News Update--5/13/99

I just received the ratings off of Dave Scherer and in an incredible display of wrestling popularity, RAW is WAR set an all-time record with an 8.1 composite, coming off of a 7.8 for hour one and a mind-blowing 8.4 for the second and final hour. Everyone expected RAW to demolish the old 6.4 composite, but very few insiders who actually know how the ratings work actually fathomed anything in the 8's. For those that are interested, the quarter hour overrun produced a phenomenal 9.2 score. Only Saturday Night's Main Event, which consistently pulled in over 10 ratings has ever scored a higher number as far as wrestling shows are concerned, and SNME was broadcast on NBC, a non-cable network. Sunday Night Heat, which was also live this week, pulled in a modest 3.9 rating, which is a bit lower than what the WWF or the USA network would want. Oh well, I don't think anyone over there is complaining.

Right on the heels of all this commotion, the WWF holds RAW Tapings and HEAT tapings for next week tonight in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. It's still unclear what will go down tonight, but as always, I will have all the spoilers available either late tonight or early tomorrow. Be on the lookout for those.

Shifting to the developments on RAW, I guess I'll take this chronologically and touch on some stuff that transpired last night in Orlando. The opening match saw Billy Gunn take on Kane, in a battle of a former D-X member and possibly a future one. Nothing significant came out from the match, except for even more evidence to suggest that the Outlaws as a team and D-X as a group are pretty much gone for the time being. Although Shawn Michaels appeared on RAW, the WWF steered clear of the D-X situation as Michaels was more concerned with playing the role of commish. I suspect, little will be made of a potential Shawn Michaels led D-X reunion until after summer has come and gone. It just makes sense when you consider that HHH and Billy Gunn are headed for singles pushes, possibly to the world and intercontinental titles, respectively.

There are also some weak rumors indicating that Billy Gunn may be the next person inducted into the Corporate Ministry team, as he joins up with former friends Triple H and Chyna. This seems a rather peculiar move to say the least as it would accomplish very little where Gunn's push is concerned. As well, the Corporate Ministry seems highly overloaded with wrestlers at the moment...

Speculation persists that Viscera is on his way out of the Corporate Ministry and maybe even out of the WWF altogether. Viscera is arguably the least involved wrestler of the stable and no real role for him exists. Furthermore, the WWF opened up the possibility of Viscera getting kicked out of the CM, in light of how he is possibly the "weak link" of the group and was not able to escape last night's beating at the hands of the Union. And finally, the WWF is incredibly strict on keeping the weights of their stars under control. One look at Viscera will tell that he probably does not have a secure position in the company. If the WWF was so quick to release the Blue Meanie and Vader, chances are they will not think twice about keeping Viscera.

Just prior to the Billy Gunn/Kane match, a tall blonde lady made her way down and hugged Gunn, but was quickly escorted out by security. This lady is none other than the "Sexy Savannah", who was originally projected to enter the WWF as one of the Godfather's Hoes. Although she is not under WWF contract yet, she may signed on at a later date, depending on how she is received by the crowd. In fact, she may appear again tonight at the tapings in order for the WWF to evaluate her further. If she is picked up, it is unclear whether Savannah will be added to the women's division or simply given a valet type role.

Speaking of the women's division, the title has finally changed hands after last night's Evening Gown Match between Sable and Debra. Although Sable was the winner of the match, Commissioner Michaels reversed the decision and declared Debra the new champ. Making Debra the women's titlist is a hard move to understand, logic wise. Everyone complained about how Sable was not a wrestler and how she did little to warrant a title; well if there is one person who deserves it less than Sable, it's Debra. Debra is a valet and as far as I know has never competed in a singles match versus another lady. Basically, this messes up some chemistry backstage as it sends mixed signals to the established women, such as Jacqueline, Tori and Ivory. The only natural thing I see coming out of this is a future PPV match between Debra and Sable, in which the latter regains the belt. A match between the two ladies will probably bump up the buyrate of any PPV up a couple notches, which is what the WWF wants anyways.

More news on Sable. Reports indicate that she is again causing problems backstage by pressuring the WWF to give her even more time off to pursue non-wrestling ventures. This may partially explain the title switch on RAW, as it may be a message to Sable indicating that Debra is there and ready to surpass Sable in terms of popularity. In any case, it is highly unlikely that the WWF will grant Sable any sort of extended leave of absence or a partial release. On a related note, Jim Ross reports that Sable's second Playboy shoot is complete and if all goes well, the pics will appear in the September issue of the magazine, which will be released sometime in early August.

