Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Friday edition of the news and rumors here at TPWW.net. There's a lot to talk about today with WrestleMania just around the corner and the WWF-WCW purchase still fresh in the news. So without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
It has been basically confirmed that the first new WCW TV taping will take place on May 9th from Trenton, New Jersey. The show would then air on Saturday, May 12th from 11PM to 1AM on TNN. As of now, that has been pretty much confirmed by various sources, including Jim Ross in his latest Ross Report. However, depending on various circumstances, those dates are not 100% final as of now, although they are very likely.
This past Tuesday, WCW employees met in the WCW Power Plant, as they had been told to do by Turner Sports president Brad Siegel. The meeting was to tell 120 of the 140 employees who showed up that they had been let go, and to clear out their offices immediately. For those who are wondering, Brad Siegel was not at the meeting. That pretty much resembles his overall care about WCW, which is why the company was destined to fail under Turner if it wasn't sold. All employees who were fired were told that they could fill out a form and would be considered for jobs in the new WCW. The twenty or so employees who were retained were mostly office employees, who will be retained for only 30-60 days or so to help with the transition process from Turner to the WWF.
One man who was of the many who was released is none other than former WWF and WCW head booker, Vince Russo. Russo finally "spoke out" this past week on his web site, stating that he was extremely relieved that he finally got his release and was free to work on his own new projects. Russo also pretty much praised the McMahons and said that he would be there if they ever needed him, but for now, he would not be going back to the WWF. It's a very interesting read, whether you're a Vince Russo fan or not. To check it out, click HERE.
WrestleMania is now officially sold out with 60,397 seats paid for, totalling around $3,475,550 in total sales, according to Dave Meltzer. That breaks the record for the highest live gate amount ever for a wrestling event outside of Japan. The record was previously held by WrestleMania 6 at the Toronto Skydome, which made about $3.45 million.
As of now, despite rumors, it's not expected that any WCW wrestlers will appear at WrestleMania this Sunday. There have been several rumors that Booker T will be in Shane McMahon's corner this Sunday and it has been considered by the WWF, but as of now, unless the WWF changes their plans, which is a possibility, no WCW wrestlers are expected to be a part of the show.
A few names have been added to the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania, including One Man Gang (Akeem) and Duke "The Dumpster" Droese. Also, according to 1wrestling, we may see the one and only... Gillberg make a surprise appearance in the Battle Royal.
For those wondering, Jim Ross and Paul Heyman will almost definitely call WrestleMania this Sunday. They are the WWF's "A Team" on Raw, and Tazz is actually wrestling at the show, so JR and Paul E. will be our announcers.
William Regal recently appeared on a song request show called "By Demand" in Australia this past week and had an interesting WrestleMania tidbit. Regal stated that Motorhead would be performing Triple H's theme live at the show, and Limp Bizkit may be on hand to perform their song and the Undertaker's theme, "Rollin'." That would definitely be interesting to see. Thanks to Kenny from Australia for sending along that tidbit.
Thanks to TimTime for sending along the following: I recently received DirectTV magazine and it had the list of dates for WWF PPVs for the next year. They are as follows:
- Wrestlemania - 4/1/01
- Backlash - 4/29/01
- Judgement Day - 5/20/01
- King of the Ring - 6/24/01
- Fully Loaded - 7/22/01
- Summerslam - 8/19/01
- Unforgiven - 9/23/01
- No Mercy - 10/21/01
- Surivor Series - 11/18/01
- Armageddon - 12/9/01
- Royal Rumble - 1/20/02
- No Way Out - 2/17/02
Another major story that has developed over the past couple of days is Shawn Michaels' current status with the World Wrestling Federation. Michaels reportedly had a segment scheduled for this past Monday on Raw, but it was apparently cut out due to the Vince McMahon-WCW simulcast. Therefor, Michaels was told that his segment would go down the following night at the WWF Smackdown tapings. However, his segment was once again scrapped from the show and he reportedly stormed out and left the arena. There are various reports that Shawn Michaels' segment did not air because of the way he handled himself backstage at the events. Michaels has always been known for being a disruption backstage, campaigning to get himself pushed as high as possible. However, reports are that the WWF had enough of him at this past week's events and decided to scrap his segments due to his bad attitude. The WWF had just recently signed him to a new reported 3 year contract, but some speculate that one major reason that they signed him was out of fear that he would go to WCW when his previous contract ran out. Obviously, that threat is no longer around, and Shawn Michaels looks to be the first "victim" of the WWF's "play by our rules or don't play at all" power that they have right now with WCW out of the picture.
Shawn Michaels was scheduled to be a part of WrestleMania, but as of now, it is not known if he will be at the show. There have been conflicting reports, but for now, the overall feeling is that he won't be at WrestleMania, since his segment that was supposed to take place sometime this past week was to set up his appearance. But, I'm sure the WWF could figure out a good way to put him on the card if they wanted to. And of course, that's they key now - whether or not they want to.
Last night's WWF Smackdown scored a strong 4.9 final rating, which is the highest number they have done in a while. In fact, I believe that's the highest number they've done since CBS began airing Survivor. I'm sure the WWF-WCW angle this past Monday and WrestleMania this Sunday played major roles in the good number.
As of now, speculation is running rampant on whether or not Goldberg will be a part of the new WCW. Judging from the enormous Stone Cold-like pop he received on Raw this past Monday, I'm sure that the WWF would like to have Goldberg be a part of the new WCW. However, the real question is whether or not Goldberg himself would want to give up his huge contract to be a part of the new WCW. According to Dave Scherer, Goldberg makes a reported $3 million plus a year, which is far, far more than the WWF would be willing to pay him. If Goldberg wants, he could sit out and watch the money roll in as Turner pays out the rest of his contract, which they will be required to do. Or, Goldberg could give up the money and sign for much less with the WWF to be a part of the WCW. It looks like the ball is in his court.
It was announced this past Wednesday that Jerry "The King" Lawler and his wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter have finally received their releases from the WWF. How fitting that their releases came immediately after the WWF purchased WCW. That's the WWF for you. They truly are evil.
On the subject of Lawler and The Kat, Lawler mentioned on his web site that he sent a letter to Vince McMahon at the beginning of this month basically asking for his and Stacy's jobs back. However, he has yet to receive any reply. To read the letter that was sent, click HERE.
Dusty Rhodes recently announced on his website, dustyrhodes.net that he would be holding a PPV for his promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling sometime in the fall. In an interesting note, Rhodes stated that the promotion will also get television very soon, and he hopes to use some of WCW's big names that won't be signed to the WWF owned WCW, including his son, Dustin Rhodes. As of now, the company's current champion is former WCW wrestler Barry Windham, and wrestlers on the TCW roster include former ECW champion Steve Corino, Scotty Anton, and Glacier.
WrestleMania week has been "runnin' wild" all over TPWW this past week. We have various great WrestleMania related updates, which you can check out at the TPWW main page right now. We should have more great features, including WrestleMania trivia and WrestleMania staff predictions on the site in the next day or so. Also, for those who have not checked them out yet, I've added 11 new creations with pictures for the Nintendo 64 WWF game, WWF No Mercy. And... I even included two versions of my own created play. Yup, myself. So, you can now totally clobber me if you want to. That just about wraps it up for today's report. As always, thanks for reading. Until next time...
Triple A
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