Some of Todays Wrestling News and Rumours (Possible spoilers) ***NO CHAT***

Monokne

Well that's a head scratcher. Seems like an exercise in burning money.

gnfnrhead

Stupid idea. The iPPV's are a far better route to take. Even WWE have moved away from traditional PPV's and into streaming.

Machismo Fan

Regular PPV offers them greater exposure.

Monokne

Well it would if anyone bought them.

Rjd2

The lads talking about The Curtain Call.

The footage makes you appreciate just how far technology has come since May 19, 1996. Had it happened today, a hundred iPhones would have captured the moment in high-definition from every conceivable angle. Instead, it exists as a single shaky video clip shot from a handheld camcorder somewhere in the mezzanines of Madison Square Garden.

It shows four men in a WWE ring surrounded by a blue steel cage. The quality is sketchy and the colors bleed, but the figures of Shawn Michaels, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Triple H — enemies in the ring, but 4/5ths of the backstage collective known as The Kliq (along with Sean Waltman) off-screen — are somehow unmistakable. One day later, Hall and Nash will exit WWE and head to WCW where they will start The Monday Night War as generals in The New World Order. But, tonight, they celebrate in front of an appreciative crowd as longtime friends in an act that is both a touching show of camaraderie and, in the eyes of many traditionalists, an unforgiveable insult to sports-entertainment convention.

Check out backstage photos of The Kliq

Eighteen years later, their celebration is remembered as “The Curtain Call” (or, in some circles, “The MSG Incident”) and its impact has yet to be forgotten. A few hours before Scott Hall was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, WWE.com sat down with most of The Kliq (The King of Kings — once the group’s junior member — was busy running an empire) to talk about the most controversial night in the controversial history of their controversial alliance.

This is the story behind The Curtain Call.

WWE.COM: Did you guys plan The Curtain Call ahead of time or did it just kind of happen that night?

SHAWN MICHAELS: It was talked about in Europe then it was never talked about again. We had done a European tour, then we came back and had this last run. For us, not that we needed a reason to celebrate something, but everything was the last time we’ll be doing this, the last time we’ll be doing that.

KEVIN NASH: This may be the last time we’re in a Lumina van! We should really drink tonight.

[Laughter.]

MICHAELS: Then, that night, as best as I can recall, it was Hunter coming up and going, “Hey, are we doing that thing we talked about?” I don’t think anybody remembered it.

NASH: I walked in and talked to Vince and Pat [Patterson]! You [points to Michaels] were with me and he said it was fine and we were supposed to go to [New York City steakhouse] Smith & Wollensky afterwards. And it just turned into a thing …

WWE.COM: Before we get into the fallout, let’s talk about the incident itself. What do you remember about that moment at the end of the night?

SCOTT HALL: I remember standing in the ring and we’re all there together. It was unheard of, but the people appreciated it. I remember looking at Kev, we’re all hugging and I remember thinking we all made it.

NASH: I remember — and I think we may have even said it in the ring that night — that we weren’t disbanding The Kliq.

MICHAELS: We were taking over the business.

NASH: We’re going to go down south and take over Ford Motor Company. You guys run GM and we’ll run the automobile industry.

Watch the creation of The New World Order on WWE Network

MICHAELS: I remember Vince came up to me after and said, “Did that mean a lot to you?” I said, “Yes it did.” “Then it meant a lot to me.” And he was fine. It was fine that night.



WWE.COM: So there weren’t any locker room blowups that night?

MICHAELS: It was not a big deal until it became a big deal. It didn’t become a big deal to us until it became a big deal to Vince.

NASH: What you have to realize is this is before the Internet was what it is now. This is an era where even though that happened it wasn’t like it went viral, you know? People didn’t even have cell phones.

MICHAELS: What happened was the same thing that happened a lot of times — [Mr. McMahon] on the ride to wherever, getting phone calls. Honestly, it was big to the old timers in the locker room before it was big anywhere else.

NASH: It exposed the business.

MICHAELS: We were of the mindset that people understood what the business was, the entertainment aspect. All the stuff we do now we were trying to convince them to do back then. You know, pull the veil back a little bit. Everybody knew we were all real friends. We didn’t see the harm in doing that.

