Hello there WWE Universe, been too long since my last blog so I thought I'd update all of you on the goings on in the WWE. Right about now I'm sitting on my plush hotel room bed eating a nice healthy wrap having a very rare day off between shows and promotional appearences leading up to Wrestlemania so I'm going to use my time wisely and blog.
I've been working with Suffering, Flair and Shane more often than not during these house shows which has been a blessing indeed, I've worked with Joe so much this past year that we can put on a good match with our eyes closed and Shane.....well, he can put on a "5 Star Match" with Munk...'nuff said. Flair on the other hand is a lot more difficult to work with. Our personal differences haven't always been kayfabe but I have a lot of respect for Naitch and he's never taken liberties with me in the ring or acted in any way unprofessional, our differences come from our different styles of working. When I started in this business, especially in the indies, 90% of the action was called in the ring we only ever planned our the finish. Sometimes that can make for a great match but sometimes, especially for today's standards, it can be clunky and awkward. When I work with guys like Shane we prepare some spots before we even go out there and then we let some of the magic play itself out, same with Suffering. Flair is an older style worker, he likes to improvise in the ring.
We've only worked tag matches leading up to 'Mania but we're still trying to feel each other out, he's still getting used to some of my spots and I'm still getting used to calling it all in the ring. It's been hard adapting to the other's style of working but at this stage I have no doubt whatsoever that come Wrestlemenia Flair and I can put on one of the best matches of the night. Y'know what? Even at 60 I think Flair and I could quite possibly steal the show, you heard it here first.
I'd like to offer my congratulations to Assassin, today marks his first full year on the active roster. I can't say I liked Assassin from the beginning....he was hella green and (somewhat) impatient, though I was still on the lower-midcard so I said nothing. Within a month however, Assassin calmed down, became a very respectful and talented kid who I knew once he paid his dues that he was going to become something. It took a long time, months in fact, but at the Royal Rumble this year it all paid off for the kid, he joined Legacy and started his first major push into the midcard. I'm proud to call Assassin a friend of mine, I'm proud to see a young kid who actually reminds me a bit of myself at his age getting the push and attention he deserves. Ladies and gentlemen, this kid has yet to hold gold in the WWE but mark my words, he will be the Intercontinental Champion before the year is out. Despite his less than reputable father, this kid Assassin is going to be huge.
My plan tonight is to take the kid out tonight and perhaps even buy him his first beer but I fear he'd much rather stay in and watch a DVD......sigh, Shane and I have our work cut out for us.
Speaking of Shane, as many of you have probably read on the dirt sheets there's been some trouble backstage at WWE events....involving the always controversial Mickie James. Man, you all know my opinion of Mickie but.....this just takes the cake, the girl needs help, lots of it. It's probably best if I leave it at that.
I'm actually a bit nervous at present, I'm not usually a promotional tool for the WWE to use but apparently all of that has changed....they've booked me and Ric to appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live. If you want me to perform in front of 80,000 plus fans I can do it no problem, if you want me to get on the mic and whip out a promo I can do it, if you want me to dive off a twenty foot ladder onto a stack of tables, I can do it.....but outside the wrestling ring? I dunno. Some guys like Cena can do all that, some guys like Shane can extend their characters beyond the ring but I've never done it before....thankfully Ric is the best in the biz so I've got someone to hide behind but I suppose if I want to progress and climb further up the ladder I need to put up or shut up.
It's been a tough week for me, things outside the wrestling business have been weighing heavily on my mind. I've been feeling increasingly isolated, depressed and burned out for reasons unknown to me, there are certain things I'm sure are contributing and it may be the fact I'm ignoring the problems as best as I can but I remain unsure on this road to wrestlemania.
You've heard me vow to steal 'Mania, you've heard me make proclamations and you've heard me moan and complain, now it's time for me to get into the hotel's jacuzzi and rest this tired body before I inflict more pain and anguish on it tomorrow night.
Until then,
Jeff Hardy
At the start of the year i began to think of what we should do for the fifth anniversary of VWWE, what sort of special features should we put out. This anniversary for me is very special, five years of anything is impressive, in the short lived World of E-Feds, stunning. E-Feds normally only have a shelf life of around three months and for one to last five years is made all the more impressive considering we were originally a WAP Fed with very limited resources and people. So i got looking through the old WWE 10th anniversary special Magazine and came across an interview with Vince McMahon where he discussed the beginning of WWE Raw and its lasting appeal, the people he's worked with, the problems he's encountered. So being the eternal plagiarist.... i stole the idea...
VWWEs beginning starts at the turn of the Millennium, back when the World was a very different place than it is today. Id have been about 19 at the time and the events of September the Eleventh were still clear in everybodys mind, the looming war in Afghanistan was hanging over the World and even worse, there was rumors Hulk Hogan was about to return to WWE, dark times indeed. My first exposure to the wrestling community on WAP, like many, was through WAPWWE owned by Simon and later Big "Fat" Dave. Id been a user of the chatrooms at a community called Jumbuck and later o2 chat for a few months for about a year previous to that and knew one of the Semi-regulars toward the end from there. I didn't chat at all however in the famous chat, just used it for the results and news. While browsing one day, i came across the link to something called "WrestleManiac" owned by a certain Dr.SmackDown!. It was a little site about something called E-Feds.... Naturally enough i was intrigued, im the sort of person who simply has to have an answer to a question. So i clicked on the first link on the site, "WWW".
I arrived in WWW Chat in early January of 2002 and frankly found utter chaos. The owner Diddy was leaving, i only ever exchanged a few words with him in the chat and i think after i arrived he was never seen again. Nice passing of the torch. The first three people i met in WWW however were Twisted Trucker, Physio and Banshee in that order, the latter of these would play an important role over the next three months. Physio seemed nice enough, he was a nurse in Newcastle if i remember correctly as seemed Banshee, i disliked TT from the word go however, a typically ignorant Scotsman of which Dads Army's Frazer embodies perfectly (no offense to our Scottish contingent intended lol). TT would eventually make himself the most hated man in the business at the height of the Monday Night Wars, and considering the competition that was no mean feat. My application to WWW was of course never answered as Diddy apparently went to America and left the company in the hands of Mark who at that time i feel wasn't ready to run an E-Fed, time wise or maturity wise. Becoming impatient (as always), i looked elsewhere. I'm certain theres more to the tale of the demise of WWW but with all the major players except Dr.S (Mark) having now left "the business", i doubt it'll ever be told.
I soon came across an E-Fed by the name of EHW, owned by WAPWWEs rival WAPW-W-E and owned by Tazz and Extreme. WAPW-W-E was a poor alternative to the original WAPWWE, largely pasted from the net and very poorly laid out. Still, it got hits and im sure they were happy. As an inexperienced player, EHW looked brilliant, it had lots of features and sections for the time and was, compared to the awful WWW, well written. I was the first person to sign up to the original EHW and was rewarded by being in the main event of their first show against quickly and long forgotten J-Love who was a sort of male version of Jennifer Lopez (don't ask). I lost when Nightmare made a run in and attacked me with a chair, this would the very first time i was involved with Tony and in fact the first time I'd even heard of him and of course not the last. While EHW was busy building its roster however i was at a loose end and offered by services to the company in an advertising role which was accepted, i had my first backstage job. In honesty it was rather unsuccessful, i managed to get Dr.S to sign up after a few rounds of E-Mails but my moves to bring in Physio, Banshee and the others failed completely. A day before the broadcast of EHWs first show, a link was left in EHWs chat which led me to yet another E-Fed, the now infamous FWC, an offshoot of WWW.
