Hello everyone, and welcome to the People's Wrestling Website, better known as TPWW.net, on this Wednesday afternoon for today's edition of The People's News and Rumors. A lot of news to cover today, so let's get to it.
The WWF taped yet another edition of its immensely popular UPN show, Smackdown last night in Chicago, Illinois, centering on the hype of Sunday's major Pay Per View, The Royal Rumble. If you want your Thursday night "spoiled" and want to know the results of Smackdown, click HERE.
If you don't want to know what's going to happen on Smackdown, but want to know which matches you'll be seeing ahead of time, here's the card for Thursday's show:
- Edge vs. Buh Buh Ray Dudley
- The Hardys and Lita vs. The Acolytes and Jacqueline
- Val Venis vs. Test
- Steve Blackman vs. Hardcore Bob Holly
- The Rock, Steve Austin, and The Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle, Rikishi, and Kane
Moving on... The track list for WWF The Music, Volume 5 has been finalized. Here are the tracks, courtesy of Dave Scherer:
01. Triple H: The Game (performed by Motorhead)
02. K-Kwik: Rowdy
03. Tazz: If You Dare
04. Lita: It Just Feels Right
05. Kane: Out of the Fire
06. Eddie Guerrero: Latino Heat
07. Billy Gunn: I've Got It All
08. Raven: What About Me?
09. Chyna: Who I Am
10. Kurt Angle: Medal
11. Rikishi: Bad Man
12. Chris Benoit: Shooter
13. Too Cool: Turn It Up
14. The Rock Pie: (performed by The Rock)
Surprisingly, the album is missing Stone Cold Steve Austin's new entrance theme performed by Disturbed, and the entrance music of the Hardy Boyz and the Dudleys. But for those who are interested, you can purchase the album by clicking HERE.
The XFL has issued descriptions of what have to be some of the most unique rules to grace the sport of football. In my opinion, the XFL's different rules from the NFL will definitely help the product and may just prove to be entertaining. Some rules include no PAT attempts, punts more than 25 yards become a live ball for both teams, and very unique overtime rules. To check them out, click HERE.
For those who are wondering, here is the card for this Sunday's Royal Rumble PPV, which will feature 5 title matches and the actual Royal Rumble match up:
- Kurt Angle (WWF Champion) w/ Trish Stratus v Triple H w/ Stephanie McMahon Helmsley for the WWF title
- "The Crippler" Chris Benoit (WWF Intercontinental Champion) v. "Y2J" Chris Jericho in a Ladder Match for the IC title
- Edge and Christian (WWF Tag Champions) v The Dudley Boyz for the WWF Tag Team titles
- Ivory (WWF Women's Champion) w/ Steven Richards v. Chyna for the WWF Women's title
- William Regal (WWF European Champion) v. Test for the WWF European title
- The Royal Rumble Winner receives title shot at Wrestemania X-Seven
Featured Royal Rumble Participants: Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane, K-Kwik, The Acolytes, The Hardys, Steve Blackman, and Hardcore Holly.
Personally, I'm putting my money on Steve Austin to win the Rumble for an unprecedented third time but of course you never know with the WWF. There's always the chance that Austin will be screwed out of the title shot due to his rivalry with Triple H, and I wouldn't be shocked to see The Game make his presence felt in the Rumble. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a revision of the finish of the 1994 Rumble in which both Bret Hart and Lex Luger won, except this time, with Steve Austin and The Rock.
Moving on to WCW news, due to the devastating double compound fracture in the left leg that Sid suffered at the Sin PPV on Sunday, The "Master and Ruler of the World" is reportedly out 6 to 8 months. Definitely a nasty situation here, as anyone who saw the footage on Monday night knows that Sid's injury was very gruesome looking. We here at TPWW.net wish Sid a speedy recovery and hope to see his return to the ring as soon as possible.
Interesting note on Sid's injury... Due to the injury, Monday's Nitro (and presumably tonight's Thunder) had to be rewritten on a day's notice because Sid was supposed to play a big part in the show. The scheduled main event was Sid, Kevin Nash, and Diamond Dallas Page taking on Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, and Road Warrior Animal.
I have to see that I was a bit disappointed in the way WCW turned Ric Flair heel. Even though it was a smart move to make, couldn't it have been done in a more dynamic way? Rather than having Ric shake the hands of the heels at the beginning of Nitro, couldn't WCW have ended the SIN PPV with Flair revealing that he was in cahoots with the heels, or even have Flair reveal in Nitro's opening promo that he was in cahoots with the heels? Maybe it's just me, but I guess I wanted to see something more dynamic rather than the backstage footage shown.
On Monday's Nitro, Team Canada's Mike Awesome lost a "Hair vs. Hair" match to Konnan of the Filthy Animals, where Awesome's awesome mullet was pitted against Kidman's long black hair. As the rules stated, the loser of the match would have to get a hair cut, and on tonight's Thunder, we'll get to see Awesome's new hair style which is rumored to look very similar to his Team Canada teammate, Lance Storm. If you didn't have a reason to watch Thunder, now you do with Awesome's new hair style.
Speaking of Lance Storm, Lance has once again updated his commentary on his website, StormWrestling.com. This week, Lance talks about the surprisingly good Sin PPV which was called by many a "Lame Duck" PPV, and Lance's most recent experience with one of his favorite fast food chains, Cracker Barrel. To read Storm's commentary, and I do recommend it, click HERE.
For those wondering, here's the card for tonight's Thunder broadcast:
- Kwee Wee vs. Rick Steiner
- Ron Harris vs. Norman Smiley
- Awesome vs. Kidman
- Kronic vs. Totally Buff
- Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Meng
- Chavo Guerrero Jr vs. General Rection
- Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page
Moving on, for those who wanted to check out UWA, the Urban Wrestling Alliance on BET tonight, it's looks like you're out of luck. According to Dave Meltzer, BET never even heard of the show, thus it won't be airing tonight on the BET channel.
No update on the ECW situation as news on the rumored demise of Extreme Championship Wrestling has been relatively quiet since the situation during ECW's debut in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on Saturday night. I really don't know what's next for Paul Heyman's ECW, and I, for one, hope that that rumors of ECW folding are just that - rumors. So until I hear a direct statement from Paul Heyman and ECW about the company's future, I'm not going to confirm rumors of any chance of ECW folding.
Finally, here's the ratings report from Monday night: WWF Raw did its highest number in recent memory with a 5.2 rating (Hours 5.0 and 5.4) WCW Nitro also did a relatively high number in comparison to recent numbers with a 2.6 rating (Hours of 3.2 and 2.1).
That's about it for today. Thanks for visiting TPWW.net on this Wednesday afternoon. Come back tomorrow for more news, rumors, and updates. So until next time, ciao...