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Every Tuesday and Friday we give you the scoop on what's happening in and out of the wrestling ring. Somedays it's even funny!
Chairshots
11/06/01
Raw Thoughts
Raw was in many ways like swiss cheese: tasty, yet full of holes. Chris Jericho lost his title to The Rock and the fans lost the chance for a meaningful heel turn at Survivor Series. Kurt Angle is a prime suspect in the "which Alliance wrestler will defect to the WWF" despite having cost the Undertaker the WWF title last Thursday. Jim Ross mentioned that the Women's Title is currently vacant, yet wwfsuperstars.com clearly lists Chyna as the current champion. Booker T vs. Rob Van Dam was shaping up to be an interesting contest just to see who the WWF didn't want to push more. The answer was a tie as they both got punked out by The Big Show.If Hurricane Helms is not actually a superhero, then why is there a wooshing noise when he "takes off"? Is Molly Holly standing just off camera making that noise? At least they finally gave him a secret identity. Chris Jericho performed the "Breakdown" maneuver on The Rock, which has to be the lamest looking move ever. Maybe Rock just oversold it but it looks to be as painful as a paper cut. The show had its moments, but not enough of them.
Hogan Speaks!
Hulk Hogan was on Real Radio 104.1 FM in Orlando last week. He talked a bit about the launch of his new wrestling promotion but it was something else he said that caught my ear. Apparently Hogan says he had an agreement to wrestle Vince McMahon at last year's Wrestlemania, but that the deal fell through when he realized how many days he would be away from his family and how much work it would take. He said he loved Vince McMahon (!) and that he was starting something new that would someday raise the industry to...blah, blah, blah… I often said that Hogan needs a last great run in the WWF in a feud with Vince McMahon but the excuse that it would take too much time doesn't hold water with me. The feud could just unfold on Raw and Smackdown (Monday and Tuesday) and wouldn't need to be featured in the WWF house shows. So, Hogan would have to work 2 days a week for 8 weeks tops, plus Wrestlemania itself. Even that many days is overkill, so maybe he takes a few Smackdowns off. My guess is 14 days work to create one of the most interesting work/shoot feuds of all time. Hogan, you're running out of time to have one last great run. You're like 100 years old and eventually the beef jerky you call skin is going to decay. The time is now.
Fluke Injuries
Someone got injured during the Chris Jericho/Rock match last night, but not anyone you'd think. When Jericho put Rock through the ringside table, as the table shattered, a piece of it caught Paul Heyman in the leg. Heyman was in serious pain but continued to call the match. He reportedly went to the hospital to get the leg looked at after Raw and was told that he would be in pain, but OK. Am I oversimplifying this by saying that Paul Heyman got a sliver?Helen Hart Dies
Helen Hart, 76, died early Sunday morning at Calgary Foothills Hospital from complications due to seizures suffered in September and October. She is survived by her husband Stu, 10 of her 12 children, and several grandchildren.I Have Cable
All you poor DirecTV subscribers that couldn't order No Mercy have good news coming. DirecTV and the WWF have been unable to come to an agreement over pay-per-view revenues recently but DirecTV is set to be sold to Echostar. The WWF does have a deal with Echostar, and that deal is expected to supercede any deal that would have been made with DirecTV. Once the sale to Echostar is finalized, you can expect to have streaming WWF pay-per-view goodness in your living room once again.
Wrestlemania X8 is Selling Like Hotcakes
The WWF is already saying that Wrestlemania X8 is on its way to becoming the highest grossing event in company history. They announced that approximately 52,000 tickets have been sold for WrestleMania, which will be held on March 17, 2002, at Toronto SkyDome. The event has grossed more than $3.5 million to date, already tying it with last year's record-setting WrestleMania in Houston, Tex. More tickets will be available for sale prior to the event once staging decisions are completed. In addition, SkyDome is looking to add seating for the event and to sell all its luxury boxes. Tickets for WrestleMania X8 (because XVIII just confused people) went on-sale to the general public at 10 a.m. on November 3, and almost 2,000 tickets were sold in the first minute. Hopefully with all this new money the WWF will finally take me on board as part time writer and full time ass kisser.Until Friday…
