About three weeks into the taping of this season, a female contestant (named Lisa) had what doctors determined was a psychotic breakdown. Lisa was left alone in the house while the rest of the contestants went out on the town, and while alone, she began literally bouncing off the walls.
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Lisa was hospitalized for about three days against her will and was released to her parents, who had to fly to Los Angeles from their home in New Mexico. In the airport, Lisa attacked her parents, claiming she did not know them, and ended up running through the terminal and breaking a rental car window. She was hospitalized again, but was able to check herself out when doctors felt she was no longer a threat to herself or to others.
The other Tough Enough contestants were never told the real reason why Lisa had left the show, only claiming that she left it because ''it wasn't for her.'' Both MTV and WWE officials had planned not to release the information to protect Lisa's privacy and to not scare the other contestants, but information was eventually leaked.
Lisa, now a free woman, had successfully infiltrated numerous WWE events passing herself off as a Tough Enough contestant. Among other things, she has been able to work out with other developmental talent at Ohio Valley Wrestling, help set up pyro at a WWE house show, and was even able to get a one-on-one meeting with an unsuspecting Vince McMahon backstage. She was so convincing in her delivery that no one suspected that she wasn't who she said she was all along.
Since that has happened, WWE security has been given her picture and description so she would not be able to talk her way into any WWE events ever again.
As far as this year's Tough Enough III, Lisa was mentioned on the show as one of the final 13 contestants to take part in the show, but was not heavily shown or discussed at all. WWE and MTV have no desire to show any of the footage of Lisa's mental breakdown, nor discus the real reason why she was dismissed on the air at all.
Would Lisa have had a chance to win, had it not been for her breakdown? According to various sources, she hadn't been doing particularly well or especially poorly in her early training sessions, so she would have probably been a cut based on her performance sometime down the road.
No Mercy
Here is the updated card for tonight's WWE pay-per-view, No Mercy, beginning at 8 p.m. (card subject to change):
- Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Title
- Triple H vs. Kane in a World-Intercontinental Title Unification Match
- Chris Jericho-Christian vs. Booker T-Goldust for the Raw Tag Team Titles
- Kurt Angle-Chris Benoit vs. Edge-Rey Mysterio Jr. for the vacant Smackdown Tag Team Titles
- Trish Stratus vs. Victoria for the Women's Title
- Rob Van Dam vs. Ric Flair
- Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie
Unless WWE has some type of brain damage, Lesnar will not walk out of No Mercy without the WWE Title. In the long-term scheme of things, Lesnar is a long-term champion. One thing's for certain -- Undertaker will do the job tonight -- however, it may not be clean.
Don't expect a Mick Foley performance from either Lesnar or the Undertaker tonight. Neither of these guys are big on taking falls. In fact, the whole reason Hell in the Cell worked was because guys like Foley and Shawn Michaels were willing to put themselves through hell while Undertaker ''gave out the punishment.'' And, unlike Triple H and Chris Jericho, neither of these guys are talented-enough workers to improvise like they did to make their match work.
I do expect some top of the cage action. However, unless Paul Heyman takes the bump (which he might), the announcer tables will stay intact for this one. In a weird twist, I predict Sara costs Undertaker the match. Call me crazy, but that's what I think.
Does anyone really expect Kane to beat Triple H for the World Title? I didn't think so. Kane has only beaten Triple H once in a one-on-one matchup throughout their history in the company, and I don't see it happening this time. As much as a Kane World Title run may be a refreshing change of pace for Raw, I just can't see Triple H losing to him.
Jericho and Christian are only transition Tag Team champions, pure and simple. In what should have happened a few months ago, Booker T and Goldust walk out of the arena with the gold.
The Benoit-Angle vs. Edge-Mysterio match looks very good on paper. In fact, this is my choice as the show-stealer of the night. Everyone expects that the Benoit-Angle team will disintegrate tonight, which will result in Angle's suspension. However, I predict that Benoit-Angle win the Smackdown version of the Tag belts and hold on to them for at least a month or so. If Angle were to get suspended, I don't see it happening until after WrestleMania.
A few years ago, a Flair-Van Dam match would have been awesome to watch. In what ECW fans have always considered a dream match, the top worker from the little company that could gets his match with, arguably, the best wrestler of all time in Flair. Flair's work as of late hasn't been all that, so fans may be disappointed if this match isn't phenomenal. My expectations are low for that reason alone, and I predict Van Dam to get a big win over the legendary Flair.
