Countdown To Wrestlemania 24: Wrestlemania XIX

Wrestlemania XIX was held in Seattle, Washingtona that night the WWE set an attendance record for at Safeco Field with 54,097 fans from all fifty states in the venue. Wrestlemania XIX saw the Wrestlemania debut of Rey Mysterio, Victoria, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Chavo Guerrero and Brock Lesnar. Hulk Hogan picked up his first Wrestlemania win since 1993 when he defeated Mr. McMahon in a Street Fight. The WWE Tag Team Championship was defended for the first time in Wrestlemania history when the Self-Proclaimed World’s Greatest Tag Team successfully defended the titles against Los Guerreros and Rhyno & Chris Benoit. The World Tag Team Championship was defended on Sunday Night HEAT just prior to WrestleMania XIX. In the match Chief Morley & Lance Storm successfully defended against Kane & Rob Van Dam.

When The Rock battled Stone Cold at Wrestlemania XIX, it marked the third time these two greats battled each other at Wrestlemania. It was the first time The Rock came out victorious. This match was a swan song for both Stone Cold and The Rock as it was the final time they would face each other in the ring and was the final Wrestlemania appearance as an active member of the WWE roster for both. Stone Cold has not wrestled since Wrestlemania XIX, The Rock would have his last singles match as a member of the WWE roster month later at Backlash when he was defeated by Goldberg.

Wrestlemania XIX was the first time that both the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE Championship were on the line on the same Wrestlemania card. In the World Heavyweight Championship match, Triple H defeated Booker T to retain his title. In the WWE Championship match, Brock Lesnar who was the first superstar since Ric Flair to make his Wrestlemania debut in the main event defeated defending champ Kurt Angle.

The Date:

• March 30, 2003

The Card:

• Cruiserweight Championship
  Matt Hardy def. Rey Mysterio to retain
• Handicap Match
  Undertaker def. Big Show and A-Train
• Triple Threat Women’s Championship Match
  Trish Stratus def. Jazz and Victoria to become new champion
• Triple Threat WWE Tag Team Championship Match
  Team Angle def. Los Guerreros and Chris Benoit & Rhyno to retain
• Shawn Michaels def. Chris Jericho
• Cat Fight
  Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson and the Miller Light Cat Fight girls went to a no contest
• World Heavyweight Championship Match
  Triple H w/ Ric Flair def. Booker T to retain
• Street Fight
  Hollywood Hogan def. Mr. McMahon
• The Rock def. Stone Cold
• WWE Championship Match
  Brock Lesnar def. Kurt Angle to become new champion

Celebrities In Attendance:

• Limp Bizkit
• Miller Lite Catfight Girls
• Ashanti

After the break see Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels, The Rock vs Stone Cold in there final confrontation, Booker T vs Triple H(c) for the World Heavyweight Championship, and Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle(c) for the WWE Championship……………….

TNA Impact Discussion: Homicide v. Sonjay Dutt

So TNA’s big match this week is Homicide v. Sonjay Dutt. That’s what they are pushing for Impact? Hmm. Actually, this might bode well for the show if they have two X Division wrestlers taking center stage. I’ll definitely watch!

Also, Sharmell will be returning to Impact. I’m sure Robert Roode will show up and continue the never-ending feud. It’s like the “Neverending Story,” but not as good. Ha!

Finally, AJ Styles is brining a special guest to the Impact zone. I’m hoping it’s one of those alligators from that place he and Karen visited a few weeks back. AJ Styles v. an alligator in a no-ropes mat wrestling contest. That’s some ratings right there. He’d totally hit that alligator with a Pele!

Videos of the Day: Booker T & Golust Collection……SUCKA!

Bonus. Goldberg wears a wig.

WWE/TNA: Notes and rumors. SPOILER ALERT!!!!

WWE

Change in Flair storyline
The angle of the “Road of retirement” of Flair is going thru various changes being this the reason that Flair wasn’t on TV this past Monday.

There are still no details but it seems the story line will go turn into a minor story other than planned.

End of ECW story
Vinny Mac made the decision to end the Balls Mahoney/Kelly Kelly storyline because they see a lot of potential in her and they believe it’s wrong to associate her with a wrestler at this moment.

In addition, there has been talks to move her to one of the other shows.

TNA

Notes and rumors of the company
-The ex race car driver Hermie Sader will be a permanent commentator next to Don West and Mike Tenay (These guys will never learn)

-Up to this moment they have no interest in Chris Masters

-Reports say Samoa Joe apologies for his comments on Turning Point what’s interesting is that he was not part of the recordings for the next two shows.

-It is being rumored Judas Mesias Vs Abyss for the January PPV.

TNA show recordings. SPOILER!!! DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU HATE SPOILERS!!

In the recordings for the December 13 show, Judas Mesias makes his return to TNA when in a segment James Mitchell calls Abyss to come to the ring but of course it’s a trap and Mesias leaves Abyss bloodied in the ring.

