Hey, hey, welcome to today's N&R; here at TPWW.net. I'm sure you hate reading my intro paragraphs as much as I hate writing them, so how about I just end it right now? Yup, I think I will.
ECW owner Paul Heyman finally put up a statement (sort of) regarding the closing of ECW. A quote by former president Theodore Roosevelt was sent to the ECW web site by Heyman to convey his feelings to ECW's fans throughout the years: The quote is as follows: "It is not the critic who counts; Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; Who strives valiantly; Who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; But who does actually strive to do the deeds; Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; Who spends himself in a worthy cause; Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt.
ECW will be missed badly. It's hard to even put it into words. The thing that I'll miss most, as I mentioned before, is actually being at a live ECW event. Nothing in the world can compare to that and I mean that seriously. ECW had the best fans in any of the major US wrestling promotions by far and I'm so glad I got to be a part of them on several occasions. For all you ECW fans out there, Rob Harvey wrote an awesome column this week, looking back at his top ten favorite ECW memories. I highly recommend it for all you ECW fans out there, and I'm not just saying that to shill. To check it out, if you haven't yet, click HERE.
Here are a few of the matches you can expect for tonight's edition of Raw is War:
- Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H - Intercontinental Title
- Chris Jericho vs. Kurt Angle
- Chris Benoit vs. William Regal
- Edge & Christian vs. Crash & Hardcore Holly - Tag Titles
- Justin Credible vs. Buh Buh Ray Dudley
- The Big Show vs. Kaientai
DirecTV's Raw preview for tonight is very interesting and definitely leads to a lot of speculation. TPWW's own Ry sent the following preview:
Hour One: Triple H explodes
Hour Two: The end for the Hardys?
Hour two of the preview definitely has to get everyone thinking. The WWF has been teasing a split of the Hardy Boyz for months now, and given the recent events and the elevation of the Hardys, it seems that now is the time to do it. Some have speculated that one of the brothers will turn and enter Austin, Triple H, and McMahon's stable, but of course, that's pure speculation at this point, and although I could see it happening, I wouldn't be surprised if the preview swerves us and something completely different happens. But hey, it is always fun to speculate.
Paul Atha sent along the following note: "The UK only PPV Insurrection will also be screening LIVE here in Australia with our pay-per-view channel Mainevent securing the LIVE broadcast of this UK only (now UK & AUS) PPV on May 5 2001. With WWF Wrestlemania the biggest PPV of all time here in Australia, Mainevent is making every effort to get as much WWF PPV action as possible live on cable."
TPWW's own Rob Harvey sent along this interesting note on Chris Jericho's band, Fozzy, and WCW's first new show: "A small note that might interest one or two of you out there. I just found out that as of now, both WCW's first TV taping and Fozzy will be doing shows on Saturday June 9th in Fairfax, VA. Maybe it's nothing or maybe it's a sign that Chris Jericho will be on the first WCW show."
A lot of people sent word that WCW's official web site, WCW.com, has changed once again. A new WCW.com logo appears at the top of the page, which just happens to be the old-school WCW logo. Also, at the bottom of the page, instead of having the usual "© 2001 World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved" statement, a "© 2001 WCW, Inc., All Rights Reserved" is there instead.
There have been rumors that Billy Kidman was one of the 24 wrestlers picked up by WCW, but according to Dave Meltzer, Kidman's contract has not been picked up by the WWF yet. However, it is expected that the WWF will offer him a contract once he gets out of his deal with Time Warner.
Ted Turner was recently interviewed in The New Yorker magazine about his status with AOL/Time Warner and how he was taken out of a position of power once AOL took over Time Warner. According to various reports, Turner was angry that he was not consulted about the WCW sale to the WWF. To read the article, click HERE. [source: Dave Scherer]
Former WCW lead announcer, Tony Schiavone began his job as an Atlanta Braves baseball radio broadcaster last night, according to Dave Meltzer. Schiavone reportedly came off well, and did mention that he had been an announcer for WCW Nitro for six years. Schiavone has had previous experience as a baseball announcer.
Saturday night's XFL playoff game on NBC between the San Francisco Demons and the Orlando Rage drew only a 2.0 overnight rating. Although that is up from last week's 1.5 rating, it still has to be a disappointment for the league. By the way, San Francisco won the game, 26-25.
Balls Mahoney is now banned for life from wrestling in the state of Maryland, according to Mike Johnson and 1wrestling. At a show this past Friday in Salisbury, MD, a representative of the Maryland State Athletic Commission informed the locker room that there would be no bleeding, going over the guard rail, or breaking of tables. However, during a match between Balls Mahoney and Rob Van Dam, Mahoney apparently bladed and began to bleed heavily. The commission sent word for the match to end now, but it went on for another ten minutes. When Mahoney returned to the locker room, the commission's representative let Mahoney know that he was banned from wrestling in the state of Maryland ever again.
This past Thursday at a show in Pottstown, PA, an angle took place where Jack Victory turned on Steve Corino. According to Dave Meltzer, this angle was supposed to eventually take place in ECW, but obviously never got the chance. Victory turned on Corino after a match with Corino & Mikey Whipwreck taking on Gino Giavani & JD Power. Corino will take on Victory in a falls count anywhere match on May 10th.
Thanks for checking out today's report. That just about wraps things up, so until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com