Smackdown was being billed as the final show where all WWF superstars will be under one roof before the brand extension this goes into full effect this Monday night on RAW. I thought the show did a great job of building up the emotion of the rosters splitting. The wrestling matches weren't bad, but they were just thrown together to as the future RAW talent wrestled against the future Smackdown talent for the very last time. The Ric Flair and Triple H vs. Vince McMahon and Kurt Angle match was allright I thought, but I still can't help feel sorry for Flair when he attempts to wrestle in this day. The final match with The Rock, Hulk Hogan, and Kane match vs. The nWo was another ok match, and I think that match served two purposes. It first finishes the mini feud with The Rock and Hogan vs. the nWo sending, while making it look as the good guys have won that war. Secondly, from my assumption, it looks like that match helped push Kane and looks as if he will now feud with the nWo over on RAW.

It appears there is finally good news to report on the progress of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Around the same time my last report was posted, rumors started that Austin and the WWF have come to terms and with what we saw on Smackdown (The Angle and McMahon segment backstage), it looks like Austin will be on RAW to decide which WWF brand he will wrestle for. It is unclear which brand he will wrestle for, but orginally he was going to wrestle for RAW and continue his nWo feud. That is what is believed to be the reason why Austin was upset in the first place. The two sides obviously agreed on something, and the WWF.com RAW preview (more on the RAW later) suggest Austin will be at the show to decide which WWF brand he will wrestle for.

I was reading the recent Ross Report and I picked up on something very interesting. JR talks about next week's house shows taking place in Denver and Salt Lake City. Ross says the show is being headlined by Kane and Bradshaw vs. The nWo, RVD vs. X-Pac, and The Undertaker vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Looking at the wrestlers Ross mentioned, you realize they are all from the new RAW brand, with Austin's name included. Later on in the same paragraph, Ross then talks about the other set of houseshows that same weekend in which the new Smackdown superstars will wrestle. It honestly appears to me folks, that while JR wrote that paragraph, that he didn't realize he was potentially giving away a mini spoiler that was going to take place on RAW this Monday night. Unless something drastically changes before this Monday night, I am betting that Austin will wrestle for the WWF RAW brand.

A few industry sites recently have reported that The Rock would be hosting Saturday Night Live coming up. WWF.com earlier today has confirmed that The Rock will be hosting the April 13th edition of Saturday Night Live. The Rock's previous time of hosting the show did very well ratings wise, while Triple H, Mick Foley, The Big Show, and Vince McMahon played smaller roles in the show. April 13th is six days before The Rock's movie "The Scorpion King" debuts in theaters in the US.

Kurt Angle has signed a new contract with the WWF. It is being reported that it will be in effect for five more years, however no estimated figures are available.

Ross announced in the Ross Report that both Eddie Guerrero and Rey Misterio Jr. have verbally agreed to WWF terms and they should be under official contract in the next few days.

Ross also stated he spoke to Scott Steiner on Thursday. Nothing new folks, as the WWF is still concerned over Steiner's health. His foot is still bothering him (the same foot injury he had when he wrestled Booker T on the final NITRO). If the WWF becomes convinced Steiner can withstand a full WWF schedule, he will be signed cause they want him.

Ken Shamrock along with his girlfriend (who once played his sister, Ryan Shamrock) was backstage at WrestleMania. It is rumored that Shamrock showed interest in coming back to the WWF if he could appear about on six shows a month. The WWF obviously would not agree to that as they expect their wrestlers to work a certain amount of house shows in a month as well in addition to the RAWs or Smackdowns. In my honest opinion, its been over two years since Shamrock left the WWF and it was suspected he would return after a year once he was satisfied he has accomplished all he wanted with shoot figthing, but I seriously believe his interest in wrestling isn't nearly as high as it once was, and the more time that passes, the less chance I think he will ever return to the WWF. I would love to see him return one day, I've always believed that a feud between him and Kurt Angle would be entertaining.

Many people in the WWF believe Jericho's title run wasn't as meaningful because of his lack of ability to generate enough heat and that with Stephanie alligned with Jericho, it helped build more interest in the match. There is some belief though that some people were afraid to say anything negative about Stephanie in fear it could hurt him or her in the long run.

