wwe backstage week review

**wrestling_god** · 12-08-2003, 09:44 AM

posted on prowrestlingscoops.com

Steve Austin told Jindrak and Cade to come up with a flashy name for the tag team because just that name alone isn�t enough. They came up with �The Odd Couple� (as a joke I assume) since Jindrak is single and out on the town with Randy Orton every night partying, while Cade is married and prefers to stay in at night.

Scott Steiner was given the 11/22 weekend off so he could attend the Ohio State-Michigan game. He did work the Detroit show the night before the game however.

WWE injury updates: Edge is hopeful for a return in early March, in time for WrestleMania. Spike Dudley has returned from his neck injury. Billy Kidman is back from his MCL tear as well. Earl Hebner suffered a shoulder injury in the Goldberg verses Triple H match but an MRI confirmed that there was no tear, but he will remain out of action. Billy Gunn targeted return date is this week.

For those wondering, Mick Foley is not back in WWE full swing after getting the co-General Manager spot alongside Eric Bischoff this past Monday on RAW. He�s just around as part of a transition for Steve Austin in order to set up his return to television.

The Chris Jericho/Trish Stratus angle is far from over and what happened on RAW this past Monday is just a set-up for what is to come. Trish recently stated in an interview that she is excited about the angle due to the fact that she is a face working with a heel.

The reason that Matt Hardy wasn�t given a full ring entrance on RAW is because his ring entrance usually gets a big pop and the writers are trying extremely hard to establish him as a firm heel, so they didn�t want a big face pop on television.

Shawn Michaels will begin working more house show dates, according to the official WWE website. Michaels is booked for a match against Ric Flair at the December 12th RAW brand house show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That is the only match announced to take place thus far for that event.

There were several storylines considered for the SmackDown General Manager role, which included Stephanie McMahon returning to television this week. However, as it currently stands, they are keeping Paul Heyman as the lone GM of the brand and leaving Stephanie off of television indefinitely.

Dustin Runnels (Goldust) said that he enjoyed his latest gimmick of involuntary utterances and would try to entertain wrestlers backstage with funny outbursts.

Zach Gowen is not currently injured, however, is not being used in storylines at this point. Gowen�s relationship with WWE is said to be on very unsteady grounds as of late.

Randy Savage has been hinting in interviews that he may be working for NWA TNA or WWE in the near future. Some sources say that some major fence-mending has taken place between Savage and McMahon. After Savage and Hogan left the then WWF to WCW, Vince McMahon openly stated that he couldn�t see under any circumstances neither Hogan nor Savage working for him again. Since then Hogan has returned twice, however, Savage has yet to make a return.

New Line says that Triple H looks really good on screen for Blade 3. They said that next to Wesley Snipes he looks huge just as expected. Many commented on how great his onscreen presence is.

New Line also has their eye on Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho for future cameos. Eddie is wanted to appear in the next �Chich and Chong� film. John Cena has also impressed some people at New Line and he too will be watched closely .

John �Tank� Toland, Chris Cage and Mark Magnus from OVW have been signed to developmental deals with WWE. Also signed is Desmond Thompson, who you have seen with Earnest �the Cat� Miller recently.

Matt Morgan and John Heidenreich have each signed a multi-year deal with WWE, more then likely they were signed to the standard three year deal. They were originally signed as developmental wrestlers.

After taking a bump at the Survivor Series, Shaniqua had sustained a hip injury and wrestlers were told not to touch her the following week. She has taking some frog splashes recently, so she appears to be okay.

WrestleMania XX is expected to be sold for $50.00 for five hours. This price is up $5 from last year�s event due to the decision to make the event an extra hour long.

Vince McMahon has been said to have an open mind toward using Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XX after swearing that he wouldn�t a month ago. McMahon doesn�t care if Hogan works for TNA between now and WrestleMania XX, but doesn�t want him seen with a rival promotion just a month before WWE�s biggest event of the year.

Matt Hardy and Lita are excited to be traveling together again, but aren�t inseparable backstage. Several sources have been reporting that they mingle with different people and don�t mind not being together every second.

Although Survivor Series only did 500,000 buys and was projected/budgeted to do 625,000 the WWE is still said to be very happy. The budgets for those events are set at the beginning of the year and the WWE had recently taken a huge plunge in buy rates for PPV's. The Survivor Series was a vast improvment over the past few months and that is very encouraging for the WWE.