While WWW was the first E-Fed on WAP to make a splash (they were not the complete first, despite popular belief), FWC had now taken the Torch from them and was the big player. Rhyno and most of the FWC roster had all been members of WWW at one point and broken away and there seemed to be little love lost between FWCs Owner Jon Hunter (Rhyno) and Diddy. FWC was, like EHW, far better laid out and written than WWW, although under the surface were far more flaws that didnt become clear till much later.
Mid-January is when everything changes (and Rhyno certainly wasn't ready). I decided to join FWC after talking with Banshee (Jo) and some of the FWC members briefly including two men who play a big part in the future of the community, Silent Assassin (also called Jon, which led to suspicions he was Rhyno for almost a year) and Doomsday (Nik). However, when i told Rhyno via mail i was also in EHW, i was told to choose between joining FWC or being in EHW, a fact that irritated me immediately and would always be amusing to me later on when Rhyno complained about VWWE asking the same of people who were also in his Fed. Nether the less, i chose FWC simply because it looked more fun and the people in their chat were more talkative and interesting. I think it was about January 14th when i debuted on FWCs Flagship Show Gore is War (named for the Owners signature finisher, of course).
Two weeks later, me, aka HBK, was FWC Champion.
This has always been one of the chief reasons i began to become dissatisfied with FWC, it was far too easy. Yes, i was good, its stupid for me to say otherwise considering what I've gone on to do, but nobody deserved the kind of push i received considering veterans such as Doomsday and Silent Assassin hadn't had any kind of headlining run or Title reign. I guess Rhyno saw the potential but for me, it began to show those problems i mentioned earlier - Rhyno couldn't book for shit. He had no concept of pushes, finishes, paying dues or the like and just seemed to book in a completely haphazard fashion, making no match feel important or special and making no title reign mean squat as the defenses were so frequent and often.
I was outspoken in chat, which considering what many will remember of my behavior later in 2002, i guess is no surprise. This of course created tension with Rhyno and Silent Assassin, the former making the heat quite obvious while SA didn't reveal how he felt about the period till a year later during one of our famous arguments. Rhyno booked me in a completely pointless feud with TT, a man who couldnt draw flies in a shit factory. The heat got to the point where i was booked in a ladder match and somehow Rhyno had me lose via DQ, when i pointed out to him afterward that its impossible to lose via DQ in a ladder match, he booked me in a kiss my ass match against TT, which naturally enough i lost. Was i being pushed to the moon or buried? i had no idea and quite frankly, i don't think Rhyno did either. By now early February, with the looming threat of the coming nWo all over WWF Television, i decided to start a revolution of my own and the idea for the Virtual WWF E-Fed was born.
Why Virtual WWF? simply i figured that its everybody in E-Feds dream to be a WWF star. People play SmackDown vs Raw, why not make the E-Fed equivalent in a simulation of the WWF? it was so simple i was surprised that nobody had attempted it on WAP yet and i began to note down what I'd need to do to get this thing off the ground. The first thing of course was the site and after enlisting the help of Nik (who didnt know what i was doing), i managed to get a very basic site working on the Hiugo host. The next three things however would prove to be far more trick - a roster, a partner and advertising.
I began the build up to VWWF a week or so before the actual launch, first contacting Silent Assassin under the assumed alias of Vince McMahon (or "vince" as Sam would later have it). SA agreed to come aboard as a member of the first board/creative team, particularly after i showed him a promo match id written, he seemed genuinely impressed with my skills and eager for VWWF to get off the ground. SA very much liked to have a finger in every pie and hedge his bets with all parties, his actual reasons for coming aboard I've never really known or thought about too much. At the time all i knew was, SA was a major player in Feds, a man who'd been around a while, a leader, important to FWC and the kind of acquisition that would send a big time message to Rhyno. Next aboard was Banshee at Jon's suggestion if i remember, in honesty i dont recall what she actually did and i didnt trust her at all. Banshee and Jon were very close, the details of which im still not entirely clear on and on more than one occasion it seemed the two were conversing about VWWE and making their own agendas. This however was a very small issue and i was happy with the way of things at this point in time.
I knew the roster would come from the advertising and also that there was no way VWWE could survive on the scraps from FWC, we had to bring in new people to VWWE from outside Feds and i opened negotiations with the WAPWWE Owner about adding a link. On February 15th, VWWE was launched throughout the WAP Wrestling community, firstly in FWC and then everywhere else. The initial reaction was slow with only a handful signing up, the first being Stevie Dragon (a Welshman, for the record) and Rhyno was openly hostile in that "i don't mind really" way of his. A day into the VWWF Era, we merged with Tony's fledgling BWWF Fed as i saw no point in us competing against each other and Tony was added to the Creative Team. Yet another day later, everything changed finally as WAPWWE gave us far more than we asked for - a full front page link. With this being at the height of both WAPWWE and WAPs powers, VWWE was flooded with application after application for the next three days, we couldn't get through them all before more arrived. The chat we were using at the time (a myWap Beatles page we hijacked) became almost unbearable with all the new faces giving off their enthusiasm and ironically Jon and Myself took refuge in FWCs chat for the night while i sifted through the beginnings of what was about to become the very first proper version of VWWE as we know it.
Of course, knowing absolutely nothing about our new members and being an era of little character development, a lot of people who should have got bigger pushes at the start didnt and started off in the midcard while some people who didnt deserve it, did get those shots. A lot of the initial push ration went off how much "trash talk" you did in the chat (The locker) as opposed to anything else. Some prominent original members of VWWF included Mav, Pimp, WDS, Matt Hardy, Showtime, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Triple H, Unforgiven, Paz, Rediffusion, Forsaken, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Nitro, Kane, nWoKane and of course the members of the Creative Team and many more besides. The decision was taken early that SA would contest the WWF Undisputed Championship with HBK on the first Raw simply because we were the biggest names available at that time and once again, it would be good for the image if a "draw" was Champion. Something that almost every Indy company has done is presumed they can make their own stars and claim they're in the same league as VWWEs when of course they're not, just like TNA's own stars are nowhere near WWEs, to make new stars they need to feud with established stars in the business and thus, early VWWE was dominated with ex-FWC Stars. One of my mottos with VWWE is "image is everything" and its completely true, whether wanting to bury an opponent, get somebody over or dictate the entire style and direction of the company, how people perceive what you're doing is where everything is won and lost, a fact, just like booking, that Rhyno never got his head around.
Im always one for "impact", making the big entrance and/or a huge scene, i wanted VWWE to be talked about and from day one it be everywhere, i wasn't here to be second best, i knew i could produce something FAR better than what was currently on the table. But at that point, in those initial days, there was no desire to run anybody out of business, i did believe we could have a three Fed system like the old WWF-WCW-ECW one with VWWF-FWC-EHW. Nevertheless, i knew that if VWWF was to succeed we were going to have to both get FWCs attention and its members. At this point i was leader of the D-Generation X faction in FWC as HBK, Rhyno still having not connected me to the new Fed. Id kept my identity secret simply because i wished to remain in FWC as long as possible. Rhyno still suspected nothing even when i decided to change the faction from DX to the nWo and despite another affront on his part - adding TT and Sandman to the group, it became the best thing on the show. Gore is War was fast becoming, along with FWC chat, dominated by the nWo members, myself and SA.
