Every Tuesday and Friday we give you the scoop on what's happening in and out of the wrestling ring.

I'm in a state of flux.

Chairshots
6-11-02

Raw Thoughts
Last week the new Raw-only writing staff tried to hit a home run with their first show and they fouled out. This week they just tried to hit a second base run and I'd say they made it.

Due to the Steve Austin situation (discussed below) much of the show had to be rewritten on the fly so I'll allow some gaps in logic. Ric Flair fought Vince McMahon for total ownership of the company in the main event and lost. So once again McMahon owns it all.

Does that mean the roster split is over? My guess is no, but it sure makes moving wrestlers from one roster to the other seem frivolous. Flair, on the other hand, is left without much to do as the guy he's been feuding with for the last several months (Austin) isn't going to be around anytime soon. Maybe this will all lead to a Four Horsemen reunion. If so, I'm down with that.

I admit that I'm not really into the women's title and the weekly chick fights that happen. However, I have to question the booking logic behind having Trish and Terri fuel a feud by saying Molly has a fat ass. First, Molly doesn't have a big butt; she's just not as toned as most of the divas in the WWE. Second, why degrade your talent like that? If Molly will now forever be known as blubber butt, how does that help her career?

Last week in Raw Thoughts I mentioned how hard it was to accept Nidia as the slutty Jamie Knoble valet when we'd seen what a nice person she was on Tough Enough. Same thing happened last night as "Harvard" Chris Nowitski debuted on Raw wearing his big Harvard sweater.

Now, if you watched season one of Tough Enough you knew that Chris's gimmick idea was that he'd be the snobby guy that went to Harvard. So when he actually shows up on Raw as the snobby guy from Harvard, all I see is a guy pretending to be the snobby guy from Harvard. Tough Enough's real look into the training of these kids makes it very difficult to accept them as characters on WWE television. Can't Chris just show up and talk about how he should have won T.E.? If references about Harvard work themselves into his promos, so be it. Once that fourth wall of reality has been broken, it's very hard to put it up again.

Was Goldust trying to warn Booker T that Shawn Michaels was a racist? Sure seemed that way after Shawn super-kicked Booker T out of his shoes. I enjoyed Shawn's promo and think that he still has that magical charisma on the mic. He also put to rest the question of if he will wrestle again and the answer is a resounding "not anytime soon." I like that Booker T was kicked (literally) out of the NWO, as it gives him someone to feud with. My only problem now is that the NWO is made up of one guy that can't wrestle, one guy that's too injured to wrestle, X-Pac (who sucks) and Big Show (who also sucks.) It's time for Scott Steiner to join the WWE and the NWO so they can be a serious threat again.

Speaking of the NWO, when Kevin Nash closed the door on the camera man, did you wonder why no one else had ever done that? Think of all the secret plans and private conversations the cameramen have been allowed to hear over the years. Why has no one ever acknowledged them before? Why are they allowed everywhere else?

Undertaker continues to elevate the mid-card wrestlers on Raw while fighting HHH on Smackdown. This week it took both Jeff and Matt to get the better of the Undertaker. I would have rather had Jeff get in a moral victory alone over Taker so he wouldn't look like such a puss for needing his brother. Getting your brother to help you fight is hardly extreme.

Not a bad show. Like I said in the beginning, definitely a strong second base effort.

Austin Leaves Raw
Steve Austin walked out on Raw Monday before the show started. Without clearing it with anyone in management, he booked a ticket home for himself and Debra and left Atlanta after working the Raw house shows all weekend. Originally, he was scheduled to face Brock Lesnar on last night's show. The speculation is that Austin was booked to lose to Lesnar to shock the audience and try and boost ratings. Austin recently said on WWE Byte This that he liked Lesnar's look but didn't think he was ready for the main event. Austin's very public unhappiness in the WWE over the last few months and the hot shot booking on Raw last night probably pushed him over the edge.

Raw was quickly rewritten, which is why there was no follow up to Austin beating Flair last week. Vince McMahon originally had no plans to wrestle at Raw. At this time no one knows if and when Austin will return. It could be days or months. I can't really say that I blame Austin's reasons for leaving, as I agree with the fact that he's been poorly booked over the last few months. But walking out isn't really the answer, either. He has more than enough pull in the business to say, "Get the 'F' out. I'm not losing to Lesnar. Think of something else or I go to McMahon."

Quick to capitalize on the swirling rumors, WWE Confidential is expected to cover the Austin situation this weekend.

X-Pac Sucks!
Speaking of backstage hissy fits, X-Pac threw one on Monday because he had to work a match for the Heat taping and then another one for the live Raw. He reportedly was really obnoxious and complained loudly about having to work twice. The WWE has recently been trying to add bigger stars to Heat matches in order to raise the ratings. This is the second backstage incident for X-Pac in recent months. Not too long ago X-Pac walked out on the Raw taping because he didn't like how the NWO storylines were booked. Kevin Nash was able to get to him and talk before the situation got out of hand. Unlike Austin, X-Pac is in no position to complain about anything.

DDP to Retire
Rumor has it that Diamond Dallas told Vince McMahon yesterday in a meeting that he's going to retire from the WWE and pro-wrestling. He feels that he won't be able to make a come back from his recent neck injury. Page has been troubled with neck problems and felt that he was too old (46) to come back after the lengthy rehabilitation process that would be needed for his injuries. Good luck to him and his freaky hot wife.

