~~~~~THE TBL NEWSLETTER~~~~~
Volume 2, Issue #11
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Brought to you by:
The Balrog’s Lair –
http://www.thebalrogslair.com/
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Note from the Editor:
Greetings once again my compatriots! Here we go with the eleventh edition of volume two of The TBL Newsletter! Make sure you check out the very end of the newsletter to get information on the upcoming IAW show in South Bend, Indiana. Just about all of the major stories are covered in this edition, so sit tight and enjoy!
Joe Balrog, Editor-in-Chief
joe@thebalrogslair.com
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News & Rumors:
News and rumors taken from The TBL Newswire as well as some other noted sources.
McMahon and Heyman – on DVD!
Rollerball featuring Shane McMahon and Paul Heyman will be availble on DVD and VHS tomorrow. The movie also stars LL Cool J, Chris Klein, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. If you purchase the DVD expect a lot of extra features including a new “R” Rated Version and deleted scenes. – Brian Davidson
WWE Diva Competition
On June 25th at 9 P.M. on TNN WWE will be featuring a special called “WWE Divas: Undressed”. The preview says “Women’s lingerie competition includes Trish Stratus, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson.” – Brian Davidson
The Stone Cold Saga
The wife of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin has accused the wrestling star of beating her after a weekend argument at their home in an upscale neighborhood of San Antonio, police said on Monday. Debra Williams, also a professional wrestler, called police to the couple’s home on Saturday night and told officers that Austin had beaten her on the head, back and legs then stormed out of the house before police arrived. Austin called the house while officers were there and was told he was in trouble, according to a police report. Austin told them he understood, but declined a request to return to the house or report to the police station, the report said. Williams has not filed a formal charge, so Austin is not considered a fugitive, according to Sgt. Gabe Trevino. Williams was not hospitalized after the alleged assault. Austin, a native Texan and former North Texas State University football player began wrestling professionally in 1992 and is one of the leading stars of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation. World Wrestling Entertainment spokesman Gary Davis said Austin recently failed to appear at two scheduled performances, one in Montreal and one in Austin, Texas, describing the no-shows as an “unacceptable violation of his contract.” Davis said Austin was apparently dissatisfied with the way his character was being developed for WWE shows. Williams, a former beauty queen, is also affiliated with World Wrestling Entertainment. – Joe Balrog
No NWA for Disco
Disco Inferno was not impressed by the deal offered to him by NWA-TNA which would have involved a gimick change. NWA-TNA wanted Disco to become “Ad Man” who would only care about promoting his sponsors, not on the outcome of the match. Disco was offered a spot in the big Gauntlet match but did not call back to confirm his appearence on the show. – William Gardner
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RAW Results:
With just six days before the 2002 King of the Ring is set to be crowned, RAW kicked off live from Oakland, CA!
The first King of the Ring quarterfinal match pitted Intercontinental Champion Rob Van Dam against the nWo’s X-Pac. X-Pac taunted the champion from the start, but RVD ended the trash talk with a spinning heel kick to the chin. RVD also hit X-Pac with a guillotine leg drop and the Rolling Thunder.
X-Pac rallied and tried to hit the Bronco Buster, but RVD smartly avoided the move. X-Pac later tried to nail the X-Factor, but RVD fell right into a full split! RVD later dropped X-Pac with a kick and mounted the top rope. But X-Pac kicked him off and onto the ring barrier. Suddenly, Booker T raced in and delivered the Bookend to X-Pac, allowing RVD to hit a huge Five Star Frog Splash for the win!
Excerpts of Saturday’s Confidential aired, with Jim Ross saying that he didn’t think Austin would ever appear on RAW again.
Backstage, X-Pac was ticked off and complaining to Shawn Michaels and Big Show. X-Pac said he wanted to get revenge on Booker T. Kevin Nash walked in and tried to calm his friend down.
WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon came down to the ring to address the crowd. Mr. McMahon said everyone was asking if Stone Cold was really gone. The answer, he said, was yes and he said he didn’t like it any more than the fans did. HE said he hoped Stone Cold would return to WWE one day. Vince said Austin had a lot of explaining and apologizing to do. When he walked out on RAW last week, it wasn’t the first time as he skipped out on the show following WrestleMania. Mr. McMahon said Austin owes an apology to all the superstars, the company and each and every fans.
Last week, Mr. McMahon continued, Austin spoke with JR who told the Rattlesnake to come back to work. Stone Cold refused. Vince said Austin’s actions were unprofessional. Mr. McMahon said the company had no choice to move on. As part of that process, a new stipulation stated that the King of the Ring winner this year would get a shot at the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Mr. McMahon directed his attention to Stone Cold watching at home. Mr. McMahon thanked Stone Cold for all the memories. Vince then put down the mic, grabbed a beer from ringside, took a sip then placed the can in the middle of the ring before walking out.
