______________________________________________________________________ I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ - The WWF had WrestleMania on this past Sunday, 04/02/2000. I have to say upfront that there were technical difficulties with the show in my area (maybe wider?). During the tag team title match, the picture froze for about 15 minutes, so I only saw the start and the finish of that match. I've been told by my cable company that I may well get a credit for the cost of the show. Overall, I know that people are going to give this show a huge thumbs up for some unknown reason. As for the actual wrestling on the show, there was only one noteworthy match (thanks to Benoit) and a lot of chaotic, spotty, garbagy stuff. The finish of the main event was also a nonsensical downer. People may argue that Vince's turn made sense given him putting Stephanie into the title match that she won, etc. I still remember the events surrounding Stephanie's turn, so this turn by Vince seems silly. It's frustrating that the angles happen in fast forward mode these days. Rundown: * Big Boss Man & Bull Buchanan beat Godfather & D'Lo Brown: Ice T rapped the intro and showed that the WWF is clearly not concerned with bad publicity. The crowd was silent during this horrible match. D'Lo couldn't make it could by himself. They drew Heat on D'Lo. It was sad. The crowd got excited about D'Lo's comeback, chanting "D'Lo" for a whole eight seconds before going silent again. D'Lo finally rallied with a top rope Frankensteiner, which Jim Ross called "that move." They both tagged. Godfather hit the ho train. D'Lo tried for the frog splash, but Bull pushed him off. Boss Man hit a side slam, Bull hit a top rope leg drop, and the pin followed. Passable opener, but it hardly set a good mood. * Bob Holly won the Battle Royal for the Hardcore Title: They changed the rules for this. Originally, it was announced that the first guy who gets a pin would be the winner. Instead, they did a fifteen minute match with the title changing hands as many times as there were falls. Match featured the superlative skills of Tazz, Viscera, Joey Abs, Rodney, Pete Gas, Bob Holly, Sho Funaki, Taka Michinoku, Faarooq, Bradshaw, Headbangers, and Crash Holly. The match was destined to suck, since they obviously were planning to bounce the title around very quickly. They had an onscreen clock that stayed up most of the time. At 0:26, Tazz pinned Crash with a suplex. Viscera pinned Tazz 36 seconds later. Oh god, forget about the match times. Crash was suddenly bleeding, but we didn't know how. Pretty crappy wrestling, with loads of missed action, not that any of what we saw was good. Script: get hit with an object, fall down, get up, repeat. Pete Gas bled. How? We never knew. It was like that WCW brawl in the junkyard in that the camera work was horrible. A match with 15 minutes of baking sheet and garbage can shots is at least three times too long. The Acolytes slammed Viscera off the top, used a 2x4, but ended up putting Funaki on top for the pin. Did he pay them off? I dunno. Taka chased Funaki, with everybody following. Why was this match called a battle royal? They brawled backstage. Rodney won the title. It bounced to Abs, Thrasher, and then Pete Gas. What a title lineage. Tazz won the title next. He hit a suplex on Gas and covered him. Bob Holly was standing right there and delivered a half-hearted kick to break up the fall, rather than stand there like a total idiot, but Tazz being Tazz didn't even flinch from the kick. As object shots to the head accumulated, Jerry Lawler laughed and said, "This will make brain cells disappear." Think about whether the truth of that statement is really so funny. Crash beat Tazz for the title, with Tazz' two title reigns lasting less than five minutes combined. Bob whacked Crash with a bottle and went for a cover. The clock was counting down. The referee counted two. Crash didn't kick out. There was still a second on the clock. The bell rang. It was a mess. The commentators thought Crash was the winner, 'cause the script was for the bell to ring at the two count to set up Bob vs. Crash. But Bob was announced as the winner. It was horrible. * Test & Prince Albert beat Al Snow & Steve Blackman: Stratus looked good, but they can't let her talk. T&A did heelish double teams. The referee was really lax. Snow had brought out a cheese wedge mascot. There was no build, no psychology, no transitions, no selling, nothing I would call real work. The crowd was silent. They did a double power bomb on Al Snow, set up twice. Jim Ross had to call the match "somewhat ugly." Snow did an Asai moonsault on Albert. It ended when Blackman was elbowed off the top by Test for the pin. Jim Ross said this match featured "two teams that didn't reallt get it on track here." The idea was that the mascot Chester's distracting of Blackman was supposed to be the reason for loss. They beat up Chester. * Edge & Christian beat Dudley Boyz and Hardy Boyz for the WWF Tag