Strike Force, and UFC would take the fight in a second. Puder asks what drugs make Kurt so delusional, and that he needs to stay away from them. He has no plans to do wrestling right now, and he's spent two months working on his "Puder" lifestyle magazine.

A caller asks Puder if he's insane for wanting to fight Angle - with the caller basically running down Angle's press release, hyping him up as the most incredible athlete ever. Puder asks him which arm he'd tie behind his back - his good or bad one. Dave asks Daniel about it, and he says that Angle wanted to take him down, but had no idea how to since he was keylocked. That was hlarious.

Dave says that he'll be dedicating a massive section of an upcoming Observer to covering the Bischoff book, and that he enjoys the story he's read so far. Bryan gets an e-mail asking if Puder has a problem with Miz being called undefeated, and Puder doesn't really care. He commends him for being able to market himself well, and says that he's very smart (even being able to make $42,000 a year off his site). A caller asks about Frank Shamrock vs. Angle, and Dave says it isn't going to happen, and that the WFA wanted to do it. He then asks about Angle's injury, and Dave asks if he means his neck, and the guy says "nah dude, his PECKER!".

Another caller asks Puder if he's considering going back to WWE or OVW, and asks him about Ryan Reeves. Puder says he owes him $40 for arm wrestling, and calls him a good guy. He says he wouldn't go back to WWE unless Angle was involved, but he would go back to OVW since he likes the staff there. Puder says that they sent him a release letter a month after going down to OVW, and they then said it was a mistake. Daniels says the new deal they offered him went from $5,000 a week down to $750, so he tells them to go fuck themselves. Bryan gets an e-mail asking about how reaction right after the Angle deal - Daniels says he wasn't sure what would happen, and that everyone in the back was shocked at it. Dave talks about the initial reaction to it, and then no one really talked about it after the tapings, but after it aired, Dave's phone was rung off the hook, and it was all over MMA sites. Dave felt that WWE would surely capitalize on it, and then they didn't do anything with it - even taking the footage off the site. Dave feels that WWE hoped they'd covered themselves by having a ref count and have the commentary focus on the pinfall. Dave asks about TNA doing dumb things now, and brings this up as a huge WWE mistake, and thinks that UFC would easily outdraw any WWE PPVs with the possible exception of 'Mania. Puder leaves the show, and Konnan will be on soon.

Terry from Arizona has two questions - Will 'Mania ever hit Arizona, and if Angle could bring TNA to the mainstream. Dave says that Kurt can't do it by himself, and that if they used him along with a few other guys, AND ADVERTISED THEM, they might. Dave doesn't think that he could be their flag-bearer due to his health, and Bryan says that TNA is so far under the radar that nothing will matter, since they don't have any mainstream ads. Dave says that really hit him when some TNA guys went to game 1 of the World Series, and they were recognized for their WCW days, and then asks "so, what've you been doing lately?" IN DETROIT, the home of TNA's "biggest PPV ever". Dave feels that TNA's biggest problem is that no one knows they exist, and that if people know they exist, they could have a chance at making it big. Dave says that WWE just wants to do big cities, and he cites WM XIX as an example of them feeling that it needs to be in a big city since that show was in Seattle and bombed. Dave feels that it was more due to them advertising the wrong guys on top (Hogan vs. Vince) than the venue. The caller is "super-super excited" about WM in Ford Field, and Konnan finally joins the show.

Dave asks him about how he's doing due to the events of past few weeks... and they have to go to a break. Now they're back, and Dave states that both Konnan and Rey were given their first breaks by him, and going through how he changed the business in North America by pushing smaller guys. Konnan puts him over, and says that he also believed that the smaller guys were better athletes, and that without Pena, you wouldn't have Rey headlining Mania, or Marafuji and KENTA main eventing the Tokyo Dome.

Konnan calls Pena his father, and says that he helped Konnan become a man - giving him the book at AAA when he was just 26 or 27. Konnan and Pena's creative differences were due to Pena's love of male strippers, and Konnan wanted to focus on wrestling. Konnan says that some guys breathed a sigh of relief when Konnan left because the terrible guys who wouldn't get a push under him would finally get a chance. Konnan says that he's glad he was able to reconcile with him, and he says that the last words Pena told him were "I love you", and Konnan feels that it was his way to say goodbye to him, and let him know how much he cared about him.

