The Steel Cage

Word coming out of the weekend is that Edge suffered a fairly serious ankle injury during a house show match with Jeff Hardy that could potentially sideline the “Rated R Superstar” for several months.

It’s bad news for the Smackdown brand, which has really been banging on all cylinders as of late. Edge has most certainly been part of the blue brand’s winning formula, and his new championship tag team pairing with Chris Jericho was filled with potential for hot storylines and matches.

If there is something of a silver lining to be found in this unfortunate news, it’s the potential for WWE to expedite the elevation of a mid-card wrestler into the main event scene to help fill the void created by Edge’s hiatus. The obvious candidates for such an elevation would be John Morrison and Dolph Ziggler.

As a heel – like Edge – Ziggler may actually have a better chance at getting a big break than Morrison, who would has Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy and the Undertaker to compete with for a top babyface slot.

Having returned to the Smackdown brand last week, this also could have been an ideal opportunity for Matt Hardy to be moved up in the ranks, but reports are that he too is on the DL for several weeks after receiving surgery for a stomach injury.

Injuries are always going to happen in wrestling, no matter how healthy and careful a wrestler is. There’s no question that giving wrestlers more scheduled time off could help avoid such unexpected absences, but the truth is that Edge was only back full time for seven months since his last three-month break last fall.

Similarly, Batista was back from his last extended injury absence just two months before he ended up back on the DL. Fans speculated that Mr. Kennedy’s departure was in part related to him being “injury prone.”

Not only has it become the norm to see top WWE stars suffer injuries; it’s unfortunately become the norm to see the same top WWE stars suffer several injuries within the course of just a year or two. In the last couple of years, we’ve seen John Cena, Batista, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels and other WWE main eventers each take more than one extended hiatus because of an injury.

We could come up with all kinds of theories about WWE performers’ training habits to explain the frequent injuries – and they certainly could have something to do with it. But I wouldn’t want to undercut the extreme physical demands of wrestlers’ jobs by simply saying they should take better care of themselves.

The reality is, when your job is to take part in a simulated fight several nights a week, every once in a while you’re going to get hurt for real.

And sometimes, “once in a while” comes more frequently than you would like.

Laymen, philosophers and scientists alike have long struggled over the concept of “infinity.” What exactly does “forever” mean?

Well, none other than Ric Flair has cracked this universal mystery. According to the “Nature Boy,” forever works out to just about 14 months – give or take a few weeks.

You see, Flair was unequivocal last year when he proclaimed that – unlike the multitude of wrestlers who have claimed to retire only to return to the ring a short time later – he was serious. Flair vowed that, once he hung up his boots, he would never, ever wrestle ever again. He repeated that mantra right through his storyline feud with Chris Jericho heading into this year’s WrestleMania.

As you may have noticed, all indications are that Flair will officially come out of retirement in the coming weeks. It seems likely that he will end up in some kind of match with Randy Orton and Legacy in the coming weeks. As well, Flair is reportedly in talks with some international promoters to wrestle overseas, including in Europe.

Last week on Raw, Flair seemed to address his sudden about face, telling Batista that he never wanted to retire – that he was forced to do so.

From a storyline standpoint, that’s reasonable enough. But, of course, Flair’s retirement last year transcended storylines. After a great career – perhaps the greatest ever – Flair was calling it quits. In numerous “shoot” interviews, Flair made it clear that this was the real thing, and that he was at peace with his decision. He said as much to me when I interviewed him last month.

And so I have a lot of mixed feelings about Flair stepping back into the ring. Having been in attendance for his Hall of Fame induction, his epic final match against Shawn Michaels, and his farewell tribute on Raw the following night, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit robbed about the fact that I will not be able to boast having witnessed the end of Flair’s legendary career.

I’m also very much bothered by Flair continuing to unfairly put pressure on Shawn Michaels by saying that he would only come out of retirement if Michaels was OK with it. What’s Michaels supposed to say now? “No, I won’t allow you to wrestle anymore.”

