'sup, and welcome to today's edition of the news and rumors here at TPWW. Argh, friggin' intros. Anyway, it's been a very busy week for me on several levels, but there's no need to get into that now. Our server situation, unfortunately, may not be completely out of the way yet, since the move that was scheduled to take place this past weekend has been postponed to this weekend. However, here's hoping we don't encounter any problems. Anyway, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
The WWF continued its rating slide this week, as last night's Raw is War drew only a 4.5 rating, down from last week's already low 4.6. The show did hours of 4.4 and 4.6, and in an interesting note, not one segment out of the entire show even broke the 5.0 rating barrier. Remember the days of when the WWF would constantly hit the 8.0+ mark for some segments? Maybe the WWF needs to pop in a few tapes of Raw from a couple of years ago and compare what they were doing then to what they're doing now.
But... is the quality of the show really a huge reason why the show is dropping constantly in the ratings? Sure. Is it the only reason? Definitely not. As I've mentioned in the past, the WWF has had so many things sidetracking them, including the XFL, WCW, their going public, and several other things that have turned much of their attention away from the WWF and to these other ventures. The WWF's full focus and dedication has simply not been into the WWF in the last few months, in my opinion. What needs to be done is a string of long, sit down meetings between the WWF's creative and production team to come up with new, cutting edge, intriguing, unpredictable, mark out angles. If they meet long enough, it's inevitable that they'll come up with a few great storyline ideas. The WWF is Vince McMahon's life, and he should do everything it takes to raise the quality of shows.
There are definitely a few other reasons for the lack of interest in WWF programming as of late. For some reason, the ratings began to drop more rapidly than ever before in the weeks after the final WCW Nitro. Interest in the WWF seems to have dropped week by week, as the ratings indicate. Personally, my lack of interest in the WWF right now is not just a lack of interest in the WWF, but a lack of interest in wrestling as a whole. With no more WCW and ECW, my wrestling "morale" is pretty low right now and I'm sure that's the case for many other people as well. Some have also argued that the Rock's absence has caused this ratings downslide. Ehhh, could be, but I'm sticking with my other theories.
Below is the current card for this Sunday's WWF Judgment Day PPV:
- Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker - WWF Title
- Triple H vs. Kane - Intercontinental Title
- Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - 2/3 Falls, pinfall/submissions/ladder match
- Chyna vs. Lita - Women's Title
- William Regal vs. Rikishi
- Test vs. Big Show
- Spike Dudley vs. Crash (Unconfirmed)
- I'd expect a tag match to be added, and maybe something involving the Eddie Guerrero/Radicals feud.
Rikishi may have injured his wrist or shoulder during his match last night, when he gave Kurt Angle a belly to belly suplex. Not much is known about the possible injury, but it would be a shame to have him injured again almost immediately after he just returned from ear drum surgery.
Below are the matches that took place before last night's live Raw, and will air on this week's WWF Metal/Jakked syndicated shows. Thanks to Vinny for sending the results along:
- Billy Gunn defeated Race Steele
- Jerry Lynn defeated Essa Rios - Light Heavyweight Title
- Haku defeated Chris Michaels
- X-Factor defeated Chris Williams, Joe Harris, Doug Basham
On the subject of WWF Jakked/Metal, there has been much controversy over last week's match, where Perry Saturn went ballistic against young Mike Bell. After a hiptoss spot was messed up, Saturn began to pound away at Bell stiffly, then tossed him carelessly out of the ring, causing him to land very hard right on his neck. Saturn then picked Bell up and rammed him with unbelievable force into the steel steps at ringside. It was rumored that Saturn had been sent home by the WWF due to this situation, but it turns out he just received some verbal reprimand, and was back on Raw last night. It was definitely an unprofessional thing of Saturn to do, but I don't agree that he should be fired for the situation, as many people have suggested. I'm sure everyone will already think twice before doing anything like Saturn did again, so there's no need to make him a martyr and take away his livelihood for the incident.
The WWF's July 22 PPV, Fully Loaded, has been renamed to "WWF Invasion." There may be two reasons for the change. One, the "Fully Loaded" name may imply a reference to guns and given the WWF's recent advertiser problems, that's one thing they don't need to worry about. And, could the WWF possibly finally be planning that WCW invasion angle everyone has been talking about? I would love to see it and I'm hoping it happens, but with the WWF these days, my hopes aren't being set too high.
On the subject of WCW talent, Jim Ross has reportedly spoken to Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson in addition to the original 24 signed WCW talents. Also, the WWF is sending Mike Awesome, Hugh Morrus, Shawn Stasiak, and Jaime Knoble to Memphis Championship Wrestling later this month.
Thanks to Rob for sending along the following note: "As per, Rebellion 2001 sold out the MEN Arena In Manchester, UK, in less than an hour this morning. Great news for the venue and the federation, but the handling of the tickets was once more a farce. After making a statement on wwfinternational.com about trying to work out a new arrangement for ticket sales following the problems with Earl's Court last year, today's ticket sale went ahead with only two phone numbers and the ticketmaster website to book tickets. Within 2-3 minutes the website crashed and the phone lines were a write off almost immediately. Having spoke to the venue box office yesterday, they seemed a little too eager to palm off my enquiries and generally seemed clueless as to how busy they were going to be. To make matters worse, tickets for Janet Jackson were released an hour before the Rebellion tickets which only went on to lessen the chances of getting through to the box office."
The Mummy Returns finished with around $32.2 million in its second weekend, grossing a total of $116.5 million in its first ten days. Wow.
On the subject of The Rock and Hollywood, a rumor, according to CDMag.com, states that the Rock is wanted as a lead character for the role of Duke Nukem in an upcoming film based on the hit video game. To check out the article, click HERE.
Mick Foley's new book, "Foley Is Good: And the Real World Is Faker Than Wrestling" hit stores this past week, and is doing well in the sales chart, as expected. It may not due as well as Foley's first book, however. On Amazon's sales list, the book is currently ranked number 71 as of this writing. However, I remember seeing it as high as 39 a couple of days ago. You can buy the book by clicking HERE if you're interested.
Screenshots and brief video clips have been released for the upcoming WWF video game on the Microsoft Xbox, "WWF Raw is War." After checking out the screens and clips, all I can say is "Oh My God." It's amazing how realistic and smooth the graphics are. To check them out at the GameSpot web site, click HERE.
Staying on the subject of WWF games, there are also a few very early screenshots of the WWF's upcoming PS2 title, "WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It." To check out the screens, click HERE.
And that just about wraps things up. For all you Sopranos fans, remember to check out the season finale this Sunday night on HBO... ah crap, wait a minute, Judgment Day will be on then. Good thing HBO airs the show 23 times a week, though. Anyway... until next time...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com