Two days in a row? Three days out of the last four? What the hell is going on here? Of course, I'm referring to the recent lack of updates or as the e-mails I received called it, "slacking." But of course, leave it to me to provide an explanation. This better be good. Around Monday or Tuesday, we had a thunder storm here in New York. I honestly heard the loudest sumb*tch bolt of lightning ever, which seemed like it was right outside my window. As soon as it hit, bam, I got disconnected from my Internet service provider, which just happens to be everyone's favorite and the most reliable (sarcasm), AOL. (Yes, I'm STILL waiting for my DSL to arrive.) Being the moron I am, I decided to try to reconnect, which I eventually did, after about 8,000 tries and looking and acting like David Flair during his psycho gimmick. However, after getting on, I basically got disconnected right away. I then tried connecting using another Internet service provider, and eventually got connected. However, one thing that sort of bothered me was that it would take about 3 MINUTES TO CONNECT to a site that would normally take less than a couple of seconds. Anyway, after restarting a few times, I STILL got the same problems. That's when I figured I had a pretty bad problem with my Internet connection, thus, I have been able to do basically... NOTHING online lately other than send Instant Messages, which consequently take about 10-15 seconds to get through.
I also have not been able to check my e-mail for over a week, which = TONS OF MAIL. Add in the fact that we have been having a TON of server problems over the last couple of weeks (I'm considering several ways to resolve that problem) and a lot of personal reasons by myself, Ry, and Tim, and you've got a pretty bad case of lack of updates here at TPWW. Anyway, where does everything go from here and how the hell am I online now? Well, I'm connected through my personal phone line, rather than my second Internet phone line, which is basically totally screwed for whatever reason. (Note to self: Next time there's a thunder storm, get the f*** off the net, dumbass.) So right now, my personal phone line must be tied up until I get the problem fixed. This past week has basically, to put it in simple terms, sucked. But at least I have found a temporary solution until I can get whatever problem I have fixed. To wrap this biggest intro ever up (or maybe second behind the WWF lawsuit rant), as of now, I'm pretty sure that things are back to normal and everything has cleared up a bit. Being on the weekend, of course, helps a lot.
However, before I actually/finally get into the news portion of this "column," let me give a fair warning that I have been unbelievably far behind as of late as far as wrestling news, programming, etc. goes. I actually missed most of Thursday's Smackdown and Friday's ECW on TNN, which is a RARITY on my part, due to personal issues. I am also obviously far behind as far as updates and e-mail go, which really kills me. Believe it or not, I honestly HATE it when I am unable to reply to e-mail. If someone spent the time to send an e-mail, I think they deserve a reply. Believe me, I know how annoying it is to not receive replies when you need them. For that, I sincerely apologize to everyone who has sent me an e-mail and has not received a reply recently. Let me once again ask, as I have in the past, if you have an e-mail that you'd really like to receive a reply to, please send it again and I'll honestly try my best to get back to you. Anyway, now that I've let out everything I've been meaning to say for the last week, let's finally get to today's news and rumors. OH MY GOD, AN UPDATE AT TPWW?!?! Yeah.
The big news as of late as far as wrestling video game news is concerned has been the Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. Three new WWF video games have been announced, WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64, WWF Smackdown II: Know Your Role for the Playstation, and WWF Royal Rumble for the Sega Dreamcast. As of right now, it has been announced that WWF Smackdown II and WWF No Mercy will both feature the first ever ladder match for a "Big Three" wrestling video game. The WWF's Dreamcast title, WWF Royal Rumble is the most interesting of the bunch, however. There are reports that the game can hold up to NINE players on one screen with ease, which is revolutionary, considering we are used to only up to four on screen at once. However, as of now, reports are that WWF Royal Rumble is not very deep concerning rosters, and it currently only has up to twenty wrestlers, which should hopefully increase when the game is complete. As far as gameplay, WWF Royal Rumble provides a touched up WWF Smackdown engine, improving on the successful game. However, I've heard rumors that the game will be simply an arcade game, and currently has no career mode or create a wrestler feature. But of course, that may all change once the game is in its final stages. Be sure to stick with us for all the latest updates, and be sure to check out our TPWW Games web site, where Tim Brechlin will be posting E3 updates as they happen. We are also currently working on ao re-design of the page, which should make it a bigger and better feature here at TPWW.
WWF Judgment Day comes to us next Sunday, May 21. The tentative card is as follows:
- The Rock vs. Triple H - WWF Heavyweight Title - Iron Man Match
- Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - WWF Intercontinental Title - Submission Match
- The Dudleys vs. DX (Road Dogg/X-Pac) - Tag Team Table Match
- Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko vs. Perry Saturn - European Title
- Rikishi & Too Cool vs. Kurt Angle, Edge & Christian
- T&A; vs. The Hardys (rumored)
- Bossman & Bull Buchanan vs. The Acolytes (rumored)
On the subject of Judgment Day, I'm sure that many of you noticed that the Judgment Day promos, with the girls dancing around have been saying "HIS JUDGMENT DAY IS COMING." That is definitely very interesting. It very well may just be a promo for the pay per view, but if you think about it, no date is posted for the event in the promos. The Undertaker's return has been rumored for a while, hasn't it? I've heard that he is almost 100% and ready to return and I really would not be surprised to see the Undertaker on WWF television very soon.
