Alright, a lot has happened this past week, including a lot of news
and notes concerning RAW, the latest backstage situations, and the
future of the WWF. No time for any fancy intro, it's straight to the
news and rumors.
Last night's RAW we saw the the first twenty wrestlers picked by
Vince McMahon and Ric Flair. Instead of recapping who was drafted
where, I will direct you to a link that has which superstar was
drafted to which WWF brand. You can see that page which was posted
on the TPWW Newsboard by clicking
HERE.
Anyways, I got off subject, but as we know, Steve Austin was not on RAW
last night and instead is a "free agent" and will choose which roster
he wants in a storyline sense. The real story is that his problems
with the WWF are not over and done with like originally thought.
Supposedly, the backstage atmosphere is heating up to the point of
that Austin does not like. It is rumored that since the arrival of
the nWo, Triple H has somewhat alligned himself with his nWo buddies,
and being the boyfriend of Stephanie McMahon, he has somewhat taken
a "leadership" role. What exactly is Austin's problem is not exactly
clear, but there are other hints that the backstage situation is not
under the control it once was. Many are suggesting that the politics of
the "Kliq" have returned, but I don't want to go that far and say
something like that since I am not actually backstage. As of Austin's
future, I would expect him to be on RAW since Smackdown seems to be
the more dominant brand, but with the nWo on RAW, it makes his situation
all the more interesting.
Lots of reaction over the Internet since RAW has been that the Smackdown
brand seems more dominant then the RAW brand. From what I understand, the
WWF will deal with any problems that are a result of the split, with
one possible way being that Ric Flair and Vince McMahon will make trade
different wrestlers. There are other talent including Kanyon and Rhyno
who were not drafted last night but will return to one WWF brand
when they are ready to return. The WWF is saying the two rosters won't
go into effect until RAW, I expect for there to be changes after this
upcoming Monday.
Many WWF fans who do not get UPN in their area are upset now
that they will not be able to see certain superstars such as The Rock,
Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, and etc. That may be a potential problem for the
WWF as UPN has been taken out of more areas than when Smackdown
debuted on UPN. The thing to consider is if certain fans without UPN
can't watch the Smackdown brand, then that could diminish their interest
in the WWF. The problem also potentially lies for those who do not have
cable or don't have TNN.
The announcing situation has not been addressed to the public yet. I
would expect Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler to stay on RAW, but that is not
set in stone yet. As far as Heat and Jakked/Metal goes, I have heard
BOTH that they will be more wrestling orientated and more recap
orientated. Believe which ever you want to, and I guess we will find
out when those shows are on the air after the split is finalized.
We also saw from last night that both the APA
(wow, does anyone else realize since becoming the APA, that their tag
team name use to be The Acolytes) and the Dudley Boys are now split.
I would expect the teams to remain split as all four of those wrestlers
would receive somewhat of a singles push, but the possibility of a trade
of somekind is not out of the question.
Stephanie McMahon will remain off of WWF TV for a while it is expected
but will somehow return sooner or later. In the meantime, she will
continue to be backstage as a writer. There is no idea what her role
will be when she returns in the future to TV.
Any rumors suggesting Rob Van Dam turned down a contract to the WWF
is false. RVD signed a WWF contract about nine months ago that was
good for three years. So RVD has a little over two years left on
his current deal.
The rest of this report will mostly be rants of my own so if you don't
care to read that, then I suggest you stop reading now. I am throwing in my opinion on Monday night's show and
this roster split. The wrestling aspect of the show was not really good,
but the draft was exciting. It was never done in wrestling and was
something new. I am worried that the Smackdown roster seems more complete
then RAW's, but I don't think the WWF would go on with having RAW
be bad while Smackdown good. This split will make or break the WWF
as far as I am concerned. It is a very risky move, but if it works
out, then more the younger superstars will more likely be given
their chance in the spotlight. Something had to be done, and with it
being a year that the WWF bought WCW, meaning it took them a year to
figure out how to split the roster, the WWF damn well better make
this work.
At the same time, I am worried that my interest in wrestling
will diminish even more then it has in the last year. Since last May,
my WWF interest decreased since the storylines in my opinion were not
good. Things got better when the Invasion angle started, but a month
after the Alliance formed, things got bad again. The nWo invasion
totally flopped in my view, and I don't see them as any real threat
right now. My attitude now is, will RAW and Smackdown be worth my
time to watch? I always have before when it got bad, so hopefully this
time will not be any different.
I bought the WWF Forced Entry CD today. Listening to some of it, I think
the CD is not bad but I am a little disappointed. Theme's like
RVD's, Edge's, and Undertakers aren't necessarily the same WWF
remixes you hear on TV each week, but I still think it was worth the
money. I've been waiting for the real version Austin's Disturbed theme
for over a year now.
Finally, I got a request for everyone. If you read this news report
continually, I am asking you for this favor. Please e-mail me and let
me know whether you would prefer a straight forward, news only type
report; or a more open minded news report with not only the latest
news but my opinions, two cents, and other rants. I have gotten
feedback from both sides who prefer one type of report over the other.
I however am more interested to see what everyone as a whole thinks.
Thank you.
With all that said, that will end this news and rumors report. I'm not
sure when the next update will be with my Spring Break from class
starting Thursday night, my work schedule increasing due to Easter,
so just hang tight I guess. I can only hope someone else from TPWW
will help me out with these updates.
Martin Hawrysko
E-mail: Martin@tpww.net - Questions or Comments... the shorter, the
more likely I can respond.
AIM: INGAME21 - Wrestling Questions
Previous News Update >>> Steve Austin unhappy with the WWF, WWF split, Hogan, Rock, Undertaker, Steiner, Bischoff, WrestleMania thoughts, ratings, and more. >>>
News Archives:Missed the news updates for the last few days? You can check them out by clicking HERE.
Send Your News:Do you have any news tidbits, recaps, or any other types of news? Please send them in to news@tpww.net.
