Welcome to the Thursday edition of the news and rumors here at The People's Wrestling Website. There are a few interesting pieces of news to talk about today, so without wasting anymore of your time with this introduction, here are today's news and rumors.
Yesterday was day three of the WWF-USA trial, and thus far, there haven't been many concrete developments in the trial, but I have a feeling it is coming to a close soon and the WWF television scene should be cleared up by the start of July, if not sooner. As for the whole background on the trial, the situation is as follows: A rival offer by CBS and Viacom came in to the WWF. USA Network then sued the WWF and CBS/Viacom in an effort to retain their WWF broadcasting rights, claiming that they have a "first refusal right" and do not have to completely match CBS's offer, as it not only contains offers about the WWF's wrestling programming, but other programming as well. However, according to an article in Multichannel News, USA network stated yesterday that they looked into the possibility of matching CBS's offer, and calculated that they would lose more than $18 million over a span of the first three years. This actually may have helped the WWF's defense... If USA are sure that they do not need to match CBS's offer, why did they look into the possibility? You can read an article on the aforementioned situation HERE.
I have received several e-mails regarding what the King of the Ring brackets look like. Well, here's what it looks like so far:
- Kurt Angle vs. Buh Buh Ray Dudley
- Chris Jericho vs. Edge
- Crash vs. Hardcore Holly
- Bull Buchanan vs. Saturn
- Rikishi vs. Scotty Too Hotty
- Chris Benoit vs. X-Pac
- Val Venis vs. Jeff Hardy
- Eddie Guerrero vs. Chyna
Steven Regal recently stated on Dave Meltzer's audio show that he is expected to be at next week's Raw and Smackdown. Regal has been signed to a WWF development contract for a few months now.
Trish Stratus will be a guest on WWF.com's Byte This tonight from 6-7:00 PM EST. You can call in with your questions at 1-888-LIVEWWF (548-3993) or send an e-mail to bytethis@wwf.com. You can check out the Byte This page HERE.
At AOL Keyword: Teens, there is a poll about "Who Rules the Wrestling Ring." Matched up are Goldberg and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Thanks to ETR316 for pointing that out. Even non-AOL users can vote HERE. So far, the results are as follows: (Austin's percentage is first, Goldberg's is second)
- Better moves - 68.71% - 31.28%
- Better angry wrestling face - 60.74% - 39.25%
- Better all around wrestler- 72.12% - 27.87%
- More likely to win a one-on-one match - 67.64% - 32.35%
- Shinier head - 72.69% - 27.30%
Tammy Lynn Sytch has been removed from WCW.com's "Superstars" list. Thanks to everyone who pointed that out. Not to jump to any conclusions, but I'm sure everyone can figure out that Tammy's future doesn't appear too promising in WCW. It definitely is a shame, but again, nothing is finalized yet. According to Wade Keller, she had not been under contract, but rather working on a per-night deal.
WCW has released several of their luchadores. La Parka, Psicosis, El Dandy, Silver King, and Los Villanos have all been released. That should make a few people even more angry at Vince Russo.
WCW.com has opened a website for the WCW Powerplant, where you can get both information on the Powerplant and information on how to get started as a wrestler yourself. You can check out the site HERE.
WCW will play out an angle where Sting will be out of action for about a month after "he" was lit on fire by Vampiro and fell off the top of the WCW NitroVision, according to Dave Meltzer. Sting is also rumored to return with a new look, which he is reportedly said not to be too pleased about it.
On the subject of Vampiro, he once again had "creative differences" with WCW this week. According to Dave Meltzer, he was very reluctant in doing the angle where he attacked Asya, which aired on Thunder last night, due to a long history of spousal abuse in his family. Vampiro reportedly was very close to actually quitting the company. However, he was talked into doin the angle "for the team" by Eric Bischoff.
In a followup on the "Kimberly Page quits WCW" story from yesterday, more information has now been released as to why she left. According to a report by Dave Scherer, Kim did not like a proposed angle that was set to take place on Monday's Nitro. Kim was reportedly set to be held by Scott Steiner and attacked by Miss Hancock. However, Kimberly was strongly against the angle, since she felt she should not be "manhandled." Does anyone else think that her gimmick is getting to her head a little? However, Vince Russo changed the story line to the Kimberly perfume segment. However, before Tuesday's Thunder tapings, she called WCW and let them know that she would no longer be with the company and would not show up on Thunder. Definitely a weird situation there.
Hulk Hogan's A&E; Biography on Tuesday did only a 1.4 rating, according to Dave Scherer. To put it in perspective, "Law and Order," which aired before the Biography, pulled in a 1.8 rating. Ouch.
Here is what you can expect for this Friday's ECW on TNN broadcast, courtesy of ECWwrestling.com. You can check out ECW every Friday night at 8:00 PM EST on TNN.
- Joey Styles and Joel Gertner go up against Cyrus
- Kid Kash vs. EZ Money
- Justin Credible vs. Jerry Lynn (ECW World Title)
- Appearances by: Rob Van Dam, Tommy Dreamer, New Jack, Scotty Anton, Steve Corino, and Jack Victory
Here's what you can expect on this week's ECW Hardcore TV syndicated show. For info on where you can check out the show in your area, check the ECW TV Listings in our information section.
- Doring & Roadkill vs. Simon Diamond & Swinger
- Mikey Whipwreck & Balls Mahoney vs. Big Sal & Tony Mamaluke
- Appearances by: Rob Van Dam, Justin Credible, Tommy Dreamer, Jerry Lynn, Nova & Chetti, and the New Dangerous Alliance
That's going to wrap it up for today's report. Enjoy WWF Smackdown and until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com