On March 4th 2002, Raw is War debuted from Madison Square Garden, the nWo defected from FWC along with SA and the show, although very poor by todays standards, was hailed as a classic. The impact had been made and you could probably say the first shot in the coming Monday Night War had been fired. What followed was a calm, Rhyno began a few rumors of moles within VWWF, trying to unsettle the creative team and the like and of course he succeeded. At that time i was a rather paranoid individual, but of course, as somebody said, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, and despite very little being proven, there were almost certainly people giving information to Rhyno, as of course SA and to a lesser extent, Tony was to us. The real Monday War didnt begin for around two weeks and in this time of calm, VWWE was REALLY born.
Within the first two weeks several people emerged as locker room leaders, people of strong personality who stood head and shoulders above the rest both in terms of the promos they were dropping in chat, enthusiasm, knowledge and general likability. These men would become known as the Kliq. Hulk Hogan (Sam), Steve Austin (Tony) and the three Creative Team members in myself, Tony and Jon. However at this time Kane (Danny)., Triple H (Will) and Urbie were all also prominent as well as a certain Hollywood Nitro who would go one to be a controversial figure several years after leaving VWWE in much the same way the Ultimate Warrior has in real life. One of the biggest locker personalities at the time was Pimp who was very much in real life exactly what his character was. Many nights were spent in his company in these days and all that were there will remember him as possibly the most missed personality from the chat in that period.
VWWEs image as a shambolic rebel promotion was always half reality, half created image based of WWFs 1997-1999 image but also our own birth, "bad" attitude and lack of site facilities. The Hiugo site crashing on an almost daily basis, a fact that maybe in a small way gave VWWE members an attitude of fighting the "corporate like" FWC with a site that never crashed and built on a PC as opposed to our built on a cell-phone. There was certainly a "backs to the wall" mentality that was reminiscent of the WWFs defense against WCW, a war of course then still fresh in the memory with the Alliance angle having ended just Three Months previously. The VWWF members developed something that FWC nor any Fed previous or since has achieved, a real community spirit and a comradeship that may have all begun when faced with the FWC onslaught that was soon to come, Hogans Crew, Nova and other idiots. We lived together and we died together to give an overly dramatic turn of phrase.
VWWEs first major problem came just prior to WrestleMania X8 when my phone was broken. I was only away a week but soon discovered that a week is a long time in E-Feds and in the time off-line, not only had SA and Banshee relieved themselves of their positions on the board, but left the Fed while SA was Champion and scheduled to defend the belt in the Main Event of WrestleMania X8. To say i was mad would be an understatement. SA was officially stripped of the Undisputed Championship and hasty rewrites began. It was at this point that Sam stepped up to the plate and his first official backstage involvement began when he came aboard on discussions for the proposed ECW angle and the huge mistake of Virtual ECW, a second Fed run under the VWWE banner (it would be four and a half years before i produced an ECW show, so you know how this one ends). What SA was doing E-Fed wise between this point and his return a few months later i don't know but we still conversed frequently.
WrestleMania X8 was a disaster, not much better than a normal Raw show. Three matches stuck out as quality in The Outsiders vs Too Good, the RVD Cage match and the Main Event, though the rest was a let down and in particular the ending, where a new and previously unannounced ECW faction made a run in was lame. The power had swung back toward FWC and did so for the whole next month during the Kane vs Nitro feud. Danny was not the problem, he was one of the best players of the game at the time and ive no doubt would be a major player still today, the problem was Nitro. Nitro was a poor character, even in the era of poor characters, and was a poor promo as well, bland and boring. However, he'd made a number of friends backstage and was a massive presence in the chat. In essence, there was a mini-Clique around him, some names including Hunter (George not Stu), Nemesis, Trish, Max Pain and Suppz Monkey will be familiar. This "popularity" led to him being in an awful faction by the name of AWOL and he received a push and the Main Event opportunity, firstly winning the ECW World Title (which would later become the WWE World Title, a scenario i of course didnt foresee at the time) and then WWE Champion. Nitro winning the belt was poor for VWWF, i knew this and booked him against Kane till he lost it quite frankly and following that loss he didnt receive another push. Unfortunately, six months later when Steve took over writing SmackDown, it appeared he was a fan and Nitro received a second undeserved push.
While we had won the day both in February and March, FWC had won it in April. Several attacks by the likes of TT, snide comments in FWCs news and poor angles off ourselves had left me demoralized and the company losing its way somewhat. When Hiugo finally went down for what appeared to be good, it looked like it could be the end for VWWF.... and it was, for when VWWF returned on Tagtag and MyWap, we were now known as VWWE. WWE had "Got the F Out" a week or so before and we followed suit, i myself seeing it as a new beginning for the Fed and with many of the worse aspects of the last month forgotten, began several new angles that would make the Summer of 2002 possibly the most creative ever seen and a genuine golden age of VWWE and welcomed in several new faces that would become known as the second generation of Virtual WWE.
With VWWE finally finding its feet, producing a quality product, chat and clearly around for the long haul, we began to attract several of FWCs stars including Tommy Dreamer, Suppz, Sabu and famously Sphere who went as far as to produce his own site detailing his reasons for leaving. They were Radicalz style Godsends, some of the final indications that FWC was dying. They all slotted in perfectly to storylines and despite the disappointments of agreeing deals with both DD and AWO only to see them fall through, VWWE was firmly back on top again. But something was missing angle wise, both a "big" star Ala Hulk Hogan, The Rock or Steve Austin in the WWE and a big time angle to center the company around. Thus was born the nWo era.
Before the nWo however, came that big star and at that time there was one man who stood out for his dedication and quality above all other - Tony AKA Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin had already headlined WrestleMania X8 and of course, then received a push in FWC (which he left shortly after the war began), so his elevation to a permanent Main Event status was no great leap up the card, plus his feud with Kane was something that both he and Danny got totally into, making it the most successful feud up till that point in VWWE. After the let down of WrestleMania and subsequent poor month in April, we needed to do what we'd done that very first Raw and make an impact. There was only one match that could do it - Hell in a Cell. It would be billed as the biggest match ever held in E-Feds, Kane the monster versus Steve Austin, the massive face looking for his first title. And did we deliver? oh hell yeah. The match was at that time, once again the most impressive match ever seen and was hailed as such, but more than that - it was a great card, everybody had something to do, a match of importance and i feel felt they had a lot of input into both it and the direction of their characters.
Every good face needs a strong heel opponent. Rowdy Roddy Piper once aswed the question, would Hogan have been as big a face if he hadn't had such strong heel opponents such as himself? every Sherlock Holmes needs a Moriarty. Austin following Judgment Day was the biggest face in all E-Feds but needed an opponent, Kane had been defeated and was out of the picture as of course was SA and i was uncomfortable pushing HBK so soon again after the disastrous push he received around WrestleMania. My mind however was cast back to the very inception of VWWE and the nWo, a group that in the defection from FWC to VWWE had created possibly the largest amount of GENUINE heat from the business yet seen at that time.
