Alright there. It's time for another News and Rumours, what with further post split activity, wrestlers in hospital, a death and a retirement.
With the good news that Kevin Nash is injured (no doubt the strain of combing his lovely blond hair caused him to tear his bicep) and not going to be poisoning our screens with his no talent, one move (two if you count flicking back his lovely blond hair), backstabbing arse for a good few months, I am in a good mood.
There is not much to report on the WWF front other than that Stacy Kiebler has reverted to her Ms Hancock persona, cue lots of purile jokes about hands and cocks. Albert on the other hand has a new look and has shaved his back!!! The heel turn on Scotty seems to have re-united Rikishi with Scotty, although whether or not a Rikishi-Albert fued is something that we all want is another matter.
As Martin reported The Rock is planning to take some time off. He has also been doing a lot of media this week largely related to the upcoming 'Scorpion King' movie. He gave an interesting interview on ESPN's "Unscripted with Chris Connelly", in it he described his match with Hulk Hogan as "the greatest wrestling match ever". Can't say that I agree with that analysis, since I always felt that the ability to wrestle was a major component of a wrestling match, but I guess that is just me. The Rock went on to sing Hogan's praises, presumably in the hope that Hogan won't fuck him over in return. The Rock also mentioned that there is jealousy amongst other wrestlers in the WWF at his position and that they are fairly high up though he declined to name names. Again, make of that what you will. He also discussed his college and CFL football careers including his fights with Monte Montezuma and Doug Flutie. The Rock will also be hosting Saturday Night Live this Saturday.
Backlash will be available in the UK. It was one of the PPV that was previously owned by Channel Four, however, Sky have bought the rights, and have decided to put it on their PPV channel, Sky Box Office, so if you want to see HHH vs Hulk Hogan then you are going to have to pay for it.
The WWF held a press conference in Australia featuring Vince McMahon, Stacy Kiebler and Mark Henry. The most noteworthy incident concerns the Australian tourist minister fucking up by announcing that Wrestlemania was coming to Australia. Continuing the Australia theme, the WWA has been touring there, local talent 'Front Row' Nathan Jones in a shock turn around won the World title. The other notable thing has been the criticism of Brian Christopher over his exploits with women from the crowd. Dry humping members of the audience especially when they might or might not be legal is perhaps a lawsuit waiting to happen. This is by the by though, the PPV is being shown on In Demand on Sunday. The lineup features:
- Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles vs Nova
- Puppet vs Tio (Hardcore Midgets)
- at & Buff Bagwell vs Stevie Ray & Disco Inferno
- Grandmaster' Brian Christopher vs Jeff Jarrett
- Quebecer Pierre vs The Funkster (Alan Funk ( aka Kee Wee) doing a very good impression of Hulk Hogan)
- Sabu vs Devon Storm (cage match)
- Midajah vs Chantelle ( bra and panties match)
- WWA World Title Match - Nathan Jones vs Scott Steiner
Greg Valentine was interviewed recently and as well as describing Vince McMahon as a dictator, he also discussed XWF and the television deal but said that he couldn't say anything until the deal was signed. Make of that what you will.
According to the Wrestling Observer Bill Goldberg will be competing in the Long Beach Grand Prix celebrity race on Saturday.
Lou Thesz at the age of 86 had open heart surgery this week. Thesz who wrestled in SIX decades from the 1930's to the 1980's is reported to be recovering well from the operation. If you want to send well wishes to a genuine wrestling legend, you can send them to: Lou Thesz, P.O. Box 783783, Winter Garden, Fla., 34778.
Akira Hokuto (Hisako Uno Sasaki), who according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is one of the top woman wrestlers of all-time, will be retiring on Sunday at Yokohama Bunka Gym . She'll be teaming with Meiko Satomura to face Chigusa Nagayo & Ayako Hamada in the main event of one of the biggest womens wrestling shows of the year.
We've decided to try to cover more Japanese and MMA news mainly because WWF news is always fairly boring, this section is written by Rob 'ban' Harvey, so any complaints or praise and comments can be passed on to him.
