Friday, May 3rd, 2002
By Martin Hawrysko


Welcome back to TPWW.net for our first edition of the news and rumors in the month of May. There was no report on Tuesday, I will however explain everything at the end of this report though. With that said, it's time to get started.

As reported on the TPWW Newsboard last night, Bill Goldberg has bought out his AOL Time Warner contract and is now a free agent. I have heard that he finalized everything on Monday and it was AOL Time Warner that pushed him to accept a buyout, since he was the last "old" WCW wrestle to still be under contract. Goldberg accepted the buyout, however, he still has earned nearly 100% of what he would have made if he would not have accepted the buyout. So what does this mean? It means that if Goldberg wanted, he could sign with the WWF or any other wrestling promotion at anytime he wants. What is the reality? The reality is he is hurt for the time being. He injured his arm as a result of his temper during a charity race a few weeks ago. Goldberg has mentioned in the past that he was not interested in wrestling for the WWF because he believed their material was not suitable for kids. Goldberg mentioned yesterday in a radio interview, he has nothing with Vince McMahon and would not rule out a possibility of wrestling with the WWF in the future. The only thing to do now is patiently wait and see if anything comes from this. Though Goldberg is a free agent now, he could technically never wrestle ever again, that is, if he chooses that option. I would like to see Goldberg in the WWF sometime soon, but only if they pushed him right. I could just see the WWF hyping him a lot but to only be just like another general main eventer like Triple H, The Rock, Kurt Angle, or Steve Austin after a few weeks. That's what I don't want to see happen to him.

Lita sucessfully underwent neck surgey earlier this week. Everything went well during the sugury and she will now rest, and then eventually rehab. She will be out for at least six months, however, as with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rhyno, and Chris Benoit to name just a few who had similiar situations with their neck, I would expect Lita to be out of action for 8-10 months. I would not rule out the possibility of her returning sooner to be at ringside during the Hardy's matches.

Faarooq's knees have been bothering him for well over a year now and it has been known that his career was winding down slowly. The latest rumor is that he is looking to end his career as a wrestler. I have heard no rumored time frame, which means he may be looking to retire as soon as possible, or very soon. He has already had meetings with the company to serve as a road agent.

The latest rumor is that Scotty Too Hotty's neck is more severe then what Stone Cold Rhyno, or Chris Benoit ever had. The rumor continues as it is suggested that this neck condition will be the cause of his retirement, whether that is to happen shortly after his recovery from neck surgery, or a few years afterwards. I feel sorry for Scotty, whether you like him or not, it's sad especially at his young age that a chronic condition must always keep him down and possibly end his career.

WWF wrestlers are praising the roster split saying the traveling is a lot easier, lines for catering are not as long, and the lockerrom is not as crowded.

Larry Zbyszko has recently filed three different lawsuits against Vince McMahon and Chris Jericho. Zbyszko is suing for the WWF using the phrase "Living Legend." The name was trademarked by him years ago for his use in wrestling, and the WWF has been notified by his attorneys about the trademark. The WWF apparantely have ignored the notices. Zbyszko was one of my favorite announcers back in WCW, but I honestly think he has really been harsh on the WWF. It's one thing to have a beef with someone (as he does with Vince McMahon), but his comments he made at a recent wrestling PPV (I believe it was the WWA, if not, then it was the XWF) was just low class.

It is being reported that Vince McMahon made the final decision to the finish of the main event the day of Backlash. He was not sure whether to have Triple H or ______ (insert WWF World Champion's name) win the match, but obviously decided ______ (insert WWF World Champion's name).

More developmental wrestlers will be sent to both Raw and Smackdown in the near future. It is expected that these young wrestlers will make their debuts at different times so they all don't get "lost" with the rosters.

WWF Smackdown scored a 4.5 overnight rating last night with a share of 6. The final rating is not available at this time.

