Before we get to the main "meat and potatoes" of the PDC, let's discuss Bill Goldberg. He's a free agent now, as AOL/Time Warner offered him a contract buyout of some kind, which he accepted. Goldberg is free to negotiate with anybody, and don't you think that he'll get offers? I expect all of the start-ups to take out loans just to offer Goldberg something reasonable for the impact he may have on their company. When it comes down to it, though, the WWF is the only federation who can offer Goldberg a good deal with great exposure. Despite making some enemies in the WWF from his comments regarding Triple H, Steve Austin, and the New York Trade Center, I believe that they could make that "water under the bridge" and realize what great business could be made.
Be patient, though. Goldberg does have an arm injury right now, sustained during a celebrity car race. It could take a while to recover from. But once he's healthy, the WWF should sink their teeth into him. I'm sure they could EASILY get him for $1 Million. Yeah, that sounds a lot, but it's better than the $2 to $3 Million they would have to fork out if they personally bought Goldberg's contract. When you're a monopoly, as the WWF is in the American wrestling industry, you can control the prices offered to wrestlers. Goldberg can either take it or leave it.
I do have an idea on how to use Goldberg, if and only if he just happens to sign with the WWF. First of all, keep him OFF RAW. Why? You do NOT want Goldberg and Brock Lesnar on the same show. That's bad, bad news. Put him on Smackdown, and give Flair some midcarders in return, so that he can go after Triple H. Triple H vs. Goldberg = HUGE Pay Per View draw. Once he is done with Triple H, have Goldberg fight Steve Austin, who could be World Champion at the time.
But I had another idea in mind for Goldberg. Why not give him an apprentice? The WWF has a wrestler with the same look at Goldberg, or maybe bigger, in Leviathan at Ohio Valley Wrestling. Have Goldberg as his mentor, and make Leviathan become a badass in training, or possibly do all of Goldberg's dirty work. That would leave Goldberg as a limited wrestler, thereby saving him from any harmful injuries leading up to a HUGE Pay Per View draw. Maybe a wrestler, such as Triple H, would have to fight Goldberg's apprentice (Leviathan) just to get to Goldberg. You'd be investing in the future, while making big money in the meantime. Ok, ok, I watch too much Star Wars...
On to the PDC.
Man, Kurt Angle said it nicely, as two good midcarders didn't do much on Smackdown, other than betting on Mark Henry. Val Venis would turn down Angle's t-shirt, but not the proud Canadian, Lance Storm. Man, Angle ripping on Mario Lemieux's Cancer was just wrong... Later, we'd get a segment between Val Venis/Edge and Lance Storm/Kurt Angle that would lead to Smackdown's match of the night. That segment would also include a challenge for Judgment Day. Hair vs. Hair match between Edge and Angle. How 1980's of them. Looks like Edge is going to go over huge at Judgement Day.
Our next match was Hardcore Holly vs. Randy Orton. The announcers really pressed on to explain Randy Orton or his family's success. The contiued persuit by Stacy Keibler was interesting too. Speaking of Keibler, someone had a hand in her cookie jar tonight. (Vince) Anyway, this was your run of the mill Smackdown match, with a few interesting moves done by Orton. The ending had Hardcore Holly hitting Orton in the nuts, a disqualification, and then taking him up to the top of the ramp and slamming the hell out of him. Damn, that had to have hurt. All the WWF needs to do is make Holly an official henchman of Vince McMahon, and it will help Holly's career greatly right now.
Probably in response to some criticism, the WWF ran some brief tributes to Chief Wahoo McDaniel and Lou Thesz. Hey, it's something, especially considering that neither man was ever a full time wrestler in the WWF (they may have wrestled some cross-over matches?). I guess the WWF should have done a tribute to Thesz before anything, considering that one of their wrestlers, Steve Austin, uses the Lou Thesz Press on a regular basis, which Jim Ross proudly calls.
Now, for the MATCH OF THE NIGHT... Kurt Angle/Lance Storm took on Edge/Val Venis, in a dispute over Kurt Angle's t-shirts. Yeah, it's corny, but at least it's not hand lotion, a bulldog, or a Japanese commercial. But who cares? This tag match was FANTASTIC! Excellent workrate out of all 4 guys, and you know what, I wouldn't mind seeing these teams team up more often. Lance Storm and Angle think on the same level, really strict and proud of their country, whereas Val Venis and Edge are actual brothers-in-law in real life. And we have Chuck and Suck as the tag team champions? God, these are the teams and this was the tag team match that I'd rather see instead of the crap we saw in the opening match. Bravo to all 4 wrestlers in this match!
Next, we had a in ring promo for Chris Jericho, who would later be interrupted by Triple H. They would put emphasis on the Main Event, or sort of how Jericho has no chance of really winning. The WWF is slowly trying to figure out a way to have the 4 Way match of Jericho vs. Hogan vs. Undertaker vs. Triple H.
Next, we get the Nation of Domination reunion of Faarooq and Mark Henry against Test and Christian. The wrestler with the most potential in this match: Christian. Hey, he got the win in this match! Wow. Another sloppy tag team match, given the untalented wrestler in Henry and the always stiff Faarooq. Henry doesn't deserve the current push he's getting.
Billy Kidman vs. Tajiri was next. Not as good as the Pay Per View encounter, but hey, they weren't given much time in this match to develop anything. The Cruiserweight division isn't getting pushed... Kidman and Tajiri's workrate is making it good enough to deserve a spot every week. Considering that the WWF can have Rey-Rey and many of their stockpiled HWA wrestlers, they could build a super Cruiserweight division if they chose to do so.
Our Main Event was Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Jericho. Jericho just carried Hogan to his best WWF match since the return of Hulkamania this year. Amazing. Jericho sold everything like a champ, and that's coming from a guy who was held down by Hogan (and Nash) in WCW. Triple H would come down for commentary during the match, not intefering like Vince warned. Then, we'd get the Undertaker's music, but no Undertaker. That would distract Jericho enough to allow Hogan to roll him up for the win. Damn, Jericho had Hogan beat, TWICE. Triple H would attack afterward, end of show.
LAST WORD: Great show here. The tag team match in the middle was fantastic, Kidman vs. Tajiri was good, and Jericho carried Hogan to a decent match. The other midcard stuff, well, it was typical WWF slop. I'll give this show a
Off to South Africa we go... I like the idea of training while on Vacation; an idea that should have been used in the first season. The WWF also brought in one of their older rings, which are much stiffer than today's rings. Not only was the ring stiff, but the African weather provided some very hot training sessions. That had to have been hell in that ring, especially when Al Snow was wrestling everyone.
Despite shaving his head to kiss up, Hawk did HORRIBLE in the ring against Al Snow. The WWF hyped a cut for the African trip, but guess what, they split the African trip up into 2 weeks of programming! Damn them.
LAST WORD: Things got really interesting once Al Snow got into the ring with the wrestlers. Hawk and the really bulky lady had some problems in the ring, especially Hawk. Someone is getting cut next week, guaranteed I suppose. On next week's preview, it showed Hardcore Holly as saying that he saw a different group coming home from Africa. Hmmm... Show is getting slightly better.
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@That's all for today. It's unknown if I'll be back this weekend or not. Until the next PDC, just chill....
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.