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8/20/01

SummerSlam Thoughts
Another year, another SummerSlam. If you are a fan of hard working wrestlers busting their asses in the ring for the entertainment of millions and milions of fans, then this was the show for you. If you are the kind of fan that likes good storylines and big suprises, then you should have spent your money on Rush Hour 2. Ok, maybe not. SummerSlam was a good show, probably even the best SummerSlam ever from top to bottom. Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam proved that they are the future of the business (if they live that long). Kurt Angle and Steve Austin tore the house down. Shawn Stasiak got the biggest laugh out of me in a long time with his run in against The Rock. What's not to love about a show like that? Well, I'll tell you...

The WWF creative team does a great job with the little things. We all expected Christian to cost Edge the win against Lance Storm. Instead Edge won despite Christian and we still get to build towards their eventual split. It was a nice little twist. But once I saw that Angle vs. Austin was going to happen before Rock vs. Booker T, I knew that Angle would not win the title and that The Rock would. It's only common sense that the WWF send the fans home happy by having the show end with The Rock winning the title instead of having it end with Angle getting screwed. It makes so much sense that it's predictable. I realize that having been a WWF fan for 20 years that very little is going to suprise me, but come on WWF, make an effort.

The other problem with last nights show was the on going burial of WCW. I'll admit that a year ago, I hated WCW. I hated Eric Bischoff (still do), I hated the N.W.O. and I hated people that dared to suggest that WCW was in any way in the same league as WWF. But the war is over and the WWF won. It's time to stop burrying WCW and its wrestlers and make them start appearing to be a threat. WCW needs to be Andre to the WWF's Hogan. Instead, let's look at the current title situation.

WWF Heavyweight belt - Stone Cold Steve Austin
WWF Intercontinental belt - Edge
WWF Tag Team belts - Undertaker and Kane
WWF European belt - Matt Hardy
WWF Hardcore belt - Rob Van Dam
WWF Light Heavyweight belt - X-Pac
WWF Ladies' belt - Chyna
WCW Heavyweight belt - The Rock
WCW U.S. Championship belt - Kanyon
WCW Tag Team belts - Undertaker and Kane
WCW Cruiserweight belt - X-Pac

If we ignore team alignments, then WWF Superstars hold 8 belts (if we count Chyna), ECW holds 1 belt (Rob Van Dam) and WCW holds 1 belt (Kanyon). Rob Van Dam is very popular with the crowd, so he deserves his belt, but Kanyon had his belt given to him by Booker T. How can WWFE ever expect to have big money matches and give the Alliance their own television show if they are built up as inferior to WWF Superstars?

All of this leads me to...Tune in tomorrow for my Fantasy Booking of SummerSlam.

DirecTV Story
For those of you curious about J.R.'s comments during SummerSlam regarding it being the last Pay Per View on DirecTV, here's the scoop. The WWF and DirecTV had a contract with each other that expires today. They have been attempting to negotiate a new contract but have reached an impasse. Baically the two parties can not agree on how grosses of PPV buys are to be collected. The WWF wants one of those giant "Publishers Clearing House" checks and DirecTV is only willing to pay them in rolls of nickles. Another rumor is that DirecTV is the target of a buyout by Rupert Murdoch and Echostar. They may be telling DirecTv not to agree to anything with the WWF until a buyout happens and then the new owners can negoiate their own deal. Either way, this will hopefully work itself out before Unforgiven next month.

Bullet Point Time

• WWF.com reports that Chris Jericho may have suffered a concussion at Summerslam in San Jose. Maybe that's why he missed those moves, but I doubt it. Chris, just take the lifts out of your shoes and be the best damn undercard wrestler you can be. Jericho will be in for a CAT scan on Monday and will miss Raw.
• Kurt Angle needed stitches after his brutal match with Stone Cold Steve Austin at SummerSlam, but otherwise, he says he's OK
• Chyna will be on CNN's Larry King Live on Wednesday August 22 at 9 p.m. EST. Yippie. She will be taking your calls and asking for career tips.
• Kane had an MRI on Tuesday for a lower-back problem. It may be a bulging disc. He was still able to wrestle last night despite the injury.
• Booker T has received extensive physical therapy for a knee/calf problem and his condition has improved significantly. He's another guy that wrestled while hurt last night. Kudos to him.
• Jerry Lynn will have surgery on August 23 to repair a torn patella tendon and will be recovering for approximately three months. No one is expected to miss him.
• Triple H's rehab is on target for a November return.
  Rikishi met with Dr. Jim Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., last week. He will be out another two months as it now stands.
• Chris Benoit's rehabilitation from neck surgery is progressing very well. He's out until 2002 but an exact return date has not been established.
• Billy Kidman's rehab continues for his knee. He is out for a few more weeks.
  It was reported last week that Vince McMahon's yearly bonus was cut 30% from last year. Instead of a bonus of 1.3 million, he only got 900,000. Cripes! First he is downgraded from billionaire to multi-millionaire and now this. Will the bad news never end for Vince?

WWF Excess
It was announced on Livewire Saturday and confirmed on the PPV last night that the new WWF Saturday night show will be called Excess (insert joke here). The show debuts this Saturday with Trish Stratus and The Coach hosting. The first guest will be HHH.

Monday Preview
Hot off a good Pay Per View the WWF looks to follow things up with Raw tonight. WWF.com is reporting that there will be a Stone Cold appreciation ceremony. I hope it's more entertaining that the Stone Cold Invitational. The Rock will be on hand to talk about winning the WCW belt as well as set up who his next feud will be with. Mick Foley will be hosting Raw from WWF New York. Matt Hardy and Christian will have a match for the European Championship. Also the team of Ivory, Stacy and Torrie face Jacqueline, Molly Holly and Lita, but don't decide to go to the bathroom during that match because Sara is going to wrestle Diamond Dallas Page. Go then.

Ok, that's enough for today. Join me again for a Fantasy Booking of SummrSlam and then on Wednesday for some mid-week news.

Michael Goodson

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