Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #256 October 9th, 2000 The Opening Word: A week has passed, but WCW's future is still murkier than the plot of a David Lynch film. Brad Siegel has reportedly confirmed that WCW is indeed up for sale, and that there are four potential buyers: Mandalay Sports, and three European bidders (credit 1Wrestling.com with this report). There is some feeling, though, that the "European bidders" story is just that--a story, and that there may only be two actual prospective buyers. Mandalay Sports ... and Vince McMahon. Mandalay is, of course, the group owned by film producer Peter Guber ("Batman," "Last Action Hero"), and includes Eric Bischoff and Jason Hervey in its executive hierarchy. It's assumed that if Mandalay buys WCW then Bischoff will play an active role in running the company. Vince McMahon, you all know. If WCW is sold to either of these two potential buyers its future is still very much up in the air. After all, Eric Bischoff is the man who, through his reckless spending and bloated talent contracts, put WCW on course to lose as much as $80 million this year. And Vince McMahon ... well, there are fears that he would be interested in buying WCW just to loot it of its resources. Looking back over the twelve years or so that have passed since Ted Turner bought WCW from Jim Crockett one can come to no other conclusion than the company has been a miserable failure. Admittedly WCW was profitable for something like three years, and at its peak it probably earned more money than it lost those nine other years combined, but its success can really only be attributed to a willingness to spends lots of money, coupled with tremendous good luck: a formula for success which can never be deliberately duplicated. Making the company profitable has to be the first priority for whoever buys WCW. Lots of talent will have to be let go, or talked into signing new, lower-paying deals. Costs will be cut at all levels. Hopefully Mandalay can put together a production team that can make the best with what they have, or else WCW could end looking even worse than it already does. McMahon has the expertise to apply management principles and simple wrestling business savvy to turn WCW around. The question is would he do that, or would he just buy the company so he can kill it off? Reports are that the WWF has first right to match any offer made to buy the company--a right gained as part of the lawsuit the WWF recently settled with WCW (over Kevin Nash & Scott Hall's jump to WCW, portrayed at first as a "WWF invasion"). Word is the WWF has up to 90 days to match such an offer. If that's true, and Mandalay has made an offer to buy WCW, or is about to, then it may be a couple months before we hear what McMahon is going to do (unless he immediately indicates he has no desire to match the offer, or had no intention of making an offer in the first place). What this all boils down to is that it could be months before we know who, if anyone, is going to buy WCW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Taped 10/7. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Brisbane, Australia. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray & Mark Madden. HOUR ONE: - Jeff Jarrett arrives at the arena dressed like Sting circa 1991. - "PRIMETIME" ELIX SKIPPER vs. REY MYSTERIO, JR. (w/ Tygress) Mysterio was scheduled to wrestle Juventud Guerrera in a Ladder Match, but that before Juvi was arrested in his hotel following a drug-crazed rampage this past weekend. Juvi was fined, released, and sent home by WCW. Odds are good that we'll never see him on WCW TV again. Good match here anyway, with Rey getting in most of the offense. Torrie Wilson then comes out of the crowd and attacks Tygress. Mysterio, distracted, is hit by a nasty move from Skipper which we practically miss because they're too busy showing the catfight. Skipper scores the upset pin. Shane Douglas is in the back talking to Boogie Knights. The music that was just playing in the arena is mysteriously cut off as we cut to this, and just as mysteriously Torrie has teleported to the Franchise's side! "Above Average" Mike Sanders leads the Natural Born Thrillerz through the back. - David Flair has arrived, driving a bloodmobile. - Sanders says he's the new commissioner of WCW. Out comes the Cat (and Miss Jones) to squabble. The Cat suggests they join forces and put on a good show for the fans. Sanders agrees. The Cat then brings the Misfits