Hello, everybody, and welcome to TPWW.net for the post WWF No Way Out edition of the news and rumors. We're glad you could check us out today, since there's a lot of news making its way around the Internet. Also, today's report will be somewhat two in one, featuring not only my report (which will contain mostly news from the No Way Out PPV), but also a report by Corey Silvia, which will highlight the rest of the day's news. So, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors, and No Way Out thoughts.
Of course, I have to start things off with my take on No Way Out. Overall, I have to say that I enjoyed the PPV and the WWF put on a good show for everyone once again. The Rock vs. Angle and Austin vs. Triple H matches definitely came off as the best of the night, with the others also being great for the most part. Many are calling the Austin/HHH match a match of the year candidate and honestly, I think it definitely has a chance. I have to admit that for whatever reason, I had a feeling that I would start losing interest once the second fall was over. I guess I'm way too accustomed to the WWF's quick matches. Either way, as the third fall went on, it definitely retained my interest. The match did a great job of keeping everyone into it, given its length (which was about 40 minutes, for those wondering).
The Rock vs. Kurt Angle match was also another awesome match. The crowd was unbelievably hot throughout. Everyone had their money on the Rock, but the thing that kept the match interesting was the remote chance that the WWF would swerve us all and have Kurt Angle actually win the match. Of course, that didn't happen. But whatever the case, the match was great and the nearfalls at the end were definite mark out moments. Of course, there was a little botch at the end of the match. After The Rock nailed Angle with the Rockbottom, Angle didn't kick out, but referee Earl Hebner flat out stopped counting at two. This apparently wasn't supposed to happen, so it looks like it was Hebner's fault. Afterwards, The Rock just picked up Angle again and laid him out with another Rockbottom to finish off the match. If you think about it, even though the finish was sort of screwy, I thought it definitely made Angle look really strong having him "kick out" of the Rockbottom. Overall, a great match.
With the Rock's win over Kurt Angle, it looks like all the talk of a Steve Austin vs. Rock main event at WrestleMania will almost surely take place. However, with Triple H's win over Austin last night, I wouldn't be surprised if The Game somehow tries to interject himself into the WrestleMania main event.
The four way Intercontinental title match was also a great one, as expected. I was glad to see Jericho retain the title, given all the jobs he has done for the WWF in the past months. We saw Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero get into a little brawl in the match, which could possibly be forshadowing a Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero feud in the near future. Of course, this could mean the start of the much talked about Chris Benoit face turn. If everything is done right, I think Benoit has the potential to be a HUGE main event fan favorite in the very near future.
I was a little surprised to see the Big Show walk out with the Hardcore title, but hey, it should add a little interest in the division. Definitely better than the WWF booking Raven to run away from every single one of his matches each and every week. As for the Big Show, a lot of people criticize him for no-selling in his matches, but the truth is that he's supposed to no-sell. Just take an action movie for example. When there's a huge, mean character in the movie, he's supposed to be unstoppable. If you ask me, the Big Show sells a lot for someone his size. Other than that, this 24/7 stuff is a little confusing to me. Why did the match stop when the Big Show won the title, but not when Billy Gunn won it?
The rest of the card was also good. The tag title match was a bit of a disappointment to me and looked a little sloppy. The Undertaker & Kane just don't look like they work well with the Dudleys and Edge & Christian. It looks like they're starting a feud with Rikishi & Haku again, so hopefully they're done with the other WWF tag teams. The Jerry Lawler vs. Steven Richards match was horrible wrestling wise, but that's to be expected with Lawler in the ring. Why did Lawler do the job to Steven, but not to Tazz in his last PPV match? You just know I had to bring that up. Plus, hey, it's great to see Tazz finally getting that huge "push."
Edge reportedly injured his back during the tag title match, and the Undertaker reportedly was busted open from a chair shot and needed stitches in the back of his head. However, both men aren't expected to miss much action, if any.
Charles B was in attendance at the PPV and sent along these interesting notes on the show: "After the Austin vs. Triple H match, someone in the crowd threw a beer can and it looked like it hit Austin right in the face. Security found the fan and threw him out. Also, during the Kurt Angle vs. Rock match when the Rock hit the first Rockbottom, it looked as if Earl Hebner either accidentally hit Kurt's face before the three, or Kurt forgot to kick out, since he did not even attempt to. (Hebner actually messed up the count) When The Rock hit the second Rockbottom, he looked pretty angry. Also, two other people were thrown out. A woman in front of me had a video camera, and two other women were going at each other during the main event. Funny stuff. Overall, I thought the PPV was above average."
There is a chance that the WWF will introduce one or more new wrestlers sometime this week on TV. According to Dave Meltzer, Yoshihiro Tajiri and Jerry Lynn will NOT debut this week, although they have officially signed their WWF contracts and should start sometime soon, once the WWF comes up with an angle for them. However, Rhino reportedly has a good chance of debuting sometime this week, possibly at Raw tonight or on Smackdown. There is also a slight chance that the WWF will introduce Steve Bradley and Scott Vick, who have been working several WWF dark matches as of late. I'm assuming that Rhino is the most likely wrestler to be introduced first, since he's the most familiar face of the bunch.
On a WCW related note, WCW's deal with Fusient Media apparently took a bit of a hit this past weekend, according to Dave Meltzer, due to an undisclosed financial issue. However, the problem has reportedly been taken care of and the sale is expected to go through as planned. There have been rumors that if the WCW sale falls through and there is no other potential buyer, AOL/Time Warner would pull the plug on WCW. However, that appears unlikely at this point.
