Hello there, and welcome to TPWW.net for the Saturday edition of the news and rumors. Once again, without wasting any more time on this introduction paragraph, here are today's news and rumors.
The major story over the last couple of days has been the various problems that WCW is currently facing. There have been rumors that their potential deal with Fusient Media Ventures and Eric Bischoff to sell WCW has been having its problems, but it wasn't until just recently that we found out the extent of those problems. Unfortunately, it is not good at all for WCW and some have already began speculating that it could lead to their demise. WCW sent out a memo to their employees recently stating that WCW will hold its final Nitro taping on Monday, March 26, and the company would then go on a hiatus until a deal is finally worked out. It was also mentioned in the memo that there would be a WCW staff meeting on Tuesday, March 27 at the WCW Powerplant, where the employees would be enlightened on the status of the company and its future. As of now, however, the future of the company does not look very promising...
Turner Broadcasting has recently appointed a new chairman and CEO named Jamie Kellner who, according to various reports, has no interest in keeping professional wrestling on TBS. In fact, there are rumors that after the March 26 Nitro on TNT, WCW will be permanently cancelled off TNT and TBS. According to a recent article in Bloomberg News, TBS spokesman Jim Weiss had the following to say: "We've come to the decision that professional wrestling in its current style is not consistent with the upscale brands we've created with TNT and the Superstation TBS, therefore we've made the decision that we're no longer going to carry professional wresting in its current style." So, as of now, it appears that WCW has been cancelled and with that, the WCW sale to Fusient is put in a much worse position, since WCW's TNT and TBS timeslots were one of, if not the most important asset they could provide. However, hope remains, as rumors have risen that Eric Bischoff and Fusient are attempting to work out some sort of deal with FOX, that would move WCW programming to their networks. As of now, no details are available about the current situation, so there is not much room for speculation. There should hopefully be more news on this situation soon.
Another hot subject over the past few days has been Vince McMahon's interview with Bob Costas on HBO's "On the Record." I caught the interview, and it was definitely some good stuff. Bob Costas obviously was there to simply jump all over Vince McMahon and make him look bad, and Vince obviously became frustrated since he was given absolutely no respect from Costas. And of course, Vince is not used to getting no respect to his face, since he's definitely the most respected figure by his WWF employees. McMahon attempted to talk down to Costas, telling him to "shut his mouth" at one point, but Costas held his own, which definitely frustrated McMahon. At one point towards the end of the interview, McMahon shot back at Costas, saying that he made a really "classy" move in picking out only the bad things in the WWF and leaving out everything else. Costas replied by saying that Vince McMahon should not be one to talk about class. Now that had to definitely piss off Vince. However, Vince did make Costas look a little foolish, citing that Costas had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, since he doesn't watch the show. That's definitely true and was McMahon's strongest argument against Costas. Overall, it was definitely a VERY entertaining half hour of television. To check out a report of the show, click HERE. On a side note, this was Bob Costas's highest rated episode ever.
Yet another hot subject in the world of wrestling once again revolves around Vince McMahon. This time, it concerns his recent "feud" with Jesse Ventura. Vince McMahon was quoted in a recent article as saying that Jesse Ventura was on thin ice with the XFL and that if he doesn't up his game, he would be fired. When reached for reply, Ventura simply stated that he had nothing to say about McMahon's comments. Some have speculated that Vince is hoping that Ventura would quit the XFL, so they would not need to pay Ventura the remainder of his salary (which is the highest in the league, by far) if he was just released. Honestly, it does sound likely that Vince would do something like that. Ventura definitely is lacking in the color commentary department and really adds no insight to the game. Mike Adamle, who has been on the announce team for a couple of weeks now, has done a tremendous job, filling the void that Ventura has left on color commentary. So, with Adamle, the WWF definitely feels that there is no longer a need for Ventura. Afterall, Ventura was hired only for his star power and as a ratings ploy, not for his football knowledge.
Paul Heyman, Tazz, and Buh Buh Ray Dudley were all on Friday's edition of "Byte This!" on WWF.com. The show was definitely an interesting one, but for the most part, the show was spent by Heyman and Tazz to make fun of Kevin "Hermie" Kelly. At one point, Heyman even blamed guys like Kevin Kelly for giving Tazz a bad name with the WWF office. Heyman said that everyone in the WWF thinks that Tazz drops people on their heads and doesn't know what he's doing when he gives his opponents suplexes, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Buh Buh Ray Dudley even backed up Tazz, saying he's taken all of Tazz's suplexes while in ECW, and didn't get injured once. He said that Tazz knows what he's doing out there, unlike some people backstage in the WWF may think. Kevin Kelly admitted that Tazz should be in the ring more, but should also still be a commentator. Ugh, shut up. But hey, at least we finally saw Tazz get a little action this past Thursday on Smackdown, when he choked out Steven Richards. Maybe the WWF has finally found an angle for him. All hail Paul Heyman. To check out Byte This, click HERE.