Bryan asks him how he can find the time to do TNA and AAA, and he says it's very hard, since he's trying to help Hernandez, Homicide, doing commentary, doing the booking for LAX while also trying to break TNA into the Latin market. He says he's only in TNA to prevent his TNA legacy from being 3LK, and he wants LAX to mean as much as the NWO historically, and he wants to break TNA into the Latino market, but if he can't do it with TNA, then he'll do it with AAA. Konnan is asked just why he blew up in TNA, and he says that it's due to AMW going into business for themselves, and that he's tired of that shit, and that he was tired of being on the road. He apologized to Dutch and Jarrett since they've treated him well, and they didn't deserve to be treated like that.

A caller asks if Konnan is going to watch the big UFC show, or if he'll watch the Packwell-Morales fight - and he says that Morales is his neighbor, and that Morales wants him to the fight. He says it's a tossup, and that it depends on who trains harder. As for Hughes and St. Pierre, and he picks Hughes. Dave picks Hughes as well, since he appears to be in St. Pierre's head. Time for another break.

Dave asks him about Kurt, and Konnan says that he's a cool guy, and very smart. He says that Angle is a credible addition for TNA, and that he feared it would be Goldberg when he first saw the video, and was relieved when it was Angle. Konnan is asked if there are any big plans for the year-end show in AAA, and says that Cibernetico will come back, and he says that he'll debut during the Montare show, and that he needs to get new stars over, since he's already over, it's his job to do that.

Konnan says that they need to produce better TV, and that next year will be a big year for AAA, since he wants to stay true to Pena's vision for '06. He says they'll add new faces to AAA, and give pushes when they're deserved. He wants to go back to the '94 setup of having the best wrestling shows bell to bell, and that those shows were designed to be great - and they need that back. Konnan says that what Juvi, Psicosis, and Rey were, they'll have a new breed of guys inspired by them, and that there will never be a new Rey or Psicosis, but they'll still be able to create new stars.

Going back to TNA, Dave asks if he's sad that the AJ/Daniels feud is over, and Konnan says he is, since their mentality was LAX's mentality, and that there are a lot of guys in TNA that just care about themselves. AJ and Daniels just cared about the matches, a feeling shared by Hernandez and Homicide. Dave asks who came up with Hernandez diving off the cage, and he wanted to do it, but was denied, so Konnan told him to do it since he had to shine, so he did, and nearly fell backwards killing himself since he didn't know it was so narrow on top.

Konnan said that the guys were re-energized by being outside of Orlando, since those fans are desensitized to things, like the ECW Arena crowd was, and that they want to go new, highly-Latino markets. Dave asks if there's anyone he'd like to see in TNA, and Konnan says that the TNA roster is stale, and that it needs a lot of change - he wouldn't recommend anyone specifically. A caller thanks Konnan for his hard work, and he says that the LAX storyline is fascinating to him due to the border controversies going on in Arizona. He asks Konnan if there's any backlash for it, and Konnan says that the Latino folks love it, since they're speaking truths. He tells a story of a cop in Florida trying to get TNA in trouble by writing to Spike when he was offended by Uncle Sam being hanged and beaten, and Konnan stating that Latinos have always been treated poorly in U.S. wrestling.

Bryan asks him to clarify his earlier statement, and Konnan says that with some guys (sounds like he's talking about the Naturals), you can turn them face, heel, and give them a manager and they still won't get over. He says that he fell into that category while in 3LK, and that he was unmotivated due to it. Dave asks him if he's ready for their face turn, and Konnan says that he'll be surprised if they turn face, since they're hanging Latin flags around the ring, but that he'll go with what the fans what, since they know what the deal is - not the writers.

A caller asks Konnan about Angle's drug issues, and Konnan says that it's hard to be on the road for a long time without doing some kind of drugs. He says that everyone in WWE is on something, and he feels that Angle won't need pain pills since he's got a much easier deal now, and Angle told Konnan that he's undergoing testing for painkillers right now.

Dave asks Konnan if he's heard anything on Psicosis, and he says that he hasn't. As he heard it, Psicosis was owed money, went a bit nuts, and will be given a second change. Konnan is asked about the Vickie angle, and he says that he talked to Rey about it, and Rey told him that Vickie wanted to be back in the wrestling business, since it made her feel closer to Eddie. Konnan says that he doesn't like how they bring up Eddie's name (like having Orton spit on the lowrider and say he's in Hell).

A caller says that he read about Goldberg signing with TNA, and says that watching TNA will be like watching WCW if that happens - and Dave says they do the good parts of WCW and not the bad. The caller then says that he was surprised to see Jeff Hardy back in WWE, and that his friends were shocked to see him, which draws very little from everyone else. Konnan says that it shows that both companies feel that if you can contribute, they'll hire you no matter what your issues are. Dave says that some guys get a bunch of chances, and some just get one, and are then told "well, you got your chance - bye.".

