Hey, hey. Welcome to today's news and rumors right here at TPWW.net. Hopefully everyone had a good Fourth of July yesterday. There's a lot of news to get to, so without further ado, here are today's news and rumors.
The WWF "officially" started the new WCW era this past Monday night on Raw, airing a Booker T vs. Buff Bagwell WCW title match as the main event for Raw. What did I think of the match and the segment as a whole? Well, to put it bluntly, like almost everyone else, I thought it sucked. The match itself was absolutely terrible and totally lost the crowd. I don't understand why Buff Bagwell was put into the first WCW match on WWF television - a match that was supposed to give WWF fans a good "first impression" of WCW. The only thing I'll give the WWF credit for in choosing Bagwell is that he fit in well for the final segment after the match, where he acted like an idiot, helping Austin and Angle, only to get a beating of his own. But as for the match - ouch, that was painful to watch. I think the WWF is realizing why they weren't going to sign Buff Bagwell in the first place a while ago. It looks like the only reason they did sign him is because his name got a large pop from the crowd on the March 26 Raw/Nitro simulcast. As for the announcing, the WWF lost a lot by not getting Jerry Lawler (more on that later). Scott Hudson was OK, but Arn Anderson just doesn't cut it. You couldn't even hear what he was saying. Needless to say, the WWF messed up somewhere with this whole WCW angle. Are they faces or heels? The WWF is trying to play them up as both and it just isn't working.
Word is that Vince McMahon hated how the entire WCW segment went and is especially not pleased with Buff Bagwell. Bagwell reportedly has an enormous amount of heat with the WWF already. He apparently started a fight with Shane Helms at the WWF training center this past week, according to Dave Scherer. Bagwell reportedly told Helms that he would never be a big star in the business because he was "too small." Bagwell then slapped Helms in the face and told him he didn't have the balls to do anything about it. A fight reportedly erupted with the two men and Bagwell ended up with a cut that required 12 stitches. Pardon my French, but what a d*ck.
Bagwell has also had heat for the fact that his mother, Judy Bagwell has been continuously calling the WWF office to complain about Bagwell's travel arrangements. Also, Bagwell may have buried himself deeper in a segment at Tuesday night's Smackdown tapings. The following may contain a bit of a spoiler for the show, so if you'd rather not find out what happens, skip on to the next paragraph now. Anyway, during the show's final segment, Bagwell was powerbombed by the Acolytes and pounded on by WWF wrestlers. According to Dave Scherer, after the powerbomb, Bagwell stated that he was hurt and didn't want to be touched, so the other wrestlers would not continue their pounding on him. However, Bagwell apparently has a reputation for faking injuries to get out of planned segments, so many wrestlers didn't believe him and continued the angle, beating down on him. But, one positive that came from the WCW angle was a ratings increase. This past Monday's Raw scored a 4.6 rating and the ratings grew throughout the show. During the switch to WCW, ratings increased from 4.9 to 5.0 and the final segment of the show drew a big 5.7 rating. In weekend ratings, Heat did a 1.4, while Livewire and Superstars scored a 0.8 and 0.9, respectively.
Onto Jerry Lawler... Lawler released a statement on his web site after Raw discussing why exactly he wasn't at the show. According to Lawler, everything was set up for Lawler and his wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter to return to the WWF. They had spoken to a WWF representative over the phone and Vince McMahon himself apparently agreed to let the past go and do what was best for the company. Lawler was told that he would be the WCW announcer along with Scott Hudson and The Kat would be a ring announcer. Lawler and Stacy Carter agreed, and they were sent a package that read "Welcome back King and Stacy!" They were all set to debut on Raw this past Monday, when Lawler received a call that Vince McMahon changed his mind. McMahon said that he would only take back Lawler and not The Kat, and that it was a "take it or leave it" type of deal. Of course, Lawler decided to "leave it," since the reason he left in the first place was because of his wife's firing. Lawler apparently heard that Bruce Prichard convinced Vince McMahon not to bring back the Kat, telling Vince that they already had a lot of backstage problems and they didn't need anymore. In short, it looks like Lawler's return is off... at least for now. I really don't even want to get started on all the WWF's horrible decision making over the past few months, so I won't say anything about this. To read Lawler's statement in full, click HERE.
The WWF released its weekly DirecTV Raw preview this week and it's a very interesting one. The show's preview states "The task of integrating the WCW into the WWF depends on finding a new WCW Comissioner". This will surely lead up to a lot of speculation over who WCW's new commissioner will be. I personally think it might be Mick Foley, but I could be wrong. Either way, someone like Foley would bring a bit of credibility to WCW, so if the WWF can't get Jerry Lawler as their WCW commentator, a Mick Foley would be good to jump start WCW.
Stone Cold Steve Austin's back injury continues to bother him. He was reportedly telling people backstage after Raw that his back was hurting more than it had been before. That's not such a good sign for the WWF.
The WWF held its weekly Smackdown tapings this past Tuesday in Tacoma, Washington. Once again, Mike E. checked in with complete results of the show. To check them out, click HERE.
Speaking of the Smackdown tapings, one thing that I noticed and sort of made me angry was that the WWF changed Shane Helms's name to Gregory Helms. What the hell? I guess their mentality was that people would somehow be stupid enough to confuse Shane Helms with Shane McMahon. This reminds me of when the WWF brought back William Regal, who had always been known as Steve Regal. The WWF thought that since Steve Austin's name was Steve, Regal should change his name. Hey, while they're at it, why don't they change Steve Blackman and Steven Richards's names?
2001 King of the Ring, Edge will be the guest on tomorrow's edition of "Byte This!" on WWF.com.
The WWF has put up an article on the "love angle" between Spike Dudley and Molly Holly. To check it out, click HERE.
There is an ECW reunion show being put together for this Sunday in Buffalo, New York. It's unfortunate that the show couldn't have been booked near New York City or even in Philadelphia, but whaddya gonna do? As of now, the card is as follows:
- Tommy Dreamer vs. CW Anderson
- Nova vs. Chris Chetti
- Doring & Roadkill vs. The FBI
- Mikey Whipwreck vs. Swinger
- Chilly Willy vs. Tom Marquez
- Also, the following former ECW superstars are booked for the show: Sabu, Steve Corino, Jack Victory, Francine, Elektra, and Lou E. Dangerously. Rob Van Dam was reportedly contacted about appearing at the show, but he declined. For more info on the show, click HERE.
This story sort of makes you think... According to a report in Advertising Age magazine, Vince McMahon wanted to blow up a Honda car during half time of an XFL game last season, because of Honda pulling their advertising from the league. Vince McMahon had to be talked out of doing the stunt by NBC Sports President Dick Ebersol. Does anyone else get the feeling that Vince McMahon is starting to lose his mind? It would explain a lot.
Speaking of Hondas, if you haven't yet, go see The Fast and the Furious. Friggin' awesome movie. Good story and good action. But anyway, this isn't The People's Movies Website, so with that said, it's time to wrap this one up. Thanks for reading and until next time... later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com
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