Obviously, Flair is a grown man, and make the decision for himself whether he wants to return to the ring or not. While I think Flair is exaggerating more than a little bit when he says he can still outperform “90 percent” on the locker room, I don’t doubt that a motivated and in-shape Ric Flair (and judging from his biceps, he looks to be in great condition) can contribute to the WWE product.

But, there are no two ways about it – Flair’s decision to come out of retirement will absolutely cheapen one of the most touching and “real” moments in wrestling history. And it will make it that much tougher for WWE to sell its next “retirement” stipulation – as if anybody still believed them anyway.

My other big problem is how Flair will come out of retirement. It might have been easier to swallow Flair going back on his word if it was for a truly epic match – say a feature match at WrestleMania against a major name, with some big stakes. I’d certainly be interested in seeing Flair work with Bryan Danielson, Nigel McGuinness or other young technicians in ROH, or even have one more go at it with Rick Steamboat. But to come out of retirement for a rehashed feud with Randy Orton during WWE’s off-peak season? It just seems like a waste of one of the biggest hands WWE has in its deck to play.

Ultimately, there is one lesson to be learned by this whole thing, and I’ve said it before: Wrestlers should never claim to be permanently retired. If a wrestler wants to step away from the ring – even if there’s a good chance it may be forever – he should always leave the window open just a tiny crack. Steve Austin did that. The Rock did it too.

I’d guess the next major names in the business likely to leave the ring would be Shawn Michaels, Sting and the Undertaker. The day they do make that decision, they all deserve a send off fitting of their legendary careers. But I hope, nowhere in their farewell speeches, do they utter the word “never.”

I just got through reading the feature story on Hulk Hogan written by Erik Hedegaard in the latest Rolling Stone magazine. Although the story has primarily made headlines for a line in which Hogan likened his strained relationship with his wife to that of O.J. and Nicole Simpson, that’s among the least interesting tidbits in this compelling article.

Here’s a bit of what I learned:

Hulk Hogan is a liar: OK, that’s hardly a revelation, but he had some real gems for the Rolling Stone reporter. Among them: After hiding a razor blade in his mouth to juice during matches, he’d sometimes go to the bar and drink all night – still with the razorblade in his mouth; He’s shrunk four inches in recent years; He used to take 400-500 pain pills at a time; And, he’s made over $1 billion during his career. Uh-huh.

Thankfully, on one lie that has been repeated so many times that most people believe it’s true, somebody finally called Hogan out. After Hogan repeats the myth about setting an indoor attendance record with 93,000 people in Detroit for WrestleMania – more than the Rolling Stones did for the same venue days earlier – Hedegaard tries to set the record straight.

“Factually, this isn’t exactly true," he wrote, "but to Hulk it is, and always will be,”

Hulk Hogan really wants to make a comeback: This is pretty much the theme of the whole story, during which Hedegaard spends a couple of days with the Hulkster as he contemplates whether or not he has it in him to compete at the recent WrestleMania. In the end, physical limitations kept Hogan from taking part in the event, but it’s somewhat revealing to see how badly Hogan is craving the wrestling spotlight these days. If Hogan can get himself in shape to do even the bare minimum in the ring, I’d think the odds of seeing Hogan back in WWE within the next year are better than average. Hogan-Cena at WrestleMania XXVI anyone?

Hogan once had “mismatched nipples”: An “innie” and an “outtie,” to be specific. He was also fat as a kid, enjoyed shoving rocks up his nose, was a state champion bowler, and a heck of a little league baseball player.

The little bit of hair Hogan has left is fake: You see, Hogan’s ex-wife Linda used to be the one to color his hair to be the blindingly blonde shade we’ve all come to know. After their split, Hogan tried to bleach his own hair, only to have much of it fall out. Left with few options, Hogan got hair extensions to recreate his signature skullet.

