News/spoliers 2nd- 9th September

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Update On Bret Hart's Condition, Return To Wrestling, more
Story By: John Banchansky
September 02, 2002

Bret Hart made his return to Montreal this past Sunday for Jacques Rougeau's show at DuMaurier Stadium, in what may have been his last appearance at a pro wrestling show. Before Hart had a stroke, he was telling friends that it would be the last show he would ever appear at, but didn't make a public announcement incase he decided to change his mind in the future.

Hart made his way down to the ring to a standing ovation. He began by saying a few words in French, and then mentioned that it was his first time in Montreal since he was screwed by Vince McMahon in 1997. Hart then started to cry in the middle of the ring. Jacqeus came out and gave him a hug, as fans all over the arena began crying. Hart mentioned he was working hard in rehab to be 100% again. He had some trouble getting his left leg over the rope as he exited the ring, and was then helped to the backstage area.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Update on Terry Funk's Condition: Rushed to the Hospital, More
Story By: Matt Postoian
September 02, 2002

- Terry Funk needed 20 stitches to repair his arm in the hospital after the match with Shane Douglas on the XPW debut show on Saturday night in Philadelphia. The story about XPW buying the arena was apparently a false. Regarding any backstage altercation between Funk and Douglas, all I can say is, I don't know and anything is potentially possible. But if you consider the two people involved and a company run to make internet headlines and not to make money, I find the story nearly impossible to believe it's anything but a worked angle.

According to several reports, the tendons where showing in Terry's arm as he was rushed to a nearby hospital. Terry was released from the hospital at 4:30 AM Sunday morning and will be fine, or atleast when he gets the stitches taken out, which could be months.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Angle To Olympics, Sting's Return, Wrestling Ring Collapses
Story By: Ben Johnson
September 02, 2002

Rulon Gardener appeared on ESPN radio yesterday. An interesting thing that he mentioned was that Kurt Angle is still considering trying out for the 2004 Olympics. However, with WWE severely lacking star power on the roster right now, WWE is in more need of Angle than ever and will not be pleased if he decides to leave.

Sting did in fact show up at the Nebraska wrestling event this weekend. However, he did not actually compete in a wrestling match. Instead, he participated in a final segment in which he took a table bump, but then destroyed three local wrestlers. Sting also spoke on his love for Jesus.

In somewhat of a strange moment, at the end of the Nebraska show, DiBiase invited anyone who would give their life to Jesus to come into the ring. Being that so many people came in, the ring could not support the crowd and collapsed. Luckily, only one man walked away injured.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

WWE.com Makes a Huge Mistake, Says RVD is Champion
Story By: Matt Postoian
September 03, 2002

- WWE.com posted the RAW results shortly after the show went off the air, declaring that Rob Van Dam had won the newly-created RAW World Title from Triple H by pinning him in the main event tag match. RVD teamed with Ric Flair to face Chris Jericho and Triple H.

As of midnight, the front page of WWE.com showed a picture of RVD holding both his IC title belt and the World Title belt. The phrase "a very disputed title" is the headline on the picture.

As of midnight, this error has not been corrected, then WWE.com changed the mistake on the RVD winning world title story shortly after midnight. Nonetheless, a big mistake on the part of the WWE.com staff.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

What You Didn't See On RAW - Off-Air Pillow Fight!
Story By: Matt Boone
September 03, 2002

Thanks to reader Brian Scheller for sending the following live/off-camera RAW notes:

First off i love your site and check it out everyday. I just attended Raw tonight in Milwaukee, WI. It was an alright show, I would have liked to see someone come on from SmackDown! but oh well.

Not much happened after the cameras stopped rolling, Jericho left to his music and HHH did the same but HHH had them stop the music and had Lillian announce him as the world champion.

The main event was alright but i would have rather seen Jericho vs. RVD and have HHH come in to interfere rather then have HHH and Flair wrestle again. But the best match of the night was the Lingerie Pillow Fight, everyone loved that match. The only thing that didn't air on that pillow-fight match were the guys carrying the bed to the ring, which was normal. But it was funny seeing grown men carrying stuffed teddy bears and feminine pillows to the ring.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Huge Update On Stone Cold Steve Austin's Return, Wrestler's Pay
Story By: Fred Cook
September 03, 2002

Steve Austin has been telling friends over the past couple of weeks that he has not held talks with any WWE officials since he left. He is keeping in good shape, but has not made it clear whether or not he would return if approached by the company. Friends have said that Austin is in good spirits, and has ignored the way he has been portrayed by the WWE.

