Greetings and salutations, loyal TPWW.net readers! As you can see, it's my day to fill you all in on the happenings of the wrestling world, and as usual, I will do my very best not to disappoint. There are some major stories concerning WCW's ownership and the "Who hit Austin" mystery circulating today, so without any further ado, let's get to it.
According to Multichannel News, there is a good chance we'll be seeing WCW and WWF combined pay per views in the future. An article by R. Thomas Umstead says that both Mandalay Sports and the WWF are talking to TBS Inc. about buying WCW.
Says the article: "WWFE, a more successful pro-wrestling promotion, might be a long shot to buy its rival. But sources said the competitors could team up for several pay-per-view-related events in the near future. Sources said that Mandalay Sports was close to wrapping up the WCW, with its former president, Eric Bischoff, heading the company. A deal could be reached as early as Oct. 17, after WCW executives return from a trip to Australia to produce several WCW cable shows, including Monday Nitro Live. The source said the deal was contingent on TBS's continued distribution of WCW programming through its cable services. Representatives from Mandalay Sports could not be reached for comment at press time. If a deal were reached, Mandalay would inherit a company that has struggled to effectively compete against the popular World Wrestling Federation. Industry sources said the company has lost between $50 million and $70 million this year alone."
The article said that sources say the WWF obtained the option to match any WCW purchase price as part of a settlement it reached earlier this year with TBS over a copyright infringement claim. "But WWFE has its hands full with its own shows and the upcoming launch of the XFL football league. More likely is a joint working relationship between the WWFE and the eventual WCW owner, possibly on future PPV events. That would likely only come about if WWFE obtained a stake in the WCW, sources said."
Here's a non spoiler look at tonight's WCW Nitro emanating from the down under:
- Elix Skipper vs. Rey Mysterio Jr
- Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire vs. Disqo & Alex Wright
- Tygress vs. Torrie Wilson in a Down-UnderWear Match.
- Booker T & The Cat vs. Mike Sanders & Kevin Nash
- Goldberg vs. Big Vito
- Mike Awesome vs.David Flair
- Lance Storm vs. Konnan
- Sting vs. Scott Steiner
As you may remember, yesterday we ran a story on Juventud Guerrera pretty much losing it in a hotel lobby. Now that some additional details have surfaced, I'll add to the story. Juventud Guerrera, real name Anibal Gonzales, was walking through the lobby of the Brisbane Marriott when he began to shout obscenities and stripped down to nothing, as well as heaving chairs around the lobby. Many officers responded to the emergency call after the wrestlers failed to calm him down, and it took six police officers, as well as capsicum spray, to restrain Gonzales. One of the female officers was taken away with a chest injury after Juventud forced onto her. A few innocent bystanders were caught with the capsicum spray as well, and were temporarily blinded by its effects. The police charged Juvi with three counts of assault, disorderly conduct, obstructing police and possession of a dangerous drug, believed to be Ecstasy. Eyewitnesses said that Juvi was screaming at Disco Inferno when he took his clothes off. Juventud will go before the Australian court today. He will remain in police custody until then. This isn't Juvi's first run in with authorities. He had a DUI last year as well, I believe. The story was all over the newspapers and news shows,a and has garnered a lot of negative press for WCW. There is a good chance Juventud will be either suspended, or released for his actions. After hearing of this display, both the WWF and ECW have stated they have no interest in Juvi and his antics, so it looks like Juventud may have made a HUGE mistake with this one.
The Harris Brothers are reportedly very upset with Upper Management in WCW right now. Apparently they're displeased that they're booked into a handicapped match with Goldberg, simply to make Big Bill look good. They think it will destroy their credibility to have the two of them lose to one man. WCW has promised to sate them with a tag title reign soon, to keep them from going to the WWF were they wrestled a dark match recently. Were I WCW, I'd let them go...but that's just my opinion.
The new look Sting was supposed to debut at Halloween Havoc has been indefinitely postponed. Sting has been less than ecstatic about the new image and therefore the WCW officials decided to go against the original plan hinted at in all the HH advertisements.
Buff Bagwell's attitude hasn't improved at all since his return to WCW. He's still said to be smug and arrogant, and as a result a number of the wrestlers backstage have growing resentment towards him.
The Cat wasn't on Nitro this past Monday night because he left early for Australia to do promotional work for WCW in the country. Most of the WCW wrestlers left for Australia on Wednesday night, although several (such as Scott Steiner, Goldberg, and Kevin Nash) left Tuesday night, which reduced the amount of top-name talent available for the Tuesday night Thunder tapings.
Speaking of Buff, as of right now is to have someone else besides him return as Ms. Hancock's baby's father. What we saw on Monday was only one "swerve" in Vinny Ru's master plan. Seeing as how just about every angle within WCW right now revolves around Russo himself, I'm willing to bet he'll turn out to be the father of the baby.