Titles in a triangle ladder match: They had three ladders in aisle. I missed the majority of the match. When the signal came back, there was an elaborate set up in the ring, with two ladders being bridged by a table and one more table set up in the ring. It looked totally contrived. It turned into a mini scaffold match, with Matt taking the bump through the table as Edge & Christian took the belts. * Cat beat Terri Runnels in a catfight match with Val Venis as referee: This was horrible too. A "catfight match" ends when one woman is thrown out of the ring. The girls wore cat suits and kissed up on Val. Cat dumped Terri, but Val missed it. Moolah & Mae ran in. Mae kissed Val and I think he DQed Terri for it. Mae attacked Moolah. Cat stripped Terri to her thong. * Too Cool & Chyna beat Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn & Eddie Guerrero: Eddie has a jones for Chyna. Chyna danced with Brian after they dropped Dean. Dean has to work as the jobber of his team every time out. And the team constantly gets punked. Taylor did a double worm. Eddie ran from Chyna for the whole match. Chyna elbowed Dean & Perry and low blowed both. Eddie attacked her. Chyna's pants split, so she kept pulling them back up. This match had some good moments, but the theatrics and Chyna's poor work killed the match. Scotty held Chyna's pants up as they left the ring. * Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle for each of the IC Title & European Title in triangle matches: The IC Title was on the line in the first fall. When Benoit was carrying the match, which was most of the time, it was awesome. This was the show saving bout, even though two titles changed hands in less than 15 minutes. It was still good when Benoit was not in the bout. Benoit knocked Jericho into the commentary table and scored two counts on Angle. I wondered why Benoit & Jericho didn't just agree to each lie down for the other two take both titles from Angle. I guess they have integrity. There was very little heat again. Some really pretty stuff involving Benoit. Angle hit the worst crossface in the world on Jericho, but Benoit interrupted. Benoit dumped Angle into the crowd and hit the head butt on Jericho for the win. There you go, Benoit is now officially a player in the WWF midcard scene. I don't understand why they didn't put him into the upper echelon right from the start, given that Foley was nearly done, Austin seems done, and Undertaker was injured. Imagine the effect having Benoit in the mix in place of Big Slow, even just some of the time, would have had. The match turned into a great match, with Benoit running the show. Jericho pinned Benoit with a lionsault. The commentators pushed Angle never losing. * Kane & Rikishi beat Road Dogg & X-Pac: The match built around Rikishi using his butt on somebody. He finally got to butt Tori. Tombstone on X-Pac for the pin at 4:14. This was a squash. Are they killing Dogg & X-Pac every time out to set something up for Billy Gunn's return? Too Cool ran in. They did this silly angle where Pete Rose ran in on Kane again, with Rikishi butting him. A four minute match inside a 14 minute segment. * Hunter Hearst Helmsley beat Rock and Big Slow and Mick Foley to retain the WWF Title: The changed the rules again. Vince announced that the match would become no DQ when two wrestlers remained, but they decided to just make it no DQ throughout. Slow controlled early. He's now a "Big Nasty Bastard." He should have his ring music done by Old Dirty Bastard. They three-on-oned Slow. Foley was the only one to sell the accumulation of the damage early on. I found the "bump, get up two seconds later as good as before" routine annoying. Shane tried to trip Rock. Foley chaired Slow, Rock hit the Rock Bottom, and Slow was gone. You'd think that the Rock & retired Sock connection would kick ass on HHH. HHH tried to pal up with Rock, which was ridiculous. Thankfully, Rock was goofing. On the floor, Rock belled Mick by mistake. Foley pulled out his barbed wire bat. A bit later, Rock was going to hit the elbow on HHH, but Mick hit the claw on Rock. That seemed stupid. Why wouldn't Mick let Rock pin HHH first? Vince slipped a chair in the ring. Rock ended up DDTing Mick and going for the cover, but HHH saved. Why? Foley & HHH agreed to take out the Rock together. Doesn't that seem beyond stupid? As the booking strained believability more than Big Slow's belly stretches his tights, Foley & HHH actually cooperated a bit. HHH finlally hit a pedigree on Foley. He hit another pedigree on the chair for the pin. Foley ran back in and hit a barbed wire shot on HHH, who, like a true pro, bladed in plain sight. Rock & HHH walked. Walking! Haven't had any of that in this match yet. Walk, do one move, walk some more. Finally, back at ringside, Rock suplexed HHH through the commentary table, but first he moved the monitors. He wants to hurt him, but he doesn't want to hurt him too much. Vince posted HHH. Remember that. Shane sneak attacked Vince. Shane