Pretty scary how I go about 3 weeks here at TPWW with writing three News and Rumor reports, but that's what I get when I agree to work 40 hour work weeks three weeks in a row. Well, anyways, my hat goes off to Triple A, Tim, and Mike Christopher for doing a tremendous job by picking up my slack so to speak. There's a lot of news out there, so let's cut the intro, and lets get on with the People's N & R...
I'm going to start off with some WCW ratings news for today, and last night's Thunder which I thought was a great show (especially the Positively Kanyon segments) The show showed had a slight ratings increase from last week's 2.3 to this week's 2.5 which stopped a ratings slide for WCW as of late.
Some great news from my vantage point for all wrestling fans as Dave Meltzer reports that the man who is the "dirtiest player in the game", Nature Boy, Ric Flair is hopeful that he'll be back in a WCW ring by late October.
Quick reminder for all you WCW Live fans, the Dark Angel, Vampiro will be appearing on WCW.com's RA show tonight at 8. Vamp is always controversial when he appears on WCW Live, and I know that tonight will be no different.
WCW.com's Chad Damaini has an interview up with newly crowned WCW Champion, Booker T. I haven't caught the WCW.com interview yet, but I've listened to the champ's interview over at Wrestline.com as former TPWWite Downtown Dave interviewed the champ. If your a fan of Booker, I'd say check out both interviews ASAP.
In some tragic news of sorts, former ECW World Champion, and current WCW superstar, Scott Charles "Bam Bam" Bigelow received second degree burns on 40% of his body while Bam Bam rescued several children who were trapped in a Brush Fire near his home. Some wrestlers are viewed as role models and heroes by many children, but in this tragic situation, Bam Bam should be viewed as a hero to not only wrestling fans, but by all of us by risking his life to save the lives of others. The thoughts and prayers of the entire staff of TPWW.net are with Bigelow at this time. Get well soon Bam Bam as the wrestling world is missing something without your great presence.
Newly acquired WCW Superstar, Lance Storm is auctioning off his ECW Warm Up Suit (Jacket and Pants) at his website, stormwrestling.com. The jacket has a large ECW logo on the back, and Storm's name and ECW logo on the front. Check StormWrestling.com for more details on how you can attain this one of a kind momento of Lance's WCW career.
Goldberg, Sting, Nash, Jeff Jarrett, and Sid are all featured in a promotional ad for the upcoming WCW Australian tour. In those ads featured in Australian News Papers, The Hitman, Bret Hart and the Nitro Girls are also promised for the tour. WCW hits Brisbane on Saturday, October 7 for Nitro, Syndey on the 9th for Thunder, and Perth and Melbourne for house shows on the 11th and 13th respectively.
You know WCW as a whole hasn't reached the level of popularity that the WWF has, but you wouldn't know it due to media coverage, as several WCW wrestlers are featured in or on the covers of magazines this month...
- Nitro Girl Chae, Kimberly, Torrie and Ms. Hancock all appear in a spread in Stuff magazine this month, and from what I've heard, it's Racy to say the least.
- As many of you know, Scotty Steiner made the cover of Iron Man Magazine with an article on the Big Poppa inside of it.
- WCW Champ, Booker T is the feature of this month's Source Sports in the Hip Hop Magazine, the Source.
- Filthy Animal, Rey Mysterio Jr is featured in this month's Latina Magazine.
- Finally, Tank Abbot's favorite Boy Band, Three Count is featured in Cosmo's All About Men special issue.
Moving on to some WWF news for today, as the XFL has officially announced that there will be teams playing in Las Vegas, Nevada and in Los Angeles, California. Of course, as Triple A mentioned previously, the XFL is saving the best for last, the team for New York.
Some bad news for all of our Canadian readers out there... Raw will be preempted in Canada on Monday due to a Blue Jays/Mets game on TSN... The second hour may air, if not Raw will be shown in its entirety from 12 to 2. Well, at least when Raw moves to TNN, we won't see Raw preempted whether it occurs in Canada due to a Baseball or Hockey game or here in the US due to the US Open or the ever popular Westminister Dog Show.
Quick note for all you fans of the WWF's first lady and Ladies Champion, Stephanie McMahon Helmsley... Stephanie appeared on WWF.com's Byte This on Thursday, and even though I haven't had a chance to view it, I'm sure it was an interesting show, as whenever a McMahon speaks, one should listen.
Speaking of McMahons, I have some great news for all of you Shane McMahon fans... Shane O' Mac will not need surgery his left knee due to bruised bones in both knees. In addition to that, Shane reportedly won't let this injury keep him down or out of the ring, as he's quoted on WWF.com by saying "I gotta do what I gotta do" in terms of ring work.
WWF.com had a brief article discussing the newest incarnation of the WWF fan club, WWF X-Perience. The WWF's official fan club will launch this month and you will be able to join for a fee of 50 dollars, and have several benefits for members, to check out the article, click HERE.
Two more matches have been announced for the ECW PPV this Sunday, Heatwave 2000... Kid Kash will team with Doring and Roadkill to take on the trio of Simon Diamond, Swinger, and CW Anderson. Also added to Sunday's card is an International Three Way between Little Guido, Tajiri, and the ECW Return of Psicosis. Add that to the already stellar card of Dreamer taking on Credible in a Stairway to Hell match, Rhino taking on the Sandman for the ECW TV title, Jerry Lynn going up against Steve Corino, and Rob Van Dam debuting the Van Terminator against the US Male, Scotty Anton.
Tickets for the amazingly big ECW show(s) at the Hammerstein Ball Room in New York go on sale on Saturday, July 15. The Show is so big that ECW is gonna take the Hammerstein Ball Room to the Extreme for not just one night, but two. I plan on attending, and if you live in the New York area, I'd advise you to as well.
That does it for today... Wait, two quick plugs for two great updates today at TPWW... First off, The Top Ten List finally returns to TPWW as Jordan Redmond replaces Jessi (who did a tremendous job of doing the top ten for over a year here at TPWW, and I wish her the best for the future.), and brings back one of most popular features. Jordan who previously authored Gone Shootin, and now pens the WWF Raw and ECW on TNN Report Cards did a tremendous job with his Top Ten Debut, and I'd advise you to read it, by clicking HERE.
The other plug goes to one of the great debuting columnists who had debuted last week, The Ref, who returns with a great column on some individuals in the wrestling industry who to deserve a lot of credit and then some. Add in the fact that it's only about three weeks to the BIG announcement from The Ref, and believe me, it's not just BIG, it's HUGE. To check out his column, click HERE.
Now, that's it for today, thanks for reading today's edition of the People's News and Rumors, and be on the look out for some great updates this weekend here at TPWW.net including my column, The People's Column :)... So until next time, Ciao...
Big Ry
BIGRY214@aol.com