Jeff Hardy sprang into action for a singles match against Raven. As the opening ring bell clanged, the Undertaker strolled out from the entryway and kept an eye on things. The match started off in a hurry, with Jeff launching a full body press from the ring barrier onto Raven outside the ropes. Jeff realized the Undisputed Champion was nearby and got distracted, allowing Raven to take over. Raven tried to hit a superplex, but Jeff reversed it and managed to land a Swanton Bomb that led to a pinfall! Afterward, the Undertaker grinned and gestured that he was watching the Team Xtreme member.
Backstage, Booker T was approached by Goldust who was dressed in royal medieval clothes. Goldust reminded Booker of his prediction last week about Shawn Michaels. Booker said his star shined brighter than the nWo’s anyway. Goldust told Booker that if he could get past Brock Lesnar, he would become King Booker on Sunday. Booker decreed that Brock would get beaten up.
Backstage, Coach found Molly Holly doing thigh crunches. Coach asked Molly for a comments in regards to Trish saying Molly had a little too much junk in the trunk. Molly said she would have the last word by becoming the Women’s Champion. Coach said that if that happened, Molly wouldn’t be the “butt” of jokes! That earned him a smack across the face!
Big Show watched all this and laughed in his locker room when X-Pac came in, still seething over his loss. Paul Heyman arrived and said that Brock Lesnaer would become the King of the Ring, and he asked the nWo to stay out of his match against Booker T. X-Pac protested, which prompted Heyman to issue a stern warning. Shawn Michaels got up in Heyman’s face and looked ready to start trouble. He shied off a bit though when Brock stepped up in his grill. Kevin Nash edged in and towered over Brock. Heyman had to drag Brock out of the locker room before things got out of hand!
A nattily dressed Chris Nowinski and William Regal strolled down the entrance ramp. Nowinski set to take on Spike Dudley, who quickly attacked the Tough Enough runner up upon entering the ring. Spike got Chris on the mat and began jumping up and down on his chest like it was a trampoline. But the bigger athlete overpowered Spike. Nowinski picked Spike up and slammed him to the canvas for the win, then proceeded to beat Spike with Regal’s help! Bradshaw sprinted down and sent the two scurrying away!
Former WWE owner Ric Flair entered the ring to address the crowd. Flair said people think he lost everything last week after dropping his match and company ownership to Mr. McMahon. After some soul searching, though, he said he had found the real Ric Flair. He said he had looked at the great Hulk Hogan and how he mounted a tremendous comeback. Flair said that he refused to go out on a down note. Flair said that he wasn’t ready to go home. He signed a contract to wrestle and wanted to prove that he’s got a good run left in him. He said he wanted to prove to Brock Lesnar that he is the dirtiest player in the game!
Stone Cold’s music hit and the crowd roared to life! But it soon faded out and Eddie Guerrero came out to his Latino Heat music. Guerrero said that fans had heard that music for the last time. He said that he was set to take on Austin one on one and King of the Ring and Eddie would have kicked his ass. Eddie became enraged and asked if Flair knew what that match meant to him. Guerrero chided Flair for being responsible for costing him the match of his life. Eddie labeled Flair a worthless piece of crap.
Chris Benoit entered the fray and yelled at Eddie for disrespecting Flair. Benoit held up four fingers and asked if Guerrero knew what that meant. Benoit reminded Guerrero that Flair is a 16 time World Champion. Guerrero countered that his family had devoted their entire lives to the business. Eddie promised that Flair’s run would be worse than his run as an owner. Flair said if Eddie was so convinced, why doesn’t he take Austin’s spot at King of the Ring. Eddie began screaming at Flair in Spanish, but Benoit stopped him. He said that Flair is a legend. He also said that Flair single-handedly took away Benoit’s opportunity and hope. Benoit got up in Flair’s mug and said that he had wanted a piece of Austin for breaking his neck last week. He also held Flair responsible for Austin’s leaving. Benoit nailed Flair and Guerrero joined in the beating, even applying Flair’s own Figure Four leglock!
Backstage, Vince was talking on the phone when Chris Nowinski came in and introduced himself. Nowinski began running down the list of things he’d accomplished in his career. Vince got a call from Tony Garea, but the signal cut out. Mr. McMahon said Garea was his lookout at the airport, and it appeared that the man was coming their way. Nowinski asked who, and Mr. McMahon said he could only assume it was Stone Cold Steve Austin.
During commercial, Vince told security to let Austin into the arena when he arrived. He also told Sgt. Slaughter to find a camera crew because if Austin was coming to apologize, he wanted the whole thing caught on tape!
Trish Stratus teamed up with D’Lo Brown for an intergender tag match against Molly and Crash Holly. D’Lo gave Crash a facebuster early on, but Crash kicked out. Molly tagged in and demanded a piece of Trish. D’Lo was happy to oblige, and the Women’s Champion began to pick apart her nemesis. Molly got in some offense, hitting Trish with a backbreaker. She then climbed the top rope and whirled into the Molly-Go-Round, but Trish rolled out of the way. Crash and D’Lo got back into action. D’Lo hit Crash with a spinning DDT, but Molly broke up the count. Soon after, D’Lo hit the Sky High and pinned Crash! But Molly wasn’t done. She tossed Trish into the announce table before slinking away.