On April 10 at the All Japan annual Champions Carnival for 2002, Keiji Muto pinned Satoshi Kojima in the first semi final and Mike Barton pinned Genichiro Tenryu in something of an upset. Muto then pinned Barton later that night in the final to win the tournament. Muto is also scheduled to face Tenryu on the April 13 for the vacant Triple Crown and is expected by most to pick up the 3 belts recently vacated by Toshiaki Kawada due to injury.
In somewhat of a shocker, Yoshinari Ogawa pinned GHC champion Jun Akiyama to win Pro Wrestling NOAH's version of the world title. While it's commendable that the company, lead by former Triple Crown champion Mitsuharu Misawa, is building new stars, the decision to put the title on Ogawa is strange seeing how he is 35 years old and in the region of 200lbs. Ogawa will probably defend the title against number 1 contender Akita Taue, who beat Takao Omori for that spot, on the next big show. The rumour going around is that Akiyama dropped the title as a way of getting around having to do a return job to the new IWGP heavyweight champion Yuji Nagata as a return for Akiyama's win at the Tokyo Dome on January 4 which is New Japan's biggest show of the year. In case you haven't heard, on April 5, Nagata beat Tadao Yasuda to win the IWGP title to the delight of nearly fan of Japanese wrestling worldwide. Despite suffering a big time loss to Mirko Cro Cop (more on him in a minute) in a shoot fight on a Pride PPV late last year, Nagata has managed to stay as a viable challenger to that title when New Japan president Antonio Inoki has depushed other wrestlers who have lost shoots in the past.
There are still constant rumours of Joanie Laurer, who you all know better as Chyna, working a New Japan show sometime soon. Stuart at Strong Style Spirit is reporting that Chyna had shocking been suggested as an opponent for Hiroyoshi Tenzan on the April 25 tour but it looks more likely Chyna will referee another match on the card. Fans can breathe a sight of relief… for now!
Back to Mirko Cro Cop now. At Pride 20 on April 28, the K-1 superstar will face off against Vanderlei Silva in something of a dream match at the Yokohama Arena. The PPV will air in the U.S on tape delay the next day.
On to the UFC. It's been said this week that both UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett and lightweight champion Jens Pulver could be on the verge of leaving the company for higher paying alternatives although it's yet to be official confirmed. Without weekly TV, the UFC has had trouble keeping hold of many of the stars they have helped to create. Middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante, who is also considering his options with the group, will be defending his title against Matt Lindland on the next PPV - UFC 37: High Impact - on May 10, 2002. Also on the show, BJ Penn, who was being groomed for the lightweight title, faces Paul Creighton and Caol Uno vs. Yves Edwards. The show will be available on IN DEMAND, DIRECTV, Dish Network, Bell ExpressVu, Viewers Choice Canada and Globosat Programadora LTDA pay-per-view television to everyone in North America.
Right now, the only match booked for the UFC 38: Royal Albert Brawl in London, England (the groups first event in Europe) on July 13 is Frank Mir vs. Ian Freeman. Jens Pulver was scheduled to defend the lightweight title against Din Thomas but that seems to be up in the air. The planned main event of the show was meant to be a rematch of welterweight champion Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton also appears to be off. It is obviously not a very good sign for a group running it's first show in Europe to have it's two big matches apparently already scrapped. The show will be the first UFC pay-per-view event to air live on Sky in the UK and Ireland and will be available on tape delay around the world in other countries on tape delay. There will be a press conference in London next week to official announce details for the event so hopefully they will have a main event booked by then (assuming Mir vs. Freeman isn't it) and hopefully it will be for a title.
Finally in some sad news, Amy Robinson the wife of WWF referee Charles 'Little Naitch' Robinson died this week after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts go out to the Robinsons at this time.
That is it for this News and Rumours. I still don't have anything to sign off with, but I will recommend that you check out the new TPWW e-fed run by Mr Marcus. Click here for further info. I will also wish Triple A a happy birthday for last week, he was 12. His best present was picture of Ry and Taz together autographed by Ry. I will also recommend that you check out the PJ Harvey albums 'Dry' and 'Rid of Me'. Anyway, that's it.
Moonax
Moonax@tpww.net
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