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News and Rumors for Saturday, December 15
Hey yo, I'm back for the weekend news and rumors report here at
rajahwwf.com. Unfortunately, I haven't had
a chance to watch Smackdown! yet and in addition to the fact that there isn't
too much going around means that this report won't be pretty. It's not all that
surprising though because we're in arguably the slowest period action-wise in
the WWF with Royal Rumble over a month away and the Christmas season now upon
us. But whatever, no use moaning over that, so let's get this over with...
The WWF presented their latest installment of the Smackdown! program on
Thursday evening and judging by what I read, the show was another average
presentation with little in the way of wrestling and instead more emphasis
placed on the backstage and I suppose one out-of-arena skit that made for some
good entertainment. Stone Cold Steve Austin was at work making life difficult
for both Vince McMahon and Booker T, while Kurt Angle renewed his rivalry with
Rikishi in the form of a tag team match that also featured the no love lost duo
of Edge and William Regal. That left the remaining main eventers in Rock, Chris
Jericho, Undertaker and Rob Van Dam to duel it out in yet another tag team
contest, this one billed as the main event for Smackdown!. Meanwhile, the
Cruiserweight title was back on TV as Tajiri defended against Crash Holly. And
finally, the rest of the show was sprinkled with appearances from Matt and Jeff
Hardy, Lita, Test, the APA, Lance Storm, Christian, the Dudley Boyz and other
competitors of the like. There was also a surprise appearance from the
Hurricane, who has now been hired by Ric Flair. If you missed the show like me,
you can find a full
Smackdown! Report ready to be read.
Smackdown! ratings were quite the interesting story this week. As we've
noted before, the latest trend in these numbers is a positive one with Smackdown!
not only increasing and hold onto recent gains, but technically out-performing
RAW when you break it down into the number of viewers watching each particular
program. This week's overnight rating came in at a very impressive 5.0, which
was marginally higher than last week's 4.9. I suppose everyone figured that the
final, broadcast number which takes the whole nation into account would figure
into a 4.2 - 4.4 mark, again higher than last week. That didn't happen, as
Smackdown! slipped all the way down to a 3.6, which is pretty low when you think
about it. Nonetheless, UPN still managed to come in its usual fourth place in
the nightly battle between the broadcast networks. NBC won with Friends leading
the way at a 14.9 and CBS was second with Survivor pulling in a 10.6.
Well, like I said there really isn't much to say about Smackdown! without
actually watching the show but I will throw out some comments based on the
written report linked earlier...
I suppose the prediction of Kurt Angle and Rikishi feuding on a more long
term basis held true as the two continue to involve themselves into each others'
affairs. It's good news if you're Rikishi because even though his act seems
somewhat stale, he's continuing to remain on TV in a good way by feuding with a
very recent former world champion. For Angle, it virtually looks like a de-push
because he's gone from messing around with guys like Jericho, Rock and Austin to
basically the mid-card picture. I don't know what the payoff here will be
because they've already kind of rushed it, seeing as how Rikishi has already
been able to "stinkface" Kurt.
Edge and William Regal are in much the same boat, with one key difference.
Edge seems destined to be on the way up and I'm pretty confident in saying that
he'll be the WWF's next main eventer in the next year or so. Regal, on the other
hand, is very injury prone it seems and recently underwent surgery to fix his
nosebleed problem. On that basis, I would say that this feud is probably pretty
close to wrapping up, hopefully so Edge can move onto someone of a higher
stature, maybe Angle himself?
Lance Storm was back on Smackdown!, in his Monday night role of continually
begging Ric Flair for a job. Predictably, Flair gave him one "final" chance to
prove his worth but the match was against Kane and as expected, Storm didn't
fare too well and thus, is still out of a job. I think the situation here is
pretty clear - the WWF writers feel compelled to keep Lance Storm on TV just
because of the great potential he has but they really don't know what to do with
him yet. So as a result, we just see him on TV wrestling the odd match here and
there until a creative direction for his character can be grasped. Who knows
when that will be, but like I said on Tuesday, I think Storm's career in the WWF
will really take off around the middle of 2002 when the WWF is able to tap into
a feud involving him and the returning Chris Benoit.
There's nothing really to comment on the six man tag team match involving
the Dudley Boyz. I've said it before and I'll say it again - there is currently
a great danger for the tag team division and the Dudley Boyz in particular all
because there is a severe lack of tag teams at the top who are able to feud over
the titles. Unfortunately, all the WWF can do is stick guys together randomly in
teams that really have no potential to make a long term impact (first it was
Kane-Show and now Scotty-Albert). I don't know how they will remedy this problem
but obviously the simplest solution is to either push a new tag team to this
level or sign some new guys or teams who can at least tide things over for the
time being. I don't know if I'm the only one who is frustrated with the tag team
division, but to put it into perspective and to sum it up - the Dudley Boyz are
the tag team champions, the unified champions at that, and there is no one there
to challenge them. What's the point of the belts if this doesn't change?
