Hey yo. Welcome back to The People's Wresting Website on this cold afternoon (at least in Pennsylvania) for another edition of The People's News & Rumors. For those of you that know who I am and those of you who just recognize my name as part of this staff, I am happy to say that I have returned full time to TPWW, finally. For those of you that don't recognize me, let's just say that I have been with TPWW from the very beginning (almost) in some shape or form and you'll get used to me. Regardless if you know who I am or not, I'll most likely be your host every week on Thursdays and Saturdays, which means that TPWW is back to at least six, if not seven N & R reports a week, which is great news (no pun intended) for you guys. Anyway, with all the chit-chat out of the way, let's get right to today's News and Rumors.
This afternoon, Jim Ross held a media conference in conjunction with TNN, and he spoke mostly of the talent situation right now in the WWF, including several names that are not on the WWF roster who online reporters have labeled as possibly WWF employees in the near future:
Ross started the conference by shooting down rumors that the WWF is interested in several names in the free agent game right now, including Torrie Wilson and Juventud Guerrera. He also mentioned that the WWF has no interest in Scot Hall. It's a damn shame that Hall blew probably his final chance to get back into the WWF with his most recent problems.
Moving on, Ross mentioned that the WWF has indeed had talks with representatives of Rob Van Dam, and will have more talks next week. That is a very sad story if you're an ECW fan, and could be the final crushing blow to ECW if Van Dam does indeed leave. However, Paul Heyman has come through out of adversity before, and I'm sure he can do it again.
Ross noted that if Chris Chetti is signed to a WWF contract, he will most likely be sent down to Ohio Valley Wrestling or down to Memphis to work on his in ring ability, because Ross feels he can pack a nice punch but wishes he could wrestle better. I'm sure Chetti will make a great addition to the WWF roster, and could fit in nicely with any division in the WWF, excluding the Women's division, obviously. However, with the current streak of the WWF ruining former ECW talent, including Taz(z) and Raven, it would not surprise me one bit to see Chetti wrestle for the Women's title sometime in his first year with the WWF. What is up with the WWF ruining ECW talent anyway?
Ross mentioned that the WWF is very interested in Jerry Lynn, and the whole incident with the WWF wanting him to send a videotape to them so they can evaluate him was way overblown. Ross explains that the new WWF writers, who have little experience in the wrestling world and probably have never seen ECW, let alone Lynn, need the tape so they can evaluate how they could possibly write a program for him. Lynn, besides Corino, was my favorite ECW Superstar, and I have no doubt that he will make it in the WWF... but probably only after they ruin him for the first year of his career there.
Ross also mentioned several other things during the conference. He spoke of Marc and Rena Mero, saying, and I quote, that "time heals all wounds but it isn't going to happen right now." Is a possible return to the WWF in store for the Meros? Ross goes on to say that the main reason they could not come back quite yet is because of the fact that they burnt several bridges with talent that have not had adequate time to heal.
Ross also mentioned that Mick Foley will most likely not be wrestling a match anytime soon, and current storylines are not setting a future match involving Foley at the time. However, Ross says that a return to the ring for Foley, even though it will be a one time deal, will probably happen sometime down the road. As for Shawn Michaels, the story is the same for him. There are no current plans to bring him in for a match anytime soon, however, Ross feels that he was never given the "farewell match" that he deserves, and would love to see that. WrestleMania?
Finally, Ross ended his conference with two notes, one on The Rock and one on HHH. The Rock will be one of the announcers for the Orange Bowl parade for the PAXNET coverage, and in regards to HHH, he is obviously not at 100%, and has his whole career ahead of him so he shouldn't be taking any huge bumps, however, he will still give all he can at the PPV this Sunday.
Dave Scherer reported today that the charges against Davey Boy Smith, a.k.a. The British Bulldog, by his estranged wife Diana and her sister Ellie have been dropped in exchange for a Peace Bond for the next year. The terms of the settlement are that Smith has agreed to stay away from his wife for the next year and he has also agreed to not take any "non-prescription drugs". The piece said that Davey plans to either rejoin the WWF or start his own wrestling school.
Bob Ryder reports that Vampiro has dropped off the current ICP tour because the loud music was giving him headaches. That is a reasonable reason to drop the tour, considering he was suffering from a pretty nasty concussion at the end of his WCW stint recently. It is said that Vampiro was very apologetic to WCW officials and a return to WCW is probable, however far from definite. A return to wrestling is probably confirmed at this point once the lingering effects of his concussion are gone. For those of you who have never suffered a concussion, consider yourself very lucky, because having suffering two myself in my lifetime, I know they are very serious and very nasty.
Last night's numbers for WCW Thunder have been released, and Thunder scored a relatively decent number of a 2.3 composite with a 3.5 share off hours 2.4 and 2.3. That is 2 tenths of a point down from last week's excellent (for Thunder anyway) 2.5 composite. Thanks to Dave Scherer for those numbers.
Moving onto the ECW front, adding to the injuries that Triple A reported on Tuesday from the PPV this past weekend, Steve Corino apparently suffered an elbow injury. I am not sure on the extent of the injury, however I am pretty sure it is not too serious and he shouldn't miss much, if any action.
ECW will be featured on USA's television show Farmclub once again for the second week in a row, and this week a video featuring Mikey Whipwreck & Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. The FBI will be shown. For those of you who want to catch the show, it airs at 11pm on Friday and 12AM (Midnight) Saturday on USA Network. I just really hope that these videos on USA for ECW works out so that eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, a TV deal can be worked out. It would do wonders for the currently financially struggling ECW, who is almost about to lose Rob Van Dam, Jerry Lynn, and anybody else that can find a better deal except a select few.
Well, that's all I've got for today. In some good news, there will be a new Interactive feature that *should* debut here within the next week, possibly Tuesday, that coincides with my return to TPWW. I'm positive that it will be a very popular feature here and it should get over well. Stay tuned on Saturday for more details for that. I believe Triple A will be back doing N & R tomorrow, so until Saturday, I'm out. Later.
Mike Christopher
Mike@tpww.net
AOL Screen Name: MikeCTPWW