by Rick Scaia
OnlineOnslaught.com

Michael Hegstrand, who was better known as Road Warrior Hawk, passed away in his sleep at the age of 46.  Though Hegstrand had cleaned up his life completely in the last several years, he had driven his body hard during the 80s and 90s and no doubt utilized performance-enhancing substances to keep up... substances that probably weakened his body to the point where he passed away decades too soon.

With his partner, Animal, Hawk could be fairly said to have redefined tag team wrestling in the mid-1980s, and actually helped bring a certain flair to the entire business.  They were one of the first acts to have a trademarked entrance theme (Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"), and developed a unique look with face paint and spiked shoulder pads and the rest.

You can get the full OO Tribute to Hawk right here.

Just three days prior to Hawk's death, Stu Hart, father of Bret and Owen and patriarch of the entire Hart Wrestling Family, passed away at the age of 88.  He had been hospitalized for several weeks following a fall, and developed pneumonia while bed-ridden.  He eventually succumbed to the illness after a career that not only saw him succeed as a performer in his own right, but which saw him groom practically an entire generation of stars (like his sons, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Lance Storm, and plenty more) for their own success.  You can access OO's full write up on Stu Hart right here.

Not all the news was awful in October, though.  Hulk Hogan, three months removed from his last WWE work, appeared poised to make a big splash.  He agreed in principle to a deal to work a major Sunday night, full price PPV for NWA-TNA against Jeff Jarrett (as well as a few Wednesday night appearances to set up the match).  With Hogan on board, TNA was able to secure a November 30 slot for the big show.

And that's when things went a little wonky.  Hogan went to honor a commitment in Japan... at a press conference there, he even did an angle with Jeff Jarrett (regarding Hogan's desire to win the NWA Title before he retires) that aired on the next TNA PPV.  But almost immediately afterwards, Hogan announced he would be getting knee surgery, and that he'd be unable to do the November 30 date.

Without Hogan, there was no Sunday night PPV slot.

TNA thought they'd still be able to get Hogan on board for an early 2004 PPV, and utilized Jimmy Hart and a few other older Friends of Hogan to keep the storyline flowing throughout the rest of 2003 -- they even shifted the NWA Title onto Jarrett as originally planned in anticipation of Hogan's eventual appearance -- though almost immediately word began to circulate that Hogan had little interest in pursuing TNA as an option.  Hogan's status and TNA's ability to secure a Sunday night PPV remained in limbo for the rest of the year.
 

