WWF(E) Review

[Guest Hikaru Ichijyo]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Jinzouningen17 [/i]
[B]NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! My favorite MTV reality show has been cancelled!? Come on now, thats just messed up. And I was lookin forward to a TE4. Oh well, thats alright I guess. I still have Road Rules and the Real World/Road Rules Challenge whenever they come back. :D

Anyway, as far as the rest of the rumors go, mainly on the Road Warriors thing, I heard last night that they were supposed to be makin their return on Raw this comin Monday night(I heard that before I read this). So who knows what is exactly gonna happen. We'll just have to watch Raw and find out for ourselves.
[/B][/QUOTE]

Hmm As for there not being another season of Tough enough I'm a bit disappointed since usually that was what I wateched after every smackdown. Though I suppose with the low ratings from the past two seasons and misuse of the tough enough talent for the exception of Maven and Nida that it's a smart move to cancel it. I wonder if Al Snow will still have a job with the WWE though. The only reason he was still around in the company was for tough enough.

As for the Road Warriors I heard that they will be working on the Dark Matches as a trial this week on Raw and Smackdown to see how fans react to them and also see if they have lost a step or two since their last appearence in WWE.

[GhostofSalvtore]

Now how did this topic get to the bottom, well there is some news for today.

-The following rumors come from the Informer section of WWE Magazine and should be taken as just that. While some may come true, there's no confirmation whatsoever. (All of this is written in a storyline-sense)

The Hurricane may have discovered another superhero, and it's not who you think SHE is.

Triple H has been acting strange when questioned about Goldberg, telling people, "Don't worry, it's going to happen soon. I'll let everyone know when the time is right." On the same note, Bischoff has also been acting strange.

Chris Jericho and RVD could start a program.

-Official SD Preview-
With just three days remaining until Judgment Day, you won't want to miss SmackDown!, starting at 8/7 CT Thursday night on UPN!

Sable and Torrie Wilson are slated to heat things up in a Bikini Challenge this Sunday. Will these two Playboy Magazine covergirls want to get a head start and show some skin before then? Tune in to SmackDown! on Thursday night to see what these two hot blondes reveal.

Mr. America appears determined to let nothing, not even the efforts of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, stop him. Will someone step up to tackle this patriotic Superstar at Judgment Day? Find out on SmackDown! if Mr. America will be in action this Sunday night on pay-per-view.

Also on SmackDown!, see the return of the high-flying Rey Mysterio. Mysterio, who was battered and bruised after a vicious assault by the Big Show at Backlash, has recovered and is set to charge back into the fray. Will Mysterio help WWE Champion Brock Lesnar take out the Big Show before they clash this Sunday? Tune in to SmackDown! to see what Mysterio has planned!

It's all on SmackDown! at 8/7 CT this Thursday on UPN!

What do you think about the Ms. Elizabeth death and Lex Luger?

[Galvatron]

What the hell Amazing Red that one laged kid form NWA TNA is on the Smackdown roster. Lets see how they use him, I hope it's not a freak role or some discrimination role. This is not a joke what im about to say but I hear he can hit a moonsault a damn good one.

[Nomad]

NEWS AND RUMORS FROM LAST SUNDAY

[spoiler]
News and Rumors for Sunday, May 11

Hey yo, welcome back for another edition of the news and rumors here at --------.com. It's been kind of a slow week for WWE and with it being a busy weekend for me (guess who turns the big 2-5 on Monday...me!), I was going to bail on this update but then I thought better of it, especially since I've been slacking off around here lately. Anyway, hopefully there's enough material out there for me to make this report worth reading but I guess we won't know until I start rambling. So with that said, here are the weekend news and rumors...

WWE presented its weekly Raw program on Monday live from Halifax, Nova Scotia and for the most part, I enjoyed the show. For a change, I thought the positives clearly outweighed the negatives though as always, there was some stuff that turned into a disaster. Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff experienced their first day as co-GMs and as expected, they had several mini confrontations that served and delivered as almost comedic and/or humorous purposes, something that has been missing from Raw as of late. Even though it's a storyline we've seen time and time again, Austin was brilliant in his new role and despite my initial reservations of how effective he will be in a non-wrestling capacity, I think he can really boost the "entertainment" aspect of Raw. Meanwhile, Triple H and Kevin Nash had a long and extremely boring fight segment which was so brutal that the fans either booed Nash or stayed silent. Other highlights saw Jim Ross return as the Raw play-by-play commentator, Chief Morley get fired, more problems in the Scott Steiner/Test relationship and the in-ring TV debut of La Resistance. If you need results, check out the Raw Report.

WWE Smackdown! on Thursday was another sub-standard show with just too much focus on the Mr. America storyline which now seemingly includes Stephanie McMahon in it as well. Though it was not suggested either way, it seems as if they are building towards another Hogan/McMahon clash, which is surprising since the first one at Wrestlemania didn't set the world on fire. Nothing else of extraordinary significance happened, though two of Smackdown!'s better performers in Chris Benoit and John Cena jobbed to Big Show and Rhyno, respectively. The rest of the show was littered with ongoing angles including Sable, Torrie Wilson, Team Angle and Los Guerreros. If you want a quick recap of this show, head on over and read the Smackdown! Report.

Ratings for both Raw and Smackdown! are in and it was the typical results which most everyone expected. Raw fell to a 3.5 composite rating, down from the 3.9 the show drew a week earlier. Of course, that can be explained by the fact that the show two weeks ago was the night after a PPV whereas now we're just plodding along towards Judgment Day. Still, a 3.5 has to be disheartening to WWE as Goldberg is now firmly on the roster and Steve Austin is back. However, I've said this before and I'll say it again - ratings for Raw won't just turn around overnight; instead, it will be a gradual process so the only way to evaluate WWE's progress is to compare ratings of today to whatever the show will pull over the summer. As for Smackdown!, it ended up generating a 3.2 broadcast rating, pretty much the same as what it's done for the past month or so. Weekend ratings didn't fare too badly as Sunday Night Heat jumped to a 1.2, while Velocity and Confidential drew a 0.8 and 0.6, respectively.

Let's start with the good on Raw - the Steve Austin/Eric Bischoff exchanges that were dispersed throughout the program, culminating with Austin's beer bash. Like I said before, this type of a storyline has been done numerous times before and most recently with Ric Flair and Vince McMahon as co-owners but based on what happened on Raw, it still has a lot of promise probably because both Austin and Bischoff have strong, conflicting personalities. Austin for his part isn't going to be wrestling any time soon and that has been well documented. His neck is in such bad shape that even one match could seriously and permanently damage it beyond repair. He won't just come out and make it official by saying "yes, Wrestlemania was the last time I will ever wrestle" which leaves open the possibility that somewhere down the road, he could return for a big money-making match (against Goldberg perhaps?) but the fact remains that he will exclusively work out of his GM role until further notice. I mentioned this last week, but it's a perfect role for Austin because wrestling has always been only one part of his character. What makes him so popular with the fans is his attitude and aura and as GM, he is still able to convey that - through interviews or even physical encounters as needed. On Raw, we saw Austin spend the whole show butting heads with Bischoff, while also bringing back fan favorite Jim Ross and giving Jonathan Coachman a Stunner for good measure. I think as long as he does that and continues to be "involved" on Raw, he will be effective.

