Greetings TPWW readers, and welcome to the News and Rumors for October 29, 2000. We're having the first snowfall of the year here in Rhode Island, and many of the other New England states are as well, from what I hear. I've got a cup of hot cocoa, a fire blazing in the background, and Deep Purple playing on my stereo...does life get any better than this??? Let's get on with the News and Rumors report for this fine Sunday afternoon...
First and foremost on the WWF front, here are some things you can expect on tonight's episode of Heat...
*Steve Blackman vs. William Regal
*Clips of the WWF's Wall Street Invasion
*Eddie Guerrero promo
*Hardy Boyz/Lita vs. T&A;/Trish (yes, again)
*A video montage to Yokozuna
According to some valuable sources, Afa may be slowly reintroduced into WWF programming sometime shortly. For those of you who aren't familiar with the name, he is Rikishi's Uncle and a member of the Wild Samoan tag team, alongside Sika. I'm not sure what to make of this, but people have been talking about Rikishi's wrestling family (which has very long reach, by the way) becoming more involved in the WWF's storylines, and it appears the time is here.
Rikishi's knee is apparently getting worse and worse. The WWF has lightened his house show load, but he is still in a great deal of pain after matches, and has to ice his knee following each one. He is reportedly very popular backstage for sticking it out and continuing to wrestle through the injury, for the sake of the biggest angle in the company right now.
As indicated in the N+R here yesterday, Eddie Guerrero and the Kat are going to be together for a while now on camera. There are reportedly some major developments in that angle on Heat tonight, so I'd advise checking that out. I agree with Mike (great to see him back, by the way) entirely on this issue...the Kat is going to draw face heat no matter how she's booked, and that's going to detract greatly from the heel heat Guerrero is attempting to get.
As we speak, WWF Shopzone execs are planning and developing some new Kurt Angle merchandise. The "It's True" T-shirt performed very well, and is locked in spot number nine on the top twenty best selling items list. His replica gold medals released last week in time for Halloween haven't fared as well...most likely because they cost fifteen dollars.
While we're on the subject of WWF Shopzone, they recently released the new Chris Benoit's Victim of the Crossface T-shirt. It's definitely a pretty cool looking shirt, although twenty-five dollars is still a lot to pay for a t-shirt...then again, you can always win one here on TPWW, eh?
The Rock has reportedly been approached to appear in Playgirl magazine, which is obviously the male version of Playboy. No word as to whether or not he'll agree like Rena Mero or Chyna, but we'll hear soon enough, I suppose.
The superstar to get "WWF New York Duty" this week will be X-Pac. It has to be pretty upsetting when you realize that rather than wrestling during the top rated show aired on cable, you're off leading a Conga Line at a restaurant in New York.
The major addition to all WWF house shows is that Austin/Rock/Triple H will be taking on Rikishi/Chris Benoit/Kurt Angle in a Street Fight for the main event throughout the month of November. Sounds like a great match up, and it's got to be awesome to have tickets for a WWF House Show within the next month...they hit Buffalo, New York tomorrow.
The Big Bossman, as reported yesterday, is all cleared to return to the ring. The new addition in the story is the fact that he'll be returning in early November, most likely a little over a week and a half away. There are some changes being made to his outfit, character, and move repertoire, but all are being kept top secret at the moment.
In a great bit of news (for myself, especially) WWF Survivor Series will be more prominently booked around the traditional 8 man elimination match ups of the past. Some matches already being scheduled are Al Snow/Jerry Lawler/Too Cool vs. William Regal/Tazz/Raven/X-Pac, and Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko/Perry Saturn/Eddie Guerrero vs. Mr. Ass/Chyna/Road Dogg/Steve Blackman. I have always loved Survivor Series style match ups...I mean, who could forget the Rude Brood vs. Rowdy's Rowdies, the Perfect Team vs. The Warriors, and so on?
Christian is expected to return to WWF action tonight at the WWF house show in Toronto, Canada. Christian was sidelined for a few days due to the stinger/injury he sustained last Sunday at No Mercy, in his tag title match against the Hardyz.
The reason why Chris Benoit's promos are increasing in quality so rapidly is because the WWF writers give him a script of what he's supposed to say hours in advance for him to work on. Seems simple enough, but the question is, why didn't they (or WCW for that matter) take these steps sooner?
