Former WWE creative team member Seth Mates has a blog entry up talking about why Undertaker and Triple H went six years without wrestling each other, why Paul Heyman called Mick Foley a prostitute, why Joel Gertner being thrown off WWE TV, and more. Here is what he wrote on his blog entry at NewsDay.com:So it was six years ago -- on the Halloween episode of SmackDown in 2002 -- that this happened. (Yes, that's me dressed as Dudley Do-Right sitting next to Cena as Stephanie's talking).
I've blogged before about my role in John Cena's first appearance as the white-boy rapper that ultimately led to his rise to superstardom. But given the day's festivities, I thought I'd retell the story -- along with some other fun backstage tidbits and thoughts inspired by recent events. Enjoy ...
... WWE and My Network TV went out of their way to promote last Friday's Triple H vs. Undertaker match-up, which they touted as WrestleMania-caliber. When I think of that match-up, I think back to the day after SummerSlam 2002, when HHH and Taker met in the main event on Raw -- which I believe is the last time they tangled on television. All I remember is how deflated the crowd was, how much the match stunk it up, how disappointed everyone backstage was afterwards (and for people backstage to openly malign something involving both HHH and Taker, that should tell you something). The feeling backstage was that we'd done something fresh and new at SummerSlam by putting the title on Brock, and now here we were doing something that was same old, same old, same old. Hopefully the six years since then have freshened the match a bit (I didn't watch last week), but this is the reason why you haven't seen it in so long.
... Thinking of the HHH-Taker match back in 2002 also reminds me of the backstage segment that followed that match, where Brock and Paul Heyman walk out of MSG with the WWE Title -- the moment that set up the split titles. I remember while we were shooting that vignette, a thinner-than-ever Joel Gertner -- who was backstage visiting that night -- was sitting directly in camera view! Not sure whether it was a strategic move on his part, but I alerted that fact to whoever was producing the segment, and he kindly asked Joel to move out of frame. Imagine if Brock was still with the company and that moment had become the "MOMENT" they always wanted it to be -- with Joel Gertner randomly in the background every time it was shown!
... I know I'm late on this, but congrats to Jonathan Coachman on escaping the WWE tornado and landing a great gig at ESPN. Good luck to you.
... This month's WWE 24-7 offerings are just awesome. I've been enjoying Survivor Series '87 the past few days, and I'm excited to see Survivor Series '91 later this month for the first time since I saw it live on PPV some 17 years ago. The music video offerings have two of my favorites ever (both for all the wrong reasons) -- Jive Soul Bro with Slick, and the AWA's WrestleRock Rumble -- arguably the worst thing ever. December's month's offerings look just as good, with Tuesday in Texas on the slate (Macho Man vs. Jake the Snake is THE best rivalry in wrestling ever to me, and in my opinion, Macho's promo after the match is the greatest promo in wrestling history, ever). And the fact that they're featuring Goldberg in the "Shorties" section as their Hannukah tribute is actually pretty funny.
... Surely I can't be the only one who got a little nauseous tonight during the SmackDown open when Eddie Guerrero's widow and nephew cut a wrestling promo next to a casket.
... Anyway, back to the Cena story from the Halloween 2002 SmackDown. I was on creative, and one of my duties was to go to the talent and find out what they wanted to dress as for the Halloween party. I believe we were on a European tour at the time, and when I went up to Cena (who was still finding his way through lower-card muck at the time, trying to establish a character), his face lit up and he instantly said Vanilla Ice. Having heard of his vocal prowess, I smiled back and said I'd do my best.
It was either that very day or shortly thereafter that John did his famous freestyle on a busride to a U.K. show. The entire SmackDown creative team was on that bus, and though there had been some hesitation from top creative people that making John a white rapper would "bury him", I and othersfought the good fight to give John an opportunity (and that rap on the bus definitely helped).
John was given a few speaking roles in the backstage Halloween party that night, and as best I can recall, he wrote all his own stuff. I remember him running one of his raps by me before the show, and I just knew the guy was gonna be a star. And there's been no looking back for John since then. There was some talk of renaming him "Johnny Ice" after that show, but luckily nothing ever came of that.
And for the record, John still owes me 50 bucks from that U.K. swing -- but that's a story for another time ...
