by Rick Scaia
Exclusive to OnlineOnslaught.com

• Michael Hegstrand, who has spent the last 20 years wrestling as Road Warrior Hawk, died on early Sunday morning.
   
  According to his wife, and reported by 1Wrestling.com, he had complained about feeling ill on Saturday night, something that was chalked up to strain related to moving into a new house.  Hegstrand, however, passed away in his sleep.  He was only 46 years old.
   
  At this time, no information is forthcoming about a possible cause of death, and it will probably be on the order of weeks before conclusive autopsy results are released.  It is enough, at this point, to note that Hawk joins an ever-growing list of wrestling stars who put their body through hell to maintain the necessary cosmetic appearances and physical functionality and who may have wound up shortening his life as a result.
   
  Hawk, with his tag team partner Joe "Animal" Laurinatis, were, still semi-active in the wrestling business, underscoring the suddenness of his death.  They had even held out some hope of continuing a relationship with WWE after being warmly received during a one-night comeback on RAW this past summer.
   
  That appearance came on May 12, 2003.  The Legion of Doom were brought out by Eric Bischoff to challenge then-tag-champs, Kane and Rob Van Dam.  A live crowd in Philadelphia gave the LOD a nice reaction, but in that match, Kane and RVD won decisively, with RVD pinning Animal after 6 solid minutes of action.  With Animal's brother John ("Johnny Ace") firmly entrenched in WWE management, some thought that a steady job for the Roadies in WWE was a serious possibility.  Instead, it turned out that the 5/12 RAW appearance would be the last hurrah for the duo.  [In a morbid twist of fate, that same edition of RAW also served as Freddie Blassie's final TV appearance before he passed away.]
   
  In the last year, Hawk (and Animal) had also done what amounted to cameos for NWA-TNA -- that was back around the New Year -- and also continued to make personal appearances and take sporadic indie or international bookings.  That the Road Warriors were still able, more than 20 years after their genesis, to trade on their name in a wrestling business that had been through countless booms, busts, and metamorphoses is truly remarkable.
   
  But Hawk and Animal didn't burst onto the wrestling seen a fully formed phenomenon.  Though the lions' share of their histories are shared, they came up in the wrestling business independently.  Michael Hegstrand was basically a bodybuilder in the early 80s: a time when bodybuilders really coming into vogue in the wrestling business.  the successes of Billy Graham and Jesse Ventura were fresh in everyone's minds, and a musclehead by the name of Hulk Hogan was just starting to turn heads.  Hegstrand's stomping grounds, the upper midwest, actually gave birth to guys like Ventura and Hogan, and so it's no wonder that he found wrestling work throughout that region and up into the Vancouver territory.
   
  Hegstrand, however, was green and unseasoned as a wrestler.  His physique made him a plausible undercard heel, but he wasn't lighting the world on fire.  Enter Joe Laurinatis, who was dealing with many of the same problems as a young body-builder-type working the southern US/Crockett territories.  The two were thrown together, and almost instantly, something clicked.
   
  Though they first flirted with leather outfits that would have made Adrian Adonis blush during an early stint with the AWA, the newly dubbed Road Warriors adopted the individual names of Hawk and Animal, and added the intimidating spikes and face paint that would be their trademarks.  With manager Paul Ellering to talk the talk, the Roadies walking the walk, and stablemates in the "Legion of Doom" to back them up, Hawk and Animal were oozing a sort of bad-assery that had rarely been seen by wrestling fans and that was completely unique in the tag ranks of 1984.  Then they added Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" as their entrance theme, and it was Game Over.  Not only were entrance themes a rarity back at that time, but Sabbath also perfectly encapsulated the image the Roadies wanted to project.
   
  Over time, Hawk and Animal's work in the NWA/Georgia Championship Wrestling (the precursor to WCW) was so ground breaking that they became synonymous not only with the "Road Warriors" name, but also the "Legion of Doom" name.  Few remember that a rotating roster of others joined Hawk, Animal, and Ellering to form the LOD, a problem that became exacerbated years later when the then-WWF insisted on referring to Hawk and Animal as the LOD.  Their work also made them a hot commodity: in addition to working for NWA/WCW, the Roadies also put in serious time up north, in the AWA, at a time when the NWA and AWA were considered near equals as part of the "Big Three" US wrestling promotions.
   
