Hello, everyone, and welcome to TPWW.net for today's news and rumors. Wrestling news has greatly picked up over the last couple of days with ECW's future in jeopardy and the WWF looking to sign ECW's talent before WCW gets the chance. In short, there is a lot to talk about in today's report, so without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
Yoshihiro Tajiri is apparently the next ECW wrestler to sign with the WWF. This comes just one day after the WWF signed former ECW world champion, Justin Credible to a three year contract. According to Dave Meltzer, Tajiri has already signed a letter of intent and is expected to sign an official contract in the very near future. Both Yoshihiro Tajiri and Super Crazy reportedly attempted to sign with WCW (where I think they would be a LOT better off), but were insulted when asked to work a dark match on Nitro. Tajiri began talks with the WWF and has apparently come to a deal with them. As for Super Crazy, I would expect him to end up signing with WCW and joining their exciting cruiserweight division, which WCW president Eric Bischoff is quite fond of.
As for Tajiri, as I stated, I'm not sure heading to the WWF would be his best move, career wise. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks his talent will be wasted and he'll be put into a ridiculous angle with Kaientai or something similar. Taka Michinoku is a perfect example. Taka may be one of the best workers on the WWF roster today, yet his talent is unbelievably undermined. Either way, I guess I'm speaking from a die hard ECW fan's point of view and I'm a little (ok, very) bitter about what the WWF has done with Tazz.
As previously reported, Justin Credible has signed a deal with the WWF. There are rumors that Credible may be put into a role as the tag team partner of X-Pac, who is expected to make his in-ring return at the February 2 WWF house show in Raleigh, NC. This angle would definitely make sense, since Justin Credible and X-Pac, along with other members of "the clique," reportedly get along very well together backstage to say the least.
As mentioned, the WWF has also offered ECW's World and Television champion, Rhino, a deal. However, Rhino has only taken the deal into consideration and has chosen to be loyal to ECW until a firm decision is made about their future. You definitely have to respect Rhino for that one.
By the way, whatever happened to Jerry Lynn? Lynn was reportedly the first wrestler to attempt to sign with the WWF. He was asked by Jim Ross to send along tapes of himself wrestling and cutting promos (now, THAT is insulting), did so, and as far as we know, is yet to receive a response. Either way, I'm sure that if the WWF decides against signing Lynn, WCW will have some interest in the former ECW champion when the sale to Fusient is finalized.
With all that has gone down with ECW over the last few days and weeks, there have been several rumors that the WWF has offered ECW owner Paul Heyman a spot on their booking team. However, Paul Heyman has reportedly put the offer on hold (if it was in fact offered), and is still focusing all his attention on finding a resolution for the many problems that are plaguing ECW at this time. However, if Paul Heyman does in fact decide to sign with the WWF has a booker, according to Dave Scherer, he would almost definitely be given the role of booking actual matches rather than storylines. ECW is known for its tremendous wrestling action and classic matches, and having Paul Heyman on their roster would surely help the WWF immensely.
To further prove that Paul Heyman has all intentions to keep ECW running, according to Dave Meltzer, Heyman will make an announcement sometime next week regarding the location for ECW's next pay per view, Living Dangerously on Sunday, March 11.
Moving on to WWF news, Jim Ross reported yesterday that the Road Dogg has been released from the WWF. Road Dogg was suspended in mid December after showing up to a Smackdown/Heat taping "in no condition to work." Rumors persist that the Road Dogg has been suffering from personal problems involving substance abuse. With the release, there is a chance that WCW may have interest in signing Road Dogg, as it would, undoubtedly, be a big signing for the company.
A few quick injury notes to report, according to "Good Ol'" JR: William Regal is suffering from a neck injury and is expected to miss a few weeks of in-ring action, which is probably part of the reason why they had him lose the European title to Test. Eddie Guerrero is now cleared to return to the ring after his hamstring injury, but will be held out until mid February at the latest. Gangrel (yes, he's still with the company) is expected to make his return soon after his neck injury. Faarooq has an injured knee, which may need to be scoped. D-Von Dudley is suffering from an injured shoulder, which also may need to be scoped.
The WWF held a house show in Cleveland in Friday night, which saw Kurt Angle defending the WWF title against Chris Benoit and a main event of Triple H, Rikishi, & Haku taking on Steve Austin, The Undertaker, & Kane. To check out complete results of the show, click HERE. Big thanks to Bob for sending along the results. If you attend a live WWF event, please send along results! We will post them on the site and give you a mention. We always appreciate it!
The WWF recently posted a statement regarding the Lionel Tate case, which involved 13 year old Lionel Tate being given a life sentence after murdering a 6 year old girl. Tate's defense attempted to pass the blame on wrestling, claiming that Tate was a big wrestling fan and was only imitating what he had seen on television. However, that defense failed. The WWF posted the following comments recently on WWF.com: "We at the WWF believe that the verdict and the public statements made by individual jurors unanimously support our position that professional wrestling should never have been involved in this case," said Linda McMahon, CEO of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. "Sadly, an innocent little girl has died. Lionel Tate by his own actions, the actions and decisions of his mother and defense attorney, have changed his life forever." "The WWF has stated consistently that the suggestion that wrestling had anything to do with Lionel Tate's murderous acts was a contrived hoax," said Jerry McDevitt, a partner in Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, and the WWF's litigation counsel. "The jury easily and quickly repudiated the defense counsel's claim that pro wrestling was somehow to blame for this intentional homicide, and individual jurors have reiterated this in public comments. The evidence proved, and the jury found, that this was death caused not by mimicking wrestling moves, but rather by a deliberate, prolonged, and savage beating."
Thursday night's WWF Smackdown! broadcast pulled in a stong final rating of 4.9.
The Myke sent word that WWF Smackdown! was preempted on UPN last night in Sacramento, California for a Sacramento Kings basketball game.
Smackdown will also apparently be preempted in other markets in the US over the next few weeks. Dan Rice sent word that Smackdown will be preempted in the Washington, DC area on February 1 due to a Duke vs. UNC college basketball game. Smackdown will air in its entirety on Sunday, February 4 at 7 PM after UPN's XFL coverage. Jake Linderman of Wrestle Observer sent word that Smackdown will be preempted in Detroit on February 15th for a Detroit Pistons basketball game, but will air on Sunday, February 18th at noon.
WillyTillyBilly and Alatalo2Aucoin both sent word that The Rock's appearance on Saturday Night Live will air next Saturday night, February 3, on NBC.
The infamous Save Tazz Petition has been a great success thusfar, garnering over 8,500 signatures in a matter of days, at the time of writing this. All you Tazz fans who are yet to sign it can do so by clicking HERE.
That just about wraps things up for today's report. As you may have noticed, we have put up an application for new staff members on the main page. At present time, we are searching for talented reporters to write recaps of wrestling shows on television, and one person to write a weekly top ten list. We have also recently added an application for new staff for TPWWGames.com, which should be back up very soon after a server change. For all those interested, please click HERE. For those who have been wondering, we will be putting up an application for new columnists very soon as well, probably in the next couple of days. With that said, thanks for reading. Until next time...
Triple A
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