HybridXTC
10-03-2003, 20:49
Ok, this ones going to be long and will be in many parts and at different times, so bare with me.
News & Rumours(US):
Sources with in WWE are saying that The Rock continues to act backstage as he always has. He hasn't gone "Hollywood" despite of his success. He has not grown an ego, though he seems to be very sure of himself.
William Regal was not at RAW last Monday, as he was still recovering from the concussion suffered at No Way Out.
Nathan Jones doesn't seem to impress anyone backstage. In fact, sources say he is perceived as more of a "screw up" in the ring. At the February 25 SmakcDown taping, they had to do a segment twice in front of the crowd by having the heels, A-Train and Big Show, return to the ring. At first, Nathan tripped and stumbled quit a bit after delivering a spin kick so they had to re-film that part of the segment all over again.
Everyone is wondering about how much time Vince McMahon will invest in Jones, before fully realizing that he is extremely "green" and is not worthy of a big push, at least not right now.
The ankle injury Randy Orton recently suffered appears to be the same one Maven had last year, which sidelined him for six-months.
Officials are worried about Batista's triceps injury, since they don't heal well and re-injury is quite common.
With so many wrestlers going down with injuries, like the aforementioned Rand Orton and Batista, plus Kurt Angle and Edge, it's been mentioned that Mick Foley will be getting a phone call very soon from WWE. Foley seems to be happy with his post-wrestling life, what with his new novel coming out. Anyone who has spoken with Foley get the distinct impression that he is still hung up on the way he was treated by WWE after he retired. WWE officials, according to Foley, treated him just as any other wrestler, whether than a veteran or legend, which he is.
D’Lo Brown recently commented on his release from WWE during a radio interview. D’Lo called the release shocking to everyone, including fellow WWE superstars and his wife. Brown commented by saying that he never saw it coming and just wished he knew why he was released. However, the reason for Brown’s termination is due to WWE’s financial cutbacks and Brown could probably make more money on the independent circuits than what he was doing in WWE, which was just over $300,000 a year.
There has been a whole lot of talk to who Brock Lesnar will be taking on at WrestleMania, due to Angle’s neck injury. Expect Lesnar to win the WWE Championship very soon from Angle, working him in to face a new opponent at WrestleMania. Top candidates to face Lesnar later this month at WrestleMania are Chris Benoit, Bill Goldberg, and Rhyno.
Chris Benoit would be a good opponent for Lesnar; however, many feel that WWE would not want to put the title on Benoit due to his lack of charisma. Many have said that Bill Goldberg would be a perfect opponent and a wonderful match, however, for that to happen WWE is going to have to hurry up and get the deal signed with Goldberg to be able to have enough time to work him into the event. Rhyno is the other choice, many feel that this would make a good match but would probably be too rushed to be able to have enough promotion for the match to be effective.
Kurt Angle’s neck injury is very serious and he will require surgery to repair the damage that he did when he re-aggravated a previous injury two weeks ago at a SmackDown house show. Apparently, until Angle goes for surgery he can still work a basic television match; however, will not be able to compete at WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar, due to the match requiring much more physical energy. This injury will of course shatter Angle’s Olympic hopes as well.
Everyone seemed pleased with the way the Brian Kendrick/Kurt Angle match played out on SmackDown last week. Everyone agreed that the segment was a homerun.
The decision on whether or not to renew WWE Tough Enough probably won't be made until mid-May, which will be the end of the four-month window. MTV representatives are indicating that the network would not make a decision until the end of the four months. If MTV doesn't renew the show, WWE will be free to market the show to other networks, and many other networks are showing interest. MTV may be giving up Sunday Night Heat as well, which would switch to TNN.
As of last Monday, Goldberg has not signed a deal with WWE. However, some do continue to speculate that he has secretly made a deal with WWE and is keeping it under raps. Nonetheless, sources say that this is not the case. Hulk Hogan gave Goldberg a call right before No Way Out; during time WWE tried striking up the deal. Hogan wasn't too convincing, but did inform him of the major advantages and gave much encouragement.
Since arriving to WWE Scott Steiner has been carrying himself well. He keeps to him self, and only interacts when spoken to. He doesn't hang out with any cliques, and has become more of a loner.
Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE contract will expire in September.
Hulk Hogan worked No Way Out with out a contract, but he is expected to sign a one-year deal, at the least, some time soon, that's if he hasn't already. Hogan has requested, however, that Jimmy Hart be given a contract upon his signing.
Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan sat next to each other on a plane ride out of Montreal, Canada last week, after No Way Out all the way until they each had to transfer in Atlanta. Neither of them worked RAW or SmackDown last week, so it was a surprising situation when they both left the same city at the exact same time. They talk a lot, of course, their conversation included their experiences with Eric Bischoff, which generated some laughter.
On a related note, Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff have ironed out all their differences and continue to talk on a professional level. The two began talking when Bischoff visited Texas for the "Search for Stone Cold" vignettes.
The crowd at the Nassau Coliseum for Monday's RAW was considerably dead. One RAW brand wrestler went on record to say "It was the sh**s". The crowd even got a little tough on Lillian Garcia as she was signing the National Anthem. Jim Ross said on a recent Byte This broadcast that the Nassau crowd sometimes act like their watching a golf tournament, which was the atmosphere on the night RAW aired. Even the pop for Austin was disappointing.
- With Paul Heyman's demotion from the Smackdown! writing team, top duties now fall on David Lagana (a former albeit brief writer for "Friends") and Bruce Prichard. Lagana has been helping with the Smackdown! booking since the writing teams were split while Prichard recently left Raw and traded spots with Michael Hayes because WWE wanted someone with a strong wrestling background on Raw to counter-act Brian Gewirtz and his entertainment-based writing.
- Wrestlers backstage have been told that Heyman is still on the writing team but that his role has simply changed to that of a "consultant". They were told that it is wasn't demotion though most everyone knows that it is. Meanwhile, Heyman was told that the reason for his role change was because he is on the road too much and that it didn't give him enough time to concentrate on his writing duties. There is some belief that the real reason is that Heyman's view of wrestling just wasn't on the same page as that of Vince McMahon.
- Sunday Night Heat is expected to move to TNN permanently around April 1, mainly because TNN wants it and because MTV really doesn't care about the show anymore.
News & Rumours(US):
Sources with in WWE are saying that The Rock continues to act backstage as he always has. He hasn't gone "Hollywood" despite of his success. He has not grown an ego, though he seems to be very sure of himself.
William Regal was not at RAW last Monday, as he was still recovering from the concussion suffered at No Way Out.
Nathan Jones doesn't seem to impress anyone backstage. In fact, sources say he is perceived as more of a "screw up" in the ring. At the February 25 SmakcDown taping, they had to do a segment twice in front of the crowd by having the heels, A-Train and Big Show, return to the ring. At first, Nathan tripped and stumbled quit a bit after delivering a spin kick so they had to re-film that part of the segment all over again.
Everyone is wondering about how much time Vince McMahon will invest in Jones, before fully realizing that he is extremely "green" and is not worthy of a big push, at least not right now.
The ankle injury Randy Orton recently suffered appears to be the same one Maven had last year, which sidelined him for six-months.
Officials are worried about Batista's triceps injury, since they don't heal well and re-injury is quite common.
With so many wrestlers going down with injuries, like the aforementioned Rand Orton and Batista, plus Kurt Angle and Edge, it's been mentioned that Mick Foley will be getting a phone call very soon from WWE. Foley seems to be happy with his post-wrestling life, what with his new novel coming out. Anyone who has spoken with Foley get the distinct impression that he is still hung up on the way he was treated by WWE after he retired. WWE officials, according to Foley, treated him just as any other wrestler, whether than a veteran or legend, which he is.
D’Lo Brown recently commented on his release from WWE during a radio interview. D’Lo called the release shocking to everyone, including fellow WWE superstars and his wife. Brown commented by saying that he never saw it coming and just wished he knew why he was released. However, the reason for Brown’s termination is due to WWE’s financial cutbacks and Brown could probably make more money on the independent circuits than what he was doing in WWE, which was just over $300,000 a year.