Goldberg meanwhile has no real opponent as of this time as the Rock has taken a leave of absence once again and no one credible has really stepped up to challenge him. So what they're doing right now is feeding Goldberg all those mid-carders who he can just destroy match in and match out as his character continues to build in anticipation of bigger, more important feuds. Though it hasn't really been touched upon, I don't expect Goldberg to be in a one-on-one match where he'll get a challenge. In other words, I see him wrestling Christian or maybe involved in handicap match (or perhaps even tagging with Booker T) against Three Minute Warning - something that will allow him to get the pin and show off his dominant abilities. If you ask me, this is what they should have done BEFORE he wrestled Rock because let's face it, this is how Goldberg became a phenom in the old WCW. Instead, they just brought him in with minimal fanfare and just expected the fans to buy into the Goldberg name which wasn't a realistic expectation because a) oldschool WWE fans are conditioned to hate WCW superstars and b) the wrestling audience turns frequently and there are so many people out there who have no idea who Goldberg is, especially after a two-plus year absence. Anyway, it is expected that maybe as early as June, Goldberg will move onto feud with Chris Jericho or Triple H - just in time for the brand exclusive PPV "Badd Blood".

Oh yeah, I just want to comment on the ending Raw segment that saw Goldberg and Steve Austin interract, namely on whether it was a smart move to do this. People who argue that it was stupid likely are either holding out hope that Austin and Goldberg will feud in the near future or want Goldberg to be a doesn't-have-any-friends, solo type guy. In reference to the first reason, just read the paragraph above - Austin isn't going to wrestle and this surely played into the decision to keep him on Raw and to have him befriend Goldberg if you will. As for the second point, WWE has already killed the theory that Goldberg has no friends as he's already had pointless little segments with Goldust, Booker T, etc.. In a way, having him in the same ring as Austin further validates his face role because Austin doesn't have beer with any ol' wrestler. So bottom line, I didn't have a problem with the segment at all and I actually liked it as it gave off an almost surreal feeling - Austin and Goldberg in the same ring for the very first time.

Moving on, the Triple H/Kevin Nash brawl bombed bigtime with the live audience though it's unclear exactly why. One reason could be the obvious - Kevin Nash is hardly suitable for the top face role in the company and the fans just aren't and can't get behind him in a program against Triple H, who is much easier to cheer for. The second could be that the show was in Canada and just moments before, Nash had man-handled and chucked Chris Jericho away which could have made many of the proud Canadians angry - weird I know, but it happens. Either way, the segment ran wayyyy too long and really served no purpose other than to try and put heat on their feud and upcoming match, neither of which was accomplished. Despite the negative reaction (mainly towards Nash), WWE is going ahead with this as the Raw main event for Judgment Day and there is serious backstage talk that Kevin Nash could actually come out of the PPV with the championship. From my understanding, there's a ton of backstage politics in play here (mainly on the part of Triple H and Nash) who are lobbying to get their feud extended for at least a month more. Triple H is reportedly lobbying to get his program with Goldberg pushed to the fall as he feels as if Goldberg isn't yet ready to challenge him for the title. Whether this happens or not remains to be seen, but I have a feeling that they may have succeeded in convincing Vince McMahon and I point to the finish of the Backlash six-man match as supporting this theory. Originally, the finish was supposed to be Nash pinning Triple H, thus setting up their Judgment Day match where Triple H would retain his title. Instead, Triple H pinned Nash which would indicate to me that it will be Nash going over Triple H at Judgment Day because it will probably be argued that Nash needs the win. Then from there, they will probably end up having another rematch where Triple H will regain his belt before heading off to feud with Goldberg.

Speaking of backstage politics, here's another one that I'm sure will come into play - who will be the first to pin Goldberg. Triple H will likely push very hard to be the guy to do it, but the Rock will also be angling to be the one as well. This is just my theory, but this may explain why the Rock is rumored to be returning later this year now instead of early next year as originally expected. Maybe he thinks that if he waits until next year, the luster surrounding beating Goldberg will have worn off, especially if Triple H beats him to the punch so to speak...

WWE via Steve Austin announced this Monday that they are bringing back the Intercontinental championship at Judgment Day. The belt will be awarded to the winner of a battle royal comprised of former Intercontinental champions of which only Chris Jericho is confirmed. There's a bunch of other possibilities of wrestlers to take part in the match including Test, Rob Van Dam, Kane and Lance Storm (all of whom are on the Raw roster right now) but there's also expected to be some returnees and Billy Gunn was one guy mentioned though, reports now indicate that he will be remaining on the Smackdown! brand. Nonetheless, the decision to bring back the IC title is a long time coming in my opinion as it will at least give the mid-card guys something of a purpose. Right now, there's no point in getting behind youngsters like Hurricane or Test or even Scott Steiner because it's almost automatically assumed that they will never win the World title that Triple H currently wears. The only potential downside to the move is that the IC belt has been cheapened so much over the years that the risk is there that the fans and even WWE management will treat it like crap, much like they do to the other secondary titles currently being competed for.

Over on Smackdown!, Mr. America continues to play a pivotal role on TV storylines to the point where he is arguably the central figure on the show, even moreso than WWE champion Brock Lesnar. The latest development has seen Hulk Hogan deny being Mr. America though Vince McMahon, after seeing him in person for a second time, refuses to believe him. Their shenanigans led to Stephanie McMahon getting physically harmed which I guess means she's going to be the one in the middle of this struggle. I mentioned something last week about how WWE could move this along "Blue Blazer" lines in that when Mr. America does get unmasked, it will be revealed to be someone other than Hulk Hogan. After watching Smackdown! this week, it seems like this could still happen but obviously this is all headed in the direction of Vince vs. Hogan, part two. As for Stephanie, recent rumors have indicated that she's been pushing to get more involved on Smackdown! from a storyline perspective. She actually got behind an idea that would have seen her involved in a side storyline with Sable and even though this doesn't look like it will happen, perhaps the angle with Vince and Mr. America is the first step in making her a regular Smackdown! character. Does the show really need Stephanie McMahon to spark ratings? My answer is an emphatic no, but she's the head writer and the owner's daughter so it doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks. Stephanie's character, as far as I am concerned, has been all downhill ever since Triple H got the plug pulled on the love triangle storyline that also involved Kurt Angle.

Other Raw thoughts...so Chief Morley was fired by both Austin and Bischoff on Raw; this probably means he'll be returning to the Smackdown! brand though I think there is an outside chance he could resort to the Val Venis character and enter the Intercontinental title tournament...it looks like WWE is going ahead with a Test/Steiner feud with Test likely the one turning heel and losing Stacy Keibler as his girlfriend in the process; if you ask me, I'd much rather see Steiner turn heel as he's already burned out as a face...I still think the APA will be returning to WWE soon to feud with the newly debuted La Resistance...why on earth is WWE hellbent on changing Goldberg's character? First they had him in a comedic segment with Goldust, then they totally killed his music and now they have gotten rid of the blank trunks that he wore in WCW - is it Vince's preoccupation of hating everything WCW-related?...Austin stunning Coach seemed a bit weird to me, because Coach has always played a face role while on TV - does it mean that Austin will give the Stunner to anyone he wants to do it to or is it just a way for Coach to join Theodore Long and gang?...

Other Smackdown! thoughts...a bikini match between Sable and Torrie, what's the point when everyone has seen both of them naked before...a couple readers asked me about this and I guess it's worth mentioning it here - if Vince is paying Hogan to sit at home and Stephanie signed Mr. America to a contract, does it mean Hulk Hogan is getting paid two salaries?...I don't know where the Legion of Doom will wrestle (if they even are signed, that is), but what exactly will LOD bring to the table? Their last tenure as the LOD 2000 was a complete disaster, confirming to everyone that they are way past their prime... Chris Benoit is being buried on Smackdown!; he wasn't on last month's PPV and it's getting dangerously close to the point where he won't have a match at Judgment Day either. So sad...

