Hello, everyone, and welcome to TPWW.net, The People's Wrestling Website for the Thursday edition of the news and rumors. Today, Thursday, January 11, marks one of the biggest days in wrestling history, as World Championship Wrestling has finally been sold. I'll get into as many details as possible in this report, as well as all the other noteworthy news in the wrestling world. So, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
Earlier today, it was announced that WCW, which had been previously owned by Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., has been sold to Fusient Media Ventures, a media company based in New York. Possibly the most noteworthy news from the change is the appointment of Eric Bischoff as the new President of WCW. WCW held a media conference call today to answer questions from the media about the sale. There were several noteworthy items discussed. To begin, Brad Siegel, president of TBS's entertainment network, stated that he feels WCW will be in great hands with Fusient Media. He added that he has a great deal of confidence that WCW will once again regain the title it once had as a dominant ratings-getter.
Turner Broadcasting will still hold "minority interest" in WCW, meaning that WCW programming will not be moved from TBS or TNT. Nitro and Thunder will also remain on their regular days and times. As far as WCW's talent roster, Eric Bischoff stated that he intends on keeping a lot of their current superstars, as well as bringing in several new faces, not just from WCW's Power Plant, but from many other places. As for Hulk Hogan, for all who are wondering, Eric Bischoff did not have much to say about the Hulkster, other than they still have not decided what his role will be with the company. Bischoff, however, did state that Hogan is obviously a big name and "important brand" who could be used well to help WCW rise back to the top. In a somewhat interesting situation, as of now, it is not known whether or not WCW will move its headquarters from Georgia. Again, Fusient is based in New York, so there is a chance that WCW may finally move up north. As for WCW's booking team, no word on that situation either. I'm sure we're all curious what Vince Russo's role in the company will be, if any. I'd expect several more announcements on the sale, as well as other changes to be announced over the next few days. Once they are, of course, they will be posted right here at TPWW.
As mentioned, there should be several changes announced in the coming days. However, as of now, it will still be around 30-45 days before this deal is closed and WCW's new management can finally begin working hard on turning around the company. When asked about the changes that would be made to WCW, Brian Bedol, CEO of Fusient, stated that there will be many impactful and big changes that will turn around the company, as well as other small "evolutionary" changes. This is definitely an intriguing, huge story, and we'll try to stay on top of it as the days go. Check our newsboard for the latest updates.
In what will without a doubt be an interesting show, Eric Bischoff will be a special guest on WCW.com's "WCW Live!" audio show tonight at 6:00 PM to discuss the WCW sale as well as take calls from listeners. For more information on WCW Live!, click HERE.
As of now, Sunday's WCW PPV, WCW Sin, will go unchanged, as is to be expected. Below is the current card for the PPV:
- Scott Steiner vs. Sid vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Mystery Man - WCW World Title
- Goldberg & Sarge vs. Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell
- General Rection vs. Shane Douglas - US Title, First Blood
- Nash & DDP vs. Two Natural Born Thrillers - WCW Tag Titles
- Mike Sanders vs. The Cat - For Commissionership of WCW
- Team Canada vs. Filthy Animals - Penalty Box Match, Duggan as Ref
- Chavo Guerrero vs. Shane Helms - Cruiserweight Title
- Crowbar vs. Terry Funk vs. Meng - Hardcore Title
- Big Vito vs. Reno
As of now, rumors are that the Mystery Man will still end up being Scott Steiner's brother, Rick Steiner. For something that has been hyped so much by WCW, I'm not sure if Rick Steiner is a good choice, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. There is also a chance that WCW may choose a different person to be the mystery opponent.
There are rumors that the Cat vs. Mike Sanders match at WCW Sin will also have The Cat's "yak," Miss Jones on the line along with the commissionership of WCW.
Moving on to WWF news for today, the WWF taped their weekly edition of WWF Smackdown! Tuesday night in Oakland, California. From what I've heard, it seems to be another pretty good show, once again leading up to the Royal Rumble on January 21. If you can't wait until tonight, you can check out the full results of the show HERE. Big thanks to xeno eccentrix and edithandrew for both sending along results of the taping.
Just a reminder, tonight's Smackdown! will only be 90 minutes long due to UPN airing the premiere of their new animated series, "Gary and Mike" at 9:30 PM EST. Definitely a smart move by UPN and a great way to use a ratings powerhouse like Smackdown! to promote other shows.
