Wrestling Observer Rewinder

April 26, 2004

Contract negotiations between Steve Austin and WWE seemed to be going well and they had reached a verbal agreement, but then everything collapsed and all talks have broken down. As of last week, Vince and Austin had basically come to an agreement in which Austin would basically be working with WWE for life. as well as market a Steve Austin beer, as well as the upcoming WWE Films project that was to star him. But suddenly, on 4/16, WWE.com posted a short article saying that Austin was no longer with the company and wished him the best in his future endeavors, officially ending an 8+ year relationship with Austin and WWE. The breakdown came due to an impasse over intellectual property rights (the "Stone Cold" name) and Austin's ability to make deals for himself outside of WWE. Dave doesn't know what the exact "Fuck this, we're done talking" moment was, but apparently neither side has been willing to budge on the above issues.
Needless to say, losing arguably the biggest star in the history of the business is a tough break for WWE, especially on the heels of Rock, Lesnar, and Goldberg all departing, Foley being part time, and Angle's career in question. The loss of star-power is devastating WWE right now. Anyway, the WWE side is blaming all of the problems on Austin's lawyer, saying he doesn't understand how important it is for Austin to be a regular character on TV in order to sustain his star power. Austin, of course, feels he doesn't need them as much as they think he needs them. WWE is willing to let Austin do some outside business dealings, but nothing that WWE considers competition to its own business. And considering WWE is in the TV and now film business, that includes TV and movie stuff. While talks broke down, Austin and Vince remain cordial and have agreed not to bury each other publicly (unlike the way WWE buried him in 2002 when he walked out) and still hope to work together in the future.
WWE is under the impression that Austin is close to signing a deal to appear for HUSTLE in Japan, although sources close to Austin say that deal is nowhere close to done either. Austin is waiting to hear other Japan offers before committing to anything. But HUSTLE has the most money and already have a relationship with Goldberg, so that seems like the most likely landing spot for him. The hold up there seems to be Austin wanting a bigger cut of merch sales with HUSTLE, which would likely generate more money than he'd make for an actual match. Goldberg's agent Barry Bloom is representing Austin in his talks with HUSTLE and other Japanese companies. Goldberg is said to be making $125k per match and $50k per non-wrestling appearance. Which is crazy money in general and even wilder when you consider every HUSTLE show so far has been a massive money-loser. But HUSTLE is being funded by Dream Stage Entertainment (same parent company that owns PRIDE) so they've got money to burn. They're interested in locking Austin into a long-term deal (at least 18 months) and have said his contract would be non-exclusive, so he could even return to WWE if he wants, so long as he fulfills any HUSTLE dates they have for him. They'd even be ok with him working Japan tours for WWE, which is something they didn't even offer Goldberg (which is why he didn't work the Japan tour for WWE last year). HUSTLE's next big show is 5/8 and it's highly unlikely they'll have a deal in place by then.
Finally, in regards to the long-discussed Austin vs. Goldberg PPV, the two have had lots of talks about it recently. They floated the idea of doing it in HUSTLE and then promoting it on U.S. PPV themselves, but who knows what will become of it. Goldberg is reportedly wanting 7-figures for each of them if they do Austin vs. Goldberg in HUSTLE, and Dave says Dream Stage doesn't have that much money to throw around for a single match. If it happens, Austin could use the name "Steve Austin" but not "Stone Cold." Whether he could do his usual gimmick (middle fingers, beer drinking, "Austin 3:16" and his other catchphrases) remains to be seen. WWE might try to claim ownership around the mannerisms of the character, just like they did when Scott Hall went to WCW and WWE filed lawsuits claiming that Hall was still using the Razor Ramon character because he still did the accent and the toothpick and all that stuff. So it wouldn't be out of character for them to try and interfere, especially if any Austin matches ended up airing on US PPV.
WWE's Backlash PPV is in the books! Time will tell if Chris Benoit and Randy Orton come out of this as bigger stars, but one thing's for sure: WWE couldn't have done a better job trying to make them. Benoit, in his home town, retained the title in a great match with a perfect finish (making Shawn Michaels tap to the sharpshooter with Earl Hebner as referee) and looked like the biggest star in the company. And Randy Orton, in a crazy hardcore match with Mick Foley, had the best match of his career and took some table and thumbtack bumps that went a long way towards adding some toughness to his pretty boy persona that he desperately needed. It was also one of the best and most memorable matches of Foley's career, his first singles match in more than 4 years (and his last scheduled WWE match for now though he'll likely be back in the fall when it's time to promote his new children's book). It was very similar to the way Foley basically put Triple H over so strongly in 2000 to help make him a top guy, and he arguably did the same for Orton here.