The women's matches -- since I have to predict a winner, I'll go with Chyna ... err ... Victoria over Stratus, and Wilson over Dawn Marie when Torrie's dad turns on Dawn Marie.
On Heat, I predict a Chris Nowinski-Al Snow match, with Nowinski getting the win.
My advice to you, if you plan on watching it -- save your dough. Find a bar that carries the PPV, and watch it there. This event reeks of failure.
Stephanie on Stern
Stephanie McMahon made an appearance on the Howard Stern radio show this past Thursday morning, and she did her best to avoid addressing the Chyna questions.
In an earlier appearance on Stern, Chyna went into detail about how Stephanie helped break up her and Triple H's engagement and helped cost her her job with the company. Stern played clips of Chyna's comments to Stephanie, but Stephanie refused to comment.
She did say that Vince had told her to not date any of the wrestlers, but he did give her the o.k. to start dating Triple H. She also said that if HHH were to pop the question in real-life, she would say yes.
And, while Stephanie admitted that she did receive breast implants, she claimed that she would get more surgery done in the near future to go even bigger.
More goonage
- In an interview with a Canadian network, Lennox Lewis confirmed that he has had mutual discussions with WWE on making a future appearance. Although, he did not mention working an actual match, instead claiming that he would make a great guest referee.
- On the early card for WWE's British PPV Rebellion later this month (featuring the Smackdown crew), Lesnar is scheduled to defend the WWE Title in a handicap match with Heyman against the Undertaker. Also, both Angle and Benoit are scheduled to wrestle, but not as a tag team. Take that for what it's worth.
- Vince McMahon is said to be very wary of the fact that Ultimate Fighting is close to getting a weekly show on the FOX network. While McMahon is not worried about the competition, he feels that UFC would ''damage the sport of pro wrestling.'' Since when was pro wrestling a ''sport'' in Vince's eyes?
- Despite the fan and Internet goon backlash to the tasteless ''murderer'' angle that dominated this past week's Raw, Vince and Stephanie McMahon both felt the show was great. The wrestlers, however, felt that the angle was terrible.
- Many wrestlers feel that Smackdown is the better show since the writing allows for better character development and better storylines. They blame Raw writer Brian Gewirtz for writing terrible angles and not properly building the characters.
- Test has been totally depushed. He wrestled a dark match before Raw wearing new tights and sporting a shorter haircut, both things which Test so adamantly protested against. It seems that he is taking the full brunt of punishment for he and Christian not wanting to change their looks to go along with the UnAmericans faction.
- In response to a large rating from the Hispanic community, WWE was holding interviews at The World restaurant for people to play the role of a ''hot Latino interviewer.''
- Pat Patterson suffered a separated shoulder during his beatdown at the hands of Rosey and Jamaal during last week's Raw. Also, at a house show the same night, Billy Gunn separated his shoulder -- the same shoulder he injured during the year 2000. It is unknown just how serious the two injuries are.
- There is a strong push for Justin Credible to be traded over to the Smackdown side of the roster. The reason -- Credible had his biggest success in ECW working for Heyman, and Heyman is the guy writing the scripts for Smackdown. Right now, Credible is mired in Heat-hell with no character direction at all.
- Curt Hennig made his debut for the National Wrestling Alliance during this past Wednesday's Total Non-Stop Action PPV, losing to Ron ''The Truth'' Killings for the NWA World Title in the main event.
- And finally, WWE's long-awaited ''Anthology'' CD will be released just in time for Christmas. The CD contains three discs worth of wrestling-related music dating from the 80s, 90s and today.
MCW update
Mega Championship Wrestling returns to action with their ''Monster Bash'' on Friday, Oct. 25 at the St. John's Lutheran Church Gym, located on 1140 W. River Rd. N. in Elyria. As always, tickets are $5 in advance and $7 the day of the show. Doors open at 7 p.m., and bell-time is set for 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at Keith's Comics (121 East Ave., Elyria), Sciarrillo's Ice Cream (528 W. River Rd. N., Elyria) and Fisical Graffitti Tattooing and Body Piercing (410 Broadway, Lorain).
dgilles@morningjournal.com