See The Kliq reunited backstage at the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame

SEAN WALTMAN: We had that different mentality before everyone else caught up. We can do this and it’s not going to hurt the business.

MICHAELS: A lot of the traditional guys did not like that. [Mr. McMahon] had to put the hammer down.

NASH: One thing I want to say is that situation and those actions were never done with malice.

WALTMAN: No way.

NASH: It was four guys that had spent a lot of miles, a lot of hours and a lot of our lives, [and we were] saying goodbye.

We stayed out there because the fans were cheering.HALL: On the other side of the coin, I understand the talent that was still there thinking, “What’s with these dudes? They’re leaving and they’re trying to hurt us.” That wasn’t the way it was. Sorry, man, we stayed out there a long time because the fans were cheering. Had they not cheered, we’d have left. It became really emotional.

MICHAELS: I look back at a lot of the stuff we did and I [understand] the heat. It’s not like we worked really hard to try and endear ourselves to people [in the locker room].

WALTMAN: As long as we liked each other.

NASH: We had five of us. I don’t need more than four friends.

WWE.COM: So why did you break up the band? Were you second-guessing your decision to leave WWE for WCW leading up to May 19?

NASH: How could you not? You looked at their television and The Giant’s fighting [Hulk] Hogan on top of Cobo Hall, they get in a monster truck battle, The Giant falls off the roof and comes back in the main event and gets The Yeti to wrap around Hogan. And we’re going there!

Check out WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 on WWE Network

WALTMAN: Even if you have all the confidence in the world, when you see that it’s like, “Really? Am I really good enough to go in there and change that?”

NASH: It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life.

HALL: I also felt a certain sense of betrayal, because Shawn’s a guy I’ve known since ’84 in Kansas City. He smartened me up about the business in that Oldsmobile your parents gave you. I felt like I was betraying a guy who elevated my career to its zenith and made it possible for me to get a nice offer, but I also felt a certain responsibility to my family. I had asked if there was anything to do to change my situation and I was told not at that time.

NASH: Same with me. If Shawn Michaels wasn’t watching WCW Saturday afternoon TV and looked at [Rick] Steiner and said, “Do you know Nash? You think he can come up here and be my bodyguard? I think he’s kind of funny.”

WALTMAN: When you were doing Vinnie Vegas.

Watch Kevin Nash in action as Vinnie Vegas in WCW

NASH: Yeah. Without that, I don’t live at the beach. I’d be at a strip joint right now, managing it.



WWE.COM: Shawn, did you ever try to talk your friends out of leaving?

MICHAELS: No, no. People always ask, “Was there animosity?” But, to me, it was more sadness. I’d been traveling with these guys every day for the last several years. We’d gotten so close. It just sucked. It’s like your best friend moving away when you’re little. I woke up and faced these faces more mornings than I did anybody else’s.

NASH: By far.

MICHAELS: Sometimes closer than I probably should’ve been.

WALTMAN: Four guys in a hotel room with two beds. Usually happens that way.

MICHAELS: It started with me and Scott. Scott and I worked with each other every day for two years. Then Kevin came in and me, Scott and Kevin worked with each other for two years.

Learn more about the classic rivarly between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon

HALL: In my memory, it was always sold out and they were hanging from the rafters. And I had the [Intercontinental Championship]!

[Laughter.]

MICHAELS: There was a comfort there, traveling and being with the same people every day. That was going to change for the first time in a long time. It sounds very soft, but it was the truth.

HALL: It was a different schedule back then, too. It wasn’t uncommon to work 20, 30 days in a row. At one time I remember having more physical contact with you than my wife … which is why I’m divorced.

[Laughter.]

MICHAELS: I wasn’t married. I was single at that time. They had responsibilities. How do you look at your buddies and not say, “You gotta go for the dollars”? They had those things I didn’t have to worry about.

WWE.COM: Did you feel competitive with one another once you were on opposite sides of The Monday Night War?

