Hello, everyone and welcome to TPWW.net. After a few days off, the news and rumors have returned to TPWW and, of course, there is a lot to talk about today, from the WWF debut of Justin Credible to various possible new WCW signings. So, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
As mentioned, rumors are flying that former ECW world heavyweight champion, Justin Credible, real name Peter Polaco, will make his WWF debut tonight on Raw is War. There are rumors that Credible will be put into some sort of angle with Raven in the Hardcore division, or as early rumors stated, into an alliance with X-Pac. Whether or not he'll keep the "Justin Credible" name is unknown at this time, as Jim Ross has mentioned that Credible might need a name change.
Below are a few of the other matches you can expect for Raw tonight on TNN:
- The Rock vs. Rikishi
- The Undertaker & Kane vs. Edge & Christian (Winners face Dudleys at PPV)
- Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Guerrero - Intercontinental Title
- Triple H vs. Billy Gunn
- The Hardys & Lita vs. Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, & Terri
The WWF has signed three of their superstars to new, long term contracts. First off, Shawn Michaels has signed a new long term deal with the WWF, according to Jim Ross, which pretty much confirms that he will return to the ring sometime soon and will be more involved in WWF storylines in the future. The WWF has also signed current ECW World and TV champion, Rhino, to a long term deal. However, according to JR, no start date has been established for the monster. Al Snow has also signed a new contract with the WWF, which may be why he is receiving his recent push.
Chyna's autobiography, "If They Only Knew," is up to number 3 on the New York Times bestseller list in its category, helped by the WWF's extensive promotion.
In what may be good news (we all wish) for us hardcore Tazz fans, Jim Ross stated the following in his recent Ross Report: "I would like to see Tazz become more involved with Federation storylines; however, his TV announcing occupies a great deal of his time and ability to perform at live events. He is under-utilized in my opinion." Right. Also, Tazz was recently on Byte This this past Thursday and sure enough, the infamous "Save Tazz" petition was brought up in an e-mail. Tazz stated that he had heard about the petition from a few people and he appreciates that his fans would do something like that for him. However, he stated that most fans who signed the petition were hardcore ECW Taz fans (it's true), and that Taz is no longer around. He mentioned that this is the new Tazz in the WWF, and the WWF is still trying to find "the complete Tazz." Tazz is a smart man. That's really the only reply he could have given, given the situation.
"The Rock" Dwayne Johnson, and his wife Dany Johnson are expecting their first child very soon, according to the Miami Herald. That's right - The Rock is going to be a father. Congrats go out to the Johnson family.
The WWF website has opened a subsite dedicated to the past of the Undertaker and Kane. The site includes photos, videos, and a history of the "brothers." To check it out, click HERE.
Bill Vigneux sent the following note: "Lita will be appearing on the Canadian talk show 'Open Mike With Mike Bullard' on Wednesday February 14th, 2001. Open Mike airs weeknights on the Comedy Network in Canada."
I really liked the XFL game on Saturday night between the Chicago Enforcers and the LA Xtreme. It was definitely a thriller and was just what the XFL needed to help bring in some fans. Unfortunately, the ratings for Saturday's game on NBC had to be a bit of a disappointment, drawing only a 5.1 rating, putting NBC behind ABC, CBS, and FOX. That is down from last week's 10.3 rating, so it's more than a 50% drop. Hopefully next Saturday's ratings go up, or this can't mean well for the XFL. On a side note, the XFL promised advertisers ratings in the 5.0s on NBC, so it isn't a complete disappointment. As for the Sunday game on UPN, it drew a 2.8 overnight rating. That will most likely drop to around a 2.0 when the final numbers are released. That's not too good, considering advertisers were promised ratings in the 3.0s on UPN. No rating for the TNN game is available at this time.
On the subject of ratings, Thursday night's WWF Smackdown on UPN scored a 4.0 rating for the second week in a row, going up against competition such as Survivor and Friends. The rating helped UPN to a fifth place finish of the six major networks. For those wondering, Survivor scored another strong 17.4 rating, while Friends scored a 13.9.
On the WCW side, Thunder scored a 2.0 rating for Wednesday's show, off ours of 2.0 and 1.9.
Below is a little of what you can expect on tonight's Nitro, according to WCW.com:
- Dustin Rhodes vs. Titleholder of his choice
- Cruiserweight Qualifying Matches (For six man elimination match at SuperBrawl)
- Cruiserweight Qualifying Match: Lash LeRoux vs. Yang
- Cruiserweight Qualifying Match: Elix Skipper vs. Billy Kidman
- Chuck Palumbo vs. Shawn Stasiak
- Also appearances by "The Magnificent 7," Kevin Nash, Brian Adams, The Cat, DDP, Hugh Morrus, and more.
It looks like the proposed "WCW shut down" will officially NOT take place, according to Dave Meltzer. The idea was to put WCW in a rest period for a few weeks after the SuperBrawl PPV this month, then come back 2-3 weeks later with a new look and more new talent just before their March 18 PPV. However, because WCW is still technically owned by Turner (since the sale to Fusient is yet to be made official), Turner vetoed the idea because advertising had already been sold for the WCW shows in the "black out period." However, as mentioned in our previous news report, the expected finalization date for the WCW sale is February 28. Ther is a slight chance that the date may be moved back to sometime in March, however, as a few more details need to be ironed out between Fusient and Turner. Once the deal finally is made official, we may finally see the big changes that everyone is expecting.
Due to Shane Douglas's hand injury, Dustin Rhodes is expected to take his place to take on Rick Steiner for the US title at SuperBrawl this Sunday.
There are rumors that both Steve Corino and Simon Diamond are very close to signing deals with WCW. Corino was recently backstage on Nitro, as was Simon's "significant other," Dawn Marie. If Simon Diamond is signed by WCW, signs point to WCW signing Dawn Marie as well.
Super Crazy is also getting closer and closer to signing with WCW, according to various reports. WCW has not made him a direct offer, according to Dave Meltzer, but the general feeling is that he will end up in WCW's cruiserweight division when it's all said and done.
And finally, the latest possible WCW signee is none other than recently released WWF wrestler, the Road Dogg. According to a recent interview between Brian Fritz of Betweentheropes and Billy Gunn, Billy Gunn thinks that The Road Dogg will eventually end up in WCW and a deal may already be in the works.
With that, it's just about time to wrap this up. For those of you who missed last night's episode of Heat, be sure to check out Jessica Williams's full report by clicking HERE. Stop by later tonight for Monday night results after the shows go off the air, as well as more updates. Until next time, thanks for reading. Later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com