Message-ID:  

http://www.charleston.net/stories/021504/moo_15wrestle.shtml

6:19 a.m. Sunday, February 15, 2004 
 
Guerrero steps into spotlight in tonight's WWE event 

BY MIKE MOONEYHAM 
Of The Post and Courier Staff 

Eddy Guerrero, quite possibly the most underrated performer in World
Wrestling Entertainment, is finally getting his well-deserved shot at
the brass ring. His showdown with WWE Smackdown champ Brock Lesnar at
tonight's No Way Out pay-per-view should be the match that puts him
over the top.

With WWE already tipping its hand and announcing that the winner of
tonight's triple threat match involving Kurt Angle, John Cena and Big
Show will get a crack at the WWE Smackdown title at Wrestlemania, a
Guerrero upset win appears likely since it has been strongly hinted
for months that Lesnar will meet Bill Goldberg at Mania.

For Guerrero to be accepted as a legitimate champion, however, his
anticipated victory shouldn't come due to interference or distraction
from Goldberg, who is expected to make his presence known at ringside
to hype his program with Lesnar. Such a tainted win certainly wouldn't
represent a vote of confidence from WWE brass, nor would it give
Guerrero the strong push he needs to be viewed as a credible champion.

Guerrero, despite a well-documented substance abuse problem that got
him fired from WWE two years ago, went to rehab, cleaned up his act
and worked as hard as any performer on the WWE roster. Regarded as one
of the most skilled ring technicians in the company, as well as a
strong talker on the mic and a magnet for the growing Hispanic
audience, the popular Guerrero has more than earned a spot in the
upper echelon.

Guerrero's likely ascension represents the latest in what appears to
be a change in WWE booking philosophy. Chris Benoit, who also doesn't
fit the typical physical or ethnic blueprint for WWE elitism, gets his
shot at Triple H's Raw heavyweight title at Wrestlemania, with Shawn
Michaels being added to the mix. Chances are good that the Canadian
Crippler will win the strap either at that event or at the following
month's Raw pay-per-view in Benoit's hometown of Edmonton, Alberta.

-- The Undertaker, despite denying earlier reports that he would
return to his old-school gimmick this year, will reprise the vintage
Undertaker character at Wrestlemania when he meets storyline brother
Kane (Glen Jacobs).

Vince McMahon may have recently admonished those leaking future
storylines to the media, but his own company has been guilty of
letting this cat out of the bag. Taker, who was last seen by WWE fans
"buried alive," is featured on the cover of the new Smackdown
magazine, now on newsstands, with the headline "The Dead Man Returns
-- 3/1-4/04 -- Where It All Begins Again." The accompanying article
also hints that Taker will be returning in his "Dead Man" garb. WWE's
own Web site features a link to retro Undertaker T-shirts that will be
marketed headed into Wrestlemania.

-- Ed Leslie, who gained fame in the wrestling business as Brutus "The
Barber" Beefcake and Hulk Hogan's longtime sidekick, recently
triggered an anthrax scare at a Boston subway station, where he had
been working as a fare collector, when he allegedly left cocaine
unattended at the station, which had to be evacuated.

It was assumed at first that someone had left anthrax, which also is a
white powder, but Leslie finally came clean and admitted that it was
his cocaine, the Boston Herald reported. A source told the newspaper
that the 46-year-old Leslie, a Winchester, Mass., resident,
voluntarily checked into a treatment facility Monday.

Leslie's face was reconstructed with plates and bolts after a freak
parasailing accident in Florida in 1990. Last April, the IRS placed a
lien on him for $57,425, the Herald reported.

-- Reader Bill McIntosh relates a heartwarming story about his uncle,
Clarence Duke, a St. Stephen nursing home resident who recently was
hospitalized after taking a nasty spill. Duke was taken to Roper
Hospital with a broken nose and a bad cut above his eye. There doctors
found heart irregularities and placed Duke in the cardiac
intensive-care unit.

"Uncle Clarence has Down Syndrome," explains McIntosh. "He is 60 years
old. He has led a happy life. When he was only 6 he took care of my
grandmother after her husband died. My grandmother ran a boarding
house. She fed 30 men every day, and Clarence did most of the cleaning
and sweeping. After my grandmother passed away, he lived happily in a
group home in Lake City. He worked at the Coleman factory, and took
group trips with his friends to basketball games, etc.

"Clarence did get to see live wresting once. My father took Clarence,
my brother and I to the Fair Deal Warehouse in Kingstree. He got to
see The Kentuckians, The Amazing Zuma, and George and Sandy Scott.
That was about 1968. I remember one of the Kentuckians blowing his
horn to signal the other to come back to the corner for a tag.
Clarence, as I remember, was a little awed by the whole experience,
but I was too!

"I confess that I have not been to see him as much as I should. When I
went into his room at Roper, I though he recognized me, but was not
sure. There was one connection I thought I could make. I knew from my
childhood, one thing he loved above all. So I sat beside the bed, and
looked at him and said, 'Clarence, do you still like wrestling? Do you
still watch Ric Flair, the Nature Boy?'

"He smiled wanly at me, the first sign of recognition, and said,
'Nature Boy!'

"I went back to see him today, and he was resting comfortably ... I
thought you and Ric Flair might like to know that it takes more than a
fall to keep a true Nature Boy fan down."

-- Superstar Billy Graham (Wayne Coleman), who underwent a liver
transplant in 2002, survived another recent health scare. Graham
returned home Thursday after spending 13 days in the hospital (twice
as much time as the liver transplant had required) fighting a bowel
obstruction. At one point doctors feared that an operation would be
necessary due to the twisting of Graham's intestine. The operation
would have been a risky one due to the immune suppression drugs Graham
has been on for his liver.

--?George's Sports Bar, 1300 Savannah Highway, will air the No Way Out
pay-per-view tonight beginning at 8 p.m. Cover charge is $5.

-- Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is teaching a course at Harvard
University on the similarities between professional wrestling and
third-party politics.


--- Internet Rex 2.29