Coming off one of the hottest Raws in recent memory, welcome to today's news and rumors. Needless to say, there is a ton to talk about in today's report after last night's very eventful Raw. So, without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
Of course, the major happening at Raw last night was the addition of ECW into this entire WWF invasion angle. The angle was done almost perfectly and this adds so much to the struggling WCW vs. WWF angle that the WWF had been trying to pull off over the last couple of weeks. The WWF saw flat out that it just wouldn't work out and decided to regroup and rethink the angle in a big way. The WWF tried setting up WCW as a face promotion, but that failed badly. So, what they did last night was pretty much officially turn Shane McMahon and his WCW boys heel and at the same time sort of turned Austin and Kurt Angle face by default. That's a smart move in my opinion, and it added a lot of crowd heat and interest in the Booker T vs. Kurt Angle match. When the crowd is way behind one wrestler in a match, it always seems to make it exciting and they definitely were way behind Kurt Angle - a pretty interesting sight. The WWF also realized that fans just didn't believe that WCW had a chance at the WWF with their sub par roster. The WWF simply didn't go all out in trying to sign WCW's top talent and that really hurt them. So, with the addition of ECW, that added so much to the believability of the feud. The WWF already had signed most of ECW's former top talent, and Mike Awesome and Lance Storm were also very good additions to the team. This should hopefully make for some great TV.
Another thing that made the angle so exciting to watch last night was that it wasn't really leaked out way too much on the Internet. I mean, it was posted in the N&R; yesterday before Raw that there was a chance ECW would be added into the mix, but as the show went on last night, I said to myself, "damnit, it doesn't look like it's gonna happen." But when Tommy Dreamer and Rob Van Dam ran out... oh my God. "Marking out" doesn't even explain the feeling. When Taz, Rhyno, the Dudleys, and company ran out to "make the save" for the WWF stars, I knew right away that the ECW invasion was on. As soon as they got into the ring and I saw all the former ECW talent facing off, I got a weird tingly feeling that you only get when something really, really cool happens. When Heyman said, "You want an explanation? I'll give you an explanation" and threw down his headset, it was a "YESSSSSSSSS" moment. That's the only way I can really explain it. I always used to mark out when Paul Heyman cut a promo in ECW, and last night in the WWF was no different.
The only real problem I had with the whole angle was - of course - the addition of Stephanie McMahon at the end of the show as the "new ECW owner." To me, that just sounds really stupid. What about Paul Heyman? Seriously, wtf. The reason that it sort of got to me is that I have a feeling that this may turn into another McMahon family feud - something that the WWF has already done about 17,000 times. Hopefully Stephanie doesn't become the mouth piece for ECW and Heyman gets most of the mic time... or maybe they could actually give Taz, the Dudleys, etc some mic time.
Speaking of which, it looks like both Paul Heyman and Taz(z) are no longer WWF announcers, meaning the WWF will need a new announcer for Raw, Smackdown, and Heat. As of now, a big rumor is that the WWF has once again come to terms with Jerry Lawler and Lawler will be back as soon as next week. But, how many times has that been said, then has fallen apart? The WWF is in more need than ever for a color commentator, so hopefully Vince McMahon puts his ego aside this time and does what's best for the company. Another rumor is that the WWF has been giving try outs to Al Snow and Dean Malenko to become announcers, according to Dave Meltzer. Seriously, does that make any sense what-so-ever? Hopefully we see Lawler back in his old position soon, although I am a big sad to see Heyman lose his Raw commentating spot.
Also... I've gotten a few e-mails asking what will happen to Tazz on Tough Enough now that he's "no longer affiliated" with the WWF. Well, the answer is... nothing. All of the Tough Enough episodes have already been taped, so nothing will change. However, the show's final episode will be live, with the two winners being picked then, similar to Survivor.
One thing that I started thinking about after Raw was "what the... what happened to Jerry Lynn?" Just imagine Jerry Lynn's feeling when he found out that the ECW angle was being done... and that he wasn't going to be part of it. Justin Credible: "Oh man, Jerry, this ECW angle tonight is going to be great! I can't wait." Jerry Lynn: "Huh?" Hopefully he's added to the mix sometime down the road. I would say the same for Tajiri and Spike Dudley, but at least they have their own angles right now. Jerry Lynn has nothing at all.
Speaking of Jerry Lynn, WWF.com apparently made the mistake of reporting that Jerry Lynn was part of the angle instead of Rhyno on their web site. Derek Henkels sent the following: "WWF.com stated twice in their Raw results that Jerry Lynn was in ECW's corner and didn't mention Rhyno. 'Jericho and Kane appeared to be saved as a platoon of Federation Superstars raced into the ring: Tazz, Raven, Jerry Lynn, Justin Credible along with D-Von and Bubba Ray Dudley.' Jerry Lynn, instead of Rhyno. 'Making up the ECW squad - headed by ECW owner Paul Heyman -were Tazz, Jerry Lynn, Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley, Lance Storm, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, Justin Credible, Raven, Mike Awesome.' Same thing. Take that for whatever you want, an error or a future news headline." Since then, the WWF site has corrected the error.
With the spectacular Raw last night, how did the show do in the ratings? Well, it wasn't such a large increase, as the show only scored a 4.7 rating, up 0.1 from last week's number. Hopefully that increases Smackdown on Thursday and Raw on Monday with the addition of ECW to the angle. The show did hours of 4.4 and 5.1, with the final segment doing a 5.6. In other ratings, Heat did a 1.6, Livewire did a 0.9, and Superstars did a 0.8.
Triple H was backstage at Raw, according to Wade Keller, and was very pleased with how the ECW invasion came out. Also, WCW contracted wrestlers Elix Skipper, Mike Sanders, and Kwee Wee were backstage, as were former WCW employees Daffney, Paisley, David Penzer, and several others.
With the addition of ECW to the mix at Raw last night, the WWF/WCW Invasion main event now most likely will look like this: Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Kane, and Chris Jericho vs. Booker T, DDP, The Dudleys, and possibly either Rob Van Dam or Rhyno, according to Dave Meltzer. Since Rhyno and Mike Awesome are on the same team now, it looks like their Hardcore title match is out the window. Also, it's expected that the Acolytes will take on Palumbo & O'Haire in a tag title vs. title match.
With that, the Invasion card now looks like this, with a few more matches expected to be announced soon, possibly at tonight's Smackdown taping:
- WWF vs. WCW/ECW "Inagural Brawl"
- X-Pac vs. Billy Kidman - LHW Title vs. Cruiserweight Title
- The Acolytes vs. Palumbo & O'Haire - WWF/WCW Tag Titles
- Trish & Lita vs. Torrie Wilson & Stacy Keibler
With that, it's about time to wrap this one up. I've been receiving a ton of great e-mail feedback lately and I really appreciate it. Keep it coming. Until next time, thanks for reading, and until next time... later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com
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