I guess we can just about kill any hope of Lex Luger appearing in WWE over the summer as police found an abudance of illegal drugs in his home while investigating the death of Elizabeth Hulette. Luger was released from jail on bail but he will no doubt be in some serious legal trouble over this, including spending some time in jail. Even if WWE was considering hiring him before this fiasco, it's awfully doubtful that they still want to sign him - at least not until he gets all his personal matters sorted out. I may come off sounding like a callous ***, but this is actually good news (as far as WWE goes) because they don't need a Lex Luger working for them at this moment. Meanwhile, the inquiry into the death of Miss Elizabeth continues. Nothing official has still been released, but conflicting reports continue to surface about the cause of her death. Most recently, details of Lex Luger's 911 call yielded more insight as it appeared Elizabeth started choking on some food. Whether this leads to the reason she died remains to be seen, but we'll find out more in about a month or so.

Even though Lex Luger may not be in their plans, WWE is looking to bring in some more people, perhaps as early as Judgment Day. The first is the Ultimo Dragon, who has already signed his WWE contract, though the promotion is not acknowledging it. Dragon has already informed the Japanese media of his signing and impending departure and he's also told people that he will be wrestling at the upcoming WWE PPV. However, reports are now indicating that he will be backstage meeting with the other wrestlers, road agents and officials but won't be on the card. I guess this implies that he could make an appearance in a non-wrestling role, but they may want to wait until Smackdown! to do that. Though nothing has been confirmed, Ultimo Dragon is strongly rumored to be joining the Smackdown! brand with a good possibility being that he enters into a storyline with Rey Mysterio, whether it be on his side or against him. His debut will probably signal another try by WWE to make the Cruiserweight division work, but count me as one of the people who believes it will never amount to anything. It will probably always just be there off to the side, but when WWE makes Mysterio job to Big Show, it doesn't help the credibility of the division or the small wrestlers at all. The Legion of Doom will also be getting a tryout next week at either Raw or Smackdown! after which it will be decided whether to formally offer them contracts.

A report from the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter indicates that the real reason Jeff Hardy was released from WWE was because he recently failed his second drug test. That wasn't the exact reason he was fired, but reportedly WWE asked him to check into a rehab clinic for his problem(s) but Jeff refused which basically ended up forcing WWE's hand into terminating his contract. With that said, there are some conflicting stories regarding Jeff's contractual status, namely whether he can wrestle for another promotion or not. Some believe that WWE will argue in court that because he was released, he should be artifically bound to the company until his old contract expires while Jeff's lawyers will probably assume that his release for all intents and purposes makes him a free agent. It could end up being a moot point because Jeff apparently has no interest wrestling for any other promotion except WWE and the belief is that if he gets his act together and takes the rehab, WWE will not hesitate in resigning him to a contract. As has been stated before, Jeff was no main-eventer for WWE but the company viewed him as a very valuable talent because of his ability to cater to the rare teenaged female demographic.

Well that does it. Nothing important to say here so enjoy the rest of the weekend and all that other stuff that I usually say here. Later[/spoiler]

NOW FOR DIFFERENT MISC. NEWS

[spoiler]
Submitted by Richard on May 17, 2003 at 11:23 PM

The following tidbits come re-written from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter. Subscription details and prices can be obtained at pwtorch.com.


For those who missed the announcement earlier this week, MTV has chose not to renew Tough Enough?s contract for a fourth season. The deadline to renew or pass on the show was this month and MTV executives have decided to let it pass due to creative conflicts with WWE producers. TNN is the frontrunner to pick up on the show since WWE does own the rights to Tough Enough, however, the show?s future is definitely up in the air. Lead trainer Al Snow will remain as a commentator on Sunday Night Heat until a decision is made.

Judgment Day is live tomorrow night on PPV and many backstage in WWE have to hope that the event does better than last month?s Backlash PPV which is said to have done 250,000 buys at most. These numbers have caused panic in the WWE executive offices as sources within the cable industry suspect that Judgment Day will do less than 200,000 buys. These numbers are getting close to the 150,000 buys the WCW events were doing before the company finally sunk.

While things are not the best financially in WWE, they continue their cutbacks after laying off between 10 and 15 employees the past few weeks. WWE has hired a new v.p. in charge of marketing who has already had to watch carefully as an astonishing 20 percent of his staff has already been let go. It should also be noted that WWE has eliminated their investor relations department.


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Submitted by Richard on May 16, 2003 at 1:52 PM

The following tidbits come re-written from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter. Subscription details and prices can be obtained at pwtorch.com.


Nothing new to report coming out of the Sting/WWE negotiations, one source has openly said that the job is Sting?s if he wants it. Talks continue between the two parties, however, no one is quite sure how serious things are.

Contradicting previous reports, Nathan Jones will not be sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling for additional training. WWE is holding Jones out until Undertaker returns from his recent elbow surgery. The current plan is for Jones to turn heel and feud with Taker.

Vince McMahon was reported to have been so upset with Big Show for not taking care of Rey Mysterio during the violent segment on Backlash he would not even talk to the Big Show afterwards. The original plan for the segment called for Show to slam Mysterio into the ringpost and simply lean the stretcher against the ring apron. Instead, Show chose to drop Mysterio face first while his hands were strapped into the stretcher, giving Mysterio no protection. Nevertheless, Mysterio was not made at the Big Show who apologized repeatedly. Rey is expected to be back shortly to continue the feud with Big Show.


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Submitted by ----- on May 15, 2003 at 4:24 AM

The following news and rumors are re-written from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Subscription information & prices available at wrestlingobserver.com.

- Ultimo Dragon officially starts with WWE on May 18. Reportedly, the reason he has signed with WWE is because he wants to accomplish two of his lifelong goals: wrestling at Madison Square Garden and being a part of Wrestlemania. Obviously if he is at Wrestlemania XX next year, he'll accomplish both of those goals.

- According to backstage sources, Stephanie McMahon's role in writing isn't as significant as it's made out to be and she ends up taking more criticism than is justified. Apparently, every segment on both Raw and Smackdown! are approved and directed by Vince McMahon, whereas Stephanie is more of an "administrator" of the writing staff and the meetings.

- The rumor right now is that Goldberg will not wrestle again until the Badd Blodd PPV in June where he would face Chris Jericho. That match would then build towards Summerslam where Goldberg is speculated to be wrestling against Triple H, however, there is still thought being given to move Triple H/Goldberg to Badd Blood instead.

[i]Source: Re-written from The Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Subscription information & prices available at wrestlingobserver.com[/i]


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Submitted by Richard on May 14, 2003 at 4:23 PM

The following is the complete match listing for Sunday?s Judgment Day PPV:

-HHH vs. Kevin Nash w/ Flair & HBK in the corners for RAW title

-Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show in stretcher match for SmackDown title

-Mr. America Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

-IC title Battle Royal w/ Storm, Y2J, RVD, Christian, Kane, Test, Booker T, & Goldust

-Team Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero & ???

-Torrie Wilson vs. Sable in a bikini contest

-Chris Benoit & Spanky & Rhyno vs. Chuck Palumbo & Johnny Stamboli & John Cena

-Test & Scott Steiner vs. Sylvan Grenier & Rene Dupree

-Fatal four-way match for womens title with Jazz, Trish, Victoria, and Jacqueline[/spoiler]

[Schrat]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Galvatron [/i]
[B]What the hell Amazing Red that one laged kid form NWA TNA is on the Smackdown roster. Lets see how they use him, I hope it's not a freak role or some discrimination role. This is not a joke what im about to say but I hear he can hit a moonsault a damn good one. [/B][/QUOTE]

The one legged wrestler from SD is Tenacious Z, not Amazing Red. Amazing red is the X-division Champ from TNA, an astonishing sruiserweight, I wish WWE would notice him and pick him up.

