Welcome (back) to TPWW.net on this Tuesday, May 2nd. As usual, I have a lot to talk about today, from RAW and Nitro, to a few very significant injury reports, so with that said, here are today's news and rumors.
I thought the WWF put on a GREAT show last night with RAW and I really enjoyed it. The main event between The Rock and Shane McMahon was spectacular, and you have to respect Shane McMahon's ability in the ring. That bump he took off the top of the cage was great. One thing that really disappointed me about the show was, of course, Tazz's match against Chris Benoit. Like I said yesterday, it had the potential to be a great match, but instead, the WWF once again decided to job Tazz to Benoit. Adam Kirk put it best when he talked about the difference between Taz in the WWF and in ECW in his column, Nevermore. Also, I'm really starting to enjoy Edge & Christian's mic work. I've always been a fan of arrogant heels, and they're fitting into the roll perfectly. Their "I think we're gonna do a run in" line is hilarious. Did anyone else notice that Chris Jericho spelled honor wrong? "H-O-N-E-R?" And of course, we have Jim Ross's commentary towards Pat Patterson, which was also hilarious. Overall, I enjoyed RAW and give it an A.
I also enjoyed last night's WCW Nitro, although the second hour seemed to lag. Mike Awesome and Hulk Hogan have put on two completely boring matches in a row. I cannot stand Mike Awesome in WCW. Awesome was big in ECW because people were willing to take bumps for him, but instead in WCW, we have him working horribly slow and boring matches against Hulk Hogan. Are we ever going to see a top rope Awesome Bomb again? At least last night's match didn't last as long as their previous. I loved the Shawn Stasiak free throw angle, and it brought back memories from Mr. Perfect's vignettes in the WWF, where he made shots from full court. Important shows from last night include the returns of Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr, who returned as a part of the New Blood, helping Kidman against Kevin Nash, and the interjection of David Arquette in the Triple Cage match at Slamboree. It will now be David Arquette vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. DDP. Jeez, I really wish that wouldn't have happened. Anyway, Nitro gets a B this week.
Tazz may have suffered a torn bicep injury last night at RAW during his brawl with Perry Saturn, and may be out for as long as THREE MONTHS, according to Dave Meltzer. This is unbelievably shocking news to me, as Tazz is definitely one of my favorites in wrestling. We'll try to have an update on this situation as soon as possible.
Triple H actually does have a minor shoulder separation, meaning that his shoulder injury is legit. Triple H suffered the injury during his match with The Rock at Backlash.
Thanks to Double D for sending in Dark Match and Jakked/Metal results from last night:
DARK MATCHES
- Scott Vick defeated some independent wrestler wearing red pants with a flare on it
- The Dupps defeated Chris York and Joey Mathews
JAKKED/METAL TAPING
- Dean Malenko defeated Stevie Richards with Texas Cloverleaf
- Val Venis defeated a guy named (Teprikohl)
- Bull Buchanon pinned Headbanger Mosh with a top rope leg drop
- Perry Saturn pinned Joey Abs
Thanks to James Crossland for sending the following, as well as several others: "WWF Backlash aired at 2AM GMT (1 hour delayed) in the United Kingdom and Channel 4 STILL edited loads of the show. Including The chair shots of Vince, The Rock, Austin etc. For the Dudley powerbomb on Trish, they paused the screen but still played the sound. They blurred X-Pac's bloody face and what's more, after every match we got 5 minutes of adverts! I guess that even at 2am, channel 4 still thinks that people will be offended by wrestling, even after they aired a warning at the start."
Judging from our latest poll on the main page, many people thought Backlash was great. In fact, 67% thought it was an excellent pay per view and 21% of those stated that it was the best PPV of the year. 21% of you thought it was an average pay per view, and the other 9% disliked it.
On an interesting note, today is the Rock's and the Big Bossman's birthdays. Birthday wishes go out to both wrestlers.
WCW Thunder will air an hour early this Wednesday night on TBS at 8:05 PM ET.
Dusty Rhodes may be returning to Turner Sports soon to be part of the Turner Sports South package, according to Dave Meltzer, which doesn't necessarily mean that Rhodes will be back with WCW. Personally, I don't think losing Dusty Rhodes would be a crushing blow to ECW at all. Flat out, I just really don't like watching Rhodes in the ring these days. His one and only move is the Bionic Elbow. I mean, the only thing that has come of Rhodes being in ECW is Steve Corino's horrible new cowboy gimmick. PLEASE go back to your old self, Corino.
Booker was injured at Thunder when he took an Awesome Bomb through a table by Mike Awesome. Booker is expected to be out for about two weeks and is unfortunately off the pay per view this Sunday, where he was scheduled to take on Scott Steiner.
Add the Barbarian to the list of released WCW wrestlers. Barbarian was given his release this week, as was the Maestro, as stated yesterday.
For those who are wondering who was under the mascot outfit as Norman Smiley's mystery partner, it was none other than RALPHUS. You could pretty much tell from his gut and goofiness that Chris Jericho's former personal security guard was under the suit.
Lenny Lane has told WCW that he will explore other offers once his WCW contract expires in August, according to Dave Scherer.
ECW scored only a 0.9 rating, which isn't as bad as it looks, considering it was going up against the WWF's Greatest Hits on UPN, which actually only received a 2.0 rating.
Other weekend ratings include Livewire and Superstars doing 1.5 and 1.8, respectively, Heat doing a 2.6, and Saturday Night doing a 1.3.
Mikey Whipwreck and Kid Kash were signed to multi-year contracts with ECW at Saturday's ECW Tapings in Poughkeepsie, NY, according to Dave Scherer. Both men have been subject of much talk regarding them jumping to WCW, as of late, but they have now been signed to ECW multi year contracts.
Sabu became the XPW Champion this past Saturday, winning a tournament to crown the new champ. Chris Candido was scheduled to defend his title against Sabu, but apparently no showed and was stripped of the title. For more info on the show and Sabu's victory, click HERE.
XPW's home video, "Hardcore Conception" reached as high as the #10 sports/recreation video in the United States last week, which is definitely a huge accomplishment, considering WCW doesn't even have any videos in the top 10, and ECW has never broken the top 20. The WWF holds seven spots, including spots 1-7, and number 9.
If anyone is attending tonight's WWF Smackdown or WCW Thunder taping, please send along a report and we'll try to post it up as soon as possible. Thanks in advance.
That's all for today's report. Thanks for reading and please stop by tomorrow for more news, rumors, and whatever else I throw in to the mix. I've added a few new entrance themes, which can be found on the main page. Until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com