SITE RELATED NOTE: We experienced technical difficulties throughout yesterday and today. If you weren't able to get into the site at all in the last couple of days, don't worry. The problem has been resolved and everything is up and running again. Ry's news and rumors report below was originally written for Tuesday, but due to the technical difficulties, has been edited and is being posted for Wednesday. Thanks for understanding and sticking with us.
- TPWW staff
Another Monday night has come and gone and I'm back for yet another edition of TPWW.net's News and Rumors. Lots of news to cover today from last night's Raw to Nitro, so let's get to it...
I thought Monday night's edition of Raw was a decent show but aside from the Rock/Jericho vs. Big Show/Chris Benoit tag team match up, nothing spectacular occured. With a little over a month away from the next pay per view, No Way Out, the WWF continued its momentum from the Royal Rumble by continuing angles that started at or before the Pay Per View. Like countless shows before, Raw focused on the relationship between Trish Stratus, Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, and Vince McMahon and the chaos that has come out of it. With an opening interview, several vignettes in the back, and a main event tag team match up between Trish Stratus and Kurt Angle taking of SMH and Triple H with the Helmsley's going over, this angle had a good 25 to 35 mintues on Raw. I could easily see this feud continuing until the No Way Out PPV, which of course is the last big show until the WWF goes into the Wrestlemania time period of late February and March, where all of the year's events from last April to the present come to a head.
After the Royal Rumble and Monday's Raw, the WWF is seemingly teasing a split between the Hardy Boyz, Matt and Jeff. As innovative and popular as the Hardys are, the possibility of a split of the brothers from North Carolina would leave wrestling fans salivating as several potential matches would be nothing less than tremendous. Many have compared the Hardys to the tag team of Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty, The Rockers, and as many of you know, the split between the Rockers launched the singles career of one of the greatest singles wrestlers of all time, the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels - a man who Jeff Hardy has been compared to on several occasions.
The tag team match up of the Big Show and Benoit going up against The Rock and the WWF Intercontinental Champion, Chris Jericho was a really solid match up considering the brutal ladder match that The Crippler and Y2J went through the night before at the Rumble. The match really made the Big Show look like a monster after went berserk after the match, delivering choke slams to The Rock, Jericho, and even his partner, Chris Benoit. This will definitely set up for some interesting scenarios, which could easily lead to several different programs. We may see a possible Jericho/Big Show feud or even a Benoit/Show feud, but then again, the WWF could go the predictable route with the Rock feuding with Show and Benoit continuing his feud with Jericho. Then again, the WWF could go an entirely different direction with these guys, and have them feuding with different people, as it's rumored that the Rock may take on Kurt Angle at the No Way Out PPV.
The WWF actually did a bit of an advancement in the "who's Raven's driver" angle as the mystery woman assisted Raven in winning back his Hardcore title from Al Snow, who defeated Raven just seconds earlier. Now the question is, who is this mystery woman? There's a lot of speculation out there on who's behind the mask, ranging from Chastity to a returning Tori. I'm guessing we'll find out in the next couple of weeks.
We saw one title change on Raw, which was Test destroying William Regal for the European Championship in a little over a minute with the top rope elbow drop. As over as Regal has been with the European title, I definitely think that the WWF made a smart move putting the title on Test, as he's definitely one of the guys in the promotion who has main event talent written all over him.
After the events of Monday night's Kane/Rikishi/Haku/Undertaker fiasco, I wouldn't be shocked to see a tag team match up between the four men occur at No Way Out. Of course, the teams would probably be Haku and Rikishi taking on Kane and The American Bad Ass. Talk about the tag team feud from hell...
For all you fans of the Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the man who'll be going to Wrestlemania to take on the WWF Champion will be on WWF.com's Byte This on Thursday. So if you're a fan of Austin, I'd advise you to check it out.
Monday night's Raw received a relatively high 5.6 rating as it went unopposed with "The Pretender 2001" airing in the place of Nitro on TNT. Raw did hours of 5.4 and 5.8, according to Dave Scherer. Interestingly enough, the overrun (period after 11 PM) of Raw did a 5.7, which is low for the overrun which is usually the highest rated segment of Raw.
Moving on to some news on the one, the only, the Immortal, Hulk Hogan... On Saturday, February 3rd, the former "Hollywood" will follow the path of Rowdy Roddy Piper and guest star on the CBS show, Walker: Texas Ranger. So fans of Hogan, check that out.
For those wondering, WCW.com has removed any information on Meng/Haku or Meng's Hardcore title reign on the website. Combine the fact that Meng is now in the World Wrestling Federation and Eric Bishcoff's lack of fondness of the Hardcore division, I wouldn't be shocked to see the WCW Hardcore division come to an end.
Lance Storm has yet again updated his commentary at his website, StormWrestling.com. This week, Lance discusses two types of people in this world... Wrestling fans and closet wrestling Fans. To check out what Storm has to say this week, click the link above.
Finally, here is the card for tonight's Thunder broadcast...
- Ten Man Cruiserweight Challenge: Rey Mysterio Jr, Kidman, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Kaz Hayashi, Yang, Evan Kariagas, Jamie Knoble, Lash Leroux, Elix Skipper
- Mike Awesome vs. Norman Smiley w/ Glacier
- Jeff Jarrett vs. General Rection
- Crowbar vs. Ron Harris
- Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rick Steiner
- Kronik vs. Road Warrior Animal and Scott Steiner
Well, that's about it for today. Really don't have much else to say, so until next time, later.