  But the AWA's status was on the decline as the 80s wrapped up.  Despite a timeslot on ESPN, the AWA couldn't compete with the newly-renamed WCW (which had just been purchased by Ted Turner and was benefiting from the full force of his media empire).  The diminishing options left Hawk and Animal only one more place to leave their mark:  the World Wrestling Federation.
   
  In June of 1990, the Legion of Doom made their WWF debut at a "Superstars" taping in Dayton, OH, at the Hara Arena.  And yes, I was there to witness it in person.  Although I was still years away from discovering the "smart" side to wrestling fandom thanks to the internet, I had spent my grade school years trying my hardest to absorb everything I could about the sport: and that mean reading a lot of PWI-family magazines and reading a lot about the Road Warriors, even when they weren't making easy-to-see marquee appearances on TBS.  So I had no idea in the world that they had jumped to the WWF; but as soon as they came to the ring to an "Iron Man" knock-off theme, I was thinking how huge this was.
   
  Unfortunately, it never quite panned out for the Road Warriors in the WWF.  In later years, I would learn of the severe personality clashes that Hawk (especially) had with management (Vince McMahon, specifically), though it could also be argued that the WWF had sealed the Roadies' fate when they half-assedly created "Demolition," a blatant Road Warrior's imitation that had, against all odds, become massively successful on its own.  WWF fans who had followed Ax and Smash for three years and who had become so enamored of them that Demolition had to be turned babyface in 1989 apparently didn't share my shock and awe at Hawk and Animal's WWF arrival.  Demolition, in fact, had turned face by virtue of a feud with another set of Road Warrior impersonators (the Powers of Pain)...  the arrival of the real deal, however, required Demolition be the heels.  And it killed the gimmick; Demolition, after almost out-Road-Warrioring the Road Warriors for a couple of years in the late 80s, was defunct by mid 1991.
   
  The Roadies, now dubbed "The Legion of Doom" by the WWF, didn't get out of the gate all that quickly, however.  A feud with Demolition consisted of Hawk and Animal causing Demolition to lose the tag titles to the Hart Foundation...  and then having interminable months of now-meaningless matches against their imposters.  In March '91, their WrestleMania debut consisted of a 1 minute squash of Paul Roma and Hercules, simply because the Fed didn't have anything better for the LOD to do.  Things finally started to get back on track over the spring and summer, as the LOD was finally given a chance to compete for the WWF Tag Team Titles (against new champs, the Nasty Boys).  At SummerSlam '91, Hawk and Animal won those titles, and in the process, became the first (and only) team to win all of the Big Three (80s version) tag team titles.
   
  Someone else should check my memory, but an odd historical anomaly:  I think the Roadies only held each of the three titles one time.  Their AWA reign would have been in 85-ish, the NWA/WCW one in '88 or '89, and then the WWF one in '91. For as important a team as the Warriors were, I find it odd they only held the gold for brief occasions. This is in contrast to the Dudley Boyz, who are the only team to pull off the Big Three (90s Version) tag title trifecta, and count a combined 17 (or something) title reigns to their credit.
   
  Anyway, whether I'm right about that tidbit or not, I do know that Hawk and Animal's WWF Tag Title run came to an unexpected and abrupt end in January '92.  At a random house show (in Denver, maybe? I had just discovered "PWI Weekly" at the time, and for some reason Denver sounds right), Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Shyster beat the LOD to take the tag titles.  Hawk and Animal promptly disappeared entirely for three months, and the whispers began.
   
  Again, I had no insider info at the time, and attempting to reconstruct what may have happened that January has never been a huge priority for me.  At different times, I know I've heard tales of Hawk and Animal being given a vacation due to a crack-down on steroids or due to any number of myriad "creative differences" (usually read as "argument with management over just about any topic, possibly even including creative matters"...  Hawk, in particular, frequently clashed with management about money and pay-offs).
   
  When Hawk and Animal returned, it was at WrestleMania 8 in Indianapolis, IN.  They weren't scheduled, but instead made a surprise return in an interview segment to announce that their old manager, Paul Ellering, was once again joining them.  Any joy that fans may have felt at the thought of Ellering coming back to recreate the old Road Warrior magic (something that had been missing for most of their WWF run) dissipated quickly, however, when Ellering also revealed that his new gimmick involved talking via a ventriloquist's dummy named Rocco.  The lameness of this gimmick cannot be adequately put into words: it was not only a waste of Ellering's talents, but it also served to diminish whatever remained of the Road Warrior's appeal as bad asses.  That tends to happen when you start worrying about what happens to some stupid talking doll.
   