I liked Smackdown last night, except for the Vince McMahon and Stacy Kiebler segments. I don't like how Vince books himself to have an affair, or attempt an affair with Trish Stratus, Torrie Wilson, and now Stacy Kiebler. My thought is though, this would have storyline would have worked a lot better when Vince was still at odds with his wife Linda a year ago. The last we saw Vince and Linda, they were a happy couple. This all happened on TV, so it's not like Linda won't find out about it, and would she simply ignore it? I think not. I hope they don't bring back the divorce angle on TV, but I doubt they will.

Last nights World Title match was ok. Jericho carried the match, but ______ (insert WWF World Champion's name) is just so slow and can barely move. In case I didn't make it clear, I don't mind his comeback, he deserves it, but he doesn't deserve to be carrying the title belt around for any period of time more then a week. He has done a lot for the wrestling business, but the world title belt means you are the best in that promotion. While not every former world champion was the best wrestler in the promotion, it is so obvious that ______ (insert WWF World Champion's name) is not the best wrestler or even a good wrestle currently in the WWF. This title reign bothers me so much that I would rather not have to say or type his name. I don't care if that is disrespectful or not because in my opinion, he is the world title is being disrespected while he carries it.

Monday night on Raw, Ric Flair, Bradshaw, and Stone Cold Steve Austin will team up to wrestle the nWo (Hall, X-Pac, and Big Show). This storyline unfortunately bores me, and this will be the third week in a row where the nWo is inserted into a tag team match. It looks as if Ric Flair is turning heel, and personally, if it is going to happen, I would rather they just would get it over all ready rather then having it happen either this Monday night or sometime afterwards. It's not like everyone is going to be in shock, "OH MY GOSH! RIC FLAIR JUST TURNED HEEL! WHY! WHY! WHY!" By the way, this shows how poor thinking the WWF writers are. The Big Show joins the nWo, then the following week he is on a WWF tour. Why not switch with another wrestler or hold off Big Show joining the nWo. With Show not on Raw this past week, it totally makes his affiliation with the nWo being no big deal. Gosh, has the WWF totally killed the nWo excitement or what?

I mentioned early on I had an explanation why there was no report earlier this week. The answer is, I have decided to write the news and rumors report once a week now. When the "old" WCW and ECW died over a year ago, news got scarce and it was hard to do a daily news report. With the roster split now finding reliable news or rumors has gotten a lot harder. The storylines move slower since each group of wrestlers is only on once a week now rather then twice. It is my hope that with a report once a week, there will be more to write about, both with news/rumors, and storyline speculation. Frankly, I believe it is the best decision for the news and rumors. However, if there is a lot of news that does breakout, or a huge development happens from a PPV or Raw, then obviously I would write during the week sometime. Other that that though, these reports will be updated sometime during the weekends.

Lately I have been recieving numerous e-mails which included various subjects but no text in the body. I noticed I was recieving these e-mails from about 8 different addresses each day. After confirming this with our friend Rajah, it is virus related. This particular viris goes through the cache of a person's computer and collects e-mail addresses and sends this stuff I mentioned. So this made me think. If I am recieving these weird e-mails, I am thinking some of you may be recieving similiar e-mails from myself that are very similiar to what I have described. Though none of these e-mails have attachments, I am still getting them everyday. The only time you should ever recieve an e-mail from myself is if you wrote to me and I am replying. So if you have gotten any of these e-mails from my Martin@tpww.net or MartinTPWW@hotmail.com) e-mail addresses, I have not sent those. Just as an unofficial disclaimer, I do not open attachments from e-mails, and I never will send anyone an e-mail that includes an attachment.

That will do it for this edition of the news and rumors. Before going, the Top Ten List and The Right Angle have both been updated. They both are excellent reads so if you have the extra time, please read them and e-mail them feedback. With that said, thanks for reading everybody, and have a great weekend. Later.

Martin Hawrysko
Martin@tpww.net
AIM: INGAME21

Previous News Update >>> Scott Steiner cleared to wrestle, Scotty Too Hotty out for a year, Rey Mysterio Jr. to sign WWF contract this weekend, and more. >>>


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