Greetings and welcome TPWW readers, to my edition of the News and Rumors for Sunday, November 26, 2000. There is definitely a lot on tap for today, namely some Mayhem and Monday night talks, along with a little bit on Mr. Pay Per View, Rob Van Dam. Today is sadly the last day of Thanksgiving Recess for yours truly, and I'll be back to the daily grind and humdrum of the academic world starting tomorrow. The rumor mill seems to have pretty much slowed to a grinding halt today, as I am scouring the net for articles, and coming up pretty short. Keep that in mind when you're reading the report. Without any more about me or the paltry news on the Internet, let's move on to this edition of the News and Rumors Report.
Let's start things off with the DirecTV preview of Nitro for tomorrow:
- 1st Hour: Who is the WCW champion?
- 2nd Hour: CEO Flair delivers a shocking surprise
It looks like we might be in for a little confusion about the champ going
into Nitro following Mayhem, though I've got no clue as to what Flair's
“shocking surprise” could be.
Evan Karagias is said to be a little perterbed over his new pairing with Jaime Knoble. According to Karagias, he doesn't have the same chemistry and partnership with Knoble that he had with Moore and Helms. It is a bit short sighted of Karagias to say that, only because it is pretty difficult to do much of anything with three man tag teams...at least now Moore & Helms have a chance at some tag gold.
WCW is reporting a match between Boogie Knights and the Filthy Animals on television, though it is not advertised or listed on the card at WCW.com. The match has the potential to be all right, but with eleven other matches lined up, things could start to run a little long. A lot of the bouts would have to run short (that's not a bad thing in the case of certain matches) and things might come off as looking a little clustered together.
In an interesting history tidbit, six years ago today was the date that Kevin Nash Jacknifed and pinned Bob Backlund in eight seconds at Madison Square Garden, becoming the top guy in the federation. The “Diesel experiment” as it grew to be called, was considered a total flop, since Nash drew less for the company than any other champion did in history. Once the belt was put on Bret Hart again the next year, business took an upward swing yet again.
According to some sources, a lot of people in WCW are starting to see Vince Russo as a whiner who didn't bring anything to the company except a ratings drop. It is also common sentiment that he is milking this “injury” of his for all it is worth, since he visits and has lunches with Jeff Jarrett, Shane Douglas, and a few off camera personnel that he is on good terms with. This all comes about despite being under “doctor's orders” to stay in his home.
Many of the WCW wrestlers will be competing with injuries tonight, including a few that are quite severe. They are the following: Mike Awesome (shoulder), Lance Storm (abdominal muscles), Crowbar (abdominal muscles), Reno (Shoulder), General Rection (multiple concussions), and Bam Bam (ribs).
There are rumors starting up that Juventud Guerrera may return to AAA in Mexico sometime after Christmas. Juventud recently finished up a few matches in XPW, though he will continue to tour there and the rest of the American independents throughout the next year.
On the WWF side of the fence, apparently the WWF is less than thrilled with K Kwik and Road Dogg's combination. They expected the rapping bit to get over huge, apparently not paying attention to the mistake of Master P and the “No Limit Soldiers” in WCW. There is the distinct possibility of the two splitting up in the near future. I just hope this doesn't mean Kwik will be sent back to the minors...he is way too talented a prospect to see go to waste.
On a related note, there is a good chance that we may see Kwik and the Road Dogg take on the RTC for the tag belts at Armageddon. It seems that the WWF bookers think the fans hate the RTC so much, that it will sort of force them to get behind the Road Dogg/K Kwik combination. It's worth a shot I suppose...
Spike Dudley is going to be pushed as a “giant killer” in the near future. The WWF has decided that the fans do like Crash, and will “borrow” Spike Dudley's gimmick and employ it with the youngest Holly. This is not the first time the gimmick has been used in the big two, as Rey Jr. got over pretty respectably utilizing it as well.
There is no truth whatsoever to the story that Eddie Guerrero is being somehow punished by the WWF booking crew. Some people have reported that he lost the IC title because he wasn't getting independent pops without Chyna, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Billy Gunn was promised gold around the time of his return, and the IC title is the way of paying him that debt. In fact, Guerrero may work a program with the American Badass himself starting early next year.
Within the next month or so, William Regal is going to be entered into the Intercontinental division. The WWF staff is entirely happy with Regal's perpetual effort and backstage friendliness, as well as his love to teach the up and coming superstars.
Both Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldog are going to be released from the WWF within a few days. I've never really cared for Jim, but it is a shame about the Bulldog. He has always been one of my favorites, but he was never the same after that injury in WCW. I always kind of hoped he could work out his problems and come back to tag up with William Regal (that would have been a PHENOMENAL combo) but it looks like that's not to be.
WWF Heat will have an exclusive interview with Stephanie McMahon tonight. I have no idea what it will be about, but I'll be sure to catch that one.
A gimmick match between Lita and Ivory is pretty much settled for Armageddon, which should be pretty decent.
It is pretty much a given that RVD will return to ECW, though his future is much in question at this point. He is owed thousands upon thousands of dollars by Paul Heyman, and has every right to just walk out the door and head to either of the big two. Heyman is trying to use the world title to corral Van Dam into coming back, using that as the one strap that Rob never claimed in ECW (since he won the tag straps with Sabu, and obviously had the TV title). RVD will be returning shortly, and it is almost a certainty that he will eventually claim the world title when he comes back.
That's pretty much all I could dig up for you guys today, I'm sad to say. I picked up WWF Smackdown 2 the other day, and it is tremendous. It's got everything the first one had, except a TON more moves, a totally revamped create a Wrestler, Create a stable/manager/taunt, as well as a good season mode and tons of characters. Angle, Undertaker, Al Snow, and Viscera are by far the best characters in the game, just to let you all know. Feel free to e-mail me if you feel like talking about the game, or wrestling in general. Have a nice rest of the day, and I'll see you here again next week.
Corey Silvia
Corey@tpww.net