hit him with a monitor. What were the wrestlers doing at this time? I dunno. The stars were onscreen! Oh, the wrestlers were lying in the ring. Vince hulked up and chased Shane off. Vince had a trickle of blood running down his face. Wonderful. Gerald & Pat took Vince out. The wrestlers were sleeping during all of this. When they got back up, Rock went for near falls. Shane was ready with a chair. HHH hit Rock with the barbed wire. At this point, you knew it was rubber. Shane came in. Rock sling shotted HHH into Shane. Rock Bottom on HHH, but no cover. Shane still in the ring. Vince ran in in. He attacked Shane. Vince chaired...Rock. HHH got a two count. Vince did it about. HHH pinned Rock. Vince & Stephanie hugged. Oh lord. RAW RAW on 04/03/2000 had a lot of 'splaining to do after the hot shot final angle at WrestleMania. The show opened with, what else?, talking. Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon & Triple H, and Vince McMahon each came out separately, did their shtick, until all of them were in the ring. Each guy in turn challenged the Rock for tonight, since Rock had laid out Stephanie and the guys at WrestleMania. Vince hugged Stephanie, who has apparently forgiven him for setting up a marriage ceremony on a cross, er, symbol with the Undertaker. Sure, in this fast-paced TV-flooded era of wrestling where everything, including match building, takes place in fast forward mode, it might seem like that explanation for Stephanie took place a lifetime ago, that her faked rape by and unconscious wedding to HHH all to swerve daddy-O happened years ago. Yeah, well. Oh well, once again I'm back to wondering why people get into the storylines on top in the WWF, when they are so silly. Thie graphic, profane, garbagy stuff isn't all that much different from Hulk Hogan's "drink the sweat of Hulkamania from Dixie cups" crap. On with the show. Chris Jericho faced Eddie Guerrero for the European Title. Eddie continued to suggest that Chyna is hot for him. He joked that her desire almost knocked her out of her pants the night before, a good line. Of course, they had the twenty minute classic that these two are capable of delivering. Hey, it is close to April 1st. After two minutes of quick action, Eddie started working off a sleeper. Jericho escaped with a suplex, and they went to the floor. Eddie bumped the referee at around the 5:00 mark. Double power bomb by Jericho to a oo reaction. Lionsault, but no referee. So, Chyna hit the ring and counted to three. She raised Jericho's hand and did the telegraphed doublecross, laying out Jericho and putting Eddie on top. One referee revival later, Eddie was the new European champion. Chyna helped him up, and they hugged. Vince & Stephanie had a private conversation in front of the camera backstage. Stephanie asked Vince to let HHH take on Rock tonight. X-Pac & Road Dogg faced Test & Albert. Road Dogg said that Trish Stratus had a butt like Rikishi. Albert outpowered X-Pac. Albert is a waste of space, just another big guy who can't work and who isn't big enough to hang with the really big guys in the WWF. T&A tried to do power spots and high impact spots to get over, a la the Acolytes, and, even though they didn't stink as much as they did in their debut match the night before, I still found myself willing to credit their opposition for this match not sucking too badly. Dogg dumped Test. X-Pac snuck in the X-Factor on Albert, and DX got the win. Backstage, Kurt Angle snapped on Howard Finkel, once again applying the world's worst crossface chickenwing. Tazz challenged Chris Benoit for the IC Title. As you'd expect, Benoit made Tazz look better than ever before in the WWF. While I like it that Benoit has the IC Title, I can't help but wonder why the WWF didn't have the desire or the creativity to work Chris into the World Title picture immediately after his jump. Here they had Perry Saturn run in to save Benoit from the Tazmission. Sigh. Perry got dumped, Benoit hit a German suplex, and the referee allowed the decision to go through. Big Slow & Shane McMahon seemed to straighten out any ill feelings that they might have had. Slow said he was going to become a star in Hollywood. Edge & Christian came to the ring with the WWF Tag Titles, limping, with Jim Ross saying that they had a career-shortening match the night before. Edge & Christian talked about how great they were the night before, acting all heelish, and then invited Matthew & Jeffrey Hardy to come out. Hardyz limped to the ring. Dudleyz came out; they didn't sell anything. Edge & Christian cold-cocked the Hardyz. Nobody sold the limping that was so pronounced earlier on, as everybody violently and agilely attacked everybody else. The referees separated the Dudleyz & the Hardyz as Edge & Christian snuck away. Big Slow, who had said he was going off to become a star, came to the ring. As a practical joke, Slow faced Rikishi Phatu. Slow tried to steal Scott Taylor's gimmick, which was the first thing he's done in my memory that