HALL: I felt just the opposite. I felt so happy. Man, wrestling caught on fire and it’s not like we did it, but if you want to look at who was on top of the highest-rated shows on each channel it was those guys that got a load of heat.

MICHAELS: Look around this business in general! All these guys — plus Hunter — are a part of a lot of those times.

WALTMAN: Every major thing that happened!

MICHAELS: And that ain’t by accident, my friend.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.WWE.COM: Are you surprised by the impact The Curtain Call has had on the industry?

HALL: I did Steve Austin’s podcast not too long ago and he said, “I’m glad you all did that, because Hunter ended up getting screwed and I got a big push out of it.”

NASH: We didn’t even leave the building thinking we’d done anything. We just knew we had a hell of a house.

HALL: We felt like we were going to say goodbye to all these fans at The Garden. Thanks for your support all these years, because, man, we’re going to the bush leagues. We’re going to the farm club.

NASH: Yeah, we’re giving up the Yankees pinstripes for the Yomiuri Giants.

HALL: Yeah. We’re getting guaranteed money, but, yeah, I’m selling out. I felt like it. I never thought it was something we were going to be sitting here talking about at the Hall of Fame.

MICHAELS: What these guys did — whether Vince wants to admit it or not — opened the doors.

HALL: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

MICHAELS: I understand people’s perception of it. That’s one thing that time, wisdom and all that gives you. It wasn’t done to stick anybody in the eye. It was just friends expressing their care for one another. But, as a wise guy once told me, it isn’t show friends — it’s show business.

WWE.COM: That’s a perfect last line right there.

HALL: Wish I’d have said it.

http://www.wwe.com/classics/the-kliq-curtain-call-roundtable-26223071

CastorTroy

I was just thinking recently that that Curtain Call fallout is a decision made that helped Steve Austin as much as the decision to have Bryan lose to Sheamus in 18 seconds.

And is XPac employed by WWE in some capacity or is he just a hanger on?

rovert

CastorTroy wrote: »

And is XPac employed by WWE in some capacity or is he just a hanger on?

Hanger on/"paid under the table" instead of having a WWE Legends contract or anything like that.

Good authority has it that if he didn't have Hepatitis he would have been a trainer as far back as the FCW days. Also he can't be a WWE ambassador like Mick Foley was until recently due to his porn and public drug shenanigans.

Pentecost

rovert wrote: »

Hanger on/"paid under the table" instead of having a WWE Legends contract or anything like that.

Good authority has it that if he didn't have Hepatitis he would have been a trainer as far back as the FCW days. Also he can't be a WWE ambassador like Mick Foley was until recently due to his porn and public drug shenanigans.

What would he get the few $ for, just popping up on interviews like the above or as a talking head on DVDs?

rovert

Pentecost wrote: »

What would he get the few $ for, just popping up on interviews like the above or as a talking head on DVDs?

Yeah royalties. It is a pretty decent payday too.

Ape Lincoln

Just fwiw, other people who are not contracted to WWE have appeared in WWE documentaries on DVD. Chris Jericho is one of them.

Pentecost

rovert wrote: »

Yeah royalties. It is a pretty decent payday too.

I'd imagine it is if it's sales based rather than a one off fee.

Ape Lincoln

I can't remember exactly what the number was but Lance Storm a few years back revealed what kind of royalty cheque he got from DVDs or whatever. It was a good few grand I think.

rovert

Ape Lincoln wrote: »

I can't remember exactly what the number was but Lance Storm a few years back revealed what kind of royalty cheque he got from DVDs or whatever. It was a good few grand I think.

Paid for a new Kitchen he said.

Chip Whitley

Would even Zach Gowen receive a (small) royalties cheque from WWE too then?

sky88

The Incredible Hulk wrote: »

Would even Zach Gowen receive a (small) royalties cheque from WWE too then?

I think everyone who appears gets one

Jester252

The Incredible Hulk wrote: »

Would even Zach Gowen receive a (small) royalties cheque from WWE too then?

Would depend on their contract,

rovert

The Incredible Hulk wrote: »

Would even Zach Gowen receive a (small) royalties cheque from WWE too then?

