I thought last night's WWF Smackdown! was a great show, definitely one of the best in recent memory. It's amazing how the WWF has kept the Triple H/Angle/Stephanie feud so interesting and intriguing for so long, and at the same time has intrigued us with other great angles like "Who hit Austin?" and the Eddie Guerrero/Chyna situation. Definitley excellent booking by Vince McMahon and company. Who isn't hyped for Sunday's PPV?
Last night's Smackdown did a strong 6.2 overnight rating, which translated into a good 4.7 rating for the WWF when the final numbers were released.
Another match was added to the WWF Unforgiven PPV, as it was announced last night on Smackdown that a six man battle for the WWF Hardcore title would take place. The participants are Steve Blackman, Al Snow, Perry Saturn, Crash, Test, and Funaki. The rules are similar to the "Hardcore Invitational" match that took place at this year's WrestleMania. The match will have a ten minute time limit, in which there can be infinite pinfalls. The wrestler who gets the final pinfall before time runs out will be the new hardcore champion.
With that, Sunday's WWF Unforgiven card looks like this:
- The Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Kane vs. Chris Benoit - WWF Title
- Triple H vs. Kurt Angle - Foley is ref
- Eddie Guerrero vs. Rikishi - Intercontinental Title
- Edge & Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz - Tag Titles
- Chris Jericho vs. X-Pac
- Tazz vs. Jerry Lawler
- Hardcore Invitational match
In case you haven't heard yet, TNN, formerly The Nashville Network, has changed its name to "The National Network," thus somewhat getting rid of their "country" image, but keeping the TNN letters at the same time. And with the name change also comes a new logo. In case you missed it on the several TNN Raw plugs last night on Smackdown, you can check out TNN's new logo HERE.
In a recent feature by Forbes magazine in which they rank the 400 richest Americans, Vince McMahon was ranked at number 260, according to 1wrestling. According to the article in Forbes, Vince McMahon is currently worth $1.1 billion.
It has been confirmed that starting next Sunday, October 1 when WWF Sunday Night Heat moves to MTV, the show will emanate from the heart of Times Square in New York City at the WWF New York "entertainment complex." This is definitely fitting, as the MTV studios aren't too far away from WWF New York. With the move to WWF New York, it appears that the show will actually be done live Sunday nights at 7PM EST, but of course will air taped matches, which will continue to be taped on Tuesdays.
WWF fans in Australia may be pleased to know that it appears that the WWF will bring Smackdown! to down under in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to Luke S. for sending this info: "I just thought you would like to put this in your news and rumors that WWF Smackdown starts on TV in Australia on Friday 6th of October at 8.30pm, on FOX 8, for Foxtel subscribers. It will probably be two weeks late like RAW currently is, but who gives a crap because it's WWF, and WWF rocks. Also, the weekly WWF Sunday Night Heat on FOXSPORTS is being replaced by WWF Metal, which sounds crap, but hey, we got Smackdown now, so who gives a crap." ... Thank you, Luke, for that e-mail...
Vince Russo recently stated on WCW Live! that his WCW World Title match against Booker T will take place at around 9:00 PM to face off with Raw, and will take place in a steel cage. A stipulation added to the match is if Steiner, Jarrett, or Nash interfere, Russo will be disqualified.
In another interesting statement from WCW Live, Russo stated that we may see the return of an "old nemesis" of his this Monday on Nitro. I honestly don't know who it could be, but I just hope Russo doesn't consider Goldberg or Ric Flair an "old nemesis."
Juventud Guerrera has reportedly recently signed a new contract with WCW, according to Bob Ryder. His contract was reportedly set to expire sometime around this time and there were rumors that the WWF was even interested in picking him up. However, it appears that Juvi has made the decision to stay loyal to WCW.
Juvi's Filthy Animals team mate, Konnan is now reportedly cleared to return to the ring from a tricep injury he suffered a few months ago that required surgery. Konnan has seen some action in recent weeks, but of course, it has been somewhat limited. Konnan should now be able to return to the ring fulltime, as he receieved full clearance from doctors two days ago.
Wednesday's WCW Thunder drew another mediocre 2.5 rating, which is right around the program's four week average.
Lex Luger made his return (again) to a WCW ring last night in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at a WCW House Show. Luger took on Bill Goldberg and reportedly received a pretty big pop from the crowd. Luger's match against Goldberg was reportedly a squash, where Goldberg took the win easily. After the match, Goldberg raised Luger's hand out of respect. You can check out the full results of the entire show by clicking HERE.
On the subject of returns, SID VICOUS has made his return to WCW... sort of. To promote the October 23 WCW Nitro in Little Rock, AK, Sid will be signing autographs from 10 AM to 12PM noon at the Alltel Arena in Little Rock.
WCW has announced their first three PPVs for the year 2001. According to Bob Ryder, the dates and locations are as follows:
- January 14 - Indianapolis, IN, Conseco Fieldhouse
- February 18 - Nashville, TN, Municipal Auditorium
- March 18 - Toronto, ON, Skydome
Lance Storm has updated his commentary at his website, StormWrestling.com. Storm's commentary is always an interesting read and his website is considered by many as the best wrestler official website on the 'net.
Big thanks to Jamie Frenier for sending the following ECW tidbit:
"I live in Newmarket, NH and the radio station I listen to out here - 100.3 WHEB which is based out of Portsmouth, NH - has been talking about ECW. Some of the things they've said have apparently upset Jack Victory and Steve Corino as they called the station. This ended up with Victory challenging one of the DJ's, named Andy Blacksmith, to a match on Friday Sept. 22nd at the ICEnter in Salem, NH which will be a nationally televised event. Lou E. Dangerously called the station as well and said that he would take Blacksmith under his wing and prepare him for his match on the 22nd. So far it is still up in the air about who Blacksmith is going to fight, but he is definitely fighting someone at this show. Blacksmith has his 'pro card to wrestle professionally anywhere in the world.' This statement can be found on the following website: www.morningbuzz.com Click on "The Players" then click on "Blacksmith" under the piture of the Morning Buzz team. This will take you to a web page with a pic and bio of Blacksmith, who claims that he will make history and be the FIRST non-ECW wrestler to win a match in an ECW ring! It should be interesting!" Thanks to Knyte for also sending along that info.
That about wraps it up for today's report. A lot of people have asked me how TPWWGames.com is progressing. It's definitely going great, and we should have it up very soon. We will also be searching for a talented staff for the site soon, so be on the lookout for an application for the Games site. With that said, it's just about time to wrap this one up. Be sure to join us this Sunday for LIVE coverage of WWF Unforgiven done by none other than... myself. Thanks for reading. Until next time, I'm...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com