Edge Won't Need Surgery
One guy that will be back from his injury is Edge. WWE.com is reporting that Edge's shoulder injury, which happened during his cage match with Kurt Angle, will not require surgery. The first doctor he saw told him after an MRI that he would need surgery. He then went to Dr. James Andrews and was told rehab would do the trick. So far, he has made good progress in his rehab and WWE is hopeful he will be back in the ring by the end of the month. This is an untimely injury, as I think Edge was finally starting to get over as a singles star.

Ratings
Raw scored a 4.2 cable rating for Monday night's show, up from the previous week's 4.1. Saturday night's WWE Confidential was down this week to a 0.8 cable rating. Previous week was 1.0. Velocity scored a 0.9 cable rating. The 6/9 edition of Heat scored a 1.1 cable rating. The Heat replay did a surprising 1.0 cable rating.

The Brain Returns
According to Bobby Heenan's website and the WWE, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan will make his WWE return on the June 15th edition of Confidential. This will be his first public appearance since he found out he has throat cancer. I may not watch because I may cry.

Vince Bytes This
Vince McMahon was a guest on WWE Byte This on Friday and he had a handful of interesting things to say. Here are some of the highlights.

Vince said that the WWE is in a state of flux. Any company that changes as often as they do, enduring generations and adapting to the times is always in a state of flux. They've survived as long as they have because they're in a state of flux. (He really likes that word, flux.)

Kevin Kelly brought up the era of "Attitude" and asked Vince what the next trend will be to bring the masses back? Vince responded by saying that he's sensing a title wave coming their way from an attitudinal standpoint and a creative standpoint. It's going to wash away a lot of their ills and bring some more stars. He senses a giant change of some kind. (Some kind…that is a man with a strong vision.)

Kevin asked Vince why he thinks that RAW has been an on and off hit while Smackdown! has always been on. Vince doesn't know that it's been like that, but it has to do with the creative direction. Vince admitted that sometimes RAW is off the charts and sometimes RAW is 'ugh' and Smackdown! is always on the mark and he doesn't know why. (He admits that Raw is sometimes 'ugh' but not that Smackdown is sometimes 'zzzz'. Oh well, small victory.)

They talked about Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince said that Stone Cold is one of the most demanding stars he's ever worked with. Sometimes rightfully so, but at the same time he's reduced to producing gold albums as opposed to platinum at times. Vince feels that Austin needs some creative stuff to work with. (Keep in mind Vince said this three days before Austin walked out on Raw.)

Kevin asked about structural changes in the writing teams and Vince said those changes could be coming. He doesn't know if it's a corporate, writing, creative or talent standpoint, but he knows that something big is coming. He doesn't know when, but he knows it's on the way. (Again, this is a man with a strong vision.)

Kevin brought up the very vocal Internet fans and the complaints that "sure thing" feuds like the NWO and the WCW Invasion were disappointing. Vince responded by saying that on the Internet, everyone is a writer. Just like having an anus, everyone has an opinion. (Hey! I have both of those!) That's fine and they accept all criticism, negative and positive. Sometimes you can't live up to the anticipation level and sometimes you try to but you run into a wall. A lot of times the Internet is on the money in terms of their criticism, but not always. Kevin pointed out that they don't always have all the facts and Vince agreed, but you can't expect them to. (Much like my opinion, my anus will soon have it's own weekly column on Fanboyplanet.com called Chair Shits.)

Vince addressed why he thinks business is down and said that he thinks that it's the result of several things. The economy is part of it, but he doesn't want to lay the blame on that. There are no excuses. If people want to see it, they'll save their money and come see it. As far as the entertainment goes at the house shows, they're entertaining more than ever there and the work rate is way up. With TV ratings being not as high as they were before, fewer people are watching and exposed to the fact that they are coming to town. The promotional department is doing a tremendous job in promoting the events.

Vince was asked for his views on the NWA-TNA promotion and Vince said he hasn't seen it, so he doesn't have any comments on it really. He does think that it's weird that they don't really have any promotional platform. It's difficult to promote to the pay per view audience and it's a two-hour show. People are expected to pay $9.95 for it when they can watch a two-hour show for free on a Monday or a Thursday.

Vince was asked if he would bring back former head writer Vince Russo and Vince said that he hasn't even thought about it. In the WWE, they have an open door policy and everything depends in this world. (Hogan proved that.)

Vince was asked his opinion about a situation that arose recently between Jim Cornette and Ed Ferrera. (They ran into each other at an independent show and Cornett spit in Ferrera's face over his portrayal of 'Okalahoma' in WCW.) Vince said everyone is entitled to his or her opinion (and an anus!). When that opinion goes beyond an opinion, and results in physicality or spitting in someone's face or something, that's unprofessional. Vince appreciates Jim Cornette's passion, but thought it was an unprofessional situation.

Kevin asked Vince if he felt he was defeated by the World Wildlife Fund. Vince said that he likes the WWF name better, but he hasn't conceded defeat yet, as it's still under appeal. Changing to the WWE was a way that they could move on very quickly with who they are and be done with it. They've been battling these guys for such a long time and maybe they'll ultimately win it, but who knows? (Will the campaign to advertise that be called Gimmie some "F"?)

Speaking of "F", I'll see you on Friday.

Michael Goodson