There has been a whole lot of talk to who Brock Lesnar will be taking on at WrestleMania, due to Angle’s neck injury. Expect Lesnar to win the WWE Championship very soon from Angle, working him in to face a new opponent at WrestleMania. Top candidates to face Lesnar later this month at WrestleMania are Chris Benoit, Bill Goldberg, and Rhyno.
Chris Benoit would be a good opponent for Lesnar; however, many feel that WWE would not want to put the title on Benoit due to his lack of charisma. Many have said that Bill Goldberg would be a perfect opponent and a wonderful match, however, for that to happen WWE is going to have to hurry up and get the deal signed with Goldberg to be able to have enough time to work him into the event. Rhyno is the other choice, many feel that this would make a good match but would probably be too rushed to be able to have enough promotion for the match to be effective.
Kurt Angle’s neck injury is very serious and he will require surgery to repair the damage that he did when he re-aggravated a previous injury two weeks ago at a SmackDown house show. Apparently, until Angle goes for surgery he can still work a basic television match; however, will not be able to compete at WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar, due to the match requiring much more physical energy. This injury will of course shatter Angle’s Olympic hopes as well.
Everyone seemed pleased with the way the Brian Kendrick/Kurt Angle match played out on SmackDown last week. Everyone agreed that the segment was a homerun.
The decision on whether or not to renew WWE Tough Enough probably won't be made until mid-May, which will be the end of the four-month window. MTV representatives are indicating that the network would not make a decision until the end of the four months. If MTV doesn't renew the show, WWE will be free to market the show to other networks, and many other networks are showing interest. MTV may be giving up Sunday Night Heat as well, which would switch to TNN.
As of last Monday, Goldberg has not signed a deal with WWE. However, some do continue to speculate that he has secretly made a deal with WWE and is keeping it under raps. Nonetheless, sources say that this is not the case. Hulk Hogan gave Goldberg a call right before No Way Out; during time WWE tried striking up the deal. Hogan wasn't too convincing, but did inform him of the major advantages and gave much encouragement.
Since arriving to WWE Scott Steiner has been carrying himself well. He keeps to him self, and only interacts when spoken to. He doesn't hang out with any cliques, and has become more of a loner.
Stone Cold Steve Austin's WWE contract will expire in September.
Hulk Hogan worked No Way Out with out a contract, but he is expected to sign a one-year deal, at the least, some time soon, that's if he hasn't already. Hogan has requested, however, that Jimmy Hart be given a contract upon his signing.
Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan sat next to each other on a plane ride out of Montreal, Canada last week, after No Way Out all the way until they each had to transfer in Atlanta. Neither of them worked RAW or SmackDown last week, so it was a surprising situation when they both left the same city at the exact same time. They talk a lot, of course, their conversation included their experiences with Eric Bischoff, which generated some laughter.
On a related note, Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff have ironed out all their differences and continue to talk on a professional level. The two began talking when Bischoff visited Texas for the "Search for Stone Cold" vignettes.
The crowd at the Nassau Coliseum for Monday's RAW was considerably dead. One RAW brand wrestler went on record to say "It was the sh**s". The crowd even got a little tough on Lillian Garcia as she was signing the National Anthem. Jim Ross said on a recent Byte This broadcast that the Nassau crowd sometimes act like their watching a golf tournament, which was the atmosphere on the night RAW aired. Even the pop for Austin was disappointing.
- With Paul Heyman's demotion from the Smackdown! writing team, top duties now fall on David Lagana (a former albeit brief writer for "Friends") and Bruce Prichard. Lagana has been helping with the Smackdown! booking since the writing teams were split while Prichard recently left Raw and traded spots with Michael Hayes because WWE wanted someone with a strong wrestling background on Raw to counter-act Brian Gewirtz and his entertainment-based writing.
- Wrestlers backstage have been told that Heyman is still on the writing team but that his role has simply changed to that of a "consultant". They were told that it is wasn't demotion though most everyone knows that it is. Meanwhile, Heyman was told that the reason for his role change was because he is on the road too much and that it didn't give him enough time to concentrate on his writing duties. There is some belief that the real reason is that Heyman's view of wrestling just wasn't on the same page as that of Vince McMahon.
- Sunday Night Heat is expected to move to TNN permanently around April 1, mainly because TNN wants it and because MTV really doesn't care about the show anymore.