World Wilson Entertainment

[ZJ Penn]

by Dave Meltzer

As previously reported, we announced that this week would see the introduction of the fortnightly Wrestling Observer reports on the world of professional wrestling. This week sees us open with an extensive look at one of the lucrative sides of wrestling, the merchandising. The report mainly focuses on the WWE, but will also look at some other promotions and who their ‘poster child’ is. The statistics are correct as of the date published, with sales percentages cumulative as of the start of 2006:

The WWE divide their merchandise sales by the wrestler and also into percentages.

Shawn Michaels - 20% [‘of total sales’]

Quite somewhat surprisingly, The Heartbreak Kid is WWE’s number one merchandise seller of 2006 so far. HBK has been an ever popular figure with the WWE fans continually since he broke into the World Championship set-up in the early nineties, and his popularity has never looked back. Also being part of such memorable storylines and feuds as he has, particularly his time with legendary stable D-Generation X, has made him an extremely marketable figure within the company. One of his main reasons as to why he has been so popular this year, is the feud he was involved in along with Vince and Shane McMahon. It appears that even though he hasn’t been involved in the title picture for years now, his popularity shows no signs of slowing down.

John Cena - 15%

The current WWE Champion is the second highest grossing merchandise seller, albeit the majority of it being sold in the first six months of the year during his face reigns as champion. Post heel turn, the amount sold is still high, but not as much as before. The large amount sold is attributed for two reasons; children are largely one of the biggest target markets for the WWE and also Cenas fan base in general and he has a large number of ‘catchphrases’ which always sell well, such as ‘Ruck Fules’ and ‘The Chain Gang’. It is unlikely this figure will be the same next year.

Rey Mysterio - 14%

One of the more expected entries this time is current WWE and United States Champion Rey Mysterio. His fairly large share of the merchandise sales comes at no surprise considering that ever since the unfortunate death of Eddie Guerrero in late 2005, the WWE have pushed the cruiserweight to the moon and beyond. Wins over people such as Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, John Bradshaw Layfield and Randy Orton have proved this and pushed his popularity to new heights. Also, those little kids just can’t get enough of replica Rey Mysterio masks can they?

Rob Van Dam - 13%

Another unexpected entry is the 2006 Money In The Bank winner, Rob Van Dam. Despite having always being well liked by the fans in WWE, it is expected that the majority of these sales are coming from fans of former promotion ECW, of who RVD tended to be their favourite

All of these superstars sold a lot less than above four, but still more than most at 4% each:

Ric Flair - 4%

Despite his popularity beginning to wane with the influx of new types of fans in the wrestling world, Flair still remains popular in the merchandise stakes. Just a shame they don’t sell replica robes on WWE.com

Kurt Angle - 4%

Kurt Angle is without doubt one of the most popular guys on the roster. Like Batista, this proved by the fact that even though he hasn’t wrestled as much as he’d have liked this year, his merchandise is still selling

Hulk Hogan - 4% & The Undertaker - 4%

If there were ever two guys whose merchandise will sell well even when they only make less than ten appearances between them in a year, its these two. Hogan hasn’t been anywhere near a WWE ring for months now, and The Undertaker, despite being much more active since the new management took over, has hardly been a workhorse. Still, its arguable that there isn’t two more popular guys on the roster, if not the world.

Edge - 4%

One guy whose become a main player in the merchandise stakes since he burst into the title scene in 2006 is Edge. Having won the title in January, beaten Mick Foley under hardcore rules in arguably the match of WrestleMania 22 and now engaging in a feud with RVD, Edge is now considered to be up there at the top level of professional wrestling.

Batista - 4%

Having only wrestled a handful of matches in 2006, the rest of the time being out with an injury for months, this figure is pretty impressive. With the hugely popular nickname ‘The Animal’, it is expected once he gets back into full flow that this figure will be on the rise.

The final 15% of sales is compromised of other workers merchandise, PPV items and WWE affiliated paraphernalia.

Also, we can reveal that TNA’s biggest merchandise this year so far to be in an absolute non-shocker, Sting. Since signing for the promotion earlier, the TNA fans have lapped his character up, which is shown by the sales figures.

Finally, the following can be revealed to be the biggest merchandise sellers in all other North American promotions:

Cult Promotions

- AAA = Vampiro

- Combat Zone Wrestling = D’Lo Brown

- CMLL = L.A. Par-K

- IWA: Puerto Rico = Vampiro (That’s right, again. Popular guy)

- Ring Of Honour = AJ Styles

Regional Promotions

-Border City Wrestling = D’Lo Brown (Another double entry, have to admit, this surprised me)

- CWF Mid Atlantic = Steve Corino

- East Coast Wrestling Association = Xavier

- Full Impact Pro = Sean Waltman

- Heartland Wrestling Association = Cody Hawk

- International Wrestling Cartel = Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler

- International Wrestling Syndicate = Justin Credible

- IWA East Coast = Violent J

- IWA Mid-Atlantic = Ichiro Yaguchi

- Jersey All Pro Wrestling = Charlie Haas

- New York Wrestling Connection = Jerry Lynn

- NWA Anarchy = Jimmy Rave

- NWA: Cyberspace = Chris Harris

- NWA: Great Championship Wrestling = Abismo Negro

- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla = AJ Styles (Another double, although this one was a lot more predictable)

- Pro Wrestling Unplugged = The Sandman

- Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1 = Steve Corino (Another predictable double)

- Ultimate Pro Wrestling = Sean O’Haire

- World Wrestling Council = James Storm

Small Promotions

- Chaotic Wrestling = N/A due to change in ownership

- CHIKARA = Tomoaki Honma (?)

- Extreme Canadian Championship Wrestling = Honky Tonk Man

- NWA: Pro Wrestling Express = Crusher Hansen

- World League Wrestling = Ace Steel

- World Xtreme Wrestling = Samu

Thats it for this report. Join us in two weeks time for the $100,000 +

The richest guys in wrestling.

[ZJ Penn]

RAW Preview For Monday 7th August 2006

Last week on Monday Night RAW saw the WWE Champion John Cena turn on his ‘partner’ Triple H after together they once again beat down on former World Heavyweight Champion Batista. After the match, Cena revealed that the only reason that he was teaming with HHH was because it made his job of disposing of The Animal twice as easy, and now that he has done that, The Game is useless to him. This week, HHH has the opportunity to exact a small manner of revenge on his attacker, when they meet inside the squared circle in a non-title match. Earlier in the day, WWE.com had the chance to catch up with the ten time World Champion, who had harsh words for Cena. He told us that he doesn’t blame Cena for what he did, as now that Batista has been put in his place, it was only a matter of time before there was a bust up. However, he also explained to us that it doesn’t mean that he is going to get away with what he did, and tonight in his words, “He is going to find out why they call me The Game, because I am…that…damn…good!!!”. one superstar who will be pleased by the recent turn of events is the third contender to the WWE title later this month at Summerslam, Dave Batista. The Animal has been on the receiving end of numerous assaults by the due, and whilst he might not be afraid of fighting both men, deep down he must feel some relief that its once again every man for themselves once more.

Final RAW draft lottery pick Booker T also makes his debut on tonight’s show in singles competition. After making the announcement that him and Shawn Michaels would face each other at the joint PPV Summerslam on the 27th of this month, will Booker have any more words for The Heart Break Kid? Or is HBK set to return to RAW for the first time since being granted a few weeks to rest up since his hellacious inferno match with the now Smackdown superstar Kane? One point that could also be interesting is that Bookers opponent for tonight’s show is none other than Goldust, whom Booker T held the tag team titles with a number of years ago. Could this lead to a confrontation of a different kind, or does Booker still harbour some goodwill to The Golden One? The big matches simply continue to come tonight as 2006 King Of The Ring Lashley teams up with the monstrous seven footer The Big Show to take on the Intercontinental Champion Carlito, and his opponent for this Augusts PPV, Ken Kennedy. After claiming last week on RAW that he had heard big things about Lashley, Show has the perfect opportunity to check him out tonight when they team up for the very first time. Another issue in this match is that of the one between Carlito and Kennedy. The two are set to square off at the end of the month, although confrontation here tonight seems inevitable with both men attacking one another in recent weeks as well as costing each other big matches also. One of these matches was when a spot of Carlito interference cost Kennedy a victory over currently undefeated superstar Umaga. Umaga will not have the opportunity to boost his streak tonight as acting RAW General Manager Vince McMahon hasn’t scheduled for him to be in action at the show. However, Armando Allejandro Estrada has told WWE.com that the person who is behind these videos that they should show themselves soon, or risk Umagas unrepentant wrath. Finally, tonight’s show is opened by the ECW Open Challenge, when Edge has promised that he will take on another superstar from what he considers to be ‘…the most overrated wrestling promotion on the planet, if you can call it wrestling…’. So far Edge has claimed to be better than anything that ECW could offer, and its been hard to prove him wrong up till now, beating everyone who has answered his open challenge, under their own rules. However this could all change tonight, as The Rated R Superstars opponent is still unknown, and with ECW extremists such as ‘The Innovator Of Violence’ Tommy Dreamer, ECW Phenomenon Terry Funk, even ‘The Hardcore Legend’ Mick Foley still possibilities to answer the challenge, Edge may be in for a shock tonight. And as we all know, anything can happen in the WWE!

Can John Cena play The Game and win? Is Booker T all set for a RAW debut victory? Just what will Lashley make of The Big Show? Can Carlito and Ken Kennedy co-exist as a tag team? Will Edge grab another victory over the ECW faithful? Find out tonight, live, only on Monday Night RAW!!!

Confirmed Matches:

- John Cena Vs Triple H (Non-Title)

- Booker T Vs Goldust

- Lashley & The Big Show Vs Carlito & Ken Kennedy

- ECW Open: Edge Vs ????

[ZJ Penn]

The following match results are taken from the Sunday Night Heat Web cast:

- The New Wave once again defended their titles against The Spirit Squad after their attempted interference backfired. Afterwards, they again argued inside the ring about whose fault it was

- Booker T was interviewed by Josh Matthews, who asked him if he thought Shawn Michaels would be at the arena for RAW. The Book Man told him he didn’t care one bit, as he was going to have to show up eventually and get his ‘butt kicked’ by the five-time WCW Champion

- Chris Masters defeated Roadkill with The Masterlock

- Rob Conway pinned Snitsky with the Ego Trip after hitting a low blow

[ZJ Penn]

With Summerslam only less than three weeks away, condition is all important to the superstars of both RAW and Smackdown, and no-one will have gone home happier than Batista tonight, after his opponents at Augusts PPV took each other apart at this evenings show. The main event saw both John Cena and Triple H face off in a non-title match, with The Game looking to get revenge after our WWE Champion hit with an FU last week. Revenge was indeed what he got, scoring with dozens of right hands, a Harley Race style knee to the face and a Spine Buster with shades of Arn Anderson before the opening bell had even sounded. Cena was somehow able to survive this initial onslaught however, and get back into the match with a sneaky low blow. Both superstars had equal opportunities to put the match to bed, with both a Cena Superplex and a HHH Inverted Indian Deathlock both coming close to ending the contest. Inevitably however, neither man wanted to lose going into the final few weeks before their WWE Championship match, and the passion spilled to the outside. As the referee carried on his count, neither man would let the other back into the ring, dragging them back to the concrete to bounce their skull off of the steel steps or try some other career shortening method. Eventually, referee Jack Doane had no other option than to call the match draw as a result of a double count out. Even then the fight wouldn’t stop, both men continuing to beat the life out of one another with whatever they could find, finally getting back into the ring where The Game attempted a Pedigree but was back dropped out of it. The music of The Animal, Batista then hit and he made his way to ringside! Instead of entering the fracas however, he simply waited on the outside, deciding to let his opponents do his job for them and watched them continue to brutally assault one another with a smile on his face. This only lasted for a couple more minutes though until the show went off if the air, showing the officials from the back trying to tear them apart.

