Hello there and as always, welcome to the Tuesday edition of the news and rumors here at TPWW. There is a lot to talk about today in the world of wrestling, including several interesting situations coming off of last night's Monday night shows, WWF Raw and WCW Nitro. So without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
Last night on Raw, we saw a very important storyline development, which saw Mick Foley being "fired" from his role as commissioner by a newly empowered Vince McMahon, who was given the rights as CEO of the company due to his wife Linda being "mentally incapable" from holding the position. Personally, I love watching this kind of stuff, since it reminds me of the old WWF days, a couple of years ago with Vince Russo at the helm of the booking. For those wondering, the Mick Foley "firing" angle was done to give Foley time off to spend with his family, since his wife is expecting a child in the next couple of weeks. As of now, a return around the Royal Rumble is likely for Foley, depending on what the WWF and Foley himself decide to do.
As they do every Monday, the WWF held their weekly Jakked/Metal tapings last night before Raw went on the air and there were actually a few notes of interest from the show. The Big Boss Man made his return, taking in Mideon, who apparently had a new look and gimmick. TPWW's own Mike E. had this report: "In a backstage interview segment with The Coach, Mideon talked about his career and decided that he's now going to take a stand and be noticed. He then came out to Dusty Rhodes's music and was announced as Tex Slazenger. He was also wearing red and black wrestling attire." Also, according to Mike's report, Tazz did color commentary on Jakked/Metal this week. To check out the complete results of the tapings, click HERE.
Staying on the subject of last night's WWF show, Y2JTh88 sent along the following notes of interest of what happened after Steve Austin's match with William Regal and after Mick Foley was fired: "After the Stone Cold/William Regal match, Stone Cold probably drank about 300 beers and kept chasing the refs around. Tim White got back up, and Austin punched him back down again. All the refs that came out were running from Austin. Stone Cold then went to the top of the ramp to salute the fans and drink some more beer. Another ref ran out to check on White, and Austin chased him too. Eventually, he left. After the Mick Foley getting fired segment, Mick Foley stood and starting waving and giving the Cactus Jack Bang Bang signs. As Foley was walking up he really starting giving the Cactus Jack signs like crazy. He finally gave one last wave, and walked out with his head down. Also, on Raw they said Chyna was in the hospital and they didn't know the condition of her. We saw her get out of her car, just as fine as any other of the wrestlers."
There was a Hollys vs. Kaientai match scheduled for Raw last night, but due to time constraints, it was scratched from the show. There is a chance that it may air at tonight's Smackdown tapings.
In an interesting tidbit, CBS has announced that they will air the second season of their hit show Survivor, which starts next month, Thursdays nights at 8:00 PM to go up against NBC's huge Thursday night lineup. Of course, Thursday night at 8 is the same time that WWF Smackdown airs. Will this greatly effect Smackdown's ratings? Only time will tell, but personally, I doubt it'll make a huge impact, since most WWF fans will still most likely watch Smackdown regardless.
The big news from last night's WCW Nitro is that Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page were in a legit scuffle backstage after Scott Steiner did an unauthorized promo on DDP earlier in the show, calling him "white trash" and saying that DDP would need a sex change in order to have the balls to come out and challenge Steiner. DDP obviously took offense to this and waited backstage for Steiner to come. When he did, Page confronted Steiner then reportedly shoved him, which resulted in a fight breaking out. Reports are that Steiner nailed Page pretty well, leaving Page's face bloodied. The fight was quickly broken up by other wrestlers and security and both men were kept off the rest of the show. Page left the building, along with Kevin Nash. Both men were scheduled to be on the show later, doing an interview involving the Natural Born Thrillers, but obviously, that part was scratched. No word if any disciplinary measures will be taken, but I think there definitely should be at least a fine for both men. I would say suspension, but can WCW really afford to lose their world champion, Scott Steiner now? Besides, how many times has he already been suspended?
Sid also left the show last night, although he was scheduled to be a big part of it. He reportedly complained of suffering a shoulder injury at the PPV the night before, and said he was given doctor's orders not to wrestle. He ended up leaving the building, and the rest of the show was written on the fly.