Paul Heyman is much more diplomatic with both writers and agents during his current WWE stint. Heyman was the taken out of the "head writer" position for Smackdown! months ago and has now been given the title of writing consultant. He has had input on the direction that his character takes on screen.

Nathan Jones has officially quit WWE. It is not known if he will still work on the wrestling scene. On the Asian-Australian tour, Jones supposedly just packed his bags and walked out on the lockerroom, quitting the company. As he left, he remarked how he couldn't take it anymore. He supposedly had a very bad time on the trip up to the point of quitting, and was especially ticked off with the bad plane ride we mentioned earlier. Brock Lesnar, Big Show, and Paul Heyman tried to calm Jones down and keep him from quitting, but to no avail. Nathan Jones had actually come close to quitting many months ago, but was talked out of it. That talk didn't work this time.

Yet another wrestler has been injured from RVD's frog splash. While obviously not deliberate or even Rob's fault, the move injured Scott Steiner during a recent match. HHH was also injured in the past from the move.

The Rock is set to start shooting on Be Cool in February. Already cast for the film are The Rock, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Vince Vaughn.

The word going around the lockerroom is that Mick Foley's planned match with Triple H at WrestleMania is now off. Right now, the word is that if he wrestles, he wants it to be a tag match. However, many say if he doesn't wrestle, he will likely serve as a guest referee. The reason for the loss of interest in the match is that many just don't think Foley can get into wrestling shape in time. Plus, HHH isn't the best shape, so it'd be two guys who are not 100% wrestling, and WWE is just not interested at this point, since it wouldn't live up to expectations. Of course, just as quickly as this match was scrapped, it could be added back to the card before Mania.

WWE is using Randy Orton as the main publicity guy in all media articles as of late. Orton is being pushed by WWE as the next big star. They have huge plans in store for him leading past WMXX.

For the Christmas holiday, RAW on 12/22 will be a 'Best of RAW 2003' show. That could get interesting. The Smackdown show on 12/25 will be taped live in Iraq for the troops.

We have received word from several people on the SmackDown! brand that the landing at the airport in Korea was not good. Many of the guys said it was the worst landing they have ever experienced. Most of the guys were freaked out by it, especially that of Ric Flair.

For those wondering what happened to the Booker T "I Remember" note storyline, WWE officially dropped plans to continue the angle. I have it confirmed Goldust was set to be the author of the note, but once it was decided he would be released, they dropped the storyline. What is not known at this point is whether it would've brought back Goldust and Booker T as allies, or if the two would've feuded. It is not expected that WWE will acknowledge the storyline again, since it's gone several weeks without follow-up, but it is always on the backburner in case WWE comes up with something.

**The Miz** · 12-08-2003, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrestling_god

posted on prowrestlingscoops.com

Randy Savage has been hinting in interviews that he may be working for NWA TNA or WWE in the near future. Some sources say that some major fence-mending has taken place between Savage and McMahon. After Savage and Hogan left the then WWF to WCW, Vince McMahon openly stated that he couldn�t see under any circumstances neither Hogan nor Savage working for him again. Since then Hogan has returned twice, however, Savage has yet to make a return.

please god no

12-09-2003, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrestling_god

posted on prowrestlingscoops.com

WWE injury updates: Edge is hopeful for a return in early March, in time for WrestleMania. Spike Dudley has returned from his neck injury. Billy Kidman is back from his MCL tear as well. Earl Hebner suffered a shoulder injury in the Goldberg verses Triple H match but an MRI confirmed that there was no tear, but he will remain out of action. Billy Gunn targeted return date is this week.

Great, I love Edge. I hope he returns at Mania. Earl Hebner =

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrestling_god

posted on prowrestlingscoops.com
The word going around the lockerroom is that Mick Foley's planned match with Triple H at WrestleMania is now off. Right now, the word is that if he wrestles, he wants it to be a tag match. However, many say if he doesn't wrestle, he will likely serve as a guest referee. The reason for the loss of interest in the match is that many just don't think Foley can get into wrestling shape in time. Plus, HHH isn't the best shape, so it'd be two guys who are not 100% wrestling, and WWE is just not interested at this point, since it wouldn't live up to expectations. Of course, just as quickly as this match was scrapped, it could be added back to the card before Mania.