Mr. McMahon gave instructions to the camera crew backstage when Tough Enough Champion Jackie came in. She asked how Vince would like her to be a RAW girl. Vince said that if she competed next Tuesday on the special Divas Undressed, she could be on RAW. Jackie said next week he would see how raw she can get!
The Undertaker took on Matt Hardy in a non-title match next. Matt held his own, but Taker soon began to take over. He scooped Matt up in a chokeslam, but Jeff raced in and broke things up! Jeff went for a Swanton Bomb, but Raven ran in and pushed Jeff down. Taker took this time to hit Matt with the Last Ride and pick up the win. After, Raven produced a pair of handcuffs and locked Jeff to the top rope. While Raven held Matt at bay, Taker began to mercilessly beat Jeff while Matt was forced to watch the entire thing.
Backstage, Taker told Terri that what had just happened is an example of what becomes of people who try to make a name for themselves at his expense. Taker said he hoped Triple H was watching. Taker said he hurts people, not TV equipment.
Mr. McMahon got another call from Tony Garea, but was again cut off. Vince told the camera crew to get ready for Austin’s imminent arrival.
Paul Heyman told Earl Hebner that he respected the official. Heyman said if anyone came to the ring in the next match, he needed to disqualify Booker T. Earl advised him not to tell him how to do his job, then stormed off. Heyman turned around and came face to face with Booker T! Booker told Heyman not to worry about him getting disqualified, he just needed to worry about the five-time WCW Champion whipping Brock Lesnar’s ass!
Brock Lesnar and Booker T entered the ring, but the nWo followed after and took position at ringside. Brock attacked Booker immediately. While he was dismantling Booker, Goldust came down to the ring and was immediately accosted by Heyman. Meanwhile, Brock leveled Booker with a powerslam that produced a two-count. But Booker managed to mount a comeback. He nailed a scissors kick then whirled off a spineroonie!
The nWo tried to interfere, but Big Show was swatted off the ring apron by Booker. But Brock managed to surprise Booker with the F5 and took the three count to advance in the King of the Ring tournament! The nWo then climbed into the ring and assaulted Booker after Big Show gave Goldust a chokeslam. Big Shown then delivered another Showstopper to Booker T before the nWo saluted themselves and celbrated in the middle of the ring.
Backstage, Sgt. Slaughter rushed in and told Vince that Tony Garea had arrived in the parking lot. Vince said that meant Austin was close behind. Mr. McMahon told Sarge to convince Austin to go to the ring, because that is where he would be.
Following commercial, Vince stood in the ring and asked for a beer from ringside. He said it wasn’t for him, it was for someone else. Vince called Austin out to the ring to say whatever he felt like saying. Vince implored Austin to not make the crowd wait any longer.
Suddenly, Tony Garea rushed in and told Vince that the “he” was not Stone Cold. Vince asked who it was … and The Rock’s music hit! The People’s Champion rushed down to the ring as the crowd exploded!
The Great One pumped his fists as he paced around Mr. McMahon. The Rock said “Finally! The Rock has come back to Oakland!” He asked why Vince looked so surprised. Vince started to answer but The Rock cut him off saying it didn’t matter what he thought!
The Rock said he was there to address the people, and only the people. He told Vince he had just 15 seconds to clear out of the ring. Mr. McMahon did as he was told. The Rock then picked up the beer can and hurled it in Mr. McMahon’s direction.
The Rock said he wasn’t supposed to return until next month, but given recent events he’d be damned if he didn’t come back. The Rock said that every time he walks into a WWE locker room, he sees the eyes of guys who are there because they want to be there. He said if there was anyone in the back that doesn’t want to be there, then they should do like the slogan says and Get the ‘F Out!
The Rock said he would do one better than Mr. McMahon. The Rock said he wanted not just to move on, but move up. He said on Sunday, he would be at King of the Ring! The Rock said that even when The Rock is 80 years old, he would still be in WWE!
The Rock said that Austin can take his ball and go home, but as far as he is concerned, this is home! The Great One capped off his emotional speech with “If ya Smell what The Rock is cookin’!” RAW closed with The Great One getting a deafening standing ovation.
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Columns:
Balrog Babblings
By: Joe Balrog
joe@thebalrogslair.com
Hate To Say I Told You So…
Well, well, well. I go away for a week of collegiate activity and I return to a wrestling world without a beer swilling son of a bitch. Now if you’ve read my past columns and then take a look at the actions on Monday night, I hate to say I told you so, but… Actually, when Dave Talbert reads this he will probably laugh and say that I love telling everyone that I told them so, but that’s another story!
