Hey Hey, and a happy Halloween to all of you ghosts and goblins out there from the all around spooky staff of TPWW.NET, and welcome to the only edition of the News and Rumors on the 'net that are your news and rumors, The People's News and Rumors here on TPWW.Net.
Since we're coming off Monday night, here's what you've all been waiting to find out, "How did Raw and Nitro do in the Raings?" Well, Raw took a nice little dip, receiving a 5.0 rating, with hours of 4.6 and 5.3 with an overrun of 5.0, according to Dave Scherer. The ratings have obviously been down since the WWF moving to TNN a little over a month ago, but that's what was expected. While Raw did a 5.0, Nitro, coming off WCW's annual Halloween Havoc PPV, only had half of Raw's 5.0 rating with a 2.5. Nitro did hours of 2.9 and 2.1 peaking right before Raw went on the air during the 8:45 quarter hour which saw the Nature Boy, Ric Flair be named WCW CEO.
On Flair being named CEO, I definitely have mixed feelings on arguably the greatest wrestler of all time being named WCW Chief Executive Officer. First, you have the bookers (Russo and Bischoff) making all the decisions as the New Blood era began in April. Then, both Bischoff and Russo somewhat faded away, which led to The Cat (and eventually) and Mike Sanders both taking the role of Commissioner, and now Flair is WCW's Chief Executive Officer? Are the bookers purposely trying to confuse the viewers? We've seen several different people in different positions calling the shots on air, but if any one can make this position work, it's the one, the only, the man, Ric Flair.
With Flair returning, the Nature Boy's partner in Team Package, "The Total Package," Lex Luger has been reinstated in WCW. Luger, who appeared at Halloween Havoc to attack Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, has automatically been put in program with the man who claims to be both Buff and the Stuff. Should be fun to see what comes out of this program no matter how bad it might be.
I liked the idea of the three way dance main event on Nitro between The WCW Champion, Booker T, "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner, and "That 70's Guy" Mike Awesome. It actually turned out to be a nice main event for Nitro, as it obviously builds upon the Booker/Scotty Steiner program which will definitely be apart of WCW in the next coming weeks, leading into the Mayhem PPV. The only small problem with last night's Nitro main event was Awesome's "That 70's Guy" Gimmick, as great of a talent that Awesome is, and believe me, he is Awesome, can anyone take him as a serious threat as a character who is seemingly stuck in the '70s? I sure certainly can't, and I'm hoping that WCW realizes if they want to elevate the Awesome Mike Awesome, they'll just let him be what he's always been an amazing talent with the size and strength of a heavyweight who can move like a cruiserweight.
During the promo that saw Rection's celebration, Lance Storm appeared on the "Nitro Vision" and stated that since the General never defeated the leader of Team Canada for the title (as Hacksaw Jim Duggan was pinned by Rection), thus Lance deserved another crack at the title. However, the General was one step ahead of Lance Storm as he already had a contract for the next WCW PPV, signed, sealed, and delivered that will guarantee that Storm has a shot at Rection's United States title at WCW Mayhem. As a side note, it was a touching moment with the new WCW US champion, Hugh "General Rection" Morrus last night as most of the entire locker room cleared out including WCW Champion Booker T, and WCW's top star, Goldberg to congratulate the General on his title victory. Morrus was also appreciated in the locker room, and not just one of the members of the "B" or "C" teams that wrestlers are generally catorgized as. This will definitely help elevate Rection in the eyes of the fans, and give even more credibility to titles in WCW which is definitely a positive sign.
Intresting little tidbit from Lance Storm at his website, StormWrestling.Com that stated that Lance's streak of never getting pinned to lose a major title continues as Duggan was pinned rather than Lance. Lance also disregarded Terry Funk defeating him a month or so back due to the fact that WCW never recognized the victory.
Another little tidbit on Storm, Lance has yet again updated his commentary at StormWrestling.com as he wrote a tribute to the man who Lance and many others consider the greatest wrestler of all time, Bret "Hitman" Hart. It's definitely an interesting read and it clearly shows that Bret has been once of Lance's wrestling heroes growing up, and Lance is trying to honor the Hitman.
Speaking of the recently retired Hitman, Bret will be appearing on TSN's Off the Record on Friday, November 3rd. If you live in Canada and are a fan of The Excellence of Execution, I'd strongly advise you to check it out.
Here's the spoiler free card for tomorrow night's Thunder broadcast that will see the return to the ring of Bam Bam Bigelow after risking his life several months back to save the lives of several children who were caught in a fire...
