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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 23, 2002 12:46:47 GMT -5
Lawler/Ross Upset Over Split Announcing Teams
Story By: John Banchansky
July 22, 2002
Last night during Vengeance, the commentary time was split between Cole/Tazz and JR/Lawler to increase the "brand separation". Apparently, the splitting did not endear itself to JR or Lawler as they are not happy about what happened.
Jim Ross did not like the idea from the beginning. He is not into having angles among commentators thinking they are there just to call the matches. And, even though the plans were announced days before Vengeance, JR did not know that the air time would actually be split until yesterday. Much like the recent problems with Nash and Stone Cold, it is unfair to make on-air talent have to deal with failure of notice and surprises that significantly affect the show. Lawler was also unhappy about it.
However, this seems to be putting the s h*e on the other foot. JR always says wrestlers should do what's best for business, but when he was the one who had to "do what's best for business" he grew upset about sharing air time. It seems JR's Ross Report can be viewed as somewhat hypocritical after this situation.
Apparently, Heyman has been training Tazz and Cole to do a better job while commentating as they are certainly not as qualified nor experienced as JR and Lawler. This training also does not make JR happy, so there is a good chance that JR has some resentment for Heyman right now.
As for Cole and Tazz, their work yesterday was not outstanding but from what many are saying, was a big step in their commentating careers. The two moved forward and should receive more respect when they call the shots for future events.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 23, 2002 12:49:10 GMT -5
Shawn Michaels To Wrestle Triple H At SummerSlam
Story By: Matthew Boone
July 22, 2002
While this is nothing more than a rumor at this point, there is a strong possibility of Shawn Michaels returning to the ring to wrestle Triple H at WWE's August pay-per view, SummerSlam.
For those unaware, Triple H and Shawn Michaels reunited Degeneration-X at RAW last night, but it was definitely short-lived. After a few minutes of nostalgia, Triple H turned on Shawn Michaels and gave him the pedigree.
HBK has been talking about returning to the ring to wrestle again ever since he has come back to WWE. One would assume they wouldn't have Triple H attack Shawn Michaels, unless they had a match in mind between the two.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 23, 2002 12:57:00 GMT -5
HHH/Stephanie Problems, WWE Cruiserweight Trouble, more
Story By: Will Hengelbrok
July 23, 2002
During Sunday's Vengeance, HHH's promo seemed to hurt the WWE's Smackdown v. RAW position. During the promo, he repeatedly referred to Stephanie as a "very *friendly* person", a reputation WWE is trying to get off Stephanie's character by seemingly making here a babyface businesswoman. Thus, HHH bringing up remarks from when she was a hated heel did not help the situation. Luckily, her actions against Bischoff at the end of RAW, seem to bring her back onto the good sides of fans, as Bischoff is clearly a heel, and undermining him on the show, receives applause.
There was some disappointment when it comes to the fan enthusiasm during the Cruiserweight match at Vengeance. In what many considered to be a fast-paced match, the two basically wrestled for a dead audience. Part of the problem, is that the majority of WWE fans are considered to be interested in the traditional matches and characters. The general feeling is that with the division on Smackdown, Cole and Tazz are not experienced enough to successfully commentate the matches, which hurts fan interest. Many hope that Rey Mysterio's debut on Smackdown this week will bring some interest into the division.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 23, 2002 13:20:54 GMT -5
RAW Notes: Matches For Next Week's RAW, New Tag Team, more
Story By: John Banchansky
July 23, 2002
For those who are not aware of this yet, the tag team that interfered in the Shawn Stasiak and D'Lo Brown match last night on RAW were The Island Boys. They survived the cuts from HWA and OVW and will now be regulars on WWE RAW.
It was announced on RAW last night that Rob Van Dam will defend his Intercontinental title against Chris Benoit on next week's Raw.
The European Title is now defunct. WWE has absolutely no plans on using the belt from this point forward.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 23, 2002 13:29:42 GMT -5
WWE RAW Backstage News: Major Superstar Injured, Triple Threat Match, More
Story By: Fred Cook
July 23, 2002
The word going around the backstage area of RAW yesterday was that Kanyon had suffered a shoulder injury. No word on how severe the injury is as of this time, but it comes at a bad time as he was expected to return in several weeks from a knee injury.
Pat Patterson is getting lots of credit in the backstage area for the way he planned out the Triple Threat Undisputed Title Match at Vengeance this past Sunday. Patterson spent a lot of time with The Rock, Kurt Angle, and The Undertaker days in advance prepping them for the match. Patterson is known in the backstage area as a great mind in the business.
For any Rogers subscribers in Canada, if you call to complain about the loss of the signal during the last 10 minutes of the PPV, you can call Rogers and they can either credit your account, or they can order the Encore presentation on Tuesday evening at 8:00pm for you. I just called myself, and there was no hassle whatsoever. I don't know if Shaw cable will offer the same deal.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 24, 2002 12:24:13 GMT -5
X-Pac Backstage Situation Gets Worse; Could Be Fired
Story By: Matthew Boone
July 23, 2002
The following news is derived from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter:
X-Pac has been suffering neck problems off and on the past few months causing him to miss a lot of important matches in recent weeks. The injury got worse when X-Pac took a bad bump in a match against Booker T at a house show on July 7.
However, before the injury had gotten to the point where it would keep X-Pac out of the ring temporarily, X-Pac had gotten out of doing several jobs on RAW with various excuses and support from his political allies backstage.
X-Pac has since been taken off the active roster temporarily, which some feel could lead to his release from the company if his attitude and overall personality does not change in a hurry.