Ric Flair mentioned that there would be a Triple Threat main event for WCW's next PPV, WCW Sin on January 14, 2001, between Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett (since he won the qualifying matches), and a "mystery man". Originally, the main event was scheduled to be a four way match with Sid also involved, but due to Sid's "injury" (which some people doubt being legit), it was changed.
Who was the "mystery man", you ask? Well, as of now, rumors are that it's expected to be Scott Steiner's own brother, Rick Steiner. Rick was apparently scheduled to be at the show last night, but was unable to be there due to a miscommunication. Instead, WCW put out the mystery man at the end of the show to attack Scott Steiner. The mystery man was reportedly WCW wrestler Robbie Rage, but in the end, it will apparently be Rick Steiner.
There was apparently also an incident with Diamond Dallas Page and Mark Madden at last night's show, which stemmed from Mark Madden's recent suspension and comments against DDP. As previously reported, Mark Madden was suspended by WCW last week due to online comments he stated against DDP. However, last night, Page reportedly tried to "bury the hatchet" with Madden and wanted to shake his hand, but Madden brushed him off, blaming Page for his suspension. Ha.
WCW Nitro was actually taped one our early last night at 7:00 PM, according to Dave Scherer, and therefore, technically was not live. However, moving the taping up one hour is a smart move by WCW, since they tape Thunder directly after. Instead of having the fans stay until around 12:00 midnight, they were able to leave at around 11:00.
Due to Shane Helms winning the great opening match against his 3 Count partner Shannon Moore, Helms will take on Chavo Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight title at the next WCW PPV.
For those wondering why the lovely Pamela Paulshock was not on last night's Nitro or the PPV on Sunday, she has taken a leave of absence to film a movie. No word on when she'll be back, but that should hopefully put fear that she was released to rest.
Dustin Rhodes was reportedly backstage at Starrcade this past Sunday, but obviously was not used. Rhodes has been sitting at home (with pay) over the last few months, and WCW has finally decided that they want to use him for something. If you remember, Rhodes was scheduled to come back with a "Goldust" type of gimmick, going by the name "Platinum." However, probably due to gimmick infringement issues, the angle was scrapped. The WCW creative team told Rhodes to show up at the PPV, but when he did, they apparently had nothing for him.
Scott Hall has unfortunately been arrested once again. However, this time, he was simply taken back into custody after being released. As previously reported, Hall had been arrested a couple of weeks ago after an incident with a taxi cab driver, where Hall kicked the cab's door after the driver would not take a credit card. Hall was arrested, but later released. However, this past Wednesday, December 13, a Florida judge looked at Scott Hall's case and his recent history, including violating parole, and decided to bring him back into custody. As of now, Hall is still incarcerated. Definitely an unfortunate situation. Maybe Nash and DDP will finally quit talking about Hall on TV now.
The ratings are in, and WWF Raw pulled in yet another disappointing number on TNN. The show only scored a 4.8 rating, while Nitro scored an also mediocre 2.3. Again, this definitely has to be a huge disappointment for the WWF, since last week's show pulled in a TNN-high 5.8 rating. Apparently, although things are starting to get interesting again in the WWF, they just don't have that same grasp that they had on the fans a couple of years - or even months - ago. Before, the WWF seemingly had things in cruise control, with almost guaranteed huge ratings coming with big angles. Now, it's obviously getting a little tougher. But before I finish, one thing I've noticed... although it seems that the WWF's ratings have been slumping lately, have we seen Smackdown's ratings change at all since the WWF's move from the USA Network? The answer is no. Only the shows that have moved from USA have had slumping ratings. So maybe it isn't the WWF's product that's to blame, like everyone has been assuming lately.
Finally, if you haven't, be sure to vote in our 2000 Year End Awards right here on TPWW. Categories include best overall wrestler, best match of the year, best PPV, and MANY more. As of now, Triple H is dominating the "Best Overall" award with 53% of the votes. Kurt Angle is in second place with 14%, while the Rock comes in a close thired with 12%. To cast your votes (if you haven't already), click HERE.
That pretty much does it for today's report. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it, because I actually enjoyed wri-- typing it. As always, thanks for reading and until next time...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com