So the nWo would return, this time however, it would be true to both the real life nWo and DX - it would be born from the Kliq. HBK, Hulk Hogan and Nightmare formed the core to the group, Urban-Wolf and originally Triple H as the second duo, even though Urbie was of course a big star in his own right. The angle cought fire immediately, the locker loving it and truely dividing themselves into nWo and WWE groups. The addition of Booker T and Max Pain following Wills 27th firing may have diluted the group slightly but no more than a faction. The nWos political games, internal struggles and battles against Austin, Kane, RVD, Randy Savage, Nitro and the like gripped the whole community and just as the angle had done for the real WCW in 1996 through till 1998, we dominated the business.
In late May, FWC finally folded. The Monday Night Wars were over (for now). Its hard to pin point and actual definite reason for its failure. I always like to point out the similarities between our small wrestling community and the real life goings on in WWE and how many times, without design, the art has immitated the life and without a doubt, the parallels with the folding of WCW are there for all to see. While FWC originally was the big cat, it got taken down by VWWE who they tried unsuccessfully to put out of business originally. Why did they go out of business? again, the similarities are there for all to see. WCW pushed stars who were either hasbeens or neverbeens such as Jarrett, Savage, Sid, FWC did the same, allowing Main Event positions to be given to the likes of AWO, Kohl, Sandman and HHH, members who today, wouldn't even be allowed a curtain jerking position in VWWE. WCWs booking decisions in its last years, particularly after the addition of Vince Russo to the creative team were nothing short of shambolic - Rhyno couldn't book for shit. Booking is an art form, you dont just throw matches out there, you need to plan ahead, what if Superstar A wins, what will we do? what if Superstar B wins, what will we do? how to we protect Superstar A if he lose? how do we give him his heat back? and so on. Rhyno never considered such action, he didn't understand this basic principle of ownership as quite frankly, so very few owners ever have. The third reason I'd put down is image which i talked about before. Once it became clear that Rhyno was out to attack VWWE in every way, by both insulting us personally and allowing others to do it, obvious that there was no peace, it became a war and the main tactic VWWE used was to destroy FWCs image. Destroy an E-Feds image and who'll want to work there? make it a joke, and what value is it? this is the exact tactic used by the WWF in the Monday Wars and it worked again here and has done again since. As said, image is everything and Rhyno again failed to conduct a defense and make himself look good, his shows, matches and belts became worthless as he produced a string of lame shows with the worst characters pushed over actual talent like Tommy Dreamer, Sphere, Doomsday and the like, he played right into our hands. And finally? its those same names. When Benoit, Saturn, Guerrero and Malenko defected to the WWF in 2000, it was seen as the death knell for WCW and although they continued on for over a year afterward, essentially WCW died that night the Radicalz debuted on Raw. When Dreamer, Suppz, Sphere, the Dawg Pound, Sabu etc all came to VWWE within a short space of time, it sent out a message that FWC was dying. A few weeks later, possibly the final straw came when Doomsday left FWC. DD had been instrumental backstage within FWC, doing much of the writing and creative duties, his leaving caused the stack of FWC cards to come crashing down around Rhynos ears, the era of FWC at an end. Although FWC did attempt comebacks later in the year and again in 2003 and again since, it never reached the heights of the Monday Wars.
Of course, peace didn't rain for very long and around the same time VWWE began to encounter a very different type of opponent - Hogans Crew and Nova. Where as we'd been at war with a group/organization previous, this was a new challenge, two individuals who had no agenda other then to act like complete and utter pricks. The motivation, i cannot guess, a psychologist may know more. For those who dont recall, Hogan (NO relation to the other Hogan aka Sam btw) led a small group of idiots known as Hogans Crew (later the Devils Crew) in WAPWWE Chat. However, WAPWWE Chat began to die, several members moving to the VWWE Locker and its usership drying up. So of course, Hogan followed to where the members were, his task? to "destroy the chat". Hogans Crew, like with FWC, always claimed to have people inside VWWE and i almost know for fact this was in fact true. Hogan always knew more than he should and several incidents spring to mind immediately that confirm he was no all he seemed. Was Hogan really somebody VWWE already knew? later evidence points to that being the case, but of course, we'll never know for sure. Nova was like Hogan in many ways, simply came into chat and spouted random bullshit and insulted people. He was clearly both a child and slightly retarded, hence his joining up with Hogans Crew at one point. It was at this time i first came into contact with Fi via an opposition group named Killcrew that we supported, Sam and Myself joining toward the end. Hogans Crew were finally defeated following a memorable and in retrospect, rather odd, night in the locker. Nova however, continued to make a nuisance of himself for two whole years.
Creatively, VWWE was on a high. The nWo angle had divided the locker down face and heel lines and we were on an all time high. Jon had agreed to return to the fold and we'd made new stars of RVD and Hogan (Sam always insists btw that he debuted in late March 2002 as a main eventer, this is not the case and it was early March as a midcarder lol). The nWo were the most successful group in history, but as we approached SummerSlam, the steam was running out a little. If done now, it would last 6-8 months thanks to the lesser shows and more evenly handed out airtime, but back then, the nWo was EVERYWHERE, just like in WCW of 96/97. Every segment was filled with the nWo vs WWF feud. It was decided that the nWo would split Ala Hollywood vs The Wolfpac, but instead of the Wolfpac - we'd return to DX and it would take the form of HBK, SA and a few weeks later, Doomsday. The alliance of HBK and SA, bitter enemies, and the return of DX at SummerSlam, shocked everybody and shook up the angle, the objective was achieved. However, looking back, i have to consider the thing a failure. Both Silent Assassin and Doomsday left the company shortly afterward (SA leaving for a second time while WWE Champion) and DX became swiftly HBK and Triple H (a group that would have great success with the Outlaws and X-Pac in 2003, but for the fall of 2002, was not on the map). The nWo continued on for a sort while, its line up consisting of RVD and Austin at one point before settling on Hogan, Hall and Nash and then in December, splitting up for good. With the nWo era over, in October a new one began when VWWE announced the brand extension would be coming to Raw and SmackDown. Steve aka Sphere would be taking the reigns of SmackDown while i would continue as writer of Raw and Chairman, Sam would be CEO. The ingredients were all in place for what has become the VWWE of 2007, but that as they say, is another story.
So there ya go, the story of VWWEs birth. Of course, theres far more to it than this and i apologize in advance for anything or anybody ive forgotten or anything I've deliberately glossed over. Like all good books, even those published by the likes of Flair, Michaels and even Foley, need a few pages left out and a few fact maybe bent a little to make it seem like VWWE knew what they were doing all along :)
As I take a (well deserved) break from writing Raw, I thought I'd blog on WWE matters and what else could I possibly talk about other than WrestleMania?
I'm going to do two pieces, one on my personal memories of WrestleMania (that's this one), and secondly, my predictions and hopes for this years event.
In the beginning... Vince created WrestleMania.