IN OTHER NEWS

• WWE's litigation against Lewmar Inc. (the makers of the harness worn by Owen Hart on the night he died) ended, with WWE being presented a $9 million (plus legal fees) award. Between that and their insurance coverage, the Fed wound up breaking about even on the legal front with regard to Owen's death, which is probably how it should be...
• On the strength of a few Heat/Velocity showings, former WCW star Jimmy Yang signed a WWE developmental contract. He'd languish in OVW for barely a month before getting his call up...
• Alan Funk -- who was "Kwee Wee" in WCW and was in the midst of enjoying moderate success doing a "Funkster" gimmick on the indie scene -- suffered a serious in-ring injury during a tour of Finland. The injuries to the head and face have kept him out of action to this present day...
• Randy Savage's rap CD -- with the hit single "Be a Man," a challenge directed a Hulk Hogan -- went on sale, and promptly sold... well... not a whole lot. Even with cable TV ads and tons of online promotion, it moved fewer than 5000 copies, I believe...
• In a sign of things to come, RAW and SD! had a Monumental Roster Swap in October! OK, not really... refs Nick Patrick (to SD!) and Mike Chioda (to RAW) switched jobs. In the move, Patrick took over the title of Senior Official for the SD! brand (although it sure seemed like young Padawan Brian Hebner continued to work most of the high profile matches)...
• Jesse Ventura's MSNBC talk show finally debuted after months of turmoil and trouble to find the right formula. Sent out to die in a Saturday night timeslot, the show generated a pathetic 0.2 rating. It would be cancelled by the end of the year....
• Proving that RAW and the Kane/Shane feud didn't have a monopoly on crap, SD! first forced Eddie Guerrero into a US Title feud against the Big Show (although other heel challengers with whom Eddie might work better matches existed), and then did a feud-defining angle where Eddie sprayed Show with sewage. No doubt attempted as a duplication of the successful Austin/beer-truck gimmick (which already sucked when Kurt Angle did it with a milk truck), this was flat out garbage, especially coming from the show that had so incredibly ruled the universe with outstanding WRESTLING throughout the late summer and into fall...
• Zach Gowen returned again from a Lesnar attack, this time steered clear of the WWE Champ. Instead, Zach was sucked into a reprise of his feud with Matt Hardy (which had been on-going at the time of Zach crossing paths with Lesnar). Though Zach won the PPV confrontation, he was also effectively written out of WWE storylines at that point, and would not resurface the entire rest of 2003. Word circulated that WWE wanted Zach to take the time to work on his overall skillset (instead of just being a highspot machine) in OVW, and when Zach's attitude was less-than-accommodating to that, they weren't exactly in a rush to bring him back to the main roster...
• Test injured his foot in a house show match. At a key juncture when he had forced Scott Steiner to become his man slave, his sporadic participation on TV over the course of 6 weeks only dragged on their interminably-long feud (which in one form or another dated back to February)....
• Two months after having to drop the IC Title in impromptu fashion to Christian on a house show, Booker T returned from an injury hiatus to RAW. He immediately got back into it with Christian, which in turn placed him front and center as the battle lines began to be drawn up for Team Austin vs. Team Bischoff...
• Rock was rumored to be attached to a talking CGI animal movie called "Instant Karma," which would be his next project after his WM20-related WWE run. OO savaged the concept and also heard from Hollywood insiders who had read the script and agreed... and before too long, Rock was off that project and replaced it on his schedule with the much more promising "Stay Cool" (an A-list sequel to "Get Shorty")...
• After further examination, Kevin Nash (absent from WWE since shortly after his haircut) opted for neck surgery with Dr. Jho. The surgery, which usually has about an 8-week recovery time, should put Nash on a schedule to get medical clearance right around the New Year, the same time his WWE contract was set to expire. The severity of Nash's condition, however, meant he would not receive clearance until well into 2004...
• To one-up Steve Austin (who, in an ungentlemanly moment, Stunnered Stacy Keibler), Chris Jericho came to the rescue of Trish Stratus when she was about to get manhandled by Stevie Richards. The chivalrous act was, actually, one-part showing up Austin and one-part a bet Jericho and Christian had cooked up to see if Jericho could have sex with Trish before Christian could tag Lita. But of course, it was not that simple, and the "Love Rhombus" became an infuriatingly addictive soap-opera storyline over the closing 2 months of 2003...
• Rodney Mack was also re-diagnosed. After swelling went down and doctors could see what was really going on with his knee, the recommended surgery, which would put him on the sidelines for another 4 months, at least...
• When WWE promoted Vince vs. Stephanie McMahon on its No Mercy PPV in Baltimore, it was in violation of a Maryland State Athletic Commission rule about male vs. female wrestling matches. Warned about this ahead of time, WWE promoted the match anyway. Why? The fine was only $2000, which they paid gladly...
• Steph lost the match and, as a result, was out of her job as SD! GM. In reality, it was a break to get married and (to many smark fans) get her screeching off TV for a few months... in storylines, it was an excuse for Vince McMahon to introduce Paul Heyman as the new GM of SmackDown!. Heyman did not regain his backstage clout in the move, but excelled as an onscreen performer over the rest of the year....
• Also incoming at No Mercy: Keiji Sakoda and Jimmy Yang debuted for the SD! brand and Yakuza-esque associates of Tajiri. They helped him retain the Cruiserweight Title....
• After bounty hunter after bounty failed to knock off Goldberg, Batista made his return to the RAW brand to Pillmanize the ankle of the World Champ. Acting one week as a mystery attacker, Batista was revealed the following week when HHH made a rare in-arena appearance to present his bounty to a deserving party...
• On the final weekend of the month, surprisingly close to 4 years to the day that they were "wed" in a messy TV angle that spawned a real life relationship, Stephanie McMahon and Paul "HHH" Levesque were married in New York. The original "McMahon/Helmsley Era" lasted about 2 and a half years, and OO reiterates its best wishes that the real thing easily outdistances the onscreen deal...
• To allow the entire roster to attend the wedding, all Friday and Saturday house shows were cancelled for both brands. Shows resumed as usual on Sunday...
• (The Ultimate) Warrior hyped a major announcement about his return to pro wrestling on his website... when the time came, he revealed nothing more earth-shattering than the fact that he'd agreed to license his likeness to Acclaim for inclusion in the next edition of the "Legends of Wrestling" videogame...
• The announcement came in the same week that THQ released "SmackDown!: Bring the Pain" for PS2. It was widely considered to be the greatest WWE videogame for any console released in a very long time, with good gameplay and a story/season mode that actually made sense and was fun....
• Both Jeff and Matt Hardy were backstage at a RAW in North Carolina... Jeff's appearance was instantly chalked up as "just visiting friends" and nobody read anything into it. But Matt's absence (when SD! was running a show a few hundred miles away) was very suspicious...
• Bill DeMott embarked on a career as a color commentator, and announced that (due to mounting injuries) he considered himself retired from in-ring action...
   

NOTABLE quOOtables

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

PAY-PER-VIEW RESULTS

TITLE CHANGES

The Big Show beat Eddie Guerrero to win the WWE United States Title on 10/19... The Basham Brothers beat Los Guerreros for the WWE Tag Team Titles on 10/21... Jeff Jarrett beat AJ Styles to win the NWA Title on 10/22... Chris Jericho beat Rob Van Dam for the InterContinental Title on 10/27... in an immediate re-match, Rob Van Dam beat Chris Jericho in a cage match to regain the InterContinental Title on 10/27...
 

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