Helllloooooo and welcome back to The People's Wrestling Website, TPWW.net for the Friday edition of the news and rumors. There's a lot to cover today and I'll try my best to touch base on everything noteworthy. So again, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
It was announced today on WWF.com that the main event for this Monday night on Raw will be a tag team battle, which will feature The Rock teaming up with Stone Cold Steve Austin to take on Kurt Angle and Rikishi. That should definitely be an interesting match due to the happenings that aired on last night's Smackdown!, which saw The Rock playing the suspicious anti-Austin role we all loved (or hated) him for. As Ry has been stating in his previous N&R; reports, a Steve Austin vs. The Rock PPV main event is inevitable, whether it happens soon or at WrestleMania. The question is, however, who will play the role of face and who will play the role of heel? Unless the WWF is planning on replaying the infamous Ultimate Warrior vs. Hogan face vs. face match at WrestleMania 6, one of the men will have to turn heel eventually, and unless the WWF pulls some sort of twist in this angle, it appears that man will be The Rock.
It was also announced recently that Jerry Lawler will be the guest host this Sunday night on WWF Heat, live on MTV. Also, the band "Godsmack" will be performing on the show.
Speaking of Jerry Lawler, it was announced on his website that the Eddie Guerrero/Kat relationship we saw unfold this past Sunday night on Heat is a "dead angle." The exact statement: "Sorry to say that the angle with Eddie Guerrero is dead. Hope it won't be too long until we see the Kat on TV again!" As we saw last night on Smackdown, it appears that Guerrero has now aligned himself with his other three Radical buddies.
Droz now writes his own weekly column for the WWF website, WWF.com entitled "Droz's Two Cents." This week, he asks WWF fans to send in their questions and comments for him to answer in coming editions of his column. To check it out, click HERE.
The WWF has officially opened WrestleMania.com, a site dedicated to the upcoming PPV spectacular, WrestleMania 17. It appears that this coming WrestleMania will be officially dubbed as "WrestleMania X-Seven." To check out the site, click HERE.
Last night's edition of WWF Smackdown! did a relatively high 5.0 final broadcast rating, however only helping UPN to a fifth place finish behind NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX.
Staying on the subject of ratings, Wednesday's edition of WCW Thunder did a 2.1 rating off hours of 2.2 and 1.9, according to Dave Scherer. That rating is up from last week's dismal 1.9.
Brad Siegel, head of WCW's day to day operations, may release several lower and mid card wrestlers soon, then sign them to per-appearance contracts soon as a cost cutting method, according to Wade Keller. If these moves do in fact occur, it is estimated WCW will knock $16 million off its budget. WCW has already "tested" this method on Meng, who was released earlier this year, then re-signed to a day-to-day contract at a much lower payrate.
On the subject of WCW releases, Rowdy Roddy Piper, who was released earlier this year by WCW, is now suing WCW, claiming that they released him due to cost cutting measures, a reason that was obviously not legal in his contract. However, WCW is claiming that he was released because he was injured and could not wrestle.
It was announced on Wednesday's edition of Thunder that Goldberg will be taking on Lex Luger at WCW's upcoming PPV, WCW Mayhem on Sunday, November 26.
Also last Wednesday on Thunder, we saw Evan Karagias "booted" from Three Count by his team mates and fellow "band members." In the same match, the Jung Dragons attacked their partner Jaime-san, then took off his mask. Afterwards, both Evan and Jaime-san stood face to face in the ring. There are now rumors that we may see a partnership between Evan and Jaime-san in order to have a potential feud with their former teams, Three (Two?) Count and the Jung Dragons.
Vampiro is reportedly suffering serious effects from the concussion he suffered at the hands of a top rope Awesome Bomb at Sunday's Halloween Havoc PPV. It is being reported that Vampiro may be out for several months due to the injury. He is expected to meet with a specialist next month to be re-evaluated, but as of now, the situation reportedly does not look good. Vampiro has been suffering from headaches and numbess in his fingers as a result of the concussions.
There are rumors that Diamond Dallas Page may return this Monday night on Nitro. It has been teased by WCW that a former WCW champion will return Monday night and DDP seems to fit that description quite well. But of course, this is simply a rumor.
The rules for this Sunday's "Double Jeopardy" ECW PPV main event were announced today at ECW's website, ECWwrestling.com. The match will basically be two matches at the same time in the same ring, including Jerry Lynn vs. Justin Credible and Steve Corino vs. The Sandman. The winners of their respective matches will then face each other to determine the new ECW World champion.
ECW owner Paul Heyman has reportedly been working overtime attempting to find a national television deal with ECW. As of now, the top candidates for a network are the USA Network, FX, and ESPN2. Heyman reportedly met with FOX yesterday about a potential national TV deal involving ECW and either FX or FOX SportsNet, according to Dave Scherer. In potential good news, the meetings were said to have gone well.
Little Guido Maritato, real name James Maritato, was married a few weeks back. Congrats go out to the ECW tag team champion!
And finally, a HUGE thanks to the person who held up the TPWW.NET sign on this week's WCW Thunder broadcast! To check out a snapshot of the sign, click HERE. That's the third TPWW sign that we've spotted on TPWW in our history, and the 22nd TPWW sign spotted at any wrestling event. To check out images of all the signs we've managed to get images of, click HERE. If you plan on bringing a TPWW sign to a wrestling event, it's GREATLY appreciated! If possible, let us know via e-mail before hand so we'll know to look for you. If the sign airs on TV, we'll give you a huge shout out here, plus put up a snapshot of the image, PLUS you'll get TONS of entries in our WrestleMania 17 ticket giveaway! For more information on that, click HERE.
And with that, it's time to wrap this one up. Until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com