I just want to take a little space here and write about this Austin situation as well as what my prior and current thoughts about this whole thing are. In my column entitled “The WWE’s Problem,” I wrote the following:
”The Big Show turned on Steve Austin and joined the nWo. He claimed that it was because he was at The World while Austin was at WrestleMania or something along those lines. It was a good explanation. I liked it. However, the aftermath has been a joke. Why is The Big Show not interfering in every one of Austin’s matches? So Austin beat him at the pay per view – does that mean that the years of frustration that are built inside of The Big Show are gone now? I don’t buy that one bit. Perhaps the issue is Austin himself, since we all now know that he doesn’t particularly like jobbing to people. Hey, if there was ever a time for Vince to use that iron fist, it is now. He already lost Jeff Jarrett (an underrated talent in the WWE) to Austin’s refusal to fight him and I think we can all come to the conclusion that Scott Hall’s stay in the WWE wasn’t helped by Austin’s reluctance to put him over – so why not “give it” to Austin? He sells merchandise, he sells this, he does that, these people love him, everyone loves him – oh enough of the bullshit already! The man has a job and that job is to entertain. He was put in a situation where he could have helped a HUGE investment (The Big Show) get over as a monster heel. He refused to do it. He did this to Scott Hall and he did this to Jeff Jarrett in the past. Perhaps this rattlesnake does have venom in his bite – maybe that lethal does that McMahon talked about on Smackdown all those months ago…”
So, not to say I told you so, but hey – I saw this situation coming a mile away. Let’s be serious for a moment (sorry Lance, I had to use that phrase), I don’t think that anyone can deny the sheer impact that Attitude had on the WWE during the late 1990’s and even the first part of 2000 and 2001. However, there is a change in the world today. Personally, I think it is a result of September 11th and the atrocities of the day, but it was coming anyway. This era of Attitude that took the WWE to the top of the wrestling game and brought them to a decisive victory over the WCW was looking at its last days way before the Stone Cold situation took place. Let me dip into the Bret Hart saga for a moment.
Once upon a time there was a champion that the WWE could be proud of to represent them on international goodwill tours, in humanitarian charity events, and as an overall role-model for their then-major audience of young preteens and children. His name was Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Bret was a major player in the WWE from the early to mid-nineties and actually up until his final day with the promotion in 1997. Bringing in the steam and the prestige of the era of wrestling that saw Doink, Skinner, Isaac Yankem DDS, Who, The Goon, Bastion Booger, and other not-so-memorable characters, Bret represented an era in WWE programming that was not what the current market desired to see anymore. No matter what Bret did to change his character, he was seen as the same perennial “good guy” no matter what he did. Some of you will be quick to say “well Bret was a heel, you fool!” And I will be quick to call you on your wrestling history – Bret was indeed a heel because the perennial “good guy” became a figure worthy of scorn and contempt during the late part of the nineties.
So to avoid going over Montreal, Bret had to be removed in a not so polite manner and when he left, the final vestiges of that hokey era of wrestling were gone as well. Enter Stone Cold and Vince McMahon. From Vince’s interviews in the weeks after the Montreal incident, he became an instant heel (and one of the best in the history of wrestling) just as quickly as the anti-establishment Stone Cold started to rally fans behind the WWE and their new era of “Attitude” that saw the owner of a multi-million dollar company get the hell beat out of him from his star employee.
Fast forward to today. No more do we want to see Vince McMahon get the shit stomped out of him by Stone Cold (well…yes, we do want to see McMahon get his, but this act is five years old already). The tides in wrestling are changing, as Vince himself alluded to just last week on WWE Byte This! The tides are changing and the warm, cool, known waters of the Attitude era are float away. For those of you who are really wrestling nuts, you will be quick to note that the WWE has tried to change from the Attitude era twice before the current day. Some of you might remember a small Aggression era in the WWE that saw Triple H begin his brandishing of a sledgehammer and I think we all remember the short Desire era that took place last fall that literally had a lot of old time wrestling fans filled up with emotion as a mixture of Creed’s “My Sacrifice” and a flood of memories took over our television screens. Just as I chronicle in my column entitled “The WWE’s Problem,” both of these eras had no lasting effect on the audience because the WWE did not give them time to impact. I believe that Desire is truly the greatest loss of an era only because it was the first time that a wrestling show tried to bring out true, honest emotions from their fans that weren’t simply “Kill the bastard!” or “Rip his head off!” Desire brought with it a deeper meaning and understanding of the lives of our favorite wrestlers.
Before I go too far off track, let’s get back to Stone Cold and my prognosis that I’ve seen this coming a mile away. Yes, Vince did say the tides are turning, and yes the Attitude era is coming to an end. Shawn Michaels also made reference to this fact in a recent WWE.com interview when he stated the he didn’t need to use profanity in the ring even if he wanted to because there is no more room for that in today’s wrestling market place. The times, they are indeed a changin’. However, Steve Austin didn’t seem to want to change with these times. I really believe that the WWE knows that Austin fills the same role for Attitude that Bret Hart filled for the hokey wrestling of the mid-nineties. I also believe that the WWE knows that if Austin didn’t do something drastic to change his presence, he would quickly fall below the likes of Triple H, The Rock, and even guys like Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho and to a lesser extent, someone like Brock Lesnar. These men, while receiving most of their name recognition during the Attitude era, are not the Icon of the Attitude era as Steve Austin undoubtedly is.