in Action out. Man, this is just going on and on, but not really leading anywhere. The Cat challenges Sanders to a dance contest. A big brawl breaks out. I think the upshot of all this is that Sanders and the Cat will be wrestling later tonight. The Boogie Knights dance in the back, the pretaped nature of the clip again betrayed by all arena sound being cut off. Stacy Kiebler arrives. - Jarrett's walking through the food service area acting like Sting. - MARK JINDRAK/SEAN O'HAIRE vs. BOOGIE KNIGHTS At one point during this match Tony Schiavone compares a doubleteam move to the work of the Rock & Roll Express. Stevie Ray asks "who?" I was offended by *both* of those statements. Passably okay match from these four, with Jindrak & O'Haire first losing the Tag Team Titles, then retaining them after commissioner Sanders waives off the finish and orders the match restarted. The fans chant for Goldberg. The match is only restarted after the other Thrillerz destroy Disqo & Wright. Stacy's walking through the back. Goldberg arrives on his motorcycle, me asking moments before Mark Madden does on TV if Goldberg drove that all the way from the States? - Koala bears ... kangaroos ... yup, we're in Australia. - Jarrett does a phony Mastercard commercial as Sting. Funny stuff. - Madden interviews Stacy. At the rate she's "showing" right now she should give birth live at Starrcade. Madden asks her who the baby's father is. She says it's nobody's business. She then asks David Flair to stop beating up people while trying to find out who the father is. Stacy says she made a mistake and apologizes. Madden suggests that Stacy actually doesn't know who the father is because she either can't remember the night the baby was conceived, or because she's been with so many men. David comes out and starts yelling at her about Buff Bagwell. He tries to force her to take a blood test, which is so stupid even the announcers point it out. Crowbar comes out to calm David down before he hurts Stacy, leading to David hitting Crowbar when his back is turned. Mike Awesome makes the save. So why isn't the father stepping forward to live up to his obligations? Stacy, David, the real father--they're all being played as heels. And WCW wonders why the fans don't really care about this storyline. - Jarrett continues his Sting schtick, this time interviewed by Pamela. - WCW isn't overselling Halloween Havoc by saying we'll see "something [we] never imagined" are they? - Sam Greco--local wrestling superstar (I guess)--is in the front row. - TORRIE WILSON vs. TYGRESS A "Down Underwear Match"--no different than an "Evening Gown Match." Tygress wins by pulling Torrie's clothes off about a minute into the match, stripping her to her underwear. As bad as you'd expect. Shane Douglas and Konnan run in afterwards to hype their upcoming PPV match. Big Vito and Mike Sanders have one of those backstage confrontations that don't amount to anything. Oh a match will pop up later, no doubt, but WCW can't figure out how to make these little segments mean anything in the first place. - Jarrett comes to the ring. David Penzer is forced to announce him as Sting. Jarrett says he is Sting back before Sting lost his heart, fire, etc. Seeing Jarrett in this getup help me appreciate why Sting doesn't want to go back to it. This is funny, though. Jarrett says he'll sign some autographs for the kids, there being a table set up in the ring covered with Sting posters. A rope drops from the ceiling and Sting slides down. I know it's considered taboo to say this these days, but here goes: Madden's acting downright retarded here, acting like Jarrett is the "real" Sting, while Sting is actually Jeff Farmer, the NWO Sting. The requisite brawl breaks out between the two, Jarrett briefly getting the better of things by suplexing Sting through the table. Sting no-sells it and slaps on the Scorpion Deathlock. Referees fill the ring, Sting taking several moments before releasing the hold. The timing here couldn't be any worse for Nitro, as this segment ends about three minutes into the next hour, and as they go to commercial here, seconds later Mick Foley walks out over on RAW, things just getting started there. Wrestling fans are practically forced to switch over with timing like that. HOUR TWO: - Steiner's looking for Jarrett. - MIKE SANDERS/KEVIN NASH vs. THE CAT/BOOKER T I didn't exactly see this match being set up by that encounter Sanders and the Cat had earlier. Short match, which the Cat