Hey, hey, hey. Welcome to the Saturday edition of the news and rumors here at TPWW. Now, I would come up with some really flashy intro paragraph, but what's the point? Nobody likes intros... and if you do, sorry if I offended you. Ah jeez, anyway, here are today's news and rumors.
It appears that the WWF is set on launching WCW as a separate promotion and will do everything in their power to do so. According to Dave Meltzer, the only way that the WWF would not launch WCW is if they are unable to work out a television deal with TNN, which is actually one major reason for the several delays in the launch of the company. Although the WWF and TNN are both pretty much in agreement over the Saturday night 11PM-1AM timeslot (although the WWF would surely like to have a better slot), nothing has been finalized yet. So right now, it's basically just waiting on TNN to make the timeslot official, and an official launch date for WCW should be made once again.
As mentioned on several occasions, Jim Ross has been working hard, meeting with several potential prospects for the new WCW. It has been confirmed by Dave Meltzer that Jim Ross actually met with Rob Van Dam sometime this past week. Although no deal was offered to Van Dam and there is no word on how the meeting went, this does indicate that the WWF does have at least some interest in bringing in RVD. And that's definitely great news for fans of "The Whole F'n Show."
As previously reported, Jim Ross has either met with or spoken to almost every major superstar in WCW, and the feeling is that the WWF may be able to sign a few of the wrestlers, with the exception of Sting and maybe Goldberg. Not much is known about Sting at this time, but it appears that, unless something changes, he may not be interested in signing with the new WCW. As for Goldberg, the feeling is that his salary is way too high for him to take a Time Warner buyout and huge paycut by the WWF to go to work for WCW. Some are saying that it's pretty much a 95% chance that Goldberg will NOT be a part of the new WCW.
However, the WWF is interested in many of WCW's other top stars, including Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Steiner, who Jim Ross spoke to recently and are big prospects for the WWF's WCW. Diamond Dallas Page recently stated on his mailing list that he has in fact spoken with Jim Ross and the meeting went "great".
As for Scott Steiner, the former WCW champ recently posted comments on his current status on his web site, BootyDaddy.com. The comments are as follows: "To all my freaks out there: All I can say right now is that things are in the works. I'm getting all kinds of e-mail from wrestling fans looking for news. You all should know that the moment I know something that I'm allowed to say publicly, I'll say it here. In the meantime, I'm getting healthy and stronger than ever. I have the best body in the business for a reason - I work my ass off to keep it that way. I'm in the gym, eating right, and getting ready for a return. Stay tuned."
In other news, WWF Backlash is this Sunday, and the card is shaping up to be a pretty decent one. As of now, the card is as follows, but I wouldn't be surprised if another match or two were added:
- Steve Austin & Triple H vs. Undertaker & Kane - WWF, IC, Tag Titles
- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - 30 Minute Submissions Match
- Chris Jericho vs. William Regal - Dutchess of Queensbury Match
- Shane McMahon vs. The Big Show - Last Man Standing Match
- Rhyno vs. Raven - Hardcore Title
- Matt Hardy vs. Christian vs. Eddie Guerrero - European Title
- The Dudley Boyz vs. X-Factor - Six Man Tag Match
The rumored return date for The Rock is July 30th, on Raw is War in Philadelphia, PA. The Rock will reportedly be finished filming "The Scorpion King" by then, and would return with about 3 weeks worth of shows to promote a match involving himself at SummerSlam, which takes place on August 19. As of now, this is just a rumor, but does seem logical.
WWF Smackdown this past Thursday drew a relatively low 3.7 rating, just as it did two weeks ago. This is definitely not good news at all for the WWF, which has seen its ratings gradually slide lower and lower over the last year or so. However, in defense of the rating, Smackdown was facing some tough competition, with Survivor doing a 17.1, Friends doing a 12.6, CSI doing a 14.8, and Millionaire on ABC doing a 10.2.
Howard Stern did his radio show from WWF New York yesterday morning, which featured a fight between two of Stern's characters, Angry Black and K-Rock's Crazy Cabby. Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H made an appearance on the show, doing some commentary for the fight, which resulted in a draw.
Whether or not the XFL will return next season is still pretty much in the air, according to various reports. The chances of the XFL returning to NBC prime time are pretty much zero right now, and the chances of the league returning to NBC at all (daytime timeslot) are also rather slim. To quote the king of late night, Conan O'Brien, "NBC announced that the XFL will not air next season. Yeah, apparently to increase ratings, they will instead air clips of a cat licking itself." Ouch. As of now, it depends on whether or not UPN will want the league back next season. They had only a one year contract, and the choice is pretty much there. If they do decide to air the XFL, it would air on Sunday afternoons from 1-4PM. If they don't, chances of the XFL surviving with only a TNN timeslot are slim to none.
There are rumors that the WWF has signed Simon Diamond and Dawn Marie to developmental deals. If that is in fact true, the couple are expected to be sent down to Memphis Championship Wrestling to further develop their skills. If the WWF has in fact signed them, it's definitely a great move, since, judging from their ECW days, they have an enormous amount of potential in the business and I think they would fit in to the new WCW very well.
Scott Hall and Rowdy Roddy Piper are reportedly suing WCW for wrongful termination, according to Wade Keller. Both Hall and Piper were released from the company on bad terms with management and have decided to file lawsuits. Piper will reportedly temporarily move to Atlanta so that he can be more involved in the case.
The WWF has added several new pics of their divas from the Caribbean, which I would highly recommend checking out if you're looking for a little eye candy. To check the pics out, click HERE.
Finally, in a site related note, here's the TPWW Discussion Forums topic of the day: Create your own bad gimmick.
That is all... for now... or something. Until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com