Hey there, welcome to today's news and rumors. There is a lot to discuss today on a variety of topics, including a decent amount of wrestling news as well as a few site related notes. So, with that said, here are today's news and rumors.
Despite a very strong edition of WWF Raw on Monday and a lot of anticipation for the TLC3 match, Thursday's WWF Smackdown drew a very disappointing 3.9 rating, even down from last week's 4.0. This can't be a good sign for the WWF, since I'm sure ratings were expected to be up for the much hyped edition of Smackdown, plus it had a lot less competition with NBC's ratings powerhouse shows in re-runs and no Survivor on CBS. Whatever the case, the WWF's lackluster last few months of TV have led up to this situation, so they can only blame themselves. After the final edition of Nitro on TNT, the WWF's ratings have dropped almost every single week. Looking back, I really wish the WWF hadn't even considered buying WCW and I can't help but think that a little part of them feels the same way.
The big story of the week is the injury to the man who some consider the WWF's "MVP," Triple H. After suffering a torn left quadriceps in his leg at this past week's Smackdown, Triple H underwent successful surgery on Thursday and is expected to be out of the ring for approximately six months. Reports are that the injury was even worse than first projected. If you remember, it was originally thought that Triple H would be out for 3-5 months or so, but that has now been changed to around six due to the extent of the injury. The WWF web site states that Triple H will be on Heat tonight on MTV to update fans on his injury.
As we saw this past Thursday on Smackdown, Yoshihiro Tajiri made his WWF television debut... as William Regal's "servant." I want to be optimistic about Tajiri - I really do. But with the WWF's track record of pretty much completely burying all ECW talent that steps foot into the WWF, I can't help but worry. The WWF has already pretty much completely KILLED the wrestling career of the man who has admittedly been my favorite wrestler, Taz due to their stupid politics. I'm really hoping they don't do the same with the man who was one of my favorites by far in ECW, Tajiri. Tajiri's ECW fanbase was absolutely unbelievable and the pop he received on Smackdown when he introduced himself to Regal was also huge. Hopefully the WWF realizes that and something good comes out of this angle.
On the subject of ECW wrestlers coming to the WWF, Jim Ross mentioned in his latest Ross Report that Tommy Dreamer would most likely be signed with the WWF sometime in the next few weeks. Tommy Dreamer was Paul Heyman's right hand man in ECW and played an enormous role in the running of the company. Despite a few injuries, the man has always worked very hard in the ring and done whatever was good for the company. He'll definitely be a great addition to the WWF, whether it be in the ring or in the back.
For everyone who has been wondering what's going on with D'Lo Brown, according to Jim Ross, he has been working along with Chaz and Tiger Ali Singh in the IWA in Puerto Rico, and the team has been getting some very good reviews.
Scotty Too Hotty will most likely be back in the WWF in about three weeks. He is ready to return to the ring now, but the WWF will send him down to Ohio Valley Wrestling to work on his skills before returning.
Ken Shamrock has reportedly spoken the WWF recently about a comeback, according to Alex Marvez. There's not much known on this situation as of now, but I'm sure Shamrock's return would be a huge plus for the WWF. He was booked very well in his last stint in the federation (IC tournament, rescuing Stephanie from the Undertaker), so a return for the "World's Most Dangerous Man" would definitely be huge news.
Kurt Angle apparently tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995, but did not make the team, obviously. To check out an article on Angle's story, click HERE.
As mentioned on Smackdown, Mick Foley's book, "Foley is Good" remained as the number 1 best seller on the New York Times best seller list for the second week in a row.
One half of the multi-time tag team champions, Christian got married this past Friday in Florida to his fiancée, Denise. The WWF site put up an article on Christian's marriage, which you can check out HERE.
Tazz posted the final commentary at his web site, Tazmission.com this past week. The following is what he had to say: "I couldn't even tell you the last time I've updated the website and I apologize to the Tazmission.com fans, but I've been extremely busy with my WWF road schedule as an announcer/wrestler. I've been announcing two shows as well as doing WWF Tough Enough. When I am home, I try to make time to train at the gym and make sure I spend quality time with my family, so it's been hard to update the website. I want to thank all of the fans who have visited Tazmission.com once or a thousand times and all the hardcore Tazz fans who have supported me from the start. The Internet wrestling fans have always had a strong loyal following for me and I want each of you to know how much I've appreciated that. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! So in closing, Tazmission.com has become 'Just Another Victim.' ... As you are reading this, Joey Numbers and his crack staff of Brooklyn attorneys are working viciously at JoJo the Whale's Bar and Bagels (they call JoJo the whale because he's very overweight) in Red Hook to finalize a deal with WWF.com for maybe, just possibly bringing the Internet a WWF Tazz website in the near future."
On a site related note, as you can tell if you have been visiting the site for the last few days, we are still having a few server problems. As you may have noticed, the site has been running extremely slow for the past few days, or at least a lot slower than usual. The reason is that the server our host moved us to (without choice), apparently cannot handle the data transfer (bandwidth) usage it takes to run a high traffic web site. I am well aware of this problem and have been contacting our host constantly for updates on the situation. The only thing I can say is that the problem is being worked on and things should hopefully return to normal soon. If not, I will have to move the site to a different server that will be able to host us without any problems. Hopefully this current server is fixed and I won't have to do that, but if things stay this way, I will. In short, this problem won't be around for much longer.
Also, we are currently looking for a talented reporter who will be able to type a weekly results report of WWF Smackdown. If you are interested, please click HERE.
Corey Silvia's latest column, Jerichoholics Anonymous, is up, in which Corey discusses whether or not Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit's recent pushes can work, giving the positives and negatives of the pushes. Corey makes some excellent points in the column regarding the situation. The column is a great read as always and can be read by clicking HERE.
As many of you may know, this past week marked the two year anniversary of the tragic death of the late, great, Owen Hart. I still remember the day it happened well and how I didn't get any sleep at all that night. It's hard just thinking about it. In his latest column, Rob Harvey wrote an excellent, very emotional remembrance of Owen, which you can read HERE. Rob has also asked me to let everyone know that he will post feedback to the column in his column next week. After you read it, feel free to write him at RobHarvey@tpww.net and please be sure to leave your name.
With that, it's about time to wrap this one up. Until next time...
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com