Hulk Hogan and Oprah Winfrey have similar taste in books: Although he pays a lot of lip service to being a Newborn Christian, Hogan credited his newfound spirituality largely to following the “laws of attraction” discussed in Rhonda Byrne’s bestselling book, “The Secret,” which was made by popular by Oprah Winfrey. In case you don’t know, the book basically advocates that positive thinking will produce positive results. As an example, Hogan says it was the "positive message" that he communicated to fans as the Hulkster that led him to achieving his success.

Conversely, negative thinking produces negative results. Hogan suggested that’s why his son Nick got in the car accident that nearly killed John Graziano. You see, Nick was up the night before watching car crash videos on Youtube.

Vince McMahon scratched Hogan's back before Hogan scratched his: I found it odd that Hogan, with his love-hate relationship with McMahon, would have such glowing things to say about Vince during last week's ESPN "E:60" piece on WWE. He may have been returning the favor after Vince praised Hogan in this article for being "iconic" and having lots of "charisma" and "the gift of gab."

Hulk Hogan is in a lot of pain: The story opens with Hogan reciting a laundry list of his ailments – some of which I can only assume he is exaggerating (the whole shrinking four inches bit.) But, if only from Hedegaard's observations, it’s clear that Hogan is hurting real bad these days. Yang describes the difficulty Hogan had just standing up during the interview, and an episode in a sushi restaurant during which Hogan started writhing in back pain, only to act like nothing happened a moment later.

Hulk Hogan is capable of doing some really stupid things: Yang pretty much put his journalistic objectivity aside when he observed Hogan – you know, the guy whose son is responsible for a young man being in a vegetative state – floor the gas pedal in his Viper sports car as his daughter Brooke sat in the passenger’s seat. Hogan got a good laugh about his little stunt, but Yang did not. “Has common sense escaped him totally?” Yang wondered. “Why would he do this?”

Hogan is (somewhat) honest about his drug use: In addition to his tall tale about the hundreds of pain pills he would chug at a time, Hogan also discusses in the story doing steroids, cocaine, and marijuana. He also reveals that he owns a 9-mm gun, which he has turned over to his attorney.

The Hulkster is heartbroken: One theme weaved throughout the entire story is Hogan’s feelings of sadness, frustration, and bitterness over the fact that his ex-wife Linda is running around with a boytoy younger than the estranged couple's two young children. Without taking sides, there’s also plenty of unbiased evidence in the story that Hulk, in his own way, wanted to work out his problems with Linda, but she had another agenda. When he arrives at the sushi restaurant near the end of the story, his first question to the host is whether “the ex-wife” has been around the place.

It’s a shame that the only thing being talked about in this story is the O.J. line, which the magazine clearly tried to pump up – even pulling it out of the story and running it in giant print on one of the pages. It’s about as honest and revealing a look at Hogan as I’ve seen in a long time.

There are also some great photos, including one of an aging Hulk Hogan wearing the WWF championship belt (circa 1987), and a sweet vintage photo of a massive Hogan playing with a tiny, 3-year-old Brooke.

I've been away from the Internet most of the day and just logged on minutes to go find dozens of stories about an altercation between LI's own Chris Jericho and some fans outside of a WWE house show.

Here's the video from one fan's cell phone camera:

From what I've read, it seems that Jericho was leaving the arena in his rental car when some idiot fans surrounded him and started pounding on the door. Jericho tried to get out of the vehicle, but a fan pushed the door back at him. That apparently set Jericho off. He reportedly spit in a woman's face and also punched a woman. Jericho also lashed out at security guards for not doing their job, and shoved one pretty hard.

WWE issued this statement, as published on TMZ:

"After leaving a live event in Victoria, British Columbia on Saturday evening, Chris Jericho's car was attacked by a mob when he was stopped at a stop sign. Unable to proceed, Chris Jericho exited his car to ask the crowd to clear a path so he could continue through the intersection. A man and a woman physically and verbally assaulted Mr. Jericho. Arena and WWE security arrived to establish enough order to allow Mr. Jericho to re-enter his vehicle and depart. The local police arrived minutes later. Mr. Jericho was unharmed in the incident. The WWE is working with local authorities who are investigating the incident to identify the man and woman who fled the scene."

