Hello, and welcome to today's news and rumors right here at TPWW.net. There's been a lot to talk about in the last few days, so without further delay, here are today's news and rumors.
With the WWF/WCW/ECW Invasion PPV coming up this Sunday, there is obviously a lot of interest and focus on the entire invasion angle from fans and from the WWF itself. Last night's Smackdown tapings pretty much concluded the PPV hype and set up the matches we will see at the PPV this Sunday. To check out a complete, detailed report of the show we'll see this Thursday, check out Mike E's report HERE.
Below is pretty much how the final card for this Sunday's PPV looks:
- Inaugural Brawl: Austin, Angle, 'Taker, Kane, Jericho vs. Booker T, DDP, Dudleys, Rhyno
- Tazz vs. Tajiri
- Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam - Hardcore Title
- The Acolytes vs. Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo - Tag Titles vs. Tag Titles
- Edge & Christian vs. Mike Awesome & Lance Storm
- Lita & Trish vs. Stacy Keibler & Torrie - Tag Team Bra & Panties Match
- X-Pac vs. Billy Kidman - LHW Title vs. Cruiserweight Title
- Earl Hebner vs. Nick Patrick - Referee Match
As mentioned above, Rob Van Dam vs. Jeff Hardy has been added to this Sunday's PPV. If given the opportunity, like so many other matches on the card (specifically Taz vs. Tajiri), this could be an absolutely awesome match. The WWF has actually put up an article and video clip of the match between RVD and Jeff Hardy back in 1997, during the original WWF-ECW invasion angle. RVD totally squashed Hardy in the match and was very impressive. To check out the article and a clip, click HERE.
This Thursday's Smackdown will be the show's 100th episode, and as a "special treat" to fans, the WWF will air two live episodes of Smackdown in August. As is common knowledge, Smackdown is taped on Tuesdays for a Thursday airing every week. However, the WWF apparently was planning on making Smackdown a live show each week to increase ratings, but it appears that they've changed their minds for now and will only air two episodes of Smackdown live. The first will be on Thursday, August 16 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the second will be the next week in Denver, Colorado.
Also, the WWF has opened a web site to celebrate Smackdown's 100th episode. It can be visited at WWFSmackdown.com.
One reason why the WWF may have wanted Smackdown to air live on Thursdays for more than two weeks was because of the rumor that the WWF would give WWF Raw to WCW. According to Dave Meltzer, before ECW's addition to the invasion, the WWF planned on splitting the WWF and WCW into two as a part of Vince McMahon and Linda's "divorce settlement." There was a draft scheduled for the July 30th Raw, where each side would select their wrestlers. Raw would have then been given to WCW, while Smackdown would have been given to the WWF. That would have been a pretty interesting angle, but of course, I'm loving this ECW angle.
Speaking of the ECW angle, the WWF web site has been constantly calling the WCW/ECW group "WECW", whatever that means. Hopefully that isn't played out on TV, but with the recent news that HHG Corp, ECW's parent company, went after the WWF for their claims of owning ECW, it wouldn't surprise me if the WWF changes the name of the group. But again, I'm seriously hoping they don't. As of now, the PPV is still being hyped as WWF vs. WCW and ECW.
And with the addition of ECW into the mix, the WWF's ratings have increased dramatically. Last Monday's Raw drew a great 5.0 rating, the show's highest rating since April 23. According to Dave Meltzer, Raw's ratings have grown 22% over the last five weeks. Obviously, this invasion angle is working.
In other ratings, Livewiere did a 0.9, while Superstars did a 0.8 and Heat did a strong 1.9, up from last week's 1.6. For those who missed Heat, Al Snow was Tazz's replacement.
Speaking of Al Snow, today, July 18, is Al's birthday.
There are strong rumors that the WWF is planning on releasing several wrestlers in the near future. Rumors are that a few WWF low card wrestlers as well as a few WCW wrestlers who have yet to debut will be among those to be released. With the addition of several WCW and ECW stars to the roster, the WWF's roster is way too deep right now.
Vince McMahon will be a guest on this Friday's Byte This audio show on WWF.com. Now, that should be pretty interesting. To check it out, click HERE.
In other news, according to Dave Meltzer, the Toronto Skydome is now said to be the leading candidate to host WrestleMania 18 next year. To my knowledge, the Skydome holds around 60,000 people.
Last month's WWF PPV, King of the Ring, drew a 1.05 buyrate, according to Dave Meltzer, which translates to around 450,000 buys. That is a respectable number.
With that, it's about time to wrap this one up. As always, thanks for reading and until next time, later.
Triple A
TripleA99@aol.com
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