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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 23, 2002 14:22:53 GMT -5
What You Didn't See On WWE Unforgiven Last Night
Thanks to Marcus Justin for sending along the following:
Nothing much of any importance happened that wasn't on camera during last night's WWE Unforgiven pay-per view.
It was great to be there live in the Staples Center in the greatest city in the world - Los Angeles, but everyone went home pretty pissed off at the 'no contest' finish for the main-event between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. That was a rip off, not to mention Stephanie McMahon only kissing Rikishi dressed up in drag and RVD losing to HHH via run-in from Ric Flair.
After Undertaker put Brock Lesnar through the Unforgiven set at the entrance, he came back to the ring and played to the crowd for just a few minutes.
Announcer got in the ring, thanked us for coming, reminded us of the WWE return to Los Angeles (didn't catch the date and/or show) and told us if we live in the area of Anahaim, CA. tickets for tonight's RAW are still available if we want to check out more WWE live action.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 23, 2002 14:33:19 GMT -5
HBK Confirms More Matches In His WWE Future
Shawn Michaels was in town signing autographs last night in California, as we reported before, so he stopped by the Staples Center in L.A. to visit his friends in WWE for the first time since his unforgettable match at SummerSlam in August.
HBK commented on his last match, as well as the aftermath of it, by saying "It’s not bad. The adrenaline lasted for about a week; I didn’t feel anything. After a week it started to tighten up."
However, Michaels changed his tune from only a month ago when he said he wouldn't have anymore matches, by saying he feels he's got another one in him, possibly for WrestleMania. He also mentioned that he might have even more in him for a few more matches other than that.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 23, 2002 14:45:23 GMT -5
Complete List Of Celebrities Backstage At Unforgiven Last Night!
Will Sasso from “MADtv” and Eric Braeden, who plays Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless." were both backstage at Unforgiven last night.
Also backstage were LA Lakers Shaquille O’Neal and the newly acquired Tracy Murray.
“All my boys are wrestling fans,” Shaq told WWE.com.
“Whenever the (WWE) guys are close – these guys are my boys – I come to support them,” Murray said. “Whenever we’re close, they come to support me. We have a great relationship.” “When Shaq and Kobe (Bryant) have a lot of double teams,” he said, “that’s when I’m going to be in there to relieve some pressure.”
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 12:21:45 GMT -5
Identity Of The Brunette In HLA , Taker/Brock Finish Update
Sources are saying that the finish of the Undertaker/Brock Lesnar match at Unforgiven last night was changed several times yesterday afternoon prior to the PPV. One of the sources said that The Undertaker definitely didn't want to be pined by Brock Lesnar, so that is why the main event ended that way it did.
The lesbian Peaches, is a regular on the Playboy channel. Her name is Kitarra, real name Kitana Baker and she is on the show "Playboy's 411 Night Call's" with hosts Tara Reid and Crystal Knight.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 12:24:03 GMT -5
Chris Benoit Injured At Unforgiven, Kurt Angle Update, more
Chris Benoit suffered a pretty big welt under his left eye after clashing heads with Kurt Angle at the Unforgiven pay-per view this past Sunday. Benoit told reporters in the locker room that he didn't feel like putting an ice-pack on it because that stung worse than the injury itself.
Benoit and Angle both told WWE.com journalists that their bout at Unforgiven was one they'll remember for a long time. Benoit recalls classics like William Regal at the Brian Pillman Memorial show, Bret Hart at the Owen Hart tribute match, and Kurt Angle from WrestleMania X7. He says their match at Unforgiven will rank up there with the best of them.
Both Benoit and Angle put each other over as great competitors and says the chemistry is really starting to click and their matches in the future will only continue to get better. Both agreed that they love wrestling, and wrestling with great psycholohy and storytelling is a lost art that badly needs to return.
Benoit commented on progress of his neck since returning after being on the shelf for almost a year after major neck surgery. Benoit said that simple back bumps aggrivate it from time to time, and that he can take belly-to-belly suplex's and flying headbutts fine, but still feels he isn't 100 percent recovered mentally.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 12:26:48 GMT -5
Backstage Unforgiven News: Undertaker, Lesnar, more
The finish for the Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match, which ended up coming off really bad to the live audience (and television audience for that matter) was not the original plan for the bout. Apparently the decision was changed back and forth throughout the day on how to finish the match after Undertaker requested to the writers and upper management that he not do the pinfall job to Brock Lesnar. The finish was tossed up a few times, and the final decision was made to throw the entire match away, for lack of better terms, as they did last night.
According to a mass amount of reader feedback, a lot of people who actually paid the money to order Unforgiven last night were changing the channels back and forth being more interested in the Soprano's on HBO and the NFL football game on ESPN. Not a good sign for WWE to have people who would rather waste their money by not watching a show they paid for, as opposed to turning off RAW or SmackDown! which is regular television.
