February 8th, 2002
Let's see, what's happened since last time? Well, for starters we have the No Way Out commercial with images of the New World Order... hey... NWO. Coincidence? It was just one until they decided to make it so they appear at this PPV. I don't know what they're thinking with this, but I can't wait to see what happens. My feeling is that they should have Hall, Nash and Hogan appear at the show, maybe cut a promo, then go up into a Luxury Box and watch from there, maybe do a few cut scenes of them horsing around in their skybox, having a beer or two (for the cameras only, Scott... we all know about your problems.) Then later on they might want to go take a closer look at the main event, and possibly trash it, laying out both Stone Cold and Chris Jericho. That would be my idea. Just don't expect to see any of them in matches right away.
Another thing which makes me say "what are they thinking?" would be the Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley pregnancy storyline. I personally don't think that Triple H would have been capable of shagging two months ago during his recovery from the torn quadracep tendon. Unless she doped him up with pain killers and rode him like a mechanichal bull, I can't see it. Besides, he spent so much time rehabilitating his leg and working out, where did he find the time to dip his wick into Steph? Hey, maybe he really is "that damn good" and not just be able to overcome the pain from his leg, but fit giving it to his wife into his schedule. Another pain he'd have to endure would probably be her moaning and screaming during the act, not to mention seeing her face, depending on the position. God, could you imagine what she sounds like during sexual activity? If her speaking voice is that bad, the noises that come out of her when she comes gotta be absolutely terrifying. But enough of that, I've probably fuelled nightmares for some of my readers, and maybe myself with those comments. The points I was trying to make are: A-I don't think it his; and B-Whomever did the deed with her deserves a metal for his courage.
Before the SmackDown taping, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan were in L.A. to meet with some of the promoters, Mr. McMahon and the other wrestlers. From the sounds of things Hogan's making friends and Hall's making a few enemies backstage. In the interview with X-Pac on wwf.com he said that Scott can be a jerk at times and even he'd say so. Which would say to me that that was the side of Hall a couple of people saw backstage before SmackDown. X-Pac didn't say anything about wether or not he'll be a part of the nWo, but I'd imagine he could definately be part of it. I also read that before the SmackDown taping Hogan and the Big Show were seen working out together at a gym. I am not saying he'll be a part of this nWo, but Hogan did have a big part early in Paul Wight's wrestling career, so it is possible.
In another interview with X-Pac, also on wwf.com, he mentions a surgery he had some time ago which sounds pretty much like the one Chris Benoit is recovering from as we speak. He also says a few things which remind me of something Triple H said about how it feels to be at home when you're used to the 300 days per year schedule of wrestling. Hopefully both Benoit and X-Pac can come back soon and get back to entertaining, even though the WWF has a ton of talent, I say the more the better... just as long as they can use them. Hopefully, this split in the Federation will help them make use of all this talent. There's talented people like Raven, Tommy Dreamer, Hugh Morrus and Sean O'Haire and Shawn Stasiak who are just doing house shows or working in the WWF's workshop fed to keep them busy. They want to be on TV, we want them on TV. Hopefully the split will suceed in that.
It's been reported that WWF Pay-Per-Views will be seen on DirecTV again. Just in time to see the last WWF PPV to cost $29.95. WrestleMania will cost $39.99 because it's going to be an hour longer than normal PPVs, then the PPV after that will cost $34.95. When I first heard this, I thought the $5 hike was gonna be to just make up for the lost income due to their PPVs no longer being carried by DirecTV. Now I think it's just because WWF is a monopoly right now and can do as they please. Yeah, there's the WWA, but they don't count! They've got pretty much nobody signed to contracts and they only got a venue and clearance to use it last week. They might have Jeff Jarrett, Kronik and Scott Steiner who said they'd be there, but that's pretty much it. Yeah, it's wrestling, yeah it's only $19.95, but it sounds like its going to be crap, too. The only thing that's going to get people to buy it is that there's some who'll watch anything called "pro wrestling" and then there's some who'll buy it because it's not WWF. I've already decided, I'm not going to buy any PPVs this month, and hold out until WrestleMania.
On top of the WWF hiking up their rates for the PPVs, if this split goes into effect, there's going to be two PPVs some months, 8 more a year from what I've read. So think of it this way... if one household buys all the live (not including the Fanatic series) PPVs the WWF does in a year it will cost them $494.86, assuming that WrestleMania will still cost $39.99. Which would be the WWF getting another $70 out of that household than they would with just 12 shows a year. Doesn't that make you sick? Just think, that in 1992 wrestling PPVs were $15 - $20 less than what they are now. Those were the days. What's even worse is that the wrestling was better then!
I read on 1wrestling.com that the guy standing behind tha announce table wearing the hat, sunglasses, wig and beard with the sign that said "Former World Champion" was none other than actor, former WCW World Champion and husband to Courtney Cox... that's right it was David Arquette. When you thought it was safe to watch wrestling again, the embarassing storylines of the past come back to haunt us all. For the record, Arquette's wrestling as WCW Champion was nowhere as good as his in the film "Ready To Rumble"... wait a minute, what am I saying? He had a stunt double that did all the wrestling for him in the movie. Which leads to a fun peice of trivia. Who was that stunt double?
Stand back! There's a trivia answer is coming through!
Yes, it was Gregory "Sugar Shane" Helms, better known to fans now as the Hurricane was Arquette's stunt double for the wrestling scenes. There's pictures on shanehelms.com which show them together on the set.
With that peice of useless trivia, I think I'll end this installment of the Wrestling Rant. Expect a new one after I see the No Way Out results, if not sooner.