[GotenksSSJ343]

Did you people see Raw when RVD and Kane faced Road Warriors for the Tag titles. NO it's not a spoiler but it was on a Raw last week I think.

Oh a quick question anyone Know the artist and name of Spankys entrance song.

[Schrat]

Hey guys, theres suposivle a new theme and entrence vid to SD tonite, make sure you catch it!

[GotenksSSJ343]

Yup it was awesome interesting how they changed it.

[GhostofSalvtore]

New and other things for RAW-
-* Last night in Houston, WWE aired a promotional piece for Bad Blood at the beginning of RAW before any of the new matches had been announced for the event. In the piece, they said that Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff would be facing off in a ?Redneck Triathlon" at Bad Blood. Now as to what that will be is still unknown, but this definitely sheds some more light on what Bischoff was talking to Austin about backstage at RAW last night.

-During Raw, there was some guy with a sign that said "Jimmy" and had an arrow pointing to him. During the commercials he'd hold it up, and half the arena chanted "Jimmy Sucks!" Then at one point he stood up, got booed, and had the girl next to him stand up. She got cheers. Then she sat down, and everyone booed. Then after a while he and the girl coaxed another girl to stand up, and she got cheers. The two girls got cheers, sat down, and the fans booed. It was pretty entertaining during the commercials.

After Richards and Victoria got in the ring, Trish's music played for a while. I'm not sure if it was on TV or not. But it played for about a minute before Val Venis's music started.

Trish came out during a commercial break right after the Stevie Richards and Val Venis match. She got one of the best pops of the night.

Before the Flag Match, someone took Jimmy's sign and ran around the ground level with it. That got a loud pop and a lot of laughter. People booed when he gave Jimmy the sign back.

Right after Orton, Flair and Triple H left, one of the Navy guys in the arena gave Nash his white cap. Either that, or someone threw it at Nash. didn't catch it, just saw Nash walking around the ring with it.

After Goldust's match with Christian, he walked along the ground floor to the right side of the Titantron and held his hand out for the fans, walking along the ground floor. It was really classy of him.

After Booker T's match, he stayed in the ring until the backstage promo was off, then walked to the back.

Biggest babyface pops of the night:
1) Goldberg.
2) Nash's save.
3) Flair and HBK at the beginning. (People were WOOing all the way to the parking lot)
4) Stacy Kiebler any time she bent over.
5) Trish's quick appearance. (The guy stealing Jimmy's sign was close, though)


Most heel heat:
1) Triple H
2) Jericho when he maced Goldberg.
3) Rico
4) La Resistance. (They brought out a lot of USA chants)
5) Bischoff's "burgeoning metropolis" line really, really pissed off the crowd. (Jimmy gets honorable mention.)

-he Following is from WWE.com:

RAW is live this Monday night from San Diego, Calif., airing at 9/8 CT on TNN.

Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel has only been around for a few weeks, but it's already lived up to its name. Jericho has announced that his guest this week will be none other than The Rock! What will the "Great One" have to say? Find out this Monday night!

Plus, Jericho ran like a scalded dog to get away from Goldberg after spraying him in the eyes and blinding him last week. Will Goldberg catch up with Jericho this week? You can bet he'll be on the hunt.

Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff are competing to put on a fantastic Bad Blood show -- and the fans are turning out to be the true winners! We already know that we'll see the co-GMs in competition, a Hell in a Cell, an Intercontinental Title Match, a Tag Team Championship encounter, Chris Jericho vs. Goldberg and more! What else will Austin and Bischoff announce for the show? What exactly will be the competition that these two GMs engage in?

There were also several unanswered questions coming out of last week's RAW. For example, why would Christopher Nowinski (a white boy) help Rodney Mack and Theodore Long? And why would Test put Stacy Keibler into harm's way? Perhaps we'll find out this Monday night on RAW, airing at 9/8 CT on The New TNN

[Nomad]

[color=darkblue][size=5]SMACKDOWN! SPOILERS[/size][/color]


WWE Smackdown! Spoilers
Anaheim, CA

Report by: Chris R., r----------- reader
[spoiler]
Smackdown.......

Pipers Pit starts us off as Rowdy Piper and O'Haire come down to the ring and Piper doesnt waste any time as he talks bout his guest tonight who is truly special he knows he pulled his leg off a few weeks ago as Zack Gowen is his guest tonight and he introduces him but out comes the Chairman of the WWE Vince McMahon with his strut to the ring and he gets the microphone and says tonight he is gonna make a change for teh better and hes gonna start rightnow he Introduces Zack Gowen to the ring being accompanied by Mr. America, Vince says hes gonna offer Zack something he's wanted and thats a chance to become a WWE Superstar.. Next Week in Orlando, Florida Vince McMahon will represent the WWE in a Arm Wrestling Contest, Vince states that if his arm is pinned down Then Zack has himself a WWE Contract, Mr.America gets the mic and says he would glady accept the challenge to represent Zack, Vince doesnt think so and says Its gonna be Vince McMahon against Zack Gowen in a Arm Wrestling Contest, Vince looks at Zack and says you do have 2 arms dont you.. Mr. America stares at O'Haire when Piper goes behind gowen and Vince pushes Zack backwards and he trips over Piper's body as the 3 heels run for freedom as Mr America helps Zack.

Hype of Angle's Return showing The Time Angle gave ECW/WCW A Milk Bath

Chuck Pulumbo w/Nunzio/Stamboli vs The Undertaker
Taker gains control early taking it right to Pulumbo, Taker hit the Old School, his DDT before He is knocked out of the ring and attacked by Nunzio and Stamboli, Taker makes it back into the ring and Delivers a Chokeslam for the victory. After the match Stamboli and Nunzio triple team the Undertaker, Taker tries to fight back almost delivering a Last Ride to i believe Nunzio when Pulumbo Hits the SuperKick to the Undertaker, Stamboli and Pulumbo hold the Undertaker while Nunzio gets a chair but gets kicked inthe face by the undertaker and gets free and clears the ring on his own.
Winner by Pinfall The Undertaker

Non-Title Match:
The Basham Brothers vs Tajiri & Eddie Guerrero
Eddie and Tajiri come out riding in style once again i couldn't make out on what kinda car it was but it was nice from what i can see of it. Typical type of Tag Match Tajiri really looked good tonight hitting all his spots Eddie locked One of the Brothers in the Tree of Woe when Eddie delivered his Frog Splash to the other brother who was lying in the ring Tajiri nailed the Kick of Death for the Victory.
Winners by PinFall Tajiri and Eddie Guerrero

KURT Angle Returns
Kurt Angle's Music hits and here comes the Chants, Half the Crowd is Cheering and Half the crowd still said You Suck, You Suck Angle made his way down to the ring and stood in the ring as the Crowd Was excited to see him back, Angle gets the mic and says he never thought he would say this but play my music again i miss hearing that, Meaning he missed The You Suck Chants, His Music plays again and the crowd goes right back to the You Suck Chants, Angle then says something when some of the Crowd Yells What? Angle says he misses that too so After every pause from Angle there would be a What Chant in the arena. Angle then goes on to say how he thought he would never wrestle again and that while he was in the hospital there was one man who visited him and one man who kept calling him to see how he was doing, He was bout to call that man out when The Big Show comes out and walks to the ring and gets a mic and says You can have the crowd behind you and appreciate you being back, But The Big Show states he doesnt give a damn that your back, Big Show backs Angle into the corner as he talks to Angle saying rightnow isnt that time to want a Title shot cause Next Week Big Show will defeat Brock and you wont want to face me.. Angle then reaches into his pocket and asks the Big Show if he has heard of one of these, Their Breathe Pieces you stick them in your mouth, Big Show wants Angle to be serious, Angle stands on the top apron and states The Last time I fought you Big Show i beat your ***, You Over Growned Size Ape, Big Show chokes Angle with his Right Hand when Brock Lesnars Music Hits the P.A He makes his way down to the ring and into the Ring as Big Show slowly gets out of the ring to a big chant of boos, Brock stares at Big Show went Angle from behind taps Lesnar and he looks back and stares at Angle, As Angle says he easy big fellow, I didnt need your help but putting that aside he wanted to Thank Brock for all the calls he and concerns he had for him and his family while Angle was in the Hospital, The Two Shake Hands and Raise each other hand up as Angle leaves.

