by Rick Scaia
OnlineOnslaught.com

In fact, Eddie's innate charisma and undeniable in-ring ability made it impossible for the Fed to turn Eddie heel, when his nephew Chavo was out with an injury.  Try as the might, WWE couldn't get fans to stay angry at Eddie: they wanted to cheer that cheating, lying son of a bitch no matter what he did.

That was never more obvious than in August, when WWE just threw up its hands and said, "OK, we quit."  Eddie's heel turn was aborted, and was taken out of a feud with the face Chris Benoit to deal with the heel John Cena.  It was as part of that Cena feud that Chavo returned from his injury to find his uncle Eddie just as he left him: a fan favorite.

Even if WWE hadn't taken the steps to put Eddie back on the babyface side of the ledger, their hand may have been forced for good late in August, when Eddie got a hero's welcome in his home town of El Paso, TX.  Eddie cut an absolutely tremendous promo on the show, and the fans responded so enthusiastically that estimates say the Fed edited out upwards of 2 or 3 minutes of cheers.  And it was still an impressive ovation.  That sort of thing, my friends, is what you expect from Hulk Hogan.  And yet, here's little Eddie Guerrero forcing SD! production team to do extra work in post because his fans just wouldn't shut up.

Eddie's momentum was undeniable... already the US Champ in August, he'd become a tag champ in September and briefly enjoy a reign as a double champion before WWE misstepped horribly and put Eddie into a sewage themed feud against the Big Show, and then seemed to drag their feet a bit on the heel turn of Chavo and the break-up of Los Guerreros.  But no matter: we glimpsed the promised land in August, and it was good.  Eddie Guerrero in WWE Title matches may be a reality before long.

Or at least, that's what OO opined, when it declared Eddie might be the "next Mick Foley" in this memorable column.
 