Sable's bodyguard, Nicole Bass, is also anxious to get into the ring, be it with a man or a woman. Right now, none of the other ladies (Chyna included) are willing to get into the ring with her, due to her careless wrestling habits. Bass is not what you would consider a wily veteran and has a history of injuring people. In fact, there are unconfirmed reports that she has caused Ivory two leg injury's within the past two months, owing from her chokeslam. Perhaps, a male opponent is more likely for Bass in the immediate future. Chyna has been quoted as saying that she may fight Nicole once she gets some matches under belt, which is basically like saying "I will fight her later".

Okay, last night I saw a part of Test that I hope I never get to see again, but in any case, he still ended up losing the match and is apparently stuck on jobbing duty. The WWF has been especially impressed with Test thus far, but there have also been a few incidents which they have frowned down upon. The first was the little backstage "ego problem" between himself and Edge/Christian of the Brood. The second, and more important of the two, is that Test missed some shows a few weeks back due to a mild sickness, which the WWF thought wasn't as severe as Test was making out to be. I just find it interesting how he's still getting punished for what appears to be two insignicant details. And to top it all off, he's on the wrong end of an angle with the Big Bossman of all people. Not good.

Here's some Edge news. Apparently, Edge isn't too happy at the direction his character is taking with the Brood and has voiced his opinions that he wants possibly a singles run with a title shot included in there somewhere. I don't blame him either. Out of all the young stars the WWF has, Edge may be the brightest of them all as his talent is unmatched and his mic skills are surprisingly well developed. There are reports that Edge has an I-C title reign promised in his contract, however, that seems unlikely to me given that he signed on as an unproven rookie.

Two other people who are surely in line for a push are none other than D'Lo Brown and Mark Henry. Both guys generated quite a following as faces and established a relatively successful team in the process. With their attack on D-X last night, one or both of D'Lo or Mark may turn heel in the near future to futher the storylines. It is also not out of the question to see perhaps only one of the two to turn bad, which could conceivably spark a feud between the two partners. The WWF always loves playing the partner vs. partner game...

Here's a rumor killer if I ever heard one: Marc Mero did NOT kill himself and three others. The source of this false rumor is from a story published in one of the tabloid magazines which indicated that Sable's FIRST husband got in a car accident, after drinking and driving, and killed three innocent victims in the process. Marc Mero, for those that do not know, is Sable's SECOND husband and at this time, they are still together as a couple. Sable's daughter, Mariah, who is about 10 years of age or so, is from her first husband, not Mero. Hope that clears some of the confusion.

Also a correction from Friday's report. I mistakenly reported that the WWF training camps will now be run by Jim Cornette and "Dangerous" Danny Davis. Cornette will run the show as mentioned, but it is NOT Danny Davis, the former wrestler, but rather an independent worker. Here is the information from reader David McCoy:

The WWF and Shane Douglas are closer than ever to completing a deal which will see Douglas enter the WWF as major heel. Although this is by no means a done deal, several reliable sources are reporting that it is only a matter of time before the contract is signed. At this time, Shane is no longer under ECW contract and will probably fail to make an appearance at the upcoming ECW PPV. As I've mentioned before, Douglas' last stint with the WWF ended on relatively bad terms, but it appears that both sides have let bygones be bygones and are willing to work together once again. It remains to be seen how well Shane will fit into the WWF's scheme of things, because even though his mic skills are terrific, he's not what you would consider a stereotypical WWF wrestler. More likely than not, if he is to enter the WWF, he would keep his "The Franchise" Shane Douglas gimmick, instead of resorting back to the lame "Dean Douglas" stuff he worked in the WWF as before.

More information on "WWF Smackdown", which will return on a permanent basis in the fall. As it stands now, it is a three-company race with UPN, FOX and CBS all vying for the right to host the show. Rupert Murdoch and FOX would likely end up presenting the best case to the WWF, as Murdoch is a billionaire and shares a mutual dislike for Ted Turner with Vince McMahon. There are also reports that say that Murdoch has offered to buy the WWF from Vince McMahon, but McMahon would have none of it. Furthermore, FOX appeals to a bigger range of audience than does UPN and FOX also would have little problems with the WWF's content. However, the major drawback is that the WWF would surely have to work around the extensive sports schedule FOX offers. CBS, although offering the WWF more shows for their wrestlers, would end up heavily editting RAW to suit their needs. I'll have more on this as information becomes available.

