Confidential Report for 4/12/2003.

Recorded at the WWE TV Studios in Stamford, CT.

Your Host: Mean Gene Okerlund.

(Repeat episode tonight, this one originally aired on 8/17/2002. Here's my report from that date, very slightly revised.)

Gene welcomes us in with a preview for tonight’s show-later on we’ll be going in-depth with Shawn Michaels. First up is our ‘Cover Story’, focusing on the last year’s WWE Global Warning tour of Australia.

We see Olympic Hero Kurt Angle, Lance Storm and Christian failing miserably in their attempts to throw a boomerang, then visiting the Melbourne Zoo-Kurt was sadly unsuccessful in his attempt to purchase a koala. Jamie Noble and Nidia did a little surfing on Anglesea Beach, and Edge, Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson spent some time shopping and shmoozing at the Queen Victoria Market.

We cut to the actual show, which set an attendance record at the Colonial Stadium (56,734). No in-ring action, just a lot of stars happy to have gotten the chance to go to Australia. Break.

WWE Rewind: From Wrestlemania XIV, Shawn Michaels wrestles his ‘final’ match with the WWF.

Back, Gene reminds us that at last year’s Summerslam PPV Shawn entered a WWE ring for the first time in over 4 years to take on HHH. This leads into a ‘Before They Were Superstars’ segment on the Heartbreak Kid.

Shawn was the youngest of 4 kids-his mom describes the young Michael Hickenbottom as ‘quiet and shy’. As his father was a military man (Air Force Colonel), the family moved around the country a lot, which led to Shawn being branded the ‘new kid’ at school-fights resulted. His high school pal Kenny Kent remembers Shawn as the Big Man on Campus who was fiercely loyal to his friends and very handy with girls despite his shyness. Since football was the only athletic program available at his school he played the game-enthusiastically, but with little real passion. Shawn’s mom feels he only really committed himself to wrestling. Shawn’s dad says his son stared watching wrestling on TV at the age of 12-a practice he was unsuccessful in discouraging. Kenny remembers watching the shows with Shawn-we see a clip of the late, great Gordon Solie with Jim Ross, also the Fabulous Freebirds. Kenny and Shawn started practicing wrestling moves in the Hickenbottom family pool, terrifying Shawn’s parents. Kenny describes Shawn as ‘obsessed’ with the biz.

Upon graduating high school, Shawn enrolled in Southwest Texas State University. He and his parents admit this was pretty much a disaster, as Shawn had little interest in any of the subjects taught (one interesting exception-Shawn excelled in a course in psychology). Shawn partied his way through just one semester, then left to pursue a career in wrestling. His dad closes the segment by stating that he felt his son deserved the chance to chase his dream. Break.

Back, Gene presents us a segment focusing on former Undisputed Champion The Rock. We see Rocky in training for his Summerslam match with Brock Lesnar-People’s Champ praises Brock as a worthy adversary, citing their similarities in athleticism and intensity. Rock describes the 3 focal points of his workouts-speed, agility and power. Break.

Next up, we get a segment on Smackdown color commentator Tazz. Gene flashes back to the Red Hook native’s illustrious career in ECW, citing his victories over much larger opponents. On to Tazz’ announcing career-Gene reminds us some have failed in making the transition from competition to broadcasting (Magic Johnson, Joe Namath, Sandy Koufax), while others (John Madden, Jerry Lawler, Jesse Ventura) only excelled in the broadcast booth after their competitive careers had (pretty much) ended. Gene describes Tazz as a rather special case-though still in his prime, he’s ‘walked away’ from being an active competitor to become a full-time broadcaster.