WrestleMania at the beginning really wasn't seen as "the Superbowl of professional wrestling", it really wasn't as grand as all that. The NWA had already promoted their Starrcade supercards and WWE had produced Showdown at Shea, make no mistake, WrestleMania was the answer to Starrcade.
Vince McMahon is the kind of man, much like myself lol, who has to do everything bigger, better and badder than the opposition. Vince will have looked at Starrcade and thought - how can we blow that out of the water. At this time Vince was at the forefront of new innovation and technology, something WWE is NOT in 2009. Vince looked at cable and MTV in particular, he looked at the 1980's political landscape and gave us Hogan, Volkoff etc... he looked to pay-per-view.
PPV was the single invention that changed wrestling forever, talking it out of local arenas and barns and into the front room, the revenue allowed companies to suddenly become major TV players and increase production values and wages tenfold. People like Hulk Hogan became mainstream celebrities, all from this one event. Vince apparently figuratively stakes the family jewels on this being a success... and it was. The celebrity endorsement brought in new fans and exposure and WrestleMania, in one night, made the WWF the hottest thing in America, burying the NWA in the process.
My first WrestleMania was apparently WrestleMania III though I remember nothing of it. My father was allegedly something of a fan in the 1980's and literally everybody watched WrestleMania 3, I was allowed to stay up for it. Even though I don't remember it, maybe it left a subconscious memory that led me to VWWE some 15 years later lol. What follows next is my own memories of the events I saw live at the time. Many of these I, in truth, haven't watched fully again since then, so I'm just remembering off the top of my head what I can (I nearly forgot the ladder match at WM16 for one lol, so sorry if I miss anything really important out)
My first actual memory of a WrestleMania is WrestleMania IX at Caesars Palace with those absurd toga costumes. All I remember remembering is how much Hulk Hogan sucked and at that time I'd wished Bret Hart had left with the title lol. In truth I probably still believe that, Hulk Hogan winning the title at WM9 being the moment Hogan Jumped the Shark in the WWF, it was one of the most shameful power plays ever seen. Bret should have left WM9 as champion and although it didn't hurt his career, it could easily have done.
WrestleMania X I remember a lot more, by this point I was watching the WWF regularly with the likes of Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Razor Ramon etc being my favorites (even Bret Hart). WrestleMania X is still one of my favorite PPV's and one of the best ever WrestleMania's with Owen Hart going over Bret and the infamous Ladder Match. This was imo the PPV where the New Generation really came into their own. The main event, like last year and next year was forgettable however - Bret vs Yokozuna and I don't think imo that WrestleMania had really reached its "Superbowl" status yet and wouldn't for a long time.
WrestleMania XI and the involvement of Lawrence Taylor I remember, funnily it's really only the celebrities I remembered from this PPV, Pamala Anderson of course being there with Jenny McCarthy. I didn't remember a thing about any of the matches which says everything about the quality of the show. This was a PPV where they tried to mask the lameness of the card with the celebs. Did it work? nope.
WrestleMania 12 was the Ironman match and of course the Warrior vs Helmsley, losing in 12 seconds which is hilarious now... but I was pissed back then. Not for Helmsley who I hated but if there was one person I hated more it was the Warrior. I was a total New Generation freak at the time and ANYBODY who I saw as being from the 80's I hated - Hogan, Warrior, Slaughter. An Ultimate Warrior return filled me with dread, luckily it didn't last. I haven't seen the Ironman match in ages but it's always been one of my favorite matches.. yet thinking back to it, I really think HBK has had better matches since. Id certainly rather watch his Flair match or Jericho matches. Maybe I've just forgotten how great it was, I'll have to rewatch sometime.
WrestleMania 13 came at a time I was becoming exasperated, for want of another word, with the WWF. I'd been watching WCW a lot in the latter half of 1996 and it was on fire, the WWF was in transition but mostly lame and WrestleMania 13 didn't buck the trend. I remember little of it and haven't seen it since first broadcast I don't think. I really had little interest in it. The only match that stands out is Bret Hart vs Steve Austin... and i'm gunna leave my thoughts on that for my 1997 history blogs lol.
What a difference a year made... WrestleMania 14 and it could have been a whole different company. This was the "official" start of attitude with Tyson, Austin and Michaels being so memorable. Throughout that match it really felt like the end of an era but HBK was in such visible pain its still amazing they had the match they did. The final punch by Tyson and the 3:16 T-Shirt over the face were absolute perfect. There was much more to this PPV though, the DX Band murdering America the Beautiful was perfect for this era, LOD and Sunny was great, the dumpster match... great PPV and at this point, my favorite of them all.
A year later and the WWF was now trouncing WCW... but in my own opinion, WrestleMania 15 wasn't as memorable as the year befores and all that stands out is the very poor Hell in a Cell match and the main event. The HIAC really was a snooze fest from a feud undeserving of the stipulation, it seemed tacked on and there simply to build on the reputation of the Taker/Mankind HIAC. The main event however was, like last year, genuinely the best two guys in the company and the hottest acts in wrestling. The right result with Austin again being champion led to the main event for the second year in a row being particularly memorable.
WrestleMania 2000, XVI, 16, whatever you call it... it was shoite. Possibly the biggest disappointment in WrestleMania history for me, WrestleMania 16 should have been so much more. With the roster they had, the total domination... they decided for some reason to simply stick as many people as they could on the card. I'm struggling to remember much about the event, its another I haven't seen in a long time despite buying the DVD a few weeks back. Ice T I remember of course and there was the Angle/Benoit/Jericho match that was very good but could have been more. Plans I've always presumed originally featured the Undertaker who'd been scheduled to return at the 2000 Royal Rumble but in the end they had the four way that was excellent all told. Mick Foley's return however was lame and he should never have been in the match. Mick's career ending so close to WrestleMania was a perfect tragic ending to a career, it told a story. Coming back for this one match ruined that and would only have worked had Mick won the title for the fairytale ending. In the end we broke with tradition and Triple H won when many were expecting the Rock to do so. The ONLY great thing on the show as the triple threat ladder match, that's all that saved this card from being a disaster. That alone and the fact that all the matches, while not stellar, were good ranks it over WM15. Not my favorite event though....
But the next one was.
WrestleMania 17 from the Houston Astrodome was simply the greatest night in the history of wrestling, I'll not hear otherwise. This show was the final act in the attitude era, the last hurrah before the onset of a dark period. From top to bottom the card was utter quality. I remember watching this one live with some mates from college as everybody was still into wrestling at this point, something unthinkable just a year later. This night for me personally was the peak of wrestling's popularity even though ratings had already started to fall, but in terms of quality, passion from the fans, productions, talent, everything on this night was aligned.
We had the TLC match, the gimmick battle royal, that awesome Limp Bizkit theme song, Undertaker and Triple H, the great garage brawl with Kane, Show and Raven, Angle and Benoit.
McMahon vs McMahon for me at the time was just absolutely brilliant, it had been built perfectly with Shane buying WCW and on the night it was amazing storytelling with Linda rising up and kicking Vince in the balls, Shane going coast to coast - it was a fine start to the Alliance feud that sadly never lived up to these heights.
