News/ spoilers for the week beginning 5th August

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

WWE Superstar Contracts, Chyna News, Jazz On RAW, more
Story By: Amish Patel
August 05, 2002

-Vince McMahon has signed new contracts with Molly Holly, Batista, John Cena, Linda Miles, Jackie Gayda, Maven and Nidia. The Tough Enough contracts are set for $52,000 guaranteed the first year with a second and third year option of $78,000 a year.

-Joanie Laurer, aka Chyna, will be signing autographs on August 24th at the Xtreme Monster Truck Show in Anderson Speedway, Anderson, IN. The sigings will take place from 6-8pm. Then again on August 25th from 12-2pm.

-Jazz will be the hosting RAW at The World NY later on tonight

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

TSN Continues to Edit World Wrestling Entertainment Programming
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August 6, 2002
In the eyes of many World Wrestling Entertainment fans, TSN has gone too far! Just two weeks ago on WWE's weekly program, RAW, the beginning of a major push was to occur by the newly found tag team of The Island Boys.
As the gruesome team took to the ring behind the baffled duo of Mae Young and Moolah they were to attack the former Womens Champion and begin their push up the WWE rankings. However, that didn’t happen for the loyal Canadian viewers. They were quickly switched to a pre-recorded commercial that had absolutely nothing to do with the segment. Not only did that ruin the intended feeling that The Island Boys wanted to give to the fans, but it also destroyed their rightful way of receiving their push.

Several Canadian fans were rightfully irate at what took place, but decided that it probably wouldn’t hurt the idea that was to be put across with the fans. One week later, The Island Boys were again about ready to put forth an effort to ‘get over’ as a heel tag team with the fans. This week they were to destroy announcer, Lillian Garcia, and continue their reign of terror as top heels on the RAW roster. As soon as Eric Bischoff stopped talking they knew it was their cue. We all knew what was going to happen. We were anticipating it, but the TSN fans knew what was ‘really’ going to happen.

As soon as Bischoff spoke his last words of grief TSN once again stole the Island Boys chance for their big push. What was it? A Coors Light commercial! TSN decided to sell beer over entertainment. Once again, both Canadian fans and The Island Boys were shot down...

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Bischoff Giving Away Smackdown Results, WWE Notes
Story By: Ben Johnson
August 05, 2002

Thanks To Dave Meltzer & WrestlingObserver.com:

After last night's Smackdown, the show is still being referred to as a show where wrestlers are elevated. Reports say the show was very good. Tonight, there is no Smackdown house show, so the only WWE show is RAW live from Baltimore. Feel free to send in any dark match and off-air notes if you are attending.

There is speculation right now that Bischoff may give away the results of Smackdown, just as he used to do for taped episodes of RAW while he ran Nitro. Whereas this trick may help get the roster split over even more, it is not known to actually have a major effect on the ratings. In fact, when it was announced on Nitro once that Foley would win the title, viewers actually jumped to RAW. Right now, there is no confirmation at all as to whether Bisch will do this, but it seems like it would be interesting

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Full Details On Messiah Stabbing
Story By: Fred Cook
August 05, 2002

The Messiah (William Welch) was in his apartment in Canyon County on Thursday, August 1st. His roommate had just left to walk her dog when two men entered the apartment.

Messiah thinking the two men, described as African-Americans, both in their mid-20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 230 to 250 pounds, were friends of his roommate greeted them when they entered. They then began to attack him and cut off his thumb with garden shears. They then tried duct taped his hands together and tried to cut off his other thumb.

Fighting back, and making a fist so that the attackers could not get to his thumb, the Messiah was then hit over the head with a fish tank. Dazed from the fish tank the attackers attempted to pull Messiah's pants down to cut off his thingy. Unable to get the pants off they began stabbing Messiah in the general area, stabbing his leg in the process. Messiah was fighting back too much for them to be successful so they continued to hit him with furniture to knock him out. Being unsuccessful in that and most likely due to the amount of commotion being made, the attackers then left the scene, taking the thumb with them.