The WWF has begun to set up some key storylines for the upcoming weeks,
mainly because the time between the Vengeance and Royal Rumble PPVs is a long
and drawn out six weeks. For example, we're seeing signs of a short Chris
Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam angle, as well as Rock dueling it out with Test and
Steve Austin going up against Booker T. I don't think these matches are
necessarily being saved for the Rumble itself because of the four weeks still
left. The WWF will need some good TV shows between now and then with some
blockbuster calibre matches and the ones I mentioned above would do the trick
since they aren't what you would consider PPV-level matches. Jericho and Van Dam
have recently feuded with one another, as did Stone Cold and Booker T over the
summer. The Rock and Test is the only pair that we haven't really seen too much
but unless Test gets elevated in a big way in the near future, they have to use
this match on RAW or Smackdown! as opposed to the Rumble. It just wouldn't draw
enough interest. The one guy who is left out of the picture right now is
Undertaker and it may be because a real direction for his character has yet to
be established. In fact, half the time it seems like the fans still really don't
know whether to cheer or boo Taker.
Moving on, the return of Triple H is drawing closer with each passing day
and as of this writing, the indications seem to be that he will wrestle his
first match back on or around the 4th of January. That makes sense because it
gives him plenty of time to get back into the thick of things by Royal Rumble,
all the while giving him and the WWF medical team a chance to evaluate whether
this quad really is at 100%. It also makes sense because after this coming week,
the WWF will sort of go into hibernation with a bunch of taped shows in a row
and I highly doubt they would waste his return in such a case, if only because
spoilers be out on the internet and it would diminish the dramatics of his
return. In any case, it's still unclear where he'll fit in as far as the big
picture is concerned, but most people agree that he will be a face, at least in
the days immediately following his return. Even though the WWF's two other big
stars in Rock and Austin are currently "good guys", the heel turns of Jericho,
Undertaker and Angle help even up the sides to some degree. Speaking of Jericho,
Triple H is scheduled to face him at upcoming house shows which I suppose could
mean that this is the route the WWF will take as it pertains to who HHH will
feud with. I still have a feeling that Triple H will be entered into the Royal
Rumble itself and if that happens, will probably stand a great chance to win it
all.
The WWF live draft tentatively scheduled for January 7th may not happen
after all. From my understanding, the WWF is seriously contemplating scrapping
these plans and employing a different strategy as a way to split the roster into
two. I guess all we can do at this point is hang tight and wait, but it is
important to note that the way the WWF works right now, plans sometimes change
daily, let alone weekly or monthly. There is a huge concern that there is not
enough long term planning going on and some members of the booking staff have
apparently suggested that they should look at potential matches for Wrestlemania
and then work their way in a backward fashion, just so storylines make
more sense and there everything as a whole is more fluent. Despite this
uncertainty, it is still believed that sooner or later, there will be two
separate promotions competing as two different entities, each with their own
roster, TV timeslot(s), house shows, PPVs, etc.
Shawn Michaels is back in the news again, this time for most of the right
reasons. First he showed up at WWF NY for his scheduled appearance there and was
said to have looked in great shape and looked to have really enjoyed being
there. The response to him was exceptional as well and it prompted WWF senior
vice president Jim Ross to schedule a meeting with Michaels for Friday afternoon
(yesterday). It is still too soon to say how this meeting went but it is
believed that the focal point of conversations will center around whether the
WWF has any sort of concrete plans for his character and whether Michaels has
the attitude the WWF is looking for before they decide to invest in his
character. For what it's worth, Michaels has already taped his appearance for
WWF Excess (scheduled to air Saturday evening) and even though it may be as a
ploy to increase ratings, the fact remains that the WWF isn't trying to totally
ignore him. In other words, they're actually starting to really acknowledge that
Michaels not only exists as an employee but that they are confident enough in
him to start making him do these major promotional types of appearances.
In some relatively big international news, the WWF has all but confirmed
that they are in the intial stages of planning out a big Asian tour to commence
at the beginning of March, just before their annual Wrestlemania PPV. The way it
shapes up right now is that between the dates of March 1 and March 4, the WWF
will send a select group of superstars to tour Japan, Singapore and Malaysia for
non-televised events (ie. likely not RAW or Smackdown). The tour isn't expected
to be overly big since half the staff will likely have to stay back and keep
things on the North American front moving, but if it happens, this would be
quite an important statement as it relates to the WWF and future international
tours. Thus far, the WWF has primarily held events in the USA, Canada or United
Kingdom, despite the fact that there is a huge untapped market in Asia, other
parts of Europe and in Australia. With a large enough roster now to be able to
make these tours happen, I highly anticipate this tour not only going down, but
paving the way for the WWF to explore other unchartered waters. I'm guessing
that once Asia is touched, the WWF will target Australia because there is a huge
fanbase down there which would prove very rewarding for WWFE, financially
speaking.
