WWF EXCESS | ORIGINAL AIRDATE: August 25, 2001 |
This is the first addition of WWF Excess on TNN! Shots of HHH's injury from May 21st of this year is shown along with comments from the man himself. Why is this relevant? He's tonight's special guest! Your hosts are Jonathan Coachman and Trish Stratus. Each and every Saturday night, they're going to be here hosting. HHH is warming up for his appearance on the show. The Coach suggests Trish may be interested in what HHH has to say for different reasons because of her history with married men. She brushes it off and Coach gives out the number which is 1-888-LIVEWWF or e-mail them at wwfexcess@wwf.com. We head back to last Sunday which just happened to be the night of SummerSlam. Shots from WWF Magazine along with commentary by JR and Paul Heyman help us understand exactly what went down between Angle and Austin's World Title matchup. Angle gets screwed by Nick Patrick and Steve Austin in a match he probably had won and everyone agrees Austin can not beat Angle. The Coach says on Monday night Stone Cold was in a fairly good mood. So we now head back to RAW's Austin Appreciation Night. We watch the whole clip from the time Stephanie starts singing until Angle drives in with the milk truck and hoses them all down. Well, ALMOST the whole thing. They clip out the portion of Austin giving Tazz hell for not wearing an Alliance shirt. Trish jokes that Austin has milk to go with his cookies. Trish says she knows what Angle was thinking because she's spoken to him and he'll be a special phone in guest later on tonight! HHH is on his way in, but first we have to take a short commercial break. Back in the studio they talk about Trish's injury recovery, leading into talk about HHH's injury. We re-air the clips that were originally aired on RAW several months ago. From what I understand, the tears from Stephanie were not a work. How is HHH feeling now? Well, we're gonna find out. But first, fire up Motorhead! We get to take a long look at HHH's entrance video. Finally, HHH enters the studio and Trish offers him a hug but he declines due to issues they've had in the past and gives her a handshake. Coach asks how the therapy is coming along. HHH says it's alot of fun being back in the studio with his entrance music and all, and escaping Alabama for awhile. He does 8 - 10 hours of rehab every day and is working hard to return ahead of schedule. Trish asks what he was thinking when it happened. He didn't know but he thought he was shot in the leg at first until he came to grips with what had occurred. He says he's been around long enough to know a quad injury is a bad deal leaving you out for ages. However, he's working really hard and it's coming along alot faster than anyone expected. Now we take a closeup of HHH's scar on his knee and Coach says it's 12 iches. HHH says there's no way it's 12 inches and Trish must know it's not 12 inches. (I'm really not sure I like the direction they're taking Trish, but we'll see.) Craig in Florida has called in. He says hi to Coach and Trish and ignores HHH. So Hunter promptly calls him numbnuts to get his attention. HHH says he hopes the question isn't about Trish's breasts. No, Craig wants to know where HHH stands in terms of the Alliance and the WWF. HHH is going to be doing the same thing he's always done. He'll be on one side, and someone's gonna be on the other. He doesn't care who's his opponent, Alliance or WWF, he's going through everyone to get to the top. Coach says they've already gotten 4000 e-mails in the past hour for HHH. And rather than answer one of those e-mails, let's take a commercial break! We're back. Coach wants to know what goes through Hunter's mind everytime he takes a look at the clips of the injury. HHH knows it didn't look like a whole lot in comparison to Sid's leg breaking but it hurt like hell. The Walls of Jericho was the longest moment of his life dealing with that pain. Let's hop into the time machine back to March 26th, 2001. On that night, Vince got cocky and assumed he owned WCW, however his son Shane was waiting in the wings and bought it out from under his nose. HHH didn't know anything about it apparently, but says it was quite a night! Nobody ever expected to watch RAW and see Nitro and vice-versa. The Coach is curious what HHH's experience in WCW was like. HHH says WCW is a miserable place to work. There's all kinds of dinosaurs at the top holding guys down no matter how much talent you have and it's dangerous now because the guys who are talented are hungry and really want a piece of the WWF action. Michael from Baltimore has a question for HHH but was told by the phone screen not to ask it. HHH tells him to ask it cause it's live and they can't do anything. Michael wants to know if HHH has talked to Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner and are they coming in? HHH talks to Kevin Nash often. Nash is sitting back on his contract right now and can't come into the fold right now. HHH would love to see all the guys come into the fold eventually because he wants to get in the ring with everyone in the business, even if it's a close friend like Kevin Nash. The Coach reminds us that this is a live show before going back to take a look at ECW's invasion on July 9th and alliance with WCW. Stephanie buys ECW out from under her father's nose. (Notice a trend here?) HHH notices that Vince had the same look on his face both times. You'd think he'd learn, simply because he raised his kids. Shane and Stephanie are doing what Vince did back in the 80's - raiding all the talent and trying to shut down the WWF like he killed the indies. John Hayes sends in e-mail asking what HHH thinks of Stephanie and Test getting along again. HHH says they're adults and should definately get along - especially since she's his boss. Coach tries to stir the pot by going back and showing a picture of HHH training Trish and getting caught by Stephanie. Trish states she has used the moves in the ring since so she did learn