Another Monday Night RAW, another return of a big superstar. Prior to the main event, Booker T took on former tag team partner Goldust in singles competition in his ‘Return To RAW’ debut match. Despite being pegged back on the defensive for a lot of the match against a highly charged Golden One, Booker was able to get the victory tonight after flipping out of the Curtain Call and scoring with a low blow which the referee missed and then the Book End for the three. After the match continued to celebrate in the ring with his Spin-a-roonie, that is until, the theme music of Shawn Michaels brought the crowd to its feet! Expecting an attack from The Heartbreak Kid, Booker leapt to his feet but it never came. Instead, HBK simply strolled out onto the stage casually with a microphone. He told him that he heard his interview on Heat, about how he was going to take Michaels out because he was a five-time WCW Champion. HBK then went onto say that he’s got news for him, because he is a multiple time WWE Champion, an Intercontinental Champion, and if that isn’t enough, the first ever Grand Slam Champion!!! He said that he’s sick of people coming here and trying to use HBK as a notch into making themselves a legend. Which is why at Summerslam, when they go one-on-one, this ‘five-time dubya see dubya’ champion is going to find out why so many have tried, and so many have failed to take his place in this business. Shawn then returned to the back, leaving Booker alone and embarrassed in the ring.

Four superstars competed in tag team action tonight, as Lashley and The Big Show teamed up to face Carlito and Ken Kennedy. Whilst everyone was well aware of the score to settle between Kennedy and the Intercontinental Champion, I don’t think anyone, especially Lashley, was aware that Big Show had a bone to pick with the 2006 King Of The Ring. The match was a tightly contested affair, with Lashley and Show obviously being the much more powerful team of the two, their opponents had to try and use their speed advantage to get the better of them. Kennedy even thought he had the match won at one point, when he ducked a clothesline and rolled up The Big Show for what could have been a ten count. However, the referee had noticed a blind tag made by Carlito and refused to count. The match finished under controversial circumstances. After Big Show made the tag to a fresh Lashley, the IC Champion tried to tag out to Kennedy who smiled and got out of the way, before abandoning his ‘partner’ and returning to the back. A handicapped Carlito then went down to The Dominator and everyone in the arena and at home must have thought it was over, until Big Show blindsided Lashley, planting him with a Showstopper before dragging Carlito on top to get the pinfall! After the bell rang, both Show and Carlito continued to beat down the KOTR and Kennedy returned to the ring to try and make the save, although the numbers advantage was too great and he was hit with a Backcracker and a Showstopper to join Lashley on the canvas. Carlito and Kennedy still have their match at Summerslam, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this isn’t over between Big Show and Lashley either.

Just before the tag team match, the cameras cut to the back were Armando Allejandro Estrada and his savage Umaga were with Josh Matthews. He asked them what he thought about someone telling them each and every week that at Summerslam, their streak will begin again. Estrada responded furiously, telling him that Umaga has the greatest streak in sports entertainment and there was no way he would lose to someone who refuses to even show their face to them. He finished by telling whoever it is that he is going to make it official, at Summerslam Umaga will be holding another Open Invitational, and he had better show his face there. Finally, the show was opened with Edges ECW Open Challenge. In recent weeks it has been answered by former ECW stars such as Tajiri and Spike Dudley, although both were considered to be underdogs. Not tonight though, as the challenge was answered by multiple time ECW World Champion Sabu! The Rated R Superstar was clearly not expecting the genocidal, homicidal, suicidal one to appear and it showed, with Sabu taking an early advantage with a number of trash can shots and the Arabian Face-Buster to the back of the former WWE Champions head. Once more, Lita played an active part, hitting Sabu with a bin lid to break up the count. Sabu was simply angered by interference from Lita, even hitting her with Air Sabu in the corner to the crowds approval. The suicidal one looked to finish the bout off, going under the ring to retrieve a barbed wire steel chair! As he looked to hit what would have been a life threatening Arabian Face-Buster, Edge recovered in time to crotch him on the ropes and toss him to the canvas. From here Edge never looked back, using his variety of offence, including a Spear and the Edge-o-Matic, although to everyone’s surprise, Sabu showed impressive determination to kick out of every pinfall attempt by Edge. It was going to take something big to keep Sabu or Edge down for a three count, and it duly came. After a remarkable comeback from Sabu, he looked for what appeared to be a Piledriver onto the barbed wire chair, but Lita prevented it with a low blow, the former WWE Champion following up with his Edge-o-Cution Implant DDT onto the chair to keep him down for long enough. Edge had once again come out on top in a hellacious hardcore encounter, although once again it took Lita interference. After the bout, Edge got a microphone and said he wasn’t finished, saying he was going to send a message to all the ECW superstars who think they’re better than him. He then stuck Sabu’s neck in the chair and ascended to the top rope! Just as it appeared to be curtains for the ECW favourite, some familiar music hit and instead of looking at the stage, Edge should have glanced to the crowd, to see The Sandman coming to through the thousands in attendance!!! He hit the ring, Singapore Cane in hand, taking it to Edge and even Lita took a shot. The two were eventually beaten to the back by Sandman, leaving red and white lines across Edges back, as one former ECW World Champion helped another to his feet to a rapturous applause from the audience. It appears that Edge has already found his opponent for next weeks challenge!

Quick Results:

- John Cena and Triple H fought to a double count out

- Booker T pinned Goldust after hitting the Book End

- Carlito & Ken Kennedy beat Lashley & The Big Show after Show hit a Showstopper on his own partner

- ECW Open: Edge defeated Sabu with an Edge-o-Cution onto the barbed wire chair

Match Of The Night: John Cena Vs Triple H

[ZJ Penn]

TNA Go Global!!!/Claudio Castagnoli Injured/Other Signings

- Some absolutely huge news for all you wrestling fans today in that this morning Dixie Carter sent word from the TNA offices that, as has been expected for a while now, Total Non-stop Action Wrestling has indeed gone global! The move came after both flagship TV show TNA iMPACT and recap show TNA on Tuesdays performed well in the ratings for weeks now, and the supposed ‘true wrestling promotion’ gained a large fan base. Also the re-signing of former WCW star Sting didn’t harm the cause either. The move will delight fans who have been hoping for a ‘Big Two’ confrontation since the WWF and WCW wars ended back at the turn of the millennium, and will be hoping this means the WWE continues its refreshed product we have seen over recent weeks. The improved status of the promotion has also meant that more staff have been needed to be brought on board to improve production values mainly. One of the first people that TNA were quick to sign to a written deal was trainer Johnny Rodz, who is set to link up with younger workers to polish their talents. Richard Sylvain is another member of staff new to the company. He is considered to be one of the better writers in the industry at the minute and will be a big asset to the company, whose main weakness is arguably the angles and storylines they have going. Another referee has also been brought in to work alongside Earl Hebner and co. in the form of Jim Mollineaux. The 34 year old talented official is set to work on TNA on Tuesdays before officiating on iMPACT. Finally, TNA brought in another announcer to work for them in Bobby Boil. Boil will largely ring announce for the TNA on Tuesdays broadcasts, of which Armando Quintero previously did along with iMPACT.

The improved financial situation of the business has also allowed them to bring in some fresh, new talent on written deals, with EZ Money expected to sign a contract with them to work in the X Division later today. In a Vince McMahon-esque cutthroat manoeuvre, Carter has managed to secure the exclusive signing of former WWE worker Yoshihiro Tajiri. This will piss WWE management off no end, as not only was he recently part of the ECW angle running on RAW, but he had also been spotted working some house shows recently and was widely expected to be offered a written deal by them within the month. The signings don’t stop there however, as most people know, TNA’s major stars work only a few selective dates and are on open contracts, meaning that they are potential candidates for a WWE harvest at any time. Not anymore, as nearly all of TNA’s main event scene has agreed to work exclusively for them now with the increased reputation of the business. Perhaps the most notable being former WWE star Christian Cage. Reportedly earning over $100,000 a month now, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion is all set to be the figurehead of TNA for years to come. Surprisingly, the next set of superstars to be presented with written deals were in fact The James Gang, Kip and BG James. With rumours now flying around for months of a D-Generation X return in the WWE, Carter was quick to help dampen any impact that might have on his business by taking away two of its members. One long time TNA member who has signed a deal is Raven. It is no revelation that ‘Johnny Polo’ no longer shares Christmas cards with Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman and was quick to sign the contract. Other big names to have now signed to TNA include:

- Jeff Jarrett (Has creative control)

- Kevin Nash (Has creative control)

- Scott Steiner (Has creative control)

- Shane ‘The Franchise’ Douglas

- Konnan

- Simon Diamond

- Chris Harris

- Norman Smiley

- Ron Killings

- Elix Skipper

- Homicide

- James Mitchell

- James Storm

- Jackie Gayda (Miss Jackie)

- Monty Brown

- Abyss (Allegedly subject to a bidding war with them and the WWE)

- Gail Kim

- Larry Zybysko

- Dory Funk Jr. (Terry is expected to follow suit in the near future)

As you can see, that’s an extensive list, which should make for some interesting viewing, although cuts will most likely need to be made, as they simply do not have enough air time to have everyone appear. However, if TNA are unable to adapt to the global market, then they may struggle financially.

As of yet, TNA and WWE have yet to begin a ratings war, but experts are saying that it cant be far away.

- Some more unfortunate news now, that Claudio Castagnoli has been pulled from all independent bookings in the next two months due to an eye injury suffered in an incident outside of the ring. We wish him all the best and hope he is back in action soon.

- As well as TNA splashing the cash, various smaller promotions have also brought a couple of new faces in to work some dates with them. First of all, Pro-Wrestling WORLD-1 have brought in both Hirotaka Yokoi and El Samurai. Both Japanese all-rounders, it is considered they may even work some matches together ahead of monthly event W-1 Genocide. NWA: Great Championship Wrestling have also signed two new faces, Shinjiro Otani and Danny Doring. Doring, who was linked with WWE when the ECW revival talk was going on, is expected to go straight into their main event scene. Johnny Kashmere has also jumped ship from NWA: Cyberspace to appear for NWAGCW. The charismatic high flyer is said to have wanted to work with Justin Credible who is also a regular with the federation. Speaking of Justin Credible, he has also abandoned plans to work for the International Wrestling Syndicate in favour of a move to CMLL, home of long time friend Scott Hall. Three other workers jumping ship so to speak are Jun Akiyama who has left NWAGCW for AAA, a business which he claims to ‘suit his style’, Matt Stryker who has also left NWAGCW in favour of a move to Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Latin Lover, who has decided to work for the World Wrestling Council rather than W-1. Ring Of Honour have brought in Lance Storm, Lash LeRoux has gone to Border City Wrestling, and Lioness Asuka has agreed to do some dates with IWS. CWF Mid-Atlantic have attempted to raise their profile once more, this time through the signing of Tiger Mask IV. Full Impact Pro have also made a double signing, this time bringing in Kentaro Shiga and Kaos. Finally, NWA Cyberspace quickly got over there loss of Johnny Kashmere by making arrangements with four workers to make a few appearances. Bob Backlund, Jonny Fairplay, Steve Bradley and Lodi have all agreed to appear, with Backlund expected to become the promotions in-ring authority figure, despite still able to wrestle a decent amateur style match.

- Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back with any TNA updates as and when we get them.

[ZJ Penn]

Smackdown Preview For Friday 11th August 2006

Its only been 13 days since Rey Mysterio fought a tough battle to not only retain his World Heavyweight Championship, but also capture the United States Championship from John Bradshaw Layfield. However, he’ll no doubt be hoping that it isn’t an unlucky thirteen, as tonight he has to do it all again when Friday Night Smackdown hosts a rematch of the Vengeance main event. The match came about when last week JBL interrupted Mysterio’s first ever US title defence against his friend Chavo Guerrero to cause a disqualification win for Mysterio. The former WWE Champion then announced to us all that he had in his contract the right that whenever he lost a title, he would be given the opportunity to win it back in a rematch. The match is seen as almost a last chance opportunity for JBL to win the title, after having more shots at the World title than every other superstar on the Smackdown roster, with some even arguing that there are others who deserve a chance at the belt ahead of Layfield. If this is the case, then it becomes a must win scenario for JBL, although the same could be said for Mysterio, who could enter the arena with two championships, and leave it with none.

Also tonight sees the first match of the WWE Tag Team Championship number one contender tournament, when the newly reformed Basham Brothers take on The Mexicools in 2 on 2 competition. Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long made this tournament as a way to fairly decide who should meet MNM at Summerslam later this month. With both teams still yet to face The Hardy Boyz after this match in the coming weeks, either The Bashams or The Mexicools can get one foot in the PPV bout tonight with a win, whilst the loser will have to fight tooth and nail against The Hardys to get to Summerslam as the number one contenders. Tonight also sees more than one tag team contest, as former number one contenders Londrick square off against a team with more combined experience than any other duo on in the WWE, Ric Flair and Chris Benoit. Both are former World Champions and it would be assumed that nothing less than a win will be satisfactory here. The two fan favourites shouldn’t take a win for granted here though, as Londrick have shown that they are cohesive as a unit, and arguably should be the WWE Tag Team Champions, had it not been for interference from the reuniting Hardy Boyz.

The final contest tonight to open the show, sees a superstar on red-hot form, face a man who is without doubt a legend in the business, as Shelton Benjamin. The arrogant former Intercontinental Champion last week made his intentions known that he firmly believes that he is worthy of a World Heavyweight Championship shot and will be looking to back-up his point tonight. The former Road Warrior will be no walkover though, and Benjamin have to have prepared for a fight if he hopes to come out of here with another victory over a big superstar to his name. Last but not least, last week saw the reunion of The Brothers Of Destruction on Smackdown. The reformation was interrupted by Daivari and Mark Henry, who said they weren’t done yet, before sending Papa Shango and The Boogeyman to the ring for a match. They were disposed of in record time though, and Henry and his manager disappeared as quick as they had appeared. Will we see either of these four men here tonight? Who knows, tune in to find out!

Can JBL finally get that three count or submission over Rey Mysterio to become a double champion? Will Undertaker and Kane or Daivari and Mark Henry make an appearance? Who will take the early advantage in the Tag Team Tournament? Can Londrick pick up the upset win over two future Hall Of Famers? Is Shelton Benjamin set to back up his World title shot claim with yet another win? Find out tonight, only on Friday Night Smackdown!!!

Confirmed Matches:

- Rey Mysterio Vs JBL [World Heavyweight & United States Championships]

- Tag Team Tournament: The Basham Brothers Vs The Mexicools

- Chris Benoit & Ric Flair Vs Londrick

- Shelton Benjamin Vs Animal

Edited July 7, 2006 by wilson316

[ZJ Penn]

The following results are from the live Velocity web cast:

- Todd Grisham interviewed JBL backstage, asking him if he was confident about his title match, to which JBL told him that it was the most ridiculous question he had ever heard, before walking away

- In a rematch from last weeks Velocity, The Pit-bulls beat Finlay & Burchill by DQ when the referee saw Finlay use his stick on Kid Kash

- MNM beat Scotty & Funaki with the Snapshot on Funaki after Melina interfered

- Chris Hero and Gunner Scott fought to a double disqualification after the referee couldn’t pull them apart. The brawl then continued to the back before other superstars and backstage staff broke it up

[ZJ Penn]

As legendary WWE superstar Ric Flair once put it, “You’ve gotta beat the man, to be the man.”, and tonight, John Bradshaw Layfield certainly wasn’t the man, suffering yet another loss to perhaps his biggest rival of 2006, Rey Mysterio. This was despite Layfield using nearly every dirty trick in the book to get his own way, and perhaps an unfair advantage. Earlier on in the evening Chavo Guerrero had just given an interview to Todd Grisham (the contents of which can be found later on), when JBL approached him. As Chavo raised his fists in defence, the former WWE Champion told him that he wasn’t here to fight, not yet anyway. He said he wanted to talk to him about his supposed ‘friend’ Rey Mysterio. He said that if they were so close and he wanted to show his friendship by giving him a title shot, why didn’t he give him a World Heavyweight Championship match instead of United States one? Layfields silver tongue continued, telling him he knows why, its because Mysterio is using him to further his own career, and couldn’t give a damn about the Guerrero’s, him or Eddie. At this point Chavo had heard enough and got well away from him, although he was evidently a bit perturbed at JBL’s comments. In any event, Chavo still told Rey he would accompany him to ringside for some friendly support, and did just that. The match was again another tight affair between the two top drawer superstars, although Layfield had perhaps an undeserved advantage when he struck Mysterio with his own US title belt before the match began. JBL’s experience was evident, grabbing a few near falls with The Last Call and a Power Bomb. Rey showed why he is a double champion to hit back though, even calling San Diego after scoring with the 619. Before he could come off the top with a springboard though, the cruiserweight Mexican noticed that Chavo had abandoned him and was heading to the back, the distraction being enough for JBL to recover and duck the eventual springboard Hurrancarana from Rey. Again JB Layfield struggled to keep Mysterio down for three, and the Champion retained on the half hour mark after pushing JBL out of an attempted Superplex and hitting the Frog Splash. Whilst Rey might very well be pleased that he has kept his two titles secure for another week at least, he was still clearly upset at Chavos decision to abandon his position at ringside for no apparent reason. Another superstar who was definitely upset afterwards was JBL, who had the ‘that’s it’ face on, could we have seen the end of JBL on Smackdown?

Tonight’s show also saw the first match in the new Tag Team Tournament devised by General Manager Teddy Long in a bid to crown a number one contender to MNM’s titles. The tournament would see The Hardy Boyz, The Mexicools and The Basham Brothers all face off in 2 Vs 2 matches over the coming weeks, with the team with the most wins being crowned as the new number one contenders. The first match was held between The Bashams and The Mexicools and if this is any indication of what is to come, then the fans of Smackdown are in for a real treat. The brutal and efficient Bashams worked like a well oiled machine, almost as though they had never been apart, and were naturally the aggressors in the bout. After Psychosis had been beaten down time and time again with double team manoeuvres, nearly pinned for three after being hit with a double Spine Buster at one point, he somehow escaped to make a tag to Super Crazy. The Mexican became a man on a mission, taking down both men time and time again, although the referee failed to keep track of the action and a well placed chair shot from Danny Basham allowed Doug to roll him up for a cheap three count. The match result means that unless The Hardy Boyz beat them in their match, they will definitely be at Summerslam with a chance of becoming WWE Tag Team Champions. Prior to this match we saw Gregory Helms come out to the ring with his title and told the crowd and people at home that he has proved he can beat the people in this industry time and time again with a number of wins since becoming champion back in January. As a result, he is going to issue a challenge to anyone out there for a match at Summerslam, with his title on the line. It was answered by Jamie Noble, asking him if he thought he could beat him? The Kid Kash entered, asking if he thought he could beat him as well, at the same time? This continued until there were a total of eight superstars from the cruiserweight division on the stage looking down at a gob smacked Helms. Noble told him it doesn’t matter whether he does or not, because at Summerslam, Theodore Long has made the match, with his title on the line. Helms tried to show some signs that he was fearless, saying that don’t they remember that No Way Out when he beat ‘a whole load’ of them before? They said that they did, but that wasn’t like now, as this time there certainly be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no way out for Gregory Helms, as it is going to be a battle royal match! The cameras then cut back just in time to see Helms hang his head, he knows that this is going to be a tough one. This then led to the aforementioned Chavo Guerrero interview, in which he said that he had spoken to Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long, who had given him permission to enter the Cruiserweight Championship battle royal. When Todd Grisham asked him why he wanted to enter, he said that he has had enough of the other titles, enough of the interference and the backstage attacks and he doesn’t want to be responsible for watching other peoples backs, he wants to do something by himself.

One superstar who also had title opportunities on his mind was Shelton Benjamin. Benjamin was able to defeat his opponent Animal here tonight, although it was a close encounter. Animal had the chance to put him away after scoring with a big time delayed suplex, although decided to go to the top rope instead. The commentators Michael Cole and Tazz were sceptical and had every right to be, as tag team legend wavered for a few seconds, allowing Benjamin to recuperate, and hit Animal with a Super Kick as he came of the top with a double axe handle for a three count. After the match, Benjamin grabbed a microphone, demanding that Teddy Long get out here, and when he did come out onto the stage, he had strong words for him. He told Long that since he arrived here, he beaten all the greats; Benoit, Flair and now Animal. He had even matches against won tag teams in handicap matches. This is why, he said, he knows that Smackdown doesn’t have a challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam, and is demanding that Long make him it. The General Manager turned him down flat, telling him that there is a long list of people waiting to face Rey Mysterio, and whilst Benjamin isn’t at the back, he certainly isn’t near the front neither. Long continued his tirade, telling the former Intercontinental Champion that there were people on the roster like Chris Benoit, like The Undertaker, even Mark Henry has waited till JBL got him a title shot, he didn’t come out and demand one. He finished by telling him that as far as his request for a title match was concerned. He is saying no! Finally tonight, Chris Benoit were able to get the win in their tag team match against Londrick in a good natured match. All four men showed their individual and team strengths, with Londrick showing that the can indeed go toe-to-toe with the big superstars. A win just wasn’t meant to be though, as after all four men had brawled in the ring, Kendrick ascended to the top, looking for a Dragonrana. Flair scouted it though, climbing up the apron and pushing him off the top and into a Crippler Crossface!!! With the submission applied in the centre of the ring, and London still brawling with Flair on the outside, Kendrick had no other choice than to tap out to prevent a serious injury.

Quick Results:

- Rey Mysterio defeated JBL with a Frog Splash to retain his World Heavyweight & United States Championships

- The Basham Brothers pinned The Mexicools to get the first victory in the Tag Team Tournament

- Chris Benoit & Ric Flair defeated Londrick when Benoit locked The Crossface on Brian Kendrick

- Shelton Benjamin beat Animal with a Super Kick

Match Of The Night: Chris Benoit & Ric Flair Vs Londrick

[ZJ Penn]

WWE Spring Cleaning?

