Hello, and welcome to today's news and rumors right here at TPWW.net. It seems like it's been a while since I've done one of these... probably because it has been a while. Anyway, TPWW finally seems to be functioning normally server-wise for now, so here are today's news and rumors.
UPDATE: (This note has been added to the original report) The WWF released a press release today stating that they will discontinue the XFL. The official press release can be read in full by clicking HERE.
A major story going around is the possibility of WWF Smackdown being cut down to 90 minutes on UPN, with the major reason being a very soft ad market for professional wrestling. With all the pressure by the Parents Television Council put on advertisers and the overall image wrestling has to advertisers right now, reports are that WWF Smackdown is having trouble finding advertisers, and there has been thought of cutting a half hour off the show in order to air sitcoms on UPN from 9:30-10. Reports are that UPN may have leverage if they really do want the show cut down, since it's pretty much up to them if the XFL will go on next season (obviously that will not happen now). However, rumors are that they may not even need that leverage, since Vince McMahon has been quoted in the past as saying he would prefer a shorter show. Personally, I think an hour and a half Smackdown wouldn't be such a bad idea, since it would put a little less stress on the WWF's booking team, plus it would sort of help keep the product fresh in a way, since they wouldn't have to come up with as many ideas to pack into the show. But as of now, this is just a possibility and nothing is final yet.
On the subject of Smackdown, the WWF held its weekly tapings Tuesday night in Hartford. To check out the complete results, click HERE.
Just an extra note on the Smackdown tapings... Tazz was not able to commentate the show due to a family emergency, so Paul Heyman took over the position alongside Michael Cole.
Former ECW Television champion and multi-time Tag Team Champion, Yoshihiro Tajiri, who some consider one of the most talented wrestlers currently in the business, made his WWF debut this past Monday night in a non-televised dark match at the Nassau Colisseum for Raw is War. Tajiri reportedly received a huge pop from the New York crowd and was dressed in his normal trademark ring attire with a new WWF produced entrance theme. Tajiri took on one half of Kaientai, Shao Funaki in his debut, and in typical WWF fashion... he jobbed. But, according to TPWW reporter Mike E, the loss was accompanied by a chorus of boos from the crowd, who showed their "appreciation" for the WWF's booking. Tajiri did, however, hit several of his trademark stiff kicks to the head, which received huge pops from the crowd. After a back in forth match, Tajiri managed to hit his springboard back elbow, then a few more kicks to the face of Funaki. After a series of stiff chops to each other, Funaki hit Tajiri with a suplex, but was quickly kicked in the head once more by the Japanese Buzzsaw, Yoshihiro Tajiri. However, in the end, Funaki gained the upperhand and the pinfall victory after an inverted top rope DDT. Again, the crowd didn't seem to like the decision at all. And, to top it off, Tajiri took on a virtual unknown wrestler, Ricky Banderas, in a dark match at this past Tuesday's Smackdown tapings. And again, although he looked extremely impressive and the crowd was behind him all the way, he jobbed again. Can I please ask WTF is going on here? Honestly, I don't get this at all. This is unbelievably ridiculous and it flat out pisses me off. The WWF heard the crowd's boos after Tajiri lost on Monday to Funaki, but they book him to job again the very next night? What the hell?! It's for stupid, unexplainable reasons like this why the WWF's ratings are sliding. I guess they think by pissing off their fans, people will keep watching.
This past Monday's Raw is War scored a 4.6 rating, down from last week's 5.1. The show's highest rated segment was the Jericho vs. Regal cage match, which did a 4.9. The Austin vs. Rikishi main event did only a 4.7 rating. Nothing more to say.
In other ratings news, Heat scored a 1.7 rating on MTV. The entire show was composed basically of a Triple H and Stephanie interview, which, for whatever reason, kept mentioning the Kurt Angle vs. Triple H feud from a few months ago, making Triple H, who's supposed to be one of the WWF's top heels, come off as a complete babyface. Heat will go back to matches this coming week, however.
It has been officially announced that the WWF will do back to back nights for Raw and Smackdown at Madison Square Garden on June 25 and June 26. Tickets for the Smackdown taping will go on sale this Saturday, May 12 at 10:00 AM. Also, tickets for Raw went on sale this past Saturday and are very close to being sold out already.
The WWF has sent Perry Saturn home, according to various reports, after he reportedly wrestled too brutally against Mike Bell at Monday's Jakked/Metal tapings. Not much more information is known on this situation as of now.
Christian is getting married on May 25 in Florida, according to Jim Ross.
UPN9 here in New York aired a story this past Thursday night after Smackdown about Jerry "The King" Lawler and Stacy "The Kat" Carter and how they were "removed" from the WWF. The story did a good job in making the WWF look bad and Lawler and Kat looking good. One interesting note from the report was that Lawler mentioned that Playboy had contacted him and Stacy about Stacy posing in an upcoming edition of the magazine. However, after she was released by the WWF, Playboy sent them an e-mail saying that the plan was off, costing them "millions," as Lawler described. Jim Ross took a shot at the story in his Ross Report last week, stating the following: "WWOR-TV (Channel 9 in New York City) will do a feature on Bradshaw's interest in the stock market next week. Hopefully, it will be a better feature than some the UPN affiliate has done in the past on the Federation."
The Mummy Returns pulled in a whopping $70.1 million in its opening weekend. To put it into perspective, the second highest grossing movie of the weekend, Driven, pulled in only $6.1 million.
GhettoRocker316 sent along the following: I found out that there is a sweepstakes you can win a shield signed by The Rock! And other stuff! To check it out, click HERE.
Ray C. sent word that ECW's web site, ECWwrestling.com, has been taken down and instead leads to another web site, 1wrestling.com. That kinda hurts.
On the subject of sites going down, Matthew Davies sent word that Vince Russo's official web site, VinceRusso.org is currently down, and the following message is displayed: "We are temporarily shutting VinceRusso.org down for a major relaunch--with a brand new design and possibly a brand new domain. Your patience is appreciated. We'll be back ASAP!"
And while we're on the subject of web sites going down, that leads me to my next - site related - note. As you've noticed, we have been experiencing several server problems this entire week, as I made note of in the news and rumors a couple of weeks ago. Although everything seems to temporarily be under control right now, the road ahead may still have a few bumps and potholes on it. The reason for the recent downtime and problems is because our host is currently upgrading their servers, which will provide for a hopefully faster, more reliable server when it's complete. However, with the upgrade of the server comes some downtime, and that's what we've been experiencing lately. The host is moving each site on their server one by one, and according to an e-mail I've just received, TPWW will be moved this Friday morning. According to the e-mail, starting Friday morning and up until around Sunday when it's complete, TPWW will be "frozen." By "frozen," the e-mail stated that we may not be able to update the site during the move, or that anything that is updated during that time will be gone once the server switch is complete. So, once again, this is just a bit of a warning if you notice any problems this weekend. However, after the switch is finally complete, which should be around Sunday or Monday, it should hopefully be smooth sailing from there.
Finally, since I haven't been able to put together a report in a while, I'd like to welcome back Mike Christopher to the TPWW team. Mike was one of our original staff members from wayyy back in the day when TPWW was just starting out. Those of you who have been visiting TPWW for a while may remember all our "adventures" from back then. Anyway, it's good to have him back, and he'll most likely be your N&R; man every Wednesday. Also, a big welcome to Fred Venturini, who debuted his wrestling column, The Right Angle, this past week at TPWW. It's a great read and I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you haven't yet. And with that, it's just about time to wrap this one up. Until next time, "smell ya later." (Any Simpsons fans in here?)
Triple A
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