Speaking of returns to WWF television, Shawn Michaels reportedly had a meeting with the World Wrestling Federation yesterday to discuss his role with the WWF upon his return, which also should be very soon, maybe at Judgment Day, the Raw the night after, or maybe even BEFORE Judgment Day?
The WWF's music video, "The Kings" by RUN-DMC, which is the Degeneration X theme from WWF Aggression will air on MTV this Monday night at around 11:15 PM ET after RAW is WAR. I'll have my VCR ready to tape.
Gangrel has been cleared to wrestle, after recovering from his shoulder separation. Gangrel definitely has not been used too well as of late. I remember a while back when he was aligned with Edge & Christian, he was way over with the crowd, so his potential is definitely there.
The WWF has opened an official website for the "Acolyte Protection Agency." You can check it out at WWFAPA.com.
Benjie Kaze sent this along: "I am the producer of RPM2Night on espn2 and I wanted to let you and your fans know about a very cool show we are doing this Sunday. Jerry Toliver, the driver of the WWF Funny Car for the National Hot Rod Association, will be in studio with us throughout the weekend. Sunday we are going to be running a segment which shows Jerry hanging out with the Wrestlers last Tuesday in New Haven. The goal of his visit was to learn the "WWF Attitude." The show with the WWF feature is Sunday morning at 11:30am (Eastern) on espn2. Jerry will also be on our shows Saturday night at 7:30pm (Eastern) and Sunday night at 9:00pm (Eastern)."
The World Wrestling Federation has once again expanded internationally. According to WWF.com, Thailand will now receive WWF Heat, and Bolivia will receive Raw.
As far as the mid-week ratings go, WCW Thunder drew a decent 2.5 ratings, off hours of 2.3 and 2.6. WWF Smackdown did a 5.8 OVERNIGHT rating, which should be down to 4.something when it's final.
Ric Flair may need surgery on his injured shoulder after the Great American Bash. If the surgery does in fact occur, Flair may be out for about three months, which may explain the reason for the supposed "retirement match" at The Great American Bash between Ric Flair and his son, David Flair. However, Flair is expected to return after the surgery, so by no means will he be "retiring." At least not yet.
Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash is expected to be the main event for the Great American Bash. It would definitely be interesting to see Nash get the title under the Russo-Bischoff regime.
WCW has announced that Sting will take on Vampiro in a House of Pain cage match on Monday's Nitro.
You may have heard a story recently that Randy Savage was expected to tape a few upcoming episodes of RRRRRRRRollerJam. However, reports are that the deal fell through and Savage will not appear on TNN's favorite show, at least not yet. Savage was expected to tape five episodes of the show, which would have aired this fall. There may be renegotiations soon.
Buff Bagwell has been suspended for 30 days by WCW, due to the incident at Tuesday's WCW Thunder tapings, where he was arrested for punching a production worker.
Thanks to Barbara, who runs the official Shane Helms website, for sending this in: "Please be informed that Shane Helms reconstructive nose surgery has been postponed. It was scheduled for today, May 12th but due to his wrestling schedule (he has 5 upcoming matches) it will be put off until his schedule is cleared."
There have been several rumors around the 'net that WCW is working on a "huge surprise" of some sorts, that according to Dave Scherer, will be bigger than when Russo and Bischoff came back to WCW. Whoa.
ECW's Elektra has opened her official website, which can be viewed at ElektraECW.com.
Lance Storm is reportedly 99.9% gone from ECW after Sunday's pay per view, according to Dave Scherer. If Storm does in fact leave ECW, which seems to be the case, he is expected to be signed by WCW.
Here are the matches that have been announced for tomorrow's (Sunday) ECW Hardcore Heaven PPV:
- Justin Credible vs. Tommy Dreamer vs. Lance Storm - ECW World Title
- Rhino vs. Sandman - ECW TV Title
- Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn
- Mikey Whipwreck vs. Little Guido (rumored)
- Tajiri vs. Steve Corino (rumored)
- Gedo & Jado vs. Nova & Chetti (rumored/doubtful)
- Doring & Roadkill vs. New Dangerous Alliance (rumored/doubtful)
HUGE thanks to DiRT for holding up the TPWW.net sign on Thunder this past week! You can check out a pic of the sign at the following links: [ IMAGE 1 | IMAGE 2 ] This makes TPWW sign number 19. Once again, we GREATLY APPRECIATE IT! If you ever attend an event and take a TPWW sign, we'll definitely get a picture of the sign and of course, give it a mention here at TPWW. I also still haven't been able to get a copy of the ECW Hardcore TV tape, where another TPWW sign was held up. I'll hopefully get that by Monday.
We'll be launching a great new message board/forum here at TPWW soon, which will allow users to post their thoughts on the world of wrestling and respond to what others think. Stay tuned for that.
Also stay tuned for a great themes update in the next couple of days, including a great, clear over 1:00 long Jeff Jarrett WCW theme, and a great Terry Funk theme.
Well, that should wrap it up for today's report. My New York Knicks unfortunately lost last night, but I'm confident that they'll rebound and take the series against the Heat in seven games. All you Miami fans are welcome to send hate mail. Until next time, laterrrr.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com