The show was not a sell out but still packed about 13,000 in the arena, and with Benoit being the headliner and it being the first ever PPV in Edmonton, the local media coverage was unlike anything WWE has ever had. It's also one of the most well-reviewed shows in WWE history, with not a single thumbs down vote in Dave's usual poll, which has never happened in all the years Dave has been doing this. The triple threat main event was basically a duplicate of the Wrestlemania 20 main event, but it went a little longer and had some different spots. Dave thinks the WM match was slightly better but the finish for this one, especially for the crowd they had, was unbeatable. And while he's not a fan of hardcore matches, Foley/Orton was also an incredible MOTY contender. The only negative of the whole show was that they didn't do a good job of getting Edge over in his return match.
Other notes from the PPV: the rule about Canadian babyfaces being announced from the U.S. was scrapped. Probably because this show was in Canada, but they may have scrapped the whole thing due to all the negative feedback, but time will tell. Shelton Benjamin beat Ric Flair in the opening match but despite his big push on TV, the crowd wasn't all that into Shelton. Jonathan Coachman beat Tajiri (due to interference) and tried to work an actual match rather than play the cowardly heel announcer schtick. They had a bunch of Eugene comedy segments throughout the show. Mick Foley performed as Cactus Jack for that match. They noted that Orton is the longest reigning IC champ in 7 years, which is funny because this feud had nothing to do with the title. Poor Edge, in his home country and first match back in WWE in over a year, had a nothing match that the crowd didn't care about and they spent most of it chanting "You screwed Bret!" at referee Earl Hebner. Speaking of, crowd HATED Shawn Michaels. The Orton/Foley and triple threat main event matches both get 4.5 stars. After the show went off the air, Benoit did a whole speech about Canada and acknowledged Michaels screwing Bret Hart and challenged him to come back out. Michaels did come back out...just long enough to give Hebner a hug, which got huge heat, then he left again. Triple H then tried to come back out and Benoit made him tap out as well to send the crowd home happy.
Mike Tyson has officially signed on to fight in K-1. Probably. Maybe. K-1 president Sadaharu Tanigawa faxed a copy of the contract to media outlets in Japan and the news blew up HUGE. So huge, in fact, that a major story about the freeing of Japanese hostages in Iraq was bumped to the 2nd page in many newspapers. Tanigawa claimed Tyson will be fighting on July 31st in LA, New York, or Vegas (still TBD) against an opponent to be decided. Reportedly, K-1 wants Tyson to fight under K-1 rules but Tyson is insisting on only boxing rules. Tyson will also have the right to choose his opponent from a list of names K-1 will provide (Bob Sapp, Jerome LeBanner, Ernesto Hoost, Ray Sefo, Musashi and Akebono). If he's looking for the easiest payday, Dave suggests Akebono. Plus, he or Sapp vs. Tyson would be the 2 biggest attractions for Japan. Under boxing rules, absolutely none of those guys has a prayer. If it were to be K-1 rules, then it's a different story.
The World Boxing Council put out a statement regarding Tyson's K-1 signing that was completely disrespectful of K-1 and, for my money, is one of the dumbest statements I've ever read:
Jose Sulaiman Chagnon, President of the World Boxing Council deeply regrets the fact that the great world ex heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is thinking of the possibility of contending in a sport known as K1 which represents a huge and regrettable return to the most savage times in which respect to human life did not exist at all, as this 'sport' is one of the most violent and less humane practices anyone can ever witness.
The most astonishing thing is to see how a country of such elevated culture such as Japan, is adopting this criminal practice that literally takes society back to the cave era.
The fact that such a brilliant boxer who at age 20 conquered a world heavyweight title with a brilliant victory over Trevor Berbick on November 22, 1986, becoming the youngest world champion in boxing history and holding the enviable record of 24 first-round KO’s, close to Jack Dempsey’s 25 first-round KO’s amazing record, can not be thinking of blemishing such extraordinary career by stooping so low to participate in the denigrating legalized savagery of K1.