Scott Steiner beats BG James, Petey Williams and Christopher Daniels. The wrestlers open their briefcases from Turning Point (Daniels wins his from Senshi) Steiner gets a shot at the X Division title, Williams for the World title and BG for the tag titles and Daniels is out of the company.

Kaz over Relik. After the match Black Reign comes out attacks Kaz and puts the rat on him.(Flashbacks of Jake the Snake done way better!)

Booker over Chris Harris

Black Machismo over Johnny Devine

Robert Roode and Angle over Christian Cage in a handicap match. The heels keep on atacking and AJ Styles comes down but doesn’t make the save. (About time!)

Mr. Kennedy Says It’s Not His Fault His Doctor Was A Quack

An interview with Ken Kennedy was published in the Charleston Post-Courier yesterday. When asked about the suspension due to his name showing up on the Signature Pharmacy list Kennedy had this to say:

“I had a legitimate medical reason to have it. How was I supposed to know my doctor’s a quack? I was injured and had a legitimate reason. I tore my lat in 2005. I had surgery, went home and had a staph infection that I almost died from. I lost about 45 pounds in about three days. I had a legitimate medical reason for having it, however my name turned up on that list. Vince and the company’s hands were tied. They had to suspend me….It’s one of those things. But stuff happens in this business. I’m going to learn from my mistakes. I’m not going to make that same mistake again. I’m just going to keep pushing on and moving forward.”

This is an interesting excuse but I’m not sure I’m completely buying it. Kennedy was severely injured and did have a staff infection but if these injuries did require the use of steroids or other human growth hormones then shouldn’t they have been prescribed by the doctor that treated and operated on him not this shady Internet site. It’s not the steroid use that bothers me(these are grown men that know the consequences of there actions) what bothers me is the crazy stories that these guys come up with after there caught. Kennedy says he needed the drugs due to an injury, Chris Masters says he doesn’t know how he failed that second test and Booker T even said during a recent TNA conference call interview he may have been the victim of a conspiracy(here’s the link). Do these guys honestly think were that stupid? Anyway, you can read the full article on Mr. Kennedy’s official web site.

–sideshowRaheem

New Podcast: Lex and Ian discuss Booker T, ROH, Turning Point

Episode 121 of Pro Wrestling Blog v2.0’s Official Podcast is now online, featuring:

• Lex and Ian’s thoughts on Booker T-N-A…

Also, check out the new Pro Wrestling Blog v2.0 at www.thenewpwb.com. If you’d like to post, shoot me an e-mail at prowrestlingblog@yahoo.com or send me a myspace message at myspace.com/prowrestlingblog.

Bookdust video #3 with The Rock

This time Goldust is the Rock and asks Booker if he “smells what the Rock is cooking”, that is until the Rock shows up and then pure gold people,pure gold.

The Rock says that he’s the “jabroni beating,pie eating…….people’s champ.”

Booker in reply says that he’s the “cheque cashing,sucka thrashing………wcw champ.”

The kicker is when Goldust says that he’s the “gold wearing,oh so daring…” and then the rock tells him to stop touching himself!

Bookdust video # 2

Presenting another bookdust video.This one starts with goldust pissed off that Mike Myers is goldmember in the Austin powers movie so he brings out ‘minidust’ to rip-off ‘mini-me’.Booker’s cool until minidust starts to…..

The Bookdust video

Booker T “yo man you seen this gold freak come in here”.That’s how this starts.The bookdust promos are among the best comedy promos in wrestling.This one’s got a bit of innuendo so kids beware.Pure LMAO all the way!

2 Damn Good Videos

Here is the debut of Booker T at Genesis from 3 days ago.You should watch it quickly because TNA is on the hunt to delete it.I had a lot of difficulty finding it and it’s especially for those who didn’t watch Genesis.This was like I said ‘The Electricity moment’.I wonder if Goldust/Black reign/Dustin Rhodes will get together with him and cut weird promos.That would be awesome.Shop of horrors+”demonic creature”+rat in a bag+can you dig it sucka=LMAO.

This is another video but it features Y2J in one of his best promos eeeever.This was the one when he called Stephanie Mcmahon “the queen of the planet of the filthy,dirty,disgusting,brutual,bottom feeding,trash bag h*’s”.

Can you dig it sucka!

Oh yeah.Booker T is scheduled to make an appearance tonight as Sting’s mystery partner on Genesis.This may not be huge news but it’s still pretty big.I still don’t understand why some people have said that this is a retrograde step.Some of you even called him a ‘wwe cast off ‘ and a ‘washed up guy’.You guys obviously don’t know anything about Booker or his in ring skills.

This guy is an asset to any organization.He works hard,wrestles
well and can cut a superb promo PLUS he can raise his pinky better than most.He could even start calling Samoa Joe as ‘Samoan Joseph’.That’s priceless.I will manage to watch Genesis.I ‘d like to see how TNA follows up BFG.Should be a good sunday night.