In an interesting tidbit, wrestlers who do not participate in matches at PPV's are still given a payoff, even if they don't turn up at the building in some cases. Wrestlers who didn't appear on the Backlash PPV recently got checks worth roughly $2,000.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Latest On Goldberg/WWE Negotiations: Feud With Brock Lesnar, more
Story By: John Banchansky
September 03, 2002

Gong Magazine did a rather long interview with Goldberg this past week. The interview mainly focused around Goldberg's negotiations with WWE, and the problems that may come into play. Goldberg said that he had a meeting scheduled with Vince McMahon shortly after he injured his arm, but ended up canceling it because of the injury. He mentioned he had a disagreement with McMahon, because McMahon likes his top wrestlers to work full schedules, and he thinks they should run one huge show per week with all the big stars.

It seems right now that the scheduling issue is the biggest thing holding Goldberg back from signing with the company. If he does eventually sign with WWE, expect him to tie into the Brock Lesnar being unbeaten storyline. It is obvious that WWE is building Lesnar up to be the next Goldberg, and if he stays unbeaten for the next couple of months, a showdown with Goldberg is likely.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

WWE Seriously Considering Hiring Scott Steiner
Story By: Matt Boone
September 03, 2002

Backstage at RAW last night serious discussions were held regarding bringing in Scott Steiner to WWE. According to many, WWE is planning on contacting Scott Steiner soon with a serious offer and are as interested in Steiner right now more than ever. However, it isn't currently known if talks have progressed past a telephone call yet.

In the past several months, WWE officials have had Scott Steiner take a number of physicals and other medical tests to insure he can phyiscally hold up despite his ongoing foot injury. Scott Steiner himself personally said on recent radio interviews that he took those tests, and passed them all.

It doesn't look like anyone would be shocked at this point if Scott Steiner and WWE reach an agreement for him to come into the company in the neat future.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Rick Steiner Speaks On Scott/WWE, Kurt Angle Fight, Bischoff
Story By: Ben Johnson
September 03, 2002

The following are notes from Rick Steiner's recent appearance on Get In The Ring radio:

Rick says that in a shoot fight, Brock Lesnar would most likely take Kurt Angle due to his size and weight advantage. Rick does not feel that Brock Lesnar has paid enough dues to be a champion, and feels that Brock could not have earned the title so quickly a few years ago.

Rick Steiner claims he is good friends with Bischoff, but was quite surprised to see him debut on WWE TV and embrace Vince McMahon.

Rick feels somewhat surprised that his brother is not currently on WWE's roster. He feels that it's definitely due to money issues, which of course can be repaired quickly. Rick says that if he and his brother end up in WWE, they would want to compete in a tag match against Angle & Brock Lesnar

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Backstage RAW News: HBK Discusses More WWE Matches
Story By: Matt Boone
September 03, 2002

Management backstage at RAW last night were talking about the differences in rosters for RAW and SmackDown! While many would disagree, most were in agreement backstage that RAW has the more talented roster with the bigger marquee stars.

There was some talk about Shawn Michaels having more matches in the future in WWE backstage at RAW last night. Basically, HBK was very pleased with his performance at SummerSlam and felt pretty well physically the following day. From the way his promo went last night, it sure seems as though he will be stepping back into the squared circle again.

For those who have asked, Michaels was not injured and was working it on RAW last night. Also, he was not in 'via satelitte' from San Antonio, Texas, as they stated either.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

X-Pac's Wrestling Future, Undertaker/Kane, Lesnar, more
Story By: John Banchansky
September 03, 2002

X-Pac doesn't have a non-compete clause in his contract, which means he could sign with NWA-TNA as early as September 18th if the promotion shows interest in him. His name hasn't been brought up much backstage at recent NWA-TNA events, and with all the recent cutbacks by the promotion, it is unlikely that they will end up signing him. If he does end up with them however, he would have to either compete under his real name, Sean Waltman, or TNA officials would have to come up with another gimmick name for him.

The original plan was for Kane to join SmackDown upon his return. He was initially booked for the SmackDown tour in September, and was scheduled to feud with Kurt Angle. Now that The Undertaker is on the SmackDown roster, Undertaker vs. Lesnar will headline the September house shows. When the decision was made to have Taker jump to SmackDown, they decided to have Kane join RAW to even out the sides.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

WWE Wrestlers Pay, Island Boyz Debut Match, & More
Story By: Matt Boone
September 03, 2002

The following news is derived from the Pro Wrestling Torch newsletter. Subscription details can be found at PWTorch.com:

As reported last week, Rosie from "Rosie and Jamal" better known to most as one half of the Island Boyz, suffered a hip-flexor injury. Since then, Jamal has been carrying the bulk of the offensive attack for the duo during their weekly run-ins on RAW. The team were originally listed on the official RAW superstars page as The Island Boyz and were scheduled for tag-team competition at upcoming WWE house shows, but due to Rosie's injury, those plans have been put on hold.