I'll preface my comments by saying that hitting a fan - much less a female one - should not be condoned. But watching the video, I was immediately struck by how moronic the fans were acting. It seemed to me from the video that Jericho was trying his best to keep his cool, but these stupid fans had their hands all over him.

Because he's a celebrity, it's understandable that fans would want to get close to Jericho, but fans should respect boundaries. Security should be responsible for setting those boundaries, and I could sympathize with Jericho's frustration with the guards, who seemed to be as confused as anyone in the crowd. Their top priority should have been to protect Jericho, and instead, it looked like they were more concerned with what he might do to the fans.

Good for WWE for having Jericho's back.

This hits upon one of my big pet peeves about wrestling. I do not at all consider myself an elitist "smart" fan. When I go to a show, I enjoy watching fans of all ages cheer along the babyfaces and boo the heels. But, as much as the term has been bastardized over the years, "marks" continue to give wrestling a bad name.

I don't use that term lightly. But I'd say it would apply to a lot of the people who are caught on that video - including the genius who continued to beg Jericho to pose for a photo with her in the middle of the commotion.

Stupid fans drive me crazy. I go nuts every time I'm in the nosebleed seats at a house show and there is some idiot in front of me blocking my view with a sign. A. The show is not televised. B. Even if it were, you're seated too far for the cameras to capture it. And C. Without fail, your sign is never clever nor funny.

I don't mean to go on a tangent, but I think the common thread here is that - despite pro wrestling having evolved to the point where WWE would endorse a movie that exposes how wrestlers blade - there are still some grown up fans out there who just don't get it. Their idiotic behavior takes away from the enjoyment of other fans.

If any of this applies to you, next time WWE comes to town, please just stay home.

So here's a post I started writing when Brock Lesnar won the UFC Title a few weeks but hadn't had much time to finish until now ...

Brock was coming into his own as WWE Champion during my time on creative, and was such a cool person to work with. So I thought I'd pass along a few thoughts and insights on the Next Big Thing.

Continue reading "Some thoughts on Brock Lesnar" »

I had the opportunity to watch the Darren Aronofsky’s much-acclaimed film, “The Wrestler” at a Manhattan screening last week, and have been dying to write about it since. As a wrestling fan and a person working at the very outskirts of the wrestling industry, it was, in many ways, one of the most important films I’ve ever watched.

Even more fortunately, I’ve since had the opportunity to sit down and chat with many of the stars and makers of the film, including director Darren Aronofsky, writer and Merrick native Robert Siegel, and Mickey Rourke, whose starring performance as broken down 80’s wrestling star Randy “The Ram” Robinson is being talked about as one of Hollywood’s all-time transcendent performances.

I’ll bring you highlights of some of those interviews in the coming days. For now, let me just tell you what I thought about the movie.

First, let me emphasize, I don’t work as an entertainment writer or a film critic for Newsday, so the following should not be construed as a Newsday review of the film. While I am connoisseur of good films, I’ll try to focus on what I know best – wrestling.

Continue reading "Thoughts and Observations About 'The Wrestler'" »

I know some of you are looking for any news relating to the widely reported skirmish between John Bradshaw Layfield and Joey Styles that ended with Styles knocking JBL out. You know as much as I do - apparently JBL was at his hazing worst during WWE's recent trip to Iraq and took it a bit too far, and Lil' Joey floored him with one punch.

What I was most curious about when I read the story was what was going to happen to Styles? Would he punished for not "going along" with the time-honored locker room hi jinks and for daring to raise a hand to one of Vince McMahon's favorite boys? Or would he garner some respect for standing up for himself?

We may have gotten something of an answer last night, when Punk dragged Styles out to do his "Oh My God" schtick. Styles was put over stronger on television than he has in years.

For my money, I am glad that someone stood up to JBL. I appreciate the importance of a veteran playing the role of "enforcer" in the locker room. But there's a difference between being an enforcer and a bully. And, on numerous occasions, it would seem JBL has been the latter.

