Hey there TPWW readers, and welcome to today's news and rumors report. Today is something of a light news day, but there are still some interesting tidbits out there. I really suck at doing intros, so we're just going to get right to the stories for today…
In some big news, Scott Hall teamed up with Dusty Rhodes last night in a TCW match, beating Larry Zbyszko and Scott Lawler when Dusty hit the Bionic Elbow, and Hall got the pin. Also on the card, Barry Windham beat Tommy Dreamer cleanly, and Glacier, Scotty Anton and Lodi also appeared. Kevin Nash was backstage and signing autographs, and left with Scott Hall at the end of the night.
The Great Sasuke apparently busted his eardrum at an FMW show last night. He will not receive surgery as of yet, and will have to let the eardrum mend on its own. He teamed with Hayabusa to defeat Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Mr. Gannosuki, if you're interested.
Rumor has it that Stephanie McMahon was injured at the Insurrextion show last night. A fan apparently threw a bottle into the ring, and it bounced off the canvas and into her head. She was brought to the back, and treated by the house doctor. There were no results released, but it is believed that she received some sort of injury to her face.
Also on the injury front, The Undertaker apparently injured his ear at the show as well. Undertaker was draped over the ropes and Austin jumped on the back of his neck. The problem was his left knee brace had gotten unfastened during the match. It appeared the piece of metal that goes over the back of his calf stabbed Undertaker in the ear. He was wobbly as he left the ring and was bleeding from the ear. It's unknown whether the injury sustained is serious or not, but one eye witness described it as "an inch a way from being another Mick Foley situation." Thanks to Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer for the information.
Here are the results of the WWF's UK only show, WWF Insurrextion:
*Eddie Guerrero d. Grand Master Sexay
*Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn d. Crash and Hardcore Holly
*Bradshaw beat Big Show, after Big Show dismantled Test
*Edge and Christian won the 4 tag team elimination match against the Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz and X- Factor's X-Pac and Justin Credible. The order of elimination was X-Factor, Hardy Boyz then the Dudleyz
*Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle
*Chris Jericho d. William Regal
*The Undertaker d. Stone Cold/Triple H, when he pinned Triple H
*For a complete, detailed report, click HERE.
The show was said to be passable, and reviews were pretty much mixed. A lot of people compared it to Backlash, in that there was nothing particularly special about it. Many fans were upset that Benoit-Regal was switched, since they just recently saw that for free at Backlash. All in all, many of these matches have been seen before on pay per view or free television, though many people said they were done far better here.
Tajiri was called in from Japan, and asked to be at this week's Raw. It's unknown whether he'll appear on the card or just work a dark match. There were reports that some people were interested in bringing Super Crazy in to work with him, but that idea would be impractical and hard to pull off. Plus, a lot of people in the office are down on Crazy's style of wrestling, for one reason or another. It's expected that Tajiri will work a dark match, though we at TPWW.net will keep you posted as always.
Here's the WWF injury report, thanks to Jim Ross:
*Dean Malenko is having shoulder problems and received a cortisone shot that has improved the problem.
*Scotty 2 Hotty is still having problems with his neck, and an MRI last week showed little or no improvement from two months ago. He may have to undergo surgery to correct the problem.
*Perry Saturn has a severely bruised biceps but will work through it.
*William Regal has some discomfort with his shoulder and elbow but will continue working, although he will not be 100 percent for a few weeks.
*K-Kwik is having more problems with his ribs and will be unbooked until they are healed.
*D-Von Dudley's left shoulder is sore but from all accounts will not require surgery.
*Grand Master Sexay cut his leg in Denver but is going to be OK.
Mick Foley's 400 plus page book entitled "Foley Is Good" will be released this Tuesday, May 8th. Though not a lot of people have gotten their hands on a copy yet, those who have say it's a solid follow up book, and that it's very well-written. I hope to pick up a copy as soon as possible, and I suggest you do the same.
Jim Ross met with Stacy Keibler and The Wall earlier this week, and feels very good about both of these budding young superstars. He also claims that the WWF legal department has made "significant headway" on getting some of the major names to contract. Hopefully names like Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T, Ric Flair and Scott Steiner will be available by WCW's start date in June.
The WWF office is looking to pencil in a meeting with Tommy Dreamer as soon as possible. Everyone in the company respects Dreamer a great deal, and are actively pursuing signing him to a contract. He still has a few independent commitments to take care of, but it looks as though we'll see him in WWF or the new WCW before much longer. Dreamer has done a lot of crazy things in his career, but I for one believe he might have some breathtaking matches ahead of him.
The WWF creative team has been told to really focus on cementing the Undertaker and Kane as top faces in The Rock's absence. Most people behind the scenes feel that The Undertaker has never been more popular than in his current position, and are eager for him to give Kane some much-needed heat, hopefully enough to spark an upper card/main event run for the Big Red Machine.
Mark Henry has returned to the touring WWF, wrestling dark matches on and off for the company. He's said to have really picked up his speed and movement in the ring, and lost an amazing amount of weight. I personally liked Henry during his "Sexual Chocolate" stage; though his weight really hindered his mobility. Now that he's slimmed down, maybe he can be a big player in the WWF…which is something they drastically need right now.
That's it for this week, ladies and gentleman. I hope you enjoyed today's news report, and be sure to check back with us again tomorrow. I'll be back next weekend with my column on Saturday, and the News and Rumors on Sunday. See you next week.
Corey Silvia
Corey@tpww.net