wins after pinning Sanders following a kick to the head. Is he the undisputed commissioner now? Scott Steiner then runs in and whacks the Cat and Booker with a pipe. He throws out a challenge to Sting. Pamela gets comments from David Flair, who challenges Mike Awesome to a Hardcore Match. Goldberg is warming up. - Pamela tells Big Vito that he has to face Goldberg tonight. Vito says they're friends, and may the best man win. - GOLDBERG vs. BIG VITO I guess Vito is being fed to Goldberg because he yelled at Sanders earlier. Would it have killed them in that earlier bit if Sanders would have just said then that if Vito's so tough, he can face Goldberg? Though to be honest, who's going to tune in to specifically watch Goldberg wrestle Vito? Squash. Spear. Jackhammer. Pin. 4-0. Johnny the Bull then runs in to attack Vito. Goldberg comes back in and--squash. Spear. Jackhammer. Pin. 5-0. I'm having Sid win-streak flashbacks. Kronik appears on the stage and does the tense staredown thing with Goldberg. - DAVID FLAIR vs. MIKE AWESOME Flair surprisingly lasts a couple of minutes, before Awesome finally flattens him with a huge splash off the top. Typical Hardcore Match otherwise. Awesome then sets up a table to put Flair through, but Ric Flair runs in and stops him, saying he got the win and he should be content with that. Awesome leaves. Major Gunns asks Kwee Wee to make her a new outfit, but Lance Storm then comes in and drags her off. - LANCE STORM (w/ Team Canada) vs. KONNAN (w/ the Filthy Animals) I wish "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan was still a babyface so he would have tried to lead the Australian crowd in a "U-S-A!" chant. Fast action to start, but quickly the match slows to a crawl, Storm in charge. Konnan then fights back with the two or three moves he knows. Finally Shane Douglas runs in, clobbers Konnan, and Storm hooks the Canadian Cloverleaf for the win. Sting's on his way out. I wonder what Midajah is really thinking as she stands there watching Steiner work out, staring lovingly at his own muscles? - SCOTT STEINER (w/ Midajah) vs. STING Madden continues his "who's this guy?" bit with Sting and screw it--the sound's going off for the rest of the show. Jarrett is the referee. Okay, is the goal here for Steiner to just win, or hurt Sting? If it's to win then why doesn't Jarrett just immediately DQ Sting for being ugly or something? And if it's to hurt Sting, why is Jarrett bothering to play referee at all, counting pinfall attempts and such? Of course he favors Steiner, physically helping him beat on Sting. A second referee runs in but Steiner swats him aside. The doubleteam continues, and Steiner eventually covers for a pin, but out comes the Cat to pull Jarrett from the ring. As those two battle up the aisle Booker T comes in, wearing a ref's shirt. Steiner has a cover, and Booker counts to two, then stops. Surprised he didn't flip him off. Sting catches Steiner with a Scorpion Deahdrop and covers for the pin. For the latest week in a streak of several the show ends right on the hour. I guess Nitro can't run over anymore. - This Wednesday: Already taped in Sydney. - Next week: Taped later this week in Melbourne. Comments: This show was taped Saturday in Australia, but to be honest I really didn't bother looking up the results before watching the show. Not that I wanted to be surprised or anything, but just because I have so little interest in WCW's on-TV product these days. I think many of you would agree that the behind-the-scenes story is far more interesting. I saw a few spoilers for this show, but didn't dig in and memorize them. That said, this was a bearable show, mostly due to the absence of Vince Russo, and slightly more emphasis being placed on the actual matches. I still can't call it a good show, but it wasn't nearly as bad as many recent shows have been. This was definitely a show being put on by a promotion just going through the paces now, building to a PPV that nobody is interested in seeing, but one they have to hype because it's really all they have left. The biggest knock against this show would have to be the commentary. Tony Schiavone continues to fade into the background, allowing Madden to totally dominate the show. Adding Stevie Ray to the mix made it even worse. He's one of the reasons I've quit watching Thunder (and when I do watch it's to see a specific segment or match I've read about in the Net results). Madden was unbelievably annoying this week. I know