On a poll at WWE.com, the current leader for "What did you like best at Unforgiven" is the Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar match. I highly doubt that is accurate results, but nonetheless that's what it says. The incredible Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit match came in at second, third place went to Stephanie McMahon's HLA segment, which turned out to be nothing more than another stinkface from Rikishi to Eric Bischoff.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 12:29:56 GMT -5
Major Backstage Arguments At Unforgiven Last Night
Apparently the controversy over the finish of the Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match at Unforgiven was worse than previously reported. Apparently the response from the crowd of the no-finish was the same of those backstage throughout the entire day when the decision was made to go with that finish. Reportedly a lot of tempers flared over the decision to change the finish of the match, which was originally scheduled for Lesnar to go over via pinfall, but changed due to backstage politics.
Theoretically, there is always the possibility to go with a re-match between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar with Lesnar getting the clean pin, but many were angry that if that was a possibility to begin with, meaning Undertaker agreeing to job clean to Lesnar, why wasn't it done in the first place.
A lot of writers and upper management were really against the idea to change the finish of the match, expecting the response from the crowd that it got. In fact, Brock Lesnar was reportedly upset that Undertaker lobbied to Vince with his 'locker room leader' politics and refusing to let Lesnar pin him at the last second. Apparently something is going to happen at SmackDown! this week to try and salvage the image of Lesnar getting screwed out of the pinfall over 'Taker at Unforgiven.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 12:53:28 GMT -5
What You Didn't See On WWE RAW Last Night
Thanks to reader Toby Weatherford for sending in the following notes from RAW:
RAW was awesome for my first event, Lillian Shot off T-Shirts and I almost got one. Triple H did his usual All four corners after the cams went off. RVD who is from San Pedro, CA where I live was pretty good tonight. Bubba Ray pulled a muscle after trying to put HHH through the table and only hit the side of it.
There were a lot of empty seats. I sat near Lillian and the ring people during the event. The Fire Works are very very loud. Especially if you forget about them and the just go BOOM . Union Underground with Stacy Keibler, Terri, Lillian, and Jacqueline was cool. I don't know if they showed the shots they got of Stacy’s ass.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 13:12:27 GMT -5
Fans Find Unforgiven Boring, Randy Orton Heel Turn, more
Source: Various
-- It is being said by many fans who no longer have access to WWE Smackdown! in their area that Unforgiven was a disappointment not just because of the poor ending to the main event, but due to the fact that they didn’t get to see any of the build-up.
But the ending to the Lesnar/Undertaker title match, which has already caused widespread negative controversy across the internet, was, it seems, only the tip of the iceberg. Fans have said that a match the quality of Benoit/Angle on paper, was spoilt due to the fact that unless they read online commentaries (which wouldn’t do a Benoit/Angle feud justice), they had no way of seeing the buildup.
WWE have not been making a huge effort to stop the loss of Smackdown in key markets, and have even gone as far as to actively cancel the contract in Australia, asking for a 400% pay increase to re-air it.
-- SilverVision UK will no longer be able to sell World Wrestling Entertainment (formerly World Wrestling Federation) merchandise (VHS and DVD material), thanks to a court hearing. There are a few items excluded from the ruling though, made by a judge after the case was brought up by the World Wildlife Fund, and those are:
King of the Ring 2002 - WE295/WWE1038
Judgment Day 2002 - WE294/WWE1037
Vengeance 2002 - WE296/WWE1039
SummerSlam 2002 - WE297/WWE1040
The Videos Vol.1 - Ramped Up - WE309/WWE1052
Divas Undressed - WE307/WWE1050
All backdated video and DVD titles will be deleted as of November 7th 2002, with only the above 6 and all future pre-order titles available.
-- And finally, Randy Orton’s RAW debut last night was one of the two paths that WWE could’ve taken with him, either trade him or turn him (heel). However, due to the almost non-existent reaction the crowd gave to him last night, it could well turn out that both paths are merged, and that he is actually given a gimmick and a heel turn in the near future, something which was heavily rumored a month or so back.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 24, 2002 13:20:56 GMT -5
Test/Goldberg, HBK Mistakes, HHH's Beer Drinking, more
Test and Goldberg took part in small roles for the Disney Channel "Kim Possible" program. The basic story is a wrestling promoted being bullied for being a small guy, magically gets big and settles his grievances with the bully wrestlers himself. Of couse, the bully wrestlers were Test and Bill Goldberg.
The latest edition of WWE Magazine had quite a few errors in it. The magazine stated Shawn Michaels won the Intercontinental title at Survivor Series in 1992, when in reality he won the title from the British Bulldog on a television special. It also mentions Shawn Michaels won his first Royal Rumble in 1993, when in fact Yokozuna won it that particular year. Shawn Michaels won his first Royal Rumble in 1995.
