Hello, everyone and welcome to TPWW.net on this Tuesday, March 6, 2001 for the post Monday Night edition of the People's News and Rumors.
Last night, Raw is War became Raw is Paul E, as ECW owner and executive producer, Paul Heyman co-hosted Raw along side WWF play by play announcer Jim Ross. Paul E. took the place of Jerry "The King" Lawler, who as most of you know left the World Wrestling Federation last Tuesday in protest over the WWF's release of Lawler's wife Stacy "The Kat" Carter. I thought Heyman was good on color; nothing special but considering the fact that he hasn't done color commentary in years and this agreement had to come over the weekend, Paul's job was definitely commendable. Should be interesting to see how long Paul stays on with Jim Ross for commentary, but it's a good possibility that Paul Heyman is with the World Wrestling Federation in some capacity.
With that being said, it's apparent that the end of the "little promotion that could," Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling is near, as it was almost like when the topic of ECW was brought up, it was discussed as if it was in the past. I hate to say it, but with no venue/card announced for Sunday's Living Dangerously PPV, it's becoming more clear that ECW may just be a thing of the past, and an announcement will most likely come in the next couple of days.
For those wondering, Paul Heyman won't be doing color commentary for Smackdown as it's pretty much a lock that the Heat duo of Michael Cole and Tazz will be announcing the Smackdown broadcast. But according to the Pro Wrestling Torch, Paul E will be backstage at Smackdown in some capacity, possibly in a creative role.
A huge development occurred in the build up for the main event of Wrestlemania between Rock and Austin, as Vince McMahon announced that Stone Cold Steve Austin's wife, Debra (who returned to managing last night) would be managing the Rock. It's definitely an interesting plot twist and an angle for Rocky and Austin to work around, but is it really needed? Personally, I don't think so, as Rock/Austin without the inclusion of Debra would draw just as well, as I said last week that the heat between Rock and Austin was amazing. Add to that, the soap opera-like love triangle was already done to death with Triple H, Kurt Angle, and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley.
Aside from the Austin/Rock angle, the hottest feud in the WWF right now has to be the feud between Chris Benoit and his Radical brother, Eddie Guerrero. Last night, Benoit turned on Eddie during Guerrero's match up between Y2J, Chris Jericho for Jericho's IC title. After a ref bump, Benoit climbed to the top (as he was at the announce table w/ JR and Paul E) and delivered the swan dive head butt to Guerrero. It's apparent that we'll be seeing Eddie/Benoit at Wrestlemania, which is no doubt a good thing for wrestling fans world wide.
A title change occurred on Raw last night, as The Hardys defeated the Dudley Boys for the Tag Team titles thanks to interference from Christian. The WWF did a nice job teasing a Hardys split through out the night in both Lita's shot at the Women's title and the tag match. Nice to see that the split hasn't been rushed, and I could easily see the Hardys keep the tag titles until Wrestlemania, and the long awaited split occur at X-Seven.
Aside from seeing Trish Stratus in her bra and panties as everyone loves to see a little T&A;, I thought her segment was pretty much degrading and something that we really haven't seen in the WWF since the days of Vince Russo. I don't know where this is leading, but I guess when you're Vince McMahon you can pretty much book yourself in any way you please.
Aside from Rock/Austin and Eddie/Benoit, I really have no clue what the Wrestlemania card will look like. But of course, I'll try to speculate.... We could easily see a match up between Kurt Angle and Triple H, or even Angle and Jericho. I wouldn't be shocked to see The Tag Team titles up for grabs in another three way between the Hardys/Dudleys/E&C;, but after the TLC match at SummerSlam, what could be next? Maybe the six men could step into the Hell in the Cell? I wouldn't be shocked to see Al Snow square off against William Regal for the commissionership, another multiple person Hardcore extravaganza, and maybe even the returns of Chyna, Mick Foley, and Shawn Michaels. Again, don't take my word as if it was set in stone, but you never know.
Moving on to WCW news for today, I thought Nitro was decent, but nothing spectacular as usual. But to their credit, WCW shook up their line up for the Greed PPV which is looming on the horizon, as several matches have changed from the original card, which may just make the PPV a bit more entertaining.
I liked the main event, as WCW is definitely doing a good job of building the Page/Scott Steiner main event for the PPV, as Diamond Dallas is probably the best worker that Steiner has been paired with in a PPV main event since winning the World Title from Booker T at Mayhem. On the other hand, I really don't like the idea of Rick Steiner/Booker T for the US title at Greed, as Booker T is definitely one of the few main eventers that WCW has and saddling him in a feud with Rick Steiner isn't the best of options for the promotion.
In an injury update, Dave Scherer reports that Buff Bagwell, who was scheduled to take part in four corners match up for Thunder did not take part in the match up due to soreness in his neck. We'll give you an update on Bagwell once we get news of the severity of his neck injury.
Kid Romeo finally made his long awaited WCW debut as he teamed with Elix Skipper in the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team tournament as they defeated the team of Air Paris and AJ Styles to advance in the tournament Skipper and Romeo will face the Jung Dragons in the semi finals of the tournament. If you're wondering, I'm guessing that we'll see Elix and Romeo in the finals of the tournament and they'll probably face Rey and Kidman, but then again, we might just see 3 Count take on the Jung Dragons in the finals.
After much speculation, The American Dream, Dusty Rhodes did in fact make an appearance on Nitro as he made the save for his son, Dustin after the younger Rhodes was getting a beat down by Jeff Jarrett and WCW CEO Ric Flair. This of course will set up The Rhodes Family vs. Flair and Jarrett at the PPV, which should definitely be an interesting contest with a lot of nostalgia.
Here's the updated Greed Card, for the PPV that will take place on Sunday, March 18 :
- Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW Title
- Rick Steiner vs. Booker T for the WCW US Title
- Sean O' Haire and Chuck Palaumbo vs. "Totally Buffed" Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell
- Chavo Guerrero Jr vs. Shane Helms for the WCW Cruiserweight Title
- The Finals of the Crusierweight Tag Team Tournament
- Dusty and Dustin Rhodes vs. Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett
- "Team Canada" Lance Storm and Mike Awesome vs. Hugh Morrus and Konnan
- The Cat vs. Kanyon
Finally, here are today's Monday night and weekend ratings for the WWF, WCW, and the XFL, thanks to Dave Scherer:
- WWF Raw: 4.5 (Hours of 4.0 and 5.3)
- WCW Nitro: 2.1 (Hours of 2.3 and 1.8)
- WWF Livewire: 1.1
- WWF Superstars: 1.0
- WWF Heat: 1.9
- XFL's NBC game: 2.4
- XFL's UPN game: 1.2
- XFL's TNN game: 0.9
That's about it for today. We have some great updates on the main page, ranging from Fred Venturini's XFL Blitz to Raw and Nitro reports, and even the ever popular Guess the Wrestler. Until next time, Ciao...