Alright, a lot has happened this past week, including a lot of news and notes concerning RAW, the latest backstage situations, and the future of the WWF. No time for any fancy intro, it's straight to the news and rumors.
Last night's RAW we saw the the first twenty wrestlers picked by Vince McMahon and Ric Flair. Instead of recapping who was drafted where, I will direct you to a link that has which superstar was drafted to which WWF brand. You can see that page which was posted on the TPWW Newsboard by clicking HERE.
Anyways, I got off subject, but as we know, Steve Austin was not on RAW last night and instead is a "free agent" and will choose which roster he wants in a storyline sense. The real story is that his problems with the WWF are not over and done with like originally thought. Supposedly, the backstage atmosphere is heating up to the point of that Austin does not like. It is rumored that since the arrival of the nWo, Triple H has somewhat alligned himself with his nWo buddies, and being the boyfriend of Stephanie McMahon, he has somewhat taken a "leadership" role. What exactly is Austin's problem is not exactly clear, but there are other hints that the backstage situation is not under the control it once was. Many are suggesting that the politics of the "Kliq" have returned, but I don't want to go that far and say something like that since I am not actually backstage. As of Austin's future, I would expect him to be on RAW since Smackdown seems to be the more dominant brand, but with the nWo on RAW, it makes his situation all the more interesting.
Lots of reaction over the Internet since RAW has been that the Smackdown brand seems more dominant then the RAW brand. From what I understand, the WWF will deal with any problems that are a result of the split, with one possible way being that Ric Flair and Vince McMahon will make trade different wrestlers. There are other talent including Kanyon and Rhyno who were not drafted last night but will return to one WWF brand when they are ready to return. The WWF is saying the two rosters won't go into effect until RAW, I expect for there to be changes after this upcoming Monday.
Many WWF fans who do not get UPN in their area are upset now that they will not be able to see certain superstars such as The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle, and etc. That may be a potential problem for the WWF as UPN has been taken out of more areas than when Smackdown debuted on UPN. The thing to consider is if certain fans without UPN can't watch the Smackdown brand, then that could diminish their interest in the WWF. The problem also potentially lies for those who do not have cable or don't have TNN.
The announcing situation has not been addressed to the public yet. I would expect Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler to stay on RAW, but that is not set in stone yet. As far as Heat and Jakked/Metal goes, I have heard BOTH that they will be more wrestling orientated and more recap orientated. Believe which ever you want to, and I guess we will find out when those shows are on the air after the split is finalized.
We also saw from last night that both the APA (wow, does anyone else realize since becoming the APA, that their tag team name use to be The Acolytes) and the Dudley Boys are now split. I would expect the teams to remain split as all four of those wrestlers would receive somewhat of a singles push, but the possibility of a trade of somekind is not out of the question.
Stephanie McMahon will remain off of WWF TV for a while it is expected but will somehow return sooner or later. In the meantime, she will continue to be backstage as a writer. There is no idea what her role will be when she returns in the future to TV.
Any rumors suggesting Rob Van Dam turned down a contract to the WWF is false. RVD signed a WWF contract about nine months ago that was good for three years. So RVD has a little over two years left on his current deal.
The rest of this report will mostly be rants of my own so if you don't care to read that, then I suggest you stop reading now. I am throwing in my opinion on Monday night's show and this roster split. The wrestling aspect of the show was not really good, but the draft was exciting. It was never done in wrestling and was something new. I am worried that the Smackdown roster seems more complete then RAW's, but I don't think the WWF would go on with having RAW be bad while Smackdown good. This split will make or break the WWF as far as I am concerned. It is a very risky move, but if it works out, then more the younger superstars will more likely be given their chance in the spotlight. Something had to be done, and with it being a year that the WWF bought WCW, meaning it took them a year to figure out how to split the roster, the WWF damn well better make this work.
At the same time, I am worried that my interest in wrestling will diminish even more then it has in the last year. Since last May, my WWF interest decreased since the storylines in my opinion were not good. Things got better when the Invasion angle started, but a month after the Alliance formed, things got bad again. The nWo invasion totally flopped in my view, and I don't see them as any real threat right now. My attitude now is, will RAW and Smackdown be worth my time to watch? I always have before when it got bad, so hopefully this time will not be any different.
I bought the WWF Forced Entry CD today. Listening to some of it, I think the CD is not bad but I am a little disappointed. Theme's like RVD's, Edge's, and Undertakers aren't necessarily the same WWF remixes you hear on TV each week, but I still think it was worth the money. I've been waiting for the real version Austin's Disturbed theme for over a year now.
Finally, I got a request for everyone. If you read this news report continually, I am asking you for this favor. Please e-mail me and let me know whether you would prefer a straight forward, news only type report; or a more open minded news report with not only the latest news but my opinions, two cents, and other rants. I have gotten feedback from both sides who prefer one type of report over the other. I however am more interested to see what everyone as a whole thinks. Thank you.
With all that said, that will end this news and rumors report. I'm not sure when the next update will be with my Spring Break from class starting Thursday night, my work schedule increasing due to Easter, so just hang tight I guess. I can only hope someone else from TPWW will help me out with these updates.
Martin Hawrysko
E-mail: Martin@tpww.net - Questions or Comments... the shorter, the
more likely I can respond.
AIM: INGAME21 - Wrestling Questions
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