Speaking of Jim Ross, he updated his weekly Ross Report over at wwf.com and
it was quite the long read with his usual plentiful injury updates comprising
the bulk of the report. Here are the highlights...
- William Regal underwent surgery on Thursday to fix up his nose which has
been bleeding all over the place lately. Regal will only be out of action for
about a week, but he's taking a vacation as well which means we won't see him
back on TV until 2002.
- Triple H spent his last day in Birmingham, AL on Friday and has met with
both his surgeon and physical therapist to discuss the ramifications surrounding
his imminent return. Ross confirms that he will be back in the WWF in the
beginning of January. I am guessing we'll see him either January 3 on a live
Smackdown! in Washington, D.C. or the January 7 RAW from New York.
- Shawn Stasiak is cleared to return to the ring, but I don't think there is
any urgency to get him back into the lineup right now.
- Bob Holly's arm is healing very well. Holly actually wrestled earlier this
week because the WWF was in Southern California and all his Tough Enough 2
students were in attendance. He's a tough customer all right and he's about
three months away from returning, which I believe is ahead of schedule.
- Taka Michinoku is back from Japan but will remain sidelined for another
four to six months.
- Same with Chris Kanyon. Well, same as in he will be out for four to six
months, not that he just came back from Japan.
- Test (back), Edge (hip), Scotty (neck), Crash Holly (hand/elbow) and Perry
Saturn (concussion) are all working their injuries and won't miss any time
unless their injuries get more serious.
- Mike Awesome undergoes ACL surgery today. Ross didn't say it, but he'll be
gone for a good part of 2002.
- X-Pac is still undergoing physical therapy for his neck problems. He's not
physically at 100% yet but is good enough where he can still wrestle, if needed.
- Rhyno and Benoit are both recovering from neck surgery. Rhyno is still
upwards of half a year away from returning and is supposedly still in a brace.
Benoit is doing awesome from what I've read and heard and will be back
definitely for Wrestlemania, maybe in a couple months if all goes well.
- Hectic schedule coming up for the federation next week: RAW on Monday,
Smackdown! on Tuesday, RAW tapings on Friday, Smackdown! tapings Saturday.
That's four live events in six days! But the good thing is that the stars get
time off until January 3 which I'm sure they will all be very happy about.
- Test, Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Molly, Lita and Jacqueline all recently
wrapped up tapings of NBC's "Fear Factor". No word on when it will air.
- Ross talks about Shawn Michaels, saying he still has "gas left in the
tank", which probably doesn't mean anything at the moment. But I think it's
pretty obvious that Michaels wants to come back in some capacity and since the
WWF has him under contract for at least another 2-3 years, and because they
don't need to be worried about him jumping ship to another company when his deal
runs out, I think they will bring him back eventually.
- Diamond Dallas Page may be repackaged as a face. If it's me booking, I'd do
that since Page is a goner any other way.
- The rest of his report was mainly opinions, including a little rant about
internet reporting being inaccurate. I think what he was mainly talking about
was disturbing reports from 1wrestling about backstage hazing, initiations and
stuff like that. We didn't report any of that here for precisely the reason Ross
is talking about - we aren't backstage to know sensitive details like that.
Anyway, if you'd like to read the full Ross Report, click
HERE.
And before I wrap this baby up, the random thoughts, one liners and
rhetorical questions from Smackdown!. These are all reader contributions...
I can't remember if I've used this particular one liner before but it sounds
familiar. Anyway, from reader Andy Beres: "I found it ironic on Smackdown how
Regal was teamed with his buddy Angle, while Regal's entrance video consists of
repeated shots of him costing Angle the WWF title." [Also thanks to Eric Isaac,
BookerweeBkm]
From reader Rockyjr: "Rikishi was announced at being 425 and then Michael
Cole said he was 350. Never knew someone could lose 75 pounds in a second."
[Thanks also to Clark Dickinson, Marty Booker]
From reader James Light: "Is it just me, or did the segment involving Vince
insulting the firemen seem a little "not apporpriate," considering ther work
firefighters have been doing since Sept 11? It just felt like it wasn't the best
choice to go with." [Thanks also to Michael Gatti]
Tons of people sent in a variation of the following one-liner, but here's
the first one I got from reader Fred Yoo: "Is it me, or is Jeff Hardy trying to
imply he's playin' for the other field. He said to Test, 'you like intimidatin'
women, why don't you try and intimidate me?'"
From reader Scot Lewis: "When Matt Hardy and the APA we playing cards
Faarooq was the one getting Matt all frustrated and angry but Matt ended up
fighting Bradshaw."
Finally, a lot of people commented on the whole phone inconsistency
involving Flair-Austin-McMahon. When Ric was talking to Stone Cold, you couldn't
hear a thing, but when Vince was talking on the same phone, you could. We're not
supposed to notice that people!
Anyway, my work is done. This is getting posted really late and I blame
Katie from the message forums (cheap pop?) for harassing me all night while she
tried to kill time before she had to go to work. So yeah, like blame her and
stuff. Anyway, I'm out. Later.
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