Message-ID: 

http://www.wwe.com/news/commentary/bradshaw/1254779

Disclaimer: These views are those of John Layfield, aka Bradshaw, and
not necessarily those of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

So Lennox Lewis is retiring? Lewis was a real conundrum for the boxing
world. Which Lewis do you believe? Lewis at times was a great boxer,
but at times showed very little respect for the heavyweight
championship. He showed up horribly out of shape in two fights he lost
and in another, when he was losing to Vitali Klitschko and the fight
was stopped. How can you get the fans interested in the championship
when the champion himself cared so little that he wouldn't train for a
title fight?

Lewis showed tremendous heart in his fight with Klitschko. He was out
of shape and hurt, but he hung on to get the win. A lot of people
questioned his heart before this. I question his desire now. He had
the opportunity to fight Klitschko again and vindicate himself.
Instead, he retired. He will not go down as one of the greats, but
rather as someone with a lot of talent but suspect desire and love of
the sport.

Where are the WMDs? President Bush came out and announced that our
intel was faulty about Iraq, and the Democrats loved it. Of course, if
they said Bush was walking on water, the Democrats would say it is
because he can't swim.

The real problem is the intel. The Clinton Administration, the CIA,
the United Nations and even Saddam himself said that Iraq had weapons,
so where did they go and when did they leave? Personally, I believe we
had to take out Saddam eventually, but the question remains, how bad
was our intelligence?

I saw President Bush on "Meet the Press," and I didn't think he did a
great job of explaining himself. Now remember, I believe that George
W. is doing a good job. I believe the tax cuts have spurred the
economy, and I believe he is doing the right thing in the war
overseas, but I thought he could have articulated this better. Of
course, he is from Texas like me, and sometimes English is not our
best language.

I saw a real class act in the airport the other day: Congressman Bob
Ney. Congressman Ney could have retired last term but chose to stay so
that he could make sure certain housing bills for lower-income people
would pass. He helped pass a bill that would give the down payment
(the biggest impediment) for first homes for 44,000 Americans.

This is how politicians are supposed to act, for the people.
Hopefully, he will stay around a lot longer.
I have to give kudos to Shelton Benjamin. I was doing a live show last
week for Neil Cavuto. Now, you have to understand that Neil has the
best financial show on TV. As I was getting ready to go on, the
producer reminded me that I needed to turn off my cell phone. I told
her that I never forgot to do that. OK, you guessed it, in the middle
of the panel, my phone rings. It is Shelton. He had seen me on TV and
decided to call. He was sure I wouldn't be dumb enough to have my cell
phone with me. He gave me way too much credit.

This is the first time this had ever happened to me. Do you know how
hard it is to find your phone in your pocket and turn it off on live
TV discreetly? It is next to impossible.

Neil's weekend show was a star-studded affair, with Jack Welch, Jack
Bogle, Brit Hume, and Meredith Whitney. Have I ever said in this
column that I think Meredith is a babe? Talk about putting the FOX in
FOX News. Wow.

Thank goodness they didn't get rid of me. Be sure to look for me this
week on "Cashin' In," airing Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. ET on FOX
News. Also, be sure and pick up a copy of my book "Have More Money
Now." I really think you will like what you read.

I talked to Faarooq this week; he said he was anxious to come back.
Hopefully, the APA will be back together soon. We still have quite a
few beers to drink, plus a few asses to kick.

Maybe we can get Janet Jackson to come into our office and expose
herself. She says that was an accident. Yeah, right. Heaven forbid the
Jacksons have controversy in their family. Picking the least weird
Jackson is like picking the best Nowinski wrestling match. There's not
much choice. I can't believe I even mentioned Nowinski in my column.
He invited me to watch the Super Bowl with him; I would rather have a
root canal.

It's been a while since I have been in the Cow Palace (home to No Way
Out); we have been wrestling elsewhere in the Bay Area. Talk about a
fun old building. The pay-per-view should have a great atmosphere.

I have known people from the Guerrero family for well over a decade
now; I don't think any of them have ever had a bad wrestling match. I
wrestled with Eddie's older brother Hector in Texas at the old
Sportatorium, Hector is now a school teacher but was once a terrific
wrestler. I am excited to see Eddie wrestle Brock Lesnar. Could be a
classic.

Shaq stopped by last week when we were in Cleveland; he's a large man.

Now for some e-mail:

To Daniel from Chicago: One of the greatest moments for me with the
APA was when we were building up for the Royal Rumble one year with
the New Age Outlaws (who I still believe were the most exciting tag
team WWE has ever had), when on live RAW, all hell broke loose. The
top rope broke away, and soon after, Billy got his head busted wide
open, and the match continued. The visual was unbelievable. It looked
like the ring had exploded and there was Billy bleeding everywhere. It
was a fun night.

To Dan from Sioux City: Stan Hansen was a big influence on me and is
now a good friend. I have a ton of respect for Stan. He was the
greatest cowboy character in wrestling history. I watched Stan a lot
when he wrestled in Dallas with Bruiser Brody. What a great team. I
actually got most of my mechanics from Terry Gordy, but Stan was a
huge influence on me.

To Andy from Rochester: Thanks for bringing up Big Lots as an
investment, I like the stock. I think Wal-Mart is a good buy; I owned
it for years before my ex-wife got it in the divorce. I think I would
wait for Wal-Mart to pull back a little from here to buy it, though.
Dollar General to me looks like a good company, but I would wait for a
better price to get into the stock.

To Neil from Canada: My favorite way to drink a beer was not listed on
your list -- from a bottle. As far as free speech goes, I am a big
proponent of free speech, and I am a big proponent of the fact that
while I have opinions, and strong ones, I am tolerant of others,
though I may disagree. I don't think we should be robots.

The one thing about free speech is that there are limitations, some by
necessity and some by common sense. You can't yell "Fire!" in a
crowded theater and not expect to get into trouble. You can't joke
about bombs in airports. So there are limitations.

I don't think you should bash our leaders in a time of war or imminent
war like the Dixie Chicks did. I think it is tasteless and
un-American. I have talked to too many soldiers who say they don't
like to hear this type of thing go on while they are defending our
freedoms. I have seen first hand what it does to our guys. This is why
I hate it.

Michael Moore goes way too far by calling Bush a deserter. Desertion
is a crime punishable by death; to accuse our president of a crime
that is punishable by death is irresponsible.

I believe him saying this really hurt Wesley Clark's chances in the
primaries and caucuses, because Moore was supporting Clark.
There is a time to be responsible, and some celebrities don't
understand that. Of course, Sean Penn is just a jackass.

To Sean in St. Petersburg: Thanks for being so kind. As far as guys
like Ric Flair getting title shots at this stage in his career, I
think it is great. People still love Ric, and for good reason. He is
one of the best. I think we should give the fans what they want, and
one thing they want is the Nature Boy, Woo!

I was glad to see Prince Charles visiting the troops in Basra. You
guys are doing a great job. Keep kicking ass. America and the world
love you for it.

Bradshaw merchandise:
"Have More Money Now" book
APA "Back in Business" T-shirt

Got a question for Bradshaw? Ask him about stocks & finances,
wrestling or whatever you'd like! He'll answer the best questions in
his column. E-mail bradshaw{at}wwe.com


--- Internet Rex 2.29