Nothing else was taken from the home, and authorities believe that the attackers were specifically there to assault him. The police detectives have a description, a vehicle description, and a possible identification. The police are also investigating possible leads to who is behind the attack.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Bret Hart Fundraiser, HBK's Wrestling Return Questioned, & More
Story By: Amish Patel
August 08, 2002

The following news is derived from SLAM! Wrestling and The Philadelphia Daily News:

-More than $6,000 was raised yesterday for the Heart and Stroke Foundation at the 'Get Well Soon Bret Hart' celebration yesterday in the parking lot of the Chinook Center yesterday morning between 6 - 10 a.m., in Calgary. A massive card was signed for, the recently turned 45 year old, Bret 'The Hitman' Hart, by the hundreds in a attendance. Despite being released from the hospital last Thursday, Bret was unable to attend the fundraiser due to it conflicted with his physiotherapy. For the full story click HERE.

-In his latest edition of "On The Mat", Michael "Mad Dog" Tearson focuses on HBK, Shawn Michaels. Tearson asks the question why Michaels' would want to get back in the ring when he is financially set and cannot be the "showstopper" of old. For the full article click HERE.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

HBK's Revenge, Jericho/Flair, Angle & Mysterio, more
Story By: Ben Johnson
August 08, 2002

The following is the early WWE RAW preview courtesy of TSN:

Will HBK get some revenge on Triple H? What will Y2J have in store for the Nature Boy? Can the Un-Americans avoid the Undertaker for a second week in a row? For all the answers, watch RAW, live Monday August 12th at 9:00pm ET/6:00pm PT.

The following matches will air on tonight's Smackdown (non-spoiler):

Hulk Hogan vs. Brock Lesnar.

Kurt Angle vs. John Cena.

Shannon Moore & The Hurricane vs. Billy & Chuck.

Reverend D-Von vs. Mark Henry.

Rikishi vs. Deacon Batista.

Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero & Kurt Angle vs. Edge, Rey Mysterio & John Cena.

Jamie Noble & Nidia vs. Billy Kidman & Torrie Wilson.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Major Trouble Between Hogan & WWE Breaks Out
Story By: Ben Johnson
August 08, 2002

Throughout this week, I [Ben Johnson] have been reporting all the news on the Australian tour, including Hogan's failure to be there. Although WWE told fans that he wouldn't be there due to injury, I speculated at there being more to the story than that. It appears I was right.

Hogan went to Vince McMahon earlier in the week to ask what his pay would be for the trip. Being that a 16-hour plane ride was never agreed to in his contract, he considered going to Australia as a "special appearance". Hogan did not receive a reply as to what he'd be paid.

Additionally, yesterday, it was reported on this site that The Rock made wisecracks about Hogan at the press conference yesterday in Australia. This did not please Hogan either. This is also not the first time Hogan has had issues about being paid with WWE as it was reported during the spring that Hogan was upset with pay-offs from shows. Being that WWE is in cost-cutting mode, this situation could go even further, and we'll keep you posted on all the updates.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

HHH/Heyman Alliance, The Rock/World Champion, New Commissioner
Story By: Ben Johnson
August 08, 2002

The following rumors come from the WWE Informer portion of WWE Magazine and are in "encrypted form":

Things seem to be pointing towards the fact that we may have a commissioner who's strong enough to run both RAW and Smackdown without getting pushed around. Who Will It Be? Let's just say it's a Statesman who has appeared on several WWE telecasts.

Paul Heyman may have a secret plan for The Rock at Summerslam. The Informer feels it may involve HHH.

One should not be surprised if a World Champion from another sport enters the WWE scene due to having unfinished business with The Rock.

Note: Not all Informer rumors do come true, however, he has correctly predicted things including the nWo's debut, the roster split, and more.

[Stephanie McMahon's sidekick!]

Edge & Hogan Wrestling, HHH's Injury, HHH On Dating Steph
Story By: Ben Johnson
August 09, 2002

The following are notes from a radio interview that Edge & HHH took part in on 101.9 FM Saturday in Australia.

Edge says that he admired Hogan growing up and he couldn't help but have that "geeky kid smile" while wrestling with Hogan as tag champion. HHH says it's amazing to see Hogan & Flair in the ring.

HHH says that wrestling is so demanding so it hurts one's career to get an injury, but it gives the wrestler somewhat of a break. Edge says that an injury is a wrestler's only off-season.

HHH says the best part of his job is the wrestling - getting to go perform in front of 50,000 fans who are screaming their heads off. When the bell rings, that's when the magic happens.

Finally, HHH says that dating Stephanie is interesting. On the one hand, he cannot help falling in love, but it also leads Vince to push him harder at work. The upside, in HHH's opinion, is that he gets to beat up his boss. How many can say they get that opportunity?

HHH jokingly closes by saying he will try scalping some tickets for the big show.