Hellloo, there, everyone, and welcome to the Tuesday edition of the news and rumors here at TPWW. Since it's the Tuesday edition of the news and rumors, that means it must be... Tuesday... and that means that there's a lot to discuss in today's report coming off of last night's Monday night wrestling programs. There are so many things to get to today, so without further ado, here are today's news and rumors.
Starting things off with the ratings battle (if you still consider it a battle), last night's edition of WWF Raw drew what has to be a disappointing 4.6 rating, especially with WrestleMania less than two weeks away. Shouldn't everyone's interest in the WWF be going up instead of down? This week's 4.6 is down from last week's 4.9 and just barely up from the 4.5 rating Raw got on TNN two weeks ago. Raw did hours of 4.2 and 5.0, according to Dave Scherer. On the other hand, WCW Nitro scored yet another 2.1 rating, just as they have done for the past few weeks. The show did hours of 1.9 and 2.4.
In other ratings, WWF Heat scored a strong 2.2 rating, up from last week's 1.9. In another interesting note, the Heat replay at 11 PM on MTV scored a strong 1.2 rating, up from last week's 0.7. Also, WWF Livewire on Saturday morning drew a 1.1 rating, while Superstars on Sunday did a 0.9.
Last night's Raw was a spectacular show, in my opinion, which included more than one debut, more than one title change, and several matches announced for WrestleMania. Rhino's debut was great and definitely had me marking out. The spear he hit on Jeff Hardy was great, and I thought he left a good first impression with WWF fans who saw him for the first time. It looks like the WWF will give him a brainless monster gimmick judging from his backstage segment with Edge & Christian after his debut last night. But hey, at least he debuted. Plus, it's good to see the WWF did the right thing and kept his name as Rhino.
Speaking of Rhino, did anyone else notice Paul Heyman call Rhino "the last ECW champion"? That can't be good for anyone who's holding out hope for ECW. As sad as it is, I think it's safe to say that ECW is just about finished. The only thing I'm holding out hope for is one final show.
In something that came totally unexpected to me, we saw the debut of Little Spike Dudley last night on Raw to help the Dudleys regain the WWF tag titles. To say that it's great to see Spike Dudley in the WWF would be an understatement. He'll finally add something new to the Dudleys, who have been doing the same exact act for over a year now. I would have hated to see them turn into another New Age Outlaws. Plus, with Spike, the WWF gets a wrestler who can bump with the best of them, but for some reason, I doubt Spike will bring back his Giant Killer gimmick in the WWF, since the WWF has a "big man fetish (Thank you, Ry)."
Wow, Tazz actually wrestled last night on Raw, just a month after Jim Ross promised us that we'd see more of Tazz in the ring (turn on your sarcasm meters for this one). Unfortunately, Tazz fans were only treated to a 30 second match with the Rock running out and hitting a Spinebuster on TAZZ. May I ask what the point of that was, other than to bury Tazz again? Couldn't the WWF have let Tazz and Richards finish the match and then have the Rock come out afterwards? But whatever. The same goes for Test, who was also unecessarily buried in his match against Triple H. For those interested, check out a few posts about Tazz in the TPWW Discussion Forum by clicking HERE.
Former ECW wrestler Nova was scheduled to work a dark match at last night's Raw, just as he was at last Tuesday's Smackdown, but once again did not make it to the show due a miscommunication, according to Dave Scherer. However, there is a chance that he'll get a dark match at tonight's Smackdown tapings.
Nova's former partner in ECW, Chris Chetti, did wrestle a dark match at last night's Raw is War, taking a loss to Taka Michinoku.
Did anyone else catch the big "F*** YOU ROCK" uncensored sign in front row, dead center, during the main event at Raw last night? Also, our recent poll asks who do you think will win the main event at WrestleMania. Stone Cold Steve Austin has about 75% of the votes, while The Rock has only 25%. I think it's pretty evident that Stone Cold Steve Austin has gotten back his top face role in the WWF.