something! HHH has received that look from Stephanie a bunch of times since. After the break, we're going to talk about HHH's thoughts on Stone Cold's defection to the Alliance. Here's some clips from InVasion where Steve Austin defected to the Alliance. His promos from the following weeks are added. HHH is asked for his thoughts on Austin's jump. At Wrestlemania he sold his soul to Vince to get the title. Shortly after he sold his soul to the Alliance to have his ego stroked. HHH says he's feeding his starving ego and that's it. Trish brings us HHH's invasion of WCW back in his days with DX. HHH states that was back at a time when you didn't mention there was another company, but DX had the balls to drive a tank up to their building and call them out. HHH reminds everyone he's the guy that does what he wants whenever he wants to do. X_Dawg wants to know HHH's greatest career highlight. He says he's had a bunch of highlights. Motorhead playing him to the ring at Wrestlemania was really cool, but his number one highlight was being the guy who retired Mick Foley. To be the guy to get the job done - it was a real accomplishment. He's been a WWF champion on 4 occassions. How important is it to win the title and how important is it for him to win the title? He says everyone's goal is to win the title but very few will get there. For him - it's the world. His number 1 goal is to regain the title again when he comes back. For everyone it's different. All the pressure is on AFTER you win the title. Some guys careers have been ruined from winning it, whereas others thrive. HHH thrives on it. Austin's one of those guys who has to have it, but when he does have it he becomes a paranoid shell of a man. It will be his downfall. What are HHH's thoughts on Austin's comments from when he was injured? HHH says it's real easy to run your mouth when someone's on the shelf and the guy is a thousand miles away. Let's see who gets it done when it's all said and done. The reason Austin sold his soul in the first place was because he was unsure of himself. It's time for another break but we'll be back in a moment. Let's the bodies hit the floor! Drowning Pool gives us clips from Booker T and The Rock from SummerSlam. The Coach is curious how big it is for The Rock to come back and win the WCW World Title so shortly after returning. HHH was really impressed and hopes he can make a similar comeback. The Rock proved he's one of the best. He's not The Game, but he's damn good. He also takes his hat off to Booker T's performance and says he's been watching Booker for a long time and is really impressed with him too and figures him to be a big star. Trish has been getting alot of e-mail. Rock1p17 wants to know if HHH wants to do any movies. HHH isn't really interested. He may take a script if they came to his door and offered him a fortune, but his heart and soul is with wrestling and he doesn't really want to do movies. After sitting out for months he knows how badly he needs to be a star in the WWF. HHH appreciates comedy says The Coach. So rather than comedy, we show HHH the clips of the midget from RAW. HHH thinks he looks like Booker T was put in a dryer. HHH adds that the midget was the first guy picked to host the show but he couldn't be seen over the desk so they went with Coachman instead. Now we take a long look at most of the match from Smackdown between The Rock and Acolytes against Rhyno, Booker T, and Test. Very little, if anything aside from the entrances is clipped from what I can tell. Trish cuts off The Coach talking about the match to go to the phones. Peter from California wants HHH to make a movie in California. HHH doesn't really know how to answer that statement and seems a little thrown off by it. Peter adds that his leg will be a target when he returns and how will he deal with that. HHH says he will not return if his leg is not good enough to take the punishment and that's why he's working so hard on rehab. Coach switches over to Tough Enough talk. Coach says 3 people quit after HHH appeared on the show and wants to know why. HHH says he simply told the truth and told them what they didn't want to hear. Had he known they were gonna go to Bahamas and sitting in a hot tub he would have been alot worse and made them all quit. HHH doesn't like the fact they're getting the world handed to them and the kids do NOT understand how serious this contract is at all. Marion via e-mail wants to know when HHH knew he was going to be a wrestler. HHH knew from the time he was a kid. He'd get up early in the morning watching wrestling and watch it all day long. He would not take no for an answer which is what he wanted the Tough Enough guys to know. If they get tossed and really want it - do it. Go somewhere else and get in. Coach sends us to clips from Tough Enough. Mick Foley appeared on the show and told them they don't have to know how to do many moves - but how to use them effectively. Some other personal stuff happened with the contestants, but if you're interested there's Tough Enough recaps on SlashWrestling. Commercial break. Each week on Excess we're going to see a classic match and you can pick it via e-mail! However, this week HHH wants to choose. So he chooses the first Smackdown! main event which was HHH vs. The Rock for the World Title with Shawn Michaels as a special referee. Coach asks HHH if he'll ever be in the kind of shape he was in during that match ever again. So HHH takes off his shirt and spits water on Trish and The Coach. HHH wants everyone else to take off their shirts. Trish says they'll have to go to commercial break first. After the commercial break we'll talk to Kurt Angle and update on Jeff Hardy's injury. It's been a bad week for Jeff Hardy. At SummerSlam he lost the Hardcore Title and then on Smackdown! he jumped though a table and hurt himself. On the phone is Rob Van Dam. Van Dam says the ratings are coming in now that he's on the show. He was really worried for Jeff Hardy when he saw him through