What's up everyone and welcome back to the people's news and rumors here at the 'dot Net. Nothing more to say in this intro, so it's straight on to the news and rumors.
All I can say is what a huge difference a week can make in the WWF. Last week's RAW was the best in a long time, Smackdown was a pretty good show, but last night's show was just about awful besides the end. The nWo just don't appear to be much of a threat to the Federation. I liked the ending and what they did to Austin - that is a great way to gain heat - but other than that, they really didn't exist for the rest of the program. The rest of the show was pretty much normal WWF type broadcasting that we have been "treated" to as of late, which doesn't say much.
The RVD, Big Show, and Lance Storm match was too short and lackluster. The meaning of the match was to setup a RVD and William Regal feud, but I hate it when they just pick two other random opponents and have a triple threat match. Other important aspects of RAW include a most likely Kane and Angle feud, the Scott Hall and Austin match at WrestleMania is official, Undertaker attacked Arn Anderson to further his feud with Ric Flair, and the APA were setup by Billy and Chuck. The show was slow paced, didn't have a lot of good wrestling, and was just out of place to where it should have been.
I have not found any official ratings from RAW last night, so they will most likely be posted on the newsboard for those that are interested.
With both Hulk Hogan and Scott Hall having scheduled matches at WrestleMania, that leaves the question, who will Kevin Nash wrestle? The WWF was using him as a backup to wrestle Austin just in case Scott Hall left the WWF before WrestleMania. The fear was, with Hall's actions a few weeks ago backstage at a WWF event, he might cause more trouble and there would be no choice but to release him. Hall did apologize for his comments, and as of now it looks the WWF is going full speed ahead with Austin vs. Hall. That still leaves the question of who Nash may wrestle. We will hopefully find out in the upcoming weeks.
After beating both The Big Show and Lance Storm last night, Rob Van Dam is the number one contender for the Intercontinental Title. Both RVD and Regal will wrestle at WrestleMania. This should be the start of what I expect to be a pretty good feud (at least I think so since I like both wrestlers). RVD's wrestling abilitiy is by far superior then Regals I believe, but the difference in characters may lead to some entertaining runins and exchange of words. During the Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho match, Kane interfeared to get revenge on Angle after what he did to him last week. This looks to be the start of a feud between the two men. If that is indeed the case, it looks as if Kane will wrestle Angle at WrestleMania. For a little side humor (??) just imagine how funny it would be if Angle could get Pete Rose to interfere in that match.
The APA returned to The Friendly Tap bar last night which turned out to be a setup by Chuck and Billy. For those that don't remember, The Friendly Tap was a bar the APA (I almost called them The Acolytes!) were at a while ago and got into a huge bar fight with some of the "locals" of that area. The setup was used as nothing more to add more feul to the fire to this weird feud between the two.
On Smackdown, The Undertaker told Flair that he would not accept "no" as an answer from him as a response to whether he will wrestle him at WrestleMania. Undertaker's actions spoke louder then words last night by beating up Arn Anderson in the ring. There is still the possibility that David Flair could be part of this storyline. Whether that happens or not, it is pretty much a no brainer that Ric Flair will eventually accept Undertaker's challenge, maybe even as soon as this Thursday night on Smackdown.
Last night we also saw a potential start to something (I don't know what it is, but I will guess it will be very weird) as DDP tried talking Christian out of quiting the WWF. I was hoping the WWF would continue their segment later in the show but that didn't happen. The logical thing resulting from this is the two may feud or become some tag team (the unlikely of the two). Just for the record, DDP is the guy that beat Christian for the European Title a few weeks ago on Heat.
In other news devolpments, Mark Henry won the World's Strongest Man competition this past Saturday. Henry has been down in the OVW and HWA promotions for a year and a half now in hopes of returning to the WWF and getting into better shape. There were a few ideas that if he did win, they would bring him back and use the World's Strongest Man gimmick with him.
The latest rumors suggest Chris Benoit will wrestle for HWA before returning to the WWF. Benoit, however, won't be able to wrestle until mid April at the earliest. He has already confirmed that he will NOT be part of WrestleMania this year.
The WWF have unfortunately released Jerry Lynn. He got hurt a while back and underwent surgery. Jerry Lynn debuted at the WWA PPV this past Sunday, cutting a promo and laying out Eddie Guerrero, who he will apparently feud with for the WWA cruiserweight title. It's still sad to see Lynn's release from the WWF, since he was still over to some of the old ECW diehards. He is mostly remembered for his awesome matches that he had with RVD in ECW.
There are slight rumors that The Ultimate Warrior will be brought back to the WWF to oppose Hulk Hogan. As of right now, only take those rumors with a grain of salt. I believe the rumor was started by The Chicago Sun Time's Blackjack Brown. In the Chicago area where I am from, he is known for his rumors that usually turn out to be totally off from what is reality. The chance of Warrior returning is not out of question, but I definately don't see it happening at this point in time.
The World Wrestling All-Stars promotion held their second PPV this Sunday night, Revolution. I did not watch the show but some of the happenings I noticed when reading the results were Larry Zybysko shooting on Vince McMahon, Scott Steiner defeating Disco Inferno, Jerry Lynn debuting, and Jeff Jarrett retaining the WWA World Championship. Also for those that are unaware, Bret Hart is the on air commissioner of the WWA and cut a promo at the beginning of the show. From what I read, the show wasn't bad, but their first PPV seemed to be better.
My opinion on the WWA is, from what I gather from their first two PPVs, they have potential, but without a TV deal, they can't compete with the WWF. I take that back, even with a TV deal they couldn't compete with the WWF just yet. Their main event match was Jeff Jarrett vs. Brian Christopher (known to WWF fans as Grand Master Sexay). A lot of their matches would have been nothing but low card matches in both the old WCW and the WWF. And from what I hear, half of their wrestlers from Sunday's show will most likely not even be with the promotion by the time their third show arrives. I would love nothing better then to see the XWF and WWA get TV deals, enough good solid wrestlers, and compete with Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, both the XWF and WWA have long ways to go before they will be able to reach that level.
I believe I covered everything, so that must mean I am finished! Well... not yet. I asked in my last report if anyone would be interested in chatting with me via the AOL Instant Messenger. I did get a lot of e-mails from people that were interested so I will reveal my AIM screen name. It is INGAME21 and if you happen to see me online, feel free to send me an instant message. I have no idea how many I will get at a time, all I will say is if I don't reply right away, I will do my best to answer your IM. Now I am done, and tonight looks like a great night here in Chicago. The Bulls actually have a three game winning streak (granted they beat three bad teams) and the Blackhawks are back from the NHL Olympic break. I am suppose to go out to dinner, but I hope to watch a little of both afterwards. I or someone else will be back later this week, so until then, I am out.
Martin Hawrysko
Send feedback to Martin@tpww.net
AIM Screen Name: INGAME21
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