Hey everyone. Eddie here with another edition of News & Analysis. As I promised in the last one, I’ll take a look at the Highlight Reel segment from RAW and share my thoughts, but since I’m going to do another update, I figured why not give you the latest in pro wrestling. This is called NEWS & Analysis after all. 😀
For those who haven’t heard, the reason D-Von Dudley missed RAW was due to the death of his father. On behalf of TheBalrogsLair.com, I’d like to send our condolences to D-Von and his family. As far as D-Von goes, no word yet on when he will be back, but Monday RAW would be the latest in my opinion.
In an update on Bill Goldberg, the latest is that he’s still under medical attention and has tubes stuck in his arm. The fluid from the nasty infection he had will be drained out of his body either today or tomorrow. WWE is still not sure whether he’ll be at RAW this Monday or not, but nevertheless, if he makes it to the show, he will most definitely not wrestle.
I figured this was interesting, so I thought I’d let you know that in a recent radio interview, Kurt Angle stated that he expects to wrestle for four more years, and then call it quits. I definitely think that Kurt knows the condition of his body and his neck very well, and knowing him, maybe four years is kind of pushing it too. However, I’m pretty sure he’ll stick around for quite a while before having the career-ending surgery his neck needs.
The word going around the ‘net is that WWE has either signed Daffney (Shannon Ward) to a developmental deal, or the company definitely wants to do so. Most of you wrestling fans probably remember Daffney from WCW and her storyline with Krobar and David Flair. Speaking of Daffney herself, she has recently been visiting backstage at NWA-TNA events. As logic would have it, this will probably stop if WWE is serious about signing her.
Now we go to the “biggie.” As soon as I found out that Shawn Michaels will be the guest on the Highlight Reel and that he’s going to talk about the 1997 Screwjob, I figured out that this will be a very interesting segment. WWE has on many occasions in the past touched on the events of 1997, but in the past few years never really did anything like what they did with the Reel on RAW. I honestly expected that we’re going to have an appearance by Vince McMahon or Bret Hart. That’s how much into it I was. I guess reality wasn’t setting in. Before I go on, I’ll just tell you that the segment was great at the beginning. It had a good feel to it, and the tension was heating up very nice. The ending was shitty. Plain and simple. It really did kill everything. Overall, I’d say “thumbs down” for that just because of the ending they had. They actually had me going at the beginning that something might happen (Bret/Vince showing, etc.).
Was WWE right by making a segment based on something that happened 6 years ago? Hell yeah. I’ve read a lot of feedback on other sites and opinions of other people on-line. Many seem to believe that doing the segment showed the weaknesses of the creative team. I don’t see it that way. I am not saying that what they did was original, but I can’t blame them for it. An audience that isn’t able to move on from chanting “You screwed Bret!” for six years now doesn’t deserve anything else. Yes, it hurts, and yes it was something unbelievable, but just because of that it’ll never be forgotten or scratched from history. That doesn’t mean you have to chant it every single night WWE is in your city. The Canadian crowd needs to learn that they are not special in any way, and that in this industry sometimes it’s not meant for the audience to decide what goes on. Yes, the fans’ reaction is the most important thing, definitely, but not when it’s forced.
The way I see it, WWE didn’t do anything wrong last Monday night. Yes, I will say that I felt the spot itself wasn’t anything big. The ending was shitty, and the way they addressed the issue was a bit odd. But still… They didn’t show a weakness in themselves by digging in their past. They showed a weakness of their fans who never came to be. Montreal, please, follow Jerry Lawler’s words for once, and leave 1997. We would gladly accept you here in 2003. Also, stop saying “Twwwwoooooooo.” It’s as irritable as your “You screwed Bret” chants.
P.S. — Shawn Michaels did NOT screw Bret Hart. Vince McMahon did.
Thanks for reading. See ya.
Eddie