They should scrap this match, no point putting them in a match when Trips and Foley are not in tip-top condition. They have classics between them, don't ruin it by putting up a crap match.

**Corkscrewed** · 12-09-2003, 03:39 AM

Quote:

There were several storylines considered for the SmackDown General Manager role, which included Stephanie McMahon returning to television this week. However, as it currently stands, they are keeping Paul Heyman as the lone GM of the brand and leaving Stephanie off of television indefinitely.

I mentioned this before, but PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE!!!

12-09-2003, 04:02 AM

agreed

**Spoon Bender** · 12-09-2003, 06:36 AM

@ the thought of loosing Matt's ring entrance. But I suppose if they wanna make him a heel then it makes sense. :meh:

**Tornado** · 12-09-2003, 06:49 AM

Did I miss something? When was Goldust released?

**wrestling_god** · 12-12-2003, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tornado

Did I miss something? When was Goldust released?

Goldust will be realesed in January..there just not using him now

12-08-2003, 09:44 AM	#1
wrestling_god i slept with your grandma Posts: 552	wwe backstage week review posted on prowrestlingscoops.com Steve Austin told Jindrak and Cade to come up with a flashy name for the tag team because just that name alone isn�t enough. They came up with �The Odd Couple� (as a joke I assume) since Jindrak is single and out on the town with Randy Orton every night partying, while Cade is married and prefers to stay in at night. Scott Steiner was given the 11/22 weekend off so he could attend the Ohio State-Michigan game. He did work the Detroit show the night before the game however. WWE injury updates: Edge is hopeful for a return in early March, in time for WrestleMania. Spike Dudley has returned from his neck injury. Billy Kidman is back from his MCL tear as well. Earl Hebner suffered a shoulder injury in the Goldberg verses Triple H match but an MRI confirmed that there was no tear, but he will remain out of action. Billy Gunn targeted return date is this week. For those wondering, Mick Foley is not back in WWE full swing after getting the co-General Manager spot alongside Eric Bischoff this past Monday on RAW. He�s just around as part of a transition for Steve Austin in order to set up his return to television. The Chris Jericho/Trish Stratus angle is far from over and what happened on RAW this past Monday is just a set-up for what is to come. Trish recently stated in an interview that she is excited about the angle due to the fact that she is a face working with a heel. The reason that Matt Hardy wasn�t given a full ring entrance on RAW is because his ring entrance usually gets a big pop and the writers are trying extremely hard to establish him as a firm heel, so they didn�t want a big face pop on television. Shawn Michaels will begin working more house show dates, according to the official WWE website. Michaels is booked for a match against Ric Flair at the December 12th RAW brand house show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That is the only match announced to take place thus far for that event. There were several storylines considered for the SmackDown General Manager role, which included Stephanie McMahon returning to television this week. However, as it currently stands, they are keeping Paul Heyman as the lone GM of the brand and leaving Stephanie off of television indefinitely. Dustin Runnels (Goldust) said that he enjoyed his latest gimmick of involuntary utterances and would try to entertain wrestlers backstage with funny outbursts. Zach Gowen is not currently injured, however, is not being used in storylines at this point. Gowen�s relationship with WWE is said to be on very unsteady grounds as of late. Randy Savage has been hinting in interviews that he may be working for NWA TNA or WWE in the near future. Some sources say that some major fence-mending has taken place between Savage and McMahon. After Savage and Hogan left the then WWF to WCW, Vince McMahon openly stated that he couldn�t see under any circumstances neither Hogan nor Savage working for him again. Since then Hogan has returned twice, however, Savage has yet to make a return. New Line says that Triple H looks really good on screen for Blade 3. They said that next to Wesley Snipes he looks huge just as expected. Many commented on how great his onscreen presence is. New Line also has their eye on Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho for future cameos. Eddie is wanted to appear in the next �Chich and Chong� film. John Cena has also impressed some people at New Line and he too will be watched closely . John �Tank� Toland, Chris Cage and Mark Magnus from OVW have been signed to developmental deals with WWE. Also signed is Desmond Thompson, who you have seen with Earnest �the Cat� Miller recently. Matt Morgan and John Heidenreich have each signed a multi-year deal with WWE, more then likely they were