As of now, below is the rumored Royal Rumble card for Sunday, January 21:
- Kurt Angle vs. Triple H - WWF World Title
- Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - WWF Intercontinental Title (Possible Gimmick Match)
- Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz - WWF Tag Team Titles
- Ivory vs. Chyna - WWF Women's Title
- William Regal vs. Test - WWF European Title (Rumored match, may not occur)
Thus far, eight men have been announced for the thirty man Royal Rumble. They are as follows: Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Rikishi, The Undertaker, Kane, Faarooq, Bradshaw, and Steve Blackman. Tonight on Smackdown, a match will take place between The Rock, Rikishi, The Undertaker, and Kane to determine the man who will enter the Royal Rumble last with the coveted #30 spot. Of course, full results are available now for those who can't wait to find out.
Tazz will be a guest on tonight's "Late Late Show" with Craig Kilborn. The show airs on CBS at 12:35 AM EST, after The Late Show with David Letterman. Personally, I prefer Conan over every other late night show, but anyway...
Happy Birthday to one of the members of Too Cool, Grandmaster Sexay, who turned 29 yesterday.
Chyna's autobiography, "If They Only Knew," is now available for pre-order at the WWF ShopZone. The book is just over 300 pages long and will be officially released on January 30. To check out a shot of the cover, click HERE. To place your order today, click HERE. Expect the WWF to do some heavy promotion of this book when it's released, similar to what they did with Mick Foley's book and Chyna's Playboy pictorial.
In a rather interesting story, several readers sent word that an XFL blimp crashed in Oakland, California on Tuesday. Thanks to Tyra Butler for sending in this report: "I live in Oakland, CA where this week's Smakdown! tapings were held. This afternoon, a blimp advertising the XFL lost control and crashed on the rooftop of a local restaurant, the Oyser Reef. I guess the XFL was going to advertise at this week's AFC championship game featuing the Oakland Raiders vs. The Baltimore Ravens. It occured just hours before the Smackdown! tapings. Local news media don't really take the XFL seriously. I could tell by the ironic and sarcastic lilt in their voiceswhen reporting that the XFL blimp went down."
Surge of wrestletron.net sent along this tidbit on another WWF Chef Boyardee commercial: "The filming of a new Hardy Boyz/Lita Chef Boyardee commercial was shown on WWF Superstars Sunday on TNN. Interestingly enough, one of the 'snowboarders' that they beat up was none other than Christopher Daniels." Daniels has been signed to some sort of development deal with the WWF, and actually played one of Los Conquistadores when they were on camera at the same time as Edge & Christian.
There are rumors that the WWF may have interest in signing former WCW announcer and wrestling legend, Larry Zbyszko. However, as of now, those are just rumors and the story is simply a possibility.
Ed Snow sent along this tidbit on ECW's CW Anderson and former WCW wrestler, Lodi: "Last night I was at BB McClain's in Canton, Ohio to watch 'BB McClain's XXXtreme Wrestling'. A friend of mine wrestles for this promotion. During the Hardcore Tag Team Championship match CW Anderson runs down, gives GQ Status a Spine Buster, and grabs a mic. First he talked about how he had just fought on PPV against Tommy Dreamer, but when he heard a WCW superstar was scheduled to be in Canton, Ohio; he had to show up to kick his ass. The WCW ended up being CW's ex-pupil Lodi. Lodi came out with his usual signs. It's was a decent match that lasted for about five minutes but ended with Lodi landing a belly to back suplex that planted CW right on the back of his neck. Lodi went for the pin the ref got to 2, then he stopped and said Lodi's arm was under the rope. Lodi pulled CW out and got the three, Lodi and the Ref looked confused as I'm sure CW was scheduled to win. The ring announcer then yelled for guys from the back and it took about 10 minutes to get everything cleared in the ring. CW had to be carried out but he was upright, not on a stretcher. On a side note, The main event was total carnage. One of the wrestlers got their head slammed off of our table, and it ended with a piledriver through a table. It was sweet!"
The petition to bring Fire Pro Wrestling to the United States and Europe by the great guys at TPWWGAMES.com is going extremely well, having pulled in almost 1,000 signatures to their petition already, garnering great support from various web sites around the Internet. Tim Brechlin posted an update on the petition today, which you can read HERE. While you have the chance, please sign their petition by clicking HERE. Trust me, I've seen a few screen shots of the game and it looks like it would be a huge hit in the U.S.
With that, it's just about time to wrap this baby up. We hope to have a report later tonight or tomorrow of any interesting notes discussed in tonight's WCW Live appearance by Eric Bischoff, so please stop by for that. We should have several updates on the WCW sale over the next few days as well, as I'm sure it'll be a very hot topic. Thanks for reading and until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com