Prowrestling news/ spoilers 2nd- 9th December

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Superstars Removed, Kane/WWE, Workout, & More

The Godfather, Scotty Too Hotty and Ron Simmons have been removed from the WWE website. All three of these men were expected to be released from WWE, however, that does not appear to be the reason for the removal, just yet.

Thanks To Reader Drew Miller for this report of Kane on the "Andy & Allison" this morning on WIVK out of Knoxville:

Andy and Allison had Kane in studio to hype Monday's Raw, which is being held in Knoxville. Despite the DJ's lack of knowledge, it was a fairly good interview because Kane was out of character. The hosts asked him about his training regiment, and Kane said he worked out about four or five days a week. (he never mentioned the failed fitness center he owned in the area last year). Kane never mentioned the fact that he lives in the area, or the old ties to Knoxville while working for SMW. It was a typical WWE superstar interview, but interesting since Kane went out of character.

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Eddie Guerrero/Al Snow, Lance Storm, Fozzy Tours

Both Eddie Guerrero and Al Snow will be the guests on this Friday's WWE Byte This telecast.

Over at StormWrestling.com, Lance Storm talks about his days of being a bouncer.

Chris Jericho's band Fozzy has concert dates lined up for December 5th at Shark City in Glendale Heights, IL and December 6th at Sean Kaley's in Lemont, IL.

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Triple H & Lesnar Backstage News, Mysterio/Surgery & More

Rey Mysterio is set to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery as soon as tomorrow. Dr. James Andrews will be performing the surgery on Mysterio in Birmingham. There is still no word on how long he will be out of action.

Both Brock Lesnar and Triple H worked through injuries at Survivor Series a couple weeks ago. Yet both have recent heat in the lockerroom for numerous reasons. Both TripleH and Brock are said to have gained more respect within the WWE lockerroom because of those performances.

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Vince McMahon Comments On Failing RAW Ratings

Vince McMahon recently spoke out against the failing RAW rating at a creative team meeting, and stated to the creative staff that Shock TV was dead.

He allegedly stated that using Shock TV is not generating enough interest on the show.

It is evident that Shock TV elements used on WWE programming will not be appearing much in the future. There is a large possibility that the creative team will follow McMahon’s example and cut Shock TV elements

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Steiner's First Match Revealed, Bra & Panties, Nunzio Update

Scott Steiner will make his long-awaited return to the ring Saturday in Hamilton at the Smackdown house show. The match will be against John Cena (with B-Squared in his corner), likely keeping up with the trend of Steiner taking out the undercard.

Additionally, newly signed Canadian diva Gail Kim will be competing in a Bra & Panties match with Dawn Marie. Nunzio will also be debuting and he definitely will be the wrestler formerly known as "Little Guido" since he will be teaming with Crash against Shannon Moore and Spanky (who was believed to be the other possibility for Nunzio).

E! News had a feature on Anna Nicole Smith's Christmas party. Both Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and Joanie "Chyna" Laurer were in attendance

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Dawn Marie's Backstage Reputation, Konnan/WWE, more

The following news is derived and re-written from the Torch Newsletter.

The WWE website crew apparently pulled a rib on either The Undertaker or Christian during a website advertisement for the "SmackDown!: Shut Your Mouth" video game. Here is the slogan used on the website: "Now in the comfort of your own home, you can match up all your favorites: Brock vs. Rock, Triple H vs. HBK, Christian vs. Undertaker." Obviously, the Christian vs. Undertaker match is the odd ball out in that list.

Terry Taylor has been pushing for WWE to re-hire Konnan since returning as road agent. Many doubt the move will be made due to an incident backstage a few years ago when Konnan was in WWE as the "Max Moon" character and made Vince McMahon look bad around the boys by calling him on a bluff. Nonetheless, if talks get serious enough, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, among others would support the decision to bring Konnan in the company.

Dawn Marie is said to be pretty popular among everyone in the WWE locker room. Many are under the impression that her real-life fiancee' and former ECW wrestler, Simon Diamond could land a spot in the company if some of the road agents keep bringing him up, namely, Terry Taylor. Others dispute it, as Paul Heyman has heat with Simon Diamond working back to their days in ECW.

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Breaking News: Godfather Released From WWE

The Godfather has been released from World Wrestling Entertainment. We don't have any other details besides that, but it appears as though he is officially released from the company.