Yes most likely. WWE doesn't want to get sued. A number of years ago there was a huge drive to find wrestler's current contact details.

rovert

Babyfaces beat the heels on WWE house shows nearly always but I think this result from today's Saudi Arabi shows a promising change in the pecking order:

They did a small tribute to Warrior in the show, and showed a video package of him (photo is above).

- Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated RybAxel

- Kofi Kingston defeated Damien Sandow

- The Usos defeated Cody Rhodes & Goldust

- Sami Zayn defeated Heath Slater

- Cesaro defeated Mark Henry

- Roman Reigns defeated Randy Orton

- John Cena, Dolph Ziggler & Sheamus defeated The Wyatt Family

No Divas on the show for religious reasons obviously too. No female fans were allowed either. So total sausage fest/ROH show.

gnfnrhead

Surely Sami Zayn is the big news there?

rovert

gnfnrhead wrote: »

Surely Sami Zayn is the big news there?

Not really. He was on the Abu Dhabi tour last year. The primary reason he was over there and genuinely the main reason he was signed is that he speaks Arabic.

Tramps Like Us

rovert wrote: »

Yes most likely. WWE doesn't want to get sued. A number of years ago there was a huge drive to find wrestler's current contact details.

So i guess we'll never see the wwes old dvd docs uploaded on the network ?

rovert

Tramps Like Us wrote: »

So i guess we'll never see the wwes old dvd docs uploaded on the network ?

No effect either way to be honest. Also digital rights are a grey area. There's a lot of confusion/fear about what the Wrestlemania payoff will be for Wrestlers on the show as it wasn't fully on PPV this year.

rovert

I guess Reigns will Spear him in half at the PPV

Batista is not currently being advertised for any WWE events following Extreme Rules, so it appears he will be taking some time off.
As we reported when he returned to the company, he was expected to take a break to do promotional work for his next film, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy", which opens in August.

Credit: PWInsider

Palo Alto

Weird how they bother reforming Evolution for what amounts to one match.

rovert

Palo Alto wrote: »

Weird how they bother reforming Evolution for what amounts to one match.

So the group can put over The Shield. Like feeding the New Age Outlaws to the team at Wrestlemania. Could be worse.

SureYWouldntYa

Palo Alto wrote: »

Weird how they bother reforming Evolution for what amounts to one match.

better than them sticking around in fairness

GTR63

Palo Alto wrote: »

Weird how they bother reforming Evolution for what amounts to one match.

Find bringing Batista back stranger, he had a forgetable return with few ups and mainly created headaches

Hashtag_HEEL

Palo Alto wrote: »

Weird how they bother reforming Evolution for what amounts to one match.

(Kayfabe)
Batista is expendable in the group, if he's shown to be the weak man he'll be thrown out. He'll be back as a face before Guardians comes out and he'll fight the authority/evolution

(Reality)
They're gonna put the shield over and we won't have to put up with Batista for a few months.

Sirsok

Hashtag_HEEL wrote: »

(Kayfabe)
Batista is expendable in the group, if he's shown to be the weak man he'll be thrown out. He'll be back as a face before Guardians comes out and he'll fight the authority/evolution

(Reality)
They're gonna put the shield over and we won't have to put up with Batista for a few months.

I'd like if Batista left, and they brought two new people into evolution, Triple H in the flair role, orton in HHH old role, maybe Big E in batistas old role and someone from NXT, maybe Bo Dallas, in ortons old role, would tie in with the original premise, push new stars and match ups!

Batista could return as a face then

Riddle101

Sirsok wrote: »

I'd like if Batista left, and they brought two new people into evolution, Triple H in the flair role, orton in HHH old role, maybe Big E in batistas old role and someone from NXT, maybe Bo Dallas, in ortons old role, would tie in with the original premise, push new stars and match ups!

Bo Dallas? No way, maybe Cody Rhodes would be a better fit for Randy Orton's role. There was a prediction on WWE.com that Rhodes would win Money in the Bank, so it would be a cool way to push Cody.

Batista could return as a face then

The reason why they turned him heel in the first place was because his face run sucked. I prefer him as a heel tbh. He's just a little bit more tolerable.