Bryan asks him, as a booker of a big company in Mexico, what he'd do if a guy had a drug problem. Konnan says that he'd send the guy to rehab and take them off the road, and Konnan says that he just overcame a painkiller problem, and then runs down basically what happened with Angle - where the guy is in such denial that he thinks he's okay, and that if they won't go to rehab. The caller asks why they won't bring Brock back, and Dave says that it won't happen since Vince takes his deal plan personally, and that if TNA was to offer him a deal, he'd accept it. He then asks if DX will last a while, and Dave says that it's great for Shawn since he can take it easy in the ring since he's so banged up - and that HHH and HBK are basically using it as a working vacation to enhance his career. Konnan says that he doesn't like the humor, but gives them credit for drawing money despite not really feeling like DX by only having those two in it.

A caller praises LAX for being the best thing in wrestling in years. He says that the show sometimes seems over-the-top with the lasers and wacky commentating by Tenay and West. Konnan says he has a lot of respect for Tenay, and Konnan feels that they're too over-the-top sometimes. Dave says that it's really hard for TNA, since they're trying to cram too much into an hour. He then asks about Russo, and Konnan says that he's basically a consultant, and not writing the show. The show is written by Dutch Mantell and Jeff Jarrett, and a producton guy Kevin Sullivan came up with the idea for the LAX entrance. Konnan says that one thing that really pissed him off in TNA was them taking the Spanish commentary entrance away, and the replacement guy for Moody Jack was terrible. Penzer was going to do it at BFG, but he couldn't do it in Spanish, and Konnan says that they settled on Penzer doing it in English and the new guy doing in it Spanish, and then didn't have the guy do it in Spanish. He hopes they bring back the Spanish announcing. Bryan asks him how his hip is, and he simply says it's "terrible".

He can't just do painkillers, and he needs surgery. He can't jump or run now, and is barely mobile now. He's hoping to get surgery at the beginning of next year, and only stuck around in the ring so far due to Vampiro starting up his companies, and Shocker leaving. Konnan talks about the hanging in the cage, and he says he got it from Homicide in ROH. Konnan says that he only cares about how good the match gets over, and that they aren't out there to look better than their opponents - they're there to have a great match. He hears them pitch out the matches, and tries to add and subtract the right things when they're planning it out. Konnan says that he's very thankful for this stuff, since TNA never thought LAX would explode like this. He pushed for Homicide and just gave him Hernandez, and their push happened organically - they were probably just going to be used as fodder for AJ and Daniels, and now they're seen as equals. He talks about admiring Paul Heyman, and getting an e-mail from Heyman saying that he loved LAX. He says that he hopes TNA breaks through to the mainstream so that more people see it.

Dave asks what led to Konnan's hip getting so bad, and Konnan says that it's mainly due to wear and tear. He really noticed how bad it was when facing Carlito in Peurto Rico, and that TNA's health insurance for him won't cover it. He thinks they'll probably do an angle to explain his absence in both TNA and AAA, and he takes time to thank the Carters, Jeff Jarrett, Dutch, and Terry Taylor for helping him out.
 
Daniel Puder is a fucking idiot. Living off a shoot he did in a wrestling match that effectively ended his career in WWE just shows how desperate for attention he is. He acts like he is the shit for doing what he did, when all it does is show how much of a piece of shit he is and how little respect he had for the stars in the wrestling industry.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Daniel Puder is a fucking idiot. Living off a shoot he did in a wrestling match that effectively ended his career in WWE just shows how desperate for attention he is. He acts like he is the shit for doing what he did, when all it does is show how much of a piece of shit he is and how little respect he had for the stars in the wrestling industry.[/QUOTE]

Summary: Daniel Puder isn't anything worth writing home about. If he was the macho man he claimed to be, he'd be involved in MMA already. He just wants the massive paycheck he'd get from fighting Angle. While I can't blame him for that, I can see clearly through his baloney.
 
If Hogan does pull off the bodyslam on Big Show and makes the crowd go nuts... that would be the perfect time for him to finally retire for good.

I know that Hogan wants to make sure his family is taken care of and such, but come on... the man does have a lot of money to do that already. If not, maybe he would sell some of those houses he has. He's already doing a lot of voiceover work and commercials now... there's other ways for him to make money instead of just ruining his body even more.
 
[quote name='Saucy Jack']If Hogan does pull off the bodyslam on Big Show and makes the crowd go nuts... that would be the perfect time for him to finally retire for good.

