Starting things off with international WWF news, there is both good and bad news for WWF fans up in the Great White North, Canada. With WWF Raw's recent move to TNN and the availability of TNN in Canada, this past Monday, Canadian viewers were able to view Raw on both TNN and TSN. However, the bad news is that Raw on TNN in Canada may have been only a one time event this past Monday, as TSN has exclusive rights to air Raw in Canada, which will cause Raw on TNN to be blacked out in Canada from now on. From what I've heard, TNN was allowed to air Raw this past Monday due to TSN's airing of the Olympic games in Raw's normal timeslot. However, now we get to the good news... I've also heard rumors that TNN may in fact be allowed to air Raw is War in the future on Mondays when TSN decides to air other coverage in Raw's normal timeslot.
In PPV news, the early estimated buyrate for this past Sunday's WWF Unforgiven PPV is around 1.5-1.7, according to Dave Scherer, which is HUGE. The WWF's previous PPV, SummerSlam, drew a 1.4 rating, which translated to around 560,000 total buys.
Our friends at Wrestlesite.com recently visited THQ Inc in Calabasas Hills, CA and brought back with them an amazing video clip of the entire intro video of THQ's upcoming Nintendo 64 WWF title, "WWF No Mercy." You can check out the intro in streaming video, download it to your computer, or view individual screen shots by clicking HERE.
Stone Cold Steve Austin will be on MTV's debut of Sunday Night Heat this Sunday night at the show's regular 7PM EST time slot. Also appearing on Heat this Sunday will be the band, Disturbed, who will be performing Stone Cold Steve Austin's new entrance theme. I'll definitely try to get a recording of that one up on the site soon.
The Rock will be paid 5.5 million dollars for a role in an upcoming movie, "The Scorpion King," according to a report in Variety. The Rock will reportedly play the starring role in the film, which is expected to begin shooting sometime after WrestleMania 2001. The film will reportedly be a prequal to the film the Rock recently played a role in, "Mummy 2," where he also played the Scorpion King character. Vince McMahon will reporteldy be the Executive Producer of the film. According to Dave Scherer, Variety wrote the following describing the plot of the upcoming film: "Set in ancient Egypt, the story revolves around a peasant whose town is plundered by a marauding army from the north led by a violent guy out to rule Egypt. The Rock plays the peasant, who attempts to exact revenge for his flattened village and to recover his kidnapped village by joining up with a band of outlaws." The film is reportedly scheduled for either a Christmas 2001 or Summer 2002 release.
The Undertaker reportedly pulled a groin muscle in one of his recent matches. Reports do not indicate that the injury is serious, but as a safety precaution, the Undertaker may miss a couple of weeks of in-ring action, but may still play a role on television.
As you may have read in our Smackdown tapings report, Taka Michinoku was unfortunately injured at this past Tuesday's tapings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during a match with Dean Malenko for the Lightheavyweight title, which was scheduled to (and still may) air on Heat this Sunday. Malenko reportedly threw Taka in the air, causing him to land hard on his shoulder. Reports indicate that Michinoku suffered a dislocated shoulder. As you may remember, Taka also dislocated his shoulder at this year's Royal Rumble.
Triple H has basically officially turned face, as you obviously may have noticed. After the cameras at this past Monday's Raw broadcast and Tuesday's Smackdown tapings stopped rolling, both HHH and The Rock did a sketch in the ring, where Rock asked Triple H what his favorite type of pie was. After Triple H answered, which I'm sure you can figure out for yourself, Rock said "Let's go get some pie together" and the show ended. Also on recent broadcasts, Triple H has been teaming with the face (good guy) teams, such as The Rock and Undertaker. But now, with the recent return of Stone Cold Steve Austin as another huge top face in the company, why would the WWF virtually eliminate their best heel, Triple H? In actuality, they may not have just yet. There are several rumors that after his feud with Kurt Angle is complete, we'll be seeing the return of the infamous heel Triple H, who WWF marks all across the world grew to hate. There are also rumors that Triple H has been somewhat against his recent face turn. Whatever the case, we'll just have to wait and see.
Chyna, in some way, shape, or form, will appear on MTV's TRL tomorrow at 3:30 PM EST. Chyna's appearance was advertised as follows: "Tomorrow on TRL: Chyna lets out her frustration."
Chyna will also make an appearance on an upcoming episode of TSN's "Off the Record" sometime in October. Thanks to Creaser for sending that info.