Now that former world champion JBL has been so disrespected, maybe he can find a home in the Main Event Mafia.

So it was six years ago -- on the Halloween episode of SmackDown in 2002 -- that this happened. (Yes, that's me dressed as Dudley Do-Right sitting next to Cena as Stephanie's talking).

I've blogged before about my role in John Cena's first appearance as the white-boy rapper that ultimately led to his rise to superstardom. But given the day's festivities, I thought I'd retell the story -- along with some other fun backstage tidbits and thoughts inspired by recent events. Enjoy ...

Continue reading "Ah, memories -- Cena, HHH, Undertaker, and more ..." »

Long time no speak! I've been busy drowning in a sea of Long Island presidential debate and economic stuff ... but with No Mercy in the rear-view mirror and WWE releasing a Hell in the Cell DVD retrospective, now seemed like as good a time as any to share some memories of No Mercy '02, one of my favorite shows from my time on the WWE creative team. Here's a few ...

Continue reading "Memories of WWE No Mercy 2002" »

RICHFIELD, Utah -- I'm here in a hotel room in Utah right now drinking a beer called Polygamy Porter. Their motto is, "WHy Have Just One!"

I am not kidding. Google it if you don't believe me.

Anyway, I'm enjoying having some time on my road trip to post again for the first time in a while. And in reading the comments from my RAW Roulette post, I see some interesting insights and questions that I thought I'd respond to ...

Continue reading "The first Newsday.com blog post every written in Utah" »

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Every time I come to Vegas, I think back to the first time I ever came here -- as a member of the WWE creative team in Oct. 2002, helping to produce the first-ever RAW Roulette.

I still remember flying in on Air McMahon the night before, seeing the lights of the strip from the plane and being absolutely mesmerized. I remember my face and the faces of several others plastered against the windows as we took in the beauty of the scene as we landed.

Anyhoo, here's some thoughts and memories from that first RAW Roulette show.

Continue reading "Memories of the first RAW Roulette" »

First off, I have to apologize for the infrequent posts as of late. I’ve been quite busy, as evidenced in pages A6 and A7 of your Newsday.

This may be a bit late, but I wanted to ring in about what I thought was the most intriguing moment of last Monday’s Raw. Even more intriguing – none of us saw it on television.

I’m speaking about the 12-minute dark match that took place before the show went on the air. In one corner was Lance Cade – the five-year WWE veteran who seemed poised to get a decent push as a mid-card heel after breaking up with his tag team partner Trevor Murdoch.

In the other corner was a pale, plain, light heavyweight – likely unrecognizable to the majority of the fans. Yet somehow, this relative unknown made Cade tap out.

The mystery man’s name – Bryan Danielson.

Continue reading "RAW's Hottest Star Wasn't on TV Last Monday" »

Someone passed along a question about just how much was known about Eric Bischoff's WWE debut in July 2002.

Continue reading "Answering your questions: Eric Bischoff" »

Been out of town for the past week; time to get back to posting!

Coming up this week: Answering your questions, thoughts on the Bret Hart book and both upcoming Benoit books, PPV predictions, and more.

For now, if you're interested, you can check out my appearance this past week on WrestleCrap radio ...

WWE.com reported a couple of days ago that Torrie Wilson has been given her release, apparently confirming the rumors that she's been told that she shouldn't be competing in the ring anymore.

I thought I'd mark the occasion by reminiscing a bit about one of the Wrestle-crappiest storylines I was ever a part of: the Torrie-Dawn-Al debacle.

Continue reading "WWE releases Torrie Wilson" »

It seemed a lot of you really enjoyed my story from last week about the night I went home from Madison Square Garden with the World Heavyweight Championship. So I thought you might also enjoy this story about Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship belt.

Continue reading "A quick funny story about Brock Lesnar and the WWE Championship" »

So after my last post, I got to thinking a little more about the "curse" of the World Heavyweight Championship, and I have a confession to make:

I think it might be my fault.

