Hello one and all. Want to start off by saying that next week no Edge-o, however I am working feverishly on having a substitute teacher. I will be taking a little road trip. Actually not so little. I'm driving from Tampa to Toronto. Roughly 21 hours. So if you see a guy who looks me like at some greasy spoon off of I-75, it just may be me. I am attending the Sports Celebrity Festival and Special Olympics telethon broadcast live across Canada. This is my third year doing it, and hanging with the Special Olympians is always a breath of fresh air that really puts what's important in perspective. They have a constant smile on their face and an amazing attitude. We could all learn something from them.

Have to comment on what I felt to be one hell of a PPV at the Survivor Series. To me, Shawn Michaels stole the show, and reminded me once again why we call him the Showstopper. Just when you think he may be nearing his end, he pulls out a performance like that. I have to admit I'm jealous of the guys from my era who get to wrestle him. Who knows, maybe one day. Top to bottom, I thought it was a damn good PPV, although Lita scares the hell out of me with the moonsault now. Not exactly being the most nimble man in the world I've only ever attempted one moonsault (quite possibly the ugliest one in history) but my chances of attempting one after the neck surgery are even more slim to none. I forgot how much I missed the classic Survivior Series style match. Given the proper time they can be awesome, as evidenced by the Raw elimination match. To me, there is no sense in calling it the Survivor Series unless you have these type of matches. The PPV was named after this type of match. Here's hoping we'll see more of them next year with cool team names like the classic Rude's Brood.

I've been meaning to write something about the forgotten man in matches for quite awhile now, so here it is. Who's the forgotten man you ask? The referee. The Mike Chioda's, Timmy White's, Charles Robinson's, Earl, Dave and Brian Hebner's. I don't know if our audience realizes how important a good referee is to a match. My best matches have always had great referee's.

Even before I got to the WWE I always had some fun in there with a couple of guys who were great refs, Frank "the Tank" Parker from Truro, Nova Scotia, and Winnipeg's own Curtis "Bucky" Breslaw (the only referee I've ever met who has a business card, why, I don't know). Timmy White was the referee for my first WWE match, and it's a shame that a severe shoulder injury and surgery has ended his refereeing career. He's one of our road agents now, but I sure miss having ol' Scrappin' Timmy White in the ring with me. Mike Chioda has always been quite possibly my favorite guy to work with. He and Brian Hebner have been there for almost all of my favorites. All of these guys, Jimmy Korderas (fellow Canucklehead), Mike Sparks, Nick Patrick, Chad Patton and Jack Doan all put their bodies on the line out there too. Like I said, without a good referee it can be very hard to have the kind of match you want. So here's a tip of the hat to the forgotten man inside the ring, but not by me, the referee.

Here's hoping we have a good replacement next week, but until then, you have been Edgeucated.