The WWF's stock greatly decreased last night in after hour trading, after the WWF issued a statement with lower than projected earnings yesterday. The stock dipped from over 19 down to as low as 12 3/4 last night, which obviously is huge. However, as I type this, the WWF's stock has risen to around 15 1/2.
Here are the matches you can expect for tonight's edition of WWF Smackdown!:
- Lita vs. Jacqueline
- Steve Blackman vs. Road Dogg
- Too Cool & Rikishi vs. T&A; & Kane
- Tazz & Raven vs. Jerry Lawler & Chris Jericho
- Chyna vs. Steven Richards
- Al Snow vs. X-Pac
- The Rock & Triple H vs. Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle
Last night on WCW Thunder, during an interview with Mike Tenay, Vince Russo stated that he was the winner of the Caged Heat match on Nitro between him and Booker T, and declared himself the WCW World Heavyweight champion, only to state that he would be vacating the title, since he "did not belong in the ring with the other guys." Somewhat interesting situation, but of course, it once again kills off any credibility the WCW title has earned since David Arquette won it.
In an interesting story on Vince Russo, according to Dave Scherer, at last week's WCW shows, a wrestler, reportedly Konnan, circulated somewhat of a petition or letter of support for Vince Russo among several wrestlers in the WCW locker room. Every wrestler, but one, signed the letter of support. The wrestlers are reportedly expected to show the letter of support to the WCW "higher ups" to show that they are in favor of Vince Russo and the direction the company is headed.
Starting Monday, October 23, WCW will begin taping WCW Thunder on Mondays, directly after WCW Nitro stops airing. There are definite ups and downs to this decision. One positive is that the WCW roster will obviously not have to travel as much, since the taping will take place in the same building on the same night. This also allows WCW to have more of their big, mainstream wrestlers on Thunder. However, the down side is of course the fatigue factor of not only the wrestlers, but the crowd as well. Can WCW really keep the crowd's attention for four-five hours a night?
Juventud Guerrera suffered a hyperextended knee injury at Tuesday's Thunder tapings, which of course caused the end of Juvi and Rey Jr's match on Thunder. However, the injury is said to not be serious and Juventud is expected back on Nitro this Monday to take on Rey Mysterio Jr in a ladder match. That one should be great.
Also, in case you missed it, Alex Wright made his return to WCW on Thunder, seemingly teaming up with the Disco Inferno, who recently split with the Filthy Animals. Wright had a stint as "Berlyn" a few months ago in WCW, which was actually pretty cool for the first few times, until it was completely ruined/buried. Wright returned with his previous dancing gimmick on Thunder.
Norman Smiley was stripped of the WCW Hardcore Title last night on Thunder by WCW's "acting commissioner," "Above Average" Mike Sanders. The new champion will be determined in a match between Reno and Sgt. Awol either this Monday on Nitro or Wednesday on Thunder.
The Insane Clown Posse have quit WCW... again. Both Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope were scheduled for matches on Thunder, but did not show up. They later stated on their hotline that they have quit WCW. How many times is that? I've lost count.
Chris Candido and Tammy Lynn Sytch were reportedly backstage at Nitro this past Monday. No word yet on their return to WCW, but they are still with the company.
Diamond Dallas Page recently reportedly asked for his release from WCW, but it was not granted. Page has been ready to return to the ring for some while now, but Vince Russo has apparently not shown any interest in bringing him back just yet. Personally, I disagree with keeping DDP off television, since he was pretty impressive in his latest WCW stint and definitely had the crowd behind him.
On the subject of returns to the ring, Ric Flair has been cleared to wrestle on November 1, according to Dave Meltzer. Whether or not he'll actually return to the ring is another story.
Super Crazy is still having trouble returning to ECW due to visa problems. However, ECW is hopeful that he'll be back in time for the November to Remember PPV on November 5.
Speaking of the November to Remember PPV, ECW has reportedly sold around 1,600 tickets for the show, which takes place at the Odeum in Chicago on November 5.
In another ECW PPV tidbit, tickets for ECW's upcoming PPV in New York City on December 3rd, which will be entitled "Massacre on 34th Street," are almost sold out. Both myself and Ry will be attending that show and of course, we're already pumped for it.
Our latest poll asks "How satisfied were you with the first Raw on TNN?" As of the time I'm typing this, the results are as follows:
- I loved it, much better than USA. 33%
- It felt like the same old Raw to me. 54%
- Raw was better on USA Network 12%
And with that, it's time to wrap this report up. Be sure to visit this Sunday night for live coverage of ECW's upcoming PPV, Anarchy Rulz. Coverage begins live at 8:00 PM EST. We hope you'll join us! Until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com