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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
12/21/01
Smackdown Thoughts
My luck with WWF television has finally changed because I really enjoyed Smackdown. Someone in the WWF must have read my rant about building credible heels on Tuesday because for the first time in months, the writers did just that. They showed an Undertaker heel highlight package showing how the Undertaker has been destroying people recently and then had him bury Matt Hardy. The only problem with that is that Matt Hardy is also supposed to be a heel. He must be backing away from his heel turn now. With as much heat as Taker has now, he really needs to be feuding with a main event caliber baby face.Chris Jericho also won his first match by himself as he defeated The Big Show. Sure, he cheated, but he didn't need help from anyone and heels are supposed to cheat. Both Jericho and William Regal gave excellent heel promos last night. Not all the heels came out with credibility last night as both Lance Storm and Test needed help in their matches. At least Storm won his. Test got help and Rock still kicked his ass.
I was expecting a bigger payoff to the "Ric Flair suckers Booker T into signing a contract he hasn't read" gimmick, but maybe there is more to be revealed than we know. I wasn't happy to see the return of Big Boss Man simply because no matter how you dress him, he still sucks. With rumors of WWF wrestler layoffs still floating around, Big Boss Man would be at the top of my list.
Raw Preview
Raw, which will be taped tonight, will apparently be a big one for Chris Jericho. The show will be headlined by a huge match for the Undisputed World Wrestling Federation Championship, as Chris Jericho defends against The Rock. Has Chris Jericho just been a transition champ or will he steal another victory from The Rock? With the recent dive in ratings, I would not be surprised to see the WWF overreact by taking the belt away from Jericho. They have a history of blaming the wrong things when ratings drop.New Rock DVD
The Rock has a new DVD coming out and it isn't The Mummy Returns. The Rock: Bring It On! hits stores Tuesday, January 8, at a price of $14.95 for the video and $24.95 for the DVD ($18.71 at Amazon). The WWF press release says that "the video/DVD follows The Rock on the road and pays witness to the dedication and attitude that makes him one of the best the World Wrestling Federation has ever seen. In addition to some of The Rock's most electrifying matches, the video goes behind-the-scenes of the filming of Universal Pictures' The Scorpion King starring The Rock, which is scheduled to hit theaters in April 2002." As of Friday, December 20, 2001, the WWF has not sent me my review copy despite numerous requests. I'm giving up and becoming a fan of Rollerball.Invasion Info
Watching Smackdown, I got to thinking about the whole "invasion" angle when the WWF put The Alliance out of business. All the WCW/ECW wrestlers were supposed to be fired when the WWF won the main event at Survivor Series. Let's look at the current roster. Christian, The Dudleys (with Stacy Keibler), Test and Rob Van Dam all had immunity from firing. I assume Torrie Wilson had immunity as well since she's Tajiri's valet. The Hurricane, Lance Storm and Booker T were re-signed by Flair one way or another in the last week. Tazz was hired back by McMahon for no logical reason. William Regal kissed McMahon's ass to get back in. I don't remember, but I think Chuck Palumbo quit the Alliance a week before Survivor Series, but I really don't pay much attention to Palumbo, so I'll let him slide.By my tally, here is the list of wrestlers that were fired then as a result of the Survivor Series loss: Justin Credible, Rhyno (he's injured anyway), Tommy Dreamer, Mike Awesome (he's injured), Diamond Dallas Page, Mark Jindrak, Raven, Shawn Staisak, Kanyon (he's injured) and Billy Kidman. Also, Shane and Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman. That's 10 wrestlers and 3 mouthpieces that remain "fired." I don't really have a point with this; I just got to thinking about it all. Maybe I'll go make this into a spread sheet…
Hogan Speaks!
Hulk Hogan appeared on "Unscripted" with Chris Connelly on ESPN Thursday. Here are the highlights:Connelly referred to Hogan as the "biggest name in wrestling," proving that he knows jack about wrestling. Hogan made a joke about wanting to sit on Santa's lap and ask for a new head of hair and a new pair of knees. He said he has been spending time with his kids, and that his son wants to be a wrestler. (No! Not another one!) The match he wrestled for the XWF was just "for fun" and that it wasn't taped for broadcast. Hogan said he disagreed with WCW's direction when he left, saying they were going in a "Jerry Springer" direction. Hogan said he wanted more wrestling, and less talking. Hulk gave credit to Vince McMahon for giving him the ball and allowing him to have his career. He said his son was pushing him to go back to the WWF, but he was thinking of possibly going to the XWF too. They listed all of Hogan's old ring names as they came back from commercial. Hogan talked about Rocky III, and how the way he towered over Stallone in the movie helped him out in being noticed by the public. Hogan said there is nothing wrong with wrestling now, except they need Hulk Hogan back. He's so modest. He put over Triple H, saying he loved his work. He also praised Rock and Steve Austin, saying they were all his favorites. Hulk put over the schedule wrestlers have, and pointed out how Triple H kept going after tearing his quad, and was even put in the Walls of Jericho after the tear. Hogan said guys like Andre the Giant and Roddy Piper always worked through injuries, but in the 90's with the big contracts, wrestlers would take too much time off for injuries, and hurt the business by ruining the storylines that were in place. Add Vince Russo's booking and that pretty much sums up WCW's final days.
