Hey, hey. And welcome to this the post Xmas News and Rumours. Rumours still being spelled with a 'u' just like everyone else who speaks English uses. But here's hoping that you had a good Xmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, festive period.
I will quickly address an issue raised in the feedback that I have received, namely that I am too negative in my comments about the WWF. Well, I'm not in the business of hagiography and frankly if the WWF continues to churn out the rubbish that it has done over the last year or so then I will continue to critique it. If and when the WWF produces good stuff then I will be the first to praise it but given that at the moment it hasn't produced anything worth praising I haven't praised it. The fact that RAW is drawing the sort of ratings that a third string show like Heat was drawing a couple of years ago demonstrates the freefall that the WWF ratings have been in recently. Now if you can come up with an explanation as to why this is that doesn't come down to lousy booking then I'd like to hear it.
The 'big' storyline news from Smackdown was the return of the Big Bossman in the 'First Blood' match between Booker T and Steve Austin. In which Bossman hit Steve Austin with a chair thus drawing blood & giving Booker the victory. There are a number of ways to look at this, Booker has a victory over Austin, and the Bossman generates heat. The flip side is that Bossman sucks. I thought about all the elaborate ways to describe Bossman but that is the bottom line. For sure he draws heat, but the heat he draws is 'get off my TV' heat, not 'I hate you because you are a mean ole heel who is going to beat up my favourite face'. Bossman whilst popular backstage (he gave away Terri Runnels at her recent wedding) is a poor worker on a par with Rikishi or Billy Gunn in terms of moveset and workrate. Also, given the amount of talent that the WWF has unused at the moment, it seems surprising that Bossman should be the person who should be utilised. However, if it gets Booker T over then that must be a good thing not a bad thing. (Insert cheesy DDP/Rob Harvey smile here).
The Christmas Eve Raw also featured two returns and it depends on your point of view as to how welcome they were. Both occurred at Vince McMahon's heels Christmas Party. The first was the return of Mae Young and Fabulous Moolah, whilst have the utmost respect for Mae Young and her willingness to take some sick bumps such as a Bubba Ray Dudley powerbomb through a table, but she has also been part of some of the worst stories in the WWF in recent memory including her relationship with Mark Henry culminating with her giving birth to a hand. The skit on RAW featured Mae Young stripping for Vince, Brisco and Patterson. For those of you who feel that I am too negative please can you tell me how to put a positive spin on the development?
The second return was that of Stephanie McMahon. She offered Vince a Christmas present in a bid to win his favour and was rebuffed by Vince. This would seem to be an effort to set her up as a face in line with Triple H's return in the beginning of January. This is combined with the wwf.com claiming that Stephanie had 'unknowingly sold her shares to Ric Flair'. This sets up several permutations of heel and faces for Triple H, Steph and Ric Flair. Whilst I am no fan of Stephanie McMahon's writing, this may well be the feud that if booked correctly could revitalise the WWF.
Another development on this week's Smackdown was Ric Flair's promo on Vince McMahon in which he talked about the NWA and his stint as WWF champ, Wrestlemania vs. Savage. The promo ended up with Flair challenging Vince at Royal Rumble. This will be an interesting match; Flair's in ring work has declined in recent years but then who expects a man in his fifties to match his workrate of his thirties? In many ways I hope that this will be Ric Flair's last match so that he can go out with a good match as his final match, just as Sting did on the final Nitro. (Ironically with Flair). Hopefully, the result will be a clean win in the middle of the ring for Flair with the Figure Four. It is also generally considered that after the Royal Rumble there will be a roster split with Vince McMahon leading one half and Ric Flair leading the other half. It remains to be seen wrestling wise who will go where.
Smackdown also featured the return of Jazz who laid out both Molly Holly and Trish. The other storyline development was Big Show challenging Undertaker to pick on someone his own size after Undertaker had beaten Tajiri in hardcore match. It must be said that Undertaker as a killer heel is performing much better than as a face, but whether a feud with Big Show is the way to develop this is another matter.
Other WWF news concerns Brent Bozell of the PTC condemning Smackdown as an "overflowing septic tank." The article by Bozell in the Washington Times can be found HERE.
Other news concerns Randy Savage returning to the ring. Savage has agreed to appear at the WWA PPV in February. As I have argued before, in order to improve buy rates, new start up companies need to bring in big names, but whether Savage retains the drawing power he once had remains to be seen.
XWF has been running infomercials in the areas where they are intending to run shows. The infomercials included appearances by 'Mean' Gene Okerlund, Jim Duggan, Road Warriors, Greg Valentine, Curt Hennig, Nasty Boys, Willie Nelson, Alice Cooper and various members of Kiss who appeared with the Demon. Konnan also cut a promo and they pushed Hail and British Storm.
In related XWF news concerns the appearance by Hulk Hogan on ESPN's "Unscripted". It is hard to work out what comes across as more laughable - the platitudes that the host Chris Connelly laid at the feet of Hogan, including describing him as 'the Babe Ruth of wrestling' or Hogan's claims and attempts to suck up to people within the WWF in perhaps one of the most transparent attempts at gaining work since Yosser Hughes. (A sidenote - I strongly recommend that people watch 'Boys from the Blackstuff'). Hogan claims to have worked a thirty-minute match at the recent XWF tapings and also to have pressed a 700lb Andre above his head before 94,000 people. What was more amazing was Hogan's blatant attempts to get work with the WWF claiming that Vince was right all along, that he owed all his success to Vince and that all they needed in response to the decline in ratings was Hulk Hogan and how amazing Rock, HHH and Stone Cold Steve Austin were (all of course people that Hogan would want to work programs with should he sign for the WWF). The question of steroid use was raised once again, but just as with previous interviews with Chyna etc, the matter was addressed in such a glib way that Hogan was able to brush it off by claiming to be the fall guy in the steroid trial of Vince McMahon despite the fact that he was shown to be a liar time and time again. The demise of WCW was also skirted over, with Hogan again absolving himself of any blame. But then this is Hulk Hogan so we can hardly expect him to say Mea Culpa.
UPDATE: Kevin Nash's Possible WWF Return: According to Bob Ryder, Kevin Nash met with WWF officials recently, and from what's being said, he is close to making a decision on his future. Nash's AOL/Time Warner contract will expire in a few days, which means Nash is able to show up on the January 7th edition of RAW if the WWF and him reach a deal. Kevin Nash is also considering joining the World Wrestling AllStars (WWA). If he decides to sign with the WWA, he will wrestle less than what he would be wrestling in the WWF and will mostly be doing international appearances. As reported, the WWA has an upcoming PPV on February 24th from Las Vegas. Sources are reporting that Kevin Nash is close to signing with the WWF, or that he has already agreed to sign. As reported, Kevin Nash met with Vince McMahon and some WWF officials this past Saturday, and the meeting went well. More on this when it comes available. (Paragraph by Paul Nemer)
Anyway, that just about wraps the News and Rumours up for this week that has been mostly quiet for news due to the holidays. I still don't have anything cheesy to sign off with, I did consider recommending a CD or film but everyone does that. I will instead recommend a book and suggest that everyone read Noel Malcolm's "Bosnia - A short History" an excellent and brief account of the region. I will also recommend that everyone also check out "The Living End " by Husker Du - an excellent album that kicks the arse of pseudo MTV-lite punk bands of today. Don't forget to check out the rest of the site. Till next time.
Da Moonax
Moonax@tpww.net
Note: Paul Nemer will return to the news and rumors rotation shortly.
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