Every Tuesday and Friday we give you the scoop on what's happening in and out of the wrestling ring. Every Monday a brand new Book It.

Some things you just can't learn at wrestling school.

Chairshots
3-15-02

Smackdown Thoughts
It's the last show before Wrestlemania X-8, so the WWF needed to push the matches to the moon to try and convince folks to buy it. Well, technically they should have started doing that weeks ago or even on Raw, but better late than never.

The show started with a nice match between Rob Van Dam and Kurt Angle. One of the biggest problems in both wrestler's respective feuds is that when they take on other wrestlers, you just know that their real enemy will rush to ringside and cause trouble. Same situation last night as William Regal cost RVD the match and then Kane attacked Angle. Uninspired booking to say the least, but better than other recent segments.

Both. Women. Want it.

One of the most shockingly entertaining segments last night was the confrontation between Trish Stratus and Lita. Neither one is the champ, but both women want it. They agree that come Sunday either will do whatever they must to beat the current champ. Tempers flare up and a fistfight (good looking one too) breaks out. That was so simple and logical I'd swear they'd planned it. Why do pointless segments with dogs and lotion and shampoo and semi trucks? Can't one wrestler simply want to beat the champion? Good job, ladies.

Steve Austin and Scott Hall both exchanged words in order to build up their match. They both cut good promos, but it really seems as if Austin has had more interesting feuds. For all the claims that the NWO were going to pull the WWF out of their rut, I have yet to see anything other than three new guys for the top players to mix it up with.

In the same boat, Hulk Hogan and The Rock cut promos on each other. This may end up being the main event for Wrestlemania, which would be odd. The WWF is counting on name recognition for people to find this match interesting. Usually the main event for Wrestlemania has a few months of back-story to go with it. This has only been brewing for one month. During that month, Rock has cut two promos, Hogan has cut three, NWO attacked Rock with a semi and Hogan pinned Rock on Monday. Not a real deep story line, but a solid promo on Smackdown.

More Stephanie on Smackdown, but not as much as the front row got to see at the taping. What you missed on television is that when Triple H put Stephanie in the pedigree on the table, her boob fell out. If you go back and watch last night's show, you'll see they use fancy camera angles to cover "it" up. Fear not, a fan did videotape it and you can find pics on the Internet if you look hard enough. OH, Triple H and Jericho also added some heat to their feud for Sunday. Too little too late on this one. All the focus on this match has been on Stephanie and Triple H. It's too late to try and build up Jericho as a threat. We all know that Triple H will win on Sunday, so the WWF can stop trying to make us believe otherwise at the last second.

Another Book It prediction come true.

The rest of the show was the usual mixed bag. I liked Maven pinning Al Snow for the Hardcore title. I said months ago in Book It that the Hardcore title would be a nice way to cover up Maven's flaws until he becomes a better wrestler. David Flair on the other hand showed us that there are some things you just can't learn in wrestling school. Acting for example.

Ratings
Monday Night Raw did a 4.5 rating on Monday. That's roughly the same number it has done since January. Last night's Smackdown was drew a 4.0 rating, up from the 3.4 and 3.8 ratings the past two weeks. The 3/10 edition of Sunday Night Heat scored a 1.7 cable rating. "WWF Divas: Sex On The Beach" finished with a 1.6 rating. The show finished in a tie for last place among all network programming. Who says sex sells?

Jim Ross Speaks
Jim Ross appeared on the Canadian show "The Score" Wednesday. He only had a few newsworthy things to say and here are the highlights.

J.R. admitted the lack of competition has not been good for the WWF and that they are trying to fix this problem via the roster split.

The split should occur about 2 weeks after Wrestlemania, maybe a little later. He added, though, that it will happen within a month of the Wrestlemania.

The roster split has been one of the WWF's top priorities for months.

After the split, there will be a RAW group and a Smackdown group.

The split will allow them to bring up a lot of developmental talent.

Mucha Lucha!
Kids!WB announced that a new show called Mucha Lucha! will be headed to Saturday mornings. The show will be completely animated using Flash Animation software will follow the lives of three would-be wrestlers. These wrestlers will try to live by the "Code of Masked Wrestling." It's a sweaty code with little pay and not much English, but it sure sounds like fun.

WWF Hard Times
The talent relations department of the WWF will be holding a meeting in Toronto this weekend. The WWF wants to cut back on the amount of money it is spending on developmental talent and territories. Also, they plan on discussing which talent should be called up following the WWF roster split. Recently the WWF asked some of its developmental talent to take a reduction in their downside guarantees in order to stay with the company. Those who do not could risk being cut.