Cut to Tazz-he states he joined the WWF for the sake of challenge, as he’d already ‘done it all’ in ECW. We flash back to Tazz’ first appearance at the announce table-at the time (no date mentioned), Jerry Lawler did color on both Raw and Smackdown. However, when Lawler was ‘injured’ by Tazz on the weeks Monday night show, Tazz took over the King’s chair for Smackdown. Tazz admits to being scared, as he’d never done color commentary previously. Though Tazz chiefly remembers only cracking bad jokes on that night, his broadcast partner Michael Cole feels he did a pretty good job for a first-timer. Shortly after, Cole and Tazz started getting a taste of broadcasting live, hosting Sunday Night Heat from WWF New York. Tazz feels this is where he really started learning the ins and outs of doing commentary. Tazz also got a shot at doing straight comedy-we see a clip of one of his classic ‘Tazz in the Kitchen’ skits from Heat.

While Tazz admits he still has a lot to learn as a broadcaster, he states he’s having a great time doing so. Tributes air from Cole, Bubba Ray and Spike Dudley and Kurt Angle. Interesting remembrance from Paul Heyman-while he still had ECW running and was informed his former employee was joining the Smackdown announce team, he informed his own guys that their days of being the best announcers in the biz were numbered. Tazz closes up the segment with praise for the veterans and the new talent, and states he hopes to continue to make a positive contribution to WWE. Break.

Gene returns with more on Shawn Michaels. HBK started his formal wrestling training at the age of 19, attending a wrestling school run by Jose Lothario. After a few months of training, Shawn started wrestling in Kansas City, where he met his future tag team partner Marty Jannetty. Shortly after, Jose invited him to join a promotion he was starting up in Shawn’s hometown of San Antonio. Shawn accepted, and after a short time he and Jose put together a video promo which they sent to the WWF and the AWA. Since Marty had just gone to AWA, Shawn decided to go with that promotion. The 2 formed a tag team, and soon got a call from the WWF’s Pat Patterson, who apparently kept a close watch on the (then) rival promotion. Pat offered the 2 a spot in the WWF, and Shawn and Marty packed their bags for McMahonland.

Here’s where things get interesting. Shawn and Marty spent their first night in the WWF without a match, and were later persuaded to spend the evening sampling the night life with their new co-workers. At a bar, a (nameless) wrestler decided to demonstrate his toughness to the newcomers by biting off a piece of a glass and chewing it up. Shawn countered by smashing a glass on his head. OK.

Next day, Shawn and Marty were approached by Nameless. Shawn states Nameless went into an outrageous story about he and Marty demolished said bar, apparently confirmed by other wrestlers. That same evening, Shawn and Marty were scheduled to team against Nameless and Nameless 2. Concerned for their safety, Marty and Shawn decided to have a talk with Chief Jay Strongbow. Though Chief had earlier voiced his disdain for Marty and Shawn, he agreed to speak with the nameless pair, resulting in the match going off just fine. After the match, Shawn and Marty briefly spoke with Vince McMahon, who issued a friendly warning to tone down any barroom antics. Relieved, Marty and Shawn thought the whole controversy was over.

Well, no. A week later, Marty and Shawn were summoned to WWF HQ for a meeting with Vince. Though the boss professed his belief in Shawn and Marty’s innocence of any wrongdoing, he fired them anyway, apparently due to negative feelings toward them in the locker room. Vince told them the door would be open again in a year or 2 and advised them to keep working. They did so, bouncing back and forth between a Tennessee promotion and the AWA. After a year, they begged for another shot in the WWF, got it, and as we all know, Shawn continues working for the company to this day.

(Commentary: As for Marty…THAT would make for an interesting Confidential!)

After quick clips of some of Shawn’s greatest moments as a solo star, he states wrestling wasn’t really a destination, it was more a path that led him to his family and spiritual salvation. He finishes up by stating his contentment in simply following the path of God. Break.

Gene sends us back to Australia. Rico, then serving as ‘stylist’ for Billy and Chuck, did some shmoozing with the fans down under, learning some Australian lingo in the process.

(End of pre-recorded version of show.)

In voice-over, Gene offers a preview of next week’s Confidential-it appears former WCW Champion Bill Goldberg will be talking about his match with The Rock scheduled for next Sunday’s Backlash PPV. Fade out.

OK show featuring a lot of rather dated material. Stuff with Tazz and Shawn was cool, rest was there. Thanks for reading, please send any feedback to john.f.keane@worldnet.att.net.