Jim Ross reports that the WWF has locked up several new advertisers. Among some of them are Wendy’s, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up and the United States Air Force.

Ross also reports on his Ross Report that the WWF has officially moved the date for the Georgia Dome RAW is WAR from September 27 to October 11. If you don't remember, this was due to the demands of the Georgia Dome officials who did not want any "marketplace confusion" stemming from the fact that WCW decided to hold a NITRO only a few minutes away. Tickets for this event in Atlanta go on sale June 25. Circle those calendars.

Much to the dismay of wrestling fans the world over, the stipulations to the upcoming No Mercy match between Tori and Sable have been changed. It is NO longer an Evening Gown Match, but rather just a regular women's match. No reason was given for the change of plans, but it may be that one of the ladies (Tori most likely) got cold feet. I mentioned last week that nude pics of Tori are available on the internet, and I didn't expect so many people to email me asking where they can see them. To tell you the truth, I do NOT know. I remember seeing the pics at a site when it was first revealed that Terri Power (Tori) had signed with the WWF. If I stumble upon the site once again, I'll post the address. All I remember is that she damn ugly looking and had dark brown hair instead of her normal blonde.

According to Dave Meltzer, IYH: Backlash generated roughly 350,000 buys, which translates into about a 1.06 buyrate. That is phenomenal business for an IYH PPV. Wrestlemania 15 if you remember garnered a 2.32 buyrate, which made it the most successful Wrestlemania of all time.

I'm running out of time, so I got to hurry up...

I'd like to address all the rumors over the internet about Shawn Michaels trying to get out of his WWF contract. Basically it is a highly unfounded rumor and has not been confirmed by anyone of reasonable credibility. If you haven't heard, Shawn has "supposedly" told friends that he is attempting to get out of the WWF and possibly head to WCW to re-unite with Hall and Nash. Furthermore, X-Pac has "supposedly" told Michaels that he will follow him to WCW at that time. This is a VERY absurd story and I don't know who started it but people are forgetting, that Shawn Michaels and X-Pac both have two years left on their contracts. They can't just decide to leave all of a sudden and think it would be fine and dandy with the WWF. Finally, I'm pretty confident when I say this, but the WWF would never release either of them and if they did, some sort of non-WCW clause would surely be triggered. Shawn still gets popped bigtime whenever he makes an appearance and I expect the WWF to use him sparingly until his deal runs out. He definitely is the showstoppa. As for X-Pac, I don't see how he can swallow his pride and return to WCW, after what happened and what he said about Eric. The bottom line is that all of these rumors are false. The End.

Rumblings out of WCW indicate that they may be interested in picking up the now released Gillberg. Obviously this would all culminate in a Gillberg-Goldberg match, where the latter athlete absolutely destroys the former. However, things get interesting when you consider that WCW may make Gillberg play an Austin clone instead. That could prove immensely interesting and could possibly provide WCW as the ulimate winner in the whole fiasco.

WCW has also NOT released Chastity yet. Despite all the ruckus her appearance in an old porn movie has caused, Bischoff has decided to remove her from TV for the time being instead of letting her go altogether. TV station, newspapers and even the WWF has picked up on this fact and made it a huge mess for the WCW public relations department. Big deal, she was in a porno.

What the hell is up with "Asya"? You thought Bischoff going face was a rip-off of Vince doing the same weeks earlier, this is the ulimate in copycatting. If you haven't caught on yet, Asya is meant as the counterpart for the WWF's Chyna (get it--Asia/China), which revolves around the fact that Asia is bigger than China. In fact, it's a rip-off of Joey Styles' line in which he said Nicole Bass should be called "Russya" since she is so much bigger than Chyna.

The little Hulk Hogan skits last night portrayed by Patterson and Brisco portray one thing to me. The WWF does NOT want Hulk Hogan back, NOT that they do. It's as if to say that the WWF's old guys can do exactly what Hogan does anyways. Hopefully, this ends all the talk about the red and yellow showing up in the WWF, because the WWF in their right mind would not take Hogan up on his offer of returning. Their simply is no room for him in the WWF's current direction. By the way, many of you emailed me about Jim Ross' comment towards Pat Patterson in which he said "and he's single, fellas". Patterson's homosexuality is a known fact in the wrestling world and every now again Ross and the others joke around like that and say that one air. I've heard Ross allude to "rear end work" at Brisco's garage, if ya smell what I'm cookin'.

[Credit: Rajah Kumar]