Hello, everyone, and welcome to The People's Wrestling Website, TPWW.net. There is a great amount of news to cover today, including several more details on the recent departures of Jerry "The King" Lawler and his wife Stacy "The Kat" Carter from the WWF. So without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
As many of you have heard by now, Jerry "The King" Lawler quit the WWF this past Tuesday after he was given news of his wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter's release from the company. Jerry Lawler posted a message detailing the situation in full today on his web site, kinglawler.com. According to Jerry Lawler, after seeing that The Kat had not been used on WWF television much lately, Lawler decided to propose the angle she had been doing with Right to Censor. It seemed to work pretty well and both The Kat and Lawler were getting more exposure. This past Tuesday in Tucson, Arizona, the WWF had a production meeting at around 2:00 PM for the Smackdown tapings later that night. Jerry Lawler explained the situation: "During this meeting... Vince [McMahon] said that the Stacy and RTC angle would continue with Val Venis volunteering to personally teach the Kat to respect the RTC. It would involve Val proposing his idea to Steven Richards. Then Val and Kat going into a room and closing the door, Steven Richards waiting impatiently outside the door, and then Val finally emerging from the room looking disheveled and flustered and it would be obvious that Val had 'fallen off the wagon' at the hands of the Kat. This scenario was a part of the continuing angle that I had presented to Vince and would be followed by a similar situation on Raw the following Monday with a different member of RTC. The meeting ended at about 2pm and I went over to catering where Stacy was eating lunch. I told her what she was doing in the show, and she said 'great'." Lawler stated that he came back to the arena at around 5:00PM that day and as soon as he entered, Steve Lombardi, better known to fans as the Brooklyn Brawler, told Lawler, "JR wants to see you right away, in his office!" Lawler continued, "I walked in with JR and Bruce Pritchard and we all sat down. I said, 'you wanted to see me JR?' And he said 'King, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say...' I was totally confused, and asked him what he meant. He said, 'Vince has decided that he doesn’t want to go any further with the Kat’s angle, and subsequently he wants me to give her her release today.' "Why? Did he give you any reason?" I asked, and JR said, 'Vince said the writers or ‘creative’ felt Stacy was hard to work with and didn’t have the right attitude and that if she was featured any more and became any bigger she would be impossible to control.' I thought this had to be some kind of a joke...I said, 'when did Vince tell you this?' And JR said, 'as soon as he arrived at 2:30 Vince told me to release Stacy'. So sometime between the production meeting ending at 2pm with Vince saying Stacy was being featured in the show and 2:30 when JR arrived the decision was made to fire Stacy with neither she nor I being at the arena at the time. I was in shock! I said to JR, 'if someone doesn’t like Stacy’s attitude shouldn’t you sit down with Stacy and say 'your attitude is becoming a problem and we need to address it or there could be serious consequences'?' And JR just said that this was Vince’s decision and he was just delivering the unpleasant message. Then JR asked me if I wanted to be the one to tell Stacy she was fired or did I want him to do it. I said, 'I’ll tell her, while we’re on our way to Memphis!' JR said. 'What do you mean?' And I said, 'this is bullshit, JR, there’s no problem with Stacy’s attitude, I know that... But if you guys want her gone then I’m gone too.' JR said, 'King, I wish you wouldn’t do this.' I said, 'what would you do JR? If the shoe were on the other foot and they were firing Jan for no reason? Would you stay?' And JR said 'probably not'. I said. 'Well I’m not either, and you know me well enough to know that I would react this way and so does Vince, so I can only figure you guys want me to leave as well!' At that point I started gathering my briefcase and suitcase and JR said, 'What will you do, King?' I said, 'I can be on another channel next Monday night if i want to, but right now, all I know I’m going to do is go get Stacy and go to Memphis.' With that, I left the room and went downstairs to find Stacy. Stacy was in the ladies locker room and when she came out I pulled her to the side and said simply, 'JR just told me that you’ve been fired, so I told him I quit, so get your stuff and let’s go home.' Stacy smiled at me and said, 'you’re kidding, right?' I had to watch the expression on my wife’s face as I told her, 'no, I’m serious, let’s go.' Stacy was stunned. She just had a blank look on her face as she stumbled back into the locker room to get her stuff." Lawler then commented on going to Vince McMahon's office, where the following took place, according to Lawler: "From there, Stacy and I went to Vince’s office. He was on the phone. He looked up and saw me waiting and motioned that he would be with us in a minute. A few minutes later, Vince was off the phone and Stacy and I sat down in front of Vince. Stacy spoke first and said 'Vince, what have I done that was so bad that I’m being fired?' Vince said, 'Well, I’m really not aware of all of it, it’s more of a talent relations issue.' I said, 'JR said that the writers said there was a problem with Stacy’s attitude, if that’s the case, why didn’t someone tell her or me that there was a problem so it could be addressed before this?' Vince said, 'someone should have.' I said, 'well, no one did...' Vince said, 'well, they should have.' And I said, 'well, no one did!' And Vince said...'that’s bad then' I said, 'and I think it’s bad that she’s being let go without being told that and so I’m leaving with her...you had to know I would leave with her Vince,' Vince said, 'I hoped you wouldn’t' I said, 'well, I’ve got to.' At that point Vince just looked at me and said, 'well, King, I want to thank you for all you’ve done for us here and all the hard work you’ve put in for the WWF. You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty for us here and I thank you.' With that, he reached out and shook my hand and I turned, and Stacy and I left his office and the building. It was all over that quickly...on the way out of the building I almost expected someone to come up to me and say with a smile, 'what a rib!' And that this would all be some kind of sick joke or something. But that didn’t happen. It wasn’t a joke. It was the real thing." The story is definitely an extremely interesting one. To read Lawler's full statement, click HERE.