- 3 Count v. The Jung Dragons
- Elix Skipper v. Chavo Guerrero Jr
- A-Wall v. Meng
- Shawn Stasiak v. Chuck Paluambo
- Lance Storm v. Norman Smiley
- The Filthy Animals v. Boogie Knights
- Bam Bam Bigelow v. Crowbar
- Sting and "That 70's Guy" Mike Awesome v. Jeff Jarrett and Vampiro
Vampiro was shaken up after receiving the top rope Awesome Bomb at the hands of Mike Awesome this past Sunday at WCW Halloween Havoc. Vampiro shook off the injury at the PPV, but was still feeling the effects of it in the form of a tingling in his hand last night, according to Bob Ryder.
Before I move on to the WWF news for today, I'd like to talk briefly about Bret Hart and his retirement. Now, even though I haven't been the biggest Bret supporter over the years, one has to pay the man respect for what he's done for the business as the man who very well could be the "best there is, was, and ever will be" will be missed. I don't think that there's one wrestling fan out there who has never watched at least one Bret Hart match and enjoyed it. I for one will admit that Bret was involved in my favorite match up of all time, as he faced Stone Cold Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13 in a submission match that changed the shape of the wrestling business drastically at the time with Bret going heel and Stone Cold turning face, which help jump start Austin's rise to the top of the wrestling business.
Lots of WWF news for today, with the first being news on the Hart Family's lawsuit against the WWF. According to the Kansas City Star, the WWF and the Hart Family have come to a settlement which will give the Hart Family, in particular Owen's wife Martha, 18 million dollars for the untimely and unfortunate death of a true superstar, Owen Hart. The Star also reports that the WWF is planning on suing the manufacturers of the defective equipment that caused the death of Owen. With that being said, it seems that we're drawing to a close to one of the blackest chapters in wrestling history, but let it be said, even though Owen has been gone over a year now, his presence is clearly missed in the wrestling business, and it's obvious that he'll never be forgotten.
I liked the ending of Raw last night, which saw a swerve of sorts with Rikishi admitting that the Rock, a man who he claimed had nothing to do with running over Stone Cold Steve Austin at the 1999 Survivor Series, did indeed play a part, as Rikishi claimed that The Rock did in fact hand Rikisihi the keys to the Rock's rental car and pleaded with his fellow Samoan to assist him in this situation. Definitely a great move by the WWF, as it leads into the obvious Rikishi/Rock match up at Survivor Series, and also opens the door for a Rock heel turn which would help set up a Rock/Austin match up at Wrestlemania 17 in April.
Amazing back to back segments between the Rock and Y2J, Chris Jericho as they not only provided arguably the best promo segment of the year, but put on a great number one contenders match up which saw the Rock cleanly pin Jericho for the right to fight WWF Champion, Kurt Angle on Smackdown. With the promo with Rocky and his match up with Rock, it seems amazingly clear to me that one Chris Jericho is in deed ready to step up to the main event level and compete with the likes of the Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, Steve Austin, and Kurt Angle on a full time basis.
Even though both the Rock/Jericho and Kurt Angle/Triple H matches were amazing, I'd have to say that the highlight of Raw for me had to be Edge's birthday celebration with Christian, Kurt Angle, Stephanie McMahon Helmsley, and Triple H. Between Edge and Christian's game of Rock/Paper/Scissors to their hilarious interaction with both Angle and HHH with Christian playing both Angle and Hunter's theme music on a kazoo, it just proved that E&C; do reek of awesomeness.
Last night on Raw, we saw the return of the American BadAss, The Undertaker as he was the latest of the many to interupt one of William Regal's promos on manners. For those who missed it, Taker came out on his Motorcycle, kicked Regal in the stomach and executed the Last Ride on the European champion to the crowd's pleasure. One question though, with Taker back into the fold, what's next for the Bad Ass?
Last night could very well have been the biggest night in the Right to Censor stable's existence as not only did its leader, Steven Richards involve himself in two matches (Eddy Guerrero v. Chyna and RTC v. Lita and the Hardys), but he also defeated "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn in a match which saw Billy lose the ability to call himself "Mr. Ass." For some odd reason, between Gunn's hair cut and the loss of the Mr. Ass name, I wouldn't be shocked to see him join the RTC in the near future.
Steve Allen, spokesperson for the Parents Television Council, died last night in his home in Los Angeles, according to an article by the Associated Press. Allen was actually a former wrestling announcer and made a few appearances for the WWF before "changing his ways" and joining the PTC.
That about does it for today's report, so until next time, Ciao...