I know that Hogan wants to make sure his family is taken care of and such, but come on... the man does have a lot of money to do that already. If not, maybe he would sell some of those houses he has. He's already doing a lot of voiceover work and commercials now... there's other ways for him to make money instead of just ruining his body even more.[/quote]

He should just trademark the way he says BROTHER and he'd make millions
 
[quote name='Saucy Jack']If Hogan does pull off the bodyslam on Big Show and makes the crowd go nuts... that would be the perfect time for him to finally retire for good.

I know that Hogan wants to make sure his family is taken care of and such, but come on... the man does have a lot of money to do that already. If not, maybe he would sell some of those houses he has. He's already doing a lot of voiceover work and commercials now... there's other ways for him to make money instead of just ruining his body even more.[/QUOTE]

Next year could be a big year for wrestling. If guys like Kane, Show, and Hogan all stop wrestling, then we could possibly see the WWE forced to put out talent to get over. Nobody gives a shit about Lashley, or whatever other newbie they force down out throats. Without reliable uppercard guys, things should look different/better.

Or, it could revert to the same ol' same ol' when DX splits, and Triple H heads back to the title scene.

I'll make my prediction now: Chris Benoit will retire in 2007, or, at the latest, have his retirement match at WM24.
 
At an ECW show today in Milwaukee, Wis., ECW’s “Messiah” Paul Heyman declared that Rob Van Dam will, in fact, receive his ECW World Title opportunity at December to Dismember. However, Heyman also made the monumental announcement that RVD’s title match will take place in the first-ever Extreme Elimination Chamber.

RVD earned his chance at the championship last week in a Ladder Match and, as announced on ECW.com earlier this week, Van Dam selected ECW’s next pay-per-view on Dec. 3 as the setting for his title opportunity. However, the stipulations for that contest fall under Heyman’s own judgment.

Thus, ECW World Champion Big Show will defend his gold against five other Extremists within the lethal chamber structure. In addition to the Extreme Giant and RVD, the remaining four participants will be determined through a series of qualifying matches that will take place over the next few weeks – the first of which can be seen Tuesday night on ECW on Sci Fi.

The only thing more dangerous than the chamber itself will be the throng of hardcore competitors enclosed in its massive walls. Who will qualify for this unprecedented encounter? Exactly what awaits RVD, Big Show and the other Extremists at December to Dismember?
Click to expand...

http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/news/dismembered

This sounds like a really bad idea.

I'm hoping they cover the EC in weapons though.
 
If they're doing the Elimination Chamber at ECW's PPV, then what are they going to do for New Year's Revolution? Last two years, NYR has had a Elimination Chamber match as a main event.
 
Makes sense, with the news that Vince doesn't want the title back on RVD. This is gonna kill the rest of the PPV though: How is ECW going to have enough guys to fill the 6 top slots for the chamber, and then still have anyone left for the undercard? I can think of maybe a dozen guys that are doing anything worthwhile in ECW, which gives us a whopping 4-5 matches for the show.

This would be a great way to have Heyman screw Show for losing so many weeks in a row and align himself with Sabu (even though signs point to him backing Test next). RVD vs Sabu, if booked even halfway decently, is a money feud.
 
So I went to my first show tonight and it was great. I doubt I have any good pictures but I'll check tomorrow and post them up if I find some nice ones.
 
Since it was asked a few pages ago, thought I'd mention who returns on ECW, not Smackdown.

The Great Khali returns w/ Daivari in a match to qualify for the Elimination Chamber.
 
[quote name='tangytangerine']Since it was asked a few pages ago, thought I'd mention who returns on ECW, not Smackdown.

The Great Khali returns w/ Daivari in a match to qualify for the Elimination Chamber.
[/QUOTE]

This has got to be a joke...dear god let this be a joke :cry:
 
[quote name='Sporadic']This has got to be a joke...dear god let this be a joke :cry:[/quote]

holy crap.. wish i woulda not read that

im actually a puder fan.,.ive been trying to find that footage of puder and angle in that tough enough test...
 
[quote name='Sporadic']This has got to be a joke...dear god let this be a joke :cry:[/quote]

No, it's not and the sad thing is
it was a match to qualify for the Extreme Elimination Chamber match at December to Dismember and he won the match. So he's going to be in the main event :???:
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']Continuity wise it is a smart move considering the GAB, but in every other way it is a fucking horrible move.[/quote]

What do you mean, he was feuding with Taker before the injury. Are you talking about him showing up and somehow blaming the Big Show for him losing that match on Smackdown(since Show took his place at GAB)?
 