John Cena vs Chris Benoit
This Match sorry to say i got up and bought me a F5 T-Shirt lol, and i didnt see most of this match but at the End Rhyno came down and instead of hitting Cena he got Benoit in the head and Cena rolled Benoit up for the 3 Count.
Winner By Pinfall John Cena

Mixed Tag Team Match
Rikishi and Torrie Wilson vs Jamie knoble and Nidia Knoble goes right to Rikishi who takes him out then Nidia goes right in the face of Rikishi as Rikishi just pushings her down and Torrie starts things off, The Two Eventually tag the guys in and Work from there with Rikishi getting the upper hand Rikishi throws Jamie into the corner hitting Nidia who falls down in the corner as he knocks Knoble out of the ring, RIkishi turns around and says its time to Back that *** up and Nidia gets the Stink Face, Torrie then delivers her swinging neckbreaker for the 3 count and the Win, After that Rikishi and Torrie dance for the crowd.
Winners by PinFall Torrie Wilson and Rikishi

In the back Rey is Interviewed for his upcoming match and talks bout how he is here now and that its not bout his groin injury, Eddie Guerrero shows up and says he came to wish his fellow buddy good luck and they talk in Spanish and then at the end Eddie says dont even think bout coming back to the locker room essay with the Gold man.

Also Stephanie is shown walking back to her office where Vince is seen just coming out of it, Steph says hanging out in my office again huh Dad? Steph says if you dont give Zack a Contract, then I Will.. Vince says if you do give him a contract your fired. Vince says Steph needs a assistant and he found that person, Vince tells Steph to follow him into her office so she can meet her new Assistant, Vince introdcues Steph to Sable, Sable is Now the new assistant of Stephanie McMahon. Steph says what is she doing here? Steph asks what qualifications does she have and Vince Says plenty, Steph goes on to remind Vince of what Sable did the WWE A few years back sewing the company for Sexual Harrassment, Vince says yea that was the past and this is now. Vince leaves and Sable gets up from the desk and just stares at Steph.

CrusierWeight Championship
Rey Mysterio vs Champion Matt Hardy w/Crash and Shannon
This match was really awesome as the action went back and forth, Eventually causing Crash adn Shannon to be thrown out by the ref when they attacked Rey Mysterio after being throw out of the ring. Rey delivered his own Twist of Fate to Matt Hardy for only a 2 count, then Matt hardy did his version of a rock bottom from the top rope after he reversed a move from Mysterio, Mysterio then hit the 619, Then Matt hardy was going for the Twist of Fate when Mysterio rolled him up and got the 3 count, Rey Mysterio has Won the CrusierWeight Championship and celebrates by bringing in his Son into the ring and picks up and celebrates. After then going to his wife who was in attendance and kisses her and his little daughter in Celebration.
Winner and New CrusierWieght Champion Rey Mysterio.
[/spoiler]



Now on a more serious note; Freddy Blassie

- Reader Michael from Richmond, VA sent this in:

I was searcing the internet earlier today and came across an obituary/article from the Los Angeles Times. It talks about his career in the wrestling
industry.

[b]Freddie Blassie, the silver-maned wrestler with a voice from the depths of
the earth who made himself a hero to mat fans in the 1950s and '60s by playing
the villain, has died. He was 85.

Blassie, who became a cult figure outside the ring and starred with comedian
Andy Kaufman in "My Breakfast With Blassie," died of heart failure June 2 in
Hartsdale, N.Y., according to Jeff Walton, a onetime wrestling publicist in Los
Angeles who knew Blassie well.

A fierce competitor in the ring known for unorthodox methods and a penchant
for bloodletting, Blassie was verbose and boastful. Fans might recall his
interviews with local announcer Dick Lane in which he would proclaim his vast
superiority over a number of lesser opponents, branding them all "pencil-neck
geeks." Those colorful interviews helped make him a celebrity in the newly
expanding medium of television.

Born Fred Blassman in St. Louis, Blassie played baseball and football in high
school. He also reportedly excelled as a boxer. He joined the Navy at the
start of World War II and started wrestling initially under the name of Sailor
Fred Blassie while stationed at Port Hueneme.

After the war, Blassie returned to the Midwest and continued wrestling
professionally. Using a variety of names, he wrestled the top performers of the day
including Lou Thesz and Gorgeous George, but did not reach their level of
popularity.

After a move to the West Coast, he tried a different promotional scheme ?
that of a villain. The nastier he was in the ring, the more popular he became to
fans on the other side of the ropes.

Sportswriter Jim Murray called him "the worst villain since Hitler" in a 1961
column in The Times.

Blassie, Murray wrote, "has dedicated his life to wrapping up as much hate as
one man can safely carry in a lifetime. As a result he has wrought something
of a revolution in the unmanly art of exhibition wrestling."

That revolution ? making the villain the hero ? put fans in the seats and
money in Blassie's pocket.

He won the WWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from French star
Edouard Carpentier at the L.A. Sports Arena in 1961. According to Walton,
Blassie's biggest achievement came Aug. 27, 1971, when he met and defeated Canadian
wrestler "Golden Greek" John Tolos at the Coliseum before 25,000 wrestling fans.

Blassie held various regional titles, Walton said, including the WWA World
Title on five separate occasions, the Americas' Heavyweight Title nine times and
tag team belts with various partners over the years.

By the 1970s, Blassie had relocated to the East Coast where he successfully
pursued his mat career. He was popular in Japan as well.

He retired from competition in the late 1970s to manage a new generation of
gladiators such as Hulk Hogan.

Blassie did not just fade away after he left the ring. He worked for Vince
McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation, now known as World Wrestling
Entertainment. He did an advice segment on the "Tuesday Night Titans" TV program,
made personal appearances and did radio interviews.

The film "My Breakfast With Blassie," which came out in 1983, was a spoof of
"My Dinner With Andre." The camera followed Blassie and Kaufman as they ate
and discussed life at a local restaurant that looked like a Denny's.

Blassie is survived by his wife, Miyako, and three children.

Funeral services will be held at noon Friday at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church
in Scarsdale, N.Y.[/b]

[G/S/B Master]

That...sucked. ( Yes I do still watch wrestling) Smackdown is getting boring. Hopefully next Smackdown, it'll make up.

[Galvatron]

Oh My Gawd , Oh My Gawd ! What the blue hell was that main event on Smackdown WWE was stupit for pulling that stunt with the ring breaking. Now Brock and Show could really be hurt why would WWE do some stunt like that. Well im glad Billy Gunn is back as Mr.*** not as the One and Only or gay Billy.

[Shinmaru]

Yeah, Billy Gunn is back! Hopefully, he'll be as awesome as he was in the glory days of the New Age Outlaws.

[G/S/B Master]

Right now, he's known as Billy Gunn, not Mr.*****.

That Imploding Ring made my Dad frozen for a while. I was traumatized too.... But jeez, that must've hurt, like extreme pain. My god, hopefully Brock Lesnar survives. Kurt angle finally turned his back on Team angle. Hahhahhaa.