he's supposed to be a heel and all, but what purpose does it serve to be such an ass and draw such heat that viewers would rather watch something else than listen to him? An example of his "wit" re one of the women during the show: "she's such a tramp they named the trampoline after her!" I felt like throwing a brick at my TV screen when he yelled at Tony to shut up and quit calling Jarrett "Jeff" because he was really Sting. Then there was the scintillating minute-long conversation he had with Stevie Ray on the virtues of calling women "yaks." Speaking of this next PPV, isn't this a really weak-looking card? Goldberg vs. Kronik? Like THAT won't be a squash? Steiner vs. Booker T? Jarrett vs. Sting? Haven't we seen those last two matches on TV several times? Wouldn't it be something if all this WCW sale talk is really just a swerve, with Bischoff coming back at Halloween Havoc to claim he's bought the company? Wouldn't surprise me a bit if something like that happens. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Anaheim, California. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - A highlights package opens the show. - Commissioner Foley makes his way to the ring. He notes the mixed reaction he gets, saying not everyone gets why he had to suspend Steve Austin last Thursday on SmackDown! Foley says he's brought in another suspect to question. As he drops hints as to who it is the crowd noise gets louder and louder. Foley finally brings out ... "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels! Michaels struts to the ring. Jerry Lawler says the Internet fans think Michaels did it. Shawn thanks Foley flying him in first class and putting him up in a five star hotel and all that, but resents being accused of running Austin over. Going back over the day it happened, Shawn says he thinks he'd remember if he ran Austin over. It wasn't him, and since he had no motive, he moves to leave. Foley stops him. A clip is played on the Titan-Tron of Austin beating Michaels for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XIV. The clip ends with Austin flipping off Michaels. There's his motive. Foley says his best match ever wasn't "Hell in the Cell"--it was his match against Shawn at the Mind Games PPV in 1996. He says he tells people that and they have no idea what he's talking about, because 1996 is ancient history, and they've forgotten everything Shawn did back then. If Foley were the one to get out of a hospital bed to "pass the torch" to Austin, and Austin repaid him by flipping him off, Foley says he'd have run over the sonuvabitch himself. Michaels reasserts that he didn't do it. He doesn't like Austin, but he doesn't hate him. If he had done it, he'd have already been back basking in the spotlight. Shawn says there's someone in the back who likes the spotlight more than him, a young guy with the whole world wrapped around his finger. "If you smell-la-la-la-la-la ... what I'm cookin'!" Nicely done segment, much shorter than the usual twenty minute opener. Tonight: Triple H & Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit & X-Pac; Kurt Angle & Kane vs. the Rock & Rikishi. - LITA vs. JACQUELINE A whole shopping cart full of plunder is used in this one. Jacqueline has trouble getting a fire extinguisher to work. A ladder comes into the fray and Lita is pushed off the top. Lita then comes off with a crossbody that misses. Lita sprays her with the extinguisher and covers for the pin. Eh, I've seen worse (earlier this evening, actually). Chyna bumps into Debra backstage. The two compare their humongous breasts. Chyna's looking for Eddie Guerrero, while Debra's looking for Foley. - Debra enters Foley's office (the camera taking a long panning shot from the floor up). Foley asks the inevitable question and Debra is insulted. She denies it, of course. Foley tells her to stick around the building until the show's over. You know, if the Big Show is here tonight, they'll have gone through ALL the suspects. Foley's office is in the laundromat this week, and that orange, furry muppet of his can be seen spinning in a dryer behind him. Triple H is pissed that he has to team up with Chris Jericho tonight. Stephanie tries to talk him into reconsidering his ban of her at ringside. He's glad she's decided not to accompany Kurt Angle to ringside tonight, turning down the offer he made to her last week. Linda McMahon has arrived. - Foley meets up with Linda. - RAVEN vs. STEVE BLACKMAN This is a regular match, no