In a recent interview with a local newspaper, Triple H said his favorite match of all-time was Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat, but didn't clarify which bout between the two who had a long series of matches, was in fact his favorite match. He also touched on topics as favorite movie and beer, both of which he said none due to not having time to watch movies, and the fact that he isn't a beer drinker. When asked what his favorite sign at a show about himself was, HHH mentioned "Triple H is good..to poop on" based on the dog puppet skit from Conan O'Brien.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 25, 2002 3:31:14 GMT -5
News & Notes From WrestleMania Press Conference
WWE held the press conference in Seattle, WA. today to announce WrestleMania X9 taking place at Safeco Field.
Jonathan Coachman, Jim Ross, Stephanie McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Triple H, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman, Chris Jericho, Big Show, Kane, Booker T, Torrie Wilson, Trish Stratus, Edge, Kurt Angle, Godfather, and Vince McMahon were all in attendance and each had their time on the microphone. Most of the conference was telling the crowd how great the Seattle, WA. fans are, which is why those choose to bring WrestleMania to their city.
A lot of the WWE wrestlers including Triple H and a few others kept the rib going with Undertaker that originated when RAW was in Seattle, WA. earlier this year. Basically, they have been trying to get Undertaker to do a spinaroonie and tried getting the crowd to encouage it, but no such luck.
After each person had their individual presentations, Vince McMahon was given a huge introduction where all the wrestlers stood and gave him a standing applause. He came out and talked about WrestleMania for just a few seconds before Godfather's music hit and he came out with the Ho's.
WWE then took questions from the media in attendance. The only notable question asked was something along the lines of, "how many people do you think still thinks wrestling isn't fake?" Triple H then replied, "ladies and gentlemen, the dumbest man in the world" to a huge ovation from the crowd. The journalist then re-asked his question again, and Brock Lesnar snatched Vince McMahon's microphone and said, "why don't you bring your ass up here and find out?"
All in all everyone seemed to have fun, and I am sure Vince, JR, and most of the SmackDown! roster will have fun flying from Seattle to San Diego for tonight's SmackDown! tapings.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 25, 2002 3:32:18 GMT -5
Kurt Angle Update, D-X, Steve Austin/Tazz, more
Kurt Angle's biography was mentioned in the September 13 edition of the Sports Collector's Digest as one of the 12 most read biographies. On another small Kurt Angle tidbit, Angle will be promoting a freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling event from November 8 to November 10 called the "Kurt Angle Classic" which will eminate from New Orleans. The show will feature a U.S. vs. The World format.
The World in Times Square, New York, formerly known as WWF New York, is still selling t-shirts for Steve Austin, Tazz, and D-X, despite all no longer wrestling in WWE. All t-shirts for the aforementioned names/stables are currently being sold at the cheap price of $5.00 a piece.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 25, 2002 3:33:04 GMT -5
Kurt Angle Update, D-X, Steve Austin/Tazz, more
Kurt Angle's biography was mentioned in the September 13 edition of the Sports Collector's Digest as one of the 12 most read biographies. On another small Kurt Angle tidbit, Angle will be promoting a freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling event from November 8 to November 10 called the "Kurt Angle Classic" which will eminate from New Orleans. The show will feature a U.S. vs. The World format.
The World in Times Square, New York, formerly known as WWF New York, is still selling t-shirts for Steve Austin, Tazz, and D-X, despite all no longer wrestling in WWE. All t-shirts for the aforementioned names/stables are currently being sold at the cheap price of $5.00 a piece.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 25, 2002 3:34:05 GMT -5
RAW Rating Released: Possible Good News For WWE
After what many consider a successful Unforgiven (with the exception of the Undertaker/Lesnar ending), it seems that some happy viewers tuned in last night for WWE RAW.
RAW brought home a 3.6 rating, off two hours of 3.6. Generally, this is saying that there was a decent amount of interest at the beginning; interest that did not wear off. WWE has actually seen drops from the first to second hour in the past few weeks (with the past two shows scoring a 3.4), so fans thought more of last night's show than the prior two episodes.
However, one must also wonder exactly how Unforgiven affected last night's show. We know that it boosted the rating, but the real question is how much. That question should be answered next week, as if RAW's rating fails, it is telling WWE that episodes of RAW cannot hold their own and need the boost of a hot PPV to attract viewers.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Sept 25, 2002 3:35:18 GMT -5
Huge Backstage News On The Defections Of Orton & Helms
The following are highlights from a WWE.com article:
While recovering from a concussion, Randy Orton put on 10-15 pounds of lean muscle to add some size to his build. Randy now feels that he is much more respectable and intimidating.
Orton was very happy to get the chance to go to WWE RAW, as the more experienced roster gives him more of an opportunity to impress fans and WWE officials. Orton will no longer travel with his friend John Cena, but is up for the adventure as he already knows the RAW talent. Randy got the news of his defection last Friday.
"The Hurricane" was also excited about moving to RAW. Although he didn't find out about his move till after Unforgiven ended, he was glad to finally have the opportunity to win the WWE Tag Titles along with Kane. Helms also feels RAW gives him more of an opportunity as he also can hopefully win the IC title down the road. Helms is also glad to be working with a big man like Kane, as opposed to Shannon Moore who lacked the size to make their tag team formidable.
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