X-Pac's only options if he were to be released from WWE, which is considered a strong possibility at this point, are to join Scott Hall in NWA-TNA, which doesn't look to have a sturdy future, or work in Japan where he could most likely make pretty decent money working a limited amount of dates.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 24, 2002 13:12:21 GMT -5
Goldberg's WWE Asking Price, HBK/HHH Update, more
Story By: Matthew Boone
July 23, 2002
Some of the following news is derived from Dave Scherer at 1wrestling.com:
There is nothing much new on the Goldberg/WWE front. Goldberg held an official chat at his website prior to RAW last night and did not really give any idea of where he's planning to work, if anywhere. A source close to Goldberg commented on his asking price by saying it is "ridiculously high," although that doesn't necessarily mean WWE would not be willing to pay such a price as Vince McMahon is more than interesting in acquiring Bill Goldberg.
Last night on RAW was the beginning of what seems to be an in-ring return of Shawn Michaels. While it still can't be confirmed, there is a lot of evidence towards it being just that. The backstage segment with Big Show and HBK where HBK asked Big Show how bad he wanted to find out if he still "had it" was the beginning. Of course, the heel turn by Triple H and pedigree to HBK continued it. Most likely, WWE would not be doing so many angles hinting towards HBK getting back in the ring unless they had intentions to do just that.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 24, 2002 13:24:19 GMT -5
WWE Releases More Wrestlers
Story By: Matthew Boone
July 23, 2002
The following news is derived from Jess McGrath and 1wrestling.com:
In addition to the roster cuts and WWE no longer working with Heartland Wrestling Association as their training camp, more developmental wrestlers have been released.
As of right now, Flash and B.J. Payne are the two latest wrestlers released from World Wrestling Entertainment.
That means so far Ron "H20" Waterman, Mike Sanders, Chad Collyer, B.J. Payne, Flash, Jason Sugarman, E.Z. Money, Race Steele, Kim Nielsen, and Steve Bradley have been released.
WWE has since moved the Island Boyz, former developmental tag-team, to the main roster as seen on last night's RAW. Next in line to be brought up to the main roster includes Shannon Moore and Johnny The Bull, who saw some limelight this week with their performances on Velocity (Shannon Moore) and RAW/Heat (Johnny The Bull).
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 24, 2002 15:03:28 GMT -5
Nash/HHH, Eric Bischoff, Rock/Lesnar, HBK, X-Pac, more
Story By: Matthew Boone
July 24, 2002
The following news is derived from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter:
Kevin Nash's injury has drastically changed WWE's plans for this summer's programming. Nash was originally scheduled to wrestle HHH as a semi-main event at SummerSlam after Triple H turned down his offer to join the nWo. That match would have been one of three huge main-events for SummerSlam, the other two being Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon (which appears to be s Rubbishped at this point as well) and Brock Lesnar vs. The Rock. Had Nash not suffered the injury, he was supposed to destroy all four of his opponents with big boots and jackknifes and pin Booker T clean for the victory.
Triple H was not scheduled to join the nWo until after SummerSlam, if at all. However now that the nWo has been dismantled, obviously he can't join them at all as there is nothing to join. Due to Nash's injury, Hall's release, Hogan's nostalgic babyface run, and X-Pac on a leave of absence due to heat with management, the nWo only had HBK and Big Show, with Show being the only active member left out of 2 total members left, neither of which were original members of the stable. Now that Eric Bischoff has joined the company in a non-nWo role, which was considered at first, but eventually decided to s Rubbish the nWo altogether, this summer is headed a much different direction than WWE had originally planned for. As seen on Monday's RAW, that is not necessarily a bad thing.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 25, 2002 12:28:10 GMT -5
Vince McMahon Depressed, Ladder Match, Taker/Hardy
Story By: Randy Marston
July 24, 2002
The following news is derived from the Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter:
The ratings for the Jeff Hardy vs. Undertaker Undisputed title ladder match for the July 1 RAW was originally reported as being a 3.4 overall with a 3.4 overrun. There was an error in Neilsen ratings that caused the false numbers as that particular RAW came in at an overall 3.6 with a 4.4 for the main-event ladder match itself. While Undertaker isn't the biggest draw as Undisputed champion, his ladder match with Jeff Hardy drew respectable numbers despite what originally came out.
Vince McMahon continues to show signs of desperation over the long going downturn in business for WWE lately. Many claim that since Austin walked out on the company, McMahon has been in panic mode ever since. McMahon has reportedly shown signs of stress on his face during production meetings and other gatherings backstage and is growing more concerned as each week passes by.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 26, 2002 14:58:20 GMT -5
26th July
Injured WWE star Chris Kanyon has been admittedto a intensive care unit after suffering breathing problems.Earlier this week Kanyon, 32, was hospitalized when heseparated his shoulder."Tests are being done to determine what is causingKanyon's problems," said WWE Talent VP Jim Ross."Chris is in our prayers."In other news, WWE starlet Sharmell Sullivan has beenreleased from her developmental deal.
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Post by Stephanie McMahon's sidekick! on Jul 27, 2002 15:15:24 GMT -5
Major Update On Kanyon's Condition - Still Hospitalized
Story By: Will Hengelbrok
July 27, 2002
As I promised earlier today, when an update came out about Kanyon's condition, it would be reported. We now have a further update.
Kanyon was put in an Atlanta based hospital with a very bad infection on his arm. When he arrived at the hospital, surgery was immediately performed. Once that was finished, it was discovered that he had fluid built up in his lungs.
Kanyon underwent tests and was placed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.
As of early this afternoon, Kanyon was removed from ICU and placed in a private room and being monitored by a team of doctors. Kanyon's condition has greatly improved and he is expected to spend the rest of the weekend recovering in the hospital.
On behalf of everyone at WrestlingPlanet.com, we send out our best wishes on a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in the ring very soon.
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