You can trace it back to Survivor Series 2002 and one of my favorite stories from my time at WWE: The night I went home with the World Heavyweight Championship.

Continue reading "The moment that cursed the World Championship: The night I went home from Madison Square Garden with the title" »

Been out of town the past couple of days, and came back to read the news online about Michael Hayes' suspension.

Thought I'd offer some thoughts on the situation.

Continue reading "Some thoughts on Michael Hayes' suspension from WWE" »

I've been out of town the past couple of days, and I'm just catching up on all the Michael Hayes news postings. Later today I'll be posting my thoughts on that situation.

In the meantime, while we're on the subject of the WWE creative team, here's a blog entry I started writing late last week -- many of you have asked my opinion of Raw head writer Brian Gewirtz.

Continue reading "Answering your questions: Brian Gewirtz" »

So while I've got a few minutes, now seems like as good a time as any to start answering your questions. And a great starting point seems to be one that many of you asked in regards to my post from yesterday: What was up with that Stephanie McMahon/Eric Bischoff kiss on the Halloween 2002 episode of SmackDown?

Continue reading "Answering your questions: Eric Bischoff kisses Stephanie McMahon" »

You know, I never did get a chance to publicly congratulate Mae Young on her induction into the WWE's Hall of Fame. Mae is one of my favorite on-air performers of all-time -- her drunken old lady routine is just so darn entertaining to me.

I was never a mark for getting pictures with the talent, but Mae was one who I always wanted a snapshot with, and it became a running gag with some friends backstage that I could never get a picture with her. That changed in 2002, on the night of SmackDown's Halloween party, when I got my favorite souvenir from my WWE days, a picture of me with Mae and the Fabulous Moolah -- all decked out in our Halloween costumes.

So congrats, Mae. You are awesome.

And speaking of the SmackDown Halloween party, let me take you back to that time with a little story about a guy named John Cena.

Continue reading "Congratulations Mae Young -- WWE Hall of Famer! And a quick story about John Cena" »

So you might recall from my post last week that the initial plan when we created split titles in 2002 was for Rob Van Dam and Brock Lesnar to be the champions and to carry the titles straight on through WrestleMania.

In that post, I explained why the title was never even put on Van Dam. Now I'd like to tell you a bit about why the title was taken off of Brock so soon, including who he was originally slated to face at Madison Square Garden at Survivor Series that year, before plans were changing to the Big Show.

Continue reading "Why we took the title off of Brock Lesnar and who he was originally supposed to face at Survivor Series" »

Like most of the others writers on the creative team, I wanted RVD to be the first World Heavyweight Champion when we created that crown in September 2002. The thinking was that he and Brock Lesnar would be the fresh-faced champions to carry the titles through the following WrestleMania, building interest and a unique identity for each of the brands.

As you probably know, it didn't work out quite that way. Besides the fact that Brock actually lost the title just three months later, RVD never even got his moment in the sun, as Triple H actually was named the first champion, and went on to hold the title for 11 of the first 12 months of its creation.

At the time, it was disheartening to see the plans change so drastically (yes, the official plan at first was for RVD to win it). Yes, it only contributed to all the buzz and rumblings I'd heard about Triple H that I'd tried to keep an open mind about when I joined the creative team.

But here we are, years later, blessed with the gift of perspective, and I gotta say -- and you will probably disagree with me -- I was totally wrong.

Putting the title on Triple H was the best thing we could have done.

Continue reading "Why Triple H was the first Raw Champion, why I fought for Rob Van Dam, and why they were right and I was wrong" »

When we first launched the blog last week, I wrote a post asking you guys if you had any questions for me, either about my experiences on creative, my interaction with various superstars, or just my thoughts on stuff in general.

You guys posted some great questions, and I intend to answer as much stuff as I can in the coming weeks and months ... I already have a file on my computer with about 50 topics I plan on addressing at some point.

