Hello, everyone, and welcome to the daily edition of the News & Rumors right here, at TPWW.net. It's been quite a while since you've seen my name on an N&R; byline, but finally, after an unintentional prolonged hiatus, I'm back. Okay, enough schlock, let's get on with the sparse news.
As usual, the WWF held its SmackDown! and HeAT tapings last night, this time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Nothing earth-shattering, as usual, but as always, an entertaining-sounding show. If you'd like to catch the results early, or if you won't be able to catch the show on UPN Thursday night, just click HERE.
The WWF is heavily hyping up its move to The National Network (TNN) on its website, at WWF.com. On a personal note, I have to give USA all the credit in the world for allowing the WWF to promote its station change as much as they did. That took a LOT of swallowing of pride. On another note, I'd ask all fans of the WWF who are reading this to make sure your friends know about the switch to TNN. It's the least we can do for the company...at least in my own opinion.
On a related WWF/TNN note, the logo for the WWF on TNN has been released...or at least this looks like it. To view it, click HERE.
I suppose this would go here...there are a number of reports circulating that the ECW Hotline is reporting that The Rock was indeed the person who hit "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with the car. Is it me, or is this turning into a replay of the Higher Power fiasco of June '99?
Two new matches have been added to the Unforgiven card: Eddy Guerrero v. Rikishi, and X-Pac v. Chris Jericho. I have to admit, this show is certainly shaping up better than last year's Unforgiven, which as I recall had the Six-Pack Challenge clusterf*ck of a match for a main event.
Cursory examination of my video store's computer showed that WWF's Fully Loaded 2000 should be released on VHS video on September 28th, next Thursday. Fully Loaded had the Val Venis/Rikishi match (which had an absolutely nerve-shattering bump), the Kurt Angle/Bikertaker squash, the Triple H/Jericho Last Man Standing match, and of course, The Rock vs. Chris Benoit. It'll retail for $29.99.
Jimmy Van is reporting that SKYDigital Network is looking into the feasibility of beginning a SKY Wrestling network, which would concievably broadcast all the major federations in the United Kingdom. Interesting situation for our UK readers. We'll keep you posted.
Raven, of course, was not at the WWF television events this week. It's still currently unknown when his television debut will be, or what his angle upon debut will be. Hopefully it'll be soon, and hopefully it'll be with the right angle.
Moving to WCW...WCW.com has released its official preview for tonight's WCW Thunder,
and here's a brief rundown of what you can expect.
-Stacy Keibler interview
-Rey Rey v. The Juice
-Vince Russo
-And much, much more.
Remember, WCW Thunder airs tonight on TBS at 9:05 PM EST.
The WCW movie, "Ready To Rumble", was released on DVD yesterday. While I felt this to be one of the most cretinous and moronic pieces of film ever released, a few people must have liked it, considering it stayed in the top ten in box office for two weeks of release. Anyway, it is marginal on features, with a Nitro Girls segment, and a wrestler biography-sorta thing. It retails at anywhere from $29.99 to $39.99, depends on where you go.
Goldberg will be appearing on NBC's "Conan O'Brien" show on September 25th, which would be this coming Monday. Am I the only person who thinks that the show's lost a LOT of steam ever since Andy left? Anyhoo...
The only bit of ECW news I could dig up was that Simon Diamond now has an official website, which you can access by going to www.SimonDiamondECW.com.
Well, I think that's going to close out this report. It's good to be back. Have a great day, everyone.
Tim Brechlin
Tim@tpww.net