  Their fast-track back to a tag title feud was derailed, and the LOD was replaced as the Fed's top babyface tag team by the unlikely duo of Earthquake and Typhoon.  The "Natural Disasters" surprisingly won the tag titles from Money Inc. in July of '92, leaving the LOD with a non-title match against Money Inc. on tap for SummerSlam.  After a win in the now-meaningless non-title match, Hawk decided to quit the company.  Upset over money and a perceived lack of respect, he quit the day after SummerSlam, in later years revealing that he did so without consulting with his long time friend and tag partner, Animal.
   
  Animal intended to continue with the WWF, and plans had even begun to create a new LOD, replacing Hawk with Demolition cast-off, Crush.  Those plans dried up, however, when Animal was injured.  While Animal took time off to recuperate and collect on an injury insurance policy, an unusual thing happened with regards to Hawk:  he began working almost exclusively in Japan, and suddenly, was gaining acclaim more for being a proficient and stiff grappler than for his make-up and entrance music.  Though the transition from all-show/no-go to being a credible in-ring performer was actually a more gradual thing with its roots in the late 80s, it was this stint in Japan, where Hawk was free from the baggage associated with being nothing but Animal's full time tag partner, that drove the fact home.
   
  That's not to say Hawk didn't still specialize in the tag ranks during this period, however.  Even in Japan and with his partner in the middle of what would be a four-year lay-off, Hawk spent significant time teaming with Kensuke Sasaki (who transformed into an alter ego, "The Power Warrior," when he donned the paint and spikes) as The Hellraisers.  His work as a singles wrestler was also notable, however, and by the time his was contractually free and clear from the WWF's no compete clause, Hawk was welcomed back to WCW in late '93.  Even without the Road Warriors together, Hawk was deemed a valuable contributor.
   
  But again, the tag ranks beckoned, and Hawk eventually found himself drawn into a partnership with Sting.  Together, the two won the WCW tag titles, and held them for a cup of coffee back in late '93 and early '94.  From there, Hawk's affiliations kept him from being a full time contributor to WCW.  For a year following the end of his and Sting's tag title reign, he worked primarily overseas, and peppered in some domestic indie appearances.  I know he was on a "super show" of sorts in Minnesota around this time, and I also recall him showing up for a special appearance or two in ECW (remember, guys like Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana, even the Steiner Brothers all contributed at various levels to ECW's pre-PPV success).
   
  Hawk was back in WCW full time by the start of the Monday Night Wars, working primarily as a singles wrestler through the Fall of '95.  And then, just when Hawk seemed like he was in over his head, Animal made a surprise return to WCW to bail him out.  In early '96, the two found themselves feuding with Col. Robert Parker's stable, and by the middle of the year, had worked up to a feud with Harlem Heat that eventually culminated in a Sting/Booker T vs. Road Warriors PPV match.  It wound up being, as I recall, one of Sting's last acts inside the ring for a while: this was just as he was slowly trying to become a darker character, and when the nWo was created shortly thereafter, Sting would morph into the black-wearing rafter-dweller and not compete in a match for nearly 16 months.
   
  Meantime, the Road Warriors had apparently served their purpose: as the nWo era got started and Turner was taking on lots of new salaries of WWF guys who could help them tell that story, and continuing to push a tag team most closely associated with the pre-name-change NWA wasn't gonna help.  By late '96, the Roadies were free agents again, and by early '97, Vince McMahon was willing to bury the hatchet.
   
  On a memorably unique RAW in February '97, the LOD returned to the WWF on a show broadcast live from the Manhattan Center, the birthplace of RAW.  The show was unique because three-quarters of the WWF roster was on an international tour in Europe, and the Fed turned to ECW to help flesh out the show (ECW provided three matches that night).  It was also a two hour special telecast at a time when RAW was only doing one hour a week; so the WWF needed more than 3 ECW matches to make the show seem special.  And it was thus that after only agreeing to give the LOD a try-out match, the WWF decided to feature Hawk and Animal's surprise return as a key part of the show.
   