Apparantely following WrestleMania, Vince McMahon was so shocked at the reaction Hogan recieved that he wanted Hogan to go home and bring his old red and yellow Hulk Hogan wear for RAW. However, Vince was later advised against doing so since it was thought that the craze over the red and yellow Hulk Hogan would die down after a short amount of time. Though there are many people who want to see the return of the red and yellow Hulk Hogan, I do support the fact that Hogan hasn't gone back to wearing the red and yellow. I think the old Hulk Hogan character was great during it's time, but with Hogan many years past his prime in wrestling, I believe the continuation of him as Hollywood Hogan shows that his prime days of wrestling are behind him while it helps him fit in more with the likes of The Rock, Austin, Nash, Hall, and the rest of the WWF superstars in today's society.

Vince McMahon did recently confirm that the WWF did offer Bret Hart the chance to make a special appearance at WrestleMania. What we now know is that WWF Canada President, Carl DeMarco also offered Bret his archived footage back from his days in the WWF. Hart has wanted his archived footage from the WWF ever since he left but was never recieved it. The WWF never opted to give Hart access to the footage in fear it would setup future problems when wrestlers would want access to their own footage.

Smackdown this week scored a 5.1 overnight rating with an 8 share. The full ratings are yet to be available.

WWF.com is reporting that this Monday's nights new RAW era will debut with a new set, logo, and music. The logo is already up on WWF.com, and my reaction was it somewhat resembled the 2nd Smackdown logo with the letters being slanted. But it still looks really cool though. The theme music is "Across the Nation" which is on The WWF Forceable Entry CD (ironically, I am listening to that very song right now). I think part of the song is catchy, but I'm not sure If I like the idea of it being the new RAW theme. You can see the new RAW logo by clicking here and you can listen to the new RAW theme music by clicking here or you can just listen to it on the Forceable Entry CD if you already bought it. Just my quick opinion, all I will say is it's about damn time the WWF got a new set for RAW. When Smackdown became a series, I thought it was time for RAW to get a new set, then when Smackdown got a new set this summer, I was thinking, "what the f***, why would Smackdown get a new set and not RAW!" Some fans believe the Titantron is a traditional item on the set and should not be taken away, but I frankly think who cares, I seriously won't cry over the Titantron being gone (assuming that it's not part of the new RAW set). The only reason Smackdown got a new set during the summer was because at the time, Smackdown was going to be live everyweek and Smackdown was going to be a WWF show while RAW was going to become a WCW show. At that time show, my question was, so WCW takes over RAW and RAW would not get a new set? Anyways, I look forward to seeing what the new RAW set will look like this Monday night. Hopefully the WWF reveals a new company logo too, but they haven't suggested that they would yet (being a graphic design student, I have more interest in logos and non-objective art like that).

And finally... you must admit the final segment with the APA was sad, the tribute to the Dudleys at the end was nice too. I seriously was thinking the Dudleys were going to win the tag team titles and not separate. How about Kane's backstage skit?.... what else would I call it? Just imagine big Vince's ego must be for writing the finsih to his match to have himself pin a great legend like Ric Flair, even if the Undertaker did interfere. Either that or just a lack of respect or most likely common sense.

I would like to thank everybody who e-mailed me their opinions on whether they preferred a more straight forward news report or a news report with my opinions and two cents included. The feedback was overhelming and to my surprise, all but about 4 or 5 e-mails that I recieved all supported my addition of opinions. With little to almost no feedback from those who want a more straight forward news report, that probably means they are not reading my reports. It only makes sense because, if you obviously don't like what I write, then it only makes sense not to therefore read it.

Also, with the feedback I did recieve in the last few days, I now know that you all are out there reading my reports. My e-mails have gone down a lot since I first started and that got me wondering if people were still even reading what I wrote. Now that you all did write me, I know you are out there reading this. Let me just tell you all that when I get your feedback, whether it be comments (both positives and constructive critisms), wrestling questions, or your take on what is going on in wrestling, it helps me write these reports. Your feedback is what keeps me doing this. Without it, my will to do this goes down. Any feedback from any of you is always greatly appreciated.

Anyways, that will do it for this report. I'll be back sometime early next week. Monday begins the new baseball season in which I am very excited about. I only hope my Cubs can have another great year but this time, end the season on a brigher note (hopefully in October). Anyways, I could write and write about baseball all day but I won't. Anyways, with the Easter holiday this Sunday, I would expect the news to slow down, but with RAW being the new start for the WWF, who knows. Happy Easter if you celebrate it, and for everyone else, have a great weekend.

Martin Hawrysko
E-mail: Martin@tpww.net - Wrestling questions, comments, and other feedback
AIM: INGAME21 - Wrestling Questions (to save me time, please get to the point and ask your question; avoid the "hey's" and "what's ups" since I get loaded with messages at once)

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