actually showed some personality. Phatu ended up high-kicking Slow into oblivion. Scotty did the worm on him. As the danced in the ring, the super-tough livin'-large heel just walked off with his tail between his legs. Slow came back out after they left the ring, though. He tried to show some personality, I guess trying to add a comedic edge to his character, as he imitated Rikishi's dancing. The Hollys squared off for the Hardcore Title. For some reason, there was a cookie sheet under the ring. Weapon shots. No selling for more than two seconds. Garbage. Acolytes ran out to lay out Bob Holly; we were left to conclude that Crash paid them off. Sure enough, they killed Bob, put Crash on top of him, and the match was over. The Posse attacked Crash, 'cause the "24-7" rule is apparently still in effect. Val Venis faced Kurt Angle. Match wasn't bad. Venis sold a back injury late in the match. Angle went for a superplex, but Venis knocked him down. Venis missed the money shot. Angle it the world's worst chicken wing for a submission wing. Kane faced Bull Buchanan. Man, these matches are throwaways. Bull butchered a top rope spot. Kane pinned him in short order. Big Boss Man came in. They handcuffed Kane to the bottom rope. Surely he'd just snap that, wouldn't he. Paul Bearer attacked Bull, who showed remarkable recuperative ability. Shane McMahon faced Rock. As any fool would expect, HHH & Vince McMahon both came out. HHH interfered liberally. Shane hit punches. Vince looked cocky. Rock hit a souble leg takedown, popped Vince, and wanted to go for the elbow. But the referee was laid out, HHH came in, a pedigree was hit, Shane was laid on top, and the referee was revived. Earl Hebner did his infamous crawl-and-count routine, but Rock kicked out. As HHH distracted the referee, Rock was held by Shane and Vince tried to belt him. That didn't work out, so HHH ran in to pummel Rock. No bell rang for a DQ. HHH shoved the referee over. Vince & Shane apparently walked to the back. Rock hit the Rock Bottom on HHH for the pin. On the platform, Shane & Vince & Stephanie looked like they had bitten into lemon. Yell and fade to black. Nitro Nitro and Thunder this week were recap shows to build for the Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo restart next week. On Thunder, they ended with a length interview with Hulk Hogan that was beyond annoying. I'm hoping that that was the intention. He talked about reinventing the Hulk Hogan persona, he dogged out the young guys, he particularly laid into Billy Kidman, and he stretched the truth beyond breaking. Until we know where they plan to go, it's unclear whether this signalled the death of the new regime or a the beginning of the young vs. old angle. - The WWF has been getting some press in the Globe & Mail. Last week, there was an article in the sports section about the XFL. You know the drill: NBC bought in for 50%, so now the venture everybody seemed to doubt has become a bit more real. On a side note, there has been a lot of talk about this deal causing RAW to be moved to TNN, killing ECW's show and, at the same time, killing TSN's broadcast of RAW in Canada. My favourite part of the article, which was not worth presenting here in full, read: If he achieves nothing else, McMahon will certainly change the tone -- lower it, many would argue -- of "legitimate" sports entertainment. Before, there was real sport (the big leagues, the Olympics) and there was junk sport -- professional wrestling and American Gladiators and the World's Strongest Man and all the rest. Now, that line will be intentionally blurred. Barriers of tast and acceptability will be broken. What's "real" will be made to look less "real" -- by the same person who understood that the consumers of his wrestling shows no longer required the pretense that matches were on the level. And, finally Because this guy has his finger on the pulse wheen it comes to a cerain, not insubstantial, segment of the marketplace. Because this guy took on the full financial might of Ted Turner and won. Because this guy's cable wrestling show already gives Monday Night Football a run for its money. In one corner, there's tradition, the status quo, the way it's always been. In the other stands the great and vulgar visionary. And this time, the fix isn't in. I really like that "vulgar visionary" tag. In the other Globe & Mail WWF-related article, the Rock's book publicist wrote about his recent trip to Toronto. She really pushed the Rock as a superstar attraction. She took her 14- or 15-year-old daughter to the WWF show at the Skydome. She teased her kids with the catchphrases. It was fluff, but underneath it all was the story that in this woman's world, the WWF is primarily a product for kids her daughters' age, particular the boys in her daugthers' grades. It was a bit too convenient that she never addressed that more seriously. She said that the boys like to watch it because they see scantily-dressed woman and hear lewd language, but didn't question