- Although they have waited till August to do it, the strongest signals yet have been sent out that World Wrestling Entertainment is all set to do a ‘spring cleaning’ of the roster. Our reliable sources indicated that the new management originally intended to give the roster a three month trial period when they became involved, allowing every man or woman the chance to prove themselves. With the three months now on the verge of being up after Summerslam, it looks to be time. Another source has reported that the WWE has been quick to try and tie up one or two big name deals what with TNA going global recently, and their expected wages would be six figure sums per month, meaning that a number of figures in the lower leagues may get the chop. This obviously means that it is curtains for a number of WWE superstars, RAW looks like being the particular brand set for cuts, with a large variety of workers on that half of the company.

Here at Wrestling Heat are of the opinion that potential workers ready to join the independent circuit include Viscera and Lance Cade who have both been inactive in recent weeks since Trevor Murdoch got himself fired. One particularly big name being tossed around as a casualty is Chris Masters. The Masterpiece was suspected of having a drug problem a month or two back and the ‘insiders’ are also claiming that not only does he not see eye to eye with management regarding his push, but also that his constant poor behaviour and general attitude backstage is infuriating the big name workers, such as Triple H and Batista, and the management are not about to let it go unnoticed. As previously mentioned, one sticking point could be TNA now being a global federation, as they would no doubt be straight on the phone.

[ZJ Penn]

RAW Preview For Monday 14th August 2006

Last week on RAW we saw what could be considered as, a feud within a feud, as WWE Champion John Cena and Triple H battled furiously to a double count out as the referee failed to take control of a match he never had influence on. This week it will not be the case, as former World Heavyweight Champion and third member of Summerslam’s main event triple threat bout Batista takes over the helm as the official. The decision by acting RAW General Manager and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has left both The Game and Cena furious, with both men stating exclusively to WWE.com their theory that they ‘wouldn’t be surprised if he let us kill each other out there’. The match still stands though and will be one of the final chances that both men get to make an impact ahead of their WWE title match in less than a fortnights time. If anything, it should be considered that the referee will be impartial, perhaps having an equal amount of dislike for both superstars involved. This was shown at the end of last weeks show, when instead of splitting both guys up, or even joining the fight himself, he chose to stand back and watch them tear each other apart. Will this be the case tonight though? Or are we set for a more ‘hands on’ referee?

This evenings show also sees the return of Shawn Michaels to in-ring action, after two weeks of being taunted by Booker T. The two are set to square off in almost ‘a Clash of the Titans’ bout at Summerslam, and with The Heart Break Kid being out of action since Bad Blood, it looks like he is going to have to shake off any ring rust before he faces the five-time WCW Champion. He most certainly has the chance to do this tonight, as he faces the so far undefeated Umaga along with his manager Armando Allejandro Estrada. This savage character has been merciless to his opponents ever since he came to the WWE, and with the frustration of the mystery character who he has challenged with his Open Invitational to appear at this months PPV hanging in his mind, Michaels is going to have a tough job on his hands. HBK has never been one to be afraid of the odds mind, and will be determined to end his streak tonight, before moving on to beat Booker in less than two weeks time. Speaking of open challenges, Edge continues his one man crusade against all things ECW tonight, although this time he knows very well who his opponent is going to be. Whether or not this gives him an advantage is debatable, as his challenger is none other than the multiple-time ECW Heavyweight Champion, beer swilling, chain smoking Sandman! Sandman arrived last week to help fellow former champion Sabu from being brutalised by The Rated R Superstar, before beating both Edge and Lita to the back with his Singapore Cane. One person who should have a disadvantage is Sandman, whose expertise under hardcore rules made him an Immortal Legend in the eyes of the ECW faithful. One thing we have yet to see is Rob Van Dam, the man who Edge took out on RAW a few weeks back in the ring. The Whole Damn Show has suffered a serious knee injury and doctors have pointed out that it would be incredible if he made it back for Unforgiven in September, let alone Summerslam.

Also tonight, the broadcast is opened with almost a role reversal of last weeks match, as some partners are switching places. The contest sees The Big Show and Ken Kennedy swapping sides, leaving us now with Show and current Intercontinental Champion Carlito, against 2006 KOTR winner Lashley and Kennedy. Both Kennedy and Lashley will be looking for revenge in any form tonight, after last week when they were both beaten down by their opponents. Whilst Carlito and Kennedy’s title match has been confirmed for the hottest event of the year, neither Lashley nor The Big Show have yet to make a challenge to each other ahead of the event. Will that change tonight? Whatever happens after the match, you can be sure that inside the ring, there is going to be some top quality action like only these three young guns and a 7 foot giant can offer. Finally, acting RAW General Manager Vincent Kennedy McMahon has spoken to WWE.com, announcing that he will be at the event. Although he doesn’t have an announcement to make, he has said that if anyone on the roster gets out of hand, he will be there to put them back in their place like only he can.

Will Batista favour a man in the main event? Or is he going to call it right down the middle? Can Shawn Michaels do what nobody else has done so far and defeat Umaga? Is Edge about to finally meet his match in the ECW Open, when goes head-to-head with The Sandman? Just what will happen in that tag team match with tensions running high between all four superstars? What does Mr McMahon have to say, if anything?

Confirmed Matches:

- John Cena Vs Triple H w/Batista as Special Guest Referee (Non-title)

- Shawn Michaels Vs Umaga

- ECW Open: Edge Vs The Sandman

- Lashley & Ken Kennedy Vs Big Show & Carlito

[ZJ Penn]

The following are the Sunday Night Heat results:

- Eugene & Viscera were unsuccessful in becoming World Tag Team Champions when The New Wave hit Eugene with their Double Big Boot

- Josh Matthews caught up with WWE Champion John Cena, who told him that he feels Mr McMahon appointing himself as General Manager shows how power mad his is, and he also believes that McMahon is trying to force him to lose to his title by stacking the odds against him, although he promised to pick up the win on Sunday, but not for the fans, for himself

- Roadkill pinned Lance Cade after hitting his Amish Bomb

- Val Venis defeated Matt Striker with The Money Shot

[ZJ Penn]

As promised before the event, Mr McMahon was at RAW this afternoon, and did he ever flex his General Manager muscles, setting up one huge match next week on RAW ahead of Summerslam. Before the main event, we saw Shawn Michaels take on Umaga in his first match since the Inferno contest with Kane back in June at Bad Blood. Despite Umaga starting strongly and even scoring with his Second Rope Splash, Michaels kicked out and from then on began to dominate. The Showstopper then began to get some real momentum going, hitting an Atomic Drop, two clotheslines and even finding the strength for a hard body slam. As we’ve seen so many times in the past, HBK then ascended to the top and nailed a Top Robe Elbow Drop to perfection, although Estrada was on the apron distracting the referee as Michaels made the cover. That problem was solved though as he hit Sweet Chin Music on him as he entered the ring! With the referee trying to roll Estrada’s lifeless carcass out of the squared circle, the timing was perfect for that damn Booker T, who snuck into the ring before hitting a big time Book End and dragging Umaga on top of him. Eventually the referee turned and saw the cover and counted the three, awarding the controversial win to Umaga. As him and Estrada were once again distracted by the video, warning that another streak was going to begin at Summerslam, it didn’t matter to Michaels, who chased after Booker to the backstage area, revenge on his mind. After returning from a commercial break, our cameras returned to the back, showing that HBK had caught up to Booker, and they brawling all over the back, tossing each other into and hitting each other with whatever they could find, be it trash cans, lead piping, they didn’t care. In any event, the main event got underway between Triple H and John Cena, and surprisingly, Batista called it right down the middle for the majority, even threatening to disqualify HHH when he attempted to use the sledgehammer. Both men showed a huge desire to win, even forgetting that Batista was in the ring with them at some points, and Cena came close with the STFU, although The Game got to the ropes. Eventually it looked to be over, when HHH hit an undetected low blow and scored with a Pedigree. Batista counted one, then two, but no more. A furious HHH got right in his face asking him what he was doing, but failed to notice the recovered John Cena behind him, who span him round and hit the FU! Again, Batista counted one, then two, and as the fans were cheering him on to do the same again, stopped before three. This time Cena was the one to get in his face, although went a step further, pushing The Animal into the corner. Batista then had a wry smile on his face, before exploding out of the corner with right hands like only he can, and nailing a Spine Buster, and then another to Triple H! With the referee now taking charge, he went on to deliver a massive Batista Bomb to the WWE Champion, before tossing HHH on top and counting the pin. Triple H would be officially recognised as the victor, but only Batista came out on top, hitting The Game with a Batista Bomb after the bell rang. As our official for the night celebrated on the turnbuckle, the fans were more interested in looking to the stage, where Booker T and Shawn Michaels had resumed their brawl! They eventually wound up in the ring, where a brutal five man brawl began. The fracas soon came to a halt though, when the music of acting General Manager Vince McMahon hit, and he came out onto the stage. He said that all this fighting had given him an idea, unlike Theodore Longs ‘easy way out’, giving his superstars the night off before a PPV, he is going to give four of them a match next week. In seven days time, he announced, its going to be the current WWE Champion John Cena teaming up with the five-time WCW Champion Booker T, to take on former World Heavyweight Champion Batista and The Showstopper Shawn Michaels!!! As the crowd exploded at the prospect of getting to see such a huge match and just before the show went off the air, Mr McMahon said that “As for Triple H, I like to reward my employees with more than just a night off, he is going to have front row tickets for the event!”. With The Game watching at ringside next week, it is much more likely to be more than just a tag team match.

The ECW Open continued tonight, as Edge took on The Sandman, who received a rapturous reception. As expected, the match was an all-out brawl from the word go, with Sandman going full out on Edge with his Singapore Cane. The Rated R superstar certainly has Lita to thank for keeping him in the match, as she broke up a number of possible three counts throughout the match. Still, Sandman used a variety of weapons from under the ring to his advantage, including chairs, trash can lids, even Edges own T-Shirt to strangle him. With Lita always a factor though, Edge turned the match around with the Edge-o-Matic, and propped him up against a table in the corner. The Sandman showed his almost unparalleled toughness though, getting out of the way just in time for Edge to Spear himself through the table! With Edge out cold, Sandman said that this was from Sabu, and put a chair around his neck and climbed to the second rope! Once again though Lita interfered, hitting the former ECW Heavyweight Champion with a low blow, allowing Edge to regain his senses, and join him on the turnbuckle, before landing a monstrous second rope Downward Spiral onto the steel chair!!! As tough as he is, this proved to be too much for even The Sandman, who failed to kick out of the resulting pinfall. Once more Edge had got one up on ECW, although he didn’t hang around for Sandman to recover, heading straight to the back.

Finally tonight, the inevitable was confirmed that at Summerslam, Lashley and The Big Show will go at it one-on-one. They were involved in a tag team match to open the show on opposite teams, with Ken Kennedy and Carlito their respective partners. The match was even more closely fought than their previous encounter last week, and once again Ken Kennedy was on the winning side. Despite Carlito thinking he had it won when he hit Lashley with his Backcracker, he kicked out and the match continued despite claims from a stunned Intercontinental Champion. The Big Show and Lashley always looked like they wanted to take each others heads off, and began to brawl on the outside, leaving Kennedy and Carlito inside the ring. After a couple of minutes of back and forth action, Kennedy grabbed a pinfall when he reversed a Carlito Superplex and dropped him on his shoulders and scored with the Green Bay Plunge. It was events after the bout that marred a good contest though, when The Big Show hit Lashley with a sneaky chair shot, before putting him through the Spanish Announce table with a sickening Showstopper!!! The Show then grabbed a mic, and told everyone at home and in the arena whilst pointing at a fallen Lashley that…

“This was the powerhouse he had heard about? This was the King Of The Ring? This was the man who was going to be the next big thing? Well I’m not impressed, and if you’ve recovered by then, how about I show why I’m not impressed at Summerslam?”