the table. However, it could have been HIM through the table had he not moved so he doesn't feel really terrible. Why the Hardcore Title? For him, it's a test of endurance and pain. It happens to be where he excels - in that he can absorb more pain than most guys and feels he can take more than anyone in the WWF. Since he joined the WWF how has his experience been? Van Dam has had a blast, especially since he's been wrestling hardcore matches showing off what brought him to the dance. Commercial break. Jeff Hardy is one who likes to ride on the wild side. Trish would love to see more of that wild side. Well right now we're going to take a look at Jeff Hardy at home on his bike. He's always wanted a motorcross track in his yard. He loves riding on motorbikes. He's also wearing a Carolina Hurricanes jersey which for the first time in my life has made me appreciate Hardy for SOMETHING! (Go Canes!) The fear of the jumps is the payoff for him. He's broken his shoulder and collarbone before and he can't take those chances anymore because he's in the WWF. He shows off some of the bigger jumps on the course with him taking them. He falls off his bike on one of them but leaps over the handlebars and is okay. He pats his bike making sure it's okay. I guess it's like his version of Moppy? Jeff once had an idea to build a volcano thing in his yard. He used an oildrum and burried it in the sand and ran gas up in a path making a wall of fire. Now we're watching shots of him jumping over it and he says it was an original idea and something different. Trish is back in the studio and states Jeff is on fire. Coach segues to FROM THE VAULT... HHH vs. THE ROCK (For the WWF World Heavyweight Title with Special Referee Shawn Michaels) August 26, 1999 Now, I expected a From The Vault segment to show an entire match from start to finish. Needless to say I was way disappointed when it was clipped. I never saw this match first time around - Canada wasn't getting Smackdown! at the time so it would be nice to see it. From what I saw it didn't look overly fantastic compared to most HHH vs. The Rock matches I've watched, but still. Anyway, long story short, Rock is on the verge of winning the title, and Shawn Michaels superkicks him during the people's elbow leading to a HHH pedigree and pinfall. They remind us that The Vault is loaded with classic matches and e-mail them with your favorites. Up after the break, Kurt Angle will be on the show to answer questions. Clips from Angle drinking milk are shown before quickly moving back to the studio. Kurt's in Des Moines and he's just gone over Rhyno in the main event of the house show he was at tonight. A couple of years ago Steve Austin sprayed down Mr. McMahon with a beer truck. So Kurt retaliating with the milk truck was one of the biggest moments of his career - and right up there with winning the WWF Title. Earlier tonight we saw clips of Vince, Austin, and Kurt. Did he know what was going on the whole time? Kurt says he wanted to be the WWF leader and he knew what he was doing the whole time. His goal is to get the WWF Title back eventually. Trish mentions Kurt's book and Kurt's really excited about it. It's coming out in a month and it'll cover his entire life story from his childhood to the Olympics, to his first couple of years in the WWF. He's twice had his dreams made true - winning Olympic gold then the WWF Title. Stephanie from New Jersey calls in to speak to Kurt. How different was it from the Olympics to the WWF? Kurt says he was working with real competition in the Olympics as opposed to sports entertainment here in the WWF, however the WWF is alot more brutal. He's never had as many injuries in amateur wrestling as he's had in his WWF career. What's the funniest thing that's happened to Kurt on the road? Kurt doesn't even know where to begin and doesn't pick a story. It's hard being away from his wife, but on the road you're "one of the boys" and you don't really need to grow up too much. He loves doing what he does and plans on doing it for as long as he can. Coach thanks Kurt for joining them and heads off to another commercial break. RAW magazine is out for this month. Stacy Kiebler had a layout in this months magazine. Now we're taking a quick look behind the scenes. Stacy's really excited to be featured in the magazine. Rich Freeda - a photographer - says she doesn't need alot of makeup. She's all natural. Stacy started with the girl next door look, using lingerie and stuff, but then moved on to bad girl gear with leather. She started out as a contestant in the Ms. Nitro 1999 contest. She wound up winning the contest and taking home $10,000 for doing so. She became Nitro Girl Skye for a few weeks, then became Ms. Hancock and went from there. She's having a ball. Stacy's been modelling and acting since she was a child - and we take a look at some clips of her on TV and in commercials. Rich says anything that shows off her legs are great. Stacy loves skirts. (I also love Stacy in skirts.) Stacy thinks people are going to want a copy of this magazine because of the layout. Coach is drooling over the pics and lets Trish finish the show. Trish sends it to commercial break. Coach reminds us we'll be live every single week. Coach is indeed Stratusfied with the show. He reminds us RAW is live on Monday at 9:00, and Sunday Night Heat at 7:00 tomorrow with William Regal and Tajiri. Next week on Excess Tazz will be live in the studio. Coach had alot of fun, so did Trish and they can't wait for next week. Well, it's an interesting format and to be honest I think it really worked. If I ever get a life and actually go out on Saturday nights, I'll probably wind up setting my VCR regardless as long as they keep it up. It gives fans a chance to interact with the stars on a near shoot level, like the guy with the Kevin Nash question, but they keep it in character just enough so as not to totally break every rule of kayfabe in the book. I'm looking forward to the next edition. See ya next week. |