it or her connection, however indirect, to the product. Owen's Grave Bret Hart appeared on "Off the Record" on TSN on Tuesday, 04/04/2000. He is doing a tour to hype his new book, which is really just a fluff piece with old pictures. Reports are that a more throrough autobigraphy will be released by Bret at some point in the future. Bret looked older. He said that doctors can't diagnose his future past July, that he's going to be cautious about his health. Michael Landsberg: "Are you scared now to go in and bump?" Bret: "I'm not afraid to bump any more. What it really comes down to is who you're bumping for? ... There's a very small margin of wrestlers that are actually what they call good workers. There are only a handful of them left that you can go in with night after night..." ML: "Who's a good worker?" BH: "Chris Benoit's a good worker. Curt Hennig's a good worker. Stone Cold Steve Austin is a good worker. Mankind, believe it or not, was a tremendous worker." ML: "Who's not a good worker?" BH: "Mongo McMichael ... That's one wrestler that I would have just flat-out refused to go in the ring with. I've never ever done that, but I have too much at stake to go in there with someone who clearly has no idea what he's doing..." Bret talked about thinking it was a reasonable time for him to retire, but is wrestling with the fact that he still wouldn't be leaving the business on a good note. The doublecross, Owen's tragic death, this concussion. Each note was too sad for Bret to stop. Landsberg talked about how difficult it is for performers to quit because they love the adulation. Bret said that wasn't a factor for him: BH: "I've become very disillisioned with the actual wrestling audience, but I still..." ML: "[obvious you're disillusion with the promotions]...the audience as well?" BH: "Not all audiences ... A majority of the American audience is very tough to relate to. Canadian audiences, when I walk out it's a different, it's a very powerful thing. Even when I was in Europe a few weeks ago, ... when I went out and spoke you could hear a pin drop. And then I'll use as an example when I was in Atlanta, GA, after months of staying home and dealing with the grief of my brother's death, I came back to do an interview and speak, and the majority of the audience was really kind and sensitive to that, but there was a lot a people in the audience that were jeering me and ... you could just tell that some of them are really not good people ... in the States, it's all shock ... they forget that you are a human being." The second segment talked about Owen Hart's death, particularly Vince McMahon's comments on "Off the Record" last July. You may recall that Vince said that Bret only talked about Bret, that he didn't talk about Owen. BH: "That's Vince McMahon. I'll say this much. He called me up and begged me to meet him. Over and over. I really wasn't sure whether I wanted to meet him or not. He pleaded with me. Carl DeMarco begged me for this ... So I had a meeting with [Martha & the lawyers] ... And they said, `Whatever you do, don't talk about the case ... He could be wired.' ... Whenever I ride my bike [through the park near his home, the park in which he met with Vince], I always sit there and I ask myself when I rest `I wonder why that son of a bitch screwed me.' Because there was no benefit to it, there was no gain to it, there was no reason for it, contrary to what anyone tries to tell you ... [Landsberg recaps Survivor Series, the doublecross] And it's more about the integrity of the business. I lost 14 years of my career. Like with me, I have no pictures as you can [see in the book.] ... I have no footage of my career. And I think that it's really unfair that I lost all that, and it's something he promised me before I ever signed with the WCW ... And I left that company at that time, before I knocked him out, with his blessing ... [when they met,] I said, `I assume you don't know any more than what I've read in the papers.' He said, `No I don't.' I said, `We know there's going to be a lawsuit. Let's not talk about it.' I thought that that was more than fair ... And I proceeded to ask him why he did to me what he did because I just wanted to know because I never got an explanation ... And he explained to me how it was the biggest regret he's ever had, he's so sorry, he'd like me to come back, I've got to end my career with his company. And, again, I sat there with this creep and I actually sat there and wondered and I said, `It would really be nice...' I finally got sort of the apology I've long awaited for and, um, if you'd call it an explanation. And I just sat there and I said, `I wonder if he's telling the truth.' If it's sincere, if there's just an ounce of sincerity in what he's really saying it could mean something to me. I went on to ask him about my footage, about my archives ... He goes `Done! You got it ... Footage, pictures, anything you ever want, you can have it.' And within three days of that, his lawyer called and