Hellllllooo, everybody, and welcome to today's news and rumors right here at the one and only (obviously) TPWW.net. There has been a lot to talk about in the wrestling world over the last couple of days, and I'll try my best to cover all that needs to be covered. So, without wasting anymore time on this stupid, stupid introduction paragraph, here are today's news and rumors.
I thought last night's Raw was another good one for the second week in a row, while Nitro came off as decent. Nitro definitely had its miscues and mistakes, but overall, it was a mildly entertaining show. A few of their angles (the "documentary" thing and the Midajah angle) were pretty good, and the wrestling action was also great for the most part. As for Raw, we saw a few great matches, some more WrestleMania angle development, and a great main event between The Rock and Kurt Angle for the WWF title. Full results of Raw are available by Fred Venturini by clicking HERE, while Nitro results are available HERE.
Judging from the segments on Raw, it appears that we may see Chris Jericho battle it out with "commissioner" William Regal at WrestleMania on April 1. While listening to Regal's promo last night, it's amazing how great his mic skills are. It's also amazing how over Chris Jericho is with the crowd. While a Jericho vs. Regal match is not exactly etched in stone just yet, it does appear very likely, since neither man really has another feud going on right now, and it would be weird for the WWF to not give their Intercontinental champion a match at the biggest wrestling event of the year.
The WWF furthered the Undertaker/Triple H feud last night, by having Triple H get the upperhand on the Undertaker last night. Definitely a great segment there, since it gave Triple H a little extra credibility, showing he will not back down from anyone. Also, during that segment, we saw what may be the start of a feud between the Big Show and Kane. As Kane ran down to save his "brother," The Big Show attacked Kane and put him through a table with a chokeslam. Neither the Big Show or Kane really have an angle for WrestleMania yet, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the two of them in the ring.
Staying on the subject of WrestleMania feuds and matches, with Chris Benoit defeating Eddie Guerrero on Raw last night, it looks like Benoit no longer has an opponent for WrestleMania, unless the WWF wants him to take on Guerrero again, which doesn't seem likely at this time. It appears that Benoit is in the middle of his face turn right now, so if he does wrestle at WrestleMania, I'd expect him to take on a heel wrestler. The only person who comes to mind, who is without a real feud right now is Kurt Angle. As of now, really nothing at all has been done to even indicate a match between Benoit and Angle at WrestleMania, but with two Raws and three Smackdowns left until WrestleMania, there's still time, I guess. But of course, this is just speculation on my part, so don't take it as confirmed.
Also, it appears that Ivory will take on Chyna at WrestleMania for the Women's title. So, all in all, here's how the WrestleMania card may look:
- The Rock vs. Steve Austin - WWF Title
- Triple H vs. The Undertaker
- The Hardys vs. The Dudleys vs. E&C; - Tag Titles (TLC Match?)
- Ivory vs. Chyna - Women's Title
- Chris Jericho vs. William Regal (Possible)
- The Big Show vs. Kane (Possible)
- Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle (Possible?)
Is it me or did it seem like Jim Ross was in a really bad mood last night on Raw? For some reason, it seemed like he genuinly hated being out there with Paul Heyman at the announce table. During the first hour of Raw, he just about ignored every single thing Heyman said, then towards the second hour, he began telling Heyman to "shut up." Maybe it's because he misses Jerry Lawler, but hey, whaddya gonna do?
WWF Raw was up in the ratings this week, rebounding from last week's disappointing 4.5 rating to score a 4.9 rating this week, off hours of 4.4 and 5.4, according to Dave Scherer. Nitro, on the other hand, scored another 2.1 rating, just as they did last week. Weekend ratings were a little weird for the WWF, with Livewire on Saturday morning on TNN scoring only a 0.7 rating, down from last week's 1.1. Superstars, however, scored a 1.1 rating, up from last week's 1.0. WWF Heat scored a 1.9 rating, just as they did last week.
One interesting thing that you may have noticed on Sunday night was that MTV aired a replay of Sunday Night Heat at 11:00 PM. It looks like MTV will continue to do that each week from now on, which is not a bad idea. For those wondering, the replay of Heat on Sunday scored a 0.7 rating.
While we're on the subject of ratings, let's talk about the XFL, shall we? Below are this week's ratings:
- XFL on NBC: 2.4
- XFL on UPN: 1.2
- XFL on TNN: 0.8 (Am I the only one comparing the XFL's TNN ratings to ECW's?)
ECWwrestling.com posted the following message yesterday regarding the state of ECW: "We expect a statement from Paul Heyman at any time concerning the state of ECW." Once we hear anything, it'll be covered right away.
We saw the return of Stacy "Miss Hancock" Keibler last night on Nitro, who revealed that she was never pregnant in the first place (I guess), and formed a new alliance with Shawn Stasiak. Personally, I think Stasiak's gimmick is great. It can definitely be compared to a few old greats, such as "Ravishing" Rick Rude, but has enough to distinguish itself. The photo thing is hilarious. The gimmick just has an "old school" feel to it.
On the subject of Nitro, whatever happened to the "new owners" that were supposed to show up last night? Hopefully WCW is just building this up to something in the future, but it seemed weird that they made no mention of it at all towards the end of the show when they had been hyping it throughout.
Buff Bagwell was back on Nitro last night after receiving good news on his injured neck that he suffered last week. An MRI revealed that his neck was just jammed, and he was actually able to wrestle a match at last night's Thunder tapings.
A hot topic across the Internet over the last few days has been the status of the WCW sale. Brad Siegel has reportedly been on vacation recently, so no one is really sure what is going on with the sale. According to the Pro Wrestling Torch, Siegel returned from vacation today and immediately checked on the status of the sale. In what may or may not be good news, word is that Siegel was attempting to help keep the deal from falling apart rather than close it out. We'll hopefully learn more about this situation in the next couple of days.
Kid Kash wrestled a dark match last night at Nitro against former Japan star Jackie Fulton. Reports are that Kid Kash looked good in the match, but had a minor slip up while attempting a springboard move. In the end, Kash ended up taking the loss in the match. Given WCW's huge emphasis on the cruiserweights lately, I don't see how they could not sign Kash.
The old clock on the wall tells me that it's about time to wrap this one up... yeah, my clock talks to me. Uh, anyway, thanks for reading, as always, and stop by again soon for more news and rumors. I put up a few lyrics from WWF The Music Volume 5, and I should have a few more updated soon. To check those out, click the link on the main page. Until next time...
Triple A
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