My issue comes with Steve himself. What he calls bad writing, I call lost opportunity. Did Bret Hart lambaste the writers when they booked him in a feud with this no name wrestler who was known as The Ringmaster? If he did give them some hell, did he ever have the audacity to tell the writers that they sucked and then leave and go home to Calgary? I think not. Steve Austin needs to remember where he came from and who helped to put him on the map. Or else he might find himself in the same position as that very man is in right now – bitter towards and unappreciated in the organization that he helped to build and hold together.
Joe Balrog
joe@thebalrogslair.com
As I See It
By: Bob Magee
bobmagee1@hotmail.com
In what most readers saw as a shocking turn of events within the last week…Steve Austin abruptly left World Wrestling Entertainment over a disagreement concerning the creative direction of his character, rumored to involve working with and doing a job to Brock Lesnar.
Many, included yours truly, suspected an elaborate Vince Russo-style angle…even with Saturday night’s WWE Confidential show with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon doing interviews concerning the situation that appeared to make clear that the situation was a legitimate one and that Austin’s career with WWE might well be over.
If only all our suspicions had been true, and if only that had been all there was to it.
Instead, less than a week after walking out on WWE, Steve Williams is a suspect in a domestic violence incident involving his wife, Debra.
The story begins here. On Saturday afternoon, Karen Merritt (a former PWBTS reporter and columnist who lives in San Antonio) sent me the following information:
“..Got some hot news for you. Lead story on KENS TV the NBC station here in San Antonio. Debra called police at 4:00 am this morning (Saturday) to report Steve had beat her. It (the beating) left a welt under her left eye and bruises on her back. She said she was reluctant to call police because of who Steve was. And she couldn’t believe he had hit her.
She said the abuse had happened before.
When police got to the home on the far north side of San Antonio, Steve had already left the residence. He could not be reached by the news media for comment.”
I was at the Major League Wrestling show at the ECW Arena Saturday afternoon, and did not see the e-mail until Sunday morning.
Obviously I checked a story such as this before posting it, given the severity of the issue in question. The station in question, as well as the station cited by Dave Meltzer (KMOL TV 4 in San Antonio) had no information on the item on Sunday morning.
Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer had posted, then removed a story on the situation…leading to speculation the story was somehow not legitimate.
Since no news was posted on the KMOL or KENS websites, I assumed someone had been worked, whether the San Antonio media outlets in question or Dave Meltzer or both.
It wouldn’t have been the first time a wrestling websites been worked or scammed. Leaving out the obvious intentional leaks of information by the WWF (as well as ECW and WCW in the past)….usually such things are simple and childish, like fake spoilers sent from people supposedly at Smackdown tapings. Other times, they are sick, such as the ever present death rumors sent to major websites, including PWBTS and likely many of the sites on which you read this column.
However… I found out later Sunday, that this was no such work or scam. Instead it was a tragic happening between two very public figures.
On about noon on Sunday the story was confirmed, with Dave Meltzer reporting that the San Antonio Police have confirmed that a police report was filed listing only “suspect” and “victim”. It does not list names but according to Meltzer, the address is apparently the right address for the Williams household.
Because the alleged perpetrator (Steve Williams) is said to be at large, San Antonio Police will not officially confirm the names of those involved in the alleged incident.
Other sites, such as the Pro Wrestling Torch and 1wrestling have also confirmed with staff of San Antonio’s KMOL TV that the story did run on the stations’s 10 O’Clock News.
KMOL finally put this story up on their website Monday morning:
“…News 4 broke this story this weekend, professional wrestler, Steve Williams allegedly hit his wife Debora in the face and back at their San Antonio home on the far Northwest Side. Mrs. Williams told police this isn’t the first time it has happened and that she was scared to call the police. Sunday, World Wrestling Entertainment had a response. They told News 4 that this isn’t the first bizarre behavior by Stone Cold. They say it started last week when he walked out of an event….”
Later Monday, Reuters and other national media sources published the story online, and the investigative website The Smoking Gun.com published the complaint report from the San Antonio Police Department.
Other mainstream news sources picked it up later in the evening.
Those who wish to read it in full and without editorial interpretation can do so at this URL.
I have strong feelings about domestic abuse.
I’ve had to deal personally with cases of friends physically abused by those with whom they have had relationships. I’ve had to deal professionally as a school counselor with a number of abuse cases, including two incidents where physical confrontations actually occurred at the school I was working in.
Back when I was in college, I even became involved in a situation where physical intervention became necessary to save a young woman from abusive family members. Along with a friend, I had to help sneak the abuse victim out of a hospital, where she was being forced to visit one of the abusing family member, down the street to a women’s shelter.
With all these experiences, I feel that there is never an appropriate time for a man to physically attack a significant other with whom he is in a relationship.
Period.
That being said, human relationships are far more complex than simple black and white. As of this moment, we don’t know what actually happened in the situation that occurred last Friday night between Debra Marshall and Steve Williams. We don’t know if this was part of a fight between the two…or whether he attacked her.