…Even then it didn’t finish there though, as after he had recovered backstage, Josh Matthews caught up to Lashley to tell him that The Big Show has challenged him to a match at Summerslam and Lashley told him in no uncertain terms that he WILL meet him at Summerslam, and like all those that have stood in his way before, he WILL beat him! And so it was confirmed, Sunday August 27th, Lashley takes on The Big Show!!!

Quick Results:

- Triple H pinned John Cena after he was hit with the Batista Bomb

- Umaga beat Shawn Michaels after interference from both Estrada and Booker T

- ECW Open: Edge defeated The Sandman with a second rope Downward Spiral onto a chair

- Lashley & Ken Kennedy pinned The Big Show & Carlito when Kennedy hit the Green Bay Plunge on Carlito

[ZJ Penn]

WWE Wrestler Injured/Backstage Addiction?

- The following has recently been posted on WWE.com:

“We at WWE.com regret that we have to exclusively break the news that Danny Basham, one half of recently reformed tag team The Basham Brothers, will be missing from Smackdown for the remainder of the month. This came after a heinous backstage assault from current WWE Tag Team Champions MNM, who we can only assume that after seeing the duo pick up a good victory over fellow number one contendership rivals The Mexicools, took it upon themselves to ensure that at least one of them wouldn’t be able to wrestle at Summerslam. The assault left Danny with a badly broken hand, and doctors have told him he could be risking long term damage which has left General Manager Theodore Long no option but to refuse him permission to wrestle till September at the earliest. Long did however tell his brother Doug that a replacement partner was a possibility, although this idea was quashed by Doug, who told him that if he couldn’t win the titles with his brother, then he didn’t want to win them at all. Long has now decided to reverse last nights match decision, giving The Mexicools the official victory, whilst also replacing The Basham Brothers with Londrick. Whilst Londrick will be glad at getting another chance at the titles, they are under extreme pressure, with their match against The Hardy Boyz now a must-win situation as well as needing The Hardys to beat Super Crazy and Psychosis to even stand a chance of getting to Summerslam.”.

[ZJ Penn]

Smackdown Preview For Friday 18th August 2006

Seven days ago, the thousands in attendance and the millions watching around the world saw, at the time, one of Rey Mysterio’s closest friends on the roster Chavo Guerrero walk out on him during the middle of perhaps the biggest match of his career, a dual title defence against John Bradshaw Layfield. Whilst the obvious question will be running through Rey’s mind of just why he did it, and whether or not JBL’s silver tongue has got through to Guerrero, they have the chance to put it all behind them tonight, when Guerrero and Mysterio team up together. The contest will see the two lightweight Mexicans join together to face a team of true heavyweights, as JBL and Mark Henry are back as one, once again looking to destroy the World Heavyweight Champion, whilst Mysterio will no doubt be thinking about what is going through Chavos mind, although if they can get through this with a win then it looks like that incident last week will be instantly forgotten. Another interesting point is what will be going through JBL’s mind tonight, after losing what could very well be his finally shot at the World title belt last week. Has the self made multi-millionaire finally given up the hunt? Or does ‘The Wrestling God’ still think he deserves yet another shot?

Also tonight, we will get to see new Smackdown superstar Kane take part in his first official match since joining Theodore Longs roster; despite being involved in the casket match at Vengeance, as well as getting the win in an unscheduled tag team match against The Boogeyman and Papa Shango along with his brother The Undertaker. Kane squares off against another recently returned superstar in the form of Hardcore Holly, which should make an entertaining, if not brutal affair. One thing that Kane, or indeed both of The Brothers Of Destruction would do well to remember, should The Undertaker decide to make his presence known, is that it is unlikely that either of Mark Henry or his manager Daivari will be finished with them, and could very well appear in the match tonight. Although with Daivari’s Army no longer consisting of either The Great Khali or Doug Basham, will they have to adopt a more underhand approach to taking them out?

The tag team tournament devised by Smackdown GM Teddy Long rumbles on tonight, when The Mexicools take on The Hardy Boyz in tag team action. As exclusively broken by WWE.com earlier in the week, The Basham Brothers had to be withdrawn from the competition after Danny had his hand broken by MNM and Doug refused to wrestle with a replacement partner. Although they were eventually replaced by Long with high flying team Londrick, their victory over The Mexicools was actually reversed and awarded to Psychosis and Super Crazy. This now means that should Matt and Jeff be unsuccessful in their match against the death-defying Mexicans, then regardless of the final match next week, it will be The Mexicools who challenge for the belts at Summerslam in only nine days time. With all of the potential consequences aside, both teams are well known for putting everything on the line, and it should be a thoroughly exciting encounter. Speaking of Theodore Long, the Smackdown GM has also told WWE.com that whilst neither Ric Flair or Chris Benoit have matches tonight, he wants them both to be at the arena as he has some word for both that he thinks that they will want to hear. What this entails entirely, Long refused to comment on.

In the final confirmed match tonight, Gregory Helms and Funaki will open the show, showcasing just why Smackdowns cruiserweight division has arguably the most exciting matches in the business today. Funaki is one of the challengers to Helms WWE Cruiserweight Championship in the 10-man Battle Royal at Summerslam, and will be looking to show tonight that come the Pay-Per-View, he will be a legitimate challenger for the title in a match that will include talented superstars such as; Chavo Guerrero, Kid Kash and Simon Dean. An interesting point which we can confirm from Theodore Long is that him and acting RAW General Manager Mr McMahon have come to the agreement that should Psychosis and Super Crazy be the challengers to the tag titles at Summerslam, then two superstars from RAW will in fact be entered into the match in their place. Finally, one superstar who will not be at the show is Shelton Benjamin, who after being refused a title shot flat out on Smackdown last week, has decided that he has nothing more to prove, and unless he is given the opportunity to shine against big superstars on the roster, he doesn’t see it as being worth his time being there.

Can Chavo and Rey put last weeks incident behind them and pick up the win? Or will JBL and Mark Henry simply prove to be too strong? Is Kane all set to pick up his first victory? Will Daivari and Henry be involved with The Brothers Of Destruction in some capacity? Can The Mexicools win the Tag Team Tournament with a match to spare? All will be revealed, exclusively on Friday Night Smackdown!!!

Confirmed Matches:

- Rey & Chavo Vs JBL & Mark Henry

- Kane Vs Hardcore Holly

- Tag Team Tournament: The Mexicools Vs The Hardy Boyz

- Gregory Helms Vs Funaki [Non-title]

Edited July 9, 2006 by wilson316

[ZJ Penn]

Tonight’s tag team main event between World Heavyweight and United States Champion Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero up against John Bradshaw Layfield and Mark Henry was supposed to be seen as a way for Mysterio to regain his confidence in Guerrero, who walked out on him last week when he was supposed to be providing moral support at ringside. In fact, that couldn’t be any further from the truth. The match was David and Goliath right through, pace versus power, and the Mexicans did in fact begin to gain the advantage at one point after Rey kicked out a huge power bomb from JBL, and then went on to use his speed to avoid the much slower Henry and Layfield, even connecting with a Double Bulldog for a near fall on The Worlds Strongest Man. The advantage was then lost though when after Rey looked for a Frog Splash, JBL pushed him off from the apron, and both superstars began to struggle to reach their corner. Whilst Henry eventually made the tag to Layfield, it wasn’t quite so simple for Mysterio, who upon reaching his corner, his partner Chavo had already begun heading to the back, abandoning him! A stunned Rey had to pick himself back up and fight what had now become a handicap match. Despite putting on the resilient performance worthy of a double champion, Mysterio finally succumbed to defeat after Henry distracted him on the outside, before turning straight into a Clothesline From Hell and the referee had no option but to count the three. This could in fact be seen as JBL’s second victory of the night, after once again weaselling his way into the title picture, although a loss this time may come at a massive cost. Prior to his main event match, the former WWE Champion made his way to the office of Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long, asking him if he had found a candidate for Rey’s title at Summerslam. Long responded by telling him that nothing was absolutely a done deal yet, but he had some good ideas for challengers. Rather arrogantly, the millionaire said that one of those guys has to be him right, ‘as there is no-one else.’. To which Long told him ‘absolutely….not!’. The cocky look on JBL’s face then turned into one of despair as he asked for a shot a couple more times to the same response. As Long began to walk away, Layfield surprisingly then said that he isn’t asking for one anymore, he is pleading, for just one more shot. As Long looked on, not really sure what to make of the situation, JBL promised him that if he loses, that’s it, he will give up the World title hunt on Smackdown!!! Teddy smiled, before telling him that if he is willing to put that in writing, ‘then its too good an offer to turn down’. Whilst Layfield walked out his office celebrating, the consequences of losing not really sunk in yet, Long stopped him to tell him that last week when Shelton Benjamin asked for a title shot and he refused, it reminded him that there are a number of superstars on the roster who deserve a title shot as well, something that he is going to make an announcement about next week. What that announcement means, we can’t be sure, although WWE.com exclusively caught up with Long after the show, who confirmed that next week on Smackdown he will make a slight change to what people think the title match is going to be.

One particularly exciting match tonight saw the debut of Kane in singles competition on Smackdown. The masked one took on Hardcore Holly in a hellacious affair which was on the verge of spilling into a Hardcore match at numerous points. Holly is one of the toughest brawlers in this industry, so it says something about Kane’s sheer power, when he dominated the match after the first five minutes. At first Holly put up a brave fight, with a number of picture perfect dropkicks rocking the seven footer, but not dropping him to the canvas. The result was never in doubt though, when an attempted double axe handle from the second rope was caught, and The Big Red Monster finished him with a devastating Chokeslam to the mat. After the match, Kane dropped his arms in the centre of the ring and the turnbuckles erupted in flames, although it was cut short as the music of Mark Henry hit. The man scheduled to be in the main event and his manager Daivari arrived on the stage with a microphone. Daivari said that they speak for everyone in the world when he says that one Deadman is more than enough, as the crowd booed to show their 100% disagreement. He followed up by saying that since him and his ‘brother’ had ruined all of their plans to become the dominant force on Smackdown, that they’ll pay. He then finished his announcement by telling everyone watching that they’re going to start with this man, Kane, and so are challenging him to a handicap match in nine days time at Summerslam!!! Never one to back down from a challenge, and showing absolutely no fear whatsoever, Kane nodded in agreement, showing that he wants to take down the duo by himself. It looks like even if it wasn’t a handicap match he would have to do it single-handedly, as The Undertaker was once again not at the arena.