Despite not working for pay-per views, wrestlers who don't even show up at the arena on the day of a pay-per view in WWE are given a payoff for the show. Wrestlers who not only didn't wrestle, but didn't even attend the Backlash pay-per view a few months ago received checks around the ballpark of $2,000. Generally, the impression to most was wrestlers get bonuses based on where their match is positioned on the card, how well the match went, and how much the match was responsible for drawing buyrates for the pay-per view.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

WWE News & Notes: Shawn Michaels Returning, Droz, More
Story By: Matt Postoian
September 03, 2002

- Earlier this morning a fellow staff member posted an article about Shawn Michaels returning and his feeling on his Summerslam bout with HHH. According to sources Shawn has told WWE management that he plans on having more matches in his career with the WWE. Possibly even by the end of the year. Michaels told WWE that he wen't through the hardest match possible and came out feeling fine. So it looks like Michaels is not against another match, and infact is in some ways in favor of it.

- In Newsday yesterday, there was an article about backyard wrestling. The article also included an interview with Droz, who warned kids against doing stupid things. Hopefully kids who take part in backyard wrestling will take what Droz says to heart and take a good look at his situation.

- Frank Shamrock will be presenting the British Middleweight Championship belt to the winner of the Paul Jenkins vs. Shain Tovell match on the 19 match Ultimate Combat 3 show. The event will be held in the Olympiad Leisure Centre in Chippenham, South Wilts England. You can e-mail [e-mail] for more information.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Eddie Guererro Has Altercation with Fan
Story By: Tracey Russell
September 04, 2002

Thanks to 'The Bobb' for sending in the following news bit:

I was at the Corpus Christi, TX houseshow on Saturday and after the main event, Eddie Guererro and Chris Benoit were walking back to the stage area when a fan threw a soda at Benoit and started yelling profanity at Eddie. Eddie responded in tipical heel fasion and yelled back a few words of his own. The fan didn't like this too well so he slapped Eddie in the face. Eddie's only reaction was to slap him back. The security guard, who looked alot like Stone Cold Steve Austin slapped the fan too, and because the fan had nowhere to go took a few more shots to the face by the guard. The fan stepped back while the guard called him a f****ing punk and told him to meet him around back. After the guy had left the guard got police and other security on the case to arrest him but he was long gone, and so was Eddie after the initial confrontation. It was the highlight of my night, as it was only a few feet away and pretty entertaining.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Chris Jericho Speaks On Hogan, Bischoff, Lesnar, more
Story By: Matt Boone
September 05, 2002

The following is an interview recap with Chris Jericho:

The guest on Bubba The Love Sponge's show this morning, was none other than Chris Jericho. Bubba welcomed Chris and right off the bat they were joking with each other.

He went on to talk about going to work for WWE and walking in, and seeing a huge oil painting of Vince on the wall. He talked to Vince, JR and other people, and they discussed what he'd get paid, etc. After that, he continued to stay in WCW another year. He mentions that in WCW, everyone was overpaid except him. He joked that they weren't too bright, as in his last 4 months, they took him off TV, gave him no work, yet still gave him a full pay. He said he offered to work house shows, but they said nothing. So he was quite happy to get paid for nothing. When he went to the WWF, he took less pay than what he made in WCW, but he didn't mind. Chris said that he would have done anything to get away from WCW, even taking less money to go to Vince.

Bubba then addressed a rumor going around, that Brock Lesnar wanted a 1.5 million paycheck for being the WWE champion (man, talk about misreading a story!). Chris shot down the rumors, saying it depends on how the business goes, and how much you draw. Bubba said that he knows people who got 7 figure paychecks for some PPVs, and Chris agreed.

Bubba asked about Bischoff, and asked what his real role was. Jericho said that as far as he knows, all he is, is an on-air talent, and nothing more.

Bubba talked about his new market up in the Connecticut area, and said Vince could maybe hear him this morning, and probably is. Jericho of course, then said that Vince was the greatest boss ever, and is the greatest guy.

He said he naturally hates people, and (jokingly) hates wrestling fans. Another fan asks since Jericho said he's accomplished all his goals, what's next? He says that he just signed a 3 year extension, and he's basically going to do whatever it takes to help the business. They brought up working with Kurt, and he puts him over big time, saying how great he is. Bubba talked about how Hogan brought up Jericho, and how Hogan was talking about what Y2J did to him in WCW. Bubba said Hogan has a ton of respect for Jericho, and thinks he's amazing. Chris said that Hogan was great to work with, and is the easiest guy ever to work with.

Hulk Hogan then called in. They addressed the rumors of Macho Man coming back, to which Hogan said "I hope not, I hate that son of a pregnant dog." He doesn't wanna fight him. Hogan said he just wanted to say hi to Chris.