IN OTHER NEWS

• Bret Hart whetted the appetites of fans worldwide with a Calgary Sun column in which he recounted a dream in which he was wrestling Kurt Angle. Though Hart would go on to praise Angle and say he'd loved things had worked out so he could have had a chance to work with Kurt, and though Kurt would reciprocate with public comments "inviting" Bret to do a one-time exhibition of sorts (no storylines, just a pure, old school wrestling match), Hart would bring reality crashing back down on our heads by revealing that he's in no condition to work such an exhibition, and likely never will be...
• Kevin Nash got a new haircut. After a decade of wearing it long, Nash lost a Hair vs. Hair match against Chris Jericho in a RAW main event. Nash actually telegraphed the result by showing up for the match with a brand new bleach blond 'do; the new blond flat-top look was for a bit part in "The Punisher," which Nash filmed late in the month. However, when his schedule permitted his return, Nash still felt less than 100% physically. The pinched nerve that plagued him in Australia was apparently re-diagnosed as a neck/spine/back problem, and it would keep Nash out of action the rest of the year....
• Harry Smith, 18 year old son of Davey Boy Smith and sometimes partner of the troublesome Teddy Hart, wrestled dark matches for WWE, and garnered mostly positive reviews...
• In an ultra-rare move, the InterContinental Title changed hands on a non-televised house show in August. Christian beat Booker T in Des Moines, IA, on a Sunday night. Booker had been having back troubles (part of an on-going chronic problem), and apparently, it was decided at some point (quite possibly during the match itself if some reports are to be believed) that he'd be unable to defend the title in the long term. When Booker pulled up lame in mid-move, a quick series of reversals was improv'ed, and Christian won via pinfall with an Unprettier. Booker's back would sideline him for the better part of 2 months...
• Randy Orton started pushing his gimmick as a "Legend Killer" in August. After tossing Mick Foley down some stairs a month before, he began a feud with Shawn Michaels in earnest...
• Hulk Hogan's defamation of character lawsuit against the old WCW and Vince Russo was tossed out by a Georgia judge who (wisely, in my opinion) contended that Hulk Hogan the TV character was defamed, and not Terry Bollea, the real guy behind the gimmick...
• Ring of Honor, the acclaimed east coast indie that focuses on in-ring work, made it west-most venture to date when it debuted in Dayton, OH, in August. In front of a good-sized crowd of 600, RoH delivered a very strong show, but would proceed to not trek west of Philadelphia again for the rest of 2003...
• Sean "X-Pac" Waltman and Joanie "Chyna" Laurer hit a road bump in their relationship. Engaged to be married after a brief courtship earlier in the year, Laurer actually got a restraining order against Waltman in part of a messy break-up that was fodder for some of your less-caliber tabloid TV shows. Later tellings of the story characterized things as getting a bit out of hand in the heat of the moment, but with the two having civil conversations after the initial mess...
• The black-out that affected the northeastern USA and parts of Canada affected that night's SD! audience; the show was unavailable in large portions of NYC, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Detroit. However, the final RATING was not affected, as Nielsen cooked the books for that night, eliminating those major metro areas from their calculations and basing ratings on the percentage viewing on the remaining available TVs.  What did kill SD!'s ratings in August were pre-emptions on many UPN affiliates for pre-season football games....
• Less responsible outlets reported that Ohio Valley Wrestling was being cut as WWE's primary developmental territory. In reality, the relationship between OVW/Jim Cornette and WWE remained strong, and the Fed even helped promote OVW's big 10th Anniversary show late in the month...
• Proving that they hadn't lost the touch for painfully awful garbage, RAW presented a live via satellite skit in which Eric Bischoff invaded the McMahon home and sexually harassed Linda McMahon in a poorly-conceived attempt to put heat on a Bischoff/Shane McMahon feud...
• Rob Conway debuted on RAW as a French-sympathizing American who was loyal to La Resistance. In his first night on the job, he dressed up as a US serviceman to lure the Duds into a 3-on-2 attack...
• In a memorably vicious beating, the newly heel Brock Lesnar (unleashed by Vince McMahon as the "Real" Brock Lesnar) destroyed one-legged Zach Gowen on a SD! taped in Gowen's hometown of Detroit. Zach's mother was even at ringside, and Gowen shed so much blood that UPN forced WWE to broadcast the segment in black and white. In storylines, that meant that Zach went away for about a month to sell the injuries (which was important, as his weekly matches had begun to quickly over-expose his repertoire, which is something that I and many others felt should have been kept unique and fresh)...
• Leaked house show line-ups for post-SummerSlam RAW events listed HHH vs. Chris Jericho main events, leading many to suspect that Jericho, and not Goldberg, was the top possibility to take HHH's title in the revamped Elimination Chamber match (not to mention possibly turn face). Of course, as it happened, HHH didn't work any of those house show dates due to injury. Jericho neither won the title nor turned face, and the HHH/Goldberg feud was merely given a continuance until September's PPV...
• Mark Henry returned to the main roster on RAW, joining Teddy Long's stable. He essentially moved in to replace Chris Nowinski, who had been teaming with Rodney Mack, but who was experiencing post-concussion problems and would be sidelined for the rest of 2003...
• NWA-TNA presented a wholly-original match concept. Two heavy-gauge cables were suspended 15 feet above the ring forming a criss-crossed "X." The X Title was hung at the intersection of the two cables. And without the benefit of ladders, 3 men were put into battle, with the goal of being the first man to ascend to the cables, shimmy to the middle, grab the title, and return to the mat. Chris Sabin, Frankie Kazarian, and eventual winner Michael Shane competed in the match which wound up being spot-tastic, but also plauged by a few problems (including two lulls when the title fell to the mat and had to be put back)...
• The nationwide WWE Diva Search contest concluded... although a favorite pastime of readers was mailing me every time they spotted a marginally famous adult model in the plethora of photos submitted, everybody was quite confident that WWE would never select a girl who had already been naked in front of a camera. On the grounds that WWE only likes it when they can sanction the nudity and make money off it. Well, guess again. Winner Jaime Koeppe initially seemed nothing more than an aspiring Canadian model with an award-worthy ass; but within a week, her well-concealed past (in the form of about 5 photo spreads done under the name "Candice") were circulating wildly on the internet. WWE immediately put the kibosh on any push Jaime might have received, granting her the contractually obligated photo shoot and then sweeping her under the rug...
• Alexis Laree, part of Raven's flock in TNA, signed a WWE developmental deal...
• At SummerSlam, Jonathan Coachman turned heel by assisting Eric Bischoff in his match against Shane McMahon. Though Coach was unable to secure the win for Bischoff in that match, his heel turn set in motion a series of events that had Al Snow and Coach briefly taking over RAW announce duties from King and JR, and which also eventually exposed Coach as every bit as skilled and able in brief backstage skits as a heel as he was ill-equipped to actually carry an entire 2 hour broadcast as an announcer...
• Nathan Jones' injury absence was extended when he began filming a part in "Troy," the big budget epic starring Brad Pitt as Achilles. The filming took place over the summer, and the end product will be released in mid 2004...
• Close friend of Your Humble Webmaster, the Rick's High School Band Director (and Man Most Responsible for Me Playing Music to This Day), and All-Around Good Guy, George Koenig, passed away in August as a result of all manner of debilitating complications from pancreatic cancer. In my heart, I know I'd have never turned into the man I did without George, and my only regret in knowing him for 15 years was that I'm not entirely sure that -- in all the furor over arguing over who would buy who's beer at baseball games and such -- I ever made sure he knew it till it was too late...

NOTABLE quOOtables

RATINGS TRENDS
(Note: RAW's cable ratings are converted to broadcast numbers 
for our monthly comparisons)

PAY-PER-VIEW RESULTS

TITLE CHANGES

Christian beat Booker T for the InterContinental Title on 8/10... Michael Shane beat Chris Sabin and Frankie Kazarian in a 3-way match to win the TNA X Title on 8/20... Simon Diamond/Johnny Swinger beat America's Most Wanted for the NWA Tag Team Titles on 8/27...

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