We wholeheartedly hope that Tyson forgets his recent past and comes back to the noble sport of boxing that opened the doors of greatness to him, to regain his status of world professional champion...simply because K1 is for those who have nothing left at all...or for amateurs or cheap street fighters.
Now, the catch: there have been several claims throughout the years that Tyson had agreed to come fight in Japan (many of the claims made by Antonio Inoki at different points) and they all turned out to be bogus. In fact, Tyson is currently unable to even come to Japan due to his rape conviction, and K-1 execs have reportedly even reached out to the Prime Minister to try and get the red tape cleared so that he can. And until he sees Tyson in a K-1 ring, Dave still isn't believing this story, no matter how many global media outlets Tanigawa manages to convince otherwise. Japanese media reported that the deal will net Tyson $18 million. Now is a good time to be a K-1 or PRIDE fighter because the war between the two has meant that the money being offered is astronomical but Dave doesn't believe the $18M figure (the rest of the sports world should have listened to Dave because indeed, this never actually happens).
The promotion of John Laurinaitis to WWE Vice President of Talent Relations solidifies the former AJPW star as one of the most powerful players in the business. Known as Johnny Ace in his wrestling days, he broke into the business largely due to the connections from his older brother (Road Warrior Animal) and never really caught on in the US, but became a big star in Japan as the pretty boy foreigner and ended up becoming a main eventer in AJPW. When Giant Baba died and he got wind of Misawa planning an exodus of talent, he began looking elsewhere and got a tryout as a wrestler with WWF. That didn't work out and a few months later, he ended up getting hired as a backstage agent during the dying days of WCW and officially retired as an active wrestler. His understanding of what made AJPW matches so good worked to his advantage and he got strong reviews for his work in putting together better matches. But no matter how good a match the agent lays out, he couldn't overcome WCW's awful booking. When WCW folded, most of the front office wasn't hired by WWE, but Laurinaitis was the exception. He was hired and almost immediately became the heir apparent to this job, working directly under Jim Ross. Laurinaitis will have full control over house show booking and will become the most important person (other than Vince) in deciding who gets hired and fired. Dave notes that in recent months (as Laurinaitis was training for the job under Ross), we've already seen less of an emphasis on amateur wrestler and football player signings and they've been bringing all the good looking people out of developmental. (Laurinaitis is probably already circling names in lingerie magazines as Dave was typing this. In fact, Dave notes that the company has already hired a few former Playboy models who washed out of developmental because they have no knowledge of wrestling).
It had been rumored for years that Laurinaitis would eventually replace Ross in that role. Ross has been doing the job since 1996 and, both publicly and privately, has made no secret that he was ready to step away from it but still wants to stay on as an announcer. Ross bought a new home last year, in Norman, OK and that got rumors going that his time in the job was coming to an end. Ross' new position is to work directly with Vince and others in senior management rather than being the talent relations guy (according to J.R's book, Vince was PISSED when he found out he was moving back to Oklahoma and pretty much pushed him out of the inner circle entirely as punishment). Ross mostly deserves credit for the current WWE roster, as he played a major role in expanding the talent development system and was the one who hired many of the current top stars. One wonders if Laurinaitis taking over might mean WWE would start some sort of affiliation with a Japanese promotion, but the style in Japan is so different than WWE that they might not see it as beneficial. Ross was always against it for that very reason. Ross is also the guy responsible for updating WWE's rings in the late 90s when wrestlers were complaining about how hard they were to bump on (word is Vince took his first bump and decided to soften the rings lol). Following the death of Brian Pillman, Ross was the impetus behind hiring full-time athletic trainers to treat injuries on the road and got rid of some of the known "drug doctors" who lurked around at shows, he was the guy behind the banning of certain moves, the guy behind payoffs, etc. It's a MAJOR position in the company that guarantees you get heat from the locker room. Laurinaitis is currently well-liked in the locker room (though he does have a rep as a kiss-ass towards management) but his new position is likely to change that pretty quickly. It's the role where you often have to be the bad guy to all the wrestlers.