According to a number of backstage sources within WCW, the Natural Born Thrillers are upset they are working on per appearance deals, rather than a guaranteed contract. They feel they are in some large angles right now, and are an integral part of the WCW telecasts, and therefore should be put on the official payroll. I agree completely in the case of Reno, Jindrack/O'Hare, and Reno, since they are all very valuable talents to have within a federation. The "Perfect Event" haven't really shown me anything as of yet, so the jury's still out on those two.
A lot of people backstage in WCW are getting upset with Vince Russo over his latest escapade. He's decided to stay at home in the USA while the rest of the company is in Australia, sending the storylines by fax. The people backstage are upset because Russo has been such an integral part of the WCW shows recently, and now he won't be there. Want my thought on all this? I think Russo's trying to show everyone what the show will be like without him, so the new owners have something to compare it to. If they like the shows with him better than without him, they'll want to keep him employed. Just something to think about.
The reason Scott Steiner is wearing that goofy looking facemask is because of a stiff elbow thrown by Goldberg a few weeks ago at Fall Brawl.
In some WWF news, according to JR's Ross Report, the Sunday Night Heat interview tonight, and WWF Superstars, tonight on Raw we'll be finding out exactly who Austin's culprit was. I think it might be better to stretch it out a little, but if the plan is to have Austin wrestle his assailant at No Mercy, then this may be the best time to do it.
Shawn Michaels is expected to return to WWF television tonight on Raw as a suspect in the "Who hit Austin" angle. This may or may not mean that Michaels is the culprit, as it's questionable whether or not he would be able to wrestle against Stone Cold Steve Austin at the WWF's next PPV, No Mercy on October 22. Michaels has stated on several occasions that he may have at least one more match left in him, but again, it is only a slight possibility and we may see other suspects called out tonight on Raw along with Michaels.
Last night at a house show in San Jose, California Debra returned to action. She served as the ring announcer for the event, and talks have begun of her returning as soon as this week.
In other WWF news, any and all plans to turn Eddie Guerrero heel have ceased. About two weeks ago it looked like a sure thing that we'd see the return of the snide, smirking Guerrero, but now it appears that the WWF would rather keep him in a face role alongside Chyna.
The plan for Steven (William) Regal's program with the Fat Naked Guy (Mideon) have been scrapped. He is instead going to be put directly into the European Title scene, and is expected to compete against Al Snow for the belt at No Mercy. It's no secret that Triple H is a big fan of Regal's work, as well as a close friend of his backstage. Many people think that H's clout is what is helping to elevate Regal, but the WWF insists they've just been pleased with his backstage demeanor and especially his commentary on Smackdown!
The original Billy Gunn vs. X-Pac match for Unforgiven may be changed to a triple threat involving Road Dogg. The thinking is that Road Dogg was left off the last ppv, and since they don't want the fans to forget about him (being left off 2 ppv's in a row is never a good thing) he should just be added to whatever program makes sense. Road Dogg's wife is healed up, and he's all ready to return to action.
In some WWF Videogames news, THQ has apparently announced they will include a Casket Match in their game "Smackdown 2: Know Your Role" due out this December. I'm definitely going to be picking up the title, and while I'm not usually a big fan of Casket Matches, they should be fun to play.
The DirecTV Raw preview is as follows:
- Hour 1: Which way will Steph go?
- Hour 2: Austin suspended. Now what?
"Just" Joe aka Joe E. Legend is going to be taking time off to polish up his in-ring time and delivery. He may be sent down to Memphis or OVW in order to train. The WWF isn't particularly upset with his wrestling ability, they just don't have any plans for him just yet. From what I've seen, Joe has more talent than most of the wrestlers on camera for the WWF today. His moves are very smooth, and his matches have good flow. It's a shame the only place you can see them is on Jakked and Metal.
The WWF is currently very happy with the Raven/Tazz alliance. A lot of people think that the WWF is displeased with Raven (stemming from the fact that he did the job in his second match). This couldn't be further from the truth, as WWF officials are contemplating scheduling even more mic work for him to say his piece...something almost unheard of for debuting talent. However, as of the press time, there are no plans to add any additional wrestlers to the Tazz/Raven fold (Saturn, Gangrel, and Essa Rios namely).
I'm sorry for the overwhelming mediocrity of this report, but the net is seriously strapped for WWF/WCW news, and when is there ever any really good ECW news to report? The Colts-Patriots game was a complete surprise, as my hometown Pats took my team away from home to school, beating them 24-16. It was a great game, and the Patriots appear to be on a role, humbling both the Broncos and the Colts two weeks in a row. Maybe it's not all done for New England after all? I'm still hurting after my Braves were eliminated by those damn Cardinals, and now the last chance at a true team taking the series would be the Mets. I can't stand the Yankees (I think we went into this yesterday). The Athletics and the Giants are overrated in my mind, and won't make it to the next round of play. I think the Mariners are a solid franchise, but they lost a lot of their magic last year, and even more this time around. Don't even get me started on those damn Cards...Anyway, thanks a lot for checking out this report, and if you have any ideas, comments, questions, problems, feedback, or whatever, don't hesitate to e-mail me at the link below.
Corey Silvia
Corey@tpww.net