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Lingerie is a good thing.

Chairshots
10/22/01

No Mercy Thoughts
Another enjoyable pay per view by the WWF last night in No Mercy. Chris Jericho cleanly pinned The Rock for the WCW world title in an awesome match. Stone Cold fended off Kurt Angle and pinned Rob Van Dam to save his WWF world title. Edge and Christian had a nice ladder match, which is about the best they could have done since ladder matches are so common now. It gets harder and harder to impress the crowd each time. The ladies were scintillating in their brief lingerie match. That about does it for memorable moments. The rest of the card was usual stuff that could have easily been an episode of Smackdown. There were no big surprises or major storyline twists, which I blame more than anything for the decline in WWF business.

Bischoff, Would You Please Shut the Hell Up!
There's an interesting article on Chris Jericho up on WCW.com about his title win last night. Jericho is quoted as saying "I want to dedicate this victory to Eric Bischoff and shove it up his ass because he said I could never do it." During his three years in the old WCW, he was never given a title shot. "I didn't mean that maliciously although it came out that way. As long as I was in WCW I was never even given a title shot, never mind being thought about winning it." Jericho also makes reference to past WCW champions, saying he wants to follow in the steps of Ric Flair and Bret Hart, and does not want to "end up like a David Arquette." With the exception of nailing Courtney Cox and seeing his sisters naked, none of us want to end up like David Arquette.

Chris Jericho, Bite Me!
In response to Jericho's comments, Eric Bishcoff crawled out from under Dallas Page's wife to deliver the following, extremely long, statement. "First of all, I would like to congratulate Chris Jericho for all of the success he has had recently in the WWF. I'm sure this is a great personal achievement for Chris, and given the amount of time, effort, and commitment he has put into his career, he should be proud. That said, I read his "dedication" on Monday and was quite entertained by it. While it is certainly true that Chris never received a title shot while I was president of WCW, it took Chris nearly 2 years in the WWF to get that opportunity (The WWF just bought the WCW a few months ago and Jericho has had WWF world title matches previously, dumbass.) While I don't ever recall saying Chris would NEVER get a shot at the WCW title, I do remember a conversation with him about three years ago when Chris wanted to wrestle Bill Goldberg for the title and I didn't think it was a good idea. Chris had been "mocking" Goldberg on camera for a few weeks while Goldberg was out with an injury, and was getting a good crowd reaction to it. He believed that the heat he had been generating with his "angle" would be a great build up for a match with Bill. I disagreed. Bill was on a roll. He was believable; he was selling tickets, merchandise, and ppv's. He was also still very green. Bill was good at one thing and with one style and with one result. Bill was about 280 pounds, and looked like the killer his character portrayed, and his character was still a "work in progress".

Chris was also on a bit of a roll, although not at the main event level. Chris was somewhere around 210 pounds and his character was a "smart ass comic", not unlike the character he has maintained in the WWF. He was a great athlete and had great cruiser weight matches with guys who could keep up with his style, but half of his heat came from the fact that a lot of guys in the audience felt like they could kick his smart ass if they had the chance. When Chris came to me with his idea, I listened. Chris was coming close to the end of his deal and was up for renewal. I knew if I didn't give in and support his idea, it would make it difficult if not impossible to re-sign him (something I really wanted to do), but I just couldn't get behind the idea. Regardless of all the different ways the match could be laid out on paper, there was going to be one of three results: either Chris would get his ass kicked like everyone else who had been before him, killing his heat, or: Bill would have to learn how to work a completely different style and psychology in order to come up with a way for Chris to get the win and put an end to Bill's momentum, or: come up with a "no finish" for the match. I stuck to my decision. Chris went on to the WWF. He's done well and I'm not a bit surprised. I knew when I first saw him at some obscure event in L.A., and approached him to come to WCW that he had talent.

Looking back at the six years that I ran WCW there are choices that I made that I wish I hadn't. Some that I didn't make that I wished I had. But as far as the decision not to go with a Chris Jericho/Bill Goldberg match for the belt....I continue to believe I made the right decision. Bill was not ready for that match and neither was Chris. There's a reason Chris didn't get a title shot at the Rock when the WWF was building the Rock's character and the momentum that made him such a huge star. The fact that someone in the WWF felt that Chris was now ready for that opportunity can be a great thing for Chris. Or it can backfire. Only time will tell. Getting the title is one thing....drawing ratings, selling tickets, moving merchandise, selling pay per views and keeping it are another. Is Chris Jericho ready? I hope so." He has a point, but it's weak, long one.

HHH Returns
Over at WWF.com, they are reporting that Triple H laced up the boots and worked out in the ring before the No Mercy PPV. "It was the first time I laced up my boots in five months, so it felt good. It's just a very tentative feeling, obviously. There's a lot of mental anxiety of hitting the ropes. What's it going to feel like? Is (my quadriceps) going to snap? So it's a little nerve-wracking. But the thing is, everything you do, every time you take a step, it builds confidence back. I'll be able to tell later if it swells up or anything like that, but right now it feels fine and it's not sore at all. It wasn't like I was doing anything major on it -- just doing a little running and hitting the ropes and that was it. Hopefully I can increase that a little bit. I have a ring coming to Birmingham. Every day I'll just do a little bit more." I wonder if that last line was secretly about Stephanie.

Buy a Lexus from Cowboy Bob!
"Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. was backstage at the No Mercy on Sunday, saying hello to old friends. Orton is a legendary WWF competitor who is perhaps best known for being Roddy Piper's bodyguard during "Piper's Pit" segments. According to Randy, Orton's son, Bob is a successful car dealer in the St. Louis area these days.

Ladder Match Fallout
Plenty of injuries for Christian and Edge last night in their ladder match. Christian twisted his ankle when Edge hurled him into the barricade outside the ring. The index finger on his right hand was badly hurt, and he was cut between his eyebrows when Edge clobbered him with a one-man con-chair-to. Christian was also momentarily knocked out as a result of the con-chair-to. Edge, too, blacked out for a few moments after Christian gave him a "Slop Drop" off the ladder. But neither man believes he has a concussion. "We were both kind of dizzy when we came back (after the match)," Edge said. "But that's to be expected when you fall off ladders." Truer words were never spoken.

Raw Preview
The WWF has yet to announce any matches, but we can expect plenty of No Mercy fallout. I get the feeling that the feud between the Rock and Chris Jericho isn't over. Vince McMahon will probably be on hand to explain hitting Stone Cold with a chair and what his deal with RVD is. All this plus some crappy matches from Big Show! Tune in and find out because who cares about the Eagles fighting the Giants?

Wednesday. Be here.