TNA’s answer for saveus_222

On the TNA website, one of their videos featuring Scott Hall and Kevin Nash talking and then Sting appearing. At the very end it says: moc.a07n11t11.www//ptth If you reverse it, you find a URL http://www.11t11n07a.com/.

If you visit the website, you’ll find a jigsaw puzzle featuring Sting. Once you arrange the pieces, you’ll also find there are numerous “spray painted” words on it, including Borden, HUFFMAN (spelled backwards), GENESIS and November.

This looks to be TNA’s answer to SAVEUS_222 and would seem to indicate that former WCW and WWE World champion Booker T (real name Booker Huffman) is debuting this Sunday.

pwinsider.com

Wow TNA do you think it would be to much trouble to come up with something orginal? I get it you want to try and trump WWE’s big surprise return with this. Just copying what they are already doing just comes off as looking desperate and sad. People who watch TNA are doing so because they want something different than what the WWE is giving them. Your supposed to be trying to be better than the competition not just some cheap imitation. Give us something orginal. Give us a damn reason to watch your show and care about it.

Booker T Was In The Impact Zone Last Night,news

Booker T was in the impact zone last night during the impact tapings.This has been confirmed.A lot of people saw him last night talking and hanging out with many other wrestlers.Scott hall also made an appearance and he came out on the show to tell everyone that he was not Sting’s partner at Genesis.It has however been more or less confirmed that Booker T will be partnering Sting in the world title match at Genesis against Nash and Angle.

Junior Fatu/Rikishi has left TNA.Officials were pissed at him because he was asking for more money and so they let him go.

Undertaker challenged Batista to a hell in a cell match at the Smackdown taping last night.I don’t think it will happen at survivor series because the Armageddon poster clearly shows Batista as the champ.If it does then I guess it makes sense that Edge shows up and cuts the cell with a chainsaw.

Chris Jericho did not show up like the newspaper article said.He may come back only at Armageddon.

Book T. Talks About, His Suspension, HHH, And Leaving The WWE

The Orlando Sentinel did an interview with now former WWE superstar Booker T. here some of the highlights.

On His Suspension: “I feel that I wasn’t protected by the (WWE)…. I feel like I got suspended without just cause. I feel like it wasn’t right, and that’s the reason why I chose to leave WWE because in order to protect my reputation, I have to believe in something.” He went on to say “I’ve never heard my name come up in any scandals or anything like that,” he says. “You’ve never heard of Booker T having a late-night party or was drunk on the town naked. I’ve been a total role model as far as my professional wrestling career goes. I just want to keep it that way. I’ve got a lot of fans out there. A lot of kids look up to me.”

On The difference between RAW & SmackDown: “My time on Smackdown, it was a great run… It was beautiful, just pushing for whoever was the champion over there. We really didn’t care who was the champion. There were no politics, no hassles. Then going back over to Raw, it was like a dark cloud coming over. I just knew it wasn’t the place where I wanted to be. There are a whole lot of politics. You have to deal with a lot of garbage. I just knew, for my mental state, it wasn’t going to be a good place.”

On his match with HHH at SummerSlam: “That’s where the business part comes in, the politics come in. I really feel like it should have been me and Jerry Lawler at Summerslam. I’m a professional, and I go out there and do my job. It wasn’t what it could have been. I can honestly say I have never watched that match on tape because I felt like my body was out there but my mind wasn’t.”

I really like Booker T. but he’s starting to loose me here he claims he’s innocent of any wrong doing in the steroids thing but gives no explanation as to why his name was on a list of wrestlers who purchased drugs from a shady doctor. Then he goes on to say that he would have had a better match against Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam, Lawer’s a legend but even in his hey day he was not a very good wrestler defiantly no were near as good in the ring as HHH. Sounds like Booker had an issue with HHH if that’s the case fine, but say so don’t tell me you honestly think you could have had a better match against a 57-year-old retired Jerry Lawler then against HHH. Anyway he also said in the interview that he’s not retired so maybe he”ll jump to TNA then we’ll see how he feels about jobbing out to Kurt Angle.

–sideshowRaheem

New Podcast: SrC Co-Hosts; Samoa Joe Controversy, Bound For Glory and ROH: Driven Reviews, Feedback

Episode 114 of Pro Wrestling Blog v2.0’s Official Podcast is now online, featuring:

• SrC’s return to Co-Hosting duties…
• Lex and SrC’s take on Booker T and Davari’s releases, as well as the WWE Cyber Sunday Card…
• Lex and SrC’s discussion on the Samoa Joe/Kenny Omega controversy from Premiere Championship Wrestling in Canada…
• Lex and SrC’s reviews of TNA Bound For Glory and Ring of Honor: Driven…
• Listner Feedback…

(NOTE: I had to reduce the audio quality on this show due to the length. For some reason, that resulted in me sounding like Sylvester the Cat. Don’t ask me why.)

If you prefer to stream this podcast, you may do so at its Internet Archive Page.

Thanks to The English for the pics of WWE’s attemps at covering up Chris Benoit’s face on their toy packaging:

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