The Tag Team Tournament reached half way tonight as The Mexicools faced The Hardy Boyz, needing only a win here to guarantee a place in the title match at Summerslam, after The Basham Brothers were withdrawn due to an injury inflicted by current WWE Tag Team Champions MNM. In any event, the match was as expected, a high flying affair from the word go, both sides wanting to win in order to further their own aims. Neither side really ever held an advantage, with The Mexicools even nailing their own Poetry In Motion on Matt and Jeff. At one point, as Matt and Super Crazy brawled on the outside, with the referee trying hard to get them back in the ring, Psychosis looked all set to hit a Franken-Steiner and get the pin. However, tag champs MNM just couldn’t stay out of the match, and came down the aisle and into the ring before ambushing Psychosis, hitting him with the Snapshot before returning to the back. With Psychosis down, and him on the top rope, there was only one thing running through Jeff’s mind, as he hit a high octane Swanton Bomb onto the Mexican Luchadore, with referee Nick Patrick turning just in time to count a pinfall. With that win, the tournament had now been turned on its head, with The Hardy Boyz needing only a win against Londrick next week to guarantee safe passage to Summerslam. Later that evening, Todd Grisham caught up with Melina, who speaking on behalf of MNM, told him that the reason they interfered has nothing to do with them not wanting to face The Mexicools. They don’t care who they face apparently, but they do realise when they are in debt to someone, and they still owed The Hardy Boyz for their ‘assistance’ at Vengeance. Whether or not they did for MNM, to make an impact on their return, or maybe they just don’t like Londrick, they don’t care, but they are even now, and would be happy to ruin their chances of a dream return at Summerslam by retaining their titles.

Teddy Long made more than just a title match tonight, after arriving in the ring just after speaking to JBL backstage and calling out Chris Benoit and Ric Flair to the ring. After they arrived, Long said that as everyone in the world knows, its Summerslam in just nine days time, and it’s a joint production of both RAW and Smackdown. But more importantly, it’s a chance for them to prove that they are the superior brand out of the two, by putting on the best matches possible. Now just looking at the line-up for Summerslam, they already have what currently stands as Rey Mysterio defending his World Heavyweight Championship against JBL, a handicap match between Kane and Mark Henry and Daivari and the winners of the Tag Team Tournament facing MNM for the WWE Tag Team titles. He then said that all they need now to show up RAW on one of the biggest stages of them all, is a good old fashioned wrestling match, before turning to the fans and asking, ‘How would they like to see Chris Benoit face Ric Flair this Sunday?’. As the fans screamed the arena down in agreement with an almighty ‘Hell Yeah!’, both Flair and Benoit looked at each with a smile and a nod, before telling Long that it is on! So at Summerslam, it is going to be ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair up against ‘The Rabid Wolverine’ Chris Benoit in what could very well be a potential classic in the making.

Finally, Gregory Helms opened the show with a win over Funaki, although it was hardly convincing. Funaki began to build momentum quickly, scoring with a number of Spinning Wheel Kicks and Leg Lariats, which sent Helms reeling back into the corner. In an act of desperation, our WWE Cruiserweight Champion took the turnbuckle padding off, before heading to the outside as the referee saw him and came over to reattach it. With the referees back turned, Funaki reached out to grab Helms, although he hadn’t seen him pick up his title, and he had no hesitation in nailing him right between the eyes with it! As the referee finally resurfaced the exposed turnbuckle, he turned in time to miss the blatant title shot, but see Helms hit a sickening Shining Wizard and get yet another cruiserweight victory to his name. Post match, Helms had a microphone in hand, and looked to be about to lay into his numerous opponents for Summerslam, that was until seven of his nine opponents bombarded the ring at full speed! Being the fighting champion that he is of course, Helms was quick to grab his title and launch himself over the barrier and through the crowd to get away. The question is, what exactly is he going to do come a week on Sunday?

Quick Results:

- JBL & Mark Henry pinned Rey Mysterio & Chavo Guerrero after hitting the Clothesline From Hell

- Kane beat Hardcore Holly with a Chokeslam

- Tag Team Tournament: The Hardy Boyz defeated The Mexicools with a Swanton Bomb

- Gregory Helms pinned Funaki with The Shining Wizard

Match Of The Night: The Hardy Boyz Vs The Mexicools

[ZJ Penn]

by Dave Meltzer

Last week on the Wrestling Observer we took a look at which superstars were the most popular in the WWE merchandise-wise, as well as who was the top ‘t-shirt seller’ in the other smaller promotions. This week, we will be taking a look at who in the wrestling world charges $100,000 or more for their services, either per appearance or on a monthly basis in a written contract. The report will be split into a long list of people written to a contract and another shorter one of those who have only signed to make a few appearances for a promotion and/or are working in Japan. So without further ado, we present the top bunch of greedy bastards in professional wrestling:

Written Contract

These are the workers have left their career in the hands of one promotion, by signing exclusive written deals with them. Although this does bring in a guaranteed pay check every month:

1) The Undertaker + The Big Show = $184,000 (Monthly)

It can be unofficially confirmed today, that excluding the McMahon family members (not Triple H) who earn the majority of their money for owning the WWE, not wrestling in it, it is the two seven footers of the company who are the top earners, joint at $184,000. The Undertaker could perhaps be considered to be the number one as he only makes a handful of appearances every few months, and his exceptionally high wage is the result of over 15 long, hard and loyal years to the WWE. Outside the ring, the Deadman is a huge contributor to merchandise sales, as shown in last weeks report, being affiliated with 4% of all merchandise sold, which is also likely to be attributed to the fact he becomes a millionaire at least every ten weeks. The Big Show on the other hand, has been paid this much for nearly ten years now, after signing from the now defunct World Championship Wrestling back in 1996. However, Big Show, real name Paul Wight, is now in the final five months of his deal, and there has already been some rumours that the WWE management may try to knock him down when negotiations begin. Although with TNA on the rise, it seems that it will be a case of Wight naming his demands.

3) Shawn Michaels = $180,000

Another WWE superstar here who receives a large pay check due to company loyalty is the Heart Break Kid, who hasn’t wrestled for another big company since being one half of The Rockers with Marty Jannetty back in the late 80’s. HBK stood by the promotion through its Monday Night War with WCW, whilst the WWE stood by him through his injury problems. The six figure pay check comes as no surprise really as Michaels is without doubt one of the industry’s most recognisable figures, having been involved in programs with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, not to mention his antics with Triple H in legendary faction D-Generation X.

4) Sting = $179,000

The rise of TNA is no more evident than here, in that one of there flagship superstars is in fact the fourth highest earning worker on a written deal in the world. The Stinger is paid just five thousand dollars a month less than both Taker and Big Show, just showing that Dixie Carter is willing to put money behind his demands if he thinks it’s a good business move. Indeed it was, as Steve Borden brought TNA to the next level, with WWE regulars who didn’t like TNA for its ‘spot-fest’ matches were now tuning in on a frequent basis to once again see what Sting was going to be doing this week. Up till a few weeks ago, Sting had entered into the last three months of his original contract, and of course the rumour mill went into overdrive, with nearly all of the big rumour web sites suggesting that WWE were interested in securing his signature. This proved to be entirely false as Sting signed an extension to his contract for a currently unknown length of time, before announcing in a shoot interview that the WWE management didn’t even contact him with regards to jumping ship. Sting has continued to be a big draw for TNA, headlining a number of their PPV’s and main eventing the first ever ‘TNA on Tuesdays’ broadcast against Abyss. This is one of the reasons that the business has recently become a global company, with The Stingers actions now broadcast across the world for everyone to see.

5) Triple H = $177,000

Unsurprisingly, one superstar who has made it into the top five of the highest paid written contracted workers is The Game, HHH. Of course there is the fact that he is married to the Chairman’s daughter, however people should also consider that like The Undertaker, HHH has been an invaluably loyal employee since jumping from WCW in the 90’s. This, coupled with the arguable idea that he carried the RAW main event scene since the exits of Steve Austin and The Rock a few years ago, up until the emergence of Batista, Randy Orton, John Cena and so on as legitimate contenders for the top prize, sees him sitting comfortably at the top end of pay checks in the biggest promotion in the world. The ten-time World Champion has had his critics, but no-one argue his dedication to the company, having sacrificed his own success to put talent over at the biggest PPV of the year, WrestleMania, for three straight years now.

6) Ric ‘The Nature Boy’ Flair = $172,000

The worker who has just failed to make into the top five is another WWE Superstar, this time its Ric Flair. The sixteen time World Champion is without a doubt one of the biggest legends in the industry and a future Hall of Famer, having worked non-stop for decades, in a variety of promotions, including NWA, WCW and of course WWF/E. However, many people have commented as to how Flair has being ‘drifting’ in the WWE for a long time now, and its only the huge pay check he takes home at the end of the month that is keeping him content with his role. One notable point is that rumours are circulating that Flairs contract is up in less than 8 months, with perhaps a big money move to TNA on the horizon, something that would no doubt worry the WWE management.

7) Kevin Nash = $168,000

Number seven in the list is the second TNA superstar to appear, and is ‘Big Sexy’ Kevin Nash. At seven feet tall, he is one of the businesses most recognisable figures, and carries with him a lot of publicity after starring in Hollywood Blockbusters such as The Punisher and The Longest Yard. Whilst this alone could be considered to be reason enough to sign the semi-active wrestler, Nash also brings with him a wealth of experience being one of the well-travelled veterans of professional wrestling. He is perhaps mostly remembered for his role in carrying the WWF World Title in 1994 as Diesel, before jumping ship to WCW and being involved in one of the best storylines in wrestling history, the nWo along with Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan. Nash, despite all of the criticism he gets from a number of fans, is still a popular figure with the mainstream audience, and although he may not go down as an all-time great, has obviously done enough to earn a very well paid written contract at TNA, only a few days after the company declared it had gone global.

8) Chris Benoit = $158,000

At just ten thousand dollars a month behind Nash, Chris Benoit is still in the top ten highest paid written contract workers at number 8. The Wolverine is arguably the finest technical wrestler in the business, with Kurt Angle his main rival to the crown. Despite being in the upper levels of the card since arriving from WCW at the turn of the millennium, Benoit has only held the top prize once, winning it from HHH at WrestleMania XX before dropping it to Randy Orton later on in 2004 at Summerslam. Because of this, it would appear that the WWE recently renewed his contract with improved terms in a bid to keep him loyal to WWE. The hugely intense worker, who is regularly compared to The Dynamite Kid, was said to have been at the centre of a big contract dispute prior to WM22 earlier in 2006, ultimately leading to him being given not only the promise of an improved contract which he now has, but also a United States title run, which was abruptly ended by JBL at Mania. It is said that the massive wages are hoped to prevent Benoit from wanting to leave to get more title gold elsewhere, as if he was to sign for TNA it would indefinitely be seen as a possible sign of a shift in power at the top.

9) Kurt Angle = $152,000

As mentioned above, Angle ties with Benoit as being one of the finest technical grapplers in the world, as expected from an Olympic Gold Medallist. However, it was his hugely impressive grasp of sports entertainment which catapulted him up the ranks at record speed, bringing with it the big money which he now has today. The multiple time WWE Champion’s contract is known to last for over a year as of the time of writing, although if his scheduled neck surgery which has been the point of much discussion is unsuccessful, then by his own admittance in a shoot interview, he doesn’t know if he can risk that long. The injury has already kept him out of action on and off since WrestleMania time, and his in-ring return isn’t anticipated to be anytime soon. Since signing for WWE, the charismatic American has arguably become the finest worker in the world when fully fit, able to get a good quality match out of people with a variety of styles, from Rey Mysterio to The Big Show, even his Royal Rumble match with Mark Henry wasn’t terrible and Vince McMahon won’t have begrudged paying him a dime of his $150,000 plus wages a month.