Keiji Muto won the AJPW Champion Carnival tournament by beating Kensuke Sasaki in the finals. It puts Muto in line for a shot at Kawada's Triple Crown title. Muto also said he'd like to face whoever wins NJPW's G-1 Climax tournament as well, since the two companies have been working peacefully together lately. The Champion Carnival is basically like NJPW's G-1 tournament and it's the oldest annual tradition in wrestling. This might also have been the last. With AJPW business declining, Muto said before the tournament that if it didn't draw, this would be the last one. Every show of the tournament was held in Tokyo rather than touring all of Japan, in order to save costs. That was a bad move for drawing live crowds. Aside from the first night, none of the other shows on the tour until the final drew more than 1,500 fans. The finals drew 4,000 but still not good.
The latest Cauliflower Alley awards banquet took place and I guess Dave was there because he writes a LOT about it. Bobby Heenan stole the show as the host of the event and Dave thinks he should have a job somewhere in the business because he's still more entertaining than most people on TV these days. With regular attendees like Lou Thesz and Stu Hart no longer with us, Antonio Inoki was the biggest historical figure at the event, and he received an award presented by Thesz's wife. Inoki showed up late to the event, near the end of the awards ceremony, with an entourage to keep him insulated. Accepted his award, gave a brief speech in Japanese, and then bounced. That rubbed a lot of the legends the wrong way, with Inoki giving the impression that he thought he was above everyone else. Former wrestler Paul Jones gave a speech and was exceedingly angry at Vince McMahon for apparently destroying the business and called Vince names that even Dave won't print here.
The highlight or lowlight of the Cauliflower Alley event was Chavo Guerrero Sr. who had a number of incidents. First, he was complaining at Nick Bockwinkel for some reason about how the club has never honored a Guerrero and made such a stink about it that security had to come. Then he showed up waving an $18,000 check around that he recently got for working WWE tapings, rubbing it in everyone else's face how much he was making. Then he got beligerant towards a wheelchair-bound Bob Orton Sr. At this point, Danny Hodge got involved and pulled Guerrero away. Later on, Guerrero confronted Verne Gagne and started screaming at him for stiffing him on a payoff for the SuperClash III show in 1988. While most recognized that it was probably true, they felt it wasn't the time or place for Guerrero to make a huge scene over a 16-year-old beef. Gagne, who is 78 and suffering from dementia, had no idea what Guerrero was talking about and calmly tried to tell him to come back and discuss it when he hadn't been drinking, but Guerrero kept screaming that Gagne was racist against Hispanics and was trying to fight him. He was escorted out by security (again) and told not to come back this time (more on this in the coming weeks).
We have an obituary for the Great Goliath, who along with Black Gordman was one of the top tag teams of the 1970s. Mostly wrestled in Texas, southern California, and Mexico. Spent a lot of those years being rivals to names like Mil Mascaras, Jose Lothario, El Santo or Dos Caras among others. This obit has quotes from Terry Funk among others and basically just details this dude's career, major feuds, matches, angles, etc. I was totally unfamiliar with this guy, so this was interesting.
More news on TNA's new TV deal with FSN. The show will air on Fridays at 3pm EST beginning in June and the TV time is being purchased by TNA, though the figure is unknown, but national paid programming time (which is essentially what this is) isn't cheap. TNA will be responsible for selling advertising time during the shows, with hope that they can use that to recoup the expense of paying for the TV time. Because it's paid programming and TNA is selling the ads, the network isn't going to care whatsoever how the ratings do. It's mostly just a matter of how long Panda will be willing to dump money into it if they can't recoup.
FSN exec Tom Chiappetta also squashed rumors that they have anything to do with the TNA/ROH drama. "We have nothing to do with TNA and Ring of Honor's dispute. We are simply just airing the shows. TNA is paying us and we have no say in which wrestlers are involved, only the content must be family friendly for an afternoon showing." It's said that TNA is going to pay AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Jerry Lynn the money they would have made for their missed ROH bookings this week that TNA forced them to pull out of. They won't be paying the talent for any future ROH dates they may have been planning to work though. Once the statement from FSN came out, confirming they have nothing to do with the dispute, a lot of wrestlers in TNA were pretty pissed. They had been led to believe that FSN was insisting on the total separation from ROH. While the contracts that they signed does give TNA the right to prevent their talent from working for other companies, everyone had been led to believe from the start that it only meant WWE. So there's a lot of people in TNA who can't work ROH all of a sudden who feel they were misled.