On a site related note, with the recent release of WWF The Music Volume 5, we are looking for everyone to send in lyrics of the themes on the album. Whether it be K-Kwik's theme, Rikishi, The Rock's "Pie," or any others. They will be added to our Entrance Theme Lyrics section, with credit, of course. All lyrics can be sent to my e-mail address below.
That just about wraps things up for me today. Before I go, anyone here watch OZ on HBO? Oh man, that has to be one of the greatest shows of all time. Unbelievably awesome. If you've never watched it, be sure to check it out tomorrow night at 11 PM EST on HBO. It's the replay of the season finale. I caught the last 15 minutes of it last night after No Way Out, and it was amazing, as usual. The WWF and WCW should really check that show out and get a few ideas for angles from there. It's amazing how great it is. Anyway, I'm getting way off topic here, so I'll pass things on to Corey Silvia, who'll be highlighting the rest of the day's news. Until next time, thanks for reading. Take it away, Corey...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com
Hey there, and welcome to the News and Rumors report for Monday, February 26, 2001. I'll be your host to the biggest happenings and news stories in the wrestling world today. As usual, there are some big stories and rumors in circulation on the Internet, and I'll do my best to weave them all into this comprehensive report. Without any further discussion, let's head into today's report.
Paul Heyman recently signed a full worker's release to former ECW Television Champion Kid Kash. Kash has been interested in obtaining a release from Heyman for some time now, and the high-flying superstar recently received one from his ex-employer. He's now free to sign with any company that has interest in obtanining his services. Kash is obviously a great asset to either of the big two, and I have a feeling that he won't go unsigned for long.
In a related bit, Kid Kash has apparently agreed to work a dark match/tryout with the WWF. There has been very open speculation that Kid would sign with WCW after getting his release, but it seems as though he's interested in the WWF as well. While I'd rather see him in WCW, either federation is good fit for a talent like Kash.
It is expected that Rhino, Tajiri, and Jerry Lynn will all be on hand at Monday Night Raw tonight. There's a decent chance that they'll make their wrestling debuts on that show - especially Rhino, but they're guaranteed to be backstage at the very least.
The contracts that the WWF offered to York/Matthews were developmental deals. This means that they will join the rest of the wrestlers under WWF contract in either Memphis or Ohio Valley. I personally think they're good enough to debut at any point in time, but I guess they could use a little touching up on some of their offense.
Lita reportedly just wrapped up filming a commercial for the Molson Brewing Company. That should be pretty interesting to see.
According to Shawn Michaels latest commentary at HBK-TWA.com, he hasn't met with the WWF booking staff to discuss anything involving his return. Though he did ink a new deal last month, he has yet to talk over any big angles or matches for his upcoming return to the ring. I'm not sure how much of that I believe (since Jim Ross claimed that he and HBK have had extensive talks throughout February) but it was a good read anyway.
The XFL continues to flounder in prime time. They plummeted another 20% last night, hitting a 2.8 rating. The game was by far the lowest rated show that aired last night, getting slammed by every other major network. Fox was the only network that got anywhere near the XFL and they scored a 6.4 with their America's Most Wanted/Cops block. I think it's about time to cut off the lifeline of the XFL, Vince.
In an interesting bit, former WWF Intercontinental and Tag Team champion Ken Shamrock will be meeting with the current speaker of the house, Dennis Hastert. Apparently the Illinois native is a former big time wrestling coach, and has been eager to set up a meeting with Shamrock for some time now.
According to house show reports, Justin Credible has been dropping matches to K-Kwik left and right. Hopefully he won't be subjected to the same treatment once he makes his impact on television, but knowing the WWF's harsh "breaking in" program, there's a damn good chance of it happening.
The WWF has some big things in store for Chris Benoit, as he's expected to begin a feud with whoever leaves No Way Out with the title in the near future. That ought to silence all the die-hard Chris Benoit fanatics on the Internet, at least for the time being.
It is expected that Sting will be backstage at Nitro tonight, getting himself acclimated to the new working environment backstage. Keep in mind that Sting was very unhappy in WCW when he was put on the shelf, literally counting the days until Russo was removed from power. Hopefully we'll see a new, re-energized Sting now that Russo's out of the picture. He's always been a close friend of Eric Bischoff, so I'd be willing to bet we'll be seeing a whole new side of Sting when he comes back to the ring.
Here's the DirecTV preview of tonight's Nitro:
Hour 1: WCW champion Scott Steiner is on a seek and destroy mission; can DDP survive?
Hour 2: A ghost from Scott Steiner's past returns to haunt the WCW champion.
Steve Corino recently appeared on the popular wrestling radio show "Between the Ropes" coming out of Orlando Florida. Though the majority of the interview was based around his current tour of the indies and Dusty Rhodes promotion, there were some interesting tidbits. He confirmed that he is officially done with ECW, and that he won't be appearing in any further shows with the company. Also, he talked openly about how he'd like to wrestle with all the cruiserweights in WCW right now. According to him, he'd rather work with guys like Shane Helms and Billy Kidman than the heavyweights. It was a pretty good interview, so I'd advise you to check it out if you have the time.
That's about it for now, readers. WCW news is running pretty dry today, unfortunately. Luckily there were some good WWF stories circulating that should hold you all over for now. I'll be back next weekend with the News and Rumors and my column, so until then, have a good week.
Corey Silvia
Corey@tpww.net