10) Aja Kong = $135,000

If ten years, hell even five years ago, you’d have said that a woman would be included in the top ten most well paid written contract workers in the world, you probably would have been slapped upside your head. However if you did say it, then that person should apologise as it has happened! Japanese megastar Aja Kong stunned the wrestling world at the end of May when she signed a blockbuster deal with World Wrestling Entertainment to work exclusively for them for a year, being paid a monster packet of $135,000 per month, nearly $40,000 a month more than the next highest diva, Stacy Keibler, and a whopping $110,000 a month more than current WWE Women’s Champion Mickie James. It was obvious that they had big plans for her, as she stormed her way through the entire division in a matter of weeks. McMahon may be having second thoughts about the deal now though, after she was found to have a cocaine habit and checked her into a rehab clinic, this killing off any push she had. The problem has also added further injury to the already struggling Women’s Division, which has been gradually disappearing from our sets in recent months, with Trish Stratus and Champ Mickie James being the only two regular workers left.

11) Batista = $128,000

The current joint number one contender to the WWE Championship misses out on the top ten by seven thousand dollars despite signing a new three year bumper deal back in January prior to his injury. In any event, The Animal is back to full fitness now, and with Big Dave being well over with the fans in any arena he goes to, this appears to be a sound investment for the McMahon family.

12) John Bradshaw Layfield = $117,000

As documented in detail by numerous sites in recent weeks, JBL recently signed a new contract which will by now have 5 months left to run, and with JBL saying that he may be done with the wrestling business, it is unclear whether he will extend it once again. Plus, being a self made multi-millionaire, it is unlikely that the money on offer will tempt him drastically.

13) Rob Van Dam = $112,000

The 2006 Money In The Bank winner and ECW favourite is hugely popular all over America and as the last report showed, his merchandise sales are more than likely to cover his improved contract terms, which now puts him at thirteenth in the world.

14) John Cena, Kane, Edge, Paul Heyman and Christian Cage = $104,000

Cena - The recently heel turned WWE Champion signed this contract post WM21 and with only a few months left to run, is likely to be earning more this time next year.

Kane - Re-masked fan favourite Kane was reported to have signed a five year deal worth this much back in 2004, which if true, would leave it with just under three years to run.

Edge - The Rated R Superstar was rewarded in January after winning his first WWE Championship with a three year contract worth over $100,000 per month.

Christian Cage - The current NWA Heavyweight Champion jumped to TNA from WWE after being unable to crash through the ‘glass ceiling’, although it looked like he was set for a major push just before he refused to negotiate terms with WWE management. Cage also made a big improvement financially when he joined up with Sting on the TNA roster with a written contract. The irony to the situation was that only a few months after leaving due to the glass ceiling, Christians close friend and tag team partner Adam Copeland, Edge, crashed through it to become a WWE Champion.

Paul Heyman - One big point to note here though is that as well as his appearances regarding ECW One Night Stand II, he is also a writer for the brands, and so earns some of his wage from here also.

19) Scott Steiner = $100,000

The fourth and final TNA star in this list is Scott Steiner. TNA came under huge criticism of ‘selling out’ by die hard fans for signing Freakzilla a few months back, particularly after his dire run in WWE in 2003, although Steiner has showed some signs of quality still being there. This, and the fact he is a well known name in the industry, earned him a written contract worth $100,000 per month once TNA became global.

20) Mick Foley = $96,000

Finally in this list, despite not strictly being part of the ‘$100,000 + club’, Foley deserves special mention as he is only four thousand a month away, and probably earns enough from book sales to get into the six figure sum anyways.

Before moving onto the open contract workers it should be pointed out that the McMahon family do earn enough to be listed, but aren’t as their wages are part and parcel of owning the company. Rumours suggest that between Vince, Shane and Stephanie, the family take home $584,000 every month collectively.

Open Contracts

These are the workers whose future is never certain with one promotion, with them able to finish a few dates with one company and then move onto another. Some of them also work specific dates in Japan for promotions such as Zero-One or Pro Wrestling NOAH:

1) Bill Goldberg = $250,000 (per appearance)

Quite surprisingly, contact with Goldberg’s agency reports that he is worth a quarter of a million dollars per appearance, the most out of anyone in the world. When queried about a written contract, his agent informed us that he would require the same as he was paid at the height of his WCW fame, around $272,000 per month. Now its not that shocking as to why TNA pulled out of the running to sign him to a written contract when they turned global, is it? However, in an interesting turn of events, when we contacted the same agent a few days after TNA quit negotiations with him, he told us that unfortunately Goldberg will no longer be taking independent bookings nor is he willing to discuss a written contract anymore. Could it be time for World Championship Wrestling’s Gold-en boy to return to the world of professional wrestling? Or is he sticking with films and hanging up his wrestling boots for good? More as we get it.

2) Hulk Hogan = $240,000

As you’ve probably guessed, it’s the Hulkster who comes in at number two. Hogan has recently said that after being honoured to be inducted in the Hall of Fame, he no longer has the desire to wrestle anywhere but in the WWE. Going by recent figures though, it looks like Hogan is still paid his six figure sum of ten thousand dollars, less than Goldberg for an appearance.

3) The Rock = $220,000

When he’s not filming, The Rock has found time in the past to make the odd appearance, such as his match at WM20 alongside Mick Foley against Evolution. However, with The Great One now making millions at a time for his films, he commands a six figure fee of $220,000 for one nights work. With such a high price tag as that, and an unwillingness to get back in the ring permanently anytime soon, I wouldn’t expect McMahon to be shelling out nearly a quarter of a million dollars anytime soon in his direction.

4) Randy Savage = $205,000

In an unexpected surprise, Randy Savage has just pipped everyone’s favourite Rattlesnake to the fourth spot in the open contract list. When we contacted his representatives we learnt that he was indeed charging over $200,000 to make an appearance at an event. This is without doubt a shock as even though he gained some publicity by appearing in the first Spiderman movie, it was thought that his star was beginning to fade in the wrestling sky. Evidently he thinks not.

5) Stone Cold Steve Austin = $200,000

In a big surprise to some, Stone Cold Steve Austin, arguably the greatest of all time, does come in the top five, but at number five. Of the three ‘legends’ (Hogan, Austin and The Rock) Stone Cold is the most commonly seen on WWE television in recent months, his Beer Drinking Contest with JBL being an example. When we asked if there was any chance of an in-ring, ‘one more match scenario’ we were told that Steve has always said that if the conditions were right and he was happy with it, there are one or two matches he would like to see happen before its too late and he regrets not going for it.

6) Chris Jericho = $167,000

Perhaps one of the biggest free agents in wrestling, Jericho has been the subject of many rumours, with TNA allegedly showing an interest once they went global. The first ever WWE Undisputed Champion is said to miss the interaction of wrestling, although TNA were unable to afford the $200,000 monthly fee he wants for a written contract after signing Sting, Nash, Steiner etc. to written deals.

The other open contract superstars charging $100,000 or over to work some dates are:

7) The Dudley Boyz = $272,000 (Joint Figure)

8) Vader = $160,000

9) Roddy Piper = $156,000

10) The Ultimate Warrior = $136,000

10) Joanie Laurer (AKA Chyna) = $136,000

12) Lex Luger = $134,000

13) Rena Mero = $132,000

14) Ken Shamrock = $120,000 (Has tour commitments to NOAH)

14) Mitsuharu Misawa = $120,000

16) Tank Abbott = $118,000

17) Keiji Mutoh = $108,000 (Has tour commitments to AJPW)

18) Don Frye = $105,000

19) Marcus Bagwell = $103,000

20) Brock Lesnar = $101,000 (Has tour commitments to NJPW)

21) Jushin Liger = $100,000

That’s all for now, hope you’ve enjoyed a look at the more expensive workers in the industry, and just how much they are charging for what is often in Goldberg’s case at least, a cameo appearance. Join us next time, for another look at the wrestling industry, when we give a title review for 2006 so far.

[ZJ Penn]

RAW Preview for Monday 21st August 2006

Just in case the global hype surrounding the event has yet to reach you wherever you are, by this time next week, we will know just who won what at Summerslam, it is that close. As a result, this is the final Monday Night RAW before the Pay-Per-View, and what a main event the show has for the fans. In a match sanctioned by acting RAW General Manager Vincent Kennedy McMahon, we will get to see WWE Champion John Cena team up with the five-time WCW Champion Booker T to take on the respective rivals for the show in six days time, Batista and Shawn Michaels. This is a break from the norm, as often the main eventing superstars are given the night off or a less imposing match before a big title defence or other important contest, but not tonight. The tag team bout will be a disappointment if it is anything but spectacular, although with these superstars on show tonight, the chances that this match will be an anti-climax to the build-up are slim. The match is considered to be so big that it was even advertised on RAW’s rival brand, Smackdown. With all four men wanting to pick up the deciding fall to be strong going into Summerslam, they could potentially make the fatal mistake of forgetting the fifth man involved with this tag team match. In case anyone has forgotten, last week RAW GM Vince McMahon scheduled the match, but then told Triple H, the third man in the WWE title match at Summerslam, that he will have ringside tickets to watch the contest. With the Cerebral Assassin having no current affiliation with anyone in the ring, he will undoubtedly see these superstars as expendable, and if he does get involved with that sledgehammer of his, then all four men will have to worry for their chances of appearing at Summerslam 100% healthy, if at all.

Another interesting match tonight sees the 2006 King Of The Ring square off against Chris Masters. Bearing in mind that it was Lashley who broke The Masterlock for the first ever time in WWE history, there is already bad blood between the two which should make for an interesting encounter at the least. Whilst nothing will ever bring the Masterlock back to the feared move it once was, Masters can go some of the way to restoring his credibility tonight if he can somehow find a way to keep Lashley down for a three count, or apply his Masterlock for long enough without it being broken again. The match is also important on another level though, in that it is the final time that The Big Show and his Summerslam opponent could come face-to-face before their colossal showdown this Sunday. Whilst Lashley will be yearning to get some revenge on Big Show for sending him crashing through the Spanish announce table with a sickening Showstopper last week on RAW, he will be hoping to do it AFTER the match, as the odds of fighting off both the seven foot, five hundred pound monster and The Masterpiece could just simply be too much for even Lashley to handle.

Tonight’s RAW will also see the confirmed return of Carlito’s Cabana to Monday nights. The Intercontinental Champion spoke to WWE.com exclusively earlier in the day and when questioned, even though he didn’t give his identity away, dropped some seriously obvious clues about who his guest on the Cabana was. He said that he is perhaps the greatest Intercontinental Champion in WWE history, he is looked on with equal respect from both veterans and youngsters in equal measure, and has been involved in some of the all-time classic matches in this business. Still don’t have a clue? I guess you’ll have to tune in tonight to find out for yourself. Also tonight sees some more champions, as the World Tag Team Champions The New Wave defend their title belts against the somewhat mix and match team of Val Venis and Roadkill. The New Wave have looked almost unstoppable in recent weeks, and will be looking to continue in this fashion tonight. With numerous victories over The Spirit Squad and Goldust & Snitsky to their names, among other big names in the tag team circuit, its hard to see past them this evening.

