May 05, 2003
- Vince McMahon held a talent meeting before the Backlash PPV to order everyone to tone things down and start wrestling a more mat-based, psychology-oriented style. From a business standpoint, this is the worst time to change the style of the company. The young male demographic, which WWE thrives on, loves fast-paced crazy flippy shit and with business already in decline, slowing things down is a risky move. But it's also necessary, because serious injuries keep piling up and the company is in dire straits with its top stars. Austin and Foley retired. Triple H and Undertaker are the walking wounded. Kurt Angle's career is obviously still in question. Even the rising stars: Brock Lesnar has been in the company barely a year and has suffered a litany of injuries with no time off. Edge is out for the next year. Benoit just came back from missing a year. Bodies are breaking down faster and, with the devastation of the American wrestling scene outside of WWE, there's not a huge pool of talent to replace them with. It's not just a WWE problem either. As always, American wrestling is a few years behind Japan, which means Japan is several years ahead in injuries. Headliners like Misawa and Kobashi, Muto, Nagata and Takayama, etc. All of them are feeling the effects of what this style has does to people and they've been doing it longer. There's not a lot of future prospects on the horizons to replace those guys either. It's a problem throughout the business right now.
- Which brings back to....WWE Backlash is in the books and was a slow and fairly boring show by WWE standards, probably due to the aforementioned meeting. There were 4 main objectives to this show: get Goldberg over as the top babyface. Get Kevin Nash over as a title threat since that feud will be continuing. Get John Cena over as a main eventer. And get Sean O'Haire over as a strong upper-midcarder. All 4 objectives were total failures. Rock vs. Goldberg was a mixed bag. Within WWE, management liked it. They feel Goldberg did the best job he's ever done in his career of selling and working a long match. Problem is, that's not what fans want to see with Goldberg. As a result, the live crowd turned on him and by the end of the match, Rock was getting cheered while Goldberg was getting booed. Cena/Brock was a bad match that exposed how green Cena still is and how Lesnar is not the guy to carry him, and the crowd also tried to turn Cena face during the match as well. Nash was part of a 6-man tag and ended up eating a pin from Triple H to set up their feud, but he didn't do much and didn't look great when he did. And O'Haire/Rikishi was just plain bad and did no one any favors.
- Other notes from the PPV: Rey Mysterio was injured on a spot where he was strapped to a backboard and Big Show swung him into the ringpost. Big Show dropped Mysterio, who was strapped to the board, and he landed face first. He was legitimately hurt, and they feared a concussion from the landing, but he mostly just has a bump on his head and messed up his wrist and thumb. Vince McMahon was furious at Big Show for not protecting Mysterio on the spot. Speaking of Mysterio, just in case you're wondering, he hasn't won a single match on PPV since the WCW days almost 3 years ago. Test cornered Torrie Wilson and forced her to kiss him which is a nice little bit of sexual assault that gets played for laughs and led to a bunch of Torrie/Stacy catfighting throughout the show. Jazz beat Trish to win the women's title, which is only notable for one reason: Teddy Long tries to distract Trish by throwing a shoe at her and I have a vivid memory of watching this PPV live with my group of friends and all of us dying laughing when it happened. Who throws a shoe??? Rock's pre-match promo was hilarious and turned him babyface, while Goldberg had everything about his WCW entrance, from the music to the pyro, changed and that was a bad idea. After the PPV went off the air, as the crowd chanted "Goldberg sucks", Rock tried to cut a promo to put him over and save it, but no dice. Rock said this was his last match for now but promised he'd be back. Dave says the current plan is for Rock to be gone the rest of the year and return for a rematch with Goldberg at Wrestlemania next year but that obviously can and likely will change in the next 11 months.
- WATCH: Big Show baseball swings Rey Mysterio into the ring post - Backlash 2003 (even though this WWE video has it incorrectly labeled as 2002)
- Dave reviews the latest UFC 42 PPV, which is only notable for one thing: Undertaker was in attendance and actually sat next to Tank Abbott all night. Dave says it reminds him of the time he was at a UFC show and he also sat with Tank Abbott all night and only says, "It was, well...interesting." I want to hear this story.
- Satoshi Kojima is running some kind of small shows this week called BAPESTA! and using a lot of AJPW wrestlers who are going to be using ape costumes. Needless to say, I had to look this up and turns out it was some sort of cross-promotion (spearheaded by Kojima) between AJPW and A Bathing Ape clothing brand in Japan. Camoflauge ring, wrestlers using ape gimmicks, the whole nine yards. Looks like they did several shows together.