Godfather along with another recently released WWE wrestler, Perry Saturn, were both part of a "trade" of sorts with WWA promoter Andrew McManus. Scott Steiner was originally scheduled to appear on the WWA overseas tour, but signed with WWE. WWE and WWA came to an agreement to have Steiner off the tour and on WWE television, in return for Saturn and Godfather, who were WWE employees at the time, work the WWA tour.

We will keep you updated as we receive more details on Godfather's release from WWE.

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WWE Lesbian Storyline, Waltman/Laurer News, & More

The lesbian storyline between Dawn Marie and Torrie Wilson that was originally taped to air on tonight's SmackDown! has been cut. Apparently, UPN opposed to the finish product, and the segment was s Rubbishped. Whether or not they try and continue as planned with a milder version, is not really known. The storyline was going to be Dawn Marie telling Torrie she wouldn't marry her father, if they could be an item.

Anna Nicole Smith's Christmas party will be airing on the E! channel in the near future. They had a few clips of it on E! News Daily yesterday. This is the party where Sean Waltman and Joanie Laurer were seen on-camera at, and Waltman was in rare condition.

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Rob Van Dam's Movie, RAW News & Notes

For those who do not know, during the time when RVD was off from wrestling (in between ECW's demise and his WWE debut) he shot a movie in Asia. Entitled "Black Mask 2: City Of Masks", it comes out on DVD and VHS on New Year's Eve. The movie can be pre-ordered at various merchants including Amazon.com.

There is a good chance that RAW's rating came in a little lower than it normally would have due to the airing of the Steven Spielberg mini-series "TAKEN" on Sci-Fi. Taken drew a 4.9 cable rating. This really isn't an full excuse for the low rating, however, because WWE RAW has always had heavy competition during the main TV season. Even if Taken affected the number for RAW by a small amount, it just shows that RAW is not entertaining enough to hold onto all of its viewers.

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Ron Simmons Retires, Update On Godfather's WWE Release

The word going around the WWE locker room is that Ron "Faarooq" Simmons has retired from in-ring competition. There have been rumors running around for a while that Simmons would be given a road agent role in WWE upon exiting the ring for the last time. That appears to be the case. The WWE website crew has already removed Ron Simmons name/profile from the SmackDown! roster.

As a bit of an update on my earlier report regarding Godfather being released from WWE, it appears that it is official. Apparently, WWE is going to offer Godfather a deal to make random appearances whenever his character would fit in.

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Perry Saturn's Future, Chris Jericho News, XWF

The XWF website (XWFwrestling.com) no longer exists. The XWF was unable to make a successful wrestling promotion, so its management has given up.

The music video for "With The Fire", the single by Chris Jericho's band Fozzy, is now in MTV2's rotation. For those who are unfamiliar with the band, that is their main song; although it was not the one played in their forgettable RAW mini-concert.

As we've been reporting, Perry Saturn is no longer with WWE. His contract is up next month (WWE had no more use for him, so released him), and he was given permission to work the WWA tour as a part of the "trade" for Scott Steiner. Sources are reporting that NWA:TNA has no desire to use Saturn, so he'll likely continue his career in New Japan.Japan.

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Details On ROH Talent Getting WWE Tryouts

RFVideo.com is reporting Paul London, Michael Shane, and Bryan Danielson had their tryout matches with WWE during dark spots on RAW and SmackDown! this week.

While all performed up to par, it isn't believed that any will be offered a developmental deal at this time. All three are currently working for the Ring of Honor company, as well as various independant promotions.

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New Creative Staff Working With Heyman For SmackDown!

Just recently Paul Heyman, as head booker for Smackdown! has stopped producing backstage vignettes and promos. Paul Heyman has given that responsibility to a new young member of the creative staff Dave Laguna.

Also In addition to Laguna, who is now viewed as Paul Heyman's right hand man, Stephanie McMahon has been performing some of those producing duties lately.

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Latest Online Commentary From Matt Hardy
Story By: Matt Boone
December 06, 2002

The following is from WWEMattitude.com:

THE LATEST VERSION
Dec. 6, 2002

Hello again. I hope everyone is well and enjoyed Thanksgiving. For the first time in probably eight months, I stayed home and did nothing, absolutely nothing. It was nice to be lazy for a change of pace. Just a slow, quiet, BORING day. The other day someone else said that Thanksgiving is a boring holiday as well. Anyway, I could use about 30 of those days strung together. But we all know that won't be happening ...