  The decision to sign the LOD to contracts was a fortuitous one: LOD's 1997 wound up being the most productive period the team ever had in the WWF.  After a feud with the Nation of Domination, Hawk and Animal were key contributors to the success of the Hart Foundation vs. USA feud that finally helped the Fed regain some momentum in the war against WCW.  Not only did they have a tag title feud against Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith, but they were also featured in key multi-man tag matches as the feud eventually expanded to the point where Hawk and Animal joined Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock, and Goldust against Bret and Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Brian Pillman, and Jim Neidhart in a memorably good PPV main event during the summer of '97.  After that, they finished off the rest of the year with a feud against the Godwinns (not so good), and against the reconstituted Nation of Domination (back to being good).
   
  After a beatdown at the hands of Rocky Maivia and the rest of the Nation towards the end of the year, the LOD pulled another disappearing act.  And as before, they ended their absences with a surprise appearance at WrestleMania.  Accompanied by new manager Tammy "Sunny" Sytch, they were dubbed "LOD 2000," and had a slightly modified and updated look.  Even with 1998-era Sunny providing some of the industry's best-ever eye candy, the fact is the image change moved the LOD away from their strengths by trying to make them shiny and new, instead of dark and rough.  Further attempts to spice things up, by adding a new member to their faction (Darren "Droz" Drozdov) and another brief interlude with Paul Ellering (who quickly turned on his former proteges and almost as quickly evaporated again), also failed.  Towards the autumn of '98, LOD 2000's shot at tag champs, the New Age Outlaws, had passed, the feud with Disciples of Apocalypse was over, and nothing was clicking.
   
  That's when Vince Russo, the maestro of Crash TV, tried to turn the LOD's obvious lack of momentum into a storyline.  Hawk, we were told, had been driven to drink.  And drink a lot.  The introduction of Droz was Animal's attempt to get Hawk to straighten up.  For a little while, Hawk had good weeks and then bad weeks.  And then, cataclysmically embarrassed with his own behavior, Hawk "attempted suicide" by leaping off the TitanTron on a live edition of RAW.  The storyline was as silly as the talking dummy had been 6 years previous, and was compounded when, as 1998 wrapped up, Hawk and Animal parted ways with the company.  Hawk's "suicide attempt" became just another one of those dangling, unaddressed, incomplete stories that seemed to plague Crash TV.
   
  As the LOD departed the WWF, there were experts who could not resist suggesting that Hawk's on-air storyline was not without a kernal of real life truth...  but those accusations would prove hollow in the next year or two:  during a hiatus from full time in-ring action, Michael Hegstrand found religion, and transformed himself into a new man.  He was, by all counts, transformed in the good way, too...  not in the Jake Roberts way.
   
  During this hiatus, Hawk and Animal reversed roles: upon leaving the WWF, it was Animal who first got a job in WCW.  That was in 2000, towards the end of the company's run as an autonomous entity.  Animal's brother, John, had risen up the ranks there, and greased the path for Animal to return as a singles wrestler.  From there, the plan in early 2001 was for Animal to be joined by a rejuvenated Hawk.  Those plans wound up staying firmly on the drawing board, however: WWF unexpectedly swooped in to purchase WCW, and when they did, Animal's was not one of the contracts they picked up, and there were no further thoughts given to Hawk being added to the roster.
   
  Since the demise of WCW, the Road Warriors have been limited to international tours, their brief TNA stint, and this past May's one-night appearance on RAW.  That, however, cannot diminish the impact Hawk and Animal had on 80's wrestling during a key boom phase.  They spawned direct imitators in every wrestling company where they were not currently working, and even among performers who didn't think to directly rip them off, there was an acknowledgement that their penchant for gimmickry was a sign of things to come.  Their look and use of paint, costumes, and music inspired others to find their own unique bits of flair, even if it didn't have to include "Iron Man."
   
  Then, after a tumultuous first few years in which the green, rookie bodybuilders learned the ropes, the pair -- and especially Hawk -- would gain recognition for being competent and skilled in-ring workers.  Hawk's work on his own in Japan speaks to this, but to US fans, perhaps the best examples of the Road Warriors delivering in the ring come during their 1997 WWF run (getting to face the late, great Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith every night for about 4 months certainly didn't hurt).  It can safely be said that the Road Warriors changed the business in the early 80s... but what is often lost in the shuffle is that, in the end, they also showed they could changed WITH the business.  And that is why, long after the Powers of Pain and Demolition are faint memories, the Road Warriors were still a going concern up until the bitter end.
   
  An end that came far too soon yesterday morning for Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand.  Sincere condolences go out to his family and to all the friends and fans he made over the course of his 20 remarkable years in the wrestling business.
   
  
• A couple of other tidbits for today, starting with tonight's RAW....
   