The match of the evening however was Austin vs The Rock and frankly, this was one of the best built matches of all time. Austin and The Roc in the run up to this contest put in some of their finest ever performances, from Austin's NEED to be champion to the Rocks quest to actually win the belt from Kurt Angle, it was all brilliant and on the night they gave us one of the greatest WrestleMania main events ever. I loved them stealing each others finishers lol, you never seen that these days.... but the finish was what always made this special. I knew very little of backstage happenings at this point so it was a complete shock, Austin turning heel was the greatest swerve of all time, that image of Austin shaking hands with McMahon was one of the great pictures in wrestling history, played perfectly by JR and Paul Heyman. As much as I'd loved King, this event wouldn't have been quite as good without Heyman imo. It was a perfect end to a perfect show. The greatest WrestleMania of em all.
For me, WrestleMania 17 was the moment that WrestleMania became WWE's answer to the Superbowl. Unlike other recent Manias, the crowd was huge, over 70,000, I cant remember the exact number. Every match on the card was fantastically built and a huge collision, the performances were off the chat as was the production. WrestleMania 17 heralded a new dawn for WrestleMania.
WrestleMania 18 the year after was the first of the VWWE era, for many of our younger members, that must seem an age ago lol. The problem with WrestleMania 18 is that it followed 17 and could never live up to the previous years event despite the fact that WWE followed exactly the same formula almost. There was the big arena and crowd, the massive set, a live band... the problem? the matches.
I'm as big a Chris Jericho fan as anybody but the decision to put the belt on Jericho at Vengeance in December 2001 was one of the biggest mistakes in WWE history. Following what happened at WrestleMania 17, the logical and poetic finale to the year 2001 was The Rock vs Steve Austin for the Undisputed Championship with The Rock winning and avenging his loss at WM17, possibly going on to WM18 to face Triple H. However... WWE threw us a swerve and had Jericho win and the had him hook up with Stephanie McMahon. In just a year WWE had gone from some of the greatest TV ever seen... to shoite. Jericho was a poor champion, a weak champion.. and there was never any doubt in anybodys mind that Triple H would roll over him at WM. That said, Triple H's return at the Rumble had been awesome.. but the whole fake pregnancy? not so. And Steph really looks a slut at this point as a side note lol.
Steve Austin was completely wasted on this show and I've never understood why. From being the biggest draw in wrestling just 6 months previously, Austin was reduced to facing Scott Hall (no disrespect to him) in an undercard match... why? Personally, I'd have gone for - Nash and Hall challenge for the tag titles, Hogan faces The Rock, Austin faces Triple H, Undertaker faces Ric Flair. THAT would have been a challenger to WrestleMania 17.
But the show wasn't a complete disaster, The Rock and Hulk Hogan was as well built as Austin/Rock had been the year previously. Who can forget "Yes.... or no?", one of the great promos of the decade? the match was absolutely electric, a magnificent example of psychology and working a crowd. This was the final answer to the idiots who believe that the likes of American Dragon have what it takes to be stars. These two men held the crowd in their palm and, frankly, out of an average match in the ring, gave us an ICONIC match through the manipulation of the crowd and the audience. The told a story and THAT is what this business is all about.
Often forgotten on the card tragically is the Undertaker vs Ric Flair. Another fantastically built match, I LOVED this heel Undertaker, demanding respect and taking it if he didn't get it. Taker was awesome in the run up to this match with his beat down of David Flair for example. The match is a great street fight, another example of great storytelling but in truth, also the best actual match on the card. I MARKED for the run-in of Arn Anderson in the match, that was a WrestleMania moment for me.
The main event as I mentioned... was crap. The crowd burned themselves out with Hogan/Rock which should have main evented, but besides that.. it just wasn't a good match. I never believed Jericho stood a change and frankly... his ring attire was vile. This match really marked a MASSIVE downturn in the quality of the main events in WWE for about the next six months. We had the atrocious Triple H/Hogan and Hogan/Undertaker in the moths that followed and ratings plummeted.
Over all.. a letdown of a WrestleMania, but maybe not as bad as many people remember.
WrestleMania XIX the year later was a return to form and a big improvement all round. WWE once again were following that formula of the past two events - big arena, live music, even Limp Bizkit returned this time.
Matt Hardy vs Rey Mysterio started us off if I remember and it was a great opening match, Limp Bizkit played Taker to the ring.. Fred Durst looking an absolute midget next to Taker.
This was the first WWE branded PPV and the first with the two titles. The WWE Championship match was poorly and offensively built with a vaguely racist Angle built around Triple H and Booker T which I thought was beneath Triple H and Ric Flair and even if they'd gone there, Booker T had to win the blow off... which of course he didn't. This match really held little interest for me or anybody else as I remember, there were three other matches on the card of prime importance - Michaels vs Jericho, Lesnar vs Angle and Hogan vs McMahon.
There was always a sense in the early days of HBK's return, as far up to this match at WM19 that we should expect too much from him, his back could give out at any moment and going into the event, although we expected a good match, we didn't think it'd be a classic as this was. This was the moment we realized "Michaels is truly back" The ending where Jericho kicked him in the balls was great storytelling again and really got Jericho over as a heel at that point.
Lesnar vs Angle was a match where Lesnar had to step up, it was make or break for him. Luckily he and Angle had a great match but what everybody talks about is that final moment where Lesnar was supposed to win with the Shooting Star Press and botched it. There was complete shock both in chat and the arena, a moment of silence where the whole world thought "he's dead". Luckily he wasn't and recovered enough, Angle has the intelligence to work a finish on the fly and all was well, but that was nearly the worst possible moment in WrestleMania history.
The big match promoted here however was McMahon vs Hogan, twenty years in the making. In one way, it would have been cool had they held this off to WM20 but as it was this was built fantastically with a lot of great promos from both Hogan and McMahon on who was really responsible for the success of WrestleMania. In WWE, few people really are as good at this type of street fight as Vince McMahon, he's really pretty much mastered it over the years. The ladder and bloody Vince with the pipe were both great moments but the return of Roddy Piper was just brilliant. Very similarly booked to Undertaker vs Flair the year before in many ways.
One year later and the WWE was really up shit creek. Raw had been poor, SmackDown had descended into shit central and VWWE was closed nearly, my own interest in WWE was dwindling a little, one of the few saving graces WrestleMania XX on the horizon from the iconic Madison Square Garden.... but WWE really dropped the ball here. WrestleMania 20 should have been the greatest card of all time, yet like at WrestleMania 16 WWE decided to simply cram the card with as many people as possible. There were a few saving graces going in - Evolution vs Rock/Sock, Angle vs Eddie, The Triple Threat and Christian vs Jericho.
Christian vs Chris Jericho had been one of WWE's better booked programs going into the event with Christian playing the Creepy Little Bastard to perfection, perving after Trish Stratus. It was an excellent match with a great swerve finish with Trish turning on Jericho... and watch this space for VWWE ripping that Angle off soon enough :)
The Rock and Sock Connection vs Evolution was a match that let me down on a lot of levels and I know many in VWWE were angry about the match and in particular by the performance of The Rock and Mick Foley that was just not up to standard. A lot of backlash went against The Rock after this in some quarters while Mick salvaged a lot with his excellent match against Orton at Backlash. However, watching iMPACT this week and Mick's words about WrestleMania... fuck him. And talking of TNA wastes... Kurt Angle. In seriousness, Angle and Eddie were on top of their games at this point, it was the height of both men's careers and after the euphoria of Eddie Guerrero winning the title at No Way Out, I think a lot was expected of this match... and for me... it failed to deliver. The match was excellent and certainly one of the best on the card... but it wasn't quite the 5 star match we were expecting and it was something of a letdown as well. After 5 hours almost, I was tired and exhausted by the main event but what happened next certainly kept me awake.