- Masahiro Chono blew out his knee this week during a match less than 1 week before his headlining inter-promotional dream match against Kenta Kobashi at the Tokyo Dome. Not great timing. Reportedly torn ligaments, but he's still planning to gut it out and work the Tokyo Dome show. Beforehand, this was announced as a no-time limit match and they were almost certainly going to do a long match. But given Chono's injury, all bets are off (still ends up going about 30 but we'll get there).
- Hey speaking of that Tokyo Dome show, Antonio Inoki is busy shitting all over it. He did an interview saying that Zero-One's show that same day has a better main event and he's considering going to that instead. He criticized NJPW's booking and said if the Dome show doesn't sell out, he would fire all the wrestlers and employees. Good ol' Inoki.
- Nothing really new on Sting/WWE negotiations. Sting is earning $20,000 per show for the upcoming WWA tour in Australia but he has told the promoter it will be his last tour because he's planning on going to WWE, so sounds like it's still on the table, even though nothing has really changed in weeks.
- In case you're wanting an update on Steve Blackman, and who isn't, he's been training with Ken Shamrock lately at the NJPW dojo. Blackman has the same messed up neck issues everyone else in WWE has, but he decided against doing neck surgery and thus hasn't wrestled since (and never really wrestled seriously again. He did a battle royal and a one-off indie show thing but that's it).
- Ultimate Warrior has been speaking lately on college campuses, doing lectures on conservative ideology. "Those who have dealt with him of late say he's absolutely nuts, and more right-wing than any right-winger you’ve ever met," Dave says. At a recent political conference, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliff met Warrior and tried to be nice, even saying he was a fan. Warrior responded, "I'm not a big fan of yours, nothing a swift chair to the head wouldn't solve." That story is so specific that I feel like it has to be true. So yeah, just Warrior things.
- At the Smackdown tapings in Nashville, TNA employees were outside giving away free tickets to the upcoming shows. There were also a bunch of people inside the show with signs plugging TNA (in particular the big upcoming Jarrett/Raven match) but WWE officials were confiscating them left and right.
- Notes from this week's TNA show: it's clear Russo is booking, although after the show he was still complaining that Jeff Jarrett was editing his ideas. Lots of disagreement over what should have been done in segments. There was also disagreement over how violently Jarrett beat the hell out of Alexis Laree and Dave actually agrees. In pro wrestling, that kind of violence is one thing if it's one shot and the woman goes down. But Jarrett was beating on Laree repeatedly and it became an uncomfortable, domestic-violence type of vibe that went beyond what is acceptable for pro wrestling. Then they did it again later in the show with Kid Kash brutally beating up Trinity (I saw a clip of that one awhile back and yeah, it's really bad). Also, we had a pole match! Well, lots of weapons actually, but one of them was a kendo stick on a pole. New Jack pulled out a grenade at one point, but Dave doesn't clarify what happened with it. I'm assuming he didn't detonate it. Seems like I would have heard about that. Anyway, 6 matches on this show. All 6 ended with outside interference. Raven ended the night seemingly aligned with 3 different groups. It's Russo time, baby! (I'm not gonna blame the grenade on Russo. New Jack seems like the kinda guy who probably just showed up with a shoot grenade.)
- On top of recent comments by AJ Styles criticizing the company, others have been also. Ron Killings did an interview talking about being unhappy with how TNA was using him and said he was interested in going back to WWE. Chris Harris knocked Russo's booking in another interview, while Jerry Lynn complained about too much talking and goofy stuff and not enough wrestling.
- Bob Sapp had surgery last month for a fractured orbital bone from when Cro Cop punched his brain through the back of his head. So it'll be several months before he's back in the ring. K-1 is advertising him all over the place for their upcoming U.S. PPV in August even though the odds of him being ready to fight by then are slim. Promoting Sapp and not delivering on that first big show in the U.S. is going to leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth, especially when he's practically unknown in the U.S. and he's still the biggest draw they have here (hey, for what it's worth, Sapp does end up making it for the show).
- Jeff Hardy was officially fired by WWE for failing a drug test (his second failure that Dave is aware of) and refusing to go to rehab. WWE feels Hardy, because of the nature of his firing, can't work anywhere else (specifically, TNA) until the remainder of his contract expires, but who knows if they'll actually enforce that. If Jeff were to go through rehab, WWE would likely hire him back in a heartbeat, and every indie promoter in the world is going to be calling him, but Dave thinks WWE made the right move here. He needs to get his shit together first because it's not in anyone's best interest to hire Jeff Hardy right now. Dave paints it as an indictment on the industry that when WWE cuts ties with someone due to addiction issues, all the indie promotions come running with no regard for that.
- In a WWE.com interview, Steve Austin said he's probably wrestled his last match due to his ongoing neck issues. He says he would be risking paralysis by continuing and doesn't think it's worth it. He still needs 2 more discs fused in his neck, but isn't ready to do the surgery yet. Even when he does, he still says he wouldn't be able to return (good thing. Could you imagine if this guy was still trying to wrestle again 20 years later like all these oth--what's that? He did? And it was fucking awesome? Oh ok then...)