  You can count on Goldberg vs. Shawn Michaels delivering a top-shelf main event.  Or at least, it's important to make it as top shelf as possible: Goldberg is still in a formative phase, and if he can't deliver the goods against somebody like Shawn, you know the internet will be all indignant about it tomorrow.
   
  But just as promising as the match is, wrestling-wise, there's also a chance for some genuine drama.  Nobody is sure what Michaels' agenda is:  Is there still some personal animosity?  Or is this "just business" for the World Title?  With Kevin Nash shelved until the Royal Rumble with an injury, plans to use him as the headline bounty hunter until HHH comes back are scrapped...  I don't know if I think Michaels has it in him to be a successful heel (I see fans finding it as hard to boo him as they find it to boo Ric Flair), but it's an option I'd at least toss around in a production meeting to see what clicks and what doesn't.  Surely WWE has toyed with it, too.  If not Michaels, then Goldberg's list of bounty hunters could be mighty thin for the next few weeks till HHH comes back to stake his claim to a Survivor Series title shot.
   
  They built up the Mystery Attacker gimmick last week...  I can't see why they'd drop it instantly.  The question becomes: Will the pay-off be worthy of the build up?  In the absence of a surprise attacker (like Nash would have been), watch HHH end up taking credit for the vehicular assaults....
   
  Other business tonight: Scott Steiner seems positioned to begin a concerted challenge to RVD's IC Title...  Steve Austin and Chris Jericho's battle of wits will continue, and this week, you can't help but find yourself wondering what role (if any) Trish Stratus might end up playing; is she just a tool being used by Jericho in his quest to show Austin up, or is there more to it?...  Maven vs. Ric Flair had to be delayed last week, but now instead of a one-off match, the two are embroiled in a full-on death feud; well, kind of...  Lita/Molly is Your Women's Title Feud of the Day...  the tag division is in need of a reset due to injuries crippling the heel side (Grenier, Mack, and Test all out); Jericho and Christian might be able to come out of last week's 8 man tables match as contenders to the Duds...  also an option: Christian and Booker T reviving their singles feud...  and I'd guess Kane and Shane McMahon will probably cross paths, somehow, to fully establish their match for Survivor Series.
   
  Between the main event and the potential coming off last week's strong show, tonight's RAW oughta be pretty good.  Check it out, or come on back to OO tomorrow for the full report. 
   
  
• Final rating for last week's SD! was a 3.3...  which is down from the previous week's 3.6, but which is BETTER than the 3.1 overnight rating that I reported for the show back on Friday.  Ummm, that NEVER happens, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the ON number was wrong last week.  I'm sorry for that.
   
  But the 3.3 sticks.  The drop of three-tenths of a point is significant, but not as terrible as things could have gotten.  Not only did SD! suffer some bad word of mouth after the prior week's shitfest, but they were up against what turned out to be a mind-numbingly awesome decisive Game 7 of the ALCS, in addition to the usual strong-performing prime time line-ups from CBS and NBC.
   
  As of this typing, I still haven't compiled Battle of the Brands for last week, because I'm lazy and I let myself get used to Jeb doing it.  But glancing at the ratings I've seen in my in-box, I'll unofficially declare RAW the winner, according to OO Staff.  Keep an eye on the main page for the full details.
   
  
• As I mentioned while delivering the results of last night's No Mercy PPV, I didn't see the show myself...  I blame my highly debilitating case of Baseball Fever.
   
  I won't try to give you an opinion on a show I haven't seen -- and in fact, in the past 18 hours I've seen so much wildly varying opinion on the show ranging from "it was very good" to "it was total crap" that I"m not sure where I'd start if I had to cobble together an opinion of my own.  I'd probably lean towards the "good" side, though.  At least, that's what Erin and Matt and the other luminaries were saying in the post-PPV chat.  And I trust them.  More than I trust you.  Yes, YOU, you near-sighted, mother's-basement-dwelling, Benoit-worshipping Triple H conspiracist!
   
  But I want to offer a few quick thoughts on where SD! goes from here... because they've got a unique little stretch facing them.  Between now and February, SmackDown! will only have about 8 chances to do PPV matches.  They'll get four each at Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble.  The PPV in between is RAW's.  Actually, that's more like SEVEN match slots (and 15 guys will get to compete in the Rumble match in January) that have to tide the entire roster over for four months.  This could get tricky, or it could be an opportunity to turn SD! back into a showcase for wrestling.
   