Jesse Ventura made news this week when he did an interview confirming that he's considering a run for President in 2008. Ventura's term as governor in Minnesota wasn't very well received and because he's so thin-skinned, he got into constant fights with the local media which is something you can't do as President (oh how wrong we were). Because he's a former governor, this announcement was treated as a serious story by the news media but Dave thinks it's nothing but a publicity stunt. Ventura said his wife didn't want to move to D.C. so if he does win, he would do most of his governing from Minnesota. He also said he wants to run as an independent and get rid of income tax and replace it with higher sales taxes.
Brock Lesnar was in a motorcycle accident last week but wasn't seriously injured. A minivan pulled out in front of him while he was riding in Minneapolis and he crashed into it. He needed some stitches but otherwise was fine and released that day and is only set to miss a day or two of football training (turns out this accident was far worse than Dave knew at the time but we'll get there too).
The annual Sports Marketing Group poll ranking the most hated sports in America. These polls usually get a lot of headlines in national media and pro wrestling always does pretty badly. This year, wrestling ranked at the #2 most hated sport behind dog fighting. Jeez. Bullfighting was #3, followed by boxing and golf rounding out the top 5.
Little person wrestler Lord Littlebrook is in bad shape, with fluid in his lung and doctors fearing the worst. Littlebrook, now 75 years old, is one of the most famous little people wrestlers of all time and is most famous among modern day fans for his match at Wrestlemania 3 (this dude ends up hanging on for another 12 years before dying in 2016).
Brian Kendrick has been dating former Tough Enough 1 contestant Taylor Matheny. They've apparently been dating since 2002 when they met in Japan, while he was working for Zero-ONE and she was with Arison following her run on Tough Enough. She quit wrestling after her brief Arison tour but they're still together (and as I write this, 20+ years later, they're STILL together and have been married since 2008).
Random News & Notes: Nathan Jones has a role in the upcoming Brad Pitt film "Troy." Kid Kash was hospitalized with a spider bite.
Japanese media sources are reporting that Brock Lesnar's WWE release prohibits him from working for another other promotion (wrestling or MMA) until March of 2005. Oh, it's waaaaaaaay longer than that and it becomes a huge story over the next year or two, but we'll get there. Anyway, if Brock doesn't make it in the NFL, word is NJPW, K-1, UFC, and PRIDE are all extremely interested. Brock has never shown any interest in shoot fighting and Dave doesn't think he'll ever do it. If he does, he'd need at least a good year of training. Lesnar was a champion amateur wrestler but he hasn't done that in 5 years and it takes more than that to make it in MMA these days (Lesnar about to prove everybody wrong in the coming years).
Ric Flair was asked during a UK interview about the Flight From Hell lawsuit and the accusations against him. Flair denied the claims, said the women are making it up, and questioned why it took them 2 years to file the lawsuit. Oh Ric...
The recent vignettes on WWE TV for a new character named Hirohito will be portrayed by Kenzo Suzuki. Dave thinks this might be an all-time flop of a gimmick because Suzuki is pretty awful. The gimmick is very clearly playing on old WWII Japanese stereotypes and Dave thought the idea of old racist Japanese gimmicks like this, capitalizing on post-WWII anger, died in the 60s. There's a lot of thought that this might backfire in Japan. The gimmick is clearly meant to mock Emperor Hirohito (who was emperor of Japan during the war) and that's ruffling some feathers in Japan. Years ago, whenever WWF toured Japan, they weren't allowed to run shows in any of the sumo arenas because they had the Yokozuna character and he wasn't a real yokozuna champion and it was thought to be disrespectful. Those in Japan say this is 100x more offensive than the Yokozuna thing was and there's thoughts it might lead to WWE end up being blacklisted from arenas there as a result if this character ends up being the stereotype that people are expecting (yeah this gimmick ends up getting scrapped when Suzuki goes to Vince and basically refuses to do it because of how offensive it would be in Japan).
Triple H was supposed to leave to go film his new WWE Films movie this week, but due to the loss of so many stars recently, WWE delayed filming to keep Triple H on TV to help get new stars over quickly. As of now, the movie is scheduled to start shooting in July (this movie never happens).