This definitely has to be a disheartening situation for the WWF backstage. First off to the current roster, who saw, from the Kat's situation, that a career in the WWF could end so easily. It was very interesting to see how Vince McMahon basically put up no fight to keep Lawler from leaving during their "meeting." Vince is definitely a very intelligent man... and also a very stubborn one. By "giving up" on Lawler so easily, it sends out a message that "nobody is bigger than Vince McMahon." Of course, this isn't always the best for business, but it definitely puts Lawler in an awkward situation. He surely did not want to leave the WWF and probably figured that himself threatening to leave would cause the WWF officials to say, "Ok, ok, fine, we won't release her. Just please don't leave. We really need you." Of course, that wasn't the case. I have a feeling that Vince McMahon and the WWF are hoping for Lawler to count his blessings, accept the Kat's release, and return, realizing he made a mistake. Whether or not Lawler will give up his pride and go back is another story.
Another interesting comment from Lawler's statement was Lawler's reply to Jim Ross, "I can be on another channel next Monday night if I want." Of course, he is referring to WCW Nitro. Rumors that Lawler is signed to a two year WWF contract are apparently not true. Lawler was offered the deal, but apparently never signed or returned it, meaning he is free to go to WCW if he wants. However, Lawler may be using WCW simply as a scare tactic. But, if WCW were to somehow sign him, that would definitely be a huge plus for them and a definite slap in the face to the WWF. Having Jerry Lawler on their Nitro announce team would definitely be a big boost for WCW and I'm sure that Eric Bischoff and the rest of the company are well aware of that.
So, Jerry Lawler is no longer the WWF's Raw and Smackdown color commentary man. Who will replace him? There are a lot of likely candidates, and I think the first name that popped into everyone's mind was The Human Suplex Machine, Tazz. He has commentated both Sunday's WWF No Way Out PPV and a good part of WWF Raw on Monday. With Tazz doing all the commentary this past week, am I the only one who thinks that Vince McMahon and the WWF knew Lawler may be gone soon? Jim Ross replaced Lawler at Tuesday's Smackdown tapings, but Tazz was not in Tucson, Arizona; he was at WWF New York (again), so he obviously couldn't do commentary. Other names that have been thrown around are ECW's Don "Cyrus" Callis (who would be great, if you ask me), or even former WWF and WCW announcer Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. Heenan would also be a great possible replacement for Lawler, but it doesn't seem likely that the WWF will sign him for some reason.
Another question on a lot of people's minds is whether or not Jerry Lawler will continue his XFL announce duties. The answer is no. It was announced today that NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus will replace Jerry Lawler on commentary this Saturday for NBC's XFL "B game." Another permanent replacement for Jerry Lawler will be on commentary the following Saturday.
On the subject of the XFL, the new league has been subject of a lot of talk lately. NBC announced this week that they will stick with the XFL for at least two full seasons. However, if that actually happens, I seriously doubt that the XFL will have its same primetime Saturday timeslot once next season rolls around. There has been talk of moving the XFL's NBC games to Saturday afternoon, probably in the 12PM-3PM timeslot. Of course, that is just a rumor at this point, but does seem very likely given the XFL's dismal primetime ratings as of late. Moving to the afternoon could be a good move for the league. If the XFL's ratings have "bottomed out" and they stay in the 2.0-3.0 range, the remaining viewers are apparently the league's big followers. If the league moves to the afternoon, most of those viewers will probably still watch, and a 2.0-3.0 afternoon rating is not bad at all. Even the NBA is very rarely given a primetime timeslot on NBC, so a move to the afternoon could be for the best. Hey, anything is better than the league completely folding.
As you may have noticed, the XFL is apparently trying to bring in angles and feuds to their telecasts to boost the entertainment factor, with the recent Jesse Ventura vs. Rusty Tillman feud. I have to admit that last week's game was definitely kept interesting by the "feud" and I was cracking up when Ventura went to interview Tillman at the end of the game. However, it looks like the New York Hitmen head coach, Rusty Tillman, is not happy with the situation. According to a recent report in the Newark Star-Ledger, Tillman is quoted as saying, "They're trying to manufacture something, an I'm not going to do it. I've said it all along, if it's like the WWF, people are not going to like it. I'm not going to do it their way. That's not me." Am I the only one who thinks that the XFL selected him as the NY coach simply for his "controversial" attitude instead of his football coaching ability? Tillman is definitely no Bill Parcells anyway.
WWF The Music Volume 5 will reportedly debut on the Billboard music charts at number two, behind only Shaggy's "Hotshot." The WWF album reportedly sold 177,000 copies in its first week, beating out The Beatles' "1." If I remember correctly, WWF The Music Volume 4 debuted at number four or five in the Billboard charts.
Michael sent word that Raw is War will once again be preempted this Monday night in Canada on TSN due to a curling tournament. Raw will air three hours later at midnight EST.
WCW Thunder did a 1.7 rating, off hours of 1.5 and 1.8, according to Dave Scherer. That is up from last week's 1.5 rating, but is definitely nothing to be pleased about if you're WCW.
WCW's "super" May 6th PPV will be entitled, "The Big Bang," according to Dave Scherer. It is expected to be a huge one, since the new WCW ownership is expected to put all new storylines in place by then. WCW's "relaunch" is expected to go down in early April, but WCW will not run a PPV in April due to a scheduling conflict, as previously reported.
With that, it's about time to wrap this one up. Thanks once again for stopping by TPWW today. Until next time... later.
Triple A
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