  If SD! keeps down this path of emphasizing storylines and soap opera -- certainly, it does seem like pushing of Vince McMahon vs. Undertaker as a key feud and the uncrowning of Eddie Guerrero as US Champ point that way, no? -- then I think the likelihood of crap being pushed into those rare PPV slots increases.  But if SD! instead looks at the next four months as a chance to rebuild and rehabilitate their roster from the ground up -- here, the brand's strength and biggest advantage over RAW is painfully obvious: the top-to-bottom in-ring skill of its talent -- then these could be fun times.
   
  You can keep focusing a lot of storytelling energy and "Crash TV" elements on 2 or 3 top storylines.  If one of them must include a McMahon, so be it, I guess.  But beyond that, focus not on trying to create singular moments to catapult a PPV feud to marketability, but on week-to-week character building and competition in the ring.  I'm not saying turn SD! into "Velocity Plus," but rotating different talents onto the show, giving them a few-week-long window to shine in longer matches and in maybe a vignette or two is something you can afford to do when you don't have to focus on PPV caliber feuds.  If a guy runs with the ball after he gets rotated in, everybody's ecstatic.  If a guy tanks in his three week window, well, it's maybe 25 minutes of TV time lost, but at least the fans will have gotten a couple good matches in the deal.  And so you bring on the next guy.
   
  By playing to the strengths of the SD! roster -- which means more wrestling matches and fewer sewage trucks and tainted burritos -- I think you'll have at least as many hits as misses.  By asking the same proven guys -- mostly Angle, Lesnar, Taker, and Cena (but possibly also Eddie, Show, and Benoit) -- to carry the load in the top level PPV matches might risk creating the impression of stagnation with some fans.  But those guys are good enough to recycle feuds and keep things moving; and then, in four months when SD! is finally ready to do it's first brand-specific show since No Mercy, it'll be with a revamped and reshuffled roster full that is healthier than it's been in a long while.  Just in time for WrestleMania and all points beyond. 
  
  Sorry for the tangent, but those are some things that occurred to me while mentally reviewing the No Mercy results and analyses that I've been reading the past day.
   
  
• As scheduled, HHH worked Friday night's RAW house show... but during a tag match (with Orton against Goldberg and Booker T), he tweaked his leg, and was held out of the next night's show (which he was also scheduled to work).  Instead, HHH acted as the manager for Evolution, and Flair took his place in the match.
   
  The injury was very minor, and everybody seemed to think there was no doubt that HHH could have worked through it.  But also: everybody could understand not wanting to take any risks, as HHH would like to be able to walk up to the altar this Saturday, and needs to focus more on being healthy for a return in a few weeks than he does on working a house show in Rhode Island.
   
  
• The "Japanese Mafia" guy that WASN'T Jimmy Yang at last night's PPV is, indeed, Keiji Sakoda.  WWE developmental signee who came up with Rick Bassman's UPW group in California...  John Cena passed through there, too.
   
  BTW, Tajiri having these guys come in is sort of what I'm talking about for SD!: it gives a little depth to Tajiri's character, creates the chances for Cruiserweight matches with some storylines, and in general seems an unobtrusive way to introduce good workers into a situation where fans might care about them.  Also:  with Yang/Sakada, London/Spanky, the perennial Velocity duo of Dragon/Funaki, and an outside chance at Zach becoming an MF'er with Shannon (remember the pre-Lesnar-stair-toss house show cards where Zach was a heel MF'er?), you could almost (ALMOST) justify talking about reviving the old WCW Cruiserweight Tag Title. I mean, the women's division on RAW has, at times, existed with even fewer viable challengers.... 
   
  
• Correction Corner: I misunderstood, and incorrectly reported that the same producer was developing both "Instant Karma" (a crapfest now slated to star The Rock) and the "Duke Nukem" movie franchise (a potential crapfest that has been hoping to land The Rock for some months, now).
   
  Everything else I said about "Instant Karma" back on Friday, however, I stand by.  Especially the parts about it doing for Rocky what "The Animal" did for Rob Schneider and making fun of Eddie Murphy for doing "Dr. Doolittle" after grown-ups stopped wanted to pay to see him.
   
  
• I think that's just about enough for today.  See you tomorrow with RAW Recap, then Wednesday with the Spoilers and the Midweek News.  Hopefully, no one else will die.  
   
   

E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH.  He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.

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