First off, I want to wish a happy Fourth of July to everyone.
I thought Raw was an excellent show last night that had some very entertaining and hilarious segments, many of which of course included the Micker, Mick Foley, the most entertaining mic worker today in my opinion. Foley is just the man and it's great to have him back in the WWF. It was great to see a fresh new show last night on Raw and I'm definitely looking forward to this week's Smackdown. On the WCW end, it was also a pretty good show, despite the fact that the main event was horrible. The Cat also fits the commissioner role well. He always cracks me up. The highlight of the show was definitely the Rey Jr/Juvi vs. Lance Storm/Kidman match. First off, the pre-match segment was hilarious. Everytime Juventud gets on the mic he cracks me up. Did you see him go for the Rockbottom on Jindrak or O'Haire last week? Hilarious. For more thoughts on Raw, you can check out my Raw is War Report Card.
I'm assuming that the ratings are delayed today due to the Fourth of July holiday. They should hopefully be up tomorrow.
Thanks to Mike E. for sending along this week's WWF Raw dark matches and Jakked/Metal tapings. You can check them out HERE.
Several people sent word that they noticed on most every promo for the WWF's upcoming PPV, Fully Loaded, there are two dice (or die, whatever) that are both landed on "1" meaning that they are landed on Snake Eyes. Another hint for Steve Austin's return? It's doubtful, at least for now and you know how the WWF loves to tease things for the PPVs.
Speaking of Fully Loaded, here are a few tentative matches lined up, which are being posted as pure speculation judging from angles at last night's Raw.
- The Rock vs. Chris Benoit
- Triple H vs. Chris Jericho
- The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle
Raven told the ECW locker room recently that this Saturday will be his final appearance in ECW. The show will take place at the ECW Arena (where else?). There are several rumors that Raven has been offered a three year deal by the WWF and as of now, it is obviously very likely that he will sign it as he has been very vocal in his desire to once again wrestle in the World Wrestling Federation sometime in the future. And the future is apparently now. Raven's ECW contract officially expires sometime in August and we most likely will see Raven in the WWF shortly after.
WWF Smackdown! will be taped tonight in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. If you are attending the show, we would love to receive a report from you for posting on TPWW either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. There will be no WCW Thunder taping tonight due to the Fourth of July holiday. Instead, Thunder will be live tomorrow night from Columbus, Georgia.
Thanks to Carlos for sending this in, regarding WrestleMania 2001 ticket information at the Houston Astrodome: "According to the Houston Chronicle, tickets for Wrestlemania 17 will go on sale November 11 at the Astrodome box office, plus all the usual Ticketmaster locations and online at WWF.com. It states that ringside seats reportedly will go for $400. The rest of the Dome will be scaled at $150-$100-$65-$25. This information was found in the July 4th Houston Chronicle in Ken Hoffman's column in the Houston section (lifestyle and entertainment.)"
Vince Russo was not at Nitro last night, despite various reports that he would be. Russo should be back any time now and the general feeling is that he should definitely be back sometime after the Bash at the Beach PPV this Sunday. Eric Bischoff was also not at Nitro for unknown reasons.
Hulk Hogan was kept off Nitro and Thunder this week, claiming that he could not wrestle due to an injury, but he could only cut promos. However, according to Wade Keller, the WCW creative team apparently didn't have anything planned for Hogan and decided to keep him off the show. Another factor that could have played into keeping him off the show is the estimated $25,000 that Hogan receives for every appearance he makes. Jeez.
Goldberg was told by his doctors not to work Nitro last night due to the slight re-aggrivation of his arm injury in the past couple of weeks. However, according to Bob Ryder, Goldberg arrived at Nitro yesterday to meet with the WCW creative team, who told Goldberg that his appearance at Nitro would be crucial to build up for his match with Kevin Nash at Bash at the Beach. Of course, Goldberg ended up working the show after all.
Johnny The Bull suffered a broken pelvis in his match against Terry Funk last night on Nitro when he hit a springboard leg drop onto a chair on the outside. He reportedly had blood in his urine after the show and was taken to a local hospital. He is expected to miss three months of action and it appears that his match against Big Vito at the PPV is off.
Staying on the subject of injuries, Shane Helms suffered what was said to be a separated shoulder in a match sometime last week, thus explaining the injury angle last night when Tank Abbott took his place in Three Count.
Ric Flair will undergo surgery on his shoulder this Thursday, according to Bob Ryder. It was originally scheduled for last week, but was postponed due to the unfortunate death of Flair's father.
Here's something I picked up from last night's Nitro that may have been completely influenced by me watching that FOX special "Magic's biggest secrets revealed" or whatever it was called. During the Vampiro/druids in Sting masks segment, there were eleven druids surrounding Vampiro before the lights went out. After the lights went out and turned on again, Vampiro "disappeared," but there were twelve druids, meaning Vamp must have been slipped an extra robe and mask to dress up in. Bada boom, bada bang. That FOX magic special was pretty cool.
Lodi apparently was backstage at a recent ECW show this week, looking for a job, according to Dave Scherer. However, he was told by Tommy Dreamer (from Paul Heyman) that there was no interest in him at this time.
Dusty sent this in regarding an online fight against the Parents Television Councel: "Hey since you mentioned something in the news report about the PTC, I think you should mention www.ptcsucks.com, a site fighting the PTC. We are fighting for a good cause. Leave Our Wrestling Alone!"
Ismael Gomez sent this in, regarding an appearance by Too Cool: "On Tuesday, July 11, Too Cool will be performing and signing autographs at Paramounts Great America in Santa Clara, California. The same day, WWF SmackDown will be taped in San Jose, California. Too Cool will be doing cool moves and teaching fans how. If Too Cool's there, you know it's gonna be a blast. So anybody from around come to learn moves and get Too Cool's autographs."
Ohio_GuY00 sent this to me: "Did you even know who's birthday it was on July 2? He's a true legend that turned 43 and his name is Bret Hart! How dare you not mention his name and b-day in your news & rumors report on july 2! YOU ARE EVIL!!" Whoaaaaa. Happy Birthday Bret Hart.
That's all for today. A BBQ is waiting. Until next time, Happy Fourth of July to everyone here in the States.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com