But these questions are great, so I thought I'd open the floor to you guys again -- what the heck do you want to know? Post your comments below, let me know what you want to hear about!

And thanks to all for reading and for the great feedback. Alfonso and I are really enjoying this blog, especially interacting with all of you.

One of my favorite nights during my tenure on the creative team was Sept. 10, 2002, which was the day we taped that year's SmackDown "season premiere" (it's weird that a show that has no off-season would have a season premiere, isn't it?).

That show featured the infamous Billy & Chuck commitment ceremony, the concept of which was my idea, and which turned into a huge success for the company in terms of ratings and mainstream coverage.

After the jump, some tidbits on what you DIDN'T see that night -- two superstars we discussed making cameos but didn't, the finish we should have done, and three gigantic matches we suggested before the wedding came to be ...

Continue reading "All the stuff that DIDN'T happen the night of the Billy & Chuck wedding -- and why WWE doesn't do War Games matches" »

By the time I joined the creative team in July 2002, they already kinda knew that having one world title that went back and forth between the two shows wasn't working. There had been some hesitation to splitting the titles, more out of tradition than anything else I think. But as we developed the Stephanie/Bischoff general manager thing and really started giving each show its own identity and feel, we debated it and finally resolved that for the longterm success of the brand extension, it was probably the best thing.

So we sought to come up with a plan as to how to create a whole new title that had the instant feel and legitimacy of a world championship.

Continue reading "The story behind splitting the WWE Championship into separate Raw, SmackDown titles" »

I was on the creative team for a hair over four months -- from the last week of July to the early part of December 2002 -- but I can proudly say that I was a part of it for three of the most infamous storylines in the history of wrestling, ever -- the Billy & Chuck commitment ceremony, the whole Al Wilson saga, and the storyline I get asked about more than any other by far, the Katie Vick saga.

(And for the record, I was there for a lot of good stuff too, but the bad stuff is way more fun to talk about!)

I'll get into the Katie Vick thing more in detail as the weeks go on (key rule of building an audience -- leave 'em wanting more. Someone please call Vince and let him know. He woulda told you the whole story in the opening segment of AM RAW). But for now, I thought I'd give you the story on where the actual name "Katie Vick" comes from.

Flashback to October 2002. We're on Air McMahon (Vince's private jet, which was pretty sweet, by the way -- great roast-beef finger sandwiches) flying out to Las Vegas for the first Raw Roulette show (name of the show was Jim Ross' idea). We were coming off of Unforgiven and starting the hard sell for Triple H vs. Kane at No Mercy (another great story for down the line)!

The main event of the evening was to be the four-way Tag Team TLC Match that was voted Best Raw Match of the Century at that pitiful 10th anniversary show. The plan was that after Kane and Hurricane won that match, Triple H would come out and accuse Kane of being a murderer.

So we're on Air McMahon, finalizing the rundown for RAW (not that any rundown was ever really final), and it's time to give this "murdered girl" a name.

Continue reading "How Katie Vick Got Her Name" »

So the main thing that qualifies me to be writing this wrestling blog (aside from having a pulse, of course) is the fact that I actually used to work for WWE.

During the summer of 1999 and the winter of 1999-2000, I interned for WWE.com, and from May 2000 to December 2002, I was a full-time employee, first for WWE.com and WWE Magazine, and then as an actual rank-and-file member of the WWE creative team. Yes, that WWE creative team.

Among the stuff that went down during my time on the creative team: John Cena's first rap, the splitting of the WWE Title into two separate titles, the first Elimination Chamber, the only Long Island Pay-Per-View of the past 20 years, the beginnings of Evolution (and the early careers of Randy Orton and Batista), the temporary extinction of the Intercontinental Title, the creation of the SmackDown Tag Title, and Brock Lesnar's first title reign.

Also during my time there: Katie Vick, the Billy & Chuck commitment ceremony and Al Wilson.

So if you have any questions about what goes on behind the scenes or what everyone's really like, post 'em below ... I'll answer as much as I can.

I've got some stories for ya.