[Shinmaru]

That imploding ring scared the crap out of me too...looked a little too real to be scripted. I hope Lesnar and Big Show are okay, because Smackdown's struggling enough without them being injured. And Kurt Angle's finally going back on his own! [spoiler]The U.S. Title is coming back too! Hopefully, it'll give people like Chris Benoit (who's been getting really buried on Smackdown lately) something to do.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]But Matt Hardy Version 1.0 lost...not that I hate Rey Mysterio, but Matt Hardy is one of my favorites.[/spoiler]

[Outlaw]

Well, Bad Blood came and went, and the show was stolen by the limosene ridin, jet flyin, wheelin-deelin, kiss stealin Natcha Boy Rick Flair, WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The match between Flair and HBK was phenominal, with more high flying, big bumpin action that even the Hell in a Cell.

Speaking of which, it had to be the WORST HIAC EVER! It was like the Jericho-HHH HIAC only slower, and with no big bumps, and no real excitement. Infact, the only reason I compare the two is b/c HHH was in both of them.

The Goldberg-Jericho match was a pretty high quality match, but nothing worth 40 bucks there. The crowd was falling asleep during the match. Either Goldberg needs to earn some fan backing soon or start feuding with Rico.

[Guest Musahi]

Well I myself am a huge wrestling fan, but lately the WWE has been putting so much **** out I pretty much stopped watching. Ever since the NWO was brought in the storylines have been horrible and the crowd has been worse.

Last night RAW was pretty entertaining, but I hated the ending. [spoiler]It seemed so stupid when Kane picked Stone Cold up, and then put him down. What on earth would make him want to do that? [/spoiler] Even though this probably wont happen I really want [spoiler]RVD[/spoiler] to become a new member of Evolution. I think it would be a really interesting angle.

:shifty: ECW will always be the best...

[Outlaw]

The way I see it, there are two ways they could go with this story line.

1)Have Kane beat HHH, though I know theres no way Trips would let it happen.

2)Have Kane job to HHH, but when he unmasks, his face will be fine. He'll join Evolution, showing that he and Trips made a deal that in return for jobbing to HHH, HHH and Flair got Kane plastic surgery. I'm betting on the latter, as they have been hint to kanes unmaking for years now, and I say its about time.

[Nomad]

[FONT=arial][color=darkblue]SMACKDOW! TAPINGS

By: Thom Buenaseda, --------.com reader

[/color][color=black][b][spoiler]Undertaker V Nunzio (w/ the FBI)
Pay attention to this match, a VERY cool thing is coming up. Some "member of this club" got a very freaky haircut *cough*BRADSHAW*cough* Ok, I won't tease any more. Mr. Army-Hospital and Mr. Change-His-Name have been reunited! Yep, the only good thing about this match was that the 2 peeps we like to call Bradshaw and Farooq are back! NEXT WEEK: The Undertaker & APA V The FBI. Should be good... Yeah, right. Just cause of the APA.

Zach/Sable backstage promo...Part I
This "promo" is really not for the weak of stomach. Zach is looking for Steph, so he finally finds her office, but Steph ain't there. Sable is though. She invites him
in, but he says he'd rather wait outside. Sable asks him if he's afraid to be alone
inthe same room with a real woman. (I then shouted "THERE'S NO REAL WOMEN IN THERE!" Yeah, the whole plastic thing really came in handy there. lol) He finally gave in and went in.

Chris Beniot V Rhyno
Well, we find out where Steph is. She's out announcing the U.S. Title tourney. Yes, I said Tourney, as in Tournament. I was like, "Damn!" Too many tourneys on SD! Well, the first match is Chris Beniot V Rhyno. I'm kinda wondering who's making the turn because Beniot was acting all face-ish and Rhyno was totally Heel-y. Well, Rhyno finally taps out to the crossface. Oh, yeah. Listen for another "Go Spurs Go!" chant during this match.

Zach/Sable backstage promo...Part II
Well, we're back to Sable and Zach back in Steph's office. Sable starts talking to him about last week and she starts talking about her flashing Mr. America. She asks if he looked. (How say... Duh?) He said yeah. She says you saw last week, you get to touch this week. Oh, joy. Of course, can't show anything to the home crowd, so they turn the camera while Zach rubs on Sable. Why was he getting such pleasure out of rubbing a bag of plastic?

Kanyon V Rey Mysterio
Well, not too much to say about this match. Rey won with the WCP.

Team _______ segment
Team Angle wants Kurt next week. Angle says that Team Angle stood for Next Week, but Kurt Angle stands for "Right Freaking Now!" *coughSMACKDOWN IS ANGLE!cough* lol, yaeh, so they're gonna do a match between Charlie Hass and Kurt. We're waiting for them to start, but then he grabs the mic and says that he wants to make it official and they wait for a ref to come down to the ring. It's a pretty good match, with Shelton gettting ejected, coming back at the end (after the Angle slam finish), and Brock coming in for the save.

Zach/Sable backstage promo...Part III
Well, now to finish up this horrific scene. It looks as if Zach and Sablwe are just gonna...Yeah...right in Steph's office, but then Sable breaks it up by slapping Zach. (In the face, sickos! ) Mr. McMahon comes in and kicks Zach out and then starts talking about how all that office stuff is fake. Right...

Billy Gunn V Jamie Noble
This is the match I would have killed for front row seats for. You know how people while at ringside pound the mat to help their person? Well, Torrie was at ringside pounding away, but she was bending over sticking her *** out! I SOOOOO wish disposable cameras came with zoom! Oh, about the match, it wasn't all that good.

Eddie Guerrero V Sean O' Haire
Where is Piper's Pit? I'm still wondering that! This match was pretty good. Piper hit Tajiri with the mist. (Yes, that is typed right.)

Zach/Sable backstage promo...Part IV
Well, Zach isn't in this one, but it's still along that line. McMahon was trying to do the same thing Zach was trying to accomplish with Sable. (I still have no idea why...) Well, Steph comes in and catches them and CHEWS VINCE OUT! OH, MY GAWD, IT WAS GREAT! Voice was getting a little scratchy, but hey, it's all good! Man, kinda sick though. Remember the whole deal between Steph and Y2J about her being a Ho and a Slut? Must have been true. Steph said that, when Steph went to dineer with "business" people, Vince had promised them that Steph would do "something" for them... and SHE DID IT! She wanted to be like him her whole life and obviously that's changed. Man, you guys just have to see it!

Return match from last week:
Brock Lesnar V Big Show - WWE Championship
Unfortunatly, No ring break here. Boo hoo. Oh, well. Well, actually another pretty good match from Big Show. Brock was joking at the beginning by getting on the turnbuckle and telling the Big Show to get on to, so they do a superplex and everything. Team Angle came in and got Big Show DQ'd. Don't know how though, Brock dominated them. They never hit him. Well, the numbers game catches up to Brock and Kurt rushes in. They start going off until the numbers game cathes up on them. Then Mr. America rushes in. and the Big Show and Team Angle eventually dominate Brock, Kurt, and Mr. America. I'm not sure where the cameras went off, but I think it was when Big Show raised his hand like when he does a chokeslam, but "scarier", so I'll say everything from that point was ff-camera