PART 6 OF THE SCOTT HALL INTERVIEW

Wade Keller: Was Kevin Nash always as enthusiastic about leaving Vince for the 750K contracts with one-fourth the dates? Did he ever have more second thoughts about jumping than he did?

Scott Hall: I agreed to leave before him. My contract ended ten days before Kev’s. I had a “most favored nation” clause (with WCW) that said nobody could make more money or more perks than me. So I listed ten top guys in the business, and Kev was one of them. So I went to Kev and said, “Kev, I’m leaving.” He said, “I’m stayin’.” I said, “If you change your mind, look, this is what I’m getting.” And I was sworn not to show it to anybody. I hope that doesn’t get me in trouble. But I told him, “This is what I’m gettin’. If you go there, try to get more, because then I get more.” So that was when he had that match with Bret in the cage. The finish was he was supposed to powerbomb Bret, and then Taker was going to come up from the bottom of the cage and pull Kev down. It was sweet as fuck. The whole match Taker under the cage. Kev was supposed to powerbomb Bret and before he could pin him, Taker was going to reach up through a slit in the canvas and pull Kev down. Bret wouldn’t take the powerbomb. Bret went, “No.” So when Kev went back, he said, “fuck this. I’m leaving, too.” I said, “Great. At least I’ll know one more guy down there.” I felt like I was selling out. I felt like the people in Madison Square Garden were right, that I was just taking the money. fuck being a starving artist. I’ve already proved I’m one of the best performers in the world. I wanted the dough.

Keller: I think probably if you looked at the books at the time, it would be pretty obvious that you guys were being underpaid for what you were worth.

Hall: Gee, you think so.

Keller: It’s not like WCW was overpaying for you. You guys probably made triple that money within a couple of years.

Hall: We got three raises in 18 months.

Keller: And that wasn’t something Vince was willing to do for you when things were really good.

Hall: You gotta remember this, too. When I worked for Vince, Federal trial going on, ICOPRO, fucking (World) Bodybuilding Federation. We’re paying everybody’s fuckin’ bill. You had a bunch of bodybuiders laying around working out, they get one contest a year, and I’m paying some prick 200 grand a year to lay around on his ass - and there’s like 15, 20 of them.

Keller: And you guys weren’t making that much more than that at that time.

Hall: fuck no. And we were on the road every night.

Keller: I don’t think a lot of people realize that before the Monday Night War era, top top paid guys were making between three and six hundred thousand a year.

Hall: Exactly.

Keller: And working a lot of dates. So Eric Bischoff blew up the salary structure of wrestling and for several years it paid off big time for everybody. Did Shawn Michaels or Triple H ever even entertain the notion of going to WCW, or were they 100 percent loyal no matter what the schedule?

Hall: I think we made some calls to Shawn, but you know, he was locked up with Vince.

Keller: Contractually, he had no choice?

Hall: I don’t know the situation was, but he stayed.

Keller: The MSG farewell incident - did you have any qualms about that, or did that happen organically. How did that whole thing play out?

Hall: I just put Hunter over in a fuckin’ sweet ass match. It was going to be Shawn and Hunter. Me and Kev were done. We were all travelling together. And Vince calls me into his office. He says, “Damn it, you still work for me.” Blah blah blah. How much are they paying you. Blah blah blah. We had that conversation. Shawn comes in and he goes, “Vince, I want Razor to come out and get me. I want Razor to come to the ring with me. And I want Paul (Hunter) to come to the ring against Kev.” Because Kev just took the superkick, bang down in the middle, 1-2-3. So we go out in the ring. I’m milking it. Me and Shawn have a history. Kev is down and Hunter hasn’t come out yet. So Shawn’s in the ring and I’m looking at Shawn and the people are buzzing because they ain’t quite whether me and Shawn might (fight). At the Garden, we’ve been buddies, we’ve been enemies. Of course, he killed it by as soon as I stepped into the ring, he just grabbed me and hugged me. So we all hugged, and then he bent down and kissed Kev on the lips. That was a little bit gay. Then they all stood there. The Japanese press got it. I don’t think the fans did. Me and Kev stood and squared off with Hunter and Shawn. We knew we were leaving. A lot of the fans didn’t know. Then, for some reason, we just went to the corners. They asked me about it. I said, “You know, I felt like I had to say good bye to the New York fans. Thank you for your support, you know. Thanks you so much and good bye.” That’s how I felt about it.

Keller: Did it break kayfabe in a way that was damaging to business?

