Recap 2003

Hello. As I mentioned in my last posting, I made mention of wanting to go back and recap the history of the game - from the totally absurd to the downright funny-falling-out-of-your-seat stuff. I don't have any notes (at least nothing I can find) from anything before 2003 except for one interview that was written back in my Best Buy days (1992-1997). It most likely happened towards the end of my run there. I had typed up an interview that Dusty Rhodes gave (that I made up) when he was challenging the Undertaker. We all know that Dusty talks with a lisp so when I wrote it, Dusty referred to the Undertaker as "Telly" and everything he said (to a certain degree) rhymed with that..Telly, felly, belly, etc. I just remember that interview (if I can ever find it again) was pretty darn funny.

Jumping forward to 2003. By this time, I had already created the HWF (Humble Wrestling Federation) and with the help of Jeff Meyers and a loser who I won't bother to name anymore, split the HWF into 3 smaller federations - The WWF was run by Donnie B, WCW was run by Jeff "The Hawk" Meyers and finally ECW. The ECW chapter didn't last long as the moron who was in charge of managing that couldn't get his fat ass out off his couch long enough to do anything. Jeff and I ended up running all three groups ourselves.

Battle royals were held and in the WWF, Edge came out as the IC champ and Hulk Hogan was its World Champion. At this time, Hogan was still continuing his feud with Ric Flair.

ECW crowned 3 champions after it's battle royal - Undertaker as the TV champ, IC champ is Booker T and the World Champion is Kane.

WCW, for some reason, had the most titles - 4. Lance Storm was crowned the first TV champion, Rey Mysterio took the Cruiserweight title,Big Show walked over everyone to take the US title and Kurt Angle wins the World title.

I do believe that 2003 was the first year we had an "Undisputed Heavyweight Champion". The belt could only be won and held by a federations World Champion. The rule was made that no one would get a shot at that title unless they held one of the 3 major World titles.

Back then, we would hold matches and based on how they did in their respective matches, they would be put into a Top 10 to wrestle for one of the championships. Before this, I would just mix up the characters, pull one out at a time and that person would get a title shot. With the introduction to the online version, it (ended up) made things a lot easier to run through matches and create top 10's by having people actually earn their shot.

2003 (at least on paper) also saw the beginning of the feud that would go on for years against the Negronomicon and Donnie B. Negronomicon started off with "holding the black man down/back"; this was a play on Farooq's role in the Nation of Domination as well as the JOB squad (pin me, pay me). Negronomicon would go on to attack the WWF's GM creating a feud that would last for a generation.

At our Wrestlemania, Mr. Wrestling 3 (who would eventually become MW3) took on the Super Warrior and after putting him to sleep, he cut his hair with clippers. Donnie B lost the first of many matches to the Negronomicon in a Lights Out match. The first Undisputed champion was crowned after Hulk Hogan squeeked out a win over Kurt Angle.

The night after Wrestlemania also saw Donnie B forced into retirement at the hands of the Negronomicon. DB would have to be content with just running the show and no longer an active participant.

Raven and William Regal had some interesting behind the scenes action going on. Raven, before being let go from the company, followed Regal back to his hotel and beat him from pillar to post. It took a comedic turn when Raven, after smashing Regal's face into his dinner, used carrots for eyes and peas for a smiley face. Good stuff.

As I mentioned earlier, it didn't take long but within just a few short months (maybe it was only one month), ECW folded. The loser running it was too much of an idiot and he couldn't figure out how to do anything. The ECW talent ends up remaining where they are but will be run by Donnie B and Jeff Meyers.

All this happened in one month. By February, Donnie B was back in the game but this time as a manager. He was only allowed one pic and for whatever reason, he chose none other than...The Negronomicon. February also saw Shawn Michaels lose an "I Quit" match against his homeboy Triple H. This month also saw Donnie B purchase back WCW. He now is the owner of all 3 federations but in the case of WCW, Meyers will retain some minimal control. Billy Gunn is forced into retirement after losing a match to Eddie Guerrero. In what was supposed to be a bit of humor, on the way to the Feb PPV, some of the wrestlers wrapped Teddy Long's head in a towel and jokingly referred to him as a terrorist. After all the heightened measures from 9/11, the plane was grounded and everyone was detained.

More to come.....