While there has been a statement by Debra Marshall-Williams that it isn’t the only time such an incident has happened, we know nothing more than that. We also know that she has chosen not to file charges as of this writing.
As I write this article, we don’t even know where Steve Williams is.
Forget “Steve Cold Steve Austin” right now. Forget angles, TV ratings, and even professional wrestling. This is a serious situation regarding a man’s psyche and life itself.
I think it’s safe to say that everyone reading this hopes Steve Williams turns himself in to police.
He is going to need to confront the situation created Friday night…whatever it is. No charges have been filed by Debra Marshall-Williams, but it’s clear that San Antonio Police want to talk to him.
He and Debra are going to need counseling…before whatever, if anything, is going to happen next within their own relationship.
Perhaps someday, somewhere, we’ll again see the beer-drinking, middle finger pointing, profanity-spewing rebel character that many of us have grown to know and love.
But I doubt it.
If there was any chance before, Vince McMahon isn’t going to touch Steve Austin with a ten-foot pole now. Certainly not anytime soon. But Vince McMahon isn’t going to let anyone else touch him, either. Because you can be sure someone else WOULD touch him if he were available… damned the consequences.
But wrestling notwithstanding, it’s a damned sight more important that Steve Williams confronts whatever demons he’s dealing with that have pushed him to this point in his life.
I hope to God he does.
Until next time….
Bob Magee
bobmagee1@hotmail.com
Dave’s Column
By: Dave
sportsking66@hotmail.com
Stone Cold Steve Austin/WWE/Debra situation
A week ago, I was ready to watch Raw. I know, I know, Raw isn’t what it used to be, after the Brand Extension, but what the heck, it’s still WWE programming. Pretty good Raw, as HbK speaks, and Vince McMahon beats Whooooo Ric Flair for sole possession of the WWE. The next morning, I check out the internet. I read in horror as I find out that Stone Cold Steve Austin, the rattlesnake, has walked out on Raw!!! I think to myself, “Again?” How could the WWE let this happen. Then I find out, in my opinion, that the blame is to be put on Stone Cold and Stone Cold alone.
Sorry, but the WWE is not property of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Steve Austin has had his fun, has had his glory, and should let other stars, such as Brock Lesnar, to get in the spotlight. It’s almost guaranteed that the WWE will come running back to him soon enough, when injuries occur, and the product deteriorates. But no. Austin wants the attention on him, and on himself alone. He doesn’t like where his caracter is going? Take a number. Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Christian, all men who have the potential, but are being held back. So when Stone Cold walked out, for the second time, I was sick to my stomach. The WWE doesn’t need him. Whiners don’t belong in the company. If Austin wasn’t Austin, if he was somebody of lesser importance to the company, like maybe Test, or Raven, I am sure that the WWE would let them walk. But of course, the WWE wants him to come back. Sorry to say this folks, but in my opinion, he’s washed up, he’s old, and he needs a break. He is no longer the entertaining superstar that we once knew. He is lame old, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Less beer drinking, and more whining. Bad combination.
So then, a couple of days later, a report is out, indicating that Mister Austin has assaulted his wife, Debra Williams. Austin, how could you? Walking out on a company is one thing, but beating your wife? No way, doesn’t work for me. As much as I loved his bad ass attitude, no way can he justify why he hit a woman, more importantly the woman he is supposed to love. It is sickening, and he needs to give more respect. He then flees his house, and refuses to report back when the police arrive. Real mature, Stone Cold. What a role model.
Then, on Raw, this past Monday, none other than Vince McMahon walks down, and tells the story of him leaving the WWE. What about the wife-beating incident? Not even mentioned. So, I thought Vince would tell Stone Cold that until he behaves, he is out. But then again, that’s not the way the WWE goes. Vince ALMOST apologizes to Steve Austin. He talks about Stone Cold the legend. And then he THANKS him. Yeah, Vince, thank a man who beats his wife and leaves your company suddenly, thank him for his company. In my view, it should have been Stone Cold left, good-bye for now, and on with the show. But no, the show was around a man that’s not even on the official company website any more. Eddie Guerrero comes out to Austin’s music. He blames Ric Flair for letting Stone Cold leave. Enter Chris Benoit, who blames Flair as well, for leaving Austin leave when he was supposed to gain revenge…Boring and long, and useless. Then, Vince gets a call, and he says Stone Cold’s on his way. Funny, because last I checked, Stone Cold Steve Austin was on the run from the police. Vince comes down to the ring, and waits for his prize possession to come down.
But no. Thank god. Vince McMahon is shocked to learn that the man arriving isn’t Stone Cold, it’s the Rock. Now, is it just me, or did the Rock talk out of caracter? Yes, instead of talkin in the third person, he talked with I, me, and well, you know, like a normal person talks. And he delivered a very strong and powerful message to EVERYBODY: You wana be like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Get the F out!!!
In conclusion, if I were the WWE, I would thank Austin for his memories, and part ways. Steve Austin(AKA Steve Williams) is well alive, but in my point of view, Stone Cold is as dead as can be.