The triple threat WAS a 5/5 star match. I remember the early talk in the locker was about how awesome Triple H's combination of white boots and black trunks was... which gives you an idea how "Queer Eye" Sam was back in those days lol. The match was another masterclass and an answer to the critics who'd been out in force for Triple H for well over a year. What happened after the match however is something that has changed since then. When Eddie came out to congratulate Chris Benoit in 2004, it was a poetic finale to the show, the two friends who were like brothers after all these years, champions together at last. Now it's a symbol of tragedy, the two friends locked together by a fateful future. What was once the most joyous end to a WrestleMania, is now the saddest.
WrestleMania 21 had a theme - Hollywood, despite not actually being held in Hollywood. The commercials for this WrestleMania were probably the best thing about it with the "You lookin a me" one actually helping to build up Batista's character at the time I think. My personnel favorite was Austin's Gladiator one, being a big fan of that film but the Braveheart one with Flair falling off the donkey was hilarious. The event itself really marked the beginning of a new generation in WWE with Randy Orton, John Cena and Batista all in prominent singles matches for the first time.
The build before the show was all about Batista, it had been going on for about six months and was the best turn WWE probably ever did. It was so subtle and Batista and Triple H played it to perfection, each week Tista got a little bit further away from Evolution. When he finally turned and powerbombed Triple H through that table, a viewing audience cheered in unison. It really seemed that Batista was the next big thing at this point, everybody was behind him. Unfortunately after his 3-0 winning streak over Triple H he got sent to SmackDown and was found out very quickly, he never reached these heights again which says a lot about Triple H's fantastic ability and is the final word to people who believe Helmsley wont do what's right for the business.
Batista's victory was met with a massive response.. but on the undercard, Cena's wasn't. At this time Cena was over as a face, not to Batista's level at that time but certainly over. His win over JBL was more expected I think, the program was nowhere near as good, the crowd were bored of JBL as champion, the match was atrocious for a World title match at WrestleMania and Cole completely, as usual, failed to get the moment and its significance across. The Cena era started with a whimper.
Elsewhere on the card Undertaker downed Randy Orton in a great match that's started their excellent feud and Shawn Michaels faced Kurt Angle in the match of the night, Shawn against stealing the show. To be honest though, I cant remember off the top of my head who won here, I'm pretty certain it was Angle but I wouldn't bet on it. I could go and look it up on Wiki... but I'll leave it lol.
WrestleMania 21 marked a move back away from the big arenas that had made WrestleMania's 17 to 19 so great, 20 being excepted due to it being MSG and WrestleMania 21 to me always seems far smaller and less grand than many other manias, even WrestleMania 22 which was at just a small arena.
WrestleMania 22 marked WWE with the Cena era in full swing and again, this isn't one of my favorite WrestleMania's. The Edge vs Mick Foley match was the highlight and an excellent match as Mick always manages in that environment, nothing less was expected. There were some great touches with the barbed wire, fire and Lita and it probably stole the show. However, there was some crap here too - the Boogeyman's involvement, Undertaker being landed with Mark Henry, Rey Mysterio winning the World title. Cena vs Triple H was excellent and I remember everybody was rooting for Triple H, having turned on Cena in the proceeding year... yet Cena won. Shawn Michaels vs Vince McMahon was another excellent match.. yet with two street fights on the card, it may have been overbooking in retrospect. Though the elbow off the ladder onto the trash canned Vince = WrestleMania moment. At the time I was caught in the atmosphere of WrestleMania and the good points outweighed the bad... but in retrospect, this was an average WrestleMania I'm sad to now say. The theme song rawked though, it was also the first web era WrestleMania for VWWE.
WrestleMania 23 felt somewhat different to WrestleMania 22 to me, it was nearer WrestleMania's 17 -19 in terms of scale. WWE went back to the big arenas for it and the build up was brilliant. I've always put over the three months of Raw prior to WrestleMania 23 as some of the best Raw's ever and I still think that. With Cena, Orton, Edge and Michaels, the four of them gave us great match after great match in the build to Mania that year, coupling that with The Donald and you already had a great lineup and in truth, I was a little disappointed when Orton and Edge were put in the MITB as I thought they deserved to be in singles action after their awesome performances.
Undertaker vs Batista was again, very well built on SmackDown.. even if nobody believed for a moment Batista stood a chance. Undertaker winning the title was an added bonus. Much of the build however surrounded that hair vs hair match. The less said about Bobby Lashley the better but the match was decent enough, an enjoyable clusterfuck and the crowd got what they wanted with Vince being shaved, a nice added epilogue to the McMahon/Austin feud.
Much like WrestleMania 22 the main event featured John Cena, as a face, squaring off against a man who most people wanted to beat him, this time Shawn Michaels. Original plan seemed to be Triple H vs John Cena again but Helmsley of course got injured. This was really the best opportunity WWE had to put the belt on Michaels at a time most fans believed he deserved it, a lot of people thought he'd win... but no. Excellent match however and the trend of great main events continued. WrestleMania 23 was overall an excellent PPV... the feel and format of which WWE's again followed last year at WrestleMania 24 and again tonight for WrestleMania 25.
WrestleMania 24 is probably my favorite WrestleMania since WrestleMania 17. The outdoors nature gave it a unique look and the set looked absolutely awesome as well. Those great images of the pyro, a lot of the entrances couldn't have been done indoors. A decent opener from Finlay and JBL, nothing spectacular but it warmed the crowd up. The MITB, which I haven't mentioned at all this blog, was fucking amazing. Remember that Morrison bump? and Kennedy with the Green Bay Plunge to Hornswoggle? Batista vs Umaga = passable and Kane defeating Chavo, while disrespectful possibly to Chavo... was funny as hell.
But now it was down to serious business - namely Ric Flair vs Shawn Michaels. When thinking of my favorite match of all time... I can't think of anything better than this. Is it either mans best match? no. Was it the best ACTUAL wrestling match of 2008? no. Was it probably the best wrestling match of the decade? oh yes. This was about spectacle, about that storytelling and that psychology. That image of Ric Flair getting up, begging Michaels to finish it and Shawn telling Ric he loved him before pulling the trigger was THEE most memorable moment in the history of WrestleMania for me personally. For most its probably Hogan slamming Andre or some huge moment... this was so different. Subtle almost, quiet.. but just as emotional. It was the death of a career and an era, Michaels and Flair told the perfect story, the perfect ending to a perfect career and no true wrestling fan can have watched that without a mix of emotions. Delight that Flair had gone out in such style, sadness that it was all over and so much more. A rollercoaster and in my humble opinion, the greatest 30 minutes in WrestleMania history and why these two men are and were peerless in this industry.
The Triple Threat was excellent and somewhat unexpected as I think many believed Orton would lose the title, The Undertaker and Edge giving us a hell of a main event, definitely deserving of the spot after Taker got bumped last year, winning the title for the second year in a row.