Bret Hart had an in-person meeting with Vince and Shane McMahon after Raw was in Calgary last week. WWE had actually reached out to Bret earlier in the week to see if he could help facilitate them shooting footage of Benoit in the old Hart family dungeon. Hart agreed and was there with Benoit when they filmed everything, but Hart refused to let them film him. Since the house has now been sold and will soon be out of the Hart family's possession, this will likely be the last footage anyone ever shoots of the Hart dungeon. Vince invited Hart to come to Raw, but Hart wanted to meet with Vince privately, so they agreed to meet after the show. The main piece of business discussed is that WWE wants to do a DVD on Bret and they would obviously like to have his involvement. If this happens, it will be interesting to see how both sides agree to cover the Montreal Screwjob incident, since that's still a sore spot and, if they're going to cover it honestly, it will require Vince to admit to a lot of lying. Vince also pitched the idea of Hart returning to do something on TV. He didn't lay out any exact plans, but the big money would be for Hart to align himself with Benoit and for them to do something with a heel Shawn Michaels. But anything like that happening remains to be seen. WWE is also interested in marketing Bret's autobiography and went so far as to promise they wouldn't change a word of what Bret wrote. Dave doesn't buy that for a second.
Hart is also still in the midst of a lawsuit with Lloyds of London over an insurance policy they don't want to pay out. Bret is (obviously) claiming that the concussions he suffered in WCW ended his career. Lloyds of London argues that Hart had suffered multiple concussions prior to taking out the policy and that his career ending because of one more concussion on top of brain damage he may have already had wouldn't be covered. Vince actually wrote a letter on Bret's behalf, noting that Bret wrestled for WWE for 14 years and only missed two dates in that entire time, neither of which was for concussions, and said that the company was never aware of Hart suffering one during his time with WWE.
Notes from 4/19 Raw: show opened with a great Christian vs. Jericho rematch that ended when OVW wrestler Travis Bane debuted and attacked Jericho (and fell down while doing so). Sounds like he will be going by the name Tyson Tomko and will be Christian's bodyguard. Tomko is yet another 6'5 OVW guy with a great look and extremely limited skills who is absolutely being brought to the main roster too early, but that seems to be the way it goes these days. Benoit cut one of the better promos of his career, putting over Calgary and Stu Hart. Randy Orton came out and got noticeable cheers after his incredible performance against Foley the night before. He gave himself a new nickname, "The Living Legend" and Dave assumes the Larry Zbyszko lawsuit must not be concerning them too much because that couldn't be more of a direct slap in the face. Edge came out to try to play tough guy but the crowd was more into Orton since he actually proved himself as the tough guy the night before, as poor Edge continues to not get over in his return. This led to Evolution laying out Benoit and Edge which led to a tag match against Flair/Batista later on. It was another good match and the first time Edge seemed to click with the crowd. Benoit though once again came across as the biggest star in the business with the Calgary crowd.
Notes from 4/15 Smackdown: this felt like a WCW Thunder episode. JBL's gimmick is way too campy and goofy to be a main event level character. Rico apparently kissed Charlie Haas and started overly-harassing him in a stereotypical gay way, leading to Haas throwing up in response. Gotta love a good ol' fashioned gay panic storyline. Kevin Fertig (Seven in OVW) is doing vignettes for a new religious character named Mordecai. He's got a whole new look from his OVW days. And just like everyone else they rush out of OVW, he's about 6'4, lots of muscles, and limited in-ring skill. Mark Jindrak is doing the Lex Luger gimmick now, except he doesn't have as good a look as Luger did and somehow, he's even worse than Luger in the ring. He showed more potential during the dying days of WCW than he has in the last 3 years with WWE. The show ended with Big Show allegedly throwing Kurt Angle off a balcony or something and him landing with a pool of blood under his head and acting dead. One of those angles that makes you embarrassed to be a wrestling fan, Dave says. Basically just an awful show with a lot of new stuff they're trying and almost all of it sucks and isn't going to work.
Notes from next week's 4/20 Smackdown tapings: Charlie Haas and Rico won the tag titles. The Dudleyz turned heel on RVD. Booker T seemingly began a feud with Undertaker. And JBL continued slowly getting over with his new gimmick by beating up a fake Mexican wrestler.