signed to the standard three year deal. They were originally signed as developmental wrestlers. After taking a bump at the Survivor Series, Shaniqua had sustained a hip injury and wrestlers were told not to touch her the following week. She has taking some frog splashes recently, so she appears to be okay. WrestleMania XX is expected to be sold for $50.00 for five hours. This price is up $5 from last year�s event due to the decision to make the event an extra hour long. Vince McMahon has been said to have an open mind toward using Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania XX after swearing that he wouldn�t a month ago. McMahon doesn�t care if Hogan works for TNA between now and WrestleMania XX, but doesn�t want him seen with a rival promotion just a month before WWE�s biggest event of the year. Matt Hardy and Lita are excited to be traveling together again, but aren�t inseparable backstage. Several sources have been reporting that they mingle with different people and don�t mind not being together every second. Although Survivor Series only did 500,000 buys and was projected/budgeted to do 625,000 the WWE is still said to be very happy. The budgets for those events are set at the beginning of the year and the WWE had recently taken a huge plunge in buy rates for PPV's. The Survivor Series was a vast improvment over the past few months and that is very encouraging for the WWE. Paul Heyman is much more diplomatic with both writers and agents during his current WWE stint. Heyman was the taken out of the "head writer" position for Smackdown! months ago and has now been given the title of writing consultant. He has had input on the direction that his character takes on screen. Nathan Jones has officially quit WWE. It is not known if he will still work on the wrestling scene. On the Asian-Australian tour, Jones supposedly just packed his bags and walked out on the lockerroom, quitting the company. As he left, he remarked how he couldn't take it anymore. He supposedly had a very bad time on the trip up to the point of quitting, and was especially ticked off with the bad plane ride we mentioned earlier. Brock Lesnar, Big Show, and Paul Heyman tried to calm Jones down and keep him from quitting, but to no avail. Nathan Jones had actually come close to quitting many months ago, but was talked out of it. That talk didn't work this time. Yet another wrestler has been injured from RVD's frog splash. While obviously not deliberate or even Rob's fault, the move injured Scott Steiner during a recent match. HHH was also injured in the past from the move. The Rock is set to start shooting on Be Cool in February. Already cast for the film are The Rock, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Vince Vaughn. The word going around the lockerroom is that Mick Foley's planned match with Triple H at WrestleMania is now off. Right now, the word is that if he wrestles, he wants it to be a tag match. However, many say if he doesn't wrestle, he will likely serve as a guest referee. The reason for the loss of interest in the match is that many just don't think Foley can get into wrestling shape in time. Plus, HHH isn't the best shape, so it'd be two guys who are not 100% wrestling, and WWE is just not interested at this point, since it wouldn't live up to expectations. Of course, just as quickly as this match was scrapped, it could be added back to the card before Mania. WWE is using Randy Orton as the main publicity guy in all media articles as of late. Orton is being pushed by WWE as the next big star. They have huge plans in store for him leading past WMXX. For the Christmas holiday, RAW on 12/22 will be a 'Best of RAW 2003' show. That could get interesting. The Smackdown show on 12/25 will be taped live in Iraq for the troops. We have received word from several people on the SmackDown! brand that the landing at the airport in Korea was not good. Many of the guys said it was the worst landing they have ever experienced. Most of the guys were freaked out by it, especially that of Ric Flair. For those wondering what happened to the Booker T "I Remember" note storyline, WWE officially dropped plans to continue the angle. I have it confirmed Goldust was set to be the author of the note, but once it was decided he would be released, they dropped the storyline. What is not known at this point is whether it would've brought back Goldust and Booker T as allies, or if the two would've feuded. It is not expected that WWE will acknowledge the storyline again, since it's gone several weeks without follow-up, but it is always on the backburner in case WWE comes up with something.

12-09-2003, 06:36 AM	#6
Spoon Bender Invincible Member Posts: 2,941	@ the thought of loosing Matt's ring entrance. But I suppose if they wanna make him a heel then it makes sense. :meh:

12-09-2003, 06:49 AM	#7
Tornado Tedious Inevitability Posts: 7,521	Did I miss something? When was Goldust released?

12-09-2003, 04:02 AM	#5
c4g2 Guest Posts: n/a	agreed