The relationship between Stone Cold Steve Austin and WWE has not changed since Tuesday's report. The only real relevant news is that WWE.com posted a short message informing their fans how Austin walked out and as a result he is no longer on the active roster list. This does NOT mean that Austin has quit or that WWE has released him. Austin is still under WWE contract and will most likely remain under WWE contract even if he is to never wrestle again.
If WWE was to release Austin, he would have the option of wrestling for any of the upstarting promotions, which is what WWE does not want. If NWA-TNA or WWA were to sign Austin, he is the man that could very well put any promotion "on the map" and WWE realizes that. However, even if Austin were to be released, who knows if he would even want to wrestle elsewhere. At least if Austin is under WWE contract for a few more years, there is assurance he won't be wrestling elsewhere anytime soon.
Looking forward to watching Confidential all day today while going through the hell that I call working at Dominick's Foods, I was able to watch the first half hour of Confidential, but had to answer a phone call which kept me on for the half hour. The onlything I am able to do is read someone's recap of Confidential which I just did courtesy of Adam Martin's Confidential Recap from the TPWW Newsboard. The general idea from Vince McMahon is, he doubts he is willing to give Austin a third chance as he is afraid to build him up once again to have him only do something else stupid. Ross feels that he doesn't see how Austin can ever comeback as a result of the current conflicts of this situation. Damn I really wish I had my VCR set (no sarcasm there; I really was considering taping the program too, but decided not too at the last minute). Through the eyes of Ross and McMahon, Austin's career in WWE is over. As far as my opinion goes, I honestly don't have one yet. I believe I did a good job telling my opinion in my recent Mark My Words column about Austin walking out, but I can't say it is my place to say whether or not Austin will ever be back in WWE again.
There is finally some news about The Rock, whether it be good news or not, I'll let you decide. A recent article said The Rock will be eventually filming a movie where he will play the role of a Hawaiian King. The Rock already is scheduled to start filming for the movie "Hellorado" sometime in August or September. As far as The Rock and WWE goes, there is hope that Rock will be able to wrestle at least one match this summer. Some are suggesting he will wrestle at either the July Pay-Per-View (which formely has been Fully Loaded until last year when it was Invasion), or most likely at the August PPV, being Summerslam. It is however to soon to know for sure what exactly is in the plan as far as The Rock's wrestling career goes. Personally, I do hope to see The Rock back in WWE fulltime at one point, but know one knows for sure what kind of situations will be taking place a year or two from now. Will The Rock be a sucessful Hollywood movie star? Or after a few films, will the interest in him die to the point he resumes wrestling again? Only time will tell.
There are some injury updates that need to be discussed. Triple H recently had a MRI on his sore elbow. Bonechips will probably need to be taken out eventually. Benoit should be able to be active by the end of June. Kane should be ready for action in seven weeks. Kevin Nash should be recovered in about three weeks.
A few days ago, Diamond Dallas Page made the official announcement that he has retired from professional wrestling. Recently, Page has been experiencing pain in his spine, which kept has kept him sidelined for the last few weeks. After seeing many doctors in hopes of a "second opinion" that sounded favorable to him, he was convinced it was time to hangup the boots. He could have continued to wrestle and experience the pain and/or risk further serious injury. Page also mentioned he will take sometime away from WWE, but will return in some sort of nonwrestling role, in which he suggested as an agent of some kind hopefully. It is a shame that this announcement has had to take a backseat to some of the other major happenings this week, but DDP retiring should also be something considered big too. DDP has had a great career, where he won multiple championships in the old WCW. His career in WWE was nothing compared to what he accomplished in WCW. I wasn't a big fan of DDP, yet his contributions to the old WCW should not be forgotten.
I believe I reported this in the previous report, but in case I did not, Raw scored a 4.2 rating. Smackdown scored a 3.6 rating placing UPN in fourth place among NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX.
The NWA-TNA announced earlier this week that they will debut a new title on their weekly program on the 2nd edition which will air on Wednesday, June 26th. The debut show airs this Wednesday night, June 19th. For those not aware, NWA-TNA will air everyweek on Wednesday night, on PPV. The cost is about ten dollars a show, which is why there is doubt that NWA-TNA will even last. The official NWA-TNA website descripted the X-Title as not being limited to any weight classification, but will showcase the high-flying, daredevil type wrestling. The official NWA-TNA site is NWATNA.com.
Before wrapping this up, I have some site news to share. Fred Venturini has written his final edition of The Right Angle. This is the first TPWW staff member to leave since my arrival and it's sad to see someone go. For those who don't remember, Fred marked his territory at TPWW when he debuted his weekly XFL column back when the leage was alive. From then on, Fred started to write The Right Angle. You may read his final column by reading the link provided above. For Triple A, and the rest of the TPWW staff, I thank Fred for his contributions to TPWW and wish him the best of luck in everything he does.
As far as columns go, after Thursday, I will start reading all the applications and will work fast to select the new columnist so they can start writing ASAP. If you are interested in writing for TPWW but haven't applied yet, you have until this Thursday, so please send in your application. Click here for more info.
That is going to end it with this edition of the news and rumors. I simply am out of gas as far as writing and updating goes after this long day, and wanted to get this written and updated ASAP since I will be busy all day Sunday. Before I forget, Michaels top ten list column will be posted sometime early Monday morning just after minight. As far as now, I am dead tired so after posting this, I am calling it a night. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, and to everyone else, have a good Sunday.
Martin Hawrysko
MHTPWW@hotmail.com
AIM: INGAME21
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