hardcore rules or title on the line. Raven hits an ugly plancha to the floor. There the two brawl in the aisle. Back in the ring things are going along evenly, until Blackman hits a powerslam and scores the pin. Raven lays in another shot after the match, but Blackman comes back in with his karate sticks and delivers some punishment. Man, "paying your dues" is a bitch. Raven looks like he's still getting adjusted to the WWF ring. Foley asks Linda the question. She denies doing it, saying her husband Vince, son Shane and daughter Stephanie all look out for themselves. Besides, her running over Austin doesn't make sense because his absence could have hurt the WWF financially (and her being the CEO and all that). Foley asks which WWF superstar sold the most merchandise since Austin went down? "That's easy: the Rock." - CHRIS BENOIT/X-PAC vs. CHRIS JERICHO/TRIPLE H Lawler uses this match as further evidence of Foley being the one who ran Austin over. Much is made of Triple H and X-Pac being friends. Early in the match there's little cooperation between triple H and Jericho, the two slapping each other when they're near to tag themselves in. Benoit wrestles a long time before X-Pac tags in. From there the two work over Jericho for quite a while. Finally X-Pac muffs a broncobuster and Jericho tags Triple H in. I think Jim Ross has forgotten the excellent match Benoit and Triple H had on SmackDown! several months ago. All four men end up in the ring. X-Pac drops Jericho with a kick, but then bumps into Triple H and gets floored. Triple H regrets knocking out his friend like that. Benoit goes for a German suplex pin, but Triple H kicks out. Benoit then puts Triple H up in the corner. Triple H swats Benoit away. Jericho then knocks X-Pac over the top rope, the impact with the ropes causing Triple H to lose his balance and crotch himself on the top turnbuckle. Benoit hooks a leg and 1 ... 2 ... 3! Nice match. WWF WAR ZONE: - Edge & Christian are talking with commissioner Foley when Triple H bursts in, demanding a match with Benoit. Foley books one for No Mercy. Edge & Christian say they were backstage preparing for a match when Austin was run over. Foley bangs his commissioner gavel in frustration, and not in the mood for anyone's hijinks tonight. - Stephanie tells Triple H he's had nothing but bad luck since he stopped letting her come out with him. - THE HARDY BOYZ (w/ Lita) vs. LO DOWN Long, total old-school match, with no weapons or crazy highspots. Just lots of tag team wrestling. Very even match until several minutes in the Hardyz are attacked by ... the Conquistadors! Funny how they look like Edge & Christian in golden hoods. Jeff Hardy winds up superplexed off the top by Chaz, and D-Lo Brown hits the Frog Splash, but Chaz celebrates instead of leaving the ring, preventing the ref from making the count. Matt Hardy hits a big legdrop and Jeff rolls over on top of D-Lo for the pin. Another nice match. Chaz & D-Lo pound on the Hardyz afterwards, JR and Lawler putting over what a tough team they are. Al Snow, wearing a blonde wig, plays checkers with Foley. Mick thinks the driver may have worn a blonde wig. Snow says he's wearing his wig because he's representing Sweden tonight. - AL SNOW vs. TEST (w/ Trish Stratus) William Regal (the "Steven" officially dropped because, reportedly, there are already too many guys named Steve/Steven in the WWF) joins the announce team. Snow comes out representing Greece--what about Sweden?--wearing a T-Birds jacket and carrying a picture of John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Get it? Greece ... "Grease" ... eh. Regal bemoans Snow being the European Champion throughout the match, which Snow wins after knocking out Test with Head. Eddie Guerrero finally appears, and is insulted that Chyna doesn't think he's taking their tag team match tonight seriously. - Road Dogg is the WWF star at WWF New York this week. - EDDIE GUERRERO/CHYNA vs. RIGHT TO CENSOR (w/ Steven Richards) Mere moments into the match a "GTV"(!) clip appears on the screen, showing Eddie taking a shower with the two ho's, Mandy & Victoria! Talk about a bombshell! The crowd, stunned, makes a ton of noise, some of them seemingly chanting Eddie's name, cause he's THE MAN. Chyna is totally crushed, and she sits out the rest of the match, which Eddie loses in a near-squash, Val Venis pinning him with a powerbomb. Steven Richards then gets in Chyna's face. She slaps him, but is herself pulled into the ring by Venis