On the subject of WrestleMania, here's how the card is shaping up:
- The Rock vs. Steve Austin - WWF Title
- Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon - Street Fight
- Triple H vs. The Undertaker
- The Big Show vs. Kane
- Chris Jericho vs. William Regal - IC Title
- Ivory vs. Chyna - Women's Title
- Test vs. Eddie Guerrero - European Title
- Rumored: The Dudleys vs. E&C; vs. The Hardys - Tag Titles
- Rumored: Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit
We saw a (very) slight hint at a feud between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit last night on Raw. While both men were getting ready for their match, they had a brief argument over the Crossface and the Anklelock, with Angle wanting Benoit to soften up the Rock with the Crossface, so he could lock on the ankle lock. Unfortunately, although the WWF had a perfect opportunity in the main event to turn Benoit face and start a feud with him and Angle for a match at WrestleMania, nothing came of it. However, the WWF still has two Smackdowns and a Raw to develop a feud between the two before WrestleMania.
In case you haven't heard, Vince McMahon will be a guest on the Howard Stern radio show on Thursday morning. Stern has been talking about Vince McMahon all week after his interview with Bob Costas this past Wednesday. According to Stern, he wants to give Vince McMahon ideas on how to make the XFL better so Vince will give him half of it... and all its debts too, I guess (Conan O'Brien rules).
The WWF will release a new magazine entitled "Divas 2001," showcasing the women of the WWF in over 100 pages of photos. The WWF has put up a preview of the magazine online, which you can visit by clicking HERE.
The WWF has put up a section on Stone Cold Steve Austin's official website, StoneCold.com, showcasing Austin's bloodiest matches of his WWF career. It can be visited at StoneCold.com.
Since much of this report has focused on former ECW wrestlers showing up in other promotions, Kid Kash took on Jason Jett (EZ Money) at last night's WCW Thunder taping. For those wondering, (...SPOILER ALERT...) Jett got the win over Kash in what was said to have been a great match.
Of course, this report would not be complete without talking about WCW's current status and Eric Bischoff's comments at last night's Nitro. Throughout last night's show, next week's Nitro was promoted as the huge "season finale." Eric Bischoff was at Nitro (sort of, via phone), and finally shed some light to the casual WCW fans, letting them know the straight up truth. Bischoff stated that he had been working with a group (Fusient) for the last six or so months to purchase WCW and in recent weeks, the deal has "hit a couple of roadblocks, which may, in fact, be brick walls." Bischoff mentioned that next week's Nitro "may" be the final Nitro on the Turner networks, and because of that, he would make it a huge show with every WCW title on the line. Also, he sent out an open invitation to any WCW champion to show up at the show. Of course, this leads to a lot of speculation. As of now, the general feeling is that we'll see the returns of Goldberg, Sting, and Kevin Nash at Nitro next Monday... and personally, I wouldn't be surprised to see the return of Hulk Hogan. It would definitely be suitable for WCW. It was announced that Booker T would take on Scott Steiner in a title vs. title match at next week's Nitro, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or more wrestlers is added to the match to give it more meaning. In my opinion, the WCW title has to change on Nitro next week. There would really be no point of having Scott Steiner hold on to it. Afterall, it is the "season finale" and hey, maybe even the "series finale" of the show and it has to go out with a bang. Having Scott Steiner retain his title would make it seem like just another regular Nitro. Hopefully Goldberg will be able to go for Nitro next week, although he may not be in his best condition. In all honesty, if Monday's Nitro is in fact the last Nitro ever, I wouldn't mind seeing Hulk Hogan leave with the title (yeah, there, I said it). As "old" as the man is to still be in wrestling, he can still draw and he is a wrestling legend.
The latest word in the media is that the WWF has in fact shown interest in purchasing WCW once again. Some may even blame the WWF's entrance into the WCW buying race as something that is delaying, and potentially even cancelling, the WCW-Fusient deal. To put it bluntly, Time Warner wants the most money they can get for WCW. And for now, if that's the deciding factor in this "race," the WWF may have the advantage.
In what could be a big blow to WCW, according to Dave Scherer, Scott Steiner has suffered a pinched nerve in his left leg, leaving little to no feeling in his leg below the knee. However, word is that he suffered this injury prior to Monday's Nitro, so WCW had to have been already aware of the injury before they booked Steiner for next week's Nitro. For that reason, it doesn't look like this injury is as big as it could be.
Finally, Starz! has added Barry Blaustein's wrestling documentary, "Beyond the Mat" into its rotation. For those of you with the channel, you can catch Beyond the Mat on Starz this Saturday night at 11:45 PM EST/PST.
With that, this one is done. Thanks again for visiting TPWW today and checking out today's news. Be sure to join us for live coverage of the WWF Smackdown and Heat tapings tonight and until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com