So I sincerely apologize for being so late this week, but the issues I’ve had with my Macintosh have been a huge albatross around my neck since I first started writing these things. Besides, the guy at the Torch waited just as long this week and I always have way better Droz coverage than him.
Generic theme #395 brings us to… Byte This! It’s another Marc Loyd solo effort this week, but I’ve lost all hope of Josh Matthews coming back to this show on a weekly basis, so I’m coming to grips with the pathetic host situation. Loyd runs down the guests (Shawn Michaels and Edge) and fills us in on the Steve Austin movie press conference before pimping the Royal Rumble. He reminds us that La Resistance beat William Regal (w/o Eugene) in Winnipeg for the Tag Team Championship at a house show. Marc makes it sound like title changes happen at house shows all the time, which is outrageously outrageous. He tells us we can’t miss Smackdown because Booker and Eddie will be fighting the Bashams and then… Marc drops his microphone and the whole show grinds to a halt while he tries to get back into the swing of things.
Trevor Potter, winner of the fantasy game last “season”, is on the phone. He’s doing pretty badly at the fantasy game this year, but he’s still hanging in there. The WWE really hooked Trevor up just for winning this stupid thing, he not only got four ringside tickets for Raw but he met Lita, Chris Benoit, Shelton Benjamin, and Jerry Lawler plus Lita took a poster back to the locker room and had Randy Orton sign it. Very cool! Trevor advises the current players by telling them to write out their combinations before making their predictions and to visit the WWE’s website often. Marc tells Trevor that he’s a fighting champion for telling all his secrets, dumps him, promises us Droz, and goes to break.
Undertaker/Heidenreich promo, which is so much like every other Undertaker promo I’ve ever seen it’s scary. You’d think they just used a 1993 ‘Taker/Kamala promo and put Heidenreich’s name in there.
Chris Masters promo is next, and damn if I don’t always like these narcissist type characters when they debut.
Royal Rumble/West Side Story promo, which is FUCKING HILARIOUS.
Marc welcomes us back to this “great show” and reminds us of our guests before introducing Droz. Very brief fantasy game talk before bringing up the Jericho/Benoit match on Monday. Droz thinks that any Canadian would be thrilled with the Chris vs. Chris match quality, and Monday was no exception. He thought that the handshake at the end was a real nice touch. Marc asks Droz how he feels when he sees a really great match like that. The Kane/Snitsky feud is briefly discussed, but they really don’t say anything notable. Ric Flair vs. Randy Orton is also brought up, and Droz thinks that Flair’s mission is to hurt Orton before the Rumble. Droz thinks that the Steve Austin movie announcement is pretty cool, because Austin was “great” on Nash Bridges and he will excite wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike. He also thinks Angle will be haunted by his decision to attack JBL, but he enjoys seeing Kurt squirm. Marc tries to get Droz to give a few predictions, and he thinks that Edge will beat HBK at the Rumble. He apparently thinks the ‘Taker is barely gonna squeak by in his match with Heidenreich. Gee, what would make you think that? Maybe that it’s a f*cking casket match!? Or that Undertaker never loses!? Droz can’t decide what’s gonna happen in the Raw Title match, so he wants to watch Flair/Orton before he decides. He is also totally stumped when Marc asks him his pick for the Rumble, although he thinks it’ll be a Raw competitor. Marc drops Droz and we’re going to break!
Clips of Edge qualifying for the Royal Rumble.
Edge is on el telephono. He admits that he has been very frustrated since his neck injury because he believes that was the time when he could have become a breakout superstar. He sat on the sidelines for a very long time, and when he saw Benoit win the Rumble and then the belt, he thought that should have been in his cards instead. Can’t argue there, since I heard all that same stuff last spring. He’s in character as he goes on a bit about his Randy Orton match where the crowd turned on him. Marc and he even get into a spat when Marc suggests. Suzie from Delaware asks Edge why he speared HBK. Edge gives an awesome answer about how boring Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H would be and how the main event scene – including Orton – has gotten stale. Edge admits he used to look up to Shawn Michaels as a child, but now it’s time for some new blood. Preach on, brutha! They discuss the elimination chamber, and Edge admits that he gets really beat up in that cage. Trent from Montreal thought Edge wrote an “awesome” book and asks Edge about Edge’s “big three.” Hulk Hogan got him into the business but when he learned the basics he admired Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels more. Edge had no idea that someday he would be idolized by fans, and it kinda blows his mind. He knows that most of his career has been on Vinnie Mac’s watch, so someday down the line he’ll have to win the Raw championship so he can write another book and tell us more. He pimps Mick Foley’s books and says that Mick proved to the world that wrestlers are interesting. Edge didn’t know that the Austin press conference was about a movie, but he likes Austin because he really helped Edge and Christian develop their characters when they were starting out. Edge would certainly do another movie, but he wouldn’t go out of his way on his days off to audition for a film. He has already turned down other movies, his interests are in wrestling instead. Marc lets him go and talks about how cool Edge is before going to break.
Clips of HBK vs. Christian.
Shawn thinks that preparing for two matches at one pay per view is intimidating, especially since he hasn’t been wrestling much since returning from surgery. He knows that the Rumble is paced differently and he could easily get lost amongst the other wrestlers and gain some valuable rest time. Marc wants to know about HBK’s thought process in a Rumble match, and Shawn admits that it’s hard to balance all the elements going on around you. Colton from Texas wants to know how it felt to referee the elimination chamber, and Shawn thinks that the latest one was definitely the best. It just felt better than the other two, although he admits that he had the best seat in the house to judge it. An e-mail from Chris in Scotland asks Shawn what was a better feeling: winning the world title for the first time or returning after his four year retirement? HBK did not think he was mature enough to understand what the heavyweight belt meant at the time. He took it for granted and so his 2002 comeback seemed more significant. It was especially moving because he really didn’t think he could ever wrestle again, and being able to come back and do really good was a blessing. Marc brings up the crafty Edge, who had told us earlier that he partially modeled his style after HBK. Shawn is always flattered by those remarks, but he has been in this scenario with Chris Jericho and Christian in the past. Michaels admits that many people in the past have been pissed at him despite not having any matches yet, so he isn’t surprised that Edge is pissed at him now. He knows that young wrestlers need to use older wrestlers as a stepping stone, but at the same time he now understands how the old timers felt when he was a young wrestler.
Bethany from Connecticut (who is SO OBVIOUSLY A CORPORATE PLANT!) asks Shawn how he feels about becoming a legend in the business. Shawn is flattered and finds it hard to grasp. Talk starts to float towards the upcoming HBK book, and Shawn notes that he met with his ghost writer for the first time this past Monday. He has been worried about doing it because so many of them have already been written. He knows that his career was based in animosity and controversy, and most of that was because of his personal problems with being negative. He never wanted to become the person that he became in the mid-90s, but it happened and he needs to put the deeper issues that led to those experiences on paper. He knows that Toronto fans secretly like Michaels and that the weird hatred that he receives when he’s in Canada comes from good natured ribbing. Finally, Marc asks Shawn what he thinks about Austin signing a deal with WWE Films, and Shawn says “I have no comment (pause) about Steve Austin (pause) coming back.” Ooooh, cryptic! Shawn is gone, Marc says goodbye and we end with the last minutes of Kane/Snitsky on Raw.
This has been the best solo Marc Loyd show ever, as he took questions from the fans (and corporate plants) way more and asked some interesting questions this time. Hey, gotta dig any mysterious HBK comments too, and what’s weirder than suggesting tension with Austin? Check it out if you get the chance, it’s a fun one.