RIP STONE COLD…
Good luck Steve Williams……..
My prayers to Debra…
ANY FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS ARE VERY-WELL APPRECIATED, JUST SEND THEM TO:
Dave
sportsking66@hotmail.com
The Professor’s Classroom #101
By: The Professor
TheProfessor11@hotmail.com
Buzz, Buzz…
Sometimes, class, it’s difficult. Your distinguished faculty here at the Powerbomb Institute of the Net (PIN) may struggle for hours with lesson plan topics for these weekly classes. And other times, it’s just rip-and-read, right off the teletype. This is one of those other times.
There is only one major topic in wrestling this week, and it’s the situation with Stone Cold Steve Austin and his disappearance. I’ve spent some time hanging out in the chat room at WWE’s StoneCold.com this week (which, curiously, is still up, even though WWE has removed Austin’s bio from the main site). A surprising number of people—in fact, a very LARGE number of people in that chat room think that the entire situation is an elaborate storyline cooked up by one Vincent K. McMahon. These die-hard Austin fans know—they just KNOW—that it’s all a storyline.
I believe them.
Of course, being a researcher, your Professor couldn’t just take these people at their word. I needed something from the two individuals involved in this grand conspiracy—Stone Cold and VinnieMac. And since WWE doesn’t cooperate with web sites any more, I couldn’t call WWE and ask them directly. If only I was there, students! Your Professor would love to have been a fly on the wall as VinnieMac cooked up this whole devilishly clever scenario with Stone Cold.
Actually, maybe I wouldn’t—looking out through compound eyes would give me a headache. I have enough trouble with bifocals.
Fortunately, I happened to speak to a fly that was on the wall at that meeting. I ran into him in my living room this morning. He was very friendly and willing to talk about what he overheard. Here, exclusively in this classroom, is the conversation that this valuable source related to me (translated from flyspeak):
“BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!”
Oops…sorry…let me adjust the universal translator…
VINNIE MAC: “Steve, come on in. Great to see you.”
SCSA: “Thanks. I’m a little confused, though. I thought this was supposed to be a writing meeting. Where are Steph and Brian?”
“They’re waiting down the hall. This is top secret stuff, Steve. I don’t want a lot of people to know what I have in mind. Security needs to be tight on this one.”
“OK. So what’s up?”
“It’s like this, Steve. We’re going to have an angle where you walk out of WWE with Debra just before Raw and fly home to San Antonio. Then you beat up Debra and she calls the cops on you!”
“Uh…Vince, did you say I’m supposed to beat up Debra?”
“Yeah. Is that a problem?”
“Vince, I don’t know if you’ve checked recently, but they arrest guys for doing stuff like that.”
“Relax. If Debra doesn’t press charges against you, the police won’t do a thing. Besides, Debra is used to taking bumps. She’s a former Women’s Champion, for heaven’s sake. Now, I’ve already tipped off KMOL in San Antonio. One of their reporters will ‘accidentally’ come across this story when he checks the police beat, and they’ll get it on the news this weekend. I’ve made it worth their while.”
“You paid off the station to put on a news story about me?”
“Sure. In fact, I’ve paid some reporters at Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, MTV and Fox.”
“Wow. All those people would take money to air a news story about me?”
“Sure. Of course, they’re risking credibility that took them years to establish, and they’ll be the laughing stock of the free world if they ever get caught, and the reporters are risking their entire careers, but that’s the least they can do for a few quick dollars from a complete stranger. As soon as the San Antonio Police get a written report done, I’ve arranged to have them leak it to an Internet site. And wait until you see the helicopter.”
“What ABOUT a helicopter?”
“Let’s just say it’s going to be better than O.J.’s coverage. You’ll love it.”
“Well, I don’t know about this yet, Vince. But let’s talk about the first part for a minute. I’m supposed to walk out before a show?”
“Yeah. You’ve been wanting some vacation time, anyway. So go home. We’ll take your bio off the web site, so people will think you’re actually gone.”
“Vince, if I walk out of a show I’m supposed to work, I’d be in breach of contract. Wouldn’t you have to fire me?”
“Well, technically you WOULD be in breach, but that doesn’t mean we HAVE to fire you. Besides—everybody knows that you’re perfectly justified in walking out on a legally signed contract just because you’re ticked off about something.”
“So how do you explain me not being at the shows if I’m not fired?”
“We’ll say that you’re ‘no longer on the active roster.’ It SOUNDS like you’re fired, even though you’re not. We can’t lose you, Steve. You’re absolutely indispensable to this company. Why, we might as well close up shop and not do any more shows if you’re not with the company. There’d be no point to it. Our shows NEED you.”
“But Vince, if we do this, I won’t BE on the shows.”
“You’ll be there in spirit. J.R. and the King will talk about you. Other wrestlers can cut promos about you. Fans will still hold up signs talking about you. They’ll still pay that ridiculous price that we charge for your T-shirts. And they’ll still yell ‘WHAT’ every time I go to the ring. Don’t worry. We’ll bring you back in a year or so.”