and the Goodfather. They hold her as Steven threatens to slap her. She kicks him in the jewels. "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn then runs in for the save, drawing a huge pop. Gunn hugs Chyna to console her. Nothing match, but an awesome angle. Geez, three shows back and I'm becoming a Billy Gunn mark! - Actor Michael Clarke Duncan ("Armageddon," "The Green Mile") is in the crowd. - Foley bumps into Crash Holly, saying he talked to Hardcore Holly recently and that hardcore said he's going to kick Crash's ass. Foley notes that Crash used to have blonde hair. Scotty Too Hotty then comes along. He tells Foley that on the night Stone Cold was run over he was in the lockerroom getting ready to par-tay with Grandmaster Sexay, Rikishi and the Rock. Foley notes that the Rock's name has come up again, and that Scotty was of help. - Chyna makes her way to her rental car, Eddie trying to apologize. She pulls off his ring, and you can hear the crowd go wild. She throws it at him. He says without her he's nothing. "You're already nothing, Eddie!" She roars away. So Eddie looks for his ring, but finds Billy Gunn instead. Gunn tells him to pick up his $20 ring and take it back to the pawn shop, because he's never getting close to Chyna again. Eddie says okay, then scoops up a beer bottle off the ground and smashes it over Gunn's head! And then he PICKS UP THE RING. Eddie's awesome. - KURT ANGLE/KANE vs. RIKISHI/THE ROCK Kane attacks Angle to start, because Angle laid Kane out with a chairshot last week. Then Rikishi comes out, and as usual the Rock lets Rikishi take a beating before making his grand entrance. Angle decides to let Kane fend for himself and watch the action from the floor. Stephanie is watching this match in the back, just as she did with Triple H's match. Long stretch with the Rock in the ring, before he can hot tag Rikishi. Kane puts Rikishi down, at which point Angle finally offers to tag in. Kane instead drags him in by the throat and chokeslams him. Kane leaves. Angle manages an Olympic Slam on Rikishi, but the People's Champ delivers the Rock Bottom, and Rikishi follows with the butt drop, and the pin. Here comes commissioner Foley. Foley tells the Rock he's been out here before to accuse him, but this time the accusations he'll make will be valid. He says the car that ran over Austin was the Rock's rental car. The police only found evidence that the Rock had used the car. And the Rock was the one who stood the most to gain from Austin going down. Because of all that ... Foley *doesn't* think the Rock did it ... ... Rikishi did. Rikishi looks shocked, but quickly that look melts away to one of guilt. Foley says he figured it out when Scotty Too Hotty told him that he was partying with Rikishi in the back. Rikishi wasn't supposed to be there, having not made his TV debut yet. Being close to the Rock meant Rikishi could have gotten his car keys, and Foley reveals that the car seat and mirrors were configured for a larger-sized person. Rikishi takes the mic and admits that yes, he did run over Austin. The crowd boos, partly because this marks a heel turn for Rikishi, and partly because he makes a disappointing culprit. Rikishi did it alright ... but he did it for the Rock, not himself. He had taken the Rock's car to go back to the hotel, but when he saw Austin in the parking area he saw an opportunity. Rikishi explains that the WWF has always been about the "great WHITE hype," and that "island guys" like himself and the Rock have always been held back. Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan (big crowd pop), and Steve Austin all got pushed. The Rock's grandfather, Chief Peter Maivia, Jimmy Snuka (big crowd pop), and others all could have been WWF Champion, but they never got the chance. By taking out Austin Rikishi believed the Rock would ascend to the top of the WWF, which he did. Rikishi closes by saying he doesn't expect any thanks or payback, because the Rock being WWF Champion was enough. Rikishi leaves. Foley looks away, disappointed. Jim Ross is so disgusted he's calling Rikishi names, saying Stone Cold will take care of him this Thursday. And the Rock, he looks devastated, his whole world having been turned upside-down. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Oh ... my ... god. A tremendous show, with a hot resolution to the driver mystery, a major twist in the Chyna/Eddie storyline, and a few good matches thrown in to boot. I imagine Rikishi being the mystery driver is going to draw a lot of negative reaction on the Net. I agree that in some respects it's a letdown compared to Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon or Hulk Hogan being the driver. But there are certain realities that have to be respected. One is that whoever ran Austin over is scheduled to be his first opponent back in two weeks at No Mercy. As much as I'd have liked it to be Shawn Michaels, it would have sucked to throw that match out there with only two weeks to hype it. Plus you know Shawn wouldn't come back just to job to Austin, and Austin isn't going to job in his first match back. Had it been Debra it would have been an interesting twist, but there'd have been no match set up for Austin. It couldn't possibly have been Vince, meaning they would have had to set up a puppet driver that Vince Paid to do the job. As we saw at Unforgiven, the crowd hated the idea of it being Steve Blackman. Having it be Albert or the Big Bossman or someone like that would have been just as disappointing. Hulk Hogan's under contract to WCW, so it couldn't have been him. Same with Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Hall, and some others whose names have been tossed around. That basically leaves a handful of guys it could have been who would have gotten about the same reaction no matter which one it was. The Rock, the Undertaker, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Mick Foley--all of them would have drawn about the same response. It could have been any of them for all the same reasons. They all had the same motives. They all would have yielded good matches with Austin, though like in the case of Michaels there are some on those list you couldn't really use and do a match two weeks from now. I think most fans expected some kind of deal where the driver would be revealed, but that there was a bigger story behind it. Many were probably expecting it to be Billy Gunn, doing the deed on behalf of Triple H. Or Vince McMahon being the money man behind whoever the driver was. Rikishi being the driver fits this category, the reason behind his doing it going in a direction NOBODY expected. It's that motivation, I suspect, which will probably draw a lot of the negative reaction. People are going to hate that Rikishi's actions are racially motivated. To be honest, I can't disagree with anyone who takes that point of view. Myself, I didn't hate it because of that. My own reaction is somewhat in the middle, leaning towards positive. I want to see how they follow it up. If they just have Austin squash Rikishi at the PPV then I'll be disappointed. But if they do more with the story, like bringing in other members of Rikishi's huge family, that could make for an interesting storyline. I think what helped sell me on giving this storyline a chance was the live crowd's reaction. When Rikishi admitted he was the driver they all booed. But as he spoke you could see that they were getting into the storyline, and by the time he was done it looked like they had accepted Rikishi as the driver--maybe even approved of his motivations a little bit. The best storylines always have some bit of them rooted in reality, and the truth is there are aspects of what Rikishi said that ring very true. It's edgy, controversial, it hearkens back to the WWF of 1998, and because of all that I liked it very much. It was a surprise without being a total letdown. Now I want to see what happens in the next few weeks before I give my final judgement. I also liked the show for going back to the Eddie/Chyna split, finally breaking the two up with a big, surprising angle. Having Billy Gunn be the one to come to her aid was a nice touch. What does that mean for the Gunn/X-Pac feud, though? The rest of the show worked very well, a few slow spots aside. Shawn Michaels looked to be in great shape. Maybe he is coming back for one more match. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: The shows faced some stiff competition from the NFL tonight, with "Monday Night Football" featuring a hot game between Minnesota and Tampa Bay, which the Vikings won 30-23. Funny moment: at one point during the game announcer Dennis Miller made a comment about wrestling. One of the other announcers then chastised him, saying they weren't supposed to talk about wrestling. Hah! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 2000 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 256 of the "Monday Night Recap", October 9th, 2000.