Like WrestleMania 23, much of the hype and advertising centered on the celebrity involvement - this year being Floyd Mayweather Jnr. I'd always been a fan of Floyd, getting even bigger when he beat the crap out of the annoying Ricky Hatton. Mayweather and Big Show were excellent in the run up to the event I thought, building it like they would a boxing contest. Celebrities either "get" it.. or they don't, Pete Rose for example "got it" as did Kevin Federline and Mike Tyson all those years ago, while other celebrities remain aloof backstage and believe they're above the business. Mayweather luckily "got it" and was said to be very willing to learn and very sociable. Mayweather totally performed above my expectations and his match may actually be my favorite celebrity match of them all.
So... there ya go, my memories of WrestleMania. I expect WrestleMania 25 will follow the format of the past two years and I think we've seen that already - big arena, big set, celebrity, big matches, well built. The event is fitting into a predefined template almost and now at the 25th anniversary, is truly... the Superbowl of Wrestling.
Hey Guys
Not been blogging much because of illness and lack of computer
At the moment everything is a bit hectic. My wife is expecting our third child and i'm in the middle of the biggest push of my life
I had the privilage of being at the birth of my first 2 children and would love to have been there this time but it's wrestlemania season. My wife understands (sort of) but was more convinced when i told her the size of the paycheck!!!
On a not so serious note.
The problem with being on the road 5 days a week is keeping yourself motivated. During my original run in WWE is heavierly into narcotics (which is where my friendship with Jeff Hardy started) but i found that the higher I got the more I felt lonely
Now in my second run here I am alot maturer. I no longer use drugs but sometimes the loneliness kicks in. Thank god for the friendships I built. Especially this modern day triple threat with Shane and Hardy... let me tell you a story
Last night we had a house show in Texas, it was an early finishing show so Shane, Myself and Hardy decided to take a drive down the Tijiana, Mexico for some Tequila.
We found a cheap karoke bar in the city and started the drinking. After about 5 tequilas (3 in hardy's case) we were up on the karoke singing away. I myself sang the Dandy Worhol's I like You... Mick sang No Limit by Too Unlimited and Jeff kept rambling some f**king Westlife song... but to finish off We did a three way duet on C'Est La Vie by the MIGHTY B*Witched (Good Times)... Myself and Jeff then tried singing Since You Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson and got booed off stage
Anyway the drinking continued and my memories get abit blurry... the next morning my head was booming and for some strange reason i woke up next to a picture of MILEY CYRUS WTF!!!
Peace out Bitches!!!
Well I'm sitting here caped in Blood. Both my own and Mick's...
I've had many amazing Nights in my 9 year career but tonight tops all of them...
I know I sort of Kayfabed my first blog but this is coming from the heart
I've been back in WWE for 6 months (5 months on screen) and I honestly can't believe how far I've come. I returned here with nearly all of the boys hating my guts. But I knew if I kept my head down I could make an impact. I made that impact tonight.
On a rainy night in October last year I approached Vince with an idea. I wanted to feud with Michael Shane. He loved the ideas I came to him with and the wheels were in motion.
This feud will be mine and Michael Shane's making. We both plan on taking it to limits that none of you will ever imagine. Tonight was just the edge of a very very big iceberg.
After I was eliminated from the Rumble I walked backstage with the fans booing me. But as soon as I walked through the curtain I received a standing ovation. Vince hugged me, stephanie hugged me. My friends in the gathering (Punk, Mickie and Sergio) shook my hand. Both William Regal and Primal complimented me on my performance. My roomie Jeff (or Nero as we know him) Hugged me and whispered that I'd beaten him!!!
I limped to the medical office where the real star sat. There was Mick all patched up. He looked up at me and laughed "Hey Joe, I've already Blogged". I just smiled and hugged him...
Tonight is the start of the biggest angle of my career... But tonight was also the night I realised something
WWE is my home and the boys who hated me... now treat me like a brother
Thank you guys!!!
So there ya go... enjoy?
God my feet and head hurt. Vince McMahon told me after i got backstage that hanging upside down was supposed to be relaxing.... who was he kidding?
My head is being stitched and Doctor Prichard keeps complaining that i'm on my laptop. I'm sure he thinks I'm crazy when i told him i was hung upside down and am now blogging about the fact.
The boys loved the angle... disgusted but loving it, Vince said it went over really well and i hope this really pushes Suffering up the card, JR did awesome work getting this over from what i saw.
The pain is worth it for both our careers. Ashley sure wont like that scar though... i'm gunna end up with a forehead like Dusty one day.
The post-show fatigue has hit us all, no nightclubs tonight, just all back to the hotel for a long relaxing rest to try and recover.
Until tomorrow morning when we hit the road, new town, new arena, new fans and we get to do it all over again.
See you on Raw.
Michael Shane (well hung)
"My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display ... I can make you smile when the blood it hits the floor... Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more? "
This is my mate owning a kid from our school- believe it or not, in the same year as us lol!
We only did it cos he's a Liverpool fan ;)
It was HIS idea. He was adamant that we did it so we did it- hard. He threw up the painkillers lol.
School is ridiculously boring nowdays haha
Believe it or not, this was a painful impact. I can do better but i've never even attempted a standing backflip onto solid ground so I shit myself lol
The Suffering Speaks... Unedited...
The man with the razor tongue speaks. I don't know if this blogging idea is a good one. Last time I was offered a forum on which to rant I damn near destroyed my career.
Here goes...
My opinion on the Roster (HEAT HEAT HEAT)
Where to start! The Top of course
John Cena: Hmmm, John is clearly the second best promo guy in vwwe (behind yours truly of course) and deserves the top spot... but come on 8 months as champ!!! If you’re sitting at home thinking that’s too long... answer me one question... Who else could hold it with as much dignity?
Randy Orton: This is possibly your other WWE Championship option (in this mans eyes)... Randy is exceptional
Jeff Hardy: Jeff Jeff Jeff... I have a $20 dollar bet running with him about who'll be WWE champion first (yes SHOCK horror I am close friends with my close rival). I'll probably win, but he won't be far behind I’m sure ;)
Primal: Primal reminds me of one of my hero's from my younger years Bruiser Brody (Not HACKSAW). If Mort tapped into this side of his character I honestly believe there's a main eventer in waiting
Ryan Simmons: When I returned to VWWE in the summer I was very surprised to see that Simmon's wasn't a main eventer. I feel he has every quality needed he just needs to focus (wanna join the gathering lol)
Taker/Kane/Forxx: Jesus, I seen all this crap before... (I actually am a mark for these sorts of gimmicks though)
Ted Dibiase: He talks a lot and is very creative. Reminds me of Russo, if somebody could supervise his ideas then he could make a good addition to the creative team (ONE DAY)
CM Punk: I do truly like this guy... I think I'm the only one in the locker though lol
Michael Shane: Michael Shane can kiss my arse... his only pushed because he has "friends" in the powerful positions in this company. He can bitch and moan about TNA all he wants but he was always being looked after by his "GUARDIAN ANGEL"....
Screw this I feel like Vomiting just talking about that piece of shit
(Pain and suffering is a kayfabed/non kayfabed article)