“A YEAR? I went through all that rehab so I can sit home and NOT wrestle for a YEAR?”
“Sure. It’s all part of the plan.”
“Let me see if I’ve got this straight. I’m so important to the shows that you want me OFF the shows for a year. I’m supposed to go home, smack Debra around, have her call the police and file a false report, and have the whole world think that I’m a wife-beater and a prima donna who walked out on a contract. Reporters for an NBC affiliate and for major international news services are going to take your bribes and print bogus stories about all of this. And word that this is all a work will never leak out from anywhere.”
“That’s right. So tell me, Steve—what do you think?”
At this point, my source was silenced by my flyswatter-wielding son, so I never found out what Austin’s reply was. But he loved it, I’m sure, because we’ve all seen it happen this week. Austin and McMahon have us all fooled. It’s all a work.
The people in the chat room told me so. And I believe them.
Don’t you?
Class dismissed.
PIN Phony Rumor of The Week: Austin leaves wrestling for good—tries out for American Idol! (Thanks to Clarke Westby)
(Email to TheProfessor11@hotmail.com. Feel free to submit possibilities for the Phony Rumor of the Week. If your rumor is used in the Classroom, you will win…absolutely nothing. But you WILL feel better about yourself.)
The Professor
TheProfessor11@hotmail.com
Linda’s Thoughts
By: Linda Robin
Lvaccarp@hotmail.com
Nothing like getting up in the morning and checking out your email. The first thing I see is Linda you have to read this please read this. I’m thinking this has to be bad news. Sure I’m the one who always sees the glass half empty so naturally I’m thinking the worst. And this time I was right. A close friend of mine emailed me the shocking news about Steve Austin beating up Debra. I was floored. Ok, I wasn’t totally awake but I have to say this news really opened up my eyes. I kept reading the details. She called the police and Austin had left. Debra had marks on her back and a welt under her eye. Well I checked the sites immediately hoping this was wrong. The more I read the more horrifying it became. Debra stated she was afraid to call police because of who Steve is, and she stated that this has happened before.
Well this is the last thing I expected to write about today. I planned on talking about the interviews with Vince and JR on Confidential last night, but that all seems kind of minor compared to the latest going on about Austin. I will say that after watching the show last night I for one sensed that Austin was done, and there was no way he would be welcomed back. Then again in this business anything can happen but I have to say Vince handled himself very well and JR looked totally down and truly saddened by the way Steve has behaved in the last few months. For me this was all done very well. In a way the thought of Austin not returning is rather sad yet I really feel Vince is doing the right thing. So I went to bed knowing that Raw would no longer feature Stone Cold Steve Austin.
But since reading the sad news of possible spousal abuse, it shows me that Stone Cold is a very sick man. And I don’t think his troubles started during Wrestlemania, I have a feeling this has been going on for while. As a female this subject sickens me, no man should take his anger and frustrations out on a woman. If these allegations turn out true than I hope Austin pays dearly for what he did to Debra. I read she didn’t press charges, I wish she would have not only for her safety but to keep him locked up and maybe get him the help he needs. God I can’t believe I’m even writing about this. Wow this has really emotionally gotten to me. I looked at him as being so in control so together, but these past few months has shown that Steve is anything but in control.
I don’t know if we will ever get any reasons why this has happened, but I do feel that within the last year Austin’s character took a nosedive. From the time he turned heel and joined Hunter for short time things didn’t seem to click so well. When Hunter was out from his quad injury Angle and Austin did seem to click. We had a singing Austin, an Austin hugging Vince and as funny as it was week after week I wanted to see the tough guy back. We then saw the WHAT start with Steve and boy did that pick up, but the more he became a heel at least for me the more boring it became. I don’t think Austin was extremely happy about turning heel either, I believe in a WWF interview a while back he made a comment saying that a heel turn was something he wouldn’t want to do again.
So I think this was coming on for a while. Of course there are so many other things that could have contributed to basically the demise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, I’m just looking at it from a wrestling standpoint. If the character change it what set him off then that’s really a tragedy. He is close to Vince and I can’t see why these two couldn’t have talked it out? But then again I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. I guess I just can’t see how one of WWE’s top stars could just go off the way he has. But unfortunately something did snap and now many of his fans are left wondering how could this happen?
As they say the show will go on, fans will continue to watch but things won’t be the same for awhile. Hey what’s a Monday night without the Rattlesnake? I guess we will all start finding out. And again if Austin is guilty of beating Debra I hope he gets the help he so needs. And I hope WWE does address the issue of spousal abuse and takes a strong stance against it and in no way makes excuses for Steve’s actions. This incident will be sucked up big time by the main stream media, although I have to admit that so far I haven’t heard anything out here in Chicago about it. Oh what a field day so many critics of wrestling are going to have. But hey who the hell cares, Steve’s actions don’t speak for the entire WWE roster. I just wish this was all a dream, it’s really a sad day for so many.
Linda Robin
Lvaccarp@hotmail.com
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