Karl Malone took his appearance in the WCW match very seriously during his appearance. Dennis Rodman on the other hand did not take preparing for it seriously, but worked hard in the ring. Bill Goldberg was Hogan's personal friend. Goldberg had problems with injuries, mentioning the infamous punching out the limo incident, and that there were legal and contractual reasons why he's not wrestling now. Hogan felt he should be right at the top of the mainstream wrestling scene right now. They talked about Hogan's movie career, and Hulk said he has started to get more scripts calling for him to be in a "hero" role. If Suburban Commando 2 gets made, I'm taking hostages. Connelly asked if Hogan was the "fall guy" for the steroid scandal in the WWF. Hogan said he was definitely pointed out, but said that dark cloud was behind them. Hogan said he had no problem with the way he was treated, and that Vince McMahon was really the target then. He admired Vince for the way he handled it, despite the business and personal problems it caused Vince. Hogan said "it takes two to tango" and again praised Vince McMahon for helping him in his career. Hogan said four years ago, he didn't see the big picture. Now, he might sound like he is "sucking up" but he said Vince deserves the credit. He said stars of today, like Rock and Austin, benefit from McMahon just like he did. Hogan didn't have creative control in the WWF. Vince McMahon was the boss, but luckily, they often saw things the same way. He said he had a similar relationship with Eric Bischoff in WCW, but there he did have creative control. When asked what would guarantee his return to the WWF, Hogan said a match with Vince McMahon (which they tried to work out for Wrestlemania X-7, but it fell through.) Hogan went senile for a minute and cut an old-school Hulkster promo on Jesse Ventura, saying if he ran for President, he'd destroy Ventura. Hulk Hogan: Your first orange colored president. Damage Report
The Booker T. vs. Steve Austin brawl from RAW which saw them wreck the Green Frog supermarket cost the WWF $12,000. Crackers do not grow on trees.MADtv Rating
Last week's episode of MADtv, which featured HHH, scored a 3.8 rating, making it the highest rated episode of the season. By my math, that makes 3.8 million seriously bored viewers because that show was tragically unfunny.Injury Update:
William Regal had some problems with his nose following surgery, and had to have a blood clot removed. He is at home under doctor's care. Scotty 2 Hotty sprained his wrist. Ross mentioned Edge is working with a painful hip pointer. When I watched Smackdown, I noticed Edge favoring his hip at one point. Following his ACL surgery, Mike Awesome began therapy today. X-Pac is cleared to return to the ring. Ross has said in past weeks that he was able to work some time ago, but they wanted his neck fully healed. Randy Orton will return to the ring in January following rehab on his rotator cuff injury. Bob Holly is expected to be at full speed in three months. Tiger Ali Singh is home in Toronto recovering from a concussion. Book It
Each week in Book It we help the struggling WWF creative team with a few ideas on how to get talent that has been stuck in a rut over with the WWF fans.
Lance Storm is a favorite among Internet fans because of his impressive wrestling skills. Normal wrestling fans however have never taken to Storm because he doesn't seem to have a great deal of personality in the ring. After a moderately successful run in ECW, Storm joined WCW and had a little more success there because they gave him a character based on his lack of personality. Storm became a very serious wrestler that didn't approve of the shenanigans of his wrestling peers. Along with an anti-USA/pro-Canada gimmick, Storm got himself over with core fans as a mid-card heel.
When the WWF bought WCW, fans had high hopes that Storm's star would rise even higher but that has yet to happen. He won the Intercontinental Championship within his first month, but lacking any credibility (there's that word again) with non-WCW fans, Storm was dismissed as WWF fodder.
Storm was "fired" from the WWF when they eliminated team Alliance, but he recently begged Ric Flair for his job back. After failing to beat Big Show or Kane in Ric Flair's challenges, Storm finally got a count out victory over The Rock with help from Test. So, now Storm is once again part of the WWF roster, but he hasn't won a match cleanly in months, he's back to having no connection with the fans and is on the same rung of the WWF ladder as Crash Holly and Funaki.
The best way to move Storm up the roster is to start having him win matches. This can be done in singles competition (beating Spike Dudley, Crash Holly, etc…) or by having him team up with another wrestler. I'd have Storm go back to his anti-USA/pro-Canada gimmick. One night on Raw while Kurt Angle is cutting a promo against the hometown fans of whatever city the WWF is in that night, Storm can come to the ring and thank Angle for telling the truth. Together they can form a team that thinks Americans are stupid and lazy. It's a cheap way to get heat, but it works.
Storm and Angle begin taking on all tag team challengers and do well. Their matches are all hard fought, but they usually win cleanly over their opponents. After about a month of wins, Angle and Storm can make a run at the Tag Team Champions. Putting Storm with Kurt Angle, a proven main eventer, will elevate Storm in the eyes of the fans and having the duo win tag team gold will legitimize his wrestling ability. They could even get Trish Stratus to manage them. She's Canadian.
Once they have won the tag titles, they should hold them for about a month before dropping the belts to another team. Storm and Angle can then amicably go their separate ways. Storm will break off in to a singles feud with whoever is holding the Intercontinental Championship. Rob Van Dam would be my ideal choice for Storm's first singles feud since RVD is very popular with the fans and has such a flashy in ring style that Storm will look better because of it.
The trick is to build Storm up as a confident heel, not as a cowardly one. Storm should get the best of RVD some nights just as RVD will get the best of Storm. Storm would win the Intercontinental Championship from RVD at their first pay per view match only to lose it to RVD the next month.
After that feud, Storm's position on the roster should be around upper mid-card. He can then begin other feuds with wrestlers whose in ring style compliments his own. Jeff Hardy, Chris Benoit, Rhyno, Edge and X-pac are all about Storm's size and skill level. The point is to not put Storm in a feud with someone that is bigger than he is (Kane, Rock, Big Show) because then the fans just don't buy it.
Unlike previous Book Its, Storm doesn't need an elaborate storyline to get him over. Just a simple gimmick (anti-USA/pro-Canada) combined with some mic time and clear victories will do the job just fine. Trish Stratus wouldn't hurt either.
That's it for me today. Chairshots may or may not happen next week due to the holidays. It all depends on how trashed I get on egg nog. Check back anyway, as I do updates. Happy Holidays.