- Ultimo Dragon officially signed with WWE and is planning to start in May. At the next major Toryumon show (the promotion Ultimo Dragon runs), he's planning on putting over his protege Cima to make him the next big star. It's worth noting that Paul Heyman was a big proponent of bringing in Ultimo Dragon, who he's wanted to work with since the early ECW days. But of course, Heyman is no longer booking Smackdown so that window is gone. Might not work out too well in Dragon's favor either.
- Speaking of Paul Heyman, since he's not managing anyone right now, he's basically getting paid to stay at home. His official role is that he critiques the scripts for Raw and Smackdown and offers suggestions.
- Booker T, RVD, Test, and Stacy Keibler got in trouble for being an hour late to the arena for the PPV. Especially Test and Keibler, since they had to do pre-tape stuff and their lateness held things up. They were all in town the night before also, so it's not like they were struggling to get to the city. Seems to be a pattern with Stacy and Test lately.
- Kurt Angle was backstage at Smackdown and said he's feeling great and already doing heavy lifting. Those who had the traditional neck fusion surgery that keeps them out for a year aren't supposed to do any weightlifting at all for the first 6 months. Angle said he did 30 minutes on the treadmill the day after his neck surgery and the only issue has right now is some tingling in his left arm, which is common during early recovery. Angle reportedly had been taking Valium to sleep because he had been in so much pain prior to the surgery. He plans to return to the ring within the next month or so.
- A women's group in Vermont held a protest outside of a WWE house show, protesting over the company's portrayals of man-on-woman violence. They talked about how men beat up women while the mostly male audience cheers. A WWE spokesman issued the usual response about how WWE's women are strong and always get their revenge in the end and how there's no correlation between WWE programming and real life violence. All of the local news networks covered this, and who did WWE send to talk to the media? None other than Sable! She made the press rounds, towing the line that they're entertainers and it's fiction and essentially dismissed the protest groups. 2003 really feels like Vince getting his pettiest revenge on Sable. Her career post-WWE went nowhere, so she came back humbled and he hired her, only to send her out there to do everything she was against doing the first time and then, to top it off, sent her to be a mouth-piece for the company against other women.
- Notes from 4/28 Raw: only thing really worth noting was the return of Steve Austin as co-GM alongside Eric Bischoff. Also, the main event of the show featured Bischoff vs. Trish Stratus in a match where, if Trish won, she would get a title shot. And if she lost, she had to fuck Bischoff. 2003 in WWE ladies and gents. After Bischoff won (because of course), Linda McMahon came out to shut it down and overrule the angle, only for Bischoff to start hitting on Linda instead. Austin then showed up to send Bischoff to stunner-land to end the show. Also during the show, Vince was apparently screaming at Coachman so bad on his headset during commentary all night long that he was afraid to talk.
- Former referee Tim White had a 2nd shoulder surgery, stemming from a bump he took in the 2002 Jericho/Triple H Hell in a Cell match. Even after the first surgery, the shoulder continued to dislocate and he had to retire from refereeing.
- Dutch Mantel was recently shot down by WWE when applying for a writing job without even an interview. Dave hates that all they want is soap opera writers now. Dutch has been booking IWA in Puerto Rico for quite awhile now, routinely drawing thousands of fans a week to the shows and he just booked a show that drew 11,000+. He's not saying Mantel can fix all of WWE's problems, but for fuck's sake, at least give someone with that track record the courtesy of a conversation.
- William Regal is expected back on TV soon in a non-wrestling role. He's mostly recovered from the virus that caused all his health problems and nearly caused his heart to stop functioning. He can't wrestle as long as he is still on blood thinners however, due to the risk of internal bleeding from bumps.
- Vince McMahon and Superstar Billy Graham have reached a deal for WWE to promote and publish Graham's autobiography that he's been working on for years. Vince will even be doing the foreword. Vince and Graham had a falling out back in 1991 over the steroid stuff but have recently mended fences (there'll be more of that to come).
- Speaking of autobiographies, Steve Austin's is due out in November and is co-written by Dennis Brent and Jim Ross. In fact, Ross has been so busy on it, he hasn't even been at TV tapings lately, trying to finish it.
- Nikita in OVW is said to be coming in soon, debuting as the illegitimate daughter of Vince McMahon. Dave also heard discussions in the past of having Nikita debut as the surprise sister of Torrie Wilson. The idea was Al Wilson, after his death in that whole storyline with Dawn Marie, would end up leaving his fortune to this sister Torrie never knew about. But that never happened (this Vince daughter thing never happens either).