AFTER THE CAMERAS STOPPED ROLLING

Brock, Kurt, and Mr. America overpower Show and Team Angle and send them running backstage. Here's where the craziness starts. Brock and Kutt hug and then Brock goes and poses by the ropes with the belt. Kurt comes from behind to act like he'd German Suplex him. He lets go and then Brock turns around and acts like he's gonna clothesline him. Then more crap happens and Kurt goes in front of Mr. America, kneels down, and bows to him. HUGE Ovation to that! Then Kurt goes and leaves. Brock does the same thing and leaves. Mr. America looks around and then starts to leave, but then his music starts playing and he gets back in and starts posing all over the place. He eventually gets to the point of pulling his mask up to his forehead and revealing himself to us! I hope I got a picture of that. Just don't tell anyone. After that, they told us thanks for attending and told us to watch ourselves on "UPN 35" I thought that was WB? Good 200th episode of SD!
[/spoiler][/b]
[/color][/FONT]

[GhostofSalvtore]

Kane Situation-:lecture:
Tonight we could see the total destruction of a possibly the greatest gimmicks in WWF(E) history. Kane, the mask, the monster, he has had many instances where we thought he would be demasked but knew in the back of our heads that it just couldn't happen, it wouldn't happen. But tonight may be the night. Demasking Kane kills his status in the WWE forever. :angry2: There are however some options, some very good possibilities that could happen and save his character as well as build up some others. So tonight will be a show that hasn't happened in a long time, a RAW where "Anything can happen":huh:

1)Someone else takes the place of Kane-Now we just got off a feud of Nash and HHH, so what if Nash dressed up as Kane. This could easily happen, with both having the same build, you would just have Nash dress up as the Old Kane covering his tatoos. Then you can pull what Kurt Angle did with his brother and have Kane roll in and get the victory making an alliance between Nash and Kane, which would come off well for both characters.

2)Double DQ- This seems to me that it would be the most obvious, have a huge fight that would result in a double DQ. But then again that idea could be scrapped if it turns out to be NO DQ by Austin thinking that he would cause a DQ.

3)Kane wins(controversially)- Have Kane win, and then probably lose the title the following week or maybe, just maybe, he could keep it till SummerSlam. This could upset Goldberg most likely, since it is almost certain that he will face HHH for the title at SummerSlam. But if HHH got the title back next week then this would upset the fans even more, since I mean really, how long has he had the title. He may end up so low in the fans eyes that he may never recover.

4)Paint behind the mask-Kane could do this, just have black paint covering his entire face. If you notice, you can see some paint around his eyes.

If none of these happens, and Kane gets demasked then thats it folks, all the Kaninites, or whatever their called, are gone. WWE creative team will have killed off its longest running and best gimmick.:(

[Shinmaru]

Seriously, if Kane is unmasked and his entire character is destroyed, then I will be extremely angry. They barely do anything with Kane anymore (what with HHH taking up all the glory) and killing his character would just be a slap in the face. Personally, I'd love to see Kane win and face Goldberg at Summerslam. Realistically, wouldn't Kane be more of a match for Goldberg than HHH?

Edit: Great. I should've expected no less from the WWE. When given a chance to shake up things a little and gain back some fan support and let Kane win the World Championship, the WWE has just turned around and done what nobody (at least, from what I've read) wanted and unmasked Kane.

What the hell are they thinking?! Kane's mysterious face was one of the best things that the WWE had going for them! For years, people have speculated what it would look like, but some things are best left alone. Kane's face was just one of those things that should have been left hidden. Are they gonna unmask Rey Mysterio next? Or maybe they'll unmask Ultimo Dragon when he arrives? I'm sorry, but the WWE has just severly disappointed me.

Raw started out a little slowly. There was a halfway decent match with Booker T. and Steiner facing Test and Christian. It picked up later with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm facing the Dudley Boys. Then, Stone Cold came out with a bunch of other hardcore superstars (mostly former ECW stars) and honored Mick Foley with the Hardcore Title, which I thought was cool. Then, it picked up with Kevin Nash and Shawn Michaels facing Randy Orton and Ric Flair. Finally, Rodney Mack and his ridiculous streak finally ended, at the hands of Goldberg no less! It was shaping out to be a Raw to remember, and my hopes were high for the World Title match. I was really hoping that the WWE would throw us a curveball and have Kane win the title. But my hopes were in vain, because in true HHH domineering fashion, he kept the title by cheating and Kane was forced to unmask. They also added insult to injury by having Kane chokeslam RVD after unmasking. Not only does HHH retain the title, but RVD is punished and Kane's whole gimmick is gone. This might be the start of a Kane/RVD feud, but it's way too late for that, and I fail to see how that would be better than Kane beating HHH

But I guess I shouldn't have expected any more from the WWE.

[The Vampire: Ed]

Kane is-or should I say was, my favorite wrestler. When the mask came off, I decided that I am no longer going to watch the WWE. They ruin every good wrestler I like, and now the last stitch of the old Kane, his mask, is gone. Kane is no more, he is dead and I do not want to watch WWE again.

[center][b]Kane
October 5, 1997 - June 23, 2003[/b][/center]

[Nomad]

[spoiler]SPOILERS

June 24, 2003
Smackdown Spoilers
Madison Square Garden
New York City, New York
Report by: Jeremy Gerson, -------- Reader

A montage recapping the incident between Zach Gowan and Vince McMahon was played which featured McMahon screwing Gowan in an arm wrestling contest, and Sable duping Gowan. It then showed Stephanie McMahon lashing out at her father.

John Cena VS Orlando Jordan:
Cena enters to a mixed reaction. He then talks about how he is bigger than Wrestlemania and how he will headline it next year. He then issues an open challenge to celebrate his anniversary of his WWE debut when he faced Kurt Angle. Orlando Jordan accepts, and is called a "Billy Banks look-alike *****" by Cena. Cena then rants against New York which the fans did not mind as they chanted "Cena!" Jordan hit a flying crossbody that Cena reversed and grabbed his tights for the win.
Winner: John Cena
After the match, Cena hits the F-U on Jordan. The Undertaker then makes his way to the ring which leads Cena to run. Taker then shows a sign of respect to Jordan as he leaves

The Undertaker and The APA VS The Full Blooded Italians
Huge pop for the Undertaker. A pretty decent match which ends after Bradshaw hits the Clothesline From Hell on Johnny Stamboli for the win.
Winners: The Undertaker and the APA

We see on the Titan Tron a clip from earlier in the day, where Jamie Noble and Nidia are out walking and are stopped by an attorney. Noble denies doing anything, but the attorney says that Noble has inherited $8,500, which leads Noble to claim he is rich. Nidia gets excited and gets on her knees in an attempt to give the attorney oral, but is immediately stopped by Noble, who allows her to kiss the attorney on the lips.

United States Championship Tournament: Matt Hardy "Version 1.0" VS Rikishi
Hardy got a great reaction from the crowd. In a good match, Hardy kicked out of a Rikishi Driver, and Rikishi kicked out of a Twist of Fate. Hardy then low-blowed Rikishi and hit the Twist of Fate again for the victory
Winner: Matt Hardy "Version 1.0"

WWE Tag Team Title: Sean O'Haire and Roddy Piper VS Eddy Guerrero and Tajiri
Roddy got a huge mixed reaction upon coming out, but was greeted with a HUGE "Roddy" chant in the ring. Tajiri spit green mist in pipers face and then was smashed into the top rope by Tajiri, allowing Eddy to hit the Frogsplah for the win.
Winners and still champions: Eddy Guerrero and Tajiri

Vince McMahon came out and invited Stephanie McMahon and Zach Gowan to the ring. Vince spoke of how he metaphorically "deflowered" his daughter by involving her in the business. A lot of "what" chants are heard. Vince says he wants to be more like Zach Gowan because he as a billionaire has done everything, but Zach "looked death in the face and laughed." He then asks for Zach to accept an apology which is answered twice as "No!" Vince tells Zach not to be intimidated by him, but Zach says he isn't and calls Vince a *****. Vince then offers him a WWE contract, to which Zach asks if he is serious. Vince says he'll give him a contract if he joins the Vince McMahon Kiss My *** Club. Gowan gets on his knees, but low blows Vince and throws his cane at him, and leaves with Stephanie.
After the cameras stop rolling, Vince struts around with the cane and then throws it out of a ring, hitting a girl at ringside. Vince apologizes to her, to which the fans chant "Lawsuit," in a very funny moment.

