Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to The People's Wrestling Website on this hot, steamy Wednesday. As usual, my intro is lacking, so let's just forget about that and get straight to the news.
Last night, the WWF held its SmackDown! and HeAT tapings in East Rutherford, New Jersey. As is par for the course, they seem to be interesting, and will make for entertaining viewing tomorrow night on UPN. If you want to know what's going to happen, or you'll be unable to watch SmackDown! because of some twist of fate, you can click HERE. Enjoy.
Dave Hebner, the twin brother of WWF senior referee Earl Hebner, suffered a mild heart attack on Monday, but is recuperating and resting comfortably. We at TPWW wish Dave a fast recovery, as a heart problem is a scary, scary thing to live through.
According to a number of e-mail tidbits, TSN in Canada once again edited RAW on Monday night. The sequence of the Goodfather putting the ho through a table was edited with canned crowd shots. Just another instance of a network deciding what's appropriate for people to watch, instead of leaving it up to us...
There are a number of reports that Chris Benoit was legitimately injured in his match with The Rock on Monday night. Reportedly, it occurred when Benoit was hurled into the ring steps. I don't know the extent of the injury, but I'd guess it was only a sprain or mild separation. Hope he gets better soon, as Benoit is a big-time heel presence in the WWF's upper echelon.
In a followup from yesterday, Chyna's Stacker 2 commercial has been completed, and will air soon. Thanks to Chyna's Fan Site for that tidbit. You can get media of it at WWF.com. Hopefully it'll be somewhat entertaining, as the Stacker commercials are pretty stupid.
According to WSCR Sports Radio 670 Chicago, the Chicago XFL team has been named the "Enforcers". On another XFL note, former Bears defensive legend Dan Hampton, who recently turned down an assistant's job with the team, said that the XFL rules can be best described as "old-time NFL, 20's/30's era". Interesting, as back in those days, the play was a LOT rougher (clotheslines, chop blocks, etc). The XFL kicks off in February 2001.
There is a very interesting interview with Rikishi Phatu up at IGN Wrestling. In it, Rikishi covers his Samoan heritage, his cage match at Fully Loaded, what he does with people he doesn't like, and much more. You can find the interview right HERE, and it's a very interesting read. Check it out.
Moving on to WCW, the big news is that Mike Samuda is reporting that Vince Russo has 11 weeks to turn WCW's ratings around, or he's gone. That would put this deadline around the middle of October. On another note, Eric Bischoff reportedly has nothing to do with the day-to-day runnings of WCW, and acts as more of a "consultant" than anything else. This is interesting news, and somewhat disturbing. I have long maintained that Vince Russo isn't a great booker, and that he isn't the answer to WCW, but he is the best fix for them right now. What's going to happen if the ratings don't improve? Bill Watts comes back to book? Bill Busch? Kevin Sullivan? NASH? The horror...
WCW has given a brief rundown of what you can expect on Thunder tonight,
and here it is:
-Booker T "Shoot" interview
-Lance Storm v. Mike Awesome in a "Flag Match"
-Ms. Hancock and David Flair v. Major Gunns and Sgt. AWOL
-Kronic v. The Perfect Event v. Jindrak & O'Haire in a Handicap Match for the tag titles
-Appearances by Sting, Kanyon, Buff Bagwell, and Goldberg
Big T, AKA Ahmed Johnson, has been working out in WCW's Power Plant in hopes of returning to WCW soon, although rumors persist that he will be next on the chopping block of WCW's roster.
According to the Pro Wrestling Torch, Brad Siegel (President of WCW) has been given a mandate to cut WCW operating costs by a drastic number. WCW is set to lose approximately $79.2 million this year, which is an absolutely whopping amount of cash. Siegel has been given a list of ten to twenty wrestlers to be released, to cut costs. No names are known at this time, but I can assume that a few of the higher-priced midcarders may be on that list.
No ECW news for today, but there is some saddening Independent news. Wrestler Tony Nash was killed in the ring August 5th after recieving a back suplex and landing wrong. This accident took place in a sports bar in Sussex, Wisconsin, which I believe is in Milwaukee's vicinity. Nash, 30, apparently did not tuck his head in correctly and landed on it. He never regained consciousness. Nash had never wrestled a match before, and it is not known if he had any professional training. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that authorities are investigating whether or not he was experienced enough to be doing what he was doing. Our condolences to Nash's family.
Unfortunately, news is pretty sparse, so I'm gonna have to close out this report. Enjoy Thunder tonight, and have a great day, everyone.
Tim Brechlin
Tim@tpww.net