I was happy with my Thanksgiving night match on Smackdown as I joined John Cena to take on Edge and Rey Mysterio. It was a very fun and entertaining contest that even had V1 winning in the end. It's probably the 873rd time that I've been in the ring with Edge, but it's always a pleasure. It was the first time I've ever been in a ring with Mysterio, and hopefully not the last. Rey is truly an amazing performer in our business, and has broken down so many barriers it's incredible. Cena is going to be an important part of WWE for years to come. John has all the tools, with perhaps the best being his attitude and desire to learn. Oh yeah, B-squared was there too.

I was hoping that I would get into an issue with Mysterio, as I think we could do some awesome stuff together. Edge is another competitor that I would like to have a singles run against. I think that both of these match-ups would be enjoyed by the WWE fans and could really help cement Matt Hardy as a singles wrestler. I figured Mattitude would be an ace in the hole to work a program against one of these two, but I guess for the time being it doesn't fit. So to catch me in action this week; make sure to check out my Velocity match against Chuck Palumbo on TNN.

The Internet is always a topic of talk and controversy as it relates to sports entertainment and wrestling coverage, and I wanted to take a minute to address my feelings on it. In my opinion, the Internet is a place that is full of passionate fans, as well as hypocritical fans. There are a lot of good ideas and suggestions on the World Wide Web as it relates to our business, but there are also people that you could never make happy. For example, sometimes people complain that someone is not being pushed enough, and then when that same person is pushed, now they're over pushed.

Sometimes critics will blast a wrestler for a not up to par outing without even considering if the performer is hurt or sick. Always remember that we (the wrestlers) are always working hurt and banged up, and always give our best effort. Not every match is going to be perfect. Take Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio. Both of them are/were amazingly working with injuries that need surgery to correct. It hurts every time I wrestle just for the simple fact that I have physically abused my body for so long by taking bumps. In the last five years, I've been in more than 1,000 matches, and have only missed two weekends in the ring. -- one when I had a slight shoulder separation, and the other when I broke my nose, cheek, and orbital bone. I know it's hard not to, but try not to desensitize yourself to the effects our form of entertainment has on the entertainers. True fans appreciate and respect our sacrifice.

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Part 2 of matt's commentary

I would also like to mention that there is a huge difference between fact and opinion. If you are stating a fact, great, but if you are stating an opinion you shouldn't treat it as a fact. Nor should I, Vince McMahon, Eddie Vedder, Funaki, George Bush or anyone else. I always end my opinionated statements with "to me," because that's how I specifically see something. No one else may see it that way, and I shouldn't think you're wrong for believing differently. The opinions stated on the Internet should be treated the same, as opinions of the writer, not facts -- and also viewed that way.

Now with all this said, I would like to make these final comments on sports entertainment Internet writers and comments. Do I think the WWE should listen to the opinions of the Internet? Absolutely. Do I think WWE should be dictated by the opinions of the Internet? No. Comments and articles that are written on the 'net are the opinions of fans, the fans that drive our product and deserve to be heard. If there is a large group of people who have the same opinions on a certain issue, maybe that issue needs to be addressed or revisited. I think we miss the boat if we don't. One thing about the Internet wrestling community--whether they think the shows are good or bad - they are probably our most dedicated fans, because they watch the shows every week. They love professional wrestling, and you can't really question that.

I'm looking forwards to the events emanating from Florida, as WWE will be doing a four-day tour there. As you may know from keeping track of your weekly Matt Facts, I hate cold weather. Hopefully, I'll be granted with four days of sunshine and warmth.

Speaking of Florida, I've got a story for you. A couple of months ago, Amy was in Florida doing a WWE appearance, and went sightseeing afterwards. At a tourist attraction, she found a booth where you could take your picture with all sorts of celebrities, including the Hardy Boyz of all people. Amy asked the lady if she could take her picture and have it superimposed with Jeff and I. The lady said yes, and said that there was two different poses - one with your arms crossed and the other doing this symbol that the Hardyz always do. Amy made the lady show her several times how to do the gunz hand gesture and started getting pumped up to pose. When Amy took her sweater off right before taking the picture, the lady looked at her strangely. After taking the photo, the lady kept staring at Amy's tattoo, and said "Are you Lita?" The lady felt silly, but at least Amy got the picture for free. Every time I walk into Amy's kitchen I chuckle, because the first thing I see is that silly picture hanging on her fridge.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who continues to support Matt Hardy regardless of his role or position in WWE. Whether I'm a bad guy or a good guy, I always remember that without you the fan, there would be no me. It's been a tough but enjoyable journey up to this point in my career, and Mattitude is ready to run amuck if given the chance. Never give up on your goals and dreams; I haven't and refuse to. With the exception of God, there is no one who can stop Matt Hardy. Be well, and until then…

Matt Hardy V1