Rey Mysterio comes to the ring to do commentary
Ultimo Dragon VS Shannon Moore
This is Dragon's WWE television debut. This is a great match, and Dragon gets one of the biggest pops of the night. Moore screws up a spot where he is supposed to flip into the ring, but gets caught in the rope and falls. Dragon uses a lot of stiff kicks. Billy Kidman is shown at ringside with some girl during the bout. Dragon wins after hitting an unbelievable move where he sets Moore up for a stunner, but flips backwards, giving Moore and inverted DDT. Rey comes to the ring to raise Dragon's hand
Winner: Ultimo Dragon

Kurt Angle, Hulk..er Mr. America, and Brock Lesnar VS Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, and the Big Show
Good match, although Show blocked the ring. The whole arena chants "Big Show sucks" and call him the Big Slow. Mr. America lifts his mask numerous times during the match, revealing that he is Hogan. Show picks up the win after Vince McMahon comes to the ring with Zach Gowan, telling Mr. America that Gowan has a stomach ache and then kicking him in the stomach. Show chokeslams Mr. America for the win.
Winners: Big Show, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas.
After the match, Hogan hits the legdrop on Show.

All in all a great show

Biggest Pops:
1. Mr. America
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Kurt Angle
4. Ultimo Dragon
5. Billy Gunn

Most Heat:
1. Vince McMahon
2. Big Show
3. FBI
4. Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas
5. A-Train

[/spoiler]

[GhostofSalvtore]

The big news for the day, it was known before tonight tho. That Hulk Hogan has quit the WWE, he says that the creative team did it for him. Also HHH control in the back is too strong for him to handle. He has said that he is going back to Japan. Or also he could go to the XWF, I think its called, and maybe have that compete with the WWE. So who knows, looks like Hogan wont be coming back, its sad though, since he didnt get a proper way of going out.

[Shinmaru]

Well, it looks like the WWE is taking a step in the right direction.

I have to say that last night's RAW was the best RAW in a long time. There was suspense, great matches, a lot of RAWs underlooked talent was used, it was just a good show.

First off, was the great match between Booker T. and Christian. I was expecting a good match out of Booker T. because he always has entertaining matches, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a great match out of Christian as well. Both superstars put on a great show and both were on the top of their games. Of course, I could be a little biased, because Booker T. is the new IC Champ, heh.

Then, after the match, we get some suspense as we see Tommy Dreamer (who really needs to be used more) lying in a bloody mess in the locker room. I always enjoy locker room attacks, because it's fun trying to figure out who did it.

The next match was a decent match between Rosey and The Hurricane in which Rosey won. Then, I was surprised to see someone stand up to Theodore Long and not take any of his crap when Rosey attacked him. Of course, he got the crap kicked out of him by Rodney Mack, but at least they're not making Rosey look like a wuss.

Then, it was a great mixed tag match between Steven Richards and Victoria against Gail Kim and Val Venis. I was happy because Val was on RAW, but unfortunately, he didn't get to do his before-match speech. But the match was very good; Gail Kim was impressive, Val Venis was great as always, as was Victoria, and Steven Richards was bleh. I've never really liked Steven Richards.

I'm not sure if this came before or after the mix-tag match but I'm putting it here. This was a pretty good Highlight Reel. Y2J was of course sucking up to the Canadian crowd, trying to get them against Shawn Michaels. What I liked was that Shawn was showing some flashes of his former self; you know, the cocky kid with no respect for the veterans. I always liked that persona of Shawn's. I've always thought that Shawn (along with HHH, The Rock, Y2J, etc.) always flourished in the position of the heel. Well, he didn't take any crap from the crowd and, of course, Jericho ducks Shawn's challenge so that he can challenge him in Hollywood, which should be an amazing match.

Next was a lackluster match between Kevin Nash and Test. This match basically served to make Test look like a real jackass and failed to show off the skills that I know both Kevin and Test have. A real disappointment.

Somewhere in here, Kane started meeting with Stone Cold and he told him that he attacked Tommy Dreamer and Rico (which I didn't mention) because he thought they were making fun of him. I thought that that was a good angle, because it gives Kane a good reason to let out his rage and become the bad-*** that I know he can be.

I was impressed with Jericho because he fought one of the younger superstars, Mark Jindrak, who actually gave Jericho a pretty good fight. He looked very impressive against the veteran Jericho, and even though Jericho won, I hope the WWE can make a great superstar in the future.

Then, we got a great women's match between Molly Holly and Trish Stratus. Trish had be attacked by Test earlier and had a hurt neck, which Molly capitalized on for the victory. Personally, I think Molly (and some of the other women) have been largly ignored lately, and I'm glad that Molly is going for the title instead of Trish, who they use all the time.

Then, the main event, Randy Orton and Ric Flair vs. Bubba Ray Dudley and RVD. The story behind this is that Bubba Ray thought that Evolution attacked Tommy Dreamer and challenged them to a match with the partner of his choice (I'm glad he chose RVD). It was a pretty good match, but I don't think that it was main event material, even though RVD was in it. But it was still a good match.

Lastly, Stone Cold brought out Kane who the fans gave a standing ovation. Then, Stone Cold commented that he thought that Kane chokeslamming Bischoff was "funny as hell," which Kane did not take too kindly too. He attacked Austin, who fought back. Glad to see Stone Cold get in a real fight instead of the random Stunners he's been handing out lately. After the early edge by Kane, Stone Cold fights back, bloodies Kane up with a chair then hits a Stunner on him. The next moment is the moment we know that the real Kane is back. A few seconds later, while Stone Cold is getting some beer, Kane sits up and chokeslams Austin. People, Kane is back and I couldn't be happier (well, if he had his mask, I'd be happier).

Only one thing really disappointed me and that was the notable absence of both Goldberg and Triple H. Although, it was announced that Triple H would be on Sunday Night Heat, which really surprised me. I always thought that Trips only liked the spotlight on RAW. Guess he's out to prove everyone wrong.

EDIT: Just watched the weekly flashback match on Confidential. This week it was Undertaker vs. Yokozuna in their Casket Match from Survivor Series '94. How I long for the days when the Undertaker really was an undertaker, when he was cool, when he put effort into his matches, and when his music totally ruled. Yep, I'm one of the people who still thinks that the Undertaker's old music was one of the coolest (if not the coolest) bits of entrance music ever (right up there with Stone Cold Steve Austin and HBK). I'm really started to get tired of this biker-bullcrap that the WWE has been pulling with The Undertaker for God knows how long. When The Undertaker was actually an undertaker, he was THE FREAKING MAN! He had the coolest entrance music, he was the coolest looking wrestler, he had the best gimmick, he was a big, tough bad-***, he was nigh-unbeatable, and he took part in some of the greatest matches in the history of the WWE! Now, what is he? He hasn't been in the title hunt for ages, he's best known for riding a motorcycle to the ring and he's fighting John Cena (nothing against John Cena) at Vengance to prove who's the better veteran! If I were the WWE, I'd have John Cena beat the crap out of The Undertaker, maybe fake an injury to get him out of Smackdown! for a couple of weeks, and over those couple of weeks his character will realize that he needs to go back to being the dead man, The Undertaker. That would surely give Smackdown! the jolt that it needs. Hell, I'd start watching Smackdown! with a lot more enthusiasm if that happened.