Hall: A lot of guys would say that, but what the fuck. I mean, I don’t know. I guess it did, right. We broke kayfabe. Wooooo! Anybody who was standing outside the arena saw the four of us drive out in a Cadillac together. We broke kayfabe. Does that mean it’s real? So now we’re saying it’s real? How can it be kayfabe if it’s real? I don’t know. There were some people who said we broke kayfabe and we were trying to hurt the business because we were leaving. First of all, it was Shawn’s idea for me to come out there. I don’t want to come out there. So he wanted me out there and he stayed. So, I don’t think it hurt kayfabe. I don’t know. Who knows?

Keller: If you knew that Hunter would end up being punished for it and that a planned King of the Ring tournament victory would be taken away, would you have changed your mind?

Hall: Well, I can’t read minds, but I’ll tell you one thing. (Steve) Austin would have never gotten pushed if that hadn’t happened.

Keller: I had that written down in my notes for this interview. I think that MSG Farewell was among the top three or four things that happened that changed the course of the industry because the WWF without Steve Austin on top to counter the hip popularity of the NWO, I don’t know that they would have made the comeback they did because I don’t know that Hunter was ready yet. So really, Hunter being knocked out of the King of the Ring was the best thing that happened to the WWF during that Monday Night War. Austin owes you a big thanks, let’s put it that way. It’s crazy how history works sometimes.

Hall: For sure. Crazy, wasn’t it.

Keller: Under what circumstances was it proposed to you that Hulk Hogan join the Outsiders, and did you see it as a self-preservation move for Hogan. The way I saw it and a lot of people saw it, you and Nash were so over at that point that if you guys feuded with Hogan, you two would have been cheered, not Hogan, because his act was stale. Did you ever see him as glomming onto you guys, or did you see it as an honor that he wanted to join your act?

Hall: Well, the Outsiders was always me and Kev. There were only two Outsiders. But no, Hulk’s the man. Anybody who ever doubts that doesn’t know anything about wrestling. Hulk made the NWO. Hulk’s the one for the big launch of wrestling. I tell you one thing that is cool about travelling through the airports. One time me and Kev are travelling through L.A., we’re walking through the airport with Hulk. We were invisible. No one even said a word to us. We walked straight to the counter. Hulk got stopped a hundred times. I mean, it’s kind of cool to not be hassled. Hulk’s the man. I don’t care where you go. You can go to any city in the world. You know what’s cool, is people who don’t know wrestling, they know Hulk.

Keller: I know that Kevin Nash and Hulk had a falling out and a period where there was tension as everyone was scrambling for the big contracts and political moves being made against each other. As you went along, did you grow to admire Hogan more than you had? Did you have preconceptions about him that were broken having been around him?

Hall: I learned a lot from Hulk on the etiquette side of business and then the business side of business. He didn’t really teach me anything in the ring. But he taught me. You know what they used to say. If you act like you’re the shit, you’re the shit. Because who’s gonna call you on it. I learned that from Hulk. I learned patience. I learned timing from Hulk. I learned to slow down from Hulk . One of my favorite, favorite moves was one time they did this thing in the ring where Giant snuck up on Hulk. And he was standing right behind Hulk. Where normally you would spin around and let the guy nail you, right? You don’t wait too long. But Hulk took it beyond the uncomfortable spot to the “what the fuck” spot to where it became movie star shit. He stood there and looked around like, “What? What? What?” And then when he turned around, the pop was ten times louder than it would have been. I stole that from Hulk and when I used to work against Kev, I used to do it against Kev. I did some of that.

Keller: How about the addition of NWO members as time went on? Did that get to be too much?

Hall: The more people you get in NWO shirts, all of a sudden they’re big deals, so all of sudden, me and Kev get more days off, if you know what I mean. So that’s the way the NWO grew. It watered it down, but we were on guaranteed contracts.

Keller: You talked about getting three raises in your first 18 months. Were those offered to you, or did you have to initiate them?

Hall: Well, we had an agent.

Keller: So you didn’t have to do the dirty work.

Hall: No, that’s the cool part about that. You just talk to creative and the other guy does the dirty work.

Keller: What was your impression of Bischoff? Had you crossed paths with him at all before?

Hall: No.

Keller: So what did you think of this brash guy who said he wanted to crush Vince McMahon and put him out of business, and that was his mission statement?