Chris Benoit was basically a hero when they were in Edmonton this past week. They had a ceremony where the mayor gave him the key to the city, with all the local media and a big crowd. Balloons, big video screens, the whole thing. Benoit was noticeably touched and had to compose himself several times during his speech. Then he went to do a radio interview and the host secretly arranged for Bret Hart to call in and he talked about how proud he was of Benoit's success. Benoit talked about how this is the first time he's felt like a world champion, despite technically winning the WCW title before quitting the company in 2000. He talked about how the world champions he saw in WCW (namely, Hogan) set a bad example of what it's like to shoulder the responsibility of being the top guy and he wants to do better than that. Good guy, that Benoit.
Shawn Michaels also did an interview and admitted he was surprised by how well his body has held up since returning to wrestling. He said it was amazing for him to be there when Benoit won the title, saying it was one of the coolest moments of his career to have been part of it. Says he regrets the Montreal Screwjob situation but he can't dwell on it forever and has moved on. He's apologized publicly but has never spoken to Bret since that night. Says that for 2 years, Bret has publicly questioned his sincerity about the changes he's made and his religious faith and it sounds like he doesn't particularly appreciate it. But he's not that concerned about it otherwise. "I serve a God, and it's not Bret Hart," he said.
They did a show in OVW to write Nick Dinsmore out of the promotion. It was basically a loser leaves town kind of match, except if Dinsmore lost to Matt Morgan, he would be forced to play the goofy Eugene character on national TV for the rest of his career. And so he lost, dropping the OVW title to Morgan, and Eugene is in WWE to stay now.
Ric Flair did a bunch of interviews in the UK and oh lord. Just a whole list of topics he hit: doesn't have any timetable on when he plans to retire. Favorite title win was the 1983 win over Harley Race. Thinks Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels are better than the best wrestlers of the 70s and 80s ever were and thinks Angle might end up being the greatest of all time. Doesn't keep up with what internet fans say because he can't even turn on a computer. Dave says a lot of the old timers are like that when it comes to the internet and it probably keeps them sane. He blamed Bischoff for trying to destroy his legacy during the latter years of WCW. He criticized both Hogan and Savage for apparently refusing to do jobs to him in the past when he willingly did for them. Said the match he had with Triple H last year in Greenville, SC and the post-show celebration after they were off the air was the greatest moment of his career because it gave him his self-respect back after WCW had destroyed his confidence. Said Vince Russo had turned WCW into an embarrassment and a circus and he was happy when the company folded, but clarified that he blames Bischoff for killing the company, not Russo. He said there's at least 10 guys in the WWE locker room who want to beat the shit out of Bischoff every time they see him but they all have to remain professional. He also said that if Bischoff could find an investor to front the money, he'd quit WWE tomorrow and start trying to compete against Vince again, and basically calls him a snake. WWE lists him as a 16-time champion but Flair considers himself a 22-time champ. Puts over his son Reid as a future great pro wrestler. Calls Mick Foley an overrated stuntman and says "falling off a building doesn't make you a wrestler. Where would he be if he hadn't fallen in a bed of thumbtacks?" (that's gonna lead to a lot of drama this year). Said he hasn't seen much of TNA but what he's seen is terrible and figures Russo is probably the reason and trashed the idea of Raven as a main eventer. Said the worst wrestler he ever faced was Ultimate Warrior. Doesn't think Lesnar loves the business and will never be considered an all-time great. And his current Mt. Rushmore of all-time greats is Harley Race, Shawn Michaels, Ricky Steamboat, and Triple H.
Letters section: Mick Foley writes in with some memories about indie wrestler Stephan DeLeon who passed away recently. An employee (name withheld by request) of FSN writes in and predicts doom for the TNA television deal because he claims FSN is a shit-show behind the scenes.
Lex Luger's name popped up in WWE this week. Apparently, he's been having some financial issues, as legal fees and whatnot have piled up and he hasn't really worked much in 3 years. Sting has been trying to get Luger to find religion and has been working to help out his friend. Sting has no financial issues and has never shown much interest in WWE, but it's said he'd be willing to make some WWE appearances if they will bring Luger in as well. Never say never in wrestling but Dave doesn't think this is gonna happen.
Another indie promotion tried to sneak a WWE vs. TNA wrestler match onto their card this week but nope. TNA's Ron Killings was booked to face WWE's Al Snow but WWE caught wind of it at the last minute and nixed it. Snow ended up facing someone else.