said that Vince McMahon did not recall that part of the conversation taking place, and that was just strictly to get me through the funeral perhaps, and maybe try to win me over to his side ...' Landsberg tried to defend Vince a bit, saying that maybe Vince's statements on the show in July were accurate, but that Vince just omitted that Bret had said that they can't talk about Owen. The point was that Vince was accurate in saying that only a small part of the conversation was about Owen. BH: "Yeah, but I think it's really insensitive and cold for somebody that's accountable for what happened to my brother to go on national television in my home country and paint me out to be a skeleton with my eyes fixed staring straight ahead ... It says it all. That is a cold-blooded person that has absolutely no feelings whatsoever. And it shocked me that he could stoop to a level so low. It sort of brought a whole new level of, I want to say hatred, ... ML: "You hate Vince McMahon now." BH: "I just have really bad feelings for him." They also talked about the RAW tribute show. ML: "[a lot of testimonials on the show] But a lot of people in the business believe that those were the same people that held your brother back from achieving what his skills would have determined he should have achieved. How did you feel when you saw those guys speaking so glowingly about your brother?" BH: "Well, I didn't think it was the right platform. You know, I thought it was pretty insensitive to parade a bunch of wrestlers out on a television show, and I believe it was for ratings. I think some of it was heartfelt, and I think a lot of guys were sort of making up their feelings for him. I shouldn't say that because I think a lot of people really cared for Owen, and I don't think he had a very many enemies. Something about it just seemed very unreal to me and almost a little sadistic, I mean to take somebody like, uh, I'm trying to remember the names, but I can't with the concussion... ML: "How about Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was very critical of your brother, because your brother was in the ring with him, and, in fact, was executing the move when Stone Cold broke his neck? And Stone Cold Austin, even on this show, was very critical of your brother." BH: "... I've never got any sort of comment and I've never got a phone call from Steve ... It is one thing to be injured in the ring ... I mean, I got a concussion from Bill Goldberg in the ring and I don't have any animosity towards him. ... But just that whole show, with people bashing beer cans together as a tribute to my brother Owen, and people going out there and saying `he's not a nugget' and guys pointing at their crotches and then getting up there and saying a teary-eyed speech about what a great guy Owen was. They can take all that, please ... It was a very tacky way to respect somebody. You don't respect somebody like that ... I didn't like it at all ... I thought it reeked of Vince McMahon. I don't think you take a bunch of really distressed and very visibly upset wrestlers and parade them out one after another and make them speak into a camera and tell their heartfelt feelings. It just wasn't right." ML: "[Brings up Davey Boy Smith] You made reference to him in a certain way ... Do you regret that?" BH: "I'm not really going to go into a lot of detail because it's not the right time, but I will say this ... Even though I'm disappointed that he'd find himself in a position where he's so pathetic that he finds himself in a situation where he has to go back to the WWF, a person has to make a living ... Jim Neidhart's working there. I don't have any problem with him working there. The problem I have is with comments that Davey Boy made in relation to the actual accident itself. You have a person who I believe is just really not intelligent enough to know what he's saying and the repercussions of what he's saying." ML: "[Davey Boy has admitted his addiction to pain killers] His kicking of the addiction is being funded by Vince McMahon ... Does that change how you feel even slightly about Vince McMahon?" BH: "No. How convenient ... Obviously, there's going to be a trial, and it's obviously important for him to have Davey in his coat pocket ... Where was Vince McMahon when Davey had this very same drug problem three years ago? Where was Mister Hero then? It's all very convenient. In fact, Davey working there is very convenient." Landsberg ended by asking Bret Hart if he would go back to the WWF to work the ultimate angle with Vince. Bret said he'd never go back to the WWF because he's a man of principles. He called Vince a pathological liar. - WCW has Spring Stampede on 04/16/2000. The line-up is totally up in the air with the regime change. - The WWF has Backlash on 04/30/2000. - The WWF has Judgment Day on 05/21/2000. - The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/25/2000. - The WWF has Fully Loaded on 07/23/2000. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________