Hall: You know what I like about Eric? He’s like a guy. I’ve had fuck you fuck you conversations with Eric. But I remember one time when he wanted to put Vince out of business, it might have been Kev that said, “No, no, no, you don’t want to do that. Because then you won’t be the golden boy of TNT because if you’re not beatin’ somebody every week, who are you? We just want to beat him every week, we don’t want to put him out of business.” I think Eric’s a smart guy, dude.

Keller: Do you think that it was forces out of his control that led to the eventual downward spiral, or do you think he played a part in it? There is no doubt, as Nash talked about in his Torch Talk, that WCW when things were going well, was one big party. And everybody was having fun, including Eric Bischoff, and I think from an outsider looking in, as someone who wasn’t involved, it was real clear the wheels were coming off the cart at certain points, especially when Thunder was introduced and there was this additional programming and new babyfaces weren’t being created for the heels, and the one they had to rely on was Goldberg, and he wasn’t well-rounded. I mean, there were so many things happening, but it seems Eric’s attention wasn’t 100 percent where it needed to be in finding out what’s the next big wave.

Hall: I remember one time I was sitting there in catering at Nitro with Eric. He comes up and sits down with me and says, “Guess what? TBS wants a piece of the pie.” TNT was so red-hot, now TBS wants some of this wrestling. He goes, “They want a two hour show every Thursday.” I said, “Well, that’s more money, right?” He goes, “Is that all you ever fuckin’ think about?” I said, “Not just for me. For everybody. For the whole company.” But, I mean, what do you do when you work for this giant conglomerate and they tell you they want a show, produce a show.

Keller: Did you see any signs along the way of Eric Bischoff losing control of the situation or the inmates running the asylum in a way that he should have stepped in, a point where Vince would have stepped in? There was that time when Vince flew out to Columbus to meet the wrestlers at a house show because there was so much tension.

Hall: That was us. He came to me with the Clique. That was us.

Keller: Vince had that kind of power with wrestlers, that respect, where if things got a little out of control, he could step in and make it happen. Was it the guaranteed contracts in a sense that kind of took away Eric’s power to try to keep things in order when things did start to spin out of control a little bit.

Hall: When you start having legal rights and shit like that, it’s way different. I never felt like Eric lost control. I just felt like people over Eric’s head were asking too much from him.

Keller: Did you sense that the wrestlers during the hot run felt it was a gravy train that would never end, or did you as an astute observer of the business who had seen a lot, did you see that this couldn’t last forever the way things were going.

Hall: That’s why I asked for my money up front.
 
[quote name='tangytangerine']What do you mean, he was feuding with Taker before the injury. Are you talking about him showing up and somehow blaming the Big Show for him losing that match on Smackdown(since Show took his place at GAB)?[/QUOTE]

Yea that is what I am thinking. Big Show took his place and lost and this could be a way to get revenge.
 
Burke and Terkay are also being moved to ECW.

And I'm siding with Puder on this stuff. He's made a name for himself in MMA without the Angle deal, and he's smart to capitalize on it - which is more than can be said for WWE, and Angle won't even speak his name, but he sure will insult the guy at every turn since he was one-upped in a match where he had every advantage going in. Puder's a cocky motherfucker, but he has some reason to be - he nearly broke the arm of a gold medalist, has been on an MMA roll since then, and has his own magazine. He's certainly doing well for himself, and should be able to stay clear of the pitfalls that have destroyed Angle.

The puro DVD sampler I ordered, with
*
Kenta Kobashi, Tamon Honda & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Takeshi Morishima, Mohammed Yone & KENTA (NOAH)
*
Giant Bernard vs. Yuji Nagata (NJPW)
*
Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi [c] vs. CIMA, Don Fujii & Naruki Doi ( Dragon Gate)
*
200 Light Tubes Death Match for the BJPW Death Match Title: Takashi Sasaki vs. Naoki Numazawa (BJPW)
*
Mitsuharu Misawa/Kenta Kobashi/Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada/Akira Taue/Masa Fuchi (AJPW)
*
Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs. Toshiyo Yamada & Manami Toyota (Final Fall Only) (AJW)
*
Ebessan vs. Kushinbo Kamen (Osaka Pro)
Click to expand...

on it rules. The VQ is excellent, and it's great to have a single disc with so many styles represented on it.
 
If you consider that they're abandoning having ECW house shows by themselves, all they're doing is taking guys from SD and putting them arbitrarily on ECW. You know that they'll lose storyline continuity and have them on SD, then three weeks later on SD, then back on ECW with no explanation. ECW will be no different than Velocity, save for its own championship.

It's funny to think that they've taken the *exact same approach* to bringing back ECW that they planned on for the relaunch of WCW, yet they killed off WCW before it ever got its own show - hell, you could make the argument that they killed off the WCW relaunch the vert first night, after the Bagwell/Booker match.