Finally, the show is opened tonight once more by the ECW Open Challenge. The question is, after beating such ECW legends as The Sandman, Sabu and so on in recent weeks, is there anyone left for Edge to beat? It seems The Rated R Superstar will find out the answer to that question tonight, when he once again holds the invitational in the middle of the ring. RAW has also yet to see any sign of Mr Monday Night himself, Rob Van Dam, since he blew his knee out all those weeks ago. With Summerslam now a matter of days away, it looks unlikely that we will get to witness the expected match of Edge versus RVD.

Which team will get the win in the main event? Will HHH be able to resist getting involved tonight? Can Lashley beat Chris Masters and also exact revenge on The Big Show? Are The New Wave set to retain their World Tag Team Championships? Is Edge going to get a response from an ECW star tonight? What exactly will happen on the as ever unpredictable Carlito’s Cabana? Find out the answers to all of these questions and more, tonight, live on Monday Night RAW!!!

Confirmed Matches:

- John Cena & Booker T Vs Batista & Shawn Michaels

- Lashley Vs Chris Masters

- The New Wave Vs Roadkill & Val Venis [World Tag Team Championships]

- ECW Open: Edge Vs ???? ??????

Carlito’s Cabana returns!!!

[ZJ Penn]

The following segments are from the Sunday Night Heat web cast:

- Umaga defeated Goldust with the Thumb of Doom and once again the video played, warning that the streak begins again in six days time

- A video played, showing that The Undertaker returns in four days time, at Smackdown!!!

- Eugene pinned Mikey of The Spirit Squad when the rest botched their interference. Afterwards, all five members continued to argue about their losing streak

- Rob Conway opened the show with a pinfall victory over Gene Snitsky

[ZJ Penn]

It was said prior to the show that it may very well be that whoever comes out of tonight’s main event on top will have the best chance of winning their match at Summerslam, and potentially leave the arena as the WWE Champion. If that’s the case, then you would have to look no further than the ten-time World Champion, Triple H. The Game wasn’t legitimately even a member of the main events tag team match, however, he was at ringside throughout, and by ever did he make an impact. Other than the WWE Championship feud between John Cena, Batista and HHH, there was also the rivalry between Shawn Michaels and Booker T involved with them being Batista and Cenas partners respectively. Just before the main event got underway, Josh Matthews was able to catch up with a preparing Booker T, to ask him about the match. Booker told him confidently they ARE going to win this match, whether its Batista who gets pinned or HBK. As far as Shawn Michaels goes, even if by some miracle he does get the win tonight, it doesn’t matter, because this Sundays contest is what counts, and its then he’ll show him just why he is a five-time WCW Champion! In any event, the match began and in all honesty, it was very even, with both teams not wanting to go into Summerslam as a loser. Eventually something had to give though, and finally Booker and Cena got him in their corner and began to work him over as Batista looked on from across the ring, eager to get a tag, and Triple H watched from his seat at ringside. At one point, HBK even got tossed to the outside with a double clothesline and Cena followed him out, and after Irish Whipping him into the ring steps, got right in The Games face, telling him that ‘he couldn’t see him’. The Heart Break in the end showed great resilience to reverse a backdrop into a Double DDT and made the hot tag to The Animal, who cleaned house, scoring with a Spine Buster onto the WWE Champion. Out of nowhere though flew Booker with a leg lariat, although Batista ducked and he nailed the referee!. The five-time WCW Champion managed to escape a Batista Bomb with a low blow and came off of the ropes with a Scissor Kick, however he hadn’t seen The Game jump the barrier with sledgehammer in hand, and the ten-time World Champion scored with a shot the ribs! Batista was the next to take hard strike to the forehead, and then as he bravely began to climb back to his feet, another across his back. Finally Cena stumbled to his feet and into HHH’s path, taking a sickening shot to the mid-section, and then a Pedigree! HHH finally made his way to an already fallen HBK and prepared to crush his skull with a blow from the sledgehammer, but surprisingly decided against it and laughed, before dropping the weapon, rolling Cena onto Batista into a pinning position and exiting to the back. The referee finally came around, counted the three and called for the bell. As the show went off the air, and with Summerslam now closer than ever, we were left with the worrying image of four of its top performers left motionless in the ring, as HHH celebrated his ‘victory’ on the stage.

The match before the main event saw Lashley look to send a message through Chris Masters to The Big Show. Indeed he did that, with an impressive performance against the man whose Masterlock he broke for the first time when he joined from Smackdown in the draft. Masters did well to put up a fight against this years King Of The Ring, but he just couldn’t match either his strength or his technique on the day, and Lashley was able to score the deciding pinfall after exploding out of the corner with a Spear, after reversing a Masterpiece avalanche by raising his boots to his feet. Once the match had finished, Lashley didn’t even give Masters a chance to recover and leave the ring before he had already gotten hold of a microphone and begun to challenge The Big Show to come out here there right now! He didn’t have to wait long though, as the music of Big Show sounded throughout the arena as all eyes focused on the entrance ramp, including Lashleys. This was what would prove to be a costly mistake, as the seven foot monster came through the crowd behind him! The multiple time World Champion was then able to ambush a surprised Lashley, sending him to the canvas with several clubbing blows, the Show was far from finished though, as he followed up with a thunderous Showstopper. Big Show looked to the crowd and shook his head though, before scraping Lashley back up and nailing another Showstopper. Again he wasn’t satisfied though, and despite several EMT’s rushing down to ringside, Show wouldn’t let them near his fallen rival, till he once more got him back up off of the mat to hit a third and final consecutive, bone shattering Showstopper! As JR and The King cursed him for his antics ahead of Summerslam, the officials helped the KOTR 2006 winner onto a stretcher whilst the big man headed to the back, happy with his nights work.

One returning feature tonight saw Carlito’s Cabana back on the WWE fans television screens. Before the show began, Carlito left several hints with WWE.com to try and identify the special guest on his show, particularly that he was a great Intercontinental Champion and respected by everyone. With the set ready and assembled, our IC Champ came down the ring, amidst a large amount of boos and jeers from the WWE faithful. They eventually quietened down enough for him to get a word in. He announced that ever since he was asked about his guest tonight, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive, but the name that has come up the most, the name that nearly everyone mentioned to him, was Pat Patterson. With a disgusted look on his face, Carlito broke the news that it isn’t Pat Patterson who is his guest. Who is it then, he said. He finally revealed that if they want to see his guest tonight, then they’re looking at him. As the jeers grew to an unprecedented level, he said that he doesn’t get why they are booing, he is the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time and is respected by everyone in the worked of sports entertainment! So he is going to find out why they like this guy so much, and he is going to do this by bringing out their supposed greatest-ever Intercontinental Champion, and see just what’s so special! The legend that is Pat Patterson then came down to ringside and Carlito reluctantly handed him a microphone. However, before he could speak, Carlito ambushed him from behind with a disgusting shot from his IC title! With Patterson completely out of it on the canvas, the disgraceful Carlito continued to berate him with abuse, that was until, the theme of his challenger for the title this Sunday hit and Ken Kennedy launched down the aisle. The champion was too quick for Kennedy and escaped from the ring by rolling under the ropes and backed up the stage, although there was still time for Kennedy to send a message to Carlito, the possible new Intercontinental Champion trashed the Cabana set, leaving it almost unrecognisable by the time he had finished. Are we all set for a new champion this Sunday?

The ECW Open also took a strangely intriguing turn this week, when it finished in controversial circumstances like only ECW can. The show opened tonight when The Rated R Superstar Edge came down to the ring, telling everyone watching in the audience and at home that he was ready and waiting for someone to come out and face him. Despite waiting for a couple of minutes with Lita, no-one appeared and Edge told the audience that if they weren’t willing to come and face him, he knew that there were some ECW superstars backstage and he was going to come and get one of them HIMSELF! Him and Lita then disappeared backstage, and we didn’t see them again till after The New Wave had successfully defended their World Tag Team Championships against Roadkill and Val Venis with a Double Big Boot. They came down to the ring, with Edge hauling none other than former ECW owner Paul Heyman with him! As the crowd chanted that ‘Edge sucks’ he knocked Heyman on to the canvas with a hard right hand and then prepared for a Spear in the corner, although he was stopped when a chair shot from Terry Funk stunned him, and as Lita tried to intervene, the Funker pie faced her to the mat!!! Funk went one step further to lock on the Spinning Toe Hold on the Women’s Champion! As Lita thrashed in pain, Funk was too preoccupied to see Edge explode out of the corner with a Spear, sending him crashing to the mat. With that incident out of the way, Edge once again threatened to nail Heyman with a Spear, and once again was interrupted. This time the crowd shot to their feet, as the music of Rob Van Dam hit, and the former ECW World Champion returned to RAW! Edge tried to get an early advantage with a chair shot, but RVD ducked it and score with a high impact Van Daminator to the former WWE Champion! As Van Dam looked for a Five Star Frog Splash, Edge was saved a further beating when Lita pulled him out of the ring and they returned up the ramp. They were stopped in their tracks though, when Mr Monday Night, after helping Paul to his feet, told him that if he wants it so much, they are gonna go at it one on one at Summerslam! He finished by telling him seeing as he seems to be obsessed with ECW Rules, how about he shows him how its done, in a hardcore match!!! So it was official, in six days time, Edge and Rob Van Dam will go at it, in a hardcore match!

Quick Results:

- John Cena & Booker T beat Batista & Shawn Michaels with HHH interference

- Lashley defeated Chris Masters with a Spear

- The New Wave pinned Roadkill & Val Venis to retain their World Tag Team Championships with a Double Big Boot

- ECW Open: Paul Heyman versus Edge was ruled a no contest when Rob Van Dam returned and Edge fled the arena

Match Of The Night: John Cena & Booker T Vs Batista & Shawn Michaels

[ZJ Penn]

Randy Orton Suspended Again?/D-X Revival Back On?

- Two pieces of big news for you today, the first is that former World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton has been ‘suspended’ for an indefinite period of time according to WWE.com, with the kayfabe cover up being that he attempted to assault Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long after he refused him a return at Summerslam. In actual fact, that couldn’t be any further from the truth, as insiders were confident that this Sundays Pay-Per-View would see the return of the man touted as being the future of World Wrestling Entertainment, making an impact in the World Title match between Rey Mysterio and JBL. This has also added fuel to the fire that Mysterio will be dropping the strap at the event, after the fans turned against him in recent times. In any event, the ‘true’ reason that Orton has been suspended so far we’re told, is that he is in fact a raging alcoholic. Orton came to the management the other day to confess that after being originally suspended, he turned to drink when he thought that his WWE career was over. It is expected that Randy will be sent to rehab for at least a few months, before brushing up on his skills in Ohio Valley Wrestling and only then being seen in a WWE ring once more. Rumours have now also abounded that he was the superstar who was alleged to have an addiction yet the management refused his rehab request, although this is unfounded.

- The other big news is that certain high profile web sites such as www.wwefan.co.uk, www.ewbattleground.com and www.wrestlingobserver.com are suggesting the possibility of the D-Generation X revival being back on. This comes after this weeks Monday Night RAW, when Triple H nailed everyone with a sledgehammer, bar would-be fellow DX member Shawn Michaels. However, the management are still not keen on the idea, and this should be seen as only a teaser if anything. Although as always, updates will be here if or when they become known.