Steve Austin is said to have complete and total control over his angle with Rikishi right now. The last thing anyone wants to do is upset the Rattlesnake, since they know what a commitment it was for him to come back to the same rings that nearly ended his livelihood a little under a year ago. He has pretty much complete influence over his character right now, which a lot of people are upset with. I don't really see much of a problem. If his character isn't getting over with the fans, then that's one thing. But every time the glass shatters on Raw or Smackdown, the crowd goes ballistic...so what's the big deal?
In the final WWF note, WWFSurvivorSeries.com is up and running. I'd suggest you check it out for Video Clips from past years, Fact of the day, History of the event all the way back to 1987, and matches which will be posted in the coming days.
In WCW news, though David Flair is scheduled to win the DNA match tonight against Buff Bagwell in order to advance their angle, Buff has reportedly said he'd "walk out of WCW before he'd job to Flair". So now WCW either gives Buff what he wants, or lets him walk out the door, I suppose. I think it's ridiculous that WCW is even in that situation over Buff Bagwell, and they should definitely take him down a few pegs.
Former Nitro Girl Spice has been talking with some WWF Officials about the possibility of becoming a Sideline girl for the XFL. I think she'd be a pretty good fit for the job, and I don't see why anyone in the WWF would object to it. Keep in mind she has been backstage a number of times in the WWF, and has some friends in high places within the company. We'll keep you posted.
WCW.com is teasing the fact that "a former WCW World Heavyweight Champion will return tonight at Halloween Havoc." At this point I'm assuming they mean Ric Flair, although it could be anyone I suppose.
Another big story is that Bam Bam Bigelow, one of the sport's best big men, is confirmed and will be returning to WCW television at tomorrow's live Nitro. If you remember, the big man was burned badly in a brush fire near his home, while attempting to put out a blaze near a barbecue pit that got out of control. Definitely good to hear that BBB will be returning to action, since he's always been one of my favorites to watch in the ring.
There is a moderate chance that Bill Goldberg may not be able to wrestle at Halloween Havoc tonight. Goldberg blacked out for ten seconds after hitting the ring post on Thunder, and has been displaying concussion symptoms ever since. While he says he'd like to go, the doctors might not clear him to wrestle for his match with Kronic. Whether he can compete or not, he'll definitely have some prescience on the show, emanating live from Las Vegas this evening.
While we're on the subject of Bill's injury, the reported finish of the tag match on Wednesday was going to be Goldberg pinning Brian Adams. Since he blacked out however, the wrestlers were forced to improvise a finish on the spot, hence Sting pinning Jeff Jarrett.
WCW Souled Out, named after the New World Order/World Championship Wrestling war angle from a while back, will be renamed WCW Sin this year. I'm glad to see the old name gone, since it was relatively meaningless...but couldn't they have come up with something better than WCW Sin???
As speculated in my column yesterday, there is a good chance Major Gunns may turn full heel tonight, aligning herself with Team Canada by choice. I've expressed many times in the past my dislike for "Team Canada" so I'll just leave it at that.
The following wrestlers have been confirmed for Nitro: Three Count, Buff Bagwell, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, KroniK, Lance Storm, Sting, Mike Awesome, Norman Smiley, Vampiro, Scott Steiner, Ric Flair, and Lex Luger. Also, Steve and Scott Armstrong are back with WCW acting as security and referee.
The following wrestlers have been confirmed for Thunder: (which will be taped after Nitro, remember) Jeff Jarrett, Bigelow, Booker T., Buff Bagwell, Crowbar, Goldberg, The Cat, Nash, KroniK, MIA, Sting, Awesome, Storm, Ric Flair, Luger, and the return of Meng.
On Sunday November 5th, E! Entertainment will air its exclusive hour-long special on the women of WCW at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) The special features footage of all WCW's ladies, including a tour of Stacy Keibler's hometown of Baltimore and an in-depth interview with Midajah.
Thanks for checking out this edition of the News and Rumors. I hope you'll drop by again tomorrow to read Triple A's report, and if you're not getting the pay per view this evening, there isn't a better Real Time Play by Play on the internet than the one done here by Triple A. I'd strongly urge you to check it out. Since the card looks relatively weak, and I don't have thirty dollars to spare, I think I'll be taking my own advice on this one. Take care, and thanks for reading.
Corey Silvia
Corey@tpww.net