Some people just don't learn from past mistakes. The similarities here are uncanny.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Some people just don't learn from past mistakes. The similarities here are uncanny.[/quote]
Except this time, it'll be more costly to WWE, especially since they struck a deal with Sci-fi for another year. So they in it until around this time next year. Where I'm sure Matt Striker will be the ECW Champion.
 
[quote name='Demolition Man']Vikings vs Patriots on Monday Night Football > TNA and WWE combined.[/QUOTE]
Not if you don't give a shit about football.
 
TNA is barely better than ECW on some weeks - let alone all of WWE. It's a shame too, since they've got two hot deals going now in Joe-Angle and LAX, and yet they haven't made any headway into snagging the mainstream with them.
 
[quote name='Brak']Where do I vote to not have a shitty main event?[/QUOTE]

Your remote control?

I can't help but feel that a lot of people are going to be upset when they find out that, by using their cell phone to vote, they've just signed up to pay $5 a month for WWE text message updates.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']http://shopzone.wwe.com/category.asp?categoryId=cat-newreleases&cid=wwe_shop_leftnav_new

And, for the trifecta: the reason the WrestleMania DVD set is out of print. They're now releasing it with WM22 as well. I got 1-21 for $92, so I don't mind being out 1 PPV for $103. Besides, the Anthology is nice packaging, but at the same time, buying the WM22 3-disc set is nicer, IMO.

I also wonder where the hell they're planning on putting the WM22 DVD, since the box that had WM21 had that disc stuffed up in the lid.[/quote]
What are the odds of them releasing a completely uncensored/unedited set, complete with old WWF logos and utterances? Is this legally impossible forever?

If so, then that's pretty depressing. I don't understand how the "WWF" ruling could apply retroactively, effectively erasing the entire WWF history. Will I never be able to watch the old shows exactly as I remember them?
 
[quote name='evilmax17']What are the odds of them releasing a completely uncensored/unedited set, complete with old WWF logos and utterances? Is this legally impossible forever?

If so, then that's pretty depressing. I don't understand how the "WWF" ruling could apply retroactively, effectively erasing the entire WWF history. Will I never be able to watch the old shows exactly as I remember them?[/QUOTE]

I don't know, but I share the sympathy with you. That's why I still have my VHS versions of WM1-14, and "WWF" originals of WM15-18 on DVD.
 
I missed what happened to Edge.

I guess i'll see it when they come back from break. I heard a thud, a cheer, and "I guess he wasn't ready". I laughed as well.
 
So, while people aren't playing the "HBK/HHH run the show" card right now, since they're out of the title scene, consider this: who have they feuded with since they came back, and where are those guys now?

Spirit Squad
Vince/Shane McMahon
Cade & Murdoch
(and sorta) The Highlanders

They haven't given *anything* to those guys, and they're all, at best, on Heat. Spirit Squad is on its way to breaking up, and nobody can argue that the tag belts mean anything. So, Randy Orton beat HHH the other week; let's see if this pans out any different than the other guys. The thing is, Orton and Edge didn't need to get a push. Everyone else, who got their ass handed to them week after week after week, did.
 
[quote name='Scorch']I missed what happened to Edge.

I guess i'll see it when they come back from break. I heard a thud, a cheer, and "I guess he wasn't ready". I laughed as well.[/QUOTE]

HHH was doing his "Are you Ready? No, I said ARE YOU READY?" and right then he knocked out Edge and pedigreed him.
 
Until WWE reaches a deal with the WWF, you won't see a new, unedited DVD release in the U.S. for PPVs. With the UK, they're limited to just using VHS masters and dumping them on DVD - they can't be enhanced in any way.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Ron Simmons = trendsetter. The sleeveless t-shirt is always classy, but when it's tucked in? You're the hottest cat in town, babe.[/quote]
Yeah, it's obvious but oh well...



DAMN!
 
[quote name='Sporadic']Cryme Tyme is the best thing to happen to the tag division in a while.

Let's just hope they don't go the way of the Spirit Squad.[/quote]

They seem pretty good so far...

I know it's part of the act, but JT G's teeth are gonna get fucked up eventually if he wears a grill during a match
 
[quote name='Sporadic']Cryme Tyme is the best thing to happen to the tag division in a while.

Let's just hope they don't go the way of the Spirit Squad.[/quote]

I honestly thought the idea of Cryme Tyme was stupid at first, but so far it is working pretty well IMO.
 
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