In his recent Ross Report, Jim Ross had the following to say about his relationship with Paul Heyman: "It amazes me to read on the Internet how people perceive my relationship with Paul Heyman. No one has interviewed me about it but here's the story. I like Paul. I like working with Paul. I respect Paul's passion and intelligence. I do not hate or dislike Paul. Paul and I have had a positive relationship for many, many years. I helped him get his start in broadcasting, and for that I am very proud. Paul's character is easy to dislike and we hope to work off this natural tension and produce some fun TV for our viewers. I have personally supported Paul in a variety of ways in ECW over the years; and I am in awe of what he, his team and their fans built. However, are we going to confront each other on TV? I sure hope so! Will it be fun to watch? That's the obvious goal, and we will both work damn hard to make that happen (but it can't and won't happen overnight)."
In what should be disappointing news to the WWF, this past Thursday's WWF Smackdown drew only a 4.3 rating. Although it is up from last week's 3.9 rating, it still has to be looked upon as disappointing, since the WWF did not have to compete with Survivor on CBS this week, which usually draw a rating of 17.0 or higher. Instead, CBS aired Survivor on Wednesday this week and aired the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, which actually only drew a 6.7 overnight rating against Smackdown.
On the flipside, Wednesday's edition of WCW Thunder drew a 1.8 rating, down from last week's 1.9. On a related note, this Wednesday's WCW Thunder may be the final WCW Thunder episode ever. WCW's last show on TNT and TBS will be the March 26 Nitro, and WCW will not tape Thunder that night.
The WWF has opened a website for Triple H. The site can be visited at WWFHHH.com, and contains Triple H photos, videos, news, looks at his greatest matches in the WWF, and more.
A few WWF injury updates, according to Jim Ross: Bob Holly is still suffering from a vertebrae injury and had an MRI conducted this past week. The WWF is apparently still waiting for the results and will not bring back Holly until they are sure he's healthy. ... Rikishi had successful surgery on his eardrum this past Tuesday, but still may need some time to heal it, meaning he may miss WrestleMania. ... Scotty Too Hotty is beginning to heal, but is not expected to be back in time for WrestleMania. ... K-Kwik is still suffering from injured ribs, but is getting better and should be back in action in a couple of weeks. ... Edge's back injury is almost 100%, and he is expected to return at today's WWF house show in Toronto and tomorrow's show in Montreal.
There are rumors that Raven will receive a face push sometime in the near future, according to Jim Ross. However, Ross apparently feels that Raven needs more mic time, which is "hard to come by on RAW and SmackDown!"
More rumored matches for WrestleMania are Tazz vs. Steven Richards (I wish), and possibly Crash Holly vs. Dean Malenko for the Lightweight Title. However, I think there's a chance that if those matches were to happen, they would be on regular WWF TV rather than WrestleMania, but I could be wrong.
Jerry "The King" Lawler made an appearance on Memphis Power Pro Wrestling today, which in the past, has been somewhat of a "minor league" affiliate of the WWF, helping them bring in new talent. However, in an interesting move, according to Dave Meltzer, the WWF sent out a memo to Power Pro Wrestling that if Jerry Lawler appeared on their shows, no other WWF talent would be able to appear. Ouch.
Several ECW wrestlers have been working independent wrestling events as of late, and this past Thursday in Tyler, Texas, Tommy Dreamer became the Southern Pro Wrestling champion. Terrence Ates sent along this report of the event: "I attended a SPW (Southern Pro Wrestling) charity wrestling show here in Tyler, TX, at Harvey Hall last night. The undercard mainly consisted of regional talent - some good, some bad, but the two main events were stacked. The SPW tag titles were contested between Texas indy lightweight stars Samir and Joey Corman, the champs, versus the combo of Lenny Lane and Mikey Whipwreck - and even I marked out for Whipwreck b/c I didn't believe it was really him until he came onto the stage. The champs retained their titles via DQ. The main event saw ECW mainstay Tommy Dreamer defeat Red Dog for the SPW Title. This match wasn't as good as I would have hoped it to be, but hey - Dreamer was in East Texas. What do you expect? Anyway, Red Dog's ass made Rikishi's ass pleasing to look at b/c he just had an enormous amount of pimples and bumps and scratches - ehhh! Well, that was the show. Just wanted the readers to know that the ECW talent is working all over the US - even in TX."
Also, this past Wednesday, both Steve Corino and the Sandman worked an event for The Pennsylvania Wrestling Federation in Pottstown, PA. GTSpaulding2001 sent word that Corino wrestled for the world title, but ended up taking the loss, and the Sandman ran in during the main event and wrestled a six man tag match.
It's just about time to wrap this one up. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another edition of the N&R; by Corey Silvia and be sure to check out Corey's column, Jerichoholics Anonymous, which features an extensive preview of WCW's upcoming (and possibly final) PPV, WCW Greed. Also, as always, be sure to stop by tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST for LIVE coverage of the PPV. Until next time...
Triple A
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