Hey yo. Welcome to today's news and rumors here at The People's Wrestling Website (yeah, that's what TPWW stands for alright). Well, I never liked these intro paragraphs, so I think I'm going to sort of skip it for today. With that said, I've just done an intro paragraph and haven't actually skipped it at all. Anyway, here are today's news and rumors.
One of the big stories over the last couple of days has been the apparent "parting of ways" between the WWF and their women's champion, Chyna. Jim Ross had the following to say in his latest Ross Report: "The Federation has ceased contract negotiations with Chyna and they will not resume. Chyna's contract expires on November 30 and we wish her continued success. Her contributions to the Federation will be long remembered and are much appreciated." From what I've heard, Chyna had simply been demanding way too much money for the WWF to be able to re-sign her and the WWF did not feel that it was worth it, so Chyna's pretty much gone. It's also been said that she has had a huge ego backstage as of late, which I've been noticing forever. It seemed that everytime she would make a media appearance, she would come off as a total big headed ego-maniac to me, and it really got to me. I doubt we'll see her on TV again until her contract officially expires in November, but you never know. It's also not known what the WWF will do with the women's title, which Chyna currently holds. Is it just me, or is everyone else remembering Sable right now?
The other huge and somewhat baffling story going around is the rumor that the WWF is strongly considering changing their Monday night Raw is War time slot to something to the effect of "WCW Raw," a two hour WCW time slot. When I first heard the news, I honestly couldn't believe my ears. What exactly is the WWF thinking here? And as I type this, I'm really still thinking the same exact thing. As the story goes, the WWF has pretty much given up on gaining a new two hour time slot for WCW, in part due to TNN being stubborn about it and Vince McMahon's realization that the wrestling market is already suffering and there's no need to add another two hours. I've heard that there may be some sort of angle near the WWF Invasion PPV next month where if the WCW side wins, they get the WWF's Raw time slot. That could be a pretty interesting angle, but is it really worth the risk to get rid of your flagship show to air WCW programming? Unless the WWF has some really crazy and unbelievably great ideas, for some reason I don't think it's going to work out in their favor. The WWF had reportedly been considering turning either Raw or Smackdown into a two hour WCW show, but because Smackdown is airing on network television on UPN, it would be harder to change it. Of course, this is not confirmed right now and it may not happen, but the WWF has been strongly considering it.
It's expected that there will be a very strong WCW influence at King of the Ring this Sunday. According to Dave Scherer, in addition to Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T and Buff Bagwell are both supposed to make appearances at the PPV this Sunday, as well as possibly a few other WCW faces. There have also been rumors that Rob Van Dam will make his on-air debut sometime soon, possibly at the PPV or at WWF Raw the next night in Madison Square Garden. Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo are also rumored to make their debuts soon, possibly at Tuesday's Smackdown tapings, also at Madison Square Garden.
The WWF has been working hard on signing agents, referees, and TV announcers for WCW, according to Jim Ross. Hopefully some consideration is being given to Joey Styles, Cyrus, and Bobby Heenan, three of the best currently un-signed announcers in the business.
On the subject of announcers, there are once again strong rumors that Jerry Lawler may be on his way back into the WWF. Despite all the problems over the last few months, some backstage (namely Jim Ross and others) have continuously been pushing for Lawler's return to the WWF. Lawler has stated that he would not return unless his wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter also was re-signed. As of now, it's been said that the WWF is considering letting both back in. You've gotta admire Lawler's pride in not returning unless his wife was also brought back, plus his ability to possibly have the WWF cave in to his demands, something that Vince McMahon surely isn't known for.
The Rock is expected to make his return to a WWF ring by SummerSlam on August 19, according to an interview he conducted on his web site, TheRock.com. The Rock states that after he finishes filming the Scorpion King sometime in July, he will most likely take some time off to spend with his family before returning to the WWF. To read the interview, click HERE.
This past Thursday's WWF Smackdown drew a 3.6 rating, up from last week's all-time low 3.2. The 3.6 rating is still a lot lower than what the WWF would like to be doing for Smackdown, but a 0.4 increase isn't bad.
The debut of Tough Enough this past Thursday on MTV drew a 2.1 rating, which is a great number for MTV. I caught the show and I pretty much enjoyed it. For some reason, it came off as a bit unorganized and rushed, but it was the first episode and I'm completely expecting it to greatly improve in those fields in the upcoming episodes. Tazz came off as the man on the show and definitely adds a lot of interest to it. The show sort of lacked the suspense that "Survivor" has, but again, it was the first episode, so hopefully that'll also be a lot better in upcoming episodes, which I'm greatly looking forward to.
The WWF has announced that they will be dropping their Memphis Championship Wrestling developmental program and releasing several wrestlers who were involved in it. Those wrestlers include the Mean Street Posse, Joey Abs, Pete Gas, and Rodney, former ECW tag team Christian York & Joey Matthews, American Dragon, Spanky, Shooter Schultz, Mike Howell, Sylvester Terkay, and Brian Keck. It's a bit of a same to see York & Matthews released, since they showed a lot of promise in ECW, but honestly, I never did think they would make it in the WWF due to the fact that they are really, really similar to the Hardy Boyz. That's a "shot" at the WWF, not York & Matthews.
Chris Benoit will be taking some time off after King of the Ring due to a neck injury, according to Jim Ross. However, he will still be able to work the PPV tomorrow night, but the WWF may do some sort of injury angle to write Benoit out of current storylines for a while until he is back to 100%.
Forbes magazine released their annual billionaires list recently and unfortunately, although he was listed their last year at $1.1 billion, Vince McMahon was not on the list, according to Dave Scherer, being worth "only" $700 million this year. You can blame that on a lot of bad business decisions by Vince McMahon, including the XFL, and in my opinion, purchasing WCW, which has dramatically decreased the WWF's ratings due to lack of any competition.
The WWF has put up an article on Paul Heyman, who will have a role in the upcoming movie, "Rollerball." To check out the article, click HERE.
The WWF has also put up an article on Lita's new home video, "It Just Feels Right". To view the article, click HERE.
Dave Yermak sent along the following note: "I don't know if anyone else has realized this, but Pamela Paulshock has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno a couple times in some skits recently. She was on this past Thursday in a skit where Arsenio Hall 'cut her in half' as a magic trick."
That just about wraps things up for today's report. Be sure to join us tomorrow night starting at 8:00 PM EST for LIVE mach by match, interview by interview, segment by segment results of WWF King of the Ring if you're not ordering it. Until next time, thanks for reading, good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow (good ol' SNL).
Triple A
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