More Wrestling
TNN will be replaying the Best of WrestleMania show on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Shawn Michaels
Despite rumors, don't expect to see Shawn Michaels anytime soon on WWF TV. There is alleged to be a lot of heat between Michaels and Triple H. Michaels believes that Triple H badmouthed him to Vince McMahon last April, which resulted in Michaels being sent home from a TV taping. Rumors from that incident however were that Michaels was "in no condition" to return to WWF television, which has a lot of folks speculating that Michaels was on drugs or drunk. HBK and Triple H apparently did not hang out together backstage at Smackdown last week.

Thank God for that chitinous exo-skeleton!

Hogan Injured?
Hulk Hogan is saying that he injured a rib during his training for Wrestlemania. The match will still happen Sunday but there is some concern as to whether Hogan will be able to keep up the pace in the match if The Rock decides to speed up. Hogan is closing in on 50 years of age and has been vocal backstage about the abuse his body has gone through over the years. I'm actually convinced that Hogan doesn't need a bone structure anymore because of his stiff leathery skin.

Wrestlemania Predictions
I predict that the WWF fans will be undecided when it comes to ordering this pay per view on Sunday. Oh sure, in the end we will order it, but there is a part of us deep down that really feels burned by the last few months of WWF programming. The last several years the WWF has done a great job "paving the road to Wrestlemania" with entertaining match ups, good storytelling and big payoffs in match quality. This year we have two guys fighting over a shampoo commercial, two guys fighting over some dog poop, two guys fighting because one hit the other with a semi truck, two guys fighting because one hit the other with a cinderblock and a mid-card full of guys fighting because they had nothing better to do on Sunday. Pardon me if my nipples don't get all hard when I think about spending 40 bucks on Sunday for wrestling. (Well, there would be something wrong with me if they actually did get hard.)

Nonetheless, here are my predictions for Wrestlemania X-8:

Undisputed Championship
Triple H vs. Chris Jericho
When I made my predictions for Royal Rumble and No Way Out, they were all based on the end result being this match. If Stephanie had stayed out of this then I'd truly be a happy camper. Regardless, Triple H wins because the face always wins at Wrestlemania (except that one time, which happened to be Triple H the heel winning it).

Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock
This match is interesting for the wrong reason. It's not about who wins, but about who loses. Hogan used to be a big backstage diva and almost never lost, but he's on the downside of his career (way downside). Rock, on the other hand, would look like a chump if he got beat by Hogan considering Hogan's age. Since Hogan can always claim that he has a victory over Rock (on Raw), Rock will pin Hogan on Sunday. The Hulkster can then continue his bitter old wrestler "character" and move into a feud with Austin. The WWF needs to get as much use out of Hogan as quickly as possible before rigor mortis sets in.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Scott Hall
My instinct says Austin wins, but then I start to overthink it. Since Hogan will probably lose, Hall may get the win so that not all the NWO members come off as losers. But then that means Hall's feud with Austin would continue which I don't really think anyone needs to see. Then again the next PPV is called Backlash, so maybe Austin needs something to backlash about. Ok, Hall wins with help from Nash. Well, maybe...

Intercontinental Championship
William Regal vs. Rob Van Dam
Regal isn't as popular as he was when he was the WWF commissioner and his time with the title is up. RVD wins after the five star frog splash and the WWF won't have anything interesting lined up for him for three months to follow.

Ric Flair vs. Undertaker
Flair needs revenge for all the things Undertaker has done to goad him in to this fight, but Undertaker has a perfect Wrestlemania win-loss record. Since it's a no DQ match, expect Vince McMahon to cost Flair the win, but Flair gets his revenge on Taker and McMahon following the match.

Kane vs. Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle is the most over heel in the WWF right now. Jericho has become Stephanie's lapdog and the NWO has yet to recapture the magic it used to have. That being said, Angle beats Kane and then goes on to feud with new champ Triple H. Kane on the other hand gets to beat up Pete Rose in my all-time favorite running joke.

Edge vs. Booker T
I stopped believing that Booker T could win matches in the WWF a few months ago. Statistics will back me up in my prediction of Edge winning this match.

Women's Championship
Jazz vs. Lita vs. Trish Stratus
Jazz should win. Lita will win.

Tag Team Championship
Billy & Chuck vs. APA vs. Hardys vs. Dudleys
Does anyone really care? Hardys will win because they have never won at Wrestlemania. It's probably a wise move since they have yet to do anything special since reuniting at Royal Rumble.

That's it for today. Tune in Monday for an all new Book It and come back Tuesday to see how I trash Wrestlemania for being too predictable despite all of my predictions being false. It's my column. I can do that.

Michael Goodson